Before I get on to my thoughts on a truly great win against Cuba, I have to say that the most shocking thing of this entire tournament to me is not that we’re playing Brazil in the finals (shocking enough), but that the Venezuelan organizing committee actually kept their word on something.  Before this second two-game phase in which we played Colombia and Cuba, the officials told me that only these two games would count towards advancement to the finals.  This was clearly in an effort to set up a Venezuela-Cuba final that they could play in San Cristobal. If they had taken all 5 games into account, there was still a chance we could have advanced to the final with a loss to Cuba based on a runs allowed tie breaker.  This way, though, a loss to Cuba would guarantee their place in the finals and ours in the third place game.  What they didn’t take into account, however, was that their own country might get beaten by either the 3 or 4 seed from our original pool which is exactly what happened when the Brazilians got them 11-10 the other night.  Had they gone with the 5-game method, they’d have been here anyway being the only team with one loss, but they wanted to try to knock us out and it backfired bigtime.  Still, I was expecting to hear that they were going to be in the finals anyway, but to my complete surprise, the organizers kept their word and have us playing Brazil for gold and have Venezuela playing Cuba for bronze.  So that’s the big shock.  Now it’s our job to make sure there’s not a bigger shock on Saturday night by taking care of business against Brazil and leaving Barquisimeto after two years with a 15-0 record and two sets of gold medals.

As for the team’s tremendous game on Thursday night, I am very proud of our men.  I can’t imagine too many teams come back from a 5-1 deficit to the Cubans on any level, but that’s what this team did.  Cuba, of course, was in their ridiculours reds while we got to use our Gray-Blue combo that was so successful against them on several occasions last year.  The game started off very tight as both starting pitchers were on.  The two lefties of Cuban descent (Paco Rodriguez’s father is a Cuban American) were hitting their spots and commanding their breaking balls and the hitters were certainly at a disadvantage.  We got a little lead and they came right back to tie it and then took a lead themselves.  The lead ballooned to 5-1 through 5 after a few uncharacteristic defensive lapses for the USA.  It was the top of the 6th where this team had their "exclusive moment" as coach Hatch calls it.  We got a few hits, took advantage of some Cuban miscues, and tied it right back up.  To answer right back was awesome and it was capped off by a ringing double to left center by pinch hitter Austin Maddox. 

Lefty Colton Cain then took the mound behind Paco’s five inning outing.  He absolutely shut the Cubans down the rest of the way.  They were able to pick up an unearned run late in the game on a couple of bunt singles and an error or two by us, but he was otherwise dominant.  It was impressive to see a kid come into that situation and match the gravity of it all with his performance.  He was able to get a win on top of everything because the team continued to pour it on at the plate by scoring 6 more runs and running through the Cuban bullpen.  Zach Vincej, a defensive substitute the inning before, got things started with a leadoff double and the rest of the team followed suit.  He capped it all off on his second at bat of the inning, a tremendous, nine-pitch effort that included several two-strike foul balls to fight off good pitches before stroking a two-run single up the middle.  All in all, Zach ended up going 3-3 in the game, which started in the 6th inning for him.   When it was all said and done, it was a truly impressive, hard-fought, come-from-behind, TEAM victory for the USA to give us a chance to play for the gold, and it couldn’t have come against a better opponent.  If you are fortunate enough to get a chance to play for USA Baseball in your career, you can’t ask for anything more.

With the Cuba game behind us, we got a chance to practice on Friday and relax a little.  We took a trip to the big mall where the kids got a chance to get some family time in and to just be kids.  Randal Grichuk, who eats more than anyone I’ve ever seen without an ounce of fat on their body, got a big old banana split and Colton Cain, the guy who just shut down the vaunted Cubans the night before, took a spin on the Barbie motorcycles on the merry-go-round.   We headed back home for the McDonald’s the team earned the night before and held our last session of Kangaroo Court.  There were some pretty funny accusations being thrown about and they’ll stay within the walls of room 8-3, but we can reveal the identity of the second judge who had to step in to oversee a case in which first judge, Scuba Steve Patterson was put on trial.  It was none other than our Venezuelan protector, his honor Alvaro Vega.  I’m glad we’ll never have to be subject to his gavel or overall look again.

We get a chance to play Cuba tonight and that’s always special.  For as good as we are in our country in baseball, they have ruled the international scene for quite some time.  The YNT has fared very well against the Cubans in the last decade, but it’s always a battle and generally it comes down to us and them and it’s always fun.  It’s tough not to be a little more fired up than normal but we’ve tried to tell the team play a faceless opponent.  Much of Cuba’s success is based on intimidation, and Japan was beaten last night (6-1) before the game even started according to our coaches who scouted the two teams.  If we do exactly what we did against Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and Columbia against the Cubans, we’ll be in good shape.  We are the better team.  If we come out and try too hard and get caught up in everything they want you to get caught up in — the rough play, the drums and whistles, the dancing in the dugout — then we’ll make things much more difficult than they have to be.  If we’re lucky enough, i’ll be buying McDonald’s again tomorrow and that will be the best hamburger purchase I’ll have ever made.

Because we had a night game today, we stretched lights out from the normal  10:30 to 11:00pm.  Some of the guys went to bed early anyway.  One was our media guy, the ever-professional Lee Aldridge.  Lee got sick the other day and it was pretty bad for two days.  He couldn’t keep anything down, and we’ll leave it at that.  We took him to the sick bay in the morning and they gave him an iv to get him rehydrated and back on his feet.  He even missed the game yesterday, but it was good to see him with some color again when we got back home. 

Room 8-6 had some card playing going on.  Mom and Dad, USA Baseball didn’t teach your kids to gamble, ESPN did, and they learned well.  I may have even…cough…lost $5 to 16 year olds.  There’s a couple of card sharks in this group. 

The coaches sat around and discussed strategy for the game today with the Angels-Yankees game on in the background.  Old stories were shared about the 8 staff members staying in the same room last year and all of the laughs and unpleasant smells that resulted from that.  Coach Hatch and I miss (inside joke alert) Shakespeare, Tubby, Looooooopes, Artie, Coach LaFevers, and of course who can forget Softy and backsiding. 

Regardless of what everyone was doing, I know in the back of our minds there was only one thing that mattered, and that was doing our job and beating Cuba today.

 

On our off day today, things began to become a little clearer.  We will play Colombia and Cuba on Wednesday and Thursday and and should we win both games, we?ll play for the championship on Saturday, most likely against Venezuela.  That?s our challenge and we will be up to it.  As it normally does, a USA-Cuba game will have a say in who gets to play for the gold, and that?s exciting.  We had practice scheduled for 11am, but got off to a bit of a late start because we had invited a youth team to

come to the park so we could give them some baseball gloves provided by coach Don Freeman.  The problem was that we had about 20 gloves but there were over 30 kids.  We pictured tears when thinking about some kids getting a glove and others not, so we divided the kids into two groups and devised a relay race to determine who would get the gloves.  After a demonstration by coach Hatch, the kids were ready to go and it went very well.  The team that didn?t get gloves got brand new USA Baseballs and everyone went away happy.  It was then on to practice where the team worked on some fundamentals and ended with a hitting competition to bring some fun into the session.  After practice we showered up and then met  the parents at Pizza Hut for a late lunch and then it was off to the Hilton with the parents for some relaxation.  They had gone on a shopping spree earlier in the day and loaded the kids up with Gatorade and other goodies, and I can?t thank them enough for their generosity.  I went upstairs and blogged away but snapped a shot of the group before the kids returned to our slightly less posh surroundings at the Villa.  Tomorrow we look to take care of Colombia and then it?s time to focus on our biggest game so far against the Cubans.   

My apologies for the layout of the last two posts.  I’m having some difficulties with the program formatting the entries as I’d like them to look.  I realize that one word paragraphs are not normal, and if I can figure it out, I’ll get it all cleaned up.

  Thursday, August 16

We were told we could meet with some tournament organizers at 8am this morning.  We were there but they weren?t.   Fortunately, not too much later, we were given a practice time, so we got on the field which is what we came here to do.  We had a great practice.  Pitchers got a chance to get on top of the rather  sizeable mound (I think they?ll like pitching downwards), outfielders got a feel for the bumpy terrain, and hitters got a feel for the rather close confines (think line drive, not home run, although it?s tempting).  It was during this practice that we learned about what everyone back home had heard about the tournament being cance lled and teams being asked to leave.  We knew about Chinese Taipei not receiving visas, but we hadn?t heard any of the other stuff about the tournament being shut down.  All we knew was that we were here, as were the other teams in our pool, and we were on the field.  Cathy Stein and Blake Miller helped communicate back to everyone and ease some minds, and for that I?m very appreciative.  After lunch, we got a chance to go to the mall.  Blond-haired Matt Davidson was a hit with the locals and junk food from the local supermarket, Exito, was a hit for our team.  We headed back to the Villa for a team meeting, dinner, and bedtime.  Overall, it was a good first day in

Barquisimeto

. 

Friday, August 17      

Friday began a lot earlier for Coach Suarez and Coach Freeman than it did for the rest of the team.  They were on a bus to

San Cristobal

, the site of the other pool in the tournament, at 5 a.m. with representatives from the

Japan

,

Brazil

, and

Mexico

delegations.  What was sold to them as a 6 hour bus ride became a nine and a half hour ordeal.  Meanwhile, the team was on its regular schedule.  Wake up, breakfast, and practice.  After practice, we finally had a little internet and phone time to make some communication back home.  After getting through about 90 emails, I attempted to post a blog update but the internet went down as it was being saved.  Good timing there.  We got a little bit of a taste of home with McDonald?s for dinner.  No matter where you are in the world, I think, you can find a Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, and Chicken McNuggets, and that was our feast.  During the dinner we got a call from our boys in

San Cristobal

with the latest from the tournament?s technical meeting.  Since the IBAF sanction had been pulled from the event, the organizers ha d planned for the championship bracket to be played in

San Cristobal

, which is where we have been refusing to play for safety reasons for months.  They had media in the room and tried to pressure our guys to sign something saying we agreed.  We did not agree, however, and they held their ground.  We didn?t know what was going to happen at this point.  We actually informe d the team that things may be changing and that there was a possibility, due to our refusal to go to

San Cristobal

, they could decide to exclude us from the championship.  We just didn?t know.  Eventually, however, I was able to speak with the head of the Venezuelan Baseball Federation and he assured me that if we were to advance to the finals, they?d bring the games to us. I asked for  this in writing, and came back into the team meeting to tell everyone the good news.  Now it was time for us to put our money where our mouth was and make sure they had good reason to rearrange the tournament for us.  After the rollercoaster of events in about an hour?s period, it was time for some levity, and that was provided by a session of Kangaroo Court, led by the honorable judge Scuba Steve Patterson and Bailiff Max Stassi.  A couple of charges were levied and a few poor souls were convicted and sentenced to buy packs of gum for the team.  Venezuelan punishment is stiff.

Saturday, August 18

Over 24 hours after they left, Coach Suarez and Freeman returned to the villa.  It was great to see them as I hadn?t heard from them all night.  They didn?t have much time because it was finally game day and we had to get ready to head to the field for BP.  We faced

Brazil

at 2 p.m.  Hard  throwing Austin Maddox was on the mound and blew three strikes past the first batter of the game.  At this point I figured he?d have about 15 in the game, but

Brazil

was salty.  They played a good game and even had a first inning lead after the top of the first, 1-0.  We answered with 3 in our half but then kind of stalled out.  The energy level just wasn?t there, and the coaches and players both knew it.  The game was close through 6, with the

USA

holding onto a 5-3 lead.  A bevy of slop thowers kept our impatient hitters off balance and

Brazil

played good defense behind their pitchers.  We finally got things right in the 7^th when we put up 8 to invoke the 1 0-run rule, with the final run, Zach Vincej, crossing the plate on a walk off wild pitch.  An RBI double by pitcher Paco Rodriguez after missing two bunt attempts, and a bases clearing 3 run double by pinch hitter Justin Charles led the assault.  After the game we knew it wasn?t our best effort and we?d have to be better to beat

Mexico

the next day.  A quick opening ceremonies took place just before the Japan-Mexico game that followed a ours.  The teams lined up, a few words were said, and then it was back to the villa for sleeping and eating while the coaches stayed at the stadium to scout

our next two opponents.

Sunday, August 19 

We woke up to a rainy setting.  Normally, we?d hear from the tournament organizers whether or not the field was in condition for play.  However, at this tournament, there is nobody in charge, so we figured we?d head on over as scheduled for our 1:45 BP time.    After a team meeting to go over the scouting report on

Mexico

, we headed to the field.  As we were leaving,

Mexico

? the home team ? was loitering around the common areas of the villa.  It was their slot for BP yet they hadn?t even left yet.  Unfortunately, this was indicative of their team this year.  They are not very good as our coaches found out scouting the night before.  It?s a shame, really, because their team is not representative of teams past in what is a pretty good rivalry each year.  We?re generally on the winning side, but they are at least semi-competitive games and this one wasn?t.  Before we got to play the game, though, we had to roll up our sleeves and get to work.  When we arrived, third base was a big puddle and there were soft spots all over.  The rain had stopped, but the sun was nowhere to be found.  The one-man grounds crew wasn?t going to get this game played, so all of us chipped in and got the field ready for over an hour.  We were bucketing water out, bucketing dirt in, sponging water up, raking mud around, fixing mounds, and doing just about everything we could to get the field in shape.  Blake and Alvaro headed out to get kitty litter to help dry things up. 

Mexico

finally showed up and pitched in by watching.  We finished up, took some cuts in the cage, and got ready to play.  Our focus and energy levels were much better than the day before and it showed when we jumped out to an early 5-0 lead.  We leveled off a little in the middle innings but turned it on big time with 13 runs in the last 3 innings.  We really embarrassed

Mexico

and their frustrations came to a boil after Jacob Tillotson hit one of their batters in the last inning.  There was no way we were throwing at them in the last inning up by 19, but their manager took exception and had to be held back from running at Coach Suarez and the whole episode almost ended in no handshakes after the game.  Cooler heads prevailed and we ended up shaking hands after all, and as it turns out, the boys have become pretty good friends with the Mexican players in our villa.  After the game, the parents were kind enough to get the kids subway subs and everyone went home with a feeling of satisfaction for a good, hard day?s work while taking care of business the right way, and knowing that we did get better today.  The drama continued behind the scenes later that night. 

Venezuela

?s new proposal to get us to

San Cristobal

was to fly both the parents and the team in a military plane and provide us with extra, extra security the whole time.  We told them we couldn?t make the decision officially until the next day, but it wasn?t a likely scenario either way.  I got in touch with the boss,

Paul Seiler

, who was in

China

and informed him of the situation, however, just as we have said all along, the decision was made to remain in

Barquisimeto

regardless, and that?s what we?re going to do. 

Monday, August 20

Another 2pm game had us up and going early.  We won the coin flip for home field the previous night when I called heads and all three coins showed the face of Simon Bolivar.  I hope I didn’t blow all of my luck in one flip.  We had improved our play from game one to game two and were looking to continue our upward ascendence.  It was now between us and Japan for first place in our pool.  We were certainly the two best teams  in Barquisimeto, but we wanted to prove we were THE best.  The team went through an improvised warmup and BP since the Mexico-Brazil game was still going when we got there but that didn’t slow us down once the game got started.  Nick Franklin, who made his first appearance in a starting role after sitting out the first two games due to an infection  in his knee, got us off to a good start with a leadoff homer to center.  A few batters later, Austin Maddox’s towering blast left the entire stadium to push our lead to 4-0 before an out was recorded and that chased the Japanese starter.  The Japanese then brought in  their best player to throw against us and he went 5 innings and generally held us in check.  We’d finish the game with a 9-2 win, the first time we hadn’t had a game shortened due to run rules, and we joined Japan at home plate for a group photo after the game.  Our two countries really have a nice baseball relationship, and there is a mutual respect for the way each other plays the game.  Finally, on a personal note, happy 30th wedding anniversary to my parents.  Sorry I didn’t send a gift, but what’s better than a YNT Blog shout out?

The past week and half has been eventful to say the least.  We picked a team, the team bonded quickly and practiced and played their way into a TEAM, we traveled to another continent only to find out that back home they thought we were being immediately deported, we got the lay of the land, we got a schedule, and then we got another schedule.  We started games and then they wanted to change that schedule again.  And then again.  Tomorrow we start the second part of the tournament with games against Colombia and Cuba.  If we win both of those, we play for the gold on Saturday.  We expect to be there.  Everyone has handled the customary lack of organization exceptionally well and we?ve played well thus far.  In the midst of all of this, the blog has been neglected like the bullpen mounds at our stadium, due to a combination of general busyness and a lack of internet availability.  Fortunately, however, we?ve unearthed some lost blogs from the past week and we?ve posted them below, starting with last Saturday, August 11, the first official day for the 2007 Youth National Team.

Saturday, August 11

The team was selected last night.  Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to some great players and kids.  It?s never easy to send home 18 ballplayers who?ve never been cut in their life and rightfully so, but hopefully it was a good experience for everyone, regardless of the names that were called on Friday night.  Airport runs started at 4:3 0 am, so it was a long day for some of the staff.  The YNT had a big day planned beginning with an autograph session where they signed 660 labels to be used on their baseball cards.  Nick Franklin got the award for ?longest time taken to sign your name 660 times? as he was a good 30 minutes behind his teammates, but that was okay, because he finished and they looked really good. 

Next, the team went next door to fill  their Christmas stockings.  It was equipment distribution time, and they were outfitted head to toe in some awesome gear from USA Baseball?s great sponsors.  Under Armour, Reebok, Majestic, and Wilson provided everything from sunglasses to fielding gloves and everyone was in heaven walking out of that room with an arm-load of gear. 

We put on the whites and headed over to the field for the official team picture, a posed baseball card shoot, and then  practice in the white unis where the photographer continued to take action shots for the card set and our archives.  It was a good first workout as a team and it was capped off by a trip to the Golden Corral for Steak and Shrimp night.  We took off the unis before hitting the Corral because meatloaf stains are tough to get out. 

Dinner concluded with the first session of Kangaroo Court led by Judge Steve Patterson and Bailiff Max Stassi.  Some of the cases were pretty funny and I think everyone couldn?t wait until the next opportunity to partake in the American Legal System.

Sunday, August 12

The YNT had its first game action on Sunday with a doubleheader in the stadium vs. the Davidson Copperheads and the Dirtbags.  We saw some really good pitching in the two games versus older teams and we handled them exceptionally well.  The first game was won rather easily, but the second game against the Dirtbags, the best youth program in the state, was a come-from-behind win that showed the makings of a good team.  All in all, a great first couple of games for the YNT.

Monday, August 13

Monday saw the YNT practice early and then play their final tune-up game against a local squad, the Cary Bulls.  The team jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first and ended up shutting out the Bulls 12-0 in front of a decidedly pro-Bulls crowd.  We?d really like to thank the three teams that he lped us get better as those games really helped us see both good and bad and address the issues either way.  Afterwards, we celebrated the birthday of outfielder Randal Grichuk with not one, but two cakes.  Not only did USA B aseball get him a cake, but the Aplins did as well.  Thanks, Aplins.  It wasn’t quite the keys to a new car for Randal’s 16th, but the sugar was enjoyed by both players and coaches alike, I would say. 

Tuesday, August 14

Today was our last day in the US.  We had a good, crisp, mid-morning workout, came back home to pack, and then headed into Durham to take in a Bulls game.  After some pizza in the USA Baseball offices, the team had a tremendous treat when it got to drop into the visitor?s dugout before the game and get some advice on what it means to play for your country by three guys that have done just that.  Charlotte Knight and 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Ernie Young, teammate and 2006 Olympic Qualifying team ace Heath Phillips, a nd Durham Bull and 2006 Olympic Qualifying team reliever Jeff Ridgway all took a few minutes to reflect upon their experiences in the red, white, and blue and impart some knowledge on the attentive group.  It was extremely kind of those guys to give up their time as they did, especially to Heath, who left the dugout and went right into the bullpen to warm up for his start that evening.  The kids remained around the dugout until they were called to assemble on the field while being honored over the P.A. by the Bulls.  They then got to head up the grandstand and catch a Bulls win before heading home for any last minute packing and a few hours of sleep before an early wakeup call on Wednesday?s travel day.  The team?s day ended there, but th e staff went on through the night packing and cleaning, and before we knew it, it was 4:30 and it was time for wakeup calls.

 

Wednesday, August 15 

4:30 am wakeup call, 5:00 am bus load, 5:30 am bus departure.  That was the schedule and amazingly, our charter left right the Holiday Inn right on time for RDU.   Check in was a breeze and the 7:30 am flight to Miami was great.

 After a looooooonnnnng walk from one terminal to another, up and down escalators, and in and out of hallways, we arrived at our international gate where we met up with umpire John Johnston and security agent Blake Miller.  American Airlines offered chicken or beef as an in-flight meal, and I hear both were good, although I can only personally vouch for the beef.  Upon arrival into Caracas, we took some time to properly fill out our immigration paperwork and get through customs, and when we all got through, we found our bags were already off the belt.  All 60+ bags made it which is a great sign and extremely good fortune.  Alvaro, our Venezuelan security guru was waiting for us, but unfortunately the bus was not.   We sat around for about an hour and a half until a bus came to take us to Barquisimeto.  There was very limited cargo space underneath so we packed the back with all of our bags and that probably took up about the last 4 rows of seats.  We set off at about 6pm and finally rolled into our residence at about 11:30 pm.  It was a long, long day, we missed dinner, and there was no place open where we could buy food, so we survived on granola bars for the evening.  We took our rooms on the 8^th floor ? the same one that last year?s championship squad stayed on ? and went to bed hoping for some more information in the morning.

My appologies for the lack of updated content over the last few days.  Due to general business and lack of internet availability, we’ve not been able to keep you as informed as we would have liked.  We should be able to get back to more consistent updates tomorrow, but here’s a brief update on the latest.  We arrived safe and sound late on Wednesday night.  We got on the field for practice on Thursday and that’s when we heard through the grapevine that according to espn.com the tournament was cancelled.  That’s not the case, nor were we asked to leave Venezuela immediately.  The tournament’s going forward, albeit minus Chinese Taipei, France, and an official sanction by the IBAF, but otherwise we’re here to play and ready to win.  We kick things off against Mexico tomorrow morning at 10am Venezuela time, which is also 10am Eastern time.  To all of the families who are here in Barquisimeto, we thank you for your support, and to those who are on their way, please travel safe and we’ll see you at Canonico Stadium soon.

Team USA beat the Cary Bulls 12-0 tonight in their final game action before heading to Venezuela.  Four pitchers combined on the shutout, while the eagles were paced offensively by birthday boy Randal Grichuk and Max Stassi who both contributed 2 hits and 2 runs apiece.  The team will workout one more time in the morning before packing up in the afternoon.  They’ll then head over to UNC for a tour of campus before going to the Durham Bulls game for some relaxation before the long travel day on Wednesday.

Team USA jumped out to an early lead with 6 in the first to chase the Cary Bulls’ starter.  They tac ked on another run in the second, and behind the pitching of starter Colton Cain, have a 7-0 lead as we enter the top of the fourth.

The Youth National Team won both games of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at the USA Baseball National Training Complex, defeating the Carolina Copperheads, 7-1, in game one before defeating the Dirtbags, 8-5, in game two.

The YNT-Copperheads boxscore can be found here: Download 81207_team_usa_vs. Carolina Copperheads Box Score.pdf

And the YNT-Dirtbags boxscore can be found here: Download 81207_team_usa_vs. Dirtbags Box Score.pdf