Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

About 27 years after Oh did?

WWW.LAUNCH.COM

(for those not watching, cuba up 6-4 over panama after an 0-2 fastball up the pike got skull-fucked out of the park)

Stubby Clapp just scored!

Apparently Canadians hit a lot of triples.

Someone less enlightened would probably call the triple the Canada of hits, but that sort of nonsense is clearly beneath me.

Yeah see I'm not sure bringing in Al Leiter is a good idea. . .

Meanwhile the Cuba/Panama game is still going!

Where is Steve Shasta to rip on Dontrelle Willis? Since the season hasn't technically started yet, should 5ER in 2.2IP count toward his pre or post-All Star Game record?

Okay now it is finished.

The US is getting killed right now.

(xpost) hahaha!

Ha, Dontrelle's got some work to do in the next few weeks.

Will we see the mercy-rule invoked today?

boomer sounds off:

"Bud Selig needs to resign. That's what he needs to do," Wells said. "He needs to resign and bring someone in who's capable of communicating with the players association and the owners, as well as the players, because there's so much hatred against Bud right now. It's a joke. Nobody likes him."

Wells, who estimated 95 percent of the players dislike Selig, was set off by a New York Times story where the commissioner ordered the Yankees to remove sign at Legends Field in Tampa that apologized to fans because players such as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon are not playing in exhibition games. All three, along with Bernie Williams and Al Leiter, are participating in the World Baseball Classic.

Steinbrenner has criticized the international tournament, fearing that some Yankees could get injured or become fatigued down the stretch.

"And he's entitled to that [opinion]. He pays a lot of money to these guys," Wells said. "If he needs to apologize to the fans, so be it. They get a lot of traffic down there in Tampa to see the Yankees. People want to see Derek Jeter. So if he wants to post a sign that says I apologize for [him] not being here, he owns the place. If Bud has a problem with it, tell him to go take it down himself. And then I'd re-post it again."

inside-the-park homer by adam stern.

What's worse: Team USA's defense or pitching? Tough call...

Games will be called if a team trails by 15 runs or more after it has batted in five innings or 10 runs or more after batting in seven innings.

Steven Goldman on his Pinstriped Blog:

I am not all that enamored of events that emphasize a parochial nationalism as a basis for competition, particularly when the rules allow for each team to have ringers, like Mike Piazza playing for the Italian team. Piazza was born in Pennsylvania. If he qualifies for the Italian team, than every player in baseball should be eligible to play for the Olduvai Gorges of Tanzania. I understand the rationale behind this, but for me it detracts from the legitimacy of the event.

Jr. just broke up the shutout.

btw, adam loewen looked pretty good for canada as did bruce chen for panama. it's kind of ridiculous how many starters the o's have competing in this thing.

8-6!

Woah!!!

I'm now hoping for an eight-spot so that this game can end with the mercy rule in the next inning.

revenge is sweet, eh?

I don't recognize some of the US players. Brian Fuentes? Gary Majewski? Matt Holliday?

that's it.

Hello NL West fan Alex:

Without googling:

Brian Fuentes is the closer for the Rockies (serious upside!)
Matt Holliday is the RF (upside? he could be the next Dustan Mohr... uh)
Gary Majewski plays in the midwest or in Canada

That's the thing about Fantasy Baseball, you can keep track of all this fairly easily!

;-\

Majewski is a short reliever for the Nats.

That's the thing about Fantasy Baseball, you can keep track of all this fairly easily!

OTM, that's the only reason why I would know something like this.

Now back to the victory at hand:

http://www.generalbrock.com/level2/stanley.jpg

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

unacceptable.

btw...al leiter? are you fucking kidding me?

Haha, Majewski is currently a Nat formerly an Expo, I get partial credit. Also Holliday is LF.

Morbs - I believe the rule for the Word Cup (feetball) is that if a grandparent was from there, you could choose that team. I believe that's also the case with the Classic, and Piazza's grandpa was born in Italy so Goldman can spare me the sanctimony unless he wants to argue that the World Cup's rules aren't boneheadedly nationalistic enough for his tastes. it's been weird reading these American commentators tut at the rules governing what team one can play for -- isn't RECENT and often LIVING family history something to revel in, if one wants? What do they want, a microchip squawking the national anthem embedded in each infant?

Ernie Whitt is the Canadian manager, that is pretty classic. Fans in the stand wearing Ernie Whitt masks is even more classic.

I bet A-Rod thanked the good lord for that last out being dropped.

How about the Cubans taking down El Caballo twice with two outs and the game on the line? That is pretty impressive.

haha that happens ALL THE TIME to him when he plays on the brewers, dude is the epitome of non-clutch-osity

I hope the US gets knocked out early so we never have to deal with this nonsense again

haha, you really think that would do it? Wellll -- naaah.

c'mon Trace, I think his general point was that Piazza ISN'T AN ITALIAN BASEBALL PLAYER.

I saw Lazo, yesterday's quickly-yanked starter for Cuba, pitch there in '04.

Yeah I think if the U.S. loses it'll be more of a "NEXT TIME WE DREAM TEAM YOUR ASSES MUTHAFUCKAZ!"

I love how everyone is SHOCKED SHOCKED SHOCKED that the US team lost a game. Canada's team is a damn sight better than the Royals and they still manage to win 60plus games a year. And anything can happen in one game (although if South Africa beats us on Friday, I'll be surprised.)

What a satisfying game that was! Ima get me one of those Ernie masks!

Adam Stern's inside-the-park HR [Windows Streaming]:
mms://a1503.v108692.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/10869/v0001/mlb.download.akamai.com/10869/2006/open/wbc/topplays/030806_canusa_stern_iphr_350.wmv

Veritek's grand salami:
mms://a1503.v108692.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/10869/v0001/mlb.download.akamai.com/10869/2006/open/wbc/topplays/030806_canusa_stern_iphr_350.wmv

Stern can thank Jr. for that HR.

I forgot how screwy that ballpark is.

Meanwhile the DR is beating Italy pretty handily right now.

OK Morbius, so the World Cup is fulla shit, too. Whatever man.

I have thrown this to the snarling wolves of ILE -- world cup-ees who claim dubious provenance

Haha it's controversial practice even in the World Cup, but I really like it. Usually the reason people play for these countries in soccer is because they might not make their home-squad, but it increases the talent pool for another country and anything which makes teams more competitive is aces by me. I just wants to see good games.

I love that Cuba's DH is batting 8th and bunting. It's so cute. I wonder what Cuban players think about the concept of the DH.

It doesn't bother me at all either (aka Alex OTM).

This afternoon I realized that after run differential, the next tiebreaking factor in Round 1 is TEAM BATTING AVERAGE. Jesus.

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

I think this is gonna be moot.

As an A's fan it does NOT thrill me that Loiza was used for five innings, but the guy seems to be a horse so it probably doesn't matter.