Gaining respect despite results
The 28-man Philippine team, bannered by three former major leaguers, recently returned home from a disastrous showing in the fournation qualifier for a ticket to the World Baseball Classic next year. The squad was knocked out of contention after two straight losses, both under the mercy rule, in Blacktown, Australia.
Philippine Amateur Baseball Association ( PABA) president Marty Eizmendi led the delegation that was juiced up by 6-4 pitcher Clay Rapada (Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, New York Yankees), 5-11 outfielder/third baseman Chris Aguila (Florida, New York Mets) and 5-9 outfielder/second baseman/shortstop Eric Farris (Milwaukee). But the presence of the three major league veterans and 12 other foreign-born recruits couldn’t prevent the Philippines from bowing to Australia, 11-1, in the seventh inning and to New Zealand, 17-7, in the eighth.
In the previous World Baseball Classic qualifier in 2012, the Philippines picked up a win over Thailand but lost twice to wind up out of the main party. In Blacktown, the Philippines failed to win a single game. The consolation was the Philippines led briefly, 1-0, over Australia and was up, 4-3, in the bottom of the fifth and 7-4 in the top of the sixth before succumbing to New Zealand.
Eizmendi said despite the results, the Philippines went down slugging and earned the respect of the opposition and tournament organizers. It wasn’t something to be ashamed of. The team went out to play hard and win but just fell short … in fact, way short of expectations.
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“We put up a good fight, all the way until the sixth inning,” said Eizmendi. “But we faltered down the stretch. There definitely is no excuse for this as we should’ve held out until the end and not lost by the mercy rule. But why are we still proud and happy? And how can we say we fought a good fight even if we lost by the mercy rule? Simply because somehow, the team managed to compete despite the odds. In fact, there were a few guys from MLB (Major League Baseball) familiar with our situation who came to the dugout to congratulate the team and told us they were happy with our performance. They thought we had it (over New Zealand) but then again, those were the breaks of the game. They did stress that we have the talent but we lack the exposure especially in playing the high-level type of games leading to the qualifier.”
Eizmendi said the big achievement was putting the Philippines back on the Southeast Asian and Asian map. “Our next step is the world map, baby steps, but we’ll get there,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll get the much-needed support from government. We have the talent, determination and athletes who persevere and are passionate about the sport we love. This is enough to push them to do their best. They may not have the financial capacity to help us but they do give back by supporting the federation and giving their all.”
Eizmendi said the invitation to participate in the qualifier came last September. “Technically, we only had four months to put our team together,” he said. “It was a continuing series of tryouts for our homegrown players until about the first week of January. We weren’t allowed to use the Rizal Memorial field by mid-October until the end of November to give way to the PSC Chairman’s Baseball Classic. So we more or less confined ourselves to strengthening by going to the gym and running. But national team players were invited to play in the PSC Chairman’s Classic so they got game exposure and practice time.”
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Since more than half the team was composed of Fil-Am minor and major leaguers, the lack of familiarity with the homegrown players was a handicap. “We practiced individually until we all met up in Sydney,” said Eizmendi. “We had four days of actual practice where we tried to develop chemistry. We had two days of practice with the PABA players and two days of practice with the entire team.”
Eizmendi said game exposure is critical in preparing a team for a high-level competition like the qualifier in Blacktown. “It plays a big role in the development of players, especially as a team,” he said. “Last year, we played in only one international tournament, the East Asian Championships which we won. Because we won the East Asian title, we earned a ticket to the Asian tournament but we couldn’t get funding so we didn’t go. We missed out on a few international competitions which could’ve given us game experience. Our national players played in some local tournaments but not as a team on a consistent basis.”
Eizmendi said he understands why baseball isn’t a priority for government support. “We’re a team sport and it’s less expensive to support athletes in individual sports,” he said. “That’s our predicament. With limited resources, government would rather spend for athletes in individual sports than in team events. We’ll just have to find a solution to our problem because we’ve got the talent and we won’t want to let it go to waste.”