DeRosa shines in USA’s WBC win

March 9, 2009

Hey everyone!

I am so sorry I did not post anything yesterday! I do not know what happened. I failed you and I take full responsibility. 🙂 haha

Indians at A’s

The Indians played the A’s yesterday and lost 8-5. The good news was Kirk Sarloos pitching 3 scoreless innings and just basically dominating his former team. More good news was Travis Hafner showing maybe he is getting his swing back in his 2nd ST game this year. He hit an RBI double in his first at bat yesterday. Also good, Grady returned yesterday! He walked and flew out. He also broke up a double play in the first inning though because he is tough like that. 

WBC: USA vs. Venezuela

First of all I love the name Venezuela; it is just so pretty. That does not mean I was cheering for them or anything. I was really good and took notes on the game and everything! Even when my friends told me that was nerdy.

Through the first three innings or so I was really impressed with both pitchers. The first inning they were both really good. I was a little concerned because Venezuela’s pitcher, Galarraga, pitches for the Tigers and I really do not want him to be that good this year. However he did hit Mark DeRosa in his first at bat of the WBC. Welcome to the WBC, Mark, from a Detroit Tiger. I guess he just thought he would go ahead and get Mark ready for all of the Indians/Tigers rivalry games this year. In the bottom of the fourth, Oswalt really started to lose it. They did eventually take him out but I think they waited too long. When they put Linstrom in he did better but did almost break Iannetta’s wrist when he forgot about the “sequence of signs” the announcers said. This sequence seems like something a pitcher should know by now so I do not really know what happened. In the top of the sixth the US really broke it open. I guess pitching just went downhill after the starters came out. The US scored eight runs in the sixth to give them a 10-3 lead. They would score five more runs and Venezuela only three to give the US the 15-6 lead. 

Interesting notes for the game:

1) Indians fans should be thrilled with DeRosa’s performance. He had a 4 RBI night. He also showed great plate discipline in the sixth when he worked the count full and fouled a pitch off to force the pitcher to throw a bad pitch and walk home the tying run. The Indians are very good at working the count full and fouling pitches off until the pitcher messes up or throws what they want so he should fit right in. he showed some aggressive base running in the same inning and scored on a close play at home.

2) Iannetta, also making his debut, had a 4 RBI night as well and showed some great defense behind the plate.

3) Cabrera and Ordonez were both hitless last night. I think that had a lot to do with Venezuela losing. The Tigers better hope they figure that out before the season starts.

4) Everyone seems to be having a good time in the clubhouse. At one point Jimmy Rollins was dancing around and apparently DeRosa always has a joke or two to get everyone’s spirits up (another reason for Indians fans to be excited; you can not teach that stuff). 

5) It is really weird to see Youkilis and Jeter joking around like old buddies. Just plain weird.

Overall this was a great game for the US. It was fun to watch and showed off some new talent that people probably were not very aware of. I also want to give a shout out to the Venezuelan fans who never stopped cheering or having a good time last night no matter how far behind their team was; that was really classy.

Pictures:

1) http://cleveland.com/tribe

2) mlb.com

Written by mlblogsclemsongirlbaseball Posted in Dailies Tagged with Cleveland Indians, Grady Sizemore, Mark DeRosa, Team USA, Travis Hafner