Originally written April 18, 2009

I'm not going to lie - I held off writing this, because much like 2006, I was disappointed with the end result of the grand tournament. 2009 was much worse, because the team I wanted to win, advanced even further than they did previously, making it all the way to the final game. Team Korea put some foolish national pride ahead of themselves instead of playing baseball the correct way, and it bit them in the ass, with Ichiro Suzuki driving in some crucial runs in extra innings to give Team Japan the repeat victory.

But anyway, ever since the advent of the tournament as a whole, I told myself that I would have to eventually make it out to a WBC game one day. And if I were ever going to attend a WBC game, my first picks of teams would naturally lie with my heritage (Korea), and equally enthusiastic about rooting for my resience (United States). As it turns out, the 2009 scheduling of the tournament made it convenient for me to get to one of them, with minimal effort, as the United States would be paired up against Team Canada to open up the tournament . . . in Canada. Toronto, Ontario, to be precise.

I tackled the Rogers Centre Skydome in 2008, but this was going to be a completely different beast. I knew this immediately when my friend and I were stuck in traffic outside of Downtown Toronto, and we resulted to essentially ducking and rolling out of the car at an intersection instead of safely embarking, in order to make it to first pitch on time. Fortunately, we quite literally made it to our seats a few moments before US starting pitcher, Jake Peavy started the game with a first-pitch strike.

The atmosphere that day was completely different from when I made my first visit, when the Blue Jays took on the New York Yankees. Perhaps it had something to do with the Jays being out of contention at the time of that game, or maybe Canadians really didn't care about baseball as much as they cared about hockey. When the New York Yankees couldn't even draw a crowd, something was definitely not right.

But this was no ordinary Blue Jays game - it was a NATIONAL game, and I'm not talking about the squad in Washington D.C. Canadians packed themselves into the Skydome to watch Canadians playing for national pride and defending their home turf. And to make the storyline even more enthralling, it was against their evil United States neighbors that everyone just loves to hate.

Seriously, I felt totally out of place in the Skydome this time around. I was wearing my Braves jersey, and with no hesitation, was I cheering for the United States every time they did something good. Canadians responded by cheering louder, in unison, whenever their squad did something good.

And surely, they did a lot of good.

I would be one of many who thought Canada would be a pushover, but I was proven quite wrong that day. Not only did Canada have a roster with plenty of respectable Major Leaguers, headlined by guys like Justin Morneau, Jason Bay, Joey Votto, Pete Orr(lol) and Juh-Martin Russell, they had some legit bats. And the scariest thing was that none of the noteable Canadian pitchers like Jeff Francis showed up. Perhaps if they did, the result might be different.

Either way, the crowd was absolutely electric. The hostility towards the Americans legitimately had me feel a little out of my element, but I know how amicable and well-natured Canadians really are, so I didn't think any would really cross their boundaries or anything.

After a long winter offseason, and some pining for real, meaningful baseball, I could not possibly have fell into a more emotional, passionate, intense game to get back into the swing of things like this one. The Canadian team came out like a house of fire, and all their players played inspired, over their heads, and fearlessly. Not only did the Canada put the first runs on the board, their pitching held many, many marquee American bats at bay, that is, until they ran into Atlanta's own, Brian McCann.

I can't really describe the energy in the air throughout the whole game. Being so close, every pitch, every at-bat was a true battle. The Canadian bullpen, which comprised of no pitchers that were any higher than AA in an American farm system all came out, throwing strikes, and neutralizing US threats. They would get themselves into jams, but then strategically and methodically get themselves out, much to my dismay, as I felt that the United States needed all the runs they could get. Thankfully Brian McCann delivered again, to give the US the breathing room they needed. But all these young pitchers were truly the most impressive part of the Canadian squad. Fearlessly, they battled and triumphed against some of the best hitters from the United States.

Noteable performance(s):   Brian McCann, United States starting catcher, member of the Atlanta Braves. And no, I don't have to toot his horn because I'm a homer rooting for my own boy, because Brian McCann proved that he was the best catcher in baseball with his bat himself. In three plate appearances, Baby Jesus went 1-2 with a mammoth homerun, a sac-fly, and one walk for three RBI, accounting for 50% of the USA's run output, by himself. There was no greater feeling, than hearing all of the Skydome go silent as their team fell behind from Heap's blast, while I am screaming my lungs out, cheering for my hometown, and country, pride and joy.

Game Result:   The mighty United States prevails against the Canadian upstarts, 6-5. Tremendous credit goes to the Canadians who put up a hell of a fight that nobody saw coming, and literally scared the crap out of me in the bottom of the 9th inning, as they had winning runners on, and a legitimate chance to pull a massive upset. Again.

 

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