Netherlands Shocks Dominicans in WBC

The Dominican Republic was considered one of the favorites to win the World Baseball Classic, but Felipe Alou's squad was shockingly eliminated in extra innings on Tuesday night by the Netherlands.

And lest you think that this was another run-of-the-mill game, well, think again. The Dominican Republic is one of most dominant baseball countries in the world. The Netherlands? Not so much. Harold Reynolds called this one of the biggest upsets ever. While that might be a stretch, there is nothing wrong with stating plainly that the Netherlands shocked the baseball world tonight.

The tension mounted all evening as a Dutch team that was described by the announcers as "like a Double-A team" continued to hold their own against the star-studded Dominicans. The Netherlands' pitching staff held the D.R. scoreless until Jose Reyes scored for the Dominican in the 11th, snapping a 0-0 tie, but the Netherlands responded by hanging two runs on Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol.

On the surface, these teams could not be any different. The Dominican lineup features Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, David Ortiz and Miguel Tejada. The Netherlands have Tom Stuifbergen. But the 20-year-old Twins pitching prospect managed to pitch five scoreless innings against the stout D.R. lineup.

It wasn't until an error by the Netherlands that Reyes was able to finally get the Dominicans on the board, setting up Marmol for what seemed certain to be a shut-the-door-style save. Instead, Eugene Kingsale, one of the few players with big-league experience on the Dutch squad, drove in the tying run with a single, then scampered all the way to third base on a wild pitch by Marmol.

And then, as soon as he appeared ready to close out the inning, a sharply hit ball to first base was bobbled by Willy Aybar, allowing Kingsale to score as the Dutch players mobbed him at home plate.

It wasn't so much the pitching of the Dominicans that hurt them either. Ubaldo Jimenez and Pedro Martinez were lights out. But the D.R.'s batters couldn't ever convert with runners on base and a few deep balls that seemed like they would leave Hiram Bithorn Stadium fell just short of the stands, just the same as their WBC hopes.