Little League World Series (And MLB Baseball) Live Blog

It is a Sunday afternoon. Classes start tomorrow and I am bored right now. I have not watched a whole lot of LLWS games this year, but why not. Organizing my notebooks can right a few hours, right?

ESPN Announces 2010 Little League World Series Announcers

Last year many of you may remember my constant coverage of the Little League World Series. Unfortunately, and in part thanks to my vacation, I will be spending the better part of the next week and a half getting ready to return to college and therefore will not be able to put in the proper effort in closely following the LLWS that I normally do. For those into the LLWS that have not heard, there has been a major format change for this year. Instead of straight up pool play determining 2 teams from each pool to play in an 8-team knockout round, the LLWS is keeping the 4 pools but will change the format of pool play to double elimination resulting in 1 team from each pool advancing to a 4-team single elimination round consisting of the International Championship, the U.S. Championship, and the Little League World Series championship. From an ESPN press release:

For the first time, this year’s Little League World Series will feature a double-elimination format. The Little League World Series from Williamsport will begin with regional winners competing in the double-elimination round Friday, Aug. 20, including: New England (Fairfield, Conn.) vs. Northwest (Auburn, Wash.) at 1 p.m. on ESPN; Midwest (Plymouth, Minn.) vs. Southwest (Pearland, Texas) at 3 p.m. on ESPN; Caribbean (Puerto Rico) vs. Europe (Germany) at 6 p.m. on ESPN2; and Japan (Tokyo) vs. Mexico (Tamaulipas) at 8 p.m. on ESPN2. ABC will broadcast two games from the opening weekend: Southeast (Columbus, Ga.) vs. West (Waipahu, Hawaii) Saturday, Aug. 21, at 3 p.m., and an elimination game between either Mid-Atlantic (Toms River, NJ)/Great Lakes (Hamilton, Ohio) vs. Southeast/West Sunday, Aug. 22, at 2 p.m.

Action will continue daily (excluding Friday, Aug. 27) through the Little League World Series consolation game Sunday, Aug. 29, at 11 a.m. on ESPN and Little League World Series Championship.

ESPN game commentators:

Double Elimination Round – Aug. 20-26

* Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser
* Karl Ravech and Bobby Valentine
* Jon Sciambi and Nomar Garciaparra
* Kyle Peterson and Adriana Monsalve will serve as roving reporters

Fun Fact: Hershiser and Garciaparra will achieve the broadcasting triple crown this season, contributing as game analysts to ESPN’s Major League Baseball, College World Series and Little League World Series coverage.

Single Elimination Round – Aug. 28-29

* Brent Musburger and analyst Hershiser will call the U.S., International and World Series Championships on ABC. Ravech, who will host ABC’s weekend coverage throughout the tournament, will call the third-place consolation game with Valentine.

ESPN will also televise a Little League World Series Web Gems/World Series Preview Presented by Subway, recapping the best defensive plays throughout the tournament and previewing the championship, Sunday, Aug. 29, at 1 p.m.

Last year, ESPN had Sean McDonough calling games pool play games for the LLWS behind Gary Thorne. Sean McDonough is one of my favorite announcers, but he was a fish out of water calling the Little League World Series. Sean McDonough's style of commentary did not jive well with 12-year old kids playing baseball. That being said, I can't say that ESPN is improving anything by re-inserting the walking disasters of Karl Ravech and Jon Sciambi.

ESPN Expands It's Little League World Series Coverage To Include Regional Semifinals

I think I made this perfectly clear last August, but I love the Little League World Series and think that ESPN does an awesome job covering it. Well the awesome just got awesomer as ESPN is further expanding its coverage of the LLWS to include regional semifinals. From a Little League press release.

One of the most popular summer programming events on the ESPN family of networks, the Little League Baseball World Series, will see even more of its International Tournament televised with the announcement of expanded coverage by the cable network.

“We’re delighted to grow our coverage of the Little League regional semis,” said Len DeLuca, ESPN senior vice president, programming and acquisitions. “The Little League World Series merits more national attention as one of the leading sports events in the dog days of summer. We can capture more stories from expanding our coverage of the eight regionals in the United States.”

ESPN and its family of networks have expanded its coverage of Little League Baseball’s Regional Tournaments by 14 games. Last year, ESPN televised eight Little League Baseball regional tournament games, all championship contests. This year ESPN will again cover all eight regional championship games in addition to selected semifinal games in regional play. ESPN platforms will provide coverage of 22 Little League Baseball International Tournament games leading up to their coverage of the Little League Baseball World Series.

Beginning Aug. 10, ESPN has added the Southwest Region semifinals from Waco, Texas; the two semifinal games from the Mid-Atlantic Region in Bristol, Conn.; semifinal games in the Great Lakes and Midwest Regions held in Indianapolis, Ind., and semifinals games in the Northwest and West Regions played in San Bernardino, Calif.; and, the Southeast Region semifinals in Warner Robins, Ga.

Twelve of the games will be televised on ESPN2, with the games also available on ESPN3.com. Two of the games will be exclusive to ESPN3.com.

“We are pleased ESPN has decided to expand its coverage of the Little League Baseball International Tournament,” Stephen D. Keener, President and Chief Executive Officer of Little League Baseball and Softball, said. “I think this shows ESPN believes the core values of Little League Baseball and Softball are meaningful to its viewers. There also is an increasing fan interest in tournament play in all eight divisions of Little League tournament play. We are thankful to have ESPN as a media partner to help us promote the benefits of the Little League experience.”

With the additional games, ESPN and its family of networks will air up to 56 games of the Little League Baseball International Tournament and a total of 65 games across the eight divisions of play in the Little League Baseball and Softball International Tournaments. All games will be televised live.

The entire schedule of Little League Baseball and Softball International Tournament games expected to be televised will be released in June.

The only regional semifinals not on ESPN will be the games in the New England Region, which will be televised on NESN (New England Sports Network).

My vacation is in August this year so I will likely miss most of this, but it is still good to see ESPN taking a great thing and making it even greater. Last year the Mid-Atlantic and New England semifinals were shown on MSG and NESN respectively, but that was it. There was no way to watch any of the other regional semis. I know some people are probably thinking that this is too much, but I look at it as you can always watch something else and for people like me who just love watching these games, the more I get the better it is. From the time the U.S. regionals begin to the time a world champion is crowned, only 3 weeks have gone by so this is not even something that gets old at all. It's a good time for involved and this expansion is, in my book, a win for who enjoy the LLWS!

Little League World Series Day 9 Championship Game Live Blog

Will we see another classic LLWS championship moment today? Last year we had a blowout for a title game, but the past few years before that were all classics. Some of the most iconic images that ESPN/ABC uses have come from this event. So let's get to it!

World Series Championship: Chinese Taipei vs. Chula Vista, CA 3:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

And with a huge hat tip to the ESPN Little League World Series Facebook page, your starting pitchers for tonight's game are.....

Chinese Taipei: Chin Ou
Chula Vista, CA: Isaiah Armenta

Enjoy the game and leave comments!

P.S. Any comments that are political in nature or are attacking Keith Olbermann, Bill O'Reilly, complimenting me for that post alone, or attacking me for that post alone will not be allowed and you will be banned from commenting. This is a LLWS live blog, let's keep it at that!

LLWS Day 9 Consolation Game Open Thread

On the off chance that you are bored this morning and have nothing else to watch....

Consolation Game: Mexico vs. San Antonio, TX 12:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Karl Ravech and Orestes Destrade)

Enjoy the game and leave comments! I am hopeful, though not positive, that there will be a live blog up later today!

Little League World Series Day 8 Live Blog

Let's get to it! Like I said below, I've got a rommate moving in later this afternoon at around 3 ET, so I don't know how much I'll be posting once that happens, but until then, let's do this thing!

Ratings For The Little League World Series Are Way Up

Well, it's official, I have gone from being pulled in 25 different directions at once a few days ago to being bored out of my mind with nothing to do and putting up endless blog posts tonight. The latest one has to deal with the ratings of the Little League World Series. Good news Little League fans, ratings are up! From The Canadian Press

ESPN, which owns the broadcast rights, has said viewership for its opening weekend coverage was up about 60 per cent from last year's opening weekend. ESPN2 telecasts are up 137 per cent.

The increase could be in part due to the tournament not having to compete with the Summer Olympics, as it did last year. Still, viewership is up from 2007, especially on ESPN2.

The 2009 tournament has been aided by some big-market teams making big splashes: the run to the U.S. semifinals by a team from the borough of Staten Island drew a big New York City media contingent.

Teams from San Antonio and Chula Vista, Calif., a suburb of San Diego, are playing for the U.S. title.

Mercer Island, Wash., is a suburb of Seattle. Plus, Warner Robins, Ga., was back in Pennsylvania two years after winning the title.

Keener also theorized the increased attention may be in part due to the economy.

"People are probably at home more than at the beach," he said. "Maybe it's the economy that has forced people to something that they might not otherwise do - watching more television."

The estimated attendance through 28 games in the 2009 tournament is 299,634, already exceeding last year's total by about 10,000 fans with three more games still to be played this year.

This Little League World Series has been exciting as any, especially seeing as this year we have seen 2 of the best Little League games in quite some time (Japan-Curacao and Warner Robins, GA-Chula Vista, CA last night, despite the less than satisfying ending). The only concern that Little League will have, and it might be a big one, is the weather. There is rain in the forecast tomorrow for Williamsport, but it appears as if the later it gets to be, the less rain there will be. If there is a substantial delay, there might be a hit.

Also, I am thinking of possibly live blogging the games tomorrow, however, my roommate is moving in at around the time the games are on and that might greatly hinder my ability to live blog. I might start something up and just stop when he moves in or the updates will have to be less frequent. We'll see when the time rolls around, I guess.

Little League World Series Day 7 Open Thread

For some reason I thought the game started at 4:30.....Regardless, we have the final 2 quarterfinal games tonight!

Curacao vs. Chinese Taipei 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orestes Destrade)

Warner Robins, GA vs. Chula Vista, CA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

Enjoy the games and leave comments!

Little League World Series Day 6 Open Thread

Let the knockout round begin!

Mexico vs. Japan 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Brent Musburger and Orestes Destrade)

San Antonio, TX vs. Staten Island, NY 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary
Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Enjoy the games and leave comments!

Little League World Series Day 5 Open Thread

Not much going on today other than battles for seeding and pride, which while a bad thing for the drama that I love on the last day of LLWS pool play, is a good thing because I'm not going to be around at all today. Enjoy the games and leave comments and unless I somehow end up with a spare minute or 2, the next time you'll see me will be late tomorrow night or Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia vs. Venezuela 12:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Germany vs. Canada 2:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Russellville, KY vs. Peabody, MA 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Mexico vs. Chinese Taipei 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

San Antonio, TX vs. Chula Vista, CA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

Little League World Series Day 4 Open Thread

After yesterday's classic, who knows what we will see today. Japan will try to salvage their run against Venezuela in what will be an extremely important game for them. I never recall Japan going 1-2 in pool play. Saudi Arabia will try to save themselves as well as they will look to upset Curacao. and then in prime time we have the big one. 1-1 Staten Island, NY will take on 1-1 Urbandale, IA in what will be a win or go home game. The winner will join Warner Robins, GA in advancing out of Pool B while the other will be spending a lot more time in the Grove. If I'm around I will try to throw up a live blog of that game, although no guarantees can be made as I do have someplace I have to be early tomorrow evening.

Germany vs. Mexico 12:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Venezuela vs. Japan 2:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Warner Robins, GA vs. Mercer Island, WA 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Curacao vs. Saudi Arabia 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Staten Island, NY vs. Urbandale, IA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Enjoy the games and leave comments!

"23 Runs, 20 Hits, 9 Errors, 23 Strikeouts, 7 Walks, 5 Stolen Bases, 7 Wild Pitches, 4 Hit Batters, 2 Passed Balls, 12-11 Curacao"

Simply an unbelieveable game.

http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/player?gameId=5784&sportCode=BB&league=LLWS

For those in a hurry and just want to see the end of the classic (and subsequent great screaming call from Gary Thorne), drag the cursor to the 2 hour, 25 minute, 30 second mark. Otherwise, if you have the time, sit back, relax, and enjoy one of the most wildly entertaining baseball games, that you will ever see, regardless of the age of the players. This was phenomenal.

Update: ESPN LLWS Facebook: "In case you missed any of the action or if you want to watch the game again ESPN will be re-airing the game in it's entirety at 3am EST on ESPN2 and again at 8am EST on ESPNU! Don't miss out on this "instant classic"!"

Little League World Series Day 3 Open Thread/Live Blog

Nobody caught the typo in yesterday's thread title and the tag I had below of "Little Leage World Series". I'm slightly embarrassed.

Anyways, it looks my family might want to stay for dinner tomorrow (they're helping me move) so in that case, the only live blog would be the 8:00 game. Here's your entire schedule for today.

Urbandale, IA vs. Mercer Island, WA 12:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Russellville, KY vs. San Antonio, TX 2:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Chinese Taipei vs. Canada 3:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Chula Vista, CA vs. Peabody, MA 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Curacao vs. Japan 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Enjoy the games and leave comments!

And now, a nighttime live blog! I'll be with you from 6:00 to end of the Curacao-Japan game. Feel free to leave comments (unless you're a troll who just so happens to have an alias of "Nathan Brice").

Little Leage World Series Day 2 Open Thread

After a day of blowouts, here's hoping that today's games will be more exciting. We've got a Pool A showdown on ABC at 3 ET between Staten Island, NY and Warner Robins, GA and in we've also got the first game of the United States favorite Chula Vista, CA as they will be in action in primetime against Russellville, KY. Here's the rest of your schedule for the day.

Canada vs. Mexico 11:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Curacao vs. Venezuela 1:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Warner Robins, GA vs. Staten Island, NY 3:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Saudi Arabia vs. Japan 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Russellville, KY vs. Chula Vista, CA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Little League World Series Day 1 Open Thread

OMFG! I totally forgot about the start of the LLWS today! Damn college packing. Regardless, here is your line-up of games today along with announcers. Enjoy them and leave comments.

Staten Island, NY vs. Mercer Island, WA 1:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Chinese Taipei vs. Germany 3:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Urbandale, IA vs. Warner Robins, GA 5:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)

Peabody, MA vs. San Antonio, TX 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

Your 2009 Little League World Series Schedule

The Little League World Series really is a double-edged sword for me. I love it because the baseball that you see is pure, exciting to watch, and is a great change-up to watching the majors, but on the other hand, now that I'm a college student, it's bad because I don't have the time to watch all the games that I used to between packing up and attending some mandatory pre-class activities that are a part of my job. Believe it or not, I missed watching the LLWS last year almost as much as I missed home. Odd, I know. Anyway, with special thanks to Scotty05 of the506 and Little League Online, here are your participants and this year's 2009 Little League World Series schedule (announcers included)! (I know that JP is cracking down on people who use information on his site without express permission, I have re-typed everything and formatted it to my own style, I hope that this is good enough, if not, I'm too afraid to ask his permission mainly because I don't think he knows that I exist, and I would like to keep it that way if at all possible ;-)) (all times eastern)

Pool A
Mid-Atlantic - Staten Island, New York
Northwest - Mercer Island, Washington
Southeast - Warner Robins, Georgia
Midwest - Urbandale, Iowa

Pool B
New England - Peabody, Massachusetts
West - Chula Vista, California
Southwest - San Antonio, Texas
Great Lakes - Russellville, Kentucky

Pool C
Caribbean - Willemstad, Curacao
Japan - Chiba City, Japan
MEA (Middle East-Africa) - Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Latin America - Maracaibo, Venezuela

Pool D
Europe - Ramstein AFB, Germany
Mexico - Reynosa, Mexico
Canada - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Asia-Pacific - Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei

August 21
Staten Island, NY vs. Mercer Island, WA 1:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade
Chinese Taipei vs. Germany 3:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser_
Urbandale, IA vs. Warner Robins, GA 5:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Peabody, MA vs. San Antonio, TX 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

August 22
Canada vs. Mexico 11:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Curacao vs. Venezuela 1:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Warner Robins, GA vs. Staten Island, NY 3:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Saudi Arabia vs. Japan 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Russellville, KY vs. Chula Vista, CA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

August 23
Urbandale, IA vs. Mercer Island, WA 12:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Russellville, KY vs. San Antonio, TX 2:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Chinese Taipei vs. Canada 3:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Chula Vista, CA vs. Peabody, MA 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Curacao vs. Japan 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

August 24
Germany vs. Mexico 12:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Venezuela vs. Japan 2:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Warner Robins, GA vs. Mercer Island, WA 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Curacao vs. Saudi Arabia 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Staten Island, NY vs. Urbandale, IA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)

August 25
Saudi Arabia vs. Venezuela 12:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Germany vs. Canada 2:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
Russellville, KY vs. Peabody, MA 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orel Hershiser)
Mexico vs. Chinese Taipei 6:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN2 - Sean McDonough and Orestes Destrade)
San Antonio, TX vs. Chula Vista, CA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN2 - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

August 26
Mexico vs. Japan 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orestes Destrade)
San Antonio, TX vs. Staten Island, NY 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

August 27
Curacao vs. Chinese Taipei 4:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Gary Thorne and Orestes Destrade)
Warner Robins, GA vs. Chula Vista, CA 8:00 (Lamade Stadium - ESPN - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

August 29
International Championship: Mexico vs. Chinese Taipei 12:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)
U.S. Championship: San Antonio, TX vs. Chula Vista, CA 3:00 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

August 30
Consolation Game: Mexico vs. San Antonio, TX 12:00 (Volunteer Stadium - ESPN - Karl Ravech and Orestes Destrade)
World Series Championship: International Champion vs. United States Champion 3:30 (Lamade Stadium - ABC - Brent Musburger and Orel Hershiser)

Ah, Sean McDonough is now working with the Little League World Series! That's way, way, way, way, way better than Karl Ravech and Dave Ryan, who served as Destrade's partner last year (Ryan did the weekend games) and while admittedly I used to like Dave Ryan, now it seems like he is trying too hard to get a memorable Gus Johnson-esque call at every possible moment, something he did not do a few years ago. Sean McDonough is the man as is Gary Thorne who I think works really well at the LLWS (and hockey). As far as analysts go, I generally enjoy Destrade although I could do without Hershiser (I miss Harold Reynolds!!!!!!). Oh, and why does ESPN/ABC constantly insist on shoving Brent Musburger down our throats at the very end of the event? He's pointless at the LLWS. Pointless. At least Thorne and McDonough call some other baseball (Orioles TV and CWS, respectively). But Musburger does not and it often shows during the broadcasts. And sadly, these are the championship boradcasts.