In the comment section of yesterday's Federalbaseball.com post entitled, "1/21/08 Washington Nationals' Second Baseman Ronnie Belliard in the Liga Championships..." a post by Hendo asked:
"Speaking of Tolman...any thoughts about him getting the
axe at Licey?
I had spent last night looking into the Liga de Beisbol Dominicano Championship Round and Washington Nationals' second baseman Ronnie Belliard's participation in the nine-game series as a member of the Tigres del Licey, managed by Nationals' Third Base Coach Tim Tolma...
Or so I had thought, (and written), but in all my GOOGLEing and sorting through box scores and playoff trees, I never came across the news that Tolman had, in fact, been relieved of his duties with the Tigres del Licey.
Searching more particularly for "Tolman fired by Licey" I came across washingtonpost.com writer Barry Svrluga's "Nationals Journal" post entitled, "Tolman out with Licey in the D.R.", in which Mr. Svrluga writes:
"...this was a tough spot for an American manager. This is
the 100th anniversary of Licey, and there is a lot expected
of this club. They lost the first three games in the
championship series, and Tolman and the pitching coach,
Mark Brewer, were canned. The upside, at least in the Nats'
world, is that Ricardo Aponte (Nats bullpen coach) became
the pitching coach."
Mr. Svrluga links to an article entitled, "Tolman y Brewer despedidos", at the Licey team site (www.licey.com), where writer Alexander Gómez writes...(rough translation to follow):
"El Licey ha sido sobre anotado 38-10 en los primeros tres
encuentros del clásico dominicano y el dirigente Tolman
había sido criticado fuertemente por la fanaticada del
equipo."
Which, roughly translated by my computer says that, "Licey has been outscored 38-10 in the first three games of the Dominican Classic and there was strong criticism of Tolman amongst the fan base of the team," which, as Mr. Svrluga noted, is celebrating it's 100-year anniversary this season.
Tolman won't have much time to worry about his dismissal...pitchers and catchers report in less than a month now, and then Spring Training will follow quickly, and as Tim Tolman told Bill Ladson at this point last Winter, in an article, entitled, "Acta busy on first day", which described the Coaching staff's goals:
"The number one goal, when you run a camp like this, is
keep everything crisp...You have to keep guys moving and
have the emphasis of doing things right. We want to
achieve a goal on each and every drill that we do."
So starting February 14th, 2008, every moment of every day of every player with a white "W" on his cap will be planned by Tim Tolman and the other Nationals' coaches. Arranging that should keep Mr. Tolman's mind off of his dismissal...
Sorry, Belliard, but Federalbaseball.com is now firmly backing Aguilas Cibaenas in the Liga de Beisbol Dominicano Championship Round. GO AGUILAS!...GO EAGLES!!!