At the beginning of the tournament, there were commemorative 2007 Caribbean Series baseballs for sale at the souvenir stand.

But not since they ran out of balls to play with yesterday.

“I gave them my last three dozen,” the manager of the stand said. He actually said he sold them, though I’m really not certain how a transaction like that goes down.

And at 10 bucks a pop, that’s a pretty expensive three dozen.

Venezuela just took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning of the early game, and fans are beginning to file in for tonight’s Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico matchup . . . the game is sold out, though I’m really not sure they’re going to have a full house since the title has already been decided.

But Jose Lima’s pitching, so that’s always a reason to watch.