Who's the second favorite in the WBC after The Domincan team

[rjchapma]

Colon just won Cy young I think he compares to Felix Hernandez come on.

[rjchapma]

If he is healthy that is.

[SouthSideRyan]

DR is the 2nd favorite to win. US is the favorite. Venezuela 3rd. After them it's a big drop off.

[goonys evil twin]

The U.S. line-up is very potent in itself.

I also think the U.S. team is more balanced. The DR team is a little weak at catcher, where the US team is not.

 

The US outfield looks pretty weak to me.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

BTW, I'd hate to have to do play-by-play for the Chinese team. That team consists of five Li's, three Chen's, five Zhang's, and three Wangs.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The U.S. line-up is very potent in itself.

I also think the U.S. team is more balanced. The DR team is a little weak at catcher, where the US team is not.

 

The US outfield looks pretty weak to me.

 

It is weaker than it should be. A lot of bats that could make it more potent have dropped out.

 

I still think the U.S. line-up is good enough to compete with the DR considering the U.S pitching is better than the DR.

[Tim]

I though King Felix wasn't going to pitch for Venezuela. And Johann is traditionally very beatable until around May-June.

 

The DR should let Liriano pitch.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The US outfield looks pretty weak to me.

 

Agreed. It's not like they're horribly awful, but I can't believe we have an outfield where Johnny Damon is "the man".

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Why in the world isn't Burrell on the roster? Berkman? Edmonds? Giles?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Why in the world isn't Burrell on the roster? Berkman? Edmonds? Giles?

 

Sheff too. Furthermore, why couldn't Vlad, Bay, and ManRam become US citizens?

[Brian]

Why in the world isn't Burrell on the roster? Berkman? Edmonds? Giles?

 

I know that Berkman isn't playing due to health concerns, the other guys probably just didn't want to play.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Berkman was originally on there, but declined because he had a procedure to clean up his knee. Dunn was on there at first, and he backed out so he could focus on learning firstbase. I'm not sure why Burrell isn't on the team. I don't remember ever hearing anything about him or Giles or Edmonds.

[Ender]

Pitching wins baseball games, my money is on the US or Venezuela.

[LoneStarCubFan]

Cuba doesn't have a prayer in this tournament. Fidel's going to wish they stayed home when they don't get past the second pool. No way they knock out either Venezuela or the DR in that round to get to the semis.

 

And they'll have trouble with the first pool too. Puerto Rico will win that pool, then it's down to the winner of the Cuba-Panama game and anything can happen in a one game situation.

[fromthestretch]

BTW, I'd hate to have to do play-by-play for the Chinese team. That team consists of five Li's, three Chen's, five Zhang's, and three Wangs.

 

I did public address one year and play-by-play another year for the Colt World Series. The tournament had a team from South Korea and a team from Puerto Rico both years. It's actually not too difficult if you work with the team's translator on the pronunciations.

 

The asian names are fairly easy because there typically aren't too many syllables to screw up. I find the hispanic names to be more difficult because of the placement of the accents.

[wiggum742]

pitching is going to be a little weird in the first rounds with pitch counts. Its sitting around 65 for the first round, i think. So any pitcher gets in trouble and they're out in 2-3 innings, so bullpen is more important in the first round

[Mike Scott]

Cuba doesn't have a prayer in this tournament. Fidel's going to wish they stayed home when they don't get past the second pool. No way they knock out either Venezuela or the DR in that round to get to the semis.

 

And they'll have trouble with the first pool too. Puerto Rico will win that pool, then it's down to the winner of the Cuba-Panama game and anything can happen in a one game situation.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Cubans play. Fidel takes such great pride in his players. It'll be fun to see how they stack up in a competition against major league players.

 

Is anybody else suprised about how weak Canada is? The US bracket is going to be cake.

[wiggum742]

Get ready for ties in the first World Baseball Classic.

 

Organizers said Tuesday that games in the first two rounds of the tournament will be ended after 14 innings, even if teams remain tied.

 

In addition, the tournament's technical committee may suspend semifinal games after 14 innings if "pitcher availability for both teams would be substantially jeopardized by not suspending the game and pitcher availability would be substantially enhanced by resuming the game as a suspended game on the next day."

 

get ready for the biggest mockery of baseball you've ever seen

 

... and i thought pitch counts were bad

[goonys evil twin]

Get ready for ties in the first World Baseball Classic.

 

Organizers said Tuesday that games in the first two rounds of the tournament will be ended after 14 innings, even if teams remain tied.

 

In addition, the tournament's technical committee may suspend semifinal games after 14 innings if "pitcher availability for both teams would be substantially jeopardized by not suspending the game and pitcher availability would be substantially enhanced by resuming the game as a suspended game on the next day."

 

get ready for the biggest mockery of baseball you've ever seen

 

... and i thought pitch counts were bad

 

Why would you think pitch counts are bad?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Get ready for ties in the first World Baseball Classic.

 

Organizers said Tuesday that games in the first two rounds of the tournament will be ended after 14 innings, even if teams remain tied.

 

In addition, the tournament's technical committee may suspend semifinal games after 14 innings if "pitcher availability for both teams would be substantially jeopardized by not suspending the game and pitcher availability would be substantially enhanced by resuming the game as a suspended game on the next day."

 

get ready for the biggest mockery of baseball you've ever seen

 

... and i thought pitch counts were bad

 

How many games out of the 2430 MLB games each year go more than 14 innings? I can't forsee that being a big issue.

[wiggum742]

wiggum742 wrote:

Quote:

Get ready for ties in the first World Baseball Classic.

 

Organizers said Tuesday that games in the first two rounds of the tournament will be ended after 14 innings, even if teams remain tied.

 

In addition, the tournament's technical committee may suspend semifinal games after 14 innings if "pitcher availability for both teams would be substantially jeopardized by not suspending the game and pitcher availability would be substantially enhanced by resuming the game as a suspended game on the next day."

 

 

 

get ready for the biggest mockery of baseball you've ever seen

 

... and i thought pitch counts were bad

 

 

Why would you think pitch counts are bad?

 

yes, pitch counts are awful. How many games is a high level pitcher pulled after 65 pitches, or even 95 (the final round max). If they have good stuff that day, they can throw 105-120 pitches. Is it going to be fun to watch santana or clemens leave after the fourth inning? even on their best days, pitchers aren't going to top six innings in the first round. And i'm not saying a lot of games are going to be affected by the 14 inning limit, it's the principle, ever notice how the all star game isn't that fun to watch? The WBC is heading down the same trail...

[goonys evil twin]

yes, pitch counts are awful. How many games is a high level pitcher pulled after 65 pitches, or even 95 (the final round max). If they have good stuff that day, they can throw 105-120 pitches. Is it going to be fun to watch santana or clemens leave after the fourth inning? even on their best days, pitchers aren't going to top six innings in the first round. And i'm not saying a lot of games are going to be affected by the 14 inning limit, it's the principle, ever notice how the all star game isn't that fun to watch? The WBC is heading down the same trail...

 

So you'd rather the games best pitchers throw 105-120 pitches in March? It would be stupid to not have pitch counts.

[wiggum742]

i understand why the have them, i'm just saying it's hindering the competition.

[goonys evil twin]

i understand why the have them, i'm just saying it's hindering the competition.

 

These guys aren't ready yet. It's not hindering anything, because from 65-100 pitches, these guys will be less effective right now. It's best the teams involved, the players, and their pro teams that pitch counts are used.

[wiggum742]

again, i know why they have them, but the games won't be as good as they could be if the players were at full speed