If David Wright hits a two run game winning single to send the United States to the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic and no one sees it, did it still happen?  Apparently so, because the U.S. has clinched a spot in the semis with a win over Puerto Rico and will play the Venezuelans tonight to determine the seeding for the final portion of the tournament to be played in L.A.

Ted Lilly got the start for the U.S. and gave up only two hits.  The problem was, they were both home runs.  He left after 3 1/3 with the score tied at three.  The U.S was down 5-3 going into the ninth, and managed to load the bases before Kevin Youkilis walked to bring in a run and David Wright singled down the right field line to knock in the winning two runs.

As far as I could tell flipping through the channels around NIT games, the game was not televised, save for maybe ESPN Deportes.  That’s too bad for the World Baseball Classic, which drew a crowd of just over 13,000 for the important knockout game between two great teams.  You could tell by the celebration from the U.S. players that they are invested in this thing and they have really battled through injuries and adversity to stay alive.

Not sure if tonight’s game is on or not, but if they want this tournament to be big time, they have to find a way to get it on television.  At the very least we should be able to watch all the games for the United States.

• The Bulls made a fourth quarter run to only lose by 28 to the Magic.  I really hope they make the playoffs so we can see more of this.  [ESPN]
• Blackhawks beat the Hurricanes in a shootout at the United Center last night.  [Yahoo Sports]
• Conference USA plays some of the worst basketball in the country.  Ever.  A Memphis player won the Sixth Man of the Year Award and he missed six games with injury and averaged about four points and two rebounds in the games he did play.  Way to go son.  [Deadspin]
• Henry Blanco was huge for Venezuela as they beat the U.S. to win the group.  You know the format is questionable when the U.S. picks up its first loss, to a team it already beat, and somehow they don’t get a chance to play them again to win the group.  [ESPN]
• Stormin’ Norman makes the case for Ben Gordon.  I did a quick control+F to see if the word “defense” came up in the post.  [Pippen Ain't Easy]
• Stars and not-so-muches from Spring Training so far.  Rajai Davis is on pace for a sick year in triples! [More Hardball]
• Here’s some insight to the White Sox spring training.  [Tribune]
• Ha! Just kidding, we don’t care!  Get over it.  Here’s a sweet video about Reed Johnson, aka White Slice. [NESW Sports]
• Zoner looks at the Trevor Ariza foul from the other night and comes to exactly the right conclusion.  Just because someone goes flying through the air, it does not make it a flagrant foul.  [Zoner Sports]

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.

• Bulls week in review.  It was a pretty good week. [Pippen Ain't Easy]
• An awesome analysis of Jerry Angelo’s draft prowess.  I’d say overall he’s done a very good job. [Windy City Gridiron]
• The first 3 cuts were made by the Cubs.  Meh. [BCB]
• TO signed with the Bills.  I’m sure it will work out much better than his last 3 teams.  Not. [Deadspin]
• Let’s not get too excited about Ben Gordon.  He’s a good scorer and a below-average defender.  That’s it. [Pippen Ain't Easy]
• The U.S. beat Canada and Venezuela in the WBC.  I don’t care all that much, only to the extent that Cubs pitchers are putting burn on their arms.  Annoying.  [ESPN] + [MLB.com]
• Docksquad is back!  I hear he’s getting married and the old ball and chain wasn’t letting him write.  Who wears the pants over there anyways? [Docksquad]
• Penn State lost and now Michigan State beat Purdue.  I guess that means Illinois will probably be back where they started, in 2nd place in the Big Ten. [ESPN]

HHR's Awesome T-Shirt Design

The first tickets for the NCAA Tournament will be punched this weekend, as at least a couple of conference tournaments will wrap up.  And Cornell is already in!  There is also plenty of bubble action and some games vital to seeding in the Big Ten Tournament.  Hey, Duke and North Carolina play this weekend, how come we haven’t heard it over and over from ESPN?  Oh right, it’s on CBS.

Saturday:

10:00 AM [WBC] Netherlands at Dominican Rep.- ESPN2

11:00 AM [NCAAB] Michigan at Minnesota- ESPN^

11:00 AM [NCAAB] (1) UConn at (4) Pitt- CBS*

12:00 PM [NHL] Chicago at Boston- CSN

1:00 PM [WBC] Canada at United States- ESPN

1:00 PM [NCAAB] Kentucky at Florida- CBS^

1:00 PM [NCAAB] Penn State at Iowa- BTN^

2:00 PM [MLB] Cubs vs. Brewers- WGN

2:30 PM [NCAAB] Oklahoma State at (5) Oklahoma- ABC^

3:00 PM [NCAAB] Texas at (9) Kansas- CBS

8:00 PM [NCAAB] West Virginia at (6) Louisville- ESPN

Sunday:

11:00 AM [NCAAB] (20) Purdue at (8) Michigan St.- CBS

1:00 PM [NHL] Colorado at Chicago- WGN*

3:00 PM [NCAAB] (7) Duke at (2) North Carolina- CBS*

4:00 PM [NCAAB] Northwestern at Ohio State- BTN^

6:00 PM [NCAAB] Indiana at Wisconsin- BTN^

*Can’t Miss  ^Bubble Watch

• I wish I could have trash talked Obama at the Bulls-Wizards game like this joker.  [D.C. Sports Bog]
• Lou won’t say whether Z or Dumpster will start on Opening Day for the Cubs.  Z hasn’t fared that well in recent years, but he is clearly the most dominant pitcher on this staff (Harden doesn’t count). [Sun-Times]
• The Bulls suck.  Are they even trying on these road games? [Tribune]
• Thabo is getting some serious minutes in OKC and he hasn’t been playing badly.  Just don’t tell that to these guys. [Thank You Isaiah]
• Cedric Benson got locked up for 2 years by the Bengals.  Who won’t those guys give a contract to? [ESPN]
• Here’s some reasons to watch the World Baseball Classic.  It should be fun. [Zoner]
• I’m into statistics, and I’ve looked into the Bulls numbers pretty extensively.  That being said, I don’t know what half these acronyms mean, but if I did I bet they’d be interersting. [Blog-a-Bull]
• If you hate Duke, and I know you do, I’ve got just the t-shirt for you. [HHR]
• Did you ever wonder exactly how a zone blitz works in football?  Wonder no more. [Windy City Gridiron]