David's Wright for Team USA

The World Baseball Classic is well underway and Team USA has advanced after beating Venezuela 15-6 yesterday, and posting a 2-0 record in the opening round.

Mets third baseman David Wright had a solid day at the plate with three hits, two runs, and a walk in five at-bats. Wright was slotted as the team's designated hitter, as Chipper Jones played third.

Derek Jeter posted a walk and a run in two at-bats.

Unfortunately, I have not followed the Classic too closely up to this point. I was able to watch a few innings here and there over the weekend, including USA's match up against Candada, and plan on tuning in more often this week. From what I have seen thus far, the tournament has been successful in providing fans an exciting brand of baseball. The players are playing hard, games are close, and you've even seen major upsets from countries like the Netherlands and South Korea.

The Classic takes a lot of heat from the talking heads of New York sports media. The majority of them are completely anti, behind the thought that the tournament is meaningless, and should take place in the fall at the conclusion of the MLB season.

Personally, I kind of like the idea behind the WBC. Every major sport has an international tournament, besides competing at the Olympics. There is the FIFA World Cup of soccer, which is arguably the biggest sporting event in the world, the FIBA Championship basketaball tourny, the Ryder Cup tournament in golf, and now the World Baseball Classic. These events are fun for the fans, and countries feel a sense of national loyalty and pride when they're being played. Maybe not in the United States, but it can be seen in countries like Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Japan, and the Dominican Republic.

After a disappointing finish to the 2006 WBC I'm looking forward to seeing how our country fair in the next couple of weeks. I want to watch Team USA succeed in this thing, and I enjoy seeing some of the best players around the league coming together and wearing the same uniform. From a New York point of view, I think it's cool to see David Wright and Derek Jeter playing on the same team.

The WBC is no World Cup, and it may be meaningless to us Americans, but to others around the world this is an exciting time to be a baseball fan. This alone is reason enough to tune in to some of these games. Not to mention it is a showcase of some of the best baseball players in the world. Would you rather watch random spring training games? I wouldn't.