Posted on 03/11/2026 6:31:15 AM PDT by V_TWIN
Team USA suffered a massive upset at the hands of Italy on Tuesday night at the World Baseball Classic, putting their hopes of moving to the quarterfinal round in jeopardy.
Italy’s Kyle Teel, Sam Antonacci and Jac Caglianone homered as Italy defeated the U.S., 8-6, in the Americans’ final game in pool play.
Italian starter Michael Lorenzen allowed two hits in 4.2 scoreless innings. The U.S. got homers from Pete Crow-Armstrong twice and Gunnar Henderson, but their rally fell short.
Aaron Judge had a chance to extend the game for the U.S. in the ninth inning, but he struck out.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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I would have expected the USA team might have problems with Mexico or one of the Caribbean teams but Italy?
Sounds like a classic case of overlooking and underestimating an opponent.
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Yup
“Momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher” - Earl Weaver
Aaron judge’s already shaky reputation as a clutch batter hits a new low, striking out against Italy. Bro, even Ethiopia defeated Italy.
Italy is using a number Major leaguers who have Italian Heritage..
I graduated from the University of Florida and follow the former UF players playing in the WBC, one of them, Jac Caglione was a high 1st round pick in the MLB draft, hit a 2-run homer last night....he’s on track to be a big time player at the MLB level.
Perhaps US major league baseball teams should be scouting for new players in Italy.
“Aaron Judge had a chance to extend the game for the U.S. in the ninth inning, but he struck out.”
This is the story of Arron’s career. I feel bad for the guy because he always seems to choke in the playoffs. Except, I am a RED SOX fan. So, YANKEES SUCK!
joe joe dimaggio,
“scouting for new players in Italy”
Yeah that would be crappy duty.....but I’d volunteer! 😁
Italy is basically a bunch of MLB players with Italian heritage that didn’t make the U.S. team. They are essentially the U.S. “B” team. That’s baseball. Even the best teams lose 60 games a year.
That said, DeRosa managed two horrible games against Mexico and Italy. Aside from the lack of clutch hitting and errors against Italy, DeRosa left McLean and Yarborough in too long. They were awful and should have been pulled earlier. And for some unknown reason, DeRosa decided to piss away a 5-0 lead against Mexico by keeping Boyd in there for 2 1/3 innings and 3 runs. All of this will hurt them when they get to run differential calculations. This is not to mention the U.S. thinking erroneously that they had already clinched against Mexico and showing up for the game against Italy hungover.
And even the best hitters only get one hit out of three at bats.....
All of Italy’s players are Americans.
Bro, even Ethiopia defeated Italy.
That was Haile Selassie of them.
Lorenzen pitching for the Italian team is a bit crazy. He’s a SoCal kid.
There are 21 American-born players on Team Italy and 14 American-born players on Team Mexico. Misleading name for this tournament. They should of called this The American World Baseball Classic!
WBC is the stupidest thing ever in baseball.
Aaron Judge pulled a Mighty Casey.
Team USA played very bad defense and didn’t hit with runners on base, but still managed to come within a couple of runs of winning.
Let’s give Italy credit. Tehy played very well. Lorenzen was particularly good, and he wasn’t even supposed to start. Nla was. (He goes against Mexico tonight.)
Mostly US born players with Italian names.
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