NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 17, 2021

Dave Roberts

Truist Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. With Justin Turner, he's not in the lineup today. Is it just a routine off day for him?

DAVE ROBERTS: No. Yesterday during batting practice he had a stinger, the right side of his neck, and we tried to treat it, we did treat it, and he felt that he wanted to give it a go and try to play through it. He couldn't turn his head to the right. And got through the game, woke up feeling very similar, so I think that, obviously Justin will do anything we ask, but I just don't think it's right to put him in that spot and, for us as a club, and I think we have other options also.

So I think today it's more of save him for a big spot to pinch hit and we'll have an off-day tomorrow and my expectation is he'll be back in the lineup for Game 3.

Q. I asked Will this earlier about opposing teams stealing bases off you guys, two of those last night set up two runs. What's been what you've settled on as far as your relievers and just their time to the plate and how to mitigate all that?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a -- ideally every reliever, every pitcher, would be 1.3 to the plate or less and not compromise stuff or execution.

With Blake in particular, some other guys, we just feel that executing a pitch is more important and when our guys have tried to quicken up, execution and stuff has been compromised. So we've got to make a decision, I think. So that's kind of the tough part.

As far as Will, he's as good of a thrower as there is in the game, and so he can only do what he can do. So it's a conversation we have, but I think that at the end of the day, we have to make a decision on what's most important.

Q. Justin had any neck problems prior to this coming up yesterday?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, no. It was yesterday, his pregame work was good. It happened in the middle of batting practice and he just couldn't look to his right and even on one of those plays last night defensively in a pop up you could tell he couldn't move his head, and so, yeah, that's where we're at.

Q. Staying on the neck, I assume CT 3's okay after the little collision?

DAVE ROBERTS: The collision, CT is fine, yes.

Q. With Charlie Morton starting Tuesday night, what do you remember about Game 7, those final four innings he threw, how good he was?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I try to forget it. But I remember, I don't think we put up a base runner or let alone put up any runs. Charlie's a great competitor. I've admired him for a long time from a far. He's that old school ball player, competitor, will take the ball anytime, and it's fun to compete against a guy like that. And I see Kershaw is a guy like that. Wainwright is a guy like that. Charlie is in that bucket, with like the Max Scherzer type, too.

Q. When you mentioned that you saw during the game that JT had trouble adjusting or turning his neck to, on the pop up, what was the thought in terms of --

DAVE ROBERTS: I didn't see it personally at the game. This was after, like on the highlights, kind of looking at the thing, so I didn't see it.

Q. So there wasn't any discussion during the game?

DAVE ROBERTS: To take him out? No, no. It's like once he was in there, he was going to try to fight and gut it out and get through the game.

Q. I think I saw Chris Taylor taking ground balls yesterday at third base. Was that just sort of routine?

DAVE ROBERTS: No, that was more of trying to be a little bit preemptive and if Justin decided at the 11th hour he couldn't post, then we were going to have CT play third.

Q. Obviously this is not related to the injury, but Justin has been struggling a little bit in the postseason. What have you seen in his at-bats?

DAVE ROBERTS: Certainly when guys are struggling it's a combo. It's the chase and when you do get pitches to handle you're not finishing the at-bat. So I think that's what's happening to Justin. I think a lot of our guys are a little bit caught in between on velocity versus spin. So it's more about just the mindset of being aggressive in your zone and what you're good at, and everything outside of that, try not to offer at it.

Again, it's a lot easier said than done and then if you get two strikes you got to just fight and compete. But he'll get out of it.

Q. How do you quantify the value Will Smith brings when you can pencil a guy like that it into the lineup as catcher given what he does offensively?

DAVE ROBERTS: There's just very few guys that you can hit in the middle top part of the, of an order, of a championship-caliber team who is a receiver as well and who is very good back there.

For me, he's a top-3 catcher in baseball hands down, and that's an easy conversation for me. Then you layer in on the heartbeat, the pulse, he's a heck of a player, a very intelligent guy.

So we don't take it for granted, and his growth with the pitching staff, the trust that he has, you know, when you're talking about Kershaw, Scherzer, Buehler and Jansen, some guys that have really admirable track records and kind of managing those guys and be the leader on the field, it's not easy. But this year he's really come a long way and he continues to get better.

Q. And then with Justin not playing, was there any other options besides Chris Taylor for third base? I know Gavin's played there may be once and then you have a Matt Beaty as well, a left-handed bat.

DAVE ROBERTS: Certainly we have good options. I still like Beaty on the bench in a spot. Anderson's sort of a neutral guy, has been his entire career. I think that the ability for Gavin to play center field and comfortable out there, as he said and as he's shown, and have Chris play third base and catching the ball, throwing it accurately, I felt good about that.

Q. The big stolen base in the 9th inning last night prompted some questions more about just what you guys can do to hold runners on and it's been a question all year. Is this though that time of year where little things like that just tend to get magnified and teams are just so much better at exploiting little advantages like that?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it was clear once Albies got on base he had intent to steal second base. It was clear. We got a strike with the slider, first-pitch strike, and I think the bottom line is that we just didn't execute a pitch. I mean, I think that, yeah, the stolen base is one part of it, but I think that we just didn't execute an 0-1 pitch.

And so if we execute that 0-1 pitch, I think that it would be a different conversation today. But certainly all the little things get magnified in the postseason, as well they should, and so we got to continue to work on it and get better so things like that don't cost us.

Q. You guys had a couple of steals too yesterday and obviously you have a big postseason stolen base. How does that calculation, that risk-reward calculation on the stolen base change in the postseason when runs theoretically are at a premium?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's changed over the years and I think in the right way in the sense that some of these arms that you're seeing, and you can see from our guys it's hard to put in, build an inning, and I say build an inning by getting hits, consecutive hits to score a run.

So if you can take a calculated risk like Albies did last night, guys do, it just increases your chances. I can't recall many innings that Blake's given up three hits in an inning to give up a run. So he gave up two hits and I think that that's just a smart baseball play, yeah.

Q. Have you ever thought about your famous stolen base, about the risk-reward there, and like if you were out, that series is probably over. How much did that go into your mind when they asked you to do what you did or subsequently since then, I mean if you had been out?

DAVE ROBERTS: Oh, I think about it. Joe West reminds me every time I see him, that he made me famous, for making the right call, by the way.

You know what, I think about it, but I think that it's one of those things I think that in the postseason where, as he mentioned, things are more magnified, you just can't be afraid to fail. I just think that careful in the postseason doesn't play. So that's kind of in the batter's box, defensively, on the bases, and understanding the game score and how the game needs to be played, but if you feel good, you got to be all in.

Q. We'll always hear from fans who start watching in October like, Hey, where's the bunts? And you got to say, Well these guys don't --

DAVE ROBERTS: I love those fans, they're great.

Q. As long as they're buying tickets, Dave. But in terms of a stolen base, can you ask guys to steal that don't normally do it? Is that a little less risky than asking them to bunt when they don't do it or is that like either you can or you can't?

DAVE ROBERTS: I can. I can. But it's one of those things that it's the right play, unless he's thrown out. So it's kind of, I know these players better than anyone does and I know our team better than anyone does and so if I don't feel the risk is worth it, then I'm not going to make that decision.

So, yeah, so I understand both sides, but I can't live in a world of if it works it's a great decision. So I make decisions based on what I know of my players.

Q. Are there guys you would ask to steal tonight that you wouldn't have asked to do that June 19th?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, absolutely. If the situation calls for it, it wouldn't be crazy to see Corey Seager steal a base, absolutely.