TORONTO - The legend of the Azzurri has never before involved a small white ball with red stitches.
  
But that was before Monday night, when an Italian team made up of a lot of players born on this side of the Atlantic knocked Canada out of the World Baseball Classic with a 6-2 win.

Mamma mia, indeed!

The Azzurri nickname is almost always affixed to Italy's national soccer team, although all Italian teams wear the traditional azure blue national colours.

But the baseball version was in fine form Monday night, combining effective pitching, patient hitting and some outstanding defence to hand Canada a defeat that can be summed up in one Italian word: Disgrazia.

So it's arrivederci for Canada, which lost both of its games at the Classic, and now Italy plays Tuesday night against Venezuela as it continues its unlikely journey to get to the next round of the tournament.

"You have to tip your hat to team Italy," said Canadian manager Ernie Whitt, whose team got only seven hits. "They shut down a very powerful offensive team."

The Canadian lineup is chock full of left-handed hitters and they seemed off balance against the first two Italian pitchers, both lefties.

Starter Dan Serafini pitched in the majors for 15 years but has been out of professional baseball since 2007. He gave up two runs over three innings and got the win.

Serafini was relieved by Chris Cooper, a minor leaguer from 2001-06 who played in Italy last year. Right-hander Jason Grilli, a member of the Colorado Rockies, got the save.

All three of the Italian pitchers were born in the United States, but the rules of the World Baseball Classic allow players "qualified for citizenship" to play. This allows non-baseball nations like Italy to add players to their squad if their parents were citizens of the home country.

"I am so proud about wearing the Italian jersey and what it means to be Italian," a beaming Grilli said after the game.

"I always say it the same way -- when you're around Italians, you become more Italian. And you see why we take such pride in who we are."

The star of the game for Italy was Chris Denorfia, another American-born player who is currently on the roster of the Oakland A's. Denorfia had four hits, including three doubles, and drove in two runs.

"Our guys didn't want to go home today and we played like it," said Denorfia.

Italian manager Marco Mazzieri talked about the importance of the World Baseball Classic to countries that are still building their programs.

"When we get a victory like this, you always hope that it's going to be an energy booster for the Italian baseball back home."

There was a small crowd at the Rogers Centre on Monday night -- less than 13,000 -- but Toronto's Italian community could be heard clearly in the otherwise quiet stadium.

Mazzieri acknowledged the support meant something on a very special night for the underdog team Italia.

"When you play away from home and you wear the Italian jersey, it gets a little heavy on your shoulders sometimes. And when you hear the national anthem, it's pretty special. I mean, I get, you know, goose bumps all the time."