[ThePundit]

Empire: I got this off Yahoo:

The United States (1-1) must beat South Africa on Friday or have Mexico lose one of its remaining games to stay alive in the 16-nation tournament.

If Mexico, Canada and the United States finish 2-1, the tie would be broken by fewest runs allowed per inning in competition involving only those three teams. In that case, the United States would advance if Mexico scores at least three runs against Canada on Thursday.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by ThePundit

As Emily Latella (SNL character the late Gilda Radner used to play) used to say: "It just goes to show you..." (I bet Gotham remembers that)

Yes, you would be surprise at the amount of meaningless crap that Gotham has stored in his head...though I am, and always will be a big Bill Murray fan.

[Lefty Noob]

Yep, even if we win Friday, we don't control our own destiny.

Not to play the blame game, but Willis was terrible yesterday and Leiter & Majewski proved why they don't belong on the roster. One wonders if things might have gone a little differently if Sabathia & Wagner were on the hill instead of the dynamic duo there.

[pbald]

No need to worry lefty, US can take Sout Africa easily. Anybody can lose a game, to some extent, that's good, if there was any pressure about coming out of WBC undefeated it's gone now.

Peter.

[Lefty Noob]

Mexico's beating Canada 7-0 in the top of the 4th. That's good for us, right?

[Lefty Noob]

Okay, guys, if we beat South Africa or lose by less than 8 runs, we advance.

Now I know it's still early, and that the game doesn't start for another 3 1/2 hours or so, but...

RALLY CAPS! RALLY CAPS! WE NEED RALLY CAPS!

[MVB]

One hour till game time!!! Let's go team USA!!!

[Lefty Noob]

There ya go, MVB. Get 'em all fired up!

But the game doesn't start until 3:00 pm EST. So don't get 'em all TOO fired up just yet...

[Lefty Noob]

We advance!

U.S. gets a pair of home runs and 7 RBI from Ken Griffey Jr. and 4 1/3 innings of scoreless ball from Roger Clemens. Final score Team USA 17, South Africa 0 in 5 innings. The United States opens Round 2 against Japan on Sunday in Anaheim, with the Mexico - South Korea following afterwards.

[MVB]

Just for those baseball nerds, like myself, here is the game's box score:

USA Team:

LF- Damon, 0-3 ( BB, R)
SS- Jeter, 3-3 ( 3B, BB, RBI, 4R)
CF- Griffey, 4-4 ( 2HR, 2R, 7RBI)
3B- Rodriguez, 3-4 ( 2B, RBI, 3R)
DH- C. Jones, 1-4 (R)
1B- Lee, 2-3 ( HBP, 2B, 3R, HR, 4RBI)
2B- Utley, 3-4 ( 2RBI)
C- Barret, 0-4 (RBI)
RF/CF- Winn, 2-4 ( 2R)

USA Pitching:

R. Clemens- 4.1IP, H, 6K
Timlin- .1IP, H
Cordero- .1IP,K

The game ended after 4 innings... by a mercy rule.

[Lefty Noob]

Thanks for the box, MVB!

Great games for Jeter, Junior, A-Rod and Lee. But what the heck was up with Johnny Damon and Michael Barrett? Team USA gets 18 hits, but these guys can't even manage a lousy single? Against South Africa? Yeesh!

Next game is Sunday vs. Japan at 4pm. Hope we can ride the momentum to another victory!

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by MVB

Just for those baseball nerds, like myself, here is the game's box score:

USA Team:

LF- Damon, 0-3 ( BB, R)
SS- Jeter, 3-3 ( 3B, BB, RBI, 4R)
CF- Griffey, 4-4 ( 2HR, 2R, 7RBI)
3B- Rodriguez, 3-4 ( 2B, RBI, 3R)
DH- C. Jones, 1-4 (R)
1B- Lee, 2-3 ( HBP, 2B, 3R, HR, 4RBI)
2B- Utley, 3-4 ( 2RBI)
C- Barret, 0-4 (RBI)
RF/CF- Winn, 2-4 ( 2R)

USA Pitching:

R. Clemens- 4.1IP, H, 6K
Timlin- .1IP, H
Cordero- .1IP,K

The game ended after 4 innings... by a mercy rule.

Would love to have seen the box score without the mercy rule.

[Wizard of Os]

Cheers all,

Hey i just checked out MVB's blog and let me tell ya, the dude is addicted to the box score. Thanks a bunch for the WBC box. If my enjoyment of it makes me a baseball nerd, so be it. Can we get them from you all the time? Can you do the Japanese guys in Japanese characters?

Glad to see guys like Junior and Jeter (i don't care what anyone says, i love the guy for his clutch play) do well, and then there's Clemens...you know what? I think i'll start a thread about him...

I did feel bad for Team Canada, though. Hey, can't we introduce a wild card? It works so well in the MLB...

[MVB]

Hey i just checked out MVB's blog and let me tell ya, the dude is addicted to the box score.

Well, thanks for checking out my blog.... and yes, I am very addicted to the box score. I think simple recaps often leave out the game's most important details ( runs scored, stolen bases, etc...) I have the box score for every Yankee game up on my blog if you'all want to check them out.

I'm surprised Damon didn't get any hits... He looked really good in the past couple of games...

[Lefty Noob]

Somebody tell me why ESPN isn't carrying the U.S. game live this afternoon on one of their 853 channels? Do people really need to watch THAT much college basketball?