October 21, 2020 • 38 mins
Doug talks about Clayton Kershaw’s dominating win in game 1 of the World Series and why it’s time to drop the “playoff choker” label. MLB on FOX analyst John Smoltz joins the show to tell preview the remaining World Series games and if the Ray are prepared for a comeback.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gottlap Show podcast. Be
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fs are you're listening to Fox Sports Radio America Doug
(00:26):
Gottlieb Show. FU Sports Radio. What a great night in
uh in sports. I know that, like we don't try
and be fake about it in terms of how much
we follow baseball. John and I and and Dan as well.
Dan's a big Walka Brewer fan. Um, Ryan Music and
(00:47):
I are big Angel fans. Ramos is our resident Dodger
fans Robbot. So you bothered by the Dodger fever which
I have I have caught. I am not bothered by that.
If there's a term that we use, it's called I
shouldn't say bandwagon. That's if you want to jump on
the ride. Uh, it's all open, you know. Um, here's
(01:11):
what's interesting. Last night Clayton Kershaw pitched a gem. It
wasn't just that he only give up one run, which
was a solo home run. It was that he he
had swings and misses right a matter of fact, he
had eight strikeouts, six innings pitched, a complete and thorough
domination of the race. Now the Rays or not the
lineup of the Astros, which we last saw him in
(01:33):
a World Series against the Astros, it was it was
not good, or at least that's what we think. Here's
what I always find to be super super curious. Right
if I say Clayton Kershaw. For a long time, we
used to call him Clayton Manning, which I think is
probably the best nickname, right, Clayton Manning, because Peyton Manning,
(01:55):
though he has two Super Bowls, is known for being
a slightly above or a five D quarterback in the
playoffs as opposed to a well over five quarterback. Arguably
when he retired. This is what people forget that because
Brady has won Super Bowls recently, all of a sudden,
now it's Brady is the greatest of all time. There
was a good period of time there were Peyton Manning
was considered the best quarterback of all time. Clayton Kershaw
(02:17):
last night, six innings, pitch one er and run, eight strikeouts.
When I tell you that he has always been a
clutch pitcher. You're gonna sit there and go Sandalis Cardinals
or Astro's World Series. But I bet Dan Bayer knows
this one because he's a Brewers fan. Game seven, Game
(02:37):
seven of the NLCS, he came in to close out
the ninth inning. He got two strikeouts up in the
first game of the World Series against the Astros. We
focus on it was the game six, Game six, when
he got when he got shelled Team five, sorry when
he got shelled late in the game. But Game one,
seven innings, pitched one er and run against an amazing
(03:00):
lineup which most people believe had the goods on what
pitch was coming at them. I point to uh, there
was an n LDS Game four, a must win game
for the Dodgers back in two thousand fifteen. Ramos remembers it.
Seven innings, pitched one earned run. In Clayton Kershaw's playoff career,
(03:21):
he has thirteen starts thirteen where he has given up
two or fewer runs. He has only six starch where
he's given up five or more runs, and it's happened
every time he's made it to the fifth inning. So
so here's kind of the point. If you're nervous, if
(03:42):
you're a choker, it wouldn't you be super tight at
the beginning of some of these games, or wouldn't it
be every time you pick up the baseball in the
World Series. I'm not gonna argue that there have been
times in which he's gotten shelled, especially later in games.
It happened to Pedro. Marks remember Pedro Martina, Like everybody
has forgotten two thousand three Pedro because two thousand four
(04:05):
Dave Roberts tould the base and they had the greatest
comeback in the history of sports. Do you remember what
happened in two thousand three Pedro Martinez? His numbers changed
dramatically when he got over a hundred pitches. Grady Little
was his manager. They get through game, they get through
the sixth inning, the sixth inning with Pedro Martinez as
(04:25):
the starting pitcher, and he shakes everybody's hands and he
puts on the old starter jacket right, and then they
I think they added on a run in the sixth inning,
so they throw him back out there and he gets shelled.
Mark Pedro Martinez is I think, in arguably, but maybe arguably,
the best picture of my lifetime. That's how good Pedro Martinez.
(04:49):
Go back and look and remember what Pedro was doing.
He was doing during the height of the steroids era,
and I'd like to think he wasn't on it. But
even if he was, which I don't think, he's never
been mentioned, I find it hard based upon his body type.
But I put it past nobody. He was the best
picture of the steroid era, and the likely it is
(05:09):
he wasn't on the stuff, but as a great picture,
he would have this thing when you get to a
hunter pitches, he was hittable, and the same thing would
happen to Clayton Kershaw. He threw over two hundred innings
and then he get late into the game in the
NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second start,
and they get to the seventh inning or the sixth
(05:29):
inning and he gets shelled. And so I don't know.
If the Dodgers win the series, they're the prohibitive favorites,
it is still smart money to bet on the Rays
because the Rays, it seems like every dude they have
is six five to six eight and throws a hundred, right, Like, wait,
another guy throws a hundred. There's a righty that throws
a hundred. Now lefty that throws a hundred. Now ready
(05:50):
that throws a hundred. It's crazy, But have we gotten
to the place to where he can go? Like you
know what? Clayton Kershaw is the hell of a picture.
And as he had some as he had some moments
where he's throwing some pitches you'd like to take back
shore the Game five against the Astros. We don't know
if it's on the up and up there there's no
excuse against the Cardinals several times over, but he was
(06:12):
used a lot and it was late in games. And
I guess my biggest point is, if you really are
a choker, wouldn't have been nervous last night, or wouldn't
in two thousand seventeen Game one against the Astros, wouldn't
have been tight, wouldn't have been nervous and gotten Shelterer
walked a bunch of guys. Then it didn't happen, and
it didn't happen. So I'm not This is not Doug
(06:34):
Gottlieb telling you that you got it wrong about Clayton
Manning Clayton Kershaw, that he's not as good in the
postseason as he is regular season. I think that's fair.
I also think we can make that case about a
lot of star pitchers because they're used and overused during
the regular season and now the elongated postseason in order
to get to that place. It's funny, Mariano Rivera, would
(06:58):
anybody argue this is the greatest closure of our generation?
Maybe any generation? Is that? Okay, you're not. You're sitting
there driving your car, listen to Doug olip Shure, You're
not in your head. You're like, oh yeah, yeah, man, right.
The two that got away from the Yankees, whether it's
two thousand four against the Red Sox Mariano Rivera or
(07:19):
whether it was what was a two thousand and two
against the Arizona Diamondbacks marian Rivera. There have been Mariano
Rivera failings at at several times in his career, but
more often than not, Mo felt like he came through.
And I'm telling you more often than not, thirteen starts
to six starts and two remarkable World Series starts, closing
(07:44):
out of Game seven of the NLCS, I'm not telling
you the narrative that he's not as good in the
postseason as he is regular season is wrong, but I
think there's some context to it, and at some point
we just got to admit he's really, really good. But
the strike zone shrinks the players you're playing against the
best of the best, and he has been worn down.
(08:07):
And I think it's reasonable think he's human. He's not
a robot, but he's also not a choker. Part of
this is me personally cheering for Clayton Kershaw because he's
not been one of those guys that says, but, but,
but but but but but if I had better bullpen,
I wouldn't have stayed in as long all of those years.
(08:29):
But but but if you hadn't used me so much
in the regular season, but none of it. Last night
he was fabulous, absolutely fabulous by or where are you on? Um?
Where are you on? Clayton Kershaw? Um? I always I
always felt that it was a bit harsh for his
(08:50):
previous but I I mean, I just I think that
that he is he is great, and I think that,
you know, like when I think of post season and
pictures overall, you know, the most recently is Madison bum Gardner.
But when you compare like the two regular season, you know,
Kershaw is far and away. So I just I don't
think that I never thought that he was as bad
(09:11):
of a postseason picture as people felt. But I also
will say that I don't know if last Night will
change anything, because I do think that you kind of
need those Madison bum Gardner moments too really really change things.
So it's a little bit like the debates where people
are dug in on there I love Clayton Kershaw, Clayton
(09:32):
Kershaw as a choker, and even though there's new data
or a new argument to be made, you're like, yeah,
it's fine, I still know what I'm voting for. Yeah. Yeah,
And it was never that I was. I was never
anti Clayton Kershaw. I just don't think that the narrative
is going to change, you know, per se from a
Game one of a world series, like it would have
to be like, wow, Kurt, you know the Kershaw came
(09:52):
into you know sort of thing, if it, if it
happened the series to then change things. If he comes
back and he pitches another gem in the old series
and he closes it out, Let's say what is he
slotted for Game five? Let's let's say he's now there's
days off right, Let's Let's say he pitches Game five
and they win in five. Does that change it? Um, Yeah,
(10:13):
I I think slightly. I also think it would be
a World Series that maybe just kind of is forgotten.
This is the one thing about like with bum Gardner
situation with you know, him coming in in Kansas City
was it was a game seven, yeah, and you know
everything was on the line, and you're like, oh my goodness.
Even even in two thousand one with Randy Johnson coming
(10:37):
in for Arizona against the Yankees and pitching, like you know,
it's not that. It's not that Clinton Kershaw's efforts, if
he were to do that, were less than what Randy
Johnson did or what Medicine bum Gardner did. It's just
the situation, the height of the situation that ends up
allowing you to which is not fair. I I agreed
that it wouldn't be fair, but I just think that's
(10:58):
it's the reality. It's for whatever reason in our minds,
we believe that a Game five of the World Series
he has more pressure on it than a Game one
of a World Series, which you know, I look, I've
never played in the World Series, but I find that
one hard because that you want to win every game, right,
I like, well, look at I don't win this one.
(11:19):
We're okay, Like now, you know, and I understand when
you're elimination game, it's a little bit different. Um. But
And I'm not just trying to convince people. I'm not
sitting here trying to convince people that they've had it
wrong about him. I just think there's some context needed.
And there have been moments in which he stepped up
and made plays and been a lights out picture. And
last night was one of those moments. All right. Coming
(11:40):
up next, um to a tongue of Ioloa is the
new starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. But wait till
you hear some of the reaction, some of the kind
of surprising reaction out of out of Miami today, including
Ryan Fitz Magic Odd happy about being benched. Be sure
(12:02):
to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio. Ah app Um okay, listen, UM.
I was watching Um, I'm not gonna tell you which
show it was because it was on my network, but
I was watching a show and one of the talk
(12:29):
one of the Yakkers, as my friend Mike Tarico likes
to say, one of the Yakkers said, Baker Mayfield, I
go and I demand a trade. And I tweeted this
out yesterday, and I mean it look I well, what
I tweeted out was in no world of the Cleveland
Browns were four and two on the season, trading their
(12:50):
best wide receiver at four and two because they had
a bad game, and he's his feelings are hurt, right,
So I just people say crap on TV and some
on radio, where if you actually spend five minutes and
(13:10):
text some of your NFL friends, they'll go like, yeah,
that that's not even close to being accurate. So yeah,
I'm calling out dudes that make stuff up. I don't
most of what I say. All of what everything I say,
I believe, and many of the things that I say
i've especially about professional sports or teams that I don't
(13:32):
know a ton about. I run it by people who
really know, Like they might not agree, but like I
can see it that way if that's your opinion. It's
if it's a fact or I try and substantiate some rumors.
Um I thought that everybody was sort of on board
with the too a thing. That's the only reason to
(13:52):
make the to a thing happen now. Yesterday, to a
tongue of Iolo was named the starting quarterback of the
Miami Dolphins after just two passes thrown on Sunday to
blow out win over the Jets. An NFL executive to
Mike Sandos said, for this to make sense, there has
to be a skilled component where they feel Fits hasn't
(14:13):
played as well as they wanted him to and To
is clearly better than him. This was former NFL executive
Doug Whaley on the show yesterday giving his thoughts about
the decision to start to It's very curious to insert him.
Now you have a capable starter with Fitzpatrick, a very smart,
crafty bet that has accepted the role that he's the
(14:34):
place keeper. He could learn from that from Fits. That
type of stuff is invaluable. But with that said, there
must be something in practice that is making it undeniable
that he needs to be the starter, because if he
wasn't ready, those players in that locker room would let
it be known that this is not the right move. Well,
this is Ryan Fitzpatrick himself. Earlier today on a Zoom
(14:57):
call talking about getting bench this profession is int thing
and that I got basically got fired yesterday, and then
my day of work today consisted of me in zoom meetings,
listening to the guy that fired me, and then you know,
locked in a spaced out room, you know, with my
replacement for four hours today. So there aren't a whole
lot of jobs that are like that. Um an outlook
(15:20):
it it reads different than it sounds, right because when
you read that, you're like, man, that sounds super bitter.
He sounds a little bit matter of fact. All that said,
BOYD sure didn't feel like Ryan Fitzpatrick was totally on
board with the change being made. Now, fitz said, Uh,
here's another one. There's a lot of stuff going through
my mind yesterday. Is this it? I've been a starter,
(15:41):
I've been benched all kinds of different ways, but this
was kind of the first place other than Buffalo, I
feel I've been fully committed and invested. I felt like
it was my team. Um My guess is that I
maybe they saw some in practice, but fitz doesn't seem
(16:02):
to think so that there's something And we all know
that Ryan Fitzpatrick has his ceiling. Right. He starts out hot,
people figure him out, his arm starts to fade to
make him make throws he can't make. And now he's
thirty seven years old. It couldn't be any all that said.
All of that said, I would have thought that fits
his kind of persona, like, look, he's a fighter. You
(16:25):
don't last as long in the NFL unless you you
don't want to give up any sort of position. I
would have thought there would have been a different feeling
from the Zoom call today. Excited about to excited to
support him if they need me. I'm ready in the meantime.
I'm just But that was not what he said. He
was I'm not thinking about going in demand and get traded,
but I don't know if I want to play football
(16:45):
anymore because I've been playing good and this sucks. That's
a wow. I did not think those are the comments
that would come out of Miami today. And it leads
me to believe that it's not about practice. It's about
the Dolphins having it predetermined in their head that after
the bye week they wanted to to start like this
is their plan and they're going through it and I don't.
(17:07):
I don't. This is it's interesting. It's there's a little
bit of that with baseball, which is do managers come
in or front offices when they talk with managers come
in and have a plan, and then they don't adjust
to what is actually happening on the field, you know,
or basketball teams you know in the NBA, where they
take out their star players at the start of the
fourth quarter when sometimes the game says, leave your guys in.
(17:30):
That's what it now feels like in Miami that it
wasn't a practice thing. It was the Dolphins come hell
or high water out of the out of the bye week.
They're starting to a tongue of viola. Be sure to
catch the live edition of The Doug gott Leap Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific Doug Gotler Show,
Fox Sports Radio. UM. The crazy thing about John Smaltz's
he could tell as much about college basketball as he
(17:51):
could about Major League baseball. But he's been educating all
of us on what's going on in baseball. It's just
a it's a trade to listen to a guy who
really really has invested, use his own personal experiences, knows
all the players, tells you what's gonna happen before it happens.
I'm annoying watching the World Series now because like, why
do listen to what John Smalts has to say? Speaking
(18:12):
of what she joined us in the Doug Gottlieb Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Um, what was it like last night?
In a World Series where the places I don't know
a quarter full. It's a little weird because you've got
the combination of the fans and then the pumped in
noise and volume. But um, you know, in a in
a perfect world, I know it can't work this way.
(18:35):
It would be tremendous if baseball could go to a
neutral site and no travel for the World Series. I
think that the players enjoy it more, but the definite
differences the fans. There is so much more adrenaline and
pressure that can be put on when the home crowd
is doing their thing against the visiting team. So this year,
(18:56):
you know, you go from no fans to having some fans.
And the Braves Dodgers series was more of a Braves crowd,
and this one's more of a Dodgers crowd. And that
has a lot to do with obviously the the location.
But I just think some fans and and what they've
had is better than it's just so missed. I mean
(19:18):
the fans that make ours it's just so missed. And
working for Fox. One of the things that Fox is
famous for is those cutaways to the fans right with
a close up to the fans are just like gripping
something like that. You like the look on their faces.
I just paints the picture of what it's like. And
we we we think of you know, uh Orioles Yankees
(19:38):
was the kid's name in right field, that dead cat
right And then we've and Steve Bartman like fans have
become a side times parts of the game. Um, okay,
so Kerr show before last night, like, look, I love Kershaw. Um,
I'm you know, not just he has the same birthday
as my son. My son's left handed. I'm like that
guy is that you want to be as a picture.
(19:59):
He's never complain or pointed fingers when things have gone poorly,
but things at times have gone poorly for him in
postseason play heading into last night, if you gave your
honest evaluation of the postseason Clayton Kershaw, what would have been?
I would have thought he was going to be really
good this year. I really felt that the condensed season.
(20:20):
There's two halves to the postseason career of Clayton Kershaw.
It's the first half, dynamic, young going to carry the
club on his back and to pitch every third you know,
pitch three days rest. If he needed to come out
of the pen carry two forty innings in the regular season,
the young Kershaw could handle that. But what ends up
happening in the postseason, in my opinion, is sometimes the
(20:41):
Flucas thing happens and it gets you get blown away
by it, and I think instead of blowing it off,
Kershaw tries to go, in my opinion, twice as good
as he can be in the regular season. He can't
do that. No one can. It's the same with Glavin
and Maddox when they were so fine in their mchanics
and pitches in a regular season and they try to
(21:02):
be extra fine, extra good, and you just don't have
that ability. So I think with Clayton, sometimes I watch
the game and I see him give up a home
run or something happened and he looks almost shocked. Instead
of Okay, no big deal, let's go get the next one,
he's carrying a narrative. I felt unfairly on his back
(21:22):
for most of his career because of those three flukish
games that changed his whole postseason narrative, like the name
on your back has such an advantage until all of
a sudden you show a crack and then all of
a sudden the name on your back. The other team goes, well,
he's not superhuman. Now we can you know, maybe this
is the area we can get him. And so many
(21:43):
of those games individually, we're crazy on how they came
about that. It just built this what's wrong with Clayton
Kershaw narrative? And I'm telling you in the postseason, if
he can get to where I thought this year he's been, um,
he will get over that hump and never look back.
Even though that he's older and you can almost see
(22:03):
it at times starts to annoy him in in a
way where um, it's a no one wants to be
asked those questions constantly, like he could have four straight
Gate Great games in a row and have one clunker
and what is everyone gonna say? Well? Right? And so
that's what I love and hate about the postseason. I
(22:25):
love that every time I took them out, I had
a chance to answer those questions and not so much
in a great way. But what it brought out in
me was an ability to slow everything down. I had
the ability to go to the you know, mix and
match in the strike zone. And I think you've got
to embrace it so that you are are content in
(22:46):
your own skin that whatever happens, and just know that
you've got to treat it like a fluke. And so
I thought last night I saw something in the first inning,
looked a little tight, looked a little like maybe he
wasn't connected with his pitches. And that's why I said,
if he gets out the first he's got a cruise.
I've seen it too much. And he did, and he
gave up one on one home run, and that you
could just sense that that there was a sigh of
(23:07):
relief for him going Game one and and and maybe
you know, this helps him turn the corner. It's it's
interesting the power of the postseason. Of course, Cody Bellinger
had the big home run in Game seven against the Braves.
He had the home run last night. So if you
asked average fan Cody Bellinger, be like, oh, he's awesome,
he's amazing. He's the NLV Like he actually had a
bad year. But because of these massive, massive moments. Um.
(23:33):
But last night was in you know, like they've had
two nights in a row to kind of games in
a row where anything that could have gone their way,
with the exception of Bellinger dropping that ball laid seemed
to kind of go their way. Um. In your mind,
do things ultimately even out or is this some sort
of destiny for the Dodgers. Well, I really think the
(23:53):
Dodgers have put themselves in a position where I don't
mean this literally. They have so many choices that sometimes
you can get little too creative and a little too
smart and and and bring the other team back in
the fray if they stick to their process. And that's
why I thought the tournament format had a better It
(24:13):
was better for them because they they were gonna have
to use their depth. Even though they got down three
games to one, I felt like the depth was too
strong against the Braves, and it proved to be true.
But they put so much heat on the other team
offensively by either taking walks long at that that they
make you have to pitch perfectly against them. You can,
(24:33):
you can do it. You can beat this team, and
the and the Rays can certainly do that. But they're
gonna have to have five pieces pitch great what I mean,
the starter and four relievers, and I think that was
the format going in Game one didn't kind of go
that way. But I just I just think the Dodgers
in their philosophy offensively one through nine. You know, the
(24:56):
Rays don't get much out of the bottom of their order.
The Braves didn't get much out of the bottom of
their You can't say that for the Dodgers. They get
big home runs, they get big hits. It's a lengthy
order and there's no doubt that Mookie Betts is a
difference maker. I want to ask you about Mookie Betts. Um,
the conversation has started. Mookie Bets are Mike Trout? You're
you know, and I know they're a little bit different ages,
(25:18):
They're different players, different body types, different styles. You can
only pick one. Pick one. Yeah, that's a great question. Um,
you know, mainly the easy answer is Mike Trout. But
Mike Trott hasn't had a chance to get to the
postseason to see what he could do and carry a
(25:39):
club by himself. I mean, here's what I thought about
Mike Trott when he came into the league. He could
steal the base anytime you wanted. He could hit for power,
hit for average, and beat you with his defense and
his legs. I think the legs have been taken from
him because of the philosophy. And that's exactly what Mookie
Betts is minus a little bit of power. It's like
half one does in the other. I mean, you've got
(25:59):
to center few oder. Mookie bestt play center on any team,
but he's such a weapon because of what Bellinger can do.
Um It's it's really you're not gonna go wrong with either.
Bookie bet is gonna win an MVP. And we all
know that Trout could have had how many seventeen by now,
So it's a it's a great question, and it really
(26:20):
is more to do with if you need somebody to
carry a team, Mike Trout, if you need somebody to
be a difference maker in a team that's already really good.
I mean, Mookie Betts does that for the Dodgers. Yeah,
it feels like Mookie Betcher Mike Trout. The answers yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
John Smoltz joining us um Buck doing okay up there
(26:42):
like he's doing seven and seven days. I mean, granted, Uh,
he's not going through a terminal to fly and and
and I'm and I'm sure he's got food and makeup
and and he's sleeping in a really nice hotel room,
but how's he hanging in? You know, it's amazing. I'm
I'm blown away by I don't know that. I just
don't know many people that can do this transitional change.
(27:04):
And I'm the fly and and you know, I love
working with Joe and he makes my job so easy. Um,
I don't think, Um, I know, I couldn't do it
like that, but he's he's one of the best and
in it transitions like it's like he's been following both
all year long. And it really is amazing. Um and
(27:27):
I I marvel every time we get around this time
of the year when I see, uh, this is not
even not even close to the same sport. Like the
knowledge factor is is so different what you have to
have in football than in baseball. It's it's pretty crazy.
And the cadence is there. Like so many things, the
cadence is different. Obviously you're working with different people, not
(27:48):
just directors, but but but talent. You know, working with
Troy who's working for the year and now working with you.
It's it's it's it's just it's fascinating to see. And
those those really elite play by play guys are almost
all like men, some be. They're all crazy smart and
the stuff they can stack in their head is just
is remarkable. Um, let's say the Dodgers, it's let's say
(28:09):
it's close in these games. Any idea what they're gonna
do in the ninth inning because I've watched him all
year and I really don't know. Yeah, I don't think
it's I don't think it's cut and dry. I know
that there's been a nice bounce back by Kenley, and
that's great for the Dodgers. Just gives them more luxury.
And again it goes That's what I'm saying, It goes
to that luxury of options. The postseason provides moments that
(28:31):
for managers it is the difficult, most difficult thing to
do and not lose faith in your guy. I mean,
there only takes one bad outing and you go, oh,
now we've gotta pitch and man down. And they've done
that two different times with Kenley, and Kenley has come back,
been the ultimate team player and fixed whatever he's been
dealing with with his cutter, and it looks so much
(28:51):
better now and so that that's like adding a picture
again and then you'll see, you know, moments like last
night where a couple of pictures may not have it.
It is a difficult task managing a bullpen when you
have to manage a lot of pieces of it. But again,
the Dodgers have a lot of resources. Look what Washington
had to do last year. They basically had a three
man bullpen. They couldn't go to almost every guy, and
(29:15):
they were miraculously one of the World Series because their
starters were kind of mixed in and relief, they did
the unbelievable job. So, um, I know this about bullpenning,
and the Rays would love to mix and match and
get into a game where they get the lead it's over.
I mean, that's how good their bullpen has been and
they just need to lead by the fifth or sixth inning.
(29:37):
And we're talking about a totally different series. So this
World Series is going to be played shorter for the Dodgers,
and of course the Rays want to play it as
long as possible because they can lengthen a game with
their with their incredible arms. Yeah, remember minds of the
Cubs had basically three relievers. I don't know. Joe Madden
just stopped trusting his bullpen a couple of years ago
and they took seven games, but they won. Um. Last
(29:57):
thing you told and this is where I learned. Every
time I'm watching, I learned something about baseball. I didn't
know you were talking about how when you moved to
the bullpen. Then I think it was in the playoffs
you you had to throw extra innings and you were
just absolutely exhausted because the conditioning is so different having
done having done both, Um, which is harder. Back end,
(30:19):
back end of the World Series or front end. Yeah,
the back end, let me tell you. Let me tell
you that the difference in how we were able to
be reared up and do our job. We were trained
to throw to fifty and that was no big deal.
Two d fifty innings. Um, you trained like a marathon
and you just know that each game you're you're going
to pitch eight or nine innings. That's your mindset and
so your conditioned. Don't get me wrong. At the end
(30:40):
of when I head close to three innings, I was
gas tapped out. Lost that game one nothing to the
Yankee Sandy Pettit, I was done shoulder gun. But then
the year I had fifty five saves, and the year
that I pitched in the postseason the following year and
had three innings out of relief to win an elimination
game out of relief. I've never been so tired in
(31:03):
my life, and yet I would pitch eight or nine
innings on a regular you know, seven eight on a
regular basis. It's the training and the sprints that you
have to do and the adrenaline that gets to you.
And when you're forced to do something totally different out
of your conferm zone, it takes a while. It's an adjustment.
And so those guys that come in, even though it's
(31:24):
this is not this is a condensed version that bullpen
was gas for the raise going through that seven games
with the Houston Astros. They needed those two do off
days and maybe part of the reason why um Tyler
Glass now pitch so many, had so many pitches just
to give the rest of those guys one more day rest.
So it's an incredible mental So you get to the
(31:45):
postseason in the World Series, you have to play mental gymnastics,
not only with the narratives, that change. All they're done,
all they're back in it now this series is over,
you know, and that back and forth were are you out?
But it's also the way that you go about your
business and you're just getting up and down a lot.
So it's it's the adrenaline is awesome, but remember the
(32:06):
half that adrenaline is gone because the crowd's not there. Yeah,
you know, it's interest. That is a big thing. No, no,
no question. Especially you know when you when you get
when you're exhausted, you need it to kind of dial
it up, you know, the glass down thing. I mean,
as big as he is, and they seem that every
guy out of their pen is like six five and
above and just throws gas. It's interesting. Tom Holidays a
(32:26):
friend of mine. He was the head coach at Oklahoma
State when I was there. Of course his sons now
the head coach, and he told me he's like, look,
one of the big changes in baseball is he used
to put a big guy at first base and make
him to a power hitter. You know. Now now they're
all pictures and and that that's where is that? Is
that fair? Is that why we're seeing all these six
five and above tall drink of waters, come out just
throwing gas. Yeah, they're training. They're training these guys to
(32:47):
throw it through a brick wall. And and I'll tell
you never hop we see velocuity like this. But I
I still have a theory that it's gonna come around.
If you can train guys to throw a baseball in
a particular area and perfect that you're gonna be much
better than if you just throw a hundred a hundred
one in a big, big square box. I think that's
still the beauty of baseball is if you know where
it's going, you're gonna be real successful. If you're just
(33:10):
basically sw'aring back and letting it go, you're gonna be successful.
But I don't think it's long term, and I think
you can get away with it. And that's the way
baseball's tried to piece things together. Okay, you gave me four,
I'll get the next donkey in here throwing a hundred,
then the next guy throwing a hundred, and I'll just
piece it together like that. So that's the difference kind
of in today's baseball, where you know, you don't have
(33:30):
to be mechanically perfectly sound, you just have to be
built to throw a ball extremely hard. For example, the
last night kershaw an artist with what he was doing
with with less velocity as was the glass. Now who
can just who? Who just just guns it? Well, I
got a little lefty. Hopefully he's able to paint those corners.
We appreciate you join us, John, and uh continue great work.
We really appreciate your time. You got it my pleasure,
(33:53):
all right, John Smaltz Major League Baseball on Fox analysts
for the World Series and all the playoffs coming up next.
We've got a little real old news or fake news.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. I love this. Uh.
(34:15):
There's a kid named Miles Brown who was like fifteen
years old, who's on another show and they're asking him,
why do you think Lebron's the goat over Jordans? Like
I wasn't even alive when Jordan was playing the dumbest
conversation ever. We don't have dumb conversations. While we do sometimes,
let's get to a game. This is game time. Side
(34:38):
on the Doug Gottlieb Show Buyer by Doug, the game
today is real news? Fake news? Alright, Doug, real news
or fake news. That Jonah Ramos will be on next
hour to debate who's better, Jordan's or Lebron fake news,
that's fake news, although I'm watching the S commercial in
(35:00):
Jonah could clearly be on that. Alright, alright, now, let's
actually start this one out. Real news are fake news, Doug.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to keep the rule that
allowed a runner to be on second base when starting
extra innings. He wants to keep it for next season,
the regular season. Yes, yet it's real news. Spectac Yes
(35:21):
made the comments prior to yesterday's Game one of the
World Series. Also said, by the way, the second base
rule not happening in this postseason. But he also said
that expanded playoffs maybe not sixteen teams like they had
this year, but they'd like to expand the playoffs even more.
Um yeah, I mean I think they did it before
to get the Yankees and Red Sox always in. Unfortunately
(35:43):
Red Sox stunk and the Yankees didn't win to get
to the al C. Yes, but um yeah, like it's weird.
Baseball was so we didn't want to expand to the
wild card. Then they didn't like the wild card, and
then they change it again and had playing games. I
think this makes sense, Doug, Real News, your fake news.
Lakers for Lebron James says he has no dog in
the fight when it comes to the World Series because
(36:03):
he roots for the Indians. Is that Real News are
fake fakeness, You are fake news. Now he's the Dodgers,
the Dodger. I was a lifelong Yay Yankee fan until
I moved to Los Angeles late in my career and
became well. And remember when the Indians played the Cubs,
he was all Indians and yeah, super Indian guy. I
tweeted last night one down, one down and then take down,
(36:25):
take more if he if he had those lawyers, then
you know, like he he takes more people than a
kid on at recess on Clayton Kershaw, Mookie bets the
Dodgers made up a hashtag onto the next one. I
think he's met any of those people. Maybe Mookie bets.
Real thws, your fake news, Doug. The NFL has many
(36:48):
contingency plans for the Super Bowl, including playing the game
in March. That's real news. They're real and they're spectacular.
Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy told Packer fans over
the weekend that they could move the Super Bowl back
as far as four weeks, saying, quote, obviously we'd prefer
not to do that, but you do have that flexibility
(37:10):
if we run into a number of outbreaks with different teams,
or if we have to kind of move the schedule back.
Smarts for Madness, the selections show leading into the Super Bowl,
the bad for basket. All of this is bad for
college basketball. Uh, it's a it's a shortened game time today.
Good job. This is game time on the dub Gottlieb Show. Um,
(37:37):
all right, come up next, we're gonna get into football,
specifically the Dallas Cowboys. Yesterday we talked about the Cowboys
and Mike McCarthy kind of reacted to this story today,
the story yesterday about culped players coming out and ripping
him saying the coaches aren't good at their jobs. We
do hear what what what Mike McCarthy had to say
in defense of Well, Mike McCarthy, But I I think
(38:00):
there's something more at play here, and it's the Cowboys
versus the Steelers a discussion next in the Dug Olip Show.
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gottlap Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every week day three to
six Eastern twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug got Leave Show
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the I Heart Radio app by searching
fs are you're listening to Fox Sports Radio America Doug
(00:26):
Gottlieb Show. FU Sports Radio. What a great night in
uh in sports. I know that, like we don't try
and be fake about it in terms of how much
we follow baseball. John and I and and Dan as well.
Dan's a big Walka Brewer fan. Um, Ryan Music and
(00:47):
I are big Angel fans. Ramos is our resident Dodger
fans Robbot. So you bothered by the Dodger fever which
I have I have caught. I am not bothered by that.
If there's a term that we use, it's called I
shouldn't say bandwagon. That's if you want to jump on
the ride. Uh, it's all open, you know. Um, here's
(01:11):
what's interesting. Last night Clayton Kershaw pitched a gem. It
wasn't just that he only give up one run, which
was a solo home run. It was that he he
had swings and misses right a matter of fact, he
had eight strikeouts, six innings pitched, a complete and thorough
domination of the race. Now the Rays or not the
lineup of the Astros, which we last saw him in
(01:33):
a World Series against the Astros, it was it was
not good, or at least that's what we think. Here's
what I always find to be super super curious. Right
if I say Clayton Kershaw. For a long time, we
used to call him Clayton Manning, which I think is
probably the best nickname, right, Clayton Manning, because Peyton Manning,
(01:55):
though he has two Super Bowls, is known for being
a slightly above or a five D quarterback in the
playoffs as opposed to a well over five quarterback. Arguably
when he retired. This is what people forget that because
Brady has won Super Bowls recently, all of a sudden,
now it's Brady is the greatest of all time. There
was a good period of time there were Peyton Manning
was considered the best quarterback of all time. Clayton Kershaw
(02:17):
last night, six innings, pitch one er and run, eight strikeouts.
When I tell you that he has always been a
clutch pitcher. You're gonna sit there and go Sandalis Cardinals
or Astro's World Series. But I bet Dan Bayer knows
this one because he's a Brewers fan. Game seven, Game
(02:37):
seven of the NLCS, he came in to close out
the ninth inning. He got two strikeouts up in the
first game of the World Series against the Astros. We
focus on it was the game six, Game six, when
he got when he got shelled Team five, sorry when
he got shelled late in the game. But Game one,
seven innings, pitched one er and run against an amazing
(03:00):
lineup which most people believe had the goods on what
pitch was coming at them. I point to uh, there
was an n LDS Game four, a must win game
for the Dodgers back in two thousand fifteen. Ramos remembers it.
Seven innings, pitched one earned run. In Clayton Kershaw's playoff career,
(03:21):
he has thirteen starts thirteen where he has given up
two or fewer runs. He has only six starch where
he's given up five or more runs, and it's happened
every time he's made it to the fifth inning. So
so here's kind of the point. If you're nervous, if
(03:42):
you're a choker, it wouldn't you be super tight at
the beginning of some of these games, or wouldn't it
be every time you pick up the baseball in the
World Series. I'm not gonna argue that there have been
times in which he's gotten shelled, especially later in games.
It happened to Pedro. Marks remember Pedro Martina, Like everybody
has forgotten two thousand three Pedro because two thousand four
(04:05):
Dave Roberts tould the base and they had the greatest
comeback in the history of sports. Do you remember what
happened in two thousand three Pedro Martinez? His numbers changed
dramatically when he got over a hundred pitches. Grady Little
was his manager. They get through game, they get through
the sixth inning, the sixth inning with Pedro Martinez as
(04:25):
the starting pitcher, and he shakes everybody's hands and he
puts on the old starter jacket right, and then they
I think they added on a run in the sixth inning,
so they throw him back out there and he gets shelled.
Mark Pedro Martinez is I think, in arguably, but maybe arguably,
the best picture of my lifetime. That's how good Pedro Martinez.
(04:49):
Go back and look and remember what Pedro was doing.
He was doing during the height of the steroids era,
and I'd like to think he wasn't on it. But
even if he was, which I don't think, he's never
been mentioned, I find it hard based upon his body type.
But I put it past nobody. He was the best
picture of the steroid era, and the likely it is
(05:09):
he wasn't on the stuff, but as a great picture,
he would have this thing when you get to a
hunter pitches, he was hittable, and the same thing would
happen to Clayton Kershaw. He threw over two hundred innings
and then he get late into the game in the
NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second start,
and they get to the seventh inning or the sixth
(05:29):
inning and he gets shelled. And so I don't know.
If the Dodgers win the series, they're the prohibitive favorites,
it is still smart money to bet on the Rays
because the Rays, it seems like every dude they have
is six five to six eight and throws a hundred, right, Like, wait,
another guy throws a hundred. There's a righty that throws
a hundred. Now lefty that throws a hundred. Now ready
(05:50):
that throws a hundred. It's crazy, But have we gotten
to the place to where he can go? Like you
know what? Clayton Kershaw is the hell of a picture.
And as he had some as he had some moments
where he's throwing some pitches you'd like to take back
shore the Game five against the Astros. We don't know
if it's on the up and up there there's no
excuse against the Cardinals several times over, but he was
(06:12):
used a lot and it was late in games. And
I guess my biggest point is, if you really are
a choker, wouldn't have been nervous last night, or wouldn't
in two thousand seventeen Game one against the Astros, wouldn't
have been tight, wouldn't have been nervous and gotten Shelterer
walked a bunch of guys. Then it didn't happen, and
it didn't happen. So I'm not This is not Doug
(06:34):
Gottlieb telling you that you got it wrong about Clayton
Manning Clayton Kershaw, that he's not as good in the
postseason as he is regular season. I think that's fair.
I also think we can make that case about a
lot of star pitchers because they're used and overused during
the regular season and now the elongated postseason in order
to get to that place. It's funny, Mariano Rivera, would
(06:58):
anybody argue this is the greatest closure of our generation?
Maybe any generation? Is that? Okay, you're not. You're sitting
there driving your car, listen to Doug olip Shure, You're
not in your head. You're like, oh yeah, yeah, man, right.
The two that got away from the Yankees, whether it's
two thousand four against the Red Sox Mariano Rivera or
(07:19):
whether it was what was a two thousand and two
against the Arizona Diamondbacks marian Rivera. There have been Mariano
Rivera failings at at several times in his career, but
more often than not, Mo felt like he came through.
And I'm telling you more often than not, thirteen starts
to six starts and two remarkable World Series starts, closing
(07:44):
out of Game seven of the NLCS, I'm not telling
you the narrative that he's not as good in the
postseason as he is regular season is wrong, but I
think there's some context to it, and at some point
we just got to admit he's really, really good. But
the strike zone shrinks the players you're playing against the
best of the best, and he has been worn down.
(08:07):
And I think it's reasonable think he's human. He's not
a robot, but he's also not a choker. Part of
this is me personally cheering for Clayton Kershaw because he's
not been one of those guys that says, but, but,
but but but but but if I had better bullpen,
I wouldn't have stayed in as long all of those years.
(08:29):
But but but if you hadn't used me so much
in the regular season, but none of it. Last night
he was fabulous, absolutely fabulous by or where are you on? Um?
Where are you on? Clayton Kershaw? Um? I always I
always felt that it was a bit harsh for his
(08:50):
previous but I I mean, I just I think that
that he is he is great, and I think that,
you know, like when I think of post season and
pictures overall, you know, the most recently is Madison bum Gardner.
But when you compare like the two regular season, you know,
Kershaw is far and away. So I just I don't
think that I never thought that he was as bad
(09:11):
of a postseason picture as people felt. But I also
will say that I don't know if last Night will
change anything, because I do think that you kind of
need those Madison bum Gardner moments too really really change things.
So it's a little bit like the debates where people
are dug in on there I love Clayton Kershaw, Clayton
(09:32):
Kershaw as a choker, and even though there's new data
or a new argument to be made, you're like, yeah,
it's fine, I still know what I'm voting for. Yeah. Yeah,
And it was never that I was. I was never
anti Clayton Kershaw. I just don't think that the narrative
is going to change, you know, per se from a
Game one of a world series, like it would have
to be like, wow, Kurt, you know the Kershaw came
(09:52):
into you know sort of thing, if it, if it
happened the series to then change things. If he comes
back and he pitches another gem in the old series
and he closes it out, Let's say what is he
slotted for Game five? Let's let's say he's now there's
days off right, Let's Let's say he pitches Game five
and they win in five. Does that change it? Um, Yeah,
(10:13):
I I think slightly. I also think it would be
a World Series that maybe just kind of is forgotten.
This is the one thing about like with bum Gardner
situation with you know, him coming in in Kansas City
was it was a game seven, yeah, and you know
everything was on the line, and you're like, oh my goodness.
Even even in two thousand one with Randy Johnson coming
(10:37):
in for Arizona against the Yankees and pitching, like you know,
it's not that. It's not that Clinton Kershaw's efforts, if
he were to do that, were less than what Randy
Johnson did or what Medicine bum Gardner did. It's just
the situation, the height of the situation that ends up
allowing you to which is not fair. I I agreed
that it wouldn't be fair, but I just think that's
(10:58):
it's the reality. It's for whatever reason in our minds,
we believe that a Game five of the World Series
he has more pressure on it than a Game one
of a World Series, which you know, I look, I've
never played in the World Series, but I find that
one hard because that you want to win every game, right,
I like, well, look at I don't win this one.
(11:19):
We're okay, Like now, you know, and I understand when
you're elimination game, it's a little bit different. Um. But
And I'm not just trying to convince people. I'm not
sitting here trying to convince people that they've had it
wrong about him. I just think there's some context needed.
And there have been moments in which he stepped up
and made plays and been a lights out picture. And
last night was one of those moments. All right. Coming
(11:40):
up next, um to a tongue of Ioloa is the
new starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. But wait till
you hear some of the reaction, some of the kind
of surprising reaction out of out of Miami today, including
Ryan Fitz Magic Odd happy about being benched. Be sure
(12:02):
to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio. Ah app Um okay, listen, UM.
I was watching Um, I'm not gonna tell you which
show it was because it was on my network, but
I was watching a show and one of the talk
(12:29):
one of the Yakkers, as my friend Mike Tarico likes
to say, one of the Yakkers said, Baker Mayfield, I
go and I demand a trade. And I tweeted this
out yesterday, and I mean it look I well, what
I tweeted out was in no world of the Cleveland
Browns were four and two on the season, trading their
(12:50):
best wide receiver at four and two because they had
a bad game, and he's his feelings are hurt, right,
So I just people say crap on TV and some
on radio, where if you actually spend five minutes and
(13:10):
text some of your NFL friends, they'll go like, yeah,
that that's not even close to being accurate. So yeah,
I'm calling out dudes that make stuff up. I don't
most of what I say. All of what everything I say,
I believe, and many of the things that I say
i've especially about professional sports or teams that I don't
(13:32):
know a ton about. I run it by people who
really know, Like they might not agree, but like I
can see it that way if that's your opinion. It's
if it's a fact or I try and substantiate some rumors.
Um I thought that everybody was sort of on board
with the too a thing. That's the only reason to
(13:52):
make the to a thing happen now. Yesterday, to a
tongue of Iolo was named the starting quarterback of the
Miami Dolphins after just two passes thrown on Sunday to
blow out win over the Jets. An NFL executive to
Mike Sandos said, for this to make sense, there has
to be a skilled component where they feel Fits hasn't
(14:13):
played as well as they wanted him to and To
is clearly better than him. This was former NFL executive
Doug Whaley on the show yesterday giving his thoughts about
the decision to start to It's very curious to insert him.
Now you have a capable starter with Fitzpatrick, a very smart,
crafty bet that has accepted the role that he's the
(14:34):
place keeper. He could learn from that from Fits. That
type of stuff is invaluable. But with that said, there
must be something in practice that is making it undeniable
that he needs to be the starter, because if he
wasn't ready, those players in that locker room would let
it be known that this is not the right move. Well,
this is Ryan Fitzpatrick himself. Earlier today on a Zoom
(14:57):
call talking about getting bench this profession is int thing
and that I got basically got fired yesterday, and then
my day of work today consisted of me in zoom meetings,
listening to the guy that fired me, and then you know,
locked in a spaced out room, you know, with my
replacement for four hours today. So there aren't a whole
lot of jobs that are like that. Um an outlook
(15:20):
it it reads different than it sounds, right because when
you read that, you're like, man, that sounds super bitter.
He sounds a little bit matter of fact. All that said,
BOYD sure didn't feel like Ryan Fitzpatrick was totally on
board with the change being made. Now, fitz said, Uh,
here's another one. There's a lot of stuff going through
my mind yesterday. Is this it? I've been a starter,
(15:41):
I've been benched all kinds of different ways, but this
was kind of the first place other than Buffalo, I
feel I've been fully committed and invested. I felt like
it was my team. Um My guess is that I
maybe they saw some in practice, but fitz doesn't seem
(16:02):
to think so that there's something And we all know
that Ryan Fitzpatrick has his ceiling. Right. He starts out hot,
people figure him out, his arm starts to fade to
make him make throws he can't make. And now he's
thirty seven years old. It couldn't be any all that said.
All of that said, I would have thought that fits
his kind of persona, like, look, he's a fighter. You
(16:25):
don't last as long in the NFL unless you you
don't want to give up any sort of position. I
would have thought there would have been a different feeling
from the Zoom call today. Excited about to excited to
support him if they need me. I'm ready in the meantime.
I'm just But that was not what he said. He
was I'm not thinking about going in demand and get traded,
but I don't know if I want to play football
(16:45):
anymore because I've been playing good and this sucks. That's
a wow. I did not think those are the comments
that would come out of Miami today. And it leads
me to believe that it's not about practice. It's about
the Dolphins having it predetermined in their head that after
the bye week they wanted to to start like this
is their plan and they're going through it and I don't.
(17:07):
I don't. This is it's interesting. It's there's a little
bit of that with baseball, which is do managers come
in or front offices when they talk with managers come
in and have a plan, and then they don't adjust
to what is actually happening on the field, you know,
or basketball teams you know in the NBA, where they
take out their star players at the start of the
fourth quarter when sometimes the game says, leave your guys in.
(17:30):
That's what it now feels like in Miami that it
wasn't a practice thing. It was the Dolphins come hell
or high water out of the out of the bye week.
They're starting to a tongue of viola. Be sure to
catch the live edition of The Doug gott Leap Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific Doug Gotler Show,
Fox Sports Radio. UM. The crazy thing about John Smaltz's
he could tell as much about college basketball as he
(17:51):
could about Major League baseball. But he's been educating all
of us on what's going on in baseball. It's just
a it's a trade to listen to a guy who
really really has invested, use his own personal experiences, knows
all the players, tells you what's gonna happen before it happens.
I'm annoying watching the World Series now because like, why
do listen to what John Smalts has to say? Speaking
(18:12):
of what she joined us in the Doug Gottlieb Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Um, what was it like last night?
In a World Series where the places I don't know
a quarter full. It's a little weird because you've got
the combination of the fans and then the pumped in
noise and volume. But um, you know, in a in
a perfect world, I know it can't work this way.
(18:35):
It would be tremendous if baseball could go to a
neutral site and no travel for the World Series. I
think that the players enjoy it more, but the definite
differences the fans. There is so much more adrenaline and
pressure that can be put on when the home crowd
is doing their thing against the visiting team. So this year,
(18:56):
you know, you go from no fans to having some fans.
And the Braves Dodgers series was more of a Braves crowd,
and this one's more of a Dodgers crowd. And that
has a lot to do with obviously the the location.
But I just think some fans and and what they've
had is better than it's just so missed. I mean
(19:18):
the fans that make ours it's just so missed. And
working for Fox. One of the things that Fox is
famous for is those cutaways to the fans right with
a close up to the fans are just like gripping
something like that. You like the look on their faces.
I just paints the picture of what it's like. And
we we we think of you know, uh Orioles Yankees
(19:38):
was the kid's name in right field, that dead cat
right And then we've and Steve Bartman like fans have
become a side times parts of the game. Um, okay,
so Kerr show before last night, like, look, I love Kershaw. Um,
I'm you know, not just he has the same birthday
as my son. My son's left handed. I'm like that
guy is that you want to be as a picture.
(19:59):
He's never complain or pointed fingers when things have gone poorly,
but things at times have gone poorly for him in
postseason play heading into last night, if you gave your
honest evaluation of the postseason Clayton Kershaw, what would have been?
I would have thought he was going to be really
good this year. I really felt that the condensed season.
(20:20):
There's two halves to the postseason career of Clayton Kershaw.
It's the first half, dynamic, young going to carry the
club on his back and to pitch every third you know,
pitch three days rest. If he needed to come out
of the pen carry two forty innings in the regular season,
the young Kershaw could handle that. But what ends up
happening in the postseason, in my opinion, is sometimes the
(20:41):
Flucas thing happens and it gets you get blown away
by it, and I think instead of blowing it off,
Kershaw tries to go, in my opinion, twice as good
as he can be in the regular season. He can't
do that. No one can. It's the same with Glavin
and Maddox when they were so fine in their mchanics
and pitches in a regular season and they try to
(21:02):
be extra fine, extra good, and you just don't have
that ability. So I think with Clayton, sometimes I watch
the game and I see him give up a home
run or something happened and he looks almost shocked. Instead
of Okay, no big deal, let's go get the next one,
he's carrying a narrative. I felt unfairly on his back
(21:22):
for most of his career because of those three flukish
games that changed his whole postseason narrative, like the name
on your back has such an advantage until all of
a sudden you show a crack and then all of
a sudden the name on your back. The other team goes, well,
he's not superhuman. Now we can you know, maybe this
is the area we can get him. And so many
(21:43):
of those games individually, we're crazy on how they came
about that. It just built this what's wrong with Clayton
Kershaw narrative? And I'm telling you in the postseason, if
he can get to where I thought this year he's been, um,
he will get over that hump and never look back.
Even though that he's older and you can almost see
(22:03):
it at times starts to annoy him in in a
way where um, it's a no one wants to be
asked those questions constantly, like he could have four straight
Gate Great games in a row and have one clunker
and what is everyone gonna say? Well? Right? And so
that's what I love and hate about the postseason. I
(22:25):
love that every time I took them out, I had
a chance to answer those questions and not so much
in a great way. But what it brought out in
me was an ability to slow everything down. I had
the ability to go to the you know, mix and
match in the strike zone. And I think you've got
to embrace it so that you are are content in
(22:46):
your own skin that whatever happens, and just know that
you've got to treat it like a fluke. And so
I thought last night I saw something in the first inning,
looked a little tight, looked a little like maybe he
wasn't connected with his pitches. And that's why I said,
if he gets out the first he's got a cruise.
I've seen it too much. And he did, and he
gave up one on one home run, and that you
could just sense that that there was a sigh of
(23:07):
relief for him going Game one and and and maybe
you know, this helps him turn the corner. It's it's
interesting the power of the postseason. Of course, Cody Bellinger
had the big home run in Game seven against the Braves.
He had the home run last night. So if you
asked average fan Cody Bellinger, be like, oh, he's awesome,
he's amazing. He's the NLV Like he actually had a
bad year. But because of these massive, massive moments. Um.
(23:33):
But last night was in you know, like they've had
two nights in a row to kind of games in
a row where anything that could have gone their way,
with the exception of Bellinger dropping that ball laid seemed
to kind of go their way. Um. In your mind,
do things ultimately even out or is this some sort
of destiny for the Dodgers. Well, I really think the
(23:53):
Dodgers have put themselves in a position where I don't
mean this literally. They have so many choices that sometimes
you can get little too creative and a little too
smart and and and bring the other team back in
the fray if they stick to their process. And that's
why I thought the tournament format had a better It
(24:13):
was better for them because they they were gonna have
to use their depth. Even though they got down three
games to one, I felt like the depth was too
strong against the Braves, and it proved to be true.
But they put so much heat on the other team
offensively by either taking walks long at that that they
make you have to pitch perfectly against them. You can,
(24:33):
you can do it. You can beat this team, and
the and the Rays can certainly do that. But they're
gonna have to have five pieces pitch great what I mean,
the starter and four relievers, and I think that was
the format going in Game one didn't kind of go
that way. But I just I just think the Dodgers
in their philosophy offensively one through nine. You know, the
(24:56):
Rays don't get much out of the bottom of their order.
The Braves didn't get much out of the bottom of
their You can't say that for the Dodgers. They get
big home runs, they get big hits. It's a lengthy
order and there's no doubt that Mookie Betts is a
difference maker. I want to ask you about Mookie Betts. Um,
the conversation has started. Mookie Bets are Mike Trout? You're
you know, and I know they're a little bit different ages,
(25:18):
They're different players, different body types, different styles. You can
only pick one. Pick one. Yeah, that's a great question. Um,
you know, mainly the easy answer is Mike Trout. But
Mike Trott hasn't had a chance to get to the
postseason to see what he could do and carry a
(25:39):
club by himself. I mean, here's what I thought about
Mike Trott when he came into the league. He could
steal the base anytime you wanted. He could hit for power,
hit for average, and beat you with his defense and
his legs. I think the legs have been taken from
him because of the philosophy. And that's exactly what Mookie
Betts is minus a little bit of power. It's like
half one does in the other. I mean, you've got
(25:59):
to center few oder. Mookie bestt play center on any team,
but he's such a weapon because of what Bellinger can do.
Um It's it's really you're not gonna go wrong with either.
Bookie bet is gonna win an MVP. And we all
know that Trout could have had how many seventeen by now,
So it's a it's a great question, and it really
(26:20):
is more to do with if you need somebody to
carry a team, Mike Trout, if you need somebody to
be a difference maker in a team that's already really good.
I mean, Mookie Betts does that for the Dodgers. Yeah,
it feels like Mookie Betcher Mike Trout. The answers yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
John Smoltz joining us um Buck doing okay up there
(26:42):
like he's doing seven and seven days. I mean, granted, Uh,
he's not going through a terminal to fly and and
and I'm and I'm sure he's got food and makeup
and and he's sleeping in a really nice hotel room,
but how's he hanging in? You know, it's amazing. I'm
I'm blown away by I don't know that. I just
don't know many people that can do this transitional change.
(27:04):
And I'm the fly and and you know, I love
working with Joe and he makes my job so easy. Um,
I don't think, Um, I know, I couldn't do it
like that, but he's he's one of the best and
in it transitions like it's like he's been following both
all year long. And it really is amazing. Um and
(27:27):
I I marvel every time we get around this time
of the year when I see, uh, this is not
even not even close to the same sport. Like the
knowledge factor is is so different what you have to
have in football than in baseball. It's it's pretty crazy.
And the cadence is there. Like so many things, the
cadence is different. Obviously you're working with different people, not
(27:48):
just directors, but but but talent. You know, working with
Troy who's working for the year and now working with you.
It's it's it's it's just it's fascinating to see. And
those those really elite play by play guys are almost
all like men, some be. They're all crazy smart and
the stuff they can stack in their head is just
is remarkable. Um, let's say the Dodgers, it's let's say
(28:09):
it's close in these games. Any idea what they're gonna
do in the ninth inning because I've watched him all
year and I really don't know. Yeah, I don't think
it's I don't think it's cut and dry. I know
that there's been a nice bounce back by Kenley, and
that's great for the Dodgers. Just gives them more luxury.
And again it goes That's what I'm saying, It goes
to that luxury of options. The postseason provides moments that
(28:31):
for managers it is the difficult, most difficult thing to
do and not lose faith in your guy. I mean,
there only takes one bad outing and you go, oh,
now we've gotta pitch and man down. And they've done
that two different times with Kenley, and Kenley has come back,
been the ultimate team player and fixed whatever he's been
dealing with with his cutter, and it looks so much
(28:51):
better now and so that that's like adding a picture
again and then you'll see, you know, moments like last
night where a couple of pictures may not have it.
It is a difficult task managing a bullpen when you
have to manage a lot of pieces of it. But again,
the Dodgers have a lot of resources. Look what Washington
had to do last year. They basically had a three
man bullpen. They couldn't go to almost every guy, and
(29:15):
they were miraculously one of the World Series because their
starters were kind of mixed in and relief, they did
the unbelievable job. So, um, I know this about bullpenning,
and the Rays would love to mix and match and
get into a game where they get the lead it's over.
I mean, that's how good their bullpen has been and
they just need to lead by the fifth or sixth inning.
(29:37):
And we're talking about a totally different series. So this
World Series is going to be played shorter for the Dodgers,
and of course the Rays want to play it as
long as possible because they can lengthen a game with
their with their incredible arms. Yeah, remember minds of the
Cubs had basically three relievers. I don't know. Joe Madden
just stopped trusting his bullpen a couple of years ago
and they took seven games, but they won. Um. Last
(29:57):
thing you told and this is where I learned. Every
time I'm watching, I learned something about baseball. I didn't
know you were talking about how when you moved to
the bullpen. Then I think it was in the playoffs
you you had to throw extra innings and you were
just absolutely exhausted because the conditioning is so different having
done having done both, Um, which is harder. Back end,
(30:19):
back end of the World Series or front end. Yeah,
the back end, let me tell you. Let me tell
you that the difference in how we were able to
be reared up and do our job. We were trained
to throw to fifty and that was no big deal.
Two d fifty innings. Um, you trained like a marathon
and you just know that each game you're you're going
to pitch eight or nine innings. That's your mindset and
so your conditioned. Don't get me wrong. At the end
(30:40):
of when I head close to three innings, I was
gas tapped out. Lost that game one nothing to the
Yankee Sandy Pettit, I was done shoulder gun. But then
the year I had fifty five saves, and the year
that I pitched in the postseason the following year and
had three innings out of relief to win an elimination
game out of relief. I've never been so tired in
(31:03):
my life, and yet I would pitch eight or nine
innings on a regular you know, seven eight on a
regular basis. It's the training and the sprints that you
have to do and the adrenaline that gets to you.
And when you're forced to do something totally different out
of your conferm zone, it takes a while. It's an adjustment.
And so those guys that come in, even though it's
(31:24):
this is not this is a condensed version that bullpen
was gas for the raise going through that seven games
with the Houston Astros. They needed those two do off
days and maybe part of the reason why um Tyler
Glass now pitch so many, had so many pitches just
to give the rest of those guys one more day rest.
So it's an incredible mental So you get to the
(31:45):
postseason in the World Series, you have to play mental gymnastics,
not only with the narratives, that change. All they're done,
all they're back in it now this series is over,
you know, and that back and forth were are you out?
But it's also the way that you go about your
business and you're just getting up and down a lot.
So it's it's the adrenaline is awesome, but remember the
(32:06):
half that adrenaline is gone because the crowd's not there. Yeah,
you know, it's interest. That is a big thing. No, no,
no question. Especially you know when you when you get
when you're exhausted, you need it to kind of dial
it up, you know, the glass down thing. I mean,
as big as he is, and they seem that every
guy out of their pen is like six five and
above and just throws gas. It's interesting. Tom Holidays a
(32:26):
friend of mine. He was the head coach at Oklahoma
State when I was there. Of course his sons now
the head coach, and he told me he's like, look,
one of the big changes in baseball is he used
to put a big guy at first base and make
him to a power hitter. You know. Now now they're
all pictures and and that that's where is that? Is
that fair? Is that why we're seeing all these six
five and above tall drink of waters, come out just
throwing gas. Yeah, they're training. They're training these guys to
(32:47):
throw it through a brick wall. And and I'll tell
you never hop we see velocuity like this. But I
I still have a theory that it's gonna come around.
If you can train guys to throw a baseball in
a particular area and perfect that you're gonna be much
better than if you just throw a hundred a hundred
one in a big, big square box. I think that's
still the beauty of baseball is if you know where
it's going, you're gonna be real successful. If you're just
(33:10):
basically sw'aring back and letting it go, you're gonna be successful.
But I don't think it's long term, and I think
you can get away with it. And that's the way
baseball's tried to piece things together. Okay, you gave me four,
I'll get the next donkey in here throwing a hundred,
then the next guy throwing a hundred, and I'll just
piece it together like that. So that's the difference kind
of in today's baseball, where you know, you don't have
(33:30):
to be mechanically perfectly sound, you just have to be
built to throw a ball extremely hard. For example, the
last night kershaw an artist with what he was doing
with with less velocity as was the glass. Now who
can just who? Who just just guns it? Well, I
got a little lefty. Hopefully he's able to paint those corners.
We appreciate you join us, John, and uh continue great work.
We really appreciate your time. You got it my pleasure,
(33:53):
all right, John Smaltz Major League Baseball on Fox analysts
for the World Series and all the playoffs coming up next.
We've got a little real old news or fake news.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. I love this. Uh.
(34:15):
There's a kid named Miles Brown who was like fifteen
years old, who's on another show and they're asking him,
why do you think Lebron's the goat over Jordans? Like
I wasn't even alive when Jordan was playing the dumbest
conversation ever. We don't have dumb conversations. While we do sometimes,
let's get to a game. This is game time. Side
(34:38):
on the Doug Gottlieb Show Buyer by Doug, the game
today is real news? Fake news? Alright, Doug, real news
or fake news. That Jonah Ramos will be on next
hour to debate who's better, Jordan's or Lebron fake news,
that's fake news, although I'm watching the S commercial in
(35:00):
Jonah could clearly be on that. Alright, alright, now, let's
actually start this one out. Real news are fake news, Doug.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to keep the rule that
allowed a runner to be on second base when starting
extra innings. He wants to keep it for next season,
the regular season. Yes, yet it's real news. Spectac Yes
(35:21):
made the comments prior to yesterday's Game one of the
World Series. Also said, by the way, the second base
rule not happening in this postseason. But he also said
that expanded playoffs maybe not sixteen teams like they had
this year, but they'd like to expand the playoffs even more.
Um yeah, I mean I think they did it before
to get the Yankees and Red Sox always in. Unfortunately
(35:43):
Red Sox stunk and the Yankees didn't win to get
to the al C. Yes, but um yeah, like it's weird.
Baseball was so we didn't want to expand to the
wild card. Then they didn't like the wild card, and
then they change it again and had playing games. I
think this makes sense, Doug, Real News, your fake news.
Lakers for Lebron James says he has no dog in
the fight when it comes to the World Series because
(36:03):
he roots for the Indians. Is that Real News are
fake fakeness, You are fake news. Now he's the Dodgers,
the Dodger. I was a lifelong Yay Yankee fan until
I moved to Los Angeles late in my career and
became well. And remember when the Indians played the Cubs,
he was all Indians and yeah, super Indian guy. I
tweeted last night one down, one down and then take down,
(36:25):
take more if he if he had those lawyers, then
you know, like he he takes more people than a
kid on at recess on Clayton Kershaw, Mookie bets the
Dodgers made up a hashtag onto the next one. I
think he's met any of those people. Maybe Mookie bets.
Real thws, your fake news, Doug. The NFL has many
(36:48):
contingency plans for the Super Bowl, including playing the game
in March. That's real news. They're real and they're spectacular.
Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy told Packer fans over
the weekend that they could move the Super Bowl back
as far as four weeks, saying, quote, obviously we'd prefer
not to do that, but you do have that flexibility
(37:10):
if we run into a number of outbreaks with different teams,
or if we have to kind of move the schedule back.
Smarts for Madness, the selections show leading into the Super Bowl,
the bad for basket. All of this is bad for
college basketball. Uh, it's a it's a shortened game time today.
Good job. This is game time on the dub Gottlieb Show. Um,
(37:37):
all right, come up next, we're gonna get into football,
specifically the Dallas Cowboys. Yesterday we talked about the Cowboys
and Mike McCarthy kind of reacted to this story today,
the story yesterday about culped players coming out and ripping
him saying the coaches aren't good at their jobs. We
do hear what what what Mike McCarthy had to say
in defense of Well, Mike McCarthy, But I I think
(38:00):
there's something more at play here, and it's the Cowboys
versus the Steelers a discussion next in the Dug Olip Show.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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