HOUSTON — Manager Mark DeRosa says his untimely remark in regards to the United States having already punched its ticket to the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals earlier than dealing with Italy was simply an “overly confident statement” and reiterated Thursday that he knew nothing was assured but at that time.
DeRosa had made that comment on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” earlier than the 8-6 loss to Italy on Tuesday that triggered the U.S. to lose management of its WBC destiny. The U.S. still advanced to a Friday quarterfinal matchup with Canada thanks to Italy’s 9-1 win over Mexico on Wednesday.
“It’s just an overly confident statement on ‘Hot Stove,’ period, the end,” DeRosa mentioned. “And it’s my fault. I felt good about where we were after Mexico.”
DeRosa additionally talked in regards to the recent begin the star-studded U.S. crew has now that its loss to Italy did not show deadly to its title hopes.
“New lease on life for the boys, certainly,” he mentioned. “I put ourselves in a tricky spot. Tip our hat to Vinnie Pasquantino and Italy, actually. Went into that recreation somewhat overly assured and received an enormous wake-up name.”
DeRosa’s remark earlier than the Italy recreation garnered loads of scrutiny after that loss, notably since he had stored normal starters Bryce Harper, Cal Raleigh, Alex Bregman, Brice Turang and Byron Buxton out of his beginning lineup. The U.S. wanted to beat Italy to assure a spot within the quarterfinals. Losing left it topic to a collection of tiebreakers, pending the results of Wednesday’s Italy-Mexico recreation.
He defined these choices Thursday. DeRosa mentioned he needed to give begins to Ernie Clement and Paul Goldschmidt as a result of they might find yourself enjoying main roles off the bench sooner or later. He additionally mentioned he was restricted during which pitchers he may use due to “guardrails” set by MLB groups, who sometimes prohibit how a lot their gamers throw on the WBC due to harm considerations.
“When I looked at the lineup, I felt confident going in — bottom line,” DeRosa mentioned. “I mean, I also look at it from a player’s perspective. Like, Bryce Harper was struggling a little bit. I know it’s three games, but from the dugout — I played with him for a long time — so it’s like, ‘OK, maybe we get him off his feet a day. We get Goldy in there. We allow [Harper] to work with [Team USA hitting coaches] Sean Casey, Matt Holliday, maybe something clicks. And we get him right back in there and going.'”
DeRosa additionally had talked about earlier than Tuesday’s video games that a few of the U.S. gamers have been “dragging.” The crew buses had left later than normal after a Monday night time victory over Mexico as gamers stayed within the locker room celebrating the win.
“Listen, us hanging out in a clubhouse is everything I ever dreamed of creating,” DeRosa mentioned. “You’ve got to buy into this thing super quick and try and create a team. For those players to invite the coaches in and for us to spend time together and enjoy a huge win that we hadn’t had in 20 years was something that, I looked around the room and it was super special to me.
“We didn’t lose sight of the truth that we had to exit and play properly towards Italy. They performed a hell of a recreation. They smacked us within the mouth early. They received up huge. We went into that recreation ready to win it. I feel there is a couple false narratives on the market. But, no, I used to be properly conscious that we had to win that recreation primarily based on all of the situations that would happen.”
The U.S. is making some adjustments to its pitching employees heading out of pool play and into the quarterfinals.
Lefty Tim Hill and right-handers Will Vest and Tyler Rogers are stepping in for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, Michael Wacha and Ryan Yarbrough. DeRosa mentioned left-hander Matthew Boyd additionally has left the U.S. crew to return to the Chicago Cubs‘ spring coaching camp.
“And I fully perceive that,” DeRosa said. “There’s loads of strain from the guardian golf equipment to get these guys ramped up for the beginning of the season.
“If he’s going to be the Opening Day starter for the Cubs, we had to guarantee him innings — the game’s got to dictate now. Pool play is a different animal. Trying to weave our way through it from a pitching standpoint, all bets are off now.”
