Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

Joe Sheehan on the WBC rules:

[The pitch limits] look reasonable and conservative, the prudent thing to do. They’re not. Those numbers are each about two weeks ahead of where pitchers typically are in March, and even considering that those intending to compete in this thing have been planning on getting that kind of work, the numbers make me uncomfortable. You can’t find any examples of pitchers going 65 pitches before March 10, or 80 before March 20, in the last ten years. Pitchers just aren’t brought along that quickly.

What I don’t understand is why this isn’t more of an issue. The entire reason we have a six-week spring training is so that pitchers can ramp up from playing catch to throwing major-league innings. If not for the delicate nature of pitchers, you’d need about a week of workouts and maybe another week of games to get ready for the season. Yet now, because it’s convenient for MLB and its coffers, pitchers are going to be asked to do things they haven’t done in years, shift their schedule and be ready to throw competitive innings in early March. I think it’s a terrible idea, I have all along, and I will not be surprised to see more and more pitchers either beg off or have their teams do it for them as the season approaches.

Dominican Republic 11/10
U.S.A. 11/8
Venezuela 8/1
Japan 10/1
Puerto Rico 12/1
Cuba 16/1
Chinese Taipei 28/1
Korea 33/1
Mexico 50/1
Panama 66/1
Canada 66/1
Holland 200/1
Australia 500/1
Italy 500/1
South Africa 500/1
China 500/1

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/schedule/index.jsp?sid=wbc

I smell an NYC FAP for March 18 or 20, right? Just a little premature to nail down.

Anyone watch the Caribbean Series? In the trad place for names on the back of unis, The Dominicans had VERIZON and Puerto Rico had MCS (?). One small step closer to Nascar.

the ad for this last night was horrible though using clemens to represent the us seems about what we deserve.

(I never watch soccer)

C'mon, 'projections and stats' are your ...projection! She just thinks it'll affect the regular season, ie injuries, wins and losses. I wanna see how the WBC plays out, but I never watch the Olympics myself. Around here we certainly treat the reg season as the"actual ballgames" too.

Starters (4): Roger Clemens, Jake Peavy, Dontrelle Willis and C.C. Sabathia.

Relievers (10): Chad Cordero, Brian Fuentes, Todd Jones, Brad Lidge, Joe Nathan, Scot Shields, Street, Mike Timlin, Billy Wagner and Dan Wheeler.

Catchers (3): Michael Barrett, Brian Schneider and Jason Varitek.

Infielders (7): Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Derrek Lee, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Chase Utley and Michael Young.

Outfielders (6): Johnny Damon, Jeff Francoeur, Ken Griffey Jr., Matt Holliday, Vernon Wells and Randy Winn.

“I will make them see that they won’t beat Japan for the next 30 years,” said Ichiro Suzuki in an interview after the first day of Japanese World Baseball Classic practice yesterday.

After the Japanese team’s practice at the Fukuoka Yahoo Dome yesterday, Ichiro said, “Not only will we win, but also we’ll make Japanese baseball fans feel that they saw a truly great game. I want to make [Korea and Taiwan] see that they will not be able to beat Japan in next 30 years.”

Ichiro: Korea Smells Like Garlic
Ichiro’s provocative remark is nothing new. Back in 1997, Ichiro, a member of the Orix Blue Wave at the time, visited Korea for friendly baseball games against Korean pro teams. When asked what his first impression of Korea was, he replied, “It smells like garlic.”

Ichiro’s remark angered many Korean players. Pitcher Sohn Min-han (Lotte) said, “Hearing what he said, I want to make him eat his own words by beating the Japanese team.”

“I have been called five times to play on the national team, and from 2000 Sydney Olympics through the 2002 Busan Asian games, the Korea national team has never been defeated by Japan,” said the team’s slugger Lee Byeong-gyu (LG). “We have many world-class ballplayers on the Korea national team; we won’t be easy to beat,” Lee added confidently.

The World Baseball Classic preliminary round match between Korea and Japan will be held on March 5 at the Tokyo Dome.

Can you see that I am not afraid?

I bet this quote was 100000X more vicious (and entertaining) in the original Korean.

3-Mar 4:30am Japan vs China - ESPN 2
4-Mar 4:00am Japan vs Chinese Taipei - ESPN 2
5-Mar 4:00am Korea vs Japan - ESPN 2

Nice overview of the burgeoning Venezuela/Dominican rivalry (luckily, and perhaps unsurprisingly, they play against each other in the first game of pool D). I really wish I could get ESPN Deportes; something tells me that watching all these early rounds on tape-delay is gonna get old fast.

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/schedule/index.jsp?mc=television&sid=wbc

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/03/06/sports/06cuba.xlarge1.jpg