lostrune2 said...

lostrune2 at 07:18 PM JST - 18th March

Dice-K has a point about separating teams after rounds, so we can get fresh new matchups. It's not really that stale yet since this is just the 2nd WBC, and 1st round pools in the West did get new matchups. However, Japan and Korea will always be with the rest…

Posted in Dice-K poses questions about repeated matchups in WBC at 07:18 PM JST - 18th March
lostrune2 at 06:49 PM JST - 18th March

Ah, marijuana and college. Like love and marriage. It shouldn't be a surprise. ;-)

Posted in Majority of Waseda students say they can get illegal drugs at 06:49 PM JST - 18th March
lostrune2 at 06:44 PM JST - 18th March

iPhone's advantage is the many apps once it's jailbroken. But Apple's always been tightfisted, just like with Macs. Apple won't approve it unless they're 100% sure it'll work 100% of the time. Stability under a dictatorship, as people say. Jailbreak allows chaos under a democracy. Depends on what the user…

Posted in New iPhone software has copy-paste, no Flash at 06:44 PM JST - 18th March
lostrune2 at 06:24 PM JST - 18th March

US avenged the mercy loss in stunning comeback (Puerto Rico's bullpen was lights out all tournament before blowing that save), and good game for Korea. So this is the 2nd straight time that Bong has shut down Japan? Japanese batters must not be adjusting. Bong is not even pre-considered one…

Posted in Japan on brink of WBC elimination after 4-1 loss to S Korea at 06:24 PM JST - 18th March
lostrune2 at 05:38 PM JST - 18th March

"Fat toad," timorborder, "fat toad." ;-)

Anyways, it's tough to label young pitchers phenoms so early. A lot of things can happen. Look what happened to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. It's about consistency over a number of years, like Greg Maddux. (All 3 pitchers mentioned were, at one point…

Posted in LA Times, MLB scouts full of praise for Darvish at 05:38 PM JST - 18th March
lostrune2 at 01:15 PM JST - 17th March

Hotbox08,

Nobody would admit an intentional beanball because they could be penalized, so they give lip-service even when the message is clear among the unwritten rules of baseball. Happens in MLB all the time, so the Commish won't fine or suspend them as much.

If a player hangs out too…

Posted in Matsuzaka pitches Japan past Cuba in WBC at 01:15 PM JST - 17th March
lostrune2 at 06:31 PM JST - 16th March

Hotbox08,

The beanball was in retaliation, not for the homerun, but for the grandstanding when the homerun was hit. I think that should be done more often in MLB, to sit down the grandstanders. At least Lindstrom just threw behind the batter to send a message.

Nevertheless, Netherlands did well…

Posted in Matsuzaka pitches Japan past Cuba in WBC at 06:31 PM JST - 16th March
lostrune2 at 07:05 PM JST - 13th March

Nah, a true World Series would have the Japanese and Latin teams playing in the MLB, playing against all the other teams (not just against 7 or 11 other teams), in a long 150+ games season to comb just the top ~15% (about 1 in 7) teams, who'd then have…

Posted in Japan beats San Francisco Giants in exhibition at 07:05 PM JST - 13th March
lostrune2 at 06:50 PM JST - 13th March

sydenham,

Yeah, it is a wide-open game. Unlike most other sports, a team hardly faces the same opponent line-up day-in and day-out, most importantly in the pitcher department (most pitchers can't pitch day after day after day). A team can face a dominant pitcher one day, then a bunch of…

Posted in 'Samurai Japan' gearing up for real challenge in WBC at 06:50 PM JST - 13th March
lostrune2 at 01:44 AM JST - 13th March

sydenham,

They don't want to do round-robin again because it then becomes a "pile up the runs" game (and there's no sense intentionally embarrassing lesser teams for that - ergo the mercy rules) like what happened last time in a complicated formula when 3 teams finished with the same win-loss…

Posted in 'Samurai Japan' gearing up for real challenge in WBC at 01:44 AM JST - 13th March