Eastlake Little League

[Bolt-O]

On to the US Championship! Close one in extra innings with guess who with the game winning HR.

[MakoShark]

Congrats to the young men from East Lake for making it to the Championship game. They came up just a bit short (6-4) to Japan but they should hold their heads high because they handled themselves with a lot of poise and dignity. I can't say the same for the Japan team. East Lake had their chances but just couldn't capatalize. Left a lot of men on base, but they did well against some very inconsistent umpiring, a head hunting pitcher and the opposing catcher calling the strikes.

Be proud East Lake. You represented like true Champions.

[6025]

Congrats to the young men from East Lake for making it to the Championship game. They came up just a bit short (6-4) to Japan but they should hold their heads high because they handled themselves with a lot of poise and dignity. I can't say the same for the Japan team. East Lake had their chances but just couldn't capatalize. Left a lot of men on base, but they did well against some very inconsistent umpiring, a head hunting pitcher and the opposing catcher calling the strikes.

Be proud East Lake. You represented like true Champions.

I only saw the last two innings but this sounds like a lot of excuses to me. I watched the Japan-Mexico game the day before and I thought the Japanese team was mentally tough. I heard the ump was squeezing the strike-zone yesterday, but the Eastlake boys left 11 runners on base, and that will kill you every time.

And I don't get the "opposing catcher calling the strikes comment" - can you explain that to me? I find it pretty hard to believe a 12 year old kid could fool/pressure an ump to give him strikes.

[TABF]

Congrats to the young men from East Lake for making it to the Championship game. They came up just a bit short (6-4) to Japan but they should hold their heads high because they handled themselves with a lot of poise and dignity. I can't say the same for the Japan team. East Lake had their chances but just couldn't capatalize. Left a lot of men on base, but they did well against some very inconsistent umpiring, a head hunting pitcher and the opposing catcher calling the strikes.

Be proud East Lake. You represented like true Champions.

Japan lives and dies by the pitching theory of Hard inside and soft away... Everyone knows they were not "head hunting"... I have been around baseball at almost all levels for many years and it was obvious to me that the Japanese team was extremly disciplined, and played the game aggresivley... Not for a minute did I think they were "head hunting".

I'll agree that the umps strike zone was horrible, but it went both ways on each and every game I saw.

As far as the catcher... Not quite sure what your talking about, but every catcher IMO should beg/borrow and steal each call they can. Don't blame the catcher for trying to influence an umpires call... Every player that traps a ball and tries to act like they didn't, each player that pretends their HBP on a close inside pitch, or every fielder that sweep tags a player and acts like they "got them" is guilty of the same thing. PART OF THE GAME.

[MakoShark]

Wasn't making excuses. I said that Eastlake had their chances and left too many men on base.

For a Championship game the strike zone was very inconsistent. I felt it favored the Japan team a bit in that any close pitch the Japan catcher would yell out "STRIKE!" and often would get the call. He did this throughout the tournement and it was commented on several times by the announcers. You could even hear him on TV. In the Mexico game he would set up off the corners, the pitcher would hit the glove, and he would yell out "STRIKE!" and was getting the call consistently to the point where Karl Ravisch and Nomar and Orel talked about it. I don't think that should be part of LL Baseball and the Umpire should have told him, "you catch the game, I'll call balls and strikes".

The pitcher Japan saved for this game was their "Ace" and he was touted as having "pinpoint control". Not as a dominating power pitcher with an overwhelming fastball. He was a control pitcher who could work the strike zone. He hit the lead-off batter, who happen to lead the tournement in hits and batting average. He hit the #3 batter TWICE, who was the most dangerous all around bat in the lineup. And he hit the #5 batter IN THE HEAD, who also had a hot bat and was a deep ball threat. To hit 1 batter, hey that happens. 2 batters, thats baseball. Maybe he's having a bad day. 3 batters? WTF? This kid, a "pinpoint control type pitcher", hit 4 batters in 3 innings of work. There should have been a bench warning issued.