|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL A: TOKYOMarch 8, 2009Terry CollinsFeng FeiTOKYO, JAPAN Q. The result was something you didn't expect. Generally speaking, what is in your mind right now, thinking about the past three games? How do you evaluate your team, China? TERRY COLLINS: Well, it was a great experience. This is an honor to be here. It's a great experience for our club. You know, we didn't play very good tonight, and obviously, when you pitch, you don't pitch, the games can get ugly and the game got ugly tonight because we didn't pitch very well. As I said all along, I think the future is bright for Team China. There are some very, very good athletes on that team. The more they play, the more baseball is going to grow in China, and I think the future is bright. I hope they didn't leave with the memory of tonight's game, but the memory of the previous three games, or two games that we played coming into tonight, because they played very, very well. Q. A while ago, you told us that the pitchers didn't pitch whatever they wanted to pitch. You walked eight guys, so is that a big cause that you gave up 14 runs? Not getting to two strikes, did that also affect everything? TERRY COLLINS: Well, when you get beat 14-0, everything is the cause for getting beat that bad. We walked a number of guys. We hit three guys. We did not make any quality pitches when we needed to. We didn't make some plays that we needed to make to help us get out of some innings. Obviously when you fall behind, it really takes a little bit out of your offense. We don't have a power-laden team, and we have to punch away singles. You have to give Yoon credit; I thought the fastball was outstanding and he located it very well to neat and pitched a very good game against us. Q. Generally speaking, what is the key for the China Team to catch up with both Japan and Korea, if there are any certain point, can you tell us, please? TERRY COLLINS: You know, I think you have to start from the ground to build it, and that starts with little leagues; that starts with youth baseball where kids are playing in a lot and learn how to play and learn to have some instincts for the game. So for me, that's why that begins. And as it grows, it grows into the schools, it grows into more leagues and more people get excited about playing. I really hope that with the success that Team China showed and the way they played here in the first two games, it does create some interest in baseball in China and those good athletes that are over there decide there are other sports, and baseball might be a sport they might want to participate in. It might take some time; certainly it won't happen overnight. But they have some good skills. I saw some real good things in the month I was with this team. If they dig in and really start to play the game a lot, I think you'll see some pretty good players coming out of China. Q. Your second WBC tournament for Team China is over tonight. What is your general impression representing Team China and playing three games? TERRY COLLINS: My impression, and it's very simply stated: It was an honor to be associated with the entire tournament; to have Team China ask me to be the manager was an honor; to return to Japan, to come over here after playing against what I consider two of the best teams in the world, Japan and Korea, for sure; being on the field, watching them play, I think it's a great education for our players and myself. It was very, very fun. I had a great time here and it was great to come back. I certainly wish the best for the two teams that are advancing. Q. You spent two years managing in Japan, and you also managed Team China, so you have international experience. The Chinese players, are you teaching them American baseball, or how do you approach Team China players? And also, is China's baseball growing rapidly, do you think? TERRY COLLINS: Well, I have not been, so I don't know how fast it's growing in China. I can't answer that question. What I can answer is, you know, we try to teach the fundamentals of baseball when we saw them in spring training. I don't think fundamentals are thought any better than they are taught here in Japan. They catch the ball here, they throw strikes here, their strikeouts-to-walks ratio in Japan are tremendous; you don't ever see those type of statistics in the United States. So we talked about that. We talked about just going on the field. Lots of things that are done here, obviously with some of our players, we would like them to be bigger or stronger where some power can come into the Chinese game a little bit into our team. But I still believe that I teach baseball. I don't care where it's played. When I came to Japan, I said, I didn't come here to change the game; I came here to add to the game, and I tried to do that with Team China. I didn't true to undo anything Jim Lefebvre and those other coaches did; I tried to add to it. I hope they got something out of it with the things they learned. I told the players five minutes ago, the future is bright, so plow ahead. Q. Do you plan to visit China or would you like to visit China, and what is next for you? What do you think your next position will be in baseball? TERRY COLLINS: I haven't discussed anything about going over yet. When they asked me, they just said, we would like you to help us in the World Baseball Classic tournament, and I've done that. Right now, I have no plans. I'm going to go home and do what I did last summer a little bit. But again, it was a great experience, and it was a lot of fun. And if they need some help down the road, they can certainly call and I would be certainly willing to go over and do what I could to help them improve. Q. Can you talk about FENG FEI, the shortstop? In last night's contest, he was hot and today, he performed well, especially defense-wise. His parents are both from China. How does FENG FEI have communication with Chinese-origin players? TERRY COLLINS: Ray grew up, both his parents spoke Chinese in the house. So he grew up speaking Chinese. He then did not use it for a while, but when he showed up in spring training, he understood everything the players were talking about, and actually began to speak it again. So he did speak Chinese when he was on the field. You know, he brought us some experience; a guy who has played the game in the last five or six years, he's played over a hundred games a year. So that's big experience for this team. He brought some stability to the ballclub, and he did, he played very, very well. We were proud to have him on our team, and he played a really good tournament. It was great to be back, see all of the friendly faces, and thank you for all of the great hospitality that you always show. Q. A lot of fans and media are not expecting that Team China beat team Korea. A lot of people are thinking that Team Korea is better than Team China. FENG FEI: Today's contest, I was quite relaxed compared to yesterday's game. Yesterday's game we won, but today, it was a little low spirit in terms of playing against the Korean team. That may be led to losing the game. Q. Yesterday was the first winning game to you; what was the element that you acquired? What was the thing that you learned from the game? FENG FEI: I learned lots of things about yesterday, including the skill, technique. The Japanese players, there are many famous Japanese players, along with Korean players, which I really respect and I was looking forward to meet them. I learned a lot from them. Q. This time you played against China, Japan and Korea. Which part do you have more confidence than Team Japan and Korea, and which is the weakness among your team? FENG FEI: Talking about the Chinese team, compared to the other two teams, there are no factors that is above them. We are here to learn from them. That's the attitude we had. They are stronger than -- obviously stronger than the Chinese team. Next time in the contest in the future, we are trying to win, overcome them in the near future. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|