GAME FACTS OF THE DAY: Team Cuba at Team Netherlands, Game 14 of the Haarlemse Honkbalweek. Team Cuba won 4-1 in 9 innings.

MY ROLE OF THE DAY: Spectator, front-row seats, some 20 meters beyond third base.

SHOW STOPPER OF THE DAY: The rain again. We were at the ball park at 1pm to see the 2pm game between the US and Chinese Taipei. The start of that game was pushed back, then pushed back some more, and then got postponed to the next day altogether. At least it stayed dry throughout the 7pm Netherlands-Cuba game.

POOR FORECASTING OF THE DAY: At a few minutes to two, the announcer said they’d checked the weather forecasts and it would stop raining by 2.15. It was still raining at 2.15. The announcer said they’d checked again, and now it would really stop within half an hour. It was still raining at 2.45, and at 3 o’clock, and at 3.15. By that time, the game had already been cancelled.

UNLUCKY SHOTS OF THE DAY: Dutch right fielder Dirk van ‘t Klooster, usually very able to produce hits, must have been in ill favour with the baseball gods. He caused five outs in three at-bats: a 4-3 double play, a 4-6-3 double play, and a low line-out to third. The last one might have been a double play if the third baseman had let the ball bounce before gloving it.

DESIGNATED NON-HITTER OF THE DAY: Dutch DH Wesley Connor went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, despite a sixth-best .348 batting average in the Dutch regular season so far. He batted seventh against Cuba, which is a bit of a weird spot to put your DH. The Seattle Mariners were the only team on Opening Day this year with a DH batting that far down in the line-up, and look where it got them: the worst win-loss record in the American League. No wonder we lost against Cuba. Connor would have gone 3-for-3 if he’d batted in a proper DH spot.

FAN CATCH OF THE DAY: A guy above us and to our left attempted to catch a high foul ball, but seemed to forget he was holding a bag of popcorn. The ball came down right smack in the middle of the bag, sending a shower of popcorn across three rows of seats. Too bad none of the cameras caught it, for it was worth seeing a couple more times.

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