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The US is 2-0 in the World Baseball Classic, having defeated Canada, 6-5, and Venezuela, 15-6.
Kevin Youkilis (right), Ryan Braun, and John Grabow have acquitted themselves well so far. Youkilis (2) and Braun (1) have half of the team’s home runs. For Braun, it’s his only hit so far in six at-bats, but Youkilis has three hits in eight official trips to the plate (along with two walks), a team-leading seven runs scored, and three runs batted in. Averages are meaningless for such a small sample, so I’ll leave it to you to do the math.
Grabow appeared in one game, retiring the only batter he faced.
Team USA plays tomorrow night against the winner of today’s Italy vs. Venezuela game.
Do any of these players actually acknowledge that they are Jewish? It seems that many of the Jewish players have little or no interest; in fact, some of them seem to go out of their way to avoid acknowledging that they are Jewish. I suppose a lot of them are products of intermarriage so maybe they don’t have much Jewish identity. I know Shawn Green made some effort at identifying as Jewish after he was traded to the Mets and I know he did an audio tape for the Holocause Museum here in Washington. But, for the others, they seem to have no interest. As a matter of fact, I think Ryan Braun has sort of denied that he is Jewish.