NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 11, 2023

Dave Roberts

Chase Field

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Diamondbacks - 4, Dodgers - 2

Q. Just how disappointing is it for your season to kind of end this way and what's the tone over there in that clubhouse right now?

DAVE ROBERTS: Before I answer the question, I just want to say I just want to congratulate Torey, Mike, the entire Diamondbacks organization. Those guys, Torey had those guys ready to play.

You look at the game, the series, they outplayed us, and there's no other spin to it. And I tip my hat to those guys and wish them well.

As far as our clubhouse, it's just a lot of disappointment. And I believe in every one of those guys. With baseball, that team over there outplayed us. I just really don't know what to. I can answer questions about the game itself, but the bottom line is that they outplayed us in every facet of the game.

Q. What do you think happened to Lance in that inning? And was there consideration to come out and get him after one of the earlier home runs, or how did that play out?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, you know what, I thought -- he threw two scoreless and was doing well, and then he gives up the homer to Perdomo. And then gets the grounder and the Marte homer. You're still in the third inning, 2-0, then he gets Pham on a 6-3, 4-3, something like that.

You've got two outs and a low-pitch count, and you figure that this run of right-handed hitters, you've got to be able to navigate it somewhat with two outs, nobody on base. Then two homers later you're down 4-0.

I had some guys ready. Obviously I can't predict the future. I try not to be reactionary and get ahead of things. I just can't predict the future. The way he was throwing the baseball, I didn't expect that.

Q. With the offense, it seemed like there were some hittable pitches from Pfaadt early and you guys expanded the game. Was that the theme of the series not capitalizing on the ones you could hit?

DAVE ROBERTS: If you look at both offenses, yeah. I'm sure you guys can go back and look at balls in the strike zone and what they did for them and balls in the strike zone and what we did with them.

That's part of the game when you're seeing good pitching. But when you get balls to hit and slug, the team that does it is more likely going to win. And that's what happened in this series.

Q. Back-to-back years, really good regular seasons, an early exit. I know playoff baseball can be a crap shoot, but does it feel like there's something that's been missing in these postseasons, something about this format, environment that you guys have struggled with the last couple of years?

DAVE ROBERTS: Honestly, I can't even -- there's some things with the format that people can dissect or whatever, but the bottom line is that the last two years we've got outplayed in the postseason.

It doesn't matter if it was a seven-game series, we lost the first three games. For me, I've got to do a better job of figuring out a way to get our guys prepared for the postseason. I'll own that.

I think we've got great players. I've got to figure out a way to get these guys prepared for whatever format, whatever series.

Yeah, the regular season, I think we do a great job. But the last couple of postseasons it just hasn't gone well for us and so I've got to figure it out.

Q. QUESTION; jumping off of that, you guys are 1-6 against the Padres and Diamondbacks in the last two postseasons, and you beat those teams by a combined 38 games during the regular season. How does that happen? How do you explain it? What changes?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't know the answer, and it's ironic that these are teams that we're very familiar with, to your question.

And so why, you get in a series and it gets flipped on its head, I just don't know that answer. The easy answer is, like I said earlier, they just outplayed us. Their starters went deep.

They got leads and we were playing from behind the whole series and their offense was better. Regardless of who you play, if you're getting beat on those facets of the game, you're just not going to win. I don't know the answer to that. I really don't.

Q. QUESTION; the ironic thing is that after last postseason, you came back and handled the Padres pretty well again as usual during the regular season.

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, yeah, but it doesn't answer the question of the postseason. We're going to kind of regroup, obviously, and it's going to sting watching the postseason. But I'm a baseball fan first so I'll be watching.

But this feeling -- it's a tough feeling and we've got to find a way to get back up and not feel sorry for ourselves and get better. That's just the only option.

Q. QUESTION; how do you explain 1-for-21 out of Mookie and Freddie?

DAVE ROBERTS: You know what, I know that those guys are prepared. Those are our guys, two great players. It's one of the things that baseball -- I don't have an answer, I really don't.

Q. QUESTION; when did Caleb get up in the third? When was he ready? And did you consider any four-corners offense, trying to stall things maybe to get Lance out of the game quicker and give you more time?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, because Caleb came in and his run was essentially going to be at Thomas. So to have a guy that, in Lance, if there was anything, if I could have predicted the future, to have a right-hander the second time through. Lance faced 14 hitters.

To have Caleb come at Pham or Walker or Gurriel or Moreno, that wasn't going to happen. Just what I saw I had to get him out of there and get Fergy on Gurriel who ended up hitting the ball hard but got out of that inning.

I think sometimes you've still got to trust the players to go out there and execute. And so just tonight we just didn't get that start.

Q. What did you like going with Barnes over Peralta in that at-bat?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think just for me, it was a situation we needed to get a hit. And I just think with the left-on-left, the ball going away from him, it's a sinker. David has a tendency to put the ball on the ground.

Austin is a guy who has been in many postseasons, got huge hits for us. It was a chance to get a lefty -- a righty on the lefty. And he just expanded. It was a ball down below the zone and let him off the hook right there.