The Canadian roster will feature eleven players who won a Bronze Medal at the 2009 World Cup in Europe including National Team veterans Adam Stern (London, ON) and Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC).  Other key members of the club, are current MLB-signed players Phillipe Aumont (Gatineau, PQ), Scott Diamond (Guelph, ON), Pete Orr (Richmond Hill, ON), and Scott Thorman (Cambridge, ON).  The team will also welcome Henry Mabee (Victoria, BC), Tom Boleska (Burlington, ON) and Ryan Braun (Kitchener, ON) to the fold who will all be making their National Team debuts.  The entire team roster can be seen here.

Prior to the start of the tournament, Team Canada will assemble in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and will play three exhibition games against Team USA and one game against Puerto Rico.  In order to qualify for the Pan American games, Canada will need to finish amongst the top eight teams overall in Puerto Rico. The top six teams will also qualify for the 2011 World Cup.  Throughout Team Canada's 3-week adventure, we'll post updates, results and statistics...right here at metrosbaseball.ca. 

Davidson said that he'll be leaving on Friday (October 24th) for North Carolina, and expects to get a lot of opportunities to see the mound.  "The team has only invited two lefty pitchers (Diamond being the other), so there will be plenty of work for me when I get there", Davidson said.  "The coaches (Ernie Whitt, Denis Boucher, and Greg Hamilton) know, however, that I'm still re-habbing and we'll have to be careful with the arm".  When asked if there will be any opportunities to swing the bat, Davidson laughingly added "I doubt it, but I'm certainly willing to give it a shot".  

While Davidson pitched exceptionally well with the Metros this summer (11 innings, 21 K's, 5 Saves, 2.45 ERA) he had a bigger impact on the team's batting lineup...leading the team in Average (.468), Doubles (11), RBI's (28), and Slugging Pct. (.759).  He also proved to be an invaluable asset to the team off the field, lending his talent and experience in teaching some of the very young players on the re-building Niagara club.

Congratulations Dave, on being named to this prestigious list of Canadians representing their country.  It's quite an honour for you...and just as big of an honour for us!


ESSERY ALSO MADE INTERNATIONAL APPEARANCE THIS YEAR

While we're on an International theme, we thought we'd mention another Metros player who was involved in a big tournament.  Back during the Niagara Metros' busy "Hap Walters Tourney", and "Elimination Tourney" preparation around the 3rd week of July, we mistakenly overlooked the fact that Metros' Pitcher Brian Essery (see picture above) competed for Team Great Britain, in the 2010 European Championships.  Brian, who was a major cog in GB's run to the silver medal in the 2007 Championships, made his only appearance on the mound on 2010, during this tournament.  And he made it a good one.

Despite battling serious arm issues, the 35-year old St. Catharines native went 7 innings, against a very strong Swedish National Team, but absorbed a 4-1 loss.  Essery threw 109 pitches, and allowed 4 runs, on 8 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 1.  His teammates were only able to muster 1 run on his behalf, however, to hand him a loss in his only game of the season.  Britain went on to finish in 8th place in the tourney, and must now re-qualify to compete at the next European Championships in 2013. 

Upon his return to Niagara, Essery indicated that unless some serious healing occurs over the off-season, he may be forced to "hang 'em up".  If his career is indeed over, Brian should have no regrets.  He has been the Metros "go-to guy" over an amazing 12-year C.O.M.B.L. career.  Compiling an unheard of 61-23 record, Brian has tossed 16 complete-game shutouts en route to a 2.50 career ERA.  Over 627 innings, he has allowed just 509 hits and struck out 527 batters, and holds or shares 17 Metros pitching records.  And in 2009, he was named to the Metros 25th Anniversary All-Star team. 

The Metros congratulate Brian Essery on his accomplishments for Team Great Britain this past summer...and in 2007.  Essery has represented himself and the Metros organization with class, at the highest echelons of International baseball, and we're proud to say, "He's one of us"!

Talk to you next week.

We heard it throught the grapevine that we have have some impending nuptials to tell you about.  Our "fearless leader", Metros captain Joe Roach, has announced his engagement to his "partner in crime" Jenn Neilson.  That's fantastic news for two of our favourite people.  Congratulations to the both of you...the Metros couldn't be happier!


WEBSITE UPDATES

You might have missed some new updates, here at metrosbaseball.ca.  Last week we posted a new video on our Bi-Weekly "Baseball Film Feature"...one of the most fun-loving, feel good baseball films ever..."The Sandlot".  And the clip we've chosen to feature from this 1993 classic is called "The Challenge".  The scene tells us that you can call me anything you want, and I'll just give it right back to you, but don't ever...ever...say I play ball "like a girl"!!  Just scroll to the bottom of the page and press "Play".

Also this week, we have updated some of our All-Time Records pages, which can be found on our "Archive Website".  When you get to the website, find the "Stats, Leaders, Records" link and click.  From there, you can pick whatever list or set of stats you want to view.  All of these lists have been updated to include the 2010 season.  Every player that has ever donned the Metros uniform (there are 157) in our 26 years are included in these lists...and we believe that our stats records are among the most complete and comprehensive you'll find anywhere.  Take your time, and peruse the data.  We think you'll be impressed!  Talk to you next week.   

So, while the season has just ended...the work continues for the Metros management team.  And while the business of baseball will slow down for the next few months, we at metrosbaseball.ca will continue to keep you up to date with all of the off-season happenings with our team, the Central Ontario Major Baseball League, and indeed, senior baseball right across Ontario.  So please, continue to make metrosbaseball.ca one of your weekly stops, as you browse the net this fall and winter.

The first order of business this off-season is to thank all of the people that helped in putting our team on the field, and with any success we may have achieved in 2010.  You can't operate a team with the profile of the Niagara Metros without a lot of help from a lot of good people and organizations.  So, we thought this would be a good opportunity to acknowledge these "friends of the Metros" and their contributions. The Niagara Metros are greatly indebted to the following "Top 12"...

1.  Our corporate partners.  We couldn't have paid the bills that arose over the course of the 2010 season without the generosity of the following companies / organizations:

Hank Kinzy and Associates - Detroit

Buckner's Source for Sports - St. Catharines

Hun-Mar and Associates - St. Catharines

2. Our game day door prize donators.  We raised a lot of money over the course of the season, on the in-game door prize draws.  A special "thanks" goes out to these businesses / individuals for their generous donations:

Pete's Pizza - Merritt St., St. Catharines

Duff's Pizzeria - Facer St., St. Catharines

Giant Tiger - Scott St., St. Catharines

Avondale Dairy Stores, Niagara

Buckner's Source for Sports, St. Catharines

3.  The City of St. Catharines and the Parks and Recreation Department.  Community Park is still one of the finest facilities for baseball anywhere in the province and the Metros are proud to call it "home".  Special thanks to Chris Nye, and all of the young people that maintain the field, and work so hard to meet our needs during the season. Also, a big "thanks" to Val French at the Seymour-Hanna office of Parks and Rec., for her help in keeping the books straight, and in scheduling and re-scheduling the park. Great job to all involved.

4.  The St. Catharines Standard, Niagara This Week and LocalSports.com.  Thank you for getting our name and stories in front of the public.  It really helps when we have people at our games and the stories you wrote about us, in large part, are responsible for that.  Special thanks to Bill Potrecz of the Standard for his feature articles and column inches dedicated to baseball in general...and to the Metros in particular.

5.  The other teams in the C.O.M.B.L.  The reason we draw fans to our games and interest is at its highest in years, is because we can offer them a great baseball product.  And we can't do that without the team in the other dugout.  The opposition you give us each week is second to none...and the teams we played in the various provincial tournaments, provide us with a high level of competition that we must strive to equal.  Thanks to you all.

6.  The O.B.A., C.O.B.A. and the Senior League Executive.  The various governing bodies put in countless hours in an effort to make our senior series and the COBA Major Baseball League what it is.  We'd like to especially acknowledge the contributions of David Huctwith (our C.O.B.A. representative) and Glenn Turner (League Convener), Steve Breitner (Board of Senior Baseball for Ontario), Greg Cranker (Rules and Discipline), and George Moore (Meetings Organizer) for their guidance and help.  We'd also like to thank the members of our League Executive - Bob Wood, Dan Ryan and Dave Cochrane (Burlington), Rick Ellis and Brock Marshall (Glanbrook), Steve Breitner (Etobicoke), Greg Cranker and Tim Gasparotto (Erindale), George Moore and Matt McCandless (Milton), David Smallhorn and Rob Fisher (Oakville), Blake Frost (Brampton) and Bob Kulchyk (Mississauga).  Thank you all for putting the interests of the League before the interests of your respective teams.  An additional thanks to Mark Walters (Niagara) for the time invested in putting together the regular season schedule, and for his work on the playoff tournament schedule.  And finally to Anthony Lutz, for his fine work on maintaining our league website.

7.  The Coaching Staff of the Metros.  Your knowledge of the game, dedication to this team and respect and friendship you show the players is inspiring.  Kerry, Leo and Mark...you all did an outstanding job.

8.  The Metros Players.  Its a huge sacrifice to commit to a team like ours.  We played 39 games over 4 months this season, and it sometimes seems like we're playing every day for a month (actually sometimes we almost do).  To get to these games, sacrifices have to be made...families, work, holidays, and leisure time all suffer.  Thanks for making this sacrifice.  And thanks to the families of our players for being so understanding.

9.  A few people who went above and beyond the call of duty.  The list of people who help out the Metros, both in-season and off-season, is long and getting longer.  But it is people like these that make us a viable franchise and help us to maintain a high caliber of operations year after year.  You folks are the best!

Metros Refreshment Fund - Andrew Sorochan (road) and Evan Baglieri (home)

Gameday Scoreboard Operator and Announcer - Leo Magarian 

Corporate Sponsorships - Kerry Hedden, Jono Marcheterre, Mark Walters

Door Prize Donations - John Ermers, and the other fine sponsors mentioned above

Meeting Room Organization - Kerry Hedden

Spring Indoor Workout Organization - Carey Spiece

"Metromania" Organization and Hosts - Kerry and Sandi Hedden

"Metros' Christmas" Organization and Hosts - Mark and Debbie Walters.  Meal - Margaret Walters

Our Team Captain - Joe Roach.

10.  Hap Walters Tournament Volunteers.  Wow...what can we say about the people that help us out at the "Hap Walters".  The countless hours you gave us to, once again, make this one of the top tourneys in the province was awesome.  Thank you to all of the following people for whom everyone involved in the tournament owes a debt of gratitude...

Dave Huctwith, Greg Cranker, Glenn Turner, Steve Breitner (Convenors and Parks), Bob Wood (Financials), Mark Walters (Invitations and Scheduling)...as well as all the Erindale players (and their wives, girlfriends) who made runs for "stuff" during the tourney.  Also to the "Subway" girls for their work in the beer tent, and to Mrs. Ronna Cranker, for her help in putting together the hundreds of sandwiches that were sold.  Thank You all.

11.  The Umpires.  You can't play a game without umpires, and this year especially, they gave us a tremendous season...both at home and on the road.  There were very few disputes...and it must be said that the caliber of umpiring has improved tremendously, right along with the caliber of play in the C.O.B.A. Major Baseball League.  Thanks for your hard work and dedication.  And a special thanks to the people behind the umpire scenes...the assignors.  Scheduling umpires is a thankless chore, but the Metros can always count on the co-operation of Wayne Briggs-Jude for his fine work on our home games.  Also, a tip of the cap to Grant Ziliotto, who does the same job for the rest of the league.  That's a lot of games to keep track of, but Grant does a good job supplying us with umpires all year long.      

12.  The Fans.  We consistently draw more fans to our home games than any other team in COBA, and would venture a guess that our attendance would be in the top 5 of any Senior team in the province.  We estimate that over the course of our 14 home games this season, we had more than 2000 people in attendance.  That may not seem like a lot...but to us, your presence in the stands is like gold.  Thanks also for your donations to our door-prize draws at every home game.  We simply could not pay our bills without your generous contributions!!  We promise to continue to play competitive and entertaining ball in 2010, and hope to see you back at the park next summer.

We're sure there are people we've missed, and if you are one of these overlooked parties, we sincerely apologize.  To the folks we did mention, once again, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!  See you all in 2011...

Right about the time the Niagara Metros' season was coming to an end, one of their catcher's seasons was likewise coming to a disappointing conclusion.  Albeit, in another game...and even in another province.

You'll recall last week we told you that the Metros' Dustin Wiley had been picked to join the Windsor Stars, as they attempted to win a National Senior Men's title in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on the weekend.  Well, the Stars ran into the same kind of trouble that Niagara did, as the Metros competed for the C.O.M.B.L. title, in Milton.  They played well...but not well enough to advance to the medal round, finishing 2-3 in the round-robin. 

After losing their opening game 4-2 to the host Dartmouth club, the Stars ran off two wins in a row, defeating Newfoundland 10-0 and Saskatchewan 14-12 (on a walkoff Grand Slam HR by Justin Pennell, a pick up from the Thornhill Reds).  But that's where the good news ended for the Stars.  On Saturday afternoon the Ontario club committed 4 errors, leading to 3 unearned runs, as Manitoba came back to win 6-5.  Then, a couple of hours later, another error led to a pair of unearned runs, as New Brunswick defeated Windsor 3-1, to end their weekend.

While the outcome was obviously a disappointment for Mr. Wiley and the Stars as a team, Dustin had a solid tournament, once again.  The Metros' catcher (who played with Windsor for 9 seasons) went into Dartmouth with a .322 career average, along with 2 HR's and 10 RBI's, at the National event.  And he added to those impressive numbers this year.  In his 4 games, Dustin went 4 for 7 (.571), with a double, a home run, and 5 RBI's.  By the way, British Columbia went on to capture the Gold medal, with a 1-0 win over the host team Dartmouth, in the finals.  New Brunswick beat Manitoba 2-1 to win the bronze.

Congrats Dustin on being selected to play in the tournament, and for making a solid contibution to the Stars' effort.  But of course, we share your disappointment at the outcome of the tourney from a wins and losses standpoint.  Believe us...we know how you feel!


JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

We have posted a couple of new updates to the website, and this announcement is just in case you missed them.  First of all, we updated the final statistics for the Metros 2010 season.  The stats are inclusive of all 39 games the team played this year...regular season, tournaments and playoffs.  Just go to the "Standings / Stats" page of the website, and scroll to the bottom.  There you'll find links for the final batting, pitching and fielding statistics for 2010.

Just a couple of quick observations from these stats:  The Metros finished with a .309 team batting average (the 3rd highest mark the club has achieved since the advent of wood-bat baseball).  And their outstanding .415 team On Base Pct. was the highest in the same time-frame, just a few percentage points off their team record .429 mark, set in 1996.  The team also (for the first time in their 26-year history) collected more walks than strikeouts...222 BB's to 221 K's.  The Metros' .959 fielding average was the 3rd best all time, behind the record .964 average achieved in 2007.  And the team ERA, while a very good 3.15, was only the team's 5th best mark in the wood-bat era, behind the record-setting 2.39 ERA set in 2001.  We'll look at some of the individual accomplishments achieved by some of the Metros' players, later in the off-season.

Finally, we've added a few photos (9 to be exaxt) from our Championship Playoff weekend in Milton.  We got some great "action shots" to add to our collection.  To view these new photos, click on "Photo Album", and scroll to the bottom.  We're sure you'll enjoy them.

Till next week take it easy, and have a great (but safe) long Labour Day weekend!