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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: ROUND ONEMarch 10, 2006Eduardo ParetHiginio VelezPOOL C: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the post-game formal interview of the Cuba-Puerto Rico game of the World Baseball Classic. My name is Barbara Mari. Interviews will be conducted in English and Spanish. We ask you to please be patient as the entire process will be interpreted for our stenographers, who will be recording the entire interview. Our interpreter is Pablo Chang-Castillo. Now I will introduce team Cuba. With us tonight is Higininio Velez manager and Eduardo Paret. Before we open the floor for questions from the media, we would like Manager Reluz' opinion. HIGININIO VELEZ: These are things that simply happen in the game of baseball. I would like you all to remember that we have lost the battle but not the war. This game is also -- this also continues, and I have to admit that our pitchers didn't play as well as they could have. We also have to take into account that we were playing a very strong team, the team of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was one of our main rivals. This notwithstanding, we did not expect to have such a difference in terms of the results. It was a difficult situation indeed. Q. This question is for the manager of the Cuban team. This is the second time in the history that you have suffered such a defeat. The first time was against Taiwan, and on this occasion it was against Puerto Rico. What is your opinion regarding this? HIGININIO VELEZ: Well, I still would like to reiterate that the Cuban team is a very, very good team, and throughout our history, the mercy rule has only been applied on only two occasions. This was an issue with our pitchers and some of our players that happened throughout the game. This is the reason why this happened. If this were to occur on a frequent basis for Cuba, in other words, that the mercy rule were to be applied, this would be rather worrisome for the Cuban team. But this is not the case. It has only happened on two occasions throughout our history. Q. This question is for Manager Reluz. I would like to point out what you had said about the two times that the mercy rule has been applied, which has been -- it is actually part of the data and statistics. However, the reason I was asking you that was because this is the very first time that you were participating at such an international level and a championship of this nature, and the mercy rule was applied here. Throughout your history, you have to say that this competition here is at an international level. It is a quasi-professional level here. I would like to know what you believe or how you feel with regard to the upcoming games against Venezuela, against the Dominican Republic and against the United States. At the beginning of this game it looked like you were playing at that level, that you were going to be able to grapple with the difficulties of playing against major league players. Simply at this time I would like your reaction. Thank you very much for providing such a wonderful game for the whole country of Puerto Rico to enjoy. HIGININIO VELEZ: The question I have for you is a lot of times things of this nature also happen at the major league level. Many people, many teams believed that the Cuban team should not have participated in this, should not even have been here, and many of those teams have already come and gone. I think that in everything we do, we need a little patience, and I believe that we will see how everything is going to pan out over the next few days. Q. The defeat that you had today, I would like to ask you, how do you think that that defeat is going to help to motivate you, and what are the necessary adjustments that you are going to be making for the second round of this competition? HIGININIO VELEZ: As far as being able to play at such a high level, or in that regard, to be able to play at any important level, you have to be prepared from a technical and practical and psychological standpoint. As far as my team is concerned, I believe that we'll be making some psychological adjustments, maybe the way we think. However, this defeat here today is not going to be affecting us. You will see us here back again. Q. We have read through the Cuban media that the Cuban pitchers may not be the optimal or the best pitchers here, and I would like to find out, because of the fact maybe your best pitcher didn't necessarily perform at his peak with regard to what happened yesterday with the team player in Panama. HIGININIO VELEZ: (Pedro) Lazo, for your information, is doing well. He just sat out two innings yesterday, and Lazo is still our very best pitcher. Q. I would like to find out what surprised you regarding the Puerto Rican baseball team. Did you see anything that was different from the baseball players? What was it? What was different and what surprised you about it? EDUARDO PARET: As far as the team for Puerto Rico is concerned, we know that the team here in Puerto Rico is a wonderful team. We have heard, we have seen how wonderful it is on the television, and we also know that you have one of the best major league players on the team.
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