Team USA stars outmatched, outpitched in WBC title game
MIAMI » As Trea Turner rounded the bases Tuesday night after hitting his fifth home run of the World Baseball Classic, the “M-VP!” chants roared throughout loanDepot park.
Turner's tournament outing — tied for the most in a single WBC, with a grand slam — was a reminder of how just how stacked this United States team was.
But on a night when stars across the South Florida sports teams converged in the Miami Marlins' home ballpark — Bam Adebayo and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, Jazz Chisolm Jr. of the Marlins and Xavien Howard and Jevon Holland of the Dolphins, to name a few — the stars on Team USA couldn't deliver a victory in the championship game.
It was only fitting that the matchup ended with a thrilling duel between two of the sport's best players, Angels teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. And Ohtani closed out it, sending the United States home with a strikeout.
“It's so difficult to hold our lineup to two runs,” said Team USA manager Mark DeRosa after Japan beat the U.S. 3-2. “I wouldn't have thought that going in regardless of who were facing.”
Team USA's roster featured a galaxy of stars — Trout, Mookie Betts of the Dodgers, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals, and plenty more.
But its pitching staff lacked the same marquee names.
AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander and Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw were a couple of many notable major league pitchers who opted out of the tournament. Kershaw, who just turned 35, pulled out of the event in February.
“There were some factors that were making it hard for me to play,” Kershaw said then. “I tried to work it out on my own, tried to work it out with MLB, union, the team. Everybody worked hard to try to make it work. Just wasn't able to.”
The American hitters delivered all tournament.
Along with his five home runs, Turner had 11 RBIs, second only to Japan's Masataka Yoshida with 13. Betts and Arenado added 10 hits apiece, the most through the tournament.
Kyle Schwarber brought the U.S. within one run Tuesday with his second homer of the tournament, a hit off Japan's Yu Darvish that he sent 436 feet to right center.
“Position player-wise, this is a no-brainer,” DeRosa said during group play. “They're going to take playoff ABs (at-bats) from jump … From a pitching standpoint, they had to get going a little bit earlier and had to ramp it up a little bit earlier.”
“But I think if this is going to go where it needs to go and can go that, yes, some of the major league clubs are going to have to be willing to be a little bit more, I don't know the word I'm looking for, but OK mindset-wise with those guys playing.”
The timing of the tournament, taking place in the middle of spring training when pitchers are typically ramping up for a 162game schedule, left many MLB teams and pitchers not wanting to risk injury or fatigue ahead of the long season. That showed in the United States fielding lesser known names throughout the tournament.
For the title game, DeRosa went with Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly, who was pulled after 1 1-3 innings after he allowed three hits, a run and walked two with a strikeout.
“I hated pulling Merrill right there, and I know he wasn't happy about it,”
DeRosa said. “But we were fully loaded in the `pen and I felt like we had to keep the game close in that situation.”
Munetaka Murakami followed up his walk-off, two-run double in Monday's semifinal win over Mexico by blasting Kelly's first-pitch 92.4 mph fastball into the upper deck in right field. The play gave Japan a 1-0 lead in the second.
In the fourth, Kazuma Okamota homered off reliever Kyle Freeland to make it 3-1.
U.S. pitchers had a 4.20 ERA in seven games, allowed eight home runs and a tournament-high 59 hits.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday that MLB has looked at moving the WBC to a different time, such as after the playoffs or in the middle of the season, among other things, to persuade more owners and general managers to lend their high-priced pitchers to the tournament.
“From a competitive perspective, I think the most important thing is we're going to need to continue to work, particularly with our clubs, about pitching,” Manfred said. “Obviously, it's great the guys we've had, but I think that I'd like to see pitching staffs that are of the same quality as our position players.”
Major League Baseball has clarified its new rules to allow umpires to delay the start of the pitch clock after big swings in which a hitter loses footing or when a pitcher covers first base, third or home, in addition to other clarifications announced Wednesday.
The commissioner's office said in its memo that if a catcher ends an inning on base, at bat or on deck, an umpire may determine the catcher needs additional time and allow the pitcher another warmup throw and the catcher to throw to second base.
The MLB also said whether a defensive team violated the new shift restrictions will be subject to a video review only involving the first player to touch a ball after a pitch.
The league also said that after a batter uses his one allowed timeout during a plate appearance, the clock shall start when the hitter indicates he is ready in addition to the previous specification when he returned to the batter's box.
The clarifications ahead of March 30 openers were contained in a four-page memo sent by MLB senior vice president Michael Hill to managers, general managers and assistant general managers, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
“They're important in my mind because they're responsive to things players said to us,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday night before Japan beat the United States 3-2 in the World Baseball Classic championship game.
Baseball's 11-man competition committee, established in the labor agreement last March, adopted the pitch clock and shift limits last September over the opposition of the four players on the panel. MLB set the pitch clock at 15 seconds with no runners and 20 seconds with runners.
The average time of spring training games through Monday was down 25 minutes to 2 hours, 36 minutes. Violations per game were 1.03 during the past week, down from 2.03 during spring training's first week, according to the memo.
Teams were told bat boys and girls in the visiting dugout will meet with the visiting club before each series to discuss the player preferences. MLB said it will monitor the bat boys and girls to determine whether they contribute to non-compliance with the pace of game procedures.
Not quite ready
The New York Mets sent catcher Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse, quashing for now the possibility of putting the prized 21-year-old on the opening day roster.
Álvarez, who made his major league debut with the Mets near the end of last season, had just three hits in 28 at-bats in Grapefruit League exhibition games. Ranked by MLB as the third-best prospect in baseball, Álvarez batted .260 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in a combined 112 minor league games in 2022 at Double-A and Triple-A.
The Mets have newcomer Omar Narváez, a 2021 All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers, as their primary catcher with Tomás Nido likely to play mostly against left-handed pitchers.