Dickey is not looking like he's got any mid-season rhythm. It's quite embarrassing, actually, so far against a team who just lost to Italy. I think the best the US can hope for is to get Gallardo's pitching count up so they can get to their bullpen.
I can't think of any other explanation for the US consistently sucking at this tournament other than they don't take it seriously enough. Mark Teixeira called it an exhibition series and really that's the only way I can think to explain why this team consistently can't compete with the rest of the world, despite their MLB individual records. I don't know how else to explain why they consistently struggle.
The Italians are probably the best European nation for baseball. That's if we only count the Dutch players from the continent. Italy is doing quick well developing the game.
UGLINESS bench clearing brawl between Canada and Mexixo with debrie being thrown from the stands games on the MLB Network
Awesome brawl between Canada and Mexico! Here's a video, watch before MLB pulls it down: U.S. should beat Italy tonight (they slotted their #3 starter into the game, figuring they should put their better ones vs. Mexico and Canada, the Italian starting pitcher pitched in the Italian Baseball League last year). The American starter is Vogelsong. So if that happens, the pool looks like this: Italy 2-1 U.S. 1-1 Canada 1-1 Mexico 1-2 And then it's pretty straightforward that the winner of U.S. and Canada tomorrow advances to the next round along with Italy. The winner of tomorrow's Japan/Netherlands game will advance to the Final 4. The loser will face Cuba who demolished Taiwan 14-0 in 7 innings earlier today to determine the 2nd team to advance to the Final 4. In the San Juan pool, the Dominican beat Spain earlier 6-3. Puerto Rico and Venezuela are playing now. If Puerto Rico wins, them and the Dominican will advance at 2-0 and Venezuela (a pre-tournament favorite) along with Spain will be out before their 3rd game at 0-2.
Italy is through no matter what! With Canada winning over Mexico, Italy can't finish any lower than second. FORZA AZZURRI!! Also, that full video can be found here... http://deadspin.com/5989728/massive-bench+clearing-brawl-erupts-at-mexico+canada-wbc-game That brawl was WILD!! Who says that no one cares about the WBC???
if you're going to remove the Arubans and Curacaoans from the Dutch roster, you should be fair and also remove the Americans from the Italian roster
You know what would be hilarious: If the US team finishes 4th, they have to go through qualifying just to get into the 2017 tournament. I'm sure that ol' Bud will figure out a way to weasel out of it, but it would be hilarious, nonetheless!
The Canada-Mexico brawl gets the Don Cherry treatment during Hockey Night in Canada. Jump to 1:55. http://www.cbc.ca/player/Sports/Hockey/ID/2341804234/
The Canada-Mexico brawl was the most hardcore fight I've ever seen at a baseball game. That one Canadian player nearly knocked a couple Mexican guys out cold. Probably not a good idea to fight a bunch of hockey players.
here's a video from ESPN showing more detail on who gets hit and who is punching: http://espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2013/story/_/id/9035253/canada-mexico-brawl-breaks-wbc-game question asked to Canadian manager Ernie Whitt post-game: "were any of your players hurt in the brawl?" Whitt: "you can't hurt us Canadians" After letting up a run in both the 1st and 2nd, Vogelsong settles down and him and the two American relievers retire 22 of the last 25 batters they face combined. Detwiler finishes the game for the U.S. throwing 4 innings and letting up only one hit. Game ends 6-2 a U.S. win. They play Canada tomorrow where the winner moves on to the next round, 4pm start time.
Here's the scenarios for today... Venezuela vs Spain The winner will automatically qualify for the 2017 WBC. The loser will be forced to qualify in the qualifying rounds. Dominican Republic vs Puerto Rico The winner will face either Canada or Italy. The loser will face either the US or Italy. United States vs Canada If the US wins, they will place first, and play the loser of today's DR/PR game. Italy will finish second and they play the winner of DR/PR. Canada will finish 3rd, and will automatically qualify for the 2017 WBC. Mexico will be forced to qualify in the qualifying rounds. If Canada wins, Italy will win the group, and play the loser of DR/PR. Canada will play the winner of DR/PR. Mexico will finish 3rd and automatically qualify for the 2017 WBC. The US will finish 4th and be forced to qualify in the qualifying rounds of the 2017 WBC. There is a LOT on the line for the US in this game. Either they take this competition seriously or they don't. If they don't, this will be a serious black eye for US baseball. I was hoping that they would actually give a damn about this competition. Hopefully, they can prove me wrong today, and give everything they have for this tournament.
I am kind of hopping for a Canada win to perhaps shame the USA and the American players into taking this seriously in 4 years.
Shame won't work with US players. USA Baseball is like USA Basketball pre-2004 Olympics. USA Baseball thinks it's superior and then is shocked when it loses. If the USA loses today, they have no one to blame but themselves for their total lack of respect for this tournament and blatant lack of preparation for their opponents. I mean, come on, the US puts a team together a week before the tournament starts and wonders why they're playing poorly? That's not gonna work in international play.
I think that is what Ceezmad is saying. He's hoping for our Athens moment where the team bombs out and we have to rethink and remake the entire program.
9-4 win for the U.S. but if you didn't watch the game, it was tight up until the top of the 9th. The U.S. was down 3-2 going into the 8th. Both sides of that 8th inning were nervy and something to watch. The U.S. even win the pool. They'll play the loser of tonight's Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico game in Miami Tuesday night. The two issues going forward for the U.S.: Prior to the offensive explosion at the end of the game, the U.S. was hitting .152 with guys in scoring position. They finish the first round at .237. Second, they've gone down early in all 3 games, here's the cumulative scoreline from them: Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Opp 3 3 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 11 USA 0 0 0 4 5 0 0 4 4 17 Once we do get down, usually with our starters, our bullpen is doing awesome, they've only let up 3 runs.
Morneau, Saunders, and the catcher Robinson, batters 4 through 6 in the Canadian lineup, hit a combined 20-of-31 (.645) in their 3 games. The rest of the team hit 11-of-71 (.155).