World Baseball Classic 2017

InsideTheParker

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Quite a contrast between the full stands at the Japanese games with the avid fans singing a different song for each player and this half filled park. Thanks, Orel for those photos of the European parks. I had no idea about all that.
 

Orel Miraculous

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Quite a contrast between the full stands at the Japanese games with the avid fans singing a different song for each player and this half filled park.
Yup, and now Drew Smyly ust got pulled even though he's 20 pitches under the limit. Why the hell did he even take a roster spot if he was limited to his own personal pitch count? America's participation in this tournament is downright embarrassing. I would honestly prefer it if we didn't bother playing.
 

jon abbey

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No one else up for the late night US comeback? Hector Rondon showed again why Chicago needed Chapman so desperately last year, giving up two home runs and the lead in the bottom of the 8th, Adam Jones to tie and Hosmer to go ahead, final US 4-2.
 

Tokyo Sox

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Crowd at Petco looked great. People were fired up, that's awesome. Big win for the US in an incredibly tough group.
 

InsideTheParker

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I fell asleep, just watched some highlights. Arenado was at first base?
Maybe the crowd filled in, Tokyo Sox, but from shots early in the game it looked only half-full. Maybe traffic made them late.
 

Investor 11

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Yeah, the Petco crowd was definitely disappointing according to my unscientific method of gauging it. I'm 2 blocks from the ballpark and normally have my patio door open. Even for a standard Padres game I can hear the crowd cheer on a homer or other big play and then see it happen on the TV a few seconds later. I heard nothing on the Jones blast, to the point I muted the TV and walked over to my patio.

They kept making a point about the crowd on local sports radio here today. The weekend games and 7pm start times should bring a few more fans. I just got the evening off tomorrow and logged in to my Padres account to grab a pair of tickets. Nowhere near the availability there was for Tuesday.
 

jon abbey

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Stroman was lucky to get out of that at only 4-0, but 'not what you want' to use the constant Girardi refrain.
 

jon abbey

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Puerto Rico running into some unnecessary outs on the bases and keeping the US in it, 4-1 after 3.
 

jon abbey

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Diaz gets his third K of the inning and barely closes it, Puerto Rico is still undefeated for the tournament and the US and the Dominican Republic have a rematch to see who advances to the last four.
 

thehitcat

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There was some brutal umpiring tonight. Neither of the pitches that lead to ejections were strikes and you said it above Crawford was well out at 3rd on the play that should have ended it. Makes me appreciate replay more on plays like that one. Despite me rooting for the US I'm glad Puerto Rico was able to close it out after that blown call.
 

InsideTheParker

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So, of course I fell asleep, but I am trying to figure out if Andrew Miller is pitching as badly as he seems to be. I know that the Arenado error led to a run behind Miller, but didn't he put two on and allow a double steal (he and Posey)? How did he look?
 

jon abbey

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So, of course I fell asleep, but I am trying to figure out if Andrew Miller is pitching as badly as he seems to be. I know that the Arenado error led to a run behind Miller, but didn't he put two on and allow a double steal (he and Posey)? How did he look?
I missed that part, sorry.
 

jon abbey

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An inning or two behind but Stanton just hit one about four trillion feet to put the US up 4-2 in the 4th.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Adam Jones just robbed Manny Machado of a HR to RCF. Machado was well on his way to pulling a Miguel Cairo too.

And now Cano with a bomb to left. 4-3, bottom of the 7th.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Yeah, they showed the replay coming back from the pitching change break. Yelich hit the wall as he was leaping and screwed up his timing. Either way, the US is lucky to still be ahead.
 

Stanley Steamer

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Getting to the nitty gritty here, and it feels like playoff baseball. Adam Jones saves a home run off Machado's bat, then Cano hits one next AB.
Dyson gets two quick outs, and it's USA 4-3, heading to the 8th.

Edit- Whoops! It felt slow.
 

jon abbey

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That Adam Jones catch was sick.

So can the US bring in their first stringers like Kershaw and Trout now? I read that over the last three seasons, ten different players have won MVPs or Cy Youngs, all could play for the US and none are.
 

Average Reds

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The woman with the blond hair was obscured in the first photo, but she is absolutely priceless in the second. And as you mention, that's only one of about 10 great expressions captured there.
 

Merkle's Boner

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Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I wonder if the USA wins whether that leads to more of the big names wanting in next time around. The atmosphere is incredible and I would bet many of these guys will call this a highlight of their career.
 

Orel Miraculous

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I have always been critical of Team USA's apathy towards the WBC. I think it's the height of arrogance for America to continually dismiss this event as "an exhibition nobody cares about" when most evidence shows that, in fact, the rest of the baseball world cares about it very, very much.

Having said that, I think some of the teeth-gnashing about the quality of Team USA's roster is misplaced. There's no question that the starting pitching is considerably weaker than it could be, but as far as the lineup is concerned, it's pretty close to the best that the country has to offer. Over the last three years, Posey, Arenado, and Goldschmidt have probably been the best American players at their respective positions. Though he's only had one great year, Murphy now has a strong argument for being the best second baseman as well (and that argument would have to include Kinsler, too). In the outfield, McCutchen and Stanton can certainly stake a claim as being amongst the elite, though both currently have something to prove (a possible sharp decline for the former, and health for the latter). You could argue that Donaldson belongs on the team, but I think the only really glaring absences are Trout and Seager (and with respect to SS, Crawford is very clearly the best defensive American SS, and probably number 2 overall behind Seager).

And hell, the pitching isn't that bad. Roark was the fifth best American pitcher by WAR last year, and Miller may very well be the single best reliever in baseball.
 

Merkle's Boner

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I have always been critical of Team USA's apathy towards the WBC. I think it's the height of arrogance for America to continually dismiss this event as "an exhibition nobody cares about" when most evidence shows that, in fact, the rest of the baseball world cares about it very, very much.

Having said that, I think some of the teeth-gnashing about the quality of Team USA's roster is misplaced. There's no question that the starting pitching is considerably weaker than it could be, but as far as the lineup is concerned, it's pretty close to the best that the country has to offer. Over the last three years, Posey, Arenado, and Goldschmidt have probably been the best American players at their respective positions. Though he's only had one great year, Murphy now has a strong argument for being the best second baseman as well (and that argument would have to include Kinsler, too). In the outfield, McCutchen and Stanton can certainly stake a claim as being amongst the elite, though both currently have something to prove (a possible sharp decline for the former, and health for the latter). You could argue that Donaldson belongs on the team, but I think the only really glaring absences are Trout and Seager (and with respect to SS, Crawford is very clearly the best defensive American SS, and probably number 2 overall behind Seager).

And hell, the pitching isn't that bad. Roark was the fifth best American pitcher by WAR last year, and Miller may very well be the single best reliever in baseball.
You're leaving out a certain part-time bowler/RF.
 

Rasputin

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Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I wonder if the USA wins whether that leads to more of the big names wanting in next time around. The atmosphere is incredible and I would bet many of these guys will call this a highlight of their career.
That's at least 30% of the reason I'm rooting for the US team.
 

Orel Miraculous

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You're leaving out a certain part-time bowler/RF.
Yeah, you can put Betts in there on the same level as Donaldson. My overall point, though, is that with clear exceptions of Crawford and Jones, you can make an argument that Team USA has the best American player at each position (or one of the top 3, in the case of the outfield). That argument is stronger for some positions than others (e.g. Posey at catcher vs. Stanton in the OF), but I think that only in the case of SS and one of the OF positions can it not be made at all.
 

Orel Miraculous

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Btw, it looks like Didi is out for the rest of the tournament with an injury. This is a huge blow for the Netherlands, as he flashed some real power in the first two rounds, and Xander really hasn't been hitting yet.
 

Awesome Fossum

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The 2017 edition has already broken the attendance record, says MLB.com:

The '17 Classic has already drawn 976,828 fans, surpassing the previous tournament attendance record of 885,212, set in 2013. That is a 24 percent increase from 2013 through two rounds, with three games still to be played.

The 2017 second round drew 354,977, making it the most-attended second round in the tournament's history. The Tokyo pool drew a total of 209,072, breaking the record for the most-attended pool in tournament history. Saturday's game between the U.S. and Dominican Republic in San Diego drew a sold-out crowd of 43,002 to Petco Park, marking the largest attendance for a World Baseball Classic second-round game held in the U.S.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/220103566/world-baseball-classic-sets-attendance-record/
 

Oppo

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One of my favorite things about the US team is Yelich showing the world he's a legitimate young star. One of those guys that isn't great at one thing, but very good at everything. Seems like a well liked, down to earth kid, too.
 

Merkle's Boner

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Wow! Yadi Molina just picked two guy off to turn what could have been a huge first inning for the Dutch into maybe nothing.
 

Oppo

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Man, exciting first inning. Single, HBP, pick off, single and pickoff, bomb.
 

Tokyo Sox

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Coco! Yakult Swallows LF (and Japan single-season HR record holder) Balentien continues his incredibly hot tournament, with a huge 2-run bomb in the 1st. Wow.
 

InsideTheParker

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Some people think the WBC is boring. They are stupid.
Tie game now on Correa two run HR that drives in Lindor, who had doubled.
 
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