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    #51
    2017 baseball thread

    Well, I run my mouth a lot so it took a lot to get a major disagreement with UA. Haha.

    I should clarify that I like the idea of a world baseball championship. I just don't like how it happens in its current form. If this happened at a time when players were in shape and if teams were made up of players that had some true connection to the country (as is the case with DR, PR, Japan, Korea) then I'm totally down with the idea. But I'm just not down with someone playing for Italy who has probably never been to Italy and I'm not down with this happening at a time when pitchers aren't really ready yet and hitters still need to work out their timing.

    But none of that is meant to convince y'all; it's just an expression of an opinion. I don't have enough invested in this for better or worse. I would add that in general I am not a fan of these types of situations (e.g., I don't like it when NHL players participate in the Olympics). When something feels like an exhibition, I don't need it stretched out beyond a game or two, but one person's exhibition is another person's competitive tournament.

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      #52
      2017 baseball thread

      Italy has domestic baseball, though, and some of their team play in the IBL. It's good experience for them and may help grow the game there. That's the idea, anyway. Israel only has two guys with Israeli citizenship and only one that plays in their league. But they do have a league.

      I'd rather see players only play for their "real" country too, but those ersatz teams aren't likely to advance anyway.

      Netherlands is a different case in that most of their players come from their colonies. So they're genuinely Dutch in one sense, but not in another.

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        #53
        2017 baseball thread

        Well, if he hates NHL players in the Olympics, then it just isn't worth engaging in this context.

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          #54
          2017 baseball thread

          Honkbal takes up a lot of pages on the Dutch Teletext IIRC.

          In tonight's game, Puerto Rico have just had 6 hits in a row off the USA starter. 3-0, bases loaded, no outs. (Marcus Stroman is about to be hooked.)

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            #55
            2017 baseball thread

            A sac fly leads to another run, but Yadier Molina is out at 3rd after stepping off. 4-0.

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              #56
              2017 baseball thread

              Top of the 6th, and Adam Jones hits a solo shot to make it 4-3, after Andrew McCutcheon gets kicked out for arguing calls.

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                #57
                2017 baseball thread

                Thats a shocking decision at 3rd base. Crawford gets tagged at 3rd, but the umpire calls safe.

                Puerto Rico strike out the next batter anyway, and win 6-5.

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                  #58
                  2017 baseball thread

                  USA play Dominicana again tomorrow to see who goes through with Puerto Rico.

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                    #59
                    2017 baseball thread

                    After a cracking game, the USA win 6-3 and go through to play Japan in the semi-final.

                    Puerto Rico play Netherlands in the other.

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                      #60
                      2017 baseball thread

                      Or as the WBC official twitter feed insists on calling them "The Kingdom of the Netherlands", which when you have restrictions in characters seems a bit wasteful of them.

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                        #61
                        2017 baseball thread

                        Damn you. Now I'm looking for a list of formal country names.

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                          #62
                          2017 baseball thread

                          Click on "Teams" at the top, then the individual flags

                          It looks like NED are unique in their formality, perhaps reflecting the fact that most of the team (and all of the stars) are from the Caribbean rather than Holland

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                            #63
                            2017 baseball thread

                            Looked like a great atmosphere in San Diego. I just worry that the semifinals and final being during the week and starting at 6pm, prime drive time traffic hours in LA, is going to make for some really weak crowds.

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                              #64
                              2017 baseball thread

                              I have nothing to offer other than I have a new Blue Jays T-shirt.

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                                #65
                                2017 baseball thread

                                MLB is strangely fastidious about calling them Kingdom of the Netherlands. It's the sui generis arrangement (more integrated than Puerto Rico, less than France's overseas departements) that allows Holland and the Caribbean to cobble together a competitive team, but I don't really think Curacao is that bothered about being just called the Dutch or the Netherlands in this context. It's slightly odd, considering MLB had no problem calling a team of American Jews Israel while the Curacao guys are all Dutch-speaking Dutch citizens.

                                The team is getting a reasonable amount of attention in Holland, but there's only so much coverage you can get as a minority sport whose games are often in the middle of the night. Their results do consistently make the newspapers, it helps that one of the big sports presenters at NOS, Mart Smeets, is an avowed baseball fan (he writes a column basically saying "I love honkbal, it's my favorite sport" about once a year) and the Telegraaf, the big Bild-style newspaper, is a big honkbal supporter and tends to feature baseball news more prominently than expected. AD in Rotterdam as well (the Randstad as a whole is where baseball is most popular).

                                So while it's not as big a story as the election, it's definitely more than the US rugby team would get if it made the semifinals of the World Cup.

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                                  #66
                                  2017 baseball thread

                                  Another cracking game this: 3-3 Middle of the 5th. There was a weird out in the first, when one of the Dutch guys was cheerleading the crowd, came off the base, and get tagged out. TWAT!

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                                    #67
                                    2017 baseball thread

                                    Henley Jansen dealing the gas in the 9th, and we are off to extra innings.

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                                      #68
                                      2017 baseball thread

                                      FUCKERS. The game runs over 10pm, and the next game is the Padres, so they have a blackout, and I am missing extra innings. FUCKERS.

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                                        #69
                                        2017 baseball thread

                                        Going to the eleventh and that stupid fucking rule: runners on first and second, no outs.

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                                          #70
                                          2017 baseball thread

                                          I logged on to the MLB Network website, and ran it through the TV, since you ask.

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                                            #71
                                            2017 baseball thread

                                            Puerto Rico win on a sac fly to center, with a shitty throw to home.

                                            Oh well. Still, another good game.

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                                              #72
                                              2017 baseball thread

                                              Javy Baez is good at baseball.

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                                                #73
                                                2017 baseball thread

                                                Fascinating game going on. 1-1 Top of the 7th, and it has been raining heavily with no breaks.

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                                                  #74
                                                  2017 baseball thread

                                                  USA win 2-1. Great pitching, horrible conditions.

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                                                    #75
                                                    2017 baseball thread

                                                    Not too many tickets available on Stubhub any more, I guess most people were waiting to see if the US made it.

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