Nate Schierholtz's Olympic day.

The United States and China traded insults after a bruising Olympic
Games baseball clash which ended with the Chinese manager and relief
pitcher thrown out of the game.
America's 9-1 win was overshadowed by fierce on-field rows which will
make for a high-voltage final should the two sides now get through
their semi-finals and meet in the gold medal match.

China manager James Lefebvre was the first man to be ejected after
twice leaving the dugout to protest plays before relief pitcher Chen
Kun was also given his marching orders for delivering a fast ball
drilled into the helmet of Matt Laporta.

In the course of the game, China catcher Wang Wei was injured and had
to leave after a collision with Laporta while replacement catcher Yang
Yang was taken out by Nate Schierholtz.

Not to be outdone, US manager Davey Johnson also came out of the
dugout when Laporta was hit.

"We not only lost the game but we may have also lost our catcher Wang
Wei for the rest of the Olympics. He got hit in the leg. They play
hard and we play hard," said Lefebvre who was furious with
Schierholtz.

"If you have a guy at homeplate, you never come up and try to hit the
guy in the chest. I felt that was an illegal slide and the umpire
should have ejected him. After that the game got out of hand."

Lefebvre also defended Chen's controversial pitch.

"We do not throw to hit people. He tried to throw the ball inside and
it got away from him. The umpire lost control of the game. He created
this."

Schierholtz insisted he did not mean to hurt Yang.

"We're not here to fight. I would rather have slid but the catcher was
in the way," he said.

The United States (3-2) will face Taiwan (1-4) on Tuesday for a place
in the final while China (1-4) tackle Japan (3-2).

I was reading some of the comments over on ESPN.
Most people seem to think that Schierholtz was just playing the game
the way it is meant to be played, that the Chinese catcher was in the
baseline, and that
if you think otherwise, you are a wuss.

I would agree that Schierholtz did nothing illegal. OTOH, there is
plenty of
room for him to slide. Schierholtz would have been just as likely to
score
by sliding, and he clearly went in with the intent to hit the catcher
as hard as possible.
I don't buy that the "catcher was in the way".

Not that throwing at a batter's head is justified, and is in fact far
worse, but Schierholtz poured gas
on an already burning fire.




On Aug 18, 8:41 pm, "benf802...@aol.com" <benf802... RemoveThis @aol.com> wrote:
> The United States and China traded insults after a bruising Olympic
> Games baseball clash which ended with the Chinese manager and relief
> pitcher thrown out of the game.
> America's 9-1 win was overshadowed by fierce on-field rows which will
> make for a high-voltage final should the two sides now get through
> their semi-finals and meet in the gold medal match.
>
> China manager James Lefebvre was the first man to be ejected after
> twice leaving the dugout to protest plays before relief pitcher Chen
> Kun was also given his marching orders for delivering a fast ball
> drilled into the helmet of Matt Laporta.
>
> In the course of the game, China catcher Wang Wei was injured and had
> to leave after a collision with Laporta while replacement catcher Yang
> Yang was taken out by Nate Schierholtz.
>
> Not to be outdone, US manager Davey Johnson also came out of the
> dugout when Laporta was hit.
>
> "We not only lost the game but we may have also lost our catcher Wang
> Wei for the rest of the Olympics. He got hit in the leg. They play
> hard and we play hard," said Lefebvre who was furious with
> Schierholtz.
>
> "If you have a guy at homeplate, you never come up and try to hit the
> guy in the chest. I felt that was an illegal slide and the umpire
> should have ejected him. After that the game got out of hand."
>
> Lefebvre also defended Chen's controversial pitch.
>
> "We do not throw to hit people. He tried to throw the ball inside and
> it got away from him. The umpire lost control of the game. He created
> this."
>
> Schierholtz insisted he did not mean to hurt Yang.
>
> "We're not here to fight. I would rather have slid but the catcher was
> in the way," he said.
>
> The United States (3-2) will face Taiwan (1-4) on Tuesday for a place
> in the final while China (1-4) tackle Japan (3-2).