Dodger Stadium to Host 2009 WBC Final

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Dodger Stadium will be the site for the semifinal and final games of the 2009 World Baseball Classic from March 21-23, it was announced on Thursday. PETCO Park in San Diego, California, and Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida, were also unveiled as venue sites for earlier rounds of the tournament, which will be held March 14-19.

"It is fitting that Dodger Stadium, the site of many celebrated events, has been selected to host the semifinals and final of the 2009 World Baseball Classic," president and COO of Major League Baseball Bob DuPuy said. "Los Angeles is one of the most international cities in the world and the Dodgers have always been on the forefront of baseball's development as a global game. "In addition, PETCO Park and Dolphin Stadium will provide strong international venues for round two of the tournament. Baseball fans across the globe will have the exciting opportunity to experience these three exceptional settings during the world's premier international baseball tournament."

The tournament , which features 16 national teams and 480 of the world's best players, opens in Tokyo, Japan, on March 5 and concludes at Dodger Stadium. PETCO Park, the site of the 2006 World Baseball Classic finals, will feature the four advancing teams from Pools A and B from March 15-19. Dolphin Stadium, which is the home of the Florida Marlins, will house the four squads that move out of Pools C and D from March 14-18. Pool A contains China, Chinese Tapei, Japan and Korea while Australia, Cuba, Mexico and South Africa make up Pool B. Pool C is comprised of Canada, Italy, Venezuela and the United States. Pool D encompasses the Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Panama and Puerto Rico.

"We are humbled and honored to be hosting the championship of the 2009 World Baseball Classic," Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said. "The Dodger organization has a long and storied history of spreading the game of baseball internationally and it's only fitting that we open the gates of Dodger Stadium to fans from around the world and welcome them to the city of Los Angeles with open arms." In 2006, Ichiro Suzuki and MVP Daisuke Matsuzaka helped Japan win the inaugural tournament, which ended up being quite successful. More than 740,000 fans from 48 states and 15 countries across the world attended games - 16 of which were sold out - and millions more watched on television.

Broadcasted by 48 media outlets and in 10 languages to 205 countries and territories around the world, the World Baseball Classic had over 50 sponsors and 21 official licenses. The tournament will be held every four years after 2009, with plans in place to expand the participant field in 2013.

NCAA World Series Preview

OMAHA, Nebraska (Ticker) -- After losing to Miami in the Coral Gables Super Regional, Arizona coach Andy Lopez came away convinced that the Hurricanes should be the favorite to win the College World Series, which begins Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.

Miami rallied to win the Super Regional after losing the opener of the best-of-three series, 6-3, in 11 innings. The Hurricanes eliminated the Wildcats with a 4-2 victory on Sunday. "They are the most balanced team that I have seen in the last 10 or 12 years," Lopez said. "Everyone is a threat in their lineup. Their defense is silky." Miami (52-9), which is making its 23th College World Series appearance, heads to Omaha as the top seed. The Hurricanes have won four national titles, the last in 2006. "This team is special because it's a team," Miami coach Jim Morris. "It's a team effort, different people every night, one through nine."

The double-elimination CWS gets under way with opening-round doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. Stanford (39-22) faces No. 4 seed Florida State (54-12) in the tournament's first game on Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by Miami (52-9) against No. 8 seed Georgia (41-23) at 7 p.m. In Sunday's doubleheader, No. 6 seed Rice (47-13) takes on Fresno State (42-29) and No. 2 North Carolina (51-12) battles No. 7 Louisiana State (48-17). The eight teams are divided into two four-team groups, with the winner of each group meeting in a best-of-three championship series starting on June 23.

Miami's top offensive threat is first baseman Yonder Alonso, who paces the club with 23 homers and 71 RBI. On the mound, the Hurricanes are led by the one-two punch of Chris Hernandez (11-0, 2.67 ERA) and Eric Erickson (8-1, 4.32 ERA). Hernandez was named the national Freshman of the Year. Still, being the No. 1 seed in Omaha has been more of a curse than a blessing. No top seed has won the title since Miami in 1999.

The Hurricanes' road to a fifth crown will not be easy as the field is comprised of six of the top eight seeds, including North Carolina, which has unfinished business to complete. The Tar Heels, who are in Omaha for the third straight year, came within one game of winning the school's first baseball national championship in each of the last two years. The Tar Heels overpowered Coastal Carolina in the Cary, North Carolina Super Regional, sweeping the series by scores of 9-4 and 14-4. "We will be able to go back out there (Omaha) and finish things up this year," North Carolina coach Mike Fox said. North Carolina and Rice, which needed three games to defeat Texas A&M in the Houston Super Regional, are the only teams making their third straight appearance in the CWS.

North Carolina and Miami are joined in Omaha by fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Florida State. The contest between Florida State and Stanford features two of the nation's top catchers. Florida State's Buster Posey, the national Player of the Year, leads Division I in batting average (.460), home runs (26) and slugging percentage (.887). He hit two home runs last week in the Tallahassee Regional. Posey's counterpart, Jason Castro, paces the Cardinal with a .379 batting average, 99 hits and 69 RBI. Both players were taken in the top 10 in the recent major league draft. The San Francisco Giants chose Posey with the fifth pick and the Houston Astros tabbed Castro with the 10th selection.

Stanford was one of two teams to win Super Regionals on the road, surprising No. 5 seed Cal-State Fullerton in a two-game sweep. The biggest surprise in Omaha, however, is Fresno State, which stunned No. 3 seed Arizona State in the Tempe Super Regional. The Bulldogs won the final two games of their series against the Sun Devils to became the first No. 4 seed in a regional to reach Omaha since the NCAA expanded the Division I baseball tournament to 64 teams. Fresno State also is making its first appearance in the CWS in 17 years.

Vaughn Lifts SDSU

SDSU 5, BYU 4---------------------

SAN DIEGO (SDSU) - Cory Vaughn's shot deep over the left field fence with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning gave San Diego State a 5-4 victory over Brigham Young in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams Thursday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win improved SDSU to 8-7 on the season while the Cougars dropped to 7-8.

Aztecs Edge Trojans

SAN DIEGO (SDSU) - San Diego State scored a pair of late runs to come from behind as it nipped USC, 2-1, Tuesday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The contest was in stark contrast to the season-opening four-game series against San Diego in which the Aztecs totaled 44 runs. On this night SDSU could muster only three hits, but needed only one in the seventh when it tallied twice to win its third straight and improve to 4-1 on the year.

USD & SDSU to Play Monday

The University of San Diego and San Diego State University baseball game has been postponed to Monday at 2 p.m. due to the inclement weather in the greater San Diego area. The game will still be held at Cunningham Stadium.The Toreros (1-2) and Aztecs (2-1) have played three games in two days to open the 2008 season with SDSU claiming both games at Tony Gwynn Stadium and the Toreros registering a 17-11 win at Cunningham Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

USD Baseball Ranked #11

SAN DIEGO (USD) - The University of San Diego baseball team has been ranked No. 11 in the preseason Baseball America top-25 poll released Tuesday morning. USD is ranked as high as No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason top-40 poll.San Diego is coming off the heals of the best season in program history with a 43-18 record, the first 40-win season in the history of USD baseball. The Toreros won their third West Coast Conference championship, received a program-best No. 4 national ranking and a program-first No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Regionals.

Clemens Disputes Mitchell Report

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Roger Clemens took exception with the Mitchell Report, denying allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued a statement Thursday evening saying that his client was outraged to see his name prominently mentioned in the 311-page report released earlier in the day. "Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive," Hardin said in the statement. "There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances, and yet he is being slandered today."

A seven-time Cy Young Award winner who helped the New York Yankees win World Series titles in 1999 and 2000, Clemens and fellow pitcher Andy Pettitte had their names submitted to Mitchell by Brian McNamee, a former strength and conditioning coach with the Yankees. According to the report, McNamee told investigators that he supplied the Yankees pitchers with performance enhancers.

However, Hardin's statement described McNamee as a less than reliable source. "The use of steroids in sports is a serious problem, it is wrong and it should be stopped," Hardin said. "However, I am extremely upset that Roger's name was in this report based on the allegations of a troubled and unreliable witness who only came up with names after being threatened with possible prison time."

The report stated that McNamee injected Clemens four times with Winstrol - an anabolic steroid - during the 1998 season, one of his Cy Young campaigns with the Toronto Blue Jays. "According to McNamee, from the time that McNamee injected Clemens with Winstrol through the end of the 1998 season, Clemens' performance showed remarkable improvement," the report said. "During this period of improved performance, Clemens told McNamee that the steroids 'had a pretty good effect' on him." McNamee was hired by the Yankees prior to the 2000 season at the request of Clemens, who was traded to New York in 1999.

According to the report, McNamee supplied Clemens with performance enhancers acquired from Kirk Radomski, a former clubhouse attendant with the New York Mets. "According to McNamee, during the middle of the 2000 season, Clemens made it clear that he was ready to use steroids again," the report said. "During the latter part of the regular season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone from a bottle labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca-Durabolin that McNamee had obtained from Radomski."

Renowned as one of the best power pitchers in baseball history, Clemens was referenced 82 times in the report. He owns a career record of 354-194 with a 3.12 ERA and 4,672 strikeouts in 24 seasons with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox. The 1986 American League MVP, the 45-year-old Clemens ranks eighth all-time in wins and second in strikeouts, trailing only Nolan Ryan in the latter category. But the inclusion in the Mitchell Report seriously tarnishes Clemens' reputation and potentially could affect the righthander's supposed status as a future Hall of Famer.

Media Credentials: Inside Sports Media

Media Credentials: Anemic World Series Ratings
By Brian Allen
Associated Content

As we close the books on the 2007 baseball season, there is, for Major League Baseball, good news and bad. The good news is that World Series television viewership was up from last year, with a 10.6 average game rating. The bad news is that this paltry rating is still the second lowest ever, barely squeaking by the 2006 Series' anemic average of 10.1.

What are the reasons behind the apathy? Is it simply low interest in the teams who have played in the most recent fall classics? Doubtful when we consider that the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox, two of the game's most historic and tradition-rich franchises, won these two most recent events. No, the decline is viewership is a symptom of a game fraught with big-time problems.

First is the complete collapse of integrity, both at the player and organizational levels. Cheating runs rampant in the game. We watch with indifference as the career home run record is broken by a man who doubled his chest size with performance enhancing drugs. We shrug it off when Sammy Sosa, another once revered home run slugger, shatters a corked bat mid-game. Players step into pitches, karate chop the arms of first basemen as they reach to catch routine throws, and regularly use their cleats in attempts to maul middle infielders in the middle of double plays. And when a player is lightly punished for clearly improper conduct, we see an immediate appeal by the Player's Union, which is nothing more than a champion of the unrepentant, unprincipled Prima Dona player.

By far, the sorriest sign of the times is the rampant use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs by players who falsely deny ever touching the stuff. Rafael Palmeiro showed righteous indignation as he denied steroid use, under oath, to the United States Congress; months later, he tested positive for steroids. He then took a page out of Mr. Bonds's playbook by converting his adamant denials into the laughable statement that he never "intentionally" used steroids.

Meanwhile, at the organizational level, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly turned a blind eye to this growing problem. When, in the middle of the great home run race of 1998, a tube of performance enhancing substance was found in Mark McGwire's locker, Selig shrugged it off, stating that he had heard no rumors of steroid use in baseball. Nine years later, he sat similarly tight lipped as Barry Bonds became baseball's all-time home run career leader under a whirlwind of controversy. To top it all off, we watched as Jose Canseco cashed in on the sordid culture by publishing a tell-all book on the subject. All of this makes the Pete Rose betting scandal seem almost cute by comparison.

Related to the collapse in integrity is the unabashed greed that has taken over the game. This evil hallmark of the game takes center stage every seven to ten years when the players go on strike, feeling that their multi-million dollar contracts are simply unfair for an eight month work year. While the strike years bring the problem to the forefront, it is always there, polluting the game. Just look at the arbitration system in place, where the only question is how much more a player will be paid in the coming season. Regardless of performance, players routinely demand higher salaries - and we are not talking cost of living increases here. Of course, for those players who do excel at the game, we see mind-boggling payouts. Witness Alex Rodriguez's recent ten year $275 million package with the Yankees. It is because of this runaway freight train that ticket and concession prices prevent the average American family from attending a game without financial hardship.

Then there is the lack of loyalty. Remember the old days when a baseball player remained on one team for the majority, if not the entirety, of his career? Remember Pete Rose and Johnny Bench teaming together all of those seasons with the Big Red Machine? Or Jim Rice and Yaz with the BoSox? George Brett made a career in Kansas City, and Cal Ripken was loyal to Baltimore. Other big name players were traded, but only once, perhaps twice, over a career.

In today's game, players could care less about what team they play for, so long as they are receiving the greatest amount of money they can find. We see players traded mid-season with regularity. It is not uncommon to see a player bounce all over the country in the course of an eight to ten year career. Just look at the frequency with which baseball's wealthiest franchise, the New York Yankees, buys its players.

Baseball is in a world of hurt. And until these and other problems are addressed, the ratings will understandably continue to share space with the game's integrity - in the cellar.