O Canada
The World Baseball Classic is heating up...
...and I may just be the only one in the world who cares. It's been fun, to say the least.
I enjoyed watching the United States get their asses handed to them by Canada today. While the score was close in the end, Canada almost mercy-ruled the U.S. in the early innings.
My boy Adam Stern had a hell of a game-- 2 amazing outfield catches, a double shy of the cycle, an inside the park homerun, 4 RBI. Give the Canadian a roster spot! He also went 2-3 in Canada's first game.
Jason Varitek had a grand slam in America's losing effort. I'm sure all Red Sox fans out there were thinking the same thing as me: Why the hell can't you do that with the bases loaded in REAL games, Tek? As of right now, Varitek has something like the lowest batting average in baseball with the bases loaded with a required number of plate appearances. He only has ONE career grand slam, and that was last season. Before that, he led the majors in most career bases loaded plate appearances without a home run (grand slam). Regardless, his homer was a bomb. Ernie Whitt, the Canadian manager, brought in a lefty to turn 'Tek around and have him hit righty. Apparently, he didn't get the scouting report. Everyone else in America knew what was going to happen. (Or maybe it was just me?)
Given the typical idiocy of ESPN announcers, whoever called the grand slam said, "Red Sox fans out there won't be surprised to see that." Uhhh, how about a stat check on Tek's career grand slams, ESPN? I was also absolutely shocked that yesterday, Harold Reynolds said David Ortiz's Dominican Republican home run was the "greatest home run of his career." Apparently neither Game 4 nor Game 7 of the ALCS-- games that actually counted--crossed his mind.
After Tek's grand slam, your updated Boston Red Sox in the World Baseball Classic statistics are an ungodly:
.750/.786/2.667 = 3.452 OPS
7 runs, 12 RBI in 14 PA
Not bad.
So here's where we stand in the United States' pool:
The U.S. will NOT make the second round if Mexico beats Canada 1-0 tomorrow. If Mexico is to beat Canada (which they could because Esteban Loaiza will likely pitch), the US, Canada and Mexico would be tied at 2-1 records, and 1-1 against each other. That is the first tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker is runs allowed. The U.S. has allowed a total of 8 runs total to the two other teams. Mexico allowed 2 to the U.S.; Canada 6 so far. So if Mexico beats Canada 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1, it would go:
Mexico 2
Canada 7
U.S. 8
...and our darling American team would be eliminated. The U.S. can also be eliminated if South Africa puts up a substantial number of runs on us. But that is all just really confusing, and I'm a journalism major, not a mathematician.
As much as I would like the cocky, Yankee-filled U.S. team to be eliminated in the first round, it wouldn't be good for the future of this World Baseball Classic. As the finals are in San Diego, revenue would plummet because fewer spectators would go, and the TV ratings would probably drop with the Americans out. We may never see another WBC if the United States can't advance out of their pool.
But from the perspective of a Dominican fan, I am enjoying this classic quite a bit. I'm going to the game Friday in my David Ortiz-supporting attire. Yo seré la fanática con la bandera dominicana, gritando con mucho fuerte por mi Papi y Albert Pujols. ¡Qué viva la República Dominicana!
Why does this gringita have a Dominican flag? For occasions like this. It should be great fun.
In other news, I just finished my article on sabermetrics. It's good, I think. I'll post it when I get some feedback from my professor. I think I probably did twice as much work as other people had to do, because my entire article is expert testimony on sabermetrics. Instead of just looking up statistics to verify a trend, I had to really dig deep to find people who knew anything about the topic. I should get extra credit for that.
...and I may just be the only one in the world who cares. It's been fun, to say the least.
I enjoyed watching the United States get their asses handed to them by Canada today. While the score was close in the end, Canada almost mercy-ruled the U.S. in the early innings.
My boy Adam Stern had a hell of a game-- 2 amazing outfield catches, a double shy of the cycle, an inside the park homerun, 4 RBI. Give the Canadian a roster spot! He also went 2-3 in Canada's first game.
Jason Varitek had a grand slam in America's losing effort. I'm sure all Red Sox fans out there were thinking the same thing as me: Why the hell can't you do that with the bases loaded in REAL games, Tek? As of right now, Varitek has something like the lowest batting average in baseball with the bases loaded with a required number of plate appearances. He only has ONE career grand slam, and that was last season. Before that, he led the majors in most career bases loaded plate appearances without a home run (grand slam). Regardless, his homer was a bomb. Ernie Whitt, the Canadian manager, brought in a lefty to turn 'Tek around and have him hit righty. Apparently, he didn't get the scouting report. Everyone else in America knew what was going to happen. (Or maybe it was just me?)
Given the typical idiocy of ESPN announcers, whoever called the grand slam said, "Red Sox fans out there won't be surprised to see that." Uhhh, how about a stat check on Tek's career grand slams, ESPN? I was also absolutely shocked that yesterday, Harold Reynolds said David Ortiz's Dominican Republican home run was the "greatest home run of his career." Apparently neither Game 4 nor Game 7 of the ALCS-- games that actually counted--crossed his mind.
After Tek's grand slam, your updated Boston Red Sox in the World Baseball Classic statistics are an ungodly:
.750/.786/2.667 = 3.452 OPS
7 runs, 12 RBI in 14 PA
Not bad.
So here's where we stand in the United States' pool:
The U.S. will NOT make the second round if Mexico beats Canada 1-0 tomorrow. If Mexico is to beat Canada (which they could because Esteban Loaiza will likely pitch), the US, Canada and Mexico would be tied at 2-1 records, and 1-1 against each other. That is the first tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker is runs allowed. The U.S. has allowed a total of 8 runs total to the two other teams. Mexico allowed 2 to the U.S.; Canada 6 so far. So if Mexico beats Canada 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1, it would go:
Mexico 2
Canada 7
U.S. 8
...and our darling American team would be eliminated. The U.S. can also be eliminated if South Africa puts up a substantial number of runs on us. But that is all just really confusing, and I'm a journalism major, not a mathematician.
As much as I would like the cocky, Yankee-filled U.S. team to be eliminated in the first round, it wouldn't be good for the future of this World Baseball Classic. As the finals are in San Diego, revenue would plummet because fewer spectators would go, and the TV ratings would probably drop with the Americans out. We may never see another WBC if the United States can't advance out of their pool.
But from the perspective of a Dominican fan, I am enjoying this classic quite a bit. I'm going to the game Friday in my David Ortiz-supporting attire. Yo seré la fanática con la bandera dominicana, gritando con mucho fuerte por mi Papi y Albert Pujols. ¡Qué viva la República Dominicana!
Why does this gringita have a Dominican flag? For occasions like this. It should be great fun.
In other news, I just finished my article on sabermetrics. It's good, I think. I'll post it when I get some feedback from my professor. I think I probably did twice as much work as other people had to do, because my entire article is expert testimony on sabermetrics. Instead of just looking up statistics to verify a trend, I had to really dig deep to find people who knew anything about the topic. I should get extra credit for that.
posted by Jennifer at 11:44 PM
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