[jksander]

APRIL 2, 1963 . . . Opening Day at Hunters Field here in beautiful Havana, Cuba! We’ve got ourselves a stunning 2,450 capacity stadium, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city center. The weather was perfect for our CDBA debut, clear skies and seventy degrees with the wind blowing out to left at 11 miles per hour -- perfect weather for the nearly 1,800 fans who paid fifty cents each to watch some baseball. Jose “Wild Man” Guzman got the start for us, while the Bayamo Bombadiers brought out 26-year-old Tony Mendez, a three-star Guatamalan right-handed starter. The Bombadiers got going quickly, walking two batters in the top of the first and scoring a run via an RBI single on two outs by first-baseman Giordano Centimori, going up 1-0 in the top of the first. They added another run in the top of the second, and a third in the top of the third, giving them a pretty solid lead in the early goings, even moreso because their starter appeared to be unhittable, though he did have a propensity to walk batters -- we just couldn’t get them anywhere. Guzman got blown up in the top of the fifth as Baymo gave up four more runs to pretty much put this one out of reach. It’s becoming clear we’re going to need to find some players who can get hits, or this is going to be a very long season.

In the bottom of the sixth our centerfielder Victor Diaz got our first hit of the game, a double, and Antonio Fernandez hit an RBI double to get him around to score our first run of the evening. And with Mendez starting to show signs of weakness, Jose Colon picked up a single, but the rally ended quietly as we took a 7-1 deficit into the top of the seventh. Leadoff man Jonathan Gonzalez hit an RBI double for us in the bottom of the seventh to cut their lead to five runs, Reliever Lucien Rocchigiani came in with a man on first and one out in the top of the eighth, and you could tell he just wasn’t yet in top shape, quickly giving up three more runs to ensure we weren’t coming back to win this one. We did make a spirited attempt to come back, loading the bases with one out and then scoring on an RBI single by Victor Diaz, and Antonio Fernandez walked in a run to make it a six-run game. Jose Colon walked in another run to cut the lead to five, and after a flyout by Alcaraz, Samuel Brissett walked in yet another run! But we cuoldn’t make up that many runs, our leadoff man striking out to end this one as a spirited 10-6 loss.

Jose Guzman lasted 7.1 innings and threw 151 pitches, allowing 10 hits with five walks, two strikeouts and eight runs (seven earned), starting his season with an 0-1 record and an 8.59 ERA, while Rocchigiani allowed four hits, walked two, struck out one and added two earned runs, giving him a 10.80 ERA through 1.2 innings. The fans loved it when we started getting some hits, though the Bombadiers lived up to their name, outhitting us 14-9. Victor Diaz led the way with a pair of hits, two runs and an RBI, while Antonio Fernandez got a hit, a walk and drove in a pair of runs.

APRIL 3, 1963 . . . Ludovic Peltier got the start today, facing Baymo pitcher Roman Martinez, who has great movement and an above average changeup to go with four additional pitches where the “stuff” is questionable. Should be a fun matchup! The Bombadiers got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI single by leadoff man Carlos Silva, and Peltier struggled in the fourth inning, loading the bases in the top of the innning and giving up three more runs to the Bombadiers. They added a fifth run in the top of the seventh, and after a bases-loaded walk, Peltier finally got us out of the inning but we trailed at the stretch by a 6-0 margin with reliever Esteban Salinas warming in the bullpen. We finally picked up a run in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI single by Giordano Cantimori, and Victor Diaz hit one deep, bouncing off the right field wall to stay fair, coming out of it with an RBI double. The bases loaded thanks to a walk, our catcher Jose Colon hit a slow roller into left field and suddenly this one was wide open -- two runs scored thanks to an RBI double, and we were within a pair! Jose Alcaraz hit an RBI single to make it a one-run game, and though we struck out to end the inning, we went into the top of the eighth only trailing 6-5. Esteban Salinas came in to pitch in the top of the eighth and quickly gave up all the momentum, the Bombadiers’ right fielder Daniel Rivera driving in a pair with a standing double. We went into the bottom of the ninth trailing by four, and we weren’t able to get a rally going, losing by a score of 9-5.

Peltier started out with an 0-1 record and a 6.43 ERA, allowing six hits and six runs (five earned) thanks to an absolutely insane 10 walks, striking out only three batters through seven innings. Salinas lasted two innings and allowed three hits and three runs with a strikeout and a walk, giving him a 13.50 ERA through his first appearance. Peltier’s walks doomed us in a game we could have won; we outhit them 12-9, led by Jonathan Gonzalez with three hits. Jose Colon hit once and walked twice, driving in a pair of runs, while Peltier hit twice and scored a run.

APRIL 4, 1963 . . . Tonight we started 25-year-old lefty Juan Ortiz, who on paper is our strongest starting pitcher, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he handles facing Bayamo’s Angelo Sotelo, who has a great sinker and excellent movement, but not a lot of stamina. This time we got out to a great start, loading the bases in the bottom of the first without an out, but we didn’t get anything out of it, a popout to their pitcher and a hit into a double play keeping the game scoreless. Bayamo got on the board with an RBI single by Jose Rodriguez, their shortstop, in the top of the second, and a wild pitch scored another. We felt lucky to get into the bottom of the second trailing just 3-0. Luckily their starter walked three batters in a row to give us a real chance at doing damage in the bottom of the frame, and Juan Ortiz did just that, scoring two with a double to get us on the board, and Jonathan Gonzalez hit an RBI single that tied us up 3-3! Edgar Hernandez kept things going with a hit into deep center, an RBI double that gave us our first lead of the season, up 4-3. Juan Flores batted in another though he grounded out at first, and a flyout by Victor Diaz drove in another. A Jose Colon RBI double kept the inning going, and Alcaraz hit our first homer of the year out of left, clearing the bases and giving us a 9-3 lead heading into the top of the third. Ortiz loaded the bases in the top of the sixth, allowing three runs to score off a triple by catcher Jesus Gueitz as the Bombadiers cut our lead to three runs. Alex Parada batted in another run with a single, but we got into the bottom of the inning with a 9-7 lead still intact.

In the bottom of the seventh we got a run back, Edgar Hernandez getting an RBI single to make it 10-7, but Ortiz gave up a two-run double to center fielder Danny Jimenez and then loaded the bases with one out, so we had to bring in Esteban Salinas to try and get us out of there. A flyout to center got us our second out but surrendered the tying run, but Salinas did what he needed to do and we went into the bottom of the eighth with a chance to get our momentum back, knotted up at 10-10. We got the lead back in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single by Samuel Brisset, and Salazar got us through the ninth without giving it up as we won our first game of the year in an 11-10 slugfest!

Juan Ortiz gave us 7.1 innings and threw 132 pitches, allowing 12 hits and 10 runs, walking six and striking out two to give him a 12.27 ERA in his first start -- so far, none of our starters have escaped unblemished, though Salinas came through with 1.2 innings of solid work tonight, coming out of it without a hit, walk or strikeout, throwing 11 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 7.36, blowing the save but coming out of it with a win in the process. For the second night in a row we outhit Bayamo, this time 15-12, led by Ortiz the pitcher with three hits, a run and two RBIs, while Gonzalez hit three times in the leadoff spot for two runs and one batted in. Gonzalez is hitting .533 through the first three games, with eight hits in his first 15 at-bats.