"Back at home, everybody always thought that David was going to be big time. When he was in Minnesota, a lot of people thought that he was going to be a productive hitter there. But he's moved on to a bigger market and he's done what he's done, and he deserves everything that he's getting."

"Cabrera just stepped up and did a great job."

"This will be a game watched by every Dominican soul, the 8 million we have on the island and all the others spread around the world."

"Our guys take it very serious and show a lot of pride in this kind of stuff."

"I don't want the word patriotism being brought up over here because of these guys being professional and (some) other teams are not. Because when you have $100 million in the bank and a contract and you leave everything and take a chance and come over here and play for your country, if that isn't patriotism, I don't know what it is."

"Everybody who had the desire to play prepared themselves for this tournament. Our guys saw enough pitches. They had enough at-bats. No excuses."

"I am worried about the health of our best starters, but they have the desire to play and that makes me happy."

"I think everybody in baseball knew, even before the All-Star break last year, that we were going to play this Baseball Classic, and everybody that had the desire to play prepared themselves to play for this tournament. Yes, they didn't have 100 at-bats or whatever before this, but we got all the way to the seventh game. We played two rounds, the guys saw enough pitches, they had enough at-bats. There are no excuses."

"It's a short tournament and we have to stay humble about it. It's baseball and anything can happen. We feel very good about the group we got here. We actually have the group we wanted and they seem to have the special love to play for their country."

"There's still a lot of baseball left in Sosa, he's only had one bad year and has a lot to offer the Dominican team."

"I believe that part of what the World Classic did was remind people that baseball talent comes from all over the world. There are a lot of people playing this game."

"There are no favorites in baseball. You can do it in basketball or hockey or any other sport, but in baseball there are no favorites. Our country expects a winning team and we are OK with that. We are going to go round-by-round, but we don't want to let our country down."

"If you're going to get hurt, you're going to get hurt, whether you're in spring training or the World Baseball Classic. But I want everybody to understand, we're not going out there only trying to win and forgetting about our players. We have a responsibility to the organizations that are allowing the players to play, and we're also going to try to get them ready for the regular season."

"They always say the most important pitch in baseball is Strike 1. It's even more important now."

"I would start spring training a week earlier so the players would get five or six exhibition games in before starting."

"It was an awesome experience. I would go again tomorrow."

"I believe this is the biggest recognition I'm going to get for the rest of my life in my country. Coming from a country with so many good players and so many coaches and being chosen to do this, nothing will match this."

"We left the fear at home."

"I think it's going to be a terrific atmosphere. The four teams here are going to have good baseball."

"It was full of blood. He only had about 10 more pitches before he was done, so we made the change. We appreciate his effort."

"We're anxious to face Cuba. We've never played them before in this type of competition."

"I don't think that, with the level of competition of every team, you need to have your 'A' team out there for nine innings every day."

"I can see why they are dominating international competition."

"The crowd did help us. We have a big Dominican community here. But I think the game was so good, the players weren't even paying attention to the fans. They were focused on the game."

"We can feel the confidence he brings."