Team USA improved to 2-1 in the World Baseball Classic with a 12-1 thumping of Canada on Monday.

The catalyst was removing all New York Mets from the starting lineup and re-inserting Philadelphia Phillies J.T. Realmuto (the BCIB) and Trea Turner. Dorkface Pete Alonso came off the bench to strike out, while Jeff McNeil entered as a defensive sub in the 7th, when the game was out of reach and he couldn’t screw it up with a fielding error.

Realmuto had a couple of hits and a couple of RBI, knocking in Nolan Arenado in the first and giving ’em the salute:

Turner grounded into a force out later in the first, then capped it off late with a bomb:

This should not be surprising to anybody at all. You remove the Mets players and re-insert a couple of Phillies into the starting lineup, and voila – it’s hittin’ season. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil shouldn’t sniff the lineup for the rest of the tournament. We’re trying to win this thing. It’s not a charity.