LOS ANGELES — Each time an American team fails to win in international
competition, as in the Ryder Cup before 2008 and the World Baseball
Classic, which concluded last night, there are periods of bewilderment
and even anger.

It is as if the United States collectively has failed, as if dropping a
ballgame or not being able to drop a putt is a reflection of society
rather than a sporting event.

There’s no rule that says America is guaranteed a win, not when in this
ever-changing world, other nations are producing athletes good enough
to play in the United States as well as against the United States.

The NBA has Latvians, Croats, Brazilians and, of course, Chinese, dare
anyone forget Yao Ming. An Australian, Trevor Immelman, won the
Masters. An Irishman, Padraig Harrington, won the British Open and PGA
Championship. And as we learned Sunday night in the WBC semifinals,
Japan — which defeated the U.S., 9-4 — has a roster of excellent
athletes, some of whom are in the big leagues.

Anyone familiar with Ichiro Suzuki or Daisuke Matsuzaka shouldn’t be surprised by the Japanese.

It’s been said pitching and defense wins. Japan — which fefeated South
Korea Monday night for the WBC title; the two finalists split four
previous 2009 WBC games — had an ERA of 1.57 after the semifinals. The
U.S. had an ERA above 6.

The Asian teams, which began training in January, admittedly might be
ahead of the United States. And the United States had injuries to Kevin
Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun, Chipper Jones and Matt Lindstrom.

Manager Davey Johnson, who led the Mets to the 1986 world championship
and the United States to a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics, took flak
Monday for leaving starting pitcher Roy Oswalt in the semifinal game
too long.

“I thought he was throwing the ball all right,” Johnson said of
Oswalt, who gave up five runs and five hits in the fourth. “I tried to
get [John] Grabow up. I didn’t think it would take him so long.”

He added, “It took him longer in the cool weather to get loose. But I
thought Oswalt was throwing good enough to stay in the game.”

Said Brian Roberts, who homered on Matsuzaka’s second pitch of the
game: “Baseball may be the national pastime of the United States, but
it is played all around the world. And as you can see, it’s played very
well all over the world.”

Said Jimmy Rollins, who was 4-for-4 in the loss: “We had a lot of fun
being an underdog, knowing that we were at somewhat of a disadvantage
as far as having time to prepare. It shows the support and passion
these other countries have for baseball. In America, we have many
sports, so our attention is at whichever sport season is going on.”

Mark DeRosa’s two-run double in the top of the eighth got the United
States within 6-4, but Japan scored three runs in the bottom of the
inning on Derek Jeter’s two-out throwing error, Suzuki’s RBI single and
Hiroyuki Nakajima’s RBI double that rightfielder Adam Dunn appeared to
lose in the lights.

Former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda took it pretty hard. He said
during Sunday night’s game: “Can you believe this? Look at the score. I
feel so bad about this. I’m very, very disappointed. We had high hopes.
This is the second time we were supposed to win. We taught these people
the game.”

And now the students are schooling the teachers.

- - - - - -

LOS ANGELES — It was just one ballgame, and it didn’t prove that Asian
baseball is better than American baseball. That was the observation of
United States manager Davey Johnson.

Just one ballgame, but it was one that put Japan into the World
Baseball Classic final against South Korea and left America wondering
about the sport it calls its national pastime.

Defending champion Japan, hitting balls in the gaps and getting its
usual effective pitching, defeated the United States, 9-4, last night
before a chilled but enthusiastic crowd of 43,630 in their WBC
semifinal at Dodger Stadium.

So tonight it will be South Korea, a 10-2 winner over deflated
Venezuela on Saturday night, against Japan in the final. And the
response should be huge, with Los Angeles being home to large Korean
and Japanese communities among its 3.2 million citizens.

“It was just one game,” said Johnson, who managed the Mets to the 1986
world championship and years ago played in Japan. He was responding to
a question about whether Asian baseball has surpassed baseball in the
United States.

“They played good ball,” Johnson said of the Japanese. “They got hits
with runners in scoring position. We didn’t pitch when we had to.”

The Astros’ Roy Oswalt was Team USA’s starter, and whether it was the
cold — it seemed more like a World Series game in Philadelphia than a
spring game in L.A. — or because he still isn’t ready for the
major-league season, he got pounded in the fourth, giving up five runs
and five hits.

Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka — “Dice-K” of the Red Sox — basically was
in control after giving up a home run to Brian Roberts on the game’s
second pitch. As were the other Japan pitchers in this competition.
They entered with a 1.20 ERA, compared to the Americans’ 6.18.

“When we walked the first hitter,” Johnson said, “those guys usually
scored. And we weren’t as sharp in the field as we usually are.”

“They are a fundamentally sound team,” Team USA designated hitter
Jimmy Rollins said. “They don’t try to drive every pitch out of the
park. And they play with passion. We play with passion, but they wear
their passion on their sleeves.”

The U.S. beat Japan for the bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics, but
once this game got to the fourth inning, it became obvious that the
Americans were in trouble.

“We did want to come here and play Japan,” Johnson said before the
first pitch. “That’s one of the goals we had. I think every player on
this team expects to win tonight.”

But expectations and results are two different things.

The Americans, wearing gray road uniforms, started quickly enough on Roberts’ homer.

With darkness still far off — the game began at 5:09 p.m. PDT — and
the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance as a perfect backdrop for a
California setting, a Hollywood-type ending seemed imminent. Especially
after the Mets’ David Wright doubled in the third to give the U.S. a
2-1 lead.

But Japan’s batters lined a couple of balls into open spaces to begin
the fourth off Oswalt, to be followed by an error from Roberts on a
hard shot by Kosuke Fukudome. The Mariners’ Kenji Johjima recorded his
second sacrifice fly, and Japan was in front.

Akinori Iwamura, a star for Tampa Bay in the World Series, tripled.
Finally, after a couple more hits, Johnson replaced Oswalt with John
Grabow. It seemed certain that the U.S. would not replace Japan as
champion.

Matsuzaka allowed two runs and five hits in 42/3 innings and was pulled
when he reached 98 pitches. Matsuzaka is 3-0 in this year’s WBC, having
allowed 14 hits and four runs in 142/3 innings. He went 3-0 and was
selected tournament MVP three years ago.

Team USA, of course, was without Boston’s Dustin Pedroia and Kevin
Youkilis, both injured along the way. They didn’t get to face Red Sox
teammate Matsuzaka. “Before Pedroia left,” Johnson said of last year’s
American League Most Valuable Player, “he said one thing he wanted to
do was play the Japanese and beat them so he didn’t have to listen to
Dice-K all year long.”

No such luck. Matsuzaka struck out four, including the final batter he
faced, Wright, who was mesmerized by a sharp breaking ball.

The Yankees’ Derek Jeter and the Mets’ Wright each went 1-for-5 and
committed an error in the semifinal. Wright finished at 9-for-32 (.281)
and Jeter was 8-for-29 (.276).

Johnson, 66, played in Japan, for the Yomiuri Giants and was asked his
opinion of Asian baseball now as compared to when he was involved.

“In the ’70s,” Johnson said, “I thought quite a few players would come
to the United States. I was kind of surprised they didn’t. But now
their stars come over and become stars in the United States in the big
leagues.

“So I think their baseball program has grown. Their catchers are
better. The running game is not as prominent. But they’ll try to run
and play little ball.”

Japan has 77 hits in the Classic, 61 of which have been singles, and only four home runs.

- - - - - -

LOS ANGELES — The argument is that the World Baseball Classic doesn’t count for much,
at least in America, the country where baseball was invented. That like
the Olympics, it’s an event for the rest of the globe, for Latin
America, for Asia.

But what makes sport is personalties, names, reputations. What makes
tonight’s WBC semifinal fascinating is that instead of Japan against
the United States at Dodger Stadium, it could be Boston against New
York.

Japan is starting Red Sox righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka. And, of
course, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Mets third baseman David
Wright are in the Team USA lineup.

(Oddly, Dice-K would have been facing Red Sox teammates Dustin Pedroia
and Kevin Youkilis if they hadn’t gotten hurt earlier in the WBC.)

“We face him all the time,” Jeter said of Dice-K, who joined the Red
Sox in 2007. “Playing Boston 20 games a year, we see him all the time,
so I’m familiar with what he throws. I think at this point in the
season, pitching is usually a little ahead of the hitters. So it’s
going to be a challenge for us.”

Wright - whose walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the ninth
against Puerto Rico that sent the United States to the semifinals still
resonates - said he and other National Leaguers will depend on U.S.
players from the other league for advice on Matsuzaka.

“I think we’ll be leaning on the AL East guys a lot,” Wright said of
the team’s approach. “I’ve never had the opportunity of facing him.
Having some AL East guys is going to help; go over scouting reports and
tendencies.”

Whatever happens, the beauty of Wright’s game-winner on Tuesday night will stay with the Mets’ third baseman a long while.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so many phone calls and messages after a
game,” Wright said. It was his affirmation that some people in this
country do care about this competition.

“That’s something, no matter what team you play for or who your
favorite team is in the big leagues, you’re talking about representing
your country and putting this uniform on and going out there and being
able to do that. That would be a memory that lasts a lifetime.”

Astros righthander Roy Oswalt has a chance to make memories of his own.
He’s the U.S. starter against defending WBC champion Japan.

“They told me they wanted me to go first and Jake [Peavy] second,” said
Oswalt, alluding to tomorrow’s championship game against South Korea or
Venezuela - if Team USA can get past the semifinals.

Then, echoing the thoughts of his teammates, Oswalt added, “Hopefully, he gets to go second.”

If he doesn’t, if Japan wins, the Team USA players will return a bit
earlier to their major-league teams for two more weeks of spring
training.

“The reason I’m here this time,” said Jeter - who competed in the 2006
WBC, in which the United States didn’t make it past the second round -
“is you realized what an honor it was to represent your country and win
a championship.”

This time the Americans still have the chance.

First was the ridiculous one to put tarps on the third-deck seats, as
if, borrowing from that not-so-wise bird the ostrich, what we couldn’t
see wasn’t there.

Then — or did this come first? — was the plan by owner Lew Wolff, a
real estate mogul, to erect a “village” that would contain a ballpark,
somewhere east of Eden and west of the sun. Well, in Fremont, 20 miles
from Oakland, but what’s the difference?

Then in those whiny, pouting, “You don’t know what I can do to you”
ways Wolff loves to impose, he complained last season nobody paid
attention to the A’s, despite a surprisingly good start. And that more
people went to the games of the Giants, who weren’t playing nearly as
well as his A’s.

Wolff may have been the frat bro of baseball commissioner Bud Selig,
but Lew understands neither the game nor the people who support it, or
in his case fail to do as much.

You don’t go around figuratively kicking fans in the teeth, whether
it’s effectively telling them they’re ignorant or attempting to confuse
them by trading away the talent or stealing away the franchise to
never-never land.

There are a great many individuals who would like to tell Lew what they
think, but only the folks like Lew, who don’t have to listen to a boss
but are the boss, have that privilege.

What he told us Friday was Oakland (the town) stinks, and he’d go
anywhere else, including San Jose. If possible. But, ho, ho, it’s not
possible.

Given the current state of the economy, the fact the Giants do hold
territorial rights down there at the south end of the bay and a place
like Sacramento has a better chance to losing the NBA Kings than it
does of acquiring the A’s, Mr. Wolff is without the only thing that
means anything in his world: Leverage.
   
We concede that McAfee Coliseum isn’t AT&T Park. But there are
worse venues. BART stops at the Coliseum. For day games the sun shines
at the Coliseum. And with the upper deck untarped and a crowd of at
least 20,000 there is a nice feel to the place.
   
“Our attendance and low number of season ticket holders (both one of
the lowest in Major League Baseball),” Wolff proclaimed in a statement,
“also continues to decline when our on-field performance produced
playoff participation.”
  
Does Wolff need to be reminded the A’s in 2007 and 2008 had losing records and were out of the race by July?
   
That those seasons they dumped almost every player who was recognizable by someone other than his own mother?
  
That continual hints of dragging the team to Fremont created negative feedback from a fan base already whipsawed?
  
Oakland, the city, hardly has been guiltless in this scenario, with
former mayor Jerry (”I know nothing about baseball except they don’t
punt on fourth down”) Brown preferring to build lofts in old warehouses
rather than a ballpark.
   
But lo, the current jefe, Ron Dellums, authored on Friday — or at
least signed — a letter to Wolff outlining the city’s intent to
provide the A’s a new home.
   
This was met instantly with a back-of-the-hand response from Wolff and
his minions, who spitefully answered the Oakland plea by saying, “We
have fully exhausted our time and resources over the years with Oakland
dating back to the previous A’s ownership.

” … Outside stimulation to have us continue to play in an aging and
shared facility may generate press and ’sound-bite’ opportunities but
do not provide any tangible alterations in the circumstances we face.”

In other words, nyah, nyah.

So, Lew, sell the team. Oh, nobody else wants it, at least until the market reaches 9,000 again?

These are tough times, as you know, and not just in the sporting business.

Journalism is dying as a profession. The New York Times said in two years there might not be a major city with a newspaper still printing. The auto companies are laying off thousands.

Who’s going to buy a ball club?

The A’s this late winter of ‘09 have given us a reason to think they
might be both interesting and contending, what with the addition of
Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra
along with the maturing of a seemingly decent pitching staff. Then
along comes the man in charge who says, “B’gone, with all of you.”