2 reportajes salieron en circulacion hayer dia 3/1/06 en el New York Times el primero es sobre "Julio franco " el grandes ligas Dominicano de los Mets de NY que es muy bueno y vale la pena mencionar llamado " Breakfast at Julio's ". Y el segundo reportaje titulado " Venezuela Conquers Caribbean and Eyes Its Classic Moment " del cual yo les quiero hablar donde los peloteros Venezolanos nos dan funda y tratan de minimisar la pelota Dominicana. y todo esto despues de haber ganado la serie del carribe que de por cierto no la habian ganado desde 1989, y ahora se creen los dioses del Mundo de la pelota en el carribe. En este reportaje que es en Ingles los dirigentes Venezolanos encabesados por Luis Sojo hablan de que nos van a ganar en la apertura del Clasico mundial simplemente por se creen superiores ,y eso no es todo tambien dicen que en unos anitos nos van a dar catredra en las Ligas Mayores. Sean Ustedes los criticos

Venezuela Conquers Caribbean and Eyes Its Classic Moment

By JENS ERIK GOULD
Published: March 1, 2006
MARACAY, Venezuela - A raucous crowd smothered the field, and fireworks lighted up cities across the country when Boston Red Sox shortstop Alex Gonzalez scored the winning run to cap Venezuela's comeback victory over a strong Dominican team in its sweep of the Caribbean World Series last month.

The victory in a tournament featuring this year's best winter-league teams from Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic gave the home team some regional bragging rights and the first Caribbean Series victory for Venezuela since 1989.
Still, the result did not surprise many in this baseball-crazed nation of 25 million, which sees itself fast producing the best baseball talent in Latin America. Although the Dominican Republic still has twice as many players in Major League Baseball, Venezuela is moving up quickly, with major league scouts and Venezuelan players here saying Venezuelans will outnumber their Dominican counterparts in 5 to 10 years.
In the past decade, Venezuela has doubled its number of players on major league clubs - to 65 from 30 - and passed Puerto Rico as a supplier of talent to the majors, according to 2005 figures from the Elias Sports Bureau. (Only the Dominican Republic and the United States supply more.) There are 134 major leaguers from the Dominican Republic.
Less than 20 years ago, no major league club was running an academy to train young players in Venezuela. Now 13 teams have operations here, many of which include dormitories, diamonds and weight rooms. Two more clubs say they are moving in this year.
Venezuelan players will have a chance to prove they are on par with the Dominicans when the two teams meet in the first round of the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday in Orlando, Fla.
"This is the best moment to let the world know about Venezuela," Detroit Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillen said during the Caribbean Series. "Before, they asked us if we were going to pass Puerto Rico, and we passed them. So I think we're going to do the same with the Dominicans."
The 16-country World Baseball Classic, which aims to further globalize baseball, is expected to showcase Latin American talent. Latinos make up 37 percent of players under contract to major league clubs, according to Major League Baseball. Venezuela Manager Luis Sojo says all eyes will be on his team in the wake of the Caribbean Series title.
"Of course everyone is thinking about Venezuela," Sojo said. "We're one of the favorites." Unlike many Latin American nations, where soccer is king, baseball is Venezuela's national sport. President Hugo Chavez, a leftist who has become the Bush administration's leading antagonist in the region, was once a player and often chatters about baseball during nationally televised speeches.
Fans religiously support the Caracas Lions, the team that represented Venezuela in the Caribbean Series, by screaming at the top of their lungs at every ball and strike with a fervor that makes major league games look well mannered. Meanwhile, the stadium D.J.'s blast popular merengue or reggaeton songs as fans and sparsely dressed cheerleaders turn commercial breaks into dance parties.
Venezuela made an impact on the major leagues as far back as the 1950's, when Luis Aparicio, a future Hall of Famer, became the star shortstop of the Chicago White Sox.
Decades later, in 1989, Andres Reiner, a scout born in Hungary but raised in Venezuela, opened up a Houston Astros academy in Venezuela, the first of its kind. The Astros signed players like Bobby Abreu, now a standout outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, and Johan Santana, the Minnesota Twins pitcher who won the American League Cy Young award in 2004.
Last October, Venezuela's baseball image got another boost when Ozzie Guillen, a three-time All-Star shortstop in a major league career that extended from 1985 to 2000, managed the Chicago White Sox to their first World Series title in 88 years. In doing so, Guillen became the first Latino manager to win the World Series.
With Venezuela on a roll, Reiner has set catching the Dominicans as his next target, pointing out that Venezuela has a population nearly three times that of the Dominican Republic (about 9 million).
The Dominicans say overtaking them is a tall order. Their country nearly doubled its presence on major league teams in the past decade.
Fernando Ravelo, the travel director for the Dominicans' Classic team, says his countrymen are more driven to leave school for baseball because they see the sport as a way out of a poor country. The Dominican Republic lacks the natural resources of Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
Yet after Venezuela was buoyed by windfall oil profits in the 1970's, an economic downturn in the 1980's made jobs scarcer, and the dream of a major league baseball salary became more attractive. More children are taking up the sport, with the Criollitos national youth leagues reporting a 30 percent increase in participation in the last six years.
The academies have also helped more Venezuelans adapt to American play by giving them advanced physical training and English classes.
"It was like a family," Guillen said, thinking back to his days in the Astros academy. "It was like the education my father gave me."
In the Classic, the Dominicans will probably have the most dynamic lineup of any of the 16 teams, with players like Boston's David Ortiz, St. Louis's Albert Pujols, the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero and Baltimore's Miguel Tejada.
But Angel Vargas, president of the Venezuelan baseball players association, guarantees his country will triumph behind strong pitching from Santana, the Angels' Francisco Rodriguez, the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano and the White Sox' Freddy Garcia.
"We can beat the Dominicans," Vargas said. "I'll bet on that. We have better pitching. You'll see."