After I saw the rosters for the 2008 XM All-Star Futures Game for the first time, my initial reaction was how much more interest I had in visiting with the players on the United States roster than those on the World's.
No, that's not because I don't trust my Spanish, Chinese, etc. as much as my ability to speak English (although that didn't help). I just found Matt LaPorta, Trevor Cahill, Mat Gamel, and Co. more intruiging than the likes of Ramiro Pena or Scott Campbell. No offense, Mexico and New Zealand.
Then they played the game.
Ivan De Jesus and Che-Hsuan Lin had more hits (four) than the entire U.S roster combined. The rest of the planet had more runs two outs into the game than those in the stars and stripes could muster with 27, and the World had little trouble in route to a 3-0 victory on Sunday.
The World's success, however, wasn't limited to De Jesus reaching base three times or Lin's two-run shot in the seventh. It wasn't even limited to just the offense.
No World pitcher allowed more than two runners to reach base. Carlos Carrasco set the tone, Henry Rodriguez and his 100-mph gas struck out the side in the eighth, and the U.S. looked overmatched.
And I couldn't care less.
You see, as many hours as I put into researching the prospects on these rosters, as many hours as the excitement of the game kept me awake the night before, one fact remains the same: This exhibition was just that -- an exhibition.
I don't care that the U.S. couldn't score. I don't care that it only managed three hits. LaPorta, Cahill, Gamel, and Co. are still really, really good.
If anything, this game shows us that no matter how good of a roster USA Baseball puts together for the Beijing Olympics, that the team will not be unbeatable -- but we already knew that.
So what did we learn?
Not much.
We learned that even the best of the best American prospects can be held scoreless for 27 outs. The U.S. still managed to have eight men reach base, and the entire pitching staff -- sans the one pitch that found the seats -- held the some rest of the planet's best young bats in check for 27 outs, too. Cahill was impressive, Will Inman tossed a perfect fifth, and Casey Weathers -- despite allowing three to reach base -- recorded three strikeous to get out of the eighth unscathed.
Even the brightest of stars fall faint from time to time. That doesn't mean they can't shine brighter tomorrow.
Adam Loberstein thinks that although the U.S. was shutout, no one on the roster got lost on the subway more times than he did today. He thinks he's figured it all out, but he'll gladly take advice at aloberstein@projectprospect.com.