Canadian domination

Props to former Niagara star Chris Begg. The 2001 MAAC pitcher of the year and two-time Olympian became Team Canada's ace when the Blue Jays summoned Scott Richmond to Toronto last month, and he has not disappointed. Begg struck out nine over 6 2/3 scoreless innings in Canada's 10-0 opening victory over China today.

Begg played independent ball for a couple seasons after finishing at Niagara in 2001 before the Giants signed him in 2001. In San Francisco's system, he gradually became a semi-legitimate prospect. But after going 27-15 over the last two seasons at Double-A Connecticut and Triple-A Fresno, the 28-year-old was slowed by a shoulder injury this season. The Giants released him last month.

Here's hoping Begg,  an Uxbridge, Ontario native, lands somewhere and ultimately gets his big league shot.

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Interesting to see Begg's victory came against China, which is part of the eight-team field only because of its host country exemption. Baseball's not all that big over there -- Communist leader Mao Zedong once banned the sport in China because of its Western roots -- so former big league manager Jim Lefebvre has had quite the time inspiring the boys.

There was a great anecdote in a New York Times story by Juliet Macur last month about one of the Chinese coach's early meetings with his club in the spring:

Lefebvre, 66, gave an impassioned speech this spring: “We’re here to get ready for the Olympics and strength is part of that. You don’t order room service and say, ‘Hey, send me up some strength.’ You have to go and get it yourself. So how many of you want to go lift weights?”

Only one player raised his hand.

“They’re just not aggressive people,” Lefebvre said. “It took a long time for me to convince them that it’s not O.K. to smile when you strike out."

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Let's get a little more mileage out of this Canada-China showdown, and allow the defense to present exhibit 2,345A arguing Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi's incompetence. Remember we mentioned Richmond, and the Jays taking away his Olympic opportunity. Here was Ricciardi's justification:

"The first thing we thought about is ‘We're not going to bring this kid up for one start and hurt his chances of playing on the Olympic team and putting the Olympic team in any kind of jeopardy,’”  Ricciardi told the National Post after Richmond’s first start. “We talked about that at length. We said, 'If this is going to be one start, then we wouldn't bring the kid up.'"

So they gave him three starts instead, announcing Tuesday that Richmond was being bumped from the rotation in favor of Jesse Litsch. Richmond didn't wow anyone in his three starts, going 0-2 with a 5.06 ERA in 16 innings. But do the Jays think Richmond is better off in their bullpen, throwing long relief in another wasted season, than starting at the Olympics?

Dave Littlefield thinks that was a stupid move.

(Photo: Getty Images)

--- David Briggs

Comments

[Bster]

Someone shoot JP!