|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL D: SAN JUANMarch 8, 2009Luis DurangoCarlos LeeHector LopezCarlos RuizSAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (Questions and answers translated from Spanish.) MODERATOR: Good evening. We'll start with an opening statement. HECTOR LOPEZ: It's the same thing as last night. If a team does not score runs, they cannot win. And we did not do that. You have to give credit to the other team because they pitched well. We didn't have a chance to do anything, nothing at all. I don't know what they have to say, but what I have to say is we can't win a game without runs. We struggled here and there, and we've gone 18 innings without runs. And we can't win that way. Q. Manager Lopez, you say nothing can be done, but many times there were runners on base. And you had to wait for the bat -- they had to touch the ball. They had to wait for the bat. Why did you play like that? HECTOR LOPEZ: Touching the ball? Do what, how could we play like that. Touching the ball? No way. If you're losing 3-0, how are you going to touch the ball? Why are you going to touch the ball? Are you from Panama? That's it. That's it. you wasn't watching the game. Touching the ball is not baseball. That's not baseball. Q. Carlos, how do you feel after the game? And talk to me about your participation in the event? CARLOS RUIZ: Well, the truth is like every player to come out so quickly, you feel it. But at the same time this is professionalism. And we have to know how to win and lose. Of course, we come in with the intention of doing the job. The things did not happen as they should have, which is part of the sport. As to my part, I felt very good behind the plate. Things didn't come out as they should have. As Hector said, if you don't score, you can't win. There's no excuse. Q. The question in a general sense for Panama as a whole, you come from being eliminated and not scoring any runs, problems in the federation, your big league players are not participating. What is Panama going to do for the next Classic? CARLOS LEE: Well, I believe that Panama's participation in this Classic, where there were no big league players, I just think there's one, Mariano Rivera. There are some guys like Acosta, who is still going for a position in the big leagues. It is understood his future, his job, his family. And so as much as you want to wear your country's jersey and represent it with pride, you also have to think about your future and that of your family. There were many positive things for us in this Classic. We did not score runs. We had chances, but we didn't get hits. But I believe that many times things were against us. Even today. We hit a double, and then they made a great play. If that ball would have gone through, it would have changed the whole game. Ramiro Mendoza was pitching very well. The ball at third base, broken bat. If things would have been different, and we had better luck. But a lot of positive things, a lot of young guys like Durango and Castillo, Concepcion Rodriguez, who opened up the other big league team's eyes, that these eyes are going to have a great future. Q. Carlos, what do you attribute to Panama not being able to score a single run in two games? CARLOS LEE: Experience. When we had a chance, I believe that most of the chances that we did have were with the younger guys. We lacked the experience on the team. If we work hard and the group stays together, this group that we have now, in a few years we may have -- some of those who have played, we'll have a couple of big leaguers. Q. Unfortunately, we were not able to go third, fourth, fifth bat, third and 20-22. However, my respect to Luis Durango and rookie class. He was sent to Columbia, Champ Batter in San Diego, Champ Batter. How do you feel to have a World Classic like this when you have a team that did not score, but you did everything right. LUIS DURANGO: Thank you very much for the interview. I kept going forward as I've always done. And thank God for the gift that I have to continue working, doing my job as I've always done, stealing bases. And that's the job of the runners. We didn't come out with a win yesterday or today. But I kept going forward as we've always done. We always have to move forward. Q. Hector, we know that you are not happy. You are a baseball man, and you have to have in your head a desire to do many things to see Panama in a different light. What will you do and want to do when you get back home? HECTOR LOPEZ: Well, what I can say is that we have to work harder. We have to get more big league players like Puerto Rico and all that. We are the underdog all the time when we are in the field of big league pitching, and we have two big leaguers this year, and they alone cannot do the job. It's very difficult for us to face a team that has 28 big leaguers. It's very difficult. We're not going to beat them. We're not going to win. It's hard. It proves what happened in this World Classic. But next year I believe that the guys that were here will have a lot more experience, and they'll know what to do to win games. Q. Carlos, tell us a little bit about the frustration of not being able to look so good in this Classic and also in the previous Classic? CARLOS LEE: Well, not frustration. It's very difficult in these short tournaments to -- it's going to be very difficult for me. You won't see that I'll bat a 3-4, or to hit 3-3 the next day, because I am the center of attention. And if you were able to see in the whole Classic 3, 4 switch were the only thing I saw. So trying to, with what little I saw, doing a lot to try to help the team, but I keep on working, keep on going. Now this stage is over, and there will be a new stage, and we'll get ready for the big leagues. 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
|