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Canada totally pwnz the US
U.S. Falls in Shocker
Americans Are In Dire Straits : Canada 8, United States 6
By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006; Page E01
PHOENIX, March 8 -- The World Baseball Classic emerged from the shadow of Barry Bonds's steroid allegations Wednesday by taking its own shocking turn. Team USA, led by superstars such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr., was thumped, 8-6, by a Canadian club led by a Baltimore Orioles lefty who had never pitched above Class A and journeymen such as Stubby Clapp and Pierre-Luc LaForest.
The stunning defeat, before 16,993 at Chase Field, threw the WBC into chaos. With one game to play in the opening round, Team USA's fate now hinges largely on Thursday's matchup between Canada and Mexico. If Canada wins, the Americans would still advance to the second round with a win Friday over lowly South Africa.
However, under a bewildering tiebreaker system based on runs allowed, the Americans will be bounced from a tournament of their own creation if Mexico beats Canada but scores two or fewer runs. If Mexico wins and scores at least three runs, the Americans, who plan to start Roger Clemens on Friday against South Africa, would advance with a win.
"So we're cheering for Canada, right?" said Rodriguez as players and sportswriters tried doggedly to sort it out afterward.
The WBC has been beset by star players dropping out and sporadic complaints about possible injuries. But since Tuesday, the tournament, and more generally, Major League Baseball, has been under a cloud after the release of excerpts of a new book detailing Bonds's extensive steroid use dating back to 1998.
Commissioner Bud Selig, who skipped Team USA's opener in the wake of the disclosures, showed up Wednesday and walked into a storm of Bonds-related questions. "Believe me," he joked, "today if I had my choice I would have gone to have a root canal job."
By the ninth inning, Selig, the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, could be seen with his hands in his pockets, nervously pacing the owner's box as he often did while watching his own team go down in defeat. The game ended with the heart of Team USA's lineup, including Derrek Lee, Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, unable to rally against right-hander Steve Green, who split last season between Class AA Akron and Class AAA Toledo in the Detroit Tigers system.
"It's a very quiet locker room right now," Team USA Manager Buck Martinez said. "I think everybody is feeling like they got kicked in the stomach."
The favorite to win the tournament, Team USA fell behind 8-0 in the fifth and faced the possible application of the "mercy rule" -- the immediate end to the game if a team falls behind by 10 runs after seven innings. Canada center fielder Adam Stern, who is expected to spend most of this season in the Red Sox minor league system, went 3 for 4 with four RBI, including a humiliating inside-the-park homer off Washington Nationals right-hander Gary Majewski. Canada hammered Dontrelle Willis, the Florida Marlins' star left-hander, for six hits and five runs. Willis was unable to make it out of the third inning. He threw 65 pitches, the maximum number allowed in the first round of the tournament.
Willis's counterpart was Adam Loewen, the Orioles' top pick in the 2002 draft. Loewen, who went 10-8 at Class A Frederick last year, is 6-feet-6, grew up in Surrey, B.C., and gave up hockey at 15 to focus on baseball, even though his high school didn't have a team. Canada's manager, former Blue Jays catcher Ernie Whitt, said he started Loewen over fellow Oriole Erik Bedard "because we wanted this to be his coming-out party."
"It's kind of beyond belief," said Loewen, who gave up just three hits. "We never really thought this would happen. We just wanted to keep the game close and try to give them a good game."
If there was one play that summed up the game for the Americans, it was Stern's inside-the-park homer in the fifth. Stern, a left-handed hitter, lashed a line drive that cleared left fielder Matt Holliday's head and sliced like a golf shot into the left field corner.
Holliday was chasing it, but the ball hit the bottom of the angled fence and shot well past him into left field. Instead of backing up, Griffey was jogging over from center field and the ball sat, dead and unattended, in the grass while Stern motored around the bases. By the time Griffey chased it down, Stern was scoring easily as boos cascaded from Chase Field's half-open roof.
When Stern left Red Sox camp last week to report to Team Canada, his teammates gave him a message. "They were saying: 'You're not even going to miss an exhibition game. We'll pencil you into the lineup,' " he said. "I just told them, 'We'll see.' "
The WBC's 16 teams are spread over four brackets. Two teams from each bracket advance to the second round. With powerhouses Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico grouped to face each other in the first two rounds, the tournament had appeared to be designed to give Team USA the easiest possible path to the finals.
Now, if Team USA makes it out, it will almost certainly be because of the six runs -- including catcher Jason Varitek's grand slam -- they managed to score after falling behind. The team's fate has been left to countries dominated by sports other than baseball: hockey in Canada and soccer in Mexico.
"They have the most talent, I won't lie," Stern said of the Americans. But he added: "We wanted to let people know that we play baseball, too. We're not just a hockey country."
Americans Are In Dire Straits : Canada 8, United States 6
By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006; Page E01
PHOENIX, March 8 -- The World Baseball Classic emerged from the shadow of Barry Bonds's steroid allegations Wednesday by taking its own shocking turn. Team USA, led by superstars such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr., was thumped, 8-6, by a Canadian club led by a Baltimore Orioles lefty who had never pitched above Class A and journeymen such as Stubby Clapp and Pierre-Luc LaForest.
The stunning defeat, before 16,993 at Chase Field, threw the WBC into chaos. With one game to play in the opening round, Team USA's fate now hinges largely on Thursday's matchup between Canada and Mexico. If Canada wins, the Americans would still advance to the second round with a win Friday over lowly South Africa.
However, under a bewildering tiebreaker system based on runs allowed, the Americans will be bounced from a tournament of their own creation if Mexico beats Canada but scores two or fewer runs. If Mexico wins and scores at least three runs, the Americans, who plan to start Roger Clemens on Friday against South Africa, would advance with a win.
"So we're cheering for Canada, right?" said Rodriguez as players and sportswriters tried doggedly to sort it out afterward.
The WBC has been beset by star players dropping out and sporadic complaints about possible injuries. But since Tuesday, the tournament, and more generally, Major League Baseball, has been under a cloud after the release of excerpts of a new book detailing Bonds's extensive steroid use dating back to 1998.
Commissioner Bud Selig, who skipped Team USA's opener in the wake of the disclosures, showed up Wednesday and walked into a storm of Bonds-related questions. "Believe me," he joked, "today if I had my choice I would have gone to have a root canal job."
By the ninth inning, Selig, the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, could be seen with his hands in his pockets, nervously pacing the owner's box as he often did while watching his own team go down in defeat. The game ended with the heart of Team USA's lineup, including Derrek Lee, Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, unable to rally against right-hander Steve Green, who split last season between Class AA Akron and Class AAA Toledo in the Detroit Tigers system.
"It's a very quiet locker room right now," Team USA Manager Buck Martinez said. "I think everybody is feeling like they got kicked in the stomach."
The favorite to win the tournament, Team USA fell behind 8-0 in the fifth and faced the possible application of the "mercy rule" -- the immediate end to the game if a team falls behind by 10 runs after seven innings. Canada center fielder Adam Stern, who is expected to spend most of this season in the Red Sox minor league system, went 3 for 4 with four RBI, including a humiliating inside-the-park homer off Washington Nationals right-hander Gary Majewski. Canada hammered Dontrelle Willis, the Florida Marlins' star left-hander, for six hits and five runs. Willis was unable to make it out of the third inning. He threw 65 pitches, the maximum number allowed in the first round of the tournament.
Willis's counterpart was Adam Loewen, the Orioles' top pick in the 2002 draft. Loewen, who went 10-8 at Class A Frederick last year, is 6-feet-6, grew up in Surrey, B.C., and gave up hockey at 15 to focus on baseball, even though his high school didn't have a team. Canada's manager, former Blue Jays catcher Ernie Whitt, said he started Loewen over fellow Oriole Erik Bedard "because we wanted this to be his coming-out party."
"It's kind of beyond belief," said Loewen, who gave up just three hits. "We never really thought this would happen. We just wanted to keep the game close and try to give them a good game."
If there was one play that summed up the game for the Americans, it was Stern's inside-the-park homer in the fifth. Stern, a left-handed hitter, lashed a line drive that cleared left fielder Matt Holliday's head and sliced like a golf shot into the left field corner.
Holliday was chasing it, but the ball hit the bottom of the angled fence and shot well past him into left field. Instead of backing up, Griffey was jogging over from center field and the ball sat, dead and unattended, in the grass while Stern motored around the bases. By the time Griffey chased it down, Stern was scoring easily as boos cascaded from Chase Field's half-open roof.
When Stern left Red Sox camp last week to report to Team Canada, his teammates gave him a message. "They were saying: 'You're not even going to miss an exhibition game. We'll pencil you into the lineup,' " he said. "I just told them, 'We'll see.' "
The WBC's 16 teams are spread over four brackets. Two teams from each bracket advance to the second round. With powerhouses Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico grouped to face each other in the first two rounds, the tournament had appeared to be designed to give Team USA the easiest possible path to the finals.
Now, if Team USA makes it out, it will almost certainly be because of the six runs -- including catcher Jason Varitek's grand slam -- they managed to score after falling behind. The team's fate has been left to countries dominated by sports other than baseball: hockey in Canada and soccer in Mexico.
"They have the most talent, I won't lie," Stern said of the Americans. But he added: "We wanted to let people know that we play baseball, too. We're not just a hockey country."
US losing to Canada in Baseball doesn't compute.
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