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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL C: TORONTOMarch 8, 2009Mark DeRosaChris IannettaDavey JohnsonTORONTO, ONTARIO THE MODERATOR: U.S. Manager Davey Johnson, and Catcher Chris Iannetta are available for questions. Q. Davey, you've coached a World Series team in and the '86 Mets, and now you've gotten the opportunity to coach here at the World Baseball Classic. How good is this team? This is a really great team so far. DAVEY JOHNSON: The make-up of this team is right off the chart. They got together the first day and got in a circle and started talking about things, talking about redeeming what they did three years ago. And it's just been an outstanding club. A bunch of great guys. And they're expressing their talent. So making my job easier. I'm glad it wasn't like last night. Q. Has your approach changed now for Wednesday, as far as how you use people? You know you're threw part of the pitching? DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, you know, we have an injury to Chipper, so I told David Wright, it's probably the last time you are going to DH. I think any time somebody has a little strain in the spring, you have to be real cautious, and I doubt if he'd be available for a week or two. So that's for the rest of this format here, he's down. You know, I like the way -- I kind of have -- the gentlemen here, they knew ahead of time they were going to alternate catching, and I'll just stay that way pretty much all the way through. As far as, you know, having DeRosa, good thing I had him. Good thing Eric Wedge told me I'd like him to play left field and third base, and I had him at second all spring. Then the opportunity arises, and he ends up, I'm sure Eric is very happy with that. I was a little concerned today about us having enough pitching. It's great hitting line-up we were up against, that we'd have enough pitching for nine innings. I wanted to get the left-hander more work, but I also wanted to get my closer in. So two days off, then we'll be able to use the bullpen a lot differently. It's going to get tougher as we go because the starters will go further, but it's great make-up on this ball club. Q. Chris, knowing the magnitude of these games, can you describe, I guess, the feeling in the room and with the guys, is it a sense of, like, desperation, like this is Game 7 type of games? CHRIS IANNETTA: I mean, I think we got a really good team. I was really surprised after, you know, what is it, like a week we've been together, you know, the chemistry that we have. Guys are really loose. We got the guys cracking jokes. We got some serious guys. We've got a good mix of everybody. Everyone is coming together and it's fun to be a part of. As far as putting pressure on ourselves, I don't think so. We're all professionals. We know how to win, and know how to play the game. I think we're just going out there and executing when we have to. Q. In this format, you know Gallarraga is pitching pretty well. You know four innings is probably as far as he is going. Is it a little different approach thinking we're going to get different guys here, you know you are, as opposed to having to wait till the seventh or eighth, like in a normal game? MARK DeROSA: I don't know. He definitely was throwing the ball pretty well. And you figure he's got the same philosophy, he is only going to be out there four or five innings, so he is going to max out. You know, the game planning, we do the best we can. Some of the guys we've seen before. Some we have no idea. But, you know, we got guys -- Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, guys that have been around, They have great game plans. When they go up to hit, they relay that message down to us. And, you know, that was the thing tonight, guys put together professional at-bats all throughout the line-up. We gave ourselves a chance to have big innings. And, you know, tonight was one of those nights where guys were capitalizing on big two-out knocks. And, you know, we were loading the bases up and doing the little things right. So this turned into scoring 15 runs. Q. Davey, you've obviously been in the game a long time. There's a perception here in Toronto that for the last 15 years, and even after the lockout in '94, fans haven't come back to the game. It doesn't help the Jays haven't been totally competitive. Can you sense that, seeing the atmosphere last night and even today? DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, I always thought Toronto was a great baseball town. I played triple ball here. It was always a great baseball town, great fans. You know, the first night we came in here, I felt like that's what you had here every night, to be honest with you. Of course, I think we had more Venezuelan fans tonight than we did anything else. But I always thought this was a great baseball town. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. End of FastScripts |
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