San Juan, Puerto Rico (My Sportsbook) - Hiram Bithorn Stadium should be rocking this evening, as Puerto Rico gets its World Baseball Classic slate started against Panama in Game 2 of Pool D.

Puerto Rico had a strong showing in the inaugural Classic, finishing 4-2 and advancing to Round 2 where it lost to Cuba in the deciding game.

Former big leaguer and current St. Louis Cardinals coach Jose Oquendo will guide this team which features a roster chock full of big league stars such as Alex Rios, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and the National League's reigning Rookie of the Year, Geovany Soto.

Oquendo's club, though, could be in trouble from a pitching standpoint.

One pitcher who should have no trouble, though, is Oquendo's starter for Saturday, right-hander Javier Vazquez.

Panama, meanwhile, lost all three of its WBC contests in 2006, but played a couple of nailbiters to start the tournament before getting routed 10-0 by the Netherlands in its final contest.

Former New York Yankees outfielder Hector Lopez will manage a Panama squad that is short on big league talent. Reliever Mariano Rivera again opted to skip the tournament, leaving the bullpen in the capable hands of Manny Corpas.

Lopez will have one big bat in his lineup in Houston's Carlos Lee.

Former big league left-hander Bruce Chen will go for Panama on Saturday.

Tonight's winner will face the winner of Pool D's Game 1 matchup between the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands on Monday. However, the losers of the first two games will square off in an elimination matchup on Sunday.