Article: Bench warmers: their heart is in the game, but even Mexico's top baseball squad suffers for its sport.(Sports)(Mexico's most successful baseball team, the Diablos Rojos)

How far could U.S. slugger Barry Bonds hit a baseball in Mexico City? Seven hundred feet? (Most ballparks are less than 400 feet deep). The thin air of the Mexican capital, at an altitude of 2,400 meters, is a hitters' dream. As for pitchers, while in theory they can throw faster here than at sea level, the dry air makes it hard for them to get any movement on the ball. "You just have to go out and pitch," says Bronswell Patrick, a former Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants player, now with the Mexico City Diablos Bojos (Bed Devils). "If you move the ball in and out, you are doing your job."

Despite being reigning champions and Mexico's most successful ...

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