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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC SEMIFINALS AND FINAL

March 22, 2009

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the formal interview session. We are joined by Manager Davey Johnson and Jimmy Rollins.
Manager Johnson, can you give us your overall impression of tonight's game and tell us your feelings about Team USA's performance.
DAVEY JOHNSON: I thought we played a good ball game. The pitcher's walked the first hitters, and those guys scored, and we weren't as sharp in the field as we usually are. Give Japan credit, they played a good ball game.

Q. Davey, can you talk about why you stuck so long with Oswalt in the fourth inning?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I thought he was throwing the ball all right. I tried to get Grabow up. I didn't think it was going to take him so long. It was my fault. It took him longer in the cool weather to get loose.
But I still thought he was throwing good enough to stay in the ball game.

Q. Mr. Johnson, it seems as though a lot of teams have experienced playing Japan sort of like bleeding to death from a series of paper cuts. What is it about their style of station-to-station fundamental ball that perhaps we should notice?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, they advance the runner a couple times, but they got hits with runners in scoring position. You got to hand it to the hitters, they did a good job. They got good pitches and hit the ball hard.

Q. For both of you, we've got a Korea/Japan final. And I'm wondering if there is anything that the US can learn by the way these two teams played baseball that can be incorporated into the game for the future?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I'll give that to Jimmy.
JIMMY ROLLINS: They were fundamentally sound. They took advantage of mistakes, didn't worry about trying to draw the ball out of the ballpark. And when you put the ball in play, you can find some holes. They definitely did that. They play with passion. And we play with passion, but they just wear theirs on their sleeve.
Their style is different, a lot of things they do, you know. We will get criticized for if we did them back home during the regular season, but that's the way they play. They don't worry about the big things. They do things right, and if there is anything that we can take away from what we've seen is take advantage of another team's mistakes.

Q. Davey?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I agree with Jimmy, they played a good ball game. We didn't play as well defensively. We made it a ball game through seven innings, and made some mistakes, walked the lead-off hitter in the 8th, and that's not the way you win ball games. Ran out of a few hard-throwing left-handers in the pen, which would have made it a little easier.

Q. I have a question for Manager Johnson. I would like to ask --
DAVEY JOHNSON: He can speak good English, too.

Q. I have a question for Manager Johnson. You have played in Japan, as well. And the fact that the Japanese team defeated your American team, is there a special thought that comes to your mind in regards to that?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Yeah, I think that's the second time that I've been beaten by a Japanese team managing a US team. I probably played about ten games against Japanese teams. The pitchers they threw out there, I thought they all threw the ball well. They threw a lot of strikes. We made a come-back on 'em, but when they had to answer, they answered, and added three more runs in the eighth. And I have to hand it to 'em, a very good team.

Q. Davey, does this mean that Japanese baseball might be better than US baseball, or is it just one game? And what needs to happen to the US to be better? Just get better players to play for the States?
DAVEY JOHNSON: No, I think we had quality players. It's just one ball game. You know, some of our pitchers aren't as far along as some of the Japanese pitchers. I think our hitters came around. They were behind early. Some of the other clubs, they were ahead of us. But all in all, we put on a good show, and we could have as easily won that game.

Q. Davey, do you think that playing in March is an advantage for the Korean and Japanese teams because they get an earlier start, and they're expected to go on opening day?
DAVEY JOHNSON: When I was in Japan, spring training started Jan 1. So I know that they do that. It's takusan renshu, a lot of practice.
And that's great. I think a lot of practice is good. It does give them a head start when you play 'em in early March, but I thought our guys played well.

Q. Jimmy, following up on the earlier statement. You said, I'm paraphrasing, there are things that if you guys did it in the States, you would be criticized for it. Can you be specific about that?
JIMMY ROLLINS: For example, it's just their style, they get the ball, get hits, flip the bats, which is fine. I actually like it. But in American baseball, you do that, you're going to have the other team trying to throw the ball at you. You're going to rub people the wrong way, because they think you're styling, showboating. But that's the way they play baseball and that's what I was mentioning.

Q. Davey, you said you wanted Grabow up, and it took him longer to get ready. How much longer did it take him and when did you hope to have him ready?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I hoped to have him ready by the eighth hitter, but it was offensively cold out there, and he has a little bit of a tight groin muscle. And I should have just got him up a little earlier than I did.

Q. Jimmy, several US players said they felt like underdogs throughout the tournament. Today, can you talk about the pro-Japan crowd and how you can compare that to playing in Miami and Canada?
JIMMY ROLLINS: It was definitely an international tournament, there is no doubt about that. But regardless, we had a lot of fun, being an underdog, knowing that we were at somewhat of a disadvantage as far as having time to prepare. But we knew what our job was, and we had to go out there and try to find a way to get it done.
It shows the support and the passion that these other countries have for baseball. And in America, we have many sports, basketball, football, so our attention is at whichever sport season is going on at that time, and that's what we're paying attention to.
But in the other countries, when their team and their country is being represented, they stand up behind 'em 100 percent.

Q. Jimmy, special impression from Japanese pitchers, and who is the most impressive for you?
JIMMY ROLLINS: I like Darvish. He has some good stuff. He throws the ball at 96, has a cutter, slider, and he's not afraid to pound the zone. I like that. He pitches, and you put it in play. I was able to put some swings on the ball. Dice-K was Dice-K, a lot of pitches and find a way to squeak out a win.
All of their pitchers throwing the kitchen sink at you, and that's what's good. You don't go up there and look for one pitch. They have many ways to get you out, and that's a very good way to approach hitters.

Q. Davey, can you talk about the decision in the eighth to hit Longoria in that spot rather than Victorino.
DAVEY JOHNSON: I was trying to get Evan in that spot. That was going to be the tying run. He's an RBI man, been hitting the ball well in the spring. It was the only basic move I had. I had to use three players to make that move. I would do it again.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, team USA. Great job tonight.

End of FastScripts

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