MIAMI -- See, they do care.
And maybe we care just a little bit, too.
Not only that, but maybe it's time to concede that this World Baseball Classic idea is worth hanging onto. Maybe it's time to work on fixing the parts of it that don't work, just so we can preserve the parts that do.
This is what works: A dogpile in the middle of the Dolphin Stadium infield, in the middle of March. A loser-goes-home game filled with great plays, and most of all, filled with passion.
Red, white and blue passion, for once.
"This game, it answered the question," Team USA catcher Brian McCann said, with the glow of Tuesday's dramatic 6-5 win over Puerto Rico still showing in his eyes. "This is special."
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| If USA continues to show it cares about the WBC, then maybe others will care, too. (AP) |
No one who experienced this game was talking about strained obliques. No one who watched this celebration was thinking about "getting his work in."
No one at Dolphin Stadium Tuesday was thinking that baseball passion exists only for the Latin American countries.
"People who say it doesn't matter, I wish they would have seen our dugout," second baseman Brian Roberts said. "And we haven't even won it all yet."
They haven't won it all, but Tuesday's win put Team USA into the semifinals. The way they won could well put the tournament itself on another level.
The WBC won't succeed if the American public continues not to care. The WBC won't go on if American players continue to find reasons not to play.
But anyone who watched Tuesday night, or anyone who watches what are sure to be many replays, will have a little harder time not caring. Any player who saw it -- and many are sure to see replays on clubhouse televisions Wednesday morning -- couldn't help but want to be part of this event the next time.
"If you're a baseball fan, you had to enjoy this game," Derek Jeter said.
He's right. It was a great game, and it would have been great even without that three-run rally that won it for the Americans in the ninth.
The difference is that without the rally, it's a great game that gets forgotten in this country. The few who really care about the WBC would gripe about manager Davey Johnson's questionable decisions, and the rest of us would head back to spring training or on to the NCAA tournament.
What happened in the ninth inning might help change that. What happened in the ninth inning might help convince a skeptical public -- and a skeptical baseball establishment -- that the WBC is worth saving.
It probably should be noted that what happened in the ninth inning happened in large part because the island of Puerto Rico hasn't produced a true closer in recent years. Among pitchers born in Puerto Rico, the active pitcher with the most career saves is Kiko Calero -- and he only has seven.
So what? Let them dissect that in Puerto Rico. Let us recall the most important rally in Team USA history.
It began with a Shane Victorino single. Then a Roberts single. Then a Jeter fly ball that moved Victorino to third base.
Tying runs at first and third with Jimmy Rollins at the plate, and Johnson put the hold sign on for Roberts at first. Roberts, who had joined the team just two days before as an injury replacement, misread the sign and took off for second.
"From home plate, I was like, 'Oh my goodness!'" Rollins said. "He was so out. But [catcher Yadier] Molina handcuffed the second baseman, and he couldn't get the tag down. That was the difference between safe and out."
Was that the difference between winning and losing, between moving on and going home, between saving the WBC or letting it die?
Rollins thinks not.
"I guess at that point, I would have had to hit a home run," he said with a grin.
Instead, he battled J.C. Romero for an impressive walk. Fernando Cabrera walked Kevin Youkilis to force in a run. And then the David Wright single that won it, and the dogpile that defined it.
"You had Derek Jeter, who has won everything it's possible to win, dogpiling in March," McCann said.
You had Jeter on one side of Wright, and Youkilis on the other side. It was the Yankees, the Mets and the Red Sox, all together, just the way the marketing guys would have dreamed it up.
Incidentally, this tournament probably needs fewer marketing guys and more baseball guys. It needs a new schedule, one that looks more like a baseball schedule, with fewer off days. It needs to dump the meaningless games, like the useless seeding game that Team USA has to play against Venezuela Wednesday night.
What it needs most is nights like Tuesday, nights where we can all get the idea that it's going to be worth overcoming the obstacles.
On this night, at least, it felt worth it.
"That was the greatest game I've ever been a part of," McCann said.
The greatest game -- in March.
No, he certainly wasn't just getting his work in.
