If you haven’t heard it already the Korean baseball team won the Gold Medal for baseball in last night’s final game against Cuba:
Campeones no more. There’s a new champion in Olympic baseball: the surprising, gutsy South Koreans.
South Korea captured gold and capped a perfect and improbable Olympic run with the country’s biggest win yet in international baseball, a 3-2 victory over defending champion Cuba on Saturday night in the final of the Beijing Games.
Far from flashy and just plain steady all tournament long, the South Koreans (9-0) pulled off what will long be remembered as an upset in baseball’s last Olympic hurrah for at least eight years.
Cuba and Japan were widely considered the favorites coming into these games.
Reliever Chong Tae-hyon got Yuliesky Gourriel to ground into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded to end it after a drama-filled ninth inning. [CNN.SI]
Yes drama filled is an understatement as the 9th inning was pretty tension filled when the Cubans loaded the bases with only one out. The double play to end the game was exciting to put it mildly. Also Lee Seung-yeop who hasn’t done a whole lot during the Olympics has once again hit the most timely of home runs to help the Koreans win the game. The MVP of the game though in my opinion was pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin who pitched a heck of a game against the powerhouse Cuban lineup. Ryu pitched the entire game until the ninth inning when he was replaced by Chong Tae-hyon who got the Cuban batter to hit into the double play. The Gold Medal was well deserved by the Korean team that played smart baseball combined with timely hitting during the entire Olympics to go undefeated during the Olympics.
Many will say that the Koreans won because they had their top players against many of the second rate players of nations like the US and Japan. The Korean team beat the Cubans who did have their top players at the Olympics and the Korean team has proven they can beat both the US and Japan’s professional players during the World Baseball Championships last year. The Korean team may not have the best individual players but they definitely do play well together as a team and that is why they won.
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10:27 am on August 24th, 2008 1
You know what torqued me off about the coverage? The Korean TV showed the US-Cuba game to hype up the face-off between the ROK and Cuba. However, they only showed the Cubans up at bat and the Cubans scoring hits and runs. After a few innings of this, I just shut it off.
Oh well, a bronze for the US still is ok. Congrats to the ROK for their gold.
11:39 am on August 24th, 2008 2
To be fair they showed the highlights from the Japan-Korea game much more. Granted it was an exciting game but after the 10th time of watching the highlights from the game it did get quite old. It never got old for my brother-in-law who I was watching the game with though.
5:42 pm on August 24th, 2008 3
I still rank Korean baseball behind the United States and the Dominican Republic. In fact, I think those two countries are the team to beat in any competition, but they underachieved in the inaugural WBC.
The Americans were definitely complacent the first time around. They relied heavily on househould name players and their rotation was second rate considering the possibilities. Where are Dontrelle Willis and Roger Clemens now? On top of that, Korean players had army exemptions at stake.
With the right kind of players, the United States will beat the crap out of anyone.
6:29 pm on August 24th, 2008 4
Then the US will need to take an approach like USA Basketball did to recruit the right kind of players that can play together to win internationally. By the way I just finished watching Team USA win the Gold Medal which shows the strategy they pursued worked.
International baseball just like basketball is just to competitive to throw a bunch of millionaire pros on the court together, most with big egos, and expect them to give it their all and play together with little time together or practice beforehand.
7:16 am on August 25th, 2008 5
Unbelievable! I am Korean. I watched the games here in Korea. I know Korean baseball is still ranked far behind American baseball and Cuba. When I was young no one could imagine Korean baseball would compete or beat American baseball in any case. But it happened. That’s why I was more excited!
10:48 am on August 25th, 2008 6
You don’t have to worry about the US baseball team in future Olympics as this is the last Olympics for baseball.
7:58 pm on August 25th, 2008 7
The rotation was the biggest problem for the Americans in the WBC. The lineup was pretty good, but it lacked speed, situational hitting, and capable table setters.
8:56 pm on August 26th, 2008 8
I’m not sure if some of the big name American players could pass the drug test.
7:23 pm on August 28th, 2008 9
Just hearing this is even better than when Korea almost won the soccer championships! I couldn’t believe my ears when my mom told me! It wasn’t entirely a miracle; it was their teamwork and strong effort that won them a gold medal!