World Baseball Classic Lock Alert – Canada Will Send Italy Home

With its tournament hopes on the line, Canada will turn to right-hander Vince Perkins, a 27-year-old career minor leaguer who is currently in the Cubs' system.

Former Minnesota Twins first round draft choice Dan Serafini will get the starting assignment for Italy after failing to meet expectations in his seven-year major league career with a lifetime ERA of over six.

Team Canada's game on Saturday against the U.S. drew more than 42,000 people and tonight’s matchup will also draw a large crowd in what amounts to a home game for Canada as the contest is being played at Rogers Centre.

Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt will also use left-hander Scott Diamond in relief of Perkins against Italy. Diamond, a prospect in the Braves organization, gained some serious recognition last week after throwing two scoreless innings against the Yankees in Canada's exhibition victory.

The two pitchers, along with the rest of Team Canada's bullpen, will try to give the powerful Canadian offense a chance to out-hit its Italian counterparts.

Against Team USA on Saturday, the bulk of Canada's offense came from just two players: Joey Votto and Russell Martin. The pair combined for six of Canada's seven hits and scored four of its five runs in its 6-5 loss to Team USA. More production will be expected in Monday's game from the team's other proven players, MLB stars, Justin Morneau, Jason Bay and Matt Stairs.

Team Italy lost to Venezuela 7-0 in the opener of the World Baseball Classic at Rogers Centre on Saturday, despite regularly putting runners on base against Team Venezuela starter Carlos Silva. Getting those runners home, however, proved to be a more formidable task. Italy left two runners on base in four for the first five innings.

WBC Odds

Italy +4 -115

Canada -4 -125

Over 9½ -120

Under 9½ -120

Analysis: This matchup doesn’t require a whole lot of thought process as Team Canada will cruise to an emphatic victory over a mediocre Team Italy. The fact of the matter is that a team featuring Justin Morneau, Jason Bay and Matt Stairs, not to mention several more near-MLB type of talents, should be able to cruise to victory over a Team Italy squad that probably has two or three comparable players at best.

Canada 7 Italy 3