caulfield12

Italy is practically a runaway locomotive until their starting pitching runs out of depth... There's also the return of Caitlin Clark/Team USA after 8 months on TruTV vs. Italy. Weird to see what looks like a high school crowd in PR...must be watching the beisbol partido. Announcing almost makes one miss Schiffren lol.

History will/might judge numerous countries around the world for the economic fallout from those lockdown decisions skeptically (inflation or the loss of commercial real estate)...but it certainly felt like the right thing to do those first 3-4 months. Millions of mostly older peoples' lives, those with pre existing conditions were definitely at risk. The US nursing home situation hit home particularly hard...and it didn't discriminate by nation, Hong Kong and NY suffered equally. The worst part was the relentless uncertainty of yo-yoing back and forth for another two years (online teaching was fun and then it just became extra work and training teaching two classes at once)...and seeing empathy die out for one's fellow human beings, even the guinea pigs and countless cherished personal pets were massacred here in China. Hopefully that sense of human empathy that disappeared behind faceless white suits...treating neighbors like cattle, never returns again.

https://japantoday.com/category/sports/netflix's-exclusive-wbc-broadcasting-deal-in-japan-draws-mixed-reactions https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2026/03/13/netflixs-wbc-exclusivity-in-japan-raises-concern-for-dip-in-viewership/ https://awfulannouncing.com/netflix/wbc-japan-viewership-concerns.html Netflix spending up to $100 million to try to force tens of millions of Japanese to subscribe in order to watch thread heroes play just sucks. After being able to watch all the big games like this for free...and not even allowing sports bars to provide the feed, either. Shameful. Audience going from up to 100 million to somewhere around around 15 million (9.5 million subscribers prior to this tourney).

Saw what knightni wrote at reddit and couldn't find a FB update...but thanks for bringing the site back. Technology is something, isn't it. Was Iran out to get SoxTalk, that seemed a bridge too far, but there was a Cloudflare worldwide out age months ago for the better part of a day. It's interesting the wistful feeling of NOT being able to share in experiences of reacting to baseball games online, thinking it would be gone or perhaps is too easily taken for granted. Something that SoxMachine doesn't really go out of their way to provide. There was another reddit thread from the 2021 season about how "unhinged" SoxTalk supposedly was...and that was one of the best Sox teams in recent history. But I found myself wanting to share that Kyle Teel was now trying to add the luxury espresso machines to Sox bidets...as long as they weren't cheap can coffee crystals, according to Davis Martin. Skenes vs. the 1927 Yankees...check. Italy continuing their unexpected run, check. Cheering for Bednar to escape a massive jam after almost blowing a 5-0 lead and the US fans finally coming to life? Japan is far from a sure thing tonight against VEN tonight, but Yamamoto's going. There's always Ohtani heroism, but upon further reflection, that S.American country deserves something good to happen for national pride, too.

Looks like Canada will be 1 seed, PR 2 DR Venezuela tonight to decide that Miami pool's leaders. In theory: Japan vs Venezuela Korea vs DR Who knows what happens with US Mexico Italy but they have the much easier size of the bracket with a weakened PR and Canada getting in after beating Cuba...

You don't pay taxes, either? Kind of joking...but I'm not sure if this sounds more libertarian or just anti-govrrnment/authority in general?

Wrong thread still.

Might be the end of Alberto...

You just jinxed Mexico lol. The backup catcher for Italy signed an milb contract this last week. If they do have to use the 20 year old BULLPEN catcher in front of 45000 screaming Team Mexico fans, you might be right.

"Texas' Carter Baumler is a Rule 5 pick with late-inning-level stuff who was made available by the Orioles because he had thrown just 88⅔ innings over four pro seasons, only a handful of which were above A-ball. He's showing above-average to plus stuff with his four-seam fastball, slider and curveball while also throwing enough strikes to be a real contributor to this year's big league club." espn.com https://www.si.com/mlb/pirates/onsi/news/pittsburgh-pirates-trade-carter-baumler-rangers-immediately-after-rule-5-draft Orioles to Pirates to Rangers

Breakout candidates "Grant Taylor sits near 100 mph in short stints and has one of the best curveballs on Earth, along with a really good cutter and slider to bridge the gap between them. He's going to be stretched out more this year and could be a lot of fun to watch. I don't have a great feeling yet as to whether this is going to work, but it's going to be fun to watch 1B Munetaka Murakami. He has massive raw power that can take over any game but also has huge contact and chase issues." espn.com

https://www.si.com/media/mark-derosa-interview-fiasco-mlb-video MLB tried to scrub/bury controversial DeRosa interview with H.Reynolds and M.Vasgersian before reversing course.... "However, Italy's upset win over USA on Tuesday has added a little chaos to the mix. Dominican Republic, safely through to the quarterfinal round, is now the favorite at +190, slightly ahead of USA (+220) and Japan (undefeated and also through) at +250. Italy (22-1) plays Mexico (20-1) on Wednesday night. If Italy wins, then both they and Team USA will move on -- and presumably, the odds may tip back towards the American team. However, if Mexico wins in nine innings, it all comes down to runs scored: If Mexico scores at least five runs, then they and the USA advance. If Mexico wins and scores between 1-4 runs, then Italy also advances and the USA is eliminated." espn.com

NFL up to 13 international games in 2026 for the very same reasons the WBC exists...or approaching 100 year anniversary of the All-Star game at mid season.

That's true of Italy...twenty two players born in US. But also why Francisco Cervelli drove around the country 15,000 miles in a van promoting the sport and European championship to develop more native born players even though he's also Venezuelan. Other nations do want it more, like the Asian countries, Latin American countries...everywhere but where baseball was actually born as a sport. You have to find ways to get the younger generations engaged...and this is one of the main marketing strategies. If you watched the Czech pitcher who was leaving the game to retirement and his regular job in Ostrava and you saw the tears before and after the game when he received multiple standing ovationd out of respect. the Australian pitcher's father cheering like a proud lunatic with pride or some of the players actually crying afterwards when they lost to Korea...it meant a lot to all of them. Czechia was already down 0-4 in the tourney, basically playing for just national pride and scared the hell out of the Japanese fans and team/manager. All five countries went crazy for their teams in the Tokyo Dome and supported them far more than US fans in Houston...whose manager looked at that game as a mere formality.

If you were here in Wuhan at Ground Zero your story might change. Everyone knows someone that died, even in a city of 13 million. Remember stories of the funeral homes never stopping with the ashes/bodies burning for weeks? Dr. Li Wenliang, the original whistleblower on the threat Covid originally posed (from my wife's alma mater, in fact) was from our neighborhood in Wuchang. Wuhan was basically locked down/sacrificed for 2 1/2...well, almost three full years in order to protect the rest of the country. I ended up getting multiple Chinese vaccines as well as the Pfizer one and seasonal flu shot in order to fly on an airplane/return to the US when my mom almost died from sepsis. Four months later, she died in a nursing home from Covid in the Quad Cities while awaiting a hospice transfer....and I couldn't even go back again until the following summer for a funeral/memorial mass because I'd already missed three weeks of teaching at the beginning of the semester in Sept/Oct.

And Italian heritage? Emergency back up catcher tonight? Italy manager Francisco Cervelli said the team will have to replace Teel on the roster with bullpen catcher Andres Annunziata. “He's one of my catchers in Italy,” Cervelli said. “That's the only one we've got. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=annunz000nin Only twenty years old.

The second decision, Zucht v. King in 1922, arrived at a similar conclusion. San Antonio, Texas, excluded students from public and private schools who were not vaccinated for smallpox. This included the challenger in the case, Rosalyn Zucht. Her attorneys argued the vaccine policy violated Zucht’s 14th Amendment due process rights. Justice Louis Brandeis wrote in the Court’s decision that “long before this suit was instituted, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, had settled that it is within the police power of a state to provide for compulsory vaccination.” According to the Congressional Research Service’s most-recent analysis, the general principles in Jacobson and Zucht form the basis for modern vaccine mandate policies, even though the Court’s interpretations of the 14th Amendment have changed since 1922.

You're also against seat belts, bicycle/motorcycle helmets, speed limits? Environmental protection mandates? Or just anything related to an injection? What about an energency injection after possible HIV blood transmission?

But we already have two catchers!!! In all seriousness, would take a more from Lackey to reach that 1-1 conversation. Not related to John Lackey of the Angels I hope, that guy was a total tool.

Butler was a stretch, but look at the counting and WAR numbers guys like J.Wilson, Kurtz, Rooker, Langeliers, etc., put up (A's rebuild was used as the example). Which Sox could/would even be extended right now? Colson or Teel? S.Smith? Nobody has proved it for long enough yet. Vargas has yet to prove he's anything more than a complementary player...it's not like he came that close to 3 war due to his fielding and inconsistent overall season offensively.

In an appearance Tuesday morning with Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds on "Hot Stove" on MLB Network, where DeRosa works as an analyst, he said of the game against Italy: "We want to win this game even though our ticket's punched to the quarterfinals." Team USA's ticket was not punched -- and its fate now depends on the results of Italy and Mexico's contest Wednesday night, the final game of the WBC's Pool B. Team USA spent multiple hours in the clubhouse following its 5-3 victory against Mexico on Monday and, DeRosa said before the game against Italy, "There's some guys dragging today." Among Team USA resting a number of starters -- including Bryce Harper and Alex Bregman -- emergency reliever Clayton Kershaw warming up during the eighth inning and DeRosa not pinch running for Paul Goldschmidt as Team USA mounted a comeback after falling behind 8-0, the perception that they believed they had advanced took root as DeRosa's comments spread on social media. Kershaw was warming up, DeRosa said, because WBC rules limit pitch counts and he wanted to avoid using closer Mason Miller if reliever David Bednar reached 25 pitches. Kershaw, DeRosa said, "was the only guy we had left." espn.com Jeff Passan

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/world-baseball-classic-misspoke-or-misread-the-calculations-either-way-team-usa-fumbled-its-chance-in-loss-to-italy-064333165.html DeRosa has his Getz-like moment of thinking USA was already qualified for quarterfinals even if they lost Sat Bregman Raleigh Harper Buxton Turang... Basically had to use Yarborough instead of Joe Ryan...

Plot twist of War Machine given away...

Because he wouldn't start over Raleigh or Will Smith...

Last year under Disney, right?