Sax and Cates In The AM (Hour 1) 10/10/24

Steve Sax and Tim Cates react to the Dodgers 8-0 win over the Padres in Game 4 and forcing a win-or-go-home Game 5 on Friday at Dodger Stadium

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
The right fart.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Dodgers Playoff Baseball is back and with it an annual
postseason tradition.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Scam is back.

Speaker 4 (00:13):
Baby.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is Sax and Cakes in the A app Go
with Broway. Dodger legend Steve Sacks is joined by your
favorite Dodger pregame host, Tim Kates. If you want to
talk Dodgers, get in on the show on eighty six
six nine, eighty seven two five seven now while the
Dan Patrick Show streams on the iHeartRadio app. We've been

(00:35):
banished to the Internet until this Dodgers playoff run concludes.
Here they are broadcasting live on AM five to seven
e LA Sports. It's Tim Kats and Steve Sacks.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
The Dodgers have forced a Game five in this NLGS.
Hi everybody, and welcome into a Thursday morning edition Sacks
and Kate's and am here I you're a home of
the Dodgers, AM five seventy LA Sports. It was a
must win Game four last night in San Diego, a

(01:11):
bullpen game for the Dodgers, and they came through and
a eight nothing shutout win to come back to Dodger
Stadium Friday night. Pray winner go home. Game five of
this NLDS. I am Tim Kates, joined by a two
time World Series champion, former Rookie of the Year, and
he's one hell of a guy. He's my favorite. Number three.

(01:32):
Steve Sacks Saxy, Good morning.

Speaker 4 (01:34):
Good morning, Tim. How are you?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Oh? I am fantastic. I was so nervous yesterday. I
told you yesterday morning, I could not sleep the night before.
I was so nervous on what was gonna happen in
Game four? How would the Dodgers come out all the
momentum that the San Diego Padres were riding in this
series from Game two to three and a chance to
close out the Dodgers in front of a sellout, racous

(01:57):
crowd at Petco Park, and the Dodgers shut him up early,
shut him up often, and shut him out to win
the game.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (02:04):
And as Alana said yesterday, just shoved yesterday. That was
a epic event yesterday watching that game, I thought the
key to the game, I'll just tell you right out
of the game was top of the second. I know
what Mooki did in the first time he hit that
absolute missile out of there, which was a beautiful thing
to watch. It was the punch hit the opposite field.

(02:27):
Situational hitting put on display by Mooki, and he cuts
down the swing. There's an absolute valley between cronin Worth
and Bogarts and he just hit in a half swing
pepper game with the right fielder. That went got through
there for a hit, and it scored kik A And

(02:47):
that is what the turning point of the game was
right there. That's what you call situational hitting. And only
an uber talented human being that's got a brain in
his head.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Can do that, and that's what Mooki did.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Mooki led off the first sitting with the solo home run.
The Dodgers loved the home run ball, but as he
alluded to in that second inning, they manufactured those runs
and they did so with two outs, which they have
been doing all season long. Shoeyotani drills a ball to
right field. Great job by the way by Keiky Hernandez
to get out of the way of that ball and
not get hit by that missile that came from Shoeotani.

(03:23):
That scored Gavin lux and is you alluded to. After
the pitching change, Mookie Bets wasted no time going with
the pitch to right field, scoring Kik and tacking on
another run to make it not a two to nothing
lead but a three to nothing lead. And they just
kept tacking on after that sack, see two more in
the third and the next thing, you know, before you

(03:44):
can breathe there at Petco Park, it's a five nothing
Dodgers lead, and then it's just arm after arm after
arm out of that bullpen. Dave Roberts is gonna have
to ice his feet after the amount of trips he
took from the dugout to the mound last night. A
different Dodger pitcher, Saxy, went to the mound last night.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
Yeah, I think we had talked about that right at
the close of yesterday's broadcast.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Well, I'm glad you bring that up, Saxy, because really,
let's let''s go on. Let's have a little flashback to
yesterday eight fifty five am Pacific Standard time. Let's take
a listen.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
Okay, very simple. Your backs are against the wall. There's
no more talking. The backs are again. I don't care
about I don't care about enthusiasm. Go out there and
barrow somebody's ass up. And that's what you gotta do.
Barrel some some balls up and as far as the
bullpen goes, go out there and attack these hitters. Don't
go on the fringe. These guys are gonna have to

(04:40):
figure everybody out as they go along. The bullpen guys
have the advantage, especially early in the game. Go out
and attack somebody, and let's see.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
What happens, what what h feels like. Somebody may have
predicted what was gonna happen last night, Sack.

Speaker 5 (04:57):
Well, yeah, I mean you can kind of feel it
coming to break up the Uh, you know what's been
the norm in this short series already, and that was
how do we change the how do we change the perspective?
How do we get kind of the padres off their game. Well,
you throw a bunch of bunch of different dudes at
him with great stuff, uh, and you you ride what
seems to be simmering in the background with Mooki, And

(05:18):
that's exactly what they did. I'm all about the missile.
Mooki hits the first home up and that ball was crushed.
That's great, but it was the situational hitting putting all that.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
You know, Muky, who who.

Speaker 5 (05:30):
In the right mind is a human being's not gonna
go up? Hey man, I am feeling it. I'm gonna
hit the third home run in uh, you know, in
the last couple of days. Right now, No, what you do?
He cuts the swing down, he plays pepper with the
right fielder, shoots that nice little dart past the second baseman,
and then that's where the floodgates just opened up. Situational

(05:51):
hitting is a beautiful thing. It's such an unselfish thing
to do. And Mooki's all about that. It was just
a beautiful at bat. I loved it.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Begin any of that second inning against Dylan Seas, Tommy
had been grinded out one nothing lead. After the Mookie
bets on run, Gavin Lux comes up with one out
and draws a five pitch walk from Dylan Ceas. All right,
that's something the Dodgers haven't done in the last two
games before this was actually go up there and have
it bats and do whatever it takes to get on
base and drawing a walk. Keik A Hernandez, who we've

(06:20):
been talking about for three days. Why isn't he playing?
Why didn't he come in af the bench in the
previous game when Miguel Rojas left with the injury and
they went to Andy pay Has instead. Well, Kei k
A her Nana's got the start last night. His first
at bat in the second inning, after fouling off a
couple of pitches on a two to two knuckle curve,
drives the ball to center field for a single bullet

(06:43):
and that get that kept the inning going. If these
guys strike out like they did in numbers in the
first three games and not put the ball in play,
we're not getting to Otani and Bet, so they're not
chasing Dylan Ceze like they did in the second inning.
It's just repeat and rints more of the same. Instead,
get guys on base, move them around with singles and
let the top of the lineup turn back over like

(07:05):
it did in the second inning. And know Tani singles,
Bet singles three nothing game.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
Yeah, you said it exactly right. And that's you know,
this new flare that you have with this bench. It's
very very deep with the Dodgers. It's not just about
all the guys with the huge contracts that are making
it happen. You've got to have some flare in there,
some guys that come up from the benches that have
been there and done that before. And Ki k A
certainly has been He's a great example of it. And

(07:31):
this is a whole new part of the team that's
been exposed at the right time. And you know, the manager,
Dave Roberts, he feels it, he knows it.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
He made the right call.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
The bullpen game could go either really good or it
could go really bad, because all it takes is one
of those links that you're going to over the course
of twenty seven outs, not to work, not to have
a good outing, to get hit up a little bit,
and that can ruin your plan because they map out
all twenty seven outs essentially and matchups and Okay, you're
gonna get this group of guys, you're gonna get this inning.

(08:01):
It doesn't matter what inning it is. It's matchups, it's
groupings to get twenty seven outs. And Dave Roberts alluded
to that in his in dugout hit with Ken Rosenthal
on Fox. I believe in the second or third inning
and said, we're gonna go to Copek next, then it's
gonna be this guy, and then it's gonna be this guy.
And he laid out in essence what they're gonna do,
and all it took me was a bat outing, maybe

(08:24):
a couple of basins or a couple of walks, and
you're off script and all of a sudden what you
had planned out is not going to plan anymore, and
you've got to adjust and maybe that's something that goes wrong,
and all of a sudden there's a wrench thrown into
your plan and things spiral out of control. Last night
it worked out perfectly.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Yeah, and you gotta have a guy ready to have
some bulk innings as well in case that happens. And
you know the Dodgers have that. But look, I don't
know how Dave does. Our managers do it, and Dave
certainly did it brilliantly when he was doing the interview.
You know, to watch the game at the same time
and you know, somebody gets hit. I'm like, oh, oh, shoot,
hang on a second, I got I gotta go back

(09:03):
over here. I would have been back and forth, back
and forth with Ken Rosenthal, but uh, but he does
it very very well. And this this is a big change.
You know, there comes a time in a series where
you know you just got to say enough talk and
the stars have to shine, and you know there's always
you know, those guys have to have their big years
they got to show up when the time matter really

(09:24):
doesn't matter. But you have to have a surprise or
two in the bucket. You have to have one or
two guys on the team that also comes out of
nowhere and and really does something something really special. And
you got to be able to to to circumvent some
of these injury problems that that the Dodgers are obviously
haven't all throughout the pitching staff, certainly with Freddie Freeman.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
But they're able to do it.

Speaker 5 (09:47):
And they're just navigating, you know, this course onto getting
into the World Series, and it's it's pretty great on
how they're doing it. They're doing it the time, the
timely fashion in which they're performing these things are amazing.
Who's gonna step up today or tomorrow? In this final game,
we saw the bench really do it yesterday with the
new guys. I don't know who it is tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Dodgers had twelve hits, scored eight runs, hit three home
runs in the game. Eight of the nine Dodgers starters
had hits to contribute in this game, and Tommy Edmond
laying down a drag bunch a safety squeeze to bring
in a run just to tack on more in this
Dodgers lead. Last night, Gavin Lux goes two for four
with a home run and a couple of ribis gall

(10:26):
on base three times after drawing a walk. The Dodgers
struck out ten times, but four of those ten came
from Chris Taylor, whose twenty twenty four season we thought
was behind him in the regular season, and he become
a postseason Chris Taylor, like in a year's past. But
if there's one guy left on this roster that is
still searching saxy, one guy who's still looking for that

(10:48):
moment to maybe help spark this team drive in a run,
do something to contribute, it's Chris Taylor. And I feel
bad for the guy. He's had a lot of big
moments over the years in the postseason for the Dodgers, defensive, offensively,
he just cannot figure it out at the plate. Struck
out four times.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
Last yeah, and you can tell he's frustrated. And this
is a this is a man that's loaded with character.
You know, when he's going through some bad times, he
doesn't show it as much. He's he's a really a
good person. And you know the thing about him, he's
just absolutely lost up there, he's trying to find it.
He's he's trying to go up the middle. You can

(11:24):
tell he's really not overswinging. He's he takes a good,
healthy cut all the time, but he's trying to to
hit the baltimol. I can tell on his approach. He
just can't find it right now. And I hope he
does find it because he's a very talented young man.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
They rebuilt his swing during the season, and at what
point he's started to describe it to the reporters, like
a week ago during the workouts, about where his hand
movement was, the way his bat lays on his shoulder,
his kick, his hips, everything. They rebuilt his entire swing
because there was a gaping hole in it. It's interesting
because early in the season Chris Taylor was struggling and

(12:03):
No More Garcia Parl, I'll never forget this. No More
did a one of these in front of the screen
things at sports in n LA, kind of dissecting the
swing of Chris Taylor. And he would frame by frame
different angles showing the step, showing the load, showing the hands,
where everything's at. And he dissected it right there and
he said, here's the problem right here, he's wrapping here,
arms here, did the whole thing, broke it down perfectly,

(12:25):
and then he demonstrated how he should be doing it,
and he almost felt like, gosh, well, they just asked
no more how to fix this. But it took all season.
The hitting coaches, he was on stint on the il
in the minor league rehabitstat they're trying desperately, and they
completely reinvented his swing. It just hasn't work.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
Still.

Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yeah, well, if anybody knows, it's no mar I mean,
that guy was a great hitter and he can break
things down. He's a smart dude, and he gets it
no more. I have had talks about hitting, an approach
and whatnot for me, and my opinion is I'm no
hitting coach, but I try to make that thing as
simple as part possible. I think the most important thing
is right from that launching position and go right to

(13:04):
contact that little arc right there. That's the most important
part of hitting. You could talk about a load, you
can talk about a rap, you can talk about getting
your foot down, you know, keeping your head still, getting
off a stiff front side. All that's that's great, but
the most important thing is that ball coming out of
the hand, you're in that loaded position, and then it's
just right to the baseball from there to there, short,

(13:24):
quick to the ball, and that's where the bulk of
this whole thing lies for me.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
They made need Chris Taylor for Game five, depending on
the status of Freddie Freeman certainly would love to see
key Key Hernandez back out there in Game five. What
he brings offensively and defensively last night the Dodgers eight runs,
three home runs, twelve hits in the game last night,
Max Munsey had a double for the Dodgers, as the
offense was on full display and the pitching was fantastic.
Ryan Brazier and inning and a third as the opener,

(13:51):
and then it was just passing the baton to the
next guy, Bond to Copek Vessi of Phillips Hudson trying
it and Landon Nack pitched the ninth inning and what
then was a blowout eight nothing lead in the Dodgers
get the victory in Game four, series tied at two
games a piece. Game five winner go home is tomorrow
night at Dodgers Stadium. What's here though, from the manager
Dave Roberts post game last night after his Dodgers stepped

(14:13):
it up and got a big win.

Speaker 6 (14:14):
You know, I know before a tiny got you, I
used to like to say a lot. You know, his
Mookie goes to Dodger goods go how big has he been?

Speaker 7 (14:21):
You know? The last two days here is that Mookie,
Mookie has been big.

Speaker 8 (14:25):
Obviously, we got a lot of good players, but it's
not on one player, clearly, And today Mookie shine.

Speaker 7 (14:31):
Last night Mookie shined, and today Will had a big hit.

Speaker 8 (14:33):
So that's a great thing about having good players, and
you know, they don't need to do anything more than
they're capable of and just kind of do what their potential,
their their abilities to allow for.

Speaker 7 (14:42):
And that's what they did tonight.

Speaker 9 (14:44):
Well, they've used talked a lot about fight for Shi
over the last week or so. The piece for you
where it's just kind of what these guys did.

Speaker 7 (14:51):
I'm proud to proud I think that.

Speaker 8 (14:54):
You know, when you go through the regular season, a
lot of things are sort of calculated, and you know
there's a lot of variables because you're playing for the
longer view. But when you get into the postseason, it's
a street fight and it's about people players and your
desire has got to be more than your opponent. And

(15:14):
for me to see our guys go through what they've
been through and respond the way they have really makes
me excited about Game five.

Speaker 9 (15:22):
As you guys mapped out your pitching plane heading into
this one, was Flairity an option.

Speaker 7 (15:26):
That he was the last.

Speaker 8 (15:28):
He was a late option if something you know, funky happened.
Guys weren't as efficient as possible. But now he's a
live for Game five as.

Speaker 10 (15:35):
Well, with the importance of getting an early lead in
a game like this. How much of a tone setter
was Mookie's home run? And you know there's a lot
going on with him on Monday. Just can you just
talk a little bit about how he responded to all this,
all the noise.

Speaker 7 (15:48):
I guess really, I think you know responded really well.
I've always tell the guys.

Speaker 8 (15:53):
The game honors you, and the work that he's put
in grinding in the cage and extra hitting certainly has
paid off. And your question about striking first when you
come on the road, it is important.

Speaker 7 (16:05):
Hitting is still hard.

Speaker 8 (16:07):
You can't just book up book a homer or a
crooked number in the first inning. But I do believe
that the intent even show Hayes first swing up tonight,
you know, was aggressive on the fastball, and for us
to get to cease early, get to their pen, obviously
it gave us momentum.

Speaker 7 (16:23):
But yeah, started with Mookie right there.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
That's Dave Roberts post game last night, and he just
said something that's pretty important, Saxy. They got on Dylan
cease early, and he went through eighty two pitches on
Saturday night, three days of rest. He had never done
this before in his career. But he still came out
throwing one hundred miles an hour last night. So, yeah,
he was juiced up. The adrenaline was there. He very
easily kind of come out and just absolutely dealt in

(16:47):
the first inning. Got the confidence, got the momentum, got
the crowd behind them, put up a zero in the
first inning, and he's off and running, feeling good about himself. Instead,
the Dodgers put together some good evats. Mookie, that's HiT's
a home run, and you can just see the deflation
in Dylan sees not only the crowd, but Dylan sees
on the mount You can see he was done after that.

Speaker 5 (17:07):
Yeah, he was, and you know he was the thing
about starting pitchers. They're very much more than anybody else
in baseball. They are creatures of habit. They have to
have the same routine, and I totally get that they're
zeroed in on what they do. They work out, they run,
they throw their pens at the same time they do
all that. Everything's the same for them. They are on
like a rotation in everything they do, and you put

(17:30):
them out there in a different kind of an atmosphere. Now,
the expectations are high. I think I think being in
a home crowd can sometimes work against you because the
expectations are so high and he wasn't in his element,
Tim was. He was pitching on two days early. So
this was an advantage for the Dodgers. And you know,
like we talked about yesterday, Tim, this team has so

(17:50):
much talent, and hey give it to the Padres, they
are too extremely talent.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
I think there are.

Speaker 5 (17:55):
The two best teams in the in the playoffs right now.
But sooner or later, you got to you gotta think
this this worm is gonna turn. It's it's gonna turn,
and we're gonna see better than expected at some time.
Not sure when it is, but maybe we're seeing the
start of it now, and like we talked about, Mooki
Betts makes the difference and you know he can carry

(18:15):
the team. But man, you got show, Hey, you got Freddy,
you got everybody on this team, you got a great bench,
you got a stacked bullpen. So the leash should be
very short on Friday Night.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Game five is Friday Night. The Dodgers forced a decisive
Game five with an eight to nothing to win last
night over the San Diego Padres. He is Steve Sacksiam
Tim Kates. We want you to be a part of
the show. Eight six six nine eighty seven two five
seventy eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seventy.
Jose Moto will join us in the final hour of
the show. We'll hear from Freddy Freeman later on. Up next,
we'll hear from Mookie Betts. What is the series he

(18:48):
has had turning things around after an over twenty two
drought going back to last year's postseason, Mookie Betts has
flipped the switch and he looks like a man on
a mission. Now homeward again last night to lead it
off for the Dodgers in the first inning with the
run and they go off and running after that, two
more in the second, two more in the third, three
and the seventh. As they shut out the Padres last

(19:10):
night eight to nothing. It's Game five tomorrow nights, LA,
you better be ready. The Dodgers that brought it back
home for a Game five in the NLDS will continue
to talk about it. Thanks for being with us on
this Thursday morning here in southern California on your home
of the Dodgers, AFI seventy LA Sports. It's Sax and

(19:37):
Kate's in the am on M five seventy LA Sports.
You're home of Showyo Taani, Mookie Betz and your Los
Angeles Dodgers who have forced a Game five in this
NLDS against the San Diego Padres. Dodgers winners last night
at Petco Park eight to nothing over Manny Machado and
the Padres, as the Dodgers eight different relievers combined to

(20:01):
go out there and pitch nine shutout innings in a
bullpen game for Dave Roberts, who after the game last
night said he doesn't know quite yet what the plan
is for Game five. Sacks as far as pitching is concerned.
You've got a arrested Yoshi Yamamoto. You've got a arrested
Jack Flaherty, and you've got a bullpen that was absolutely
dominant last night with all hands on deck, So he's

(20:24):
got multiple options that he can go to tomorrow night.
Certainly time to sit on this for the next twenty
four plus hours and kind of really decide game plan,
hunker down, put the numbers into the computer, everything they
do to brainstorm what they're gonna do for a pitching
us outing on Friday night.

Speaker 5 (20:42):
Yeah, I would just take this like, you know, this
is all hands on deck, everybody available, don't even think
about the next series. I mean, this is so important.
You're playing against a very very talented team. I would
have a very very short leash. But I'm not the manager.
I'm just somebody that talks about baseball, that's all. But
I would have a very short leash in my mind.
And and you got to you got a bullpen waiting there. Man,

(21:04):
these guys are stacked. They prove they could do it,
and you're gonna be in front of the home crowd,
so there's no time to kind of try to figure
things out and oh, maybe he'll get better next to
next to any when we're down for to nothing. Nope,
I'd have a leash about this long, and that's about
two inches.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
It's a short one, very short.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I imagine if you went to alex Vesia tomorrow after
throwing thirty pitches in Game four, if you went to
Blake trying and who threw nineteen pitches in the eighth inning,
Ryan Brasier, even who went and any into thirty pitch
nineteen pitches last night. If you go to all these
guys like, hey, you know what, I know, you threw
almost twenty or thirty pitches on Wednesday. How are you

(21:42):
feeling on though?

Speaker 5 (21:43):
For Friday? They're all overre gonna say I'm ready give
me worse right, they can't wait to get out there.
I mean, they're gonna be itching to get in the game.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Of course. Hey, let's say, you know, let's say they.

Speaker 5 (21:53):
Start Yoshi right and and he and he's shoving you
just you just ride that pony. I mean, if he goes,
if he goes seven innings plus and he's shoving the
whole time, you just keep writing it. I see no
reason to change that thing up just because it's innings.
Forget the innings. Let him just go as long as
he can.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah. I mean, assuming the offense does what they do tomorrow,
you just start piecing together out and looking at groupings
like they did last night with the eight different relievers
getting those twenty seven outs. You just figure out how
you're gonna do it, and there's no hurt feelings. If
a guy gets into trouble and walks the lead off battery,
you know what to the next guy.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
We go.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
We don't have time to sit here and wait and
hope that you know, pitcher X whoever it is out
of the bullpen can figure it out and maybe get
a ground ball to get a double play out of this. No,
it is best matchup, best reliever, next nex man up tomorrow.
It's gonna be fun to see what they do to
piece together twenty seven outs. And most importantly, this Dodger's
offense needs to put up some numbers on the board

(22:49):
to help out this pitching staff. And one of those
guys is Mookie Betts. Last night two for five, another
home run. To think he could have three home runs
in this series if not robbed by jurors and profar
and these fans not doing their jobs over the weekend
and grabbing that ball out of his glove, but he
goes two for five last night. You mentioned the hit
that he had in that second and which was unbelievable.

(23:09):
He had the home run, so to love center field there,
Mookie Bets has been fantastic. Let's hear from Mookie Bets
postgame last night on this series now that he is
having after turn things around, I.

Speaker 11 (23:19):
Think we just take a one game at a time,
one inning at a time. We have a bunch of
grinders or a bunch of fighters, and we know this
wasn't going to be easy, and you.

Speaker 7 (23:26):
Know, nothing's nothing's.

Speaker 11 (23:27):
Easy, and so you just got to take whatever whatever
cards you're dealt and play them.

Speaker 7 (23:33):
And that's what we've been doing.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Rookie, we talked the.

Speaker 6 (23:35):
Other day, you know, he talked about how you guess
you would take another three four hundred swings before Game three?
What what did you actually do between Games two and three?

Speaker 11 (23:44):
Hit kept hitting.

Speaker 7 (23:46):
I mean, that's that's all. That's all I've been doing.
I mean, that's uh, that's what I know.

Speaker 11 (23:52):
I'm our work again. I just want to do my part.
I'm not trying to win the game for us, and
we got plenty of guys that can win games.

Speaker 7 (24:02):
For us.

Speaker 11 (24:02):
I just want to do my part in the team,
and that's that's all I've been focused on.

Speaker 6 (24:08):
When when you said you hit, like how much did
you hit? I'm guessing you don't want to like overdo
it to the point where you're like.

Speaker 11 (24:13):
I don't care about overdoing it. I'd rather overdo it
than than not give effort. So pretty much, as soon
as I get to the park every day, I'm in
the cage and I don't leave until I got on
the field, and then I'll come back inside and I
hit some more.

Speaker 7 (24:24):
So that's that's what I've been doing.

Speaker 11 (24:26):
I don't even remember Doc's message on Monday, to be honest, Yeah,
it seems seemed like it was so long ago. But
I mean, you know, I think I just needed to
see one fall, man. I think, you know, I just
needed to see one fall and get a little confidence.
I know, my team did an amazing job, my teammates
an amazing job trying to put confidence, instill confidence in me.

(24:50):
I had to turn off all social media because that
was all all negative and I had to just get
some positive vibes in me. And my team did it,
and you know, I worked and finally got finally saw
one fall, and I think we're all right now, I
would say so, but you know again, that doesn't that
doesn't mean I'm gonna go out and get hits in this,

(25:10):
that and the other. But I do have some confidence
in myself and the boys, and uh, we'll be all right.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
That tone is a different tone for Mookie Betts than
all that a week ago, Saxon, and he said it twice.
I just needed to see one fall.

Speaker 7 (25:27):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
He needed a positive result as a hitter. How important
is that?

Speaker 5 (25:31):
It's it's you know, it really shows the human element
of somebody.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
Oh he's making all these money, these Mookie Bets. He's
so famous.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Look he you know what, he can dicker with your
confidence a little bit too. I mean that it does.
It does play a toll. And he's just a human
being man like everybody else. And you know what I
like about what MOOKI does. He's always given it to
his teammates. It's not about him, it's his teammates help him.
He needs his teammates. And that's such a great quality.
That's that's such a great leader that does that. When

(26:01):
you hear things like that. He doesn't have to be
the locker room lawyer. You hear it in his voice
right now, how he always points to his teammates and
he's happy about somebody else being successful. That's a great leader.
And that's why I love the love this guy. And
look what he does. I mean, people may think, well,
you know, he's signed this big contract, he's probably laying back. No,
all this guy does is work his butt off every

(26:23):
single minute he's at the ballpark. Do you think Mookie
Betts really cares about all that stuff right now? No,
he's thinking about I'm gonna compete. I'm gonna go out
there and get the best out of myself. He's got
a lot of pride in his work. And like I said,
he doesn't take himself too seriously. I don't think Mookie does.
But he takes what he does very seriously. And I
love a guy like that.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
Yeah, and he said he had to get off his
social media because all the negativity.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Certainly that's smarter thing social media is good for. But
he had been hearing it, Zacks. I mean, not only
the struggles are one thing, but people then start asking,
you know, people, I say, fans start wondering why why
is he struggle why is he for his last twenty
two And they look for reasons and it can just
be as simple as he's in a funk. He needs
to tweak his mechanics, he's just not right to play

(27:07):
good pitching whatever. But then they look at well, oh,
he likes to bowl, so this must be a distractions.
He's on late night TV shows, that that much. Oh
he's got a podcast, oh that, but he's dead. That's
a huge distrest. He must be trying to hook up
the wires to his podcast and the cameras and he's
not worried about hitting. That's the problem.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
Sex, Yeah, come on, give me a break.

Speaker 5 (27:30):
This guy's a professional, right, he's a professional hitter, and
he's different than most guys, so the expectations are higher.
But I guarantee you it's not because he's fiddling with
some wires on a podcast or he went bowlling. It
has nothing to do with it. Okay, Uh, he's a
I'll put my money on Mookie anytime, you know. That's
why I said what I said yesterday. This guy's This

(27:51):
guy's a great player, a phenomenal player, and he would
have been great in any generation, future generations or the
ones way behind us. He would have been a great
player then too.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Not only is he a really uber talented player and
a generational player as he talked about in MVP, but
I think saxy the fact that he is in this
star lineup with Otani in front of him. Last night,
Taioscar Hernandez was behind him, and let's not knock Tioscar.
He's two for five last night. He had great season.
But usually it's Freddie Freeman behind him, and then Taioscar

(28:22):
behind Freddy. It's a stacked one through four. In the
middle of it is Mookie Betts. So a lot of
times he's getting really good pitches because the guy in
front of him and the guy behind him. If he's
on a team where he's the only guy, he's the
cleanup hitter, he's the three hitter, and he doesn't have
that protection or the guys around him, certainly more pressure

(28:42):
on him, you know, more pressure on him to be
the man, but he doesn't have that.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Pressure looked him.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
Most teams, well, if you have a guy like Mookie Betts,
nobody has. He's only one of him, but that star
quality player. Most teams, I mean, if they have a
guy like that, they try to surround him with some
other good players. The Dodgers not only have Mookie Betts,
They've got a whole team full of guys like this.
I mean, if I'm the starting pitcher against the Dodgers,
I'm thinking, Dude, I do not envy looking down the

(29:11):
barrel of that gun. I mean, they've got some guys
that can just rip you up in a hurry. And
you know the thing about it too, with the way
they've turned this thing around, we haven't seen anything yet,
I mean, and I think that's what the fans are
are kind of like, you know, holding the breath for
wait till the sing explodes. It hasn't really exploded yet.

(29:31):
This team was a one fifty seven plus in.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Run differential this year.

Speaker 5 (29:35):
They absolutely dominated teams throughout the course of the season.
This offense is really explosive, and we really haven't seen
anything yet.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
I say this sarcastically. I'm old enough to remember when
Mookie Betts played sixty plus games at shortstop, because at
one point this year, remember he was the opening day
shortstop and played shortstop up until his injury to his wrist,
and when he came back, they moved him back to
right field. But this guy is a talent. He can
play different spots defensively, and I just keep thinking, here,

(30:06):
if he's still playing shortstop, saxy and he's still at
that elite position, and he even mentioned it, he was
mentally trying to figure out shortstop and master that and
be the best at it, and it kind of took
away from his hitting because he was so locked in
on trying to play shortstop and not mess up and
figure out the hops and the throws and be perfect

(30:27):
at that because that's who he is, that it kind
of got away from him at the plate. But now
that he's in right field, and I think about these
struggles in the postseason, Thank god he's not playing shortstop
because maybe he doesn't figure it out because he's so
distracted and worried about playing shortstop in a postseason game
and all the balls that we've seen hit to Miguel
Rojas and Tommy Edmonds, certainly he'd be playing shortstop instead.

(30:48):
He's a right field and he's got a chance to
think about it a little bit more than hitting.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
And still look at the type of year he has exactly,
I mean, still doing that. I was just amazed at
how he could just pop in there for playing. You know,
your arm angled from the outfield, and playing the infield
is completely different. It's not even the same in the
In the outfield, you're way over the top, you're extended
your arm, and when you're playing in the infield, it's
a lot shorter, throwing right behind your ear, kind of

(31:12):
like a catcher. And he comes in there and just
you know, Sachet's in there and no problem. It's like
it just doesn't happen that way. It's just most people
on this planet can't do that. It's it's too difficult.
Especially it's not like he was going in and playing
first base. Yeah, I mean, playing shortstop is the most
demanding position maybe outside a catcher on the field, and

(31:32):
yet he had no problem.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
I mean, I think he did a great job this.

Speaker 5 (31:35):
This is a different player and it's great to see
it on display now because listen, if he gets unleashed
and and he does, he goes in one of these runs,
he could run this right through the World Series, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
He started sixty one games at shortstop for the Dodgers series.
And remember, for those who don't who don't remember he
in spring training, Cavin Lucks was given this starting shortstop
position and struggled defensively, and struggled on glove side, backhand throwing,
really struggled so much so Mookie Betts, who was playing

(32:09):
second base, said, all right, enoughs enough Doc, I'm gonna
play shortstop. Let me do it. I'm an athlete, I'll
figure it out. Just give me shortstop. Move lux back
to second and two weeks before the season, in the
trip to Korea, Mookie Betts was named the starting shortstop
and played sixty one games there before he got hurt.
Comes back, plays a little bit of second base. He's

(32:32):
made some starts there and now back forty plus games
in right field. The guy's a team player. And hey,
for anybody who sits there and it bothers me. Oh,
he's into bowling, he's into podcasting. He's so distracted. This
is the same Mookie Betts who said, I'm the captain,
Let me freaking play shortstop because it's better for me
to do it than somebody else.

Speaker 5 (32:52):
Look, I'll take nine guys like Mookie Betts and get
a chance with that. You know, his makeup, his approach
to the game is phenomenal. But look when he went
over to shortstop, and said, hey, let me do this
and I'll figure it out.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
Great, wasn't it. I mean, you know what else it did?
It made Gavin Lux a much better second basement. He
goes over there and Gavin's playing the hell out of
second base, you know what I mean. So that is
a great thing.

Speaker 5 (33:17):
Not only do they shore up that position, but you
really elevated Gavin Lux at second base a lot higher.

Speaker 4 (33:24):
So it's a win win for everybody.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah, gave Jason Hayward an opportunity to play right field
until he got banged up with his back and was
just never right after that. And then when Mooki came
back from the hand injury, you had Miguel Rojas who
was ramped up and ready to go. You acquired Tarmy
Edmund and oh yeah, let's not forget you still had
a geek a Hernandez and a Chris Taylor, two Swiss
army knives who can play shortstop and make starts and

(33:47):
come in late as defensive placements if you needed him
at short stop. So there was never really an issue
of we don't have anybody to go to. It was
Mookie just said enough's enough. I'm the guy. I'm gonna
do it. I'm not gonna sit here and watch a
guy make mistakes and shortstop. I can figure it out
on the go. And it's amazing that he did because
quir Frank I can't think of anybody else in baseball

(34:07):
saxee who could do that, no, no positions, two weeks
before the season. It's he's never plays, not like he
was a shortstop growing up.

Speaker 5 (34:14):
Yeah yeah, I mean guys go down to Venezuela for
in the offseason for a couple three years to learn it.
They're an instructional league and doing their extended springs and
whatnot to learn how to do it.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Now.

Speaker 5 (34:25):
I'll take two weeks and I'll figure it out. The
most demanding position in the game. It just doesn't happen.
But as an decide, I want to kind of completely
change the subject just for like ten seconds here. How
about that bunt by Tommy Edmond?

Speaker 4 (34:38):
Beautiful? I mean, see, you see why.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
This is such an element of the game that's got
to come back. I mean, you change the game by
having this in your back pocket. This guy can come
in and lay the ball down like that. It was
absolutely like a surgeon with a knight. He just was
so man, he was so perfect with that. But the
decks in his hand with that bat was a great

(35:02):
thing to watch. And then yet he can go out
there and play shortstop and you know, lock it down
and play good defense. This is these guys are really
really important to have on.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
A club, no doubt about it. We're gonna hear from
Tommy Edmund coming up in just a little bit that
safety squeeze that he put down in the seventh innings,
scoring Max Monthy just gave the Dodgers more of a lead,
from five to nothing to six to nothing. And then
Gavin Lux comes up and clears the bases with a
two run home run and really put it out of
reach with an eight to nothing lead after seven innings.
He is Steve Sacks. I am Tim Case. Dodger fans,

(35:32):
they did it. They forced a game five. Gotta be
feeling better now. All those that were worried, all those
that were anxious, all those of you are freaking out.
The Dodgers were gonna be bounced by the Padres and
they'd be singing Blink win any two songs in your
head forever after a Padres win and advancing to the

(35:54):
NLCS HA haa haa, not gonna.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Give it to some of the callers him not so fast.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Your call's next eight to six, nine eighty seven two
five seventy. How are you feeling now? They did it?
They're coming home Game five Tomorrow night eight sixty six,
nine eighty seven two five seventy Steve Sacks, Tim Kates
and you on this Thursday morning here in southern California
on an FFI seventy LA Sports.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
Boomp Boom Bommom Boom, Hop Hop Boom.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Sax and Kates at AM and five seventy LA Sports
Boom Dam Patrick Show you can listen to on the
iHeartRadio app. Hey tomorrow, leading up to Game five, we
have a two hundred and fifty dollars gift card to
the Dodgers Clubhouse Store, Universal City Walk. The Dodger Clubhouse
Store features official and custom jerseys of all your favorite

(36:53):
Dodgers players, along with hats, t shirts, and more. I
just had a buddy go up there and was amazed
at the selection. At Dodger Gears, they had gear up
at the Dodgers Clubhouse Store, the official team store of
AMFI seventy LA Sports. That's tomorrow, leading up to Game five.
We'll have a two hundred and fifty dollars gift card
for one lucky Dodgers fan. Go gear up for this

(37:14):
postseason run. All right, Dodger fans, they are fired up,
sex see, and I'm glad they are because the Dodgers
did what they were supposed to do last night. They
went out there and won Game four, and now we
got a Game five tomorrow night. So let's go out
to David Studio city start things off on this Thursday morning.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Dave, good morning, Hey, it certainly is a good morning
in Dodger Land. That definitely was nice to see them
take care of business. A couple of observations. First observation
for the Padre fans, the Steelers called they want their
terrible towels back. Jesus get original. Secondly, what I really

(37:53):
liked about the ball club was they really played intelligent baseball.
For example, I was watching the game with somebody and
an establishment, and when Taylor came up to Bud in
that situation, and of course with Otani on deck, and
he took a couple of bad attempts at a bun

(38:14):
and he swept out and he struck out, and he
said that's okay because there's a very small percentage he
would hit it into a double play. You want Otani
coming up there with runners and scoring position. It was
almost better he did that or put the bat on
his back if he wasn't going to hit it into
a double play. So that was intelligent. And I really
liked the fact that with I finally saw the ball

(38:35):
club with two strikes, you know, the pitchers really not
giving these guys anything good to hit. And I also noticed,
and I forget who the left he was pitching against
the righty, that he didn't give him anything there, let's
go ahead and put him on the base. We got
a left he coming up, So I thought it was
just really calculated and what I call intelligent baseball. What

(38:56):
are your thoughts on that, guys, I think he hit it.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
On the hand, you saw a lot of two strike
pitches that weren't in the zone, saxy and forcing the
Padres hitters to either lay off them or in essence,
last night, they were chasing them and getting those swinging
misses for strikeouts. And the Dodger pitchers did a great job,
I thought, really sticking to the game plan. And he
mentioned Chris Taylor. Yeah, there was an instance when Chris

(39:20):
Taylor came up, I think it was first and third,
and he could have grounded into a double play, which
he's prone to do. Instead, he struck out, and that
brought up Otani in a situation to turn the lineup over.
So in that case it worked out to get to
Otani with runners on base in a chance to drive
in some runs. But I mean, you can't say it
enough about the job the pitchers did. It's one thing
to have a planned right saxy, to have it all

(39:42):
mapped out twenty seven outs, Mark Pryor, Connor McGinnis, assistant
pitching coach Dave Roberts. All right, guys, here's the script,
here's the map. We're going to go to get the
twenty seven outs. But if one guy messes up, it
ruins that map and you have to deviate. It's like
those books Choose your Own adventure and les. Last night
you saw Dodger pitchers one after another go out and execute.

Speaker 4 (40:02):
Yeah, they did.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
And you have to have that one guy that can
have bulk innings where maybe you can tack three innings
and you know, put those together in case one of
the people in that link doesn't work out. But you know,
look all the guys on the team, all the things
we talk about, they they've talked about this that nauseum
throughout the course of this season. They're not trying to
lay the ball in there when there's a when there's

(40:24):
an zero to two count and put a cookie right
there in the middle of the plate form to kill it.
They're not trying to do that. Sometimes they just make mistakes,
you know, But for the most part they know that
the most important thing is, especially coming out of the bullpen,
is strike one. Getting that first strike sets the tone.
And if you look at the splits between a strike
one start or a one to oh start, it is

(40:46):
it is just a completely different perspective for the hitters,
and the numbers reflect that they're not even close. They're
not even the same realm. When you start zero to
one advantage pitcher, big time one and ozer advantage to
the hitter. So that first pitch is extremely important.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Maybe there was some divine intervention last night. Father Gary
in Burbank checks back in here on a FI seventy
LA sports. Father Gary, last night everything went right. The
good guys won.

Speaker 12 (41:13):
Hey, guys, let me just tell you, ohee, if little faith,
I'm preaching to myself right now. Let me just tell
you that was baseball last night. That was That was baseball.
That was hustling. That was Lux running to third. That
was Taylor trying to bunt. Doc had a plan. It's
all coming together. I loved that Otawi tag bet from
first base to get the second.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
I loved it.

Speaker 12 (41:35):
Man, it was baseball. It was just fun to watch.
It was good to see. I loved Mookie saying what
he said. He just needed to see one fall. Guys,
I'm sorry that I lost a little bit of faith.
That I was scared that I doubted. But I think
that our boys are back on track. What do you think, Kates,
never doubt, give us some give us some faith.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
Never doubt. Yeah, well, never doubt. I always appreciate the bass.

Speaker 5 (42:00):
I always think it's great talking to a priest about
this because some bit.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
Of he had doubt. Father Gary had doubt.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
Yes, he makes he makes a good point.

Speaker 5 (42:11):
You know, the little things in the game that you
can't that you can't see that it are on the script.
Like when Otani takes second base, I mean he ran
back there, didn't hesitate at all. And really saw the
way that Merril was catching that ball. He was a
little bit about on his little bit on his back foot.
He's got to get way behind that ball, get some
momentum as he catches it, and then throw with momentum

(42:34):
into second base, especially with the one of the fastest
guys in the league on first. But he just kind
of went back, caught the ball in his back foot
and Otani saw that and he bolted the second. That
is very instinctive, great base running, and so you know
Meryl learned something about that. He won't do that again.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
No, then he had guys going first to third on
balls hit into left center and right center field for singles.
The play last night was absolutely perfect. If we can
bottle that up, what they did on the mound, what
they did at the plate, what they did on the
base pass the defense, bottle that up and carry it
over tomorrow night, I would feel really good about this game.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
Five.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Matt in Ontario is next up here with Saxon Kates
and the am on am FI seventy LA sports him.

Speaker 13 (43:14):
Matt, Hey, good morning, gents. I just wanted to call
and say, yeah, you know, what a great complete team win.
I know Saxon just touched on it. They did all
the little things. I think Above any of that, though,
it was just great to see the fire and the
hunger back in them. And you know, I'm hoping that

(43:37):
for Chris Taylor doesn't catch any heat today for the
Golden Sombrero because I think it's probably been two or
three weeks and see that a live ab So that's
a tough spot to be asked to come into and
be clutched. But yeah, I just as long as we
could keep playing.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
With that fire.

Speaker 13 (43:52):
That feels great about.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Things, no doubt about it. Matt appreciate the phone call.
Let's use another one in every for the top of
the hour at eight six six Paul and Eagle Rock
is next up on five seventy. How you doing, Paul, Hey.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
How's it going? Guys?

Speaker 14 (44:07):
I just wanted to say, you know, yesterday it was
a was a good win. I mean, you seem the
difference in this team, Uh, yesterday there was like a
calmness about them. There was no oh, we need to win.
It didn't seem like a like an elimination game. It
just seemed like they just went in there with the calmness.
I'm assuming it had to do with, you know, whatever

(44:27):
Doc had to tell them, just kind of you know,
play baseball and do what you guys have been doing
all year. So it was good to see, uh, you
know that that team, you know, just come together and
just depend on the next guy. So I'm hoping, you know,
tomorrow they that calmness is still there, because now I
feel like the Padres are saying, you know, now we

(44:48):
need to win. Now it's you know, now the pressure
is a little bit more on them being that. I
mean you've seen them with the bats. They were trying
to hit those home runs, trying to hurry up and
catch up. So it's good that the Dodgers score early
and keep that pressure on them. And the only thing
I ask is, whoever goes tomorrow to that game, like
from inning one to inning nine, be the loudest you

(45:09):
can be because we're gonna need that energy and the
Padres need to fill it. So thanks a lot, guys, All.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
Right, Paul, appreciate the phone call. Yeah, Dodger Stadium needs
to be rocking tomorrow night from start to finish. Get
there early, get there, stand up the entire nine innings.
What else you got to do at five oh eight
on a Friday, enjoy a little sunshine, a little Dodgers baseball,
and stand on your feet for two and a half
hours and support this team in a do or die,

(45:36):
win or go home, decisive Game five of the NLDS.
One hour down, two to go, Saxy, I'm fired up
looking at the phones. Dodger fans are fired up as well.
I think they got a new life here after a
Game four win. They're excited and they can't wait for
Game five against the Padres. Eight sixty six nine eighty

(45:58):
seven two five seven. He is Steve Sacks, I'm Tim Kats.
We'll hear from Tommy Edmund Key k Hernandez. We're gonna
hear from Freddy Freeman as well. How's that ankle? Will
he be ready for Game five? All of that's coming
up over the next two hours as we're live in
local reacting to Game four, looking ahead to Game five
with you right here on your home with the Dodgers
am FHI seventy l A Sports