Hey, What’s this Baseball Tournament?
So the World Baseball Classic is going on and we have paid little-to-no attention to it here. However, the first round was supposed to be virtually uninteresting right? I mean the major contenders were expected to advance because they definitely wouldn’t lose twice.
Some of the teams I considered major contenders-Japan, Cuba, Venezuela, the United States-advanced, but one major favorite bowed out early when they lost to Netherlands. Isn’t that weeeird?!
The Dominicans lost to the Dutch twice! That’s unbelievable. Just goes to show how unpredictable a short series is. Right? Too soon?
Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol picked up his second loss of the WBC when he gave up two runs in the 11th inning after the Dominicans had taken the lead in the top half of the 11th. He gave up a double, then after the runner was moved to third there was a single to score him, then Marmol had a wild pickoff throw sending the runner to third. First baseman Willy Aybar took some of the heat off Marmol for the loss when he botched a line drive that would have ended the inning, but instead allowed the winning run to score.
To give you an idea of the upset: the Dominican Republic had 21 more MLB players than the Dutch, earned $83 million more in MLB salaries, and are just generally worse at baseball. Netherlands will now go on to play Puerto Rico to determine the winner of their pool (both teams have advanced).
After staring at their website for an hour, I finally understand how this thing works. For example, in Pool C featuring the U.S. and Venezuela: even thought the U.S. is 2-0 and Venezuela lost to the U.S. and is 2-1, the two teams will still play one game to determine the winner of the group. That game will be at 6:30 et. tonight by the way, and the winner will play the loser of Puerto Rico and Netherlands, while the loser will play the winner of that game. Whew.
The U.S. has looked great so far in the tournament, actually falling behind in games against Canada and Venezuela, but coming back strong in both contests for wins. If I’m not mistaken it will be Ted Lilly on the mound for the U.S.
Anyway, we’ll try to be more up with the times when it comes to the WBC and bring you the coverage you desperately yearn for.
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