Japan beats US to reach baseball Classic final

Daisuke Matsuzaka dazzled United States batters and defending champion Japan advanced to a showdown with South Korea in the World Baseball Classic final by defeating the Americans 9-4.

Monday's all-Asian title matchup at Dodger Stadium will be Japan's fifth meeting with their arch-rivals in this Classic, having split four games against the reigning Olympic champions, two each in the first and second rounds.

Boston Red Sox right-handed ace Matsuzaka, the 2006 Classic's Most Valuable Player, improved to 6-0 over the two events, surrendering only two runs while striking out four of his fellow major leaguers in 4 2/3 innings.

Frustrating a powerful lineup of US sluggers, masterful Matsuzaka threw 57 of his 98 pitches for strikes and four Japanese relievers surrendered only two runs the rest of the way.

Asia's dream final meant the region's teams had already claimed supremacy in a battle for bragging rights over US Major League Baseball rivals, South Korea having ousted a Venezuela major-league all-star lineup 10-2 on Saturday.

The Americans had won their four prior games against Japan, two at the Beijing Olympics - including the bronze medal game - plus another at the 2007 World Cup in Taiwan and in the second round of the inaugural 2006 Classic.

Trailing 2-1 entering the fourth inning, Japan struck for five runs to seize command.

Atsunori Inaba singled, reached second on Michihiro Ogasawara's single and scored when a sharply hit ball by Kosuke Fukudome, a star for the Chicago Cubs, deflected off the glove of US second baseman Brian Roberts.

Kenji Johjima, a catcher for the major league Seattle Mariners, followed with a sacrifice fly to score Ogasawara. Tampa Bay star Akinori Iwamura then smacked a triple to right field and scored on Munenori Kawasaki's single.

Hiroyuki Nakajima ended the flurry with a double to score Kawasaki and send off US starting pitcher Roy Oswalt, the Houston Astros right-hander having been tagged for six runs off six hits with one walk and one strikeout.

The Americans, who stranded 10 base runners, responded in the eighth when Mark DeRosa hit a two-run double down the left-field line to lift the US stars within 6-4.

But the Japanese answered with three runs in the eighth to seal victory.

Fukudome walked, went to third on two sacrifices and scored when a Derek Jeter throw to first sailed high, allowing Kawasaki to reach base safely and Fukudome to score.

Kawasaki stole second and scored on a single by Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, who was driven in by a Nakajima double for Japan's last run.

Japan League star pitcher Yu Darvish entered in the ninth and completed the triumph.

In this Classic, Japan beat South Korea 14-2 in Tokyo but lost 1-0 in a first-round rematch there. In round two at San Diego, the Koreans won 4-1 to seal a semi-final spot but lost a rematch for seeding 6-2.

The only team in Classic history to defeat South Korea has been Japan, which last year handed the Koreans their only loss in a semi-final.

Jimmy Rollins grabbed the Classic stolen base lead by swiping his fourth of the event after a two-out single in the fourth and reaching second allowed him to score on David Wright's double to give the Americans a 2-1 edge.





Curry