It was a Sunday afternoon in March in sunny Southern California -- Angel Stadium to be exact and we were getting ready to watch a baseball game. But it wasn't sunny (or warm) and the Angels weren't playing. The United States team was getting ready to face the team from Japan in the World Baseball Classic.
The stadium was pretty full (even though the skies were threatening rain) and the crowd was very enthusiastic. Their enthusiasm was most evident in the national flags of the competing teams, the Stars and Stripes and the Rising Sun. Chants of "U-S-A" competed with "Go Ja-pan" as the game started.
Japan took an early lead but the United States came back to tie the game in the bottom of the 6th, 3-3. Then came the 8th inning. Japan had the bases loaded with 1 out.
The play-by-play reads, "Akinori Iwamura flies into double play, left fielder Randy Winn to catcher Brian Schneider to shortstop Derek Jeter. Tsuyoshi Nishioka doubled off 3rd." The play-by-play doesn't record the controversy. Tsuyoshi Nishioka ran home on the long fly ball from Akinori Iwamura. The scoreboard read, "Japan 4, United States 3." Then something very strange happened, the officials ruled that Nishioka had left 3rd base too early and was out. The run came off of the scoreboard (keeping the game tied) and Japan's inning was over.
In the end with fans waving flags furiously, the United States won in the bottom of the 9th inning. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Alex Rodriguez singled and Randy Winn scored the winning run.
Also, it never rained (hard) in Southern California, or at least in Anaheim.
