Baseball Musings: Japan vs. South Korea

March 18, 2006

Japan vs. South Korea

Japan and Korea are about to get underway for the right to play Cuba on Monday.

Update: I guess they had some rain that's delaying the start of the game. By the way, all five Lee's are in the lineup for Korea tonight!

Update: With two out, Ichiro Suzuki singles to right. Seo had only one pitch go for a ball so far tonight.

Update: Ichiro steals second. Matsunaka is down 0-2.

Update: Matsunaka grounds out to third to end the inning. Jae Seo continues to be dominant, throwing eight of ten pitches for strikes.

Update: JB Lee doubles with one out to put a runner in scoring position for South Korea.

Update: S-Y Lee fouls off a number of pitches, then strikes out on a high pitch. It's up to Choi.

Update: A wild pitch puts the runner at third, but Choi grounds out to first to leave the game scoreless after one. The Koreans did work Uehara for 22 pitches, however (17 strikes).

Update: A beautiful play by the Korean shortstop, Park, in the hole. A good stretch to catch the ball, and an extremely strong throw to beat the batter to the bag at first. Nothing flashy, but spectacular nonetheless.

Update: Nice leaping catch by JY Lee in right to end the inning, although it struck me that his timing was off, and if he kept running he would not have needed to jump. Japan goes 1-2-3 in the second inning, and Seo with 18 pitches through two has thrown fewer than Uehara did in one. At this rate, Seo can go very deep into the game.

Update: Uehara also retires the side in order in the second inning. He's up to 36 pitches.

Update: Kawasaki lets the good times roll, doubling down the right field line. Aoki follows with a four pitch walk.

Update: The Korean defense comes through again. A sharp line drive is gloved by the third baseman, and his throw doubles Aoki off first. Seo lost the plate a bit in that inning, but gets out unscathed. He's averaging eleven pitches an inning.

Update: Ichiro beats out an infield grounder leading off the top of the fourth inning.

Update: Suzuki gets his second stolen base on a 3-0 strike.

Update: Matsunaka pops out foul on a 3-1 pitch. Suzuki is still at second with one out.

Update: Tamura flies out to deep left. It's the sort of hit that might have been a home run somewhere else. A fly to center retires the side. Seo is through four inning without allowing a run. He's only thrown 47 pitches.

Update: Nice catch by Tamura in left on a foul ball in the corner to start the bottom of the fourth.

Update: Choi hits one hard, but to the deepest part of the field in center for the third out. Still 0-0 after four.

Update: Another easy inning for Seo. He's still averaging just a little over 11 pitches an inning.

It looks like whoever scores the first run might make it hold up for the win. Both pitchers look very strong tonight.

Update: Jin Man Park stops Uehara's streak of 13 straight outs with a two-out single in the fifth. But a long fly ball by Cho to center ends the inning.

Update: I'm surprised. Jun comes on to relieve Seo in the sixth inning.

Update: Jun picks right up with Seo left off, retiring the side in order, including a nice play by the shortstop to get Suzuki to end the inning. Jun just throws 11 pitches. The Japanese hitters are not making the South Korean pitchers work.

Update: Uehara throws just nine pitches to get the Korean side in order in the sixth. It's still a double shutout after six innings.

Update: Matsunaka doubles down the right field line to start the seventh inning for Japan. With right-handed hitters up next, Byung Hyun Kim enters the game for South Korea.

Update: Tamura strikes out swinging after failing to bunt for the first out.

Update: Kosuke Fukudome breaks the scoreless tie. He launches a pinch-hit two-run homer into the rightfield stands to give Japan the lead.

Update: Fukodome had a nice upper cut on the ball. Kim once again is going to be remembered for giving up a big home run.

Update: Tomoya Satozaki hits one that bounces over the wall in left to plate another run. It's 3-0, and Japan is getting a lot of mileage out of uppercut swings in this inning. That's it for Kim.

Update: Japan will try to get a few hits off Bong now.

Update: Another hit, and Japan leads 4-0. Correction: Son came into the game at this point.

Update: That's two hits off Son in two batters. Ichiro is batting with runners on first and third and two outs.

Update: Ichiro gets the third hit off Son, and the Japanese score goes higher. It's now 5-0.

Correction: Sorry, I originally had the hits off Bong, but he had been replaced after getting an out. The hits were off Son.

Update: Korea finally gets out of the inning, but they need more offense than they're used to getting in this tournament in order to stage a comeback.

Update: Uehara strikes out the side while allowing one hit. You have to wonder why Seo came out early but Uehara is still pitching. Obviously, Oh made the right decision as far as using his starter.

Update: Another Japanese home run and they've now scored half a dozen runs.

Update: It's raining hard enough that they're bringing out the tarp! I thought it didn't rain in southern California. :-)

Update: As much as I'd like to stay up and watch the end of this game, I'm very tired. Feel free to comment if they resume playing. Japan leads 6-0 in the top of the eighth.

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Posted by David Pinto at 10:11 PM | World Cup | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Man, it looks like the wheels are coming off the cart for Korea. Why'd they lift Seo?

Posted by: Adam Villani at March 19, 2006 12:11 AM

What's the rule in the event they can't continue because of rain?

Posted by: Kurt at March 19, 2006 12:47 AM

I assume they call the game if 5 innings have been played, just like in MLB, but you never know with the WBC. Maybe the umpiring crew will invent another new rule on the spot, like "ball hits flagpole - ground-rule double."

Posted by: Adam Villani at March 19, 2006 12:54 AM

From a Japanese lang. site:

at the end of 7 innings, if the score differential is 7 runs or more then it's ruled a complete game.

at the end of 8 innings, if the score differential is 5 runs or more, then it's a complete game.

What's not clear is that if the above criteria is not met, does the game get suspended or wiped off the books altogether. I haven't found a clear answer to this one. I would think, given scheduling and what-not, that they would suspend rather than play the game all over again, but who knows?

Posted by: Kurt at March 19, 2006 01:02 AM

35-minute or so rain delay, then they resumed play. Korea's offense remained feeble to non-existent, and the game ended 6-0 Japan.

Posted by: Linkmeister at March 19, 2006 01:56 AM

Does it make sense that Japan is 4-3 and Korea is 6-1 yet Japan goes to the finals? There are a few flaws with the way the pool play works that the organizers should try to address before 2009.

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at March 19, 2006 03:06 AM

Yes, Ben, it makes sense. It is a tournament. Plenty of issues to address, but this is not one of them. Perhaps we fix the NCAA"s next? Cuse and the Vols directed to the sweet 16?

Posted by: abe at March 19, 2006 08:22 AM

One (loss) and done, Ben. If there were more time I'd like to see double elimination, but there was so much consternation this year about it taking place during US spring training I don't see how that could happen.

Posted by: Linkmeister at March 19, 2006 07:24 PM

How about this? Korea beats Japan 2 times but happens to lose in the semifinals and gets elimainted. Does that make sense?

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at March 19, 2006 10:27 PM

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