=== Bjorn Borg "Champions" Dept. ===

Borg, when he hit about 35, looked back on his Glory Days and said wistfully, "you think about what it would be like, to again be young and a champion."  The quote stuck with us.   Did you ever think about the subtle difference between (a) being the theoretically best, and (b) being a champion?

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Non-soccer fans may be just catching on:  the Pool X system of qualifying does a surprisingly good job of weeding the best teams. 

The World Cup uses it in early rounds, and it has the merit of (usually) allowing a powerhouse team one "accident" each round.  If you don’t finish in the top *two* of a 4-team round robin, it’s your own fault.  It quickly and "accurately" weeds a big field down to a workable tournament.

The last four teams will play single-elim, yes – just like the NCAA tourney and the NFL playoffs and the soccer World Cup and Wimbledon.  If it is unfamiliar and therefore unwelcome … just imagine the baseball games as a Game 7 of a World Series.  There, that’s better.

Of course, the xtreme seamheads (big smile) argue that the World Series itself is a sham, or at least suspect, because the best team doesn’t necessarily win.  (Enter Appendix A showing win probability, Joe.)

Y’don’t get it.  There’s (a) being the best on paper — and then there’s (b) being a CHAMPION.   The Champion is the one who wins the tourney, period.  It takes a lot to win a championship — the fact is, it takes a champion.  Whoever wins the World Cup, or Super Bowl, or WBC, has shown itself a champion.  Have you ever seen a World Cup, or Super Bowl, winner that did not deserve the title of champion?  Not very blinkin’ often.

The theoretically-best team is another question.  But playing for "Champion" has its appeal, too.  Get over it. 

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The USA-Japan game will be the best faceoff since Iwo Jima.  (Have a sense of humor here, kiddies!)  Supposedly you can catch it on ESPN Deportes (Edit to add, now it’s on ESPN2, and just wait for the ratings).

Remember, pitch counts go up to 80.  Most of us would probably like to see Japan and the US advance in Pool 1, setting up a "Game Seven" elim game between the USA and Japan.  WOW!

Sadaharu Oh plumped for Uehara-san, which would put him on rotation to face the USA again in The Final Four. 

Japanese fans have to like this, because if Uehara has trouble, Oh could probably back out and use Matsuzaka in the Round 3 game.  (Matsuzaka will pitch Mar 14 and the semi-final game is Mar 18.  Three days’ rest after 80 pitches is a walk in the park for Matsuzaka.)

"He has the best control," Oh said during Saturday’s afternoon workout at Angel Stadium. "Without control, the other team would be hitting all the time."  (Uehara threw 53 of 65 strikes against China and has Tewksbury-like control — he’s walked only 165 men in 1229 career innings.)

 … "I have no complaints about Uehara’s pitching.  I would say it’s up there as one of his best performances that I’ve seen."  (Oh is Uehara’s reg-season manager.)

(The WBC preview goes on to note that Uehara once fanned Barry Bonds 3 times in the same game in 2002.)

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Yep, if you walked everybody, the other team would be hitting all the time.  Lou, or Casey Stengel, or Yogi Berra or somebody, would be proud.

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The US will go with Jake Peavy … from Barry Bloom’s preview: 

"He breezed the other day," Martinez said about Peavy. "He was free and easy. And he did throw a few more pitches down in the bullpen after that start. We would be comfortable for sure with four innings this time and maybe even five. So I think we’re at that point now."

"I would hope I could go four or five innings," Peavy said. "I should easily be able to stretch four or five out of 80 pitches. And I hope to do every bit of that. Obviously, if you have a low pitch count you can go a little more. That’s the biggest thing for me, watching that pitch count. (The Japanese) put the ball in play. I don’t strike out a lot of guys so I hope to get some easy outs."

"I expect a dogfight from Japan," Peavy said. "When I went over in 2004 I saw the talent they have over there. I have the utmost respect for the style of baseball they play. It’s going to be neat."

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Ideally for DOV, in the semi-final we’d see Japan (Matsuzaka) vs USA (Clemens) and in the other, the Dominican Republic Murderer’s Row ( with O. Perez) vs Venezuela (Santana).

Then we’d see Matsuzaka/Uehara, or Peavy/Willis, up against Colon and the Dominicans.

But who knows.  Maybe Joel Pineiro will carry Puerto Rico all the way and then light Safeco up in 2006. 

Enjoy,

Dr. D