On the road to kicking world butt in the WBC, Team Venezuela pulls out an exciting last minute victory in the Caribbean series, spurred on by the clutch hitting of a familiar (Mango) face. King Kaufman of Salon.com writes:
The craziest play that ever ended a major league World Series, I think, was in 1926, when Babe Ruth, carrying the tying run with two outs and Bob Meusel batting in the bottom of the ninth, got thrown out trying to steal second.That had nothing on the way the Caribbean Series ended. Venezuela, the host team, was down to the Dominicans 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, but Gonzalez, the new Red Sox shortstop, drove in the tying run with a single off Jorge Sosa, who works for the Atlanta Braves.
Henry Blanco, a Chicago Cub, then lifted a pop fly behind third. Out went Los Anahangeles Angels prospect Erick Aybar, toting the glove that got him labeled the best defensive infielder in the Angels' system by Baseball America last off-season.
Aybar went back and toward the line, stopped, turned around and looked at left fielder Napoleon Calzado, a Baltimore Orioles prospect, and then had the ball bonk him on top of the head. Jose Canseco lives!
Aybar had lost it in the lights. The ball, I mean. Not his head. Gonzalez scored, Venezuela won its first Caribbean Series since 1989, and suddenly I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.
I was always convinced that Venezuela was going to kick world butt in the WBC, but this just confirms that they almost have to. I'm just annoyed that I had to stop watching gameday in the top of the 9th. Stupid laptop needing repairs.
In other WBC news, The Chairman has decided to bow out (click on name for link)
Posted by: goesboom at February 8, 2006 09:37 PMI wish our local news guys (Jimmy S., LEN3, Gordy W. & co.) could write like this. It's why our beloved Bat Girl will always have a place in our hearts and our favorites lists.
Posted by: cmathewson at February 8, 2006 10:13 PMDon't you love Rookies?
Posted by: Paul at February 9, 2006 12:23 AMThat's a good one, thanks. There's a video clip of this through MLB.com. Quite a bounce, I hope Aybar's alright. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060208&content_id=1308350&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Posted by: nailbiter at February 9, 2006 08:35 AMI love how you can hear the Venezualan crowd cackling.
Posted by: nailbiter at February 9, 2006 08:40 AMDang I wish I could have seen this!
But I echo the sentiments VIVA VENEZUELA
WW
Posted by: Wonder Woman at February 9, 2006 08:45 AMI was watching CNN Asia today (I live in Korea so it's not that strange) and this was their "World Sport Play of the Day" only they told everyone it was Alex Gonzalez who made the error, even made a crack about hoping the Red Sox would still take him as their new SS. Just goes to show, CNN sucks.
Posted by: perchorin at February 9, 2006 09:49 AMperchorin--I really can't stand CNN asia. Do you get actual ESPN or ESPN/Star Sports (or anything)? I hate to say it, but it's kind of hard to get good baseball coverage in asia.
During game 4 of the 2004 ALDS, after Rincon gave up that homer to our new potential bat-off-the-bench, and it was tied in the 9th inning, ESPN Hong Kong decided to cut to a PRE-Grand Prix show, because it was on the schedule. I wanted to shoot or maim something related to ESPN/Star. Oh, and during the superbowl, instead of superbowl commercials, we got (usually) "Golden Moments from Wimbledon"--yes, tennis highlights from like 1986.
Alright, I'm done complaining about espnstar hk now. Hopefully Korean coverage is better. And I'm kind of glad that I can at least get decent baseball coverage where I live now, although its strangely biased towards the Bitch Sox...
Posted by: goesboom at February 9, 2006 10:38 AMThat's right, goesboom, the BSox are taking over! First Korea, then Indonesia! bwahahaha!
Posted by: mjm at February 9, 2006 03:21 PMVIVA VENEZUELA!!!
Oh, and Little Luis Rodriguez was named to the Caribbean Series All Star Team! :D
Posted by: Candace at February 9, 2006 03:27 PMYo quiero Venezuela. Ojala que gane World Baseball Classic. Me gusta mirrar Venezuela en mi television. Carlos Silva es guapo!!!
Posted by: Rivasfan at February 9, 2006 07:15 PMIn Korea we get MBC-ESPN which is really just MBC (a Korean network) with the ESPN logo attached. Fortunately there are enough Koreans in the Big Leagues these days that we get almost every one of their games on one network or another(Korean play-by-play of course). Very unfortunately four out of five of them play in the NL West, two of them on the Rockies. For everyone who complained about how awful that division was last season I want you to know every baseball fan over here had it 100 times worse--that's virtually the only division we ever got to see!!!! Only my Astros making it to the World Series saved the season for me. No I'm not a Twins fan, but yes I have just as much dislike for the Bitch Sox as the rest of you now...
Posted by: perchorin at February 11, 2006 05:53 AMp.s. I just found out today that a familiar face to everyone in the AL Central will be playing over here this season--the inimitable Calvin Pickering. They're already calling him "King Kong" and he could hit 50+ home runs over here...still wouldn't sniff an MVP vote but that's another rant for another time...
Posted by: perchorin at February 11, 2006 05:55 AMSlightly off topic, I noticed on the Twins official site that Johan was rated the top pitcher of all the majors in the fantasy league.
Another sidebar, I happened to be looking ahead on the schedule for the upcoming regular season and at the Yankees series. I know Baker will most likely be the fifth starter, but here's hoping Liriano has developed control over his fastball in the off-season. The Yanks would have to face a Liriano-Santana-Radke rotation. Sweet!
And is it just me, but I'm rooting for Venezuela to take second in the WBC(after US of course) Any thoughts?
Posted by: kbrew at February 11, 2006 06:48 PM