This game also marked the return of Casey Janssen to the mound for the first time since missing all of last season with labrum surgery on his right shoulder. He showed the U.S. a thing or two about a thing or two by working a shutout frame, plunking Adam Dunn (sure to score brownie points with a certain GM!), and striking out a batter.
Brad "General" Mills allowed just one run on one hit in his three inning start and Matt Clement was even better, working three clean innings with one punchout. Reid Santos and some shoddy defence allowed the U.S. to score four runs in the eighth, two of them earned, as the Jays made three errors on the day (Millar, Dopirak, Adams). However, the good guys rallied with a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth to make a winner of Dirk Hayhurst, who gave up a hit and struck out a batter in a shutout ninth. At the dish, four Jays were perfect including your 2009 ROY Travis Snider. He went 3-for-3. Brian Dopirak and Kyle Phillips were 2-for-2 with Dopirak supplying three RBI, including the game winner. Scott Campbell was 1-for-1.
On the U.S. side of the equation, some guy named Theodore Roosevelt Lilly went four innings and gave up just one run. J.J. Putz wound up taking the loss while Jimmy Rollins had a two RBI afternoon. As for how Canada did against the Phillies, things didn't go nearly as well so there's no need for any groundbreaking or cutting-edge analysis here.
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The World Baseball Classic got underway at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time with China taking on Japan, the 2006 defending champions, at the Tokyo Dome in Pool A action. Pool A has Japan, China, Chinese-Taipei, and Korea. Pool B has Cuba, Mexico, Australia, and South Africa in Mexico City. Pool C features Canada, the U.S., Venezuela, and Italy. Pool D consists of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Netherlands in San Juan. It's a double-elimination set-up for Round 1 which means if you lose twice, you're out. The top two teams from each pool advance to Round 2 which will be played at Petco Park in San Diego and Dolphin Stadium in Miami. The semi-finals and finals will be held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Blue Jays taking part in this tournament are Marco Scutaro for Venezuela, Rod Barajas for Mexico, Jose Bautista for the Dominicans, minor league hurler Orlando Roman for Puerto Rico, as well as Scott Richmond and minor league catcher David Corrente for Canada. Former Jays of note include Corey Koskie and Matt Stairs for Canada, Ted Lilly for the U.S., Frank Catalanotto for Italy, Cesar Izturis for Venezuela, and Felipe Lopez for Puerto Rico. As for Jays minor leaguers from the past , there's Sharnol Adriana for Mexico as well as minor league pitchers Po-Hsuan Keng for Chinese-Taipei, Diegomar Markwell for the Netherlands, Josue Matos for Puerto Rico, and Vince Perkins for Canada.
Team Canada will managed by former Ernie Whitt with Paul Quantrill helping out on the coaching staff. Canada's first game will be against the U.S. at the Rogers Centre this Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
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In other news...........
The Dodgers and Manny Ramirez finally agreed on a two-year deal worth $45-million dollars, Oakland expects new acquisitions Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra, to report to the A's camp today, and New York Mets ace Johan Santana is holding out hope that he'll start on Opening Day. Speaking of which, just 32 days until the Jays host Detroit at the Rogers Centre!
