U.S. beats Cuba and both win direct entry to Beijing

[Say_What]

For those who remember, Uncle Sam tried to ban Cuba from playing in the inaugural World Baseball Classic earlier this year.

<clips>

THIS time there were no surprises. The United States and Cuba, the two most recent Olympic baseball champions, dominated the Pre-Olympic Tournament of the Americas, finishing with direct entries to the 2008 Beijing Games.

The adoption of a fairer "everyone against everyone" system enabled the two teams to finally square off, with the U.S. winning 8-5 after slugging in five home runs and playing better ball.

This Olympic qualifying event did not feature medals for the winner or runners-up, just the satisfaction of playing against traditional rivals.

"The United States has been looking for the opportunity to bring the Olympic title home, the same one that we weren’t able to defend in 2004, because Mexico had eliminated us," said Davey Johnson, the U.S. team manager.

"We need to classify in the first opportunity. It’s good not just for the United States, but also for international baseball," he commented.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/septiembre/mier6/37preolimpico-i.html


United States' Skip Shumaker, left, is tagged out by Cuba's Michel Enriquez in the third inning during their Olympic qualifying baseball game at Latin American stadium in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

[William769]

1. That ought to piss a buch of people off here!

:rofl:

[Renew Deal]

2. I thought Baseball was taken out of the Olympics.

Did something change?

[Judi Lynn]

3. I've got a question. How is it the U.S. plays in Havana, yet Bush

tried to keep Cuba from playing in Puerto Rico, and relented only after many, many people protested, including the baseball commissioner?

He's a little inconsistant here!



More on this pre-Olympic contest:

Curtain Falls on Cuba Olympic Baseball Tournament

Havana, Sep 6 (ACN) The curtain fell Tuesday night for the Olympic baseball qualifying tournament for the Americas which took place in Havana, Cuba and began August 25. The United States and Cuba won the two births open for Beijing 2008, both finishing with 8-1 records.

The United States defeated Cuba 8-5 on five home runs in the action-packed final game including three off of Cuba's World Baseball Classic star reliever Pedro Luis Lazo, Granma daily reported.

While the qualifiers were already decided, the match up between team USA and Cuba still brought out an estimated 45,000 fans at Havana's Latinoamericano Stadium, in a game also watched by a national TV audience.

Nerves rattled in the first inning as Cuban starter Adiel Palma allowed the first three batters to load the bases on two hits and a hit batter. Manager Rey Vicente Anglada was taking no chances and sent the lefthander --who had won in two previous starts--- to the showers, bringing out righthander Yunieski Maya with the bases full and nobody out.
(snip/...)

http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/idioma/ingles/2006/sept06final-beisbol.htm



Good luck next time to the Cubans.