USA Wins First WBC Game...
...on the arms of a group of dominant pitchres, and on the bats of Derrick Lee and Chipper Jones. Lee, who played the whole game at first base, drove a fastball away over the opposite field fence early in the game, and Jones, who came in to replace Alex Rodriguez in the 6th, crushed the first pitch he saw way over the left-center field wall.
U.S's manager Buck Martinez did a great job of getting just about every position player on the roster onto the field, and he seemed to change pitchers just about every inning. Jake Peavey, the starter, only threw 23 of his alloted 65 pitches.
Mexico's pitching was pretty solid for most of the game. The starter, Rodrigo Lopez, threw close to 65 good pitches and gave up no earned runs (a good sign for Orioles fans like me.) Combined, the Mexican pitching staff gave up only 6 hits. But, the U.S. staff was dominant for most of the game, allowing only 4 hits and forcing Mexican batters to ground into 2 or 3 double plays.
I'd like to see the offense pick up for the Americans, and I think that it will as batters like A-Rod, Jeter, Texeria, and others get some AB's and shake the off-season rust off.
Tomorrow the U.S. will play Canada again at 3:00 PM Central Standard Time. Florida Marlins Ace Dontrelle Willis will start for the Americans and (yet another) Baltimore starter, Eric Berdard, will take the mound for Canada. I'll look over tomorrow's games tonight and post tomorrow's highlight game tomorrow morning.
NOTE: Tonight at 11:30 Central time, ESPN Outside the Lines is airing a special on the new book about Barry Bonds' steriod use. It should be interesting. My friend Will Bardwell of www.willbardwell.com fame has some interesting insight into this story on his sight. It's too bad I don't know how to link it.