Japan Defeats Cuba

Whoops. Looks like that page was updated since I last checked. Cuba scored single runs in the 7th and 8th innings, making the final 5-3.

Also, Japan had lost 11 out of 11 World Cup games against Cuba going into this game, not 13.

The loss by Cuba breaks their 46 game winning streak in World Cup competition.

Let me just add that in group A, the US lost to both the Dominican Republic and Nigaragua, but beat Korea 11:0, while Chinese Taipei beat Nigaragua and plays the US next.

From what I've heard so far, Japan seems to be the early favorite to go all the way.

Just another proof that Japan is the number 1 baseball nation in the world.

nanchatte

Just another proof that Japan is the number 1 baseball nation in the world.

nanchatte

Riiight. Who won the last gold medal again? =)

Defeating Cuba once in a tournament is one thing, twice appears to be something else. But Yakult's Fujii did an excellent job trying, holding the worlds' toughest team to one unearned run through 10 innings, including striking out the side in order in the 6th. Unfortunatly, Fujii was relieved a little too late, just after giving up a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th. Lotte's Katoh came in and allowed one more run.

The two runs in the top of the 11th was too much, and Cuba took the semi-final game 3-1.

I believe that Cuba won the gold in the World Cup. The United States, with a bunch of amateurs and minor leaguers, won the silver. I'm not sure where Japan finished. I did not like the comment saying Japan is number one in baseball. The U.S. obviously has the best talent. The U.S. won without their best players, this demonstrates how good the U.S. is in baseball. But Japanese baseball is much more popular in Japan than American baseball in America.

- I'm not sure where Japan finished.

They finished 4th, losing to Taiwan for the bronze. The loss to Cuba in 11 innings for the semi-finals seemed to knock all of the spirit out of them.

- I did not like the comment saying Japan is number one in baseball.

I took it to just be someone getting hyped about the series, like any fan will say that his/her team is #1 at the beginning of a season. There was nothing degrading about the comment, so I was surprised that somebody else also took offence to it.

- The U.S. obviously has the best talent.

And what of Cuba?

I think that the U.S. gathers the best tallent from throughout the world. It would be interesting to see the best each country has to offer for a professional World Cup some day. I would imagine that most teams from South America would be made of up Major Leaguers, perhaps with some from JPB (Cabrera and Petagine are both from Venezuala), while Asian teams will most likely be a blend of MLBers and players from their domestic leagues.

Personally, rather than all star teams, I'd rather see real teams competing against each other. For example, the Yankees and Diamondbacks going against the Swallows and Buffaloes, with the Korean and Taiwanese champions as well. I don't mean to eliminate South American leagues, but representatives will most likely already be with MLB teams. My point is, I like the idea of teams being made up of people from multiple nationalities more than national teams. It may not be very popular since September 11th, but I don't like nationalism - too many evils have been committed in its name in the past.

- But Japanese baseball is much more popular in Japan than American baseball in America.

This is an interesting observation. The main reason is, IMHO of course, because the U.S. has so many other sports going on that over lap one another, each competing for a slice of the sports entertainment market. Japan has baseball and soccer. Sure, there's V League (volleyball) and a hockey league, but they don't get that much coverage by the press, and certainly don't get any prime time coverage on TV (international volleyball tournaments excepted). The only sport that comes close in popularity with those two is golf (my cable company has two golf channels!).

However, while you observe that domestic baseball is more popular in Japan, does it earn as much as an MLB team? Maybe this is a better topic for one of the theads about marketing.

- The U.S. obviously has the best talent.

And what of Cuba? I think that the U.S. gathers the best talent from throughout the world.

True enough, but the US still has the deepest talent pool, especially in terms of homegrown pitching. I can't imagine the rest of the world even competing against a staff composed of Randy Johnson, Kurt Schilling, Rodger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mark Mulder, Jeff Nelson, Arthur Rhodes, Mike Stanton and Billy Wagner, with Greg Maddux, Matt Morris, Kerry Wood, Mike Mussina, Mike Hampton, Roy Oswalt, etc. ready to fill in.

Cuba sends their best and always has, and the US is still sending scrubs -- not a single US player at this year's World Cup was on a MLB team roster in 2001.

Its true that US didn't have their best lineup, but so was Japan. Yes, its true that US might be the best nation but in a World Cup format, any team can win it all. Its kind of similar to ice hockey several tears ago. You would think that the Canadians would win the Gold but the fact was the hottest goal keeper was Dominic Hasek of the Czeck Republic during the series. Just imagine if red hot Pedro Martinez representing the Dominican Republic pitched the final game of the Medal round against the US, they would have no chance. If Chang-Ho Park was on, the same thing for Korea, If Yakult's Ishii was on and when he is red hot, no one can touch him, and so on. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THE PITCHER. The team with the best picther at that given time wins the CUP or the Medal. For that matter, any nation (US, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Korea, and Japan) can win the CUP.

Its true that US didn't have their best lineup, but so was Japan.

Japan sent players off its major league's rosters, the US did not. Not Japan

Cuba fan..

It was a joke. I said nanchatte in the end which sort of means, I

Yeah, I caught the "nanchatte" but I figure none of the posters that did take offense to that post knew what "nanchatte" means.

A "real" world series would be great but I still think that MLB teams are the best. However, it would be a very interesting series to have the world's best teams duke it out.

exactly.

Just some questions to people who had the pleasure of watching the World Cup on TV:

The 11 inning game against Cuba by Fujii was impressive, what kind of a pitcher is he? Is he more of a Ishii type or a Kudoh in his prime?

The two offensive stars for Japan were Iguchi and Takahashi, is this the Iguchi from the Hawks or Bluewave?

Hsu totally stunk in his outing against the US. However, considering Hsu was one of the better pitchers in the Pacific League this season, I'd at least think he's as good as Hasegawa or Yoshii. Should'nt he be able to shut down a 2A/3A all star team?