Riccardo Schiroli in San Francisco
San Francisco. The Dominican Republic will play the final of the third World Baseball Classic. The Caribbean powerhouse defeated (4-1) The Kingdom of The Netherlands in a game dominated by Dominican pitchers.
Edison Volquez started the game for Tony Pena walking the first two hitters and forgetting about a possible force out at third on a comebacker by the third, but then cruised through five innings showing great stuff. Relievers Herrera, Strop and Rodney gave the dutch no real chance to score.
“The Dominican team is built on the strength of this great bullpen, so I am not surprised” said The Netherlands’ manager Hensley Meulens.
Meulens‘ mother is Dominican and reporters flirted with a possible inner conflict the former Yankees player may have had: “Well, my father is Dutch, I was born in Curaçao and I manage The Kingdom of The Netherlands. I have a lot of respect with the way the Dominicans play. In 2009 they kind of took us for granted, but tonight they really came here to play”.
They actually did, but went scoreless four times against lefty Diegomar Markwell, who was not overpowering the way Volquez was, but kept Tony Pena’s lineup off balance, throwing a lot of change ups and two-seam fastballs.
In the fifth, with one out, catcher Carlos Santana and left fielder Moises Sierra got to him with back to back doubles to left field that tied the game.
Sierra was in the line up only because Ricardo Nanita was scratched for the consequences of a cold.
“I was ready to play” said Sierra, who early in the game dove into the stands to fly out Andruw Jones “And I had this great opportunity to represent my country in such a big game. Thanks God, it worked alright”.
Markwell got the second out on a grounder to first by center fielder Alejandro De Aza and then gave up back to back singles by shortstop Jose Reyes (the hit batted in the go ahead run) and Miguel Tejada(Reyes to third).
“I think I made the right decision, when I decided to leave Markwell in the game” said Meulens “We have the best pitcher of the tournament here, a guy who has worked hard in the off season, losing 22 pounds, to be our number one starter. After all, we had Reyes on two strikes and we had Tejada on two strikes. We simply couldn’t get that third out”
Meulens actually gave the call to the bullpen when Robinson Cano showed up at the plate, but reliever Tom Stujfbergen got into the game throwing a wild pitch that made it 3-1 and, after intentionally walking Cano, he gave up an RBI single to first baseman Encarnacion that sealed the score to 4-1. Cano was the third out at third.
The Kingdom of The Netherlands got their first and only extra base hit off Kelvin Herrera (a two-out double by right fielder Balentien) in the sixth, but in the last three innings never made it beyond first.
“Today was the most important day of my career” said Dominican starter Edinson Volquez “This team is playing as one man and with one goal: win it all”.
Dominican manager Tony Pena was asked about the meaning of a Championship Game played by two teams from the Caribbean: “What we play in the Caribbean is classic baseball, so it’s a very adequate final for the World Baseball Classic“.
A member of the press of the Caribbean area asked Hensley Meulens if he believed that Curaçao and The Netherlands may have two different teams in the future: “We decided a long time ago that we were going to field one team representing the different countries of The Kingdom” said Meulens “And I believe it’s going to stay this way. We are all Dutch citizens and fielding one team makes us really competitive at the top level”.
