I'd like to repeat that Cuba is still a very good team. If this were to occur on a regular basis - using the mercy rule on us - it would be worrisome.

It was not a gift that was given to Cuba. We were put in that pool. It was called the 'death pool,' the 'death group,' and we made it through to the final.

Both teams played great baseball. Two days ago we told everyone to wait patiently for today's game... This is what Cuban baseball is all about. Our players wanted to come back strong after losing in a mercy rule game and they came through.

I would like you all to remember that we have lost the battle but not the war. Puerto Rico was one of our main rivals. This notwithstanding we did not expect to have such a difference in terms of results.

These are things that simply happen in the game of baseball. If this were to occur on a frequent basis for Cuba, this would be rather worrisome. But this is not the case.

That means that Cuba is a great team because if not it would have lost many times under the mercy rule. But that's only happened twice. Our second-line pitchers did not come through and we couldn't use our best pitchers today. That was the fundamental cause of our defeat.