The United States enters today's World Baseball Classic semifinals banged up, having lost three-fourths of its starting infield and a key part of its bullpen. Two others -- third baseman David Wright and outfielder Ryan Braun -- are playing hurt. Evan Longoria has been added to the roster to give the Americans some depth, but runs will probably be hard to come by against a Japanese staff that has three shutouts in seven games. Japan has injury problems of its own, having lost home run and RBI leader Shuichi Murata, who has a strained hamstring.
On the mound, U.S. manager Davey Johnson will go with Houston Astros righthander Roy Oswalt (1-0, 3.52 ERA); Japan's Tatsunori Hara refused to say whether he'd use Boston Red Sox ace Daisuke Matsuzaka or 22-year-old Yu Darvish. Each has allowed just two earned runs in 10 innings.
Stat watch Japan's pitching: The staff has allowed just two home runs in 60 innings and hasn't given up a run to a team other than Korea. Yet for all the attention paid to starters Matsuzaka, Darvish and Hisashi Iwakuma, who have a combined 1.38 ERA in 32 2/3 innings, the bullpen, led by lefthander Toshiya Sugiuchi (4 2/3 innings, no hits, five strikeouts) has been even more impressive, allowing just two runs in 27 innings, a 0.67 ERA.
The U.S. offense: Eight hitters are batting .300 or better, and Adam Dunn has a team-high three home runs and nine runs scored in just 19 official at-bats. The team is averaging nearly seven runs a game.
Star watch Brian Roberts, U.S.: The Baltimore Orioles' second baseman didn't join the U.S. team until the second round but he's batting a team-high .545 and has scored five runs in three games.
Dud watch Ichiro Suzuki, Japan: No player was more relieved to see Japan qualify for the semifinals than the eight-time major league All-Star, who would have received much of the blame had the defending WBC champs been eliminated early. Suzuki was 0-for-12 in the second round and is batting .212 for the tournament.
U.S. pitching: The team ERA of 6.18 is more than five times higher than Japan's. With 77 hits and 26 walks, the Americans are putting nearly two runners on an inning, and their 41 earned runs is nearly double any other team in the final four.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
