Earlier this week my family and I traveled to Tokyo to see the WBC and do some sightseeing. Tickets to Monday's games were very affordable and the seating was open so we were able to get nice seats fairly close to behind home plate.
We were treated to a tense game and though it wasn't a big crowd, the fans on both sides were very vocal and there was about an even amount of fans for each team. The Czech fans were very passionate and ignited by the teams first trip to the WBC and also still being alive to advance. For Australia, though they had participated in every WBC they now had their best opportunity to advance to the Final 8, something they hadn't ever done, and their fans were feeling that.
Australia was the road team and the second hitter of the game hit a towering home run to right field giving the Aussies a quick 1-0 lead. The next hitter then hit another blast, this time to left, but it came up a little short and was caught on the warning track. At this point it looked like things may not go well for the Czech starter, Martin Schneider, who's day job I read is actually a firefighter. But from that point on Schneider locked in and shut down Australia's bats with a gutsy performance that las