Ichiro Suzuki (center) and Team Japan poses with their trophy after winning the World Baseball Classic championship in Los Angeles, California, on March 23, 2009. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
On Top of the World
Ichiro Suzuki propels Japan to its second consecutive World Baseball Classic championship
Baseball is called America's pastime. But Japan is the country calling itself world champions. Again.
At Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles last night, the 2009 World Baseball Classic concluded with the championship game between Japan and Korea. It took 10 innings and some clutch play from several stars, and Japan went home victorious, 5-3.
It was Japan's second World Baseball Classic championship. It won the first World Baseball Classic in 2006 by defeating Cuba.
Both Japan and Korea had a tough time finding their offensive groove in the game. Japan outhit Korea, 15-5, but Korea's defense kept Japan off of the scoreboard time and time again.
Japan eventually broke through, found ways to score, and never played from behind in the game. After opening the scoring with a run in the third inning, Japan kept Korea in check and held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning.
But Korea wasn't ready to call it a game.
In the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and runners on first and second, Lee Bum-ho hit a single into the outfield, driving in the tying run and sending the game into extra innings.
Japan responded to these late heroics with some of its own, courtesy of Major League Baseball superstar Ichiro Suzuki.
When Suzuki went to bat in the top of the 10th, there were two outs and runners were on second and third. He worked the count to two balls and two strikes by fouling off one ball after another. Then he saw the pitch he was looking for and cracked a single into centerfield. The runners on second and third base scored. Japan was in the lead for good. And Suzuki delivered a victory for Japan.
Japan pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitches for the Boston Red Sox, was named tournament MVP after finishing the tournament with a 3-0 record. He won that honor in 2006 as well.
By winning back-to-back World Baseball Classic championships, Japan staked its claim as the dominant baseball nation on the planet. Its 2009 tournament record was 7-2, and it defeated the United States to make it to the championship game.
"We became number one in the world," Japan's manager Tatsunori Hara said through a translator after the game.
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