Canada Hangs U.S. Out to Dry

Ow, Canada.

Imagine the astonishment in the clubhouse located, as it turned out, just south of Canada’s, when the World Baseball Classic began and nobody fell over awestruck at the sight of Team USA.

Having been pushed to every bit of nine innings the day before against Mexico, Team USA had its pastime handed to it Wednesday afternoon, then was left to sweat a tiebreaking formula that could eliminate it from the tournament by tonight.

Team Canada scored the first eight runs, gulped when the potential tying run came to the plate five times in the last two innings, and won, 8-6, in a first-round pool-play game in front of 16,993 at Chase Field.

When Mark Teixeira’s two-hopper to first base with Alex Rodriguez on second finished the U.S., the Canadians piled from their dugout and dashed from their bullpen, celebrating their greatest international baseball victory.

Adam Stern, the reserve outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, had three hits, four runs batted in and went to the center-field wall to take a couple of runs away from Team USA in the eighth inning.

“We like to tell everybody we can play baseball too,” Stern said. “We’re not just a hockey country.”

Starting with left-hander Dontrelle Willis, who won 22 games for the Florida Marlins last season, Canada, on the bats of eight left-handed hitters, jumped Team USA’s first three pitchers, scoring eight times in five innings. Team USA scored in one inning, the fifth, which was highlighted by Jason Varitek’s grand slam, but otherwise was utterly mystified by five pitchers who, between them, boast 12 big league innings.

“Just didn’t do anything right today,” said Willis, who reached the 65-pitch limit after 2 2/3 innings and ultimately was charged with five runs.

Canada, which strained to beat South Africa on Tuesday night, is 2-0. Team USA is 1-1. Mexico is 1-1 after Wednesday night’s victory over South Africa. Here’s the tiebreaker part, based on a three-way tie and settled by runs given up, which surprised everyone in the Team USA clubhouse:

The U.S. would be eliminated if Mexico defeats Canada tonight by a score of 2-0, 2-1 or 1-0.

“Really?” Rodriguez said. “Even before we play on Friday?.”

It was a popular reaction.

Manager Buck Martinez shrugged and acknowledged “the perils of pool play,” having to assume Friday’s game against South Africa still would be meaningful by Friday.

If not, a first-round exit by the U.S. certainly would be the most startling upset of the tournament, and potentially stifle ticket sales in Anaheim, where the second round will be played, and dampen enthusiasm for the future of the WBC.

Speaking only of this year’s event, USA Baseball Executive Director Paul Seiler admitted, “Obviously, you would think it would hurt the tournament.”

He added, “A lot of people are making the assumption the U.S. will be playing in San Diego [site of the semifinals and final]. We haven’t made that assumption.”

Not since their own private Northern Exposure, they haven’t.

There were some dreary expressions among the U.S. players, and not just from Scot Shields and Matt Holliday, who first lost the game and then were dragged off for mandatory drug testing.

“Fortunately,” Holliday said, “I hadn’t gone to the bathroom lately.”

No, from the uneven pitching to the sketchy outfield play to an inability to score runs in eight of the nine innings, Team USA brought its spring training game.

Canada had three triples and an inside-the-park home run by the fifth inning. Right fielder Vernon Wells had a ball get past him for a triple and center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. took a poor route to contribute to another triple, then was slow to back up Holliday in left field on Stern’s leg-it-out home run.

“You know, we probably don’t have -- I know for a fact we don’t have -- the depth that other countries have,” said Manager Ernie Whitt, who had major leaguers Jason Bay, Justin Morneau, Matt Stairs and Corey Koskie in the middle of the Canadian order.

“But, we do have a lot of heart, and that’s why I enjoy managing this team, is the fact that these players go out with pride, passion and they play the game aggressively.”

It all left the U.S. in the unlikely position of nervous observer, just as the tournament seemed to be getting started.