FanPost

Loving streaming video: watched PR vs Panama today!

I have to thank missssteryash  for putting the link to get streaming live video for baseball games on the web, in the first of today's game threads.

For those of you who missed it, here it is again

I don't have cable or satellite service at home (I'm already paying for it at my mom's place, where I spend  close to a third of my year). Luckily I like listening to baseball games on the radio...

 

Anyway, not every game gets streamed, and the A's game was not (or at least it didn't show up for me). But -- especially since the A's-Padres game became a blowout -- I was thrilled to find that I could get ESPN's live coverage of the Puerto Rico - Panama game! What a thrill it was for me! (I was at the first WBC - 2006 - in San Juan, and got to see Puerto Rico and Cuba play, which was pretty awesome. Tonight the ballpark was packed and raucous, and my Boricuas did not disappoint. Javier Vazquez started and pitched very strongly, just as he had when I saw him in the WBC in 2006. (By the way, the managers were taking very good care of their pitchers, and did not overwork them. The starters had strict pitch counts.) My favorite major league ballplayer, Carlos Delgado (I've had the pleasure of speaking with him on several occasions at community activities, and we have close mutual friends) started the scoring with a bomb to right field bleachers in the top of the second inning. The Puerto Rico team eventually scored 7 runs on 13 hits (3 HRs and several doubles), and shut out the Panamanian team.

But the story of the night was Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. We all know he is still unsigned by a MLB club, and he is hungry to prove something. Besides catching the entire game, he singled, stole a base, doubled, and hit two HRs -- one into the left field bleachers and the blow that broke the game open, a 3-run opposite field bomb.

The WBC has double elimination. In Pool D (here in San Juan) today's losing teams -- Panama and the upsetted Dominican Republic -- play tomorrow, with the loser eliminated. Puerto Rico has some strong pitching (starters such as Vazquez, Ian Snell and Jonathan Sanchez, relievers such as JC Romero, Carlos Gutierrez and Kiko Calero). They have a pretty potent offense as well. For example, their 3-7 hitters today were Beltran, Delgado, Alex Rios, Pudge, and Giovany Soto.

I'm expecting the Dominican Republic to fight like crazy tomorrow, and don't expect Panama to prevail. Puerto Rico is the favorite against the Netherlands -- but in baseball you never know so it's no foregone conclusion.

But I feel like the biggest winner because I got to see the game!! Again, thanks so much for sharing the streaming website!!