MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 26, 2024

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Dave, with what you've seen from Yoshinobu this postseason, what excites you for what he could bring for this first World Series start?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think the thing that excites me is his temperament, poise, the ability to control his emotions and still make pitches.

Yeah, first World Series appearance, and he'll be ready.

Q. Last night after you got home, did you watch a replay? Did you savor it? Did you have trouble sleeping? Was the adrenaline still going?

DAVE ROBERTS: I did. Actually, I did. I got home, and then my wife, my son, my mother-in-law, we did some replay thing that you can do that I don't know how to do. My son put it up, and you can kind of watch the quick highlights. So I saw all that stuff. It was pretty spectacular, very spectacular, yeah.

Q. Dave in the ninth inning there when you chose to walk Soto -- and obviously it's a pretty tough gauntlet to navigate -- how are you factoring where you're picking your poison between those guys? And how much does it being left, right, right influence your decisions in that setup?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's certainly a pick your poison type of situation. I think I've got to kind of weigh the moment, today's game. That's why I sort of thought about potentially shorten Kopech a little bit on his pitch count to have him ready, feeling frisky for tonight's game.

The particular matchup, I just felt right there the game was on the line. And it certainly wasn't ideal to have Blake do an up-down in Game 1, but I just felt that was the game for me at that point in time. So that was kind of the thought. It never feels good to walk to get to Judge.

Q. Dave, it's one thing to come home and have your moment and wake up and say it's just another day. How do you take the temperature amongst your guys, though, and say, hey, that was historic last night, but we've got this Game 2. Here's what we're doing.

DAVE ROBERTS: So I've made my way around guys. We celebrated the heck out of last night, as I thought we should have. But today it's a new day, and guys are back to work.

I do think there's some kind of momentum, excitement that will carry over to tonight's game, but as far as just sitting back on last night's game, that's over.

Q. Do you know what you're going to do with your pitching plans for Game 3 and 4?

DAVE ROBERTS: Walker will start Game 3.

Q. What led to going with Walker in Game 3 as opposed to a bullpen game or vice versa?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it's just we love Walker in big games. The road isn't going to faze him. It also allows him potentially to be available for a Game 7 too.

Q. With Treinen last night in the tenth, were you surprised how well they ran the bases against him? Is that something where he has to be quicker to the plate in those spots?

DAVE ROBERTS: Wasn't surprised. You're just trying to weigh the fact that if Blake's a 1-2 to the plate, his stuff could take a -- could fall back, come back. I just think we can't give up the stolen base to Jazz to go to third base. That's the one that really was costly.

Blake's a guy that people run on, but we've got to still manage that a little better, yeah.

Q. Was Gavin okay after he slipped going around?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, he was good. I just felt that -- after taking his at-bat, I kind of -- still trying to make sure Gavin gets to the next day feeling good, a potential bang-bang play at home. There was also with the left-hander coming in, if there was an opportunity for CT to steal third base, I thought he was a much better candidate. All that was kind of my decision.

Q. You got some good work in the middle there from Graterol and Vesia. You don't have Phillips, obviously, but what do Graterol and Vesia bring, and what makes them effective?

DAVE ROBERTS: What they bring is experience. They're both neutral guys. It's a different look as far as Graterol. It's a hard cutter. It's a boring sinker. So that's sort of different than most of the guys.

With Vesia, again, he's a neutral guy. He fills up the strike zone, and he's an uncomfortable at-bat for both sides of the plate.

Q. Just quickly, with Freddie Freeman how different does it feel managing him this series compared to the CS and the DS? Just having those five days off and what you're seeing even him running the bases yesterday, he seemed to be, yes I'm sure in some pain, but he just looked more comfortable.

DAVE ROBERTS: There's still a lot he incurred as far as stuff last night. There's some soreness today, but yeah, I think that I was on pins and needles each game in the DS and the CS. So I do feel that we're in a better spot and just hopeful we can just get through tonight to then get to that off day.

Q. It seemed like Jack was kind of like shaking his leg there that pitch right before the Stanton home run. Is that something that may be part of why you pulled him after that first pitch to Jazz?

DAVE ROBERTS: There's a little -- his hamstring tightened up a little bit. I don't think it's going to be a big deal, but that's why he was shaking his leg, yeah.

Q. And then you guys have had stretches over the last couple years where you guys have not been as good against left-handed pitching, and now I think you have the best OPS against lefties in baseball this year. What do you think has allowed this lineup to maybe be better against lefties?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I think that the guys that we put on the roster, that we compose this roster, there's guys that are supposed to hit lefties. Their career track record speaks to that. And they've just performed.

I think with baseball at any point in time you can kind of struggle, and that's part of hitting is hard. But Teo's been good, Will Smith has been good. Obviously Tommy has been a good addition against left-handed pitching. And Freddie and Shohei just sort of hang in there, and Mookie's been good.

On paper -- which we all know you don't play on paper -- we line up. We've still got our work cut out tonight. It's going to be heavy velocity and then breaking balls down below. If we're good in the strike zone, we should have a good night.

Q. Which of your teammates back in the minors first named you Hit Doctor, and who shortened it to Doc?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think it was a guy named Mac White, South Carolina Gamecock. We played together our first year in Jamestown.

Q. Did he do both or did he do Hit Doctor?

DAVE ROBERTS: I know that's where the name Doc came from. I probably self-proclaimed myself the hit doctor, I guess.

Q. Really you've been involved in two of the greatest games in history against the Yankees, 2004 and this one last night. How do the two compare?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's different. It's different from two different vantage points, one being a player, one being a manager. I just think that -- gosh, man, that's a good one. I think for me just World Series Game 1, where we were at, this is probably -- it's right up there. But I might give this one a little nod. They both feel great.

Q. You do realize that most of the great games in baseball history involve the Yankees and the Dodgers or both?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I do, I do. That's just two huge markets, great players, and obviously which creates great moments, absolutely.

Q. Can I ask about Graterol's bare-handed play and what it says about his composure, mind state to make a play like that in that situation?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I'm happy he made the play. It wasn't Tom Emanski-esque, but I'm happy he made the play. He's very comfortable feeling his position however he goes about it.

Q. Dave, we haven't seen the lineup, I know you said Kiké is going to play. Is he at second? Is that your plan?

DAVE ROBERTS: Kiké is at second. Tommy will be in center. Miggy Ro will be at short.