SAN DIEGO -- Not surprisingly, six of the 12 players named to the World Baseball Classic all-tournament team played in Monday\'s championship game at PETCO Park.
Three players from the champion Japan team were named to this who\'s who of Classic stars -- pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, catcher Tomoya Satozaki and the most recognizable name, of course, in Ichiro Suzuki, one of only two Major Leaguers who made it to the finals of this inaugural tournament.
On Cuba\'s side, second baseman Yulieski Gourriel, designated hitter Yoandy Garlobo and pitcher Yadel Marti were named to the all-tournament team, and deservedly so. Marti did not allow a single run in this tournament, spanning 12 2/3 innings. Garlabo hit at a whopping .480 clip, logging 12 hits in 25 at-bats.
The remainder of the all-tournament team includes Korean first baseman Seung Yeop Lee, Team USA shortstop Derek Jeter, Dominican Republic third baseman Adrian Beltre, Team USA outfield Ken Griffey Jr., Korean outfielder Jong Beom Lee and Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park.
Matsuzaka , who was 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA over three starts, was named tournament Most Valuable Player. The right-hander allowed two earned runs over 13 innings, walking three and striking out 10.
But Ichiro was likely a close second. The Mariners outfielder batted .364 over eight games in the Classic, logging 12 hits in 33 at-bats. He hit safely in every game he played.
Ichiro ranked the Classic as a highlight of all of his accomplishments.
"Apart from the Olympics, I really wanted this WBC tournament to be the event that decides the true world champions, so that\'s why I participated in this event," he said. "And at the end, I was able to be on the championship team, and this is probably the biggest moment of my baseball career."
All-Tourney team |
| C Tomoya Satozaki (Japan) |
| 1B Seung Yeop Lee (Korea) |
| 2B Yulieski Gourriel (Cuba) |
| SS Derek Jeter (USA) |
| 3B Adrian Beltre (Dominican Republic) |
| OF Ken Griffey Jr. (USA) |
| OF Ichiro Suzuki (Japan) |
| OF Jong Beom Lee (Korea) |
| DH Yoandy Garlobo (Cuba) |
| P Daisuke Matsuzaka (Japan) |
| P Chan Ho Park (Korea) |
| P Yadel Marti (Cuba) |
Matsuzaka echoed the sentiment. He said when he first looked at the list of players who would comprise the Japan team, he was "probably the most excited" he had ever been in his career, and he felt he had a chance to play on "the best team ever."
"We all aimed at winning the championship here, and in the last game with the world championship on the line, I was named as a starter of the game," Matsuzaka said. "I\'m really proud of the fact that I was able to start and I also did a decent job to contribute to the win. So I\'m really satisfied with that."
The all-tournament team, whose name probably should be changed to all-world, honored the best of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. It was an event that drew 737,112 spectators and was covered by 5,354 media outlets.
Sixteen countries and nine languages were represented, and at seven different venues and three rounds, one champion was finally decided.
"Today, we had a different reason to fire ourselves up," Ichiro said after Japan\'s win. "We really wanted to win this championship today, and I didn\'t even think about the upcoming regular season of 2006. It\'s not an ideal thing for a player to think, but I didn\'t really care if I would get injured in this game. That\'s how much I really wanted to win this one. That\'s how we were driven to this championship."
', tagline: 'Alyson Footer is a reporter for MLB.com.', summary: null, article_photo: { caption: 'Ichiro celebrates with the World Baseball Classic trophy.', credit: 'Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images', path: '/images/2006/03/21/DnmCzVBr.jpg' }, sub_headline: 'Six of 12 players on team played in Classic finale', alt_headline: 'Ichiro leads All-Tourney team', related_links: null, headline: 'Ichiro leads All-Tourney team' }