Wow

Jason Bay and his Canada squad just pulled off what might be the upset of the World Baseball Classic, shocking the US squad 8-6. Bay put up another good showing today going 2-for-3 and adding a walk. He scored twice and essentially served as leadoff hitter for the Canadians as their first two hitters went a combined 1-for-10 today. He was removed from the game around the 7th inning, however. Since the US is the only team that's treating these games like Spring Training games (Buck Martinez rotates players in and out like this is, oh, I don't know, a Pirates/Reds split squad game or something) I can't figure out why Bay would've come out of the game. I didn't see anything that would've caused him to get hurt, but then again I don't figure the Canadians were looking to add another left-handed bat to their lineup either (as Bay is actually the only righty). Hopefully this isn't a big deal.

Also, half of the Buccos shut out half of the Reds today, with Tom Gorzellany, Marty McCleary, and Scott Strickland pitching three innings each. Strickland was especially impressive, throwing what looks like three perfect innings to close the game out (I say looks perfect because I only see the boxscore line of three innings, no hits and no walks, though a play-by-play isn't available and I can't say for sure). Of course this begs the question, "Why in God's name would Scott Strickland and his bionic elbow be throwing three innings right now?" The offense was lead by Craig Stansberry's second homer of the spring. The other half of the Pirates are playing the Yankees tonight, with Sean Burnett taking the mound for what I believe is his second start of the young spring.