Well, here’s how to make Americans (sorta) interested in Olympic baseball: Throw at the head of one of MLB’s best prospects. In today’s China-USA game, that’s exactly what happened, as Matt LaPorta (who you may know from such deals as the CC Sabathia-to-Brewers trade) was hit in the head with a fastball. Having watched it happen, and based on what occurred leading up to the incident, it seemed fairly obvious that it was deliberate.
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China Declares War on USA (on the Diamond)
↵↵In the 5th inning, LaPorta knocked China’s catcher out of the game with a hard slide at the plate. The following inning, American Nate Schierholtz ran over China’s back-up catcher with the collision seen above, which nearly led to a brawl as the catcher went after Schierholtz. Then, in the 7th, LaPorta took the heater off the head, which sent him to the hospital with a concussion. So yeah, I’d say they were throwing at him.↵
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↵In the end, six Americans were hit by pitches, three people were ejected, including the Chinese pitcher who hit LaPorta and his manager, former-MLBer Jim Lefebvre, who said Schierholtz should’ve been ejected for running over his back-up catcher. Apparently, coaching in China somehow makes you forget how the game of baseball is played. ↵
↵↵The best part of all this, however, comes from said back-up catcher, Yang-Yang:↵
↵↵⇥Yang homered with one out in the ninth for China’s lone run and raised his right arm in the air the entire way around the bases.↵↵Go crazy, Yang. Not only did you account for your team’s one and only run in a 9-1 whooping, but you also got straight punked at the plate. Perhaps you should try gymnastics.↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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