USA Baseball Falls to 1-2
Posted by Matt Ortega · August 15, 2008 · Comments (0)
Team USA baseball held the Netherlands to just one hit yesterday with an amazing 11 strikeout performance from the lone college player, Stephen Strasburg, but fell to defending champion Cuba, 5-4 in eleven innings on Friday.
San Ramon Valley alum Nate Schierholtz was 1 for 4 with an RBI double against Cuba.
Outfielder Jayson Nix left the game in the top of the eleventh after he hit a foul ball off his eye. Nix, a key part of the team, is likely to miss the rest of the Olympics.
Despite the loss, Team USA made solid contact on the ball all day.
Schierholtz Homers, Team USA Falls to Korea, 8-7
Posted by Matt Ortega · August 13, 2008 · Comments (0)
In baseball, Team USA appeared on the verge of a come-from-behind victory with three runs in the top of the ninth. The lead, however, did not last long, as Korea rallied in the bottom half of the inning to win 8-7.
San Ramon Valley alum Nate Schierholtz went hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and finished the day 1 for 5 (.200). NBC Sports:
Nate Schierholtz also had a solo homer for the U.S. team after hitting four during six exhibition games. The Americans are a medal hopeful after missing out on a bid to the 2004 Athens Games. The U.S. team won gold in Sydney in 2000.
Team USA plays the Netherlands tomorrow at 10:30am Beijing time, Cuba on Friday (11:30am), Canada on Saturday (10:30am), China on Monday (7:00pm), Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) on Tuesday (7:00pm), and Japan on Wednesday (7:00pm).
Semifinals are on Friday, August 22, and the medals will be decided the following day on Saturday, August 23.
Praise for Schierholtz
Posted by Matt Ortega · August 9, 2008 · Comments (0)
Bay Area baseball product and Olympian Nate Schierholtz earned the praise of Team USA assistant coach Reggie Smith. Contra Costa Times:
High on Schierholtz
Former major league slugger and USA baseball assistant coach Reggie Smith likes what he’s seen in Giants prospect Nate Schierholtz, the former San Ramon Valley High star.”I think in time, Nate will prove that he can play and hit at the major league level, if given the opportunity,” Smith said. “The one thing I have seen as a result of kids playing in the Olympics and the caliber of pitching they’re going to see, if they can hit here they’re going to be able to hit at the major-league level as well.”
Schierholtz batted .400 with a triple, two homers and seven RBI in a four-game pre-Olympics series with Canada in North Carolina a week ago. Smith was impressed.
“He showed tremendous power and discipline at the plate,” Smith said. “He puts the ball in play. He has a pretty good walk-strikeout ratio. You look at his average against right-handers and left-handers and it doesn’t seem to be that much different.
“To me, he has the makeup to play at the major-league level.”
Team USA Baseball
Posted by Matt Ortega · August 9, 2008 · Comments (0)
One month after the formation of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in 2006, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that baseball and softball were eliminated from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.
Therefore, the team assembled for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing marks the end of American Olympian baseball. Team USA maintains a storied history of impressive squads:
- Los Angeles ‘84: 4-1, losing in the bronze medal game to Japan
- Seoul, Korea ‘88: 4-1
- Barcelona, Spain ‘92: 5-4
- Atlanta ‘96: 7-2, defeating Nicaragua in the bronze medal game
- Sydney, Australia ‘00: 8-1, defeating Cuba in the gold medal game
Check out the list of ballplayers who will be attempting to recapture the magic of the 2000 team in Sydney:
| Name | Pos | Team/School | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson, Brett | P | Midland (Athletics Double-A) | |||||
| Arrieta, Jake | P | Frederick (Orioles Class A) | |||||
| Barden, Brian | IF | Memphis (Cardinals Triple-A) | |||||
| Brown, Matthew | IF | Salt Lake City (Angels Triple-A) | |||||
| Cahill, Trevor | P | Midland (Athletics Double-A) | |||||
| Cummings, Jeremy | P | Durham (Rays Triple-A) | |||||
| Donald, Jason | IF | Reading (Phillies Double-A) | |||||
| Duensing, Brian | P | Rochester (Twins Triple-A) | |||||
| Fowler, Dexter | OF | Tulsa (Rockies Double-A) | |||||
| Gall, John | OF | Albuquerque (Marlins Triple-A) | |||||
| Hessman, Mike | IF | Toledo (Tigers Triple-A) | |||||
| Jepsen, Kevin | P | Salt Lake City (Angels Triple-A) | |||||
| Knight, Brandon | P | New Orleans (Mets Triple-A) | |||||
| Koplove, Mike | P | Las Vegas (Dodgers Triple-A) | |||||
| LaPorta, Matt | OF | Akron (Indians Double-A) | |||||
| Marson, Lou | C | Reading (Phillies Double-A) | |||||
| Neal, Blaine | P | Toledo (Tigers Triple-A) | |||||
| Nix, Jayson | 2B | Colorado Springs (Rockies Triple-A) | |||||
| Schierholtz, Nate | OF | Fresno (Giants Triple-A) | |||||
| Stevens, Jeff | P | Buffalo (Indians Triple-A) | |||||
| Strasburg, Stephen | P | San Diego State University | |||||
| Teagarden, Taylor | C | Oklahoma (Texas Triple-A) | |||||
| Tiffee, Terry | IF | Las Vegas (Dodgers Triple-A) | |||||
| Weathers, Casey | P | Tulsa (Rockies Double-A) |
Summer Olympics in Beijing
Posted by Matt Ortega · August 8, 2008 · Comments (0)
Tonight, the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies kick off the next few weeks of international competition in Beijing, China.
Thus far, the production is nothing short of absolutely stunning.
The schedule is quite extensive but there are four events that this blogger will keep a close eye on: baseball, basketball, boxing, soccer, or “football” to our non-American friends, and finally, hockey.
San Francisco Giants minor leaguer, and San Ramon Valley High School alum, Nate Schierholtz was named to the Team USA baseball squad.
Watch Schierholtz comment on his selection to the team here.
Team USA kicks off their quest for the gold medal against Korea on Wednesday, August 13.
Updated 08/08/08 at 9:09PM: If there is one person whose opinion that I trust the most on the repressive Chinese government and the Free Tibet movement, it is Matt Browner-Hamlin.
Check out the fireworks display in Beijing:
Watch the closing credits to the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China produced by NBC Universal.
Wolff “Not Sure” A’s Ballpark in Fremont Will Come to Fruition
Posted by Matt Ortega · August 1, 2008 · Comments (0)
The plan to move the Oakland Athletics to the South Bay in Fremont is continuously slow moving process that pushed back a proposed opening date of a new ballpark by one year to 2012. Contra Costa Times:
A day after Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff publicly stated he wasn’t sure if he would succeed in building a new baseball stadium in Fremont, he told the Mercury News that he’s frustrated at the lingering pace, but ultimately thinks “Ballpark Village” will rise in the Bay Area’s fourth largest city.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t! Keep the Athletics in Oakland!
A.L. Wins Marathon All-Star Game, 4-3
Posted by Matt Ortega · July 16, 2008 · Comments (0)
Tuesday's All-Star Game was a send-off to Yankee Stadium.
In the last twelve Major League All-Star Games, the American League is unbeaten.
Michael Young, Texas Rangers shortstop, hit a fly ball to right field with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 15th inning that scored Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau from third to put the A.L. over the top, 4-3.
With the call at home plate, Boston Red Sox and American League skipper Tony Francona was, perhaps, over jubilant.
Francona was spared from sending injury-prone Tampa Bay Rays ace, Scott Kazmir, back to the mound for another inning of work. Kazmir threw over 100 pitches on Sunday. To risk Kazmir’s health, and by extension, jeopardize the playoff hopes of a team that has finished dead last in nine of ten seasons in existence, Francona would be caught in a tough spot.
Only a few rows away from the field of play was MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who, as the tonight’s game sank deeper into extra frames, undoubtedly recalled the 2002 fiasco that ensued after that year’s All-Star Game in Milwaukee ended in a 7-7 tie.
Both squads were immediately hampered by pitching staffs that threw long innings on Sunday. Arizona Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb threw over 100 pitches on Sunday, and pitched a scoreless bottom-half of the fourteenth with two strikeouts. San Francisco Giants phenom young hurler Tim Lincecum, who won his eleventh game on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.
FOX Sports commentators Joe Buck and Tim McCarver questioned what further remedies may be in place before next year’s mid-summer classic, but for now, this one ended with a clear winner.
