SF Giants Press Clips Saturday, March 4, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Giants’ Posey returns from sore neck to start busy weekend Henry Shulman MESA, Ariz. — Buster Posey was in a fun mood Friday morning when he went all Maxwell Smart on reporters who asked if it would be interesting to face longtime batterymate Sergio Romo and that Frisbee slider in a later round of the World Baseball Classic. “It would be a chess match, for sure,” Posey said, “just because I feel I know his tendencies and he probably knows that I know his tendencies. So it would be a matter of me trying to figure out if he’s still going to pitch to those tendencies or if he’s going to go away from those tendencies, or if he thinks that I might. ... I know he might go away from his tendencies.” “Does that help?” he asked. Once Posey emerged from the Cone of Silence (which was not working properly), he explained that the “old-man neck” stiffness that sidelined him for two games was better and he outlined his busy plans for the weekend to make up for lost time before leaving for the tournament Monday. He started by catching five innings and going 0-for-2 with a walk in Friday’s 6-1 loss to the A’s. Posey plans to be the DH in Saturday’s road game against the Royals and catch Madison Bumgarner in Sunday’s home game against Kansas City. 1 That could provide Posey as many as 10 plate appearances in three games to add to the four he had before Friday. “When I’ve been in there I’ve felt good,” Posey said. “I haven’t felt like I’m fatiguing. This will be a good gauge, playing three days in a row.” Posey remains hitless and will have little time to prepare for the international competition. The U.S. team’s first game in pool play comes Friday against Colombia. Posey could add at-bats in exhibitions against the Twins on Wednesday and Red Sox on Thursday. Posey could be away from the Giants for as little as a week, in the unlikely event the U.S. fails to advance out of its pool. If it reaches the final game, Posey would not return before March 23, 10 days before the regular-season opener at Arizona. Giants pitchers will lose their catcher for as long as 2½ weeks. Jeff Samardzija, who started Friday, said that’s unusual, but not a concern because the pitchers know Posey and vice versa. “The good thing is all of us guys threw to him last year, obviously (Matt Cain) and Bum even longer than that,” Samardzija said. “We just look forward to him representing the country well and coming back healthy. Hopefully he’ll have fun.” Sharp Shark: Samardzija looked the best of any starter thus far in 22/3 excellent innings. “He was really good,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Buster said the same thing.” Samardzija allowed an opposite-field solo homer on a 2-0 fastball to Yonder Alonso, the only one of the 10 batters he faced to hit the ball hard. Samardzija had no walks and three strikeouts. “It was pretty surprising the way (the ball) was coming out there from the beginning,” Samardzija said. “We worked all our pitches in. As a whole, I’m really happy with getting ahead in the count and putting guys away. For spring training, it’s a good outing.” Cueto update: Johnny Cueto was flying to Arizona on Friday and was scheduled to land in the 2 late afternoon. He will take his physical and meet with the staff Saturday. Briefly: Brandon Crawford, also headed to the WBC, is 2-for-14, but for seven innings he had the Giants’ only hit, a hard grounder in the second inning that hit third base and landed in left field. ... With spring training nearly three weeks along and still so many games left, Bochy canceled workouts and batting practice for those who made the trip to face the A’s, hoping they would be fresh. It did not work. The Giants had three hits. San Francisco Chronicle The WBC: Expand your mind and enjoy Bruce Jenkins A great event is about to unfold, although some critics prefer other descriptions, such as “wasteful” and “ill-timed.” It’s the World Baseball Classic, a world in which the United States barely fits — and it’s no problem at all. To major-league teams, the WBC is a threat, an annoyance and a distraction. There’s a constant fear of someone getting hurt, and the team — supposedly a country at its very best — never looks quite right. Those fears are entirely justified, by the way. Imagine the likes of Mike Trout , Clayton Kershaw , Madison Bumgarner , Kris Bryant , Josh Donaldson , Jake Arrieta or Noah Syndergaard getting seriously injured in a springtime event against China or Australia. The residue: None of those players will appear for the U.S. If you can’t get interested in a team featuring Nolan Arenado , Paul Goldschmidt , Brandon Crawford , Buster Posey , Chris Archer and Daniel Murphy , just look elsewhere — because that’s the entire point. Everywhere else in the world, this is a very big deal. Here at the 3-Dot Lounge, not a minute of action will be missed involving Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, Japan, Venezuela or the Netherlands. Stock the semifinals with any four of those teams, and it’s a dream scenario. There are assorted regrets. Pablo Sandoval , a long-standing legend for his feats with the Venezuelan team, will concentrate on winning back his third-base job with the Red Sox. Cuba refuses to send its defectors-turned-MLB stars, leaving Yoenis Céspedes ’ younger brother, Yoelkis , as perhaps its most intriguing player (he’s 19, built like an NFL running back 3 and is known for his tremendous throwing arm). The noble Ichiro Suzuki has played his last international game for Japan. And there’s a 22-year-old Japanese superstar named Shohei Otani who reportedly threw 100 mph-plus fastballs as a pitcher and hit .322 with 22 homers for the Nippon-Ham Fighters last year. Alas, Otani, originally on Japan’s roster, won’t play because of an ankle injury, so it’s a grand opportunity lost. Not a bother, for there’s so much else going on. The Dutch team is one of eternal fascination, thanks largely to the Netherlands’ Caribbean constituent countries of Aruba and Curacao. Four years ago, its WBC team unveiled infielders Xander Bogaerts, Andrelton Simmons , Jonathan Schoop and Jurickson Profar . They all return, along with yet another top infielder ( Didi Gregorius ), a power-hitting legend on the international scene ( Wladimir Balentien of Curacao) and knighted manager Sir Hensley “Bam- Bam” Meulens , who takes great pride in this brief departure from the Giants’ coaching staff. Its delightful to imagine Sergio Romo hearing the roars of a home-country crowd as he stares down Puerto Rico’s Carlos Correa , Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez during the first round of games in Jalisco, Mexico. The Dominican Republic’s “heart of the order” never really ends with Jose Bautista , Adrian Beltre , Robinson Cano , Nelson Cruz , Manny Machado and Carlos Santana available. The D.R. reliever asked to save a theatrical gem by Johnny Cueto — should he join the WBC after the first round — just might be his old teammate, Santiago Casilla . Venezuela looks typically magnificent with Miguel Cabrera , Jose Altuve , Carlos Gonzalez , Felix Hernandez and many others, managed by Hall of Fame-bound Omar Vizquel . For the U.S., action starts in Miami with the four-team Group C (including Canada, Colombia and the Dominican) March 9-13. Perhaps the WBC doesn’t sound like much. Invest a bit of time, and you may feel differently. Spice it up New 49ers general manager John Lynch says he’s in favor of resurrecting the annual exhibition game against the Raiders. Absolutely. We’d love to see the NFL take it a step further and make it a staple on the regular-season schedule as long as the team stays in Oakland ... For those pondering a 49ers quarterback landscape without Colin Kaepernick but adding rookie Davis Webb from the draft: Not a chance for Kaepernick nostalgia. Never forget that Webb had great receivers and a pass-crazy offense at Cal, but he has a beautiful touch and throws a great long ball ... So I’m vacationing in Hawaii, checking our the local Oceanic Cable, and there’s an option 4 to subscribe to the Pac-12 Networks — a luxury not enjoyed by DirecTV customers. At least somebody does it right ... Sorry to see KNBR eliminate its periodic sports updates, citing fans’ obsession with cell phones but apparently forgetting that a lot of people listen while driving. Truth be told, those interludes did need some work. It’s not an “update” when your lead items are “49ers took a tough loss yesterday” or “big game for the Warriors tonight.” ... Word out of Tampa Bay is that beloved ex-Giant Matt Duffy has recovered steadily from his surgically repaired Achilles tendon but may not be ready for Opening Day ... Nice to hear Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow back on the air (for Giants-Dodgers on Wednesday), especially when Kuiper drops those gentle reminders to Brandon Belt : Don’t defy the shifts, use them to your advantage ... When Scott Ostler joined The Chronicle in 1992, it seemed like some sort of miracle. He had put himself in the company of an old Los Angeles Times colleague, Jim Murray , as the greatest humorists in sportswriting.