OLYMPIC PERFORMANCES

We felt we were prepared and ready to take on the Canada team. If we could play baseball at the same level we did in Arizona we would be able to stay close to them and then maybe sneak one out. I had the opportunity to view some scouting reports and I also was able to see them play so I had a pretty good idea of how to attack their lineup. We did exactly what we had prepared for the first three innings. It was 0-0 in the fourth when things got ugly. A three run home run deflated us (it was a MONSTER BLAST) and it was downhill from there. I was very surprised at how the bullpen performed all tournament. Our bullpen was our strength and if our starters could get the ball to them late in the game I felt good about our chances. I didn’t take in to consideration how nervous they would be. They significantly underachieved but yet we still competed in most of the games. As the games progressed and the nerves somewhat subsided, we played good baseball. We took the eventual Gold Medal Korean team to the limit and lost a close game 1-0 in 11 innings. Our next game we put together a miraculous comeback in 2 overtimes (12 innings) and beat China’s biggest rival, Chinese Taipei, 8-7. In our next game we lost a close game 6-4 with the bases loaded and a deep drive to right center that was caught 10 feet in front of the wall. We then took on the “mighty” USA baseball team in a dogfight until the 5th inning. USA had a 1-0 lead before the game was broken open. The next two games were the worst performances we had all year. We lost 10-0 and 17-1 to Japan and Cuba respectively. From the 5th inning of the USA game to the end of our last game I have never seen one man have such a huge impact on a team. Our catcher, Wang Wei, had severely hurt his leg in a clean, hard collision at home plate. He would never see action again. He was the field general for our team and had the confidence from our pitchers on how to call a game. Between the loss of their leader and the emotions of the “fight”, there was nothing left in the tank from our team. We fell haplessly to our next opponents. For a short time, China was the talk of the baseball community and we actually had caused concerns for our opponents. After the Korea suspended game and our victory over Taipei, we faced the number one pitcher from each team. When we resumed the suspended game we faced their opening day starter, we faced the Netherlands best pitcher, USA’s game one starter and Japan’s game one starter. Not too bad for the “Bad News Pandas”
Members of MLB and USA baseball had commented that this team had one of the biggest turnarounds that they had ever seen. We went from being a joke to a team that could beat them if taken lightly. There were serious concerns that we could beat them, and we nearly accomplished that. So, in light of the way we performed and the concerns that we had caused, I can go on record as saying that our performance in the XXIX Olympiad was a 10. We certainly gained the respect of the International baseball community.