NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 14, 2022

Dave Roberts

Petco Park

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Padres 2, Dodgers 1

Q. I think right out of the gate, now you guys have no room for mistakes. What happens to the mood or the mentality going into Game 4?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I don't think the mentality changes. It's certainly a game we have to win, win or go home. We're going to do everything we can to try to win a baseball game.

So all hands on deck. And the core of this group has been in this position before, and we're going to approach it like it's the way it is. It's win or go home. We've got to play better baseball. When we do have opportunities to cash in, we've got to take advantage of them.

But as far as on the run prevention, I thought we pitched pretty well.

Q. A lot of guys left on base, obviously, but their bullpen has not allowed a run to your offense, which, from a viewing standpoint, is mind-boggling. How is that happening?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I don't know. I think you've got to give those guys some credit, but on the other side of things, we've still got to find a way to create base runners, create opportunities. And then when we do get them, regardless if it's a starter or the guy in the pen, we've got to find a way to push him across.

We've got our hands full tomorrow. Musgrove is coming off a great start. We've seen him a lot. We're going to have to compete and have good at-bats and hopefully get to the pen somehow.

Q. Just curious about your thought process when you hit for Barnes knowing you were going to give up the DH for the last two innings.

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it's just more of Garcia has been very dominant versus right-handed hitters, and there's no guarantee that Austin is going to get that next at-bat anyway. To shoot a bullet with Gavin, it just seemed to make sense.

Q. Dave, especially with runners in scoring position, it seems like there's been a lot of early swings, maybe some off the plate. How would you evaluate the approach in those spots, especially the last two games?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think that you can see those guys with runners in scoring position are getting more into at-bats. They're using the big part of the field. I think that we're being hyperaggressive early in counts and not staying on the ball.

They're getting us with spin. They're getting us on the outside part of the plate. We're not given really any opportunities to make mistakes, and that's more specific to the pen.

Q. How stark is it to go from 111 wins in the regular season, coasting to the end, to now, three days into this, be facing elimination?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, it's where we're at. It was a very good regular season, but as we said before, none of that matters. We're in a five-game series against a very good ballclub that we're familiar with, and the team that plays the best baseball is going to win the series. And up to this point, they've played better than we have.

Q. Is Trea's hand okay?

DAVE ROBERTS: The docs are looking at it right now. I'm expecting to be in there, but I think we're going to do an X-ray and kind of see how he comes in tomorrow.

Q. Is it a certain finger?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was his ring finger on the throwing hand.

Q. I kind of want to get your -- obviously you were not going to let Gonsolin stay in there very long. He seemed to be a little -- you tell me. What did he look like to you?

DAVE ROBERTS: He wasn't sharp. Got behind some guys, Profar started with a good at-bat, then throw behind Soto, he watched Machado. I just think he wasn't sharp, getting behind, stressed in the first inning. Second inning gives up a couple hits, and I felt at that point in time we had length with Heaney, and it was time to go to him at that point.

Q. How do you as a manager -- what do you do with guys who did not face adversity in terms of standing or record this year? How do you communicate with them -- they know what's going on, but what do you say?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I think that there's not going to be a rounder tonight or tomorrow. There's a lot of guys in that clubhouse that have played in do-or-die games. So it's not a situation where I expect us to panic.

We've got to play good baseball, and like I said, Musgrove is going to be ready, Tyler Anderson will be ready, and offensively we've just got to come together and push some runs across.

As far as the mindset or the mentality, we have a lot of guys that have been there. We've got to play good baseball.