Blog post

March 17, 2006 [LINK]

Mexico spoils U.S. WBC dreams

With nothing at stake but pride, the Mexican national team edged the hometown favorites in Anaheim last night, thereby eliminating Team USA from the WBC. Talk about a Charlie Brown moment: "A-a-r-rgh-h-h-h!" See worldbaseballclassic.com. If you ask me, those cheesy "U.S." logos didn't exactly help. How about something more dignified next time around? Just wait till next year, I mean four years from now. In his Washington Post online chat today, Thomas Boswell observed "The whole draw was as close to "fixed" as you will ever see __to ensure that the U.S. not only made the semifinals but played almost NONE of the stronger foes in ANY game before the Finals." What we have here is a failure to motivate!

Reactions to stadium plan

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher was mostly upbeat about the design of the new stadium, noting that it's backward, with main entrance on the south side, where hardly anyone will enter. He also suspects that the multistory parking garages in the plaza beyond left field "are really a political ploy and a sales pitch ... to scare the Nationals' new owner and developers into coughing up the $28 million needed to dig the hole for parking."

The mail bag

In spite of harsh winter weather, the expansion of the bleachers at Wrigley Field is on schedule for completion by Opening day. For photos, see MLB.com. (via Mike Zurawski)

There are some good photos of the landscaping work aimed at beautifying Dodger Stadium. They are also replacing many of the seats, as the stadium reverts to the original color scheme of 1962. (via Mike Zurawski)

Roger Foster tells me that the movie It Happens Every Spring was filmed in part at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, which was also the location for the 1959 TV series, Home Run Derby.

Mary Beth Bourgeois notes that the bullpens at Hiram Bithorn Stadium have been removed from foul territory and placed behind the foul poles. I noticed that too when watching a video clip from the WBC, and can't figure out why they did it, since there is so much foul territory to work with there.