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I didn't go to Sunday's game in Managua, although I saw some of it on TV. It was a wise decision on my part, because game five was a 19-3 rout for Bóer. They now lead the national championship series three games to two.

Photo courtesy of La Prensa

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San Fernando tied the best-of-seven national championship series at two games apiece with a dramatic bottom-of-the-ninth finish.

Roberto Clemente Stadium

The starters were Wilber Bucardo (Nicaragua) for Bóer, and Armando Hernández (from Masaya) for SF. Hernández had an excellent outing; he went 6 1/3 innings.

Bóer took the early lead with a sacrifice fly by Jorge Núñez (Dominican Republic) in the second inning. SF got on the board with a two-run home run by Marcos Sánchez (DR) in the fifth, and increased their lead with an RBI by Norman Cardoze (also from Masaya) in the sixth.

Bóer tied the game 3-3 in the top of the seventh, and that´s where it was going into the bottom of the ninth. Cardoze drew a walk, and Sánchez put down a good bunt. However, Bóer´s third baseman tried to go to second instead of first, and his throw was just a little bit late. The next batter, Eddy Talavera (Nicaragua) bunted, and the result was runners on second and third with one out. SF sent in a pinch hitter, Anibal Vega (Nicaragua), and he was intentionally walked to load the bases. The next batter, Víctor Gutiérrez (DR) hit a sacrifice fly to win the game. There was a good throw to the plate, however. I was sitting behind home plate, and I thought it got there in time. Predictably, so did Bóer´s players and coaches. Riot police were present.

(Replays on Nicaraguan TV showed that the runner was safe, and the umpire's call was correct.)

Story from La Prensa (en Espanol)

I treated myself to a Toña beer. It cost 18 cordobas, or one dollar.

Now for today´s constructive advice to the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League: I saw a kid selling cigarettes who couldn´t have been more than seven years old. (BAT, the company that sells Players and Du Maurier in Canada, has a major presence in Nicaragua, and their policy is, these kids are much more reliable than vending machines.) All of the major league teams banned smoking in their ballparks years ago. Do the same.

Fieras del San Fernando site

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The event happened at Dennis Martinez National Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua. This stadium holds 20,000 people, and about 18,000 were present for this game, which was the third game of the best-of-seven final of the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League. Bóer won the first game, and San Fernando won the second.

Dennis Martinez National Stadium

In addition, large numbers of fans were blowing police whistles, and if you forgot to bring one, there were vendors selling them. There were also vendors selling all sorts of food, including a sort of taco salad (it's called "boha") that looked healthy. There is Toña beer, which I´ve already developed a taste for. You have to pay to use the washrooms, but I don´t know yet whether this results in cleanliness.

There was a ball game going on, too, and it would be a mistake to say that this is like European soccer matches, where much of the crowd is indifferent to what´s happening on the field. They saw a good game, although there were some fielding miscues in the early going. It appeared that the crowd noise was making it difficult for the players to communicate with each other, but the not-very-good lighting could also have been a factor.

Both starters were chased early. The SF starter was Willy Lebrón of the Dominican Republic, and he was gone before the second inning was over, after Bóer went up 2-0. The Bóer starter was Brian Rodaway, who played for the U. of Nebraska, then spent five years in the minors. Rodaway came in with very good numbers: 6-1, 2.14 ERA. He held Los Fieras hitless for the first two inning, but in the third inning, Los Fieros got five runs, with an RBI by Eddy Talavera (Granada), another by Ofilio Castro (Nicaragua), a two-RBI double by Danilo Sotelo (also from Nicaragua), and another by Darío Delgado (Dominican Republic).

Those were all the runs SF got. Bóer got a run back in the fourth, and tied it with two runs in the sixth. The winning run came in the eighth. Clyde Williams, who was in the Expos/Nationals organization for seven years, hit what should have been a double-play ball with one out. The throw to first was late, however, and this allowed a baserunner to score from third. SF got the tying run on first with one out, but a line drive by Jimmy Hurst to first resulted in a game-ending double play. (Hurst had a cup of coffee with the Tigers in 1997, also played in Japan and for the Winnipeg Goldeyes.)

Now, an editorial comment for anyone in Nicaragua who might read this: I´m OK with the pep bands and the cheerleaders, but lose the police whistles. They add nothing whatsoever to the enjoyment of the game, and they are irritating.

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The Division II members of the NCAA voted to allow Canadian schools to apply for membership as soon as June 1. The score was 259 for, 9 against.

If UBC makes this application, UBC varsity teams could be competing in Division II during the 2009-10 school year.

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During the past couple of seasons, most of UBC's home and away games have been webcast. Access to the webcasts has been restricted to listeners paying an annual subscription fee, or paying a fee for individual games.

The revenue from these fees has not come close to covering the cost of the service. There has been some paid advertising during the webcasts, but it's difficult to charge very much for these ads when the audience is limited by the subscription fee.

Ways of reducing the cost of producing the webcasts are currently being investigated. What is really needed to make the webcasts financially viable, however, is a principal sponsor for the season.

This sponsor would benefit by having its name mentioned frequently during each webcasts, and the buying power of the listening audience should be pretty good. The sponsor's banner ad would be visible to internet listeners for the duration of the webcast. The sponsor's logo would also appear in issues of Bird Scoop distributed at home games, and banner ads would be visible on gothunderbirds.ca and this site. It might even be possible for the sponsor to get a sign on the outfield fence of Nat Bailey Stadium.

If you are capable of stepping up to the plate on this, or know someone who is, please contact any member of the coaching staff, or fill out the contact form on this site.

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