So I’m pretty mad at Bud Selig right now. He made do something that I though I would never do…root for Alex Rodriguez (or any Yankee for that matter). Looking back at the beginning of March when the World Baseball Classic started I was pretty skeptical. All the pitch count regulations and the sense that it was going to be an exhibition made me a little hesitant to jump on the band wagon. But I will admit it last night…I watched Team USA lose to Team Mexico. Wow has this world turned upside down. Remember when Charles Barkley said, “It’s a weird world we live in when the best rapper is white, and the best golfer is black.” Well it’s a weird world when the United States beats Mexico at soccer, and Mexico beats the United States at baseball. I really didn’t think the United States was going to win the World Baseball Classic. I thought a Latin American team was going to win (the Dominicans). But I really didn’t think we would lose to Canada AND Mexico! There are so many subjects to delve into about this WBC and American involvement in global sports contests (World Cup, Olympics, and now the WBC) that I don’t know where to start. First of all I don’t buy any excuse that Team USA is going to come up with for why they lost. Pitch counts, team chemistry, timing of the event, home-field advantage…oh wait…WE HAD THAT! I honestly cannot comprehend how we lost to 20 minor leaguers and Eric Gagne with the Canadian team. I don’t understand how we only scored 3 runs against Mexico, and how we got beaten in every facet of the game by Japan and Korea. Call it karma that we didn’t get to the semis and Japan did. Perhaps the baseball gods are bringing justice to Team USA for the 4-3 victory over Japan. However, I’m still proud of the guys who had the guts to put on the stars and bars and went out there and competed.
The reason it takes guts to get out there and represent the United States is because of the expectations that come with it. In the world of global sports the United States is the equivalent of the New York Yankees, we expect to win everything. Whether it’s the Olympics and basketball, the Ryder Cup (that’s golf), and now the WBC, we Americans expect nothing less than a gold medal or first place. That’s why I think I am so disappointed. Baseball started here and got perfected here, and now we are getting beat by Canadians. Maybe we’ll beat them at hockey someday. In all honesty though I really had no inkling of how rich the talent is outside of the United States until now. Basketball I had an idea because of guys like Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, etc. But you could honestly put together an all-world baseball team and not need a single American on the roster, case in point El Republica Dominicana. Latin America has so much talent with pitching and hitting, and Korea and Japan are so fundamentally sound that it’s eerie how much Americans are behind.
The Koreans and Japanese do benefit from having the WBC held at this time, and there may be an argument for taking two weeks out of the American baseball season to play this contest and see if there is a difference. But last time I checked, every player on the Dominican team is in the Majors and they don’t seem to be having trouble putting the bat-on-the-ball. Neither did Puerto Rico, or Venezuela. So really I’m not buying this whole thing where these guys don’t get the feel for the bat until after 40 at bats or so. These guys trying to tell me from October to March they don’t touch a bat? Come on man. Michael Jordan had to get a “for the love of the game” clause in his contract because he couldn’t sit around and not play basketball from June to November, and his team didn’t want to take the responsibility if he got hurt playing pick up games. You’re not going to get hurt in the batting cage in the off-season.
I came away with 4 things from watching the United States in the WBC.
- We are not as talented as the Latin American teams
- We are not as fundamentally sound as the Far East teams, Japan and Korea
- Dontrelle Willis is overrated.
- The WBC worked.
The whole idea behind the WBC was to spread the interest in baseball. It worked. Everyone thinks they can beat us now, and they probably are not far off. If this WBC and the 2004 Olympics have taught us anything, it is that we are definitely not the powerhouse in global sports that we thought we were. Maybe it is the notion that some players like to participate but have worries about getting injured. Maybe we can hide behind the idea that we didn’t have some of our better players playing. But the fact is the United States went 3-3 in the World Baseball Classic, and that was lucky.
Excuses aren’t going to work for me, but there are some things that could have helped the United States get further. I really liked the effort by some of the guys who played like Griffey, Chipper Jones, A-Rod (I’m wincing), Jake Peavy, and Michael Young. But I really don’t understand how some of these guys didn’t play:
Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Carl Crawford, Torri Hunter, Marcus Giles, Chris Carpenter, Adam Dunn, Gary Sheffield, Roy Halladay, Ben Sheets, Garret Andersen, Lance Berkman, Paul Konerko, Steve Finley, Mark Lorreta, Mark Sweeney…
Maybe some of them just didn’t want to show or got mad because they got snubbed. Then you can always dream about a staff that had Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens on it. Perhaps say what if Barry Bonds played? However, no “if’s”, “and’s”, or “but’s” are going to give Team USA another game in the WBC. I guess I shouldn’t criticize without giving a way to fix it. But if I had control over Team USA and every guy I wanted would come I would put out a lineup like this:
1. Carl Crawford, LF (T.B. Devil Rays)
2. Derek Jeter, 2B (N.Y. Yankees)
3. Alex Rodriguez, SS (N.Y. Yankees)
4. Barry Bonds, DH (S.F. Giants)
5. Scott Rolen, 3B (St. Louis Cardinals)
6. Adam Dunn, 1B (Cincinnati Reds)
7. Ken Griffey Jr., RF (Cincinnati Reds)
8. Jim Edmonds, CF (St. Louis Cardinals)
9. Jason Varitek, C (Boston Red Sox)
I really think that lineup would work. Of course some guys were hurt and couldn’t play this time around (Bonds, Rolen). In my own opinion as someone who played baseball in high school and college, if you can play short, you can play second. And if you can dodge traffic you can dodge a ball! (But it all would be futile because no one would be able to compete with the Dominican Republic if Valdimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez played. Do you realize what the Dominican team would look like? Soriano, Tejada, Pujols, Ortiz, Ramirez, Guerrero, Beltre, Alou, and some catcher? You kidding me?)
Regardless, I still give Team USA credit for playing, amidst all the Bonds steroids stuff, and not being prepared, they still were gracious and proud players. They made me believe that it was more than an exhibition and actually meant something to wear the red, white and blue. (It did seem like a lot of teams wore red, white and blue though) I think the WBC is a success and will be a nice event held every four years. As for the rest of the Classic this year I think D.R. is going to beat Korea. It will be an interesting match-up. The talented bats and powerful arms of Latin America, meeting skill and precision from the Far East. It’s like a boxer fighting a brawler, conflicting styles that will make for an interesting match.
In closing I think that since we lost to Canada and Mexico this means we will have karma going into the World Cup, and since the world is upside down right now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the United States is going to win the World Cup. (But don’t blame me if you put money on them and they lose.) U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!