Mexico watches Caribbean Series title come its way

Mexico rallied with three sixth-inning runs this afternoon to defeat Venezuela 3-2. That made Mexico the leader in the clubhouse with just one Caribbean Series game to be played.
Host Puerto Rico needed only to defeat the Dominican Republic to match Mexico's 4-2 record and win the four-team, double-round-robin Series on the strength of its two head-to-head victories over the Mexicans.
However, that didn't happen.
LHP Raul Valdes from the Cardinals organization and RHP Julio Manon combined for a four-hit shutout as the Dominicans took down Puerto Rico. LF Alejandro De Aza (White Sox) had the game's biggest hit, a fourth-inning triple against losing pitcher Willie Collazo that drove in two unearned runs.
Valdes had a pitching line of 7 2/3 40016. Manon saved all three of the Dominicans' Series wins.
For Mexico, 3B Augustin Murillo sent a run home with a groundout and DH Jorge Vazquez, a Yankees farmhand, followed with a two-run homer against losing pitcher Seth Etherton.
CF Eliezer Alfonzo had plated Venezuela's runs with a two-run, fourth-inning homer.
RHP Luis Ayala pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his second save of the Series.
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Two stories have dominated the news in the Metroplex since the big-game circus left town. One is whether the goings-on surrounding the game here were a "disappointment," a "disaster" or a "debacle."
The local ESPN radio station's position seemed softest, that "of course" the NFL would bring the big game back as soon as five years hence, as Super Bowl L. The local talk-radio station known as The Fan seemed to think the big game wouldn't return until at least Super Bowl M or whenever Hell joined North Texas in freezing over, whichever comes first.
The least critical talk-show host on The Fan was Josh Lewin. The Rangers' TV play-by-play man through last season called the Super mess "disappointing." That was the same word Rangers 3B Michael Young used to describe his own situation. And that situation was the other big story here.
Young told mlb.com's T.R. Sullivan, "The suggestion that I've had a change of heart and asked for a trade is a manipulation of the truth. I want to be traded because I have been manipulated and misled in this process and I'm not going to take it anymore."
With the addition of 3B Adrian Beltre and 1B/C Mike Napoli, like Young right-handed batters, to Texas' offense, the Rangers' long-term all-star's projected at-bats have been shriveling faster than the late Ken Caminiti's nuts.
Beltre has taken away Young's third base job before his Range Factor could shrink to 0, and Napoli would spend some time as a right-handed DH and platoon player with lefty-swinging 1B Mitch Moreland, limiting the 34-year-old's time at another possible sanctuary.
The catch is that Young's contract has both $48 million remaining over the next three years and a limited no-trade clause that exempts eight teams. Though his limited range could make Young better suited to the American League with its DH role, reportedly just three of the eight teams exempted are in the AL: the Yankees, Twins and Angels. He would seem to fit in very well with the Twins, sometimes giving them needed pop at third base and at others serving as a DH complement to the left-handed Jason Kubel.
None of those AL teams would seem to have a wealth of what the Rangers would want in return: a useful proven player or a prospect or two. Minnesota's farm system is drying up in the post-Terry Ryan era. Trading with the Yankees would mean Texas wouldn't have to send along as much cash (possibly $20 million for some teams) as they would to other places with smaller budgets. But Michael Young in a Yankees uniform? Just doesn't seem right.