NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 19, 2021

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Los Angeles Dodgers - 6, Atlanta Braves - 5

Q. What was kind of your reaction when Bellinger hit that home run? What can that kind of swing do for the rest of the series?

DAVE ROBERTS: Man, pure elation, joy. I mean, it's just hard to imagine a bigger hit that I can remember really, just kind of what was at stake. And couldn't be happier for him. So just what a win. I'm just kind of exhausted right now, but very happy for Cody.

Q. You shared with us a couple of times just sort of your advice for Cody as he's gone through this, like this is your path, right? What would you say about just sort of how much of a mental toll this has had on him to just have numbers the way he had at that age?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think, like I've said for quite some time, I think that this is going to make him a much better, it's showing his character and testing his character. He's going to be a better baseball player for these struggles.

Right there Luke Jackson's throwing 97 Miles an hour with plus, top of the zone, curve ball, slider down below, and he gets above a ball and stays on plane and squares it up. And you can see he swung through the one earlier, that at-bat, and he shortened up and I can be certain that the last thing he was thinking about was hitting a homer. He widened his stance out and tried to square it up and move the baseball forward. Good things happen when you do that.

I can, probably in years past with not having gone through the struggles he might not have made that adjustment. So like I said, just a huge hit and he's continuing to kind of evolve and grow.

Q. A swing change like the one that he made late in the season, can you just speak to like just how difficult that is?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's difficult, but I think when you hit rock bottom there's a lot of opportunity for openness and change.

But to his credit he lowered his hands, understood that he needed to hit the ball more square, more flat, get the loop out of his swing. And you see the path of that bat tonight, there's no way with an upper cut you're going to square that baseball up. So all the credit goes to him and the hitting guys who grind every single day.

Q. The relievers who kind of held it at 5-2, Phillips and Bruihl and those guys, how huge was that and also what was the decision, how was the decision reached to put Phillips on the roster for this series?

DAVE ROBERTS: That's right. Well, as far as the decision, we just felt that Evan matched up with a lot of the Braves hitters. Very little experience but we just trust the head and trust the stuff.

You talk about an MVP, I think everyone's going to be talking about Cody's hit, which obviously was a huge hit, but if Alex doesn't get out of that jam with what Bruihl did, with what Evan did, taking that one and two thirds, even Tony's out that he got, and albeit a great play by CT in center field, we don't have a game. So there's no hero at the end of the game.

So those relievers came in and they won us that ball game. And we got, going into tomorrow, we stayed away from Blake, Brusdar, so we've got a couple leverage guys that are fresh. So they not only won today, helped us win today's game, but they helped us win tomorrow's game too.

Q. You said there couldn't have been a bigger hit than Cody's hit, but how big was Mookie's hit, especially considering the struggles with men on base and runners in scoring position?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was a big hit, obviously, to tie the game up, but then to have another base runner out there and to build on that momentum and take the lead and not let the kind of the momentum that we created subside and make it a new ball game. They certainly had a lot of arms left in the pen, so to take the lead and get it to our closer was huge.

The fans all night, we fed off that energy. It was as loud as I've heard Dodger Stadium after that homer and they were loud and energetic all day long.

Q. Chris Taylor's stolen base, now there's no double play when Beaty grounds, bounces to second, sets you up. How did that play out, was that a situation, does he have the green light there, do you signal something from the bench, who called that, how did that play out?

DAVE ROBERTS: There's some things we talk about, but CT, I trust the baseball player, the instincts, and Jesse right there was trying to make a pitch and got a little slower and he took advantage of it. So he has the green light and, as you said, it was a big play because that could have been an inning ending double play, absolutely.

Q. Couple of homers from Corey early in the game the last couple nights. What have those meant and what have you seen from his at-bats and kind of the way he's on the attack?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's one of those where if we get somebody on base in front of Corey that can steal a base, you saw Charlie try to quicken up with his delivery and slide step and he left a breaking ball up. And when you're trying be quick in 1,2 instead of his 1,4/1,5 to execute a pitch, that was a byproduct of Mookie being on first base. And so he hung a breaker and he hit it out.

So, yeah, if you get guys on base, base runners, a guy like Corey, he doesn't need much help, but if you make a mistake, he'll make you pay and it was big.

Q. Cody's had some big postseason hits, this one, Game 5, last years NLCS Game 7, and even the playoffs before that. What do you make of his ability to continually come through in big spots in postseasons year after year?

DAVE ROBERTS: He's learned. He's a young, he was a young player when he first, when we got him, when he was in the postseason early in 2017 I think it was his first year. And he's just been able to slow the game down and breathe through it and not try to do too much. I think, early on, like most players, you try to do too much. But even tonight, today, you see some at-bats of taking walks when Charlie was out of the zone and getting into good hitter's counts. You get behind, the ability to shorten up and just see the baseball. So it's no surprise why the production over the last few years has been so good in the postseason, just the approach and then kind of the mindset is remarkable.

Q. First of all, what did you see out of Lux's play, do you think that inning kind of knocked Walker mentally out of his rhythm, and a housekeeping thing, does Julio still start Game 4, no opener?

DAVE ROBERTS: Julio's going to start tomorrow. As far as that, I don't think that -- I know that it's a play that Gavin expects to make. There's the wall, there's some sun and I just don't know and Gavin won't make any excuses. It's a play that I know he, like I said, he knows he should make.

As far as Walker, I don't think it got him out of his rhythm. I'm sure that it's a play that you see a fly ball and you think it's two outs and a man on first base. We didn't make the play, he knows he's still got to go out there and make pitches and that's just the way it is. In that Joc at-bat I thought it could have went either way, that 0-2 pitch. But again, Walker knows, he's as accountable as any pitcher I've ever been around and so knows he's just got to continue to make pitches.

Q. On the subject of Julio, tomorrow, given his appearance in Game 2, does that impact how long you think he can go or how long you might let him go and does that also get impacted at all by the series being 2-1 versus 3-0?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't think so. I feel good where he's at and I'm going to watch him, as long as he's being efficient and throwing the baseball well, we're going to let him run.

Q. When you say you can't imagine a bigger hit than Cody Bellinger's, you've seen some big hits, you saw Big Poppy, you remember Kirk Gibson --

DAVE ROBERTS: That was a big hit.

Q. So what about this --

DAVE ROBERTS: I just think that this is a team that obviously has a lot of momentum coming into this game, first game here on the road, and for us to go down 3-0 and hope for a 2004 miracle run is a tall ask. And so we were dead in the water, you could see it. Luke's coming in and throwing 97 miles an hour and you get a squibber, you get AJ riding a base hit up the middle, to get behind in the count and to hit a homer, it just flipped everything and it just kind of -- we got a very good ball club, but we just needed that kind of shot in the arm and I'm expecting it to carry over to tomorrow. But, yeah, I mean, there's just -- that David hit was huge and I'm forever grateful. Hits. But this is a freaking big hit, big hit. (Laughing).

Q. You talked about Cody hitting rock bottom at some point. Did his confidence remain stable, were there times that it kind of wavered and you guys kind of had to pump him up or how did that work?

DAVE ROBERTS: It wavered a ton. And he was at a point, I know, he was thinking was he ever going to get another hit. And that's a real thought, not realistic, but it's a real thought for players. That's why I think that the coaches, the players, his teammates stood by him every step of the way. And that's why I think a lot of guys are so happy for him to kind of get to the other side, because guys kind of rally around him, he's got that personality that guys kind of gravitate toward. So you're feeling his struggles, and he was rock bottom and the confidence -- but he didn't quite fighting and competing and working. And I've said it time and time again, the game honors you and the game honored him today.

Q. Justin Turner, how did he look tonight and is the expectation still for him to be in the lineup tomorrow?

DAVE ROBERTS: He'll be in the lineup tomorrow. I thought he was moving well, I think he's competing, even that last at-bat where he popped up, there's fight. So that's my bet. And as far as kind of squaring up baseballs, having productive at-bats, it's going to happen. I think that they're throwing the speed ball, challenging him, so once he gets the head to one of these balls and turns it around it will be a different ball game. But Justin's a guy that I always kind of expect good things to happen.