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The tournament held every four years to crown the world champions of baseball is back. In the World Baseball Classic, a combined 16 national teams play in four separate pools to earn bids in future rounds, all with hopes of vying against the most elite teams in order to earn the top title in the sport. Team Japan has won the first two titles, with the inaugural WBC being held back in 2006. By local time standards, the worldwide tournament kicked off on Saturday, with Australia taking on Chinese Taipei in Taichung, Taiwan in Pool B action. Other teams in Pool B include Korea and the Netherlands.  Games will continue through March 19th, when the finals are slated to be held in San Francisco, CA. Pool A also begins on Saturday and features China, Brazil, Cuba and Japan. Those games are set to be played in Fukuoka, Japan. Pool C, set to be played in San Juan, Puerto Rico beginning on Thursday, features, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and, of course, Puerto Rico. ...

On Wednesday, the Phillies' disappointing year finally ended and the organization took to making some changes in a very quick fashion.  Within hours of the end of the Phils' 81-81 season that marked an end to their run of five consecutive division titles, the team announced that three coaches, Sam Perlozzo (1st base), Greg Gross (hitting) and Pete Mackanin (bench), would not return next season. Within a day, the Phillies then announced some promotions from within to fill those voids. Hall of Fame player Ryne Sandberg (pictured), who has managed the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs for the past two seasons, will become the Phillies' third base coach, while Juan Samuel, who previously manned that position, has been asked to move to the first base coach's box.  It seems that Samuel may still be weighing his options. The Phillies are not expected to have a bench coach while an assistant hitting coach is expected to be hired. Additionally, Lehigh Valley's pitching...

For $500 in the category of 1980's MLB hair-do's...the answer is- Long-time MLB player and current Phillies third base coach Juan Samuel was pleased to locate his hair-do from 25 years ago on this musical legend. Question: Who is rock star Carlos Santana? As a bonus, here are more pics from Saturday's MLB Beacon Awards Banquet in Atlanta, GA. Brad Lidge, John Mayberry Jr., Ben Francisco, Pete Orr, baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard. Howard and his fiance Krystal Campbell meet film star Morgan Freeman Santana with Phils broadcaster Tom McCarthy ______________________________ Credit- Getty You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE . You can also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE .

In a press release today, the Philadelphia Phillies announced their 2011 Major League coaching staff, which includes former Phillie Juan Samuel, who joins the club as the third base coach and outfield instructor. Previous Phillies third base coach Sam Perlozzo will be moving over to coach first base. A spot on the Phils' coaching staff was vacated when Davey Lopes recently announced he would not be returning next year , due to a contract dispute. Lopes had been the Phillies first base coach for the past four seasons. The 49-year-old Samuel had spent the previous four season coaching third base with the Baltimore Orioles, which included a stint as their interim manager following the dismissal of Dave Trembley in June. Samuel has also coached with the Tigers and managed at the Double A level in the Metropolitans' system. Samuel was the Phillies Wall of Fame inductee in 2008. A 3-time all-star during his playing career, Samuel batted .263, hit 100 HR and stole 249 bases in his Phi...