They exploded with joy when former Marlin slugger Miguel Cabrera hit a towering solo home run in the fourth inning. They pumped their fists each time starter Carlos Silva struck out an overmatched Dutch hitter. And they stood and cheered during each of the four outs closer Francisco Rodriguez recorded in his save.

But louder than the cheers of the partisan Venezuelan crowd of 17,345 at Dolphin Stadium were the boos they rained down on one of their own during Venezuela's 3-1 victory over the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon.

The object of the fans' displeasure was Detroit Tigers slugger Magglio Ordoñez, a supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Each time the All-Star outfielder stepped to the plate, he was taunted with shouts of ``Chavista!''

''Here in Miami you have a whole host of Venezuelans who live here and are against the government, and I support the government. So that's why they boo me, heckle me, criticize me, because I made a personal decision,'' said Ordoñez, who also was booed in the first round in Toronto last week.

``There are lots of people in my country who love me. I don't have any grudge against [fans in Miami]. I just think they're not that very well informed.''

Ordoñez said the boos angered several of his teammates, some of whom left the dugout to try to calm the fans. But it didn't help much.

POLITICAL DIFFERENCES

Manager Luis Sojo eventually yanked Ordoñez, who finished 0 for 3, in the seventh inning and replaced him with Gregor Blanco. Sojo said the substitution was about baseball, but he did address the hostile reaction of the fans.

''That hostility, that harassment, they're actually ballplayers, and I hope fans will learn to respect the political differences,'' Sojo said. ``We came to play ball here, and that's it.''

The boos will go away for at least a day. Venezuela advanced to Monday's winners bracket. The Netherlands will play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game.

On Saturday, the Venezuelans got a stiff challenge from the underdog Dutch, who continued to pitch well after silencing the powerful Dominican Republic's bats twice last week in the first round.

Starter Sidney Ponson gave up a lead-off triple to Endy Chavez to start the game. But the veteran right-hander quickly settled in, and after falling behind 1-0 when Chavez scored on a Melvin Mora groundout to short, Ponson retired nine hitters in a row before facing Cabrera with one out in the fourth.

That's when Ponson, a free agent, made his second mistake of the game, and Cabrera drilled his second home run in the tournament into the teal seats in left center field to break a 1-1 tie.

''I'm kind of [angry] because we had two bad mistakes, and it cost us two runs,'' Ponson said. ``If we didn't do those, the outcome could be different.

``Those guys had three hits, three runs.''

With a 2-1 lead, Venezuela simply coasted behind Silva, who struck out four and gave up four hits before retiring 11 in a row and leaving after seven innings because of the 85-pitch limitation rule.

''We just wanted him to keep us in the game, and he did a great job,'' Sojo said. ``Our goal was to get the ball to Francisco.''

The Netherlands, which scored its only run in the second on Vince Rooi's RBI single and had another run erased on a play at the plate in the same inning, forced Sojo to go to his closer earlier than usual in the eighth.

But with runners on first and second and two out, Rodriguez got Sharnon Adriana to bounce into a fielder's choice. In the ninth, Rodriguez gave up a one-out single before striking out Bryan Engelhardt and getting Rooi to ground out to third to end the game.

A TOUGH CROWD

The Venezuelans were happy with the victory afterward, but they lamented the scene that stained it a bit.

''They may have their own reasons for booing me, but I'm a person that they should respect on the team because I am not Venezuela; Venezuela is the entire team,'' Ordoñez said. ``And when they boo me, they're booing everybody. . . .

``Hopefully, we'll turn the page, and things are going to be different the next game.''

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