WBC Rd#2 IGT: Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic

[Willets Point]

That Day-O that's so annoying at Yankee Stadium actually seems to make sense with two Carribean national teams involved.

Puerto Rico up 4-1 in the top of the 7th.

[metirish]

Beltran is having a fine WBC, I wish the announcers would stop talking about how great this rivalry is, I mean they have talked about it all game, and Soriano is showing what a terrible glove he has.

[Frayed Knot]

Beltran's stinging the ball, even his outs are mostly hard.

Of course the other Carlos hasn't seen the light of day yet but that's another story.

[Willets Point]

Which rivalry - PR vs. DR? I have the game on my computer but I'm also trying to balance my checkbook so I'm not really paying attention to the announcers.

[Willets Point]

You have to admit that the fans are really into this. It's pretty awesome to see.

[metirish]

Yeah Willets the rivalry between these two, it's not that they just mentioned it twice or even ten times it's about four times an inning, still a good game and it beats watching spring training games, and kinda cool to hear Gary Thorne doing a game.

yeah the fans are great.

[Willets Point]

Puerto Rico up 7-1 now. I'd say this is an upset. That is I'd expect if one team were to pound the other I'd wager on the Dominicans, but a close game would be more expected.

[metirish]

Yeah, some terrible defence by DR.

[metirish]

Damn that was a great throw by Ledee, probably not a great play by Alou but he got tagged.

[Willets Point]

Bad base running too. Moises Alou out trying to stretch a single into a double.

[Guest vtmet]

metirish wrote: Yeah, some terrible defence by DR.

Yet, many Mets fans would love to see Soriano playing 2nd for the Mets...he's no better defensively than Kaz...

Beltran and Javy Lopez look pretty good...

[metirish]

I used to be one of those Mets fans that wanted Soriano, but I have soured on him since he went to the Nats, terrible attitude which he probably always had.

[Willets Point]

Looking at the rosters, Puerto Rico is the most Metly team in the WBC. So those of you who can't root for the USA because of Yankees-Clemens-Larry cooties might want to adopt Puerto Rico as your team.

[Willets Point]

Puerto Rico 7-1 is the final. Metirish is right on the nose about how irritating it is when the announcers go on about the rivalry. Wish he had not brought my attention to it.

[metirish]

Well sorry, I have a thing for announcers though, watching Mexico V Korea now and my least favourite announcer is on, Rick fucking Sutcliffe...Rick just annoys me like no other announcer that I hear on a regular basis.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Too much rides on one game in these things, huh?

[Willets Point]

Eh, such is life. And the Dominican Republic can win the next two games and advance and Puerto Rico could lose two and go (stay) home.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I've hitched my wagon to Puerto Rico. The Metliness is part of it, but it's mostly because I'm inclined to want one of the Caribbean/Latin American teams to win, and because I've been to Puerto Rico (and liked it) but not to any of the other places.

So go Puerto Rico!

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: Too much rides on one game in these things, huh?

As it does - as it has to - in any shortened tournament.
That's like saying that "too much" rides on one game in the upcoming Hoops tourney?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I don't have a problem with the "too much." If anything, my beef would be with the tie-breakers. The first tie-breaker, the head-to-head, makes complete sense. But when you get into number of runs scored, it can change the way you play the game. We've never seen a game where a team needs to score six runs, for example, even when they're shutting out the other team. And with earned runs in the mix, a decision by an official scorer can actually end up determining which team advances and which gets left behind.

[Willets Point]

Goal differential seems to work well in World Cup soccer, I don't see why run differential wouldn't work for the WBC.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Willets Point wrote: Goal differential seems to work well in World Cup soccer, I don't see why run differential wouldn't work for the WBC.

That's essentially what they're doing with the RA--the bizarre part is that they don't take into account performance against non-tied teams.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Well, in soccer you're always playing for one goal at a time. But in baseball there are times when you go for a big inning, and some times when you try to scratch for the one run that you need. These rules can cause you to go for big runs when you really only need one. It can add an artificial dimension to the game.

Not a big deal, but a weird side-effect.

[Frayed Knot]

Willets Point wrote: Goal differential seems to work well in World Cup soccer, I don't see why run differential wouldn't work for the WBC.

I suspect it's because differential can be affected by running up the score against weak teams. 'RA' isn't.

[MFS62]

Endy Chavez just hit his second two-run homer in two days.
Its 2-0 Venezuela. Edgardo Alfonzo was on base when he hit it.

Later

[Guest Rotblatt]

Fonzie's been en fuego in the WBC.

[Frayed Knot]

Victor Martinez goes Grand Salami on PR's ass to make it 6-0 for Venezuela in the 8th. And steady Jorge Julio's in for Venz so this one's locked up.

Looks like that bracket will be all 1-1 records after today so the winners of the 2 remaining games: PR v Cuba & Venz v DR will advance.

[nymr83]

nice to have venezuela or dominican republic out of the finals if you're usa/japan/korea. i'm rooting for cuba to make it past puerto rico (even though i like pr) because want them eliminated by the americans.