Speaker 1: The Dodgers looking to sweep the Mariners tonight. And we're
Speaker 1: joined right now by Dodgers super reliever, the one and
Speaker 1: only Evan Phillips, who hasn't been on the show in
Speaker 1: a while. But you know, we got to let the
Speaker 1: season breed, let it marinate, right Evan, you don't want
Speaker 1: to see me too much?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I only people can only handle so much.
Speaker 1: At David Basse, you know, thanks a lot for the
Speaker 1: time and obviously very happy that you've been able to
Speaker 1: write the ship. What's been the process for you.
Speaker 2: You know, coming off the hamstring injury.
Speaker 3: I think we were just a little, uh maybe too patient,
Speaker 3: too passive with getting my body completely back on track.
Speaker 3: And I think everything felt so close for you know,
Speaker 3: really about a month there, and we were just kind
Speaker 3: of towing that line for a while about how we
Speaker 3: wanted to go about it, and eventually we really just
Speaker 3: decided to challenge my lower half and and really you know,
Speaker 3: focus on getting things back in line. And you know,
Speaker 3: when we did that, you know, we get the physical
Speaker 3: side in line, the mental peace right, and then an
Speaker 3: overall you know game plan in line as well. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, putting those pieces together has really, you know,
Speaker 3: been the reason I've seen this upswing, you know, coming
Speaker 3: off of that, that's the rough pass for me.
Speaker 1: What about the trust factor? I hear so many guys,
Speaker 1: even as recently with Gavin Lex where you just got
Speaker 1: to trust that your body's completely healthy. Was there a
Speaker 1: mental hurdle to be crossed as well?
Speaker 3: You know, it's hard to say, because something that I
Speaker 3: never felt, you know, wrong physically.
Speaker 2: I think there was just some.
Speaker 3: Some things mechanically that we're getting out of whack that
Speaker 3: you know, once we addressed it and you know, kind
Speaker 3: of took the chain of events that that created, right,
Speaker 3: So we kind of analyze the issue and then you know,
Speaker 3: get get it right in the weight room, get right
Speaker 3: in the training room, and then get my mental side
Speaker 3: you know, locked in as well. And then yeah, at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, you got to go out
Speaker 3: there and trust those factors and trust all that preparation,
Speaker 3: and trust your talent too. I think that was a
Speaker 3: big part of it for me, is that, you know, pitching,
Speaker 3: being a reliever, those things just in general, there's gonna
Speaker 3: be some variants, right, You're gonna get You're gonna have
Speaker 3: your audience where you give up runs and the game's
Speaker 3: gonna you know, get you here and there. But being
Speaker 3: able to trust that you can go out there and
Speaker 3: get the job done still, well, uh, it's definitely a
Speaker 3: big part of it.
Speaker 2: You know. It's funny.
Speaker 1: I got a phone call from Oral Herscheizer this morning
Speaker 1: and he was speaking to me like you would speak
Speaker 1: to you about pitching and deliveries and all that, and
Speaker 1: he said, if you were so focused about where the
Speaker 1: ball is coming out of your hand, it's too late.
Speaker 1: Were you working on the foundation of where your delivery
Speaker 1: was at even before you got there.
Speaker 3: No, you know, it was something that I never really
Speaker 3: took to the mound. I think that was it was
Speaker 3: always something that would be we would talk about it
Speaker 3: after the fact, and it would always come from, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm mis executing a pitch and you know the results,
Speaker 3: you know, may have been a home run or extra
Speaker 3: base hit, something that affects the game, right, So we
Speaker 3: would you know, take a look under the hood and
Speaker 3: be like, man, I just you know, my body wasn't
Speaker 3: quite in the right spot there, and I would why
Speaker 3: is this happening?
Speaker 2: Things like that.
Speaker 3: But you know, especially as a reliever, it's so hard
Speaker 3: to go out there and focus on mechanics. We have
Speaker 3: to go out there and try to just be as
Speaker 3: cerebral as we can and trust that our talent's gonna
Speaker 3: and all the work that we put in is going
Speaker 3: to you know, be what takes us, you know, through
Speaker 3: the outing. So there was a bit of frustration in
Speaker 3: that regard for you know, not being on top of
Speaker 3: it sooner, uh, you know, because it cost us games,
Speaker 3: It costs me you know, uh, statistics on the season,
Speaker 3: and obviously you know, everybody wants to perform well.
Speaker 2: So it was very frustrating in that regard.
Speaker 3: But I think we're also very proud of, you know,
Speaker 3: once we got under the hood and really took a
Speaker 3: closer look at things.
Speaker 2: So how fast we've been able to come out of it.
Speaker 1: Dodger's super reliever Evan Phillips is our guest and on
Speaker 1: Brand has a baseball in his and and is playing
Speaker 1: with grips. How often do you play with grips.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say I'm playing with grips.
Speaker 3: It's more I would just treat it like a like
Speaker 3: a fidget spinner, right, It's just something something to do.
Speaker 3: I have a ball in my car that I'm just
Speaker 3: always toying around with one. I have one with me
Speaker 3: all the time in the bullpen, just messing around, and you.
Speaker 2: Know, it's kind of like a little uh it just comforting, right.
Speaker 3: It just feels good to play around with it and
Speaker 3: kind of lock in my feels and things like that, because, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, it's not that I'm searching for anything, right,
Speaker 3: but it's it's always good to just you feel comfort
Speaker 3: in knowing that you can go out there and trust
Speaker 3: your grips and and let things rip. So you know,
Speaker 3: there's a bit of that baked into it, but it's
Speaker 3: also us you know, a lot of fun to spin
Speaker 3: around and play with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you do a pretty good job of doing that
Speaker 1: in the bullpen and on the mound. I was wondering
Speaker 1: if you could take us into the bullpen because you
Speaker 1: guys have been so nimble coming in in different situations
Speaker 1: no matter what the inning is. What are the conversations
Speaker 1: like amongst relievers as the game is unfolding?
Speaker 3: You know, I think we have a lot of leadership
Speaker 3: down there that has done a lot of different things,
Speaker 3: you know, throughout their time and throughout their careers. So
Speaker 3: being able to lean on those guys and communicate, you know,
Speaker 3: our thoughts about you know, some of the fluidness of
Speaker 3: our roles, and I think, you know, the staff does
Speaker 3: a great job of communicating that on a day to
Speaker 3: day basis to us. But then it's our job to
Speaker 3: you know, have that expectation when the phone rings, we're
Speaker 3: just gonna get ready to be prepared to go.
Speaker 2: Get our outs.
Speaker 3: And so some nights it might look different than others,
Speaker 3: you know, like kudos to Anthony Banda, Alex Vesia, you
Speaker 3: know myself, Danie Hudson, you can go down the line,
Speaker 3: and we've all kind of contributed in different spots this year,
Speaker 3: and you know, we don't you know, we're not upset
Speaker 3: about it one bit because we understand that the objective
Speaker 3: is to go out there and win the game.
Speaker 2: So however we can go out there and contribute on
Speaker 2: a day to day basis is. You know that that's
Speaker 2: our job each and every night.
Speaker 1: You guys have been leaned upon quite a bit over
Speaker 1: the course of the second half of the season, getting
Speaker 1: guys like Brazier, Joe Kelly back, also Blake Trendon's coming back.
Speaker 1: How much does that help the rest of you guys
Speaker 1: that have been there all season long, shouldering the innings.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, keeping our guys, you know, fresh and
Speaker 3: getting our guys healthy is as much as possible, is
Speaker 3: going to be a huge factor for us down the stretch.
Speaker 3: And that includes you know, Bruce Dark Gratterol as well.
Speaker 3: We are so so excited to get him back hopefully
Speaker 3: here soon. Yeah, as these pieces come together, as we
Speaker 3: get healthy in other parts of the game, We're really
Speaker 3: just hoping to build you know, what this team's going
Speaker 3: to look like going down the stretch and heading into
Speaker 3: the postseason.
Speaker 1: All right, Evan, thanks a lot for the time. Really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Always learns something from you, So thank you
Speaker 1: for your time and look forward to seeing you sometime
Speaker 1: in the game tonight.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Thanks Dave.