Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: Happy Father's Day. Tell all the dad's out there, and
Speaker 1: I couldn't have found a better dad to talk to today
Speaker 1: on this special day for the dads out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he threw seven scoreless innings yesterday, but he's dad to
Speaker 1: his four kids and one more on the way. That's
Speaker 1: our very own Clayton Kershaw, Happy Father's Day, Clayton.
Speaker 2: Well you too, Dave, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Hey, today was a great father's Day because you were
Speaker 1: on the beach and you did the gender reveal because
Speaker 1: Ellen's pregnant with another baby.
Speaker 3: Yes, she's doing December, and we found out today that
Speaker 3: we're having another girl. So Bookend Girls is pretty awesome girl.
Speaker 3: Three boys and then another girl. So my daughter was
Speaker 3: super excited and the boys aren't going to know what
Speaker 3: to do with her. But it's a great father's day,
Speaker 3: great start to the day.
Speaker 1: What is Father's Day to you now compared to maybe
Speaker 1: your first one?
Speaker 2: That's a good question.
Speaker 3: I mean I think, well, it's special because the kids
Speaker 3: make it special, you know.
Speaker 2: I think that's what's cool. They really enjoy.
Speaker 3: You know, they like to make cards, they like to
Speaker 3: draw stuff they like to They like to go pick out,
Speaker 3: you know, random funny stuff that they think that I'll like.
Speaker 3: So I just seeing it through their eyes, are getting
Speaker 3: to like celebrate. They do a great job of, you know,
Speaker 3: making me feel special, which is really cool. And you know,
Speaker 3: I don't think you really understand that until you see
Speaker 3: it through your kid's eyes. So that's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Who has more of your personality out of the four
Speaker 1: so far?
Speaker 2: Oh man?
Speaker 3: You know, I think Charlie is like a mini me
Speaker 3: my oldest, my eight year old. I think he uh,
Speaker 3: he's he looks probably the most like me, and then
Speaker 3: he's got the same like personality traits. I think he
Speaker 3: drives my wife crazy sometimes with how much he like
Speaker 3: he wants to be on time. He's so like, oh man,
Speaker 3: it's good until like you can't drive and you got
Speaker 3: to wait on your mom to drive you. That's how
Speaker 3: I was and that's he's learning that too.
Speaker 1: Clayton Kershaw is our guest on Father's Day. Okay, seven
Speaker 1: scoreless innings, but you wake up today you have a
Speaker 1: great family moment with Ellen and finding out you're having
Speaker 1: another baby. Girl, do the kids even care what dad did?
Speaker 3: Yesterday, you know, they got to So my my daughter
Speaker 3: got home from camp yesterday, Ellen went and picked her up.
Speaker 3: She was at overnight camp, so she came straight here
Speaker 3: to the game. And so they got to watch ill'
Speaker 3: and let him stay up for the whole game. And
Speaker 3: I uh to be. I don't know if they care not,
Speaker 3: but Charlie, Charlie likes to dissect the whole game and
Speaker 3: he's a big baseball fan now, so it's it's awesome.
Speaker 3: And yeah, you know, I don't think they cared this morning,
Speaker 3: but last night they seemed like they cared, so that
Speaker 3: was cool.
Speaker 1: Do you think Dad surpassed Aaron Judge and Charlie's rankings?
Speaker 2: That's a good question. Yeah, he wears ninety nine.
Speaker 3: I thought it was I thought it was for hyunjin Ryu,
Speaker 3: but uh, turns out it's for Aaron Judge. But you
Speaker 3: know that's a I'll let him do that one, I think,
Speaker 3: and Judge is a great role model, so I'll take
Speaker 3: that one for sure.
Speaker 1: Everybody keeps asking me, why do you keep doing this?
Speaker 1: Why do you keep pitching? Is family a big reason
Speaker 1: why you keep going to have your kids? Have Charlie
Speaker 1: see you? Is how much of the equation is family.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think it starts with Ellen. You know,
Speaker 3: I think she really enjoys I think she really enjoys
Speaker 3: me doing what I am good at, and so I
Speaker 3: think that that means a lot to me that she doesn't.
Speaker 3: You know, she's not the wife that's like, all right,
Speaker 3: I'm done traveling, let's go let's go home, let's.
Speaker 2: Do all that.
Speaker 3: Like she she's on board for anything. And you know,
Speaker 3: traveling around the country with four kids isn't easy obviously,
Speaker 3: but she does it all summer with all of them,
Speaker 3: and she like embraces it, and the kids seem to
Speaker 3: love it too. So that's been awesome that to have
Speaker 3: that support. And then I think for me personally, just
Speaker 3: just as simple as I wanted to you know, I
Speaker 3: don't really have another answer. I just like it didn't
Speaker 3: feel felt like I wanted to keep going. And I
Speaker 3: think I think that's as good enough as the answer
Speaker 3: as I can have.
Speaker 1: We always hear the athletes talk about enjoying the journey
Speaker 1: or enjoying the process. Today, day one of the five
Speaker 1: day routine, how much do you relish this just as
Speaker 1: much as going out and competing every fifth day?
Speaker 3: Ah, I mean it's hard, it's it's harder to wake
Speaker 3: up and things like that. But there's nothing better as
Speaker 3: a as a starter than the day after when you
Speaker 3: get to just basking it, and especially when you pitch good.
Speaker 3: That's the worst part when you pitch bad, but the
Speaker 3: best part when you pitch good. So the day after
Speaker 3: it start is an awesome feeling, for sure.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you're sending a message to everybody
Speaker 1: on your team? You know, hey, I may not feel
Speaker 1: my best and maybe a little harder to get this
Speaker 1: routine going again, but you've got to find a way.
Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't know what type of message
Speaker 3: I'm sending other than you know, when it's your turn
Speaker 3: to pitch, go pitch, and thankful to have that opportunity
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: And you know, we're in a hard stretch.
Speaker 3: We're playing a lot of good teams, playing a lot
Speaker 3: of like above one hundred ball clubs, and doesn't get
Speaker 3: any easier with the padres coming in for four after
Speaker 3: this one today. So and you know, obviously we've got
Speaker 3: some guys hurting things like that. So guys are stepping up,
Speaker 3: Guys are making you know, their starts count and obviously
Speaker 3: we're just gonna have to keep grinding through it. But
Speaker 3: it seems like we've got some guys on the mind,
Speaker 3: which is good. And you know, Benny c coming into
Speaker 3: the starting rotation. He's fun to watch. He's got a
Speaker 3: lot of good stuff and good mindset. And you know
Speaker 3: a lot of young guys. Jack Dryer has been awesome
Speaker 3: our bullpen, you know, stepping up, throwing a lot of innings. Obviously,
Speaker 3: so all those guys, everybody's kind of stepping up. D
Speaker 3: May taking the ball every fifth day, all these things.
Speaker 3: So it's a it's definitely collective effort.
Speaker 1: Right now, Over the years, you've been around other pictures
Speaker 1: where maybe rich Hill drops down, then Clayton Kershaw may
Speaker 1: experiment with dropping down. Is the split fingered fastball the
Speaker 1: product of you being around these Japanese pictures that throw
Speaker 1: it a lot, or are you still kind of seeing
Speaker 1: whether or not you want it? Uh?
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think it hurts, you know, watching
Speaker 3: Yama have so much success, you know, I think I
Speaker 3: think with what's so easy about Yamas is it's just
Speaker 3: like he just throws it. And so that's what appealed
Speaker 3: to me, is like when you throw these other change ups.
Speaker 3: You have to manipulate it and pronate, and I've never
Speaker 3: been able to do that. So you know, the split
Speaker 3: in theory makes a lot of sense for me. You
Speaker 3: just spread your fingers and you throw it, and I
Speaker 3: just am not consistent at it yet.
Speaker 2: I'm not.
Speaker 3: I'm not good at it, but I threw one good
Speaker 3: one last night. I got one swinging miss last night
Speaker 3: on it, So.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I just I just keep throwing it.
Speaker 2: It's never gonna be something that I highlight.
Speaker 3: But maybe you know, long at bats or a guy
Speaker 3: that really hammers slider or something like that. I can
Speaker 3: throw it, and it's always good to have another weapon.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Before I let you go. Father's Day, I feel like
Speaker 1: the only really reward we get other than having our
Speaker 1: kids every day is the meal that they may let
Speaker 1: us pick out. Is the family allow you to pick
Speaker 1: out dinner tonight? Or did they allow you to pick
Speaker 1: out breakfast? If it's Father's Day? If it's really Father's Day?
Speaker 1: For Clayton Kerusha, what do you want?
Speaker 3: Oh man, that's a great question. I mean, I think honestly,
Speaker 3: you know, the pizza is pretty tough to be you know.
Speaker 2: I could hammer out. I could hammer out of pizza
Speaker 2: at any seconds.
Speaker 3: So you know, the steak is great, and I you
Speaker 3: know I love steak or burgers or all that. But
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, a nice pie sounds
Speaker 3: pretty good.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time, and happy Father's Day. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we see how much work you put in on the field,
Speaker 1: but getting to see you with your kids is really special.
Speaker 1: And you're a better dad than you are a pitcher,
Speaker 1: which is hard to imagine, but it's true.
Speaker 2: All right, I appreciate that, man. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Leave it right there.
Speaker 2: I'by Father's Day, guys,