Team USA is facing an embarassing reality where they may be eliminated from the World Baseball Classic before the knockout round after a stunning 8-6 loss to Italy on Tuesday night.
Now, the U.S.’s hopes ride on Italy being able to beat Mexico or Mexico defeating Italy whilst scoring five or more runs. However, before Tuesday night’s brutal loss, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa was proudly touting that his club had already punched its way into the knockout round.
“I’m gonna look at it, I’m gonna get some guys off their feet, no question about it,” DeRosa told the MLB Network voice. “I’d like to get [Paul Goldschmidt] a start, he has been awesome, just a leader of men behind the scenes with Aaron Judge. I’d like to get him in there, I’d like to get Gunnar [Henderson] in there again.”
“It’s weird, we want to win this game even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals,” the manager added. “The way the schedule lines up, this is an important game for us.”
After the loss, DeRosa owned up to mispeaking.
“I was on ‘Hot Stove’ with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations,” DeRosa said. “We knew Mexico was going to play Italy and running all the numbers with if we lost tonight, with the runs allowed and runs scored and outs. So, I just misspoke.”
What’s interesting about the entire situation is that the MLB pulled the clip of the initial interview containing the gaffe from DeRoda from its website, before reappearing later, leading to speculation it was intentionally pulled by the league.
Per the New York Post, the MLB claimed the move was made to prevent fans from getting “inaccurate information” about the WBC quarterfinals.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.