NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 15, 2022

Dave Roberts

Petco Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Padres 5, Dodgers 3

Q. What was the message to the guys in there, and what's the shock factor for you?

DAVE ROBERTS: Shock factor, very high. Disappointment, very high. It's crushing.

Each guy gave everything they had all year long, and a tremendous season. The great thing about baseball is the unpredictability, and the tough thing about it is the same thing.

Things could have gone either way today to impact the result of the game. It didn't. We got beat in a series.

Nothing I can say is going to make it feel any better. Obviously we didn't expect to be in this position.

Q. Just to go through the seventh inning, first when Kahnle is struggling and you go to Yency, was Evan available there? Were you trying to save him for later in the game?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, in the seventh inning he was going to finish the game for us. Martin came in in the sixth inning and got through that, so at that point in time where they were at in the order, we felt that Yency was the right guy there. And having more right-handers than left-handers and having Phillips at the back end to finish the game with potentially left and right-handed hitters, we felt good about that.

He gave up a ground ball that got by Max and then a base hit to Soto and a punch and a pop-up.

I feel good about Yency, and then again, the ground ball, Muncy could have fielded it, could have been a double play. It wasn't to be, and that's baseball.

Q. What happened with the pitching change between him and Alex?

DAVE ROBERTS: Oh, so he was supposed to throw over to get -- at that point in time, I just felt that Alex was there to get the left-hander. We missed a throw-over to buy a little bit of time, so Alex inherited a 1-0 count, and I still liked the matchup right there. Cronenworth put a good swing on the 2-2 pitch.

Q. He wasn't up when Machado -- at the plate and Cronenworth was two batters later, did he not get up --

DAVE ROBERTS: No, he was ready. I just wanted to buy a little bit more time. And that was the thought. I'm not going to put a pitcher in there who doesn't say that "I'm ready to go." He was ready, I was just hoping it was going to be 0-0 just to make sure we felt good about it.

But coming into the game, the stuff was as good as it's been, and he got ahead in the count, or 2-2, and again, Jake made a good swing on a 2-2 slider.

Q. How did the throw-over sign get missed?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was just kind of all that stuff going on, I don't know how it got lost in translation.

Q. Is that something you call for, like you signal in there?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, we have signs to take him in. Again, whether it was 0-0, it was 1-0, which it was, I still like Alex there to get the out, to keep it at 3-3.

Q. How fast did that inning just kind of change, especially when you go in up three and then you get guys on base? As you're going through that inning, what did it feel like in the moment and kind of how hard was it to respond after you go behind in that kind of --

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, to start the inning, I don't expect to have Yency taking down the fourth hitter of the inning, but there was a walk in there. There was a single in there, and then there was another kind of block single, that seeing-eye single off the glove of Freddie.

At that point in time we had to get somebody to get the right-hander, and the chance for a punch-out right there to get an out where Tommy has been more effective versus left-handed hitters.

But looking at who that part of the lineup was coming up, Yency was the guy right there.

Q. Not to stay on the pitching stuff for too long, but any consideration of letting Anderson get the sixth?

DAVE ROBERTS: There was some thought, but I thought where he was at with his pitch count, who was coming up, I just felt that we had enough arms to get through that.

With a 2-0 lead, Soto, Machado coming up again, I just felt that he's going to be in the 90s at that point in time, I felt that we had enough coverage.

Q. When you say you saved Phillips for the ninth, is that a decision you made going into the game or during the game when you see how it's playing out?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's more of considering where we were at in the game and who was coming up, we felt good with the hitters coming up that Yency could take those guys down.

Q. How much did all the missed chances at the plate, especially in the top half of that inning, kind of loom over everything that happened?

DAVE ROBERTS: It ended up costing us. There was an opportunity to tack on, and we couldn't do that, and you saw those guys kind of being able to get hits with guys in scoring position to kind of scratch and claw back into the game and tack on.

We just couldn't do that.

Q. Is that Muncy at-bat against Hill kind of the one you look at?

DAVE ROBERTS: Hill is tough. Hill is tough. But Max was trying to put the ball in play, and it just didn't work out.

Q. How do you summarize this season? You have this great regular season, probably the best in franchise history, and obviously it ends after four games in the postseason. How do you summarize it?

DAVE ROBERTS: Hugely disappointing how it ended. I think that right now it just stings a lot more in the moment. I don't know how long it's going to take to sort of look back and appreciate what we did do.

But you've got to give the Padres credit. They outplayed us this series.

You've got to give them credit. So I think that I don't want to take anything away from those guys because they earned this series victory.

Q. Obviously people are going to talk about this layoff. They were playing, you weren't playing. Their bats were a bit hotter than yours. They weren't destroying you but they were hotter. Is that something that needs to be looked at? Is that a factor in this do you feel?

DAVE ROBERTS: You know, I think that's something that we could probably debate, but I think leading up to it, even right now, it's not something that we want to look at as an excuse. That's kind of the format the way it is, and you do the best you can in the regular season to put yourself in a position to get home-field advantage, to get the bye in the Wild Card round, and it's up to us to kind of prepare ourselves the best way we can to get through a Division Series, and we didn't.

Q. On the regular season, sort of a follow-up, some fans who get a bit emotional, some fans who might say it was a wasted regular season, I'm sure you don't view it that way, but how are you going to respond to those people?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, there's certainly fans that are going to think it was a wasted season. I don't think there's anybody in our clubhouse, in uniform or with the Dodgers, that feels that way. But every person has their opinions, which they're entitled.

Again, this hurts everyone because we didn't accomplish our goal, and that's the bottom line. Yeah, this one hurts.