A great night for Mexico
Photos by Ben Platt / MLB.com
First off — I don’t want to talk about me tonight. It’s not about me, it’s
about what we did. I want everyone to know that this is a team game and what we
did tonight was for our team and our country. We wanted to go with our chin up
and play our best tonight. We wanted to say goodbye to our crowd — we had an
amazing crowd tonight and we got the win. Our pitching, offense and defense was
so great tonight. The controversial call on Valenzuela’s missed home run was a
little unfair. I saw the replay and it looked like a home run; but, we got the
win and celebrating with my teammates on the field after our victory was a
special experience. What we did tonight was for Mexico and nothing else.
What we did as a team these past two weeks meant everything to us as a team
and to our country. Our dream team is now big in Mexico. Like I said before:
it’s all about pride and being able to hold your chin up and battle with the
best baseball countries in the world.
Tonight I saw the legendary Juan Marichal walk by. In 16 or 17 years
from now I hope to be like Marichal: a legend in baseball. I want to
recognized here in the United States and in Mexico and everywhere else in the
world. That’s what every ballplayer dreams to be. You just need keep that dream
and work hard to head into that direction.
This blog has been a lot of fun for me. I check all the responses every
day. I don’t have time to respond to everyone; but it’s been fun to read all of
your responses and your enthusiasm has rubbed off on me and it’s made me even
hungrier to raise my game to a higher level for all of you.
So to all of you I appreciate your support big-time and you are always
welcome to write in and I will try and respond to you. I have my computer with
me all the time and when there is a free moment you will hear from me. But now
it’s time to get back to Florida and catch up with my other team — the Devil
Rays. Let me get back into the swing of things in Florida and when the season
starts I may keep this going.
Thank you again for sharing this amazing experience with me.
Jorge
Jorge Cantu's World 
Hey, i’m joe, i’m 17 and I enjoyed watching you play in the WBC and I enjoy watching you play for the Devil Rays. I live just a couple of miles from tropicana and I attend as many games as I can. You are by far my favorite on the team and I wish you well on the upcoming baseball season. Just so you know, I have attended some spring training games and you guys look dominating.
Felicidades a todo el equipo Mejicano..
El juego de hoy fue chido y todos deben de estar orgulloso.
Para mi uds. son los GANADORES
VIVA MEXICO !!!!!!
Jorge,
Amazing game and tournament for you and the whole mexican team. I’m proud to say I was the only one cheering you and the Mexican team while watching the game with about 25 friends of mine. They way you play the game with such respect is amazing, and your definetly bringing the Rays positive TV time with your tremendous play at the Classic. Can’t wait to see you in a D-Rays Uni for the rest of spring training and the season.
Good Luck and Keep Mashing Brother.
Kudos for not wanting to talk about you – but you SHOULD be very proud of yourself! Way to go, Jorge!
Hello! Congratulations on victory in WBC. It was the result that was very nice for we Japanese. I show great respect to a fight of a Mexican team.
I pray for activity by a season.
Hello Jorge and all of the mexican players, I live in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and eventhough “we” couldn´t make it to the next round, I´m proud of the team specially the pitchers (except the japan game) who were amazing against everyone, the batters came up kind of short with some pleasant exceptions like you Jorge that were battung more regularly, but at the end, I´m satisfied with the team performance, you were playing against the best of the best around the world and did well, besides you have lifted up our countries pride against the US at their sport (twice now)and at their home, because in our sport (soccer)we have lost to them many times by now, and that´s embarassing, We´re all proud of you, Viva Mexico!!!
With all respect to our tampa fellows, Jorge aren´t you gonna look for another more important team any time soon?
Tocayazo:
Te saludo de nueva cuenta desde Mérida, Yucatán, para felicitarte de todo corazón por el magnífico torneo que tuviste, así como los demás integrantes del equipo. Para nosotros los yucatecos era un orgullo ver a nuestro Juan José Pacho como coach de la 3a. base. El también es una gran persona, o no? Toda la familia te manda saludos y te queremos decir que estamos contando los días para estar en el Tropicana Field del 7 al 9 de Julio durante la serie ante los Yankees. Mi hija (Natalia) te recuerda que muere por tomarse una foto contigo. Ojalá se pueda en esos días. Te mandamos un gran abrazo y te reiteramos que eres un gran orgullo y un ejemplo para la juvetud de nuestro país
Congratulations to you and the whole team. I’ve been following you since Class-A Short Season – Hudson Valley Renegades. It’s great to see you got it all together and are going places.
Look forward to saying “I knew him when…” in another 20 years!
Jorge, congrats to you and all the Team Mexico for this great experience!!!
I really enjoy what you did during this first WBC, specially what you all did last night. You play for honor, and did an awesome job. Let’s wait 3 years for the next WBC. I’m pretty sure you’ll be there.
Now, let’s play baseball.
May the season begin!!!
Regars from Hermosillo, Sonora.
JORGE!! omg!! i know you know who this is and it would be sooooo awesome if you could respond!! I watched every single game in the WBC series for you!( not every game..just mexicos) so pleeaassee respond!! i will still love you the same if you do or dont!! ⤠megan the future mrs.cantu..
You guys should be very proud of how well you performed. Team Mexico did alot better than most people expected. I watched the games at first just to see how the mighty Cantu was looking going into this season, but I ended up cheering for the entire team all the way through the second round. There is far more talent coming out of Mexico than I realized and I’m glad I got to see that group of star athletes play. I’m already looking forward to seeing next years team in action. Next year team Mexico will be as heavily favored as the Dominican team I bet.
Jorge,
You are one of the few young “pure” players I now see in MLB. To watch you play is such a breath of fresh air. May you have a FANTASTIC season and a PHENOMENAL carrer!
I’ll be watching.
Hey Jorge
what a great game, down here in mexico we are very proud of you all, have a fantastic season
PD: el pakin estrada les metio El Chile Cardenas (aka David Cortes) a los americanos, jaja, sin albur
Hola,
Just want to say that now I am a BIG!! fan of yours. To be honest I had heard about you just once or twice prior to the WBC. I went to the games in Phoenix and since then I am your fan. Tambien, I went to your game against Pima. My nephew Joey was the starting pitcher and he was sooo excited just to have had the opportunity to play you guys. Anyway good luck with the Devils Rays (they have a new fan) and I’ll be watching.
(P.S. Que onda con la tal “Megan”. She sounds kind of scary. Quiedado.)
jorge, felicidades a ti y a toda la selecion mexicana…jugaron a todo dar y fue una gran emocion verlos jugar…buena suerte esta temporada con tampa bay y viva mexico!
Jorge,
Watch out for the chicks, man.
(Buscalo de la majores. hombre’??) I don’t know if what I said was right.
You are suddenly becoming a sex symbol in Tampa.
Keep up what you do best, dawg.
Best of luck…
Jorge,
This post isn’t just for you but for all the Mexico Team. God! what an offense. Ojeda, Valenzuela, Castilla, Loaiza, Pancho Ponches, Ayala, even you experimenting in a new position, i don’t mean even you as an insult. Too bad our bats fell short this time. But hey there’s 2009! I’m from mexico city (feels awkward writing to yopu in english) and love baseball. So this is for your effort, pride and determination. Just hope to see you soon with the yankees, although you may have to try as first base, haha. But seriously thank you all guys for making the last game so important for us fans, and not because of the rivalry against USA, but because you played your heart out.
Carlos Méndez.
P.S. hey man i don’t expect you to write me back, just happy to know you read this, but probably that megan girl deserves the only email from you, haha.
Jorge – I didn’t know you had a blog here until this morning – I’ve been posting in Mr. DuPuy’s blog. I’ve read all your posts now and am impressed with your writing as well as your baseball. Although a lifelong baseball fan, I was a skeptic about the WBC until I saw the first game. After that, I realized this this would be a wonderful tournament Now I will be watching the semis and the final.
I’ll close by quoting from a column written by Thomas Boswell this morning in the Washington Post which is relevant to the baseball issues of the day.
“MLB can thank its lucky stars for March Madness. If the nation had not been busy with its NCAA basketball brackets, it might have noticed that teams from all over the world now know how to emphasize pitching, defense, “small ball,” team play and high spirits, while our players sat back and waited for guys with big muscles and bigger salaries to hit home runs.
The message of this first, but not last WBC, may be clearer than we think. For more than 15 years, MLB’s brand of baseball has been long on “juice” and short on subtlety. That era is finally over. Teams like the Chicago White Sox, who play the whole game properly and function as interlocking units, not as isolated individuals, now rule the sport.
While the American version of the game has spent a generation bulking up and dumbing down, the rest of the world has been catching up. If you watch the rest of the WBC, you will see teams that lay down precise sacrifice bunts, play hit-and-run, advance runners, hit the cutoff man, cheer each other madly and hit according to the demands of the situation, not the desires of their own egos. You may not recognize many of the players. But you will probably still recognize the game. It’s baseball.”
Jorge – thank you for being a Patriot and playing for your country. I wish you all the best this year.
Congratulations Jorge. Mexico should be proud to have you as their countryman.
Now get to St. Pete and reclaim your psoition in the middle of the order. Can’t wait to see you on opening day in the Rays greens!
ola jorge:
primero que nada felicitaciones por tu actuacion en el clasico mundial, quiero que sepas que toda la gente en mazatlan estamos muy orgullosos por lo que hicieron y demostraron a todo el mundo.. que el beisbol mexicano esta a la par de cualquier beisbol en el mundo.
te he seguido desde que subiste al equipo grande de tampa bay y creelo que este año te seguire dia a dia .. esperando asi que te consolidez como lo que eresss una estrella del beisbol mundial
Jaime Verde
de villa union, mazatlan, sinaloa
Jorge:
Me dio mucho orgullo ver el desempeño de la selección mexicana. Ojalá que esto sirva para que veamos lo mediocre que es el futbol mexicano que nada más no da triunfos… Mientras que el beisbol siempre da satisfacciones. hay que trabajar duro para agarrar la onda del estilo asiático.
Mucha suerte con las Mantarayas!
Wow, a great night for me, too.
Go on, go on, Jorge.
Oh,,,red T-shirt looks nice on you!!!
Hey Jorge! Congratulations for that game you and the team gave to all Mexico. By the time the Last Game (vs USA) started we knew whould be very dificult to make it to semifinal, but even that I was nerveous and suportting our Mexico Team. That victory felt great.
I feel glad that I had the opportunity to be at the first game vs USA in Phoenix, AZ. We lost that game, but it was well played.
I am from Reynosa, Mexico, but I live in San Francisco, CA. BTW I saw you at the San Pio X church last time I went to Reynosa. I saw TB’s calendar and you will be in the San Francisco Bay Area on May 5,6, adn 7 (playing vs Oakland A’s). Hope I can get an authograph
Julio Falcon
Jorge
I’m Akito from Japan.
I know you and your team did all this for the pride of your country, but all the same, thanks for giving the Japanese team the chance to do what they have done. Before the game, most of us thought that the Mexicans would not play really hard against USA. We were totally wrong.
I’ll eat Mexican food and buy Mexican stuff when I can choose. We’ll always think of that game when we think of Mexico!
Good Luck, Jorge and members of Team Mexico! I hope you have a great season.
Jorge, felicidades a ti y a todos tus compañeros que representaron a nuestra patria con gran orgullo, profesionalismo y humildad. Tuve la gran fortuna de poder viajar a Phoenix para ver los tres juegos y tambien el primero contra Korea en Anaheim. Fue una gran experiencia que nunca olvidare. Nosotros sabemos lo que tiene Mexico y ahora todo el mundo tambien lo sabe. Nuevamente, gracias a todos, el equipo y la aficion. Hasta mi mama que me acompaño y no sabe mucho del beisbol tambien lo disfruto, entonces no conocia a ninguno de ustedes los jugadores pero ya en el juego de Anaheim cuando te anunciaron ella dijo “jorge como es bueno, ese muchacho me gusta como juega.” ja ja ja. Ya te ganaste otra aficionada.
Saludos del D.F y Ensenada, Baja California.
Just realized you had this blog going and read through all your entries. Really good reads. It sounds like you had a really amazing experience. Being Canadian it was awesome to see us beat the USA but I will admit the Mexican win over Canada hurt but thats sport. Just wondering if you think you will be in the next WBC in 09? Got to say Im a big fan of yours now though and will follow you and wish for your success in the upcoming season.
awww… im sorry i sounded kinda weird and like stalkerish.. i just got really excited about how like we could like actually have a couple of conversations… and like on these little comments i call myself the future mrs.cantu because thats how i know you know who i am.. i didnt even think of that sign idea.. my ma did and i just used it…<33 megan
Jorge,
Did you forget about us? Ya nos olvidaste 😦
how is the foot?
Jorge, When you`re back to te line up?, You got to be at 100% to do a great season like past season. We hope to be in shape in your return. P.D. Saludos desde HERMOSILLO SONORA
Hey Jorge,
I know you are busy down there in Montgomery putting the finishing touches on your rehab.
But I just wanted to congratulate you and team Mexico
for some really fine baseball. Ive heard people say that the WBC was a disaster.I disagree. It showed the world that baseball can bring people from all cultures and walks of life together. As you know there’s alot of tension between we Americans and Mexico. Hopefully something like baseball can break down barriers and unite people for good. The power of sports can be an amazing thing. Good luck this year.
Hey Mr. Cantu,
Even though I am a diehard yankees fan, you are one of my favorite players! I watched you play in the WBC and rooted for Mexico to win if the US couldn’t. I dressed up as you for halloween last year(not because your scary!) because I like your mustache and the way you wear your hat. If you could respond to this I would be sooo happy but I understand if you can’t.
Good Luck in teh rest of the the season.
Your loyal fan
holas norteñitooooo¡¡¡¡¡
como siempre mis mejores deseos para ti, eres lo maximo y el mejor pelotero, un hombre disciplinado y capáz de lograr todo lo que te propones, pocas personas como tu en el mundo, te quiero mucho y siempre te recordare,
GABY (VERACRUZ, VER)