WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - NETHERLANDS VS PANAMA

March 9, 2023

Hensley Meulens

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium

Team Netherlands

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Starting Martis today, back in 2006, he had the no-hitter, the only no-hitter in the Classic against Panama, a day game. Was there any thought to that at all starting him against Panama in a day game? I know it's years later, but any thought of that going into this?

HENSLEY MEULENS: No. It just worked out that way. We are just matching up our best starters against the best opponent, and just like we did yesterday with de Blok starting against Cuba with a fastball, they are a bunch of low-ball hitters, and that was our best shot against them and it worked out.

Today is kind of the same. They are very aggressive as you saw last night. They put a bunch of runs on the board. We just have to some somebody that can regulate that and has had success against him in the past.

Him against them, it's really not the primary reason why we chose him to start today.

Q. Are you going pretty much with the same lineup, same defensive alignment yesterday just because you had the success?

HENSLEY MEULENS: We had stability in the lineup. We had a bunch of guys contributing from Roger on down. You know, Profar had some good swings. We thought he hit a homer. Thought he hit it. Balentien just missed one, too. Those are the guys that really didn't contribute yesterday but you know, the primary reason for the rest of the guys is defense.

They have got elite defense, all those guys in the defense and the outfield. And we won, so we've got to stick with that for now.

Q. Also, watching the last few days, your team seems to have great chemistry and are very together. Can you attribute that to anything, to any players, or just everybody? What do you notice about the team?

HENSLEY MEULENS: You know, it's the same kind of every time. They love playing with each other. Some of them grew up with each other. They played their entire childhood with each other. Simmons and Didi, like Schoop and Profar, they won the little league World Series together. It's not just now. All the Ruben boys, Zander and Chad, they have got something good going on. And Chad said it perfect yesterday in one of the post-game conferences. He said, "It doesn't matter where we're coming from. We are all like together. We are brothers." And they all have a part in it. It's not just one guy.

I tend to do some event with them off the field that will bring them closer to each other, so like the other night, we did -- we called it a Royal Casino Quiz Night. It was great. They could bring their families, they are friends. It was a great bonding night the night before we started the tournament but they love being around each other.

Q. (No translation.)

HENSLEY MEULENS: No, we take nothing for granted. It's another day. It's another baseball game. Anything can happen during the game. Doesn't matter how long they played or how tired they are. We just have to do our best to beat them. They are a good team. If you are going to think that way, we are going to shorten ourselves.

We are preparing right now to be at our best, and to play just like they didn't play last night. If it works out and it trickles into today where they are a little down, then so be it, but we don't know that, and we are just going to play hard from pitch No. 1. FastScripts by ASAP Sports ...