WBC action continues in Round 2
March 12, 2009
The World Baseball Classic has been a blast so far, and its only been the first round! There have been some great plays this season, and that will only happen more often as we get deeper into the WBC. Anyone that’s gotten WBC tickets can’t complain about baseball action, because there’s been tons of it. Who would have believed that the mighty Dominican Republic, full of so many great major leaguers, would fall to the lowly Netherlands. The only Dutch player with a Major League reputation is Sidney Ponson, but they were able to stun the DR not only once, but twice! All of the World Baseball Classic tickets holders in the stands must have been as stunned at the DR players. It just goes to show you why baseball is such a great game. A few no-name pitchers these mighty DR hitters had never seen where able to do what most Major League pitchers can’t do and shut down some of the best hitter alive.
So far in Pool A, Japan and Korea will be moving on after they handled both China and Chinese Taipei. In the first games of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Japan beat China 4-0, Korea beat Chinese Taipei 9 – 0, China beat Chinese Taipei 4 – 1. In the second round of games for Pool A, Japan beat Korea 14 – 2, while Korea beat Chine 14 – 0 and then beat Japan 1 – 0. Next up Japan will play the Pool B winner while Korea will play the Pool B runner up.
Over in Pool B South Africa and Australia are out, despite Australia’s stunning 17 – 7 win over Mexico. In the first game of Pool B action, Cuba beat South Africa 8 – 1. Mexico beat South Africa 14 -3, while Cuba beat Australia 5 – 4. Then, in a rematch of the huge loss to Australia, Mexico got its revenge at crushed Australia 16 – 1. It must have been a good sight to see for all those who bought World Baseball Classic tickets and traveled to Mexico’s Foro Stadium to see what was a thrilling game. Mexico and Cuba will play later on tonight to determine who they will face in the second round.
Pool C Canada and Italy are out while Venezuela and the United States move on. The US beat Canada 6 -5 in a close game. Venezuela blanked Italy 7 – 0, the US beat Venezuela 15 – 6, while Italy beat Canada 6 – 2. It a rematch Venezuela beat Italy 10 – 1 and the went on to beat the US 5 – 3. Venezuela will be playing the Netherlands in the first round or Pool 2, while the US will take on Puerto Rico. Those games are taking place at Toronto’s Rogers Center, so if you can get up to the T-Dot hurry up and order your WBC tickets as soon as you can because time is running out.
And in Pool D, in the biggest surprise of the WBC so far, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico will be moving on. By now we’ve all heard that the Netherlands stunned the Dominican Republic not once but twice. In the first game the Netherlands won 3 – 2, while in the second game Netherlands won 2 – 1. it was a disappointing end to the WBC for the DR, but that sometimes happens i baseball. Puerto Rico beat Panama 7 – 0, and Panama again lost when they faced the Dominican Republic by a score of 9 – 0. Puerto Rico was able to beat the Netherlands 3 – 1 in their first game, and then 5 nil in the second game they played.
Here is some video of the Netherlands vs. Puerto Rico:
So that is the results from the World Baseball Classic so far. The teams moving into the second round are Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Venezuela, the United States and Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico. The second round of the WBC takes place at San Diego’s Petco Park. Petco Park will host Japan, Korea, Cuba and Mexico. Pool 2 games are being played at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium. Teams visiting sunny Florida are the Netherlands, Venezuela, the U.S. and Puerto Rico. So if Canada is to cold, perhaps you can get some World Baseball Classic tickets and get down to the Sunshine State for some action at Dolphin Stadium.
It has been a great WBC so far with some spectacular upsets. A few players have also made a name for themselves with some great pitching as some great moves on the field. You can tell some of the hitter are a little rusty, but it looks like a lot of the rust has fallen of and now these baseball hitters are starting to get used to seeing live pitching. Get your WBC tickets now and see all the international baseball action that you can handle.
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