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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 1ST ROUND POOL B

March 9, 2017

John McLaren

Tokyo, Japan

AUSTRALIA 11, China 0

Q. John, you just played against Team Australia. What is in your mind right now?
JOHN McLAREN: A very disappointing game. We never got into the flow of the game. I thought Ju Kwon did a fight job, made one bad pitch, competed well. He was impressive. We just didn't show up tonight. I understand that Blackley was great. He knew how to attack our hitters and he was our pitching count efficient and he was outstanding. He did a great job for them.

Q. Also, you were eliminated from the tournament. What is in your mind right now?
JOHN McLAREN: I'm disappointed, like I said. I thought we would make a better showing in this, and now we have to play the best team in the tournament, Japan, which is not going to be an easy task. I just told the guys, I was expecting more out of them. We've played better than that. We hit some balls hard, and you know, had nothing to show for it.

You know, this is a great tournament, and we're trying to survive, keep this thing going. And the odds are not in our favor.

So we need to show up and compete. I've stressed to them, I want them to have fun, enjoy the moment, have a great experience here, but you know, when you get beat 11-0, it's not a good feeling inside. So we definitely need to regroup.

Q. Also, you had a game against Team Japan, and you've played many times against Japan. What is your impression for Team Japan?
JOHN McLAREN: I've been extremely impressed with their team chemistry. I thought the last WBC, they didn't look like they were enjoying with each other. And I've always several games on TV, I've looked inside their dugout, and it looks like their cohesion and their togetherness is real good.

We know they are good. We know they are fundamentally sound. We have our work cut out for us. But I like what Japan has done. They are a very competitive team and they are having fun as a unit. I think they have got a chance to move in this tournament a long way.

Q. Tomorrow you have a game against Team Japan. What's your game plan for tomorrow?
JOHN McLAREN: Well, Ohtani is going to pitch for us -- just kidding. You know what, we need to get on base. I forgot my signs with the third base coach; I've to regroup with him.

We haven't had many opportunities. The other teams have pitched well against us. We haven't helped ourselves. We've swung at bad pitches. You know, we're not a team that's just going to slug it out with another team. We don't have that type of personnel.

So I think the first thing we need to do is when we do have a good pitch, to hit it, and if not, take it and try to get the other pitcher in trouble.

You know, pitch counts are always working against our team and it's not bothering the other team. So that has a lot to do with the opposing team's pitchers throwing strikes, and it has to do with our team's inexperience swinging at balls.

Q. What are you going to do about a starting pitcher tomorrow?
JOHN McLAREN: We're going to have a backup plan. We'll announce our pitcher here shortly. Bruce Chen will be in the game somewhere tomorrow. We've talked about it. He's all aboard. It's a situation that we've had some injuries that we weren't counting on, and we got them. So we have to deal with them, part of baseball. We'll use some of our staff tomorrow.

Q. Tomorrow, you play a game against Team Japan. Who do you expect for the Team Japan starter?
JOHN McLAREN: That's a good question. I don't know to be honest with you. I know it's not Darvish or Maeda or Ohtani. I know whoever they pitch will compete and throw strikes, and that's what we expect of Japanese pitchers. That's what they are about.

I mentioned this to Danny the other day; that when the big guns for Japan couldn't pitch, it gave opportunities for pitchers in Japan that we maybe never heard of before, and they are going to have that opportunity to step forward. That's one of the great things about this tournament: Players show them how good they are that doesn't some of the world doesn't know about. I know we'll get a good pitcher from Japan.

Q. Are you the type of person that you read a bunch of advanced scouting reports? Do you have enough preparation for Team China?
JOHN McLAREN: Oh, I believe in reports. I've been in the major leagues a long time, and that's what our game is all about is being prepared. The problem here is we don't have a report on Japan, so it's a bit of a challenge (laughs)

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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