Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - We Gotta Beat Italy!

No fancy headline today. Italy must go down in baseball flames tonight when they play Canada at the Rogers Centre. First pitch is 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Former Jays prospect Vince Perkins, now in the Cubs system, gets the start for the Canucks. The winner tonight will play Venezuela Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. EDT while the loser goes home.

In other World Baseball Classic action, Korea won the "A" Pool with a 1-0 victory over Japan early this morning. Korea and Japan both move on to Round 2, China and Chinese Taipei are out. In Pool B, Australia racked up more hits than Crowded House with 22 safeties as they hammered Mexico 17-7 in 8 innings. In Pool C, the USA have advanced to Round 2 thanks to a 15-6 whomping of Venezuela. It should have been 14-6 but Ryan Braun's blast just left of the left-field foul pole was ruled fair and that meant Venezuela couldn't tie it with a touchdown and two-point conversion in the ninth. In Pool D, the Dominican Republic sent Panama packing with a 9-0 whitewash.

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Lost in the World Baseball Classic hoopla was the Jays losing 6-5 to the Reds in 10 innings yesterday afternoon in Grapefruit League action. Scott Rolen and J.P. Arencibia went deep for the good guys and David Purcey put up three nice innings of pitching. Brett Cecil? Well, not so much! The Jays are 5-4 on the exhibition season.

Today, they're playing the Yankees in Tampa with Brad Mills getting the start for Toronto.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Monday, March 09 2009 @ 02:02 PM EDT.

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John Northey - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 02:45 PM EDT (#197104) #

So the two golden children had their first speed bumps of the spring.
Brett Cecil: 3 1/3 IP yesterday, 4 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, a two run home run to Gomes (2nd batter he faced) and one more earned run in his last inning of work.
Brad Mills: 3 2/3 IP today, 4 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, a two run home run to Gardner in his 3rd inning of work.

Nothing horrid there, just both having given up a long ball. Their control was fine it appears (total of 1 walk vs 7 K's in 7 IP between them) and total hits weren't bad either (8 in 7 IP). The runs were more due to the 2 run nature of the homers than anything else. The fact two of the 3 other hits Mills gave up were doubles is a bit concerning (3 extra base hits out of 4 hits) as that suggests there could've been a few screamers that were caught which saved him from a worse result. Cecil also gave up a double. So 3 doubles, 2 home runs out of 8 hits between them which is a bit on the scary side. It will be interesting to see how these two come back from these games in a few days.

John Northey - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 02:55 PM EDT (#197105) #

Oddity I noticed as I was about to close the window - David Weathers pitched against the Jays. He must be one of the few left from the glory days of 92/93 - he reached the majors in 1991 with the Jays, played a little in 92 before going all over the place (8 different teams) and has been a solid reliever for Cincinnati the past few years (ERA+ in the 130's for 3 years running) and is 39 now. We are down to him and Timlin from that 1992 team now. Add in Delgado for 1993 for all the active players left wearing a Blue Jays WS champion ring (unless Woody Williams is still trying to catch on somewhere after missing 2008). Never would've thought that Weathers could be the last guy from those teams to retire.

For odder, we now have as many HOF'ers as active players from those teams with Molitor, Winfield, and Henderson in the HOF and Alomar possibly joining them this winter. If Timlin and Williams are retired then the HOF'ers are more than active guys. Weird.

JustinD - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 02:59 PM EDT (#197106) #

Perhaps the wind played a hand in those home runs given up? I know the wind in Florida in March is very fierce. The amount of extra base hits given up might prove more insightful than the home runs allowed. Cecil has only allowed 7 HRs in his 168 minor league innings and Mills has allowed 7 as well, but his in 20 fewer innings.

Mick Doherty - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 03:22 PM EDT (#197107) #

Google tells me that Timlin is no longer a Red Sox (Red Sock? Red Soxer?) but I can't find any record of him signing with anyone yet.

Italy ... hm, what will the Toronto papers say when ex-Jay Frankie Catalanotto puts up a 6-for-7 day with a two doubles, a triple and three home runs, driving in 10 all by hisself to help shock Team Canada, 12-11?

vw_fan17 - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 03:23 PM EDT (#197108) #

For odder, we now have as many HOF'ers as active players from those teams with Molitor, Winfield, and Henderson in the HOF and Alomar possibly joining them this winter. If Timlin and Williams are retired then the HOF'ers are more than active guys. Weird.

Umm, well. I would think it would only be odd if we had ZERO HOF'ers from back-to-back series wins. Wait long enough, and eventually, EVERYONE will be retired, and you'll have 0 actives, and 0 or more HOF'ers... We've just hit that window. I mean - how many players TOTAL are still around from 1992? I would think less than 25.

Or is it odd that we have exactly the SAME number of active guys as HOF'ers?

John Northey - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 03:48 PM EDT (#197109) #

Heh. Feels odd because it says how old I (and all fans from that era) am getting. You gotta be retired 5 years to qualify for the HOF after all, so no one qualified until 1997. Just feels odd to see guys I remember as rookies starting to work their way into the HOF (such as Alomar - cheered him on in SD, then was shocked and super-happy to see the Jays get him even if it cost Tony Fernandez who is my all time favorite).

Chuck - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 05:04 PM EDT (#197110) #

what will the Toronto papers say when ex-Jay Frankie Catalanotto puts up a 6-for-7 day with a two doubles, a triple and three home runs, driving in 10 all by hisself to help shock Team Canada, 12-11?

Reporter (sounding like Chico Marx): "Frankie, you're such a smart boy. Whereja learn to hit so good?"
Frankie (every bit the Italian that Chico Marx was): "Eh, Wassamatta U.".

Nick Holmes - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 06:13 PM EDT (#197111) #

So this game isn't on TV, and the radio broadcast starts half an hour late, right?

Chuck - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 06:19 PM EDT (#197112) #

Sportsnet is carrying the game.

Nick Holmes - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 06:23 PM EDT (#197113) #

But not Ontario, right?

Chuck - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 06:25 PM EDT (#197114) #

http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvscheduleV3/tv_sked.php

Nick Holmes - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 06:27 PM EDT (#197115) #

Thanks, the PDF was giving me hives.

92-93 - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 07:03 PM EDT (#197116) #

"Italy ... hm, what will the Toronto papers say when ex-Jay Frankie Catalanotto puts up a 6-for-7 day with a two doubles, a triple and three home runs, driving in 10 all by hisself to help shock Team Canada, 12-11?"

That it was a brilliant move to offer him arbitration and watch him sign for too much with Texas so that the Jays could receive Kevin Ahrens and Justin Jackson as compensation?

Nolan - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 07:08 PM EDT (#197117) #

Italy/Canada is my first game I'm watching this season and Perkins is driving me insane with his inability to buy a strike. Ugh. 2-0

HollywoodHartman - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 07:21 PM EDT (#197118) #

I believe I just saw VBF in his Matt Stairs Canada jersey... Go Canada!

MrPurple - Monday, March 09 2009 @ 11:37 PM EDT (#197120) #

Oops....

Mylegacy - Tuesday, March 10 2009 @ 01:47 AM EDT (#197121) #

I believe the famous Chinese philosopher summed it up best when he said, "Sometimes shit happens."

Glevin - Tuesday, March 10 2009 @ 03:56 AM EDT (#197122) #

"I believe the famous Chinese philosopher summed it up best when he said, "Sometimes shit happens.""

That was pretty depressing. Although it would be ludicrous to blame him for the entire loss, I think that should be the last WBC for Whitt as manager as well. He insisted on hitting Canada's worst hitter leadoff and Canada's best starter (although he is a borderline major leaguer himself) never threw a pitch.

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