WBC update: 2MB's South Korea makes Venezuela their bit¢h, 10-2

In a parable underscoring how countries that enjoy a (mostly) free-market economy are in every way superior to those that are run (falteringly) through socialist control, capitalist South Korea has pummeled workers' paradise Venezuela 10 to 2 (Los Angeles Times story here).

[above: Choi Jeong (최정/崔廷; ch'oé chŏng) hits a sacrifice fly, allowing Kim Tae-kyun (김태균/金泰均; kim t'aegyun) to score. South Korea enjoyed home field advantage, since every t'aegŭkki flag made since 1983 was shipped to Dodger Stadium.]

South Korea is now headed for the finals, which will be played Monday, March 23 at 6:00 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (10 a.m. on Tuesday in Japan and Korea). Whom they will play will be decided tomorrow when Japan and the United States go head to head. If Japan wins, it will be the fifth time the two teams meet in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, out of only nine games in total.

So stay tuned tomorrow to find out if the South Korean national team will be vindicating the nation for four decades of colonial rule or striking a blow against a hegemonic power. The fate of the nation hangs in the balance. Yadda yadda yadda.

[By the way, the next time I hear anyone — especially a Canadian — grouse about how South Koreans didn't care about the World Cup matches in 2002 except when South Korea was playing, especially in grudge matches, I shall point out that when the WBC was played in Canada this year, the US-Canada match had three or four times the attendance of the other games played in Canada, like Italy versus Venezuela, Venezuela versus the US, or even Italy versus Canada.]