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Dodgers Playoff Baseball is back, and with it an annual postseason tradition.
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This is Saxon Kates in the a APPA Go with Proway. Dodger legend Steve Sacks is joined by your favorite Dodger pregame host, Tim Kates. If you want to talk Dodgers, get in on the show on eighty six six nine, eighty seven two five seven now. While the Dan Patrick Show streams on the Ihearts radio app. We've been banished to the Internet until this Dodgers playoff run concludes. Here they are broadcasting live on AM five to seven e LA Sports. It's Tim Kates and Steve Sacks.
Well, I guess it's not gonna be a sweep after all, as we have ourselves now a series tying in a game of piece. Good Morning Southern California, Saxon.
Kates and Am.
It's on the air here on A five seventy LA Sports on it Tuesday morning, October fifteenth. Thanks for being with us, Tim Kats, along with two time World Series champ, former Rookie of the Year and my favorite number three of all time on the Dodgers Steve Sacks, Saxy, good morning.
Good morning, Tim. How are you, Bud? Oh? How am I? Yeah?
How am I?
You ask? Yeah?
How's your nervous system? I'm livid, still, Saxy. I am still fired up for what happened in Game two yesterday, what transpired in the first couple of innings, the Dodgers inability offensively to come up with a big hit late in the game, despite chipping away and getting back in
to that ballgame against the New York Mets yesterday. As high as we were feeling after Game one and that nine to nothing shutout in Jack Felerty's seven shutout innings yesterday happened, and the bullpen game backfired on Dave Roberts and the Dodgers just could not get out of an early six to nothing hole.
It was a disaster yesterday at Dodgers teae. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was a tough one. You know, you could see I was starting to WinCE as some of the pitches that were thrown up. You know, I got the good perspective from seeing it from the center field view. There were just too many hanging curveballs in there, and it could have been worse. I mean, some of those hanging curveballs were either fouled off or just missed. But the ones that they didn't miss, they were the hanging
curveball type. And you can't throw those things at this level and get away with it that much depth. Ball's got to be breaking from the thigh down to the ground, and it was the opposite. It was that the letters down to the thigh, and those guys are gonna rush that ball, especially if you're hanging it or putting in the center of the plate. To a guy like Vento's, this guy is hotter than you know what, and he's he's gonna be the force to be reckoned with, I
think throughout this series. So they got to tame this guy.
There is a lot to dissect from yesterday's game, from the fact that the Dodgers did not start Walker Bueller, they go with a bullpen game. The bullpen game imploded on them early on, with Ryan Brazier giving up a lead off home run to the very first batter that he faced. So as you were alluded to landon Nack's inability to throw strikes in the second inning, the Dodgers had opportunities offensively late in the game getting after Sean
and I and then getting to that Mets bullpen. They had not once but twice the opportunity to get a base hit, get within a run, or tie the game in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings and just could not deliver. Keyky Hernandez came up twice with runners on base, once with the bases loaded into one out and grounded in to a double play. So they had their opportunities. But from the get go, Saxe I wondered about this
bullpen game. We saw what happened in Game four of the NLDS, We saw the blueprint they had, and we'd still marvel at how those eight pitchers down in San Diego were able to navigate nine shutout innings like they did. To ask the bullpen in general, forget the guys who they could or couldn't go to yesterday, to ask them to do that again was certainly asking a lot, wasn't it.
Yeah, Hey, yeah, First of all, if you want to stream me in, go ahead, absolutely, I'll git in there. All right. So look, this is the thing about the situation as we see at the landscape, the way I see it is think, thankfully, this is not a best of three. It's turning now to a best of five. But in the best of seven series landscape, you can take one game and say, look, I didn't think it
was going to be a sweep anyway. Right when we started out, you know, for the series, people were asking me what I thought about, you know, the end game was going to be, and I picked the Dodgers and six, So I didn't think it was going to be one of these, you know, sweeps, So that's that's part of it. The other thing is they were able to wear down and get to Sean Maniyah, which is a good thing. However,
it wasn't enough. But the way in how funky that this guy is, I mean throwing from that, you know, big of an angle for a left to try to pick that up. Bright handers have a tough time with him too. It's not just the lefties, and that ninety two to ninety three mile an hour fastball suddenly looks ninety seven ninety eight when it's coupled with that really good change up that he has. So the fact that the Dodgers did get to him, whunable to get into
the bullpen was good. It might pay dividends down the road for this team. That's they able to nick up that bullpen a little bit.
That stadium yesterday from the get go lacked energy like it did for Game one on Sunday. It lacked the energy like it did in Game five of the NLDS on Friday night against the Padres. I know it was a one o'clock start in the afternoon, there was a.
Home run the first at bat.
Tan, Yeah, and the air just got completely sucked out and the energy sucked out of Dodger Stadium with that Lindor home run. With that being said, if you're going with the bullpen game, and he didn't really lay out the plans beforehand, Dave Roberts, but he did hint that landon Knack at some point was going to be a
part of a bullpen game. Needing to get out. Okay, great, when Lindor hits a home run on the very first at bat of the game, to me, you have to then deviate or at least put the antennas up on. All right, we may have to deviate from what we hope to do with land and Knack and getting multiple innings because of the way things line up with our high leverage guys later in the game. But they just didn't feel like there was the change of plan. They
didn't go off script at all. We just went to Land and Knack in the second a leadoff single, a walk two batters later, gives up an O two curve ball to Tyrone Taylor double. It's a two to nothing game, and it just continued to spiral out of control. There was no sense of we need to stop this now. I need to bring in somebody to close off this second inning and keep it right here. At a two to nothing game. I need to keep it close because I need my offense to eventually get going, and I'll
figure out the pitching matchup later in the game. If we jump out to a six to two lead and we explode for six runs next inning, I feel a little bit better now with Land and Nak pitching the six or seventh inning. But just go to land in neck in the second inning and let him just hang out there. In the second and third innings with the bases loaded, they could have scored more in the third inning if not forgetting a fly ball to center field.
If the bases loaded in the third just just didn't seem like there was a sense of urgency, a sense of we need to win this game today and go up to nothing.
I got you, And you know here, the way I was looking at it was with I gotta go by the feel. I gotta go by what my catcher is seeing, what my catcher is telling me, and what us on TV. You know that weren't at the stadium that can watch this thing and see, you know where the pitches are coming in. How he didn't have command of his secondary stuff. So what the hitter can do is a hitter just eliminates that secondary pitch and just sits on the fastball.
That's what Vento's did when he hit the grand Slam to right center field. That ball was a little bit in and he still hit it to right center field, So that means that he was sitting on fastball the whole way and just eliminating the offspeed pitch. It kind of reminded me of what we saw in the first outing with Yamamoto when he didn't have his stuff, when his stuff was breaking up in the strike zone and trying to come down which never made it. It never
made it past the belt. And when you're having curveballs that are breaking downward and only reaching the belt. You got huge issues with these guys, and so you got to do a reset. And you know that's why I say I depend on my catcher. He knows exactly how that ball is breaking, he sees it coming out of his hand, and the pit the catcher's got the best perspective than anybody. Plus he knows the pitchers really well. So I'm gonna lay I'm gonna rely on my catcher to give me the best info.
Let's go back to yesterday postgame. Dave Roberts at the podium at Dodgers Stadium, stood there and got a lot of questions SAXY about his decision making the bullpen game, why he didn't deviate from what they had planned to do. Here's Dave Roberts post game yesterday after Dodgers drop game two seven to three.
What was the plan to always go to him earlier?
Yeah, gay was the plan to go to him and you know, take down the most outs tonight today.
Well, when that inning starts kind of going off the rails a little bit, like, do you consider going to one of the higher leverage guys at that point or just with how things are set up today, were you trying to save them a little bit till later in the game.
Yeah, I really wasn't. I mean, I think in that situation, you still got to be able to finish the game. And you're talking about the second inning right there, and so you have a guy on the mound that has to eat up innings and yeah, you go to anyone else, we're not going to be able to finish the game. So I think as far as kind of where we're at, it never feels good losing, but feel that you've got your leverage guys ready to go for the next three games.
I feel really good about that. So it was as least costly as it could be because of what Honeywell did and Henriquez did, and so that was certainly helpful. And you know, offensively, we got a chance to see their guys, their leverage guys and force some updowns and I think that was beneficial too.
Go to go, he had one in front.
They're kind of just curious that game against the Padres, you guys kind of went high leverage guy after high leverage guy and kind of saved neck there for the end. Like what was different about maybe this matchup or this particular game the guys just had to go with NAC.
I think today what was different is we don't have Vessia. Hudson was down and that's probably the biggest kind of impetus for having to knowing you're going to have to take some outs from neck or else you just can't finish the game.
And what you say out of Honeywell, and what role can he kind of play as a serious.
He did exactly what we needed. He allowed us to kind of eat up, chew up some innings, keep us in the ballgame. You know, he's just kind of a guy that we just trust and so to be able to get left and right out, you know, those are games innings that a guy like that gives us, gives the best chance to win the following ensuing game. So it's not lost on anyone that clubhouse what honey did for us and Henriquez as well.
All Right, there's a Dave Roberts post game Yesterday's tax he Brett Honeywell Junior pitched three shutout innings. He kept him in the game in the fifth, sixth, and seventh at Guardo Henriquez, who started the year in a ball and Rancho Cucamonga pitches two innings of Game two of the NLCS and ends up giving up a run in the ninth inning and what was a three run deficit all of a sudden felt out of reach at a four run deficit seven to three, But he mentioned Landon
Nak needed to eat innings. Daniel Hudson wasn't available. They don't have Alex Vessi on this postseason roster in the NLCS because of the injury, So why not deviate. If it's a one nothing game and it's gonna be a close game, put the high leverage guys in to keep it close until your offense can get going. Because you have to assume I have one of the best offenses in baseball. I've gotten MVPs up and down my lineup.
I'm gonna score some runs at some point, but until I do so, I need high level guys that I've relied on all season long to come in and pitch and keep it a one nothing game, to keep it at two nothing game, whatever it was at that point in which you decide to go out and get land and Neck in the second inning. If you even get to land and Neck in the second I get it. You needed him at some point awesome, great, But why then.
Well, it's just it's just his decision, you know what I mean. If nat Landon Knach goes out there and shoves, then you know we're gonna be saying, Wow, what a great decision it was for him to bring him in at this time. But I understand, you know, it's of the moment. You got to you gotta have the high leverage guys like they did before, to come out and
shut those things down. And then you know, roll the dice with Land and Neck after your offense gets rolling and assuming it will, and you got to think that it will at some time in the game. But the real, the real punisher for this whole situation in the game was the fact that you don't have Vesia and you don't have Daniel Hudson, two guys that can bring it, two guys that are you know, high leverage guys too, that you don't have the affordability to bring out at
those times because they're injured. So that's that was a big shot for the Dodgers, I think, and they were forced to use it. Sometimes you're gonna have to use Land and Neck and I hate to put him in that perspective, saying, well, you know, we got to use this terrible guy, and it's not the point. We're only speaking that because of what happened in the game. But you know, if he goes out there and does a great job, you know we're gonna be hailing it as
you know, a brilliant decision. But when you don't have Hudson and you don't have Vesia, it really takes a lot of the team out of your arms.
Yeah, guse instead of six high leverage relievers down in the bullpen, you only have four, four that you can go to, and you got a piece together. What then at that point eight innings? So yeah, you do have to use Honeywell, and you're gonna have to use land and Neck at some point. But I'd push him, I'd kick the can down the road, so to speak, with a land and Neck and a Brent Honeywell until you need them, maybe the game gets out of control and then you go to them, and you saved the rest
of your high leverage guys. Daniel Hudson pitched the night before. He pitched the eighth inning after Jake Jack Flaherty. It was a nine to nothing game the Dodgers win. Why are we using Daniel hung in a blowout game one win? They went to Ben Casparius in the ninth inning. Why not put Brent Honeywell in the eighth inning of the night before and save all your high leverage guys for the next day. Quick turnaround at Dodger statu I mean, here's my other point that just continues to infuriate me
and more and more I think about it. You're saving your high leverage relievers now for three days in a row in New York. I just looked up Evan Phillips game log this year. Not once did he pitch in three straight games over the course of the year. Two days in a row, sure, two out of three days maybe, But he never pitched three days in a row. And they've gotta play Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in New York.
You're gonna ask all four of your high leverage relievers now to pitch three games in a row in n LCS. That's asking a lot, whereas you could have pitched them all yesterday. It's a day game. You have all night, you have all day today, you have all day tomorrow to get ready because the first pitch is until eight o'clock Eastern, So you have two days used to get these guys ready and then still have them for two of the three games there, which they're only going to
pitch in. They're not pitching in all three.
No, Well, I think the Dodgers are hoping, uh certainly counting on too, and I would that you're gonna get a really good, productive game out of Walker Bueller and then you can, you know, just push that back a little bit and be able to save these guys and continue on the path of getting as much rest as possible, like you were pointing out. So I think that's hopefully going to be the case. What could be a big disaster.
And I don't I don't like to, you know, say the things that are going to be bad, because I like to look at the bright side of things. But if you if you get like an inning or two out of Walker Buller, I ain't gonna be good. Then you're gonna be in a tough situation. You have to have Walker Buller go out there and do some shoving and get six hopefully out of him, like we did with with we at a Yoshi when that was a big surprise. I mean, we were hoping to get three or four
out of them, will we get seven, no, six, six. Yeah, So that's that's hopefully what we're gonna get at Walker Buller.
The Dodgers, to me, made the bad decision yesterday in this bullpenning game. And if you're gonna go with it, I think you didn't go with it, and you gotta go inning to inning and you gotta keep it close eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seventy. Again, it's easy to say, as you said, Saxy, that land
and neck. If he goes out there and he puts up zeros and he gets out of that second inning with a run or no runs, and all of a sudden, it's it's still a one nothing game going to third, and he starts giving you more and more and starts building the momentum. We're talking a different story today. Now, it's choose your own adventure. The game develops in front
of you. You have to be able to adapt. And I just felt like in the moment, Saxy, I just felt like in that second inning, things really got out of control and it could have been prevented. If it felt like you could have put a stop to it and say, you know what, Nac doesn't have it today. Clearly he is struggling. I mean his slider is not even close right, He can't get his curveball over his fastball. They are just waiting, as you mentioned, you were brillantly mentioned,
they're just fouling off pitches to get the fastball. Yeah, and cut my losses. All right, Hey, he doesn't have it. I'm gonna ask some of these guys to get a couple more outs than they're used to instead of two outs in an inning or one out in an inning. As a reliever, you may need to go one full inning, you know, Michael Kopek or whoever's coming out of the bullpen, Anthony Bonda, we may need you to get five.
Outs instead of three.
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with asking a guy to do an extra out or two, especially in an NLCS game like this. I just felt like in the moment, there was a missed opportunity to keep the game close, to keep it within a reach for your offense to go out there and help you, because it just kind of felt like, hey, we're gonna score runs. It's just a matter of time.
Yeah, And sometimes what happens with pitchers like we saw there with with him is that you know he doesn't have it. Right off the bat, you can tell that that he just didn't have it, and you know, after, you know, he throws one of those other pitches, secondary pitch for a strike and he starts to feel a little bit. He says, oh, okay, now he's coming back
a little bit. Lots of times what pitchers will do if they can't get their fastball over, they'll throw a curveball for a strike, and that seems to reset things. So sometimes it can just be one pitch that he can throw. You can use another pitch that you can throw for a strike that can kind of reset you
and then you're on your way. And he just never found that thing quick enough or he never found it at all, really, And when you start eliminating pitches and be able to sit on that fastball like you know, like we saw with Vento's to hit the grand Slam to right center field, it's just there's no hope there. These guys aren't gonna miss those pitches that are in the middle of the play.
I love Will Smith what he's done defensively, and we praised him yesterday, and I know you only get so many trips out to the mound. Now in the way baseball is set up, at some point they need to go out and calm him down. And I know they made a trip out there with Mark Pryor eventually, but early on base hit a walk two batters into the game.
There needs to be more of an emphasis on Freddie Freeman or maximun Sea or one of the middle endfield there's to go over there and slow the game down, stop the game, go over and talk to them, go over there and you know, and rub your your your your cleats into the brush there on the mound to clear them out, just to kill some time, just to stop the momentum. And then okay, Tyrone Taylor hits the double on the O two pitch, settle them down even more. Yeah,
you know, go out there and talk to him. Go out there and change this the mood, change the momentum of that inning.
Yeah, And that's that's what happens. Because you know, as a as a middle infielder, when you go to the mounta and talk to the pitcher, you're not going to go about there and talk to him about pitching technicalities. I mean, what do you know about it? Right? He'll tell you that, hey, man, get back your own position. Play do what you do best, right And so it's just to break up the mood, like you said, it's just to give a little different perspective, give him a
breather and let him come on, do a restart. But when when he hung that curve ball and that ball was mashed on the left field line for the double, I could tell that this is going to be problematic. And then shortly after that we see the bomb to right center and it was over then. But there was no change, There was no break, There was no different perspective on anything that he was throwing up there. It
was the same thing. Now he certainly wasn't trying to do that, of course, but it's just the way it went that day. You know, hey, it's one game. We got to win game three. That's that's the key. I think the biggest key in this is this game coming up right now. Sixty nine percent of the time the people that the person the team that wins Game three after it's one and one, sixty nine percent of the time that's the team that goes on to win the series.
So this is mister important coming up right now in this game three.
He is Steve sacks On Tim M.
Kames.
We want you to be a part of the show this morning as we react to what happened in Game two of the NLCS yesterday eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seventy eight sixty six, nine eighty seven two five seventy. The Dodgers' bullpen game got away from him early yesterday, a run in the first five more of the second we'll get into the Dodgers offense as well. They had their opportunities after Sean and Iya absolutely had
him confuse at the plate. They eventually get some offense going, had chances later in the game to get back into it, tie it, possibly take the lead, but failed to get that big hit. It's Saxon Kate's in the AM Dodgers Mets tied at a game apiece in this best of seven NLCS. Your phone calls coming up. You're on a FI seventy LA sports. Saxon Kates in the AM, a F five seventy LA sports live in local on this
Tuesday morning in October fifteenth. They shore being with us as you get up, get ready for school work, make the drive you're commuting around. We appreciate you having us with you as your make your way around as the Dodgers and Mets are now tied at a game and piece in this NLCS and Dodger fans, you should have seen them leading up to Game two, Saxy, there was a buzz in this city, off in this city, maybe an arrogance from Dodger fans that this thing was going
to be a sweep. The Mets don't belong here. Nine to nothing, game one win. Are you kidding me? This is too easy?
Yeah?
What watch out what Jack Flaherty did for seven shutout innings and you know we got thirty three consecutive scoreless innings. We're not going to give up another run the rest of the postseason.
Let's go.
And that first home run from Lindor the air just came out of Dodger Stadium and it never got back to the level it was in Game one and Game five of the NLDS. And I don't think the players, you would know this s actually feed off the fans as much as yeah, we think they do.
They feed off each other, The fans feed off the game obviously, Yeah, and then it's back to feeds. You know, the players feed off the fans. But you say that there was a buzz in the air. Yeah, really, yeah, well there was a in the dugout. Dude, did you see that feed snake?
Yes?
Come on, that was a bad omen How.
Does this snake?
How does a snake get in there? And I mean, I know the people have passes that they can have printed out in the front office, and they they go through whatever to try to get in there and make the pass work. And you have to show your ID and you have to get there early. And then some frigging snake comes in and just walks right in. He slithers in and there he is, no pass, no free nothing, just walks in and there he is in the dugout. Well, I guess he doesn't walk, but he slithers, but there
he is. How does a snake get in? And I mean if I came up from down from Sacramento and tried to get in, I couldn't get past the I don't know, lot p that's right, Maybe that's right, that's it, But the snake, no problem.
I have so many questions about the snake and they didn't get answered yesterday in the postgame. Brent Honeywell Junior Will Smith coming off the field after the top half of the fifth inning, get to the steps and they look down and there is a snake slithering across the steps, and they point down to the snake, and everybody in the coaching staff, including Dave Roberts, is like, oh wow, there's a snake there. And then one of the guys on the ground screw comes over with the towel and
picks it up and takes it away. How about a bat exactly. I am scared to.
Death of snakes.
You couldn't pay me if I was on the ground screen and they said, hey, Kate, you go get that snake with the towel. I said, fire me. I'm not touching that thing. Hey throw a spider, you know, a rat shirt or whatever. No problem, don't slither me up with a snake. Nah uh, I don't do snake. And to give a little play by a play of the snake, it was traveling from left to right if you were sitting in the dugout, so it had to pass a
lot of players and coaches. You're on that top step including I don't know, two feet maybe three feet before that is where Dave Roberts sits in his little perch, and his feet are dangling right there at the exit, exact same level and step that the snake was slivering slithering by. How does he not notice a two foot garter snake?
Was it? I don't know if it was. Was it poisonous? I don't know.
No, I don't think so. I don't think it was a rattlesnake. It was one of those garter snakes that are still It's a snake man, absolutely yeah, I mean, how do you not see it slither by?
I don't know. The player saw as soon as they came in. I mean they saw it big as anything. I mean, it wasn't a huge snake. But you know, the most dangerous snakes are the smallest ones, like a rattlesnake. The most dangerous rattlesnake is the baby ones they got, the more venom in them. And so I'm coming off the field. If these guys see a snake, I'm headed back to center field or back to second base, whatever it takes. I don't want anything to do with the snake.
And I'm surprised nobody grabbed a bat man. Snakes don't belong in the dugout. No, that's just it. I'm okay with the animals. I love animals more than anything, but I don't do no snakes in the dugout, forget that.
I mean there was a cat at Dodger Stadium. That's different catskay, I mean, I don't understand how a cat gets onto the field or near the field possums. How does that how there was a possum in the outfield wall I've.
Seen this year in the ballpark before. I mean, you kidding? How about the times when they have bees that just encompass the whole TV? Uh? You know the TV monitors. I don't know how they They don't figure this out before the game, you know what I mean? But how do heysh where the possums come through? You know you? I want to block that off.
Where does the snake come from? Where is the snake living? Where is the snake hiding out?
For five rain? Maybe a drain? I don't know. I don't know, but that's a bad omen man, When you have a snake in your dugout, that's like voodoo. That's not good, is it? Or is it?
That's why a rally snake maybe you can kind of get behind a rally monkey rally raccoon.
I don't know. I don't know about it.
The Dodgers did get a home run for Maximunty that bottom half of the fifth inning, right yeah, right after the snake ins and and then the next inning Tommy Edmond a two run single. That sixth inning, the Dodgers could have busted it open. So maybe the snake was a rally snake because the offense all of a sudden, If that's not.
Going, we don't need a gardener, we need a cobra. But you know, it wasn't good. What wasn't good was just looking over the box and everything and top five and the Dodger and the Dodger or order, oh for nineteen with nine k's brutal. Okay, that's that's not good. That's uh. I mean, we're talking about what's been good about the Dodgers a lot, and we've seen the resurgence of Mookie Wilson. We've seen guys really kind of put
it out there and get some big hits. But the bottom of the order has been exceptionally well and was pretty good again yesterday. It's the top of the order that that's been lacking a little bit. That was lacking a little bit in this game. Now over nineteen with nine k's, that's not going to do it.
They had five hits as a team in the game yesterday. Three of them came from Tommy Edmund, including the two run single in the sixth inning. Another hit came on a Maximunsey home run in the fifth inning. The fifth hit came later in the game from Andy Potjez. Didn't develop into anything. They had five hits amongst the entire team, but they did have runners on base. The top of the lineup did draw some walks. They were one for nine with runners in scoring position and stranded ten base runners.
They fell behind six to nothing. Okay, that's a big hole to get out of. They didn't score their first run until after the Snake again rally Snake Max Mounsey stole a home run six to one game the sixth inning, Saxy. The Dodgers had a chance for one of those big innings. Bases loaded one out, Tommy Edmond already has a two run single. It's a six to three game. Bases loaded one out, you got a reliever on the mound for the Mets and Mayton key k comes up in a
huge situation. A base hit, two runs score, it's a six.
To five game. Awesome.
Pass it to the next guy in the lineup and see what Andy Potask can do. A ball to the gap. Maybe all three runs scored and we're tied at six. A grand slam, even better, Dodgers take the lead. But just a base knock, get two runs in, pass it to the next guy behind you. Try to get to the top of the lineup still with runners on base for show Ao Tawni. Instead, he grounds into a five to four to three double play and the inning is over.
That to me, was a huge blow to the Dodgers, huge blow because they had a chance to get right back in it.
Yeah, And here's how I take this perspective on walks. And I love walks. I mean, if they're gonna walk you, you take them all day long. I'm a big advocate for that. I'm a big advocate. Hey, you know, if you want to go deep in the count because they're they're on the fringes and they're not getting you anything to hit, go deep in the count. That's a wonderful thing. But sooner or later, sooner or later, you gotta face the music and just what you pointed out, somebody has
to get a hit. I mean, you can walk all day long, but somebody's gotta get a hit. Somebody's gotta be a big banger. Sooner or later. You gotta barrel something up. And that's where it comes down to when you want to say, pass the baton to the next guy. Okay, but somebody's got to say the baton's stopping right here because I'm gonna barrel this thing up and clear the bases. I would much rather have a hit than a walk,
right No, But but you know what I'm not. I'm not gonna say that walks aren't good because works the pitcher gets into the bullpen. Totally get it. But you got to have somebody eventually get a big hit. And that's what didn't happen. In the seventh, they had another opportunity. Again, it's still a six to three game. Otani on first, one out in the seventh, they failed to get a big hit, failed to get a run in Okay, the eighth inning, they still had another opportunity. Still down six
to three, the game is within reach. They had runners on second and third in the eighth inning with two outs. A base hit again scores two runs. It's a six to five game.
A home run it ties it up, but just a base hit somewhere makes it a one run game, and k Keith Aron nan Is again is up and this time he pops out to end the inning and the ninth inning, the Dodgers really didn't do anything to muster anything to get going, and at that point it was a four run game after the Mets scored in the top of the ninth, so they had the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth inning to get something going down just three runs so they could have got back into this game.
As awful as the first two innings were. Keyk Hernandez, who hit the big home run on Friday night in the NLDS against the Padres to get to the Dodgers on the board not once, but twice, came up with an opportunity to do something. Maybe he was overdoing it, maybe he was trying too much to swing it out of his shoes, grounds into a double play and pops out, and here's Saxy After the game, his keyk Hernandez talking about his performance yes day.
Destruction of the world that could be used for you and your team each year.
Maybe, but uh, I mean, yeah, I wouldn't say I'm frustrated.
You know, I just I didn't come through. That's what It is.
A long series, and I know I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have a lot more chances to come through for the team, and uh, you know, I just understand that. You know in baseball, You know that in baseball, you're either going to succeed or you're going to fail. And today I didn't succeed, and you know, we the good thing is that we get to come back on Wednesday and do it all over again.
Thank you.
There's something too, just as much as you guys do start a little bit slower, being able to bounce back towards the end, but then also being to see, like seeing high leverage arms from them and being able to take in some information I should prepaired to.
Go to New York.
Yeah, I think, uh, you know, we I think we did.
We did a good job throughout the game.
Of you know, creating creating chaos, creating traffic. We were one swing away in a lot of innings and we weren't able to get that one last big hit to uh to you know, either tie the game or take the lead, and you know they hail the hell doesn't check. They I had two really big A baths and I didn't come through. I had some really good pitches to hit, and you know, I just it just didn't go my
way today. And you know, try to stay positive, try to get some rest tomorrow and come ready to play on Wednesday.
All right, there's Kik. He said it.
He had a pitch over the middle of the plate against Edwin Diaz there in the eighth India with runners on second and third, and it was a one to two slider that Diaz left over the middle of the plate and man, I know he wants it back because he could have barreled that up and drove it somewhere into the gap or over the fence.
Instead he pops it up. Yeah, but look, keyk has the exact right mindset. Because nobody in this game is gonna come through every single time and make it happen. You got to keep the same mindset. You got to look over the breadth of the games and what's how it's transpiring. And you know he's got the right mindset coming into game three. That's all you can do. You can't go back and get it. How many times has
he come through for this team. He has been a super super player in postseason and that's why he's in there now. So I'll I'll put my bet on him coming up through Game three. This is a huge game coming up. Like I said, sixty nine percent of the time, the team that wins this game goes on to the next series. So that's what the Dodgers are are looking at now. From what happened obviously as much as you can, uh in game two, but you know what, you got to put that one on the shelf and come back
and get these guys in Game three. It's going to be a raucous crowd. They're going to be against the Dodgers. There's gonna be a lot of venom in there because of the past, his the history with the with the Mets, uh, and you can take that one way or another, but I take it as a great environment to propel the players to go to another level, and I think they will. I like you we did there with the whole venom. You know the snake Well, I kind of tried to tie that in. Yeah, I love it.
I love it, I hope, and I don't know what they did with the snake, But I'm hoping they kept a snake and maybe use it as something in the dugout.
Maybe put it in like a one of those.
Glass cases and they put the snakes in and and and you know, the home run rally, whatever they do in the dugouts. Now for the snake, when you hit a home run, maybe you go grab the snake. I'll be in a garter snake and you just kind of put it around your neck or your hand or something.
Or No, what you could do is, if it becomes friendly, you can like grab the tail and like whirl it around. Yes, yes, I I don't know. That's a little cruel. I don't know if I'd do that.
You could use it to their advantage. Make it the official pet. Now the official rally snake of the postseason. Let's sweeze on a call before here the end of the segment, Eddie and San Pedro, Welcome to Saxon Kates in the Am. We are tied at a game of piece in this NLCS. What's going on, Eddie?
Eddie?
All right, Joe and Ontario, you're on Saxon Kates in the Am. What's up, Joe?
How you doing.
Good morning guys, Kim Kates. You got me all fired up here. Man, Hey, this was I mean just two quick points. First point, why on if Bewers got five days rest, why not start him follow him with Yama on Wednesday? Again five days rest? Why are we trying to do some trickety stuff. I mean, if you want to go with.
The bullpen on Friday, fine, but to throw a bullpen in a game like that is like you're giving a game away, to be honest. And then my second point would be, has anybody seen Mookie. He's on a one for twelve slump right now, He's not hitting anything.
Well, appreciate it.
I'm not calling the old APB. Where Mookie is? I mean, there's other guys on this Dodgers team that you can clearly ask where in the world are they now in October? And I'll start with one guy, Will Smith. Anybody's seen Will Smith this October? Anybody's seen Will Smith at the plate?
Feels like he goes up there every single time with the situation to help out this Dodgers team, and he's constantly getting out and he's constantly He hit a ball hard yesterday late right at the left fielder, but he's got one home run to show for it so far in the NLDS and the NLCS. I mean, we should start looking at what Will Smith's not doing about Andy Potter has inability to contribute offensively in his limited time out there. I mean Tommy Edmund at the bottom the lineup,
had three of the Dodgers five hits. We can point our fingers at all we want the top of the line for not producing, but there are guys around them, at the bottom of the lineup that are not doing anything.
And Will Smith is one of those guys. Yeah, you know, you know. I the reason that I let you point that out is because I know how hard it is to play. I know how the competition is so much stiffer in postseason. Some some guys are in a good in a good mode, or in a good cycle at that time, and they just shine. Some guys just have a knack, no pun intended, but some guys just have a knack for doing just that. I mean, they thrive
in postseason. Look what Richie Jackson was able to do and how many home runs he was able to hit in postseason. He did it all the time, but he was especially good in in postseason. But uh, you know what again about the Walker Bueller thing, you got to look at what he's done over the over his times that he's been in postseason. Even after allowing those six runs in the five innings in Game three against the Padres, Walker Bueller's got a three forty e RA in almost
eighty five postseason an innings. So he's he's been a guy that's been able to show that he is of the moment in postseason. And that's why I think they wanted to slate him for Game three. Remember, it was it was a great thing that the bullpen had done previously. This was the reason that the Dodgers were off and running because their bullpen was so good. So, you know what, let's just give it a day and see what Walker does today or tomorrow, and we'll go from there. But
we can't get ahead of ourselves. It's not going to be a sweep. We all knew it probably wouldn't be as hot.
I don't know Dodger fans for a few hours thought they were gonna be sweet.
No, no, no, that's kind of tough. Listen, that team over there matched what the Dodgers had done the whole season, I think from May on, so you know they're they're pretty good club.
He is Steve Sachs. I am Tim Kats. Dodgers and Mets day off today. They are in New York after late night travels last night. Both teams will work out at City Field later on this afternoon and evening. Game three of the NLCS is tomorrow night, and we'll have that action beginning at five zero eight pm. Walker Bueller
on the mound for the Dodgers. Luis Severino scheduled to go for the Mets, but the Dodgers had an opportunity yesterday to take a two to zero series lead, they go with the bullpen game instead of Walker Bueller, and the bullpen game backfired on the Dodgers early. They couldn't recover and the offense was nowhere to be found. Eight sixty six nine eighty seven to two five seventy. It's a second guessing Tuesday here on ANFI seventy LA Sports.
Steve Zachs, Tim Katson, You on an FI seventy LA sports, Saxon Kates in the amm FI seventy LA Sports. Dodgers lose Game two of the NLCS yesterday seven to three. They fall to the Mets, who jumped on Ryan Brasier, the opener early Francisco Lindor a leadoff home run in the first inning. Landon Neck roughed up for five runs and two innings of work, increating a grand slam for Mark Viento's on a fastball on the ninth pitch of the at bat to give the Mets a six to
nothing lead early in this game. The Dodgers unable to answer back later in the game when they had their opportunities one for nine with runners some scoring position. Ten
runners left on base yesterday for the Dodgers. So as much as we want to point the fingers that the Dodgers pitching and lack thereof from Landonnack, the Dodgers offense, as good as has been, had their opportunities to get back in this game and real quickly sax see Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic wrote a long piece this morning that just posted about bullpen games and how Dave Roberts fair or unfair, was put into a situation because of injuries because they need innings from the bullpen to have
these bullpen games here in the postseason. But he brings up the same questions that we've talked about and the same questions that have been talked about for the last twelve hours after the game two losses? Why not use the high leverage early vers early that avoid them entirely? Well, why did why did he put Edgardo Henriquez back out in the ninth inning and after a one out walk to Pete Alonso let him steal second a base. It
makes it a seven to three game. He Ken Rosensal brings up the great point that we've all been saying, where is the sense of urgency with the managing yesterday to keep it close early and to make sure your dodge's team has a legitimate chance to come in and try to tie the game or win the game and not have to bail out of a six nothing deficit.
Yeah, well he's figuring that at some point. And I get your point, high leverage right now, we need the guys out now. Yeah, we can't have a guy come in and hopefully that you know, he'll give us two or three innings and then we'll as the game goes on, we'll get to the high leverage. Guys. We got the high leverage situation as we're looking at it. We need
it now. I get it. I totally get it. But they're they're they're feeling that at this time they have the confidence and knack that he can get through this part of the game and we can have those guys later. I'm sure that's what they thought. But you know, you look at the laundry list of guys, why why are we doing this bullpen games? Because our starters are all out, They're all hurt. I mean, this is uh, this is you can fill up a hospital with these guys and
great pitchers. I mean you look at the guys that are out. I mean, you gotta do something, and you got to get out. Hey, can I can I say one thing real quick too. I just got a I just got a voicemail from a voice from the past about the snake. Okay, so this is important. I gotta tell you. Okay, Mitch Pool, who's a former clubhouse guy with the Dodgers. He was been there, you know, Mitch, oh, been there like forty years. I just got this. This this this voice. Hey, Saxy, it's Mitch. Just to let
you know that snakes are native to Dodgers Stadium. They've been there for a long time. I've seen so many of them in the stadium. What they're packed in that area. It's a snake haven, Mitchell. Yes, so that's right from the horse's mouth. He's been there for forty years, he said. There's snakes all over the place. Of course. The great thing is the Dodger Stadium crew keeps it at bay and you know, I've never seen one there. I mean, that's the first time I've seen one. Luckily, they're only
gardener snakes. They're not going to bother anybody. Yeah, but you know, you think of where Chavez Ravine is and the hills and all that, you know what I mean. There's a lot of snakes in places like that, but thankfully we don't see much of them at Dodger Stadium. But if you're Mitch Pool, he's seen plenty of them.
Oh, he has seen it all over his years there in the home clubhouse and the visiting clubhouse. One of the best of the best, Mitchpool. And yeah, that's interesting to hear that there are snakes at Dodger Stadium, not just the one that was slithering across Dave Roberts' feet through the Dodgers dugout again. How does it go unnoticed?
How does it get in without a pass? I don't get that. Shoot, I'm telling you.
How does Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glass now who are talking on the railing now look down and see a snake go by their feet?
Yeah? I think you get out of your You get out of your car and lot p and they're like, turn around and put your hands up. Makes no problem.
Just slither's ride in. Get the front row seat there in the dugout. Speaking of Clayton Kershaw, coming up later on, We're gonna hear from Clayton Kershaw, who made a big announcement yesterday before the game.
We'll let you hear it.
Mike Marshall, one of your former teammates, love it the Moose. Coming up next hour in the eight o'clock hour, Mike Stanton from MLB Network Radio, former reliever, is gonna get into this bullpen situation yesterday and way in as a guy who's done it for a long time, won three
World Series championships with the New York Yankees. He is Steve Sackson, Tim Kates, and Sacks and Kate today am here on this Tuesday morning as we react to the Dodgers losing Game two of the NLCS right here on Amhi seventy I Sports