Olympic update: U.S. baseball, softball teams still on medal paths

Team USA is hanging on to its Olympic baseball medal hopes, but the next two games are must-win at this point.

The Americans improved to 2-2 on Saturday, waking up and rallying from 4-0 deficit to beat Canada 5-4. Brian Barden (Indians), filling in at second base for Jayson Nix (Rockies, out for the tournament after getting hit in the eye against Cuba), hit a homer and the tying double in the seventh inning. Terry Tiffee (Dodgers) drove in Barden with the go-ahead run.

The inane extra-inning rule came into play against Cuba in the United States' 5-4 loss on Friday, and U.S. manager Davey Johnson accused the Cubans of headhunting in order to stop a sacrifice bunt that would have moved the go-ahead run to third.

Despite the tumultuous start, they remain on a medal path. The Americans should be 3-2 with a win Monday morning against China, and then comes Taiwan (1-3) and Japan (2-2). The US needs to take care of business to make the Japan game meaningful. The top four teams make the medal round. As of Sunday morning, those are Cuba (4-0), surprising South Korea (4-0), Japan and the U.S. A pack of teams are at 1-3.

“We need every game,” Barden told the Associated Press. “You don’t know how this tournament’s going to turn out. We definitely needed this game.”

Meanwhile on the softball diamond, the beat goes on. The U.S. improved to 8-0 with a 6-0 win over the Netherlands. Team USA has outscored its opponents 44-1 with four run-rule games and hit 12 homers, already an Olympic record.