DEROSA HAS A BOONE MOMENT?

Every once in a while baseball reminds us that the sport isn’t just unpredictable on the field—it can also get a little… foggy in the dugout.

Enter Mark DeRosa, manager of United States national baseball team, who admitted after Tuesday’s stunning loss that he wasn’t exactly sure how the tournament standings worked. Which is a little like an airline pilot admitting mid-flight that he thought the runway was optional.

Team USA entered the game against Italy national baseball team sitting pretty at 3–0 in Pool B during the World Baseball Classic. Italy was right behind at 2–0, but the U.S. was widely expected to roll. Instead, Italy came out swinging like they were fueled by espresso and family pride, storming to an 8–0 lead that left Team USA looking like they had accidentally wandered into the wrong stadium.

The Americans tried to claw back, scoring six runs late, but the comeback stalled and Italy held on for an 8–6 win—one of the bigger shocks the tournament has seen.

That loss suddenly turned the math of Pool B into a complicated spreadsheet of tiebreakers, run differentials, and scenarios involving Mexico national baseball team. Depending on how Mexico performed against Italy in the final pool game, the United States could advance… or get sent home early.

Small detail.

Unfortunately, DeRosa apparently didn’t realize that.

Speaking afterward, he admitted he had “misread the calculations” earlier in the day while talking about the standings.

“Yeah, I misspoke,” DeRosa said. “I was on Hot Stove with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations… running all the numbers with runs allowed and runs scored and outs. I just misspoke.”

Now, let’s pause here for a moment.

DeRosa is not a dumb guy. In fact, he’s famously a smart baseball lifer. He even attended the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which is generally where people go when they want to become investment bankers, CEOs, or the kind of person who casually explains compound interest at dinner parties.

Which raises a completely fair question.

If you went to Wharton… how do you misread a baseball tiebreaker chart?

This isn’t quantum physics. It’s runs scored and runs allowed. Little League parents figure this stuff out while holding a coffee and arguing with an umpire. Critics have called the mistake “mind-boggling” and “unforgivable ignorance.” That might be a little dramatic, but let’s be honest—if you’re managing the national team in an international tournament, knowing whether your team has actually clinched a spot feels like a useful piece of information.

Still, baseball being baseball, the situation worked out. Italy’s result against Mexico ultimately bailed out Team USA and kept them alive in the tournament.

So yes—Team USA survives. But let’s take a second to appreciate Italy, because that team was fantastic. Scrappy, aggressive, fearless. They played like a club that didn’t read the odds and didn’t care about the math. They just showed up, punched the heavyweight in the mouth, and nearly rewrote the whole bracket.

Honestly, you’ve got to love that.

As for DeRosa? Well, maybe the lesson here is simple: next time the manager of Team USA goes on TV to explain tournament scenarios, someone should probably hand him a calculator first.

Just in case.

PETTITTE'S RETURN TO BASEBALL...AGAIN

The World Baseball Classic is coming back in 2026, and Team USA is already stacking the deck. Mark DeRosa is returning as manager—but the real headline here? Andy Pettitte is back in the dugout as pitching coach.

And let me tell you—I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Seeing Pettitte back in a uniform just feels right. Like pine tar on a bat knob or Frank Sinatra blasting at Yankee Stadium—it’s part of baseball’s soul. And let’s be honest: there are few people more qualified to lead a pitching staff than Andy freakin’ Pettitte.

He’s not just a Yankees legend. He’s a baseball ambassador in my opinion. The guy’s a walking masterclass in how to win with poise, grit, and a perfectly placed cutter. He doesn’t need to shout about his legacy—it speaks for itself.

In 2023, when he was Team USA’s pitching coach, the staff he helped guide made it all the way to the championship game. Under his watch, they finished fourth in strikeouts and sixth in ERA. That’s not a coincidence. That’s Pettitte’s quiet brilliance at work.

Now he’s back, and while the official roster isn’t out yet, odds are good he’ll be mentoring a new generation of flame-throwing arms—names like Paul Skenes and Garrett Crochet have all been floated. And honestly, if you're a young pitcher with a live arm and half a brain, you should be sprinting to learn under Andy Pettitte.

But here’s what drives me nuts. How is this man still not in the Hall of Fame?

The numbers are staring us all in the face. 256 regular season wins. Only five pitchers in modern baseball history with that many wins aren’t in Cooperstown. Five. And none of them can touch Pettitte’s postseason resume.

Let’s talk about that postseason record, shall we?

19 playoff wins. 44 playoff starts. Over 276 playoff innings. He holds the all-time records in postseason wins, starts, and innings pitched—and that’s before you even get to the 28 quality starts. The man was a machine. A dependable, unflinching rock in October. He was the pitcher managers trusted when the season was on the line.

Add those 19 playoff victories to his 256 regular-season wins, and you're looking at 275 total W's. That’s elite territory. That’s Hall of Fame territory.

Andy Pettitte didn’t need to throw 100 mph. He didn’t rely on hype or headlines. He just won. Over and over again. 5 World Series titles. 8 pennants. Countless moments where Yankee fans exhaled because Andy’s got it.

So while the Hall of Fame keeps playing hard to get, at least we get Pettitte where we need him—on a field, in a uniform, helping Team USA chase a title.

I love Andy Pettitte. Always have. Always will. He’s class, he’s grit, and he’s the kind of guy who made baseball better just by showing up every fifth day. And now, he's making it better again, coaching up the next generation of arms.

Team USA? Yeah, they're in good hands.

WITH A HUFF & A PUFF... THE YANKEES WIN!

In a game that had all the earmarks of an extended battle, Alfonso Soriano put to rest any thoughts of extra innings with an eighth inning blast to the left field seats off Blue Jays hurler RA Dickey that gave the Bombers a 4 – 2 win.

In the first four innings of the contest, Adam Warren limited the Toronto offense to four hits and two runs, yielding two walks and striking out four.  But, after giving up a lead-off home run to Josh Thole (his first of the season) and then hitting Kevin Pillar with a pitch in the fourth, Joe Girardi brought in 28 year-old left-hander David Huff.  From that point on the Blue Jays would manage just one hit off Huff – a chop over the mound by Brett Lawrie. 

The value of what Huff gave the Yankees bullpen cannot be put into words as the group had been worked heavily in yesterday’s double-header sweep.

The blast by Soriano was his ninth as a Yankee (this season) and ruined an otherwise brilliant pitching performance by Dickey who remained sitting in the dugout until well after the game’s finish.

An early highlight of the game for the Yankees was Ichiro Suzuki’s 4,000^th hit (MLB and Japanese baseball combined).  Following a signature single to left, the game was halted to recognize the great hitter’s accomplishment.

For a majority of the game Dickey seemingly owned our boys in pinstripes, but from the fourth inning on Huff matched scoreless innings with the 2012 Cy Young winner.  Both Huff and Warren proved that the Yankees have depth at starting pitching should they need it.

In spite of working both games yesterday, the great Mariano Rivera took the mound in the ninth inning and struck out Mark DeRosa before giving up a double down the left field line to Rajai Davis. 

Mo responded by picking Davis off second, then striking out Edwin Encarnacion to end the game.

Also having a big night – yet again – was Robinson Cano.  The second baseman went 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored.

The excitement of tonight’s win is tempered by the fact that the team lost Jayson Nix for an extended period with a broken hand.  He was hit by a Dickey pitch in the second.  What move the Yankees make to fill in the hole that is left with the loss of Nix is yet to be determined, but David Adams might want to stay by his phone.

The Yankees hope to finish a sweep of the Blue Jays tomorrow at 1:05 when Andy Pettitte takes the mound.  For now, the team is on a roll and has won its fourth consecutive series. 

Final: Yankees 4 - Blue Jays 2

Anyone else feeling 1978-ish?


    
--Steve Skinner, BYB Guest Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1

 

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