Congratulations on WBC V2 Japan

Great finals! Great game, great pitching and a great win for Japan!

There were quite a few times I did not understand Hara's tactics, but who am I to criticize? He brought back the trophy so he must have been doing something right.

Iwakuma was the best pitcher for Japan and was the real MVP in my view, though Matsuzaka went 3-0. I think the MVP decision had something to do with the fact that Matsuzaka plays in the Majors.

Sugiuchi also had an outstanding WBC. This guy can pitch! Putting Darvish, a starter, as relief in the last game, though he gave up 2 runs, I think was the right decision. Fujikawa did not look sharp.

Ichiro's hit in the 10th will go down in the history books as one of the most important hits in Japanese baseball history. Maybe it would have been better for Korea to walk Ichiro, load up the bases and face Nakajima instead?

Congratulations to everyone who supported Japan.

My favorite part of the game was Uchikawa's amazing defensive play. Besides the Ichiro hit, Uchikawa's play was the highlight for me.

In my opinion this is already the second time Dice K undeservedly got the WBC MVP award.

In the first tournament I thought he robbed Ichiro who hit well in all 8 games. This year it should've gone to Iwakuma obviously. Thanks to him Japan won the elimination game and also the championship game. I guess the voters are not exactly baseball people.

Yeah, they're probably MLB marketing people. When Matsuzaka was walking down the line of players with his MVP trophy in hand, he stopped and talked briefly with Iwakuma and must've said something like "hey, this should be yours."

Out of the batters, Johjima and Nakajima played well. Johjima kind of lost his shot at the MVP getting tossed out of that one game. I could understand him getting tossed out of the game, but I thought it was strict. In Japan he would never have been thrown out for leaving the bat like that, I think. Are they that strict in MLB?

I heard the Japanese commentators say that Japanese baseball has a lot to learn from international baseball regarding respecting the calls of umpires and respecting the umpires more. There have been a few ugly episodes in the past in NPB which would not have been tolerated in WBC.

Just adding my congratulations on Japan's victory. I co-host a sports talk radio show on a college radio station in Hackettstown, N.J. I'm a 58-year old Phillies fan and I'm on with a 23-year old Mets fan - interesting mix - he did not want to talk about Japan's victory on the show and said he did not want to hear it - typical Mets fan. He got so caught up in hating Kaz Matsui and all that he became a Japan hater. Having read the funny rants on Japan Baseball Daily through the years about ESPN's lack of NPB reporting (even if they don't show the games at least report on it a little bit) I feel happy for Garland-san now ... ESPN HAD to give Japanese baseball its due now ... and it was fitting that Japan hater Joe Morgan was there in the booth to see it.