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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONEMarch 6, 2006Robert EenhoornRandall SimonPOOL C: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. We're going to begin the interviews with the Netherlands team and manager. We ask that you please take your seats so that we can begin. Allow me to introduce Robert Eenhoorn, the manager for the Netherlands team, and Randall Simon, the first baseman. If we need translation into Spanish, Jose Mota from ESPN Sports will be helping us out. Let's open the floor for questions. Q. I want to know, we know a little bit about Randall and Andruw, but we really don't know a lot about the rest of the team. What can you tell us what the pitching of the Netherlands team? ROBERT EENHOORN: Well, obviously that's a little bit to an advantage, like the team like Puerto Rico has all these major league stars that gets to see every day. We'll have some guys on our team that have not been exposed to all that, but they've been in a lot of international competition and they've had some success over the last couple years. We believe that they can compete at this level. Just like the pitcher who's going to pitch for us tomorrow, Rob Cordemans, who has a lot of experience in international competition, he's had success, so we feel confident in pitching him against Puerto Rico tomorrow. Q. Who do you think is the strongest team out of these four, and what do you think about the pitching, 65 pitches, 75; how much is it going to affect a team playing in this system? ROBERT EENHOORN: Well, obviously when you look at the team on paper, Puerto Rico has got the most big leaguers on their team. Cuba has been a team that has won Olympics and world championships over the last decades, and Panama, they've had some success, also, in the last world cups. But it's baseball. If you have a good day -- again, we've got some guys in there, too, that know how to play. You can beat anybody. That's how we're going to look at it going into this tournament. We're not here just to participate; our goal is also to make it to the next round. But on paper, we might not be the strongest team. Paper is paper, and you've still got to do it on the field. As far as the pitch counts, yeah, it definitely does affect us, probably more than anybody else, because we're one of the teams that doesn't have an off day. We've got to play three days in a row, which means it affects us more than any other team. Cuba has the same thing, but their pitchers probably get close to whatever they can get away with. We've got some young arms that we have to think about their future, too, and think about using them in the future. It's going to affect us more than anybody else. This is the last thing I'm going to say about it because we know what we've got to do, we know how the schedule is, and now it's just time to play. Q. Randall, you are going to protect Andruw Jones in the batting order. How does that feel, and do you feel that you need to be more patient in order for Andruw to see better pitches? RANDALL SIMON; I think the most important thing that I've got to do, when I get to that situation, is every time if you think you're going to pitch around Andruw, I've got to just drive him in. I think that's the most important thing that I'm thinking about because I know that I've got to make it happen so he can think about pitching to Andruw. A lot of guys know me already and they know what type of player I am and what type of hitter I am. I can't be thinking about a lot of things, just go over there and hit the ball hard. I think about that all the time. Q. For either of you, each team is staying at the same hotel, and I'm wondering if you've had a chance to interact with any of the other players from the other teams or any of the coaches. ROBERT EENHOORN: Yeah, obviously the baseball community, playing your whole career in the States, you run into familiar faces. It happens everywhere, and it happens over there, too. You just chat real quick and then you move on. At the end of the day, we're going to be competing against each other, and that's basically how I do it.
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