Thanks to Hansioux for his persistence in posting info about the World Cup, which I’ve had no time to try and update. The U.S. team, which has some pretty good mix of vets and up and coming minor league talent, lost to Venezuela 13-9 despite a 2HR 4-for-6 performance by Rangers prospect Justin Smoak. Good to see former Hanwha Eagle Cedric Bowers getting into the game for the U.S.
Actually, there were a few surprises in the Sept. 10 action with Canada drubbing South Korea 9-1 and Japan narrowly beating the mighty U.K. 11-9. Mexico also trounced Chinese Taipei 8-0.
There’s coverage on the IBAF site, but if you want something much much better check out what CBS has going on for the event — live game updates with graphics in the range of the 21st century.
There have been a few previews for the event. Here’s some Cuban coverage, and here’s some extended news and notes from the first day of action. The Baseball World Cup site is streaming selected games…here’s that link and schedule info.
13 responses so far ↓
1 John Brooks // Sep 11, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Anyone wants a replica watch? Thought the spam shredder eat that one up? haha, you’ll be surprised at the price.
2 Shinsano // Sep 11, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Funny, I just deleted those and then thought “hmm, wonder what John Brooks has to say about the World Cup.”
3 DJ // Sep 12, 2009 at 5:17 am
Yeah, I’ve been meaningto Hansioux this event myself. According to MLB.com, the Regensburg and Stockholm venues have seens some decent sized crowds, so this is definitely a tournament that’s getting some interest.
Mister Baseball was, as always, on the scene with some decent previews of the opening rounds. See, for example, these:
http://www.mister-baseball.com/preview-2009-baseball-world-cup-pool-prague-czech-republic/
http://www.mister-baseball.com/preview-baseball-world-cup-pool-sundbyberg-sweden/
http://www.mister-baseball.com/preview-2009-baseball-world-cup-pool-barcelona-spain/
And MLB.com itself led off with this:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090905&content_id=6811058&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
4 Marc // Sep 13, 2009 at 12:31 am
Highlights from four games, including Korea-Sweden and USA-Germany: http://www.youtube.com/user/IBAFBWC
5 DJ // Sep 13, 2009 at 7:36 am
Those video highlights are worth checking out. I especially liked the Cuba-Spain video. Cuba had to come from behind to win the game on an 8th inning 2-run homerun. It would have been a 3-run homer if one of the excitable Cuban players hadn’t passed his comrade on the basepath.
The USA-Germany blowout is fun to watch to see the large crowd.
6 Shinsano // Sep 13, 2009 at 8:41 am
Interesting, both Japan and Korea lost…to Nicaragua and Netherland-Antilies respectively. They’re into the second round though…along with pretty much everyone else except Germany.
7 Shinsano // Sep 13, 2009 at 11:42 am
Looks like the attendance has been good…
http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3540:attendance-up-for-round-1-of-baseball-world-cup&catid=51:ncaa-baseball&Itemid=93
8 Marc // Sep 13, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I was really impressed by the German setup. The field looks fantastic, and crowds have been double that of anywhere else in the tournament. Too bad its over for them now. At least they’ve got the European Championships next year.
9 Shinsano // Sep 13, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I was thinking that too as soon as I posted that last thing…too bad the Germans are out.
I thought the setup in Sweden looked legit as well, and one of the items I read was talking about how yesterday’s game outdrew a local soccer game. Assuming it was some kind of pro league and not like the beer league game I just walked by near my apartment.
10 MArc // Sep 14, 2009 at 12:48 am
Jahn Regensburg is a third level team in Germany.
11 Shinsano // Sep 15, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Spain upsets Ven. Wow. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=6418
12 Marc // Sep 19, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Taiwan gets hammered by the US 14-3, and Puerto Rico upsets Cuba 5-2.
13 Shinsano // Sep 20, 2009 at 8:51 am
There’s one more team that can move on in Group F and it’s going to be a 2-4 team. I’ve been kind of rooting for Nicaragua, but they have a tough game vs. Puerto Rico. It could end up being Venezuela, who after beating the US have had a terrible time.
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