Another World title for the Japanese... and Ichiro, who'd otherwise stunk out the joint with his hitting, drives in the winning runs. Matsusaka MVP of the tournament again... basically a replay of 2006.

It's back to the drawing board for the US team. I'm not a Davey Johnson fan, for what it's worth. I think playing Jeter at shortstop was foolish. He's done at shortstop. Average. Jimmy Rollins is a better defender, yet against the Japanese, there was Jeter again, at shortstop... let's make sure "The Captain" is happy, let's not rock the boat... whatever. Let's focus on defense at shortstop in 2012.

Nothing wrong with the majority of the team selection really. Youk, Pedroia, Wright at 3rd, a beautiful infield. And Oswalt/Peavy make a nice1-2 punch, although Oswalt didn't fool the Japanese.