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 Baseball: Cuba just another game for Krivda
Saturday, September 23, 2000 By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
SYDNEY, Australia -- Pardon Rick Krivda if he doesn't know what he's getting into. He's never paid much attention to Olympics baseball, you see, because he has always devoted his energy to pitching in the major leagues.
So getting the call to start for the U.S. team when it takes on Cuba today doesn't seem like anything terribly special for Krivda, a left-hander who grew up in McKeesport and went to college at California.
"I know they have a lot of experience, and they've been playing together for quite a few Olympics," Krivda said yesterday, after the Americans celebrated Manager Tommy Lasorda's 73rd birthday with cake and a 4-2 victory over Italy. "And this team, this is the first time we're together."
Neither description quite does the opponents justice.
The Cubans have dominated the international baseball scene practically forever. They have won the past 19 world championships, once went 134 international games without a loss and had never lost in Olympics competition until falling to the Netherlands, 4-2, earlier in the week.
"They just played better," said Cuba second baseman Antonio Pacheco, the team's captain. "The pitcher for the other team didn't make any errors. We don't mind if we lose one game. We came to win the gold medal."
Five of Cuba's players, including Pacheco, are trying to win the gold medal for the third consecutive Olympics. Baseball became a medal sport in 1992, the first year the Cuban baseball team competed in the Games. (It skipped '84 and '88, when baseball was a demonstration sport.)
The Americans don't exactly have a stellar Olympics history except for their '88 gold medal. Japan upset them in their home country in the '84 gold-medal game, they failed to medal in '92, and they settled for bronze in '96.
This team, however, has been a surprise. It is 5-0 and suddenly a contender for a gold medal. The key so far has been pitching; the United States has a team ERA of 0.77, the best in the tournament. The U.S. pitchers have given up only four earned runs
Krivda hasn't yet pitched in these Olympics -- he was told early that he would start against Cuba, although he said he could have been used in relief -- but he has still managed to enjoy his experience.
"It's an overwhelming experience," he said. "As far as the fan support ... now that we've won a few games I think the Aussies are pulling for us. And the opening ceremonies, that was a long night, but we got to get behind the Dream Team for the parade in, and everybody wanted to see the Dream Team.
"Marching in, it's definitely the greatest two or three minutes in my life so far."
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