NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 11, 2022

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Dodgers-5, Padres-3

THE MODERATOR: First question for Doc.

Q. Dave, congratulations on the win. Phillips and Vesia, two low-cost pickups, have been so huge for you all year. What do you make of where they've come from and what they've become for you?

DAVE ROBERTS: They've become huge. Very impactful players for our ball club, for our bullpen. It's just a credit to the organization, you know, finding these guys, I think Evan from Tampa and Alex from Miami. They've just come in and continued to grow, get better.

I wish I could say I would have seen the leverage that they would be pitching in a couple of years removed, but a lot of people get a lot of credit, but those two guys most importantly, and tonight Alex doing an up-down, Evan finding a way to navigate that inning. Evan has been huge for us all year. Very dependable guys.

Q. What did you think of Julio tonight?

DAVE ROBERTS: Julio was good. I thought he was good. That 5th inning I just think that Myers hit a good breaking ball down below, put a good swing on it.

They just did a nice job building an inning right there. I thought during that inning, I don't recall how many pitches he threw, I just thought that the breaking ball just started not to be as sharp. The life to the fastball, even the Profar, the last ball that he flew out just didn't have the life to it. I felt he did his job for the night.

To give us five innings, three runs, got the win, really nice job.

Q. I know we talked about how you guys are going to piece together the late innings without a standard closer, I guess. Tonight how did that come together going with Phillips and Vesia and down the line?

DAVE ROBERTS: Just looking at the lineup and knowing who we have available. Just kind of trying to piece together lanes for our guys. Right there with -- I could have sent Julio back out there to take down Soto, but I just felt that with Soto it really -- the handedness doesn't matter as much, and he squared a ball up the at-bat prior, so I wanted to give Evan a clean inning.

And I liked that run right there, and I like the run for Alex and for Phillips and then also Graterol coming in there. Just to get the out, I just felt that was good against Machado. Martin did a really nice job right there.

Q. I think it seemed like the teams around the league have sort of -- that had layoffs, had slow starts -- how important was it for you guys to have that first inning like you did against Clevinger?

DAVE ROBERTS: Really good. I thought our plan against Clevinger was really good. Hunting balls in the strike zone. I thought Trea did a fantastic job tonight of not chasing and getting him in the strike zone. When he got him in the strike zone, he put some really good swings together. I thought Will Smith did a really nice job tonight.

I thought Max too great at-bats. I thought we had a great plan versus Clev and got to the pen early, which is great. You could see that they spun us a lot more once we got to the pen. I think we might have had one or two more base runners after that.

So we have to be prepared for Yu tomorrow. There's going to be a lot of spin. And we have our work cut out tomorrow.

Q. Could we see a completely different order of relievers depending on when the -- what the lineup dictates, or is there something about when you deploy the guys? Specifically with Chris in the 9th inning, did you like that?

DAVE ROBERTS: I loved it, but we certainly could see something completely different tomorrow, and I don't want to show my hand too much, but it just kind of is the luxury of the latitude that we have with our guys, willing to pitch in any inning, any leverage.

Q. I'm wondering if there's anything that stood out to you about just the camaraderie of this year's bullpen group or maybe how they've made each other better? Like, the way you've approached your pitching this offseason that there's no one guy that stands out above the others, I'm wonder if maybe they've come together?

DAVE ROBERTS: They have come together. They've come together really as a really good solid group. I think Josh Bard, our bullpen coach deserves a lot of credit challenging these guys for accountability and being unselfish and being open to whatever I ask of him.

That's kind of really showed itself. Those guys pull for each other, and it's as good a group in the pen that I have seen that we've had.

Q. We're asking a lot about the variability and flexibility of how you use your bullpen. Is there something you do holistically to make sure everyone is prepared for that level of uncertainty, or is it just dependent on the group of guys? Can you create that kind of flexible culture in a bullpen?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think we have created it. It's taken time. Even getting a guy like Chris Martin here in the middle of the season and not having a defined role for him, that's different. This is a guy that's been around for quite some time.

Even having Craig Kimbrel go to a reliever versus being a closer, having certain guys close and other guys might pitch in the 5th inning. That same guy might pitch in the 5th.

I think it's just kind of the approach, the mindset of just being a good teammate.

Q. When you get a guy like Chris Martin here, how do you introduce that idea to him or sort of coach him up to be ready for the way you --

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's just kind of the full disclosure, the transparent, honest conversation, saying, This is what our expectations are of you, and you get left, right out. We believe in you. You don't walk guys. We'll give you a heads-up, but I could use you as early as the 5th, and I could see you finishing games. If we do an up-down, we're going to take care of your workload.

And we've held true to that. I think that players -- you kind of lay it out, give them expectations, but the main thing is the follow-through, and I think we've done a good job with that.

Q. That grounder Myers hit in the 6th, did you think they were going to turn two on that?

DAVE ROBERTS: No. I thought it was almost past Gavin. Will did a really nice job of staying inside that baseball, but Gavin got a good jump on it, didn't panic, made a nice feed to Trea, and Will is a good runner. For me that was the play of the game.

That was Evan's last hitter. There was stress that inning, and so to be able it get out of that inning to not have Alex come into the game to do an up-down, another up-down, it was just kind of allowed us to line up the pitching right there. Play of the game for me.

Q. When it comes to just Gavin Lux, even Trea Turner, with how they kind of closed out the regular season, trying to find their swing and certain things at the plate, how important is it and how big is it for them to kind of come in, have big swings like today and set the tone for themselves here in the postseason?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's great for us to have a game where Mookie, Freddie and Justin don't do anything offensively and to win a ball game is a good thing.

Now, it speaks to Trea having just really good at-bats tonight, and he has been searching. He has been searching the last few weeks. That last day of the season I thought was a really good day for him.

But to kind of fine-tune some things, certainly results matter, so kind of hit some barrels, swing at strikes, take balls certainly is going to carry over our expectation as it will.

Gavin, I trust him. He looks over the baseball really well, identifies striking balls. For him to get a big hit early, I think that's something that, for a younger player, that momentum is a good thing.

Thanks, guys.