Olympic USA Teams put together a winning streak at the right time and qualified for the Olympic medal round with a victory Tuesday over Chinese Taipei in Olympic baseball in Beijing.

And the softball team is already in the gold medal game after a 4-1 victory early Wednesday over Japan that was closer than the score would indicate.

The baseball team beat Chinese Taipei 4-2 in a tight contest Tuesday, and Wednesday’s game against Japan won’t mean too much in the standings, as both have clinched berths in the medal round. If the U.S. wins, they will face Cuba in a semifinal. If they lose, it’s unbeaten South Korea. Cuba has one loss, while South Korea is unbeaten. The U.S. lost one-run games to both.

Because the game doesn’t matter as much, hard-throwing college junior-to-be Stephen Strasburg, who has emerged as the U.S. ace and is likely the No. 1 pick of next year’s MLB draft, won’t pitch against Japan in the final game of round-robin play. Instead, he’ll likely throw in the semifinal. Same goes for Japanese phenom Yu Darvish.

The Americans will likely hold out slugger Matt LaPorta (Indians), who suffered a concussion after being hit by a pitch against China. And they hold out hope Jayson Nix (Rockies) can return from an eye injury to play in the medal round. The four favorites advanced out of pool play, and I’ll stick with my original predictions.

In softball, Crystl Bustos hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to knock off Japan. The Americans (8-0) scored four runs in the ninth and extended their Olympic winning streak to 22 games. It was Bustos’ fifth homer of the games, a record. Australia and Canada will play for the right to face Japan, and the winner of that game will play the U.S. for the championship in what could be the final softball game ever played in the Olympics.

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After a flight from one hemisphere to another, the Olympic Team has arrived at the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

It’s a sport with its roots deeply intertwined in the United States, but everybody is trying to catch Cuba. The island country just south of Florida is a powerhouse in Olympic baseball, having won three of the four tournaments, which began in 1992 at the Barcelona games. In fact, the United States didn’t even qualify for the tournament at the Athens games in 2004. And, sadly for many, this could be the final Olympics for baseball. It will not be played in London in 2012. But there’s one tournament left. What’s at stake? 

The final Olympics baseball tournament could take place in Beijing, and Team USA has plans to make it memorable. “We knew going in that we wanted a veteran club, a team of guys who have been battle-tested, so to speak,” said Bob Watson, general manager of USA Baseball, in a news conference. “But we wanted younger prospects as well, guys with the fire to go out and showcase their talents on the international stage.”  Look at some of those players going for the gold medal in China: Matt LaPorta, Dexter Fowler, Stephen Strasburg, Jayson Nix and Brandon Knight.

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