The game was played on US soil but too team USA, it musta felt like they were somewhere in the Dominican Republic. Too most Americans the WBC tournament does not mean nearly as much as it does to the rest of the teams in this tournament, especially the Dominicans who sleep, eat, and dream baseball 24/7.
Baseball is part of what is is to be Dominican, but to the Americans, who invented the game, it's not nearly as important.
You see when it comes to sports in the Dominican Republic baseball is KING, in our minds we are the best in the world, and for now, no one can take that away from us because we are the best "per capita", it's in our veins.
Imagine if the Dominican Republic was as big as the United States?
In America you have too many distractions when it comes to sports alone, in the DR baseball in king and then you some basketball.
When you love the game of baseball as much as Dominican's do it shows. It's shows on the field in the way we play and and celebrate every moment like it was the last game to be played on this earth.
So when these games are being played, Dominicans are going to let you know how good we are, while the Americans, who think they are the best, seem to come into these tournament nonchalant like it's just another game to them and that is why the USA are still looking to win it ALL.
I think it is safe to say that the USA will never have the same love for the game of baseball as we Dominican's do, and that is because we have taken this game of baseball and made it ours, and for now, we own this shit.
Dominicans and baseball just goes together. This is who we are.
Last night team USA were up 5-2 as they entered the 8th inning, they were in control as Andrew Miller came into the game to get outs but not tonight!
Miller 1st a hit Jose Bautista and that got the mostly Dominicans crowd in attendance's to respond and got the Dominican team going, Carlos Santana then got an infield and Nelson Cruz followed with the game winning 3 run blast.
Team USA were left with the terrible lost to now contemplate. Hopefully team USA is able to bounce back tonight and find a way to beat team Canada so that this matchup between the DR and team USA can happen again in this tournament.
So far Israel is the surprise team in the tournament at 4-0, and I say don't sleep on the Puerto Ricans as PR comes into this tournament with their best assembled team.
8 comments:
Well, like I said during that game. I can't understand why American baseball fans aren't into this tournament. These games have been a lot of fun to watch, I've watched every time they've had it and it keeps getting better. Maybe its the lack of media attention or the fact that the US hasn't had much success or that some of the "big" names sit it out. Just think they're missing out on something, hopefully it'll change.
Its hard to compare baseball in DR vs USA, I mean in DR baseball is a way of life, its ingrained into the culture and here its just not or at least not anymore. One thing I enjoyed was listening to what the US players and media were saying after the game on Saturday, that they've never heard a crowd that loud and how much fun it was to play in that environment.
So getting to this year's event, a few surprises thus far, the play of team Israel although they came crashing back to earth today with the mercy rule loss, how well the Columbians played in their first go around but to me the biggest is how bad the Venezuelans have looked, but they can make up for it with a win tonight to advance.
Looking forward to an exciting week of games in San Diego. DR vs. PR, PR vs USA. Should be fun.
I understand why Americans can't get into the WBC as much as the rest of counties do. Remember that Americans don't even follow the game with the interest that they did some 20 years ago, It may be more popular worldwide but state wise it is not the same as it was when we were growing up, other factors is the internet and the fact that sports like the NBA and the NFL have kind of surpass MLB when it comes to popularity in the American sports world.
Well, the thing is baseball in the USA has become a regional sport, very few teams can move the needle from coast to coast really its only the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs and maybe you can throw the Dodgers into that mix but other than those teams thats about it.
Back to our subject. It all comes down to 1 game. I really didn't want it to come to this because I wanted both USA and DR to advance so they could possibly meet in the championship game which would have been the most epic storyline but the Puerto Ricans had other plans. PR has been playing the most consistent ball of the tournament, I'm guessing Japan, as they usually do, has been playing well but I haven't seen any of their games yet. On to tonight's game: DR will throw Ervin Santana while the US will counter with Danny Duffy. These 2 teams met in a classic matchup last week in Miami, the US had the Dominicans on the ropes but then imploded and the DR was able to storm back for the victory. The Dominican bats have been quiet of late, only scoring 4 runs in the last 2 games so they'll really need their hitters to come through. The US will be looking for revenge for last week's loss and will be looking to get their first win over DR in WBC play and I can't see the US blowing another big lead this time around so it'll be key for the DR to jump off to a quick lead and turn the game over to their dominant bullpen. For the US the key is to get to Santana early and force Tony Pena to turn to his pen early and max those guys out. A lot of intriguing storylines for this game. How will the US bounce back after last night's tough loss, will Arenando redeem himself after that costly error, can Adam Jones keep putting the team on his back, will we see the dominant Andrew Miller we've seen the last couple of years, will the 3rd time finally be the charm for the Americans vs the DR? For the DR will the bats explode, can their bullpen remain dominant as they have. Win or go home...should be a run game with a crazy crowd, the whole baseball world will be watching. I can't wait.
Forgot to mention that the winner of the US-DR game will face Japan on Tuesday night. PR will play Netherlands on Monday and the winners face off on Wednesday night for the championship.
Yea suck that it wont be the US and the DR both advancing, so what happens if DR loses today will that be it? I don't like these round robins because sometimes it is hard to tell the outcome, " just look at what happened to Mexico". Anyways hopefully E. Santana will pitch tonight and the DR will meet up with the rest of field in LA and beat Japan.
Yup...its win or go home, nothing more nothing less.
That game between PR and the NED was a classic. Molina's defense and throws cutting down runners in this game was vintage Molina. To bad Didi Gregorious got injured and was not able to play but I gotta say the Ned's have come a long way, that team had a lot of major league talent.
USA better take care of Japan tonight.
Great tournament this year...yeah its crazy to see how these teams have grown like the Netherlands and I think you'll see it grow even more in the coming years. The semi's were great with 2 close games, unfortunately the finals didn't live up to the hype with the US steamrolling Puerto Rico. I had a feeling when this started that the US would win it, I just liked the make up of that team and they had a bit of a chip on their shoulder. I think them hearing that the best players aren't playing for Team USA got to them and they played with something to prove. Not having Trout, Harper, etc turned out to be a good thing for this team. I still will say that the dream final match up for MLB would have been US vs. DR, no disrespect to PR but that team doesn't have the juice that the DR team has. Oh well, maybe for the next one. Speaking of which, would like to see a couple of things changed but mainly they can't have these big games start so late. I'm ok with it because I'm on the west coast but for east coast people it makes it almost impossible for them to stay up to watch these big games. The other thing is scheduling, in a perfect world I would love to see them skip the all star game and play this tournament in July but logistically it would probably be impossible but I'm sure they'll tinker more with it to make it better. Good tournament again and the DR remains as the only team to run the table. Can't wait for the next one.
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