Speaker 1: The Dodgers are one win away from the World Series
Speaker 1: and their pitching staff has been a big part of it.
Speaker 1: And the man that has navigated this pitching staff all postseason,
Speaker 1: all season long is their pitching coach, Mark Pryor.
Speaker 2: Mark.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time and congratulations on getting
Speaker 1: this far.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, job's not done, and you know, we got
Speaker 3: to come up today and play.
Speaker 2: These guys are gonna come out fighting. But so far,
Speaker 2: it's it's we've.
Speaker 3: Been on the positive side of things.
Speaker 2: Gotta go get twenty seven more outse.
Speaker 1: How did you, Dave Roberts Andrew Friedman game plan to
Speaker 1: come up with these bullpaying games going back to Game
Speaker 1: four of the NLDS, Well.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think you know one and there is
Speaker 3: a lot of planning, but most of it, I mean
Speaker 3: it has been out of necessity. I mean, it's no
Speaker 3: secret that when you lose starting pitching.
Speaker 2: At the clip that we did.
Speaker 3: Whether it was you know, Tyler with glass now or
Speaker 3: it's curse Gavin Stone, I mean, those are like big
Speaker 3: pieces that we expected to be pitching in these games,
Speaker 3: and we came into playoffs with three stars and we
Speaker 3: knew that, you know, three established stars, and we knew
Speaker 3: that we were gonna have to do some bullpen and
Speaker 3: do some you know, some more you know, unorthodox things.
Speaker 3: And you know, fortunately for us, we have a lot
Speaker 3: of really good arms in the bullpen that have really,
Speaker 3: you know, really stepped up in some big situations and
Speaker 3: done some really kind of heroic things at times, uh
Speaker 3: to make these things work. And they're they're not not
Speaker 3: necessarily always the things that you want to do. They're
Speaker 3: they're very hard to sustain, especially over a course of playoffs.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's what we've had to do more
Speaker 3: than something that we necessarily wanted to do.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: And these this bullpen has been unbelievable as a group
Speaker 3: and as a as a unit, uh, to basically pick
Speaker 3: us up where you know, we just didn't have that guy,
Speaker 3: you know, that that extra starter.
Speaker 1: When did you start to realize they found their identity
Speaker 1: as dogs that were foaming at the mouth to get
Speaker 1: into a game.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think.
Speaker 3: It goes back to a little bit of the regular season.
Speaker 3: I think it was good for us to play the Padres,
Speaker 3: you know, late in that season. I think because you know,
Speaker 3: we had to, you know, obviously we're in a dogfight
Speaker 3: with the pennant or the division divisional race, but for
Speaker 3: them to come out and do what they did, you know,
Speaker 3: those to win the division that last week of the season,
Speaker 3: but then really just going in I think Blake's first
Speaker 3: game in that division series really set the tone for me,
Speaker 3: Like the least, I mean him being able to go
Speaker 3: out drop two innings on those guys.
Speaker 2: Really secure that first victory.
Speaker 3: I know we went down to one after that, but
Speaker 3: I honestly think that's set the tone of like, here
Speaker 3: we go, we can do this, and I think everybody
Speaker 3: just falls suited. And then you got into Game four
Speaker 3: and those guys just attacked the strike zone against the Padres,
Speaker 3: who is a very very good team, very offensively driven team,
Speaker 3: and they just were efficient. They attacked, you know, they
Speaker 3: kind of imposed their will, so to speak, on them.
Speaker 2: And then from then on, it's just they've been doing
Speaker 2: it all.
Speaker 3: All playoffs, and you know, every facet of our game
Speaker 3: is stepped up and raised its level, and they've definitely
Speaker 3: they're part of that. They've definitely stepped up and done
Speaker 3: some things that you know that I think I don't
Speaker 3: think people expected. I think everybody thought, you know, our
Speaker 3: pitching was gonna be an interesting dynamic, and I think
Speaker 3: us included, we weren't quite sure, but they've definitely been
Speaker 3: a strength for us this October.
Speaker 1: Mark Pryor is our guest before Game four of the
Speaker 1: World Series. Today, you have rookie right hander Ben Casparius
Speaker 1: starting what people believe is a bullpeny game. Why has
Speaker 1: he been so good and why is he the right
Speaker 1: guy tonight?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, yeah, it's definitely interesting with Ben, you know,
Speaker 3: because he's a guy who hadn't pitch a whole lot.
Speaker 2: He came up through a couple outings for us, maybe.
Speaker 3: Ryan labor Day with Arizona, had that one inning and
Speaker 3: then he faced the Rockies down the stretch.
Speaker 2: He's got really good stuff, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean you look at his he's got a good
Speaker 3: fastball in the mid up or nineties. He can really
Speaker 3: spin the baseball with both slider and curveball.
Speaker 2: Trust the head, you know.
Speaker 3: You know, he had that one inning against Colorado where
Speaker 3: he almost kind of fell off the rails and then
Speaker 3: he was able to quickly get it back.
Speaker 2: So we trust the.
Speaker 3: Stuff, you know, to in this environment to just kind
Speaker 3: of let it rip and then we'll see where we
Speaker 3: go from there. But everybody's had their part in this
Speaker 3: in this run, and this is he's He's had.
Speaker 2: Some good moments. We're against the Mets.
Speaker 3: He got his feet wet in the Padre series, so
Speaker 3: now he's gonna get his feet wet here in the
Speaker 3: Bronx and that's not an easy task, but we feel
Speaker 3: he's up to it, as as the rest of the
Speaker 3: guys are.
Speaker 1: Before I let you go, this will probably be our
Speaker 1: last pregame interview of the season. How rewarding has it
Speaker 1: been for you to have guys like Walker Bueller fight
Speaker 1: through adversity, to have your bullpen step up the way
Speaker 1: it did, and for you to be able to navigate
Speaker 1: this plan, to be able to get to this point
Speaker 1: in the season. How rewarding has that been for you personally?
Speaker 2: Well, I definitely don't.
Speaker 3: Think it's rewarding for me personally. I do think it's
Speaker 3: I think it's rewarding for.
Speaker 2: Us as a group, you know, players and staff.
Speaker 3: I mean it's not just it's it's Connor McGinnis, Josh
Speaker 3: barr Is, Danny Layman, it's the trainers, it's a strength staff.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of people.
Speaker 3: I mean a lot of people that are behind the
Speaker 3: scenes that work with our pitching staff and all our
Speaker 3: players that sometimes you know, they don't get the credit
Speaker 3: that they deserve.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's putting these.
Speaker 3: Guys back together night in and night out after they
Speaker 3: come off the field. It's you know, working with them
Speaker 3: in the way room. It's guys in the video room,
Speaker 3: you know, working with tips. I mean, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of guys. I mean what I think makes this organization
Speaker 3: so successful in our processes. We do have a lot
Speaker 3: of guys, but we're able to like put a lot
Speaker 3: of departments together to really help, you know, support the players.
Speaker 2: And so from that.
Speaker 3: Standpoint, you always feel good when players go out.
Speaker 2: And perform well, you know.
Speaker 3: And I think for me and for the rest of us,
Speaker 3: it's not just about us personally. It's about us being
Speaker 3: able to collaborate together, you know, to get Walker in
Speaker 3: a position to be successful last night, to get Blake Trinan,
Speaker 3: who's had two years. I mean, so think about I mean,
Speaker 3: for us, like Blake has had a great year and
Speaker 3: what he's been doing is great, but all the guys
Speaker 3: that have been in CBR, who spent time rehabbing every
Speaker 3: every coach, every trainer who's touched Blake and helping along
Speaker 3: his long rehab has a part in this. So I
Speaker 3: think it's more just like a combination of how well
Speaker 3: we work as an organization across departments is pretty unique.
Speaker 3: And as a coach, we get into this because we
Speaker 3: want to see players perform. Absolutely, the competition of the
Speaker 3: game is extremely fun. That's why we still are involved.
Speaker 3: But it's also to watch these players go out, and
Speaker 3: that's why everybody gets involved in this business because they
Speaker 3: want they love baseball, but too they want to see
Speaker 3: people do well. So that's been pretty cool. And you know, look,
Speaker 3: we got a long way to go. This thing is
Speaker 3: no by I know it. I've been unfortunately, We've doc
Speaker 3: has I have, We've We've been on both sides of
Speaker 3: these things. It's a really good team across there, and
Speaker 3: they're not gonna go down lightly. So we got to
Speaker 3: continue to play good fundamental baseball, throw strikes, not walk guys,
Speaker 3: prevent slug do all the things that we've always done,
Speaker 3: and we'll see where we're at at the end of tonight,
Speaker 3: you know, and if it, hopefully we just play a
Speaker 3: good fundamental game and hopefully we're it's a positive outcome
Speaker 3: and if not, we'll throw up again tomorrow and we'll
Speaker 3: try to.
Speaker 2: Do the same thing. Just one win, win. Yeah, play
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 3: It's just like any it's a big game, but it's
Speaker 3: you approach every game the same.
Speaker 2: Just go out and play good baseball.
Speaker 1: All right, Mark, thanks a lot for the time. Appreciated,
Speaker 1: and congratulations on all the success you've had with the
Speaker 1: team and the synergy you've created.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.