BEIJING -- As the U.S. baseball team exited an Olympic field on Saturday for perhaps the last time ever -- certainly for the next eight years -- Jason Donald's emotions were as mixed as winner Brett Anderson's pitches had been.

The Phillies prospect, who homered, singled and walked twice in the 8-4 win over Japan, was thrilled to salvage a bronze medal for the U.S. and equally elated about his entire Olympic experience.

But the International Olympic Committee has decided to drop baseball from the 2012 Summer Games in London and Donald also was upset that a lot of players won't get to do what he's done these last two weeks.

"I think it's a real shame," he said. "I think it's a joke."

BEIJING -- The United States baseball team will leave Beijing with a bronze medal as a parting gift, for itself and its sport.

The U.S., in its final Olympic appearance for the foreseeable future, earned that medal by defeating Japan, 8-4, today at Wukesong Baseball Field.

The U.S. finishes the tournament 6-3, with two losses to Cuba and one to South Korea -- the teams that met for the gold medal in the final Olympic baseball tournament for the foreseeable future. The sport has been voted out of the 2012 Games; its prospects to return are uncertain, particularly without the availability of the game's top Major League Baseball stars.

"Probably 90 percent of the games were good games, and close and down to the wire, and the crowds were into it," said U.S. shortstop Jason Donald, who hit a key homer today. "I think it's a real shame they're not going to have baseball in the 2012 Olympics, and I think it needs to come back. It's a summer sport, and it's one of the main sports in the world during the summer."

Joshua Gunter, PDIf IOC officials knew that major-league stars like Grady Sizemore were going to show up, baseball might still be a part of the Olympics.

If this has a familiar ring, it should. It is basketball 20 years ago. Basketball did something about it. Baseball has not.

That is the difference between the two sports in imagination and leadership. And it explains why there will be no Olympic baseball tournament at the 2012 Games in London.

Lynne Sladky, APAmericans Brooke Abel, Ohio State grad Kate Hooven, Christina Jones, Euclid native Becky Kim, Andrea Nott, Annabelle Orme, Jillian Penner, Kim Probst and Janet Culp perform in the synchronized swimming team technical routine on Friday in Beijing.

Nine more Ohioans can add to the 10 medals already won as the Olympics come to a close this weekend.

The Akron Aeros' Matt LaPorta and the Toledo Mudhens' Mike Hessman and Blaine Neal play Japan in the bronze-medal baseball game at 10:30 p.m. tonight (Friday). The U.S. lost a semifinal to Cuba, 10-2, Thursday night.

USOCBecky Kim

The women's basketball gold-medal game at 10 a.m. Saturday will feature the United States and Kate Smith (Logan/Ohio State) against Australia and Penny Taylor, the former Cleveland Rocket who is expected to start despite an ankle injury. LeBron James (Akron/Cavaliers) and Michael Redd (Columbus/Ohio State) lead the U.S. men against Spain in the gold-medal final at 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The game will be rebroadcast at 9 a.m. Sunday on USA Network.

On Friday, Mary Wineberg (Cincinnati) led off the top-qualifying women's 4x400 relay. The final is 10:40 a.m. Saturday. Also Friday, Hyleas Fountain (Kettering) had her heptathlon medal upgraded from a bronze to silver when Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska was stripped of her second-place finish because of doping.

Beijing -- Cuba never claimed to have invented baseball. But some people there think they perfected it.

Elaine Thompson, APCuba'a Ariel Pestano is congratulated by Alexei Bell left, and Yuliesky Gourriel, right, on Pestano's eighth-inning home run against the U.S. on Friday.

Winning it has become more like a national obsession.

"It's very important for us to leave a good image," said outfielder Alexei Bell, whose three-run homer Friday helped carry Cuba to a 10-2 victory over the U.S. and into the title game with unbeaten Korea. "This medal means a lot to our people. It could be the last medal."

BEIJING -- The Cuban baseball team will go for gold again, after beating the United States 10-2 today to reach the Olympic championship game.

Alexei Bell hit a three-run homer in the eighth to put the punctuation mark on the defending champions' 10-2 victory. He raised his hand to signal No. 1 while rounding the bases, then Ariel Pestano added his own three-run shot three batters later to seal it.

Cuba will play Saturday against unbeaten South Korea. The United States will face Japan for bronze in the first game of the day. South Korea rallied past Japan 6-2 in today's first semifinal.

BEIJING -- The Cold War is over, even in sports.

Gone are the classic Olympic battles between the U.S. and Soviet Union in basketball and hockey and between the U.S. and East Germany in women's swimming.

However, one rivalry remains -- on the baseball diamond, where a U.S.-Cuba matchup is often about more than just sports.

"The rivalry between Cuba and the USA is close to my heart," said Cuban Manager Antonio Pacheco, who played in many of the series' more memorable games during a long career as a standout second baseman for the island's national team. "This is a big ballgame. These are two teams with great quality."

And they'll meet again Friday in the semifinals of the Beijing Olympic baseball tournament after the U.S. edged Japan, 4-2, on Wednesday in its final game of pool play, improving to 4-3 to earn the No. 3 seed for the medal round. Cuba (6-1) is seeded second behind unbeaten Korea (7-0), which plays Japan (4-3) for the other spot in the gold medal game.

It's only fitting that what could be the last Olympic baseball tournament features a showdown between the U.S. and Cuba, the only countries to win a baseball gold medal, on the final weekend. Baseball, along with softball, has been removed from the schedule for the 2012 Games in London, and the International Olympic Committee will vote next year whether to consider the sports for reinstatement.

Kathy WillensUSA baseball manager Davey Johnson, right, thought he was done with baseball after the Los Angeles Dodgers fired him as their manager eight years ago. Now he has the U.S. within reach of a gold medal.

BEIJING -- Davey Johnson was done with baseball when the Dodgers fired him as their manager eight years ago.

"To be honest, I was really burned out," Johnson remembered. "I can only take so much. I needed to recharge my batteries."

After all, what did he have left to accomplish? In a nearly a quarter-century as a major-league player and manager, Johnson won five league championships and three World Series, made four All-Star teams and earned three Gold Gloves.

But he also clashed with management at virtually every stop along the way, picking up more pink slips than division titles in his final decade. So when the Dodgers asked him to leave after two frustrating seasons in Los Angeles, he rushed for the exit.

"At that point I was basically relieved," he said. So, he figured, he'd go home, relax and that would be it.

Which it was, until Johnson got a call from sports agent Alan Nero with an intriguing opportunity. And now that phone call has him on the brink of an Olympic gold medal.

Johnson's U.S. baseball team meets longtime rival Cuba Friday in the medal round of what may prove to be the final Olympic baseball tournament. The sport, along with softball, is not on the schedule for the 2012 Games in London, and the International Olympic Committee will vote next year on whether baseball should return to the Games at all.

Despite losing its opener, losing one key player to a gruesome injury and seeing another key player get hurt, the U.S. is headed to the medal round.

The Americans advanced with a 4-2 victory over Taiwan, powered by John Gall's go-ahead homer and a solid outing by pitcher Brandon Knight. The final prelim test comes Wednesday night against medal favorite Japan. The semifinals start Friday.

South Korea and Cuba are advancing, too. Those teams squared off in a battle of unbeatens, and South Korea won, 7-4.

"Since we beat the U.S. in our opener, the good luck has stayed with us so far," South Korea manager Kim Kyung-moon said.

Also, Canada beat the Netherlands, 4-0, and Japan beat China, 10-0.

BEIJING -- Injuries, hot tempers, ejections and a beanball war.

Not exactly what the crowd of 7,563 mostly Chinese fans thought they'd see when Team USA took on the host country in baseball.

They got all that and more as the U.S. notched an emotional 9-1 victory in Olympic round-robin play at Wukesong Baseball Field.

The U.S. outhit China, 9-3, with bats and 2-0 in home-plate collisions. China's pitchers outdid Team USA's in hitting batters, 5-2.

China lost starting catcher Wang Wei to a leg injury.

Team USA lost right fielder Matt LaPorta, who was hit in the head with a pitch and was diagnosed with a mild concussion.

Kathy Willens / APUSA's Matt LaPorta liies on the ground after being hit in the head with a pitch during Monday's game with China. He was diagnosed with a mild concussion after the Americans' 9-1 win.

"Emotions run high in the game of baseball," said Davey Johnson, Team USA's manager.

No kidding.

BEIJING -- Terry Tiffee and Brian Barden drove in two runs each today as Team USA rallied from a 4-0 deficit to edge Canada 5-4 at the Wukesong Olympic Baseball Field.

Left-hander Brian Duensing came on in relief, holding the Canadians to a single over the last 3 1/3 innings.

Both teams came in with 1-2 records, all four losses coming by one run each. With only four of eight teams advancing past round-robin play, a loss would all but eliminate one team. As Canada's Stubby Clapp said afterward, "the stars are gonna have to align right now" if Canada is to reach the semifinals.

BEIJING -- There are certain givens at every Olympics. The Opening Ceremonies will be lavish and long. Athletes will cry on the medal podium. And the USA vs. Cuba baseball games will be as spicy as a heaping helping of Szechuan chicken.

Today was no exception.

APCuba's second baseman Yuliesky Gurriel reacts after the umpire ruled USA 's John Gall, right, safe at second in the fourth inning of their baseball preliminary game at the Olympics.

The United States and Cuba are political adversaries and fierce baseball rivals, so the preliminary-round game between the teams had the feel of a gold-medal showdown. Cuba needed nearly four hours, 11 innings, and a new tiebreaker rule to shake off the Americans, 5-4.

Afterward, U.S. manager Davey Johnson accused Cuban relief pitcher Pedro Lazo of intentionally throwing at Jayson Nix's head when Nix was attempting to bunt in the bottom of the 11th inning. The ball hit Nix's eye, and Johnson said his status for the rest of the Olympics is unknown. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

"I lost my second baseman when the pitcher threw the ball at his head, and I don't see any place for that in baseball," Johnson said. "I respect the way Cuba plays baseball, but I don't like losing players or how that game ended. Lazo is a good pitcher, but he hit him in the eye. No game of baseball is worth that."

The U.S. men's basketball team is 3-0 after beating Greece, 92-69, Thursday. LeBron James (Akron/Cavaliers) had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. Michael Redd (Columbus) didn't get much playing time (three points in six minutes), but seems to be enjoying himself. He's been spotted at table tennis, swimming, tennis and diving competitions.

Matt LaPorta (Akron Aeros) hit a three-run homer off Shairon Martis (Columbus Clippers) in the U.S. baseball team's 7-0 victory over the Netherlands. The U.S. team played Cuba late Thursday. Cleveland State junior Nedim Nisic was 64th for Bosnia in the 100 butterfly preliminaries.

Featherweight Raynell Williams (Cleveland) boxes France's Khedafi Djelkhir at 9 a.m. in the round of 16. Williams counterpunched his way to a 28-18 victory over Djelkhir last year at the world championships.

In track and field, hammer thrower A.G. Kruger (Ashland) and world No. 1 heptathlete Hyleas Fountain (Kettering) competed early this morning. Tonight, Josh McAdams (Broadview Heights) runs in a steeplechase prelim at 9:20. Mary Wineberg (Cincinnati) runs a 400 heat after midnight.

Also today, Katie Smith (Logan/Ohio State) and the women's basketball team play Spain at 10 a.m., and Hanna Thompson (Ohio State) competes in team foil.

The women's soccer team with defender Heather Mitts (Cincinnati) plays Canada. The U.S. has won four of five non-Olympic games against Canada this year.

Thomas McDonald / New York TimesTeam USA pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 in the Americans' 7-0 win over Netherlands on Thursday in Beijing.

BEIJING -- There's an old baseball saying -- not as old as Confucius, but pretty darn old -- that holds: Momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher.

After the United States blew a ninth-inning lead to Korea here Wednesday in its Olympic tournament opener, it was easy to see the Americans as the tournament's train wreck.

Victims of a fundamental-execution breakdown against Korea -- the pitcher and first baseman got their signals crossed on a ninth-inning pickoff play, opening the door for the game-winning hit -- the USA players did their cause no favors by blowing past about 25 reporters waiting for them in the postgame mixed zone.

Some 13 hours later, San Diego State junior-to-be Stephen Strasburg took the mound against Netherlands at Wukesong Baseball Field, and suddenly, all was forgotten.

The pickoff-play error? The blown lead? The clumsy incident with reporters in the mixed zone?

All past tense, as soon as Strasburg took the mound.

Mixing power with finesse -- he usually ranged between 77 and 94 on the speed gun -- the right-hander delivered a case for being the first player selected in Major League Baseball's 2009 draft as the U.S. blanked Netherlands, 7-0.

"Strasburg threw a tremendous game," said Netherlands manager Robert Eenhoorn. "We didn't have a chance."

He struck out the side in the first inning, struck out two more in the second, two more in the third, and one each between the fourth and the seventh. He finished with 11 strikeouts -- third-most thrown by an American pitcher since baseball was introduced as a demonstration sport in 1984. (Only B.J. Wallace, with 14 in 1992, and Jon Rauch, with 13 in 2000, struck out more in one game.)

Strasburg didn't allow a base runner until a one-out walk in the fifth inning, and kept a no-hitter intact until there were two out in the seventh.

Because the only college player on the USA roster was lights-out brilliant, the Americans didn't need to muster much offense against Netherlands starter Shairon Martis, a Triple A prospect for the Washington Nationals.

Third baseman Matt Brown put the USA on the scoreboard with a solo shot over the left-field fence before the bats warmed up in the fourth inning.

First baseman Terry Tiffee got things started with a double, and after Brown reached on a walk, left fielder Matt LaPorta cleared the bases with a homer. Shortstop Jason Donald capped off the rally with an RBI double to right.

With one out in the top of the eight, a thundershower moved through the area, and the game was suspended for an hour and 35 minutes with the USA leading, 6-0. When play resumed, Strasburg was replaced by reliever Casey Weathers, who quickly worked through a drizzle in the eighth. Then, as the second storm made footing problematic -- even the simple exercise of gripping the ball became a challenge -- the Netherlands, trailing 7-0, loaded the bases against Blaine Neal with nobody out before play again was suspended.

The second delay was prolonged by Eenhoorn's attempt to protest the umpires decision to call the game, erasing all statistics beyond the eighth inning. Run deferential could be a factor in determining which teams advance to the medal round and which don't, and the Dutch were loath to leave the rain-drenched field with the bases loaded and nobody out.

"The USA deserved to win, but it was a strange way to end it," said Eenhoorn. "Bases loaded with no outs, we would at least like to have seen what would've happened."

Kathy Willens, APSouth Korea second baseman Ko Youngmin, left, looks toward first after forcing out Matt LaPorta of the USA during the second inning Wednesday.

Beijing -- The United States' game against South Korea on Wednesday night, its first in perhaps the final Olympic baseball competition, satisfied supporters and detractors alike. The ragged quality of play, executed by a largely anonymous team, supplied ample fodder for those raring to say good riddance. The dramatic ninth inning, which featured two stirring comebacks, sent flag-waving, cheer-stick-banging fans at the Wukesong Baseball Field into a tizzy.

In the end, the Korean fans cheered longer and louder. After scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to take the lead, the United States made two poor throws in the bottom of the inning to help South Korea slip past with an 8-7 victory.

Matt LaPorta, the Indians' prospect from the Class AA Akron Aeros, went 0-for-4 with a strikeout for the USA team. Pitcher Jeff Stevens, from Class AAA Buffalo, N.Y., gave up the two winning runs, one earned.