World Baseball Classic

[Rguess21]

Pool A Pool B
China Canada
Chinese Taipei Mexico
Japan South Africa
Korea United States

Pool C Pool D
Cuba Australia
Netherlands Dominican Republic
Panama Italy
Puerto Rico Venezuela

Treasury Department allows Cuba into WBC
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2299485

NEW YORK -- The Bush administration is letting Cuba play ball.

The Cubans will be allowed to participate in the inaugural World Baseball Classic after the U.S. government reversed course Friday and issued the special license necessary for the communist nation to play in the 16-team tournament.

Major League Baseball's first application was denied in mid-December by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, but the commissioner's office and the players' association reapplied Dec. 22 after Cuba said it would donate any profits it receives to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"The president wanted to see it resolved in a positive way," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Our concerns were centered on making sure that no money was going to the Castro regime and that the World Baseball Classic would not be misused by the regime for spying. We believe the concerns have been addressed."

The license was required by 45-year-old American sanctions against Cuba designed to prevent Fidel Castro's government from receiving U.S. currency. At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said the initial rejection was based on concerns Cuban spies might accompany the team.

"Working closely with World Baseball Classic Inc. and the State Department, we were able to reach a licensable agreement that upholds both the legal scope and the spirit of the sanctions," Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said. "This agreement ensures that no funding will make its way into the hands of the Castro regime."

[Spotter]

You got a bet working on this Rguess?

[Rguess21]

Coming attractions, runs March 3-20.

[Spotter]

Kew:thumbsup:

[Rguess21]

Early odds-stated as return on putting up $1. For ex. USA is 3/2, Japan is 10/1.

Dominican Republic 2.10
United States 2.50
Venezuela 11.00
Japan 11.00
Puerto Rico 13.00
Cuba 21.00
Chinese Taipei 26.00
Korea 34.00
Mexico 51.00
Panama 67.00
Canada 67.00
Netherlands 101.00
Australia 101.00
South Africa 151.00
Italy 151.00
China 151.00

[Rguess21]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2290235

Updated: Feb. 14, 2006, 6:18 PM ET
Schedule of gamesESPN.com

Round 1

Pool A: Tokyo, Japan
Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium
Fri. March 3 11:30 a.m. 9:30 p.m. (Thur.) Korea vs. Chinese Taipei Tokyo Dome
Fri. March 3 6:30 p.m. 4:30 a.m. Japan vs. China Tokyo Dome
Sat. March 4 11:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m. (Fri.) Korea vs. China Tokyo Dome
Sat. March 4 6:00 p.m. 4:00 a.m. Japan vs. Chinese Taipei Tokyo Dome
Sun. March 5 11:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m. (Sat.) Chinese Taipei vs. China Tokyo Dome
Sun. March 5 6:00 p.m. 4:00 a.m. Japan vs. Korea Tokyo Dome

Pool B: Phoenix, Arizona
Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium
Tue. March 7 2:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. USA vs. Mexico Chase Field
Tue. March 7 7:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. Canada vs. South Africa Scottsdale Stadium
Wed. March 8 2:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. USA vs. Canada Chase Field
Wed. March 8 7:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m. Mexico vs. South Africa Scottsdale Stadium
Thu. March 9 6:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Canada vs. Mexico Chase Field
Fri. March 10 1:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. USA vs. South Africa Scottsdale Stadium

Pool C: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium
Tue. March 7 8:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Puerto Rico vs. Panama Hiram Bithorn
Wed. March 8 2:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. Cuba vs. Panama Hiram Bithorn
Wed. March 8 8:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. Puerto Rico vs. Netherlands Hiram Bithorn
Thu. March 9 8:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Cuba vs. Netherlands Hiram Bithorn
Fri. March 10 2:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. Panama vs. Netherlands Hiram Bithorn
Fri. March 10 8:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. Puerto Rico vs. Cuba Hiram Bithorn

Pool D: Orlando, Florida
Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium
Tue. March 7 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. D.R.* vs. Venezuela Disney Wide World of Sports
Tue. March 7 8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Australia vs. Italy Disney Wide World of Sports
Wed. March 8 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Venezuela vs. Italy Disney Wide World of Sports
Thu. March 9 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m D.R.* vs. Italy Disney Wide World of Sports
Thu. March 9 8:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m Venezuela vs. Australia Disney Wide World of Sports
Fri. March 10 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. D.R.* vs. Australia Disney Wide World of Sports

Round 2 in Anaheim, CA, & San Juan, P.R., March 12-15
Final 4 in San Diego, CA, March 18-20

[Rguess21]

Rosters
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2291416

TV schedule, rule variations
http://espn.go.com/wbc/

[Rguess21]

And the real world's baseball classic, Abbott & Costello's "Who's on first?" (with audio link.)
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor4.shtml

[Rguess21]

Korea & Japan advance, China & Chinese Taipei eliminated.

http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/worldbaseballclassic/recap?date=20060305&key=WBBCJAPANKOREA&gameNum=0

TOKYO (Ticker) - Seung-Yeop Lee's power did not disappear
against a tougher opponent.

Lee smacked a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning as
Korea edged rival Japan, 3-2, to win Pool A of the World
Baseball Classic.

[Rguess21]

Anybody take the canucks at 66-1?:(

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060308&content_id=1340699&vkey=wbc_news&fext=.jsp&sid=wbc

Canada holds off rallying Team USA

PHOENIX -- Less than 24 hours after nearly falling to an unheralded South Africa team, Canada made some serious waves in the World Baseball Classic's Pool B by beating Team USA, 8-6, on Wednesday afternoon at Chase Field.

Canada (2-0) will clinch a berth into the second round of the Classic if Mexico loses to South Africa on Wednesday night. It also will secure a spot with a win against Mexico on Thursday.

If, on the other hand, Mexico beats South Africa and Canada, then you'll need a calculator to figure out who advances. Canada can move on with a loss to Mexico, but only if it allows one or two runs in that loss. If Canada allows three or more runs to Mexico, Team USA and Mexico will advance based on the tiebreaker of runs allowed, and Canada would be the odd team out.

[Spotter]

Now if we were in Germany, I'd have to make your bed. But since we are in Italy, you have to make my bed.

[Rguess21]

Favorites Advance-Round 2 matchups

Pool 1: Anaheim, California

Date Local Time ET Matchup (Away vs Home)
12 Mar 1:00pm 4:00pm Japan vs United States Angel Stadium
12 Mar 8:00pm 11:00pm Mexico vs Korea Angel Stadium
13 Mar 7:00pm 10:00pm United States vs Korea
14 Mar 4:00pm 7:00pm Japan vs Mexico Angel
15 Mar 7:00pm 10:00pm Korea vs Japan
16 Mar 4:30pm 7:30pm United States vs Mexico


Pool 2: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Date Local Time ET Matchup (Away vs Home)
12 Mar 2:00pm 1:00pm Cuba vs Venezuela
12 Mar 9:00pm 8:00pm Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic
13 Mar 3:00pm 2:00pm Dominican Republic vs Cuba
13 Mar 9:00pm 8:00pm Venezuela vs Puerto Rico
14 Mar 8:00pm 7:00pm Venezuela vs Dominican
15 Mar 8:00pm 7:00pm Cuba vs Puerto Rico

[Rguess21]

Anti-Castro Sign at Ballgame Causes Stir

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5676748,00.html

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - While Cuba played the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying: ``Down with Fidel,'' sparking an international incident that escalated Friday with the velocity of a major league fastball.

The image of the man holding the sign behind home plate was beamed live Thursday night to millions of TV viewers - including those in Cuba. The top Cuban official at the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan rushed to confront the man.

Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official - Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports - to a nearby police station, where they lectured him about free speech.

``We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime,'' police Col. Adalberto Mercado was quoted as saying in El Nuevo Dia, a San Juan daily.

The brouhaha gathered steam Friday when Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma, called the sign-waving ``a cowardly incident.'' Cuba's Revolutionary Sports Movement exhorted Cubans to demonstrate in Havana late Friday, saying U.S. and Puerto Rican authorities were involved in ``the cynical counterrevolutionary provocations.''

An anti-Castro Web site, therealcuba.com, identified the protester only as Enrique, and carried his own account of the incident.

Enrique said that during the warmup before the game, he flashed another sign denouncing Castro - this one saying ``Baseball players yes, Tyrants no'' - to the Cuban leader's son, Tony Castro, who is the Cuban team doctor.

``He looked down and kept walking and I shouted, 'Eso es para tu papa ('That is for your dad').' ... I know he heard that,'' Enrique said, according to the account in the Web site.

[Rguess21]

U.S. no longer envy of baseball world

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5407780

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Time for all those American kids to stop playing video games, not to mention football, basketball and soccer.

If the World Baseball Classic has proven anything, it's that the United States no longer is the pre-eminent baseball power.

True, not all of the best Americans are playing. But even a diluted U.S. team figured to handle Canada or Korea with little difficulty.

Didn't happen.

Team USA lost its second game of the tournament Monday night, falling to Korea, 7-3. If not for a blown umpire's call, the U.S. also might have fallen to Japan the day before.

Back-to-back second-round defeats would have meant near-certain elimination and dropped the U.S. to 2-3 overall, with one of its victories over hapless South Africa.

As it stands, even if the U.S. survives the second round and wins its semifinal matchup, it will face a starting-pitching crisis in the championship game.

National pastime? Once upon a time. No more.

Team USA isn't assured of reaching the final round even if it beats Mexico on Thursday night in possibly the final start of Roger Clemens' career. Japan must lose one of its next two games to guarantee that the U.S. would advance with a victory.

If Japan beats both Mexico and Korea, the U.S. could be eliminated before it even plays Mexico due to the WBC's tie-breaking formula — fewest runs allowed in games between the teams tied.