I was so tempted to take the low-road and go with the TEAM AMERICA (expletive deleted) YEAH route, but I thought I'd try and be a little more "classy" than that.  So, I decided to go with a more literal subject line that'll hopefully get you peoples to click my link, read my words, and see my pictures.

So, this past weekend, I was up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with the express intention of getting a jump start on the 2009 MLB season, and seeing some meaningful baseball being played for the first time since October.  The 2009 World Baseball Classic had rolled around, and in my head, no baseball enthusiast's travels could possibly be complete without at least seeing one game of this international competition, especially now that baseball has been nixed from future Olympics until further notice.  Often, I feel like one of the tournament's biggest supporters, and one of the few who actually takes it seriously, but I know I'm not the only one out there.

lol, the Skydome needs to update their facade, as they are less than a month away from Opening Day, and they still have AJ Burnett on their facade.

Anyway, the Skydome (I refuse to address it as "Rogers Centre" in conversation) was the venue of the first round of Pool C play, and the United States and Canada were to kick off the North American side of action.

The weather in Toronto this past Saturday was cold, wet, and dreary.  Sad, because that's how it was in Atlanta, all the way up until the day that I left the country.  Take bad weather, an event that only comes around once every four (after 2009) years, and Canadian drivers, and we have me sitting in traffic for about an hour, missing ALL of batting practice, the national anthems, and if not for me tucking and rolling out of my friend's car in the middle of an intersection, almost missing first pitch.  But thanks to drastic measures, I didn't.  And I was happy.

Taking the hill for the United States was San Diego Padres ace, Jake Peavy.  I felt good about this, since Peavy was pretty good back in 2006, and let's face it - it's Jake Peavy.

But let's face it - it's March, and American players don't always play well until it gets real warm out, so it would be pretty easy to see early on whether or not we were going to see dominant Peavy, or if it was going to be a long afternoon ahead of me.  Unfortunately, Peavy's shakiness and the earned run he gave up in the first gave all indications that today was going to be a long day.

Let's get one thing straight - on this day, Canada came to play.  They were not going to be bullied around by the American team, and from the gate, they played like it.  And more importantly, their fans came to cheer.  My last trip to Toronto was during a game against the vaunted Yankees, and even they couldn't draw a decent crowd, let alone get any reaction.  But on this day, the majority attendance in the Skydome wasn't rooting for the Jays or against the Yankees, they were rooting for their country, against ours.  We already know the outcome of this game, but I must tip my hat to the A and A+ pitchers who worked their way into and more importantly, out of trouble against the US team, with no fear, pitching against the best-sent American talent.

Chipper Jones, whom I was hoping was going to kick off the US scoring like he did in 2006, with a home run, but unfortunately, Saturday's game was a precursor to the downhill spiral Chipper would endure in Canada as he went 0-4 with a walk before straining his oblique yesterday.  F'n figures.

The game started off horrendously for the US team, and in the back of my mind, there was this nagging feeling of doubt, remembering the way the 2006 US team got utterly humiliated by the Canadians.  But then I saw something that gave me some hope:

Pete Orr.  There was no way we could lose to any team where Pete Orr is in the starting line-up, even if he is the lowly #9 batter.  Even several Canadian faithfuls near me had to facepalm when they realized that Pete Orr was in the line-up.

Yeah, the scoreboard pictures are some of the best things I can provide sadly.  My seats weren't as great as I had hoped; granted, I was only 6-7 rows behind the field, but Ryan Braun was the only player I could get any good shots of, and I'm now debating on a new camera right about now too.

Atlanta's own Baby Jesus, Brian McCann, whom I was so glad to see in this lineup.  And immediately, Heap failed to disappoint me as he quickly laced a sac-fly to tie up the game, and give us few Americans in attendance a sigh of relief at knowing that we were no longer behind. 

Heap meanacingly staring down the pitcher and pitching coach, attempting to buy time for the bullpen.  Johnson had pitched 3.1 effective innings up until that point, but it was very soon about to come to an end.

This is what was seen on the giant jumbo-tron for every homer.  And this was a game that saw many; Votto and Russell Martin(sucks) went yard for Canada, and for the Americans, Youk, Dunn, and most importantly, Baby Jesus who hit the towering, go-ahead blast that we never had to look back from.

I swear, I lost my shit when McCann went yard.  The Canadian fans, however:

Stunned, quiet silence, as the obscure McCann once again puts runs up on the board against them.  I started blabbing about how Heap was the best catcher in baseball, and for once, nobody refuted me.  Not sure if it was because they were Canadians who more follow the Maple Leafs than baseball, or if they were just in awe-inspired agreement at Heap's greatness.  Either way, I didn't hear Joe Mauer brought up once in rebuttal.  Fuck Joe Mauer.

Second to Heap's blast, this was probably my favorite moment:  bases loaded, two-outs... and Pete Orr comes up to bat.  PETE ORR TO THE RESCUE!!  The crowd was going bonkers at this point, while I was sitting back with my hands behind my head.  There was so little chance that Pete Orr was going to come through.

I guess I was playing with fate being so smug and confident, because by no credit to Pete Orr, did Joel Hanrahan lob a wild pitch, that ended up scoring Jason Bay, which closed it to a one-run defecit.  But either way, Orr failed to deliver, as is the norm, and Dunn smacked a homer to negate it not long afterwards.  Oh yeah, the crowd after Pete Orr's LOBs:

Naturally, the game would not coast to an easy finish, because a shaky bullpen would always lead to interesting things.  After seeing JJ Putz blow a save and a game in the exhibitions, I began to question his pre-season form, and that maybe a little more inspired pitcher, like say, Heath Bell would be more ideal for the closer's role.  Regardless, with a two-run lead, going into the 9th inning, Putz got the call.

Putz in the hot seat, with 42,000 people standing.  The intensity of the Skydome at this period of time was incredible.  Maybe I was just un-used to it from a long off-season, but I forgot how electrifying it could feel at the ballpark when a high-pressure situation was in order.  When I took this shot, Putz had already allowed one-run to score, and was practically on the cusp of blowing the save.  Canadians were going crazy around me.  LET'S GO CANADA chants echoed through the enclosed dome.  USA SUCKS chants could be heard too.  The hostility was a new one to me.

All through the tension, I kept telling myself that the pressure was on Morneau, then Bay.  I may be the last one to do so, but I was actually trying to comfort myself with numbers of all things.  Apparently, it did the trick of keeping me distracted, as Bay popped out to end the Canadian threat, and secure the win for Team USA.  Intense boos rang through the Skydome immediately afterwards.

lol, some people actually wanted to see Matt Stairs get the chance to be the hero.  "the boys pounding your ass" rang in my head, but I opted to keep my mouth shut - this time, the Canadian fans were pretty serious business.  Their loyalty to a former Blue Jay is quite admirable, if not a little blind.

A nice little side note was not long after the game was over, Team Venezuela emerged from the back to do their pre-game stretching and exercise.  I hung around the outfield wall long enough to see Gregor Blanco, to yell at him, to which he saw me in my Braves jersey, and jogged by and gave me five.  Also, Venezuelan fans travel, real well.

Overall, it was an intense game, and one hell of a game in the end.  Canada came to play, and there is no reason for their team, or their fans to hang their heads for that kind of performance.  A pitching staff full of minor-leaguers, and a line-up with Pete Orr in it, gave a highly-favored US team a complete run for its money.

This is one thing I liked about being there.  One of these losers is obviously a Braves fan, but we're each clearly Americans rooting for the same team, in apparently hostile territory.  One of these guys is a Mets fan.  Worse off, one of them is a Cubs fan.  But as long as the WBC is going on, we are USA fans, and we can easily put our team allegiances aside for national pride.

The WBC is a long way from over.  And Team USA has its apparent weaknesses.  But I'm still wishing for them to win it all.  I can say that I've been to a WBC game now, too.  More importantly, this was a taste of baseball being back.  What a wonderful feeling.