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Pride of the Yanks U.S. upsets Cuba 4-0 for baseball gold
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Ben Sheets tossed a complete-game three hitter, and Mike Neill, Ernie Young and Pat Borders gave him all the runs he would need as the United States beat Cuba 4-0 for the gold medal on Wednesday. Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda molded a group of minor leaguers and major-league misfits together and led the U.S. to its first gold medal in Olympic baseball competition. The team known as the Big Red Machine got only three hits off Sheets, then had to stand and watch in disbelief while he and his teammates rolled in the dirt as part of their joyous celebration. "Cuba is supposed to be the best baseball team in the world," shortstop Adam Everett said. "We just proved we are when it counts." The long-awaited matchup of baseball archrivals was remarkably free of the dust-ups and disputes that have colored virtually all of the other games they've played through the years when Cuba won the only other baseball gold medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Also unlike those other games, this time the United States won - and won convincingly. "They come out and try to intimidate you," Everett said. "That's not our game. We don't come out and play that way. We just come out and beat you." They found all sorts of dramatic ways to win: two walk-off homers and an eighth-inning grand slam. Their only loss was 6-1 to Cuba on Saturday, a game remembered for angry exchanges and cleared benches.
There were no dust-ups this time, no late-inning dramatics. Right from the start, it was no contest. Neill hit a first-inning homer as the Americans cranked it up early instead of late. Young -- at the center of Saturday's bench-clearing inning -- more than got even with a bases-loaded single. Borders, who was spiked at home in that first game, also had an RBI double as an exquisite payback. Those hits put the upset on the fingertips of Sheets, an unflappable right-hander who got 16 ground-ball outs in the first eight innings, setting up a pulsating ninth. With the Americans standing on the front step of their dugout and a U.S. flag hanging behind the bench, Sheets strode calmly to the mound to start the inning. He got Cuba's first two hitters swinging -- Luis Ulacia threw his helmet at the side of his dugout after going down for the second out. When Neill made a sliding catch of Yasser Gomez's fly in left field for the final out, Sheets fell to his knees and raised his arm in celebration as players streamed toward him for a huddle on the mound. Soon, they piled up near the dirt at third and Lasorda -- wearing a U.S. flag over his left shoulder, hugged his coaches while the players took a victory lap. "I can't believe how great I feel!" Lasorda shouted as he ran off the field. The Cubans sat stunned in their dugout, knowing their dynasty was done. The best team in international baseball had its 21-game winning streak snapped with a loss to the Netherlands during the tournament, then had its hold on the gold broken by its biggest rival. The long-awaited matchup had the trappings of a seventh World Series game -- and all the finality. Flashbulbs twinkled around the stadium as the U.S. team stood on the first base line and the Cubans assembled along the other one for pregame introductions. Lasorda, who wanted to beat Cuba for the exiles in Florida, walked over and shook the hand of manager Servio Borges in front of the plate. Moments later, the Americans spilled out of the dugout after Neill's tension-breaking homer in the first - his second big homer of the tournament. He also won the opener against Japan with a game-ending homer in the 13th. His two-out solo homer on Wednesday came off Pedro Luis Lazo, a closer who got a surprise start in the big game. Lazo was gone in the second, replaced by the pitcher the United States really had a few things to settle with - Jose Ibar, who shut the Americans out in Cuba's earlier feisty win and hadn't allowed a run all tournament. Ibar also hit Young in the back with a fastball in that preliminary game, bringing both teams off the benches to exchange nasty looks. Young faced Ibar one more time in the fourth, grounding out. Young more than got even an inning later with a decisive hit off Cuba's hardest thrower. Borders doubled home the first run off Ibar in the fifth. Right-hander Maels Rodriguez came on and sent a ripple through the crowd by throwing a fastball that once registered 100 mph on the scoreboard. Rodriguez also hit a batter and loaded the bases to bring up Young, who slashed a 98 mph fastball up the middle for a two-run single and a 4-0 lead. Young spun around and slammed his hands together at first while U.S. players poured from the dugout to welcome the runners home. They sensed that the upset was at their fingertips. More precisely, it was in Sheets' right hand. His sinker kept the tournament's top-hitting team - a .344 average - from so much as threatening. Sheets retired 11 Cubans in a row and got 12 ground-ball outs in
the first six innings, when only one runner got as far as second
base in the entire game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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