Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

the ad for this last night was horrible though using clemens to represent the us seems about what we deserve.

(I never watch soccer)

C'mon, 'projections and stats' are your ...projection! She just thinks it'll affect the regular season, ie injuries, wins and losses. I wanna see how the WBC plays out, but I never watch the Olympics myself. Around here we certainly treat the reg season as the"actual ballgames" too.

Starters (4): Roger Clemens, Jake Peavy, Dontrelle Willis and C.C. Sabathia.

Relievers (10): Chad Cordero, Brian Fuentes, Todd Jones, Brad Lidge, Joe Nathan, Scot Shields, Street, Mike Timlin, Billy Wagner and Dan Wheeler.

Catchers (3): Michael Barrett, Brian Schneider and Jason Varitek.

Infielders (7): Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Derrek Lee, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Chase Utley and Michael Young.

Outfielders (6): Johnny Damon, Jeff Francoeur, Ken Griffey Jr., Matt Holliday, Vernon Wells and Randy Winn.

“I will make them see that they won’t beat Japan for the next 30 years,” said Ichiro Suzuki in an interview after the first day of Japanese World Baseball Classic practice yesterday.

After the Japanese team’s practice at the Fukuoka Yahoo Dome yesterday, Ichiro said, “Not only will we win, but also we’ll make Japanese baseball fans feel that they saw a truly great game. I want to make [Korea and Taiwan] see that they will not be able to beat Japan in next 30 years.”

Ichiro: Korea Smells Like Garlic
Ichiro’s provocative remark is nothing new. Back in 1997, Ichiro, a member of the Orix Blue Wave at the time, visited Korea for friendly baseball games against Korean pro teams. When asked what his first impression of Korea was, he replied, “It smells like garlic.”

Ichiro’s remark angered many Korean players. Pitcher Sohn Min-han (Lotte) said, “Hearing what he said, I want to make him eat his own words by beating the Japanese team.”

“I have been called five times to play on the national team, and from 2000 Sydney Olympics through the 2002 Busan Asian games, the Korea national team has never been defeated by Japan,” said the team’s slugger Lee Byeong-gyu (LG). “We have many world-class ballplayers on the Korea national team; we won’t be easy to beat,” Lee added confidently.

The World Baseball Classic preliminary round match between Korea and Japan will be held on March 5 at the Tokyo Dome.

Can you see that I am not afraid?

I bet this quote was 100000X more vicious (and entertaining) in the original Korean.

3-Mar 4:30am Japan vs China - ESPN 2
4-Mar 4:00am Japan vs Chinese Taipei - ESPN 2
5-Mar 4:00am Korea vs Japan - ESPN 2

Nice overview of the burgeoning Venezuela/Dominican rivalry (luckily, and perhaps unsurprisingly, they play against each other in the first game of pool D). I really wish I could get ESPN Deportes; something tells me that watching all these early rounds on tape-delay is gonna get old fast.

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/schedule/index.jsp?mc=television&sid=wbc

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/03/06/sports/06cuba.xlarge1.jpg