Dominicans looking to re-write Classic history
Though members of both teams have
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Monday night's semifinal at AT&T Park has become one of the most talked
about clashes in this year's World Baseball Classic.
The Netherlands has
long been known as a European baseball power. But around the rest of world the
Dutch are more known for their windmills and wooden shoes. Until now, as they
take their place on the Classic's grand stage.
Once again, on paper, the
Dominicans have the decided edge. Most of their roster is replete with players
from Major League teams, like Robinson Cano, Eric Aybar, Hanley Ramirez, Carlos
Santana and Fernando Rodney. Monday night's starter, Edinson Volquez, is the No.
1 hurler for the Padres who will likely pitch for them on Opening Day in New
York against the Mets.
The Dutch have Andruw Jones, Roger Beradina,
Andrelton Simmons and added Jurickson Profar and Kenley Jansen to the roster for
the championship round.Find the largest selection of ceramic chinagembeadsfactory on
sale. All of them are natives of Curacao in the Netherland Antilles, which
counts, as a far as Classic affiliation is concerned.
Monday night's
Dutch starter, Diegomar Markwell, is actually from Rotterdam, via Curacao, and
pitched nine years in the Blue Jays' system from 1997-03, but never above
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pendants at Tribal Hollywood. Dominican manager Tony Pena claims he has never
heard of him.
"Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Pena said. "I am not
familiar at all. We are not familiar at all. And that's no joke. You will
probably say, you should know this, but we didn't have any time or chance to
check the roster yet. But we will do our homework. I promise you that. We will
do our homework."
The Dominican Republic, though, is not taking the
Dutch for granted at all this time. Remember, the Netherlands are a team that
defeated powerhouse Cuba twice already in this tournament. The Dominicans fell
behind 4-0 to Italy on Tuesday in Miami, only to come back and win the game.
They are 6-0, but their three wins in Pool 2 in Miami over Italy, Team USA and
Puerto Rico were by a total of four runs.
The Dominicans are beatable
again here and the Dutch know they are capable of engineering another upset.
"We beat Korea over there in Taiwan in the first game and then we beat
Australia, Cuba twice," Meulens said. "We had a tough time against Japan, but
the guys never gave up. You have to pitch good, you have to play good defense,
and then get timely hitting, and we'll come out ahead for sure."
This
time, to win the gold Classic trophy and have the name of their country engraved
on its base, the Dominicans will have to win out. If they do so, they will
become the first undefeated champion in the history of the tournament.Buy
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But to get there, they have to go through the Dutch, with their pesky
team of players from the depths of the Major League Baseball's Minor League
system and the Netherlands professional league. Some of these guys cut their
teeth playing for the Burnaby Bulldogs, Neptunus Rotterdam and the Amsterdam
Pirates. Even the legendary Jones is playing this year in Japan.
"I
think they have a better team than 2009," Reyes said. "They have some guys with
a lot of talent over there. But we don't worry about that. We just want to
continue the way that we've played so far, worry about our ballclub. We feel
very comfortable when we take the field. And we want to continue to play hard,
give everything on the field and go from there. Because we know that they got a
good team, we have to come out and play the right way if we want to win."