Brian34Cook

The bullpen reminded me of my St. Louis Cardinals..

August 13, 2008
Korea's two-run ninth beats U.S., 8-7
Stevens can't hold lead after ninth-inning comeback
Recap | Box | Log
Cumulative Stats


Jeff Stevens had a rough ninth inning, allowing Korea to first tie the game and then win it.

BEIJING -- Korea scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally and defeat Team USA, 8-7, in the Olympic opener on Wednesday evening at Wukesong Field 2.

Team USA had fought back with three runs of its own in the top of the ninth inning to take a one-run, lead but the Koreans mounted their own comeback, highlighted by a sacrifice fly from Jongwook Lee to earn the victory. The U.S. returns to action on Thursday morning to face the Netherlands with first pitch set for 10:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, EDT).

Things looked good for the Red, White & Blue following the top of the ninth inning. Down two runs entering the frame, the U.S. recovered to take a 7-6 lead.

With the one-run cushion, the U.S. summoned reliever Jeff Stevens (Berkeley, Calif.) to close out the game. Korea, however, was not done, as pinch-hitter Keunwoo Jeong doubled to open the bottom of the ninth. With one out and Jeong on third base, the Koreans tied the game when Jeong scored from third on a fielder's choice by beating the tag at home off a throw by second baseman Jayson Nix (Dallas, Texas). Korea then caught a break thanks to a miscommunication on a pickoff by Stevens allowed Taekkeun Lee to advance from first to third. Jongwook Lee then ended the game with a sacrifice fly to center to secure the Korea victory.

[Link]

la_faker_81

I dont really care much for this. Like Team USA obvisiouly arent playing their best squad (because of the mlb season), so to me its not worth watching. The baseball classic is whats good

__________________
la_faker_81



GO ANGELS

Well he's kind of had it in me ever since i accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly" and replace "dog" with "son".

Brian34Cook

August 15, 2008
Team USA falls to Cuba in 11 innings
New extra-inning rule comes into play for the first time
Recap | Box | Log
Cumulative Stats

BEIJING -- Playing for the first time under the new extra-innings rule for Olympic competition, Cuba scored twice in the top of the 11th inning with the U.S. only able to plate one run in the bottom half, giving Cuba a 5-4 victory over the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team on Friday afternoon at the Wukesong Main Field.

Cuba improves to 3-0 in the 2008 Olympics, and the loss drops the U.S. to 1-2 after the first three days. The U.S. continues competition on Saturday morning against Canada with first pitch set for 10:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. EDT on Friday night) at Field 2.

Friday's game saw the U.S. twice rally to tie the Cubans, first from a 2-0 deficit and then in the bottom of the eighth inning on a solo homer from Jayson Nix (Dallas, Texas) that tied the game at 3-3.

With the score deadlocked entering the 11th inning, the new extra inning rule for international competition went into effect. The rule states that the teams must place runners on first and second base with no outs, and the runners can come from any part in the lineup. Cuba elected to place their No. 8 and No. 9 hole hitters to bring up their leadoff hitter, Giorbis Duvergel. After a sacrifice bunt from Durvergel advanced the runners into scoring position, Michel Enriquez laced a single to right field scoring both runners and giving Cuba a 5-3 lead.

In the bottom half of the 11th, it was Team USA's turn to place runners as manager Davey Johnson (Winter Park, Fla.) elected to put No. 9 hole hitter Jason Donald on second base and leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler (Atlanta, Ga.) on first.

Enter Jayson Nix, who looked to put down a sacrifice bunt. On the play, Cuba right-hander Pedro Luis Lazo hurled a fastball that went off Nix's bat and struck him in the face. Nix was forced to leave the game and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. Pinch-hitter Brian Barden (Templeton, Calif.) was able to get the sacrifice down and the U.S. now had their runners in scoring position.

The U.S. almost then came up with the win as Terry Tiffee (North Little Rock, Ark.) launched a deep fly ball into center field that was caught on the edge of the warning track by Duvergel, just missing a game-winning homer and ending in a sacrifice fly. With Fowler on third base, Lazo ended the inning and the game as he coaxed Matt Brown (Bellevue, Wash.) into a foul pop-up to catcher Ariel Pestano.

[Link]

They umm SUCK!!!! With the likes of John Gall, etc. It's no wonder Im not as interested in BASEBALL as much as SOFTBALL.. sad I know..

Nick

Well in the last baseball classic, we also got spanked around pretty badly too. I forgot who won it, I know U.S. didn't even make it in the top 4 or whatever.

__________________

la_faker_81

Yeah but im not just talking about the US. I mean countries like Japan could field dice-k and ichiro and the other countries could have their good players. The baseball at the Olympics was like all the people who arent good enough to play MLB ball. Worthless watching IMO.

__________________
la_faker_81



GO ANGELS

Well he's kind of had it in me ever since i accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly" and replace "dog" with "son".