Erick Aybar forgot about umpire Angel Hernandez and concentrated on pitcher Craig Kimbrel. Aybar's short memory served him well, and he turned around a 97-mph fastball for a go-ahead, pinch-hit single in what was, so far, the most dramatic moment of the World Baseball Classic.

Aybar's display of mental resiliency after Hernandez's horrendous strike call in the ninth inning Thursday helped send the Dominican Republic to a 3-1 victory against the United States and into the WBC semifinals at San Francisco. It also put the U.S. on the brink of elimination, and it must beat Puerto Rico on Friday night for the last berth in the semis, where Japan and the Netherlands also await.

Those who care even a little about the WBC will be talking about Aybar's at-bat for a long time. It would have been a shame for his chances to ruined by an egregiously bad ball-strike call. But he didn't let it happen.

How hard do you like your arteries?

Well, fans of the West Michigan Whitecaps might be able to answer that question in person this summer by attending a ballgame at Fifth Third Ballpark, where a specialty concession stand will be selling a taco made with a bacon shell. Defibrillation, if necessary, is on the house!

As they have done previously, the "Baco" was chosen by fan contest, in which the top three vote-getters all listed bacon as ingredients, a press release stated:

The Baco received a staggering 30% of the online votes, while second place with 27% of the vote went to The Bad Joke (a corn dog covered in cheese with two strips of duck bacon on a bun…it will quack you up!). Third place was, a virtual tie between Crash's favorite snack, Rascal Chow (popcorn, bacon and Reeses) and Teeny Weenies (little hot dogs in mini helmets), with 9% each.

Teenie Weenies. Clever.

I'll be honest: This Baco simply looks like a lump of bacon with typical taco toppings heaped onto it. Not that it's a bad thing. Until it is.

The Whitecaps are known for their adventurous dining choices.

It makes sense, if you rationalize it, Pete Rose doing a furniture commercial for greater Cincinnati TV. Even these days, regardless of the salaries some athletes make, you'll see a lot of players doing cheap-looking commercials for, say, an auto dealership. They'll do it in exchange for a free lease, usually.

But Charlie Hustle doing Muenchen's Furniture is throwback to a time when pro athletes supplemented their income by becoming actors in "B" productions because they kind of had to. I'm speaking of the 1960s and 1950s, when the genre was young and the production values were, well, not so valuable.

His new commercial is not the nuanced work of 1970s and '80s Pete Rose, when Kool-Aid Man stole a hit from the Hit King. Or when Pete took on Atari all by himself (OK, he had Pele's help). Or when he probably tried to hook up with reporter Betty Buckley because he was an Aqua Velva Man. Pete's biggest concern in the furniture commercial is not eating the prop donut until all the takes were in.

His fiancée, Kiana Kim, reads her lines at least as well as Pete does, but her facial expression when the blonde lady says how cheap the furniture is, well, that will be the talk of the local Clios come award time:

(AP)

Laynce Nix of the Philadelphia Phillies did some investigating and has concluded that baseball cleats were the root cause of leg injuries plaguing him the past two seasons. He slugged a composite .461 from 2009-2011, but in '11 Nix started having Achilles tendon problems and, in 2012 with the Phillies, he suffered calf injuries. His production plummeted.

Money, it's gotta be the shoes!

It's certainly not unheard of for someone to blame improper footwear for discomfort felt elsewhere in the body. You've probably heard a doctor, or at least a shoe salesperson, proffer such a theory. This is Nix's story, as told by reporter Dennis Deitch of the Delco Times:

“To be short and direct,” Nix said Wednesday, “the shoes that I was wearing didn’t flex where my toes flex, and it caused tension in the Achilles’ (tendon) and calves. That built up for a couple of years in my Achilles and calves.”

Although Nix had a few disabled-list stints over the years — a strained abdomen, a turned ankle, a shoulder that required surgery — he hadn’t been one to have leg problems until the last two seasons. He said his Achilles’ tendon gave him issues while in Washington, then he had the calf problems last year in Philly. Nix said a conversation with Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino — both wearers of Nike products, and both of whom have had calf issues in the past — led him to suspect his cleats were the problem.

Nix went on to say that Mark Teixeira of the Yankees and Albert Pujols of the Angels had similar leg problems wearing the same kind of shoes. And while Victorino and Rollins simply changed Nikes, Nix says he is "shopping around" among Mizuno, New Balance and Adidas. Good ol' trial and error. Hey, this story suddenly sounds familiar:

The description on YouTube for "Space Jays" says it was inspired by the "He Man" and "Transformers" cartoons of 25 years ago. That's about right. I can't imagine you'll have any more fun this morning than by playing the first of what's hopefully a full season of episodes.

It was produced by Cashew Mirman, the same genius who brought us the 8-bit Blue Jays video game. The quality of animation is not unlike that, combined with some "He Man" influence along with obvious South Park overtones and — perhaps intentionally, perhaps subliminally — a classic "Mr. Show" sketch.

It stars R.A. Dickey (of course) as a "mature space cowboy" captaining a starship under attack by Space Pirates whose own ship looks like the Pittsburgh Pirates pillbox cap of the 1970s and '80s. R.A.'s helpers include Ricky Roboto, who misfires the ship's "space lasers" as if he's Ricky Romero having a bad day on the mound. Also, there's Little J.P. Arencibia whose job it is, apparently, to look after Mark Buehrle's dog — the one that isn't allowed inside of Ontario. That part doesn't make 100 percent sense, but "Space Jays" is something you just go with for maximum enjoyment.)

The best touches include:

(AP)

The New York Mets released slugger Jason Bay in November, a full season before his $66 million contract was up. So obviously unhappy with his performance were the Mets, and so apparently certain he didn't have enough left at age 34 because of injuries and who knows what else, they preferred to cut Bay and pay him $21 million just to be rid of him. This is the same Mets team that's been teetering on insolvency in recent history because of the Bernie Madoff scandal.

Four months later, the Seattle Mariners say they're considering using Bay as their leadoff hitter. The same Bay who never has hit leadoff before (he's only hit second 14 times). The same Bay who batted .165/.237/.299 in 215 plate appearances for the Mets in 2012. The same Bay who finished with a .687 OPS over three injury riddled seasons playing for New York.

Hey, if you're going to bring in a former star trying to salvage his career — and you're the Mariners, who have finished last in four of the past five seasons — you might as well start him at the top. Bay, a funny and self-effacing sort, doesn't see what the big deal is. From the Seattle Times:

“It’s going to be the same as if I’m hitting fourth, fifth, or eighth,” he said. “I’m just going to be doing the same thing.”

He means, presumably, like when Bay hit .280/.375/.519 from 2004-2009. More from the Times:

A fish tank sits behind home plate at Marlins Park. Teams playing at the World Baseball Classic in Miami cannot possibly miss seeing it. But nobody told Robinson Cano about the piranhas that would be nipping at his ankles around second base.

Cano admitted to being angry about getting spiked in the leg — a total of three times, he said — after Nick Punto got him in the seventh inning Tuesday. Cano's Dominican Republic team overcame an early four-run deficit to beat Punto and Italy 5-4 in second-round play, and Cano was cool with that — he just didn't like the country hardball being played around the bag.

[Also: Underdog Italy eliminated in dramatic fashion by P.R.]

Earlier in his career, Punto was among the vanguard of a group of Minnesota Twins that Ozzie Guillen nicknamed "Piranhas" for their spirited, hustling, irritating, obnoxious and overcompensating style of play. Guillen respected, if not downright admired, the Piranhas. I'm not sure Cano feels quite the same way about that kind of style played at all times.

Cano said in the New York Daily News that he was "upset" and "mad" because, he said, Punto's extra effort was unnecessary, as there was no double play to break up. Am I reading another of baseball's "unwritten rules" between the lines here?

Pitching coach Rich Dubee asks Halladay 'sup?' (AP)Most of the time, skewed spring training results can be ignored when it comes to established players. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay probably would like to ignore what happened Tuesday afternoon against the Tigers. He allowed seven runs and six hits, including a grand slam by Ramon Santiago and a two-run homer by Don Kelly.

[Baseball 2013 from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports: Join a league today!]

As reporter Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, Detroit didn't even have sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the lineup. Had they been there, they would have faced Halladay throwing in the mid-80s (as in mph, not the decade):

Another scout's radar gun has Halladay velocity at around 84-85. Just gave up grand slam to [Santiago].

— Bob Brookover (@brookob) March 12, 2013

He also walked four over 69 pitches. The low velocity is troublesome, but Halladay's command usually is his bread and butter. Is Halladay hiding an injury out of pride? Or is he just thrown one too many pitches to be Ol' Dominant Roy? The only thing he's got working right now — thank goodness — is his beard. UPDATE: Here's what he told the media: