Battle of the Island Nations

• The Cubans certainly can’t light up their own victory cigars. Maybe they’ll have to smoke some Dominicans.

  SF March 19, 2006, 10:55 am

• I think you meant fan favorites Dominica and South Korea.

  Hudson March 19, 2006, 2:50 pm

• Did S Korea beat Japan 2 out of 3 times and get eliminated?
  Baseball should not come down to one game, unless that game is the culmination of a season or a series.

  john March 19, 2006, 2:55 pm

• John, is there anything about the WBC that you won’t complain about or say is misguided?

  SF March 19, 2006, 2:59 pm

• SF –
  Let’s talk about the WBC instead of me (or you).

  john March 19, 2006, 11:41 pm

• I’ve always said Capt. Varitek was a brilliant, insightful man:

  Jason Varitek and Mike Timlin would like to get another shot at the world.
  But next time they’d like it to occur on more sensible terms.
  The Red Sox teammates returned to spring training yesterday following a 16-day absence – and less than 36 hours after Team USA was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic – and expressed a desire for a do-over.
  “It was an awesome experience, but I’d like to have a little better go-round of it,” Varitek said. “It was a bit frustrating. There’s no question the pitching was far ahead of us at that point, but I honestly didn’t believe it would be that far ahead of us. With pitching being the quality it was, it didn’t give hitters much room for error.”
  Timlin, who was 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three appearances in the inaugural 16-nation tournament, said the timing of the event put the U.S. at a disadvantage.
  “It’s disappointing, with the talent that we had, that we lost,” he said. “Our timing was just off. That’s all there was to it. Our hitters didn’t have enough at-bats to have their hands right where they wanted. The pitchers were off a little bit. There were spurts where you threw the ball exactly where you wanted, struck guys out, got the ground ball or hitters having a great day, but it just wasn’t enough.”

  john March 19, 2006, 11:50 pm

• Is this supposed to be an indictment John? Did you note he called it “an awesome experience”? An international celebration of baseball in March, with proceeds (or at least some of them) going to develop the game. Sounds like just the kind of thing MLB should be doing. Yeah, it would be good for the USA to have A-Rod’s proposed minicamp next time (Varitek and A-Rod agree!!! Now there’s an accomplishment!!!). Give it up already, John. No one like’s a grinch.

  YF March 20, 2006, 10:25 am

• Bad YF
  Sad YF
  Don’t be hatin’
  I’m just sayin’
  Who’s the Grinch?
  It’s a cinch!
  The two misrepresentin’
  And plain ol’ ventin’
  I’m down with Tek: play it at the right time and it will be a great series. Go back and take a look, and you’ll see that’s what I said.
  Good idea, bad execution (bad Bud).

  john March 20, 2006, 10:43 am

• I’m not against a WBC. I think it’s already being proven that early spring training and a small number of games is not the way to do it.
  I would like to see,
  A good WBC,
  So what’s with the third degree,
  and the wailin’ like a banshee?
  A hundred million Americans,
  Agree with me.
  Tek too.

  john March 20, 2006, 11:09 am

• Dominica is actually an entirely different country from the Dominican Republic, and neither would be happy to hear you confusing them. ;)

  kevin March 21, 2006, 2:09 pm

• My error. Meant that to be “Dominicana,” which is what the DR have on their jerseys.

  YF March 21, 2006, 2:42 pm

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