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Special Dave Roberts sit-down conversation on Dodgers Territory · Foul Territory

0:12
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to a very special episode of Dodgers' Territory.
0:17
Speaker 1: We are live at Camelbacker Ranch, of course, the spring
0:20
Speaker 1: training home of the back to back World Series champion
0:23
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Dodgers. A man that needs no introduction, Dave Roberts,
0:27
Speaker 1: the manager of the team, joining us now.
0:28
Speaker 2: I'm Alana Rizzo. Alongside with Clint Psias and Katie wou
0:32
Speaker 2: we are the hosts of Dodgers' Territory for the upcoming season. Dave,
0:36
Speaker 2: thank you for doing this. Appreciate it very much. There's
0:39
Speaker 2: so much to talk about with the upcoming season. But
0:42
Speaker 2: we want to take you back to the World Series
0:44
Speaker 2: last year, which one of the best World Series that
0:46
Speaker 2: certainly I have ever seen. Of Course, it ended in
0:49
Speaker 2: the right way, right, so it's a good World Series
0:51
Speaker 2: for us. But I want to go back to Game
0:55
Speaker 2: one and just the mentality and the mind set of
1:00
Speaker 2: going up against naturally the best club in the American
1:02
Speaker 2: League in the Toronto Blue Jays. But what did you
1:05
Speaker 2: think going into that series of the way that we're
1:07
Speaker 2: going to win this is.
1:09
Speaker 3: How the way we're going to win this.
1:12
Speaker 4: I felt that the Blue Jays didn't get the didn't
1:16
Speaker 4: get enough credit kind of nationwide about how good they
1:20
Speaker 4: were of a ball club, very gritty, very tough team.
1:24
Speaker 4: I thought, I thought we would perform better offensively against
1:29
Speaker 4: their pitching staff, but I just felt that we were
1:33
Speaker 4: going to be in for a dogfight, and so you
1:36
Speaker 4: try to win those games at home. And like I said,
1:40
Speaker 4: I didn't expect us to not perform offensively, but we
1:44
Speaker 4: really played defense really well, we pitched really.
1:47
Speaker 3: Well, and.
1:49
Speaker 4: It was I'm looking forward to digging into this World
1:52
Speaker 4: Series because I haven't, truth be told, I haven't gone
1:56
Speaker 4: back and replayed Game one, three, five, seven, seven, all
2:00
Speaker 4: that stuff. So this would be good for my recall
2:03
Speaker 4: to having this conversation.
2:05
Speaker 5: I mean it worked for us last year too. You know,
2:07
Speaker 5: you win a World Series again. After we talk about
2:10
Speaker 5: twenty twenty four, this one it seemed, I don't want
2:13
Speaker 5: to say, easier in some ways, but also a lot
2:16
Speaker 5: more stressful in other ways. I mean, obviously getting to
2:18
Speaker 5: the World Series, I don't want it's not a cakewalk.
2:21
Speaker 5: Every team in baseball is very good, but you guys,
2:23
Speaker 5: maybe you mentioned there, kind of face a little bit
2:26
Speaker 5: of a sucker punch meeting those Toronto Blue Jays, a
2:30
Speaker 5: little bit better that splitter from everybody who was working
2:33
Speaker 5: very much. We talked last year about baseball's kind of
2:37
Speaker 5: funny because something that maybe would have gone against you
2:40
Speaker 5: guys six seven, eight years ago, it seemed like it
2:44
Speaker 5: fell your way. This last postseason. Baseball just weird. Is
2:50
Speaker 5: it something where maybe you're managing different with the gut,
2:54
Speaker 5: the heart, all that kind of stuff. What can you
2:56
Speaker 5: kind of say. I'm probably not articulating this well because
3:00
Speaker 5: I don't want to take up everybody's time, But you
3:02
Speaker 5: know what changes between a twenty seventeen, eighteen, twenties nineteen
3:08
Speaker 5: postseasons to being able to put it all together?
3:11
Speaker 4: And yeah, you know what? And I don't know that answer.
3:14
Speaker 4: I think that's kind of a great thing about baseball,
3:17
Speaker 4: where it is so unpredictable and there are a lot
3:22
Speaker 4: of different pressure points in series, and you can look
3:25
Speaker 4: back and we can do a show where you're talking
3:28
Speaker 4: about sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. Every single year there are pressure
3:32
Speaker 4: points that went our way, decisions that I made that
3:36
Speaker 4: went well, and decisions I made that didn't go well,
3:38
Speaker 4: and then they're looked at as good decisions or bad decisions.
3:41
Speaker 4: But yeah, in the past couple years. You need breaks too,
3:45
Speaker 4: So I don't think that I overhauled kind of the
3:49
Speaker 4: way I manage. But I do believe that I have
3:52
Speaker 4: really gone ahead and trusted players more than I have
3:56
Speaker 4: and that kind of comes with experience. But again, the
4:01
Speaker 4: ball gets stuck in the outfield wall a line drive
4:05
Speaker 4: right at Max Muncy. When Blake comes in and you
4:08
Speaker 4: know that ball is down the line. It's a different series,
4:10
Speaker 4: and so there's a lot of things that happened that
4:14
Speaker 4: have to happen for you to win a championship.
4:16
Speaker 6: So I'm my first game of the World Series is
4:19
Speaker 6: not Game one. I was still doing Cardinals, but knew
4:22
Speaker 6: I was coming to Dodgers, so I hopped in on
4:25
Speaker 6: Game three, which I may.
4:29
Speaker 3: Did you did you last eighteen innings?
4:32
Speaker 7: Yeah?
4:32
Speaker 6: I essentially had two games, of course, but to make
4:35
Speaker 6: up for the two games that I missed, they put
4:37
Speaker 6: two games into one. And as I'm watching Game three
4:40
Speaker 6: and we're there's in a different press box, we're up
4:43
Speaker 6: in like left field, and I think the story by
4:46
Speaker 6: the seventh inning is going to be of Tawny's two homers.
4:48
Speaker 6: And never did I think the story was going to
4:50
Speaker 6: be a marathon eighteen inning game. As you're watching this
4:53
Speaker 6: game transpire, especially when you get to like the thirteenth
4:57
Speaker 6: inning and you realize this, this is never going to end.
5:00
Speaker 6: We're going to be here for the rest of time.
5:02
Speaker 6: How do you I mean, I think Andrew Friedman even
5:04
Speaker 6: came out and that was the game where he actually
5:06
Speaker 6: threw a bar stool because he was convinced that, you know,
5:09
Speaker 6: it was just so frustrated or all the emotions of
5:12
Speaker 6: this game never ending.
5:14
Speaker 7: How do you manage that side of it?
5:15
Speaker 6: And did it get to a point where you were like,
5:17
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, this will never this will never end.
5:21
Speaker 4: I had thoughts that it was never going to end.
5:24
Speaker 4: I think you're managing the game first and foremost, But
5:28
Speaker 4: there was a point where I was really considering having
5:33
Speaker 4: I don't know if it was migey Ro or Kiki
5:34
Speaker 4: was still in the game and having them come out
5:37
Speaker 4: and pitch after Will Climb, because you're also trying to
5:42
Speaker 4: appreciate that you still got to win four games in
5:44
Speaker 4: this seven game series, albeit the World Series, and there
5:48
Speaker 4: was an attrition factor going on in that game, and
5:52
Speaker 4: certainly with the pitching and so knowing also Shohey had
5:56
Speaker 4: to pitch the next day or actually it was past midnight,
6:01
Speaker 4: so that same night, and Will Smith was going to
6:04
Speaker 4: catch the next night or that same night, and so
6:07
Speaker 4: I'm also thinking about attrition, and so that was kind
6:10
Speaker 4: of got me a little anxious. Very grateful that Freddie
6:15
Speaker 4: hit the homer in the eighteenth but Yamamoto, I mean,
6:18
Speaker 4: you wonder what would have changed if we didn't win
6:21
Speaker 4: it right there, and Yamamoto had to pitch that game.
6:26
Speaker 4: But yeah, there was it was up and down, and
6:29
Speaker 4: you want to win them all. But I think at
6:30
Speaker 4: a certain point I just wanted the game to end.
6:32
Speaker 2: I remember Ken Rosenthal, Dave was reporting during the game
6:35
Speaker 2: because obviously he's a sideline reporter for Fox, that you
6:38
Speaker 2: would consider using a position player to come in and
6:40
Speaker 2: pitch because you're trying, you're not just managing. Of course,
6:43
Speaker 2: for that one, you have to think about the rest
6:45
Speaker 2: of the series. Did you ever think there'd be a
6:47
Speaker 2: time in your life as a manager where a position
6:49
Speaker 2: player might be pitching for your club in the World
6:52
Speaker 2: Series and try to continue to force it?
6:54
Speaker 4: Absolutely not that one. I don't think that had been
6:58
Speaker 4: received well on social you know, but I think that
7:02
Speaker 4: if you look back, you know, and I'm managing the
7:03
Speaker 4: postseason where you know, certain times and people hate saying it,
7:06
Speaker 4: but you gotta punt, and you got to you gotta
7:08
Speaker 4: try to win a series, and so at that point
7:11
Speaker 4: in time, you're trying to net out positives and negatives.
7:15
Speaker 4: But I did get to the point after talking to
7:17
Speaker 4: Yamamoto that he was ready and he was I was
7:20
Speaker 4: willing to kind of fire that bullet if we needed to.
7:23
Speaker 4: But yeah, al I never thought even considering a position
7:26
Speaker 4: player in a World Series game.
7:28
Speaker 5: And I remember looking over the railing there in the
7:30
Speaker 5: auxiliary press box seeing I'm a Mota. I see the
7:32
Speaker 5: intent change in his throat. I'm like, oh shit, this
7:35
Speaker 5: could be real, this could be really Thank God for
7:37
Speaker 5: will Climb.
7:38
Speaker 3: What that kid did, it's amazing. And he blacked out.
7:42
Speaker 4: And so that's sometimes you know, you can't overthink things,
7:45
Speaker 4: and it was in the moment, and you know, but
7:48
Speaker 4: it is a testament to when you don't give yourself
7:51
Speaker 4: an out.
7:51
Speaker 3: And I've even talked to him this this spring.
7:54
Speaker 4: And had him talk to the team about you know,
7:57
Speaker 4: when you think, when you know you're the last guy available,
8:01
Speaker 4: then you've got to be more efficient. You can't look
8:04
Speaker 4: to the pen just for someone to save you. So
8:08
Speaker 4: this is situation he's never been in, might never be
8:11
Speaker 4: in again. And so the way he performed, we certainly
8:15
Speaker 4: don't win that game without him, and maybe not the
8:18
Speaker 4: World Series because obviously after that game we ended up
8:21
Speaker 4: dropping two more at home. So always be a Willklin fan.
8:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, there you go.
8:29
Speaker 7: This is what I think everyone wants to know.
8:31
Speaker 6: If you had to choose between Migi Row and keyk
8:33
Speaker 6: who's taken the ball in that situation.
8:35
Speaker 3: You know what I would say.
8:37
Speaker 4: I know one guy was in the game, one goes out,
8:39
Speaker 4: But if I had to pick one, I got Migi
8:42
Speaker 4: Row right now. Key K is he's gone gone cold
8:46
Speaker 4: recently kitchen, so he's given up walks and some homers.
8:51
Speaker 3: So I'd go to togu ro.
8:52
Speaker 5: Started good, It started great, ye then yeah, a little
8:56
Speaker 5: too Froggy.
8:57
Speaker 3: That's right. That's right.
8:58
Speaker 2: Mindset after game five, you guys are going back to Toronto.
9:01
Speaker 2: You need to win both on the road.
9:03
Speaker 4: Mindset. After game five. Was the first thing I did
9:07
Speaker 4: after we lost that game was I texted Meggiro and said,
9:11
Speaker 4: you're starting game six. So that was the first thing
9:13
Speaker 4: I did. I just felt we needed some infusion of
9:17
Speaker 4: meg Euro in game six, and then I sent out
9:21
Speaker 4: a text letting the guys know that I want everyone
9:24
Speaker 4: to have we get to Toronto and then have an
9:27
Speaker 4: off day so there's no workout, no problem. But then
9:31
Speaker 4: shortly thereafter they reached back out to me saying the
9:33
Speaker 4: veteran guy is saying, appreciate it, but we want to go.
9:36
Speaker 4: We want to work out. We've come this far, we
9:38
Speaker 4: want to work out. And so at that point in time,
9:41
Speaker 4: I'm on the plane, I'm giddy excited that our guys
9:45
Speaker 4: want to work out and not take the option to
9:49
Speaker 4: not practice. And so everyone shows up, got their work in,
9:54
Speaker 4: and I felt better about that. And this group, a
9:57
Speaker 4: lot of this group has played an elimination game on
10:00
Speaker 4: the road, so we've been there. So I wasn't worried
10:04
Speaker 4: about the moment getting too big. I was happy that
10:09
Speaker 4: Yama was starting, and I just felt if we could
10:13
Speaker 4: just sort of hang in there, we're going to find
10:14
Speaker 4: a way to win. And again, going back to Miggy,
10:17
Speaker 4: I just felt he made some great plays defensively, got
10:20
Speaker 4: to hit that night, and I just felt having a
10:23
Speaker 4: guy like that inserted into the lineup he's gonna not literally,
10:29
Speaker 4: but he will die on the field to try to
10:31
Speaker 4: get us to win a game.
10:33
Speaker 3: And so I was excited about that.
10:36
Speaker 5: Absolutely need to expand more on you know NIGGI roeing
10:39
Speaker 5: in that lineup. But first that break between games five
10:44
Speaker 5: game six, the boys want to go to the ballpark,
10:47
Speaker 5: you're there. How much of the race between Hessong and
10:51
Speaker 5: I know you've talked a lot about this already a camp,
10:53
Speaker 5: It's been asked a lot, but the race between Dave Roberts,
10:56
Speaker 5: hes On Kim, how much of that was kind of
10:58
Speaker 5: spur of the moment, any of that kind of of
11:00
Speaker 5: premeditated a little bit here? Oh did you ever find
11:03
Speaker 5: the sniper that got you?
11:04
Speaker 3: That's another Yeah, that was a pretty good face plan.
11:08
Speaker 5: Banged up was a knee hamstring where it.
11:11
Speaker 4: Was hamstring, so I didn't find the sniper. So premeditator.
11:17
Speaker 4: I think it started where I was so excited about
11:20
Speaker 4: our guys want end up practice. So then I was excited,
11:23
Speaker 4: and then as I got out there, the mood was fine,
11:27
Speaker 4: and I just wanted to jazz it up a little bit,
11:30
Speaker 4: add a little levity, and so I felt that why
11:34
Speaker 4: not challenge our fastest runner to a foot race, and
11:40
Speaker 4: I didn't expect to win, but I didn't expect to
11:42
Speaker 4: do a face plant. But I think my purpose was
11:46
Speaker 4: served and everyone had fun. There was a little levity,
11:48
Speaker 4: and then we went back to work. So some of
11:52
Speaker 4: it was premeditated, but it just didn't The plan wasn't exactly,
11:55
Speaker 4: didn't plout exactly as I wanted.
11:56
Speaker 5: Well, that was that was twenty twenty five, it's not
11:59
Speaker 5: two thousand and fourty doc.
12:00
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right. The legs ain't doing what they do.
12:03
Speaker 4: But the thing is always clinton is that your brain,
12:06
Speaker 4: as I'm fifty three and now your brain still thinks
12:08
Speaker 4: that it's like twenty seven.
12:09
Speaker 3: Twenty eight, and you'll learn that when you get older.
12:12
Speaker 3: But then your body does it right, but you still
12:14
Speaker 3: earn that place.
12:15
Speaker 4: But let me tell you right now, I will never
12:17
Speaker 4: do a full sprint, a full speed sprint ever again,
12:20
Speaker 4: because my body is fifty three.
12:23
Speaker 3: Breaking news.
12:23
Speaker 6: You were fresh out of the gate, though, like you
12:25
Speaker 6: start out hot. I think the underrated part of this.
12:28
Speaker 6: As I saw you the next day, they're golf carting
12:30
Speaker 6: you around. You've still actually had dirt on your hat
12:33
Speaker 6: from the face plant, and I was like that's the
12:34
Speaker 6: gamer right there.
12:35
Speaker 3: That's right.
12:36
Speaker 4: And I did take a tourtoll shot too, so I
12:38
Speaker 4: was like, guys are doing tourtoo shots and do whatever
12:41
Speaker 4: they could to get through the series of like.
12:43
Speaker 5: Sign me up on then either way, Game six and
12:46
Speaker 5: seven was gonna feel good, dude.
12:47
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right. I felt great, man.
12:50
Speaker 6: So let's talk about a little bit about game six,
12:52
Speaker 6: specifically the ending because there and we've talked about this
12:56
Speaker 6: at camp already, just the different elements that could have
12:59
Speaker 6: Kno gone your way and it changes everything. But when
13:02
Speaker 6: the ball gets stuck under the wall, what is your
13:05
Speaker 6: initial reaction?
13:06
Speaker 7: What did you want to see from Justin Dean? And
13:08
Speaker 7: how does that play out in real time?
13:10
Speaker 6: Reacting to something that we would probably never see again
13:13
Speaker 6: in that situation.
13:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that I was. I was very happy
13:17
Speaker 4: to see that he put his hands up. But I
13:19
Speaker 4: will say, as the rule plays, if the ball is lodged,
13:23
Speaker 4: they will look at it. But Kei, k and Justin
13:26
Speaker 4: put their hands up, and so it was a ground
13:28
Speaker 4: rule double. I felt good about that. I was so shocked.
13:32
Speaker 4: But I think for me is once that ball is hit,
13:34
Speaker 4: I'm thinking about the next move. So to be quite
13:38
Speaker 4: honest with you, I'm not really reacting to the play.
13:42
Speaker 4: I'm trying to figure out, Okay, do I need to
13:45
Speaker 4: have the infield in, do I need to get somebody
13:47
Speaker 4: else going, you know, who's coming up in the top
13:50
Speaker 4: half of the inning, So all those things, But it
13:53
Speaker 4: was it was just a really heavy play, And that's
13:55
Speaker 4: something that I take a lot of pride in and
13:58
Speaker 4: talking to our guys, not just about the talent, but
14:02
Speaker 4: being heady baseball players and knowing the rules, knowing you know,
14:06
Speaker 4: Miguel Rojas, we practice the infield in all the time,
14:10
Speaker 4: and so to make an accurate throw there. So yeah,
14:13
Speaker 4: Game six, you know all the pitchers that we used,
14:17
Speaker 4: the different situations. So but to look back at that, though, Katie,
14:21
Speaker 4: it was it was a heady play by Ki k
14:23
Speaker 4: a n justin talking about.
14:25
Speaker 2: The next move. How quickly do you have to make decisions.
14:30
Speaker 4: Very quickly because in the postseason, obviously everything happens faster,
14:35
Speaker 4: and you know, on the margins everything matters, and you know,
14:40
Speaker 4: not jumping ahead. But Game seven, when Miggi hit the homer,
14:43
Speaker 4: that was the only time that postseason where I really
14:47
Speaker 4: turned into a fan because as a manager, you've got
14:51
Speaker 4: to expect good things happen, bad things to kind of
14:54
Speaker 4: how do you react or respond right, And so that's
14:57
Speaker 4: something that I wasn't expecting. So once he hit that homer,
15:02
Speaker 4: I just turned into a fanboy. And so but you've
15:06
Speaker 4: got to be steps ahead of it, because you know,
15:09
Speaker 4: I think that's why people I probably get frustrated with me.
15:13
Speaker 4: You know that I don't show a lot of reactions
15:17
Speaker 4: because I'm always thinking about the next move, the next move,
15:19
Speaker 4: and then once you put your fan hat on, you're
15:22
Speaker 4: not prepared for what outcome has happening in real time.
15:26
Speaker 2: Migail Rojas was on the show the other day and
15:28
Speaker 2: he said when he was in the on deck circle,
15:29
Speaker 2: he looked back looking for Danny Lamb and the Dodgers'
15:32
Speaker 2: bench coach, and he had been pinch hit for in
15:34
Speaker 2: his career hundreds of times. He looked back to see
15:36
Speaker 2: if Danny was going to call him back for a
15:38
Speaker 2: pinch hitter. Danny wasn't there. He said, this at bat
15:40
Speaker 2: is mine and he couldn't It wasn't that he couldn't
15:43
Speaker 2: believe it, but you telling him that he was going
15:46
Speaker 2: to start six and then seven, of course, was such
15:50
Speaker 2: a huge moment for him and probably the most unsuspecting
15:53
Speaker 2: guy to hit a home run. He was not a
15:55
Speaker 2: home run hitter to hit it in that moment. What
15:58
Speaker 2: was bigger for you, the home run or the defensive
16:00
Speaker 2: play that he made.
16:02
Speaker 4: I think the home run because I think that we
16:04
Speaker 4: can all count on Miggy's defense, and that's why, honestly
16:09
Speaker 4: why he was inserted in the game, and I just
16:12
Speaker 4: felt that he was going to do something helped the
16:14
Speaker 4: Dodgers win the home run because I talk a lot
16:18
Speaker 4: about the game honorship and how or when I don't know,
16:24
Speaker 4: but Miggie, to his credit, all season long, was a
16:28
Speaker 4: mentor to guy as a cheerleader, played for us when
16:31
Speaker 4: we needed him, and then then you get to the postseason,
16:34
Speaker 4: and then he's not playing, not starting, and then when
16:37
Speaker 4: I called on him, he was ready. And so for
16:39
Speaker 4: him to get his flowers, his moment on a big
16:42
Speaker 4: on a on a big in a big spot I
16:44
Speaker 4: always had for him, That's something that's going to be
16:46
Speaker 4: talked about for years, and I think that him doing
16:49
Speaker 4: things the right way the game honored him in that moment.
16:52
Speaker 4: So yeah, that's something that I'm going to really be
16:56
Speaker 4: really proud of.
16:57
Speaker 5: The immediate impact he made. Obviously, Game seven makes an
17:01
Speaker 5: insane scoop from a heady play from key K double play.
17:06
Speaker 5: You're like, oh man, this could be real Homer defensive
17:10
Speaker 5: play in Game seven to keep things alive. What was
17:13
Speaker 5: kind of the gut the heart telling you that now
17:17
Speaker 5: is the time to pull the MIGGI lever.
17:19
Speaker 4: I think you know nothing against Andy at all. Andy
17:23
Speaker 4: was a big part of getting us there. I think
17:26
Speaker 4: for me it's you don't know until you know. And
17:29
Speaker 4: I say that and experience Andy next year, the year
17:35
Speaker 4: is following, and throughout his career he's going to know
17:38
Speaker 4: how fleeting or how important, how much he's going to
17:42
Speaker 4: care more about the postseason as you get more experienced.
17:45
Speaker 4: And so now when you're talking about Miguel Rojas, he's
17:49
Speaker 4: had a ten year career, he's talking about he's going
17:51
Speaker 4: to retire in twenty twenty six. Twenty twenty five could
17:54
Speaker 4: have been his last year with the Dodgers. So I
17:57
Speaker 4: wanted to bet on guys that it meant everything to them.
18:02
Speaker 4: And so again, nothing against Andy, but I just felt
18:04
Speaker 4: right there he was scuffling at the plate. Tommy at
18:07
Speaker 4: that point in time, we felt he could go back
18:09
Speaker 4: out there and play center field. And you know, like
18:12
Speaker 4: I said, Miggy was going to do anything he could
18:15
Speaker 4: help us on both sides of the baseball in Game
18:17
Speaker 4: six and seven. So when you're riding a lineup out,
18:20
Speaker 4: I said, there's nine guys that I felt were of
18:24
Speaker 4: that same mind, and I was going to bet on
18:26
Speaker 4: that when.
18:28
Speaker 6: You look at the pitching that you had to manage
18:30
Speaker 6: in six and seven, I mean, your Game seven starter
18:32
Speaker 6: is pitching the ninth inning all of a sudden and
18:34
Speaker 6: Tyler Glass.
18:35
Speaker 7: Now in Game six, you have.
18:37
Speaker 6: All hands on deck situation with your rotation as your bullpen.
18:42
Speaker 6: How do you looking at you know only guys only
18:45
Speaker 6: have a couple innings at this point, you also have
18:47
Speaker 6: Yamamoto and so aren't sure on what that looks like.
18:50
Speaker 6: How do you manage ahead while also having to react
18:53
Speaker 6: in real time to these guys where everything is on
18:55
Speaker 6: the line and you need all of them.
18:58
Speaker 4: I think for me, there was a certain amount of
19:01
Speaker 4: guys that I was going to use in Game seven
19:05
Speaker 4: and even in Game six, to be quite frank, because
19:07
Speaker 4: it was elimination. So I think that there's a certain
19:10
Speaker 4: amount of guys I was going to use. And then
19:12
Speaker 4: so now once you have a certain group of guys
19:15
Speaker 4: that you're going to use, then you've got to figure
19:18
Speaker 4: out how to stagger those innings out and way somebody
19:23
Speaker 4: not going being a sharp versus introducing somebody else that
19:27
Speaker 4: you don't envision being a part of that equation. So
19:30
Speaker 4: that's kind of where my head is at. And then
19:34
Speaker 4: you know, because even show Hey, for example, I knew
19:37
Speaker 4: that he didn't have his best stuff, but for me
19:41
Speaker 4: not to try to get him through three innings potential
19:43
Speaker 4: could have introduced somebody else that I didn't want to
19:45
Speaker 4: pitch for usage or for whatever reason. And so you
19:50
Speaker 4: still got to cover nine innings. And so I think
19:53
Speaker 4: for me, it's really just watching to see what the
19:55
Speaker 4: guy has, but it's betting on people. If I've learned
19:58
Speaker 4: anything about the post season, it's you got to bet
20:01
Speaker 4: on people. And you know, the season is a long season.
20:05
Speaker 4: There's ups and downs, it's a marathon, and you have
20:09
Speaker 4: a lot more latitude and leeway to kind of navigate it.
20:12
Speaker 4: But the postseason, for me, it's about betting on people.
20:15
Speaker 4: And my job, the coach's jobs are to get these
20:19
Speaker 4: guys prepared mentally and physically. You know for that for
20:22
Speaker 4: those big spots, because everything is certainly way more magnified.
20:26
Speaker 2: You bet on people. Kyk is easy to bet on.
20:28
Speaker 2: There's something intangible about that guy. I mean, there's no
20:30
Speaker 2: place in the world he needs to be except in
20:32
Speaker 2: a Dadger uniform, especially in October. But what was your
20:35
Speaker 2: reaction when he's running to the ball in the ninth inning,
20:37
Speaker 2: you kind of see his back. He didn't think he
20:40
Speaker 2: made the play. Andy Poe has comes up obviously with
20:43
Speaker 2: the ball. He's Michael, thank god. From your dugout perspective,
20:47
Speaker 2: what are you thinking when he's running that route.
20:50
Speaker 4: I was just praying that it stayed in the ballpark.
20:54
Speaker 4: That's another play that I thought the game was going
20:56
Speaker 4: to be over. And key K, you know, he scooped
20:59
Speaker 4: the ball, so key K sort of broke in on
21:02
Speaker 4: that getting trying to get a good jump on the ball,
21:04
Speaker 4: and fortunately Andy came out of nowhere. And you know,
21:08
Speaker 4: you're talking about the moment. It's one of Yeah, key
21:14
Speaker 4: K thought he lost the World Series. We lost the
21:16
Speaker 4: World Series, and you know, Andy makes this great play
21:20
Speaker 4: and key K's only concern is did you catch the baseball?
21:23
Speaker 4: And so but it's just it's one of those things
21:25
Speaker 4: that I think that's why everyone loved that World Series,
21:28
Speaker 4: because every it just seemed like every player sold out
21:31
Speaker 4: on both sides of the baseball and left it all
21:33
Speaker 4: out there.
21:34
Speaker 5: Some guy who really sold out left it all out there,
21:36
Speaker 5: Yoshioba Yamamoto turns out three twenty five, maybe a little
21:41
Speaker 5: light underpaid.
21:42
Speaker 3: It was a little light.
21:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, made your job a lot easier, made all of
21:45
Speaker 5: our you know, off season a lot happier. He I
21:49
Speaker 5: think he recently said he doesn't know, doesn't want to
21:51
Speaker 5: stat You just want to be thought of a legend.
21:53
Speaker 3: Or a hero. Guy is a hero.
21:55
Speaker 5: What what does it mean to somebody like you and
21:57
Speaker 5: to that clubhouse what Yama did to to put that
22:00
Speaker 5: team on his right shoulder.
22:03
Speaker 4: I just have the utmost respect for him, and you know,
22:06
Speaker 4: and also yeah, I mean he was pushed beyond limits.
22:13
Speaker 4: It just doesn't happen. And you see this, you know,
22:16
Speaker 4: you see the play, the Pie's play right there. But
22:19
Speaker 4: with Yamamoto, did I think that he said it early on,
22:23
Speaker 4: Losing is not an option, and we needed every single
22:28
Speaker 4: inning and performance that he gave us to get through.
22:30
Speaker 4: You know, you're talking about Milwaukee, Philly and then Obviously,
22:34
Speaker 4: the World Series what he did will be.
22:36
Speaker 3: Talked about for years.
22:38
Speaker 4: But what I will say is that I respect the
22:40
Speaker 4: way that he kind of wants to put that in
22:42
Speaker 4: the past to focus on this year. And you know,
22:46
Speaker 4: that's what the great ones do. You're always trying to
22:49
Speaker 4: push yourself and not you know, rest on your laurels.
22:52
Speaker 3: And so I respect that.
22:54
Speaker 4: And but yeah, we're going to be talking about his
22:56
Speaker 4: performance forever, and we're lucky it happened in that three
22:59
Speaker 4: twenty five.
23:00
Speaker 3: It seems like a bargain.
23:01
Speaker 5: Now, I don't want you guys to stop winning World Series,
23:03
Speaker 5: but if you do, we could have that. You know,
23:05
Speaker 5: we saw a lot of Kirk Gibson, Homer on the
23:08
Speaker 5: board there at Dodger Stadium. We could see some Yamamoto
23:11
Speaker 5: on there. App So you keep winning. I guess you
23:13
Speaker 5: guys can keep winning.
23:13
Speaker 3: That's right. That's right.
23:15
Speaker 7: Dade.
23:15
Speaker 6: When was when did you decide that Yamamoto was going
23:18
Speaker 6: to be available? And how much of that was Blake
23:20
Speaker 6: Snell really gutting it out before? Because I don't think,
23:24
Speaker 6: and I think Blake has talked about this like he
23:26
Speaker 6: really had to grind through that arm was that was
23:29
Speaker 6: all he had so when did you decide, Okay, y'all's
23:31
Speaker 6: coming in.
23:32
Speaker 4: Well, I knew that he was going to pitch that night.
23:37
Speaker 4: Yachta Sinsey told Mark Pryor that he was going to
23:41
Speaker 4: be available, and so that was news to me. I
23:45
Speaker 4: was I was like, Okay, so if he's available, then
23:49
Speaker 4: I'm going to find a way.
23:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, what a weapon.
23:52
Speaker 4: And I think for me is I was going to
23:54
Speaker 4: find a way to get him in the game. And
23:55
Speaker 4: then kind of my point earlier was I knew he
23:59
Speaker 4: only had so many bullets, so how can when can
24:02
Speaker 4: I deploy him? So with Glass and Robo and Blake,
24:09
Speaker 4: I just felt at that point in time, Blake gave
24:12
Speaker 4: us everything he had. He was on fumes and again
24:16
Speaker 4: you're talking about elimination game. I needed to get out
24:20
Speaker 4: of that inning, and I felt in that spot Yama
24:23
Speaker 4: was the best person to get us out of the inning,
24:24
Speaker 4: because I think in the postseason you kind of you
24:28
Speaker 4: can't look too far ahead because every moment could be
24:31
Speaker 4: the game. And so at that moment, I just felt
24:34
Speaker 4: that Yama was the guy, and then I was going
24:36
Speaker 4: to ride him for as long as I could. And
24:39
Speaker 4: I think after that first one in a third or
24:42
Speaker 4: something he said to me, daijo bu, like I'm good,
24:45
Speaker 4: I'm good. And then as a manager, I'm looking at
24:48
Speaker 4: my pictures in particular for them to look at me
24:53
Speaker 4: and to make eye contact, because I think that that's
24:56
Speaker 4: something that is telling for a manager when the pictures
24:59
Speaker 4: looking for eye contact versus not looking for eye contact,
25:03
Speaker 4: saying that they wanted to stay in the game. And
25:06
Speaker 4: so he was not looking my way, so I felt
25:08
Speaker 4: confident that he was.
25:10
Speaker 3: Still the right guy.
25:12
Speaker 2: Which parade was better.
25:16
Speaker 4: The second one because it was the most recent, I think, yeah,
25:22
Speaker 4: that's right. That was my next answer, you know what,
25:25
Speaker 4: I think the first one, the first one was awesome.
25:28
Speaker 4: I think, gosh, dang it, man, I just the first
25:32
Speaker 4: one was great. The second one was great. There was
25:34
Speaker 4: more people for the second one. I just you can
25:39
Speaker 4: really when you're in the bubble of playing or coaching,
25:43
Speaker 4: you can't really appreciate how many people are enjoying those
25:47
Speaker 4: moments with you. And then so to then be on
25:51
Speaker 4: the streets in Los Angeles and to see tears and cheers,
25:55
Speaker 4: then you can sort of appreciate, oh my god, these
25:59
Speaker 4: people were living and dying and how massive it is.
26:03
Speaker 4: So that's something that's really eye opening, the passion, the
26:08
Speaker 4: love for the Dodgers, and you know, the city's gone
26:12
Speaker 4: through a lot, the country's gone through a lot. But
26:15
Speaker 4: you know, I've heard from a lot of people that
26:17
Speaker 4: aren't even sports fans or dog fans like that World Series.
26:20
Speaker 4: I just could not. I was glued to the TV.
26:23
Speaker 4: And that's a credit to all of us.
26:25
Speaker 5: Best World series I've ever seen, and i'n't seen a
26:29
Speaker 5: lot of them, but I've seen a lot of them.
26:30
Speaker 3: Let's spin it forward.
26:32
Speaker 5: I watched your your speech here Day one Full Squad
26:36
Speaker 5: got me wanting to run through a wall.
26:38
Speaker 3: You sound like a.
26:39
Speaker 5: Guy that's been through quite f and literally everything, and
26:43
Speaker 5: you were able to pull receipts and tell guys, you
26:46
Speaker 5: know the keyk play a Miggey role play guys playing
26:49
Speaker 5: the game.
26:49
Speaker 3: The right way.
26:53
Speaker 5: Is that kind of what it is? Just you've been
26:55
Speaker 5: through it all now, like that was the most I'm
26:58
Speaker 5: trying to think the right word for this. You were
27:01
Speaker 5: locked in, you were laser focused in that messaging, and
27:04
Speaker 5: you're coming off of back to back World series. Maybe
27:06
Speaker 5: last year is a little bit of let's not have
27:09
Speaker 5: the World series hangover. Now you know how to deal
27:11
Speaker 5: with that. Is that a little bit of the messaging
27:13
Speaker 5: there you put in day one, We've seen it. This
27:18
Speaker 5: is what I'm telling you, this is real. Every guy
27:20
Speaker 5: in this clubhouse, you mean something to this team, speak
27:22
Speaker 5: a little bit about your message there.
27:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what.
27:25
Speaker 4: I think, there's nothing more powerful than experience and having
27:32
Speaker 4: a lot of our guys go through and see it
27:36
Speaker 4: come to pass, you know, using you know, the fifty
27:41
Speaker 4: ninth person in the clubhouse, the sixty fifth person in
27:44
Speaker 4: the clubhouse to then pitch in a World Series games.
27:47
Speaker 4: We've seen that year and year, and so I think
27:50
Speaker 4: that me bringing that to light lands with everyone in
27:53
Speaker 4: the room, where obviously Miguel Rojas, a bench player, a
27:58
Speaker 4: veteran guy, has argued the biggest moment in Dodger history
28:02
Speaker 4: that happened. So I think that messaging, I think is
28:07
Speaker 4: easy to kind of make land or have land. I
28:12
Speaker 4: think for me is just trying to keep guys proactive
28:15
Speaker 4: and focused and hungry. I use that analogy about the
28:19
Speaker 4: greyhounds and how they kind of race chasing something and
28:23
Speaker 4: not worrying about what's around them. But also I kind
28:28
Speaker 4: of the thing I really wanted to get across in
28:30
Speaker 4: the meeting was you know, competition, real competition is in
28:35
Speaker 4: its truest form is when both parties are prepared. And
28:40
Speaker 4: if you're really really prepared, fear doesn't supersede overtake the
28:47
Speaker 4: confidence and the joy of competing. And so my challenge
28:51
Speaker 4: to the guys is really try to dig into your
28:53
Speaker 4: soul and poke holes in yourself and how can you
28:57
Speaker 4: get better? And so then when we're ready to compete
29:00
Speaker 4: in the biggest spots, we don't fail. Grounder to Mooky,
29:05
Speaker 4: Grounder to Miggy, a Liner soft Liner to Keith k
29:08
Speaker 4: in between hop to MIGGI to pick it. You know,
29:11
Speaker 4: Freddy had a big pick off of Tommy Edmund throw
29:14
Speaker 4: in Philly. You know, Tommy saves a play going to
29:18
Speaker 4: is left to keep the ball in the infield. Those
29:20
Speaker 4: things happened because we prepare, and so that's kind of
29:23
Speaker 4: the overarching message I try to give you guys. But
29:26
Speaker 4: the easy part for me is every single one of
29:29
Speaker 4: those guys believes it themselves, and so that's what's exciting
29:33
Speaker 4: for me as a manager.
29:34
Speaker 6: Well, as we look towards twenty twenty six, one advantage
29:38
Speaker 6: that this organization has for the first time is you
29:40
Speaker 6: can look to see a full season of two way show.
29:44
Speaker 7: Heyo Tani, and it's going to be a little different.
29:46
Speaker 6: We've talked about the WBC, the preparation starting pitching death
29:50
Speaker 6: and being conservative with all of your pitchers. What how
29:55
Speaker 6: can he as a full two way player really transform
29:58
Speaker 6: your season. What are some realistic ex dictations for him
30:00
Speaker 6: for a guy that defies all expectations.
30:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think it's it's a good question.
30:07
Speaker 3: I don't.
30:08
Speaker 4: I know Shohey is trying to always, you know, strive
30:13
Speaker 4: to be better. I expect him to throw more innings
30:17
Speaker 4: than he did last year.
30:18
Speaker 3: I don't.
30:18
Speaker 4: I have a hard time kind of saying how many
30:21
Speaker 4: homers he could hit, or how many runs he can
30:23
Speaker 4: drive in, or if he's going to win the Cy Young.
30:25
Speaker 4: I know his goal is to win the World Series,
30:29
Speaker 4: to be the best player he can be, And when
30:31
Speaker 4: we're talking about his talent, that should be an MVP
30:35
Speaker 4: obviously in the conversation, that should be a Cy Young
30:37
Speaker 4: in the conversation. So, you know, he's the best player
30:40
Speaker 4: that ever played this game. So for him to be
30:43
Speaker 4: able to stay healthy, keep him on the field, we're
30:46
Speaker 4: better for it. The fans are certainly better for it.
30:49
Speaker 4: But I think with him, anything is possible. Katie, Anything's
30:53
Speaker 4: possible with that guy.
30:54
Speaker 2: You're trying to run it back with a good core
30:56
Speaker 2: group of guys. But two huge acquisitions in Kyle Tuck
31:00
Speaker 2: and Edwin Diaz. What's been the earliest impact.
31:03
Speaker 4: Earliest kind of impact and just seeing is both guys
31:09
Speaker 4: are comfortable in their own skin.
31:13
Speaker 3: I think. I think Kyle.
31:16
Speaker 4: Had offered opportunities to go elsewhere, wanted to be a
31:20
Speaker 4: Dodger and he's a quiet guy. He's not going to
31:24
Speaker 4: be a sound bite guy. He just wants to play baseball.
31:26
Speaker 4: He's a five tool player. He can do it all.
31:28
Speaker 4: He's going to impact games every night in a lot
31:31
Speaker 4: of different ways. But I think that he's not He
31:34
Speaker 4: doesn't need to try to fit in because it's just
31:37
Speaker 4: who he is who he is. I love that Edwin
31:40
Speaker 4: Diaz is a guy that's just a lovable type guy.
31:45
Speaker 4: He's very accountable, he loves baseball. He committed to coming
31:50
Speaker 4: on the other side of the country, being from Puerto Rico,
31:53
Speaker 4: to play for the Dodgers, to be a part of this.
31:55
Speaker 4: He wants to win a championship in the worst way.
31:58
Speaker 4: We now have a close who I feel that is
32:01
Speaker 4: going to free up other guys in our pen. But
32:05
Speaker 4: great competitor, great stuff. I can't wait to hear Timmy
32:10
Speaker 4: or Tommy trumpet when he comes out there. But again,
32:14
Speaker 4: he's like fun and lovable when he gets out there,
32:17
Speaker 4: he's a savage, and I love those type guys.
32:20
Speaker 5: I have a piggyback kind of in the same vein
32:22
Speaker 5: of my previous question. But we've heard a lot about
32:25
Speaker 5: the target on the Dodgers back. A lot of people
32:27
Speaker 5: like to say the Dodgers are ruining baseball when I
32:29
Speaker 5: can get into that BS because you're not. Does you
32:33
Speaker 5: feel the target anymore? Is it just you wake up,
32:36
Speaker 5: You're used to it, you seeing the red dot on
32:39
Speaker 5: your chest.
32:40
Speaker 4: I think I'm used to it. It's been that way.
32:44
Speaker 4: I feel it's been that way since we've been here,
32:46
Speaker 4: but certainly since I've been here. But certainly, you know,
32:49
Speaker 4: when you win a championship, then people want to take
32:51
Speaker 4: what's yours. And I just feel really good and confident
32:56
Speaker 4: that our guys have embraced that and we're not going
33:00
Speaker 4: to relinquish it. We're not going to give it away.
33:02
Speaker 4: Somebody's got to earn it and take it from us,
33:05
Speaker 4: but we also understand that there's a lot of work
33:08
Speaker 4: to be done. So you know, people love to hate
33:10
Speaker 4: the Dodgers and that means that we've done some good things.
33:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely, Davids. We look to wrap this up a
33:17
Speaker 7: little bit.
33:18
Speaker 6: When you think about twenty twenty five, is there a
33:20
Speaker 6: lasting image one that sticks out to you that kind
33:23
Speaker 6: of captures that whole season?
33:28
Speaker 4: What captures twenty twenty five? Yeah, there was a certainly
33:32
Speaker 4: a lot of moments, a lot of great moments, a lot.
33:36
Speaker 3: Of you know what, I think.
33:42
Speaker 4: We lost in Baltimore, We lost three in Pittsburgh, we
33:48
Speaker 4: lost two in Baltimore, and mean the second one was
33:52
Speaker 4: after Yamamoto was fantastic and left the game with a
33:55
Speaker 4: no hitter or gave up one hit late, and we
33:58
Speaker 4: ended up losing that game. The way the guys came
34:01
Speaker 4: back after that, that's Sunday in Baltimore. Show Hay led
34:05
Speaker 4: off with a homer and we just took off from there.
34:09
Speaker 4: So I think that for me, that was the point
34:12
Speaker 4: that our team decided to hit the go button, hit
34:15
Speaker 4: the gas and not make excuses. The Padres are at
34:19
Speaker 4: our heels. The Dimbacks might have been at our heels,
34:22
Speaker 4: and we were in it at that point in time,
34:25
Speaker 4: but we just took off and we stuck together. So
34:29
Speaker 4: I think that's one of the hallmarks for our club
34:31
Speaker 4: that it's not linear and you know, when it is hot,
34:37
Speaker 4: when things aren't good, we stay together and perform. So
34:42
Speaker 4: that was something that I really that really sticks sticks out.
34:45
Speaker 4: The Tao Homer in Philadelphia was a big one. You know,
34:49
Speaker 4: winning in Philly is tough. That team was really good.
34:52
Speaker 4: It's a hostile environment. How we beat those guys when everyone,
34:57
Speaker 4: I think all the pundits had those guys favored last
35:00
Speaker 4: year was a big one. But yeah, there were just
35:03
Speaker 4: so many moments and I think that you can look
35:05
Speaker 4: back at our season and it almost seems like there
35:08
Speaker 4: could have been a couple dozen players that had big
35:11
Speaker 4: moments for us last year and that that's a lot.
35:16
Speaker 2: There is no way in the world you thought Miguil
35:18
Speaker 2: Rojas was going to hit that Perge chance.
35:22
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, exactly.
35:23
Speaker 4: That's the thing is that all these people that think
35:25
Speaker 4: that analytics is everything, that's a point one chance for
35:29
Speaker 4: at Homer. You just got a bet on the person.
35:32
Speaker 4: And that's the great thing about our game. It's fun
35:36
Speaker 4: and you just never know and the game on our
35:39
Speaker 4: media and fortunately for the Dodgers, he's a Dodger.
35:42
Speaker 2: We didn't even talk about the wheel play.
35:44
Speaker 3: Dave.
35:44
Speaker 2: We appreciate you so very much. Thank you so much
35:47
Speaker 2: for taking the time and breaking it down. This is
35:49
Speaker 2: the stuff the fans love because everyone thinks that they
35:51
Speaker 2: can do your job, and it does the hardest job
35:53
Speaker 2: in the world. Best of luck on the three peat,
35:56
Speaker 2: Good luck all.
35:57
Speaker 3: Right, Thank you guys, thanks for having me appreciate you.
35:59
Speaker 2: Don't