By Nando Difino
Nando DiFino provides minute-by-minute analysis as the U.S. rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Puerto Rico 6-5 on Tuesday night in a World Baseball Classic elimination game.
Me, Tom Verducci, and Jeff Passan may be the only ones who fully appreciate this tournament, but the pile-up at the end of the game was just World Series-esque. It means something to the players representing the U.S. Anyone who suggested that the U.S. would get what it deserved by losing this game and being knocked out should consider that this team is comprised of guys who WANTED to play for this team. They didn’t turn down invites and some are missing positional battles to be here. How awesome is it to see (or, in this case read) the team come together and play hard for the win? I hope this game establishes the WBC as a legitimate and fun tournament. As long as it was–just shy of four hours–and as tedious as it might have been to watch the pick-off attempts and high pitch counts, it really was a great game, and any American who didn’t get up and scream to anyone listening that “USA WINS!” just cannot be a baseball fan.
Reuters Team USA’s David Wright celebrates his game-winning two-run single in Tuesday night’s 6-5 victory over Puerto Rico in a World Baseball Classic elimination game. At right is Puerto Rico pitcher Fernando Cabrera.
If it rains Wednesday, a coin flip will decide who the U.S. and Venezuela play in the final round. If it’s clear, we have a stellar U.S.-Venezuela matchup. Either way, Tuesday night was truly a step forward in legitimizing the World Baseball Classic in America.
11:02: David Wright hits a ball to right field. It drops inside the foul line! Two men score! USA wins! USA wins! David Wright is the hero!
11:00: Youkilis, who was made famous in Michael Lewis’ “Moneyball” as “the Greek god of walks” is, naturally, walked…with the bases loaded. It’s 5-4 Puerto Rico and David Wright is up with the bases loaded. Curtis Granderson–who pinch-ran for Adam Dunn–is on deck.
10:59: Just FYI–David Wright waits on deck. Youkilis takes a huge cut and misses.
10:55: Rollins takes ball four. The bases are loaded for Youkilis. Yankees fans who live in America are torn: Do they cheer for Youkilis, or remain true to their Red Sox-hating instincts and hope for failure? I say cheer. It’s good for the soul.
Romero is out and Fernando Cabrera is in. Live bloggers living in America with the name “Nando” are torn: Do we cheer for the guy with kind of the same name as me, or root for the home country?
10:52: Roberts steals second base, this time against Yadier Molina, who came in as a defensive substitution for Geovany Soto. The shot of the Team USA dugout is great. They’re all up, they’re all into the game. Romero goes to 3-2 on Rollins, so let the inner 5-year-old come out now. 3-and-2, bottom of the ninth inning, down two runs with two men on and Rollins…fouls it off his foot.
10:50: Jeter flies out to right but sends Victorino to third on the tag. One out, runners on the corners, and Romero is facing another teammate in Jimmy Rollins. So, naturally, he checks Roberts at first. Rollins looks incredibly focused and serious, but every time they zoom in on his face, all I can see is the Dick’s commercial and I want to laugh.
10:45: It’s now 2-2 to Roberts. Romero is apparently in concert with Broxton to extend this game as long as possible by throwing to first a few times and working the count. Roberts singles to center! Derek Jeter comes to the plate, representing the winning run.
10:41: Shane Victorino leads off against his Phillies teammate, Romero, and singles to right through the hole between first and second base. I am obligated contractually to say that “the tying run is at the plate.” Brian Roberts is up, Jeter is on deck, and Rollins is in the hole.
10:38: Feliciano lines out to left and Lopez singles, giving Puerto Rico men on first and second. Our little game is now three and a half hours old and Broxton continues to nibble at the corners just to, it seems, spite those of us who want to squeeze a couple hours out at a bar for St. Patrick’s Day after this game. We have a fly out to right by Aviles! Bottom of the ninth, here we come!
10:27: Soto grounds out to third and Rios is held at second, bringing up the Rangers’ Ramon Vazquez, who grounds up the middle. Jeter dives and gets his glove on it, but the ball dribbles under him and Rios scores, making it 5-3 Puerto Rico. Man on first, one out, and Jesus Feliciano will pinch-hit for Hiram Bocachica.
10:24: The Dodgers’ Jonathan Broxton is in to pitch for the U.S. and walks Alex Rios. On the bright side, he didn’t hit him, as we were due for one of those. Vasgersian just noted that the “refreshing pauses” in the booth are because Reynolds is headed to the field for postgame interviews. Rios, meanwhile steals second, making Puerto Rico 1-for-3 in stolen bases tonight.
10:19: Vasgersian just brought up Romero’s MLB 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs as he strikes out McCann, noting that the suspension does not apply to the WBC. We are going to the ninth inning with Puerto Rico ahead 4-3! I can’t see how this game could not be good for the WBC’s image, as an elimination game is coming down to the bottom of the ninth and Derek Jeter is scheduled to be the third batter.
10:17: DeRosa grounds out to third but advances Granderson to second, and Puerto Rico is bringing in reliever J.C. Romero. At this break, I’d like to point out that anyone who couldn’t watch the game on TV was spared from some fan in the stands blowing a whistle constantly, from start to finish. Even Vasgersian commented on how annoying it was.
10:07: David Wright gets on to start the eighth inning, bringing up Dunn, who has struck out twice already tonight, but has done so looking both times. Dunn rips one to Delgado at first, who gives a clean throw to Aviles at second, but Aviles’s throw pulls Delgado off the bag with his throw and Dunn is safe. Curtis Granderson enters the game as a pinch-runner for Dunn. This is the first substitution for Team U.S.A. outside of pitching. The booth is saying this is the “one and only move” that manager Davey Johnson could make.
10:03: Putz gets Delgado swinging, the Mets clubhouse chemistry in 2009 just took a turn for the worse, and we go to the bottom of the eighth with the heart of the U.S. order due up and the team needing to pick up at least one run in its next six outs.
9:59: J.J. Putz is in, relieving the quick-working Scot Shields (We’re going to miss you and your lack of a second “t” in your first name, Scot). Pudge tries to sneak a grounder between the first and second-base hole, but Brian Roberts makes a great play on the ball, slides to grab it, and makes the out at first. Putz then gets his new Mets teammate Carlos Beltran out on strikes for a quick second out, bringing his OTHER new teammate, Carlos Delgado, up. Seriously, is anyone in the Mets camp? Is it just Jerry Manuel and Ryan Church looking at each other and playing one-on-one games of pepper?
9:52: Enter Saul-man. Washington’s Saul Rivera is in to relieve Feliciano with two out in the bottom of the 7th. He quickly gets ahead 0-2, and Youkilis grounds out to end the inning. We go to the 8th–Puerto Rico is clinging onto a one-run lead in this do-or-die game.
9:50: And here comes the interpreter! The umpires confer and determine that Victorino is allowed third base. Every time they show the reply of the ball being deflected, it gets funnier. Victorino just kind of snuck his back leg out a little bit and the ball caromed off and went in another direction. Feliciano is out of the game, Victorino’s calf is going into the history books next to A-Rod’s slap of Bronson Arroyo’s glove, and we have men on first and third for Kevin Youkilis.
9:48: Rollins flies out to Rios in right. Rios throws it back in, the ball hits Victorino as he stands on second base–replays showed he definitely poked his leg out to deflect it–and Victorino takes third.
9:47: Brian Roberts lays down what Harold Reynolds calls “the perfect bunt” and advances Victorino to second on the sacrifice. Feliciano walks Jeter and men are on first and second with Rollins, Youkilis, and Wright due up. There’s a conference on the mound, and Feliciano is staying in to face Rollins.
9:40: Pedro Feliciano is in to pitch and Shane Victorino gets a hit up the middle. Could we see the U.S. steal number four tonight with the Phillies speedster on first?
9:39: My apologies. That was just the seventh-inning stretch.
9:38: Scot Shields gets a quick 1-2-3 inning to end the top of the seventh, probably the quickest inning of the night so far and a welcome change for a game that slowed down a great deal in the middle innings. The entire stadium stands up to applaud the effort.
9:35: McCann hits another shot deep to centerfield. Beltran doesn’t steal another home run this time, but straddles the warning track. We are going to the seventh inning with the U.S. down by one run and the booth reminding us–in relatively grave terms for the lighthearted telecast so far–that the American depth is severely compromised by the recent rash of injuries. So this should be an interesting three innings.
9:29: Javier Lopez, a Red Sox lefty reliever with a side-arm/submarine delivery, is now pitching for Puerto Rico and strikes out Adam Dunn looking. I had the feeling that they would use him as what is known in baseball nerd-speak as a “LOOGY” (Lefty One-Out Guy) but they’re keeping him in to face DeRosa, batting from the right side. DeRosa grounds out to shortstop and there are two relatively quick outs.
9:25: Bernie grounds out to Youkilis to end the inning. As the camera pans away, some fans get up, and I am pretty sure they were clapping in the direction of Bernie, so I am going to consider this a standing ovation for the 40 year-old, and not just the people in the front rows going for another drink.
9:21: Bernie Williams is going to pinch hit for Andy Gonzalez. The stadium gives a hearty cheer as he starts loosening up with the bat. Naturally, Davey Johnson comes out and pulls Bell, opting to kill that good feeling that everyone just got in their bellies from seeing Bernie Williams–unceremoniously dumped by the Yankees without an official retirement–by bringing in Scot Shields to face the switch-hitting Williams. Bell and Shields are both righties, so the only matchup reason I can think here is that Shields faced Williams just a handful of times in the American League; the booth is not being very helpful here…
9:15: Puerto Rico takes a 4-3 lead on an Alex Rios single to center that scores Pudge, after Bell intentionally walked Carlos Delgado. Runners on first and second and Bell gets Soto swinging for the second out.
9:12: Heath Bell, San Diego’s new closer, is now in for Team U.S.A. He’s wearing number 99, which I should note because…well, it’s awesome. He walks Pudge and Beltran throws down a surprise bunt on a 2-1 pitch that he almost beat out to push Pudge to second.
9:05: Jimmy Rollins steals base number two tonight. The U.S. has three stolen bases against NL Rookie of the Year Geovany Soto. David Wright takes advantage of the runner in scoring position by… lofting a pop into shallow right-center. Inning over and we head into the sixth.
9:02: For a game between two teams of All-Stars, tied 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth, with the loser going home…it’s gotten kind of boring. Lots of pitches thrown, a fair amount of fouling off, a high number of pickoff attempts, and three hit batsmen. I’m thinking it will pick up as we get towards the end of the game, but right now it has gotten a little dull.
8:57: Figueroa hits Jimmy Rollins on the foot after Jeter strikes out. So that is hit batter number three. They’re booing as he goes to first. Or maybe they’re shouting “Yooouuuk” again, as the Boston slugger comes to the plate. Or maybe the initial boos turned to “Yooouuuk”s, like an M.C. Escher painting. I’m going with that.
8:49: A light rain is starting to fall. And I am getting text messages that I am missing one of the all-time best (because-it’s-so-bad) performances on American Idol this year. Meanwhile Matt Thornton has gotten two quick outs, and the booth has made a Groucho Marx reference. So, I think that’s a point for the WBC. We are in the fifth inning of a 3-3 game and Mike Aviles has three at-bats already. He grounds out and we are halfway through the game.
8:43: Matt Thornton, the fireballing lefty for the White Sox, is up in the U.S. bullpen. Vasgersian just produced a laugh-out-loud moment after Harold Reynolds somehow fooled him into saying it was John Grabow warming up. Vasgersian accused Reynolds of just “doodling Grabow’s name,” the two had some witty back-and-forth, and Vasgersian takes us to the top of the fifth by promo-ing “MLB Tonight,” where you can watch Harold “ignore my stories and blow me off in general.” This may be the best broadcast team ever assembled.
8:41: McCann launches one to center field. It’s going…going…CAUGHT! by Carlos Beltran! and not “at the wall”–that ball was a home run if he didn’t snag it. Wow. Beltran gives the moment of drama where we weren’t sure if he caught it or it went over, but he triumphantly holds the ball over his head and gets Vasgersian’s voice up an octave in the booth.
8:33: Hanrahan strikes out Alex Rios on three pitches and then walks Geovany Soto on a 3-2 count. Two out, top of the fourth, and Endy Chavez Andy Gonzalez is up. The game is starting to drag just a little bit. We need…well, a Chavez Gonzalez pop up to that area between shallow right field and second base. Bottom of the fourth coming up and we have a tie game! But no rain yet…
8:31: Lilly bounces one in front of the plate and Pudge hurries over to second base, where he chats up former teammate Derek Jeter. Carlos Delgado then crushes one to center field. That ball is gone and we are now tied 3-3. I don’t want this to turn into a Harold Reynolds love-fest, but he had said just minutes earlier that they should have pulled Lilly–who is now leaving the game for Hanrahan–after the walk to Pudge. Interesting “match-up” note about the Delgado home run: He was the only lefty in the lineup facing Lilly.
8:24: Washington’s Joel Hanrahan and Tampa Bay’s J.P. Howell are warming up in the U.S. bullpen as Lilly walks his third batter of the game. Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann is on the phone and Lilly promptly strikes out Carlos Beltran on three pitches.
8:20: A wild pitch from Figueroa sends the runners to second and third. The count is 3-2 on DeRosa and he strikes out. After three innings, USA leads 3-1. I think I may have jinxed the live blog earlier when I said the game was moving at a quick pace. We are one hour and 12 minutes in and only 1/3 of the way though…
8:17: DeRosa wakes up the crowd and gets his dugout on the steps with a rope to left, and it’s a… FAIR BA–no wait, it’s foul. But Bud Selig is no doubt smiling to see the U.S. team jump in unison to the top of the dugout steps.
8:13: Adam “Captain America” Dunn is hit by Sanchez. Probably not in any way retaliation for the barely-there hit of Lopez earlier, but it will send the Giants’ hurler to the showers. Nelson Figueroa is coming in to relieve.
8:09: Youkilis hits a BOMB to left field. Deeper than Rios’ shot earlier, and looks like one of those home runs that you hit in video games. The crowd gives the obligatory “Yoooouk!” shouts that sound like boos.
8:08: Rollins hits into a double play with the Puerto Rican infield pretty much executing the same play they attempted with Jeter just one batter before.
8:07: We want to extend a warm welcome to the live blog to everyone whose significant other kicked them off the TV to watch American Idol.
8:03: Jeter hits a ball up the middle and the Puerto Rican infield tries to do the always-a-highlight play where the second baseman fields it, flips it to the shortstop, who throws to first. Jeter beats it out and Jonathan Sanchez is going to play the “keep him in check” game at first base.
8:00: Strike him out, throw him out! Aviles strikes out and Lopez is thrown out by McCann. The U.S. has gotten two baserunners off the paths tonight on defense while successfully swiping two bags of its own.
7:57: Lilly hits Felipe Lopez with a pitch. Barely.
7:55: There’s an ad behind home plate that reads, “Dominican Republic has it all.” You have to wonder if the DR travel board had bought that in anticipation of their team not being eliminated by the Netherlands and possibly playing in this game.
7:53: Shane Victorino singles in DeRosa, who had reached second on McCann’s sacrifice. It’s 2-1 USA and Brian Roberts flies out to center. The camera pans to the American fans in the stands and someone is holding up a Captain America shield. When else can you bring that to a baseball game?
7:51: Harold Reynolds: “I do not endorse a head-first slide into home.” But David Wright scores anyway on a sac fly to left by Brian McCann. We have a 1-1 tie. Wright makes a great slide into home under Pudge’s tag.
7:49: DeRosa singles to left, but they hold Wright at third, and by “they,” I mean Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. How can people not like this thing? Seriously. Tom Verducci wrote a brilliant defense of the Classic in this week’s Sports Illustrated, and it should be required reading for anyone who is grumping about this tournament.
7:47: David Wright has the team’s third stolen base of the Classic and second of the game. All of the U.S. steals have come from the NL East.
7:41: David Wright singles up the middle for Team U.S.A.’s first hit. And he’s standing next to Mets teammate Carlos Delgado, who is playing first for Puerto Rico. Adam Dunn follows, and he really embodies the spirit of the WBC: He was a last-second replacement who was mired in a battle for a starting spot in Washington with three other outfielders (Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, Josh Willingham) and two first basemen (Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young). And he decides to play for Team USA. Awesome.
7:40: They just panned the Puerto Rican fans, and Matt Vasgersian may have been the first man to ever say “bugles” during a baseball broadcast.
7:36: End of the inning with the score 1-0 Puerto Rico. This game isn’t exactly flying, but we could be on pace for a sub three-hour game. Especially considering the U.S. has a shallow bench and won’t be able to play the match-up game.
7:33: Reynolds points out that the Cubs’ Geovany Soto is facing his batterymate, Ted Lilly. Soto flies out to shallow right just as an awesome graphic pops up on the screen showing that the four-man umpiring crew is made up of two Americans, one Mexican, and a Japanese umpire. Last night’s game was delayed as an interpreter had to be found so the Japanese and American umpires could discuss a disputed home-run call.
7:31: Alex Rios just put a 3-2 pitch from Lilly into the sea of empty seats in left field. MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds just told “you fantasy people out there” to draft him now after raving about his developing power before the home run. The world is a better place with Harold Reynolds back on the air. 1-0 Puerto Rico.
7:29: DeRosa makes a great diving catch in left and, to think, he could have just as easily played for Italy in the Classic…
7:28: Interesting note about the McCann-Lilly battery: Both men could have played left field for the U.S. against the Netherlands the other night. Davey Johnson said he liked how Lilly went after balls in the outfield.
7:25: Rollins steals second. It’s both his and the team’s second steal of the Classic. Youkilis flies out to end the inning, though, and Puerto Rico is up again.
7:23: Rollins is on first. Youkilis steps to the plate, and he has grown his goatee back–he had shaved clean before the Classic began. While Youkilis take a quick time-out, it might be a good time to give props to Rollins for an awesome Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial, where he takes fastballs to the chest while giving a pep talk to some kids.
7:22:You also have to love a lineup that features Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins batting back-to-back (Rollins is serving as tonight’s DH).
7:20, part 2: You have to love an outfield that at any point during this game will feature either a “Victorino” or a “Bocachica.”
7:20: Brian Roberts skies one to Hiram Bocachica in left. He’s down to a disappointing .750 for the Classic.
7:16: Lilly ends the inning with a textbook pick-off of Pudge. He didn’t have a chance. LIlly to Youkilis to Jeter, and the Americans are coming up in the bottom of the first.
7:13: People watching the game are going to wake up with Best Buy on their minds tomorrow morning. It’s smack-dab in the middle of the TV screen, as the Puerto Ricans have a big yellow patch on their left shoulder. Since they’re thowing a ton of righty batters at Lilly, it’s going to show up a lot.
7:14: Carlos Beltran strikes out and the Dolphin Stadium crowd gives a big cheer. Maybe the U.S. fans are out in force tonight. Based on last night’s rollicking Venezuela-Puerto Rico crowd, I would have bet on this being close to a Puerto Rican home crowd.
7:10: Let’s not get too excited about Pudge’s two home runs in the WBC so far. He had nine in last year’s spring training and managed just seven on the season in 2008.
7:08, part 2: First pitch from a disappointingly blue-hatted Lilly is a strike to Kansas City’s Mike Aviles. He flies out to Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino for the first out.
7:08: Puerto Rico is throwing six righties, two switch-hitters, and just one left-handed batter against Ted Lilly.
7:06: Brian Roberts will be batting leadoff for the U.S. We will know after the first at-bat if he can keep up his 1.000 batting average (3-for-3) after being called into emergency WBC duty as an injury replacement for Dustin Pedroia.
7:03: If Bud Selig and the WBC had any PR sense, they would trot the Americans out in either green hats or jerseys. Or both.
7:00: Another future Jeopardy answer: “Curtis Granderson” Question: “Which outfielder on the 2009 WBC roster sat in favor of Mark DeRosa in the elimination game against Puerto Rico”?
6:59: Future Jeopardy answer: “Mark DeRosa” Question: “Who started in left field when the American WBC team was down to three outfielders in 2009?”
6:53 : The threat of rain looms! It’s in the forecast for Miami, but the MLB Network preview show is reporting that they are keeping everyone there until this game is decided. However, tomorrow’s game pitting the winner against Venezuela–which is just for seeding–will go to a coin flip if it’s rained out.
After a disappointing 2-0 loss to Venezuela on Monday night in front of an absolutely raucous crowd in Miami, Puerto Rico is set to face off against a United States team that has been absolutely ravaged by injuries in the last two days. It’s do or die time for both squads, as the victor goes on to the championship round and a date with Venezuela on Wednesday to determine seeding (followed by, if I’m reading the convulted schedule right, a matchup against top-seeded Louisville in Dayton on Friday). The losing team disperses and heads back to the doldrums of spring training.
Five things to look for:
1) The U.S. is the clear underdog here, with a decimated staff of position players facing off against a team that has allowed three runs in two games this round.
2) If Brain McCann and Chris Iannetta collide and both are out, Davey Johnson has said he will forfeit the game before throwing an emergency catcher behind the plate.
3) With the rash of injuries hammering away at an already outfield-light roster, could we see a pitcher trot out to play left field in a worst-case scenario? Mr. McCann played there against the Netherlands.
4) With rumors floating around about Pudge Rodriguez about to sign with the Astros, will the end of his “tryout” cause him to play with a little less intensity and instead focus on getting ready for the season?
5) If Puerto Rico wins, they will play their third game in three days Wednesday night.
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Stallworth has spent one season with the Browns. 
