TEAM - Australia - Group B - finished #2
WON - Canada, Germany, Korea, Netherlands, Thailand, Venezuela
LOST - Cuba
LOWDOWN - The Aussies have the tournament’s hottest hitter, centerfielder Trent Oeltjen who is hitting .600 (18-for-30) - are banging .343 as a group - Luke Hughes .400 (10-for-25), Justin Huber .367 (11-for-30), and Brad Harman .357 (10-for-28) have also been swing the bat well - Australian pitchers will enter the quarter-finals with a 2.43 ERA with Adam (1.35) and Travis (1.69) Blackley, both left-handers, leading the way - Scott Mitchinson (2.35) and another lefty, Brad Thomas (2.70), have also delivered solid innings for the Aussies
OUTLOOK - Japan will not lay down so Australia must focus on bumping off the Japanese before eyeing a rematch with the Cubans - Australia has looked awful good to this point of the tourney but escaped with close calls against both the Netherlands and Canada - the Aussies usually chunk the ball pretty good so hitting will be the key to turning back the upset-minded Japan squad

TEAM - Japan - Group A - finished #3
WON - Italy, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, Spain
LOST - Taiwan, Team USA
LOWDOWN - Yasuyuki Saigo .500 (8-for-16), Hisayoshi Chono .455 (10-for-22), and Kenichi Yokoyama .381 (8-for-21) are the top hitters for a unit that is batting a collective .302 - Japanese hurlers have posted an outstanding 3.00 ERA with Tadashi Settsu (2-0, 0.56) and Takashi Saito (1-0, 1.86) being the top options
OUTLOOK - Japan was 0-2 against the only two teams comparable to the Australians which does not bode well - anything less than a nailbiting contest and the Japanese do not stand a chance - thus, the name of the game will be to stay close until the late innings and then try to steal a victory

PREDICTION - The Aussies should win this matchup but this is baseball and a Japanese win would only be surprising and not shocking - Japan needs another stellar outing from their starting pitcher if it is to have any chance to upset Australia - but low or high scoring game, the smart money is on the Aussies!!

Click on this logo to watch a complete video of the game NOTE #1 - this video is in Windows Media Player 'wmv' format NOTE #2 - the game gets underway after fifty-five seconds NOTE #3 - link active as at Saturday 17th November 2007 I have no idea how long it will remain available

Playing first base
Batting #7

First plate appearance - second innings
----------Righthanded pitcher
----------Bases empty - two down
----------Ball - outside and low
----------Fly ball over a high-leaping shortstop and out to short leftfield
----------Single to leftfield
----------Off on a pitch and reached third base on a single to centrefield
----------Left stranded at the end of the innings
Second plate appearance - fourth innings
----------Righthanded pitcher
----------Runners at first and second base - one down
----------Called strike
----------Fly ball into leftfield and out F7
Third plate appearance - seventh innings
----------Lefthanded pitcher
----------Led off the innings
----------Called strike
----------Ball - low
----------Swing and a miss? - foul ball?
----------Ground ball to third base and out 5-to-3
Fourth plate appearance - ninth innings
----------Lefthanded pitcher
----------Bases empty - one down
----------Strike - video went off line
----------Ball - video went off line
----------Ball - video went off line
----------Fly ball into leftfield and out F9

Play-by-play of Japan batting in the top of the first innings
Lefthanded pitcher Travis Blackley on the mound and Brett playing at first base
----------Takashi YOSHIURA - flys out to centrefield
----------Kanya SUZUKI - singles on a line drive to centrefield
----------With CHONO batting, SUZUKI picked off at first base
----------Hisayoshi CHONO - singles on a ground ball to rightfield
----------Yasuyuki SAIGO - walks and CHONO advances to second base
----------With HAYASHI batting, CHONO steals to third base
----------Toshiyuki HAYASHI - pops out to second base
Play-by-play of Japan batting in the top of the third innings
Lefthanded pitcher Travis Blackley on the mound and Brett playing at first base
----------Takashi YOSHIURA - strikes out looking
----------Kanya SUZUKI - walks
----------With CHONO batting, SUZUKI picked off at first base
----------Hisayoshi CHONO - homers to leftfield
----------Yasuyuki SAIGO - grounds out to second base
Two "great-to-watch" throws and tags by Travis and Brett!!!
You'll see them in the above video!!!
PS - it was the same Japanese player on both occasions!!!

Australia’s dream run at the 2007 Baseball World Cup has come to an abrupt end following a shock 3-0 loss in their Quarter Final against Japan on Friday

The Australian’s entered the game as red-hot favourites, but the Japanese pitching staff came to the fore, shutting out the Aussies over nine innings, a feat no other country can attest to during the 2007 World Cup

Head Coach Jon Deeble could not hide his disappointment after the game, but remained adamant that his side is still one of the best in the world
“If you look at our record since we landed in Taiwan, we’ve won nine games in very impressive fashion” Deeble said
“It just so happens, that after winning six in a row, we ran into some pretty decent pitching today and got beaten, but to be honest I couldn’t be prouder of the way this team has played”

The Australians had every reason to feel confident entering the sudden death playoff, sending Major Leaguer Travis Blackley to the mound to face a Japanese side devoid of many of their biggest stars
Blackley, who at times struggled with control, was still able to limit the opposition to a lone run in his 5.2 innings of work, and that came courtesy of a solo homer by Japanese centerfielder, Hisayoahi Chono
Normally his strong performance would have been more than enough to assure the Aussies of victory, but Blackley was out-duelled by his Japanese counterpart, Tadashi Settsu who gave his country a dream start to the game

Offensively the Australian sluggers never fired against either Settsu or left handed reliever Kohhei Hasebe, managing just seven, scattered hits and only advanced a runner past second base on one occasion
The Aussies, who had made a name for themselves in to 2007 World Cup for consistently coming through in clutch situations, were unable to convert any of their limited chances, with the ‘big hit’ noticeably absent in today’s contest

The tough loss now relegates the Australian side to the bottom half of the draw, meaning they can finish no higher than fifth place, a result that would still give the Aussies their best ever placing at the World Cup

Next up Australia will play the loser of the Mexico-Cuba quarter final at 3.00pm AEST on Saturday

Japan defeated Australia 3-0 in what was a battle of the two starting pitchers

With the win, Japan moved on to the semifinals

The starters of both teams gave the batters a difficult time, and Japanese starter Settsu didn’t allow a run

In the top of the third, OF Chono Hisayoshi slugged a solo shot to left off Australian left-hander Blackley

In the sixth inning, with two outs, Hasebe, whose name is in the provisional roster for Asian Olympic Qualifier Tournament where Japanese pro star players will participate, climbed to the mound and he didn’t allow an Aussie counterattack, putting zeros on the board until the end

In the next inning, Kenji Suzuki hit an RBI single to right, scoring the runner from second

Australia gave away forced-run in the last inning as well and Japan completed the shutout

Japan will play the winner of the Cuba v Mexico game tomorrow

Things did not go so well for the Aussies, who were blanked by Team Japan, 3-0, in Friday's Quarterfinal Round

Minnesota prospects Trent Oeltjen and Glenn Williams were both 1-for-4 in the game, while Luke Hughes was 0-for-3

Williams and Brett Roneberg (Pittsburgh) hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the third, but Hughes flew out to strand the men

Team Japan would get their first run in the third inning with two outs when Hisayoshi Chono went yard over the left field fence off Travis Blackley (San Francisco)

Blackley would go on to pitch a total of 5.2 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4

Another pair of back-to-back hits, this time by Tom Brice (Independant) and Williams in the bottom of the fourth with one out gave the Boys from Down Under a chance to tie the game, but Roneberg and Andrew Graham (Detroit) both flew out to finish the stanza
Brice last played state-side in 2006 for the St. Paul Saints

Oeltjen's single came in the bottom of the fifth, but he went nowhere with it, as he was caught stealing

Former Lakeland Flying Tiger Brendan Wise (Detroit) replaced Blackley with two outs and two men on base in the sixth, and got Kanichi Yokoyama to ground out to keep Japan at bay

In the top of the seventh, Kenji Suzuki singled then advanced to second on Tsutomo Sasaki's ground out
Kanya Suzuki would plate Kenji Suzuki with a single, but would then be taken down at second base

Michael Collins (LA Angels) came in as a pinch hitter for Team Australia in the bottom of the inning and singled with one out, but Hughes and Oeltjen both struck out to end the frame

Adam Bright (Colorado) would replace Wise with one out in the top of the seventh and allowed a single to Toshiyaki Hayashi after getting Yasuyuki Saigo to ground out
Tristan Crawford (Minnesota) would then step on the mound to get the final out

Crawford would stay on the mound for the start of the ninth, allowing a single to Sasaki, who would then advance to second when the umpires called a balk on Crawford
Takashi Yoshiura would be issued an intentional walk, and Kanya Suzuki would single to load the bases
Dushan Ruzic (Cincinnati) was called into the game to replace Crawford, and got Hisayoshi Chono to strike out, but then walked Yasuyaki Saigo to force in Japan's third run of the game

The Aussies will play a consolation match on Saturday against Team Mexico, which replaced Panama in the semi-final round after it was determined that five players on Team Panama did not have insurance coverage during two of the games, and were therefore ineligable to play