Yesterday was a great day in the WBC. There were some great games and actually, some surprises as well. The USA game was a lot of fun to watch, if you were rooting for USA. It was a very close game until the 6th inning where USA entered down by one and left up by 7, and then would finish the game winning 15-6. Wright played very well, making up for his poor performance (0-4) in the first game that USA played in the classic. That meant that USA punched their ticket for the next round (joining Korea and Japan as teams that are moving on). The Dominican Republic also bounced back from their shocking loss with a win yesterday which eliminated Panama and puts them a win away for the second round. The real shock of the night was Mexico. Mexico was supposed to steam roll over Austrailia or at least, if somehow they managed to lose, it would be a close game. Austrailia, down for a while in the game, came back and just demolished Mexico by a score 17-7, with the game ending by the mercy rule in the eigth. Mexico really played some sloppy ball, they weren't getting their gloves down and it became the hitting show for Austraillia (who had well over 20 hits in the game). Here are some of the box lines for Mets playing yesterday's WBC games:
Pan- Tejada 0-2
DR- Reyes 0-4, R, BB
USA- Wright 3-5, 2R, BB
Mex- Perez 2.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, BB, 5K
Wright went from 0-4 in the classic to hitting really well. He was dialed in, his balls were falling down in the outfield and he was moving runners on the bases. Also, he was running well on the bases. He really fits in with that lineup that USA has (probably because it is one of the best lineups I have ever seen play, if you havn't watch them play yet, you have to, it will amaze you what they can do). Perez really had a rough night, and believe it or not, he was actually in a position to win the game when he first left. He basically got rocked by allowing a lot of hits and two homers. For his defense though. the field was very slick, balls were moving fast, and Mexico wasn't fielding well. Also, the park is made for homeruns (Cuba hit a ton earlier in the day). He really had to take things into his own hands to get out of the game, like get 5 strikeouts.
On a side note, I really like the double elimination format., it makes for more meaningful games.
