WBC: Oblique And Obscure

On ESPN2’s coverage of the World Baseball Classic Sunday night, the conversation between Dave O’Brien and Rick Sutcliffe turned to obliques. As is in the oblique injuries sustained by Chipper Jones and Dustin Pedroia that have taken them off of Team USA’s roster.

The discussion — during the USA’s 9-3 win over the Cinderella Netherlands team that staved off what would have been an embarrassing elimination for the domestics by the Dutch — centered on the timing and format of the WBC, which had drawn relatively strong first-round ratings for ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

Sutcliffe and O’Brien talked about how all the days off between games had resulted in Jones and the AL MVP overworking and straining their muscles. Is March the right time to host the tourney, because most MLBers are accustomed to easing their way into the spring? That the players are not ready to throw or face 95 miles-per-hour fastballs with games that actually mean something more than hacks in a Grapefruit or Cactus League contest at this juncture…

Well, at least one thing was in mid-season format: the site for pool 2, Dolphin Stadium, home of the Florida Marlins. The NL East team drew just 1.34 million fans in 2008, about 16,500 per game, the lowest average in the big leagues. I didn’t quite catch the announced crowd for U.S.-Netherlands, but it certainly was miniscule for a WBC game of this importance to the host nation. The World Cup this isn’t.

Shots from third base as the Dutch pitcher tossed over to first in the initial frame evinced very few patrons up the right field line. In the late innings, the director should have obscured a shot from the outfield in toward home plate that depicted an at-best scattered gathering.

Then, O’Brien talked about how the Venezuela-Puerto Rico game Monday night, which will vault the winner into the WBC Final Four, could bring in as many as 20,000 fans. That looked to be about four times more than those that braved Dolphin Stadium Sunday night.

How many will be on hand Tuesday when the U.S. takes on the Venezuela-Puerto Rico loser for a chance to make the final round, and to avoid the ignominy of losing again in a game created here in the 19th century. One can only hope it’s more than the Marlins typically muster.

And word to the wise for the organizers of the next WBC: no more games in Miami.