S. Korea loses to Japan 5-3 in WBC final

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LOS ANGELES, March 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea lost 5-3 to reigning champion Japan
in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) final here on Monday despite a dramatic
comeback that forced an extra inning.
It was the two teams' fifth face-off during the 2009 WBC. They were even at 2-2
until Monday's final, but Japan took the final victory.
Despite missing some key players, including Park Chan-ho of the Philadelphia
Phillies and Lee Seung-yeop of Japan's Yomiuri Giants, and having only one Major
Leaguer on the roster, Olympic champion South Korea made a solid run in the
international tournament, defeating Mexico and Venezuela, both of which are
peppered with world-class stars.
Team Korea gave up five runs on 15 hits to Japanese batters during the final
match and earned three runs on five hits, including a homer by Choo Shin-soo of
the Cleveland Indians.
Japanese starter Hisashi Iwakuma, who was named the best pitcher of the year in
the Japanese league last season, allowed two runs, four hits and struck out six
until he retired in the eighth inning.
South Korean Bong Jung-keun, who shut out Japan two times in this year's
tournament, gave up six hits, three walks and one run in four innings.
Japan took the first lead in the third on Machihiro Ogasawara's one-run single
after an error by Korea's second-baseman, Ko Young-min.
Choo, the only Major Leaguer in his national squad, hit a solo home run in the
fifth, tying the game 1-1.
Japan, however, extended the score 1-3 on Hiroyuki Nakajima's single in the
seventh, and on Atsunori Inaba's double and Akinori Iwamura's sacrifice fly in
the top eighth.
But South Korean players did not surrender the game, taking it into an extra inning.
Trailing behind 2-3 on Lee Dae-ho's sacrifice fly in bottom eighth, South Korea's
infielder Lee Bum-ho hit a one-run single to left field off reliever Yu Darvish
and tied the score 3-3.
Japan's Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners slammed a two-run double off Lim
Chang-yong at the top of the 10th with two runners on base, clinching the victory
for his team before a crowd of nearly 55,000.
"I ordered Lim to walk Ichiro in the 10th," Kim In-sik, South Korea's manager,
told reporters after the game. "But there must have been some sign
misunderstanding."
Boston Red Sox ace pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who went 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA, was
crowned MVP of the 2009 WBC, an honor he already claimed in the 2006 inaugural
Classic.
brk@yna.co.kr
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