NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: METS VS DODGERS

October 18, 2024

Dave Roberts

Citi Field

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 5 Press Conference

Mets - 12, Dodgers - 6

Q. What did you see out of Flaherty and what went into the decision to leave him in as long as you did in that third inning?

DAVE ROBERTS: He wasn't sharp, clearly. He's been fighting something. He's been under the weather a little bit. So I don't know if that bled into the stuff, the velocity. I'm not sure. I haven't talked to Jack.

Right there, looking at the game, we have five leverage innings, and so a couple of guys were down, Casparius and Henriquez, so essentially you essentially have five leverage innings. You're talking, we're down 3-1 at the time and you can't cover the game with leverage and being down.

So you're trying to get some outs. And after the walks in that third inning and then Marte, you're still at that point trying to cover seven innings.

So he gives up the double. And so for me at 5-1 I'm not going to deploy our leverage guys knowing there's a cost on the back end and appreciating the fact that there's still more baseball to play in the series.

So those are thoughts that went through my head. But I think for me, I have five leverage guys that I wanted to make sure that you gotta deploy at the right time.

Q. Is the situation one, very sickly, given how the limited number of innings you've been getting out of your starters, the limited number of leverage relievers, that you can't use any of those guys basically if you're not ahead or maybe tied?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's not always fun when you're going through it, certainly from anyone's chair, certainly my chair. But you have to kind of remain steadfast in how you use your pitchers because ultimately it's about winning four games in a seven-game series.

When you're careless, then it will show itself at some point, certainly in a long series.

In that point, you know, with our leverage guys, mainly Blake and Evan, it's just not responsible in that point of the game, for me. So Honeywell did a fantastic job saving everyone and knowing we've got a bullpen game coming in Game 6 as well. There's that part of it.

Q. Pages, how encouraging was it to see that. And I think Manaea got him out a couple of times last time, but do you expect him to be in the lineup in Game 6?

DAVE ROBERTS: I expect him to be in there, and he took great at-bats. So I think for us obviously seeing all their guys, it was a must-win for them. Getting those guys extended, Díaz in there for two innings, all that stuff certainly matters.

But obviously, with Andy, his game allowed for Peterson to go a little bit shorter, which was great.

Q. Jumping on an earlier question, you know what your offense is capable. You know how their bullpen is a bit short. How painful was it for you to have to maintain that discipline tonight?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's tough. And I wish I could predict Andy's going to hit two homers tonight. But if you can kind of think through the game as I do, left with three innings potentially of low-leverage guys, you're still in a position and you're not certain how the game's going to play out. But you do know that there's a cost for the ensuing games.

I think those are bets that I've got to make and watch the game. But it was good to see our guys fight back. Certainly offensively we're in a really good spot.

Q. I want to ask what you're seeing out of Freddie. And given he's trying so hard, but is there a thought that maybe at this point it's just not as effective as you'd like it to be and he might have to sit out for Game 6?

DAVE ROBERTS: I'm going to have a conversation with him tomorrow. But I do think that his swing is not right. I'm certain it's the ankle. We'll have that conversation, but it's certainly an option to not have him in there for Game 6, yes.

Q. It seemed like there were a couple plays there in the early innings where Mookie Betts was having a bit of an adventure out in right field. I'm thinking the Lindor triple and the Winker hit. Did you see anything that was off about those?

DAVE ROBERTS: I thought on the one, I thought it should have been a glove play and I think he tried to bare hand it, took his eye on the ball, which allowed for one of those guys to score -- instead of securing it, getting the ball in the infield.

I don't recall the other one, exactly. But, I mean, he's as good as they get out in right field, but certainly I know the bare-hand play it's got to be made cleanly, and gotten it back in the infield, for sure.

Q. You talked this morning about the importance of scoring first. Looked like in the first inning you had it set up the way you wanted it.

DAVE ROBERTS: We did. We did. Infield back, corners in, that's the situation that Shohei's got to go on the ball in the middle of the infield. I think he just locked up there. It's no excuse. But I do think that there's some momentum part of it where they ended up getting out of that first inning and allowed to build some momentum as opposed to getting a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.