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World Baseball Classic Qualifier Preview: Jupiter, Florida (Israel, Spain, France and South Africa)

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The World Baseball Classic starts soon! Well, the qualifiers do, anyway. For the first time ever, there are four qualification pools to decide who reaches the Round of 16. Two of those pools- in Panama and Taipei- will be in November. But first there are two pools that start in about a week. One of them is in Jupiter, Florida (mainly because the teams in it don’t exactly have baseball fields in their countries) and the other is in Regensburg, Germany. The Jupiter pool starts slightly before the Germany pool, so I’ll be covering that one first, covering the baseball heritage (or, in some cases, lack thereof) of the the countries and looking at their teams and chances.

So, go after the jump for my preview of the 2012 WBC Qualifier in Jupiter, Florida. All rosters are from Baseball America.

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The Best Hitting Pitchers in Baseball

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Davey Johnson has said, possibly jokingly, that Stephen Strasburg might still see game action as a pinch-hitter. It’s not as crazy an idea as you’d think, as Strasburg was hitting .277 with a home run this season, but it does bring the crazy question to mind of who is the best hitting pitcher in baseball right now? Okay, maybe it doesn’t bring that crazy question to your mind, but I bet it is in your mind now. Ha!

One thing about most pitchers in the majors is that they probably aren’t really bad hitters, just bad major league hitters. Many of them probably played in the field during high school and maybe even college, and probably were pretty good hitters. It’s just that once they get to professional ranks they are facing far more difficult pitching and, what’s more, are focusing far more on pitching than they are hitting. Not as much time in the batting cage, not as much time trying to figure out those curve-balls, and not as much time studying game-tape of the next day’s starter. The result is, of course, that the average MLB pitcher is good only for a sac bunt or maybe a lucky single.

However, there are some exceptions:

(JUMP)

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The Spoilers

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The resurrection of the Baltimore Orioles, it could be said, began last September. Buck Showalter had said early on that he would be playing his regulars in games against contenders, while using the September call-ups in the games against also-rans.

By comparison, the Yankees, who had stitched up the division by the final series against the Wild Card contending Tampa Bay Rays, decided to send in the call-ups.

So, it was a study in contrasts. When Boston arrived for the series that would decide their season’s fate, they ran into a team with Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, and a mindset that essentially said “This is our World Series.” The Rays, meanwhile, were basically facing a Yankees team that was playing Spring Training baseball.

And so as we barrel through September with several races still close, the question becomes: will the potential spoilers this year be like the Orioles, or like the Yankees?

(jump)

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Other Sports Team Names derived from Baseball

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Given that baseball is the oldest professional team sport in America, it is hardly surprising that other sports teams often derive their names from baseball teams, usually those that they once shared a city with. In general, they fall into a few different categories:

  • Those that just plain copied or used the name of the baseball team.
  • Those who made a name that played off of the baseball team’s name.
  • Those that have a history with a baseball team but have since sort of morphed into something else, while keeping a vague link.
  • Names that actually aren’t connected, but everyone thinks they are.

Take a look after the jump:

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Random Video of the Undetermined Amount of Time: The Start of the 1983 World Series

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On Youtube, you can find almost anything. For example, the start of the 1983 World Series between the Orioles and Phillies, Live (back then) from Memorial Stadium. ABC had the game, and had Al Michaels, Howard Cosell and Earl Weaver in the booth. It’s a little cut up (we only catch the end of a interview with a young Cal Ripken, and they don’t have the National Anthem), but it still is neat.

It’s interesting to me to see how this is different from how the World Series is broadcast these days, partially due to technology, as well as just some general differences and observations:

  • The graphics are extremely low tech, popping up very quickly in yellow and white to tell us that we are looking at “Claude Osteen, Pitching Coach”. Oh, but the managers? Their names flash in a strobe of technicolors, which no doubt gave some people seizures back in the day.
  • And we see the entire teams getting announced before pre-game, like it was the All-Star Game. I vaguely remember that this was done at least earlier in my lifetime, but I can’t remember FOX ever doing it.
  • All of the guys in the booth have bright gold-yellow jackets, as back then apparently network announcers had to have coordinated uniforms, much like the people on the field.
  • Oh, and one of the biggest differences between now and then: Nowadays, that players wouldn’t so clearly and openly be using chewing tobacco (check their cheeks). Oh, they are still using it, but not as many.
  • Orioles fans remembered Kiko Garcia.
  • I like how the Phillies brought the Phanatic along on the road. I don’t seem to recall them doing that during their more recent World Series appearances.
  • Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt were the first three in the starting lineup for the Phillies. They’d also make a good first three guy in the lineup for a 1970s National League All-Star Team. Sadly for the Phillies, it was 1983 and the two members of the Big Red Machine were on the downside of their careers. Also, apologies to Sixto Lezcano, but I honestly have to say I had to look that name up on Baseball Reference.
  • Trivia factoid: Jim Palmer is the only man to win a World Series game in three different decades.
  • Ballplayers in the 1980s had way more awesome hair. Behold the impressive Afro of Eddie Murray when he tips his hat to the crowd.
  • Notice how Scott McGregor is said to be in the “ninth position” of the lineup. This is because, from 1976 to 1985, the DH was in effect FOR ALL GAMES REGARDLESS OF VENUE in even years for the World Series, but not odd years. And that, in my opinion, is a weird and often forgotten fact.

2013 WBC projections: The Netherlands

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The Netherlands was the biggest surprise of the 2009 WBC, defeating the Dominican Republic twice and advancing to the second round. Then, in the 2011 World Cup, they actually won the whole tournament, beating out the mighty Cubans in the finals. Clearly, the Dutch are the class of European baseball, and have taken their place as one of the finest baseball nations in the world… sort of.

I say “sort of” because the Netherlands is something of a misnomer. When you first hear of a Dutch baseball team, you might think that they are all from Holland, perhaps playing Honkbal (as baseball is called in Dutch) by windmills or dykes. However, that isn’t exactly true. You see, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a far larger state than simply Holland. Several Caribbean countries, such as Curacao and Aruba, are part of the Netherlands. This isn’t to say that there aren’t baseball players from the European Netherlands- there are, and in fact one of the two professional baseball leagues in Europe is based there.

The Dutch figure to bring the majority of their previous international teams to the 2013 WBC, featuring players from the US Minors, the Dutch Hoofdklasse and perhaps a few Major Leaguers. They certainly won’t be favored to make noise in the tournament, but it’s unlikely that they will go quietly, and it’s possible that the Oranje just may again shock the world.

So, after much research, the Dutch national team can be found under the jump. The usual rules apply:

  • Any player coming off a major injury or who has a history of injuries is unlikely to participate. This is especially true for the pitchers.
  • Players that will be on new teams are less likely to participate, but shouldn’t be completely ignored, with the exception of pitchers.
  • Teams are made up of 28 players, of which 13 of them must be pitchers and two of them catchers.
  • The pitch count rules make relievers extremely important.

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Great Baseball Lies: No, the tie does NOT go to the runner! Maybe. It’s complicated.

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It is a rule born of the schoolyard, and of Little Leagues, repeated by announcers and fans throughout the nation: if the ball and the runner tie, especially at first base, then the tie goes to the runner.

I myself believed it. But, it turns out, it is isn’t true. The Hardball Times has a good article about it, but it is basically this: there are no actual rules that say anything about ties. Therefore, a good reading of the rules would suggest that the ties don’t even exist, either a runner has clearly beaten the ball, or he hasn’t.

As Hardball Times notes, the rules that govern safe and out are these:

Rule 6.05 (j) A batter is out when, after a third strike or after he hits a fair ball, he or first base is tagged before he touches first base.

Rule 7.01 A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. He is then entitled to it until he is put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base.

Rule 7.08 (e) Any runner is out when he or the next base is tagged before he touches the next base….

As you can see, there is nothing said about a tie. Basically, it depends upon what rule is followed. Veteran umpire Tim McClelland, for example, goes by the middle rule, and basically says that since the batter didn’t “beat” the throw to first, then he is out. This makes a sort of sense when you look at that rule (7.01): if there WAS a tie, then you couldn’t exactly say that the runner had acquired the base BEFORE he was out.

However, former umpire Jim Evans says that actually, the runner is safe, since he had gotten to the base before he was out. So, in other words, in the case of the tie it could be said that, during a “tie” the runner beat the ball to the bag.

In short, it depends on the umpire.

Panic in the Bronx

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Derek Jeter said on Monday that he wasn’t panicking. In fact, I seem to recall him saying that nobody was panicking, and was even asking the press if they were panicking.

Rule of thumb number one of panicking: If you have to say you aren’t panicking, you probably are panicking, and if you aren’t, you probably will be soon.

On Tuesday night, Joe Girardi was ejected after doing the full Earl Weaver routine.

Rule of thumb number two of panicking: When you have a short fuse shortly after people start wondering if you should be panicking, you are panicking.

Oh, and the Yankees lost tonight, to fall into a tie with the Baltimore Orioles- in September, and only a game and a half up on the Tampa Rays. Which leads to the third rule of thumb of panicking:

When you are panicking, your enemies will take advantage.

The Orioles stink at everything, especially losing

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Some interesting statistics and rankings of the 2012 Baltimore Orioles:
22nd: Their rank in team Batting Average (.245)

23rd: Their rank in team OBP (.310)

17th: Their rank in team OPS (.719)

18th: Their rank in runs scored (569)

17th: Their rank in team ERA (4.01)

9th most: Their rank in hits allowed (1196)

Tied for seventh most: Their rank in Home Runs allowed (152)

20th best: Their rank in WHIP [Walks and Hits per innings pitched] (1.31)

Tied for second most: Their rank in team errors (97)

2nd: Their rank in the American League East

1: Games back of the New York Yankees

It’s Labor Day, and Baseball remains the most peaceful work environment in sports

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What the heck is going on? No, I’m not talking about how the Orioles continue to defy the laws of the universe (again), I’m talking about how, on this Labor Day, Major League Baseball remains the most stable place in sports when it comes to the relations between players and management. Yes, baseball, the sport that had one strike force the season to become a split-season and the World Series get cancelled, and which at one point in the early 2000s seemed to be headed towards another strike, is the best example of labor harmony.

Meanwhile, the NBA lost a significant portion of it’s season last year, the NFL narrowly avoided a work stoppage with it’s players and now is using scab referees due to a dispute with the usual refs, and the NHL is headed down the road to another work stoppage, which could very well annihilate another whole season.

Remember when the NHL was a major sport on ESPN and everything, and not just something that was only popular in about 6 American markets and could only be found on NBC properties? That little transition from being part of the Big Four to being on the outside looking in on the Big Three happened when they lost an entire season to the 2004-2005 lockout. Who knows what might happen if they again end up with a lost season? The Europeans could just say “Screw this, I’m going home” and depart to teams in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, never to return. What little interest in hockey that there exists in the the United States outside of the Northeast and Upper Midwest will disintegrate even more than before. But, by all accounts, the NHL and the NHLPA seem destined to run straight into the abyss again.

So why is baseball avoiding those problems? Partially it’s because MLB is making so much money that it doesn’t really matter, and the revenue sharing has allowed even the worst teams to spin a hefty profit. The same is not true for the NBA and NHL, and the fact it was more-or-less true in the NFL was one of the main reasons why there was only one preseason game that was lost.

However, the bigger reason is, in my opinion, basically the realization by both the owners and the MLBPA that to have a work stoppage, especially a work stoppage that cancels the playoffs, is a case of mutually assured destruction. Even if one side were to “win”, they’d end up far worse off than they had been before. The 1994 strike was proof of that: fans abandoned baseball until Cal Ripken, the home run chase and the late-90s Yankees dynasty brought it back. However, had the 2002 labor dispute ended in a work stoppage, there was no guarantee that any heroes would come over the hill to save the day. It just wasn’t worth the risk, so they came to terms, and have done so every CBA since.

That lesson, alas, has not yet come to the NHL.