Made in Japan
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Pitcher Koji Uehara formed his champagne-soaked hair into a Mohawk and chanted "Ichiro! Ichiro!" through Japan's victorious clubhouse. His teammates howled, even Ichiro Suzuki himself.
For a night, every player with Japan on his jersey earned equal star status, and not one wasted the chance to celebrate like a World Series winner. And the typically serious Suzuki revealed an emotional side rarely seen by those around him with the Seattle Mariners.
Japan won the true world championship, capturing the inaugural World Baseball Classic 10-6 on Monday night against a gutsy Cuban squad with no big leaguers.
In the Japanese players' eyes, a trophy from this tournament meant as much or more than the thought of getting a ring in late October.
"We really wanted to win this championship today, and I didn't even think about the upcoming regular season of 2006," Suzuki said. "It's not an ideal thing for a player to think, but I really didn't care if I would get injured in this game — that's how much I really wanted to win this one. That's how we were driven to this championship."
Gambatte, Nippon! — "Let's go, Japan!"
Japanese coach Yoshitaka Katori, safely keeping the winning ball for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame while his countrymen walked a victory lap, could only imagine how fans were reacting when the game ended early this afternoon in Japan.
Meanwhile, there was a feeling of sadness in the streets of Havana after the Cubans fell short of adding another major tournament title to their long list of accolades over decades of international dominance.
It was an unlikely final at sold-out Petco Park — minus the United States and Dominican Republic teams loaded with major league stars — and by far the most festive atmosphere since the fancy downtown ballpark opened in March 2004. Certainly it was the city's biggest baseball showcase since the 1998 World Series.
The Japanese jumped on the Cubans early playing the small-ball game that helped them get this far.
"It's wonderful," said Japan's Kosuke Fukudome, who hit a two-run, pinch-hit single in the ninth inning two days after his two-run homer as a pinch-hitter helped lift Japan to a 6-0 semifinal victory over rival and previously unbeaten South Korea.
"We came here to be the champion, and now we have it," he said.
Major League Baseball's big experiment became an instant success — Monday's game drew 42,696 and the entire tournament attendance was 737,112 — and commissioner Bud Selig has raved about the ratings. Japan boasted just two major leaguers on its roster.
For Cuba, there was plenty of reason to celebrate, too. The team almost didn't get to participate because of the communist Caribbean nation's touchy political relationship with the United States.
This team that considers itself a bunch of amateurs showed it can clearly compete with anybody.
"What Cuba has shown to the world is not only that we could play up to par with other major leaguers," outfielder Frederich Cepeda said.
