The World Baseball Classic 2009 thread

[sublight]

The whole office is crowded around the TV. No work getting done this morning!

[sublight]

Augh! Korea ties it up with two outs in the ninth!

Darvish manages to strike out the last guy, but we're going to extra innings.

This is how a championship should end.

[beebs]

I'm sitting at home in Boston... and I can't... stop... watching.

[sublight]

WOOOOOOOO!!!!

[sublight]

Holy cow, that was a hell of an ending. Ichiro finally came through with that 2-run double, and Darvish got into his stride against the last three.

Good game, and good tournament everyone.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

...

I recently read an interesting comparison with England and soccer. Being the birthplace of the sport, it was initially inconceivable that any other country could be better than them at it. International competition wasn't even considered worthwhile (they didn't attend the first three World Cup tournaments, IIRC, though they certainly would have qualified). Eventually, it hit home that the center of power had shifted elsewhere, and even giving 100% wouldn't mean making the final, let alone a guaranteed walk to the Cup. The parallel with the US and MLB gets more interesting when you consider that the professional league in England is still considered one of the world's best, and one that players from around the world aspire to be a part of. But it's become the stage for the world's best, rather than England's best: even with the strength of their clubs and a rabid fan base, the national team hasn't won the World Cup in over 40 years.

Time will tell if the US follows the same path.

I admit to knowing diddly-squat about soccer but I agree the comparison is interesting.

It has also been suggested that the MLB emphasis on big money contracts for power hitters develops that aspect of the game, whereas the teams that have been succesful in this tournament (Japan, Korea) place more of an emphasis on fundamentals, especially defense, baserunning, and contact hitting. When you are staring elimination in the face almost every night it helps to have your entire team structured around something other than some big lug, who can't run or catch the ball, being able to smack a three-run homer.

Anyway congratulations to Japan, I couldn't watch the game because it was past my bedtime.