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Baseball: Japan's WBC squad to play Lotte, Yomiuri in warm-up games+
(Japan Economic Newswire)TOKYO, Dec. 23_(Kyodo) _ Japan's squad for the World Baseball Classic will play the Lotte Marines and the Yomiuri Giants to warm up for the first round of the tournament against its Asian rivals, baseball officials said Friday.
Sadaharu Oh's team is scheduled to meet a team made up of non-WBC members from the 12 clubs in Japanese baseball at Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka on Feb. 24 and 25 before taking on the Marines at the same venue the following day and the Giants at Tokyo Dome on March 1.
Japan will face China, Taiwan and South Korea in the WBC first round at Tokyo Dome on March 3-5. The top two teams will advance to the second round to be played in the United States.
Japan's roster for the inaugural WBC, the first international baseball tournament to feature major league players representing their countries, includes Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and Chicago White Sox infielder Tadahito Iguchi.
Japan manager Oh is still awaiting a response from New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui, who has yet to make clear whether to play in the tournament.
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