Welcome back to Dodger Talk.
David Vase with you until seven o'clock tonight here on AM five to seventy LA Sports on this off day as the Dodgers get ready for a three game series against one of the best teams in the American League, the Baltimore Orioles. And since Monday is a day of rest for the Dodgers, there is no chance Joe Kelly was going to come in studio, and there is even less chance I was going to be able to call Joe Kelly because he is a father of eight or
nine kids these days. So here we are at Dodgers Stadium with the one and only Mariachi Boston La Joe Kelly, Rancho Cuca, Manga's Mayor. Thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.
That intro, David Vassay is something that I never want you to do again. Please.
You really made me work for this interview. I had to find a cup of coffee in the Dodger Clubhouse to be able to coerce you or bribe you to speak to the people.
Well, rumor has it you're out of Travis Matthews swag, So I decided I needed a cup of Joe to help me get through this interview.
With you, can I ask you a question.
You were just playing like a stationary like game, foosball game with your fingers.
Why are you sweating so much?
I'm not this is this is my hat doesn't fit my head very well, so I for anyone out there who can't see, I have my hat on and David Bessett, I think I'm sweating. I did my hat and water to get it to fit to the shape of my head a little better when the hats are kind of newer. But by the way, the foosball game you're talking about is not foosball. It's finger soccer. Is called bino and the number one rank player in the in the clubhouse,
I've probably played over a hunter games. I've lost once to my wife, I've lost once to River Ryan by one goal, and I've lost once to Blake by one goal. Other than that, I've beat the hell out of everyone else.
The first time I saw anybody playing this was in the Oakland Visiting Clubhouse. Had it been going on before or all you guys got hooked after that.
It's been going on before, but we all got hooked from that visiting clubhouse experience, and now we can't stop. It's been fun.
You know.
Sometimes there's some friendly wagers, sometimes there isn't. But if you're playing Blake, he likes to play for free. It's it's not fun for me anymore.
In Milwaukee, I saw you going up against Otani with see tough competition or not so much.
I beat him once and then we haven't played again. We played a fake game to three. The game goes to seven, so I beat him in a real game to seven, and then we had to go out for the anthem. So he got me to three. It was like three to two, but obviously that game doesn't count. But I'm waiting to waiting to play him again.
You're super competitive, He's super competitive. How does that go when somebody loses, does he flip the table or does Joe Kelly flip the table?
Well, I've only lost three times in like one hundred games, so there's not very much of the table flipping going on around here. But no, he is super competitive. He it was his first time playing. He's obviously picked it up pretty quick. He's, you know, a man of many talents.
's for sure, many talents, but few words, right.
Very few words, a lot of laughs, a lot of smiles, a lot of head shakes. The words are i'd say, if he's like close to you, he'll talk to you. But yes, a lot, a lot of headshakes and you know, good to see you and smiles.
Okay, speaking of all that, the emotions or lack thereof from Otani, when he hits that walk off grand slam, you guys mob him out on the field. Is that the most emotion you've seen from him in a good way?
Yeah?
He uh, he doesn't like to you know, it's not like he's.
Oh, quidato, here comes ta Oscar.
It's not like he's you know, bat flapping or pimp and every homer or showing something that much emotion. But you know, there was a big spot. You know, obviously, you know, basically loaded twots in the ninth. You know, for him to come through with just a hit would have done. But obviously to hit a grand Slam for his you know, fortieth homer, that was a pretty special and you know, I think he enjoyed it more than
what he probably showed. I mean, he's celebrated, but you know, I think he respects the game so much and respects, you know, his opposition, and he knows that any kind of spore could be humbling. So I think he doesn't ever really want to show up, you know, anybody, because
he knows kids are watching. He's very aware of his surroundings, you know, daily, you know, whether it's in the clubhouse, whether it's on the field, whether it's you know, driving, you know, he's very aware of you know, where he's at and you know who's watching, and you know, trying to be a leader, you know, like I said, day in and day out. And I think that's probably one of the coolest things about him. You know, he's not going around talking about you know, oh, I'm a forty
forty guy. He keeps himself. You'd never know that it means a lot to him, but I'm sure it does.
So we saw the celebration on the field. What was it like in the clubhouse?
Because I remember when Kurz shot through his no hitter, the team just showered in with a bunch of stuff, baby powder, all that in the shower. Was it similar to that last night in the clubhouse?
So the problem with last night was it's firework night, so we all really sprint out and Number two problem is Showy always has his own media, So by the time show he was done with his own media. We barely saw him in the clubhouse. We saw him walk in. We all congratulated him. We wanted to shots, but Sial he had to do his media, so it was not the celebration you would think, but we all obviously congratulated him.
And that's another layer to him being Shoe a Otani the greatest player in the world is that there's a lot of people that want a piece of him.
How is he is? That even?
Does it make what he's doing even more remarkable considering how much attention, how much people want a.
Piece of him. For him to lock in and have this type of year.
Yeah, I think he's always wanted to be the best at whatever he does, right, you know, whether it was pitching obviously now he's a d h You know, he knew he was fast, so obviously put it on his radar where I want to steal you know, forty bags. Going into the year, he wanted to steal a bunch of bases. He knew that, you know, he could be the best, one of the best base runners in the game, and he's proved that, So I think, Uh, he's a
big goal guy. So I think any kind of a goal he puts in his mind, he tries to you know, attains as much as he can without you know, letting people know about it, right Like I you're like, hey,
what's your goals. He's not going to tell you exactly what his goals are, but I think he has some in the back of his brain where you know, he wants to go out there and say he wants to hit a hunter urbiys this year he wants won twenty like you might see him lose betting average and go for abi eyes like there's probably you know, little games he plays within the game. That's what the greats do.
And obviously being here as a Dodger teammate with him, and you know, especially the fans, they get to come out and watch a literal you know experience. You know, it's like going to watch a live concert, like watching show Hey play, It's it's different, you know, area bad as must see even my son knocks, you know, watch the games once a while and show showy bats like you know, be like, hey, show it up and then I'll go watch the game. And then I'll go back
to do him playing Fortnite whatever he does. But uh yeah, he's much must watch baseball and you know, like I said, there's any given night he's gonna break history. And you know, it's it's very fun. And obviously he's a great teammate too, and a great player, but it's very fun, you know, to be a part of it, and you know, be able to tell my kids and say, hey, I was at that game where you know where we were at when you hit forty forty we while I was in
you know, in the bullpen. We're all celebrating. So it's going to be a cool experience, you know, when it's all said and done, to be able to play with them.
Could you see where the home run landed? And did you see the fans?
There were two fans that got in each other's way and clinked it off their hands.
Did you see all that?
No, I saw I saw it go over the fence. I didn't watch the fans. You know, you just wait, go over the fence and you start celebrating. You don't really care what the fans are doing. I didn't have that angle. But no, we just made sure it cleared and you know, the game was over. It was a not anything in particular that we were looking for after that.
You've been around baseball a long time, Joe Kelly's played baseball for a very long time. Would you rank that, outside of winning the World Series, as one of the coolest moments you've been part of.
Yeah, it's definitely. For a regular season game, it's up there with, you know, the coolest experience I've had on a baseball field. Anytime you see someone hit a milestone, you appreciate it. You know, Freddy Frieman playing in two thousand games, you know there's been multiple milestones. You know, Kershaw with wins or you know he's coming up on strikeouts.
So it's it's one of those things where you know, just because you didn't play or you're not part of that game, you know, to be on the team and to be able to experience those moments with the guys and watch it through their rise and see how they react. You know, some guys you know all only live for, you know, moments like that like oh, I'm gonna check off my scorecard or I'm gonna check my box score to you know, to get to the Hall of Fame. But the cool thing about being a Dodger is we
don't have any of those guys in our clubhouse. Like they get those milestones, but it's never even talked about, like, you know, the next day, like you got three dound strikeouts, He's like, all right, cool, and then on the business. So that's a good thing about being in this organization. You get the right type of talents as Hall of Fame players and you know, good people on and off the field, and you know, makes up for a lot of wins.
Joe Kelly is our guest here on Dodger Talk speaking of the club house, since you are, you know, one of the leaders, one of the veterans on this team. A lot of people were making a big deal when all of us were a little surprised when Jason Hayward was designated for assignment. Can you set us all straight on the effects inside that room compared to being professionals and just keep being keep moving forward. How how does that dynamic work?
Well? Yeah, I mean it's it's baseball, and it's like you said, it's it's a it's a profession. And you know, obviously we weren't all here at when it happened. It was on the off day. But you know, if people talk about it yet, it's sad, it sucks, but you know, it's not like we're gonna go out there and you know, not play the game of baseball. You know, he's a great teammate, a great friend. It's not like all of a sudden you don't become friends when someone's off your team.
So it's decisions like that happen, you know, throughout the league, throughout everybody's teams, and like I said, it's one of those things that you talk about. You know, it's not going to be obviously forgotten. He's gonna be missed for sure, but it's doesn't change the way you play the game of baseball as a professional athlete.
Joe Kelly is our guest. It feels like you guys have not.
Played your best baseball all season yet. A lot of injuries, a lot of different dynamics, but it feels like now you have your team back together, you're getting healthy and you're going to continue to get healthy. Do you feel like you're starting to hit your stride and this division race? Is that going to be significant with you guys playing meaningful games down the stretch?
Yeah, Injuries, you know, they happen. We've had a ton. A lot of teams had a ton. It's kind of just been battling the season, you know, rather than you know, playing good or bad baseball. Well, it's been kind of battling the ups and downs of you know, who's ready to pitch that night, who's not going to be, you know, in the lineup. You know, maybe a sore foot, like there's just little things here and there, and obviously major
injuries and surgeries. But obviously our lineup is back, you know, we get our relievers are pretty much all back starters are making their way back. So it's good to see. Uh, you know, obviously the leads a little bit closer than it has been in the past few years. It's not talked about what between guys or or or players. You know, it's something more for the fan to say. I think that you know, the division is it is what it is,
you know. But for us, the way we're playing the game of baseball, you know, we just want to play Obviously solid defense, starters go deep, bullpen does her job, you know, and then make guys work. And that's what our line has been doing, you know lately, and you know, it's given life to I think, at least to speak to the guys down there in the bullpen. It's given life knowing that you know, we're down two runs, you know,
going past the sixth. Other teams have good relievers, but with our lineup being so deep, you know, everyone's pretty much we don't really have I would say, like low leverage guys in our pen. They're all pretty nasty. So I think that at any given point, you know, every single relievers checked into the game, because at any given point, our name could be called because the game in the blink of I could be tired or we could go ahead.
So that's the cool part about you know, our team getting healthy now and being able to see where you know, you're warming up and all of a sudden you got a leading got to protect and and it makes it a lot more fun, you know, as as as a as a player and being part of the team, you want to you know, help your team win games. And so when you see those guys fight in the box, you're all right, le let's go pick them up out of the bullpenner started his job, Let's go pick them up.
So it's been the past i'd say week and a half two weeks has been a lot, I want to say, more fun, but it's been you know, definitely more interesting and the energy has definitely been up all around, you know, from bench guys to role players to bupen guys like I said, the starters to superstars. Everyone's caring, kind of a little bit different buzz and and kind of locking in a little bit more.
Everybody's got the same goal World Series, and Joe Kelly wants one for sure. We'll see whether or not he comes back next year if he's got a third World Series ring on his finger. I give a salute to that big mural on the reserve level, Mariachi, Joe.
And when you.
Come in, well, not that kind of salute, Joe, I give it a different kind of salute. Hey, you want to take us to break? Since you're so confident you could take my job.
I don't really want your job, David. You did a great job.
Why don't you take us to break? Say? Hey?
Coming up next, More Dodger Talk on AM five to seventy LA Sports.
Coming up next, More Dodger Talk on AM five seventy LA Sports with Joe Kelly, Sea David