NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 8, 2021

Dave Roberts

Oracle Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 1 Press Conference

San Francisco Giants - 4, Los Angeles Dodgers - 0.

Q. Logan Webb obviously pitched really well tonight. What did he do? What was it about his game plan that kept you guys at bay?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think, I just think, to be quite honest, we didn't make adjustments. I thought he had good command tonight, mostly the glove side versus the right-hand hitters.

Then the slider, the change down below, and we just chased a lot more than we should have. If you don't make adjustments, then they're going to keep going to the well, and that was kind of the story of it.

But, yeah, credit to Logan.

Q. On that note, was it part of the game plan to be really aggressive with him early or was that just sort of a product of what he was giving you guys?

DAVE ROBERTS: A product of what he was giving us. I think, yeah, I mean, he was making pitches. He was getting ahead and strike one obviously he values.

But as we got into counts, got guys on base, we just became hyperaggressive, out of the zone.

Q. I asked you earlier about Walker's last start, how you said he made too many mistake. What did you see tonight from him? Did he make some of the same mistakes he did back in September?

DAVE ROBERTS: No. No. I thought, obviously there was a lead-off walk and fell behind Buster, and he hit a homer the other way.

After that, I thought he really settled in. So he didn't get stressed all night. I think that he threw the baseball really well. He got 3-2 to Bryant and put a good swing on it.

But I think overall six plus or whatever it was, I thought Walker threw the ball fine. So nothing like that last one here.

Q. I think people from the outside might look at Max Muncy's home run total and thing that's all he does, but he's so much more for your offense. Can you talk about what you're missing? And also, given that you've been a little short on the offense, can you maybe consider playing Gavin or Chris tomorrow?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah. Max obviously, its, and last year, he's a threat. He gets on base. He can drive runs in. And when you're talking about games like this, every base matters and keeping the line moving, and it's a big void, but it's where we're at.

To your other question, Chris is going to play tomorrow. I'm going to play him in center field, and I'll put Cody at first base.

Q. Going off that, the bottom of your order didn't have a hit today. When you lose a guy like Muncy, do you need production from the top of the order to kind of make up for that loss of production or do you need some other guys on the bottom of the order to step up?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's certainly a combo, but even the guys at the top of the order still got to take good at-bats. And so you can't bet on production, but you do give yourself a much better chance when you stay in the strike zone. I think that there's a few guys that, in my opinion, I thought took great at-bats all night long. And granted, Logan was really good, but outside of that, there was guys at the top and the bottom that didn't take good at-bats tonight.

Q. Last year you guys drove in a ton of runs with two outs. I think one of the things that you guys talked about was just the situational hitting, which is kind of better. I know like the last week and a half you guys scored a ton of runs, but a lot of them obviously came on the home run. Is there any kind of danger in kind of maybe you guys slipping back into being that team that kind of needs the home run to score?

DAVE ROBERTS: You know, I don't think so. I think that postseason baseball, granted they hit a couple homers tonight, but I think that you -- I just don't think you're trying to hit a homer.

Last year we lived by the homer in the regular season, but I thought in the postseason we brought out a different club, and we got deep into counts, took walks, and used the whole field, kept the line moving, and you're going to run into some homers that way. So I think that tonight it just, like I said, the first thing I said is we just didn't make an adjustment all night long. I thought we had the same club all night long and that was a driver. So you got to kind of read and react sometimes.

Q. What's your level of confidence that you have Julio going tomorrow?

DAVE ROBERTS: Great. It was great that we got to stay away from that Wild Card game. So having him take the mound tomorrow certainly is something to feel good about.

Q. Walker said he wasn't surprised that Buster swung 3-0 there. What are your thoughts there and just kind of the location of the pitch on the 3-0 count right there?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't think anybody in the ballpark was surprised that he was swinging 3-0. He does that frequently. It was good in the sense that you make a guy beat you the other way. But he's obviously got strength that way, so you got to give credit to Buster to get into a count, into a hitter's count, and he put a good swing on it.

Q. A lot of guys were saying that the momentum from Wednesday could care over into this series, but I know you're a big proponent of the momentum is only the starting day pitcher. So how does Julio and your bats come back tomorrow to take the momentum back from these guys?

DAVE ROBERTS: I know Julio's going to be prepared. These guys do a really good job in the first inning and it was apparent tonight. So to have that shut down first inning and potentially put up a run in that, in the top, would be helpful.

And Justin's ball in that first inning Logan knocked it down and that was a base hit. There was no shift. It was a base hit. It would have been a base hit. But it wasn't to be.

So I think that to your question, coming out there, taking good at-bats in the first inning, and putting a shut-down inning in the first.

Q. You talked about making adjustments. Obviously you've seen Webb a few times this year. Is there anything that he did differently that maybe sort of kept you guys off?

DAVE ROBERTS: No. He had good command and there were some mistakes in there that we didn't hit. But, again, I think the bottom line, the story is that we swung at a lot of balls out of the strike zone tonight.