2009 World Baseball Classic championship
Games of Finals played at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
| Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
| 1R |  South Korea
| 10 | |||||||
| 2W |  Venezuela
| 2 | |||||||
| SF1W | South Korea
| 3 | |||||||
| SF2W |  Japan
| 5 | |||||||
| 2R |  United States
| 4 | |||||||
| 1W | Japan
| 9 | |||||||
Results
| Finals | ||
|---|---|---|
| KOR 10 ◄ VEN 2 linescore |
USA 4 JPN 9 ◄ linescore |
JPN 5 ◄ KOR 3 (F/10) linescore |
Semifinal 1 - South Korea 10, Venezuela 2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea |
5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Venezuela |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Suk-Min Yoon (1-0) LP: Carlos Silva (0-1) Home runs: KOR: Shin-Soo Choo (1), Tae-Kyun Kim (1) VEN: Carlos Guillen (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Semifinal 2 - Japan 9, United States 4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Japan |
0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | X | 9 | 10 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-0) LP: Roy Oswalt (0-1) Home runs: USA: Brian Roberts (1) JPN: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Final - Japan 5, South Korea 3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan |
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| South Korea |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Yu Darvish (1-0) LP: Chang-Yong Lim (0-1) Home runs: JPN: None KOR: Shin-Soo Choo (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South Korea won the coin toss held after the second semifinal between Japan and the United States, designating them as the home team for the final.[4]
Japan drew first blood, scoring on a RBI single by Michihiro Ogasawara in the third inning. Shin-Soo Choo tied the score 1–all with a home run in the fifth inning. With runners on first and third, Hiroyuki Nakajima hit an RBI single to bring Seiichi Uchikawa home to give Japan the lead 2–1.[5] South Korea failed to take advantage of Japanese pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, who was visibly tired, when they failed to score in the seventh inning, when Iwakuma was relieved by Toshiya Sugiuchi after two outs. Uchikawa hit a single to start the eighth. Atsunori Inaba scored a double to put Uchikawa in scoring position, and Uchikawa scored on Akinori Iwamura's sacrifice fly. Hyun-Wook Jong retired the remaining batters to close out the inning.[5]
Japan brought out their closer, Yu Darvish, for the bottom of the ninth with a 3–2 lead. Darvish struck out Keun-Woo Jeong, but walked Hyun-Soo Kim and Tae-Kyun Kim to put South Koreans on first and second with one out. Darvish then struck out Choo and was one out away from saving the game. But Bum-Ho Lee singled, driving in Jong-Wook Lee for the game-tying run to make it 3–all and send the game into extra innings.[6]
Japan batted first, with Chang-Yong Lim pitching for South Korea in the tenth. Uchikawa and Iwamura hit a single to put runners on first and third with two out. Ichiro was one strike away from ending the inning when he hit a line-drive single up the middle that scored Iwamura and Uchikawa. Lim then hit Nakajima with a pitch and intentionally walked Norichika Aoki to face Kenji Johjima who was hitless up to that point. Lim was able to strikeout Johjima and send the game to the bottom of the tenth. Darvish made short work of South Korea, capping with a strikeout of Keun-Woo Jeong to clinch Japan's successful defense of their 2006 championship.[6][7]
Japan's Daisuke Matsuzaka was awarded the tournament MVP for the second consecutive time, with a 3–0 record and 2.45 ERA.[8]
References
- ^ "2009 WBC Semifinal 1 KOR:VEN Boxscore". Archived from the original on 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "2009 WBC Semifinal 2 USA:JPN Boxscore". Archived from the original on 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "2009 WBC Final JPN:KOR Boxscore". Archived from the original on 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Schlegel, John (March 23, 2009). "Japan and Korea familiar foes at Classic". Worldbaseballclassic.com. Archived from the original on 2009-09-08. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Bloom, Barry (March 24, 2009). "Ichiro lifts Japan to Classic glory". Worldbaseballclassic.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) Cite error: The named reference "WBC official" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b "Ichiro comes through with big hit as Japan wins WBC". Associated Press. ESPN.com. March 24, 2009. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Japan vs. Korea box score". Yahoo! Sports. March 24, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
- ^ Jack Curry (March 24, 2009). "Ichiro Suzuki Delivers Memorable End to World Baseball Classic". New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)