Heading into this game, I was wondering which Korean team would show up. The one that got slaughtered in Tokyo or the one that played their guts out and scratched out a 1-0 victory in... Tokyo. If today's result is indication, the latter is the truer example.
The Koreans were helped out by a wild Yu Darvish. It appeared that Yu had trouble getting his slider over for strikes. The Koreans were able to lay off the slider and look for the straighter stuff. Team Japan shortstop, Kataoka Yasuyuki, made a key error in the first inning that allowed the 1st Korean run to score and put runners on 1st and 2nd with none out. Darvish walked Kim Tae-gyun to load the bases. After a Choo Shin-soo strikeout, Lee Jin-yeong singled to drive in two runs.
Darvish settled in after the first inning. He struck out the side in the 2nd. Darvish managed to last 5 innings. He allowed 3 runs(2 earned) on 4 hits and 1 walk with 7 K's.
The real story on the mound was Bong Jung-geun. Bong has emerged as one of the leaders of this Korean squad during the WBC. He gutted through 5 1/3 innings allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks with 1 K. Bong recorded 12 of the 16 outs via the groundball. After Bong made his exit, it was time for the Korean bullpen to take over. Yoon Seok-min, Kim Kwang-hyeon and Lim Chang-yong combined to throw 3 1/3 scoreless with 4 hits and 4 K's.
Neither squad offered much at the plate. The Korean side did a much better job of capitalizing on mistakes than the Japanese team did.
Team Japan catcher, Kenji Johjima, was ejected in the 7th after he was called out on strikes. He dropped his bat at the plate and refused to pick it up when asked by home plate umpire, Hunter Wendelstedt.
Korea has already clinched a spot in the semis. They will have another game on Thursday at 9 PM ET against the winner of tomorrow's Cuba/Japan game.
Also, these guys showed up again...Funny, I didn't see one for Takeshima. Or the Liancourt Rocks. This nonsense is only going to get worse in Los Angeles.
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