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Blanco Lifts Venezuela

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 12, 2009

TORONTO - Henry Blanco homered and made a key throw in the ninth inning as Venezuela beat the United States 5-3 on Wednesday night to win Group C at the World Baseball Classic.

Gregor Blanco added three hits for Venezuela, which avenged a 15-6 loss to the Americans on Sunday night. Both teams are headed to the second round of the tournament in Miami, where the U.S. will open against Group D winner Puerto Rico (3-0) on Saturday night.

Venezuela will face a surprising Netherlands team earlier in the day.

Chris Iannetta hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning, but Team USA couldn't finish the comeback in the ninth.

Earlier, Chipper Jones took swings from both sides of the plate and fielded grounders, and he said he will be ready to play when the second round of the World Baseball Classic begins.

PUERTO RICO WINS: Alex Rios hit a run-scoring triple and Puerto Rico beat the Netherlands 5-0 to finish undefeated in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.

Carlos Beltran, Ivan Rodriguez and Geovany Soto each drove in a run for Puerto Rico.

ICHIRO SPARKS JAPAN: Ichiro Suzuki singled during a four-run sixth inning to help Japan's World Baseball Classic team to a 6-4 victory against the San Francisco Giants in an exhibition game.

BLUE JAYS: Roy Halladay has been sharp all spring. The right-hander pitched four innings to stretch his shutout streak to nine, and Toronto tied the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-2 in 11 innings.

DODGERS: Manny Ramirez is getting his own bobblehead this season.

The slugger, who recently agreed to a $45 million, two-year deal to stay with the Los Angeles Dodgers, will be commemorated with a dreadlocked version of himself.

The first 50,000 fans in attendance for the July 22 game against Cincinnati will receive the doll.

MARLINS: Utility player Alfredo Amezaga was diagnosed with a sprained left knee, and he is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks.

NATIONALS: Right-hander Kip Wells has agreed to a minor-league contract.

TWINS: Catcher Joe Mauer will take a stronger dosage of anti-inflammatory medicine to try to hasten his recovery from a lower-back problem.

Mauer hasn't played yet in spring training. He had a dye-injection MRI on Tuesday to identify any previously undetected issues.

CLEMENS CASE: Attorney General Eric Holder has recused himself from any role in deciding whether to charge Roger Clemens with lying to Congress about steroids.

Holder "has always been recused" from the Clemens investigation, Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said Wednesday.

Before becoming attorney general, Holder worked at the firm Covington and Burling LLC, which had Clemens as a client.

AGE CONTROVERSY: Major League Baseball is investigating more than 40 cases involving prospects from the Dominican Republic who are suspected of lying about their ages upon signing professional contracts, according to the league's vice president of international affairs.

Lou Melendez said the request came from the U.S. consulate in the Dominican Republic as a result of a new State Department policy.

Several Latin players have said they lied about their ages in recent years, including Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada.

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