Author Topic: World Baseball Classic.  (Read 4540 times)

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Offline Dave in Fairfax

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #100: March 14, 2023, 03:13:04 AM »
anyone else wondering why there's a period at the end of this thread title?
Because otherwise it would be pointless?

Offline English Natsie

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #101: March 14, 2023, 05:11:44 AM »
Even with more Keystone Cops fielding, Team GB secure their first win at the WBC.  :clap: :clap: Given that the expectation was for GB to 'lose with honor', then they've done OK.

Good to see GB channeling their inner Natinals - our closer appeared to be playing for 'Grea Britain'... :lol: (remember what I said about those jerseys...).

Offline Dave in Fairfax

  • Posts: 2012
Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #102: March 14, 2023, 05:13:44 AM »
... 'Grea Britain'... :lol: (remember what I said about those jerseys...).
Literally the first thing I thought of when I was watching the game and the T came off.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #103: March 14, 2023, 08:03:52 AM »
Baseball is cruel, eh
You still have Tim Horton’s.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #104: March 14, 2023, 03:03:02 PM »
You strike out Soto, Julio Rodrigruez, and Devers in an inning, and you get a contract with Los Tigres de Detroit.

https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/news/duque-hebbert-signs-with-tigers-after-dominant-world-baseball-classic-inning

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #105: March 15, 2023, 10:26:49 PM »
Soto hits a monster HR but the Dominicans lose and are out. Puerto Rico moves on and Venezuela wins that Pool. USA need to win.

Online imref

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #106: March 15, 2023, 11:36:19 PM »
Edwin Diaz apparently suffered a leg injury celebrating PR’s win. Had to be carried off the field in obvious pain.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #107: March 16, 2023, 08:43:44 AM »
I see Team USA squeaked by with Trout knocking in all three runs. They play Venezuela Saturday night in the quarterfinals.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #108: March 16, 2023, 08:44:36 AM »
Edwin Diaz apparently suffered a leg injury celebrating PR’s win. Had to be carried off the field in obvious pain.
Ouch.

Offline nobleisthyname

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #109: March 16, 2023, 08:46:06 AM »
Mets really are cursed.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #111: March 16, 2023, 09:03:09 AM »
Congrats to Team GB! They qualify for the next WBC by edging out Colombia and grabbing 4th in Group C.  As noted, they have one Seattle prospect at catcher, Harry Ford, who is very well regarded, and he had a good game when they beat Colombia.

Also, I  think Czechia qualifies, which is wild, too.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #112: March 16, 2023, 10:15:25 AM »
Soto hits a monster HR but the Dominicans lose and are out. Puerto Rico moves on and Venezuela wins that Pool. USA need to win.
I kind of liked Soto as a leadoff hitter if there's decent guys at the bottom of the order.  Ideally, he's #2 or #4 with his OBP rate.  I caught the 7th last night when one of the PR relievers went through Soto-Rodriguez-Machado, and he was getting a ton of called strikes outside the box against these guys who are notorious for the best batting eyes. Soto got a high strike called on a pitch he viewed better than the ump. He will not swing at a ball above the zone, but probably also lays off some border line strikes, too, early in the count to work for something better. The width of the zone was awful to the other hitters.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #113: March 16, 2023, 10:34:02 AM »
Congrats to Team GB! They qualify for the next WBC by edging out Colombia and grabbing 4th in Group C.  As noted, they have one Seattle prospect at catcher, Harry Ford, who is very well regarded, and he had a good game when they beat Colombia.

Also, I  think Czechia qualifies, which is wild, too.
Saw the documentary MLB had on Team Czechia. They all have full time jobs and baseball is just a sideline.

Offline Elvir Ovcina

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #114: March 16, 2023, 01:12:46 PM »
Congrats to Team GB! They qualify for the next WBC by edging out Colombia and grabbing 4th in Group C.  As noted, they have one Seattle prospect at catcher, Harry Ford, who is very well regarded, and he had a good game when they beat Colombia.

Also, I  think Czechia qualifies, which is wild, too.

When I lived over there, I was tangentially involved in their developmental program (basically, they needed reasonably good players to come in and practice against their youngsters, and I somehow qualified for that).  It's a small but pretty dedicated group.  A couple of the guys I went against there were fringe types for the senior team for a bit and now work for the organization.  They're always hoping to graduate to actually having more guys with only UK passports involved in the senior setup, but it's going to take a while. 

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #115: March 16, 2023, 01:42:00 PM »
When I lived over there, I was tangentially involved in their developmental program (basically, they needed reasonably good players to come in and practice against their youngsters, and I somehow qualified for that).  It's a small but pretty dedicated group.  A couple of the guys I went against there were fringe types for the senior team for a bit and now work for the organization.  They're always hoping to graduate to actually having more guys with only UK passports involved in the senior setup, but it's going to take a while. 
Euros don't blink an eye at guys finding a drop of blood, marrying, or resettling to change their nationality for their national soccer teams or things like cycling. One of the best French cyclists since last year is a guy named Andrei Vlasov.

Online imref

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #116: March 16, 2023, 02:00:58 PM »
Patella surgery for Diaz. Out indefinitely

Offline Dave in Fairfax

  • Posts: 2012
Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #117: March 16, 2023, 02:15:54 PM »
Association football and, at least in France and Belgium, cycling are popular and well-established at a grass-roots level. Baseball will need to connect with locals to have any longevity in Europe.

Arguably, MLB really missed its opportunity during the height of the Cold War when hundreds of thousands of Americans were stationed in Europe. They could have had barnstorming tours by players of U.S. bases, with servicemen bringing in local kids to watch and building a long-term fan-base. And now, not only are most of the servicemen gone, but so is the infrastructure. The former Leighton Barracks in Würzburg, for example, had at least four baseball fields; all are gone now.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #118: March 16, 2023, 02:43:51 PM »
Association football and, at least in France and Belgium, cycling are popular and well-established at a grass-roots level. Baseball will need to connect with locals to have any longevity in Europe.

Arguably, MLB really missed its opportunity during the height of the Cold War when hundreds of thousands of Americans were stationed in Europe. They could have had barnstorming tours by players of U.S. bases, with servicemen bringing in local kids to watch and building a long-term fan-base. And now, not only are most of the servicemen gone, but so is the infrastructure. The former Leighton Barracks in Würzburg, for example, had at least four baseball fields; all are gone now.
I think Derby County's pitch used to be the Baseball Field or something like that. 

By the way, the reason there's a real baseball / honkball interest in Holland is because of the GIs.  The Netherlands team had a mix of Aruba / Curacao players as well as Euros.

OTOH, there's been a ton of attempts to get baseball going in Israel, but I think it was looked down on because it was a diaspora game only played in one of the old countries.  In contrast, association football and basketball were more international games, and Israel was going be country, then they needed to compete against other countries in FIBA and FIFA.  The only baseball field in Israel until recently was at a village for US philosemitic Christian fundamentalists. There've been a couple of attempts recently to popularize it locally, and there's a movie about the first try at a league that i think Dave Duquette was hired to organize.  got mostly dominican kids wanting to spend a fall in the holy land.  The current team has one or two Israelis who were not residents of north america.

Online imref

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #119: March 16, 2023, 03:24:53 PM »
Diaz out for the year per ESPN.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #120: March 16, 2023, 04:32:39 PM »
Diaz out for the year per ESPN.
  A sad tune blowing out Timmy Trumpet's . . .

But seriously, sorry for this to happen. Brought some joy to the game.

Offline nfotiu

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #121: March 16, 2023, 04:35:01 PM »
Hurt it celebrating?  Jeez baseball players can get some dumb injuries.

Offline English Natsie

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #122: March 16, 2023, 07:01:53 PM »
I think Derby County's pitch used to be the Baseball Field or something like that. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Ground

Online Senatorswin

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #123: March 16, 2023, 10:07:07 PM »
Diaz out for the year per ESPN.

Devastating loss for the Mets after he just signed a 5 year 100 million dollar deal. Who knows if he'll ever be back to where he was.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: World Baseball Classic.
« Reply #124: March 17, 2023, 07:10:02 PM »
Heard PR is conceding the game tonight so none of their guys gets hurt.