Netherlands

JOHANNESBURG —The World Cup ends Sunday, and Paul the Octopus, the tournament's favorite psychic sea creature, can sink back into his aquarium tank in Oberhausen, Germany, and finally relax. But if Paul can see the end of the road, the same is not yet true for the players of Spain and the Netherlands, who square off Sunday. For them, it all comes down to 90 minutes — or perhaps 120 — that will determine whether they fly home as world champions or also-rans.

SARASOTA, Fla. - Although the Orioles aren't making any proclamations about their rotation with Opening Day looming in less than two weeks, Zach Britton's chances of going north with the club seemingly took a hit Wednesday as he failed to get out of the second inning in a Grapefruit League start against the Toronto Blue Jays. The 25-year-old lefty allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks while retiring only four batters, pushing his spring ERA to 6.10 and likely damaging his standing in a battle with Jake Arrieta , Steve Johnson , Brian Matusz and others for the fifth rotation spot.

Orioles infield prospect Jonathan Schoop said Saturday that he plans to play for the Netherlands in this spring's World Baseball Classic. Schoop is listed on the Netherlands' provisional roster that came out this week, but he said was considering not playing because of a nagging left knee injury. “Last year, I felt a little big of weakness in my leg, in my knee,” Schoop said. “I was feeling not 100 percent. Right now it feels good.” Orioles center fielder Adam Jones will represent the United States in the WBC, and reliever Luis Ayala will pitch for Mexico.

Orioles top infield prospect Jonathan Schoop returned to Ed Smith Stadium on Wednesday after playing on the world's stage as part of an upstart Netherlands team that made it to the World Baseball Classic semifinals before losing to the eventual champions, the Dominican Republic. “I was happy. We did a good job. We showed the world that we could play baseball, compete at a high level,” said Schoop, who is from the island of Curacao, a constituent country of the Netherlands.

ARNHEM, Netherlands -- The last time this city tried to rid itself of unwelcome Germans it took three Allied airborne divisions and a column of tanks, and even that wasn't enough at first.A half-century later, Arnhem again has its hands full with invading Germans. Up to 40,000 a year cross the nearby border to visit the city's 37 "cannabis coffee shops" -- odd, smoky establishments tolerated by liberal Dutch drug laws. The result, depending on whom you ask, is either a mild nuisance of noise and traffic or a plague of imported crime and hard drugs.

C At age 80, Walter Youse says he "is running out of gas," but he's got enough in the tank for one more trip to the Netherlands.Youse, the veteran Milwaukee Brewers scout who has been coaching amateur baseball in Baltimore for more than 50 years, leaves with his Corrigan's Insurance 20-and-under team for the Netherlands and the World Port Tournament tomorrow. This will be the team's third trip to the Netherlands in five years."We're the defending champion, but it won't be easy because Major League Baseball is sending a minor-league all-star team over there," said Youse, whose club, formerly Johnny's, is 20-6.

AS A MOLDER OF public opinion, I regularly go on fact-finding missions to foreign countries located outside the United States. I then report my findings to you in the sincere hope that I can improve international understanding by deducting the entire cost of my mission, including beer, on my income taxes.Today I present Part 1 of my two-part report on this year's mission, which took me to the Netherlands, which some people call "Holland" or, if they are very lost, "Czechoslovakia."At one time, large areas of the Netherlands were actually covered by the sea, but over the centuries the hard-working Dutch have turned these areas into dry land.

HAARLEM, Netherlands -- Martina Navratilova was relieved to finish her first day as U.S. Federation Cup captain with a split of the first two matches in her country's first-round series yesterday with the Netherlands.The United States was playing without its top two stars, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport, who declined to compete in the first round, so Chanda Rubin and Mary Joe Fernandez opened the defense of the United States' 1996 Fed Cup title. Rubin came through; Fernandez stumbled.

State police have charged a 26-year-old man with using a computer in the Netherlands to solicit sex from a teen-age girl in Salisbury, police said yesterday.Using an 8-month-old Maryland law against transmitting child pornography over computers, police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Santosh Ramcharan of The Hague, Netherlands.Ramcharan is said to have returned to the Netherlands after meeting the 14-year-old girl in a Washington, D.C., hotel in December. State police have obtained a warrant that allows Ramcharan to be arrested if he returns to the United States.

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands - Hoping to quell a national outcry over corporate compensation here that has spread to its own supermarkets, the Dutch food retailer Royal Ahold said yesterday that its chairman would resign and that it would overhaul its chief executive's multimillion-dollar pay package. The scandal-plagued Ahold has already admitted to about $1.1 billion in accounting irregularities at its Columbia, Md., subsidiary U.S. Foodservice. Now it is trying to quell a tempest surrounding a two-year contract given to its new chief executive, Anders C. Moberg, that is worth 6 million euros ($6.8 million)

Orioles minor league pitcher Jonatan Isenia suffered a strained right elbow injury while pitching for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. The 19-year-old Curacao native will be replaced on the Netherlands roster by Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen. Isenia threw just 3 2/3 innings in the World Baseball Classic, allowing one run on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks. He was added to the Netherlands roster when the final rosters were released. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Isenia pitched for the Orioles' Dominican Summer League team last season, going 0-1 with a 1.47 ERA in 13 relief appearances and allowing 14 hits with 10 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings.

SARASOTA, Fla. - On the tiny Caribbean island of Curacao, located just off the northern Venezuelan coast, baseball is the unofficial national sport. Kids growing up there have dreams of playing in the Little League World Series, following in the footsteps of a group that brought the world championship back to the island in 2004. Orioles infield prospect Jonathan Schoop played on that team. One of his teammates was Rangers shortstop Jurickson Profar, now heralded at the top prospect in baseball.

Orioles infield prospect Jonathan Schoop said Saturday that he plans to play for the Netherlands in this spring's World Baseball Classic. Schoop is listed on the Netherlands' provisional roster that came out this week, but he said was considering not playing because of a nagging left knee injury. “Last year, I felt a little big of weakness in my leg, in my knee,” Schoop said. “I was feeling not 100 percent. Right now it feels good.” Orioles center fielder Adam Jones will represent the United States in the WBC, and reliever Luis Ayala will pitch for Mexico.

Living near a livestock farm may increase your risk of acquiring an antibiotic-resistant infection, according to a new study led by researchers from Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health . In reviewing data from the Netherlands, a team of Hopkins and Dutch scientists found that the odds of being exposed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , or MRSA, are greatest in the southeast region of that European country, an...

For a second summer, the Greater Laurel United Soccer Club is bringing professional coaches from the Netherlands to help young players learn soccer skills. Dutch Soccer School will be held Aug. 8-12 at McCullough Field, Eighth and Montgomery streets, and is for boys and girls ages 7 to 14. Register online at Dutchsoccerschool.com.

JOHANNESBURG —The World Cup ends Sunday, and Paul the Octopus, the tournament's favorite psychic sea creature, can sink back into his aquarium tank in Oberhausen, Germany, and finally relax. But if Paul can see the end of the road, the same is not yet true for the players of Spain and the Netherlands, who square off Sunday. For them, it all comes down to 90 minutes — or perhaps 120 — that will determine whether they fly home as world champions or also-rans.

CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands -- Historic, hushed and for a few brief flashes sprinkled with drama, the trial of two Libyans in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, opened yesterday. More than 11 years after the plane was blown out of the sky, the two men pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering 270 people, and their lawyers sought to shift the blame to Palestinian organizations. There was a surreal quality to the trial's opening as defendants Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, clad in white Arabic robes, faced a room of wig-wearing Scottish judges and lawyers.

AALSMEER, The Netherlands -- Long before the sun comes up, Jacques Pannekoek leaves his home about 20 miles north of Amsterdam to begin a 12-hour workday that could end with Dutch flowers sitting on some Chicago tables by nightfall.He is a flower buyer and exporter, and Aalsmeer, a village near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport where he works, is the undisputed flower capital of the world. It is "the New York Stock Exchange for flowers," in the words of Adrienne Lansbergen, a spokeswoman for Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer -- the Aalsmeer Flower Auction.

Dutch finally arrive Bob Foltman Chicago Tribune The safe pick would be Spain. It's hard to go against the reigning European champions, who also were one of the favorites heading into the tournament. Spain also has turned around an image of not showing up for big games. So Spain would be the easy pick, which is why I'll back the Dutch. The Netherlands knocked off Brazil in the quarterfinals and a determined and organized Uruguay in the semis. The Spanish have done the minimum to get through, posting three straight 1-0 scorelines.