Team Japan defeats Team South Korea, 14-2 in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Back here in tokyo as we get set for action game four japan against south korea the winner of this one guaranteed to move on to round two john chaby arrested estrada inside the tokyo dome and this is the matchup that everybody has been waiting for all right oh
First game of pool a play first game of the tournament it was japan against china offensively team japan didn’t do all that much four runs on five hits were they tight you expect them to be tight here they were definitely titan that was another question i posed to their
Hitting coach down on the field before the game he said he could just see it and he talked to the players the next day when they practice and uh they said that they were a little excited about the first game the first game from manager hara uh remember now
It’s a new manager it’s not sadahara old the legend and uh i think they were just a little wound up and when you’re wound up as a hitter the worst thing to have is guys that are throwing little change ups to little slow pitches which is what
What uh chyna brought to the table and they struggled take a look at the lineups for this one and for team japan ichiro suzuki up top went over five in the big hit in the win over china shuichi morata a two run homer yeah he was the only one that
Really kind of stayed back on team china and uh was able to pop that big home run on a tough pitch down and away you see the flash bulbs you heard the hand for ichiro suzuki the 35 year old bureau hit 310 this past season in
Seattle as he digs in and we are ready to go [Applause] and the first pitch of the game is in there for a strike from guang hyeong kim here comes the ichiro chant give it a second and you’ll hear the whole crowd they yell out his name
That one ripped to right and it’ll drop in for a hit vintage ichiro right there but that might be the loudest first inning single applause that i’ve ever heard in my life it’s the first inning it’s a single and that’s it but that’s how crazy they
Are for this rivalry how crazy they are for ichiro suzuki getting back on track here is nero yuki nakajima and the short stop from cebu [Applause] kim delivers outside one and one the left-hander guang hyun kim outstanding stuff but that one ripped back up the middle and back-to-back singles to start it for
Team japan nakajima 331 hitter this past year for sabrina he’s a young kid and he reminds me of a guy that i played with kazmatsui before he went on to the mets and now with the houston astros but same kind of body type same potential there’s a left fielder now nori chicago
The left fielder went two for four against china had two of their five hits up the middle and through here comes ichiro he’ll score three straight singles one to nothing japan you think they’re enjoying it inside the tokyo dome there’s his patented slider that’s his best pitch fastball slider
And i i’ll tell you what they came out relax i was telling you they told me that one of the things they felt was they were tight tense in their shoulders in fact their hitting coach came up to me and rubbed my shoulders he said i talked to
Them about their shoulders relax them and that’s when you can really kind of swing the bat a little bit and we’re seeing it from these guys so far guang young kim just 20 years old had a great year this past season in the korean league 150 strikeouts in 162 innings he pitched
In beijing was brilliant two starts against japan the papers today were calling kim the japan killer gave up just two runs in beijing and 13 in the third innings here’s morata with runners at first and second this crowd is juiced up here in the tokyo dome seats about 55 000
And it is pretty full well i mean to encapsulate it a little bit even further you had the 06 wbc and those the great rivalry then it’s been built up now for three years since then japan the defending champion and a couple of their key guys back here
In atro and obviously daisuke starting this is a big big game [Applause] no one to murata right there for a strike shuichi morata had the big hit in the third the other night a two-run homer against chyna beautiful swing it was a breaking pitch looked like a changeup or
A little splitter down and away kept his hands back went down and got it this kid is a professional hitter 46 home runs last year uh he’s got legit power this is this is real power here you’re seeing at the plate got him swinging blew the fastball by him
Morata down on strikes one away [Applause] well this is why they call him the japan killer he’s no joke he’s only 20 years old but he’s got a big heart and a big fastball and a sharp hard slider again talking to team japan before the game what they’re most
Cognizant of is that hard slider especially for the left-handed hitters they the one coach compared it to back in the day uh none other than the louisiana lightning ron guidry that that type of a hard heavy slider well now it’s michihiro olga sawara the designated hitter one of the veterans on this team
[Applause] and there is that slider missing down on the way yoga sawara 36 home runs this past season for yoma yuri he plays his home games in this stadium one to nothing japan on the aoki rbi single to score ichiro suzuki and now two and nothing
As i mentioned before to me uh all the years that i’ve followed him here wash him here he came on shortly after i retired from japan is to me the japanese version of don mattingly he’s a sweet swinging from the left side not a big guy very good defensively even
Though he throws right hand he’s a right-handed first baseman but a left-handed hitter and he goes the other way very well with left-handed pitcher outside corner for a strike and they count two on one daisuke matsuzaka getting some early rung support and japan leading one to nothing [Applause] ogasawara started game one
At first base he is the d.h tonight and that one fought off down two and two just just just so you know that nice four seamer right there this kid nice and loose throws about right around 90. and when you could throw 90 and spot your fastball then have that slider
Around 86 87. that’s uh that’s a good little combo [Applause] two two check swing did he go you bet ed hickox rings him up and there’s two down so the 20 year old left-hander guang hyun kim has settled back down look at that nice job look at the spin
On that slider how well he gets on top watch him get on top he fights it there’s a 20 year old kid right here showing a slider like a big leaguer and he gets a really good veteran hitter out right there and one more thing ed hickok behind the plate not needing any
Help and that’s why augusta water looked back because the japanese leagues and even the korean leagues they’re a lot they give you a lot more leeway with the check swings i mean an immense amount of leeway with a check swing so he was kind of like hoping that he’d get
A little chance there chicago starts at first base and he was the leading hitter this past year in the century league for yokohama at 378. interesting that yokohama finished last and yet they had the league’s leading home run hitter and the leading hitter in terms of average what does that tell you
Gotta get some pinching thank you that team has not had pitching in a long time nakajima at second aoki at first and quickly it’s owen two and again 70 total pitches the limit in the first round that’s a difference of five from 2006 when it was 65.
Fans are charged up inside the tokyo dome remember team japan’s first workout in miyazaki 37 000 fans showed up and for the amount of traffic they had in that little town they said it generated about 110 million dollars in terms of tourism which is amazing and really speaks
To how popular baseball is and i mean it is basically 28 rock stars is essentially what you’re dealing with well throw 29 when the manager is also one of the rock stars so uh yeah yeah this is a special team and they’re expected again with with that type of support and love
And passion comes we expect you to get to the finals it’s a good point as far as tatsunori hara i mean he’s replacing a legend in sadahara oh but for all the focus on managing arrest is we’re talking about a guy who played for yomiuri he was an 11 time all-star
He won the mvp won the rookie of the year i mean he had a nice career he had a i mean a good good good career i played against him many many times and uh just never became you know a super mega star on the field very popular guy
Off the field still is pitch through chikawa hit hard fair down the line this could score two nakajima in here comes aoki he’ll score and it’s three to nothing listen to this place uchikawa inserted into the lineup and delivers a flat slider the first flat slider he’s thrown this inning and nothing new
Nothing new look at ichiro jump up and do you think he’s excited ah brother they they are into it as are everybody else that uh the pool rounds in mexico city when they get going and the u.s and toronto and of course puerto rico people are into this [Applause]
In the game one win over china walked four times and it is one of his strengths to be sure yes sir guy who is selective and gets on base [Applause] the strike evens the count real quick on uh uchikawa really this is nothing new for this kid
I mean this kid could flat out right you gotta understand he had 189 hits and only 136 games played that’s a crazy stroking right there that’s some hitting the swing and a miss and they count one and two yeah i would say you could just boil it down to this
If they are going to pay you to play baseball as a professional no matter the league 378 says it all yes sir and this is a pretty darn good lead right there got him looking so three strikeouts in the inning for kim but the damage done team japan gets some support for daisuke
Matsuzaka ichiro suzuki delighted it’s three nothing japan up after a half in a good play three-nothing back inside the tokyo dome south korea coming up to hit and let’s take a look at inchi kim’s lineup nine nothing to win over chinese taipei in their first game and jin young lee
With a big grand slam came up to hit with the bases loaded twice and into a double play and left the park one of two home runs for south korea it was a big blast too that baby went well over 400 foot to right center defense for team japan very good in the
Outfield aoki fukudome and suzuki morata nakajima iwamora uchikawa third to first that outfield right there oki fukudoma initro i’m telling you right now that that is a world-class outfield right there as far as speed arm strength uh and and they’ve got it pulled the pole covered i mean i’m telling you that
Is one of the better outfields you’re gonna see anywhere see the numbers for daisuke matsuzaka he only started 29 times because he missed some time with a rotator cuff strain deals a strike right there to jungkook lee the center fielder nice k of course 28 years old six-time all-star with cebu
Played eight years here in japan and delivers a strike throwing a nice little titan slider of his own dice came out to zaca no two almost hits lead commander times an issue for dice k he walked 94 167 and two-thirds innings don’t think it’s a stretch to say if he
Had been healthy he would have led the majors nevertheless he led the american league in free passes [Applause] out of play one of the things that you can’t help but point out with reference to that i mean a he’s nasty b may be overthinking and not in synergy
With his pitching coaching times and catcher as far as wanting to throw that incredible repertoire of seven or eight pitches and you get in trouble and the nerd skips away from joe jiman it’s two and two little slider right here that he just held on a little too long that’s okay
That’s early season stuff and he’s got to get your body and in tune a little bit and those are the type of things that that this is not only a key game but also you’re you’re working your mechanics out too [Applause] and i found a comment by the manager
Of south korea very interesting this morning reading in the paper that he says when they have faced dysgate before in past competition of olympics and in 06 he felt that he threw much more fastball relied more on his fastball in the last couple years of
Watching him in the dye league in the in the major leagues he’s noticed that he’s thrown much a lot more breaking pitches [Applause] so he talked to his team about that to be cognizant of it but their actual image and physical experience has been a guy who came out with fastball sliders
Yeah i mean essentially at least as the perspective is in america he pitches like a japanese pitcher and for japan an international play he kind of pitches a little more like an american pitcher that one in the dirt and that reminds me booga let’s just go
Ahead and say a nice good morning uh back in the united states to uh manager tito francona maybe uh pitching coach john farrell uh gm theo epstein 50 of the boston red sox nation who’s probably watching to see how dicey is doing [Applause] the red sox have two full-time employees
With him the roving pitching coach denny tamori and massage theramis takanori maida and basically they can’t make it mandatory but the hope is that he’ll continue to follow the red sox kind of training principles if you will and tell you what right here vintage dice
Came from 02 to 3 and 2. that’s right and here he is trying to you know throw that hard slider he got his elbow down didn’t get on top of it and he knew it as soon as he threw the pitch payoff pitch is lined in a right center field
He got a fastball and jung hammered it [Applause] good that’s what he needed to throw right there nice four seamer out of the plate no big deal give up a base hit you got three runs hopefully a guy like kenji jojo uh will be able to convince him
To throw more around the plate and aggressively [Applause] kim the left fielder now [Applause] japan with three first inning runs there are not too many south korean fans here but they’re not difficult to spot that section out there over the left field wall they have the thunder sticks working of course thundersticks
Invented in korea but that’s for the most part the south korea section there are a couple of pockets here and there and they kind of have the bob euchre seats out there yeah [Applause] oh and one on the left fielder runner was on the go and that one pushed foul
So in sheikh kim moving the runner gun great jump right here went zitro lifted his leg he had a great you probably had it stolen but that’s okay because you want to let kim here swing the bat this guy i’m telling you has a beautiful swing good size
And uh you got to be careful with this guy got to give him an opportunity to swing the bat maybe use that hole in the right side south korea has won six of the last seven matchups between these two teams sweeping a pair of games in the 2000 and 2008 olympics
And winning two of three in the 06 world baseball classic but japan won when it mattered in the semis and that one punched foul and out of play south korea won a pair of one-run games in the first two rounds three to two and two to one and then japan and the semifinals
Beat south korea six to nothing to move on for a date with cuba and then won it all daisuke matsuzaka was the starter in that championship game and ended up as the mvp in the inaugural world baseball classic here’s a look at it last time there’s around else
To see santa harold smiling on the field ichiro hugging him it was very very special moment right away tricky little time right here i mean you got a very good hitter guy who knows how to handle the bat and uh you have a very powerful guy on deck
Young shoe cam rips one into right field jung heading for third the throw not in time throw to second got him kim a little too aggressive right there as murata gunned him down [Applause] and he’s upset he’s got decent speed he’s a big guy six two about 210. hits a
Bullet to right center ichiro is it right not in center he’s in right we know what kind of gun he has and he sees the little guy rounding first and he wants to gun him down good read by by kim at first base it’s just that he’s not as swift and really
The play was made by the third baseman who gave up on the play at third went towards ichiro’s throw and cut him down if he sits back and tries to make the tag then kim makes it the second so a nice play by shuishi morata two outs now matsuzaka has given up a
Couple of hits both on fastballs and now tycoon kim big first baseman [Applause] i think worth noting in the inaugural world baseball classic [Applause] lee was the big slugger for south korea tycoon kim the man at the plate was his backup well now lee is concentrating on
His career with the yomiuri giants and tycoon kim gets an opportunity to play i will say that they they being team japan hara and his fine coaching staff are going to be very very very careful kyung kim right here they’d rather take their chances with
The big boy uh dai ho kim daho lee excuse me and that’s why you’re seeing the breaking pitches in this case i agree with that you got an open base it’s early in the game go ahead there’s the curve ball go ahead and uh give this guy the base
And and go after the the bigger free swinger that ball is crushed way back there it goes out of here he gave him something to hit and tycoon kim leaves the lot and just like that south korea makes it a one-run game and how big is that base running blunder now
That was blasted how does the 3 000 fans silence 52 000 hit a ball about 450 feet and really you got to hand it to uh south korea and their coaching staff gave them the green light and then japan did not think that he was going to be swinging away
And he wasn’t even a strike it was up in the zone and zone it was ball four [Applause] it was definitely a fastball he was just trying to get you know a little get over pitch and uh and that’s actually strange because the big hitters these three breaking pitches first time up and
You know uncorks on one i uh i was a bit surprised but that’s the power that we see three four five we already saw the kid uh the sweet swinger and uh kim get the liner to right there it goes kim getting the home run to our money here comes die holy [Applause]
Nigh lee 6-4 just under 270 pounds big big guy but taiku and kim has put south korea on the board a 3-2 game here in the bottom of the first john chamber arrest his destrata this is the matchup everyone was waiting for in pool a [Applause] using up a lot of pitches now
At 26 the limit in round one is 70. [Applause] dijo lee will take his base 14 balls 13 strikes total 27 boop 23 for the lefty for south korea kim so both pitchers little jittery getting behind in the hitters a little bit in that first inning breaking ball for a strike to sien
Tsuchu cleveland indians outfielder who is only d.h here in the first round as in tendonitis in his left elbow to the right side flag down by uchikawa takes it himself and that is the inning but team japan after jumping out three nothing tycoon kim a long home run it’s 3-2
Back inside the tokyo dome as we go to the second japan leading it by a run a lot of action in the first inning wang hyun kim back to work the 20 year old settled down and struck out three in the first but gave up the rbi single to aoki
And the new chicago a two-run double [Applause] this guy was the mvp of this left-handed pitcher of the korean league [Applause] genji jojoba up here the mariners catcher tough year this past season at 227. seven homers 39 knocked in yeah i’ve gotten a chance to talk to him
A lot with the same hotel the whole nine and real really nice guy and he knows that he had a tough year and he’s he’s really dedicated looks in good shape and uh he’s got to fight you know he’s going to fight on his hands to to have that everyday catching
Job from the kid clement so he’s up for it line drive left center field fifth hit of the game for japan [Applause] nice job right there got himself a fastball and as a and is a good hitter which jojoba can be you let yourself sometimes get jammed a
Little bit against a nasty pitcher like this you just go ahead and fight off a fastball up in the zone and take yourself a nice little single i got to say another thing about jojo man i’ve always been impressed his english in a short time has gotten so good because he knew
That he had to pick up the english quicker than another japanese player because he’s a catcher and that is such an uh you know a special position that you have to communicate with your pitcher so i i was very impressed how well he speaks not only the baseball jargon but
Just english on a whole [Applause] iwamora up here the 01. it’s a little high Now that guy speaks great spanish believe it or not i’m not kidding these pictures i could have got full conversations with him in spanish just missed and the count two and one are on fires for this one and hitchcock’s behind the plate jorge perez down there at first andy fletcher and dan toledo
Every game will be um fired by a group that has half major league umpires at half international baseball federation um so far here in kool-aid the big league umpires the major league umpires from the us have all fired the plate every game and are scheduled to do
So the rest of the way we’ll see how that plays out in the rest of the tournament two and two now on akinori iwo mora’s tampa bay rays the biggest surprise of the 2008 baseball season got all the way to the world series lost to the philadelphia phillies [Applause]
And now it’s three and two south korea when they went to the semifinals in the 06 world baseball classic pitching was such a key they led the entire wbc and timi ra at an even two there’s a payoff pitch iwamora lays off and japan back to work first and second and nobody out
Kool-aid play chinese taipei already been eliminated china awaits the loser of this game and will play an elimination game and then the winner of this one guaranteed to play in round two and we’ll end up playing the winner of the matchup between chyna and the loser of this game suzuki at the play
I mean they just love him here he is about to play [Applause] his ninth season in the major leagues and here’s a scary thought he played nine here in japan wanted third base side it’s a great one no play bases loaded what a bunt and do they love it or what
He can do no wrong right now boog look at this this is beautiful i mean this is textbook he’s the pitcher ken is lucky he didn’t pick it up cleanly because he would have probably winged it in the right field he has no chance he chose 3 9 3 8 down the line
And again he’s just he’s he’s tweaked it up a notch i was watching and talking to him during bp he had an incredible pp started out just trying to hit his line drives opposite field then he opened up hit some jacks and i could see it in his eyes and he
Was like you know what this game is mine [Applause] nakajima single and a run scored his first time it comes up empty [Applause] kim having to work hard here in the early going of this game they’re all loaded up here in the top of the second
How much do the fans love this and love ichiro check this out flash bulbs popping everywhere and excited with the bun single to load up the bases each row after an over five night in game one now two for two [Applause] and again one of these guys that uh
You know it’s just a rarity i mean he’s just he’s like tiger jordan gretzky i mean it’s just he’s a single name and literally was known here just by his single name suzuki a very very very common family name ichiro not as common and he went by
That and as you saw when he comes into the plate they chant that name when he’s doing his little patented trademark setup deal with his arm [Applause] they just chant out his name [Applause] looking on and activity in the bullpen chung yeah they’re going to go
They’re going to have to go fast and furious here you can’t let this open up too much kim’s struggling here hence throwing a lot of pitches [Applause] nice stop by park the catcher and now it is filled up three and two and there is no place for kim to put nakajima [Applause]
This 20 year old left-hander the mvp of the korean league a 239 era this past year and dubbed the japan killer and the japanese newspaper is here today as he pitched so well well against team japan and these past olympics south korea the gold medalists in those olympics in baseball
All loaded up nobody out payoff pitch and slider there that shows you how much confidence he has in that pitch it’ll stay three and two you’re absolutely right boogie has an immense amount of compass in that slider he can throw it uh for strikes he’s got a couple of
Different ones he’s got the bigger one and he’s got the tighter one and uh if you got a deck of slider why give in sometimes but [Applause] he’s uh he’s been getting knocked around i think that’s one of the ploys and one of the tactics that team japan has done along
With relaxing up at the plate look for that slider good battle here as nakajima fouls it off and remains filled up on the shortstop japan leading to two already six hits for team japan they had five in all of game one good point yeah they’re a lot more relaxed and [Applause]
Even though it’s better competition better pitcher on the mound it goes to show you how much the game of baseball is about [Applause] the mentality and also the physicality they all work together if your shoulders are tight then your swing is going to be slow maybe you’re thinking a little bit too
Anxious then you’re going to be jumping out there [Applause] physically here’s the 3-2 missed inside ball four he walked in a run and it’s 4-2 see how much longer in chicane stays with guang hyun [Applause] that was a tough one right there fastball they’ll actually look like a little cutter
And the kid kim wanted that he’s going where mr hickok where was that i thought it was inside by attack just a little bit maybe a couple inches but he wanted [Applause] takes a strike he delivered the first run of the game with an rbi single the left fielder from the yakult swallows
Only two players in the history of the japanese league to have 200 hits in a season ichiro suzuki and this man remember they only play 140 games right and then they got another guy coming up the kid that’s playing first base who already got that double
Uchikawa at 189 so he was just 11-inch shot so they’ve got three guys that can flat out hit a baseball at least as far as base knox goes [Applause] up and in 2-1 [Applause] and he already had good results okie came into the game three for four versus the quote-unquote japan killer
Mr kim i’m just going to call the young kid kim he’s only 20 years old [Applause] slider fought off but it’s two and two there you go look look how tight he is he’s not at all a uh powerful guy he’s a guy that
Will steal you a lot of bases slap a lot of balls very much like ichiro in the sense of being a slap hitter with speed really really good outfielder and can hit lefty and righty alike the ground they get one and they can’t turn it run scores and now it’s five to two
I thought that had a chance to be a 6.3 double play and that was it hard in astroturf that goes to show you how swift aoki is nice job there was no mistake or hesitancy by by the short stop and the transition by the second baseman uh but again
That outfield of fukudova ichiro and aoki is just sensational full of speed and full of just just sensational hitters and and outbreaks kim the 20 year old now has to face shuichi morata and morata a strikeout victim his first time all in one you know that’s a great example right
There as we see a fastball out over the plate 48th pitch for young kim he struck him out the last time marathon with a fastball right out over the plate with two strikes [Applause] now he’s got him thinking backwards that’s what japanese pitchers will do to you they’ll throw you backwards
First pitch and this at bat right here to murano fastball right out over the plate when maybe you know morata’s up there thinking this guy’s got a nasty slider my hitting coach has told me keep an eye on the slider and i bet you he’ll throw him another fast pull away
And he does right there you go you got to learn how to hit backwards here man it’s a frustrating thing japan leading 5-2 and the japanese league home run champ at the plate [Applause] shuichi morata third baseman Places games for yokohama it has been a loud and active crowd inside the tokyo dome fastball away again morata gets a piece it’s a good job right here just protecting the plate fastball away not sure uh mr hickok behind the plate might call that one so [Applause] [Applause]
The count already 52 pitches thrown by kim hit hard but foul as ichiro does a little dance to get out of the way of that one don’t be hurting that guy marathon seattle meredith won’t be happy campers right now if they see an intro get clipped well firstly manager howard for team
Japan and about 55 000 and maybe 130 million japanese will wouldn’t be happy but then this seattle mirrors would be next yeah then jack sorensick and company be upset yes in that order right and uh newly hired wakamatsu manager would not want to be hearing that one so
We’ll get off that that subject right there [Applause] john walcomatsu the new manager for the mariners they are really making kim work fouling off a lot of pitches this young guy trying to hang in but it has been tough now what i like right here about morocco
He’s a big home run hitter you know he’s got he’s got some pop knows this stadium very well but he’s broken down his swing right now the last two or three foul balls he’s looking to get himself a base hit trying to hit the
Ball in the air he’s got one out man on third base [Applause] and right now we’ve got to keep an eye on maybe the runner at first base going and we know the speed of ichiro at third aoki at first he’s not going high fly ball left field
Cam back kim at the wall and it’s out of here shuichi morata long drawn out at bat and on the 10th pitch deposits it just over the left field wall and look how fired up he is a three run homer and it’s eight to two he’s fired up
Because he knows what kind of a bad he just finished having and that’s the time when you hit a home run when you’re not trying to hit a home run that was you know as beautiful and as bad as you’re gonna get he ended up getting a changeup
Got himself a change of after all those fastballs and hard sliders that goes to show you what a good hitter this kid is getting his hands back lost a fly ball good things happen [Applause] and she came out to the mound and we’ve got ourselves a pitching change
Tough start for guang hyun kim who gives up eight earned runs [Applause] team japan has broken it open 8-2 and a pitching change and Hitter struck out his first time and comes up empty on the first offering from [Applause] outside and it’s even up a ball and a strike so the right-hander had some command issues 56 walks in 127 innings obasawara doing the d.h here in this one he started at first base in japan’s first game
[Applause] you wonder how daisuke matchazaka is going to respond because he’s been waiting now for about 25 minutes bouncer to first and kim over to jung there’s two away that that’s uh going to be a little bit of concern and you know for all that we’re all looking to see how dice gays
Looking seeing tuned up or not kind of had that you know old daisuke kind of things going on here seiichi uchikawa up at the plate had a big two-run double in the first uchikawa starting at first base and the only change is uchicaba instead of inaba huge hitting five runs for japan
They lead it eight two we go to the bottom of the second inside the tokyo dome south korean fans trying to get something going against daisuke matsuzak in the first inning south korea came up with a couple of runs that dice k not exactly peppering the strike zone had to work
Hard so already 29 pitches thrown by the right-hander here is jin young lee who had a grand slam in his first at-bat of this world baseball classic that was against chinese taipei last night [Applause] for all the talk in this world baseball classic here in asia about the difference in the baseball
You’re using a rawlings baseball that’s made of cowhide in asia they usually use a mizuno ball made of horse hide the guy that has got to have the least problem making the transition would be daisuke matsuzaka there’s that monster blast he hit last night with a grand slam [Applause]
That one ripped and off the glove of iwamora that was hit hard thought he might have a chance aki would have a chance to make a little bit of a circus catch here it was a bullet bounced off his glove that knight might be able to get back to it and catch it
Before he hit the ground but no go there that was a bullet definitely should be ruled the base hit and it has been so now kyungwon park and a strike to the catcher the veteran catcher 36 years old Check swinging the ball down and in and they count one and one move not to belittle the batting prowess of team china and teams up excuse me chinese taipei but we’re seeing a whole different level of hitters right here tonight we’re seeing the team japan you know with ichiro chicago
Uh you know morata that are you know they’re a different level of swinging in the back check swing appeal to first didn’t go says jorge perez and now two and two take another look he held up there good job good call and then on the korean side three four
Five are big big boppers there’s some swingers here yeah i mean the difference i think between these two teams in china and chinese taipei i think it starts offensively with the power yeah more guys with the ability to hit it out of the park sure [Applause]
And drive balls i mean you see balls that have backspin and go in the gaps uh you know this is a big donna difference to third morada the iwamora onto uchikawa five four three check out how quick aki nori gets rid of the ball and what he has on it i mean
He is such an athlete at second base akinorio mora a converted third baseman look how quick he just got it boom get rid of it and it was on the money over to first base it helps that he was a third baseman for many years in japan and for the first couple
Of years or so with the tampa bay race because that you’ve got to have a strong arm to be a third baseman but the footwork he had really you know you may say well he’s kind of you know shorter he’s five and nine he never played second and he got called upon to
Play second with the raise took it on positively and says i’m going to learn his position and man has he ever a big reason why the tampa bay rays went to the world series by the way little bouncer right side and there is iwamora handles the chance and that’s that
We played two japan on top Top half of the third inside the tokyo don’t pack taos japan leading at eight to two world baseball classic coverage well underway action in pool d begins in san juan the netherlands taking on the dominican republic panama going up against puerto rico and then in pools c some great matchups
The us and canada plus italy and venezuela check your local listings for the exact time in your region the world baseball classic baseball spoken here up here fouls one back yeah it’s funny we’re watching looking at that and and i’m down there getting doing my little recon mission with all my boys from
Former teammates and guys i played against you know for team japan getting info from the south korean team et cetera et cetera and a couple of the japanese coaches come up to me one starts asking me about mexico they’re they’re turning the recon on me asking me about team mexico
And the other one’s asking me about team fuba the cubans and they go hey so you uh you kind of know what uh what’s going on with that wait i’m down here asking you about your tank right don’t be asking me about that yeah they want as much information as they can get
[Applause] i really really i mean i know you know who was gonna be a tough team but team keep an eye out keep an eye out on team mexico i’m telling you they’re they’re a sleeper [Applause] that one way high from jung [Applause] a new catcher into the game min ho kong
Got him looking fukudome down on strikes got him with a fastball in and maybe a little last minute tail right back in enough to catch that corner and kukudome who has a notorious very very good eye at that plate didn’t really agree with it but i thought it caught it
Kenji jojima now a single in a run scored we mentioned don guacamotsu the new manager for the seattle mariners jojo actually flew back to america to work out a couple of days with the mariners in early february to work out and to meet his new manager for a 9th
And 10th as he flies out and i think the mariners new brass impressed by that both their new gm jack sorensic of course the first japanese descent manager in major league history and now time called and i believe we’re gonna have another pitching change indeed we are 8-2 japan leads [Applause] Chung [Applause] bummer take a pitch here rocky [Applause] delivers inside a ball and a strike to akihiwamura japan all over south korea 8-2 facing this left-hander had a good season in the korean league yes he did and yet another lefty book the korean team is chock full of left-handed adventures
Got him looking evil down on strikes in japan goes one two three midway in the third it’s 8-2 Back here in tokyo japan leading it eight to two over south korea fans are packed into the tokyo dome watching daisuke matsuzaka and the top of the order jongook lead has started off daisuke has had to work hard early on leo for one that first pitch swinging comes up empty 44 pitches now
For dice k and again the limit here in the first round is 70 pitches that is up five from 2006. Bouncer to third morata and there’s one away there a couple of rules changes for the 2009 world baseball classic round one is no longer round robin and it is double elimination chinese taipei has already been eliminated from full a as well an extra inning play you had that special extra inning rule
Starting in the 13th where every inning begins with runners at first and second and of course as well the two mercy rules 10 is the difference at the end of seven complete 15. runs after five there we go 29 pitches the first inning for dice gig
14 in the second inning he’s coming out now aggressive going at the hitters seem to be a little more comfortable on the mound got him looking first strikeout for dice k two down that was a late-breaking cutter slider oh look at that wrinkle at the end that was a nasty pitch
I was wanting to ask you a question but he pitches for red sox nation and now he’s pitching for japan nation which of the two nations you think are just a little more rabid and crazier about baseball i mean remember now japan nation’s 130 million strong red sox nation
I don’t know arguably it could be the size of china i’m not sure it is big it is big there’s no doubt but i think that you know one of the things that gets overlooked in terms of red sox fans and the support is it’s not just about fans in boston it’s
That whole area of the country the whole new england area so it’s massachusetts new hampshire maine vermont that whole area parts of connecticut and they and they move out west and out of the country and they continue to be in red sox nation it’s impressive it really is
The pitch to young sue kim misses downstairs he’s singled to right his first time up and tried to stretch the single into a double and was thrown out by shuiichi morata the 3-1 little low ball four second walk by matsuzaka japan leading it eight to two
Winner of this one is guaranteed to move on to round two i’ll keep up with the latest world baseball classic news and stats at worldbaseballclassic.com well you can shop and find the largest selection of authentic world baseball classic items from all 16 countries clubhouse gear t-shirts jerseys and more worldbaseballclassic.com [Applause]
Here’s tycoon kim blasted a two run homer in the bottom of the first row gets away jojo my throw down to second not in time kenji jojima did well just to make a play there pitch in the dirt he blocked it it popped up and was able to make a throw but kim
Gets down to second yeah a little risky move again by kim who has what is seemingly a good read he had the one earlier when he got the base hit ichiro throws the third and he thinks i’m in the second fine and that one these things man balls in the dirt i
Make it easy wasn’t that easy got a big league catcher back there [Applause] one and two on tycoon kim fly ball right field ichiro is there no runs no hips so walk one left end of three it’s a two [Applause] we go to the fourth from the tokyo dome john chamber arrested estrada cool a play continuing in the world baseball classic 8-2 japan on top and here is ichiro two for two strike in there from zhang we talked to tatsunori hara the manager for japan before the tournament started
And asked him about constructing the lineup and the manager hara said the first response i want on base percentage he’s gotten that as ichiro has his third hit of the game and so far the top of the order has been devastating for japan well you know he’s an equal opportunity
Employer he’ll go he’ll go to right on a slider he’ll bump down the third base line for you just give you a little different look and then oh yeah you know what i’ll flare one into center too i’ve done that a lot in my life top three spots in the order five for
Six with a walk for team japan that’ll work for the on base percentage department [Applause] here is niroyuki nakajima the other thing too that i liked because he said he wanted the on base percentage from the top three the sluggers in the middle and from seven eight nine he said
He wanted the unexpected time called on the field suzuki at first nobody out japan with three in the first five in the second leading a two kakajima skies this one foul off of first and kim will watch it drift out of play and the end by the unexpected i mean it
Sounds a little quite like zone in there a little bit but really i mean there’s a lot of things that they can do you got look at the the for example the ones that is he using right here he’s got pukadomi iwamora iwamora you know very flexible with the
Back jojo i could take you deep uh you might hit run with them a lot of different things that you can do with those three guys veteran hitters all three that i think is what he meant metaphorically as far as like to be the unexpected unexpected steel bunt hit and run
That’s the type of stuff you look for from seven eight nine a couple of big hits in this game for team japan first inning seiichi uchikawo didn’t start in game one two run double down the line that made it three to nothing and then a magnificent in bat in the
Second ten pitch at bat for shuichi morata a three run homer just got out and that’s where we are eight to two there is chewie morata as a hitter nothing more gratifying than that type of an at-bat when you battle a really nasty you know fastball slider type of pitcher like the
Young kid kim is who’s who’s been tough on team japan before it’s not the first time uh that’s super gratifying especially here at home in front of what 57 000 people [Applause] and we saw uchika was hit and right now manager hara is looking beautiful because remember he replaced atanori
Inaba who was his dh two days ago in lieu of putting the veteran ogasawara and then bring in uchikawa the right-handed hit master at first base runner goes throw to second not in time and hero with a stolen base so a little bit of the unexpected from the top of the order
Well to some degree this kinda is expected this guy can flat out fly and he’s gonna cause havoc the thing about an ichiro what he does to you is he always puts pressure on your defense and your pitcher not just when he’s on the plate not just when he’s hitting
Which obviously he does but when he gets on base he can steal the base watch out he may even take third on you there’s a lot of stuff that makes a team have to think on defense when he’s on base 3-2 on a bounce it eats up lee into left here comes ichiro
He’ll score and it’s 9-2 and into second is nakajima i don’t know if that took a funny hop or what it was but well die ho lee couldn’t make the play he’s 6-4 almost 270 pounds he needs to play defensive tackle right there get in front of that ball that’s the bottom
Line you can’t backhand that ball he’s a big boy you got to move your feet square the ball up so it hits you in the chest up in the shoulder you knock it down and you keep first in third and try to backhand that ball and that’s trouble e5
Ripped foul down the line off the bat of nori chicaoki [Applause] aoki had a couple of hits in the game one win over china he’s one out of two in this one the winner of this game guaranteed to move on to round two the loser will take on china in an elimination game
Just missed inside one and one [Applause] popped up foul and back of the plate and a nice grab there by kung so the catcher able to put that one away [Applause] minho kang and here is shuichi morata with the big three run homer his last time up [Applause] Mr miranda right now is uh hitting in the first couple of games like another guy who his name starts with m and where’s the mouthpiece manny ramirez not too many guys to wear the mouthpiece pieces at home if hopefully we get a chance because he keeps his mouth closed a lot
But he’s where he gets that royal blue mouthpiece and he probably uses it to kind of calm his jaw relax yourself there you see a little bit of it if you relax your jaw it relaxes your neck it relaxes your shoulders relaxes your forearms and your hands
So there’s a purpose and a method to manny’s madness by the way oh no doubt yeah man he’s got a little bit of that crazy like a fox tool yeah exactly exactly yeah i’m a little nuts but i just studied that picture that’s on the mound when you weren’t even looking
And i know all four pitches that he’s got good manny’s story jet blues the airline partner of the los angeles dodgers announcing a 99 fare for about the next week from boston and new york to l.a in tribute to manny ramirez signing and his number 99.
Remember back in 2006 he was the manager of south korea and they were able to beat japan twice but when it counted in the semifinals japan got past south korea into the finals where they beat cuba 9-2 here and morata turning in another fine it back he really is i mean he’s he’s
I just love how quiet he is with his with his bottom half for a power hitter as i said earlier this guy he’s this this is no fluke this is no joke the ballparks of japan now are not short by any stretch of the imaginations they almost every
Ballpark is brand new within the last five ten years they got legit dimensions so you gotta you gotta crank it and uh and this guy can and i also like the fact that that you know that he can battle tough pitches as they stay alive in the count
We’re in the top of the fourth one out man it’s second [Applause] and japan leading south korea nine to two [Applause] on the ground of the hole flagged down by park he’ll have no play infield single and morata with his second hit of the game
Well i thought all he did was hit home runs nice to see that he also mixes in a single every now and then ground ball hit hard another great at-bat by murata-san and he uh extended his rally [Applause] so first and second morata’s turned in some good at bats [Applause]
And he really is the heart of that lineup as far as that power because as you’ve seen all up and down i’ve talked about before i like team japan’s lineup it’s just lacks big boppers but what it what it [Applause] the two big thumpers in the middle of
The lineup morata in this guy oga sawara they combined for 82 homers this past year yeah but you see yoga saguaro for me is one of those non-power power hitters does that make sense to you yeah the only thing is there’s only one other guy
With more than 20 homers on the team so if the homers are going to come from anywhere i i agree they’re going to come through no no i i agree i’m just saying that he hit 36 jacks but first of all this is his whole ballpark so he’s
Playing most of the game here the ball carries well here and and he hits what you consider to be cheaper you know home runs he doesn’t hit the big he’s not a big powerful home run hitter hey but a home run is a home run
But when he does get a little bit of trouble he tends to break it down and look for the gaps would you say the bulk of the parks in the japanese league are pitchers parks or hitter parts they’ve changed dramatically they used to be hitters parks galore now they actually are pitchers parks
[Applause] up the middle knocked down by jung look at that play kick save and a beauty runners advance and there’s two down [Applause] looks like a little cutter fastball kick slave on a beauty pete peters had to throw in a little uh marv albert back in the day hit that with his
Right foot well shuichi morata for team japan biggest hit of the game a 10 pitch at bat that was uchikawa getting that double and after fouling off and battling after nine pitches on that tenth and the great thing about that at bat boot the tenth pitch was a pitch he hadn’t even seen
He threw a tenth pitch change up on the tough home run hitter and he’s kept his hands back and got it because it was all basketball slider basketball slider so uchikawa and morata the two biggest hits in this one and it’s a 9-2 game and here is uchikawa [Applause] and ball one
To the first baseman really like this guy very very good hitter kind of your pro typical japanese approach at the plate that the famous each nissan type of a setup with the hands out in front of your body each being one two three each take back two swing three um
You know not real powerful hits up the middle a lot doesn’t strike out a whole lot but i mean this guy this guy can hit 330 in the big leagues i mean that’s how that’s how good i think this guy could be as a hitter because
It’s one thing to have a japanese style there’s nothing to have better hand-eye coordination than the next guy well he hit 378 for yokohama this past year let the central league hit him there you go right here look how close he stays and they really work their hips
Well you see how they have that kickback but it’s all synchronized and the bottom half of your body sits down very nicely so you glide into the pitch [Applause] just missed outside like some guys have big leg kicks like remember elendio reuben high sierra used to have that big leg kick
But it was kind of more of a wilder leg kick this one is a little more controlled and used for for timing now three and two with runners at second and third and two outs here in the fourth 9-2 japan the winner of this one guaranteed to move on to the second
Round the loser will take on china in another elimination game our first elimination game here in pool a china took out chinese taipei comes a 3-2 outside ball four they are loaded well a lot of people a lot of fans and people in the press were wondering where’s the offense
In game one for japan well here it is and now fukudome who has struck out twice he had a tough first year with the cubs and really a tale of two halves right that’s what i was to say not a overall i guess a tough first year book but
A tough second half really it hit close to 200 in the second after after being an all-star in the first half opening day hit a big home run three-run jack it was beautiful [Applause] you know and i and i kind of studied his uh his splits this winter and i was looking
At it in a situational hitting he really didn’t do anything different he didn’t strike out more he he just put the ball in play more he did walk a little a little less he just lost his power i mean literally literally physically i don’t mean power like home run power
The balls that he was hitting became little flares and he couldn’t drive the ball and all of a sudden he just make it more out so hopefully what he’s done this year is his train i’m telling you the pressures combined with the schedule of the major leagues which
Is a lot more intense than here tired him out [Applause] check swing roller to third lee throws him out [Applause] japan picks up a run and it’s 9-2 Back in tokyo japan up 9-2 look at the bullet train and now a look inside the tokyo dome it is a packed house and much to the delight of the home fans nice game matsusaka with a comfortable lead it will be daihou lee to start things off the big guy walked his first
Time [Applause] and delivers up and in ball one dice k so far in this one 58 pitches here comes number 59. so unless he is an undice k like efficient here in inning number four the guess here is that this will be it form [Applause] left field aoki one gone
And with one away matsuzaka will face sien suchu they’ve got lee just getting under that one committed the hips a little bit too early on that little slider and now the indian sien chew broke his bat popped it up morata and foul ground two away
I guess i spoke too soon he has been efficient yeah there’s the sidewinder watanabe he’s the guy that’s expected to come in as the number two guy when i was talking to their pitching coach before the game for team japan it’s supposed to be shusuke watanabe
Now one of the few guys missing off of team japan we mentioned hideki matsui rehabbing from injury but hideki okajima completely healthy but not pitching for team japan nikki okajima one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball what a job that guy’s done i mean you know
He’s in his late 30s brother and he went over to the major leagues and has just overall he went through a little hiccup there his second year but early on in that season but he dominated the first year came back again last year and and finished strong with that herky-jerky okey-dokey
Motion of this now to the first uchikawa handles it easily and dicekay gets him in order it’s nine two and a four on to the fifth eight nine one for japan jojoba iwamora and suzuki and ichiro and company with a 9-2 advantage and here’s the mariners catcher kenji jojo
They’ll be fighting for playing time with jeff clement an 11-year career here in japan and the starting catcher of course five major league baseball players on team japan four of them position players and they all start and there’s another aki iwamoro that ball is smoked but way foul and
Being on the field and being around him last this past week all of them at least i could talk more about the everyday players happy to be back home for a little bit part of this [Applause] team japan of the world baseball classic and and to be around their guys you know
What i mean let’s be honest they enjoy playing in the die league as they call it the major leagues it’s a it’s a big deal but uh it’s nice to be back home for a little while line drive right center field and a base head [Applause] saw the lead off man aboard
And folks this copyrighted telecast is presented by authority of world baseball classic incorporated it may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without express written consent here’s akadori walmura a walk in a strikeout we’re talking about the fact that
Iwamore is now wearing number eight back in 2006 he wore number one he wears number one for the raise [Applause] but this time around he deferred to his elder kosuke fukudome let him wear number one so he wore number eight at least in part in tribute to his manager
Tatsunori hara who wore that number when he played here’s the funny thing our research guru brad lefton was making the point that he will more very superstitious and he likes to style some so of course all of his stuff the shoes the wristbands everything
It’s all got number one on it so once he got number eight to make sure he got himself wristbands and shoes and everything that that has on it nothing wrong with that you got it you got it you got a style man you got it you got to look right hey
Back in the day fernando said remember back in the day darling it’s better to look good than the field goal darling [Applause] don’t you forget that okay thank you fernando llamas i’m telling you he looks good man he looks good well japan’s gotten the offense going korea
The south koreans have been stifled a bit after that two run over in the first not much since and japan back at it two aboard and nobody out michiro suzuki went over five in game one and he’s three for three here tonight nasty slider that he went down and got
First and second nobody out lays a bunt flat out flies fastball out over the play the patented each hero flare into center he can line you he could hit a you know a four hopper that he beats out he can even take you deep every now and then
John buzzes the tower a little bit up and in fans didn’t like it [Applause] and they continue to chant his name [Applause] how about this game one japan wins four nothing hero went over five there was a workout yesterday for team japan the japanese press counted ichiro’s swings at the workout 200 swings
Between the batting cage and soft toss i mean you talk about living under a microscope they’re counting your swings the combo of the soft toss and in the batting cage i’m fascinated by is the irony that it was exactly 200 swings that might be kind of something ichiro
Would do you know what i mean just to make sure that that’s exactly how many swings i want to take not one more not one [Applause] less hold off that pitch right there and there’s one away and eight shiro down on strikes yeah he pulled the string on him a
Little bit got him a rarity ratio swinging missing which he doesn’t do a whole lot but most of the damage has been done by [Applause] the man known as the probably the best you know singles maker in the world as far as just getting a flat out base hit [Applause]
Nero yuki nakajima here i would come back real quick to the the point you made about akadori iwamora and wearing number eight kachibon would be in japanese as the closest number one i’ll tell you right after this pitch and and and the interesting thing is fukuda you said because it was fukadomas his
Elder a very big part of the japanese system and it trickles down all the way to baseball and anything that you do is the senpai kohai senpai is somebody that’s older than you that you you have to and must and should respect kohai is the younger person so whenever you get a
A younger player and you get in a situation like that there is no i want to give you a motorcycle or i’m going to buy the number from you it’s real simple you’re older than me i should be able to get the shirt line drive base it down the left field line
In to score jojima ewo morris stops at third and it’s 10-2 and japan just unloading on south korea [Applause] that’s a double for nakajima nakajima is pretty much everybody’s kohai so he’s getting coffees and colas and waters for the rest of team japan but he’s also knocking in runs and knocking in the
Senpai mr jojoba [Applause] so now norichikaoki one out of three [Applause] fly ball center field this will get another run in libac has it tagging and scoring iwamora and moving to third is nakajima 11-2 and again remember world baseball classic play there is a mercy rule in fact two mercy
Rules if you were up by 10 at the end of seven complete the game is over up by 15 at the end of five complete the game is over the japan up nine as iwamura touches the beauty of baseball what a difference a day makes i mean just two days ago
Everybody worried about this offense of team japan embarrassed by the team from china that is i mean even terry collins tell you himself that arm strength is severely lacking and now they come out and beat up on the defending gold medal winners the team in the beijing that beat team cuba usa
And beat out team japan to win a gold medal so this is a pretty good south korean team japan 11 south korea two and shuichi morata the count now three and oh morata’s had a couple of fantastic his last two times up a three-run homer in the second an
Infield single in the fourth but just those two at bats he saw 17 pitches and walks on four pitches right there [Applause] [Applause] one some kung the left-hander south korea down by nine got a figure the south koreans were feeling good guanghyun kim started the lefty and 20
Year old who had dominated japan in the beijing olympics and he lasted just an inning and a third the lefty gave up eight runs on seven hits [Applause] and oga sawara the d.a joe for three yeah and even after a rough start for kim in the first inning and japan
Puts a three spot out there the big boy kim their fourth batter hits a two run big fly so you feel like oh here we go again this these bats are gonna wake up be uh maybe dicey’s gonna struggle a little but fall behind that was not the
Case sliced foul down the line and one and one on ogre saguaro nicely settled down from 29 pitches to 14 to you know staying around in the low teens every inning since [Applause] 11-2 japan leading south korea and a packed in crowd here at the tokyo dome john shambie
Arrested estrada the winner of this game guaranteed to move on to the second round the loser will play china in an elimination game we have already had one team eliminated from kool-aid chinese taipei lost earlier today to china [Applause] fly ball and lee pulls it down and that’s the inning but
Two more for japan it’s 11-2 11-2 japan leading south korea and action in pool d begins in san juan as the netherlands takes on the dominican republic panama goes up against puerto rico then in pools see some great matchups the us and canada plus italy and venezuela check your local listings for the exact time in
Your area the world baseball classic baseball spoken here done and taking over the sidewinding right-hander shunsuke watanabe shinsuke a very talented very popular pitcher in japan pitches for none other than Bobby v bobby valentine’s lotte marines and chiba bouncer up the middle nakajima handles the chance one away so daisuke matsuzaka done after four walked to pair struck out one they gave up the two runs on the two-run homer by tycoon kim yeah you know i talked to the pitching
Coach before the game he says i haven’t seen him this sharp this early and really boog sons that first inning little bit of jitters which is understandable uh he was sharp he was effective he had a nice slider spot you know he spotted his pitches pretty well his velocity you know is
Going to start building and building a building he was very good he got eight of the last nine to finish his outing deals down and in because of his change of velocity capability and change of the corners that he’s able to use when he’s on like that
I mean he’s he’s cy young potential this one to third and quickly there to alex nice play right there smooth team japan can pick it morata is not just known for his hitting he’s a solid defensive third baseman and they they pride themselves on their on their defense by the way they put
Hours on their defense jungkook lee all for two an 11-2 game here inside the tokyo dome the winner advances to round two the loser will play an elimination game against china tomorrow tell you this guy shinsuke watanabe was just about as valuable as daisuke matsuzaka in the last world baseball
Classic 13 and two-thirds innings of work and the zra was 198. induces the pop up here and get south korea one two three we played five it’s 11-2 back inside the tokyo dome all japan and this one an 11-2 lead over south korea japan got right after it on top one to
Nothing and in the first it was uchicabo with the big two run double that made it three nothing he led all japan and hitting 378 but you know what uh you thought that might be enough early on but that big fly right there made it three to two
And then the at-bat of the game ten pitches for suici morado was getting behind early he was down 0-2 fouled off some pitches and then eventually was able to get something that he could handle here it comes it’s this change-up that he’s going to see right now
That is just a thing of art right there to have to be able to do that and the air at third by daiho lee [Applause] and daisuke matsuzaka came up with a strikeout four innings gave up just the two runs and that’s where we are at 11 to two game
Quickly getting back to moronta that changeup and he said it after the at-bat when they interviewed amir in the middle of the game as i said the only change-up that he saw in that hole of bat it was all fastball slider fastball slider fastball slider with which he went down 0-2 right off
The bat then he battled gets a change up and he’s able to crank it out it was a beautiful thing let’s go back to something that you just pointed out and fans may think that they misheard you yes they do actually have quotes passed around in the press box from the players
During the game and when you examine the dugouts for all these teams and in the japanese leagues the pr guy sits in the dugout so after morata hits the home run the team pr guy or in this case japan’s media relations pr guy goes up and asks him about the homer and he
Says yeah i got a bunch of sliders and cutters and fastballs and then eventually i gotta change up and hit it out they write it down and then eventually circulated in the press box during the game in-game quotes which is pretty funny it’s unique they would come up to you after
You’d hit a home run and ask you a question yeah a lot of times you go in the uh there’s a little like back area right behind the dugout different than most major league ballparks a lot of them are kind of little swing rooms slash just almost like a little lounge area
Directly behind the dugout in all of the japanese major stadiums so that’s where they would catch you and say okay what do you think about that fly ball right field lee handles the chance team japan ahead comfortably 11-2 and a new pitcher on the mound jay woo lee Mr j woo lee had himself a nice year last year with a 1-5-5 era he was nasty [Applause] fukudome old for three japan has pounded out 11 runs on 11 hits [Applause] Crowd still buzzing inside the tokyo dome the fans from south korea have been quiet really since the first as fukudomi goes the other way and comes up with his first hit of the 2009 world baseball class nice piece of hit right there stayed back on it
Hit off the end of the bat a little bit but it gets on the board you know the team has got 11 hits now 12. you want to get in the middle of it and uh real quick i mean you heard the chance and i had a chance to talk about
That but an asian baseball especially here in japan every player has its own little chant they do it kind of like a college football game if you can compare it to that booth it’s synchronized [Applause] cheering sections and the more popular they are the more the whole stadium knows
Your particular chant for example ichiro is very simple they just say his old age is his name but other ones it’ll be a song and they’ll be saying something such as come on fook you know get a base hit it’ll be you know something like that in japanese it’s pretty cool [Applause]
At the play takes a strike what would they chant for you uh i had uh all right basically you know get a big hit um well the one thing i had to do was learn to tone it out [Applause] because quite the opposite when you’re in the major leagues or in the united
States anywhere and you’re up to the plate your home crowd is actually wanting to be quiet and they want to be disruptive when the other team’s hitting uh so i you had to learn to literally kind of like tune that out and get into that tunnel vision of you and the pitcher
And i was able to do so especially early on when you don’t understand the language that ball is ripped left field way back and out of here kenji jojima two-round homer and it is 13-2 everything has worked today for team japan including manager hara one through three have worked well three
Through four it worked well and oh by the way seven through eight there is the unexpected food domain gets a nice little base hit and jojoba who has not been hitting the last year or so cranks one over the wall yeah that’s the unexpected for sure so the two-run blast and it’s 13-2
I don’t think that this is what people expected in setting up this matchup 13-2 no surf but those things happen this is baseball just like team china was able to corral them for five hits and they were tense and just like south korea come came out and and beat
Up on chinese taipei nine to nothing yesterday uh you know this doesn’t mean anything these guys are going to meet up again and you know what they’re going to meet up again this is this is probably going to be one of what possibly three more chances to meet well potentially monday night
Yeah if they if if south korea loses this and obviously it looks like that is going to happen as joan grows out he will murder well then they will play again if south korea can eliminate china they would do that on monday so that would be two two total
Those two teams south korea and japan would then move on to san diego in round two i guess it kind of depends on how they match it up because they would not play the first time no no but they’re looking at hypothetically team korea here doesn’t pull out a miraculous
Comeback they should take care of china they’ll meet up again on monday you’re talking about three more times potentially each year drives this one to center lee back he’s got it and that’s the inning but kenji jojima the big two-run homer the mariners catcher delivers 13-2 [Applause]
Back inside the tokyo dome we go to the bottom of the sixth it’s all japan leading south korea 13-2 and a new pitcher on the hill for japan sugiyuchi toshiya and the south pawn here look at that 213 strikeouts in 196 innings and that wind up that motion is funky
I i love this kid i’ve seen him pitch for many years and uh he led all of japan leagues and strikeouts that just edged out our boy you darvish with the 213 and he is slight of build but powerful of shoulder he throws it up there in the 90s
With good movement and a big heart and this is definitely a guy that can pitch in the big leagues without a problem whatsoever and he’s going to be a key guy getting a little work here they told me that they definitely would try to get sugaruchi in the game and also shinsuke watanabe
They’ve been able to get watanabe in there with some work already gun mujung one out of two the second baseman up here it’s 13-2 bottom of the sixth john chombie arrested destrata so this guy the little lefty led the league in strikeouts you darvish has gotten so much hype bouncer to short
And jung is retired and garvish we both thought looked pretty sharp the other night against china oh my he was nice he was so smooth i mean he’s 6’5 and just that motion and the explosive fastball and the control i mean that’s what i have been told i’d
Seen him in clips i hadn’t seen him in person i just love that tightness for a big body that he is and being able to pinpoint at this part you know i don’t care what you know the hype and the excitement of this level of play right now it’s still early
In the spring and to have that good of control is fantastic and you know what for all the talk about you darvish the guy that won the sawamura award that’s the japanese we haven’t even seen him yet hisashi iwakuma and he is scheduled to start in japan’s next game which
As it stands right now it looks like it’ll be monday and they would play monday against the winner of what right now would be south korea and china and iwakuna plays with the expansion team this came about about three years ago the rock 10 golden eagles
Send out a hello to one of their front office guys good friend of mine marty kuerner who’s vacationing for a minute in maui hawaii but uh this guy went 21 and four in in only about 28 starts because they don’t even get 30 sure of course the guy was ridiculous
Team japan thumping south korea 13-2 and again there is a mercy rule in effect in world baseball classic play that one lined at morata and there’s two down if at the end of seven one team is up by 10. [Applause] he did he started 28 games and he was then he
Got 25 decisions 21-4 that’s sick [Applause] pitch inside the tycoon kim who has a two rod homer that was way back in the first and it looked like we were going to have ourselves quite a game because japan came up with three in the top of the first
Kim came right back with a mammoth two-run homer made it 3-2 and we were kind of starting over but japan right back with five in the second and they’ve added on a single run in the fourth two in the fifth two in the sixth and here we are 13 to two and again
If a team is up by ten at the end of seven complete or fifteen at the end of five complete then it is over this one was a no doubter look where this thing lands yeah this is a 3-0 pitch fastball dicey just trying to get it get out there in there he’s
Thinking maybe the big kid’s going to take a 3-0 pitch he didn’t take fly ball to right ichiro under it south korea goes one two three we’ll go to the seventh [Applause] now look from high atop the tokyo dome out there in the bleachers and japanese fans delighted with what’s
Taking place team japan leading south korea 13-2 as we go to inning number seven two three four nakajima aoki and morata [Applause] i’m not sure what’s going on right here i think they’re going to make a defensive switch and indeed they will young cu lee i think kim’s coming out
Yonku lee is going to go into the game and take over in right field for jin young or yeah for jin young lee who will come into play first and ty kyung kim will sit a little tardy there but decided to rest your uh your big gun your fourth batter
And uh what is considered an open game here 13-2 might as well go ahead and send him down a little bit keeping the changes on my score card as young chew lee checked into the game i crossed out lee and right field and then had the right in lead
I hope you did that carefully though nakajima they count one and one they’ve got the wave going here at the tokyo though did they do the wave when you played yeah i mean that was the the you know the heyday of the wave late 80s 90s
Remember back in the heyday of the waves every stadium and every thing like sporting event was you know they were all doing it they got a good one going right now i mean there’s some there’s some synergy going and it’s a good stadium for it because it’s
The bulk of the bottom row is nine to one level that’s right that’s right i hadn’t thought about that yeah ripped to right center field this will be extra bases nakajima with his third hit of the game [Applause] top three guys in the order have just been
Unreal they really have i mean here’s the fastball out of the plate nakajima just has a beautiful swing from the right side you know usually when you see a really pretty swing it’s it’s from the left side you know but he’s got a very very
Nice swing kind of a little bit of that edgar martinez swing very compact yeah looks like he’s barely swinging yeah it’s beautiful in the dirt oh nice stop by kyle [Applause] and again as it stands right now all japan would have to do in the bottom of the seventh
Would be to get three outs and the game is over because of the ten run rule and with that comes airline tickets to beautiful san diego that is correct for team japan [Applause] you had a tone in your voice there that was a little yeah it was like like they were doing
Japan you have won a trip to san diego well they decided to take what’s behind door number 51. and while in san diego you’ll stay at the beautiful omni hotel [Applause] [Applause] and he got the base yep so aoki reaches runners at the corners strike three and a wild pitch
And now a great hand for shuichi morata two out of three a 13-2 japan lead on south korea [Applause] and they sing their song for shuichi morata This one popped up a mile high and gloved by the catcher one down [Applause] [Applause] Japan comfortably ahead everybody was asking what’s going on with the japanese offense after a lackluster four-nothing win over china in game one four runs on five hits well japan unloading in the first two innings for eight runs and tonight team japan 13 runs on 14 hits [Applause]
They were saving it boo they knew what they were doing they only needed four runs to beat china because they got such a good pitching staff they said i tell you that team japan is so smart [Applause] south korea looks like they will hook up with chyna in an elimination game tomorrow
Loser go home and then the winner of that one will play japan [Applause] that’ll be on monday and even though that seems like a meaningless game couple of things there number one [Applause] that one will get to determining seating as a run scores on the ground ball aoki i beg your pardon
Nakajima comes in to score and hopefully will pan back off of this so you can see because that that pop-up that morata hit with just right in front of home plate was quite a towering pop-up catcher really did a nice job no problem well you see that speaker in the
Middle of the dome it’s in the smack in the highest point of the dome well a buddy of mine that played with the content two buffaloes ralph bryant is the only person [Applause] ever and i think it will be the only person ever in the history of the tokyo dome
To actually hit that on a fly they ended up giving them a home run and our boy brad lefton was there this was i was on the road boom i was on the road and the two teams from tokyo were playing and i saw it in the highlights that
Night and i knowing the stadium i was just dumbfounded that he was able to hit that thing it had to be if he wouldn’t have hit it a 550 foot blast something sick like that it would have got over [Applause] the back of the screen the pinch hitter fouls one off
And they count one and two yeah when you saw the highlight you probably thought wow did that really happen yeah no i well yes and no because ralph ryan was a he actually got up to the big leagues for a minute with the dodgers but roller to third
He had some pop let’s put it that way well that’s the inning 14-2 japan leads [Applause] fans soaking it up inside the tokyo dome all japan leading south korea 14-2 john chombie arrested estrada and the new pitcher here the left-hander minoru iwata so the southpaw takes over fourth
Pitcher used by team japan and this one and again 10 run rule in effect [Applause] team japan up by a dozen one of the i believe three lefties that team japan is carrying and we saw suguchi which to me is their premier left-hander uh nice pitches the handshake tigers he’s you
Know type of guy not overpowering gets the job done but again he falls in line with the makeup of their roster 13 pitchers for team japan 10 of them are starters including this guy yeah and it’s interesting he’s mentioned that because there’s only one chipotle marine pitcher player
On team japan we saw him earlier he came in in relief from daisuke and that would be watanabe really really talented uh submariner well bobby valentine the veteran manager of major leagues and and great success here with the marines you know was one of his problems with with
This thing at least for his side his team his deal with team japan is that the last time they did the same thing with shunsuke watanabe they used him in relief he’s a starter so here he is you know using up a lot of the springtime and not being used as a starter
During getting work in march and i think it’s a valid argument something that we kind of don’t see let’s say for example team usa won’t do that too dramatically they’ll go you know set up guys as a setup guy closer to closer start as a starter got a quick peek new third baseman
Muni nori kawasaki and morata shifts over to first replacing uchikawa daiho lee reaches and then a pinch runner and Stepped off there for a second and he got got messed up [Applause] so you wanna starting stopping and the runner moves up to second on the ball chinese taipei has already been eliminated from pool a so the world baseball classic 16 teams 39 games over 19 days we’re down to 15 teams
Loser of this one looks like it’ll be south korea will take on china tomorrow in an elimination game and japan with a win here guaranteed to move on to round two in san diego chew the lefty and the left-handed hitter at the plate oh for two indians a little worried about this guy
Got some tendonitis in that left elbow we had tommy john surgery a couple years ago on that left elbow it’s curious you’re seeing more and more position players have tommy john surgery well a lot of times before years and years ago they really didn’t know the diagnosis as well for our everyday player
So now they have so much better diagnostic machinery and technology that they can find out and [Applause] i’ll tell you right now that his pitching coach and there he is and his manager there he is comfortable with the lead not happy with iwata-san’s performance he’s come in and just been all over the
Place he needs to kind of reel himself back in focus himself and make things simple right now just go for the simple things try to find the plate again lee up at the plate line drive caught they can’t turn anything besides the out there that was hit on the button by tango lee
See just got of simplified things that was a pulling though get a laser beam at somebody you’ll get it now that’s a simple part of baseball nice job by the i don’t know if it was a nice job by the end part to get out of the way i think
He just was lucky it didn’t hit him [Applause] see iwamura is styling he’s got the japanese flag on his socks darling i told you already it’s better to look good fly ball left field aoki has it and south korea down to their final hour you know we’re going to talk a lot about
The offense and rightfully sold 14 hits 14 runs uh and that second inning with that when they put the five spot but really daisuke gathering himself up after that shaky 29 pitch rough first inning was the key coming back and getting a goose egg a zero off
Of that five that they put up i think really kind of dictated the rest of the game if they close it out right here matsuzaka watanabe sugiyuchi and wawa and iwata will combine for six shutout one-hit innings to finish the game to emphasize your point [Applause] yumho lee at the plate [Applause]
And it is 0-1 and before we get this potential potential final out don’t think that the 56 thousand strong here don’t realize what to stake here they know that a victory here propels them to san diego and obviously an opportunity at defending the title big swing and a miss south korea down
To their final strike so it’s not just the rivalry between south korea and japan but the knowledgeable baseball fans and i compare them to the soccer crazy fans of france and england got him looking that’s the ball game japan wins it 14-2 and ichiro suzuki daisuke matsuzaka and team japan they’re moving on
Guaranteed a spot in round two in san diego well japan struggled offensively [Applause] in their first game not in this one they unloaded 14 runs on 14 hits this was a complete win oh for team japan it really was and it was nice to see their very talented hitters come out and
Really relax their shoulders like their head coach who told me that he had told them to do relax your shoulders you guys are good hitters and it came about throw in a very powerful murata mix in a very talented nice game mataka got out of the first inning jitters and you got
A pretty nice stew there of a lot of runs and a lot of great pitches it was a 3-2 game at the end of one in the second japan tacked on two more the at-bat of the game shuichi morata 10 pitches and it ended with this a three-run homer
And japan opened up an 8-2 lead and then the pitching took over daisuke matsuzaka very sharp after giving up the two run over he really was uh kind of ended up throwing a lot of backup sliders he just looked good they’re the standings japan moving on
Korea and china will play tomorrow in an elimination game chinese taipei eliminated earlier today now the 2009 world baseball classic will continue pull d match up the netherlands and the dominican republic puerto rico and panama then pool c the u.s and canada italy and venezuela check your local listings
Great atmosphere and a great matchup inside the tokyo dome but it turned out to be a blowout for ichiro suzuki with three hits and team japan our final here japan 14 south korea two for arrested estrada i’m john chomby saying so long from the tokyo dome japan is moving on
To round two in san diego the preceding has been a special presentation of the world baseball classic
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