Newsday: Ichiro comes through as Japan wins WBC title
7:38 AM
Art Spander in baseball
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
LOS ANGELES -- There have been some memorable games at Dodger Stadium, Sandy Koufax's no-hitters, Kirk Gibson's stunning pinch-hit homer in the 1988 World Series. And now the final of the 2009 World Baseball Championship has wedged itself into the group.
It was a game that had seemed destined to go on forever, and the boisterous record crowd of 54,846, with probably more Koreans than Japanese, certainly wouldn't have minded.
But Japan, after 10 innings and four hours, finally was the 5-3 winner Monday night, defending the championship it won in the first WBC three years ago and setting off a celebration highlighted with the Japanese players circling the field under a mammoth flag of their home country.
Ichiro Suzuki, who playing for the Seattle Mariners is as well known on this side of the Pacific as the other, broke a 3-3 tie with his third straight hit and fourth in six at-bats.
The Japanese, leaving 14 men on base, should have won easily, but unlike the semifinal win over the United States on Sunday night Japan couldn't hit with runners on. Until Suzuki came through.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched the win over the U.S., was named tournament most valuable player, but Monday night's starting pitcher for Japan, Hisashi Iwakuma, very well could have earned the award. He retired the first 11 Korean batters and allowed only two runs and four hits before being relieved with two outs in the eighth.
The huge turnout of fans, the Koreans banging their Thundersticks incesstantly and repetitively chanting "Dae Han Min Guk,'' which is another way of saying Korea, verified the WBC has a place on the sporting calendar. Even without an American team in the finals.
In 39 games throughout the world, Asia, Latin America, Canada, the United States, the WBC drew a total of 801,408. The two semis had attendance of more than 43,000 each, and Monday night's crowd was a virtual sellout.
Venezuela, with a ton of major leaguers, and the Dominican Republic, also with numerous stars from the American and National League, were the pre-tournament favorites, but it should be apparent Japan and Korea, with their discipline and mistake-free play, have become the dominant teams in international competition.
Korea won the gold medal at last year's Beijing Olympics, and now Japan takes its second WBC title.
"I believe we were the two best teams in the world,'' said Jungkeum Bong, Korea's starting pitcher. "Asia is the best in the world, and Korea and Japan were able to fight until the end. It was great glory for all of us.''
Japan had three major leaguers in the lineup, Ichiro, Kenji Johjima of the Mariners and Akinori Iwamura of the Tampa Bay Rays. Korea's only big leaguer on the roster, Shin Soo Choo of the Cleveland Indians, was the one who ended Iwakuma's shutout when he homered in the fifth to tie the game temporarily, 1-1.
The two teams had played four times previously in the tournament, splitting the games. "That we were able to come up to the stage together, I really feel great respect for the Koreans,'' said Tatsunori Hari, the Japan manager.
"And at the same time I feel like this was the game of the century.''