Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talking, Well,
Speaker 1: the best part of Dave Roberts road trip is right now,
Speaker 1: presented by Downey Hyundai. We're in the manager's office at
Speaker 1: City Field, Dave Man, what a great bonding experience it's
Speaker 1: been with you and me for ten days.
Speaker 2: It's been great, Dave.
Speaker 3: You know, best part of my trip is this, you know,
Speaker 3: once a week conversation that you and I have And
Speaker 3: no all kidding aside. It's been a long trip, certainly
Speaker 3: with the All Star Game, but it's been a very
Speaker 3: productive trip. And you know, here we are Game two
Speaker 3: here in City Field, so we got Yamamoto going so
Speaker 3: excited to get this one going.
Speaker 1: Just to put it into context, to fully appreciate what
Speaker 1: you guys pulled off in the last forty eight to
Speaker 1: seventy two hours. Three cities within forty eight hours, and
Speaker 1: you come to City Field against a Mets team that's
Speaker 1: going to give you their best shot and you pull
Speaker 1: off a win. How impress and proud are you of
Speaker 1: your guys to come out and show up the way
Speaker 1: they did last night?
Speaker 3: Really really proud obviously, you know, having to take the
Speaker 3: trip to DC a lot of guys, so that was
Speaker 3: our off day and to come back late at night
Speaker 3: to then play the way we did last night to
Speaker 3: get a win, and obviously Rookie was fantastic, But you know,
Speaker 3: it's one of those things where you know, starting the
Speaker 3: break and the Yankees are trying to give us, are
Speaker 3: giving us their best, the Philly same and to win
Speaker 3: two series there and then you know, the Mets haven't
Speaker 3: played up to their capabilities, but they're still going to
Speaker 3: go out there and give us their best, and we
Speaker 3: got their best starter going tonight, so we got our work,
Speaker 3: you know, our hands full tonight. But yeah, for the
Speaker 3: way we've played, and it seems like every night there's
Speaker 3: somebody else that steps up and helps lead us to
Speaker 3: a victory.
Speaker 2: So that's been fun to watch for you.
Speaker 1: And having Yamamoto on the mound tonight. What do you
Speaker 1: believe he has done to take his game to the
Speaker 1: next level after coming off a World Series MVP, a
Speaker 1: cy young A finalist, how has he gotten better this year?
Speaker 3: I think if I could say one thing, I would
Speaker 3: probably say his efficiency. I think that you know, there's
Speaker 3: pitchers in our league that can be good for five innings,
Speaker 3: but they don't have enough bullets left to go six,
Speaker 3: or they're good for six and don't have enough bullets
Speaker 3: to go into the seventh inning. But I think Yamamoto
Speaker 3: has done a much better job of these last couple
Speaker 3: of years about being efficient and given himself a chance
Speaker 3: to get into that seventh inning.
Speaker 1: Dave, the one thing I've heard about Yamamoto this year
Speaker 1: is that he has become better prepared, studying the hitters,
Speaker 1: understanding what he can do against certain guys, and that
Speaker 1: has given him a lot more conviction on the mound.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like that has led to his dominance
Speaker 1: this season?
Speaker 2: I do? I do.
Speaker 3: I think in the first couple of years it was
Speaker 3: more of that trustful.
Speaker 2: And not knowing the league, not knowing the.
Speaker 3: Hitters, and trying to depend on the catchers and the coaches.
Speaker 3: But you know, as he's had more at bats with guys,
Speaker 3: then he can kind of get his own, you know, thoughts,
Speaker 3: and then you layer that in with the game planning,
Speaker 3: and then it's really more concrete. So I do think
Speaker 3: that the experience that he's had in our league is
Speaker 3: made them even better.
Speaker 2: Where do you believe this came from?
Speaker 1: Because he did some studying and he rationalized that if
Speaker 1: he can save one pitch per inning, that'll save him
Speaker 1: ten pitches in a complete start, and his last time
Speaker 1: out he only threw one hundred and two pitches in
Speaker 1: a complete game.
Speaker 3: Well that's kind of where I was going to a
Speaker 3: couple questions ago, where it's like, it just seems now
Speaker 3: he's always given me, you know, the opportunity to push
Speaker 3: him later in the game, and you know, before it
Speaker 3: just wasn't efficient. And I think that he's smart enough
Speaker 3: to realize that, you know, there's you know, a dozen
Speaker 3: pitches that a starting pitcher waste every single start, and
Speaker 3: if you can kind of cut those back, that's another
Speaker 3: inning on the back end.
Speaker 2: So he's done a great job in that.
Speaker 1: Is it fair to compare him that he may be?
Speaker 1: Obviously these two guys are Hall of famers, But is
Speaker 1: he a mixture of Greg Maddicks and Pedro Martinez? Do
Speaker 1: you see those characteristics?
Speaker 3: I see both in different ways. I think I see
Speaker 3: the command, the studying with Greg Maddox. I see the
Speaker 3: different pitches that Pedro had the killer, but Greg was
Speaker 3: a killer as well. Yeah, you know, it's like there's
Speaker 3: a there's a little bit of bulldog some orhearsh eyes
Speaker 3: that there's a little bit of John Smolts with the command.
Speaker 2: You know, he's you know, there's.
Speaker 3: A lot of great pitchers that he's got a lot
Speaker 3: of those character traits.
Speaker 1: Manager Dave Roberts is our guest. It's the Manager's Meeting
Speaker 1: presented by Downey Hyundai. All Right, when you look at
Speaker 1: your team, you start to get some players back, Dave,
Speaker 1: And when the Dodgers return home, key K Hernandez was
Speaker 1: pretty confident that he'll be back with the team. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like on the upcoming homestand Edwin Diaz and
Speaker 1: key K will add even more talent to your roster.
Speaker 3: I think right now very confident. Key K's playing through
Speaker 3: the weekend with his OKAC team and the expectations he'll
Speaker 3: be back with us on Tuesday. And the expectation with
Speaker 3: Edwin is he's going to throw tomorrow and then he'll
Speaker 3: be back available with us on Wednesday night. So yeah,
Speaker 3: we're starting to become whole. And you know, Blake Snell
Speaker 3: just do last night. So he'll pitch next week for
Speaker 3: four innings and then you know, hopefully shortly after that,
Speaker 3: you know he'll be back, you know, coming back to
Speaker 3: us as.
Speaker 1: Well, and with those guys that have missed the majority
Speaker 1: of the season, do you think adding those guys helps
Speaker 1: the guys that have been grinding all season long, gives
Speaker 1: them a little extra something.
Speaker 3: I think, so, you know, it's kind of a you know,
Speaker 3: recharges us. And I think that you saw that a
Speaker 3: little bit with Key K when he came back and
Speaker 3: he gave us a shot in the arm and then
Speaker 3: he hurt the oblique. But you know, that's what he's
Speaker 3: going to do. And obviously, when you get your closer back,
Speaker 3: that's going to do a lot for the bullpen. And
Speaker 3: when you get a guy like Blake Snow who's won
Speaker 3: two cy Youngs, that's certainly going to make your rotation
Speaker 3: your team much better as well.
Speaker 1: Earlier on this road trip, I got to go back
Speaker 1: in time with some of the things that have stood
Speaker 1: out to me, and the last game of the series
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, managers don't usually go out to exchange lineup cards,
Speaker 1: but you and Don Mattingly went out there to exchange
Speaker 1: lineup cards. In Philadelphia, two umpires that have been in
Speaker 1: the league a long time, Brian Anorra and Las Dias.
Speaker 1: It's their final season A, was that the reason why
Speaker 1: you went out there? And B what did that mean
Speaker 1: for you to you know, just salute those guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was kind of organic.
Speaker 3: I go out there every first game of every series,
Speaker 3: That's kind of what I do, and then this one
Speaker 3: I went out for the first and then the last one.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to send those guys off. I know
Speaker 3: we'll see Laz again, and I think Brian is going
Speaker 3: to get some type of procedure done, so I think
Speaker 3: that that was going to be his last game, you know,
Speaker 3: first career. So I think that Donnie knew that as well.
Speaker 3: So it was great for us to you know, send
Speaker 3: them off. And you know, umpires are scrutinized every single night,
Speaker 3: just like managers are, and they do a great job.
Speaker 2: They do the best they can.
Speaker 3: So you know, for two guys that have done it
Speaker 3: for as long as they have, I got nothing but
Speaker 3: respect for him.
Speaker 1: I've seen you before have interactions with certain umpires. Dan
Speaker 1: Bellino seems to be a very friendly Dave Roberts type
Speaker 1: of umpire as much as you can be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what, Dan and I we've had our
Speaker 3: you know, we've had our battles, but he's softened. I
Speaker 3: have nothing but love and respect for him. But I
Speaker 3: have fun with the umpires, and like I said, they
Speaker 3: do the best they can, but we definitely throw our barbs,
Speaker 3: you know, in jes tongue in cheek.
Speaker 2: Have a lot of fun with those guys.
Speaker 1: All right, before I let you go, we're talking about umpires.
Speaker 1: We are almost at the end of the regular season here,
Speaker 1: almost into August. How do you believe the abs challenging
Speaker 1: has worked out so far for the teams but also
Speaker 1: for the umpires.
Speaker 3: Well, I think in total, I think for the game
Speaker 3: it's been great. I think I can't speak to the teams.
Speaker 3: I can speak to our team where I think that
Speaker 3: there's opportunities to get better and pick times of the
Speaker 3: right times, the leverage times to do it.
Speaker 2: But I think that and I think that it's been
Speaker 2: good for the umpires.
Speaker 3: I think that no one likes to be embarrassed, and
Speaker 3: you know, when you have the opportunity to potentially challenge,
Speaker 3: it does make their focus a little bit more heightened
Speaker 3: and that's good for the game. And it's no you know,
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to bang or knock empires, but I
Speaker 3: do think so overall, nets.
Speaker 2: It's a huge win for us, and.
Speaker 1: It also proves that they're pretty good at their job.
Speaker 3: They are, they are, and I think that's something it's
Speaker 3: hard to kind of appreciate.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: We're talking about ninety three ninety four month hours, sliders,
Speaker 3: cutters and one hundred and five mile an hour fastballs
Speaker 3: that certain guys are throwing up there. It's like, and
Speaker 3: now you're talking about missing a half an inch an
Speaker 3: inch and it ain't easy. But like I said, they're
Speaker 3: doing the best they can. They do a pretty good.
Speaker 1: Job, all right, Dave, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: I've had a great time in joining the East Coast
Speaker 1: with you, and we'll have a happy flight home tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's do it, Dave,