'That would have elevated the well-deserved prestige of Cuban sport'

The Japanese team is excellent; I would like our victory in the Classic to be achieved at the expense of this team; a team that has tremendous technical expertise.

I'm going to have to go through more posts to find other gems like that, but that nugget comes from Fidel Castro's blog on the World Baseball Classic. No, really! Tom Verducci says so!

Tuning in to the WBC

Now that the World Baseball Classic has begun, I find myself interested. There was little chance of me truly getting pumped up for this new tournament beforehand, but now that the games have begun, several factors have drawn -- and held -- my interest.

The games. Quite simply, I'm drawn to the competition. I love baseball and I'll watch spring training games, but other than catching an at bat by Lastings Milledge and a couple of batters faced by Mike Pelfrey, I couldn't even stay glued to Sunday's Mets-Puerto Rico exhibition game. But for games that mean something -- even if that something is a trumped-up "world championship" -- it's held my interest. On Tuesday, when play began stateside, I kept the Venezuela-Dominican Republic game on at work and then watched the U.S. and Mexico both at work and at home. While I spent yesterday afternoon at the opening-round doubleheader for the Big East Tournament, I caught a little of the early innings of the U.S.-Canada game at a bar while I had dinner. Later that evening, I watched the end of the game -- the Miracle on Grass! -- at a friend's house.

Yankee-hating. George Steinbrenner hates the WBC. So I'm inclined to like it. Besides, the deeper into the tournament the United States goes, the longer the Yanks are without Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon. They're also without Al Leiter, but I don't see how that hurts them. The fact that Leiter -- a Jersey guy himself who pitched quite well for the Mets -- is even on the team is ridiculous. The guy is far from an effective pitcher. Obviously past his prime, he's also clearly past the point of being a solid contributor to a major-league pitching staff. Why he's believed to be a pitcher worthy of representing the United States -- actually, he's worthy of representing the U.S., but not worthy of helping them to a title -- is perhaps the biggest question on this roster.

The matchups. Yes, it's only spring training, but there are still some matchups I've been drawn to. Watching Carlos Beltran single in two runs against Billy Wagner in the exhibition on Sunday was nice when I realized, as a Mets fan, I don't have to worry about facing Wagner in the ninth inning anymore. He's ours! I know we're treated to a Johan Santana-David Ortiz at bat once or twice a season, but because the Twins can't seem to get past the Yankees in the playoffs, we've yet to see it in a setting any bigger than a Tuesday night July meeting. Ortiz's bomb on Tuesday seemed a little bit more impressive to me. And last night, as the U.S. tried to rally in the eighth, the Phillies' Chase Utley came to the plate with the tying runs on base and two outs. On the mound was Canadian Scott Mathieson -- one of the Phillies' top prospects. When Mathieson left a pitch out over the plate, Utley drilled it high and deep to center, flicking his bat away with the flair of a 40-home run hitter who had just hit one he was sure was leaving the ballpark. Only Utley hit it to straightaway center in a pretty expansive Chase Field, where Adam Stern sprinted back to the warning track and caught it just before he slammed into the wall. The kid let the young stud hit it, but he got him to hit it in the right place.

The best-laid plans ... The favorites are obviously the United States and the Dominican Republic, with Japan, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Canada expected to put up a fight as well. Cuba is a wild card because they're isolated and so little is known about them as a team. The way the draw is set up, the U.S. and Japan would meet in the second round, ideally advancing and facing off in the one-game semifinal in San Diego on March 18. But Canada's upset of the U.S. yesterday means the Americans have to beat South Africa tomorrow and hope that Mexico either loses to Canada tonight or, at least, doesn't win by a score of either 1-0, 2-1 or 2-0 (something about the tiebreaker of runs per nine innings). A Mexican win by one of those scores means Steinbrenner gets his stars back on Sunday. Not having the U.S. get to Round 2 would be a nightmare for Bud Selig and his pet project. He's maintained that the primary purpose of the WBC is to expand global interest in the game, but having the U.S. eliminated so early would deal a significant blow to any efforts to increase American interest in the tournament. But hey, it might influence the International Olympic Committee to reconsider its decision to do away with the sport after the 2008 Summer Games in China. As I understand it, there is one last chance for another vote in 2009, but unless the rest of the world catches up quickly and the U.S. fixes the political mess its made in Iraq and elsewhere in the world, there's little chance that any further votes would produce a different outcome.

There are still some kinks to be worked out, but I think this is a tournament that could become something. Finding a way to ensure the best from each country participate is the biggest need; not having guys like Manny Ramirez and Vladimir Guerrero playing dilutes the whole package. But unless they find a way to fit the tournament into the November period after the World Series and before Thanksgiving, they're always going to have that problem. I can't say I felt a powerful urge to see such a tournament, nor do I think I'll miss it if it doesn't return in 2009 or 2013, but it's here now and so long as the games are on, I don't see a reason not to tune in.

It's still baseball, after all.

The Rocket returns to the launch pad

As expected, Roger Clemens leads the United States' 30-man roster for the World Baseball Classic. If he is still there on March 2, when the rosters become final before the next day's opening games, we'll at least know that he's healthy enough to pitch competitively. But will he go beyond that? His agent still says that retirement is the "lead horse" in the race, but it hasn't reached the finish line yet.

So here's my prediction: If his health fails him again, like it did at the end of last season, the WBC will be his curtain call. He's done. He'll get the U.S. as far as he can, probably to San Diego for the semifinals at least, and then bow out. His number will be retired in Houston before the season is over and in five years, the year he enters the Hall of Fame, the Red Sox will make it official and put No. 21 up on the edge of the roof. (While not officially retired, no Boston player has worn 21 since Clemens left town.)

If he's healthy, he'll play on. He'll accelerate his conditioning to be in mid-April form in mid-March and carry the U.S. as far as he can. He'll then take a step back, rest up for a week or so and recover from the higher-intensity efforts so early in the year before resuming his training. Unable to re-sign with Houston before May 1, he'll use that month to conserve his energy for the long haul of one more season. September was his worst month of the 2005 season -- and he didn't do too well in the World Series, either. He was worn down. Taking a month off at the start of the season should keep him healthier later into the calendar. He only went 1-1 in five April starts last year anyway because the Astros weren't scoring runs for him.

Clemens insists he won't decide whether or not to play this year until after the tournament concludes. Whether that means the final game for Team USA or the March 20 tournament final -- which we all hope are one and the same -- is not clear. But with that timetable, the Rangers, Red Sox and Yankees won't be able to wait around. They'll have to set their rosters and rotations. The Yankees already have six starters -- Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Shawn Chacon, Chien-Ming Wang, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright -- for five slots. These teams can't wait around for Clemens' decision, though they'd certainly make room for him if he did suddenly decide on March 21 that he wants to sign with one of them. At this point in his life, however, I feel Clemens will want to have the flexibility he's had the last two summers, with the opportunity to be away from the team to watch his sons play their high school games and to travel to Lexington or Salem or wherever his eldest son Koby is assigned.

If there's one thing we're assured it's that we'll see Roger Clemens dial it up one more time, most likely March 7 in the United States' opener against Mexico. I don't think we can predict what he'll do until we know whether his body holds up, but unless a healthy Clemens is part of a gold-medal winning U.S. squad, I think a refuled Rocket will return to Houston for one last season. If Nolan Ryan can pitch five seasons -- only three of them up to his stellar standards -- in Arlington and have that be enough to wear a Texas cap on his Cooperstown plaque, three stellar, Cy Young-worthy summers in Houston might get Clemens a star on his bronzed likeness.