According to reports, Zambrano’s mom was taken by eight men in a farm in the city of Villa de Cura. Zambrano currently plays professional baseball in a Venezuelan league.

Zambrano last pitched in the big leagues in 2007 when he split the season with the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. He’s also pitched for the New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays.

Kidnappings are somewhat common in Latin America. Typically, a relative of a rich person is kidnapped and held for ransom. It’s unclear if Zambrano has been reached with a ransom request as of yet.

Yorvit Torrealba, the Venezuelan catcher for the Colorado Rockies, dealt with a similar incident this year. Thankfully, his son and brother-in-law were let go by their captures after only a day.

Victor Zambrano's mother was kidnapped (Image: Zuma Press)

Post from: Knuckle Curve

South Korea’s lone Major League Baseball player provided the big hit in the first inning. Choo Shin-Soo of the Cleveland Indians hit a three-run shot off of Venezuelan starter Carlos Silva.

Choo Shin-Soo Celebrates First Inning Blast (Image: Newscom)

On the mound, South Korea got a huge performance from Yoon Suk-Min. Only 22-years-old, Yoon gave up only two earned runs, seven hits and one walk in 6.1 innings, while striking out four batters. His ERA during the 2009 World Baseball Classic is a sparkling 1.12.

International success isn’t a foreign concept to South Korea. In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, they were able to win the gold medal in baseball.

Now South Korea will play the winner of the United States versus Japan matchup for the championship of the World Baseball Classic. Roy Oswalt will get the start for the U.S. and Daisuke Matsuzaka will start for Japan in the game that is to be played on Sunday.

The championship game will take place on Monday in Dodger Stadium.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

The hero on Tuesday night was David Wright. Down by a run in the bottom of the ninth, Wright hit a single that scored two runs to give their 6-5 margin of victory. With the loss, Puerto Rico was eliminated. Oddly enough, the last time Puerto Rico and the US met, Puerto Rico won that game 11-1.

On Wednesday, Venezuela remained on fire. In the bottom of the sixth, Venezuela scored three times to extend their one-run lead to a 10-6 advantage. After a scoreless final three innings, Venezuela had completed their upset.

Despite the loss, the United States has successfully qualified for the semifinals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Gerardo Parra of Venezuela - Source: Newscom

Post from: Knuckle Curve

After getting up early, Cuba saw Mexico tie the ballgame. But a five-run spurt put Cuba up for good. Mexico made a late rally but it was too little, too late for Mexico. Cuba, on the other hands, lives to play another day.

In the other game on Monday, Puerto Rico went up against Venezuela. In this contest, the winner advanced and the loser would go against the United States in an elimination game. Venezuela got a run in the third and a run in the seventh and that ended up being all they needed. Starter Felix Hernandez was dominant and Puerto Rico was held to only five hits in their 2-0 loss.

Puerto Rico will now face the United States on Tuesday night. The loser of the game will be sent packing. The good news for Puerto Rico is that they dominated the U.S. in their previous game, winning by a final margin of 11-1.

Source: Newscom

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Now Guillen is telling Cabrera to lose weight. Quoth the Chicago skipper:

When you’re getting older and you go down, they say you’re fat. Right now it’s, “Oh, he’s a little chubby. He likes to eat.” When you’re not hitting .340 with 40 home runs, they’re going to call you a fat boy from Venezuela. You’d better lose some weight.

This is sort of touching, but it’s also sort of weird. Like, it’s nice to see Guillen concerned about his fellow countryman, but the guy plays for the Marlins.

Guillen and Cabrera had their little chat over dinner Sunday night. No word on what they ate.

Post from: Knuckle Curve