Italy - 111 100 200 - 6 10 0 Canada - 000 200 000 - 2 7 1Justin Morneau (4-for-5) and Jason Bay (2-for-2, 2 BB) had six of Canada's seven hits. But that, along with Votto's double -- one of three straight "Baltimore dongs" that gave the home team its runs -- was the offense from the northern bats.
The final 17 Canadian hitters managed one hit.
Poor starting pitching from Vince Perkins (2-3-3-4-2) -- who also made a fielding error on an easy comebacker on his second pitch of the game -- set the tone for the evening.
I liked the PA announcements being made in two languages; it reminded me of seeing games in Montreal as a kid. Hearing Valentino Pascucci's name six or so times from the Italian announcer was a delight!
***
WBC: Italy vs Canada, 6 PM
Both teams are 0-1, so in this double-elimination tournament, the loser of this game is out of the WBC. It's crunch time for Canada. Tonight's winner will meet Venezuela tomorrow night -- and the winner of that game will play the US on Wednesday, with a guaranteed spot in Round 2.
Manager Ernie Whitt will send 6-5 right-hander Vince Perkins (an 18th-round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2000) to the hill. He has no big league experience.
Globe and Mail:
"We have all the confidence in the world in Vince, that he can give us at least three strong innings or go through the lineup twice," Whitt said. The 27-year-old right-hander played independent ball last season with the Camden Riversharks and Joliet Jackhammers and then signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago Cubs. Perkins said his arm is finally rounding into shape after Tommy John elbow ligament-replacement surgery in 2006 and he is excited about the upcoming challenge. "My arm has never felt better," he said. ...Hmmmm. For a guy in whom he says he has "all the confidence in the world", Whitt is setting the bar a bit low, no? Three good innings? (Then again, the guy has not pitched higher than AA.)
Scott Diamond, a 22-year-old lefty who pitched for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Class A, Atlanta) last year, will likely follow. Then, as Whitt says, "it's whatever it takes to win a ball game."
We need Jason Bay & Co. to lead us to victory; no more walks, Bay, we need a doung or two! (Steve Green, a 31-year-old AAA vet now with Pawtucket, is also on Canada's roster. Old friend Lenny DiNardo is in Italy's pen.)
MLB lists Dan Serafini, a 35-year-old lefty with no current major league affiliation, as Italy's probable starter. (He was born in San Francisco.) He has pitched in the majors -- for six teams over seven seasons between 1996 and 2007. (His best BR comp? Vaughn Eshelman!)
***
Jon Lester starts against Pittsburgh this afternoon with this lineup behind him:
Mike Lowell is excited to play tomorrow.Nick Green, 2B Jed Lowrie, SS Josh Bard, DH Jeff Bailey, RF Brad Wilkerson, CF Chris Carter, LF Paul McAnulty, 1B George Kottaras, C Gil Velazquez, 3B
61 comments:
Sox jump out to a quick 4-0 lead on a pair of Bard and Green dongs. Bootcheck in to pitch in the top of the 3rd. (Does that make Gorzelanny "Pantysniff"?)
GDGD link.
Brad Wilkerson grand slam. (Huge dong?) 8-0 Sox.
Perhaps "superlative dong".
Wow, 8 runs on three dongs.
Lester loads the bases in the bottom of the third, and a run scores on a Jed force-attempt error. Lester yanked after one out.
Pittsburgh gets four back. 8-4 after three.
Jed commits his second error of the inning.
Saito gives up a run and loads the bases on a HBP but escapes with no other damage. 8-5 Sox after four.
Carter 2-rbi single. 11-5 Sox after four and a half.
Okajima induced a DP. Still 11-5 after five.
Hansen in for Pittsburgh.
Hansen erases a Bailey single with a Dutchman DP. 11-5 after five and a half. MDC in.
MIN - 011 020 000 - 4 11 0
FKR - 010 100 001 - 3 07 0
Thanks for the summary!
GDGD's running pretty far behind as usual, I think.
MDC gives up a walk, a clutch 2-out McClutchen triple, and a Tabata single. 11-7 Sox after six.
Brown with the dusty dong. 12-7 after six and a half.
Ram-Ram gives up a leadoff double but retires the rest, including two Ks. 12-7 after seven.
TOR - 001 013 100 - 6 9 0
MFY - 002 000 000 - 2 8 0
That bracket is crazy complicated.
Jeff Sues on the all-attorney team. 12-7 after seven and a half.
Still seems pretty amazing that Korea beat Japan 1-0 this morning.
(First six innings for Korea's pitching: Bong. Bong. Bong. Bong, balk. Bong. Jong.)
Traber (embedded MFY): double, walk, double, single, triple. 12-11 Sox after eight.
Korea:
Korea 9, Chinese Taipei 0
Japan 14, Korea 2
Korea 14, China 0
Korea 1, Japan 0
One bump in the road!
Are you saying that Bong smoked Japan's hitters?
Gumball double. Lars single. Dusty double. 14-11 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Littleton in.
14-11 us.
Pirates trying to rally in bottom 9.
I'm saying Korea played duck-duck-goose with Japan, except they translate it as Bong-Bong-Jong, and Bong goes balk instead of quack.
14-12.
Pics I took yesterday at Eau de Toilette here, if anyone's interested.
Oh no, it's tied up. 14 all.
Might have to leave you hanging with Littleton ... gotta run!
Traber: 1.0 4 4 4 1 0 0
Littleton: 1.0 2 3 3 2 1 0
15-14 Sox heading into the bottom of the 10th.
Pedroia: "And when Jeter mentioned how hard it was to come off the bench in midgame Sunday night, Pedroia offered his condolences by saying, 'Yeah, it’s only happened to me a couple of times, so I imagine it must be hard.'"
“'He doesn’t ever shut up, Pedroia,' Mets third baseman David Wright said with a smile. 'He’s one of my new favorites. I’ve had a chance to hang out with him a few times before, but he’s a beauty.'”
BOS - 305 030 102 1 - 15 15 2
PIT - 004 102 043 0 - 14 16 1
Sox win 15-14 in the tenth.
What can we take that's encouraging from that game...uh, Bard hit well.
Italy-Canada game is not being televised here! Arrrrgh. MLB Network is showing Netherlands/Puerto Rico. Not a bad game, but still I thought all of them would be televised. ESPN's got stupid college basketball.
Sox win 15-14 in 10!
Go Italy, I think...
sorry :(
The MLB Network is inexplicably blacked out for me right now (other channels work). Italy's leading Canada 2-0 and the Netherlands lead Puerto Rico (!) 1-0, both in the third.
6-2 Italy after six and a half. Maybe our hosts will get to see a heck of a late-innings comeback?....
Puerto Rico threatening with two on and none out in the bottom of the 8th.
Oh well.
Rasputin over at SoSH hopes you drank, Allan. Can you confirm or deny?
Shitty starter for Canada.
And dead bats -- except for Morneau and Bay, who had 6 of the team's 7 hits. Bay also walked twice.
I was sort of hoping that Italy might continue its early game scoring:
111 1
but no.
(All of the pitchers were throwing 85-87 fastballs and assorted slop, so when Jesse Crain came in to relieve for Canada, and was bringing it at 95, it looked like about 135. He struck out all four of his batters. Whitt shoulda started him (and blew out his arm).)
So many fucking walks -- 15 total -- the game went 3:36.
Rasputin! An old friend from the Riv, if I recall.
At $10.50 a pop, I had only one. I was going to have a second from a vendor around the 6th, but it was a can of either Bud or Coors. (If I got up and went out, I'd miss pitches.)
I'm home now and drinking wine (if that helps).
Up to $10.50 now? Fucking Skydome. And yup, they only serve piss in the stands. Gotta get up to get the good stuff.
Here's to hoping my Boston Red Sox flask comes in good use this season there! lol
MLBN was also black for me for much of the day. I didn't notice it being back again until the 7th of the Nederlands game. Would've liked to see the upset, but hey, they lost to a country I have visited many times and love, so....wait a minute...Puerto Rico isn't a country! This whole thing's a sham! If they win, doesn't that mean the US wins? I guess this is perfect, actually. I can root for PR, and around my flag-waving friends, I can say, Hey, they're part of us! And around my commie pinko friends, I can say, Yeah, death to America!
In reality, I probably won't talk about any of this to anyone. Also, go Cuba, DR, Canada, Italy, and Russia and France if they ever have horses in this race.
Buchholz retires Pie in the top of the first. Just like Schilling would.
Baldelli double puts us up 2-0. Lowell Ks in his first at-bat.
GDGD issues a retraction. It's only 1-0.
Lowrie caught stealing in the second. Between that and the couple errors yesterday, it's Lowrie being Lugo.
Man, if Buchholz could pitch like this everyday....
I know it's against the Orioles and in ST, but it probably makes andy see starbursts.
Three no-hit innings for HH today.
Kris Johnson coughs up a few runs in the 7th. 3-1 Birds.
And Bard continues to overpower batters. It's nice to know we don't project to have to count on the Kris Johnsons of the world for our bullpen this year.
Felix Doubront coughs up a 2-run dong. 5-1 Ohs.
BAL - 000 000 320 - 5 8 0
BOS - 100 000 000 - 1 5 0
Holy crap, Benjamin, what a finish.
Dutch!
I was sure Benja-phil was updating under the veil all night! Guess not. Anyway, to clarify, hell of a finish, as Netherlands gives up 1 in the top of the 11th, then scores 2 in the bottom to beat Dominicana, 2-1.
Please tell me the Netherlands hasn't become that scrappy white team that sports media get infatuated with.
hahaha
BANG! Hammer comes down and drives the coffin nail down just a little bit deeper...
Post a Comment