Huh???

OK, so, I can't help myself and papa won't let it rest until we get this off our chests. Korea is up 1-0 in the final game of the first round of the World Baseball Classic this evening. 8th inning, 1 out and Ichiro singles. With the meat of the order coming up, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th batters, the manager of the Japan team, Tatsunori Hara (roughly translated means "Freakishly Asinine"), inexplicably calls a sacrifice bunt...huh??? What was he thinking? Did he learn baseball from a video game? Or from "Baseball for Extreme Dummies"? Is that a meatball that he uses for a head? Sure, he gets Ichiro in scoring position, but at the expense of sacrificing a batter who's hitting .500, followed by a .364 hitter, and he guarantees himself 2 outs. I may be a Jack Russell Terrier, but even I know stupidity when I see it.

Then he switches pitchers. Darvish, a natural starter during the regular season, came in fresh as a reliever in the 8th and struck out the side. Again, inexplicably, the manager changes pitchers and Japan barely survived the top of the 9th, only managing to get out of the inning with a very lucky double play.

If Japan wins the WBC this time, it will be due to the skill of the team despite Hara. If they lose...well...Hara-Kiri??? :-)

Funny thing...none of the post-game sports casts that I saw showed the bunt. I feel like I'm living in a controlled news environment like North Korea...