[討論] 美國隊2009賽前受訪

剛好今天板上在吵MLB到底有沒有認真投入經典賽，
以一個老球迷來說，這屆絕對比以前好很多了啦，畢竟凡事都是比較出來的，
剛好找到一篇2009的MLB板舊聞，搭配當時鄉民用時事梗的翻譯以下──
(如果不知道梗的來源，就讓板上的老人幫忙解釋)

========舊聞分隔線========

※ [本文轉錄自 MLB 看板]

作者: abc12812 () 看板: MLB
標題: [WBC] 美國隊也準備好了
時間: Tue Mar 3 21:51:08 2009

http://tinyurl.com/cajauh (原內容已佚失)

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Three years ago, they had no idea what they were in for.
三年前，他們不知為何而戰

They had no idea how ready the rest of the world was. They had no idea how
not ready they were themselves. And, worst of all, the world-famous members
of Team USA had absolutely no idea the World Baseball Classic was about to
turn into their own little international embarrassment.
國際笑話，丟臉丟到國外

"We thought we'd crush everybody," Todd Jones, a member of Team USA's
star-studded 2006 bullpen, recalled Monday. "So we were all concerned about
playing time."
Todd Jones:我以為我們打別隊就像老爸打兒子

Oops. Not for long.
一分鐘到了

They had no idea they could fall eight runs behind Canada by the sixth
inning. They had no idea they could get shut down by a bunch of tricky Koreanpitchers they'd never heard of. They had no idea that Oliver Perez and seven
Mexican relievers could outduel Roger Clemens and oust them in the second
round.
馬上，就被肛

But it all happened, in very real life. And the men who were a part of Team
USA's 2006 WBC nightmare think they know exactly why it happened.
他們認為他們找到原因了

Three years ago, said Davey Johnson, a coach on the 2006 edition but the
manager this time around, "It was kinda like glitz and glamour -- but not a
lot of preparation."
Davey Johnson:我那時還以為我們是去觀光的咧

So that brings us to Monday, the day the 2009 version of Team USA hit the
field for the first time. There's a pretty fair chance you won't have any
trouble telling this team from, say, South Africa's.
又看不起南非隊了

It's a team with 14 former All-Stars, three former MVPs, three onetime
rookies of the year, a 20-homer man at every position on the field, Jake
Peavy and Roy Oswalt at the top of the rotation and a bullpen that includes
seven different smokeballers who averaged better than a strikeout an inning
last year.
好多國內王

But assembling talent was never this team's biggest challenge -- not even in
a year during which somebody or other seemed to be excusing himself from the
roster every 15 minutes during the past few days.
沒有那麼多逃兵

Nope, the biggest challenge has been trying to make sure this team -- unlike
the last one -- is actually ready to play when it kicks off this extravaganzaSaturday in Toronto. And the manager thinks that mission already has been
accomplished.
美國隊：我們準備好了

"We're definitely more prepared than we were a few years ago," Johnson said.
Johnson：我也準備好了

There's a reason spring training started on Feb. 14 this year, even though
the season won't open until April 5. There's a reason the Grapefruit League
and Cactus League games were already rolling by Feb. 25, the earliest openingdate ever.
因為春訓開始得比較早

And you could sum up that reason in three letters -- WBC.
都是WBC害的

When the powers that be studied why Team USA's rule-the-world dreams blew up
last time, they didn't have to study long. Turned out they'd forgotten one
minor detail that soon turned into a major disaster:
上次他們犯了個大錯

They forgot that baseball players need to play.
沒有熱身

"Three years ago, we only had one exhibition game, against the Giants," said
Chipper Jones, one of four players on this team who were around in 2006. "So
in my case, I'd played in one [exhibition] game for the Braves, against [the
University of] Georgia. Then I had two at-bats in that San Francisco game. SoI had four live at-bats before we had to step it up [in the WBC].
Chipper Jones: 拎北上次賽前只在大魯閣打了四球

"Not a real good setup for success," Jones concluded, pretty darned astutely.Chipper Jones: 發球機太慢了

You could make a fine case, of course, that five days of spring training
games -- followed this week by three Team USA exhibition games -- isn't a
whole lot better of a setup for success, considering that some countries havebeen gearing up for the WBC for months. But in the manager's eyes, this is
still a massive improvement on 2006.
賽程安排進的一小步，美國隊的一大步

"I think the biggest thing is that most of these guys now have had 10 to 12
at-bats," Johnson said. "And that's really big. Most of the pitchers have hadat least one or two outings. That's huge.
Johnson: 這次多給你們幾個代幣

"And just knowing that the competition is going to be tough. Taking it
seriously. Preparing a little bit. So I think mentally and physically, this
group is much more prepared than a few years ago."
要開始認真了

Three years ago, they didn't get it. Maybe they couldn't have gotten it untilthey'd been through it. But much like their hoops brethren, the 2004 Dream
Team, they made the mistake of assuming they'd be the ones kicking butt just
because this was their game.
上次的夢幻隊還沒清醒就夢遺了

It wasn't until they actually started playing, and getting whupped, Todd
Jones said, when "we found out other countries had worked out since Jan. 1.
Heck, even Korea got military exemptions if they got to [the final four in]
San Diego.
Todd Jones: 虎落平陽被犬欺

"So there was a lot on the line for all those [countries] except ours," he
said. "We [just] wanted to get our work in and not get hurt."
Todd Jones: 被打怕了

That's not normally a real good prescription for how to wind up on the old
medal stand. But fortunately, Johnson was there to witness it firsthand. And
apparently, he was taking notes.
還好，教練Johnson記下了一切

"I think Major League Baseball understood that there were a lot of guys a
couple of years ago who felt like they were big leaguers who'd had great
careers and they could just throw their glove out on the mound and get peopleout," he said. "I think now they realize that all around the globe, there aresome great baseball players playing for Mexico, and Italy, and these
countries can beat you."
Johnson: 到處都有好手

a different sport, it didn't take any arm twisting to convince the manager ofthe parallels.
Johnson被問問題。

"I think it's pretty much a similar thing," Johnson said. "I overheard DustinPedroia today talking about how Dice-K was rubbing it in all the time,
talking about how 'we won, and you guys weren't even around.' So I know theseguys don't want to have to hear that again this year."
Johnson: Pedroia跟我說Dice-K傷到他幼小的心靈了

Then again, the Japanese team has been working out together for weeks. The
American team didn't even find itself in the same locker room, or working outon the same field, until Monday.
美國隊又落後了

Next up, it's exhibition games against the Yankees on Tuesday, the Blue Jays
on Wednesday and the Phillies on Thursday, followed by a postgame flight to
Toronto and the real deal. So if these guys are to bond, they'll have to do
it fast.
他們要盡快追上

And let's just say there are some, uh, natural barriers to that bonding. The
Phillies' Jimmy Rollins, for instance, reported that when he reached his
locker, he found the Mets' David Wright stationed just two lockers over.
Luckily for them, the man in between them turned out to be their personal
U.N. peacekeeper.
置物櫃的位置有些怪怪的

"Sure enough, [Derek] Jeter comes in, gets to his locker and says, 'They put
me in between you two? Huh? Peace,'" Rollins said, laughing. "And that kind
of broke the ice right there. So that's why he's the captain."
Jeter: 我怎麼會是第三者？

Whether Johnson can maintain that peace when he tries to figure out whom to
start at short -- Jeter or Rollins -- and whom to start at third -- Wright orChipper -- is a whole different sort of challenge. But the manager is alreadylooking for ways to stay out of that fray, too.
Johnson要想辦法讓大家感情變好

"I've got Hall of Fame coaches on this staff," Johnson quipped. "And I had
them submit lineups to me. So if these guys don't like my lineup, I'll tell
them it was [Barry] Larkin's idea. Or Mike Schmidt's. I'll take the heat off
me."
Johnson: 我可是國寶咧

But (ba-dum bum) seriously, folks, Johnson also hopes to take the heat off
his players by giving them as much say in their fate as possible.
Johnson希望大家都能合作無間

He asked players Monday which ones were used to getting the green light to
run on their own. He checked on which position players felt they were ready
to play all nine innings, and which ones weren't. And he let them know that
"I've never been one to overmanage."
他要了解大家的習性

But however all that shakes out, the manager has a good feeling about this
group -- good enough that he ripped a page out of his shortstop's
psych-'em-up handbook by predicting that Team USA is the "team to beat" in
this tourney.
Johnson: 我感覺，我們會打的不錯

line and gotten a stipend from his manager out of it. But Davey Johnson
wasn't acting like a man who is real concerned about getting a bill.
Rollins大嘴巴亂講話

"From now on, I'll just let him [Rollins] be the spokesman," Johnson said,
chuckling.
Johnson: 科科，愛講就讓你講個夠！

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