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On the 61st edition of the PhoulBallz Minor League Podcast Tug and Jay are joined by former Phillies hurler Brandon Duckworth , who phoned in to discuss his minor league days, winning multiple Paul Owens Awards, pitching in Japan and plenty more. The guys also chat about Jimmy Rollins ' chase of the all-time Phillies hit record, Severino Gonzalez 's struggles, the progress of Cesar Hernandez and some relief that may be on the way for the big club. Use the media player below to stream the full episode, or simply download it by clicking HERE . You can also check out previous episodes and subscribe on iTunes . 

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. ...

The Phillies announced on Tuesday that right-handed pitcher Scott Mathieson has been released, freeing him to pursue a contract with a team in Asia. The 27-year-old was 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA in 15 big league games in his career. He held opponents scoreless in four relief outings this year for the Phillies. Mathieson is secretive about his destination, stating exclusively to PhoulBallz.com that he has an agreement with the team he’ll be pitching for to not announce the signing before Friday, when that club expects to make the news public. A source close to PhoulBallz.com has stated that the Yomiuri Giants in Japan will be the team that Mathieson is set to sign with. The change is something that Mathieson is ready for and he expects to pitch outside of North America for the foreseeable future. “I’m very excited for this. I am hoping to play with this team for a while and maybe come back to finish my career in the States, but, right now, I’m hoping to play overseas for a while,” Mathieson s...

The World Baseball Classic begins tomorrow, when Pool A gets things popping at 4:30AM Eastern. In conjunction this week, and next, with Swing and a Long Drive and The IronPigPen , we're going to glance over our picks for who will advance to the 2nd round of the WBC. The easiest pick in the bunch, to win their pool is Japan in Pool A. The defending WBC champs easily have the best roster in this bracket. Also, Japan may very well have the best starting pitching duo in the entire Classic. Yu Darvish and Daisuke Matsuzaka are likely to be a knockout 1-2 punch on the mound, especially in Pool A. Most of you should be familiar with "Dice-K", but if you haven't heard of Darvish...you should be watching Japan closely. The 6'5" fireballer is just 22 years old and already is winning awards in Japan. He also has completed back-to-back seasons with both double digit complete games and an ERA under 2. Other major leaguers on Team Japan are Kenji Johjima, Ichiro Suzuki, K...