The Netherlands just won a game they weren't supposed to again. They were supposed to be squashed by the Dominican Republic on Saturday. They barely lost to the PR yesterday. Their pitchers were tired, the DR was hungry, the Netherlands were supposed to lose tonight. But baseball can be funny.
The Netherlands didn't give up runs, really at all. They fought hard. They played hard. They played fundamentals and it paid off, they won 2-1 in the bottom of the 11th in what can only be described as an instant baseball classic.
To understand how exciting of a game this was, the score going into the 11th inning was 0-0. The DR scored a run thanks to a Reyes walk followed by a Bautista triple. It was supposed to be over at that point. The Netherlands get up to bat and hit a leadoff double, then they get an out, then an RBI single. So now its tied game with a runner on first with one out. A bad pick off move allows the runner to get all the way to third. Then, a strikeout. Now its a runner on third, and two outs. Intentional Walk. The count on the next batter is 3-1, then 3-2, and then the magical hit. The ball is hit towards Willy Aybar, and it hits off his glove, the runner from third scores, and the game is over, the Netherlands wins an amazing game 2-1. They Netherlands were out hit, but they were not outscored. To that point the DR had over 27 consecutive innings without allowing an earnerd run.
It is a shame this game was only on the MLB Network, or MLB.com, and probably didn't get a lot of attention because this was easily the best game of the classic thus far. This game is the type of game the Classic needs to get popularity. It has an underdog winning, and underdog knocking out a major team, one that could have won the title. The underdog gets to move on. Also, it was just a great game, hopefully now more people will watch the classic.
I still cannot believe what I just saw.
