USA Baseball to face Cuba in Semi's....

Goot

The game will take place at 6 AM EST on Friday.

Cuba beat the US in the preliminaries 5-4 but hopefully we'll be able to get some revenge this time. The young guys are actually playing pretty well in the tournament after the rough start. We're unbeaten in our last 4 games and our only losses have come against #1 Korea 7-8 and #2 Cuba 4-5.

For those of you that won't watch because the lack of MLB players, give it a chance. Guys like Dexter Fowler (awesome to watch, 5-tool guy), Matt Laporta (longball hitter but may still be out with a concussion),Trevor Cahill (ace), and Brett Anderson (acex2) are the future of the game and this gives fans a neat stage to root for them. Plus, you get to see some washed up old guys like Jayson Nix and Terry Tiffee

baseballfan

i want to see that pitcher throw against cuba, he's supposed to be great, what's his name?

you will know goot, the only college player playing, supposed to be the #1 pick next year.

Goot

<< <i>i want to see that pitcher throw against cuba, he's supposed to be great, what's his name?

you will know goot, the only college player playing, supposed to be the #1 pick next year. >>



Stephen Strasburg....he's great so far. He had 11 K's and 0 ER in his one and only start. He goes to San Diego State but I can't remember what year he is.

baseballfan

yeah that's him, did i hear right that he once struck out 23 in a game????
i'm looking forward to seeing him throw, i hope i can up that early

Goot

<< <i>yeah that's him, did i hear right that he once struck out 23 in a game????
i'm looking forward to seeing him throw, i hope i can up that early >>




Yeah, he did it last year against some Mountain West conference team....maybe Air Force, Utah, or Colorado St??? One of those. Not the most impressive list of teams, but to do that at the D1 level (or any level for that matter) is pretty freakin sweet.

edmundfitzgerald

Thanks. I'm going to watch at 6am thanks to your heads up.

Goot

<< <i>Thanks. I'm going to watch at 6am thanks to your heads up. >>



If serious......great!
If sarcastic...you're a douche.

TheVon

I'd like to watch but not at 3 a.m. TG4DVR.

Goot

S. Korea just pulled off a big come from behind win vs. Japan to move into the finals.....

The young ace, Strasburg, was named the starter for the US vs. Cuba matchup.

baseballfan

why can't i see this game? i have scoccer and basketball on wnbc and USA network and neither game involves the US??????

baseballfan

i just caught the score 10-2 in the 8th cuba, glad i didn't get to see it

het goot how did Strasburg do i'm guessing not real good but what did he hit on the gun?

edmundfitzgerald

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R
USA 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
CUBA 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 6 0 10
Final
6:00 AM ET
August 22, 2008

UNITED STATES (2) AT CUBA (10)

UNITED STATES AB R H BI CUBA AB R H BI
B Barden 2B 3 1 1 0 G Duvergel CF 4 1 1 0
N Schierholtz RF 4 0 1 0 H Olivera 1B 5 1 1 1
T Tiffee 1B 4 0 1 0 M Enriquez 3B 4 1 1 0
M Brown DH 3 0 1 1 F Cepeda LF 4 2 2 1
J Gall LF 4 0 0 0 A Bell RF 4 1 2 3
M Hessman 3B 4 0 0 0 Y Gurriel 2B 4 1 2 0
L Marson C 4 1 1 0 A Despaigne DH 4 2 3 1
J Donald SS 3 0 1 1 A Pestano C 4 1 1 3
D Fowler CF 3 0 0 0 E Paret SS 3 0 1 0
TOTALS 32 2 6 2 TOTALS 36 10 14 9

UNITED STATES 000 110 000 -- 2
CUBA 002 101 06x -- 10

E--M Enriquez, A Bell, M Hessman, B Barden.
DP--UNITED STATES 1, CUBA 2. LOB--UNITED STATES 5,
CUBA 4. 2B--Y Gurriel, M Brown. 3B--H Olivera.
HR--F Cepeda 1 (2) (off B Duensing), A Despaigne 1
(3) (off S Strasburg), A Bell 1 (1) (off J
Stevens), A Pestano 1 (2) (off B Neal). SB--E
Paret 1 (2). CS--Y Gurriel, A Bell. SF--M Brown.
IP H R ER BB SO HR
UNITED STATES
S Strasburg (L,1-1) 4 6 3 2 0 5 1
B Duensing 2 2 1 1 1 0 1
M Koplove 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
J Stevens 1-3 3 3 3 0 0 1
B Neal 2-3 3 3 2 0 0 1
CUBA
N Vera (W,2-0) 6 4 2 1 1 1 0
P Lazo (S,2) 3 2 0 0 0 4 0

SO--USA: M Hessman 2, L Marson, J Donald, N
Schierholtz. CUB: F Cepeda, M Enriquez, Y Gurriel,
A Bell, G Duvergel, A Pestano. BB--USA: B Barden.
CUB: G Duvergel, E Paret. T--2:48. A--8,632.

Goot

Yeah definitely pretty disapointing considering we only lost 5-4 last time. The one good thing about all this is that these are every other countries premiere players (minus some guys like Dice K and Ichiro) while we sent a bunch of AA players, and not even the best AA players, at that.

Goot

USA beat Japan 8-4 to grab the Bronze.

Hopefully we can put up a better showing in March for the WBC.

mosaic

To hell with Olympic baseball / softball anyway! They don't want us, we don't need them! I enjoyed the WBC last time around 100x more than any Olympic baseball tourney I've ever seen, for obvious reasons.

And ya know, my gripe isn't that the US won't send pros... it's that the Olympics wants pro players. WTF.

But you know what I wish? I wish the MLB would exert some charity and put on a World Softball Classic too. Those women deserve their chance to shine. And their games have always been a hoot to watch.