THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO — Even without several top stars, South Korea is confident heading into the first round of the World Baseball Classic.
“We have no fear when we play Japan,” South Korea manager Kim In-suk said Monday. “Our players always get motivated when playing against Japan and South Korean baseball has improved a lot in recent years.”
Japan may be the defending WBC champion, but given their recent track record in international baseball, the South Koreans won’t be intimidated by their Asian rivals.
Many of the players on Korea’s 2009 WBC roster were on the team that beat Japan twice at the Beijing Olympics before going on to defeat Cuba in the gold medal game.
South Korea and Japan are expected to progress from Pool A of the 16-nation tournament, which begins on Thursday at Tokyo Dome. China and Taiwan are the other teams in the Tokyo round.
The top two teams advance to the second round, which will be played in the United States along with the final on March 23 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
South Korea, which will play its first game Friday against Taiwan, beat Japan twice in the 2006 WBC but had to settle for third place.
Lee Seung-yeop was a standout in the 2006 tournament and the Olympics, but has decided to skip this year’s tournament to prepare for the upcoming season with the Yomiuri Giants in the Japanese league.
Outfielder Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians is the only major leaguer on South Korea’s roster and will be called upon to fill the void left by Lee’s absence. Choo had 14 homers, 66 RBIs and a .309 batting average last season for the Indians.
“Being the only major league player, I do feel some pressure,” said Choo. “But baseball is a team sport and everyone has to do his job. That’s the way Lee played and as long as I do that and my team supports me I’ll be fine.”
Pitcher Park Chan-ho, who threw 10 scoreless innings and recorded three saves for Korea in 2006, is competing for a spot in the Philadelphia Phillies rotation, so will not be back.
Kim Kwang-hyun, the winning pitcher in Korea’s 6-2 semifinal win over Japan in Beijing, is the ace of a strong starting staff.
“Japan has many good left-handed batters so that’s something I’ll have to be concerned with,” said Kim. “I don’t like to lose so I’ll do everything to help the team win.”
Japan’s squad features five major league players, including Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox.
Suzuki has struggled at the plate in a series of exhibition games leading up to the tournament, but South Korea manager Kim says he’s not reading too much into that.
“Ichiro is a great hitter,” said Kim. “I know he hasn’t been getting very many hits in the tuneup games but that doesn’t mean anything. He’ll get his share of hits once the tournament starts.”
