WBC: What a ballgame, that is all

It is a little tough to be totally galvanized when you're looking to Mike Johnson — once cut by the Edmonton Cracker-Cats, for chrissakes — as your paradigm of hope.

Nevertheless, that roar at Rogers Centre — at least three OOLFers were in attendance — during Canada's sadistically close 6-5 loss to Team USA was awesome today. Canada hung in until the final out, when J.J. Putz got Jason Bay to fly out to right field on a 3-2 pitch.

It almost evoked what it was like in Toronto for an all-too-brief period in the early 1990s. The point is that generation who were tweens and teens during the Jays' salad days are moving — or were, before the R-word — into their prime earning years, and they're ready to redefine the often staid Toronto sports-watching experience.

Watching the game today, it became clear why it's bittersweet for Canadian footy fans, or maybe us nutters for university sports, when there is a halfway seminal moment. There is always that feeling that it's all a chimera, that soon the game will go back to being an afterthought among most casual fans. Fifty thousand people were there, including a healthy contingent of U.S. fans, which only adds to the atmosphere. It was tense throughout.

Anyway, there's not too much to add. Canada, considering it was saving Scott Richmond for a must-win game vs. the loser of tonight's Venezuela-Italy game, hung with Team USA better than a lot of people might have figured. As you know, Toronto's own Joey Votto was nails, going 4-for-5 with a homer and a run-scoring double that put Canada in position to tie the game in the ninth inning. Canada had Justin Morneau and Jason Bay coming up with the tying run 180 feet away and couldn't catch a break against the Americans' closer, J.J. Putz from the Seattle Mariners. Ooh, we almost had it.

Meantime, how about the Netherlands knocking off the Dominican Republic. Full marks go to Ron Rollins at Baseball Over Here, since he had the Dutch winning that game.

One last thing: Phillippe Aumont is all about speed. Filthy, nasty, bad-ass speed. He struck out Kevin Youkilis and Curtis Granderson with the bases loaded. Paraphrasing Kenny Powers in East Bound & Down, everyone wants a piece of Aumont's stuff, including Baseball America.

(One little Seamheady point: It was little amusing when Canada shortstop Chris Barnwell came up and Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino launched right into the party line that the Triple-A infielder was selected for his ability to get on base. Barnwell, who did on-base .375 in Triple-A one season, whiffed on three pitches vs. U.S starter Jake Peavy. Catcher Russ Martin ended up walking on a full count and eventually scoring the day's first run.)

Snark break ...

Canada-USA on tap...

The cash-poor clowns who own the Tampa Bay Lightning really should get raked over the coals for what they did to Gary Roberts. Their egos wrote cheques they couldn't cash, they overpaid for a 42-year-old hockey player who now gets tossed away like a hardware store flier.
The TSN2/Rogers/Raptors kerfuffle has come out in the wash, essentially. The only reason to follow the Raptors is if you have one of their players in a fantasy league, and that just requires checking the boxscores. To wit, how did Andrea Bargnani manage to only get two rebounds on Friday?

Shane Victorino, the Flyin' Hawaiian, is starting in centre field for Team USA against Canada at the WBC. Has anyone checked to see if his Hawaiian birth certificate is a forgery and he's not eligible for the office?

The Florida State Seminoles football team got four years' NCAA probation. This never would have happened if Bobby Bowden was still alive.

Far be it to say the Kingston Frontenacs are out the race. There is the one to see if the Frontenacs can finish with is many points in two seasons as Belleville or London have in one. Right now, it's London 95, Kingston 93, Belleville 90.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• It was all over the blogosphere Friday, but here is the Sports Illustrated article where Tony Mandarich apologizes for lying about his steroid usage.
  
  It would be a fun, if not lucrative, project to find the the Northwestern Wildcats defender whom Mandarich "drove 20 yards into the end zone before pile driving him into the turf, after which Mandarich stood over the player and shouted, 'Now stay there!' " Northwestern grads do some pretty amazing things, compared to grads of other schools which wear purple and have Western in their name.
• Truer words never spoken, via Walkoff Walk: "... if you're looking for some intelligent analysis, don't go to Drunk Jays Fans."

Raptors & TSN2: And you thought they took half-measures on D

The idiocy that's been perpetrated on Raptors fans is hardly worth updating with only 19 games left in the season and the team 23-40, but here's a note from The Star's estimable Doug Smith:

"Oh yeah, we were reminded last night that Raptors TV will be showing the games at Philly and against Detroit this week – yeah, they’re both TSN2 special – in their entirety.

"Nice patting of self on backs, Raptors, but if you think that’s going to make anyone feel good, you’re more foolish than I expected.

"Not only have they, Rogers and TSN screwed fans royally all year, this self-serving stuff only underscores the fact they should have been doing this all season.

"The TV situation has been a mess from Day 1 and this isn’t going to make it feel any better.

"What they should have been doing is simulcasting them from the start of the season."

Even stranger, a highly unscientific straw poll of the Ottawa Sun sports desk found that several Rogers subscribers get Raptors NBA TV without ever having requested, every one except the guy who actually follows the Raps and has seen his fantasy team suffer as a result of these shenanigans.

The ATJs report: Seeing victory and the moral high geekhood

One of us is owner of the the all-time Toronto Blue Jays team — the ATJs — in the Seamheads.com Historical League (SHL). So how about those Blue Jays? At this writing, they are 56-49, clinging to a two-game division lead over the combined Arizona-Colorado D-Rocks .

Out of Left Field has a bone to pick with who's out in left field.

It veers dangerously close to that Warcraft episode of South Park, but it set the blood to boil to see "M. Teixeira, LF" appear in the boxscore of a recent 7-4 win over the Angels (Roy Halladay, FTW: Complete-game win and a two-run single which knocked Nolan Ryan out of the game). It just flies in the face of a personal geek code which puts a premium on verisimilitude in sports simulations, even if judging by the fact he's made eight errors in 28 games, Mark Teixeira probably has tried to catch a few flies with his face.

Truth be known, it's a huge dice-roll by Angels GM Chad Finn from Touching All The Bases to use Teixeira as a leftfielder. The current poster child for the armageddon has only played 25 major-league games in the outfield, all in 2003 when he was with a team not named the Angels. It gets another power bat in the lineup and this is a fun thing for a bunch of baseball obsessives, so fair play to Chad. The problems are all on this end.

It probably is classic projecting-all-over-the-place to have even picked up on something so picayune. The SHL uses only players' stats accumulated for that team, which means if you wanted to put Manny Ramirez on the Dodgers after he hit .396/.489/.743 for L.A. over the final third of the last season, go right ahead.

It's a similar story with Teixeira, who hit .358/.449/.632 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage) after the Angels brought him last season as a rental player (and never played him anywhere but first base, which is the only spot he'll play for the Yankees).

Some SHL owners will do that, and that's OK. For some, it all harkens back to the epitaph a friend unwittingly offered long ago, late on night over Madden: "Neate, you always try to play the game right." He was referring to actually punting when it was fourth down and forever, instead of having the quarterback scramble around behind the line of scrimmage and heave the ball downfield like Rex Grossman in his most fevered dream to get a miracle completion (to say nothing of people who would call fake field goals in every kicking situation).

As the years have rolled past like some sunny day, it's come to take the form of a left-handed compliment. Half the fun of getting into this was to go with the players who had lasting impact in Toronto, just like how the manager who got the Jays to the mountaintop, twice, Cito Gaston, could be loyal to his guys to a fault (see Joe Carter's 1997 batting splits).

Great hitters, but not out standing in their field!

The whole verisim-whatever thing was paramount in the construction of the All-Time Jays, for good or ill. Apparently, it is so be it, if it means having a team which played .500 ball since May 1 since someone had a Seamhead hang-up about running Dave Winfield out to right field every day, because he played only 26 games there while he was OPS-plusing 137 as the DH for the 1992 championship team. The same could go for having Paul Molitor, who played only 28 games as a first baseman across his three-year stint as the Jays' DH (OPS-plusing 138 in the 1993 and 143 in '94). Molitor might have been a better call at third base if not for a huge yes-but: He didn't play that position regularly for the Blue Jays.

What's it called if you cut corners and stop at nothing, by not staying true to your team's history? Uh, winning?

Believe it, all manner of history-affronting solutions have been contemplated as the Jays have eked their way through the past couple months like, well, a 32-year-old copy editor who shares a one-bedroom apartment. Third base, both corner outfield spots and the back end of the starting rotation have been troublesome. It still would have felt wrong to have Winfield or Molitor as an everyday position player.

On the mound, David Cone, based on his two partial seasons in Toronto (3.14 ERA over 183 1/3 innings during the '92 pennant drive and the turn-out-the-lights '95 season), might have bolstered a pitching staff whose ERA has ballooned to a garden variety 4.73, including 4.89 for the starters (both in the bottom third of the league).

Finn's gambit, though, has provided inspiration to call up 1980s-vintage first baseman Willie Upshaw, hitting .292/.354/.516 at Triple-A Las Vegas, so he can be about the sixth player to have a crack at holding down a semi-regular role in the outfield. Upshaw at least has a fielding rating in left field. His rating is 1. In the Out of the Park baseball simulation, by the way, the higher the number the better. Still, the other outfielders beyond Moseby and Devon White haven't been very good, producing McGlovin-esque stats:

• Joe Carter: .761 OPS
  
• Alex Rios: .684
  
• George Bell: .637
• Jesse Barfield: .580
• Vernon Wells: .561

In the infield, Orlando Hudson, who is blocked by Robbie Alomar at the only position he's ever known, second base, is also coming up. The O-Dog, who's hit .312/.363/.481 for the 51s, might end up becoming some kind of utilityman, filling at third base and shortstop, since Troy Glaus has been useless vs. righties and Tony Fernandez has started all 105 games.

The road ahead, the final 49 games, are going to be tough, most notably a fast-approaching four-game series against the Arizona/Colorado team. Ultimately, it still feels like the right choice to have not kept Molitor or Winfield, or do something crazy like With no DH, having Carlos Delgado and Freddie McGriff rotate between first and the outfield, like how Hall of Fame sluggers Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda did for the early-'60s San Francisco Giants. Do you remember Delgado's short-lived stint as an outfielder in 1994? (King Carlos is still second in the league with a 1.041 OPS).

It's just that using a player who was only with the team for a brief period isn't true to what it's like to follow a team down through the years. You want to take in their bad seasons, their struggles as a young player, the years after they peaked. Granted, that is pretty self-serving coming from someone who did take Roger Clemens, who only pitched in Toronto for two now-tainted seasons, but let's not go nuts. There's a division title at stake and he has proven to be the one sure thing in the starting rotation.

He must have been winded: Pitchers having to run the bases is the 11th-most hilarious aspect of National League baseball (Nos. 1-10 are all actual teams), so what happened to Jimmy Key in a recent 10-7 win over the Angels did not escape notice. With two out in the bottom of the third, Key came around to score for first base on a two-out double by Rios on a 3-2 pitch, putting the All-Time Jays up 7-0. The next inning, presumably still winded, he was touched up for six runs and was yanked before he could qualify for a win. B.J. Ryan picked him up with 3 1/3 innings scoreless relief.

Rance Mulliniks The Player also scored the first run of that game without the ball leaving the infield (walk, sac bunt, up to third on an infield out, wild pitch). Rance Mulliniks The Broadcaster then spent the next five innings talking about the need to manufacture runs.

That's about the low point: The absolute teeth-gnasher has to be a four-game sweep at the hands of Florida/Tampa Bay which included three losses in extra-innings, which must have had the Jays Talk knowitalls going on about the team's lack of heart and scrappy grit. A potential comeback win in the opener turned into an 11-9 loss when Conine ripped a three-run homer off Tom Henke in the bottom of the 10th. Two nights later, the Terminator couldn't hold a lead for Pat Hentgen, as Derrek Lee hit a tying, two-run homer, and then homered again in the 12th for a 5-3 win.

Conine also got another 10th-inning game-winning hit off Henke in a 3-2 win the next day. That was set up by a triple by Hanley Ramirez, whose RBI double in the eighth sent it to extras. (For some reason, Roger Clemens was allowed to start that inning even though he was at 119 pitches after seven innings.)

He just has it in for Hall of Fame closers: A three-game sweep of the Padres included Robbie Alomar hitting a game-winning homer off Goose Gossage. It actually came in the seventh inning, so Robbie probably didn't throw up his hands as he started toward first base like he did in October 1992 vs. Dennis Eckersley.

'Spos daze: The All-Time Jays are 0-6 vs. Montreal, the team mastermind by Jonah Keri. Despite all that help, nos amours are still second in the Expansion Two division.

Take that, Seaver: The Cincinnati version of Tom Seaver has been roughed up whenever he's faced "us." Delgado hit a pair of two-run homers off him in a 7-5 win July 28, but has gone yard only once since, which is kind of a drag.

What's coming up: A four-game series on the road against the Arizona-Colorado D-Rocks.

Canada could use a fastball-throwin' sasquatch

Anyone who's watched the two Ontario-based NHL teams might find themselves agreeing with Derek Sanderson Jeter.

Top 10 Reasons To Watch the World Baseball Classic
by beisbolct

Batter up: World Baseball Classic, Pool D

The 2009 World Baseball Classic officially began in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Most teams, including these ones, get started on the weekend.

Next up: a preview of Pool D (San Juan): Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Netherlands. This pool was much the same in 2006, except with Cuba instead of the D.R. This time around, none of these teams will face Cuba until the semifinal.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. the Netherlands (11 a.m., all times Eastern)
• WBC 2006: 4th overall: 5-1 in group play, lost to Cuba 3-1 in semifinal.
• Players to watch: SS Jose Reyes (Mets), DH David Ortiz (Red Sox), RHP Edinson Volquez (Reds), 2B Robinson Cano (Yankees), SS Miguel Tejada (Astros), SP Pedro Martinez
  
• Who's missing: Adrian Beltre and some guy named Rodriguez.
  
• Pitching: Jose Arredondo, Juan Cruz, Damaso Marte, and Rafael Perez are varying degrees of dangerous out of the bullpen: Perez has had more strikeouts than innings in every major-league season. And with Volquez and Johnny Cueto, the Dominicans are probably No. 1 in "2008 pitcher performance minus 2007 pitcher performance." But they also have Pedro in camp, who considers himself "the old goat in this group."
  
• Hitting: Without Beltre or A-Rod, it's not as scary as it was a week ago. But it's still better than most in this tournament. Willy Aybar can fill in at third in their absence.
  
• Fielding: First base and outfield is a little less packed than second, third, and short (Cano, Reyes, Tejada, Hanley Ramirez can play too). Willy Tavares is probably in CF by default. Nelson Cruz can handle RF, but Jose Guillen and Moises Alou have never been great so Jose Bautista might show up in one of the corners by default.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: First place.
  
• Tournament potential: They're good enough to make the final four. They'll have to beat two of these teams (easy enough) then probably two more of Puerto Rico/USA/Venezuela. Their pitching may not carry them all the way to the final, though.
  

PUERTO RICO

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. Panama (5 p.m.)
• WBC 2006: 5th overall: 4-2 in group play and did not make semifinals. They beat Cuba 12-2, but lost to them 4-3 in the second round.
  
• Players to watch: RHP Javier Vazquez (Braves), C Geovany Soto (Cubs), OF Alex Rios (Blue Jays), 1B Carlos Delgado (Mets), OF Carlos Beltran (Mets), other Mets named Carlos
• Who's missing: Not too many pitchers available. Only 17 Puerto Rican pitchers have made their major-league debut in the last 10 years. A big loss is Mike Lowell, third baseman, .279/.343/.467 lifetime hitter, and one of the best guys in baseball, who is recovering from hip surgery. He really wanted to play.
  
• Pitching: Behind Vazquez, it's kind of thin: Javier Lopez and Pedro Feliciano can contribute out of the bullpen, but with Ian Snell and Jonathan Sanchez 2-3 in the rotation, they'll need relievers more often than is convenient.
  
• Hitting: Soto was the 2008 NL Rookie of the Year and the starting catcher in the All-Star Game. Delgado is Delgado. Beltran and Rios add power. Mike Aviles came out of nowhere to hit .325/.354/.480 for the Royals last year and Felipe Lopez is also a decent hitter. They have legit major-leaguers at basically every spot, 1 through 9, and four of them need to be handled with care.
  
• Fielding: If Soto falters, then Yadier Molina, the best fielder among the Flying Molina Brothers, is solid behind the plate. Ivan Rodriguez is on the roster as well, although Soto is probably a better option to start. Lopez used to play shortstop but wasn't good, and Alex Cora should play there over Aviles. (Bernie Williams is apparently on the roster and should be kept away from an outfielder's glove.)
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Second-place behind the Dominicans, or first if they send Vazquez against them.
• Tournament potential: Maybe the semifinals if their pitching holds up. They can certainly ride their bats to Round 2.
  

PANAMA

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. Puerto Rico (5 p.m.)
  
• WBC 2006: One of four teams to lose all three games, although they kept Puerto Rico within one and took Cuba to eleven innings. They were also memorably no-hit by 18-year-old Shairon Martis of the Netherlands in their final game.
• Player to watch: OF Carlos Lee (Astros)
  
• Who's missing: Mariano Rivera, possibly the best pitcher ever (you can make the argument)
  
• Pitching: Manuel Corpas is probably the best pitcher, but he rarely goes more than two innings. After him it's Manny Acosta, another reliever, and Bruce Chen, who could start but shouldn't. There are a remarkable number of A-ball players on this roster.
  
• Hitting: Carlos Lee and, um, Carlos Lee. Carlos Ruiz also has major-league experience. The president of Panama convinced him that they needed a catcher, but with a career OPS+ of 77, Ruiz won't cause opposing pitchers to pace nervously and talk to themselves (any more than they already do).
  
• Fielding: No clue. Lee's not great, that's all I can tell you.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Third
  
• Tournament potential: They'd have to upset and/or kidnap somebody to get into Round 2.
  

NETHERLANDS

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. Dominican Republic (11 a.m.)
  
• WBC 2006: Their only win was the aforementioned no-hitter over Panama.
  
• Players to watch: Sidney Ponson, I guess. Shairon Martis isn't listed on the roster this year. Randall Simon hasn't played in North America for a while but will forever be known for this:
  
  You know Letterman would be all over this, too.
  
• Who's missing: Martis, Jair Jurrjens, and Andruw Jones.
  
• Pitching: Sidney Ponson, I guess. Rick VandenHurk is #2 on a weak staff. Rick VandenHurk's career ERA is 7.
  
• Hitting: Former Ottawa Lynx outfielder Gene Kingsale is there, but don't get too excited.
• Fielding: I hope Sharlon Schoop gets a lot of playing time behind the plate, because his name is Sharlon Schoop.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Fourth
• Tournament potential: Guess.
  

Snark break ...

(Please omit flowers for the Montreal Impact. Canadian soccer teams always being the scrappy underdog is so little for the mind ... but they came so close.)

There is a method to the madness of the CFL legalizing the Wildcat formation: Based on last season, the Argos should have the quarterback handling the ball as little as possible.

It's good to see the single point we know and love will be spared. It might be universally regarded as an award for failure, but that's Canada at its essence. Thank your lucky stars for that, eh, John Tory?

Say whatever you want about Terrell Owens, but four quarterbacks have thrown 30 touchdown passes in a season with him, and only one of them ever did it without him, Hall of Famer Steve Young. Granted, it's better for ESPN when the Dallas Cowboys are stupid. (Fist bump: Pacifist Viking.)

Ontario Hockey League commissioner David Branch said this week the recession is having "no significant impact on the league." For instance, the Kingston Frontenacs will sell as many playoff tickets as they did last season.

That's not a cheap shot when you consider that the Frontenacs tried to blame their attendance on the recession, despite the fact most season tickets were paid in full before the Dow took a dump.

Thank you, Cox Bloc: We want Sean Avery. We need Sean Avery.

Lastly, one for The Tao of Stieb: It's a sad commentary on the state of Canadian literacy that so many have heard Prime Time Sports regular James Deacon on the radio, but never read one of his columns.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• The MLB Network is getting rave reviews, which perfectly explains why it could never get carriage in Canada.
  
• Twitter is bad, very bad. Go tweet that to all of your followers.
• Ottawa native Chris Bisson, a sophomore shortstop at the University of Kentucky, is on the Canadian Baseball Network's 2010 draft list.
• The economy is bad, Ken Griffey is back in Seattle, it's pretty much like the early '90s, so perfect time for all four Seinfeld actors to reunite.
  
  (In the old days, this would have inspired a Top 5, but turns out ESPN.com did the best Seinfeld sports moments almost five years ago.

CIS Corner: Must avoid ... March Madness/Avril wordplay

Nice feature in the Van Province on Simon Fraser Clan centre Matteke Hutzler "from tiny Napanee, Ont.," whose No. 1-seeded Clan face the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the first game of the CIS Final 8 women's basketball championship.

"And the new Hutzler's attitude hasn't been lost on Clan head coach Bruce Langford.

"' It's taken her a while to get hooked on the game of basketball, but right now, she is hooked,' he said. "Is she just scratching the surface? I think she's still beneath the surface, maybe just starting to stick her head up for air.' "

Napanee is tiny, yes, but it stands to add another name to its roll call of Gee-Gees nemeses which begins with Carleton coach Dave Smart. It would be great if Ottawa pulled it off somehow, but loyalty to my birthplace has to come first.

(Update: Simon Fraser won, 89-42, with Hutzler producing a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Hannah Sunley-Paisley had 17 & 10 for Ottawa; tough way for Gee-Gees such as Katie Laurie to go out.)

Related:
Muddy sees clearly now, Clan forward playing her best basketball as CIS nats set to begin (Howard Tsumura, Little Man at Campus)

'Sports papers with news sections'

Not run over already already well-trod ground, but Jonah Keri linked to a recent Boston Phoenix article on how to save the local newspaper:

"(Step 3). Beef up local and sports coverage. This is what regional daily papers can uniquely provide. And they should. That means that serious thought should be given to turning such papers as the Boston Globe or Boston Herald (my two local newspapers) into sports papers with news sections, rather than the other way around.

"The truth is that sports papers around the world are still hugely successful. Yes, the National failed here almost two decades ago, but that's because Americans follow their sports locally, not nationally. A local version could well prove a success."

The author, Steven Stark, also says, "charge a web fee." You might never be able to know for sure that you're still sane, but at least you know others could have the same kind of crazy.

Once a former Expo, always a former Expo

Far be it that a former Expo from B.C. would have a hate on for a ballclub based in Toronto. Canadian Baseball Network notes Larry Walker was none too happy about the "boot leg lineup" the Blue Jays fielded Tuesday vs. Canada, compared to the one they put out vs. Team USA:

"Larry Walker trudged toward the Team Canada bus outside the Brighthouse Networks Field yesterday afternoon.

" 'How many regulars did the Blue Jays use against Team USA today?” Walker asked.

"The Jays had Joe Inglett, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Kevin Millar, Scott Rolen, Travis Snider, Raul Chavez and John McDonald starting against Team USA.

" 'The lineup they fielded against us was embarrassing,” Walker said. “There is only one major-league team in Canada now and that is the respect that the Blue Jays show our Canadian national team?

" 'They fielded a boot leg lineup. Only guy I recognized was Michael Barrett.'

"Against Team Canada, the Jays had a lineup of Inglett, battling Jose Bautista for a back-up job, Barrett, fighting Chavez for the No. 2 catcher’s spot and McDonald with minor leaguers Russ Adams, Scott Campbell, Jason Lane, Randy Ruiz, Adam Loewen and Buck Coats."

Hey, Canada needed to rest up before they roughed up Joba Chamberlain today; he lasted only five hitters, with all coming around to score in Canada's 6-0 exhibition win over a bunch of guys wearing Yankees uniforms.

Batter up: World Baseball Classic, Pool C

The 2009 World Baseball Classic officially began in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Most teams, including those from North America, get started on the weekend. (Where were you on March 8, 2006, when Canada beat the U.S.?)

Next up: a preview of Pool C (Toronto): Canada, the U.S., Italy, and Venezuela.

UNITED STATES

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. Canada (2 pm ET)
• WBC 2006: Went 3-3 in group play: lost to South Korea and Canada, split with Mexico, and beat Japan and South Africa. And in a devastating blow to their opponents' chances at easy wins, 2006 manager Buck Martinez has been replaced with the competent Davey Johnson. (In a devastating blow to their own, Ernie Whitt remains with Canada.) Johnson said the team is better-prepared this time. There's no indication that he wanted to finish that sentence with "because Buck isn't around." However, there is no indication that it's anything else.
• Players to watch: Tons. RHP Roy Oswalt (Astros), RHP Jake Peavy (Padres), RHP J.J. Putz (Mets), C Brian McCann (Braves), 3B David Wright (Mets), 1B Kevin Youkilis (Red Sox), SS Jimmy Rollins (Phillies), OF Shane Victorino (Phillies), OF Curtis Granderson (Tigers), SS Derek Jeter (Yankees), 1B Adam Dunn (Nationals)
  
• Who's missing: Two top relievers, Joe Nathan of the Twins and B.J. Ryan of the Blue Jays, and Brad Hawpe of the Rockies (116 career OPS+)
  
• Pitching: Peavy and Oswalt are better than most teams' 1 and 2. In the major leagues. Peavy, the expected starter against Canada, also breezed through a March 1 outing: 33 pitches in three innings. They also have Ted Lilly (Cubs) and Jeremy Guthrie (Orioles), so that's four big-league starters (four more than some teams). Brian Fuentes (Angels) is out for at least the first round for personal reasons, but if he makes it back, he's one of the best out of the 'pen. Putz had some troubles against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, whereas Lilly apparently did not, for what that's worth.
  
• Hitting: On paper, devastating. You can see the list of hitters they have. The worst lineup would have Chris Iannetta (104 career OPS+) and Mark DeRosa (118, 102, 108 the last three years). It remains to be seen whether they'll all show up 100%, and whether any of them will blow off the game and go spent $26 on mineral water at Harbour Sixty.
  
• Fielding: You know and I know and Jimmy Rollins knows that Derek Jeter will play shortstop. This is not perfect, but not devastating. Other than that, Dunn should be kept out of the outfield, and Chipper Jones away from third (especially with Wright around).
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: First
• Tournament potential: This would be a 90-win team in MLB. Semifinals are almost a certainty. Once there, Cuba or Japan have the ability to stop them.
  

VENEZUELA

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. Italy (8 pm ET)
• WBC 2006: Didn't advance past Round 2. They beat Italy, Australia, and Puerto Rico, then lost to Cuba once and the Dominicans twice. Only one of those teams is in this pool and they won't matter much.
  
• Players to watch: RHP Felix Hernandez (Mariners), RHP Francisco Rodriguez (Mets), RHP Felix Hernandez (Mariners), OF Magglio Ordonez (Tigers), RHP Felix Hernandez (Mariners), OF Bobby Abreu (Angels), 3B Miguel Cabrera (Tigers), RHP Felix Hernandez (Mariners), RHP Felix Hernandez (Mariners)
• Who's missing: Freddy Garcia and Kelvim Escobar and Carlos Zambrano, all starters, some better than others.
• Pitching: It's all about King Felix. Not having anyone behind him hurts. If they have to rely on the new, slimmer Carlos Silva, Venezuela may not advance past Round 2.
  
• Hitting: Abreu and Ordonez highlight this major-league lineup. There are no holes as long as Cesar Izturis is a gloveman and a gloveman only.
  
• Fielding: Cabrera has seen better days, even though he's just 25. But with Marco Scutaro and Melvin Mora, they have the infield covered and some of the outfield as well. Endy Chavez is pretty good in CF and he'll have to cover for Abreu in right. Carlos Guillen, a former shortstop and first baseman, apparently won't play unless he's in left field. On balance, their D is good but not great.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Second
• Tournament potential: Not quite the semi-finals. They have five or six stars, a great supporting cast, but not enough pitching talent to do any real damage.
  

CANADA

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. USA (2 pm ET)
• WBC 2006: Where to start? They nearly lost to South Africa (South Africa (South Africa)) when Paul Quantrill forgot how to pitch. Adam Stern torched the Americans to give the team hope, then a pitcher whose name we are not allowed to speak shut them down in their last-hope game against Mexico. They were the only 2-1 team not to advance to Round 2 thanks to a pretty questionable tiebreaker system that is fortunately well in the past this time around.
• Players to watch: C Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeanson Martin (Dodgers), OF Jason Bay (Red Sox), 1B Joey Votto (Reds), 1B Justin Morneau (Twins)
  
• Who's missing: Someone with more than five major-league starts. Jeff Francis, Erik Bédard, and Rich Harden are all otherwise occupied.
  
• Pitching: Scott Richmond and...anyone? Well, Richmond has good control. Unfortunately this sometimes means "good control down the middle of the plate." Vince Perkins will start the second game: he's a former Blue Jay minor leaguer who once had potential but has missed a lot of time due to Tommy John surgery. Chris Begg is a longtime international rep who pitched well in Beijing and might get a start. Phillippe Aumont is intriguing, if only because of his age. The bullpen is full of names you don't know, but bullpens can be built that way and still be effective. Jesse Crain will be relied on for a lot. Steve Green has the U.S. game from 2006 to warrant attention in late innings. The other guys are in their mid-20s and still in Single-A or Double-A, so there's not much to say.
  
• Hitting: You know Morneau. Votto came second in Rookie of the Year voting in the N.L. last year and is another bopper. Aside from the four hitters above, Adam Stern and Pete Orr bring enthusiasm if not big-league bats and Mark Teahen can hit if not field. (Stubby Clapp, due respect, is fast approaching the Rheal Cormier Memorial Interchange on the You Haven't Played Pro Ball In How Many Years? Expressway.)
  
  The offence won't be a weakness, not with those four big hitters in the 2-5 spots and Matt Stairs somewhere else in the order. (Stairs should be higher and Martin should lead off, but it's Ernie Whitt.) The thing is, if there's one constant in Canadian ball, it's watching the many lefty hitters flail away against lefty pitchers. Get used to this.
  
• Fielding: With Bay in centre and Stairs in right, Nick Weglarz better practice his long-distance running. (Votto can fake it out there, but Votto-Bay-Stairs is probably cruel and certainly unusual.) And as much as Adam Stern contributed in 2006, his bat doesn't justify his glove in a starting role. In the infield, they're not hurting up the middle with Martin, Orr, and Chris Barnwell.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Third, but an upset is possible
  
• Tournament potential: If by some chance they advance to Miami, that'll certainly be it. Of the U.S., Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, how many could Canada realistically beat? If you didn't say "three" or "four" then there you go.
  

ITALY

• Opener: Saturday, March 7 vs. Venezuela (8 pm ET)
• WBC 2006: Their only win came against Australia: lost to Venezuela 6-0 and the Dominican Republic 8-3.
  
• Players to watch: 1B Frank Catalanotto (Rangers), OF Val Pascucci (Dodgers), 2B Davide Dallospedale, OF Mario Chiarini, M-A Dave Bidini (Peones)
  
• Who's missing: Mike Piazza is coaching, not playing, this time. Maximiliano De Biase was recently one of the best hitters in the Italian leagues but doesn't appear to be on this roster. Other than that, it's not clear who could make the team competitive.
  
• Pitching: Grilli's just a reliever, Mark DiFelice could probably soak up some innings, and any Blue Jays fan would love to see Lenny DiNardo on the mound against Canada. (You know, it would almost be better if the Italians brought over an entirely unknown group of hungry players from Serie B rather than populating the roster with these AAAA players.)
  
• Hitting: Dallospedale and Chiarini are pretty decent hitters in Italy; no clue how much you discount that against these American and Venezuelan pitchers. At least Catalanotto, Pascucci, Chris Denorfia, and Nick Punto aren't pushovers. Pascucci was too early in the Expos system to be an Ottawa fan favourite, but too late to save the Expos, and he's actually a very good hitter for someone who's never been given a chance. But overall this doesn't seem like a great lineup.
• Fielding: Outside of Dallospedale, not much is known of the Italian players. Joe Mazzuca, second baseman by trade, might have a spot in the infield, but he also may be behind Dallospedale and Punto. Catalanotto is best used at DH.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Fourth
• Tournament potential: You have to ask?
  

John Candy, legend

Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of John Candy's death. Greater minds could come up with a Top 5 J.C. moments. Personally, the water-skiing scene in The Great Outdoors ("You bastard! You bastard!" ... "What did he say?" ... "Faster, faster!) always tops "those aren't pillows!" from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, or anything from the Melonville oeuvre.

Anyway, John Candy telling Dave Letterman being grand marshal of Oktoberfest and owning a farm, pretty sweet.

Batter up: World Baseball Classic, Pool B

The 2009 World Baseball Classic began in the wee hours this morning. Many of us are eager for any kind of baseball after a long winter and readily remember the awesomeness of March 8, 2006, when Canada beat the U.S.. Here is a preview of Pool B: Australia, Cuba, Mexico, South Africa.

CUBA

• Opener: March 8 vs. South Africa, 2 p.m.
• WBC 2006: 2-1 in the opening round, 2-1 in the second round, beat the Dominican Republic 3-1 in semi-final, lost 10-6 to Japan in final.
• Players to watch: 3B Michel Enríquez, 2B Yulieski Gourriel, OF Alfredo Despaigne, OF Frederich Cepeda
  
• Who's missing: RHP Yadel Marti, OF Alexei Ramirez, SS Yuniesky Betancourt (one punished for trying to defect, the others have defected), OF Alexei Bell (injury)
• Pitching: Marti was the Cubans' ace in '06, so that mantle falls on the shoulders, uh, arm, of 35-year-old Pedro Luis Lazo, who throws mainly a fastball and forkball. Left-hander Aroldis Chapman, 21, and 24-year-old righty Yunieski Maya will probably be called upon. Lefty Yulieski González, who was a late cut from the Olympic roster, is apparently back in the good books.
  
  Another greybeard, 37-year-old Norge Vera, who won starts at the Olympics where he was matched up against Japan's Yu Darvish and likely No. 1 overall draft choice Stephen Strasburg from Team USA, is back.
  
• Hitting: Cuba hit a collective .280/.360/.420 at the 2006 WBC, scoring 44 runs in eight games. Despaigne is leading the Serie Nacional, Cuba's top league, in home runs. Cepeda, an absolute bases-on-ball machine (curious to see how his strike zone judgment applies off the island), has usually proven very productive out of the leadoff spot. Throw in Gourriel and Enríquez and they have the potential to have a very good lineup.
  
  Veteran 1B Alexander Mayeta provides some lefty power. Twenty-three-year-old outfielder Yohenis Céspedes offers some intriguing potential (he hit 26 homers last year in the Cuban league, which runs about 100 games).
• Fielding: Veteran SS Eduardo Paret, who if memory serves was very good during the '06 WBC, is back. The Cubans are flexible with who plays where. Gourriel is actually a third baseman who moved to second due to Enríquez; at the Olympics, that meant second baseman Héctor Olivera Jr. had to play first.
  
  Ariel Pestano, a 35-year-old veteran, is regarded as one of the toughest catchers to run on, which could make for good game-within-the-game if Cuba ends up meeting stolen base-happy Japan later in the WBC. Cepeda's baseball-reference bio notes that he has had defensive problems.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: First
• Tournament potential: Semi-final
  

MEXICO

• Opener: March 8 vs. Australia, 9 p.m.
• WBC 2006: Went 2-1 in Pool B and 1-2 in the second round, but had the satisfaction of eliminating Team USA
• Players to watch: San Diego Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez (pictured), Marlins 3B Jorge Cantú, Mets LHP Oliver Perez, SS-OF Jerry Hairston Jr., Blue Jays C Rod Barajas
• Pitching: Perez (10-7, 4.22 ERA with the Mets last season) is the ace of the Mexican staff, which gets a little thin beyond him and Royals closer Joakim Soria. One-time Ottawa Lynx Luis Ayala (please be accurate, he pitched for them six times) is available in the bullpen. Rodrigo López, who is 18 months removed from Tommy John surgery, is about the only Mexican pitcher you might have heard of.
• Hitting: Mexico, as you probably heard, tagged the Arizona Diamondbacks for 19 runs in an exhibition game, Wednesday which is impressive considering they were facing Brandon Webb, who is famous for being good. Gonzalez, whose slugitude goes unappreciated in part because he plays in a Death Valley park in San Diego, Cantú and Erubiel Durazo, this decade's clubhouse leader in the Can I Try My Career Over sweepstakes, are slotted in as their 3-4-5 hitters. They're supported by a lot of part-time major leaguers, such as Hairston Jr. (124 park-adjusted OPS last season) and his brother, outfielder Scott Hairston (who OPS-plused 115 last season when he hit 17 homers in 362 plate appearances for San Diego). The mix of hitters Mexico has seems to have spurred a lot of talk that could end up going to the final.
• Fielding: When your surest-handed infielder is the first baseman, that can be problematic. Mexico's double-play combo is Hairston Jr. at shortstop and Freddy Sandoval at second base, which is nice except none of them play those spots regularly. Cantú's iron glove is the reason he has been dumped twice in the past two years despite being a fairly productive hitter. In centrefielder, Alfredo Amezaga is a tremendous slouch.
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Second
• Tournament potential: Second round.

AUSTRALIA

• Opener: March 8 vs. Mexico, 9 p.m. (all times Eastern)
• WBC 2006: Went 0-3, outscored 18-4
• Players to watch: 1B-OF Justin Huber (pictured), LHP Travis Blackley (Diamondbacks), LHP Damian Moss, SS Brad Harman (Phillies), OF Mitch Dening, UT Daniel Berg
• Who's missing: RHP Ryan Rowland-Smith (Seattle Mariners), RP Grant Balfour (Tampa Bay Rays)
• Pitching: Australia has seven left-handers among the 14 pitchers on their roster (it must be some Southern Hemisphere-related phenomena). This includes Blackley and Moss, both of whom were going places before encountering arm and shoulder problems.
  
  Veteran Craig Anderson, a former Can-Am Leaguer who was with Australia when it won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, has also returned. Drew Naylor, who averaged close to a strikeout per inning in the low minors, is another bright spot of Australia's staff.
• Hitting: Australia was shut out by Italy and Venezuela in the 2006 WBC and produced a whopping .113 batting average. Forty-five minutes' research, give or take a half-hour, doesn't disabuse one of wondering where the hell the runs will come from if they're going to get past the group stage.
  
  The righty-hitting Huber, whose career was mishandled by the Kansas City Royals (shocker) before he ended up with San Diego, balances out a fairly left-handed lineup.
  
  Long-time minor-league outfielder Chris Snelling (.305/.384/.460 in the affiliated minors) has a fairly good minor-league resume. Dening hit .321/.375/.471 in the short-season New York-Penn League (and oddly enough, he's a lefty-masher who actually hits left-handed).
  
  Daniel Berg, who plays all four corner positions and can catch, adds depth.
  
• Fielding: Australia made six errors in an exhibition game vs. Japan. One game never proves anything, but ...
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Third
• Tournament potential: Won't go winless
  

SOUTH AFRICA

• Opener: March 8 vs. Cuba, 2 p.m.
• WBC 2006: 0-3, outscored 38-12 (eight of those runs were vs. Canada), failed to qualify for second round
• Players to watch: RHPs Alessio Angelucci (San Diego Padres, Rookie League last season) and Justin Erasmus (Red Sox farm system), LHP Hein Robb, SS Gift Ngeope (Pirates) SS Anthony Phillips (Mariners farmhand),
  
• Pitching: No one on South Africa's pitching staff has thrown at any level about Single-A ball, so having former all-time saves leader Lee Smith as their pitching coach will only get them so far. Erasmus is Boston Red Sox property, which speaks well for his potential, but he just turned 19 in January. They could be in for some long games.
  
• Hitting: South Africa doesn't have a position player older than 27 and only two are in affiliated ball, both of whom are middle infielders.
  
  Gift Ngeope, who is in the Pittsburgh Pirates' minor-league camp along with an Alaskan and two Indian pitchers (16 losing seasons in a row will make a team look far and wide for anyone who might develop into a remotely competent ballplayer), offers some appeal.
  
• Fielding: This area, based on what we saw the last time from South Africa (which subsequently failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics), could be even worse.
  
• Predicted Round 1 finish: Fourth
  
• Tournament potential: Lucky to win one game; maybe they can take Australia, which it is all but assured of facing on Monday.
  

CIS Corner: Ravens rip through Round 3; GGs face third-place game

OUA East final: No. 1 Carleton 82, No. 3 Ottawa 61 — The Ravens often find a way of cutting to the quick, eh?

When you walk into the Ravens' Nest, your head is full of all sorts of ifs to contemplate, especially when you're rooting for the story. Carleton made it seem so slap-your-forehead simple. The Ravens got open looks, held the Gee-Gees' JJs, Josh Gibson-Bascombe and Josh Wright, to just one basket between them in the first 20 minutes and the game was done by halftime. It was only a 15-point margin, but like Dave DeAveiro said, "there's no playing catch-up against that team."

Ottawa, as both Dave Smart and Aaron Doornekamp said, might be the second-best team in Canada. It just had no chance of taking down Carleton in the final home game for the Kingston trio of Doornekamp, Stu Turnbull and Rob Saunders, even though the Ravens, as Final 8 hosts, had nothing tangible on the line last night.

"We don't have to win these games (tonight's and the Wilson Cup vs. Western on Saturday), but we have to get better every day," Doornekamp said after putting up 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists. "You don't often get a situation like this, where you have a great atmosphere and you're playing the No. 2 team in the country, at worst No. 3, so tonight was very good for us."

Carleton had 16-4 and 16-3 runs in the first 20 minutes, never trailing after a pair of threes in quick succession from Mike Kenny (11 points) near the end of the first quarter and Ottawa started to recede, inch by inch, which might not wear well on the Final 8 seeding committee. The Gee-Gees, who have averaged nearly 84 points per game vs. the rest of the OUA, have been held to 72, 69 and 59 in their three losses to the Ravens.

"I still think they (Ottawa) are the second-best team in Canada and if they beat us in 10 days, they'll be the best team in Canada," Smart said. "They got some good looks that didn't go in. I think they're the second-best team in Canada."

Carleton's five-man game was in full effect. You know the drill. One shot per possession, make the other team beat you with its third and fourth-best scorers. Kenny, Saunders and Turnbull did a job vs. Wright (13 points on 5-of-16 shooting) and Gibson-Bascombe (12). The halftime boxscore didn't even credit JGB with taking a shot (he had two trips to the foul line). When was the last time that happened to him?

"We just tried to play the percentages with them because they have so much talent," said Saunders, the OUA East defensive player of the year who had 11 points, including some big baskets early in the second quarter when it was still a one-shot game. "Sometimes they're going to make shots. We have to give a lot of credit to the posts, because they let us take some chances. There's a lot of trust there."

That second run in the first half, highlighted some some slick interior passing with most of the points coming through Doornekamp and Kevin McCleery (17 points, six rebounds), pretty much did in Ottawa.

"I thought we did a decent job of executing," Smart said. "I thought we were aggressive against their pressure and their switches. When you play Ottawa, you want to contain their transition and we were able to do that, for the most part."

The Gee-Gees have now lost the last four times they were in a game where the winner qualified for the Final 8, but three were against Carleton. Talk about a cross to bear. One would wonder how they keep coming back from that. Gibson-Bascombe said the right things about having to regroup. DeAveiro, as you might expect, wasn't putting a ton of stock in Ottawa's regular-season win in Windsor's gym, since that was four months ago (Josh Wright wasn't yet playing for Ottawa).

All in all, Carleton looked impressive. They won by more than 20 despite a rough shooting night for Turnbull, who was 2-of-16 for six points just hours after being named OUA East player of the year.

Ottawa should like its chances against Windsor, considering that they will have the two best guards in the game and will be at home to a team which has a reputation as an easier mark on the road. Ottawa has only five losses all season, all to Top 5 teams, but when three are to a team you share a city with, it might be tough to keep that in perspective.

(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)

CIS Corner: Kingston's Turnbull up for player of the year

Carleton's tri-captain and fifth-year senior guard Stu Turnbull will be the OUA East candidate for the Mike Moser Trophy, edging out Ryerson big man Boris Bakovic and Ottawa's Josh Gibson-Bascombe, who plays the same two-guard spot for Ottawa.

Turnbull is a good call if you go by the rule of thumb individual awards should be a byproduct of a team's accomplishment, which is a decent first principle. The Kingston native is No. 1-ranked Carleton's leading scorer and outscored Gibson-Bascombe, 29-18 and 22-19, in the Ravens' season-series sweep of the Gee-Gees (heading into tonight's OUA East final). That's the end-of-story right there for many people. The statistical argument, going by the game scores which Rob Pettapiece compiled, provide at least a neat counter-point.

Bakovic had the highest game score in the country, 18.4. Gibson-Bascombe was second in the OUA and fifth in the CIS; Turnbull was 10th and 39th, respectively. Strictly for argument's sake, bearing in mind that as Rob notes, "Sophisticated metrics aren't really possible with the limited CIS stats we have available," here are the Top 10 players in the OUA by adjusted game score (national ranking in brackets, conference regular season only):

1. Bakovic, Ryerson, 18.4 (1st)
2. Gibson-Bascombe, Ottawa, 14.1 (5th)
3. Aaron Doornekamp, Carleton, 12.0 (14th)
4. Dax Dessureault, Ottawa, 11.4 (18th)
5. Greg Surmacz, Windsor, 11.1 (21st)
6. Keenan Jeppesen, Western, 10.9 (23rd)
   
7. Matas Tirilis, Laurentian, 10.1 (33rd)
8. Josh Wright, Ottawa, 10.0 (34th)
9. Tut Ruach, York, 9.6 (36th)
10. Turnbull, Carleton, 9.4 (39th)

People who have seen the Ravens play know how much Turnbull matters to them at each end of the floor. The Ottawa games were high-leverage and he came through in both cases (Rob adjusts based on team's RPI).

Stats are a way to make a sense of the game from the outside looking in. The godfather himself, Bill James once said, "There are a lot of things that you just can't see from out here, folks. Dedication and leadership and desire and committment; I see glimpses of all that, but you just can't see those things clearly from the outside, and it's silly to pretend you can."

Those making the selections saw in Turnbull, a team leader who's put up solid numbers across the board (16.7 points and 5.1 boards). He's a guard who can score from inside and outside, play physical defence, bring the ball up the floor and help on the boards, where Carleton almost doubled the next-best team in rebounding margin.

It's a good argument, to say the least.

Briefly, Carleton's Rob Saunders was named OUA East defensive player of the year, while his and Turnbull's fellow Frontenac Secondary School graduate, Queen's forward Mitch Leger, was named to the second all-star team.

Carleton's honourees were also Dave Smart (coach of the year), Aaron Doornekamp (first all-star team) and Kyle Smendziuk (all-rookie team). Ottawa's Dax Dessureault is the TSN Ken Shields Award nominee; he and Gibson-Bascombe were both first-team all-stars, while swingman Warren Ward was named to the rookie team.

Ottawa native Greg Carter, a point guard at Lakehead who led the OUA in steals, was named to the OUA West rookie team.

(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)

Snark break ...

Pour the milk in before the cereal? You wild man, you ... meantime, chew over one man's opinion of The Tragically Hip's five best songs, especially if you do know where Kingston is ...

It is NHL trade deadline day, or for people with an inner life, Wednesday.

The nerve of that Alex Rodriguez. How dare he say the Yankees could use Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, who's only nine years younger and is making $14-million less this season than Derek Jeter. It was a tough Tuesday all around for diva ballplayers. Manny Ramirez is almost signed, took attention away from rumblings Barry Bonds wants to play again and Darryl Strawberry saying, "hell, yeah," he would have taken steroids in the 1980s.

Fox Sports has an anti-ice agenda; five of the flicks on their 10 Worst Sports Movies involved hockey or figure skating.

Shame on anyone who doesn't realize Youngblood was brilliant in its way. It's worth it alone for spotting Steve Thomas and Peter Zezel as extras and the fact that it shows the Hamilton Mustangs taking the bus home after a game in Thunder Bay which shows the screenwriters didn't have a clue about Canadian geography.

The Wrestler and Hot Rod were basically the same movie.

This post is worth nothing, but this worth noting:

• The three St. Francis Xavier basketball players facing assault charges won't play in the Atlantic conference tournament, but could be reinstated for the CIS Final 8. That includes one of their star guards, Tyler Richards, along with Nepean native William Donkoh.
  

Vancouver wins MLS team; according to highly placed MLS source

Vancouver and Portland will be granted MLS franchises later this month, according to a highly placed MLS source.

The failure of Miami to secure the backing of Barcelona has effectively ended the expansion race. Ottawa remains at play for 2013 and will go into that bidding process as the likely frontrunner if it approves a soccer specific stadium in April.

The source says that "all bets are off" for 2013 as several of the bids that pulled out for ’11 will be back in the hunt.

St. Louis still lacks significant financial backing to be a legitimate factor in the 2011 bid. Quietly the St. Louis bid has been negotiating with MLS to allow a structured deal similar to what Montreal and Miami asked for. It has been suggested that St. Louis was only prepared to pay about $9 million US in expansion fees, with the rest of its money tied up in infrastructure improvements required for MLS.

To this point MLS has not budged on the $40 million asking price and does not seem likely to do so with St. Louis either.

"St. Louis is banking on the league looking for a natural rival for Kansas City and nostalgia for what the league once was," as second source said.

The decision to go to Portland and Vancouver was based on "stadium plan, political support and geographical factors," the MLS source said.

MLS is waiting for Portland to give final approval on its stadium plan to make the announcement. That's expected to come March 11. If Portland approves the stadium, the expansion announcement will likely take place March 17 or 18.

Brunt blunt about Cherry's act

Just to totally belabour it ... it would be remiss not to pass on what Stephen Brunt had to say about a certain high-collared hockey commentator: "... what (Don Cherry is really saying is that not just hockey, but life was better back when nearly every player in the NHL was Canadian."

Brunt, as you can see, can sift out the political and keep this focused on sports.

"For the moment, however, consider only how that logic applies to the world of sports. Consider any other game, and just try to imagine a similar line of argument.

"The English can occasionally sound a bit xenophobic when they discuss the sport they invented and the pervasiveness of imported talent in the Premier League, but no one could seriously argue that the global talent pool, the wildly varying styles of play, haven't made soccer stronger, more popular, more fun to watch.

"No one who loves basketball seriously laments the arrival of Europeans and Africans and Asians in the NBA. No one thinks it was a dark day when Hakeem Olajuwon or Dirk Nowitzki or Yao Ming brought their talents to North America (and no one believes that a flamboyant dunk ought to be punished by cutting the dunker's knees out from under him).

"... baseball's increasing diversity is viewed as a huge plus. Who pines for the days before Ichiro and Dice K, before Latin players arrived on the scene, before African-Americans were allowed to play in the big leagues? To do so wouldn't just make you a racist, it would mean you were blind to the fact those players made the sport in every way better."

One point made yesterday was that if the content is the audience, then, "Cherry reminds us of the Canada we would rather not be so much anymore. He's an atavism, a ghetto hoser." Brunt has that covered too, without actually coining a term such as "ghetto hoser" (although a million points if you get the reference, the author and the novel):

"(Cherry's) most enthusiastic customers are those who must find the streets of Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver very alienating indeed. He imagines Eden in the mythical, homogeneous Parry Sound that gave birth to Bobby Orr.

"... But when the act becomes truly embarrassing, you have to wonder how many people really think like him any more? How many living in what has forever been a land of immigrants are really so flummoxed by anything deemed not sufficiently Anglo-Saxon?"

That's the size of it, really.

Retail:
It's a small world, according to Cherry (Stephen Brunt, globesports.com)

It takes a big man to apologize

No doubt a lot of people will be cynical about Canadian-born former NFLer Tony Mandarich will receive for apologizing to a journalist, 20 years after the fact, for his denials of steroid use, at a time when he's promoting a book.

"Mandarich is more upfront with writer Rick Telander about his steroid use and even apologized for denying it to him in 1989.

" 'I'm sorry, Rick,' Mandarich says. 'The phrase I was wrong was not in my vocabulary back then. But I was wrong. I conned you. I lied to you about not using steroids. I was a jackass. I don't want to be like that anymore.'

"Telander says he didn't believe Mandarich then but he does now when he says he's clean now in his book, My Dirty Little Secrets: Steroids, Alcohol & God: The Tony Mandarich Story, which comes out this month." -- Detroit Free Press

Mandarich, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1989 draft (the next three selections were Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas and Barry Sanders) admitted last fall that he used steroids during his college career.

Go ahead, be a cynic and say you haven't been this shocked since Lance Bass came out, or that it's odd that Mandarich would release a book around the time of the build-up for the NFL draft. His name is often fresh in football fans' minds in March and April, since he's usually appearing on top-ten lists of the biggest draft busts, after Ryan Leaf but before Todd Marinovich.

However, the choice is to take Mandarich at his word and realize he's working through a lot stemming from the wild-and-crazy guy that he was in his 20s. There's also the reality that his brother, 1980s CFL lineman John Mandarich, died of cancer at age 31, a few years after he had been using steroids during his career, with the complicity of his team.

The bottom line is that at 22 years old, Tony Mandarich had the world by the ass, had that taken away from him and actually managed to work his way back into the NFL for a few seasons. At last report, he and his spouse were running a photography shop down in Arizona. His kind of story, done honestly, can make for a good read (provided it doesn't get too preachy, as harbingered by having the G-word in the title)

In retrospect, it is kind of funny that no one was ever too scandalized by Mandarich in Canada. The Ben Johnson scandal came first, plus Mandarich was a 315-lb. offensive lineman in the National Football League. He was supposed to be cheating.

Related:
Mandarich: Sorry for lying to SI (Detroit Free Press)

Aumont having his moments

Hull's Phillippe Aumont (the experts say mechanics need smoothing out) did a really nice job of freezing Adam Loewen with a slider during the Canada-Blue Jays exhibition game in Dunedin yesterday. It's amusing, one first-round draft choice striking out a former first-rounder who's switched to the outfield.

(You-had-to-be-there omment of the day, from Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino after a Jays hitter doubled off the right-field behind Matt Stairs: "Matt might not have been quick enough to get back to the wall, and he might not be tall enough to have reached it if he got there.")

Highly recommended...

Watched the first three episodes of East Bound & Down last night ... you owe it to yourself to check it out, somehow.

Stranger than non-fiction

Someone up there has a complicated sense of humour. One day, there's a story that a writer might have made up parts of his memoir about playing minor-league baseball, then there's a story the next about the death of pitcher who was traded for bats.

John C. Odom, a right-handed pitcher whom the Calgary Vipers indy-ball team dealt away for 10 bats -- maple bats, to be fair -- died a few months ago. Only now is it getting around (a Feb. 5 Associated Press item mentioned his claim to fame, but not that he was deceased).

One can only assume how the Calgary Vipers front-office people feel tonight, especially after hearing the comments from Odom's last manager, a guy with the straight from central casting name of Dan Shwam, "I really believe, knowing his background, that this drove him back to the bottle, that it put him on the road to drugs again." It's human nature to feel sorry for John Odom, who was only 26, even though he's someone who will be remembered for getting the blunt end of how superfluou modestly talented athletes are in lower-rung leagues.

Bill Baer over at Baseball Digest Daily had some strong words about Calgary trading bats for a ballplayer (Odom couldn't get into Canada due to some troubles he'd with the law several years earlier.) It's not clear if it's something that can endorsed. John Odom obviously had personal demons, and as much as employers have to accommodate that to some extent, there are limits (full disclosure: Speaking as someone diagnosed with depression seven years ago).

"One of the more consistent lines of thought in moral theory is that an action is immoral if it causes some kind of unpleasantness for another person. I find it hard to believe that Calgary, which has claimed that the trade wasn’t made as a publicity stunt, thought that Odom would be met with nothing but positive and encouraging responses. The trade essentially said that Odom wasn't worth another professional baseball player or even a medium-sized wad of cash; he was worth ten processed 34-inch-long pieces of wood.

"Oftentimes it takes a tragedy for our error-prone ways to manifest. Dehumanizing athletes, who devote years to perfecting their craft, by trading them for next-to-nothing is a business practice that, hopefully, will now come to an end. It's a shame it took the suicide of a multi-talented kid to reveal this to us."

It's something to think about

(Meantime, about Matt McCarthy and the book Odd Man Out: There is reason to wonder why The New York Times was all over one bogus memoir, while protecting another dealing with much heavier subject matter.)

Related:
A tragic end for minor leaguer traded for bats (The Associated Press; via Baseball Digest Daily)

Our kind of team, Ernie

Mike Wilner posted Canada's presumptive lineup for its World Baseball Classic opener late last night, or at least the first six hitters:

1. Chris Barnwell, shortstop: Triple-A veteran on-based .364 in the PCL with the Albuquerque Isotopes last season.
   
2. Russ Martin, catcher: He walked 90 times last season with the L.A. Dodgers, so he's a natural fit here. He could probably lead off, but putting the catcher there is too radical.
   
3. Joey Votto, DH: Probably the best spot to put someone who will be the best Canadian corner infielder/outfielder eventually.
   
4. Justin Morneau, first base: Lots of RBI opportunities, no more need be said.
   
5. Jason Bay, centrefield: Breaks up the lefty bats and presuming you believe in lineup protection, protects Morneau.
   
6. Matt Stairs, rightfield: Wilner said DH, but that is Votto's spot.

The bottom third would be the Kansas City Royals' Mark Teahen at third base, longtime quadruple-A player Peter Orr at second base and Cleveland Indians prospect Nick Weglarz in left field. Weglarz was No. 58 in Baseball America's top 100 prospects.

Remember, Canada's exhibition game against the Blue Jays is scheduled to be aired on Sportsnet today at 1 p.m.

Related:
Corey Koskie thrilled to take field with Canadian team at WBC (Shi Davidi, The Canadian Press)

Snark break ...

As you were camping out for Spinal Tap tickets. The sustain, listen to it ... I don't hear anything ... well, you would if it were playing.

Miami's chances of getting a MLS expansion team are deader than Jefferey Loria's prospects of a new ballpark for the Florida Marlins. In other words, great day to be a soccer fan in Ottawa or Vancouver who rooted for the Expos way back when (there have to be a few).

Barry Bonds' case: Everyone realizes this will never make it to trial, right? It's only the U.S. Bill of Rights, who cares?

Vernon Wells has one of the worst contracts in baseball. Try not to look so surprised.

Nashville wants to host a NHL all-star game. You are only a year too late to make jokes that this would kill the NHL in Nashville for good.

Baltimore Ravens defensive back Anwar Phillips should foreclose so well when he's on the field. None of this has been proven in court, but who knew someone could sink lower than playing for the Ravens?

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• Tiger Stadium in Detroit might yet be saved.
• Anyone who has spent time around Belleville, Ontario, knows about the old Memorial Arena, which people love because it has no protective glass and the lowest sideboards around. It's too bad, then, that some fan had to get hit in the head with a puck and spoil it for everyone else.
  
• Last, but not least, try to work "bonehead gangster" into conversation at some point today.
  
  
  
  

That's all for now.