On Tuesday night, the Dominican Republic became the first team in World Baseball Classic history to go undefeated in the tournament, as they beat Puerto Rico in the WBC finals, 3-0.

The Dominicans took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. DR starter Samuel Deduno was great over five innings and the stingy DR bullpen did what they did every night in the tourney, put up zeroes. It culminated with closer Fernando Rodney picking up another save and shooting off yet another arrow.

Miguel Tejada didn’t start at third base, but came on in the 6th inning to replace Hanley Ramirez (who jammed his thumb). He went 0-for-2 at the plate and committed and error in the ninth. He did however catch a pop up and went crashing to the ground. He looked visibly uncomfortable the rest of the night (fingers crossed that he is okay).

Kelvin Herrera could not pitch because he threw over 30 pitches the night before against the Netherlands in the semifinals. That didn’t stop him from celebrating every big moment in the game.

Despite not doing anything offensively for Puerto Rico, second baseman Irving Falu played great on defense. He regularly received praise from the MLB Network analysts. He’ll return to Surprise to compete for a utility spot, but mainly will be fighting for playing time in Triple-A.

Puerto Rico shocked the world by advancing to the World Baseball Classic finals (set for Tuesday night at 8pm ET on MLB Network).

First, they advanced out of Pool C over Venezuela with the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico again advanced with the DR to the semifinals with a win over the USA.

Then on Sunday night in San Francisco (after playing in Miami on Saturday), they upset two-time WBC champ Japan, 3-1.

Former KC Royals were a huge reason why.

Mario Santiago, who pitched in the Royals farm system until 2011, started and was brilliant until being taken out as a precaution with elbow soreness. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth. He only allowed two hits over 4.1 scoreless innings.

Mike Aviles drove in the first run in the first inning on a single to centerfield. That scored current Royal minor leaguer Irving Falu, who walked. Falu has been playing GREAT defense at second base.

Aviles picked up another hit in the 7th inning and scored on Alex Rios’ two-run home run that put Puerto Rico up 3-0. Carlos Beltran walked in the first and singled in the sixth.

In the second WBC semifinal, it was current Royals who had big parts to the victory for the Dominican Republic.

Miguel Tejada singled and scored the Dominican Republic’s fourth run in the 5th inning.

In the sixth, Kelvin Herrera entered in relief of starter Edinson Volquez after the Dominican Republic had just taken a 4-1 lead. Herrera allowed a two out double, but struck out Andruw Jones to end the inning. In the seventh, he struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches. With two outs, Herrera walked a batter before striking out the next to end the inning (and end his chance of pitching in the finals).

The DR enacted revenge against the Netherlands in 2013, the team who beat them twice in 2009. Can the DR beat Puerto Rico for the third time? Or can Puerto Rico steal a victory and win the whole thing?

Whoever wins, at least one current Royal will take home the WBC trophy.

My day four in Arizona was a lot warmer than I expected, mainly because I was preparing for Chase Field’s roof to be closed (like it was for Friday’s game). It was really cold inside, so I wore jeans and had a jacket. Instead when I walked in, the sun was brightly shining in. I took relief in that I was not the only one prepared for the cold.

It was the final game of Pool D of the World Baseball Classic, a game between the USA and Canada. A win for each meant they would move on to the second round with Italy. A loss meant back to spring training.

Canada jumped on US starter Derek Holland in the first inning behind the two hot bats of Justin Morneau and Michael Saunders. Morneau doubled and Saunders hit a two-run home run. Chris Robinson and Adam Loewen followed with hits to put runners at second and third base with one out. However, Holland rebounded and escaped further damage. He actually did not allow another hit over his final three innings of work.

Meanwhile, the US got to Canada starter Jameson Taillon (who mainly pitched in High-A last year) in the fourth. With runners on first and second base and nobody out, Ben Zobrist laid a perfect bunt. Hustling down the line forced Canada third baseman Taylor Green to throw the ball away. One run scored and the other scored via Adam Jones’ sac fly to tie the game at 2-2.

In the sixth, with Glenn Perkins on the mound (I still have no idea why Jeremy Affeldt wasn’t in the game), Joey Votto walked to lead off the inning (which is the only positive thing he did in the three games) and came around to score on Loewen’s single. Perkins rebounded to strike out Pete Orr to end the threat with two runners on base.

The USA offense broke out in a big way over the game’s final two innings. It started with Jimmy Anderson on the mound (who was awful in his two appearances). After the first two batters reached via a hit and walk, he got Zobrist to pop up yet another sac bunt. But Jones made him pay with a two-run double. With two outs, Shane Victorino delivered an RBI single to give the US a 5-3 lead.

Canada came right back against Arizona Diamondbacks reliever David Hernandez in the eighth (still no Affeldt sighting). Votto singled to lead off the inning and two batters later, Saunders singled. That brought up Robinson, who singled to load the bases. Loewen cut the deficit to 5-4 with a ground out. That ended Hernandez’ day and manager Joe Torre brought in right-hander Steve Cishek, who intentionally walked the first batter he faced. Uh, why not have Hernandez do that?

I didn’t mind the intentional walk to Orr to load the bases, mainly because Cale Iorg was batting behind him. He had looked bad at the plate over the three games and he is pretty much a prospect that never figured out how to hit with a wood bat. Canada countered with pinch-hitter Tim Smith (a former KC Royals Minot leaguer). I would have went with Jimmy VanOstrand, who has a better bat. Smith grounded out to second base to end the threat (though he hustled down the line).

The US bats battered Scott Mathieson (which was hard to watch) and John Axford in the ninth to take a 9-4 lead. Eric Hosmer had the big blow, a bases clearing double with two outs. He was really pumped at second base, as was reliever Heath Bell with his American flag in the dugout. However, the rest of the team didn’t seem all that excited. Why weren’t they coming out to greet the three runners who scored? Or pointing at Hosmer to tell his great job?

Craig Kimbrel came in in the ninth and picked up two strikeouts, the best one getting Votto looking to end the game. Kimbrel did throw an off speed pitch.

I was disappointed in the US’ play. They rarely hustled (outside of Zobrist and Victorino) and no one but those two signed autographs before the game (something fans throughout the ballpark were complaining about). They also showed zero emotion (except for Bell, Kimbrel on the strikeout, and the three outfielders jumping into each other in center field). I know I’m an American, but it is going to be tough to root for them over the exciting Italians and the always energetic Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in Pool C.

It was also hard to watch Tyson Gillies struggle so much at the plate. He didn’t pick up a hit (though he did hit the ball hard on Sunday). I still don’t know why Canada had Jay Johnson on the roster for this WBC and the qualifying round. He didn’t pitch and people in his family had signs that said “Put Johnson in Coach. He came to play”. Johnson did show off his fighting skills in Saturday’s brawl against Mexico.

At night, we headed to Scottsdale for dinner at Blue Moose and headed further down the road for some yummy cupcakes at Sprinkles. So another day with great food.

I know I’m a bit late on my update,  but the time zone difference has been killing me at night. It will only get worse now, since Arizona does not follow daylight savings. So I am now three hours behind my normal East Coast time.

We didn’t get to check out the stars because it was so cloudy. Well, we actually arrived at the Challenger Space Center and it was closed.

So now to the daytime.

The weather was crazy yesterday. The night before there was hail. Kind of cool to watch out our room window,  bouncing off the pool umbrellas. Then it rained overnight and was freezing in the morning. Plus it was windy. We arrived at Camelback, where thousands of LA Dodger fans came in from Los Angeles. Everyone was bundled up. Camelback had the biggest crowd so far, with over 10,000 in attendance. There were quite a few Seattle fans there too.

During the game, the sun broke through and it warmed up quite a bit. Then the clouds would roll over and it would get chilly.

Getting autographs was virtually impossible, considering the people were about 3-4 deep down the line. I did get prospect Joc Pederson after the game though.

The two offenses were pretty stagnant, with tons of strikeouts. The Mariners brought their starting nine, minus Jesus Montero behind the plate. Their starting infield of Dustin Ackley, Brendan Ryan, and Kyle Seager played the whole game. The Dodgers played most of their starters (minus those who are still playing in the World Baseball Classic), but Matt Kemp DHed and got a huge ovation from the crowd.

It was all about pitching, and M’s starter Jon Garland looked good in his comeback to the big leagues.

What made my day was that new Dodger lefty JP Howell pitched a very quick inning and earned the win with a late comeback. Alex Castellanos hit a two-run homer in the seventh. I’m a huge Howell fan, as he is one of the friendliest guys in baseball.

The cool thing was, workers did not rush anyone out and tons of people just hung around. And they were really friendly.

Today, we’re headed for a buffet brunch and then the final game in Pool D of the WBC. Team USA and Canada must win to join Italy in the trip to Miami for the second round. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have already advanced from Pool C. Hopefully tempers will be calm this afternoon after the malay last night between Mexico and Canada. I still cannot believe that there won’t be any suspensions. From Chase Field, we’ll be heading to downtown Scottsdale. Fingers crossed that we don’t get lost like we have just about once a day since we’ve been in AZ.

My Day 2 in Arizona was definitely an exciting one, as Italy blew right through Canada, 14-4 in eight innings. Who would have thought that Canada would be run-ruled?

Italy is now 2-0 in Pool D and just about heading to the second round in Miami. After seeing them play over the last two days, I am impressed. I thought they might hit, but I didn’t think they would pitch this well. Now the only thing standing in their way is the USA.

Every Italian had a hit except Anthony Rizzo, but obviously they didn’t need him. Chris Colabello, who hit 19 home runs in Double-A, hit a bomb to left field on the first pitch of his at-bat in the 3rd inning that gave them a 5-1 lead.

Alex Maestri started and pitched well over three-plus innings. Chris Cooper followed with another three solid innings. I was excited to see Pat Venditte of the NY Yankees pitch, even though he won’t be switch-pitching again until June. His left arm did well, as he retired the side in order in the top of the eighth.

Then the bottom of the inning happened.

With the bases loaded, no outs, and a run in, Mike Costanza came to the plate. In yesterday’s win over Mexico, he couldn’t stop striking out. Today was a different story. He ripped the pitch from RJ Swindle into the left field corner. I thought the ball bounced over the wall, but the third base umpire ruled it a grand slam. The Italian players went crazy, more than yesterday. After checking replay, the umps ruled it a ground rule double, sending two runners back. It also put Italy one run from the victory. That came a few pitches later when Mike Chiarini ripped the final pitch of the game into the left centerfield gap. Game over and Italy celebrated like they had won the World Series.

Canada has a ton of former and current Philadelphia Phillies minor leaguers, and since I see them a lot during the baseball season, it was great to see them in action for their home country. Tyson Gillies led off and played center field, but he went 0-for-3. Scott Mathieson was ripped in his first inning of work, as he allowed the Colabello home run. He did settle down after that. Phillippe Aumont’s outing was worse, as he did not make it out of the seventh. He got two quick outs, but then he allowed one of Colabello’s four hits. Aumont walked Constanzo and then allowed a Chiarini broken bat RBI single, before Drew Butera chased him from the game with an RBI double.

The view at Chase Field from my seat.

Italy’s 5-6-7 hitters drove in 12 runs. With the USA losing right now to Mexico, it will be interesting to see how they come out against the very confident Italians.

From Chase Field, which is another great ballpark, we went to Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe. The plan was to go there and to see ASU play Long Beach State, but it was really cold and then it rained. But the food (and obviously beer) was really good. Plus we had a great waitress. I would definitely recommend the brewery, but it is tough to find a place to park.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, the plan is to head over to Camelback to see Seattle play the LA Dodgers. It is supposed to rain again, though I’m not sure how much. I may head over to Surprise to check out some KC Royals workouts in the morning if the rain holds off and it isn’t too chilly. At night, we’re going to hopefully check out some stars at the Challenger Space Center.

The KC Royals had their day-night doubleheader rained out on Friday. No one in the Cactus League could escape the rain across Arizona. Trust me, there was even hail at night.

After the rain outs, the Royals made some cuts, sending four players to minor league camp. Pitchers Noel Arguelles, Sugar Ray Marimon, and Ryan Verdugo, along with catcher Julio Rodriguez were the four unfortunate.

Next up, the Royals will play the SF Giants on Saturday in Scottsdale. Yusmeiro Petit will start for the Giants. Nate Adcock, Donnie Joseph, and Dan Wheeler are expected to pitch for the Royals, though no starter has been named. That is because Wade Davis has been scratched due to shoulder soreness.

On to the Royals in the World Baseball Classic…

In the Dominican Republic’s opening game in Pool C against Venezuela (which they won 9-3), Kelvin Herrera got into a world of trouble. He entered in the 3rd inning with one out and allowed two inherited runners to score. In just 1/3 of an inning, he allowed two hits. Atahualpa Severino followed and recorded the inning’s final out. However, he then allowed a run of his own in the fourth on a wild pitch. Former Royal Octavio Dotel followed and loaded the bases on one hit and a walk, but got Pablo Sandoval to fly out to end the fourth.

In today’s WBC action, Italy shocked the world with a 14-4 eight inning drubbing of Canada. I was there and have seen Italy twice and they are the real deal. Anyway, former Royals minor leaguer Tim Smith struck out in his 7th inning pinch-hit appearance. It came with two men on base after Canada cut the deficit to 6-4.

Puerto Rico beat Spain, 3-0 in their first WBC game as host. Irving Falu went 1-for-3 with a double and played great defense at second base. Former Royal Carlos Beltran also went 1-for-3 with a double, while also walking, scoring a run, and driving in a run.

Mexico is currently beating Team USA, 5-1 in the seventh. Luis Mendoza skirted into and out of trouble in relief of Yovani Gallardo. He allowed three hits and two walks over two innings. He did strike out three.

UPDATE: Mexico did upset the USA to even their record at 1-1 with a day game tomorrow against Canada. Tim Collins pitched in the 7th inning of the loss. He recorded just one out, as he walked one and gave up a hit. He was replaced by Miami’s Steve Cishek, who escaped the jam.

My first full day in Arizona was an exciting one. Pool D in the World Baseball Classic began on Thursday at Salt River Field with Italy facing Mexico. When many people talk about the second round in Miami, they say three Latin teams and the USA.

Well, Italy may have something to say about that.

Both teams’ offenses were awake in the first inning, as Italy scored two runs off Rodrigo Lopez. They could have scored more, but Drew Butera struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Mexico responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning courtesy of Jorge Cantu’s bases clearing double. Mexico put across another run in the second inning before the pitching settled down.

However, Italy greeted new pitcher Alfredo Aceves with a one out single and a two-run home run from Butera to tie the game at 4-4.

Mexico finally got to Italian reliever Tiago DaSilva in the 5th inning (his fourth inning of work). However they only scored one run to take a 5-4 lead. That lead held up until the top of the ninth, as SF Giants closer Sergio Romo entered to record the save and give Mexico a 1-0 record.

Sergio Romo

Instead, maybe Romo was a little over amped to pitch for his parents’ home country. After he recorded an out, he allowed a double to Nick Punto before Chris Denorfia singled. That brought up Anthony Rizzo, who hadn’t done much of anything during the game. After a long at-bat, he hit a fly ball to deep left field (I was sitting in the grass seating beyond the left field wall). Edgar Gonzalez drifted back, but he hadn’t looked good out there the whole game. It hit off his glove and two runs scored. It was a catch he should have made. Romo escaped without further damage.

That brought in Italy’s closer, Jason Grilli of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who immediately made it interesting: he gave up a single to the first batter he faced. He did record two straight outs before walking Luis Cruz. That brought up Adrian Gonzalez and where things got interesting. Grilli was ahead in the count and looked to have struck out AGone to end the game. Instead, the home plate umpire shrunk his strike zone. Grilli was mad. He was yelling at the ump, who then looked like he wanted to fight Grilli. Butera had to come between them, as did third baseman Alex Liddi. When things settled down, Grilli hit AGone to loss the bases. He then fell behind Cantu 3-1 before getting him to ground out to second base (who had just come into the game) to end the game and set off the celebration by Italy.

Salt River Field was my first Cactus League ballpark and I loved it. It was just beautiful, and the fine day didn’t hurt matters. Tomorrow’s WBC game between Italy and Canada has been moved to Chase Field due to the incoming bad weather. I’ll be there and will I see another shocking upset?

From the game, we went to Casino Arizona for a really good buffet dinner. I had really wanted to play some Bingo, but it was crowded and full of older people who seemed like they were pros.

*On a side note, Romo was awesome prior to the game, signing autographs, taking pictures, and making fans happy. My mom and I would be two of those fans.

**I was a little disappointed in the turnout. The crowd got loud, especially in the ninth. But there were plenty of empty seats and plenty of seats on the berm to sprawl out and bask in the glorious sunny skies.

Hopefully all things go as planned (considering the weather is crappy here in the Philadelphia area), but I hope to be landing in Phoenix, Arizona by eight o’clock. My flight has been delayed already by three hours. I am making an 11 day trip to AZ (though two days will be spent on an airplane for the trip there and trip home) to experience the World Baseball Classic for the second time (I was in Florida for the inaugural one in 2006) and to experience Cactus League baseball for the first time.

Considering I cover the KC Royals, I am planning on seeing them in game action at least three times. I will be traveling around the Cactus League to see other teams and ballparks, while also checking out what the Phoenix area has to offer (if you have suggestions, post them in the comments section).

The plan right now is to keep you all updated on my trip via this site. I’ll have news referring to the Royals games and the Royals that will be participating in Pool C of the WBC (Canada, Italy, Mexico, and USA). I’ll try my best to post pictures and let you all know what is going on.

The weather forecast for my arrival looks good (though I wish the departure looked more promising). However, the weekend doesn’t look like it will get out of the 60s and it is supposed to rain. But after that, upper 70s and 80s appear in my future.

*I just wanted to give you all a quick update. My flight ended up not being delayed. We received the call at 12:45 that the flight was back to leaving on time, which was 1:45. Let’s just say my life turned into craziness, as I ran around feeding my cat and saying goodbye to her and trying to find a new ride (my dad just ended up driving). When we got to the airport, the guy at the dropoff rushed to get our luggage checked in and pushed us to the front of a slow moving security line. From there, it felt like we walked the length of the airport to get to our gate, but we made it! I felt like I was living out a movie, rushing to reach a plane in time. There was even room on the overhead compartments for our carry-ons and we ended up sitting together. Despite the fact that we took off a little late, we arrived in Phoenix a half hour early.

So, I arrived safely and am hoping that the rest of my time here runs more smoothly than it started.

Brazil was the surprise team to qualify for the World Baseball Classic, but could not continue the fairy tale into the second round. Despite going 0-3 in Pool A in Fukuoka, they did not make it easy on any of the other three teams in their pool.

They actually led 3-2 heading into the 8th inning against host Japan in Game 1, before losing 5-3. The heartbreaker may have come in their final game, as they led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning, before losing to China, 5-2. In that 8th inning, Brazil pitchers walked five (and hit a batter). Three of those walks came with the bases loaded, while Ray Chang delivered a two-run single.

In Game 1, KC Royals minor league outfielder Paulo Orlando went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. In Game 2, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, but he impressed the analysts with his defense and speed. In Brazil’s final game, he went 0-for-4. In all three games, he batted leadoff and played centerfield. Orlando will now head back to Arizona to join the Royals in spring training.

Japan and Cuba had already clinched spots to the second round by going 2-0 before playing each other.

*In Pool B, the Netherlands clinched a spot in the second round by beating Australia, 4-1 in their final game. It got interesting in the 9th inning when Brad Harman hit a deep fly ball to left field with two runners on base. However, the wind that was non-existent throughout the game, came back and kept the ball in the ballpark. Former Royal Justin Huber had another awful WBC (he had just one hit), as did most of his teammates not named Stefan Welch or Mike Walker.

Chinese-Taipei also clinched a spot, despite losing to Korea in their final game (and having the same 2-1 record). It all came down to tiebreakers (but thankfully not a coin toss).

Well, there was just one KC Royal playing on Day One of the World Baseball Classic. That was minor league outfielder Paulo Orlando over in Japan.

Orlando and Team Brazil were hoping to pull the upset over host Japan in Pool A, but fell just short, losing 5-3. The Brazilians actually led 3-2 heading into the top of the 8th inning. It didn’t help that over 28,000 fans were rooting against them.

Orlando was a big reason why: he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base. He led off and played center field for Hall of Fame manager Barry Larkin. You can check out a video recap of the game HERE.

Next up for Brazil, Cuba live on MLB Network at 10:30pm ET. Chicago White Sox prospect Andre Rienzo will get the start for Brazil.

*Former Royal Justin Huber was the DH for Australia, as they lost to host Chinese-Taipei, 4-1 in Pool B. Former big leaguer Chien-Ming Wang shut down the Aussies for six innings. The Australians now have off before playing Korea on Monday at 5:30am ET. They then meet the Netherlands for their final game at 11:30pm ET.

**Following the Aussie loss, the Netherlands pulled a bit of an upset over Korea, 5-0. They received great pitching from starter Diegomar Markwell, who faced 15 batters and threw 15 first pitch strikes. The Netherlands collected ten hits, with Andrelton Simmons and Andruw Jones leading the way with five hits combined (though Jones’ base running was poor). Korea had as many hits (four) as errors. The Netherlands now play host Chinese-Taipei at 1:30am ET live on MLB Network.

***If you stayed up and then got up early to watch the games, then you know how tired I am right now. But the two games that I watched (the Aussie loss and Netherlands win) was definitely worth it.