Chris Denorfia will be reunited with a couple of former Oakland teammates when he joins Team Italy on Sunday in Florida for preparation for the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
“I’m really excited,” Denorfia said on Monday. “It’s not something I expected during the offseason.”
Denorfia joins former A’s pitcher Lenny DiNardo and a handful of other current major leaguers on the roster. His hitting coach is Mike Piazza, who played with the A’s two years ago. The two were on the disabled list most of the season.
“Piazza has a great swing that is inductive to using the whole field,” A’s manager Bob Geren said. “If he could teach that swing he’ll be very successful. He had a great approach.”
Italy manager Marco Mazzieri’s bench coach will be Mike Hargrove, who reached the World Series with the Cleveland Indians. He also managed the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners. Italy’s third-base coach is former Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs manager Tom Trebelhorn.
Italy will be facing the US, Canada and Venezuela in the first round of the WBC between March 7 and March 11 in Toronto.
“From what I hear Italy plays in a respected league in Europe,” Denorfia said. “I’ll be interested to see what kind of talent they have.”
Denorfia, whose paternal grandmother is Italian, has spent parts of the past four seasons in the majors with the Cincinnati Reds and the A’s. The 28-year-old outfielder spent most of last year at Triple-A Sacramento, where he hit .302.
He visited family in Italy as a teenager and returned there for a backpack trip after graduating from Wheaton College in 2002.
The Italians failed to get out of the first round of the 2006 WBC, with just a victory against Australia. But the Europeans were the only team to beat the US during the American’s run to the gold medal at the 2007 World Cup.
Angels catcher Mike Napoli and former A’s catcher Sal Fasano, infielders Frank Catalanotto, also a former Athletic, Robert Fick and Nick Punto highlight the roster.
Team Italy’s pitching staff will be led by DiNardo, Jason Grilli and Mark DiFelice.
“I think it’s a great thing,” Denorfia said. “It’s important with baseball out of the Olympics that something like this draws attention to the sport.”
Denorfia may get a chance to hit against current teammate Brad Ziegler.
“If he puts it there I’ll try to hit it,” he said.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
RSS