Japan beat the USA to advance to the final. I have mixed feelings about all this because either team winning would have been good for me - but my glass is half empty when one of them loses too. :)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Daisuke Matsuzaka remained undefeated in the World Baseball Classic and defending champion Japan beat the United States 9-4 at Dodger Stadium on Sunday to reach the final against South Korea.
"Can you believe this? Look at the score. I feel so bad about this," Tom Lasorda, Hall of Fame manager and WBC global ambassador, said from his seat behind home plate.
"I'm very, very disappointed. We had high hopes. This is the second time we were supposed to win. We taught these people the game."
Instead, Japan gave the lessons on American soil.
Matsuzaka sent his country into Monday night's title game against South Korea, a 10-2 winner over Venezuela in Saturday's semifinal. Japan won the inaugural tournament in 2006, defeating Cuba in the final.
Akinori Iwamura's RBI triple was the key hit in a five-run fourth inning against starter Roy Oswalt, and the U.S. absorbed its first loss to Japan in major international play since the 2005 World Cup. The Americans had won four in a row, including an 8-4 victory in the bronze medal game at the Beijing Olympics.
"We didn't play as well defensively," U.S. manager Davey Johnson said. "We made it a ballgame through seven innings, and made some mistakes, walked the leadoff hitter in the eighth, and that's not the way you win ballgames."
Oh well. Derek Jeter was the goat with his error in the 8th. Not happy about that at all. This comment is disturbing:
Jimmy Rollins went 4-for-4 with a walk and a two-out triple in the seventh. Masahiro Tanaka struck out Wright to end the inning.
"We had a lot of fun being an underdog, knowing that we were at somewhat of a disadvantage as far as having time to prepare," Rollins said. "It shows the support and passion these other countries have for baseball. In America, we have many sports, so our attention is at whichever sport season is going on at that time."
Come on Jimmy, you're the MLB! You can't be underdogs in playing NPB Japan! On the other hand Daisuke Matsuzaka continues to amaze as he is now 6-0 in WBC games. He lives for this stuff. So now it's Japan vs Korea part 5. *sigh*.
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