Arigato Ichiro! Now I'm ready for baseball
ICHIRO hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, and JAPAN beat reigning Olympic champion SOUTH KOREA, 5-3, to win its second straight WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC title at Dodger Stadium.I watched it live last night on ESPN.
Japan reminded me of my lifelong team the SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS for most of the game -- they survived on strong pitching while stranding a ridiculous number of runners (14?!) on base.
HISASHI IWAKUMA of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (pictured) struck out six, allowing four hits, a pair of walks and two runs in 7 2-3 innings. He looked like he could pitch for any Major League team.
Japan took a 3-1 lead with single runs in the seventh and eighth, only for South Korea to tie the game at 3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
My favorite Japanese player, pitcher YU DARVISH, blew the save: The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' ace allowed Lee Bum-ho’s run-scoring single.
Yu got the win, though, thanks to Ichiro.
It was a thrilling start to the baseball season.
posted by erik hogstrom at 6:30 AM
1 Comments:
I watched the final few innings of the USA's loss in the semifinals. To me, the broadcast was marred by Joe Morgan (especially) constantly lamenting that the American major league system did not take the World Baseball Classic seriously. All our best players weren't there. They weren't in shape. Etc. Etc. Etc. Maybe the US attitude toward the WBC is misguided, but give it a rest, Joe!
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