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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONE

March 8, 2006

Bruce Chen

POOL C: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. The Panamanian players are on their way here. Welcome to the post-game formal interview of the Panama-Cuba game of the World Baseball Classic. Interviews will be conducted in English and Spanish. We ask you to please be patient as the entire process will be interpreted from Spanish to English for our stenographers who will be recording this interview.
Our interpreter this afternoon is Pablo Chang. For the Panama team this afternoon, we have with us Bruce Chen. We will now open the floor for questions.
Q. What was more difficult, pitching the first four innings of this game or watching the last seven?
BRUCE CHEN: I really enjoyed pitching. Today was a very good game. I felt like I was throwing strikes and I felt like my teammates were right behind me.
The seven last innings were tough, but we were right in the game. I felt that we were able to make a good comeback, but, I mean, unfortunately the Cuban team, they deserve some credit because they did play very good. They kept scoring and scoring and putting us in difficult situations.
Q. What I would like to say is that you did play a very good game. This notwithstanding, we did lose this game, and for all intents and purposes, what we can say is we're pretty much out of the running for the second round now. But we were able to show the entire world how we play. Panama doesn't have too many stars within its team; however, we have shown here that Panama does play with a lot of heart.
BRUCE CHEN: What I would like to say is that, yes, indeed, we the team do play with a lot of heart. We would have been able to win both of the games, and Puerto Rico I do give credit, did play with a lot of heart. This notwithstanding, we did not win this last game, and for all intents and purposes, this is practically the end; we're out of the running.
I can tell you that my teammates did play with a lot of heart. We didn't win, and we hope that our team played well enough so that when this next event is held that we will be invited to join and to play with them, as well.
Q. As a major leaguer yourself, could you compare Cubans to the major league players, both in talent and the way they carry themselves?
BRUCE CHEN: Well, I was very impressed with the Cuban team. I think if they get to play more at this level, they're going to get better because I think the more competition you get, you're going to get better.
I was very impressed with the way they played baseball because they play as a team. They do the little things; they tried to win. That's the bottom line, they tried to win, they tried to do everything for them to win. I mean, (Yulieski) Gourriel, if they give him the opportunity to be in the big leagues, he's going to be a fine major leaguer. He's young, he's going to get better, and hopefully he's going to have the opportunity.
But I was very impressed with him. Actually I felt like if they didn't have him, we would have won that game because I don't know how many RBIs, but it seemed like every time he came up to the plate, he was there and part of the rally.
Q. As you know, there were nine hitters in the game that got hit by a pitch, by a ball in this game. What are your interpretations of that?
BRUCE CHEN: I didn't think that the nine hit batsmen today were intentional. The game was so close that I don't think nobody was trying to hit anyone or trying to put anyone on base.
I think when like -- we wanted to win today and they wanted to win today, so in a close game you don't want to leave a pitch right over the plate. When you make a pitch, you want to either make it in the corner in; you don't want to miss right down the middle. Some of my teammates, this is our second game, and we -- this is our second game, and some of our pitches were kind of like rusty. But I feel like we were trying to do our best, and sometimes we don't want to leave a pitch over the plate because a home run or a double can decide the game.
Q. Good evening, Bruce, and first of all, I would like to congratulate you for what you stated before. You said indeed beating Cuba is no easy task whatsoever. You stated before that if (Yulieski) Gourriel had not been part of this team that the team would have been nothing and that he actually played a very pivotal and important role in this. Along those lines, what would your opinion be, along the same lines for (Mariano) Rivera, at such a crucial moment. Also for Cortez, as well.
BRUCE CHEN: First of all, I want to make sure that I state that Cuba is a very good team. Gourriel is one of the best players. I don't want to take anything away from Cuba like if they don't have Gourriel they're not a good team. They are a very good team. They play the way they put the guys on base so Gourriel, the third hitter, can drive them in. So they play very good.
Beating Cuba is no easy task. We tried to play, we gave our best, and we felt like we had a chance to win, and I felt like we played real hard and we played with our hearts so we could win and make Panama go to the next round. Unfortunately we didn't win.
Mariano Rivera, if Mariano Rivera would have been pitching, I think we would have been able to win. Mariano Rivera, obviously in a situation where we scored, we would have been able to shut them out for a couple of innings.
But I don't want to take anything away from anyone. I'm very proud of my teammates, very proud of my relievers, the guys that came after me; Miguel Gomez, Manuel Acosta, Manuel Corpas, Bienvenido Cedeno, Cortez; they played very hard and they pitched very hard. They gave everything. They pitched with their heart and they wanted to make sure Panama went to the next round.
But, I mean, they deserve a lot of appreciation because they wanted to participate and they wanted to represent Panama, and I think they did it with a lot of heart and a lot of courage.

End of FastScripts...

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