Defending Classic champion Japan defeated the US 9-4 on Sunday to book a date in yesterday’s final against reigning Olympic champions South Korea.
“Japan won but just by looking at this game you can’t say Japan was better than America. We don’t feel like that,” said Japan catcher Kenji Johjima, one of five Major League Baseball players on Japan’s roster.
“But the fact we won in the US wearing Japanese uniforms ... is going to be a great memory for me. It’s overwhelming,” he said.
PHOTO: AFP
US star Jimmy Rollins, a shortstop for World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies, said American players can learn from setbacks such as this semi-final loss and their second-round ouster in the inaugural 2006 Classic.
“They play with passion and we play with passion but they just wear theirs on their sleeves,” Rollins said. “They don’t worry about the big things. They do things right and if there’s anything we can take away from what we’ve seen is to take advantage of another team’s mistakes.”
Japan manager Tatsunori Hara played down the idea of a gap between the US club superstars, long considered the game’s elite, and the Japan League talent bolstered by a few top major leaguers.
“I really didn’t think there was any difference in our abilities but I felt the Japanese team was able to concentrate a little more and was able to hang on and had a little bit more spirit. That’s why we were able to win,” Hara said.
“The significance is to play against the United States, where baseball was born. I really respect American baseball. To play against the American team was wonderful. The fact we won will remain forever in Japan baseball history,” he said.
The event was created to give major league talent a chance to play for their homelands, but there will be just six major leaguers in the all-Asian final.
South Korea’s Choo Shin-soo and Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ichiro Suzuki, Kosuke Fukudome, Akinori Iwamaura and Johjima have cracked the US major leagues and shown others in their homelands their true potential is mighty.
“In terms of playing against the Americans, Johjima and other major leaguers play on the Japanese team. I believe the fact they were on the team played a major role in the victory,” Hara said.
“The major leaguers have become more of a reality for us. Ichiro, Johjima, Iwamura, Fukudome and Matsuzaka, the fact they are doing it makes us feel that in Japan we can do this. It really gives us encouragement,” he said.
“It’s a fact. We can do it. That’s what led to this victory,” Hara said.
US manager Davey Johnson is unwilling to surrender global supremacy just yet, however, citing the limited preparation time ahead of the upcoming North American campaign.
“It’s just one game,” Johnson said. “We had quality players. Some of our pitchers aren’t as far along as the Japanese pitchers. All in all we put on a good show and we could have easily won.”
“They have a lot of practice. It does give them a head start when you play them in early March but I thought our guys played well,” he said.
Rollins went so far as to portray the US side as underdogs.
“We had fun being an underdog as far as knowing we were somewhat at a disadvantage as far as having time to prepare. But we knew what our job was and we had to go out there and try to find a way to get it done,” Rollins said.
“It shows the support and passion these other countries have for baseball. In America we have so many sports — basketball, [American] football. But other countries, they stand up behind their team 100 percent,” he said.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS