00:00Down goes the Americans.
00:02Italy pulled off one of the biggest upsets in world baseball classic history
00:06on Tuesday night with that 8-6 upset over Team USA.
00:10Well, our MLB insider, John Heyman, is hopping on with us
00:13to talk about USA's chances and all the storylines coming out of WBC.
00:18John, thanks for hopping on with this, man.
00:20Let's get straight into this because everybody this morning
00:24is talking about manager Martin DeRosa's miscalculation
00:28that USA had already advanced from the group stage.
00:32Now they're on the brink of elimination.
00:35So, John, bless us with your thoughts on not only the loss
00:38but on DeRosa's miscalculation.
00:42Yeah, I mean, he said on TV earlier in the day
00:46that they'd already had their ticket punched.
00:49So when did he find out that that wasn't true?
00:53Hopefully somebody watched that show and let them know.
00:56We really still don't know as we sit here and we do this
01:00when he exactly knew that USA better win that game
01:05or, you know, keep the score down to help its chances to advance.
01:11Obviously, it didn't turn out well.
01:13The team lost, gave up eight runs.
01:15And because he said that in the morning on that show on MLB Network,
01:20the hot stove show, that they had their ticket punched,
01:22doesn't look good at the moment.
01:24I think it would be helpful to know whether DeRosa was told in that,
01:28I don't know, eight, ten hours between him being on that show
01:32and the game starting that it wasn't true
01:36and they better either win the game or keep the score down.
01:40We don't know, but it's a bad look
01:42because obviously you don't want to lose to Team Italy.
01:46That's number one.
01:47But beyond that, you've got to know the rules and get it right
01:52and play to advance, which did not happen.
01:56We will see.
01:57I mean, they're going to sweat it out today if they do advance,
02:00but it's not a situation where they should have been sweating it out.
02:04Yeah, when you take the miscalculation on top of this being
02:09one of the better teams that Team USA has sent to the WBC
02:13and they're kind of underperforming, that's exactly what you say.
02:17It's a horrible look.
02:18When you look at some of these games,
02:21like the Brazil and the Great Britain scores are kind of padded
02:24and then they were held scoreless for the remaining five innings
02:27against Mexico in that 5-3 win.
02:29And then we talk about last night's loss.
02:31So give us one word to describe Team USA's WBC performance so far and why.
02:38Yeah, I would say disappointing.
02:40I mean, we're not going to say disastrous to this point yet.
02:43Maybe they'll still get in and start to do better,
02:46but certainly disappointing.
02:47Team Mexico is a good team.
02:50The first four players in that lineup are really good Major League-type players,
02:56but they're certainly a drop-off.
02:58The Team USA, this is the best team that Team USA has ever sent.
03:02The pitchers have always been difficult to get to go because, you know,
03:06they're off their routine.
03:07It's a different situation.
03:09And certainly pitchers have to worry about their arms.
03:13So it's been difficult to get the best pitchers to go.
03:17Well, this year you had Skeens pitching.
03:19You had Skubal, at least for at least one game.
03:21And certainly McLean was absolutely dominant last year in his limited outings with the Mets.
03:27And you have Logan Webb, and you've got a pretty good bullpen anchored by Mason Miller.
03:32So this is the best team that Team USA ever sent.
03:37And it would be quite a disappointment if they did not advance to the final eight.
03:41The final eight.
03:43You know, I don't know what else to say about it.
03:46It's really a disappointment to this point.
03:49Now, they could be bailed out if Team Italy plays as well as it did last night.
03:54Maybe they prevail over Mexico.
03:56Maybe if it's a high-scoring game, they can prevail that way as well.
04:00But at this point, it looks, you know, maybe slightly better than 50-50.
04:05And it's pretty dicey.
04:07All right, let's look at the New York angle of some of these storylines for WBC.
04:12Let's start with the Mets angle.
04:13Their pitcher, Nolan McLean, made his WBC debut in that loss.
04:17It wasn't exactly pretty for the youngster.
04:21Three innings pitch, gave up three runs, two hits, and he left the game with a 9.0 ERA.
04:27Should Mets fans be a little worried after his international debut?
04:33No, not at all.
04:35I mean, he gave up two home runs.
04:36That can happen to anybody.
04:38You know, he gave them up to major league hitters.
04:41You know, it's only three innings.
04:44I wouldn't be concerned.
04:46It obviously was not a great performance.
04:49But, you know, it happens.
04:51It can happen.
04:52And Team Italy is a good team, which I think USA should be happy about
04:59because they may well beat Mexico tonight.
05:02They are a good, solid team.
05:04That six through nine in the order really performed extremely well.
05:11Their lineup is longer than the Team Mexico lineup.
05:14It's filled with major league players.
05:18And, you know, it's a solid team.
05:20It's certainly not an all-star team.
05:22It's not a dream team, which we thought Team USA was.
05:26But it is a good team and three runs in three innings.
05:31No disgrace for Nolan McClain.
05:33All right, let's flip to the Yankees side of things.
05:36All rise, Aaron Judge, team captain of the Yankees, team captain of Team USA.
05:40He's already had some all-rise moments in the Classic.
05:44But when he stepped up to the plate in the ninth, he would have been that tying run.
05:48He came to end the night.
05:49Hey, does Aaron Judge need Team USA to advance and play well
05:56and win this thing for his own personal legacy?
06:00Oh, you know, I mean, I'm sure there'll be some people making some ridiculous comments.
06:05I mean, one at bat, you know, baseball is not that game where there's any guarantee.
06:12You know, a great hitter is a 300 hitter.
06:15Greg Weissert was a Yankee.
06:17He's a Red Sox now.
06:18He's a major league pitcher.
06:20If Judge batted 500 times against him, he probably hit 300 or a little bit more.
06:27But that still means you make an out seven out of ten times.
06:30So, you know, he's had a very good overall tournament.
06:35He's an amazing player.
06:37He was great in the postseason last year.
06:39Obviously, he had his struggles previously in the postseason.
06:43He'll have many chances left.
06:44I'm sure there'll be some people out there making comments or, I don't know, raising their eyebrow or whatever.
06:50I mean, you know, you can't judge Aaron.
06:53No pun intended.
06:54One at bat, two at bats.
06:56He's had a very good tournament.
06:58I do believe he's a good captain, you know, other than he's one of a million people who should have
07:04told Mark DeRosa the rules.
07:08But, you know, that's not really a criticism of Aaron Judge.
07:12All right.
07:12Lastly, you talked about Team USA.
07:14You gave them about a 50-50 chance of winning this thing.
07:17A little better.
07:18It's a little better because Team Italy is, I think, at least the equal of Mexico.
07:23So, let's say they are equal.
07:24That's 50-50.
07:25And then if it's a high-scoring game with Mexico winning.
07:27So, yeah, it may even be 75%.
07:30But it's certainly a good â there is still a fairly decent chance that they do not advance.
07:36But when you think of, like, the Dominican Republic and the stars that they have on the team, the same
07:41thing as Team Japan.
07:43Does Team USA really have the personnel to rally and win this thing?
07:49Or do you think it's about time for guys to pack it up after this Mexico game tonight and get
07:53back to spring training?
07:55No, I mean, on paper, Team USA is the best team.
07:58I think if you look at that team top to bottom, you know, it is better than any of the
08:04other teams, at least in terms of talent.
08:08Team Japan has been fantastic.
08:10They play together.
08:11They know how to win these things.
08:13They've won it a couple times in the past.
08:16Maybe they get extra points for that.
08:18Obviously, you've got Itani, the best player in the world.
08:20You've got Yamamoto.
08:21He's certainly one of the top three pitchers in the world.
08:24But looking at the lineups, Dominican and USA both have basically all-star lineups.
08:31I mean, Team USA even has an all-star lineup when they put the second team, so-called second teamers
08:36in.
08:37But Team USA has a better pitching staff than the Dominican, right?
08:41I mean, Dominican's not at full strength.
08:43I mean, it's just in Mets camp, Freddy Peralta, he's a free agent after the year.
08:48He's in his first year with the Mets.
08:49He's not there pitching.
08:51Certainly, he would have been over.
08:53I love Luis Severino, but Freddy Peralta, at this stage of their careers, is a better pitcher than Severino.
09:00Dominican has so much spirit.
09:02They have an incredible lineup.
09:04Arguably the best lineup.
09:05It's either them or USA.
09:06But overall, top to bottom, look at the full roster.
09:10Team USA is a dream team.
09:13Of course, it is not basketball.
09:14It's a one-game elimination.
09:17It is possible in baseball for a team that's half minor leaguers, half major leaguers,
09:22to beat a team of major league all-stars over nine innings, as we have seen now.
09:28All right, let's hope they can overcome this miscalculation.
09:31The only times I miscalculate, John, is when I go for a purchase and I miscalculate my bank account there.
09:38Well, you know, math, nobody told them there'd be math.
09:43All right, my man.
09:44Thanks for hopping on with us this morning, John.
09:46Thank you, John.
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