It's sad when you are the home team in a world tournament and you can't win a single game. And it's sad when you go 2-1 in 2006 and lose on an obscure tiebreaker, yet go 0-2 in 2009.
Canada might not have been the favorite against the United States, but the Canadians were expected to beat Italy. However, the Italians came ready to play and downed Canada 6-2 earlier tonight at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
There was some controversy over holding off Scott Richmond, the best of a beleaguered pitching staff thanks to injuries and other commitments (Ryan Dempster), to a possible game against Venezuela. But this team shouldn't have had to get to this point.
Italy, shut out against Venezuela on Saturday, scored a single run in each of the first four innings. Canada could only muster a Jason Bay 2-run double in the 4th inning.
The lack of decent pitching can certainly take some blame. But the expected potent offense didn't really show up. The major league stars did pretty well, though 41-year-old Matt Stairs went hitless in the tournament.
But Canada's double play combination went hitless (Chris Barnwell, Pete Orr) — difficult to score when your leadoff hitter can't get hits.
This team struggled in every major category. And the hustle of 2006 wasn't there in Toronto.
The Canadians do seem like they have some upcoming talent. If the major league pitchers can stay healthy, Canada should do better in 2013. But until then, they will have four years to think about how they did.
The series continues in Toronto. The United States has already advanced and will play the winner of the Venezuela-Italy contest on Tuesday. The championship game is Wednesday, though Tuesday's winner and the U.S. will go to Miami.
One negative point to note: MLB Network delayed the broadcast of the 6:30 pm EST start to well past 1 a.m. There should be some way every game is showed live, especially in the pool where the U.S. resides. True it wasn't much of a game, but it still should have been on live.
Posted by: Chad Rubel | March 10, 2009 at 09:09 PM