Here is video proof that Manny Ramirez is now playing in Taiwan:
Random Video of the Undetermined Amount of Time: Manny Ramirez in Taiwan
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Category Archives: International
The Dominican moves to the top spot in the Post-WBC Baseball Continuum Rankings
With the WBC over, the Baseball Continuum Rankings have been updated. The rankings take into account both individual games as well as the overall 1-16 rankings that the WBC participants ended up being ranked into at the end.
And the biggest jump in the Rankings after the WBC came in the case of the Dominican Republic. Their eight wins and #1 finish added 90.89 points to their total, rocketing them up to 269.89 total points, putting them in first for in the Baseball Continuum Rankings, ahead of the USA (231.079, having lost about 3 points in the Classic).
The team that suffered the most from the Classic was Australia. Their 0-3 record and last-place finish (based on tie breakers) caused them to lose 98.5 points, sending them tumbling to -28.5 points.
So, go below the jump for the latest Baseball Continuum Rankings, as of March 20, 2013:
And now, some thoughts and suggestions on the World Baseball Classic
The Dominican Republic can lay claim to being the champions of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, going undefeated in the tournament and shutting out Puerto Rico in the final game, 3-0. Robinson Cano was rightfully named tourney MVP, although one could also have made a case for Fernando Rodney, who saved seven games during the tournament.
While it was far from a perfect tournament, it had some great moments. There were the honkbal Dutch, proving that 2009 was far from a fluke by making it to the semi-finals, defeating the mighty Cubans twice on the way. There was Italy’s similarly amazing run. There were the great fans, who even in the less-attended games made the crowd seem several times bigger. And it had high drama, with Davids facing Goliaths, the old facing the young, and, in some cases, entire nations sitting on the edge of their seats.
And, yes, all of my reasons while the WBC is going to be sticking around are still valid.
Still, the WBC does definitely have room for improvement, so go below the jump for some of my suggestions:
Picture of the day: Remember the Maine
Much of baseball’s spread in the Caribbean was at least partially because of the United States’ increased presence in the region after the Spanish-American War. And that war, at least officially, was started because of the destruction of the USS Maine. While it was later found that it was unlikely that the Maine had been destroyed due to sabotage, the destruction of the ship started a rallying cry amongst the American populace that helped lead to the war.
But, before that, the Maine was the defending champion of the Navy when it came to baseball. Here’s a photo from the Library of Congress Flickr stream of that final team- most of the players died in the ship’s destruction. Notice how it was an integrated team.
WBC Finals Preview: Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico
It’s all come down to this: Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico for the WBC title. The Dominican is going for a perfect tournament, but Puerto Rico, with a win, could make all those previous games for the Dominican irrelevant. It’s one game, winner take all. Go below the jump for the tale of the tape:
Picture of the day: The World Tour comes to Japan
I was so sure that Japan was going to beat Puerto Rico that I had been planning on having this photo of the 1913-14 World Tour players from the White Sox and Giants with members of Japan’s Keio University… whoops. Oh well, still an interesting picture, with John McGraw, Tris Speaker, Jim Thorpe, Sam Crawford and Buck Weaver in it. So, from the Library of Congress Flickr feed, here is the photo:
If anybody in Japan would like to blame their team’s loss on my blog (I mean, between this and yesterday’s article on how Pokémon had an episode that seeped with Japanese baseball references, I seemed to have been tempting fate), go ahead.
WBC Semi-Final Preview: Dominican Republic vs. Kingdom of the Netherlands
It’s a showdown tonight, a grudge match four years in the making. In one corner, the mighty Dominican, now by far the biggest fish in the increasingly small WBC pond. In the other corner, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the upstart amalgamation of the Netherlands, Curacao and Aruba. Four years ago, the Dutch upset the Dominican twice, and now the Dominican has a chance for revenge. They probably will get it, but as we saw in Puerto Rico-Japan (and Puerto Rico-USA, and Netherlands-Cuba, and… you get the idea), there are no guarantees in baseball.
Go below the jump for the tale of the tape:
Picture of the day: WBC Trophy
The first two World Baseball Classic trophies went to Japan, where will this one go?
This picture was taken by Geoff Livingston, and is under a creative commons license.
WBC Semi-Final Preview: Japan vs. Puerto Rico
The game between Japan and Puerto Rico, on paper, should belong to the Japanese team, a seasoned squad that relatively breezed into the San Francisco round and which will be playing with far more rest than Puerto Rico, which will be playing it’s third game in as many days. But, as has been shown time and time again, in baseball weird and unexpected things can happen. Go below the jump for a more in-depth preview.
Bizarre Baseball Culture: Crummy Teams, Fanatics, and Pokémon in “The Double Trouble Header”
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
In a first for Bizarre Baseball Culture, we’re going international to look at one of the more strange appearances of baseball in Japanese culture. To be more exact, we’re looking at an old episode of the Pokémon anime, entitled “The Double Trouble Header”.
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Okay, are you done laughing/rolling your eyes? Good. Now go below the jump for this installment, which has been weeks in the making:
The Baseball Continuum 