Fort Myers, Florida.- Sandy Alcantara He is a man on a mission. He has been waiting for this Saturday’s game for years, a responsibility that he assumes gallantly since millions of Dominicans have it as a trump card against Venezuela.
“I know what I have to do there on the mound,” the opener for the tricolor team said bluntly in the opening match this Saturday against Simón Bolívar’s home squad.
“I am at 100%, I know all the hitters who are going to play in the Clásico in the Venezuelan team. I don’t have to worry and on Saturday we will have the opportunity to compete”, he added.
The winner of the Cy Young of the National League in 2022 after a superb job with the Marlins will have as opponent a ninth with names like José Altuve, Luis Arráez, Ronald Acuña Jr. and the future member of the Hall of Fame, Miguel Cabrera, among others.
In addition to those respect bats, Sandy, 27, must manage well because there is a pitch limit for each performance.
“There are 65 pitches, but a pitcher like me who knows how to save his pitches, I’m not going to worry about that. I’m going to try to save as much as I can to go deeper into the game, ”he said with the serious face that characterizes him the days before a start.
Sandy spoke with the media on Thursday at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, because he routinely does not speak to the press the day before pitching.
This Saturday he will do it in his park in the so-called “Ciudad del Sol”, where he has amazed the fans of the Marlins, but in his mind and heart there will only be room for his compatriots.
“(To the Dominicans) Don’t turn off the televisions, don’t turn them off, sit down and wait from the first pitch to the last out. We are here for them, to give our best,” he said.
The mission is around the corner. “Plátano Power” will have one of the best pitchers in the business for his first challenge.
The clock ticks…
