Intro:

Reaction to the Dominican Republic's 4-1 victory over the Netherlands in their World Baseball Classic semi-final showdown - a game in which closing pitcher Fernando Rodney pulled a plantain from his trousers during pre-game introductions.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Pena, Dominican Republic manager (on closing pitcher Fernando Rodney's pulling a plantain from his trousers during pre-game introductions)

"The thing is that you need to find a way. How are you going to lose the stress. How are you going to keep your whole group of players laughing, keeping loose? So I got surprised with a banana, a plantain, on the side. I think he pulled it out, I just laughed. Right in the middle of the game like this, you need to have a little bit of fun. You need to find a way to loosen up. And I'm glad he did it."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Hensley Meulens, Netherlands manager (when asked about the Dominicans line-up of hitters)

"Yes it is (some line-up). But I tip my hat to my starter (Diegomar Markwell), too. He went at them like he knew them pretty well. This guy pitches amateur ball in Holland and it didn't matter for him. He pitched pretty good until that fifth inning when they scored four runs. He left a couple of balls up, they batted. They put some great at-bats on us today. Fouled a bunch of pitches off. Those great hitters, that's why they come up. They rise to the top when it comes to playing big games like this. We just came up a little short."