 Cuba's final field of dreams
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-23 10:36
Red hot Cuba will meet South Korea in the final of the Olympic baseball competition tonight after crushing America in last night's semifinal. The South Koreans were through to the gold medal game by beating Japan 6-2 in the other semi yesterday. Cuba hit four home runs in a victory over the US that put the three-time champions into the gold-medal game. Cuba opened the scoring with two runs in the third, then got solo homers by Alfredo Despaigne in the fourth and Frederich Cepeda in the sixth. It added six runs in the eighth on three-run homers by Alexi Bell and Ariel Pestano. Clean-up batter Lee Seung-yuop starred for the Koreans, slamming a two-run homer at the bottom of the eighth inning that took the wind out of the Japanese, who had led early at 2-1 after six innings. The big first baseman had earlier hit into a fourth inning double play that nevertheless sent Lee Yong-Kyu home to open the Koreans' account.
Kang Min-ho and Lee Jin-young also delivered run-scoring hits as the Koreans outslugged the Japanese with 10 hits in the match. South Korean ace pitcher Kim Hwang-hyun delivered eight solid innings, allowing six hits, walking one and striking out five. Japan and Korea are the only top-tier baseball nations in Asia, battling for regional supremacy in the sport's last Olympic appearance. "Had we lost the game today there would have been even more pressure for us in the (bronze-medal game) tomorrow," said South Korean manager Kim Kyoung-moon. "... the Cuban team, they are very strong," he said. "All I can do is to tell my players to be careful about tomorrow's game. I hope our good luck will accompany us up to the end of this tournament." Part of Kim's game plan was to save as many pitchers as possible for today's final and he wanted to rest his starting pitcher the moment the Koreans took the lead. But that did not happen until the bottom of the seventh inning, so he let Kim Hwang-hyun get three more outs in the eighth. The US is the only team other than Cuba to win an Olympic gold in baseball since the sport's introduction in 1992. The International Olympic Committee has ousted baseball and softball from the Games after Beijing. The sports have applied for reinstatement but must beat out others such as rugby and golf to get back in for 2016. Kim singled out first baseman Lee Seung-yuop for overcoming inconsistency earlier in the tournament. "He had some pressure in some previous games, but today he did a very good job," he said, adding: "I still believe confidence is a very important factor." The Koreans took the lead at the bottom of the seventh when substitute Lee Jin-young went on the plate with two outs to slam a base hit that scored designated hitter Jeong Keun-Woo home. Agencies (China Daily 08/23/2008 page22) |
