Ichiro Suzuki frolicked in the outfield, making catches behind his back and waving to fans calling his name from the grassy area behind the center field stands.
The Japanese star was having fun -- perhaps more than he'd be having in Major League Baseball spring training.
Ichiro is playing for his country these days, not the Seattle Mariners, although it appeared he'd be heading back to Arizona to continue preparing for the MLB season when Japan lost to South Korea on Wednesday.
But once the US was beaten by Mexico a day later, Japan squeezed into the semifinals of the inaugural World Baseball Classic to meet archrival South Korea for the third time in a two-week period.
"A lot of people might be surprised that the United States lost," Ichiro said through a translator in an interview with AP. "I believe this is why we play the WBC tournament."
Japan and South Korea play today at Petco Park, where the Dominican Republic faces Cuba in the other semifinal earlier in the day. The winners meet on Monday for the championship.
Surprisingly, South Korea enters the semis as the only unbeaten team in the competition, having gone 3-0 in both preliminary rounds including a pair of one-run victories over Japan.
"I did not expect that at all," South Korea manager Kim In-sik said. "I did not anticipate we would be where we are today. Our goal was to be one of the top two teams in the pool. I think it's due to our excellent players, and they played an excellent game each game."
That's probably one of the reasons the South Koreans celebrated the way they did following their 2-1 triumph over Japan, taking a victory lap around the field as their fans went nuts before pitcher Jae Seo planted his country's flag in the mound at Angel Stadium.
Seo said he had heard the Japanese players were upset about that.
"But that's not something I have to be concerned with," he added. "I mean, we won and we were ecstatic, and we showed our happiness in that manner."
The Japanese will get a shot at revenge, since Seo will be the starting pitcher on Saturday, going against Kohi Uehara. Both have been effective in two previous Classic outings.
Japan has a 3-3 record in the Classic despite outscoring the opposition 44-15. South Korea has scored 26 runs while allowing only eight.
Japan has the longer and more successful history in baseball than South Korea.
Of their rivalry, Ichiro said, "I don't know what to compare that to. It's for sure each team has something in mind about the other. It's an honor and a pleasure to play a game against them."
Seo said it's because the teams are the best in Asia.
"And it also goes back to our history and tradition," he said. "It stems from our parents' generation and us, and also I'm sure that our next generation probably will feel the same."
Japan manager Sadaharu Oh thanked Mexico for eliminating the Americans to pave the way for his team to reach the semifinals and get another shot at South Korea.
"We lost both games, but those were very close games, and I believe either team could have won either game," he said. "We'd like to show our best performance in the third time, and we will try our best to win this one."
South Korea captain Jong Beom Lee played in the Japan Central League from 1998-2001, so he's familiar with the opposition.
"Up to now, Japan has been known to be a top team in Asia, but we work harder to beat Japan," he said.
Ichiro is one of two MLB players on the Japan roster. The other is Texas reliever Akinori Otsuka. South Korea has six major leaguers on its roster.
Ichiro said he couldn't compare what it means to play in the Classic semifinals with appearing in the MLB postseason for the Mariners.
"There is excitement in both," he said.
When asked about how many balls he caught behind his back, Ichiro smiled and replied, in English: "Hundred."
US OUT
The stage for the World Baseball Classic semifinals is a picturesque new major league ballpark, where a sign in left-center field reads "America's Pastime" and highrises typical of so many US cities serve as a backdrop.
Animated flags representing all 16 countries that took part in the inaugural tournament waved on the main video board above the bleachers -- and that's as close as the United States came to participating in the Classic on Friday at Petco Park.
Ichiro Suzuki and Japan, not the US, went through workouts and batting practice one day after the US squad loaded with Major League Baseball All-Stars lost 2-1 to Mexico to be eliminated from the tournament.
"This is up there with anything that I've ever done," said US pitcher Jake Peavy, who would have been the US starter for the semifinals in his home stadium. "It's disheartening. There's a lot of emotional guys in the clubhouse. It's not easy to deal with."
The Americans weren't the only ones shocked by their early exit in an event they were expected to win.
Japan advanced thanks to Mexico's hard-fought victory against seven-time Cy Young award winner Roger Clemens, and Japanese manager Sadaharu Oh received good-luck wishes on Friday from his Mexican counterpart, Paquin Estrada.
"I didn't really watch the game, I only wanted to know the result," Ichiro said through a translator in an interview with The Associated Press, after spending a relaxing day in right field shagging fly balls with cameras clicking at his every move. "Those players on both teams are my colleagues. I didn't want to see them fail. The reason the WBC event is held is to show something like this."
"I was really surprised the American team lost to the Mexican team," Oh said. "We thought the Americans would be the world's best. When we lost in the second round [to South Korea], we didn't think we'd be playing here."
When the World Classic was still in the planning stages last year, nobody would have bargained for a semifinal weekend without the US.
"I won't say surprised but I'm kind of disappointed," said 70-year-old San Francisco Giants skipper Felipe Alou, a native of the Dominican Republic whose son and right fielder, Moises, is playing for the Dominicans.
"When the good teams played they were very close games. Pitching dominated. When that happens anyone, including the US, can get beat," he said.
"I believe that if it happens again with this kind of tournament, some of the people including the players who didn't believe it was serious will have to believe now that it is serious."
The US roster featured New York Yankees superstars Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr., Atlanta's Chipper Jones and Chicago Cubs' slugger Derrek Lee -- to name a few. Manager Buck Martinez was even considering inviting San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds to join the mix as an injury replacement considering the slugger had already been on the preliminary roster.
Other major league players wondering what went wrong for their countrymen figure the results might have been different if the tournament was played later in the year when players had found their groove -- rather than early in spring training.
That's something MLB commissioner Bud Selig has said would be difficult because players don't want this event to interfere with MLB's 162-game schedule.
"Most people have to realize that our guys here for the US aren't in shape and playing," Gary Matthews Sr., the Cubs' first base coach. "You let them play those same teams and face those same pitchers once they've been together and seen breaking balls and so on it would be a different game. Again you have to give credit where credit was due. They were outplayed."
In Mexico, the victory over the US all but made up for Mexico's loss to the Americans in the 2002 World Cup, a heartbreaking day for the prideful, soccer-crazed country.
"It was an authentic revenge," said Braulio Herrera, a 19-year-old waiter at the Angus steakhouse in Mexico City's touristy Zona Rosa neighborhood. "Now it's 1 to 1."
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