OLYMPICS NEWS - Team USA Baseball

Hessman is playing again, but except for a home run in the 1st game, he has not gotten a hit in the last 2 games.

Blain Neal is also having a bad time. He gave up the only run in the 9-1 win against China. His ERA is 9.00.

While talking baseball...softball is close enough, right?

USA goes 7-0 in group play. The top 4 teams advance. The US outscored the opponents 53-1 and the only run was unearned. In the 7 games they only gave up 5 hits, and only once did a team manage 2.

Against the other 3 teams that made the final four, the US was 3-0 and outscored them 18-1 and gave up just 2 hits.

Standings - Team ---- Games --- Won --- Lost - Runs For - Runs Against - W/L% - GB

1.......	KOR...	7....	7......	0.......	41.......	22.........	1.000	....-
2	CUB	7	6	1	52	23	.857	1
3	USA	7	5	2	40	22	.714	2
4	JPN	7	4	3	30	14	.571	3
5	TPE	7	2	5	29	33	.286	5
6	CAN	7	2	5	29	20	.286	5
7	NED	7	1	6	9	50	.143	6
8	CHN	7	1	6	14	60	.143	6

Beat Cuba and we clinch a medal!

Cuba beat USA 10-2 in Semi-Finals

USA now must beat Japan for Bronze.

Curtain call? Cuba goes for last gold
Will face unbeaten South Korea in rematch from Day 11
Posted Friday, August 22, 2008 5:52 AM ET

BEIJING (AP) -- In one game-breaking inning against the Americans, Cuba demonstrated exactly why it has been so dominant on the world baseball stage for decades.

The U.S. team will find no gold in Beijing. And the Cubans are back in the very place the know so well -- playing for an Olympic title.

Alexei Bell hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to put the punctuation mark on Cuba's 10-2 rout of the Americans on Friday night.

"We knew it was going to be difficult to beat the United States, but it's always great to play against the U.S. and leave them out of the race," Bell said. "It's important both because of the sports and political history we have together."

Bell let his emotions show for the thousands of spectators. He raised his hand to signal No. 1 while rounding the bases, then Ariel Pestano added his own three-run shot three batters later to seal it.

Alfredo Despaigne hit his second homer against the U.S. this tournament and Frederich Cepeda also connected.

"The offense surprised me," manager Antonio Pacheco said. "We were well prepared but I didn't expect that many runs."

Anything less than gold will be considered a failure for the Cubans, who have won three of the previous four Olympic tournaments since baseball became a medal sport in 1992.

Cuba (7-1) will play Saturday night against unbeaten South Korea (8-0), and the U.S. (5-3) will face Japan for bronze in the first game of the day. South Korea rallied past Japan 6-2 in Friday's first semifinal.

"Playing for bronze isn't what we came here for, but it's what we're doing now," said American reliever Jeff Stevens, on the mound as Cuba started the eighth-inning onslaught. "We want to bring home a medal. We don't want to leave here empty-handed. Japan's thinking the same thing."

After the final out, the Cubans celebrated mildly on the mound. The team includes Antonio Castro, the team doctor and son of the country's former president.

Cuba finished runner-up to the U.S. in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics before winning again four years later in Athens. Capturing gold in China might mean even more to the island, considering baseball will come off the Olympic program for the 2012 London Games and might not be back.

Cuba also received a big boost from Hector Olivera, who earned the start at first base in place of Alexander Malleta. Pacheco benched Malleta after he claimed he was playing with a hurt wrist and blamed the injury for his struggles.

Olivera, making only his second appearance of the tournament, put Cuba ahead 2-0 in the third. He hit an RBI triple and then scored after second baseman Brian Barden took the cutoff and threw wildly past third. The Americans' defensive miscues hurt them in their two previous Olympic losses.

The big inning hurt, too.

"It was brutal," catcher Lou Marson said.

Cuba starter Norge Luis Vera pitched six strong innings, allowing only one earned run and two hits. Imposing reliever Pedro Lazo followed and was nearly as impressive in three scoreless innings, earning a save.

"I did my job. I came out with the game 4-2 and the important part was I shut down their offense," said Lazo, who deemed himself available for the gold-medal game.

Matt Brown had a sacrifice fly in the fourth and the Americans scored in the fifth when Lou Marson's shallow fly dropped between second baseman Yuliesky Gourriel and Bell in right field.

This was an anticipated rematch of Cuba's 5-4, 11-inning victory last Friday in which Jayson Nix of the U.S. fouled a ball off his left eye and needed microsurgery to repair the wound. He hasn't played since.

Afterward, American manager Davey Johnson accused Lazo of purposely throwing at Nix's head. Lazo and the Cubans vehemently denied it and Johnson later softened his stance.

Johnson planned to play both Nix and Matt LaPorta on Saturday. LaPorta suffered a mild concussion when he got hit in the head with a pitch against China on Monday.

This time, Bell got the first hit off U.S. starter Stephen Strasburg with one out in the second, beating out an infield single with the pitcher covering first. But Bell was thrown out trying to steal second moments later.

Johnson pushed back Strasburg's scheduled Wednesday start against Japan in the finale of the preliminary round so the hard-throwing right-hander could go in a more important game.

Strasburg, the probable No. 1 pick in next year's major league draft, out of San Diego State, dazzled in his Olympic debut but wasn't nearly as sharp and faced trouble in three of his four innings. Because Strasburg has thrown so many innings this year, Johnson took him out after 75 pitches.

"Under normal circumstances I probably would have let him throw 130," Johnson said.

In his previous outing, he carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and struck out 11 in the Americans' 7-0, rain-shortened victory over the Netherlands last Thursday.

Cuba was on a roll, too, coming off a 17-1 rout of China on Wednesday.

"We couldn't get any offense going," Johnson said. "We were in a really good position, we just didn't hold them. Too many mistakes."

Wukesong Stadium was nearly full, save for a few open seats in the outfield bleachers. Cuba's fans chanted of "Let's go Cuba!" in Chinese, standing to clap and wave their country's flag. The team even had its share of supporters from China.

I hate the Cubans!


Fidel Castro happy right now


No good pinko commie bastard

Maybe the IOC was right in not having baseball as an Olympic Sport

USA sure can't win gold anymore


I bet will lose to the Japs, too

08/23/2008 3:45 AM ET
Bronze Age: USA beats Japan
Teagarden's two-run double in the fifth lifts Americans to medal
By Mark Newman / MLB.com

BEIJING -- In the end, they smiled.

The United States baseball team contributed a much appreciated bronze medal to its nation's overall top medal count, coming back from a 4-1 deficit for an 8-4 victory over Japan on Saturday before a Wukesong Field capacity crowd that included International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.

The Americans are scheduled to receive their medals in the ceremony that will follow the gold medal game at 6 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) between unbeaten and top-seeded Korea and No. 2 seed Cuba -- the nation that blocked U.S. hopes a night before. Right after the last out of this game, though, there was a dugout celebration that made it clear winning at least some kind of Olympic medal brought a joyful feeling.

"How many people get Olympic medals?" asked Brett Anderson, the Double-A left-hander in the Oakland organization who overcame early turbulence to go seven innings and pick up the victory. "It's a really good feeling, especially knowing this is the last Olympics for baseball, at least for a while."

"Everybody seemed like they were playing loose after the [Cuba] game," said Matt Brown, whose three-run homer in the third wiped out Japan's 4-1 lead. The top Angels prospect will now rejoin his Salt Lake City teammates for the Triple-A Pacific Coast League playoffs. "We don't have any letup on this team. We're happy to medal at all."

It was the third Olympic medal for the U.S. team. It won its only gold in 2000 at Sydney behind a classic three-hit shutout from future Major League star Ben Sheets, and it won bronze in 1996 at Atlanta. It was the second time Japan has finished outside of the medal picture, having done so in 2000.

Brown, Matt LaPorta and Jason Donald all went yard in the finale for the U.S., and it could be said that the Americans saved their best for last at these Games. Seven out of the nine players in the order scored. Anderson gave a strong overall outing, and the fielding behind him was Major League-caliber.

Conversely, the Japan team continued to struggle, especially in the field, where left fielder Takahiko Sato made an egregious error on a fly ball for the second day in a row. He had bungled a fly in the eighth inning from Youngmin Ko that resulted in one Korea run and led to another, and in this game, he was right there but was unable to catch Brian Barden's leadoff shot toward the warning track. Barden wound up on second, Jayson Nix walked, and after a Terry Tiffee strikeout, Brown hit his massive clout to left-center.

There was an emotional scene at Japan's postgame news conference, where manager Senichi Hoshino and Norichika Aoki appeared and faced the music in front of the usual swollen media crush from their homeland. Aoki, who had hit the three-run homer in the top of the third to stake Japan to a 4-1 lead, was close to tears when he responded to a question about what he would say to the Japanese people.

"I really would like to say sorry to them," Aoki said. "This is not how it's supposed to end. We came here for the gold medal. It was a great pity. This doesn't mean anything if there is no medal, but I sensed the fun, and I'd like to say this is a great game."

The news conference moderator was in the process of announcing the end of questions and comments, when suddenly Hoshino interjected one last thing:

"I'd also like to say sorry -- but this is because the team as a whole was not in good shape, and in the future we will show you better baseball."

The Japan team was able only to play two exhibitions before the tournament. The U.S. team played four exhibitions against Canada before departing for the Olympics, and then two exhibitions against China. It was not anyone making excuses, but it did seem like an example of the challenge of building chemistry quickly here.

With the score tied at 4, the Americans broke it open in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Brown doubled, Nate Schierholtz walked and LaPorta popped out to the catcher. Japan reliever Kenshin Kawakami was in position to get out of the inning, but after Brown stole third to put men on the corners, Taylor Teagarden -- up with the parent Rangers as a backup catcher just before this tournament -- hit a big double to clear the bases and make it a 6-2 U.S. lead.

Then Donald, the Phillies' Double-A shortstop, raked one off the foul pole in left for a two-run homer. It was 8-4 -- and then came the long wait.

"That game didn't end quick enough," Donald said. "The sixth inning on, it seemed like it took forever."

When it ended, the U.S. was the bronze medalist of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

"It was a great game," said U.S. manager Davey Johnson. "Our bats woke up and Brett really pitched a great ballgame. He had a little trouble in the second and third inning; I guess his rhythm was a little off. He wasn't locating pitches like he would like to. He gave up a couple of home runs, but then he settled down and really won the game for us. He was very dominant after the home run by [Japan's] right fielder.

"Our big bat, Matt Brown, did a heck of a job, and Jason Donald has played great the whole time. He hit a two-run shot that really put the game out of reach."

The medal is meaningful at least in America, where it is common practice to rank the medals standings by overall total. China and virtually every other nation in the world ranks the standings by gold only, not even totaling the overall count. It is kind of like the metric system -- it's always been done that way in the U.S., and it's important at least there.

Donald was asked about the way the Japanese contingent felt the need to apologize to their countrymen -- and what it might have been like had he come up empty. His response:

"We were talking in [the green room before the interview session] and said, 'If we didn't win a medal, I think I would have just stayed in here.'"

The U.S. team will depart Beijing's airport on Sunday (local time) to head back to Washington, and because the flight arrives late in the evening on Sunday (ET), many of the players will have to stay over Sunday night in hotels. Some will disperse to their normal clubs upon arrival, and some will go Monday morning.

Although only the players receive actual Olympic medals, Johnson adds a distinction to a panoply that includes World Series rings as a player with the Orioles and as a manager with the Mets. What does he do now? Don't expect to see him in the Majors as a manager again.

"I've been there and done that," he said amid laughter. "Got fired four times.

"I'm gonna go home and golf, go to St. Thomas and golf, fish a little bit, watch these guys when they go up [to the Majors]."

It's back to the Major League dream, but with a medal to show for their trip to Beijing.

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

08/23/2008 2:10 AM ET
IOC: MLB players needed for 2016 bid
Big league talent on top of requirements for return to Olympics
By Mark Newman / MLB.com

BEIJING -- In an exclusive interview with MLB.com, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said during Saturday's United States-Japan bronze medal game there is "no hierarchy" among the seven contending sports to be added to the 2016 Summer Olympics and said marquee Major League Baseball talent must be sent if his group is to approve the return of baseball as one of those.

Rogge showed up right after Matt Brown's three-run homer for the U.S. in the bottom of the third inning, and he sat behind home plate next to Harvey Schiller, the executive director of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and former U.S. Olympic Committee chief. It is the last day of baseball in the Olympics for at least eight years because, along with softball, it was removed from the 2012 Games in London by virtue of an IOC decision much earlier this decade.

"To be on the Olympic program is an issue where you need universality as much as possible," Rogge said. "You need to have a sport with a following, you need to have the best players and you need to be in strict compliance with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). And these are the qualifications that have to be met.

"When you have all that, you have to win hearts. You can win the mind, but you still must win hearts."

Those "hearts" must be won over when the IOC meets in October 2009. The IBAF and Major League Baseball are among those lobbying in full force during the Games and will be all the way up until that decision is made. In addition to baseball and softball, the committee will be choosing among squash, karate, golf, roller sports and rugby. Baseball and softball are mutually exclusive, not a package deal.

Major League Baseball once again did not permit its players to be on the U.S. team, which was eliminated from gold-medal contention on Friday night by Cuba. The U.S. roster is comprised of 23 Minor Leaguers plus San Diego State junior pitcher and top 2009 Draft candidate Stephen Strasburg. Rogge said that must change.

"Yeah, it's a big factor," he said. "We have [Roger] Federer, [Roger] Nadal in tennis, LeBron James in basketball. We have the best cyclists. Ronaldinho is here in football. We want these guys at the Games. We're not saying it should be an entire Major League team, but we want the top athletes here at the Olympics."

Will baseball be back in 2016?

"We will consider the possibility for baseball to come back as softball also is considered next year in October," he said. "Baseball and softball will have to compete with five other sports. There is no hierarchy. That's something that will be decided by our committee after reviewing all of the factors."

Rogge was asked by MLB.com why he was here in the first place, considering that his group removed baseball from the future games.

"I'm here because I want to pay thanks to our eight teams that participated," he said. "I am pleased to go to at least one event of all the Olympic sports. I can't go to all the finals, obviously, so I go to the qualifying games in some. I was [at baseball] in Athens, too. And I was also at Sydney."

MLB President Bob DuPuy said at last week's Owners' Meetings that MLB is completely behind the movement to return baseball to the program for 2016, and indeed various people from MLB (and Gene Orza of the Players Association) have been at Wukesong Sports Complex and working with Schiller behind the scenes to work toward that end. Schiller said this week that MLB players will be part of the proposal in some capacity, mentioning one scenario whereby Major Leaguers could participate in the medal round and Minor Leaguers in the preliminaries.

Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of MLB, told MLB.com during Friday night's game against Cuba that it is way to early to speculate on how Major Leaguers might be used.

"There is no proposal right now that I know of," Solomon said. "We're going to do all we can to support Dr. Schiller. Of course, we are very supportive of the Olympic movement, and we are interested in helping Dr. Schiller in every way possible. But specifics right now are not appropriate.

"We're going to do our best. We think baseball deserves to be on the Olympic stage. We'll do absolutely our very best, but how we go about that remains to be seen."

Rogge was told that at least from a U.S. perspective, there seems to be a great deal of optimism that baseball will be back.

"If you weren't optimistic," he said, "there would not be a chance."

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

08/23/2008 4:15 AM ET
U.S. team feels big leaguers not needed
Bronze-medal winners want current team setup for 2016 Games
By Mark Newman / MLB.com

BEIJING -- As they waited to receive their bronze medals following the final game between Korea and Cuba on Saturday, members of the United States baseball team were almost universally displeased with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge's remarks that Major League Baseball players must be used in some capacity for the IOC to reconsider their sport for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

"We have a lot of guys on our club who have been in the big leagues and who will be in the big leagues in the future," said Jason Donald, the Phillies' Double-A shortstop who hit a two-run homer to complete the big fifth inning of the 8-4 U.S. victory over Japan. "I think it's a shame that was said, that big leaguers have to be on the team to keep it. It's the biggest summer sport there is. I think the people who came out there and watched the games, they saw how exciting it was. I think it's unfortunate that the decision has been made, because this was a great tournament."

Rogge said in an exclusive interview with MLB.com during the U.S.-Japan game that having Major Leaguers for any future Olympic baseball competition is "a big factor." He cited the presence of Roger Federer and Roger Nadal in tennis, LeBron James in basketball, "the best cyclists" and Ronaldinho in soccer. Rogge added that the IOC -- which voted way back in 2001 to remove baseball and softball in 2012 -- is "not saying it should be an entire Major League team, but we want the top athletes here at the Olympics."

Mike Koplove, the Dodgers' Triple-A right-hander who was solid in middle relief during these Games, called that requirement "absurd."

"That's a ridiculous comment," Koplove said. "Our team is as good as any other team here. You can't expect us to stop the Major League Baseball regular season.

"It's a great sport. The stands were packed. You look around, it was an exciting atmosphere every night. It's disappointing. This isn't an event for individual people like he mentioned. There's more to the Olympics than having LeBron or Federer show up. We were competitive every game.

"It's absurd for him to make comments that we need a Barry Bonds or an Alex Rodriguez on this team."

Matt Brown had just hit a three-run homer to tie the Japan game at 4-4 and then scored the decisive run after starting a fifth-inning rally with a double. He said Major Leaguers would not have made a difference in the overall outcome.

"I felt like our team had all the necessities for gold," Brown said. "In baseball, any team can win on any given day. Some things didn't go our way. Some things did.

"As for having to use Major Leaguers, it's not necessary, but that's other people's decision to make. We'll get our medals in the meantime."

U.S. manager Davey Johnson understands the need, and he is well aware of the scenarios that have been bandied about -- possibly creating kind of a "second" All-Star break and rotating in select Major Leaguers for three or four days. Everything at this point is speculation on any process, MLB executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon has said, and so at this point, Johnson just answers that kind of question with doubt.

"It's going to be hard, because baseball in the U.S. is a big business," Johnson said. "Unless they find a big break [in the schedule], I don't see them letting them play. I don't see that happening in the near future."

That would mean no baseball back in the Olympics, according to Rogge.

Paul Siler, executive director of USA Baseball, said before the loss to Cuba on Friday -- and before Rogge's remarks -- that whatever is needed to return baseball to the Olympic program in 2016 would be supported.

"If there's a way to get big leaguers in, I'm all in favor of it," Siler said. "But there are a lot of moving parts there. It adds a different element. You have the perspective from the [Major League] teams, but also from the International Olympic Committee. There are agendas, and we all want to do what it takes to get baseball back."

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

TimeEventResults

08/23 10:30AM	Men's Bronze-Medal Game - Game 31 United States vs Japan (8-4)	Official	Rewind Recap
08/23 18:00PM	Men's Gold-Medal Game - Game 32 Cuba vs South Korea (2-3)	Official	Recap

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Out with the old: Korea wins gold
South Koreans overcome controversial 9th inning finish to win first Olympic baseball title
Posted Saturday, August 23, 2008 6:02 AM ET

BEIJING (AP) -- Campeones no more. There's a new champion in Olympic baseball: the surprising, gutsy South Koreans.

South Korea captured gold and capped a perfect and improbable Olympic run with the country's biggest win yet in international baseball, a 3-2 victory over defending champion Cuba on Saturday night in the final of the Beijing Games.

Far from flashy and just plain steady all tournament long, the South Koreans (9-0) pulled off what will long be remembered as an upset in baseball's last Olympic hurrah for at least eight years.

Cuba and Japan were widely considered the favorites coming into these games, but the U.S. beat Japan 8-4 to take the bronze medal.

Reliever Chong Tae-hyon got Yuliesky Gourriel to ground into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded to end it after a drama-filled ninth inning.

Lee Seung-yuop gave his team the lead on a two-run homer in the first inning and Lee Yong-kyu added an RBI double in the seventh, helping South Korea become the first unbeaten Olympic baseball champion since Cuba in 1992 and again in 1996.

Cuba (7-2), the perennial world powerhouse and lone representative from baseball-crazed Latin America in the eight-team Olympic field, dropped only two games in China -- both to the first-time gold medalists.

The Cubans loaded the bases in the ninth against South Korea starter Ryu Hyun-jin, who allowed Hector Olivera's leadoff single and walked Fredrich Cepeda one out later. Alexei Bell drew a walk and South Korean catcher Kang Min-ho vehemently argued the call before being ejected by home plate umpire Carlos Rey Cotto of Puerto Rico. Kang angrily threw his mask, a ball and then his glove into the dugout.

South Korea skipper Kim Kyung-moon then sent Chong to the mound to face Gourriel, who chopped an 0-2 pitch for a grounder to shortstop Park Jin-man. The South Koreans erupted in a pile of red and white on the mound, throwing their manager into the air before taking a victory lap around Wukesong Stadium waving small and large flags.

Cuba wanted nothing more than to leave with another Olympic title, but now must instead turn its attention toward next spring's second World Baseball Classic. The Cubans lost to Japan in the final of the inaugural event in 2006.