No excuses

You could say I was tired, had jetlag, was sick, or unfocssed, it could be all of them, it could me none of them, either way, I threw like crap last night, and lost. Just like I don't like to blame umpires for my mistakes or bad calls, I am not going to blame a garbage performace on anything or anyone but mysef. I went 4 +, gave up a to many hits soft and hard, a few walks, a hit by pitch or two and just an overall disgusting outing.






---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>

This line signifies the change, and me making this something I'm going to put in the past quickly. I don't like to dwell on failure, but instead use it as a learning experience, realize what wasn't working, how to build on the things that did, and come back strong next week.

Time to run today...

THEE Holland Heineken House

We were able to hit up the Holland Heineken House a couple of the last nights after our tournament was done, and before we left. This is a place that follows the Dutch Olympic team. Every Olympics the Netherlands are in there is a Heineken House for the fans and athletes. The Holland Heineken House (HHH) comes to the Olympics a couple years before it's due to happen, finds a place to buy, rent, or build and makes the HHH. This one had the main hall which normally had up to 6000 people and 3 bars in it. An outside lounge with a big screen showing sports and a snack bar area as well. Also, in the back, about a 5-10 minute walk from the HHH's entrance you find the VIP lounge for athletes and athletics' staff.

It was off limit for the baseball players until we were done playing, for obvious reasons, because it can easily lead to a long night out, and that's not ideal with all the morning games we had to play. It was a nice place to hang out with fellow athletes and unwind after a somewhat stressful and dissapointing game for the baseball team.

Here's some photo's from those nights...



The cabs in China have some kind of weak deviders. I really couldn't see how this thing would protect the driver if some crazy chinaman wanted to do bad...



L -> R Tiny, Me, and our trainer Martijn heading into the Holland Heineken House



Mike Duursma (short stop) and Pim Walsma (pitcher) about to enter the Holland Heineken House. That's a sprite in Mikey's hand, don't worry about it



Typical dutch symbols, in this case leading you to the bathrooms



The Heineken House hall, it was holding about 5000 fans, family, and athletes. The music was pumping all night every night until 3 when they closed. I think the hall was orginally a museum of some sort because this place was huge, and looked museumish



The fans watching a live band getting after it on stage



At the HHH, if a single athlete or team wins a medal, they are recognized that evening on stage. This night the water polo team beat USA for the gold, and it was their turn to dance some and get their applause



Danny Rombley (left fielder) with a couple of the water polo gold medalists. The one with the short blonde hair is the top goalie in the world.



Crazy Dutch and thier crazy outfits, they'll wear anything, as long as it's orange



This is me with Tjerk Smeets' (catcher) fiance. She is on the Olympic champion field hockey team that beat China in the final. The medals are amazing, really heavy, and the patterns are beautiful... someday



Edith Bosch and myself. Edith has so much energy and a crazy personality, making her a bronze medal Judo fighter this olympics. We work out with the same trainer, and often at the same time. Her boyfriend is an olympic cyclist as well, they're going to have some athletic offspring someday, that's for sure



Tiny found the big bottle. A little Black Label wisky... we didn't touch it that night, but it's an impressive bottle



They got some baseball and softball players up on stage the last night I went, and it was a bit crazy, about 5000 Dutch fans going crazy in this massive hall, and they were pumping the music

Happy Birthday Dad

My dad had his 40th birthday yesterday..... actually he may be a little older than that but who's counting anyways. For those of you who don't know my father, he's the reason I'm at where I'm today in baseball and as a man.

He took me out nearly every day from ages 8-17 to play catch, go to practices or games. He was my coach growing up, and still gives me hints, and ideas about pitching and strategy.

He's done so much in his life from somewhat the same path I've taken, playing a professional sport in Holland (ice hockey) for a few years where he met my mom. He is now a Doctor of Biology, and is back playing hockey a few times a week, rumor has it he's faster the Gretzky these days.

Happy Birthday dad.


Couple shots of Sean/dad/pops/father and I on Jeana and my wedding day in march...

Closing ceremony

Here's a few pictures from the AMAZING closing ceremonies. We hadn't gotten to see the main parts of the Opening ceremony, so it was nice to see the whole thing. For those of you who didnt get to see the closing, there was lots going on including a huge tower in the middle of the stadium. The man power and choreography necessary make this run as well, and smoothly as it did are incredible. Just have a look at some of the pictures..

Pro-Athletes / Celebrities I've seen

Over the past month I've seen a few big names in sports very close up. These are some people I've been quite close to...

Roger Federrer - Walked the flag out right by our dutch team in the opener
Dirk Novitski - Also a flag bearer
Novak Djokovic - Top 5 men's Tennis player in the world
Jelena Jancovic - #1 Ladies tennis player in the world
Kobe Bryant - Who doesn't know him... is more popular in china than USA
Lebron James - Next Micheal Jordan walked right by us with the other
Yao Ming - 7'6" Chinese super-hero
Jennie Finch - Top pitcher on Team USA softball
Jason Kidd - Top NBA star, Dream team point guard
Carmello Anthony - Another Dream team starter

Slowly back to earth... but not without a bang

This morning bright and early at 7 am Beijing time we had to say good bye to the Olympic Village. We got up around 6:45 to hand in our keys, then headed out to eat our last meal in the dining hall. 8:30 we finally were on the way to catch our all Netherlands team flight, filled with all the athletes, coaches and a couple media members. A better than normal flight meal, and I passed out for about 4 hours... which was much needed.

We landed in Amsterdam around 3:30 local time, and had a big league welcome, walking down stairs off the plane, straight onto the tarmac, and onto our busses bound for the Olympic team welcoming. About 1 hour later we arrived at the stadium, and enjoyed a very very warm welcome by thousands of Dutch fans.

Now, I'm back home again in Rotterdam for the first time in about a month, and I can't wait to shower and head to bed, so you'd better appreciate me posting this!! I'm just kiding, but here check out some pics from today...



The last picture I took in the village. Bright and early this morning (now almost 24 hours ago, which means I've been semi-up for almost 24 hours.....). The Dutch team all checked out and prepping to catch busses to the airport about 30 minutes down the road, a lot quicker since we can take the olympics lane through traffic hour though



Flying into Holland off the European west coast...



The medal winners needed to exit the plane first to get on a different bus, so I popped this shot of 2 of the main players from the women's water polo tea, the blonde one being the best goalie in the world. Then and their gold medals. I have one of me holding a gold medal, I'll post that in the next couple days with the Heineken house post



A picture of the nice welcome we received at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. I was just heading down the stairs to a huge KLM and airport staff welcoming us, putting us straight on the Busses. We didn't have to go through any security checks, or passport crap for the first time in my life



The Dutch team exiting the KLM flight we took.



Our escort from the airport on the about 20 minute drive to the reception, we had 2 apache helicopters, about 8 police, and closed roads. At several points large groups groups of people were waving at the 8 busses in a row and 5 trucks filled with our suitcases



The Fans off the left side of the walkway... tons of low fives required here



Myself and tiny walking down the fittingly orange walkway into the Amsterdam areana where the 1928 Olympics where held. We were greeted by about 6-8 thousand fans family and media in an event that was way bigger then I thought it would be



The medal winners from the dutch team were specially honored after all us 'non-medal winner' olympians were done walking through. They all completely deserve their medals, and some even more then what they got. I am very proud to know, and work out at the gym with some of these people. The Netherlands finished 12th in medals with 16 which is pretty good for a country of 17 million, compared to China's 100 medals having 1 billion people. Quick side note, Canada had 3 golds, and Netherlands... 7



My cousins Jess and Dan. They are awesome, and were kind enough to drop me off on the way to the Olympics, and pick me up upon return. My wife Jeana would have had some part in the pick up and drop off, but she is at home in the USA for 2 more days, and left 2 days before I departed for Korea. They are aparently checking out one of the medal winner to the left. Thanks again you two!!!



Finally everyone gets to see their families in the special zone that was only for permitted family (Jess and Dan had passes). It was pretty neat to see all the Olympians back and reconnecting with their loved ones, from significant others, to parents to children to dogs even. This didn't last long, most of the athletes were pretty tired from the almost 10 hour flight, we just wanted to get our suitcases and go home

Last day

So they cut our internet off today.

I'm in the international zone which is right next to the athletes village just to get a few minuntes of connection before we head out to the closing ceremonies. Not sure what is in store in the ceremonies tonight, but I am looking forward to it, and heading out tomorrow morning.

I will be keeping up the blog with a few posts from thelast couple days here that I haven't had a cchance to post like: The Holland Heineken House (party house for dutch people, I've got some good pics from there), closing ceremonies, more pics and travel... Also in the next month we are rolling in to the end of the dutch season, and playoffs. Should be good somegood baseball to report, stay tuned...

Final flares

I'm getting to see some baseball (semi-finals yesterday, and todays finals) and doing some things before we take off in 2 days. Tomorrow is our closing ceremony, and we have some part in it, which I don't know anything about at this point. I slept in nice and long the past couple mornings making up for the 7 - 9 am breakfast times we've had to endure the past 4 weeks.

I've been downloading pictures, and skyping all day so I've had enough of this computer for now. I don't feel like posting a picture blog since it will take another hour or something, so I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow, or later on tonight.

Time to shower and head to Wukesong to see Cuba take on Korea for the baseball gold medal. Speaking of gold medals, I got to hold my first one yesterday, and damn they're nice... maybe someday.

The Great Wall

Yesterday morning 4 of us got up bright and early to head to the Great Wall off China. A 5000 km long wall built in the Ming Dynasty. It was breathtaking to see it and imagine how much work went into building this juggernaut structure. Unfortunately we went on a horrible weather day, it was pooring all morning and rained steadily all day long, inclusing some fog up at the wall.

It was about a 45 minute drive there, and we stayed at the wall for about an hour and a half, walking up it a ways, thenback down to enjoy a cappucino, and checking out the gift shop (bargaining shop pretty much).

It was a wet day, but definetely very worth it, check out some of the pictures...



Our first day off after competition, and we got up at 7 am to go, and woke up to monsoon rains. I was very close to shutting down the idea, and going the next day. It may have been a good idea since today (the next day) it's nice and sunny. Either way, I went, and my shoes were soaked and so was I before we even got on the bus to head there



The opening of the mountain where we got off the bus. This arc was the first thing we saw. Welcoming all the athletes to the great wall area



The first sight of the wall I had to pop a picture. Also the "One World One Dream" super-massive slogan on the hill for the Olympics was a neat addition to the experience



Walking the wall. This is Tiny, also David Bergman, and his father Frans Bergman went along, the umbrella's were very necessary...



Getting my Great Wall picture in. You can see the fog and limited visibility in the background. It was a bit of a hinderance in seeing the long distances, but we got a few breaks from the fog and tried to pop some pictures whenever that happened



The wall on the mountain across the way



The stairs (when there are stairs) are all over the place in distances between the two. A lot of the steep parts don't even have stairs, it's like walking up a very inclined hill (I'd compare it to Oxford in White Rock for those Vancouverites reading this)



Had to do it... this is me in one of the semi-dry-but-still misting moments

Spectacular spectation

Like I write in the 'Golden Ticket' blog a couple back, I got tickets to the Track and Field events last night at 7, it was awesome, and something I'll never forget. We witnessed several different sports, including the highlight of the night, the men's 200 meter final where Bolt, the Jamaican, broke another world record.

We also saw women's hammer throw (some scary looking ladies in that one), men's 5000 meter heats, men's pole vault, men's 110 meter hurdles finals, and the men's 200 meter final. All together it was awesome to be there for the few hours it lasted, and definetely unforgettable.



Posing outside the Bird's Nest, it's something amazing, such a humungous breathtaking structure



Setting up for the 5000 meter race, these were just the heats, 14 guys running for 3 spots, there was lots of pushing and shoving going on in the pack



Men's 5000 meter race. It takes these guys about 13 minutes to run 5 km, or approximately 3 miles, that is rediculous. My fastest 2 miles was just under 12 minutes



A successful men's highjump attempt



I went to the Bird's Nest along with Dave Draijer who had the other ticket, he also had some pins (which I always seem to forget) and gave one to this pricelss little chinese girl in fron of us... she was working for a while to get it on her shirt, and finally was successful



Pre-race the Men's 200 meter. The crowd was huge, about 90,000 strong, cheering loudly, and the loudest for any Chinese participant of course. There are 2 big screens, one in Chinese (this one) and the other in English for all us english speaking folk.



The Jamaican sprinter, Usian Bolt, on the big screen right after he broke the Men's 200 meter sprint time. An Antillian got silver, one of the less then 10 athletes they sent, not bad for the Dutch colony.



I know, cliche. I had to.



The beautiful Water Cube, with the Bird's Nest in the background. The Olympic green in an amazing spectacle at night, so many amazing lights and sights.

The last blow

We had a long tournament. Despite all the downfall and hard luck, I still took it in as an amazing experience, and I think it will be one of the defining moments in my life.

The game, we lost, 10-0 in 8 innings, for our 5th shutout loss in our 6 losses. Bats were silent (4 hits) and the defence struggled some against a very talented Korean team. Enough about the game though. Time to start blogging about my experiences here and in the Olympics decline.

Couple shots of yesterdays game and whatnot...


Our last team photo. I would put everyones names on here, but that would take a bloody long time, so you'll just have to guess which one is me.



Exchanging pins with the Koreans pre-game



This is the only contact with families we are permitted, other then leaving the village on our own. Through a fence, for about 10 minutes after our games. This is Michiel Van Kampen talking some with his folks, they are in Beijing to see not just Michiel, but his sister Judith, who pitches for the softball team



We had about 10,000 people at our game, several hundred Netherlands fan, and the rest were cheering for Korea



Tiny stroking his first hit in his limited olympic playing time, also made an amzing grab in the outfield right before this

I've got a golden ticket !!

I was just gifted with this wonderful suprise handed down by 2 teammates. I am going to head out to the Bird's Nest in about 20 minutes to see the track events.

We all put our dibs in on what events we want tickets to, 2 days in advance, and I asked for athletics. They only have a certain amount of tickets to give out to athletes, so even though our player asked for about 20 track event tickets for tonight, we only got 2. They were handed down to me first my Jeroes Sluijter who already has tickets to the field hockey (Netherlands women in the semi-finals), and Tiny who already has plans tonight to see his girlfriend who travelled to China.

I'll have time to update todays game tomorrow with some pictures. We lost 10-0 to undefeated Korea, it was the 5th time we got shutout in our 7 games.

Time to go have an experience with 91,000 other people that I'll never forget.

Passport face off, Netherlands vs. Canada

Today was the 6th game of our 7 game tournament here in the Olympic games in Beijing. We didn't play well, again, and lost 4-0 to Canada. They have a solid team, and had 4 hard luck 1 run losses in pool play to keep them from the medal rounds. We are also out of contention for the medal round. It's too bad, but we definetely did not play well enough to deserve a shot, we've been shutout 4 of our 6 games.

Tomorrow we get undefeated and 1st seed in the medal bracket, Korea. They are hot right now, especially after knocking off previously undefeated Cuba this morning 7-4. I am most likely done for pitching in the Olympics. If we had a chance to move on, I may have pitched tomorrow, but circumstances have changed. Overall I had 2 appearances including one start, going 6 2/3 innings, giving up 6 hits, striking out 6, hitting a batter, and walking one.

Tiny and I are planning on heading to the Great Wall of China in a couple days, should be pretty neat, even though we have to meet at a hotel out of the village at 7 am to meet up with a tour group. Also, I've requested (as many other players have) tickets to some events like Beach Volleyball and a seat in the Bird's Nest to watch some track events.

Here's some of today's action...


Signing bats and baseballs are part of the job. For signing all this stuff today we all received one Olympic ball, a pearl. I'm planning on making it the center piece of my now massive baseball collection



As before every game, we exchange pins with the other team. We usually get pins in return like today, but we were given pens from Chinese Taipei, banners from the cubans, and stamps(??) from the Americans



First pitch of the game. Shy (Shairon Martis (the guy who threw the no-hitter in the WBC)) throwing to Stubby Clapp (yeah, that's his name) a Canadian team veteran and captain. He came out of retiremet to play in the Olympics, and has done quite well



The coaching staff. L -> R Robert Eenhoorn (Manager), Brian Farley (Pitching coach), Win Martinus (BP thrower/1st base coach), and Jack Hubbard (3rd base coach/funniest philadelphian I've ever met). They were trying to figure out where the hell the strike zone was today in this picture, the Cuban umpire was all over the place



A picture from the bullpen of us playing on field two at Wukesong baseball complex in Beijing.



This is Canada's left fielder from today Brett Lawrie. He's quite the player (despite not getting a hit in 3 games against us). He was drafted with the 16th pick overall in the MLB draft in June, and signed a reported 1.6 million dollar contract with the Brewers, at the age of 18. His siter is also in the Olympics as a pitcher for the Canadian softball team. He is a resident of Langley, about 15 minutes away from White Rock where I was raised.



Netherlands team in the dugout, waiting for action that never transpired.




Shy facing a Canadian lineup of 8 lefties and one righty. This is rare considering about 60-70% of batters tend to be righties. In Canada though, because of the popularity of youth hockey, and hockey being a left hand dominated game, many of the young baseball players start out hitting lefthanded. The Swedish team is the same.

Us versus the best team in the world

Today we had Cuba. They are strong, very strong, and were too strong for us today. They run ruled us in 8 innings 14-3. This is about the worst defeat I've experienced since being on the national team. Our starter was 18 year old JC Sulbaran (Just signed with the Reds for $ 500,000), he has very raw electric stuff, but struggled to find the strike zone in this one, hitting 3 batter, and walking several also. He ended up with the loss throwing 90 pitches in less that 5 innings. Our bullpen struggled to hold the game close, and fielding yielded our first few big mistakes of the Olympics, resulting in a 5 run 4th, and a 4 run 5th.

Anyways, it wasn't a real pretty game, and it puts us now at 1-4, so we need a miracle to make it to the medal rounds. It's looking quite bleek right now, but you never know in baseball.

I've seen a couple of articles that said I would be starting against my home country tomorrow, Canada. Not true. Not many pitchers can start on 2 days rest after 100 pitches, it's very hard on the arm, and can easily ruin a pithers career, so we're going to go ahead and NOT do that. A highlight of today would be eating/ordering McDonalds right next to none other then Ronaldinho. The best and highest paid soccer player in the world. He was surrounded by athletes taking pictures and whatnot, so we weren't about to bug him. This marks the 2nd time I've seen him in person along with last september in Barcelona when our national team went to check out a Barcelona FC pratice during the European championship/Olympic qualifier.

Tomorrow we play Team Canada who is also 1-4, time to take it to the home country, I really hope our starter dominates them. Damn Canucks!!

Some pics from today...

The Cubans taking batting practice, launching homeruns left and right. This was the end of their BP, I was running poles for most of it, and it seemed like they were aiming for me, I had to dodge about 10 liners right at me



Our field with the Olympic basketball stdium in the background, it's about 100 meters past the right field wall, a very nice looking complex where the dream team has been dominating...



Lining up before the game, my funny expression is brought on by about 40 Cuban fans sitting right on top of our dugout. These people had noisemakers and drums, and were making noise the whole game, it was rediculous, but expected from the Cuban fans



Brian Engelhaart, our leftfielder hit his second homerun in as many games launching a ball into the night in deep right center field. We also got a long homerun off the bat of our DH, Percy Isenia.



A conference on the mound between the pitching coach Brian Farley, and pitcher David Bergman. This was in about the 5th inning just when things were turning quite sour for us



Martijn Meeuwis, my roommate, getting his first action in the Olympics, unluckily he was put in to face the Cuban closer who throws 91-97, and has a very dirty slider, needless to say he was slightly over matched after not getting a game at bat in about 3 weeks



This is called the "mixed zone" where players parade by the press directly after the games handshakes, and the press ask for who they want to question, I haven't been approached yet for this, but I did have a press conference after the China game



The final score, a bit embarassing, but the Cubans played very well, and were hitting everything. I would be suprised if don't get the gold medal.

Our mid-tournament day off **Updated**

It was good to unwind some and catch some of the other sports on the 40 Olympic channels we get here in the village. That's right, we have a TV in the common area of the 8 person apartment, and it shows 40 channels of olympic action. We never know what to watch, so we normally go to channels where Netherland teams are playing.

Speaking of which, the Netherlands softball team played the best team in the world today, team USA softball, with Jennie Finch, Crytstal Bustos and the whole rediculouly talented squad. They gave up only 1 run the whole olympics in 2004, and have given up 4 hits in 6 games here (including 4 no-hitters) this Olympics, crazy.

We had an early breakfast, followed by a 2 o'clock lunch, and a message that we have no practice today. No idea why it was cancelled, but it might have to do with the fact it was sprinkling all day long (which earlier in the week meant it would poor later in the day).

We ended up watching a lot of sports on TV including womens softball, volleyball, fencing, men's field hockey, and both mens and womens rowing (ladies won silver).
The Netherlands won a gold and a silver today which is a pretty big deal, and I happenned to notice that Canada won the 8 person mens gold in rowing, I wasn't to unhappy about that, for obvious reasons I guess.

Tomorrow we play team Cuba (about the best international team there is) at 6 pm, it is pretty much a must win just like the rest of our games... wish us luck!!

I didn't have much to photograph yesterday, so I took a couple of the epic USA vs. Netherlands match on TV...



Netherlands softball against the toughest opponent in the world, Team USA. They lost, compared to normal standards it was a respectable 8-0 defeat, they were also the 4th victim to be no hit by the USA in their 6 games.



Crystal Bustos. The cleanup hitter for USA is so rediculously good, she took this changeup and hit a line drive over the center field fence. She was completely fooled by the pitch as you can see, but it didn't matter, she is huge and strong, and I'm scared of her.



The relief pitcher for the Dutch was Judith Van Kampen, the sister of one of our pitchers, Michiel. Also, in another coincedence, I went to college with Judith. She was the top pitcher for our softball team in my first year of college at Treasure Valley Community College in Oregon. Way back in 2001-2002. She is still a dominating pitcher, and is one of the best in the Dutch head class.

Win over China

Finally, we can breathe again, somewhat. We won 6-4 in a fairly close game against the home team China. I got the nod today in a weird circumstance, but I took it and ran with it. 3 of our guys hits homeruns today in a 2 inning offensive explosion for us. Unfortunately I was more focused on pitching then taking any pictures, so this is one of the few photo-less blogs I'll post.

It all started around noon today. I was headed out of a bike ride around 11:30, seeing the village some, and getting a iced coffee because it was hot as hell. After I was leaving the dining hall, with coffee in hand my phone rang in my bag, I stopped, had a look at the #, didn't know it, and left it. Less than 2 minutes later another ring...so I checked it out again, it was the team manager Kees. This time I picked it up, he heard I picked up, and passed the phone to head Coach Robert Eenhoorn, he asked if I could meet him at our apartments. Now, when he says something like this, it's usually serious, good or bad. I had an idea of what I was about to find out, but was preparing myself for the worst. When I saw him waiting outside the apartments with pitching coach Brian Farley I was pretty sure I knew what I was about to hear. Then we sat down and I hear "We want you to start today". Knowing how important this game was to the team, I felt privileged to be asked to go out there and get us a win.

So I found out about 6 hours before game time I would be starting, not a problem, I was just beginning to get back into reliever mode where I treat every day like game day, and mentally get into my zone every game.

For my normal pitching standards it was an odd game, I went 6 innings (normal) struck out 6 (also fairly normal) walked 1 (good), and gave up six hits (average). The weird part is, I didn't have any good stuff today. I missed more than 50% of my spots, I finally figured out in the last inning I pitched that my front side was opening up, causing my balls to go everywhere. But on the good side, this was the game in my life where I broke the most bats, by far. I broke 8 bats today, 8. The most before this was probably 3. So, I guess that means the inside corner was working, but that was it.

Anyways, I went my 6, came out of the game at about 97 pitches up 6-2, to be relieved by Rob Cordemans (Dutch team ace for the past 12 years). He did well, went 2 1/3, gave up 2 runs, and kept it a close game. In the 9th they loaded the bases with 1 out and had already scored a run, when David Bergman got out of the jam, with a strikeout and a fly out to center. I was so nervous, pacing back and forth in the dugout, wow, what a game.

Glad we won, and a day off tomorrow will do us good (even though we have a short practice in the late afternoon). We are 1-3 now, along with Canada, and China is 1-2(1 suspended game). We have Cuba on Monday, Canada Tuesday, than undefeated Korea Wednesday, and the medal rounds follow. We pretty much need to win our next three to make it to the top 4, but 2 might do the job, we'll see!!

0-3

There isn't much to say about today, we got shutout, again. 6-0 today, 7-0 yesterday, and 5-0 on opening day. Things went south in a hurry tonight, they scored 4 in the top of the first before we even had a chance to hit. We managed 4 hits, and overall were pretty much all around outplayed. I decided to lay low of the picture taking, because I though maybe it would mix things up. You see, I'm a pretty superstitious person when it comes to baseball (which I've written about in previous blogs). I took some pictures during the first 2 games we played here, and we happened to lose both of those. So I figured switching it up can't hurt... turns out it wasn't the pictures afterall.

Tomorrow we play the home team, China. They are only in the tournament because they are hosting it, but are a tough team, as they showed today by beating Chinese Taipei in extra innings.


Onto other things, how about Micheal Phelps?? Wow, he's a gifted swimming machine isn't he. We were joking about having him in our lineup right now, and he would probably go 4 for 4, or if he pitched he would dominate likely. I haven't seen him in the Olympic Village, so I think he is staying in a hotel outside somewhere. A few of the more famous athletes are staying in hotels such as Federrer and Novitski, but the dream team is staying in the village though.


I want to thank all of you who are reading the blog on a regular basis, it's nice to know people are following us and are behind us while we're here. If anyone has any questions, comments, or blog suggestions, please don't hesitate to write them on a comment somewhere, it's all appreciated.


Well, we are all just trying to stay positive, and hopefully we can put up a few wins here in the next 4 games to give us a chance at a medal. Just a few pictures from today...




This is the food layout we are provided with in the clubhouse (take a door from the inside of our dugout into here), they keep it stocked, and when I say they I mean the little chinese fella's, who are about the nicest people ever. All the workers are always positive, they know some english, and are fun to be around actually



Tha Japanese taking batting practice, on the clearest day we've experienced since being in Beijing. I didn't see any smog anywhere, it was awesome



Tiny about to head out and catch the ceremonial "first pitch" thrown to him by the owner of Mizuno. Also Hubby talking to Michiel Van Kampen, whose sister is also in the olympics as a softball pitcher



Some of the guys before the game, trying to stay loose, and the bleachers starting to fill up around the outfield. We had probably about 10,000 spectators, and good ones, they had the complete stadium wave going at one point

Game #2, the 7 hour game

Wow, talk about a day at the ballpark. Here's a little timeline for our team today...

6:00 - Wake up, throw on the uniform in a half-asleep haze

6:45 - Bike to the dining hall, bag dragging behind, shove some food in the ol' trap, get a coffee to go and head to the bus

7:15 - Bus leaves for Wukesong Stadium

7:45 - Arrive, get stretched and warm up soon there after

8:10 - Batting practice for 1 hour

9:00 - Sit around for and hour and 15 minutes because the US team failed to inform us they weren't taking BP, so we could have infact slept in another 45 minutes

10:30 - Game Begins

12:30ish - It's the bottom of the 6th and we still don't have a hit, a walk, but no hit, until Sharnol Adriana punches a single up the middle

12:45 - First rain delay begins, lasts about 1 hour then we play another 1 inning

1:45ish - I become an official olympian under a strange and kind of crappy circumstance. Dave Draijer had come on to pitch the 8th and 9th, but was struck in the right forearm by a line drive from the first batter he faced (he'll be ok, nothing broken, just a tennis ball sticking out of his arm it appears). So I came in with bases loaded, 1 out and got 2 grounders, letting 1 run in on the first grounder. I went back out for the 9 and gave up a leadoff hit, but got 3 straight outs after that including striking out their top prospect LaPorta looking to end the inning.

2:00 We load the bases in the bottom of the 9th with none out down by 7... and the rains come again.

4:30 Finally the game is called because of the non-stop rain. Which also erases my last inning pitched because of baseball rules. If a rainout happens during the middle of an inning, you automatically revert back to the end of the last innings score.

As usual, some pictures from todays action...



This is our 3rd base coach Jack Hubbard (also a former MLB head coach). This guy is full of stories and jokes, a really great guy to have around the team and in the clubhouse. He came up to me before the game and explained to me how his wife was informed somehow of my blog here, and has been following it somewhat, so we need to have a little photoshoot, him and I. A few minutes later I took him outside the dugout and we took a couple shots, he's cheezing like only Hubby can, and I'm just trying to keep up



This picture was taken during the announcing of our starting lineup. For some reason they don't do the national anthems in the Olympic baseball tournament, I would think this would be the main tournament to play anthems at, but what do I know, I'm just a pitcher



Kingsale batting against their starter, Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg is the only college player on te USA team, and is slated to be the #1 pick in next years MLB draft, securing himself a solid multi million dollar contract



Sidney batting, and traces of Netherlands fans throughout the stands, always good to see. There were about 1/2 the fans as yesterday, but I'd still put the total around 800, not bad. All the fans seemed to flock next door where the home team was playing on field #1



The rain started to come down pretty steady by this point, and we knew we didn't have long before they would suspend the game



The field crew putting the tarp on, the monsoon rains followed quickly after this. They had to put it on 2 times, and this was the first



Martijn, having a facial expression just like everyone else on the team. Rain rain rain...



Water, tarp with water on it, rain... consisting of water, scoreboard (probably some water on it too), and building... solid shot

Game 1, Netherlands vs. Chinese Teipei

We had a bit of a rough one today. We lost 5-0 to Chinese Taipei.

We were good, they were strong. They had only 3 more hits then us, but they were very timely strikes, and they capitalized on our errors and free passes.

We need to play our top baseball tomorrow facing the tough task in the USA. They are comprised of future major leaguers all playing the highest level of minor league ball. It will be a good test, and I think if we play our game we should have no problem playing with them if not even winning the game.

Again tomorrow, we play bright and early. I don't think it affected us today, as we were all up by about 6:30. It will be even earlier tomorrow because we are the home team so our batting practice is 45 minutes earlier.

I didn't have any action today, Bergman started and went 4 1/3, Cordemans relieved for 3 2/3, the Draijer threw the 8th. Taiwan being the home team did not need their at bats in the 9th.

Hopefully we come out a little hotter tomorrow and play a good game. Wish us luck!




Kingsale, our centerfielder, stretching and taking in the pregame festivities. They had these mini dragons and monkeys (people in costume of course just so that you don't think there were really monkeys on the field). It was entertaining, and very different. Chinese culture coming through in the baseball games



David Bergman (todays starter) preparing to deliver a pitch early in the game. We had a crowd of about 1500-2000 fans, about 98% of them cheering for the opposition



Some of the guys watching the ballgame in the dugout



Sharnol Adriana (first base) at bat against their starter, Chen. A lefty throwing 89-92 MPH, he kept us at bay all game



L -> R... Micheal Duursma (shortstop), Brian Englehaart (left field) and Yurendell deCaster (first base) all taking in the first Olympic game for us



Kind of a different scoreboard here, They show KMH, and MPH, also batters name and number, along with balls strikes and outs



Sidney getting the signs with one of their big guys at the plate



This is about the best artwork you'll see out of me in photographs, sorry.



Doping tests. They randomly select 1 or more guys after each game to test for banned substances. Raily was chosen today. The crappy part is, when they choose you, you cannot leave their sight until you pee for them. So these fella's were standing right next to Raily until he went with them finally



Final scoreboard, tough game, but we were never out of it

Randoms #2

Today was a short pratice. We have 7 huge games coming up in a row (minus the rainout day in the middle). Also, today we saw blue sky for the first time since we have been in Beijing, it was nice to see, but the temperature went up about 4 degrees... so for now, I'm not too unhappy about the smog.

We play bright and early against Chinese Taipei at 10:30 am local time. We are 12 hours ahead of the eastern timezone in the USA, and 15 from the west coast. I'm not sure yet, but there are possibilities to see the games online. Either
http://os2008.nos.nl/index/live , or go to www. NBC.com and follow the links to watching the olympic events live, supposedly they are showing every event online.

Here's a few randoms pictures since we've moved into the Olympic Village, some of the guys, and some sights...



TJ (catcher) and I with some time on the bus. I figured out some different settings on the camera, so I decided to get him in on a trial run of a new colour setting.



Our big guy, 7 foot 1 Loek Van Mil went up to Yao Ming at the opening and chatted for about a minute or two with him. Tiny was able to get up pretty close with him and pop a couple pictures, this is the best pic of the 2 giants conversing, probably about how tall they are and how small other people are...



Jeroen Sluijter (shortstop) and myself soaking in the parade of nations introduction of the Netherlands



Percy Isenia (first base / DH) posing in the act of jumping, don't know why, but that's P



The Gymnastics arena...



Kingy (centerfield) getting on the bus. He came into my room about 30 minutes after we got home and assked if I had posted this yet... haha. Very cool guy, also a Neptunus player, and former major leaguer for several seasons



One of the housing unit gates in the village... they are pretty massive



This IS our closer. But a sad story to him this trip. Loek was warming up in the bullpen in a practice the day before the opening ceremonies and tore a ligament in his elbow. It was horrible news for us, and obviously worse for him. The coaches had to make a quick decision to fill his spot on the roster, and picked up national team veteran Dave Draijer. Loek was able to participate in the opening ceremonies, and was even ushered to the front of the Netherlands team parade by our "Chief de mission". He took the news hard at first, but reacted better than anyone would have thought. He left the team 2 days later in a positive and very classy manner. Good luck in your rehab back in Minnesota Loek.



Outfielder Danny Rombley, this guy has a different handshake for every single person on our team almost, even coaches. This is him strutting onto the bus today



If you watched the opening ceremony you would have seen all these guys. We drove by about 120 of these trucks in a row filled with about 18 year old chinese boys. All the same size kids and everything. We later realized they were the ones who were the catalyst in the opening ceremonies.



This is about 5% of the workers from one of the fields here. There are so many people hired as field crew, and cleaning and whatnot. At any time there are at least 30-50 at each of the 3 fields

Win over Canada

Today, we knocked off the Canucks. We played a great game, defensively we were solid, pitching was solid, and hitting was the best we have had all summer. Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit but 1 or 2 guys. Brian Engelhaart and Sidney deJong both hit homeruns against a team comprised of mainly ex-major leaguers or triple A players. They are strong, and will defenitely be a force when the tournament starts on wednesday though. Our 18 year old, Sulbaran, started. He went 4 innings giving up the only 3 runs, then our new addition Dave Draijer came in for 2 scoreless innings before the rains came in the top of the 7th. We had only planned on playing 7, so the only loss was not getting Michiel Van Kampen 1 extra inning of work. Either way, we won 8-3. We're now 1-1-1 vs. Canada since I've been with the Netherlands team. Then again these are just exhibition games, the game that matters against them will be the 16th, that's when we have them in the Olympics.

Other then this, today was a lay low day. We had a bright and early breakfast, then not much until lunch, I took some time with Tiny to bike around the village a pop some pictures (check post below). Tomorrow we have early training, then are heading to watch the womens softball game in the evening, they play the home squad, so there should be a fair amount of people there, but we aren't sure if it's really popular here or not, we'll see.

Anyways, here's some pictures from today's game and pre-game, enjoy.



Waiting to get into the changeroom. They kind of messed us all around today, we didn't get to change into our uniforms until the Korean team was done practicing (at 6) which was supposed to be the starting time of our game. Another thing, we are the only baseball team that needs to arrive, and leave in our olympic clothing instead of just our baseball uni, because of our entire olympic teams' deal with Asics. always wear it, unless we are participating in our sport. No comment.



Us getting into the changeroom, finally.



Our team doctor Henk chatting it up with one of the 5 medical staff at the feild, finding out how to get to the forbidden city or something. Also, in the background, Yurendell deCaster talking with one of the about 75 feild crew guys



How about this. For TV purposes, we need to only have 1 logo of our brands we wear. If there happens to be more than that, we must cover it with black tape, how about those rules. We have to play by them, but still, holy crap, click on this to get the bigger version and see for yourself how rediculous this will play out to be.



Shairon Martis, ie. the guy who threw the no-hitter in the world baseball classic. He is a great guy, only 21 and is already pitching in triple A, not far from getting called up to the big leagues with the Washington Nationals



Centerfielder Eugene Kinsale (Kingy, or Gene) with the huge building in the background, it's quite the backdrop also since it surrounds the leftfield wall all the way out to center field too



Closeup of Kingy about to hit a tiple (which he did on the next pitch)...



Danny Rombley, todays right fielder, getting a solid hit to center



Our catcher Sidney deJong. I would say he's one of the leaders of our team definetely, been around for a while, and is as good of a player as we have. He hit a homerun in the 6th inning also which was icing on the cake to make it 8-3



Yurendell deCaster (our 3 hole hitter today) at bat vs. Canada

Olympic village ride through

The Olympic village is a small 1km x 1kn area, and this is just a couple pictures of the area... there's too many to add to this post, especially because our internet is faultering right now. check them out, we are head out to play Canada in our last exhibition game now, wish us luck.


I'm posing in front of the giant mascots, and yea, that's my sweet new bike, kinda shaky but does the job.



This is the average village housing units... it looks just like this everywhere. They made it a beautiful place with statues and random ponds and sculptures all over



This is on the way back from the dining hall to our apartment. It's always full of different types of people, colours, and countries... pretty neat to see all the varieties



Martijn on his bike in front of thise little monument, quite a photographed area I guess. Just one of many areas like this in the small village



This is located right on the corner where the Great Britain team is located, making them feel at home I guess.



This is the cool little monument at the east gate. Same one Tiny posed if front of above, but the back side

Our new toys, and practice

We received our bikes, and were all trying them out and whatnot. Since it's about a 10 minute walk to the bus, we all decided to innovate a little, and attach out roller bags to the bikes, they sounded like motor bikes on the bricks, but damn did they save us from pre-practice sweat.



The average Dutch building, and the outside. We are the only country where most of the athletes have bikes, what a suprise, the dutch riding bikes.



The Canadian team wrapping up their batting practice, when they were done it was our turn.



Some of the guys chatting, messing around, waiting for the canadians to finish up, so we could have our practice.



The Boys getting ready for practice today...

A dry rainout, then a real rainout

We got to the feild and found out they had cancelled our afternoon axhibition game against Canada, which was alright because we kind of knew it was coming from the non-stop annoying rain we received all morning. So we practicced, about 2-4, packed up and headed home. It takes roughly 25 minutes to get from the field back, but right when we took off it started raining pretty hard.

It absolutely poored the whole way back we nearly hydroplaned a couple of times because our driver was in some kind of hurry, until we all pretty much let me know what we were thinking, as did the teammanager. So we got back, about 1 hour ago, and the rain had subsided some, that is until we got through the security checkpoint... then the monsoon started harder then it had yet. We all waited a couple minutes then said screw it, and took off on our merry way. We all got back completely 110% wet, dripping, bags soaked through, shoes felt like we had been walking in the ocean.
Now we have to turn around and head back out that way to get some dinner, I can't wait.

We have rescheduled our game vs. Canada until tomorrow, another 7 inning affair to get pithers their work, and get the team going again. Our first game is on the 13th against Taiwan, and we need to me ready to go.

First outing vs. the native country

So most of you know I am a proud Canadian, born and raised. Just recently, about 3 years ago recieved my Dutch passport because of my mom being born and raised in the Netherlands. Well, yesterday was the second time I've been on the team while we played team Canada, and marked my first time pitching against them.

We played them on the best feild that Beijing has to offer, the #1 Olympic feild, and it was beautiful. An amazing feild, and it got to see a good game, even though it was exhibition. It was a 7 inning game, and I came in to close the game out in the last inning, 3 up 3 down with a strikeout on the first guy. We tied 1 to 1, in a very evenly matched game. We both used several pitchers, our starter going 3, and 3 relievers including myself going the last 4 innings.

We play them again today at 2 pm, but it has been raining a bit through periods this morning, so we're hoping that holds off long enough to play a full 9 inning game today back at Wukesong stadium. Time to beat them damn canucks... you wouldn't believe how many of my teammates are poking fun and saying "eh" now... I'm turning them all into Canadians, slowly but surely.

Couple pictures of my outing...

29th Olympics opening ceremony

What amazing experience this has all been so far. The Olympic opening ceremonies were last night, and what a show they were. Unfortunately we (the athletes) didn't get a chance to see the artistic part of the ceremonies, we were put up in the gymnastics arena to wait for our call to make the about 1 km trek over to the Olympic stadium, the 'Bird's Nest'.

All the athletes were kind of a buzz during the day, and we even had a pretty bad practice overall, I think because we were a bit excited, strange but true. Either way, we shook off yesterday's practice to a 1-1 tie against team Canada in a 7 inning time limit game.

My wife told me I walked across the TV screen when she was watching on NBC in Oklahoma, about 3 seconds of strutting. Most likely me waving away, and probably taking another shaky video on my camera. I got a few good shots, and memories, check them out below with little write ups above

1. My roommate Tiny and I in our Olympic suits. Very nice, tight, and later on we found out it wasn't sweat proof...



2. Dutch team photo shoot. About 325 athletes, coaches and trainers.



3. Loek Van Mil and I right after the Dutch team photo shoot, damn he's tall



4. The outside of the Olympic pool, the outside also changed colours quite often



5. The gymnastics stadium, where all the countries were stationed before making their way next door to the Bird's Nest. Nice place, can hold over 30,000 apparently



6. Bird's nest from outisde, and the line of countries waiting to be called



7. Our flag, along with the ccountries in front of us in line to enter the stadium




8. Rob Cordemans (4th Olympics) and Michiel Van Kampen (1st Olympics)right before we entered the stadium. Do you like the dramitic effect the camera decided to use?



9. Walking in as a team



10. Dirk Van't Klooster in his 3rd Olympics



11. Getting some waving in, to the 90,000 people in the Bird's Nest...



12. Dirk took a picture of me doing the walk and wave thing



13. Jeroen Slujter and Martijn Meeuwis, a couple of my Neptunus (club team in Holland) teammates walking and enjoying the ceremony




14. Self shot picture walking in the stadium…



15. These poor fella’s had to jump and clap the whole entire time the athletes were introduced, they were soaked, I was expecting to see one of them pass out from heat stroke or dehydration, but they were troopers. About 2-3 hours of it…



16. Our suits were ridiculous. Every single one of our guys ended up looking like this. Mine was worse by the end of the night, it was so hot, Humid, and being in a stadium with 90,000 spectators and 40,000 people on the field doesn’t help



17. Roger Federrer bearing the flag for the Swiss



18. Dirk Novitski (sp?), another NBA star carrying the flag for his country, Germany



19. Yao Ming, all 7’6” of him carrying the flag for the Chinese team (the biggest team there I think)…



20. 3rd base coach Fox, taking lots of video, we all did, I’ll try to post some of those, but I’m afraid the weak internet connection here won’t let me do that, we’ll see



21. Not sure what country they were from, but they were awesome little people, and were so happy to take a picture with Loek. The guy came over first to take a pic with him, and had to jump to put the hat on Loek’s head, and then the other little lady came over for this picture



22. Olympic flag, and not a natural breeze, I would have liked to be standing next to that wind machine



23. The famous Chinese gymnast who ran around the top ring of the stadium wall on the way to light the flame, it was an amazing part of the show



24. In my opinion, my best picture of the night



25. Me in front of the flame, lit about 30 seconds earlier…

Opening Ceremony

Holy crap. What a show.

Unfortunetely we did not get to see the the show before the athletes were introduced, as we were sitting in the gymnastics arena with all the other countries athletes waiting for our country's turn to walk.

I will write more and add pictures tomorrow, but this was a surreal experience. It was hot as hell (we all sweat through our suits), it was incredably loud, and 90,000 people are like nothing I've ever seen before.

Netherlands welcoming ceremony, and our first practice in Beijing

Today was the official welcoming ceremony for the Dutch Olympic team. It was pretty cool. Here is the group of about 325 athletes and coaches making our way to the 'international zone' where the ceremony took place.


Here’s whole Netherlands team finding spots to sit in the place that I think was specially designed for this event. We were welcomed along with Jordan, Ecuador, some country I had never heard of with about 9 athletes, and Georgia (not the state, a country right by Iraq). The dude in the bottom middle is Diegomar Markwell, he’s a pitcher on our team, and also plays on the same club team as myself, Neptunus, in Rotterdam. His birthday is tomorrow, the 8th of august. He was born 08/08/80, and has 3 names each with 8 letters in it. Tomorrow the opening ceremonies begin at 8:08 pm, on 08/08/08… I think he’s bound to have an amazing tournament or something.


A bunch of the baseball players at the ceremony…


Us saluting the raising of another countries flag. Lots of media there and a very well run ceremony.


Yea, that’s me. I’m doing a little posing in from of the main wall by the Olympic Village. That random lady sitting on the bottom right was a Russian, there were tons of people getting pictures by this at the same time… couldn’t cut out all the people


The team getting on the bus to go to our first practice at Wukesong stadium. It was very nice, great field, and a nice area minus the smog. Stupid thing is, we normally go to practice is our uniforms, but we aren’t allowed to since we all signed a letter with our sponsor Asics (which no one is fond of) that we will where their shwag everywhere in the Olympic village. So… we get to the field and change there. Old school.


The birds nest… not sure of the real name of the stadium yet, but we’re heading there for the opening ceremonies tomorrow. It is absolutely huge…


Couple of the guys preparing for our first practice at Wukesong. Very interesting backdrop, I’m not sure what the building is, but it’s super massive.


L->R Loek Van Mil, Martijn Meeuwis, Pim Walsma, posing like models for some odd reason.


L->R Sidney de Jong, Mike Duursma, Diego Markwell, Me. Before practice on the Wukesong C field. It was about 33 degrees, and freaking awesome. I like to sweat when I’m on the field, and I hadn’t done anything by this point but was already dripping…

Travel day, and introduction to the Olympic village

We made it, and holy crap, this place is amazing. We have been in the village for 4 hours, and I've already seen a few famous athletes, and a lot of amazing stuff... Unfortunetely our internet connection is pretty rough, so I'm struggling to upload pictures if any. It takes a while, and most of the time it fails. I'll try and put up as many as I can for now though.
Day 1 in Beijing


The Seoul airport, pretty neat place...


Beijing airport, myself riding the train, the driver was all over the place slowing down and speeding up for a good solid 8 minutes, I almost upchucked


Heading in the bus to the Olympic village... riding in the Olympic lane... only used by Olympic personnel. The other 2 lanes were a traffic jam.


Security checkpoint to get into the village... serious shit, just like an airport




Few of the antillian dutchies waiting for the bus to take us to tower A9 (our building) and check into our rooms for the first time


Our whole team occupying a bus on the way to our building, checking out the scenery and amazing village


The dining hall... holy shit, massive place. Can seat 10 thousand people easily. Saw a couple famous athletes (Cat Osterman (USA softball ace), Nalbandian(tennis player I guess)). Every kind of food you can think of, and McDonalds of course.


Free drinks... any and all we can drink, these fridges (iceboxes) are everywhere. We also received a coke chip, to get free drinks from any beverage machine in the olympic village... awesomeness.

The Doosan Bears, and Olympic anticipation

Today was a fairly close ballgame, we lost 4-1, but overall we played well, solid defence, good pitching and overall good hitting vs. the pitching we faced.

Anyways we are sooo ready to leave Korea and head out to China, and arrive in the Olympic village tomorrow. We play Canada in exhibition play the 9th and 10th, I'm thinking I'll get a couple innings in those games somewhere. These will be the first few innings I throw against my native country. It will definetely be bitter sweet to face them, but I will have no problem if I end up shutting them down, because I want more than anything to get a medal in these Olympics.

Some pics from today

Our boys coming back from from eating our pregame meal at the Bear complex in Incheon, Korea


Hydrating pregame vs. the Bears... all the guys putting their jerseys and getting ready to win



Post-game after we lost 4-1 to Doosan

Team Korea vs. Nederland

Here are some photo's from our game yesterday. We had a fairly decisive decision against Korea, losing 10-2. They are a very solid team, and will also be a contenter for a medal in Beijing. We can beat them, I'm sure, but we need to play better baseball, that's all there is to it. Today we played the Doosan Bears, a professional team from here in Korea. They we're good, but again, we struggled in some aspects of the game, today our feilding and pitching was good, but the hitting lacked some, it happens.

Tomorrow is a travel day, as we are heading to the Olympic village in Beijing, and should be there by the late afternoon to evening. We are all looking forward to leaving Korea and our past few games behind.

Here's a few pitures from yesterdays ball game, and fans (lots of them)...

Damn...

I had made a whole writeup from yesterdays game, and the day before with the homerun derby and whatnot, but lost the internet connection right after I started writing it. I tried applying it to the blog when I was done, and spell checked of course, gone. Stupid stupid stupid me didn't copy the text again... dangit.

So now it's 8:47 am in tuesday, and we are about to head out to Doosan (about an hour and a half away). This is our last game here in Korea before we ship over to Beijing tomorrow.

Yesterday we got smoked 10-2 by team Korea, they are pretty solid, hitting and pithing. Our defence faultered some, and hitting was down a bit, I guess overall it was not a great game, but we all agreed that we had improved some from the game before vs. Cuba. So as long as we keep improving, and stepping up the caliber every game, we hope to peak at the right time... we need to peak at the right time.

Heading out to Doosan now, pitures and more later on.

Some game, stadium, and derby pictures

Commentary will be added later, need to go to our game vs. Korea right now... busy day.

What a day...

30,000 person stadium packad... homerun derby... Game vs. Cuba... about 93287423 pictures, but since we just checked into out hotel in Seoul (it's 11 pm). I'm not going to download pictures tonight, so you'll see some tomorrow.

By the way, this hotel is sooo much better than the last.... oh yea.

Lost 10-0 to Cuba... time for bed.

Some workout pictures

You can see the large version of the pictures by clicking on them.

Me.... about to catch



Diego and I getting a little throwing in outside the gym


Getting some info from the team manager Kees


Our backpacks are just one of the 5 different sized and shaped bags we've recieved with the Olympic team


The weightroom facility


Our trainer/physio singing is ass off out the window at some scared Korean lady. I guess they don't hear much dutch music here


Throwing some more


Funny story. This little fella is the guy who sits on the front of the rowing boat and yells at the guys to row. He was trying to convince Alex smit (Left handed pitcher) here that baseball players don't need gloves, because his brother plays university cricket in England and they don't use gloves. He also stated that our team was not in shape, and that baseball was a subpar sport. What a funny little 80 pounder...



Dropping down and throwing a little submarine too


A few of the guys telling Jack Hubbard (coach) about the rowing dork we had just met



The throw before this diego threw a pretty dirty curveball, it bounced before me, and got by me. It got scary when I saw that the ball was heading directly for a 3 year old kid who wasn't moving despite looking right at the ball. Luckily it hit a bench right before him...

Rainout

...Actually monsoon out would be the better description. It looks like it rained all of last night, because we were told at breakfast that the game had already been cancelled. Instead we had a bit of a messed up situation with 3 separate practices in different venues for separate parts of the team. 4 pitchers went out with 2 catchers to get bullpens in, the other 6 pitcher's who weren't to throw today went to a gym. The position players went 1 hour later to a indoor field somewhere, they still aren't back yet.

We leave for Seoul tomorrow morning, not unhappy to put this hotel behind us at all. Looking forward to a few tough games coming up. We play Cuba tomorrow afternoon, Korea the next day, and The Doosan Bears, a pro team from here in Korea. Tomorrow we will also be attending the Korean all-star game after ours, but before that there will be a homerun derby. 3 sluggers from the Korean team, Netherlands, and Cuba will battle it out down to 2 homerun hitters, and they will have the final in the middle of the 5th inning during the all-star game tomorrow evening. Yea, they have a 10-15 minute break in the 5th inning of each game to fix the feild... only in Asia. It's rediculous to us. Pitcher gets cold, position players get out of their rhythm, and it's just awaste of time, baseball is meant to have bad hops!

Hopefully it's not raining 2 and half hours away in Seoul, everyone is itching to play.

No-hit staff

We realized after the photo was taken that I should have put up a six with my fingers, and each of them a 1, for our innings, would have been cool. Whatever, either way we are semi-celebrating with eachother at the ambassador visit this evening, so it's all good. Here's today's no hit pitcher's=

No-hitter #2...

Today we threw a combined no-hitter vs. a Korean professional team. It was a tight game, as we won 2-1. After never being part of or throwing a no-no in my life, this is my second in a 2 month span. Crazy.
I went 6 innings, 68 pitches, then Diegomar Markwell, Michiel Van Kampen, and Loek Van Mil went 1 inning each scattering a few walks here and there, and even giving up a run in the 9th, but preserving the no-hitter. Personally I walked 1, and hit 2 batters, and had 3 or 4 k's, but overall had pretty good stuff.
There isn't much else I can say about this game, we played well, decent hitting on our part, okay baserunning and good pitching:)
I was able to get a teammate to pop a few pictures in the 4th inning, so I'll put them up here.

Tomorrow we play a pro team called the 'Police'. Should be interesting as we are starting a 18 year old kid who just joined the team who supposedly sits in the low 90's. We'll see tomorrow how things go, hope he'll bring the good stuff he was able to shut down Cuba with in The Haarlem Honkbalweek.

Now some pictures from the game



Dirk Van't klooster (right fielder)hydrating before the game

Former Major league head coach with the Blue Jays and Cardinals, our 3rd base coach and about the funniest guy I've ever met Jack Hubbard

Walking off after the last inning with Sidney de Jong (catcher)

Between innings, staying focused

A few pitching photo's, fairly good camera work Loek! Not bad for a 7 footer...