Tampa Bay Rays successfully transition Alex Colome to the closer role

Colome (L) leads the American League in Saves

Way back on July 28, 2000 the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays completed a trade with the Oakland Athletics. The D-Rays sent away a pair of arms in Jim Mecir and Todd Belitz, and in return received a Double A right-hander named Jesus Colome.

Colome had a big arm, with pitches clocked at over 100 miles per hour. He made his big league debut with Tampa in June of 2011 as a reliever, beginning what would be a 10-year career in Major League Baseball.

Colome left via free agency, signing with the New York Yankees. He would end up pitching again in the big leagues with the Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Seattle Mariners. Jesus retired following the 2010 season at age 32, but would show up for a 2012 stint in the Mexican League.

A year later, the Rays would debut another Colome at the big league level. This one was Alex Colome, the nephew of Jesus. The younger Colome had signed out of the Dominican Republic as an 18-year old in March of 2007.

It's a great time to be Pat Neshek

On November 4, 2016 the Houston Astros shipped veteran relief pitcher Pat Neshek to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The trade was a simple salary dump for Houston. Neshek had a $6.55 million option due on his contract for the 2017 season. The Astros didn’t want to pay that kind of money for a middle reliever. 

They found a willing trade partner in the Phillies, who were desperately searching for short-term bullpen help, and who had plenty of money available to spend.

On the surface, it appeared a step back competitively for Neshek. The Astros were an up-and-coming contender in the American League. The Phillies were a rebuilding doormat in the National League. It looked as if it could be a long summer for the 36-year old veteran.

But you never know what the future will hold. The year 2017 has turned out to be one of the best of Neshek’s baseball life. And here in the month of July, it may only be getting better.

The great year began all the way back in March. While his new Phillies teammates were preparing for the season ahead at spring training in Clearwater, Neshek was representing the USA in the World Baseball Classic.

He would be a key shutdown reliever, a key to the Americans finally capturing the WBC championship. Neshek allowed no runs and four hits, striking out four and allowing just a single walk in five innings over five games.

WBC 2017: Who Are The Netherlands?

When the 2017 World Baseball Classic began, the team representing The Netherlands was certainly not considered to be among the tournament favorites.

After all, we’re talking about The Netherlands. You know, the Dutch?

Isn’t that Holland? When you think of them, wouldn’t you tend to think of windmills, dikes, tulips, and chocolates more than hardball?

On the grander world stage, The Netherlands that most people think about refers to the main constituent nation in Western Europe.

They may be one of the smallest nations in Europe, but The Netherlands are tremendously influential. For instance, it is home to Europe’s largest seaport at Rotterdam.

At The Hague, the nation is a host city to the United Nations, and home of the World Court. The official capitol city of Amsterdam is one of the most populous regions in Europe, and gave us the likes of Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh.

But the nation of The Netherlands is also a “kingdom”, a constitutional monarchy which also encompasses countries of the Caribbean region, including Aruba, Curacao, and St. Maarten. They are part of an area often referred to as The Netherlands Antilles.

Do-or-Die for Team USA in World Baseball Classic

To borrow a phrase from Yogi Berra, for Team USA it’s a case of “deja vu all over again” in the 2017 WBC.

The disappointing performance of American teams over the history of the World Baseball Classic is well established. Team USA did not take home a medal from any of the previous incarnations of what has become baseball’s top international competition.

After a tough 5-4 loss to Puerto Rico on Friday night, the American team is once again facing disappointment. They now take on the defending champions from the Dominican Republic on Saturday night in San Diego in a win-or-go-home game.

US skipper Jim Leyland will send Danny Duffy to the mound in this pivotal matchup. The talented lefty from the Kansas City Royals was dominating in his previous start. Duffy struck out seven, walked none, and allowed just two hits in four shutout frames against Team Canada in the opening round last Sunday.

Duffy was a teammate of the late Yordano Ventura with the Royals. The young pitcher was killed in a tragic auto accident this off-season, and he and Duffy were close. Ventura was Dominican, and his jersey will hang in the DR dugout during tonight’s game.

Indians Shortstop Francisco Lindor Taps Superstar Potential

The box score for Game 7 of the 2016 World Series reveals that Francisco Lindor produced nothing in five plate appearances for the Cleveland Indians.

The collar that was hung around the Tribe’s three-hole hitter in that decisive game of the Fall Classic by the Chicago Cubs pitching staff certainly stings.

Lindor did reach on an error with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the first inning. That would prove his personal offensive highlight of the night.

In the bottom of the third inning, Lindor came to bat with two runners on base and one out. He flew out to left field against Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks with Cleveland trailing 3-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Lindor was at the plate against Jon Lester when the Cubs lefty uncorked a wild pitch that allowed two runners to score.

That play cut the Indians deficit at that time to a 5-3 margin. But Lindor then struck out on a full count pitch to end the inning.

Trailing by 6-3 in the bottom of the eight inning, the Indians would rally to dramatically tie the game on Rajai Davis‘ two-out, two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman. But Lindor wasn’t involved in the rally. He had accounted for one of the outs, grounding weakly to short to lead things off.

With two out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, the game still knotted at 6-6, Lindor flew out to right against Chapman.

That would be Lindor’s final chance to affect the outcome. The Cubs would score twice in the top of the 10th. The Tribe would respond with one in the bottom, and put the tying run on base, but their rally and title hopes would fall just short.

WBC 2017: Team USA May Have Their Best Chance Yet

The WBC is now underway for the fourth time. What has become the premier international baseball competition has already included drama in opening pool play games of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Team USA won their opening game on Friday night in dramatic fashion. The Americans downed Colombia by a 3-2 score on Adam Jones‘ walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning.

That victory and a 1-0 start in the standings was vital. In addition to Colombia, the Americans opening pool play includes the always tough Canadians, as well as the defending WBC champions from the Dominican Republic.

The United States will now meet the Dominicans in a battle of behemoths on Saturday evening at 6:30pm. The game will be televised on the MLB Network.

The USA will then wrap pool play with a Sunday 7pm game against Canada, also available on MLB Network. If the US wins both games, they advance to the second round. If they win just one, they likely still advance. Lose both, and they will likely find themselves in a tie-breaker game on Monday evening.

A Decade of Parity and History

In western historical terms, there was no year '0', so most people realize that an official decade truly runs from the year ending in '1' through the 10th year.

This means that 2001 opened the true first year, and the recent 2010 season ended the final year of the first decade of the 21st century.

For all of the talk about payrolls in baseball and a fear of competitive imbalance, here is the bottom line fact as it relates to that recently completed first decade: 9 different teams won the World Series.

The only franchise that was able to win multiple World Series titles was the one that opened the decade with a supposed jinx or curse, one that hadn't won in 90 years. That franchise was the Boston Red Sox, who won in 2004 and then again took the crown in 2007.

League or Divisional assignments didn't matter this past decade either. The two leagues evenly split the World Series victories at 5 apiece, and teams from every division won titles. The Phillies ('08) and Marlins ('03) from the N.L. East, the Cardinals ('06) from the N.L. Central, the Diamondbacks ('01) and Giants ('10) from the N.L. West gave the National League 5 titles. In addition to Boston's two titles, the Yankees ('09) joined from the A.L. East, the White Sox ('05) won from the A.L. Central, and the Angels ('02) from the A.L. West to give the American League 5 titles as well.

2009 World Baseball Classic Reaches Finale

While many sports fans are preoccupied this weekend with the opening rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and their own bracket pools, another big tournament is coming to a conclusion. The 2nd-ever World Baseball Classic has been taking place over the past two weeks, and the original 16 competing nations have been whittled down to a Final Four through two rounds of play. Opening round drama was provided by a tremendous pair of upset victories by the Netherlands in eliminating the powerful team from the Dominican Republic. In this past week's 2nd round, it was a dramatic 3-run rally in the bottom of the 9th inning by the U.S. against Puerto Rico that enabled the Americans to advance into the semi-finals. Meanwhile the Cuban team was eliminated, meaning that for the first time in almost five decades they will not reach the finals of a major international tournament. Advancing into those semis which will take place tonight and tomorrow night are the United States, Venezuela, Korea, and the defending WBC champions from Japan. While the game of baseball was invented in the United States and became our 'National Pasttime', and while the depth of talent in America remains far above that in other nations, the fact is that the rest of the world has caught up at the top levels of competition. The team rosters in Major League Baseball are now made up of 40% players from nations outside the United States. Teams from the South American nations such as Venezuela and Mexico, from the Caribbean such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominicans, and from Asia in Japan and Korea, as well as the team from Canada are all highly competitive and most are now capable of winning any international competition, even one involving professional players. In today's first semi-final, Korea will battle the Venezuelans. The Koreans advanced to the semis back in the first WBC in 2006, and used that success as a springboard to winning the gold medal at last year's summer Olympics in China. They have just one Major League player in young Cleveland Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, and have perhaps the youngest team in the semis. They also have the best defense in the tournament and a pitching staff that is sporting a 3.05 ERA. Their offense is led by third baseman Bum Ho Lee, who is hitting .375 with 3 homers and 6 rbi and first baseman Tae Kyun Kim, who is hitting .364 with 2 homers and 9 rbi during the tourney. Venezuela is loaded with 21 players from MLB, including stars such as Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera, and Melvin Mora. They have the best offense in the tournament, hitting .309 as a team with almost half of their hits going for extra bases. It is a classic matchup of great pitching and defense against big bats. The pitching matchup will feature Carlos Silva for Venezuela against Suk-Min Yoon for Korea. Yoon has not yet allowed a run in the tournament. The other semi-final will take place on Sunday night pitting the United States against defending champion Japan. The Japanese are fully capable of winning again with a veteran cast of formidable players led by living legend outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and two of the best pitchers in the world in Daisuke 'Dice K' Matsuzaka and young phenom Yu Darvish. The Japanese team suffered a serious blow in their last game when slugging first baseman Suichi Murata, who was hitting .320 with 2 homers and 7 rbi, suffered a torn right hamstring and will miss the rest of the tournament. His loss takes most of the power from Japan's lineup, but they still have the pitching, speed, and experience to win it all. The Americans' 9th inning rally against Puerto Rico advanced them to the semis after missing them in 2006. This year's squad is led by third baseman David Wright, shortstop Derek Jeter, and a pair of Phillies in Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, along with a number of other familiar big leaguers including Ryan Braun, Brian Roberts, Brian McCann, and Evan Longoria. The depth of American talent has allowed them to overcome injuries to Chipper Jones, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis. The semi-final pitching matchup will be one of talented veterans, with the Red Sox ace 'Dice K' going for Japan against Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt for Team USA. The weekend's semi-final winners will advance to the championship game of the WBC on Monday night. Whichever teams are involved, it will surely be a baseball classic worthy of your attention. In the 2006 WBC, the Japanese offense opened up on Cuba for a 10-6 win that ended a classic three-week period of play, and this year has been no less exciting. So while you follow the NCAA basketball tourney this weekend, remember too that on the next three nights you can also follow the best that international baseball has to offer with the conclusion of the 2nd-ever World Baseball Classic. NOTE: The games of the WBC can be followed on ESPN and ESPN2, and the title of this story is a link to further information on the topic, in this case to the official WBC website complete with video, stats, and feature columns.

Classic Baseball

March 16th, 2006 was a huge day in the annals of the storied game of baseball, our national pasttime here in America. The occasion was the 2nd round game of the first-ever World Baseball Classic between the heavily favored team from the United States and the team from Mexico. The Americans came into this inaugural tournament pitting the world's best pro players against one another as the favorites to win it all. After all, the game was invented here, and the U.S. team was filled with mega-stars and living legends with names like Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Roger Clemens, Chase Utley, and Derek Jeter. The Americans had moved through the tournament to that point with a lackluster 3-2 record, but just needed this win over the Mexicans to advance into the final round of play. Mexico was also 3-2, but due to the tie-breakers in place they had no shot at advancing. All they could hope to do would be to play the role of spoiler. On the day before St. Patrick's Day in 2006, they shocked the world and did just that, shutting down the powerful American bats in a shocking 2-1 win that eliminated the U.S. stars from the tournament. The favored Americans had not even reached the semi-finals. Tournament organizers and television sponsors feared that the all-international flavor would be a killer to their ratings and to this initial effort. Why would anyone, especially in the U.S., care about and follow the tourney now that the American stars were out? But then a funny thing happened on the way to international baseball oblivion. An entertaining tournament broke out among the final four teams. In a Latin American semi-final, the vaunted 'amateurs' from Cuba defeated a team from the Dominican Republic that featured its own collection of Major League Baseball stars such as David 'Big Papi' Ortiz, Moises Alou, and Miguel Tejada. The Cubans thrilling 3-1 victory was secured by a legendary multi-inning relief performance from big, imposing pitcher Pedro Lazo, and the team from the little baseball-proud nation would move into its 37th consecutive finals in international competition. Joining them would be the equally proud and even more historically baseball-crazed nation of Japan. The Japanese team used phenomenal pitching, team speed, and the leadership of superstar Ichiro Suzuki to defeat the previously undefeated team from South Korea by a 6-0 score. While the finals would not have the Americans, they would have a dynamic matchup of contrasting cultures and passionate fans as Cuba and Japan took the field. The Japanese had made it into the semi-finals only because of that stunning American loss to Mexico, and they decided to make the most of their 2nd chance by actually winning the whole tournament. Their bats came alive against Cuba's normally solid pitchers, and on March 20th, 2006 Japan's players mobbed one another on the field at San Diego's Petco Park in celebration (pictured) of winning the first World Baseball Classic by a 10-6 score. The tournament had not only survived the early American knockout, but it had thrived over the course of a two-week display of baseball prowess and national pride. So now here we are three years later about to begin the action and excitement all over again. Once again the team from the USA is favored. The 2009 American team returns Jeter, Jones, and Jake Peavy and includes younger stars like David Wright, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun, and the World Series champion Phillies own Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. But as we learned three years ago, there is plenty of talent in the baseball world, and a champion could emerge from any number of nations. The Cubans are actually favored by some this time. They play in what looks like an easy opening round bracket, so they should reach the semi-finals again. Led by Ichiro and starting pitcher 'Dice K' Matsuzaka, defending champion Japan will again be formidable. The Japanese team will show off perhaps the most talked about young pitcher on the planet in 22-year old sensation Yu Darvish. The Dominicans will again be strong despite the loss of Alex Rodriguez to injury. They will field an exciting club led by Big Papi's veteran presence behind young superstars Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez. The other semi-finalist from '06 was South Korea, who had gone through pool play undefeated. The Koreans used that experience as a springboard to the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, and have a powerful offense. The teams from Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, and Puerto Rico all have enough talent that if they get a strong pitching performance on a given day, they certainly could knock off the big boys and pull a stunner to equal that of the Mexicans over the U.S. back in 2006. The other nations trying to reach the finals at Dodger Stadium are Australia, China, Italy, South Africa, Taiwan, and the Netherlands, and each will be fighting for at least one victory for national pride. The 2009 World Baseball Classic should once again prove interesting and entertaining for any fan to follow, no matter which nations are playing one another. The tournament is beginning now, and is being covered on television at both ESPN2 and the all-new MLB network. Check your listings and watch some of the WBC games, which especially as they move into the later rounds will prove to be truly classic baseball. NOTE: As always, the title of this entry is actually a link to more information on the subject, this time to the home website of the World Baseball Classic.