WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: U.S. WIN AGAINST JAPAN IS IN THE BAG AMERICANS BENEFIT AFTER GO-AHEAD RUN GETS OVERTURNED BY UMP U.S. 4, JAPAN 3.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - The U.S. and Japan played a game for the ages in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

It will be remembered not for Alex Rodriguez's dramatic winning hit, but for a controversial call that proved costly to Japan.

Rodriguez hit a run-scoring single with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the U.S. a thrilling 4-3 win Sunday in the second round of pool play in front of 32,896 at Angel Stadium.

Japan appeared to score the go-ahead run in the eighth, but the call was overturned. Tsuyoshi Nishioka ran home from third on Akinori Iwamura's flyball to left and beat Randy Winn's throw to home plate. But Nishioka left the bag before the catch was made - at least according to home-plate umpire Bob Davidson. He overturned the call made by second-base umpire Brian Knight, who was covering third on the play, after U.S. manager Buck Martinez came out on the field to appeal.

Martinez didn't even have to say but a few words.

``The wrong umpire made the call,'' said Davidson, a major-league umpire. ``It was the plate umpire, which is me. It's my call and I had him leaving early.''

Japan manager Sadaharu Oh argued on the field and Japanese players protested a bit by staying in the dugout, even though there was three outs.

Players were asked about the last time they could remember an appeal overturned.

``I don't remember one, but it came at a very opportune time,'' Chipper Jones said.

Which is why the one-run victory comes with an asterisk, for some.

``It's unfortunate this game could've hinged on that play,'' said reliever Brad Lidge, who got out of a bases-loaded jam to pitch a scoreless ninth.

Replays appeared to show that while Nishioka's body was leaning toward home before Winn caught the ball, his foot didn't leave the bag. Umpires do not have the benefit of replay.

``All those four umpires should be equally having the same right to judge the play,'' Oh said. ``So it's just unimaginable that this could have happened or this did happen in the U.S., where the baseball is very famous and popular. And it's a pity that it was overruled.''

When Knight made the original call, the U.S. dugout erupted in unison. Starter Jake Peavy, who allowed three runs over the first two innings, wasn't sure what the correct call was, but that didn't seem to matter.

``As a dugout, we sell it,'' Peavy said. ``That's our job. It doesn't matter if the guy held a two-count or how the play unfolded. We're just glad it went our way.''

The U.S., which could have been knocked out of the first round after a shocking loss to Canada, started its comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the second, when Jones hit a solo home run to right-center field. In the sixth, the U.S. tied the score on a two-run homer by Derrek Lee.

Nothing was more intense than the top of the ninth. Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch from Kyuji Fujikawa to load the bases with one out. Ken Griffey Jr. struck out on a high fastball, but Rodriguez came through in the clutch.

``I definitely felt proud,'' Rodriguez said. ``It was the first opportunity of this sort that I had and that was definitely good. I was very happy to make that hit.''

And while many will continue to debate the merits of the win after the overturned call, Martinez won't.

``I had a really good look at it,'' Martinez said. ``Everybody on the bench reacted the same way, which validates what I thought was happening.''

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Alex Rodriguez gets the winning hit for Team USA on his bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth in the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Angel Stadium.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press