Long Day.

I managed to roll out of bed shortly after 5:00 this morning (in my effort to reset my alarm clock to go off at 4:45, I somehow managed to set it for 2:45 instead) in order to catch Daisuke Matsuzaka's start. Matsuzaka struggled through the first of his four innings, throwing twenty-nine pitches and giving up a two-run home run. But he kept it together and made it through the next three frames cleanly. He did continue to have an issue with being up 0-2 only to suddenly find himself 3-2. He did throw some really pretty pitches, though. Overall, he gave up four hits and walked only two batters. Opinions on the outing were varied. Francona said:

"He looked okay. He threw a couple good breaking balls. Left a couple over the middle of the plate the first inning. A little shaky first inning, 29-pitch first inning, gave up some hard hits in the second, but they had a baserunning error. Then he settled down and got eight of the last nine guys out."

Matsuzaka, a little more blunt than Francona, labeled his performance as:

"Not good at all. I was so happy to get the three-run lead in the first."

Japan won 14-2 in a mercy-ruled seven inning game. Their next game is Monday at 5:30 AM as they now await the winner of tomorrow morning's Korea v. China game.

That? That was a lot of fun. The Dutch play some really good baseball. Who knew? I started the game rooting for both teams. I switched sides, cheering for whichever team happened to be hitting; but by the third inning, I was firmly behind Team Netherlands. Then Pedro Martinez came out and I was rooting for stasis--Pedro doesn't give up any runs and the Dominicans don't score any either. Pedro looked good. In the eighth inning baby pitcher Dennis Neuman did an impressive job for Team Netherlands. He threw eighteen pitches, ten of them strikes. He walked one batter but got two fly-outs and a strike out. As for David Ortiz, he went 0 for 2 (both ground outs) with two walks (one intentional). The guys at ESPN, who often don't know what they're talking about, said that he had been penciled in at first but was DHing instead because he had a sore shoulder. But since no one else who might actually know has said anything about it, I'll ignore it. Tomorrow Team Dominican Republic will attempt to atone for today's loss with a win against Panama at 4:30 PM.

Lastly, in what was not a well-played game at all, Team USA chipped and bloodied their fingernails as they clung to their lead to beat Team Canada 6-5. Batting lead off, Dustin Pedroia went one for five; his one hit was a double. Kevin Youkilis (who seems to be going back to the goatee) went one for two, with two walks; his one hit was a home run. He did strike out with the bases loaded. But he also scored three times in the game. On the other side, Jason Bay played center field and didn't seem to make a half-bad job of it. At the plate he was 0 for 2 with three walks and a strike out.