THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 29, 1996 TAG: 9607290118
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: OLYMPICS
From Atlanta
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 84 lines
To be continued.
That's the greatest thing about this USA-Cuba baseball game that gripped the Olympics on Sunday afternoon. Knowing that when it was over, it wasn't really over.
If these teams do not meet again Friday at 7 p.m. for the gold medal - one preliminary and one semifinal separate them - something will have gone terribly wrong. And that would be a shame, considering the way so much went dramatically right at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
It is the Games' latest feudal war - reporters vs. tardy bus drivers is old news - and it arrived high and tight, spilling spit and vinegar, dirty looks, gamesmanship, political overtones and nine home runs in front of 51,223 fans who ``USA'd'' themselves silly.
``A ballgame worthy of these Olympics,'' Cuban coach Jorge Fuentes said after his club, which hit four home runs, pulled out a 10-8 victory in a game it led 10-2 after six innings. ``Two countries with more than 100 years of baseball tradition, and two teams with plenty of desire to please and give a great spectacle like they really put on.''
Everybody agreed, there. And if the next one starts with a fastball at U.S. leadoff hitter Jason Williams' head, why, it could be bad-blood Sunday all over again.
The Americans, certainly, would prefer not to give up four runs in the top of the first next time, as Clemson University's Billy Koch did. But when Cuban starter Omar Luis fired his first pitch at Williams' head, the cap was off the cooker.
A 5-foot-8, 180-pound shortstop from Louisiana State, Williams for some reason was Cuba's designated target. He caught that first pitch with his front shoulder, ducked a fastball bound for between his eyes in the third and in the fifth, was nailed again.
Koch, trailing 4-1, responded in the bottom of the fifth by chucking a fastball behind star third baseman Omar Linares. Then Koch nearly took the teeth out of the mouth of the next hitter, Orestes Kindelan. All the while, plate ump Anibal Rivera umpired on with nary a warning.
The up-and-in stuff finally settled down, but there were other little things to set the table for Friday. For instance, the Cubans got two home runs from their first three batters. In the second inning, those same hitters bunted - the better to toy with the young Americans.
And later, Cuba's Lazaro Vargas lost his bat on a swing and U.S. reliever Jim Parque strolled over as if to pick it up - only once he reached the bat he spun on his heels and walked away.
You didn't need to know Spanish body language to understand Vargas did not appreciate the gesture.
``I had to laugh at that,'' Williams said. ``We ain't gonna come out here scared, for sure. I don't think they intimidate us at all.''
Apparently not, because the Americans know they can hit and that Cuba, for all its aura, doesn't pitch very well. The U.S. discovered that during five exhibitions against the Cubans this summer - including an 8-4 victory at Harbor Park on July 4.
Sunday, the U.S. simply ran out of time against Cuba's bullpen. Troy Glaus hit a home run in the seventh. Chad Allen and Warren Morris, who homered earlier, hit home runs in the eighth to make it 10-7. And Jacque Jones went deep in the ninth, when the U.S. had the winning run at the plate in Glaus, who struck out to end it.
Five home runs in all, but all five with nobody on base. That's what kept the U.S. from ending Cuba's incredible winning streak in international tournaments that is now, depending upon your source, somewhere around 140 consecutive games.
``I expect there to be a great party in Havana tonight,'' Fuentes said.
U.S. coach Skip Bertman will settle for his street dance later.
``What people may not realize is the value that Cuba, the country, puts on gold medals and athletics and particularly baseball,'' Bertman said. ``Ultimately, if we play them close, that'll work in our favor. I think the pressure is enormous for Coach Fuentes and his staff and all their players to beat the USA, where it's not very much pressure for us.''
Consider that psychological tidbit a final fold in the napkin before we feast again Friday. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
[Color Photos]
CUBA 10
USA 8
KEYWORDS: OLYMPICS 1996 by CNB