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World Baseball Classic is all Japanese this Year

Suzuki doubled, singled and drove in a run. He also scored three times, including once during a four-run first inning that proved Cuba`s pitchers are vulnerable after all. When big league reliever Akinori Otsuka got the final out, he was mobbed near the mound by his teammates. The Japanese then tossed Oh, their manager, into the air twice. "I`m unbelievably happy," Suzuki said. "To be honest, I never imagined we`d get there. We had a great team, the best. I hope we showed everyone what a great sport baseball is.""

Cuba`s fans perked up when their team, wearing its lucky red uniforms, pulled within 6-5 on a two-run homer by Frederich Cepeda with one out in the eighth. Otsuka, the former San Diego Padres reliever now with Texas, came on and retired the side. Suzuki singled in the ninth to score Munenori Kawasaki on a close play at the plate and make it 7-5. Kawasaki slid, turned and stuck his right hand just inside of catcher Ariel Pestano"s left foot to -- perhaps -- touch the plate. Japan broke it open on a two-run single by pinch-hitter Kosuke Fukudome and a sacrifice fly by Michihiro Ogasawara.

The Cubans consider themselves amateurs, although Miguel Tejada and Albert Pujols, who played for the Dominican Republic, said leading up to the semis that most of the Cubans could be in the majors. But for as good as the Cubans are -- they had won 22 of 24 games in international competition and have dominated the globe for decades -- they cracked at the worst possible time.