I have not been on the blog much due to the World Baseball Classic. They is the Baseball version of the world cup and is sponsored by Major League Baseball. Each team is composed of MLB players and prospects trying to get noticed by a MLB team. Canada and Mexico have fielded national teams. Due to America’s influence, Baseball has a following in both countries. Canada is still more associated with Hockey and Mexico with Soccer. The fans of both sports are known for brawling at games. Well that mentality seems to have carried into their baseball teams!
PHOENIX — A full-out brawl between Canada and Mexico during the ninth inning of Saturday’s World Baseball Classic contest at Chase Field was attributed to a misunderstanding about the tiebreaking rules in the first round, round-robin format that places a premium on the number of runs scored.
With Canada leading by six runs on its way to a 10-3 win, catcher Chris Robinson pushed a clean bunt single toward third base that was played by Luis Cruz. After the play, Cruz walked toward the mound and appeared to gesture for right-hander Arnold Leon to hit the next batter, Rene Tosoni.
[….]
After Tosoni was hit by the pitch, he headed toward the mound, and suddenly both bullpens and benches emptied and a lengthy scrum intensified. Punches were thrown, and Johnson body-slammed Eduardo Arredondo to the turf, delivering several blows to his face.
Just when it seemed like everything had calmed down, a Canadian player egged on the pro-Mexico crowd on his way back to the first-base dugout by raising his arms as if to welcome their derision. Soon after, a bottle flew out of the stands and hit Canadian coach Denis Boucher on the face. Canada shortstop Cale Iorg threw the bottle back into the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning with Mexico at bat, a fan threw a baseball onto the field in the direction of Canada’s first-base coach, Larry Walker, but it did not hit Walker. Whitt then told Gorman that he would pull his players off the field if order was not restored.
After a public-address announcement threatened to forfeit the game, there were no further incidents and the game ended quietly when Ramiro Pena grounded out to Joey Votto at first.
Both managers said there were no injuries, despite all of the pushing, shoving and punching that occurred.
“You can’t hurt us; we’re Canadians,” Whitt said to some laughter during the postgame news conference.
Hockey fans meeting Soccer fans would have a predicable result. Come on Canadians and Mexicans this is Baseball game, please behave!
I have to admit, this was funny to watch!
Tags: Brawl, Canada, Mexico, World Baseball Classic
