Cuban Olympic Sports

This is a thread devoted to following the efforts of Cuban Athletes in The Olympic Games and a hope that they can show the notoriously bad sporting losers to their north a thing or two about athelticism and sportsmanship.

BroonHabana

Check out etaiwannews.com/Sports/2004/ … 973174.htm

=====

Cuba proves ‘Tu’ much for Team Taiwan /

Amateur pitcher Tu Chang-wei replaced after 3 innings as Taiwan suffers 2nd loss

2004-08-20 / Taiwan News

Bringing their Latin mambo rhythm from the Caribbean to the shores of the Mediteranean, Cuba proved “Tu” much for Team Taiwan with a 10-2 victory in the Olympic baseball preliminary round in Athens yesterday.

The Cuban baseballers chased Taiwan starting pitcher Tu Chang-wei out of the game before the third inning was out, as they rattled the young amateur righthander - who plays for a college team - to take an early 3-0 lead through one walk and 4 hits, including a home run by DH Eriel Sanchez.

With their impressive speed on the base path, the Cuban national team showed they are still a baseball power to be reckoned with by exploding for five runs in the eighth frame when seven batters in succession reached base on six hits and one walk.

In that high-octane rally, Cuba loaded the bases after one run had already been scored. Catcher Ariel Pestano then delivered the big blow against Taiwan’s third pitcher Keng Po-hsiuan with a deep drive into the gap at left-center field for a double to clear the bases for three more runs to go in front 7-0.

Pestano also came home on an RBI-single by Danny Miranda to make the score 8-0.

Team Taiwan’s clean-up batter Chen Chin-feng (L.A. Dodgers Triple-A) gave the Formosan visitors something to cheer about in the bottom of the eighth when he delivered an RBI-double to bring Huang Chung-yi home from second base to break the goose egg for the 8-1 scoreline.

Under the sweltering heat of Athens’ Helliniko Stadium, the Cuban players and their fans unleashed the salsa in their blood as they again got the hot bats and swift-shuffling feet going in the ninth inning. Osmani Urrutia, Eriel Sanchez, and Danny Miranda bashed out three more hits for two runs.

In their final turn at bat in the bottom of the ninth frame, Taiwan’s DH Chang Tai-shan led off with a double for his second hit of the game. One out later, pinch-hitter Lin Wei-chu drove Chang home on a grounder to third, ending scoring at 10-2.

Cuba’s starting pitcher Luis Borroto combined with reliever Danny Betancourt to limit the Taiwanese to 2 runs on 6 hits and 4 strike-outs for the victory.

For Havana’s “Kings of Swing,” they cranked out 15 hits and took 4 walks for the 10 runs gainst Formosan visitors’ four pitchers: Tu Chang-wei, Lin Ying-chieh, Keng Po-hsuan, and Huang Chun-chung.

“It is the team of Cuba. This is how Cubans play,” said Cuban team manager Higinio Velez following the win. “We’re not just going for a medal. We’re going for the gold. The most important thing for us now is to qualify for the semifinals and play well throughout the tournament.”

“The Cuban pitcher managed to change his pitching speed easily throughout the game,” lamented Team Taiwan skipper Hsu Sheng-ming. “We had some hits, but we didn’t have the chance to score.”

After four of the seven round-robin games played, Team Taiwan is tied with Australia and Holland in fourth place with the identical 2-2 record. They trail group leader Canada at 4-0, with Japan and Cuba in second spot, both with 3-1 records.

The Olympic baseball preliminary round has the 8 teams playing against each other once, and Taiwan is in a tight three-way race with Australia and Holland for the 4th and final spot into the Final Four medal round.

All three upcoming encounters are crucial to advance to the Final Four, with Taiwan needing to secure at least two wins in the games against Italy (3:30 p.m. today, Taiwan time), Japan (3:30 p.m. tomorrow), and the Netherlands (3:30 p.m. Sunday).