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Joe Torre's Team USA squad squares off with Tony Pena's Dominican Republic team tonight for the right to advance to the semifinals against Japan or the Netherlands at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The loser of tonight's match will play a win-or-go-home game against Puerto Rico tomorrow night. Puerto Rico eliminated Italy from the World Baseball Classic last night after a thrilling late-inning comeback.
The Blue Jays' R.A. Dickey will start for Team USA, and will oppose the Twins' Samuel Deduno for Team Dominican Republic. The Yankees' own Robinson Cano has been obliterating the competition in the WBC so far, and Team USA will need to contain him in a way that other teams have failed to do if they hope to get out of there with a win tonight. With all the offensive fire power that the Dominican Republic possesses, Joe Torre should have his head examined on scene if he even considers bunting. Don't do it, Joe. Don't do it.
Tonight's game can be seen on MLB Network at 7:00 p.m.
Update: David Wright has been scratched from the lineup with a bad back. Willie Bloomquist will take his place at third base, but it's bad news for Team USA, as Wright had been one of their most valuable performers to this point. Welp.