Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

It has been a busy, busy month so far - and it looks like the madness will continue for a few weeks - so I had little time to write in my blog. I also was busy this weekend (yesterday my best friends Birthday) and the previous weekend visiting the Haarlemse Honkbal Week 2008, an international baseball tournament. It's being held every two years and my friend Sander and I like to go there. I'm not a baseball expert, but I do enjoy the genuine family spirit of the fans visiting and the sportsmanship of the players.

Today where the finals (3-4 place: Japan vs Chinese Taipei), a game between Cuba and the USA. Last weekend the USA beat Cuba by only one point and Cuba was looking for a revenge, but they got beaten again 4-1. Team USA was a fine oiled machine as the won every match they played so they deserved to win.

After all the rain this week (and last weekend) we just had a short shower and then the skies cleared and we had a sunny, windy afternoon.

After the match we went into Haarlem and ended the day in style with a cigar and nice dinner. I had the best Italian pasta ("penne") in ages. Simple yet tasty! And with a nice cold beer it was winning combination as well. A home run for restaurant "La Plume".

All in all a perfect Sunday.

Finally: summer has (re-)started in Holland. For the first time in weeks we had a nice weekend. And what better way to spend it than going to a baseball game? So my friend Sander and I went to the Rotterdam World Port Tournament to see some matches.

Yesterday we started the weekend with The Netherlands vs the USA. Man what a bad game we played! We got totally creamed with 0-11. It was really bad! Lots of errors on our team, missing balls and double outs.

So today we hoped for a better match as we had to play agains Cuba; always a tough opponent. But once again we could not beat them and we lost 2-5. And those two point were scored in the 9th inning so we didn't stand a chance.

But all in all we had a fun time; the weather was great and as usual the people at the match are fun to watch. Afterwards we had dinner at Hotel New York in Rotterdam (the former head office of the Holland America Line). Always a nice place to go to!

Revenge! As I wrote earlier, we lost on Friday just with a mere 11-10 from Cuba. But today was payback day. At first it looked rather grim. After three innings we were looking at 6 - 0 and the Dutch team was nowhere close to how they played on Friday. But then in that same inning we finally scored and got into the game with a whopping 5 points. The Cubans made a few errors and after scoring 2 points in the 4th inning at we didn't let go. And got to a 6 - 8 score in the 6th inning and another in the 7th! It was a hell of a match and the Cubans sure can play, but in the end we made less mistakes. And with a nice 3 strikes out, our pitcher finished the match at 6 - 9!

Party!

What a match, what a party! Last night I went to the Haarlemse Honkbalweek ("Harlem Baseball Week") together with my friend Sander to watch Cuba - Netherlands. Sander and I have known each other since highschool and we always liked baseball but both of us haven't taken any time to watch matches. I think the last time we both watched a live match together was in New York (NY Yankess vs NY Metz). However, my collegue Sebastiaan is a big baseball fan and in fact played baseball on a semi-professional level for years here in Holland. His father-in-law happens to sponsor the event so we were lucky enough to get some tickets from him for Friday's match and the finals on Sunday.

We had a blast watching Cuba - Netherlands. The weather was great, people where enjoying themselves and it was a hell of a match: a thriller that everyone considered to be as exciting as a final match. Holland was playing very good and the eight inning ended in a 10-10 score. But with two out and two strikes in the 9th inning the Cubans won 11-10 when Cuban player Urgelles scored. Cuba is now leading the tournament and will play in the finals on Sunday (which we are going to see as I mentioned). Now, if Holland wins from the USA tonight, we will see a re-match of Cuba - Netherlands! That would be a big treat!

(You can listen and see the matches live if you want: Honkbalweek webcam & live radio).

Let's play ball