World Baseball Classic

[adminbaberuth]

Roy O in trouble.  Wait, he just gave up another run as Venezuela leads USA 3-2 lead in the 4th.

O at 64 pitches.

[adminbaberuth]

top 6

8-3 USA

[adminbaberuth]

Steve Phillips and Orel Hersherier going out it the booth about playing in the WBC. Phillips said players ego keep them from playing for the USA. Previously Hersherier said he was more committed to the Dodgers and would not have played.

japan leads korea 2-1 

[Gabe]

More players do need to play.

[Gametime23]

The Classic goes into their season, and that could be a problem with their teams. You think this is the way these guys make their living and they are risking injury if they do this. We have seen them get banged up out there already. I love the Classic but it needs to change somehow with scheduling or something to get the real Team USA in it.

[Gabe]

Am I understanding right that the semifinals and finals will not be on ESPN or ESPN2 but on Deportes? Which will mean I won't be able to watch.

[adminbaberuth]

David Wright just doubled in Jimmy Rollins as USA leads Japan 2-1 bot 3.

[adminbaberuth]

Roy O getting lit up, 5-2 Japan t4.

[adminbaberuth]

6-4 Japan top 8 USA still batting.

[KFDM COOP]

>

[adminbaberuth]

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allright coop, 3 word min.

[venom33]

I think regardless of who we put out there we still lose to Japan or Korea... These guys play sound, fundamental, TEAM baseball. Its ok to admit that there are better players/teams in the world than what we have here.

[LUFAN]

Venom I would agree, but we do not put our best players out there... I wish we would...but we do not.

[Terrier]

I don't think their players are physically superior. They are unselfish unlike American players who are mostly concerned about themselves. It's really not all their fault though our culture makes them that way. We glorify offensive stats over good team play. Why else would a player like Adam Dunn who can't play a lick of defense even be in the Major Leagues?

[Gametime23]

Dunn is not that bad of a defensive prescence especially when he played rf. That man has a cannon. Baseball in America has gone to offense, there are not many 5 tool players anymore. It has gotten to where we throw the non athletic kid that cn hit in the outfield (i.e. Carlos Lee, Manny, Berkman for a lil while, Bonds at the end of his career.....the list can go on. We no longer see the athletes of old but guys focused around hitting and there games are not well rounded anymore. There seems to be a select few guys in the pros that hit and play defense well. I mean ppl think Jeter is a great SS, he leads the league in errors for a SS most of the time. A nation that looked up to Babe Ruth had no place other to go than to this point. Tampa Bay proved the fact last year good defense and timely hitting with a little pitching gets you to the series. I am just a young guy looking at the mindset of guys my age in the pros, what would I know. lol

[Terrier]

I watched him play RF last game against Japan and he was terrible. He is so slow you have to time him with a calendar. I saw no evidence of the cannon arm you speak of. In fact the announcers commented several times about how weak his arm is. Maybe at one time he was decent defensively but not now. But like you say we are so infatuated with the HR that we overlook the rest of the game. That is exactly why Japan will continue to beat us. They play the game the way it should be played.

[Gametime23]

As a high school coach its great for us bc for some reason that idea of hr's has drifted into the high school game. We stress defense and then hitting and we r very successful. Dunn prob needs to work harder in the offseason, but if you would have seen him a few yrs back he had a cannon. He prob needs to get arm strength back bc poor offseason. He was a high school qb at New Caney who had the chance to play pro football or baseball and choose the one where your career can be longer than 5-8yrs. Kinda sounds like a prison sentence lol.