ispano6 comments

Ichiro was already a national hero in Japan even before he lined a two-out single into center field in the 10th inning Monday night for what would prove to be the winning runs against Korea. Now they’ll be building monuments to him in his home country.

Is this guy trying to be funny or insulting? Monuments? Little does this author realize Ichiro was the subject of ridicule in Japanese media for both his audacious comments and his reactions to losing to Korea. Americans and Koreans might think Japanese "idolize" Ichiro as a "hero", but up until those last three games of the WBC, many Japanese people wanted him off the team.

And all because Selig had a vision.

It was the united team play of Team Japan + Ichiro saving the game (maybe even more so for himself) for two reasons. One, he couldn't stand to lose to Korea again and second, he had to redeem himself as the captain of Team Japan. It is pretty obvious he wasn't going to settle for anything less than a hit and he masterfully won that 8 pitch-count battle. Selig might have "envisioned" the WBC, but credit should go to where it is really due.

Koreans have been playing professional baseball since only 1982, but they were coming off an Olympic gold medal win in Beijing and had the confidence to play a team they knew well. Unfortunately, their comeback to tie the game in the ninth inning was marred by a bad decision to pitch to Suzuki with first base open in the 10th inning.

Unfortunately? Seems like he's a fan of Korea and the US. Not once does he congratulate Team Japan.

Japanese Manager Tatsunori Hara was already way past psyched before the first pitch was thrown in the last game. “It could be the game of the century,” he said.

It wasn’t quite that, but it was just the game the WBC desperately needed to carry some momentum into the next tournament, which is four long years away.

Obviously, the author does not understand the impact it DOES have.

jeancolmar wrote:

George Orwell wrote that international sporting competitions are among the biggest sources of international ill-will and I agree.

I couldn't agree more. George Orwell was dead on. I'm already getting sour attitude from my Korean co-worker at work. Not to mention I also received poor service at a korean bbq take out joint where they know I am Japanese- they got my order blatantly wrong and made me wait 30minutes while they served other customers the exact same thing! It's all good, my pride is not hurt.

Or the luckiest to make it to 93.. best check to see whether he was around during the Kanto earthquake, or perhaps was on the Tokyo subway 14 years ago this week...

Exactly, he survived both and is alive and well enough to get compensation at the age of 93. He is truly a survivor against all odds.

Yea, I guess the Koreans altered the photo using Photoshop, is that what you're saying? Ha ha ha ha. You are ridiculous.

Photoshop? Now you're putting words into my mouth that I never said. Way to go.

The problem with you, ispano6, is you're biased and don't know anything about baseball. If you had watched the game, Ko was at least several feet AWAY from the basepath.

I've watched baseball for 20years. I played in little league. I watched the game on ESPN in HD and re-wound, slow-moed many of the controversial and questionable calls on both sides.

I brought up the Lee incident because what I was trying to portray as what one country deems "dirty" is not going to be viewed the same from another. It's called Eye of the Beholder, and as much as you want to mention beanballing or what have you, that was in the previous game. Team Korea had many calls go in their favor (Johjima caught a strike out ball but it was KNOCKED out of his glove on the return swing and was mistakenly called a foul tip). You are trying to attribute Japan's win as something "given" to them or they played "dirty" to achieve it. You even go so far to say that the WBC was rigged in favor of the US and Japan due to economic reasons. Japan earned the Championship fair and square.

An article from the LA times read:

"I think just about everybody here could probably play in the big leagues," Davey Johnson, a former all-star player and World Series manager, said before his U.S. team -- featuring 28 major leaguers -- lost to Japan in the WBC semifinals. "Fundamentally I don't think anybody plays the game as well or practices as hard as the Japanese."

This much is true.

You're just an rmchair baseball expert and don't know the rules :)

Really..

Moderator: Readers, no more childish sniping at each other please. This forum is for mature adults.

I too found it strange that both teams didn't salute each other at the end of the game. Obviously Japan was rejoicing, as Korea would have been had they won. Team Korea did not wait around for long either, and quickly went into the dugout and into the locker rooms. The only person left in the dugout was the Korean manager, whom I felt sorry for. For some stupid reason, the awarding of the medals was not televised at all on ESPN.

The problem with Team Korea was that they were trying to win a political war (and not the WBC) using baseball as the battle-ground. If Team Korea had any notion of sportsmanship they probably would not have let their pride get the better of them and would have prevented them from making the wrong call to pitch to Ichiro.

j0hnd0e : In terms of sportsmanship, baseball is a rough sport. The korean article photo of Nakajima's arm blocking the legs of the korean baseman is simply a sour stab at attempting to make Team Japan look dirty. Baseball is a man's game, base runners will clock out the catcher to ensure a run, or slide into the path of a basemen to prevent him from getting a double out. THAT IS HOW BASEBALL IS PLAYED.

Korea tried to tie/win the game by bringing out their "big guns" in their giant designated hitters. Sure, that is one way to win a game ( the cheap way ). But if you're going to slide into 2nd base headfirst, into the stationary knee of the basemen, you should expect to get your face and helmet cracked. When I saw that play as it happened my first reaction was "dude, he just tried to take out that guy's knee." I'm sure to other fans it looked like "dude he just intentionally kneed that guy's head". That reckless play by the korean runner would be considered just as "dirty" as Nakajima putting his arms out to prevent the double out.

Orel Hershiser, as well as other commentators, favored Japan to win. Japan played with better strategy and understanding of the game. Their approach was one of finesse and calculated risk. How many times did Korea bunt in the final game? Team Korea basically got outsmarted, and paid the price for disrespecting Ichiro's ability to make clutch plays.

First off, he shouldn't have even paid that much to go. Though he should get his money back or a good portion of it. It doesn't cost $21million to find out an individual can't fly to space because of kidney stones.

Sounds like Space Adventurers is in the wrong here.