quote:

Originally posted by Shamez214 I think the Dominican team is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY overrated. I mean... who is their ace? Jose Lima?

Bartolo Colon, whom I'm not a big fan of. Francisco Liriano is a top pitching prospect for Minnesota. Odalis Perez is decent. Fernando Rodney is a decent reliever with Detroit. A few more guys I've heard of and some periphery no-namers. In this competition, pitching that is more game ready will definitely be so important. Without Vlad, their fearsome lineup isn't as imposing but still the best.

Everyone agrees USA's bullpen is by far the best. Venezuela has Santana, Zambrano, and Garcia with Abreu, Victor Martinez, and Miguel Cabrera supplying the offense.

1. USA
2. Venezuela
3. Dominicans
4. Japan (comes back from loss to S. Korea)

Venezuela vs. Dominican R. is on Tuesday at 1 p.m. eastern. I'm working so one of the most intriguing matchups of the whole thing will be missed.

Weird seeing Beltran/Delgado for Puerto Rico playing the Mets right now. Even funnier if one of the Mets minor league guys would drill them.

I don't think A Rod, Derrek Lee, Mark Teixeira, Chase Utley, Michael Young, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, a healthy Griffey is overrated. Nor a bullpen featuring Lidge, Nathan, and Street (in the top 7 closers in MLB).

Starting pitching is probably 2nd best in the competition with Peavy, Clemens, and Dontrelle Willis. Not bad in my mind. It's all about how game ready they are and how much they care. I can see the U.S. losing because people in Venezuela take it so much more seriously.

___________________
Yankees
Rams
Blazers
Man U
Oregon Ducks

Judging soley by rosters, I think it comes down to US and Venezuela. Of course there could be upsets, but those two teams are stacked.

___________________
*can't imagine it feelin' much better...
i wish it would just last forever.
and so, to feel like that?
i'd pay any price just to get that back.*

USA, Dominicans, Puerto Rico and Japan will be my final 4...and I know nothing about baseball

Strange that none of you guys mentioned Cuba. No one really knows what to expect from that team. They are the world champions after all, even if they haven't been measured up against professionals yet.

My bet is on Puerto Rico though...for obvious reasons.


I'm going tonight to the opening game in San Juan: PR v. Panama. Can't wait!

quote:

Originally posted by Pio Strange that none of you guys mentioned Cuba. No one really knows what to expect from that team. They are the world champions after all, even if they haven't been measured up against professionals though. My bet is on Puerto Rico though...for obvious reasons.

do they have the defectors on that team?

quote:

Originally posted by InterMilan31 do they have the defectors on that team?

No way! They're all coming straight up from the island.

Maybe we'll get a few defectors from that team after the series is over.

And you can count on them having great players that we know absolutely nothing about yet. Cuba is a baseball powerhouse.

quote:

Originally posted by Pio No way! They're all coming straight up from the island. Maybe we'll get a few defectors from that team after the series is over. And you can count on them having great players that we know absolutely nothing about yet. Cuba is a baseball powerhouse.

ok thats probably why then...I mean the defectors having been all that great but do any of us even the experts now anything about this team....with that being said I hope they suprise peeps :P

Big Papi with the first HR and RBI of the Dominican Republic vs Venezuela game

___________________
Cities clubbed in:
North America: NYC, Miami, Boston, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, DC,
Baltimore, Atlanta, Philly, Toronto, Montreal, San Juan, Columbus, Seattle,
Vancouver, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Las Vegas
Rest of world: Ibiza, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei,
Zagreb, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro

Dominicans vs. Venezuela today. 11-5 Dom's.

Carlos Zambrano got annihilated even though his third pitch went 99 mph. Big Papi and Adrian Beltre hit 2 deep. Maybe Beltre will bounce back this year. Colon was shutting people out. But the pitch count rule took out Johan Santana who went 3 1/3 innings with 5 K's. But he threw 61 pitches, that's a lot for just over 3 innings. As such, Miguel Batista got hammered coming in. Dominican hitting overcame Venezuela pitching for this game.

___________________
Yankees
Rams
Blazers
Man U
Oregon Ducks

Miguel Cabrera is amazing...

Big Papi already has proven he's incredible, just re-enforced it today...

and Adrian Beltre proved how stupid it was to sign with Safeco Park... moron...

___________________
lance

I hope Japan wins. Or South Africa.

___________________
*can't imagine it feelin' much better...
i wish it would just last forever.
and so, to feel like that?
i'd pay any price just to get that back.*