Friday, March 10, 2006

Netherlands-Panama

Following my new favorite team, in their last game of the tournament. Here's hoping a lot of guys with cool names do important things.
  • Dirk van Clooster with a bases-loaded double, to put the Netherlands up 3-0.
  • An error by Panama allows Dirk van Clooster to score, 4-0.
  • Hainley Statia drives in another, 5-0. 2 outs (should be one out, 6-0, but Percy Izenia was thrown out at home a couple plays ago), guys on 1st and 3rd. Panama brings up their third pitcher of the inning.
  • Bienvenido Cedeno (that's Spanish for "Welcome, Cedeno") strikes out Mark Duursma to end the threat. Middle of the 1st, Dutch up by 5.
  • Bottom of the 1st: 18-year-old Shairon Martis takes 11 pitches to get three outs, walking one.
  • Top of the 2nd: Sidney de Jong singles, but is erased by a Randall Simon double play.
  • Bottom of the 2nd: 1-2-3 inning by Shairon Martis, 2IP, 25 pitches, no hits. In 2005, Baseball America rated him the #10 prospect in the Arizona League (he's in the Giants system). Dutch still lead, 5-0.
  • Top of the 3rd: Dirk van Klooster is up to bat again. But the ESPN feed say his name is Dirk van't Klooster. Googling both suggests WBC has his name wrong. Weird.
  • Dirk van't get on base. But three consecutive 2-out hits by Danny Rombley, Harvey Monte, and Hainley Statia (what boring names) bring the score to 6-0.
  • Mark Duursma gets HBP, loading the bases, but Ivanon Coffie flies out to end the inning. In 3 innings the Netherlands have as many hits (10) and more runs (6) than they got total in their first two games, against Cuba and Puerto Rico. Tough division.
  • Man, the stadium is empty.
  • Damn, another 1-2-3 inning by Martis. 3 IP, 39 pitches, 0H, 1 baserunner. End of 3rd, Netherlands up by 6.
  • Top of the 4th: Dirk van/van't Klooster singles in Sidney de Jong. 7-0 Dutch.
  • Bottom of the 4th: Martis continues his dominance, retiring 3 more batters; that's 10 in a row. He's up to 47 pitches, so probably has only 1 inning left.
  • Top of the 5th: Dammit, more name confusion. Which sucks because the cool names are the main reason I'm watching this. The WBC site says the guy at bat is Mark Duursma, ESPN says his first name is Michael. Why is this so difficult?
  • Mark/Mike Duursma gets a hit; guys on 1st and 3rd with one out. Ivanon Coffie at the plate...And he gets a single, 8-0.
  • Panama bringing in their 5th pitcher.
  • Hey, where the hell is David Aardsma? That guy's gotta be Dutch.
  • Sharnol Adriana pinch-hits for Randall Simon and gets a double. 9-0 Dutch, two in scoring position, with 2 out (de Jong struck out).
  • Wild pitch! Ivanon Coffie scores, 10-0. Mercy rule is 15 until the 7th, so there's still much more baseball to be played.
  • Here comes pitcher #6 for Panama. In the 5th inning. Why not, I suppose. And he gets the final out.
  • Holy Crap. Shairon Martis gets through the bottom of the 5th in 5 pitches. Given 65 is his maximum, shouldn't the Panamanian team be a little more patient? I mean, if they just stood around without swinging he'd have to throw at least 9 pitches per inning, and would be gone after 6 at the latest. I don't see how this is the same team that nearly beat Cuba and Puerto Rico.
  • Netherlands fails to score in the top of the 6th. Martis comes back out...
  • ...and gets 3 more outs in 5 pitches. This is ridiculous. I can only assume the Panamanians have given up and just want to go home.
  • And the game is over, mercy rule. Martis pitched a 7-inning no-hitter - not something you'd expect given he wasn't allowed to throw more than 65 pitches. Dutch score 10, and Andruw Jones wasn't even in the lineup. I sure can pick 'em.

10 comments:

  1. I can't believe that the U.S. unless they pull out a great pitching performance and let up virtually no runs will be bounced out...

    At least Tek will return to straighten out the pitching staff...

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  2. Actually, they advance with any win, thanks to Mexico beating Canada by a lot.

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  3. Side bar - why do the Boston media insist on saying that Grady Little was fired after Game 7 2003? His contract expired. They did not bring him back.

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  4. Buck Martinez said of his players, “There’s no doubt in my mind that they understand what the goal is now. They have to advance, first and foremost. They’re ready to play nine innings if they have to.”

    How times change. I wonder what made him change his mind? Seeing that almost every other country had players in for nine innings? Jeter and Damon sat him down and said, "no coach, its okay." Or the realization that if they lose he will be a laughinstock who will never be allowed to coach even as much as a little league game?

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  5. Oh lord. USA up 9-0, and the 2nd inning is even't over yet. And, dammit, Jeter and A-Rod each have 2 runs.

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  6. 10-0. When will the 15-run mercy rule kicking in? I say 4 innings.

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  7. Oh Jesus. 16-0 in the middle of the 3rd. South Africa needs to score 2 this next half inning to to avoid the mercy rule.

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  8. ...okay, I don't know what I'm talking about. As usual. 5 innings minimum. This is painful.

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  9. Well Clemens will get the credit - at least the Dutch guy will have managed to outpitch Clemens (and against a much better squad)....

    Plus I like the fact that even with all those runs, when I tally up Sox vs MFY in WBC, the Sox are still kicking their ass.

    I had a close call last night - there is a Mike Meyers pitching for Canada. but its not THE Mike Myers. But on the radio, who knew.

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