U.S.A. Baseball

This is an excellent point!! With riches too often comes complacency. We got ours handed to us. I thought this WBC would be a huge bust, but it is actually raising so many issues and sounding so many alarms, it's actually been an EDUCATION. Maybe the dismal results will somehow jumpstart truly rigorous baseball training in the States. (And this coming on the heels of so many Olympian busts in Turin.....just sad. We better get our heads out of the sand)

We've become soft and sluggish.

quote:

Originally posted by Rock'Me:
...against a bunch of never heard of's from Mexico

Oh my.

quote:

Originally posted by Krakatoa:
This is an excellent point!! .....

...and there's a follower.

OMG

If ya don't like it Bear, maybe it's time to hibernate!!

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Haven't we seen this before? Was this not predictable? Deja...I mean...Hoop-a vue?

44

Maybe the names aren't all as recognizable, but Mexico's roster has about 25 Major League players on it. Not exactly a weak team.

I hate to say it, but it appears this is much more important to these other countries.

By the way... Same umpire that made the call against Japan... replay shows Rodriguez doubled off 1st base, but that was bang bang. But geez... how'd he miss the home run off the foul pole?

Seems like we got quite a few real stinker calls, all go our way. Does make me proud to hear the announcers and other American's get upset over these terrible calls.

Ya, but when you look at it though, some of our really mainstream guys sat out of the tourny. What if we had bonds playing? he cant miss a ball right now. We have plenty of other players that are stars that didnt even play in the tournament. Also there is the fact that i dont think the Americans took it serious, they came into it with a spring training mindset, Dontrelle Willis obviously wasnt ready to pitch, he was anything but sharp. Along with about half of the other players on our team who werent in shape. That in comparison to teams like the dominican, venezuela and mexico, whose players were all probably playing winter ball all winter and maintained their playing shape. Japan and Korea, those teams were training all winter im sure too, mainly because they were more concerned with national pride than just getting ready for the MLB season. Well thats my 2 cents, have a nice day.

Hey, our guys got whooped by (from what I saw) were some pretty good ballplayers. I just think we need to tip our hat to them.. especially that surprising Korean team. Shows what pitching and defense will do.

Four years from now, 1/2 of them will be playing for us.

44:

quote:

Originally posted by observer44:
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Haven't we seen this before? Was this not predictable? Deja...I mean...Hoop-a vue?

44

You mean Mr.David Stern and his Merry Whoopsters...at least he's asked them to dress nicely!

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USA didn't swing the bats well. No excuses. The WBC didn't sneak up on anyone - the players knew when they needed to be ready to play and just didn't get the hits when they needed to. That is baseball. Credit their opponents for getting the job done against a roster of great USA talent.

A few more tournaments like this one and we won't have an MLB player born in the USA .

All will be from Latin America, Canada, Japan, Korea and Australia.

BOBO

I dont think so !!!!!

So far most MLB players are from Latin America. The number of Japaneese and Korean MLB players is growing each year.

I am sorry to say this but WAKE UP people!

Baseball is a world sport whether you like it or not. I go to many winterball games in Puerto Rico and I have to say that there are many ball players throughout the world that are playing at a high level. Some that can play in the majors but don't get a shot for one reason or another.

Mexico proved that you do not have to swing for the fences to win games. Korea is one of the most well disciplined teams out there. It is a reality check for USA Baseball and I didnt see alot of pride from our americans. They needed much more emotion that they showed. But then again when you have a 250 million dollar contract and you have everything in the world how much emotion will you show????

The money has nothing to do with it. If that were the case, they didn't have to play at all in the WBC. I agree that baseball is a global sport and that other countries play the game very well with different styles. But IMO you have no right to condemn the US players or assail their pride. You want emotion, go to a Baptist church on a Sunday afternoon. But don't translate sub-par play into a lack of caring. If you truly have a talent for reading minds or seeing the future, can you give me the six winning numbers for New Jersey's Pick-Six on Monday?

It is a reality check for USA Baseball and I didnt see alot of pride from our americans. They needed much more emotion that they showed.

No one can measure what is in a heart, the amount of pride a player has and quantify a player by the emotion demonstated, IMO>
Kind of like suggesting you know "who wanted it more" LOL

Someone should put together a list of all the top American's who were originally listed but did not make it to the games. We should really take that into consideration before this morning's QB's dole out too much blarney.

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Someone should put together a list of all the top American's who were originally listed but did not make it to the games

with each name on that list we could also note why they blew it off


too busy
didn't care
not in playing shape

quote:

too busy
didn't care
not in playing shape

LOL.
Hardly.

Many players , not just USA players, did not take part because they felt they were not in shape for competition and would risk injury

I dont think it had anything to do with caring--it had to do with endangering their actual careers--playing MLB

I have a friend who played in Japan and he was paid 1M tac free plus an apartment car and all the perks for 2 years. He said the fans were great and the competition was top notch. He also played for Monteray Mexico for 2 years and said the same thing for them.
It is great baseball. He retired on the money he made there and runs a baseball team now.
Very exciting competition.

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Many players , not just USA players, did not take part because they felt they were not in shape for competition and would risk injury

huh?? it's 2 weeks til opening day

001) players work out in offseason (most)
002) anyone unwilling to begin a few weeks earlier didn't care




"with each name on that list we could also note why they blew it off"

Chill says: "LOL. Hardly"

fair enough, I'll keep an open mind if you'd elaborate

The WBC wasn't greeted warmly by MLB teams, the sports media, or the public --- many looked at it as a distraction from the business of getting ready for the season and feared injury (as if players aren't injured in ST, but one would be more comfortable with dealing with the injured player "at home").

I think that attitude colored the US' performance. We are the foremost baseball league, the expectation was there that we would get to the finals, and I don't think a lot of thought was put in to the makeup of the roster; it was something of an All Star team (and we know how those games usually go ), with a few odd replacements as players dropped out or an old injury flaired up. Power was emphasized over the other tools and the kind of balance that normally makes a good ball club wasn't factored in.

The "we weren't ready" line needs to be left on the playground (or maybe we could ask for a 'do-over', not that the umps didn't give us a brand of that several times). Everybody knew when it was coming at the same time; if the teams wanted to get together earlier than the ST report date, they could choose to do so. And I'm pretty sure guys like Rodriguez could have found a few spare bucks for some private BP had they wanted to. Our multimillion dollar players are in shape all year 'round; these aren't the days when ballplayers had off-season jobs and used ST to get in shape.

The Southern Hemisphere teams, coming off summer, were eliminated last round; the Final Four are all in the same stage of their seasons. Level playing field there.

I think it came down to desire and experience. Many of our sons have been on excellent teams who have been bitten in the backside by inferior teams because, on some level, they felt they had already won. We just saw how much worse it can be when that expected "inferior" team was actually very good.

And we've got a big country here, with well enough teams to play a 162 game season. We don't play internationally because we don't have to, where the other teams in the WBC do and know the level of intensity. I've posted on other threads about how the country rivalries come into it, and anybody who watched these games certainly saw how it did.

Americans have a deserved reputation for not knowing much about the rest of the world, and we (including our MLB players) just got a reminder that it's out there and baseball is a part of it.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the different styles of play, particularly the Korean team who reminded me of the Cards' Whiteyball days.

I hope MLB takes note; depending on power over fundamentals doesn't always work (remember LSU's 'gorilla ball' days?); and if the lads are going to get their candy taken away from them by a valid testing program, we will have to go back to basics.

If a team from Tibet has a guy on the mound spotting a 90 mph FB with decent breaking pitch they have a decent chance of winning the game regardless of the opponent.

Baseball is a game of percentages, not perfection!

Orlando:

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GW4S SOAP BOX
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Very, very well said!

Excuses, excuses, excuses.
You see the ball.
You hit the ball.
You catch the ball.
You throw the ball.

Give the credit were credit is do.
I do think the USA team cared, and that might of got in there way.
I don't believe the were prepared for the emotion of having
the USA on there chest.
Baseball is a World Sport Now.
Lets embrace it.

There's some young players in the US right now that will dispute that notion that were not as good anymore.
Baseball is Alive and WELL in the US of A.

And there's some very Talented up and comers.
This is only going to make us better.

What doesn't kill you,
Make's you stronger. the EH

theEH:

Don't get me wrong...I think we are very caable of going out there on the world stage and succeeding ...consistently.

We have to roll up our sleeves and get with it...that's what all of the other successful teams did!

I agree we are capable,
I just don't think that the US Team was prepared Emotionally.
There's a whole different fell when your representing your country.
Sometimes it doesn't always come down to hitting a long ball to win a game.
It's like a Boxer verses a puncher.
The Boxer will do the little things all fight long, Jab, Combo's,
Hit Count.
The Puncher looks for that one big blow for the Knock out.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the WBC, but I am a baseball fan. I will watch anything that is baseball. I also think the level of play we have seen from the Latin and Asian teams has surpassed the team the US fielded. Maybe it was because of being in March without spring training, and maybe it was just a different brand of baseball. It seemed like the Asian teams in particular stress the fundamentals of the game more than we do and their execution of those fundamentals is a joy to watch.

I can't wait to watch the remaining games.

theEH:

quote:

Originally posted by theEH:
It's like a Boxer verses a puncher.
The Boxer will do the little things all fight long, Jab, Combo's,
Hit Count.
The Puncher looks for that one big blow for the Knock out.

Boxer? Barbara...Boxer...Sen. Boxer (D-CA)?
Puncher? Cow...punchers...from Broke Back Mountain?

I'm with the donkey's team on this one!

quote:

Originally posted by NYdad:
If a team from Tibet has a guy on the mound spotting a 90 mph FB with decent breaking pitch they have a decent chance of winning the game regardless of the opponent.

Baseball is a game of percentages, not perfection!

I think this is an excellent point. If their pitcher has it going on a certain day and yours doesn't, that's the ballgame.

Word on the street is that the NORTH Koreans now want to get in on this. They have just released their new uniform top, see below, and Kim Jong Il has promised to stop any nuclear activities if the PRNK is allowed to start playing in the WBC in the Finals next week. He has also suggested that he will fire a congratulatory missile over whichever country, Japan or South Korea, wins their semi-final tomorrow.

Kim Jong Il?...I don't think we should let that PRNK play...he's bad news...all over the place!

Buck managed just like he did in Toronto, .500 baseball.

I wonder how many of the MLB guys shied away because of the drug testing?

I still think it is hysterical that after the IOC decided to eliminate baseball from the Olympics this tournament was invented.

USA had AROD and will watch the finals on TV.

Anybody who watched Oliver Perez pitch two years ago cannot be that shocked by the outcome. The performance of the other Mexican pitchers was pure clutch. The Tibet point is a good one. In baseball more than any other sport, on any given day...

04Dad, as a Sox fan, do you consider that a causal effect?

Well, guys, the Tibet Point struck three times, so I would like to see MLB look a little deeper than that for 2009.

I'm going to miss this tournament come next Spring, but it would become too watered-down as an annual event.

Orlando
I keep hope alive that ARod retires in pinstripes, giving us a fighting chance at the division, for as long he is in it. I am hoping for 10-year contract extensions for Shef and Randy, so they and George can grow old together.

Waaaiiiittt a minute....didn't Sidd Finch spend some time in Tibet???

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 3 things

the fact that alot our MLB stars are "not american" the american pool of players isn't that huge.

Also, the stars of south america play winter ball Tejada, Cabrera...they want to play in front of their countrymen so they are in a little better baseball shape. Not sure about the asian players -- anyone know?

Also, it appeared we went speedless to that tourney. The games were low scoring and from what I saw our knights were wearing "Armor" while there's brought there fastest steads.

America honors the veteran player past his prime too much in national competition. Just like professional sports give the fatest contracts to the over the hill player.