by Pim van Nes
This morning newly appointed manager Hensley Meulens is expected to arrive at Schiphol, international airport of Amsterdam, in order to meet the Netherlands national team in preparation for third World Baseball Classic. First session with present players group is planned to-day in Haarlem at 16.00 h.
Meulens is accompanied in the KLM plane by technical director KNBSB Robert Eenhoorn and regular head coach Brian Farley, who visited Curacao for about a week. They met with Dutch players to whom they were not yet really acquainted, which they consider necessary for possible selection at short term.
From 2nd till 5th March the Netherlands will participate in World Baseball Classic preliminary round B in Taichung, Chinese Taipei. Opponents there are the Chinese home team, Australia and South-Korea. The Dutch lions will appear in the Opening Game versus Korea on Saturday March 2 at 12.30 h CET.
Hensley Meulens played 182 Major League Baseball games with New York Yankees, Montreal Expos and Arizona Diamondbacks. As Dutch national team player “Bam bam” Meulens accounted for 35 apearances in the orange jersey. In 2010 and 2012 he helped as hitting coach the San Francisco Giants to win World Series. This club authorized him to change their partly orange uniform for the Dutch royal orange outfit.
In his temporary manager’s job Meulens will be assisted by USA born Brian Farley and by Dutch born Bert Blyleven, each having performed successfully with the team before.