David Wright came up to the plate last night in a tied game with the bases loaded and this happened:
Something interesting happened there. David Wright was already seen as the captain of this USA’s team. Having the leader hit the go ahead grand slam is a huge deal. David Wright was clutch last night and as clutch is a difficult parameter to measure, what isn’t difficult to see is momentum, and David Wright is building national momentum.
To some extent, he may be building the Mets brand too. The Mets will be in a position to sign free agent outfielders next year, David can become more of a draw.
For the rest of this article, we need to suspend judgment about whether the WBC tournament is worth it, or a good idea. For the sake of the international game, the WBC does good, especially with surprising countries. Yesterday, the WBC took a hit when the Canada vs Mexico game broke out into a bench clearing brawl. Actually, that’s bad for baseball everywhere. David Wright’s Grand Slam gives a different video bite to show off at the top of baseball shows. It asserts itself as the top story instead of the fight. David Wright didn’t save the WBC by hitting the grand slam but he did help steal the attention from an ugly situation.
