Star-studded Team USA again comes up short in WBC final loss - ESPN

MIAMI — Venezuela's greatest baseball players were in full jubilation, waving flags, distributing hugs and shedding tears while reveling in one of the biggest athletic achievements in the nation's history — and Team USA couldn't help but watch.

As Venezuela celebrated the 3-2 victory that made them champions of the World Baseball Classic for the first time on Tuesday night, many of the stars that lined the United States' roster — men who fell in love with the tournament three years ago and made it their mission to avenge a second-place finish — watched from the dugout railing and said nothing. For 16 days, they formed one of the most talented rosters ever assembled and basked in the uniqueness of coming together. Then the end crashed down on them.

«For some reason, this WBC has become a tidal wave of emotion for a lot of guys,» Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said. «You get them in the room representing their country, coming together for 2½ weeks, the buy-in, it's infectious in there.»

Team USA's lineup was billed as quite possibly the greatest ever, in any setting, when this tournament began, a thought validated by two exhibition contests that saw it amass 29 runs on 33 hits. But the U.S. never seemed to hit full throttle when the games began to matter. It dropped its third pool-play game, getting shut down by Italian-American pitcher Michael Lorenzen, then snuck past Canada in the quarterfinals and edged out a star-studded Dominican Republic team in the semis on the strength of two solo home runs.

Team USA's offense lagged even more so in the finale.

By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the U.S. trailed 2-0 and had been held scoreless in 17 of their previous 18 innings. Then Bryce Harper, struggling throughout the