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Post-game
Reports
Foro Sol Stadium - Mexico
City
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From The Cairns Post
Aussie baseballers shock
host Mexico
Chris Snelling blasted two home
runs as Australia stunned hosts Mexico 17-7 at the World Baseball
Classic on Sunday
An unheralded Aussie squad with only four Major League players
manhandled a side with four times as much talent from the top
US league to book a date against Cuba to decide a second-round
berth
The Aussies - who didn't win a game in the inaugural 2006 Classic
- beat Mexico by way of the 10-run 'mercy rule', the game halted
after eight innings by virtue of Australia's 10-run advantage
Trent Oeltjen went
4-for-5 at the plate with Andrew Graham 4-for-6, Snelling 3-for-5
and Brett Roneberg and Brad Harman 3-for-4 as the Aussie hits
just kept on coming, a massive 22 in all
'Three years ago we came here to get respect, to show people
around the world we know how to play the game' Aussie Manager
Jon Deeble said
'Three years on, we're looking to win
We're not afraid of Cuba, we're not afraid of Mexico and we're
not afraid of South Africa
Our guys go out to play well and they go out to win'
The result is a big boost to the Australians, who failed to qualify
for the Beijing Olympics after winning a Silver Medal in Athens
four years earlier
Cuba, who have reached the finals of 38 consecutive international
tournaments, beat the Aussies in the Gold Medal game of the 2004
Olympics in what ranks as the best tournament showing ever for
Aussie baseball
An Australian victory against Cuba on Tuesday would send them
into the final eight in a group that already includes Japan and
South Korea
One day after Mexican President Felipe Calderon passed the nation's
flag to the team in a ceremony, Mexico was dropped into an elimination
game on Monday against South Africa needing a win to remain in
the tournament
Australia hammered out 16 hits in the first six innings and added
four runs on three hits in the seventh to pull away
Risinger's three-run homer in the eighth gave the Aussies a 10-run
edge and the Mexicans could not score in their half of the inning
to seal their doom
Hughes and Snelling hit back-to-back homers to give Australia
a stunning 3-0 lead before the game's first out
But the Mexicans answered with five runs in the bottom of the
opening inning
Augie Ojeda's run-scoring double in the third gave Mexico a 7-4
edge, but the Aussies fought back to level at 7-7 in the fifth
From there it was all the underdog Australians, who will take
plenty of confidence into their clash with superpower Cuba
Aussies shock Mexico
with 10-run rout
Team from Down
Under breaks Classic record with 22 hits
Sitting just beyond the fence in
right-center field at Foro Sol Stadium are sections of a concert
stage
Built in 1993, the venue was originally intended solely for music
events
It was modified for baseball in 2000, but there was Australia
on Sunday night, playing the Classic hits
Australia rolled to a 17-7 win in eight innings against host
Mexico in its opening game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic
and in the process set a new tournament record for hits in a
game with twenty-two
The previous mark of eighteen was reached by the United States
in the 2006 event
"We weren't looking to be perfect" Australia Manger
Jon Deeble said
"We were looking to have quality swings
We didn't go out there to hit home runs
That wasn't our game plan"
Australia was, however, quality from the start
In the top of the first inning, leadoff hitter Trent Oeltjen
smacked a hit up the center barely past Mexico starter Oliver
Perez, which set the stage for Luke Hughes to send a 2-0 pitch
into left field for a home run and a two-run Australia advantage
Chris Snelling made it back-to-back home runs in the next at-bat,
moving the many Mexico fans in attendance from disbelief to shock
But Australia's lead didn't last long
Mexico tallied five run in the bottom of the first, four of which
came off the bat of Jorge Vazquez
Vazquez sent a grand slam more than a dozen rows into the left-field
stands
With all the offensive production, it wasn't surprising that
neither starting pitcher lasted deep into the game
Australia's Craig Anderson was the first to be replaced, getting
the hook two batters into the second, allowing six runs, five
earned, on six hits
Perez didn't last much longer, as he was chased in the top of
the third without recording an out after giving up seven hits
and four runs while striking out five
Though Australia didn't collect a hit in the the third or fourth
innings, it remained resilient
Three runs on five hits in the fifth knotted the score at 7
Then, a frame later, the Aussies took lead, scoring three runs
despite playing with two outs
Catcher Andrew Graham's
single into center field allowed Brett Roneberg to score from
second standing up and pitcher-hitter
Daniel Beresford's single to left field drove in Brett Harmen
The Australia hit parade continued for the duration of the game,
and it took its toll on the Mexico bullpen
It took four Mexican pitchers to get through the sixth inning
alone
Australia continued to pile on in the seventh, pushing the score
to 14-7
Snelling belted his second home run, and in perhaps summing up
Mexico's struggles, Andrew Graham hit a grounder toward second
that rolled underneath the glove of Edgar Gonzalez all the way
to the outfield wall
'Pirates' in the Baseball
Classic
Australia 17
- Mexico 7
Mexico got off to a good start
with 5 runs in the 1st inning, and 7 runs after 3 innings
But the Aussies came from behind, scoring 13 runs in the last
4 innings
Pirates' Paul Mildren pitched 2 innings for Australia and gave
up one run on 2 hits and 2 walks
He entered the game in the 2nd inning, with one run already in
on a homer by former Indy Indian Alfredo Amezaga, and another
runner on second base after a double
Mildren walked the first batter he faced, but then the runner
who had been on second was thrown out trying to steal third
A double play ended the inning without further runs scoring
Mildren came back for the 3rd inning
A single and a wild pitch put the first batter on second base,
but he was erased and a man left on first base with a fielder's
choice grounder
After a fly out, a walk and an RBI double brought in one run
Former Pirate farmhand
Brett Roneberg singled 3 times and scored twice for Australia
Australia powers past
Mexico 17-7 in WBC
Chris Snelling homered twice and
Ben Risinger hit a three-run shot as Australia powered past Mexico
17-7 on Sunday in the World Baseball Classic
The game was stopped after eight innings because of the 10-run
mercy rule
Risinger, Luke Hughes and Andrew Graham each drove in three runs
for Australia, which has no players in the majors and was considered
one of the underdogs in Pool B
The Australians will play Cuba on Tuesday for a berth in the
second round in San Diego
Mexico will face South Africa in an elimination game
"The main objective is to move on to the next round"
Mexico Manager Vinicio Castilla said
"Today's game holds us back, but we haven't lost anything
yet
We have to keep moving forward
No one expected this
We are going to stick together and try to get the next one"
Graham's RBI single
in the sixth inning scored Brett Roneberg and broke a 7-all tie
Daniel Berg and Trent Oeltjen followed with run-scoring hits
to make it 10-7, and Australia's lead was never in jeopardy the
rest of the game
Australia took a 3-0 lead in the first inning after the first
five pitches by New York Mets lefty Oliver Perez, who allowed
back-to-back home runs by Hughes and Snelling
Perez allowed four earned runs and seven hits, and struck out
five in two innings
Mexico rallied in the bottom of the first to take a 5-3 lead
after Jorge Vazquez hit a grand slam
Australia got closer in the second with Snelling's second RBI
of the game, but Alfredo Amezaga of the Florida Marlins hit a
solo homer that made it 6-4
Augie Ojeda's double put Mexico up 7-4, but Australia used a
three-run rally in the fifth to tie it
Graham had an RBI single, Beresford had a run-scoring sacrifice
fly and Hughes tied it with a single to left
Snelling's second homer of the night came during a four-run seventh
A three-base, two-run error by second baseman Edgar Gonzalez
on a grounder by Graham put Australia ahead 14-7
"They came out strong and gave us their best" Castilla
said
"They did everything right
We are hurt, but there is nothing that can be done now
We need to forget about this and get the win over South Africa"
Damian Moss (1-0) allowed one hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings
for the win
Ricardo Rincon (0-1) took the loss after giving up an unearned
run and one hit
World Baseball Classic
Pool B
Mexico 7 - Australia
17 (8 innings)
After the surprise wins by China
over Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands against the Dominicans,
the Australian rout of Mexico should be accounted for upset number
three in the 2009 World Baseball Classic
The Aussies overcame a 4-7 deficit after three innings to score
13 runs in the last four frames for a 17-7 victory, stunning
the crowd at the Foro Sol Stadium in Mexico City
Mexico will face South Africa tonight, needing a win to avoid
elimination
Australia already had a perfect start into the game, putting
three runs on the board in the top of the first on back-to-back
homeruns by Luke Hughes and Chris Snelling
However Mexico countered with five runs in the bottom of the
frame, highlighted by a Jorge Vazquez grand slam
They added two more runs in the next two periods on a solo homerun
by Alfredo Amezaga and a RBI double by Augie Ojeda
But that was it for the Mexican offense
They failed to score in the reminder of the game and gave Australia
the chance to come back from three down
They tied the contest through three runs in the fifth, regained
the lead with another three runs in the sixth, before ending
the game due to mercy rule with seven runs in the seventh and
eighth periods
Snelling (3-5, 3 runs, 3 RBI) hit another solo homerun and Ben
Risinger (2-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI) capped the Australian outburst
with a three-run shot in the eighth
Leadoff hitter Trent Oeltjen went four-for-five with a walk
Shortstop Brad Harman had three hits and scored four times
Andrew Graham (4-6, 2 runs) drove in three
Australian starter Craig Anderson was tagged with six hits, six
runs (5 ER) and a walk in one-plus innings
Damian Moss (W 1-0) picked up the win
Mexican pitching had a horrible day
Besides reliever Rafael Diaz, each one of the eight throwers
was responsible for at least one run
Oliver Perez began and allowed seven hits, four runs and a walk
in two-plus innings
Ricardo Rincon (L 0-1) took the loss, putting the winning run
on base
No mercy for Mexico
Australia sets
WBC record with 22 hits,
mercy ruling Mexico in a 17-7 victory and notching their first
ever WBC win
Australia showed Mexico no mercy
this evening in their first game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic,
clasping a 17-7 victory over their host nation, a win that saw
the mercy rule invoked to end the game in the eight inning
With 22 hits, the Australian line-up set a new WBC record, exceeding
Team USA's previous WBC record of 18 hits, a benchmark that was
set in 2006
In a game where no one gave Australia a chance to win, the Australians
proved once again that team work, determination and Aussie pride
can prevail
Outlined below are a series of key stats and facts pertaining
to the game
ON THE MOUND FOR AUSTRALIA
1 - The bullpen went 7 innings, allowed just one run, 6 hits,
and 4 walks while striking out 5
2 - Paul Mildren pitched two innings, allowing 2 hits, one run
scored and 2 walks. Mildren changed the momentum of the game
in his first inning of work, shutting Mexico down and allowing
just one run in his second inning
3 - Thompson pitched 2 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 3 strikeouts,
and finished the game off without walking a batter
4 - Damian Moss went 1 2/3 innings with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1
strikeout - Moss picked up the win with his scoreless outing
5 - Liam Hendriks went 1 1/3 innings, allowed just 1 hit, 1 walk
and a strikeout
AT THE PLATE FOR AUSTRALIA
1 - Chris Snelling went 3-for- 5, hit 2 homeruns, 3 RBIs, 3 runs
scored
2 - Luke Hughes went 2-for- 6 with a homerun, 3 RBIs and a run
scored
3 - Andrew Graham went 4-for- 6, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored
4 - Oeltjen was on base 5 times going 4-for-5 with a walk, an
RBI, a run scored and 2 stolen bases
5 - Brett Roneberg
went 3-for-4 and scored 2 runs
6 - Brad Harman went 3 for 5, 4 runs scored and an RBI
7 - Ben Risinger went 2 for 5, a homerun, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored
8 - James Beresford went 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs
KEY FACTS
1 - Australia set a new WBC record with 22 hits exceeding USAs
previous record of 18
2 - Australia scored 13 of their 17 runs in the last 4 innings
3 - Mercy rule invoked in the 8th inning (17-7)
4 - Hostile crowd - nuts and bolts were thrown at the bullpen
- Australian Embassy staff had beer thrown on them - the crowd
booed their own team off the field in the 7th - the stadium was
half empty by the 7th inning
MOVING FORWARD
1 - The win for Australia means that they will face Cuba on Tuesday
10 March 2009 at 8.00pm local time (1.00pm AEST)
2 - Team Australia will host a training session tomorrow at Foro
Sol Stadium between 12.30pm and 3.30pm
3 - Australia needs to win 2 games to advance to the second round
in San Diego
4 - Mexico will now play South Africa tomorrow at 8.00pm The
loser of that game will be eliminated
Oh, mercy ... Australia
massacres Mexico
Australia, considered a minnow
on the baseball world stage, showed no mercy to Mexico, bursting
with Major League Baseball players, in its World Baseball Classic
series opener yesterday at Mexico City
In fact, Australia invoked the mercy rule in its historic 17-7
win, a game where Australia pounded out a WBC record 22 hits
While a crescendo of boos from the 25,000 plus crowd at Foro
Sol Stadium greeted beleaguered Mexican manager Vinnie Castillo,
the Australians had much to savour
For a team that boasts no every day major leaguers, mainly a
bunch of young players at the bottom of professional baseball’s
totem, the victory spoke volumes for the team’s character
And, that’s what most impressed Australian manager Jon Deeble
who praised his players for staying positive after falling behind,
executing well and playing with great spirit
Deeble rated Australia’s win as the equal to the win against
Japan in the 2004 Olympic Games that advanced it to the Gold
Medal game
“You would have to say this is best win ever for Australian
baseball” Deeble said
“The win against Japan in the Olympics was great, but the
quality of the Mexican players was better
Their starting line-up was all major leaguers
“It was not just the victory, but the way we stuck to our
guns
Our game is all about execution and we stuck to our game plan
so beautifully
Even when we are down the score is irrelevant so, too, is the
opposition
It doesn’t matter of we are playing the ’27 Yankees
or Guam
It’s just a matter of sticking to what you know and executing
it
I thought we scouted them well and pitched to them great
We did it to a tee and the result came through”
In the 2006 WBC, Australian scratched out four runs on nine hits
at a .113 clip in three games, a series that exposed our offence
as wafer-thin
Literally, Australia came out swinging against the Mexicans
After jumping to a 3-0 lead on the back of a two-run home run
from Luke Hughes and a solo home run from Chris Snelling, the
Australian’s enthusiasm was punctured when Mexico, thanks
to a grand slam home run from New York Yankee prospect Jorge
Vazquez, put up a five spot in the bottom of the first inning
And, when Mexico extended its lead to 7-4 after three innings,
having chased starter Craig Anderson and Paul Mildren from the
mound, it appeared the host country was in cruise control
But, Australia fought back with three runs in the sixth, highlighted
by run-scoring singles from catcher Andrew Graham and Hughes
and a sacrifice fly from James Beresford, the youngest member
of the Australian team, to level the scores
With the momentum shifting dramatically, Australia seized the
advantage
Graham and Beresford added run-scoring singles and Trent Oeltjen
with his fourth hit of the game drove home another run in the
sixth
As the Mexicans unravelled both mentally and defensively, Australia
went for the jugular
Snelling, whose career has been harpooned by 10 operations in
13 years, added his second home run, again a solo shot, to headline
a four run seventh
And, Ben Risinger joined in the hit feast with a three run home
run to deep centrefield
While the offense jumped all over the eight pitchers Mexico sent
to the mound, Australia stifled the hosts thanks to Liam Hendriks,
Damian Moss and Rich Thomson
The three combined to throw five shut out innings allowing Mexico
just three hits to post its most significant win since its Silver
Medal performance in the 2004 Athens Olympics
Ironically, Australia will meet its Olympic nemesis Cuba, who
demolished South Africa 8-1, tomorrow
Victory will see Australia advance to the WBC second round
If not, Australia must again defeat Mexico if it is to advance
to the next round in San Diego
Deeble said the key to the fight back was the quality at bats
against a Mexican pitching line that featured starter Oliver
Perez, a member of the New York Mets rotation
If there was any feeling of intimidation it was not apparent
Perez was sent for an early shower when he exhausted his pitch
count after the second innings
By that stage Australia had helped itself to seven hits, a number
of hard hit balls that the Mexican defence corralled, and four
runs
Next, the offence jumped
over Francisco Campos as successive singles in the fifth inning
to Brett Roneberg and Harman and Graham
added another run
Beresford, called in to pinch-hit for Daniel Berg, drove home
a run with a sacrifice fly and then Oeltjen, who the Mexicans
couldn’t get out - he found himself on base in each of his
first five at bats - collected another hit and Hughes drove home
a run to knot the scores at 7-7
After Justin Huber
and Risinger were both struck out to start the sixth, Roneberg
gathered another single following a good at bat and Harman was hit by a pitch and Graham, one of
the real stars both offensively and defensively, put Australia
ahead with another sun-scoring single
Beresford, 20, showed he’s quite comfortable at the level,
with a single that extended the lead
Oeltjen made it a 10-7 advantage with his fourth hit
Not to be content with his offensive out put, Beresford made
a major league defensive play that had the ESPN commentators
drooling
So they should
Snelling, undoubtedly the best pure hitter in the country, again
showed his talent as he turned on an inside pitch to email it
out of the park
One can only wonder how good Snelling would be if his body had
not been ravaged by a litany of injuries
Risinger joined the hit parade, Harman added another hit and
then the Mexicans, by now in melt down mode, completely lost
it when second baseman Edgar Gonzales mis-played a ground ball
from Graham that saw two more Australians cross the plate
Many people questioned the inclusion of Risinger on the roster
He answered the naysayers with a blast that cleared the 409 ft
centerfield fence for a three run home run
As prominent racehorse trainer Ross McDonald noted - “You
drink out of mugs, you don’t listen to them”
While this hit feast was going on, full credit must go to Hendriks,
Moss and Thompson for not allowing the Mexicans back in the game
Hendriks, just a couple of weeks older than Beresford, showed
poise beyond his years
After allowing a single to Jerry Hairston Jnr, Hendriks got Adrian
Gonzales, who hit 38 home runs and drove in something like 116
runs for San Diego Padres, to hit into a force and then struck
out Florida Marlin Jorge Cantu
While he issued a walk to Scott Hairston, Hendriks snuffed any
sign of a Mexican rally when he induced Vazquez to hit into a
force out
Moss, described by the commentators as a journeyman, showed he
still has much to offer
He hog-tied the Mexicans for one and two-third innings
And, Thompson came in to close out what eventuated to be the
final two innings and serving up a dish that was hard for the
locals to stomach
For all the jubilation that accompanied such a victory, Deeble
remained measured as to the task still confronting Australia
“We still have to beat Cuba and if we don’t then we
have to beat either Mexico again or South Africa” he said
“But, we want to beat Cuba
If we do we’re in a position to win a $600,000 bonus that’s
on offer for any team in its pool that wins all three games”
Merciless Aussies smash
Mexico
Going into the
World Classic a relative underdog, Australia has made a massive
statement to the world
baseball community by beating up Mexico 17-7 on their own patch
in Round One of the World Classic
The stunning result is huge turnaround
from the disappointment of 2006 and delivers another clear message
about the improvement in our baseball fortunes over the past
several years
While it always shaped as a hitters’ game under the atmospheric
conditions and on a slick synthetic surface, Australia collared
Mexico starter Oliver Perez before he had time to settle
Trent Oeltjen singled, Luke Hughes blasted a two-run homer over
leftfield and Snelling followed up by ripping a solo shot over
the rightfield wall - all in one frenetic first innings
But the Mexicans took full advantage of a defensive error - and
an ordinary start by Craig Anderson - to mount a counter attack
that produced five in the bottom of the first, including a grand
slam to Vazquez
With both sides wringing the pitching changes, the game settled
somewhat over the next couple - Paul Mildren (one run on two
hits and two passes) doing a great job for Australia over two
and Campos in reasonable control, despite Australia leaving a
string of runners on base
A three-run break for the home side was never going to be enough
against a belligerent Aussie offence, and the game came alive
in the top of five
Roneberg singled and Harman singled and Graham drove in a run with
another
Entering the game for Berg, Beresford stroked a deep flyball
to leftfield for Harman to score on the sacrifice as Australia
pulled it back to a one-run deficit
On a two and two count, Hughes drove a timely single to leftfield
to tie the game up
Twenty year old Western Australian Liam Hendricks was relieved
by veteran Damian Moss after an impressive cameo for one hit
and a walk
Moss issued a walk, but got out of the innings on a couple of
brilliant plays by Hughes and Harman
With two out in the
sixth and Mexico opting for the left-left match-up against Roneberg,
the game took what proved to be a dramatic turn
The Queenslander immediately brought the ploy unstuck by hitting
safely
Harman took a nasty blow to the hand as Mexico made another pitching
change
Andrew Graham drove
the first pitch he saw up the middle for a single that plated
Roneberg, to give Australia the lead
Beresford followed up with a leftfield single for his second
RBI of the game
A defensive error delivered another and Mexico was on the ropes,
with the parochial home crowd taken out of the equation
But it turned even uglier for the Mexicans when Snelling again
cleared rightfield with a missile that stretched the lead to
four in the top of seven
Huber walked, Risinger
hit safely, Roneberg laid down a SAC bunt and Harman’s bleeder
plated Huber
One of the many hitting stars, Graham forced a three base error
off the slick surface for another couple
Risinger delivered the coup de grace with an eighth-innings moon
shot that scored three runs and gave Australia the break required
for an early finish
Australia had scored thirteen unanswered runs to demoralise the
eighth-ranked Mexico, who struggled to mount a challenge against
Moss and were given no respite by Richard Thompson, who was overpowering
over the last two as Australia wrapped it up 17-7
After looking a serious threat, and with no less than eight Major
Leaguers in its squad, Mexico had not scored since the third
inning
Australia’s offensive output was remarkable as they amassed
a World Classic record of 22 hits
Andrew Graham posted four of this total (with three RBIs), Oeltjen
four as well (and an RBI), Snelling three and three (with two
home runs), Roneberg
three hits Harman three and an RBI,
Risinger two and three (with a home run), Hughes two and three
(with a home run) and Beresford a hit and two RBIs when the game
was up for grabs
Apart from an disappointing stint by Anderson, the Australian
pitchers did an outstanding job to hold Mexico scoreless after
the third, with Mildren, Hendricks, Moss (winning pitcher) and
Thompson all doing their part against a strong offence
When we factor in far superior, heads-up baserunning and some
great infield plays, the Australian win was about as comprehensive
as anyone could have hoped, even with thirteen runners left on
base for the contest
Indeed a great day for Australian baseball!
The team - and the baseball community - should rightly savour
the moment, while remembering that there is work to be done to
earn a spot in Round Two
Australia’s next game will be against Cuba on Wednesday
our time (12 noon start AEDST)
The winner of that game is assured of a Round Two berth
The loser will face the winner of tomorrow’s game between
South Africa and Mexico, with the loser of that game eliminated
from the series |
