by Pim van Nes
Almost as an ironic compensation Major League Baseball sends Italy to Toronto and Holland to the Caribbean in March 2009 for the second World Baseball Classic. Baseball in Italy was played even in November with Notari as federation president, but with the fall fearing Fraccari ballparks are closed for the winter even three weeks before September 21. Early September, clubs from Mediterranean countries meet for their first Final Four in Barcelona, the North Sea still enjoys regular season games in the Netherlands with a postseason till mid October. European baseball looks like winter ball in Toronto and short season summer league only in Dominican Republic from an American point of view.
When Barcelona will host Champions Cup loser Grosseto, Cup Winners Cup loser Nettuno and San Marino champion T&A San Marino as stand-in for the priorities of the Netherlands and European champion Kinheim, eight Hoofdklasse clubs are still playing the last ten games of their regular season near west coast beaches of the Netherlands. Tonight at 19:45 the cities of Rotterdam, The Hague, Bussum and Heemstede will celebrate the return of Olympic baseball players back from Beijing, where Amsterdam catcher Sidney de Jong and Haarlem leftfielder Bryan Engelhardt were nominated as All Stars of the eight-nation tournament with full professional players from USA, Japan, Korea and so on.
Rob Cordemans and Percey Isenia in Bussum, Michael Duursma and Dave Draijer in Heemstede, David Bergman, Michiel van Kampen, Tjerk Smeets, Roel Koolen, Dirk van’t Klooster, Danny Rombley and Bryan Engelhardt in The Hague and Jeroen Sluijter, Raily Legito, Martijn Meeuwis, Eugene Kingsale, Diegomar Markwell, Leon Boyd, Pim Walsma and Sidney de Jong in Rotterdam: they all bring their Far East experience to their teammates and opponents in baseball games in the Netherlands Mild West, at distances varying from three to 30 km from the North Sea, part of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Low ranking ADO and RCH sparred versus visiting PUC from Paris during a trip that lasted from Friday August 22 till Wednesday August 27, which also included a game versus Kinheim II and hospitality on the premises of Sparta/Feyenoord and Neptunus. ADO and RCH will try to escape from playoff games versus the number one from Eerste Klasse (second division in Netherlands) for a spot in next year’s season in Hoofdklasse. Presently there is a two-game gap between ADO and RCH and they will meet on the last two days of the regular season: in Heemstede on September 13 and in The Hague on September 14. Tonight, however, each of them faces a championship challenger: RCH will host 2007 finalist Pioniers and ADO will host defending champion Kinheim.
Three-game gaps are between number five and four Sparta/Feyenoord (17-15) and Pioniers (20-12) and between number three and two Amsterdam (22-11) and Neptunus (24-8). Belgian manager Steve Janssen of Sparta/Feyenoord needs a miracle or even a few miracles during his club’s last ten games of the regular season, if they aim for the fourth spot in the post season. Janssen has the advantage to meet lower ranking clubs in six of the first seven games scheduled: HCAW, ADO and RCH. His disadvantage is to miss the Pioniers in the ten-game schedule and instead has to meet the present top three clubs of the ranking: Amsterdam, Neptunus and Kinheim, each contending in regular season for the pole position in the postseason.
An early decision may be made this weekend, when the top two Kinheim and Neptunus will square off twice in a home game each. If the Pioniers can win the first four games scheduled all versus low ranked opponents ADO, RCH and HCAW, it looks like the real Final Four in Europe will be with the Pioniers, Amsterdam, Neptunus and Kinheim. Four weekends are planned on the following dates: September 18-20-21, September 27-28 and for the Holland Series October 2-4-5 and if necessary October 11-12.
| Time | Home | Visitor | Field | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates and Times are subject to change! In case of doubt check with the responsible national federation! | ||||||
| Thursday, August 28 2008 | ||||||
| 19:45 | ADO | Corendon Kinheim | Den Haag - Leen... |  |
||
| 19:45 | DOOR Neptunus | Amsterdam Pirates | Rotterdam - Fam... | |
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| 19:45 | MediaMonks RCH | Konica Minolta Pioniers | Heemstede - Hee... | |
||
| 19:45 | Mr.Cocker HCAW | Sparta/Feyenoord | Bussum - Sportv... | |
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| Saturday, August 30 2008 | ||||||
| 14:00 | Amsterdam Pirates | MediaMonks RCH | Amsterdam - Spo... | |
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| 14:00 | Corendon Kinheim | DOOR Neptunus | Haarlem - Pim M... | |
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| 14:00 | Mr.Cocker HCAW | Konica Minolta Pioniers | Bussum - Sportv... | |
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| 14:00 | Sparta/Feyenoord | ADO | Rotterdam - Spo... | |
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| Sunday, August 31 2008 | ||||||
| 14:00 | ADO | Sparta/Feyenoord | Den Haag - Leen... | |
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| 14:00 | DOOR Neptunus | Corendon Kinheim | Rotterdam - Fam... | |
||
| 14:00 | Konica Minolta Pioniers | Mr.Cocker HCAW | Hoofddorp - Spo... | |
||
| 14:00 | MediaMonks RCH | Amsterdam Pirates | Heemstede - Hee... | |
||
Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
www.honkbalsite.com
www.sporttribune.nl
www.baseball.it
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