Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

Assuming that USA crushes SA and ends up with a great run differential:

-- if Canada beats Mexico, they're in
-- if Canada loses to Mexico by one run (and USA beats SA by more than four runs, which is almost certain) then Mexico/Canada comes down to batting average (Canada is well ahead going into tonight's game)
-- if Canada loses to Mexico by more than one run (Mexico 6 Canada 0 in the third, ugh) then Canada is fucked unless SA can keep it close against Clemens and USA

Q: What are the pitcher use limitations of the tournament?
A: A pitcher must:

* Not pitch until a minimum of four days have passed since he last pitched, if he threw 50 or more pitches when he last pitched;
* Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since he last pitched, if he threw 30 or more pitches when he last pitched;
* Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since any second consecutive day on which the pitcher pitched; and
* Throw no more than:
o 65 pitches per game in Round One of the tournament;
o 80 pitches per game in Round Two of the tournament; and
o 95 pitches per game in the Semifinals and Final of the tournament.

Note: A pitcher may exceed the maximum per-game limits in order to complete a batter's plate appearance.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060312&content_id=1346635&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

That was a lame reversal.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArhTyBfDUnt7wfDvHLr1TesRvLYF?slug=jp-wbc031206&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Xq9HgNZXE&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b

I didn't see it.

That call was bullshit. A completely routine tag-up.

Day when baseball ends
Baseball to which umps authority is esteemed
Umps authority was lost on this day.
And, baseball ends.

This is a baseball birthplace.
Tags // baseball : WBC

TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese baseball fans were outraged over a controversial call in the World Baseball Classic that helped the United States beat Japan on Sunday.

With the score tied 3-3, Japan appeared to score the go-ahead run against Joe Nathan in the eighth when Akinori Iwamura flied to left with one out and the bases loaded. Tsuyoshi Nishioka tagged up from third and beat Randy Winn's throw home to give Japan a 4-3 lead.

Second base umpire Brian Knight ruled Nishioka safe but Team USA appealed the play, contending Nishioka left the base before the ball was caught, and plate umpire Bob Davidson overruled the call following a brief discussion with the other umpires.

It didn't appear Nishioka left before Winn made the catch on the television replay.

"It was a terrible call," office worker Shoichi Enomoto said a day after the game. "When you have the best players in the world competing, you should have better umpires. We were robbed."

Even Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi weighed in on the call.

"It clearly looked like we were going to win," Koizumi said. "It's a shame to lose on such a strange call."

Davidson is one of 22 major league umpires who lost their jobs in the 1999 labor dispute. He's now a minor league ump who fills in at the big-league level.

In the bottom of the ninth, Alex Rodriguez hit a bases-loaded, two-out single to give the United States a 4-3 victory in the opener of Round 2.

Several Japanese baseball commentators pointed out that Nishioka was shifting his weight to his front foot before the ball reached Winn's glove but that his back foot was still on the bag and Davidson might have been fooled by this.

Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who manages Nishioka on the Japan Series champion Chiba Lotte Marines, was quoted in the Nikkansports newspaper as saying "It was a bad call."

"I wanted to cry," former Hanshin Tigers manager Senichi Hoshin said. "(Sadaharu) Oh and his players did such a good job and to lose like that is devastating."

Japan will play Mexico on Tuesday before facing South Korea the following day in Anaheim.

Hee Seop's HR was even more impressive than Lee's.

South Korea is looking great. They beat Japan at the Tokyo Dome and now are ridiculing the US team in Anaheim.

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060313&content_id=1347845&vkey=wbc_news&fext=.jsp&sid=wbc

The Gary Huckabay piece in the new Prospectus on the limits of data analysis does NOT dismiss this line of thought.

I think this tournament has already been enough of a success that it will definitely happen again.

Next time, they should throw the floodgates open to more teams, and spend like two years on qualifying rounds, friendlies, etc. just like with the World Cup. That way it builds anticipation, makes international squads more familiar, and actually gives the thing meaning beyond some hokey international marketing exercise. You can't decide actual championships based on a game, or a couple games.