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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 1ST ROUND POOL B

March 10, 2017

Jon Deeble

Tokyo, Japan

CUBA 4, Australia 3

Q. You played against Cuba and you were close but you were defeated. What's in your mind now that you were so close?
JON DEEBLE: Well, I'm gutted. I think that we outplayed them in every facet of the game. We made one mistake, and against a team like Cuba, you can't afford to.

We had 21 quality at-bats. We outhit them. I think we outplayed them, and the only place we didn't win was the scoreboard. They have a knack of doing that. That's why they are good. Despaigne, Cepeda on the big stage, they always come through.

You know, we'll learn from it. I think the young kid out there pitching, Lachlan Wells, I think he's going to pitch in the major leagues, and hopefully that was a good -- take something good out of it. But he pitched fantastic and take nothing away from the job that he did. I thought Saupold was amazing. I thought Moylan did a good job, and I thought Wells did a good job, too. We just didn't get many hits with runners in scoring position. We had nine at-bats and we had runners on second base eight times and we couldn't score. We had a runner on third with no one out and couldn't score a run. That's the big difference. They get the big hits. We get a home run with no one on, and they get a home one with the bases loaded, and that was the ballgame.

Q. You played here three games in the Tokyo Pool. For Team Australia, what does the tournament, the WBC 2017 mean to Team Australia?
JON DEEBLE: It means everything. We don't get to play a lot. We've only played five games in the last two years, this National Team. So it means a lot to us, and as I said, we're gutted, because we thought we had a big chance and we really thought that we could beat the Cubans, and we took it right up to them. Again, it was one pitch. But if he pops that ball up, we're sitting here as winners. That didn't happen.

Q. In four years, we are expecting the 2021 WBC will be held and before that, 2020, the Tokyo Olympics is going to be held. What are you expecting for the future?
JON DEEBLE: I think we've got a good team. I think we've got a great team. We've got some young players. We have probably got four or five young 19-year-olds that can come on to this team. We finished second in the world end of 23, tournament in Mexico this year behind Japan, and so I think we've got a bright future. There's no doubt about that.

Q. There was a gamble that you chose Warwick as the starting pitcher -- when you put Ruzic during the game. Was it sort of a gamble? What's the reason to pitch him during the game?
JON DEEBLE: We had a lot of faith in him. The game plan was: If we could get through the fifth inning and have Kent throw the six, Moylan seven, eight, possibly nine, and just didn't pan out. He struck the first two hitters out. We had nobody on and two outs with two strikeouts, and unfortunately just gave up a couple hits and a walk and then the big one.

You know, could we have made a change in hindsight? You'd probably say yes. But we've got a lot of faith and confidence in him, and he's up to 93 with his fastball with a good change up and a good breaking ball. And he walked Cepeda the pitch before, pretty close pitch, too. Anyway, that's the way it goes, and you've got to learn from that and we'll learn from that. I'd still have him out there I think.

The problem, we had to get to the ninth inning. We had Moylan at the back end and if we get out of that, we can use Moylan a bit later and win the game. It's one pitch. I don't have any issues with that.

Q. On Warwick, was that just the most you could get out of him at this point where he is in spring training, that type of thing?
JON DEEBLE: Again, that's what people don't understand. We're under strict instructions he wasn't to go over 50 pitches. We would loved to have had him out there for another inning. That changes the game. If Liam Hendriks is available, that changes the game, too. You know, you can sit back and look at a lot of things. Liam Hendriks has had a successful career in the major leagues, and pulled out two days before the tournament. You go to Moylan for two and you go to Hendriks for two, I think it's a different ballgame. Unfortunately three days out, we lost our best pitcher.

Yeah, we were under strict instructions that he couldn't go -- when he got that double play, we were going to pull him out at 49 pitches, and then we thought, you know what, we have to finish that off and luckily he got the double play for us. He did a great job. I thought he threw the ball very, very well. I thought our pitches threw the ball well for the whole tournament. We made one error, and that was the inning they scored the four runs; we made one error for the tournament. We defended well, I thought we pitched well. I thought we hit well today; just not with runners in scoring position.

Q. Let's talk about eight years ago, when in 2009, you played against Cuba, and you were also defeated by Cuba, 5-4. That was also a one-run game. Do you think that -- how do you feel about Team Cuba now compared to eight years ago, the team of 2009 and the team of 2017? Who is the most impact player you feel?
JON DEEBLE: Look, Cuba has lost a lot of guys to the major leagues in that time, Gourriel, Abreu. I've managed against all those guys, and that was a very, very good team.

But the one thing that I cannot wait for Cepeda and Despaigne to retire, because they have worn me out for 16 years. I will be not sad when they finish playing, because these guys are two fantastic players, and they have destroyed us over 16 years. I think if we go back over the time Cepeda hit a solo home run in Taiwan to tie a game and he hit one out in the 11th to beat us 2-1.

Despaigne hit -- got beat 1-0 in Italy because Despaigne hit a home run in the first inning. This has gone on and on and on and on. I'll be so happy when they finish their career and we don't have to see them again. They are great players. Fantastic players. We have got every respect.

I think over the years, we've done a really good job against them. I think we've battled against them. And as I said yesterday, you know, the Cuban players play every day, and as I said, we got the forklift truck driver, we've got an Ã¼ber driver, a fireman, two carpet layers, and these guys go out and they give everything they have got. I think we've showed in this tournament that we belong, to be in the premiere 12; we belong in the top 10, and we've got to find a way to get better.

We have very limited funds in Australia, and we do the best we can. In saying that, Cuba are a great team. Doesn't matter what tournament they play in. They are always up there, because they know how to play, they are well coached, and you know, I think the 2009 team was probably better. I think if Cuba had their major league players, I think they would go close to winning. But they are a great team, no doubt.

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