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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL D: SAN JUANMarch 11, 2009Carlos DelgadoJose OquendoIvan RodriguezJonathan SanchezSAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (Questions and answers translated from Spanish.) JOSE OQUENDO: Well, it was a great game. I though that the Netherlands were a little bit short on pitchers, but the guys were more prepared at bat. The pitching as you saw was great. Jonathan had the necessary runs that we needed. We could have had one more run, but we didn't want to risk -- there were a lot of fouls. We wanted to stay within the pitching count. It was a great game, and the guys deserved it. Q. Congratulations to all four. Carlos, I wanted a comment from you in terms of the perspective of what it means to finish this tournament on such a positive note, beating a team that had played well and finishing convincingly, facing what you are going to do next Saturday? CARLOS DELGADO: I believe it was a great victory. It was a great series for us. As you mentioned, the Netherland team played great ball. It was a big surprise, the game the day before last was a bit tougher than tonight. Something we have to do is give a lot of credit to our team. In three games we only had one run against us. And before that there was talk about batting, batting, batting, but pitching is what loaded us. From the point of view of the offense, we had to look for a way to make adjustments, because we can do a better job, especially in situations with batters on bases. Those are the runs that we are going to need. There is space to improve. The important thing is that we did qualify in first place and we're going to Miami, and we're going to keep on playing hard? Q. I would like to ask a question about what Delgado commented on pitching. Only about one run in 27 innings. Do you expect to do the same thing with the Venezuelan team. They have a full lineup as intimidating as the Dominican Republic. The other thing to Ivan, tell me a little bit how winning this acknowledgment and achieving to represent Puerto Rico in your last World Classic. JOSE OQUENDO: Well, from our pitching from the beginning we trusted our pitching. We have pitchers with a lot of experience. They know how to pitch. They'll pitch in any kind of situation. And even the long relief, they can come and pitch in the middle innings and get outs with people on base. It's important for us the job they're doing. The team is going to take us far, and the guys are going to wake up, because they know how to make their adjustments. IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Well, on my behalf I feel really happy and I thank everything and I dedicate this prize to all my fellow players because without them I wouldn't have been able to have this award. Here I also have Carlos Delgado who also had a good series and that deserved a prize like this and all the guys. And also I feel really happy for winning an MVP here in Puerto Rico. Because as you said it may be the last time I'm going to participate as a player. I'm very happy, and I thank God for this award. But there is another round that we have to go to, and we have to work hard there and do what we did here to try to move forward. Q. The rules the Classic say -- it's very varied. Will there be any change in the pitching situation? Is everybody healthy, fine for the second round? JOSE OQUENDO: Everybody is going to be healthy. Vazquez is going to pitch with two more days of rest. The others are going to have one day. With these two off days that we're going to have, the guys are going to recover. And there will be no change in the way that we're going to use them. Vazquez is going to start and Sanchez in that same rotation and using the long relief and the lefties that we have are very effective with left-handers and right-handers. Q. Can you explain, people were talking about yesterday how much this means to the Dominican Republic. Can you talk about what baseball means to Puerto Rico, its history, and where a win would rank for Puerto Rico? CARLOS DELGADO: I think this is a great event for Puerto Rico. For the last few years we haven't produced as many players as some of the other Latin countries. As a Puerto Rican, we don't like that. We like to see our game continue to grow. This is our passion. This is the game that we love. And the reason why we say we love it and we continue to push it and encourage young players to continue to play is because of events like this. Because in a world-class event you can see how three nights in a row it was sold out. So the game lives here. It is very much alive. The passion is there. And by the same token I encourage the fans to continue to support the games especially in the winter leagues. They've got to understand, in the winter leagues, some of the younger players are going to be playing. Guys that are 34, 35, 36 years old, they're more likely not to play because they're spending more time with their family. They need to save their bullets. We've got to understand -- we're very appreciative of the opportunity. I've played here for nine years. I'm very appreciative for that opportunity because really that helped me to take my game to the next level. But I'll tell you what, after eight months I come in and it's not the same. And this is not an excuse. It's just a fact of life. We are very proud of the Puerto Rican fans because they came out and they support us. It was sold out every night. We know that baseball lives here. And we're going to encourage, and we're going to do everything within our power to continue to push the game from the Little Leagues up until we can continue to produce big league players? Q. Jonathan, you're one of the star pitchers in Puerto Rico. You had a big responsibility. What is your reaction to this big game where you looked like a major leaguer? JONATHAN SANCHEZ: Well, I came to play this game regardless of who it was with. If it was with the Dominican Republic to pitch, I said I'll pitch. Because I came to represent the Puerto Rican team. We had already qualified, but I said, we're going to be the champs, and we're going to win. We're going to be undefeated here in Puerto Rico. I came here with my mind to win that game and be here for the second round. I used a lot of straight balls and sliders which helped me. I used the straight ball and sliders, and they were swinging to the pitches. And that's why I had that performance. End of FastScripts |
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