In praise of an instant classic

The tiebreakers have to go. This is still baseball, after all, not soccer.

Find another time slot. We can't have Americans with the built-in excuse of saying the world caught us when we weren't ready. And the calendar is already overcrowded by March Madness and spring training. A midsummer gathering of nations sounds irresistible. Make it a real All-Star break.

Turn up the dial on America's best players and make it almost impossible for them to say no to playing, and make them realize they'll be sorry if they skip the chance to play.

Tell umpire Bob Davidson that, in his case, it's two strikes and you're out. No point in risking another international incident.

And whatever you do, make sure the Cubans come back, with or without Fidel's ''doctor" son in the dugout.

But by all means, call off the pack of bloodhounds crazed by the scent of Barry Bonds long enough to acknowledge what Bud Selig has been promising all along, that the World Baseball Classic has been a heck of a show, and a great promotional tool for the sport far beyond our borders.

It is ending this weekend without the Americans, ousted by Mexico Thursday night, but if the players considered the best in the world needed some persuasion that the international bat-and-ball set is rapidly closing in on them, they got it.

Korea came into the weekend without an error in six games. The Dominicans we knew about, and the Cubans are no longer the stuff of urban legend. One major leaguer said yesterday that the rumor circulating among some of the Latin players was that the Yankees had already made a run at Yulieski Gourriel, the 21-year-old Cuban superstar infielder, but that sounds like wishful thinking.

After seeing the chipping away of American superiority by Japan, Korea, and Mexico, does the term ''World Series" suddenly seem inappropriate for the annual intramural exercise staged here every October, which is what Bobby Valentine, who has managed in both New York and Tokyo, has been trying to say all along?

''This is going to cause us to consider changing the way we distribute our resources domestically and internationally," joked Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, though it would have surprised no one if young Theo already had dispatched international liaison Craig Shipley to Seoul, San Juan, or Havana.

''It was an awesome, awesome experience -- I wouldn't trade it," Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said upon his return from Team USA yesterday. ''I think the US will learn a lot from it and will be even better prepared the next go-round.

''There's no question the pitching was far ahead of us at that point, but I honestly don't believe they're that far ahead of us."

Mike Timlin, the Sox' other representative on Team USA, and Varitek both said the team should have spent more time together before the tournament and, in Varitek's opinion, should have played more exhibitions before the tournament.

''I think we got caught with our hitters a little overmatched, timing-wise," said Varitek, who like Timlin said he would prefer that the Classic be played in midseason or after the season, in November.

At the same time, Timlin said, anyone needing evidence that more than one country can claim baseball as its national pastime need only have watched the WBC, and the passion displayed by Koreans and Puerto Ricans and Dominicans and Venezuelans similar to anything you might see in soccer's World Cup.

''Position for position, we still put out more talent," Timlin said, ''but as for worldly talent, there are some very talented gentlemen out there who can play this game, no question."

Names of the nemeses

Most dangerous hitter against the Red Sox pitching staff the last three years? You could make a case for Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, who hit 11 home runs against the Sox from 2003-05, most by any big leaguer, and had a .433 on-base percentage.

Only two other players were in double figures in home runs against the Sox: Alex Rodriguez, who was with the Rangers in 2003 before going to the Yankees, and Vernon Wells of the Blue Jays, with 10 apiece. Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui had the most RBIs, 36, followed by Wells (34) and Miguel Tejada (32). Surprising run-producer on that list: Frank Catalanotto of the Jays, with 31 RBIs.

Mark Ellis of the A's had the highest batting average (.404) among all opponents who made at least 50 plate appearances against the Sox in that span, followed by Magglio Ordonez (White Sox, Tigers) at .386 and Aaron Rowand (.375), who was with the White Sox but this season has a chance to face the Sox in interleague play with the Phillies.

On the pitching side, Rodrigo Lopez of the Orioles has six wins, most of any pitcher, but the Sox also have beaten him five times. Randy Johnson of the Yankees was a perfect 5-0, while Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays was the only other pitcher with as many as five wins.

Halladay led with 73 strikeouts, while Kelvim Escobar (Jays and Angels) had the lowest ERA (2.05); he was one of just six pitchers with an ERA under 4 (minimum 20 innings), a list that includes David Wells's last season as a Yankee (2003). Mariano Rivera was the only reliever with double figures in saves (13); Danys Baez (Dodgers) had seven with the Rays.

Red Sox fan makes nice recovery and soldiers onward

It was just over a year ago that Philip Dow, a young lieutenant from Milton, insisted that nurses hustle him out of eight hours of surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center so he could say hello to a Red Sox party fresh from being honored at the White House.

Dow, a platoon leader in the 2d Regiment -- the ''Black Horse Regiment" -- of the 11th Armored Cavalry, had been seriously wounded in a suicide bomb attack just two weeks earlier, but having missed the night the Sox won the World Series, he was not going to let this opportunity pass.

Sox players and manager Terry Francona gathered around Dow's bed as he described how a booby-trapped truck blew up as he approached it, leaving him with a mangled left shoulder, a chunk of flesh missing from his right leg, and a fracture in his left leg. They listened to him vow to return to Iraq and ''my guys" as soon as his wounds healed, even as he braced for months of rehabilitation.

A year later, Dow, who played lacrosse at BC High and graduated from Fordham, has been promoted to captain. He's running 5 miles a day, his wife Gina said, even though his right leg still looks like there's a ''shark bite." He has a titanium plate and a dozen screws in his arm, which has cut into his future as a softball player (''I don't have the same strength in my arm") but overall, it has been a remarkable recovery.

He has been promoted to captain, and is serving as an aide to Brigadier General Robert Cone, commanding general, National Training Center and Fort Irwin, Calif. The general is from Manchester, N.H. ''I think being a Red Sox fan helped me get the job," Dow joked.

Dow accepted that assignment instead of returning to Iraq, but he was happy to report that every member of his platoon has returned to the US safely. ''I can exhale, so to speak, because my guys are back," said Dow, the son of Philip and Kathy Dow. ''I've had a couple of beers with each of them, and I have had the honor of a couple of them asking me to re-enlist them."

Dow's current tour runs out next year, but he and Gina have talked about him remaining in the Army until he becomes a company commander, which may take another three or four years.

''I'd definitely like to go back [to Iraq] in the future," he said.

Etc.

When Loek Van Mil walked through the Twins' minor league clubhouse for the first time, ''you could see everyone staring and gawking," said Twins assistant general manager Bill Smith. Not because Van Mil is a Dutchman -- this, after all, is the team of the kid from Zeist, Holland, Rik Aalbert Blyleven -- but because Van Mil is 7 feet 1 inch. He also has a sense of humor, as he showed by the T-shirt he wears that says ''Don't ask" on the front and on the back says ''7-foot-1. No, I don't play basketball." According to Smith, Van Mil, a righthanded pitcher, was discovered by Howard Norsetter, the team's international scout, who has signed Canadians like Justin Morneau and Cory Koskie, several Australian players (Grant Balfour), and recently signed another player from the Czech Republic. Van Mil spent the winter playing ball in Australia and was seen by several Twins officials. He is expected to begin with the Twins' Gulf Coast League entry. ''We're anxious to see what we've got," Smith said. ''He's got a pretty good delivery, and he can get it up to 91." To date, the tallest player in big-league history is Washington Nationals righty Jon Rauch, who is 6-11, an inch taller than Randy Johnson.

The Marlins executive who said that Hanley Ramirez has been the best young player in camp also said the Blue Jays made a big mistake by signing A.J. Burnett to a five-year, $55 million contract. ''He won't win 55 games," the executive said. ''I want to see how he does against the Red Sox and Yankees in games that matter." It still galls the Marlins that when they were still in the race last season, Burnett went 0-6 over seven starts, then accused manager Jack McKeon and his coaching staff of being ''scared." An American League scout who was tracking the Marlins for a week this spring seconded the rave for Ramirez, saying, ''He's another [Edgar] Renteria, when Renteria was young. The kid is a lot better than I thought he was." Not everyone is convinced that Ramirez is a future star. A National League scout who has tracked Ramirez since he was in the low minors contends that maturity issues still could sidetrack the shortstop. ''He wants to be Manny Ramírez," the scout said. ''But Manny gets away with stuff because he's Manny Ramirez. This kid hasn't done anything yet in the game."

This makes the fifth straight season in which the major league managing fraternity does not include an ex-pitcher. The last pitchers to manage in the big leagues were Larry Dierker, whose five-year run with the Astros ended in 2001, and Joe Kerrigan, who was 17-26 with the Sox at the end of the 2001 season and was fired when new ownership took over the following spring.

The Red Sox couldn't be happier with Manny Ramírez's comportment in camp, but no one is looking forward to the day when the club cuts Manny's pal, Enrique Wilson, who does most drills with Ramírez. And you can forget about those ''Doug Mirabelli is coming back" rumors. For all he did while he was here, there is some feeling among club officials that the time had come for Mirabelli to move on.

Don't miss the appearance Tuesday night at the BU bookstore by Steven Goldman and Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus, the folks who have come out with ''Baseball Between the Numbers," a provocative book that looks at the game in ways not previously imagined. The stats can be dizzying, but these are the people making a huge impact on progressive front offices throughout the game.

Red Sox second baseman and union activist Mark Loretta, on the quandary faced by Bud Selig in the wake of new allegations faced by Barry Bonds: ''A huge can of worms if you start opening it up. All of a sudden somebody else comes forward about another player, I mean, where does it end? I don't know. I think he should just say, 'Look, we know we had a problem, we were probably slow to address it, we've tried the best we can to address it, we've got a strong policy now, and we can't look back.' I wish all parties involved would step up and take some responsibility. That's what would really help." He did not name him, but it was clear Loretta was including Bonds among those who should ''step up."

Another reason why Tony Clark is among the game's most respected figures. Clark, who hit 30 home runs in just 349 at-bats for Arizona last season -- a home run ratio of 1 per 11.6 at-bats that was better than Ramírez (12.3) and just behind 51-homer man Andruw Jones (11.5) -- had special language inserted in his $2 million contract. The Diamondbacks will issue $10 food vouchers for 34 underprivileged children at 34 regular-season games, according to the contract, and a charity will have use of the owners' suite at Chase Field for four home games and 1,000 tickets to regular-season games. Also, 2,000 tickets will be distributed to families of military personnel serving overseas from Luke Air Force Base, and two scholarships in Clark's name of $7,500 each will be distributed. If Clark is traded in 2007 (he has a no-trade clause in 2006), the D-Backs must complete the charitable obligations. ''There is an inherent responsibility, I think, to make a difference in your community," Clark said. ''Our platform just happens to be baseball, and that's where my commitment comes."

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.