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Mexico Eliminates Team USA
Complete Coverage of the Americas Olympic Qualifier
By Eric Edwards PANAMA CITY, Panama--The Olympic baseball champions will not get a chance to defend their title.
Former big league pitcher Rigo Beltran and two relievers shut down Team USA's offense, and Luis A. Garcia (Indians) hit a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning as Mexico pulled off the shock of the Olympic qualifier Friday, eliminating Team USA from the tournament, 2-1.
Garcia, a former Red Sox and Cardinals farmhand who is now a six-year free agent, said he came to the plate against reliever Brian Bruney (Diamondbacks) looking for a fastball he could handle. He got one on the second pitch.
"I had seen him on television and noticed he threw a lot of fastballs. I got one on the inside part of the plate, a pitch I could drive," said Garcia, whose four hits in this competition now include two doubles and two home runs.
Garcia also caught the final popup to end the game. "It's an incredible feeling pulling this off," said Garcia. "No one believed it could happen but us."
The loss was a sour pill for a U.S. team that had run through pool play with a perfect 3-0 record and hadn't allowed its opposition a run. Mexico came close to beating Cuba in the elimination round, falling 5-4 in 13 innings, but failed to win a game in three tries.
But none of that mattered in Friday's first crossover quarterfinal as Mexico was just good enough to move on.
Team USA manager Frank Robinson (Expos) said he didn't fault a qualifying system that allowed for a team that had won one of four games to move on, while a unbeaten team was sent home by its first loss.
"Everyone is playing under the same system. It's just as fair for us as everyone else," said Robinson.
Team USA had a chance to at least tie the game in its final at-bat, putting runners on second-and-third with one out. Outfielder Grady Sizemore (Indians) and first baseman Graham Koonce (Athletics) led off the inning with back-to-back singles off Mexican reliever Victor Alvarez (Dodgers). Instead of letting DH Ernie Young (Tigers), the team's most experienced hitter, have a chance to come up with a big hit, Robinson used the team's best hitter, Minor League Player of the Year Joe Mauer (Twins), as a pinch-hitter. Then he had Mauer bunt; the sacrifice moved the runner up but gave up one of Team USA's last three outs.
Mexican closer Isidro Marquez, who was so brilliant in four innings of scoreless relief against Cuba, entered the game to face third baseman Justin Leone (Mariners), who had put Team USA on the board with his third homer of the tournament, a solo shot, earlier in the game. He grounded weakly back to the mound, and with Mauer having been used to bunt, catcher Gerald Laird (Rangers) was Team USA's last hope. He popped out to first base, ending the game and igniting a Mexican fiesta.
"We spent considerable time scouting the U.S. team and it paid off," said Mexican manager Juan Navarrete. "They have a very good, young team, full of potential, but I believed we were capable of beating them. We had been improving each time out and I had confidence in my team."
Robinson attributed his team's loss to the performance of Beltran, lefthander Alvarez and Marquez.
"That was a very well pitched game, a great relief job (Marquez) turned in," said Robinson. "They exploited our one weakness, which is hitting offspeed stuff."
With his infield conceding the tying run, the side-winding Marquez said he was trying to induce a ground ball or get a strike out against Leone, who had accounted for the U.S. lone run with a solo home run two outs into the fourth inning.
"I wanted to keep them off balance, throw lots of sliders and get the strikeout or something weakly hit," said Marquez. "I'm a closer, so that situation is familiar to me. I knew what I had to do."
Mexico will now play the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal game between Canada and Colombia.
Down 1-0 after Leone's home run, Rey Martinez tied it in Mexico's next at-bat, leading off the fifth inning with a blast to left field off American starter Jason Stanford (Indians). Stanford lasted five innings before righthander John VanBenschoten (Pirates) pitched three shutout innings of relief, striking out four. That brought on Bruney, who had been brilliant throughout the tournament prior to the game-ending home run.
Other than the three home runs, scoring opportunities were hard to come by.
Both teams had chances in the second inning, putting runners on the corners with two outs. But shortstop Daniel Fernandez struck out to end Mexico's opportunity, and Sizemore popped out to end the bottom half of the second.
Mexico put runners on the corners again in the seventh inning, but VanBenschoten got Manuel Velez to ground out to third base.
The U.S., which had held Braves lefthander Horacio Ramirez in reserve for a potential semifinal matchup against either Panama or Puerto Rico on Sunday, was left to shake off the shock as the Mexicans celebrated.
"Do I feel personally responsible? No," said Robinson, when asked. "We did the best we could and it just wasn't good enough. That's the way life is sometimes."
The frustration for the loss boiled over a bit when Team USA assistant coach Thad Bosley threw a clipboard at a photographer who had run over to the other side of the field to take pictures of his players in the dugout after the loss.
"Well, not that I can justify the reaction of the coach, but that photographer showed no respect," Robinson said. "I asked them to respect the emotions that our players were feeling at that moment and not take pictures. But there was one guy who kept taking them. I didn't think he showed the proper respect."
Cuba plays Brazil today in one quarterfinal. The winner of that game will meet Puerto Rico, which beat host Panama in Friday's other quarterfinal. The Canadians now have a clear path to the Olympics, needing victories over an all-amateur Colombia team, and a Mexican club they handled 8-2 the first time around.
2003 USA Olympic Qualifying Team
Mexico at USA
Nov 7, 2003 at Panama City, Panama
Mexico AB R H BI USA AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Robles 2b 4 0 0 0 Mike Rouse ss 3 0 0 0
Gomez ss 4 0 0 0 Chris Burke 2b 4 0 1 0
Garcia, LC cf 4 0 1 0 Grady Sizemore cf 4 0 1 0
Garcia, LA rf 4 1 1 1 Graham Koonce 1b 4 0 1 0
Mendez dh 3 0 1 0 J.J. Hardy pr 0 0 0 0
Cantu pr 0 0 0 0 Ernie Young dh 3 0 1 0
Martinez 1b 4 1 2 1 Joe Mauer ph 0 0 0 0
Munoz c 4 0 1 0 Justin Leone 3b 3 1 1 1
Fernandez lf 2 0 0 0 Gerald Laird c 4 0 0 0
Velez 3b 3 0 0 0 Matt Holliday lf 2 0 0 0
Beltran p 0 0 0 0 Gabe Gross rf 0 0 0 0
Alvarez, V. p 0 0 0 0 Jeremy Reed rf/lf 3 0 0 0
Marquez p 0 0 0 0 Jason Stanford p 0 0 0 0
John VanBenschoten p 0 0 0 0
Brian Bruney p 0 0 0 0
Totals 32 2 6 2 Totals 30 1 5 1
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Mexico 000 010 001 - 2 6 0
USA 000 100 000 - 1 5 0
-------------------------------------------
LOB - Mexico 5; USA 6. 2B - Martinez. HR - Garcia, LA(1); Martinez(1); Leone(3). SH
- Mauer. CS - Cantu; Reed.
Mexico IP H R ER BB SO USA IP H R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------
Beltran 7.0 3 1 1 3 3 Jason Stanford 5.0 3 1 1 0 4
Alvarez, V. 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 John VanBenschoten 3.0 2 0 0 1 4
Marquez 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 Brian Bruney 1.0 1 1 1 1 1
Win - Alvarez, V. (1-0). Loss - Bruney (0-1). Save - Marquez (1).
Strikeouts - Robles; Gomez; Garcia, LC 2; Mendez; Martinez; Munoz; Fernandez; Velez;
Koonce; Holliday; Reed. Walks - Mendez; Fernandez; Rouse; Leone; Holliday.
Umpires - HP: Trudourt 1B: Roman 2B: Sala 3B: Vinda
Start: 3:00 pm Time: 2:35 Attendance: 250
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