Korea and Cuba to play for gold in Olympic baseball
2008-08-22 06:38
by Bob Timmermann
Korea scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 2-2 tie against Japan and move on to the gold medal game Saturday against either the USA or Cuba.
Seungyeop Lee hit a 3-run homer in the eighth off of Hitoki Iwase (who has lost three games in the tournament) to keep Korea perfect in what is likely the final Olympic baseball tournament.
Cuba pulled away late from the USA to advance to the gold medal game with a 10-2 win. Cuba pounded four home runs and broke the game open with a 6-run eighth inning.
Japan and the USA will play for the bronze medal at 7:30 pm PT and Cuba and Korea will play for gold at 3 am PT Saturday.
I just tuned in in time to see Cuba salt it away with an 8th inning 3-run dinger. I like that they wear their hats under their helmets when they bat. Reminds me of little league.
This is what gets me about kicking baseball out of the Olympics -- Cuba's won 3 of the last 4, so it's not like the US dominates here. Other countries have good showings so why not keep an event that gives different countries an opportunity to win.
As long as America sends players who aren't on a 40-man roster, Olympic baseball will hold no interest for anybody. Let's face it: what kind of a championship is it where the best 1,200 players in the world don't take part?
Because Europeans don't do well at the sport.
And Europeans hold a lot of power in the IOC.
I suppose it's possible that some of the Cubans might slip into that top 1,200. If the WBC was held in the Olympics, that would be fine.
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