Speaker 1: Now an exclusive interview with David Bassey or Dodger talking.
Speaker 1: All right, it's time for the managers meeting before first
Speaker 1: pitch between the Dodgers and Phillies. It's brought to you
Speaker 1: by Downy Hunday and our main man, Dave Roberts is
Speaker 1: with us in the dugout. Dave, thanks a lot for
Speaker 1: the time. Appreciate it now, Dave.
Speaker 2: Always good catching up with you and fresh off and
Speaker 2: off day, so I feel good, re energize and this
Speaker 2: is gonna be a fun series.
Speaker 1: It kind of feels weird that we're talking and there's
Speaker 1: no David Bowie Let's Dance behind us.
Speaker 3: No, I know exactly.
Speaker 2: We got some type of techno music in the background.
Speaker 2: Batting Pactice is getting ready to start here. So yeah,
Speaker 2: game and all that good stuff going on. So yeah,
Speaker 2: we're prepared first series and there's no David Bowie though.
Speaker 1: The backstory on that is the final day of Milwaukee
Speaker 1: Day game. Dave Roberts comes out to touch his players,
Speaker 1: hang out with his players, and David Bowie Let's Dance
Speaker 1: is playing and I never knew Dave Roberts was a
Speaker 1: David Bowie guy.
Speaker 3: You know, it's one of those things. Dave that when
Speaker 3: you're in baseball.
Speaker 2: You've got to like everything, and certainly the eighties was
Speaker 2: kind of my heyday. So the eighties rap, the David Bowie,
Speaker 2: the all of that kind of stuff. But then also
Speaker 2: I've gotten in the country and classic rock, you like
Speaker 2: it all?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we all know you like ice Cube too, and.
Speaker 3: I definitely love my old school route.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the game tonight. You got
Speaker 1: Alex Freeland at second base. Tonight, you've sent down hay
Speaker 1: Song Kim with Santiago espen all back. Does that make
Speaker 1: the roster just fit better?
Speaker 2: I think so, And we all love Haysong, And it's
Speaker 2: just having that conversation, which we had just a little
Speaker 2: while ago, was very difficult. And you know, to his credit,
Speaker 2: he's gonna go out there and leave tomorrow morning and
Speaker 2: join that OKC team so we can play in Sugarland tomorrow.
Speaker 2: And this guy just loves baseball, but he's been scuffling
Speaker 2: for a few weeks, and you know, to get Alex
Speaker 2: Freeland here, to get him some runway, and obviously losing
Speaker 2: Tao for at least a couple of weeks, and then
Speaker 2: to get reacquire Espinal has been great because he cleared waivers.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's kind of a balance of left right,
Speaker 2: some outfield coverage. We got Ryan Ward here, so there's
Speaker 2: kind of been some changes. So it'll be good.
Speaker 1: When you talk about ti Oscar Hernandez, he was just
Speaker 1: starting to heat up again. How severe is his left
Speaker 1: hamstring strain?
Speaker 2: It's you know, what I think from what I understand,
Speaker 2: it's a grade one, So I think it's a lot
Speaker 2: better than first perceived. And I don't know the timeline,
Speaker 2: but from what I hear from a grade one, you know,
Speaker 2: hopefully it's a couple two to three to four weeks
Speaker 2: and we'll get him back.
Speaker 1: How comfortable are you or what is the plan in
Speaker 1: left field?
Speaker 3: Tonight?
Speaker 1: You have Alex call?
Speaker 2: Yeah, tonight we have Alex call, and then tomorrow Alex
Speaker 2: will be in left field, and then I'm going to
Speaker 2: get Ryan Ward to start on Sunday. And so I
Speaker 2: think for me it's kind of like shared time, not
Speaker 2: necessarily a platoon, but shared time.
Speaker 1: For the fans out there that don't completely understand the difference,
Speaker 1: what is the difference.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the difference is a place tun a
Speaker 2: straight platoon is when there's a right handed pitcher, you're
Speaker 2: gonna get a right handed left hand hitter. And if
Speaker 2: there's a left handed pitcher, you're gonna get a right
Speaker 2: handed hitter. Because I think that in general, that's kind
Speaker 2: of the best best way to kind of navigate, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, the matchups. But in this case, I just
Speaker 2: feel that Alice Call is pretty neutral. He handles right
Speaker 2: handed pitching, and you know, Zach Willie is one of
Speaker 2: the best in the game, and I just felt like
Speaker 2: throwing you know, Ryan to the fire against Wheelers probably
Speaker 2: not a good thing. So I'm gonna have Alex called
Speaker 2: take these the best tonight and then there's a lefty
Speaker 2: Lozarda going tomorrow, so we will have a platoon tomorrow,
Speaker 2: and then the next day we got Painter, so then
Speaker 2: that'll be Ryan Ward start day.
Speaker 1: One guy that Dave Robertson the Dodgers still have in
Speaker 1: their lineup is an all star potential center fielder in
Speaker 1: Andy pa Has. Can you explain the growth you've seen
Speaker 1: from Andy, not just from last year but from spring
Speaker 1: training to where we're at right now?
Speaker 3: You know what, But it's it's tremendous growth.
Speaker 2: You know, I remember a few years ago, where the
Speaker 2: guy the body wasn't good, didn't love the weight room
Speaker 2: or liked the weight room, The war cabits and routine
Speaker 2: wasn't there. And now you look and everything is buttoned up.
Speaker 2: You know, everything is for a purpose. Every that is important,
Speaker 2: you know, every pitch in the outfield is important. And
Speaker 2: he's changing games with his defense, the glove, the arm,
Speaker 2: and I think as far as you know, kind of
Speaker 2: the analytics part of things, like he's you know, one
Speaker 2: of the higher war players of value in all the
Speaker 2: major leagues. So hopefully he'll be making his first All
Speaker 2: Star appearance this year.
Speaker 3: In twenty six how good.
Speaker 1: Was it to see him not change anything after you
Speaker 1: put him in the two spot that final game against
Speaker 1: the Rockies. Do you believe you may have found your
Speaker 1: two hitter?
Speaker 2: You know, I hope so, you know, for the time being,
Speaker 2: and I think that, you know, you can see early
Speaker 2: on the year, I tried to move him up at
Speaker 2: different times, and you know, it seemed like every time
Speaker 2: I did, he sort of pressed a little too much
Speaker 2: and it didn't go well. This time, I just felt
Speaker 2: that at that moment I wanted to give Moki a
Speaker 2: different look and Honestly, it was a process of elimination
Speaker 2: on who I think earned that right to hit two
Speaker 2: in between Shohey and Freddie, and it was clear to
Speaker 2: me that Andy was the guy. And to your point, Dave,
Speaker 2: he hasn't changed anything, and I would almost argue that
Speaker 2: he's even gotten better, because before I put him in
Speaker 2: the two, he was kind of scuffling a little bit,
Speaker 2: trying to find his way to get to midst and
Speaker 2: once he got back in that too, he just really
Speaker 2: is taken off again.
Speaker 1: Everybody's asked Dave Roberts in a roundabout way about Mooki Bets,
Speaker 1: but nobody's asked you this question, who do you need
Speaker 1: Mooki Bets to be at this stage of his career?
Speaker 1: And in twenty twenty six, you.
Speaker 3: Know what I do need.
Speaker 2: I think what I need, and it's an simple answer,
Speaker 2: is I need Mooki. We need Mooki to be Mookie Bets.
Speaker 2: And I say that in the sense of you're that dog.
Speaker 2: I think that with when Mooki's right, there's that little
Speaker 2: scowl on.
Speaker 3: His face when he's hitting.
Speaker 2: You know, that determination, that fight, that toughness, and not
Speaker 2: the self doubt, the questioning, the over anxiousness in the box,
Speaker 2: and every single time he steps on the field, he
Speaker 2: should think that he's one of the best players on
Speaker 2: the planet, let alone on the field. And it is
Speaker 2: true that being a human being sometimes you start to
Speaker 2: question that yourselves, even if you are mookie bets. But
Speaker 2: for me the last couple of days, I saw that
Speaker 2: edge again and that's what I want to see. And
Speaker 2: if I see that, the results will bet on those results.
Speaker 1: That's a great description, great need from Dave Roberts. As
Speaker 1: we get set for first pitch between the Dodgers and Phillies,
Speaker 1: last thing for you as show hey Otani gets ready
Speaker 1: tonight to step in the batter's box in the bottom
Speaker 1: of the first inning, we may see another leadoff home run.
Speaker 1: There is a great image on Wednesday night after Otani
Speaker 1: came back to the dugout after his lead out off
Speaker 1: home run, of you, his manager, not ta Oscar Hernandez,
Speaker 1: not Andy pa has having the sunflower seeds ready for him.
Speaker 1: Is that the first time you've ever been the guy
Speaker 1: throwing the sunflower seeds?
Speaker 2: I think I've done it before, but this situation, Pauw
Speaker 2: Hayes was hitting two, so he was on deck getting
Speaker 2: ready to hit. Tao was in the cage, he was,
Speaker 2: I don't know where he was. And then so for
Speaker 2: me it was a big hit Homer from Show Hey,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking around the dug. I was saying, who's
Speaker 2: got the seeds? No one had the seeds. So then
Speaker 2: I had to take initiative, Dave, get the seeds and
Speaker 2: greet show Hey with some seeds. And you know what
Speaker 2: funny is, I saw a little smirk out of him,
Speaker 2: even on a pitching day, so I think I surprised him.
Speaker 1: Only manager out there that has that type of relationship
Speaker 1: with his players, that's the one and only. Dave Roberts.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time, Dave, and can't wait
Speaker 1: to do this next week again.
Speaker 2: I can't wait, Dave. I love having a chat with
Speaker 2: you and can't wait for this game to start. Let's
Speaker 2: give me let's it's gonna be go. Let's win a
Speaker 2: ball game tonight.
Speaker 3: Sounds good.
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts has been our guest, and we want to
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