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International
Baseball heading to Victoria
Victorians will be treated to a smorgasbord
of world-class baseball when the Australian National Squad takes
on Chinese Taipei
in a four game series next week
An emerging power in world baseball, Chinese Taipei is playing
five games in Western Australia this week,
against combinations drawn from Perth Heat, United States and
Australian players, before heading east
Chinese Taipei and Australia are among the sixteen nations currently
preparing for the World Baseball Classic that starts in March
Final World Baseball Classic squads of twenty-eight players are
to be named by 24th February,
so there is much incentive for players to prove their credentials
for selection in the world’s largest baseball tournament
The Classic is a sporting extravaganza of far greater quality
than Olympics baseball and an event that rivals the soccer World
Cup
While the Chinese Taipei players are not exactly household names
in Australian baseball,
many are Major Leaguers and professionals in the United States
or Asian leagues
For its part, the Australian squad will be a balance of experienced
professionals and emerging young stars
seeking to prove themselves at this level
Speaking on Baseball Radio recently,
Australian Manager Jon Deeble stressed the importance of thorough
preparation for the World Baseball Classic
“Plenty of our players are just on the verge of the Major
Leagues
Other countries have more established players, so we’ll
be looking closely at what we have
We’ll be looking for guys with quick bats who won’t
be overwhelmed
We need players who can hit against the best pitchers in the
world
At the end of the day, our job is to win baseball games
We’ll be taking the best team we can”
This is a great opportunity for the Victorian baseball and broader
sporting community to support the Australian Squad
and to appreciate world-standard baseball being played on our
own turf
Entry has been adjusted to $10.00 per car, with no limit on passenger
numbers and $5.00 per “walk-up”, regardless of age
This has been done to encourage people to car pool and to hopefully
attract larger crowds at all venues
Support
the Victorian Bushfire Appeal
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Simply attend the Australia v Chinese Taipei
game at
Melbourne Baseball Park on Tuesday 17th February 2009
All revenue from the event will be donated to the Appeal
Tickets cost just $10.00 per car!
Watch world class baseball in your own backyard as the
Australian National Team take on Chinese Taipei in Melbourne
as preparation for the 2009 World Baseball Classic
Support local and national heroes
as they take on some of the world's best baseball talent |
International
'friendlies' bound to be a hit
Coming off a successful five-game
series in Perth, Australian Manager Jon Deeble was happy with
the way the Australian squad is progressing
“Chinese Taipei is in a different group to us for the Classic,
but these series provide a good measure of where we are at
They have a strong side - with some great pitching - so it was
pleasing to see our offence doing so well in Perth” he said
With a number of Australian players still to join the squad,
players from Perth Heat and the United States were used to bolster
an outfit that won two games and drew one against Chinese Taipei,
whose squad includes a number of emerging professionals
Big right-armed pitcher Wang-Yi Lin was a Redsox signing by Deeble,
side-armer Chen-Chang Lee is a recent Cleveland Indians acquisition,
Sung-Wei Tseng is a top prospect with the Indians and Chi-Hung
Cheng is forging a pitching career with the Pirates
“We won’t have all our players available for the Victoria
series
There’s still up to ten in the states and they’ll join
us later on” said Deeble, pointing out that a number of
Victorians would still be among the action, including Adam Blackley,
James Beresford, Adam Bright, Justin Huber, Daniel Berg and Phillies
superstar Brad Harman
“I was very pleased with the games played in Perth, especially
since some of our players haven’t had much baseball lately”
Deeble said
“Our hitting was great
Guys like Snelling,
Risinger, Roneberg, Huber and Michael Collins swung the bat really
well
That’s what we want to see
We need guys with quick bats who won’t be overwhelmed
There’s a difference between facing guys throwing at 85
mph and the 97 or 98 mph we're going to get in Mexico
The hitters showed enough in Perth for us to be confident of
some good offence this week and leading into the Classic”
The Victorian leg of the friendlies kicks off at Geelong Baseball
Centre on Monday night (7 pm start), followed by a Tuesday evening
game at Melbourne Ball Park (7 pm) and twilight games at Waverley
Baseball Club on Wednesday and Thursday (both starting at 5 pm)
All four games will be broadcast live by Baseball Radio National
on 3SER ...... CLICK
HERE
“We’ve lost seven guys in the past couple of weeks,
including Balfour and Burnside, Nakamura and Lundgren” Deeble
said
“It’s understandable that they put their careers first
Some of our other pitching won’t be with us for now, but
there’s a definite incentive to do well against the Taiwanese
this week, from a team and a personal point of view
We have a fair idea who will be in the final squad, but there
are still a couple of spots to be decided” he said
“We’re encouraging the Victorian baseball community
to come out and see some of the best players going around –
from both countries
That’s baseball” Deeble said “but there are things
going on the world other than sport
We have all been stunned by the disaster that has unfolded in
Victoria over the past week
“I’d especially urge people, including our Taiwanese
friends in Melbourne, to come to Altona on Tuesday and support
the Victorian Bushfire Appeal
Lives and homes have been lost – so many people have been
tragically affected by the fires
I know that the baseball community will respond by being as generous
and caring as it can possibly be”
With its squad to be finalised later this week, Australia flies
to Japan on 22 February for two exhibition games before going
on to Arizona for eight or nine days of preliminaries prior to
heading to Mexico City for their first game – against Mexico
- on 8 March
Australia plays South Africa, Mexico and Cuba in its Round One
Pool Games and will need to win a couple to progress to Round
Two
Deeble is clear on his, and his team’s expectations for
the campaign
“We don’t look at it any longer as just going away
to compete
That attitude’s been dead and buried since 2004
We know that we can beat Cuba and we’ll be going in confident
against South Africa and Mexico” he said
“Make no mistake
We’re going away aiming to win the whole thing”
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Australia
...... Monday 16th February @ 7.00pm
Geelong Baseball Centre Pioneer Road Geelong
CLICK
HERE
...... Box Score and Play-by-Play
Report
CLICK HERE ...... Audio Files of Brett's At Bats and
Game Reports |
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Australia
...... Tuesday 17th February @ 7.00pm
Melbourne Baseball Park Merton Street Altona
CLICK
HERE
...... Box Score and Play-by-Play
Report
CLICK HERE ...... Audio Files of Brett's At Bats and
Game Reports |
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Australia
...... Wednesday 18th February @ 5.00pm
Napier Park High Street Road Glen Waverley
CLICK
HERE
...... Play-by-Play Report
and Brett's Statistics
CLICK HERE ...... Audio Files of Brett's At Bats and
Game Reports
and this page also includes
a note on the "intermittent and frustrating" radio
broadcasts !! |
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Australia
...... Thursday 19th February @ 5.00pm
Napier Park High Street Road Glen Waverley
CLICK
HERE
...... Play-by-Play Report
and Brett's Statistics
CLICK HERE ...... Audio Files of Brett's At Bats and
Game Reports
and this page also includes
two photos of Brett |
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