You're The Best Around, Nothing's Gonna Ever Keep You Down

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.