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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: SEMIS & FINALS

March 18, 2006

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: We have Manager Higinio Velez, Yadel Marti, Pedro Lazo and Ariel Pestano.
Q. First of all, I'd like to congratulate the Cuban team for their victory this evening against the Dominican Republic, and this is a question addressed to Manager Velez. Throughout the whole tournament you've said quite a few statements, but one phrase that stood out throughout was that this is a team made up of men; not of names. And something else that you said is you wear the red uniform because it brings you good luck, and also, that you never lose twice when you play against the same rival. Well, you've seen it tonight. What have you got to say?
HIGINIO VELEZ: Before answering the question, I'd like to clarify something because it seems that there was a misunderstanding or someone misunderstood what I said the other way. When I said that this was a team made of men and not names, I didn't mean that the others were not men; they're as manly as we are, we're all men and good men and hard men and manly men.
But what I wanted to clarify was that ours were men without names; they're playing as a team, as members of a team. And that's what I meant to say, so I want to get that out of the way so that there will be no misunderstanding in connection with that.
Secondly, what I'd like to do in connection with the question that was asked is to congratulate the Dominican Republic. It was a wonderful game. They're a great rival, and it was a game that -- well, you saw it, you were able to watch it, and as I said previously in previous press conferences, there are no two similar games. One is very different from the other one.
Regarding the uniform, there's nothing about it -- people say that we might wear red out of witchcraft, out of something that brings us good luck. It has nothing to do with it. We simply wear the colors of our homeland, the colors that represent our country. We've worn red for the Olympics, for world tournaments. We always do. It has nothing to do with anything else, and we wear red because we've always played red when we go into crucial games, and this one was a crucial game.
Q. This is a question for Pedro Lazo and also the other players. Throughout Cuba's dominance over the past 30 or 40 years, it's always been said that Cuba has had its best players and the other teams have not always had their best players because they were all-stars in the major leagues. What does it mean for you today to beat a team of all-stars in a setting like this?
PEDRO LAZO: I'd like to say that for all of us, it has been a matter of great pride to play against teams of this standing, of this very top quality. I thought that the Dominican Republic and Venezuela were two of the nine teams that participated in this classic that could have made it all the way to the final, but they didn't make it. They're very good teams even though they're not here in the final. We are very proud of ourselves, very proud of our performance. It feels wonderful to be part of the semi-final and to move on to the final round.
Cuba and amateur baseball and professional baseball, all we need, and that's only our wish for this tournament, is to win this Classic, the World Baseball Classic. We are really close, and we hope to win it.
YADEL MARTI: It was a wonderful show, what you saw in the field today. This is a Cuban sport being played at its best. I support what my colleague and my teammate Lazo has just said. We want to thank you, we want to express our gratitude to the Dominican Republic for a wonderful game which was played here tonight. We thought Venezuela was one of the strong teams and they could have made it to the final, but they didn't, but Cuba did. It was up to us, and now we have to do our best. We made it to the semi-final, now we go on to the final and we truly have to give it our best.
It seems to us that we deserve to be here; we did play well, and now we're here. The last word is in the field the day after tomorrow.
ARIEL PESTANO: Well, my teammates have already said most of what I wanted to say. I just want to reiterate that I'm very happy, very proud to have participated in this World Baseball Classic tournament and to have been able to play with all the stars and the top level quality that we've seen with the players here, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, those were wonderful rivals.
I'd like to greet all those who had something to do with bringing Cuba into this classic. We're very grateful for all those who did whatever they could in order to bring Cuba into the Classic. We'd also like to thank the people of Puerto Rico, for their support during the second round we played in Puerto Rico, and to tell all the people of the Americas that we are here playing, first of all, as Cubans, but we're representing Latin America here, and we'll do everything possible and also the impossible, so that we can bring this success to Latin America, that we will win on behalf of Latin America. We all deserve it.
Q. First of all, I'd like to congratulate you, Lazo. You did a wonderful job this evening. I'd like to say that you have nothing to envy the other pitchers; you did a wonderful job as a relief pitcher. In Cuba they always have you as a starter, as a starting pitcher. Why do you play here as a relief pitcher and what do you do with the Olympics and the world tournaments? And a question addressed to Manager Velez, have you thought about the Asian teams that you will be playing against? What have you got to say about the Asian teams that will be your rivals?
PEDRO LAZO: First of all, let me say that I am a starting pitcher, I am a starter when I play in Cuba back in my hometown and with my team in Pinar del Rio in the province where I play. Last year, for example, I played 14, 15, 20 games, and I won 20 games as a starter last year. I don't play as a relief pitcher in my province when I play with my team.
But once you come to play for the Cuban team and not for the province, things change. We have all been starting pitchers at one point, and I stayed as a starter for a few games and did a very good job. For the last five or six years I've been a relief pitcher with the Cuban team because that is what the Cuban team needs, and most of the pitchers that you see here are starters back in Cuba.
But right now, the manager and the team decided that what we need is to have a relief pitcher pitch for three or four innings, and it was up to me. I was elected to be the relief pitcher. It seems to me that I've had a good performance as a starter, as a reliever. The first day when I played against Panama as a starter, I didn't do that well, but I can play as a starting pitcher anytime, and right now what they needed was a strong stopper, a strong closing pitcher, and that's where they had me.
Q. The second part of the question is for Manager Velez, how do you see the Asian teams?
HIGINIO VELEZ: Before the answer the second part of the question, let me just say something in connection with what Lazo just said. All the pitchers on the team are very good starters, and like Lazo, he can win 20 games back in his hometown in a series of 90 games; not in a series of 160 games. When you have a starter like that, it is very difficult to use someone like this as a relief pitcher. But all the pitchers on the team are starting pitchers, they're all starters, but what I needed was a good stopper, a good closer, who could have good control, good courage and deal with the situation because it's a very stressful situation.
Let me say that Cuba had -- there have been several statements or comments made throughout some of these press conferences and in corridor talks saying that Cuba might have had an advantage because we're halfway into our season and not like the others that are in spring training. Let me say that our pitchers now have a disadvantage because our pitchers usually have games where they pitch 125 pitches, and here they were limited to 65, 80 or 95. So our starters are used to playing seven or more innings.
Something that we have to work on in Cuba, and this is something that I have to admit and recognize when I compare what the Cuban team does compared to what the major league teams do, is that we have to work more on our closing pitchers. We have to work more on our stoppers. The culture that we have compared to what the major leagues does is we use our starting pitchers, our starters then as closing pitchers, as stoppers, and they have to work out more on that. We have to work in Cuba more on having stoppers and closing pitchers instead of using our starting pitchers to close.
Regarding the second part of the question, it will be a wonderful game tomorrow. I can say, and I said that during the press conference yesterday, our rival tomorrow, we know the Asians. We have played against the Asians, we know how the Asian teams play, and they're great players. They put everything into the field, great effort, very similar to Latin America players. They have wonderful pitchers, and I don't want to say anything in favor of one or the other of the Asian teams because the rival comes to us; we don't choose the rival. They play hard, they have their tactics, they have their technique, and all I can say is that you will have a wonderful game tomorrow.
Q. This question is addressed to Manager Velez and to player Pestano. Before we came to this Classic, there was some doubts regarding the Cuban team, that you had lost too many key players that had defected, that maybe the level of the Cuban team was not the same as you had previously. What you showed here tonight, does that bring down that theory?
HIGINIO VELEZ: Let me just clarify something. Some of the players are gone, but they were -- not all of them were stars. In Cuba we have a large number of players. It is a national sport, and if we go back in history, if we go back before the revolution, you will see that a lot of the Cuban players were playing in the major leagues. It was the country in Latin America that had the largest number of players playing in the major leagues. All I can say is take a look at the quality of our players. We have a large number of players, so quality and quantity of the baseball players in Cuba is something that you have to take a look at.
All I can say is a famous phrase that a Cuban reporter uses, "you can draw your own conclusions."

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