USA hits stride, flexes muscle on world stage
They didn’t stop off to bleach their hair platinum blond Sunday afternoon, pull over to grab plantains for pregame introductions or do jumping jacks on the team bus.
It was a rather tranquil threehour bus ride for Team USA, taking the players on a journey where none had ever traveled before in their baseball careers.
They are going to the World Baseball Classic championship round for the first time in eight years — and only the second time in the history of the tournament, earning a berth at Dodger Stadium by playing their own style of baseball.
“Some of the teams show a lit-
tle more passion sometimes than we do,” Team USA manager Jim Leyland said, “but don’t get that confused with really not being into it and really not caring. “We just express it differently.” Yes, like center fielder Adam Jones making the greatest catch you’ll see this season, robbing Baltimore Orioles teammate Manny Machado of a home run Saturday night, and then simply holding his glove up in the air for the umpiring crew to see.
Like slugger Giancarlo Stanton hitting a home run with such force that it registered 117 mph, landing in the second deck of the Western Metal Supply Co., and merely running around the bases with his head down.
And like Team USA’s reaction Saturday night at Petco Park after it knocked off the defending WBC champion Dominican Republic, simply gathering on the infield, exchanging handshakes and a few hugs, before retreating into the dugout.
“I think everybody’s saying that Team USA lacks emotion,” Jones said. “But we’re not as flamboyant. It’s just not our style.
“But we are very, very emotional, very passionate. We just exude it in a little different way.”
Don’t let the coolness fool you. They understand the magnitude of their achievement, knowing their mere presence in this WBC championship round was critical for the vitality of the tournament. The semifinals will be represented by teams from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the USA. The Netherlands will play at 9 p.m. ET Monday against undefeated Puerto Rico, and Team USA will play two-time champion Japan at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday. The winners play Wednesday for the title.
Sure, we’re not supposed to care as much about this as everyone else. We hear more criticism from major league general managers and managers about the use of their players in the tournament than compliments for the USA’s performance. Why, up until a few days ago, there was more talk about the players who rejected Team USA invitations than those who accepted and called it an honor to be on the team.
It’s enough to send Leyland reaching into his pocket for another Marlboro, trying to soothe the frustration and angst of trying to satisfy everyone with different agendas. He has 30 major league teams who care only about their individual players and not the outcome of games, and U.S. baseball federation officials who only want to win.
Now that the USA is in the championship round, Leyland no longer is going to talk about the stars who declined to come. He’s going to stop responding to criticism from GMs and managers about lack of playing time for their players. There’s no reason to expound on why Tanner Roark of the Washington Nationals is starting Tuesday while Tampa Bay Rays ace Chris Archer was told to stay home.
This is his team. And everything outside its confines is nothing but noise.
“We’re not going to throw anybody under the bus,” Leyland said. “We’re going to honor the people that accepted and are here. I’m talking about our team. Right now that’s the only team I care about.
“And these players that are here are the only players I care about right now.”
Sure, this tournament can present awkward challenges. It was the Rays’ right to tell Archer he could pitch only four innings in his WBC debut, even though he threw just 41 pitches, and threw 20 more pitches in the bullpen after the game. It was their right, too, to want Archer to return to their spring training camp and throw in a minor league ballgame instead of having him pitch with one day’s extra rest against Puerto Rico.
Just like it was Leyland’s right, along with chief baseball officer Joe Torre, to tell Archer on Saturday night to stay home for the championship round. They committed to Roark, who has been with the team the entire tournament but has pitched only 1 1⁄3 in- nings, on Tuesday. And they have Marcus Stroman set up to pitch the potential championship game.
“We’re either good enough to win, or we’re not,” Leyland said. “But this is our team. And I’m very comfortable with that.”
Sure, if this were October and Team USA was in the middle of the postseason, it would be different. No one in this country is saying they’d just as soon win a WBC championship ring as the World Series. Why, most fans across America don’t even know the tournament is going on, only wondering why their favorite players aren’t in the lineup in their spring training exhibition games.
Yet you ask the other countries, they’ll tell you. Let veteran Carlos Beltran of the Houston Astros tearfully describe his emotions playing for Puerto Rico. Look at the despair and angst in Adrian Beltre’s face after the Dominican Republic was eliminated. And listen to Netherlands manager Hensley Meulens, who won three World Series rings as the San Francisco Giants hitting coach, explain what the WBC means to him.
“Winning a World Series,” Muelens said, “that’s the reason you play Major League Baseball. You’re very proud when that happens. It’s very emotional.
“But winning for the motherland is a different level. I played in the Olympics in 2000 and I got to coach in 2004. The level of anxiety, the level of emotions, they go a little higher than winning the World Series.”
Those same sentiments will never be shared in this country, but perhaps for the first time since the USA began participating in the WBC 11 years ago, there’s a real sense of pride and passion burning inside every player.
“There’s no doubt we’re taking it real serious,” USA third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “We didn’t sign up for this to just have a good time. We came here to compete and are here to win.”
The calendar tells us it’s mid-March, but for the four finalists, it’s October baseball.
“There is nowhere else I’d rather be,” USA reliever Pat Neshek said. “This is the best.”
“We’re going to honor the people that accepted and are here. ... Right now that’s the only team I care about.” Jim Leyland, Team USA coach in the World Baseball Classic