Couple of things as we build up to the World Baseball Classic opening up its second edition on Thursday morning (4:30 am EST, Japan v China).

 - Great job by the decision makers switching from pool play (three-game round-robin) to a straight double elimination in 2009. It makes the early games far more exciting and important, especially if one of the favorites is down early in their first game.

 - Here is the full schedule.

 - The US takes on Canada on Saturday at 2 pm. You can watch the game on our big board here at FirstEnergy Park as part of our 2009 FanFest.

 - Up to nine former BlueClaws:

• USA: Shane Victorino (rehab assignment)
• Australia: Joel Naughton, Drew Naylor, Brad Harman 
• Italy: Jack Santora
• Panama: Carlos Ruiz, Avellino Asprilla
• Venezuela: Victor Moreno, Francisco Butto

 - Thought this was interesting, though not entirely surprising…From Peter Abraham of the Journal News: “It’s popular in Asia, which is probably good enough for the MLB marketing people. A Japanese reporter I know said his paper has nine staffers covering the semifinals. Nine.”

 - Finally, here is Team USA’s starting lineup for their game today against the Yankees:

Dustin Pedroia 2B, Red Sox
Derek Jeter SS, Yankees
Chipper Jones DH, Braves
David Wright 3B, Mets
Adam Dunn RF, Reds
Kevin Youkilis 1B, Red Sox
Ryan Braun LF, Brewers
Brian McCann C, Braves
Curtis Granderson CF, Tigers

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm and is filed under BlueClaws Events, FanFest, Past BlueClaws, World Baseball Classic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.