One of the most talented teams in the World Baseball Classic won't be making it to the second round.

Venezuela, which has a lineup brimming with star players, lost 6-2 today to Puerto Rico, dropping the Venezuelans to 0-2 and eliminating their chance to advance to the second round of the WBC. Puerto Rico improved to 2-0 with victories over Spain and Venezuela, meaning Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will advance from Pool C to the second round in Miami. Italy has already qualified for Miami from Pool D in Phoenix.

Venezuela took a 2-0 lead after the third inning, when Omar Infante hit a one-out double then scored the first run of the game on a single to left field by Marco Scutaro, who advanced to second on the throw home. Scutaro scored the second run of the game on a two-out double down the right field line by Pablo Sandoval.

Puerto Rico made it 2-2 in the fourth when Mike Aviles hit a two-out, bases-loaded single to center field to score Irving Falu and Alex Rios. The Puerto Ricans took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Angel Pagan hit a two-out single to center field to score Martin Maldonado from second base.

Puerto Rico held a one-run edge until the eighth inning when it pulled away from Venezuela with a three-run inning. Puerto Rico loaded the bases when its first three hitters—Rios (hit by pitch), Carlos Beltran (single) and Yadier Molina (single)—reached safely. Aviles, the next batter, made it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly that scored Rios and moved Beltran over to third. After Carlos Rivera struck out looking for the second out of the inning, Venezuela summoned Francisco Rodriguez from the bullpen. Rodriguez couldn't retire Luis Figueroa, who doubled to right field to score Beltran and Molina, making it 6-2 Puerto Rico.

In the bottom of the ninth, after Carlos Gonzalez led off the inning with a groundout, Salvador Perez and Martin Prado hit back-to-back doubles to make it 6-3, but Fernando Cabrera struck out Miguel Montero and got Infante to pop out to end the game.

Venezuela plays 0-2 Spain tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. E.T.

Canada still has a chance to advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic. Mexico now looks likely to be relegated to the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier. But as the crowd streamed out of Chase Field on Saturday night, no one was talking about WBC ramifications.

Canada’s 10-3 win over Mexico will be remembered for the fight.

In the ninth inning of Canada’s easy win over Mexico, the World Baseball Classic’s run differential rule may have died a little lamented death. Because the tiebreakers lead to an incentive to run up the score, there are times when it leads players to do things that would normally appear to be outside of the understanding of “how the game is played.”

No sport has more unwritten rules than baseball. If this was a normal Saturday game at Chase Field, what Chris Robinson did would have been universally decried as being bush league.

Already leading by six runs heading into the top of the ninth, the Canadian catcher dropped down a bunt that surprised everyone in the Mexico infield. It could be viewed as running up the score on a team that was already just waiting for the final outs to be recorded.

But this is the World Baseball Classic, where run differential can be the difference between advancing and going home. Robinson knew that. So did everyone on Team Mexico, at least in the abstract. That didn’t mean they were real happy to see this done to them. And as third baseman Luis Cruz stewed after being showed up by a catcher dropping down a bunt in front of him, he wasn’t working out in his head what another run allowed would do to Mexico’s Total Baseball Quotient.

As he scooped up the ball after the bunt, Cruz turned to pitcher Arnold Leon and pointed to his ribs. [...] Continue Reading »

Robinson Cano had three hits, Carlos Santana homered and Nelson Cruz drove in two runs for the Dominican Republic in a 6-3 victory to improve to 2-0 in the Pool C of the World Baseball Classic.

The Dominicans struck early. In the second inning, Cruz singled home Edwin Encarnacion, then took second when Spain center fielder Engel Beltre (who was born and signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2006) threw home. Cruz scored two batters later when Ricardo Nanita singled to right field to make it 2-0.

Jose Reyes led off the third inning with a walk, then scored on Cano's double to left field to make it 3-0. With the bases loaded following an intentional walk to Encarnacion and a walk to Hanley Ramirez, Cano scored on a single to left field by Cruz. The Dominican Republic made it 5-0 when Santana grounded out to the pitcher, allowing Encarncion to score.

Dominican starter Sam Deduno pitched well, striking out five in four shutout innings, but Spain did get to the Dominican bullpen late in the game. Spain made it 5-1 in the seventh, when Salomon Manriquez drew a leadoff walk, took second on a wild pitch, then scored when Beltre laid down a bunt toward second base that Cano mishandled, allowing Manriquez to score. The Dominican Republic got that run back in the top of the eighth, when Santana hit a solo homer to right field to make it 6-1. Spain rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it 6-3, but Fernando Rodney retired Rafael Alvarez with the bases loaded to end the game.

Spain, which fell to 0-2, will face Venezuela tomorrow afternoon, though by that point they could be already eliminated if Puerto Rico beats Venezuela tonight. The Dominican Republic faces Puerto Rico tomorrow night.

A game that had been chippy got ugly in the ninth inning as the Canada-Mexico game was delayed by a benches-clearing brawl. And unlike most baseball brawls that involve just a little pushing and shoving, this one degenerated into several significant fights.

There had been several physical plays through the course of the game. Chris Robinson went out of his way to upend second baseman Ramiro Pena on a double play ball in the first. Karim Garcia repaid the favor by trucking Robinson in a play at the plate in the fourth, although it was Garcia who left the game.

None of that seemed to really matter until the ninth. Robinson, part of the first two incidents, laid down a bunt for a single to start the inning. With the game already largely decided (it was 9-3) Mexico took offense, although with the run differential tiebreakers, it's fair to argue that each and every run can be important. [...] Continue Reading »

The matchup of the teams that lost their Pool 1 openers should have featured two desperate teams, teams that knew moving on to San Francisco was a near impossibility with one more loss.

Cuba played with that urgency, but Taiwan could not match that intensity Saturday in Tokyo. The Cubans took an early lead and finished off Taiwan with an eight-run sixth inning, earning a 14-0 victory in a game called after 6 1/2 innings by the mercy rule. Cuba plays the loser of the Netherlands-Japan game for a spot in the semifinals, while Taiwan is eliminated. [...] Continue Reading »

PHOENIX–Just when you thought you'd seen everything . . . 

Two days and three games into Pool D play in the World Baseball Classic, there's a mad scramble for the second and final spot out of the pool into the second round, after Mexico defeated the United States 5-2 at Chase Field Friday night before a crowd of 44,256. Adrian Gonzalez hit a home run and had three RBIs to lead Mexico to the win.

So heading into the weekend, the United States, Canada and Mexico all know that one more loss eliminates them. Meanwhile Italy–yes noted baseball power Italy–is in the driver's seat. Sitting at 2-0, with a 10-run win over Canada and a one-run win over Mexico, Italy knows that of the many things that can happen on Saturday and Sunday, few would keep them from traveling to the second round in Miami.

In comparing surprises, the Team USA's loss to Mexico doesn't equal the shock of Italy's 2-0 start. Yes, with a lineup of major league all-stars (aside from the many notable absences) the U.S. is one of the favorites of this year's World Baseball Classic. But it's also just as clear that when it comes to the WBC, the U.S. is still searching for a winning formula. The loss dropped the U.S. to 7-8 all-time in the tournament.  [...] Continue Reading »

PHOENIX–Because it is one of the signature initiatives of his time as commissioner, it's not surprising that Bud Selig is bullish on the World Baseball Classic.

But in an impromptu press conference during Friday night's Mexico-U.S. game, Selig explained further what he hopes the WBC will bring to baseball. In his mind, it's a step toward an eventual "true World Series."

It may seem incongruous that Major League Baseball plays the World Series, when Japan has won the first two World Baseball Classics and the U.S. didn't win either of the last two Olympic gold medals. In Selig's mind, eventually the question of which team is the best in the world will be determined on the field.

"What is the final goal long after I'm gone? The thought of having a real world series and the interest in the world I can't even imagine," Selig said. "Yes, it has economic potential that is huge, but from a sociological standpoint that is greater."

Selig elaborated, "Someday you get the United States vs. Japan as an example." [...] Continue Reading »

PHOENIX—Two pitchers from National League West clubs took part in a player panel on Thursday, focusing on areas of baseball where reality and analytics intersect.

Diamondbacks righthander Brandon McCarthy and Giants lefty reliever Javier Lopez discussed their first-hand exposure to modern baseball performance metrics, both saying they make use of such data to at least a small degree.

Lopez said that his first exposure to the game’s rapidly-flowing data stream occurred in 2006 when he joined the Red Sox in a June trade. He said the presentation of analytical data was both impressive and overwhelming at first, but that he absorbed what he could while being mindful of avoiding so-called paralysis by analysis.

"I’m most interested in the simple stuff," Lopez said, "first-pitch swing tendency, hot and cold zones, a batter’s performance over the past two weeks and how lefthanded batters fare against other lefthanded pitchers.

"I prefer to keep the game as simple as possible. With everything in baseball becoming more specialized, I feel like the information gives me a competitive advantage and helps keep me around."

McCarthy talked about how he altered his pitching mindset and mechanics to emphasize lower walk and higher groundball rates. He recognized that his flyball tendencies and proneness to home runs were holding him back. After all, he allowed 1.3 homers per nine innings through 2009 but nearly halved that to 0.7 per nine the past two seasons with Oakland. [...] Continue Reading »

Host Puerto Rico got three runs in the bottom of the first inning and held off several Spanish rallies to beat Spain 3-0 Friday in San Juan, P.R.

Pitchers Carlos Alvarado, who pitches in Japan's NPB, and Hiram Burgos (Brewers) held Spain in check. Alvarado, the 35-year-old starter, gave up one hit and had four strikeouts while walking only one. Burgos gave up four hits and a walk, wriggling out of a pair of jams, before Xavier Cedeno (Astros) got the final out for the save. [...] Continue Reading »

The underdogs are no longer just a nice story.

When Italy beat Mexico by a run on Thursday, it could be written off as an enjoyable moment. A team of underdogs proved once again that on any given day in baseball anything can happen.

But it’s much tougher to explain what happened on Friday. [...] Continue Reading »

Even if you’re blessed with a great fastball, pitching is a frightening experience.

More than almost any other position in a team sport, you’re on your own. Make good pitches and you look like a hero. But when a pitcher leaves a pitch over the plate and it gets launched into the seats, all fingers point at the guy on the mound.

It takes guts to go out and pitch in any situation, but for the pitchers of Team Italy, it takes just a little bit more. It’s one thing to be the alpha male when you can rear back and throw a fastball by anyone. It’s another to control a game where you’re throwing changeup after changeup against hitters who are comfortable digging in.

Many of Italy’s pitchers lack a quality fastball. They don’t lack courage. [...] Continue Reading »

Trailing by two runs through seven innings, Japan rallied to tie Taiwan in the eighth, scored again with two outs to knot the game again in the ninth, then won it in the 10th. While Taiwan put two runners on, Japan held on for a 4-3 victory in the first game of Pool 1 in the second round of the World Baseball Classic.

The victory puts Japan in the same position as the Netherlands at 1-0 in the pool, with Cuba and Taiwan at 0-1. The two best records in the pool advance to San Francisco for the WBC semifinals. [...] Continue Reading »

With J.J. Cooper in Arizona and John Manuel back in Durham, we talked about the crazy 24 hours of World Baseball Classic action.

As an accompaniment to our Top 20 Rookies list, we're taking an in-depth look at rookie candidates for every club. In this installment, it's the American League clubs, highlighting those with the most real-life and the most fantasy impact potential. If you missed yesterday, click to read our National League Rookie Preview.

• Rookies: Players who have reached the major leagues but still have rookie eligibility.
• No MLB Experience: Players on the 40-man roster who have not reached the major leagues. A single asterisk (*) denotes a player added to the 40-man last offseason, while a double asterisk (**) signifies a Rule 5 draft pick.
• Who You Calling Rookie?: Players who appear in the 2013 Prospect Handbook yet are not eligible for the Rookie of the Year balloting because they have too much major league service time. Not every team has a player in this category.
• On The Horizon: Players who were on a Top 10 Prospects list but are not yet on a 40-man roster, yet have sufficient experience (200 plate appearances or 200 batters faced at Double-A or higher) to forecast at least a cup of coffee in 2013.

We also identify each team's top rookie—right out of the Prospect Handbook—and the rookie with most potential for fantasy impact in 2013. Bear in mind that with few exceptions, such as Mike Trout and Bryce Harper last year, rookies are poor percentage plays in fantasy sports. That's why we recommend most rookies only in keeper or deep single-league formats.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Rookies (6)
RHP Dylan Bundy, RHP Steve Johnson, C Luis Exposito, OF Xavier Avery, OF Russ Canzler, OF L.J. Hoes
No MLB Experience (5)
LHP Mike Belfiore*, RHP Zach Clark*, LHP T.J. McFarland**, LHP Tsuyoshi Wada, 2B Jonathan Schoop*
On The Horizon
RHP Mike Wright

Top Rookie: Steve Johnson laid claim to a big league job for 2013 by going 4-0, 2.11 in 12 appearances with Baltimore last year.

Fantasy Impact: The Orioles signed Dylan Bundy to a major league contract out of the draft, so even with his youth he's on an accelerated timetable to Baltimore. A month or two in Double-A and he could be ready to join the big league rotation, where his athleticism and precociousness could rival the 20-year-old version of Zack Greinke. (Leagues: prime keeper target) [...] Continue Reading »

Orioles prospect Jonathan Schoop doubled and hit a towering three-run home run—his second homer in four games—to lead the Netherlands to a 6-2 World Baseball Classic victory over Cuba in the first game of Pool 1, the second round of WBC play.

The Dutch advanced to the second round in 2009, when Schoop's older brother Sharlon was on the team, but were seen as the Cinderella club that year, with two stunning defeats of the Dominican Republic. This time around, the Netherlands are more of a known commodity, especially to Cuba, which lost to the Netherlands in the 2011 World Cup in Panama.

The Dutch won gold then and many veterans of that team have helped this WBC club to a 3-1 start in the 2013 Classic. Schoop played in Panama and was not fazed by Cuban pitching in a game that began Friday afternoon in Tokyo. [...] Continue Reading »

The Dominican Republic took an early 5-0 lead and overcame an early rain delay that knocked out starter Edinson Volquez to defeat Venezuela 9-3 Thursday in the World Baseball Classic Opener for both teams.

The Dominican took control of Pool C with three runs in the first, chasing Anibal Sanchez (Tigers) after only one out, and two more in the second. Big league stars powered the Dominican lineup all night, keyed by shortstop Jose Reyes (Blue Jays), who had four hits and scored twice.

Second baseman Robinson Cano (Yankees) started the scoring with a two-run double in the first and went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while outfielders Nelson Cruz (Rangers) and Alejandro De Aza (White Sox) contributed two RBIs apiece. [...] Continue Reading »

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—With the swing of the bat and a bobble, Italy turned Pool D upside down.

With one out in the ninth, runners on first and third, and Italy trailing by a run, first baseman Anthony Rizzo came to the plate against Mexico closer Sergio Romo. He hit a line drive that first landed in and then fell out of left fielder Edgar Gonzalez's glove near the left-field wall. As Gonzalez scurried to scoop up his bobble, Stefano Desimoni and Chris Denorfia raced home to give Italy a 6-5 lead. Italy reliever Jason Grilli then dodged a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth to secure Italy's stunning victory in the World Baseball Classic opener for both teams.

The win continues an impressive pattern, as the Italians have won at least one game in each of their three WBC appearances. More important for this tournament, however, it completely opens up the four-team pool that also includes Canada and the United States. The teams play a round robin schedule, and the top two teams advance to the second round. [...] Continue Reading »

What was already an extremely lefthanded Canadian lineup lost its only significant righthanded power threat as Brett Lawrie had to drop out of the World Baseball Classic because of a rib injury.

The Blue Jays third baseman sustained the injury early in Wednesday's exhibition game against the Reds. He left the game in the fourth inning.

"We got the word this morning that the doctors feel that it is about on his 10th rib with maybe—it could be an oblique, it—he doesn't think it's very severe," Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt said. "But any type of injury like that, if you continue to play you could aggravate it and make it worse. And that's the last thing in the world we want to do. It's a young man that loves playing the game. He desperately wanted to play in this tournament, but for his career the right decision was made that we're going to withdraw him and let him go get some treatments and hopefully get that taken care of before Opening Day with the Jays." [...] Continue Reading »

The annual American League and National League media guides, the so-called Red (AL) and Green (NL) books, offer a wealth of contemporary and historical information on all 30 major league clubs: 2012 league leaders, comprehensive managerial registers dating back to the Deadball Era, and listings for all-time league category leaders and award winners, to name just a few.

Of the greatest interest to BA readers of the Red and Green books, however, is the inclusion of each organization's official list of rookies for 2013. This takes the guesswork out of service-time considerations, particularly for relievers, who can log weeks of big league time while making few appearances. The Red and Green books even include an official definition for rookie qualifications (which we have conveniently included at the bottom of this post).

So as an accompaniment to our Top 20 Rookies list, let's take a closer look at rookie candidates for every National League club (we'll do the American League tomorrow). We've broken each club's rookie candidates into one of four groups:

• Rookies: Players who have reached the major leagues but still have rookie eligibility.
• No MLB Experience: Players on the 40-man roster who have not reached the major leagues. A single asterisk (*) denotes a player added to the 40-man last offseason, while a double asterisk (**) signifies a Rule 5 draft pick.
• Who You Calling Rookie?: Players who appear in the 2013 Prospect Handbook yet are not eligible for the Rookie of the Year balloting because they have too much major league service time. Not every team has a player in this category.
• On The Horizon: Players who were on a Top 10 Prospects list but are not yet on a 40-man roster, yet have sufficient experience (200 plate appearances or 200 batters faced at Double-A or higher) to forecast at least a cup of coffee in 2013. This group includes elite prospects such as the Cardinals' Oscar Taveras and the Pirates' Gerrit Cole.

We also identify each team's top rookie—right out of the Prospect Handbook—and the rookie with most potential for fantasy impact in 2013. Bear in mind that with few exceptions, such as Mike Trout and Bryce Harper last year, rookies are poor percentage plays in fantasy sports. That's why we recommend most rookies only in keeper or deep single-league formats.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Rookies (4)
LHP Tyler Skaggs, SS Didi Gregorius, OF Adam Eaton, OF A.J. Pollock
No MLB Experience (8)
RHP Chase Anderson*, RHP Charles Brewer*, LHP Eury de la Rosa*, RHP Starling Peralta**, RHP Eric Smith*, RHP Zeke Spruill*, OF Keon Broxton*, OF Alfredo Marte*
On The Horizon
LHP David Holmberg, 3B Matt Davidson, SS Chris Owings

Top Rookie: Tyler Skaggs made three strong starts for Arizona before tiring in September and has a good chance to win a rotation job in spring training.

Fantasy Impact: A blend of speed and patience in the minors makes Adam Eaton a safe bet to accumulate runs and double-digit stolen bases for the Diamondbacks, and batting average risk is mitigated by a high contact rate. Just don't expect any contributions in home runs or RBIs. (Leagues: deep mixed) [...] Continue Reading »

PHOENIX–At first blush, Mexico manager Rick Renteria’s decision to start Yovani Gallardo against the United States on Friday could be considered a gamble.

Gallardo is Mexico’s best pitcher, and Team USA is considered the favorite in Pool D. In a winner-take-all format, putting your best pitcher against the best team would be the obvious choice. But in the World Baseball Classic, where two teams move on, it might make more sense to pitch Gallardo against Canada, Mexico's likely competition for the second team to advance out of the pool, or perhaps against upstart Italy, Mexico's first opponent on Thursday.

But Renteria isn’t necessarily gambling when he sends Gallardo, who went 16-9, 3.66 for the Brewers in 2012, to the mound against the U.S., because he has two pitchers behind Gallardo who spent the bulk of last season in the major leagues.

Canada manager Ernie Whitt has no such luxury. He doesn’t have one starter who started a game in the big leagues last year. [...] Continue Reading »