/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53808581/653581332.0.jpg)
There are only nine fake baseball games left to play in Florida and one in Norfolk before the Orioles will be done with spring training. One of those nine games is coming up this afternoon against the Blue Jays.
As is the unfortunate standard for O’s spring training, you won’t be able to watch it. Why would anyone want to watch live baseball anyway? Well, it will at least be on the radio, so if your boss lets you and you can get 105.7 from where you are, you can at least listen in to a game featuring this lineup that sort of resembles an Orioles lineup:
- Aneury Tavarez - CF
- J.J. Hardy - SS
- Pedro Alvarez - DH
- Mark Trumbo - RF
- Chris Davis - 1B
- Chris Johnson - 3B
- Hyun Soo Kim - LF
- Caleb Joseph - C
- Paul Janish - 2B
With Ubaldo Jimenez pitching. Maybe he will have a decent-looking outing to give you some shred of hope for the start of the regular season? No, I won’t be holding my breath either.
The returning WBC players from the Dominican and Netherlands teams are expected back in camp tomorrow, but may not get into games until Friday. The next home game after that is on Saturday. That may be when we finally start to see an Orioles-looking lineup. Not that we’ll SEE that, since Saturday’s game isn’t televised either, but you know.
Expected to pitch behind Jimenez are Donnie Hart, Darren O’Day, and Logan Verrett.
Later on, rejoin us here as the USA takes on Japan in the second World Baseball Classic semifinal.
Here is the USA lineup for the semifinal:
- Ian Kinsler - 2B
- Adam Jones - CF
- Christian Yelich - LF
- Nolan Arenado - 3B
- Eric Hosmer - 1B
- Andrew McCutchen - RF
- Buster Posey - C
- Giancarlo Stanton - DH
- Brandon Crawford - SS
The USA starting pitcher is Tanner Roark.
And Japan’s lineup, with names listed as we do in America:
- Tetsuto Yamada - DH
- Ryosuke Kikuchi - 2B
- Nori Aoki - RF
- Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh - LF
- Sho Nakata - 1B
- Hayato Sakamoto - SS
- Nobuhiro Matsuda - 3B
- Shogo Akiyama - CF
- Seiji Kobayashi - C
27-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano is the starting pitcher for Japan.