What a display of Gut's and determination.
Netherlands beats the DR 2-1 in the bottom of the 11th inn.
Congrats to the Dutch.
EH
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I caught the last 5 Innings, an "Instant Classic" for sure!
Cue the tulips and the windmills; 3 cheers for the Dutch!!!!
the starting pitcher was son's ST roomie. due to a surgery, hasn't pitched above the gcl. the kid pitched 4 scoreless innings against the big boy's. how cool is that?
like i alway's say sometimes........... you just never know.
like i alway's say sometimes........... you just never know.
We have our Cinderella...and she's wearing wooden shoes.
Note from my in-box this morning.
Its from my dear friend, John Miller a mainstay of the Brussels Kangaroo organization and staff writer for the Wall Street Journal Europe. He watched the big game on a TV that used to belong to me.
Its just another reminder of why we play the game.
MIRACLE ON GRASS: A TRIBUTE TO EUROPEAN BASEBALL
Brussels-- In 1980, the U.S. hockey team, amateurs, lifted every American heart by upending the mighty Russians in the Winter Olympics. That was Miracle on Ice.
Last night, after our dinner guests had departed, I settled in at our kitchen table and watched, in a trance, as the Netherlands, my neighbors to the North, beat the Dominican Republic 2-1 in 11 innings. Miracle on Grass.
I’ve been involved in European federation baseball for 16 years. I play and coach in a second or third tier league. Team Belgium, unlike the Netherlands or Italy, doesn’t belong in Puerto Rico or Tokyo. (Yes, some of that has to do with colonizing the Congo, instead of islands orbiting around Florida, and with not emigrating millions from Sicily in 1890. But whatever.)
But baseball and its lovers find each other, and I have just enough personal connections to the Dutch team to feel like I know the guys, and there they were, in San Juan, steel in their eyes and grit in their hearts, facing down 100 million dollars worth of prize arms and legs, and not giving an inch.
A couple years ago, I wrote a story on the Dutch team for my newspaper. I drove up to Rotterdam on a rainy Tuesday night to watch a practice. There was nobody else in the stadium. Diegomar Markwell, a lefty who pitched an inning last night, was throwing a bullpen down the right field line. The pops seemed to echo all over town.
I chatted with Sydney de Jong’s dad. His son, the catcher, loved baseball, he said, but knew it would never be his profession. I thought of that last night when Sydney crushed a leadoff double in the 11th off Carlos Marmol, a major leaguer with a 2.68 e.r.a. The Dominican pitcher looked like a man seeing his noose.
That night in Rotterdam, it turned out, was Diegomar’s birthday, so after practice he handed out cake and whiskey. I chatted with him, de Jong and Michael Duursma, the second baseman.
Duursma, I think, is typical of European national team players. He works a day job. He’s not going to the show. But last night, he was there in my kitchen, switching places every half-inning at second with Robinson Cano (Total major league earnings: $3.8 million).
I wondered where Robert Eenhorn was last night. He built the Dutch national program almost single-handedly after a short major league career in the 1990s. (He was the Yankees shortstop until Jeter came along).
Behind Eenhorn, Dutch baseball – and every successful European program from Sweden to Sicily -- has an army of crazy, dedicated baseball guys like my friend Steve Janssen, once the Dutch national team’s pitching coach. (Now it’s Bert Blyleven.) Steve sets his clock on baseball 365 days a year. In the summers, Steve volunteers as a minor league coach in the U.S. He runs winter clinics and attends baseball conferences in the winter. Last night was a validation of the special love guys like Steve have for the game.
Dutch closer Leon Boyd stepped into European baseball via the Hoboken Pioneers in our league. He tore up our bats, and then found his niche under Eenhorn. And so on.
This proud bunch played rope-a-dope with Pedro Martinez, Miguel Tejada and David Ortiz all night. The mighty Dominicans pounded long balls into the wind.
The Dutch kept throwing strikes and catching the balls. Sure, they struggled with the sticks. Dominican starter Ubaldo Jiminez -- 12 wins in the bigs last year – struck out 10. In FOUR innings. After him, Pedro. But the men in black and orange hung in there until the 11th, when Yurrendell de Caster knocked the game winner up the line.
After the game, Netherlands head coach, Rod Delmonico wept and talked about how his player never “felt sorry for themselves.”
The Netherlands, our heroes.
John Miller
___________
Its from my dear friend, John Miller a mainstay of the Brussels Kangaroo organization and staff writer for the Wall Street Journal Europe. He watched the big game on a TV that used to belong to me.
Its just another reminder of why we play the game.
MIRACLE ON GRASS: A TRIBUTE TO EUROPEAN BASEBALL
Brussels-- In 1980, the U.S. hockey team, amateurs, lifted every American heart by upending the mighty Russians in the Winter Olympics. That was Miracle on Ice.
Last night, after our dinner guests had departed, I settled in at our kitchen table and watched, in a trance, as the Netherlands, my neighbors to the North, beat the Dominican Republic 2-1 in 11 innings. Miracle on Grass.
I’ve been involved in European federation baseball for 16 years. I play and coach in a second or third tier league. Team Belgium, unlike the Netherlands or Italy, doesn’t belong in Puerto Rico or Tokyo. (Yes, some of that has to do with colonizing the Congo, instead of islands orbiting around Florida, and with not emigrating millions from Sicily in 1890. But whatever.)
But baseball and its lovers find each other, and I have just enough personal connections to the Dutch team to feel like I know the guys, and there they were, in San Juan, steel in their eyes and grit in their hearts, facing down 100 million dollars worth of prize arms and legs, and not giving an inch.
A couple years ago, I wrote a story on the Dutch team for my newspaper. I drove up to Rotterdam on a rainy Tuesday night to watch a practice. There was nobody else in the stadium. Diegomar Markwell, a lefty who pitched an inning last night, was throwing a bullpen down the right field line. The pops seemed to echo all over town.
I chatted with Sydney de Jong’s dad. His son, the catcher, loved baseball, he said, but knew it would never be his profession. I thought of that last night when Sydney crushed a leadoff double in the 11th off Carlos Marmol, a major leaguer with a 2.68 e.r.a. The Dominican pitcher looked like a man seeing his noose.
That night in Rotterdam, it turned out, was Diegomar’s birthday, so after practice he handed out cake and whiskey. I chatted with him, de Jong and Michael Duursma, the second baseman.
Duursma, I think, is typical of European national team players. He works a day job. He’s not going to the show. But last night, he was there in my kitchen, switching places every half-inning at second with Robinson Cano (Total major league earnings: $3.8 million).
I wondered where Robert Eenhorn was last night. He built the Dutch national program almost single-handedly after a short major league career in the 1990s. (He was the Yankees shortstop until Jeter came along).
Behind Eenhorn, Dutch baseball – and every successful European program from Sweden to Sicily -- has an army of crazy, dedicated baseball guys like my friend Steve Janssen, once the Dutch national team’s pitching coach. (Now it’s Bert Blyleven.) Steve sets his clock on baseball 365 days a year. In the summers, Steve volunteers as a minor league coach in the U.S. He runs winter clinics and attends baseball conferences in the winter. Last night was a validation of the special love guys like Steve have for the game.
Dutch closer Leon Boyd stepped into European baseball via the Hoboken Pioneers in our league. He tore up our bats, and then found his niche under Eenhorn. And so on.
This proud bunch played rope-a-dope with Pedro Martinez, Miguel Tejada and David Ortiz all night. The mighty Dominicans pounded long balls into the wind.
The Dutch kept throwing strikes and catching the balls. Sure, they struggled with the sticks. Dominican starter Ubaldo Jiminez -- 12 wins in the bigs last year – struck out 10. In FOUR innings. After him, Pedro. But the men in black and orange hung in there until the 11th, when Yurrendell de Caster knocked the game winner up the line.
After the game, Netherlands head coach, Rod Delmonico wept and talked about how his player never “felt sorry for themselves.”
The Netherlands, our heroes.
John Miller
___________
.
Great article...
A toast to underdogs.
.
Great article...
A toast to underdogs.
.
Thanks for posting that, HD.
I am so pleased for the Dutch, European baseball, and the Pirates' ST guests. This run by the Dutch will mean a spike in sponsorships and facilities throughout the continent.
Spreadin' the gospel of baseball!
I am so pleased for the Dutch, European baseball, and the Pirates' ST guests. This run by the Dutch will mean a spike in sponsorships and facilities throughout the continent.
Spreadin' the gospel of baseball!
"Gefeliciteerd", Goed gedaan!! 
GED10DaD
.
Boy they talk funny down in Lubbock....
.
Boy they talk funny down in Lubbock....
.
quote:Originally posted by GunEmDown10:
"Gefeliciteerd", Goed gedaan!!
If I remember my 4 years of HS Dutch
that would translated to....Congrats....done good
My Dutch Ancestors are very very happy right now.
Not only a great game it should serve as lesson to all the youth out there.
Kingsale mis-playes a ball in the top half to give the Dominican the lead. So rather than hang his head and sulk he not only drives in the tying run he scores the winning run. Way to go kid
NEVER GIVE UP.........
Kingsale mis-playes a ball in the top half to give the Dominican the lead. So rather than hang his head and sulk he not only drives in the tying run he scores the winning run. Way to go kid
NEVER GIVE UP.........
.
Where did you go to HS? Holland, Michigan?
.
quote:If I remember my 4 years of HS Dutch that would translated to....
Where did you go to HS? Holland, Michigan?
.
.
More likely that EH went to high school in the Skagit Valley northeast of Seattle.
More likely that EH went to high school in the Skagit Valley northeast of Seattle.
quote:Originally posted by AcademyDad:
.quote:If I remember my 4 years of HS Dutch that would translated to....
Where did you go to HS? Holland, Michigan?.
Ya gotta love Google translator.
The closest thing I know about Dutch was on a HS date
Other than my Bastad clogs (Swedish), my craving for Lutefisk (Norwegian) once a year, my liking of those windmill cookies with chocolate stripes, and my desire to find the Lockness monster, I guess I know very little about the area. But right now they are my favorite Scandinavian baseball team.
.
Quote:
_____________________________________________________
The closest thing I know about Dutch was on a HS date
_____________________________________________________
Oh those were the days....
Scandinavian?
HaverDAD, you'd better jump in here....
.
Quote:
_____________________________________________________
The closest thing I know about Dutch was on a HS date
_____________________________________________________
Oh those were the days....
Scandinavian?
HaverDAD, you'd better jump in here....
.
quote:Originally posted by AcademyDad:
Scandinavian?
HaverDAD, you'd better jump in here.....
Before the spanking, Can I chage my answer to......
What are the Netherlands
Well....Scandanavia starts at Denmark (across Northern Germany from The Netherlands) and includes Sweden and Norway.
Technically, while Nordic, Finland isn't even really Scandanavian. The language is completely different. Fins and Swedes speak to each other in English.
The Netherlands, like Belgium, are in the "Lowlands" on the North Sea coast. (see map)
P.S. Like French, I don't speak Dutch, although I did live on the Lake Michigan coast (4 miles west of Holland, MI) for seven years. (Kinda like staying at a Holiday Inn Express last night?)
Technically, while Nordic, Finland isn't even really Scandanavian. The language is completely different. Fins and Swedes speak to each other in English.
The Netherlands, like Belgium, are in the "Lowlands" on the North Sea coast. (see map)
P.S. Like French, I don't speak Dutch, although I did live on the Lake Michigan coast (4 miles west of Holland, MI) for seven years. (Kinda like staying at a Holiday Inn Express last night?)
quote:Technically, while Nordic, Finland isn't even really Scandanavian. The language is completely different. Fins and Swedes speak to each other in English.
It can be very confusing, I can relate with WI and Illinois translations. When Wisconsinites speak to Illini we must do so very slowly and in simple English.
Way to go!
Heard that when the DR players came to practice at Jupiter, the only one out on the field at 8am for practice was AROD. DR players reportedly having a good old party time down here in West Palm Beach Florida for practice (or rather no practice).
I guess they figured they didn't need it?
Heard that when the DR players came to practice at Jupiter, the only one out on the field at 8am for practice was AROD. DR players reportedly having a good old party time down here in West Palm Beach Florida for practice (or rather no practice).
I guess they figured they didn't need it?
One would have thought the first game would have been DR's wakeup call. But no.
Lightning did, indeed, strike twice.
Lightning did, indeed, strike twice.
So... it was a BIG day for my pal John Miller!
Its especially rare when he gets a sports assignment at the WSJ BUT:
Here is the scoop on Dutch general manager Robert Eenhorn.
Its especially rare when he gets a sports assignment at the WSJ BUT:
Here is the scoop on Dutch general manager Robert Eenhorn.
quote:More likely that EH went to high school in the Skagit Valley northeast of Seattle.
Nope, I'm A Daffodil kind of guy.
From the Great Puyallup Valley.
With that Picturesque view of Mt. Rainier.
Thats Home?
I just love the underdog role when it comes to any kind of sport.
EH