Handicapping Round 2

Assuming the U.S. team does beat a South African team they have no business losing to, it will have the extra advantage of meeting two Asian teams that will not have played tournament ball in more than a week...and a Mexico team that the U.S. knows it can beat.

It remains to be seen whether they will get the competitive games and tune-up they may need to face four well-oiled teams from Latin America...assuming, of course, that Team USA isn't blind-sided by the Korean pitching staff or a very competitive Japanese team...even without Hideki Matsui.

I have believed since last night that a U.S. loss would be a good thing for the tourney as long as the team eventually advanced. Why? Because it should fire the Americans up and bring them together. And it should give U.S. superstars who opted out a chance to see how they would feel if the U.S. lost the first true world championship.

At this point the D.R. has to be the clear favorite, followed close behind by Venezuela (who played them tough), and the winner of tomorrow's Cuba-Puerto Rico game. It will be very interesting to see if Cuba has another gear in Round 2.