Pinoy batters in tough Asian grind

MANILA, Philippines - Crashing out of the recent World Baseball Classic qualifiers after posting a 1-2 record, the Philippines returns to the diamond with only one Fil-Am reinforcement to compete in the 26th Asian Championships in Taichung, Taiwan, on Nov. 28-Dec 2 and team manager Marty Eizmendi said yesterday it’s a test of how far the homegrown batters have gone in raising their standards of play.

In the qualifiers, the Philippines recruited 11 Fil-Ams and Fil-Japanese pitcher Ryuya Ogawa but could only beat Thailand, 8-2, in the four-way tournament in New Taipei City last Nov. 15-18. The national team also brought in Fil-Am Jim Ramos and Americans Billy Champion and Billy Thomas to beef up the coaching staff. The Philippines closed out the qualifiers with back-to-back losses to Chinese-Taipei, 16-0, and New Zealand, 10-6.

Eizmendi said eligibility rules for the qualifiers didn’t require a passport issued by the country being represented by a player. Fil-foreigners only had to submit the birth certificates of their Filipino parent to qualify as national players. But in the Asian Championships, a passport is required. Only Fil-Am infielder William Ireton of Menlo College was retained to play in Taichung.

“We learned a lot of things in the qualifiers,” said Eizmendi. “First, to beat Chinese-Taipei, it’s not enough to bring in Triple A minor leaguers to do the job. We’ll need a Tim Lincecum and a Clay Rapada to take us to the next level. Second, we need a strong local league to develop more homegrown players and keep them active. And third, we need a coaching staff that understands how to employ our players to reach their potentials. We’re taking a step back from the qualifiers and find out how we’ll do with only William as a reinforcement. We thought there were lapses in strategy during the qualifiers. We’ll see how our homegrown team responds to the challenge in the Asian Championships.”

Eizmendi said he’s not entertaining false hopes that the Philippines will win in Taichung where Japan, South Korea, Chinese-Taipei, China and Pakistan are also vying for honors. The Philippines begins its campaign against South Korea on Wednesday then takes on Chinese-Taipei on Thursday, Japan on Friday, China on Saturday and Pakistan on Sunday. 

“We’ll be out there fighting,” said Eizmendi. “We want to find out if we made a mistake in drafting foreign coaches for the qualifiers. Now, we’re going with only Filipino coaches Colbi Hidalgo and Tata Empacis. Mr. (Kunifumi) Itakura, who has supported Philippine baseball for years, will also be with us. We lost to Chinese-Taipei by a mile in the qualifiers. We’re eager to find out how we do against them with our homegrown players. No doubt, it’s time to upgrade and set a new direction for Philippine baseball. Unfortunately, Myanmar won’t host baseball in the Southeast Asian Games next year so we’re setting our sights on the Asian Games in 2014.”

The Asian Baseball Championships were inaugurated in 1954 with Manila as host and the Philippines bagging the first crown. The tournament is held once in two years and is the regional qualifier for the Olympics. It is the baseball counterpart of the FIBA-Asia Championships which are the qualifiers for the Olympics and World Championships in basketball. Japan has won 16 of the 25 Asian championships with South Korea claiming six titles and Chinese-Taipei two. The Philippines ascended the throne in 1954 and finished third in 1969 and 1971. Manila hosted the Asian Championships in 1954, 1955, 1965 and 1973.

Japan has ruled the last four Asian Championships and this year, its 24-man roster includes three university standouts – pitcher Kentaro Yoshinaga, 19, of Waseda University, pitcher Daichi Osera, 22, of Kyushu Kyoritsu University and first baseman Hotaka Yamakawa, 21, of Fuji University. Japan’s oldest player is 32-year-old outfielder Toshiyuki Hayashi of Fuji Jukogyo.

The Philippines has a slot vacant in its 24-man lineup and will fill it up before the tournament begins. The cast lists 16 players from the recent World Baseball Classic qualifiers – pitchers Darwin De la Calzada, Jon-Jon Robles, Ernesto Binarao, Charlie Labrador, Vladimir Eguia, Romeo Jasmin and Joseph Orillana, catchers Rommel Roja and Felipe Claudio Remollo, Ireton, shortstop Jennald Pareja, utility Christian Canlas, third baseman Francis Candela and outfielders Jonash Ponce, Saxon Omandac and Matt Laurel.  The others are Marvin Malig, Junnifer Pinero, Fulgencio Rances, Adrian Bernardo, Alfredo Olivarez Jr., Felipe Carlos Remollo and Christian Galedo.

Eizmendi admitted that oddsmakers are giving the Philippines only one chance to win over Pakistan but he’s not fazed. “In the qualifiers, our homegrown players showed what they could do,” he said. “Jon-Jon Robles, for instance, reached the maximum pitch count of 80 and guys like Pareja, Saxon, Ponce and Laurel did well at bat. Eguia was impressive and is being asked to try out for the Chunichi Dragons of the Nippon League in February. In the Asian Championships, we’ve got a chance to show how far we’ve developed as a team.”