WBC - 1st Round

[Frayed Knot]

Team Israel -- consisting of some players who may or may not have been to Israel at some point in their lives -- is tied with host Korea 1-1 in the 10th in the opening game of this year's tourney.

[Frayed Knot]

And Israel is your surprise 2-1 winner in 10 innings

[Edgy MD]

2016 Met Ty Kelly started at third and batted second for the Maccabeans, and took the collar. The real Metly heroism came when 2016 B-Met and Las Vegan (but currently a free agent) Josh Zeid came on to pitch the last three innings, getting in and out of trouble, giving up a hit and two walks in the first two innings, but putting them down in order in the 10th, striking out the last two.

The host Koreans are somehow trying to win this thing while fielding a Metless roster, and they paid for it.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Jason Marquis went 3 scoreless for Israel. I always feel like he was a Met for like a month. Almost said ex-Met Jason Marquis.

Israel, btw, wore the dark gray, sleeveless roadies. Uggo.

Highlights, story -> http://m.mlb.com/news/article/218142144/israel-tops-korea-in-10-innings-in-wbc-opener/

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: The real Metly heroism came when 2016 B-Met and Las Vegan (but currently a free agent) Josh Zeid came on to pitch the last three innings, getting in and out of trouble, giving up a hit and two walks in the first two innings, but putting them down in order in the 10th, striking out the last two.

The odd story about that outing by Zeid is that there's a 50 pitch ceiling for pitchers in this opening round. They're allowed to pass that limit but, if so, they're not permitted to pitch for the remainder of that round.
Zeid got the 'K' to end the game on pitch #49 meaning that, if Israel should find itself in a must-win game to possibly move on to the next round, Zeid remains eligible to pitch. Whether he would have been yanked had he NOT retired that final batter may go forever unknown.

[ashie62]

This tournament may be worse than the NBA all-star game.

[Frayed Knot]

Ashie62 wrote: This tournament may be worse than the NBA all-star game.

The WBC may be an exhibition tournament with little tradition and not always attended by the best players, but at least, aside from a handful of pitcher restrictions, they're playing real games out there.

The NBA ASG on the other hand, which is a star-driven league where the (24?) best and best-known players in the world are on hand, has somehow managed to turn their mid-season showcase into something that no one wants to watch. Shit ... Michael Wilson, who shills for the NBA more than maybe any writer alive and for years referred to the whole weekend as 'Black Thanksgiving, admits that the game now sucks to the point where he no longer attends. The only thing keeping the NBA ASG from being the worst sporting event on television is the NFL Pro-Bowl.

[Edgy MD]

Izzy breaks out with four runs in the first and is leading 6-0 over Chinese Taipei midway through five. Israel thirdbaseman Ty Kelly is 2-3 with a double and a run scored.

Chin-lung Hu may not be the first guy you think of when you think of "designated hitter." In fact, he may not be in your top 1,000. But there he is, dh-ing and leading off for the Taiwanese, where he is currently 0-for-2.

Israel is taking a more traditional approach to the DH, starting Ike Davis there, and enjoying his two hits in three trips, and his run scored and two RBI.

[Frayed Knot]

Israel now 2-0 after beating Taipei and host Korea falls to 0-2 (good thing they're not scheduled to host 2nd round games) after losing to the Netherlands.

Japan knocks off Cuba to start off 'Pool B' play

[nymr83]

Frayed Knot wrote: Israel now 2-0 after beating Taipei

If you want to know how sloppy WBC play can be, I've never seen this in all the years i've watched MLB - bases loaded up by 5 and Israel drops down a suicide-squeeze attempt... the Pitcher and 1st Baseman both charge the ball but the Catcher picks it up and makes a strong throw to the First Base Bag... where nobody is covering. the 2nd Baseman isn't even in the frame. 3 runs score. [crossout]Batter[/crossout] Bunter to 3rd on the play.

[ashie62]

You would have to pay me to watch this crap, or offer only soccer.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

That's great-- what a conversation starter! Why don't you post some more about how you don't care about this?

As for me, well, give me more 7-foot Nederlander relievers, please. And holy hell, Korea's pretty much done after getting Dutched, no?

[Edgy MD]

Between multiple and redundant posts about not caring about the WBC, and multiple posts about not caring about Tebow, I'm finding it overwhelming how much folks care about what they don't care about.

[Edgy MD]

Bruce Chen: hasn't pitched professionally in two years, can't crack 85 with his fastball, took the mound in what looked like dress shoes, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless against the mighty Cubans.

Unfortunately, he did it for China. Would've been far better if it brought that grizzle on behalf of his native Panama.

[Frayed Knot]

Chen had pitched in previous WBCs for Panama but for some reason decided to cast his lot for China this year, the country of his parents' birth.
He wound up getting pulled before he hit his 50 pitch 1st round limit, but China got rolled by the Cubans 11-6.
Cuban RF Yoelquis Cespedes has 4 hits in Cuba's first two games.


And if you don't want to watch, or even follow, the WBC then don't.
But I missed the part where ST is so exciting that a once every four year wrinkle added to it is so upsetting to folks that they act like they're insulted that it even exists.

[Frayed Knot]

- 1st round play isn't over yet (it hasn't even begun in Pools C & D) but in Pool A, Israel & the Netherlands, on the basis of both being 2-0 with only each other to play, will advance to the 2nd round at the expense of winless Korea and Taipei who will finish 1-2 and 0-3 depending on their remaining head-to-head game.

- a bit odd that they call it team Korea rather than South Korea? I guess in the Olympics they have to distinguish because the North sends a separate (if nominal) team. But I find it interesting that there's no distinction here and that kind of thing doesn't happen for no reason when diplomats and national sports commissions get involved.

- if you're a good sub for Team Israel are you a 'mensch from the bench'?

- do Australian submariner hurlers get described as throwing from 'down under'? I mean, don't ALL Aussie pitchers throw from down under?

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: - if you're a good sub for Team Israel are you a 'mensch from the bench'?

Literally LOL!

Later

[Fman99]

MLB network had live coverage starting at 10 PM last night. I was in bed by then.

[Frayed Knot]

Fman99 wrote: MLB network had live coverage starting at 10 PM last night. I was in bed by then.

Well that's what happens when half the games in this round are being played in east Asia.

Israel jumps out with 3 in the 1st vs Netherlands.
Both teams will move on but the winner of this game will determine seeding in the 2nd round.

[nymr83]

Israel & Netherlands basically advance on the strength of an AWFUL 'pool' designed to give the host country some wins that they couldn't find anyway. Still, I think
Israel was 200-1. If you knew they'd escape the first round wouldn't you have put your $10 down?

[Edgy MD]

That Dutch team seems to be what a Dominican team might have looked like 25 years ago. All shortstops. Andrelton Simmons is (amazingly) DH-ing. Jurickson Profar is in center. Xander Boegarts is at third. The guy actually playing short is Didi Gregorius. I don't know, but among those guys, he might've been my fourth choice.

[G-Fafif]

Mensch on a Bench is totally a thing.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Scoreboard_com/status/838781686217310208/photo/1

So are Ike, Ty and the Israelis, now 3-0.

[nymr83]

G-Fafif wrote: Mensch on a Bench is totally a thing. https://mobile.twitter.com/Scoreboard_com/status/838781686217310208/photo/1 So are Ike, Ty and the Israelis, now 3-0.

the American Jews are 3-0!

how abnormal are the WBC's eligibility rules? i know they are stretching things because there are only a dozen or so countries that legitimately play baseball, but where are other international sports on this? Soccer's international rules allow anyone who establishes residency (but not citizenship) for 5 years to play OR anyone whose grandparent, parent, or self was born there.
that second criteria is both stricter and looser than the WBC's - I'd be eligible to play for Israel in the WBC but not Soccer. Who would FIFA let me play for if one grandparent was born in territory that has variously been part of Russia, Poland, the USSR and Belarus?

[Edgy MD]

One big difference is that FIFA gives you one chance to make a commitment to which team you hope to play for. If you are a German kid whose father emigrated from the United States, you might choose to play for the less competitive US at 19, and if you make it to the top of your peers by the time you are 25, you can't decide to suddenly represent Germany. You are an American for life with FIFA.

With the World Baseball Classic, Bruce Chen can apparently go shopping for a different team each tournament.

[Frayed Knot]

Didn't see any of them but it sounds like there were some fun games last night.

- Australia just missed advancing by losing 4-3 to Cuba. All of Cuba's runs came on a 5th inning Grand Slam. The Aussies scored one in the 7th plus one more in the 8th but couldn't tie it in the 9th.

- Italy scored [u:1sfe1iuk]5 in the 9th[/u:1sfe1iuk], all with no outs, to stun Mexico 10-9 in that pool's opening game.
Starting CF and leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo (Wyoming is, I believe, a suburb of Turin) singled in the tying run after Mexico brought in Ollie Perez to pitch to him.

[Edgy MD]

Here's hoping Nimmo gives Ollie the same treatment a few more times in 2017.

[Frayed Knot]

- Adam Jones is today's All-American hero, singling in the walk-off run in the 10th for the U.S. win over Colombia.

- In a game still going, Seth Lugo started for Puerto Rico and tossed 5-1/3 innings of one-hit ball vs Venezuela before running up against the 1st round pitch-count limit (65).
3-0 in favor of PR in bottom 6th

[bmfc1]

In the WBC, you can have a walk-off HR to win the game 11-0 (because of a "slaughter" rule). That's our TJ Rivera: http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/31426364/v1235174983/venpur-rivera-enacts-mercy-rule-with-gameending-hr

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

If you want hope for the future of the WBC, my 9-year-old is totally obsessed with these games. Or maybe he's just jonesing for baseball.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Also, Marlins Man has grown a beard.