The funniest part of the tournament so far has to be Mark De Rosa. He told everyone that Team USA had "punched their ticket" to the quarterfinals before their shock loss to Team Italy! Team USA actually had to wait for the results of the Italy-Mexico clash in order to be sure they'd make it out of pool play. Team Mexico got whipped by the surprising Italy squad and that guaranteed a US appearance in the knockout round.
Logan Webb started for Team USA last night and was exactly Logan Webb. Mark De Rosa inexplicably yanked him after 4-2/3 scoreless. I thought it was very rude not to let Webb finish the frame. As it stands Logan's line for the tourney is 8-2/3 and only one run allowed (a solo homer to his first batter) along with 11 strikeouts and one walk. Anyway, I'm glad Mark De Rosa was not on the Giants managerial search radar. He should go back to babbling on TV. Team USA advanced to the semifinals by beating Team Canada and will face Team Dominican Republic tomorrow night. The Dominican club crushed Team Korea in a 10-0, 7-inning mercy rule win. They have the most formidable lineup and will be real test for Paul Skenes and the rest of the staff.
There should be a great game tonight at 6:00 p.m. PDT as Team Japan and Team Venezuela face each other in the quarterfinals. Japan is favored to make the finals and probably has the pitching edge. The Venezuelan squad is loaded however, and it should be a good match. (Italy v. Puerto Rico is the other game today.)
On the Giants side of things there seems to be a lot of pitching injuries at Spring Training. At the same time the pitching staff looks strong overall and there have been good results (15-4 record). Let's just hope everyone is healthy for the start of the season.
--M.C.
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