Latest / The Craig Way Show / Gene Watson discusses Dodgers World Series lead

Transcript

Gene Watson discusses Dodgers World Series lead · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Our MLB insider from the Chicago White Sox front office team,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Watson joins us on the hotline. Gino, Uh, I know,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: when when I asked you before the season, before, I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: mean before the series began, if you who you thought
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: would win? And you and you picked the Dodgers and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: seven but and and they're halfway there. But would it
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: be safe to say you didn't think it would go
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: exactly how it's laid out?
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  Speaker 2: Where the starting pitching has been as solid as it's
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: been for rely in the first two games.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's really been the key, and that's the
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  Speaker 3: key to any team that wants to win a World
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Series is the starting pitching. And I think probably the
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: swing of this series so far is Garrett Cole being
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  Speaker 3: pulled after eighty eight pitches and it's uh, I know
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of unknown there's a lot of things
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: that we don't know that go on in the dugout
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  Speaker 3: and in between the white lines. But when your number
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  Speaker 3: one starter, uh, you'r the bell Cali, your rotation, uh
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: doesn't get the link that's necessary. And what I believe
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: this would be the difference of the series the bullpens.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: That's what happens is your bullpens get over exposed. But
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  Speaker 3: so far, it's been a wonderful series, as we all expected.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm sure you've got to be feeling pretty good
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  Speaker 3: right now, Craig.
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  Speaker 2: I'm half good. You know.
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  Speaker 1: There's always the worry because I think about these other things,
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  Speaker 1: and this gets back to the starting pitching. Would it
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  Speaker 1: be fair to say, I don't know if you want
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  Speaker 1: to use the word advantage, but I would say the
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  Speaker 1: Yankees might be in slightly better position in Games three
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and four.
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  Speaker 2: Walker Bueller look better.
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  Speaker 1: Last time, but it was four innings what he was
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  Speaker 1: able to get them last time. And then the Dodgers
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  Speaker 1: are definitely going to go with a bullpen game in
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  Speaker 1: Game four. So I guess the question is how much
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  Speaker 1: work does the bullpen get tonight if they've come back
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  Speaker 1: with a bullpen game tomorrow the very next day. But
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  Speaker 1: I guess also when you're down two games to none,
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  Speaker 1: you have to have the answer, and the Yankees have
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  Speaker 1: to have the answer when they start with the man
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  Speaker 1: to night.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a very big start for Clark Schmid.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, the Yankees really need him to step up
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  Speaker 3: and be the guys that they've expected him to be
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  Speaker 3: you know, he's a he's a multiple pitch guy. He'll
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  Speaker 3: sink it, he'll cut it, he'll ride the fastball up
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  Speaker 3: in the zone. He's got a great breaking ball. But
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  Speaker 3: they really need to get some linked out of him tonight.
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  Speaker 3: And and and the same goes for the Dodgers with
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  Speaker 3: Walker Bueller, who threw four very.
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  Speaker 2: Good innings his last start out.
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  Speaker 3: But but you really need guys to go at least
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  Speaker 3: five and maybe six if they can. And the difference
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  Speaker 3: between you know, pitching throughout the one hundred and sixty
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: two game season and pitching in October is in October
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  Speaker 3: one pitches two to your body. It's very, very taxing
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  Speaker 3: the stress level that's on your body when you're out
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  Speaker 3: there making those starts. And tonight in Yankee Stadium, in
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  Speaker 3: that crowd, it's going to be extremely taxing on Walker Bueller.
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  Speaker 3: But they really need to get a good start out
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  Speaker 3: of him with a bullpen day coming tomorrow.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: All right, looks like Otani at least is good enough
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  Speaker 1: to go tonight. He's in the line up. There was
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: that sublexation of the left shoulder. What's your take on
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: that and how it affects a hitter. Everything I've rd
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  Speaker 1: and heard says for a left handed hitter, it's better
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  Speaker 1: that it's that shoulder, that back shoulder, left shoulder than
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  Speaker 1: it is the right shoulder one percent.
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  Speaker 3: The lead shoulder is always the more difficult one. And
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  Speaker 3: the way show Hey coils up in his swing, I
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  Speaker 3: think it's gonna be less painful, you know, leaving New York.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: I was there over the weekend. It is it has
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  Speaker 3: been cool at night, and so that could play into
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  Speaker 3: a little bit of a factor. But the other factor
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  Speaker 3: is you've got such a short right field in that
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  Speaker 3: ballpark that you know, he doesn't have to hit a
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  Speaker 3: ball one hundred percent to get it out. He could
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  Speaker 3: go probably sixty seventy percent and hit the ball out
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  Speaker 3: the right field. So and it'll be interesting to see
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  Speaker 3: how the shoulder holds up to the cooler weather.
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  Speaker 2: But but he should be fine.
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  Speaker 1: Talking with Geene Watson here, our MLB insider, you've been
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: around the game a long time. I think the casual
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: fan might ask, how how can a guy who's had
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: an almost historic season in Aaron Judge have the struggles
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  Speaker 1: that he's had, not only in this World Series, but
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  Speaker 1: in the postseason overall. Some staggeringly low numbers for him
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  Speaker 1: to this point, what and all of stuff that goes
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  Speaker 1: through his mind and what Aaron Boone and the Yankee
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  Speaker 1: staff must be going through when they try to get
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  Speaker 1: him back on track. They how do they work through
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  Speaker 1: something like that?
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  Speaker 2: Man, it's so.
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  Speaker 3: Hard, so personal to the player, and it's something that
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  Speaker 3: only he's going to be able to work himself out of.
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  Speaker 3: He's six for forty in the playoffs, he's zero for
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  Speaker 3: ten with runners in scoring position. He's won for nine
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  Speaker 3: in the World Series with six strikeouts. He's swinging and
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  Speaker 3: missing at almost a sixty percent rate. And really last
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  Speaker 3: night had to be the big knight for him and
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  Speaker 3: just getting himself back mentally, because you know, he was
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  Speaker 3: back at Yankee Stadium for the workout and just it's
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  Speaker 3: really one swing at a time. But what he really
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  Speaker 3: needs behind him tonight more than anything is the Yankee
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  Speaker 3: Stadium crowd. They've got to believe in him and get
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  Speaker 3: behind him and support him, because that's gonna be really important.
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  Speaker 3: A couple of overtues with some strikeouts and this thing
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  Speaker 3: could really turn on him quickly with the fans. But
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  Speaker 3: but it's really really, I mean, these guys care so
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  Speaker 3: much and they work hard for these moments and their
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  Speaker 3: careers that it really comes down to just one swing
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  Speaker 3: at a time, one at bat at a time, and
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  Speaker 3: really just trying to find that groove again and just
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  Speaker 3: do it one app bad at a time if you can,
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  Speaker 3: but very very difficult to do it this time.
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  Speaker 2: Of the year.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and and beyond Judge, clearly, Stanton has played well
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: throughout the course of the postseason. But they've got to
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  Speaker 1: get some other guys on track, don't they. Just like
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: when when the Dodgers had some slump going against San
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Diego early in that division series, they had to get
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  Speaker 1: other guys on tracked, and it took guys like Mookie
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: get Betts getting back on track and then and then
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  Speaker 1: also Tommy Edmund who's been red hot ever since that
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  Speaker 1: in the postseason.
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  Speaker 2: But what about for the Yankees and the.
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  Speaker 1: Guys have got to start hitting other than Stanton right
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  Speaker 1: now with Judge still struggling.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, they need gliber Torres and Alex Verdugo to really
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: step up there. They're kind of the complimentary players that
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  Speaker 3: have been able to step up in big moments like
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: you see Alex Verdugo and Tommy Edmund doing for the Dodgers,
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  Speaker 3: and that's really been the difference in the series. When
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: you look at what Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Tommy Edmond have done. I think they're like six for
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: eight last game, and they've really been the catalyst.
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  Speaker 2: But the Yankees need some unsung.
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  Speaker 3: Heroes to step up, and Verdugo is certainly capable of
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  Speaker 3: doing it. Gliber Torres is certainly capable of doing it.
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  Speaker 3: Austin Wells can pop a ball every now and then,
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  Speaker 3: but they just can't let the workload fall on the
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  Speaker 3: middle of that order, especially when you have an Aaron
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  Speaker 3: Judge struggling like he is.
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  Speaker 2: Let me ask you about another guy.
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  Speaker 1: He was red hot in the first parts of the postseason,
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  Speaker 1: but not so much here in the world too.
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  Speaker 2: So that's jazz chism.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And Jazz is a money player and this is
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  Speaker 3: going to be his kind of stage, and I've been
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  Speaker 3: somewhat surprised at his performance so far, but he's a
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  Speaker 3: very confident player and tonight will be a good stage
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  Speaker 3: for him to come out of it.
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  Speaker 1: You've known Freddie Freeman a long time and you know
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  Speaker 1: what an unassuming guy he is, and He's just kind
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  Speaker 1: of an aw shucks guy. He's just a grinder and
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  Speaker 1: he shows up the ballpark and he's always wanted to play,
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  Speaker 1: and he's had a.
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  Speaker 2: Fight, thrill his ankle stuff.
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  Speaker 1: It just seemed like, you know, all of stars and
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: planets aligned every I had several people tell me when
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I got to Vanderbilt, when I got to the stadium
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  Speaker 1: on Saturday, did you.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Know did you know?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Did you know that when he hit his home run
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: it was eight thirty seven pm the same time as
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Kurt Gibson hit his to Beta's eight thirty seven pm.
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  Speaker 1: And I was like, I didn't know it, But somehow
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: it doesn't surprise me with that kind of thing. And
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: that was that was truly a special woman, whether you
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: were a Dodger fan or not.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, Craig, you know, the Atlanta Braves
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  Speaker 3: drafted Freddie and the scouting director that took him was
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  Speaker 3: my first boss in baseball, Roy Clark.
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  Speaker 2: And you know Freddie.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: You evaluate the tools, the hit tool, the power tool,
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  Speaker 3: the arm tool, the field, but that makeup tool is
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  Speaker 3: so important. And Freddie Freeman has been an absolute dream
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  Speaker 3: for the LA Dodgers. It was such a catastrophic thing
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  Speaker 3: for him and his family to have to leave Atlanta.
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  Speaker 2: That Atlanta area meant so much to him, The Braves
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  Speaker 2: meant so much to him.
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  Speaker 3: And he goes out to la and he goes home,
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  Speaker 3: and he's just found himself.
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  Speaker 2: And people have no idea.
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  Speaker 3: I'm on this USA Baseball committee for the Olympics and
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: a lot of the Dodgers major league coaches are on
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: this committee with me, And throughout the playoffs they've been
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: talking about his ankle and how swollen it's been, and
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  Speaker 3: he's just kept grinding.
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  Speaker 2: He's never let his team down.
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  Speaker 3: Nobody would he would even know how serious that the
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  Speaker 3: ankle has been. And it just speaks to the leader
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  Speaker 3: that he is, the way he goes about his business,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: and how much the Dodgers organization and his teammates mean
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  Speaker 3: to him. And in their biggest moment in almost thirty
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: four years, he steps up big and and those moments
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  Speaker 3: I may not be over for him as the.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Series moves forward. Yeah.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: You know another thing that I thought was was pretty
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: interesting is after the game, after Game two, I guess
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: it was he was. He was on the Dodgers local
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: post game. Yes, I'm obsessed. I was watching on my
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: iPad in my hotel room in Nashville their postgame show,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and he mentioned, uh, I think he was He was
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: asked about the ankle. Do you think it'll be all right?
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: He said, it's been okay. It tends to swell up
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: on airplanes, so we'll see. And of course they went
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and went and flew kind of their own charter red
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: eye overnight to get You've been on some of those
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: as well, and he said, it swells up on flights,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and we'll see. So clearly they had to, I'm sure,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: just to give folks an idea of it. G know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I got to believe they had that ankle packed in
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: ice when he was on that flight all the way
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  Speaker 1: to New York.
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  Speaker 2: My guess it was air packed. And that's the thing
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  Speaker 2: that I mean.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: And again, the fourteen and fifteen series, not even playing
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: a pitch, those plane rides were so taxing from Kansas
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: City to San Francisco and Kansas City to New York.
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  Speaker 3: It was incredible that the players could even you know,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: even had the stamina to play. But that's what makes
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: them the best in the world. And I'm sure they
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: air packed it all the way. And once he got
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to New York. He got immediate treatment. And he's just
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: such a player, like many of these guys, his routine
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: is so important him. And I'm sure that once they
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: got to New York, even though it was the wee
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: hours of the morning, I think they landed at like
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: seven am. I'm sure he went straight to the ballpark
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: and got his treatment and did everything he needed to
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: do to get prepared to go through the workout last
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: night in a limited form and get some swings. But
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: you have no idea when you're a hitter what one
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: little pain in your lower half from your hips to
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: your toes can do to your swing, because it's all next,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: so the very next thing that happens, and so for
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: him to be able to do what he's done has
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: just been incredible.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Gee know, I think it's probably fair to say if
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers do find a way to win the Night
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: three nothing, I think it's all but done.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Obviously.
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  Speaker 1: No team has ever come back in a World Series
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: from down three. You oh, the Red Sox and the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Alcs against the Yankees twenty years ago. Oh four is
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the only time it's ever happened in any postseason series.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: If the Yankees win the night, you get a feeling
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: it's a brand new series. It's right back on since
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that old saying goes the best of seven series doesn't
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: start until the road team wins a game. So maybe
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: you know, all the Dodgers have done is whole serve
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: even though they're halfway there. And I think, what is
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: it eighty four percent of teams that win the first
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: two games of the best of seven going to win
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the series.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: But you know, whereas like.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: People like to talk about the pivotal game four or
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the pivotal game five, if you're down to nothing, game
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: three is every bit of pivotal in it. It is.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: And it's not just that, it's it's who you're up against.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: At this point, it's two nothing, you're back in New York.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be really, really difficult for you go back
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: to LA and win two games in that environment. And
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: I really feel like they've got, especially with a bullpen game,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: they've got to get all three games in New York.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: And once you get to game five, I think you
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: can look for Aaron Boone to really pull out all
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: the stops in the way he uses that pitching staff
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: and using more of his high leverage pitchers in high
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: leverage situation. But to go back in LA and to
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: try to win two is going to be really, really difficult.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: So look for them to pull out all the stops,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: win tonight and get to two to one. Win tomorrow
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: in the bullpen game, and it's two to two, but
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: even Game five becomes personally important. I think that Game
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: five could be the swing game, and I've got it
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: going seven.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I've got the.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Dodgers winning in seven, but if they don't pick off
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: all three in New York, it's gonna be extremely hard
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: for them to go back to LA and win both.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Hey, there's one other thing I want to ask about.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with the Dodgers or Yankees.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: It's about your old pal from your days with the Royals,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Salvador Perez. It was announced he's the winner of the ROBERTA.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Clementi Award. That's a huge award, you know, for the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: service of the community everyone justin Turner won it, for
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers and the others that have won it as well,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: and for Salvid Perez to get it, that's a pretty
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: cool deal.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: It did.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: It's incredible and we're just so proud of Salvador. I
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: texted with him this morning. He you know, people know
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: my wife's journey the last fourteen years, and Salvador has
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: just been such a driving force for her morale and
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: picking her up and lifting her up, and you know,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: all the things that he does within the community, you
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: get about one tenth of what he really does. He's
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: such a tremendous human being. In every scenario, every room
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: he walks into, every restaurant, whatever it is, Salvador Perez
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: is impacting the lives of people around him. And just
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: to see him from when we signed him when he
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: was sixteen years old to winning a World Series in
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: twenty fifteen where.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: A lot of people would have shut it down.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: He's the last remaining player from the two thousand and
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: fifteen World Series championship team at the catcher's position.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: For his size, it's truly incredible, but what he does.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: On the field pels and comparatison to what kind of
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: person he is. And he's never changed one bit since
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: he was sixteen years old. And we're just so incredibly
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: proud for him and his family today, and what a
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: tremendous honor to receive that award.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: How much longer can he play.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: I think he's got four years because he hasn't really
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: you know, he hasn't started to do the first base thing.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: He hasn't really done that a lot. He hasn't really
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: done the DH thing. And truthfully, I mean they had
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: the tremendous season this year. He's got Bobby Witt Junior
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: in that lineup. But you put Salvador Perez in either
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: one of these lineups tonight and he can do some
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: real damage in the six holes. So I mean, knowing him,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: he's gonna play four or five more years at least,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: I would.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Say no doubt about it.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: He's Gene Watson on our MLB Insider, Gill. We talk
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: again this week whether the series is done or whether
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: it's shifted back to LA.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: I appreciate the time today. Okay, guys, have a great week.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Take care YouTube. All right. That's Gene Watson, our MLB Insider.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: We'll hear more from Logorn's head coach Steve sarkasheen coming
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: up on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone and
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app.