ZAPOPAN, Mexico – Sometimes, a team needs a change in leadership, even when the leader is a legendary manager.
So it was for the Tomateros de Culican, who had a laggard start to the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico season. Sitting at 21-20 on Dec. 1, the Tomateros management called Mexican Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Vizcarra into the boardroom and handed him a pink slip, then turned to Lorenzo Bundy, another highly successful manager in Mexico in both the LAMP and the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, the country’s summer league.
“I think the biggest thing was we knew there was a good bunch. It was a good team,” Bundy said of the Tomateros. “I just think they needed a different voice. The manager that I replaced, ‘Chapo’ Vizcarra, was a very good manager. You know, Chapo… he’s won seven championships.”
Under Bundy, the Tomateros turned into a group of killer tomatoes, reeling off 11 wins in his first 12 games as manager, responding to Bundy’s calm, happy demeanor.
“We didn’t do any personnel changes, really. And I just think they needed to hear something. And it could be the same things that ‘Chapo’ was saying or whatever, but just a different voice. And we talked about who we were, what we were capable of doing, and going out and executing,” Bundy said of the team he took over six games into the second half. “”You know, we won 11 out of my first 12 here. And so basically, we went from seventh place to first. And that’s hard to do in a short amount of time.”
Under Bundy, the Tomateros went 19-8 through the remainder of the second half before winning a seven-game series against the Caneros de Los Mochis in the first round and sweeping the Algodoneros de Guasave to earn a berth in the finals and a surprise trip to the Caribbean Series when Venezuela pulled out of the annual event.
Pitching was a crucial element to the Tomateros’ hot second half.
“I guess they had scuffled with the starting pitching,” Bundy said. “And all of a sudden, starting pitching started giving us five innings and things like that. We were able to set up the bullpen the way we wanted to. And we took off after that and played really good baseball.”
Bundy credits his players for buying in when he came on board, noting that a losing team likely isn’t as bad as the record says, and a winning team likely isn’t as good as they think they are.
“We finished off the season really strong,” Bundy said. “We suffered some injuries in the first round of the playoffs, and we got through that round and got through the second round. And then we ran into a buzz saw.”
The buzz saw, of course, was the Charros de Jalisco, who, under Benji Gil, have now won back-to-back titles in the LAMP. Bundy and Gil faced each other in September in the Serie del Rey, the championship in the LMB.
Of Gil, Bunday said, “he’s been around for 12 years and he’s got six championships. That’s, that’s awesome. And you got to give him credit. He won four in Culiacan and now he’s won two here.”
After trading sweeps in the last two championship series contested in Mexico’s top two professional leagues, it’s certainly possible that Bundy and Gil’s teams meet at Estadio Panamericano on Saturday night to square off for a Caribbean Series title.
Sure, the Charros swept the LAMP championship series from the Tomateros in January, but with a single game to decide a trip to the championship game or the title, the Tomateros have more than a puncher’s chance.
Photo: Lorenzo Bundy took over the Tomateros de Culiacan and turned their season around. (Photo courtesy of LAMP)
