Editor’s Note: (Before reading this post, I recommend that you check out our Cuban Baseball Primer and Havana Cuba Sugar Kings posts.  Ariel Pestano, Reflections By Comrade Fidel, Commie Ball and Fuera de Liga are good supplementary readings as well.)

This past week I travelled to Havana, Cuba with former Mop Up Duty writer Early to experience Cuban baseball and to immerse ourselves in the Cuban culture.  …

If you are a Jays fan, not too much.  Adam Loewen, who struggled at single-A this season, struggled here.  Brad Emaus improved upon his AA production – albeit against inconsistent competition.  Reidier Gonzalez is good but how good? We don’t know, he pitched only a handfull of innings in relief.

I do know a little about Robert “Bobby” Ray on the …

Peavy Has New Weapon

Both Kman and I are closet Padres fans and were in attendance for Padres’ pitcher Jake Peavy’s start for team USA vs. Canada at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.  Both of us were impressed to see how dialed in he was and the velocity on his fastball at that stage (so early on) in the season.  It …

Ariel Pestano Bio

Harkening back to the last incarnation of the WBC in 2006, there was one player who really caught my attention.  This was Cuban catcher Ariel Pestano, mostly for his antics rather than his actual playing skill (though that is not to say he is not a highly skilled player).  When I learned that at the age of 34, …

Reflections by Comrade Fidel

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has taken to blogging his thoughts on the internet.  Topics include the Agonies of Capitalism, Obama’s politics & ethics and…… even the World Baseball Classic!

Thanks to Escambray, the newspaper of the province of Sancti Spiritus in Cuba, we can read Fidel’s weblog translated to english.

Highlights include:

The Baseball Classics have been sponsored by …