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The last of the four entrants for the 2009 edition of the WBC is set, as Japan advances to continue its quest to repeat its defense of its title. 5-0 over Cuba, the scoring kicked off when Cuba’s centerfielder dropped a deep but very catchable fly ball with two on and two out in the 4th, both runs scoring on the obvious error. Japan now plays Korea one more time, in the worst part of the scheduling of this tournament, when the two teams that have advanced are forced to play one more time in a relatively meaningless game for “seeding” in the next round. The winner gets the US, the loser gets Venezueala. OR, they could just randomly assign the opponent, which would make just as much sense.

The US is the second seed because they fell for the second time to Venezuela in one of the aforementioned meaningless games. This one was particularly infuriating to watch because the two teams played in a constant rain, a bad field, and the US in particular is bleeding players due to injuries left and right. They were already down to playing Adam Dunn at 1b because Kevin Youklis was on his way back to Red Sox camp to get a boot and X-rays and treatment for a bad ankle. And, because the stupid WBC rules are written so that countries cannot call in reinforcements during a particular round of pool play, David Wright fouled a ball off his foot last night, ripping the toenail off his big toe, and played on because there was no one to replace him. Because it makes soooooo much sense to the Mets’ season to have had that go down that way.

Again, I am enjoying the competition, but continue to be highly critical of the timing and some of the particulars of the formating. Japan/Korea part IV in the aforementioned meaningless game tonight, with the semi-finals this weekend for the four remaining teams standing (limping) in LA this weekend.

US stays alive and moves on to the finals with a come-from-behind 6-5 walk-off win over Puerto Rico and Korea defeats sworn baseball enemy Japan to secure a spot in the finals as well. Genuine excitement and actual crowd noise from the Americans marked the 9th inning and the celebration afterwards was fun to watch (although a little cringe-worthy as the celebration looked a little dangerous in spots—stop dog-piling stars, people). Clearly the players on the teams care, and that helps the viewer to buy in a bit more as well.

So three spots in LA are set: Korea, Venezueal, and the United States. One last spot to be decided, and it should be a helluva game tonight. The schedule:

—US/Venezuela at 7:00 pm est on MLBN to determine seeding for LA

—Japan/Cuba at 11:00 pm est on ESPN2, loser goes home, winner secures a spot in LA

—Cole Hamels heading back to Philly to get his left elbow examined. Illumine us, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.:

“He’s had a little bit of a persistent soreness in his elbow; we do not believe it’s serious. But at least at this time we thought it was important for Dr. (Michael) Ciccotti to check him out and see if there’s anything more serious than we think it is.”

Hmmmm. I will strongly be considering adjusting my fantasy draft sheet accordingly. “Persistent soreness” seems less than ideal when it comes to pitcher’s elbows…

—Pudge Rodriguez, still whacking thrown balls around the World Baseball Classic, has finally found a home for 2009. That would be in Houston where he will split time with JR Towles. That particular home park gives Rodriguez some fantasy value again.

—Ryan Braun will continue to hang with the US World Baseball squad, despite straining a muscle in his ribcage during the US win over the Dutch. Pulled/strained muscles are the injury du jour of the WBC (Pedroia, Chipper).

—Albert Pujols hits his first homerun of the spring. The comment that follows that blurb from “Philip” is, well, representative of that particualar genre. Note to newspapers and most websites in general, it’s okay to disable comments from time to time. Not every thought needs to recorded for posterity.

—After watching Brian McCann take the field in left for the US late in the game last night in the WBC, I wondered to what lengths Davey Johnson will go win games as manager of the American club. Not much further than that, apparently. Johnson says he would forfeit a game, even if it meant elimination, before risking players. Good. More from Johnson:

“I’m definitely going to have a list of things to submit to MLB of things that would make it easier for the manager” to avoid injuries, Johnson said. Among those, Johnson said he would like to see more exhibition games before the tournament, fewer days off and a rule change allowing a manager to reinsert a player into the lineup if an injury occurs during the game.“

All sensible suggestions. The biggest problem I can see, from having watched a bunch of these games since the latest global tournament experiment kicked off, is the down time for major leaguers who should be getting ready for the season. Jake Peavy went seven days between outings last week, getting lit like the town drunk Saturday night. Felix Hernandez is starting for Venezuela tonight, and it had been nine days since he last worked in a game. That kind of disruption to routine puts starters way behind where they should be, and may explain some of what Nate Silver found back in 2006.

Little changes to improve what has been a really cool thing would be very appropriate for MLB to consider.

While we’re here and talking about Davey Johnson, will someone please give him a job? He’s a ridiculously good manager, one the Reds never should have fired. In a league where incompetents get recycled too often, a truly skilled manager like Johnson should not be away from the bench as long as he has.

With the US having finally dispatched the plucky Dutch (getting rid of the can’t hit a high inside fastball Pedroia was clearly the key…), the tournament is down to the heavyweights of international baseball (minus the missing Dominicans).

Great stuff on tap today, including:

—Mexico/Cuba in an elimination game at 11:00 est on ESPN2

—Venezuela/Puerto Rico at 8:00 on ESPN

That game should be a ton of fun to watch, not the least of which for the great atmosphere in the park. The stands will be a riot of color, flags, and chants. Or the polar opposite of games where the US fans need to carry the day. There may have been fewer fans in the stadium in Miami last night than make Marlins games…

Just a thought, if Jake Peavy is around when the third WBC comes to pass, he might want to skip it. His 2006 season was adversly affected by his participation in it, and his 2009 spring training is being sacrificed so he can be awful in the tournament this time around. Yesterday he got lit up for 6 runs in two innings, something that had only happened once in his entire MLB career, as Puerto Rico routed the US 11-1 with the mercy rule invoked at the end of the 7th. As a measure of how much this matters to non-Americans, consider this:

Geographically, Puerto Rico was the visiting team, playing on United States soil. But by any other measure, the team in the white uniforms was very much the home club. Of an announced crowd of 30,539, a good two-thirds sounded as though it was cheering for Puerto Rico, which also benefited from having the last turn at bat….”We felt as if we were playing in Puerto Rico,” Beltran said. “There was great support. I wasn’t expecting that it would be as it was. I thought there were going to be more Americans. … We’re in the U.S. but I appreciate the support, and we thank the Puerto Rican fans for having supported us because we really do this both for them and for Puerto Rico.”

That quote may make Tommy Lasorda kill himself.

In the other game, Venezuela got by the Dutch 3-1, but once again, it was a hard fought game. The Dutch continue to pitch out of their minds.

As for today, a triple header with Pool play in San Diego underway and the US/Dutch in an elimination game. The schedule:

—Japan/Cuba at 4:00 pm est on ESPN2

—US/Dutch at 7:30 pm est on ESPN2

—Korea/Mexico at 11:00 pm est on ESPN2

The Miami bracket with the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the upstart Dutch gets underway today.

The San Diego bracket with Mexico, Cuba, Korea, and the defending champs Japan gets underway tomorrow.

—A nice review of who is on each remaining team and a ranking within the respective pools at si.com.

—A really good read at foxsports.com on the development of Dutch baseball, and why they may be heard from again and again in the future (hint: it has a lot to do with the baseball being played in Curacao). You may recall, a team from Curacao won the Little League World Series back in 2004 and were runner-up in 2005. There’s talent there.

As for today, the United States loss to Venezuela a few days back hurt, as they have to deal with Puerto Rico instead of the Netherlands. As fun a story as the Dutch upsets have been, it sure seems unlikely to continue as they just are not hitting enough to win a few more, and their pitching is bound to get touched up at some point. That gives Venezuela a decided advantage in this Pool.

The schedule today:

Dutch/Venezuela at 1:00 est on MLBN

United States/Puerto Rico at 8:00 est on MLBN

Don’t want to tell MLB their business, since they have made an event that has far exceeded my expectations, but next time around, they may want to find a way to get these games available to more homes than get the fledgling MLB Network…

Looking at SC this morning, it appears the sporting world is catching up with just how crazy fun that two game sweep of the Dominicans by the Dutch was. And in a world where everyone is quick to label the latest sporting feat “the greatest ever”, I am content to know that what just transpired in Puerto Rico is at least in a conversational list of most extremely improbable outcomes in the last quick minute or two. With things like the US win over the USSR in 1980. Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson. George Mason to the Final Four. Etc.

The disparity between the pros on the Dominican team and pros on the Dutch team was laughable. Ex-mlb Milwaukee sausage killer Randall Simon had 45 of the Dutch team’s career 49 MLB homeruns. The Dominican team with David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez et al, had, ah, considerably more. 23 All-Star appearances to 0. A starting line-up and pitching staff made up of entirely major leaguers versus a team almost entirely not. The Dutch ran 19-year-old kids into high pressure situations for days in the tournament. And are still standing. Amazing. A lot of props have to go to Dutch pitching coach Bert Blyleven. Frankly, when he FINALLY makes the hall of fame, please, voters, make it happen, this feat should be on his plaque.

The nice thing about the upset is that the sporting world has now noticed the Classic, which has turned out to be a really great event. And since injuries have been at a minimum, I continue to admit I was wrong about it.

Tom Verducci in si.com has a run down of WBC news and notes, including the problem that starting pitchers are running into again this time around:

The United States, for instance, will have played one game in five days this week, a challenging spring-training schedule because of so much down time. Jeremy Guthrie of the Orioles, the USA’s No. 4 starter, will pitch in relief behind Ted Lilly of the Cubs Wednesday against Venezuela, and is very likely to fall behind his usual spring-training innings workload. In the 2006 WBC, Francisco Liriano of the Twins threw only 5 1/3 innings for the Dominican Republic. When he arrived back in Twins camp, Liriano was so far behind schedule the Twins could not get him ready for the season as a starter. He began the year in the Minnesota bullpen.

“It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve pitched,” Lilly said. “I’m not even sure when I pitched last, probably been a week maybe, something like that. So definitely I’m eager to get out there.”

Worth monitoring.

A good rundown of the emotions following the game on espn.com.

Ken Rosenthal calls the outcome a bit of a, um, “national disgrace” for the Dominican. Ouch.

One game with meaning for the tournament today: Mexico/Australia in a winner goes on/loser goes home game tonight at 10:00 pm est. Given that Australia just mercy ruled Mexico two days ago, it is clear the Mexico should not be taking anything for granted.

Stupid header, I know. There will be equally stupid ones across the nets shortly.

To call what just transpired – with the Netherlands upsetting the Dominicans again, this time 2-1 in 11 innings to knock the Dominicans out of the tournament – stunning, well, that would be an understatement. The two runs scored were in the bottom of the 11th after the Domincans took a 1-0 lead in the top half of the inning on what was, for intents and purposes, a three-base error on the RFer. That same guy knocked in the tying run and scored the winning run. It’s damn near a Disney movie.

We’ve been discussing the tournament as it unfolds in the Swamp. Drop by with a thought or two.

And, hey, Bud Selig? In fairness, you were right on the World Baseball Classic. This has been ridiculously fun.

Another upset in the WBC last night, with Italy taking out Canada. Which means Russell Martin, Joey Votto, Justin Morneau, and Jason Bay will be back with their teams mid-week. Mexico staved off elimination with a win over South Africa.

Puerto Rico advanced to the second round with an extremely hard-fought 3-1 win over the plucky Dutch. There were a couple of absolutely wonderful moments in that game starting in the sixth inning when a 19-year-old named Juan Carlos Sulbaran, who graduated from high school last June, came into the game. There were two outs and runners on first and third, with Pudge Rodriguez up. And Sulbaran dispatched him on three pitches, a fastball and two nasty sliders. The joy on his face after that sequence lingers. Then he danced out of a bases loaded one out jam in the seventh with no runs scoring, getting Carlos Beltran for the last out. Heady stuff. And I am thrilled that he is in the Reds system. Nice live arm.

All that leads up to a great set of games today:

—Cuba/Australia 10:00 est on MLBN (winner goes on, loser to face Mexico in an elimination game)

—Italy/Venezueala 5:00 est on ESPN2 (winner goes on, loser goes home)

—Dominican Republic/Netherlands 6:30 est on MLBN (winner goes on, loser goes home)

Hard to see how the Dutch beat the Domincans again, but, yaneverknow.

—We have our first potentially significant injury, a strained oblique. No, it is not the end of the world, and given Chipper Jones’ age and previous injury history, this could/would have happened perhaps anyway. But he’s had two previous stays on the DL with an oblique injury, and he was 0 for 7 at the WBC with 5 Ks. His agent claims it’s no big deal and he will be ready by Wednesday. Given his first few at-bats, as the only US player NOT raking right now, he should not hurry back.

—In 2009’s WBC, Australia scored four runs total in three losses. So, yeah, it was a bit of a stunner that not only did they upset Mexico in pool play in Mexico City last night, but that they did so in mercy rule fashion, coming from behind to rip Mexico 17-7 after 8 innings. The Australia team is anchored by Chris Snelling. Snelling.

—Big win for the US over Venezuela to advance to the next round, as it forces Venezuela to play the eleimination game on Tuesday against what will be, in all likelihood, Canada (assuming they beat Italy) in Toronto. That will not be an easy game for Venezuela to get by, and I look forward to seeing the Canadian crowd bringing it again. The fun from Saturday’s great game versus the US lingers.

Today’s schedule:

—Japan/Korea now in a game that doesn’t matter other than for considerable national pride as both have already advanced to the next round.

—Mexico v. South Africa in what is now an elimination game at 10:00 est on MLBN.

—Italy v. Canada in an elimination game at 6:30 est but not shown on TV until by delay on MLBN after midnite

—Netherlands v. Puerto Rico in a winner goes through game at 6:30 est on MLBN.