Once again, America’s top minor leaguers succeeded where its big leaguers have failed.

Team USA won its 14th consecutive game in Europe and second over Cuba in three games to win the 2009 World Cup gold medal, beating Cuba 10-5 Sunday in Nettuno, Italy. The victory gives the U.S. its second consecutive Cup championship, defending the title won in 2007. It’s also just the fourth World Cup ever won by the United States in baseball. [Box Score] [...] Continue Reading »

I’ve written here a few times about just how confusing the World Cup format is, about how it needed its own page on a website to explain itself. But now the World Cup has out-done itself.

Thursday, the Cup’s press office reported that despite Cuba’s loss to Team USA, the Cubans had nonetheless clinched a spot in Sunday’s final when the Netherlands lost to Canada. That would have set up a U.S.-Cuba rematch on Sunday. However, last night the International Baseball Federation sent out another press release confirming that this was not the case. Cuba still has to beat Canada today to clinch a spot in Sunday’s final. It also can do so with a loss by the Netherlands, which plays Team USA, or Puerto Rico, which plays Australia.

We’ll know this afternoon what team Team USA plays in Sunday’s championship game.

Technically, Thursday’s game in the World Cup didn’t mean anything for Team USA. But every game between the U.S. and Cuba has meaning.

For the U.S., Thursday’s 5-3 victory means the Americans have a 12-game World Cup winning streak. Already having clinched a spot in Sunday’s championship game, Team USA also got a leg up on its probable opponent in that game by beating the Cubans, long an international power.

"We’ve had great chemistry, as our guys have persevered through a lot of irregular travel and the schedule," U.S. manager Eddie Rodriguez said in a postgame telephone interview from Nettuno, Italy. "But we’ve got a close-knit group, which is unusual for the length of time we’ve been together. We know what’s at stake. We know what our mission is."

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Team USA is beating Cuba 3-0 in the bottom of the third of a third-round World Cup matchup. But the prospect news may already have been made, as U.S. starter Trevor Reckling—most likely the Angels’ top pitching prospect after reaching Double-A at age 20—left the mound while warming up for the second round.

While it’s unclear how serious Reckling’s injury is, he didn’t throw another warmup pitch and was removed from the game. Righthander Lucas Harrell (White Sox) replaced him as Team USA’s pitcher. Ike Davis (Mets) hit an RBI double in the first inning, and Terry Tiffee (Phillies) hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to chase Cuban starter Maikel Folch.

Today’s game is likely to be a preview of Sunday’s gold-medal game, unless Cuba loses this game and tomorrow against Canada and both the Netherlands and Puerto Rico win out.

Cuba continued its winning ways Wednesday, and took a one-game lead on the Netherlands in its third-round pool. One of them will face the United States on Sunday in the gold-medal game of the 2009 World Cup tournament.

Cuba, which plays Team USA today at 2 p.m. ET (on MLB Network), beat Taiwan 8-0, getting two more home runs by outfielder Alfredo Despaigne. The 23-year-old lefthanded hitter tied Team USA’s Justin Smoak (Rangers) with nine homers in the Cup, and tied the Cuban World Cup record set in 1990 by one of Cuba’s all-time greats, Orestes Kindelan. Frederich Cepeda also homered for Cuba, a two-run shot in the first, while Miguel Gonzalez pitched seven shutout innings as Cuba improved to 11-1 overall, matching the U.S. for the Cup’s best record. [...] Continue Reading »

Team USA used a familiar formula—starting pitching and the long ball—to win its 11th straight World Cup game and clinch a spot in Sunday’s gold-medal game. Todd Redmond (Braves) pitched scoreless ball into the ninth inning, and Buck Coats (Blue Jays), Ike Davis (Mets) and Jon Weber (Rays) hit solo homers as the U.S. beat Puerto Rico 3-0.

The victory gives Team USA a 5-0 record in the third round—three wins carrying over from the second round, and two wins in this round. Because every other team in the pool has two losses, the Americans clinched a spot in the title game and will get a chance to defend the gold medal they won in 2007. MLB Network will carry the game, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 27, at 9 a.m. Eastern. MLB Network also will carry tomorrow’s game between Cuba and the U.S. at 2 p.m. ET. [...] Continue Reading »

Team USA avenged its only loss of the 2009 World Cup by beating Venezuela 6-3 on Tuesday, the Americans’ 10th straight victory.

As usual, the Americans got a home run, with a solo shot in the fourth inning by Pedro Alvarez (Pirates). His fellow Pittsburgh farmhand, righthander Brad Lincoln, got the victory, pitching 6 2/3 innings in his second start against Venezuela during the tournament. The Americans had lost 13-9 to Venezuela in extra innings in the World Cup opener for both teams, back on Sept. 10.

Venezuela rallied to put the tying run on base in the ninth as U.S. reliever Nate Field (Marlins) walked the first two batters of the inning. However, Field got a pair of outs and Geno Espineli (Giants) retired Luis Landaeta on the liner to second baseman Tug Hulett (Royals) to end the game and pick up the save. [...] Continue Reading »

Trevor Plouffe (Twins) homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give Team USA its ninth straight victory in World Cup play, a 4-3 win against Australia that allowed the Americans to close the second round with a perfect 7-0 record.

Team USA now advances to the third round as the No. 1 seed from the Italian pool (officially Pool G). So in the third round, the U.S. will start by playing the fourth-place team from Pool F (the Netherlands pool), which happens to be Venezuela—which beat Team USA 13-9 in the World Cup opener for both clubs. [...] Continue Reading »

Justin Smoak (Rangers) smoked two more home runs, giving him eight for the World Cup—a record for USA Baseball teams in World Cup play—to lead the U.S. to a 12-3 victory against the Italians, keeping the Americans undefeated in the second round.

Smoak’s homers were part of a four-homer game for the Americans, who also got home runs from Buck Coats (Blue Jays) and Trevor Plouffe (Twins). Team USA has hit 28 home runs in nine World Cup games and has won eight straight overall since losing its first-round opener in extra innings against Venezuela. Team USA dominated the Italian pool at 6-0, with a game left today against Australia, a makeup game. Both teams already have clinched third-round berths, and the third round teams are set: Australia, Canada, Cuba, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, United States and Venezuela. [...] Continue Reading »

Team USA clinched a spot in the third round of the 2009 World Cup the same way it has won seven straight games in the event—with home run power and good starting pitching.

Daniel Descalso (Cardinals) and Buck Coats (Blue Jays) hit solo home runs, and Terry Tiffee (Phillies) had four hits and a pair of RBIs, as the Americans beat Mexico 7-3. Trevor Reckling (Angels) went five solid innings for the victory, and four relievers, chiefly Ehren Wassermann (White Sox) and Nate Field (Marlins), wrapped up with four scoreless innings of relief.

Team USA out-hit Mexico 13-4, but two errors helped lead to a pair of unearned Mexican runs, and Mexico pulled within 5-3 after six innings. Tiffee helped the Americans put things away with an RBI double in the seventh, and he scored the game’s final run on a sacrifice fly by Pedro Alvarez (Pirates). [...] Continue Reading »