Latest / Bleacher Report / Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts on Shohei Ohtani, Tarik Skubal & More in Dodgers Episode | On Base

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Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts on Shohei Ohtani, Tarik Skubal & More in Dodgers Episode | On Base · Bleacher Report

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to OnBase.
0:01
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Mookie Betts, and today we have a
0:03
Speaker 2: 13-year MLB vet, two-time World Series champion, 2025 World Series
0:09
Speaker 2: Game 7 hero, my utility coach, teammate, whatever you want
0:15
Speaker 2: to call him, and a leader of the Dodgers, Miggie Rowe.
0:18
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mookie.
0:19
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming on, bro. Of course, bro.
0:21
Speaker 2: When you first started playing, did you think all that
0:26
Speaker 2: would be said about you?
0:27
Speaker 3: Uh.
0:28
Speaker 4: Well, I always got the mentality that I was capable
0:31
Speaker 4: of doing it. But I didn't know that I was
0:34
Speaker 4: going to do it in the big leagues. I was
0:36
Speaker 4: going to do it for an organization like this. I
0:38
Speaker 4: wasn't going to be able to play this long in
0:41
Speaker 4: the game, obviously. That's something that I'm really proud of.
0:46
Speaker 4: Because definitely when I was... struggling to the minors and
0:50
Speaker 4: kind of like the open downs and yeah, I knew
0:53
Speaker 4: I could play shortstop and I didn't know how my
0:56
Speaker 4: body was going to be to play in the big
0:57
Speaker 4: leagues for this long.
0:59
Speaker 3: The goal was always.
1:00
Speaker 4: Make it to the big leagues, but I believe in
1:02
Speaker 4: myself that I can, that I could play for a
1:05
Speaker 4: long time. I didn't know that it was going to
1:07
Speaker 4: be in the big leagues though, you know, because I
1:09
Speaker 4: could have, I always see myself playing baseball somewhere. And
1:13
Speaker 4: I started seeing more leagues spending in Mexico, in Europe,
1:21
Speaker 4: and Asia.
1:22
Speaker 3: So I always thought that I was going to play baseball.
1:25
Speaker 4: But I'm really happy that I was able to do
1:27
Speaker 4: it in the big leagues without getting sent back down
1:30
Speaker 4: or anything like that. And all of a sudden, I'm
1:33
Speaker 4: here thinking about when I'm going to retire.
1:37
Speaker 3: So it's pretty special.
1:39
Speaker 4: And it's been a hard way to kind of like
1:43
Speaker 4: accomplish everything, but I'm really proud.
1:46
Speaker 1: You've done it.
1:47
Speaker 2: We'll get into all that here in a minute. But first,
1:51
Speaker 2: I want to play the first game. It's called Make
1:53
Speaker 2: the Call.
1:53
Speaker 3: Okay.
1:55
Speaker 1: Do you like, have you liked the ABS thing this year?
1:59
Speaker 1: Have you liked it?
1:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do.
2:01
Speaker 4: It's tougher than what I expected. You know, like I
2:06
Speaker 4: thought it was going to be a little bit easier to,
2:08
Speaker 4: Determine what is a strike, what is a ball, you know?
2:11
Speaker 1: But now, I mean, God's got stuff moving so many
2:13
Speaker 1: different directions. It's hard to keep up. Do you know
2:16
Speaker 1: how many challenges you've had this year?
2:18
Speaker 3: I think I had four or five.
2:20
Speaker 1: No, you have had 11.
2:23
Speaker 3: 11 challenges. Oh, that I challenged?
2:26
Speaker 2: Yes, that you challenged. You've had 11 challenges. You know
2:29
Speaker 2: how many you've gotten right? Oh, that's why you said
2:32
Speaker 2: four or five.
2:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got right. Okay.
2:34
Speaker 1: Six or 11. That's 55%. And I would say that's...
2:38
Speaker 1: Above average.
2:39
Speaker 2: You think so? Yeah, I would say so. I think
2:42
Speaker 2: average is like high 40s.
2:45
Speaker 1: Okay.
2:45
Speaker 2: Maybe right at 50. So you're above average per use.
2:50
Speaker 2: And so what we're going to do is we're going
2:52
Speaker 2: to show a pitch.
2:53
Speaker 1: Okay.
2:53
Speaker 2: You guess at if you think it's a striker ball.
2:57
Speaker 2: If you miss... You got to answer a question. I
3:01
Speaker 2: think the best we've had so far is three for five.
3:05
Speaker 3: Okay. We're going to do five pitches.
3:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, five pitches.
3:09
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
3:09
Speaker 1: Let's run it. This is a strike. It's got to
3:14
Speaker 1: be a strike, right? Yeah. That looks like a strike.
3:16
Speaker 1: Let's see. All right. One for one.
3:20
Speaker 2: You may be the first person that started one for one.
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Speaker 2: Most people, they miss the first two. And then they
3:25
Speaker 2: get a rhythm and then finish it. But one for one.
3:27
Speaker 2: I believe in you, Miguel.
3:28
Speaker 1: Okay. I believe in you.
3:29
Speaker 3: Let's go. Let me see if I can go perfect.
3:32
Speaker 3: All right.
3:33
Speaker 1: So now we are on to pitch number two.
3:39
Speaker 3: That's down. Ball.
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Speaker 1: Ball. He's going ball. Ah!
3:45
Speaker 4: Ah!
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Speaker 3: I thought because it was a breaking ball.
3:51
Speaker 1: Yeah.
3:52
Speaker 3: Down.
3:52
Speaker 1: Breaking balls down.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, breaking balls are down. Yeah. I'm going to answer
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Speaker 3: the question.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to go with.
4:00
Speaker 3: The yellow right here. With one teammate, you will not
4:04
Speaker 3: want on the ox.
4:06
Speaker 1: One teammate you don't want on the ox. Yeah.
4:09
Speaker 4: The one teammate that I don't want to give the ox,
4:12
Speaker 4: and I don't know if he's.
4:16
Speaker 3: What music he listened to or anything, he's just like
4:20
Speaker 3: he don't deserve it yet. Okay. He's Dalton Russian, you know?
4:24
Speaker 3: I'm not going to let him touch my speakers.
4:27
Speaker 4: The only reason he's touching the speakers is to carry
4:30
Speaker 4: it into the.
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Speaker 3: Plane or the bus, you know? That's it. But he's
4:33
Speaker 3: not touching the speakers, you know? Dalton Russian.
4:36
Speaker 1: His phone is not connecting to the aux.
4:37
Speaker 3: No, he's not connecting to the aux.
4:39
Speaker 1: Okay. There you go. All right, pitch three.
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Speaker 3: That's a ball.
4:44
Speaker 1: It's a ball?
4:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, this one is a ball. Okay. I think I'm
4:49
Speaker 3: pretty much 100%.
4:49
Speaker 1: Yeah.
4:52
Speaker 3: Wow.
4:52
Speaker 1: That's really close for you to be 100%. Yeah.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I saw the play, and I'm better in
5:00
Speaker 3: and out.
5:01
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, the up and down is hard.
5:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, the up and down is what really, I think
5:04
Speaker 3: that's the one that I have missed.
5:07
Speaker 1: Up and down?
5:07
Speaker 3: Up and down.
5:07
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, pitch four.
5:14
Speaker 3: That's a fastball up, man. Wow.
5:16
Speaker 1: That's a fastball up.
5:18
Speaker 3: Yeah. I would say ball. I would say ball.
5:24
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
5:26
Speaker 3: Wow. Okay.
5:28
Speaker 1: Wow. You got to get the next one just to even,
5:31
Speaker 1: you know, go even with everyone.
5:34
Speaker 3: I have talked about wanting to be a manager.
5:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.
5:37
Speaker 4: Who is one of your teammates you had in your
5:39
Speaker 4: career that you think would make a great manager?
5:42
Speaker 3: This is a good one. I believe a.
5:45
Speaker 4: Couple could be really good managers. Martin Prado, I played
5:50
Speaker 4: with him in Miami for a long time.
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Speaker 3: He's a great player, obviously, but he really cares about personalities,
5:57
Speaker 3: and this is what I see from guys.
6:00
Speaker 4: That I've been around and managers that I had, especially Doug.
6:04
Speaker 4: He knows how to manage personalities, and I think Martin
6:07
Speaker 4: is one of them. Adrian Gonzalez, I think he will
6:10
Speaker 4: do a great job just because of communication with both
6:15
Speaker 4: Spanish and American and English speaking I think it's with
6:21
Speaker 4: lack of that in the big leagues a little bit
6:22
Speaker 4: you know like more Latin managers coaches that can be
6:28
Speaker 4: there communicating with the players you know that's that I
6:33
Speaker 4: think those two guys in my career I think they
6:36
Speaker 4: would be great managers.
6:37
Speaker 2: Did they because they were vets for you right and
6:40
Speaker 2: they showed you this is kind of like what you
6:43
Speaker 2: learned under and you saw them, how they went about
6:47
Speaker 2: leading with really essentially kind of, I'm not going to
6:51
Speaker 2: say they were managing personalities as players, but kind of,
6:53
Speaker 2: you know, like helping, helping to get the boys together
6:55
Speaker 2: and whatnot.
6:56
Speaker 1: Do you feel like that's kind of helped your, your
6:58
Speaker 1: leadership style?
6:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, a hundred percent.
7:01
Speaker 4: I felt like those two guys, I could really see
7:04
Speaker 4: myself in those mirrors, obviously different kind of players and,
7:07
Speaker 4: and different careers.
7:09
Speaker 3: But I always want to be an everyday player, right?
7:11
Speaker 4: When I got to the big leagues, I was just
7:12
Speaker 4: like defensive guy that coming into the game later in.
7:16
Speaker 3: The game, get a start here and there. I never
7:18
Speaker 3: was satisfied with that.
7:20
Speaker 4: I always want to reach for more, you know, and
7:22
Speaker 4: that's what These two guys, Adrian at the beginning was
7:25
Speaker 4: just like a guy who took me under his wing. Hey,
7:28
Speaker 4: let me show you this spot in San Francisco so
7:30
Speaker 4: you can go eat. Here's where you should go to
7:35
Speaker 4: eating in Los Angeles. Let me take you out and
7:38
Speaker 4: get you a couple suits. You know, that's the kind
7:41
Speaker 4: of leadership that Adrian Gonzalez did for me when I
7:44
Speaker 4: was here first in Los Angeles. And then Martin Prado
7:47
Speaker 4: kind of like taught me everything about.
7:49
Speaker 3: Preparing for a full season of baseball. You know, I
7:53
Speaker 3: didn't know how that was and how.
7:56
Speaker 4: To kind of like prepare myself to do that. And
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Speaker 4: that's why Martin was so important to me. Managing personalities
8:04
Speaker 4: in the clubhouse and always saying hi. Doesn't matter what
8:07
Speaker 4: happened the day before or where the stage of the team,
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Speaker 4: he's always energetic, getting to the field and showing what
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Speaker 4: he's got.
8:15
Speaker 3: By example, how to be a leader, you know? Right, right.
8:19
Speaker 1: Okay, we got one more pitch. Pitch five.
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Speaker 3: Ball in.
8:25
Speaker 1: That's a ball in. Do you remember that pitch?
8:27
Speaker 3: I don't remember the pitch exactly, but the way the.
8:32
Speaker 1: Yeah.
8:33
Speaker 3: See, I told you. I'm way more better. I'm way
8:36
Speaker 3: better on and off, in and out, but up and down.
8:41
Speaker 3: It's really hard for me.
8:43
Speaker 1: It's hard for everybody. It's hard during the game.
8:44
Speaker 2: I mean.
8:46
Speaker 2: It really, really the ABS in general, like we think
8:50
Speaker 2: we know the zone in which we do.
8:52
Speaker 1: Right.
8:52
Speaker 2: But there's a lot of like the little, when the
8:55
Speaker 2: ball just nicks it, like it's really hard.
8:57
Speaker 1: You know, seeing stuff like that and stuff. All right.
9:00
Speaker 2: So I want to switch gears a little bit. Do
9:04
Speaker 2: you feel like we're in the dog days of summer
9:06
Speaker 2: right now? Like, you know, it just in general, not
9:08
Speaker 2: even just us, just in baseball.
9:10
Speaker 4: And, Yeah, August always is hard to go through because
9:15
Speaker 4: you kind of see the finish line so close, you know,
9:18
Speaker 4: especially for us that we have been playing deep in
9:22
Speaker 4: October and into November the last couple of years. I
9:25
Speaker 4: think this is a tough month for everybody coming out
9:28
Speaker 4: of the All-Star break. You play a lot of games
9:31
Speaker 4: in minimal days. So for me, it's more mental than
9:37
Speaker 4: physical at this time of the year. So the teams
9:40
Speaker 4: who are able to survive this month and play good
9:45
Speaker 4: into September are those teams that are really scary to
9:48
Speaker 4: play when you're in the postseason. I see in the
9:51
Speaker 4: last couple years, you know, guys, teams get hot later
9:55
Speaker 4: in the year and when they have a really bad
9:57
Speaker 4: first half, like the Diamondbacks in 23, you know?
10:00
Speaker 3: 23, they went all the way to the World Series because.
10:04
Speaker 4: Of a hot August, September, and then probably they weren't
10:09
Speaker 4: the best team in the league throughout the whole year.
10:12
Speaker 4: But when you get hot at these moments, it's when
10:14
Speaker 4: you kind of like, really scary to play in the playoffs.
10:17
Speaker 3: So, Definitely tough times in August for us the last
10:21
Speaker 3: three years.
10:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:22
Speaker 3: Regardless. But in general, I think this is really hard.
10:29
Speaker 2: And then, you know, as the leader you are and
10:32
Speaker 2: eventually the manager you are, like, what would you, if
10:38
Speaker 2: you had a message to say to us right now,
10:41
Speaker 2: especially because we're going through it right now. And you
10:42
Speaker 2: know everybody's showing up working. Everybody's playing. Like, nobody's dogging it.
10:47
Speaker 1: Nobody's.
10:48
Speaker 2: Taking anything for granted we just are not playing well
10:51
Speaker 2: um what would you what would you say because i
10:53
Speaker 2: know you you saw of course you saw doc's comments
10:56
Speaker 2: about you know we're a wild card team and we
10:58
Speaker 2: got to play more urgency right now um and it's
11:02
Speaker 2: not good enough to say we're going to be okay
11:04
Speaker 2: which i understand both sides of that like we're going
11:07
Speaker 2: to like there is a confidence like we're going to
11:09
Speaker 2: be okay knowing that you're going to be okay but
11:11
Speaker 2: you can't just live with we're going to be okay
11:14
Speaker 2: like it doesn't work that way the game doesn't doesn't
11:16
Speaker 2: work that way so Like, what would you say to us?
11:19
Speaker 4: I think the urgency from us have to be on
11:23
Speaker 4: how focused we can be on delivering in that specific moment,
11:28
Speaker 4: you know? I don't think we can play harder because
11:31
Speaker 4: it's not how it works. And always, Freddie always tell
11:35
Speaker 4: the media and everybody, trying to make fans understanding that
11:39
Speaker 4: this game is not about how hard I can swing
11:43
Speaker 4: the bat or how hard I can run to first base.
11:46
Speaker 3: When you're playing shortstop, right, you're there. You can do
11:50
Speaker 3: anything until the ball is hit to you.
11:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
11:52
Speaker 3: But guess what?
11:54
Speaker 4: When that ball is hit to you, that's when I
11:56
Speaker 4: need you to have all the focus to make that
11:59
Speaker 4: play and deliver in that moment. I feel like that's
12:03
Speaker 4: when the message is kind of like, yeah, I mean,
12:06
Speaker 4: we all as an organization needs to play this out
12:09
Speaker 4: with urgency. But the urgency can come from different factors.
12:13
Speaker 4: placed you know because it's really hard to to to
12:16
Speaker 4: manage with urgency for dog when you have to figure
12:20
Speaker 4: out who's the freshest arm in the bullpen when they
12:23
Speaker 4: have thrown 10 out of the last 12 you know
12:27
Speaker 4: it's really hard to run Tanner Scott every single day
12:31
Speaker 4: over there when he's your best arm right now in
12:33
Speaker 4: the bullpen but you're thinking.
12:34
Speaker 3: About the bigger picture right.
12:36
Speaker 4: Does that means that you're not managing with urgency, it's not.
12:40
Speaker 4: It's just like you're taking care of your players. So
12:43
Speaker 4: for us as players right now, I think it's more
12:45
Speaker 4: of having the conviction that we can be locked in
12:51
Speaker 4: when my time is come. Because I'm seeing it this way,
12:54
Speaker 4: I'm playing second base, right?
12:56
Speaker 3: I can be....
12:58
Speaker 4: Energetic that I want, and I want to pump the
13:01
Speaker 4: guys up, but I can't do it if the situation
13:04
Speaker 4: is not coming to me, you know? So it's all
13:06
Speaker 4: about kind of like sharpening those skills on like be
13:12
Speaker 4: ready when the opportunity arrives.
13:15
Speaker 3: Be ready for that at bat.
13:16
Speaker 4: Think about that at bat with running and scoring position
13:19
Speaker 4: that we haven't been able to put together, you know?
13:22
Speaker 4: We got some guys here and there, and then all
13:24
Speaker 4: of a sudden I feel like we got bases loaded, and.
13:26
Speaker 3: Then we hit into a double play.
13:28
Speaker 4: Or Those are the abats that you never know if
13:31
Speaker 4: it's going to be you, it's going to be Shohei,
13:34
Speaker 4: it's going to be Ferucia, it can be someone from
13:38
Speaker 4: the bench, you know? So that would be my message.
13:43
Speaker 4: I need a little bit more of a focus on
13:46
Speaker 4: execution on the moment. It's not about wasting your energy
13:51
Speaker 4: and your time. trying to play hard, you know? Like,
13:55
Speaker 4: because if you hit a ground ball back to the pitcher, yeah,
13:58
Speaker 4: you want to hustle to first base, right? Or if
14:01
Speaker 4: the ball is hit to right field, you.
14:02
Speaker 3: Want to back it up.
14:03
Speaker 4: But you're not going to waste all your energy in
14:05
Speaker 4: a play where you're not supposed to be kind of
14:08
Speaker 4: like the main guy. So for me, it's more of
14:11
Speaker 4: like sharpening those moments when we can actually deliver.
14:16
Speaker 3: And that's how we won the last two years.
14:18
Speaker 1: Exactly. We won those moments.
14:19
Speaker 3: We won moments.
14:20
Speaker 4: So I feel like there's no difference right now About, yeah,
14:25
Speaker 4: playing with urgency and understanding where we are. And we
14:30
Speaker 4: all know we're going.
14:33
Speaker 3: To have to play a three-game series. Right. We don't
14:35
Speaker 3: want that. Think we want to play a three-game series
14:37
Speaker 3: against the Phillies or the Cubs?
14:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:40
Speaker 4: Who knows what can happen, you know? You'd rather get
14:44
Speaker 4: into the postseason, play a five-game series, and move on.
14:47
Speaker 3: But, I mean, if we have to do.
14:49
Speaker 1: It, guess what?
14:50
Speaker 3: We got to do it.
14:51
Speaker 2: You know, hearing you talk, you know, that sounds– Obviously, like, okay,
14:55
Speaker 2: you've put on your manager hat and how you've thought about, okay,
14:58
Speaker 2: at some point I may have to tell my team
15:00
Speaker 2: this X, Y, and Z, whatever. Do you think that,
15:04
Speaker 2: you know, playing under Mattingly, Doc now, do you think
15:08
Speaker 2: those guys have really helped you shape that.
15:11
Speaker 1: Message that you just came up with?
15:13
Speaker 2: Like, you know, playing for these guys, hearing what they've
15:16
Speaker 2: had to say in certain situations and Do you feel
15:19
Speaker 2: like they've helped you come up with messages like that,
15:22
Speaker 2: especially in times like this?
15:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like seeing them go through moments, up
15:28
Speaker 4: and downs, and how they communicate and how they pick
15:32
Speaker 4: the right time to do it, that's really important too.
15:35
Speaker 4: It's not what you say, it's when you say it
15:38
Speaker 4: and how you say it, right? Because, I mean, you
15:40
Speaker 4: can say something after the game last night, nobody wants
15:43
Speaker 4: to listen, you know?
15:44
Speaker 2: Right.
15:44
Speaker 3: Everybody knows, you know?
15:47
Speaker 1: Yesterday.
15:48
Speaker 3: in our clubhouse, our travel, it wasn't the same. Everybody
15:53
Speaker 3: knows that.
15:54
Speaker 4: We didn't come with the best or at least an
16:01
Speaker 4: okay result from that series because we didn't play good baseball.
16:06
Speaker 4: And that's what really bothered us. But at the same time,
16:12
Speaker 4: it's like the manager has to be really careful with
16:14
Speaker 4: what and when approach the guys and to your point
16:19
Speaker 4: yes Donnie over there with a really younger team managing
16:24
Speaker 4: those guys managing expectations everybody have different expectations when you
16:28
Speaker 4: play for a team like that you want kind of
16:31
Speaker 4: like your money you want your security you want time
16:34
Speaker 4: in the game you want to play and then it's
16:37
Speaker 4: really hard to manage like that because you still want
16:40
Speaker 4: to win.
16:40
Speaker 3: Games right but then Doc here.
16:43
Speaker 4: You're dealing with the expectations of the best team in
16:45
Speaker 4: the world you know And then he's doing an amazing
16:48
Speaker 4: job kind of like separating that from managing the boys,
16:52
Speaker 4: you know, and being one of the guys and not
16:56
Speaker 4: being too far into the GM and the front office
17:01
Speaker 4: coming down and telling him what to do and stuff
17:03
Speaker 4: like that. So I believe that I learned from a
17:07
Speaker 4: lot of guys, but I still ask dog questions in
17:11
Speaker 4: the middle of the game.
17:11
Speaker 3: Like, what will you do here? Why are you walking
17:15
Speaker 3: this guy?
17:16
Speaker 2: And he answers, like even in the middle of the game,
17:19
Speaker 2: he gives you his reasoning why or does he say, hey,
17:22
Speaker 2: wait until after the game and then he calls you in?
17:25
Speaker 1: How does that go?
17:27
Speaker 4: No, Doug always being great with me and obviously me
17:32
Speaker 4: being here for the last couple of years of my career.
17:35
Speaker 4: I build a relationship that is strong enough for me
17:38
Speaker 4: to ask without him feel attacked, you know, that I'm like,
17:42
Speaker 4: I'm questioning him on any move. I just like generally
17:45
Speaker 4: want to know like what the, what the paper say,
17:48
Speaker 4: why is this guy in instead of this guy? Why
17:51
Speaker 4: are you pinch hitting me in instead of another guy?
17:55
Speaker 4: And sometimes it's a gut. Sometimes it's a feel. And
17:58
Speaker 4: sometimes it's a number, you know, like you gotta, you
18:01
Speaker 4: gotta pay attention to the information that we're given.
18:04
Speaker 3: And yeah, Everybody call it analytics, but it's not analytics.
18:08
Speaker 3: It's information. They're facts, you know, numbers.
18:12
Speaker 4: Obviously, they're in the past because it already happened. You
18:16
Speaker 4: don't know what's going to happen in the future, but
18:18
Speaker 4: you can use those in your advantage to manage games
18:21
Speaker 4: and move pieces the right way. And I always ask
18:24
Speaker 4: questions that way because, like I said, I feel like
18:27
Speaker 4: I had a really good relationship with Doug, and he's
18:30
Speaker 4: never going to feel like I'm, i'm kind of like
18:33
Speaker 4: questioning him his move and all that i just want
18:36
Speaker 4: to generally learn how to how to act in those situations.
18:39
Speaker 2: That's your only way to learn really i mean just
18:41
Speaker 2: to ask those questions i mean you can't wait till
18:44
Speaker 2: after because after you know he's probably thought about so
18:46
Speaker 2: many other things he he's probably forgotten you know the
18:50
Speaker 2: reason why he did this or the reason why he
18:51
Speaker 2: did that and i think to your point doc is
18:55
Speaker 2: is really awesome when it comes to to stuff like
18:57
Speaker 2: that you can go ask him and you know he
18:59
Speaker 2: doesn't feel attacked at all and Like you said, he
19:02
Speaker 2: takes the numbers and he uses it as information and
19:06
Speaker 2: not necessarily as, okay, this is what I'm doing or X, Y,
19:10
Speaker 2: and Z. Like he uses it, calculates it, and sometimes
19:12
Speaker 2: that is what he's going to do, right? But sometimes
19:15
Speaker 2: he looks at it and says, you know what, I
19:17
Speaker 2: feel something else. And so that's to your point. I
19:20
Speaker 2: do want to– Shohei, I think it came out that
19:23
Speaker 2: he was going to be able to pitch in September.
19:25
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
19:26
Speaker 1: That's going to help.
19:27
Speaker 2: That's going to help the boys out a lot. I
19:30
Speaker 2: really think he loves pitching. I really think seeing him
19:33
Speaker 2: this year made me understand how much he loves pitching.
19:40
Speaker 2: And so what do you think from that perspective?
19:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, Shohei is a different guy when he's able to
19:44
Speaker 4: put his glove on and go out there and throw.
19:48
Speaker 3: And I really believe it makes him. happy.
19:50
Speaker 4: And if he's happy and he's in a good headspace,
19:55
Speaker 4: he's going to help the team.
19:57
Speaker 3: And that's what we all care about. We all care
19:59
Speaker 3: about the team first.
20:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, he can.
20:03
Speaker 4: He can be wanting to pitch or not to pitch
20:06
Speaker 4: because he wants to focus on hitting or whatever. But
20:08
Speaker 4: how that affects the team because of his personality and
20:12
Speaker 4: the way that he's, you know, if he's tired, you know,
20:14
Speaker 4: like how is that going to affect his offense? And
20:17
Speaker 4: I think that's what I see on Shohei right now
20:20
Speaker 4: is that he's happy because he's able to put that
20:23
Speaker 4: glove again. You know, like I'm really close to his
20:25
Speaker 4: locker and you are too. you always see him messing
20:28
Speaker 4: with that glove and putting it right here and started
20:31
Speaker 4: to put a baseball in it and started cleaning his glove.
20:35
Speaker 3: And that makes me happy because he's into it.
20:37
Speaker 4: It feels like when he can be a two-way player,
20:40
Speaker 4: he's better for baseball.
20:44
Speaker 1: He can be himself.
20:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
20:45
Speaker 1: He can be himself.
20:46
Speaker 3: Exactly.
20:47
Speaker 4: He can be what he wants to be because he
20:50
Speaker 4: looks like he wants to be that guy. So when
20:52
Speaker 4: he just hit, you kind of like, like putting some
20:56
Speaker 4: ties on him and kind of like.
20:58
Speaker 3: Just throwing him in the cage, you know, and go ahead.
21:01
Speaker 3: But now he's not.
21:02
Speaker 4: He seems happy. So that's what I see from my perspective.
21:06
Speaker 4: So if he's happy, the team is going to be
21:08
Speaker 4: better because he's going to be producing.
21:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
21:10
Speaker 3: That's what I care about.
21:11
Speaker 2: And not only Shohei coming back, we just traded for Escoob.
21:17
Speaker 3: Yeah.
21:18
Speaker 2: For those who don't know who Escoob is, that's Scooble.
21:21
Speaker 2: Miggy Rowe on the mic. what were you just saying
21:27
Speaker 2: Scoob yeah but you said Escoob and I think it
21:32
Speaker 2: stuck so now his name is Escoob and you know
21:36
Speaker 2: having him what is he from my perspective what he's
21:39
Speaker 2: brought to the locker room you know coming over and
21:42
Speaker 2: that's a tough that's gonna be tough he spent you
21:44
Speaker 2: know seven eight years six seven years over there and
21:49
Speaker 2: in Detroit and now he's come over and you know
21:51
Speaker 2: it took him a little bit he was quiet for
21:53
Speaker 2: a little bit and now he's Show him way more personality.
21:57
Speaker 1: He's talking, he's hanging out, having fun.
22:00
Speaker 2: He's really become a part of the boys and he's
22:04
Speaker 2: added a really good element of team to the locker room.
22:08
Speaker 2: So I want to hear from your perspective what you've
22:10
Speaker 2: seen him add.
22:12
Speaker 4: On top of the on the rotation came uh from
22:15
Speaker 4: my broken english i think you know because i i
22:18
Speaker 4: remember what i asked him on the bus was how
22:21
Speaker 4: you want us to call you yeah because uh i
22:23
Speaker 4: mean i call him in the in the mic and
22:25
Speaker 4: we all know he's a back-to-back saiyan winner and all
22:28
Speaker 4: that he's not he's not gonna be doing the.
22:30
Speaker 3: Same stories on the bus for for the boys then
22:33
Speaker 3: you know.
22:33
Speaker 4: Rookies or whatever but I just wanted to give him
22:35
Speaker 4: the opportunity to feel comfortable and get with the guys.
22:39
Speaker 4: Because I don't know how they're going to be calling
22:41
Speaker 4: me when I'm playing second base behind him.
22:43
Speaker 3: It's Tarek or Scooboo.
22:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't say Tarek. Let's go. Keep going, Tarek.
22:49
Speaker 3: So, yeah. So he told me that I can call
22:52
Speaker 3: him Scoob. And I said, okay, Scoob. And Scooby-Doo Papa
22:55
Speaker 3: it is now.
22:56
Speaker 1: Scooby-Doo Papa.
22:57
Speaker 4: And I played that song for him. I thought it
23:00
Speaker 4: was funny. But, yeah, the last couple of weeks it's
23:03
Speaker 4: been– I bet it's been a lot for him because
23:07
Speaker 4: one of the best, the best pitcher in the league
23:11
Speaker 4: and one of the biggest pieces traded ever, you know,
23:15
Speaker 4: at the deadline, come to the Dodgers, have to face
23:18
Speaker 4: all the, you know, all the criticism and noise and
23:24
Speaker 4: all that that is, Nowadays in social media, everybody has
23:27
Speaker 4: something to say. And everybody wants to recap the game
23:31
Speaker 4: after the game and tell you how bad you're doing
23:34
Speaker 4: or how good you're doing and if they like you
23:37
Speaker 4: or not. And that's really hard. Coming into this market
23:41
Speaker 4: after playing for Detroit for a long time, this is different.
23:47
Speaker 4: And we all know he can do the stuff that
23:48
Speaker 4: we saw yesterday. He can pitch out of stuff. give
23:53
Speaker 4: you six innings, keep you in the game. Unfortunately, we
23:56
Speaker 4: haven't been able to give him his first win so
23:59
Speaker 4: he can feel way more comfortable. But at the end
24:02
Speaker 4: of the day, it's what he is on the other
24:05
Speaker 4: five days. And that's what I really think about starting pitchers.
24:08
Speaker 4: Starting pitchers can actually impact the team all the days,
24:13
Speaker 4: not just the day that they pitch.
24:15
Speaker 3: So he's always involved. He's always in the dugout. And
24:18
Speaker 3: that's what you see from pitchers that are going to
24:21
Speaker 3: be in the Hall of Fame.
24:22
Speaker 1: Yep.
24:22
Speaker 3: Hirsch was always in the dugout.
24:25
Speaker 4: When I look across the dugout, I see Jaco de
24:30
Speaker 4: Grom is always there.
24:31
Speaker 3: Matt Scherzer is always there. Justin Berlander is always there.
24:34
Speaker 4: They're watching, and they're not taking a pitch off, even
24:38
Speaker 4: though sometimes they've got to be in the training room
24:41
Speaker 4: doing stuff.
24:41
Speaker 3: But he's been so amazing with that. He's been on
24:44
Speaker 3: the dugout.
24:47
Speaker 4: Helping others, you know, I think he's going to be
24:49
Speaker 4: huge helping maybe Robleski finding out some stuff because Robleski
24:54
Speaker 4: is one of the pitchers and one of our younger
24:58
Speaker 4: guys that.
24:59
Speaker 3: He likes to ask questions, he likes to prepare. And
25:02
Speaker 3: I think.
25:02
Speaker 4: That's what Scoop is going to do for us, you know,
25:06
Speaker 4: more than just going out there every five days, and
25:09
Speaker 4: we all know what he's capable of doing there. He's
25:13
Speaker 4: going to do his thing when he pitches, but what
25:15
Speaker 4: can you do for us the other five days, you know,
25:17
Speaker 4: when you're not involved directly, you know? What is your
25:21
Speaker 4: assignment here? So he's been huge with that, and I'm
25:25
Speaker 4: looking forward to keep asking and kind of like getting
25:30
Speaker 4: him involved because he's going to enjoy the run with
25:33
Speaker 4: us in October for sure.
25:34
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely.
25:35
Speaker 2: And I do, you know, obviously, like you said, our
25:38
Speaker 2: lockers are close. And I've seen over the last week
25:42
Speaker 2: or so, especially, you know, since we've been home, that
25:46
Speaker 2: you and Tuck have started playing cards, the Venezuelan card game, right?
25:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a Venezuelan game.
25:52
Speaker 2: And, you know, obviously, we know Tuck is kind of
25:56
Speaker 2: going through it. And he came into a tough situation,
26:00
Speaker 2: you know, no matter how you want to, Slice it, right?
26:03
Speaker 2: He comes in and he's got Shohei, Freddie, Smitty, Muntz,
26:09
Speaker 2: all these guys that he can kind of not hide,
26:13
Speaker 2: but he doesn't have to be the guy. But no
26:16
Speaker 2: matter how you slice it, you give somebody that type
26:19
Speaker 2: of contract, there's going to be external pressure and really
26:23
Speaker 2: internal pressure for himself because he knows he needs to
26:26
Speaker 2: play well. But I've seen that you guys have started
26:30
Speaker 2: playing cards and whatnot. what have you kind of talked
26:34
Speaker 2: to him about to kind of help him through it?
26:36
Speaker 2: Cause you know, he's, it's tough, it's tough, but you
26:40
Speaker 2: are the person that can really talk to him and
26:42
Speaker 2: level with him and, um, you know, kind of keep
26:44
Speaker 2: him going.
26:45
Speaker 4: Yeah. I, I just, I, I just got to start
26:47
Speaker 4: saying that I have all my confidence in Tucker, you know,
26:50
Speaker 4: and I can see in him and kind of like deeper, um,
26:55
Speaker 4: because I'm really close to him, you know, like, and I, I,
26:58
Speaker 4: I've been taking my time to get to know him,
27:00
Speaker 4: what he likes to do.
27:01
Speaker 1: Yep.
27:01
Speaker 3: Um, what he likes to talk.
27:03
Speaker 4: About, and even like teaching this little card game from
27:08
Speaker 4: Venezuela because he likes playing cards and he really enjoy it.
27:12
Speaker 4: But we don't do that in the locker room that much.
27:14
Speaker 4: We play cards on the plane or whatever. I've been
27:16
Speaker 4: kind of like investing some time on trying to help
27:19
Speaker 4: him feel better, you know, about not just about himself,
27:22
Speaker 4: but about his teammates and the people that he's around.
27:25
Speaker 4: Because I am a true believer that when you feel good,
27:28
Speaker 4: you play good, right? And when you're kind of like
27:31
Speaker 4: going out there every day, knowing that the guys have
27:34
Speaker 4: your back, it's a good feeling, you know? It's a
27:36
Speaker 4: good feeling when you go to the field and you say,
27:39
Speaker 4: you know what? I look to my left, to my right,
27:43
Speaker 4: and I see guys who are going to support me,
27:46
Speaker 4: even if things are not going great. So for me, yeah,
27:50
Speaker 4: performance is one thing, but I really want him to
27:53
Speaker 4: believe that the opinion that matters is the ones that
27:57
Speaker 4: you have in your left and your right when you
27:59
Speaker 4: have to get back into the locker room. And it's
28:01
Speaker 4: not like from the million of people that are kind
28:05
Speaker 4: of saying stuff outside of baseball, you know, and around baseball.
28:10
Speaker 4: And it's really hard to stay away from it because
28:12
Speaker 4: first thing you pick up in the morning is your phone.
28:14
Speaker 1: And then it's all over.
28:17
Speaker 3: You turn the TV on and it's on TV too.
28:20
Speaker 4: So we want him to feel that the opinion that
28:26
Speaker 4: matters is the one that are in that locker room.
28:29
Speaker 4: And we all trust him and believe in him, not
28:33
Speaker 4: just because of the track record, but what we can see,
28:36
Speaker 4: you know? And then if we can really like make
28:39
Speaker 4: him kind of feel free and go out there and
28:44
Speaker 4: like careless about what happened on the game, I think
28:48
Speaker 4: it's going to be a great last two months of
28:51
Speaker 4: the season for him.
28:52
Speaker 3: And that's what I'm looking for, to be honest with you.
28:54
Speaker 4: Like, the card play and all that and kind of, like,
28:59
Speaker 4: getting a relationship with the guys is just to make
29:02
Speaker 4: him play better.
29:04
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, to help him, yeah.
29:05
Speaker 2: And I do– I know– You nicknamed him Drunk Tuck.
29:09
Speaker 2: Where did that kind of come from?
29:12
Speaker 1: Why did you do that?
29:14
Speaker 3: Well, he's a goal glover in right field, and he
29:16
Speaker 3: don't miss many balls. He catch them all.
29:19
Speaker 4: But it's kind of like weird when the ball golfs
29:21
Speaker 4: up in the air. He's a little bit different than
29:24
Speaker 4: others outfielders. I mean, when you play right field, you
29:27
Speaker 4: go and run to the ball, and at the last second,
29:29
Speaker 4: you put your glove up and catch it, right?
29:31
Speaker 3: No, but Tuck.
29:33
Speaker 4: Every time the ball is up in the air, he's
29:36
Speaker 4: putting his glove up like that and he looks like
29:38
Speaker 4: he's drunk trying to catch his ball.
29:40
Speaker 3: And he always catch it.
29:41
Speaker 1: He always catches it.
29:42
Speaker 3: But he gave you like.
29:43
Speaker 4: A little bit of a anxiety because you think he's
29:46
Speaker 4: like drunk. And yeah, I mean, we usually, I think
29:49
Speaker 4: it was Robleski sent me that picture. Uh, we were,
29:53
Speaker 4: we were in Pittsburgh and he sent a picture on
29:56
Speaker 4: a group that, uh, the dog is having like a
29:59
Speaker 4: beer right next to him. And he's like, he's catching
30:02
Speaker 4: the ball with this face.
30:04
Speaker 3: No hat on.
30:05
Speaker 1: That's hilarious, dude. Man. That is hilarious.
30:07
Speaker 3: These days with AI, man.
30:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can do anything.
30:09
Speaker 3: All the videos that they're putting on. It's crazy. It's crazy.
30:13
Speaker 3: All the videos that they're, they're putting up in our
30:15
Speaker 3: locker room and stuff.
30:16
Speaker 2: So I want to switch gears a little bit and
30:18
Speaker 2: talk about, um, talk more about you. Obviously we know, uh,
30:23
Speaker 2: you're the world series hero from last year. Um, And
30:28
Speaker 2: I want to talk a little bit about that bat.
30:31
Speaker 1: Do you remember? Do you remember at all? Or was
30:34
Speaker 1: it kind of like a blur?
30:35
Speaker 3: No, no, I do remember. Okay.
30:38
Speaker 4: Kind of like coming into the dugout, you know, like they,
30:44
Speaker 4: especially when it's a right-handed pitching.
30:46
Speaker 3: Right. They always pinch it for me.
30:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
30:49
Speaker 4: And I don't know if they felt like I was
30:52
Speaker 4: the option, you know, like I play game six and
30:56
Speaker 4: we won.
30:56
Speaker 1: Yep.
30:57
Speaker 3: I played the whole game.
30:58
Speaker 4: And then I was in game seven. I had a
31:00
Speaker 4: couple good at-bats against Scherzer earlier.
31:03
Speaker 3: And then, obviously, I'm expecting... I'm getting ready to hit,
31:09
Speaker 3: but I'm kind of like I'm expecting the pat on
31:11
Speaker 3: the bat that, I mean, Pajes might get that at-bat
31:14
Speaker 3: or Alex Cole or any of those two guys could
31:19
Speaker 3: get that at-bat, you know.
31:20
Speaker 4: To get on base for Shohei. Because Alex is a big...
31:25
Speaker 4: OBP guy and Pajes can obviously hit a homer at
31:29
Speaker 4: any time. And then when I didn't see Danny around me,
31:32
Speaker 4: our bench coach, I just went and proceeded to put
31:36
Speaker 4: my helmet on and start thinking about, okay, what I
31:38
Speaker 4: want to do against this guy. So the advice started
31:43
Speaker 4: with me saying, I need to take this fastball middle
31:46
Speaker 4: away and I hit a base hit of the middle.
31:49
Speaker 4: And then I realized that when I got the.
31:51
Speaker 3: First pitch, it was a slider.
31:52
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk about all the pitches.
31:54
Speaker 3: So, yeah. My mentality was I wanted to get on base.
32:00
Speaker 1: For sure. Just in general, I just wanted to get
32:01
Speaker 1: on base. That's it.
32:02
Speaker 2: So, first pitch right here, you were like, what were
32:05
Speaker 2: you thinking first pitch?
32:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm thinking fastball away.
32:07
Speaker 1: Fastball, because he doesn't want to walk you.
32:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then he don't want to come in just
32:11
Speaker 4: in case, you know, like I'm cheating and I'm pulling.
32:14
Speaker 4: They know I like to pull the ball and my
32:16
Speaker 4: strength is closer to me.
32:17
Speaker 3: So.
32:18
Speaker 4: I felt like, okay, if I'm pitching in this situation,
32:22
Speaker 4: it's a fastball away. Let him take his single if
32:24
Speaker 4: he wants to and then move on and then take
32:27
Speaker 4: the chances of him ground out to second base or
32:29
Speaker 4: something like that. So I was kind of like put
32:33
Speaker 4: on my faith that I was gonna get a fastball
32:35
Speaker 4: middle away. and shoot it up the middle, and you
32:37
Speaker 4: see that slider.
32:38
Speaker 1: Slider in the dirt.
32:38
Speaker 3: Came out of the same tunnel, and kind of like,
32:41
Speaker 3: it was a pretty good pitch.
32:42
Speaker 4: Buster pitch right there, so can't do anything about, but
32:45
Speaker 4: I got a lot of information from that pitch.
32:47
Speaker 1: Yep.
32:48
Speaker 3: So I'm glad that I swung.
32:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:49
Speaker 3: Because if I take that, and now I don't know.
32:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you can, yeah.
32:54
Speaker 4: But I kind of swung through that. I'm happy that
32:56
Speaker 4: I swung through it, instead of just touch it. And
33:00
Speaker 4: then after that, I say, okay, now I know where
33:02
Speaker 4: the slider is.
33:03
Speaker 1: Yep.
33:04
Speaker 4: Now I can actually set it like, you know, like
33:07
Speaker 4: he threw a bad one.
33:08
Speaker 3: That's a really bad one. A ball out of the hand.
33:10
Speaker 2: So now, you know, slider, slider. At this point, you're
33:15
Speaker 2: probably thinking like, OK, he's got.
33:16
Speaker 1: To throw a fastball at some point. Right. So go
33:19
Speaker 1: for pitch three.
33:20
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, pitch three.
33:21
Speaker 4: I'm thinking a little bit, a little bit like in
33:24
Speaker 4: between speeds there, you know, because I'm not sure if you.
33:27
Speaker 1: Just want to throw a bunch of sliders.
33:28
Speaker 3: From your sliders. in that at bat and then threw
33:32
Speaker 3: another non-competitive pitch. That helped me too.
33:35
Speaker 4: Like when a guy throws you a non-competitive pitch, your
33:39
Speaker 4: confidence get back up, you know? Because it's not really
33:42
Speaker 4: like painting or locating this fastball.
33:45
Speaker 3: So this fastball right here gave me the confidence. Oh,
33:48
Speaker 3: I see 97.
33:49
Speaker 4: So 97 right there, I saw 97 and it didn't
33:53
Speaker 4: feel overwhelming, you know? Like I didn't feel overmatched anymore.
33:57
Speaker 4: So I said, okay, I can let the ball travel.
33:59
Speaker 4: And that's what happened this next two pitches. So I'm
34:02
Speaker 4: thinking fastball, but I'm thinking like letter travel, foul ball.
34:06
Speaker 4: That's the pitch that I'm looking for.
34:09
Speaker 1: Okay, so were you late? Were you early? Did you
34:12
Speaker 1: just miss it?
34:14
Speaker 2: Because if that's the pitch you're looking for and you
34:16
Speaker 2: foul it off, Was there a reason why you fouled
34:19
Speaker 2: it off?
34:19
Speaker 4: No, the reason why I fouled this off is because
34:21
Speaker 4: I'm trying to play the fastball back.
34:22
Speaker 2: Okay.
34:23
Speaker 4: Because I don't want to chase the slider again, right?
34:25
Speaker 4: So I'm playing the fastball back, so my timing was
34:28
Speaker 4: for fastball, but I want to hit it back here.
34:31
Speaker 3: So that's why it kind of beat me a little bit.
34:34
Speaker 4: And I think that's the reason why I hit the
34:36
Speaker 4: slider for a home, because I'm hitting this fastball back here.
34:39
Speaker 4: Because if I'm thinking, okay, let's catch this fastball out
34:42
Speaker 4: front or move it forward up the middle or left center,
34:47
Speaker 4: I'm probably going to be compromised with the slider, right?
34:49
Speaker 4: So that's exactly what happened there. So I say, you
34:52
Speaker 4: know what? You're not going to beat me with fastballs.
34:55
Speaker 3: This pitch is pretty much middle-middle, but I'm okay doing that.
35:00
Speaker 4: I'm protecting against everything. So that's what I'm thinking there.
35:04
Speaker 4: So two strikes, I'm thinking, you're not going to beat
35:07
Speaker 4: me with a fastball. I'm just going to be able
35:09
Speaker 4: to hit it back here.
35:10
Speaker 2: And once you have that thought, like, okay, you're not
35:14
Speaker 2: going to beat me with the fastball, There's like this
35:17
Speaker 2: confidence that you have in the box because it's like
35:20
Speaker 2: I can foul off your best pitch. Now anything else,
35:23
Speaker 2: I'm going to be on time for, right?
35:25
Speaker 1: That's what I would think. That's why this slider, this
35:27
Speaker 1: next pitch.
35:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, slider open in here.
35:31
Speaker 2: From the side, it didn't look as high as it
35:35
Speaker 2: does from the front.
35:36
Speaker 1: From the side, we were like, oh my gosh. But now... Obviously, ball,
35:42
Speaker 1: you took it and you were very confident in the take, obviously.
35:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was because I felt it close to me, right?
35:48
Speaker 4: So the ball didn't do, the slider didn't do.
35:50
Speaker 3: What it's supposed to do there. So kind of like
35:52
Speaker 3: stay up and honk a little bit.
35:55
Speaker 4: But it was going to be really hard for me
35:57
Speaker 4: to swing at that pitch. Even if he catch a corner, can't.
36:00
Speaker 3: Do anything about it.
36:01
Speaker 4: You know, like there's no way for me to pull
36:05
Speaker 4: the trigger on a pitch like opening like that.
36:08
Speaker 3: So.
36:09
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm glad that Jordan Baker behind the plate
36:13
Speaker 4: made a good call there. Because he could easily call
36:16
Speaker 4: that a strike, especially with that guy behind the plate.
36:19
Speaker 4: Kurt is really good at framing. So, yeah, I mean,
36:22
Speaker 4: I felt it, like, close to me and kind of up.
36:25
Speaker 4: That's why I didn't swing. And then 3-2 count.
36:29
Speaker 1: 3-2. 3-2. The pitch. Homer. Okay, so.
36:39
Speaker 2: When you hit it and you saw, like, I mean,
36:41
Speaker 2: when you hit it, you pretty much knew that's a homer, right? Yeah.
36:45
Speaker 1: What was going through your mind?
36:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, as soon as I got the pitch,
36:50
Speaker 3: I felt like I put a good swing on it.
36:52
Speaker 4: I see the ball flying and I'm already, I'm kind
36:55
Speaker 4: of like running to first base and I see all
36:58
Speaker 4: of this after. But what's going through my mind is, okay,
37:03
Speaker 4: we just tied the most important game.
37:06
Speaker 1: We or you? Because, like, I mean, obviously we did, but, like,
37:09
Speaker 1: I'm talking about for you.
37:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking about, I'm thinking team first
37:13
Speaker 3: every time.
37:13
Speaker 1: Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
37:14
Speaker 4: But what is going through my mind is kind of, like,
37:17
Speaker 4: the support of my family and my wife being there,
37:20
Speaker 4: my kid being somewhere in that stadium with 40,000 people jumping.
37:25
Speaker 3: Around, you know?
37:26
Speaker 4: Like, I'm thinking about Aaron. I'm thinking about Amber. I'm
37:29
Speaker 4: thinking about my wife. She just told me, like, two
37:33
Speaker 4: or three days before that, that wait for your moment.
37:37
Speaker 4: Something really special is going to happen to you. Just
37:40
Speaker 4: don't give up. Just keep going out there and work.
37:44
Speaker 4: You're going to hit a home run. You're going to
37:45
Speaker 4: do something big for the team. And you can see
37:48
Speaker 4: it right now because you're not really in there. But
37:53
Speaker 4: I just want you to keep going. And that's what
37:55
Speaker 4: I'm going through. But then I kind of came back
38:00
Speaker 4: to earth and said, you know what?
38:02
Speaker 3: We haven't win. Right.
38:04
Speaker 4: So it's a tight game. I need to lock it
38:06
Speaker 4: in because we're going to have to play defense after
38:09
Speaker 4: this inning. And then when I'm like, everybody's excited. Obviously,
38:14
Speaker 4: we tied the game with one out left in the
38:17
Speaker 4: World Series. And I'm going in the dugout and I'm
38:21
Speaker 4: seeing Blake there. Blake Snell is pitching, right? And he's
38:24
Speaker 4: like straight face, ready to go next inning because he
38:28
Speaker 4: knows he has to throw a zero.
38:30
Speaker 1: If not.
38:31
Speaker 3: Nothing of this matters. So it was special.
38:35
Speaker 4: And obviously, I got a lot of things going through
38:38
Speaker 4: my head. Then I went to put my helmet down
38:41
Speaker 4: and Shohei came to me and said, don't think about retiring.
38:45
Speaker 3: I want you to play with me.
38:47
Speaker 4: And I mean, a lot of things happened in that
38:50
Speaker 4: moment that makes me feel that it kind of like
38:53
Speaker 4: is what I always wanted.
38:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
38:56
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what you dream about. You know, you
38:58
Speaker 2: dream about in the backyard. That's kind of what we're
39:02
Speaker 2: doing when we're young, and you got to do it
39:05
Speaker 2: in real life in the big leagues. From my perspective,
39:08
Speaker 2: when you got down to 3-2, I was like, walk him.
39:12
Speaker 2: I hope he throws a slider in the dirt.
39:14
Speaker 1: Walk him.
39:15
Speaker 2: The last thing I was thinking, and this is obviously,
39:17
Speaker 2: I'm not taking a shot at you, but the last
39:19
Speaker 2: thing I was thinking was you were about to hit
39:20
Speaker 2: a home run because that's not a big part of
39:24
Speaker 2: your game, and you hadn't really played. So like the
39:28
Speaker 2: chances of you hitting a homer are like slim. So
39:31
Speaker 2: I'm like, just walk them, walk them, get, get on
39:34
Speaker 2: base for Shohei.
39:37
Speaker 1: Right. And so then you hit it. I'm like, Oh
39:40
Speaker 1: my gosh.
39:41
Speaker 2: Oh, And then that's why, you know, everybody reacted because
39:45
Speaker 2: it's like when you get, as you know, like when
39:48
Speaker 2: you get something like that from someone or from something
39:51
Speaker 2: that you're not fully expecting, that's like you're kind of
39:55
Speaker 2: playing with house money at that point. Like once you
39:56
Speaker 2: hit the home run, I was like, we're going to
39:58
Speaker 2: win this game.
39:58
Speaker 3: Yeah.
39:59
Speaker 2: We're going to win this game. And so then, but anyways,
40:03
Speaker 2: now refocusing, going back out on defense, right? We get
40:07
Speaker 2: into a little situation, obviously, and then, I know you
40:10
Speaker 2: kind of spoke before. You don't even like watching the play.
40:13
Speaker 1: I don't like watching this play. So why don't you
40:15
Speaker 1: like watching it?
40:16
Speaker 4: Because the ball could have easily gone away from me
40:20
Speaker 4: because it was a tough half. Actually, I said that
40:25
Speaker 4: I took the bad route and I didn't read it
40:29
Speaker 4: the right way. But looking at what happened yesterday, so
40:32
Speaker 4: we had.
40:32
Speaker 3: A play yesterday.
40:33
Speaker 4: Tommy missed it. He went to it and he was
40:35
Speaker 4: in between and he missed it, right? So I felt
40:38
Speaker 4: like That could have happened to me. So running it
40:41
Speaker 4: back in my mind, because I'm always like running plays
40:44
Speaker 4: in my mind, like wanting pitches back at the play.
40:49
Speaker 3: Running the play back in my mind, a lot of
40:51
Speaker 3: things could have happened for us to lose the game.
40:54
Speaker 2: Especially for that turf, because people don't know that turf.
41:00
Speaker 2: You remember when we first got to Toronto and we
41:03
Speaker 2: did infield in ground balls. I think pretty much everybody
41:06
Speaker 2: missed the first one.
41:07
Speaker 1: Missed balls, yes.
41:09
Speaker 2: Because it was bouncing up higher and it was doing
41:12
Speaker 2: things that we weren't used to because it's turf and
41:14
Speaker 2: we're used to normal grass. And so that probably played
41:18
Speaker 2: a part in the reason why you played it the
41:21
Speaker 2: way you played it.
41:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, it did.
41:22
Speaker 3: It did.
41:23
Speaker 4: And that's on your mind. Every time you kind of
41:26
Speaker 4: like do something that you make an error, you learn
41:30
Speaker 4: from it, right? And then you don't want to make
41:32
Speaker 4: that error again with the same kind of ball or
41:36
Speaker 4: the same reason. So that's the reason why I went
41:38
Speaker 4: back to it and I won the long hop instead.
41:41
Speaker 3: Of the short hop.
41:42
Speaker 4: But I knew it was a possibility for the guy
41:44
Speaker 4: to beat me home if I do that. So, yeah,
41:48
Speaker 4: I don't like watching it because I lose my step
41:52
Speaker 4: a little bit. I kind of like stumble. And that
41:55
Speaker 4: could have been bad too. Can you imagine losing the
41:58
Speaker 4: World Series because of like I fell down? after I
42:02
Speaker 4: catch a ball.
42:02
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not funny, but like, you know, imagining
42:05
Speaker 1: that would be like.
42:06
Speaker 4: That's what I'm thinking.
42:08
Speaker 3: That's what is on my head, you know?
42:10
Speaker 4: When I see myself stumble, it could easily, like, lose
42:14
Speaker 4: the game because I lose my footage and I couldn't
42:16
Speaker 4: throw the ball home.
42:17
Speaker 1: Yep.
42:18
Speaker 3: You know?
42:18
Speaker 4: And I think about all that, but I'm glad that
42:20
Speaker 4: I was able to kind of keep the composure.
42:23
Speaker 1: We got it right here. You don't have to watch it,
42:24
Speaker 1: but I want to watch it.
42:25
Speaker 3: I'll watch it. I just say it's hard because it
42:28
Speaker 3: gets my... Oh, like.
42:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, my anxiety on, but.
42:33
Speaker 3: Yeah.
42:34
Speaker 1: I mean, there was no way you could have charged
42:36
Speaker 1: that ball.
42:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what I think, too, because it was like
42:39
Speaker 4: to my, a little bit to my right.
42:41
Speaker 1: Yeah.
42:42
Speaker 4: But I feel like if the runner at their base
42:43
Speaker 4: have a little bit more of a lead, he's safe.
42:48
Speaker 1: Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was inches.
42:51
Speaker 3: Yeah.
42:51
Speaker 1: So once you made the play, right, right here, what
42:54
Speaker 1: are you thinking?
42:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm kind of. kind of stressed out.
43:00
Speaker 4: I'm so stressed. I'm kind of like putting my hands
43:04
Speaker 4: on my knees right there because I was so close.
43:07
Speaker 4: So close. And I mean, we all worked so hard
43:12
Speaker 4: to be in this position. You don't want to be
43:14
Speaker 4: the reason why.
43:14
Speaker 1: Not because of a stumble.
43:18
Speaker 3: Not because of a stumble. So I made up a
43:20
Speaker 3: good throw and everything. That's the thing. What I'm thinking
43:25
Speaker 3: there is like.
43:26
Speaker 4: We still have one more out to get, you know,
43:29
Speaker 4: but I'm glad that we were able to do this one.
43:32
Speaker 4: And I mean, Yamamoto was amazing putting the ball on
43:36
Speaker 4: the ground there, like finding the right pitch to kind
43:38
Speaker 4: of like make that guy roll over to that side
43:41
Speaker 4: of the field. And obviously being in the right spot
43:44
Speaker 4: at the right moment and going back to what we
43:47
Speaker 4: talked about earlier. So we weren't going to win that game.
43:51
Speaker 4: Let's talk about like that game is not in November.
43:56
Speaker 4: And it's not the game seven. But we have to
43:59
Speaker 4: play every game with that urgency. That's the urgency that.
44:02
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. That play.
44:04
Speaker 3: That play.
44:04
Speaker 1: That play.
44:05
Speaker 4: It's like, right now, everybody has to think about we
44:09
Speaker 4: don't have a seven-game lead. It doesn't matter if we
44:15
Speaker 4: play a World Cup series. We're going to find a way.
44:18
Speaker 4: We're going to be okay. That's the urgency that I
44:21
Speaker 4: think Doc is talking about. It's the urgency of putting
44:25
Speaker 4: your focus... on this play, and it's hard to do
44:28
Speaker 4: when you play against the Rockies, that it's a team
44:32
Speaker 4: that is last in the division and all that. But
44:34
Speaker 4: we have to start doing that now so we prepare
44:38
Speaker 4: for what is coming. If we don't do that, when
44:41
Speaker 4: that play comes in the game seven, we're not going
44:43
Speaker 4: to be able to make it and we're not going
44:45
Speaker 4: to win.
44:45
Speaker 2: It's not a switch that turns on. It's an identity
44:49
Speaker 2: that you have. You have to play with that identity
44:53
Speaker 2: all the time because when it gets into these stressful moments...
44:56
Speaker 2: As you know, right, you're going to fall back on
45:01
Speaker 2: what you know best. And, I mean, I'll get into,
45:06
Speaker 2: you know, kind of what I've learned and what you've
45:08
Speaker 2: kind of taught me, but that's exactly what's going to happen.
45:11
Speaker 2: Before I get into that, I do want to talk
45:13
Speaker 2: a little bit more about when did you realize that
45:17
Speaker 2: you were going to be like a clubhouse leader or
45:22
Speaker 2: a leader really.
45:22
Speaker 1: Of the Dodgers, you know, once you got traded over here?
45:25
Speaker 4: Well, you guys gave me that opportunity, to be honest. Like, you, Mons, Freddy, Kirsch, Kike,
45:34
Speaker 4: when he came back here, helped me a lot. But
45:38
Speaker 4: I wasn't trying to come here and say, hey, guys,
45:40
Speaker 4: you guys got a voice now, you know?
45:42
Speaker 3: I didn't do that, you know?
45:44
Speaker 4: Like, I needed you guys to welcome me and kind of, like,
45:47
Speaker 4: let me be myself, you know?
45:51
Speaker 3: And go out there. But everything started, like, being with
45:53
Speaker 3: Martin again.
45:54
Speaker 4: Yep.
45:55
Speaker 3: So he wasn't my guy. He was a guy who
45:57
Speaker 3: always say hi.
45:59
Speaker 4: In the morning, go to the training room and kind
46:01
Speaker 4: of say hi to everybody and handshake everybody. So that's
46:05
Speaker 4: when I started like thinking, I want to be someone
46:09
Speaker 4: like that. You know, that is what I wanted to be,
46:14
Speaker 4: you know, because I knew at some point I wasn't going.
46:17
Speaker 3: To play every day anymore. But there's a way for
46:22
Speaker 3: me to help. And from me helping you, from me
46:27
Speaker 3: helping Muncie, Freddie or whoever, I'm helping the team. So
46:31
Speaker 3: that's my mentality. So I don't want to be recognized
46:35
Speaker 3: with a C on my chest. That's not what I want.
46:38
Speaker 3: I want my team to win. And there's so minimal.
46:42
Speaker 4: chances that i have to impact the game on the
46:44
Speaker 4: field i want impacted off the field and how can
46:47
Speaker 4: i make my team better is making you better if
46:50
Speaker 4: you come with to me with a questions i.
46:53
Speaker 3: Need to be ready right for you because you're.
46:55
Speaker 4: Gonna you're gonna have times when you're gonna need your
46:58
Speaker 4: teammate and if it's me or if it's another teammate
47:01
Speaker 4: he's great but i think that's a superpower that i
47:05
Speaker 4: feel like could have on a team and that the
47:09
Speaker 4: time when i that i realized that i was gonna
47:11
Speaker 4: be This guy is when you guys let me be
47:15
Speaker 4: and let me talk. And, you know, like if I'm
47:18
Speaker 4: here and you guys are kind of like blocking me
47:20
Speaker 4: and say, what is this guy trying to do?
47:23
Speaker 3: It was going to be really hard.
47:24
Speaker 4: So it happened because of the personalities that we have
47:28
Speaker 4: in the clubhouse.
47:29
Speaker 2: What do you think the most rewarding part is? Like,
47:32
Speaker 2: you know, being a leader on our team in specific.
47:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, the most rewarding part is like stay on this team. Because,
47:41
Speaker 4: I mean, there's a lot of times the last couple
47:44
Speaker 4: years that I felt I didn't belong because of my
47:47
Speaker 4: performance on the field, not because who I was, but
47:52
Speaker 4: kind of being the guy and the person that I
47:56
Speaker 4: am bought me some time on the team when I
48:00
Speaker 4: didn't perform as I was expected. So I feel like
48:04
Speaker 4: that's the rewarding part about being a leader in a
48:09
Speaker 4: clubhouse and being a voice and being one of the
48:12
Speaker 4: guys that people look into when they need something is
48:18
Speaker 4: that buy me some time on this team and have
48:21
Speaker 4: the privilege of playing in game seven of the World Series.
48:25
Speaker 3: That's the most rewarding thing for me.
48:26
Speaker 2: And I would say, you know, going back to kind
48:29
Speaker 2: of like what you were talking, how you speak to
48:32
Speaker 2: Tuck is... because you do that and you have this
48:36
Speaker 2: relationship with us and you you know obviously our leader
48:39
Speaker 2: and tuck may not necessarily want to lead but i
48:42
Speaker 2: think because you talk and you are present i think
48:47
Speaker 2: you feel even whenever you not may not be playing
48:50
Speaker 2: well you feel like we're all riding with you no
48:53
Speaker 2: matter what and then going into game six and game
48:55
Speaker 2: seven there's no way you didn't Feel that we wanted
49:02
Speaker 2: you there, you know, and I think because you felt
49:05
Speaker 2: we wanted you there, that helped you in these these moments.
49:08
Speaker 2: And so maybe that's something that Tuck may see is like,
49:11
Speaker 2: you know, the more he he kind of integrates and
49:14
Speaker 2: he's doing it right.
49:15
Speaker 1: He's doing it. It's taking him a little time, but
49:18
Speaker 1: he's doing it.
49:19
Speaker 2: And the more he integrates and the closer he gets
49:21
Speaker 2: with us, I think the more he'll feel like it
49:24
Speaker 2: doesn't matter. We don't, we really don't care. We just
49:27
Speaker 2: want you there with us and we want you in
49:30
Speaker 2: the grinder with us.
49:30
Speaker 1: You know, whether you do good or not is not
49:33
Speaker 1: the point.
49:33
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? Like we're going to give,
49:36
Speaker 2: there's going to be a moment. And we're going to
49:38
Speaker 2: be cheering you on. And whether you get, whether you
49:40
Speaker 2: hit a home run there or not, we're going to.
49:43
Speaker 1: Love you no matter what. Right. But I think that
49:46
Speaker 1: helped you, you know?
49:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, it helped. It helped me a lot.
49:49
Speaker 4: And that's why I say that the reason why I'm
49:52
Speaker 4: in the position that I am at right now is
49:54
Speaker 4: because of you guys, because you guys are a bunch of. wealthy,
50:00
Speaker 4: great players, superstars, all-stars, MVPs, but you guys are so
50:07
Speaker 4: humble when it comes to receiving teammates and you guys
50:11
Speaker 4: are not gonna be kinda like thinking that I'm better
50:14
Speaker 4: than everybody else just because I got all these accolades
50:18
Speaker 4: in my career, you know?
50:20
Speaker 3: When it comes to that every day, the day-to-day stuff,
50:25
Speaker 3: you guys are suffering. As much as anybody. And it's crazy.
50:31
Speaker 4: How can I see a guy like Freddy with almost 3,000 hits,
50:36
Speaker 4: all these, you know, all these things behind his baseball card,
50:41
Speaker 4: and he's really suffering every single day because of performance,
50:47
Speaker 4: you know, and the open downs of the season.
50:49
Speaker 3: Same thing with you, Mook. Same thing with Shohei.
50:52
Speaker 4: Like, it's not easy, and everybody thinks and expects that,
50:56
Speaker 4: That you guys are superheroes, you know, but you guys
51:00
Speaker 4: are not and you guys need that support.
51:02
Speaker 3: Same thing with Tuck.
51:03
Speaker 4: Tuck right now, I just like really want him to
51:08
Speaker 4: feel that regardless of what happened, we want him out there.
51:12
Speaker 4: And I think we had this conversation before when you
51:16
Speaker 4: didn't know if you was going to be able to
51:18
Speaker 4: play shortstop.
51:18
Speaker 3: In the playoff.
51:19
Speaker 1: Right.
51:20
Speaker 4: I thought you felt like you could do it in
51:24
Speaker 4: the regular season, but you thought the playoff was going
51:28
Speaker 4: to be a different animal, you know? And I remember saying,
51:33
Speaker 4: regardless if you want it or not, you're going to
51:35
Speaker 4: be there. And you're going to be the one playing shortstop.
51:38
Speaker 1: I remember that.
51:39
Speaker 4: I can't save you from that, you know? I might
51:43
Speaker 4: be able to play shortstop, but you're going to be
51:45
Speaker 4: the one there. And we all want you in there.
51:48
Speaker 4: So stop thinking about... that, oh, there might be a
51:52
Speaker 4: better option.
51:53
Speaker 3: Yeah. You are the option. Same thing with Tucker.
51:56
Speaker 4: I want him to know that he is the option.
52:00
Speaker 4: And we want him out there.
52:01
Speaker 1: You know?
52:03
Speaker 4: And I think he will feel that and hopefully that will.
52:09
Speaker 2: Make him play better. And I do want to switch
52:12
Speaker 2: to that. My move too short. As I moved, I remember,
52:16
Speaker 2: you know, we used to be out there every day, right?
52:19
Speaker 2: Every day and I think people probably kind of know
52:22
Speaker 2: we were out there every day, but I don't think
52:25
Speaker 2: people understand the magnitude of how much you, you really help.
52:29
Speaker 2: Cause it's not even, even now, like sometimes in the seventh,
52:33
Speaker 2: the eighth inning and there's certain situations coming up.
52:36
Speaker 1: Right.
52:37
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't, I think this is what I'm
52:39
Speaker 2: supposed to do, but I'm not exactly sure. And, and
52:42
Speaker 2: Woody is there to help. Of course, our infield coach,
52:44
Speaker 2: he's there to help 1000%. He played and he knows
52:48
Speaker 2: everything about, playing shortstop and really the other positions but
52:52
Speaker 2: like i look to you because it's like okay miggy
52:55
Speaker 2: has really kind of taught me just about everything when
52:58
Speaker 2: it comes to especially all the the situations that come
53:01
Speaker 2: up how to handle them x y z and i'm
53:03
Speaker 2: looking at you like you know hey what do you
53:06
Speaker 2: think i need to do here just should i move
53:07
Speaker 2: in a little bit should move back a little bit
53:09
Speaker 2: should i take one out should i do this to
53:11
Speaker 2: show do that and i come ask you questions all
53:13
Speaker 2: the time and so When you saw that, obviously, you're
53:17
Speaker 2: a shortstop, especially you come over and that's your position.
53:20
Speaker 2: But when you saw that, okay, they're going to put
53:23
Speaker 2: Muka short, you never batted an eye. You never felt
53:27
Speaker 2: a certain way. You were like, okay, well, if that's
53:29
Speaker 2: the case, I'm going to help them. Like, where did
53:32
Speaker 2: that come from and why?
53:34
Speaker 4: It's definitely who I am, you know. And, yeah, it's
53:38
Speaker 4: really hard for me to explain.
53:40
Speaker 3: Why, you know. Like, I didn't want to.
53:42
Speaker 4: Get anything from you you know like i'm not expecting
53:45
Speaker 4: anything from from this i'm just want my team to
53:48
Speaker 4: be good and to be better and i know if
53:51
Speaker 4: i make you better my job is going to be
53:52
Speaker 4: easier you know and that's when i my mentality kind
53:57
Speaker 4: of shift to okay what is my responsibility here because
54:01
Speaker 4: they pay me for this you know so i'm not
54:05
Speaker 4: just going to be on the bench and Well, let
54:07
Speaker 4: me wait until he fuck up so I play. That's
54:12
Speaker 4: not who I am. And that's not what I want
54:15
Speaker 4: for my team. And obviously, loving you and kind of
54:19
Speaker 4: like knowing that we have a relationship already is a
54:22
Speaker 4: lot easier for me to kind of step up and
54:25
Speaker 4: be there and not telling you what to do. It's
54:30
Speaker 4: just like, hey, I want you to know that I'm
54:31
Speaker 4: here if you need help. If you need help, come
54:35
Speaker 4: ask me. I'm not going to be telling you how
54:36
Speaker 4: to play short step, but I can help you with
54:39
Speaker 4: some experience that happens to me already so it doesn't
54:42
Speaker 4: happen to you down the road.
54:44
Speaker 3: And it will happen.
54:46
Speaker 4: There's plays that you're going to have to go through
54:49
Speaker 4: so you can learn. It's impossible to jump that step.
54:56
Speaker 4: what I thought about as soon as they told you
54:59
Speaker 4: that you was gonna be an everyday shortstop for the team,
55:03
Speaker 4: I was thinking.
55:04
Speaker 3: How can I help him.
55:07
Speaker 4: Like speed up the process of all the little stuff.
55:12
Speaker 4: And I'm so proud of you because you found your
55:14
Speaker 4: way to play short with your tools and your.
55:18
Speaker 3: Abilities, you know?
55:19
Speaker 4: A lot of people were throwing stuff at you and
55:22
Speaker 4: from so many places, but you were able to be
55:24
Speaker 4: smart enough to say, this is what I need from
55:27
Speaker 4: the mechanical standpoint. This is what I'm gonna relay on
55:33
Speaker 4: whenever the ground ball is coming to me that I
55:36
Speaker 4: don't have anybody else. Technique, you found your technique and
55:41
Speaker 4: that helps you a lot. to catch a ground ball
55:44
Speaker 4: and make the play. But then there's another factor about
55:47
Speaker 4: playing shortstop. It's those little plays, you know, like staying
55:50
Speaker 4: on the back on the ball that is on the,
55:52
Speaker 4: you know, on that side. It's like, Taking charge in
55:55
Speaker 4: the infield, like now you're a quarterback in the infield.
55:59
Speaker 4: Now you have to go and see the arm of
56:02
Speaker 4: your second baseman. You know, Tommy might not have the
56:05
Speaker 4: same arm as you. It's telling him in the middle
56:08
Speaker 4: of the game, hey, Tommy, if he hit the ball
56:10
Speaker 4: in the right field gap, I got you.
56:12
Speaker 3: So I'm going to go first. Those are the things
56:15
Speaker 3: that I.
56:16
Speaker 4: I was going to try to be on top of
56:18
Speaker 4: it so you can actually be a complete shortstop.
56:21
Speaker 3: And I think now you are.
56:23
Speaker 4: You again leading the league in a defensive run safe.
56:28
Speaker 4: And I'm so proud of you because of the way
56:30
Speaker 4: that you've done it. You never step away from it.
56:33
Speaker 4: And now you can say that you are an elite
56:36
Speaker 4: shortstop and you was an elite right fielder and you
56:39
Speaker 4: can play anywhere in the infield as an elite defender.
56:42
Speaker 1: And I want to give you your flowers because.
56:46
Speaker 2: To your point, like you said earlier, like, going into,
56:49
Speaker 2: I don't even remember what year it was.
56:52
Speaker 1: Was it 24?
56:53
Speaker 4: I think 23 you played for a couple days because
56:57
Speaker 4: of we were all hurt at some point.
57:00
Speaker 3: And you played, like, five games or something like that.
57:03
Speaker 3: 24 is when they told you.
57:05
Speaker 1: The halfway point.
57:06
Speaker 2: And I remember, like, I didn't feel like I was ready.
57:10
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't mentally, I wasn't. I wasn't really ready.
57:15
Speaker 2: And even last year, like going into playoffs, that was
57:18
Speaker 2: really my first time. That was my first time playing
57:21
Speaker 2: short in playoffs and really in a lot of high
57:23
Speaker 2: leverage situations.
57:25
Speaker 1: And dude, I was so nervous.
57:27
Speaker 2: Like I didn't, I really wanted you to do it
57:29
Speaker 2: because you're obviously, this is your, you're comfortable, boom, boom, boom, whatever.
57:34
Speaker 2: But I knew like, okay, I know I have to
57:35
Speaker 2: do it. And really, I remember talking to you and
57:39
Speaker 2: you really taught confidence in confidence to me. And you
57:44
Speaker 2: put confidence in me because you were like, no, you're,
57:47
Speaker 2: you're fine. You can do it. You know, everything you
57:49
Speaker 2: need to do. And there may be some situation. I
57:52
Speaker 2: remember you saying there may be something that happens, but
57:54
Speaker 2: I can't, I can't teach you everything. Like there's some stuff,
57:57
Speaker 2: like you said earlier, that it just has to happen
58:00
Speaker 2: for you to learn. And thank, thank God, nothing. I
58:04
Speaker 2: didn't have to learn on the spot in the world
58:06
Speaker 2: series and whatever, but you know, you, you put so
58:09
Speaker 2: much confidence in me to where, and now when I
58:11
Speaker 2: go out there, like, I don't ever feel like I'm
58:13
Speaker 2: by myself because I know I can look to you
58:15
Speaker 2: if I make an error or do whatever, like I'm
58:17
Speaker 2: going to find out why and you'll go and look and,
58:20
Speaker 2: and whatever.
58:21
Speaker 1: So shout out to you.
58:22
Speaker 2: I thank you for, for all those being there in
58:26
Speaker 2: all those moments when I doubted myself and didn't know
58:29
Speaker 2: what to do.
58:30
Speaker 1: You know, like it's having.
58:32
Speaker 2: You has been really the, the, the reason why I'm
58:36
Speaker 2: able to kind of do so much. And I mean,
58:39
Speaker 2: so many things that you've said, this is how you
58:42
Speaker 2: need to do it, it's been right every single time.
58:45
Speaker 2: You know, it's never been like, oh, you know what,
58:47
Speaker 2: he said it this way and I need to probably
58:49
Speaker 2: do it this way.
58:49
Speaker 1: Like, no, you're right pretty much every single time.
58:52
Speaker 4: I think it's like I played the position for 20
58:55
Speaker 4: years professionally. Like I have never played another position that
58:59
Speaker 4: is not shortstop. Right now I'm playing other positions because of,
59:02
Speaker 4: you know, that's what I need to do for the team.
59:06
Speaker 4: But I'm still a shortstop. You know, like I still
59:09
Speaker 4: play this position.
59:10
Speaker 3: For so long.
59:11
Speaker 4: Same thing, like if I have to go to right field,
59:13
Speaker 4: I'm going to come to you.
59:15
Speaker 3: I'm not coming to anybody else. I'm asking you, hey, Mook,
59:18
Speaker 3: where should I step? You know, like where?
59:21
Speaker 4: Where should I be on the field, in right field?
59:24
Speaker 4: Because you played this position for so long, and you're
59:26
Speaker 4: going to be right. And it's not because you know everything.
59:29
Speaker 4: It's because of the experience.
59:30
Speaker 3: And, I mean, you've been through all the errors and
59:34
Speaker 3: the balls and the good plays and all that.
59:36
Speaker 1: Yep.
59:37
Speaker 2: And before I let you go, man, I want to
59:40
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about your plans after now. Obviously,
59:43
Speaker 2: you said this is– you got it on your glove, right?
59:45
Speaker 2: It says the last ride. And so is this– Is
59:51
Speaker 2: it dependent on if we win or whatever that you
59:54
Speaker 2: may play again, or is this it?
59:56
Speaker 3: No, I just want to keep it open.
59:58
Speaker 4: I mean, we're in the middle of this battle, you know,
1:00:01
Speaker 4: and we're all going to go through it, and we're
1:00:03
Speaker 4: all going to give everything that we have.
1:00:05
Speaker 3: My body feels great. Doc and the organization and the
1:00:09
Speaker 3: team is taking really good care of me.
1:00:11
Speaker 4: They're not really running me out there and trying to, like,
1:00:15
Speaker 4: break me down, you know, like, in any situation.
1:00:18
Speaker 3: Doc is really... like conscious of like my age and
1:00:21
Speaker 3: all that, but I can still play. And I feel
1:00:23
Speaker 3: like every time I step a shortstop, I can still
1:00:25
Speaker 3: play shortstop in the big leagues for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1:00:29
Speaker 4: So it's really hard for me to say that I
1:00:32
Speaker 4: can't play anymore. So that's the reason why I want
1:00:37
Speaker 4: to let this year play out and let's finish a year.
1:00:41
Speaker 4: Hopefully we can win and we can actually think about
1:00:44
Speaker 4: repeating next year.
1:00:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:00:45
Speaker 3: If not, Definitely, I'm ready to move on to another
1:00:51
Speaker 3: way to help.
1:00:53
Speaker 4: That's how I see it. I don't need a coaching job.
1:00:56
Speaker 4: I don't need a place to be. But if I
1:00:58
Speaker 4: need to get a fungo next year in spring training
1:01:01
Speaker 4: and come and hit you ground balls and get you
1:01:05
Speaker 4: ready for a season and be there every time you
1:01:08
Speaker 4: need and every time the infielders need. And I know
1:01:11
Speaker 4: we have a couple players in the minor leagues that
1:01:14
Speaker 4: are coming behind us, right?
1:01:16
Speaker 1: Right.
1:01:16
Speaker 4: I want them to be ready for this too, you know,
1:01:19
Speaker 4: because if you're not going to play short stuff forever, unfortunately,
1:01:23
Speaker 4: you know, and that's a, that's a fact. We need
1:01:26
Speaker 4: more players like from, from our farm system that is
1:01:31
Speaker 4: they're ready to play short stuff. So that's kind of
1:01:33
Speaker 4: like where I'm at, my mentality. And obviously I want
1:01:37
Speaker 4: to continue to help the organization. get where they want
1:01:41
Speaker 4: to go, you know. We're in a great path. We
1:01:44
Speaker 4: won the last two. Looking forward to win this one too.
1:01:47
Speaker 4: But then the future, you know, what's the future is
1:01:49
Speaker 4: going to bring is going to be important to me.
1:01:53
Speaker 4: But definitely right now it's really hard to believe that
1:01:57
Speaker 4: I'm playing the last couple games of my life because
1:02:02
Speaker 4: I don't want to think about that right now because
1:02:04
Speaker 4: it would be a little bit selfish, you know.
1:02:06
Speaker 3: I don't want that to be a distraction or anything.
1:02:08
Speaker 4: I just want to play through the finish line, and
1:02:10
Speaker 4: then we'll see what happens.
1:02:13
Speaker 2: I didn't hit on this earlier, but like you said,
1:02:18
Speaker 2: it's hard to believe you're playing maybe the last games
1:02:22
Speaker 2: of your life. Going back earlier... you started off as
1:02:26
Speaker 2: a Dodger. I remember you were, you were part of Kershaw's,
1:02:29
Speaker 2: one of Kershaw's, or Kershaw's no-no, right? I think you
1:02:32
Speaker 2: made a nice play down at third baseline.
1:02:34
Speaker 1: Like going back here, do you remember this? Yeah, I
1:02:37
Speaker 1: was so nervous. Or is it kind of like blurred
1:02:38
Speaker 1: where you were so nervous?
1:02:41
Speaker 3: Yes.
1:02:42
Speaker 1: So now in that situation now, would you be nervous?
1:02:46
Speaker 1: Not really.
1:02:46
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be nervous.
1:02:47
Speaker 4: I was just, I was going to be, I would
1:02:49
Speaker 4: be locked in and knowing that the ball can come
1:02:52
Speaker 4: to me, you know, with confidence.
1:02:53
Speaker 3: Way more information.
1:02:54
Speaker 1: Right.
1:02:55
Speaker 3: You know, like I have way more information.
1:02:57
Speaker 4: I know Kirsch put the ball on the ground on the,
1:03:00
Speaker 4: on the right side of the field so.
1:03:02
Speaker 3: Much, you know, and that was a tough play.
1:03:06
Speaker 4: And I feel like, I mean, that day I was
1:03:11
Speaker 4: just like, man, I just, I just want to do
1:03:14
Speaker 4: my part, you know, do my job. And, and that's, uh,
1:03:17
Speaker 4: and that's Adrian right there. So I knew, I knew
1:03:19
Speaker 4: he got my back. So as soon as I threw
1:03:21
Speaker 4: the ball, this ball low, um, Yeah, I'm happy that
1:03:25
Speaker 4: I'm able to say that I'm part of a lot
1:03:27
Speaker 4: of these moments, you know, even though I didn't know
1:03:30
Speaker 4: that the.
1:03:30
Speaker 3: Best was still yet to come. But, yeah, I mean,
1:03:35
Speaker 3: it's always special to cherish a moment like this forever
1:03:39
Speaker 3: with one of the biggest stars in our game and
1:03:43
Speaker 3: biggest player that ever wore a Dodgers uniform.
1:03:48
Speaker 2: So before I let you go, you know, obviously you're
1:03:50
Speaker 2: the Ox guy and you know so many artists, right?
1:03:54
Speaker 2: I'm going to name a player, a teammate, and then
1:03:59
Speaker 2: I want you to give me an artist that you
1:04:02
Speaker 2: would compare them to.
1:04:03
Speaker 3: Okay.
1:04:03
Speaker 1: All right. Freddie Freeman.
1:04:06
Speaker 3: Ernest.
1:04:06
Speaker 1: I already knew you were going to say that. I
1:04:08
Speaker 1: knew you were going to say that.
1:04:10
Speaker 3: Ernest. Freddie Freeman and Ernest for sure. Yeah.
1:04:13
Speaker 1: Okay. What about Shohei? Shohei.
1:04:17
Speaker 3: Um, Bon Jovi.
1:04:19
Speaker 1: Bon Jovi.
1:04:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:04:20
Speaker 1: Because they're huge. Yeah. They're known around the world. Yes. Yep.
1:04:23
Speaker 3: Or I would say Elton John or something like that.
1:04:26
Speaker 3: You know, like someone like that.
1:04:28
Speaker 1: For sure. Beatles.
1:04:29
Speaker 3: Uh-huh.
1:04:29
Speaker 1: Beatles.
1:04:30
Speaker 3: Exactly.
1:04:30
Speaker 1: Okay. What about, uh, Yoshi?
1:04:35
Speaker 3: Oh, Yoshi's more like, uh, um, is that BTS? The,
1:04:38
Speaker 3: the name of the. Oh, the, uh, K-pop. K-pop. Yeah.
1:04:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:04:42
Speaker 1: Yeah. That is Yoshi.
1:04:43
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yoshi can be, can be a BTS, uh, I
1:04:46
Speaker 3: don't know if they're all singers or they're dancing. It
1:04:49
Speaker 3: doesn't matter.
1:04:49
Speaker 1: It's Yoshi.
1:04:50
Speaker 3: Yoshi is a BTS performance.
1:04:53
Speaker 1: What about Blake Snell?
1:04:55
Speaker 3: Blake Snell is a rapper. So it's Nel Silla.
1:04:59
Speaker 1: It's himself. Oh, yeah.
1:05:02
Speaker 3: All right. He is a rapper. He is a rapper.
1:05:04
Speaker 3: He's got his own.
1:05:05
Speaker 1: He's a rapper.
1:05:06
Speaker 3: Eminem, I would say.
1:05:08
Speaker 1: Okay. Eminem. And then, okay, what about me?
1:05:12
Speaker 3: Oh, UR, R & B, Usher, Chris Brown. Oh, nice.
1:05:17
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah. That was my favorite artist.
1:05:19
Speaker 3: Usher, Chris Brown, and along those lines.
1:05:23
Speaker 1: Okay, what about you?
1:05:26
Speaker 4: I'll be tough because, I mean, I love Bad Bunny,
1:05:29
Speaker 4: you know? And Bad Bunny would be Kike.
1:05:32
Speaker 1: Bad Bunny would be Kike for sure.
1:05:34
Speaker 3: I'll have to be someone else. So, yeah, I mean,
1:05:37
Speaker 3: someone from the reggaeton world.
1:05:39
Speaker 1: I don't know all those artists, really.
1:05:43
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:05:43
Speaker 4: I mean, from the reggaeton, I'll say, like, I don't know, Arcangel,
1:05:49
Speaker 4: Raul Alejandro, or something like that.
1:05:51
Speaker 3: I will be singing reggaeton or doing reggaeton for sure.
1:05:55
Speaker 1: All right, bro.
1:05:56
Speaker 2: Well, look, man, I know we got to go to work.
1:05:59
Speaker 2: So I do want to just tell you thank you.
1:06:03
Speaker 1: Thank you. Seriously. I mean it. I mean it. Like,
1:06:07
Speaker 1: you really have.
1:06:09
Speaker 2: been there for me um from day one and you've
1:06:14
Speaker 2: helped me through everything whether it's hitting pitching i remember
1:06:18
Speaker 2: one day i remember i was in tears because i
1:06:22
Speaker 2: was playing so bad like i was playing so bad
1:06:24
Speaker 2: and i took it i'll take it personally like yeah
1:06:27
Speaker 2: i don't i want to play well just like you
1:06:29
Speaker 2: for the boys like it's not about me it's i
1:06:32
Speaker 2: want to win you know and so I remember you
1:06:34
Speaker 2: just coming up and talking to me in that situation and,
1:06:37
Speaker 2: you know, making me feel okay. And, um, you know,
1:06:40
Speaker 2: like you said, you just, like I said, you just
1:06:42
Speaker 2: been there, you know, you just didn't have to be
1:06:46
Speaker 2: about anything.
1:06:46
Speaker 1: You just are there, you know?
1:06:47
Speaker 2: And so, um, that means the world to me and
1:06:49
Speaker 2: I'm sure that means the world to all the boys,
1:06:51
Speaker 2: you know, and tuck and, you know, just everyone. And
1:06:55
Speaker 2: so I just want to tell you, thank you, um,
1:06:57
Speaker 2: for everything that you do. And then thanks for coming on.
1:07:00
Speaker 1: The show, man.
1:07:00
Speaker 3: For sure, man. It's my pleasure. I'm a fan of
1:07:03
Speaker 3: the show. I always watch my kid. Aaron is excited,
1:07:08
Speaker 3: even though it's really hard to make him say hi
1:07:11
Speaker 3: to you every single day.
1:07:13
Speaker 1: He never wants to say hi to me.
1:07:14
Speaker 4: Like we're supposed to, but I just want to tell
1:07:17
Speaker 4: you that he loves you. And he loves everybody in
1:07:20
Speaker 4: that locker room. He's just like a different personality when
1:07:24
Speaker 4: it comes to social and socializing with people.
1:07:27
Speaker 3: But it's my pleasure, Mook.
1:07:29
Speaker 4: And thank you for Having me on, I know we
1:07:31
Speaker 4: got a lot of things in common for the future,
1:07:33
Speaker 4: and we're going to work together. And I just want
1:07:35
Speaker 4: you to know that I'm not going to stop being here,
1:07:38
Speaker 4: even if I'm done playing. So I will grab a
1:07:41
Speaker 4: fungo of my glove, and I will go and play
1:07:43
Speaker 4: long toss with you and do anything on the field
1:07:47
Speaker 4: to get you ready for a couple more years until
1:07:51
Speaker 4: you want to go.
1:07:52
Speaker 3: So I appreciate you, bro.
1:07:54
Speaker 1: Yes, sir. Thanks, Miguel. And we will catch you guys
1:07:56
Speaker 1: next time on On Base.