I got tickets in the outfield, and figured that I’d move around since the stadium was practically empty; however, I stayed in my area since I enjoyed the company was with and saw the United States defeat the upstart Netherlands squad, 9-3.
They avoided a potentially embrassing situation as Jimmy Rollins hit a homer and drove in four; Brian Roberts went 3-for-3 with two walks, runs, and RBI’s. Adam Dunn homered to center field, and Roy Oswalt threw four scoreless innings to earn the easy win.
However, what I will remember from last night was the flare up in the eighth inning between reliever Matt Lindstrom and the Netherlands squad. With the game pretty much out of reach, Bryan Engelhardt for the Dutch team hit a long home run off Lindstrom and admired it. Well, the U.S. reliever took issue with Engelhardt’s so-called theatrics and then threw behind the back of the next hitter — Vince Rooi.
The crowd in the outfield wondered what was going on as to why Lindstrom would throw at someone in a blow out, even if he gave up a home run to the previous hitter. We all figured it was a mistake; however, it was anything but.
Even with a six-run lead in the eighth, the Americans remained combative. Matt Lindstrom gave up a leadoff homer to Bryan Engelhardt, who took a long look at his prodigious drive before jogging around the bases. Lindstrom’s next pitch sailed behind Vince Rooi, and the pitcher conceded he was trying to send a message after Engelhardt’s homer.
“I thought he took a little bit too long watching it,” Lindstrom said.
When Lindstrom barely missed hitting Rooi, Dutch players took several steps onto the field as they yelled angrily at the pitcher. The shouting was in English, said Netherlands catcher Sidney de Jong.
“When you yell stuff like that, you want somebody to hear you,” he said. “We had no doubt that was intentional.””Classless,” Dutch manager Rod Delmonico said.
Concerning Lindstrom, I can understand why he did what he did, but in the end, he came off looking like a complete jackass. My thought is this — if you didn’t want a guy admiring his shot, then you should not have given up the long ball.
Plain and simple.
World Baseball Classic, Game Three — U.S. Vs. the Netherlands
