Unbeaten Venezuela wins thriller, 11-9

VALENCIA, Venezuela -The Boston Red Sox have a new shortstop, Alex Gonzalez, and he hit a Bucky Dent home run Saturday night. Only this time, there was no Green Monster and the home crowd went insane with joy.

After his three-run homer off the Dominican Republic's Jorge Sosa was the difference in a compelling 11-9 conquest for Venezuela at Estadio Jose Bernardo Perez in front of 15,889, Gonzalez conducted a few interviews on the field, then ran for his life to the clubhouse as media swarmed him, microphones and mini-cams flying.

Francisco Rodriguez, who pitched the ninth inning to nail it down for Caracas, also had to run for cover under the adrenaline-fueled camera crews who pushed and elbowed for room. K-Rod couldn't recall this brand of craziness when his Anaheim Angels won the 2002 World Series.

The triumph vaulted Venezuela to the top in the Series with a 3-0 record. The Dominican Republic is 2-1, with Puerto Rico 1-2 and Mexico 0-3.

For Gonzalez, there has been nothing to match the feeling he experienced in creating a delirious ending for countrymen and women who will talk about this game for the rest of their lives.

"This homer is even more important than the one I hit for the Marlins in the (12th inning of Game 4 of the 2003) World Series," Gonzalez said. "This was for my country."

Licey scored in every inning but the ninth, when Rodriguez silenced Tejada and Co. There were 30 hits, 15 to a side, eight homers, five by Licey, and no errors in a true classic.

After an inauspicious beginning, the Caracas crew rallied furiously in the middle innings and again late to make this everything the fanaticos could have wanted -- and then some.

Like Ali and Frazier slugging it out in Madison Square Garden, the unbeaten heavyweights from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic exchanged power blows, and it was Licey that actually did more damage before Gonzalez unloaded the shot heard 'round Latin America.

The Dominican Republic's five homers included blasts by Miguel Tejada in the seventh inning and Jose Offerman in the eighth that gave their team one-run leads.

Each time, however, Venezuela was equal to the challenge.

Responding to Tejada's homer in the seventh, Caracas tied it at 8-8 when Luis Rodriguez singled home Henry Blanco, who'd doubled.

Trailing 9-8 going to the ninth after Offerman's blow, Ramon Hernandez opened the rally with a single through the middle against reliever Roman Colon. After Franklin Guiterrez's single sent pinch-runner William Bergolla to third, Licey manager Rafael Landestoy called on Sosa, who'd been lights out in earlier games.

Gonzalez walked up looking for a slider and got one up in the zone that he was able to yank down the left-field line and over the fence, touching off a celebration to which the word wild doesn't do justice.

"This crowd's gotta be like the (Houston) Astrodome -- it's right there, and it's so loud," said Licey pitcher Julian Tavarez. "This is the best game I've ever seen in the Caribbean Series. I think it's the best game you're going to see in the Caribbean Series."

It reminded Tavarez of another World Series game -- the opener of the 2004 Series, with Boston beating his St. Louis Cards, 11-9, when Mark Bellhorn launched a two-run homer against him.

"I was the losing pitcher in that game, and it was the same score," Tavarez recalled.

The win in this one went to Juan Carlos Ovalles, the loss to Sosa.

The crowd came to life in the seventh inning, when Caracas roared back from a 7-2 deficit with five runs, two coming on a double by Luis Rodriguez and two more on a towering homer by big Alexander Cabrera following a sacrifice fly by Marco Scutaro.

Licey manager Rafael Landestoy, who got six solid innings from Jared Fernandez before the right-hander weakened in the seventh and didn't get an out, watched southpaw Valerio de los Santos get raked by Luis Rodriguez and right-hander Eddie Ramos surrender the bomb to Cabrera that had fans dancing in the aisles.

Licey struck quickly behind its table-setters, Hernandez and Erick Aybar, taking command against Venezeula right-hander Harold Eckert.

With six hits in 11 at-bats coming in, Hernandez stayed hot with a leadoff single to right. Aybar, hitless in his first 10 plate appearances, went ahead 3-0 in the count, took a strike, then slashed a drive into the right-field seats.

While Fernandez was frustrating the Caracas crew with his assortment of deliveries, the Licey offense kept up the pressure. After Timo Perez was thrown out trying to stretch a single for the second out in the second inning, Offerman stroked a double to right and scored on a single by catcher Sandy Martinez.

Aybar was the catalyst in the third, singling to lead off. When Eckert drilled Tejada with a pitch, his night was over. In came Yorman Brazado, who restored order after Aybar scored on a wild pitch.

Licey made it 5-0 in the fourth when Offerman and Martinez singled, with Aybar's double-play ball delivering Offerman after a Hernandez walk.

Caracas finally made its fanaticos happy in the fifth when Blanco unloaded a solo homer to left. But the Dominicans got it back when Ronnie Belliard went deep against Mauro Zarate in the fifth.

Caracas pushed across a run in the sixth when Franklin Gutierrez rocketed a double to left-center to plate Rafael Alvarez, but Ramon Hernandez was shot down at home on a tremendous relay by Aybar, the shortstop throwing a strike from shallow left field.

There can't be many shortstops in the Major Leagues with better guns than Aybar, who belongs to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and whose brother, Willy, plays for the Dodgers.

Hernandez, a dynamic second baseman who could convince Mets manager Willie Randolph he deserves a serious look, produced his eighth hit of the Series in the sixth -- a solo blast off Zarate for the 7-2 lead that Caracas managed to erase.

The excitement was only starting. It was left to Alex Gonzalez and Francisco Rodriguez to close the show -- and run to safety as Venezuela erupted in joy.