• I don’t think the Cole Hamels thing will be a big deal, unless it is… Everything seems fine with Cole and his inflamed elbow, and he pitched again without any pain.  It looks like he probably won’t start opening day, but may end up starting on April 10, which means he basically won’t miss any starts.  I’m not sure how many Phillies fans are with me on this, but I’m secretly terrified.  We’re not repeating without a healthy Hamels.  We’re just not.  And the track record for young pitchers who exponentially increase their innings from one season to the next without being injured or ineffective or both the following season is not good.  I don’t mean to be alarmist about this, and all of the reports are good.  But I wouldn’t be terribly opposed to Hamels starting the season on the DL and coming back somewhere around April 20th.  At the very least I wouldn’t mind seeing Charlie Manuel go with 5 starters right out of the gate, even though we technically wouldn’t need a 5th starter until April 20th.  The more innings we can save on Cole’s arm (and Jamie Moyer, while we’re at it) the better.
• The 5th starter race is getting interesting. Kyle Kendrick got sent down to the minors and Carlos Carrasco still clearly could use some more seasoning, so it is now a two horse race between JA Happ and Chan Ho Park.  Both have been impressive this spring, which will make for an interesting decision for the Phillies front office.  My heart is still with Chan Ho because I love his story (and the changeup he’s learned from Jamie Moyer), but everything I hear is that the team will go with Happ.  I guess this makes sense, as they have more invested in Happ as a prospect and Park is a veteran on a one year deal who pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen last season.  With the way both of these guys have pitched I don’t think they can go wrong, but I’m still hoping for Chan Ho.
• The final bench/bullpen spot is now probably just the final roster spot. That is to say, how the bottom of the roster shakes out will probably largely depend on whether the team decides to keep 11 or 12 pitchers and who wins the 5th starter job.  If they go with 11 pitchers to start the year, Miguel Cairo will probably make the team.  Marcus Giles and John Mayberry have kind of crapped out of late, and Jason Donald and Lou Marson were both sent to the minors.  Pablo Ozuna has hit very well this spring, but for some reason the team just doesn’t seem that into him.  I can’t say I blame them; Ozuna has had 200 ABs in a season just once in his career, and that was 4 years ago.  He’s not as versatile as Cairo and doesn’t have the major league track record.  If the Phillies go with 12 pitchers, Gary Majewski has a very good chance to make the team, though Dave Borkowski and Mike Koplove have made decent cases for themselves as well.
• It looks like Chris Coste has dodged another bullet. Coste may be the favorite for the backup catcher spot under the “devil you know” clause.  Both he and Ronny Paulino have not been very good this spring, with Paulino looking to be a terrible defender.  At least Coste has some familiarity with the staff and is a fan favorite.  With Lou Marson set to be the full time catcher in Lehigh Valley in ’09, there doesn’t appear to be a spot in the organization for Paulino. He could be traded or released.
• Completely baseless trade rumor. The Rangers are potentially looking to deal Frank Catalanotto to find ABs for Andruw Jones. We have an redundancy of lefty power hitters off the bench in Matt Stairs and Geoff Jenkins.  Jenkins and Catalanotto both have cumbersome contracts that make them difficult to deal and expensive to release.  Perhaps a swap is in order?  Catalanotto is guaranteed $6 million in the last year of his deal; Jenkins is guaranteed $8 million (both figures include ’10 buyouts).  Catalanotto can play a few different positions and could provide some pop from the right side.  Jenkins could be a decent lefty DH in the AL.  Catalanotto would be an instant fan favorite in South Philly.  Maybe if the Phillies threw in some cash to even the salaries…alright, they’re not all winners.  I do like Catalanotto, though.  Ten days until Opening Night!

• Let’s get the Davey Johnson bashing out of the way up front.  As I have said before, any success the US had was in spite of him, not because of him.  Of course, he played Jimmy Rollins at DH and Derek Jeter at SS in an elimination game, which is beyond stupid, but I’ve written about that ad nauseum.  But then, he took things a step further by inexplicably playing Mark DeRosa at 1B, a position he has never started at in the major leagues, and Adam Dunn in RF.  Now Adam Dunn is never in any lineup because of his defense, and he actually has played decently enough in RF in this tournament.  But Dunn actually plays some 1B, and in fact may actually be playing first full time for the Nats this season.  Meanwhile, DeRosa is an above average rightfielder and played there quite a bit last season for the Cubs.  Yet for some reason Davey Johnson insisted on putting the worst defensive team possible on the field for a game to determine who goes to the finals.  Unacceptable.  Listen, a good rule of thumb is that if your firstbaseman has to get a glove FedExed to him before the game by the real firstbaseman of his major league team, maybe you want to look somewhere else.  If Davey Johnson is the manager of Team USA in 2013, I will think long and hard about whether or not I will follow the tournament.
• I’m actually willing to give Johnson some credit for using Roy Oswalt to start the game over Jake Peavy.  Oswalt is clearly further along than Peavy and gave Team USA the best chance to win.  Of course, Johnson let Oswalt get his brains beat in by Japan in the 4th, instead of turning to, say, Ted Lilly, a lefthander who could have gone multiple innings against a Japanese lineup featuring 7 left handed hitters.  The lefthanders out of the US bullpen pitched 3.1 innings of shutout ball and kept it close enough for a potential rally.  But when Johnson had no more lefties (well, except for Lilly) to go to, Japan pulled away against our righty relievers.  Shouldn’t this have been an all-hands-on-deck game?  This just feels like a giant middle finger to US fans.
• It was an interesting move by Japan to bring the infield in with a runner on third and one out in the 8th inning of a 6-4 game.  I can’t actually think of a good reason why they would do this.  However, they were bailed out once again by Davey Johnson, who decided to pinch hit Evan Longoria, a right handed hitter who had just flown in from spring training as an injury replacement, for Curtis Granderson, a lefty.  There was a stiff wind knocking down everything hit to left field, so what was the point of bringing in a righty?  Wouldn’t Granderson or Shane Victorino have had a better chance of hitting a fly ball to right, or hitting a ground ball to the right side that got through a drawn in infield?  And then by taking Granderson out you lose your best defensive outfielder in what was at the time a close game.
• It was also interesting to me that the Japanese 2-5 hitters were all Japanese league professionals, as opposed to playing in the American major leagues.  I don’t know anything about these players, but I’d love to hear from someone familiar with Japanese baseball about what kind of players these guys are.  Are they better than guys like Fukudome and Johjima?  Are there a lot of Japanese professionals who are good enough to play over here but choose to stay in Japan?  I’m curious as to how Japanese baseball compares to American baseball in general.  From what I saw in this tournament, the quality of baseball being played in Japan (and Korea, for that matter) is very high.
• Finally, it was nice to see a decent amount of American fans in Dodger Stadium, as opposed to almost no one showing up in South Florida.  It’s too bad USA baseball chooses to jerk around what loyal fans they have by treating these games like exhibitions when all of the other countries are clearly playing to win.

• If the US wins this tournament, it will be in spite of Davey Johnson and not because of him.  I will say this over and over until somebody listens.  Jimmy Rollins needs to be at shortstop in every important game in this tournament.  I understand Derek Jeter needs to get ready for Opening Day too, but he can play short against teams like the Dutch and in the upcoming meaningless game against Venezuela.  I also understand that Jeter is a great player and he deserves to be in the lineup every game too.  He just needs to DH the important ones.  This egregious failure on Johnson’s part cost Team USA two runs today.  In the top of the 6th Alex Rios hit an RBI grounder up the middle on a play that Rollins makes and Jeter could not.  In the top of the 9th Ramon Vazquez hit another grounder up the middle that Rollins at least keeps in front of him and Jeter could not.  Another run scored.  I will not let this issue die.
• In other terrible managing news,  once again Johnson left the starting pitcher in too long (see also: Peavy, Jake), and allowed a spent Ted Lilly to give up a 2-run homer to Delgado in the top of the 4th to tie the game.  So why are Jeremy Guthrie (if you want to go the multiple inning route) John Grabow, Matt Thornton, and JP Howell (if you want to go the lefty on lefty route) on the roster again?  And speaking of lefty on lefty, why would Johnson allow Brian McCann to hit against JC Romero in the 8th with the tying run on base when he had Chris Iannetta on the bench?  I understand the backup catcher issue, but that’s a pretty big spot in the game to just shrug your shoulders and sing Que Sera.  Davey Johnson will be the death of me.
• It was cool to see Ryan Braun on the bench with the team even though he is hurt and won’t play until at least the next round, if at all.  The thing that keeps bringing me back to the WBC is the fact that the players seem to care, even if the manager doesn’t.
• I enjoyed the bit of craftiness by Shane Victorino in the bottom on the 7th, allowing a throw from right field to deflect off of him while he was standing at 2nd base.  The ball kicked away and allowed him to advance to third.  He wasn’t able to score, but its things like that that make me love Shane.  He defines scrappy.  Even the Met-loving teenagers that I coach here in New York don’t dispute that.
• Speaking of the Mets, it was certainly their night in South Florida.  Carlos Beltran robbed Brian McCann of a solo homer that would have given Team USA the lead in the top of the 4th.  This, of course, after Delgado tied it with a 2-run homer in the top of the inning.  Nelson Figueroa, Pedro Feliciano, and JJ Putz all pitched well in relief.  And then there was David Wright winning the game in the ninth.  I would never say this out loud, but from watching Wright play in this tournament, he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy.  Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts Mets fans.  April (and then September) will be here before you know it.
• I’ve enjoyed the new MLB Network so far, but the announcing team of Matt Vasgersian, Harold Reynolds, and Al Leiter doesn’t really work.  And it’s because of Harold Reynolds.  I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, and he doesn’t personally annoy me, but I think that the problem is that he annoys the other two guys that he works with.  I’ve never heard so many awkward silences and unfinished stories in a single broadcast.
• Finally, Chipper Jones is a jackass.  He may have a valid point in his criticism of the WBC format, but his comments about Toronto were unnecessary and kinda just stupid.  He says that Toronto is “no Vegas” and if by that he means that Toronto is not just an over-caffeinated strip mall then I guess he’s right.  Toronto is one of the three best cities in North America and if Chipper couldn’t figure out a way to entertain himself there for a week I don’t know what to tell him.  It’s no wonder the rest of the world hates us when all they hear are the poorly conceived thought abortions from the uncultured rednecks among us.  But then again, I hate Chipper Jones for no apparent reason as well.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that if anyone wants to pay me to take a vacation in Toronto you know where to find me.

After my rant yesterday, it was nice to see manager Davey Johnson manage this game like he actually cared about winning, putting some runners in motion early when it was still a contest.  It remains to be seen whether the US will have the wherewithal to be competitive in their next game against the Venezuela/DR loser.

Congratulations to The Netherlands for putting up such a fight in the WBC and making it further than anyone could have expected.  I caught three of their five games in this tournament and they were by far the most fun team to watch, winning with pitching and defense and finding runs where they could.  I look forward to seeing the progress they make in the next WBC.  Here are my other thoughts on the game:

• I cannot emphasize enough that Jimmy Rollins needs to be in the lineup every game from here on out.  Team USA is much better when he is in there.  Witness his diving double play in the top of the 2nd to keep runs off the board, and his 2 for 4 at the plate with a HR, 3B, and 4 RBI.  He should never, ever be on the bench for this team.  Now that Chipper Jones has been sent home and Derek Jeter can DH, let’s hope that Davey Johnson comes to his senses.
• Brian Roberts had a terrific day for the US, in his first game in the lineup replacing Dustin Pedroia.  He went 3 for 3 and scored 2 runs.  I sort of indirectly criticised him yesterday, but I was more angry about the kid glove treatment the team was getting than Roberts himself.  He’s good, and I like what he brings to the team.  I can’t believe he’s stuck in Baltimore.
• Randall Simon made a terrific diving, rolling catch and sort of heaved the ball home in the bottom of the 5th with Team USA up 6-0.  Simon isn’t the most athletic guy around and the play wasn’t as pretty as it was gritty, but it was a microcosm of how the Dutch played all tourney.  If he doesn’t make that play, The Netherlands probably gets mercy-ruled in this one.
• Adam Dunn hit another HR in this one, and his defense has been better than advertised in this tournament.  He’s made some nice plays out there in right.  I continue to enjoy his work.  I’m not looking forward to seeing him play the Phillies 19 times a year with Washington, not so much because he is a really good player as that I don’t want to see him depressed in a Nats uniform.
• Things got a little heated in the 8th, after Dutch leftfielder Bryan Engelhardt hit Matt Lindstrom’s first pitch into the rightfield seats for a HR.  Lindstrom did not appreciate Engelhardt’s posing and promptly fired his next pitch two feet behind the following hitter.  Several of the Dutch came out of the dugout and did some screaming and posturing, but things didn’t really escalate.  That was fun.  The Netherlands actually seemed fired up after that, but the deficit was too much to overcome at that point.
• Brian McCann played an inning in leftfield for Team USA in the ninth.  I’m sure the Braves were thrilled about that.

So will it it be worth it to watch Team USA in their next game Tuesday night, or will I end up disappointed like I was last night.  I guess there’s only one way to find out, but let’s just say I’m hoping for the best.

Puerto Rico, like Venezuela last game, won tonight because they wanted it more than we did.  Their manager managed to win the game, and the players played to win the game.  Our manager managed to let everyone get their work in and our players played in handcuffs.  Let me repeat, I believe that our players want to win and are giving maximum effort.  But when it was clear tonight that Jake Peavy just did not have his best stuff, acting manager Barry Larkin left him in there to get beat around rather than lifting him for Ted Lilly or Jeremy Guthrie because it wasn’t their day to pitch.  Meanwhile, Puerto Rican pitcher Javier Vazquez cruised through 5 innings and when it came time to turn the game over to the bullpen, manager Jose Oquendo played the matchups and pitched the guys he thought gave them the best chance to win.  The same thing happened against Venezuela.  Both Venezuela and PR have a roster full of major leaguers who presumably need to be babied as much as the Americans.  But those teams, along with every other team in the tournament except us, are playing to win.  We, for some reason, make sure all of our pitchers stick to a schedule and continue with the Rollins/Jeter debacle at shortstop.  You know what?  If these guys care about this tournament as much as they say they do, move Rollins or Jeter to 2nd in place of the injured Dustin Pedroia instead of bringing Brian Roberts in to an environment he isn’t used to.  But then again, maybe coming from Orioles spring training, he already is.

Now there’s a decent chance that Team USA can beat The Netherlands tomorrow, and even a chance they could knock off the loser of the Puerto Rico/Venezuela game and advance to the semi-final.  But unless the way they are managed changes, they can’t win.  All the effort in the world can’t make up for a manager that is going through the motions.  And it’s a shame, because for those of us who were desperate for baseball in March and were sucked into this exhibition under false pretenses, all we are going to be left with is disappointment.  How soon is April 5th?

• The US lost this game because for some reason they couldn’t get to Victor Zambrano.  They realize that guy is terrible, right?
• Speaking of terrible, I certainly hope Team USA doesn’t get into a situation where Ted Lilly or Jeremy Guthrie have to start a meaningful game.  Neither one of those two looked very good tonight, each catching too much of the plate with too many pitches.
• It was nice of Davy Johnson to take my advice and DH Derek Jeter.  I hope this continues into the next round, but I’m sure it won’t.  Chipper Jones is due back, but he didn’t hit anything in the first round.  By the way, did you see Jeter sell that he got hit by a pitch that replays showed was fouled off in the 7th inning?  It’s the little things like that that earn Jeter the reputation he has around the league.  The guy just wins. (Well, except tonight.)
• The Venezuelan fans sang Happy Birthday to Bobby Abreu during his first at bat.  That was a nice touch.  I thoroughly enjoyed the way the Venezuelans supported their team during the first round.  Can’t say the same for the Americans.  Hopefully that will change in Miami, but I can’t imagine it will.
• If you told me Marco Scutaro was in the WBC and made me bet my life on which country he represented, I absolutely would have guessed Italy.    I mean, Marco Scutaro.  That has to be Italian, right?  Right?  Fine, let’s just move on…
• Finally, this doesn’t have anything to do with USA/Venezuela, but how great was it to watch Jose Reyes and the Dominicans choke against the Netherlands?  Twice.  Actually I don’t have anything against any of the other Dominicans, I just love watching Jose Reyes lose.  Also, If K-Rod is seriously going to celebrate like that when he saves games for the Mets, he and I are going to have problems this year.  So many hatable guys on that Mets team.

The other story that I am really intrigued by this spring (which I’ve read in several different places) is that of Chan Ho Park and his quest to become our 5th starter.  Many guys in baseball demand a role for selfish reasons, but Park is pushing hard to start instead of relieve for his homeland, South Korea.  Park is a national hero in Korea, and when he announced that he would not pitch for his country in the WBC this year, he did so with tears in his eyes.  In 1998, when Chan Ho was in his prime, the Korean economy was struggling.  When Park would pitch every 5th day for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was an opportunity for his countrymen to put their problems on the back burner for about 3 hours and watch one of their own pitch on the highest level.  Now, with much of the world (including South Korea) facing difficult economic times, Park would like to provide that same diversion for his people every 5th day once again.  Philadelphia was the only club that would provide Park the opportunity to compete for a starting job this offseason after pitching well in a long relief role last year in LA.  It is for this reason that I have written that I think Park could have a very good year for us as a starter, and I still hope he wins the spot.  Right now, it looks like a two man race between him and JA Happ (Kyle Kendrick pitched poorly again today), so we’ll have to see how things shake out over the next few weeks.

• The 5th starter job may be a two man race. Chan Ho Park and JA Happ have pitched very well in their outings since Rich Dubee declared that he would officially begin evaluating the competition.  Kyle Kendrick still has not sufficiently developed the secondary pitches to compliment his sinker and does not appear poised on the mound.  He could be headed for the minors or even out of the organization.  Carlos Carrasco appears to be in need of more seasoning as well.
• A few non-roster relievers are pitching like they want a spot. Gary Majewski appears to be the best of the bunch, and probably has the best chance to make the roster as he is left-handed.  He’s only 29 and just 2 seasons (and an arm injury, unfortunately) removed from being a very effective reliever for Washington.  Dave Borkowski, Robert Mosebach, and Mike Koplove all look good as well.
• John Mayberry continues to hit. If he keeps it up, he has to make this team.  We can use Matt Stairs or Geoff Jenkins, we don’t need both.
• We’ve heard this song before, but Ryan Howard looks good this spring. Now that his money issues are out of the way, I am optimistic that he doesn’t murder us with a slow start and finishes with a batting average around .275
• Some of the injured guys get back tomorrow. Pedro Feliz, Brad Lidge, and Chad Durbin could all see some action Wednesday, and Chris Coste played two innings yesterday.  No word on when we will see Chase Utley this spring, but the team is still thinking he’ll be in the lineup Opening Day.  Carlos Ruiz is back from the WBC tomorrow, and his neck should be fine.

• I mentioned yesterday how this tournament would be lots more fun if the pitchers were in midseason form.  I feel even more strongly about that today.  Both Roy Oswalt and Armando Galarraga were gassed by the fourth inning, and pitch counts be damned I would have much rather seen the two pitchers duke it out in an old fashioned 3-2 duel than a 15-6 slop fest.  I like the WBC idea so much that I actually think it would be cool to take 2-3 weeks off  every 4 years during the regular season (like an extended all-star break) and have everyone participate in top form.  It works for hockey with the Olympics, but nobody in baseball will ever go for this.  Eh, C’est la vie.
• Even though the hitters are pissed off about it, I like that the umps have a generous strike zone in these games.  Anything that enhances the possibility of a starter going deeper in the game is okay by me.
• Watching Jimmy Rollins in a different context makes me appreciate him even more.  He had three terrific at bats tonight and is the best defender on the field for Team USA.  He is the most charismatic and likable guy on that team.  Just as with the Phillies, he is the catalyst for the United States.
• That being said, this nonsense with the shortstop position has to stop.  Derek Jeter has looked really good so far and deserves to play too, but let them each play nine innings a game.  Coming out after their third at bat has to be frustrating for both players, and is especially impractical because Rollins is a much better defender than Jeter.  You want Rollins in there late in games.  Hopefully Davy Johnson changes this as the stakes are raised in Round 2.
• With Chipper Jones scuffling a bit (and now possibly injured), why not have Jeter DH?  He deserves to be in the lineup, but Jimmy is the superior defender.  I think our best lineup is this:  Rollins SS, Jeter DH, Youklis 1B, Wright 3B, Dunn RF, Braun LF, McCann C, Victorino CF, Pedroia 2B.  This the is lineup I’d use in the championship game.  Late in the game I’d put Granderson in CF and move Victorino to RF for defense, and possibly replace Braun with DeRosa late as well.  But that’s just me.
• I don’t get to see these guys every day, but I love watching Kevin Youkilis and Adam Dunn.  I’m pretty sure they coined the expression “full of piss and vinegar” for Youkilis.  He always seems to be scowling and muttering curse words under his breath.  I love it.  But what’s up with that facial hair?  It’s a neatly trimmed goatee, but then there is a horrendously long soul patch.  It looks like he lost a bet.
• Dunn, on the other hand, is the exact opposite.  He seems to always be making jokes and keeping everybody loose.  His passion for the game has been questioned at times, but he really seems to be enjoying himself.  I guess I’d lose some of my passion for the game too if I spent almost my entire career in Cincinnati.  I think he’d be great on a good team.  Too bad he just signed up to play in Washington for the next two seasons.  Yikes.
• The US might have played the toughest first two games of anyone in the tournament.  It seems like all the other contenders got at cupcake in one of their first two games.  Canada and Venezuela have legitimately good lineups but will be undone by their pitching.  I’m interested to see their game on Tuesday to see who advances.  Provided, of course, that Canada can get by Italy.  I’m betting they do.
• Though the crowd was not nearly as robust as it was when Canada played, Venezuelan fans traveled respectably well and made the game exciting when the outcome was still in question early.  I think there were four college kids getting drunk and chanting USA! USA!  This is unacceptable.  I don’t know how much tickets cost, but you’re telling me there weren’t people in Western New York with nothing better to do than spend a weekend in Toronto and enjoy some baseball?  Toronto might be the third best city in North America!  Hopefully Team USA will be better supported in Miami for round two, but this is doubtful considering how well Marlins games are attended.  Support our boys South Florida!

See you Wednesday.  Or Tuesday.  Or maybe sooner if something happens with the Phillies.