WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
CUBA vs. JAPAN
•
Ormary and Norberto vs. Matsuzaka
•
Final between Asia
and the Americas
BY SIGFREDO
BARROS—Granma daily special correspondent—
SAN DIEGO, California—Nobody expected a final
like today’s will be. There were a lot of favorites
to compete for this title. But by their own merits
and their players’ drive, two nations recognized as
powerhouses in the international sphere, Cuba and
Japan, will go out onto Petco Park field to seek the
championship of the 1st World Baseball Classic.
Pages
and pages would have to be written about the Cuban
team’s extraordinary performance in this tournament.
Through pure courage, they have prevailed, and our
ballplayers – according to Juan Marichal, the
extremely knowledgeable Dominican baseball expert –
"the Major League players have nothing over them.
They know the basics to perfection, and play with
elegance and devotion."
Yesterday, before the last training session here,
manager Higinio Vélez gave us a few minutes of time
to discuss today’s game.
"Japan has been the only team able to defeat us
twice in the last five years. They are tenacious and
disciplined, have excellent pitching and their
offense is led by seven left-handers. We have to
carefully study all the options; whether we put in a
right-hander with fast throws (Ormary) or a left-hander
who throws well with left-handed batters (Norberto).
Whoever we use, we’re going out to win."
UNEXPECTED FINAL
A local newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune,
was asking yesterday who these Cuban ballplayers
were, capable of defeating a conglomeration of Major
League stars, led by two MVP’s (Miguel Tejeda and
Albert Pujols) and two Cy Young trophy winners (Johan
Santana and Bartolo Colón). The newspaper remarked
that the United States may have invented baseball,
but it was perfected in the Caribbean.
