Fan News

For as little as Americans don't care about the World Baseball Classic, it's obvious watching the games that this tournament means as much as anything to the rest of the countries participating.

And last night, when the Netherlands defeated the favored Dominican Republic, the Caribbean stood still.

The first round elimination is being touted as a national disgrace in the Dominican today, with an entire nation in mourning because their all-world all-star team didn't win the tournament.

Spring Training Game 15

Yankees @ Tigers
Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland, FL
Game Time: 1:15 p.m.
TV/radio: none

Here are the lineups.

YANKEES

Melky Cabrera, CF
Johnny Damon, LF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Jorge Posada, DH
Nick Swisher, RF
Cody Ransom, 3B
Angel Berroa, 2B
Ramiro Pena, SS
Kevin Cash, C

Pitching: CC Sabathia, Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Mark Melancon, Steven Jackson

TIGERS

The Dutch have done it—they made the world say DAM(N)

It has nothing to do with the creative way with which they divert water around The Hague.

The Netherlands have added another chapter to The Classic!!

Since Kennisaw Landis was elected commissioner of baseball in November 1920, nine different men have occupied the office. With only a few short-lived exceptions, they are not popular while serving.

They’re not supposed to be. 

Fans want to watch the action on the field. The commissioner’s job is to handle everything off the field. We see billionaires trying to suck the fun out of a great game. We usually don’t see executive actions as being an essential part of that enjoyment. 

New York Yankees pitcher Kei Igawa has gotten off to a hot start this spring, and it has gotten the attention of a few fans—some of which are even thinking he might contribute to the club this season.

After all, he’s pitched eight dominant innings this spring while surrendering zero runs, just 3 hits, and no walks. He’s also a lefty, happears comfortable on the mound, and he cost the Yankees $46 million that they would like to see put to good use after years.

[Today marks yet another first here at JoeSportsFan.com, as we introduce to you the Jackie Robinson of female writers at JSF. That's right, the latest writer to make it past Joe Mustache's rigorous screening process is the first of the female variety. Her name is Julie Adelsberger, and every Wednesday she will nominate a special someone from the sports world and grant them entry into the prestigious JSF Tool Shed. Because frankly, some people deserve to be mocked.]

Francisco Cervelli is a defensive catcher mostly known for getting his arm broken when he was bowled over by a member of the Tampa Bay Rays last spring training.

He’s also one of the next in line to get called up if the Yankees need to carry three catchers if Jorge Posada’s shoulder isn’t healthy enough to play over 100 games behind the plate. In that case, it would either be him or journeyman Kevin Cash.

In anticipation of the draft for The Hazean’s 2009 fantasy baseball challenge, I decided to dabble in some preseason projections.

The problem with that thought, though, is that I really do not spend as much time working on my fantasy baseball knowledge as I do football. So I brought in some fantasy baseball muscle to compile these projections.

Aaron McCoy, fantasy baseball connoisseur and a co-worker of mine, offered his fantasy baseball expertise for these rankings. I have to say they are pretty impressive, and I might even use them to draft my team this weekend.

If the race for the Philadelphia Phillies' fifth starter is on, Kyle Kendrick has some major ground to pick up, so he will look for a good outing today against the Atlanta Braves.

Today will mark Kendrick's third outing of the spring, including his appearance in the exhibition against Team USA. Kendrick has been under a microscope from the start of the spring, and the close examination continues today.

It's really starting to look like Chris Duncan is healthy.

He had another strong game against the Tigers yesterday, going 2-for-2 with his second home run of the spring, raising his average up to .385. I don't think anyone expects Duncan to be challenging for a batting title this season, but if he can continue to show that he's healthy, he could be a valuable guy for this team.