Turns out Cinderella's missing shoe really is a glass slipper, and not a wooden clog.
The baseball team from the Netherlands -- or, as I like to call them, The Dutch Boys of Summer -- almost pulled off another miracle on Monday, but their bid to beat Puerto Rico and advance to the next round of the WBC was dashed by a late rally by the home team.
The Dutch Boys led 1-0 in the 8th inning behind great pitching for them and bad baserunning by their opponent -- the same recipe that led them to an improbable upset of the Dominican Republic on Saturday. But in attempting to score their second straight shocker, they had played with fire all game, stranding Puerto Rican baserunners all over the place -- including escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 7th. In the 8th, they walked the bags full, and failed to escape. Yadier Molina doubled home the tying and go-ahead runs, and the home crowd in Hiram Bithorn Stadium went crazy, as P.R. went on to win, 3-1. So, the Dutch Boys are going home, and Puerto Rico will now meet the D.R. team for the top seed in Pool D, with the loser also advancing.
In a similar battle for top spot in Pool A, Korea eeked out a classic pitcher's duel over Japan. The Korean pitching silenced Ichiro and the home crowd in the Tokyo Dome, and scratched a run across the plate against the equally great Japanese pitching (including the amazing Yu Darvish). It was very compelling, taut baseball, though I dislike team Japan's uber-small ball approach -- down one run, they bunted a runner to 2nd in the 8th with one out. Many people hate the bunt in all instances, but I think it has its place. That being said, there is absolutely no place for a one-out bunt (pitchers excepted), and that goes double for when you're down to your last five outs. Not only that, the runner was Ichiro -- fully capable of stealing bag. Just terrible baseball right there.
I prefer Team Korea -- specifically the two gargantuan sluggers in the middle of their lineup (don't ask me their names, I'll just say, "Lee or Kim"). The first is about 250 pounds, and he's the small one. The other is about 270 (most in his gut) and led the Korean league with 46 HR's. 520 pounds between them -- that's a lot of dog. They look like Asian lumberjacks and swing for the fences. My kind of guys.
Korea's big bonus for their win over Japan? There region winner status means they won't have to open against juggernaut and likely region winner Cuba. Instead, they'll first take on either Mexico or Australia while the Japanese get Cuba. Just as exciting to watch in that round: Once Team Cuba comes to American soil to play, how many players will try to defect in the interests of
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