The World Baseball Classic Thread

[Boy Howdy]

Lindstrom's pitch after the home run reminded me of Charles Barkley's elbow against the Angolan player in the Olympics during a game the USA went on to win by 68 points.

[RShack]

Lindstrom's pitch after the home run reminded me of Charles Barkley's elbow against the Angolan player in the Olympics during a game the USA went on to win by 68 points.

Exactly .

[HotTubMan]

Lindstrom's pitch after the home run reminded me of Charles Barkley's elbow against the Angolan player in the Olympics during a game the USA went on to win by 68 points.

good call.

I was surprised that Sutcliffe almost defended the guy. Not only was the game a blow out but it also was the first home run hit by the Netherlands the whole tournament.

They turned a special moment into a near war, and I have a hard time even trying to find a way to defend it.

BTW, Lindstrom in now of the team due to injury....and Braun is day to day.

The USA team is falling apart.

One more thing, the crowd was pathetically low. Why doesn't Miami support Team USA?

Ven, Korea, Japan, and even Canada out drew the USA fans. I find this shameful and surprising. I personally was trying to find a way down to Miami to see this.

Apparently, I'm one of the few that care?

[Winning_Season]

good call.

Apparently, I'm one of the few that care?

Dont worry buddy I care too, starting the "Bring the WBC to B-More (or DC): petition...NOW!

[GnatsFan]

One more thing, the crowd was pathetically low. Why doesn't Miami support Team USA?

Why doesn't Miami support any sport? One of life's little mysteries.

[OrangeJerseys]

Ramon with the hustle. Good riddance.

[OrangeJerseys]

Ramon with the hustle. Good riddance.

It was a dinger anyway.

[O's are Legends]

Ramon with the hustle. Good riddance.

Apparently, Ramon Hernandez + hustle for the 07-08 Orioles made as much sense as Homer did to Lisa.

Homer: Lisa, would you like a donut?

Lisa: No thanks. Do you have any fruit?

Homer: This has purple in it. Purple is a fruit.

[NewOrioleWork]

The Ven/PR game was damn good baseball, congrats to Ven for moving onto LA.

That delay on the HR call was bad though; they need to do like the NHL and set up a phone near the field with officials in front of replay video on the receiving end.

Some good news

http://www.canada.com/sports/story.html?id=1387239

CHICAGO - Major League Baseball is facing a tough season due to the recession, but its World Baseball Classic is showing strong early returns with larger crowds, TV ratings and more sponsorship dollars than in the past.

The WBC is a 39-game tournament in which 16 teams from such countries as the United States, Venezuela, South Korea and the Netherlands just finished a first round of games.

In the inaugural event in 2006, Japan topped Cuba in the finals.

While the 2006 tournament was played entirely in the United States, this year’s first-round games were played in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Japan. Attendance rose 38 percent.

In addition to higher TV ratings on Walt Disney Co’s ESPN, sponsorship revenue jumped more than 50 percent, MLB President Bob DuPuy told Reuters.

“Given the economy, given that we expanded into four international venues for the first round — and obviously had some trepidation about doing that for the first time — we could not be happier with how things have broken,” he said.

“From a ratings standpoint, from an attendance standpoint and more importantly from an acceptance standpoint ... it really is doing everything we hoped it would do,” DuPuy added.

U.S. sports leagues, including baseball, have been hurt by the recession, which has led to cutbacks in consumer and corporate spending on tickets and sponsorships. Baseball saw revenue hit a record $6.5 billion last year, but attendance slipped from its all-time high in 2007.

MLB officials froze their 2009 budgets and warned clubs not to overprice tickets for the coming season, which begins in April. Two-thirds of the 30 teams responded by maintaining or cutting prices.

DuPuy said MLB officials are relieved that attendance at spring training games in Florida and Arizona is even with last year so far, but he acknowledged season-ticket renewals are down. He would not reveal by how much, but said it was substantially less than 10 percent.

The WBC is a good sign that baseball can still attract eyeballs, however, he said.

The U.S.-Canada game in Toronto drew more than 42,000 people, more than all but six of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 81 home games last year, DuPuy said.

DuPuy also pointed to record single-day merchandise sales for a non-World Series event at Toronto’s Rogers Centre for that game. Sales in Mexico and Japan also were strong.

The TV ratings in Japan for the Japan-Korea game, which included Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki, were higher than the Beijing Olympics or any other sports event since the 2006 WBC finals, he said.

Last week’s U.S.-Venezuela game, which included such American stars as Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, outdrew a National Basketball Association game between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers in U.S. viewers, DuPuy said.

In addition to the higher sponsorship revenue, MLB more than doubled the number of sponsors for the event to 56 from 26 in 2006. The roster includes such names as AT&T, Best Buy, McDonald’s Corp and PepsiCo.

MLB, which will distribute twice the prize money than it did in 2006 to participating countries, is even eyeing expanding the tournament for 2013 by eight teams to 24.

International baseball officials said early-round upsets by the Netherlands, Italy, Australia and China have caught the attention of other countries.

Harvey Schiller, president of the International Baseball Federation, said in an email as he traveled back from a meeting in Kuwait, that sports officials there indicated an interest in obtaining equipment to start baseball in schools.

Good times.

[Mary1966]

Not only was the game a blow out but it also was the first home run hit by the Netherlands the whole tournament.

They turned a special moment into a near war, and I have a hard time even trying to find a way to defend it.

I doubt if Lindstrom knew that it was the first home run for the Dutch. But, I still think he was out of line.

[glenn__davis]

While the 2006 tournament was played entirely in the United States, this year’s first-round games were played in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Japan. Attendance rose 38 percent.

That's not correct, is it? I know they played the "Far East" pool in Japan in the 2006 event, and I'm pretty sure some games were played in the Caribbean as well.

[HotTubMan]

That's not correct, is it? I know they played the "Far East" pool in Japan in the 2006 event, and I'm pretty sure some games were played in the Caribbean as well.

Yes you are correct.

Pool A played in the Tokyo dome in Japan,

Pool B was in Phoenix.

pool C was in Puerto Rico

Pool D was in Florida

[NewOrioleWork]

Damn, no way to watch either of the big games today.

[Migrant Redbird]

... Pool B was in Phoenix.

Pool B was in Mexico City. 2009 WBC Schedule Some of the international teams played exhibitions in Phoenix (and others in Florida).

[Boy Howdy]

The USA is six outs away from being eliminated as I type this.

I'm actually rooting for Puerto Rico, but if you're not, don't give up hope.

Last night, I heard the announcers talking about Fernando Cabrera (a/k/a F-Bomb on OH) being the Puerto Rican closer.