The Naranjeros de Hermosillo gave Mexico its first Caribbean Series championship title. Managed by legendary
Cananea Reyes, the team outscored their opponents 36 to 18 over the six-day tournament in Dominican Republic, winning five consecutive games to pull an upset in the opener and prevailing behind their fine pitching, which gave up just 16 earned runs in 57 innings (2.53).
Rich Hinton (seven-hit shutout) and
George Brunet (1-0, 1.50) each turned fine performances, while 1B
Héctor Espino, OF
Jerry Hairston, 3B
Celerino Sánchez and 2B
Bump Wills paced the hitting attack. Also in the roster were C
Sergio Robles, SS
Eddie Leon, OFs
Arnoldo de Hoyos and
Chet Lemon, and Ps
Ed Acosta,
Francisco Barrios and
Vicente Romo. Espino was named the Most Valuable Player, while the team had six players in the All-Star team. Managed by
Ozzie Virgil, the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan league won its first two games, but they went 1-3 the rest of the way and had to settle for second place. Four hitters carried much of the offensive weight: CF
Enos Cabell (.400, best average in the Series; seven RBI), RF
Terry Whitfield (.375, eight runs, five RBI), 3B
Manny Trillo (.333) and 2B
Duane Kuiper (.320). Their best pitcher was
Mark Wiley, who posted a 2-0 record and a 2.04 ERA, while
Manny Sarmiento (1-0, one save) and
Aurelio Monteagudo did the job out of the bullpen. The team also featured 1B
Tim Hosley, SS
Dave Concepción, and Ps
Bill Campbell,
Roberto Muñoz and
Willie Prall. The Dominican Republic team, with
Tim Murtaugh at the helm, disappointed their home fans after going 2-4 to finish in third place. The Águilas Cibaeñas, who had won their second title in a row, usually put players on the bases but lacked the necessary clutch hitting to bring them home. OFs
Miguel Diloné and
César Gerónimo provided good defense and speed on the bases, while 3B
Winston Llenas and 1B/C
Bill Nahorodny smashed the only home runs for the team. Besides this, their most effective starters in ERA had losing records:
Rick Waits (0-1, 2.13) and
Rick Langford (0-1, 3.00), while starter
Jerry Augustine (6.00 ERA) and reliever
Kent Tekulve (11.59 ERA) delivered the only wins for Dominican Republic. Other members of the team included Ps
Tom Dettore,
Nino Espinosa and
Juan Jiménez; C
Ed Ott, 2B
Bob Sheldon, SS
Frank Taveras, OF
Morris Nettles, and DH
Manny Mota. The favored reigning champion, Vaqueros de Bayamón, tied for third with a 2-4 record. One victory came from
Juan Pizarro, who hurled a three-hit shutout in Game 7. The Puerto Rico team, piloted by
José Pagán, scored the fewest runs (23) and committed the most errors (15) in the Series. Inexplicably, the anemic Boricua offense combined for a paltry .246 average, even though the team had a solid lineup that included 1B
Dan Driessen, Of
Ken Griffey, Sr., 3B
Art Howe, SS
Iván de Jesús, C
Ellie Rodríguez and the outfield brothers,
Héctor and
José Cruz among others.
Scoreboards Game 1, February 4 Game 2, February 4 Game 3, February 5 Game 4, February 5 Game 5, February 6 Game 6, February 6 Game 7, February 7 Game 8, February 7 Game 9, February 8 Game 10, February 8 Game 11, February 9 Game 12, February 9 ==Sources==