Sunday, August 24, 2008

Olympic Memories, Part IV

Yesterday was my last day of Olympic activities, the gold medal baseball game.  It should be noted that since there are so few countries that field baseball teams these days, and of those that do they dominate the sport, the IOC has decided that, starting with the London Games in 2012, baseball will not be on the roster.  Unless this changes in the future, which is doubtful, I can say I was at the last ever Olympic baseball game.  It kinda makes sense, though.  Think about baseball countries—the US, Cuba, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.  Other countries fielded teams, like the Netherlands and Canada, but they didn’t get very far.

The Americans blew it in the semifinals, getting their asses beat by Cuba and earning a bronze, so the gold medal game was between Cuba and South Korea.

I was cheering for South Korea, of course.  I’ve had enough communism to last a lifetime, I’ll be damned if I’m going to cheer for another bunch of commies.  We were, naturally, seated right in amongst a group of rabid Cuba fans, which made the game all the more interesting.

The game started of 2-1 Korea in the first inning, and stayed that way for most of the game.  The rest was pretty much three up three down on both sides for most of the game.  Until the 9th, that is.  Going into the 9th the score was 3-2 Korea, and Cuba was last at bat.  Korea started out the inning and didn’t score, so it went into the bottom of the 9th still 3-2.  The crowd was going insane at this point, both sides could smell Olympic gold.  The Korean pitcher had, in the 8th, thrown a few balls in the dirt, so it was obvious he was getting tired.  The Cubans came up to bat and he ended up striking out the first guy.  One out.  Then he walked the second guy.  He started pitching to the third, and believe it or not walked him as well.  He’d just walked the tying run, two on base.  One home run and it’s all over for Korea.  I can’t remember what happened next, but either someone got a base hit or there was another walk, but one way or another the bases ended up loaded.

The stadium was going berserk.

There was some commotion at home plate.  Apparently the Korean catcher said something to the umpire because the ump kicked him out of the game.  The managers of the Korean team came over and there was a lot of yelling and screaming going back and forth.  The Korean catcher, realizing that there was no way he was staying in the game, threw his mask at the dugout and angrily stormed off, throwing his equipment everywhere.  “Pissed off” doesn’t do it justice.

The door to the bullpen opened and out walked another catcher.  I said that they ought to take this opportunity to take out that pitcher, which they did.  So, here we are, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, only 1 out, with a completely new pitcher and catcher.  They do a quick warm-up, then play resumes.  The Cuban batter walks out, the Korean throws his pitch—the Cuban hits a solid drive to the shortstop.  Then, in a fucking TEXTBOOK example of how baseball is supposed to be played, he tossed it to second base who stepped on the bag, then hurled it to first, who got the runner on a double play.  That’s it, game over, Korea wins.  The Koreans in the stands were going apeshit, while the Cubans just stood there with their mouths open, wondering what the hell just happened.

That’s baseball, and man do I love this game.  It was a fantastic end to what was otherwise a pretty boring game.  If this was Olympic baseball’s last stand, that 9th inning couldn’t have been a better send-off.

Update: Here’s the Koreans as they ran past us on their victory lap.

Great game, great way to end its Olympic run.