It was a good run but ultimately it was wasn't meant to be for Team USA. They lost in their semi-final game against Team Japan thus eliminating them from the WBC.

Team Japan advances to the Finals of the WBC for the second straight time. Team USA will break up and everyone will go to their respective camps to complete Spring Training and get ready for the season.

"To put on that Team USA jersey, to be a part of this, it's such a blessing," Brian Roberts said. "It was so awesome."

It was a tough time for Team USA this year in the tournamet as they battled through injuries to key players such as Chipper Jones, Kevin Youkillis, and Ryan Braun. Many people have questioned the moves by manager Davey Johnson for leaving pitchers in longer than they should've been in but the name of the game is to win. Team USA didn't.

They were 3 outs away on Monday night from being eliminated by Puerto Rico and they fought back to win and advance. There should be no shame in this team, they played as hard as they could but their weaknesses were exposed at the hands of Team Japan.

"You want to win," Mark DeRosa said. "It's frustrating. We just didn't go out there and perform tonight."

Tonight is the Championship Game for the WBC between Korea and Japan, Team USA will be watching from afar, maybe next time Team USA can go all the way.


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2 Comments

Tags: Baseball, Brian Roberts, Chipper Jones, Davey Johnson, Kevin Youkilis, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Braun, Spring Training, Team USA, WBC

Team USA is having a blast with the WBC. Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer, Adam Dunn and Ryan Braun added solo shots. For Dunn and Youkilis, it was the second straight day with a HR. Team USA went on to beat Venezula 15-6, thus advancing to the 2nd round of the WBC.

Team USA's lineup is stacked with All-Stars and it showed last night. They scored 8 runs in the 6th inning to break open the game.

"With that lineup, I don't see why we shouldn't have a few of those innings a night," Dunn said. "It was a lot of fun, but I don't think it was very unexpected on our side."

The only downfall from last night's win was Chipper Jones leaving the game in the 6th because of a mild strain on his side. It looks that he will be out for the time being. That means David Wright would be the starting 3rd Baseman now.

"I told David Wright, 'This is probably the last time you're going to DH,'" Team USA manager Davey Johnson said. "Anytime somebody has a little strain in the spring, you have to be real cautious."

Jones said after the game that the injury isn't serious but it will still be treated with caution.

I'm so glad that we have meaningful games this spring. I hate Spring Training games but I watch them because it's baseball but I like the WBC. The games mean alot to the guys that are playing and there's alot of emotion that goes into it. I like watching competitive games and this tournament I think is a great idea. I like seeing our Yankee players playing in different uniforms and playing agains one another, I find that cool, it's not everyday that you see that. I saw a groundball hit to Derek Jeter at short and then he handed it to Dustin Pedoria for the final out of the 8th inning last night. I thought that was cool, who would've thought you'd ever say that? It's things like that, that makes the WBC a good idea.



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Tags: Adam Dunn, Baseball, Chipper Jones, Davey Johnson, David Wright, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedoria, Kevin Youkilis, Team USA, Venezula, WBC