David Wright says all the wrong things

Squawker Jon, I know you that you inhaled the WBC and all, given your most recent column, but I'm going to have to mock your guy David Wright, the star of Team USA's victory over Puerto Rico.

Or should I just call him Mr. March again? Yeah, yeah, I know somebody could say that about my team's third baseman, Alex Rodriguez. And come to think of it, Wright may not have made the USA squad in the first place if it weren't for A-Rod remembering his Dominican roots.

Speaking of A-Rod, Wright seems to be channeling his propensity for saying dopey things. After David's walkoff hit the other night, he told the media, "That situation is what you dream about when you're a kid."

Mets blogger I.M. Forme at It's Mets for Me is having none of it:

Really? Wright dreamed about playing for Team America in the World Baseball Classic? The WBC wasn't a dumb glimmer in Bud Selig's greedy eyes when Wright was a kid. Get your head on straight, Sugarpants, when you were a kid, you dreamed about winning the world series with the NY Mets. That is the situation.

I don't even root for the Mets and I'm nodding my head agreeing with this guy.

But wait, there's more! According to today's Kevin Kernan column in the New York Post:

Wright had scratches on his face, the result of being dog-piled by teammates. He also had the glow in his eye such a hit builds in the baseball soul.

"I've heard from everybody," he said. "I got more phone calls and text messages in the last 24 hours than I had the last 24 months."

He's thrilled that his bat is being sent to the Hall of Fame. One of the best messages came from his brother Daniel, a high school senior. "He sent me a text that said, 'This is by far the coolest thing you've ever done,' " Wright explained.

Can Wright get a little perspective here, please?

Team USA hasn't even won the WBC yet. They made it to the semifinals. The semifinals. Which means that they're one of four teams left. To paraphrase a Chris Rock routine, you're supposed to make it to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic if you're the US. What does Wright want, a cookie?

Wright is darned lucky that, despite the Mets' two epic September collapses in a row, he still essentially gets a free pass in this town. Because I think the other New York third baseman would get a little more criticism if he told the media what golden boy David did yesterday:

"Being in these kind of high-pressure situations, you know, big at-bats in March, can only help you out come April and hopefully beyond that," Wright said of the two-run single that beat Puerto Rico, 6-5. "You're talking about being up there with the game on the line, and when you wear those three letters across the front of your chest, you have quite a bit of pressure and weight on your shoulders.

"I think that can only help," Wright said. "It's good to get that big hit because when you do get those big hits it allows you to take a deep breath and maybe not put as much pressure on you the next at-bat."

Again, can you imagine if A-Rod had said something so damning about himself? Good grief.

What do you think about David Wright? Leave us a comment!

We'll give you something to squawk about...

Lots going on in Squawkerland this week:

* This month marks the third anniversary of Subway Squawkers. To celebrate this event, we're going to have a cool contest for our readers. You'll have to come back later today for the details, and to enter the contest.

* I'm currently reading Jeff Pearlman's new book about Roger Clemens, "The Rocket That Fell to Earth," (great book so far!) It comes out next Tuesday, but I'll be sharing my thoughts about the book before you can even buy it.

* And I have a Squawker interview with "Confessions of a She-Fan" author Jane Heller, with all sorts of cool tidbits and observations about her time following the Yankees, including what it was like to see the Bug Game in person.

* * *

A few other notes:

* I know they're celebrating their big Team USA win in the World Baseball Classic last night, but I'm not sure how I feel about Derek Jeter celebrating with David Wright and Kevin Youkilis in this photo. It's like dogs and cats living together or something.

* Here's a headline that made me click to read the rest of the story, from Mass Live's Red Sox Monster blog: "Leprechaun takes over spring training, impersonates Dustin Pedroia." Heh.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Will WBC ruin Mets' season?

HOW MANY PITCHES WILL YOUR $36M STARTER THROW?

WILL YOUR NEW $37M CLOSER BE ASKED TO THROW ANOTHER FOUR-OUT SAVE?

TUNE IN TO THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC TO SEE MLB PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH YOUR STARS

DON'T DELAY! AT THE RATE THESE PITCHERS ARE BEING OVERUSED, YOU MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME CHANCE TO SEE THEM AT THEIR BEST DURING THE REGULAR SEASON!

There are some people who only watch a NASCAR race to see if there will be a crash. I wouldn't put it past Bud Selig to adopt a similar cynical marketing campaign for the World Baseball Classic.

Or is baseball so cynical that, now that Oliver Perez and Francisco Rodriguez have landed their guaranteed long-term contracts, it doesn't matter if they get hurt?

As Metsblog points out, Oliver Perez threw 85 pitches in his last game - after throwing 65 pitches the game before. Weren't there supposed to be pitch counts in the WBC?

This on top of K-Rod being asked to make not one, but two four-out saves, after making NONE all last season, according to the Post. In other words, the Angels, knowing that K-Rod was in his walk year and was likely to leave the team, protected his arm more than the WBC is doing.

The most disturbing thing, also from the Post article (and also highlighted in The Mets Police):

USA Today reported last week that its own study showed nearly four of every five pitchers in the 2006 WBC recorded a higher ERA that season than the previous year. Even more ominously: More than one in three WBC pitching veterans spent time on the disabled list in '06, including 14 who landed on it in April and May.

I'm not even going to get into David Wright getting kneed in the head and feeling dizzy afterwards. After all, Ryan Church suffered his first concussion last year during a Grapefruit League game.

At least, according to Kevin Kernan, the WBC news is not all bad for the Mets. Carlos Beltran is having a great tournament. And K-Rod threw only 20 pitches in his last save and said "I'm not going to put my future at risk at all... I feel tremendous. If I feel like I can, I will. If I cannot do it I will not do it."

I hope he's right. But if something happens to K-Rod, at least the Mets have a good backup closer this year. Oh, wait, J.J. Putz is in the WBC, too.

This tournament can't end soon enough.

What do you think of the WBC?

If A-Rod's life were a soap opera, would it be called "The Young and the Stupid"?

A few notes this morning of a variety of things happening in Squawkerland:

* I wrote a piece for PerpetualPost.com about what soap-operaish developments may happen in Alex Rodriguez's life, while he recovers from hip surgery. Click here to read the article.

* As somebody who is partially of Dutch descent, I am very excited over the Netherlands team's triumphs so far in the World Baseball Classic. (Hmmm, wonder if A-Rod will get the blame for the Domnican team losing to the Dutch without him?) And I'm figuring that if the Netherlands wins it all, or at least goes further, there will be a "Cool Runnings" type movie coming up about the team. Who knew that Sidney Ponson and Randall Simon were the stuff of miracles?

Anyhow, I wondered what the odds are in the WBC, so I talked to Shane Ford, Head Lines Manager, at BookMaker.com about it. He said, "Lots of money now coming in on the USA to win it, especially with the Dominicans now out. USA started the tournament at +250, and now are +150 favorites. The Netherlands were a whopping 250/1 before the tournament started and now are 30/1."

Does it make me a bad American to root for the Dutch? First the Mets vs. Red Sox dilemma on who to root against at the Citi Field game I'm going to, and now this!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!