What can you say? The one-and-only Ichiro went 4-for-6 with 2 RBI–including the game-winner with a two-run single in the top of the tenth–as Japan beat Korea in an extra-inning nail-biter to repeat as World Baseball Classic champions.
An erratic Yu Darvish blew a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth in relief of Iwakuma Hisashi, giving up Lee Bum-ho’s single scoring pinch-runner Lee Jeong-wook to tie the game. But Japan rebounded quickly in the top of the tenth, getting to eventual loser Lim Chang-yong.
Japan gave Korea every chance to win it, and needed fifteen hits to produce three runs. Korean manger Kim In-Sik’s decision to pitch to a dialed-in Ichiro with men on second and third in the tenth was a head-scratcher, and Kim–who had an arsenal of fresh arms at his disposal in the bullpen– will probably replay that decision in his mind for quite some time.
Darvish then shook off his ninth-inning yips and slammed the door on Korea in the bottom of the tenth, showing the virtually unhittable stuff he’s capable of when on and confident.
Matsuzaka Daisuke earned the tournament’s MVP award, which could just as easily been handed to Iwakuma, who turned in his second big game performance in the tourney. The trio of Darvish, Matsuzaka, and Iwakuma combined for a 1.66 E.R.A. over 38 innings during the classic.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Mike Ebertz // Mar 24, 2009 at 10:31 pm
This was a great finale. Japan was hitting the ball all over the place, but wasn’t getting the runs. They deserved the victory and Ichiro is the best in the business. There’s not a Korean ballplayer that is close to him in ability. You gotta love the guy.
Go Japan!
2 bigdaub // Mar 25, 2009 at 12:37 am
asian stubbornness at its finest!
what a great game! it was, really, one of the best individual games, at least to me, and i’m just glad the extra inning rule didn’t come into play. imagine if it did to determine the outcome of this game… man, i’d go kick wbc organizers in their nuts.
3 Frank // Mar 25, 2009 at 1:48 am
Did anyone else catch the Taiwanese flag being waved around behind home plate during the first few inning of the game?
4 Jackson // Mar 25, 2009 at 2:55 am
I did! In fact one of my friends gave me a message during the game and told me it was his friends.
I wonder if they knew Taiwan wasn’t playing.
5 hansioux // Mar 25, 2009 at 9:21 am
It was pretty funny. But at the same time, some dude had the Dominican Republic flag back there during some games too. And while watching this game on TV, I even saw an Romanian flag along the third baseline…
I guess you can bring what ever flag you want. The Taiwanese flag makes up for not having a Taiwanese flag on the banner with the other 16 nations.
6 simon // Mar 25, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I think fans of many countries had already bought finals tickets in advance with the hope of their team making it there, then they decided to attend and enjoy the game despite the absence of their team, pretty common in international tournaments.
The Romanian flag was probably most likely and unfortunately a Soka Gakkai flag, a branch of Buddhism that’s marked as a cult in many countries.
http://images.google.co.jp/images?rlz=1C1GGLS_jaJP299JP303&sourceid=chrome&q=soka%20gakkai%20flag&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=ja&tab=wi
7 Shinsano // Mar 25, 2009 at 4:49 pm
No comment to add to the Romanian/Soka Gakkai flag, but that’s really interesting. I’d love to see some photo evidence of that.
8 Patrick // Mar 26, 2009 at 12:51 am
I gotta approached by Soka Gakkai members 2-3 times when I was living in Japan. The funniest time was when they tried to sell me on the fact that Tina Turner and Herbie Hancock are members.
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