3/14/2009

A great game, despite a sad fan display

Not ours... Our fans are great.

Venezuela has a good baseball team, but some terrible fans. Compared to the Puerto Rican fans (which were polite, courteous and said nothing negative) the Venezuelan fans were an embarrassment to the country they are representing. For example, my wife tells me after the games in Puerto Rico almost every PR fan that passed the Dutch fans congratulated the dutch on how well they had played, and how good a fans they were; the exact opposite happened today. The Venezuelan fans were extremely rude, booing any dutch cheers out of the 100 dutch fans we had (compared to over 10,000 they had). These fans managed to bring politics into the game by booing their own players and manager for some reason involving their political leaders. They were a disgrace to fans, their team, their country and baseball. If they treat some of their own players with harsh boo's, just think how they treat the people in orange.

It was sad to see this all unfold, especially when they managed to squeak out a 3-1 victory from us. We played very well, doubled their hits and played a great game. I'm proud of our team and our fans for cheering right until the last out.

Tomorrow we take on the loser of USA vs. PR. 8 pm, ESPN.

Here are some pictures Shorty took at the game today.



Shorty took this one when pulling into the stadium

The whole stadium...almost

Our fans unloading off the guest bus

Bert Blyleven and myself before they announced the lineups for both teams



Both teams during pre-game lineup announcements

A small sign of respect for us, I think. They brought in K-Rod in the eigth....not the ninth.
A small view of the stadium

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an American living in Europe, and aware of the state of Baseball here, I cannot tell you how happy I am for your team. I hope you give the Yanks a good game tonight! Even if I do want them to win!

Best of Luck!

Anonymous said...

Great post Lee. Love the photos...helps me feel a little closer to all the excitement and love. Although, there is a great deal of it here (four fans in one household feels like a lot, especially in my apartment...Honey might be the most loyal, laying on the sofa long after your game is over). I say your name and point to my computer screen and Rooster cocks her little head. I'm pretty sure she squeaked out a "good luck uncle!" several times. Can't wait to watch the match in 1.5 hours. GOOD LUCK.

xox,
Deaner

Anonymous said...

Hi Lee,
Just received a text from a friend of mine and she told me to check 'teletekst' page 631 (baseball page). I checked and saw some great news!
Congratulations on your try out!! That's very big news, my friend!!
How did it go??
We are soooooo curious!
Jess

Anonymous said...

Great Showing in the WBC,and good luck with the Jays,hopefully we can see you pitch in Toronto some time in the future

Brandon E.M. Savage said...

Welcome to the Toronto Blue Jays Leon! Pleasure to have you aboard!

LJ said...

Barrage of traffic from curious Jays fans in 3... 2... 1...

Congratulations on your performance in the WBC! All the best in the future with the Jays, and I hope you'll still have time for a few blog posts here and there.

ben wideman said...

Congrats on your team's run through the WBC. Sad to see it come to an end.

I just read you were signed by the Blue Jays. Congrats! Hope you get a chance with the big club this year.

Anonymous said...

Good to follow your WBC adventures, and congratulations and best wishes for future success to you personally, Leon, on your signing with the Toronto Blue Jays. Hope to see you pitching again on national TV soon.

amber-jade said...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH BOYDDDDDDDDD.... I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND SHORTY THAT YOU SIGNEDDDDDDDD!!!

WE WILL ALLWAYS CHEER FOR YOU!!

CIAO CIAO LOTS OF LUCK AND LOVE 4 U GUYS... AMBRA (EUGENE KINGSALE?(