Justice for Japan

Apologies to my readers. This was filed late Thursday night, but technical difficulties prevented its timely posting...

Mexico wins, Japanese are in! It's fitting really--the two best Asian
teams and the two best Caribbean teams. A world baseball finale to make
the (non-U.S.) world proud.

This may be a short-term blow to ratings (see today's NY Times for a
great piece on the tv success), but it should ignite good old American
pride. Clearly we did not field the best team and despite every
advantage and break, they lost four, count-em, four times: Canada,
Korea, Mexico, and yes, they should have lost to Japan.

Team USA's only convincing win was against a team of teenagers from
South Africa. It's a good thing they were spared the Dominican Republic
line-up, or Cuba's pitching--the game probably would not have lived up
to the billing.

Good luck next triennial Uncle Sam. You've got three years to assemble a
team.