Puerto Rico's giant-killing run comes to abrupt halt

Edwin Rodriguez couldn't hide the disappointment of losing the World Baseball Classic final, but the Puerto Rico manager said no one on his team was hanging their heads on Tuesday.

"We feel very proud of what we did," Rodriguez said. "When we were playing in the first round in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in the same bracket ... nobody gave us any chance to get out of there.

"We passed to Miami and we were the underdogs there. We played the championship game and we were trying very hard to win this game.

"Every member of this team feels like mission accomplished."

It was the first all-Caribbean final in the short history of the WBC and also featured the two smallest nations in the 28-team tournament.

Puerto Rico couldn't generate any offense on Tuesday against the Dominicans' starting pitcher, Samuel Deduno, and four relievers.

Rodriguez said the Dominicans were a determined bunch that deserved the victory.

"We have to take our hats off to the Dominican Republic team. They had passion, desire and the drive to really show this kind of amazing performance," Rodriguez said.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 03/21/2013 page22)