Championship Round of the
2009 World Baseball Classic
The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26.
Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...
was held at
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ( ...
, Los Angeles, California, United States, from March 21 to 23, 2009.
Championship round was a
single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
. In the final, the team with the higher winning percentage of games in the tournament were to be the home team. If the teams competing in the final had identical winning percentages in the tournament, then World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) would conduct a coin flip or draw to determine the home team.
Bracket
Results
*All times are
Pacific Daylight Time
The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...
(
UTC−07:00).
Semifinal 1 − South Korea 10, Venezuela 2
Semifinal 2 − Japan 9, United States 4
Final − Japan 5, South Korea 3
South Korea won the coin flip held after the second semifinal between Japan and the United States, designating them as the home team for the final.
Japan drew first blood, scoring on a
RBI single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
by
Michihiro Ogasawara
Michihiro Ogasawara (小笠原 道大, born October 25, 1973 in Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese former professional baseball player. He is currently the first team head coach for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
He had an ...
in the third inning.
Shin-Soo Choo
Shin-Soo Choo (; ; born July 13, 1982) is a South Korean professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter for the SSG Landers of the KBO League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, Ci ...
tied the score 1−all with a
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
in the fifth inning. With runners on first and third,
Hiroyuki Nakajima
, nicknamed "Nakaji", is a Japanese professional baseball infielder for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Saitama Seibu Lions and Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the ...
hit an RBI single to bring
Seiichi Uchikawa
is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama BayStars and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Career Yokohama BayStars
...
home to give Japan the lead 2−1.
South Korea failed to take advantage of Japanese pitcher
Hisashi Iwakuma
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes from 2000 to 2004, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2005 to 2011, and Yomiuri Giants in 2019, and all of ...
, who was visibly tired, when they failed to score in the seventh inning, when Iwakuma was relieved by
Toshiya Sugiuchi
is a Japanese baseball player. He is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants.
Sugiuchi was the Eiji Sawamura Award winner in . He has had some of the most international experience of any active Japanese baseball player, pitching ...
after two outs. Uchikawa hit a single to start the eighth.
Atsunori Inaba scored a
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
to put Uchikawa in scoring position, and Uchikawa scored on
Akinori Iwamura
is a former Japanese baseball infielder, who currently is a manager for the Fukushima Red Hopes in Japan's Baseball Challenge League. He made his Major League debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007.
He earned the nickname Aki while in M ...
's
sacrifice fly
In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d):
"Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...
.
Hyun-wook Jong retired the remaining batters to close out the inning.
[
Japan brought out their closer, ]Yu Darvish
, more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ 有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...
, for the bottom of the ninth with a 3−2 lead. Darvish struck out Keun-woo Jeong
Jeong Keun-woo (, Hanja: 鄭根宇; born October 2, 1982) is a second baseman and shortstop who currently plays for the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats and throws right-handed.
Amateur career
Jeong attended Busan High Sc ...
, but walked Hyun-soo Kim
Hyun-soo Kim (; ; born January 12, 1988) is a South Korean professional baseball outfielder for the LG Twins of the KBO League. He previously played for the Doosan Bears, and has also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore O ...
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
Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie.
Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...
.
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
is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Toro ...
to face Kenji Johjima
is a Japanese former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for four years with the Seattle Mariners in the American League, then returned to Japan and played for the Hanshin Tigers.
On November 21, 2005 ...
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
Jeong Keun-woo (, Hanja: 鄭根宇; born October 2, 1982) is a second baseman and shortstop who currently plays for the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats and throws right-handed.
Amateur career
Jeong attended Busan High Sc ...
to clinch Japan's successful defense of their 2006 championship.[
Japan's ]Daisuke Matsuzaka
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed in Japan and "Dice-K ...
was awarded the tournament MVP for the second consecutive time, with a 3−0 record and 2.45 ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
.
References
External links
Official website
{{World Baseball Classic
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
World Baseball Classic championship
Baseball competitions in Los Angeles
International baseball competitions hosted by the United States
International sports competitions in California
World Baseball Classic championship