Olympic Baseball Blog

olympicbaseball March 5th, 2008

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Korea Baseball Association (KBA) announced the final 24 members to play in the upcoming Beijing Olympics qualifying tournament, headlined by power hitters Seung-yeop Lee of the Yomiuri Giants, Dae-ho Lee of the Lotte Giants and Dong-joo Kim of the Doosan Bears.

Along with the trio of power hitters, players include former Major Leaguer Sun-woo Kim, who signed with the Bears in January; Hanwha Eagles lefty Hyun-jin Ryu who combined for 35 wins the last two seasons; and Lotte Giants veteran right-hander Min-han Son, who has recorded 85 victories in his 10-year KBO career.

However, manager Kim Kyung-moon (Doosan Bears)’s penchant for experience over base running removed Keun-woo Jung of the SK Wyverns, Byung-hyun Min of the Bears and Dae-hyun Lee of the LG Twins, who combined for 107 stolen bases in the KBO last season, from the roster.

In addition, the quartet of the Bears’ Tae-hoon Lim, the Woori Heroes’ Yong-hoon Cho, the Lotte Giants’ Won-joon Jang and the Eagles’ Young-myung Ahn, who were expected to be used as relief pitchers, also failed to make the national team, which reached the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) two years ago.

Giants catcher Min-ho Kang also was also left off the roster.

Seung-yup Lee, 31, plays for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. Lee was in spring training with the Cubs back in 2002 and with the Marlins in 2003, but never signed a major league contract. Instead, Lee went on to set the single-season home run mark for an Asian professional league with 56 home runs in the KBO in 2003. Lee had previously set the KBO single-season home run record in 1999 with 54 homers, and collected five MVP awards in the KBO before moving to Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in 2004. Lee was a key member of South Korea’s 2006 World Baseball Classic team, hitting five home runs in the team’s first six games en route to a 6-0 start.

Dae-ho Lee, 25, is an imposing 6-foot-3, 265 pounds and won the KBO Triple Crown in 2006, hitting .336 with 26 homers and 88 RBIs, and capped it off by winning a gold glove. Lee led the KBO in slugging last year, batting .335/.453/.600 with 29 home runs and won his second straight gold glove.

Dong-joo Kim, who won the KBO gold glove at third base in 2007, hit .332/.457/.534 with 19 home runs last year for the Doosan Bears and led the KBO in on-base percentage.

20-year-old lefthander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who in 2006 became the first player in Korea Baseball Organization history to win the league’s rookie of the year award and be the MVP in the same season. Ryu also won a gold glove that year, finishing with 204 strikeouts in 201 2/3 innings and a 2.23 ERA for the Hanwha Eagles. Last year, Ryu led the KBO with 178 strikeouts and had a 2.94 ERA in 211 innings.

Sun-Woo Kim, who pitched in the Giants’ system last year at Triple-A Fresno, will pitch for South Korea. Kim, who signed with the Doosan Bears of the Korean Baseball Organization earlier this year, had a 4.87 ERA in 118 1/3 innings last year. Kim last pitched in the majors in 2006, appearing in six games for the Rockies and two more for the Reds.

There are some questions about Korea Roster, manager Kim is not sure who will be his closer, and the middle infield defense is another issue.

He did know who will be on the starting rotation; Hyun-jin Ryu is starting against Australia and Taiwan, considered the most critical outings in the schedule. So does the Former San Francisco Giant Sun-woo Kim, SK Wyverns lefty Kwang-hyun Kim and Lotte Giants Min-han Son.

The lack of bullpen depth is alarming considering the length of the series and that, aside of Ryu and Son, none of starters have a reputation for working into the late innings. Sun-woo spent the larger part of his career as a reliever and the 20-year-old Kwang-hyun is not even established in the regular rotation of the Wyverns yet.

Kim is struggling to replace Samsung Lions closer Seung-hwan Oh, a mainstay with the national team in the past few years who is unavailable due to an elbow injury. Bears reliever Tae-hoon Im is a candidate, although he might be too much of a gamble as an inexperienced 20-year-old.

Wyverns veteran reliever Dae-hyun Chung could be a better option, but Kim has been concerned about his poor form in the practice matches. Chung, a soft-throwing submariner, has never been known as a strikeout artist, and that could be a problem in the late innings considering the compromised infield defense.

Lions shortstop Jin-man Park, whose range and glove work are irreplaceable, hasn’t been able to participate in defensive drills due to a bum shoulder and is questionable for the tournament. Si-hun Son, currently with the Korean army baseball team, is considered as an alternative option.

Korea will play its first game of the qualifier against South Africa on Friday, then plays Australia on Saturday, Mexico on Sunday, Spain next Monday, Germany on March 12, Canada on the 13th and host Taiwan on the 15th. The tournament will feature eight teams; include Australia, Canada, Germany Mexico, South Africa, Spain and Taiwan, fighting for three final slots in the Beijing Games.

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olympicbaseball March 4th, 2008

Australia Baseball National Team just released the Final Olympic Qualifier Roster today.

The 24-man squad is headlined by five members of Australia’s 2004 Silver medal winning team in addition to boasting some prodigious new talent set for their senior debuts, an unprecedented eight players are set to make their international debuts.

A host of Australia’s best players, including Major League pitchers Travis Blackley and Ryan Rowland-Smith, are absent attending US spring training, putting the emphasis on some of the country’s next generation of talent.

Former Major League player and two-time Olympian Glenn Williams is one of the more experienced members of the team who will need to play a key role in the qualifier – a tournament some pundits have already referred to as Australia’s “Mini-Olympics”.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough road to Beijing,” Williams said. “But when three of the eight teams have already won Olympic Medals (Korea, Australia, Chinese Taipei), and two others (Canada, Mexico) consider baseball as one of their major sports, you know the bar is going to be set pretty high,” he said.

The Australian team has just finished a crucial two-week Gold Coast camp that has placed them on track for an Olympic medal. The highlight of the camp was a five-game practice tournament against heavyweights Canada, which ended in a 2-1 win to the visitors. Canada won the final tie 4-1 at Palm Meadows yesterday.

“The results against Canada didn’t matter,” said Australian Baseball’s operations manager Brett Pickett. “Both teams were in a preparation mentality. What was important was to see some live, competitive pitching and some high quality pitching at that.”

The Aussies have been in good form with sixth place at the World Cup in November. There they won their first six games but fell to Japan in their first finals eliminator. The personnel have changed a great deal since Athens, and Pickett said the squad had lost even more experience because of the timing of this week’s Taiwan qualifying tournament.

“We are the Olympic silver medalists so there is the expectation we will qualify for the Games,” Pickett said. “We have a lot of players not available for Taiwan because the international federation put this tournament in the middle of US spring training, so a number of our guys are ineligible because of their Major League roster status. “So we are going with a young side but are still optimistic we will get through. For Beijing, our US players will be in the middle of the season and there is no restriction on them playing.”

Australian Head Coach Jon Deeble, who guided the Aussies to their greatest ever performance in Athens four years ago, echoes the sentiments of his senior players but also sees the Final Qualifying tournament as a genuine opportunity for Australian Baseball.

“There is no escaping the fact that we have faced some real challenges in preparing for this tournament,” Deeble said. “The (March) timing of the event meant that many of our players were committed to their Major League clubs in the US, and the fact that it’s our one and only opportunity to qualify means there is an enormous amount on the line.” “Personally, it’s been the most challenging program in my seven years as the Coach of the National Team…but I also think we are witnessing the birth of our next generation of Australian stars,” Deeble said.

That “next generation” Deeble refers to includes 13 players under the age of 25, three of whom have not yet seen their 20th birthdays. But don’t let their ages fool you – 19-year-old Liam Hendriks is fresh off his 2008 Claxton Shield Rookie of the year campaign and 18-year-old Steve Kent won the 2007 ABF Youth Player of the Year.

James Linger, who is set to become the first 17-year-old to play for his country since current Major leaguer Chris Snelling won Gold with the Aussies at the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, continues to exceed all expectations every time he graces the field.

The 17-year-old James Linger was selected in the Australian senior baseball team, making him the youngest player ever to make the side. He was selected after a series of trials played at the Gold Coast and Brisbane over the past week, during which the Australian side took on baseball powerhouse Canada.

Linger’s father, Mark, said the family did not expect him to make the side after coaches said he was probably too young. James was shaking when he heard he had made it. “We all were He was told before the series that he was too young to be chosen, so we didn’t really expect it.” He said. Linger plays both short-stop and centre so has been selected in the side as a utility player.

The thing that’s most amazing is James’s age; he’s about two years younger than the next youngest in the side, and the rest of the team is in their mid-20s.

Australia must place in the top three teams of the eight-nation Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament matching up against Korea, Canada, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Mexico and Taiwan. The seven-game round robin tournament gets underway March 7 in Taichung when Australia takes on Germany in their opening game.

The detail information about roster is here.

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olympicbaseball March 3rd, 2008

Canada won three in a row to finish the Australia Exhibition Series before going to Taiwan.

According to Canada Press:

The Canadian national team beat Australia 4-1 on Monday in the finale of a five-game exhibition series in preparation for this month’s Olympic baseball qualifying tournament.

Jimmy VanOstrand of Richmond, B.C., doubled, homered and scored twice while starter Jonathan Lockwood of Toronto allowed one hit and struck out two over three innings.

Jamie Richmond of Mississauga, Ont., allowed two hits over three innings. Alexandre Picard of St. Eustache, Que., gave up the lone run on three hits over two innings.

“It was a good outing for everybody today,” said Canada manager Terry Puhl. “Lockwood was outstanding and he’s going to be a workhorse for us going forward. Richmond did what he always does and Periard was solid as well.”

David Corrente of Chatham, Ont., had a solo homer for Canada, who finished the series with a 3-1-1 mark.

“We have all the tools here to get it done,” said Puhl. “We just need to stick to our game and we’ll get the results that we want.”

And the Baseball Canada:

Canada’s offence got the job done and the pitching was stellar as they would take the final exhibition game of this series by a score of 4-1 over Australia.

The pitchers were solid in shutting down the Aussie offence in this eight inning contest, starting with the starter Jonathan Lockwood (Toronto, ON). Lockwood only allowed one hit and two walks with a pair of strikeouts in three inning of work.

“You have to approach this time to work on things you need to work on and treat it as a learning experience going into the tournament so you can be at your best,” says Lockwood.

“Every game is going to be a combination of guys. It’s good that everybody finished well and did what they had to do and that looks good come tournament time because guys are going to go in there and get it done.”

Jamie Richmond (Mississauga, ON) and Alexandre Periard (St. Eustache, QC) were in good form in relief. Richmond, in three innings pitched, allowed two hits with two strikeouts and Periard gave up a run on three hits and a walk with one punch out in two innings in relief.

“It was a good outing for everybody today,” says Manager Terry Puhl. “Lockwood was outstanding, and he’s going to be a workhorse for us going forward. Richmond did what he always does and Periard was solid as well.”

Offensively, the star in this game was Jimmy VanOstrand (Richmond, BC) who doubled, homered and scored twice. He hit the double in the second inning and would come in to score the game’s first run on a single from Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON).

VanOstrand would homer in the fourth inning off of Adam Blackley with Matt Rogelstad (New Westminster, BC) on base to increase the Canadian lead.

“It was good to have a game like that to finish off the exhibition series,” says VanOstrand who was 2-for-2 with two RBI. “I’m looking forward to going to Taiwan and hopefully keep it going.”

David Corrente (Chatham, ON) would also add to the offence with a solo-home run to lead off the fifth inning off of Gavin Dlouhy. Corrente would hit the second pitch of the inning over the left field fence to put Canada ahead 4-0.

The Aussies would break the shutout bid in the seventh inning when Andrew Utting would single off of Periard to drive in Ben Risinger and put the Australians on the board.

The Canadians finished the exhibition series with a 3-1-1 record, which could be a good sign going into the Final Olympic Qualifier.

“It looks good for us,” says VanOstrand about his hopes for the qualifier. “It’s a tough tournament and there is going to be a lot of tough competition there but we definitely have a good team to give ourselves a chance. It’s going to be lots of fun.”

“We have all the tools here to get it done. We just need to stick to our game and we’ll get the results that we want,” says Puhl.

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olympicbaseball March 2nd, 2008

No body will depreciate Mexico now, especially they beat the Colorado Rockies leading by Jeff Francis.

According to AP:

Jeff Francis felt a bit more fatigued after his second spring training start this season than he has at the same point in the past.

Then again the 27-year-old left-hander never had to pitch through the end of October.

“I started (throwing) in January, just like normal,” Francis said after a Colorado Rockies split squad lost to the Mexico National All-Stars, 2-1 Sunday.

If Francis is tired, he doesn’t look it. He threw 45 pitches, allowing two hits, one earned run and striking out two in three innings.

Francis, the Rockies’ opening day starter, has thrown five innings this spring and has given up five hits and two earned runs, striking out three and walking one.

“The good thing was just going out there and throwing three innings, getting up and down three times,” Francis said. “You can feel it. You think about (pitching) three innings in the regular season and it’s nothing.”

Bench coach Jamie Quirk, filling in for manager Clint Hurdle who was in Phoenix with another split squad, was pleased with Francis’ performance.

“I don’t take anything away (from the Mexico National team), but you know maybe his demeanor or adrenaline would have been different if we were playing a regular team,” Quirk said. “He might have known hitters better, but he’s just trying to get his work in for right now. … and he’s doing great. That’s what we wanted today.”

Mexico center fielder Ivan Terrazas led off the third off the wall in right-center and scored on Albino Contreras’ sacrifice fly when Rockies right fielder Brad Hawpe’s throw sailed over the head of catcher Edwin Bellorin, giving Mexico a 1-0 lead.

“I got into some trouble with (my changeup). Some guys ran into it,” Francis said. “I got one guy to roll over on it in the first inning. Still, it could be better, especially to left- handers. (Terrazas) hit a triple and the ball was middle in and he was all over it. If it was middle away that would have been a better pitch.”

The Rockies beat the Mexico National team 15-2 Friday.

Mexico’s starting pitcher Walter Silva stifled the Rockies for 4 2-3 shutout innings. Silva got the win and allowed two hits, four walks and struck out four. He got a standing ovation by the strong contingent of Mexico fans in attendance when he was pulled in the fifth inning.

Colorado second baseman Marcus Giles was 1-for-1 with a walk, and Clint Barmes hit an RBI double in the seventh. Barmes’ double was Colorado’s only extra base hit of the game.

Relief pitcher Luis Viscaino pitched a perfect ninth for the Rockies.

“He looked good, kept the ball down,” Quirk said. “I saw (pitching coach Bob Apodaca) talking to him after the game about rushing, but when you’re pitching late in the game like that after you’ve been sitting all day (it happens). … He’s a veteran, he’s a guy we’re going to be counting on.”

More detail on MLB.com:

Mexico at the plate: Left fielder Christian Presichi had a pair of doubles in three at-bats. In the third inning, center fielder Ivan Terrazas hit a leadoff triple off the wall into the right-center-field gap and scored on the following at-bat off Albino Contreras’ sacrifice fly to right.

Rockies on the mound: Starter Jeff Francis threw 45 pitches in three innings of work. He allowed two hits and one earned run, and struck out two. Micah Bowie pitched two solid innings of relief, allowing no runs, two hits and one base on balls. John Koronka allowed one run, four hits and a walk in three innings of work. Luis Vizcaino pitched a scoreless ninth.

Mexico on the mound: Starter Walter Silva stifled Rockies hitters through 4 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and four walks, and striking out four. Pablo Ortega struck out two of the four batters he faced in relief and allowed no hits, runs or walks in 1 1/3 innings.

You can get the boxs core here.

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olympicbaseball March 2nd, 2008

This time, Canada break tie and get another Win from Australia.

According to Baseball Canada:

Canada’s offence once again came up big as they would break a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning to beat Australia in the fourth exhibition game of the series by a score of 9-5.

The Canadians would score four runs on five straight hits in the eighth inning before the Aussies could register an out.

Emmanuel Garcia (Montreal, QC) started things off with a leadoff double and would score on Mike Saunders’ (Victoria, BC) RBI triple. Ryan Radmanovich (Calgary, AB) would then drive in his second run of the game with a single to score Saunders. Matt Rogelstad (New Westminster, BC) would move Radmanovich up to third base with a double and Emerson Frostad (Calgary, AB) would cash in Radmanovich with a single. David Corrente (Chatham, ON) would drive in Rogelstad to complete the scoring.

“Manny Garcia had a wonderful night, Saunders was fabulous and Radmanovich had some big RBIs. It’s coming together for us,” says Manager Terry Puhl.

It was a good start to the ballgame for Canada as they would open the scoring in the first inning when Radmanovich would drive in Stubby Clapp (Windsor, ON) for the first run of the game.

“I’m feeling good about my swing right now. It was nice to get a couple big hits in key situations which is the things we’re going to have to do in (the qualifier) to win,” says Radmanovich, who was 2-for-3 with the two RBI.

From there, James Avery (Moose Jaw, SK) shut things down, allowing only two walks with three strikeouts in three innings of work to start the game.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m building up every time we go. I threw pretty well tonight, a couple of walks were disappointing, but other than that I thought I threw pretty well,” says Avery.

But the Aussies would comeback and score four runs in the fourth inning off Brooks McNiven (Vancouver, BC) to take a 4-1 lead. Two doubles, two singles and an error was the cause for the Australian runs in the inning.

The Canadians would tie thing up however in their half of the fourth inning on two sacrifice flies from Rogelstad and Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON) and a wild pitch that would score Saunders who reached on a single.

Canada would then take the lead in the sixth inning when Garcia, who tripled to lead off the inning, would score on a ground out by Rogelstad.

Once again though, Australia would comeback to tie the ballgame when Daniel Berg hit an RBI single to score Mitch Dening to tie things up at 5-5.

But the Canadians would score four in the eighth and T.J. Burton (Ottawa, ON) would pitch a one, two, three ninth inning to preserve the win for Canada.

You can find the Box Score and Play-by-play.

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olympicbaseball March 1st, 2008

Even a six-run lead, Australia can not hold the margin and tied by Canada.

From Canada Press:

Steve Green of Greenfield Park, Que., fanned five of the six batters he faced as Canada rallied from a six-run deficit in the ninth inning to claim an 8-8 exhibition baseball tie with Australia on Saturday.

Emerson Frostad of Calgary hit a two-run homer and Victoria’s Mike Saunders belted a three-run shot in a six-run ninth inning for Canada. But it was a two-out, run-scoring single by Nick Weglarz of Stevensville, Ont., that brought home the tying run.

“I mark (this game) down as a win,” said Canadian team manager Terry Puhl. “When you come back and hit the ball as hard as we did and score runs . . . a team that never has any quit in it is a team that is going to qualify (for the Olympics).”

Frostad finished 2-for-4 and drove in three runs for Canada.

“It was a great comeback,” he said. “We were slow the first couple of innings and it took a little while to get going, but that’s the type of team we are.

“We’re very explosive and we can put up those big innings.”

At Baseball Canada:

The Canadians erased a six run deficit in the ninth inning and Steve Green (Greenfield Park, QC) struck out five of the six batters he faced to preserve an 8-8 tie in the third exhibition game against Australia.

Canada was behind by a score of 8-2 going into the top of the ninth inning. Emmanuel Garcia (Montreal, QC) got things started with a single followed by a two-run home run by Emerson Frostad (Calgary, AB) to cut the margin in half.

After Adam Stern (London, ON) drew a walk and a double from Stubby Clapp (Windsor, ON), Mike Saunders (Victoria, BC) hit a three-run bomb to right field to bring the Canadians within one with nobody out.

With now two out and Taylor Green (Courtenay, BC) on third, Nick Weglarz (Stevensville, ON) drove in the tying run with a single off Aussie Brendan Wise.

“I mark (this game) down as a win,” says Manager Terry Puhl. “When you come back and hit the ball as hard as we did and score runs… a team that never has any quit in it is a team that is going to qualify (for the Olympics).”

“It was a great comeback,” says Frostad, who got the comeback started and was 2-for-4 with three RBI. “We were slow the first couple of innings and it took a little while to get going, but that’s the type of team we are. We’re very explosive and we can put up those big innings.”

The Aussies started the game with a bang as they would put across four runs in the first inning off Canadian starter Brett Gray (Petrolia, ON). Gray would allow another run in the second inning to put the Aussies ahead 5-0.

Canada would cut the gap in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Frostad, who would later score on a bases loaded walk to bring the score to 5-2.

“I’m starting to get the flow again. It’s mostly timing. We’ve all been hitting in the cages and working out. It’s just getting that (in game) timing down and it’s going to take a couple games, but a lot of the guys are starting to get going and hopefully we can keep that going,” says Frostad.

But the Australians would add to the lead in the sixth when Ben Risinger, Glenn Williams and Mat Kent all came in to score off Scott Richmond (Langley, BC), who allowed one run on two hits, and Mike Kusiewicz (Ottawa, ON), who allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit, to make it 8-2 for Australia.

Steve Green came into the game in the eighth inning with Canada trailing by six and silenced the Aussie offence when he struck out two of the three batters he faced in the inning to allow his teammates to generate the impressive comeback the following inning.

Green would then shut down the Australian attack by striking out the side in the ninth inning to finish the game.

“This game gave me a great boost of confidence,” says Green. “It was an unbelievable game. The thing about Team Canada is that we never give up and that’s key. We showed it with six runs in the ninth and we got the job done.”

You can also find the Box Score and Play-by-play at Baseball Australia web site.

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