The right fist. Dodgers Playoff Baseball is back, and with it an annual postseason tradition.
Scam is back. Baby.
This is Sax and Cakes in the A app Go with Broway. 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.
On March twentieth in Seoul, South Korea, the Dodgers and Padres kicked off the twenty twenty four MLB season and now six months later, a collision course has a meeting in the NLDS. Hi everybody, and welcome to Sax and Kates in the AM otherwise known as Scam here on AM five seventy LA Sports. Thanks for being with us. If you're looking for the Dan Patrick Show, you can listen on the iHeartRadio app with scamback. That means it's
the start of the Dodger postseason. I am Tim Kates, Dodger pre and postgame host, joined by two time World Series champ, former National League Rookie of the Year, and one hell of a guy. He is Steve Sack.
Saxy. How you doing, buddy, Tim Kates. Good to be with you. Tim. Here we are again.
Here we are again, year number seven. It feels like yesterday the Dodgers were in Chicago twenty seventeen. They finally got past the Chicago Cubs to make their way to the World Series, and I reached out to you and said, let's go, Saxy. We're gonna go live in local in the morning in Los Angeles on AM five seventy LA Sports. Give the Dodger fans what they want. And we've done it every single postseason, including this year, and we're often running. Gosh darn. It's great to hear your voice.
Hey, breaking it down, Tim, Maybe you could tell our listeners how we kind of got to know each other. Early on in your life in Burbank, you were interviewed and why don't you kind of go in that you were little Timmy Kates from Burbank. Remember that I.
Was little Timmy Kates from Burbank, grew up a baseball fan, grew up rooting for a Steve Sachs at second base for the Dodgers. We're in number three and later in life, get to move ahead and here I am co hosting a morning talk show with you now for seven straight
postseasons talking Dodgers baseball. We have a World Series championship in twenty twenty that we got to help break down a couple World Series appearances for the Dodgers along the way, and hopefully this postseason saxy another deep run in October, because quite frankly, the last two years has happened to them bouncing out in the NLDS to the Padres and last year the Diamondbacks. Is unacceptable.
Yeah it is. And you know, especially the bar is so high for the Dodgers because it's deservingly so. This team is absolutely stacked, and you know, the record always is is put there. Eleven of the last twelve years, can you imagine represented the Western Division of you know, of the National League. So this is a team that you know, people expect big things. And of course in twenty twenty they went it and maybe tainted a little bit in some people's minds by saying, well, it wasn't
a full season. I don't agree with that. I think, you know, the rules were saying for everybody, and the Dodgers were the world champions and that's and that's that. But we want to see a full season victory now, and I think they're they're well suited this year to do that.
You're a part of a lot of great teams, Zaxi teams that went to the postseason. Can you imagine being on a Dodger team that has gone to the postseason twelve straight years but won the division eleven in the last twelve years, and every year is either favored or one of the teams people are picking to win it at all. It's a run we've never seen before here now. It's absolutely incredible.
It's kind of reminiscent of what the historians look back and see what the Yankees had done in those early days where they were always in the World Series, it seemed. And the Dodgers are kind of, you know there now with with the talent that they have. Then I really got to, you know, tip you gotta tip my your cap to the Dodgers front office for going out and getting what they need. Look, they did here with Flaherty.
They needed that big shot in the arm and they certainly got it with him to you know, to set this team further down the road. And I think he's a big reason why. You know, the Dodgers are you know, that good this year and probably a lot of teams are looking at them as the way to do it. You know, we know that they've got resources and they're not afraid to use them.
We're gonna get to your calls between now at nine o'clock this morning in eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy. You know the number eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy between now and nine o'clock this morning. We got a pair of tickets yet for Game one of the NLDS, which is tomorrow night out of Dodgers Stadium. First pitch here on a five
to seventy is at five thirty eight pm. Yoshinobo Yamamoto on the mound for the Dodgers and what is going to be a great game one of this Dodgers padres NLDS also coming up this morning. In our second hour David Vasse, our Dodgers insider, will join us get the very latest. Also in the third hour, Tony Gwinn Junior, who is now part of the Padres broadcast team on TV and radio, does a show in San Diego in
the afternoons as well. Tony Gwenn Junior will join us in the eight o'clock hour, But a lot of time for your phone calls at eight six, six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy. We're also going to hear from the manager, Dave Roberts. We'll hear from hopefully a guy that's gonna turn his season around here in October, and that is Chris Taylor. We'll hear from him coming up next hour as well. I don't know if you saw the Brewers
Mets game last night, Saxy, but a wild finish. We'll get into that in that series and kind of look around baseball in general as the other series are going to get underway here the divisional round. But this Dodgers team this year, Saxy. Going into this year, it was all about the disappointments of the last two years and getting bounced by the Padres, surprisingly by a lot of
folks two years ago. Last year they ran into a red hot Arizona Diamondbacks team, and after the last two postseasons, there was a lot of processing here in Southern California,
a lot of reflecting by the Dodgers' front office. That was something that the Dodger management of Brandon Gomes, the general manager, Andrew Freeman, the vice president of Baseball Operations, talked about in their exit meeting last year was we're going to really reflect and look inward and see what went wrong and how we can change the results of
the last two years. And one of the big thing was the team camaraderie and getting into the postseason and just continue to play the same way they did over the course of one sixty two into October, and you've got to kind of flip a switch, whether it's a switch mentally, emotionally, physically, as a team whatever. It's interesting here here Brandon Gomes, Dodgers general manager, talk about this and how the Dodgers team this October got a little different mindset this year here.
A lot of stuff has been player driven up really focusing on team unity and bonding and wanting to make sure they're together doing things. So from that standpoint, it's a different look from what our schedule looks like. And then also with the guys really focused on doing things together.
Over this time, Saxy. That's something we found out over the last two postseason demises for the Dodgers is things were different. They weren't tight, they weren't together. You know, going to San Diego two years ago in the NLDS, you know, twenty five different cars, twenty five different places. It was different. And now Mookie Betts has taken leadership of this team. They're gonna ride together down to San Diego.
They're gonna have a team dinner in San Diego when they made the trip down there for the second half of this series and the NLDS, and they had a team viewing party to watch the wild card round. This is a different team.
Absolutely, and I love the idea that Mookie has really stepped up there because he is kind of the statesman, you know, for this ball club. But having that team unity is everything. Tim. Sometimes you can look at the fact that social media kind of interrupts that, and you see a lot of lonely people out there in the world today because they're just so enveloped in their phones and the messages and whatnot. And I just think that one to one, you know, encounters with everybody really makes
a difference. And you know, you can look back and see what people did before I was playing. I know what was was really important was the team kind of hung together. They went out to dinner together, the families knew each other, and we tried to take that tradition on when I was playing as well. I like going out, you know, having dinner with my teammates and hanging out in their hotel room and whatnot and kind of passing
that time. That's a that's a very important thing. I can only imagine what it's like today with social media, and that's that's kind of like a separator, if you will, for me. When you see guys taking twenty five different you know cars down down to the ballgame. Hey, the game doesn't start just when you get to the ballpark. It starts in the conversation in the locker rooms and before you get there.
That's player lead, right. That can't be something that Dave Roberts or you know your day Tommy Lesorda or you know, the front office saying hey, you guys need to do this, you guys need to be together you guys need to go eat. That's player lead, right.
Yes, it sure is, and you know it can be. You can take that as far as you want with the players, you know, like I said, sometimes in the off season they're hanging out together, they go hunting together and fishing. I think it's a great thing. I also think, you know, when you see some of the standards set with the team, Like you know, when we were playing,
we had to wear a suit on the road. When you traveled, you had to have a certain tie and a suit to represent your team, and it kind of sets you apart, you know, not that you're better than anybody else, certainly like that, but it means that you're holding a certain amount of dignity as a unit when you travel and what you're representing with your organization. I
like that stuff. I think it makes you feel like you're showing a great example for everybody else, and that makes you stick together, and that's a good thing.
It's interesting because we're talking about this this year because of the failures of the last two Octobers for the Dodgers, and really it's the struggles of the superstars the last two octobers. Freddie Freeman Mookie Bets. Once the calendar flipped
to October. It's like these guys turned into pumpkins and they couldn't carry the Dodgers and the NLDS against the Padres, and they certainly couldn't do anything against the red hot Diamondbacks pitching a year ago in the NLDS, and both those guys realized that, you know, they need to help carry this team. And now Shoe Aotani needs to help carry this team. Other guys need to rise to the
occasion as well. But the one for the postseason last year between Freeman and Mookie Bets is something that Mookie sacks. He still talks to this day about how it just eats him.
You know, you know what I love about that, tim is is Mookie steps up and owns it. He knows that he's expected on a higher level from most most other players because he's that good and he is that guy that they looked to to kind of lead the charge. Freddie Freeman the same way. What I liked about it when they didn't have their their their best outings, they sat there and they and they owned it. They took the questions after the games. They didn't run from anybody.
They weren't ducking out anywhere, so the press couldn't find them. They stood right there. They took it, they owned it. And that's real leadership guys that you know, hang in there and say, look, this is this is part of the process, and we're gonna come back and we're gonna be better next time. And Mookie certainly has taken that with them all throughout the season. I think he's just chomping at the bit to get out there and kind of change that whole narrative from last year.
Yeah, and he even took it. You know, ten days ago he went on with Jimmy Kimmel on a late night show and was talking baseball and other things. And you know then he had doing a podcast with Fernando Tatise a week ago when the Padres were in town and the Dodgers lose on that triple play weird play in the series opener to the Padres at Dodger Stadium, and the perception was from fans like, hey, Mookie's too, he's too busy doing other stuff.
Mooki's doing this.
Wait, Mookie's won for this, Mookie's zero for three. Why is it? Mookie bets paying attention. Why is he working hard? And it's interesting Saxy. He made the point two days later to say, Hey, I've been in the cage. I've been taking four hundred you know, hacks in the cage, off the machine and off a tee and extra batting practice. I'm in here working, you know, because the perception is not just him. Maybe some of these guys are just preoccupied.
Yeah, well, look, with the flow of information in social media today, it's gonna seem like, you know, they don't do anything and they're just hanging out and doing whatever. That I can guarantee you is not the case. There is nobody ready and more and more position right now for this for this playoff run than Mookie Bets. He is a workhorse. He loves what he's doing, and there is no question in my mind that he's not one
hundred percent ready. Look for him to be a big reason why the Dodgers move on to the next level, because this guy's like a tiger, just ready to get.
Out from the outside looking in. And David Vassi can give us a better perspective when he joins us next hour our Dodger insider, since he travels with the team and it knows these guys so well. But from the outside looking in, Mookie Bets never really seems like a vocal leader or even that guy that maybe has the command of the clubhouse. He's more of a lead by example on the field, like Freddie Freeman is. And that's certainly the way they lead, and it's been successful individually
and collectively. Justin Turner was the glue of this Dodgers team, the guy who stood in front of the cameras the win or lose, the guy who would take the heats, would reap the praises, but also would keep the guys in line and together in that Dodgers' clubhouse. So to hear Mookie say this the last ten days, it kind of feels like he's he's now at least publicly having to emerge and say, this is my team. I'm the leader.
Okay Otani's a superstar, but there's a language barrier. Freddie Freeman's, you know, the silent assassin, so to speak at the plate, and mister consistent. But all right, I'll find I'll be the vocal lead everybody wants.
Me to be, and that's good. I mean, the vocal leaders that you know the guy that wants to step up and do that, that's a great thing. I can tell you one thing, though, the guys that do it by example. That is a guy that's yelling in the locker room without saying anything, that means everything. Guys follow those, Those those guys that put that on display. They play when they're hurt, they don't complain, they take the heat when they don't step up and get it done. Those
are the leaders. And I was fortunate to play with some guys like that and absolutely loved it and wanted to follow those guys that did it by example. Those are the real leaders on the team in eighty eight.
Whether you guys were, you know, losing five of six or on a hot streak or getting ready for a postseason run, who was that emotional person in the in the club or did you need to have a player be it because Tommy was so vocal.
Look, here's the way, here's why I look at it in general, and then I'll break that for you. Break that down for you is you're you're a major league baseball player. You're a grown man, right and you're you're in a position out to do something that you've dreamed about since you were a little boy. If you need another grown man to kick you in the pants and get you to get going, bro, there's something wrong with you.
Really.
I never thought I needed another player or manager or coach to say, hey, get ready for the game. I just wanted to keep BP and and some ground balls and get the hell out of my way. That's all I wanted. Okay, I couldn't wait to get out there and get her done. If there's somebody out there that needs to be pushed a little bit, you need some more coffee. I mean, is there something more important that you're doing today than playing in the playoff game, you know,
against these guys. Really, I mean I never thought that I needed somebody to do that. Now that being said, uh, the guys that we that I was playing with that were kind of like those leaders on it. We had we had it stacked. I mean, you had Gibbie on one side that was like the assassin, as you say. You had Mickey Hatcher that was on the other side of me in the locker room that I thought was like a clown, a court jester that would come and
tell a joke, which is good. You need the balance. Sure, you had guys like Mike Soosha, who was a former great you know, the future great manager. You had Tommy
Lasorda at the helm. You had lots of guys on our team that that it was kind of like an eclectic group that gave you different perspectives, but it kept the team loose, It kept the team ready, and you know, we did things that were you know, immeasurable really when you consider the amount of talent that we had, which wasn't you know, the top of the line.
We well, yeah, you got me going here. Because I'm thinking about team bonding and I'm thinking about this Dodgers team is absolutely and it's something that this team in the postseason kind of you know, it's been known they didn't have it the last two years, and that with that being said, now there's this emphasis about how they're going to be traveling together on the team bus together, and they're going to eat together down in San Diego, and they've done that on road trips, you know, try
to have a team dinner at least once when they're on a big, long road trip back east. Is that is that something you remember in the postseason runs in particular, seasons are long and you got dinners all the time on the road, but come postseason time, Saxe in eighty eight and the other years before and after. Uh, were those those those team dinners and and those important for you guys?
Oh yes, yes they were, And there's nothing else more important at that time. I mean even the wives are hanging out together every it's like a it's like a group effort, which is a phenomenal thing. And and the fact that the Dodgers are doing that, you know, it's not that surprised at all. They understand the importance of team unity and and bonding, like you say, and you know, it can take you a long way. You can have you do things that maybe you never thought that you
could do. At least that was my experience in playing. But this team is expected with that bar so high and the talent that they have. Uh, sometimes it's it can be a little bit tougher. I mean, in Dave Dave Roberts position, I think it's tougher for a guy to manage a team like this as opposed to a team that's going to be in the cellar. There's no expectations there. Certainly with this team, they're expected to win the World series or bust. I mean, that's how much talent they have.
Who's picking up the bill when it's all said and done, and you guys are looking, oh.
You always do the guy that just signed the big deal they of course.
And everybody knows that, of course, and he knows that certainly, right, you know, the guy who's got the most zeros in the in the check.
Yeah, well, you know the one thing you don't want to do. You got to kind of draw a fine line between it, because not necessarily do you want to pick up that tab for twelve hundred bucks That sometimes it gets into. But what you don't want to do is go to the bathroom right when the bill comes, or develop the pterodactyl or I'm sorry, the velociraptor arms.
You know, I get my dinosaurs mixed up. You don't want to develop the velociraptor arms where they you know, kind of won't don't want to reach for it that much. Just kind of look at the guy with all the zeros in the newest paycheck and you say, there's your leader right there, and that was always you saxy No, no, not always no, no, no, uh uh no, I don't think so. I wish Tim, I'd be glad to pick up that check all the time, no doubt about it.
He is Steve sax I'm Tim Kates. We are back. It's Scam Saxon Kates in the am here on this Friday morning. Thanks for being with us as you wake up, enjoy your coffee, Get the kids ready for school, get ready for work. We're getting you ready for the NLDS, which we begin tomorrow night at Dodgers Stadium, Game one, Dodgers Padres. It's a series that everybody wanted come October,
and now it's here in the NLDS. While first pitch at five thirty eight, we're gonna get down into the pitching matchup coming up in just a little bit, the Dodgers switching things up in their Game one. In Game two starter, we'll hear from David Vase, We'll hear from Brandon gom some more. We'll hear from the manager, Dave Roberts.
We'll hear from Chris Taylor, Tony Quinn Junior. We'll check in with us and you eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy We've got a pair of tickets between now at nine o'clock for one lucky Dodger fan to go to Game one of this NLDS How You feeling Dodgers Padres the postseason run to a championship begins. He is Steve Sacks, I'm Tim Kate. Thanks for being with us, say fi seventy LA Sports, sax and Kate's and am
a five to seventy LA Sports. Thanks for being with us here until nine o'clock this morning before we had things off to Colin Cowherd, Brogan and Rodney and the Petro Some Money Show will be live at Dodger Stadium this afternoon, beginning at three o'clock is both the Dodgers and Padres go through an off day workout. The Dodgers have been working out the last couple of days, Saxey.
They took a few days off just to get rest, just to get in the gym and work out a little bit, but not do a lot of baseball activities. But the last couple of days they've ramped it back up. Yesterday they had a SIM game with some of the Dodgers hurt pitchers and minor leaguers helping out and just getting the guys back into the groove of playing a game out of Dodger Stadium. They'll do a full workout this afternoon for a couple of hours, talk to the media.
Dave Roberts will talk to the media. Yoshi Ama Modo will talk to the media, as he is now your game one starter. They've flipped him and Jack Flaherty around first strategical purposes, which we'll get into. But yeah, it's been a nice break for this Dodgers team. And last few years the Dodgers have coasted Saxy into the postseason,
clinching the division mid September. You know, not a lot of play for the last few weeks of the season, maybe the last week going into regular play in September, there wasn't a lot there for them, and they struggled offensively at the play. I don't know if there's a similarity or something you can kind of string together as a coincidence there that they struggled after clinching the division so early. But this year they took to the final
weekend to clinch the NLS. So maybe having to play meaningful games the last week of the season had it will help this team. I don't know.
Yeah, you know, I think I think Tim, you're onto that is that could be a helpful thing for the Dodgers. I mean, still ninety eight and sixty four this year, posting the best record to ensure them they get the best you know, situation about playing at home throughout the World Series. This is a team that was amazing at home this year, fifty four and twenty nine. I believe this said, they had the best record I think other than maybe the Phillies as far as the home home
field goes. So they they were just absolutely outstanding. And uh, you know, I think the fact that they you know, that didn't have the biggest layoff like they had before. I think this is going to help them a bit. But you know, a lot of this too, I think is made up in people's minds and in the press of Certainly it's going to be something that they can hang their hat on and talk about, well, there's nowhere else to go except down because they've had such a great,
you know season. But I don't believe that. I think there's three seasons, you know, throughout the course of this of the year. You know, you have spring training, which is it's a season and its own right. Then you have the regular season, then you have postseason, and by the time you get to this point right here, I can promise you anybody that's thirty and over, there's nobody out there that's feeling one hundred percent even with the layoff.
I mean, there's there's a bit that you are still going to carry with you into postseason unless you're, you know, somebody with a crazy physique, maybe like Mookie Bets. But for the most part, guys aren't feeling, you know, one hundred percent all the time, even going into postseasons.
So what does a five day rest then mean to a play and everyday player, certainly a reliever, which the Dodgers have a lot of older arms in that bullpen that have been so good this year. But there's a lot of innings on that arm, a lot of pitches on those arms this year. What is five days off, maybe even just a couple of days of not throwing and then getting back to playing long toss mean for a team like this.
It's it's huge. I mean, you know, taking two days off is great, you get five days off. I think this is a big advantage for the Dodgers. Like you said, you know, there's the bullpen's got the arms, got some you know, mileage on those They're not the youngest guys in the world. Give them a break. I mean, that's that's why we see maybe the switch from Yamamoto and Flarerity right now. It's it's probably a better time wise for these guys. As far as resting goes, Flerity was
tremendous for the Dodgers. He did have a little tick up in the ERA for the last three starts at over six, but nonetheless given a few days off to everybody kind of get a reset and get a little bit of that sore on us out. I think it's a great thing for the Dodgers. I don't think it's gonna be a mental thing for this team. They're they're too strong in that.
We're gonna get into it a little bit. This pitching matchup in game one and the switching of Flarity and Yamamodo in Game one and game two. As far as starters, but just Jack Flaherity is a dog. I mean, and I don't just say that because he's here from Burbank and you know, grew up here, but that's a compliment. He he wants the ball. He is not afraid of the moment, certainly doesn't have the postseason experience in his resume. You look at the back of his baseball card, it's
just not a lot of postseason experience there. But this is a guy who wants to put a lot of postseason experience on the back of his baseball card and on his Wikipedia page because he wants the ball. And I love his mentality, sax See he is. He is an old school I'll pitch through soreness, give me the ball every four days.
I don't care now love it and that's that goes a long way with team. That's the guy you want to be teammates with, you know, when they talk about beating in the fox all with somebody, that's what you want right there. And besides that, he's a pretty big dude, So I wouldn't mind being the fox all with him. But in his in his career in postseason, you know,
just four games and that's okay. He's had a little bit of taste in it, but it's still I don't think it's going to matter as far as his experience. You know, the guy's been there and done that. Like you said, look at the back of his postcard. He's had high expectations this whole life. He was a first round picket with Saint Louis back in twenty fourteenth, thirty fourth overall. So he's had the tag of a guy that's had big expectations his whole life and he's delivered it.
Not to go on a side note here, because we're gon he from Dave Roberts, Dodger manager here in a second and get into a Dave Roberts has done not only this year but in his tenure with the Dodgers. But you said something that sparked an interest here and that he'd be the first guy out there if something happened. Jack Felherty, there was a situation in which the Dodgers, you know, got a little back and forth earlier this year with a team and benches emptied, and it was
a slow empty It wasn't like anything. Big guys just kind of trickled out. But Jason Hayward at the time, who's no longer with the team, I remember this because he was one of the first guys over the railing to have his teammates back, and you know, a week later he got DFAD and it's no longer with this team.
But as a player, dude, guys, notice that saxy. Does it get filed away somewhere that if something happens and you know, the bullpen's empty players come out of the bench, it doesn't get noticed, like who the first guys are that are there? Maybe who some of the stragglers are, and who are some of the guys that are out there that don't want to be there? Does that get filed away? Like, Hey, this guy's got my back. I want to go to war with this guy and this
guy I don't know about. Yeah, I mean you you pretty much know who the stalwarts on the team are and I don't know what it's like now. And I don't want to step my foot in this because I'm not in the locker room. Sure, but I can tell you when we were playing.
If you didn't go out or if you were very slow, not only did you catch the raft of the brethren on your team, really, but you'd get fined. And that isn't really and you don't want you don't want to be fine for wimping out, you know what I mean? So if you're wimping out when the fight starts and you get a fine tagged on your shoulder. That is an evil, awful thing to get. So you want to be out there and you know, getting your teammates back. But that you know, really there isn't there isn't too
much of that. Yeah, that was just kind of put in the you know, putting the bat on the back shelf in case you didn't want to go out. Boy, you might have to face that. So there weren't too many guys that were kind of hanging back and you know, playing scrabble on the bench when the fight started.
That's good, That is good to know. I know of a guy that was maybe in the bathroom one time when the Dodgers and Diamondbacks got into a little bit of a scuffle. Maybe he was I don't know, the first base coach at the time with the Diamondbacks and came running out after Yasiel Puig in the in the Diamond Bass got.
In terribly embarrassing, terribly terribly you.
Know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, absolutely, that was yo, and it was terribly embarrassing. Hey, there's a fight starting, man, I had to whoa hang on to be right there.
Uh.
Dave Roberts gosh I love this guy because he takes the incoming from everybody. Every single year, it feels like they win and they win despite him. According to Dodger fans, when they lose, it's all his faults for a loss, or a string of losses, or losing early in the postseason. Nine seasons as Dodger manager already a six to twenty sixth career winning percentage, eight NL West titles, three NL pennants,
a twenty twenty World Series Championship. Certainly, being the manager of the team with a high payroll, it's sort of like being Phil Jackson. You're not just rolling the ball out there and a coach Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen or Kobe in shack. You have to massage a lot of egos. And we'll get into that in a second. But here's Dave Roberts talking to with the media yesterday about this Dodgers team as they get ready for Game one on the NLDS.
See some more hunger, I see some more edge. I like that. And not to say that guys weren't prepared or trying or cared, but there's a different level of intensity and that kind of sour taste that you have when you make an early exit from the postseason. Our guys are tired of it, and so this is another opportunity. So, you know, hearing about guys not caring who we play, they've got to beat up us. You know, we're the team with the best team in record in baseball. You
know we have a lot to prove. We have a lot to prove. A lot of people have certainly doubted us, and so I think our guys have kind of embraced that, and I like again, I like the edge, I like that hunter mentality from us. Probably I would say this lineup is probably the best we've had, given everyone's healthy, and we obviously got to see Freddy coming back and maybe coming back. But I think when everyone's right, I
think we're very good. Versus left versus right. There's an on base, there's a slug component, there's a bat to ball component. So I think that you know, it's very well balanced and probably our best if you're Freddie or Mooky or the rest of the lineup. To feel that there's a pressure taken off because you have show at the top, I think that yeah, being a support or alleviating some pressure. But I still expect Mooki and Freddie to be the guys that they all and I've shown
in past postseason. So you know, if we can get those guys and the rest of the lineup doing what they're capable of, I just don't think we can beat all Right.
A couple of things there saxony from Dave Roberts. I kind of feel like that's also a message he's sent into his team that we can't be what we were the last two years. We've got to be mad, we've got to be angry, we've got to take this as uh uh, you know, we can't be bout out again this early in the postseason. And it's sometimes you say things to the media, sometimes you say directly. I think this is a message he's also making sure everybody knows, is that this team is pissed off.
Yeah, and he says it in such a good manner, you know, when you're talking to the press or I remember my kids were growing up, and you know, they don't want to hear you talking to them directly. So I would talk to maybe a friend of mine or whatever my kids were like in the next table. They'll listen to every word you say and you're telling your buddy, boy, I'll tell you what. It's nice to see kids today
and doing their homework and so faithful. My kids aren't drugs and they're not drinking alcohol and tobacco and all that stuff. And I wasn't talking to them directly. I was talking to them, but I was doing it indirectly. And that's what Dave Roberts is doing here. He's a he's a very smart guy. He knows how to get the word across, and he knows how to deliver it, saying I like the edge, and it's not we need the edge, he's saying, I like what I'm seeing with
the edge. So he does it in a very positive manner. And look, if you can't follow or like Dave Roberts, I don't care what anybody says. And I'll say it up front right now. We don't know what's gonna happen in the series, but I guarantee it ain't gonna be Dave Roberts fault that because he knows the game. He's not gonna make a gigantic, you know, gaff here. He knows what's going on. He's got his you know, he's got his whole coaching staff to depend on as well
all all managers do, which is a great thing. And I think the team is ready, and I think he made a very important point there where he pointed out show Hey time, Show Hey is the is the create elixir for this team. He can change everything with one swing of the bat. He's gonna get four trips to the plate in that leadoff position. This is a guy that can change it and in many different ways, especially when he's pitching as well. But this is an unbelievable
weapon to have at the top of the order. This is something that's different than every other team because there's only one show Heo Tani.
Yeah, we're gonna get in a show Heo coming up in just a couple of minutes because the factor that he has had on this team, what he has done this year with a fifty to fifty season sackxy. I want to get your thoughts on that coming up after the break. But you know, Dave Roberts, you mentioned it. It's not gonna be his fault yet. Everybody's gonna point the finger at the manager now, who's almost been here a decade at the Helm. But I hear a sense of urgency out of him, and he must know that
they can't come up short. He must know that. You know, these players aren't going anywhere if they fall short of a World Series championship, which is the goal this year with the players they got. And I kind of feel a little searches of sense of urgency from him, like, come on, guys, hey it, I'm the manager here, but gosh darn it, yeah, I need you guys to play better.
It's time. It's time. Yeah, And you love that, and he does it again. He does it in the right way. Look, look, if the team wins there, you don't ever hear anybody go out and say we won because of Dave Roberts. Oh my god. You know you don't ever hear that, So why are we hearing it sometimes when the team loses. I hate blaming the manager, never once in micro and you've heard me say this before. I could never ever stoop to that low and say I didn't have a
good year. I got thrown out trying to steal that base, or I struck out with the bases loaded. It was all because of Tommy Lasorda. I mean, that's absurd. If you think about that, it's never gonna be the manager's fault. Those guys are. It's all about the players, the plus and the minus.
I'll tell you why I think managers get nitpicked more than ever now, Saxy and Dave Roberts in particular. I'm gonna blame analytics, and I'm gonna blame TV coverage with the different numbers they put up and telling us launch angle and all this and all the numbers that are tracked and all the trend and all the splits that we have. As far as information, numbers are great, and certainly numbers are a game for baseball that put people in the Hall of Fame, and don't put people in
the Hall of Fame based on their numbers. I get that right, But I think we've dissected the numbers so much, and when they go to a bullpen and maybe a guy's hot or maybe a guy's this or that, well, the numbers say his reverse splits are really good against left handers late in the game in the month of October,
and we start overthinking this. Sure, and the fans see this, and you're watching and listening to the games, and you're hearing these number sacks and you're hearing, well, Alex Vesia against left handers is you know, in the change up they're hitting under two hundred. But if he gets ahead in the account and then you start thinking about this and maybe he gives up a home run, Well, why did Dave Roberts do that? Why did Dave Roberts put in Alex Vessi? The numbers say he shouldn't be there.
There's no feel anymore.
Yeah, Oh, my gosh, did you say when his wins blowing out seven knots to left center field? Again? Yeah? That you know, it's a pla because baseball is like the only sport that is really defined by the numbers, and it's something that really does kind of, you know, clean people together when you can talk about that thing. I mean, everybody knows what seven fourteen is, everybody knows what twenty game winner means. Everybody knows what three hundred
average is. You know, you don't have that in other sports, but you certainly have it in baseball. And that's because it's been around so long and everybody knows about it. But my gosh, if you go on the other side and try to break down every player for everything that
they do, all by the numbers. Look, the numbers aren't going to read and that computer's not going to spit out when a guy comes to the ballpark and he's got the flu that particular day, facing this picture, or if he's having you know, there's a breakdown, maybe maybe his little brother died or something. A computer's not going to be able to read that at this particular point
in time. So that's why a manager's got to have his finger to the pulse and go by the baseball acumen of that guy that's been around and played the game for a long time. That's what you're manager's for. And Dave Roberts is the best at it.
He is Steve Sack, I'm Tim Kates Saxon Kate's and the AM is back on this Friday morning. We appreciate you being with us as you get up on this Friday morning get ready to start your day. We appreciate you starting it with us as we are here until nine o'clock this morning. Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven two five seventy. We got a pair of Game one NLDS tickets to give away to one lucky doctor fan between now in nine o'clock this morning, next hour, David
Vase will join us. In the eight o'clock hour, We'll hear from Tony gwyn Junior, who is on the Padres radio call. We'll get his thoughts on what this Padres team is thinking coming in to this NLDS. It's the series everybody wanted Dodgers Padres in October for the right to move on to the NLCS. It's a best of five and it begins tomorrow night. Right here on ANFI seventy LA Sports. Your phone calls and what show Hel
Toddi has done this year is absolutely amazing. Saxon and I will put it in perspective and your phone calls next right here on NFI seventy LA Sports Saxon Kates and am here on M five seventy LA Sports Dan Patrick Show. You can listen to on the iHeart Radio app just click am FI seventy LA Sports. Game one of the NLDS is tomorrow Dodgers Stadium. We'll have all the coverage beginning of four point thirty in the afternoon with Dodgers on deck. First pitch at five thirty eight
Dodgers and Padres Dylan Ceese and Yoshi Yamamoto. The pitching matchup in Game one, Jack Felerty and you Darvish will go in game two on Sunday. David vess Our, Dodger Insider, will join this in just a little bit next hour, and then in the eight o'clock hour, Tony Gwinn Junior from the Padres broadcast will join US Saxy Show. Hey, O, Tani is a unicorn. I had to explain to my daughters what exactly that means. There's nobody else like him.
He is a one of a kind, and what he did this season is a great example of why he is the best player in baseball fifty to fifty season went past that number for stolen bases and home runs. When you watch what he did this year, and knowing that he was just going to be a designated hitter, wasn't going to pitch this year because of the arm surgery, this contract he signed, and all that being said, to see what he did this year, what were your thoughts.
It's it's almost not real when you can consider what this guy put up as far as those numbers, it's I can't even imagine if somebody would have told me you're going to have a player like this in the next generation to play that's going to put up these numbers. I mean, baseball tim is a really hard game to play. It's not easy. This guy's uber talented. We all know that he's got a great frame. He's six ' five,
he's strong. His arm speaks for itself when he's throwing the ball one hundred miles an hour, and he can run like a deer. So you know, it's one thing to have all that, but it's another to put it all together. And he's done all of that and more. But the numbers seats put up are just unconscionable. I can't even believe that. I'm looking at these numbers.
To me, what sticks out is what he did this year stealing bases. And I say that because this is a show. Hey O Tani that has never stolen more than twenty six bases in his season with the Angels
in his six years down in Anaheim. That was in twenty twenty one, and not pitching this year and being just a designated hitter in spring training, and even before that, we saw videos of him at Dodger Stadium back in January and February working out the training staff and he had the parachute behind him and he's doing the strength and running with resistance and really working on his get off his first step as a as a runner. And I didn't think about it at the time, but he
was already in that mindset. Saxy is, Okay, I'm on a pitcher this year. I'm just a hitter. What else can I do to elevate my game? What is something that I'm not great at that I can be great at? Oh, running and stealing bases. Okay, let me start working on that. And now he has a season in which he steals fifty nine bags this year. To me, that shows a guy that is great and can be a great at anything he wants to do, including stealing bases.
Anything, because he's got the talent in the bag right there. But it's, like I said, another thing to put it together. And you see him work out, he's like a he's a bull. He's out there and he's constantly wanting to improve himself. You just go down the line and look at his numbers right at two hundred hits as well, this guy's a phenomenal hitter, not just a home run hitter.
With the with one hundred and thirty RBIs he hit three ten this year, his on base percentage was three to ninety is his ops you know, one dot three six. You look at that number, you think, okay, maybe for a few games, but for one sixty two it's crazy. I mean, score one hundred and thirty four runs to him. I mean, how often you see this. You don't see any season like this ever, even from Barry Bonds or anybody else, not to this magnitude.
Only knock on show. Hey, and again it feels like we're what.
He doesn't book the rooms for the team, besides the secretary, besides that, it doesn't pick up the bill for dinner, which I'm sure he does every time.
Is his sometimes chasing pitches out of the zone. And maybe that's a reflection of a guy at the plate that's maybe chasing fifty home runs in June and July and August and trying to get those power numbers and home run numbers up. Because you look at September when he got to fifty and was trying to get on basemore to steal bases. He was hitting the other way, find the gaps, I mean, doing what he wanted with
at the plate with the bat. So when he chases pitches, Saxy, and he starts expanding that zone and teams were throwing him inside, trying to get him off the plate and start pulling a little bit more. And then he's chasing the outside slider that's breaking away from him. He kind of got away from being show Hey. And there was some times there in the season, Yes, where he went through some slumps, and he went through some times where he was searching at the plate, which every hitter does.
You know that, yep, But it's when he expanded his zone, SAX. And if you could explain that, expanding the zone and chasing pitches, that that's an area you don't want to get at because bad things happen.
First of all, I want to I want to preemptively say this, go back in history and look at some of the slumps, the horrible slumps that Mickey Mantle went through, uh and William may So these guys are some of the greatest hitters ever. Horrible slumps, especially from Mickey Mantle.
Uh.
And Anyway, when you go back to show show Hey and the chase, yes, every player goes through that. You have to fight to stay back in your zone, to be aggressive. Only with the con in the confines of the strike zone. That's that's a perfect thing to do. It's a great, you know, place to shoot and to aim to to try to achieve. But if you take away and say, hey, don't ever change, don't ever go out and chase a pitch show show, Hey, that's out of the zone, you're kind of taking away what he's about.
And you don't want to take away that aggressiveness. Yeah, would you like to tide it up and go the other way sometime if you have to? Sure, And I'm sure he deals with that every day of his life. All hitters do. But you don't want to take away what's great about him, and that's his aggressiveness. That's why he hit fifty nine home runs this year.
JJ and Beaumont joins us here on a five seventy LA Sports. Good morning to you, JJ on with Steve Saxon, Tim Kate, How you doing.
Good morning, Tennling, Very good, very good.
Hey.
I just want to say he thought it was these teams about the Dodgers this year. I've been along time fans in nineteen sixty five and.
I just love the Dodgers.
Good, yep, you like this team in particular going into October. JJ, the mindset, the makeup of this group with Shohtani, Freeman and Betts.
Yes, sir, it.
Didn't get any better than that.
I'm so excited, all right.
JJ.
Appreciate the phone call. I love the excitement from him. But I understand there's also the other half of Dodger fans, because I've seen it right now on social media, the old Well, let's wait to the first inning when Yamamoto gives up three runs at the top of the first Let's wait until the Dodgers face some adversity down five to nothing. For it's like it's already started.
Sax.
Yeah, Okay, the pessimistic Dodger fans are here.
Yeah, chill man, Let's just wait. Let's just take it easy.
Eight sixty six ninety seven two five seventy. He is Steve Sacks. I am Tim Kay's. David bat Say will join us. After the top of the hour. We're gonna hear from Chris Taylor, who is hopefully going to have a resurgent cheer in October to help out this Dodgers team. Off the bench. Tony Gwin Junior will join us. We got a pair of Game one and LDS tickets to give away between now and nine o'clock this morning. Could it be you, We'll see it's scam. Saxon Kate to
the am and for Dan Patrick. Thanks for being with us on this Friday morning leading you up to the NLDS. You're on your home with the Dodgers. An FI seventy LA Sports