WBC: USA vs Mexico

[abailey3313]

Originally Posted by sebastian0622

This "U.S." team had Randy Winn, Jeff Francoeur, and Matt Holliday on the roster. Fine players, but not the best the U.S. has to offer. And a handful of very good pitchers and a bunch of pretty good pitchers.

I'm not sure that any other team had the level of non-interest that the U.S. team had.

The U.S. isn't so dominant in baseball and basketball that they can just trot out a half-roster of stars and a half-roster of above-average players and expect to win any more.

I may be the only person in history with affinity for Randy Winn.

And you're right, it wasn't as if we had the best the country had to offer on the field. There's a pretty damn big gap between Matt Holliday and, oh, Barry Bonds?

And aside from that: the rules for this thing are stupid. I thought pitch counts were ridiculous until I read something about the U.S. being able to advance if they only gave up one or two runs (?!). What the hell is that all about?

I realize this is more or less spring training for a lot of these guys and there are millions of dollars invested into a majority of the players on the U.S. roster (and on other rosters, for that matter), but if you're going to institute silly rules, you're going to lead me to view this event, as a fan, as nothing more than an exhibition. And I'm sorry, but I don't care care about an exhibition that features Matt Holliday and Jeff Francoeur at this point in time.

[jgross68]

Originally Posted by abailey3313

I may be the only person in history with affinity for Randy Winn.

I have a strange fixation on him as well. He's that guy I just KNOW is going to break out this year, except "this year" never comes.

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by jgross68

I have a strange fixation on him as well. He's that guy I just KNOW is going to break out this year, except "this year" never comes.

He was actually a stud for the Giants after the deadline last year. Went nuts.

[theasfl]

Originally Posted by abailey3313

And aside from that: the rules for this thing are stupid. I thought pitch counts were ridiculous until I read something about the U.S. being able to advance if they only gave up one or two runs (?!). What the hell is that all about?

I agree the rules need to be reworked, along with spring training...but the US could advance with a 1-0 loss because of the tiebreaker...a tiebreaker used by the IBAF, or whatever 4 letters signify the world baseball organization...I just woke up, and Im not looking it up.