Mark DeRosa Attempts to Explain WBC Miscue
Team USA survived the Group Stage at the World Baseball Classic, but Mark DeRosa's misstep nearly cost them. He indicated before a game that it didn't matter as much with their ticket to the next round already punched, and he seemed to manage it like a game that wasn't terribly important.
Italy stunned the vaunted Americans, and DeRosa had to admit after that he'd misspoke. It was a glaring error, and it nearly cost Team USA. Had Mexico won with a certain number of runs or fewer in the Group B finale, the Americans would be at home now. They're not, and DeRosa attempted to explain his mistake.
Mark DeRosa explains World Baseball Classic mistake
Mark DeRosa maintains that he knew the Americans hadn't technically advanced already. He knew there were some weird tiebreakers that could come into play, but he still felt that Team USA was in a good spot. "It's just an overly confident statement on 'Hot Stove,' period, the end," DeRosa said. "And it's my fault. I felt good about where we were after Mexico."
Now, because of the specific tiebreaker in play, his team was in a good spot. It would've advanced with any outcome aside from a Mexico win while scoring less than five runs. The Italians dominated, winning 9-1, making DeRosa's mistake moot.
"New lease on life for the boys, certainly," he added. "I put ourselves in a tough spot. Tip our hat to Vinnie Pasquantino and Italy, truly. Went into that game a little overly confident and got a huge wake-up call."
Italy, an unheralded team coming in, went unbeaten in Pool Play, while the Americans lost the lone matchup to Italy. They fell behind 8-0 before mounting a comeback that fell short by two runs, leaving them in a tough spot.
Lineup tweaks at the wrong time
Of course, Bryce Harper, Cal Raleigh, Alex Bregman, Brice Turang, and Byron Buxton were not in the Team USA starting lineup, further providing some evidence that DeRosa was not entirely aware of the situation facing his team.
Still, he maintains that he wasn't tinkering with the lineup because he didn't think the game mattered much. He just wanted some guys to get a day off and to see some other bats in the lineup, perhaps for struggling regulars.
"When I looked at the lineup, I felt confident going in -- bottom line," DeRosa said. "I mean, I also look at it from a player's perspective. Like, Bryce Harper was struggling a little bit. I know it's three games, but from the dugout... so it's like, 'OK, maybe we get him off his feet a day. We get Goldy in there. We allow (Harper) to work with Sean Casey, Matt Holliday, maybe something clicks."
DeRosa also admitted before the Italy loss that some players were "dragging." This, combined with his earlier comment about being in the next round, suggests that Team USA may have celebrated the night before.
"Listen, us hanging out in a clubhouse is everything I ever dreamed of creating," DeRosa said. "You've got to buy into this thing super quick and try and create a team. For those players to invite the coaches in and for us to spend time together and enjoy a huge win that we hadn't had in 20 years was something that, I looked around the room, and it was super special to me."
He maintains that he and his team did not "lose sight" of the fact that they needed to play well against Italy. He resisted the idea that his team went out there without much care for whether they won or lost, but the on-field product, managerial decision by Mark DeRosa, and the comments beforehand said otherwise.
