World Baseball Classic results

laprimamirala wrote:

gs78 wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

Geez, I feel special. Because I defended Magglio on the tigers.com board, I was called a moron, a couch potato, and ignorant. Guess I'm in a blissful state!

thanks! I needed that!

You're Welcome

USA! USA!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 11:46:00 PM
Venezuela top dog in Pool 2 play
Offense picks up pitching staff in taking down Team USA

By Matthew Leach / MLB.com

• Box score >
  
• Venezuela's six-run second: Watch
  

MIAMI -- A prolific offense outweighed a somewhat shaky bullpen as Venezuela defeated the United States, 10-6, to win Pool 2 in the second round of the World Baseball Classic at Dolphin Stadium on Wednesday night. Venezuela will play on Saturday against the Pool 1 runner-up, which will be Cuba, Japan or Korea.

Venezuela hung six runs on USA starter Jeremy Guthrie in the second inning, aided by an Adam Dunn error but highlighted by RBI doubles from Henry Blanco, Jose Lopez and Miguel Cabrera. Four of the runs charged to Guthrie were unearned, but they weren't cheap. They were the result of a barrage of base hits against the right-hander.

Despite grabbing a 6-1 lead, Venezuela had to scrap to hang on. Starter Armando Galarraga surrendered three runs in 3 1/3 innings before handing it over to his bullpen. After Cabrera's RBI single made it 7-3 in the fourth, Ramon Ramirez permitted Mark DeRosa's two-run homer that cut the lead to two. An RBI groundout by David Wright pulled the United States within a run, but Max Ramirez drilled a three-run dinger in the bottom of the sixth to provide more breathing room.

It's the first trip to the knockout round for Venezuela. The team was eliminated in the second round of pool play in 2006, finishing third in its group behind the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Venezuela will play in the first semifinal at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night at 9 ET. The United States will face the Pool 1 winner on Sunday at 8 p.m., with the winners of those two games playing in the finals on Monday at 9 p.m.

Matthew Leach is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:35:00 AM
Japan keeps title defense alive
Victory over Cuba secures final spot in Classic semifinals in LA

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Japan-Cuba box score

SAN DIEGO -- Don't cry for me, Cuba.

For the second time, the Japanese have knocked the once-irrepressible Cubans out of the World Baseball Classic, this time with a 5-0 victory on Wednesday night at PETCO Park behind six innings of five-hit pitching by right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma.

In 2006, Japan's victory secured the inaugural Classic title. This year, Japan's win secured its place in the final four this weekend at Dodger Stadium along with Team USA, Venezuela and Korea, a team the Japanese play again on Thursday night to determine seeding for the semifinals.

Venezuela is slated to play Saturday evening against Thursday night's loser. The U.S. is scheduled to play the Pool 1 winner on Sunday evening.

Much like the Yankees being unable to make the playoffs this past season for the first time in 13 years, the Cuban defeat was historic on many different levels.

According to statistics supplied by the World Baseball Classic organizing committee, it's the first time since 1951 that Cuba didn't secure a least a finals berth in one of four major international tournaments: the International Baseball Federation World Cup, the Intercontinental Cup, the Olympics and the Classic.

It broke a streak of 40 consecutive trips to the finals in those four events.

In addition, this is the worst finish for the Cubans, who heretofore had never finished below third place in any of those four tournaments. And that had previously happened only three times, the last in the '51 World Cup. This year, the best they could finish with a 4-2 record would be in a tie for fifth with Puerto Rico.

In their six World Baseball Classic games this year, the Cubans scored 36 runs against South Africa, Mexico (twice) and Australia. Against the Japanese, they scored none.

On a chilly night in San Diego when fog rolled in and out of PETCO Park, it was a dropped fly ball by center fielder Yoennis Cespedes to deep left-center with two out and runners on second and third in the fourth inning that seemed to seal Cuba's fate. The shot off the bat of Japanese first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara led to a pair of unearned runs.

Cespedes drifted back in the fog to one-hand the ball and watched helplessly as it glanced off his glove.

It was the second time in four games that Japan had vanquished Cuba in this Pool 1 bracket. On Sunday, the Japanese defeated Cuba, 6-0, behind the deft work of right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, who in his six innings of work allowed five hits -- all singles -- whiffed eight and walked none.

Iwakuma matched Matsuzaka's performance, but he labored a little more intensively, stranding runners on first and third by whiffing Leslie Anderson to end the fourth. And after Cespedes tripled to right-center with two out in the sixth, Iwakuma induced Alfredo Despaigne to check his swing and bounce back to the box.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Goodbye Cuba



In your face Fidel

03/19/09 10:00 PM ET
Longoria joins Team USA for semis
Rays' third baseman takes place of injured Braves slugger

By John Schlegel / MLB.com

Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays will be donning the red, white and blue this weekend, replacing Chipper Jones on Team USA's roster for the semifinal round of the World Baseball Classic.

Team USA made the announcement Thursday night, bringing the 23-year-old third baseman to the rescue to help a roster that has been depleted by injury through the first two rounds. That includes Jones, who suffered an oblique muscle strain in his right side after playing in four games in the tournament.

"We're obviously disappointed to lose a player the caliber of Chipper Jones, but at the same time so very fortunate to add a player as talented as Evan Longoria," USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. "With the opportunity to make a roster change, Evan is too valuable not to have on our club."

Longoria, the unanimous choice for 2008 American League Rookie of the Year, hit 27 homers with 85 RBIs last year, helping lead the Rays to the World Series. An All-Star as a rookie, Longoria hit six postseason homers, including four in the American League Championship Series.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia (left side), first baseman Kevin Youkilis (sprained left ankle, left Achilles tendinitis) and reliever Matt Lindstrom (strained right rotator cuff) also were injured during the second round, which concluded Wednesday with the U.S. and Venezuela advancing from Miami's Pool 2 to the three-day finale of the Classic.

In the first semifinal at 9 p.m. ET Saturday, Venezuela will take on the runner-up from Pool 1, meaning the loser of Thursday's Japan-Korea game. Then Team USA will make its Classic semifinal debut against the Pool 1 winner at 8 p.m. Sunday.

The victors of those two games will meet for the World Baseball Classic title at 9 p.m. Monday at Dodger Stadium.

John Schlegel is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

03/20/09 2:40 AM ET
Japan tops Korea to take pool crown
Three-run eighth takes down rival, sets up semifinal vs. US

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

• Box score >
  
• Recap: JPN 6, KOR 2 Watch
  

SAN DIEGO -- And now, let the real games begin.

The Japanese are the top seed from Pool 1 of the World Baseball Classic by virtue of their 6-2 victory over Korea at PETCO Park on Thursday night. They play Team USA on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium for the right to ascend to the finals and defend their 2006 title.

The likely starters are Daisuke Matsuzaka for Japan and Jake Peavy for the U.S. Runner-up Korea plays Pool 2 winner Venezuela on Saturday night at 9 ET. with Suk Min Yoon expected to match Carlos Silva.

"I'm very excited to play against the American baseball team," Japanese manager Tatsunori Hara said. "When I started watching the Major Leagues, I was very impressed. We need to catch up with the Major Leagues, and we need to go beyond that. That was my education and my circumstances about how I learned to play baseball. That was my baseball.

"I have a great deal of respect for American baseball. And here is a great opportunity right in front of me. I'm so excited about that."

Japan took the fourth meeting of this Classic from their Far East rivals, scoring three runs in the eighth inning to snap a 2-2 tie on a quartet of singles, the winning run coming home on a line-drive single off the bat of pinch-hitter Michihiro Ogasawara.

"That was a tense moment," said Ogasawara, who hit for Seiichi Uchikawa with runners on first and third and no one out. "The opportunity was right there, and I walked right into it. I was tenacious, and I was able to produce something in that at-bat."

The teams have split those four games this month, but the Koreans still hold a 4-3 edge against the Japanese over the course of the first two Classics, although Japan defeated Korea in a single-elimination semifinal game three years ago on its way to the inaugural championship.

There is certainly the possibility that the teams could meet again in Monday's championship game at Dodger Stadium.

"There is that possibility," Hara said. "Of course, in the semifinal, Japan has to beat the U.S. team, and that's something we need to focus on."

Japan took an early 2-1 lead on Thursday night, scoring twice in the second inning on a homer by Uchikawa and Yasuyuki Kataoka's RBI single.

The two runs wiped out Korea's 1-0, first-inning edge fashioned on a leadoff single by Keun Woo Lee and Hyun Soo Kim's RBI double into the left-field corner.

Korea tied the score in the seventh on Bum Ho Lee's third homer of the Classic. But the tie was short-lived, as Japan rallied the very next inning against two Korean relievers and then added the final run in the ninth on a single by Norichika Aoki.

The Japanese had clinched a berth in the semifinals on Wednesday night by eliminating the Cubans in a 5-0 victory. So, Thursday's Korean rematch smacked of anticlimax, Hara said. Korea clinched its berth by beating Japan, 4-1, on Tuesday night.

"Compared to [Wednesday], when we learned we were advancing to Los Angeles, this was after the fact," Hara said. "The players and myself were flat psychologically."

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

GO TEAM USA!

03/22/09 12:38 AM ET
K-pop: Korea powers its way to finals
Classic championship game on deck after country topples Venezuela

By Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com

Box score >

LOS ANGELES -- Korea proved yet again that the country is a burgeoning baseball power, advancing to the World Baseball Classic finals with a 10-2 rout against Venezuela in the semifinals in front of 43,378 on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Now Korea, which also won the gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, will test its mettle against baseball superpower the United States or heated rival Japan in the finals at 9 p.m. ET on Monday.

Korea won behind right-hander Suk-Min Yoon, who pitched 6 1/3 strong innings, with the offense being paced by Shin-Soo Choo and Tae Kyun Kim, who both homered.

Korea jumped all over Venezuela starter Carlos Silva early, scoring five runs in the first inning, including three on a home run to center by Choo. The first four batters reached base for Korea and Venezuela made two errors, including a dropped fly ball by Bobby Abreu in right field.

Silva needed 36 pitches to get out of the inning, and he didn't fare much better in the second inning, when he allowed a two-run home run to Kim with one out. In all, Silva allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits in just 1 1/3 innings.

Venezuela finally got on the board in the third inning against Yoon on an RBI single by Melvin Mora.

But Yoon, who finished fifth in the MVP voting in the Korean Baseball Organization, was too much for the Venezuela offense that averaged more than six runs per game heading into the semifinals. The right-hander allowed just two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings while striking out four and walking one.

Korea added one run in the fourth on a botched pickoff play with runners on first and second. First baseman Miguel Cabrera missed pitcher Enrique Gonzalez's throw, allowing a run to score on Venezuela's fourth error of the game. Venezuela, which had five errors in the entire tournament, made five errors on Saturday.

Korea tallied two more runs in the sixth on an RBI single by Dae Ho Lee and a sacrifice fly by Jeong Choi.

Venezuela scored its second run with the game well in hand on a solo home run by Carlos Guillen in the seventh inning.

Rhett Bollinger is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

03/22/09 11:25 PM ET
Japan has a date with Korea in final
Backed by five-run fourth, country will defend Classic title Monday

By Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com

Box score >

LOS ANGELES -- Japan is headed to the World Baseball Classic final yet again.

Japan used a five-run fourth inning keyed by a critical error by USA second baseman Brian Roberts, and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched 4 2/3 effective innings to guide Japan to a 9-4 win over the United States in front of 43,630 at Dodger Stadium on Sunday. It was the second-largest crowd in Classic history and the biggest on U.S. soil.

Now, Japan is set to face Korea for the fifth time in the tournament, but this time it's for the championship on Monday night at 9 ET.

Japan actually found itself down, 2-1, entering the bottom of the fourth inning after Roberts led off the game with a home run and David Wright hit an RBI double in the third.

But Japan's Atsunori Inaba led off the fourth with a single just past the glove of Roberts, and Michihiro Ogasawara followed with a single to center field.

And then Kosuke Fukudome hit what appeared to be a double-play ground ball to second base, but Roberts muffed the play and everyone was safe.

Kenji Johjima then hit a sacrifice fly before Akinori Iwamura tripled home a run. Japan's Munenori Kawasaki followed with an RBI single and scored on a double by Hiroyuki Nakajima.

United States starter Roy Oswalt was removed after Nakajima's double, but the damage was already done. Oswalt lasted just 3 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on six hits.

Meanwhile, Matsuzaka didn't have his best stuff, but he got the job done for Japan. Dice-K struggled with his control as 41 of his 98 pitches were for balls, but he got himself out of jams and walked just three batters. In all, Matsuzaka allowed two runs on five hits, while allowing five hits and striking out four.

In the U.S.'s eighth, Mark DeRosa hit a double down the left-field line that scored two runs. But that was as close as the Americans would get on Sunday, as Japan scored three runs in its half of the eighth to put it away.

Japan will now defend its 2006 World Baseball Classic title against Korea, which won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and is the nation's biggest rival.

Rhett Bollinger is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Deja vu all over again! (to quote Yogi)

Dangit.

Sucks that USA couldnt win the title.

Well, maybe g, but this whole thing is screwed up.
Wasn't it in retaliation for baseball being taken out of the Olympics?
My point is, it means different things to different countries. USA doesn't really care because of guys not wanting to get hurt before the season starts; hence, they don't fully play. Other countries like Korea and Cuba don't have a season; the WBC is the World Series to them.

Actually Korea and Japan have professional baseball. So does China. And of course the countries south of the US have winter ball (which makes them playing AFTER THEIR SEASON IS DONE!)

The US (or MLB players who play in the US) is the group that gets screwed by playing before our guys are even ready to play the regular season. I agree with the people who have suggested that those playing in the WBC get their players together from 5-7 weeks before the WBC starts and have a special spring training for them!

Look how many USA players are injured because of WBC!

laprimamirala wrote:

Look how many USA players are injured because of WBC!

Well what can we expect... they go out full force before getting into shape.

Damn You Selig!

gdennis59 wrote:

Dangit.

Sucks that USA couldnt win the title.

Nor will they ever under the current WBC rules and format

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

Look how many USA players are injured because of WBC!

Well what can we expect... they go out full force before getting into shape.

Damn You Selig!

I say they should get rid of the WBC


Put baseball back in the Olympics and let college and minor leagues play in them

gs78 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Dangit.

Sucks that USA couldnt win the title.

Nor will they ever under the current WBC rules and format

Pretty much seems fixed in that regard.

laprimamirala wrote:

gs78 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Dangit.

Sucks that USA couldnt win the title.

Nor will they ever under the current WBC rules and format

Pretty much seems fixed in that regard.

I think they said it best on ESPN last night


The Japanese and Koreans play it like the 7th game of the WS

Team USA treating it like a ST Game or All Star Game