FERVOR AND FLAWS AT WBC
It’s nearly 4 in the morning, and MIAMI the streets are still alive in downtown Miami and South Beach, in the aftermath of the most celebrated game in Marlins Park history.
Take a midday stroll into a beer and burger joint in Mary Brickell Village and look at the big- screen TVs on the walls, and the World Baseball Classic is being shown on every TV but one, with a couple of Team USA players huddled inside for lunch, glued to the set.
Walk outside Marlins Park two hours before game time, or two hours after game time, and there are fans dancing, singing, drumming and blowing horns, with even a local marching band.
Simple, unadulterated elation, with fans from all parts of the world celebrating the game of baseball.
But it’s no secret that major league clubs and their front office executives and coaching staffs detest the event, wishing
it would quietly go away so it doesn’t disrupt their spring training camps and imperil their assets — once known simply as players.
This could be the year Team USA reaches the final for the first time, in the event’s fourth edition, or perhaps the year the Dominican Republic again loses a game, but the emphasis of player health remains much stronger than national pride.
Kansas City Royals general manager DaytonMoore watching All- Star catcher Salvador Perez of Venezuela get carried off the field after a collision with his Royals teammate, Sal Butera of Italy, is the type of moment everyGMfears. The initial diagnosis is that Perez suffered left knee inflammation, but the Royals say he is done for the tournament.
Teams preach about wanting their players to compete as hard as possible, only for Colorado Rockies GMJeff Bridich to momentarily lose his breath watching his All- Star third baseman, Nolan Arenado, slide headfirst into the first- base bag, trying to keep a rally alive.
The WBC has not captivated the masses in this country, with franchises putting restrictions on players beyond the tournament’s regulations and privately trying to persuade them to stay home.
Still, as much as Major League Baseball teams want to weaken the spirit and fabric of the WBC, with several players and executives privately belittling it, once you’re involved in the event, you’re absolutely captivated.
You watch the Dominican Republic fans dance in the aisles Saturday during their team’s 7- 5 win vs. the USA, blowing their horns, banging their drums, shaking their noisemakers and proudly waving their country’s flag, and you try telling them it’s only an exhibition game in mid- March.
“Not even in a World Series do you feel a crowd like this,” Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez tells USA TODAY Sports. “The way the Dominican crowd enjoys their game is unique. The way we behave, the way we enjoy the game, the way we embrace the game, is totally different. I hope many more teams and people around baseball realize how passionate we are about baseball.”
You see tears of joy from the fans of Colombia, winning its first WBC game against Canada, less than 24 hours after tears of pain, as the Colombians came so close to stunning Team USA.
“When amistake wasmade with Miss Universe and they awarded the crown to the other one, it made her more famous,” Colombia manager Luis Urueta said, recalling the infamous Steve Harvey blunder. “I think the same thing happened to us. We also lost, and I think we are more famous for that reason.”
You talk to Israel manager Jerry Weinstein, who two weeks ago was known as the new manager of the Hartford Yard Goats in the Class AA Eastern League in the Rockies organization, and now is a national hero. Team Israel, which wasn’t supposed to win a game in this tournament, is undefeated after beating Cuba and soon could be the greatest Cinderella story inWBC history by reaching the final in Los Angeles.
“It feels like the World Series,” Weinstein says, “but only bigger.”
Sure, the WBC still has competitive flaws. It was exposed Friday when U. S. pitcher Chris Archer threw four perfect innings and was 24 pitches short of the WBC’s 65- pitch first- round limit, only to inform manager Jim Leyland he was not supposed to pitch longer than four innings. He had an agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays that he would not throwmore than four innings, nomatter howmany pitches it entailed.
“There may have been a little bit of miscommunication,” Archer said, “but I made an agreement with the Rays that whatever their protocol was, I was going to stick to it.”
Still, despite the imperfections, the tournament is captivating, and no player involved has publicly expressed any regrets, wishing only that more of their contemporaries could witness it.
“I believe everybody that played the game, that understands the game and represents their country understands that this is the moment we all want to live,” Martinez says. “The pride, this is everything you work for. ... This is what you’re pulling for. This is what baseball is all about.”