Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: All right, we're sitting with the man that has been
Speaker 2: teammates with Clayton Kershaw longer than any player on this roster,
Speaker 2: and that's the one and only Key k Hernandez, who
Speaker 2: is starting in left field today behind Kershaw.
Speaker 3: Thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're welcome. I didn't really get a choice, so yeah.
Speaker 3: You know you want to spend more quality time with me.
Speaker 4: No, I'm doing this for Kurse, not for you, but yes,
Speaker 4: whatever you need.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you, and it's great to have you in
Speaker 2: the starting lineup behind Kershaw. You obviously are aware that
Speaker 2: he's only eight strikeouts away from three thousand.
Speaker 3: What does he meant to you as a teammate.
Speaker 4: I think kursh has been an inspiration. You know, I
Speaker 4: got here a lot of strikeouts ago, and when I
Speaker 4: got here, he was in the midst of one of
Speaker 4: the greatest runs that pitcher has ever put together. And
Speaker 4: if you didn't know who, if you didn't know the name,
Speaker 4: if you weren't aware of who he was, what he
Speaker 4: had done in the game, and you just observed the
Speaker 4: way that he handled his business and the way that
Speaker 4: he worked and his routine and all that, you would
Speaker 4: think that he'd be a guy that wasn't even establishing
Speaker 4: the big leagues, you know, guy that was hungry, guy
Speaker 4: doing whatever it took to stay at the big league level.
Speaker 4: He worked harder than anybody in the in that locker room.
Speaker 4: You never just you never saw him just sitting in
Speaker 4: his locker. He was always doing something. And you know
Speaker 4: for him to do that, you know, coming off an
Speaker 4: MVP season's third side young and he was I would
Speaker 4: say the best way to if I had to describe
Speaker 4: in one word, it was a perfectionist.
Speaker 2: How would you describe the way your friendship, your relationship
Speaker 2: with him has grown since twenty fifteen.
Speaker 4: It's grown a lot. I mean, I he with my personality.
Speaker 4: It's not easy to be around pictures that you can't
Speaker 4: necessarily talk to on start day. So we we we
Speaker 4: it's a few times the first couple of years.
Speaker 1: But uh, but no, man, uh you.
Speaker 4: Know, he's uh, we can't be any we can't be
Speaker 4: more different, but we're very similar at the same time
Speaker 4: when it comes to the baseball and all this, all
Speaker 4: these things, so you know, I see curse as a
Speaker 4: as a great example for for for a lot of things,
Speaker 4: you know, leading the pitching staff, leading by example in
Speaker 4: the locker room. A great family man, great great dad.
Speaker 4: You know, Curse is one of those guys that is
Speaker 4: if you had to teach show your kids how to
Speaker 4: handle themselves, you you you show the.
Speaker 2: Curse when you look at him, even though you're a
Speaker 2: position player. Do you feel like he sets the tone
Speaker 2: for everybody else to raise their level of work ethic?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's exactly what we're trying to get at
Speaker 4: the first question. You know, Uh, guy that has done
Speaker 4: that much and he's still working that hard, it.
Speaker 1: Just it pushes you.
Speaker 4: It inspires you to work harder and and and keep
Speaker 4: trying to improve your game. And of course he's uh,
Speaker 4: he's uh, he's a very much, very very different picture
Speaker 4: than when when I first got.
Speaker 1: To this team. But if it wasn't for his work ethic.
Speaker 4: And his dead cation and and is desired to be
Speaker 4: better each and every day.
Speaker 1: Uh, the evolution of Clayton, not.
Speaker 4: Just as a as a guy, but as a pitcher
Speaker 4: has been incredible. And you know, to still be out
Speaker 4: there and and his stuff is a lot different, you'd
Speaker 4: say that than ten years ago. Uh, he's got new pitches,
Speaker 4: but uh, you know, and he still goes out there.
Speaker 1: And and and.
Speaker 4: Manage manages the manages to to keep him off off
Speaker 4: the off the board scoring runs.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, it's it's really impressive. And you know, uh,
Speaker 4: every time I hear that's on a Dodger stadium, it
Speaker 4: puts me in a better mood. And it's just maybe
Speaker 4: it's a coincidence, but some of my better games as
Speaker 4: a doctor have been behind Clayton.
Speaker 3: Is that for everybody? Does it?
Speaker 2: Does it raise the level of focus and intensity when
Speaker 2: you play behind him?
Speaker 4: Uh? Yeah, I mean whenever you have those guys on
Speaker 4: the mound, you just you want to be great for
Speaker 4: them behind them, and especially guys that found the strikes
Speaker 4: on the way that he does.
Speaker 1: He gets a lot of early contact.
Speaker 4: Guys are trying trying to get out of the batter's
Speaker 4: box as soon as they can so that they don't
Speaker 4: strike out there. You know, he has the curve. Boy
Speaker 4: as a slider, he has the fastball, so guys don't
Speaker 4: want to get to two strikes with him. So a
Speaker 4: lot of guys swing early and he manufactures a lot
Speaker 4: of weak contact because he throws a lot of pitches
Speaker 4: off the strike zone that looks like strikes, and guys
Speaker 4: are are, you know, being too aggressive because they don't
Speaker 4: want to get to two strikes. And he gets a
Speaker 4: lot of early contacts, so he keeps you, he keeps
Speaker 4: you active on the defensive side. He never puts you
Speaker 4: on your heels by you know, just walking the house
Speaker 4: or anything like that. And of course he's Clayton Kershaw,
Speaker 4: so you just want to make the place for him.
Speaker 4: And I've been fortunate enough to play behind him a
Speaker 4: lot and make a lot of really nice place for him.
Speaker 2: K He said that Freddie Freeman has made him aware
Speaker 2: as he gets closer to three thousand strikeouts? How aware
Speaker 2: and how much do you think he's aware of going
Speaker 2: into today and fighting against trying to chase those strikeouts?
Speaker 4: He knows, he's he's very aware, you know, Clayton, he's
Speaker 4: a he's a very self aware person. He always knows
Speaker 4: what he needs to do. He's a he's he's I
Speaker 4: know it for a fact, he's aware. Because we had
Speaker 4: a conversation about him potentially flying some of his former
Speaker 4: catchers for the day that he could get the three
Speaker 4: thousand strikeout in a perfect world.
Speaker 1: He he he.
Speaker 4: Does it at home, but I honestly would love to
Speaker 4: be behind him when he gets those that three thousand strikeout,
Speaker 4: And if he can do it today, that'd be amazing.
Speaker 4: That way, we can just get it out of the
Speaker 4: way and and focus on.
Speaker 1: Just the rest of the season.
Speaker 4: But yeah, he's aware, and he's he's joked around like
Speaker 4: he's like, what if I'm sitting at tween n nine
Speaker 4: ninety nine and I want to get that last strikeout
Speaker 4: on a heater and I try to overthrow it and
Speaker 4: he never get that strike out, But he's going to
Speaker 4: get that strikeout, and it doesn't really matter what pitch
Speaker 4: he uses, because you know, the only pitch that would
Speaker 4: that would not be an iconic strikeout would be the split,
Speaker 4: just because he hasn't had that. Of his three thousand,
Speaker 4: not many of them have been on a split. But
Speaker 4: either way, three thousand strikeout is allowed to strikeouts, and
Speaker 4: that's why not many pictures have done it. And you know,
Speaker 4: it's it's always special when you get to be part
Speaker 4: of a small part of history.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's awesome that you're here for it. It's awesome
Speaker 2: that you're in the starting lineup playing behind Kershaw and
Speaker 2: hopefully whenever he gets that three thousand strikeout, you'll be
Speaker 2: there behind him as well.
Speaker 3: Thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 4: If I'm behind the play or behind the behind him
Speaker 4: on the field and you're.
Speaker 1: Doing television like that's wow, unbelievable. Huh.
Speaker 3: Another great moment in Denver.
Speaker 4: Another great moment in Denver. Thanks a lot, Thank you
Speaker 4: so much.