Blu Boys having the blues after third loss

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Former world champion Canada took a business-like thrashing of the Philippines, 8-0, in five innings as it shifted to high gear in the race for the quarterfinals with two crucial victories as the XI men’s world softball championship resumed in earnest at the Smokefree Ballpark here Monday.

The Canadians, winner in the Manila editions of softball’s world series in 1972 and 1992 and joint gold medalist in 1976, handed the Blu Boys their third straight loss through the seven-run mercy rule after defusing the power of Aussie teener Andrew Kirkpatrick for a 3-2 decision earlier in the day.

National coach Reynaldo Manzanares used all three pitchers in the RP rotation against Canada’s explosive row of eight left-handed batters and shuffled 12 men in quest of the right mix but just couldn’t contain the former champs’ offensive surge in the contest.

Slowed down by its shock loss to newcomer Samoa Sunday, Canada made sure it would get back on track as quickly and brought in the legendary Darren Zack, long regarded as the best in the world, who limited the Filipinos to only two hits.

Zamboanga’s Roger Rojas absorbed his second loss in as many outings, issuing five of their rivals‘ eight hits in four innings as he struggled against Canada’s steady stream of southpaw hitters who exploited their edge with a lethal power zone against the Filipino hurler’s right-hand deliveries.

That sent the Blu Boys to the brink of eliminations in tough pool A, the softball’s version of the Group of Death, with the team facing a herculean task of winning four games beginning with South Africa at 9 a.m. and defending champion New Zealand at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

"We’ve been left behind in this kind of competition, naiwanan tayo," admitted Manzanares noting the vast improvement of teams in the high-powered ISF centerpiece event.

The veteran Zack, a member of the 1992 world champs in Manila who had records of pitching 10 games without allowing a single run and 150 strikeouts, claimed eight strikeouts against 17 Filipino batters he faced.

With their hopes of making the Top 8 quarterfinals simply ebbing away, the Blu Boys would need three big wins in their last four games to match their joint ninth place finish four years ago in East London, South Africa.

But that, too, wouldn’t be easy gauging from the caliber of teams in their bracket and unpredictable run of forms with Australia coming back in the afternoon with a 7-2 win over South Africa and Venezuela going 2-1 win-loss with a 3-2 decision over the Netherlands.

Only the New Zealand Black Sox with three wins so far and second ranked Canada, getting back in the thick of things after their 1-3 lacing of the Kiwi-laden Samoa, seemed to be in firm control of their side of the draw.

The Canadians came up with four runs – two unearned – on the top of the second inning and methodically pulled away against the Filipinos before ending the contest on the fifth with a three-run binge.

The Filipinos had only an error to show this time, a far cry from the five they committed against Venezuela, but they continued to grope for form offensively and fumbled their only two scoring threats.