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Spain with the Upset; Germany in the Finals

Monday, September 24th, 2012

There will be a third European team joining the Netherlands and Italy in the World Baseball Classic.  That will be Spain.  They pulled a big upset with their 9-7 10 inning win over favored Israel.  Ranger prospect Engel Beltre got the tenth inning rally started with a walk.  The Israeli catcher disagreed with the call and was ejected from the game.  Paco Figuroa was hit by pitch so the first two hitters now stood at first and second, something the international rules would have already accomplished without the excitement.  Rafael Alvarez laid down a bunt to put the two runners in scoring position.  After a Barbaro Canizares ground out Yunesky Sanchez slipped a single up the middle to score two runs.

Israel still had a chance in the bottom frame with Nate Freiman leading off the tenth inning.  He grounded out.  A walk to Rob Widlansky put the tying run at the plate.  Ivan Granados was able to retire the last two hitters to preserve the save.  The bedlam in Jupiter began.

Cuban born Yunesky Sanchez whacked four hits for Spain, driving in three runs and scoring twice.  Spain had four players in their starting lineup born in Cuba (Barbaro Canizares, Yunesky Sanchez, Adrian Nieto and Yasser Gomez).  They also had two of their relief pitchers born in Cuba (Remigio Leal and Eduardo Morlan).

Israel slugger Nate Freiman could only muster one hit in five at bats, two of them walks.  The last time Israel played Spain Freiman mashed two 2-run homers to beat Spain 4-2.

There were 4,400 that attended the game, which is a good turnout for a Florida State League game.

In the qualifier in Germany the hosts mashed Great Britain for the second time 16-1.  The first two hitters in the German lineup Eric Suttle and Matthew Vance scored five times without benefit of a hit.  Top Phillies prospect Aaron Altherr hit a 2-run homerun in the fifth inning and Matt Weaver a 3-run homer in the seventh.  For Matt it was his second homerun of the tournament.  Another Cuban, Enorbel Marquez threw a 2-hitter for Germany, giving up only an unearned run in seven innings of work.

Baseball American shows Altherr born in Landstuhl, Germany, while the mlb sight shows him born in Arizona.  It appears he was born in Germany to a military family.  Only 1,400 fans attended the semi-final game.

Posted in Germany, World Baseball Classic, Israel, Spain | No Comments »

Israel Two More Homers From Frieman Leads Israel; Germany Romps

Saturday, September 22nd, 2012

Nate Freiman drove in all four runs for Israel with two homeruns to lead Israel over Spain 4-2.  The two homeruns give Frieman four homeruns for the tournament.  Homeruns are not unusual to Freiman.  At 6′7″ he can carry the ball a long ways when he hits the ball.  In AA this year for the San Diego Padres he had 24 homeruns.  In his four year minor league career he has hit 71 homeruns.  He was voted to the Texas League post season all star team this year and was drafted by the Padres in the eighth round in 2009.  He has never made the Padres prospect list, but the Padres brass has taken note of his outburst.

Richard Salazar had shut out Israel the first five innings, but in the sixth Frieman hit the first of his 2-run homeruns.  He hit another 2-run homer in the eighth off Ivan Granados.

Justin Schumer got the victory for Israel pitching five plus innings to get the win.  Spain scored one more in the ninth after an Adrian Nieto double, but Josh Zied retired the next three hitters to pick up the save.  There were 814 who attended the game.

There were over 3,000 who watched Germany wallop the Czech Republic 16-1.  The game lasted only six innings, Mike Bolsenbroek tossing five plus of them to get the win.  Matt Weaver hit a grand slam homerun in the eight run fifth inning.  Germany managed to collect only 10 hits, but six walks and three hit batsmen helped extend their rallies.

In a losers bracket game South Africa and France were tied at 2-2 at the end of nine when rain suspended the game.  South Africa managed only two hits in the game, but both their runs were scored without benefit of a hit.  French pitchers issued 10 base on balls, half of them in the fifth inning when South Africa scored both their runs.  The French scored two runs in the first, but then were shut down by the South African pitching staff.  Hein Robb pitched five innings of shutout relief to keep the South Africans tied after nine.

In Florida, Spain will have to wait for South Africa and France to finish off their losers bracket game to play the winner.  Israel, under manager Brad Ausmus, who recently turned down the Houston Astros managerial job sits undefeated at 2-0.  There will be a number of more attractive managing jobs open next year, including that of the Red Sox, if one can call that job attractive.

In Germany, the doubleheader sees Germany doing battle with Canada in the winner’s bracket game while the Czech Republic and Great Britain try to fight off being eliminated in the losers bracket contest.  The loser of the Germany/Canada battle will play the winner of the Czech Republic/Great Britain duel.

2009

Posted in Canada, Germany, World Baseball Classic, Israel, France, Spain, South Africa | No Comments »

Israel Takes Opener in WBC

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

Israel used six different pitchers to shut out South Africa for eight innings in the WBC opener to eventually win 7-3. Eric Berger got the start but pitched only three innings, giving up two of the three hits to South Africa but not allowing a run to cross the plate. Dylan Unsworth was perplexing to the Israeli bats, allowing only one run in six innings of work. Dylan struck out six.

The Israeli offense was able to tee off on the South African bullpen to score six of their seven runs in the last three innings. Nate Frieman slugged two solo homeruns, one in the first inning and another in the ninth inning and Charles Cutler cleared the bases with his 3-run double to lead the offense.

South Africa scored all their runs in the ninth inning, taking advantage of three walks from Shlomo Lipetz. They scored all three runs without benfit of a hit.

You can follow the scores here: http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/wbc/2013/scoreboard/index.jsp

Posted in Israel, South Africa | No Comments »

European Cup Final Four in Doubt

Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

They were supposed to play the European Cup final four, but the four teams could not agree on a date.  So the Confederation of European Baseball was going to award two winners without playing the games.  This didn’t seem to make any of the clubs happy, especially the French team, the Rouen Huskies.  Other teams who had made the final four were Dannesi Nettuno and Unipol Bologna, both teams from Italy and the Netherlands team L&D Amsterdam.  This will be one of these news at 11 stories.

It would seem that before the European season started a date should have been set for the final four that any team competing in the event could have been prepared for.  No firm dates had been established.  Now it is like trying to get four friends to agree on the best time to take a vacation ogether and no one can agree on a common date.  All of us know how frustrating that can be.

Posted in Netherlands, Israel, Tournaments, Other, France | No Comments »

Jupiter WBC Dates Established

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

The WBC for Jupiter, Florida that had been originally scheduled for November has been changed to September 19-23.  That date is good for Spain and France, who will just be completing the European championships, so their players should still be fresh from playing.  It will not be good for Israel, who may have had some hopes of using major leaguers Ryan Braun and Ian Kinsler, if they could have convinced them to play.  Now it is a moot point, since Braun and Kinsler will be focused on the major league schedule in September.  South Africa is the fourth team that will compete in the qualifier.

Posted in Israel, France | No Comments »

Florida WBC Moved to September

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

The http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0617-down-the-line-20120617,0,2275237.story has reported the WBC qualifying tournament that was scheduled for Jupiter, Florida in November may have to be played in September.  This qualifier was to include teams from Israel, France, Spain and South Africa.

The problem with moving the games up to September would mean that major leaguers like Ryan Braun and Ian Kinsler, who are Jewish, would not have an opportunity to play on the Israeli team.  This would probably be a good thing for France, Spain and South Africa, making it more competetive for the other teams.  Israel could still field a roster with ex-major leaguers like Shawn green, Gabe Kapler and Brad Ausmus.

If the major leagues really wants to hold the event in November there are still other venues that would be available.  The Rays ex-spring training facility in Tampa held an international event over the spring and would probably jump at the chance to hold this event if Jupiter’s facilities are filled with youth tournaments.  The events held by Al Lang field last spring were sparsely attended, but they don’t have the advertising potential that major league baseball has.

Posted in World Baseball Classic, Israel, France 1fda | No Comments »

Brad Ausmus to Coach Israel in WBC

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

According to http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120521&content_id=31904178&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb Brad Ausmus has been named as coach for the Israel WBC team.  He has already got committments from ex-major leaguers Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler.  If he can convince Ryan Braun he already has his outfield set and he will also work on Kevin Youkilus and Ian Kinsler to play.  That will establish a pretty good infield.

Because Youkilus, Kinsler and Braun are Jewish they are eligible for Israeli citzenship, which qualifies them to play for the Isreal team that competes in the WBC.  Myworld hopes that Brad Ausmus leaves some spots open for players on the Israeli national team.  If he really wants to see the sport grow in Israel it will not do the country any good if the roster is filled with players who have rarely stepped foot in Israel.

Israel will be competing in a qualifying tournament for the WBC in Jupiter, Florida against France, Spain and South Africa.  The winner from that group will be eligible to compete in the WBC in 2013.  The tournament is being played in November, so the major league season should be over by then and any major leaguers or minor leaguers will be eligible to play for a country they may qualify for citizenship.

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Israel Gets Strong Committment for WBC

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Israel will be competing in the WBC qualifier in Jupiter, Florida in November of this year, playing against Spain, South Africa and France.  They got three strong committments from three ex major league players who have agreed to play or help coach the Israeli team.  Those three players are Gabe Kapler, Brad Ausmus and Shawn Green.  Looking at their pictures all three look in pretty good shape to play.

You can read the article and see the photo of the three here: http://www.baseball.org.il/en/homepage/99-english-content/113-364824019.html

Posted in World Baseball Classic, Israel | No Comments »

Israel Gets Sponsor for World Baseball Classic

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

It appears that Triangle Finanacial Services, which owns the Maccabi Haifa basketball team will also sponsor the Israel baseball team as they compete in the qualifying round for the World Baseball Classic.  They also hope to build sometime in the near future the first minor league style ballpark in Israel.

A couple years ago Isreal tried to organize a professional baseball league, but their eyes were bigger than their head.  The league folded after only one season.  Sponsoring one team is probably less costly than supporting six teams, but building a stadium could be another matter.

You can read the article here: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/baseball-world-baseball-classic-team-israel-lands-florida-sponsor-1.409431

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Israel Improves WBC Qualifying Team

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Israel hopes to improve their WBC team with the assistance of retired players Shawn Green, Gabe Kapler and Brad Ausmus.  It is not clear whether they will actually participate in the games but they will offer assistance to the team.  You can read the article here: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7217085/top-jewish-former-baseball-players-join-israel-bid-world-baseball-classic

Israel is building a baseball complex in Raanana and is hoping the retired major leaguers assistance will improve their acquiring donations.  Currently 2,000 adults and kids play baseball in Israel.  Israel started a professional league a couple years ago, but economic difficulties led to its closure.

The qualifiers will be played during the major league season so if Israel can qualify players who can participate on the team in the WBC could be Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkillus, Ian Kinsler, Ike Davis, Jason Marquis, Sam Fuld, Danny Valencia and Scott Feldman.

Posted in World Baseball Classic, Israel | No Comments »

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