The Final Four is set

After thirty-six games, the final four is finally set, but I’m not talking about college basketball, I’m referring to the World Baseball Classic.  Korea takes on Venezuela tomorrow and the Americans will play Japan on Sunday, with the final to happen Monday.  After all this baseball action, it’s remarkable to see the similarities that this year’s WBC has had with the NCAA Tournament’s classic patterns.

·         Cinderella.  Unlike the 2006 Classic it was nice to see an unexpected team not only compete, but win twice and reach the second round in the Netherlands.  Reference Western Kentucky for the last two years in the NCAAs, and look for Cleveland St. and Portland St. today.

·         Scares.  Australia mercy-ruled Mexico and almost made it to the second round by beating Cuba, before being eliminated by Mexico without stirring up the brackets at all, much like American already did to Villanova this year in the NCAA.

·         Giants killed.  The Dominican Republic was many people’s favorites to win the whole thing, but didn’t even advance to the second round.  I think we will see a giant killed in Wake Forest later today.

·         Streaks ended.  Cuba, the number one ranked team in the world by the IBAF, failed to place at least third in an international baseball tournament for the first time in their history.  Kentucky also missed the Tourney for the first time since 1991, although that isn’t even close to comparing to a first time in a team’s history.

·         Busted brackets.  I lost two of my final four in Cuba and Dominican Republic, but my title pick is still alive in Japan.  So far in the NCAA I only have my Butler over LSU pick wrong.

·         Tigers.  Los Tigres of Venezuela have a chance of making the finals by beating Korea tomorrow.  I also have the Memphis Tigers in my final two, repeating what they did last season.

·         Buzzer-beaters.  MVP David Wright plated the winning two runs in the bottom of the ninth to stave off elimination and send Puerto Rico home.   Also, let’s not forget Yurendell de Caster whose hit that ricocheted off Willy Aybar and scored Gene Kingsale, not only won the game for the Netherlands in the bottom of the eleventh, but cemented their spot in Round 2 and eliminated the Dominicans.  After one day in the NCAA we only have a missed buzzer beater by VCU’s Eric Maynor’s over UCLA’s Darren Collison (as I predicted).

·         All-Tourney teams.  I’ve put together my own All-Round 2 teams for each pool.  As for the NCAA, it’s far too early this year, but I have an obsession with making subjective lists based on objective stats, so expect some to make their way on the internet from me.

 

Pool 1 (totals are cumulative unless otherwise noted):

C-Kenji Johjima, Japan. (.375, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB)

1B-Tae Kyun Kim, Korea. (.364, 1 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, .500 OBP)

2B-Akinori Iwamura, Japan. (.500 (Rd 2), .444 OBP)

3B-Jorge Cantu, Mexico. (.360, 5 R, 5 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI)

SS-Oscar Robles, Mexico. (.308, 4 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI)

LF-Frederich Cepeda, Cuba.  (.500, 5 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .538 OBP, GW RBI vs. Mexico)

CF-Yoennis Cespedes, Cuba. (.458, 5 R, 1 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI)

RF-Norichika Aoki, Japan. (.438 (Rd 2), 1 2B, 7 RBI, 1 SB, GW vs. Korea)

DH-Karim Garcia, Mexico. (.421, 5 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI)

P-J.K. Bong, Korea. (2-0 (13.2 inn), 0.66 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 3 K)

P-Suk-Min Yoon, Korea. (1-0 (9.2 inn), 0.00 ERA, 0.62 WHIP, 9 K, 0 BB)

P-Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan. (2-0 (10.0 inn), 1.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 9 K)

 

Pool 2:

C-Ramon Hernandez, Venezuela. (.400, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, .867 OBP)

1B-Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rico. (.438, 4 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, .625 OBP, .938 SLG)

2B-Brian Roberts, USA. (.545, 5 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .643 OBP, .909 SLG, GT R vs. PR)

3B-Mark DeRosa, USA. (.333, 3 R, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI)

SS-Cesar Izturis, Venezuela. (.333 (Rd 2), 4 R, 1 2B)

LF-Bryan Engelherdt, Netherlands.  (.444 (Rd 2), 1 2B, only Dutch HR)

CF-Carlos Beltran, Puerto Rico. (.421, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 SB, .542 OBP)

RF-Adam Dunn, USA. (.368, 9 R, 1 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBI, .571 OBP, .895 SLG)

DH-Ivan Rodriguez, Puerto Rico. (.500, 6 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB, .538 OBP, .950 SLG)

P-Felix Hernandez, Venezuela. (2-0 (8.2 inn), 0.00 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 11 K)

P-Francisco Rodriguez, Venezuela. (0-0 (5.2 inn), 3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 8 K)

P-Carlos Silva, Venezuela. (1-0 (11.0 inn), 0.82 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 6 K)

 

So what do you guys think of these teams?  Who are your MVPs of Round 2?  And what kind of final do you guys foresee in the WBC?  I’m going to stick with my pick, the Japanese beating the Venezuelans, although I would love to see the USA take home the crown.  I’ll be recapping NCAA play on Monday once the Sweet Sixteen is set, and Tuesday will bring a final WBC post.

WARNING: Far East Recalls

This time it’s not dangerously made fireworks or lead baby toys, but instead some of the happenings associated with this morning’s game between Korea and Chinese Taipei (who from this point forward I will call Taiwan, because I recognize their independence and do not care if I offend the Chinese government).  The game ended in a 9-0 shutout victory by Korea, and had many moments that I think need to be altered.  Such alterations are needed for the following recalls, but are not limited to:

-Korean modesty.  Not that it’s ineffective, but it’s overused.  Their skipper said before the game that they didn’t know if they could win because they got acclimated to training in Hawaii.  Let’s be real here, Korea is the defending Olympics gold medalists, as well as the third place finishers in the 2006 WBC.  Everyone knew they were going to win (I predicted a three run victory), but they won 9-0.  Plus, you want to talk about motivation, the government agreed to allow the players on this team to skip their two years of mandatory military service if they make it the WBC semis again.  So, I think it’s okay to be a little confident if they want to be.

-C.C. Lee, the starting pitcher today for Taiwan, gave up six runs on one out.  At the moment that this was happening I was ready to write off the entire team, but the bullpen pulled it together and only allowed three more runs.  Lee also walked three and hit one batter in his short appearance, the rest of the team only walked three the rest of the game.  And by the way, if you’re curious, Lee’s ERA is 162.00.

-Taiwan’s hitting/baserunning with men on base.  Korea allowed five hits and four walks, but only had to face thirty batters.  The reason for that being Taiwan grounded into FIVE double plays and got picked off once.

-Far East Asian photography.  Not to sound like I’m being stereotypical, but if you’ve ever been somewhere like Disney World then you know what I mean.  ESPN2 cameras walked through the stands capturing images of the Korean fans as all the Korean fans started snapping pictures of the ESPN2 cameraman.  Do they really need a picture of that?

-Oereste Destade.  He was just as awful today.  And I don’t want to hear about his glory days in Japanese baseball in the early 90’s ever again.

-Pool A curveballs.  Apparently the teams in Pool A aren’t very pleased with the MLB baseballs they have to use since they are much slicker than the Mizuno balls the Asian leagues are accustomed to using.   Many of the pitchers aren’t throwing very many curveballs because of the slickness, and the ones that are, are walking batters, so far 19 in two games.  They better get used to it, because guys like Carlos Marmol have no problem making their pitches drop through the zone.

In closing after watching the first two games of Pool A play, Japan and Korea don’t look nearly as impressive as they did in 2006.  Also, look for China to beat Taiwan tonight if both teams play like they did in their first games.  Finally, did anyone else have the song from Slumdog Millionaire pop into their heads every time Dae Ho Lee’s name was announced?