PHILADELPHIA - Cole Hamels received some overdue run support from his Philadelphia Phillies teammates. Pat Burrell homered and matched his career high with five RBIs, and Hamels pitched seven effective innings to lead Philadelphia past the Los Angeles

South Korea pulled off the greatest upset in Olympics history as it beat Cuba 3-2 behind an outstanding outing from Ryu Hyun-Jin.

Cuba had won three of the first four Olympic gold medals, while South Korea had won a solitary bronze in 2000. But it's hard to argue that South Korea was the class of this field, as it went a perfect 9-0 during the tournament, beating Cuba and Japan twice and bronze medalist Team USA once.

Only one team each year holds the championship banner that goes to the winner of the Little League World Series, but the rest of the squads do not leave empty-handed.

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It's not what the medal they came for, but Team USA isn't heading home empty handed. Fresh off a disheartening defeat at the hands of Cuba in the semifinal game, the U.S. bounced back to beat Japan 8-4 in the bronze medal game. It was a game of comebacks for the U.S. Norichika Abe put Japan ahead 4-1 in the third when he hit a three-run home run off of Team USA starter Brett Anderson. But Matt Brown answered with a three-run homer of his own in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at 4-4.

This year?s leader boards include plenty of familiar stars, but two improbable stars have been Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox and Ryan Ludwick of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Our sister site PaidContent.org is reporting that ESPN (NYSE: DIS) and Major League Baseballs Advanced Media group (MLBAM) are extending their digital rights deal through 2013. Staci Kramer covered the news in two posts, , and with ESPN?s John Skipper

In Japan, the fascination with Daisuke Matsuzaka?s confrontations with Ichiro Suzuki underscores a difference in the way Americans and Japanese view baseball.

(EDS: ADDING RESULT OF FINAL) Taylor Teagarden hit a tiebreaking two-run double and Jason Donald followed with a two-run homer in the fifth inning Saturday as the United States defeated Japan 8-4 to capture the bronze medal in the Beijing Olympic

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Following are the final standings of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games baseball tournament (tabulated under games played, won and lost): 1. South Korea 9 9 0 2. Cuba 9 7 2 3. United States 9 6 3 4. Japan 9 4 5 5. Chinese Taipei