Comments on: Italy rallies in ninth, defeats Mexico 6-5

By: blacksables

blacksables — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:55:04 +0000

In European armies, pioneers are the same as combat engineers. As Belgium host many different nations due to NATO, that could have something to do with it.

Maybe, just a guess.

By: deaninajijic

deaninajijic — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:11:25 +0000

Unfortunately SKY which is the main satellite service here in Mexico, had a repeat of a Netherland/Australia game scheduled so they cut off the Mexico/Italy game during a pitching change in the top of the 9th. Then had 15 minutes of commercials advertising the World Baseball Classic,, So those of us on Mexican Sky missed the end of the game. Can you say Heidi??????????

By: wallio

wallio — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:13:25 +0000

Forza Azzuri!

By: twinsfanstl

twinsfanstl — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:55:49 +0000

Holy mother of opposite days….did it say But terrible contributed offensively? Dios Mio!

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:58:25 +0000

Also the first Italian born and raised MLB player, Alex Liddi.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:26:18 +0000

The team has both Italian born and Italian-Americans.

By: anthonyverna

anthonyverna — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:47:43 +0000

As an American with cousins in Italy, I must ask if the Italy baseball team has Italians or Americans of Italian heritage.

By: cktai

cktai — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:33:11 +0000

Mexico could not taco them out of contention, however.

By: cktai

cktai — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:30:27 +0000

Ah yes, his mother is Dutch, she met his father when he was playing icehockey in the Netherlands. They then moved back to Canada. Incidentally, his granddad and greatgranddad were chairmen of the Dutch football club Feyenoord in Rotterdam.

Funny story is that when Boyd decided to move to the Netherlands and play professional baseball here, he couldn’t find a club who wanted to take him. So he moved to Belgium and played for the Hoboken Pioneers (why are they called Pioneers when the concept does not exist in Belgium? I have no idea, but we also have a Hoofddorp Pioneers over here) until he was invited to the Dutch national team. He was then scouted and signed by his “hometown” club Neptunus.

By: cosanostra71

cosanostra71 — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:27:37 +0000

@TRIPPINGOLNEY
PEOPLE THOUGHT ITALY BEATING MEXICO WOULD BE IMPASTABLE
Expand Reply Retweeted Favorite More

I found that amusing.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:22:37 +0000

Whoops. When the “Curacao and Aruba born players shouldn’t be playing for the Netherlands” argument was going on a few days ago I looked up some places of birth. It was Leon Boyd who was born in Canada.

By: cktai

cktai — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:10:09 +0000

Thanks, a long and happy life together is certainly the intention

According to the baseball-reference bullpen (an excellent wiki for obscure baseball players) Curt Smith was born in Curacao and part of the 2002 Little League world champions.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Curt_Smith

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:00:20 +0000

When you get below the top few teams in the IBAF rankings, one game can make a big difference. Had the Netherlands won that game, they would be #6 instead of #7, passing Canada. Italy would be #11, behind Australia and Mexico.

Curt Smith was born in Canada. Given his last name, I’m guessing his mother is Dutch.

A belated congratulations on your nuptials. I wish you a long and happy life together (takes large drink of a tasty dark ale).

By: cktai

cktai — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 03:55:57 +0000

Netherlands vs Cuba draws a crowd of a couple of thousand from the looks of it. Could have something to do with “Japanese” players Andruw Jones and Wladimir Balentien.

By: cktai

cktai — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 03:18:54 +0000

One of the reasons Italy ranks so high is because they managed to beat the Netherlands in the 2012 European Championship finals. Compared to that game (where I went as part of my bachelor party, baseball instead of strippers, not a bad trade-off actually) the Netherlands send out only two of the same position players (Curt Smith and Kalian Sams), while Italy sends out three (Colabello, Chiarini, and Granato).

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:10:48 +0000

IBAF rankings:
2. USA
6. Canada
9. Italy
11. Mexico
The betting line heavily favored Mexico.

By: echech88

echech88 — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:40:19 +0000

Same team that got rocked by Angels minor leaguers yesterday.

But yeah, this totally means something about international standing according to Morosi.