World Baseball Classic

[DoctorP]

Japan and the USA played today in Mexico and let me just say that Japan was robbed! They were leading 3 to 1 with the bases loaded and one out. The batter hit a fly ball to left field. The runner on third tagged up and scored, but the US team said that he left the bag early. The third base umpire disagreed, but the Home plate umpire agreed and called the runner out. That play turned the game. The US came up later and scored a two run homer from Derrick Lee...then won the game in the bottom of the ninth inning off a base hit up the middle.
After looking at the replay over and over it was inconclusive that the runner left early...unless you guys saw something that I didn't. It didn't really matter to me who won, but I just like it to be fair!
USA Robs Japan

 

[Hideki_Matsui_Beast]

I didn't see the play so I don't really have am opinion on that. I think this is a great event though, lots of superstars and lots of countries involved.

I look for the US to take it. Roger Clemens, A-Rod, Jeter, Derrek Lee, etc. are going to be tough to beat.

 

[DoctorP]

I don't personally see the US as the front runners here. I see the Dominican team as being the one to beat. Have you looked at their batting order?

 

[Hideki_Matsui_Beast]

Their batting order is pretty unreal, but I think their pitching is questionable besides Colon.

 

[senseiman]

Yeah, Japan got screwed on that one.

The series is pretty heavily biased in America's favor. They've got the hometown advantage throughout, most of the umpires are Americans, they didn't have to play any tough teams in the first round, they had access to scouting reports other teams didn't even know about....

Normally I'm sympathetic to umpires making split second calls that get second-guessed. But in this case the umpire who made the split second call was correct and the guy who did the second guessing (ie the plate umpire) was wrong. So I've got no sympathy for him.

 

[TwistedMac]

anyone got a source for downloading these games? I would so love to see the china-japan game...

 

[Glenn]

Or the Korea-Japan game, for that matter.

 

[MeAndroo]

Well, even an allegedly biased system can't help the US team when they screw themselves up like they did against Korea. Dontrelle didn't pitch well again, and they gave up a big homer to Hee Seop Choi. I've watched a number of Dodger games over the past few years and I wish Choi would show the punch he showed last night more often.

 

[Hideki_Matsui_Beast]

The US looked awful last night. They couldn't pitch or get timely hits.

It's good to see Griffey playing well again though. I hope he can stay healthy all year. I think he would be challenging the top of all-time homerun list.

 

[DoctorP]

Remember one thing about the US team. These guys don't normally play ball right now...they are usually just getting into Spring Training and getting back into playing shape. Most of the pitchers on the US squad aren't ready for this type of competition...that is why they have limits on how many innings they can pitch. With that said, it is a shame that they didn't prepare themselves and come in ready to play!

 

[Hideki_Matsui_Beast]

CC1:

That's a great point, not just for the US, but any MLB player on any of the teams. I think that's why a lot of these no-name players from other countries have so much success, even though their talent level is probably much lower than the MLB players.

Time of the year can be a big factor in baseball. A lot of foreign players' production drops severely later in the MLB season in their first years in the majors. They're just not used to playing at that time.

A full strength US or Dominican team could be untouchable.

 

[DoctorP]

Well remember that Japan's season just ended, and the Domincans play during the US winter time, so those teams are in pretty good shape. I'm not making excuses, I'm more laying blame that the American players should have prepared better!

 

[Hideki_Matsui_Beast]

That's definitely also true. I just think if every team had the exact same schedule, the US and the Dominicans would dominate.

I also wish the players' MLB teams were more friendly about the WBC. It's a shame that players with a lot of pride in where they come from, like Jorge Posada for example, are often discouraged from playing.

I'll say Go USA! Especially Jeter, A-Rod, Damon, and Leiter, my Yankees!