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!!
8/16/2008
8/15/2008
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
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
8/14/2008
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
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
8/13/2008
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
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
8/12/2008
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
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
8/11/2008
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
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
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
8/10/2008
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...
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...
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