MONTERREY SULTANES HONORED IN MEXICAN HALL OF FAME

The Monterrey Sultanes are celebrating their 70th season this year, and Mexican baseball’s own hall of fame is honoring the team with a display. The Salon de la Fama in Monterrey will have an exhibit centered on the Sultanes through September. A press conference announcing the display included Salon director Jesus Alberto Flores Saucedo and Sultanes president Jose Maiz Garcia, himself a member of the Salon since 2002.

The Sultanes played their first game on May 20, 1939 against the Monclova Acereros.

REYNOSA OVERTAKES DIABLOS FOR MEXICAN LEAGUE NORTH LEAD

The Reynosa Broncos (18-6) snuck past the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (18-7) by a 10-9 score on April 21 to take sole possession of first place in the Mexican League’s North Division. Derrick White, Marshall McDougall and Ray Martinez all homered for the Broncos, for whom closer Alan Guerrero is off to a phenomenal start with an LMB-best six wins and five saves in his first 16 outings.

The Quintana Roo Tigres (18-7) have a one-game lead over the Yucatan Leones (17-8) in the South Division. The Tigres lost to Puebla, 4-1, April 21 as the Pericos’ Willis Otanez clobbered the 300th homer of his minor league career. Otanez ended the night with two homers, and now tops the Liga longball tables with nine. Puebla is third in the South at 15-10, four games behind Quintana Roo.

STREAKING TIGRES LEAD MEXICAN LEAGUE SOUTH DIVISION

The Quintana Roo Tigres lead the Mexican League South Division with a 14-6 record, thanks in part to a five-game winning streak last week. Both Puebla and Yucatan are two games back at 12-8. In the LMB North, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos are in a battle for first with the Reynosa Broncos. Mexico City is a Mexican-best 16-5 thus far in 2009, while the Broncos (who relocated from Tijuana in the offseason) are hot on the Diablos’ heels at 15-5.


Mexico City’s lveteran outfielder Victor Bojorquez leads the Liga in batting at .463. Teammates Eduardo Arredondo and Roberto Saucedo are also hitting .440 and .404, respectively.

SPRINGTIME = SWINGTIME: LEAGUES OPENING ’09 SEASON

Springtime has arrived, which means several baseball leagues around the world are opening their 2009 regular seasons, including Major League Baseball.

The World Champion Philadelphia Phillies will host the Atlanta Braves Sunday in the first game of the season, an honor that used to go to Cincinnati (home of baseball’s first fully professional team). All other MLB teams will begin playing for real Monday.

The regular season has already begun in other countries. In Taiwan, the President Lions topped the Brother Elephants, 5-1, in the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s lidlifter last Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 in Taipei Municipal Stadium.

The Mexican League is a week into their schedule with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Reynosa Broncos tied for the Northern Zone lead at 6-1, while the Quintana Roo Tigres and Yucatan Leones lead the LMB South with 5-2 records.

In Europe, the Spanish League is three weekends into their season, and the defending champion Puerto Cruz Marlins are unbeaten at 6-0 after sweeping Pamplona last Saturday.