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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: SEMIS & FINALSMarch 17, 2006Nobuhiko MatsunakaSadaharu OhKoji UeharaSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We will go ahead and begin our session. My name is Kenya Jimmerson, our formal interview room manager and I'm joined by our interpreters Shun, Dina and Jackie. If you have a question, please raise your hand. I will inform you of when to speak. We ask that each journalist ask one question. Please make sure that the question has been interpreted in Japanese before you state your question. Also, we ask that you please keep your questions brief in order for us to answer a fair amount of questions and within the time that we have. Q. I'd like to congratulate the Team Japan for advancing to the semi-final. I have a message from (Paquin) Estrada of the Mexican team. He said, "We did everything possible to beat the American team, and we hope that our victory will bring good luck to the Japanese team." My question is Team Japan advanced to the final round because of the great pitching staff that gave up as small a number of runs as possible. How do you evaluate your own pitching staff, and also, you are now facing the Korean team for the third time, the unexpected third time. How did you motivate your players to face them once again? SADAHARU OH: First of all, I'd like to pay my respect to the Mexican team, who beat the United States team by the score of 2-1 in a very hard-fought game, and we really respect the fact that they fought their heart out and tried to show the best game ever. And for our pitching staff, I know that we have the best pitchers available on our team, and I expected much and they lived up to my expectation. But I believe they can perform much better than that, as well. They pitched so well, and that was the reason that we advanced to the semi-finals, even though we lost two games in the second round. For facing the Korean team for another time, we faced them once in Japan and once in Anaheim and we lost both games, but those were very close games, and I believe either team could have won either game. We'd like to show our best performance in the third time, and we will try our best to win this one. Q. This is for Mr. Matsunaka. You have been struggling recently, and although you've been hustling on the bases and showing the same kind of energy you always show in your games, at the plate you have been struggling. Now, what is your mindset going into this crucial game against South Korea? What's the first question. The second is what is your impression of the Korean pitchers you have faced so far? NOBUHIKO MATSUNAKA: I know a lot of people expect me to hit home runs or extra-base hits, so I'm not really satisfied by the fact that I haven't been able to perform like that. But still, I've been trying to be on the base and also drive in the runs so that I could contribute to the wins. The Japan team and the condition itself isn't bad, so I believe I've been doing fairly good. It would be best if I could hit home runs, but I still would like to win the game and I'd like to contribute to the wins, so winning is my primary goal, so I'll do my best to achieve that goal for the next game, as well. And the Korean pitchers are very good. They have some excellent pitches and it's really hard to hit them. But again, I'd like to be at my best condition and try to hit the pitches so that would contribute to our wins. Q. First of all, how surprised are you to be here or how surprised are you that the United States lost last night? Can you describe what the rivalry means to you between Japan and South Korea? In the United States we have the Red Sox and Yankees as a very intense rivalry. Can you talk about the rivalry, please? SADAHARU OH: Well, I was really surprised that the American team lost to the Mexican team because we thought somehow the Americans would be the world's best. And because of that notion, when we lost the second game in the second round, we never thought that we would be able to be playing in the next round here. NOBUHIKO MATSUNAKA: Honestly, I never thought the American team would lose the game against the Mexicans, so I was surprised, as well, because the team America was full of MLB players, and we all thought that they would be the best in this tournament. As for the relationship between us and Koreans, I've played against the Korean team since the Olympic games in Atlanta, and since then I've felt very strong about the determination by the Korean team that they don't want to lose to Japan, and I'm feeling that, as well, in this tournament, against a great team. Once again, I'd like to do my best and defeat the team in this round. Q. Petco Park is known more as a pitcher's park, tough to hit home runs, tough to produce good power numbers. One of the things you talked about, Manager, was your concern with Japan's power numbers and your ability to produce runs in the last round. What concerns do you have about trying to improve that in this park and how do you feel about it in general? SADAHARU OH: Extra-base hits are something that you can't really aim at achieving or hitting, so you really have to wait until the flow of the long ball is coming along. But I also know that we might not -- at the stage of waiting, we cannot wait any longer for something to happen. But still, I still have good faith in my players so that they can perform very well and play their best game possible in this pitcher's park. Q. This is a question to Mr. Uehara. The Japan team has faced the Korean team twice. What kind of impression do you have about their line-up, and also is there a particular hitter that you really want to watch out for? And if you do, how are you going to pitch against him? KOJI UEHARA: Well, my impression of the Korean team's hitters is that they're really persistent and they always try to advance runners and score as many as possible with small opportunities. The guy I really want to watch out for is my teammate back in Japan, Seung Yeop Lee. I'd like to throw my best pitches as much as possible to the Korean line-up, and I'm sure the Koreans have great pitchers, and well, but I'd like to help our pitching staff to give up the least runs and hopefully that leads to our victory at the end of the game. Q. For Mr. Uehara, what's your mindset for the next Korean game? You're facing the Korean team for the third time; what's your mindset and how are you mentally preparing for this game? My next question is when you played in the Tokyo Dome with artificial grass you didn't have too much errors whereas when you played here in the U.S. with natural grass you tend to have errors, so what do you think about that? I understand Petco Park is very friendly to pitchers, so I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. KOJI UEHARA: Well, this is the third time that our team faces the Korean team, but I never appeared in the past two games. As you all know, our teammate Watanabe started both games, and he did great in both games, so I'd like to follow in his footsteps and try to do whatever he did in those two games. I might see more errors on the natural grass here, but the position players are working their butts off as well, and I'd like to make up any errors that they make so that we will be able to win the game at the end. Q. This is a question to Mr. Uehara. This time when you face the Korean team, we should be able to expect a very big number of Korean-American fans in the stands like they showed up in Anaheim. It must be very much like you pitch when you pitch in Koshien Stadium when you face the Tigers in the Japanese league. How do you think of the great fans of Korean-Americans here, and how do you pitch in that kind of situation? KOJI UEHARA: Well, I saw that game in Anaheim from the dugout and I was really surprised and I was in awe that the Korean-American fans really booed the team of Japan. But I have an experience, as you mentioned, against the Tigers in Japan at Koshien Stadium, and the Tigers fans are much more harsh, and they literally really shake the stadium there, and I haven't felt any shakes here in America, so I think I can handle that.
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