Hey, this big guy.  He's pretty good.It was nearly 70 degrees on Saturday, sunny for a while, then cloudy and rainy, so when the temps hovered in the 50s on Sunday with low clouds and the threat of more rain, the day took on more of a fall feel than one of late winter. Then you tune in a baseball game, being played under the clouds in Anaheim, with the fans all bundled up, and the intensity jacked up…maybe not to 10…but up to at least six, and you couldn’t help but feel like it was October, if only for a couple of hours.

Team USA, stripped of any semblance of invincibility last week when they got pantsed by a bunch of hosers from the Great White North, advanced to the second round only because of some weird earned runs allowed tiebreaker.

But the vulnerability only makes this whole thing that much more interesting. Two teams were supposed to be head and shoulders above the rest. The US and the Dominicans. It took Team USA only two games to find out it’s not true, and the DR found it out in their fourth contest.

It’s quite possible that the Japanese were the victims of a royal screwjob. Tied at three in the eighth, they appeared to take the lead on a sac fly to left field. Immediately, the US dugout went nuts and catcher Brian Schneider could hardly contain himself. They were all sure that the runner had left early. An appeal to third base yielded a safe call, but then Buck Martinez (likely in a last ditch attempt to get off the Dumbass DuJour list) ran out, argued the call with home plate umpire Bob Davidson and Davidson overruled the safe call and called the runner out.

Here’s where it got truly interesting.

ESPN tried to synch up a replay showing both Randy Winn’s catch (and by the way, how do you put together a team of the “best” Americans and have Randy Winn on it? Not only that, but he’s playing?) and the runner leaving from third.

The first time they showed it, it clearly looked like the runner left early. Eric Karros, announcing for ESPN and trying to make Rick Sutcliffe seem coherent–it’s not working, said that very thing. Then they showed it again and it appeared the catch came before the tag-up. Then they showed it again…and again…and it never looked the same. Granted, ESPN struggled technically all day. For most of the game, both on ESPN2HD and regular ESPN2, Dave O’Brien’s voice had a very distracting echo. The green-screen signs behind home plate where screwed up all day, sometimes only half the sign showed, sometimes just the top of the sign. It was distracting.

So how are we supposed to believe any of the synched-up replays, including the first one that showed it a good call?

The best part of the chaos that insued after the runner was called out, though, was the sight of Japanese baseball legend, and manager, Sadaharo Oh, arguing with Davidson. First, Oh was yelling at Davidson. Then he started telling his interpreter to yell at him. Then he just started yelling at the interpreter.

Then Sutcliffe, who’s…what’s the clincial term…dumb as a post…started panicking that because the Japanese team wasn’t on the field that they were going to protest and quit. Never mind that when they showed the Japanese team in the dugout they were standing on the top step, calmly watching the argument between Oh and Davidson and as soon as it was over they ran out onto the field. This is the same Sutcliffe who told the exact same stories yesterday that he told during the first game of the WBC last week. Guh.

Lost in the controversy was one indisputable fact. Derrek Lee is the man. When it was 3-1 in the sixth and Team USA was looking as dead as Hirohito, Lee stuck a two run shot into the rocks in left center in Anaheim. It was his fourth homer of the tournament, and for anybody who worried that last year was just a flukey career-year, Derrek’s making a pretty strong case here in mid-March that it’s not going to be the case.

If not for Derrek and Larry Wayne Jones, Team USA’s offense wouldn’t just be struggling, it’d be an absolute joke.

They homered for the only runs in the win over Mexico and yesterday they homered for three of the four runs the Americans scored.

For Lee, yesterday’s jack had to be especially gratifying. He spent parts of three years as a kid living in Japan while his dad was flashing hotel guests playing in the Japanese League. Let’s just say, they’d heard of him.

In the ninth inning, we got to see something that rivals Haley’s Comet. We saw Alex Rodriguez get a big hit. For years I’ve heard fans of arguably the best player in the game complain that for all his greatness he never gets a big hit. He didn’t come through against Mexico, or Canada and failed twice yesterday. Suddenly I knew what they were talking about. But then it happened. It may have taken a seeing eye single off a Japanese pitcher nobody’s ever heard of, but A-Rod came through. See, the WBC is full of stuff we’ve never seen before.

The NCAA pairings came out yesterday. Illinois is being shipped off to San Diego for the weekend to start their run in the Washington DC region (huh?). It’s what you get when you refuse to make a free throw and get bounced from the first round of the Big Ten tournament. So are we going to have a Desipio Tournament Challenge of some sort again this year? Am I going to pick every game, so you don’t have to, like last year (it didn’t go so well if I remember right)? Yes, and yes. Check in at On Hoops later today. See, you knew that place was going to be good for something.

Actually, it’s up right now.
Is Andy MacPhail running the Bears? Because their manuevering over the weekend certainly smacked of every Cubs’ free agent pursuit, ever. They identified Antwan Randle-El as their top target. They picked up the phone at 12:01 a.m. on the first night of free agency and negotiated for a couple of hours with his agent. Things looked good. Then, Antwan got on a plane and few to Washington to meet with Joe Gibbs and Dan Snyder.

This is where it gets aggravating. The Bears asked Randle-El and his agent to promise to give them a chance to match whatever offer the Redskins made.

Yikes.

For the 1,001,123rd time, this is no way to run a franchise. If you want a player, and you’re negotiating with him you get the deal done. Or, at the very least, you up your offer and tell him, here you go. You want to make a lot of money? You want to play for us? Take it, or we’re picking up the phone and we’re going to throw your money at somebody else.

Instead, the Bears sat there holding a bag full of money that they, from all accounts, expected to have to throw more money into to sign him, and never got a chance to make a second offer.

Rafael Furcal, meet Antwan Randle-El. Antwan Randle-El, meet Rafael Furcal.

The funniest part is that according to the Tribune, the Redskins convinced Randle-El of this:

Also working in Washington’s favor is the clear direction toward a passing offense that makes extensive use of three-receiver sets. The Bears have consistently stressed their commitment to a run-based offense built around Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson.

Wait, I know that Al Saunders is the new offensive coordinator in Washington, but isn’t Joe Gibbs still the coach? How many three incompletes and a punt before Joe tells Al to start giving it to Portis and Betts 40 times a game? Hmm?

Missing out on Randle-El isn’t a tragedy. He’s a good player, and the Bears could use a wide reciever who doesn’t catch the ball and fall down (or in Moose Muhammad’s case, drop the ball, fall down and blame the quarterback), but Antwan’s not a number one receiver and Washington is paying him more than he’s worth. However…you get the feeling that had the Bears not tried to be cute and save a couple of million bucks on Friday night-Saturday morning, they might have been able to sign him at a more realistic price and kept him off the plane to DC. Oh well, there’s always Arnold Drummond, or whatever other dwarf they have their eyes on now.

Willis Drummond?

Kimberly Drummond?

Did Mr. Drummond adopt Arnold and Willis before the show ended? Did Mrs. Garrett ever notice that Jo from The Facts of Life was manlier than either of the Jackson boys? I’m going to have to re-review the E! Hollywood True Story on this.

Todd Walker told the Score that Dusty promised him the starting job. Turns out, that as George Ofman is so proud of yelling, somebody is lying.

Mark Prior has for the moment pulled ahead of Kerry Wood for the big league record of most simulated games won. Kerry got back on the mound yesterday to serve Prior notice that he’s ready to get the record back.

Teddy G. wonders why Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are so anti-mid majors? For Nantz, it’s probably because he’s a know-nothing talking hairdo, for Packer it’s because he only pays attention to the coaches who can do something for him.

Edgerrin James says he signed with Arizona because they have the makings of a great offense with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, they have a good, offensive-minded coach, they are opening a brand new stadium and because they run a similar system to the one the Colts did. The real reason is that they wrote him a check for $11 million yesterday. Hello. I’m not kidding. He left the press conference with a check for $11 million.

Team Cuba scored a big win yesterday, beating our beloved Team Venezuela. The WBC has promised that anti-Castro signs will not be allowed at WBC venues for the remainder of the tournament. Ahh, who needs to observe that pesky freedom of speech when you can protect the feelings of a dictator? Next thing you know, they won’t let Pat Robertston hang out with Hugo Chavez.

Dusty says he wants to stay with the Cubs. That’s…great?

Deadspin has the video of the controversial tag-up play from yesterday. The problem is, however, that the feed used in the replay is the one from ESPN, and they have everything jacked up yesterday. I’ll just say this again. I have no idea if the guy left third early. But based on the number of grande screw ups by the ESPN crew during that broadcast, I have no faith in whatever their replays show.

America’s finest news source with a great Barry Bonds headline and story.