gov135

http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns



U.S. baseball team fails to qualify for Athens Olympics

By ELOY O. AGUILAR, Associated Press Writer
November 7, 2003
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Now here's a stunner: The defending champion U.S. baseball team will be at home next summer while countries like the Netherlands and Italy compete for an Olympic medal in Athens.

Manager Frank Robinson and his team of mostly minor leaguers were beaten at their own game, falling to Mexico 2-1 Friday -- a loss that eliminated them from a qualifying tournament with no second chances.

The Americans were among the favorites to win in Greece. There was even a chance future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens would have pitched for them.

Not to be.

``I can't believe it!'' said Tom Lasorda, who managed the 2000 U.S. team to the gold in Sydney. ``It's a shock and a disgrace that the Americans won't be represented in the Olympics.''

``Baseball is America's game,'' he said. ``It doesn't belong to the Japanese or the Cubans or the Koreans or the Italians. This is sad, very sad.''

Lasorda's team had Ben Sheets, Roy Oswalt and Doug Mientkiewicz in the first Olympic tournament that included professionals.

``I know Roger Clemens wanted to play. That would've been a big draw for them. That's a shame, because they've got some good players on that team,'' Mientkiewicz said.

``It would've been nice to go out there and defend it, but now they're not going to get that chance,'' the Minnesota first baseman said. ``I feel for all those guys. It's going to be hard to watch the Olympics now, that's for sure.''

The Mexican team was a heavy underdog in this quarterfinal game, but got a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning from Luis A. Garcia off Brian Bruney.

Bruney had 26 saves in the Arizona Diamondbacks' minor league system this season.

The United States threatened in the bottom of the ninth when Grady Sizemore and former major leaguer Ernie Young led off with singles.

With runners on second and third with one out, reliever Isidro Marquez got Justin Leone to ground back to the mound and retired Gerald Laird on a popup to end it.

Former New York Mets pitcher Rigo Beltran held the Americans to three hits in seven innings. Leone, of the Seattle system, homered in the fourth for the U.S. run.

``It was a well-pitched game by their pitchers,'' said Robinson, the Montreal Expos' manager and a Hall of Famer himself. ``We were not able to do much until the ninth inning and it was not enough.''

Ray Martinez tied it in the fifth with a homer off Cleveland prospect Jason Stanford. The Americans had outscored their opponents 21-0.

The U.S. roster also included Atlanta rookie pitcher Horacio Ramirez and former big leaguers Mike Lamb and Todd Williams.

``We lost a game. I don't think it's a setback for U.S. baseball,'' said Sandy Alderson, an executive vice president in the commissioner's office and the top American official with the team.

``I think it's a validation of the internationalization of the game. As we know, anything can happen in a game or a short series of games,'' he said.

Unlike basketball, the biggest stars in the United States do not play Olympic baseball, jeopardizing the sport's future in the games.

Even so, Alderson does not expect top major leaguers to participate four years from now when qualifying begins for the Beijing Summer Games.

``This is not about an eligibility issue. This is about a game played well by Mexico and unfortunately lost by the United States. Again, that's the nature of the game. Things happen,'' he said.

The U.S. team went 3-0 in pool play while Mexico lost all three games. But Mexico advanced when the Bahamas forfeited by failing to show up.

The Bahamas' action prompted Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin to say: ``It makes you wonder if baseball is an Olympic sport.''

The two finalists in this tournament will reach the Olympics. Canada and Colombia will meet Saturday for the right to play Mexico on Sunday to determine one of the spots.

Cuba is the favorite for the other spot.

Baseball was a demonstration in the Olympics in 1984 and became a medal sport in 1996, when Cuba won the gold medal in Atlanta.

Sheets beat Cuba 4-0 to win the 2000 gold in Australia. Sean Burroughs, Brad Wilkerson and Ryan Franklin also were on that American team.

As Mientkiewicz spoke on his cell phone after Friday's loss, he got a call from Mike Neill, who homered in the 2000 gold medal game.

``A lot of us used that as kind of a leaping board. It kind of put us on the map, so to speak for baseball,'' Mientkiewicz said. ``That kind of shows how special our team was.''


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I know less and less every day. How ridiculous is this pool system the Olympics use that the best team cannot qualify, even if they have a setback?

How good could Mexico possibly be? We have major leaguers, professionals out there. Sure, most of them are still in the minors, but these aren't just college kids. They should be ashamed.

This is one of the biggest dark spots on American participation (or non-participation) since we began competing. America, home of baseball, could not produce a victory to participate in the game considered their national pasttime. What a crock.

crewsor

Hey, shit happens. Better teams lose to lesser teams all the time. I'm surprised a single loss would disqualify though.

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We all have wings, some of us just don't know why.

djtestudo

I'm very disappointed in the US team. They should've beat Mexico.

Of course, Rigo Beltran is in the Orioles system, so I'm happy for him...

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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

The_Dude

shit.........the world series winner should've gotten to play for the olympics or something, cuz this is freakin sad.

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"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal

bundy

this is surprising... but i´m lead to believe that even though professional baseballers are playing in the olympics, the best players are not always involved. just like Soccer, Rugby and many many other sports.

i wonder if this is a good thing for the sport or not... i mean, this could stimulate growth for the grass-roots level baseball teams in these other nations... and maybe, working on that thought process, this would lead to a truly World Series...

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Ohayo!!!

The_Dude

i think the factor is that olympians dont get paid to play. sad!

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"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal

Dr.Who

I know that Canada made it to the semi today. One more win to the final and automatic spot to the Olympic. The final spot with Canada should have been the U.S. before that stunning lost.

namakenezumi

Well, that's what MLB gets for not requiring that clubs make their players available for the Olympics like other sports such as soccer do... they keep citing scheduling clashes but it is really only their lack of desire to do anything about it that sees the problem persist.

And after Lasorda screwed Australia over last time by failing to release two of Australia best pitchers who were signed to his organisation even though their seasons were already over, I'd just like to note that the failure to qualify couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

Anyway, as much as I love baseball, the sport really will have no-one else to blame when, as is being touted, it gets cut from Beijing 2008. Its a shame, but maybe their slot will get filled by a sport with an actual committment to the Olympic ideal.

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Much madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
- Emily Dickinson

cas305

Hey don't we get a provisional????? Sad day for Americas past time!