Netherlands postgame interviews: March 3, 2013

THE MODERATOR:  We have Hensley Meulens and catcher Dashenko Ricardo.  Henlsey, want to open up with some remarks on your thoughts on the game?

HENLSEY MEULENS:  Well, we opened up the game scoring three runs in the second inning.  It was a good start for the team.  We capitalized on a couple of mistakes they made on their side.  Dashenko had a big hit in that inning with the bases loaded and two runs, but we couldn't score more runs, and I think the momentum shifted a little bit.

Starting with Stuifbergen, he had a couple innings where he pitched the ball really well.  Then kind of hit a wall in that fourth inning.  Thought he had a pitch that he thought was a strike but it was called a ball, he proceeded to walk the guy and then it kind of snowballed from there.

He had a chance to stay in the game.  I had him walk to load the base and go for a groundball double play, but he ended up hitting the next guy and that was the end of his day right there.

Martis came in, threw the ball well, got three outs, but they were flyballs so they scored a couple runs after that.  I think later on he made a mistake out over the plate and that was the play that he gave up the home run to right field.  There was also a mistake we made on defense in the infield, that cost us the runs.

But I thought they played good.  We only got one hit, and that was the hit Dashenko got in the second inning.  Other than that, our bats were quiet today.  It was quite a contrast from yesterday where we pitched really well, played great defense, and we got some hits.  But today was the other way around.

THE MODERATOR:  Dashenko, you're not necessarily known as a hitter, but you've had a good tournament with the bat.  What do you attribute that to?

DASHENKO RICARDO:  Well, I have been doing a really good job with the bat.  I'm seeing the ball well.  So I'm trying to help my team when I need to.

Q.  How tough was it for you was it to play so late last night and come back out?  How hard is it for the team physically and mentally?

HENLSEY MEULENS:  Well, it's always hard this time of the season.  We had a long game last night.  We got to the hotel pretty late and then had to turn around and come back this morning and play this day game.

But no excuse.  We got enough rest.  It's just they played better than we did today.  But anytime there is a day game after a night game, you hope that guys get some more hours of rest, but that wasn't the case.

We strapped it on and tried to play hard.  It just didn't bounce our way today.

Q.  Everybody thinks that Netherlands is probably the toughest team in terms of offense, but now you have only one hit today.  What do you think is the problem?

HENLSEY MEULENS:  It's not necessarily a problem.  I think they pitched well.  Pitching good innings, and our guys were a little overaggressive when they were swinging at the breaking ball.  I think that was a formula for them to tame our bats today.  But we've got to flip the page and come back on Tuesday, and try to take that game from Australia to proceed to the next round.

But our guys are good hitters.  Sometimes it goes up‑and‑down.  wehad a bunch of hits yesterday.  Today the pitching kept us quiet, and we had a little (Indiscernible).

Q.  Could you talk about the game against Australia?  What do you think of Australia, and what do you think is your strength against team Australia?

HENLSEY MEULENS:  As I said yesterday, it is very even.  Every country has a strong team.  They've got a lineup that's left‑handed.  They're going to give us a battle, and we have to play a good game.  They have some good arms in the bullpen pitching‑wise, and they have some guys that can hit the ball for power.

So we're going to have to pitch well again like yesterday and score runs.  One hit and scoring three runs is probably not enough.  We'll have to score some runs and play some defense and pitch a better game than we did today.

Q.  I imagine you have played other places where you're the visitor.  Nevertheless the Taiwan fans can be pretty intensive.  How did it feel?  And did your teammates say how overwhelming that was during the other game?

HENSLEY MEULENS:  Well, we've been to this country more than once.  It's not the first time we've encountered a problem like that.  Tip my hat to them.  They were in the game.  If you don't like something like that as a ballplayer, you shouldn't be playing.

The adrenaline is flowing all game long.  It bounces both ways.  Our guys kind of feed off that energy that was in the crowd.  They're very energetic.  They cheered their guys on, even when we were hitting.  They tried to cheer their pitcher on.  So that takes your adrenaline to a different level, and our guys liked it.  We spoke about it.

We have a couple of guys playing in Japan, Andruw and Balentien, and they live that every day over there.  We have to play Chinese Taipei on their own soil, so we're kind of used to it.  Just that they played better than we did today.