Yeah, it was a bullshit move by Lindstrom, IMO. The Dutch guy who hit the homer barely watched it at all; he certainly spent less time admiring it than Manny Ramirez and a whole bunch of other major leaguers often do with their home runs. Adam Dunn was almost as slow to get running on his own homer a few innings earlier. And the US were leading 8-2 after the homer, so it’s not like it changed the game or anything.
Now that the games are all played in America, I can only watch the game highlights because I’m not getting up at 5 in the morning just to watch baseball. Still, I wish I could because from what I can tell there’s been some good games.
Japan outclassed Cuba and I almost felt bad for the starting Cuban pitcher, Chapman. For almost a week now, they’ve been running profiles of the guy on television here. He was supposed to be some sort of monster who threw 110 mph fast balls (really) and followed them with nasty 80 mph curve balls. If we were to believe the talking heads, this wasn’t going to be Japan vs. Cuba, but Japan vs. Chapman.
As it turns out, the Japanese completely deconstructed him. He didn’t get a single strikeout and it seemed obvious that they had him completely figured out. He didn’t even finish the third inning. Still, if he played regularly in a stronger league, I think he could be a terrific pitcher.
In all honesty it isn’t big in the Nteherlands, but somehow we always (at least for European standards) seem to have a reasonable team in the tournaments we play. I think a lot of it has to do - as was mentioned before - with the players from the Antilles. You should really see it as our sportsprogram having a 10 minute overview of the games, and I would doubt they’d shown anything if we had lost the first game by 10-0.
On another thing mentioned in this thread, I think you Americans are really missing out on the international competitions. I love to watch football (see my name for what I mean by that), but nothing comes close to watching European and Worldcups - that is, tournaments for the national sides. I have my favourite teams in different leagues, but none of these get me as excited as the national team. During these games you will find empty streets (think London in 28 days) and every bar will have big screens and be packed to capacity. I guess I’m just sorry that you guys only have the olympics to get anywhere close to this kind of sports experience;)
I’m in the minority (but hopefully growing minority) of Americans who appreciates international competition. In fact, I get annoyed when I hear, during the World Baseball Classic (dumb name in my opinion) mention the “World Champion” Philadelphia Phillies. The typical American sports fan will defend the world champion tag for what are essentially “national champs” (but that term is actually used to refer to the college champs in whatever sport) because “all the best players play in our leagues,” because “all other countries are represented anyway by the players,” and other weak reasons. The point is not that international players play on your teams but that your team represents a particular part of the world. So Dominicans and Japanese may be happy that a pitcher is on the major league champs, but Santo Domingo and Tokyo has no piece of that championship trophy just because of that.
I’d love to see a Champions League sort of tourney for club teams, although I realize that this is a pipe dream. And maybe the American teams would dominate, but at least when they win it, they’d be legitamately the world champs.
Maybe this will change and Americans will get more serious about international competition to the point where, as you say, the streets will be empty during an international tournament. But I doubt it, sadly. The WBC is a good start but it has a long way to go. For one thing, the announcers need to stop calling the Phillies, the champions of a domestic league, the World Champs during an international tournament where other countries have proven themselves, many of which don’t have a whole lot of players (if any at all) playing in the majors. I don’t think I’ve ever heard, during the soccer World Cup any of the announcers worry that a player is over-extending himself and therefore his club team is worried. In fact, Perugia famously (and quite despicably) demoted a Korean player for having the audacity to score against Italy. Not to say that there isn’t concern of injury, but it isn’t discussed every other minute on the telecast. Right now, it looks like baseball people want to cash in on the popularity of international tournaments like the World Cup, without being all that serious about it. If they were serious, they’d have a much better product without having to dress it up with a goofy name. Also, the entire country would be behind it, instead of whining that their favorite players may get hurt, when they have no such fears when the same player is playing game 112 and 40 games out of the playoffs. I can only imagine the fury on sports shows if MLB decided that there would have to be a pitch count for pitchers in the world series.
I’m following the WBC, mostly because I’m interested in international competition, but I can’t really get excited about it for the reasons above. Again, it’s a start and hopefully it’ll get more exciting. After all, the first soccer world cup was an invitation only deal where most of the top European teams opted out of taking the long boat ride across the Atlantic to South America to participate.
The World Series is 100 years old, and at the time it was named it made perfectly good sense. Yes, it’s kind of a bad name now, but it’s unrealistic to expect an overnight change, especially in a sport that values tradition so highly.
The World Cup wasn’t as big a deal as it is now when it started – the UK didn’t participate in the first several, in part because they deemed the international competition to be beneath them.
The best thing that can happen for international baseball is for the USA to keep losing. Eventually, people will get pissed enough to demand that all the best players play.
USA barely survives against Puerto Rico. I don’t understand why Puerto Rico gets its own teams when we play international competitions. They are part of the USA. If they want their own team, they should have to declare independence. IMO, they should actually become the 51st state. Hawaii doesn’t get its own team and they are as culturally as different as Puerto Rico and further from the mainland, but they are actually a state.
The USA hasn’t looked good in the WBC and are suffering a lot of injuries. If they get eliminated I will rooting for Japan to repeat because I am a Mariner fan and will rooting for Ichiro.
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have their national soccer teams. Also, I believe that according to the SCOTUS, Puerto Rico belongs to but is not a part of the USA.
This is true, but in all honesty for most non-uk people it is very unclear why. In all other circumsatnces (also sports) they are considered to be one country (the UK), except for football and rugby. It is the same with the West-Indies in cricket, as far as I know there is no other context where this entity exists.
I guess it has something to do with the history of the Commonwealth, but it still makes little sense and leads to problems (like there being no football teams at the olympics); in my opinion it is easier - and in no way unreasonable - if the entity that is member of the UN (as a proxy for international recognition) is also the entity that has a NATIONAL team.
On the other hand, splitting the UK up means other teams have a better chance of winning (plus the potential easy games against NI and Wales),
I think (to put it in soccer terms) most U.S. baseball fans see the WBC more like an international friendly than the World Cup. Fun to watch the stars go against each other maybe, but it doesn’t really mean anything.
And throwing at a batter because he admired his homerun is well below bush league. You don’t want someone admiring a home run? Then throw better pitches. (I mean, nobody charges the mound because the pitcher pumped his fist after a strike out).
No, but in the NL, it’s not uncommon for that pitcher to get beaned the next time he’s up. And in the AL, they’ll just bean one of your hitters.
Is it me, or do Japan and Venezuela look like the strongest teams? I will rooting for the USA, but I will be surprised if those teams aren’t in the finals.
I think that’s right, but it’s also sort of putting the cart before the horse.
The main reason it’s seen as unimportant by the fans, i think, is that not all the top players play. Watching the WBC, you don’t really see all the stars going up against one another. Sure, there are some top-tier players on some of the teams, but the majority of the game’s superstars aren’t out there.
I wonder if furt is right, and that continued losses by the US team would lead to a change in attitude? I’m not sure.
One difference between baseball and other world sports like soccer is that, in baseball, all the best players in the world already play in one competition, Major League Baseball. Sure, there are some players in Asia and Latin America who are just about major league ready, but the fact is that anyone who is good enough comes to play in the majors. So American baseball fans get to see the best players in the world every day for more than six months every year.
By contrast, while the English Premier League probably has a disproportionate amount of international soccer talent, it does not get all the top talent in the same way as MLB does. There are plenty of superstars running around in Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, etc., etc. The World Cup brings all these top players together once every four years.
I wonder whether the WBC would work as a once-every-four-years type of tournament, a true World Cup of baseball? Obviously, the problem would be getting all the MLB clubs and players on board. A real competition would probably need 5-game or 7-game series, too, which would drastically increase the length of the competition. I’m not sure we’ll ever get something like that.
I think so too. Those are the only countries left with deep talent that have sent true All-Star teams. I’ll go with Venezuela to take it all.
This thing has been fun to watch. It would be even more fun if the US took it seriously, too - and maybe it would, if the schedule were compressed and moved into late March, when the pitchers are more ready. Maybe next time.
Well, I was only half right: right about USA and Venezuela, wrong about Mexico and Cuba. As it turns out, I will be attending the USA-Japan contest on Sunday, which I am really looking forward to. Also, having underestimated Japan before, I will now compensate by picking them to beat the USA and then Venezuela for the title. Their pitching and defense just look too good to bet against them.
I’ll be at the games this weekend too (as will Asimovian, I believe). I almost feel bad in saying that I don’t think USA can win it, but oh well. Such is life. I can’t wait to experience the Korean fans tomorrow!
Well, the US was unable to overcome poor defense, poor managing and a tenacious Japanese offense. There were more than 43,000 fans in Dodger Stadium, and the Japanese fans were the most vocal for the most part. The first 4 innings were exciting, and the US mounted a rally in the late innings that got the US fans back into it, but it fell short and then they threw the game away in the bottom of the eighth. I had fun, and I look forward to watching tonight’s final on TV. So far, my predictions have been spotty, but I predict that Korea will defeat Japan. I think Japan used too many of their best pitchers last night and the Koreans have had a day of rest, to boot.
Anyone watching the final? It’s 1-0 Japan, and they have the bases loaded with 1 out in the 3rd inning.
ETA: Double play gets Korea out of the inning without further damage.
Well, the US lost to the Japanese… and if sports talk radio is any indication, nobody in the US cares.
Which means that, in the short run, at least, the WBC is going nowhere.
Great final! 1-1 in the sixth. Maybe they should play it in Asia next time. The Koreans have more fans in their stadium in Seoul than there are in LA.
I still have time to edit: What a great play by the Japanese left fielder!
Did you see that play in left? Amazing pickup, and then gunning it to second for the out.