Five American Batters Hit By Chinese Pitchers In Brutal Olympics Game (VIDEO)

The Chicago Tribune reports on a brutal baseball game between the US and China that featured five American batters getting hit by Chinese pitches:

Our relations with China were nearly broken at the plate.

A near-brawl with our Olympic hosts in a baseball game won 9-1 by the U.S. team Monday night resulted in an unexpected outbreak of tension for the international pastime.

Three members of China's team were ejected from the game.

Two collisions at home plate led to an injury to a Chinese catcher and a confrontation with another.

An American player was then hit in the head with a pitch. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

"That was the last straw," said U.S. center fielder Nate Schierholtz, another of the principals.

Watch the video, courtesy of MSNBC:

Comments

[LiberalBuzz]

Typical Chinese....lie about everything, cheat do whatever it takes.

Scummy leaders in that country, must be fans of Bush and Cheney.

[NTO08]

Shameful that we allowed ourselves to become in hock to these crooks...they are poised to beat us in manufacturing, and all due to cheating...

[RealityZone]

Typical white person. Whenever you lose, you cry foul. Reminds me of blacks crying racism whenever they don't get into Harvard. If it's the crappy American products not selling in Japan, to the Americans not winning all the golds in Beijing, it's always so unfair, isn't it?

[Sioen]

What a joke these Olympics are. Some coming out party for China. Ch=Cheaters. And now, poor losers who act like babies.

Way to join the community of nations, y'all! Oppress your people, oppress the Tibetans, continue to have gulags, for pete's sake -- and you can't even host an Olympics well!

As a joke, you're not even funny. You must be so proud.

[NTO08]

Also try to silence those who were upset at loss of children in schools that were poorly constructed and destroyed in earthquake...

Image matters more than substance to them...look at the stupid switch of less attractive girl to better looking one to sing, computer generated fireworks...

All this superficiality reflects very badly on them.

[BetterDays]

That is a little like the stove calling the kettle black. The US is the height of superficiality.

[drainedpool]

the second play at the plate (involving nate schierholtz) was one of the dirtiest plays i have seen in my 35 years of playing, coaching and being a fan. the chinese catcher had not yet received the ball and the runner had a clear shot at the plate with a low slide (between the legs or to the right side). to hit the catcher that high before he had the ball is just not defensible, ever. if an opposing player did that to my catcher he'd be in the hospital too.

btw, some of the chinese pitches were intentional, obviously, but some were just lack of control.

[davesideas]

thanks for your input; most of the comments on this page are from trolls who want to vent; your comment spoke to the issue

[Uberbah]

Watch the clip again. The catcher is blocking home plate, clear as day. It's not up to the runner to do his best Gumby impression to avoid a catcher standing in front of the plate. The catcher was asking to get hit, and now that he got his clock cleaned, maybe he wont do it again.

[stevelaudig]

If I were a pro team I wouldn't hire Scheerholtz as he is stupid. He endangered himself out of anger and showed he cannot control himself. That could have been a career ending collision, for him. To gain what? Stupidest move in the game. Plus it was plainly premeditated so he had a chance to think about it a long time and still came up with the dumb answer. A dumb answer on impulse is one thing. A dumb answer after calculation is quite another and shows his true mental limits.

[biased2]

I agree "dumb answer" -- calculated, possibly career ending and all.
How much anger was the U.S. team packing here?
Schoolhouse rule: Who started it?
I might lose my cool too -- not that it would be COOL.
I'll wait for the interviews.

[mginla]

Schierholtz is in the SF Giants minor league system. I'm glad you don't run the Giants because they aren't going to 'fire him'. I can't wait to cheer him for this when he reaches the majors. He's exactly the type of player I'd want. This was a big game, he was obviously purposely hit in the back, the catcher was blocking the plate. The chinese were playing dirty. A perfect chance to play hardball with the chinese just as they were playing with us...I'm glad he stood up for himself and his team, and his country and gave the chinese a taste of their own medicine. It wasn't poor sportsmanship because the catcher was blocking the plate.

[imajoebob]

Talk about "mental limits." You know jack about baseball. First, the catcher - especially one blocking the plate WITHOUT the ball - is fair game. He's declared a game of chicken. In this case, nobody blinked. If the runner suddenly tried to avoid hitting him, odds are that he'dl end up injured himself.

Second, you use "proper" retaliation, like a brushback, or pitch behind the batter. Hitting someone in the arm, leg, or back, like the first time, is rough, but within bounds. It's not an intent to injure (or kill) it just hurts like hell. Which is the point. Headhunting is assault with a deadly weapon.

Watch the second collision, and you'll see the CATCHER (in full body armor) try to throw a shoulder/forearm shiver, but take himself out. Now he's sore AND embarrassed. Who do you think caused the trouble now?

The Chinese pitcher(s), catcher, and coach should be tossed from the Olympics. But the IOC will just say it's the Chinese version of the Olympic Spirit.

[MuseScavenger]

Clearly, the Chinese have learned the American game well. "Winning" is all that matters.

[gmlaster]

That's the stupidest thing I've read all day.

[Pompeii]

You seem to be setting a record for serial stupidity here, gmlaster. If you're looking for the dumbest post here all day, just look at what you've written elsewhere.

[Swerinjer]

chinese baseball allows balls to be thrown at the batter, kind of like how the sumo wrestlers can also slap each other in the face. sissy americans cant take it.

[BrettnCalgary]

wtf, you claim that busting someones head with a baseball is a part of the game?

[NTO08]

What kind of BS is this?

[Forester]

you are obviously an idiot

[whatsthatsound]

You're joking, right?

[gmlaster]

Sissy? Honey, what grade are you in?

[LetgoofmyEggo]

IMHO participation in this Olympics should have been banned. China of all places is the very LAST place one would expect to see any type of fairness or equality. May I remind you that China is at its best when rolling tanks over people that don't agree with their governing approach. China is the new Russia. Anyone else old enough to remember the likeness? I feel like I am having a huge Deja vu. What a load of crap.. are we going to take our country back?

[NTO08]

China and Russia will swallow us alive if we keep on the path we are going...China has already killed us financially, have us by the balls. Russians are giving us a big FU, thanks to Bush's Iraq intervention, for they see Georgia as THEIR Iraq....

Slap these two down now before it is too late.

[clintfatigue]

Roger Clemens would be proud.

[biased2]

Sad, but I hear ya'.

[ozmagic]

its pretty funny. Both sides acted like children i think

[NorthernCross]

Eh? I'm still trying to figure out what the American side did wrong.

[bluestatelib]

Nothing. They won 9-1 ;-)

[MacnMary]

I admire simonliu315 for posting in a language that is obviously not his/her own language. Yes a professional American team would surely retaliate ONCE. By the video the first batter that was hit had no problem. You however do NOT go after another player's head nor do you do it FOUR more times. As others have said, the player is entitled to try and score. I would suggest that simonliu315 learn the rules and the nuances of the game before any future comments.

[Coattails]

This was just bad sportsmanship, an American was running towards home, and the catcher, who didn't have the ball was in his way, and the runner had every right to plow into the catcher, it happens all the time in the majors.

The next batter got plunked. I had actually heard 7 people got hit with the beanball on the Olympic review on MSNBC.

Hitting people in the butt, leg, or even the ribs is one thing, pitchers are all about control over the strike zone, and that sends a message. However, even in the Majors, people have had their careers ended from being hit in the head.

There are only American minor leaguers in Olympic baseball right now because the regular season is still ongoing (unlike basketball, for example). An injury could hurt their chances on ever competing in the Major leagues, and when you are down 9-1, and you hit a guy in the head, thats just bad sportsmanship.

[chinationreport]

Do American baseball players never hit each other?

AdobePhsyko: I see that your second half of the id suits you well. You are one. 'The Chinese are SCUMBAGS' Except you will have to be a loser to these scumbags! They steal your jobs, sell your lead tainted toys, sell you poisonous food, steal your gold medals, kick your manhood. They surely deserve to go to hell...

Except they are not going to. They are very hardy. They have been around for 5000 years and it is likely they will survive some more years. Get ready! Just a few ugly words won't secure you a better job or get rid of your debt or land you in better college. You know what, you can hate them, but it is your own loss. Stay ignorant! It is good for China and for the Chinese.

From:
http://www.chinationreport.com/#EditorsChoice stay informed about China

[GolfingDevil05]

American baseball players do hit each other, but intentional hits are usually on the leg, on the back side, or off the upper arm. If you aim for someone's head, you're taking someone's life in your hands. That's never acceptable, no matter who started it.

[Elahrairah]

Taking a deliberate shot at the head is not only the poorest form of sportsmanship, it is utterly and terribly embarrasing for the Chinese to be seen to behave like rotten losers.

[captainindustry]

what's all the commotion here? lt looks like every game of baseball i've ever watched or played in. Everybody's up and walking around. Wake me up if there's an all out brawl.

[DRaymond]

Sorry, but that is life as a catcher. You block the basepath there is going to be a collision.

Beanballs are something entirely different though. You can kill somebody that way.

[RRK70]

Like the Russian's I think the Chinese are "feeling their oats". The US is not in the position it was in 20 years ago. We are the largest debtor nation on the planet and I think nations like Russia and China take affront when they are slighted, whether it is real (like politics with Russia) or imagined (like a runner colliding with a catcher)

[bluestatelib]

Wow. You're reading an awful lot into a freakin' baseball game. Maybe you should learn to relax. LOL.

[NTO08]

Not really...his observation is spot on...both Russia and China see us as fundamentally weak thanks to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Bush's failed foreign policy...they are more than ready to show us how much contempt they have for our compromised position, thanks to Bush's idiotic policies.