Comments on: Puerto Rico rallies in eighth to eliminate Italy from WBC

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:18:23 +0000

Ditto on the loving dudes but LMAO at HBPiD.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:06:29 +0000

Yeah, that was some boneheaded defense by the Italians in the 8th.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:54:59 +0000

I agree….it is cool that Italy and Spain actually have academies and leagues and are starting to get into the sport.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:53:47 +0000

I understand, and I was initially responding to the snarky comment that implied there were no native Italians on the team. There are. Anyone can claim to be the native son of anywhere and the WBC has loose qualifications, but there actually are team members born in Italy, which is my definition of a native son.

Manny is from Mars. He can claim to be from any country he wants.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:45:27 +0000

Historio – you should ask Gator to play some Ouija Seance Scrabble with Alexander Hamilton, just to make sure he’s really worth this volume of hatred in 2013. He is beginning to look like a strawman.

Inda – you’re technically correct, enjoying seeing a man get hit in the balls doesn’t make you a misanthrope, it just makes you a horrible person.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:41:15 +0000

Oh, goodness, I don’t hate men. Far from it. I just think it’s funny when a guy is hit in the nuts. I’m giggling now just thinking about it.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:23:43 +0000

Not really, using the current definitions, anyone can be the “son” of anywhere by simply playing baseball there a couple of years. If Manny plays in Taiwan for a couple of seasons, he’ll be eligible to play for their 2017 WBC team.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:15:49 +0000

Boooo! It was my fondest dream to actually be able to troll that A-hole.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:00:19 +0000

The gravitar was for the other half of your she-woman man-haters club, and it served its’ purpose. Now I’m moving on to something a little more personal.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:53:38 +0000

They have the requisite number of vowels in their surnames. That’s close enough for me.

Nice gravatar.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:49:32 +0000

Yes, the criteria are loose, but at least there are some native sons of Italy. It’s not like Team España, with its measly one.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:14:46 +0000

I am no fan of the Koch-suc…. I mean brothers, which is the ALEC you refer to I presume?

My gravatar is simply a protest against your misanthropic glee about … oh heck, I’ll change it.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:13:37 +0000

Yes, but based on the current criteria, every star player on DR, VZ, PR, or the Netherlands could choose to play for the US based on long residency while playing in the US in either the major or minor leagues….the criteria are definitely loose.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:12:09 +0000

Or lived within ten miles of an Olive Garden.

I joke because I love my Italian friends. Actually the WBC makes the rules for eligibility, and they are very loose.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:49:40 +0000

Terrible fundamentals from Italy in that 8th inning. Between the OF throwing it home and letting the tying run get to second…then the SS throws it to first when the play was to easily get Rios at home. I mean…Rios would have been the clear goat of the game had the SS simply taken his time and thrown the ball home. Not saying Italy would have won, but the score would have remained tied. Rios would have been out by a mile. And he never stops at third to see where the SS went with the ball so there was no way he would have known. As slow as it was hit there was no way the SS was getting the runner at first. Everywhere you read, it’s “Rios alertly never stopped running” I totally disagree and think he got lucky.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:32:05 +0000

Shouldn’t you be busy planning an ALEC Conference or something?

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:00:40 +0000

There were 8 Italy-born Italians. The rest, as cktai stated, were either of Italian heritage born in the US or Canada or had strong ties to Italy.

By: unclemosesgreen

unclemosesgreen — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:38:40 +0000

All you really need to qualify for the Italian team is to know where to buy a decent Italian dinner.

By: cktai

cktai — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:51:58 +0000

In the game against Puerto Rico they had third baseman Alex Liddi, right fielder Mario Chiarini, left fielder Lorenzo Avagnina, en starter Alex Maestri who were born in Italy. In the rest of the roster they have Alessandro Vaglio, Stefano de Simoni and Luca Panerati.

Justin Cicatello, Nick Pugliese, Anthony Granato, and Jack Santora are Italian Americans who have moved to Italy to play in their baseball league.

Chris Cooper (USA), Tiago da Silva (Brazil), and Juan Infante (Venezuela) have qualified on the basis of long residency in Italy while playing in the Italian Baseball League.

the other 14 have Italian American/Canadian.

By: seattlenative57

seattlenative57 — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 06:50:35 +0000

I presume it was the Team Italy manager who chose not to use Grilli. I felt like Kreskin trying to understand this post. Now you see it, then you don’t.

By: asimonetti88

asimonetti88 — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:12:13 +0000

You did better than anyone expected, Italy! Italy is more of a soccer country anyway I guess.

By: solidzac

solidzac — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:36:08 +0000

I’m sure Puerto Rico Manager Edwin Rodriguez was glad Grilli didn’t pitch the 8th, unless he has some sort of heretofore unmentioned mind-controlling ability I don’t think he made the decision, per se.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:18:43 +0000

Alex Liddi and, uh, err…

By: hcf95688

hcf95688 — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:09:05 +0000

“Ah, well. It was a good run for the Italians”

There were actual Italians playing?

By: indaburg

indaburg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:15:59 +0000

I was so frustrated watching that 8th inning. I could not believe that Grilli, Italy’s best reliever, was sitting in the bullpen in the 8th when PR had their best hitters coming up. I do not understand why managers think the 9th inning is so magical. Use your best guy when you need him, or else you’re saving him for a moment that will never come. That previous sentence sounds like some Hallmark card for managers.

Ah, well. It was a good run for the Italians.