Around the world in sixteen teams
So I promised myself I wasn’t going to care about the World Baseball Classic, but, as usual, I’m a damn liar. I couldn’t resist cheering on Team USA as we beat the late Team Canada to a bloody, lifeless pulp, and then again as we defeated the forces of international villainy with our 15-6 win over Hugo Chávez’ Team Venezuela. But I won’t lie: the big draw for me has been watching the incredible antics of Team Netherlands, the unstoppable defensive superpowers that eliminated the mighty Dominican Republic to earn themselves a berth in the second round. No less a personage than Dominican manager Felipe Alou, who has certainly been around the baseball block once or twice, said of the Netherlands that "they played practically perfect baseball," which is quite a compliment given the fact that Team Netherlands is made up of Sidney Ponson and a bunch of amateur Dutch kids.
So, yeah, I got sucked into the WBC after all. Sue me.
That’s SIR Sidney to you, plebeian.
Comment by Dave | 15 March 2009