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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONE

March 8, 2006

Ernie Whitt

POOL B: PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Q. Good morning, Ernie?
ERNIE WHITT: Good morning.
Q. What was it like for you guys last night after the game when you guys just kind of had a chance to sit back and kind of realize how close you were to getting knocked out of the tournament and then realizing you're still in this thing?
ERNIE WHITT: Well, number one, we wouldn't have been knocked out of the tournament if we would have lost last night.
Number two, if we got beat, we got beat with our best lineup.
So, again, I have no regrets on that. We had our best pitchers throwing against South Africa, our best lineup going, what I determined was the best lineup.
And, you know, just sometimes games happen. That's why you play the game. There's no question that we were on pins and needles. No one wants to start the tournament with a loss. Our backs were definitely up against the wall, but the guys had a lot of fight. They came back, and we prevailed, and we move on today.
Q. When you take a look at this U.S. team the way they were able to pitch yesterday, what stands out about them? Is it that big deep 14-man pitching or what stands out to make them maybe as dominant as they might be?
ERNIE WHITT: Well, I think every aspect that they have is dominant. I mean, when you have a Chipper Jones and a Vernon Wells sitting on the bench that didn't break the lineup, that's pretty awesome and a Mike Young.
I guess we're lucky that we get to have those guys in the lineup today against us. But, again, you know, they're a dominant team, but you looked on paper and we were the dominant team over South Africa. So anything can happen. That's why you play the game.
If we didn't feel like we had a chance against playing them, we wouldn't show up. We'd take the day off and rest and get ready for Mexico, but I think we feel that we can compete. We can play with them. It's up to a lot of our young pitchers now.
I look at it this way, that a lot of our pitchers, the USA team has never seen our pitchers throw. You know, I know as a hitter, if I've never seen a pitcher before, he's got an advantage on me.
But, of course, I was never an All-Star like some of these guys over there. So we'll see.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about the decision to throw Jeff Francis tomorrow, just the confidence in what could be a pretty important game for you guys?
ERNIE WHITT: Well, we feel Jeff can handle it. Again, I mean, we've got three starters. And between Bedard, Loewen, and Francis, we decided to go with Francis. Whether it's right the decision or not, I don't know. Only time will tell.
We have a lot of confidence in them. I've got confidence in all the players that we have on the team. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here.
Again, they go out on the field. They perform, and you try to stay out of the way. With this pitch count, we hope that he's efficient with his pitches, and we can get him through three or four innings.
Q. Ernie, with the rules about pitching and pitching more than two days in a row, are there guys who threw last night that you're going to hold back today from Mexico tomorrow?
ERNIE WHITT: Probably so, Richard. Q won't be able to throw. He threw 33 pitches last night. I said all along going into this tournament, the first round, that I really didn't want to pitch the guys back to back. I've already had guys come up to me and say that they're able to pitch today, but knowing that, we'll play the games the way -- you know, we'll get a feel for the game as it goes forward, but I have -- I don't have in my mind that any of the guys that pitched last night will pitch today.
Q. Just a follow-up to that. If you have a lead in late innings, would that change your mind in terms of getting that second victory today instead of tomorrow?
ERNIE WHITT: It's very possible. But again, if you look at it, these pools are very tricky. Even if we win today, that game tomorrow means we have to win. Because, again, if we win in that game tomorrow and we lost, that means we're 2 and 1. United States is 2 and 1. Mexico is 2 and 1. Then it goes back to the runs scored.
So, I mean, I've got a headache trying to figure this thing out, you know. But those are things that we have to look at, and it's not easy.
But, you know, again, we'd like to win all three games, if we can. But again, we have to really kind of pinpoint that. Tomorrow's going to be a key game because we have to figure that, you know, Mexico will beat South Africa today. And, you know, if the percentages plays out, even if we're 2 and 0, Mexico beats us, then it's head to head. So, I mean, it's -- I don't know. If you guys can figure it out, help me.
THE MODERATOR: Any additional questions? Thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts...

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