The World Baseball Classic technically started last week when teams from Japan, Korea, China and Chinese Taipei duked it out to see which two got to fly to North America for the quarterfinals. As much fun as it was to root on Fukudome at 4 in the morning, chances are that today is going to be your first full exposure to Bud Selig’s phoney baloney global baseball tournament.
That’s the big criticism, right? That baseball just made this up. They just decided to hold a tournament and to try to make lots of money.
Right, because that’s so much better than any of the other phoney baloney tournaments we do have geniuine interest in. Is anything more phoney baloney than the Olympics? So what, a 100 years ago some French guy decided to cash in on a sporting event to “honor” the phoney baloney one the Greeks had concocted an epoch earlier? (Yeah, yeah, epoch isn’t correctly used there, but it sounds cool, huh?)
The Super Bowl was a phoney baloney exhibition game between two rival football leagues and that turned out all right.
Even our beloved World Series and NCAA men’s basketball tournament were concieved as a way to put a little cash in somebody’s pocket.
The idea of a World Baseball Classic is a great one. The execution? Well, we’ll see.
March is kind of a lousy time to have it, with regard to how much attention it’ll get and how ready the players might be. (But come on, it’s baseball! We’re not asking these guys to run a marathon every day for 18 straight days.)
The citizenship rules are a little loose. Mike Piazza playing for Italy? ESPN says that the Italians invited Mike Mussina, too, and it turns out Mussina’s not even Italian.
But what’s the harm? So somebody might get hurt? Guys get hurt in spring training all the time. Ryne Sandberg broke his hand in one, and he wasn’t playing in an international tournament. He was just playing in another boring Cactus League game. Marty Cordova sunburned himself out of the lineup once. Some Indians’ pitchers went fishing on an off day and…uh…
Plus, maybe somebody we don’t like will get hurt. Maybe Albert Pujols will lose both legs in a tragic lawn mower accident at the Disney Wide World of Sports park? See, this has potential upside!
If we didn’t have the World Baseball Classic to distract us, the only things we’d be able to talk about right now would be:
How unsurprised we are that Jerry Hairston got hit in the head and has no ill-effects. No brain, no headache.
How unsurprised we are that Mark Prior hasn’t pitched to an actual batter yet. I don’t believe the Cubs anymore than the next guy when it comes to, well, anything…but I distinctly remember last year that Larry Rothschild said he was going to put Mark on a pitching program unlike every other Cubs’ pitcher, one that would bring him along slower than everybody else. This was said in the wake of Prior missing most of last spring training, making only one Cactus League appearance and missing his first start of the season. The whole idea was that (whether this is true or not) Prior puts so much torque on his arm that getting him up to speed in late February is too much, too soon. Sounds plausible. Some pitchers won’t throw a curveball until their third start of the spring for much the same reason.
So here we are, in the next spring training and the Cubs are doing what Larry said they would do.
However, I don’t blame anyone who is skeptical of this. Until we see if this works, or proves to have been the real reason, we should all be skeptical. It could be that Larry’s blathering last spring about approaching the spring differently for Prior simply turned out to be a convienience when it came to having him arrive in camp injured or otherwise this spring. We don’t know.
So why are we worrying about this now? If he’s hurt, they’ll be plenty of time for hand-wringing and more than enough time for us to light our torches and grab our pitchforks.
In the meantime, we can watch Venezuela and the Dominican today at noon on ESPN, and the US and Mexico on ESPN2 at three.
Hey, it beats the towel drill, doesn’t it?
On to more important matters, a couple of years ago, EA Sports convinced the NFL and the NFLPA that they’d be better off getting a boatload of cash from one developer than to sell the rights to use NFL logos and players images and names, than by selling them off non-exclusively to four or five different video game makers. This was great for fans of the Madden series.
Baseball followed suit and sold their rights exclusively to the makers of the 2K series, which effectively put a bullet in the head of EA’s quickly improving MVP series. Touche.
So what’s a video game player to do with baseball season approaching? Do we really have to wait until 2K comes out with their newest installment in two weeks?
Surprisingly, no. A loophole in the deals allows the actual console makers (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) to continue to make their own games while using the league and players’ association rights.
Thankfully, Sony revamped it’s struggling MLB franchise last year, so instead of waiting aroundto see if 2K can fix all of the problems they had with last year’s game, you can jump right to MLB 06: The Show. It’s in stores now, as they say.
And, it’s pretty damn good.
While MVP had my favorite non-Cubs announcing team working the game, the Giants’ duo of Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, I was horrified to see that Sony had screwed up their solid booth of former Brewers (and XFL) announcer Matt Vasgersian (who came thisclose to getting the job that went to Len Kasper–and the poor guy has to continue to work in miserable San Diego, boo hoo) and Desipio favorite Dave Campbell, by adding the world’s third most annoying announcer, Rex Hudler to the mix.
Hud is thankfully relegated to actual third string duty in this game, limiting his annoyance factor. Vasgersian is tremendous. He belongs in the video game broadcaster Hall of Famer with Brad Nessler and the robot voice from the old Joe Montana Sega football game.
As we learned when Al Michaels proved it to us, announcing for video games is not that easy. Nessler’s the best, and Vasgersian’s a close second. Sony has a ludicrous amount of commentary in this game, and Vasgersian’s, especially is seamless.
The game itself has all of the necessary things. It has very up to date rosters for a new release, and they even were on top of some last minute number changes (Ken Griffey Jr’s switch from 30 to 3, JT Snow wearing 84 to honor his dad, Ronny Cedeno giving 11 to Jock Jones…) which means less tweaking for us when we get the game. It has season mode, franchise mode (where you get to be Andy McPhail and wear a sweater vest and jack up bleacher seat prices every year), a rivalry mode where you and your buddies can keep track of your stats against each other for every game you ever play.
But the thing that has jumped out most for me are all of the little things. First, they stole the “golf” meter pitching from MVP (which I’m glad they did) and theirs is better. On MVP you aimed where you wanted your pitch to end up and threw to a spot. With this one, you aim where you’re starting your pitch. Huh?
OK if you throw a fastball, it’s pretty much straight so you pick a spot and try to hit it. But if you’re throwing a slider or a curve, you have to take the break into account when you aim. I found this out the hard way when Michael Barrett chased every Carlos Zambrano slider to the backstop. I was aiming where I wanted the pitch to end up and that’s where Carlos was starting his slider. Oops.
That’s actually kind of a big thing. But I like the small details. The scoreboards actually work, which becomes apparent on replays (though one big problem they have is on replays of home runs when you see the scoreboard the score has already changed). Some players will actually shuffle their feet and jump over the fioul lines on their way off the field. Outfielders who chase after foul balls into the stands will disgustedly slap the fence with their glove. Players stop to argue with umpires on close plays at first base and home plate. Some secondbasemen take throws from the shortstop barehanded to try to turn double plays. Hitters have their own home run “poses.” Yes, the Jock Jones pose is in the game. The best Cubs’ one is E-ramis, who does his signature, two handed bat flip when he jacks one. Cover boy David Ortiz’s high finish is in the game, and Gary Sheffield punches out fans in right field when the Yankees are in Boston. OK, maybe not.
In a game I played last night, Todd Walker took a routine grounder and threw the ball into the stands. So the realism is there.
It’s harder to warm guys up in the bullpen than in MVP. In MVP if you scored in the bottom of the eighth or top of the ninth, you could immediately send your closer to the bullpen mound and even if the next hitter ended the inning on the next pitch, the closer was ready. Not in MLB 06. You’ll end up sending your pitching coach out to chat with your current pitcher to try to kill enough time to get your closer ready. You have to think ahead, which is pretty cool.
There are some annoying things, of course. The mere existence of Hudler is unnecessary, though maybe later on in the season he’ll get busted with weed in his carry on bag, again?
Ken Griffey Jr and Jerry Hairston Jr have “Griffey Jr” and “Hairston Jr” on their uniforms.
When you use manual fielding every pop up looks like it’s being caught by Todd Hundley. If you can get straight under one of those things consistenly, you are a better man than I.
Throws are hard to load if you use assisted fielding, and sometimes you end up eating the ball on what should have been a routine play.
Players running back on flyballs will catch everything like Willie Mays. Even if they’ve stopped running they just reach up over their head to make the catch. Kind of like how Matt Murton tries to do it in real life.
Scott Williamson is filthy. Every time I’ve brought him in his splitter is unbelievable. The Cubs should try to trade real Scott Williamson for video game Scott Williamson.
Outfielders will jump to snag homers or foul balls heading down the lines into the stands, no matter how high the wall is. Watching Juan Pierre try to scale the 20 foot wall in left center in Cincinnati for a ball that landed six rows back was a little sad, actually.
Another cool thing is the ability to hit a button while you’re batting to change your view so you can see where the infielders are playing. If either corner plays back on Juan, you just push or drag your bunt your way to a hit. Last night I checked and Adam Dunn was way back at first. Juan bunted, it went foul and sure enough on the next pitch Dunn was playing in. Juan ripped one past him to the second base side that he would have had if he was back in his normal spot.
Anyway, if you were bummed that MVP Baseball disappeared (I have the college version, which plays better than any previous MVP, but it’s still college baseball…), try out MLB 06.
Neidermeyer! Dead!
Womer! Dead!
Marmalard! Dead!
Puckett…
Neifi doesn’t want to sit the bench. I agree. How about he play every day…in Iowa?
Dusty’s tired of the media wondering about Mark Prior, dude. Well, dude. Get him on the mound and the media can go back to worrying about Kerry Wood.
Ooh! Dave Kaplan is the kind of women’s and mid major basketball!
Andy MacPhail says that without Kirby, he’d have as many World Series titles as…Ron Santo.
Guh. E-ramis has a finger infection. Gee, wonder what he was doing Sunday night? Kerry Wood threw 25 pitches then left to have knee surgery. Huh? Wait. I thought the knee surgery was going to set back his rehab because they were worried that after the surgery he’d compensate and put too much strain on his arm. But it’s OK to have him throw with his knee injury pre-surgery? Huh? I take back what I said earlier. These guys are all unconditionally dopey.
Will Ohman has never seen a deeper bullpen. Yeah, he’s seen so many.
Peter King with an interesting look at Sunday night in the NFL.
Matt Turvey goes behind the boxscore again. I should ask him sometime what’s back there. Probably a mouse carcass and some of Karry’s Wild Turkey empties.
Apparently, if the Sox are going to promote Scotty Fabulous as a gay icon, the Indians are going to go the more conventional route and try to moisten up the ladies over Grady Sizemore.
Sunday Night Baseball just got a little better, but not much. Likeable, but “taken with a huge grain of salt” Hall of Famer Peter Gammons is going to join the crew. Some nights he’ll be in the booth with Jon Miller and the Anti-Christ, where hopefully he can call Joe on his “Banks Boulevard” bullshit, but some nights he’ll be in the stands. Huh? Remember how CBS tried to salvage the Jack Buck-Tim McCarver duo near the end by having Jim Kaat sit in the stands with a mic trying to correct Tim’s dumbassery? Yeah, this won’t work, either.
America’s finest news source with the terms Nick Lachey is seeking in his divorce from Jessica Simpson.
Good Morning Andy,thank you for the dose.
I am not in the starting lineup.
Who is the dumbass manager who is playing Carlos Guillen at first base and Edgardo Alfonso at second? Alfonso couldn’t run down Stephen Hawking, so why play your second shortstop at first when you have a huge hole at second?
Also, I should be catching and DH’ing. Screw Ramon Hernandez and Victor Martinez.
A small family lives in my pants in the offseason.
On XM Radio, Mark Patrick and Steve Lyons are announcing. Lyons says, “Alou’s one of the few players left who doesn’t wear batting gloves.” Patrick says, “Let’s not give the recipe he uses for toughening his hands.”
Is Johan at his pitch count yet? I’m ready to go, mang!
What’s a pitch count?
That home run derby ruined Bobby Abreu for this tournament.
I almost dropped two pop ups last inning. Good thing my sunglasses are on top of my hat.
I tell Johan Santana that if he loses to that $#*@! Pujols and the Dominicans, I keel him.
OK, is now a good time to drill Pujols in the face?
I’m in now, bitches. Rally time is over you Dominican fucks!
Ramon just let the speedy Adrian Beltre steal second base. I could throw Adrian out if I hiked the ball between my legs down to second.
Hey, ESPN is showing my Carribbean World Series heroics!
I’m going to be pitching in the simulated World Baseball Classic, held March 20-August 4.
It’s officially baseball season now. Carlos just struck out Willy Tavares looking, did his point at the sky sprint to the dugout while swearing profusely.
That never gets old.
Kneel bitches!
Nothing says serious tournament like holding up the game while Peter Gammons interviews one of the managers on the field.
Luis Sojo must die. He did not pull Victor Martinez and let me hit.
I’m here to start the Venezuelan rally.
Woo, another double play! Yes, I am having a great day. At least Hank would have struck out to avoid a couple of outs.
Alfonso Soriano is playing pretty shallow out there in right field.
I was going to double off of Pujols’ head.
John Kruk just said this about Soriano, “It’s pretty dumb to trade for a guy to hit 40 homers at second base when you already have one.”
This is so dumb on so many levels.
First, they traded for him to play the outfield, not second.
Second, when did Jose Vidro hit 40 homers? How many seasons are we adding together?
Kruk’s dumb enough to be Jim Bowden.
90 minutes to our miraculous upset of Team USA!
Muahahahahahaha!
Hey with that RBI single my +/- today is back to 0.
Hero time, bitches!
I no like it on the bench. Put me in coach. Tejada’s a hack!
I am a massive idiot.
Moises just made the list.
Where is home plate? I no can find.
Woops.
Three run jack off Carlos by Beltre.
Guh.
I’m not even going to point out how much higher Ramon Hernandez’s catcher ERA is today than mine is.
Why are we dressed as Footlocker employees?
Hey, look: My passer rating is better than Carlos Zambrano’s!
Clearly, we got the memo to pump up all these amazing, rowdy, unbelievably festive “fans”. Karl Ravech is even pretending like this is how it should be.
That’s it. I quit baseball and play soccer now
Somebody please fucking shoot me. Now.
“Latin players have better fundamentals than American ones”.
We still exist in MLB 06! Look here Link
Can you see our city name on the green monster? right hand side.
Looks like Johnny D is still a Red Sock, too.
In the game he’s a Yankee, and when you play as the Yankees in Boston people in the crowd yell at him when he bats.
Oh no, Andy. Haste makes waste!
MLB ’06 may be decent, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt, but 989 Sports have always been the donkey of the sports department of video games.
MLB 2K6 is only two weeks away. It will be pretty much everything that EA’s MVP ’05 was, except with all the expected upgrades. One notable feature is the extension of what scouting can do for you. MVP ’05 allowed you to look at the pitch progressions for each hitter’s previous at-bats, allowing you to see where the opponent has pitched you, and with what pitch. MLB 2K6 goes one step further, and allows you to use scouting to determine what pitch and location is coming NEXT, with determining factors such as pitcher, batter, ballpark, pitch count, etc. Alternatively as a pitcher, you can also use scouting to see what will get an opposing hitter out the easiest (Where is he most likely to swing and miss? Where is he most likely to dribble one for a 4-6-3?).
With next-gen on the horizon, I’ll be staying put with my MVP ’05 until PS3 starts the inevitable apocalypse. However, if I were in the market for this year, I most certainly would be salivating for the arrival of MLB 2K6.
While I’m on this topic, this is as good a time as any to state that I had Wade Miller and Michael Restovich as Cubs way before Donuts Jim ever sniffed ’em out. Of course this led to the Cubs winning the WS in ’05 (my rotation was Zambrano-Prior-Harden-Miller-Lowry), so that snuffs any similarities right there.
The screen shot of the Green Monster comes from a week after I splintered out of Sammy’s bat at Wrigley Field.
That’s right, bitch. I derailed Sandberg’s career on the second pitch he saw in the Spring.
I am the most insane pitcher in this DR-Ven. game. I give up an RBI double to Miguel Cabrera, and then drill Ramon Hernandez with a pitch.
I remember the Jackson pitch like it was yesterday. It did a lot to affect how I grew up after that. Maybe that’s why I’m so pissed?
Nice 3-6-3 after Derek muffed the throw to Derrek.
I’m happier than just about anybody that we have Len Kasper, but golly, that Dave O’Brien, he good. Somebody getting Sutcliffe a beer?
Is Fernando Valenzuela pitching for Mexico?
!
Ding Dong!!!!!
Im back Bitches and Joe Morgan
While Derrek Lee was homering, I lowered my ERA to 63.00 and allowed a hit and a walk. My MLB.com mugshot has mental patient written all over it.
Look at me! I blocked a third strike in the dirt, and did one better than Josh Paul. I actually threw to first base where Derrek Lee made the putout.
Uh, Carlos and Hank, it looks like I’m having a better WBC than either of you!
U S A
Here I am for the save. The last couple save opportunities I had went well, right?
How crazy is our team? Andruw Jones and Randall Simon are representing us. Most of our team comes from an island near Venezuela.
Don’t you people understand that tacos outsold catsup last year?
To be fair, at least we have Dutch passports. The closest Mike Piazza’s ever come to being an Italian citizen was watching “The Sopranos”.
Dear Isahia or however you spell your name,
Please come to Indiana and “coach” the beloved Hoosier. We will never have to worry about your soon to be insignificant team again as long as you are there. WE are looking forward to your arrival.
Welcome
Bring me back!!!!!