~pperalta

This posting is a little late, but these are pictures from when I, along with my wife Maria and friend Omar, went to the World Baseball Classic in Orlando about 7 weeks ago. We saw (and cheered on) the Dominican Republic play against Italy. This was a game that featured quite a bit of offense, especially from the Dominican team. Although I (and just about everyone else in the stands) enjoyed the home run display by the likes of Albert Pujols and Adrian Beltre, I was somewhat apprehensive about this team depending so much on the long ball. As I was afraid would happen, it led to their demise vs. Cuba in the semi finals. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed watching these games, especially seeing the styles of play by the various countries. I was really impressed by the strict discipline of the Asian teams, especially at the plate. Latin American players in general (and Dominicans in particular) tend to be a little impatient at the plate and swing at pitches that should not be swung at.

Small tangent: I’m thrilled that my hometown Mets are first in their division thus far, but I’d like to see Jose Reyes get on base some more. As of today he has an on base percentage of .296 for the season and .303 lifetime. Those are not good numbers for a leadoff man, especially for someone with as much speed as him. I’d love to see more plate discipline from the likes of him.

Anyway, here are some pictures at the game:

Jose Reyes leads off

Big Papi takes a cut

The crowd representing…

The enthusiastic victory celebration

Me and Omar enjoying the victory