Jon

That was just an inning full of nasty stuff. They're fouling a bunch off, though, and he's already at 41 pitches.

Me likey

Request denied, unfortunately. A 6-4-3 DP to end the inning. Looks like he got enough rest. Can't touch that slider.

Just barely caught that. At least Z is getting plenty of time to rest (no DP here, please).

Zambrano threw 56 pitches last time out. What would a reasonable limit be for him today? 65 or 70?

I can't remember. He was sharp in his first Cactus League outing this year, though. Nice pitch. 27 pitches in the first, though.

He's just missing.

The stuff is pretty decent, but he just can't locate. He's certainly not overthrowing the ball, though.

Well, they haven't been a very good defense where they should be.

Much too straight. No reason not to go with a 2-seamer in that situation.

Ooooooh. What a sweet 1-1 pitch.

Hopefully he can get that 2-seamer working early and get it called for strikes. And hopefully he doesn't treat this like a game 7 with Venezuela facing elimination. Venezuela's road unis are rather sharp.

I completely disagree. Not only do I think more of the intensity, excitement and atmosphere down there on an absolute scale, the DR-Puerto Rico game last night being simply unreal, unlike anything I've really seen before, but when you consider things in per person terms, remembering that the Hiram Bithorn stadium holds just 19,000, I think it blows anything you'll see from an American crowd out of the water. This is nothing but hyperbole following the momentum of story after story about how much more they love baseball than Americans. Todays' crowd was barely half full. So, from time to time they've gone ballistic. Well, I was at the Wood/Clemens game in Wrigley and I bet that atmosphere matches up, and it was a regular season game. I don't think randomly banging on drums and blowing horns makes the crowd more intense. It's just noice, not energy or enthusiasm. Today's game wasn't that close to the DR/Venezuela game last week or what the Venezuela/Puerto Rico game should be tonight. We haven't seen that many close WBC games yet, so blowouts have also had an effect. It has been better than support for the US on average, although a large part of that is the ballpark.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060313/capt.80795aa4b5bc4a8a92b91a608127ab50.rockies_cubs_spring_training_baseball_azpc107.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060313/capt.8deb41b71a5142c9b33ac5aeaa0c6a0f.rockies_cubs_spring_training_baseball_azpc106.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060313/capt.a40d5b81ef554c76b486df73e0cc1b38.rockies_cubs_spring_training_baseball_azpc105.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060313/capt.baa71a88ee754dc8b1efe06cc37577dd.rockies_cubs_spring_training_baseball_azpc104.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060313/capt.5f475db3ccbe49ce96fc5e6490698728.rockies_cubs_spring_training_baseball_azpc103.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060313/capt.f122c0f0213b43e4a5e19a82a1aeadcb.rockies_cubs_spring_training_baseball_azpc101.jpg

Didn't find that other site, but ChicagoSport.com has a nice selection.

You could still get a second chance opportunity, which I think about half of the people who registered last year received, and be able to purchase tickets to most games except the most popular ones.

When you say it's not like your average major league game, are you saying it's more intense than your average major league game? There are only a couple games here in this series. And they are do or die. Put those major league teams in do or die situations and you'll be getting an intense environment from the fans. I think the ESPN commentators have been full of BS on two counts so far. 1) That all these foreign players do such a better job on fundamentals than American born players. 2) That the fans have been comparatively more festive than American fans. The baseball has been incredibly sloppy, with no better focus on fundamentals than major league games. And the fans, have been no more intense than your average playoff crowd, which is what you should compare these games to in the majors and not a mundane regular season game. Frankly, I'd say I've seen much more excitement from fans in regular season games against many rivals. I agree that it would be better to compare them in the playoffs, but comparing them to the average fan was an odd comment given what was going on. And like I said, it was probably more the combination of teams that was even weirder. It could have been a lot more accurate if he had chosen different teams and said it at any other time. The DR/Venezuela rematch should be pretty entertaining. Either the winner will advance or Venezuela may have a chance to play spoiler. Nice job on the HR trot, Paulino.

In what regard? Basically talking about the excitement and intensity. I think it was around the time when the action stopped as the security guards took away the Castro signs and t-shirts. Are you saying you find that comparison unjustified? Yeah. The environment is not like your average major league game. But it was such a strange combination of teams. Dodger fans are a tad more laid back than Phillies fans, who don't exactly match these fans, either. And with everything that was going on in the stands, it didn't really remind me of Busch Stadium. It also goes against what a lot of the ESPN commentators have been saying since the beginning of the WBC.

In what regard? Basically talking about the excitement and intensity. I think it was around the time when the action stopped as the security guards took away the Castro signs and t-shirts.

How many times has Hershiser said "head hunting" so far? And did anyone else hear him compare these fans to, and I quote, the fans of "St. Louis, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia?"

475 feet? More? Bat flip of about 30 feet, though.

Well, that would explain it. MLB decided not to look at the Rockies schedule and notice that they're doing a split-squad game. KOA is covering the other Rockies game, which isn't until tonight. So no gameday audio for this one. Bah.

Ugh. Anyone else getting Rush Limbaugh on gameday audio?

They are, but I'm guessing MLB designed them to deemphasize the blue since the DR and Puerto Rico use the same colors. Now that's an airmail. Talk about costly. And he had Alou running.

Well, Moises, that was really, really stupid. You're down 6.