Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to start USA’s opener against Mexico

World Baseball Classic Update/ News 

The Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher R.A. Dickey will start USA’s opener against Mexico on Friday in the anticipation of this year’s World Baseball Classic.

Team USA’s manager Joe Torre is quite confident that Dickey will play his natural offensive game at Salt River Fields.

Joe Torre has been very busy these days selecting starting USA’s lineup against Mexico, Italy and Canada.

“I made my last phone call today. Tony La Russa’s running around town, so he’ll [help out] a little bit,” Torre said. “My attention is going to be total, 100 percent to the WBC and my new team, which is exciting to me.”

Torre has also disclosed that San Francisco Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong will be starting against Italy in Saturday’s game while Texas Rangers ace Derek Holland is scheduled to start against Canada on Sunday.

“We just told him to stay home,” Torre said about Gonzalez, who along with Detwiler and reliever David Hernandez were late adds to the 28-man roster. Gonzalez remained with the Nationals at their camp in Florida while the rest of Team USA put on the red, white and blue uniforms here.

Torre added, “Holland will pitch tomorrow in the exhibition game, so you can count on your fingers when he’ll be pitching next, We’re going to mix and match on Wednesday so people can be ready to throw in the games they’re supposed to pitch.”

David Wright of New York Mets might also get a potential chance to start in the next pool games but still this is a speculation.

“I can’t speak for everybody else, but I got down to Spring Training early,” said Wright, who along with Braun, Rollins, right fielder Shane Victorino of the Red Sox and reliever Heath Bell of the D-backs, played for the 2009 U.S. team that lost to Japan in the semifinals. “The games I’ve played, I’ve tried to play into the sixth or seventh inning each time to kind of speed up [the conditioning] process.”

Adam Jones of Baltimore Orioles in center is another healthy addition in team USA. He also said lately that despite he had to leave his club to represent Team USA, the morale is quite high and he is ready to face the challenge.

“This is our homeland,” he said. “We’re all excited to be here. This is not just an All-Star tournament when we’re all going through the motions. For me, part of the meeting last night is that we can be the first USA team to win it. All 28 guys are motivated to do whatever they need to do to win.”

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Posted by Umair Hassan on Mar 5 2013. Filed under Latest News, Sports, USA, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.