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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONE

March 7, 2006

Derrek Lee

POOL B: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Derrek Lee.
Q. (Inaudible.)
DERREK LEE: Yeah, Derek told me he got me loose. That's why I hit the home run. They gave me some work over there. I think it did get me going and try to calm the butterflies down.
Q. (Inaudible.)
DERREK LEE: Actually, the first pitch was a great pitch to hit. I fouled it back, but same type of thing. It felt good to get a good, aggressive swing in and then he came back with a fast ball over the plate. It's kind of my happy zone.
Q. Derrek, did that homerun trot feel any different than any other home trot -- homerun trot you've ever had?
DERREK LEE: It really did. When that ball got out, it was like, man, it was just a proud feeling. I think during the season you hit a homerun and it's like, okay, you did your job. But today was just -- I felt proud and I felt like the whole country is watching, and you're able to do something for your country. It was a great feeling.
Q. Talk about the starting pitching you got from Jake Peavy. A big game like this. Everybody one is amped up, how much it means for your starting pitcher to go out there and throw some zeros up?
DERREK LEE: He set the tone, man. You know, he set the tone quick, and he took the pressure off the offense. He dominated everyone who else came in dominated. And as offense, we kind of had it easy today because the pitchers took over and made it easy on us.
Q. Can you speak a little bit to the depth of the team, especially when the bullpen came in? And I think six different guys threw and Chipper Jones comes in off the bench and hits a homerun. Can you speak to that a little bit?
DERREK LEE: That's key for us. We can bring guys -- I think we took out six of the eight position players and didn't really lose much. You know, Mexico I don't think has the -- I don't think they can do that. They have to have their guys play all 9 innings.
So I think we're going to be fresh throughout this tournament. Our bullpen's got some depth to it. The guys coming out of the bullpen, it's like, man, ridiculous. I almost felt sorry for those guys having to face them.
Q. Given the state of the season this early in March, is this team going to have to rely on power or is it going to be hard to manufacture three hits to score a run?
DERREK LEE: Well, I think we have guys that can do it all. We got guys like Michael Young that throw out 200 hits every year, get on base, Johnny Damon. Derek Jeter, he's got 200 hits a year. So they're kind of the table setters. The Big Bopper, Junior, and A-Rod come up behind 'em and drive them in.
Q. Did anything surprise you about the experience today? I mean, did you have a concept of what the crowd would be like going in and how did it measure up?
DERREK LEE: I had no idea, you know. And when I ran out on the field, it was like, okay, this is big. It's going to be serious. The fans are riled up. And immediately, the adrenalin starts flowing. It was like, all right, we want to win this. And it was electric. It was a lot of fun out there today. It was comparable to the World Series for me.
Q. I don't know if you've heard the latest Barry Bonds story, but I was wondering after such a feel-good event today and such an enthusiastic crowd, the question is how unfortunate would you find it if Barry Bonds is the big story tomorrow and this game is just a side bar?
DERREK LEE: What's the story? I don't know the story.
Q. Sports Illustrated has excerpts of a book coming up, the two San Francisco chronicles guys who have been investigating it alleging that he took large amounts of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
DERREK LEE: When does it stop? They've been alleging them forever. He hasn't been caught, so leave it alone. I don't think it's a story. I say leave the man alone, you know. He hasn't been caught. Where's the story? People have been alleging him forever, but he hasn't been caught.
Q. How does this homerun rank in your career, first homerun in WBC (inaudible)?
DERREK LEE: It's up there, man. I had to calm myself down running around the bases. I didn't want to miss a base. It felt really good. It was unlike a regular season homerun. Like I said, it was just a proud feeling. I helped my country out, helped my team out. And I come into that dugout seeing those guys and the smiles on their faces. It was a great feeling.
THE MODERATOR: Derrek, thank you very much

End of FastScripts...

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