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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 2ND ROUND POOL FMarch 15, 2017Alex BregmanEric HosmerSan Diego, California United States - 4, Venezuela - 2 Q. Congratulations to both of you for a really great game and well-played game. Will you talk about the atmosphere in Marlins Park and Petco Park, and the differences and what that's meant to you so far, the fans? ALEX BREGMAN: I think both places have been great. Starting off in Marlins Park, there was a lot of fans. I think it set the record so far for the WBC. One game, for example, the Dominican game kind of felt like an away game, but tonight I think it felt like a home game. We had a lot of USA fans out there. It was fun to play in front of them. Like the Skipper said, we're trying to bring awareness to the WBC, and it's a really fun game. We had a blast out there playing. Q. Eric, you guys had a lot of long, deep, fly balls that got stopped at the warning track. Was the feeling on the bench all along like, okay, our time's coming. We're going to break through here? ERIC HOSMER: Yeah, we were taking a lot of good swings tonight. Like you said, we were just missing a couple balls, I think Cutch almost had two home runs, he missed them right around the warning track area. But, yeah, it's a good feeling when you're knowing you're getting guys on base. You're making their pitchers work. They're not easy innings. You just kind of always have that feeling that you're going to break through. Jonesy really, really got it started for us there. Right after that swing, it just changed the whole energy in the dugout. It's one of those things where you see something like that happen, you just have a good feeling you're going to come out on top at the end of the game. Q. The last time that you came here to San Diego, you converted yourself in the most valuable play, and I think this park really suits you very well. My question is what feels better, this All-Star Game or this particular game that's in March? ERIC HOSMER: They both feel extremely well, they really do. The All-Star Game is something that, for me, it was my first time experiencing it. But this tournament is different. It's a sense of pride throughout the whole entire team, throughout the whole entire country, because it only happens very seldom. So you really -- it's balls to the wall. You can't take a game off. You can't take an inning off because it can cost you your tournament. But both settings were extremely exciting. Tonight was awesome because the All-Star Game was an individual accomplishment, but tonight was doing something for your team and for your country. So both were great, but tonight's feeling was probably a little bit above it. Q. Eric, after you hit the home run, circling the bases and "USA, USA" chants break out. What was that sense like? You hit the big home run in the 8th, and to have that chant ringing through the stadium? ERIC HOSMER: It's special, it really is. That's what's so fun about this tournament. You're playing against the best from all over the world, and you're playing against Big League guys. You look at their lineup over there, Altuve, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez. So you know you're facing the best of the best. So baseball's America's pastime, so we really feel the will and the want to bring it home and put America on top of the baseball world. Q. You guys keep saying that you want to bring people to watch the WBC. In Latin America it's so big. I know you guys already know. But how can you guys bring the Americans to be that emotional to this tournament? ALEX BREGMAN: I think that we have a great team here, a lot of good players, and we're playing for our country. It's something bigger than baseball. When we were growing up, we watched the Olympics on TV, and we root for our country so hard, and I know every country in the world does that. I kind of wish it was more like that, about everybody locked in, rooting for their country and having a blast. Hopefully it will continue to grow and get more people out watching. Q. With this being your fifth international competition and your first start tonight, where does this rank among all your experiences? ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, I've been fortunate enough to play for Team USA in the past, and it's been a blast. It's been an honor to represent our country. Tonight ranks right up there at the top. Being able to share the field with such great teammates and play for such great coaches, it's one of the most special things in my baseball career so far. Just looking to keep trying to help this team win games and have fun while doing it. Q. I know things are a little different in this tournament than they are in the regular season. But when you guys are out in the field and Odor hits the home run and the fireworks go off and the lights, are you wondering what's happening here? It's your home park? ERIC HOSMER: Yeah, but I think that's what's so cool about this tournament is everyone's kind of saying that the Latin countries are getting more support and all that. But I think when you grow up in the United States, you dream about winning a World Series and you dream about your team, whether it's -- for me, I grew up Miami, so it's the Marlins. Or wherever you grew up. If you grew up in the Dominican or you grew up in Venezuela, you have pride for all the players that make it out of your country and join a Big League team. So I think that's kind of where it's at now. I mean, if you've been tuned into this tournament the whole entire time, it's hard not to pull for the United States. It's hard not to pull for your country. So I think that's where the difference is a little bit or the confusion is as far as the fan base in this tournament. But we're at a point in time now where we're pretty deep into this thing, and I think everyone's on board with it and everyone's really enjoying it and wants us to bring it home. Q. The way the U.S. is kind of put together, it's not like you guys have a long history of growing up with each other or playing with each other like some of the other countries do. Just wondering if the way this tournament's unfolded, three or four games have been really tight and tense games, does that sort of help foster that maybe camaraderie that might have been lacking a few weeks ago? ERIC HOSMER: Yeah, a lot of us, we're busy or we're used to competing against each other. I think the first couple days when we got to Fort Myers and we started working out and played the first couple games, we got a feel for each other, got used to one another. It's at the point now where everybody's locked into this. Everybody is doing what they can for Team USA to win. I think every single guy on this team is a superstar. There's guys doing roles that superstars aren't really used to doing. But there is no selfishness at all in that clubhouse. It's guys willing to do whatever they want to do. You look at tonight, and we have Giancarlo Stanton on the bench, and I don't think Giancarlo Stanton has ever been on the bench in his life. It's guys doing whatever they can to win. And when you have a group of guys like that, it's special and it makes it a lot of fun to play with. Q. With Adam Jones being from San Diego, and you having won the MVP at the All-Star Game here last year, what's it like playing at Petco Park? What were the emotions during that 8th inning here? ERIC HOSMER: It was special. It really was. It was a lot of fun. I know for Jonesy, I'm sure he's got a lot of family and friends out here, so I know that meant a lot to him. But it's just when you hear the "USA" chants, when you hear the crowd going crazy after a big swing or big play like those tonight, it makes it really fun to be a part of this. Like I said, after that swing from Jonesy, it just seemed like the energy in the dugout just kind of shifted to our side and really got things sparked up for our club. Q. After such an emotional win, would you like to play tomorrow? And I'd like to ask about the game schedule. You have to wait one day, one more, wait one day. How do you think of the game schedule? ERIC HOSMER: Well, you know, that's where the tough part comes into this tournament. Obviously there's games going on throughout the whole entire world, so you have to let other teams catch up to other teams. As far as your first question, this is definitely a game where you want to get going again tomorrow night and use this momentum to ride in. But I think that's all part of what makes this tournament so hard and that's what makes it so competitive. You've got to learn as a team to come with it each and every day, no matter what happened the game before and all that. So we all saw what happened with the Dominican last night. Dominican I think had all the momentum there was to have in the tournament, and they ran into a team in Puerto Rico that's playing great baseball right now. So I think it's on us players to come, each and every day there is a game, ready to play. You can't slip up at any point in time, especially early in this tournament. Q. Obviously you crushed that ball. But because so many balls died tonight with the thick air, did you wonder if it was going to go out once it left your bat? ERIC HOSMER: Yeah, I think my second at-bat I got a ball pretty good, just a little bit in off me, and it went to the warning track and almost got out. So I knew I got that ball better, and I knew I had a chance. But at that point you're hoping it gets down. We're hoping we get that run in any way we can. But, yeah, I think from that second at-bat, knowing that ball just got to the warning track or maybe a little in front, I knew I got it better, so I knew I had a pretty good chance of doing something. Q. Have either one of you had a chance to check your cell phones, see what kind of text messages you're getting from your teammates back at your Big League club? ALEX BREGMAN: I checked mine for a second when I got back in the locker room, and it's pretty late out there on the east coast. But a lot of guys were tuned in, they were locked in. They were having fun watching the game. They were all sending a bunch of congrats our way and rooting us on. ERIC HOSMER: I know Salvy's got some mean text messages for me coming, but I haven't gotten the chance yet. I know, like Breg said, our family and friends are all supporting right now, and they're all tuned into it. So I'm excited to see what they have to say. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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