Just when I was losing sleep over whether the Mets will ever get more than three games over .500 this season, now I have to worry about the United States losing the World Baseball Classic in 2006. It was bad enough losing Olympic basketball gold to Argentina. Bad enough that the Olympic party-poopers eliminated softball, a sport where U.S. women are unchallenged. Now U.S. men?s baseball supremacy is about to be challenged by the newest Dream Team? the Dominican Republic. You want a starting lineup? How about Albert Pujols at first base, Alfonso Soriano at second, Miguel Tejada at shortstop, and Alex Rodriguez at third base? In the outfield: Manny Ramirez in left, Jose Guillen in center, and Vlad Guerrero in right. The designated hitter: David Ortiz. The catcher? They could throw out a 17 year-old girl from Santo Domingo, for all it matters. Need a spare outfielder? Say hello to Moises Alou and Sammy Sosa. Need some infield depth? Greetings, Adrian Beltre, Luis Castillo and Aramis Ramirez. Now pitching? for the Dominican Republic.... Pedro Martinez and Bartolo Colon, to name your number 1 and number 2 starters. Coming out of the bullpen: OK, they?ll never play ?Welcome To The Jungle? to herald his arrival, but hey, Jose Mesa?s still got some cachet. If this team sounds familiar, it?s because most of it was present at Comerica Park for the recent MLB All-Star Game which, in case you?ve already forgotten, was won by the American League ? whose starting lineup featured five of the DR Dream Teamers. Is this a team you wouldn?t kill to see play anywhere, anytime? No wonder A-Rod, who was born and raised in New York City, decided to re-discover his Dominican heritage. No wonder Gary Sheffield said ?I?m not doing that? when the subject of playing in the WBC was broached. No wonder Sheffield?s Yankee teammates refused to commit to playing, deferring to George Steinbrenner and whether he would ?approve?. What Steinbrenner probably wouldn?t approve of is losing. Sure, there?s a risk of superstars getting injured in March, and The Boss has every right to want to preserve players he?s paying millions to. But even George probably realizes that this tournament, while deliriously anticipated by rabid fans in places like San Juan, Caracas, and Tokyo, has received a blas? reaction in the U.S. Roger Clemens pitching to Ortiz? Mark Prior pitching to. Pujols? Been there, done that. Manny and Ortiz, hitting back-to-back in the same lineup? Yawn. Jose Guillen patrolling the same outfield as Vlad Guerrero? Mike Sciosia hoped he?d never have to see that one again. But while we get to see these matchups on a daily basis, the rest of the world?those without satellite dishes, anyway-- doesn?t. Puerto Rican fans would thrill to the idea of seeing Carlos Beltran or Carlos Delgado belt one off a future Hall of Fame pitcher to win an elimination game. Panamanians would rejoice at the sight of Mariano Rivera shutting the door on U.S. hitters in the 9th? something most Yankee opponents are painfully familiar with already. So why doesn?t anybody here seem to care about a World Series that truly encompasses a good part of the actual world? Maybe it?s because American sports fans only find this kind of thing fun when their guys get to dominate. Like in 1992, when the big NBA guns went to Barcelona to smote the rest of the basketball-playing world? a welcome change from watching a bunch of college players lose to disciplined, faceless Soviet teams. There was excitement when Cuba, which has won the last nine Pan-American games since the U.S. beat them in 1967, came to Camden Yards for an exhibition game against the Orioles in 1999. Final score: Cubans 12, Orioles 6. And though the U.S. did beat the Cubans for the gold medal in 2000, they lost gold at the World Cup in 2001, and at the Pan-American games in 2003. If this were five years ago, the U.S. team would be as awesome as it gets: Barry Bonds. Ken Griffey, Jr. Frank Thomas. Roger Clemens. Randy Johnson. Trouble is, no one?s really come along to replace those guys, some (or none) of whom may be healthy enough to play in the WBC. True, Dantrelle Willis is an exciting young pitcher, and Brian Roberts is an exciting young second baseman, and Derek Jeter?s still a pretty good guy to have at short, and hey, nothing wrong with a Chipper Jones/Mike Lowell platoon at third, but while it?ll result in some mighty impressive victories over Japan and Mexico and South Korea, but what the end result may reveal is what we?ve known for awhile: the best baseball players in the world aren?t necessarily from the US of A. Is it any coincidence that the U.S will fight it out to the finals with Pool Groups A and B?consisting of such baseball powerhouses as Canada, Chinese Taipei, Korea, and South Africa--- while Cuba, the DR, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico are all together in Pool Groups C and D? Which means that the championship game ? and whoever heard of a baseball tournament coming down to one sudden-death game - should pit the U.S. against either Cuba or, more likely, the DR. The rest of the world can hardly wait.