Sax and Cates In The AM (Hour 1) 10/6/25

Steve Sax and Tim Cates recap the Dodgers Game 1 win over the Phillies in the NLDS

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
They say, the hardest thing in sports isn't winning a title.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's hard to repeat seasons.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's winning it again.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
This year is not trying to win a championship, They're
trying to repeat.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's October baseball for your world champion in LA Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
The twenty twenty five Dodgers are the National League's Western
Division champions.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
And you know what that means.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Saxon Kates and AM is back.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
This is Saxon Kates in the Morning with Tim Kates
and former world champion Dodger Steve Sacks.

Speaker 5 (00:31):
Reacting taking your phone calls talking Dodgers playoff baseball.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Saxon Kates in the Morning is presented by Daniels Jewlers,
official sponsor of every Trip around the Diamond own the
Dream all postseason long. Now Here they are on AM
five to seventy LA Sports and the iHeartRadio app. Steve Sacks,
Tim Kates, Tim Kates and world champion Dodger Steve Sacks. Ah.

Speaker 5 (01:00):
Here we go Saxon Kates to the AM on a
Monday morning, October six, twenty twenty five, as your Dodgers
are up one game to nothing and the best of
five n l DS. Yes, the Dodgers take Game one
in Philadelphia on Saturday. They come back and beat the

(01:24):
Phils by a final of five to three. I am
Tim Kates, joined by two times World Series Champ, former
Rookie of the Year, and one hell of a guy,
the one and only Steve Sack Saxy.

Speaker 6 (01:35):
Good morning, Good morning Tim. How's it going, Bud?

Speaker 4 (01:38):
I'm doing a lot better now than I was.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
The first few winnings of Saturday's game in Philadelphia would
turned out to be a pitching matchup that lived up
to the hype show. Heyo Tani had a rough second inning,
was able to work around that.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
It was fantastic. The rest of the way.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
The Dodgers offense struggled against Christopher Sanchez. But here, Sack,
see here it was in the seventh inning, one mighty
swing of the bat from tay Oscar Hernandez change everything and.

Speaker 6 (02:09):
Part of the misplaying right field when the Phillies scored
three runs in the second inning, he can make up
for it with one swing. The pitch get high in
the air.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Right center field, bait her on the run on the
warning track.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
He's at the wall.

Speaker 6 (02:23):
It's gone Tayo time.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
In Game one, he flips the scoreboard with.

Speaker 6 (02:31):
A three run bomb.

Speaker 7 (02:34):
And all of a sudden, Citizens Bank Park resembles a library,
nice and quiet. Damn bo just continued to travel and travel.

Speaker 5 (02:46):
Tay Oscar Hernandez the three run home run as the
Dodgers complete the comeback and they're up one nothing in
this best of five series.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Steve Sacks, what a win on Saturday?

Speaker 6 (02:57):
It was that was unbelievable, And you know, the good
news we're here Monday. It means the Dodgers are winning.
So uh, you know, I see on the screen, Tim,
they're prep prepping and getting all ready and is all
studious with your glasses on. The unshaven look means that
you've been delving deep in thought and haven't had time
to shave. Get it, sax, he plays, Is that what

(03:18):
it is?

Speaker 7 (03:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (03:18):
Okay, oh really it's.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Sort of a beard. But yeah, the best I can do.

Speaker 6 (03:23):
All right, anyway, it's good news. Hey. The great thing
is a couple of things. I like, you know, it's
kind of sticking it to the Phillies because you know,
they're they're the team that's been you know that's been
kind of like the unbeatable ones and the you know,
the pitching staff is so great, and you know, give it,
give it to Sanchez. He pitched really well. That change

(03:44):
up was amazing. It comes out of that same windows,
same arm speed, really tough to pick up. So what
you find out later in the game is guys start
guessing more. And that's why you saw show hey get
locked up a couple of times, the fastballs right down
the middle, and you think, why is he taking that
pitch Because he's guessing change up, That's why, and you know,
you get you give it to Sanchiz. But but look,

(04:05):
here's the great thing that happens when a guy's cruising.
And then you say, well, you know his arm and everything,
and let's give him a little break. And you know,
even though it's a close game and he's cruising again
the blake, the Blake Snell saga that happened a few
years ago, and you take him out and you go
to the bullpen. No matter how strong it is, what

(04:26):
you've done is you've changed the perspective of the bench
in which you are facing that the opposition now says, hey,
this guy's gone, this is a new look. And what happens, Wow,
the ball is out of here, and this script is flipped.
It's five to three Dodgers. Now, that's what happens when

(04:48):
you get so smart and you're gonna take the guy
out because his arm is gonna get a little bit tired.
Even though it's the playoffs, boom you lose. That happens
all the I don't know when these guys are gonna
learn to push the guy a little bit. Okay, go
in there one hundred and twenty or thirty pitches. If
you're shoving, who cares? You know, this is what happens.

(05:10):
But you know, we're glad it did.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
He was at ninety four pitches when they played him
in the sixth inning, and Whi's interesting is he came
out with a three to ninhing lead. He got a
ground ball out for Mookie Betts. T Oscar Hernandez struck
out ugly looking, he walked Freddie Freeman with two outs,
and then Tommy Edmund slaps the ball the right field
on a great job because the shortstops shading up the

(05:32):
middle for some reason because they think it Freddy's gonna steal.
I don't know, but Edmund singles to right, so the
rally kind of gets going there when taoscar Hernandez, excuse me,
keiky Hernandez. Keiky Hernandez then doubles down the left field line,
all of it with two outs, just like they did
in the seventh inning. And after Keik's two run double
to make it a three to two game, that's when

(05:54):
they decided to go to the bullpen for Robertson. They
didn't even leave him out there to try to fix
gear it out in this sixth inning. And that's exactly
what you're talking about, a little bit of adversity. And
they took Sanchez out and for the Dodgers, they were
all probably looking at each other on that bench and thinking, yes,
here we go.

Speaker 6 (06:12):
Tim. The guy gave up four hits and two runs
and five and two thirds. Not bad, you know, one
more out and it's a call. They call it a
quality start, right, I mean three three runs and in
six innings, and you got a quality start. And he
was he was right there and you yank him, okay,
and and this this is what happens, and uh, you know,
it is what it is. But the Dodgers took full

(06:34):
advantage of it. By the way, the fact that the
guy was playing up the middle for a time he Edmund.
You know, I don't understand seventy five percent of the
shifting that people do today. You know, even even with
the guy on second base and no outs, the deal
is to get the runner over, they still shift on
a right handed hitter. You know, you could push the

(06:55):
ball and probably get a double if you get it,
you know, trickle into the outfield, and they still they
still shift him up the middle. I don't get it.
They don't. They must not think the guy's gonna hit
the other way right. But the shifting, you know, you know,
balls that are just regularly hit, you know, just forget
about the matchups, forget about the red left to your righty.

(07:15):
Lots of times you know they are right the ball.
The ball will go up the middle or just slightly
to the left or the right of second base. More
balls go there than probably trying to slice it through
the right side or the left side. But what I'm saying,
if you can do that, and a lot of major
league hitters can, you're gonna see guys continue to try
to do that more because you know it's easy base hit,

(07:37):
the run scores and your team takes advantage of it.
I don't know what The difference is between doing that
and pulling the ball.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
Last on Saturday Night, the Dodgers got to Christopher Sanchez
in the sixth, they chase him and they get to
that Phillies bullpen in that seventh INNY with the three
run home run from ta Oscar Hernandez. Quite frankly, he
had a lot of making up to do to ta
Oscar Hernandez. He had that ball that he had a
curious route to in right center field in the second

(08:03):
inding in which JT. Real Muto had a two run
triple there, and that was an interesting defensive play. But
we shouldn't be shot because ta Oscar Hernandez hasn't been
the greatest of defensive right fielders this season.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
There's been a lot of questionable plays.

Speaker 6 (08:19):
They dropped the line, yeah, coming to the.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
Absolutely that ball in Game two against the Cincinnati Reds.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Seeing a lot of that this year. But he makes
up for it with that.

Speaker 5 (08:29):
Three run home run uh in that ninth or the
seventh INNY. And here he is postgame SAXI with our
own David Vasse celebrating what was a huge home run.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Can you just talk about how emotional you were arounding
the bases and coming back to the dugout, you quiteted
this very loud place.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
You know, Uh it was loud.

Speaker 8 (08:49):
It was Sanchez was was dealing. I mean, good for him.
That situation is just trying to get something up in
the in the strike zone. I wasn't trying to hit
a homer. I was trying to put a good swing
on it, maybe bring one run with it. How good
a bad and just you know, but the big, big
swing comes and I put the thing ahead.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
When you hit it, did you believe that it was
going over the wall.

Speaker 8 (09:14):
It was a good swing. I feel I feel like
like like I hit it really good. It was gonna
be maybe a home or a double off the wall,
So thank god it was a home.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Tay Oscar? What is it about the playoffs that brings
out the best in you? And KEI? K? How did
you guys keep your poise tonight in such a hostile environment.

Speaker 8 (09:33):
You know, I like this, I like the pressure. I
like when when this moment is it's it's just going on.
So I don't know, I get ready the same thing.
I prepare him the same way. It doesn't matter how
the game is or how important it is. But you
know it just it just happened.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Before I let you go. You were standing next to
Otani when Roki Sasaki was closing out the game. What
were you guys saying to each other? And how big
is Rokie?

Speaker 6 (10:01):
Now?

Speaker 4 (10:01):
For you?

Speaker 8 (10:01):
You know, we were trying to call all the pitches
that he was gonna throw in nast situation, so you know,
Strengel help him like mental uh, and you know it's
starting to give this a poor that he needs to
get the Austrie outs.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Ta Oscar, I'm not very smart, but I know this.
You can't spell October without tail. I beg you, was
it all right?

Speaker 5 (10:21):
Yeah, you can't spell October with a t e o,
tay Oscar Hernandez. I mean, at one point I tweeted
during the game one of those games for ta Oscar
Hernandez dot dot dot, because we've seen it multiple times
this year. The defense just not there and struggling at
the plate. He had three strikeouts, but saxually one swing
to the bats all it takes in October to change

(10:43):
the fortune of someone's game, and he did that in
the seventh inning.

Speaker 6 (10:46):
Yeah, and how about the year he had last year?
Thirty three jacks last year and you know he comes
back this year, has another another. I thought he had
a good year. You know, some people question some of
the routes he takes defensively, okay, uh, but the guy
can light out hit. And what he said about I
like the pressure. I like the situation in postseason, and

(11:06):
some guys just rise to the occasion. Kik hits two
oh three during the season and just flat out tears
it up in October that you know, some guys just
have a knack for doing that, and Tascar Hernetez is
one of those guys.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
Dodgers get to win in Game one, five to three
over the Phillies. They come back tonight after a day
off yesterday in Philadelphia with Blake Snell on the mound,
first pitch at three toho eight right here on your
home with the Dodgers AM five seventy LA Sports. Hey,
sus Lozardo, the left hander will go for Philadelphia. You'll
hear from Blake Snell coming up in the eight o'clock hour.
Coming up in the seven o'clock hour, David Vesey will

(11:39):
join us live from Philadelphia in the eight o'clock hour.
Our buddy Rick Monday, part of our radio crew. Here
will join us in the eight o'clock hour get his
thoughts on game one and look ahead to game two tonight,
as well as your phone calls at eight saint six
nine eighty seven two five seventy eight six six nine
eighty seven two five seventy. Also gonna get into Will
Smith maybe yarding Game two of this NLDS tonight in Philadelphia,

(12:04):
coming up a little bit later on this hour, as
the Dodgers take a one to oz series lead. Ta
Oscar Hernandez's home run was huge on Saturday, no doubt
about that. But how about the performance of show Heyotani.
Not the play Steve. He was zero for four and
didn't look really good. We'll get into that. But on
the mound Show hey Otani. Working around that second inning

(12:25):
in which he gave up the three runs, things could
have unraveled quickly for Show Heyotani could have maybe lost
his composure on the mound. Things could have gotten away
from him in this Dodgers team. But he buckled in
and gave the Dodgers a quality start six innings, did
not allow a runner the rest of the way in
that outing, and more importantly, he absolutely shut down the

(12:49):
heart of the lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.

Speaker 6 (12:53):
In Game one, he.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
Absolutely took it to Schwarber in a one on one
competition there at the plane. He looked fantastic. He was
over nine trade Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper five
strikeouts against show Haltany.

Speaker 6 (13:08):
Yeah, show Hay was outstanding and I loved it how
he gave it to Schwarber. You know, this is you know,
the guy's a very very good hitter, maybe you know,
probably the pre eminent left handed hitter in the National
League as far as power goes. He is. He led
the league in home runs and RBIs. But show Hay
just did some shoving.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Man.

Speaker 6 (13:27):
He just made him look like a step child. And
I love the splitter that he threw on the one
strikeout that was that was on the corner and on
the outside part of the plate and at the knees
and Schwarber had nothing gave just a you know, kind
of like a he had a little offering if you will,
at the baseball, but he had no chance to hit
the ball. And if you if you mix on Schwarber,
if you change his eye angle and you know, his

(13:50):
curve ball I thought, I thought Show had a fantastic
curveball as well. We talked about, you know, his slot,
his fastball and his splitter, but his curveball I thought
was outstanding and throwing it high in his zone and
then having it come down and I mean, he just
changed the aye angle on shore were big time, and
he had no chance. When you throw that curveball and
you mix it up and then the fastball's up in

(14:10):
the zone and then you drop that splitter on him,
that's about belt hide and all of a sudden in
there anymore. Guy can't do anything with it. I thought
he did a great job on Schwarber.

Speaker 5 (14:18):
Six whiffs on seven swings on his curve ball on
Saturday night. Yeah, and part of his nine strikeouts. And
I go back to his composure, Steve. I go back
to what he was able to do despite that second
inning in a Wahich again, Teoscar Hernandez doesn't take a
great route to the ball hit by JT.

Speaker 6 (14:37):
Real Muto.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
They put a three spot up in that second inning,
and very easily we could have seen show A just
kind of lose it and the composure, maybe the control
gets away from him and it's just not one of
those nights for him. He's out of there after the
third or the fourth inning, and they're already going to
the bullpen in Game one, having to piece together innings
just to get through Game one and try to get

(14:58):
back into the game and score some run themselves to
make it a ballgame. But instead he buckled down and
pulled up zeros the rest of the way in that stadium.
Ye with that crowd that was getting after him and
was ready, they were ready to pop the lid off
that place with maybe a Schwarber home run, maybe a

(15:18):
Bryce Harper home run, and he just tamed them. He
didn't let the momentum get too big, and he kept
the crowd quiet until his offense can get him back
in it.

Speaker 6 (15:29):
He did. And you know, you talk about all the
things that happened before we get to this point, before
we get to game one. Oh we're scared about this,
and that the bullpen is a bit shaky, you know,
you know, it was a big plus in Game one.
Start this narrative, Tim. The big plus in Game one
besides Otani was the bullpen. Yep, the bullpen was outstanding.
Three innings of shove, absolutely nothing across as far as

(15:52):
runs go in the last three innings, So you can
start that narrative going right now, because it is a fact.
The bullpen was a big plus for the Dodgers in
Game one.

Speaker 5 (16:00):
Yeah, And I love how Dave Roberts was piecing it
together and he talked about a postgame about what his
idea was with Tyler Glass now and was gonna let
him go until he felt he got into trouble. And
that's exactly what he did. He got a ground ball
double play to get out of the seventh inning, and
then he goes back out there in the eighth and
is able to get two outs and a little bit
of traffic on the base pass, and he goes to

(16:21):
Alex Vesiga, who I absolutely love. You don't need him
to go out there and have a clean inning. You
don't need him to go out there and get three outs.
You just need Alex Vesia to get one batter out.
That's all you need him to do. And he did
exactly that with a PopOut to get out of the
eighth inning, maintain the lead, and that set up the
ninth inning for Dave Roberts, as he talked about postgame,

(16:42):
he could have gone to Blake Trinon which he was
thinking about. He could again to Anthony Bonda, which he
was thinking about, but he decided ultimately he wanted to
get Roki Sasaki into the game, and he felt like
the moment was building for him to get into that
ninth inning and have Sasaki go, and Sasaki, to his credit,
again rose to the occasion.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Steve, a twenty.

Speaker 5 (17:03):
Three year old not of a lot of experience even
pitching the big leagues hurt most of the year. Three
outings underneath his belt so far since coming back in
this new role as a closer. One of them is
in the postseason, and he goes into Citizens Bank Park
and shuts down the Phillies in the ninth inning to
maintain the lead. An absolute studley dominant ninth inning for

(17:28):
Roki Sasaki and for Dodger fans at exhale, like, okay,
we founder our guy to close out.

Speaker 6 (17:35):
The game, of course, I mean, of course you have
and this is a this is this is for now.
I mean Sasaki is uh, maybe not mister Wright for
the future, right but he's mister right now and that'll
work just fine for for for the I know, shutting
down the games right now but you know what I
liked about Sasaki before he came in the game. He

(17:55):
was in the dugout. He was he was like he
was like going back and forth. He was rock and
back and forth. He was pacing. I mean, he looked
like a wolf getting ready to come out there for
the kill. And that's what I want to see. I
want to see that fire in the eyes. And he
had it. Man, I think this game's over. This game
is over. This dude gets out there, he's gonna he's
gonna do what he has to do, and this game

(18:16):
is done. And what he did, he came out there
and he owned it.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
I like what you said when it doesn't have to
be right, it just has to be right now because
it's absolutely perfect for this Dodgers team. And the prime
example is Tyler Glass. Now, prime example is the role
that Clayton Kershaw is going to go into here in
the NLDS and the rest of the postseason. Coming out
of the bullpen. Guys are asked to do something different,

(18:41):
and it's not for the rest of your career, it's
not for next year. It's for what we need to
get twenty seven outs this game.

Speaker 6 (18:48):
And then we see Nasaki in this role ever again.

Speaker 5 (18:52):
Absolutely absolutely, he may. He'll probably be back in the
rotation next year for the Dodgers.

Speaker 6 (18:57):
Well.

Speaker 5 (18:58):
And on Saturday night, Tyler Glass, now after the game
was pretty spot on. I thought he was very candid
when he said he has never really been in this
role recently. He came up and pitched out of the
bullpen his first year in Pittsburgh, and it has a
little bit of experience, but this situation in the moment,
he said, saxy, the adrenaline took him over. That it

(19:19):
was nothing like he had felt before. The adrenaline got
him going, and he said it didn't take long for
him to get warmed up. He said, once the bullpen
phone rang and they said Glass, now get up, he thought, okay,
here we go, and he's got a routine. He said,
it took him no time to get warm. He felt
he was ready to go, and when he got out there,
the adrenaline was going, and his first couple of pitches

(19:42):
he felt like he was high in the zone. So
he had to settle in, calm himself down, and dial
it back in at that point and restart himself. And
he was fantastic in his inting into two thirds, but
he adapted to his role. Right now, these guys need
to do whatever it takes to win. Right now, probably's
gonna start Game four, but he's asked, so, hey, don't

(20:03):
throw your side session. Save those thirty bullets there that
you're gonna throw in what should be a bullpen, and
we need you for however long you can go to
get us out in this game. I love it. I
love these guys doing that.

Speaker 6 (20:15):
Look, this is a huge compliment for these guys. For
guys like Glass now and Sasaki starting, you know, pitchers,
to be asked to come in there and shut it
down for a couple of innings. This is an enormous
compliment to these guys. You have experts down there that
can do it. But to ask these guys to come
and do it when they're maybe down a little bit,

(20:37):
when they're maybe having trouble with their command, and you
have these guys come in there and shut the door.
This is amazing. Remember this is what Oral did. Oral
did the same thing when he came out of the
bullpen to beat the Mets. Mets beat us eleven or
twelve game, ten of eleven games in that season, and
we had to do anything that we could to beat
them in postseason, which we did in seven games, and

(20:59):
part of that was oral coming out of the bullpen
and shutting it down. What a huge compliment for these
guys to do it. And you know they have no
no qualms about coming out there and loading it up
and doing that. And I'll tell you about Glass Now,
stuff was wicked. I mean, his his his arsenal is tremendous.
I mean just the two pitches in and of themselves,

(21:21):
the fastball and the curveball are are plus plus. Both
of them are. And you know that's that's tough for
hitters to deal with.

Speaker 5 (21:27):
Eight six six nine, eight seven two five seventy. He
is Steve Sacks. I am Tim Kase, want you to
be the part on the show this morning. Is the
Dodgers a one nothing series lead in this NLDS Game
two coming up later this afternoon from Philadelphia. It is
a great pitching matchup with Jesus Lozardo, the veteran leftander
going up against snell Zilla. Blake Snell making his postseason

(21:52):
well NLDS debut here in Game two, and the Dodgers
need him big to be snell Zilla tonight against his
philadel for you offense. We'll hear from Blake Snell coming
up at the eight o'clock Cowery, want to hear from
you next eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seventy.
How you feeling after Game one and going into Game two?
Eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five to seventy.

(22:13):
He is Steve Sacks. I am Tim Kates. Thanks for
being with us on this Monday morning here in Los
Angeles on an FI seventy LI Sports.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Sax and Kates in the am.

Speaker 5 (22:27):
Thanks for being with us on this Monday morning as
a Dodgers say one oh series lead in the best
of five NLTS. They're in Philadelphia later on today for
Game two at Citizens Bank Park. Blake Snell and Jes
sus Lozardo the pitching matchup, and the Dodgers a one
oh series lead after the three run home run from
Taoscar Hernandez helped the comeback win for the Dodgers. Six

(22:50):
really good innings from show. Hey, O Tany, We'll get
to your phone calls in just a second. Eight six
six nine eighty seven two five seventy. Got one line
of hope if you want to jump on board Saxy.
I'm going back and looking at shoe Heotani's game log
for this year, and it's just a reminder because I
wanted to go back and see when did he actually
make that first start and where was the build up?

(23:10):
Because that's what it was, a build up to October.
And back when the season started, everybody was kind of
penciling in shoe Heotani as one of the five starters
in the rotation, and when he wasn't in the rotation
to start the season, and he was that designated hitter
for the first two and a half almost three months,
there was everybody wondering where's Otani? Why isn't he pitching?

(23:33):
And the process was a build up to get to October,
and why start the build up in April? Why started
in May when you could have it start in June?
And when he did it in June. Back on June
sixteenth against the Padres at Dodger Stadium, we were out
there for that game on that Monday night. He went
one inning, he went won inning.

Speaker 6 (23:53):
That was it.

Speaker 5 (23:54):
And then the second start against the Nationals he went
won inning, and then the third start against the Kansas
City were Oils, he went two innings, and there was
that slow progression and build up over his fourteen starts
in the regular season August September five innings, and finally
that last start against Arizona the last week of the season,

(24:15):
he went six shutout innings to build up for October.
Now that we look back at this plan that Otani
and the Dodgers' front office came up with, it worked
out perfectly the way they lined up his build up
to this moment in October to be at his peak
ready to go.

Speaker 6 (24:36):
Yes, it worked. It worked out great well so far,
has I mean? Yeah, you he looks, he looks tremendous,
and uh, you know, the Dodgers are one of these teams,
one of the few teams that have that much dough
where they can they can pay somebody like Otani and
just bring them along slowly. And by the way, we
got plenty of other guys to, you know, to get

(24:56):
us to where we need to go to postseason until
we get to the point where we're really at full strength.
And that's when Otani's got the ball in the mound
and he looks amazing his stuff. This is the best
I've seen Otani look his stuff is sharp. All of
his stuff is sharp. He goes out there with an
arsenal of at least three pitches that can wipe you
out at any time, and I wouldn't be up there

(25:19):
taking pitches. One thing I see about Philadelphia is they're
up there taking strike one all the time. I mean,
they take strike one more than probably more than any
team I've ever seen. The Yankees do it quite a
bit too. But taking strike one, why why do you
take strike one on a fastball? They're giving you a

(25:40):
cookie right down the middle of the plate and you
take it. I see Schwarver do it all the time,
taking that first strike. Why, I'll never know. Maybe the
first time up to really get locked in and take
that first one. As a leadoff hitter, I used to
take strike one a lot to start a game. Not
all the time, but you know most of the time.
Would But after that, I'm not taking anything, Especially a

(26:03):
guy that's got some shove in his game. I'm not
giving him anything. Guys like Noan Ryan, the guys could
wipe you out. Guys like this, I mean, Christopher Sanchez
got great stuff, Shohei Otani and you know, coming from
the Phillies outlook got amazing stuff. Why are you taking
a cookie right down the middle of the plate. I
don't get it.

Speaker 5 (26:23):
Yeah, especially in the postseason, where every at bad is
really dissected and you know, every out for twenty seven
outs is under a microscope. I don't get it. You're
not playing a game in July and Cincinnati, you know,
on a Tuesday night and taking strike one against Hunter Green.
I mean, it's the playoffs. You want to get ahead,
you want the advantage against the picture. You don't The

(26:45):
last thing you want with all these great starting pitchers
out there is to fall behind the count.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Right.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
You don't want to give Blake Snell, you don't want
to give Christopher Sanchez, you don't want to give Shoe
Aotani an oh one count to let him go to
work just doesn't make sense.

Speaker 6 (26:58):
The deal is, there's a theory, there's a method to
why they do this. Why. I'll tell you exactly why.
Because they don't mind striking out. They striking out to
them is no problem because one in five every time
I strike out, every five times I strike out, I
might click one. I might click a home run and
that's worth it. And I just I just don't get it.

(27:22):
I don't get it at all. Yeah, you know, to me,
it's it's completely antithetical to the way that I would
approach it the way I know a lot of guys
that I played with, and some guys now, not all
teams are like this. Some guys now that they won't
take that first pitch. There's a lot of teams that
are built to slug and then they don't care about

(27:42):
striking out.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
Well, you can make a case that the Dodgers are
one of those teams and less reliant on the slug
more so than they have over the last five to
six years, because they were really reliant on that slug
in the home run ball, but they relied on it
Saturday night. I mean three strikeouts. Sk Hernandez did not
look comfortable in the box against Christopher Sanchez, and then

(28:05):
a pitching Chaine Strom comes out and he crushes a
ball to right center field, and just like that, those
three strikeouts, those at bats that you know, people are going, gosh,
we're happen to tay Oscar. It's like a mess at
the plate and all is forgiven. With that three run
home run in the seventh andy and eight, six, six, nine,
eighty seven, two five sevens. Go out to the phones,
Edgar and Lamaran and start things off on this Monday morning.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
How you doing, Edgar?

Speaker 9 (28:29):
Hey, good, good, Good to be with you guys against scam.
What a great Game one? Looking good for Game two.
I really feel like the Dodgers have a great chance
to go up to zero. And I just got a
question for you guys. Can you guys just elaborate a
little bit more on how good the Dodgers pitching has
set up us rotation and Bulten for the rest of
the series after the efficient Game one. Thanks guys, all.

Speaker 5 (28:51):
Right, Edgar, appreciate it. It's set up perfectly for the
starting rotation and for the bullpen. For the rotation. You
got Blake Snell tonight, and then you've got Yamamoto going
on Wednesday in game three. Sign me up anytime anywhere
to have Yoshinobu Yamamoto as.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
Your Game three starter. Yes, please, I'll sign up for that.

Speaker 5 (29:16):
Because if this series tied at one, perfect guy on
the mound, If the Dodgers are up two to oh,
perfect guy on the mound, just like tonight with Blake
Snell on the mount up one, Oh, you need somebody
to go out there and be dominant and put Zero's
big fat donuts up on the scoreboard. Blake Snell is
your guy with the bullpen. Steve Dave Roberts said yesterday,

(29:38):
we're gonna hear from him come up later, but later
on that the bullpen has been reset. You didn't use
a lot of arms down there. You used Sasaki to
close out the ninth. You had Vesia pitch to one batter,
and you had Tyler Glass now and Essen's throwing his
side session, throwing inning in two thirds. You didn't touch
the rest of the bullpen. You didn't go to Blake Trinon,

(29:58):
you didn't use any other high leverage levers. It is
set up perfectly. Yeah, for this Dodgers.

Speaker 6 (30:03):
Team, it is set up just right. And you know,
you don't have to look real deep down. You got
enough right now for guys that are confident, confident wise,
that are that are going good. You know, trying it
is u Vessia is uh. You know you still you
still got uh. You still got all those parts of
your bullpen that are are rested now. And I think

(30:25):
a rest and the fact that they're up is going
to give them more confidence. And so I look at
the situation is now. Yeah, you got Snell in game two,
Yama Motor three and glassnow and four. Ah, that's pretty
darn good. You may not be using your bullpen much.

Speaker 5 (30:38):
I like the fact that you get through game one
you didn't use a ton of arms. But the arms
that you didn't use, I look at them as an
opportunity to sit back, observe game one. Soak in the atmosphere,
fill the crowd yelling at you. Yeah, feel the negativity
beaten down on you from forty thousand Philadelphia fans. See
what your teammates did to get through through it and

(31:00):
power through all that crowd noise there in Philadelphia. How
did Blake tryin and do it? How did how did
Vessia do it? How did glass Now do it? How
did Sasaki do it? That's huge to me. His guys
can sit back, absorb it all and not have the
nerves and not have that energy going and have that

(31:21):
adrenaline pumping too much when they go out in the mound.
I think that was huge for them to kind of
sit back and watch this series from that bullpen perch.

Speaker 6 (31:29):
Tim, here's another thing that's a little inside thing that
maybe a lot of our listeners don't know. But if
you listen to Taoskar's interview and he was talking about
the crowd noise and all that, remember how he said
he liked that he was thriving on that. There are
players that when when the opposition, when you're in the
other ballpark and they're screaming, they're screaming at you and

(31:51):
booing you and all that actually helps them play better.
They actually thrive on that negative response that they get
from the opposition, from the from the ballpark that in
which they're in. It's it's actually can be a really
good thing. The fans don't know it, but they're actually
helping the opposition. They're actually helping guys like taoscar Hernandez.

(32:12):
I used to really like being in an opposing ballpark
and getting going to San Francisco, for instance, and getting
absolutely booed by every single person in there. They hated
me there, and mostly because I grew up in Sacramento,
which is pretty close to San fran and you know,
they look at me as a trader or something. And
I loved it. I love thriving on the fact that

(32:32):
they hated me. And that's that's where some of these
guys can actually play better. So go ahead and boom,
go ahead and boom. Don't don't throw, you know, the
stone hard cold snowballs like they did at Sandy Claus
on Christmas Day a long time ago. But but you
can anything short of that. Go ahead because it actually
helps a lot of guys.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
And this Dodgers team thriving on that. On Saturday night
with a five to three win in Game one, Bob
and Grover Beach, California joins us now here on Saxon
Kate to the am St Sacks team. Kates on this
Monday morning, How you doing, Bob, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Good morning guys. Hey, A big fan of both years
and just somebody like you know, Saxy grew up in
the late seventies eighties watching the Daughters and you were
my mom's favorite player.

Speaker 6 (33:13):
God rest, thanks, thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Hey. Question, there's some talk old weekend right before that
pitch tale hit Pa has sort of stuck his arm
out a little bit, and even Ben Verlanders sort of
called out Strom and trom kind of respondency. No, I didn't,
I don't know what do you think he was maybe
doing something? All right?

Speaker 5 (33:34):
Appreciate it, Bob, There was a video of the home
run from taoscar Hernandez off of Strom and Strom is
on the mound. The glove is open and exposed to
Andy Poi has at second base, and Pie has right
before the pitch extends his right end right arm out vertically.

(33:55):
And there are some that are, you know, the super
sluice on on social media are thinking he tipped the pitch.
Poz saw it related quickly to Tayo, and Tayo was
sitting fastball on that pitch that he hit out for
the three run home run. Yeah, Stram said he wasn't
tipping the pitches, but his glove was open. Pa Haz
was at second base leading off. Maybe he could see

(34:17):
it through there. That's pretty good if he's able to
see it, relay it to Tayo and get the home run.
I don't think that's the case. I think we're kind
of looking at this and maybe dissecting away too much.
Of course, you break down every video on social media
and everybody thinks they're a baseball expert at that point, Saxy,
But I don't know if you happen to see the
replay see the video, but there are some upset Phillies

(34:40):
fans and baseball fans thinking that the Dodgers are getting
away with something by trying to steal signs.

Speaker 6 (34:45):
First of all, they're not getting away with anything. It's
perfectly legal to still a sign that way, as long
as you don't use your Apple phone to do it,
or bang on a garbage can you know you still
a sign or related It's fine. I mean, there's nothing
wrong with that. That's part of the game. U leading
off a first base sometimes I would peek into the
catcher and if I saw him give location, I wouldn't

(35:08):
even have to see a sign, just location in or out.
I knew that it was a fastball. If I didn't
see him tap location, I knew that it was probably
an off speed pitch, and there's one to run on.
So it's perfectly normal and it's fair to do that.
It's not anything against the rules to do that. I
think in this instance right now, you know saying he

(35:29):
put his arm out, he could see it, you know,
I think it's really a stretch. I mean a big stretch.
A lot of guys don't want the signs. I was
one of those guys too. I don't if you can
steal a sign for me. Don't tell me. I don't
want to know, because I want to go by the
way I was trained, in the way that I always hit.
I don't want signs because what if you're wrong. What

(35:51):
if you're wrong, you know, and I'm looking for a
curve ball and you're throwing fastball to ahead, You're dead.
You know. I don't like signs like stealing signs like that.
I just go by the you know, the competition between
the pitcher and myself and leave it at that.

Speaker 5 (36:04):
This gained a little bit of momentum Saturday night and
yesterday Saxy this whole PA has tipped the pitch to
Tayo who hit the three run home run. It kind
of got squashed and lost momentum as far as social
media buzz and people trying to think that this was something.
When Strom came out on Twitter yesterday and responded to

(36:25):
Ben Verlander, who works for Fox And as a podcaster
and Justin Verlander's brother, he says, quote, Ben, I get
during the pot is how you make a living? Since
baseball didn't pan out, Oh but go watch the game
he meaning Pie has did the same thing on different pitches.

Speaker 4 (36:41):
Oh and if you know ball.

Speaker 5 (36:43):
You know, I've had my hands up the better part
of a decade and have fingers together for all pitches.

Speaker 6 (36:50):
End quote.

Speaker 5 (36:51):
So strom quick to put the bread any kind of pitching,
tipping allegations or stealing of signs from A and Paie
has so again, it kind of lost some steam yesterday.
It was something I was actually ready to get into
this morning, but saw it kind of die out and
fills all out the whole conspiracy theory, which again I

(37:13):
think we're looking into everything now, and I guess that's
part of the social media age of twenty twenty five saxonies.
We want to look at everything and why did this
go wrong? Hey, couldn't have just been the guy was
better than the picture.

Speaker 6 (37:23):
For one pick, I got it. Maybe the guy hit
a home run?

Speaker 4 (37:25):
No, no, did something wrong? No no, no, he tipped
the pitch.

Speaker 6 (37:30):
He did something Okay.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
That's that's what we're looking for every single time.

Speaker 6 (37:34):
But that's that's why, that's why I just absolutely hate
social media. I absolutely hate it. I don't even do
social I don't know how to do it. I have
a I have a Twitter, and my daughter does it.
I don't do it. I don't even know what goes
on there. I mean, it's it's so it's so ridiculous,
you know, It's it's like, you know, going into a
bar somewhere you're gonna you know, if you keep going,

(37:55):
you're eventually going to run into every idiot in the world. Right,
it's kind of like that. You don't know who you're
dealing with on social media. You know, these these can
be nutsos. You know, why do you put any put
any stock in that. I don't get it. It's just
it's weird.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
No, I mean it, it's weird.

Speaker 5 (38:11):
Yeah, social media did give us the whole trash can
banging John Boy. Media got this uh to us after
the whole astros cheating scandal. So that is something positive
that did come out of this dissection of everything in
baseball via social media.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
But there's nothing here.

Speaker 5 (38:27):
There's a little sniffing around and trying to figure out
if there was some tipping from Andy paj Has, but
that has been put to rest by Matt Strom himself
saying not the case.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
He is.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
Steve Sacks, I'm Tim Kays. More of your phone calls
coming up. Also, should Will Smith start Game two tonight?
Ben Rodvat's been really good behind the play. But will
Smith's offense gives you something that Fordy doesn't have. We'll
get into it with Steve Sacks. Your phone calls as well.
Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven to two five seventy.

(38:57):
David Vats joins us in the seven o'clock out o
Rick Monday in the eight o'clock hour, Thanks for being
with us on this Monday morning leading up to Game
two of the NLDS Live at local on ANFI seventy
LA Sports, Sax and Kate to the AM on this
Monday morning. Thanks for being with us. We're here till

(39:20):
nine o'clock this morning. We're gonna be live and local
most of the day, starting at eleven o'clock Rogan and
Rodney Petros some money takeover at noon. Remember an early
start two o'clock in the afternoon. We got Marongo Casino
Dodgers on deck. First pitch from the bank in Philadelphia
is at three eight, so in early start time for
Game two on the NLDS. Blake Snell and Hey sus

(39:41):
Lezardo the pitching matchup. After the Dodgers took Game one
five to three, be Shine Show. Hey Otani's six innings
of work and the three run home run from tae
Oscar Hernandez. In that game on Saturday Night Saxony, we
did see Will Smith come in for the first time
this postseason, and he came in off the bench as

(40:02):
a pinch hitter for Ben Rhardvatt and then stayed in
the game afterwards as the catcher behind the plate, and
the TV broadcast with Jeff Francore and Brian Anderson on TBS,
we're kind of alluding to, well, we'll see how this goes,
changing catcher mid stream for show Hey Otany. Is this
gonna be okay or not? Well, it turned out to

(40:23):
be a non factor because Will Smith has caught Show
Hey Otani before and you know, wasn't really an issue.
But they bring in Will Smith for his offense off
the bench, and he didn't provide any offense off the bench.
He was zero for two with a run scored, struck
out twice in this game. Now they're thinking Will Smith

(40:44):
Game two, and Dave Roberts was asked about what is
he gonna do with this catching situation. Will it be
Ben Rortvett or will it be Will Smith for Game two?
I ask you this, do you change the momentum and
the flow of what you've got going with Ben Rhortvatt
defensively what he's done for this pitching staff just to
have the bat of Will Smith. But on the counterside

(41:05):
is that is Will Smith one hundred percent? Is he
gonna give be that same Will Smith that you saw
the first half of the season where he was having
an all star year.

Speaker 6 (41:13):
Yeah? Great, great question. I'm huge on momentum. I love that,
And if Will Smith is one hundred percent, I think
that supersedes what we've got with with Roard Vett because
you know, Will Smith's a much better hitter, no question
about it. But again the momentum thing. If Will's not
one hundred percent, and even if he's not feeling it

(41:36):
right now, I think Rordveatt's a safe bet. You know
it's worked, you know they're here, they won Game one,
and you know that momentum means something. So I if
he is one hundred percent, I got I'm gonna go
with Will Smith because look, he's He's had a lot
of momentum builders too, He's trended a lot of momentum
in his time. He had an absolutely magnificent year this year,

(41:59):
and I say, if he's one hundred percent, you go
with Will.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
He was hitting two ninety six with a nine hundred
ops yeah, before he got hit in the hand on
the foul tip in Pittsburgh and basically missed the last
three weeks of the season. Did not play in the
first two games of the wild Card Round against the
Cincinnati Reds. Ben Roardvett has come in. There's no arguing
what he has done. Defensively. He has been fantastic. With

(42:23):
him behind the plate, the Dodgers starters have a combined
one to sixty four ERA in twenty four starts, including
three postseason games. The bullpen a little bit different. You know,
the combined relievers in ERA near five, which is a
little high. But I don't put that on Ben Roardvett
at all. The pro of having Will Smith back is
certainly the offense and what he can do to the lineup.

(42:45):
You know, inserting him in that lineup again is another
cog that is a threat for this Dodgers team offensively.
Ben Roardvett necessarily is not a threat offensively. If you're
gonna bat him nine now, he can be productive. He
can bun a guy over, he can hit and run,
he could do something and do whatever is asked of him.
Is offense weighed more than defense at this point with

(43:07):
blake'snell on the mound, really, in my mind, it must
win Game two to really put your foot on the
Philadelphia Phillies in this best of five series. Is defense
outweighing offense or does offense outweigh defense in tonight's game?
Not overall, not in the series, of the whole postseason.
In this game tonight, Steve Sacks, what do you think

(43:28):
defense or offense?

Speaker 10 (43:29):
Well?

Speaker 6 (43:29):
Will Smith's a good defensive player too, you know, so
I don't think you're losing. You know that what you're
gaining with Ben Roadvett is that you know he's he's winning.
The team is winning with him, right, and momentum matters,
and that's huge. That is huge, especially in a short
series like all these are short. I mean, you know
the match we're going to get his seven game series,

(43:50):
they're all short, and so that matters a lot to me.
And if Smith if listen, if he's if he's not
completely healthy, and it's questionable, there's no doubt I put
Ben in there. If even if Smith is healthy and
he's just the ball looks like an aspirin tablet to him.

(44:11):
You know, you could still go with Roardvett until he's
starting to feel it a little bit more. Maybe he's
having good practice sessions and he's barreling it up more consistent.
You know, I don't think you're going to lose a
lot by sticking with the momentum builder that Ben rod
Vetz put in there right now. So I think it's
you know, the manager's got to have his finger to
the pulse, and Dave Roberts knows it better than anybody.

Speaker 5 (44:33):
I wonder what the left hand or too, And hey,
susse Lozardo, if it tips in favor of Will Smith
catching tonight because he's the right handed bat as opposed
to Ben Roardvatt, the left handed bat. On the flip
side of that, you know, I mean, it's not like
you're going to say Ben Roardvatt's bat for a pin
hitting ability late in the game when you know, right

(44:53):
Hendry comes in because he's such a thread offensively, he's
not that kind of weapon. But Will Smith, on the
other hand, to have that bat ready to go again, fifth, sixth,
seventh in a pinch it situation could be exactly what
the Dodgers need.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
Let's we'se in a.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Phone call real quick, Art in Montclair, Thanks for being patient.
Welcome to Saxon Kate today.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
Am I doing art?

Speaker 10 (45:14):
I'm going good running, guys. Oh way, I just want
to call and talk about an observation. I saw alfro
taals home run and it was great to see it
would be a passim and the excitement that all the
Dodgers were showing, including Dave Roberts. I mean, they were
all looking in the dugout. They's on their arms in

(45:37):
the air. Tayl was out with his arms up in
the air, and then when he came to the dugout Thursday,
Roberts with his arm in the air. That was totally
awesome to see that in the playoffs from the Dodgers.
I mean, my goodness, I was so happy to see
that all the teams show the press and the excitement,

(46:00):
but the Dodgers to shout up like that, that was
great to see and I just hope that they continue
with that touch dot Oh my god, guys, all.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
Right, I appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (46:09):
It kind of felt like the momentum swung back in
their favor, certainly, but they kind of popped the top
off of what was a slow offense through six inning Saxy,
So that breakthrough moment was probably more excitement of we
did it. We got through Sanchez, we took the lead.
Let's finish this thing off. Yeah, that's it. Get get

(46:30):
through that starter and put a whipping on that bullpen.
That's that's what the Dodgers' goal is going to be
again in this next game. He and Steve Sacks. I
am Tim Kats one hour down, two to go on
this Monday morning. Thanks for being with us bright and
early as the Dodgers get ready for a game two
tonight against the Phillies. Blake Snell, Hey, sus Lozardo. The
pitching matchup Morongo Casino, Dodgers on deck at two, first

(46:53):
pitch at three to oh eight, coming up. David Vasse
joins us in about thirty minutes. Rick Monday will join us.
In the eight o'clock hour. We'll hear from Dave rob
we'll hear from Blake Snell, and I want to.

Speaker 4 (47:01):
Hear from you.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
Eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy. How
big does this start? For Blake Snell? They got him
for a reason, and that was October baseball. They need
Blake Snell to be snell Zilla. Tonight on the Mound
eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy. He
is Steve Sax, I'm Tim Kates. It's Sax and Kate's
at am on n FI seventy l A Sports