Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: All right, he is public enemy number one in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: but beloved in Los Angeles. Three times World Series Champion,
Speaker 1: the one and only Max Munsey. Max, thanks a lot
Speaker 1: for the time. Appreciate it, of course. I know you
Speaker 1: were looking forward to this all series.
Speaker 2: Sure, whatever you say, Dave.
Speaker 1: What is it about the rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants?
Speaker 1: You've been part of this now since twenty eighteen, you've
Speaker 1: hit more home runs against them, not outside of Nolan
Speaker 1: Aronado and Paul Goldschmid. It just seems like you've you've
Speaker 1: really embraced this rivalry since you became a Dodger.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean it's fun. The games are fun, the atmospheres
Speaker 3: are fun. This is a rivalry that dates all the
Speaker 3: way back to New York. And then you know, it's
Speaker 3: just it's a you know, as a as a baseball fan,
Speaker 3: it's just fun to be a part of these types
Speaker 3: of games, and you know it's fun.
Speaker 2: To play it them.
Speaker 1: I know you're comfortable between the lines, but how comfortable
Speaker 1: are you when you go to San Francisco? Do you
Speaker 1: have to stay quarantined in your room before you get
Speaker 1: to the ballpark.
Speaker 2: No, no, it's nothing like that. You know, as heated.
Speaker 2: It as a rivalry as it is, and.
Speaker 3: You know that the fans may hate, you know, each other,
Speaker 3: every time we play them, it's always been civil, and
Speaker 3: you know, they when you go to San fran they
Speaker 3: you know, those fans will say it, they say, but
Speaker 3: it's it's more in fun and just of the rivalry,
Speaker 3: and it's never it's never.
Speaker 2: Really anything personal, and you don't take it personal.
Speaker 3: It's just, you know, like I said, it's fun to
Speaker 3: be a part of it, and you enjoy it, and
Speaker 3: you know it's it's makes baseball fun.
Speaker 2: Do you take it.
Speaker 1: As a compliment When you're in San Francisco and fans
Speaker 1: are really coming after Max Muncy, that means you did
Speaker 1: something well?
Speaker 3: They say, if you're booing you, then you know you've
Speaker 3: done something good. You know, I don't know if that's
Speaker 3: the case. You know, going back to what they're saying,
Speaker 3: it's just fun to be a part of that. You know,
Speaker 3: it's it's something you look forward to or you know,
Speaker 3: you just you really enjoy playing in those games.
Speaker 1: One of the great images of this rivalry of the
Speaker 1: last fifteen years of worres was the home run you
Speaker 1: hit against Mattison Bumgardner. We're now that he's retired, Where
Speaker 1: did you guys leave your relationship, your competitive relationship. Did
Speaker 1: you guys ever talk about that moment?
Speaker 3: No, you know, we never talked about it, but there
Speaker 3: was never any hard feelings between us. And you know,
Speaker 3: and I've always understood that. I think he understands that
Speaker 3: when he's on the mound, he's he's a competitor.
Speaker 2: He's a fiery competitor.
Speaker 3: That was something I always respected about him was he
Speaker 3: was always doing his best out there and he wasn't
Speaker 3: gonna let anything get in his way. And you know,
Speaker 3: I like to play the same way. And that's really
Speaker 3: all it was. It was just a heated moment on
Speaker 3: the field. And you know, again, nothing personal. It's just
Speaker 3: something that happened. And you know, I've never talked to
Speaker 3: him about it, but you know, I've never heard anything said,
Speaker 3: so you know, as far as I know, it was
Speaker 3: just he probably feels the same way.
Speaker 2: It's just one of those moments that was on the field.
Speaker 1: Has the rivalry since you've been part of it evolved,
Speaker 1: I mean we see a lot of guys hugging out
Speaker 1: there on the basis. It seems like there's a lot
Speaker 1: of crossover these days. Is there still that tension when
Speaker 1: first pa just thrown?
Speaker 2: Well, I think that's just the game of baseball, you know.
Speaker 3: I think baseball has evolved to there's not so many
Speaker 3: of those moments where it's, hey, you can't talk to
Speaker 3: this team, you can't talk to this guy, And yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that's good for the sport. I think, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, just everyone's trying to grow the game, or
Speaker 3: one's trying to have fun out there, and everyone's trying
Speaker 3: to compete, and.
Speaker 2: You know, I just I think it's just baseball evolving.
Speaker 1: All right, let's fast forward to twenty twenty six. I
Speaker 1: mentioned to you that I heard Blue Jays manager John
Speaker 1: Schneider say the other day that teams are pitching the
Speaker 1: Blue Jays a lot differently than a year ago. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like teams are pitching the Dodgers differently this
Speaker 1: year than they did a year ago.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's been that way for several years, several
Speaker 3: years for us. I don't know if that's just a
Speaker 3: report that's gotten out about us about how we prepare
Speaker 3: how we game plan, and you know, guys changed teams,
Speaker 3: and so I don't know if that's gotten out there,
Speaker 3: but uh, we started noticing that years ago. Teams have
Speaker 3: always pitched us differently. They go off game plan, they
Speaker 3: go off scotting important. It's tough because you try to
Speaker 3: prepare a certain way and when teams flip the script
Speaker 3: on you, it makes it really tough.
Speaker 2: And you know, these are big league players. You know,
Speaker 2: the guy is saying that.
Speaker 3: Everyone always says it's the guys any other team, Drave
Speaker 3: Mercedes too, you know, and that's that's a true fact.
Speaker 2: These are the best players in the world.
Speaker 3: And you know, I know we're a really good team,
Speaker 3: but those everyone in Major League Baseball is good and
Speaker 3: so when they do something that you're not completely prepared for,
Speaker 3: it makes it challenging. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 3: we've noticed that for the last several years.
Speaker 2: That's just how it's been.
Speaker 3: And especially when it gets closed to playoff time. You know,
Speaker 3: if you face a team that you might face in
Speaker 3: the playoffs, they always pitch you a completely different way,
Speaker 3: knowing that they're not going to pitch you that way
Speaker 3: in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Even though you guys have not hit the way you
Speaker 1: will hit. Pitching in defense has gotten you to the
Speaker 1: top of the NL West this year.
Speaker 2: You went particular.
Speaker 1: If you look at every other high end analytic category,
Speaker 1: you're at the top as far as all the third
Speaker 1: basement out there. Do you feel like the shape that
Speaker 1: you came into this season that's the area that we're
Speaker 1: seeing it the most.
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably in terms of defense. I think for me,
Speaker 2: it's just.
Speaker 3: The the understanding of all the techniques that I've been
Speaker 3: trying to practice over the years is finally starting to
Speaker 3: click in the game.
Speaker 2: And I'm finally able.
Speaker 3: To start moving fluidly out there and freely and just
Speaker 3: having fun. And I'm not getting stressed every time a
Speaker 3: ball is hit. And you know, that's something that it
Speaker 3: just takes time. You know, when I did my work
Speaker 3: over the last several years, I was always perfect, and
Speaker 3: it just it was finding a way to get that
Speaker 3: translate into the game. You know, whether it's my throwing,
Speaker 3: my footwork, you know how I'm approaching certain balls, And
Speaker 3: this year everything's clicked for me and everything. You know,
Speaker 3: there's been no second thoughts on any of the plays,
Speaker 3: and you know, there's been one or two plays where
Speaker 3: i haven't done it perfectly, and it's I've still been
Speaker 3: able to make it work because.
Speaker 2: I'm just moving freely.
Speaker 3: And for me, that was always the biggest thing over
Speaker 3: the years was trying to get my work to translate
Speaker 3: into the game, and that's something.
Speaker 2: That can only happen with reps and just time.
Speaker 3: And you know, even though I've been playing third base
Speaker 3: every day for the last several years, it's still not
Speaker 3: my position.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a position I came up playing.
Speaker 3: And you know, I've taken a lot of pride in
Speaker 3: the work that I've put into it, and I've grown
Speaker 3: to love playing third base. I really do love going
Speaker 3: out there every single night and playing third base. I've
Speaker 3: It's just something that I've grown to love over the years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the reaction time has got to be instantaneous. You
Speaker 1: had one of the biggest plays in Game seven of
Speaker 1: the World Series on a hot shot to the hot corner.
Speaker 1: Have you always had those type of reflexes.
Speaker 3: Well, that's what's funny is you know, my defense the
Speaker 3: last several years, the one thing that always has been
Speaker 3: at the top has been my first step. You know,
Speaker 3: I've always been one of the quickest in baseball and
Speaker 3: getting off the ball. It was just getting getting everything
Speaker 3: else to translate with that, and so at third you
Speaker 3: need the reaction time and that's that's always something that
Speaker 3: I have had, So that's helped.
Speaker 2: Me out, all right.
Speaker 1: So Will Smith is leading off for the first time
Speaker 1: in his major league career. Does that mean Max Munsey
Speaker 1: can go back to second base?
Speaker 2: If needed?
Speaker 3: I can always go back to second base. And it's
Speaker 3: actually almost happened a couple of times this year. You know,
Speaker 3: there there's been a couple of times where Freddie was
Speaker 3: going to go to third base and I was gonna
Speaker 3: go to second base. And you know, second base is
Speaker 3: position that's always been natural to me, and so I
Speaker 3: can go back over there at any time, and you know,
Speaker 3: the coaching staff knows that, so you know they feel
Speaker 3: comfortable doing that.
Speaker 1: Any advice for Will Smith leading off tonight, No.
Speaker 2: No advice.
Speaker 3: I let off a couple of times and I didn't
Speaker 3: know what to do, So I'm not the guy to
Speaker 3: asked for advice. You know, I don't know if you
Speaker 3: take the first pitch, you swing at the first pitch,
Speaker 3: I don't know. But you know, nowadays, the first pitch
Speaker 3: of the game is no longer guaranteed fastball as as
Speaker 3: we've been seeing a bunch of this year, So yeah,
Speaker 3: I got no advice for him on that one.
Speaker 1: All right, Max, Well, thank you for stopping. Always great
Speaker 1: to catch up with you, and I know uh Dodger fans,
Speaker 1: LA fans appreciate everything that you've given the team and
Speaker 1: how much you want to be here and obviously it's
Speaker 1: translating this season, So thank you of course anytime