WBC Games - Saturday (partial)

Thoughts on some of today's games. I watched as many as I could tonight, usually fast forwarding until there were runners in scoring position. I'll catch up with the remainder tomorrow--today is probably the largest number of games I get to see and record on Dish, so keeping up will be easier in the future. My picks from my bracket are indicated by an asterisk.

China(*) over Taiwan, 4-1

Ray Chang put on a show. Maybe he's not much of a prospect, but it was a neat story and made the losers' game worth watching. It's also a mild upset, and made me one for one since posting my bracket. :)

Japan(*) over Korea, 14-2

Lee's homer in the first inning off of Dice-K made it seem like it might be interesting. Then the second inning happened. After that, the game was mostly just about waiting for the mercy rule to kick in. I picked Korea to win their next match-up, and I hope I don't regret that.

Netherlands over Dominican Republic(*), 3-2

So at what point did you start to think that the Dominican Republic could lose this game? I think it was after they failed to score in the 7th that I started to realize it was a real possibility. Given that I picked the Dominican to win it all, this could potentially be a problem for my bracket. They'll be back...they just can't lose again.

Anyway, it wasn't the start I was hoping to see by Volquez, but it's not like they were slugging the ball all over the place either--infield hits, errors, a blockable wild pitch, etc. I also have to wonder, assuming the Dominican Republic stays in this, whether Reyes will play some 2B over Cano. I'd sure rather have Reyes and Ramirez over Cano and Ramirez or Cano and Reyes. And Reyes has played there before. I aso cannot fathom why ESPN insists on sending Gary Thorne to do games in Puerto Rico. It's Ta-VER-as, not Ta-VAR-ES. But his lack of understanding of the Spanish language is an old issue...

I pick Canada(*) over the USA

I chose Canada to win this game as a salute to their victory over the USA in the last WBC. And, of course, because they've got Joey Votto. It's about midnight, so it's time to go to bed. Currently, by my DVR, it's a tie game after the bottom of the 2nd. Please, no spoilers. :)