WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - PANAMA VS ITALY

March 11, 2023

Mike Piazza

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium

Team Italy

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Only several hours from the last game. Can you choose the pitchers for the win today?

MIKE PIAZZA: Yeah, I mean, last night was a difficult game. But I mean, we have to look at our position after playing Cuba and host Taipei in their own country to be 1-1. We are in a position to make our own destiny today, and you know, we have to look at Panama and realize that this is their third -- I believe fourth game in a row. They have off tomorrow.

So you know, they have been playing a lot of baseball, as I mentioned last night, you also have the fatigue factor. So hopefully we can be in a position to score some runs today. But again, our guys are in good spirit.

As I said, I feel like we can go out today and sort of to the worry about other scenarios but take care of our business and hopefully we throw the ball a little bit better on the mound and we make the plays.

Because I think a few of the -- we made a few bad pitches which Taipei punished us last night with those, and we had a couple of defensive errors that kind of shifted some momentum and gave them some momentum. Hopefully today we are a little bit tighter defensively.

You know, I'm a firm believer in you have to make the other team beat you. You have to make the pitches and catch the baseball, and if the other team gets the clutch hits in those situations, you have to tip your hat. That's baseball.

But when you make those mistakes and you give teams outs that you shouldn't, then that's -- that's something for me that is undesirable. And you just have to try to, like I said catch the ball, and if you're a pitcher, give up one run, not two; and two runs, not three, and keep your team within one swing of the bat.

Q. The photo of the dugout espresso machine is kind of making waves on social media. How is that used during games? Is that big in the Italian league? Is that something that they use? What about that? What's going on with that in the dugout?

MIKE PIAZZA: We are kind of shocked, actually, because this is something in Italian culture that's sort of like water. I mean, coffee would be right after water. So we didn't think much of it. I think it's funny that people are kind of paying attention to that.

But that was something collectively that we just said, you know, who is going to get the espresso machine. There wasn't a lot of debate there.

So I think it's funny, and you know, if we could, we would have a barista in there making it fresh with the ceramic. I don't like espresso out of a paper cup; it's kind of sacrilege. But when it's the only option you have, you have to deal with it.

Maybe next time we'll bring the metallic machine with the copper eagle on the top and someone in there knocking espressos out. You have to make the most with the tools you have.

Q. (No translation.)

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, the one thing I think baseball is a litmus test is the amount of games we play. That comes into the evaluation of a team, of a player. Other sports play once a week, twice a week, and as a baseball player you can have one game, two games. But over the stretch of a season, that's what separates good players from great players from not-so-great players or not-so-good players.

As a player myself, you respect every opponent, but you fear no opponent. And I'm sure the better players in the game kind of have the same attitude. The one thing that you have to take into account is the amount of games you play, and the amount today, a day game after a night game, the mental discipline, the mental resiliency you have to have as a ballplayer.

So no, I think Taipei players last night, I never underestimated them even after the first game against Panama, and Panama played a great game and they pitched well and they made the plays. When you do those things and you get clutch hits, you can beat any team. Any team is beatable.

So you don't really -- you just try to play your game. You try to use all the data you have from scouting and from your players' strengths and weaknesses, and you go out with a battle plan and that's all you can do.

But obviously there's some variables involved. Like I said, when you don't catch the ball or you make mistakes and you give the other team outs, you create hope for them, and you give them opportunity to score that is not advantageous to your cause.

But no, I don't -- I wasn't underestimating Taipei at all last night. You don't do that. You know they are at home with their energy and their fans, and so we know. But like I said, we are 1-1 against Taipei playing at home, and a great -- a very, very good Cuban team.

Today we have to go out and win, and if we do, we can to move on in this tournament. We have to make our own destiny.

Q. You had an innovative program called Mission Classic. Now Italians have always had a rich history of being resilient people and have fought back from adversity. Now how can you bring to light Mission Classic today for those 13 players who experienced and embraced their Italian culture? How will that play a part in today's contest?

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I mean being I think it plays a part in the sense that you have to create a team atmosphere, and if we didn't have that experience and we didn't start bringing these guys together as a team, we would have no time. You go to a foreign country halfway across the world and expect to play as a team; you're not a team. You're a collection of players that have never played together.

So the fact that we had that experience -- and it's not just a one-off experience. I mean, the whole objective of this tournament, of this whole experience, and so grow the game worldwide and for us as Italian Americans, and Italians on the team, to grow this game back to Europe, and obviously Italy specifically.

So the only way it's going to do that is building bridges. Italy needs the Italian-American experience to rekindle and have a renaissance of baseball in Italy because as you well know, I mean, the last ten years in the professional league wasn't the best time or era, I guess, for Italian baseball. For me living in Italy as an Italian as a dual citizen, this is something that I hope to help and realize that if we can continue to build these bridges and bring baseball back to Italy as the American service members did during World War II, that's what it's all about.

Because for me, this is giving back to this great game that has given me everything in my life. So maybe this is the first part of my life was for me, and now the second part of my life is for giving to others.

So I feel that; that is part of my personal creed, and so let's go out today, forza andiamo.