On The Flip Side - With Mr. Opposite
By Mr Opposite
Olympic Baseball
The Olympic Baseball tournament has so far turned out to be an absolute cracker, so now that the final four have been finalised, I thought I would give a round-up so far.
I know that the comments section is going to be flooded with comments about this being an anti-Yankees site blah, blah, blah. Wise up please sir, this is a baseball site. Furthermore, saying that in order to get me to stop won't work. If anything, it will encourage me more to write blogs not involving the Yankees or the Red Sox.
The standings, after 6 games:
So the top 4 are Cuba, Japan, Australia and Canada. Semi-finals will be determined by the last set of games.
( Editors' note: For the uninitiated, Mr. Opposite is the YankeesSuck.com blogger whose passionate writings on baseball come to us all the way from Australia.)
I need to start off with bragging about Australia thumping The Netherlands 22-2, in seven innings (mercy rule). 19 runs were scored in the 1st 3 innings. It set an Olympic record for most runs scored in a game and tied the Olympic record for most run differential (Taiwan 20-0 Vs Spain in Barcelona). This was a must-win match for Australia, as Japan beat Taiwan before this game, so winning this game would send them into the semis for the first time ever. SS Rodney van Buizen hit the tournaments first Grand Slam, also batting in 6 RBI, which is tied for the second highest total of RBI in a game at the Olympics. The mercy rule went into effect into the seventh. (In Olympic competition, games are stopped if a team is leading by 10 or more runs after the seventh inning). After having a bad start, losing their first two games (against Cuba and Taiwan), Australia has won its last four and is now looking good to get its first Olympic Baseball medal. Having only won one game in Sydney, that is a major improvement.
Cuba, favourites for the gold medal have performed as expected, only losing against Japan.
Japan was shocked to be beaten by Australia. They have gone all out for the gold this time around, using players from their professional league for the first time (only 2 from each club are allowed). And, so far, it has paid off. They are looking very good for a gold medal.
Taiwan shut down their professional league for two weeks while the games are on. So far it's not working out as expected.
The Greeks won their first game, beating Italy 12-7 in a game filled with bad defense.
The Netherlands started out well but their pitching fell through, so far giving up a total of 43 earned runs, the most among all teams.
Canada had an amazing start. Going 4 and 0, they were beaten by Japan 9-1. Until that game Canada had only given up 3 earned runs. The Canadians have outdone expectations and have performed well considering their best batter (Justin Morneau, MIN) and pitcher (Jeff Francis, COL), were not granted permission to play in the games.
The less said about Italy the better, no one expected them to go far, but winning at least one game is better then none at all, depending on today's results, they could finish tied for 6th. In order to do that they have to go through Cuba.
I think Japan will meet Australia in the semis and be beaten. Australia has a good record against Japan 2-1 in Olympics. Australia wins a close one.
Canada will play Cuba in the other semi and be beaten.
Australia will continue its good run and will be tough for Cuba. As much as I would like to say I think Australia will win, I don't think anyone can beat Cuba from here on in.
Japan will beat Canada for the Bronze.
Those picks may be way off, as that is what I would like to happen. No offense to all Americans, but I think not having them in the comp this time around is a plus, as it gives other countries a chance to prove themselves (whoa, I just picked up an extra 50 hate comments).
