Pool C will see a clash of the titans as Team USA and Team Venezuela get ready to faceoff in the World Baseball Classic at the Rogers Center in Toronto, Canada.
Both teams are coming off wins in their last games although the nature of the wins was contrasting. The Americans had a hard fought 6-5 win over the Canadians while the Venezuelans had an easy 7-0 win over Team Italy. Sunday’s game will be filled with MLB All-Star hitters and the starting pitchers, likes of Armando Galarraga and Roy Oswalt, will be looking to ward off the hitters from Team USA and Venezuela respectively.
Oswalt said that he knew almost all the hitters in the Venezuelan dugout. “In my head, I’ve pitched against some of these guys before,” Oswalt said, “so I know kind of a way to get some of those guys out.”
Luis Sojo, team manager for Venezuela, also commented on the knowledge that his team will possess on the American hitters, a privilege they didn’t have with the Italians.
“With the United States, it’s very different – there are a lot of batters that we know,” Sojo said, adding that scouting the American players is not a hard task.
“We know their game,” said the manager. “They’re very feared, but I think that the pitching’s going to kill the batting. I think if we can make the necessary adjustments to get the outs and to make the adjustments in order to be able to get to that shot, we’ll ring the bell. Let’s get it on. Because we want to win, and we have all the necessary reports to be able to have the necessary research.”