World Baseball Classic Preview, Part Two

Well as I promised, here is Part Two of my World Baseball Classic preview. Purdue just got shocked by Northwestern, so if there is an air of depression to this entry, that would be the reason.

Part One can be found here

Pool C
An interesting pool, will take place in Toronto, so Canada gets the advantage of playing on home soil, but really Toronto may as well be an American city, so hopefully US fans will dominate the stadium. The opener of Canada-USA will be interesting, as Canada beat USA in the 2006 Classic, and the US will be out for revenge.

USA
As with most international competitions, we Americans believe we have the best team and are always surprised when we don’t perform, as happened in the last World Baseball Classic. After that surprising loss to Canada, we squeaked out of pool play by virtue of tiebreaker, then got knocked out of the competition in the next round also by virtue of tiebreaker. In that tournament, players were effectively coming in cold, having played one or two spring training games with their team, then an exhibition against the Giants. This time around, however, players are coming in with a week’s worth of spring training games and exhibitions and should be more ready to play. The pitching staff is good, not great, with a solid one-two punch of good friends Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt. The bullpen will be hurt by the loss of Joe Nathan, and with the limit on pitches early in the tournament, the rest will have to pick up the slack. An interesting choice will have to be made by manager Davey Johnson at shortstop, with both Jimmy Rollins and Derek Jeter on the roster. Look for Jeter to get more of the playing time, as he is captain of the ship. A lineup consisting of Dustin Pedroia, Jeter/Rollins, David Wright, Ryan Braun, and personal favorite Adam Dunn is certainly one to be feared if they can come ready to play.

Canada
The hometown team in the first round, for what it’s worth. The hitting is good with Justin Morneau, Joey Votto, Jason Bay, and Russell Martin on the roster. Bay and Morneau hit a combined .375 for Canada in 2006, leading them to the 5th best batting average in the Classic, and it will only get better this time around. However, their pitching had an astronomical 7.62 ERA, even with Chris Reitsma, Jeff Francis, and Erik Bedard, all of whom are not participating in this tournament. If their young staff full of minor leaguers looking to impress can step it up, they should make it out of pool play. Cubs players Corey Koskie and Vince Perkins are on the roster and will surely make a positive impact on Canada’s success.

Venezuela
In 2006 Venezuela made it to the second round before succumbing to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. They have several major league stars in Felix Hernandez and Francisco Rodriguez on the mound and Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Abreu, and Magglio Ordonez in the field, but the pitching staff may not be deep enough for them to make an extended run. After King Felix and K-Rod, you get Carlos Silva, Armando Galarraga, and Victor Zambrano, instead of the Johan Santana, Carlos Zambrano, and Kelvim Escobar they had in the last tournament. Their hitting was paltry with three hitters hitting over .211 in the last tournament, with only 33-year old Ramon Hernandez returning from that trifecta. Some part of Venezuela’s game will have to pick it up if they want to make it past Canada.

Italy
Well there is really not much to say about the Italian national team. Though I have not liked the Italian national soccer team since the 2006 World Cup, I do kind of hope that the Italian baseball team does well so that maybe they can bring some baseball pride to Europe and expand the game there. But in the end, pitching led by Jason Grilli and Mark DiFelice will probably not cut it.

My Picks: USA wins it, and Canada with the minor upset uses home-field advantage to move on. My only hope is Italy finds themselves going up against USA and loses so I can hang it over Blaine’s head for many weeks to come.

Pool D
By my estimation, the strongest pool in the tournament. Will be taking place in baseball-crazy San Juan, Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.

Dominican Republic
An absolute juggernaut of a team, and commonly considered a favorite to win it all. With an infield consisting of any combination of David Ortiz, Robinson Cano, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Alex Rodriguez, and Adrian Beltre, this team can really do no wrong hitting wise. Even the loss of Albert Pujols can’t slow down this team’s hitting attack. Grizzly old man Moises Alou will help out in the outfield with Jose Guillen and Willy Taveras. Still, the hitting can improve on the 2006 Classic where Alfonso Soriano went 0-12 and David Ortiz went 3-20 (all being home runs). Pitching-wise, they have a generally solid, deep staff. Young guns Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto team up with useful name-game tool Ubaldo Jimenez and Odalis Perez.

Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico won their group in 2003 (same as this group but with Cuba instead of the DR) by virtue of a 12-2 drubbing of Cuba in 7 innings after it was already determined which two teams were moving on. However, Cuba returned the favor in the second round, winning a 4-3 contest to send Puerto Rico home and Cuba on to the next round. Bernie Williams is making his comeback in this tournament and will play along side Alex Rios and Carlos Beltran in a strong outfield, with sophomore sensation Geovany Soto behind the plate. Look for Soto to win MVP of the tournament. Really. On the mound will be Javier Vazquez and Ian Snell, with J.C. Romero playing his last competitive games before his 50-game steroid suspension kicks in. They will have a great home field advantage, so expect the crowd to be loud and proud, helping Puerto Rico advance to the next stage of the Classic.

Panama
It’s safe to say this team is centered around El Caballo, Carlos Lee. They have former Cub and another name-game great Julio Zuleta in the infield, and Manny Corpas and Manny Acosta on the mound. Outside of that, there are few recognizable names, but they do have many minor leaguers, and look to avenge their pitiful 0-3 showing in 2006, when they were shellacked 10-0 by the Netherlands in 7 innings.

Netherlands
Not all that much to say about the Netherlands, about half of the players are minor leaguers, with the other half playing in the Netherlands. They are led by Sidney de Jong behind the plate, and apparently Sidney Ponson will make an appearance on the mound with Rick VandenHurk. Most importantly, Purdue graduate Michael Duursma will be holding down the fort at second base, so if any deep run is made by the Dutch, it will obviously center around the former Boilermaker. In all reality, they will be ousted after three games, but I will proudly sport my bright orange Netherlands soccer jersey while they are doing so.

My Picks: Dominican Republic to win, Puerto Rico comes in second.

Review:
Pool A: 1. Japan 2. Korea
Pool B: 1. Cuba 2. Mexico
Pool C: 1. USA 2. Canada
Pool D: 1. Dominican Republic 2. Puerto Rico

Making our second round pools:
Pool 1 (Creative, aren’t they?)
Japan
Korea
Cuba
Mexico

Japan (1) and Cuba (2) move on.

Pool 2
USA
Canada
Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico

Dominican Republic (1) and USA (2) move on.

Semifinal 1: USA beats Japan
Semifinal 2: Dominican Republic beats Puerto Rico
Finals: This would be the third game between the Dominican Republic and the USA, and it will be the third time the charm as the USA upsets the Dominican Republic and brings home the crown!!!

Random baseball fact of the day: There have been three baseball players who have played in the Olympics in a sport other than baseball: Ed Minahan (Track and Field, Paris 1900), Al Spalding (Shooting, Paris 1900), and Jim Thorpe (Decathlon, Stockholm 1912).