Israel Officially Advances to Quarterfinals After Netherlands Beats Taiwan

This had the odd effect of both games being played on Monday in the United States-one very early in the morning and the other late at night.

The Netherlands’ narrow 6-5 win over Chinese Taipei in Seoul secured Israel’s progress, with both the blue-and-white and the Dutch owning a 2-0 record after two games.

What initially appeared to be a back-and-forth game at Tokyo Dome was broken open when Japan took a 7-1 lead over Cuba with a five-run fifth inning.

Chinese Taipei: This is a young team that includes prospects Shao-Ching Chiang, Ping-Hsueh Chen (DPP), Che-Hsuan Lin, and Chin-Lung Hu. Zack Thornton is another one of their best relievers who did not have his best stuff, but looks to rebound against Chinese Taipei. But Korea couldn’t take further advantage of the rally.

Korea: Our favorite, Dae-ho Lee, is on the team.

Israel’s first two games were televised in the U.S.by MLB Network. Israel won the first two games of the competition, beating Great Britain and Brazil. He has a hit.322 with 44 home runs. Here’s what Cody Decker, who was the designated hitter in Israel’s upset win over South Korea, said about their Mensch during a news conference (which you can see in the video above). Scott Burcham drove in the game-winning run in the 10 th inning, giving the underdogs their biggest win of the tournament.

Israeli manager Jerry Weinstein said after the game that this is the type of offense he expected from the squad. Another talented player on Team Korea came in the form of Dae-Ho Lee who was a Designated Hitter past year with the Seattle Mariners.

Zeid gave up one hit, struck out four and threw 49 pitches, one less than the limit of 50 that would have forced him to miss the rest of the first round of Pool A play. Instead, the ball went into right field and all three runners scored.

Helped by a scoreless inning of relief from Santa Rosa’s Gabe Cramer and inspired by its rotund Mensch on a Bench mascot, Team Israel shocked the baseball world with wins in its first two games in the World Baseball Classic this week against much higher-ranked teams.

Israel beat the third- and fourth-ranked teams in the world – South Korea and Chinese Taipei, respectively – putting it at the top of Pool C, where, if the team can beat the ninth-ranked Netherlands on Wednesday, they will cement their spot in the next round.

Dae-ho Lee went 0-5, but was robbed of a hit when Sam Fuld made a spectacular diving catch in center. Central, so that game is probably over already by the time you read this. Pools B will be in the Tokyo Dome in Japan.