Welcome to San Diego, Korea, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Japan.
The four survivors of two rounds converge on PETCO Park for the semifinals Saturday afternoon and night and a winner-takes-all finale on Monday evening. All games will be played in front of a packed house, making the last hurrah of the first-of-its-kind tournament a loud one.
Ballpark
Two-year-old PETCO Park, which seats 42,445, has a natural stone and stucco exterior and terrific landscaping, including the Park at the Park beyond the outfield fence. One of the facility's focal points is the Western Metal Supply Company Building located in left field. The historic building actually is part of the stadium as the left-field foul pole is attached to the southeastern corner, 334 feet from home plate. It is considered a pitcher's park, as straightaway left field is 367 feet and right field 368 feet. It is farther to the right- and left-field alleys (411 and 402 feet) than it is to center field (396 feet).
The Teams
Dominican Republic: Talk all you want about a star-studded lineup that includes Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Tejada and Moises Alou, but the Dominicans reached the semis as much on the strength of their arms as on the production of their bats.
With right-hander and reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon, tough-as-nails right-hander Daniel Cabrera coming off perhaps the finest four innings of his career, and left-hander Odalis Perez, the first team to reach San Diego has a good shot of claiming first place in the 16-team tournament.
Cabrera, who will rejoin the Orioles after the World Baseball Classic, manhandled a solid Venezuelan team in San Juan on Tuesday night, holding the Caribbean Series champions to one hit over four scoreless innings, setting the tone for a 2-1, winner-moves-on victory.
With just two (at the most) games remaining, the Dominican team has nine pitchers with an ERA under 2.00.
That's a good thing because the offense isn't scoring as many runs as expected. Some of the key hitters haven't found their midseason groove. Center fielder Willy Taveras is in a 2-for-19 funk, Tejada is 5-for-20 with three RBIs, and although David "Big Papi" Ortiz has hit three home runs -- including one that seemingly landed in Miami -- those are his only hits in 16 at-bats.
A leaner, meaner Beltre, who shed almost 15 pounds during the offseason, is 6-for-16 with four home runs and driven in a team-high nine runs. He has been slowed by a hip flexor that is more of a nuisance than anything and is expected to be ready to go for Saturday's game.
Second baseman Placido Polanco has been a solid tablesetter, going 7-for-14. He has no RBIs, but has scored four runs. And Pujols has shown occasional signs of his hitting brilliance, coming to San Diego with five hits in 18 at-bats, one home run and three RBIs.
Cuba: The team that almost didn't make it into the Classic -- which probably would have ended the event before it even got started -- set the Caribbean on its collective ears by reaching the semifinals.
These guys are amateurs? Well, not exactly. The fine-tuned Cuban team has the advantage of being in the middle of its regular season, but that takes nothing away from its showing in San Juan, where it posted a 4-2 record and overcame the country's most lopsided loss (12-2 to Puerto Rico) in nearly 25 years to upset the same Puerto Rico team in the final game played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
It was another example of classic baseball being played in March, and the fact Cuba played so well in a game against a Puerto Rico lineup stocked with Major League players says all you need to know about just how good and composed-under-pressure these unknown players are.
Cuba has been led offensively by designated hitter Yoandry Garlobo, who is batting .471 (8-for-17) with one home run and four RBIs. He is the only Cuban hitter listed among the top 26 hitters in the tournament. Second baseman Yulieski Gourriel (batting .250) leads the team with six RBIs.
As a team, Cuba is batting a pedestrian .269, fifth-best in the Classic, but Japan is the only team that has scored more runs -- 44 to 35. However, 32 of Japan's runs came against outclassed China (18) and Chinese Taipei (14).
Just as there are few Cuban players among the leading hitters in the tournament, same goes for pitching. The staff ERA is 4.17, which is no reason to expand your chest. Walking 33 batters in 39 innings usually is a recipe for failure, but not in this case.
What it all goes to show you is that where there's a will, there's a way. Cuba has done just that.
Korea: Still unbeaten but no longer unheralded, the Korean team has become one of the feel-good stories to come out of the inaugural Classic. Korea played second fiddle to Japan in the first round, held in Tokyo, and won two close games (2-0 and 3-2) and breezed through one (10-1), arriving in Anaheim for Round 2 as the top seed.
Its prestige grew considerably in the next three games as Korea again swept the round-robin, beating Mexico (2-1), Team USA (7-3) and Japan (2-1) in Anaheim. Four of Korea's six wins in the Classic have been by one or two runs in low-scoring games.
Low-key and highly secretive manager In Sik Kim has been the calming force behind a team that excels on defense (no errors), is fundamentally sound in all phases of the game, and pitches like no other team in the tournament, posting a mind-boggling 1.33 ERA after six games.
In Sik refuses to announce his starting pitcher for the next game until the very last minute, or until a tournament official makes a request for the information, which then is passed on to the media.
Offense is a luxury with this team. It has the ninth-highest batting average (.262) among the 16 teams invited to play in the event, but seems to make the most of its opportunities. Korea managed just three hits against Japan in Wednesday night's tense victory but one of them was a two-run double to left-center field by Jong Beom Lee -- one of five Lees on the team.
The most productive of the Lees is first baseman Seung Yeop Lee, who leads all Classic hitters with five home runs, and is one of just two players with at least 10 RBIs. Team USA center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. is the other.
This will be a welcome home celebration of sorts for right-hander Chan Ho Park, who will pitch for the Padres this season. He has done it all so far for Korea, going 3-for-3 in save opportunities and pitched five shutout innings against Japan in Wednesday night's classic game at Angel Stadium.
Japan: As the only team to advance to the semifinals with a losing record (1-2) in Round 2, you might think Team Japan doesn't deserve to be here.
But that couldn't be further from the truth. All three of Japan's losses in the tournament were by one run, with all three outcomes coming in the eighth or ninth innings. Korea, the team Japan faces again Saturday night at PETCO Park, pulled out a pair of one-run wins by scoring two runs in the eighth inning, and Team USA escaped with a one-run victory in the ninth inning in Anaheim.
The key to success for Japan in the final three days of the Classic appears to be getting over that eighth-inning hump that has haunted it in close games. The overall pitching has been superb, as evidenced by a 2.49 staff ERA, the third-best mark in the Classic.
And the team batting average, .317, ranks second among tournament teams. About the only thing that has gone haywire for manager Sadaharu Oh's club is lack of power. The middle of the lineup has been held in the park for all but one swing this entire event -- a solo home run by Kosuke Fukodome, the No. 3 hitter. Trouble is, that's one of only two hits he has in the Classic.
Cleanup hitter Nobuhiko Matsunaka, batting a robust .409, has no home runs and two RBIs in 22 at-bats and the No. 5 hitter, Akinori Iwamura, is batting a respectable .389 but has no home runs and three RBIs in 18 at-bats.
Oh was hoping that his team would get another chance to shed the overall hitting slump it has been in and now that opportunity exists. He is expected to stick with the lineup that has managed to get the team to the semifinals. The good news is PETCO Park is so large that hitting balls in the gaps could help make up for power lapses.
Marquee Matchup: The game between the Dominican Republic and Cuba has the makings of three hours of intensity. The Dominican lineup is filled with hitting stars and Cuba has several "amateur" players as good, if not better than, some big-league players. It's the first time a Cuban team has played on American soil since playing in Baltimore's Camden Yards several years ago.
Sleeper: With three games remaining in the inaugural tournament, the coming-out party for Cuba second baseman Gourriel has not started -- at least not on offense. The perennial .300-plus hitter in practically every competition he has played, Gourriel has a .250 batting average. He could have a breakout game on Saturday, another one on Monday and Cuba just might return home as the actual "World" champions.
Fearless Forecast: Cuba came into the tournament with something to prove and already has demonstrated tremendous ability. It's on to the finals for the Cubans and the opponent will be (drum roll) Korea. There is something about the pitching and the way that team plays the game that has finals written all over it.
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