ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Lee Seung Yeop sure knows how to party.
South Korea's Lee Jong Beom reacts as he heads for first base after driving in two runs with a double in the eighth inning against Japan in a World Baseball Classic second-round game on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif. South Korea won 2-1.
He can do more with one stick than thousands of Team Korea's fans can do with Thunderstix, even in the house where the Korean invention came into vogue.
Lee has blazed through the World Baseball Classic, from Tokyo Dome to Angel Stadium, where Angels fans shook up the San Francisco Giants in the 2002 World Series with the inflatable noisemakers.
Lee just brought his bat, like he has done all WBC long.
"I'm doing better than I thought I would, but I prepared a lot," Lee said. "Actually, I'm doing better than I could have imagined, and I am just happy with the good results."
Lee has been incredible for Team Korea in the Classic, homering in four games straight -- twice against the Chinese -- heading into Wednesday's Round 2 finale versus Team Japan.
Although his homer streak came to an end -- thanks in large part to former Chiba Lotte Marines teammate Shunsuke Watanabe, who pitched six shutout innings Wednesday -- Lee still has had a good WBC.
The first round against Team Japan saw Lee smash a two-run home run in the eighth inning that lifted Korea to the victory.
This time, however, Lee's bat was much quieter, for the first time in a long time.
He was 0-for-3 with a walk.
NEVER TOO LATE: Hitoshi Tamura was pretty disappointed after striking out in the ninth inning with the bases loaded in Sunday's 4-3 loss to Team USA.
The road to redemption began the very next game, but not like the home runs he was able to hit in the WBC at Tokyo Dome.
He laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning, advancing Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Akinori Iwamura into scoring position. Both runners came around to score on the next at-bat, as Michihiro Ogasawara singled the runners in.
Two innings later, he drove in the fifth run, which Team Japan manager Sadaharu Oh later said convinced him that Japan was going to win.
"All the coaches and teammates told me to relax and have fun, as I had laid down a good bunt in the previous at-bat," Tamura said. "They carried me to another successful at-bat."
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