Championship Game - Who's on First

The International and US Championship games were played on Saturday, and while the favored teams won - Taipei and US East - it was not exactly as expected.  I was on third base for the International game, and though I did not have any close plays - there was a lot of activity around 3rd.  It seemed like there was always a man on 3rd - and since the game was very tight - there was plenty of drama.

Venezuela got off to a great start, and led 2-0 after the first inning.  It stayed that way until the 5th when Taipei put two men on with two out, and the next guy hit a long fly to straightaway center field.  My job was to watch the runners at third base, and at first they went fast, then slow, then almost stopped, and finally they broke into a home run trot.  The Center Fielder had his glove on the ball as he ran into the fence, and then the ball glanced off the glove and over - for a 3 run home run.  

Venezuela came back and tied the game in the sixth, and it stayed that way until Taipei finally scored the winning run in the 8th inning on a passed ball.  It was certainly the most exciting game of the tourney, and I felt like I was in the middle of the action almost all game long.

The US game was almost anti-climactic as US East easily pulled away from SouthEast, and won 15-2 in 5 innings.  The excitement in this game came in the 4th inning when the SouthEast manager was ejected for arguing too long over a call on the base paths.

This sets up the World Championship game between US East and Taipei.  For this game, I have been selected to be at first base - which is quite an honor - and I am truly honored to be part of the championship crew. The game will be broadcast at noon EDT on ESPN2 - check it out!

The week is coming to a close, and it has been an incredible 10 days in Taylor MI.  The folks here have taken very good care of the umpires and our families.  And as I have said many times, the umpire crew is top notch, and we are working well together on the field, and also enjoying the time away from the field.  I'll have more on my total feelings about the tournament in a later post - right now I am still eagerly anticipating the championship game on Sunday.