PHOENIX — Many big-name pitchers found reason to say no to the World Baseball Classic. R.A. Dickey was an automatic yes.
The knuckleball master, winner of the NL Cy Young Award with the New York Mets last season now plying his unorthodox trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, made it known before anyone asked him that he wished to play.
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Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has been called upon to replace injured New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira on the United States team for the World Baseball Classic.
Hosmer received a text message late Tuesday from Tony Clark of the players union, asking if he’d be interested in a spot on the roster. After getting a call from U.S. manager Joe Torre and receiving the blessing of the Royals, Hosmer quickly agreed to join the Americans.
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Talk to Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau or Dan Boyle and they will tell you that bringing home an Olympic gold medal in hockey is almost on par with winning the Stanley Cup. International competition is even more meaningful in soccer as the world stops spinning for 32 days as 32 nations compete for the sport’s ultimate prize.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Baseball was invented in the United States, but the World Baseball Classic has been dominated by Japan.
U.S. manager Joe Torre has taken a different approach in the WBC’s third edition this year. Rather than stock his entire roster with high-profile stars, he’s got a basic starting nine with utility players, three catchers and 15 pitchers filling out the 28-man group.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Vogelsong has a little running joke that he is going to plunk Giants teammate Pablo Sandoval in the World Baseball Classic to keep the Panda from a three-homer game like the one he produced in Game 1 of the World Series last fall.
Sandoval plans to play nice once he pulls on the Venezuela uniform.
“He’s my teammate, I don’t want to fight,” Sandoval said with a smile.
Both know the team to beat: Two-time WBC winner Japan.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Giants outfielder Andres Torres won’t play for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and will be sidelined for at least a week because of a strained oblique.
The Giants made the announcement Thursday, a day after he got hurt during a swing and had an MRI.
The 35-year-old Torres helped San Francisco win the World Series in 2010 and rejoined the Giants in December.
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If the Giants fail to recapture the magic of last summer and fall, nobody will be stunned. Repeat champs are a dying breed in big-league ball, for a variety of reasons.
If one of the reasons for the Giants’ inability to repeat is the World Baseball Classic, add that to the long and obvious list of reasons to shout at the top of your lungs for major reform in regard to what should — but never will be — the greatest event in the game.
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PHOENIX — The game is supposed to be America’s national pastime, but the United States has not fared well in the World Baseball Classic.
Joe Torre is putting his manager’s uniform back on to lead Team USA in this year’s competition, but he cautions that there are reasons the U.S. has not won, or even made it to the title game, in the first two editions of the worldwide competition.
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By:
Jose M. Romero
02/14/13 11:52 PM
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Vogelsong isn’t too concerned about what other guys do with their World Series championship rings. He’s wearing his once he gets it.
Given his long journey back to the big leagues from five years of baseball obscurity to world champion last season, the Giants’ right-hander has good reason to flash his bling.
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As the last team standing in 2012, the Giants already had a short offseason. Cutting even further into that break is the World Baseball Classic, which nine Giants players will be participating in.
The WBC, which was played for the first time in 2006, then again in 2009, will hold the semifinal and championship games at AT&T Park in March after pool play takes teams all over the world, from Japan to Puerto Rico.
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