Baseball

A pinch-hit two-run home run prevented Cuba from being the next victim in a World Baseball Classic that has featured incredible upsets. Backup catcher Yosbany Peraza—known in Cuba for his prodigious power stroke—saved the day.

Team Australia led the game 4-2 after six innings. Cuba scored once in the seventh on a double by designated hitter Michel Enriquez. In the eighth Australia brought in its closer, Rich Thompson.

Pitching for the Dominican team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Pedro Martinez is basically auditioning for a job this season with a major league team. In his two appearances, Pedro has tossed six shutout innings, allowing one hit while striking out six.

Even my 11-year-old son can limit the Netherlands team to one hit in six innings, although he needs to work on getting his slider over the plate more.

I have not made it a secret that I am no fan of the World Baseball Classic. I don't like the general idea that players who have major league contracts and commitments are missing Spring Training in order to play around the world in March.

That being said, the WBC is good for one thing. It is good for minor leaguers and free agents hoping to spark interest from other major league teams looking to fill out their major and minor league rosters this month.

In fact, the WBC has been really good to one man in particular: Pedro Martinez.

For the last preview in the American League West, I saved the favorites heading into 2009: the Los Angeles Angels. I say "favorite," but never has an incumbent—fresh off a 21-game coast to the division flag—worn the mantle while being supported by wobblier legs.

Consider the five player transactions from this winter that figure to make the biggest impact on the new Major League Baseball season:

1.  CC Sabathia inks with the New York Yankees.

2.  Mark Teixeira inks with the Yankees.

3.  The Oakland Athletics trade for Matt Holliday.

Now that Spring Training has begun, the start of the 2009 MLB season can't be far away. So what better time to take a look at the popular ballpark foods we love to consume, and the baseball people we can associate them with.

So, the following is a humerous look at baseball players (and other baseball people) who remind us of these foods. I hope you enjoy it!

For as little as Americans don't care about the World Baseball Classic, it's obvious watching the games that this tournament means as much as anything to the rest of the countries participating.

And last night, when the Netherlands defeated the favored Dominican Republic, the Caribbean stood still.

The first round elimination is being touted as a national disgrace in the Dominican today, with an entire nation in mourning because their all-world all-star team didn't win the tournament.

The Dutch have done it—they made the world say DAM(N)

It has nothing to do with the creative way with which they divert water around The Hague.

The Netherlands have added another chapter to The Classic!!

Francisco Cervelli is a defensive catcher mostly known for getting his arm broken when he was bowled over by a member of the Tampa Bay Rays last spring training.

He’s also one of the next in line to get called up if the Yankees need to carry three catchers if Jorge Posada’s shoulder isn’t healthy enough to play over 100 games behind the plate. In that case, it would either be him or journeyman Kevin Cash.

In anticipation of the draft for The Hazean’s 2009 fantasy baseball challenge, I decided to dabble in some preseason projections.

The problem with that thought, though, is that I really do not spend as much time working on my fantasy baseball knowledge as I do football. So I brought in some fantasy baseball muscle to compile these projections.

Aaron McCoy, fantasy baseball connoisseur and a co-worker of mine, offered his fantasy baseball expertise for these rankings. I have to say they are pretty impressive, and I might even use them to draft my team this weekend.

Joba Chamberlain has been hailed as the future Ace of the Yankee pitching staff. At the very least, he is considered the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera’s closer role.

Chamberlain has burst onto the scene in his first two big-league seasons, capturing the hearts of the Bronx and haunting the nightmares of the league’s hitters.