Baseball in Fort Wayne

The San Diego Padres will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the upcoming China Series March 15-16 in Behing (March 14-15 in the US). The Fort Wayne Wizards will be well represented. Former Wizards pitchers, Justin Germano will start the first game and Cesar Ramos will go in game two.

Other former Wizards on the roster include: Pitchers; Paul Abraham, Ernesto Frieri, Josh Geer, Wilton Lopez, and Jared Wells. Catchers; Nick Hundley, and Jose Lobaton. Infielders; Matt Antonelli, Kyle Blanks and Brett Dowdy. Outfielders; Mike Baxter, Drew Macias and Will Veneble.

Click here for the full roster

Updated: 3/9/08 7:16PM EST.MiLB.com has an article about the Padres and the China series. As the article notes, the Padres chose to not included any of the starting pitchers who figure prominently into their 2008 plan. That means no Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux or Chris Young. They’ll stay behind to continue their preparations for the upcoming season.

Many players like [Matt] Antonelli view the trip to China as a once-in-a-lifetime experience and welcomed their inclusion on the trip, which will include a visit to the Great Wall as well as other tourists ventures in and around Beijing.

“It’s pretty cool to be part of that, especially when you look back in a few years and say that you were the first to go over there,” Antonelli said. “Especially a young guy like me, I think you’ve got to jump at the opportunity.”

The players will arrive in Beijing Wednesday and stay four nights. The games will take place on the final two days at Wukesong Stadium, which was built for the Olympics in August. In addition to Padres Skipper, Bud Black, coaches Darrel Akerfelds, Randy Ready (a former Wizards manager) Rick Renteria and bullpen catcher Justin Hatcher will make the trip.

[tags]Fort Wayne Wizards, China, MLB, Matt Antonelli, Randy Ready[/tags]

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