Comments on: World Baseball Classic Photos: Japan vs Cuba

By: Didi

Didi — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:55:03 +0000

On Lazo:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns

pretty cool article.

By: LaMar

LaMar — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 14:53:31 +0000

Thoughtful analysis by brilliant minds. Nice discussion, Geoff. http://baseballanalysts.com/ar.....2006_3.php

By: Ranger31

Ranger31 — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:03:53 +0000

This [link http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/.....p&Ux=0, should take you to a collection of some of the pictures I took from Section 302, Row 22 on Monday. Geoff, you should be able to discern all the rice (at least as of the 6th inning) that had been thrown in front of the Cuban dugout.

By: Geoff Young

Geoff Young — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:19:55 +0000

Awesome, Lance! I look forward to your write-up and pix.

By: Lance Richardson

Lance Richardson — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:08:07 +0000

My wife, son, and I had a terrific time Sat night at Korea/Japan. We were lucky enough to have seats in the second row behind the vis. dugout, right on top of the action. Also, as we were in the hot spot for foul balls off LH-bats, we ended up with one, and nearly had two others.
The Korean crowd was out of control, and our evening could not be dampened, even by the crappy weather.
A write-up and REALLY close-up pics will be at Friar Faithful soon.
And Geoff, Baseball Musings linked to your post. Cool beans…

By: LaMar

LaMar — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 05:53:49 +0000

Random observations on the WBC.

Cuba and the DR — I didn’t really have a horse in this race, so it was a pretty analytical observation. Coming up on 4 hours for the game got a little tedious, but watching the pure joy of the Cuban players coming out of the dugout was worth it. Not exactly beer drinking weather, though.

Japan and Korea — Fans from both sides were great, enthusiastic and loud. Sat next to a Korean fan who leaned over when the Korean shortstop came up and said, “All glove, no bat.” Priceless.

Japan and Cuba — The crowd was as diverse as I’ve ever seen at a ball park. Chinese Taipei hats, mixed with DR, Mexico and Venezuelan hats. No one knew who was going to get to the finals, so everybody held their tickets (although I think the Chinese Taipei fan was a bit optimistic). I found myself pulling for Cuba after the first, since I have that “pull for the underdog” personality. I thought they were going to pull it off, up until the top of the ninth.

I thought tossing Sadaharo Oh in the air was an interesting celebration. If the US would have made it, would they have an all-time home run hitting champion toss competition?

I was proud of San Diego for the crowd turn out and how well the event was handled. San Diego showed why it is a great baseball city, despite the fact we didn’t have the usual warm weather to tout.

It was water they were throwing out on the field, btw.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 04:38:15 +0000

It was water. Out of little paper cups.

I had a blast all three games, especially Japan-Korea.

By: LynchMob

LynchMob — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:21:44 +0000

I’ve been an Ichiro fan since his first spring training with the Mariners … here’s a GREAT article about a GREAT ballplayer … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns … Ichiro!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:48:36 +0000

You think it was rice? I noticed it a couple of times but couldn’t figure out what the heck it was. Granted, we were sitting a long way from their dugout and it never happened when I was watching but I thought it was either rice or water. Were they actually throwing it during the play or just between pitches?

By: Geoff Young

Geoff Young — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:06:18 +0000

Ranger31: Excellent question. They did the same thing in the semifinal on Saturday. Was that rice? I couldn’t figure out what it was from where we were seated. My one complaint with the Cuban style of baseball is, as Tom noted, the complete lack of urgency. Do six people really need to touch the baseball after a routine fly ball to center field with nobody on base?