It’s no secret that athletes often speak in clichés. But when members of Canada’s national baseball team talk about how close the team is, and how fond they are of each other, you can tell they are serious.

Michael Saunders was one of the young stars to shine for Canada at the WBC. (USA Today Sports) Canada’s best ball players get together only every three or four years. The players love the experience and the time together, though there has yet to be an on-field breakthrough at the World Baseball Classic. Canada again missed out on the second round of the tournament following a heartbreaking 9-4 loss to the United States in Phoenix on Sunday.

On paper, this was supposed to be one of the best teams Canada has assembled for the event. But the loss of major-league caliber players like Brett Lawrie, Russell Martin, Jesse Crain and Scott Diamond became too much of a hurdle to overcome. Still, the Canadian team, in its gritty Canadian way, battled to the end and come within five outs of upsetting the mighty American team on its home turf. The 2013 Canadian will be remembered for

PHOENIX – After Saturday’s brawl with Mexico, Canada didn’t quite have enough fight left for the United States. Canada came close – five outs away – from knocking off the United States on its home turf, but came up short.

Canada led early thanks to a two-run homer by Michael Saunders, right. (Getty Images)Canada lost a heartbreaking World Baseball Classic decision to the U.S., 9-4, in a winner-moves-on game on Sunday at Chase Field. The final score is not at all indicative of the way the Canadians played, or how close and tense the game was.

Consider, the Americans did not have a lead until the eighth inning and scored seven runs in the final two innings to put the game away. Canada took a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning and turned the game over to their Milwaukee Brewers bullpen combination of Jim Henderson and John Axford.

“If you have a game plan, you draw it up just like that,” manager Ernie Whitt said. “You have your best pitchers closing out the game for you. But, again, sometimes it doesn't always come the way you expect it to.”

Henderson came in and

PHOENIX – Canada may have found its newest baseball folk hero on Saturday, the new Stubby Clapp, if you will. Even before he was partially responsible for causing a massive brawl, catcher Chris Robinson was winning the hearts and minds of Canadians.

Mexico outfielder Karim Garcia collides with Canada catcher Chris Robinson in the fourth inning. (USA Today Sports)And if there was any doubt that the World Baseball Classic doesn’t matter to the teams or players, those doubts vanished in the top of the ninth inning of Saturday’s game between Canada and Mexico.

With Canada leading a must-win game 9-3, Robinson bunted down the third-base line for a single. As soon as Mexico third baseman Luis Cruz picked up the ball, he motioned to pitcher Arnold Leon to hit the next batter.

Rene Tosoni came to bat for Canada. Leon threw two pitches near him before finally plunking him in the back.

Then chaos ensued.

Tosoni made a move toward the mound which prompted both dugouts and bullpens to empty, prompting an all-out brawl.

[Passan: Canada and Mexico brawl at World Baseball Classic]

This was no ordinary

PHOENIX — Out pitched. Out hit. Out managed. And barring a miracle, out of the tournament.

Taylor Green, left, and Pete Orr walk off the field after being defeated by Italy. (Getty Images)To say Canada’s 2013 World Baseball Classic debut was a disaster would be putting it lightly. Canada was embarrassed by Italy, succumbing to the mercy rule after eight innings in a 14-4 loss. Canada’s WBC hopes unraveled quickly against the surprising Italians, who are now 2-0. Italy is almost assured of advancing to the second round for the first time, while Canada has faint hope of moving on.

“We just got beat. They came up with some key hits that really kind of hurt,” Canada manager Ernie Whitt said.

Yes, Italy had some key hits. It had a lot of hits. Small hits, big hits, 17 hits when it was all said and done. Canada’s pitchers looked helpless against the Italian hitters, a mix of a few major leaguers and lot of players few have heard of. Canada used six different pitchers and all but one – righty Dustin Molleken – gave up at least two runs.

It wasn’t just that the Italians got hits,

PHOENIX – If you can believe it, Canada is ranked sixth in the world baseball rankings, well ahead of such baseball factories as the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. For reference, Canada is ranked fifth in the world hockey rankings.

With the loss of Brett Lawrie, Canada will lean on lesser-known players for success. (The Associated Press)That impressive ranking is mostly a result of some fine performances in world competition – a gold medal at the 2011 Pan Am Games and a bronze at the World Cup in 2011. But when Canada’s major-leaguers take the field together, success has been hard to come by. The Canadian team assembled for the 2013 World Baseball Classic has a chance to change that.

Canada opens the tournament on Friday against Italy in the third rendition of the (supposed to be) best-on-best tournament. Canada has yet to advance out of the first round of the event, finishing ninth in 2006 and 12th in 2009.

Twenty-four hours ago, the Canadian team would have been a favourite to finish second in Pool D (which includes Mexico and the U.S., along with Italy) and advance to the

Argonauts receiver Mike Bradwell celebrates with the Grey Cup. (Reuters)TORONTO – As Canada’s biggest city, with a crowded pro-sports market and dozens of other entertainment options, it’s difficult for the Argonauts, and indeed the entire CFL, to steal the spotlight in Toronto.

In October, a local paper even ignored the team altogether when discussing the poor play of Toronto teams in recent years.

What a difference a month makes. On Sunday night, in front of a boisterous, pro-Toronto crowd of 53,208 at the Rogers Centre, the Toronto Argonauts captured the 100th Grey Cup thanks to a 35-22 win over the Calgary Stampeders.

There’s no telling if the buzz generated from a successful Grey Cup week, capped with the home team winning the title will last in Toronto. But for at least one night, the city belonged to the Argonauts.

It was something Argos receiver Mike Bradwell never thought he would see.

“This is incredible,” the Toronto native said about winning a title with his hometown team. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. This place was so

With the upstart Baltimore Orioles right on their tail, the New York Yankees can’t afford to slip up down the stretch. They went to great lengths to earn an important victory on Saturday night.

New York’s 10-9 win over the Oakland Athletics took 14 innings and 5 hours and 43 minutes to play but kept them atop the standings in the American League East. A costly error by Athletics first baseman Brandon Moss led to the game-changing moment of the week.

The Yankees appeared to be finished after the A's scored four runs in the top of the 13th inning. But they rallied for two runs before Raul Ibanez hit a game-tying two-run homer to send it to the 14th.

With the bases loaded and two out, Eduardo Nunez came to the plate. A 1-0 pitch was hit hard, but playable, down the first-base line to Moss. Moss booted it, allowing Ichiro Suzuki to score the winning run.

The wild victory was the Yankees’ second extra-innings win in a row over the A’s and

Despite a series of headline-grabbing trades and off-field maneuvers, the Los Angeles Dodgers have struggled on the field through most of September.

With just three wins in their last 10 games, the Dodgers would appear to be slipping from playoff contention. But a few timely wins, combined with a mediocre playoff race, has the team right in the thick of it. On Saturday, Juan Rivera helped the Dodgers to one of those victories and the game-changing moment of the week.

In the third game of a four-game series against the wild-card leading St. Louis Cardinals, L.A. entered the ninth inning trailing 3-2. After two quick outs by Cardinals closer Jason Motte, the Dodgers began to rally. Andre Either singled and pinch-runner Dee Gordon stole second and scored on a double by Luis Cruz. Elian Herrera then ran for Cruz, bringing Rivera to the plate to pinch-hit for A.J. Ellis.

Rivera’s liner went off the glove of second baseman Daniel