In a game that looked oddly similar to last Saturday’s, Korea fell behind Japan early, but then crawled back and exploded in the late innings once the game was tied.
Lee Seung-yeop, in what might be called an act of poetic justice given the year he’s had in Japan, hit a two run HR off Hitoki Iwase (who has been absolutely terrible these Olympics) to put Korea up 4-2. Then, a drop by Takahiko Sato on a fairly routine flyball off the bat of Ko Yeong-min scored Kim Dong-ju to make it 5-2. Kang Min-ho followed with a double to deep center (over the head of a very shallow Norichika Aoki) to put the lead at four runs (box).
It’s an understatement to call this a big win for Korean baseball. To come back and beat Japan twice is a feat for this team and gets what was starting to manifest itself as a pretty big monkey. This is without question the biggest win in the history of Korean baseball.
However, the dramatics of Lee’s HR aside, Kim Kwang-hyun was outstanding and is clearly the team’s money pitcher. Only one of Japan’s runs was earned and Kim struck out six and walked two over eight innings. Yoon Suk-min, normally a starter, has become the team’s closer and retired the side in order in the 9th.
Japan jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead with Tsuyoshi Nishioka scoring after singling and advancing to second on an Lee Seung-yeop error. Nishioka came around again in the 3rd on a Norichika Aoki single. Korea countered in the 4th when Lee Seung-yeop grounded into a double play , which scored Lee Yong-kyu. In the 7th Lee Dae-ho drew a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Jeong Keun-woo. As I said before, I hate this kind of overmanaging, but it paid off for Korea as Jeong ended up scoring on an Lee Jin-yeong single. Dae-ho most definately wouldn’t have scored on the play.
For Japan the entire Olympic tournament has been a disapointment. Expected to challenge for the gold, the Japanese have been exactly a .500 team. The bullpen, thought to be a strength, has been porus and people have to be questioning the logic in manager Hoshino bringing the bullpen he did when there are several good young arms having solid seasons in the NPB.
Korea will face a tough challenge in either the U.S. or Cuba. The Americans are peaking at the right time and Cuba will be tough no matter what. But for the moment the team can revel in the fact that it beat its arch rival. The media is going crazy, annoucers are openly gushing and and two channels are showing highlights on end to end repeat.
14 responses so far ↓
1 baekgom84 // Aug 22, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Gutsy win! Hopefully this victory overshadows their loss in the women’s handball last night. I especially liked the touch of Lee Seung-yeop playing the hero.
I get the impression that the Koreans will be pretty satisfied from hereon in, having banished the demons of the WBC and put the Japanese to the sword. Although they would probably prefer to lose to Cuba than the US.
2 Simon Currie // Aug 22, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Very disappointing end to a very disappointing tournament by Japan, still unable to beat any of the powers, Korea, US, and Cuba in 4 tries so far. The bronze medal game will be a Darvish-Wada show, which has some hope, but the offence has been hopeless and has shown no signs of rising from the dead.
3 Christopher Amano-Langtree // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Korea a power? Lets have some reality. Despite the failure in the Olympics Japan is still world champion. Hoshino relied on his proven players and failed to use the people in form. An unfortunate demonstration of his main weakness. His side though could have played better and using Iwase after two loses was just plain folly.
4 JP // Aug 22, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Well done Korea. When I want to get the results of Olympic baseball, I check Eastwindup Chronicle. It’s hard to find in the U.S.
5 Shinsano // Aug 22, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Thanks JP…we try our best to keep things updated, but it’s not always easy.
I think it’s fair to call Korea a baseball power at this point…it’s an interesting point of debate. I’d still say the quality of play is generally higher in Japan, but the gap is growing smaller year by year. I’ve said before I think SK could give the best the NPB has to offer a good run.
Korea’s success and Japan’s failure here really sets up the WBC nicely. Put a quality American team in there, plus teams from the DR, Venezuela, and PR and it’ll really get fun.
6 Patrick // Aug 22, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Congratulations to the Korean team – they’ve beaten every team in the tournament and fully earned their shot at the gold.
Cuba just finished pounding America 10-2 so it’ll be a Korea-Cuba final.
7 Simon Currie // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:30 am
Of course, Japan will be able to field a better team that is more used to playing in MLB parks with Matsuzaka, Ichiro, Matsui (maybe), Saito, and co. for WBC 2009, it should definitely be interesting.
Looking forward to how much Cuba has up its sleeve for the Korea game.. though I’m busy tomorrow evening so I’ll have to settle for the Darvish-Wada show in the morning.
8 2008.8.22 Olympic Baseball Semis « Japan, Hockey, Baseball, etc. // Aug 23, 2008 at 3:11 am
[...] Japanese offence in the second half of the game. For better accounts of the game, here’re the EWC and NPBTracker takes on the game. Oh, and the US was crushed 10-2 by Cuba in the other regional arch [...]
9 Kieth C. // Aug 23, 2008 at 4:14 am
I think debating whether Korea is a baseball powerhouse or not is besides the point. Of course Korea’s professional baseball isn’t as good as Japan’s but neither is Cuba’s.
But when you look at Korea’s international record, i.e. the two wins against Japan plus the win against the U.S. in the last WBC and the recent run in the Olympics, I think it’s fair to say that the national team Korea fields is one of the best teams on the international level.
10 Christopher Amano-Langtree // Aug 23, 2008 at 9:44 am
Agreed but is this just a flash in the pan? Remember Australia in 2004? If Korea win the Gold then I think they can start to look forward to a renaissance in the future.
11 Shinsano // Aug 23, 2008 at 11:57 am
I really don’t think it’s a flash in the pan. It’s not easy for people to get their head around, and Koreans themselves would be the last to admit it, but over the last 20 years this country has become one of the world’s wealthiest. People are bigger and healthier (in fact, Koreans are statistically the largest people in Asia…and getting bigger), the facilities are better, the coaching is better. It just hasn’t played out in MLB (recently) or on the world stage where everyone can see it and change their mind. Korea changed a lot of minds during the WBC and a few more last night. It’s a trajectory, not a trend and the good thing about it is that it just means better baseball overall.
12 yoshi // Aug 23, 2008 at 1:03 pm
cheeee hooooooo……..
aaron… you must be ecstatic. i would be.
13 The Bee's Knees // Mar 7, 2009 at 2:23 am
You must have been out of your bloody mind if you thought this was Korea’s biggest win in baseball (and yes, I’m well aware of the fact that you wrote this article prior to Korea winning Gold at Beijing). Japan is good, but they’re one of the most overrated teams in the history of international baseball. For Korea to beat Japan twice in a row was hardly a long shot. Korea’s greatest achievement in international baseball (at the time your post was written) was beating the American team at the 06 Classic. This isn’t just my opinion, but the opinions of many Korean ball players.
14 Shinsano // Mar 7, 2009 at 6:11 am
Disagree. The WBC win vs. America was punctuated with a loss to Japan in the finals. Beating the Japanese team in the Olympics buried that ghost. And at any rate, the rivalry with Japan means much more than any game with the U.S….even if in public the players themselves argue otherwise in public.
And by the way: calling Japan one of the most overrated teams in the history of Japanese baseball doesn’t deserve comment. My guess is you’re Korean-Australian.
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