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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL ONE: SAN DIEGOMarch 16, 2009Frederich CepedaPedro LazoAriel PestanoHiginio VelezSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Good evening. Welcome to the press conference following Game 3, Cuba versus Mexico. Representing Team Cuba, we have manager Higinio Velez, relief pitcher, Pedro Lazo, and outfielder, Frederick Cepeda. Mr. Velez, please share your view of the game. HIGINIO VELEZ: I think that this is just another game for the Classic. This is being played better, better teams are facing off, and the results are great. We said yesterday that we were a team that was ready to overcome defeat from yesterday, so we are here. We respect powerful teams, such as Mexico, a team that plays well, but one of us had to be on top. It is most definite that all of the fans were able to really enjoy a wonderful event tonight. THE MODERATOR: Pedro, your view of the game? PEDRO LAZO: I think just like Higinio said, this was a great game. Mexico is a great team. It's unfortunate that they can't stay. Well, one of us had to stay, and we played a little bit better tonight. But this was really a good ball game that San Diego people deserved, as well as the rest of the world. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Frederick? FREDERICH CEPEDA: I think that it was an excellent team, just as my manager said, and the pitcher, Pedro Lazo. We showed up, and played best won tonight. We had the opportunity to really connect the bat to the ball and score the run that gave us the win. I think we put on a great show, and I thought that the people of San Diego really enjoyed it, as well as the people around the world who were fans and saw this game tonight. THE MODERATOR: Please share your view of the game. ARIEL PESTANO: I think this was a really good game, where the team that played best at the time won. It was our turn. We played better. As a team, more jointly, and my team, as well as myself and everybody that's Cuban, truly enjoyed this game. Q. Mr. Velez, what happened to Paret and what is his condition? HIGINIO VELEZ: Paret had a slight muscular distention. He went to the hospital, he came back, and he will be ready to be pitching upon his turn. He has no injuries that are of concern. Q. I know that you don't like to say who you would like to face off, but if you face-off against Japan, what would you do to win? HIGINIO VELEZ: Well, we will do everything we didn't do yesterday. We will do everything opposite. We are getting ready to beat them. It will be their turn, and we know we will be facing either Korea or Japan, and we are ready for them. Q. Mr. Velez, today for the first time, the team was batting and practicing outside. HIGINIO VELEZ: No, this is not the first time. We've done this type of practice in the Forosol and everywhere else. We didn't do it Sunday. The game was at 1 p.m., we were the home team, so that means that we had to be out of the hotel at approximately -- right after 8 a.m. in the morning. And we spend about ten hours in the park, and our players are not used to that. We play on Sundays at 2 p.m., for instance, and our team practice on the field throughout the week. On Game Day, they do practice in the batting tunnels, but they never come out. So we have, in our country, an aggressive climate. Our weather is hash, so we never go outside. So they do warm-up in the locker rooms and the areas, and not on the field. This is just something that we typically do. This is nothing that changed for us. Q. Mr. Velez, can you please talk about the changes in the lineup and the reason behind them? HIGINIO VELEZ: Those changes, when we looked at the field, we found that it was a different scenario than the one we found in Mexico at Forosol. We pitched the ball and figure that it goes less, so we need to go in more straight lines versus home runs. That was everything contrary to Mexico. So we are looking to place the speed and function of our batting, and we got out of the lineup the big home run hitters. So we played smaller ball. That was the strategy that we applied for today. Q. For Pedro and Ariel. Frederich is known as a player who can come through in the big moments. Can you tell us how important his bat is to the middle of your lineup, and how he comes through in those big moments so often? ARIEL PESTANO: Frederich? Who are you referring to? You want Frederich or Ariel? Q. I would like his teammates to talk about Frederich. PEDRO LAZO: I think that Frederich is important, not only his turn at bat, but in every aspect of the game, and in the team itself. He is an athlete that gets the trust going and he gets it going really well. He said, "Don't worry, we're winning," and then he pulls through. He can be a third bat, he can be the fourth or the fifth or the first bat, even. It doesn't matter. He really reaches bases, and to me, he is a wonderful baseball player. And I wish I could have him on my own team back in Cuba. ARIEL PESTANO: I think that besides being my personal friend, Freddy, he is my friend when he joined our national team. Freddy is a very concise player, quite compact player that knows what to do, and the player that chooses the pitch that he wants to bat. He does not rush. He has patience to bat. He has a good arm for the outfielder. I think that he's a very complete and comprehensive player, and to that, he has this wonderful opportunity aspect. I think that Freddy is one of the best players in the national series in Cuba and perhaps beyond. Q. Question for Frederich. Take into account the situation in Cuba after the first game with elimination so close, and then you face Mexico at that very important game. How did you prepare? Did you look for special pitching? FREDERICH CEPEDA: You really set out your course when you're ready to bat based on things that are happening throughout the game. I had observed the pitching by pitcher Campillo, so I got prepared. And he pitched it at the right time, and I was ready to bat a nice hit. Q. Mr. Velez, before the game today, there was confusion regarding your interpretation of the 30-pitch limit and what that would do for your relievers in the following game. I wanted to get your sense of how you viewed that and how it was resolved. HIGINIO VELEZ: I think that the decision was correct. There was a mistake that somebody had, there is a document which is an official ruling for this game, and it's in English. And it says who throws up to 30 pitches, 30 or more pitches, they still have one day off. However, us at the Forosol in Mexico, after our first game, we had a technical meeting with the technical commission, and they explained to us that we had to go to that meeting, both pitching coaches and both managers. And they gave us a card there that was in Spanish. And we were told that in order for it not to be any confusion, that was, like, an abstract of the most important rules that would be taken into account for the future, and those were the ones that were valid. Seems that this gentleman from the technical commission had confusion, and it is in writing. I didn't bring it, but I think all the teams have it. But it reads that a pitcher that is throwing up to 30 pitches is ready to pitch for the next day. And it says when he pitches over 30 pitches, and there is even an example right there, that it's up to 50, which is the next phase of rest. At 51 there is a set relief. So there is a disclosure there about a poor translation, but we were told to follow this card, and at the end of the day there was a mistake right there. So when my pitcher, Vera, we were at 30, so we pulled him out, but he could continue to do that, Yulieski also met up to 30 to meet that card. There was a meeting. They apologized to us, and we do recognize here in public that all of these officials have been respectful, and they apologized. So we know there was a mistake, and we agreed not to use the pitchers. That's basically what happened. Q. Frederich, I think you are right now the leader in R.B.I.s, and I think you're one of the best batters at this Classic. Is your objective to finish and be the most valuable player at the Classic? And a question for Mr. Velez, will you again not tell us the name of the starting pitcher for the next game? FREDERICH CEPEDA: I think that the main objective here is the team. And if we can move forward to the next stage for this semifinal and be the winner, that would be the best I could take out of this classic. My main goal going into the field is that I am a team player, and the most valuable player will be the team, always. HIGINIO VELEZ: Now I would like to clarify to all of you people of the press, you know, there are different situations. We meet the rules and we were told that the day before at 9 p.m., we needed to tell you who the pitcher is. Even during the World Series and the Olympics, we were the ones that -- we actually wanted to tell you who the pitcher was. You know, that an hour before is what we do. But the Asians would warm up in a nonpublic place, and they would not tell you who the pitcher was going to be, and we -- the technical commission at the Olympics and the World Series we said that for not having -- we wanted to do it one hour before. It's not that we don't like to share this information with you, but I think it's even -- that it would be disrespectful to you to have a lineup for one day, and then the next day change it for you. At the Forosol, we gave you a lineup, and then we changed. I said we have never, ever -- I've been with this team for seven years, and I've never changed my lineup. I have never changed one name. When we were accused, we took the documents home and said are there any scratches here? Nothing! And the lineup that is valid is the one you give to the umpire. I can do any changes I want, but I can tell you, in seven years, I have never made any last-minute changes. Pitchers need to be preparing for the game before. If there are injuries, that's a different story. But that's how it goes. There are many different ways to do these things, and we also do it. And we do tell you when we are ready to do so, and we don't hide that information. Q. Mr. Lazo, do you think at the last inning, when the home run came and there was a signal, do you think the signal was to send the fast ball in and the same signal was center it? Isn't that an excessive comfort? PEDRO LAZO: I don't think that's the case. I think a team that is winning at the ninth inning for four or five runs shouldn't be throwing balls. You are 7-4, and you are three runs ahead. I threw it to the center because I had to. There was no reason to give him a ball. That would be more complicated. Okay. So he batted a home run. That's okay. Then I got three batters out after that. The objective was to win the game. Q. After Mexico got those two runs in, tell me about that meeting of your team. HIGINIO VELEZ: The message is that when you are facing a pitcher and you see that the players are changing the technical orientations, and they are not meeting them within the field, the team gets together and we remind them or do some adjustment based on the pitching that the pitcher is doing. And, you know, there is no -- anything out of this world, it's just doing adjustments based on the characteristics of the game and what the pitcher looks like. End of FastScripts |
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