October in April

The WBC has shaped up to be a great tournament, getting fans worldwide primed for a good MLB season. Countries not normally associated with great baseball have come out and shown their true stripes.

It really should be called October in April.

The US, however, has done nothing but put forth one rusty performance after another. While the big leaguers are really in the middle of their spring training, the basic construction of the team has demonstrated a shallow perspective on the realm of international baseball. A bullpen built on 1 inning guys has struggled to cover for a flailing Dontrelle Willis, meaning that USA has twice been required to become fans of other teams in order to maintain their hopes of advancing. Last night, the stars and stripes got solidly behind the flawless and as yet undefeated Korean team. Luckily, we got the win we needed, and tonight's game against Mexico becomes the clincher.

Buck Martinez, who is seemingly more a victim of MLB politics than anything else, sends Rocket Roger Clemens to the mound against Mexico tonight at 7:30 ET. A win pushed USA to the semis, a loss into either nit-picky tiebreaker rules or back to the training camp showers.

Mexico has proven a legit opponent to a number of teams and most certainly cannot be underrated. Let's hope that we'll be getting ready for Jake Peavy on Saturday and not looking forward to a split-squad game to tide us over until Opening Day.

Go USA.