SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Cubans are coming, the Cubans are coming!

Who knew? The Cuban national team, which was almost excluded from the ongoing World Baseball Classic before it even began, is now safely into the semifinals of the inaugural tournament following a 4-3 victory over Puerto Rico on Wednesday night.

A big fat cigar from Havana to anyone who not only saw this coming when they filled in their WBC brackets, but also knew who exactly would be coming.

Yoandri Garlobo? Osmani Urrutia? Vicyohandry Odelin? Yulieski Gourriel? For a new generation of baseball fans already accustomed to Spanish surnames in their lineup cards, seeing and hearing these names for the first time made you appreciate Han Solo’s visit to the cantina in the original “Star Wars” movie.

But as Team Venezuela and now Team Puerto Rico will tell you, these feisty, fierce, and polysyllabic sons of Fidel Castro just delivered a stunning 1-2 punch to some of the Caribbean’s top talent and will join the mighty Dominican Republic in the WBC’s final four in San Diego. Who do they think they are?

If you were lucky enough to watch Los Cubanos down in San Juan, the odd names, the extraordinarily tight security, and the heavily charged political atmosphere that was focused on eliminating those pesky “Abajo Fidel” (Down With Fidel) signs in the stands took a backseat for good by Wednesday night, when the Cubans’ rock-solid style of play muted the 19,773 rum-soaked (you have a choice of two rums, in addition to vodka and Johnnie Walker Black Label at Hiram Bithorn Stadium) fans.

When the Cubans met the Puerto Ricans in the first round last Friday, only the 10-run mercy rule was able to stop the hosts from building on what ended as a 12-2 rout.As the anonymous Cubans watched helplessly from their positions, two of the most recognized names in all of baseball, Carlos Beltran and Bernie Williams, hit long home runs and sent the San Juan crowd into a frenzy.

“We lost the battle but not the war,” Cuban manager Higinio Velez said after the defeat.

Five days later, the two island nations met again with a trip to the semifinals on the line. By the seventh inning, Cuba had established a commanding 4-1 lead, but the Puerto Ricans came roaring back.

With runners at the corners and no outs, pinch hitter Ricky Ledee hit a grounder to second baseman Gourriel, who tried to turn a double play. But Gourriel’s throw pulled shortstop Eduardo Paret off the bag and one run came in, leaving runners on first and second, still no outs.

You would have thought umpire James Hoye had whipped out his own “Abajo Fidel,” for manager Velez, clad head to toe in the Cubans’ scarlet red uniform, ran out, arms spread before he reached the third base line, his white polo-shirted translator, a matronly sort, doing her best to keep pace with him.With Velez and Hoye trying to have a face-to-face argument but each needing to turn to the translator to hear the insults, the result was a hilarious head-craning, neck-whipping three-person act in red, white, and blue.

Finally, Velez uttered one translated word too many and Hoye sent him to the showers, much to the hooting delight of the home crowd, who smelled a collapse of the communists as sure as pundits have been predicting the death of Castro for all these many years.

But Castro lives. After Williams lined into a double play that pushed Cintron to third, the Tigers’ Ivan Rodriguez walked, bringing up Beltran. The Mets’ centerfielder lined a sharply hit ball to center field for a single. Cintron scored easily, narrowing the lead to one run. But when center fielder Alexi Ramirez bobbled the ball on the slick turf, Rodriguez turned on the jets and tried to score from first.

Ramirez finally got a hold of the ball and relayed it to the waiting Gourriel, who pivoted 180 degrees with breathtaking speed and fired a strike to catcher Ariel Pestano, nailing Rodriguez at the plate.

“That was the play of the game,” Gourriel said. “It was raining, the grass was wet, and when you have wet synthetic turf it is difficult to catch a ball and grasp it very well.I threw it home as hard as I could, because a soft throw wouldn’t work, and it worked out well.”

Well enough to suck nearly all the noise out of a pulsing stadium pulling hard for its boys. After a 1-2-3 ninth inning sealed the game, the Cubans celebrated in a bobbing clot of red in the center of the diamond. One Cuban writer who, like many of his colleagues, was wearing the same red workout pants worn by Castro’s son, Tony, the team doctor, pumped his fist and said, without surprise, “We are going to San Diego.”

Velez also exuded some scary intensity and utter calm while addressing/lecturing the press afterwards.

“For you, some of the media and press that follow baseball, it might have been a surprise,” Velez, whose team scored as many runs, 35, as the Dominicans have in their first six games, said. “It’s normal for us. This is the way we play baseball in Cuba.”

Normal for the Cubans has proven to be a novelty to the rest of the baseball world. They have Yadel Marti (0.00 ERA with two saves and one victory in 8 1/3 WBC innings) well-rested for a possible start against the Dominican Republic on Saturday.A win over the D.R., which beat up on the Cubans 7-3 here already, would transcend the two victories here. But even if it isn’t to be, to have stolen the spotlight away from the Dominicans in this just-concluded round of play has established a new identity for the international men of mystery and the WBC, winners all.

Mr. Silverman covers the Red Sox for the Boston Herald.