Manager of US World Baseball Classic team said he'd 'forfeit' if injuries got worse

AP, Gonzalez: "Team USA manager Davey Johnson already knows what he would do if injuries got so bad in the World Baseball Classic that he ran out of certain position players:

• He would forfeit.

The injury-plagued Americans were so short-handed Sunday against the Netherlands that

• backup catcher Brian McCann played left field in the ninth.

Asked during the team’s batting practice Monday who his third catcher would have been, Johnson said he wouldn’t have even tried to put a player in that position for fear of injury—even if it meant elimination....

• About the only constant in the World Baseball Classic for the United States is that everyone seems to be getting injured.

Chipper Jones, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun and Matt Lindstrom all have been lost to injury—and that was just this weekend. Pedroia was replaced by Brian Roberts before Saturday’s game,

• but tournament rules prevent the team from replacing the others on the roster until the next round....

The injuries have piled up so much for the Americans that Johnson couldn’t say for sure who is going to start Tuesday night, though he said it likely would be Chicago Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly....

• What Johnson said has been a bigger issue is players pushing themselves too hard, too soon when they would normally sit out.

Johnson said Lindstrom admitted later the strained right rotator cuff that will sideline him at least a week was something that occurred before the game. And Youkilis, for instance, said he has been bothered by a sore neck.

• But Youkilis said it’s not serious and attributes the soreness to
• hotel pillows and traveling.

“More guys sit out in spring training because something is tweaked, and they miss a day,” he (Youkilis) said.

• “In the WBC, you don’t have a chance to sit out for two days.

• If you sit out for two days, you’re done for the whole round.

• The games happen so quick there’s no time to be injured.”"

The WBC cannot work no matter what time of year. It is a suicide mission and as such fits in with today's American psyche. (sm)

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