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Olympic tourney Day 2

Infections hit record high for 3rd straight day

The Tokyo government announced the third straight day for record confirmed infections on Thursday according to Kyodo News, with 3,865 new cases. There is no sign, however, that this is anything but the start since Tokyo’s positivity rate on Wednesday was 16.9 percent, the highest figure since early 2020, when one had to be practically dead in order to be tested.

A day after Japan recorded 9,000 infections in one day for the first time, the government said Thursday’s new infection total exceeded 10,000.

The Tokyo Olympics, meanwhile recorded 24 new cases, the highest figure since the games began. According to a Kyodo News report, Richard Budgett, said the games are equipped to deal with infections among its ranks and would not pose a burden to local hospitals.

This is of course, if one discounts the coronavirus cost of Japan’s government’s policy of putting the Olympics ahead of its coronavirus response.

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The human cost

There’s no way to know how many lives would have been saved in Japan had the government focused on eradicating the coronavirus through efficient testing, tracing and vaccine implementation instead of what it actually did: Conduct an elaborate campaign to argue that the virus couldn’t impact the Olympics. My uneducated guess would put the cost before the Olympics at about 7,500.

Through July 22, according to Statista, Japan has had 119 deaths per million, compared to South Korea’s 40 and Taiwan’s 33 (786 deaths from a population of 23.57 million). If Japan had actually done more than play act its response, and its figure got down to say 60 per million, that would move the number as of July 22 at 7,516 – instead of 15,046.

But of course, the opportunity and monetary costs of prioritizing the Olympics at the expense of health care, will not end when the Olympics and Paralympics close down. Between now and then 100,000 visitors will have entered Japan and will be screened upon entry and some during their stay with minimal quarantine requirements and restrictions.

But other than that, I’m sure the Olympics have had no effect on Japan’s response.

South Korea 5, Israel 4, 10 innings

At Yokohama Stadium: Oh Seung Hwan surrendered the tying run in the ninth inning, but then struck out all three batters he faced in the 10th to earn the win after Josh Zeid hit two batters to force in the winning run in the home half.

South Korea overturned a two-run seventh-inning deficit on back-to-back homers by Lee Jung Hoo and Kim Hyun Soo of Israel’s fourth pitcher, Zack Weiss. Oh Jae Il singled and scored from second on a double by Oh Ji Hwan, who’d tied the game in the fourth with a two-run homer.

Journeyman big league catcher Ryan Lavarnway, however, tied it off 39-year-old former NPB and MLB reliever Oh with his second home run of the game.

Ian Kinsler delivered the first blow, a two-run third-inning home run off Won Tae In with one out after Mitch Glasser opened with a single and was bunted to second.

South Korea tied it in the fourth on Oh’s homer off Israel’s second pitcher, Jake Fishman.

Lavarnway broke a 2-2 sixth-inning tie, putting Israel up with a two-run home run off Choi Won Joon, but the Koreans came back in the seventh .

South Korea put the go-ahead run on in the bottom of the ninth against Zeid, when Kang Baek Ho walked with one out. He helped run his team out of the inning, however, trying to take second on a dropped pitch only to be gunned down by Lavarnway.

Marlins farmhand Fishman took the mound in the first with one on and no outs. The big side-arm lefty was in command until the Oh chased him in the fourth.

Although Oh surrendered the tying run, he struck out five of the seven batters he faced in two innings to pick up the win, ending when Kinsler went down looking.

Olympic tourney Day 1

A higher, faster, stronger virus

The “safe and secure” Tokyo Olympics announced their 169th infection less than a week into the games, while Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture and Japan as a whole set record single-day infection totals.

Japan topped 9,000 for the first time, while Tokyo broke the 3,000 barrier a day after a record 2,848, and Kanagawa broke 1,000.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo Olympic bid committee’s promised “mild and sunny summer” has forced the tennis to start its matches late because what might be “mild” for the liars who pulled off this heist, it’s unbearably hot and humid for athletes.

Japan 4, Dominican Republic 3

At Fukushima Azuma Stadium: Hayato Sakamoto capped a three-run ninth-inning rally with a one-out bases-loaded fly to the wall that broke a 3-3 tie and earned Samurai Japan a walk-off win in their Group A opener.

Japan and the Dominican Republic took turns melting down after six scoreless innings from starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Cristopher Mercedes.

Japan’s pros, who have an abysmal record in the Olympics, appeared ready to boot this one. Manager Atsunori Inaba pulled Yamamoto after 88 pitches, having allowed two hits and a walk while striking out nine, and Koyo Aoyagi promptly surrendered two runs on three hits, including a leadoff single by infamous former Giants, Juan Francisco.

Inaba, who chose not to include Rakuten Eagles closer Yuki Matsui in his roster and who won’t have another game until Saturday, could have stuck longer with Yamamoto before going to his best relievers, but went to an inclusive team-building plan with Aoyagi and Yasuaki Yamasaki that nearly cost him the game.

Afterward, pitching coach Yoshinori Tateyama said the plan was for Yamamoto to go seven innings or 100 pitches, whichever came first.

The Dominicans’ bullpen got Mercedes out of a sixth-inning jam when Hideto Asamura singled and Yuki Yanagita doubled with no outs. Asamura scored on a groundout, but reliever Luis Castillo protected the lead.

Tetsuto Yamada walked to open the eighth, and was sacrificed to second by Sakamoto but was gunned down at the plate by left fielder Johan Mieses when trying to score on Masataka Yoshida’s single. Inaba asked for a reply and argued obstruction, but it was a picture perfect play by catcher Charlie Valerio, who doubled in the Dominican’s first two runs.

The Dominicans got an insurance run in the ninth, when Kansas City Royals farmhand Erick Mejia doubled and scored his second run of the game on a Gustavo Nunez double off Ryoji Kuribayashi. But with one out and runners on second and third, the Carp rookie extricated himself with back-to-back swinging strikeouts.

With one out in the ninth against Jairo Asencio, Yanagita, pinch-hitter Kensuke Kondo and Munetaka Murakami delivered a run on three straight singles. Sosuke Genda, running for Kondo at third, was safe at home on Takuya Kai’s safety squeeze to tie it. Yamada singled to load the bases, and Sakamoto cracked Jhan Marinez’s first pitch to the wall in center.

The Olympic tournament

The six teams are split into two groups, with the DR, Japan and Mexico in Group A, and Israel, South Korea and the United States in Group B. After that, it becomes a complicated double-elimination style knockout tournament.

The two first-place teams skip the first round, while the second-place teams play off against each other and the third-place teams do the same. The loser of the third-place playoff finishes last.

In the next round, the first-place teams face each other, as do the winners of the two first-round games. The winners of those two games go into the first semifinal. The loser of the first semifinal goes into the second semifinal, whose winner will go into the gold medal game against the first finalist.

And I thought cricket was complicated.

In practice…

The Lotte Marines beat the Hanshin Tigers 9-2, the Yakult Swallows beat the Orix Buffaloes 4-3, while the SoftBank Hawks walked off, literally, 5-4 over the DeNA BayStars, Masahiro Nakatani drawing a ninth-inning bases-loaded walk.