Jason Bay, eh?

Just finished up my TiVo aided viewing of the near shocking upset by South Africa over Canada, which the Canucks pulled out 11-8 with a 4 run 9th inning rally. Of course for the purposes of this blog, we'll talk about Jason Bay's performance first.

He had two hits, one of which should've been an error charged to the shortstop, the other of which was a towering double off of the left center wall off what looked like your typical SoCal surfer wearing the South African uniform, a guy by the name of Tyrone Lamont (a Reggie Cleveland All-Star if I've ever seen one). He also ripped a shot to third base, which was speared and turned into a fielder's choice. It also appeared that even South Africa was able to take advantage of his arm, which still looks pretty weak. Of course, he also seemed to be out of position most of the day (he was shaded towards center and the South Africans were banging hanging breaking balls down the line) which is more a coach's fault than his. He didn't look great against a team featuring zero major leaguers, but I don't know when the South African leagues play, I'd guess over our winter. It's likely that these guys are just finishing up a season as opposed to guys just starting theirs. It'll be interesting to see what Bay does today against Dontrelle Willis and the US.

As for the rest of team Canada, they have a guy named Stubby Clapp, already and all-WBC name. They also feature Matt Stairs, one of my favorite players to watch bat (one time when he was in Pittsburgh he swung so hard I swear a button on his shirt came undone). Also, Bay is the only regular that bats right-handed, which is downright bizarre. It also might mean that Mexico will save Ollie for their matchup with Canada on Friday, similar to how the US is sending Willis to the mound today.

South Africa made a bunch of errors, played poor outfield, and had a ton of wild pitches/passed balls, but still managed to give Canada a great game. It's a shame this game was on at 2:30 in the morning, a time when only hardcore baseball fans would even think about taping it. It was really a game that showed why the WBC might work, and almost no one saw it. It's hard for me to figure out why ESPN promotes the hell out of their stupid original programming, but puts baseball like this on at a time that almost no one can see it.