I am officially going to see Korea VS Mexico in round 2 of the World Baseball Classic at Angel Stadium. Even though the USA totally ripped on South Africa today 17-0, Mexico still had a better runs allowed than the USA. I’ll probably be cheering for Korea, because they have Chan Ho Park of course. As I look at the rosters for Mexico, they’ve got a bunch of old washed up players. Benji Gil? He last played major league ball in 2003.

The other reason I’ll be cheering for Korea: they don’t actively encourage their citizens to illegally cross our border to ruin our emergency medical and public education systems. Look at that, baseball and right wing politics in one statement!

I bet you thought this post would be about the great industrial complex and oil and how it runs our lives and how we can’t live without oil and President Bush is evil. But you’re wrong, it’s not.

A buddy at work and myself bought tickets to Sunday night’s World Baseball Classic game at Angel Stadium. This was at about noon today when we thought the USA team would win their pool and play Korea in the 2nd round. Unfortunately about 4 hours later the USA team lost to Canada. Now our chances of seeing the USA team beat on Hee-Seop Choi seem much less likely. Canada has to lose to Mexico, the USA has to beat South Africa, and then it comes down to runs allowed or something. Luckily Canada let South Africa score a bunch of runs, so if they do end up with the same record as the USA, we should have the edge. On Thursday I will be rooting for Mexico.

That was the Canada part…but you’re still thinking "what about the oil?" When I got home from work there was a small amount of steam emanating from beneath the hood. While I thought "crap, not good" I opened the hood to take a look. The radiator took a lot of water, and the dipstick read "zilch." I then went and bought a big 12 case of 10w-30, of which my car drank 5 quarts. Is that normal? 5 quarts? I bet I could put another one in, but I was starting to wonder…can you put in too much oil? All you oil experts, please lend me your advice.

Hopefully my car doesn’t blow up tomorrow.

Something I’ve been following with mild interest is the World Baseball Classic. Sixteen teams from around the world will be battling it out in a tournament (similar to the World Cup for Soccer). Round 1 begins on March 3, with the USA playing their first game on March 7.

There are some odd things that make the whole tournament feel forced. There are players that were born here in the United States that are playing for other countries. I don’t care if Nomar Garciaparra’s parents were born in Mexico, he wasn’t, so he should play for the USA if he plays at all. If a guy was born in the Dominican, and then came here to play in the MLB, then by all means play for the country where you were born. That should be the rule, play for the country where you were born. Just because Mike Piazza’s last name is Italian and he really likes spaghetti doesn’t mean he should play for Italy.

Besides the roster issues, I’m curious how the competitiveness will play out. The tournament is taking place during spring training and right before the MLB season. Strict pitch counts are being enforced to make sure pitchers don’t get hurt, and some players are bailing out for fear of getting hurt. For the tournament to really be competitive, players have to give 100%, and especially from the USA. Think the Netherlands is going to field their sub-par players and only give 75%? No, because they don’t have anything else to get ready for (though I’m not too worried about the Netherlands).

Overall it should be interesting at the least. I’m still trying to figure out what will be broadcast on television and which station. Give me some international baseball in HD during primetime! I wish.