NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 23, 2021

Dave Roberts

Truist Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 6 Press Conference

Atlanta Braves - 4, Los Angeles Dodgers - 2

Q. It seemed like a pretty clear cut choice in the 4th between Walker and Vesia for Rosario, maybe even for the pinch hitter. Take us through that decision.

DAVE ROBERTS: I just felt right there the way Walker was throwing I expected him to keep going. And the stuff wasn't compromised. There was a walk to d'Arnaud, then the broken bat double and I just felt that he had enough stuff to get through that and to keep going. He got ahead 0-2 and we just couldn't put him away.

Q. Does his big-game reputation in that situation sort of factor too?

DAVE ROBERTS: I just felt in that moment he was the best option. I think that you're look at the 4th inning and where Walker, how he was throwing the baseball, I felt he was the best option and, with what he did this year he's been, he was amazing. And right there, again, we got ahead and we just couldn't put him away and you got to give credit to Rosario who put a great swing on a 1-2 cutter in or whatever it was.

Q. What was kind of your message to the guys?

DAVE ROBERTS: The message was, you know, I think that obviously we didn't -- first off, let me just congratulate the Braves, the entire organization, Brian, his staff, Alex, his staff and what they did, the players, coaches. Those guys did a fantastic job and they beat us in a series. So wish them well.

I think for my message to our guys, it was basically it was a tremendous season. It was a heck of a year. Going through a lot of different things that we went through that no one talked about, no one needed to talk about, and didn't let it affect our performance, and that's something I was proud of, to win 106 games, to go through a Wild Card game, to then be pushed in a five-game series against a Division rival, to come out of that, and to be two wins away from going to the World Series.

I think for me I wanted those guys to be proud of that because the entire organization, not just the guys in the room, there's people that all across our organization that worked really hard for this season and to say that it was a lost season or a wasted season or anything, you've never been in a major league clubhouse and understand the sacrifices that people make.

So it's still not lost on any of us that we didn't accomplish our goal. But for me I'm giving credit to the Braves because they outplayed us, plain and simple.

Q. You mentioned there was a cutter that Rosario got to. What did you think of that sequence? It seemed like they were going hard against him.

DAVE ROBERTS: Obviously that's a pitch that Walker feels good with, but certainly you can tell that Rosario was sped up, and I don't want to second guess a sequence, but certainly we could have done different things, but we didn't, but certainly he was on the hard stuff, yeah.

Q. I know we've asked you about the offense, but did you feel like you guys were building something there in the 7th before obviously Albert and that three spot came up?

DAVE ROBERTS: I did. I thought there were good at-bats and then Pollock keeping a ball fair I thought that that was a chance for us to get to Jackson, which we did, and Brian went to Matzek and we just didn't have an answer for him.

But that was a big opportunity that we just couldn't even push one across. But, again, Matzek made pitches when he needed to.

Q. I don't know how much you've seen Rosario over the years, but just how much of a beast was he in this series?

DAVE ROBERTS: I'm sure he's holding the MVP trophy of the CS. We just couldn't figure him out. He beat us the other way. He beat us to the pull side. He got hits off lefties, off righties. We tried to spin him. We went hard. We just didn't have an answer for him and when you've got that big guy looming behind him it's just kind of tough to pitch around him, who was clearly hot. But, yeah, we just didn't have an answer for him.

Q. You mentioned all of the team went through to get this far. You also lost a lot of important people along the way. Did you just feel like you ran out of gas tonight?

DAVE ROBERTS: I hate conceding that. I just felt that we had the players that were active that could still win this series. We were ready to play through October. We just didn't get it done.

But when you take hits like we took, there's still, you know -- I don't know, it, it's tough because I don't want to take anything away from the Braves. They beat us in a series. We put our best foot forward. We fought. And they beat us in a series.

Q. What did you think of Ian Anderson and his changeup? Did it kind of get you guys off balance early in the game considering the strikeouts that he had and what kind of adjustments do you think you guys could have made as a difference?

DAVE ROBERTS: I thought the one thing -- I wouldn't say it caught us off-guard, I think a little bit the adjustment that they did make and, again, I'm seeing it the from side. I thought that they went in with the fastball more than he typically does, where usually it's the fastball or the changeup down below in to the right-hander where he mixed it up with that lane by throwing a fastball to keep us honest a little bit.

So like I said, we had our chance, but you got to give credit, Ian pitched a nice ball game.

Q. This core has accomplished basically everything together. I know this is kind of out of your control, but there's a lot of roster decisions this winter. Can you even process the fact that this might be the last time this group is together?

DAVE ROBERTS: That's a fair question. A lot's going to be happening this winter. I think part of the great thing about players and service time is you get a chance to choose where you want to play and earn what you want to earn.

So we have some guys that are free agents and we all know who they are. So potentially to not see those guys back, it's sort of a changing of the guard. If they're not back, whoever is not back, I'm certainly going to miss them personally and our team's going to miss them. The six years that I've been here it's been a core group of guys that potentially could be turned over this winter. I'm not looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to it. They're great players and great men and I wish we could have won another one with this group.

Q. A lot of those guys are future Hall of Famers. Did you have any private talks with them at all after this game in case like you said you might not see them again? And then now that it's done Cody's complete turnaround from the regular season, the postseason, I thought that was a great at-bat going to beat the shift there to get that first run in. What can you say about what he did in the two different seasons?

DAVE ROBERTS: Cody, it was great and we talked about it for, recently, and it's something that I think he's going to look back and be very proud of himself and how he overcame such crazy adversity. He's going to be better for it.

As far as the message, I gave the opportunity of some players to talk to the guys. And there's no script, you don't plan for this talk, losing an elimination game. So Clayton, Justin, Albert, Max, said a few things, but I think the thing that landed with me is Albert talking about this group of guys how special it was.

Q. Dating to that decision to use Max when you did in the NLDS, seemed like your pitching staff was kind of up against it this whole series in terms of short rest and some guys battling through arm stuff. How do you look at that in retrospect now and was there anything to do differently there or was it just kind of how the series unfolded?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well in retrospect and if you could guarantee that we could win Game 5 with someone else, I would have used someone else different. I just think in the moment, talking to coaches, staff, and in particular Max, and having done that, and a veteran player who I trust, there's a point that you just got to trust the player and I trusted Max.

So it just didn't work out, but, yeah, we were kind of behind it and fighting an uphill battle this entire series. And but I really believe, regardless, we got beat. I mean, the Braves played a heck of a series. I think offensively they game planned against us really well. Defensively or pitching-wise I think that they prepared for our hitters really well.