Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: It's time for our Managers Meeting, brought to you by
Speaker 1: Downey Hyundai. We're in the manager's office with Dave Roberts
Speaker 1: on Otani Day. Dave, thanks a lot for the time
Speaker 1: and great to be in the desert with you.
Speaker 2: Great to be with you, Dave.
Speaker 3: You know, as we're sitting here in my office getting
Speaker 3: ready for this game, it was nice to get a
Speaker 3: win last night. How we got the win, so now
Speaker 3: we have a chance to go up to one of
Speaker 3: the series. And as you said, it is O tawny day.
Speaker 3: He's going to be pitching and hitting today, so it
Speaker 3: should be a good one.
Speaker 1: Does it feel different on the days that he's doing
Speaker 1: this two way thing, because I don't know, there seems
Speaker 1: to be a little heightened level around the clubhouse, around
Speaker 1: the stadium whenever he's doing this.
Speaker 3: There is I think that you know, with certain pitchers
Speaker 3: on their start day. I think there's that extra kind
Speaker 3: of buzz in the air in the locker room, and
Speaker 3: you have that with show hey and even just watching them,
Speaker 3: you know, walk past my office or earlier. There's a
Speaker 3: different kind of focus on days that he's pitching and
Speaker 3: you know that heightened sense of intensity.
Speaker 1: Joey Vado said recently that we may be witnessing the
Speaker 1: single greatest seasoned by any player in baseball history. Is
Speaker 1: it hard to even wrap your head around that when
Speaker 1: you're in it every day?
Speaker 3: It is, But I think that I think the people
Speaker 3: here appreciate, you know, because you see it every day
Speaker 3: in one sense. In another sense that you appreciate all
Speaker 3: that goes into his preparation and the expectations and the mental,
Speaker 3: the physical and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: The emotions. But I agree with Joey.
Speaker 3: I just think that, you know, we get so caught
Speaker 3: up and he should have a twelve hundred ops and
Speaker 3: he's not hitting fifty homers, but not appreciating what he's
Speaker 3: doing on the pitching side, and it's just something that
Speaker 3: we haven't seen ever to this caliber, and I don't
Speaker 3: think we ever will.
Speaker 1: In all of his starts except one, he's touched the
Speaker 1: sixth inning, what more can he do as a pitcher
Speaker 1: to allow himself to have greater results?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, if you just kind of separate the
Speaker 3: pitching part of it, I think it's just speaks to
Speaker 3: the command I think that the pitch efficiency his last
Speaker 3: few haven't been great per his standards, and so if
Speaker 3: he can do that, then it's the six seven innings,
Speaker 3: eight innings, things like that. But I think the last
Speaker 3: few starts he's been fighting himself his delivery and then
Speaker 3: you know, just hasn't had that command.
Speaker 1: I remember both you and Showhay said after his start
Speaker 1: in San Diego, he was fighting himself, but there was
Speaker 1: something a little bit more, maybe the body wasn't responding.
Speaker 1: Is that what you were alluding to. I don't want
Speaker 1: to put words in your mouth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a little bit of it.
Speaker 3: And I think that's kind of a Joe Evado's point
Speaker 3: in the sense of you're an everyday hitter and you're
Speaker 3: swinging the bat, you run the bases, and you're obviously
Speaker 3: been productive really a lot recently, and so then now
Speaker 3: you've got to turn into the picture and your body's
Speaker 3: got to be because as a picture, all you do
Speaker 3: all week is kind of get your body in tune
Speaker 3: with being a picture. So it's it's two different movements
Speaker 3: for the picture of the hitter, and so it is
Speaker 3: a little bit tougher to kind of, you know, get
Speaker 3: it is easier to get out of whack, and so
Speaker 3: those are things that he's been fighting. But even when
Speaker 3: he is fighting himself, he still go good enough to go,
Speaker 3: you know, five innings scoreless.
Speaker 1: Maybe you can answer this question, why do we see
Speaker 1: more emotion from Otani on the mound than you usually
Speaker 1: see from Otani as the hitter.
Speaker 3: I think, just to put it, I think in simple terms,
Speaker 3: I think because as a picture, you are the protagonist,
Speaker 3: you're the instigator, you're the you know, you're the aggressor,
Speaker 3: and so I think with that you can control your
Speaker 3: pitch making. And I think with the hitting, you're on
Speaker 3: the defensive and you got to react, and so you're
Speaker 3: really reacting to what the picture does. And when he
Speaker 3: makes a good picture, it's really not a whole lot
Speaker 3: you can do. So I think for me, because he's
Speaker 3: in control of the pitching, he has higher expectations for himself.
Speaker 1: Does he have an edge as a hitter and as
Speaker 1: a pitcher because he does both as far as the
Speaker 1: chest match of what a pitcher may be trying to
Speaker 1: do to him and what he's trying to do to
Speaker 1: a certain hitter.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say edge. He certainly has it with the pitching.
Speaker 3: I do think that in the last couple of weeks
Speaker 3: he's had a different look of intensity at the plate.
Speaker 3: You know, in the postseason, certainly when he got hit,
Speaker 3: you know, in that Padre series, there was an edge
Speaker 3: to it. But I do like, you know, that that focus,
Speaker 3: that extra intensity that I've seen from him recently.
Speaker 1: In the box, does he have an advantage?
Speaker 3: He does when when he when he's got that look,
Speaker 3: he's got that advantage. And I think also when Mooki
Speaker 3: has that same look, he has an advantage. That We're
Speaker 3: trying to find that look again with Mooki and hopefully,
Speaker 3: you know, the coming days, we'll get that look back.
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts is our our guest the Manager's Meeting, presented
Speaker 1: by Downey Hyundai. Dave, you seem to predetermine when Otani
Speaker 1: will hit and pitch and maybe even the day after.
Speaker 1: Have you decided about tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's not going to hit tomorrow, so tomorrow will
Speaker 3: be a r in our recovery day. But he'll be
Speaker 3: ready to come off the bench if we need it.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: As a manager, I find it sometimes beneficial to get
Speaker 3: ahead of it, to let you know. In this case,
Speaker 3: let show hey empty the take on the pitching the
Speaker 3: hitting side, to know that tomorrow he's going to be
Speaker 3: down and so not kind of play to any type
Speaker 3: of results. And I think sometimes as a player, as
Speaker 3: a former player, it was freeing to know kind of
Speaker 3: what's to come in the coming days. And I think
Speaker 3: that that's a good thing.
Speaker 1: Does it also help you no matter what takes place.
Speaker 1: He could hit for the cycle tonight and you know,
Speaker 1: go eight innings, but helps you not to be tempted
Speaker 1: to say, Okay, tomorrow you're.
Speaker 2: Going to hit Yeah.
Speaker 3: And you know, the thing is that that game is
Speaker 3: a dangerous game to play because then it doesn't speak
Speaker 3: to process, and there's also a little bait and switch
Speaker 3: from the player. And you could also argue that he
Speaker 3: hit for the cycle because he was freed up knowing
Speaker 3: he can empty the tank. So those are things that
Speaker 3: for me, I have a clear kind of idea and
Speaker 3: what I do, and you've got to be willing to,
Speaker 3: you know, stay with that process and that decision making consistently.
Speaker 1: Speaking of the process, you had a process as a player.
Speaker 1: You hear your players talk about loving the process. As
Speaker 1: a manager, now do you still love the process? How
Speaker 1: much do you love the process of being the manager
Speaker 1: of the back to back world champion Dodgers and being
Speaker 1: a huge part of the process to help them win.
Speaker 2: I do. I love it. Don't take it for granted.
Speaker 3: I think in that vein, you know, just making sure
Speaker 3: that I, for example, keep Will Smith rested to kind
Speaker 3: of involve Dalton rushing, which we've done. We talked about
Speaker 3: that earlier, you know, in the spring, you know, assimilating
Speaker 3: you know, Alex Freeland or hay Song, Kim Moore and
Speaker 3: using migey Ro as a mentor and giving him spot starts,
Speaker 3: which we've done. And you know, one of these next
Speaker 3: couple of days, I'm gonna give Andy a day off,
Speaker 3: you know, four days on the turf, and I want
Speaker 3: him to play.
Speaker 2: He wants to play.
Speaker 3: But I think that getting Alex call in there, which
Speaker 3: we've done, keeping him relevant to allow him. So those
Speaker 3: are things that you know, we do. And there's gonna
Speaker 3: be some pitchers tonight in the bullpen that are going
Speaker 3: to be down today. Could they pitch, Absolutely, But I
Speaker 3: think that it gives other guys an opportunity. So that's
Speaker 3: part of the process that I think that we're really
Speaker 3: good about.
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts is the best at it, no doubt. Without him,
Speaker 1: the Dodgers would not have the type of success that
Speaker 1: they have enjoyed since he took over highest winning percentage
Speaker 1: in modern baseball history, three World Championships, and the ball
Speaker 1: just keeps going another day for Dave Roberts and his process.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time and the insight, and
Speaker 1: we look forward to a big o' tawny day.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, Dave. Here we go