Aww, Korea lost boo.
It was a GREAT final though. I couldn't ask for more. Congrats to Japan, and great job to Korea on an insane extra-inning game!
EDIT4:
Sigh, ah well. I think poor management by Good Ol'e Davey Johnson is what contributed to USA's demise tonight . Welll.. and of course, there's that relentless Japanese small-ball grind + precision defense + WTF pitching. *shivers*
Long-ball offense and power was no match for precision this time. A battle of polar opposites goes to Japan. Korea's game finally gains its own identity as they take single bites from Japan's and USA's Apples. Korea is not as precise as Japan, nor as powerful as USA, but gets into the finals with a little bit of solid defense and pitching, a little bit of power, and lots of thundersticks.
An epic rivalry built upon thousands of years of history from two ancient nations finally battle in a foreign USA nation that brought them the gift of BASEBALL. The two political allies can finally fight with a ball, bats, gloves, and a set of rules; instead of turtle ships, samurai swords, machine guns, and battleships.
As an American-born Korean, I am excited to see Korea finally play to be Champions under an international spotlight. As an American, I am disappointed that my USA team was not able to make it to the finals. As a baseball fan, I am utterly in awe of an awesome united Japanese team that plays with rigorous defense, dishes out an intimidating bullpen, and plays a technical small-ball offense.
All in all, I still think the WBC part II has been a large success (internationally-wise). I've been to nearly all the games at Petco/Dodger's stadium to show my support of International Baseball, and enjoyed every minute of it (BRING IT BACK TO the OLYMPICS DAMN IT!). It seriously pumps me up for this upcoming MLB season since the early-season baseball is kind of a bore.
Good luck to the fans of Japan and Korea! :beer: Here's to hoping that tomorrow's game will be a great game for us fans!
(personal cheers: GO KOREA!! and GO DODGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT3:
Korea defeats Venezuela to the right to play in the WBC Final. Wow, any potential matchup will be very interesting. I Can't Wait for tomorrow's game! It seems historically that the US team matches up rather well against a powerful Japanese team.
EDIT2:
Final FOUR at Dodgers Stadium!! I just got back from Japan vs. Korea. Japan displayed what good, small-baseball offense is about and just grinded down Korea in the seeding game.
I just bought tickets for the game on Saturday at Dodger's stadium! (It's going to rain on Sunday.. and I have to drive back to SD to work on Monday).
Korea vs Venezuela, Saturday 9pm EST
Japan vs USA, Sunday 8pm EST.
:Q :Q :Q
EDIT:
Win or go home. Cuba vs Japan Tonight! Elimination games are the best to watch. The final teams are always a familiar sight in international baseball play. USA, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Venezuela, etc.
Will the US finally redeem itself in international play? Their insane reactions yesterday kept me hopeful that the team is very serious about this tournament, and as a fan, that made me very happy, and finally proud that USA is very emotional about the game. Will Korea keep rolling, fresh off their Olympic gold medal? Will Cuba want revenge against Korea? Will Japan repeat, but more importantly, exact revenge against their bitter rival Korea? Will Venezuela just come out of nowhere to win the thing?
I know there are some baseball haters out there, but, as some of you guys may know, I love all forms of competition and sports (as evident in my rabid posting in a lot of the sports threads we have here); so I don't care! Go Baseball!
I'm going to the game this sunday @ Petco park! I'm excited! I LOVE Petco park, and to see world-class baseball with insane rabid fans cheering for their countrymen is one of the best things to experience as a sports fan.
Website:
http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/index.jsp
Man, USA SLAUGHTERED Venezuela last night. It was almost painful to watch , but it feels good that the USA is on the right track. That game against Canada was a very surprising, good game. Team USA's 2006 outing was embarrassing. I'm very sure they are much more prepared this time, and no more excuses damn it!
As for the Asian teams, who saw that insanity this morning on two classic Asian Rivals? After Korea vaporizes China 14-0 (ends in 7 innings due to mercy rule), and after getting their own asses handed to them by Japan, they exact revenge against Japan in a battle of Defense and Pitching. Both teams were putting on some sort of defensive clinic.
Wow, so far, there's a very good mix of ungodly offense, and awesome pitching/fielding between the teams.
My hope is that I can watch games in all of the southern california ball parks:
Petco, Edison, and the AWESOME Chavez Ravine (sorry, I'm a Dodgers fan ).
Current pool standings:
http://web.worldbaseballclassi.../schedule/brackets.jsp
I hope it was as good as the 2006 WBC (went to the semi's and finals for that one. It was awesome).
(but GOOOO reigning Olympic gold medalists Korea! And GOO USA, 2009 redeam team?)
It was a GREAT final though. I couldn't ask for more. Congrats to Japan, and great job to Korea on an insane extra-inning game!
EDIT4:
Sigh, ah well. I think poor management by Good Ol'e Davey Johnson is what contributed to USA's demise tonight . Welll.. and of course, there's that relentless Japanese small-ball grind + precision defense + WTF pitching. *shivers*
Long-ball offense and power was no match for precision this time. A battle of polar opposites goes to Japan. Korea's game finally gains its own identity as they take single bites from Japan's and USA's Apples. Korea is not as precise as Japan, nor as powerful as USA, but gets into the finals with a little bit of solid defense and pitching, a little bit of power, and lots of thundersticks.
An epic rivalry built upon thousands of years of history from two ancient nations finally battle in a foreign USA nation that brought them the gift of BASEBALL. The two political allies can finally fight with a ball, bats, gloves, and a set of rules; instead of turtle ships, samurai swords, machine guns, and battleships.
As an American-born Korean, I am excited to see Korea finally play to be Champions under an international spotlight. As an American, I am disappointed that my USA team was not able to make it to the finals. As a baseball fan, I am utterly in awe of an awesome united Japanese team that plays with rigorous defense, dishes out an intimidating bullpen, and plays a technical small-ball offense.
All in all, I still think the WBC part II has been a large success (internationally-wise). I've been to nearly all the games at Petco/Dodger's stadium to show my support of International Baseball, and enjoyed every minute of it (BRING IT BACK TO the OLYMPICS DAMN IT!). It seriously pumps me up for this upcoming MLB season since the early-season baseball is kind of a bore.
Good luck to the fans of Japan and Korea! :beer: Here's to hoping that tomorrow's game will be a great game for us fans!
(personal cheers: GO KOREA!! and GO DODGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT3:
Korea defeats Venezuela to the right to play in the WBC Final. Wow, any potential matchup will be very interesting. I Can't Wait for tomorrow's game! It seems historically that the US team matches up rather well against a powerful Japanese team.
EDIT2:
Final FOUR at Dodgers Stadium!! I just got back from Japan vs. Korea. Japan displayed what good, small-baseball offense is about and just grinded down Korea in the seeding game.
I just bought tickets for the game on Saturday at Dodger's stadium! (It's going to rain on Sunday.. and I have to drive back to SD to work on Monday).
Korea vs Venezuela, Saturday 9pm EST
Japan vs USA, Sunday 8pm EST.
:Q :Q :Q
EDIT:
Win or go home. Cuba vs Japan Tonight! Elimination games are the best to watch. The final teams are always a familiar sight in international baseball play. USA, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Venezuela, etc.
Will the US finally redeem itself in international play? Their insane reactions yesterday kept me hopeful that the team is very serious about this tournament, and as a fan, that made me very happy, and finally proud that USA is very emotional about the game. Will Korea keep rolling, fresh off their Olympic gold medal? Will Cuba want revenge against Korea? Will Japan repeat, but more importantly, exact revenge against their bitter rival Korea? Will Venezuela just come out of nowhere to win the thing?
I know there are some baseball haters out there, but, as some of you guys may know, I love all forms of competition and sports (as evident in my rabid posting in a lot of the sports threads we have here); so I don't care! Go Baseball!
I'm going to the game this sunday @ Petco park! I'm excited! I LOVE Petco park, and to see world-class baseball with insane rabid fans cheering for their countrymen is one of the best things to experience as a sports fan.
Website:
http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/index.jsp
Man, USA SLAUGHTERED Venezuela last night. It was almost painful to watch , but it feels good that the USA is on the right track. That game against Canada was a very surprising, good game. Team USA's 2006 outing was embarrassing. I'm very sure they are much more prepared this time, and no more excuses damn it!
As for the Asian teams, who saw that insanity this morning on two classic Asian Rivals? After Korea vaporizes China 14-0 (ends in 7 innings due to mercy rule), and after getting their own asses handed to them by Japan, they exact revenge against Japan in a battle of Defense and Pitching. Both teams were putting on some sort of defensive clinic.
Wow, so far, there's a very good mix of ungodly offense, and awesome pitching/fielding between the teams.
My hope is that I can watch games in all of the southern california ball parks:
Petco, Edison, and the AWESOME Chavez Ravine (sorry, I'm a Dodgers fan ).
Current pool standings:
http://web.worldbaseballclassi.../schedule/brackets.jsp
I hope it was as good as the 2006 WBC (went to the semi's and finals for that one. It was awesome).
(but GOOOO reigning Olympic gold medalists Korea! And GOO USA, 2009 redeam team?)