Speaker 1: Before we go back out to the phones tonight, Monday night.
Speaker 1: What better way to start the week than from hearing
Speaker 1: from the longest tenured Dodger or longest active I should
Speaker 1: say asterisk active Dodger, Austin Barnes. We are joined right
Speaker 1: now by my main man, the longest tenured active position player,
Speaker 1: and in fact, technically right now, because Clayton Kershaw has
Speaker 1: not re signed officially, he is the longest tenured Dodger
Speaker 1: period a two time, two time World Series champion, a
Speaker 1: man the Dodgers could not do any of these things
Speaker 1: without his steadying force. The way he holds his teammates
Speaker 1: accountable is necessary during a long season, and that is
Speaker 1: Dodger Catcher, the pride to riverside, Austin Barnes. How you doing, Barnes,
Speaker 1: that's a great introduction.
Speaker 2: You're gonna get a this.
Speaker 1: Only for the guys.
Speaker 2: I like I like that. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1: I I hope it's not going to be awkward between
Speaker 1: us now that Blake Snell is a Dodger. I was mocked,
Speaker 1: humiliated by people like you to have a relationship with
Speaker 1: Snell Zilla, and here he is on the same team.
Speaker 1: We're in the same uniform as Austin Barnes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, every time we try to find you,
Speaker 3: you'd be another in the other team's dugout, hanging out
Speaker 3: with with the snell and waiting for him to come out.
Speaker 3: But no, it's great that he's on our team. Obviously
Speaker 3: a great pitcher med him in Arizona. Oh yeah, No,
Speaker 3: he's a you know, a great, a great guy. You know,
Speaker 3: everybody's a good guy. It's a good group over there
Speaker 3: right now, got out. You got Pie's, you got Kim.
Speaker 2: I like Kim.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kim's funny. And then uh, he's he's he has
Speaker 3: got a translator with him all time.
Speaker 2: But he's, uh, he's good.
Speaker 1: It seems like he's making an effort to learn English
Speaker 1: and communicate in that way.
Speaker 2: No, he's he's great. He's there so early.
Speaker 1: Man, that's awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's Uh, he's a good dude. I like him
Speaker 2: a lot.
Speaker 1: Do you remember play for the Korean team when you
Speaker 1: guys were there last year. Did you remember this guy
Speaker 1: that was really fast? No, he had a rocket off
Speaker 1: Bobby Miller.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he hit a rocket off Bobby. He got Bobby.
Speaker 2: I see him in the Cajo. It makes sense.
Speaker 3: He first time off the fastball, but Shane all off season,
Speaker 3: he's just whacking him, like jeez, this guy's ready right now.
Speaker 1: How do you feel after a long season last year?
Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like nothing phases you. You were
Speaker 1: kind of the guy the Dodgers have needed in seventeen
Speaker 1: and eighteen and twenty and obviously played a big role
Speaker 1: during this stretch of success. Does it feel different coming
Speaker 1: to spring training this year?
Speaker 2: No, I mean you can.
Speaker 3: Playing with the Dodgers, all our off seasons are kind
Speaker 3: of short. You know, we always you know, most of
Speaker 3: the time we played deep into October. You know that's
Speaker 3: obviously the goal and stuff, and no, it was it
Speaker 3: was a great season, you know, just you know, everything
Speaker 3: that we've been through.
Speaker 2: The playoffs is a battle.
Speaker 3: You know, it's uh, it wears and everybody and you know,
Speaker 3: just is get to have a nice little reset, you know,
Speaker 3: especially after winning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's nice though.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm becoming a two time World serious champion
Speaker 3: and that's awesome, and you know, obviously the fans, the
Speaker 3: fans deserve it. You know, the Dodgers' front office did
Speaker 3: a great job this offseason and it's exciting.
Speaker 1: Let's not get into whether or not. The debate is
Speaker 1: if twenty twenty counts or not. We all know that
Speaker 1: it does. But coming in twenty one just spring training
Speaker 1: compared to coming to spring training in twenty five, is
Speaker 1: there a different feeling just because the world is feeling
Speaker 1: different again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's probably more of the thing. You know,
Speaker 3: It was just it was a weird time in the world.
Speaker 3: Going to the grocery store was a weird thing, you know.
Speaker 3: Not No, I remember driving back in twenty twenty spring
Speaker 3: training when we all got you know, said go home,
Speaker 3: and I was like, what is going on?
Speaker 2: Going to the grocery store? That batting gloves on?
Speaker 3: And I'm like, am I supposed to touch anything? I
Speaker 3: didn't know what was happening. It was a weird time.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you know, you know, I think what the
Speaker 3: Dodgers are building here. You know, it's a special thing
Speaker 3: to be a.
Speaker 2: Part of, you know, being able to come here and
Speaker 2: you know you have a chance to play a porn games.
Speaker 3: So that's that's something that's uh, you know, everybody everybody wants,
Speaker 3: wants and thrives for, so you know, always there's always
Speaker 3: possibilities here.
Speaker 1: How many times have you talked to Walker Bueller this offseason.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's moved on to Boston, but I know you
Speaker 1: guys had a tight relationship ever since he got called up,
Speaker 1: and obviously his legacy as a Dodger will live on forever.
Speaker 1: Uh what would have been the conversations with you and
Speaker 1: him after the parade and everything else.
Speaker 2: Walk is my guy.
Speaker 3: He you know he FACETI me right before he signed
Speaker 3: with the Red Sox and then uh, I talked to
Speaker 3: him yesterday. Actually had he had a he had a
Speaker 3: horse in San Anito that was racing. Uh he he
Speaker 3: told me the betted heavy. Yeah right, no, but it
Speaker 3: was good. It came in third. You know, obviously he's
Speaker 3: in that horse racing. I've been to the been to
Speaker 3: the races with him, and I think that's something he
Speaker 3: grew up with. But obviously gonna miss him. Great competitor,
Speaker 3: big part of the Dodgers. Well he did last uh
Speaker 3: last year in the playoffs, you know, special and a
Speaker 3: little live on you know, just getting the last out.
Speaker 3: It's hard to get those last outs, man, and he
Speaker 3: took that walk and you know those those those last
Speaker 3: three outs are always the hardest and uh, you know
Speaker 3: he went out there and he did it.
Speaker 1: Hey, you were in the dugout when he decided to
Speaker 1: go on his own to the bullpen during Game five?
Speaker 1: Were you aware that that was the possibility?
Speaker 3: No, I was aware that we were running out of pictures,
Speaker 3: that's for sure, especially I know Blake. You know, what
Speaker 3: Blake did was probably one of the greatest things in
Speaker 3: that whole playoff run. Well, you know, I think he
Speaker 3: threw like what forty five fifty pitchers, you know, and
Speaker 3: especially a guy who you know, all the issues he's had,
Speaker 3: uh staying healthy and just going out there and and
Speaker 3: competing and just knowing how important it is and all,
Speaker 3: you know, all hands are on deck, and he went
Speaker 3: out there and what he did was so special man.
Speaker 3: And then, uh, you know, I I assumed I just
Speaker 3: kind of assume, you know, like that they're gonna go
Speaker 3: out there. You know, Curse has done it over and
Speaker 3: over again throughout the you know, his playoff run since
Speaker 3: I've been here.
Speaker 2: And then, uh, yeah, it doesn't. It didn't surprise me.
Speaker 2: I knew. I thought it was an option. Obviously when
Speaker 2: Walker went out there.
Speaker 1: And when he walked out from the bullpen, it felt
Speaker 1: like there was no I know, he said since he
Speaker 1: had the butterflies and maybe a little self doubt because
Speaker 1: he never done that before, but it felt like he
Speaker 1: had the Walker Bueller's swag coming in from the bullpen
Speaker 1: before he threw his first pitch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Walk likes that walk. You know, that's a you
Speaker 2: know everybody.
Speaker 3: You know, he feels everybody's eyes on and when you
Speaker 3: walking out there, get that the feeling.
Speaker 2: He likes that.
Speaker 3: You know, the atmosphere in the in the whatever they
Speaker 3: call it, the aura of it all.
Speaker 2: I guess is that what people are saying, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: or about the aura yeah, or of you know, it's
Speaker 2: the games. It's game.
Speaker 3: Give a chance to close out a World series game,
Speaker 3: especially to win it all. So you know, that's something
Speaker 3: that everybody dreams of and that's something that he made
Speaker 3: a reality.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Austin Barnes, thanks a lot for a stopping by.
Speaker 1: I heard you had a fancy trip to Maui with
Speaker 1: my guy Andre Ethier. I heard he had to keep
Speaker 1: you in line on the island.
Speaker 3: Yeah, old man Andre was there. I thought I lost
Speaker 3: him a couple of times just undering around. I think
Speaker 3: you forgot where he was. He's getting old, uh to
Speaker 3: mention might be starting to kick in and uh, but no,
Speaker 3: he was fun. It was a good time. I've never
Speaker 3: been to Hawaiian. It was a it's a beautiful place.
Speaker 1: That's a long ways away from Riverside.
Speaker 3: I mean it's yeah, it's half it's in the ocean somewhere,
Speaker 3: you know. It's it's halfway there between Japan and uh
Speaker 3: and uh California.
Speaker 2: So it was a fun trip though, awesome.
Speaker 1: Don't let people forget you're the longest tenured Dodger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Kurt is letting me have that for a second.
Speaker 2: High Yeah, yeah, he'll be obviously he'll be with us
Speaker 2: and stuff.
Speaker 1: But can we let key k No, like stop messing
Speaker 1: around at hockey games in Utah and just re sign already?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I tell him that about once a week.
Speaker 3: I said, you're gonna sign already or uh? And he
Speaker 3: obviously being he's a great teammate've been a good teammate
Speaker 3: with him forever, and uh, you know, he's such a
Speaker 3: big part of those playoff runs. And hopefully he'll uh,
Speaker 3: he'll he'll he'll figure it out and we'll and he'll
Speaker 3: be with us.
Speaker 1: Hey, even if you see me and Snell every day
Speaker 1: talking to each other. You're still my guy. Don't ever
Speaker 1: forget that.
Speaker 2: It's discussed. Yeah, I like that sale.
Speaker 1: Zilla, You're my number. He's like number five. He's going
Speaker 1: to work his way out.
Speaker 2: He's just he's barely been a dodger, exactly, exactly. Don't worry.
Speaker 3: I'll keep him in line, all right. He always great
Speaker 3: to talk to you. I say, what a pleasure you
Speaker 3: are a media mogul.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Can you just admit radio is alive and
Speaker 1: well with.
Speaker 2: Me right here?
Speaker 3: You're keeping it alive, man, somehow you're doing it. The
Speaker 3: newspapers died and then know it's the radio is still surviving.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: Biggest ratings during the World series run on this station
Speaker 1: since nineteen eighty one, Barns.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you tell me all the time, the seven million
Speaker 2: downloads and.
Speaker 1: Baby now you're part of it. Thanks Barnes. Alright, there
Speaker 1: is Austin Barnes. Radio is alive and well Austin Barnes.
Speaker 1: And yes, that interview also can be podcasted after eight
Speaker 1: o'clock tonight. Always great to talk to him.