by Peter Ferak, reporting for Mister-Baseball from the second round of the Baseball World Cup in Italy
Beijing hosted a fabulous Olympics last summer, a very calculated, planned out, and strict Olympics. During the 6th inning a player from the Japanese club snuck out to have a smoke behind the dugout. This surprised me because it doesn’t fit the profile. This goes to show that things we assume sometimes turn out completely different.
This ended the game for Japan tonight. With one out in the bottom of the 10th the Japanese batter struck a line-drive to right field that could score both runners and tie the game. However, the runner from second base had assumed that the ball will drop and could not even make the attempt to retouch second base after the right fielder made a fine sliding catch.
Chinese Taipei does it again, and they seem to be growing as the tournament goes along, but it is interesting how the speed up rule that was put into place to shorten baseball games by the IBAF (International Baseball Federation) played right into the hands of Chinese Taipei, two nights in a row.
Runners on first and second with no outs to start every extra inning. To baseball purists this is clearly a sin, but I’ve had my fun with it so far. It all begins with whether to bunt or not. Chinese Taipei suggests that it is necessary to bunt in nearly every situation. Last night they bunted and needed 3 runs to tie the game. Today they led off and bunted, this drew in the infield and a grounder up the middle made it past the shortstop. With the infield back only one run would score, in which case Japan only had to tag the runner from third on the line drive that ended in the right fielders glove to tie the game.
So if there’s a recipe to extra inning games it has to be to bunt when leading off or down 2 runs. Chinese Taipei bunted down 3 runs to Australia, but the win wasn’t affected by the bunt as the homerun would’ve cleared the bases no matter what.
This rule is relatively new and the different ways that managers handle are novice and interesting. And as of yet, lack creativity, the bunt doesn’t have to be the only way. How about a fake bunt steal, slash, or hit and run. How to play the outfield when it is bunted? Do you draw the infield in? I’m curious for the solution.
Follow Peter Ferak on his trip through Italy at his blog