I ended last week's assignment in Ocean City, Maryland, with a fishfry dinner at St. Mary Star of the Sea late Friday afternoon, then drove back to Pennsylvania. It wasn't "a fish dinner at Memison" or "Babette's feast", but it was very good, with flounder and shrimp, mac and cheese, baked potato, stewed tomatos, mesclun salad, and a memorable coleslaw. The people were friendly and the atmosphere in the social hall was congenial. All in all, it was quite a cultural experience: I had never been to a church dinner before. Capping it off, a local art school had an exhibition of student work on the walls.Last night I watched the thrilling 9th inning comeback by Team USA to beat Team Puerto Rico 6-5 and knock them out of the WBC. It was an odd inning, with Phillies and Mets all over it. With the US trailing 5-3, Shane Victorino led off. He managed a single up the middle against Phillie teammate J.C. Romero (very odd match-up that). Brian Roberts followed with another single.
Jeter, who muffed a couple of plays in the field, then flied out. Last night we were spared Sutcliffe and O'Brien. Instead, we had amateur hour with Matt, Harold, and Al. Sheesh. And not one had the onions to say that Rollins would have made the plays Jeter didn't. Instead, it was more nattering about the captain. Rollins, as DH, followed Jeter at the plate and gave Romero a battle, during which Roberts stole 2nd--and how he was not out, I don't know. In the end Rollins worked a walk and Romero (I feel for you) was lifted for the closer, who walked Youkilis to make the score 5-4. All David Wright had to do was lift one to the outfield to tie the game. Instead, he hit a double to right and Roberts and Rollins both waltzed home.
Team USA went mad at the plate. Mike Schmidt was in the middle of it all! If Schmidt is an odd choice for 3rd base coach, I wonder what Davey Johnson is. I understand that he had no bench last night but really he's been managing the games as if he had no stake in them at all. I felt bad for the Puerto Rican team, even if it was loaded with Mets, but for the sake of the WBC it's good that the US advances to the semifinals.
Yu Darvish was pitching last night for Japan against Korea but he was not quite sharp, nor was the Japanese defense. I only lasted till midnight, going back and forth between that game in San Diego and the Sixers game against the Lakers in LA. This morning I learned that Team Korea had held on for a 4-1 win and that Andre Iguodala had made a three-point shot at the buzzer to beat the Lakers 94-93. When is this guy going to get the love he deserves?
