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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONEMarch 7, 2006Buck MartinezPOOL B: PHOENIX, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Is there any need -- we have Olivia, an interpreter in Spanish. Is there any need for her? (No response.) We will just do it in English. State your name affiliation and the question and we'd really appreciate it. Q. Just with Canada changing starting pitchers tomorrow, does that change your line up? BUCK MARTINEZ: No. It's left-hander Adam Loewen. It's Adam Loewen. It will be the same. Q. Buck, do you think this game starts the tone for the tournament in terms of public perception across the America? BUCK MARTINEZ: I certainly think it does. I tell you what, to a man inside that clubhouse, it feels like opening day probably ten times over. It's an awful lot of excitement and a lot of anticipation and the preparation and the way the guys came in this morning, you could see that everybody was pretty well focused on what's at hand today. I know I talked to more than one player that has said, you know, I had a tough time sleeping last night, and I haven't had anything to eat yet today. So there's at bit more adrenaline than I anticipated, but it's a great adrenaline. Everybody is excited about starting this tournament. Q. Buck, from your point of view, is managing like riding a bike? Are there some things you're going to have to get used to as you go along during the game? BUCK MARTINEZ: I think so. I've leaned heavily on my coaching staff talking about changes, making changes in this game. We want to make sure we don't just make change for change, position by position. We want to make sure we utilize the bats we have on the bench most efficiently. I've talked to the coaching staff to make sure we all stay in tune with that, but is does take a few days to get up to speed. You come in with a lot of anxiety about whether or not you remember this, but it is like riding a bike. Once you get back into the flow of things and the same routine about preparation, I think it is something that comes back to you very quickly. Q. Buck, can you speak to the idea of players not being able to play more than five or six innings today, and yet your interest in keeping some players at the end of the game in case there's an injury, it's a little bit of a juggling act, isn't it? BUCK MARTINEZ: Yeah. It's a challenge. We have talked to the players about how I anticipate to use them. Everybody on that roster today knows how we anticipate to use them. Baseball is such that you have to sometimes make adjustments on the fly, but we know that they're going to be certain players that come in later on in the game. They're going to get some at bats, they're going to get some defensive innings. But it is a challenge. You have to make sure you keep people in reserve should we go extra, should you need a pinch hitter late in the game. It's a challenge to think where you might use a pinch hitter with this line up, but at same time, when you have guys on the bench that aren't going to be utilized in an ideal situation, you have some potent bats on the bench as well. But it is a challenge, but we know we want to keep everybody up to speed and as informed as possible about when they might come into a game. Q. Buck, the clubhouse is closed, and you just mentioned the adrenaline is running high. Can you give a little more feel for how the clubhouse is going? Are they watching the other games? BUCK MARTINEZ: Yes. Guys came in. We had pitcher-hitter meetings in the early morning. We had scouting reports we went over. The hitters obviously met with Reggie Smith. The pitchers and the catchers met with Marcel Lachemann. We went over the Team Mexico, their line up, their pitchers, what we might expect, general tendencies. We went through that serious attitude. Everybody kind of got ready to go out for BP, and now they're back watching the game. It's not like a play-off scenario where there's another game going on and guys are sitting around getting ready for this game, but they're also watching the other game. And it's pretty interesting to hear their comments. I think one thing that we've seen already is how sometimes you'll forget where these guys come from. And now they're putting on Venezuela uniforms and Dominican uniforms, and we say, Oh, wow, we forgot about that guy. You see the rosters. We kind of kept an eye on the teams in this pool first and foremost. But at the same time, when you look up and see Alfonso and Guillen and Vizquel and those guys playing for Venezuela, it's a pretty good reminder there's a lot of talent in a lot of these pools. Q. Buck, there was this gigantic development about a book coming out about Barry Bonds today. Are you concerned that that's going to overshadow, overwhelm what should be this stage here and because of its detail and its allegations? BUCK MARTINEZ: Not, not at all. I think this is a baseball game with an awful lot of interest, and you can sense the energy from both teams, and I think it's going to be infectious. We know this is a very, very strong Mexican community. All of Arizona has tremendous Mexican ties. They had a great game in Tucson the other day. We know they're going to have a lot of fans here, and I think that's going to be good for the spirit of this game. And I tell you, our players are anticipating a very upbeat atmosphere here today, and I don't think anything's going to take away from that. Q. (Inaudible.) BUCK MARTINEZ: No, I haven't had time to think about anything but this. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Thank you.
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