Japan Confident Heading Into WBC Semis, While U.S. Knows Of Danger

LOS ANGELES—Japan is feeling extraordinarily confident heading into its semifinal matchup against the United States tonight at Dodger Stadium.

With a 6-0 record in the World Baseball Classic and five of those wins coming by at least three runs, that confidence has been earned.

“Finally it’s here, that’s how I feel,” outfielder Nori Aoki said. “We’ll win it somehow and advance to the final. That’s how I feel.”

USA and Japan have met in the semifinals once before. In 2009 at Dodger Stadium, Japan beat the U.S. 9-4 to advance to the championship game, which it eventually won.

In that contest the Japanese threw Daisuke Matsuzaka, Masahiro Tanaka and Yu Darvish at the U.S., and its starting lineup featured Aoki, Ichiro Suzuki, Kosuke Fukudome and Akinori Iwamura, among others.

While this year’s Japanese squad is not nearly as loaded in terms of future major leaguers, Team USA is well aware of Japan’s success and knows it is a dangerous opponent.

“What I know about them is that they play a very clean game, fundamentally sound,” center fielder Adam Jones said. “They move runners over. They hit behind the runners. They bunt. They don’t make many errors fielding. They are a very, very fundamentally sound team.”

Added first baseman Eric Hosmer: “They really bear down on the fundamentals, so you know it’s a team that’s probably not going to make a lot of mistakes. I think it’s a team that’s going to capitalize on another team making mistakes.”

Indeed, the Japanese have played largely clean baseball in the WBC. They have committed only three errors all tournament and their pitchers have issued just 12 walks and one wild pitch.

In part because they know they control those fundamentals, the Japanese are calm and self-assured heading into their semifinal showdown.

“I was able to sleep very well, very restful,” manager Hiroki Kokubo said. “You know, we’ve come this far, it’s do or die, so the only thing we can do is do it.”

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Weather Complication

The weather has thrown a wrinkle into tonight’s semifinal matchup. Rain fell steadily in Los Angeles all afternoon and is expected to continue into the evening.

Local forecasts predict a 30-percent chance of rain at first pitch and a 50 percent chance by 7 p.m. local time. Both teams took batting practice indoors as a result of the rain and the tarp remained on the infield until just over an hour before scheduled start time.

“So are we going to play through a little rain? Is the field going to get a little muddy? I’m dealing with other team’s organizational players, so now it’s just one more thing to worry about,” U.S. manager Jim Leyland said. “How’s the field going to be? Is somebody going to slip and pull a hamstring?

“And it’s the same for both teams. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining about it, but it’s just another thing to lose the rest of the hair I’ve got.”

The contest only needs to go 4.1 innings to be counted as an official game, but tournament officials said there is a wide window to get the game in and every effort will be made to complete it.

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LINEUPS

Giancarlo Stanton drew his second straight start for Team USA after hitting the go-ahead home run in their second-round game against the Dominican Republic. He did not start the previous two games. Stanton will be the designated hitter and bat eighth.

The only change in the starting lineup for Team USA from their game against the Dominican is Buster Posey will serve as catcher in place of Jonathan Lucroy.

Leyland has alternated the two catchers every start and said he will keep with that and have Lucroy start the championship game if the U.S. gets there.