<div><p>CARACAS (Reuters) - Rarely has the phrase "three strikes, you're out" been so controversial on Venezuela's baseball fields -- or in its politics.</p><p>Opposition leaders have seized on three issues weighing on President Hugo Chavez -- uncontrolled crime, water shortages and electricity cuts -- to adopt a new sporting slogan for protests: "Chavez, you've struck out."</p><p>The opposition has struggled in the past to come up with punchy campaigns to erode the socialist Chavez's popularity. But this phrase has been widely picked up this month, nowhere more than in baseball stadiums.</p><p>"I think 'You've struck out' is going to be the phrase of the year," said Oscar Camacho, 25, an engineer, preparing to watch the sixth game of a pulsating championship series in a buzzing Caracas bar.</p><p>"We're suffering with power rationing, we've got no water and crime is out of control, this is our day-to-day reality."</p><p>Inside stadiums, the phrase has popped up on banners and in chants, irking the baseball-loving Chavez and becoming a rare successful rallying cry for the fragmented opposition.</p><p>The phrase has sparked pushing and shoving inside stadiums among rival groups. Some TV directors have tried to keep the cameras off such incidents to avoid fanning tensions and charges of political bias.</p><p>Though opposition leaders remain divided and have not yet put together a popular alternative program, they sense a window of opportunity this year as Chavez heads toward September legislative elections with a mound of problems.</p><p>BASEBALL LEAGUE ISSUES WARNING</p><p>First on Venezuelans' worry list is one of the world's highest murder rates. But cuts in water and electricity services that began at the end of last year seem to be hurting Chavez most, analysts say.</p><p>The government blames a drought, but opposition leaders point to 11 years of mismanagement and inefficiency.</p><p>Most analysts believe Chavez's power-base among the masses -- his approval levels are down, but still around 50 percent -- and an electoral system skewed in favor of his party mean he will still keep a majority in the National Assembly.</p><p>Venezuela's professional baseball league was so worried about politics spilling into its arenas that it issued a rare statement urging rival fans, who traditionally soak each other with beer, not to "upset public order" with political slogans.</p><p>Thursday night's Game Six that tied the championship series was punctuated by crowds chanting, "This government is going to fall". Compounding the situation, play was halted for half an hour after some lights went out due to an electricity problem.</p><p>The championship pits Leones of Caracas against the Magallanes, Chavez's team, based in the opposition-dominated city of Valencia.</p><p>The phrase "Chavez, 'tas poncha'o", as it is said in Venezuela's colloquial Caribbean Spanish -- is thought to have first surfaced when opposition students held up a banner during a game in mid-January. National Guard troops snatched the sign and briefly detained several students, they said.</p><p>Chavez, a former pitcher who adores the sport and often speaks in baseball metaphors, has been quick to weigh in.</p><p>"I see faces of people in the stadium and they're annoyed, they're scared," said Chavez, who has repeatedly mentioned the baseball protests during live broadcasts. "Since when have people gone to a stadium to provoke others? They're disrespecting the sport, the players and the crowd."</p><p>He said he had already "struck out" the opposition 11 times and would deliver a 12th "strike-out" in the September election.</p><p>The self-declared Marxist has repeatedly clobbered adversaries at the ballot box and maintained his popularity by expanding health and education services.</p><p>But opposition leaders believe for the first time they can win over some of Chavez's poor supporters after years of campaigning on abstract themes like freedom of expression.</p><p>(Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Alan Elsner)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68050509&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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