HOUSTON — They slowly trudged out of the clubhouse Tuesday evening, still in disbelief, trying to digest what just happened.
Just 24 hours earlier, Team USA was celebrating, staying late, telling stories, and feeling like everything was lining up perfectly to capture the gold medal in the World Baseball Classic.
This night, they tried to wrap their minds around the idea that they could be going home in a day, failing to even advance to the quarterfinals – despite being in a weak bracket designed for them to have a potential rematch against Japan in the championship game.
They suffered their one of the most embarrassing losses in WBC history, 8-6 to Italy in front of a stunned crowd of 38,643 at Daikin Park. Now, they must rely on Italy to beat Mexico on Wednesday, Feb. 10, or hope a tiebreaker works in their favor.
‘It’s tough,’ Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. ‘You always like having destiny in your hands. We had it right in front of us. … It’s out of our control now. We just need a little luck, and we’ll see what happens.’
If Italy beats Mexico: USA is in the quarterfinals.
If Mexico beats Italy and scores at least five runs: USA and Mexico are in; Italy is out.
If Mexico beats Italy and scores four or fewer runs: Mexico and Italy are in; USA is out.
‘It’s tough, it’s super tough,’ USA manager Mark DeRosa said. ‘Guys in there are frustrated. It is what it is, though. I mean, we’ve got to own it, right?’
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DeRosa also owned the fact that he misspoke on MLB Network Tuesday morning, believing that USA had already clinched a quarterfinal berth after their 5-3 victory over Mexico. ‘It’s weird,’ DeRosa said in the interview. “We want to win this game, even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals.’
Well, no ticket was punched, and what’s left of that ticket could go up in smoke. DeRosa was informed of the mistake when he arrived at Daikin Park and said he simply ‘misspoke,’ and definitely didn’t manage or write the lineup card believing they had already clinched a spot.
‘I was on ‘Hot Stove’ with a couple of buddies today,’ DeRosa said, ‘and completely misread the calculations. We knew that Mexico was going to play Italy, and then running all the numbers if we lost tonight, with the runs allowed and runs scored and outs, I just misspoke.’
DeRosa and the USA players also strongly pushed back on the narrative that perhaps their get-together after Monday’s game created a letdown – as if they celebrated prematurely. DeRosa had even mentioned before the game that ‘we’ve got a few guys dragging.’
Yet, it was nothing more than feeling good about beating their nemesis, DeRosa said, a team they hadn’t beaten in the WBC since 2006.
‘It was a nice win (Monday) night against Mexico,’ DeRosa said. ‘We hadn’t beaten them the last three times we played at the WBC. Guys were excited about it. I think that’s searching.
‘We didn’t hit for five innings. Didn’t get rolling until late. Italy played well. Hit a couple of homers.’
Judge, who struck out with the tying run on first base to end the game, said he was aware that a victory Tuesday was needed to clinch, and also dismissed any idea the team’s get-together had any impact on the loss.
‘No, not at all,’ Judge said. ‘Everybody on this team has been enjoying this experience. Get a chance to have these guys all in one clubhouse share stories, share at-bats, share just any information that makes each other better, that’s what we were doing (Monday) night.
‘We had a win, and guys were just hanging out a little bit. We were focused on what we had to do today. Italy is a great team, and they definitely showed it today.
‘But whatever happened (Monday), that had nothing to do with what happened today.’
Really, there were no excuses by anyone on Team USA. They raved about Colorado Rockies pitcher Michael Lorenzen, who threw 4.2 shutout innings, allowing only two hits. They gushed about the bottom of Italy’s lineup. While the top five hitters in Italy’s lineup went 0-for-22, Kyle Teel, Jac Caglianone, and Sam Antonacci hit three homers and drove in five runs.
‘They’ve got a good team,’ DeRosa said. ‘I mean, bottom line, they’re running big leaguers up there. Michael Lorenzen has had success in the big leagues. So, yeah, frustrated, but I don’t want to discredit what Italy did tonight.’
Now, all Team USA can do is sit and wait at their hotel and watch the Mexico-Italy game together, rooting for Italy to win, or at the least, for Mexico to score plenty of runs if they do win.
‘I’ll be fixated on it,’ DeRosa said.
If USA is in, they’ll play the quarterfinal game Friday, March 13, against Puerto Rico, Canada or Cuba, and their ugly loss Tuesday can be forgotten. If they’re done – failing to make the quarterfinals for the first time in WBC history – it will be a night that will haunt this ‘Dream Team’ for a long, long time.
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