Speaker 1: In the shadow of Big Brad Nelson here at Dodgers
Speaker 1: Stadium and the one and only John Hartungue. We are
Speaker 1: joined by sports Net, La Zone, Nomar, Garcia Para, the awards,
Speaker 1: the accolades, the two time batting Champions. We could go
Speaker 1: on and on, Nomar, but we have a limited time here,
Speaker 1: but always great to see you and your purple tie.
Speaker 2: You know, I love I appreciate all the accolades you're mentioning,
Speaker 2: but you know, I think the biggest thing that I've
Speaker 2: accomplished is found a way to be friends with you.
Speaker 2: So I think that's definitely one of my bigger achievements.
Speaker 1: No, Mar, is it a coincidence? I found you tucked
Speaker 1: in the corner of a dark room before we did
Speaker 1: this interview. Were you trying to find me? Or was
Speaker 1: that just where you were hanging out.
Speaker 2: One I was also doing some work preparing before we
Speaker 2: go on our show. So Dave, you actually do know
Speaker 2: with John Hartungu and myself, we actually do work prior
Speaker 2: to us going on TV. It's not something we just
Speaker 2: kind of wing at the top of our heads, although
Speaker 2: at times it feels like that.
Speaker 1: I think experience speaks for itself when it comes to you, nomar.
Speaker 1: But obviously do you have transform yourself into a broadcaster
Speaker 1: not a player. And I know you take a lot
Speaker 1: of pride in that one.
Speaker 2: I didn't take it for granted when I first started
Speaker 2: in thinking that one it was going to be easy.
Speaker 2: Just because you do interviews, thinks you're going to be
Speaker 2: able to do the broadcast. So I was always constantly learning.
Speaker 2: Obviously I've evolved. I've learned so much over the years
Speaker 2: and continue to learn and continue trying to be better.
Speaker 2: One thing you do learn early on is you have
Speaker 2: to put the work in. And you still you know,
Speaker 2: it's not where you can just show up and put
Speaker 2: the mic in front or the cameras are on and
Speaker 2: then you can just go. You really have to put
Speaker 2: the work in. And then there's a lot of colleagues
Speaker 2: that I do work, that I work with, and you
Speaker 2: can see how much work they put in. I mean,
Speaker 2: as we're sitting you know John Harttong, I mean watching
Speaker 2: him thet the hours that he prepares ahead of time
Speaker 2: and even when the game's going on, watching him prepare
Speaker 2: to make sure that the show goes well. He makes
Speaker 2: it just look so seamless and so there's people like
Speaker 2: him and other people that I've worked with in the
Speaker 2: industry and just really seeing their preparation and why they're
Speaker 2: so great at what they do.
Speaker 1: John Hartungu must be one of the most unselfish teammates
Speaker 1: you have played with in the broadcasting world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's definitely a special one. I think people don't
Speaker 2: really know. I don't think people really know exactly how
Speaker 2: good and how well he really is at what he does.
Speaker 1: No, mar Garciapara is our guest. All right, Omar, this
Speaker 1: will be a tough question for you to answer because
Speaker 1: your heart is at the position of shortstop. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of debate now as we are getting down to
Speaker 1: the final seventeen games of the regular season. Who is
Speaker 1: the National League MVP. Will it be a dh that
Speaker 1: is going to be the first fifty to fifty player
Speaker 1: in baseball history? Or will it be Francisco Lindor who's
Speaker 1: playing shortstop for the surprising met Where do you see
Speaker 1: this landing?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I know watching show Hay on a
Speaker 2: daily basis obviously and covering it, and you're right where
Speaker 2: I feel how I feel about shortstops. And we even
Speaker 2: heard Mokivett's talk about how hard shortstop is. Right, you
Speaker 2: have an MVP caliber player talking about that. But at
Speaker 2: the same time, we've never seen I know, we haven't
Speaker 2: had a DHV and MVP, but we've also never seen
Speaker 2: any player DH or not do fifty to fifty And
Speaker 2: obviously stealing bases is easier than it's ever been in
Speaker 2: the game. But aside from that, sho hey Otani is
Speaker 2: definitely has put on a show. No I mean pun intended,
Speaker 2: I guess, but he really has. And that's not the
Speaker 2: takeaway that what the season Lindor is having. But also,
Speaker 2: you know, you look at I know, the Dodgers, you
Speaker 2: look at their record, you look at all the talent
Speaker 2: they have and all the superstars, but also at the
Speaker 2: same time they've dealt with a lot of injuries as well,
Speaker 2: and obviously what show he has done and ment also
Speaker 2: is vital for them to get to the position there.
Speaker 2: And so to me right now, that's kind or definitely
Speaker 2: leaning just because we've never seen it.
Speaker 1: Right And you know, growing up in LA, like you,
Speaker 1: I was always a National League fan and not really
Speaker 1: a fan of the DH. And there's a reason why
Speaker 1: there's been no DH to win the MVP but this
Speaker 1: seems to be a unique season where there is no
Speaker 1: clear cut position player that has separated himself. And that's
Speaker 1: why Lindora now is in the conversation because Ozuna and
Speaker 1: Otani are the two dhs that have dominated.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's I think you have a fair
Speaker 2: point there. I still don't like the DH in the
Speaker 2: National League, so I like the separate league. So not
Speaker 2: that I have anything against the DH, but I do
Speaker 2: like you have a national league in American League, so
Speaker 2: I still wish that was in play. But at the
Speaker 2: same time, you do have that. As you mentioned about
Speaker 2: the DH is going on right now in the National League,
Speaker 2: maybe there isn't There isn't somebody necessarily just running away
Speaker 2: with it. I mean early on to him going on
Speaker 2: the IL, you know, Mookie Betts was having an MVP
Speaker 2: season and as a matter of fact, if you look
Speaker 2: at what he's been doing since coming off the IL,
Speaker 2: he's still at that same level. It's just the fact
Speaker 2: that he happened to go on the IL missed so
Speaker 2: much time I think hurts it. But had he not
Speaker 2: don that, had he not gotten on the gone on
Speaker 2: the IL and continue to doing what he's been doing,
Speaker 2: all season alone, I think we'd be talking about him,
Speaker 2: he'd be one of those that would be definitely running
Speaker 2: away with it. But obviously now we're talking about his teammates.
Speaker 2: So I think there are unique circumstances. I think that
Speaker 2: happens a lot when it comes to MVP at the
Speaker 2: end of the season. So it's always it's always tough.
Speaker 2: It really is tough to actually then pick who the
Speaker 2: MVP is at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: No more can you reconcile if Mookie Betts is the
Speaker 1: Dodgers team MVP, but Otani is the National League MVP,
Speaker 1: because there is still a case to say, like you said,
Speaker 1: with what Mooki has done this year minus the six
Speaker 1: weeks out, he has been the most valuable Dodger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you look at what he's done, but runners in
Speaker 2: scoring position of the course of the season, And I
Speaker 2: like the way you put that, Yeah, could he be
Speaker 2: the team MVP? And it's not just a matter of
Speaker 2: the numbers that he's putting up in the production. Let's
Speaker 2: not forget he also went he was supposed to be
Speaker 2: the second basement at spring training, then he went over
Speaker 2: to shortstop right before the season is about to start.
Speaker 2: Then it didn't know then he's when he goes on
Speaker 2: the IL and now he's back out there in right
Speaker 2: field is the second base. There was all these questions
Speaker 2: about where he's going to play. It's great to see
Speaker 2: that some other guys have answered those questions and now
Speaker 2: make it more to solidify. Hey, go back to right field.
Speaker 2: But him being able to be opened and the work
Speaker 2: and the commitment he made that tried to be the
Speaker 2: best at a position he had played in so long
Speaker 2: since he was, you know, younger, that says a lot
Speaker 2: about him. And so yeah, I think that's a great
Speaker 2: way you put it that. Yeah, the National League MVP
Speaker 2: can be show Hey, but the team MVP, I can
Speaker 2: definitely see Mookie holding that title. And you know, there's
Speaker 2: a couple other ones that you can kind of kind
Speaker 2: of say that would also battle with Mookie because Tioscar
Speaker 2: Hernandez been out there playing every day. We know Freddie
Speaker 2: Freeman the stable, so they have some other guys that
Speaker 2: really are vital for their success over the course of
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 1: No, mar Garciapara is our guest. I know we've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about the Dodgers starting pitching going into October,
Speaker 1: but it feels like we're not talking enough about who
Speaker 1: is going to get the final three outs for the
Speaker 1: Dodgers in a playoff game. Do you have one person
Speaker 1: or a combination. What do you believe needs to be
Speaker 1: the recipe for the Dodgers to get the last nine
Speaker 1: outs and especially the last three outs.
Speaker 2: That's a great question because I always say the closer
Speaker 2: is one of the most important players on a team.
Speaker 2: I've been on a team of the closer by committee.
Speaker 2: Not easy, and obviously it didn't work because we've won
Speaker 2: game away from going to the final, and I think
Speaker 2: that had some impact on it. Just not knowing who
Speaker 2: was going to get the final three outs when it
Speaker 2: came to the decisions your manager has to make.
Speaker 1: It's hard.
Speaker 2: That's why it's you know, I always told you and
Speaker 2: I talked about who was the most important Yankee for
Speaker 2: all those years, and it was Mariano Rivera, no doubt.
Speaker 2: And I said when we do our show preseason show
Speaker 2: on Sports and at LA, when we had ken Lee
Speaker 2: Kenley Jansen, John would ask me who's the most important Dodger?
Speaker 2: I always said Kenley Jensen. I mean he shortens the
Speaker 2: game when you can have when you know those last
Speaker 2: three out are just taking care of and the managers
Speaker 2: don't have to take care of everything else has a
Speaker 2: tendency to fall into place, So it's vital to have
Speaker 2: that closer. It's great to have obviously they you know,
Speaker 2: there's some hiccups here and Phillips who's still trying to
Speaker 2: find his way looking for that consistency. They have other
Speaker 2: guys who can do it, and I think sometimes that
Speaker 2: also messes with them as well and the manager because
Speaker 2: I have so many options that I can do this
Speaker 2: closer by committee, but it's not easy because now you're
Speaker 2: trying to figure out when somebody throws, when not, who
Speaker 2: do I have? Who's the matchups? Rather than say this
Speaker 2: is just your role, and then I can actually figure
Speaker 2: out my matchups with the eighths, ivn't their six inning
Speaker 2: if that were to factor in. That's a lot different
Speaker 2: than now having to really manage four three to four
Speaker 2: innings and figuring out how my matchups are going to be,
Speaker 2: and then you just don't know what ends up happening.
Speaker 2: They're like, okay, he went one more batter than I expected.
Speaker 2: Now that changes, and now I got left. All of
Speaker 2: that just kind of mess with it rather than you know, hey,
Speaker 2: I got the last three at the end, no matter right,
Speaker 2: left or wherever part of the lineup. That's done. Let
Speaker 2: me figure out the rest. And I think that even
Speaker 2: makes the manager job easier.
Speaker 1: Man, my head is spinning after all those scenarios. You're right,
Speaker 1: It makes it a lot easier when you have that
Speaker 1: guy like a Kennley Janssen or Mariano Rivera. The Padres
Speaker 1: have their guy too in Suarez, and also Tanner Scott.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you see some of these clubs that
Speaker 2: have that. I mean, man, and we just saw Class
Speaker 2: A come out. I mean, wow, how about that? How
Speaker 2: about having a guy like that? I mean even the
Speaker 2: bottom of the three guys that they threw at the
Speaker 2: Dodgers and A had to combine Era under two, combining
Speaker 2: class as under one. I mean, when you have that
Speaker 2: lights out, the opposing team even knows it, and you know,
Speaker 2: and then the offense, you know, you think, like, man,
Speaker 2: we just have to have the lead for maybe like
Speaker 2: the sixth or seventh inning. It shortens the game and
Speaker 2: over a course of a season, talk about the wear
Speaker 2: and tear and freshness when you feel like you're playing
Speaker 2: seven inning games to play nine inning games every single day,
Speaker 2: and then when you have a closer by committee and
Speaker 2: you know that as an offense, you can never not
Speaker 2: that you've taken a bat off, but you always feel
Speaker 2: like it's never enough, never enough, never enough, even in
Speaker 2: those last innings, and that wears on you over a
Speaker 2: long haul, It really does. It just takes its toll.
Speaker 2: So just like it's the bullpen being used so much,
Speaker 2: it's gonna take its toll. That's what's something that they're
Speaker 2: gonna have to deal with. But it takes its whole
Speaker 2: same thing doing it that way. So that's why that closer.
Speaker 2: People don't realize so much why having a lights out
Speaker 2: closer is vital to a team's success.
Speaker 1: Speaking from first hand experience, Nomar still traumatized.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, like you know, I know, I know what
Speaker 2: it meant having closers and having guys who were just
Speaker 2: that you just knew as the game was going on,
Speaker 2: hey I can't we just need to have the lead
Speaker 2: and it's a one run Okay, this game's over. Yeah.
Speaker 2: To feel that way is a great feeling as a
Speaker 2: player when you're on the field and when the opposing
Speaker 2: team knows it's over as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a great feeling when Nomar Garcia Para
Speaker 1: was playing shortstop for the Socks or the Cubs and
Speaker 1: first base for the Dodgers. So thanks a lot, Nomar.
Speaker 1: You do a great job with John Hartongue and the
Speaker 1: rest of the crew. I appreciate you taking the time
Speaker 1: out and you look great, as always good things.
Speaker 2: We like each other, well, Jerry is questionable, but you know,
Speaker 2: but at least we do like each other.
Speaker 1: Jerry's in a different category of his own. Thanks a lot, Nomar.
Speaker 2: You bet a day. Thanks