World Baseball Classic Discussion

[sahyder1]

The Netherlands winning proves a couple of things. First, any team with Jose Reyes on it will never win anything, ever. Second, the rest of the WBC field clearly needs to watch out for the Dutch. I don't know how, but they can handle the Dominicans, so they must be doing something right. That, or the Dominicans just didn't take this seriously and deserved to get knocked out early.

That has to be one of the most moronic statements ever made regarding sports on this board.

[TheHurk]

The Netherlands winning proves a couple of things. First, any team with Jose Reyes on it will never win anything, ever. Second, the rest of the WBC field clearly needs to watch out for the Dutch. I don't know how, but they can handle the Dominicans, so they must be doing something right. That, or the Dominicans just didn't take this seriously and deserved to get knocked out early.

That has to be one of the most moronic statements ever made regarding sports on this board.

Do you understand sarcasm? Because I was laying it on pretty thick there.

[EddieG]

I really don't get the format of this tournament

Watching Holland - PR yesterday it said loser gets eliminated..

Than I come in here and see Holland beat DR to go through to the next round.. looking at the WBC website I find out Holland have to play PR again.. what the hell can somebody explain just how this tournament works ?

I don't think I ever saw where it said the loser of the Netherlands/P.R. game was knocked out. It's a double elimination tourney, at least in the first round. The next matchup is to determine the #1 seed coming out of that Pool. The winner of that game faces the loser of the rematch between USA/Venezuela, while the loser gets, more than likely, the USA. I'm not sure I agree with the way the whole thing is being played out, as Korea beat Japan TWICE in the past WBC, but Japan ended up winning the whole thing, but I can't fight it.

It was on ESPN Deportes

[Maxx]

It was incorrect then. You have to lose twice to be knocked out. Going into the game agaisnt PR, the Dutch hadn't lost at all, so losing would not elliminate them. The same day, the Dominicans played Panama, each team had 1 loss so it became an ellimination game. Panama lost, giving them an 0-2 record, knocking them out. That left the Dominicans and Dutch with 1-1 records, so they played each other in an ellimination game. Puerto Rico had a 2-0 record, so they were already in, now they play the Dutch again for seeding in the next round.

I find the final round of the pools to be a little unnecessary, Puerto Rico is 2-0 and should just get the higher seed, same with the US.

Its easy to see how it works if you look at Pool B.

Australia and Cuba are 1-0 and are playing each other right now. Mexico lost its first game to Australia, and then played South Africa, the team that lost to Cuba. South Africa lost that game, had an 0-2 record and was elliminated. The winner of the Cuba/Australia game will have a 2-0 record and will advance, while the loser of the game will go to 1-1 and play Mexico, who is also 1-1, with the winner of that game advancing to the next round as well. The two winners will play each other in the somewhat unnecessary seeding game to determine a pool champion.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Maxx Is Awesome Teammate

[sahyder1]

ESPN puts up an elimination game graphic with the score if one of the team can be eliminated.

[naiwf]

lol, DR.

Getting beaten twice by Holland made me quite happy.

[Maxx]

To be fair, most of the guys on the team have never been to Holland.

[EddieG]

Just out of curiosity.. how many of the Dutch are in the MLB? I only know of one

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

To be fair, most of the guys on the team have never been to Holland.

But most of them are from the Netherlands Antilles, are they not? And since the Antilles are still essentially a Dutch colony, it's not nearly as much of a farce as, say, the Italian team.

[naiwf]

To be fair, most of the guys on the team have never been to Holland.

That may be true, but the DR team is full of All-Star level talent in the big leagues. That's like a collegiate AS team losing to a pee wee league squad.

[rocksta]

Just out of curiosity.. how many of the Dutch are in the MLB? I only know of one

2

[EddieG]

Which ones? lol And who they playing for?

[Maxx]

Yes, but for the DR, its not nearly as big of an embarassament as it would have been had they gotten beaten by a team of people actually from Holland. That'd be horrible.

I'm pretty sure its 2 people on the Dutch team are considered MLB talent and IIRC neither has a team. One is Sidney Ponson.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Maxx Is Awesome Teammate

[EddieG]

Turns out Vanden Hurk plays for the Marlins and has since his debut in 2007.. where as Ponson got released last year by the Yankees and been on the FA list ever since

Okay.. checking out Wiki

Van Den Hurk - Florida

Juan Carlos Sulbaran - Cincinatti

Yurendell de Caster - Detroit

Gene Kingsale - Has played for Baltimore, Seattle, San Diego and Detroit

Alexander Smit - Cincinatti

Edited March 11, 2009 by EddieG

[GhostMachine]

Actually, if I remember right, most of those Netherlands players are in the minors. The Domincans' line-up the first game was made up entirely of Major Leaguers. And they brought Pedro in as a middle reliever!

I only watched the first game versus the Domincans, but I'll be damned surprised if a team doesn't grab Cordemans. Why he's not already pitching in the majors is beyond me.

They're probably going to end up eliminated soon, unfortunately; they have to play Puerto Rico and the U.S., if I remember right.

[sahyder1]

Randall Simon played 8 years in the bigs.

[I Love Pokemon]

Tolleson Plays in the minor leagues for The Minnesota Twins as does one other guy but name is drawing a blank.

[MalaCloudy Black]

So Puerto Rico being the Netherlands, and I guess Mexico/Australia is here soon.

[EddieG]

Uh oh this could be fun.. Holland playing Venezuela on Saturday.. and my bird's venezuelan.. o fuck

[MalaCloudy Black]

Geez, Cuba massacred Mexico. 16-4.