March 15, 2023

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ Don’t look now but there are now some new Canadian names that belong on the country’s Mount Rushmore of the international stage.

Not chiseled in Stubby Clapp (Windsor, Ont.) or Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC) statue-like stature yet, but they’re both up there, after playing key roles in 14th-anked Canada’s 5-0 victory over 12th-ranked Colombia to move to 2-1 in the World Baseball Classic Tuesday afternoon.

Canada plays 5th-ranked Mexico Wednesday afternoon and with a win against advance from Pool C and on to the second round in Miami for the first time in five Classics.

The new names to be held in high regard:

_ RHP Noah Skirrow (Stoney Creek, Ont.) put five circular things on the scoreboard -- a source we contacted deep inside the commissioner’s office in New York confirmed that they were in fact, actual zeros. This after Canada had allowed 20 runs in 13 innings, its two starters combining for three outs. Five scoreless by Skirrow, a Philadelphia Phillies farmhand, gave him the second most scoreless innings of any Canuck pitcher in the WBC. Reliever Chris Leroux (Mississauga, Ont.) has worked the most with 5 2/3 scoreless in four games. The Colombia team included current big leaguers Harold Ramirez, Gio Urshela, Jorge Alfaro, Reynaldo Rodriguez, Jordan Diaz and Oscar Mercado, plus former big leaguer Dilson Herrera.

_ SS Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) hit a three-run homer in the ninth to cap a 5-0 win over Columbia, a game Canada had to win. Lopez also tripled and scored on a two-out single by Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) single in the eighth. With the two hits against Great Britain, he became the first Canadian shortstop to have more than one hit in the tourney. Previously Peter Orr (Newmarket, Ont.) went 1-for-12 (.083), Chris Barnwell, whose father was from the Atlantic Cananda was hitless in seven at-bats at the Rogers Centre (.000), Cale Iorg (Toronto, Ont.) was 1-for-11 (.091) with a single in a loss to Italy, Jonathan Malo (Joliette, Que.) was 1-for-7 (.143) and Daniel Pinero (Toronto, Ont.) was 0-1 (.000). The shortstops had combined to bat .079 (3-for-39).

Now, if Canada beats Mexico and Houston Astros starter José Urquidy (13-8, 3.94) it will advance to the quarterfinal round in Miami. Now maybe there are not as many second guessers on manager Ernie Whitt and bench coach Greg Hamilton for the strategy: win the must-win game against Great Britain, see what happens against Team USA, win against Colombia and beat Mexico. Rob Zastryzny (Edmonton, Alta.) starts for Canada. He has not started since 2022 at triple-A Syracuse when he was in the New York Mets system.

It will be a tougher task without all-star Freddie Freeman. He left with a tightness in his hamstring and will not be expected to play against Mexico. Teams can replace injured players -- but only after a round has been completed, unless the injury is to a catcher.

Batting in the third inning, Freeman took a swing at a fastball from Colombia starter Adrian Almeida and loped slowly to first as 3B Urshela caught the pop up. Against Team USA, he raced to third on a double into the right field corner by Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC). LF Jared Young (Prince George, BC) moved to first and Denzel Clarke (Pickering, Ont.) took over in centre with Jacob Robson (Windsor, Ont.) moving from centre to left.

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Probable pitchers

Wednesday _ Canada (Rob Zastryzny, Mets/Angels 0-0, 6.75, triple-A Salt Lake, triple-A Syracuse, 1-5, 6.75) vs. Mexico ((RHP José Urquidy 13-8, 3.94).

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The minimum: Skirrow needed only 58 pitches -- 40 strikes -- seven less than the opening-round limit of 65. He allowed a single to Urshela, then one pitch later induced a 5-4-3 double play. He walked Mercado with out in the third and C Bo Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) threw out the runner at second for another double play. And he gave up a single to Ramirez. One out later and a 4-6-3 double play, he headed to the dugout. Another job well done.

Five zeroes for the former Liberty Flame signed by the Phillies as a free agent by Phillies scouts Kellan Mckeon and Alex Agostino (St-Bruno, Que.) in 2020.

Skirrow said he used “mostly the heater, the slider was pretty good, and being able to mix in the curve to avoid the ambush heater was kind of the game plan” in an attempt to keep hitters off balance. He faced the minimum -- 15 hitters in five innings.

And to make it a complete day of highs for Liberty, the Flames beat Villanova Wildcats 62-60 in NIT’s opening round of hoops.

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Passing the baton: Curtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, BC) took over for Skirrow and pitched two scoreless, allowing one hit, then Trevor Brigden (North York, Ont.) pitched a scoreless eighth with two whiffs. Scott Mathieson (Aldergrove, BC) came on to work the ninth. He allowed a single, an infield hit and then a double play ball and fly ball to left. Then, it was warm up the buses. Canada has four buses for the players and their families.

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The Good: Skirrow, Taylor, Bridgen and Mathieson combined on the five-hit shutout … O’Neill had a pair of hits and is now batting .636 (7-for-11) … Edouard Julien (Quebec, Que.) had three hits and is now batting .556 … The two hits by Lopez raised his average to .308 …. Julien and Clarke stole bases, while four double plays did not hurt … The win for Whitt was his 75th managing Canada (75-40, .652). And his wife Chris and daughter Ashley were there to see it.

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The Bad: Between a walk by Julien in the third and Caissie’s run-scoring single in the eighth, Canada stranded eight men …. Canada was 4-for-15 with men in scoring position.

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Pool C standings

TEAM W-L

Canada 2-1

Mexico 2-1

USA 2-1

Colombia 1-2

Great Britain 1-3

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We don’t need no stinkin’ bunts: With two outs in the fourth -- after DH O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) singled and Young was hit by a pitch with none out -- on came lefty Reiver Sanmartin. Whitt asked Lopez to bunt. He struck out after fouling off the first pitch, and an out later upped stepped the left-handed hitting Naylor. He singled to centre and the game was no longer scoreless.

In a similar situation in the top of the ninth, O’Neill hit his second single and Young singled to centre. A similar bunt situation? Lopez hit a first-pitch curve ball 398 feet to left.

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Bo Knows: Seated 14 rows up down the first-base line was Chris Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) ... as usual wearing a vintage hockey sweater. For this one, it was a Toronto Maple Leaf jersey.

“Today I’m rocking a Felix Potvin throwback jersey,” said Chris. He was the picture of calm -- no rocking -- when his son Bo Naylor caught a Skirrow slider and fired to Lopez for the strike-em out, throw-em out double play.

“I could tell from the demeanor of the runner that he was going to run,” Bo said outside the clubhouse. Bo said he had caught Skirrow years ago when both were with the Ontario Blue Jays in Mississauga.

Like baseball -- big brother Josh is in Goodyear, Ariz. with the Cleveland Guardians and younger brother Myles, top Canuck for this July ,will be at Surprise and Peoria Wednesday with Doug Mathieson’s Langley Blaze team for a doubleheader against first and second-year pros.

Josh is into vintage sweaters, as is Bo and dad. Josh’s faves are Stephen Stamkos and Alexander Ovechkin. Bo’s top jersey is Pavel Datsyuk and Martin St. Louis.

“Every time — birthdays or Christmas —we usually were given a vintage jersey,” said Bo, “but Myles isn’t into it yet.”

Chris explained how he got into the vintage gear. His father was given a pair of goalie skates belonging to Jacques Caron, who played 72 games in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks, as well as 26 with the Cleveland Crusaders and the Cincinnati Stingers in the WHA. They were inscribed ‘J. Caron’ with a labelmaker on the skates.

Chris took his father to get the skates signed by Martin Brodeur since Caron was Brodeur’s goalie coach when Brodeur did a card signing at Frozen Pond in Woodbridge. Since then, Chris has added netminders Gary Cheevers, Billy Smith, Vladislav Tretiak, Grant Fuhr, Tony Esposito and Eddie Belfour autographs to the skates.

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Bad uniforms, but how bad?: The Athletic staff rated the 20 teams in the WBC. Mexico was rated No. 1 and Canada was ranked 14th best. Team USA was 15th.

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Flashback: First a 6-foot-5 tall drink of water climbed the dugout steps alongside the first base dugout in Dunedin. And then another 6-foot-5 young giant.

“Holy cow, Robert ... where did you find those guys?” I asked future Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox.

“Our scouts found them ... and you had better learn their names,” Cox said, “because both are going to play in the majors an awful, awful, long time.”

It was the spring of 2009. And the young Braves were Jason Heyward and Freeman. Both age 19. Heyward was a first rounder (14th overall) and has played 13 seasons. Freeman was a second rounder and has also played 13 seasons.

“All I remember about Dunedin was it was really, really windy,” Freeman said the other day, “and now Jason and I are together again with the Dodgers.”