Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

JP
KOR

DR
CUB

Oh my god!! I mean that is just awesome. Especially given the two games already played btween KOR and JP. That humiliated arrogance on Ichiro's face.

And DR vs CUB!!! The victory cigars will be pretty sweet regardless of which clubhouse is smoking them.

Japan got another shitty call when a fan intefered with a foul ball close to the stands. The next pitch was the game wining single.

Mexico took a 1-0 lead off Clemens in the third on a leadoff double by Mario Valenzuela and a two-out single by Jorge Cantu.

But it wasn't that simple.

A television replay showed Valenzuela's fly ball hit the right field foul pole at least 10 feet off the ground and bounced back onto the field. However, first base umpire Bob Davidson didn't see it that way, and Valenzuela wound up at second.

It was Davidson, umpiring behind the plate, who ruled that Japan's Tsuyoshi Nishioka left third base early in the eighth inning Sunday to negate a sacrifice fly that would have snapped a 3-3 tie in a game Team USA eventually won 4-3.

They should alter the jersey to read "US OF A" just like Sutcliffe the Talking Dog kept saying it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruK3uvGMg1U&feature=Views&page=2&t=t&f=b

wrt team usa, i'd say: i like buck martinez in the booth okay, but he wasn't such a hot mgr. would it make more sense to tilt the roster towards dudes that play in offseason leagues or try to do more international comps? clearly, there were some issues in the field.

i went to korea/japan the other night and it was more fun than i've ever had at a baseball game. i really wish i could get down to san diego tomorrow.

Cuba's postseason is in March. And as G3r4rd asked in CSTB, are there Japanese winter leagues? How come they're not rusty?

Part of the US' problem was treating it like the All-Star Game, ie, pulling 'regulars' in middle innings (related to the players' teams queasiness about the whole affair, obv).

His WBC performance (0W-2L, 12.71 ERA, 2.82 WHIP, 6BBs vs. 4Ks) was the 3rd least-effective to date, trailing only Calvin Maduro of the Netherlands and Barry Armitage of South Africa.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=nationalsayala&prov=st&type=lgns

Panayotis Mitsiopoulos
President of the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation

http://www.athens2004.com/athens2004/page/legacy?lang=en&cid=63ca470429149f00VgnVCMServer28130b0aRCRD

WHERE WAS GREECE MAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ety10zpiZY

For a team that the commentators have noted as "small ball", Japan really knocked the ball around (and out of) PetCo Park (#1 or #2 pitcher's park in MLB).

That's funny cuz this was the final I most wanted to see. I would have been okay with Korea too, but really Japan is probably the better team. I'm really excited for Monday night.

It's strange, if you'd told me before the tourney started that Japan vs Cuba would be the final, I'd have been thrilled. But now, Korea was the biggest story of the WBC, so wanted to see them try to go undefeated. And I don't think that Cuba has looked *that* impressive.

I slept thru almost all of the night game.

Did you see Lazo take off his warmup over his head, on the mound, when he entered? So cool -- like he just got up from the BarcaLounger.

NEW YORK (AP) -- South Korea pitcher Myung Hwan Park has tested positive for a banned substance and is disqualified from the World Baseball Classic, Major League Baseball said in a release Friday.

Park tossed two shutout innings in one appearance with South Korea, striking out three and walking two.

South Korea is undefeated heading into its matchup with Japan in the WBC semifinals on Saturday night at Petco Park.

japan's up 4-0 in the first inning!!

Is Tony LaRussa managing Cuba?