MLB Tickets - Stats from the World Baseball Classic Part II

In part two we continue our scouring of the World Baseball Classic stats to find out who is already off to a good start in 2009. We left off halfway through Team USA. Bring on the pitchers.

Team USA
Roy Oswalt - Roy Oswalt, Ted Lilly and Jake Peavy have been the workhorses of the team so far. At 7.2 innings pitched, Roy has the most information to analyze. Oswalt has faced some tough batting orders, but managed to keep things under control as he's working on a 3.52 ERA. He has a team- leading 6 strikeouts.

Jake Peavy - The Padres ace has struggled in his World Baseball Classic stats, as his ERA has ballooned to 14.40 in just two games. Of course, all the run scoring hasn't been his own fault (errors on defense have been brutal for the US national team), but he's not been dominating in the least. Perhaps he'll turn a corner when he comes back to MLB competition and fans start going to StubHub to buy MLB tickets to see the Padres.

Bullpen Pitchers of Note - Several relievers on the US squad have been impressive in their play, although it would be better to get a few more innings out of these guys. Joel Hanrahan and Jonathan Broxton each have four innings under their belts and only three hits and one run to show for their efforts. These kinds of games are given to many pitcher changes, so it's a bit harder to withdraw information from the bullpen than from the starters.

Team Japan
Ichiro Suzuki - The Seattle Mariner has the most at-bats on the team at 33, but he's not been his usual, consistent self. While Ichiro leads the team with six runs, his batting average is a little low, at .212. The Japanese fans usually love this guy, but this preseason hasn't given them much confidence.

Kosuke Fukudome - The Cubs outfielder has only 17 at-bats, so even though he has only four hits, it might be a little premature to say he's fallen off. K-Dome has no home runs. Most of the productivity from team Japan's offense has come from Norichiki Aoki, who leads the team with a .393 batting average and 11 hits. Akoi plays for the Tokyo Swallows.

Daisuke Matsuzaka - By far the most impressive Japanese MLB player has been Daise-K. In two starts and ten innings, Mr. Matsuzaka has a 1.80 ERA with nine strikeouts. He's 2-0. Yu Darvish, who still plays in Japan for the Nippon Ham Fighters, leads the team with 13 strikeouts.

Team Venezuela
Miguel Cabrera - The at-bats leader on team Venezuela with 32 plate appearances has nine hits and two home runs with a batting average of .281. Not bad at all for Tigers fans. Right now Venezuela is looking very good heading into the closing stretch of this World Baseball Classic. Will Miguel get used to winning before the season even begins?

Carlos Guillen - In 30 at-bats Guillen has eight hits, including one double and three home runs. He's been the power hitter on one of the best teams in the WBC, and should do the same for the Tigers. Come to think of it, Detroit fans should be very interested in the success of Venezuela.

Magglio Ordonez - Yet another Tiger on the team, Ordonez has been a fairly weak hitter in the WBC. After 27 at-bats Ordonez has a .222 slugging percentage and .185 batting average.

Pitchers - Pretty much every member of the Venezuelan national team is playing somewhere in the major leagues. Not surprisingly, two of the top three innings earners are the best performers on the team. Felix Hernandez (Seattle Mariners) and Enrique Gonzales (Boston Red Sox) have pitched brilliantly. Gonzales is 2-0 with a team-leading 11 strikeouts. Gonzalez has allowed only 3 hits in 9.2 innings. Both of them have a 0.00 ERA. Carlos Silva, with three starts under his belt, has had a slightly rougher time. His ERA is 5.11. Silva has given up 16 hits in 12.1 innings.

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