Cuba bounces Dominicans
SAN DIEGO -- They stand for the entire game, like wide-eyed kids playing Thanksgiving football. They wear hideous all-red uniforms and know nothing of the riches enjoyed by most of the baseball players they are beating in this tournament. And, yes, Fidel Castro's son is one of the team doctors.
No 25 guys/25 cabs for the Cuban national team. It's all for one, all the time. And now they are one victory away from being true champions of the world.
In a suddenly US-free tournament that will be largely ignored on American soil, the Cuban nationals defeated the mighty Dominican Republic, 3-1, at Petco Park yesterday, advancing to tomorrow's World Baseball Classic championship game against the winner of last night's Korea-Japan game.
''Ours are men without names," said Cuban manager Higino Velez Carrion. ''They play as a team, as members of a team."
''Obviously, we fell short of our aspiration, which was to win this tournament to make our people proud at home," said Dominican manager Manny Acta (not the Manny the Dominicans needed in this tourney). ''I'm proud of my team. All the credit goes to the Cuban team. I can see why they dominate international competition. Their pitching is legit."
The Cuban mound duo of kid righty Yadel Marti and veteran Pedro Lazo (two-time Olympic gold winner) held the Dominicans to eight hits and one unearned run.
''It's not easy to shut down this lineup," said Dominican slugger Albert Pujols. ''All the credit goes to them."
The last/best chance for the favored Dominicans came in the bottom of the eighth when David Ortiz walked to the plate with two aboard and one out. Eschewing the idea of bringing in a lefty, Carrion allowed Lazo to stay in the game. The overanxious Ortiz -- who already had grounded to the right side three times -- popped to right on the first pitch. Then Adrian Beltre smoked a liner out to left field and it was on to the ninth for the frustrated Dominicans.
Lazo (4 2/3 innings of relief), the Felix Savon of pitchers, came back out for the ninth. After a bloop hit and two outs, he fanned pinch hitter Alfonso Soriano, and the jubilant Cubans stormed the mound and mobbed their reliever.
The city of San Diego, like the rest of America, was still getting used to the idea of a Final Four without the US when the Cubans and Dominicans warmed up for yesterday's first semifinal. After everyone stood for the national anthems of Cuba and the Dominican Republic, ''The Star-Spangled Banner" was played, a reminder that the game was being played in the United States, even though the American millionaires had all returned to their respective big league ball clubs.
There were a lot of empty seats (41,268 was the announced attendance) when Dominican righty Bartolo Colon threw the first pitch just after noon. Colon got the Cubans in order in the top of the first, getting star second baseman Yulieski Gourriel on a grounder to Miguel Tejada. Colon needed only 30 pitches to get through the first three innings.
It was still 0-0 when Marti walked Wily Mo Pena with one out in the bottom of the fifth. That was it for the kid. He was replaced by Lazo, a 32-year-old righty built like Chicago's Bobby Jenks. Lazo walked Alberto Castillo, then worked the count to 3 and 2 on Astros center fielder Willy Taveras. The Dominican base runners ran on the full count, Taveras struck out, and Pena was gunned down at third by Cuban catcher Ariel Pestano.
The Dominicans took a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth when Gourriel -- the Derek Jeter of Cuba -- booted Beltre's routine two-out grounder to second. This came after Ortiz (five stranded runners) had a chance to blow the game open but grounded to the right side for a third consecutive time.
Cuba (12 hits) answered with three runs in the top of the seventh. It all started when Dodgers lefty Odalis Perez replaced Colon (who developed a blister throwing 70 pitches) to start the inning. Shaking off the goat horns, Gourriel led with a hard grounder to third. Beltre cuffed the ball around, then threw wildly, allowing Gourriel to reach second.
Elier Sanchez pinch hit and reached on a swinging bunt that rolled down the third base line and stayed fair. Rudy Reyes ran for Sanchez and took second on a passed ball. Frederich Cepeda scored Gourriel on a routine grounder to second, with Reyes moving to third. That was it for Perez.
Salomon Torres came on to face Osmany Urrutia with a man on third and one out in the 1-1 game. With the infield drawn in, Urrutia grounded a first-pitch single to center and Cuba led, 2-1. Yoandry Garlobo (three hits) singled to center.
Red Sox righty Julian Tavarez came on and walked Ariel Pestano to load the bases, then gave up a sac fly to No. 9 batter Alexi Ramirez.
Lazo made the lead look huge. No one-inning relief stint for him. The big righty threw 4 2/3 innings of relief, which we all know is not the American way.
