ANAHEIM, Calif. -- After watching Team USA sneak back to defeat Japan 4-3 in a wildly entertaining World Baseball Classic Round 2 game here Sunday, there can be only one conclusion.
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| Japan manager Sadaharu Oh can't believe the call. (Getty Images) |
And if any of them start selling you on swampland somewhere in the tropics, turn and run.
Immediately.
Not to say that Japan was hosed in the eighth inning of a 3-3 game, but ...
Japan was hosed.
Bases loaded, one out, Team USA reliever Joe Nathan up to his 5 o'clock shadow in trouble, and Japanese third baseman Akinori Iwamura lofts a shallow fly to left field. Tsuyoshi Nishioka tags up at third and races home with the crucial go-ahead run, easily beating Randy Winn's off-target throw.
Catcher Brian Schneider fires a throw back to Derek Jeter, covering third, Team USA manager Buck Martinez comes out of the dugout for a chat with plate umpire Bob Davidson and ... out!
Out?
But to the naked eye it looked like Nishioka's tag was good.
"No doubt," he left the base early, Team USA catcher Brian Schneider said.
But television replays showed that Nishioka's tag was good.
"If you look at our dugout, our dugout was going nuts," Schneider said.
