WBC Recap

The WBC wrapped up last night with an exciting championship game between arch-rivals Japan and Korea. The game came down to extra innings and saw Japan win it in 10 innings lead by the brilliant Ichiro who capped a 4 hit night in the 10th inning driving in what turned out to be the game winning run. Boston's Dice-K once again came away with the WBC MVP award as Japan has now won both WBC championships. Overall the WBC was I thought very exciting and fun, there was some surprises along the way and some good baseball played. Obviously the biggest surprise of the tournament was the unbelievably embarrassing loss by the Dominican team not once but twice to the Netherlands which kept the Dominicans from getting out of the first round. Much like in 2006 the WBC was greeted very well in Latin America and Asia but with apathy in the USA but the USA making it to the final 4 and knocking off Puerto Rico in the bottom of the 9th of a must win helped the event garner some more attention in the States. I'm going to break down what I think team USA and Dominican need to do to rebound in 2013 and then what changes I think the WBC can make. So lets start with the two teams, Team USA and Team Dominican. Both teams came in with heavy star power, the Dominicans were looking to build on there 3rd place finish in '06 and the Americans looking to redeem themselves from there 2nd round exit last time around. We know how it ended for both teams, the Dominicans not able to get out of the first round and the Americans losing in the semi's to team Japan. Both of these teams seem to be built on name power with what it seems like no real thought put into as to what makes a successful team in a short tournament like this. The biggest parallels that struck me is that both teams came into this with two starting shortstops. The Dominicans with Ramirez and Reyes and USA with Jeter and Rollins and with guys playing out of position, Adam Dunn playing 1st for USA and Fernando Tatis and Aybar playing 1st for the Dominicans. To me the biggest thing for both of these countries to do in 2013 is to put together a real team and not just the biggest names that are willing to play. They have to take a page out of USA Basketball's book and get the right players that will fit into what this tournament is and forgo name recognition. If I'm running Team USA or Dominican in 2013 this is how I go about all of this;

• Start early - Start putting together the team after the 2011 season, get the commitments that you need from your players.
• This tournament is once every 4 years so getting the players to come in a couple of weeks early to training camp is not going to hurt anyone.
• Recognize what you want your team to be. Yes, this is all an exhibition but its obvious that the rest of the world doesn't treat it that way. Everyone else is in it to win it so you should be also. Its not an all-star game so don't treat it like one.
• Have a core of 8-10 guys that will be your everyday players and bring in role players and have the foresight to have back ups in your provisional roster so in case of injuries you're not left without any back up plans. We saw this happen to USA this year when Youkilis went down, they didn't have anyone else to play 1st base and the only other option was Derek Lee who was injured in spring training.
  
• Bring in a manager who won't be afraid to hurt someones feelings. This was a big problem for USA this year, Davey Johnson kept treating this like an all-star game and tried to get everyone playing time while teams like Japan, Cuba and Korea ran out there starters and let it roll. You know how highly I think of Derek Jeter but you can't have him out at shortstop in a must win game and have Jimmy Rollins DH'ing. You just can't do that and expect to win.
  

I think if they make these changes you'll see a better showing from these teams or they can decide to keep playing the same way they have been and just keep on losing to other teams. You won't win playing the way they have been for these last 2 tournaments.

As for the WBC itself, I would love to see it in November but Bud Selig has gone on record and said that it will be in March 2013 but one of the early changes that I've heard is that they will try and condense the tournament so it won't stretch out over 3 weeks. I think that will help because some of the teams seem to lose steam by playing one day and then not playing until 3 days later.
Another change that I think would benefit it is to have the 2nd round and championship rounds in the same city, it will cut down on travel and overall time of the tournament. The last 2 things that I would do is get rid of the seeding game, those games are anti-climatic and with both teams already advancing I don't feel is necessary. I'm sure they can come up with a way to have the 1 and 2 seed. My last change would be not to cross up the semi's. Set up 2 brackets and keep them that way, this year Japan and Korea played each other 5 times, that's way too much for a tournament like this.

Well, there you have it. Overall, I really enjoyed this WBC and already looking forward to 2013.

Stay tuned for my MLB Season preview coming soon.

Japan tops Korea for 2nd straight WBC title

For the 2nd consecutive time, the team from Japan took home the WBC title when they defeated their arch rivals from Korea in a game that needed extra innings to decide the winner. The extra innings came when Korea tied it in the 9th but could not deliver the finishing blow that would had left the defending champions on the field. It would be in the 10th that the legend of Ichiro Suzuki would delivered the big hit that drove in 2 runs giving Japan a 5-3 win and back to back WBC titles.
It was not to be for the scrappy Koreans who were also ousted in the 2006 semis by Japan, and It was Korea's only defeat in that entire tournament, that after beating Japan twice previously. In this tournament they would go on to face each other 5 times, splitting the 1st 4 games which led to this 5th and final confrontation of Asian nations, a true WBC rivalry.

The victory puts Japan in a league of their own when it comes to WBC play, by winning the 1st 2 WBC titles. Now one has to wonder where Japan greatness ranks when speaking of world baseball competition. It use to be that the Cubans were the best in international competition, but move over Cuba, Japan now has that claim for now.
Both Japan & Korean who play similar styles, both well discipline, and both relying on speed and defense. But it was Japan who once again had the edge over their Asian rivals. That edge was visible when you looked at the amount of major league talent that Japan roster had. One thing the rest of the world has found out 1st in 2006, and now in 2009, is that the Koreans can hang with anyone and needs to be taken seriously next time around.

Both Korea and Japan play a National league style of baseball moving runners over, bunting, and great defense. They were always trying to make things happen by applying consist pressure, it was aggressive baseball.
Teams like the USA and the Dominican Republic played that American league style of baseball which is swigging for the fences and waiting for that big inning which for the Dominicans never came, they did little manufacturing. What the Asians teams showed us was how we use to play baseball with plenty of fundelmenthals which is called small ball, because in short tournaments like this, small ball works.

Teams like the Dominican Republic cared very much about the WBC and so did team USA, but the fans base core for the USA found plenty of time to blast the WBC saying was just a glorified exhibition game, while in the Dominican Republic baseball fans took it very serious and wanted nothing more then a title so that they can show their Dominican pride. But the problem was that team Dominican also taught that they could just beat teams like the Netherlands by showing up, and that is not taking it serious.

In the semis, both Korea and Japan showed Venezuela and the United States how to play some serious baseball, 1st it was Korea's beat down of team Venezuela that left the Venezuelans scratching their head after just 2 innings, as Venezuela could not recover the early attack and were left with no answers and a embarrassing lost.
Then in the USA and Japan semis final game, Japan also would go on to dismantle the United States in the end when the pressure was put to the USA's defense when errors led to their elimination making it an all Asian finals. Teams like the USA, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, who were consider better to many because of their major league filled rosters, fell well short in the fundamentals department and relied to much on that American League style of play. I have to say Japan were just better defensively, and played the game with more unity then any team in the tournament, they formed like Voltron and always seem to have that mental edge on their opponents, they played smart and were always ready to execute.
This is the way you should always play when representing your country, and if the Dominicans want to improve and do better in 2013, then they need to follow this lead.

The Dominican Aftermath, and what went wrong.

March-18-2009

Over a week has gone by since the Dominican Republic were eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. The early elimination is something that is still fresh on the minds of the Dominican people who were looking for more then what they got from the Republic of baseball. Instead they were left looking for answers after the stunning defeat to the Netherlands who beat the Dominicans twice, 2 times? come on now.

So what went wrong here?
What went wrong was a string of events that ultimately led to the Dominican Republic demise. The biggest problem was the many un-prepared players who are now speaking out to try and clear the air. Others put the blame on the organizers that had the task of putting the team together. Throw in the communication between the players and the committee and what you got was this disfunctional operation. It was so unorganized that towards the end, Felipe Alou and his organizers were left pretty much counting on players that left the Dominican Republic scrambling for players to fill in voids left from the players that were pulling out.
Another problem was this mentality that when the games got started, The Dominicans taught that all they had to do was show up to beat teams like the Netherlands.
That kind of attitude, and careless behavior was part of the reason that led to the Dominicans on field deconstruction.

But there was more to this upsetting finish.

After it all went down, the Dominican press who were covering the events for the Dominican Republic, took a different approach to explaining what went down, trying in other words, to make excuses for the embarrassment. It was said that there may have even been some conspiracy involved, and if you don't read the Dominican newspapers, you may be hearing it for the 1st time here. Nothing of this nature was written here in the states, but in the DR, the media coverage on several occasions, made their case on how bad the situations got for the Dominicans.
It started a couple of months ago, when the Dominicans had began their practice and were momentarily interrupted by MLB from continuing their practices, claiming that the Dominicans had started ahead of schedule. If this is true it would make no sense because at the time you had teams like the Netherlands, Japan, Cuba, and many others, not having to deal with this sort of problem. Now I'm not saying that there is a conspiracy here, but it makes you think. Of all the teams in the tournament, the Dominicans, I believe, probably had the hardest time when putting their team together. They had to deal with so many undecided players, plus they had to deal with a string of bad news from the players and the committee itself who were trying to make it all work.

Then the Dominican media came out with the story that when 1st arriving to Puerto Rico for the opener, team Dominicana had to encountered some unpleasant delays when getting to their hotels, and they needed to get ready for a 11am game the very next morning which they would go on to lose to the Netherlands. To many Dominicans, this 11am game on Caribbean soil, must had felt a bit awkward, especially for those players on the team who were out the night before the game taking in the Puerto Rican night life. I am not surprised.

Before the tournament even began, the Dominicans trying to put the team together, had to deal with the headaches of the undecided players who could not commit or make up their minds. The 1st major blow was when Albert Pujols had to say no, pulling out of the WBC because he could not get any insurance, even through the WBC is provided by MLB. Pujols was just the biggest name of many who had to deal with this.

Things worsen when on Febuary 9th Alex Rodriguez had to come out and admit that he had been a steroids user, this after declaring on December 5th that he was now switching alliances and was now playing for the Dominican Republic.
The news hit the baseball world hard, but in the Dominican Republic, the news was felt differently, as many came up with the idea that it was just the Americans being jealous who spilled the beans on A-ROD in a way to give it to him.
But even with the news that came fort, A-ROD was still going to play for the Dominican Republic, but then just a few days later, A-ROD would go down for good with a hip injury that left team Dominicana without any committed 3rd baseman. Adrain Beltre, who was the 3rd baseman in 2006, and Aramis Ramirez, who had already made up his mind, were not planning to play for the DR, especially when A-ROD was the guy that the Dominican committee wanted on the team. Ramirez and Beltre could now have stepped in to fill in the void left by A-ROD, but instead both declined and said no thanks again.
A few days later, Felipe Alou went out looking for A-ROD's replacement and gave Miguel Tejada a call. Tegada who just a few days ago, had just declined to be on the team when he found out that Alou was planning to use him as the 1st baseman & the DH. Tejada only wanted to play short even though the team already had Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez for the same position. Tejada who at the time was dealing with his own steroids issues was just being hardheaded, and dealt with it the wrong way. Tejada then had to reconsider his decision when Alou called him and put him on the spot. If Tejada had said no a 2nd time, he would then have to deal with the pressure of the entire Dominican nation and their reactions, if the so-called {jugador de la Patria} as he is known back in the DR, had said no again. No way was Tegada going to say no a 2nd time, he had no more excuses, he now had to play.

At the end, team Dominicana were left down to 27 players to choose from, and 4 were not even signed players like Pedro Martinez, Odalis Perez, Moises Alou, and Alberto Castillo, this from a country that has nearly 100 major leaguers to choose from.
This of course was because many of the players had to deal with the pressures from their MLB teams who would not let them participate in the WBC. But some of the players had other decisions to make, like in the case of Melky Cabrerra who instead stayed home to try and win a starting job with the New York Yankees. But most of the players simply said no because they just didn't care, or would only play if they knew that they were going to play as regulars. No one who is a starter in the Major leagues wanted to be a backup in the WBC, they needed to be the man on team Dominicana.

Team Dominican was not well put together, and what you saw on the field was exactly that, no one wanted to play small ball, no manufacturing of runs, bad base running, everyone was swinging for the fences. There was no team ball on display here

List of players, who could, but did not play for team DR.

Alex Rodriguez -injured
Fasuto Carmona -could not play
Francisco Liriano -could not play
Manny Ramirez- did not care
Albert Pujols- could not play
Francisco Codero- could not play
Carlos Gomez- could not play
Ervin Santana- could not play
Vlad Guerrero - could not play
Aramis Ramirez- did not care
Carlos Pena- could not play
Alfonso Soriano- could not play
Adrain Beltre- could not play
Placido Polanco- did not care
Jose Arredondo- could not play
Jose Valverde - could not play
and many more....

But at the end of it all, the media also let it be known that everything came down to the players, many of whom did not do their part well on representing the Dominican Republic more seriously. Just today, the Dominican media came out with a list of names of those players who did well in representing, and those who were out partying.

Those who did well to represent the DR
Ubaldo Jimenez
Pedro Martinez
Damaso Marte
Moises Alou
Miguel Olivo
Fernando Tatis
Miguel Tejada
Willy Tavares
Rafael Perez

Those who were doing more partying
Hanley Ramirez
Jose Reyes
David Ortiz
Johnny Cueto
Edison Volquez
Willy Aybar
Robinson Cano
Jose Guillen
Carlos Marmol


Now I don't know how accurate this list is but it gives you an idea.

I know its time to move on and watch the rest of the WBC, and for those who still care about it, Korea, Venezuela, USA, and Japan are still in it to win it.
I just wish that the Dominicans could had played better then what they showed because It would had made for a more exciting tournament if they could had lasted longer and showed the rest of the world how much we love this game.
But I guess they just didn't care much about the WBC.
If the Dominican Republic want to show the rest of the world why they are called the republic of baseball, then they need to do a better job at organizing and preparing for their next event. If they really care it will show in 2013.

Say it ain't so, the Netherlands stuns the Dominicans, again.

It was the Netherlands vs the Dominican Republic for a trip to Miami, as one team came equipt with the some serious major talent, while the other had a bunch of no names and hardly any major league experience. But this was the match up of the evening, a rematch, as revenge was certainly on the minds of the Dominicans who had already went down to these Netherlanders in the 1st game of the tournament.
Another lost would not be excepted in the Dominican Republic. They must win!

The pressure was on for the Dominicans who before the game rumblings were herd from team officials like Stan Javier who earlier had express his feeling about his decision to take on the task of putting it all together. He was beginning to find out that representing his country was not as pleasant as it sounded. Felipe Alou was also having a hard time dealing with the task at hand, who plays at short? Why did he have Fernando Tatis bat 3rd in the 9-0 victory vs Panama, the old man was also finding out he should had stayed retired.

Early on the Netherland's starter Tom Stuifbergen was looking pretty good with his stuff on the mound, physically he looked like Joba Chamberlain, and he was showing command and confidence. He was sharp. But in the 4th, Stuifbergen got himself in a 1st & 3rd no out situation when Ortiz doubled, and Tejada singled. Up came Jose Guillen who had already bounce into a double play in his 1st at-bat, Guillen would go on to lift a short fly for the 1st out, leaving the runners at 1st & 3rd, Robinson Cano would then strike out for the 2nd out, Leaving it up to Nelson Cruz who would then walk to load the bases. Up came game 2 hero Miguel Olivo who was looking for some more heroics, but it was Stuifbergen who will make his pitch and get Olivo to ground out and get out of the no out jam. No runs. It was the 1st sign of pressure for the Dominicans. Now it was up to Ubaldo Jimenez who also needed to pitch sharp, and sharp he was, as the 1st two hitters he faced in the 4th went down on strikes outs, giving him a total of 9 strike outs, breaking the WBC record of 8 strikeouts in a game. Jimenez would go on to strike out the side for his 10th strikeout of the game in 4 innings of work, as Jimenez was making it look like he was pitching against little leaguers.

In the bottom of the 5th Felipe Alou surprisingly takes out Jimenez and brings in Pedro Martinez, I began to wonder how many pitches did Jimenez throw? but here was Pedro. Trying to do the same as Jimenez, Pedro now had the pressure on him to try and keep the Netherlands from scoring. But when was the Dominican Republic going to score? The game enters the 6th inning, and for the Dominicans I had the feeling that the game was beginning to slip away. The game felt similar to last night's game between Puerto Rico and these same Netherlands who had a 1-0 lead going into the 8th but lost the game 3-2, the only difference, no one had scored yet.

The Netherlands were once again in it to win it, showing in all 3 games that they can hang, but could they do it again? In the Dominican 6th, Nelson Cruz walks again, setting up a 1st & 2nd 2 out situation for Miguel Olivo, but Olivo was not able to delivered once again. It will have to wait.
The game just kept moving along as Pedro Martinez was now working on his 3rd inning of work, still scoreless, sooner or later the Dominicans were going to score. Pedro would get all 3 in the 7th, as the Dominicans came to bat in the 8th.

A hero was now needed to step up for La Patria, but who was it going to be?
will anyone show up? the Dominican Republic is not suppose to lose to the Netherlands again.
The Netherlands made a pitching change in the 8th and in came Dennis Neuman who quickly struck out Miguel Tejada. Up next was Jose Guillen who flied out weakly to left. Neuman now faced Robinson Cano and quickly got ahead 1-2, but then Cano got into a Neuman pitch and drilled it to deep right, but it was just the 3rd out.

In the Netherlands 8th, Felipe Alou brings in Tony Pena. Pena would get all 3 hitters he faced moving the game into the 9th, as the Dominicans now had one last chance to avoid extra innings, and a possible walk off defeat.

Dennis Neuman was still on the mound, when Nelson Cruz hit one on the screws, one of the many balls hit hard for the Dominican Republic and again it was just an out.
No breaks here. It was Miguel Olivo turn to drive one deep, and again it would be shy of the warning track. 2 outs. Maybe the Dominicans were trying to hard to win it with one swing, it sure looked that way.
The new pitcher for the Netherlands was Diegomar Markwell who got the 1st 2 batters, then Jose Reyes singled. Felipe Alou then pinch hits for Willy Tavares and inserts his 42 year old son Moises Alou. Markwell quickly gets ahead 0-2 on Alou and who would ground out weakly for the 3rd out. The bottom of the 9th was now here.

On the mound for the DR was Rafael Perez, who got the 1st batter he faced, but then lead off hitter Gene Kingsdale chopped a chopper to Jose Reyes who miss played the bouncer into an error, the winning run was now on. But then Kingsdale would not last long on the bases as he was immediately forced out at 2nd for the 2nd out. Perez then gets the veteran Randall Simon for the 3rd out. Extra innings!!!

It was in the top of the 11th were the Dominicans finally caught a break when with 2 outs Jose Reyes walked bringing up Jose Bautista who hit a sinking liner to the right fielder Gene Kingsdale who played it into a triple, giving the Dominicans a 1-0 lead when Reyes came around to start the immature celebration for the Dominicans. Hanley Ramirez would then strike out to end the inning leaving Bautista at 3rd, but the Dominicans now had their break. In the bottom of the 11th, Felipe Alou gave the ball to his closer Carlos Marmol who was making his debut in the tournament, but the tension only got bigger when the lead off hitter Sidney de Jong ripped a double spliting Cruz & Bautista, it was the 1st real hard hit ball for the Netherlands, just in the knick of time. Here we go again. De Jong was now just 90feet away when he moved over to 3rd on a ground out. Up next was Gene Kingsdale who was looking to take back what he had just given the Dominicans just a half of inning ago. Marmol blows 2 fastballs right by Kingsdale to get ahead, as he looked over matched. But Kingsdale would indeed take it back from the Dominicans when put the bat on the ball blooping a single to tie the game at 1.

Marmol could not get the job done and now made it even worst when he tried to pick off Kingsdale at 1st, throwing the ball wildly into foul territory as Kingsdale was now standing at 3rd with the winning run, as now Marmol was now looking like the goat. He would then strike out Sharloon Schoop for the 2nd out, maybe they might get out of this mess. Marmol would then intentionally walk lefty Randall Simon to pitch to the righty Yurendell de Caster.
what would happen next was stunning to see as De Caster grounder would bounce off the glove of 1st basemen Willy Aybar for the error and the win for the Netherlands.
The celebration was now on for the Netherlands, and once again they and done it to the mighty Dominicans.

It reminded me of a few years ago when the Dominicans lost to Venezuela in the Carribean World Series, when the ball would bounce of the head Erick Aybar, Willy's brother, to lose the game in pretty much the same fashion, embarrassing.
The Dominicans lost 2 games to the Netherlands and must now wait 4 years to try and erase the pain of this hard to swallow defeat.
So who was the goat for the Dominicans? one would say Carlos Marmol & Willy Aybar for their performance in that final inning, but I would have to put that goat label on the Dominican offense who seemingly choked throughout in their 2 games against the Netherlands and could not even manufacture a single run. Simply the mighty Dominican bats were the reason why all this went down the way it did. The look on the Dominican bench after the defeat was of pure shock, like they rather be dead.
Reyes, Cano, Volquez & Cruz were all seen with faces that said what the hell!
The republic of baseball, the Domincan Republic, will now have a long time to think of what had just happened, and must find a way to get serious, because in the Dominican Republic people are serious about their baseball. Maybe the pressure to win was just to much for these high price big leaguers, it sure looked that way.

Netherlands loses to PR, faces rematch with DR tonight.

It was looking like another upset as the surprise team from the Netherlands were taking on the Puerto Ricans to see who will advance to the next round in Miami.
In the 2nd inning, the Netherlands took a 1-0 lead on the heavy favorites Puerto Ricans, who at the moment were having a hard time scoring runs. As the game moved along to the later innings, the pressure to perform and win the game was building up for team PR who were trying to win it in front of the hometown crowd. In the 7th, it looked like PR was going to do exactly that when they would go on to load the bases with 1 out. All this was happening while on the mound for the Netherlands was a 19 year old reliever named Juan Carlos Sulbaran, who in the previous inning had struck out Pudge Rodriguez with 2 on and 2 outs, as the Netherlands had denied PR of any runs through 6 innings.
This time Sulbaran looked ready to imploded, as he found himself in a pressure pack situation once again. Sulbaran would then unleashed a wild pitch as it looked like PR was about to break through and tie the game, but the runner at 3rd Mike Aviles, hesitated and stayed put, when he could had easily scored to tie the game.
His Hesitation proved to be crucial as the batter Ramon Vasquez would go on to pop up in the infield for the 2nd out, leaving it all up to Carlos Beltran who grounded out to 1st for the final out of the inning, leaving the bases loaded with the Netherlands still up 1 to 0.
But the dream would come to an end in the 8th inning for the Netherlands, as Puerto Rico would go on to load the bases once again, this time on 3 walks, and with 1 out, as Yadier Molina delivered to give Puerto Rico the lead 2 to 1. Puerto Rico would go on to win the game 3 to 1, getting their tickets to Miami & the next round.

The Netherlands almost had it, but lost it in the end, now they must pick themselves up again because they now have a date with the Dominicans tonight who will be looking for some revenge after shockingly going down to the Netherlands in the opener. The Dominicans must get on the board and score early because another lost to the far less superior team from the Netherlands and it would mean suicide for the Dominican nation.

Dom. Rep. stays alive in must win vs Panama

After losing to the Netherlands on Saturday 3- 2, in a game where the Dom. Rep. pretty much beat themselves, the Dominicans knew that another lost in this 1st round would mean an early exit to a Dominican team that much more was expected.

Changes were made in this game as Felipe Alou had Jose Reyes starting at short instead of Hanley Ramirez, who in the game vs the Netherlands was a goat along with Willy Tavares, when Ramirez's 1st inning error led to 2 runs and the upsetting 1st game lost to the Netherlands.
The starter for the Dominicans was Johnny Cueto who early on had some trouble when the leadoff hitter led off with a hit, and a hit batmans was aloud by Cueto.
But Cueto would get a double play ball and a strike out to get out of the inning untouched. Cueto would roll on from there with 5 scoreless innings, before handling the ball over to Julian Tavares.
The pressure was now off the heavily favorite Dominicans who were trying to avoid another embarrassment in the hands of another inferior team. It was in the 3rd inning where the Dominicans got on the board against Panama's starter Ramiro Mendoza when several fielding errors led to 3 runs and the eventual fall for Panama.
The rout was on in the 8th when Miguel Olivo delivered his 2nd HR of the game to make the score 8 to 0. Nelson Cruz would also go deep in this one where the Dominicans would go on to win by the final score of 9 to 0. So far the Dominican bullpen has done the job, but one cannot get to excited by doing well against the Netherlands and Panama, as the real test will be in the next round, If the Dominicans can get another win. If I have any beef about how the Dominicans played in this game I will have to take my beef with Willy Tavares, who in the game against the Netherlands was thrown out trying to steal 3rd in the 9th inning. In this game, Tavares in the middle of the Dominican 3rd inning rally, ran through a stop sign by his 3rd base coach and was thrown out at the plate. This kind of knuckle headed play must not continue if the Dominicans want to go deep into the tournament.
Now the Dominicans will face the loser from the Puerto Rico and Netherlands game, which most likely will be a rematch with the Neds. If that is the case, the Dominicans look pretty good in trying to make it to the next round in Miami, where the competition will get alot better with teams like USA, Puerto Rico and Venezuela looming. But 1st the Dominicans must win another game before they start thinking ahead themselves. I look for the Dominicans to give the ball to Ubaldo Jimenez, and look for the Dominicans to get on the board early to avoid the pressure from building up as the game goes along. One thing that the Dominicans must try and do better is execute their fundamentals better which have been noticeably lacking so far in this tournament.

In other WBC news, team USA advances to Miami by beating the Venezuelans heavily, as they now join Japan and Korea as the 1st teams to make it to the next round.

Team Mexico got their asses knocked out by Australia 17 to 7, in front of the home fans, and must now look to avoid a disappointing early exit, as they host pool B, who has the Cubans who already won their game by beating South Africa while connecting 7 HR's in the victory.

WBC PREVIEW

The WBC opens up play this week from locations all over the world. I'm going to break down the 4 brackets and make my predictions of how each round will play out:

Pool A:
Has the defending champions Japan, China, Korea and Taipei. I'm not too familiar with any of these teams but look for Japan with major leaguers Ichiro, Matsuzaka and Kenji Jojima to come out of this pool. The Koreans put up a nice showing in the 2006 version of the tournament and look for them to also come out of Pool A. Baseball is still new to China so it'll be a matter of time before they become a player in the international scene but they're still years away.

Pool B: Cuba, Mexico, South Africa, Australia.

Cuba, who went to the finals in '06 look to come back strong this year and finish the job. Cuba is the real unknown when it comes to this tournament because no one really knows much about these players but them playing in this pool with Australia and South Africa, they should advance. Mexico, playing its games at home, should have a lot of fan support and look to build on the mild success they had in the 2006 tournament. I like Cuba and Mexico to advance.

Pool C: Canada, USA, Venezuela, Italy

Team USA looks to bounce back after an embarassing showing in the 2006 tournament and get revenge on team Canada who beat them in 2006. These 2 teams meet up Saturday afternoon at what will be a raucous Rogers Centre in Toronto where over 45000 tickets have already been sold for this game. This pool should have some intriguing match ups with Team Canada, USA and Venezuela who also will look to bounce back after a less than stellar showing back in 06. My prediction for this one is that team USA and Venezuela advance.

Pool D: Domincan Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, Netherlands

This is a 2 horse race, the Dominicans and Puerto Ricans. I can't see Panama and Netherlands really putting much of a fight here. The Dominican teams comes in loaded, maybe not as much so as in '06 but loaded nonetheless. Look for the Dominicans and Puerto Ricans to come out of this pool.

QUARTERFINALS

Pool 1 - Will have the top 2 teams of Pool A face the top 2 teams of Pool B. So I'm saying it will be Japan, Korea, Cuba and Mexico. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Japan and Korean will advance on in this round. The word is that Cuba is leaving many of there top players at home because of fear of defections, I think its the end of the line for team Cuba and Mexico. Look for Japan and Korea to keep going.

Pool 2 - This will have the top 2 teams of Pool C and Pool D. This I think will be the best of the tournament. I have it at USA, Venezuela, DR, and Puerto Rico. The marquee match up will be USA vs. DR, although no ARod anymore for the Dominicans does take some of the luster away. I look for team USA and Dominican to go on to Los Angeles.

SEMI FINALS

The semi finals are set up where the winner of Pool 2 faces the runner up of Pool 1 and vice versa. I have it at Team USA winning pool 2 facing Korea. Look for team USA to make it to the finals. The 2nd semi final I have it at Japan facing Domincan Republic. It pains me to say it but, I see the Dominican run ending in the semi finals yet again. Japan advances to defend its title.

FINALS

Team USA vs Japan. The USA pitching is just too much for Japan this time around. USA wins the 2nd World Baseball Classic.

There you have it, this is how I think things will play out but in the end I'm sure we'll have some surprises along the way. Here's to an exciting tournament.