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World Baseball Classic: “South Korea Defeats Mexico 2-1 at WBC”


By JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer
11:23 PM PST, March 12, 2006


ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jae Seo pitched 5 1-3 strong innings, Seung Yeop Lee hit a two-run homer, and South Korea beat Mexico 2-1 Sunday night for its fourth straight win in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

The game was played before an announced crowd of 42,979 at Angel Stadium, where 32,896 watched the United States beat Japan 4-3 in the opener of a day-night doubleheader to begin Round 2. Alex Rodriguez drove in the winning run for the Americans with a two-out single in the ninth.

Single games will be played Monday through Thursday to complete the second round. South Korea, 3-0 in the opening round, plays Team USA on Monday night.

Seo allowed only two baserunners, giving up a solo homer to Luis Alfonso Garcia leading off the third and a one-out single to Vinny Castilla in the fourth.

Seo, who threw 61 pitches and struck out four, was relieved by Dae Sung Koo after retiring Juan Castro to start the sixth. In two WBC outings, Seo has given up four hits and one run in nine innings.

Koo worked 1 1-3 scoreless innings before Tae Hyon Chong struck out all three batters he faced. Chan Ho Park, South Korea's fifth pitcher, worked a scoreless ninth for his third save in as many chances in the WBC, striking out Geronimo Gil with a runner at third to end the game.

Lee lined a full-count pitch from Rodrigo Lopez over the fence in right field in the first for his fourth homer, tying him with Adrian Beltre for the WBC lead. The 29-year-old Lee is 6-of-14 with nine RBIs in South Korea's four games. Jong Beom Lee singled before Lee's homer.

Lopez gave up only one baserunner after Lee's homer, but left after three innings after having thrown 72 pitches -- eight shy of the maximum allowed in the second round. Elmer Dessens followed with two shutout innings.

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Re: Sports & Athletes


Such exciting stuff going on in LA area these days! Too bad about that ref blowing the call. That's really upsetting. I'm upset anyways, because all my loyalties are being stretched in opposing directions during these tournaments! emoticon
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Re: Sports & Athletes


class blockquote nchristi wrote:

Such exciting stuff going on in LA area these days! Too bad about that ref blowing the call. That's really upsetting. I'm upset anyways, because all my loyalties are being stretched in opposing directions during these tournaments! emoticon
I know what you mean. I'm proud to be a U.S. citizen, but at the same time I know the success of the Korean team is going to mean big, big things for baseball in Korea plus well almost certainly result in offers to play in the U.S. major leagues for at least one Korean player, Seung-Yeop Lee, who is hitting a home run per game and batting over .500.

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World Baseball Classic: “Korea stays unbeaten, beats USA”


class float-right width 275px Image
Korea's Hee-Seop Choi watches his three-run homer in the fourth inning. (Chris Carlson/AP)
By Jim Street / MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- Who are these guys, anyway?

The only unbeaten team in the World Baseball Classic powered its way to another victory Monday night as surprisingly adept-at-everything Korea defeated Team USA, 7-3, before 21,288 at Angel Stadium.

First baseman Seung-Yeop Lee hit another home run, his fifth of the tournament, Hee-Seop Choi slugged his first -- in a pinch-hit role -- and the Korea pitching staff stymied the best lineup it has seen so far in the 16-team tournament as Korea improved to 2-0 in Round 2 and 5-0 overall.

Korea is sitting in the semifinals cat-bird seat heading into Wednesday night's game against Japan. The top two teams here advance to the semis in San Diego. Japan, Mexico and the United States each have one loss in this round-robin. If Mexico beats Japan Tuesday night, Korea reaches the semis.

"Something happened tonight which nobody could believe," Korea manager In Sik Kim said. "Not just the USA team, which is (some) of the best of all the best Major Leaguers, but our players (beat) these players and it's very difficult to believe what happened.

"But this is baseball and you never know what might happen."

With the Americans starting left-hander Dontrelle Willis, Korea manager Kim kept Choi on the bench, saving him for later in the game when a left-handed pinch-hitter was needed.

That moment arrived in the fourth inning.

With two on, two outs and right-hander Dan Wheeler on the mound, Kim made a designated hitter switch, replacing Tae Kyun Kim with Choi, batting just .214 (3-for-14) with one RBI in the Classic.

Choi hit a fastball that sailed high and deep to right field, hugging the foul line the entire way. It landed a few inches inside the foul pole, too far away for right fielder Vernon Wells to do anything about it.

"I thought it might be a foul ball, or that the right fielder would catch it," Choi said. "It wasn't until I heard all the cheering from Korean fans that I realized that I had hit a home run."

A precarious two-run lead suddenly was a five-run bulge and wrecked some understandable strategy by Team USA manager Buck Martinez. There were two out and none on when Min Jae Kim lined a ground-rule double into left-center.

With first base open and Seung-Yeop coming to bat, Martinez ordered an intentional walk. No surprise there as the first baseman already had hit his fifth home run of the Classic -- a solo blast in the first inning off Willis.

"Lee has been red hot in this tournament," Martinez said. "We were well aware of how he did in Tokyo (three home runs) and were trying to keep the ball away from him, hoping to get him to chase a ball. But the ball got too much of the plate."

As for Choi, "We know a lot about him and tried to get the ball in on him, but the ball ran back over the plate. He got enough of it to get it over the fence and it was a big hit for them at the time."

The first pitch Seung-Yeop saw from Willis was hit so high and so hard that center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., shading Seung-Yeop to left field, remained stationary as he watched the flight of the ball. It finally landed several rows into the seats just to the right-field side of the green tarp that serves as a hitting background.

Six Korea pitchers, starting with winner Min Han Son, stopped Team USA on nine hits, one of them a solo home run by Griffey in the third inning. Three more came in the ninth when the Americans scored two runs in a last-gasp effort to pull out their second win in Round 2.

Kim said his game plan was to use as many pitchers as needed to subdue the Americans and he mixed and matched his way through nine innings.

There were so many changes that Team USA designated hitter Chipper Jones batted five times and faced four different pitchers, all seemingly with different arm angles.

"I was not at all surprised at the quality of their pitchers," Martinez said. "I think they executed very well. There were a couple of times when they made great pitches with their splits and located their fastballs very effectively and for the second game in a row we have seen quality pitchers come out of the bullpen.

"It's always a challenge when you have to face good, quality pitchers in successive at-bats."

Before the game, Martinez talked about his impressions of the Far East hitters.

"We think the Korean team has the same kind of discipline at the plate as the Japanese team," he said. "We are amazed as to how they can cover both sides of the plate. Jake (Peavy) and Brian (Schneider) would come back after each inning shaking their heads on how pitches would be six or seven inches inside and they would still square up on the ball and also hit outside pitches.

"The plate coverage was remarkable. Bust them inside and they could fight it off. Then go outside and they would hit them, too."

Seeing again was proof positive that the Far East teams know how to play the game.

Jim Street is a national reporter for MLB.com.

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World Baseball Classic: “Asian baseball thriving on Classic stage”


By Eric Neel
ESPN.com

This just in: Team Korea's real good.

Ditto the Japanese.

The cameras love Big Papi and the bat flips, and the pundits focus on the triumphs and trials of the American team, but the consistently excellent play of the Asian squads is the real story of the tournament so far. class float-right width 275px ImageAP Photo/Chris Carlson
Korea's Seung Yeop Lee has been a force, connecting on a WBC-high five home runs so far.
class p Korea's pitchers have been nearly flawless, posting a tournament-best team ERA of 1.40. The Koreans' infield defense has sparkled, and their offense, led by the thunder stick of first baseman Seung Yeop Lee (five home runs through five games), has raked the ball all over the yard. They're deservedly undefeated.Japan, meanwhile, has two losses (one to Korea and one to umpire Bob Davidson), but by every other measure the Japanese have been a tremendous success. Their offense, behind Tsuyoshi Nishioka's four runs, seven RBI and four stolen bases, leads the tournament in team OPS (.974) and runs scored (37), while their pitching staff has an ERA of just 3.03 and a team K/BB ratio of 11.33.

But more than the numbers, it's style of play that you first notice with these teams.

Ichiro has his bat pointed skyward, as if he can't decide whether to knight the pitcher or lop his head off. Korean reliever Dae-Sung Koo comes toward the plate only after an obsessive-compulsive bit of toe turning and rubber tapping. Several Asian players let their freak flags fly, throwing bits of weirdness into the dynamic -- a la Sadaharu Oh's legendary high front-foot leg lift -- both as a matter of timing for themselves and disruption for the opposition.

"It's tough when they come at you in so many ways, from so many arm slots and release points," says Team USA first baseman Mark Teixeira. "You can't get in a rhythm against them."

Creative stances and windups aren't enough in themselves to beat some of the best talent in the world, of course. Both Korea and Japan complement their funky aesthetics with a commitment to playing by the book.

"They really focus on the little things," Derek Jeter says. "Moving guys, getting bunts down, executing the hit-and-run. And, you know, those are the ways you win games when you're playing really good teams. You can't just wait on home runs when you're facing this kind of competition."

Team USA pitchers, to a man, talk about Korean and Japanese hitters bringing discipline and patience to the plate. U.S. manager Buck Martinez raves about plate coverage up and down both lineups.

"They work the count, and they put the ball in play," reliever Brad Lidge says of the Japanese hitters he faced Sunday. "Their lefties do a fantastic job of hitting the ball to left field, staying in, going with the ball where it's pitched, all the things you're supposed to do. They make it tough on you, every pitch, with their discipline up there."

Korea's Seung Yeop Lee, who is positively mashing in this tournament, says it's a matter of using the energy the pitcher provides (sounding an awful lot like the great and philosophical Oh): "These American pitchers are so powerful; you don't overcome them, but if you are patient and fortunate you move lightly and let their power work for you." class float-right width 40% “They work the count, and they put the ball in play. Their lefties do a fantastic job of hitting the ball to left field, staying in, going with the ball where it's pitched, all the things you're supposed to do. They make it tough on you, every pitch, with their discipline up
there. ”

— Brad Lidge
class p USA starter Jake Peavy will tell you there are virtually no weak spots in a lineup such as Japan's, not because every hitter is necessarily All-Star caliber, but because each seems to approach his at-bats with something like Lee's sense of patience and commitment.American bench coach Davey Johnson talks about their baseball roots.

"The two greatest hitters in Asian baseball history are Japan's Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima," he says. "They're the godfathers. Even many years later, I think most Asian hitters are influenced by the success those guys had, and that means they are all, each time up, in search of a perfect swing, balanced and level through the zone.

"The three things that ruin a swing are lunging, upper-cutting and opening your hips, and if you look at the players on these teams today, so many of them avoid those mistakes, with little timing devices like Oh's front-foot step. They have a philosophy about hitting, a tradition, I think, and it means they give you no freebies."

Clear thinking at the plate, good situational baseball and crisp play in the field -- we've seen all of that from both Korea and Japan so far in this tournament. "These two teams do not make many mistakes," Jeter says. "They don't beat themselves."

Once upon a time, such an approach wasn't enough for the top Asian teams to compete with top American teams. Chipper Jones is convinced that time has passed: "I don't think there's any doubt now," he said after Sunday's game. "They play big-league ball in Japan now."

And maybe that's the key: More than playing with a particular style, both Japan and Korea have simply made plays, play after play, like they belong in this tournament, like they are here to win it, like they have no fear.

Korean manager In-Sik Kim says his team studies United States baseball. "They have the tradition and history," he says. "We still have a lot to learn from them." Perhaps, but if this tournament is any indication, school's out.

Cue the highlight reel and you'll see Chan Ho Park, after falling behind Mexico's Geronimo Gil 3-0 Sunday night with the game on the line, raring back and challenging him with nasty stuff in on the hands and then some more away for the game-winning strikeout. Go to the tape and you'll see Japanese shortstop Munenori Kawasaki making a spectacular, over-the-shoulder basket catch that would have made the Wizard himself, Ozzie Smith, proud.

Ichiro turns a Peavy fastball into a game-opening home run on Sunday; Lee, who's known as "The Lion King" back home, beats the snot out of Dontrelle Willis' first offering and gives his club an early lead Monday night. Kawasaki dives for a ball to his left, skids up on both knees and makes a much-harder-than-it-looks throw across his body to start a double play, and the next day Korea's Jin Man Park absorbs a Chipper Jones smash, falling back on his tailbone, and quickly and calmly flips it to second to start an inning-ending, rally-killing 6-4-3.

High-level stuff. Playmaking. Some of the best we've seen in the tournament.

Sunday's USA-Japan game was terrific; fans walked out of the ballpark afterwards abuzz, saying it was maybe the best game they'd ever seen in person.

But with the way they're playing, from style to a sense of the moment, Korea and Japan could have even more in store for the people come Wednesday night.

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World Baseball Classic: “Baseball Is a Smash in Korea After Win Over the U.S.”


By Barbara Demick and Jinna Park, Times Staff Writers
March 15, 2006


SEOUL — Even Koreans who had never before watched a baseball game through to the end, much less tossed off a baseball statistic in an elevator, could talk about little else Tuesday after their national team beat the Americans at their own game.

In a country that occasionally wears an inferiority complex on its sleeve, especially when it comes to sports, Monday night's World Baseball Classic game in Anaheim was a seminal moment. The 7-3 victory made South Korea the only unbeaten team in the 16-nation tournament and has imperiled the U.S. team's title hopes.

Tears streamed down the cheeks of some South Koreans. And given their 17-hour time difference with Anaheim, the game all but brought productivity to a halt at offices here Tuesday.

"It was absolutely amazing. We couldn't keep our eyes off of the game," said 35-year-old Hwang Hong-bin, who watched at a restaurant at lunch. "Nobody could work at all after lunchtime."

Internet sites buzzed with excitement over the win in the series, which concludes Monday. South Koreans attributed the defeat of the American team to the far stronger sense of national purpose here.

"There is a lesson for the Americans. You can't win if you are too proud and underestimate your opponents," said Han Jae-myong, 40, a former soccer player in Seoul who drives a taxi.

Besides the national team spirit, Korean sports commentators attributed the strong performance to early practices for the tournament, which began in January. In addition, the South Korean government promised to grant its players an exemption from a mandatory 26 months of military service if the team made the semifinals.

This was a case of the protege beating the mentor. The introduction of baseball to Korea is generally credited to Philip L. Gillett, a missionary who apparently was as keen to spread the love of the sport as of Christianity. He formed the first baseball team at the YMCA here in 1905. By that time, baseball was already popular in Japan and the game spread during the Japanese occupation of Korea that lasted four decades, until Japan's defeat at the end of World War II.

South Korean baseball authorities celebrated the centennial of the sport in December, when commemorative stamps were issued. But baseball has not been as popular here as in neighboring Japan. The teams are not associated as much with hometowns as with the chaebol, the conglomerates that dominate the business scene. Hence you have the Samsung Lions and the Hyundai Unicorns. The Seoul newspaper Segye Ilbo noted today with an underdog's relish that the collective salaries of the 10 highest-paid Korean players totaled about $4.5 million, compared with $90 million for their U.S. counterparts.

The South Korean national team includes Koreans who play at home and some who play abroad, such as Seung Yeop Lee, who plays with Japan's Yomiuri Giants, and Hee-Seop Choi, who is with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are united in the World Baseball Classic by their nationality — enough, it seems, to give them an edge.

As Choi put it in a pool interview, "It's a lot more meaningful because I [play] for my home country."

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