Dominican Rep. 8 – Italy 3

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Who needs A-Rod?

Not only does the Dominican Republic have the next best thing at third base, but it likely will be adding Vladimir Guerrero for the next round of the World Baseball Classic.

With so much back-and-forth commotion about whether Alex Rodriguez would play for the Dominican, third baseman Adrian Beltre was overshadowed.

But while A-Rod sweated out pool play in Arizona yesterday with an embarrassed Team USA, Beltre smashed his third homer in two games as the Dominican Republic advanced with an 8-3 victory over Italy.

And after the game, Dominican manager Manny Acta announced that Guerrero wants to join the already star-studded lineup for round two next week in Puerto Rico.

“It’s not etched in stone yet, but it’s almost money in the bank,” said Acta, the Mets’ third-base coach. “And we’re pretty excited about it.”

Guerrero was expected to be a linchpin of the Dominican lineup, but he was granted bereavement leave when three of his cousins were killed in an automobile crash. His countrymen haven’t forgotten him.

“We’ll be waiting for him,” Beltre said. “He can make the lineup better.”

In Guerrero’s absence, Beltre has picked up the slack. He smashed two homers and drove in five in Tuesday’s opener.

And it was his three-run bomb with one out in the fifth yesterday that finally put away the plucky Italians, who led 1-0 after a half-inning and 3-2 in the middle of the third. Beltre’s 400-foot shot to center into a stiff right-to-left breeze gave his club a four-run lead.

“They don’t want to pitch to [Albert] Pujols, [Miguel] Tejada, Big Papi,” Beltre said. “That’s when I take my advantage and try to get a good pitch and hit it hard somewhere.”

Pujols gave the Dominican the lead for good with a two-run laser shot to left in the bottom of the third on a first-pitch fastball.

“He tattooed it,” Italy’s starter, Tony Fiore, said.

Mike Piazza went 0-for-4 and finished 1-for-11 for Italy in the WBC. Piazza thinks the baseball movement in Italy was helped with a rout of Australia and respectable losses to Venezuela and the Dominican.

“We played arguably one of the best-assembled teams in history, and played them pretty tough,” Piazza said. “And made them earn it.”

Beltre has made fans forget about Rodriguez.

“I know what kind of player A-Rod is, and I have a lot of respect for him,” Beltre said.

“When they told me I was going to play third, I was glad. I’m very proud to represent my country.”