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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL C: TORONTOMarch 8, 2009Jose LopezLuis SojoTORONTO, ONTARIO (Through Spanish translation) THE MODERATOR: Armando Galarraga is also on the way. Manager Luis Sojo and Carlos Lopez are here, Q. I'm just wondering if you have had time to speak to the guys as a manager, and in your eyes, how do you think things went after the fifth inning? LUIS SOJO: Well, listen, as a manager, this is what gets you really upset, because you want the guys to be aggressive. You want the bullpen to execute, but that wasn't the case the time. After that point in time, everything was lost. They couldn't find the strike zone. And when you get under in the count in front of these professional major league players from the United States, you're always going to get this kind of consequence. So it looked like a good game. The pitching was done really well at the beginning, but then in the end, well, we lost. We have to move on. But this can't happen again. Like I said in Orlando, we didn't want to have any walks, and we had nine. And after eight, we lost count, actually. But this can't happen anymore. Q. Other than the defeat, do you feel it was a psychological hit, the way that the game was lost? LUIS SOJO: Well, yeah, you know. We know that it wasn't an easy game, but Armando, he dominated. He pitched appropriately. And we all know that maybe the bullpen is the big question mark with us, and it looked like a disaster. That's the reality. I think the best thing to do is to motivate them for the next game. And, obviously, with the next opponent, which could be either Canada or Italy, and we'll talk to them directly, because this can't happen again. It's frustrating, you know. As a manager, you have to come out all the time and change pitchers. And these guys, they've been in this realm before. And maybe they're a bit nervous, because these guys are guys that usually throw strikes, and it's always Ball 1, Ball 2. This can't happen, and I'm really upset. And they should know it, because they know, as professionals, their job is to throw strikes, and they weren't doing their job. Q. Luis, tomorrow Canada and Italy. What's Venezuela hoping for? LUIS SOJO: Well, we're hoping to win on Tuesday. I think we all know the most vulnerable team would be Italy at this point. But we don't know what's going to happen. We basically have to look at every aspect of the game. The winning team will simply -- we have to be ready for them. So we have to see what the result is. And obviously, the mentality will change according to which team will win, but basically we have to win so we can get to the next round. Q. Who will you start as your pitcher in your next game? And do you feel like having used Silva and Hernandez in the first game that you're a little bit shy on starting pitching? LUIS SOJO: Well, we cannot use him. But the game tomorrow is going to dictate who I am going use. That depends. It might be Ramirez or Gonzalez, but it depends who wins. I'm going to go with that. Q. These are things that happen in baseball. You get hits that you can't catch. And the United States scored -- well, they have sixteen hits and score sixteen times. So what was the reason why you had to put your trust in Zambrano? I think maybe you wanted to implicate Gonzales or Ramirez for that conference day, you said that. Why did you want Victor at the last minute? LUIS SOJO: Well, we're working with the opening pitchers. Armando was doing quite well. He had two outs and that's what -- he got to the threshold for pitching. And Armando maybe with his experience, he's one of the ones that has the most experience, and Victor. And Ramon, he had some pretty good strikes. But in the end, that's what complicated things, not a little bit, a lot. But everything started with the pitching. When Youkilis, we had some good pitching at first, but Victor has enough experience, and, unfortunately, things didn't go the way we wanted them to. Q. First, I'd like to ask you about what you're doing at home? You've already batted five doubles in two games. It's a record for doubles in one game. And the adjustment, is there anything in the adjustment, the way you are working? Can you maybe talk about your technique? And, Luis, just one of your comments on the fact that obviously United States batted better than everyone else, but there were two particular batters that did a lot of damage, and they're the ones that you expected the least, which is Youkilis and DeRosa. Just a comment on that, and it wasn't the big names that got the big hits. JOSE LOPEZ: You know, I'm doing the same thing I was doing in Venezuela last year. And when I was in the major leagues, I'm doing the same thing. And in this Classic, I'm not here to play around. I'm here to win. And I have a tendency to win, and I'm doing exactly the same thing. And, fortunately, I'm hitting it pretty hard. If it keeps going to left field all the better. LUIS SOJO: And in terms of your second question, that's the nice thing about baseball, is that it doesn't matter how many stars you have in the line-up, anyone with a bat in their hand can hurt you. And that was the case with these gentlemen. DeRosa, he is the player that has always been a backup in the major leagues. And lately he's been given the opportunity to play every day. I think this confidence and trust he has brings him to this level. And I think when we talked to Ramon, when he had the double, he did throw really good pitches, and unfortunately it hurt, and he got to third. The ball came over the middle of the plate, and he did it. But that's how baseball is played. It was a good time for them, and it was an important at-bat for the United States. Q. It's important tomorrow, the day off? Do you think that's important to have a day off? And this offense, is this what's going to carry the game in two days? JOSE LOPEZ: I think we have an optional practice at 11:00 o'clock, and I think that we have to prepare mentally for Tuesday. We can't think about who is going to win between Italy and Canada. Basically, whoever wins will, we'll be waiting for them here on Tuesday. LUIS SOJO: And I said yesterday, it was going to be a very difficult path. It wasn't going to be easy at all. Tomorrow, there's an optional practice where the team offensively has answered. They've batted, and unfortunately, the seventeen doubles that Celestino hit wasn't enough. But obviously, the team looks good. Maybe Miguel Cabrera's the only one that's a little bit off rhythm. But we'll work with him tomorrow. And he's a professional. And, you know, we just need one good at-bat from him for him to get his trust back and his confidence back. So tomorrow, more than anything, is going to be a practice for him on a more emotional front, so that he can get that confidence that he's missing right now. But maybe, you know, maybe anxiety is not helping his cause at this point. We'll work with the pitchers. They have to do their daily routine. But we'll see. I think that on Tuesday it's going be pretty interesting for everyone. And let's hope that we get the necessary support. Q. Luis, the hope was to score runs, and you did. Also that question about the bullpen. And what's the message that you are going to give the back-up pitchers? Because you are feeling a lot of pressure, I think. Because this next game is going to be crucial. LUIS SOJO: We had a meeting with the pitchers and the catchers because of what happened in the game against Houston, the walks, and every time they had the ball in their hand, what we wanted was to see this aggressiveness. In baseball, you have to see what the major league players are doing. When you're at one, two, three balls, three and one, no matter what happens, you are going to get hits. So we recommend that they get strikes. If we're going to win, we'll do it right from the first strike. But the message was there. They don't want to throw balls, but things didn't go the way we wanted. And we have to deepen our trust in them. I trust them, and I know that they're tested and proven, like I said, in the Caribbean. And maybe this ambience of the World Classic is making them commit a lot of errors. But I think here you can't -- there is no room for error. We have to be perfect. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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