It rained the entire game. Team USA was down 2 - 0 early. They came
back to tie it up in the seventh inning, but then the rain really started
to come down. After a two hour rain delay, at 12:30AM they restarted play.
In the bottom of the eighth, the USA had bases loaded with one out. A
short bunt up the first base line seemed to assure the US of the winning
run. But a call for interference on the runner going home had both the
runner and the batter out to end the inning - still 2 - 2 on the score
board. The bottom of the ninth the rain started coming down in droves.
There were some additional questionable calls and the few Americans who
remained in the crowd were getting a bit testy and apparently, so were the
players. Doug Mientkiewicz slammed a solo home run that ended the
discussion and put the US into a Gold medal rematch with the mighty Cuban
team. The next night, the US team went on the upset the Cubans and take
our very first baseball gold medal with a 4 - 0 win. (I wasn't at that
game...) |