NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 7, 2023

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Diamondbacks - 11, Dodgers - 2

Q. Just kind of how tough was that first inning? And what did you see out of Kershaw?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it was a tough one. I think that obviously they took a lot of good swings. It seemed like they were on everything he threw up there. There was, I think -- the Pham ball was down below and he scooped it, but outside of that I think balls were just up and good pitches for them to hit. They didn't miss them.

Outfield grass and obviously threw a 3-2 slider to Moreno, and that was the big hit of the inning.

Usually Clayton does a great job of controlling, managing damage. And tonight unfortunately we didn't do that.

Q. How deflating is a moment is that or shocking?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was more shocking, I think, that those guys certainly had a great game plan tonight and they executed it. We just never really had a chance to get to Kelly, and pitching with a good-sized lead.

And he was attacking us and making us put the ball in play and we just couldn't do it.

I think if you look at it from my perspective, we're going to come out there on Monday and expect to win a ball game, and didn't use our highest leverage relievers. We've got Bobby going, and it's going to be a good one.

Q. You spent a lot of time talking about how you want to be able to move past what happened last year. When you look at what happened to the offense last fall, did you see anything similar tonight? Does that carry over in the guys' minds?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't think so. Some of the guys are the same guys. Some guys are different. The irony is that last year we won the first game and then didn't win a game after. So hopefully that script flips.

But as far as offensively, I just thought that you gotta give Kelly some credit, making pitches. We just couldn't really mount anything together. I don't know the correlation, really, from last fall to tonight.

Q. Is there anything physically wrong with Kershaw more than he's been dealing with?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, no. I thought tonight, if you look at the stuff, the velocity, I thought you didn't get too much of a look at him, but I thought the stuff was good. Just some mistakes that they capitalized on.

Q. Does this change or effect at all any plans for like when he pitches next?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, no it doesn't. I think that if you look at it, he's going to pitch Game 4. So that's kind of, I'm sure that's where his head's at.

Q. Getting back to the playoff format, basically, I think, three of the four home teams lost tonight, and the three teams that had 100 wins lost tonight. It's getting to be kind of a pattern now of these playoffs. What do you think about that? You're kind of like a victim of what's going on around the rest of baseball.

DAVE ROBERTS: It's one of those things. This is the constructs, the structure of the playoff format. And so for us to sit here and complain about five off days, it's just not going to serve much purpose.

But our guys are conditioned to play every day. And so when you have a respite like that, it's different. So as a preparation, as a staff, you try to simulate as much as you can, and I think that all those managers were doing the same thing.

But there's no -- you just can't simulate real postseason baseball. So no excuse. We still have to go out there, and like I said before, these are the constructs. We've got to play within them. And we've got to regroup on Monday and be ready to go. I think your point's fair, but certainly viewership is great. And I think that I guess matters to some people.

Q. The D-Backs have scored 22 runs in 27 innings. They've got to Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams, now Kershaw. What are they doing from your vantage point to be so successful?

DAVE ROBERTS: They win pitches. I don't think they punch much. They just put the ball in play. When you make a mistake, there's some slug in there. They're not essentially built on slug, but those guys can still hit the ball in the ballpark.

And I think right now they've clearly had a great game plan for the Brewers, and they came with a good plan tonight and executed it. And that's part of the game.