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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL DMarch 10, 2013Ernie WhittPHOENIX, ARIZONA Team USA – 9 THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with Ernie Whitt from Team Canada. Q. Ernie, you can't like that result, but you have to like the way your team played today. ERNIE WHITT: Yeah, no, I'm not happy with the results. I thought it was a good ballgame. They got some key hits in timely situations, and so you tip your hat to them. Q. I assume that that's where you want to be in a game going into the 8th inning with a one‑run lead with Henderson and Axford? ERNIE WHITT: Well, I was happy going into the 7th inning with Aumont. If you have a game plan, you draw it up just like that. You have your best pitchers closing out the game for you. But, again, sometimes it doesn't always come the way you expect it to. And, like I said, they got some key hits in situations that put some big numbers on the board. Q. Was the only way you would go to Axford to start the inning would be if you had the lead? Was there any thought of going with him in the one‑run game? ERNIE WHITT: No, he's your closer. To me, I had confidence in Scotty. And, again, that's a power arm that closes for the team in Japan and has done a nice job. I liked the fact that ‑‑ I don't like that we were a run down but we were in the ballgame at that time and we just wanted to keep it close. And I felt that if we were within one run, then we had a chance. But Ax (Axford) threw an inning yesterday. Unfortunately, we ‑‑ I didn't want to use him as much as we did tonight even. If we lost the game, we lost the game. But the fact is you always try to keep your closer for the last inning. That's what you try to do. Q. Ernie, can you look at this‑‑ is it too soon to look at this and assess some of the positive buildings blocks? Taillon comes in here, one earned run through four innings. Saunders virtually silences the crowd with a second‑inning home run. You have bullpen members with limited Major League experience logging some big outs all weekend long. Can you look at that now and say we're not off to the second round, but we can hang our hat and build on these pieces going forward? ERNIE WHITT: Well, you always try to look forward. But we're disappointed that we're not going to the second round. I mean, that was our objective coming into this tournament. And, like I said, the way the game was being played, I was happy in the situation we were at. They got some key hits in situations. Q. When you look back at the last three games, how many times in the course of making your managerial decisions did you have to think about, okay, I'd like to use this pitcher here, but I got to make sure he gets his innings because of what his team wanted, or certain things like that, based on the affiliations that those players have with their Major League clubs? ERNIE WHITT: Well, you always want the players to get their innings in. But the bottom line, when it comes down to a game like today, I mean, you have to win. And we put ourselves‑‑ Jameson did a great job throwing four innings for us. Molleken came in and threw two great innings, got us to the sixth inning, which was a scenario that if anyone was hoping for, we were hoping for. And we had it all‑‑ like I said, the game plan was to use Aumont, Henderson and Axford to close it out, but it didn't work that way. Q. Ernie, how tough is it when you lose the first game of a pool like this in a three‑game pool to have to dig out of that hole? Both you and the U.S. were in that same situation coming into the game today. ERNIE WHITT: I think it's exciting for baseball, to be honest with you. Did we want to get mercied in the first game? Absolutely not. But it happened. And like I said yesterday, Mexico did us a favor by beating the U.S., which just gave us an opportunity. And we knew what we had to do, we just fell short today. Q. What have you seen in Saunders' development and how would you describe the way he played in these games? ERNIE WHITT: Like I said earlier in the preconference before the game started, he's a very talented man that probably doesn't get the recognition that he deserves. Playing in Seattle, they just don't have the media coverage. But just a tremendous up‑and‑coming outfielder that's going to be a superstar. Q. There's obviously always a lot of focus on the U.S. team coming into the WBC. What does it say about this pool and the tournament overall that basically that the U.S. team was five outs away from not advancing out of the first round? ERNIE WHITT: Well, again, you try to put your best team forward. I'm sure the U.S. put their best team forward. But you still have to play the game. The game's played between the lines, and any breaks that you get along the way is a positive. And they hit some balls hard today, but they also hit that one down the third baseline. We would have much rather going into the last inning only down two runs instead of five. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you very much, Ernie. ERNIE WHITT: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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