Team Canada

Sean Avery plays NHL style hockey and his no international experience but Team Canada could use The Superpest and King of the Agitators who led the NHL in penalties for two years, was voted most hated hockey player in the league, and then turned into an MVP with the New York Rangers.

At the I.I.H.F. World Championship in Bern, Team Canada lost the gold medal by one goal to Russia, again. The New York Times said, "Russia had little trouble preserving the lead the rest of the way against an ineffective Canadian attack."

Canada won the silver medal and the USA narrowly missed out on the bronze, won by Sweden.

Russia and Canada entered into the final with identical records of 24 world titles each. Canada has fallen behind by one. Russian goalie Ilya Bryzgalov saved 37 out of 38 shots and was named player of the game.

Canada out-shot Russia 38 to 17.

The silver is Canada’s fifth medal in the last six years. They had five appearances in the gold medal game, winning three golds and two silver.

Canada's roster highlighted a youth movement. Just a year and a half ago, Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty and Luke Schenn helped Canada's National Junior Team to a gold medal.

The three Canadian teams that missed the NHL playoffs are well-represented. Danny Heatley, Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher, and Chris Phillips all came from the Ottawa Senators; Ian White and Schenn came from the Toronto Maple Leafs; and the Edmonton Oilers provided Shawn Horcoff.

The forward unit featured plenty of world championship experience. Derek Roy, Martin St. Louis, Heatley, Shane Doan and Spezza were all part of the team that won silver last spring in Quebec City. Colby Armstrong and Matthew Lombardi have also appeared in the event.

In the final against Russia this year, Team Canada played like Canadians: polite, law-abiding, conservative. They needed a free radical to cause chaos in front of Russia's net and make the Russian team pay for diving, showboating, and throwing their weight around.

A second or third Canadian team could handle most of the other hockey teams in the world. Team Russia is the competition Canada has to worry about.

International hockey tends to be more polite than the NHL, with certain historical exceptions, especially the 1972 Summit series between Canada and the USSR, which was war on ice. Canada won.

Avery has played like Bobby Clark, one of the heroes of the Summit Series, for years. However, the NHL is evolving so the game will look more like the World Championships and Avery is evolving, reluctantly in the same direction.

When he rejoined the New York Rangers this season, after anger management, he played wth Zen-like concentration, even though the referees allowed it to be open season on him.

Okay, he caused some controversy in Boston and got caught up in controversy in the playoffs in Washington, but so did his coach.

Team Canada could have used Avery's speed, grit, passion, and other skills at the World Championships. The Olympics will be a different story.

Avery haters will howl at the idea of the Rangers' MVP forward playing for Team Canada. But who are they going to send into the corer with Malkin and Ovechkin, or in front of the net with Varmalov?

Alexander Radulov proved to be rad, but not the one you love if you are a fan of Team Canada, the NHL, or the Nashville Predators. His second period goal proved to be the game-winner in a 2-1 final between Russia and Canada at the IIHF World Hockey Championships.

Radulov created a lot of controversy recently when he jumped from the NHL to the KHL. He was poached from the Nashville Predators and played for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the city of Ufa, which is the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, in Russia.

Ufa won the Russian Super League Championship last year and finished first in the KHL's regular season this year. The KHL season is scheduled to end before the World Championships so the best KHL players can represent Russia at the tournament.

The NHL remains unhappy with the KHL and is considering staying out of the 2014 Winter Olympics, to be held in Russia.

In the final game of the tournament, Canada scored first, with a goal by Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators in the National Hockey League, but the Russians tied it up later in the opening period, with a goal by Oleg Saprykin of the HC CSKA Moscow in the KHL.

Both goals could be called tip-ins. The teams looked fairly evenly matched, although the Canadians hits were clean but the Russians got a penalty for high sticking and drew a penalty for diving.

The Canadian goalie might have also exaggerated a hit to draw a penalty and, Alexei Kovalev also received a hockey player's smile during the game, losing a tooth.

Radulov got the game-winner early in the second period.

The win gives the Russians plus the Soviet Union 25 world championships, just one more than Canada. However, the Soviets were clearly taking the tournament far more seriously in the days of the CCCP.

The Soviets sent their best team, which also represented them at the Olympics, while the Canadian squad has always been made up of players who did not make it beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL.

Sweden won the bronze medal, defeating a surprising young team from the USA.

Playing just days after two Canadian diplomats were kicked out of Russia, the final game in the 2009 World Championships will decide not only who gets gold and silver but who takes the lead in the history of battles between the two best teams in international hockey.

The Russians plus the Soviet have 24 world championship and so does a little country called Canada. It's David versus Goliath and David (Canada) is favored to win this one.

Sweden won the bronze medal, defeating a surprising young team from the USA.

The Russians have 15 players returning from last year’s team and the Canadians have six. The Canuck team has five of the tournaments top scorers.

Martin St. Louis has 15 points in eight game,s and Steven Stamkos is tied for the tournament lead with seven goals.

Shea Weber, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza have also scored lots of goals for Canada...

Canada entered the 2009 IIHF World Hockey Championship tied for first place with Russia in the pre-tournament world rankings and could take the lead in the rankings.

They had a strong start to this tournament and lost just one game but the Russians went undefeated.

Canada has topped the world rankings for years, but this is the first time Russia has sat atop the rankings since the format was introduced by the IIHF in 2004.

Both Canada and Russia have 2,000 points, but that will not affect the seeding for the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Canada is the No. 1 seed based on the results of the 2008 tournament played in Canada.

Shane Doan, who wore the "C" when Canada won in Moscow in 2007 and lost in Quebec City last year, was named captain for Canada again.

The 32-year-old captain of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes said anything less than gold will be a disappointment. He also talked about the "bitter taste" left in his mouth following last year's heart-breaking overtime loss to Russia in the final.

Leading 4-2 with 10 minutes to play in the final period, Canada somehow lost the game. Ilya Kovalchuk scored the overtime winner while Rick Nash sat in the penalty box serving a delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass.

Ken Warren of Canwest News Service today wrote a feature about Team Canada's current third goaltender for the 2009 IIHF World Championships: Fred Braithwaite.

Maybe it's just because I grew up a London Knights watcher in Southwestern Ontario that I've always liked this guy: at 5'7" and 185 lbs, he's about my size, too, a typical underdog who has, in 16 professional seasons, amassed just over 250 NHL games.

He's 36 years old, which in the wake of stalwarts like Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour or Dominik Hasek, isn't so bad, and his recent form—MVP and goaltender of the year in the German Elite League with the Mannheim Eagles—suggests that there is still some gas left in his tank.

Not a great goalie by NHL standards, but certainly not lacking in the character it takes to bounce around this long and keep playing professionally.

His surprise inclusion on this earliest incarnation of the WHC team makes for a great story, and I don't write the following as a knock against him in any way, but (as Warren conceded as well), the whole situation must be considered here.

The inclusion of Braithwaite comes more from convenience than anything: He’s coming in as a third goalie, he was already in Europe and has played against a lot of the guys the rest of the world will dress, and he won't play (or even dress) behind Dwayne Roloson or Josh Harding anyway.

The part of the story that interested me, though, is what his inclusion does suggest about the other goalies who couldn't (or wouldn't) play.

Dallas's Marty Turco is at the top of my list, as a goalie who's been here (and to the Olympics) before, but he had a tough season and could likely use the time off. Curtis Joseph isn't far behind, but as he's preparing to return for a second "last season", it's understandable if he decides that he'd best not tempt fate.

This leaves Team Canada with a crop of a few passable goaltenders who are at least deserving of the third chair: Nashville's Dan Ellis leads the group, but equally viable would be Mike Smith of Tampa Bay (were he not still recovering from a concussion) or Pascale Leclaire (who is apparently recovering well from an ankle injury, and could probably use the practice or even an easy first round game just to get a bit more in before the offseason).

The rest of the list of Canadian-born goalies who didn't make the playoffs provides slim pickings, with an effectively equal balance of career backups and "could-bes": Patrick Lalime (BUF); Andrew Raycroft (COL); Dany Sabourin and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (EDM); Yann Danis and Joey MacDonald (NYI); Alex Auld and Brian Elliott (OTT).

Braithwaite, in his interview with Warren, revealed that he has at the very least accepted his role on the team, saying that he doesn't really even know if another goalie is on his way across the pond to replace him and that he is primarily here to practice.

Should another goalie's phone ring, though, the options aren't as good as one might think - non-playoff teams aside, there aren't too many NHL-calibre Canadian goalies left. 

For starters, the Masons (no relation) may be available shortly: Chris, now that St. Louis is out, and hot rookie Steve once Detroit dusts Columbus. The ill-fated Carey Price’s phone may ring in the morning as well, so it's not exactly gloom-and-doom.

And while I will admit that I still like Don Cherry—when he talks about hockey and only about things on the ice at that—I think the unfavourable observation that follows about Canadian goalies in the NHL would upset him. When you break it down, it suddenly looks like there aren’t too many world-class Canadian goalies in the NHL.

Among the five who are likely to remain starters in the 2009 playoffs, two are great (Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur), and three are very good (Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury and the always steady Chris Osgood).

In Anaheim, Jonas Hiller (SUI) has replaced Jean-Sebastien Giguere; Tim Thomas (USA) has supplanted Manny Fernandez in Boston; Washington's Simeon Varlamov (RUS) is running José Theodore out of the league as we speak, and Martin Biron has landed the Flyers' top job for now, after platooning with Antero Nittymaki (FIN) all year.

The aforementioned Price should be replaced by the Slovakian sensation Jaroslav Halak, but Bob Gainey has evidently decided to stake his own job on his fifth-overall gamble.

The rest of the starters in the playoffs hail from Europe: Calgary's Miikka Kipprusoff (FIN), Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin (RUS), "King" Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers (SWE), and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov (born in Kazakhstan but now able to play for Russia).

So what could be on the horizon for Team Canada should they desperately require goaltending help? Not much.

If their teams get eliminated and their starters decline, we could also watch for these guys, I guess: Mathieu Garon (PIT), Curtis McElhinney (CGY), Michael Leighton (CAR), Wade Dubliewicz (CBJ), Kevin Weekes (NJD), or Stephen Valliquette (NYR).

Put it another way: does anyone know if Ed Belfour stayed in Sweden after his season with Leksands IF? Should he be as conveniently placed as Braithwaite, his phone seems as likely to ring as anyone else's.

In 302 days, one of the most anticipated hockey tournaments ever held in North America begins. Of course, we are talking about the men's hockey competition at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Over the next few months, expert after so-called expert will give their opinions on who should be on the various national squads that will contest the 12-team tournament.

To the citizens of the host country, the make-up of only one team really matters.  And no selections will be more scrutinized, analyzed and criticized than the 23-man roster chosen to represent Canada.

So who should be on Canada's dream team for the 2010 Olympics? Here are my selections:

Goalkeeper (3)

My Picks: Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks; Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils; Steve Mason, Columbus Blue Jackets

Also considered: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins; Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes; Marty Turco, Dallas Stars; Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Luongo is the best in the world at his position, and is ready to take over as the number one man from Brodeur. The NHL's all-time wins leader is a great insurance policy and already has an Olympic goal medal. 

Mason gets the nod for the third spot over Marc-Andre Fleury and Carey Price as the man who looks the most like the heir apparent at this point.

If Luongo or Brodeur go down, the back-up position may be between Ward or Turco, who have a bit more experience than the three considered for the primarily ceremonial third spot.

Defenseman (7)

My Picks: Chris Pronger, Anaheim Ducks; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks; Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers; Shea Weber, Nashville Predators; Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames; Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks; Mike Green, Washington Capitals

Also considered: Dan Boyle, San Jose Sharks; Brent Burns, Minnesota Wild; Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins; Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings

Niedermayer and Pronger will provide experience and leadership to what otherwise is a very young, if skilled defense. Phaneuf, Weber, Bouwmeester and Keith round out the top six, with Mike Green from Washington slated as the seventh man and power-play specialist.

Depending on how well Green plays in his own end, he could quickly move into the top three pairs.

Boyle and Burns are the toughest cuts on the blueline, but would be worthy additions if someone else struggles or gets hurt.  Doughty and Letang are long shots but are developing quickly. 

Forwards (13)

My Picks

Line One: Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks; Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators; Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets

Line Two: Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning; Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks

Line Three: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Jeff Carter, Philadelphia Flyers; Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes

Line Four: Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers; Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes; Brendan Morrow, Dallas Stars

13th man: Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers

Also considered: Marc Savard, Boston Bruins; Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning; Jonathan Toews, Chicago Black Hawks; Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators; Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning; Patrick Sharp, Chicago Black Hawks

Getzlaf, Heatley and Nash were dynamite together at the 2008 World Championships, finishing 1-2-3 in tournament scoring. Lecavalier, Iginla and Thornton provide an overwhelming combination of size, skill and experience. Crosby gets two wingers with speed and finishing ability in Carter and Staal. 

The fourth line of Richards, Doan and Morrow will be no fun to play against and will also get their share of goals. Gagne is the perfect 13th guy as he can play in all situations and in both ends of the rink.

Of those also considered, St. Louis was the toughest to leave off the team, because of his all-around ability, speed and his chemistry with Lecavalier. Toews is developing fast and could force his way on the team with a big first half. 

Spezza and Marleau could be considered if injuries are a factor. Stamkos and Sharp will probably not make the  grade in 2010, but could be a part of future Team Canada's.

Joba Chamberlain has struggled a bit this preseason.

In his first start he pitched just one inning here are the results: ground out, single, double, double, ground out, ground out.

His second start against Team Canada was a little uglier: walk, single, walk, walk, walk. No outs.

Even though it’s just spring training and very early in spring at that, people started getting bent out of shape over his underwhelming starts. Peter Abraham was even ready to hand his spot in the rotation over to Phil Hughes after just two very brief outings.

“Joba is 23 and is unproven as a starter,” Abraham wrote on his blog. “The Yankees got burned last season when they handed Hughes and Ian Kennedy jobs out of spring training. They need to remember that lesson and make Chamberlain earn his way.”

That seems a bit extreme.

Joba projects as someone who could end up as a front line starter and now after maybe 40 pitches people are talking about removing him from the rotation already.

Well tonight will hopefully remind people that it’s spring and it’s early. Joba pitched three dominant innings against the Reds and did not even reach the 45-pitch count that they wanted to keep him at. He threw all his pitches and his velocity was up in the mid-90’s hitting 97 MPH at times.

Joba gave up three hits. The first one was erased on a caught stealing and the second one should have been stranded on base, but a gaff by Brett Gardner led to the third hit and a run scored.

He also struck out three and had that patented Joba cockiness while doing it. Anyone who got a chance to see him walk off the mound after striking Edwin Encarnacion looking on a backdoor slider knew that Joba has no issues this spring.

Forget redemption, this one was all about revenge.

Team USA defeated Team Canada six to five in a game that saw five balls leave the park, three for the Americans and two for the Canadians.

Canada struck first as Jake Peavy got off to a very rocky start. Justin Morneau's RBI ground out started the scoring, but the Canadians were unable to get another and left the bases loaded.

Team USA tied the score in the second with their only run to score on something besides a home run. Kevin Youkilis trotted home on Brian McCann's sacrifice fly, but the tie wouldn't hold.

Joey Votto ripped a Jake Peavy slider to the second deck in right center, which brought the sell-out crowd to its feat. Canada was the away team in name only as the majority of the 42,000 fans were backing the men in red at full throat.

Down two to one and seeing flashbacks of 2006's home loss in their minds, Team USA showed the potent offense that moved manager Davey Johnson to call his squad the team to beat.

Leading off the inning, Kevin Youkilis roped a 1-2 pitch into the stands and three batters later, Brian McCann hit a two run shot on the first pitch he saw to give Team USA a lead it would never give up.

Perhaps the only worrisome spot for Los Estados Unididos was, ironically, the bullpen.

The loss of Brian Fuentes, Joe Nathan and BJ Ryan within a week of each other took the US from having the best bullpen in the Classic to having a number of question marks. Joel Hanrahan allowed a run on a wild pitch and JJ Putz nearly gave the game away, barely stranding the tying run in scoring position in the top of the ninth.

The US will play the winner of tonight's Italy/Venezuela game tomorrow evening. If they win that game, they will advance to the next round.

Team Canada will play the loser of that same matchup in an elimination game. If they are to continue in this tournament, Canada needs to get production from more than three members of their lineup.

Joey Votto had over half of the team's hits, which makes an excellent game for him, but a poor showing from the rest of the team. Jason Bay and Justin Morneau need to exert a larger presence if the Canadians are going to defeat Italy and especially if they hope to knock of Venezuela.

In their first meeting in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Team Canada hosts Team USA at the Rogers' Centre, yet the United States demands to bat last so Canada kindly obliges. ESPN broadcasts the game, with Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe calling the action in the booth.

In celebration of the game and the victory, we are offering up a breakdown between the two teams' offensive lineups and defensive positions, which will show you exactly how Team USA beat Team Canada. Team USA never made it past the second round in the 2006 WBC, losing to Canada twice. 

Team USA is a much more talented team, chuck full of major leaguers in their prime at many key position. The same can not be said for Team Canada, and other teams in this international baseball round-robin tourney.

Canada's upset over the United States served as one of the main reasons Team USA failed to qualify for the semi-finals in 2006. This year, Team USA escapes Team Canada with a 6-5 comeback win, behind two clutch two-run bombs from Adam Dunn and Brian McCann, and avenges their embarrassing 8-6 defeat from our northern multicultural bilingual neighbors. 

Pitching

The Americanized Team Canada sends young inexperienced Mike Johnson, a relatively unknown pitcher, to the mound against Big Brother's Jake Peavy, whose off-season trade rumors effectively kills the hopes of Braves' delusional fans who envisioned another division crown and put on hold the Cubs' quest to break the curse of the Billy Goat and 100 years without a World Series birth.

Peavy remains a San Diego Padre for the time being. American starter Peavy, a right-handed hurler, faces a left-heavy Canadian lineup, but the manager Davey Johnson and the United States' weak rotation do not posses much quality left-hand starting pitching beyond the former Cy Young winner.   

Canada's best pitcher may be Scott Richmond, but since we've never heard of him either, we're banking the Americans pull of an easy victory, thus avenging one of their two disappointing showings against the Canadians during the 2006 mid-Winter classic.

Infield

Fresh off the greatest season in his young career, the reigning 2008 American League MVP and Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia leads off for Team USA.

Team Canada sports current Washington Nationals utility-player Pete Orr who batted first last WBC, now bats last this time. Orr barely hit above the Mendoza line last season for the underachieving, last-place finishing, America's hometown Nationals.

Four-time World Series champion, New York Yankee Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter starts at short and bats second for Team USA, with shortstop Chris Barnwell leading off for Team Canada. Barnwell will never come close to the greatest MLB player never linked to steroids and fails your fantasy eyeball test, so no background check necessary for Barnwell.

Mets' third basemen David Wright bats cleanup and needs to get hot early for US to win. However, a productive Wright in the WBC means nothing when he colossal Citifield slump down the stretch positions the Mets for a collapse to Chris-send in the new Shea stadium.

Canadian third base Mark Teahen opposes Wright at third and even though we're unfamiliar with Teahen's defensive skills, he's nowhere near the gold-grove capability of Mr. Met.

Kevin Youkilis plays first base and bats fifth for Team USA. Opposing him at first, the Canadian's favorite amateur hockey turned professional baseball player, Justin Morneau. Morneau ratcheted up his game the last WBC a .308 AVG, three doubles, and two RBI in three games.

At his best, Youkilis' killer instinct fails in comparison to Morneau's all-round hitting and defensive prowess, but when applied steals the show.

Designated Hitter

Atlanta failed to win the NL East last season, missing the playoffs for the third straight year. The lone bright  spot, Chipper Jones, enters his 16th Braves' season at third base, leading the majors last year in batting average, hitting at a .364 clip.

As the designated hitter for the American team, Chipper needs the rest to perform at an all-star level ahead need in the cleanup spot.

Joey Votto also bats third and plays DH for the Canadians. A power-hitter, with significant major league experience, proven to provide an offensive pop to any lineup 

Outfield

Adam Dunn was the only player in the majors to hit 40 home runs in the last five seasons, despite staggering strikeout totals each season, his high on-base percentage and walks makes him a productive player worth batting sixth in any starting lineup.

The only player to strike out more in his career than Dunn: Steroid-laden power-hitter Matt Stairs, whose poor outfield (RF) defensive skills puts him barely ahead of Dunn in that category.  

As the starting center fielder for the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies, Shane Victorinio gives the Americans a legitimate stolen base threat, speed in the outfield, and pesky at-bats at the bottom of the batting order. 

After a trade deadline deal sent Hall-of-Famer Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers for Pirates center fielder Jason Bay, Bay never put up numbers near Ramirez, but we'll still rank him higher on our depth chart than the Flyin' Hawaiian. 

Actually Ryan Braun plays left field for Team USA, but with Canadian enigma Nicholas Weglarz out in left, we figured we'd talk about people other people care to read. No offense Wegalrz, we're sure you're a fine baseball player who's never done steroids, hence you are temporary a player we've never heard. Feel free to prove us wrong.

If Braun, a hot young prospect for the Milwaukee Brewers who just moved to LF last season, performs at the All-Star level he did last season, Team USA will go far in this tournament and the Brew Crew will go deep into the post season. 

Catcher

All-Star Braves catcher, Brian McCann earned the Silver Slugger award last season for his .301 AVG. 23 HRs, and major league leading 42 doubles. His mere presence eighth in the order proves the United States lineup is stacked from top to bottom with incredible major-leaguers.

Team Canada' catcher and Los Angeles Dodgers' starter Russell Martin, is batting second. He gives the Dodgers a much better chance at repeating as NL West champions then he does helping Canada sneak a win out over the United States of America.   

Matt Stairs will suit up today for a spring game in Clearwater, FL, but will be wearing the colors Canada instead of the red pin stripes of the Phillies. The Phillies will host Team Canada in exhibition play this afternoon.

This is the first of two games against World Baseball Classic opponents, with the second coming tomorrow afternoon against Team USA.

For the Phillies though all eyes will be on ace Cole Hamels, who will make his spring debut against the Canadians. There has been little need to worry about Hamels entering the spring.

He was given a little extra time before pitching against opposing bats though to allow guys like JA Happ and Carlos Carrasco to get some time to compete for the fifth rotation spot. Hamels has already been tabbed as the opening night starter for the Phillies by manager Charlie Manuel.

With Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino with Team USA you can expect the Phillies to use more players competing for roster spots to fill the void. Pablo Ozuna has been impressive at second base and should be an early candidate to fill in for Chase Utley if needed.

Jason Donald has struggled at the plate but has made up for it with some nice plays in the field. Donald will likely see more time at third base though with Pedro Feliz still out.

Raul Ibanez has played well thus far in left field and at the plate. John Mayberry Jr. has helped ease the pain and questions surrounding Jayson Werth. Mayberry Jr. may be the front-runner for the right-handed bat off the bench, if he continues to play at the level he has been.

First pitch from Clearwater is set for 1:05pm. Join in on the live blog here as well! Live blog opens up at 12:30 PM and be open for the entire game today.

It's a beautiful day for baseball, eh?