baseball

Puerto Rico beats Japan to reach WBC final

15 Comments

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The article makes too much about beating the US. The roster is a real mixed bag, but the real issue is the players are very concerned about getting injured with the regular season right around the corner. An injury at this point could cost a player millions. US performance is exhibition quality.

Other teams are a bit more GANBARU about the whole thing however.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Hmm. Yeah you can't run with your head down. But Uchikawa was not helped by the sign to attempt a double steal if possible, and Ibata following the order and bolting. I feel Ibata should have worn any out once he decided to start. Someone was going down. It should be the coach actually. A double steal with your number 4 batter at the plate, not to mention an MLB catcher as your opposition. Shows that they couldn't trust Abe to hit the side of a bus in this match, even if it came and reversed back in forth in front of him for each at-bat.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

andrewfx51

It doesn't matter who missed the steal sign. If you ever played ball then you'd know that you always watch the runner ahead of you when you're base running so you can turn back if necessary. Watch the play, Uchikawa didn't realize Ibata had turned back until Ibata was back on second base and he was3/4 of the way there. And then he just stood there and didn't even try to beat the catcher back to first. Amateur base running on Uchikawa's part and he froze and didn't react on top of that.

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The US team was not star-studded.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

USNinJapan2 daijoboots Koji Yamamoto has come out and said it was a double steal, and that Ibata missed the sign.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Daijoboots

What was Ibata on second doing?

Ibata was doing whatever the third base coach was telling him to do. He would have kept going if Abe got any contact on the ball. It was Uchikawa's job as the base runner behind Ibata to adjust his actions based on what the runner ahead of him is doing. If he had his eyes on Ibata like he was supposed to instead of running with his head down looking at the ground he would have seen Ibata double back to second and could have checked his own run to second in time to possibly make it back to first. The guy screwed up at the worst time possible. Period.

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Totally Uchikawa's fault. If you watch the replay he ran for second with his head down and eyes on the ground, which is a no-no in base running no matter how hard you're running. He should have had his head up with eyes on the Ibata heading for third and the third base coach. Uchikawa's face after he got to the dugout said it all. He knew he'd blown it.

Alright.

What was Ibata on second doing? Early start in case Abe got a hit maybe and then come home. And then went back.

At any rate, Abe is a real sausage.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

It didn't seem fair that Japan and the Netherlands got to rest for days and set their rotations while PR and DR had to play the day before the championship round and travel across country to boot.

Mad props to PR. They showed just how good NPB is on the world stage (i.e., outside of Japan).

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Daijoboots

What happened with this runout? Ibata on second went for it or went for something before stopping and going back, Kawauchi on first followed suit and was all the way out close to second when caught in the spotlight.

Totally Uchikawa's fault. If you watch the replay he ran for second with his head down and eyes on the ground, which is a no-no in base running no matter how hard you're running. He should have had his head up with eyes on the Ibata heading for third and the third base coach. Uchikawa's face after he got to the dugout said it all. He knew he'd blown it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Whaddya expect? Puerto Rico are loaded with MLBers. It's almost not fair............

0 ( +3 / -3 )

oops, that should be ¡¡VIVA PUERTO RICO!!

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If this tournament has been an homage to anything, it's not the superiority of the baseball players from other countries. It's how much better their fans are than ours and how it works in beautiful symbiosis with their players. And how instead of criticizing the style of Latin American baseball, we not only should embrace it but try to emulate it.

I could not agree more, we must play more EXCITING baseball, like our amigos in Latin America are doing, and doing very, very well! VIVA ¡¡PUERTO RICO!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Any reason why this round the Japan team has no stars in it?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Abe also left runners on at least two other times. Abe poo poo.

Abe...a popular name in Japan, Abenomics and here it's Abenomiss !

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Hirokazu Ibata drove in the team's lone run with an eighth-inning single before a costly baserunning blunder

What happened with this runout? Ibata on second went for it or went for something before stopping and going back, Kawauchi on first followed suit and was all the way out close to second when caught in the spotlight. I say Ibata should have kept going, Puerto would only get one run out, or there should have been more communication re: any antics.

Kawauchi was left on third by Abe earlier in the game too, but will feel the heat for this runout. Abe also left runners on at least two other times. Abe poo poo.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

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