Sat, Mar 11, 2006 page20

• Mike Piazza good for baseball in Italy

  WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC Italian pro baseball dates to 1948, but it is still underdeveloped. Having a marquee MLB player on their squad may give the game a boost

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  In his later days with the Mets, as his skills slipped with age, Mike Piazza often seemed distant and detached. Even in his heyday, he sometimes seemed more comfortable talking music with a reporter than he did chatting up teammates about baseball.

  Before a game at Shea Stadium last May, Piazza seemed to have no interest in talking about hitting. But when the conversation turned to world travel, Piazza came alive, speaking animatedly and passionately about his trips to Italy.

  It was no surprise, then, that Piazza, at 37, enthusiastically joined the Italian team for the World Baseball Classic. He is serious about growing the game in Italy, and his brief time here gave him a chance to embrace a new role as a spirited teacher and leader.

  

  PHOTO: REUTERS

  "The first time I saw him, he spent a couple of hours talking with me and some of the guys from Italy," said Riccardo De Santis, a 26-year-old pitcher for Grosetto of the Italian League. "He's just one of the nicest people I've ever met. He tries to help you anytime. Everything he told me, I will remember for sure."

  When he goes home to Italy, De Santis will also remember Thursday's game, when he threw a sinker over the plate to a former major league home run champion. The hitter, Adrian Beltre of the Dominican Republic, punished the pitch, hitting it through the wind and over the center field fence for a three-run homer.

  The Dominicans won, 8-3, clinching a berth in the second round of the tournament. Italy lost two of its three games in this round, and was eliminated on Thursday when Venezuela beat Australia, 2-0, in the night game at The Ballpark at Disney.

  There are other major leaguers on the Italian team, including Frank Catalanotto of the Blue Jays and Mike Gallo of the Astros, but Piazza is by far the marquee name. He went 1 for 11 in three games, including 0 for 4 against the Dominican Republic on Thursday.

  "I felt like I took a couple better swings later in the game, but obviously, the sand ran out of time on us," Piazza said. "But as I told the Italian guys, you want to play the best. I'm happy they threw their best guns at us."

  For Italy, simply showing up was a victory of sorts.

  "Oh, it's not very popular," said Alessandro Maestri, 21, a pitcher from Viserba di Rimini. "It's all soccer in Italy. And everybody talks about soccer and maybe some basketball there, too. But also, with this, we'll start growing."

  That was the point of Piazza's participation. He explained the other night that his grandfather, Rosario Piazza, was a welder from a small town on the southwest coast of Sicily. His grandmother was from Naples, and they met on their way to the US.

  "Matty and I have been talking about how wonderful it is to kind of reconnect with our ancestry, with our roots over there," Piazza said, referring to Manager Matt Galante, a former Mets coach. "The Italian players and staff have been so gracious to us and have welcomed us and made us feel comfortable. We wanted this to be an important event for us, and we think we are building a bridge here for the future."

  WBC ROUNDUP

  Adrian Beltre hit his third home run in two games, and Albert Pujols and Moises Alou also homered on Thursday, leading the Dominican Republic over Italy 8-3 in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.

  Starter Odalis Perez won despite allowing three runs and four hits in three innings.

  Pujols' two-run homer off loser Tony Fiore put the Dominican Republic (2-0) ahead for good 4-3 in the third inning. Beltre, who has eight RBIs in two games, hit a three-run shot off Italian League pitcher Riccardo De Santos in the fifth.

  Moises Alou added a solo homer off Alessandro Maestri in the seventh.

  Cuba 11, Netherlands 2

  At San Juan, Puerto Rico, Yoandry Garlobo went 4-for-5 with three RBIs to help Cuba advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic.

  Osmany Urrutia also hit a three-run homer for Cuba (2-0), which faces Puerto Rico on Friday in a matchup of the only two undefeated teams in Group C. Puerto Rico also moved into the second round with Cuba's victory over the Netherlands.

  Randall Simon had a two-run single to left in the sixth for the Netherlands (0-2).

  Cuba finished the game with 16 hits.

  Mexico 9, Canada 1

  At Phoenix, Arizona, Jorge Cantu homered and drove in three runs and Esteban Loaiza allowed a run in five-plus innings to lead Mexico to the win.

  Erubiel Durazo also had three hits and Mario Valenzuela had a solo home run for Mexico (2-1).

  Canada starter Jeff Francis retired the first two batters in the first inning, then drilled Vinny Castilla in the ribs with a fastball. Consecutive doubles by Durazo, Geronimo Gil, Luis Alfonso Garcia and Miguel Ojeda made it 4-0 as Francis struggled through the 26-pitch inning.

  Canada dropped to 2-1.

  Venezuela 2, Australia 0

  At Kissimmee, Florida, Ramon Hernandez homered and Kelvim Escobar helped pitch Venezuela into the second round of the World Baseball Classic.

  The win sends Venezuela (2-1) and the Dominican Republic (2-0) to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for games beginning Sunday in a loaded group that also includes Puerto Rico and Cuba.

  Led by a pitching staff sprinkled with major league aces, Venezuela allowed only three total hits in consecutive shutouts over Italy and Australia the past two nights.

  Escobar allowed one hit and struck out five in 4 2-3 innings for the win.
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