Buck Martinez Quotes (107 Quotes)

It's a pretty good situation, but we need to have a little cooperation from the pool. That's our fate.

There's no doubt in my mind they understand what the goal is now.

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.

With Vernon Wells' uncertainty, Carl Crawford's uncertainty, Gonzo becomes a very important guy to us. That's what I wanted to echo and get across to him today.

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.

He's a very good pitcher. It indicates they want to get after us pretty good. Rodrigo has won 29 games the last two years in a very tough division.

For so long we have been the teachers around the world. Now I think there's something to be learned from teams like Korea and Japan execution and work ethic.

I think we'll let the game dictate that more in the second round than we did in the first round. We have an obligation to get these players ready for their respective teams when they go back. I think that was a concern early on. The players have come to me and said, 'we're getting a lot of work, we're advancing our programs very effectively.' Now that we've all been through this first round, I think we know that our goal is to win this tournament.

With the number of closers on our roster, we have a chance for some pretty short innings. They have a tendency to get ready early, throw a lot of strikes, and they are used to pitching in the heat of battle.

Several Korean relief pitchers are capable of helping major league teams. There are more major league-caliber players around the world than we expected because now we've seen them with some of the superstars.

That's the aspect of international play that many of us have never dealt with before. You just don't know what's going to happen. Canada came out smoking against us, and now Mexico comes out smoking against .

I think both of them are very capable of playing third base, and we certainly want both of their bats in the lineup.

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.

He made his decision and we respect that, given his history of injuries from a year ago and the fact that he only played in 14 games (in 2005).

He was very excited. Anybody that can have his bat in the lineup (benefits). He's a game-changer and a good guy to have on your lineup, no doubt about it.

I don't care who you are. When you put on a uniform that says USA it is different. I saw a picture of the (America) hockey team on USA TODAY (after the Olympics) with their heads down. That is not a good feeling. We are not using anybody's disappointment as motivation, but it is a reminder of what we are doing here and everybody is watching us.

These things happen. I mentioned before the tournament that there were seven or eight teams capable of beating anyone else on a given night.

It's a pretty accomplished, pretty talented roster. ... We feel this is our best foot forward with an opportunity to win this tournament.

Clemens can throw less than 50 pitches (against Mexico), that's a possibility, but it just depends on the game. We have to advance and we have to use Roger according to the game. But certainly, we'll pay attention to the score and where he is.

They pitched very effectively to the heart of our order.

Well, not after we lost to Canada it doesn't.

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.

It's baseball. It's playing baseball. You do it for three hours a day.

It's not that much different than what the White Sox have done, what the Angels did in 2002. It's execution, it's fundamentals. They do not make any mistakes.

I think Barry Bonds was in a unique situation given his injuries from a year ago, the fact that he played in just 14 games. Even though I spoke to Barry in December and he was enthusiastic and excited about the possibility, I think the closer he got to the reality of spring training, and as he got himself in shape for the regular season and the San Francisco Giants, he felt like it may be too much of a challenge to try to push his body at this point in his career.

That's the perils of pool play.

These stars don't allow themselves to be embarrassed -- that's why they're stars. They don't take a minute for granted. They can laugh and joke around, but they get their work done.

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 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.

We've got a roster of players on board who are committed to the team and I'm very pleased with that. Our position players and bullpen are very deep. This gives us a roster that's as good as any team.

He's one of those guys that the majority of baseball fans aren't that familiar with, but baseball players know about him and how good he is and how dominant he is.

He is very confident about his conditioning. He worked awfully hard. Junior was the best player of the last decade. Last year, he was healthy and had a good season. I saw the joy return to his game.

Organizations understand that when they get their players back, they'll have a log of exactly what they've done. When they get back to their teams, they'll have two weeks to resume Spring Training to get ready for the season.

I think the thing that strikes me is that were there perilous situations for all of the favorites. Panama was close to knocking off Cuba. Venezuela had a couple of close games. Nobody has been routed. That's what's interesting is that none of the big powerhouses have really broken out yet, except for the first Venezuela-Dominican game.

They understand the role now is to win.

Now we have two days off before we play again. Certainly having the game in hand and now our record is 1-1 with the prospects of Roger Clemens going against Mexico on Thursday, it's a pretty good situation.

We had conversations this morning, informal, what ifs. Everybody is of the mind that we have to concentrate on the next two days, but we have had some discussions about that.

I wouldn't consider it a black eye (for the U.S. team to lose). But it's something you don't want to experience. Certainly, there are guys from other parts of the world who have turned into stars in the big leagues, but this is our game.

Obviously, they got a wakeup call last night.

We need to have a little cooperation in the pool. That's the fate.

As a player, I certainly wanted him. But I also wanted somebody with his leadership abilities. I'm sure his being on the team made it easier for us to get some other people.

He has been through this before and he understands the importance of representing your country. I think Jason is one of the best players who's ever strapped on the catching mask. He understands the game, he loves to represent his team, whether it's the Red Sox or Team USA. I'll be very anxious to work with a guy like that.

I think we're going to start everybody in the first round for sure. We're going to try to get as many at-bats for everybody as possible. I think the guys understand that we've got a lot of talent. Everybody on this team deserves to start and I intend to do that.

This is big stuff for our team. There's no doubt about it. I have no hesitations to say that our team is really enthusiastic and that we know what the expectations are. We can't wait to get going.

It's unfortunate to have to sit around for two days, but that's the nature of the tournament. That's our fault.

We put together what we thought was a very good team but we just didn't swing the bats.

Anybody involved with this tournament would love to see the best teams available. We know that the Cubans have set the standard for international baseball and it would be a good opportunity to measure up their team against the best in the world.

As far as the roster, obviously we have continued to have informal talks. Nobody has reached out to anybody at this point, and we're going to get through this night and then we'll have time.

We have a large number of closers in this bullpen. These guys are able to be ready early, throw a large number of strikes and usually are more ready at this time of the year than the starters. Bullpens in general have a tendency to come together, and I think that's exactly what you will see in this staff.

They're motivated to fend off the Japanese to make sure they don't have to meet again if they advance.