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Monthly archives: March 2006
ESPN's Bonds series raises eyebrows
2006-03-31 14:54
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on the internal strife at ESPN over the Barry Bonds reality series. "This has conflicts that need to be resolved," said Jeff Brantley, an ESPN analyst who played with Bonds on the Giants in 1993. "Take this one: Pedro Gomez is covering Bonds on a daily basis, and if he asks tough questions, will Barry be allowed to go back at Pedro on his show?" I never pictured Jeff Brantley as the big ethics guy at ESPN. My question is: what sort of audience would want to watch such a show about Barry Bonds? Ortiz and Red Sox near new deal
2006-03-31 14:33
ESPN.com is reporting that David Ortiz is close to signing a 4-year, $50 million contract extension with the Red Sox that would keep him in Boston through 2010. The Toaster's Very Fearful Predictions for 2006
2006-03-31 14:30
With a healthy amount of trepidation, the staff of the Toaster presents its predictions for the 2006 season. Teams are listed in predicted order of finish with the wild card being in bold. (Not that I think the wild card is more important, it just shows up better.) Note: Will Carroll's predictions are at Baseball Prospectus and can be found here. AL East, aka Center of Known Universe Division Derek Smart: Yankees, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Baltimore AL Central, aka Hey, Didn't One of These Teams Win the World Series Last Year Division? Smart: White Sox, Cleveland, Minnesota, Detroit, Kansas City AL West, aka The Great Debate Division Smart: Oakland, Angels, Texas, Seattle NL East, aka The Bobby Cox Invitational Division Smart: Atlanta, Mets, Philadelphia, Washington, Florida NL Central, aka The Tony La Russa Invitational Division Smart: St. Louis, Houston, Milwaukee, Cubs, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh NL West, aka Hey, Somebody Has To Win Division Smart: Dodgers, San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona, Colorado AL champion, the Varsity Smart: Oakland NL champion, the JV squad Smart: St. Louis World Series Champion, the best craps shooting team Smart: Oakland One thing is clear from these picks: we don't expect good things from the Royals and Mariners. Consensus picks: AL East: Yankees (7), Boston (3) They said it would never last
2006-03-30 16:48
Conventional wisdom said that the marriage between Kris and Anna Benson would never last. Too much stress. Too much publicity. The Pearlman code
2006-03-30 15:42
Jeff Pearlman writes in Slate.com about the code among players where you don't name names, especially when it comes to steroids. Note to self: never invite both Pearlman and Jay Canizaro to a dinner party at my place. Selig officially announces investigation into past use of PEDs
2006-03-30 12:37
Commissioner Bud Selig at a joint press conference with former senator George Mitchell announced that there will be an investigation into past use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. Key point from the Associated Press account: If Mark McGwire wouldn't answer a Congressional committee about possible past use of steroids, is George Mitchell going to have any luck? Who is going to ask the questions? Perhaps Jack Bauer? "McGwire! You better tell me now if you used steroids or MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL DIE!!!". Then Bauer would shoot McGwire in the thigh. Victor Conte was released from prison today and denied the assertions made in Game of Shadows. Marlins release Lenny Harris
2006-03-30 11:19
The Florida Marlins came close to finalizing their 25-man roster, including releasing Lenny Harris. It was often said that Lenny Harris could wake up in the morning on Christmas Day and ground out to third. Wax on, wax off
2006-03-30 11:11
David Schoenfield of ESPN.com doesn't think that baseball needs to learn balance. "Thanks to owners with the financial acumen of Mike Tyson, baseball has no salary cap, which means only about 10 teams out of 30 have a chance to win a championship. They know it. We know it. Tibetan monks know it." I had no idea that Mike Tyson was bad off. Angels encounter local TV contract troubles
2006-03-30 09:45
The Angels and Fox Sports Net have broken off talks for a contract that would have seen FSN televise nearly every Angels game for 10 years. Presently, FSN and the Angels have a contract to show just 62 games. "At the 25th hour, we have elected to end our discussions with FSN West regarding a long-term television contract," Angels president Dennis Kuhl said in a statement. "Both parties worked diligently over the last several weeks of negotiations. In looking to the future, we feel there are a wide variety of opportunities that will be available to us. Our goal remains providing maximum television coverage of Angels baseball in both 2006 and the years to come." KDOC? But they show all of my favorite reruns! "Rockford Files", "Mission: Impossible", "Becker"... Bostonians deign to visit Kansas
2006-03-29 23:56
Kelsie Smith of the Boston Globe profiles Red Sox special assistant Bill James. ''I was always battling the fact that people didn't really understand what I was talking about," James says. ''Theo and John Henry understand what I'm saying usually before I finish the sentence. When I tried working for other teams . . . I was talking gibberish." MLB to start investigations into past use of PEDs
2006-03-29 17:02
ESPN is reporting that former senator George Mitchell will be asked to head a committee to investigate past use of performance enhancing drugs by players. Former senator George Mitchell will be part of the committee, but not its head. I'm sure this will solve any doubts about this issue and I will take a nap until it's over. Indians sign Sizemore to new and very long deal
2006-03-29 10:44
Cleveland has locked up Grady Sizemore for six years and $23.45 million. The Associated Press says its the largest contract for a player with less than two years of major league service. Everybody gets a night in San Francisco!
2006-03-29 10:24
It's not that unusual that the Giants are having a Japanese Herigate Night or a Chinese Heritage Night. In fact they will be on consecutive nights, May 22 and May 23. If you buy tickets through the right place for each one you can get a Giants with Japanese characters on it, like this. The Chinese cap has Giants written in Chinese characters like this. So who wants to tell the Giants that the Japanese language uses Chinese characters? I hear the Dodgers will also be giving out caps spelling out LA in Spanish characters. The Giants are also going to have two Irish Heritage Nights, three Singles nights, and two LBGT Singles Nights. Italians, African-Americans, and Jews also get their own nights. San Francisco's vibrant Gagauz community apparently doesn't get its own night. Boswell losing his swagger
2006-03-29 09:29
Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post used to be big, he used to be a respected baseball writer. I think he still is. I guess the baseballs have just gotten smaller. Boswell has a paean to the joys of "smallball". You can find a better critique of the column here, but Boswell has this one passage, I feel I have to say something about. In the first inning of the WBC title game, Japan paved the way to its championship with four runs without a single hard-hit ball. Here was Japan's first inning against Cuba (which hardly anyone got to see because we had to watch the NIT!) Kawasaki grounds out 1-3 Satozaki strikes out Imae singles to center, Matsunaka and Tamura score 4-0 Japan Gonzalez replaces Odelin To me this proves that you can score four runs if the other team's pitching and defense are bad. Or you get lucky in one win. What was the biggest hit for Japan in its semifinal win over Korea? Probably Fukudome's 2-run homer. If you want your favorite team to rely on putting up four runs like Japan did in the WBC final, I wish you well. Wow, three straight posts all having something to do with the Washington D.C. area. I need some new material. The Church-Watson affair
2006-03-29 09:17
Washington's demotion of Ryan Church and promotion of Brandon Watson has set the Nationals blogosphere aflame. Here are some links, thanks to reader Sam DC. George Mason at the bat
2006-03-28 22:17
George Mason basketball coach likes to have his teams play Unityball, a pickup baseball game during practices.
Reminds me of the T-square ball we played in the journalism room in high school with rolled up tape for a ball. Did you know that when a T-square breaks, the head can fly off at a rapid rate and do some serious damage? And also make it very difficult to come up with a plausible explanation for why the T-square was broken? Trot Nixon's solution to baseball brawls
2006-03-28 18:55
In light of Monday's dustup between Julian Tavarez and Joey Gathright of Boston and Tampa Bay respectively, Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon says he has a solution to diffuse tensions: Go back to a balanced schedule. Nixon thinks the 18-19 intradivision games that teams play are too much and led themselves to bad blood. So we could have peace in our time, but at the same time we will have to watch more games between the Brewers and Marlins. Is that the price of peace? That will teach him not to make an error
2006-03-28 13:24
Tony Graffanino, who made a crucial error in the Division Series against the White Sox while playing for Boston, was put on waivers today and picked up by his former team, the Kansas City Royals. The Royals 2006 season can best be summed by this sentence in the linked article by Dick Kaegel of MLB.com. Graffanino's arrival will impact the battle for a backup infield role between Esteban German and Joe McEwing. Jeremy Reed healed!
2006-03-28 13:19
It turns out that Jeremy Reed has not broken his wrist after all and should be ready for Opening Day. Apparently Reed had injured his wrist when he was young and it appeared to be a new break when he hurt his wrist banging into a wall last week. Game of Shadows reviews
2006-03-28 12:34
Presented without comment: AP review by Ron Harris. New York Times review by Michiko Kakutani. Los Angeles Times review by David L. Ulin. Those were just the first free ones I could find online. Manager firing odds
2006-03-28 09:55
A sports book in Curacao has set up odds on which MLB managers will be the first ones to be fired this season. Buck Showalter of Texas and Bob Melvin are the morning line favorites at 5-1. Ozzie Guillen is at 10-1, but Willie Randolph is 20-1 and I find those odds puzzling. Joe Torre has the longest odds in the AL at 19-1 and Tony LaRussa has the longest odds overall at 40-1. Remember, such odds are for entertainment purposes only. Unless you are gambling. Astros have to pay the tab for Bagwell
2006-03-27 21:20
A $15.6 million insurance claim filed by the Houston Astros on Jeff Bagwell was denied by the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (or as Will Carroll points out, it's better known by its holding company name, CIGNA). "The Astros took the position that Bagwell was totally disabled in January 2006 even though he played in September and October 2005," he [Ty Buthod, the attorney handling the matter] said. "Connecticut General determined that there had been no adverse change in Mr. Bagwell's condition between the end of last season and the date the policy terminated on Jan. 31, 2006." Bagwell is having surgery on his shoulder and will begin the season on the Disabled List and quite likely may not play again. Final Fours then and now
2006-03-27 01:09
Although Jon wrote about UCLA basketball quite eloquently Thursday, I still felt that with UCLA making it to the Final Four that I should inflict upon readers another reminiscence about UCLA basketball. After all, I'm the one with the actual UCLA diploma (1987, History) safely stashed in a drawer with some sweat pants and shorts, sitting next to a UC Berkeley cousin (1988, Library and Information Studies). Someone who has seen UCLA play both an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion as well as TWO NIT games. I've got a lifetime membership card in the Alumni Association, although I didn't join until I had been out of school for 18 years. Do those years get added back to my life. First things first. You should not feel sorry for anyone who roots for UCLA basketball. Since I crawled out on to this planet in 1965, UCLA has been to the Final Four 13 times. If you ask the NCAA, it's only 12. UCLA has had success in basketball that is remarkable. And if you want LSU to send UCLA back to California after a brief stay in Indianapolis, I can't say I blame you. Even though many of those Final Four appearances came when I was quite young, they are still there. The banners for the championships ring Pauley Pavilion (which only appears to be a nice place) as a tacit reminder as to just how remarkable the era of John Wooden was. There must have been a real nice trophy
2006-03-26 10:49
Mark Guerra, a former pitcher in the Astros system, was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and was forced to repay the $1,400 he received for a phantom job in a Florida prison so he would be eligible to pitch in a softball tournament among the guards. Just how do you get in to see the Red Sox at Fenway?
2006-03-26 10:36
Rob Bradford of the Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass., seems to think that it's impossible to buy a ticket for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. The man's sign stood as a lone voice in the Yawkey Way wilderness. Of course, if you're reading this, you do have a computer. Maybe you can try to buy Red Sox tickets. The Admiral goes to Oakland
2006-03-26 09:30
Oakland acquired left-handed pitcher Brad Halsey from Arizona in exchange for right-handed pitcher Juan Cruz. Minor league umpires strike draws closer
2006-03-25 10:18
The Association of Minor League Umpires has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board and seems headed for a strike next month. The search for replacement umpires, principally from the college ranks, is underway. The AMLU has said that it will not provide umpires to MLB to fill-in for vacations. Salaries for minor league umpires range from $5,000 for rookie ball umpires to $15,000 for AAA ball. Wow, where do I sign up? Maybe there's a really good pension plan. Or maybe you qualify for a lot of discounts at local stores. Bagwell headed for shoulder surgery again
2006-03-25 09:44
Jayson Stark of ESPN.com is reporting that Jeff Bagwell will have what his agent describes as "last resort" surgery on his shoulder. Bagwell and the Astros have been in a dispute this spring about whether or not he is healthy enough to play and how that will affect an insurance claim. Bonds plans lawsuit against authors - UPDATED AGAIN!
2006-03-24 15:11
The attorney for Barry Bonds, Michael Rains, announced that he is filing suit on behalf of his client against authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams as well as their publisher Gotham books and also Sports Illustrated and the San Francisco Chronicle. Rains is attempting to have all the profits from the book forfeited to Bonds under California's unfair competition law. Just what the heck this means is unclear and the Griddle's crack team of legal experts is trying to figure it out. We think it has something to do with intellectual property. Tim Marchman of the New York Sun weighs in on the seeming absurdity of this suit. The San Francisco Chronicle goes into more detail about the legal "strategy" being used. They [Bonds's attorneys] said they would ask a Superior Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order freezing all profits from the book. The judge would then appoint a receiver who would have custody of the funds during the suit and would distribute them to charity if Bonds won the case. It took 50 minutes for a judge to rule against Bonds citing "serious First Amendment issues." Mariners lose Reed to broken wrist
2006-03-24 12:32
Seattle center fielder Jeremy Reed broke his wrist and will be out six weeks. His backup was supposed to be Matt Lawton, but he has to serve a 10-day steroid-related suspension, to start the season, so either Willie Bloomquist or Joe Borchard will get the spot. Or shift Ichiro Suzuki around for a spell. Cardinals finalize roster additions
2006-03-24 12:26
Fifteen new members of the Cardinals! (I'm going to milk that joke for what it's worth.) In other news, since Pope Benedict XVI isn't going to use the title anymore, Tony La Russa has said he wants to be called "Patriarch of the NL Central". Just as I suspected, only Communists bunt
2006-03-24 11:13
So I was browsing the sports opinions of the People's Weekly World and found this editorial. As expected, Communists like the sacrifice! Someone also tell the people who wrote this editorial that Puerto Rico isn't a country. However I do agree with this statement: On a related note, Fidel Castro claims that Cuba's slice of the WBC profits has been turned over to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, however, the U.S. government denies that as does MLB. Japan-Mexico relations improve
2006-03-24 11:06
The people of Japan have been sending congratulatory messages to the Mexican embassy in Tokyo thanking Mexico for sending Japan to the WBC semifinals. The North American nation's tourist industry looks like it will get a boost too, with one writer saying "We'll go to Mexico on our honeymoon." That pair of visitors should tip the balance of economic power in North America. In theory, you can buy Mexican food in Japan. In theory. 2006 Japanese baseball season preview
2006-03-23 11:26
Jim Allen and the staff of the Daily Yomiuri preview the 2006 Japanese baseball season. The season starts on Saturday for the Pacific League. They pull no punches in their preview of the second-year team the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles: Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles If you're in Japan and want an idea of how to get to a stadium, the Japan Times has a guide. Breaking news about snails
2006-03-23 09:33
A British study says that left-handed snails are better than right-handed ones at defending themselves against predators. First of all, I didn't know snails had hands. If they have true hands with opposable digits, this is going to really upset the balance of power in the animal kingdom and I'm going out and buying the biggest container of Snarol I can find. Second, snails' principal predators seem to be crabs. Which led to this bizarre passage: Alternatively, researchers said crabs might simply not be used to attacking lefties, just as baseball pitchers face fewer left-handed batters. So then what about switch snails? Rats, I got another Barney Pelty!
2006-03-23 07:33
The American Jewish Historical Society is releasing an updated version of the set of baseball cards depicting Jewish baseball figures. They issued 142 before the 2004 and 54 more will be added. Adam Greenberg, he of "the one pitch to the head and on to the DL" fame for the Cubs last year, gets one. There is also a puckish card, "Half a Minyan: 1946 New York Giants," which pictures the five Jews who played for the team that season: outfielders Morrie Arnovich, Sid Gordon and Goody Rosen; pitcher Harry Feldman, and infielder Mike Schemer. Incidentally, Schemer an example of one of the few times a rabbi's son made the big leagues. Perhaps the 1946 Giants need a whole minyan as they finished in last place at 61-93. Juan Gone is not where he is supposed to be
2006-03-22 21:56
Buried at the bottom of this story is a report that Juan Gonzalez has likely decided not to try to catch on with Boston. The acquisition of Wily Mo Peña has pretty much precluded that. Just a few days after signing two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez to a Minor League contract, the Red Sox weren't sure when or if he will join the team. Giants plan day to honor quake victims
2006-03-22 18:30
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake that is. The day honoring the survivors will be April 6, although the 100th anniversary of the earthquake isn't until April 18. Taren Sapienza, who organizes an annual reunion of Great Quake survivors, said those who plan to attend the game range in age from 100 to 105 and include several die-hard Giants fans. If you're over 100, I think "die-hard" applies to a lot of facets of one's life. If the Cubs are playing on October 8, all people named O'Leary who own a cow get in free. The Red Sox are still working on a molasses-themed promotion. Sheffield named in Bonds book
2006-03-22 16:14
ESPN.com is reporting, using information from the book Game of Shadows that Gary Sheffield injected himself with testosterone and HGH in January 2002. The All-Star Game is headed to Kansas City
2006-03-22 14:17
Commissioner Bud Selig has promised Kansas City that it can host the All-Star Game between 2010 and 2014. That is, if local voters approve a sales tax hike on April 4. Kansas City last hosted the All-Star Game in 1973. Bobby Bonds was the MVP. And in the next year's set of Topps cards, there were special cards with pictures of the starters and if you turned them over, you could put them all together to make a picture of Bonds. NL voters, lacking good candidates for shortstop, picked Chris Speier that year. I also remember Claude Osteen batting, but wearing a Braves helmet as I suppose the other Dodgers who were there, Bill Russell (told you, bad year for shortstops), Manny Mota, Willie Davis, Jim Brewer, and Don Sutton, didn't have helmets that fit his head. Extra! Extra! OUCH!
2006-03-22 13:08
The online English version of the Daily Mainichi has this less than harrowing account of people getting hurt in Japan rushing to buy extra editions of newspapers with stories about Japan's win in the WBC. A fortune-teller who had set up a booth near the scene saw what happened. He said about 50 to 60 people rushed at newspaper company employees handing out the Extras and people fought to get a copy. Oh! The humanity! (No one was seriously hurt.) Meanwhile, Fidel Castro threw a parade for the Cuban team. The story is in Spanish, but it's interesting that they use Jeeps to show off the team. And the WBC will most likely return in 2009, according to this report in the Wall Street Journal because it turned a profit of $10-15 million. Gooden admits to cocaine use, likely faces prison time
2006-03-22 08:49
In a Tampa court today, Dwight Gooden admitted to violating his probation by using cocaine. This means Gooden has violated his probation and prosecutors will be asking for jail time at an April 5 sentencing hearing. Soriano the scrivener -- UPDATED
2006-03-21 21:08
Frank Robinson: Soriano, you're playing left field tonight. FR: Do you want to play right field? Washington Times article The Washington Post examines the legal ramifications of the Soriano affair. So does ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack. "I think it is a landmark case," said William B. Gould IV, former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board who is now a law professor at Stanford University. "I can't recall anything in a major sport where a player has refused outright to perform his assigned job in this manner. . . . It has implications not just in baseball. It has implications for all professional sports." The Braves meet Dawson's Creek
2006-03-21 12:42
Braves prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia is married to a former teacher at his high school. Ashley Saltalamacchia, who for purposes of my typing should have kept her maiden name, says she didn't start dating Jarrod until he graduated and she was never his teacher. Which I assume is true or else Ms. Saltalamacchia would be out of a job. And to wrap things up for the WBC
2006-03-20 22:56
Japan takes home the title with a 10-6 win over Cuba, whose pitching staff melted down, giving up 10 hits, 6 walks, a hit batter, and was hurt by one big error. Japan survived three errors of its own. And the WBC is in the books. Time to go back to teams grouped together by methods we are accustomed to. But to wrap up here are some of the statistical leaders. For rate stats, I'm using the MLB standard of 3.1 plate appearances per game scheduled for hitters and one inning pitched per scheduled game for pitchers. At bats - Eduardo Paret (CUB) 35 Wins - Daisuke Matsuzaka (JPN) 3 Errors - Orlando Miller (PAN) 4 WBC Game Chat: Japan vs. Cuba, 6 pm PT
2006-03-20 16:35
Live from PETCO Park! This game is also being shown on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. And some network in Japan too. And I think Cuba is hijacking the ESPN signal. Joe Morgan could be America's newest weapon in the propaganda war! The starting pitchers for tonight's game weren't announced ahead of time, but most likely Sadaharu Oh will send hard-throwing Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound. Cuba will likely start Ormari Romero or Vicyohandry Odelin. Whoever is the starting pitcher may not matter much as both managers (Oh and Cuban manger Higinio Velez) will not hestitate to go to the bullpen if either starter appears to be having a bad day. Velez had his bullpen up pretty much all the time during the semifinal with the Dominican Republic. Oh has Shunsuke Watanabe available to pitch in the final and he's thrown two tough good games against Korea in the tournament. Matsuzaka pitched against Cuba in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and picked up a win with 8 1/3 strong innings. Odelin picked up the loss in that game. Japan hit three home runs in that game. The only major leaguer who will be starting in the game is Ichiro Suzuki, but don't think that the level of play will be AAA or AA. This should be a well-played, close game. Cuba survived a battle of errors against the Dominican Republic in a 3-1 win Saturday. Cuba had 12 hits (all singles) and took advantage of an Adrian Beltre error for the win. As Velez said before the game, it was a battle between the hombres against the nombres. Perhaps this will be a matchup between the namae and otoko, which unfortunately doesn't rhyme. Japan avenged two earlier losses to Korea with a 6-0 win highlighted by a 2-run pinch homer by Kosuke Fukudome and another solo homer by Hitoshi Tamura. Koji Uehara completely shut down the Korean attack. In the USA, the final was supposed to be a chance to see Roger Clemens staring down Albert Pujols. Instead, it will be a chance for Americans to see just how hard Daisuke Matsuzaka can throw. And how well the mostly unknown Cuban hitters will fare. It's just one game and predicting what can happen in one baseball game is a fool's errand. That said, I think Japan will win. Please feel free to call me a fool after the game is over. Or before it starts if it makes you happy. Game time temps should be in the high 50s in San Diego. A 10% chance of rain is forecast. Prensa Latina preview in English, Cuban paper. FINAL SCORE Japan 10, Cuba 6 WP -- Daisuke Matsuzaka Japan scores four in the first without hitting the ball out of the infield. They stretch the lead to 6-1, but Cuba rallies to make it 6-5 as Cuba takes advantage of some Japanese errors. But Japan scores four in the ninth to break open the game. Daisuke Matsuzaka is named tournament MVP. Congratulations to Japan! Sometimes an aficionado is just an aficionado
2006-03-20 15:20
When I want true, hard-hitting coverage of the WBC, I turn to the best source: Cigar Aficionado. Actually, the article by Alejandro Benes is pretty good. And now I know where to go to get Dominican cigars in San Diego. Were the Cuban players allowed to bring Cuban cigars into the US? Is anyone on the DL? (Defection list)
2006-03-20 13:26
According to spokespeople for the WBC and Cuba as reported in the Miami Herald, no Cuban player has defected. Keep in mind that any player who defects and seeks asylum in the U.S. has to go through the amateur draft. A Cuban player wanting to defect would do better to cross over to Mexico, which according to my map, is not far from San Diego. Forgotten in all this is that it is quite possible that all the players on the Cuban team really want to win tonight. Then left Bronson
2006-03-20 09:16
The Red Sox today traded Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati in exchange for outfielder Wily Mo Peña. Peña should become Trot Nixon's platoon pal in right field for Boston. Arroyo was the odd man out in the Boston rotation and should be able to start for Cincinnati if he can crack the Reds' imposing rotation of Aaron Harang, Eric Milton and assorted volunteers. Juan Gone is not gone
2006-03-19 21:40
The Red Sox have added yet another piece to the puzzle. A puzzle that has too many pieces and none of them are corner or edges. Juan Gonzalez has signed a minor-league deal with Boston. I, for one, would never do this
2006-03-19 19:34
A teacher in Japan had to apologize for watching part of the Japan-South Korea WBC game Thursday afternoon (Wednesday night in the USA). I'm appalled. Trully appalled. Thank God I live in a country where websites that stream live video of the NCAA tournament have a "Boss Button" available. For the record, I watched none of the NCAA tournament live on the internet while at work. I will not comment further. I'm not here to talk about the past. WBC final preview and postmortems
2006-03-19 16:48
After 32 games being played from San Juan to Tokyo, the inaugural World Baseball Classic is headed to its final Monday night at 6 pm PT in San Diego. The last two teams standing are Cuba and Japan. Both teams have sort of staggered and stumbled along the way to the championship game, but they have survived. What both teams have shown is that the most important factor in the WBC has not been hitting or pitching or defense. The most important factor has been preparation. Cuba, like the NHL during the Winter Olympics, has paused its domestic season to allow its national team to form and practice for the WBC. The Cubans may not be the most talented team, but they have stayed alive mainly because its hitters don't look like they are still trying to get their timing down. Japan's season runs concurrently with the MLB season, but Japanese players have always started training camps in the middle of winter. While they might have been lacking in game action, they definitely were in shape and the Japanese pitchers have had pinpoint control, walking just 11 batters in seven games. Al Leiter finally retires!
2006-03-19 13:38
Huzzahs come up from the Tri-State Area as Yankee fans know that Joe Torre will now longer be able to put Al Leiter into a game anymore. Leiter did have a good career prior to last year, but stubbornly held on and forced people to watch him throw 100 pitches in 5 inning starts. Leiter was on the USA team for the WBC and pitched 2/3 of an inning in the loss to Canada and gave up two runs. After that, even Buck Martine wouldn't think of putting him in a game. Perhaps Leiter can start his rumored political career in New Jersey now. Or become one of baseball's new talking heads. He can be the yin to Tim McCarver's tempestuous yang. WBC Game Chat: Japan vs Korea, 7 pm PT
2006-03-18 18:00
Live from PETCO Park! This game is also on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. The last semifinal will be round three of Japan versus Korea. These teams first met on March 5 at the Tokyo Dome. Japan took a 2-1 lead into the eighth when Seung-Yeop Lee belted a 2-run homer off of Hirotoshi Ishii to give Korea a 3-2 win. The teams met again Wednesday and the stakes were higher as the winner would get a spot in the semifinals and the loser would need help to advance. And this time it has Jong-Beom Lee who delivered the big hit in the eighth, with a 2-run double to give Korea a 2-1 win. But Japan got the help they needed when México beat the USA 2-1 Thursday. So, the top two teams in Asia battle it out to see who will face Cuba in Monday night's finale. Korea will start Jae Weong Seo, who raised some eyebrows when he planted a Korean flag on the pitching mound at Angel Stadium after Korea's win Wednesday. Seo has given up just one run in nine innings of work and is 2-0 in the WBC. Korea's pitchers have an ERA of 1.33 and the team has committed no errors. Japan will start Koji Uehara, who has given up three runs in 10 innings with no walks. Japanese pitchers have walked just 10 batters in their first six games. Korean pitchers have walked 17 batters. However Japan has surrendered seven home runs and Korea has given up only five. The rational part of me tells me that the winner of this game will be decided by whoever has the most talent. But the extremely talented teams of the USA, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are all gone. Right now, rationality has little to do with predicting who will win. Just pick a team to root for and sit back and hope for the best. FINAL SCORE Japan 6, Korea 0 WP -- Koji Uehara Uehara throws seven innings of shutout ball as Japan finally beats Korea in the touranment. And at the most opportune time. Japan will face Cuba in the championship game Monday night at 6 pm PT. A 2-run pinch homer by Kosuke Fukudome in the seventh off of Byung-Hyun Kim highlighted a five-run inning. Korea finishes the tournament with a 6-1 record and made no errors. Japan is 4-3 and will take on 5-2 Cuba. WBC Game Chat: Cuba vs. Dominican Republic, noon PT
2006-03-18 13:09
Live from PETCO Park This game should be shown live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes as well. The first semifinal matches up two neighboring Caribbean nations. Well sort of, if you skip past Haiti, but Cuba and the island of Hispaniola are adjacent to each other in the Caribbean, separated by the Windward Passage. Bartolo Colón gets the start for the Dominican Republic and Yadel Martí will most likely be starting for Cuba. Colón will probably be on a much longer leash than Martí, who will likely be pulled whenever the situation warrants it. In the international sporting scene, the Dominican Republic has not won much of anything. There has only been one Dominican to get a medal in the Olympics: Pedres Nolasco, who won a bronze medal in bantamweight boxing at the 1984 Olympics. The Dominicans won the World Cup of Baseball once, and that was back in 1948 and all the participants were from Latin America. Cuban manager Higino Velez has described this game as being a matchup between the hombres of Cuba and the nombres of the Dominican Republic. (Men versus names). Francisco Cordero was expected to join the D.R. roster, but insurance concerns vetoed that. But that might not make a huge difference as the Dominican relievers, with the exception of Miguel Batista, have been much better than expected. Cuba is used to the pressure of playing in tournaments like the WBC, but this game will likely have far more exposure than the Cubans are used to. The World Cup of Baseball is not a big spectator sport and Olympic baseball rarely even showed up on NBC's multichannel coverage. But this game will be shown to a much wider audience and will be shown live in the US to those people who don't want to watch the NCAA basketball tournament or people like me, who have developed the ability to watch two different sporting events on TV at the same time. I think that if the Dominicans can handle the Cuban pressure and are able to reverse the ball in order to open up some lanes for penetration, they should be able to win this one. But Cuba lives and dies with the three-point shot, so the Dominican should avoid playing a zone defense and make the Cubans beat them down low. FINAL SCORE Cuba 3, Dominican Republic 1 WP -- Pedro Luis Lazo Cuba wins the battle of errors and bloop hits (20 hits, all singles in the game) to advance to Monday's final against either Japan or Korea at 6 pm PT. The second coming of Darren Dreifort?
2006-03-18 13:08
A.J. Burnett of Toronto left his spring training start today in Dunedin, Florida after one pitch with an elbow injury. But it's not like Burnett has a history of injuries does he? Man down for Mexico and Washington!
2006-03-18 10:15
Luis Ayala will miss the 2006 season after suffering an acute ligament sprain in his right elbow during Mexico's win over the USA Thursday night. Nationals president Tony Tavares wasn't not happy when interviewed: "We thought it was a bad decision to let him pitch," Tavares said by phone Friday from Washington. "It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. You know what surgery is like on elbows. It takes time to rebound from them. It's usually a process that has a certain cadence to it. This was accelerating that cadence. We were concerned, very concerned -- and as it shows right now, for good reason." And of course Jim Bowden is irate and smugly self-confident: "Our medical staff has advised me that they don't believe that this injury would have happened if he had been in the care of our medical staff and on our plan," Bowden said. "This is a devastating injury. It's a devastating loss to the club." WBC Final Four preview and predictions
2006-03-17 21:33
Ahh, the tradition, the pageantry, the spectacle that is the Final Four. 16 nations fighting for the right to go play in a stadium with funky outfield walls that's named for a pet supply store chain to determine who is the best baseball playing nation in the world. Well, no one says that the World Baseball Classic is the truest test of who is the best baseball playing nation in the world. But, at least for me, it's been fun to watch. It's had its ups (watching Korea play for one) and its downs (cough, BobDavidson, cough). But now it's down to four teams. It's single elimination. No mercy rules. No ties. OK, there's still a pitch limit, but it's up to 95 pitches now. The noon PT game is one of the few international sporting events where the participants from the Dominican Republic would ever be considered to be a big favorite. And their opponents would envy growing up in some of the places where the Dominican players grew up. It's all in the perspective. The Dominican Republic comes into the game winning five of its six games in the WBC, losing only to Puerto Rico. Cuba has won four of six, losing badly to Puerto Rico (12-2 in a mercy rule shortened game) and not as badly to the D.R. (7-3). The D.R. squad advanced when its pitchers combined on a one-hitter to get past Venezuela 2-1 in the final game of the second round. Cuba survived a near meltdown in the seventh when its manager, Higinio Velez was ejected, to beat Puerto Rico, 4-3 in its final game of the second round. Meet your WBC semifinalist countries
2006-03-17 20:01
Sources: CIA World Factbook, Taking in a Game by Joseph A. Reaves (2002, University of Nebraska Press), Baseball-reference.com, Cubanball.com, ESPN.com Dae Han Min-Gook!
2006-03-17 08:06
Dae Han Min-Gook! Dae Han Min-Gook! Dae Han Min-Gook! This was the cheer that reverberated throughout Angel Stadium of Anaheim Wednesday night as Korea established it itself as the current king of Asian baseball after a 2-1 win over Japan that sent Korea to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic. Dae Han Min-Gook is the formal way of saying the name of Korea in the Korean language. And it lends itself well to rhythmic chanting. (Sort of like this: long, long, short, short, clap, clap) The chant stayed with me on the drive home as well as the pounding of the pale blue ThunderStix. I had visions of the Korean flag with its Yin and Yang symbol and I Ching symbolism and people waving white placards with a simple black letter "K" on them are etched in my brain When I arrived at Angel Stadium, it was readily apparent that the crowd was heavily in favor of Korea. Blue was the predominant color. Sweatshirts with "S Y LEE 25" on the back were a common sight as fans celebrated their favorite player, Seung-Yeop Lee, aka "The People's Slugger" or "The Lion King". Personally, I prefer the former nickname as it has sort of a Dixie Walker (The People's Cherce) feel to it. The Korean-American community in Southern California is about 288,000 people according to the last U.S. Census estimate for the Southern California metropolitan area. The Japanese-American community is around 165,000. The Japanese-Americans have also lived in Southern California for a much longer time and have much less of a connection to their ancestral country than the Korean-Americans living here. The Korean-American community is a bit more cohesive with numerous Korean churches and business associations throughout the area. There was a lot of Korean heard in the stands, but not much Japanese. And underlying everything was the not so distant past when Japan occupied Korea (1910-45). The wounds caused by that time (which were considerable) have not completely healed in Korea, while the Japanese have oddly gone crazy for Korean soap operas and pop culture. And to this day, Japan and Korea still dispute the possession of some rocky islands which I will neutrally refer to as the Liancourt Rocks. The Koreans call them Tokdo and the Japanese call them Takeshima. The body of water dividing the islands of Japan and the Korean peninsula is called by most people "The Sea of Japan" although in Korea it is called "The East Sea". While the two countries aren't going to go to war, their relationship could not be described as "warm". Fortunately, at Angel Stadium, the Korean and Japanese fans mixed together with no problems. Today in doping disagreements
2006-03-17 08:05
Dick Pound, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has assailed the doping plan used during the WBC. "It's very simple. We are asking baseball to come clean and set the record straight," Pound said in a statement on the WADA website. Rob Manfred responded to Pound's criticism in the Globe and Mail. Meanwhile, Commissioner Bud Selig has said that he might or might not investigate Barry Bonds. The ESPN story indicates that MLB would be more interested in investigating Bonds if he were implicated in perjury or tax evasion charges. The good news is that Bonds said he would like to play in the WBC after all. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. WBC Game Chat: USA vs Mexico, 4:30 pm PT
2006-03-16 15:30
Live from Angel Stadium! This game will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. The final spot in the WBC Final Four will be decided today. If the USA wins, it moves on to play Korea Saturday night in San Diego. If Mexico wins, most likely it will be Japan that will move on. The USA can advance also if they lose a 1-0 game, in 9 innings or be drawn into a 2-1 or 3-2 game that goes into extra innnings. Roger Clemens, in what could be his last professional baseball start (until he decides to unretire again), goes for the USA. Oliver Perez will start for Mexico. Mexico comes into the game with a .690 team OPS in five games and has scored just two runs in its last two games, both coming on solo home runs. The United States is second in the WBC in OPS and the highest among the remaining teams at .918 (Canada was .928 in three games). But most of the American hitting was done in one 17-0 win over South Africa. Since then, the American team scored just four runs in a win over Japan and only three in a loss to Korea, with two coming in the ninth inning. Mexico's pitching has been better than the USA. Mexico sports an ERA of 3.14 to 4.05 for the USA. Both teams have allowed four home runs. The USA will be without the services of Derrek Lee at first base today as he is nursing a sore shoulder. Lee had hit three home runs in five games and had homered against Mexico in the team's earlier meeting, a 2-0 win for the USA. Mark Texeira will likely start at first and he's 0 for 12 in the WBC. Johnny Damon will not play in the field (or at all) and USA manager Buck Martinez may start Jeff Francouer, who has only 3 ABs in the tournament. Mexico's offense, such as it is, is led by Jorge Cantu who has hit two home runs and has an OPS of 1.014. The Mexican team is batting just .235 for the WBC. The fact that the USA is still alive will make this game far more interesting of course. Mexico probably should not beat the USA. But then again, Canada and Korea shouldn't have either. If Clemens gets the team off to a good start and the USA hitters can actually get a hit with runners on base, the USA should win. But if the 2004 version of Oliver Perez shows up, Mexico could keep this one close and make it uncomfortable for fans of the USA. Expect a crowd that will still likely be heavily pro-Mexico, although not to the same extent as a USA-Mexico soccer match in Southern California. Mexico may have only the longest of shots to make it to the semifinals (they need to win 3-0 or 4-0 in 13 innings), but they would certainly enjoy knocking out their neighbor to the north, just as they did in Olympic qualifying in 2003. FINAL SCORE Mexico 2, United States 1 WP -- Edgar Gonzalez Korea wins the Anaheim Regional with a 3-0 record. Japan, USA, and Mexico all finish 1-2. By the runs allowed tiebreaker, Japan surrendered 5 runs in 17 2/3 innings (.282). The USA gave up 5 in 17 innings (.294) and Mexico surrendered 7 runs in 18 innings (.388). Korea will play Japan on Saturday night at 7 pm PT in San Diego in the semifinal. A reliever worth his weight in gold
2006-03-16 15:29
Yep, just whom you would suspect: Mike Remlinger. Remlinger is listed on the Braves website as weighing 215 lbs. The price of gold closed today at $554.40. That makes Remlinger worth $1,430,352. (Gold is measured in troy ounces and there are 12 of those to a pound.) D.R. team gets a slight boost for the semifinals
2006-03-16 10:37
With Damaso Marte dropping out of the WBC because of a tender shoulder, the Dominican Republic replaced him on the roster with Francisco Cordero of the Texas Rangers. Cordero had originally dropped off the roster due to shoulder problems of his own, but he now he feels better. The D.R. squad will be able to use Cordero along with Duaner Sanchez and Fernando Rodney to close out games. The Dominicans play Cuba Saturday afternoon at noon PT at PETCO Park in San Diego. Wednesday in the WBC
2006-03-15 23:17
The Final Four in San Diego now has three spots set and only one of the teams was expected to be there.
WBC Game Chat: Korea vs. Japan, 7 pm PT
2006-03-15 18:00
Live from Angel Stadium! This game is scheduled to be shown live on ESPN Deportes and will appear on ESPN2 at 11 pm PT. One and possibly two spots in the semifinals will be settled tonight in this rematch of a first round game that Korea won 3-2 in the Tokyo Dome. Korea's starting pitcher will likely be Chan Ho Park, who has three saves in the tournament. He may not pitch much to stay ready for the semis. Sidearmer/submariner Shunsuke Watanabe will start for Japan. The Koreans have yet to lose in the tournament, winning their first five games, including a surprising 7-3 win over the USA on Monday. Japan recovered from a disappointing and controversial loss to the USA on Sunday 4-3 to beat Mexico 6-1. Here are the scenarios: The whole problem about relying on Japan to score a lot of runs is that Korea has given up 7 runs in five games so far. And both teams are likely to rely on one-run strategies such as sacrifices and stolen bases. Japan had three sacrifices against Mexico and leads the WBC in stolen bases with 10. Korea's recipe for victory has been, get a guy on base for Seong-Yeop Lee, wait for a homer and then pitch well and catch every batted ball. Japan's hitting has come and gone at times and its defense appears a little shakier than Korea's. However, the game is filled with emotion, so the outcome is hard to predict. I will be at that game, so I hope everybody enjoys the game! I hope to have a full report for you Thursday or Friday with some photos. Most likely I will just be heading to bed once I get home tonight. WBC Game Chat: Cuba vs. Puerto Rico, 4 pm PT
2006-03-15 17:00
Live from Hiram Bithorn Stadium! This game is scheduled to be shown live on ESPN Deportes only. For the second straight day in San Juan, there will be an elimination game to decide one of the semifinalists. Both Cuba and Puerto Rico are 1-1 and the winner moves on to play the Dominican Republic Saturday in San Diego. When these two teams met last Friday, Puerto Rico embarrassed Cuba with a 12-2 win that was shortened to seven innings by the mercy rule. Cuba bounced back from that loss to defeat Venezuela in its first game of the second round, but then lost to the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico handed the Dominican Republic its only loss of the tournament Sunday, but was shut out by Venezuela Monday. Dicky Gonzalez should get the start for Puerto Rico. Gonzalez pitches for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and is a former Mets farmhand. Cuba's starting pitcher is not known at this time, keeping with the team's practice of not giving out a lot of information about anything. The degree to which certain players are injured will play a role. Carlos Delgado has missed the first five games for Puerto Rico with tendinitis in his left elbow. If he can come back, his bat could change the dynamics of the Puerto Rico offense. Cuban second baseman Yulieski Gourriel left his team's loss to the Dominican Republic in the eighth inning after being hit by a pitch. If he can't play, Cuba would be in serious trouble. A sellout crowd is expected for the last game in San Juan to see whether the Dominican Republic plays its island neighbors to the west (Cuba) or the east (Puerto Rico). And if the flags confuse you, remember that Cuba has the blue triangle with the red and white stripes, while Puerto Rico has the red triangle with the blue and white stripes. As an added wrinkle, if the game is tied after 14 innings, it will end in a tie. So who would advance to the semis? The head-to-head tiebreaker wouldn't matter. The runs allowed tiebreaker wouldn't matter. The earned runs allowed tiebreaker would matter if somebody gives up an unearned runs. After that it would be which ever team had the higher batting average during the game. If that ended up identical, it would be a coin toss. Get your tiebreakers here -- UPDATED
2006-03-15 09:53
After figuring out the math again, the outlook for the USA to advance to the semifinals in the event of a Japan win over Korea Wednesday night is not good. If Japan wins, the best the USA can get is a three-way tie at 2-1. Tiebreaker #1 is head-to-head - Everybody would be 1-1. So if Japan beats Korea, but scores no more than 6 runs and it's a nine-inning game, you get:
If it's a 7-6 win for Japan and the game is decided in the ninth and Korea gets one or two outs before Japan scores the winning run, then the USA would also be eliminated. Or it could be 8-7, see below. If the game goes into extra innings, there are a whole world of problems for Team USA. So, if you're pulling for Team USA, then you need to root for Korea Wednesday night. Big time. Update -- AP stories say that the USA will be eliminated if Japan wins by scoring SEVEN or fewer runs instead of six. However, like an angry math teacher, I would like the people to show their work. If Japan were to score seven in nine innings, then Korea would have surrendered 10 runs in 17 innings, just like the U.S. Then the next tiebreaker, which would be earned runs would come into play. The USA has surrendered 10 earned runs. So far, only Japan has given up an unearned run. So if anyone can explain to me why seven runs is the magic number to eliminate and not six, I'd be glad to find out. Please show your work for full credit. The first person to show me definitive proof before I leave to go to Anaheim will win a WBC souvenir of my choosing. Although you can pick the country, subject to availability at the souvenir stands in Anaheim. Tuesday in the WBC
2006-03-14 22:17
The first team to make it to the semifinals was settled today, while the other three spots are still up in the air.
WBC Game Chat: Japan vs. Mexico, 4 pm PT
2006-03-14 15:00
Live from Angel Stadium! This game should be live on ESPN Deportes. The fate of everyone in the Anaheim Region hangs in the balance with this game. If Mexico wins, Korea is automatically in the semifinals and Mexico and USA have a winner-take-all game on Thursday. If Japan wins, the Korea-Japan game could just be a preview of a Saturday semifinal if the score is right (or wrong depending upon your perspective). Fans of the USA would then be rooting for Korea to beat Japan. Japan will start hard-throwing Daisuke Matsuzaka and Mexico will likely start Esteban Loiaza. Both pitchers gave up just one run in their first starts, against China and Canada respectively. The Japanese are still smarting from their controversial 4-3 loss to the USA Sunday. The Japanese filed a formal protest over umpire Bob Davidson's call on a tagup play on a fly ball. The protest is symbolic though as the play was a judgment call and not subject to reversal by the WBC organizers. Mexico lost on Sunday to Korea, 2-1, as they fell victim to the bat of Seong-Yeop Lee (who leads the tournament with five homers) and some excellent pitching and fielding. Mexico managed 10 runs against South Africa and nine against Canada, but were shut out by the USA and scored just one run against Korea. Japan scored 32 runs against Taiwan and China, but have managed just five against teams with Major League pitchers in Korea and the USA. So, here's your handy guide on who to root for: There you have it, 3 out of 4 baseball fans will be pulling for Mexico today in an afternoon affair in Anaheim. Presumably the crowd will predominantly be pro-Mexico, so the Japanese should have their hands full. FINAL SCORE Japan 6, Mexico 1 WP -- Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-0) Matsuzaka and company throttle Mexico on just three hits. Japan picks up 12 hits and manages six runs despite giving numerous outs on the basepaths and being shaky in the field. Japan evens its record at 1-1 and sets up a showdown with Korea tomorrow night in Anaheim at 7 pm PT. If Korea wins, it moves on to the semis. If Japan wins and scores fewer than six runs and Korea scores fewer than seven runs, then both Korea and Japan advance. In other words, a maximum score of 5-4 Japan sends both Asian teams to semis. Remember also that an extra inning game would benefit both Korea and Japan and hurt the USA as the tiebreaker is runs allowed per inning played on defense. Also, if a game goes 14 innings, it is declared a tie. A tie would send Korea to the semis. The USA would have to beat Mexico to advance. If Japan beats Korea and scores 7 or more runs, the USA would advance to the semis with a win over Mexico Thursday. WBC Game Chat: Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic, 4 pm PT
2006-03-14 15:00
Live from Hiram Bithorn Stadium! Also on ESPN2 live. Before the WBC started, I predicted that these two teams would meet in the semifinals. They won't. The way the San Juan Region played out, all four teams split their first two games. So the winner of this game goes on to the semifinal Saturday in San Diego and the loser gets to go back to spring training. Venezuela will start Freddy Garcia and the Dominican Republic will counter with Daniel Cabrera. D.R. manager Manny Acta will likely go with a lineup similar to the one he used in yesterday's win over Cuba. That means Placido Polanco will get the start at second base and bat leadoff. Ronny Paulino will likely be the starting catcher after his 2-for-2 performance against Cuba. Catcher is the only weak spot in the otherwise powerful Dominican lineup. The D.R. team has hit nine home runs, tied with the U.S. for the tournament high. Adrian Beltre has hit four and David Ortiz has hit three. Venezuela's offense has been rather spotty and the team has relied on its pitching staff, throwing three shutouts in five games. Miguel Cabrera has homered twice for Venezuela as well as Endy Chavez, who has been one of the few pleasant surprises on offense for Venezuela. Bobby Abreu, Carlos Guillen, and Magglio Ordoñez have combined for just 7 hits in 52 ABs, although Abreu has managed to draw six walks. The D.R. pounded Venezuela 11-5 in the opening game of the first round, hitting Carlos Zambrano (who pitched well yesterday) and Carlos Hernandez. Venezuela will want to keep the game close and get the chance to use Francisco Rodriguez in the late innings. Rodriguez represents the one big edge the Venezuelans have as the D.R. has to rely on either Duaner Sanchez or Fernando Rodney to close out the game. FINAL SCORE Dominican Republic 2, Venezuela 1 WP -- Miguel Batista Five D.R. pitchers combine to hold Venezuela to just one hit (a double by Omar Vizquel in the 6th) and strike out 11. Sanchez loads the bases in the 9th on two walks and an error, but gets out of it. The Dominican Republic moves on to the semifinals on Saturday night against the winner of tomorrow's game between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Oh! The ignominy of it all
2006-03-14 13:08
The English language version of the Korean paper Chosun Ilbo has an interesting write-up of Korea's 7-3 win over the USA Monday night. Team USA served up some last-minute fireworks with a three-hit surge that brought in two points. A far cry from the needed comeback, it at least provided a bit of relief for fans who had managed to stick out the heartbreak and unseasonably chilly weather. Italics are mine. I'm hoping this story was translated from Korean. Either that or this writer has been reading a lot of Grantland Rice. Stadiums come and stadiums go
2006-03-14 10:08
One of the most storied stadiums in baseball's history, Tiger Stadium, may finally facing demolition. Its last hurrah may have been the Bud Bowl party for the Super Bowl last month. If so, what an ignominious end for a proud place. Meanwhile, the design for the new stadium in Washington has been released. Monday in the WBC
2006-03-13 23:52
There were three games in the WBC Monday. And just who is going to end up in the semifinals became sligthly less blurry, but not clear either. And all we know now is that we know now about the teams in the WBC and how the games will play out is not nearly as much as we thought we knew before the tournament started and what we don't know dwarfs that. There is only one team left in the tournament is undefeated, Korea. And it hasn't clinched a spot in the semifinals despite its stellar play.
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