The facts are proving me right

ON Tuesday, March 17, I wrote: The Classic was organized by those who run the exploitation of sports in the United States…" I immediately added: "They placed the three best teams from the (first) Classic and the Olympics — Japan, Korea and Cuba — in the same group, so that they would eliminate each other. Last time, they placed us in the Latin American group, this time in the Asian group.

For that reason, between today and tomorrow in San Diego, one of the three will be irremissibly eliminated…"

In relation to the players in the selection from the Republic of Korea, I stated, "They constitute the principal adversary, because they are likewise methodical and bat with more strength than the Japanese."

Two days later, on March 19, I explained: "IN the game between the Japanese and Cuban teams that concluded today at close to 3:00 a.m., we were unquestionably defeated."

"However, I doubt that any team from the West can defeat Japan and Korea within the group of competitors who will be playing in Los Angeles in the next three days. With their quality, only one of the two Asian countries will decide who takes the first and second places in the Classic."

In relation to the Japanese I provided some details:

"Training sessions are incredibly rigorous and methodical. They have devised technical methods to develop the reflexes required by every player. Every day, batters practice with hundreds of balls pitched by left- or right-handers. As for the pitchers, they are obliged to throw 400 balls every day. It they commit any error during the game, they have to pitch another 100. They do it with pleasure, as if it were a form of self-punishment. In that way, they acquire a notable muscle control that obeys orders sent by their brains. That is why their pitchers’ ability to place balls exactly where they want them amazes everyone. Similar methods are applied to all of the activities each of the athletes must carry out in the positions that they defend and in their activities as batters.

"Athletes are developing with similar characteristics in the other Asian country: the Republic of Korea, which has already become a powerhouse in professional world baseball."
Events have been developing precisely in that way:
Yesterday, around 12.30 a.m. Cuba time, the Korean team defeated the Venezuela team 10 to 2, despite the magnificent professional quality of that selection. They didn’t stand a chance of winning faced with the Korean sophisticated methodology of training and rigor.
The Venezuelan opening pitcher, Carlos Silva, could have spared himself an unnecessary humiliation when, after regaling a walk to first base to the opening batter and two consecutive errors in the defense, they connected three hits in succession, putting the scoreboard at 1-0 and bases full with no outs, in the first inning. The Koreans were reading the Silva’s pitches and he needed to be replaced immediately. They connected a homerun with three batters on bases, thus giving Korea a 5-0 advantage in the very first inning. With a team like that Asian one, things were already decided, although it is only fair to note that the Venezuelan selection fought without demoralization throughout the game. By the end, their objective was solely to avert a knockout.
Tonight’s game between Japan and the United States is a merely a formality.
On Monday, spectators within and outside of that country will be able to appreciate the encounter between the two Asian powerhouses in professional baseball.
It will be a hard road to re-establish Cuba’s primacy in that sports activity, where patriotism, national pride and our struggle for healthy and educational sport reached the highest pinnacles.
There are many lessons to be derived from this last Classic.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 22, 2009
1:54 p.m.