Japan bids for 'three-peat' in World Baseball Classic

They weren't all that hot in the friendly with Australia last week, but maybe that game woke them up a little (it definitely did by the eighth inning!).

I hope they get completely reamed. Might shut them up for a while.

Such negativity...

Abe is injured, Itoi is in the middle of a batting slump (striking out badly in almost every at bat), Sawamura's control is off, Maeda's conditioning hasn't gone well ... I'm starting to get worried. I'll be rooting for Japan though. It looks like they'll have to depend on Uchikawa, Sakamoto, and Matsuda to generate the runs.

Ganbarre Nippon ! ! !

Let's hope it's not a thricappointment.

I hope they get completely reamed. Might shut them up for a while.

Considering that the Japanese have won both WBC crowns they have been relatively modest about the fact. Can you imagine the commotion if the US or Korea had won both WBC titles? Unfortunately for the quote above, the Japanese are entitled to be as loud as they like.

Best of luck to all countries!! Excited to see some baseball!

Great! The first step to getting the USA major league players out of the competition. The next step is to get the players out of the IOC competition. What is the chance? ZERO.

Hope they go well,but from what they've shown us....buckleys !