World Baseball Classic: Mexico vs. South Africa

On Monday afternoon I changed hotels from the Ramada to the Hilton Aeropuerto. Nicole arrived from Chicago on Monday evening. The Hilton is located in Terminal 1 which is an easy train ride from Terminal 2 – where Nicole was flying into. Since Nicole was not arriving until after the game started and would need to go through customs, baggage claim and make her way from Terminal 2 to the hotel in Terminal 1, I would have time to attend about half the game Monday night before meeting her for dinner.

The Game
The atmosphere on Monday night was completely different when compared to Sunday night even though Mexico played in both games. The only reason I could think of is that none of the Mexican fans expected Mexico to play Monday night. They expected Mexico to win Sunday night in order to play Cuba on Tuesday night.

On Sunday night, a band played and the crowd sang the Mexican national anthem, while the military presented the Mexican flag. On Monday night, the national anthem was played over the loud speaker and nobody in the stands sang anything. In fact, the stadium was half as full as it was Sunday night with only 10,311 in attendance.

South Africa stayed close for the first 6 innings but fell apart late losing to Mexico 14-3 (technically losing by the slaughter rule) after nine innings. Adrian Gonzalez homered twice and had 6 RBI.

Post Game Dining
After the game, I met Nicole at the hotel and we ate at the Bistro Mosaico in the airport by the Hilton.