------Cuba v Australia------

Result
Cuba - 6 to 2

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

Brett's Statistics - Game
Batting - 2 hits from 4 at-bats - 2 x singles
------------------1 x walk

Brett's Plate Appearances
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ground ball to second base
Out 4-to-3
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Ground ball to second base
Out 4-to-3
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Four pitches and four balls
Walk
Left stranded at the end of the innings

Fourth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Hit into rightfield
Single
Left stranded at the end of the innings

Fifth at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - none down
Ground ball through the rightside - advanced the runner to second base
Single
Left stranded at the end of the innings

Email from Brett
N/A

Pre-Game Notes
Article from the Cairns Post

Gold and bronze medal games highlight the last day of competition
Australia and Cuba advance to gold medal game

Two-time gold medallist Cuba and 'upstart' Australia moved on to the gold medal game in the Olympic Baseball tournament at the Olympic Baseball Centre today.

Canada will play Japan for the bronze medal and Cuba will play Australia for the gold in the final day of the Olympic Baseball Tournament.

The bronze game will start at 11:30am and the gold medal matchup will begin at 8.00pm.

JPN v CAN
Both teams had golden expectations going into the tournament with Japan bringing its 'Dream Team' of all-stars from the Japan professional league and Canada going undefeated in a pre-Olympic tuneup in Rome.
Now, both will play for the bronze medal.
Japan was defeated by Australia in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic baseball history.
Despite a dominating performance by Daisuke MATSUZAKA, Japan could not solve Australian pitchers Chris OXSPRING and Jeff WILLIAMS, losing in a 1-0 squeaker.
Canada squandered a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning against Cuba, but almost tied the game in the ninth after a Kevin NICHOLSON (CAN) blast barely stayed in the park for the final out.
CUB v AUS
In an unlikely final, perennial gold medal favourite Cuba takes on Australia.
Despite looking shaky early on in the tournament with a close game against seventh place Greece and a loss to Japan, Cuba has rebounded to find itself in a familiar position.
Slugging catcher Ariel PESTANO leads the 'Big Red Machine' which has a strong and balanced lineup.
Australia is making its first appearance in the gold medal game.
Things are coming together at the right time for the Aussies as their pitching and hitting have kept enough runs off the scoreboard, while putting plenty on it.
Starting pitchers have not yet been announced.

ALTOONA CURVE - GAME NOTES FOR AUG. 24
Roneberg, Burnside to Play for Gold

Two players with Curve ties will compete for Olympic Gold tomorrow in Athens.

Former Curve 1B/OF Brett Roneberg had two of Australia’s five hits and scored the game’s only run in a 1-0 upset of top-seeded Japan today in the medal round semifinals.

Following the victory, Roneberg was quoted on athens2004.com - “One word describes everything: unbelievable. Pitching won the game. No doubt about that.”

One of Roneberg’s Australian teammates is former Curve/SeaWolves’ LHP Adrian Burnside.

Australia will play Cuba for the Gold on Wednesday.
Cuba rallied for six runs in the eighth inning to best Canada, 8-5 today.

Game Reports

and CLICK HERE to see the photos and to read the articles

AUSTRALIA WINS FIRST EVER OLYMPIC MEDAL
WE SHOULD BE WELL SATISFIED WITH SILVER!

Having proclaimed that the Australian baseball team "basically can't lose" after our heady success in the semi-final, don't expect 'Flintoff & Dunn' to change our tune just because our boys couldn't put the icing on the cake with a gold medal victory over Cuba last night.

In fact, we are more inclined to accept the notion that we had already played our "Grand Final" before the gold medal game and this provided a somewhat subdued backdrop to the game for gold.

Let us start by congratulating the ever-present Cubans for taking their third Olympic baseball gold medal, losing only once to Japan in the preliminary round.
Even though opposing teams like Japan and Australia have been strengthened by the gradual relaxation of rules relating to professional players, the Cubans remain very much the yardstick for international baseball, excluding the US major leagues of course.

Once again we will mention Japan to put Australia's overall performance in Athens into some perspective.
It remains a truly remarkable and creditable performance that Australia were able to beat the might of the Japanese Major League team TWICE.
This has been magnified by the fact that Japan beat Cuba and also comfortably accounted for Canada twice, including their latest battle for the bronze medal.

OK, we may have failed to get over Cuba in a couple of very competitive games, but we have proven beyond doubt that we are a genuine threat to ANYONE at this level of baseball.

While we may question the mind-set of the 'A-ROOS' going into the final after yesterday's semi-final triumph, if it had affected the team in any way, then this was not evident.
In the game for gold we, once again, represented Australian baseball with pride and gave the game everything we had in pursuit of victory.
The fact that we came up short to a quality outfit like Cuba is no cause for disappointment or negativity whatsoever... it was a good, competitive game of baseball and the team who played slightly better on the day took the spoils... it is as simple as that!

Not much surprise that Australia opted to start with our recent major league pitcher John Stephens for the big game as he has always been a very honest and tidy performer and his wealth of experience is what was required for the occasion.
Although he is currently playing 'AAA' with the Boston Red Sox, we would bank on Stephens' recent major league experience even though he would not know too much about the individual Cuban hitters.
We will not criticise Stephens for doing just the job we would expect, throwing lots of strikes and not hurting himself by issuing walks... this is his forte!
However, John has not always produced the type of "weapons" to slice through a batting lineup as he tends to rely on producing ground-outs and fly-outs, while allowing his defence to do their job behind him.

The only problem with pitchers of this type is that if the hitters have a hot hitting day and some luck along the way, this can manifest into too many safe hits and a growing confidence in the opposition dugout.
Sadly, this is what we faced last night when the Cubans dined out on ten hits from his five innings and, although he kept Australia in the game until the sixth innings, the Cubans would have believed that they must score some runs eventually.

Eventually they did!

After the 'A-ROOS' had finally broken the scoreboard ice in the fifth innings and were very much in the game trailing 1-2, the "crunch" came for Stephens at the start of the sixth innings when he simply couldn't buy an out, allowing a home run to Cepeda and four runs to score before our manager could not allow the bleeding to continue.

Of course, our men will claim that things may have been quite different had Cuba not benefited from an appalling umpiring gaffe in the fourth innings when an Australian rally was subdued by an outfield catch that had clearly been "juggled against the wall".
It would have at least enabled Australia to tie the game 2-2 at that stage.
It also may have given Stephens the run support he needed to roll on beyond the sixth innings... we'll never know!?

The resulting ejection of manager Jon Deeble and his assistant Paul Elliott for arguing the call with the umpires would not have done anything to help our cause.

Young star Ryan Rowland-Smith then came in to do a man-sized job for Australia, putting a lid on the Cuban rally in the sixth, then going on to record nine big outs without any further addition the the Cuban scoreboard.
It was a great tournament for Ryan and something he can clearly build on into the future.

While we will see plenty more of him in Australian colours, we may not see much (or any?) more of one of our baseball greats in Graeme Lloyd who would be 40yo by the time Beijing hosts the next Olympics.
It was fitting that Lloyd was given one last cameo appearance on the big stage and he didn't let anyone down by pitching an impressive scoreless ninth inning.
He will probably rate his Olympic silver medal from Athens in 2004 right up there with his two World Series rings?

Having done our best to limit the Cubans to six runs, all that remained was to see whether our offence could match that type of output against the Cubans who have always relied on the tremendous pitching talent they seem to produce.

If Australia is proud of the number of professional pitchers we seem to develop, then the Cubans are in a similar boat with a apparent production line of "live arms" that never seem to tire?
The major difference is that, while we have a host of up and coming young guys and a few seasoned veterans, the Cubans have a number of quality veterans who have been pitching to strong opposition for many years in many pressure situations.
They were able to throw a "committee" of very experienced pitchers into the fray last night and, for the most part, they were able to keep our hitters off balance.

They started with 33yo Vera who frustrated our guys for four innings before Paul Gonzalez opened our scoring from him with a solo home run in the fifth.

Then, when the game was there to be won, they called upon 34yo Adiel Palma who had been the winning pitcher for them against Australia in the opening game of the tournament.
Palma was again to be our nemesis as he tormented our guys with his variety, not to mention his ability to get the plate umpire to call his "close" pitches for strikes.
Although he allowed four hits and a run, his five K's certainly deflated the mood in among our hitters.

Given the accolades poured upon the Cuban pitching, Australia can take plenty of heart from the fact that we had them under pressure several times throughout the game, spurning a bases loaded situation in the fifth innings, then having one last opportunity to rally extinguished in the ninth when a deep fly from David Nilsson fell agonisingly short of a three-run homer.

Of course we realise that hard-luck stories are commonplace among losing teams in baseball games.
As we demonstrated so poignantly against Japan, baseball games are very often won by the team that makes the most of its opportunities, not necessarily the one who creates the most opportunities.

In any case, we could have little cause for complaint as we were out-hit on the day 13-7 by the Cuban team... enough said!

Much like Graeme Lloyd today and Brendan Kingman yesterday, it was a nice touch to the occasion that another of our veterans produced a fitting swansong when Paul 'Gonzo' Gonzalez launched his fifth innings dinger.

It becomes almost redundant to mention that the model of consistency Brett Roneberg ended his sensational tournament with yet another multi-hit game to stamp his class against any level of opposition.

Likewise Gavin Fingleson who has never really been a spectacular player (to baseball outsiders) but he has proven over a long career that he is a "professional hitter" and this is the compliment he would probably most like to hear.

I think we said enough yesterday to express our delight with Australia's performance at these Athens Olympic Games and, as we mentioned then, the result of the final has not changed this one little bit!

In fact, the quality of our performance under the circumstances maybe added even more pride to our overall achievement in the tournament.

A heavy defeat at the hands of the Cubans may have left a slightly deflating taste in the mouth... not so, our boys have nothing to be negative about the gold medals that narrowly escaped our clutches and EVERYTHING to be proud about the silver medals that they will keep forever as the first Australian baseball team to achieve such a feat!

I'm sure we speak for the Australian baseball community when we congratulate the 'A-ROOS' on their outstanding efforts at the 2004 Olympic games... we are proud of their performance and delighted with their success.

While we don't want to end these reports with anything approaching "negativity", we must caution future Australian teams that a NEW benchmark has been set by this Australian team and, while we have been delighted with ANY MEDAL at these games as a historic result, the bar has now been raised!
The advancing quality of Australian baseball will provide us with few excuses for the future when anything less than medals will become unacceptable and GOLD will become the target!

Finally, just think what we might be capable of if we only had our own National League?... this remains a source of amazement to opposition countries and an embarrassment to the Australian baseball community.
The tremendous success we have enjoyed over the past couple of weeks will surely fade in our minds if we can't use it to advance the cause of baseball in Australia and to bring the game (back) to its rightful stature around the country.
It is an opportunity that we simply cannot afford to miss RIGHT NOW!

An OLYMPIC GAMES SILVER MEDAL for baseball!!
How many of you, like me, never dared to dream that this day would arrive.
We will wake up from the dream next week and realise that it is all a reality!!
GO 'A-ROOS'!!

From the Portland Sea Dogs web site
RONEBERG WINS SILVER MEDAL AT 2004 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Australia Falls To Cuba in Gold Medal Game

Sea Dogs All-Star Outfielder Brett Roneberg has won a silver medal for Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Roneberg scored the game's only run in Australia's 1-0 upset of Japan in the semifinals.
He then went 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored in the 6-2 loss to Cuba in the gold medal game.

Roneberg finished 13-for-36 (.361) with three home runs, a double, seven RBI and seven runs scored in nine Olympic games.

The medal is the first for Australia in baseball.

Roneberg will rejoin the Sea Dogs for the start of a seven-game road trip on Friday.

SILVER - Tempers flare in baseball duel with Cuba

HEAD coach Jon Deeble and first base coach Paul Elliott were ejected from the game as Australia lost the baseball gold-medal play-off to Cuba 6-2 in dramatic circumstances.

Tempers flared in the top of the fourth inning after Tom Brice was caught on the outer perimeter fence after the ball appeared to drop from Cuban centerfielder Carlos Tabares’ glove, cannon off the fence and then back into his glove.
With two batters out and designated hitter Andrew Utting on first and third baseman Glenn Williams on second, Brice’s hit would have levelled the scores at two-apiece.

But the referee ignored the protests from Deeble and Elliott and allowed the catch to stand.
Instead he ejected them from the game, which meant they could no longer coach.

Australia was still in the match in the next inning when left fielder Paul Gonzales hit a home run over right field to make the score 2-1.
In the same fifth inning, the Aussies had bases loaded when Gavin Fingleson, Brett Roneberg and Glenn Williams were all walked, but could not capitalise.

Our only other run came in the bottom of the eighth inning when a Brett Tamburrino hit brought home Utting.

Captain David Nilsson said the game was marred by bad calls.
“We got quite a few bad calls, it’s very disappointing,” he said.
“We’ll just never know about the result and how close we could have got.”

Cuba rolls to gold medal with 6-2 win over Australia

Frederich CEPEDA's two-run home run paced a 13-hit attack as Cuba defeated surprise finalist Australia 6-2 to capture its third Olympic gold medal at the Olympic Baseball Complex tonight.

Cuba's Adiel PALMA (3-0) allowed four hits, one run, three walks and struck out five to earn his tournament leading third victory.

For the first three innings, starting pitchers Norge Luis VERA (CUB) and John STEPHENS (AUS) kept the both offences at bay.

With one-out in the fourth innings, three-time Cuban League batting champion, Osmani URRUTIA (CUB), hit a ground ball up the middle that shortstop Rodney VAN BUIZEN threw wide of first base.
The error was costly, as left fielder CEPEDA slammed the two-run shot over the right field wall to give the current world champions a 2-0 lead.

A controversial catch in the bottom of the fourth extinguished a serious Australian threat.
With two outs and two runners on base, rightfielder Thomas BRICE (AUS) launched a long flyball beyond streaking centrefielder Carlos TABARES (CUB).
TABARES gloved it, but before he could complete the catch, the ball popped out again, hit the wall and fell back into his glove before he tumbled to the ground.
Strong protestations by Australian manager Jon DEEBLE proved fruitless, and the out remained.

Australia got on the board in the next inning when lead off batter Paul GONZALEZ (AUS) hit a solo home run that chased starter VERA out of the game.

In the sixth inning, Cuba's 'Big Red Machine' broke open the game with a five-hit, four-run inning keyed by tournament RBI leader Ariel PESTANO's two-run single and Eduardo PARET's two-out, two-run double up the third base line.

Australia tacked on a run in the eighth inning, but Cuban manager Higinio VELEZ used his bullpen depth to repeatedly douse the Australian threats.

PALMA combined with three other pitchers to pick up the victory.

Danny BETANCOURT (CUB), the winner in yesterday's semifinal, got the save in one inning of relief.

The gold medal was a bit of redemption for a young Cuban team that had to settle for silver in the 2000 Games four years ago when it lost to the USA.
Only four members of Cuba's 2000 Games silver medal winning team returned to Athens.

The Caribbean island nation has advanced to every gold medal game since 1992, winning three.
Australia won it's first medal after finishing seventh in the 2000 Games.

ALTOONA CURVE - GAME NOTES FOR AUG. 25
Roneberg, Burnside Settle for Silver

Former Curve 1B/OF Brett Roneberg and former Curve/SeaWolves’ LHP Adrian Burnside have won Silver medals in the Olympics as part of the Australian team.

Roneberg was once again the starting centerfielder for the Aussies who lost to Cuba today in the Gold Medal game, 6-2.

Cuba Wins Third Olympic Gold

With a nearly new cast of players and a familiar formula, Cuba claimed Olympic gold in baseball for the third time in four Olympiads.

A four-run sixth inning powered by RBI hits from Eriel Sanchez and Eduardo Paret helped lift Cuba to a 6-2 win over Australia for the 2004 Olympic gold medal.

Cuba previously earned gold medals in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

The Cubans prevailed despite having turned over its national team to a younger group of position players, and with the top pitchers of its 2000 silver medal team - Jose Contreras, Jose Ibar and Maels Rodriguez - all having either defected or been barred from the team.

Nevertheless, new stars such as veteran lefthander Adiel Palma (who won three times in Athens), outfielder Frederich Cepeda and second baseman Youlieski Gourriel combined with holdovers such as Paret, catcher Ariel Pestano and pitchers Norge Vera and Pedro Luis Lazo to lead Cuba back to the top of the international baseball world.

Making its first appearance in the medal round, Australia will go home with the silver medal.
It's Australia's first medal in Olympic baseball competition.

"This is a very emotional moment," said Australian DH Andrew Utting, a former Orioles farmhand.
"I definitely feel a little disappointment, but after all this calms down, I'm sure I will be very satisfied (with a silver medal)."

Holding on to a 2-1 lead, Cuba struck with four runs off Australia starter John Stephens (Red Sox) in the top of the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Osmani Urrutia, Cepeda and Pestano opened the frame with singles to load the bases with no outs.
Sanchez then knocked a two-run single past third baseman Glenn Williams (Blue Jays) and into left field, scoring Urrutia and Cepeda.
Lefthander Ryan Rowland-Smith (Mariners) relieved and almost got out of the jam, but with two outs Paret added a two-run double down the third-base line to open up a five-run lead.

A day after having problems in his start against Canada, Palma delivered a quality performance out of the bullpen to earn his third win of the Olympics.

Australia rallied to score one in the eighth on a pair of two-out walks and an RBI single by pinch-hitter Brett Tamburrino (Twins).
But Palma retired Rodney van Buizen (Dodgers) on a sharp liner to left field in the next at-bat.

Palma worked 3-2/3 innings before giving up consecutive singles to Gavin Fingleson (independent) and Brett Roneberg (Red Sox) to open the ninth inning.
Reliever Danny Betancourt came on to face Dave Nilsson, and the best Australian player in major league history just missed a three-run homer on the second pitch.
Center fielder Carlos Tabares made the catch on the edge of the warning track, though, and Betancourt retired Williams and Brendan Kingman to end the game.

"I have no words to express my happiness," Tabares said. "This medal is very important to me."

The Cubans collected 13 hits on the evening with five hitters collecting two hits apiece (Paret, Gourriel, Urrutia, Cepeda and Pestano).

Australia had just seven hits with Fingleson and Roneberg leading the way with two hits apiece as well.

Stephens took the loss, allowing six runs on 10 hits before being taken out in the middle of the sixth inning.

Cuba gained control of the game in the fourth inning on a two-run homer from Cepeda, his second of the Olympics.
Cepeda drilled a 2-1 pitch from Stephens that got out to right-center field.

Australia battled back and cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Paul Gonzalez opened the frame with a towering homer to right field off Cuba's starter, Vera.

It was the last batter Vera faced, as he allowed one run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Reliever Vicyohandri Odelin didn't fare much better as he allowed two walks and was pulled after facing only three batters.
Palma then came in and got Nilsson to fly out before walking Williams to load the bases.
With the bases loaded, Kingman battled Palma to a 3-2 count before taking a called third strike looking to end the inning.

Right before the top of the fifth inning, Australia manager Jon Deeble was ejected from the game after protesting a call made on a play in the fourth inning.
With two outs and two runners on base, Thomas Brice (White Sox) hit a deep fly ball to center field that was caught by Tabares against the wall and called out.
Deeble protested the call and was ejected from the game.

"There were a number of missed calls that hurt our team," Deeble said.
"For example, six umpires couldn't tell if the ball hit the center-field wall or not.
Other than that, the team played outstandingly.
This is a great team to coach.
We are happy our fans got behind the team, and overall we are satisfied."

Cuba beats Australia 6-2 to win gold medal

It was a game of message-sending - Cuba telling the baseball world it was still a dominating power, and Australia announcing that the sport's elite had a newcomer to reckon with.

With a relentless, 13-hit attack, Cuba defeated Australia 6-2 Wednesday night to win the gold medal - its third in four tries since the sport gained Olympic status.

The silver was Australia's first medal in the sport; coach Jon Deeble said more would follow.
"A silver medal wasn't a surprise for us," he said.
"We were right in this up to our ears. ... Wait for 2008."

Deeble said the outcome might have been different had a controversial call in the fourth inning gone the other way.
He was ejected after arguing in vain that Cuba's center fielder bobbled a two-out line drive against the fence that likely would have scored two runs.
Instead, batter Thomas Brice was called out, though TV replays showed Deeble was correct.

With the United States failing to even make the eight-team field, Cuba had been expected to vie for the gold medal with a Japanese "dream team" stocked with top pros.
But Australia stunned the favored Japanese 1-0 in the semifinals.
Openly frustrated by its loss, Japan routed Canada 11-2 Wednesday afternoon to win the bronze medal.

Cuba won gold medals in 1992 and 1996, the first two Olympics with baseball as a medal sport.
The United States, behind the pitching of Ben Sheets, upset Cuba for the gold medal four years ago in Sydney.

Though the Cubans celebrated joyously after the final out, some of the players hinted they were disappointed they missed a chance to avenge their loss to the Americans.
"We wanted the U.S.A. in Athens," center fielder Carlos Tabares said. "Unfortunately, they didn't make it."

Australian catcher Dave Nilsson, a former all-star with the Milwaukee Brewers, said the United States should learn a lesson from failing to qualify.
"I hope the Americans come to understand that it's not just one country that rules the world in baseball," he said.
"The United States had the same chance as Cuba had, and it didn't qualify.
I hope it's a wake-up call."

Frederich Cepeda opened the scoring for Cuba in the fourth inning with a two-run home run to right-center.

Australia left fielder Paul Gonzalez cut the margin to 2-1 with a lead-off homer in the fifth.

That was the first run in the tournament off Cuban starter Norge Luis Vera, who pitched 13 scoreless innings over three games, and it prompted Cuba to turn to its bullpen.

Relievers Vicyohandri Odelin and Adiel Palma walked the bases loaded.
But - with two outs and a full count - Australia's Brendan Kingman took a third strike from Palma, who pitched into the ninth, striking out five in 3-2/3 innings and earning the victory.

Cuba put the game away in the sixth, knocking out Australian starter John Stephens - a Boston Red Sox farm hand - with four straight singles, the last a ground smash by Eriel Sanchez driving in two runs.
With two out, Eduardo Parent doubled down the third base line, driving in two more runs to make it 6-1.

Brett Tamburrino drove in a run for Australia in the eighth inning with a single after two men walked.

With his team down 2-0, Deeble felt the questionable call in the bottom of the fourth was a turning point.
With two on and two outs, Brice hit a deep line drive that Tabares tracked down at full speed as he leapt into the fence.
Brice was called out, but TV replays showed the ball squirting out of Tabares' glove and bouncing off the wall before he regained control of it.
Deeble, who said he saw the bobble clearly when it happened, protested the call.
He was ejected by left field umpire Pedro Gutierrez, who, according to Deeble, spoke little English.
"There was no interpreter," Deeble said.
"That's pathetic in the gold medal game. ... I didn't know what he said, and he didn't know what I said."

Stephens, the losing pitcher, was 9-6 for the Pawtucket Red Sox this season before being excused for the Olympics.
"We didn't expect to get this far," he said.
"We showed a lot of people what Australian baseball is."

Australia makes Olympic history!

Australian baseball fans around the country have had permanent smiles on their faces for the past 36 hours.
For the first time in Olympic history, THEIR national senior men’s team had won a medal in the Olympic Games.

What colour it was simply didn’t matter.

All they knew and cared about was the fact that we had WON!!
The 2004 Australian Senior Men’s Team had won a silver medal!!!

Going into last night’s gold medal round against the Cubans, Australia was confident they had what it took to win the game.

Paul Gonzalez kept the team spirits high in the early innings after crushing a home run over the right field fence.

Strong pitching efforts by John Stephens, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Graeme Lloyd simply weren’t enough to stop the Cubans.
They defeated us by four runs in the nine inning game.

Despite the result of last night’s game, the 2004 Australian Senior Men’s Team are winners!!!
They are winners in our hearts, in our minds and most importantly, they are winners of a SILVER Olympic medal!!!!

To the 2004 Australian Men’s Baseball Team, words cannot even begin to describe the sheer happiness you have installed upon the Australian Baseball community.
There is certainly not a more deserving bunch of players for this historical award.
Your guts, determination and pure strength are a true inspiration to us all.
It has been an honour watching you achieve this marvellous victory.
Australia is proud of you….EXTREMELY proud!!!
Even though the Games have ceased, the journey is not over…..we will see you all when you get home!!

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE….OI--OI--OI!!!

Controversy mars baseball silver

AUSTRALIA'S baseballers took silver as opposed to gold after being beaten 6-2 by Cuba in a controversial baseball final at the Helliniko Olympic Complex this morning.

A two-run homer in the fourth inning to Frederich Cepeda and four runs in the sixth inning - a two-run single to Eriel Sanchez and a two-run double to Eduardo Paret - were enough for Cuba to seal victory.

But Australia was seething after a controversial call at the bottom of the fourth inning which turned the match.
Batter Tom Brice was called out to a Carlos Tabares juggled catch near the centre field fence Australia believed was illegal.
If the catch had been disallowed, Australia would have had two batters home and levelled the scores at 2-2.
Australia coach Jon Deeble and first base coach Paul Elliott were eventually ejected from the game after spending several minutes arguing with home plate umpire Willie Rodriguez of Puerto Rico over the incident.

Instead Cuba kept a 2-0 lead, though it was reduced to 2-1 when Australia's Paul Gonzalez hit a home run in the fifth.

But Cuba extended the lead to a match-winning one in the sixth inning, when Sanchez batted in Cepeda and Osmani Urrutia and Paret brought home Sanchez and Ariel Pestano.

Australia reduced the deficit slightly at the bottom of the eighth, when Brett Tamburrino's single batted in Andrew Utting.

Japan won the bronze medal match earlier, beating Canada 11-2.

Aussies disappointed in result

Cuba has won its third Olympic baseball gold medal but it was something of a hollow victory - or, at least, it should be - after a controversial 6-2 win over Australia in the final.

The Australians, who played an outstanding Olympic tournament to win the silver medal, were gutted by a blown call by left-field umpire Pedro Gutierrez of the Dominican Republic in the bottom of the fourth inning.
With Glenn Williams and Andrew Utting on base, Tom Brice hit a deep fly that was mishandled by Carlos Tabares and clearly hit the outfield wall before being regathered by the Cuban centre fielder.
After arguing with Puerto Rican home-plate umpire Willie Rodriguez for several minutes Australian manager Jon Deeble and first-base coach Paul Elliott were ejected from the game - despite the umpires not speaking English and Deeble and Elliott not being able to make themselves understood.

After the incident, several close ball-strike calls went against Australian batters.

Cuba was already on the board at that point thanks to a two-run homer in the top of the fourth by Frederich Cepeda off Australia's starting pitcher John Stephens.

The 1992 and 1996 gold medallist kept that 2-0 lead for one more inning, until Paul Gonzalez hit a lead-off home run at the bottom of the fifth.
Then, with bases loaded, two out and a full count, Brendan Kingman was called out on a questionable third strike that appeared to miss outside.
A ball would have walked in the tying run.

Cuba stepped things up in the next inning, scoring four runs thanks to a two-run single by Eriel Sanchez that saw Stephens leave the game and Ryan Rowland-Smith come on in relief, and a two-out, two-run double to Eduardo Paret.

In the bottom of the eighth Brett Tamburrino batted in Andrew Utting, but Australia left two men on base, as they did again in the bottom of the ninth, making a total of 12 base-runners that Australia failed to bring home for the game.

Cuba left eight on.

Earlier in the day Japan bounced back from its semi-final loss to Australia with an 11-2 win over Canada to secure the bronze medal.

Comments
Jon DEEBLE (AUS) - manager
On his team earning the silver medal
"It's fantastic.
This team has come a long way. It has had its ups and downs."
On his team's performance
"There were a number of missed calls that hurt our team.
For example, six umpires couldn't tell if the ball hit the center field wall or not.
Other than that, the team played outstandingly.
This is a great team to coach.
We are happy our fans got behind the team, and overall we are satisfied with our placing."
On the organization of the Olympic tournament
"Everything, from the field quality to the organization was excellent.
We would love to come back, and we hope that the Olympic Games will generate interest for baseball here in Greece so that in the next Olympics Greece will qualify again and have a shot at the medal."

Gavin FINGLESON (AUS) - second baseman
On their performance
"The team played in harmony and executed exactly the orders of our coach."

Andrew UTTING (AUS) - designated hitter
On earning the silver medal
"This is a very emotional moment.
I definitely feel a little disappointment, but after all this calms down I am sure I will be very satisfied."
On their performance
"We had very good pitching and great defense.
After Sydney, we had set some goals and started working on them. I guess this is the result."

Thomas BRICE (AUS) - right fielder
On their performance
"This was a good quality game.
We made a good shot for the gold, but our game quality was definitely worth at least the silver.
After all, yesterday's game proves that.
Unfortunately, things didn't go our way."

Carlos TABARES (CUB) - centerfielder
On winning the gold
"I have no words to express my happiness."
"This medal is very important to me; I dedicate this to my family, friends, and everybody in Cuba."
On the favourites to win the gold medal
"In this tournament, there were no favourites."

Yorelvis CHARLES (CUB) - pitcher
On winning the gold
"It was a very important victory and everybody should enjoy themselves; especially the people in Cuba."

Adiel PALMA (CUB) - winning pitcher
On the gold medal
"It's a great victory for my country."

Norge Luis VERA (CUB) - starting pitcher
On the gold medal
"I feel very happy.
Baseball is the most popular sport in Cuba and to win the gold medal is very significant for us."
On the favourites
"There were many strong, well-prepared teams, but we worked hard and were able to win the gold."

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