USA v. Japan World Baseball Classic Predictions

Written March 21, 2009 by Jack Jones

japan-world-baseball-classic It seems that Davey Johnson doesn’t have much faith in the San Diego Padres’ Jake Peavy after Peavy was pummelled by Puerto Rico last round. Even thought it’s Peavy’s turn in the rotation Johnson has decided to go with Roy Oswalt of the Houston Astros against Japan tomorrow night. Peavy comes in with a 14.40 ERA while Oswalt threw four scoreless in the win over the Netherlands to drop his ERA to 3.52 for the tournament. If the US wins against Japan then Peavy would make the start in the championship game.

Johnson says it has to do more with pitch count and how far each pitcher is along with their Spring Training progress rather than tournament performance. Oswalt is excited for the opportunity and the chance to face off against Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox. He’ll have the task of facing a Japan team that has four players in the Majors.

The Americans will have to deal with more than just an ace pitcher as the injuries are piling up. Dice-K has dominated the tournament to this point, going 5-0 and a 1.57 in the two years the tournament has been around. This year he has 13 strikeouts in just 13 innings. The American lineup won’t be quite as dominant without Chipper Jones, Kevin Youkilis, or Dustin Pedroia as all three are out with injuries. Team USA will also be without closer Matt Lindstrom and have a couple of banged up bodies in David Wright and Ryan Braun. To replace Jones on the roster the team has added Tampa Bay Ray Evan Longoria.

Japan has an injury of their own to deal with as Shuichi Murata tore his hamstring on Friday against Korea. Murata had been dominant offensively with a .325 average, seven RBI’s and a pair of home runs so far i helping his team go 4-2. However, Japan has split their games with Korea 2-2 and could be in line to face them again if both win their semifinal matchup.

Team USA has had to fight in order to get to this point culminating with the 6-5 win over Puerto Rico on Wednesday night. The Americans needed three runs in the bottom of the ninth to revenge an embarrassing loss last Saturday in which Team USA was drubbed by 10 runs in a game the Mercy Rule was invoked.

If you are looking to bet on the game, take a look at Sportsbook.com where you can deposit quickly and easily using your credit card. The baseball odds on this game currently have Japan as a -115 favorite with Team USA’s odds at -105.

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