Canada Ousted '09 World Baseball Classic
Italians Stun Canada 6-2, Knocks Canadians Out of WBC
Mar 10, 2009
Canada is known for their hockey, there is no doubt about that. Canada's domination in the hockey world is unmatched and that doesn't look like it is about to change. Baseball on the other hand, has been a completely different story, much like many other sports. The United States has generally dominated in baseball, much like they have basketball, football (NFL), golf, tennis and so on. Recently, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Japan have emerged as forces to be reckon with as well in the international baseball world. But Canada has still yet to surface as even a small threat as opposed to those countries as a result of a lack of major league talent. That is until this year. With the presence of all-stars Russel Martin, Justin Morneau and Jason Bay, to go along with developing big leaguers Joey Votto and Mark Teahan, the expectations have been higher than ever. But while the bats were present, the 6-2 loss to Italy made Canada's biggest problems shine; the lack of talent in the bullpen and the lack of experience in management.
Ernie's Whitt's Managing Mistake
Many times in sports, the motto of teams are "one game at a time". Canadian Manager Ernie Whitt apparently has yet to grasp the idea of such term, and that was the first costly mistake leading to Canada's stunning loss. Whitt decided to start Triple-A starter Vince Perkins over his best starter, the Blue Jays Scott Richmond. His excuse was that he thought the guys he put out there that day were enough to beat the Italians. Whitt wanted to save Richmond for the next game against Venezuela, in which, if Canada had beat the Italians, would determine who moved on in Pool C. Obviously, the plan backfired as Perkins pitched just 2 innings, giving up 3 runs and walking 4. He also had a costly error in the first innning on a comebacker from the Twins Nick Punto, that could have got the first out of the inning and may have changed the flow of the inning in general. Whitt's lack of experience as a major league manager showed, as instead of getting the Twins Jesse Crain on as relief and stop the bleeding, he went with less-talented guys, which resulted in 3 more runs and 4 more walks. Crain was called to pitch late and worked a perfect last inning and a third, striking out 4 Italians. But at that point, the Italians were too far ahead.
Thin Canadian Bullpen and Rotation
When Scott Richmond, who has just half-a-season of major league experience, is the best pitcher on the staff, that is automatically a problem. To remind those that forgot, Canada definitely does not lack major league pitching. Erik Bedard, Rich Harden and Ryan Dempster all withdrew from the tournament to attend spring training and 'rest'. Apparently to those three, representing your country is not nearly as important as being healthy. Jeff Francis was supposed to pitch, before his injury that will put him out the entire season after surgery. That leaves the rotation that Canada had, inexperienced and simply not talented enough to fool major leaguers like Derek Jeter or David Ortiz. The pitching didn't even fool smaller big league names like Chris Denofia of Italy, who hammered the Canadian pitching all game going 4 for 4, let alone trying to fool a Jeter or a Ortiz.
Combining both of those problems can summarize one thing – the Canadians had far too many expectations for a roster of their talent. In reality, unless the bats of Morneau and the others hit for 9-10 runs a game, the Canadians were probably going to lose. The 6-5 loss against the Americans in the first game of the tournament had obviously got the Canadians to further believe that their expectations were at the right level. But unless guys like Bedard, Dempster and Harden get over their money needs, and start representing their country, Canada has no chance against anyone. No team in any baseball experiences success without pitching and good managing, and those two glaring problems showed Canadian baseball fans why this team was far from a good team.
