Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: It's the Dodgers and Padres. That's enough said right there,
Speaker 1: and we're with three time World Series winning manager Dave
Speaker 1: Roberts in the office. Dave, thanks a lot for the time,
Speaker 1: and this is going to be exciting.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be fun. You know, these guys obviously a
Speaker 2: lot of talent over there, and geography lends yourself to
Speaker 2: a rivalry. Certainly their play, our play lends yourself to
Speaker 2: a rivalry in the last handful of years. So it's
Speaker 2: gonna be a fun, hopefully not too eventful series, but
Speaker 2: it's gonna be good baseball.
Speaker 1: You were asked yesterday whether or not the Padres being
Speaker 1: as good as they've been has helped push you guys
Speaker 1: during the regular season. Do you feel like every great
Speaker 1: team needs that. The Yankees had the Red Sox over
Speaker 1: the course of their time. Do you feel like the
Speaker 1: Padres are that for the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: Well, I think if you look at recent history, yes,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, you're talking about rivalries and what fans,
Speaker 2: what media look towards, and yeah, I do think that
Speaker 2: good teams make you better, and so you know, not
Speaker 2: even close to comparing it to the Lakers Celtics. But
Speaker 2: when you have a team that is a rival, a nemesis,
Speaker 2: whatever you want to kind of say, it does bring
Speaker 2: out the best in you.
Speaker 1: Do you get excited for these type of series?
Speaker 2: I do. I do, but you know, I also try
Speaker 2: to manage my emotions a little bit more going into it.
Speaker 2: It always hasn't played out on the field, but I
Speaker 2: think that I know that the intensity is going to
Speaker 2: be there organically, so I try not to get too
Speaker 2: hyped up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dave Roberts has survey what seven padres managers over
Speaker 1: the course of your time managing the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy, you know, but they still got their
Speaker 2: core of you know, their position players. But there's been
Speaker 2: some turnover over there and now new ownership. But it's
Speaker 2: a fun place to come play a ball game, certainly
Speaker 2: if you're the Dodgers, and you know, they do everything
Speaker 2: they can to kind of keep our fans from attending
Speaker 2: down here because it is and has been pet Coo
Speaker 2: South or Dodger Stadium South, but we still get represented
Speaker 2: pretty well down here.
Speaker 1: What's it like for Dave Roberts in your neighborhood I
Speaker 1: know whenever the Padres are that one time the Padres
Speaker 1: beat the Dodgers in the postseason, you would get stop
Speaker 1: walking your dog? Do you do you get left alone
Speaker 1: these days?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's dissipated recently, which is great for me. It's
Speaker 2: it's tough living down here in the offseason, and I
Speaker 2: take my fair share of riving, but it's quieted down,
Speaker 2: which is a good thing for me.
Speaker 1: Five game winning streak. You guys have scored forty runs
Speaker 1: during that those five wins. What stood out to you
Speaker 1: the most about your offense during this swinning streak?
Speaker 2: I think at bad quality and I know I say
Speaker 2: that a lot and just kind of really it's it
Speaker 2: really is, you know, the idea of really swinging to strikes,
Speaker 2: moving the ball forward when you get that opportunity ending
Speaker 2: the at bat taking balls. You know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of counts, pitches in counts that you know, it goes
Speaker 2: from a three to one count if you take a
Speaker 2: ball at ball versus swing at it and it's two
Speaker 2: to two count, and people remember the final you know,
Speaker 2: pitch of the at bat, but there's a lot of
Speaker 2: pitches in between that matter just as much. And so
Speaker 2: I think for me an Angel series, I thought that
Speaker 2: we valued every pitch within the at bat more and
Speaker 2: the walks will result and just again earning counts. You know,
Speaker 2: you don't get to three to one, three to zero.
Speaker 2: You earn those counts and then make the pitch have
Speaker 2: to come to you. So that's for me, that mindset
Speaker 2: was better this last series.
Speaker 1: When you say that where you have to earn counts,
Speaker 1: what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2: Well, I think that you do that by not being
Speaker 2: stubborn in your zone. You know, when it's a one
Speaker 2: oh pitch that's just off a breaking ball and you
Speaker 2: take it, you've earned that one oh count instead of
Speaker 2: swinging at it hyper aggressively to then being an o
Speaker 2: one count. You know, when it's a one to one
Speaker 2: pitch and it's a slider down in a way and
Speaker 2: you take it, you've earned that two to one count,
Speaker 2: you know, And you saw even in the Angels series
Speaker 2: there were some two oh sliders that they threw us
Speaker 2: and we got into two to one counts by swinging.
Speaker 2: But if we would have taken that slider off, we'd
Speaker 2: have earned a three to zero count. So I think
Speaker 2: that for me, I liked the idea of earning something,
Speaker 2: and if you put it in that mindset within your
Speaker 2: at bat, I think it's more motivating.
Speaker 1: Does that create some accountability amongst the players themselves?
Speaker 2: I think so. And I also think that what it
Speaker 2: does is that it puts it into context for the
Speaker 2: player that you know, good counts don't just happen. You've
Speaker 2: got to put in your work or as I've just said,
Speaker 2: you've got to earn those counts.
Speaker 1: You were a leadoff hitter, a very much different style
Speaker 1: of a leadoff hitter than sho Heyo Tani. But how
Speaker 1: much does he make your offense go?
Speaker 2: He really makes it go. You can this last series
Speaker 2: what he did because when he's touching it, when he's
Speaker 2: moving it forward, he's slugging. You know, he hasn't home
Speaker 2: it in a while, but he did back home. But
Speaker 2: the doubles or the inside the park homer, I'm sorry, yeah,
Speaker 2: he had the inside the park homer, But the doubles
Speaker 2: and the walks and then the stolen bases, and you know,
Speaker 2: guys just feed off of his energy. And if you
Speaker 2: look back at that last series against Angels, again, he
Speaker 2: did a good job of earning good counts.
Speaker 1: How much have you toyed with the idea in your
Speaker 1: own office, just jotting down lineups about Mookie, Bets and Otani.
Speaker 1: Any consideration for Mookie going back in the leadofs Spot
Speaker 1: whenever you decide that show Hey needs a blow.
Speaker 2: I've thought about it. I think that you know what
Speaker 2: happens there is you start kind of understand you have
Speaker 2: to start to appreciate how it also looks after that.
Speaker 2: You know, if Mooki being a right hand hitter, then
Speaker 2: show Hayes the number two, then you got to figure
Speaker 2: out who's the three hitter, And do you want to
Speaker 2: go back to back lefties with Freddie? And then do
Speaker 2: I want to push Kyle Tucker into the five or
Speaker 2: the six? And don't want to have months he hits seventh.
Speaker 2: I don't. And so there's a lot of factors that
Speaker 2: come into Oh, Mookie just hit second and everything's the same.
Speaker 2: It's just there's more that goes into it.
Speaker 1: How much do you think about those type of things?
Speaker 2: I think about him a lot, you know, I do
Speaker 2: think about you know, corresponding moves, alternatives and you know,
Speaker 2: guys and not trying to be reactionary on certain guys performance,
Speaker 2: and you know, we weren't scoring runs. So then now
Speaker 2: it's not because show Hay's hitting in the one, Mookie's
Speaker 2: not hitting inning in the two. That's not the reason
Speaker 2: and until it is the reason. So for me, I
Speaker 2: like more of a sample.
Speaker 1: Size before I let you go Yamamoto on the mound
Speaker 1: for you tonight. He's acknowledged the fact that he's got
Speaker 1: to be better in the first inning of games and
Speaker 1: to limit home runs. How do you feel like he's
Speaker 1: going to adjust to eliminate those issues.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, he made a point last start to
Speaker 2: be better than the first inning, which he was. I
Speaker 2: think what got him last start the eight nine hitters
Speaker 2: hitting three homers.
Speaker 1: So you know you really remember that right away?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do. Those those don't feel good. He's our
Speaker 2: staffes and so he's always going to try to search
Speaker 2: to be better. So yeah, the first thing is important.
Speaker 2: But typically for starting pitchers, that first inning to kind
Speaker 2: of get their bearings on the game is typically the toughest.
Speaker 2: As you see a Major League scoreboard every night, it's
Speaker 2: usually one nothing or team scores in the first in.
Speaker 2: Because of that reason, I think for me, it's the
Speaker 2: last four haven't been Yoshinobu s, but I expect a
Speaker 2: good one tonight.
Speaker 1: All right, Dave, thanks a lot for the time. We're
Speaker 1: all excited for this series, but more excited about the
Speaker 1: way the Dodgers are starting to look like themselves again.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time and always great to
Speaker 1: catch up with you.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, Dave. Talk to you next week.