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Features Canada defeats Venezuela at Olympic Qualifiers
Canada beat Venezuela 7-5 in 10 innings today at the COPABE Olympic Qualifiers in Cuba.

The winning blow was a 2-run homer from backup catcher Emerson Frostad (a Rangers prospect) in the top of the 10th.  Canada are now 2-1, having beaten Puerto Rico 6-5 (thanks to more late heroics; a four-run ninth-inning comeback) and lost their opener 9-3 to the U.S.

David Corrente (Dunedin) started at catcher for Canada and went 0-3; Pete LaForest led the offense with a 3-3 day including a walk and a bomb.  Mike Johnson took the win after Eric Cyr had started; Horacio Estrada started and threw 135 pitches for Venezuela in the tropical heat of an August afternoon in Havana.  Ow ow ow ow.

There are two more games in this round.  Canada currently is tied for second in its six-team group with Mexico with 2-1 records (Mexico is currently getting pummelled 14-3 by the U.S., who lead the group at 3-0).  The Canadians play Mexico tomorrow and Brazil on Wednesday; the top four teams in each group will move on to a further round-robin final group, with the top two teams qualifying for Beijing (baseball's last Olympics ever) and two others getting a chance in a second qualifying tournament.

You can follow the action (including live updates, though these are sometimes intermittent) through the IBAF's website at www.baseball.ch.  Yes, I know, the site design is terrible.

Posted by Bruce Wrigley on Monday, August 28 2006 @ 04:36 PM EDT.
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Mike D - Monday, August 28 2006 @ 05:03 PM EDT (#154253) #

Speaking of Venezuela, Braden reported in the TDIB thread that 16-year-old Venezuelan Balbino Fuenmayor, who also worked out with Cleveland and the Mets, signed with the Jays for $1.15M.

According to the Venezuelan article, Fuenmayor and his mother were invited to hang out with the Jays at the Rogers Centre for their August series with the White Sox, which meant that not only could he hang out with Wells, Molina and Glaus ("an experience I'll never forget," according to the kid), but also that he could meet countrymen Freddy Garcia and Ozzie Guillen.

His agent says that he signed with the Jays because "his ascent to the big leagues will be much quicker."  Fuenmayor is off to instructional league in Florida in the fall, will attend training camp next year, and will play for Pulaski in 2007.

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