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Open Thread - WBC: Venezuela vs. United States

The U.S. can take a 3-0 record into Round 2 in Florida with a win today, and they are the clear favorites. Considering the last time these two matched up (Sunday), the U.S. absolutely destroyed Venezuela pitching; beating them 15-6. The U.S. banged out 16 hits over the course of their nine innings, including homeruns by Youkilis, Dunn, and Braun. The pitching was less than sharp; allowing six run of their own, as Oswalt struggled in his 3+ starting innings, and after coming in after the U.S. scored eight runs off three different pitchers in the very long sixth inning, our own Ziegler struggled as well.

Today’s game features Ted Lilly as the U.S. starter against Venezuela’s Victor Zambrano (2 H, 2 BB, 4 ER against U.S. on Sunday).

The lineups are as follows:

Venezuela

Blanco, G, CF
Mora, 3B
Abreu, RF
Cabrera, M, 1B
Ordonez, LF
Guillen, DH
Scutaro (Hi!), 2B
Blano, H, C
Izturis, C, SS

United States

Rollins, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Jeter, DH
Youkilis, 1B
Wright, 3B
Dunn, RF
Braun, LF
McCann, C
Victorino, CF

0 recs  |  83 comments

Comments

GYMNASTICS.
Gymnastics is the new First?
Nah. It's awesome, though!
How awesome are those lineups?
Pretty darn great. I'd take one!
I know!

I’m going to have a hard time choosing!

I want the U.S. to win,

but I have to root for Marco Scutaro.

You mean MARCO [bum] [bum] [bum] SCUTARO [bum] [bum] [bum]
Takes me back...

…man that was a great game!

Nice inning by Lilly...

…that seems wrong and dirty

How the hell is the US going to win without Jeter?
Umm

He’s hitting 3rd

More importantly, what the hell is Jeter doing hitting 3rd and DHing instead of Chipper Jones?
Because he's a great hitter.
Well why isn't he in the field?

Blanco’s homer would never have happened if he was in the field.

Correction. *was* a great hitter.
Ok, so he's a very good hitter.
he's not that good now

Why is Braun 7? Dunn 6?

With Jeter and Youk in the 3 & 4 holes.

ugh, victor zambrano again

sidney ponson for the netherlands i can understand, but i can’t believe team venezuela relies on victor zambrano to pitch meaningful innings.

+1
Isn't J. Santana Venezuelan?

That’ll have been a loss. A quick check suggests they have a few talented pitchers in the majors (Zambrano, Felix, Escobar), so who knows.

Carlos Zambrano and Johan Santana are both banged up

Escobar too, obv.

They're not really meaningful in this case, presumably

I’m sure Venezuela would like to win the game but they’re in the next round anyway and can afford to keep Silva/Hernandez/Galarraga out to prepare for that round.

Rios Triples in Delgado! PR 2-0
I-Rod singles in Rios, PR 3-0
Haha, I-Rod.
sounds like

a Jamaican porn star name

Zambrano is pitching well today
Apparently the US team is un by ESPN

Jeter and Youkilis in the 3 & 4 holes is laughable considering Dunn and Braun are 6 & 7. At least the could’ve switched Wright and Jeter.

I thought lineups didn't really matter when you had a bunch of

very good hitters?

The game ended when Jeter was caught stealing and Youkilis struck out

I wonder if it would make a difference if the lineup was changed.

Cos Dunn and Braun don't strike out?
they strike out

but they also mash. You want your best hitters to have the most at bats.

Jeter should’ve batted 9th.

Also, how

is he the DH? I guess it’s better than having his defense out there but really? Him?

Bocachica in for PR. gosh that name...
I've noticed the Dutch can't hit a lick.

Which is why I switched to the US game (plus it has better players).

they just walked two and loaded up the bases.
They've got small hands and smell of cabbage.

they are hitting better than the US…

They choke up on their bats.
Sweet! Tied up now for US
MARCO!
SCUTARO!
i miss that one

hope we get some good ones going this year w/ all the new blood.

Scutaro being clutch again. 2 run single.
Man!

I miss that guy!

WHAT TIME? WHAT CHANNEL?
Same Bat time, same Bat channel.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

The answer is it’s on now, they’re in the top of the 7th. I imagine it’s on MLB network.

Humph!

Is anyone streaming this from something other than MLB?

Justin.tv doesn't have it.

You could try this assuming I’m not breaking any guidelines by posting it.

No good,

and the first one was a little scary…

But thank you! It was worth a shot.

I think its time to pull Guthrie

Sing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walk out?
ziggy pitching
And hitting batters. :-D
On an 0-2 pitch.

Bad Ziggy! Bad!

Ianneta goes DEEP. 5-3 Venezuela, bottom of the 8th.

Interesting game, but it’s a little flat.

That was massive home run, though.

He killed that.

Jonathan Broxton is fat.

F-Rog gets to close it out,

fist pumping and all. Tosser.

australia has nice uniforms

I forget which site it was I saw today

the front page had a picture of Snelling with his back to the camera, and I thought, “When did the A’s…..oh, Australia.”

I was glad they weren't the A's

after they fell apart

is there a final score?
Pretty sure the mercy rule was called.
mercy rule?

it was 5-3 in bottom of eighth

I think they're referring to the Mexico-Australia game

the final score was 16-1, and they mercifully ended the game after 6 full innings

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