Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: It's the final game of the exhibition season for the
Speaker 2: Dodgers and a great baseball man back in the Dodger
Speaker 2: organization since he took over third base coaching during the
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen season, has remained in the organization and is
Speaker 2: a very important voice for Andrew Friedman. That is the
Speaker 2: one and only Ron Rennicky, who just slapped high fives
Speaker 2: with the World Series MVP and opening day starter Yoshi Yamamoto. Ron,
Speaker 2: thanks a lot for the time. Oh sure, anytime You've
Speaker 2: seen a lot of baseball, Ron. We were just talking
Speaker 2: about this. Have you ever seen a pitcher do what
Speaker 2: Yamamoto did in last year's postseason?
Speaker 1: No, we were just talking watching Mooki out there trying
Speaker 1: to throw the dark psych Yamamoto was doing last year,
Speaker 1: and I you know, for a guy physically to do
Speaker 1: that and then bounce back to next year and hopefully
Speaker 1: he stays healthy all year this year, but pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: So so whatever he's doing in his workouts, which is
Speaker 1: pretty fun to watch him do all that is amazing
Speaker 1: and really keeping keeping a body that's not this huge
Speaker 1: guy in a place where physically nobody else can do.
Speaker 2: I guess we also forget the fact that during that
Speaker 2: eighteen inning game of Game three, he was warming up
Speaker 2: in the bullpen. I feel like we forget that part
Speaker 2: of the equation as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty amazing, obviously great year, but but just physically
Speaker 1: to be able to do that. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think everybody's trying to figure out how do we keep
Speaker 1: players healthy? And when you see something like that, that's
Speaker 1: when you get Bookie out there throwing the darts like
Speaker 1: he was. So but it's a it's a big problem
Speaker 1: I think now in the major leagues is keeping people healthy.
Speaker 1: We know if we do it, we've got a great team,
Speaker 1: and other teams feel the same way.
Speaker 2: When you talk about that and Yamamoto and how he
Speaker 2: relates to staying healthy, it seems like the Japanese these
Speaker 2: pictures still believe in what Major league pitchers used to
Speaker 2: believe thirty years ago. The more you throw, the more
Speaker 2: you're going to be prepared to endure one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty two game season, thirty starts.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's hard to say which one is the
Speaker 1: right way to go. But whatever we're doing now, it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be working real well, and everybody realizes
Speaker 1: it's because guys are throwing harder, they're spinning the ball harder.
Speaker 1: There's way more effort into it. But how do we
Speaker 1: physically train them to be able to do that and
Speaker 1: still hold up through a really long season? And it's difficult.
Speaker 1: So I think anytime you see something that works, let's
Speaker 1: try it and see and see how it goes. If
Speaker 1: it works, great, and I don't think there's any harm
Speaker 1: in doing it.
Speaker 2: Ron Rennicky is our guest. He was part of the
Speaker 2: Dodgers that took down the Big Red machine in the
Speaker 2: early eighties to their dominance in the seventies. You've seen
Speaker 2: the A's of the mid seventies win three in a row.
Speaker 2: You saw the Yankees twenty six years ago win three
Speaker 2: in a row. What is it about this Dodger team
Speaker 2: that has them believing that they can do that as well?
Speaker 1: Well? Certainly it starts with the talent of the players.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at the lineup. I was looking
Speaker 1: at it two nights ago and I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to pitch that lineup. And you look at
Speaker 1: our starting staff, you look at the bullpen, so physically
Speaker 1: we have, we have the tools to be able to
Speaker 1: do that. And then the metal part of it, which
Speaker 1: you know, I get to see because I'm here with
Speaker 1: them and get to see what happens underneath. Is a
Speaker 1: special group of guys. It's a group of guys that
Speaker 1: understand how to win, how to prepare to win, and
Speaker 1: that that comes in all different phases. I talk about
Speaker 1: Mooki and how he prepares well. Other guys can't physically
Speaker 1: do what he does, so other guys prepare in a
Speaker 1: different way, And it's just trying to figure out and
Speaker 1: each individual what you need to give this guy to
Speaker 1: be ready to play a game and to play for
Speaker 1: one sixty two.
Speaker 2: There he is a member of the book club. I
Speaker 2: got to get some books from Ron Rennicky.
Speaker 1: Yes,