I don't think there's any feeling it's unfair. I think the umpires are always challenged to call the game. The game is not an easy game to call to begin with, and I don't think you can allow outside influences to influence how you work a game. I mean, they're professional umpires. I think they do their best to get everything right. |
I expect them to be very supportive, and I think that will fuel the USA fans once they get into this atmosphere. From my understanding in Tucson, they had sombreros and their faces painted and a lot of Mexican flags. It was a bullfight kind of atmosphere, so that will be beautiful in this tournament. |
I expect them to be very supportive, and I think that will fuel the USA fans once they get into this atmosphere. From my understanding in Tucson, they had sombreros and their faces painted and a lot of Mexican flags. It was a bullfight-kind-of-atmosphere, so that will be beautiful in this tournament. |
I had a pretty good angle of that. And at the moment I saw it happen, I thought he left early. I think everybody in our dugout felt the same way. |
I had a pretty good angle. I thought he left early. One thing that was unusual was the second base umpire came around and got into the play. A lot of times, you'll see the home plate umpire make that call. |
I hate to use the word 'cut,' because these guys aren't worthy of being cut. When you look at that roster, it's pretty unique in its versatility and its spectrum of experience. |
I have a better feeling now than when I walked into the ballpark tonight. Now we have to take care of business against South Africa. |
I have no hesitations to say that ... we know what the expectations are. |
I haven't heard anything about that. |
I know he was torn as to what to do. If there had been an easy way for him to decide sooner he would have done so. |
I made a promise that I'd give everybody a start. But I think the tone kind of changed for the entire 30-man roster when we lost to Canada. |
I said...'give us a chance to get it right,' and I backed out of the way. I don't know what happened after that. |
I sensed it was a kind of a bitter moment for them both. I've known them both for a long time, and we really thought they would bring a lot to our team. Then we got down into the numbers of the things and it just didn't work out. |
I still think anybody on this team can win a game for us. But we'll think about (substitutions) more tomorrow. |
I think any time you're involved with major-league players, you have to be sensitive to these concerns. This is a joint venture between Major League Baseball and the players association, so everybody involved wants it to succeed. Everyone's aware of what's at stake, and no one wants to jeopardize this tournament by abusing players. You play to win, but within the parameters. |