Latest / Foul Territory / Max Muncy’s incredible breakdown of the wheel play, Ohtani’s history

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Max Muncy’s incredible breakdown of the wheel play, Ohtani’s history · Foul Territory

0:02
Speaker 1: All right, while we have one minute, maybe even thirty seconds,
0:04
Speaker 1: because Max Montsy is in the green room and almost ready. Trevor,
0:08
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on Roki Sazaki suddenly becoming a closer?
0:14
Speaker 2: Not even remotely surprising. We knew the guy can throw
0:17
Speaker 2: low one hundred's. That is kind of the proud records
0:20
Speaker 2: that these days to finish a game, and it came
0:23
Speaker 2: right back. And then he's got one of the nastiest
0:25
Speaker 2: hot speed pitches in the major leagues. He throws a
0:27
Speaker 2: true fork pall like nobody does that. So for him
0:31
Speaker 2: to be able to consolidate down to two pitches, which
0:33
Speaker 2: was his problem as a starter, he's just kind of
0:35
Speaker 2: it just makes all the sense in the world to
0:37
Speaker 2: me that you don't need the command as much as
0:39
Speaker 2: he needed it, and you only need two pitches, and
0:41
Speaker 2: he's got both those things, So just let it eat
0:44
Speaker 2: and simplify it. Now we see how much easier that
0:50
Speaker 2: makes things for him, So it doesn't surprise me one bit.
0:52
Speaker 2: The guy's electric.
0:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks good. Well, let's ask his teammate about
0:55
Speaker 1: it right now. Max Mountsey of the Dodgers joining us
0:57
Speaker 1: on FT we can start there. Max surprised, are you
1:01
Speaker 1: that Roki Sasaki has popped up to be healthy and
1:04
Speaker 1: look this damn good after missing most of the season.
1:08
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, not not surprised at all, you know,
1:12
Speaker 3: I just it's just one of those things where he
1:14
Speaker 3: needed to give a little confidence and h you know,
1:15
Speaker 3: he's found a way to do that, and he looks
1:17
Speaker 3: very comfortable in all that we put him in, and uh,
1:19
Speaker 3: you know, he's ready to go every time we've called
1:21
Speaker 3: on him so far.
1:24
Speaker 1: Max, I think these guys are like itching to ask
1:27
Speaker 1: you about the wheel play from Game two, Sokratz. I'm
1:30
Speaker 1: gonna actually let you start. Why don't you start with
1:32
Speaker 1: your best wheel we'll play question and then Trevor, I'm
1:35
Speaker 1: sure we'll have one too.
1:37
Speaker 4: I don't Eve, I don't even have a question. Take
1:39
Speaker 4: us through exactly like each step of it, not like
1:44
Speaker 4: from the pitching change, when was it thought of? What
1:47
Speaker 4: was your thought going into that kind of meeting of
1:51
Speaker 4: the world champions on the mound?
1:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, that was probably one of the coolest
1:57
Speaker 3: moments I've ever been involved with in my baseball career,
2:01
Speaker 3: And not even just talking about the play, It was
2:03
Speaker 3: more about how it came together. You know, Casianos hits
2:07
Speaker 3: the double key Gamix the great through. At second we're
2:09
Speaker 3: we're viewing the slide. You know, maybe he came off,
2:12
Speaker 3: maybe he didn't. Obviously on the field, we can't tell
2:15
Speaker 3: what's going on in the replay room, and uh, you know,
2:18
Speaker 3: so WHI. While they're looking at the replay, Tommy and
2:22
Speaker 3: Mooki are talking to each other and I I kind
2:23
Speaker 3: of call him over and I'm like, hey, they're gonna
2:25
Speaker 3: bunt right here. We need to be ready, you know,
2:29
Speaker 3: let let's figure out we're gonna do. And right away
2:31
Speaker 3: Mooki was like, well, let's go wheel play. Like let's
2:34
Speaker 3: we talked about it about a month or two ago
2:37
Speaker 3: in a situation where we wanted to do it and
2:40
Speaker 3: we didn't end up doing it, and Mooki was just like, hey,
2:42
Speaker 3: let's let's let's go wheel play. Let's do the wheel play.
2:46
Speaker 3: You know, Tommy, you gotta get first. I'm gonna stay
2:48
Speaker 3: behind him, I'm gonna go to I'm gonna go to
2:50
Speaker 3: third and months you crash, and you know, we start
2:52
Speaker 3: talking about it and we called Freddie over and we're like, hey,
2:54
Speaker 3: here's here's what we're thinking. And you know, we start
2:56
Speaker 3: talking about, well, second base is gonna be vacated, you know,
3:00
Speaker 3: And immediately Freddie was just like, I'm I'm I'm charging hard.
3:04
Speaker 3: As soon as the ball gets down to third base,
3:06
Speaker 3: I'm going straight to second base. And he's like, if
3:09
Speaker 3: it comes to first, Max, you got to get to
3:10
Speaker 3: second base. And immediately we were all just talking about that,
3:13
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, it's just really cool. The replay
3:17
Speaker 3: comes back, he's safe, Doc comes out, make pitching change,
3:20
Speaker 3: bring invests and uh, you know, we go. We went
3:22
Speaker 3: up to Doc and we're like, hey, here's what we're thinking,
3:24
Speaker 3: and Doc Doc immediately was like, that's a great idea.
3:26
Speaker 3: I like, where you guys are at, let's let's let's
3:28
Speaker 3: go with this, you know. And you know, we just
3:32
Speaker 3: sat there and discussed it the whole time, and it
3:35
Speaker 3: was just really awesome to see like everyone come together
3:37
Speaker 3: and be like, here's what we're doing. Because it's it's
3:40
Speaker 3: a play that, in all honesty, we haven't practiced in
3:43
Speaker 3: probably four or five years. Whenever they got rid of
3:46
Speaker 3: the picture hitting that's the last time that we had
3:49
Speaker 3: practiced a wheel play. Because nowadays, even if it's a
3:52
Speaker 3: true bunt, you don't run a wheel play, it's just
3:55
Speaker 3: make sure we getting out somewhere. And so for us
3:56
Speaker 3: to be able to discuss that in that moment, in
3:59
Speaker 3: that atmosphere, with the stakes as high as they were,
4:01
Speaker 3: the pressure where it was like, to me, that was
4:04
Speaker 3: just this one of the coolest moments I've ever been
4:05
Speaker 3: involved of in my baseball career.
4:07
Speaker 4: All right, No, I'll take us to actually the play
4:10
Speaker 4: because what people don't understand is you have to crash
4:14
Speaker 4: so hard to be able to get there in time,
4:16
Speaker 4: to be able to stop and turn and make a perfect,
4:20
Speaker 4: you know, five yard out route to Mookie Betts who
4:23
Speaker 4: has Nick Castiano's barren down on them. Yeah.
4:27
Speaker 3: So for for me from my you know what my
4:30
Speaker 3: job was, I'm putting my heels pretty much on the baseline.
4:34
Speaker 3: I need to be able and I'm I'm several feet in.
4:37
Speaker 3: I need to be able to see the runner at second.
4:39
Speaker 3: I need to be able to see the picture all
4:40
Speaker 3: at the same time, I got to make sure that
4:43
Speaker 3: you know, the runner at second is not just going
4:44
Speaker 3: to take off, you know, because I'm vacating the bag early.
4:48
Speaker 3: And also it was a little tricky because it's not
4:50
Speaker 3: a traditional wheelplay, and as you guys know a traditional
4:52
Speaker 3: wheel play that the shortstop sets everything off right, So
4:56
Speaker 3: the shortstop pulls the guy close to second base, the
4:58
Speaker 3: pitcher staring at him. He m give a couple of
5:00
Speaker 3: fake jabs a second and as soon as the shortstop
5:02
Speaker 3: takes off, that's when the pitcher is supposed to pick
5:04
Speaker 3: up his leg and throw to home plate. That that's
5:07
Speaker 3: like a traditional wheel play. You know, for us that
5:11
Speaker 3: the picture had no idea we were running the wheel play.
5:13
Speaker 3: You know, he's just focused on making his pitch. We
5:15
Speaker 3: didn't really talk to the picture about it because, you know,
5:17
Speaker 3: in honesty, were like, hey, just you know, stay out
5:20
Speaker 3: of the way. Me and Freddie got this, you know,
5:23
Speaker 3: so we didn't even talk to him about.
5:24
Speaker 2: What we were doing.
5:26
Speaker 3: So he's focused on making his pitch, which means that
5:28
Speaker 3: we're not going you know, off the shortstop starting to play.
5:32
Speaker 3: So I have to be able to see what's you know,
5:33
Speaker 3: I have to be able to see the picture at
5:35
Speaker 3: the same time as the second the runner at second,
5:37
Speaker 3: and the shortstop to make sure that everything's going properly.
5:40
Speaker 3: As soon as the picture picks up his leg, I
5:42
Speaker 3: have to sprint towards home without even knowing if he's
5:45
Speaker 3: squaring around a bun or not, I like, I just
5:48
Speaker 3: have to go and trust that he's gonna bund and
5:49
Speaker 3: if he doesn't bunt, then we'll worry about that one later,
5:53
Speaker 3: you know. And so you know, so for me, I
5:56
Speaker 3: wanted my heels pretty much on the baseline on the
5:59
Speaker 3: ground us because that way I know I can get
6:03
Speaker 3: around any ball that's bunt, and that makes it an
6:05
Speaker 3: easier transition for me to get my body to third base,
6:08
Speaker 3: because otherwise, if I'm running in and I have to
6:10
Speaker 3: field it off my right side and then find a
6:11
Speaker 3: way to turn, like, that's just not gonna happen. It's
6:14
Speaker 3: gonna take too long. He's gonna be safe. So I
6:16
Speaker 3: need to be able to get around that ball regardless
6:18
Speaker 3: of where it's one of that. And so that's why
6:19
Speaker 3: for me, I wanted my heels on the baseline, and
6:21
Speaker 3: then it's just trust the guy's gonna bun it and
6:24
Speaker 3: crash as hard as hard as I can.
6:28
Speaker 2: So firstly, the fact that you guys all gathered together
6:31
Speaker 2: and like looked at each other, like are we about
6:33
Speaker 2: to do the wheel play? Is the is this the
6:35
Speaker 2: perfect time to replay? It? Is awesome because like even
6:39
Speaker 2: the teams I was on that actually kept doing practicing
6:41
Speaker 2: and wheel play. You do it it once in spring
6:43
Speaker 2: and then six months later you hope that it didn't
6:44
Speaker 2: come up in the playoffs. So that's sick. But secondly,
6:48
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of other context that I'm interested
6:51
Speaker 2: if it was part of the conversation as well, with
6:53
Speaker 2: the fact that Harrison Bader you know, was probably I
6:56
Speaker 2: don't know if you guys knew he might have been
6:58
Speaker 2: coming up next to pinch hit, and the fact that
7:00
Speaker 2: Castianos wasn't having a pinch hit or for him, there's
7:03
Speaker 2: not a ton of speed there. So like the planets
7:05
Speaker 2: really did a lie like that? Did that come into
7:07
Speaker 2: the conversation as well? Like we have Castianos, he doesn't
7:10
Speaker 2: run really well, this might work really question.
7:14
Speaker 3: Not necessarily. We we knew they weren't going to pincher
7:17
Speaker 3: un for him because they didn't have any options at
7:19
Speaker 3: that point. We knew Baterer's leg was was was bad.
7:22
Speaker 3: You know, obviously it was good enough for him to
7:24
Speaker 3: pinch it, but you know, we we didn't think we
7:27
Speaker 3: we thought if they're gonna do anything, they'd pincher for
7:29
Speaker 3: one of the lefties. Against Vessia, and that's what they
7:31
Speaker 3: ended up doing. So the run around second wasn't so
7:35
Speaker 3: much a part of the conversation as it was you know, Mook,
7:39
Speaker 3: you just have to make sure you beat him to
7:40
Speaker 3: the bag. And you know that that that's also where
7:45
Speaker 3: us knowing what we're doing, it gives MOOKI the chance
7:47
Speaker 3: to get that head start. And you know, for the
7:50
Speaker 3: run around second, he has to make sure he sees
7:51
Speaker 3: the ball down. You know, the ball can't go up
7:53
Speaker 3: in the air. He's got to get that read. And
7:55
Speaker 3: you know when I when I rewatched the overhead, Castianos
7:59
Speaker 3: did everything right. He got a secondary, he saw the
8:02
Speaker 3: ball down, he didn't hesitate, he went immediately. It's just
8:05
Speaker 3: we ran everything to perfection. And you know, one of
8:07
Speaker 3: the things we were talking about was there's about a
8:10
Speaker 3: hundred different ways that that play could have went wrong,
8:14
Speaker 3: and realistically only about one or two ways that it
8:17
Speaker 3: could have went right. And you know, the one way
8:20
Speaker 3: it went right was how it did for us. The
8:21
Speaker 3: other ways if he bunts it hard to Freddy, who's
8:23
Speaker 3: who's right there?
8:24
Speaker 4: Also?
8:24
Speaker 3: I mean that's those are really the only two ways
8:28
Speaker 3: that it goes right. There's there's a hundred different ways
8:30
Speaker 3: I make a bad throw. I don't feel it cleanly.
8:33
Speaker 3: If he goes to Freddie, Freddie takes too long to
8:35
Speaker 3: get rid of it because he's he's got to turn
8:36
Speaker 3: his body. You know, Mookie's doesn't get there in time.
8:40
Speaker 3: The throw is not just right right there from the tag,
8:43
Speaker 3: he misses the tag. There's a hundred different ways that
8:46
Speaker 3: play could have went wrong. And it's kind of just
8:48
Speaker 3: the do or die situation for us, and you know,
8:50
Speaker 3: we we we pulled it off.
8:53
Speaker 4: Could you hear anything like, let's say VESSI, he bunched
8:56
Speaker 4: the ball to Vessie and you never want the ball
8:58
Speaker 4: on the pitcher's hand. But I feel like he is
9:00
Speaker 4: pretty athletic and absolutely skeed it out of his mind
9:03
Speaker 4: when he's out there.
9:04
Speaker 3: But yeah, he's when when when Vest gets on that rubber,
9:09
Speaker 3: he's pretty amped up, and uh, you know, it's it's
9:12
Speaker 3: awesome to watch him do his thing. He's he's probably
9:15
Speaker 3: the most high energy guy we have when he gets
9:17
Speaker 3: on the rubber, and you know, it's fun when he's
9:19
Speaker 3: out there. But yeah, in that situation, you don't it
9:22
Speaker 3: doesn't matter who the picture is, you don't want him
9:24
Speaker 3: fielding the ball. You know, you want either the first
9:27
Speaker 3: basement or third base and fielding the ball. And uh,
9:30
Speaker 3: you know that that's a little bit of the tricky
9:31
Speaker 3: thing when the pitcher doesn't know what we're doing. And
9:35
Speaker 3: you kind of saw that Ves went He actually went
9:37
Speaker 3: after the bunt. If you look at the overhead film
9:40
Speaker 3: of it, he went after the bunt, didn't know I
9:42
Speaker 3: was right there, and then when he saw me, he
9:44
Speaker 3: kind of freaked out and just dropped to the ground.
9:45
Speaker 3: And and then after the play, it was like jail break.
9:48
Speaker 3: Everyone's running towards second base, even though Freddy was there.
9:51
Speaker 3: It was like, we got to make sure we got
9:52
Speaker 3: someone there. Everyone's sprinting towards second base. We had key
9:55
Speaker 3: k leftfield running towards second the vess he was running
9:57
Speaker 3: towards second. Mookie'd make the tag he's running to Like,
9:59
Speaker 3: everyone sprinting towards second base, make sure we got someone there.
10:01
Speaker 3: It was kind of funny.
10:04
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10:28
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10:31
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10:35
Speaker 1: dot com. That's the spot there.
10:37
Speaker 4: It is, Trevor.
10:38
Speaker 1: You're the only one that hasn't seen that one yet.
10:40
Speaker 1: Do you like what we did there with the graphic?
10:43
Speaker 4: Love it? Love it?
10:45
Speaker 2: Anytime I can look at Tom, I'm I'm happy.
10:47
Speaker 1: Yes, Tom looks back that jaw. Wow, chiseled chiseled Tom
10:54
Speaker 1: on Sundays, Pierzinski on many weekdays, on games and Saturdays
11:00
Speaker 1: throughout the regular season.
11:02
Speaker 4: The question in Philly is why is he bunting? What's
11:06
Speaker 4: the deal with that? Look at your lineup that you
11:10
Speaker 4: guys have. If you guys were in the exact same situation,
11:14
Speaker 4: who do you guys have bunting? And is there nobody
11:16
Speaker 4: that bunts in that situation?
11:19
Speaker 3: I mean that that's the most no brainer bunt situation
11:22
Speaker 3: I've ever seen. You have no out guy on second
11:25
Speaker 3: base lefty lefty matchup, and not just left lefty matchup,
11:30
Speaker 3: You're talking about an extreme with with Vestia an extreme
11:34
Speaker 3: fly ball, strikeout pitcher like, the ball doesn't get hit
11:37
Speaker 3: on the ground. With Vessia, that's an extreme fly ball,
11:40
Speaker 3: you know, strikeout picture like, that's just an obvious bunt situation.
11:45
Speaker 3: And he laid down a great bunt. I just happened
11:48
Speaker 3: to be five feet away when he was doing it.
11:50
Speaker 3: And you know, if I'm not crashing, when I crash,
11:54
Speaker 3: if I'm a split second late, he's safe at third.
11:57
Speaker 2: Like it.
11:58
Speaker 3: It was a great bunt, and that's a h undred
12:00
Speaker 3: percent the right baseball play. There's no questioning that. If
12:04
Speaker 3: if it's our lineup, I mean, I don't know that's
12:08
Speaker 3: a you know, we have several guys that would definitely
12:11
Speaker 3: be able to get to get that job done. I
12:13
Speaker 3: don't know who who Doc would ask to do it.
12:15
Speaker 3: But you know, he's he's he's probably not asking any
12:20
Speaker 3: of the top three guys to do that. I'll say that,
12:22
Speaker 3: I don't think he's asking show Hey to lay down
12:23
Speaker 3: a bunt right there. But uh, you know, if if
12:27
Speaker 3: you're the first baseman crashing, you're probably hoping that Show
12:30
Speaker 3: he's bunning. You probably don't want him swinging away. But yeah,
12:34
Speaker 3: it Uh you know Ben for us, he's been getting
12:38
Speaker 3: down bunts left and right. Mickey Rose been getting down bunts. Uh.
12:41
Speaker 3: You know key K can get down a bunt with
12:42
Speaker 3: the best of them. In the playoffs, you kind of
12:44
Speaker 3: want key K swinging away, but he could definitely get
12:47
Speaker 3: down the bunt. You know, we had a lot of
12:49
Speaker 3: guys that that would be able to get the bunt down.
12:52
Speaker 1: Great, you can ask that question. It's worth the ask Krats.
12:56
Speaker 1: I'll also just add go ahead.
12:58
Speaker 4: Could show hey get it down? Come? I say no,
13:01
Speaker 4: because like he does everything so personal.
13:06
Speaker 3: You know, I would assume he could. But at the
13:08
Speaker 3: same time, I don't know. I've never seen him, you know,
13:12
Speaker 3: because he never hits VP on the field. He always
13:14
Speaker 3: does his stuff in the cage, and so I've never
13:16
Speaker 3: seen him, you know, lay down to like you know, VP,
13:19
Speaker 3: your first your first round, you always lay down two
13:21
Speaker 3: or three bunds. It's just kind of you know, it's
13:24
Speaker 3: kind of just like tradition at that point, you just
13:25
Speaker 3: lay down a bund before your VP round, Like even
13:27
Speaker 3: Freddie will lay down a bund before his first BP round,
13:30
Speaker 3: and it's just you know, so I've never seen Show
13:33
Speaker 3: actually do it. I would assume he could. He's the
13:35
Speaker 3: best at everything, but you know, I have no idea.
13:39
Speaker 1: On the playe in general. Last thought, there are many
13:42
Speaker 1: coaches who coach youngsters out there who are like, yes.
13:47
Speaker 4: Thank you.
13:48
Speaker 1: It's going to be very valuable for me for years
13:50
Speaker 1: to come when kids complain and I'm gonna be like,
13:53
Speaker 1: oh really, let me show you a little video. So
13:56
Speaker 1: thank you from many coaches all all across the globe.
13:59
Speaker 1: We got comments about that, so I'm sure you'll get
14:02
Speaker 1: plenty too.
14:03
Speaker 3: Max.
14:04
Speaker 1: I did want to ask you about show Hay since
14:06
Speaker 1: we actually have seen him now pitch and hit in
14:08
Speaker 1: a postseason game for the first time. Last year was
14:11
Speaker 1: his postseason introduction. How cool was it to actually witness
14:14
Speaker 1: that kind of history in you know, the biggest stage
14:16
Speaker 1: of our game.
14:19
Speaker 3: It was wild, you know, and Freddie talked about this
14:25
Speaker 3: a little bit post game the other day, but you're
14:28
Speaker 3: talking about one of the best atmospheres in all of baseball.
14:31
Speaker 3: Playoff baseball in Philadelphia. That's like, I mean, that's tops.
14:35
Speaker 3: You know, it's unreal there. It's extremely loud, like you
14:40
Speaker 3: feel it. You know, they're so into the game there there,
14:43
Speaker 3: you know, you can't even hear yourself thinking, you know,
14:47
Speaker 3: for that to be show Hay's first pitching experience and
14:50
Speaker 3: for him to come out of it the way he did.
14:52
Speaker 3: I mean he had the one bad inning, but other
14:54
Speaker 3: than that, he kind of dominated and it was just
14:57
Speaker 3: really cool to watch him do it. You know, he
14:59
Speaker 3: loves pitching. I tell that to media guys all the time,
15:02
Speaker 3: Like he just absolutely loves pitching. He loves talking about pitching,
15:05
Speaker 3: he loves working on it. You know, he works way
15:09
Speaker 3: more at pitching than he does hitting, and like that's
15:11
Speaker 3: just how much he loves to pitch, Like he's all
15:13
Speaker 3: about it. And you know, he went out there and
15:16
Speaker 3: like I said, with the exception of the one inning,
15:18
Speaker 3: he he really dominated and he was so frustrated at
15:21
Speaker 3: himself for that one inning. And uh, you know he
15:24
Speaker 3: went out there and still gave us six innings with
15:25
Speaker 3: what was a nine or ten punchies. And you know,
15:28
Speaker 3: that's an unbelievable postseason start if you for a starter
15:33
Speaker 3: in the postseason, and you've seen it so far this
15:35
Speaker 3: year when you watch the other games, you know, for
15:37
Speaker 3: the starting pitcher to get you give you more than
15:39
Speaker 3: four innings. Like I know, they say a quality starts
15:41
Speaker 3: six innings. I think in the postseason, equality starts getting
15:44
Speaker 3: four innings out of your starter, and so for him
15:46
Speaker 3: to give us six innings like that, it was just unbelievable.
15:51
Speaker 2: Ending a sentence talking about show here Tani. Unbelievable, super surprising.
15:57
Speaker 2: Uh So, now finally we got a rity, we got
16:01
Speaker 2: a ride. We've got Aaron Nolah on the mound for
16:03
Speaker 2: the Phillies. You didn't start the first two games with
16:05
Speaker 2: understandably two very very tough lefties in there. So that's
16:10
Speaker 2: something you're not used to. You're you're a guy who
16:12
Speaker 2: starts most of the games. Are you a nervous energy guy?
16:15
Speaker 2: Are you like pacing around? Are you like doing the
16:17
Speaker 2: Robbie Grossman and just never won't put your bat down?
16:19
Speaker 2: Or are you guys like, you know what, when it's
16:21
Speaker 2: my spot, I'm ready to go. I've been I've been
16:23
Speaker 2: around the block. Uh you know, just let me know
16:26
Speaker 2: when I'm gonna go in there. I'll give you, I'll
16:27
Speaker 2: give you what you need.
16:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.
16:30
Speaker 3: Well, you know, my my first postseason in eighteen, it
16:33
Speaker 3: was that's how it was. I didn't play against the lefties.
16:36
Speaker 3: You know, we we had an extreme line change in
16:39
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen. You know when when a left, he was
16:42
Speaker 3: on the mound. We between me, Belly Jock, and I
16:47
Speaker 3: believe Grondal. You know, we had like one hundred and
16:50
Speaker 3: thirty home runs sitting on the bench something like that.
16:54
Speaker 3: You know, it's it. It's something that I'd done before,
16:57
Speaker 3: and I remembered how I how I handled it back then.
16:59
Speaker 3: And you know, the the end goal is to win
17:04
Speaker 3: the game. I don't care if I'm playing or not.
17:06
Speaker 3: I want to win the game. If if I go
17:08
Speaker 3: the entire postseason and I don't get a single bat,
17:10
Speaker 3: will we win it that that's that's success. I don't
17:12
Speaker 3: care if I get a hundred of bats and we win,
17:15
Speaker 3: that success it you know, for me, winning is all
17:18
Speaker 3: that matters. And so you know when when Doc comes
17:21
Speaker 3: up and he's talking to me and he's you know,
17:23
Speaker 3: he here's what I'm thinking. I just, hey, I'm all
17:26
Speaker 3: on board. Whatever you need me to do. If you
17:27
Speaker 3: need me to pinch it and the second inning, the
17:29
Speaker 3: fifth inning, the ninth inning, not hit it all you
17:31
Speaker 3: need me to start, you know, whatever role you need me,
17:34
Speaker 3: and I'm here to help the team win. And that's
17:36
Speaker 3: where everyone's at on our on our team. We have
17:39
Speaker 3: an entire group of guys. That's I don't care how
17:42
Speaker 3: you use me. When you use me, I'm gonna be
17:44
Speaker 3: ready at all times from from pitch one. You just
17:48
Speaker 3: whenever you call my number, I'll be there ready to go.
17:50
Speaker 3: And you know for me that that like, that's how
17:54
Speaker 3: all of our bench guys are. After we watch the
17:56
Speaker 3: first inning, we we like to get a taste for
17:58
Speaker 3: the atmosphere, seat it's going. And then from there it's
18:00
Speaker 3: do whatever you have to do to make sure you
18:02
Speaker 3: stay loose so that when a situation comes up, you're
18:04
Speaker 3: not having to try to get loose quickly. It's just, oh,
18:07
Speaker 3: I just need two or three swings. Now I'm ready
18:09
Speaker 3: to go into the game. Because I've been loose to
18:11
Speaker 3: the entire game. I'm finding the way to stay loose.
18:12
Speaker 3: I'm moving around. I'm not just sitting on the bench,
18:14
Speaker 3: you know, I'm constantly moving. I'm paying attention to the game.
18:17
Speaker 3: I'm watching situation. I got my eye on the bullpen camera,
18:21
Speaker 3: you know, so you got to make sure you're watching
18:23
Speaker 3: all your own guys. Is does something look off with
18:25
Speaker 3: somebody like he might need to come out of the game.
18:28
Speaker 3: You know, you can't get ambushed. And that's one of
18:30
Speaker 3: the things that I've always tried to emphasize to guys
18:33
Speaker 3: when we get into the postseason is you know, things
18:36
Speaker 3: move quickly. And I have this talk with the bullpen
18:39
Speaker 3: every single year. I go around to each of the
18:41
Speaker 3: guys and I tell them, I say, hey, things move quickly.
18:45
Speaker 3: If something goes a ride, don't be surprised if they
18:47
Speaker 3: call down in the first inning the second inning, Like,
18:49
Speaker 3: don't give them any reason to have an excuse for you.
18:53
Speaker 3: Make sure you're always ready to go, so that if
18:55
Speaker 3: they call down, you only need your seven or eight
18:58
Speaker 3: throws to make sure you're ready to go into the game. Like,
19:00
Speaker 3: it's the same thing from a position player standpoint, don't
19:03
Speaker 3: give them any reason to have an excuse. Well, well,
19:06
Speaker 3: you know we we told him to get ready and
19:08
Speaker 3: he wasn't ready, so he went out there and had
19:09
Speaker 3: a bat Like, no, you got to make sure you
19:11
Speaker 3: have you're you're ready at all times. And you know,
19:14
Speaker 3: that's one of the things that we try to emphasize
19:16
Speaker 3: when we get in the postseason because it moves, it
19:17
Speaker 3: moves quickly. You know, the starting pitcher can be just
19:21
Speaker 3: rolling through it and then all of a sudden, And
19:24
Speaker 3: we saw this from the Philly standpoint. The lefties were
19:27
Speaker 3: kind of rolling through the game a little bit, and
19:29
Speaker 3: then all of a sudden, it was like, Okay, here's
19:30
Speaker 3: a base hit, here's a walk. Well, now the bullpen's
19:33
Speaker 3: going and now that guy's in the game. And it
19:36
Speaker 3: was just a one batter difference. So you have to
19:37
Speaker 3: find a way to stay ready at all times.
19:40
Speaker 4: Is that more exhausting than playing all nine? I always
19:43
Speaker 4: felt like the games where you were like you were
19:45
Speaker 4: going to pinch hit by the third inning, all the
19:47
Speaker 4: way to the ninth, it just felt like afterwards, you're.
19:50
Speaker 3: Like, if you're not exhausted after a postseason game, whether
19:53
Speaker 3: you played or not, you're not doing it right. You
19:56
Speaker 3: should be invested in the game from pitch one, ready
19:58
Speaker 3: to go, and even if you're not playing, you should
20:00
Speaker 3: be exhausted from being that invested into the game mentally,
20:03
Speaker 3: and just you know, the postseason games are different. You know,
20:08
Speaker 3: I always explain to people it's like playing it's like
20:11
Speaker 3: playing three eighteen inning games in a row, like that's
20:13
Speaker 3: what one postseason game is. Just mentally, like you're just
20:16
Speaker 3: exhausted mentally after these games and you know, that's that's
20:20
Speaker 3: how it should be, like, you should be thinking that much.
20:22
Speaker 3: And you know, when you look at our roster in general,
20:26
Speaker 3: we have so much experience. You know, you go, you
20:28
Speaker 3: back to the wheel play you talk about you have
20:31
Speaker 3: four guys on the infield with ten years of service
20:34
Speaker 3: time just immediately being like, Okay, here's what we're doing.
20:36
Speaker 3: We're we're not freaking out about it. Hey, we're doing this,
20:40
Speaker 3: We're talking about this. It's the same thing in the
20:42
Speaker 3: outfield with those guys. You know, Kik's leading them out
20:44
Speaker 3: there saying, hey, you know, if we get in this situation,
20:47
Speaker 3: we got to play a little bit deeper. We got
20:49
Speaker 3: to move over here, we got to move over there.
20:51
Speaker 3: You should be just mentally exhausted, regardless of whether you're
20:54
Speaker 3: in the game or not, just playing along with.
20:56
Speaker 4: It right, mentally exhausted or physic raking your experience against
21:04
Speaker 4: Aaron Nola. Obviously A J. Persinski is not on here.
21:07
Speaker 4: He would say, I.
21:10
Speaker 3: Was half expecting him to jump into this call just
21:12
Speaker 3: to make a comment about his last talk with me
21:15
Speaker 3: before I face there. Did you see I know, I know,
21:19
Speaker 3: I know he's he's probably just got salive out of
21:21
Speaker 3: his mouth just you know, thinking about this right now.
21:24
Speaker 4: He definitely takes all of the all of the credit
21:27
Speaker 4: for getting three hits off of a big league picture
21:30
Speaker 4: for you, but did you see anything different? And after that?
21:34
Speaker 4: Is your feeling after that, like, Okay, that was the
21:37
Speaker 4: last time you faced Nola. Do you have a little
21:39
Speaker 4: bit higher level of confidence or do you sit there
21:42
Speaker 4: and go, I'll wait and see until I see what
21:45
Speaker 4: we have tonight when I'm out there facing.
21:49
Speaker 3: No I mean, you definitely try to, Like you know, baseball,
21:52
Speaker 3: you try to take the confidence when you can get it,
21:54
Speaker 3: whether it's real or not. You try to take the confidence.
21:57
Speaker 3: And you know there's a little bit of a well
22:00
Speaker 3: maybe he didn't make his pitches. Maybe maybe I just
22:03
Speaker 3: had a really good I was feeling it that day.
22:05
Speaker 3: You know, there's all of that. But at the same time,
22:07
Speaker 3: you try to take the confidence where you can get it,
22:10
Speaker 3: especially in this game at this time of year. You know,
22:14
Speaker 3: any in that's anything you can get to give you
22:17
Speaker 3: that little extra edge, You're gonna take that.
22:21
Speaker 1: Max great stuff today. We appreciate the stop by, especially
22:25
Speaker 1: during the postseason. Stay locked in, good luck. Tonight We'll
22:28
Speaker 1: be watching and we'll talk.
22:29
Speaker 2: To you soon, dude.
22:31
Speaker 3: All right, sounds great. Thanks for having me on guys,