Peter C. Bjarkman

Team Cuba just can’t seem to get over the hump against top-level Japanese hurlers. That fact was driven home on Sunday afternoon in Sapporo by a second straight nail-biting defeat.

This past week’s three-game exhibition series between a “pre-selection” Cuban national squad and the Chinese Professional Baseball League all-stars was designed to provide some additional seasoning for both squads as they prepare for next spring’s third addition of the MLB-sponsored World Baseball Classic.

Team Cuba’s much-anticipated November tour of Taiwan and Japan opened this past weekend in Taichung and Taoyuan with a pair of classic pitching duels that provided few on-field fireworks but nonetheless perfectly mirrored the pattern of so many nip-and-tuck Taiwan-Cuba battles during recent international seasons.

There should be little doubt that third-year Cuban big leaguer Aroldis Chapman has now proven wrong the numerous doubters and naysayers with his rather overpowering summer-long 2012 performances out of the Cincinnati bullpen.

While Cuba’s vaunted national team was reestablishing some much-needed credibility last month at the Haarlem Baseball Week, ex-patriot Cuban players were also continuing to make considerable noise on more-celebrated major league diamonds.

Neither the faultering Cuban team nor the ill-tempered weatherman has painted a very pretty picture here in Haarlem so far this week. The Cuban ball club suffered back-to-back early defeats marked by uncharacteristically impotent offense and highly troublesome inconsistent pitching.

Ciego de Avila’s 20-0 “super knockout” thrashing of Granma in last night’s Oriental League opening semifinals contest was hardly very gripping or even faintly artistic. But it certainly was a game that put several dents in the professional baseball record books.