October 31, 2024 • 36 mins
Doug recaps game five of the 2024 World Series, including the Yankees 5th inning collapse, Gerrit Cole's dominance, and the Dodgers coming out victorious in an all-time classic!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome back to the Dugout Podcast with me your host,
Doug mn Kavig. First off, congratulations Los Angeles Dodgers world champs.
That never gets old to hear, never gets old to
say congratulations to the Yankees for making it to the
World Series. I want to say Happy Halloween to everyone
(00:27):
out there. Happy Halloween. The Yankees dressed up as a
nineteen ninety six to two thousand Yankee team for four innings,
and then someone ripped their costume off in the fifth
and they became the Yankees of twenty twenty four and
reality set in and whila, we have one of the
(00:49):
most epic defensive disasters you'll ever see, and probably plays
you'll never see again. To start with, Garrett Cole is
an absolute savage, just a savage. His first four innings
were nothing more than perfection. I think we talked about
on this show about earning his pinstripes. I know what
(01:13):
happened later in the game, but to me, he had
the look of an absolute assassin last night. Four innings,
no hit ball crazy, I mean, nothing could phase him.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
It was epic.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I mean it was your watching the best in the
world when this team needed a most just.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Dominate first inning.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I always talked about survived the first inning in playoff games,
and we talked about Flaarty. I thought he was hurt.
I still think he is. I think it's a fatigue thing.
If you look back, his first starts have always been
a good one. His second start on normal rest in
every series has been not so great.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He couldn't put guys away.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Judge just the homer in the first and I said,
I texted Buddies, and I said, the only way the
Yankees lose this game is if the Yankees become the
Yankees on defense and they give it away. And sure
enough later on down the road we see that. But
great at bats, Soto as always, I mean, just constantly grinding,
(02:13):
Judge clicking on all cylinders. Now fastball Away takes it
the right you know, you just felt like, oh, this
could happen.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Right, this is going back to la.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You have the number one pitcher in the world of
the mound and you're rolling and everything's hunky dory. Freddie
Freeman drives a ball that's a home er in Dodger
Stadium and Judge runs and crashed into the wall. So
you're feeling as a Yankee fan, You're feeling like we've
got this right, and then the fifth inning rolls around
and disaster strikes.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You see plays.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
That arguably the people that made the mistakes might never
do again in their career. They might have not have
done it before that, and they probably didn't do it,
probably won't do it afterwards. You have Kiki Hernandez, who
will talk about later, who found his way to start
a lot of these innings single to write. Garrett Cole
(03:08):
had no hits going into the fifth inning. Kiki singles.
Then you get the every day running the mill fly
ball to center and Judge drops it. Like I said,
you might never see Aaron Judge drop that ball ever again. Ever,
that's I know, people in the stands or that's the
(03:29):
that's the dad that played high school ball. That's going on.
I wouldn't drop that. And I'm sixty eight years old,
you know. But you're not out there in Yankee Stadium
in the World Series. So that turns into you know,
first and second, and then you have the Vulpei ground.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Ball, that Will Smith ground ball, and the whole.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Not an easy play I think when if you see it,
Wellby picks it up and he has like all fingers
on it, so he's got to get rid of it quick.
And I can't believe I'm gonna do this, and I'm
gonna say this, but we're gonna applaud just flat out hustle,
which shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Have to be applauded.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
If you're a little kid watching the game, I sure
hope that you watched Mookie Bets running the first kick Hernandez,
which is you know, I hate having to point out
what you're paid to do, which is hustled. But in
today's world, you got to make a note of it.
Kiki on that even the ball that was hit to judge,
that's a tough read. As a runner, you expect, like
(04:23):
everybody else, him to catch it. Now you've got to
switch gears and bust it the second and beat that play.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
He beats that one.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
He gets a great jump on first and second slides
in makes it difficult for Jazz to kind of get
in position to field it on the hop and now
we've got no outs. You kind of feel like like
this is the game, right If you're a Dodger fan,
you're trying to get at least one or two put
a chink in the armor and Garrett Cole becomes Roger Clemens,
(04:53):
Nolan Ryan and Garrett Cole all out in the one
right comes it. Punch out, punch out, and now you
breathe that sigh relief. You know, and I've said this
numerous times on this on this podcast, about the game
exposes you at your weakest at the most opportune times.
And if that's not more indicative of this inning, it's
(05:13):
the statement has never.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Been more true.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So you got the best strikeout guy in the world
on the mound, you get Mookie Best to nub one
to first base, and for some reason you brad and
cramp and forget to go to first. Now people are
gonna scream at Rizzo for not charging that ball. No,
you can't charge that ball. It's got so much spin
on it, and if you watch it, it goes. And
(05:36):
thankfully Rizz is a left handed first baseman because that
ball spinning back to second base. If he's not left hand,
that's a tough backhand. That ball's got so much spin
on it. You have to almost act like that ball's
a grenade. As a first baseman, you have to keep
your feet on the ground. And I'm gonna just absolutely
dive on this. I'm gonna attack this. I'm gonna dive
(05:58):
in front of it Rizzo. He goes to his glove.
Thank god, it goes into his pocket. He goes to
flip and Cole just blacked out and just didn't cover first.
You see the wheels coming off, and it's almost like
Cole had that exhale moment where he didn't finish the play.
I used in managing, I used the word finish daily.
You finish everything. Even on our rings in a ball,
(06:21):
we had finish on the side of it. Finish the play,
Finish your at bat, finish your lift, finish your run.
Don't everybody pulls up. No, we're gonna I bred my
guys to finish, and we used finish in everything we do,
and that's a great example. Finish the play. You can
celebrate after you finish the play. So you go from
(06:44):
totally then you go into Freddy Freeman's at bat. We're
not out of the woods yet, it's only five to
one still, Okay. This is kind of a like ode
to Freddy's greatness where he's at and Cole's greatness all
wrapped into one. I mean, Freddy pretty much hit seventh
homer to left center. Earlier in the game off Garrett Cole.
You could tell they switched. They didn't go in much
(07:06):
to Freddy last night. Until this at bat, everything was away.
Freddie launches a ball four hundred feet to left center.
Judge makes a hell of a player, crashing into the wall.
Probably the only place where that's a home run in
Dodger Stadium and not in Yankee Stadium, so you can.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Tell he's pitching away.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Cole comes into Freddy with two strikes and Freddie, if
you look at that's the same pitch Freddy's been launching
into the short porch and right two strikes, he stays
inside of it, fights it off to center and here
we go.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now it's five to three. Great pitch.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I know, as a Cole's got to be thinking, I
just made the pitch I wanted to make, and Freddie
beat me any other mere mortal I feel. Throws that
ball to Freddy. Freddy clicks it in the seats again.
But that just shows both of their greatness at the moment,
and Cole's on This tank's on empty. Those guys are
not made to throw or built throw thirty seven thirty
(08:01):
eight pitches. I don't think Garrett Cole has thrown thirty
eight pitches in an inning maybe ever in his life.
He's never done it, especially in the World Series. So
the emotional swing he was on from getting out of
it had a no no going into the fifth to
oh my gosh, I've got a bail out of this.
Then he gets the two strikes again. Freddy's hit with
the two strikes and Hernandez has hit with the two strikes,
(08:24):
And you got to think, I just blew a five
run lead in a game where I think they had
a stat on there where he was forty four and
one when his team gave him four runs or more.
Crazy right, crazy stat You make it five to five, tascos,
Hernandez is double, five to five. He got a whole
new ballgame. And it goes into more about Cole being
(08:44):
a savage.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
He threw.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
He went out there two more innings after that, and
especially after a long half bottom of the fifth where
the Dodgers got into some trouble too. So you couple
all that emotions, I think you can agree. I think
the world saw what physical and emotional World Series in
(09:07):
playoff runs due to human beings. It is a NonStop,
no sleep, physical mental grind. Whether you're a starter, a reliever,
a bench guy, a coach, you go through just the
ringer as far as mentally and physically, and you saw
(09:28):
that and to go that emotional swing and go back
out there two more times and dominate pretty much Garrett Cole.
Some Yankee fans are not going to agree with me,
but he earned his pinstripes.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
He is a Yankee.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
That's as good of a game you can pitch to
have that kind of outcome. That performance itself, minus the miscues,
is probably one of the best Yankee pitched games in World.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Series history you'll probably ever see.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
This game basically was a tale of three games wrapped
into one. Right, you have the first four innings for
the Yankees, where everything's rolling, You're getting big hits, homers,
back to back homers, Judge Jazz Stanton.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And then you.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Have the fifth inning, which was a sixth part Netflix
documentary series of itself of abysmal defense and clutch hitting
and teams not giving up. And then you have the
third part of that game, where you got to watch
some highly intense baseball pitch. Every pitch matters. I think
(10:32):
the last from the sixth inning on. You got every
World Series drama wrapped into one, right, that's a you know,
every pitch you're hanging on every pitch, every slider might
get hung, every fastball that catches a plate might get
hit out. And that's the beauty of postseason baseball. That
was Aaron Judge's first error all year. First that's his
(10:55):
only air on the ear. That's pretty crazy. That's a
play that you'll never see Aaron Judge miss again. I'm
sorry I don't and if he does, I'll be shocked. Yes,
you're right, you're casual fan. Yeah, my son's six.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
And he catches that.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, you're probably right. You're probably right, and I've it's
amazing in New York. When they love you as a player,
they'll find a way to make Like I listened to
the postgame, like did you lose?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Did he lose it? The lights? I'm like what I got?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
It was a like that's just someone playing catch with
you and you threw it in your chest and you
dropped it. But it shows you that, Yeah, I mean,
guys are human and they make mistakes. You don't think
anybody feels worse than Aaron Judges does. Right there, like
he feels awful for all you fans that laughed at
those two jackasses ripping Mookie's glove off. This is what
(11:52):
you get. This is what you get. You've earned this.
Now you're crying. That's what cracks me up by Yankee
fans when they're winning or the best ever, our guys,
whooh we're great, and then when things don't go their way,
these guys sucked.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Their bums get boon fired. It's a classic one to eighty. Right.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Well, you know what, Yankee Stadium has always lived on
the ghosts, and you believe it when you play there,
and you believe that when you're a visitor that in
the sixth seventh inning, the ghost of Yankees past show up. Well,
I'm pretty sure those two nimrods scared the ghosts away.
And look what happened in the fifth they said, oh
you want to laugh and think this is funny, guess
(12:31):
what we got you, and voila, the Yankees turn into
the bad News Bears and or.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Just you could say that's how they've played all year,
and we'll get into that later. But care for what
you wish for.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And karma's a bitch, because that was karma on full
display in front of the world. Now we move on
to the bottom of the sixth. To me, we always
talked about the umpire in this and I know they're human.
Judge gets a border line three to two call. That's
probably a strike.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
If you're a Dodger fan, you think that strike three.
If you're a Yankee fan, that's ball four. Graderols in
the game, and we've seen him have this sixth in
most of these games when he was available. That's his inning,
and I feel that's the right guy for that spot.
He kind of switches that momentum. He's got that bulldog
(13:23):
mentality that you know, fu, I'm coming right at you.
And for the life of me, I don't understand the
way they pitch to Judge and Stanton all series. Graderol
throws a hundred with movement fastballs in. You got Stanton there.
If you want to put you have to put him
on the ground there. I know it's not easy. I
(13:45):
know it's not really ideal, but if you put him
on the ground, it's a dull player. Grader Al throws
one hundred with a little bit of run. I won't
call it sink it's more like run. But he throws
a hundred. They never go into these guys. I'll never
understand why, Like they just throw it away, throw it away,
and here they grat ofl throws an oh slider and
(14:08):
Stanton being a professional hitter like that, he is right,
he's ready for it.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
A slider to me, there is a flyball.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Pitch especially away and you know what, to his credit,
sackflies are. I won't ever say they're easy to hit.
But that run of the mill Monday in April, that's
a sackfly. That's a lot different in October with your
season on the line.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So credit to him.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Geared up for the fastball, kind of got out front,
which is what a flyball is when you get out
in front of it, and whila.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So Soto scores that.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
It seemed like every time you blink, Soda was on
the base because they just refuse. You could tell the
Dodgers just refuse, like we're not giving you anything to hit.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Sorry, we're not.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And if he it's remotely close, you want to hit
a single, we'll give you a single. So Sodo is
on base almost every inning. I just feel and then
you got cold. That goes back out exhausted, I mean,
just a warrior. The fact that he went back out
there again, it's like, and then he just picked up
right where he left off, and you're like, this guy,
(15:11):
I literally every pitch he threw, I was like, I
can't believe this dude's back out there emotionally, physically, mentally, and.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
He just kept coming.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Honestly, I don't feel bad for big leaguers very often
and for superstars. But yes, you could say he was
part of the debacle. But my goodness, gracious, you want
to talk about leaving it out there like he left
it out there, And that's what Joe, That's all you
can ask for from your ace. That's all you can
(15:44):
ask for. And he he he answered the bell. You know,
he looked at his two stars both times he kind
of came out. They had to lead, so he kind
of did his job. Quick note. Want to throw in
Blake Chining, another warrior. Your closer comes in in the
bottom of the sixth You don't think the Dodgers smelled
(16:07):
ending it tonight When they bring their closer in into
the sixth inning with two outs, he gets vulpi. He
goes all the way to the eighth, and he's on
empty his tanks, like he's emptied it. And we'll get
back to him in the bottom of the eighth. But
the top of the eighth, you get Cole out of there,
(16:28):
and you got to feel like as a dodger, you
breathe a sigh of relief. You don't have to see
that guy anymore, thank goodness. And it's almost like when
Cole went back out there. If you are a Rocky
movie fan, and I think it was one or two,
Apollo Creed is beating the snot out of Rocky.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
It might have been one.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Rocky gets back up and Apollo looks over there like
he's stunned. He got back up again, like I've been
beating this guy up for fourteen rounds and.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Rocky got back up. That's what Cole was. He just
kept coming he go.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
You gotta think, okay, he's got to he can't be
coming back out for the seventh, and he did. So
you get him out and you bring in Kainley. And
this is the problem with you know, even bullpen days
are opening up that bullpen door. You never know what
you're gonna get. And Kiki again starts it off single
(17:24):
Edmund broken bat here they come, and to me, it's
when you got to bring in Weaver. Now, I think
the two times you brought in Weaver, and kudos to
him too.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
First month in the closer role, you bring him in
in game one, first and.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Third against Miki for a sack fly situation, and then
you wait till he gets bases loaded, nobody out and
you pretty much give him no way out. And that's
a ton of confidence you have in a kid who's
only closed for a month. But it's there's no wiggle room.
And to me, Luke Weaver is not a ground ball guy.
(18:05):
He's a flyball, punch out guy, change up nasty, but
change up guy. And sure enough you get back to
backsack flies. And at this moment between trying and coming
into the sixth and Weaver coming in, then I start
texting buddies and I'm like, am I really gonna see
(18:27):
a World Series Championship closed out by Keiki Hernandez or
a position player, because that's what we're leaning to, because
you're looking down at both pens, going there ain't much
left down there, And then.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
All of a sudden, the TV pants to Walker Bueler, I'm.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Going Oh my goodness, here's a guy back to back
Tommy John surgeries. And yeah, by the way, he threw
two days ago, and yes it is his side day,
but big difference emotionally from your side to closing out
a World Series championship. I think his last relief appearance
was twenty eighteen, and.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
That was two knives ago.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And and let's not forget Walker Buehler hasn't been paid yet.
He hasn't been paid like he's supposed to be so
and that ties into the culture that the Dodgers have built.
And don't get me wrong, Garrett Colewood done the same thing.
It's a lot easier to do it after you've been paid, right, Like,
look what Kurt Shilling did, right, Kurt Shilling sacrificed two
(19:26):
years of his career to finish So fourth, I get it,
Thank you very much, Kurt. But like Walker Bueller hasn't
been paid yet, and that's that means something to guys.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Obviously he's not poor by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
But the idea is that's what happens when you built
that culture, that it's about us, and I got us
and I want to be the guy, and that every
guy on that team wanted to be in that situation,
and my goodness, gracious, you turn it over to him
and his stuff's electric and we'll get into that ending too.
He had to kind of transform himself into something through
(19:58):
a ton of breaking balls because couldn't locate his fastball.
That's the game, and I had no dog in the fight.
Played for both squads, and I literally because for some reason,
my feed was a little bit slower than the rest
of my text to the people I was texting, so
like literally I was, I had the sheets over my face.
I can't watch this, like and I didn't have a
(20:20):
team in this. I'm a baseball fan and want you know,
I want the games to go seven. So I'm but
I can't imagine being a true like a crazy fan
or a parent of one of these guys out there.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
There's no way I can't.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Kudos to all the parents out there who actually have
kids that are playing in the big leagues and played
in that, because I, like, I was about to throw up,
and like I said, I have no dog in the fight,
and I don't I know some of the guys, but
not like that, so that it was nuts, Like that's
that last Those last two and a half innings are what October.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Baseball is all about.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Okay, bottom of the eighth, Dave Roberts goes to the
mound and I'm thinking, if this is not a gratty
little moment, like nothing is, and he goes out there
and he just pats him on the chest and walks off.
There's something to be said when your best guy is
out there and he tells you he's got this, you
(21:16):
let him go.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I never was a.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Fan of the manager going out there, but I've as
a manager, I've done it. I mean, obviously, an A
ball and double a playoff game are different than a
World Series game, but it's still the same concept. For
those kids at that time, this is the World Series
and you want to look in their eye, and when
you spend that much time with guys, you can tell.
And Dave Roberts knew exactly, he knew he was out
(21:40):
of gas. But all the training, all the mental, physical
work that that team has done, I think if you
could say it all over again, I think every Dodger
player wanted that guy to get that out and to
suck it up. I mean, you could see his stuff,
wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
What it was.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I think he threw one slider to Rizzo that actually
did what his slider normally does because he usually back
doors it or slings it to a lefty, and it
just wasn't coming back. So you could tell that he
was just physically and mentally exhausted. He's got forty something pitches,
I don't I think they said in the game He's
hasn't thrown more than forty or thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
In any game this season.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And you leave him out there and lo and behold,
he gets the out he needs. And like when they
slow mo those emotions that guys have when they're coming
off the field, like in big moments like that, it's
just like, that's what October meaningful baseball is.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I mean, like you're hanging.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
On every pitch he finishes off. He closed the door,
and now he's walking off. And I always had a rule.
I always had a rule as a manager. If you
see a aggravated fist pump or a dap to the sky,
don't send him back out there. If you look back
he does this, He points to the sky pedro Game
(23:01):
seven of two thousand and three, pointed to the sky.
He had little threw him back out there when they
pointed this guy an over animated fist pump. Don't send
a boy back out there more times than not, And
so I thought, Okay, now what's he gonna do? And
that's when Walker Bueler started warming up and going, oh
my gosh, this guy through two days ago and it's
(23:23):
coming off Tommy John surgery a second time and last
relief appearance is twenty eighteen. But if you're gonna stuff wise,
I think everybody felt pretty good about having that weapon
in the back. And then you look at man, if
they tie this up and get this back to LA,
(23:43):
what does either team do pitching wise? They're all, I mean,
let's go back to Luke Weaver. Luke Weaver throws over
the first a third time and gets a ball called,
and like, those are mistakes that you don't make if you're.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Not physically and mentally spent. You just have brain farts.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And I think that's if you're having those brain farts
in a game you're supposed to have high intensity on.
Something's wrong with the makeup of your club. And you
got the ninth inning right, you get the bottom of
the order, which might not be a good thing because
I mean, obviously builder's got a ton of adrenaline. He's
(24:23):
yanking fastballs into lefties. And if there's one spot you
don't want to miss, and Yankee Stadium with.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Some lefties up is in.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Because you hit a three hundred and four foot flat ball,
it's a home run.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
But he went more breaking balls.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Kudos Will Smith for seeing it and going to it, which,
don't get me wrong, it's still a plus plus pitch.
And to see his demeanor, I think after the strikeout
of the ground ball, and then he gets the ball
back and it's just like I made a point to watch,
you know, months he throws the ball to him and
he's kind of like, okay, like calm, cool, collective, I
(24:59):
got it, punch out. He calmed himself down like there
was no like h And then to see his reaction
post stripe three was like he didn't go running jumping
the catcher's arms or the catcher jumped into his arms.
He kind of like stared him down a little bit.
Like I looked at his dugout. I thought that was
really really a really cool moment. I want to congratulate
(25:21):
the Yankees. Great season, I think, but they realize now
how significantly flawed. Their roster is and their mentality.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
They need to get more athletic.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
If you really break down the Yankees in general, there's
three guys that are playing their actual position. And that's
how this is not fantasy baseball. You can't just stick
dudes at a position expect for the best. And I
think it goes gets overlooked how great Jazz has played
third for a guy who's never played thirds, he played.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
His ass off defensively.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
But when you have borderline fourth outfielder playing left defensively,
you've got a right fielder or a left fielder playing
and you have Soto and Right, it's like, you know,
they're like Vulpi. The catcher and Rizzo are probably the
main the only three guys that are actually playing the
position they should be at so and their their defense,
they played like it. So I think you saw. I
(26:15):
think if you're a baseball fan, a true baseball fan,
this series was great for baseball. Don't get me wrong.
The Dodgers have an ump team. They have an endless checkbook,
and that part of it I get. If you're not
a big market fan, you understand that. But that being said,
(26:35):
for what like the Dodgers for being as dominant as
they've been for the last eight ten years, they haven't
really finished one yet. Now you can say that, and
I don't. I don't buy the whole Oh, the COVID
World Series doesn't count. No, they had to play games
and they had to finish something, So I don't want
to hear that nonsense.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
A championship is a championship.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
But I think them getting ad the last two years
early really toughened them up. And I think if if
you talked about at least the perception when I was
a player was the Dodgers are soft like you. They're good,
but they don't really have the snarl you're looking for.
This team had that snarl. You looking at five nothing
(27:18):
against the greatest, arguably the best pitcher in the world,
and you don't have a hit yet and you find
a way to tie it immediately. That's like, that's a
toughness that you can't you can't just say those words
you got it. You have to feel it. You have
to be through adversity to create that kind of toughness.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
But for a.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Baseball fan, fundamentally, the Dodgers were way better. They made
the plays they're multifaceted and how they can beat you.
And again the depth of the Dodgers, of their organization
and their culture. I thought they did a great job.
They always mentioned their minor league developers. They always mention
(27:58):
those guys, and I think that's great. As a developer
a couple of years ago, you wanted some kind of
recognition and they never they Andrew Friedman did it. Dave
Roberts did it several times, and that's huge. You give
him a little validation that they had a part of
this and they are a part of this. They you
can tell that they preach this stuff and the guys
(28:21):
believe it. So Dave Roberts has taken a ton of
criticism over the years about not being a great manager.
Like I think he put those to rest. He was
masterful in this October. Masterful like he pulled the right moves.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Every time. You can debate the game four all.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
You want, ninety nine percent of his managing this postseason
was nothing short of perfection. So kudos to him and
his coaching staff. The scary part is the Dodgers are
only gonna get better. They just won a World Series
with fourteen guys hurt Kershaw May Glass Now, Glass Now
is a number one stuff wise, Bueler missed most of
(29:06):
the season.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
You think about it's.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
A scary thought to think that you're gonna have to
roll into at some point, you're gonna have to roll
into Glass now. Bueler, Yamamoto May and Kershaw's your five?
You know, Oh by the way, left, show Hey out, like,
let's show Hey clothes.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Let's show Hey clothes. You want to keep him for
ten years? Hey?
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Close him like I'd get it almost worked out perfectly, though,
if he doesn't dislocate his shoulder. I know they said
he's not pitching. Could you imagine if that wasn't the
most perfect you want to talk about? Like they already
think he's the best player on the planet and he's not.
He probably is of all time, don't give me right,
(29:51):
probably of all time. Could you imagine it in that
situation you see show Hey sneak down to the pen
last night in the ninth inning, like you can't make
this shit up? Like I was in there thinking, that's
the only guy that got And obviously his shoulder has
a lot to do with it. But if he's healthy,
you can't I beat a Andrew Freeman. Yeah, I know
we talked about, you know, like not pitching this dude,
(30:14):
but you think we could use them. You think it's
okay for you. It's like having any Christmas present you
can't touch, You can't You can open up the present,
but you can't play with it.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
It sucks.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'm in there thinking I got the best picture in
the world. He's sitting there right at my left.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
He doesn't even know I'm talking about him because they
can't speak English. So this is even better.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So like he doesn't even know what I'm talking about
having them go out there, but that, I mean, that
was a perfect That's a whole other topic we'll get
down later. But yeah, I mean, oh yeah, show Hey,
so back everybody up one show hey Glass now Bueler.
Holy moly, this is this team's not going anywhere, folks.
This team's here for a while. And when you superstars
(30:54):
play the way they play again, I'm talking about hustle
like it's some kind of magic goal like thing. You're
a pro, you're supposed to hustle. Takes no effort to hustle,
takes no talent to hustle. But if you break it down,
that inning that they scored five runs was nothing more
than just hustle. Is like defense to me, there's a
(31:16):
will and you either want to you don't. You either
want to be a good base runner or you don't.
There's no It's like a for defense for me. You
either really want to be a good defender or you're not.
It's importance. They ran MOOKI how many guys have you seen,
even in this World Series hit a ground ball and
pull up halfway to first Mookie putting pressure on them
(31:39):
right there, just running to first. I can't believe I'm
celebrating it, but I am. Kiki getting a second, getting
the third, putting pressure on the throw like those things matter.
And these are the things that you can't put on paper.
And it goes to yes, the Dodgers are are very
much analytical, right. They have animal political people. Andrew Friedman
(32:01):
was one. He's one of the best at it, if
not the best. But the point is the analytics. Everybody
has the same analytics. Everybody they all go to the
same thing. It always, it always will boil down to
who has the better baseball player, who wins. And that's
a prime example of what you saw. The Dodgers have analytics,
(32:22):
but their superstars play hard, their superstars play hurt. They're superstars,
have a right way of doing things. And when your
superstars do that, everybody else follows, and ballah, you have
a you know, Dave Roberts gets his parade, which he
was adamant about talking about forever.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Good for them.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
And you can say what you want about divine intervention.
I thought about it like Fernando bell as well as birthday,
I think is right on game six, and I was thinking,
if that's not poetic, like that's what this game is
all about.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
You can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
But congratulations Dave, Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and
you know, I'm sure we'll see you back here next
October two. Closing on this, this one's gonna sting for
a long time. I don't think you ever get over
your losses. Especially I've never lost a World Series, so
(33:19):
I don't get that. But I have had my season
end in October. You don't ever forget it this one.
If you're a Yankee, you realize you gave up five
unearned runs, you dropped a pop up, you had a
throwing air, you didn't cover first, and you had a
catcher's interference against the guy who you've caught against for
the last five games. That one, that game sticks with
(33:43):
you on a Thursday afternoon in Milwaukee, let alone win
an end your season. That one's gonna linger for a
long time.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I thought.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Aaron Boone talked about it, and again, hats off to Boonie.
My gosh, class all the way around. I mean throughout
all of this, his pre and post games, when you
know you're exhausted from answering the same questions over and
over and over again, handled everything with class. He talked
about how the two thousand and three he can still
hear the sounds of the Marlin celebrate in front of
(34:13):
their dugout. I thought, that's a very vivid picture to paint,
and it does. Those losses almost lingered more than the
wins than that. It's crazy that it sounds that way,
but it's true. And that's but to hold their head up.
I think Boonie gets too much criticism. I think the
fundamental part is way beyond the manager. I think that's
(34:34):
a culture problem, which is an organization problem. I don't
think changing the manager in this situation changes anything for them.
They're flawed, significantly flawed baseball team, and I think something to.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Keep an eye on.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Juan Soto's face looked completely different in games one and
two than it did in four and five. I don't
know if it was tired, but he didn't have that
talked about this yesterday. He didn't have that either tiger
that he normally had. And it's almost like he's like
really considering thinking about this, and we'll see, we'll see
what he'll tell us everything. We need to know who
he signs with again. Sad to see baseball over World
(35:14):
Series and playoff. Baseball is what it's all about. And
you know, boys, coaches, fans, get some rest. You probably
need to sleep a little bit. I'm sure everybody's spent
and exhausted. I know I used to turn I take
the hurricane shutters.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
And close them.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
So I was like a cave for like two weeks
and like don't talk to me, Like don't don't call me.
I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna eat, I'm gonna go
to the bathroom, I'm gonna shower. I'm gonna go back
to hibernating for at least ten days. So you've earned
your your earn your rest, gentlemen, and the Dodgers enjoy
that parade. All right, everybody, that's gonna wrap up today's
(35:52):
episodes on the Dugout Podcast. Uh subscribe, check us out
on Instagram, Twitter, dm eas for Recruiting or Doug mccavid sixteen,
and find this podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
you name it, we're there. Future episodes. We're gonna do
some college football. We're gonna continue to talk about baseball.
(36:15):
The GM meetings come up soon, Winter meetings, off season stuff.
We're gonna get into some college baseball recruiting.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
You name it, we're gonna hit it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So tune in, check us out, look forward to many
more of these, and have a happy and safe Halloween.
Make sure you get a lot of candy and make
sure you share it with your parents.
Welcome back to the Dugout Podcast with me your host,
Doug mn Kavig. First off, congratulations Los Angeles Dodgers world champs.
That never gets old to hear, never gets old to
say congratulations to the Yankees for making it to the
World Series. I want to say Happy Halloween to everyone
(00:27):
out there. Happy Halloween. The Yankees dressed up as a
nineteen ninety six to two thousand Yankee team for four innings,
and then someone ripped their costume off in the fifth
and they became the Yankees of twenty twenty four and
reality set in and whila, we have one of the
(00:49):
most epic defensive disasters you'll ever see, and probably plays
you'll never see again. To start with, Garrett Cole is
an absolute savage, just a savage. His first four innings
were nothing more than perfection. I think we talked about
on this show about earning his pinstripes. I know what
(01:13):
happened later in the game, but to me, he had
the look of an absolute assassin last night. Four innings,
no hit ball crazy, I mean, nothing could phase him.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
It was epic.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I mean it was your watching the best in the
world when this team needed a most just.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Dominate first inning.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I always talked about survived the first inning in playoff games,
and we talked about Flaarty. I thought he was hurt.
I still think he is. I think it's a fatigue thing.
If you look back, his first starts have always been
a good one. His second start on normal rest in
every series has been not so great.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He couldn't put guys away.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Judge just the homer in the first and I said,
I texted Buddies, and I said, the only way the
Yankees lose this game is if the Yankees become the
Yankees on defense and they give it away. And sure
enough later on down the road we see that. But
great at bats, Soto as always, I mean, just constantly grinding,
(02:13):
Judge clicking on all cylinders. Now fastball Away takes it
the right you know, you just felt like, oh, this
could happen.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Right, this is going back to la.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You have the number one pitcher in the world of
the mound and you're rolling and everything's hunky dory. Freddie
Freeman drives a ball that's a home er in Dodger
Stadium and Judge runs and crashed into the wall. So
you're feeling as a Yankee fan, You're feeling like we've
got this right, and then the fifth inning rolls around
and disaster strikes.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You see plays.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
That arguably the people that made the mistakes might never
do again in their career. They might have not have
done it before that, and they probably didn't do it,
probably won't do it afterwards. You have Kiki Hernandez, who
will talk about later, who found his way to start
a lot of these innings single to write. Garrett Cole
(03:08):
had no hits going into the fifth inning. Kiki singles.
Then you get the every day running the mill fly
ball to center and Judge drops it. Like I said,
you might never see Aaron Judge drop that ball ever again. Ever,
that's I know, people in the stands or that's the
(03:29):
that's the dad that played high school ball. That's going on.
I wouldn't drop that. And I'm sixty eight years old,
you know. But you're not out there in Yankee Stadium
in the World Series. So that turns into you know,
first and second, and then you have the Vulpei ground.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Ball, that Will Smith ground ball, and the whole.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Not an easy play I think when if you see it,
Wellby picks it up and he has like all fingers
on it, so he's got to get rid of it quick.
And I can't believe I'm gonna do this, and I'm
gonna say this, but we're gonna applaud just flat out hustle,
which shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Have to be applauded.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
If you're a little kid watching the game, I sure
hope that you watched Mookie Bets running the first kick Hernandez,
which is you know, I hate having to point out
what you're paid to do, which is hustled. But in
today's world, you got to make a note of it.
Kiki on that even the ball that was hit to judge,
that's a tough read. As a runner, you expect, like
(04:23):
everybody else, him to catch it. Now you've got to
switch gears and bust it the second and beat that play.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
He beats that one.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
He gets a great jump on first and second slides
in makes it difficult for Jazz to kind of get
in position to field it on the hop and now
we've got no outs. You kind of feel like like
this is the game, right If you're a Dodger fan,
you're trying to get at least one or two put
a chink in the armor and Garrett Cole becomes Roger Clemens,
(04:53):
Nolan Ryan and Garrett Cole all out in the one
right comes it. Punch out, punch out, and now you
breathe that sigh relief. You know, and I've said this
numerous times on this on this podcast, about the game
exposes you at your weakest at the most opportune times.
And if that's not more indicative of this inning, it's
(05:13):
the statement has never.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Been more true.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So you got the best strikeout guy in the world
on the mound, you get Mookie Best to nub one
to first base, and for some reason you brad and
cramp and forget to go to first. Now people are
gonna scream at Rizzo for not charging that ball. No,
you can't charge that ball. It's got so much spin
on it, and if you watch it, it goes. And
(05:36):
thankfully Rizz is a left handed first baseman because that
ball spinning back to second base. If he's not left hand,
that's a tough backhand. That ball's got so much spin
on it. You have to almost act like that ball's
a grenade. As a first baseman, you have to keep
your feet on the ground. And I'm gonna just absolutely
dive on this. I'm gonna attack this. I'm gonna dive
(05:58):
in front of it Rizzo. He goes to his glove.
Thank god, it goes into his pocket. He goes to
flip and Cole just blacked out and just didn't cover first.
You see the wheels coming off, and it's almost like
Cole had that exhale moment where he didn't finish the play.
I used in managing, I used the word finish daily.
You finish everything. Even on our rings in a ball,
(06:21):
we had finish on the side of it. Finish the play,
Finish your at bat, finish your lift, finish your run.
Don't everybody pulls up. No, we're gonna I bred my
guys to finish, and we used finish in everything we do,
and that's a great example. Finish the play. You can
celebrate after you finish the play. So you go from
(06:44):
totally then you go into Freddy Freeman's at bat. We're
not out of the woods yet, it's only five to
one still, Okay. This is kind of a like ode
to Freddy's greatness where he's at and Cole's greatness all
wrapped into one. I mean, Freddy pretty much hit seventh
homer to left center. Earlier in the game off Garrett Cole.
You could tell they switched. They didn't go in much
(07:06):
to Freddy last night. Until this at bat, everything was away.
Freddie launches a ball four hundred feet to left center.
Judge makes a hell of a player, crashing into the wall.
Probably the only place where that's a home run in
Dodger Stadium and not in Yankee Stadium, so you can.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Tell he's pitching away.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Cole comes into Freddy with two strikes and Freddie, if
you look at that's the same pitch Freddy's been launching
into the short porch and right two strikes, he stays
inside of it, fights it off to center and here
we go.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now it's five to three. Great pitch.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I know, as a Cole's got to be thinking, I
just made the pitch I wanted to make, and Freddie
beat me any other mere mortal I feel. Throws that
ball to Freddy. Freddy clicks it in the seats again.
But that just shows both of their greatness at the moment,
and Cole's on This tank's on empty. Those guys are
not made to throw or built throw thirty seven thirty
(08:01):
eight pitches. I don't think Garrett Cole has thrown thirty
eight pitches in an inning maybe ever in his life.
He's never done it, especially in the World Series. So
the emotional swing he was on from getting out of
it had a no no going into the fifth to
oh my gosh, I've got a bail out of this.
Then he gets the two strikes again. Freddy's hit with
the two strikes and Hernandez has hit with the two strikes,
(08:24):
And you got to think, I just blew a five
run lead in a game where I think they had
a stat on there where he was forty four and
one when his team gave him four runs or more.
Crazy right, crazy stat You make it five to five, tascos,
Hernandez is double, five to five. He got a whole
new ballgame. And it goes into more about Cole being
(08:44):
a savage.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
He threw.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
He went out there two more innings after that, and
especially after a long half bottom of the fifth where
the Dodgers got into some trouble too. So you couple
all that emotions, I think you can agree. I think
the world saw what physical and emotional World Series in
(09:07):
playoff runs due to human beings. It is a NonStop,
no sleep, physical mental grind. Whether you're a starter, a reliever,
a bench guy, a coach, you go through just the
ringer as far as mentally and physically, and you saw
(09:28):
that and to go that emotional swing and go back
out there two more times and dominate pretty much Garrett Cole.
Some Yankee fans are not going to agree with me,
but he earned his pinstripes.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
He is a Yankee.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
That's as good of a game you can pitch to
have that kind of outcome. That performance itself, minus the miscues,
is probably one of the best Yankee pitched games in World.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Series history you'll probably ever see.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
This game basically was a tale of three games wrapped
into one. Right, you have the first four innings for
the Yankees, where everything's rolling, You're getting big hits, homers,
back to back homers, Judge Jazz Stanton.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And then you.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Have the fifth inning, which was a sixth part Netflix
documentary series of itself of abysmal defense and clutch hitting
and teams not giving up. And then you have the
third part of that game, where you got to watch
some highly intense baseball pitch. Every pitch matters. I think
(10:32):
the last from the sixth inning on. You got every
World Series drama wrapped into one, right, that's a you know,
every pitch you're hanging on every pitch, every slider might
get hung, every fastball that catches a plate might get
hit out. And that's the beauty of postseason baseball. That
was Aaron Judge's first error all year. First that's his
(10:55):
only air on the ear. That's pretty crazy. That's a
play that you'll never see Aaron Judge miss again. I'm
sorry I don't and if he does, I'll be shocked. Yes,
you're right, you're casual fan. Yeah, my son's six.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
And he catches that.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, you're probably right. You're probably right, and I've it's
amazing in New York. When they love you as a player,
they'll find a way to make Like I listened to
the postgame, like did you lose?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Did he lose it? The lights? I'm like what I got?
Speaker 1 (11:28):
It was a like that's just someone playing catch with
you and you threw it in your chest and you
dropped it. But it shows you that, Yeah, I mean,
guys are human and they make mistakes. You don't think
anybody feels worse than Aaron Judges does. Right there, like
he feels awful for all you fans that laughed at
those two jackasses ripping Mookie's glove off. This is what
(11:52):
you get. This is what you get. You've earned this.
Now you're crying. That's what cracks me up by Yankee
fans when they're winning or the best ever, our guys,
whooh we're great, and then when things don't go their way,
these guys sucked.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Their bums get boon fired. It's a classic one to eighty. Right.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Well, you know what, Yankee Stadium has always lived on
the ghosts, and you believe it when you play there,
and you believe that when you're a visitor that in
the sixth seventh inning, the ghost of Yankees past show up. Well,
I'm pretty sure those two nimrods scared the ghosts away.
And look what happened in the fifth they said, oh
you want to laugh and think this is funny, guess
(12:31):
what we got you, and voila, the Yankees turn into
the bad News Bears and or.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Just you could say that's how they've played all year,
and we'll get into that later. But care for what
you wish for.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And karma's a bitch, because that was karma on full
display in front of the world. Now we move on
to the bottom of the sixth. To me, we always
talked about the umpire in this and I know they're human.
Judge gets a border line three to two call. That's
probably a strike.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
If you're a Dodger fan, you think that strike three.
If you're a Yankee fan, that's ball four. Graderols in
the game, and we've seen him have this sixth in
most of these games when he was available. That's his inning,
and I feel that's the right guy for that spot.
He kind of switches that momentum. He's got that bulldog
(13:23):
mentality that you know, fu, I'm coming right at you.
And for the life of me, I don't understand the
way they pitch to Judge and Stanton all series. Graderol
throws a hundred with movement fastballs in. You got Stanton there.
If you want to put you have to put him
on the ground there. I know it's not easy. I
(13:45):
know it's not really ideal, but if you put him
on the ground, it's a dull player. Grader Al throws
one hundred with a little bit of run. I won't
call it sink it's more like run. But he throws
a hundred. They never go into these guys. I'll never
understand why, Like they just throw it away, throw it away,
and here they grat ofl throws an oh slider and
(14:08):
Stanton being a professional hitter like that, he is right,
he's ready for it.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
A slider to me, there is a flyball.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Pitch especially away and you know what, to his credit,
sackflies are. I won't ever say they're easy to hit.
But that run of the mill Monday in April, that's
a sackfly. That's a lot different in October with your
season on the line.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So credit to him.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Geared up for the fastball, kind of got out front,
which is what a flyball is when you get out
in front of it, and whila.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
So Soto scores that.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
It seemed like every time you blink, Soda was on
the base because they just refuse. You could tell the
Dodgers just refuse, like we're not giving you anything to hit.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Sorry, we're not.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And if he it's remotely close, you want to hit
a single, we'll give you a single. So Sodo is
on base almost every inning. I just feel and then
you got cold. That goes back out exhausted, I mean,
just a warrior. The fact that he went back out
there again, it's like, and then he just picked up
right where he left off, and you're like, this guy,
(15:11):
I literally every pitch he threw, I was like, I
can't believe this dude's back out there emotionally, physically, mentally, and.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
He just kept coming.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Honestly, I don't feel bad for big leaguers very often
and for superstars. But yes, you could say he was
part of the debacle. But my goodness, gracious, you want
to talk about leaving it out there like he left
it out there, And that's what Joe, That's all you
can ask for from your ace. That's all you can
(15:44):
ask for. And he he he answered the bell. You know,
he looked at his two stars both times he kind
of came out. They had to lead, so he kind
of did his job. Quick note. Want to throw in
Blake Chining, another warrior. Your closer comes in in the
bottom of the sixth You don't think the Dodgers smelled
(16:07):
ending it tonight When they bring their closer in into
the sixth inning with two outs, he gets vulpi. He
goes all the way to the eighth, and he's on
empty his tanks, like he's emptied it. And we'll get
back to him in the bottom of the eighth. But
the top of the eighth, you get Cole out of there,
(16:28):
and you got to feel like as a dodger, you
breathe a sigh of relief. You don't have to see
that guy anymore, thank goodness. And it's almost like when
Cole went back out there. If you are a Rocky
movie fan, and I think it was one or two,
Apollo Creed is beating the snot out of Rocky.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
It might have been one.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Rocky gets back up and Apollo looks over there like
he's stunned. He got back up again, like I've been
beating this guy up for fourteen rounds and.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Rocky got back up. That's what Cole was. He just
kept coming he go.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
You gotta think, okay, he's got to he can't be
coming back out for the seventh, and he did. So
you get him out and you bring in Kainley. And
this is the problem with you know, even bullpen days
are opening up that bullpen door. You never know what
you're gonna get. And Kiki again starts it off single
(17:24):
Edmund broken bat here they come, and to me, it's
when you got to bring in Weaver. Now, I think
the two times you brought in Weaver, and kudos to
him too.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
First month in the closer role, you bring him in
in game one, first and.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Third against Miki for a sack fly situation, and then
you wait till he gets bases loaded, nobody out and
you pretty much give him no way out. And that's
a ton of confidence you have in a kid who's
only closed for a month. But it's there's no wiggle room.
And to me, Luke Weaver is not a ground ball guy.
(18:05):
He's a flyball, punch out guy, change up nasty, but
change up guy. And sure enough you get back to
backsack flies. And at this moment between trying and coming
into the sixth and Weaver coming in, then I start
texting buddies and I'm like, am I really gonna see
(18:27):
a World Series Championship closed out by Keiki Hernandez or
a position player, because that's what we're leaning to, because
you're looking down at both pens, going there ain't much
left down there, And then.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
All of a sudden, the TV pants to Walker Bueler, I'm.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Going Oh my goodness, here's a guy back to back
Tommy John surgeries. And yeah, by the way, he threw
two days ago, and yes it is his side day,
but big difference emotionally from your side to closing out
a World Series championship. I think his last relief appearance
was twenty eighteen, and.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
That was two knives ago.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And and let's not forget Walker Buehler hasn't been paid yet.
He hasn't been paid like he's supposed to be so
and that ties into the culture that the Dodgers have built.
And don't get me wrong, Garrett Colewood done the same thing.
It's a lot easier to do it after you've been paid, right, Like,
look what Kurt Shilling did, right, Kurt Shilling sacrificed two
(19:26):
years of his career to finish So fourth, I get it,
Thank you very much, Kurt. But like Walker Bueller hasn't
been paid yet, and that's that means something to guys.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Obviously he's not poor by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
But the idea is that's what happens when you built
that culture, that it's about us, and I got us
and I want to be the guy, and that every
guy on that team wanted to be in that situation,
and my goodness, gracious, you turn it over to him
and his stuff's electric and we'll get into that ending too.
He had to kind of transform himself into something through
(19:58):
a ton of breaking balls because couldn't locate his fastball.
That's the game, and I had no dog in the fight.
Played for both squads, and I literally because for some reason,
my feed was a little bit slower than the rest
of my text to the people I was texting, so
like literally I was, I had the sheets over my face.
I can't watch this, like and I didn't have a
(20:20):
team in this. I'm a baseball fan and want you know,
I want the games to go seven. So I'm but
I can't imagine being a true like a crazy fan
or a parent of one of these guys out there.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
There's no way I can't.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Kudos to all the parents out there who actually have
kids that are playing in the big leagues and played
in that, because I, like, I was about to throw up,
and like I said, I have no dog in the fight,
and I don't I know some of the guys, but
not like that, so that it was nuts, Like that's
that last Those last two and a half innings are what October.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Baseball is all about.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Okay, bottom of the eighth, Dave Roberts goes to the
mound and I'm thinking, if this is not a gratty
little moment, like nothing is, and he goes out there
and he just pats him on the chest and walks off.
There's something to be said when your best guy is
out there and he tells you he's got this, you
(21:16):
let him go.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I never was a.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Fan of the manager going out there, but I've as
a manager, I've done it. I mean, obviously, an A
ball and double a playoff game are different than a
World Series game, but it's still the same concept. For
those kids at that time, this is the World Series
and you want to look in their eye, and when
you spend that much time with guys, you can tell.
And Dave Roberts knew exactly, he knew he was out
(21:40):
of gas. But all the training, all the mental, physical
work that that team has done, I think if you
could say it all over again, I think every Dodger
player wanted that guy to get that out and to
suck it up. I mean, you could see his stuff,
wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
What it was.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I think he threw one slider to Rizzo that actually
did what his slider normally does because he usually back
doors it or slings it to a lefty, and it
just wasn't coming back. So you could tell that he
was just physically and mentally exhausted. He's got forty something pitches,
I don't I think they said in the game He's
hasn't thrown more than forty or thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
In any game this season.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And you leave him out there and lo and behold,
he gets the out he needs. And like when they
slow mo those emotions that guys have when they're coming
off the field, like in big moments like that, it's
just like, that's what October meaningful baseball is.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I mean, like you're hanging.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
On every pitch he finishes off. He closed the door,
and now he's walking off. And I always had a rule.
I always had a rule as a manager. If you
see a aggravated fist pump or a dap to the sky,
don't send him back out there. If you look back
he does this, He points to the sky pedro Game
(23:01):
seven of two thousand and three, pointed to the sky.
He had little threw him back out there when they
pointed this guy an over animated fist pump. Don't send
a boy back out there more times than not, And
so I thought, Okay, now what's he gonna do? And
that's when Walker Bueler started warming up and going, oh
my gosh, this guy through two days ago and it's
(23:23):
coming off Tommy John surgery a second time and last
relief appearance is twenty eighteen. But if you're gonna stuff wise,
I think everybody felt pretty good about having that weapon
in the back. And then you look at man, if
they tie this up and get this back to LA,
(23:43):
what does either team do pitching wise? They're all, I mean,
let's go back to Luke Weaver. Luke Weaver throws over
the first a third time and gets a ball called,
and like, those are mistakes that you don't make if you're.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Not physically and mentally spent. You just have brain farts.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And I think that's if you're having those brain farts
in a game you're supposed to have high intensity on.
Something's wrong with the makeup of your club. And you
got the ninth inning right, you get the bottom of
the order, which might not be a good thing because
I mean, obviously builder's got a ton of adrenaline. He's
(24:23):
yanking fastballs into lefties. And if there's one spot you
don't want to miss, and Yankee Stadium with.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Some lefties up is in.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Because you hit a three hundred and four foot flat ball,
it's a home run.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
But he went more breaking balls.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Kudos Will Smith for seeing it and going to it, which,
don't get me wrong, it's still a plus plus pitch.
And to see his demeanor, I think after the strikeout
of the ground ball, and then he gets the ball
back and it's just like I made a point to watch,
you know, months he throws the ball to him and
he's kind of like, okay, like calm, cool, collective, I
(24:59):
got it, punch out. He calmed himself down like there
was no like h And then to see his reaction
post stripe three was like he didn't go running jumping
the catcher's arms or the catcher jumped into his arms.
He kind of like stared him down a little bit.
Like I looked at his dugout. I thought that was
really really a really cool moment. I want to congratulate
(25:21):
the Yankees. Great season, I think, but they realize now
how significantly flawed. Their roster is and their mentality.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
They need to get more athletic.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
If you really break down the Yankees in general, there's
three guys that are playing their actual position. And that's
how this is not fantasy baseball. You can't just stick
dudes at a position expect for the best. And I
think it goes gets overlooked how great Jazz has played
third for a guy who's never played thirds, he played.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
His ass off defensively.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
But when you have borderline fourth outfielder playing left defensively,
you've got a right fielder or a left fielder playing
and you have Soto and Right, it's like, you know,
they're like Vulpi. The catcher and Rizzo are probably the
main the only three guys that are actually playing the
position they should be at so and their their defense,
they played like it. So I think you saw. I
(26:15):
think if you're a baseball fan, a true baseball fan,
this series was great for baseball. Don't get me wrong.
The Dodgers have an ump team. They have an endless checkbook,
and that part of it I get. If you're not
a big market fan, you understand that. But that being said,
(26:35):
for what like the Dodgers for being as dominant as
they've been for the last eight ten years, they haven't
really finished one yet. Now you can say that, and
I don't. I don't buy the whole Oh, the COVID
World Series doesn't count. No, they had to play games
and they had to finish something, So I don't want
to hear that nonsense.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
A championship is a championship.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
But I think them getting ad the last two years
early really toughened them up. And I think if if
you talked about at least the perception when I was
a player was the Dodgers are soft like you. They're good,
but they don't really have the snarl you're looking for.
This team had that snarl. You looking at five nothing
(27:18):
against the greatest, arguably the best pitcher in the world,
and you don't have a hit yet and you find
a way to tie it immediately. That's like, that's a
toughness that you can't you can't just say those words
you got it. You have to feel it. You have
to be through adversity to create that kind of toughness.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
But for a.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Baseball fan, fundamentally, the Dodgers were way better. They made
the plays they're multifaceted and how they can beat you.
And again the depth of the Dodgers, of their organization
and their culture. I thought they did a great job.
They always mentioned their minor league developers. They always mention
(27:58):
those guys, and I think that's great. As a developer
a couple of years ago, you wanted some kind of
recognition and they never they Andrew Friedman did it. Dave
Roberts did it several times, and that's huge. You give
him a little validation that they had a part of
this and they are a part of this. They you
can tell that they preach this stuff and the guys
(28:21):
believe it. So Dave Roberts has taken a ton of
criticism over the years about not being a great manager.
Like I think he put those to rest. He was
masterful in this October. Masterful like he pulled the right moves.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Every time. You can debate the game four all.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
You want, ninety nine percent of his managing this postseason
was nothing short of perfection. So kudos to him and
his coaching staff. The scary part is the Dodgers are
only gonna get better. They just won a World Series
with fourteen guys hurt Kershaw May Glass Now, Glass Now
is a number one stuff wise, Bueler missed most of
(29:06):
the season.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
You think about it's.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
A scary thought to think that you're gonna have to
roll into at some point, you're gonna have to roll
into Glass now. Bueler, Yamamoto May and Kershaw's your five?
You know, Oh by the way, left, show Hey out, like,
let's show Hey clothes.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Let's show Hey clothes. You want to keep him for
ten years? Hey?
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Close him like I'd get it almost worked out perfectly, though,
if he doesn't dislocate his shoulder. I know they said
he's not pitching. Could you imagine if that wasn't the
most perfect you want to talk about? Like they already
think he's the best player on the planet and he's not.
He probably is of all time, don't give me right,
(29:51):
probably of all time. Could you imagine it in that
situation you see show Hey sneak down to the pen
last night in the ninth inning, like you can't make
this shit up? Like I was in there thinking, that's
the only guy that got And obviously his shoulder has
a lot to do with it. But if he's healthy,
you can't I beat a Andrew Freeman. Yeah, I know
we talked about, you know, like not pitching this dude,
(30:14):
but you think we could use them. You think it's
okay for you. It's like having any Christmas present you
can't touch, You can't You can open up the present,
but you can't play with it.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
It sucks.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'm in there thinking I got the best picture in
the world. He's sitting there right at my left.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
He doesn't even know I'm talking about him because they
can't speak English. So this is even better.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So like he doesn't even know what I'm talking about
having them go out there, but that, I mean, that
was a perfect That's a whole other topic we'll get
down later. But yeah, I mean, oh yeah, show Hey,
so back everybody up one show hey Glass now Bueler.
Holy moly, this is this team's not going anywhere, folks.
This team's here for a while. And when you superstars
(30:54):
play the way they play again, I'm talking about hustle
like it's some kind of magic goal like thing. You're
a pro, you're supposed to hustle. Takes no effort to hustle,
takes no talent to hustle. But if you break it down,
that inning that they scored five runs was nothing more
than just hustle. Is like defense to me, there's a
(31:16):
will and you either want to you don't. You either
want to be a good base runner or you don't.
There's no It's like a for defense for me. You
either really want to be a good defender or you're not.
It's importance. They ran MOOKI how many guys have you seen,
even in this World Series hit a ground ball and
pull up halfway to first Mookie putting pressure on them
(31:39):
right there, just running to first. I can't believe I'm
celebrating it, but I am. Kiki getting a second, getting
the third, putting pressure on the throw like those things matter.
And these are the things that you can't put on paper.
And it goes to yes, the Dodgers are are very
much analytical, right. They have animal political people. Andrew Friedman
(32:01):
was one. He's one of the best at it, if
not the best. But the point is the analytics. Everybody
has the same analytics. Everybody they all go to the
same thing. It always, it always will boil down to
who has the better baseball player, who wins. And that's
a prime example of what you saw. The Dodgers have analytics,
(32:22):
but their superstars play hard, their superstars play hurt. They're superstars,
have a right way of doing things. And when your
superstars do that, everybody else follows, and ballah, you have
a you know, Dave Roberts gets his parade, which he
was adamant about talking about forever.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Good for them.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
And you can say what you want about divine intervention.
I thought about it like Fernando bell as well as birthday,
I think is right on game six, and I was thinking,
if that's not poetic, like that's what this game is
all about.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
You can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
But congratulations Dave, Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and
you know, I'm sure we'll see you back here next
October two. Closing on this, this one's gonna sting for
a long time. I don't think you ever get over
your losses. Especially I've never lost a World Series, so
(33:19):
I don't get that. But I have had my season
end in October. You don't ever forget it this one.
If you're a Yankee, you realize you gave up five
unearned runs, you dropped a pop up, you had a
throwing air, you didn't cover first, and you had a
catcher's interference against the guy who you've caught against for
the last five games. That one, that game sticks with
(33:43):
you on a Thursday afternoon in Milwaukee, let alone win
an end your season. That one's gonna linger for a
long time.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
I thought.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Aaron Boone talked about it, and again, hats off to Boonie.
My gosh, class all the way around. I mean throughout
all of this, his pre and post games, when you
know you're exhausted from answering the same questions over and
over and over again, handled everything with class. He talked
about how the two thousand and three he can still
hear the sounds of the Marlin celebrate in front of
(34:13):
their dugout. I thought, that's a very vivid picture to paint,
and it does. Those losses almost lingered more than the
wins than that. It's crazy that it sounds that way,
but it's true. And that's but to hold their head up.
I think Boonie gets too much criticism. I think the
fundamental part is way beyond the manager. I think that's
(34:34):
a culture problem, which is an organization problem. I don't
think changing the manager in this situation changes anything for them.
They're flawed, significantly flawed baseball team, and I think something to.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Keep an eye on.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Juan Soto's face looked completely different in games one and
two than it did in four and five. I don't
know if it was tired, but he didn't have that
talked about this yesterday. He didn't have that either tiger
that he normally had. And it's almost like he's like
really considering thinking about this, and we'll see, we'll see
what he'll tell us everything. We need to know who
he signs with again. Sad to see baseball over World
(35:14):
Series and playoff. Baseball is what it's all about. And
you know, boys, coaches, fans, get some rest. You probably
need to sleep a little bit. I'm sure everybody's spent
and exhausted. I know I used to turn I take
the hurricane shutters.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
And close them.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
So I was like a cave for like two weeks
and like don't talk to me, Like don't don't call me.
I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna eat, I'm gonna go
to the bathroom, I'm gonna shower. I'm gonna go back
to hibernating for at least ten days. So you've earned
your your earn your rest, gentlemen, and the Dodgers enjoy
that parade. All right, everybody, that's gonna wrap up today's
(35:52):
episodes on the Dugout Podcast. Uh subscribe, check us out
on Instagram, Twitter, dm eas for Recruiting or Doug mccavid sixteen,
and find this podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
you name it, we're there. Future episodes. We're gonna do
some college football. We're gonna continue to talk about baseball.
(36:15):
The GM meetings come up soon, Winter meetings, off season stuff.
We're gonna get into some college baseball recruiting.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
You name it, we're gonna hit it.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So tune in, check us out, look forward to many
more of these, and have a happy and safe Halloween.
Make sure you get a lot of candy and make
sure you share it with your parents.
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