Lynn On "MLB Little League Classic"

(Jupiter, FL) Earlier this week, Major League Baseball announced the St. Louis Cardinals will play the Pittsburgh Pirates in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the “MLB Little League Classic” on Sunday, August 20th.

The day will kick off with the Major League players attending Little League World Series games as a “unified demonstration of their passion and commitment to helping grown the game at the youth level” and the finish off the day of celebration with the Cardinals and Pirates hosting the Little Leaguers and their families at the MLB Little League Classic.     

The announcement happened to fall on the same afternoon that Lance Lynn, who played for Brownsburg, Indiana in the 1999 Little League World Series, made his start and the topic came up in the post game.

Already in mid-season form, here’s an excerpt from Lynn’s post-game exchange with reporters…

Media: They announced in August you guys are going to play in Williamsport.

Lynn: We are?

Media: Yeah, it’s official.

Lynn: It’s a small airport.

Media: Is it? What airport is it?

Lynn: I don’t know. I haven’t been there since I was 12.

Media: Did it seem big?

Lynn: No, it was tiny then.

Media: What do you remember about being there as a 12-year old??

Lynn: I remember not getting a win. And that pissed me off.

Media: So you would like another chance to win in Williamsport?

Lynn: Sure.

Media: Would you like to start that game?

Lynn: I’m going to start whatever game they want me to start.

Media: Do you remember it being an intense experience for that age?

Lynn: No, I was 12. I was on top of the world.

Media: Sounds like you’ll have a lot of interaction with the Little Leaguers there, what kind of advice would you give?

Lynn: Enjoy it. Life’s got a lot of ups and downs, just have fun with it. It’s just a game.

Media: Is it just pitch count now at this point for you?

Lynn: That’s all Spring Training’s about.

Media: Full steam ahead?

Lynn: Just building that pitch count. That’s why we have pitch counts, right? Then we get in the season and they don’t matter.

Media: For some people.

Lynn: For some people.

Media: Other people get pulled after 90 or 100.

Lynn: People that they matter to are up in a skybox typing on a computer.

Media: Whew. Um, how’s your recovery day to day?

Lynn: It’s fluid.

Media: Like after you start, I mean, you’re coming back from elbow and throwing at intensity that you have not thrown at…

Lynn: No, I threw at this intensity last year.

Media: Is this similar to the rehab assignments?

Lynn: Yeah. It’s Spring Training.

Media: That’s a fair point. Is your recovery pretty similar then to then, feel pretty strong? Flexibilty?

Lynn: I don’t know, I forget what I ate lunch for yesterday–I don’t know what I felt like a year ago.

Media: What will you feel like tomorrow?

Lynn: I don’t know, I haven’t woken up yet. Hopefully, I wake up.

Media: How’d you feel after the last time you started?

Lynn: Ooooh, like I said, I don’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday.

Media: What are you having dinner for tonight?

Lynn: We’ll find out…

Media: We can do this all day.

Lynn: It depends on where I go, depends on what I want, if I want to order in or not…

Media: When you were 12…

Lynn: That was a long time ago too.

Media: Did you just pitch or…

Lynn: I played first.

Media: So you played two games there, did you pitch in one of them?

Lynn: I pitched in two of the three games and played first in the other one.

Media: Did you have any big hits?

Lynn: I was 4-7.

Media: You think?

Lynn: Yeah.

Media: What did you have for lunch that day?

Lynn: Whatever they had in the cafeteria.

Media: Who knocked you guys out?

Lynn: We lost to all three American teams, so all of them. Yeah, we sucked.

Media: Do you watch the even now?

Lynn: Busy these days. We’re usually playing.

Media: You have a lot of down time.

Lynn: Ahh, not really.

Media: I guess when you’re 12, it’s the biggest game of your life?

Lynn: Well, as Adam Wainwright always says, the next game is your biggest game of your life, so yes.

Media: How did that compare as a 12-year old to some of the bigger games you’ve gone through now as an adult?

Lynn: I don’t know. I don’t over think things–I think you guys know that. I learned that at a young age.

Media: How did the Little League World Series prepare you for your appearance in the real World Series?

Lynn: Two different things.

Media: Like one you were supposed to pitch in, the other you weren’t?

Lynn: No, I was supposed to pitch in that one. That’s what I was there for. I was to intentionally walk to get the next guy out. We had it set up perfectly. Now I don’t even have to do that, I can just tell him to go to first…

You have to jog in…tell him to go to first and take me out. It’s gonna be great.

Media: You can get the win without throwing the pitch.

Lynn: Or the loss. Probably the loss since you’re not ending the inning. It’d be hard to get the win.

Media: That’s tough.

Lynn: Whatever. Are we done yet?

photo credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports, STLBaseballWeekly.com