Korea Defeats Japan 5-3

Where does this leave Japan? I'm not sure how the medal round works. Do the top 4 teams advance? Japan has not looked good - losing to 2 good teams and staying tied with Taiwan until late in the game. And everyone has beaten up on the Netherlands, so that win didn't mean so much.

I don't know if this is already posted on the site somewhere else, but here is the Olympic baseball tournament standings.

Hope it helps.

I have to disagree with the comment about Korea not being as talented as Japan. Anytime Korean and Japanese teams play here, they are always big money makers. I think the fans realize that Korea has talent and enjoy watching the two countries go at it.

Hoshino should have let Sugiuchi pitch instead of Wada and then have changed Wada earlier in the game and changed to Fujikawa from Iwase when Iwase was facing the right handed Korean batters. He is leaving the pitchers in too long in the game.

Hoshino Japan is not looking good! If they don't step it up a notch I am afraid they will lose to both USA and Canada, and then Japan will be out before reaching the semi finals, which will be a major embarrassment.

Sugiuchi pitched the day earlier, so he was unusable for the Korean match. But I understand what you're saying.

There are some players selected that I don't agree with Hoshino on. And right now they are in a position where they cannot afford any lose.

Right now they are tied with Taiwan and the US in 4th with 2 wins and 2 losses (according to rules, head to head comes first in tiebreaker, so Japan is now in 4th).

Korea and Cuba are in 1st with 4 wins, and they've basically advanced to the next round.

Taiwan has already played both China and Netherlands, so their chances of advancing is getting slim unless they can come up with big wins against Korea and the US.

With the top 4 teams advancing, Japan still looks good to advance if they don't slip up anymore against the rest. They've already played the best teams, but will need to be alert and win against the rest to secure a place in the next round.

Let's be specific, it isn't "Japan," it's "Hoshino Japan." And does anyone have an idea why the media are such idiots?

It's Hoshino Japan for a good reason. He was involved in the final player selection (choosing injury question marks, the mediocre performance in the regular season from some players turned out to be OK, like Naruse and Uehara), to in game management (leaving pitchers in for too long, strange lineup decisions). If this tournament ends in a failure, a good portion of the blame can be rested on Hoshino.