Result
Cuba - 4 to 1

Australia's Record
0 wins - 1 loss

Brett's Fielding Position and the Batting Order
Playing rightfield
Batting at #2

Brett's Statistics - Game
Batting - 0 hit from 4 at-bats
Fielding - 1 put-out

Brett's Plate Appearances
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ground ball towards second base
Out 4-to-3
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Fly ball into leftfield
Out F7
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Ground ball to the Cuban first-baseman who fielded and threw to the pitcher covering first base
Out 3-to-1
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ground ball to first base - advanced the runner to second base
Out PO3

Email from Brett
Thursday 12th August
Well, this is my second day in the Village and all is going great so far
We had the Flag Bearing Ceremony last night and I managed to get some pictures with - 'Scud', Thorpe, Lauren Jackson, Alicia Molik and Tamsyn Lewis and others
Delta Goodrem sang the Anthem and then a few songs from her CD - sorry for you Yanks that don't know who I am talking about!!
Athens is a cool place to be
The Village is better than Sydney and the rooms much nicer
Except that there is not much grass around it looks great
Visiting is nice but I don't think I could live here,
It's very hot, almost like a desert, but that's good for the two weeks I am here
I haven't had the chance to go downtown yet and see much - have had workouts and meetings to go to
Tonight is a light training run then the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night
All looks good for a fun time
Our first game is Saturday against the world-number-one Cuba, and it would be great to knock them off straight away
Sorry if I don't reply straight away but I will try to as soon as possible
Hope all is well with everyone and I look forward to hearing from you soon
Brett
Sunday 14th August
Well the Opening Ceremony is over and now its on to the competition
The world-number-one Cuba is tomorrow morning and we hope to get off to a great start
They are the Gold Medal favourites so to beat them would be great
It will be tough but we are good too!!
The Opening Ceremony was on last night and it took about seven hours from leaving the Village to gettting back there
It wasn't as loud as it was for us in Sydney (not being the home team) but I can only imagine what it was like for the Greeks when they came out last - that was the loudest part of the night
The lighting of the flame was great as well - that huge television screen suddenly rotated backwards and the stand came down and it was lit and the place went crazy!!
I guess because we were the home team in Sydney I didn't see to many other things but the whole spectacle was awesome!!
As for those of you who watched I was seen on the telecast by my sister in London and my parents in Australia
So my ugly mug got on there again!!
Have to jet - we have a pool session then an early night before our game tomorrow
Also from what I know I am playing right field and batting second
Our Manager says he wants someone in front to protect David Nilsson (our best hitter) so it will be fun
Will write again soon
Bye
The Game
Well our first game has passed
and unfortunately it wasn't as good as we and I would have hoped
They are the number one and although it's bad to say, we weren't expected to win the game, but we really should've
We just didn't hit how we can - and I didn't do anything
I had a bad day going 0 for 4 (no hits from four at-bats for the Aussies) and just didn't feel good
but tomorrow will hopefully be different going against Chinese Taipei with our best pitcher on the mound
It was just one of those days with the wind howling in and their pitcher throwing a great game against us and it all resulted in a 4-to-1 loss
But we are back in there tomorrow so fingers crossed to get on with a win
Bye for now

Pre-Game Notes
Baseballers rearing to go

Left handed pitcher, Craig Anderson, has been handed the responsibility of opening Australia's baseball campaign against the highly rated Cuba tomorrow.
Anderson, who plays Triple A with the Seattle Mariners organisation in the United States, is excited by the prospect of taking on the free-swinging Cubans.

"I'm really looking forward to the challenge," said Anderson.
"They are known for their free swinging so it will be a good test."

Anderson, 23 from Gosford, pitched 0.1 of an innings against Cuba at the Sydney 2000 Olympics - a game the Australians narrowly lost 1-0 to the eventual silver medallists.

The Australians have six players backing up from the Sydney 2000 Olympics including captain and catcher, Dave Nilsson, Paul Gonzales, Brett Roneberg, Rod Van Buizen and Glenn Williams.

Unlike in Sydney where Australia was stripped of its leading pitchers by Major League Club call-ups in the United States, the Australians pitching staff has enjoyed a settled Athens Olympics preparation.

Anderson will have plenty of experience available in the dug-out including two-time World Series closing pitcher, Graeme Lloyd, and Japanese league series winner, Jeff Williams.

Australia played three practice games against Greece earlier this week with their batters in impressive form when scoring a solid 2-1 series win.
Apart from Nilsson, third baseman Glenn Williams and first baseman Craig Lewis have been in good form.

Australia's other preliminary games are against Chinese Taipei, Italy, Japan, Greece, Netherlands and Canada.

Game Reports
AUSTRALIA TWO-HIT IN OPENING LOSS TO CUBA

Let's be perfectly honest... when, apart from our terrific win in the final of the 1999 Intercontinental Cup on home soil, would Australia ever be confident of beating traditional "amateur" baseball powerhouse Cuba?

It was always going to be a tough ask for our team to take on the Cubans in our opening game of the 2004 Olympic Games baseball tournament and this is pretty much how it turned out.

Our 'A-ROOS' could have few excuses for hardly threatening the star-studded Cubans in a game where we were out-hit ten to five, out pitched and given a lesson on defence!

In all seriousness, we should be reasonably satisfied with the team's efforts to "hang tough" and to minimise the damage against what may well prove to be the toughest team at the Games!

To start with the obvious, our hitters had absolutely no answer to Cuba's ace starter Adiel Palma who mesmerised our batters through eight innings of two-hit, shutout baseball.
Palma used the "two vees" velocity and variety to keep our hitters completely off balance and we did not manage an extra base hit for the entire game.

It was only when Palma was finally replaced by reliever Lazo in the ninth that Australia were able to mount a belated mini-rally, incredibly bringing the tying run to the plate before he was replaced by Martinez who secured the final game-securing out.

The consolation glimmer of hope was provided for Australia in the ninth when Rod Van Buizen got on board and was ultimately scored with a pinch-hit RBI from Andy Utting.
Glenn Williams then singled to bring the tying run to the plate but this was to be the last of the action as Cuba put the lid on a well deserved win in their opening game.

On the flip side, Craig Anderson should not be ashamed with his quality start for the Aussies and, although he allowed nine hits from his seven innings of work, he gave our team every chance of mounting a game winning rally and we couldn't ask much more of him than this.

Anderson's day may have been even better but for allowing solo home runs in the first and sixth innings and had we not allowed two unearned runs with sloppy defensive support behind him.
The chief culprit today was our star short stop Glenn Williams who made two errors, even though one of those was reportedly on a tough play.

Williams would somewhat redeem himself as Australia's only multi-hit performer when he went 2-4.

Flintoff & Dunn's conclusion would be that the 'A-ROOS' have nothing to be negative about following the disappointing, but hardly unexpected, loss in our opening game.

Our pitchers did the job expected of them and our hitters may not run into such a dominant pitcher as Palma again in this tournament.

The most important thing for Australia is that we re-group and bring our "A-Game" to the diamond every day.
We need to avoid the syndrome that has haunted many of our International tournaments in the past where we are very competitive against the top teams, then lose to the weaker nations!

There is a long way to go... stick at it fellas!

Cuba's born-again pitcher dominates Australians

Usually, the citizens of Havana celebrate long into the Caribbean night upon learning their national baseball team has posted a comprehensive Olympic victory, such as that recorded against Australia on Sunday.

But this is no ordinary time in Cuba's capital.

After Hurricane Charley wreaked havoc last Friday, leaving almost two million residents without power, a large percentage of the Cuban population was deprived of the chance to watch its beloved baseball squad.

Daily survival was the priority.

Still, reports of the 4-1 win will inevitably reach home.

And when they do, the Cubans will revel in the morale-boosting performance of starting pitcher Adiel Palma, a hard-throwing left-hander who, until two years ago, was considered a wasted talent.

Better known for his long-running battle with the bottle than his audacious slider, the then 32-year-old Palma turned to Christianity and resurrected his ailing career with the Las Tunas club.

The results were evident against the Australians - Palma placing his glove over his chest after all eight shut-out innings, then pointing to the sky above the diamond.

With his fastball clocking well over 150kmh and his slider baffling the Australians, Palma confirmed Cuba's favouritism here by levelling the highly-rated Australians.

Only Andrew Utting's run-scoring single in the ninth inning provided any respite for the Dave Nilsson-captained Australian team, which is all too familiar with dominant Cuban pitching displays in Olympic competition.

In Sydney, the Cubans unveiled fireballer Jose Contreras who, one year later, defected to the US and now earns $US9 million ($12.55 million) a year with the Chicago White Sox.

"They have a lot of talent," Nilsson said last week.
"But we believe in the team we've got. We'll be very disappointed if we don't win a medal here.
We're not so much motivated by what happened in Sydney, but we feel we've learned a lot of lessons since then and we're better prepared this time."

Despite Sunday's loss, the Australians are expected to qualify for the semi-finals with a squad that includes major leaguers Nilsson, Graeme Lloyd, John Stephens and Jeff Williams.

The Cubans, meanwhile, are considered gold medal favourites in the absence of the US, who failed to qualify for Athens.

As with all such international competition, the Cubans are wary that members of their team may defect at the conclusion of these Olympics.
But their cohesive, comprehensive performance against Australia would no doubt boost team management's hopes of retaining its star players.

Coach happy despite loss
Cuba 4 Australia 1

AUSTRALIAN baseball coach Jon Deeble was thrilled with his side's performance against Cuba, one of the Olympic favourites, in their preliminary round match.

Deeble believed his side was capable of winning a surprise medal at the Games on today's effort.

"I thought we played fantastic. We had two balls off the handle of the bat that blew over the top fence for home runs (against us)," Deeble said.
"We can beat them, we can beat anyone at this tournament.
We need to execute perfectly on the day and if we can do that, we can win."

Luck and a great pitching effort from Cuba's Adiel Palma counted heavily against the Australians.
Palma only gave up two hits in eight innings to the Australians, whose only run came in the ninth off relief pitcher Pedro Luis Lazo.

A first inning home run from Cuba's Michael Enriquez put the Australians on the back foot early and they never recovered against the two-time gold medallists.

Two errors in the third proved costly, allowing Yullieski Gourriel to get far enough around to advance home on Osmani Urrutia's single.

Urrutia put the issue beyond doubt in the sixth inning with another home run which sailed with the prevailing right-hand breeze over the fence.

Then Enriquez batted in Carlos Tabares in the seventh to make it 4-0.

The Aussies finally got on the scoreboard in the ninth, when catcher Andrew Utting batted in Rodney van Buizen for the team's sole run.

Deeble was full of praise for Anderson's pitching effort, despite him giving up nine hits to Cuba.

"Anderson pitched great. It was one of the better games I've seen an Australian pitch in international competition.
He did a fantastic job. He changed speeds on them and for the most part he was outstanding."

Deeble believes Australia needs to win four of its seven preliminary matches to advance to the semi-finals, with the top four sides at the end of the round-robin competition moving into the playoffs.

And the Australians have earmarked the match against Taiwan as a must-win game.

"We think we only need to win four - nobody said we'd need to win seven," Deeble said.
"If we had have won this one it would have been great, but we've still got six to go."

Cuba defeats Australia 4-1

Medal favourite Cuba started off the Olympic Baseball tournament on the right foot, defeating Australia 4-1 at the Olympic Baseball Centre in the Helliniko Olympic Complex today.

Cuba pitcher, Adiel PALMA, who was making his Olympic debut, was almost untouchable as he pitched eight shut out innings of baseball to pick up the win, giving up just two hits.

Australian pitcher, Craig ANDERSON, was solid in seven innings of work, but was let down by the Australian defence which committed three errors, making two of the four Cuba runs unearned.

Cuba started off the game with a bang as Michael ENRIQUEZ, the second Cuban batter in the lineup, crunched a solo home run to the opposite field to give his side a 1-0 lead.

The winning run came in the third when Osmani URRUTIA (CUB) singled home team mate Yulieski GOURRIEL to put Cuba up for good.

URRUTIA finished with three hits in four at bats, including a solo home run in the sixth inning.

Australia mounted a small comeback in the top of the ninth inning when pinch hitter Andrew UTTING (AUS) singled home short stop Rodney van BUIZEN (AUS) off Cuban relief pitcher Pedro Luis LAZO.
LAZO, the losing pitcher of the gold medal game in Sydney, then gave up a single to Glenn WILLIAMS (AUS), which brought the tying run to the plate in the form of designated hitter Craig LEWIS (AUS).
LAZO was then replaced in favour of Jonder MARTINEZ (CUB), who got LEWIS out on a fielder’s choice play at second base to secure the victory.

Game one loss to Cuba

The Cubans secured a three run victory over the Aussies this evening in game one of the Olympic Games.

The Aussies put on a great performance but medal contenders Cuba were simply too strong.

Special mention should go to Andrew Utting (QLD) on an outstanding performance.

The pitchers in game one were Craig Anderson and Wayne Ough.

The Aussies will face Chinese Taipei in tommorow's game.

Cuba down Aussies Monday

Australian coach Jon Deeble was full of praise for his team and pitcher Craig Anderson despite losing 4-1 to Cuba in the opening game of their preliminary round today.

"I thought we played fantastic," said Deeble.
"Cuba had two balls off the handle of the bat that blew over the top fence for home runs.
We can beat them, we can beat anyone at this tournament.
We need to execute perfectly on the day and if we can do that, we can win," he added.

Cuba's first home run came in the opening inning when Michael Enriquez hit Anderson over the right field wall before two errors in the fourth inning allowed Yuellieski Gourriel to cross home plate on Osmani Urrutia's base hit.

Urratia homered in the sixth to give Cuba a 3-0 lead before Enriquez batted in Carlos Tabares in the seventh.

The Australians showed great courage to fight back in the ninth innings with Rod Van Buizen scoring after Andrew Utting's single.

Australia's task was made difficult by Cuban pitcher, Adiel Palma, who conceded only two hits in eight innings.

Despite the loss, Deeble was does not believe his team's play-off hopes have been dented saying Australia needs to win four of the seven preliminary games to qualify for the semi finals.

"If we had have won this one it would have been great, but we've still got six to go," he said.

Australia plays Chinese Taipei tomorrow with John Stephens the starting pitcher.

Comments
Rob DEEBLE (AUS) - Manager
On performance
"Nothing worked out for us today. The opponents scored two home runs and had a great pitcher."
On the officials' call on a close play at second base to end the game
"The final decision was a very bad one by the referee."

Richard THOMPSON (AUS) - Pitcher
On the team's play
"We pitched very well, but we didn't play very good defence. That's baseball."
On Cuba
"It's a very strong team. We try to play one game at a time and we will come back again tomorrow."

Adiel PALMA (CUB) - pitcher
On Cuba's win
"I was really happy about the win. It meant a lot to the whole team. We played excellently. I would like to dedicate this victory as a birthday present to a member of my family."

Yulieski GOURRIEL (CUB) - secondbaseman
On the the Cuba's pitching performance
"Palma was in great condition."

Danny MIRANDA (CUB) - firstbaseman
On the team's performance
"The team was in great shape."

Higinio VELEZ (CUB) - manager
On the pitcher's performance
"He was really effective and he will bring the gold medal to Cuba."