Shut city in Taipei tonight - the U.S. shuts out Netherlands, 5-0.
Meanwhile across town, Cuba took care of business against Japan, 5-3.

USA vs. Cuba in the final.

Cuba has won the last nine World Cups.

The U.S. hasn't won one since the mid-70's.

This is EXACTLY how you want this thing scripted.

Tune in tomorrow at 3:30 AM EST time at www.stadeo.tv, won't you?!? You know you're up that early on a Sunday anyway, so why not check us out.

Either way, GO USA!

...it's 5-0, U.S. Just blew it open with a 4-run 8th. Love it.
Meanwhile, Cuba is still up on Japan, 3-0. About a 10 minute delay as flame-thrower Cuban start Chapman just hit a Japanese batter in the ear-hole. He was carried off in a stretcher. First time I've seen that in baseball. Scary.

...and we're live, bottom of the 5th, Team USA at the plate, your score, 1-0, good guys.
Sorry for being away so long. Between packing, repacking, busing up to Taipei blah, blah, it's been a little nuts here in Taiwan.

But nuts in a good way, though. Since we last posted we've won four straight, including last night's 3-1 quarterfinal win over Korea.

We've been pretty methodical along the way. Not really putting people away, but also leaving no doubt who is in control of the game, if that makes any sense at all.

Did a couple of minutes on the Stadeo TV broadcast yesterday. I mention this not to pump myself up (right), but more to plug Stadeo's work throughout the tournament. Between their daily magazine pieces and their play-by-play commentary, the work has been stellar.

Serious superstitions going on right now with some of the staff. I'm not going to get into too much, for I don't dare try to ruin the karma, but let it suffice to say that it involves the Golden Arches.

Other than that, not too much to report. Looking at the screen, Cuba is up on Japan 3-0 in the 5th. Not that we're looking ahead or anything...just stating facts.

OK...now it's top-7...we just bailed out the Dutch pitcher with a 7-pitch inning. A KC handoff here as Wright takes a bow, giving way to Musser. Let's...go...Royals.

More so, however, let's go eagles...this one is too close...

p.s. The time-change comment about "TGI Saturday's" on my last post was gold.

...to the win column. And it feels so good.
Caught the game on TV up in Taipei last night at my new home away from home, TGI Friday's, and things pretty much went as they should have. Good pitching, timely hitting, all-in-all, a nifty 5-1 win.

A few observations from the game:

1. Delwyn Young is just plain fun to watch. Whether it's the 3-run bomb, the facial-Jim-Edmonds-esque catch in left, the wide open jersey a la David Wells, or the, what has to be 74 in. bat he swings at the plate, you get your money's worth.

2. Jeff Stevens is the fastest working pitcher on the planet. This dude does not mess around on the mound. Steps, fires, delivers...wash, rinse, repeat. With Borowski aging, he could be closing in Cleveland soon.

3. None of our pitchers look even remotely phased on the mound. With Panama and Japan behind us, the only remaining pool contender is Chinese Taipei. It will be interesting to see how the cool demeanor holds up against a legit team and 15,000 fans. My guess - it will be a non-issue.

4. The other pool looks just OK. Cuba is surgically turning teams away like they always do and the Aussies are having one dramatic finish after another, but other than that, it's just blah. You've got Korea, the Netherlands and Canada beating up on each other, Venezuela tanking, and Germany and Thailand, well, being Germany and Thailand.

We're about an hour from Team USA (3-1) vs. Spain (1-3). Dallas Trahern is on the mound. Good luck to the stars and stripes, and to my stomach, who, I'm afraid, may not be able to handle too many more TGI Friday's burgers.

We had a quiet bus on the way home from the Italy game yesterday. I've been fortunate in my four years at USA Baseball to have only been on board five quiet bus rides out of a possible 48. Besides two championship game losses to Cuba my first two years at the helm of the 16U program, this one was the most disappointing. Italy was a team we should not have lost to, and we all know it, but it happened yesterday and that makes tonight's game against Japan that much more important.
Things just didn't go well yesterday from the outset. The laundry was late and the bus driver got lost on the way to the stadium. None of that affected the way the team prepared or played, but for me it just had a not so great feeling. On a personal note, I reunited with a college friend during our batting practice when I had a chance to meet with Italian outfielder Gino Lollio. Gino is from Florida and he played ball at the University of Michigan while I was there, and it is great to see him getting to continue playing professionally in Italy and representing his heritage along with a number of other non-Italian born players on their national team. Although he didn't play yesterday, I don't feel as good about wishing him good luck before yesterday's game after the fact.

We played a little sloppy yesterday, and to their credit, Italy capitalized on our mistakes every time. They didn't hit too many balls very hard, but they hit them in the right spots and that's what counts. We got down a couple of times and our guys were all trying to do a little too much to get us back in the game. We'd been playing in the big stadium for our first two games where the wind was screaming in from left, and now we found ourselves in the smaller, college stadium where the wind was howling just as hard out of the stadium. I think our eyes got a little big against some underwhelming Italian arms (velocitywise), but they kept us offbalance and all twenty or so pitchers it seemed they used continually got our bats to make outs. We did have the tying run at the plate in the ninth, which was good to see, but in the end Italy beat us and that's hard to take.

I think the team feels the same way about the loss and hopefully it reinforces to them that just about anyone can get you in international play so there's not really ever a good time to play the game below your capabilities. That being said, we still have the opportunity to win our pool which is the goal in these first seven games, but we have to beat Japan tonight keep that within sight. They need the game just as much as we do after a loss last night to Taiwan. The game tonight will no doubt be a tough battle of two perennial baseball powers fighting to keep a second blemish off their record, but I like our chances of getting on a post-game bus filled with the sounds of victory, while Japan rides back to the Howard Prince Hotel in silence.

To recap, folks...
The U.S. lost 6-2 to Italy.

A few things to take from this game:

1. A wake up call. Usually the consensus is 50/50 on this one. No one ever likes to lose, but if the game doesn't ultimately affect the end result in the tournament, does it truly hurt the psyche? Who knows. Regardless, we better our get our act together before the Japan game. On paper, they are much stronger than Italy.

2. Ruggiano has come to play. Not sure if you could fill a stat sheet any more than he did today: 2-2 with a HR, RBI, SB, R and 2 BB.

3. Our pool all of a sudden just got interesting. We're 2-1, Italy is 2-0, Chinese Taipei is 2-0, Japan is 2-1, Panama is 2-1. Something's got to give.

Tomorrow we've got Duensing going against Japan. Lefty pitcher vs. a lefty-heavy lineup...sounds good...

Oh, and if you're curious, the AUS/VEN game ended on a bottom-11 3-run HR walk-off by the Aussies. Drama city.

That's right...I'm in Taipei City for the annual rivalry game between Venezuela and the Aussies. I'm only being slightly sarcastic about the rivalry, but the way this game is shaping up, it could easily be labeled as such moving forward. More on that later...

To recap - I, Jake Fehling, was with the U.S. team in Taichung. A day before play began, I was shipped up to Taipei assist with the overall IBAF operation. So far so good up here, although I miss getting to follow Team USA in person.

Fortunately for the three of you at home following this blog, we still have a more than competent blogger still with the team - Jeff Singer, or as the three of you know him, the author of the Youth National Team blog. The Karate Kid post? That's Singer.

So, after several days in the Howard Plaza Hotel in downtown Taipei City, I have dislodged myself from my phonebooth of a room and made my way to the VEN (1-1)/AUS (1-1) game. Through three-and-a-half, it's 4-0 Venezuela. The play has been rather uninspiring thus far, but what has kept everyone's attention have been the close plays at the plate, controversial calls and near bench-clearing after a spikes-up slide into home and subsequent jawing between the teams. Again, less than half-way through this, so we could be in for a good one here.

Meanwhile down in Taichung - speaking of uninspiring play - the U.S. (2-0) is down 6-2 to Italy (1-0) through the Team USA half of the 5th inning. Thanks to the miracle that is television station TVBS, I have been able to follow along with this game...and, well, I'm wondering if I'm jinxing the guys...in fact, I don't think I'm going to keep typing about it...I don't want to make it worse...

So that's where we are. The U.S. has looked dominant up to this game, the weather in Taipei is muggy and overcast and my hotel room and I aren't the most compatible two things in the world. I did however, eat at a TGI Friday's last night, and I have fallen in love with the Taiwanese McDonalds' rice-bun burger, so all is well in the Far East.

More from me and Jeff to come...my question, Jeff, is when you blog, do you blog wearing your children's medium-sized "BB" USA jersey and helmet? Folks, I wish you could get this TV feed...Jeff Singer, Team Bat Boy...classic.

It was a pretty good omen that just about a half hour before we got on the bus for today's game Daniel Larusso was winning the All Valley Karate Championship on HBO, one of three tv channels here that feature english language programming. ESPN is another, but it might as well be named "The Worldwide Leader in Billiards," because that's all that they show. Getting back to the "Karate Kid," there aren't too many songs that get me as fired up as "You're the Best," and although I shouldn't need too much to get me going before a tournament opener against Mexico, it was much appreciated, and I think we all expect to leave Taiwan in a few weeks as the best around.
The team didn't need any additional motivation either. After a week's preparation in Arizona, a long travel day, and a few restless practice days in Taichung, we were ready to play something that counted. We have a good team, we know it, and the waiting was eating at everyone because what we need to do now is to prove it. Mexico was a great place to start, and manager Davey Johnson's squad got off to a good one with a win today on a soggy field in front of a surprisingly uninspiring crowd of about 50 or so non-tournament staffers.

The pitching and defense were outstanding, led by six solid innings from starter Jeff Karstens. Karstens also happens to be the most popular player on the team over here due to the fact that he's a Yankee pitcher like his teammate and Taiwanese hero Chien-Ming Wang. In fact, every question in the post game press conference directed towards Karstens and Davey Johnson had something to do with Wang. Next question, please.

The bullpen chipped in for 3 more efficient innings punctuated by closer Chris Booker's scoreless ninth inning to earn the save and a shutout of our neighbors to the south, who have been know to be a thorn in the side of USA Baseball at times in the past.

We got all the runs we needed in the fifth inning when Justin Ruggiano scored on a wild pitch and Jayson Nix followed shortly thereafter with a clutch, two-out, two-run single. That hit chased the soft-tossing left handed Mexican starter who had, up until that point, taken advantage of some overly anxious USA bats. That kind of junk is what we can expect to see for most of the tournament, so hopefully we'll be able to adjust, be patient, and put some crooked numbers up on the scoreboard more often than not. It's not where our bats want to be, nor where they will be, but overall it was a great win to get things started.

We've got a quick turnaround after the night game with a game at noon tomorrow against Panama. The game will surely be a battle as Panama has a veteran roster and has played us tough in the past. Matt Wright will get the start for the eagles, and we should expect some more zeroes from him.

USA 3, Mexico 0.
The U.S. heads into day 2 tomorrow against Panama at noon local time.

The game will be live again on www.stadeo.tv.

For more details, please visit www.usabaseball.com.

Bottom 9th…
3-0…

Booker is in to close it out…

Ruggiano gets hit by a pitch with two outs and Jarmillio gets our first base hit…
Bixler walks to load the bases then a wild pitch with Rasmus up puts us on the board 1-0…

Rasmus then walks to load the bases and Nix knocks in two with a single…

USA 3 - Mexico 0…

Top 5. No score.
Both starters are pitching well. Karstens has scattered 4 hits while the Mexican pitcher has held us hitless through four.

Sorry for the lack of posts...I know you missed us.

Neverthless, Game 1 - USA vs. Mexico - is underway from Taichung.

So far the bats are off a bit...

First inning - 1, 2, 3 for both teams.

Second inning - Karstens gives up a two out double but flied out the next batter to end the inning with zeros...

Through 2, no score...