*This article originally appeared on baseball.ca on March 8th, 2006.
Stern went three for four with an inside the park homerun, a triple, a single, one run scored and four RBI to pace the Canadian attack offensively and was a catalyst defensively in centre field making several key plays including a sensational running catch against the wall on a deep fly from Chase Utley in the bottom of the eighth with two out and two aboard to preserve Canada’s two-run victory.
“We know we don’t have the same depth as the U.S., but that’s why we play these games,” said Stern “Over 162 games, I’m not sure we’d get the same results, but in a short tournament like this where just one game can make a big difference you just have to go out there and play like it’s your last game."
On the mound,
21-year-old starter Adam Loewen (Surrey, B.C.) gave up a bloop single to Derek Jeter and walked the next to batters he faced, loading the bases to start the first inning, but got Chipper Jones to ground into an inning-ending double play to quash the American threat. From there, Loewen gave an all-star studded
“At that point, we were only up 1-0, so we really needed to bear down and get those two outs," he said. "I had to make the best pitch I possibly could and hope for the best. It set the tone for the next couple of innings and I felt more comfortable out there."
The Canadian bullpen only had one major hiccup giving up a six-run inning to the
After fans had been booing the American team periodically throughout the first four innings of play, Varitek turned the boos in the a an electric uproar taking Cyr deep on a 2-2 pitch for a 448-foot grand slam to straight-away centre, cutting Canada’s lead to just two, 8-6. From there Cyr settled down and threw very well, going 2.1 innings, allowing only one hit and one run while striking out two.
22-year-old Scott Mathieson (Aldergrove, B.C.) then came in to throw a hitless eighth, setting things up for 27-year-old Steve Green (Longueuil, Qué.) who silenced the heart of the American line-up to pick up the save.
After having less than 12 hours of rest following a harrowing 11-8 win over South Africa Tuesday night, Canada showed no signs of fatigue, scoring in each of its first five innings to take an 8-0 lead on the Americans.
Willis struggled from the start, allowing five earned runs behind six hits and two walks in only 2.2 innings of work. Pierre-Luc Laforest (Hull, Qué.) ran out an RBI-infield single with two out to make it 3-0 for
Canada increased its lead to 7-0 in the fourth as Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) hit another two-RBI double up the middle into center field, and Stern took care of Canada’s final run all by himself crushing a shot deep to left field that took a hop on the fence and came back into play in no mans land in left-centre field allowing him to fly around the bases for the first-ever inside the park homerun in World Baseball Classic history.
Canada’s 2-0 record in the World Baseball Classic, puts them alone in first place in Pool B with only one game remaining on their first-round schedule against
Despite being the only undefeated team remaining in the pool,
However,
The first tie-breaker criteria in the World Baseball Classic comes down to runs against per inning in games exclusively involving teams which are tied. The
Here are the possible results, barring a South African upset of
Canada beats
Mexico beats
Mexico beats
Mexico beats
If
Canada’s final first-round game against