Oh, Mercy!

Saving themselves from a universe full of embarrassment, the U.S. National Baseball Team (be honest: did you actually even know that we had one?) blasted the South Africans 17-0 in a game shortened to five innings by the Mercy rule, a rule that normally only comes in to play in Little League and Beer-League Softball. Thanks to the win, the U.S. will advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic. The Americans needed the win today to advance, thanks to a shocking loss to Canada (Canada!?!?!) on Wednesday. Against South Africa, The Cubbies' own Derrick Lee homered, knocked a double and drove in four runs. The Americans actually finished second in their group behind Mexico (Mexico!?!?!) thanks to a complicated tie-breaking system.

As a baseball fan, I'm still not sure what to make of this so-called "Classic" (I don't think something can rightfully be called a "Classic" in it's first year of existence). On the one hand, it's good to try to expand the game beyond U.S. borders as much as possible, plus anything that distracts from the Barr-oid Bonds watch is a welcome distraction. On the other hand I don't think many of the Major Leaguers who agreed to participate in this marketing-driven exhibition are taking it very seriously. And how can one take it as a serious tournament when Mike Piazza is playing for Italy and Andruw Jones is playing for the Netherlands? But I guess in the end Baseball is America's Game, and when you get down to it I'd really hate to see some other country claim a World Championship in it.