Speaker 1: But you're here to see one man, and this is
Speaker 1: a story of perseverance, overcoming adversity and becoming a back
Speaker 1: to back World Series champion. He is the anchor of
Speaker 1: the Bullpen Dogs for the Dodgers, the one and only.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Can I hear that? Can I hear the Can
Speaker 2: I hear the dogs? Or there there it is.
Speaker 1: I think he's ready now and that beautiful beard and
Speaker 1: living color.
Speaker 2: Welcome Alex Vesia to Downey Hyundai. There he is. Look
Speaker 2: at that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, man, he's making his way up the runway.
Speaker 2: We got a stage, we got a big screen, you know.
Speaker 1: Thing here going Alex Vessia, my guy, man, beautiful how
Speaker 1: about this?
Speaker 2: I mean, look look behind you, VESSI look at this Vesia.
Speaker 2: There you are.
Speaker 1: We got everything A right guy, Sam the man, I'm
Speaker 1: learning that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all him. Thank you for coming out.
Speaker 3: This is awesome. Wow, I was traffic was traffic?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: This is cool.
Speaker 1: This is the center of Los Angeles right here in
Speaker 1: Downey and as you can see, the city loves you
Speaker 1: very much.
Speaker 2: Fans are wrapped around the building for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate it. This is this is super cool.
Speaker 2: Hey, Usually relievers don't get this type of love.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like this is a very very
Speaker 1: unique situation because relievers are kind of like offensive linemen.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows about them until the quarterback gets sacked, until
Speaker 1: maybe a home runs given up. But these fans appreciate
Speaker 1: and have wrapped their arms around you.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that for the last six years.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, it's it's a long, long, you know, long journey.
Speaker 4: But you know, I think the the time on the
Speaker 4: field and whatnot, and you know, I just I put
Speaker 4: it all out there and I think it's recognizable and.
Speaker 3: Man, it's a little overwhelming, a little.
Speaker 4: Overwhelming, Dave, But no, it's super cool, really really nice
Speaker 4: to be out with the fans to you know.
Speaker 1: What's wild is when we see you on the mound,
Speaker 1: you're so fired up, you hit that switch, yep.
Speaker 2: And I feel like.
Speaker 1: When you're on the streets of LA you're on the
Speaker 1: streets of Downey, people expect you to have that type
Speaker 1: of personality, but you're nothing.
Speaker 2: Like who you are on the mound.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think it's I mean, competition and competing and it's
Speaker 4: way different.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's way different.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely go into a different mindset when I'm
Speaker 4: out on the mound, you have to. But I just still,
Speaker 4: you know, like normal, like today, it's a normal day.
Speaker 4: I feel like I'm a regular guy. I'm just trying
Speaker 4: to live life like the rest of us. And you know,
Speaker 4: this is this is cool. I like just kind of
Speaker 4: hanging out and yeah, it' stuff. There's not as much tendency.
Speaker 4: There's not you know, like I don't have red Bull
Speaker 4: going through my veins right now or anything like that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, man, no, this is super cool.
Speaker 1: Are you saying that when you walk up and down
Speaker 1: Firestone Boulevard and Downey you're not wearing your fifty one
Speaker 1: Vesie jersey?
Speaker 4: No, No, but I'll see a lot of them here today,
Speaker 4: which is really cool.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: That's Sam.
Speaker 3: I know Sam's got it. I know that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Relievers never have jerseys made of them, No, unless you're
Speaker 1: like the closer. Yeah, but a guy like you, I mean,
Speaker 1: fifty one.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of fifty ones out there.
Speaker 3: There is there is.
Speaker 4: It's gotten a lot more popular the last couple of years, so,
Speaker 4: which is a good thing.
Speaker 3: That means I'm doing my job.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, exactly, And you have been doing your job
Speaker 1: ever since you became a Dodger, and you guys just
Speaker 1: got back from a road trip that felt like it
Speaker 1: was a month long, more than just six games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you go through something like that. And number one,
Speaker 1: did you realize I wasn't on this road trip?
Speaker 3: No, I realized it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I realized that you weren't in the clubhouse bugging
Speaker 4: every player and getting into our business. No, no, Yeah,
Speaker 4: this is a This road trip was really long.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it was cool. I got to see d Ma. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's my guy, and we were locker buddies.
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, with it when he was with us,
Speaker 4: and then you know, with everything that he had had
Speaker 4: gone through with surgeries and yeah, the sophagus stuff. Right,
Speaker 4: so you know, he's been really really good friend of
Speaker 4: mine and so I got to see him, got to
Speaker 4: give him his ring.
Speaker 3: That was really cool.
Speaker 4: And then obviously playing in Houston, you know it was
Speaker 4: it was all right. We took two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was good. You gotta split on that road trip. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're almost at the quarter point of the season.
Speaker 2: Can you believe that?
Speaker 3: Wow, that's so weird.
Speaker 1: The schedule has been played already and you guys are
Speaker 1: in first place in the n L West. I know
Speaker 1: Andrew Friedman and Dave Roberts understand how to navigate one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two games, But as a guy that's
Speaker 1: in it every day, how do you navigate one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty two games.
Speaker 3: One day at a time?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 4: My routine is what keeps it kind of easy. I
Speaker 4: do the same thing every day. I eat the same
Speaker 4: thing every day. That's just kind of my thing. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: I just chicken rice and avocado is like my absolute
Speaker 4: favorite game.
Speaker 3: Right, that's my thing.
Speaker 4: Chicken rice, avocado, Chick fil a Sauce, chick It's the best.
Speaker 3: But yeah, like that routine is kind of just what it's.
Speaker 4: It's easy, it sticks, It's not super complex or complicated.
Speaker 4: But like, one day at a time, one pitch at
Speaker 4: a time is kind of the thing that you know,
Speaker 4: Barto and the bullpen kind of tells us, you know,
Speaker 4: And it worked the other night, you know, glass now
Speaker 4: coming out of the game, Jack Dryer coming in had
Speaker 4: a you know, super long, extensive warm up, and I
Speaker 4: mean he set the tone for that whole game. So
Speaker 4: that was super cool. I was really really proud of him,
Speaker 4: and I didn't have to go in that.
Speaker 3: Game, which that was good. I'll take it.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you know, it's you never know what you're
Speaker 4: gonna get, man, baseball one hundred and sixty two games.
Speaker 3: It's never it's never the same.
Speaker 1: All Right, You go back and Alex Bessie is our
Speaker 1: guest on Dodger Talk. We are at down seventy five
Speaker 1: to fifty Firestone Boulevard.
Speaker 2: You hear about guys. Yeah they work here.
Speaker 3: Yeah they do.
Speaker 2: They like where they work. That's good, that's good. So
Speaker 2: guys like Will Climb.
Speaker 1: Nobody knew who Will Cline was until Game three of
Speaker 1: last year's World Series, right, and.
Speaker 2: He's come back this year. I mean we knew who
Speaker 2: he was, yeah, we did. It was on our team,
Speaker 2: but people in America did not know.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure many people in Downey knew who Will
Speaker 1: Cline was before Game three of the World Series.
Speaker 3: They know him now, yeah, they do? They know him?
Speaker 2: How? You know?
Speaker 1: Everybody wants to know, how do the Dodgers make this work?
Speaker 1: Alex Vessia an unknown from the Marlins. Yep, you turn
Speaker 1: into Alex Vesia. You can't go anywhere in Downey without
Speaker 1: people knowing you.
Speaker 4: Now about that?
Speaker 3: But all right, Okay, where are you going with this, Dave?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Will Klin.
Speaker 1: How do you guys make him feel like feel like
Speaker 1: he belongs after what he did in that moment? Coming
Speaker 1: back a brand new season every year is unique and
Speaker 1: he's been able to, you know, take his game to
Speaker 1: the next level.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think it's there's a little bit
Speaker 4: of both, right, and hang on with me, Right, It's
Speaker 4: he did something super special last year. Right, There's also
Speaker 4: this is a new season, this is new objectives, this
Speaker 4: is new goals, this is everything is in front of him, right,
Speaker 4: So it's being able to kind of still chase that
Speaker 4: and not live right in the past.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: But last year was super cool man, watching him grow
Speaker 4: and and just kind of become who he is now.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: You know, he stepped up in a big way. And
Speaker 4: I mean we knew he had really good stuff when
Speaker 4: we got him. I don't know how much he believed
Speaker 4: in his stuff, but you know, over the course of
Speaker 4: the season, you know, bouncing up and down, and you
Speaker 4: know he works really hard, and I mean it paid
Speaker 4: off in that moment and then now you're seeing it
Speaker 4: this year that you know, he's he's he's been really
Speaker 4: good for us. It's been really awesome to watch him
Speaker 4: throw and having a writing another writing in the bullpen
Speaker 4: to uh, you know, take down. Right, he's lefties whatever
Speaker 4: whatever lane Doc wantson and you know he's ready.
Speaker 1: The dynamics of a bullpen are so interesting, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: big time.
Speaker 2: You've been through.
Speaker 1: This for the last six years. Guys have come and gone,
Speaker 1: Guys have helped you grow. You're helping young guys grow.
Speaker 2: How do you guys?
Speaker 1: Have you guys started to find an identity for this
Speaker 1: bullpen because you guys in twenty four were called the dogs.
Speaker 1: I would say this version of twenty six is very
Speaker 1: similar to those guys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is, No, it is, And I'm I'm really
Speaker 4: really looking forward to having Gradol back. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 4: he's back. He had he's had one or two rehabit
Speaker 4: rehab outings. I still keep in touch with them, you know, right,
Speaker 4: you know, just you oh, absolutely like asking him how's
Speaker 4: you know, rehabs going. You know, it's a it's a
Speaker 4: long process. We also we're also getting Evan Phillips back.
Speaker 4: That's another one that he'll text me from time to
Speaker 4: time and you know, keep me updated and whatnot.
Speaker 3: But uh, the identity. I still like the Dogs, I
Speaker 3: really do.
Speaker 4: I think that there's still that core group of guys
Speaker 4: that twenty four that you know, we'll be back for
Speaker 4: twenty six.
Speaker 3: So I think we'll have to you know, we'll have.
Speaker 4: To talk to everybody, because it's not I'm not making
Speaker 4: that decision on what we're gonna call each other.
Speaker 2: You're just the dogs as long as you're good with that.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 2: On the Dodgers, it's the bullpen dog.
Speaker 3: I like that. Come on.
Speaker 4: I don't think anybody else would, uh would change it,
Speaker 4: but yeah, one one game at a time for us,
Speaker 4: and uh, you know, we still got a lot of baseball.
Speaker 2: Has Tanner Scott found the dog inside Tanner?
Speaker 3: Yeah? That man, that that guy. He's the funniest dude
Speaker 3: in the world.
Speaker 4: I think it like try a sense of humor round
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But sometimes I wonder if his humor connects with you,
Speaker 1: because then you'll be like, oh, Tanner's settled down or yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: whatever you say.
Speaker 2: Tanner.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like you're like the elder statesman now,
Speaker 1: you're the adult now, which is incredible to believe.
Speaker 4: In that, you know, Yeah, he makes me on my toes.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you what on my toes. But yeah, he uh,
Speaker 4: he's been really really good this year, and I'm just
Speaker 4: hoping that you know it. You know, we keep going
Speaker 4: back and forth, and you know, when he pitches one night,
Speaker 4: maybe I'll pitch the next night and we will just
Speaker 4: kind of It's it's also fun like doing going over
Speaker 4: scouting reports with him, since like we're similar in like
Speaker 4: certain areas with like fastballs and sliders. Obviously he throws
Speaker 4: harder and his sliders a little different than mine, So
Speaker 4: it's like just kind of picking his brain on that
Speaker 4: you have to actually be in the bullpen to get
Speaker 4: those answers. If you're in the clubhouse, you're not getting
Speaker 4: those answers from him. So yeah, it's you know.
Speaker 2: He turns into a different guy when he's in the bullpen.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, oh yeah, And that that is a very special,
Speaker 4: very special human right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I would say so so is Alex Vessia,
Speaker 1: right who doesn't love Alex Vessi uh, yeah, we are
Speaker 1: down at hum days, seventy five fifty fires throwing boulevardel.
Speaker 2: I got it.
Speaker 1: I got an idea that I wanted to run by
Speaker 1: Joe Kelly was on the show last Thursday, Joe Kelly.
Speaker 2: Joe Kelly was Mariachi Joe.
Speaker 1: All right, he's got a new fancy Mariachi Joe hat
Speaker 1: that new era made for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that. What is he up to these days?
Speaker 3: What is he doing?
Speaker 1: He is the He calls himself the self proclaimed drake
Speaker 1: of the Inland Empire, because he'll show up at an
Speaker 1: Ontario Tower Buzzers game, he'll show up at an Anaheim
Speaker 1: Ducks hockey.
Speaker 3: Game, all right.
Speaker 1: And I said, we got to get you at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 1: And the idea was to have Joe Kelly, Mariachi Joe
Speaker 1: Kelly sit in one of those seats that overhangs the
Speaker 1: Dodger bullpen, just show up and sit there and surprise
Speaker 1: his old teammates.
Speaker 2: Man, would you be up for that?
Speaker 3: How would Yeah? I'm in on that. I think.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think we could get him, like, you know,
Speaker 4: the spot that's right next to the bullpen door, it's
Speaker 4: the first seat and that looks over it like actually
Speaker 4: into the field.
Speaker 3: I think if we got him right there, that would
Speaker 3: be even better.
Speaker 2: Oh what do you think he'd do?
Speaker 3: Oh? He would he would chirp us. For sure, all
Speaker 3: his comments would be not arable.
Speaker 2: No, that's for sure, but they get the dumb button
Speaker 2: ready when he comes on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely absolutely, yeah, he that would be that'd be fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, it was very available these days.
Speaker 4: I bet he has a lot of time on his hands,
Speaker 4: but he's got he's got a few kids to take
Speaker 4: care of.
Speaker 3: He does Yeah, what is cursh call it his starting
Speaker 3: five and.
Speaker 2: Do you miss Kursehaw talks about.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, we we were in Colorado. Thomas the trainer.
Speaker 4: He uh, he facetimed him, so that was I was
Speaker 4: asking what he was doing.
Speaker 3: He was like, I did some bench. I'm done for
Speaker 3: the day. It was so funny. Man. So he's he's
Speaker 3: keeping active for sure, But but.
Speaker 2: How much What was your relationship like with him?
Speaker 4: Uh? My relationship with him, we competed in the gym
Speaker 4: every single day and not there was It wasn't weightlifting,
Speaker 4: it wasn't uh cardio.
Speaker 3: It was just who could be in the gym first.
Speaker 1: Who would show up for at first? And how many
Speaker 1: times would you beat him?
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm definitely gonna give him. He beat he
Speaker 3: beat me more.
Speaker 4: His routine was also just way different being a starter
Speaker 4: in mind being a reliever. But yeah, no, he his guidance,
Speaker 4: his you know, just veteran presence day in and day.
Speaker 3: Out, is definitely why I do certain things the way
Speaker 3: I do them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, We've had multiple conversations with you know, having bad outings,
Speaker 4: having adversity, you know, holding yourself accountable in a standard.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Without Kursh, I definitely would not be in the in
Speaker 4: the position that I am. So yeah, he's been a
Speaker 4: great mentor for me, and I just will always remember that. Like,
Speaker 4: you know, he's it doesn't matter how like good of
Speaker 4: a baseball player, it's always was how good of a
Speaker 4: person you are. And that's, you know why he's one
Speaker 4: of the best Dodger pitchers ever, you know. So yeah,
Speaker 4: he's uh yeah, so shut shout out to him.
Speaker 1: I think that's why all these people respond to you.
Speaker 1: He's got great character as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe that's a I like that you.
Speaker 1: Care, you care, all right, they want to meet and
Speaker 1: greet with you. So I'm gonna ask you one more question. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have ten pairs of tickets to give away to
Speaker 1: the Dodgers Phillies game on May twenty ninth. It's Alex
Speaker 1: VESSI is Bobblehead night, what do you think aboutlehead?
Speaker 3: And Oh, it's unbelievable. It's so perfect. Yeah, it's so
Speaker 3: so perfect.
Speaker 2: Yeah they missed, but this time they hit.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: When they send it to me, the purple glove was awesome.
Speaker 4: But then like the facial expression yea, and then like,
Speaker 4: how like the picture that I wanted when I you know,
Speaker 4: my parents had asked me, even Kaz asked me about
Speaker 4: what bobhead I like, it's the exact picture of like
Speaker 4: what I wanted. So that was cool, and I didn't
Speaker 4: have really any say in it. They just kind of
Speaker 4: said it to it. Hey, this's your ball ahead. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it's perfect. I'm I'm so happy about that. I think
Speaker 4: my dad's thrown out the first pitch, so I think.
Speaker 1: I thought maybe I thought you were going to announce that. No,
Speaker 1: I was throwing out the first pitch.
Speaker 3: Sorry, not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Okay, hey coming, we love Youssif all the fans are
Speaker 1: ready to meet you, get you kiss some babies, maybe
Speaker 1: throw them up in the air, maybe throw some adults
Speaker 1: up in the air.
Speaker 2: But protect that left arm. This is the golden left arm.
Speaker 1: Thank you to alex Vessia to coming out to downy
Speaker 1: Hondai seventy five.
Speaker 2: Point fifty Firetone Boulevard thanks to our guys.
Speaker 3: Sam. Yeah, very cool.
Speaker 2: Thank you, sting all of us