Canada Tops Mexico For Olympic Berth

Complete Coverage of the Americas Olympic Qualifier

By Eric Edwards
November 10, 2003

PANAMA CITY, Panama--They had to wait four years, but Canada's baseball team finally learned Sunday what it feels like to qualify for the Olympics.

Justin Morneau (Twins) hit his fifth home run of the tournament, leading another long-ball barrage as Team Canada knocked out Mexico, 11-1 to erase the sting of its home field do-or-die loss to Cuba the last time this prize was on the line at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

Canada joins its old nemesis Cuba as the second representative to emerge from the Americas qualifier for the 2004 Games in Athens. Earlier Sunday, the Cubans pounded Puerto Rico, 10-0 in a game shortened to seven innings by the international 10-run rule.

Canada adds its name to an eight-team field next August that also includes host Greece, Italy and the Netherlands from Europe, Japan and Taiwan from Asia and either Australia or South Africa.

At home in Winnipeg four years ago when the Pan Am Games also served as the qualifier for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Canada finished with a tournament-best 6-1 record, but was eliminated 3-2 in the semifinals by Cuba.

"It's night and day what we're feeling now. I'm so proud of these guys," said Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt, whose team will play Cuba in a championship tonight with only pride on the line. "We came so close last time. This makes up for it."

Team Canada's path to the Olympics didn't pass through the Cuban powerhouse this time. Instead, it was supposed to be their U.S. neighbors that would pose the biggest obstacle. But when the Americans, the defending Olympic champions, fell to Mexico 2-1 in Friday's shocker, Whitt's team was suddenly an odds-on pick to earn its first-ever appearance in the Olympics.

Whitt's club repulsed a middle inning rally to beat Colombia 14-6 in the quarterfinals Saturday, and made good on those predictions Sunday. Their powerful lineup overpowered the Mexicans for a second time in a tournament marked by disorganization, the early exit of the home team, a fireworks accident last Wednesday that injured 10 fans, one critically and its two semifinal blowouts.

"It didn't take a lot to keep these guys focused," said Whitt. "We're always overlooked in these tournaments, so I guess we don't realize when the pressure is supposed to be on."

Morneau, one of the new additions since the heartbreak four years ago, hit a two-run shot to ignite a four-run third inning, and Pete LaForest (Devil Rays) added a home run and plated with team's first run with a double as Canada continued its offensive rampage here. Rob Ducey added a run-scoring single in the second, and the Canadians hit four homers overall.

"Last time we were two runs short; this time we didn't leave it to chance," said LaForest.

Ryan Radmanovich hit a two-run home run in the fifth and Stubby Clapp (Braves) ended it under international baseball's 10-run rule in the bottom of the seventh with a solo blast.

In five games, the Canadians' left-leaning lineup hit 17 home runs, collected 61 hits and scored 42 times, an average of 8.4 runs per game.

"I had a bad game against the Cuban pitcher (Adiel Palma), but he's a big league caliber guy," said Morneau, one of seven lefthanded hitters in Sunday's lineup. "I had a bad at-bat my first time up in the next game, then concentrated on staying back and hitting the ball where it was pitched. I hit one out over the center-field wall in my next at-bat, and after that I was on a roll again."

Canada improved its record to 4-1 in a competition that was originally scheduled to include 13 teams and six elimination-round games, but was reduced to nine teams and three elimination games when Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Aruba pulled out at the last minute, and the Bahamas failed to show up.

Rain marred the first three days of the event, and minutes before the start of the headline game of the first round Wednesday between Panama and Team USA, a launcher tipped over beyond the centerfield fence sending fireworks spraying in different directions. One struck 41-year-old Ricardo Vega in the chest and exploded next to him in the right field stands. Vega was still in critical condition Sunday, fighting for his life after four separate surgeries.

One of Whitt's biggest challenges was keeping the team focused during all of its time off. Of the two weeks they've spent so far in Panama, the Canadians had played just five times.

"That was a concern," said Whitt, a roving instructor in the Blue Jays organization who managed the club during the '99 Pan Ams as well. "You like to establish a rhythm at these competitions, but that was impossible to do with all the canceled games."

Well, not impossible.

"I can't give these guys enough credit. We have something special here," said Whitt. "They were a lot of obstacles, but they found ways to overcome them."

Whitt isn't the only returnee familiar with the '99 heartbreak. Clapp, Radmanovich, infielders Todd Betts and Matt Logan and outfielder Jeremy Ware (Expos) are among the six of the nine starters from the 1999 squad who are back with Team Canada this time around. But Morneau and LaForest are newcomers and may have made the biggest difference. The two sluggers both played in the major leagues in 2003; Morneau entered the tournament as one of the top prospects in the field, Team USA included. The duo combined to hit seven homers.

"We figured we had a shot when we put this team together," said Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada's team director. "We don't have the resources to get 400 guys together and pick the best 24. We basically knew from the start which players were going to be on our team.

"We have a nucleus of guys who have been through this before and learned what it takes. Believe me, the guys who were on this team in 1999 still remember what it feels like to fall short. It was still fresh in our minds."

Not any more.