March 19, 2006

Cuba and Japan will face each other in the inaugural World Baseball Classic final tomorrow. With Japan finally beating Korea in their third meeting, and Cuba beating the Dominican Republic, the World Baseball Classic is about to end.
posted by pilgrim 18 years ago
  • *edit* All of this despite Cuba originally barred from the WBC event and Japan suffering several bad calls.
  • Man, I wish I could get that on TV here. May have to camp out in a sports bar or some such, loath that I am to do that.
  • Also, here is the promo for the event if one has never heard of it, via youtube.
  • did the US win yet?
  • Just rub salt in that wound, why don'tcha?
  • I'm still holding out that the Mariners will win.
  • In a big way, I'm glad the US didn't make it to the semi-finals, because it makes the whole thing that much more legit.
  • I still think Canada got a bum deal not making it past the first round despite beating the US, but it was sort of karmic to see Mexico beat teh US as well. And I always thought of baseball as being one of those sports (like basketball) where the better team almost always wins over a less-skilled team, unlike hockey where a skilled goaltender can hold off a better team (*cough* Belarus *cough*). Guess that's not so muc hthe case. I wonder what this does to MLB's reputation vs. minor league ball?
  • Actually, Space Coyote, baseball is odd in that respect, because anyone truly can beat anyone on a given night. Things like who is pitching, how is the wind blowing, hot hitters, cold hitters, the particular umpire's strike zone, etc. During a season you'll see some unexpected outcomes - heck, the Yankees got beat 22-0 not too long ago. Sometimes the hitters are going to hit anything you throw, no matter how good, and hit it a long way. Or you run into the occasional pitcher who is having one of those "on" days, when he's throwing darts and the hitters don't stand a chance. (One game a few years back featured Randy Johnson pitching a complete game 2-hitter, giving up one run - and losing the game to by Jose Jimenez - he finished the year with a losing record - who threw a no-hitter.) And that's what makes the game so much fun for those of us who really love it. Over the course of a season, or a seven-game playoff series, the better team will almost always win. But on a game-by-game basis, there's no telling.
  • Good points azpenguin - and that 22-0 blanking of the yankings was teh awesome! Oh man I'm so happy to be reminded of it! Hee hee!!
  • And when the Yankees were swept by the Kansas City Royals may have been better.
  • Viva Coo-bah!
  • Just in case you care... Japan won 10-6. There is much shaking up and spraying of champagne on telly.
  • Congrats to Japan. Very well done.
  • Right on Japan. wh00t!
  • I like that Japan is so so psyched to have won. I like sports when it's like that.
  • I wish Cuba would have had the chance to play (and beat) the USA, though.
  • I like that Japan is so so psyched to have won. I like sports when it's like that. You will find no purer love of the game than over there, from what I've seen. They really do adore it. It's like New York in the 1940's over there, in that respect.
  • Yeah but I heard their players can shove the umpires - what's up with that? (if it's not just schoolyard rumor . . )
  • mct, that's kind of what i liked about the Japan-Cuba final (though any final not including the USA probably would have been similar): the fact that the game is paramount with those players and fans. Makes me double-sick of Barry Bonds and his self-serving ilk. petebest, the idea of players mixing it up with umpires appeals to both the player in me and the part of me that likes watching the NHL. Can't be true, though -- can it?
  • That's what I heard 'round about the time of the Roberto Alomar scandal. "Well, over in Japan, they routinely shove the umpires if they don't like the call" or something like that. IF it's true (and I have no idea), I'd call that a huge problem - the game of baseball absolutely requires the umpires to make a call regardless of how big the batter/runner/etc is. Ditto the bullshit with Bonds. What an asshole. An asterisk is too good for him.
  • You Gotta Have Wa is a great book on the differences between Western baseball and Japanese baseball. I forget what it says about umpires, except that they are incredibly biased towards foreign players (or were).