UMFan83

I am so nervous for michigans game. I have been waiting 11 years to clinch an NCAA bearth and today could be the day. Or it could be another in a series of awful chokes Michigan has had in the last few years.

That was fun

hawks have had sooo many chances in this ot period

So he had 3 weeks off between January 25th thru February 14th when pitchers reported. Doesn't seem like he was that far off when he started throwing in Mesa. He should be sharper than most MLB pitchers in the WBC, unless he was suffering through a deadarm period.

Haha, classic UMF. It's not even the middle of March and you're panicking. It's not panicking, its called an opinion. Your opinion is filled with panic. If Carlos blew a game this early in ST, no one would care. On that last play, the guy just stuck out the bat and placed it perfectly. Nothing much you could do about it. But I never wanted Carlos to be the closer this year. I am not sure if he has the make-up yet. It's not panic at all. I am not worried about the Cubs bullpen as a whole, only Carols' mental state following this game. You can't compare this to a spring training game because its completely different. In spring, pitchers are trying to work on their pitches and build their arm strength, and the results are not important. In the WBC, results are crucial, especially in a country like DR where the country is hanging on every pitch. Carlos has been pitching all winter and all of his pitches presumably should at in or near midseason form. It could be a deadarm period though. Regardless, this game meant a lot to himself and his country, and I'm worried that the result might carry over in his mind. We all have heard of examples of players that are overtaken by the mental side of the game, so its not a stretch to think that it might happen in this case. A tad presumptious, but not a stretch.

Haha, classic UMF. It's not even the middle of March and you're panicking. It's not panicking, its called an opinion.

This is not good...Carlos wanted so bad to pitch for his country and took so much pride in it. He came in to close out the weak hitting Netherlands and advance his country to the second round. Instead he blew the game and got the DR eliminated. This is the kind of performance that will get in his head and stay there for awhile IMO

Wow...come home in shame Carlos :(

The guy coming up has 3 K's on the day today as well, but he is their cleanup hitter so we'll see

Schoop strikes out for the 4th time in the game. 2 outs

This looks like July 08 Marmol

Holy crap, the Netherlands is about to win with a decent ball put into play.

And Marmol blows the save. Not going to help him in the closers competition.

yeah? leadoff double. It's not even March 15. His slider probably is not nearly ready This is Marmol's first test in the closer role Except he's been pitching pretty much all winter.

I would really love the Dutch to win it, but definitely not at the expense of Marmol

They just named Ceda one of the Cuba top prospects and called Miles the absolute starting 2b

Forget to include them in the bracket and say its too late it's already done and they'll make it up to them next year.

This is a loss for DePaul, this will give the AD enough leiway to retain Wainwright

Pass, shoot and even defend?

Didn't know that. Was that supposed to be some sort of problem they targeted to address in the offseason? First I've heard of it...

UCLA? Bubble team if I ever did see one :)

Hit a double and lets go home.

Heh, I was right. Lou was not happy after the game. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-09-cubs-chicagomar09,0,716578.story

I think I know part of the reason why I can't feel like the WBC is legitimate. Baseball is the worst sport for a "double elimination" tournament where there is so much room for fluke. The Dominican Republic loses to an obviously lesser skilled team that wins despite being held to only 3 infield singles all game. And now DR's backs are to the wall.

PSU should roll past IU. Penn State beat Indiana by three points in Happy Valley last weekend. Yeah I forgot about that. Shouldn't have said "roll" but I still give them a solid edge. Yeah I'd give a 22-9 (10-8) team a solid edge over a 6-24 (1-17) team too :)