Japanese media, fans rue Japan's semifinal exit at WBC

Eat, Drink and Make Merry - that's sportsmanship !

Weren't good enough in the clutch..that's the reality.

“Japan batters came under pressure after Maeda yielded a run,”

Yup. When your style is based on bunting, even a one-run deficit is a lot. Especially against teams like PR and the Dominican, that have great athletes who can play "small ball" if needed, but can also hit for power. This time around, at least, the better athletes beat the better "team".

That was one of the more painful baserunning blunders I've seen in a long time. In a score-or-die situation like that, it's absolutely inexcusable. So much for Japan's reputation as a meticulous team that sweats the small stuff and never makes those small mistakes!

Some of the fans saids Japanese baseball is rated "AAAA", but in reality, the caliber of their baseball is equivelent to barely "AA", if that. There are alot of top "AA" and "AAA" teams in the U.S. that will be very competitive and probably can beat any of the Japanese teams. There aren't too many Japanese players that can hit the ball out of San Diego or AT&T Park. They are bunch of dribbler single hitters and overated by far.

Japanese media and fans regretted Monday that extreme pressure and a base-running blunder had led two-time champions Japan to miss the World Baseball Classic final for the first time in three editions.

Stop making excuses, perhaps the other team was just better?

Who wrote or translated this? A person who has limited knowledge of the sport, I guess. "...took the first and second bases"? Sounds like something a child would say. Japan lost and the U.S. is out. Sometimes the favorites crash out but that's alright because I'm looking forward to the start of the MLB season more than this exhibition's results.

The Japanese team were poor throughout the tournament, struggling to beat Brazil, China and Taiwan despite their home advantage. If that's how they play when they are "doing their best" it doesn't say much about the standard of baseball in Japan.

"Japanese fans watched the game live on television, packing sports bars in Tokyo and cheering for the Samurai who lacked US major league players for the first time."

And once again, the excuses. That's all we're going to hear if this is reported on for more than a week -- "there were no US major league players!" Guess what -- the US and other teams didn't have their best MLB players either, nor did they last year! Stop whining and suck it up. Suggesting Japan lost because they didn't have their MLB players means one of two things: Japanese domestic baseball simply isn't good enough, or else it IS good enough, but not good enough to beat other nations. Which is it?

Moderator: You are the one who needs to stop whining. You started yesterday, and predictably, you started whining again on this thread.

The better team won, and that's all there is to it. The media and fans can rue it all they like; Japan did very badly throughout the whole tournament, save the game against the Dutch.

Not the result I hoped ... come on back home boys, well done nonetheless. We've paved the way for the next generation of Samurai Japan baseball.

Classy exit. Way to show respect to the fans and the opponents. Good sportsmanship.

Stop using Samurai .. they have no lineage or right to use that title..

Some of the fans saids Japanese baseball is rated "AAAA", but in reality, the caliber of their baseball is equivelent to barely "AA", if that. There are alot of top "AA" and "AAA" teams in the U.S. that will be very competitive and probably can beat any of the Japanese teams. There aren't too many Japanese players that can hit the ball out of San Diego or AT&T Park. They are bunch of dribbler single hitters and overated by far.

So if Japan are a "AA" team (your quote not mine) then the USA must be high school league and Korea little league. I didn't see the US progress to the semi-final matchup and Korea didn't even make the playoff round. If there are "a lot of AA and AAA teams in the US that can beat any of the Japanese teams" how come the US national representative team finished behind Japan yet again in the WBC? Puerto Rico were the better team, but Japan are still the 3rd best team in this years WBC with the Netherlands ahead of the US and Korea.

There is not ONE SINGLE FAN of any team in any sport who doesn't rue his teams losses, so c'mon guys give 'em a break. They were outplayed this time around. Gokurosama, Nippon !

"Ken Maeda" -- who he?

TigersTokyoDome Mar. 19, 2013 - 05:33PM JST I didn't see the US progress to the semi-final matchup and Korea didn't even make the playoff round. If there are "a lot of AA and AAA teams in the US that can beat any of the Japanese teams" how come the US national representative team finished behind Japan yet again in the WBC?

Nobody, not even the U.S. citizens or the players care for WBC. Where was the stud pitchers, Verlander, Kerhaw, Price, or Cain? If it really matters, they would've been there in a short series. Why risk injuries during the spring training? There are alot pithers in U.S. like Jarrod Parker who pitched in "AA" ball in 2011 or Tommy Milone that pitched in "AA" in 2010 and "AAA" in 2011 before becoming a starter for the A's. They were already good in minors in 2010. They could beat any Japanese team in a regular season.

If Japanese players are so good as you say, what happen to all the players like Nishioka, Jojima, Fukudome, Kaz Matsui, Ishii, Matsuzaka? They were all proven above .300 hitters or top pitchers in Japan and they end up being a disaster. They hit like they came from single "AA" minor league hitters. Nakajima will probably not make it either. You notice that no MLB team is giving out big contract to Japanese players? I wonder why?

TigersTokyoDomeMar. 19, 2013 - 05:33PM JST Puerto Rico were the better team, but Japan are still the 3rd best team in this years WBC with the Netherlands ahead of the US and Korea.

I wonder why. The PR had Yadier Molina, Angel Pagan, Alex Rios, and Carlos Beltran in their lineup. Their pitching was good as anybody. Japan is overated by far.

Bizarre isn't it. Japan didn't make the WBC final for only the first time in 3 years although reaching the semi-final, yet nobody says a word about big-time failures the US and Korea. Puerto Rico were a better team than Japan (and it showed) but, as answering his own question in the post above, they included all their big league powerhouses (Molina, Beltran, Rios - oh my goodness) while Ichiro, Darvish, Aoki and Kuroda did not take part. Japan even brought on Nohmi from the bullpen (even Tigers fans sit very uncomfortably when they see Nohmi on the mound).

There is another argument above that Japanese players don't deserve to be joining the big leagues, but surely they should be ahead of any American or Korean players in that queue...

"Ken Maeda" -- who he?

Maeda is a top pitcher in the Japanese leagues. He gave up 1 run against the likes of Molina, Beltran and Rios and was only taken off because of the strict pitch count rule in the WBC (he pitched 80). Puerto Rico may only have scored 1 run if Maeda was kept on as he had got into his rhythm (I see there has not been much criticism of Nohmi despite getting hit for a 2 run homer and pulled early).

TigersTokyoDomeMar. 20, 2013 - 05:00AM JST Maeda is a top pitcher in the Japanese leagues. He gave up 1 run against the likes of Molina, Beltran and Rios and was only taken off because of the strict pitch count rule in the WBC (he pitched 80).

PR never faced Maeda. Pitcher always has advantage over the hitters the first time if you never face him, especially with the stuff that Maeda has. It doesn't matter if PR has allstar players, you really don't know how sharp the movement of his pitches are. However, if Maeda was in a long 162 game season like in the U.S., and you face him 3-4 times, good hitters will have pretty good idea what he's made out of, and some will have very good success. If Maeda could get U.S. hitters out consistantly after facing them numerous times, then that is the true reflections of how good he is. Just facing him one time does not tell you anything. I think he is a very good pitcher with potential to pitch successfully in the MLB if he wants to in the future.

sfjp, America had an all-star team. Ever heard of Braun? Former MVP. Dickey? He won 20 games last season. How about Vogelsong or Mauer? It's too bad they got injured, but they also had Wright and Teixeira. As for Verlander, he got knocked around in spring training and his ERA is over 4. As for Kershaw, he's also struggling and hitters are .288 against him. For Price it's .323.

Win and it's okay, lose and you're "overated". What a sad approach to sports.

There's a reason why baseball plays 7-game series. The WBC pretty much depends on one good or one bad game by a pitcher. Canada killed the US, then the US killed Italy, then Italy killed Canada, then the US beat Canada. There's no real rhyme or reason to it when it's just a single game.

Maybe they should stop calling the teams Samurai, seems to be bad luck.

OH chill out.. no Ichiro.. no Samurai leader.. enough said.

biculturalMar. 20, 2013 - 09:07AM JST As for Verlander, he got knocked around in spring training and his ERA is over 4. As for Kershaw, he's also struggling and hitters are .288 against him. For Price it's .323.

In a regular season games, I will pick these three over any of the three top pitchers you pick. You pick 40 years old Dickey or Vogelsong, both one season wonder? No wonder you know baseball.