The National League Cy Young Award winner, three MVP award winners and a host of Major League Baseball All-Stars were on the US’ provisional roster announced on Thursday for the World Baseball Classic.
Formal rosters are to be be set on Feb. 20 for the March tournament, where Japan will go for their third successive Classic crown.
Four players return from the 2009 US team which lost in the semi-finals to Japan — Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins (2007 National League MVP), Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino, Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun (2011 National League MVP) and Mets third baseman David Wright.
Other position players include first baseman Mark Teixeira (Yankees), second baseman Brandon Phillips (Reds), catcher Joe Mauer (Twins, 2009 American League MVP), and outfielders Adam Jones (Orioles) and Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins).
Knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey, the reigning National League Cy Young winner who was traded in the off-season from the Mets to the Blue Jays, will anchor a starting staff that also includes Ryan Vogelsong of World Series champions the Giants, Derek Holland of the Rangers and Kris Medlen of the Braves.
The bullpen includes closers Craig Kimbrel of the Braves and Chris Perez of the Indians.
The US have never reached the finals, losing in the second round in 2006 and in the semi-finals in 2009.
The team play their first game of on March 8 in Phoenix, Arizona, against Mexico. Canada and Italy are the other teams in Pool D.
Two-time champions Japan host Pool A games in Fukuoka from March 2 to March 6, Taichung hosts Pool B from March 2 to March 5, while Pool C games are being held from March 7 to March 10 in Puerto Rico. The semi-finals and finals are due to be staged in San Francisco from March 17 to March 19.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier