World Baseball Classic 2023 (Expansion Era All-Star Edition)
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POOL D - Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
Bryce Harper took Bob Gibson deep – twice – as USA Mountain (1-1) upset USA Midwest (0-1). John Denny hurled a complete game, allowing seven hits and two walks with nary a strikeout to be found on his ledger.
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POOL C - LoanDepot Park, Miami, Florida
The Great Lakes (2-0) put on the biggest offensive display of the tournament thus far pounding out nine runs on 14 hits to defeat the Southeast (1-1). Scott Rolen and Mike Schmidt homered and Ted Simmons knocked in three runs to lead the charge.
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POOL B - Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
The offensive fireworks continued as Puerto Rico (3-1) demolished Canada (1-2), clinching spots in the quarterfinals for both themselves and Mexico. Bernie Williams and Mike Lowell homered and drove in a combined seven runs for PR; Larry Walker hit a grand slam for Canada, while Freddie Freeman also homered, but continued to struggled at third base, committing his third and fourth errors of the tournament (his fielding percentage is .636).
Through 26 games the overall batting average is .213; ERA, 3.62 and fielding, .976.
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POOL D - Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
Eddie Murray’s fourth inning grand slam gave the West (2-0) a lead they never relinquished as Trevor Hoffman and Dennis Eckersley provided shutdown relief. Starters Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson combined for 11 walks. Southwest falls to 1-1.
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POOL C - LoanDepot Field, Miami, Florida
Joe Torre of USA Metro (1-1) broke open the game in the third with a bases-loaded triple (after an intentional walk, no less) putting USA New England (1-2) at a deficit they could not overcome.
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POOL B - Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
Host Canada (2-2) closed out their tournament and evened their record on Jason Bay’s fourth inning grand slam. Starter Moe Drabowsky of winless Europa (0-4) walked seven and hit a batter in 3.1 innings pitched.
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POOL B - Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
Michael Young ended the tournament’s longest game with a 13th inning two-run homer off Johan Santana as Mexico ended pool play undefeated.
POOL B FINAL Standings
4-0 Mexico
3-1 Puerto Rico
2-2 Canada
1-3 Venezuela
0-4 EuropaMexico will play Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals; Puerto Rico faces Israel.
ALL-TORONTO TEAM
C Martin CAND .500-0-0 2R
1B Cabrera VENZ .357-0-0 1R
2B Young MXCO .143-1-2 GW HR (2B hit .95 collectively)
3B Lowell PRCO .750-1-4
SS Garciaparra MXCO .357-1-1 5R
OF Clemente PRCO .333-3-4
OF Ethier MXCO .462-2-4
OF Walker CAND .333-1-6
SP Figueroa PRCO 1-0 0.00 1-hit CG shutout -
POOL D - Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
Cody Bellinger’s three-run homer in the sixth lifted USA Mountain (2-1) to a come-from-behind win as defending champ USA Northwest (0-2) falls precariously close to elimination.
On deck: USA Mid-Atlantic (Matlack) vs. USA Southeast (Verlander) @ Miami
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POOL C - LoanDepot Field, Miami, Florida
George BRETT’s eighth-inning single over second drove in Willie RANDOLPH and Ozzie SMITH to give USA Southeast (2-1) the victory. USA Mid-Atlantic (1-2) took a first-inning lead in the first on Reggie Jackson’s HR but Southeast rocked Justin Verlander for six runs in the fourth. Mid-Atlantic notched a pair of runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie it, before Brett’s base hit off MA closer Bruce Sutter.
WP-Kevin Brown (1-0) LP-Jack McDowell (0-1) Sv-Billy Wagner (2)
HR- Reggie Jackson, (1), Cal Ripken (1), Chipper Jones (1) -
Got distracted by the actual WBC and fell behind on posting but completed the tournament today.
Pools results:
*Israel advances to quarterfinals based on run differential
** Dominican Republic beat the Americas 4-0 in one game playoff to advance; Pedro Martinez pitched a four-hit shutout.
*Great Lakes defeated Southeast 7-5 on Mike Schmidt’s seventh-inning HR; and New England (which received bye based on run diff.) 4-3 in 13 innings, to advance to quarterfinals.
HIGHLIGHT: Kevin Appier, CC Sabathia and Trevor Hoffman of the West combined to no-hit the Northwest, 2-0 (my first in APBA GO after 800+ games).
ON DECK: The quarterfinals.
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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC Final
Can’t match Ohtani vs. Trout but I did have a thrilling finale for my tournament.
The Dominican Republic, on a roll since its stunning opening game loss to Israel, faced USA Metro, fresh off an upset win over USA West in the U.S. bracket. Johnny Cueto on the hill for the DR with Metro calling on steady southpaw John Tudor.
Metro got on the board in the second with Craig Biggio doubling home Rico Petrocelli.
Back-to-back doubles by Manny Ramirez and Vladimir Guerrero evened things in the top of the fourth.
The bottom of the fourth got wacky. Alex Rodriguez led off with a double and Petrocelli singled him home. Ken Singleton walked to put runners at first and second. Cueto proceeded to hit THREE straight batters — Biggio, Derek Jeter and Mike Trout) to force in two more runs giving Metro a 4-1 lead.
Things stayed quiet until the ninth when David Ortiz hit a three-run homer off Orel Hershiser to tie the game. Pedro Martinez retired Metro 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning to send the game into extras.
In the bottom of the tenth with one out, Singleton blasted a home run to right giving USA Metro the WBC Championship. Singleton hit .476 with 3 HRs and five RBI in the tournament and was named MVP for his heroics, edging out USA West’s Jeff Kent (.348-4-10) and the DR’s Ortiz (.250-4-9).
Hiroki Kuroda of Asia threw the most scoreless innings (14), six pitchers recorded two wins (including Metro’s Hershsier and John Candelaria), Joaquin Benoit of the DR posted the most saves (2) and Fernando Valenzuela of Mexico led all pitchers with 17 strikeouts.
