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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 1ST ROUND POOL CMarch 11, 2017Ernie WhittNick PivettaMiami, Florida Colombia - 4, Canada - 1 Q. There was a lot of fight there, but maybe not the crispest of games at times in creating some opportunities for them. What was your assessment of the way you guys played? ERNIE WHITT: I'm sorry? Q. What was your assessment of the way you guys played? ERNIE WHITT: Needless to say, I thought we were disappointed that -- we got out of the chute real fast, scored a run and then our bats became silent. When you have five hits and you only score one run, you're not going to win a lot of ballgames. So, but at the end we had a chance. We had the tying run at the plate, I guess that's all you can ask for. But a little disappointed in that. I was happy with our pitchers. We kept them in check most of the way, we just didn't score any runs. Q. Ten years away from his Big League career, what can you say about what Eric Gagne did out there today? ERNIE WHITT: He did a great job. He was disappointed that he walked the first guy. And you go to the situation where a guy has the most experience, he's been there before, he's done it. And you never like to see the walk a run in, but then he bounced back and gave us some strong innings and kept us in the ballgame. And that's all you ask out of your pitchers is keep us in the ballgame. Q. Nick, where would this game rank among your all-time personal highlights, aside from the fact that the team lost? NICK PIVETTA: It's up there with being when I make it up to the Big Leagues. You're not going to get a lot of chances like that, starting that game. Right there. It's at the pedestal. That's where I'm at right now, and still going up -- and when I make it to the Big Leagues this one will be right up there with that one. Q. What's the pitching plan for tomorrow? ERNIE WHITT: We'll figure that out over the next hour or so. As slim as it sounds, we still have a chance. As slim as it sounds. We have to be positive. We're going to go into tomorrow hoping to win the game. We naturally would like to see the Dominican Republic win out, if they win out and we beat the Team USA by more than three runs, if I'm not mistaken, we have a chance. So, then it goes to a tiebreaker. So, again, we always try to look at something positive and we go from there. Q. Nick, what's it been like to play with Eric Gagne here for the last few days and be around a guy that won a Cy Young and one of the greatest pitchers ever to come out of Canada? NICK PIVETTA: It's a great honor. I mean having him there with us is a big boost. I've watched his career. I watched him pitch. I mean, you try to get as much information off those guys in such little time, and you try to have conversations with them. You try to learn from them, watch what they do, how they go about their business, and you want to have a career like them. And to have him on that team, same as Dempster, I mean having those guys, and even Russ (Martin), too, having all three of those guys on the team, it's a great honor to have those guys there. I'm constantly having conversations with them, so that when you go up to the Big Leagues, you stay there and you learn from what they have done from their successes and from their failures, so that you can best prepare yourself. Q. Nick, it seemed you were in command and control right from the outset. How did you feel taking the mound, and how did you feel your stuff played over the four innings? NICK PIVETTA: I felt a lot more emotion in the bullpen than I did once I was on the mound. Once I was on the mound, I was just focused on throwing strikes, getting first-pitch strikes, pitching to contact, trying to keep my pitch limit as low as possible, so I could make the most out of what I've been given. I really commanded my fastball today. I felt like my off-speed wasn't all there, but I was able to get away with my two-seam, and that helped me a lot and kept those guys -- they're a good hitting team, keep those guys down to a run, to a run, which was good. I would have liked to have gone out there and with no runs, but keeping them down there, it gave us the fighting chance. Q. Keeping an eye on them last night and then seeing them first hand today, what was most impressive about Team Colombia? ERNIE WHITT: They're very aggressive, they play the game the right way. You got to tip your hat to them. They shut us down. So, it was a good game, clean game up until the -- we gave up one in the 8th that kind of hurt us a little bit or in the 9th on a PFP that should get the out. So other than that, it was a good game. Just we came up on the losing end. Q. Ernie, along those same lines, just your take on Colombia's fielding? And is it unusual to see that level of shifting and defensive positioning in an international event like this? ERNIE WHITT: Well, I think shifting's taken over the last couple of years, so no, I'm not surprised by it. They were positioned in some right spots today. We hit some balls extremely hard, just right at them, too. So, a couple of those balls fall in, you never know. It's the way the game goes at times. You hit the ball as hard as you want and have three or four quality at-bats and have nothing to show for it. So, we'll just do our best, prepare for tomorrow, and root for the Dominicans tonight and then try to beat Team USA tomorrow. Q. Do you have an update on Dalton Pompey's condition? ERNIE WHITT: The latest update I got is at the end of the inning he came in, was feeling a little dizziness, so protocol, we took him out of the game. He's being assessed right now. We'll check him tomorrow, if he has symptoms or no symptoms, he still has to go through the process of the concussion protocol that have you to have. So we're taking precautions, all precautions that are necessary. But just what it is right now is deemed to be possible a mild concussion. I mean, everything on the field was done right. Mike did a nice job out there. Did the eye check, everything like that and Pompey said he was fine and so, we go from there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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