World Baseball Classic 2009

This article marks a couple of firsts for the Pickin’ Splinters site: the first ever post written from outside of the United States, and the first collaboration between two different contributors to the site. This evening, Chas and Smitty are joining forces, with a little help from their traveling companion DJ, and writing about their experiences in Toronto at the opening round World Baseball Classic game between Team USA and Canada.

Chas: It looked to me like Jake Peavy was going to cruise through the first inning, after he mowed down Chris Barnwell, and had thrown 6 of his first 7 pitches for strikes, but then he seemed to struggle from there.

DJ: I can’t believe this Barnwell guy is starting over Stubby Clapp.

Smitty: Yeah, I agree…about Peavy, that is. I don’t know anything about Clapp, thankfully.

DJ: It went kind of downhill once he started facing adult hitters.

Chas: I thought pretty early on that the 8-9-1 of that lineup was where the U.S. pitching would be able to rest, although Nick Weglarz did draw two walks in the 8 hole. Overall, those three combined to go 0-for-10 otherwise.

Smitty: Did they really?

DJ: And what’s up with the J. Martin on the back of Russell’s jersey?

Smitty: Well, there’s the handy internet to look it up on. Let’s see…his full name is Russell Nathan Coltrane Martin. Hmmm…certainly a mouthful, but no J.

Chas: There’s not even a J in any of those names.

Smitty: Ohhhhhhhh…. It says on sonsofstevegarvey.com that Russell Martin is changing his name this year, as a tribute to his mother’s maiden name, Jeanson.

Chas: Alright back to the game. Was I the only one who thought that the umpire’s strike zone was a little tight?

Smitty: No. I definitely saw quite a few glares from pitchers towards the plate.

Smitty: So, is it possible that Derek Jeter is more hated in Toronto than in Boston? His image on the jumbo-tron was booed, and then again when he came to the plate. Two vociferous boos in one inning? Jeez…

Note: Smitty just realized that this is the first time in his life that he’s rooting for Derek Jeter. In fact, he also realizes that he doesn’t really know what vociferous means. Chas contemplates videotaping for blackmail purposes should the trend continue. Rooting for Derek Jeter, that is, not his suddenly improving vocabulary.

Chas: I was pretty impressed with Mike Johnson in the bottom of the first, coming back from 3-0 to Chipper Jones, and striking both Jones and David Wright out looking.

Smitty: Yeah Jones certainly helped out Johnson. He looked old and slow. Could this be the last lap for Larry?

Chas: He did hit .364 last year.

Smitty: Peavy did look much better in the second inning, although he was facing the minor league part of the Canadian order.

Chas: What’s a stranger sight: The double play combination of Derek Jeter and Dustin Pedroia, or Jimmy Rollins playing alongside David Wright?

Smitty: It only gets worse when Jeter gives Pedroia’s rear end a high-five.

Chas: Wouldn’t that be a low five?

Chas: Well, I learned tonight that Canadians aren’t quite as nice as I thought after they started into a “Dunn You Suck!” chant. Adam Dunn, however, looked surprisingly good in right field, though, cutting a ball off in the gap and making a nice sliding catch on a blooper in front of him.

Smitty: The Greek God of Walks got things started nicely for Team USA with a leadoff walk in the second that led to their first run.

Chas: Yeah, he had a nice game, except that last at bat when he struck out on three pitches with the bases loaded and one out.

Smitty: Youkilis led off three innings tonight, which doesn’t say much for David Wright’s performance in the cleanup spot.

DJ: By the way, who is Joey Votto?

Chas: He was certainly the player of the game for Canada.

Smitty: He may be well on his way to replacing Matt Stairs as the most beloved baseball player north of the border.

DJ: After his baseball career, Stairs should consider running for mayor of Toronto.

Chas: I kept looking in the dugout and getting him and Ernie Whitt confused.

Chas: So, I was surprised to see Mike Schmidt coaching third.

DJ: Does Schmidt have any coaching experience at all? Could this turn out to be the downfall of Team USA?

Smitty: Davey Johnson, Mike Schmidt and Billy Ripken. Who picked this coaching staff? Jerry Jones?

Smitty: The second time around, it looked like the US lineup started to figure out Mike Johnson, with Youkilis and McCann taking him deep in the fourth inning.

DJ: Is there a budding romance between Brian McCann and Chipper Jones?

Smitty (sarcastically): Ummm…yeah.

Chas: Moving on…It looked like the US was going to finally blow the game wide open in the 7^th, until Wright, Youkilis and Curtis Granderson all failed with the bases loaded.

Smitty: Yeah, then Scott Shields comes in and looks pretty ineffective. Put Mike Scioscia on full alert.

Comment of the game (overheard from a fan behind us): “When you hit the player, you automatically get a walk.”

Chas: ???????

DJ: I didn’t realize they were playing by Australian Rules.

Chas: Until that final at bat, Jason Bay had yet to put a ball in play…three walks and strikeout looking. Actually, I’m not positive he had even swung the bat.

Note: It was at this point in the game—as Bay batted with two outs and a runner on in the 9^th, his team trailing 6-5—that Smitty and DJ briefly changed allegiances and rooted for him to come through with the game tying hit. When he didn’t, they quickly became proud Americans once again.

Having survived today’s scare from Team Canada, next up for the Americans is tomorrow night’s eagerly anticipated showdown with Venezuela. That, of course, is an entirely different conversation.