Letters to the Editor
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WBC
WBC was great but needs work - my thoughts exactly.
I loved certain aspects of this tournament - for example, the Japanese team's ablity to grind out a few insurance runs in the ninth last night was a thing of beauty, highlighted by a brilliant drag bunt towards second and by Ichiro's clutch single through the right side of the infield. I don't think I've ever felt more certain that someone would get a hit than I did in that situation - that man is a hit machine. I also got a kick out of hearing Jon Miller refer to Sadaharu Oh as "Oh-San", which he seemed to be doing respectfully and not in a kitschy "I'm riffing on the Japanese" way.
Some problems:
(1) the tie-breaker, obviously, as discussed in some of the previous letters.
(2) this is the only tournament I've ever seen in which teams are placed in pools of four, from which two in each pool emerge, yet the teams don't cross over for the semifinals. The logical structure would have had semis of Korea-Cuba and DR-Japan, rather than reruns of games from the previous round. My best guess is that this was done to ensure that the final wouldn't consist of two teams from the same region, broadly defined, but this seems like a pretty poor justification.
(3) Bob Freakin' Davidson. This is the umpiring genius whose previous contributions to the profession included screwing up the call on what would have been the only triple play in World Series history (1992 - yes, I should be over this by now) and being part of the en masse resignation that fortunately relegated him to the trash heap of umpiring history. Somehow this hack got himself a job umpiring the WBC, only to blow two huge calls in the early games, yet somehow there he was umpiring first base in the final! Seriously, if this guy has incriminating photos of Bud Selig, why doesn't he share them with Pete Rose?
Overall, I think the tournament was better than expected, and will be even better in the future. Unfortunately, the biggest problem (namely, the timing) seems like one for which there is unlikely to be a solution.
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bowden's only good move...
Bowden's just a shill, too much like Bush for my taste, opting for theater when he can't reach down and find any substance. Drafting Ryan Zimmerman was his best move, and that may be based on theater as well, since the 3B of the future is local (UVA).
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Further Examination Between Mentalities
Looking further into the mental disparity between the WBC and MLB, let's examine two infield players from last night:
ex 2nd baseman Alfonso Soriano and SS Munenori Kawasaki.
Kawasaki: a gazillion errors (drops and misthrows).
Soriano: brooding uselessly on the bench.
Kawasaki: punching himself for his mistakes.
Soriano: brooding uselessly on the bench.
Kawasaki: in the middle of the 8th (or 7th) several teammates kept things lighthearted by mussing Kawasaki's hair essentially telling him to WAKE UP! They were laughing about it by the way.
Soriano: brooding uselessly on the bench. Gets into a tiff with Manager Frank Robinson.
Kawasaki: managed to fix his mechanics for the rest of the game.
Soriano: brooding uselessly on the bench.
Kawasaki: Team Japan defeats Team Cuba 10-6
Soriano: Nationals lose to the Dodgers 11-5
Kawasaki: Probably celebrating now.
Soriano: pens in his calander an awkward meeting with Robinson and GM Bowden.
Now I ask you Salon readers, who should lay down the bat, pick up a dagger, and commit seppuku?
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Only in Pro Sports
While I agree that Soriano is being a big baby, I can't help but laugh at the reaction of most fans. These are people who run fantasy teams, post on message boards, pay money to read insider columns, buy jerseys, spends hundreds if not thousands of dollars on tickets to watch athlete ply their trade and then the moment one of these guys acts in a way we wouldn't they react like the wealthy dowager of Simpsons fame. "What makes these guys so special" they ask.
Here's a question. Why not replace Soriano with a hard working 30 year old career minor leaguer? He'd try his darndest, do whatever Frank Robinson said and would be oh so thankful to be earning even the minor league minimum. Sure he might not hit the Mendoza line but what we really want out of our pro athletes is that they're good people, hard workers and don't have an ounce of primadonna in them. Right?
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WBC Attendance Correction
Actually, there were no first round games played in Anaheim. Ironically, the empty seats were in the Tokyo Dome.
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King Kaufman's Sports Weekly
King, I've liked you ever since your days at the Voice, but you're starting to read like one of the hacks at the major dailies. The letter writers have the Soriano issue covered -- it'll cost him his career to move to left and Bowden's an idiot -- while you choose the populist grandstanding tactic of decrying rich ballplayers who dare to stand up for their rights. Ya think Chipper would have moved to left if he'd just been acquired by the Nats since Vinnie is already there?
This fiasco is all about Bowden, not Soriano. Would it have taken that much thought to avoid spouting the stalest of conventional wisdom on the subject?
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My days at the Voice
Newt, I've liked you since my days at the Voice too.
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Position Switching
OK, here's what I don't get: would anyone consider it rational if, say, the Os demanded that Kris Benson began appearing as a middle reliever? Would anyone question Benson opting out of such a move?
Benson, like Soriano, is competent and established at his position, but not a world-beater either. LF is just as surely a demotion for Soriano as middle reliever would be for Benson. But people would consider the Os insane to presume that Benson would acquiesce, while they want Soriano to be a "team player" (for a team he's never played for, incidentally).
This is not, BTW, any kind of racial statement - Benson is just the example of a recently-traded starter who came to mind. My point is simply that, while not unprecedented, changing positions in the field isn't like asking a guy to switch uniform numbers. If the Os wanted a middle reliever, they traded for the wrong guy. Same for the Nats. Sorry, Bowden - you lose.