Questions Abound After Philippine Baseball Team’s Early Exit in WBC Qualifier

A Fresh Start

After a delay of almost five hours due to rain, the Philippine Team bowed out of contention for the lone qualifier spot with a 10-6 defeat to New Zealand.

The game started off well for the Filipinos, as starting pitcher Charlie Labrador showed no signs of weariness- retiring all three batters he faced during the top of the 1^st inning. Even after surrendering a triple to third baseman Daniel Lamb-Hunt and hitting DH Daniel Devonshire with a pitch, he escaped the second inning courtesy of a 4-6-3 double play. First baseman Leighton Pangilinan led off the bottom of the 2^nd inning with a double, to break his 0-9 start to the tournament. After an early pitching change by New Zealand, designated hitter Alec Rosales hit a double to right field to bring home Pangilinan. This was the first time the Philippine team scored the game’s initial run for the whole tournament, but it didn’t last long.

Trouble Brewing

With two strikeouts ending the bottom of the second, things started to unravel for the Filipinos. Errors by Pangilinan and shortstop Ryan Pineda brought home 2 runs for the Kiwis, before shortstop Scott Campbell hit a sacrifice fly to increase their lead to 3-1. The PH team threatened to fight back as catcher Chad Nacapoy and Ryan Pineda got on base, but Pangilinan and third baseman Matt Laurel were unable to capitalize to trim the lead. Alec Rosales got a chance to start the 4^th inning with a hit, but was caught in 2^nd trying to stretch what would have been a leadoff single. By then, the errors on both offensive and defensive ends were piling up and started to frustrate the players.

Charlie Labrador was sent back to pitch the fifth inning, but seemed to run out of gas as he surrendered a leadoff single. It was then followed by him hitting Scott Campbell with a pitch, then giving up a 2 RBI hit to Boss Moanaroa that raised their lead to 5-1. A consolation was found in right fielder Jonash Ponce’s assist to 2^nd base, as he caught Moanaroa to get the first out of the inning. While Labrador was showing signs of exhaustion, the coaching staff curiously chose to stick with him even if pitchers like Vladimir Eguia, Ernesto Binarao, Romeo Jasmin, Max Javate, and Joseph Orillana were available and eligible for relief. Labrador was able to get Daniel Devonshire to fly out to centerfield, before walking catcher Beau Bishop. The inning would have ended with a stop at first base, but the ball got past Pangilinan once again to drive in another run. Jonash Ponce stopped the bleeding with another outfield assist, catching Bishop on a relay to 3^rd to end the inning.

Valiant Effort

The PH Batters did not give up easily though, as they made noise during the bottom of the 5^th with Chad Nacapoy scoring courtesy of Ryan Pineda’s 2-out RBI triple that barely got past diving right fielder Timothy Auty. But this was the most they could afford, as Pangilinan struck out looking to end the inning. To start off the 6^th, Manager Jim Ramos moved Devon Bryce Ramirez from center field to the mound.  After retiring the first batter he faced, a baserunner was able to get on board due to Ryan Pineda’s throwing error. A fielder’s choice got the second out of the inning, but Chad Nacapoy’s throw was not in time to catch Auty while he stole 2^nd base.  Scott Campbell capitalized from this, with a solid hit to left that brought in Auty and made the score 7-2. The Kiwis loaded the bases once more, but this time, Ramirez got the stop and ended the inning with a fly out to right fielder Andres Borromeo.

Extinguishing Hopes

New Zealand was able to score 3 more runs of Ramirez in the 7^th, with consecutive doubles from  Beau Bishop and Moko Moanaroa to start of the inning. A passed ball advanced Moanaroa to 3^rd, before another batter, Alan Schoenberger was walked. While trying to catch the runner stealing , an errant throw by Nacapoy got past second baseman Francis Candela, scoring Moanaroa as the Kiwi’s 9^th run of the game. Another error by Leighton Pangilinan at first brought in NZ’s 10^th run and ended Ramirez’s night on the mound. Vladimir Eguia came in via a double switch (substituting Jonash Ponce at the 9^th spot and Ramirez returning to center field), and ended the inning with a forced out at second base, retiring the side with 2 men left on base.

Opportunistic Rally

Down 8 runs in the bottom of the 8^th inning, cleanup hitter Leighton Pangilinan started another inning with an easy ground out. Matt Laurel drew a walk, which would set up the Philippine Team’s biggest inning of the tournament. Andres Borromeo advanced Laurel to third with a single to center field. Francis Candela dribbled a hit to third baseman Lamb-Hunt, whose throw to second made its way to right field and let Laurel trim the lead to 7 runs. Saxon Omandac followed with another ground ball, this time second baseman Schoenberger, whose throw missed first and scored Borromeo while runners stood at first and third base. Pitcher Joseph Boyce was then brought in by New Zealand, who then walked pinch hitter Jonathan Laygo to load the bases. Devon Bryce Ramirez then came in with his biggest hit for the Philippines, a 2-RBI single to center field to cut the deficit to 4 runs. Another pitching change turned out to be the biggest break the Kiwis got, as Lincoln Holdzkom (1 of 3 sets of brothers from the New Zealand team) got Chad Nacapoy to ground into the inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Geno Espineli came in during the 9^th and tossed another scoreless inning, setting up a possibility for a last inning comeback. Things did not pan out as they were envisioned. Ryan Pineda hit a comebacker for the first out, Leighton Pangilinan popped out on a 2-0 pitch, and Matt Laurel struck out looking to finish the game.

Moving Forward

The team put up a fight, but it ended up being too late as they let the game slip away with the numerous errors and other blunders that made the lead balloon to 8 runs. The efficient relief pitching of Vladimir Eguia and Geno Espineli that resulted in back-to-back scoreless innings would make one wonder why it took so long for them to be utilized. The influx of talent from abroad made local management declare that this was their “strongest team ever assembled”, but the performance seen showed otherwise. Familiarity issues were evident throughout the three games played, be it through passed balls and wild pitches, the plethora of errors, and the ineffective lineup changes. These may be attributed to the short time for preparation, but it just leads back to the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. It isn’t normal for a cleanup hitter to hit .077, or to leave a pitcher with lots of local and international experience rotting on the bench. The errors also bring to mind the other National Team mainstays, especially at catcher and first base. The manager may also consider familiarizing himself with the other strengths of his players, and not just use the incumbent coaches and label them for equipment only.

Measuring Progress

As previously mentioned, the Philippine Team are still slotted to compete in the Asian Baseball Championships on November 28 to December 2. This would further test the development of the program- whichever we may be using- and see how the team would fare against tougher competition. As new PABA Secretary General Tom Navasero shared to a local online community of baseball stakeholders:

“[sic] My goal is to remove the politics from baseball, impress the baseball infrastructure, provide program and venue to all ball players who love the game,” said Navasero.

In achieving his first goal, he would have to go against his dad, the long-time leader of the National Sports Association, and all the other affiliations and acquaintances that lead to these sorts of politics. The dismal performance during the past games would definitely fail to impress officials, be it local and international.

Despite the lack of facilities and equipment, the Philippines is teeming with talent in baseball in all levels. Be it in little league, provincial, collegiate, or professional, the sport continues to grow. Even Geno Espineli could attest to this.

With the relative success New Zealand has shown us despite the makeshift squad composed of softball players transformed into the Diamond Blacks, it is not far-fetched to see how intervention from the big leagues can transcend this National Team to greater heights. As how Filipinos have been patient with the many incarnations of Smart Gilas and Azkals teams, we’ll just have to wait and see how high and far our Agilas may soar.