T1B

Its a bang-bang play, but I want to know what Buck said to have them reverse the call. He looked like he tagged up and it doesnt make the US look to credible when shady stuff like that happens.

Screw_Michigan wrote:is it just me or has anyone noticed all the left handed asian hitters are slappies just like ichero?

Genius take!!!!!

Sin,
Hideki Matsui, aka Godzirra

Uh oh, Korea beat us yesterday...let the American baseball armageddon talk resume. God forbid another country beat us in something.

Shoalzie wrote:Uh oh, Korea beat us yesterday...let the American baseball armageddon talk resume. God forbid another country beat us in something.

It's not that they beat us.......It's that they beat us with that piece of crap Byun Hyun Kim on the mound.......

WTF is up with Team USA? It was last week I think Wednesday or Thursday I watched the Korean team playing a game against a Padre split squad (made up of guys that all got sent off to their respective single, double, or triple A camps except for 3 yesterday). The Padre scrubs kicked their asses 7-1. Team USA needs to pull their heads out of their asses.

Mexico is eliminated, but I can imagine the crowd in Anaheim tonight beings 65% pro Mexico with plenty of the red, green and white.

Cross Traffic wrote:Mexico is eliminated, but I can imagine the crowd in Anaheim tonight beings 65% pro Mexico with plenty of the red, green and white.

La Migra should be posted near all the exits.

Is it starting to sink in yet that our guys don't give a shit?

Is it possible that some teams are just better than Team USA? Korea has yet lose in the WBC.

I'll be rooting for the Japs tonight.

signed,

Steinbrenner

Cross Traffic wrote:Mexico is eliminated, but I can imagine the crowd in Anaheim tonight beings 65% pro Mexico with plenty of the red, green and white.

i hear they will be selling oranges,strawberries and socks next to the parking lot entrances.

the kuba/puerto rico game was ripe with pussies slamming helmets on the ground and having strokes and menstrual periods over calls, a lot of bullshit crying, and overall a bunch of horseshit carribbean attitude we'd rather not have in north american baseball.

other than winning obviuosly. but the games tonight were terrible. go fuck yourself, kuba.

Cuba's softball unis are real fresh too.

Korea wins again and puts Team USA's fate back into their own hands...just beat Mexico and advance. I'm not looking forward to having to face Korea again in the semis though.

Shoalzie wrote:Korea wins again and puts Team USA's fate back into their own hands...just beat Mexico and advance. I'm not looking forward to having to face Korea again in the semis though.

Good news, you have nothing to worry about now!

VIVA MEXICO!

I thought this was a good take on the US and the WBC from my local fishwrap.

World shows us how it's done

March 17, 2006

ANAHEIM – Don't do it. Don't sell that ticket.

No doubt you've had the ticket broker's phone number on speed dial, your finger on the button, pressing harder with each of Team USA's ridiculous losses in half of its six games of this 16-nation tournament. Back off. Power down. You're going to want to be at Petco Park tomorrow and Monday.

The event is called the World Baseball Classic, not the America's Cup or U.S. Invitational, and the WBC is precisely as billed as it heads to San Diego for the semifinals and championship game. Baseball the way the world, not just North America, plays the game. Both on the field and in the stands, the WBC has been scintillating. At times, classic indeed.

Virtually every ticket released to San Diego was sold on the spot, on spec, ostensibly with the overriding belief that Team USA surely would be one of the four taking part.

Ancient American saying: Oops.

Let us just hope that the U.S. players came away from the experience with a new respect for the rest of the planet. Because, frankly, the Americans got shown how their game should be played.

U.S. manager Buck Martinez yesterday was asked which of the foreign players he'd seen over the past 10 days that he was confident could make it in the major leagues. He provided a long, detailed list.

Given the things we've seen in the WBC, though, maybe it's time to get over ourselves and turn the questions around. How many of Martinez's players, as skilled and strong as they are, could handle the demands of playing in Nippon Professional Baseball and/or the Korean Baseball Organization?

How many would be willing, let alone able, to do the things that make the Japanese and especially the Koreans such models of efficiency and, dare we say, professionalism? Above all, shouldn't we come down off our provincial high horse and finally start to show some deep appreciation for baseball beyond the major leagues?

“That's an excellent question,” said Martinez, “if you think about the execution that we have seen, and I'm speaking of Korea and Japan, because that's what we've seen most recently, the way they execute fundamentally, their positioning, their execution of a pitch, their pitching plan. They don't make any mistakes. They don't rattle. They're well-disciplined.

“Obviously, you see the value of their practice regimen, where they take hundreds of ground balls a day. They swing 100 times a day more than we do in America. I think it's time to say, 'You know what? That's not a bad idea.' ”

Major league players think extra work means lifting more weight. Oh, how people marveled at Tony Gwynn's extraordinary work ethic, the countless hours he spent not under a bench-press bar, but hitting off the tee and in the cage. Not just once or twice a week. Every day. Nearly every day of the year.

Why did Gwynn – and the likes of workman Trevor Hoffman – have to be so extraordinary at all? Their kind of dedication is a matter of course in the Far East. In fact, it's demanded.

In practice. In warmups.

“I think what I would like to see in (major league) baseball is a return of (pregame) infield (drills),” said Martinez. “We don't see outfielders throw because they don't throw enough during infield practice. All the great throwers of the '70s and '80s were throwing every day during infield.”

There were some great throws made in Anaheim over the past few nights and days, most by Koreans and Japanese, most notably against each other. Throws, then relay throws, throws that were low and straight and on the button.

You'd never get U.S. players to work on throws so much, either in the WBC or with their parent club. Too much risk of injury. Too much salary at stake.

Who's got the best (only?) gun in a major league outfield?

Ichiro.

One more ancient American proverb: Pitching and defense. Pitching and defense. Pitching and defense.

Who's coming to San Diego as the WBC's lone unbeaten team? Korea. It's also the team with the lowest ERA in the tournament. While every other club to reach the second round committed at least four errors, too, one team hasn't made a single miscue in six games. Korea.

“I don't think I've seen them even bobble a ball,” said U.S. superstar Alex Rodriguez. “I'd love to know what that feels like.”

He can see it again. If he can score a ticket.

Shoalzie wrote:Is it possible that some teams are just better than Team USA? Korea has yet lose in the WBC.

MLB has had ample opportunity to scout Canada and Mexico. Yet between those two countries, they have a total of 120 players signed to contracts with MLB organizations. To put this in perspective, the Dominican Republic has over 1500 players signed to MLB organizations and the ESPN listing for the United States is "too many to count".

I'll leave Japan and Korea out of this because they are a half a world away. So I can understand that perhaps they are developing players that either do not want to leave their home or are not noticed by MLB. But Canada and Mexico are close enough, and the income disparity between playing MLB and playing in a Canadian or Mexican semipro league is like the difference between being a real lawyer and working for TVO. Therefore, if they had good players, those players should have already been signed. So either MLB scouts suck dick, or our guys don't give a shit.

Bottom of 9...Dominicans down to their last at bat, down 3-1. The pre-tournament favorites could be going down.

Cuba advances...Korea-Japan III tonight at 10.

Fidel Castro is laughing his ASS off!!

There are no "Professionals" on Team Cuba, BUT they are in the Championships!

Props to those Cubans even though they get those hideous red sweat pants at their local Wal-Mart.

They're in, we're out.

Things would be different if they played these games in July.

USA would be way more competitive, racking up much more runs VS subpar pitching.

Of course....MLB would be all fucked up due to scheduling, All Star break, etc.

These games work for me. Jason Varitek pulls a hamstring (God forbid) during an exhibition game, or running out a grounder in a real game, I'm pissed regardless, so it doesn't matter.

Lets go S.Africa. They're still in, right? Love that green gear.

Japan held on to beat Korea to advance to the finals. I went bed when the game was in rain delay in the 8th...Japan was up 4-0. Should be an interesting contrast in styles. I'll pick Fidel's boys to win it all today...4-2.

Byung-Hyun Kim gave up another big home run Saturday night, a two-run shot by pinch-hitter Kosuke Fukudome in the seventh inning that broke a scoreless tie and sent Japan to a 6-0 victory in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic.

Has Byung Hyun ever done well in a pressure situation??

He screwed up in Arizona twice against the Yankees and he constantly screwed up for the Sox...

It's gotta suck to be him right now!

Hope Japan beats the living shit out of Cuba tonight. Cuba's players are professionals, they get paid by the government and get perks that your average Cuban citizen doesn't have access to.

Japan 4
Cuba 1 bot 1

Nice pitching the Cubans have, they are already on their 3rd pitcher. Love how Jon Miller is making light of these Cuba slap hitters having over .400 averages, no fucking wonder when they are hitting off of such shitty pitching.

8 pitchers for the Cubans, nice effort out there. Japan knocked in 10 runs without one of them being a homer.

Finally, it's over!

Regards,
BSmack

I didn't even watch one inning of this whole WBC farce.


RACK ME!

Shoalzie wrote:Finally, it's over!

Regards,
BSmack

No doubt. Only a couple more weeks to the start of real baseball.

:wink:

I think I can agree with you on that. I lost interest in the WBC after Team USA was bounced and with the Big Dance starting up.

I think its no coincidence that the two teams that squared off in the Finals were REAL TEAMS. Each country's players have played w/ each other for years and it showed. The US and Dom Republic rosters were made up of All-Stars but its hard for teams to win that arent used to playing w/ each other.

I think its no coincidence that the two teams that squared off in the Finals were REAL TEAMS. Each country's players have played w/ each other for years and it showed.

What? Team Japan has been playing together for years?

You're an idiot.

I still would've liked to see every country with their full arsenal. A rotation of Oswalt-Carpenter-Buehrle would've been a drastic upgrade compared to Clemens-Peavy-Willis. Plus, imagine the Dominicans with Pedro and Vlad Guerrero. Props to Japan on the win but there's got to be a way to get all of the star players to participate next time around. Japan was without Hideki Matsui...imagine how good they'd be with him hitting cleanup for them.

Shoalzie wrote:Props to Japan on the win but there's got to be a way to get all of the star players to participate next time around.

It will never happen as long as the WBC uses Olympic-level drug testing.

FLW Buckeye wrote:

Shoalzie wrote:Props to Japan on the win but there's got to be a way to get all of the star players to participate next time around.

It will never happen as long as the WBC uses Olympic-level drug testing.

Forgot about that...good point.