The SoapBoxers

Sadness

The saddest sports story of the week was the death of 22 year old Angels pitch Nick Adenhart at the hands of a repeat offender drunk driver who had a blood alcohol level nearly triple the legal limit, was driving 65 mph in a 35 mph zone, and ran a red light.  Courtney Stewart, driver of the car Adenhart was riding in, and Henry Pearson, a passenger in that car, also died in the accident.  Another passenger in that car, John Wilhite, remains hospitalized.

Announcer Harry Kalas and former pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych also died this week.

Oddness

The strangest sports story was probably the truck driver who stole $43,000 worth of ketchup that was supposed to go to Fenway Park for opening day.  The driver was upset at his employer, and intentionally drove the load to the wrong location.  It turns out that he was on probation, so this little stunt is not going to have a happy ending for him.

NCAAs

Tyler Hansbrough struck a blow for the kids who decided to stay in college four years, bring home a title to North Carolina.  Like him or dislike him, you have to respect his decision to stay in school.  A lot of people are questioning his ability to succeed at the next level.  Only time will tell.  One thing for certain, though, is that he will not fail for lack of effort.

Rockies

Troy Tulowitzki , determined to shake off the negative memory of 2007, belted homers in each of the first two games for the Rockies (and added a third on Saturday).  Tulo is my favorite active player.  Rookie Dexter Fowler hit a lead off homer on Wednesday, the first in a long march toward Rickey Henderson’s record for leadoff home runs.

Baseball

CC Sabathia got shelled in his Yankees debut, reminding many people of his rough start to the 2008 season, allowing 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings.  Sabathia promptly rebounded in his second start, hurling 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball.  Sabathia has all the talent in the world, but a late season slump would not surprised me.  He has piled up a ton of innings over he last few years, and his body frame can best be described as “Ruthian”.

NFL

The Detroit Lions are on the clock for the NFL draft.  Some experts are saying that they are locked on Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, but others aren’t sure.  Some believe that there is not a consensus in the Lions front office that Stafford in even the best quarterback in the draft.  This would reflect the thinking around the NFL, where observers are split between Stafford and USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.  I even heard one person suggest that the Lions could let their time run out, which would allow the Rams to jump ahead of them and make their pick.  At that point, the Lions would then make their own pick, which they could then argue was the #2 pick.  Why would they do this?  For financial reason.  #1 picks make substantially more money than #2 picks, and if the Lions are confident that the Rams won’t snap up the guy they way, this could make sense.  It’s a risky move, though, and I don’t see it happening.

Rookie Angels pitches Nick Adenhart, 22, was killed in a car accident shortly after midnight on Thursday morning.  Adenhart had pitched six shutout innings on Wednesday night, just hours before the accident.  The car that Adenhart was riding in was hit broadside by a drunk driver who ran a red the light.  The driver, who fled the scene, had a suspended license as a result of a previous drunk driving conviction.

Adenhart had quite a few fans in eastern Iowa because he pitched for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2006.  His 10-2 record and 1.95 ERA that year made him understandably popular.  Even after he departed from the Kernels, his achievements would make the local news occasionally – sort of a “local boy makes good” (in spite of the fact that he didn’t grow up around here.

Today is the official start of the baseball season (although most teams begin games tomorrow). I have been waiting for this day since October. While most of you are watching the NCAA championship game tonight, I’ll be watching baseball.

First, let me provide a link to my earlier post of some of the best baseball web sites, in case you missed it. If you didn’t see this when it was initially posted, do yourself a favor and take a look at it now.

My Colorado Rockies have decided to keep top prospect CF Dexter Fowler with the big club to begin the year. I’m a big fan of Dex. He will be a reserve outfielder to begin the year, but hopefully he can play his way into the lineup and stay there. Fowler was a 14th round draft pick in 2004. He would have gone much higher, but he had basketball scholarship offers, and teams were not sue if he would sign a contract if he was drafted (many baseball players are drafted out of high school, and a lot f them decide to attend college rather than sign a pro contract.) The Rockies gambled, drafted him in the 14th round, and offered a signing bonus of $925,000 – much more than the typically bonus for a 14th rounder. So far, this appears to be money well spent.

It appears that Rockies prospect Ian Stewart will not take over the third base job, as Garrett Atkins has not yet been traded. Look for Clint Hurdle to get Stewie’s bat into the lineup often, playing him at 3B, 2B, and OF.

Another guy to watch is catcher Chris Iannetta. If you look at he stat, Iannetta actually had a breakout year in 2008, but a limited number of at bats kept his numbers down. If he can avoid having Yorvit Torrealba vulture some starts, Iannetta could emerge as an elite offensive catcher.

One of my fantasy leagues dried up. This was a bit disappointing, as it was a keeper league, and I had drafted for the long term when the league was created in 2007. My team was looking like it would be a very strong contender for a decade. I suspect that some other GMs came to this realization, and that this is a reason why the league folded.

Other stories from around baseball:

Potential Hall of Famer Gary Sheffield was released by the Tigers with 14M and 1 year left on his contract. Baseball contracts are guaranteed, so Sheffield will make 14M even if he does not play this year. If another teams signs him, they would only have to pay him the league minimum, with the Tigers picking up the bulk of the contract.

Andruw Jones is going to stick with the Texas Rangers. I guess he and hitting coach Rudy Jaramillio have a good thing going. I’m hoping Andruw bounces back after a horrible 2008.

North Carolina will face Michigan State tonight in the NCAA title game. Many people expected UNC to be in the title game; few expected MSU to be. Tyler Hansbrough will try to cap off a tremendous career with a national title, while Michigan State will attempt to get revenge for a savage beating suffered earlier in the year against UNC

Baylor, the subject of an earlier article, fell just one victory short of a championship, falling to Penn State in the NIT title game. Sure, it’s just the NIT, but after everything Baylor has been through, they should be extremely proud of their post-season accomplishments. The coach of the year awards aren’t typically given to the NIT runner-up, but maybe we make an exception this year? Great job, Scott Drew.

The Jay Cutler fiasco is coming to a head. The Broncos were involved in trade discussions for Matt Cassell (Cassell ended up going to the Chiefs) and Cutler has been very upset ever since. The Broncos have now said that they are looking to trade Cutler.

The police officer who detained Texans player Ryan Moats while Moats’ mother-in-law was dying in a hospital has resigned. Yes, Moats ran a red light, but this could have been handled much better. The cop could have taken Moat’s information, told him to report to the police station in he morning, and let him go. Instead, he kept him away from hospital room, despite the pleading of nurses and another cop. During this time, Moat’s mother-in-law died.

Donte Stallworth was charged with vehicular manslaughter after he hit a man with his car. Stallworth says he flashed his lights to warn the man, who was allegedly outside of the crosswalk. Working against Stallworth is a blood alcohol level in excess of the legal limit.

NFL prospect BJ Raji, though to be a top 5-10 pick, will likely slide down the draft board after a positive drug test. This could potentially cost Raji tens of millions of dollars.

The sky is falling!

My projected national champion Memphis and runner-up Duke lost within minutes of each other. My bracket is ruins … once again, I’ve have to wait until next year.

I’m glad that baseball season is almost here.

Unbeknownst to many people, there are two NCAA basketball tournaments underway. Everyone knows about the men’s tournament, of course. There is also a women’s NCAA tournament underway.

The women’s tourney has had some interesting games already. #2 seed Baylor had to go to overtime in the first round again #15 seed Texas San Antonio and escaped with a two point win against #9 seed South Dakota State in the second round. #1 seed Duke was beaten by #9 seed Michigan State in the second round. Texas A&M had 20, yes 20, steals in a win against Minnesota. #7 seed Rutgers clobbered #2 seed Auburn in the second round, although it’s difficult to list a C. Vivian Stringer win as an upset, ever.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the tournament was the early exit of two time defending champion Tennessee. Tennessee was a very young team, with a “low” #5 seed as a result. However, Tennessee had never lost a first or second round NCAA game, so their opening round loss to #12 Tennessee was a stunner.

My alma mater, Iowa State, is in the Sweet 16. The #4 seed Cyclones won handily in the first round, tying a tournament record with 16 three pointers in a rout against East Tennessee State. Oddly, South Dakota State also tied the tournament record in their win against TCU. The Cyclones road in the tournament has been smoothed a bit by upsets. In round two, they faced #12 seed Ball State (instead of #5 seed Tennessee). Ball State hung around for quite a while, but Iowa State pulled away in the end. In the next round, the Cyclones will face #9 seed Michigan State instead of #1 seed Duke. Can this be a Final Four run for Iowa State? I sure hope so.

I have been to at least four NCAA women’s tournaments (my memory is getting hazy with age – was there a fifth tournament?) – three times to first/second round game and once to third/fourth round games. The tickets are much cheaper than men’s tickets and much easier to get. Some of the cities that get the women’s games would never have a chance at men’s tournament games.

I really enjoy the atmosphere of the tournament. The game on the floor is good, too. The women’s game is a lot more true to the fundamentals instead of the highlight show that the men’s games can turn into.

My best moment from an NCAA tourney was when I had to sell some unused tickets (I bought extras anticipating that some friends would be able to join me). I sold for below face value and was honest about the fact that the seats were not very close to midcourt. The couple that bought the tickets was actually happy with the location. Their son was a band director (or something similar) and the seats gave them a great view of him.

Sneak peak ahead
Details will soon be unveiled about a contest that will feature some popular personal finance bloggers as contestants.

This is the final installment in a three part series.

In the past decade, the majority of my sports focus has been on baseball. I had lost interest in the NBA in the 90s. I am still a fan of the NFL and college football and basketball, but my interest has cooled over the years and is now truly seasonal. On the other hand, baseball has slowly become a year-round sport for me. There really is no off-season. The November – March timeframe is packed with all sorts of activity – winterball, free agency, salary arbitration, and spring training, to name a few.

My first major step in this direction was joining – and winning – my first fantasy baseball league in 1998. I was 23 at the time, so I was a bit of a late starter. The fantasy league opened my eyes to the other 29 teams in the league, and I became a fan of the sport, instead of merely a fan of certain teams and players.

I still play fantasy baseball. However, neither of my leagues has a traditional format. My pride and joy is my own creation – a league in which a team cannot start two players whose last names begin with the same letter of the alphabet (for example Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez). This completely changes the values of players. The other league is a keeper league where we carry forward the entire roster from one year to the next. At the outset, I drafted a team almost entirely of prospects. I had a horrible first year, since none my players had substantial at bats or innings. In year two (last year) I won the regular season title (although I did lose in the playoffs).

In addition to fantasy, I also play in a sim league. A friend of mine described this as a baseball version of Dungeons and Dragons. You draft and develop fake players. The league commish use the Mogul computer game as the main engine for the league, but has added a ton of custom features. There are 32 people spread across the US who manage teams in the league. Everyone has different draft, development, and trade preferences, resulting in a league that is a lot of fun and very unpredictable at times.

I read about baseball a lot, especially during the seasons. I have books related to the economics of baseball, the physics of baseball, and everything in between. A topic of particular interest to me recently is the ability to distinguish between talent and luck. It is possible to dissect a player’s statistics and theorize whether a player had a great year because his skills suddenly took a step forward, or if the performance was due more to good luck. I also read a lot of online content, and of course I subscribe to Sports Weekly.

2007 featured the greatest baseball moment of my fanhood, as my Colorado Rockies won 21 of 22 games and put themselves in their – and my – very first World Series. They game up short, but surely a World Series title is just around the corner.

At this point in my fanhood, I am ankle deep into most sports and neck deep into baseball. I’m not quite over my head – yet.

Update: After writing this, and before it was published, the baseball sim league became a casualty of my attempt to juggle too many things at once. Quite honestly, this blog has begun to drain quite a bit of my spare time, and I was forced to make a tough decision.

Crazy fantasy leagues

If you’re just here for the PDF of the league rules for the Alphabet Soup League, Download here

I enjoy oddball fantasy leagues. In my experience, they tend to draw a crowd that enjoys a bit more of a challenge, and I definitely enjoy a competition. Winning is great, but I live for the pure thrill of competition.

My favorite league is a league of my own creation – the Alphabet Soup League. The intent of the league was to create something that would be considerably more challenging than a typical league – and based on some comments last year, I think I succeeded. Some of the GMs were very anxious to get started this year. The league is very different than any other league I have every encountered.

I go into considerable detail about the ABC league in an earlier post so I won’t rehash all of it here. The gist is that you are only allowed to have one player represent each letter of the alphabet (A-Rod for R, for example). The draft is also very strange. You are allocated specific letters in each “round” and choose players from those letters. Within a given round, the picks are completely independent of each other, so there is no need to use any sort of draft order. People just email me their picks at the end of each round. The downside is that there isn’t a good way to upload the information for the fantasy provider. Is it unrealistic to hope for XML support?

The 2009 draft is just winding down (it takes about ten days to complete). As with last year, some very good players slipped quite a way down the board. For example, I had second choice of the S players after another GM picked Sizemore. Johan Santana and CC Sabathia were the obvious picks, but I went with Geovany Soto. Why? Because my letters for the next several rounds were lousy for catchers, and I was afraid of being stuck with someone like Jason Varitek. It is important to look ahead and figure out when you might be able to fill a specific position (particularly catcher and middle infielder).

I am making the rules for the ABC league publicly availably. Download it here. If you decided to create your own version of the ABC league, drop me an email at Kosmo@ObservingCasually.com. Feel free to let me know if you have questions or comments about the league format. Yes, I realize that the letters E, I, and N suck.

The other oddball league I am in is a bit more typical. It is a keeper league – we keep all of our players from year to year. I adopted a very aggressive strategy for the draft. I took a list of the top prospects. If they were draft-eligible in Yahoo, I put them at the top of this list. As a result, only a few of the players I draft were bona fide full time major leaguers that year. As a result, I got crushed in the league, finishing 20th out of 20 teams. As a result, I got top waiver priority for the next year – and used it to pick Evan Longoria.

The second year – last year – was much different. Many of the prospects had been promoted to the majors and the team blossomed. I finished with the best record in the league (although I lost in the playoffs). In September – a time when most of the league’s GM were ignoring the league, I was busy snagging prospects who were called up for cups of coffee with the big league club. Needless to say, I’m very excited to see how the team does is 2009.

Josef Fritzl of Austria was sentenced to life in a psychiatric prison. Fritzl is the man who kept his daughter imprisoned in a secret basement in his house for 24 years. He repeatedly raped her and fathered seven of her children. One child died after Fritzl refused to allow medical attention. He later threw the baby’s body into a furnace. Fritzl faced charges that included murder (murder by neglect for refusing to allow medical care for the infant), incest, rape, and enslavement.

Fritzl would be eligible for parole in 15 years. However, he is 73 years old, making it quite likely that he will die in prison.

I hope Fritzl’s daughter can see this is as final chapter of this story and somehow put the past behind her and have a happy and productive life. Of course, this is easier said than done.

Weird tangent: I saw the story of Fritzl pleading guilty to the murder charge when I was at a restaurant. I could see the TV screen and read the closed captioning, but couldn’t hear anything. The closed captioning and video were a bit out of sync. I saw an image of Don Imus getting out of a car, and saw closed captioning talking about incest and murder. Say what you will about Don Imus, but he has never (to my knowledge) been accused of incest or murder, so I wasn’t sure what the actual story was. Eventually, the closed captioning got to the Imus story – he has prostate cancer. Why, exactly, can’t the news shows just dump the teleprompter feed into the closed captioning system? You have a script for the show – use it!

On Thursday, the US House of Representative passed a bill that would tax recipients of the AIG bonuses at a rate of 90% The method of using language that was clearly intended to isolate one specific group of individuals, combined with the angry statements from some legislators, makes this bill walk the fine line between proper legislative activity and a bill of attainder (in essence, convicting someone of a crime and penalizing them without benefit of a trial.

Personally, I would like to see these bonuses looked at on a case-by-case basis. I’m really not sure why congress is in such a rush. They could spend a bit more time taking a deeper look at the issue, and if they still felt that this was an appropriate course of action, they could pass this legislation.

Game 5 of pool 2
Japan’s Hisashi Iwakuma and Toshiya Sugiuchi combined on a five hit shutout of Cuba. This knocks Cuba out of the WBC. The semifinalists are now set – US, Venezuela, Korea, and Japan. Evan Longoria will replace Kevin Youkilis on the US team because of an injury.

The biggest story of the day was almost an upset of #2 seed Memphis. Memphis was down to Cal State Northridge late in the second half, but Memphis was able to rally and win. A Memphis loss would have been tragic to my bracket, since I have them as my champion.

In the end, the lowest seed to win in day one of the tournament was #12 seed Western Kentucky, which knocked off #5 seed Illinois. The Hilltoppers led by 10+ points for much of the game, before allowing a rally that let the Illini pull to within two points. Western Kentucky was able to seal the deal, though, and will advance to a second round game against Gonzaga.

An interesting image of the day is Oklahoma star Blake Griffin getting flipped by Morgan State’s Ameer Ali. Ali was immediately ejected from the game. Griffin missed time earlier this year because of a concussion. Griffin scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the game.

My alma mater, Iowa State, is tied for the lead with archrival Iowa after day one of the NCAA wresting tournament. Unfortunately, Iowa has more wrestlers still alive in the winner’s bracket (6 for Iowa, 5 for ISU) and they are generally higher seeded. Still, we do have some opportunities. David Zabriskie is the top seeded heavyweight, and Jake Varner is seeded #2 at 197. Nick Gallick, #6 seeded at 141, is the second highest seed still remaining at that weight, as four of the top five have lost.

Hopefully Iowa will suffer some losses, the Cyclones will nab some wins, and the ISU guys who lose are able to claw their way back in the consolation bracket. Let’s get a title for coach Cael Sanderson!

It’s finally here – the day you have all been waiting for. The NCAA tournament begins today. While fans rejoice, corporate America groans under the weight of millions of hours of lost productivity. I don’t think any other single sporting event during the year generates as much buzz.

This weekend, we will experience wall-to-wall tournament coverage. CBS will whisk us from game to game, ensuring that we never get bored. We’ll even see multiple games via split screen. If we’re not sure about the availability of pizza, Pizza Hut will let us know that they, indeed, are open during the tournament and will be happy to deliver. If we forget, Pizza Hut will remind us, again and again again, all throughout the tournament.

Basketball fans love the tournament, of course, but non-fans also come out of the woodwork for the tournament. The casual fan can be exposed to a wide variety of offensive and defensive styles, and CBS makes sure that they are never subjected to a blowout. When one game gets out of reach, they just switch to a better matchup. Basically, we get to eat dessert, but don’t have to eat our veggies. That’s always OK in my book.

An ancient tradition in the history of the NCAA tournament is the filling out of brackets. I run a small office pool (for entertainment purposes, of course). This in my seventh year running the pool, and I get a lot of enjoyment from watching people participate. Every year, the people who know a lot about basketball attempt to compete against the people who spend thirty seconds filling out their bracket – and the non-fans do pretty well most years.

I have a great memory of the 2003 tournament. One of the managers in the office was ridiculing another person’s choice for national champion. I stayed neutral, with my standard comment of “you never know what will happen”. The manager’s prediction of gloom and doom looked on target when 14 seeded Manhattan cut a Syracuse lead to just five points with less than seven minutes to go. Syracuse prevailed in the game, however, and would go on to win the national title.

There are other stories of predictions gone terribly wrong. My wife’s friend used an interesting method to choose the winners one year. She picked them alphabetically. Yep – whichever team came first in the alphabet was picked as the winner. Unfortunately, Appalachian State was unable to reward her optimism, and she ended up with a pretty poor showing.

I’ve had the opportunity to attend several post-season basketball tournaments in person. I’ve never been to a men’s NCAA tournament due to geographical and financial considerations. However, I have been to at least four women’s NCAA tournaments, including one regional final. I have also been to a men’s NIT game (Iowa State vs. Iowa in 2003). The energy at the tournaments is awesome.

My advice to you is this. Watch a lot of basketball this weekend. Pull for some upsets. Become elated when you predict an upset and despondent when a Final Four team goes down to defeat. At least it will take your mind off the economy!

Bonus tournament: you might not realize it, but the NCAA wrestling tournament kicks off this weekend. It doesn’t have the fanfare of the basketball tournament (or even the fanfare of the women’s NCAA tournament, or the NIT tournament, etc) but I’ll be following the action closely all weekend, with the help of the internet. If I wasn’t from Iowa, I probably wouldn’t follow wrestling, but with two dominant teams in the state – my alma mater Iowa State, as well as that “other” school – it’s a sport that I have to follow.

Game 1: (Sunday) Japan vs. Cuba
Japan beat Cuba 6-0 behind the arm of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka threw 61 of his 86 pitches for strikes, allowing five hits and no walks over six innings of work. Although Matsuzaka had a great year for Boston last year, there had been some concerns that he had been lucky, and that his high walk totals would cost him in future years. Matsuzaka has displayed good control in the WBC, though. 3 relievers each allowed a hit, but none of them walked a batter, either.

On the offensive side, Japan played small ball, with only one of their 12 hits going for extra bases (a double by Kenji Jojihma). Shuichi Murata had two RBI, with four other players chipping in one RBI each.

Game 2: (Sunday) Mexico vs. Korea
Korea’s Tae Kyung Kim drove in three runs (including a solo homer) and Bum Ho Lee and Young Min Ko also homered for Korea as Korea wins 8-2. Mexico faces Cuba in game 3, with the loser eliminated and the winner remaining alive to face the loser of Korea/Japan.

Game 3: (Monday) Mexico vs. Cuba (loser eliminated)
Cuba stayed alive in the tournament with a 7-4 win. Frederich Cepeda continued his outstanding WBC with a three run double. Cepeda finished with four RBI in the game. Cepeda is 12 for 20 with 3 homers and 10 RBI in 20 at bats (5 games) in the WBC. That’s a 1.786 OPS.

Game 4: (Tuesday) Japan vs. Korea (winner qualifies for semifinals)

Korea jumped on Japan starting pitcher Yu Darvish early, manufacturing three runs in the first inning. Those three runs held up as Korea won 4-1 behind a masterful pitching performance by Korea’s Jung Keun Bong, who allowed one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings. Darvish settled down after the first inning, allowing three runs on four hits in five innings. Korea clinches a spot in the semifinals. Japan will face Cuba in game 5. The loser of that game will be eliminated, and the winner will face Korea in game 6 to determine semifinal seeding.

Game1: (Saturday) Netherlands vs. Venezeula
The Netherlands played another close game. In the opening round, they won games by scores of 2-1 and 3-2 while losing games by scores of 3-1 and 5-0 (both losses against Puerto Rico). In this game, they lost 3-1 to Venezuela.

Venezuela starter Carlos Silva went seven strong innings, allowing just one run on four hits. After two other relievers each recorded an out, Venezuela turned the game over the K-Rod, and he delivered a four-out save, including two strikeouts.

The pitching for the Netherlands was pretty effective, with the exception of a couple of mistakes. They allowed just three hits (and three walks) all day. Unfortunately those three hits were homers by Miguel Cabrera and Jose Lopez and a triple by Endy Chavez (Chavez scored on a groundout).

Even with the loss, the Netherlands continues to rise their profile during this World Baseball Classic.

Game 2: (Saturday) USA vs. Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico beat the USA 11-1. Javier Vasquez went five innings for Puerto Rico, allowing one run on four hits, while not walking anyone. USA starting pitcher Jake Peavy gave up six runs on six hits and two walks in just two innings. Hopefully my Colorado Rockies will watch tape of Peavy’s outing so that we can hit him this well in the regular season. Felipe Lopez and Carlos Beltran hit homers for Puerto Rico, but this was a team victory, with Puerto Rico piling up 13 hits and four walks. The USA managed just six hits, including two apiece by Adam Dunn and Brian McCann.

I’m not suggesting that we make Puerto Rico the 51st state for the sole purpose of adding their players to the USA’s WBC team, but it would be a nice benefit of statehood for Puerto Rico.

Game 3: (Sunday) Netherlands vs. USA, loser eliminated
A little tidbit surfaced during the game. The highest paid Netherlands player made $40,000 last year (their 42 game season is ¼ the length of MLB). The players received $20,000 for advancing to round two of the WBC.

The Cinderella story ends in round two, however. The US won this game 9-3. Jimmy Rollins drove in four runs and had a homer and a triple. Brian Roberts, filling in for the injured Dustin Pedroia, had a great game, falling just short of a cycle with a single, double, triple, and two walks.

On the pitching side, Roy Oswalt gave up no runs on five hits and no walks over four innings. The Netherlands did managed seven hits in a span of 2 2/3 innings off Shields, Ziegler, and Lindstrom, pushing three runs across the plate.

Game 4: (Monday) Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico, winner clinches semifinal berth
Venezuela’s Felix Hernandez struck out seven batters in 4 2/3 innings and K-Rod closed the door with 1 1/3 perfect innings. Ramon Hernandez drilled a homer as Venezuela wins the game 2-0. Ian Snell is the hard luck loser for Puerto Rico, allowing a run on five hits in four innings of work.

Game 5: (Tuesday) USA vs. Puerto Rico, winner clinches semifinals, loser eliminated
There was no joy in Mudville entering the bottom of the ninth with the US trailing 5-3. Two singles and a sacrifice fly cut the score to 5-4. Two more walks loaded the bases for David Wright, who delivered the decisive blow, a two run single that ended the game. Kevin Youkilis homered earlier in the game for the US, and Alex Rios and Carlos Delgado homered for Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is eliminated from the tournament. The US will have a rematch against Venezuela to determine seeding for the semifinals.