The Art Neuro Weblog

Olympic Baseball - Day 8
Japan beat Taiwan 4-3 in extended innings. A very tight result. Japanese pitcher Koji Uehara allowed a 3-run Third inning, but pitched through to the Seventh. Both Teams were in a hitting mood as they each knocked out 10 hist for their runs, but it seems rallies were killed as soon as they begun. Yoshinobu Takahashi hit his second homer in the tournament in the Seventh, levelling the score. Then it rolled into extended innings where eventually Japan managed to manufacture a run.

Taiwan held Japan to 3 runs across 9 innings and the 10th with its manufactured run with only 5 strike outs and issuing 4 walks, which is an indication of the solidity of the Taiwanese defense. Japan on the other hand compiled 10 strike outs and issued only 2 walks, which is consistent with their dominating form.

Cuba beat Canada 5-2. In another tightly contested game, Cuba downed the Canadians. The Cuban pitching staff scattered 7 hits while striking out 8 and walking only 1. Norberto Gonzales pitched 6 solid innnings for the win. The Canadian staff gave up 10 hits and 2 walks but only managed 2 strike outs. Cuba wnet ahead early in the game and stayed ahead, but the Canadians did threaten to rally in the Seventh inning.

Australia killed the Netherlands 22-2. In a massive blow out, the Australians humiliated the Dutch in a total drubbing in what must be an Olympic Record 20 run difference. Glen Williams went 4-for4 with 3 RBIs including a 2-run homer. Brett Roneberg hit another homerun, and even Rodney Van Buizen got in the homerun action going 3-for4 scoring 3 runs. As of this writing, Rodney's 9 runs batted in leads the entire tournament (not that RBIs is a significant stat, but this is light-hitting AA-Minor LeaguerRodney Van Buizen, y'know?) The Australians scored their 22 runs on 17 hits as the Dutch pitching staff issued 9 walks striking out only 4; not to mention the 2 errors in the field by the Dutch.

In a way, this is the kind of game the Australian team is best at. I feel from a grassroots level, Australian baseball is about everybody making contact hits and challenging the defense of the other team. It's how we play, week in, week out. The downside is that you don't want anybody slumping in your lineup; the manager plays the hot hand all the way. In other words, it's a Knowledge-of-Performance driven team. It's the opposite of the 'Moneyball'/Knowledge-of-Results-driven way to play but the Annaheim Angels won their World Series on this model.
Again, this kind of thing shows you how interesting Olympic baseball can be. Plus the Aussies now go through to the play-off rounds even if they lose to Canada. So that's another reason for an oi,oi,oi.

Greece downed Italy 12-7. In a match of the bottom feeders, Greece showed a bit of spine and pine and beat out a win against the Italians. 'Shortstop' Clay Bellinger went 2-for-5 including a homer. Both sides knocked out 14 hits, both staffs struck out 5 but issued just as many walks. The Greeks made 3 errors while the Italians made 1, making this probably a very ugly game to watch; but if you're the hometown team, I'm sure nobody complains too much about winning ugly.

- Art Neuro