To test their knowledge of the country they're playing for, The Wall Street Journal quizzed four of Spain's American-born players on some basic elements of Spanish culture, history and government.

WSJ: World Baseball Classic��What Spain Lacks: Spaniards

Their account appears to be based on unreliable popularisations, and they cannot even get right the number of elements in Aristotle's universe (it is five, not four).

ECONOMIST: Understanding the universe

He suggested a policy with four elements: energy efficiency, modernizing infrastructure, diversifying energy sources and pushing to integrate Europe's national energy markets into one.

WSJ: Energy Costs Move Up Europe's Agenda