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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND TWO

March 12, 2006

POOL 2: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome team Cuba. We have manager Higinio Velez, Pedro Lazo, Yadel Marti and Frederich Cepeda.
Before we start the questions, we would like the manager's opinion and the players' opinions on the game.
HIGINIO VELEZ: Let me tell you what I think. I think this was wonderful baseball, what was played here today, not only by Cuba but by Venezuela, as well. This was just great baseball. Nobody lost. They did not lose.
It was simply what we said two days ago, simply this is the beginning of the second round, this is already started and this is what you wanted to see and this is what we wanted to play. This is Cuban baseball.
Our boys, our baseball players, our sluggers recovered from the knock-out that we suffered, and today they played wonderful baseball.
It is not that we want to succeed and beat everybody else. The teams that you have here today for the second round are rivals in their own right. They made it all the way to the second round because they all know how to play ball. They're here because of the very top level quality, and whoever wants to make it all the way through, whoever wants to make it to San Diego, has to play good ball.
PEDRO LAZO: We say, and I agree with what my manager just said. We are a good team. We had a great team here. Venezuela was also a good team. But two days ago when Puerto Rico beat Cuba, and everybody said that was a knock-out and Cuba was already out and gone for the whole championship, whole tournament. Cuba is not gone. Cuba is still here to play, and whoever wants to beat Cuba will really have to sweat it out.
YADEL MARTI: I would like to join my manager and Lazo in what they just stated. All teams that are here are good teams. Cuba is also a good team, and we deserved to win today.
Tomorrow will be another day. Tomorrow will be a different game. Let us wait until tomorrow and hope that will be our last worry here.
FREDERICH CEPEDA: My colleagues have said it all. Tomorrow is another day, and you will see another good ballgame tomorrow. My colleagues have just said it. Wait until tomorrow.
Q. I just want to know if what you said two days ago, that you have lost the battle but not the war is exactly what you showed us today. This game was a good game. You had one run during the second inning and then during the 4th inning you had men on bases. This is together with what Cepeda and (Ariel) Pestano did together with Lazo. Is this what you mean by winning a game against one of the best teams in the entire tournament?
HIGINIO VELEZ: We only said that it was a defeat. We did not say that that was the war that was started. We in Cuba follow Major League Baseball. We admire baseball and Major League Baseball players. We watch them, we follow them very closely to see how they play. They're very good.
These pitchers know what they're doing, the opening pitchers, every one of them, every single one of these pitchers was very good. I have huge respect for the fans. I never said that you're bad when you lose a game and you're good when you win a game. You're always good, you always do your best.
Q. The question is twofold. It's divided in two. What inspired Cuba to do what it did today, taking this off your shoulders; the inning where Lazo was pitching, or where you simply scored zero runs when you had three men on bases, no outs?
HIGINIO VELEZ: This was a determining factor in the whole tournament. Let me say that this is not the first time that Cuba does this, having zero outs and zero runs. It was a determining factor against Venezuela. We had a time at which we had the bases loaded, no outs, but this team that you see, the Cuban team, is a team that is the World Olympic champions so we use that to play all these games under a lot of stress. Lazo did what he always does, he did a good job, not only to relieve and act as a relieving pitcher with the bases loaded and zero outs. This is what Cuba always does.
Q. The question is for Marti. Tell us what was your inspiration, the source of your inspiration, in order to be such a good pitcher today? You have become one of the main pitchers on your team and also in the tournament. What has been the source of your inspiration?
YADEL MARTI: I always use as a source of inspiration my control. I cannot always say that things go well. When they go well, they go well, and then things go bad when they simply don't go your way. I was physically and mentally prepared for the game. I was in control, and all my teammates helped me in doing this. This is team work.
Q. How tough was Johan Santana today and how happy were you to see him not come back out for the 6th inning?
FREDERICH CEPEDA: Santana did what he does best; he was a good pitcher, and we were waiting for him to come back. But then he was finished, he was taken out. They decided to take him out, but he had control over the way he was pitching, and he moved on to a change-up in speed.
Then what happened next is that the pitcher that came right after Santana kept control over his speed, and that's what we took advantage of, and that's when we were able to score the runs that we did.
Q. Tomorrow you have an important game, important not only for this but for the whole Classic tournament. What is your opinion about tomorrow? What is the strong point that Cuba has now different from the first round? What brings you to the second round with a strong point in your favor?
HIGINIO VELEZ: Let me just say that not only our game, the one that we're playing tomorrow, will be a classical game. I think that all games that are played here are part of this tournament and become classical games. One is not stronger than the other one; they're all strong teams and they're all strong games, and will be tremendous games, wonderful games that you won't be watching here. Every game that will be played during the second round will be a wonderful game. The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, they're tremendous teams, very strong teams, so all I can say is that you can expect a great show once we have these teams playing tomorrow.
FREDERICH CEPEDA: No game is the same; that's all I can say. Tomorrow is another day, tomorrow is another match. And all I can say is that we have great respect, great admiration and great love for the Dominican Republic, for its people, for its players, and so all I can say is that all the figures that will come out into the ball field tomorrow, the Dominican Republic as well as Cuba, will do our best in order to play a good game and try to win.
Q. The question is the big doubt that the people had on their minds a few days ago before the whole classic World Baseball Classic tournament started, was will Cuba be able to play against these teams, against major league professional players, major league players. And while Friday was started out with the first test of this whole situation, but Panama and the Netherlands were not up to it, then Cuba failed when you played against Puerto Rico. Today you had to face a much harder opponent, stronger opponent than what you did on Friday, and that was Venezuela. Cuba showed the results of what it meant by willing to play strong, and the results of what you see here today attest to what we said from the very beginning.
HIGINIO VELEZ: No team is stronger than the other one, no team is better than the other one. They're all equal. They all made it to the Classic and they're all strong teams. You simply have to see what the real situation is.
Venezuela is not a better team or a stronger team than what Puerto Rico was a couple of days ago. Each team knows what it does, and they do their best. Two days ago we saw another situation, a completely different situation. We saw Cuban pitchers that were weak at the time, which is what people believed. They were saying that Cuba perhaps was not ready to deal with this problem and that we were not ready to play professional players or major league players.
But you forget, Cuba is a World Olympic champion, so we're used to playing, perhaps not the same players, but we're used to playing against all these Major League Baseball players. You just have to wait and see what we're able to do. You just have to be patient, and you will see Cuba do what it does best, play ball, which is what we did today.
The only thing I can say, and I quote someone who says this very often, a Cuban reporter, who says, "you watch us play and you draw your own conclusions."
Q. Let me just say, first of all, words of congratulations to Cuba for the victory today. The question is Cuba has been doing wonders in this World Baseball Classic, and what we hear in corridor talks, what people are saying, is would Cuba be willing and ready to participate in the Caribbean series? This could be considered as a minor Caribbean series when you have the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Cuba. Would Cuba consider that possibility, consider being invited to participate in the Caribbean series?
HIGINIO VELEZ: We're always ready, we're just awaiting an invitation. We have the desire, the wishes, and just let us know. We're always willing to do it.

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