(we really need more shots of these two on the top step of the dugout, otherwise we’ll forget what they look like)

USA 4, Japan 3

After Japan’s 4th run was taken off the board on what would’ve been a sacrifice fly RBI by Akinori Iwamura — home plate umpire Bob Davidson overruling 2B ump Brian McKnight’s denial of an appeal on Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s tagging from 3rd in the top of the 8th prior to Randy Wynn’s catch — Sadaharu Oh continued to argue, and the Japanese squad were slow to take the field.

“This could be an international incident!” exclaimed Rick Sutcliffe.

You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those exact words come out of Sutcliffe’s mouth.

The replay, shown a couple of times, was less than conclusive. If Nishioka got anything more than a good jump, it’s a sac fly / run scored 99 times out of 100.

A-Rod’s game winning single got Buck Martinez off the hook, in my mind. I can’t figure out why a hitter with Michael Young’s C.V. is trying to bunt Vernon Wells over to third in the bottom of the 9th.