Olympic Preliminaries, Saturday Aug 16

United States 5, Canada 4
The US keeps its medal dreams alive by winning this squeaker over their neighbor to the north. The difference maker here was back-to-back doubles in the seventh inning by Team USA's Brian Barden and Terry Tiffee. Barden who was starting at second after yesterday's injury to Jayson Nix, also homered; Tiffee has been absolutely raking (.500 BA with 4 RBI) and finished the day 2-for-4. US starter Brett Anderson labored through 5 1/3 before being lifted for Brian Duensing, who got the win. Catcher Chris Robinson (no relation to the lead singer for the Black Crowes) went 3-for-4 for the Canucks. Boxscore.


Cuba 1, Chinese Taipei 0
This pitcher's duel between Taiwan's Chen-Chang Lee and Cuba's Elier Sanchez came down to a solo homerun in the seventh by Cuban leftfielder Freddy Cepeda. Lee went 6 2/3, allowing only three hits and two walks while striking out seven. Sanchez kept the ball in play (three hits, three walks, zero Ks) and helped Cuba simply outlast this upstart Taiwanese team, who threatened in the sixth with two out and a man on third, but star leftfielder Kuo-Hui Lo lined out to first to end the threat. Cuba remains unbeaten; this loss was the death-knell for Chinese Taipei's medal chances. Boxscore.


Netherlands 6, China 4
Finally some offense here from the Dutch, who broke a 30-inning scoreless streak in the fourth on a Sharnol Adriana homer, and then erupted for five runs in the fifth behind a three-run blast from Sidney de Jong. Neither of these teams has a shot at a medal, but its worth noting that China leads all Olympic teams in batting average, is third in OBP, and tied for first in steals. This, of course, is hardly an endorsement for small ball, but at least the Chinese aren't the pushovers everyone orginally thought they'd be. Boxscore.


Korea 5, Japan 3
Korea joins Cuba as the only unbeaten team, although they play a makeup game tomorrow while everybody else gets a day off. These two Powerhouses of the East were tied 2-2 heading into the top of the ninth, when Korea loaded the bases with two outs. A Hyunsoo Kim single scored two runs and a third came around on a stolen base attempt, when Japanese catcher Shinnosuke Abe sailed one into centerifeld, allowing Jongwook Lee to score. Japan came back in the bottom on the ninth when Takahiro Arai led off the inning with a triple and scored on an error by third baseman Dongjoo Kim. Japan soon had the tyng run at theplate with men on second and third and nobody out, but Abe flew out, Takahiko Sato struck out, and Masahiko Morino grounded out to end the game. Boxscore.