Huge Asian Olympic upset in baseball

August 23, 6:00 PMAsian-American Sports ExaminerMichael Street

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If there was going to be an Asian winner in this year’s Olympics—likely the last time we’ll see the sport in Olympic play for at least eight years, if ever—everyone expected it to be Japan. As we have seen from the success of Japanese imports like Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and Daisuke Matsuzaka, the quality of the players in Japan is close, if not equal, to our own Major League Baseball players. And, unlike Major League Baseball, Japanese teams don’t mind their players leaving in the national interest, even in the middle of a pennant run.

If Japan didn’t snatch gold, then everyone expected defending champion Cuba to emerge as the top baseball team. With its top talent only available to major-league teams via defection, Cuba retains some of the best non-MLB talent in the world. Even the United States team, devoid of talent above AAA, was only an outside shot. Native China, with a neophyte team, would have been a feel-good story, but an incredibly unlikely one, despite coaching by American star and former MLB manager Jim Lefebvre.

But that’s why they play the games.

Instead of things running as predicted, South Korea showed up and ran the tables, winning the gold with a stunningly perfect record. Not even a blip on anyone’s radar—certainly not in the States, where their top stars have been Byung-Hyun Kim and Chan Ho Park—South Korea won the way you’re supposed to, with steady fielding and strong pitching and by not making mistakes.

The two teams faced off today at Wukesong Baseball Fields, with lefty Ryu Hyun-Jin on the rubber for South Korea and Norberto Gonzalez for Cuba. It didn’t seem like a pitcher’s duel at first, with Lee Seung-yuop rocketing a two-run homer in the top of the first, and Michel Enriquez answering with his own solo bomb in the bottom of the frame.

But the score froze until the teams swapped runs in the eighth, leading to a climactic confrontation in the ninth. Trailing by just a run, Cuba loaded the bases on a single and two consecutive walks; the second walk came on a controversial call that led to the ejection of South Korea’s catcher Kang Min-ho.

With only one out, South Korean manager Kim Kyung-moon called for Chong Tae-Hyon to face Yuliesky Gourriel. Chong induced a 6-4-3 double play, and the game was over. Exuberantly, the South Korean team surged onto the mound, where they threw manager Kim in the air before their victory lap around the ballpark.

Because of Major League Baseball’s refusal to allow its players to participate in the Olympics, this will be the last year for baseball and softball (tarred with the same brush, though it lacks a comparable pro league) until at least 2016. With MLB unlikely to back down on its refusal to alter the season schedule once every four years, this element of the equation is not going to change. (Even though, in spite of this supposed talent deficit, the U.S. still managed to beat Japan for the baseball bronze yesterday).

But with South Korea proving that Cuba and the U.S. aren’t the only places where baseball is played right, along with Japan’s amazing upset of the U.S. team in softball, the USOC might change its tune. With so many American sports—basketball, golf, as well as baseball—looking Eastward for new talent, perhaps the Olympic committee might decide that the participation of U.S. players doesn’t exclude the best players in the world.

South Korea sure went a long way towards proving that notion right.