W. Baseball Classic '06: Pool A Matches (3/3-3/5)

[Yoon]

Well guys, the first World Baseball Classic is just around the corner! The very first matches of the tournament are scheduled for this Friday (Thursday for us in the U.S.), starting with the Pool A matches in Tokyo, Japan.

Below are the match schedules and lineups of each country in Pool A. Be sure to vote for the two countries that you think will advance!

Pool A Match Schedule:
Location: Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Dome)

Friday, March 3 - 8:30 PM CT (Thursday)
South Korea vs. Chinese Taipei [2 - 0] (South Korea WINNER)

Friday, March 3 - 3:30 AM CT
Japan vs. China [18 - 2] (Japan WINNER)

Saturday, March 4 - 8:00 PM CT (Friday)
China vs. South Korea [10 - 1] (South Korea WINNER)

Saturday, March 4 - 3:00 AM CT
Japan vs. Chinese Taipei [14 - 3] (Japan WINNER)

Sunday, March 5 - 8:00 PM CT (Saturday)
Chinese Taipei vs. China (Chinese Taipei WINNER)

Sunday, March 5 - 3:00 AM CT
South Korea vs. Japan [3 - 2] (South Korea WINNER)

Current Standings (3/04/2006)

Team: [Wins\Losses\Ties] (RA/9) - (ERA) - (AVG)
South Korea: [3\0\0] - 1.00 - 0.50 - .377
Japan: [2\1\0] - 5.00 - 3.00 - .423
Chinese Taipei: [1\2\0] - 16.00 - 9.00 - .203
China: [0\3\0] - 28.00 - 13.50 - .155

China (Roster)

Pitchers
Tao Bu
Kun Chen
Quan Huang
Chenhao Li
Hongrui Li
Shuai Li
Jiangang Lu
Nan Wang
Zheng Xu
Minfeng Yin
Jun Zhang
Li Zhang
Bo Zhao
Quansheng Zhao

Infielders
Qi Chen
Zhe Chen
Fei Feng
Tao Guo
Fenglian Hou
Lei Li
Guangbiao Liu
Wenbin Pan
Jingchao Wang
Guogang Yang
Yufeng Zhang

Outfielders
Yaging Liu
Lingfeng Sun
Shuo Yang
Hongbo Zhang

Catchers
Yi Feng
Tao Li
Wei Wang
Zhenwang Zhang

Chinese Taipei (Roster)

Pitchers
Wei-Ying Chen
Chi-Hung Cheng
Chien-Ming Chiang
Wei-Ming Chu
Chu-Chien Hsu
Wen-Hsiung Hsu
Chia-An Huang
Chun-Chung Huang
Yi-Che Huang
Min-Ching Kao
Po-Hsuan Keng
Hong-Chih Kuo (MLB Los Angeles Dodgers)
En-Yu Lin
Ying-Chieh Lin
Ching-Lung Lo
Wei-Lun Pan
Ying-Feng Tsai
Sung-Wei Tseng
Chien-Ming Wang
Pao-Hsien Wu
Chien-Fu Yang
Yao-Hsun Yang

Infielders
Chia-Hao Chang
Tai-San Chang
Chia-Hung Chen
Chiang-Ho Chen
Chih-Hung Chen
Yung Chi Chen (MLB Seattle Mariners)
Chang-Ming Cheng
Chia-Hsien Hseih
Chin-lung Hu (MLB Los Angeles Dodgers)
Kuo-Ching Kao
Chih-Shen Lin
Yi-Chuan Lin
Shi-Yang Teng
Shen-Wei Wang
Chung-Shou Yang
Shen Yang
Chung-Han Yu

Outfielders
Chih-Yao Chan
Chien-Ming Chang
Chih-Yuan Chen
Chin-Feng Chen
Chen-Yu Chong
Long-Yi Huang
Chun-Yu Kuo
Ying-Chieh Liao
Wei-Chu Lin
Kuo-Hui Lo
Cheng-Ming Peng

Catchers
Fong-Ming Chen
Chin-Shou Hsih
Cheng-Hua Kao
Chih-Kang Kao
Yi-Wei Lee
Chao Kuan Wu
Kuan-Yi Yang
Chun-Chang Yeh

Japan (Roster)

Pitchers
Yuya Ando
Shugo Fujii
Kyuji Fujikawa
Soichi Fujita
Masanori Hayashi
Hirotoshi Ishii
Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Masahide Kobayashi
Tomoyuki Kubota
Takahiro Mahara
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Daisuke Miura
Fumiya Nishiguchi
Masanobu Okubo
Akinori Otsuka (MLB Texas Rangers)
Naoyuki Shimizu
Toshiya Sugiuchi
Kiyoshi Toyoda
Koji Uehara
Tsuyoshi Wada
Shunsuke Watanabe

Infielders
Takahiro Arai
Atsushi Fujimoto
Kazuya Fukuura
Toshiaki Imae
Akinori Iwamura
Munenori Kawasaki
Nobuhiko Matsunaka
Shinya Miyamoto
Shuichi Murata
Hiroyuki Nakajima
Tomohiro Nioka
Toshihisa Nishi
Tsuyoshi Nishioka
Michihiro Ogasawara
Takashi Toritani
Yasuhiko Yabuta

Outfielders
Shogo Akada
Norichika Aoki
Kosuke Fukudome
Atsunori Inaba
Tatsuhiko Kinjoh
Saburo Ohmura
Shigenobu Shima
Takayuki Shimizu
Ichiro Suzuki (MLB Seattle Mariners)
Hitoshi Tamura
Kazuhiro Wada

Catchers
Ryoji Aikawa
Toru Hosokawa
Tetsuya Matoyama
Tomoya Satozaki
Motonobu Tanishige

South Korea (Roster):

Pitchers
Young Soo Bae
Jung Bong (MLB Cincinnati Reds)
Won Ho Choi
Young Pil Choi
Tae Hyun Chong
Jae Hun Chung
Doo Sung Hwang
Moon Seok Jang
Byung Doo Jun
Byung-Hyun Kim (MLB Colorado Rockies)
Jin Woo Kim
Sunny Kim (MLB Colorado Rockies)
Won Hyong Kim
Dae-Sung Koo (MLB New York Mets)
Oh Joon Kwon
Hei Chun Lee
Seung Ho Lee
Dong Hwan Mun
Jang Jin Noh
Seung Hwan Oh
Chan Ho Park (MLB San Diego Padres)
Myung Hwan Park
Jae Seo
Seung Hyoun Sin
Min Han Son
Jae Woung Wee

Infielders
Kyung Hyun An
Dong Chan Cho
Hee-Seop Choi (MLB Los Angeles Dodgers)
Kyoung Bae Chung
Seo Owan Hong
Sung Ho Jang
Seong Hoon Jeong
Dong Joo Kim
Jae Gul Kim
Jong Kook Kim
Min Jae Kim
Tae Kyun Kim
Bum Ho Lee
Dae Ho Lee
Seung Yeop Lee
Jin Man Park
Jong Ho Park
Si Hun Son

Outfielders
Shin-Soo Choo
Soo Keun Jung
Jae Hyun Kim
Jong Hoon Kim
Byung Kyu Lee
Jin Young Lee
Jong Beom Lee
Han Yi Park
Yong Taik Park
Ji Man Song

Catchers
In Sung Cho
Sung Heon Hong
Kab Yong Jin
Sang Hoon Kim
Kyung Oan Park
Kyung Hyun Shin

Source: World Baseball Classic Official Website

[Yoon]

2/28/2006 NEWS:

Things aren't looking good for Team China:

China humbled by Yomiuri Giants
Late burst overshadows otherwise competitive exhibition
By Stephen Ellsesser / Special to MLB.com

TOKYO -- So much for building momentum.

China suffered a confidence-eroding loss on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome, falling 17-0 to the Yomiuri Giants in a World Baseball Classic exhibition. Not a case of everything gone wrong for China, the rout was more an example of nothing going right, and just at the last minute.

The Giants had the game well in hand going into the ninth inning, but a 10-run final frame, powered by a grand slam from Kenji Yano, slammed the door on Pool A's dark horse.

"The only thing I can say is that we're a lot better than we played tonight," Lefebvre said. "It wasn't that we were tired or because of travel. We just played an ugly game tonight, period."

China's offense was anemic against the Central League squad, producing just four baserunners and mustering only three hits. Star center fielder Sun Lingfeng was 1-for-3 with a single, but he was thrown out at second base trying to stretch that single into a double.

China had runners in scoring position with one out in the second inning, trailing 1-0 at the time, but Chen Zhe and Chen Qi grounded out and struck out, respectively, to stall the momentum.

China's offense was nowhere near on track the rest of the way.

"We didn't do much offensively tonight," Lefebvre said. "We didn't swing the bat well. We didn't make a lot of hard outs. We have to do better than that."

China's bright spot in the loss was the performance of starting pitcher Wang Nan, who pitched his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and allowing only a run and two hits in three innings of work.

With the bases juiced and one run already in, Wang got Giants first baseman Motohiro Yoshikawa to ground into a fielder's choice to end the first.

"I thought Wang Nan was pretty good," Lefebvre said. "He struggled in the first, but he only gave up [one run]. Really, we were fine until the ninth inning."

Source: World Baseball Classic - News

Losing 17-0 in an exhibition match against the Yomiuri Giants (a team in Japanese Professional Baseball) right before the WBC starts? Ouch.

[Yoon]

CURRENT UPDATES (3/4/2006)

Someone over at the MLB Fan Forums posted some pictures from the South Korea vs. Chinese Taipei game: http://www.jc-i.jp/wbc/

Here's an interesting picture from that site :


Is that a TWINS player I see on that poster in Japan?


[quote]
Korea rolls into Round 2 of Classic
Seung Yeop Lee homers twice in rout of China
By Jim Street / MLB.com