World Baseball Classic thread

MSUJet85 · Mar 13, 2006

USA opens Round 2 with win on A-Rod's clutch hit
Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Even the Americans figured they caught a break.

Alex Rodriguez hit a bases-loaded, two-out single in the ninth to give the United States a 4-3 victory over Japan on Sunday in the opener of Round 2 in the inaugural World Baseball Classic after the losers appeared to be deprived of the go-ahead run.

Alex Rodriguez
AP Photo/Chris Carlson
Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-5, including this game-winning single up the middle with two outs in the USA's 4-3 win Sunday.

It looked as though Japan broke a 3-3 tie against Joe Nathan in the eighth when Akinori Iwamura flied to left with one out and the bases loaded. Tsuyoshi Nishioka beat Randy Winn's throw home, and second base umpire Brian Knight ruled safe when Team USA appealed the play. But plate umpire Bob Davidson overruled the call following a brief discussion with the other umpires.

"The wrong umpire made the initial call," Davidson said in a statement issued afterward. "That's the plate umpire's call. I had it lined up. It's my call, and I had him leaving early and called him out."

Davidson is one of 22 major league umpires who lost their jobs in the 1999 labor dispute. He's now a minor league ump who fills in at the big-league level.

"It gave us a huge lift. I mean, it changes the game," said Team USA first baseman Derrek Lee, who hit a two-run homer in the sixth to tie the game. "You don't see a call like that overturned very often, so we definitely got a gift right there.

"But we'll take it, it worked out for us."

It didn't appear Nishioka left before Winn made the catch on the television replay, and Japan manager Sadaharu Oh argued to no avail.

"It's just unimaginable that this could have happened, or this did happen, in the U.S. where baseball is very famous and popular," Oh said through a translator. "And it's a pity that it was overruled."

Team USA manager Buck Martinez said he didn't know if he's ever had a call like that reversed.

"I know I've appealed a play once in Fenway on a very similar type of play, once in Seattle," he said. "That was a good feeling today to have that one go in our favor. I had a really good look at it. Everybody on the bench reacted the same way, which validates what I thought was happening."

Japan loaded the bases in the top of the ninth on three walks before winner Brad Lidge, Team USA's sixth pitcher, struck out Hiyoshi Tamura to end the inning.

Vernon Wells opened the bottom half with his third hit and Winn sacrificed, but reached first when second baseman Nishioka drew an error for coming off the base while catching third baseman Akinori Iwamura's throw.

Loser Kyuji Fujikawa threw out Wells at third on Michael Young's attempted sacrifice, and Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Ken Griffey struck out before Rodriguez appeared to be jammed on a 1-1 pitch, but his grounder got past Fujikawa and Nishioka's sliding attempt behind second was unsuccessful as Winn scored from third.

The run was unearned because of Nishioka's error. Rodriguez went 2-for-5, making him 7-of-14 in the Classic.

"It was the first opportunity of this sort that I had, and that was definitely good," he said. "I definitely felt very proud."

Chipper Jones also homered for the Americans and Ichiro Suzuki homered for Japan.

An announced crowd of 32,896 attended the opener of Round 2. South Korea beat Mexico 2-1 Sunday night before a crowd of 42,979 at Angel Stadium, where single games will be played Monday through Thursday to complete the second round.

The fans began a "USA! USA!" chant for the first time in the game with one out and one on in the sixth, and Lee responded a few pitches later by hitting a 3-1 delivery from Naoyuki Shimizu over the left-center field fence.

Shimizu was called twice for going to his mouth while on the mound -- an automatic ball -- shortly before Lee connected. The first came before a 2-1 pitch to Jones, who walked, and the second prior to the first pitch to Lee.

Suzuki, not known for his power, hit Jake Peavy's third pitch of the game into the right-field bleachers to give Japan a 1-0 lead.

Japan made it 3-0 in the second on a two-out, two-run single by Munenori Kawasaki, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup. Jones led off the bottom half by hitting a 3-1 pitch from Koji Uehara into the right-center field seats for his second WBC homer, making it 3-1.

"Derrek Lee's home run was the biggest blow of the game because we felt like if we could just get the game tied and turn it over to our bullpen, we would scratch out a run somewhere," Jones said. "The bullpen was a little shaky there in the eighth and ninth, but those guys bowed their necks and made pitches when they had to and we got the benefit of a call.

"It's a shame that that play is the one everybody's going to talk about, because it was a well-played game on both sides and both teams should be commended and applauded."

Peavy, who worked three scoreless innings in Team USA's 2-0 first-round victory over Mexico, gave up three runs and five hits in five innings. He used 67 pitches and settled down after a rocky start, retiring nine of his last 10 batters.

Uehara allowed seven hits and one run in five innings, using 75 pitches. The pitch count is up to 80 from 65 in the first round.

Dontrelle Willis will start Monday night when Team USA faces South Korea, and Roger Clemens is scheduled to pitch Thursday for the Americans against Mexico.

The WBC semifinals will be played Saturday in San Diego, where the winners will meet for the championship of the inaugural Classic two days later.
Click to expand...

United States 4, Japan 3

MSUJet85 · Mar 13, 2006

Puerto Rico's pitchers shut down Dominicans
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Jose Cruz Jr. went 3-for-5 with three RBI, and four Puerto Rico pitchers combined to shut down the Dominican Republic in a 7-1 win in the second round of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday night.

Pitchers Javier Vazquez, Jose Santiago, Kiko Calero and J.C. Romero combined to limit the Dominicans to one run and six hits.

"Who's got more pitching? Who's got more hitting? You have to show that on the field," Vazquez said. "Everyone knows the Dominicans have great hitters and there's no doubt about it. But I hope that the people who had doubts about our pitching staff start to recognize that we too have good pitching."

Los Angeles Angels starter Bartolo Colon matched Vazquez in the early going, allowing one run and four hits in five innings, but Puerto Rico roughed up reliever Damaso Marte in the sixth.

Carlos Beltran walked and Javy Lopez doubled to left to open the inning. Cruz then drove in both runners with a base hit and went to second on a throwing error by center fielder Willy Taveras. He went to third on Jose Valentin's single and scored on Alex Cintron's bunt hit to give Puerto Rico a 4-1 lead.

Valentin had a two-run single in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-1.

Vazquez allowed a solo homer to Seattle Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre in the second but settled down after that, giving up one run and three hits in five innings. He struck out five and didn't walk a batter.

Santiago followed Vazquez with 1 2/3 shutout innings, allowing two hits and a walk. Calero walked one in 1 1/3 innings, and Romero shut out the Dominican Republic in the ninth.

Moises Alou went 2-for-4 for the Dominican Republic.
Click to expand...

Puerto Rico 7, Dominican Republic 1

MSUJet85 · Mar 13, 2006

DOMINICAN REP 7, CUBA 3

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico(Ticker) -- The Dominican Republic rode a
strong effort by Odalis Perez and took advantage of some poor
defense to keep alive its World Baseball Classic title hopes.

Perez pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings and the Dominicans scored
three unearned runs early en route to a 7-3 victory over Cuba.

After Sunday's 7-1 loss to Puerto Rico in the first game of the
second round, the Dominican Republic (4-1) faced a virtual
must-win situation against Cuba and got a much-needed solid
performance from Perez.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lefthander yielded just three hits and a
walk while the powerful Dominican lineup built a 5-0 lead
through four innings.

With one out in the third, Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore
Orioles opened the scoring with a two-run double. One out
later, Cuban third baseman Michel Enriquez fielded a routine
ground ball by Moises Alou, but his throw sailed over the head
of first baseman Ariel Borrea, allowing two more runs to score.

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Ronny Paulino doubled down the left
field line in the fourth and scored when Borrea failed to
backhand Polanco's grounder to make it 5-0.

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz blasted a towering home run
to right field in the fifth and drew a bases-loaded walk in the
sixth to push the lead to 7-0.

The Cubans (3-2) scored once in the seventh and twice in the
ninth before Fernando Rodney struck out Joan Carlos Pedrosa on a
3-2 count with the bases loaded to end it.

Vicyohandry Odelin took the loss for the Cubans, allowing three
runs - two earned - and two hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Click to expand...

Dominican Republic 7, Cuba 3

Italian Seafood · Mar 13, 2006

Odalis had a good outing, that's encouraging. The WBC is getting pretty good.

SettlerDawg · Mar 14, 2006

What Bulls***! I was hoping to finally catch a game, and what do they do? They show tennis instead! What the hell! The WBC is thriving, its exciting, and the US is playing the best team in its pool. And we can't watch the damn game! And whats worse is that espn shows the score on their update thing, so you're gonna end up finding out the score before you can even see the beginning of the game! What the hell?!

MSUJet85 · Mar 14, 2006

Puerto Rico held to seven hits in first loss of tourney
Associated Press

RECAP | BOX SCORE

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Facing elimination from the World Baseball Classic, Venezuela overpowered Puerto Rico on the mound and at the plate.

Victor Martinez hit a grand slam, Carlos Zambrano combined with six pitchers on a seven-hitter and Venezuela defeated Puerto Rico 6-0 in the second round of the World Baseball Classic on Monday night.

Zambrano struck out five in four innings, giving up two hits and two walks. Carlos Silva, Rafael Betancourt, Gustavo Chacin, Victor Zambrano, Jorge Julio and Francisco Rodriguez allowed five hits over the final five innings.

Endy Chavez hit a two-run homer off Joel Pineiro in the fifth and Martinez extended Venezuela's lead to 6-0 with a grand slam in the eighth as Puerto Rico lost for the first time in the tournament.

"We've been quiet offensively and today we came through when we needed it," said Venezuela manager Luis Sojo. "It's not a secret that our fine pitching has kept us afloat in this tournament."

Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Cuba and the Dominican Republic are now tied with a 1-1 record.

Venezuela plays the Dominican Republic on Tuesday night and Cuba meets Puerto Rico on Wednesday. The winners will advance to the semifinals.

"This win will lift our team's spirit because tomorrow we'll play a crucial game. Our offense stood tall today," Chavez said.

With two outs in the fifth, Chavez hit his second homer of the WBC on Pineiro's 3-1 pitch.

"I wanted to put the ball in play and he put good wood on it," Pineiro said. "It was a sinker. ... He hit it to the right part of the ballpark and the wind was blowing that way."

Pineiro left the game one batter later after walking Omar Vizquel on four pitches. Reliever Pedro Feliciano got a pop fly to left from Bobby Abreu to close the inning.

Venezuela loaded the bases in the eighth with walks to Vizquel and Abreu, and Miguel Cabrera was hit by a pitch. Martinez followed with a drive to right off Ivan Maldonado.

"We came here today with only one task in mind: to win. We knew it would be tough because Puerto Rico's line up is of a very high class," Martinez said.

Silva replaced Carlos Zambrano in the fifth and benefited from an odd double play.

Jose Valentin opened the inning with a single and reached third on a single by Alex Cintron. Alex Cora bunted, but catcher Ramon Hernandez fielded and threw to Vizquel at second to force out Cintron. Then Vizquel threw to third and Valentin was tagged out.

Bernie Williams made the third out with a fly to center. Silva scattered four hits in two innings with one strikeout.

Pineiro pitched out of a jam in the second with two runners on base and no outs. Victor Martinez walked and Hernandez singled to left. First baseman Javy Lopez made a sliding catch in foul territory to retire Hernandez. Magglio Ordonez hit a grounder to short for an inning-ending double play.

Pineiro pitched 4 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts and allowed two runs on four hits and three walks.
Click to expand...

Venezuela 6, Puerto Rico 0

MSUJet85 · Mar 14, 2006

Errors, Choi's HR help Korea stay unbeaten
Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Team USA received another poor performance from Dontrelle Willis, plus a lack of timely hitting.

Hee Seop Choi
AP Photo/Chris Carlson
Hee-Seop Choi watched his three-run homer sail into the night -- and land just fair in the second row of the right-field stands.

And what seemed to be a proper strategical move backfired. No wonder the Americans lost.

Hee-Seop Choi's three-run homer off Dan Wheeler in the fourth inning was the key blow Monday night as Korea beat the Americans 7-3 to remain the only unbeaten team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

The game was played before an announced crowd of 21,288 at Angel Stadium.

"When they got a good pitch to hit, they didn't miss it," Team USA manager Buck Martinez said. "They pitched very effectively to the heart of our order. We hit some balls hard. They made quality pitches when they had to."

Korea (2-0) will play its final game of Round 2 against Japan on Wednesday night. Japan (0-1) will face Mexico (0-1) on Tuesday, and Team USA (1-1) will play Mexico on Thursday in other Round 2 action. The top two teams will meet Saturday in the semifinals at Petco Park in San Diego.

Korea led 3-1 when Min Jae Kim, who had three hits, doubled with two outs in the fourth. Seung Yeop Lee was walked intentionally before Choi hit a towering fly ball into the right-field corner that barely eluded Vernon Wells, landing just fair and in the second row, making it 6-1.

Lee put Korea ahead for good by hitting his WBC-leading fifth homer off Willis in the first. Lee came to the plate in the fourth with seven hits in 15 at-bats, seven runs and 10 RBI in the Classic, making the decision to walk him seem reasonable.

But Choi, a Los Angeles Dodgers reserve who was pinch-hitting for Tae Kyun Kim, spoiled the strategy.

"Lee has been red hot in this tournament," Martinez said. "I just felt like it was the best move. I felt like we would take our chances. Hee-Seop Choi, we knew him very well. We just didn't get the ball in on him. He got enough of it to hit it over the fence."

The Americans didn't play anywhere near their best. They put the first two runners on base in the first, fourth and fifth innings, but failed to score each time. They stranded 11 runners and committed three errors after making only one in the first four games.

"We definitely could have played better," said first baseman Mark Teixeira, who went hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts. "Anytime you lose, there are things you could have done better.

"We could have hit better, we could have fielded better, we could have pitched better. But they just beat us."

Team USA's problems started with Willis, who had his second bad outing of the Classic, giving up four hits, four walks and three runs in three innings.

"I just had bad rhythm today," he said. "I think I was very composed out there. I had a great game plan, I just didn't execute. I'm just not playing the best baseball I can possibly play. My confidence is still up."

Martinez said he hasn't lost confidence in the Florida Marlins left-hander.

"I don't think there's a man in that clubhouse who doesn't want to give the ball to Dontrelle Willis," Martinez said. "It's just a matter of giving him one more chance. We're going to do everything we can to give him the ball."

Choi, who hit three homers in a game against Minnesota last season, said this one was more meaningful.

"This is different -- it's for my own country," he said through an interpreter. "And we were able to beat the U.S., which is the best team in the world."

Korean manager In Sik Kim seemed surprised by his team's convincing victory.

"Something happened today which nobody could believe," he said. "This is a collection of all the best of the major league players. It's very difficult to believe what happened. But this is baseball. You never know what might happen."

Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. had three hits each for Team USA. Griffey hit his third homer of the Classic and drove in two runs.

After Lee's two-out homer in the first, the winners got another run on a walk and singles by Ji Han Song and Bum Ho Lee.

Griffey homered with two outs in the third off Min Han Son, but Korea countered on Bum Ho Lee's RBI grounder in the bottom of the inning.

Kim's run-scoring single off Mike Timlin in the sixth made it 7-1. The run was earned despite two errors in the inning by second baseman Chase Utley, who was booed when he came to the plate to lead off the seventh.

Team USA scored twice off Tae Hyon Chong in the ninth on a run-scoring single by Griffey and an RBI grounder by Alex Rodriguez before Seung Hwan Oh retired Chipper Jones on a grounder to second to end the game.

Son allowed two hits and one run in three innings in his second effective outing of the Classic. Reliever Dae Sung Koo pitched three shutout innings for Korea.

"We had our chances right from the first inning," Jeter said. "We just didn't get any hits with guys on base. I don't know if you can learn from it. I'm well aware of what it takes to win. We just didn't do it."
Click to expand...

Korea 7, United States 3

Cellar-door · Mar 14, 2006

The US should be out, they lost to korea, and only won against JApan because of that terrible call

MSUJet85 · Mar 15, 2006

Dominican one-hits Venezuela, advances to semis
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Pitching for his country has brought out the best in Daniel Cabrera.

Duaner Sanchez
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Duaner Sanchez pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings to earn the save as the Dominican Republic advanced to the semifinals.

The 24-year-old right-hander threw four hitless innings and the Dominican Republic one-hit Venezuela to advance to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic with a 2-1 victory Tuesday night.

"From the first moment I heard that there would be a Classic, I started preparing for this," said Cabrera, who was 10-13 with a 4.52 ERA for the Baltimore Orioles last year. "I've never been a part of such an important game like this."

He struck out seven with one walk as the elimination game in Group 2 turned into a classic pitchers duel, with the go-ahead run scoring on a passed ball by Venezuela catcher Ramon Hernandez in the sixth.

"Daniel deserves all the credit," Dominican manager Manny Acta said. "We had several scoring opportunities to break the game open. We didn't do it, but our pitching staff came through."

Francisco Liriano, Miguel Batista and Salomon Torres followed Cabrera, and Duaner Sanchez pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings to earn a save.

Venezuela loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth on two walks and an error by Miguel Tejada, but Edgardo Alfonzo flied out to right for the final out.

Singles by Alberto Castillo and Placido Polanco, and a walk by Tejada loaded the bases in the sixth for the Dominican Republic. With two outs, Albert Pujols took a 2-0 pitch from Kelvim Escobar that brushed off Hernandez's mitt and allowed Castillo to score from third.

Acta said the only change in the roster for the semifinal game in San Diego will be the substitution of pitcher Damaso Marte, who is injured.

"We will using the line up that you saw out there today. It's not time to make big changes. That line up won the last to games for us," Acta added.

The end
It's not common to see professional, millionaire ballplayers cry. But the scene occurred in Venezuela's clubhouse after being eliminated from the WBC.

"Long faces, with tears in their eyes" is how manager Luis Sojo described his players' mood following the loss to the D.R.

"It's sad to see a team of this magnitude be eliminated," he added. "Really sad."

With a roster full of major leaguers, Team Venezuela was one of the favorites to win the Classic, but its offense never took off.

"We were not able to get in a groove offensively, and that's why we're out," said Sojo.

Venezuela's two best power hitters -- Miguel Cabrera and Bobby Abreu -- were a combined 0-18 in the second round.

"Cabrera started well, but just couldn't get it going in this second round," said Sojo. "I still give credit to the pitchers."

-- Ricardo Zu?iga

The Dominican Republic will play the winner of Wednesday's Puerto Rico-Cuba game in the semifinals Saturday. Bartolo Colon will pitch for the Dominican Republic.

"There is no tomorrow," Acta said. "If we don't win the next game we're not going to the final, so we're not going to be holding off on anyone. Bartolo is the ace of our staff, and he's going to pitch that game."

The Dominicans took a 1-0 lead in the first against starter Freddy Garcia. Polanco singled, moved to third on a double by Tejada and scored on Moises Alou's infield single. But it could have been much worse for Garcia.

After the first two hitters reached, Pujols made the first out with a grounder to third and Garcia intentionally walked David Ortiz to load the bases. Adrian Beltre lined to right for the second out, but Alou drove in Polanco with a soft grounder to third. Juan Encarnacion grounded out to Garcia to close the inning.

Omar Vizquel doubled off Liriano for Venezuela's first hit with one out in the sixth to put runner's at second and third.

Bobby Abreu tied the game at 1 with an RBI groundout to second and Miguel Cabrera made the third out on a grounder to third. Abreu and Cabrera went 0-for-18 in the second round.

"These guys are proven hitters in the major leagues," manager Luis Sojo said. "There really wasn't much to do. They're our best hitters and I wasn't going to sit them on the bench or put them at the bottom of the order."

"I wish good luck to Many Acta and his team and I hope they win this trophy for the Caribbean because we've shown the whole world the talent that we have," Sojo added.

Garcia allowed one run on four hits and a walk. He struck out four in four innings. Escobar pitched three innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and one walk.
Click to expand...

Dominican Republic 2, Venezuela 1

MSUJet85 · Mar 15, 2006

Japan win over Mexico puts U.S. on elimination brink
Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Team USA will be cheering for Korea to beat Japan on Wednesday night. U.S. hopes of winning the inaugural World Baseball Classic could disappear if the Japanese prevail.

Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed one hit in five shutout innings, and Japan beat Mexico 6-1 on Tuesday in the second round of the WBC, putting the United States in danger of being eliminated before its next game.

Korea (2-0) can earn a berth in the semifinals by beating Japan (1-1). If that happens, the United States (1-1) would also make it by beating Mexico (0-2) on Thursday.

But if Japan beats Korea, the Americans could be eliminated from contention even before playing Mexico. That would happen if Japan wins in a nine-inning game and allows seven runs or less because of the complicated tiebreaker system being employed.

That kind of outcome is a distinct possibility, since Japan has allowed only 13 runs in five WBC games; Korea has given up seven.

"That's the way it is -- we created it ourselves," U.S. manager Buck Martinez said about his team's sticky situation. "That's the unique aspect of this. Now, it's up to Korea and Japan."

The semifinals will be played Saturday and the final Monday in San Diego.

Japanese manager Sadaharu Oh said he wouldn't gain any special satisfaction in eliminating the Americans in the wake of Team USA's controversial 4-3 victory over his team Sunday.

"If we can win, there won't be any problem, we'll be happy with that," Oh said through an interpreter. "What happened happened. It's already in the past. It's done. So it's over. So what we're looking at is in the future."

Japan appeared to score the go-ahead run in the eighth inning against Team USA on a one-out, bases-loaded sacrifice fly, but umpire Bob Davidson ruled the runner left third base before the catch was made. A television replay appeared to indicate otherwise. The Americans scored the winning run in the ninth.

Matsuzaka walked two, struck out two, and threw 73 pitches in his second exceptional performance of the WBC. He allowed three hits and one run in four innings in a 13-3 first-round victory over Chinese Taipei.

"His pitching was his best performance I've seen in the Classic," said Japanese catcher Tomoya Satozaki, who had three hits, including a two-run homer. "He pitched very effortless. His fastball was very powerful. I told him to throw fastballs. I wasn't worried whether the Mexican team could hit them. I didn't think they could."

Matsuzaka said he began preseason preparations early because of the Classic.

"This time of the year, usually we're not perfect yet," he said. "I tried to push it early a little bit, I tried to adjust. It's not really a psychological issue. I was expecting this. Tomorrow, we will try our best to succeed. We cannot lose anymore."

Satozaki homered off Esteban Loaiza to cap a four-run rally in the fourth that provided Japan with all the offense it would need.

Miguel Ojeda led off the eighth by hitting a solo homer off Yasuhiko Yabuta for Mexico's only run.

Ichiro Suzuki added an RBI single -- his second hit of the game -- in the ninth off Luis Ayala to complete the scoring.

The game was played before an announced crowd of 16,591 at Angel Stadium.

Because of the tiebreaker system, it would take a low-scoring, extra-inning win against the United States for Mexico to possibly reach the semifinals. And that could only happen if Korea beats Japan, leaving the possibility of three teams finishing Round 2 with 1-2 records.

"We still have one game to go and we're going to try very hard," Mexico manager Paquin Estrada said. "We're going to try and finish it like we should."

Loaiza, who signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics during the offseason, allowed seven hits and four runs in four innings. He threw 75 pitches.

"My pitching wasn't always in the strike zone. I never thought that would happen," Loaiza said. "It's too bad it couldn't have been like in Phoenix."

Loaiza allowed three hits and one run in a five-inning outing last week.

Jorge Cantu's first-inning single was the only hit off Matsuzaka. Juan Castro greeted Tsuyoshi Wada with a single to open the sixth, but Wada retired the next six batters.

Akinori Otsuka worked a scoreless ninth for Japan, with Luis Alfonso Garcia grounding into a game-ending double play. Mexico never sent more than four batters to the plate in an inning, and it stranded only four runners.
Click to expand...

Japan 6, Mexico 1

Italian Seafood · Mar 15, 2006

The DR-Venezuela game was good, Duaner Sanchez got the save after loading the bases with 2 out in the 9th.

MSUJet85 · Mar 16, 2006

Cuba holds on to beat Puerto Rico, advance to semis
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The Cuban relay was perfect and Ivan Rodriguez was cut down at the plate _ and now Cuba is safely into the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic.

Yulieski Gourriel threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh inning and the Cubans held on for a 4-3 victory Wednesday night over Puerto Rico.

Ormari Romero allowed one run in four innings for Cuba (2-1), which will play the Dominican Republic in the single-elimination semifinal game on Saturday in San Diego.

"This team is the world champion and the Olympic champion. We didn't get that for free," Cuba manager Higinio Velez said.

In the first round of the WBC, Puerto Rico beat Cuba 12-2 in a game stopped by the mercy rule after seven innings. But in a game that was win or go home, the Cubans got revenge in front of a raucous Puerto Rican crowd, despite having two close umpires' calls go against them late in the game.

"They have a lot of good players that any team in the United States would be happy to add to their rosters," said Puerto Rico manager Jose Oquendo, who is also the third base coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cuba was up 4-1 when Puerto Rico rallied in the seventh.

With runners at the corners and no out, pinch hitter Ricky Ledee hit a grounder to second baseman Gourriel, who tried to turn a double play. But Gourriel's throw pulled shortstop Eduardo Paret off the bag and Cuba managed to get only one out while giving up a run.

Velez was ejected for arguing the call with second base umpire James Hoye. Replays appeared to show Paret just barely off the base.

After Bernie Williams, who homered in the first inning, hit into double play to leave a runner at third and two outs, Rodriguez walked.

Carlos Beltran lined a single to center to bring in Cintron and center fielder Carlos Tabares bobbled the ball. Ramirez relayed to Gourriel and Rodriguez was thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run from first.

"All we wanted to do was to show the quality of Cuban baseball," Gourriel said.

With the lead down to 4-3 in the eighth, Puerto Rico put runners on first and second with one out.

Jose Valentin then reached safely when pitcher Vicyohandry Odelin's throw in the dirt wasn't fielded cleanly by first baseman Joan Carlos Pedroso. It appeared on replays that Pedroso trapped the throw between his arm and his body.

Cuba argued the call to no avail and the bases were loaded. But Alex Cintron followed with an inning ending double play on a grounder to short.

Cuba scored three runs in the fourth on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded and a throwing error by Cintron, his third of the Classic. Cintron's wild throw allowed two runs to score and put Cuba up 4-1.

Puerto Rico left five runners in scoring position with two outs.

After the Cubans scored a run in the first without a hit, Williams leadoff with a home run to tie the game.

Romero allowed three hits and struck out three. Odelin pitched the final two innings for the save.

Puerto Rico starter Dicky Gonzalez gave up four runs, two earned, in 3 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts and four walks.
Click to expand...

Cuba 4, Puerto Rico 3

MSUJet85 · Mar 16, 2006

Korea beats Japan, clinches semis; US still alive

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Team USA still has a chance to win the World Baseball Classic thanks to Korea.

Now, it's up to Roger Clemens and his teammates to take advantage of the opportunity.

Chan Ho Park and four relievers combined to pitch a six-hitter, Jong Beom Lee hit a two-run double in the eighth, and Korea beat Japan 2-1 Wednesday night to clinch a berth in the semifinals of the inaugural WBC.

The Americans, who would have been eliminated with a low-scoring win by Japan, can wrap up the other semifinal berth in Group One on Thursday with Clemens on the mound by beating Mexico.

"I'll tell you what, I don't know that I've ever been as nervous watching a baseball game as I was in this one," Team USA manager Buck Martinez said. "What a great game that was. It's a big relief, obviously. We were all very anxious for this game tonight. Japan is a very good baseball team.

"It was a well-played game, both teams showed tremendous hearts. There were great defensive plays and key pitching."

Martinez said there's no better big-game pitcher in baseball than Clemens, the 43-year-old right-hander who might be pitching his final game.

"The other night when we were playing Korea, Roger was studying the Mexican hitters' hitting charts," Martinez said. "He is into it. We certainly hope to give him some run support and let him do his thing."

Clemens, who has won 341 games in his big league career, has said he's leaning toward retirement after the Classic.

Korea went 3-0 in Round 2; the United States is 1-1, Japan finished 1-2, and Mexico is 0-2. The Americans beat Mexico 2-0 in the first round last week.

Korea and Japan were scoreless when Min Jae Kim drew a one-out walk in the eighth off Toshiya Sugiuchi, and Byung Kyu Lee followed with a single. Center fielder Tatsuhiko Kinjoh's throw to third arrived ahead of Kim, but Toshiaki Imae juggled the ball, and Lee took second on the play. Imae wasn't charged with an error.

Kyuji Fugikawa relieved, and Jong Beom Lee lined a 2-1 pitch to the left-center field gap. Lee raised his fists in triumph as the ball dropped in, but he was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka homered off Dae Sung Koo to begin the bottom of the ninth for Japan's only run. Noguhiko Matsunaka hit a one-out single before Seung Kwan Oh struck out the next two batters to end the game.

Korea beat Japan 3-2 in first-round action last week in Tokyo.

"I think we are as good as they are, but we lost," Nishioka said through a translator. "We just have to face that Korea is a good team.

"We have to see how the U.S. does. We still have a chance."

The game was played before an announced crowd of 39,679 at Angel Stadium, with most of the fans pulling for Korea. They chanted and banged their blue and white Thunderstix, often cheered even when a Korean hit a foul ball, and booed enthusiastically every time Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki came to the plate.

When the game was over, with the crowd waving Korean flags, the winners took a victory lap around the stadium.

"I was aware of the fact that there were a lot of Koreans living in this area," Jong Beom Lee said. "I didn't know there were that many. I was very touched by their cheering.

"I'm very happy that we beat Japan and we will work much harder to be in the finals."

The semifinals will be played Saturday and the finals Monday at Petco Park in San Diego. The Dominican Republic and Cuba are the semifinalists from Group Two.

Park went five innings, allowing four hits while walking none and striking out three. The San Diego Padres' right-hander threw 66 pitches, 50 of them strikes.

Japan's Shunsuke Watanabe was even better, going six innings and giving up only one hit with two walks and three strikeouts. Watanabe, a 29-year-old right-hander with a submarine delivery, threw 74 pitches, 46 of them strikes, and retired the last 13 batters he faced.

Korea put two runners aboard with two outs in the second, but Watanabe struck out Min Jae Kim to end the inning. Korea wouldn't get another baserunner until the seventh.

Korean right fielder Jin Young Lee made a perfect throw to nail Akinori Iwamura trying to score from second on Tomoya Satozaki's two-out single in the bottom of the inning.

Iwamura left the game at that stage because of pain in his right hamstring, a spokeswoman for the Japanese team said, adding the injury wasn't serious. Iwamura was replaced by Imae.

"We gave everything we had," Japanese manager Sadaharu Oh said. "All the games were hard-fought games. It was also showing that our lineup had trouble scoring runs against real tough pitching."
Click to expand...

Korea 2, Japan 1

28rogerblaze51 · Mar 16, 2006

All US has to do is beat mexico.

Italian Seafood · Mar 16, 2006

Japans's going to be pissed.

ScotsJet · Mar 16, 2006

Korea's the surprise package, but why are the semis made up with teams from the same pool playing each other? Surely Winner A v Runner-up B and Winner B v Runner-up A would make sense? You could theoretically have the same teams playing for the third time in the semis. Not good scheduling.

ShadeTree#55 · Mar 16, 2006

Usa Usa Usa

Barry the Baptist · Mar 16, 2006

ScotsJet said:

Korea's the surprise package, but why are the semis made up with teams from the same pool playing each other? Surely Winner A v Runner-up B and Winner B v Runner-up A would make sense? You could theoretically have the same teams playing for the third time in the semis. Not good scheduling.
Click to expand...

It's done this way so the United States has the best chance to make the finals. The only Latin team they have to play is Mexico and twice at that. I grew tired of this worthless tourney when the US was handed a victory over Japan. I've learned if Bud Selig is involved in anything it's corrupt and not worth the hype. If the US was on the other side playing DR, PR and Cuba they would already be home.

The US is going to win but is anybody really going to care? Like I said the entire tourny reaks of Bud Selig and his shady doings. IMO the WBC is a sham and unless the US doesn't win it probably won't be back in 4 years which is exactly why Bud is going to do everything in his power to make sure the US wins, even at the expense of the integrity of the game. Oh wait that's nothing new......

Italian Seafood · Mar 16, 2006

I don't agree with that. What is in it for them to rig it for the US to win? There are recognizable major leaguers on most of the teams except Cuba, it doesn't matter who wins. They set it up so the geographic rivals would play each other. The Latin American games were awesome, the flip side is that the US has no real international rivals in baseball. Not yet, anyway.

ButtleMan · Mar 16, 2006

I will watch the game tonight since it will be broadcast live but ESPN has done a horrible job televising the games.
How can you promote the games if it is getting shown on tape delay on ESPN Deportes?

World Baseball Classic thread

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

Italian Seafood New Member

SettlerDawg Well-Known Member

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

Cellar-door Active Member

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

Italian Seafood New Member

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

28rogerblaze51 New Member

Italian Seafood New Member

ScotsJet Active Member

ShadeTree#55 Active Member

Barry the Baptist Hello son, would you like a lolly?
Moderator

Italian Seafood New Member

ButtleMan New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches

World Baseball Classic thread

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

Italian Seafood New Member

SettlerDawg Well-Known Member

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

Cellar-door Active Member

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

Italian Seafood New Member

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Moderator

28rogerblaze51 New Member

Italian Seafood New Member

ScotsJet Active Member

ShadeTree#55 Active Member

Barry the Baptist Hello son, would you like a lolly? Moderator

Italian Seafood New Member

ButtleMan New Member

Share This Page

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

MSUJet85 ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Moderator

Barry the Baptist Hello son, would you like a lolly?
Moderator