Results tagged ‘ Jason Bay ’
Two weeks in a day
What we learned last week:
- Pudge is back. Or he never left. Whichever.
- The Red Sox love them some Jon Lester, to the tune of five years and about $30 million. Jason Bay? It’s a severe case of like, just not love yet. At least not the green kind.
- You can take the news out of A-Rod, but you can’t take A-Rod out of the news.
- You can’t throw behind a Dutch player without having a guy named Van Driel come to the mound the next inning. Seriously, is that a great name for an intimidating reliever or what? Berry Van Driel. The Driller. He didn’t, though.
- Randy Johnson has it in him to utter the line of the spring so far, courtesy of the Tim Lincecum “clone” television ad: “He should put a towel on.”
What we will learn next week:
- How many times Manny and hammy can be used in a headline, except we’ll stop counting after 1,000.
- The identity of the Final Four. No, not by looking at your NCAA bracket — well, especially yours. Talking about the teams going to L.A. for the World Baseball Classic finale.
- Just how American this pastime is, perhaps.
- Hopefully, a cure for the “dead arm phase” of Spring Training. Operators are standing by now.
- We’re gonna miss having Nederland around, doggone it.
A world of ball — Classic
Ichiro, Papi and Jeter. Bay, Morneau and Peavy.
See you in St. Louis for the All-Star Game?
Well, probably. But, first, see you in San Juan for the World Baseball Classic. And Toronto, Mexico City and Tokyo. And then Miami and San Diego.
Then, finally, in Los Angeles, at venerable Dodger Stadium for the finals.
Baseball’s round-the-world journey of a tourney is about to begin, and the stars are shifting their springs around to play for their countries. The rosters were set Tuesday, and the first games are about a week away.
Can it top 2006? Absolutely not. There’s no way to recapture the newness, the freshness and, for most everyone, the surprising degree of entertainment and competition. From the fundamentals and fire of the Cubans to the wave of Korean fans in Anaheim to Aki’s celebratory shout in San Diego, it was an amazing spectacle — and considering Team USA didn’t exactly set the world on its ear, that’s saying something.
But the 2009 Classic will be something to watch. WBC 2.0 is just brimming with possibilities, starting with possible redemption for the U.S. But what’s cool is that there is a world of possibilities, starting with defending champ Japan’s chances of repeating.
How much has Cuba’s team changed? You know it still has a battery of Pedro Lazo and Ariel Pestano that can stack up with anybody, and a ton of talent throughout. How much better are the teams on the lower end of the totem pole, like South Africa and Australia? And how about China?
Ah, more ball to discuss. More teams, more players to watch in a different setting. It’s the World Baseball Classic again, and it’s a good thing.
What’s not to like?
Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Ichiro, sumo
in the sun, just watch him hit!
Some kind of freak, dude
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