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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONEMarch 10, 2006Roger ClemensKen Griffey Jr.Buck MartinezPOOL B: PHOENIX, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Manager Martinez Roger, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey, Jr. Questions? Q. Roger, at what level are you pitching today? A hundred percent? Ninety percent? What do you take out there physically today? ROGER CLEMENS: I was pitching a hundred percent, at this time of year regardless. You know, it was my job after the guys came out and put the numbers on the board. Throw strikes, not walk anybody. Get them back in and swing the bat a little bit. So, you know, I was as on edge as anyone, because we're backed in the corner a little bit now. So I don't care who it is you're facing in this tournament. As you you've seen already, anything can happen in this tournament. And we've known that South Africa puts some runs on the board in the other games, so I was not -- you don't know these guys. I was able to look at a little video and listen to the scouting report, but you still attack the zone with them, and especially with this type of lead. I was very aggressive in the zone; let these guys swing the bat like they did. Q. Junior, the loss to Canada the scare that was put into you guys, as you enter the second round, are you guys going to be a little bit more focused again, particularly since the teams are going to be a little better in the next round? KEN GRIFFEY, JR.: We are going to be a little more focused, yeah. It was tough. I mean, these guys, you know, played against a few them, and they can swing the bat. They didn't miss anything, and we just ran a little trouble. We tried to battle back. We fell short but, you know, now that the second round is here I think the intensity is going to pick up and guys are a week into training basically. So I think it's going to be a little more exciting. A little more fun. Q. Question is for Buck Martinez. Yesterday in the Mexican game, Loaiza pitching last night. Esteban may be the pitcher for Mexico to face you in the next round. Where does the Mexican team (inaudible) in the second round of this tournament? MANAGER BUCK MARTINEZ: Esteban threw the ball very well last night. I went and watched him, free and easy, great pitches. We've known how good Esteban is. He's almost won a Cy Young a couple years ago with the White Sox. We know the Mexican team can swing the bats. That just tells you how well our bullpen pitched against them after Jake Peavy. So, to shut them down for the nine innings the way we did in the first game was a great outing for our staff, but at the same time, we know now their bats have heated up a little bit. So we got a lot of respect for Mexico. We know they're going to have a lot of fan support in Anaheim, and we've got a pretty good pitcher matched up for them as well. Q. Roger, you had talked many times about wanting to pitch for your country. Having done that today, what is your thoughts on that? Is it all you expected it to be? ROGER CLEMENS: Yeah. It was definitely a great deal of fun. I'm glad that the moment is happening now that we're here and we're on our way. Obviously, we're going to advance, so you can have the opportunity to be around some guys that I work against instead of with. And so I think that is the best part of this, and I get to see some young pitchers that I have not gotten to know over time, some chance meetings here and there, maybe an All-Star game, but I'm just glad we're advancing. It was a lot of fun, nice crowd, and the guys at the plate did what we're capable of doing. So it was nice to see. Q. Rog, you pitched a lot of big games in your career including most memorable, I think, the fourth game of the '99 World Series at Yankee Stadium. Where do you rank this? ROGER CLEMENS: I rank it right up there. It's lot of fun. As we move on, I think the games will be a little larger, and our guys will not only be able to play a few more innings in the field, but you'll be able to see a certain amount of pitchers be able to throw a few more innings instead of Buck having to worry about changing guys. He doesn't have to worry about that with me obviously. He doesn't have to answer to a GM with me, so that's a good thing. Q. Is Roger your third game starter? MANAGER BUCK MARTINEZ: The way it stacks up right now, that's the way we'll go with it certainly. Q. One other thing, if I could. There's a report on ESPN about Barry Bonds wanting to get back on the team. MANAGER BUCK MARTINEZ: I haven't heard anything about it. I've heard nothing about it. There's rumors around the ballpark, and I have not had any contact with anybody regarding that. Q. Off season (inaudible) not necessarily 17 runs. Do you think this is or what do you think this team is capable of? KEN GRIFFEY, JR.: Yeah. I mean, just I mean, if we could swing the bat and be particular about what pitches to swing at and be patient and stuff like that, I think we can put some pressure on some people. You look at the numbers these guys put over through the course of a year. And, you know, it's no easy out there. That makes it tough for everybody. We're just -- today, we were like, okay, if we can get out to an early lead, put the pressure on them, relax, have some fun. Our biggest thing is we didn't know if it was going to be our last game or not. So we just said already as a team we're going to go out there and have some fun and try to put as much pressure on them as we can and let him do his thing, and he did it. THE MODERATOR: Do a couple more. Q. Buck, you've hinted that the second round you might be a little more liberal with your players playing more innings, your, quote, unquote, starters playing for innings. Can you describe the difference in how you will be using personnel and removing players in the middle of games in the second round? MANAGER BUCK MARTINEZ: Well, I think we'll let the game dictate that more in the second round than we did in the first round. We have an obligation to get these players ready for their respective teams when they go back, and I think that was a concern early on. The players have come to me and said we're getting a lot of work. We're advancing our programs very effectively now. I think that now we've all been through this first round, I think we know that our goal is to win this tournament. I will use the players according to the game situations. Q. Roger, did you feel strongly enough to pitch the whole thing, five innings, or could you have? ROGER CLEMENS: I knew I had three innings and then Lach kept me informed of my pitch count and wanted me to go into the fourth. And then after that ended, he asked me to get one more out for him and take my -- I guess my pitch count close to what it's supposed to be. And I was still trying to get my work-in. Obviously, I had to throw -- a threw a lot of fast balls. You pound the zone in a game like this, but I had to mix in some breaking balls and Michael did a great job back there as usual. It's -- I think it's a little tougher on these catchers than you expect because they haven't seen a lot of us in a game situation. It's different catching in the bullpen and whatnot, but that game went according to plan. Q. Was your velocity what it normally is? ROGER CLEMENS: I think it was. I was down in the zone and up when I wanted to be. So I had all the infielders, you know, on me the whole game to get them out of the innings, get back in the dugout. That was the game plan. THE MODERATOR: Last one. Q. Roger, Tom Hicks came today and said he wanted to offer whatever moral support he could. Do you appreciate that or do you give him points for that, for showing up? ROGER CLEMENS: Like I said, the reason why I ended up stopping over there was my showing him respect back. They took the time out to come to Houston and speak to me about the future. So, you know, when you have an opportunity like that, I'm not going to tell anybody no. And I don't know that team and this is the first time in Arizona for me as far as this setting. And I got the opportunity to go out and look at their complex, but I've had many run-ins, meetings with Mr. Hicks and obviously through the University of Texas and so on and so forth. So it was great to see him today. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, all.
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