The Art Neuro Weblog

Olympic Baseball - Day 12, The Grand Final
Cuba beat Australia 6-2. Cuba piled on 13 hits for their 6 runs. The Australian staff struck out 6, and only walked 1. The Cuban pitching staff by contrast struck out 10, but also walked 7 but moe importantly only allowed 2 hits. So Australia weren't really getting their hitting game to work at all. The Cuban side is probably a side that is good as the lowest third of Major League sides with its talent and skill. Australia were fielding a side made up of mostly minor leaguers with some who have experienced good careers in the majors, so the result is not that surprsing.

Olympic Gold against Cuba turned out to be a bridge too far for the Australians, but a Silver medal showing bodes well for the sport in this country. In 2006 they are planing to relaunch the professional league, which would help the growing depth find serious playing time without having to go to America. Besides, it's a bit of international credibility for Australia going forwards. Australia is now officially a baseball power in the world. There ae plenty of Latin American countries with professioanl leagues that will envy that status. It's also a good thing for international sport to see a new face in the usual scrimmage of USA, Cuba, Japan, Korea. The sport is growing.

It's been a fun fortnight of chasing this stuff around. The Olympics will go on for another 3 days, but I think my personal investment in it is done. Anyway, if you've been reading hoping for me to go back to the regular space commentary my apologies. I'll try and get back to that as of next week. The world is in the grips of sportsmania for a fortnight. What am I supposed to do? Not join in? :)

- Art Neuro