March 15, 2017

Go Dutch!

The Netherlands eliminated Cuba from the World Baseball Classic. It was a decisive 14-1 win:

Former Major Leaguer Wladimir Balentien homered twice and drove in five runs for the Netherlands, which scored in double-digits the last two games and finished Wednesday’s game in seven innings because of the early-termination rule. Jurickson Profar of the Rangers had three hits, and 36-year-old left-hander Diegomar Markwell allowed one run in six innings

“All I asked was they not take anything for granted and that they just play hard, the way we did against Israel,” Netherlands manager Hensley Meulens said. “We feel great. We’ve played great all tournament. We could actually be 6-0 right now. We feel great about our chances.”

A Japan win over Israel puts the Dutch into the next round, otherwise, the tie-breaker rules go into effect. As of this post, the teams are scoreless in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Netherlands is one of three teams for which I have an ancestral rooting interest. Italy is gone, so now I’m hoping for a US-Dutch final.

By the way, it was a bad day for Cuba in general.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *