First Classic holds plenty of promise

~ The event brought out baseball fever worldwide.

SAN DIEGO -- Cuban players in those lucky red uniforms sprinted to the mound for an exhilarating embrace. A South Korean band pounded drums right outside the ballpark. Dominican fans danced to a merengue beat, the Venezuelans draped themselves in bright yellow flags.

And Thunder Stix were replaced by pots and pans as the preferred noisemaker.

All the chants, cheers and national pride provided exactly the kind of international spirit Bud Selig envisioned all along for the World Baseball Classic.

The inaugural 16-team tournament showed that making baseball count in March isn't such a bad concept after all -- even if there are plenty of kinks to be worked out before the next one in 2009.

"This was not perfect so far," said Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki, one of only two major leaguers in Monday night's championship game between Japan and Cuba. "But I believe a lot of people in the whole world paid attention to baseball."

Fans stayed up late to watch on television, even after the star-laden squads from the United States and Dominican Republic made early exits. Supporters remained in the seats at Petco Park -- where a sign in left-center reads "America's Pastime" -- to wait out a 45-minute rain delay Saturday night and watch Japan eliminate its previously unbeaten rival, South Korea.

The Classic captured attention in the midst of NCAA March Madness, and that's saying something.