Speaker 1: Well, I promised I wouldn't bother this man until August,
Speaker 1: and here we are at the end of August, and
Speaker 1: I am a man of my word, and tonight he
Speaker 1: is starting at second base. And that is the one
Speaker 1: and only Chris Taylor. Chris, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I made it easy on you there being on
Speaker 2: the IL that whole time.
Speaker 1: But well, it is a technicality, but I'll take it
Speaker 1: for sure. How does it feel to be back and
Speaker 1: to get a start tonight against the lefty Cole Irvin.
Speaker 2: It feels good to be back. You know, anytime around
Speaker 2: the IL you're itching to get back in the lineup
Speaker 2: and you know, or just get on the field and
Speaker 2: you know what plan two days ago. It was just
Speaker 2: refreshing to get back out there and you know, compete again.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: CT. Even before you got injured, you were starting to
Speaker 1: find your rhythm to the season strikeouts where down batting
Speaker 1: average was up, and you even told me that you
Speaker 1: made some noticeable swing changes. Do you feel like you
Speaker 1: carried the momentum from before the injury into you know,
Speaker 1: your rehab assignment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of been a constant progression. You know,
Speaker 2: I think probably a few weeks before I got injured,
Speaker 2: I was feeling pretty good and some of my feels
Speaker 2: were starting to get a little too extreme, and when
Speaker 2: I got hurt, I wasn't I was feeling okay. You know,
Speaker 2: I was still getting hits, but I wasn't really driving
Speaker 2: the ball and kind of just like not really barreling much.
Speaker 2: But I was still, like you said, I was getting
Speaker 2: on base, and you know, I thought the the injury,
Speaker 2: you know, trying to take advantage of the downtime and
Speaker 2: you know, tune some things out. And right now I
Speaker 2: feel much better and feel like even two days ago,
Speaker 2: you know, I had a couple of swings where I
Speaker 2: actually drove it at one foul and the other one
Speaker 2: was a line out. But you know, I felt like
Speaker 2: I hadn't really barreled the ball or driven the ball
Speaker 2: to the outfield in a while, So that was a
Speaker 2: good sign for me.
Speaker 1: You're a guy that has a pretty good head on
Speaker 1: his shoulders to stand the moment. Do you just approach
Speaker 1: this as saying, this is my new season because we
Speaker 1: are getting closer to the time of year where Chris
Speaker 1: Taylor thrives.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think as baseball players, you have to, especially
Speaker 2: when you have a slow start, You kind of have
Speaker 2: to approach every day like a new season, and you
Speaker 2: have to find those short little periods. You can't dwell
Speaker 2: on your numbers for the year. Especially for me this year,
Speaker 2: getting such a bad start, it's just not a good
Speaker 2: head place to be in. So yeah, it kind of
Speaker 2: gives you a fresh start mentality, and I'm really just
Speaker 2: trying to, you know, help us get to the playoffs
Speaker 2: and you know, hopefully win at a Vision and win
Speaker 2: a World Series, and you know, trying to look forward.
Speaker 1: Chris Taylor is our guest. The Dodgers have the best
Speaker 1: record in baseball, including yourself. Your lineup is healthy. Does
Speaker 1: it feel like you guys are on the verge or
Speaker 1: in the middle of playing your best baseball of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as you said, I think health is the biggest thing.
Speaker 2: You know, we got some guys back that we've really
Speaker 2: been missing, and finally having everyone on the field, almost
Speaker 2: everybody on the field, is huge for us.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at your left wrist. Do you have a
Speaker 1: few wristbands on there? And one was hashtag Dalton and
Speaker 1: the other one is for Kai. Can you explain those
Speaker 1: two wristbands and why you wear them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have one is Dalton. He's one of my
Speaker 2: He lives in my parents' neighborhood. He lost his life
Speaker 2: to you in sarcoma, Kai is currently fighting brain cancer.
Speaker 2: And the other one is the letters war Off, But
Speaker 2: that's for my one of my best friends growing up,
Speaker 2: Kyle Profile. He lost his fight with ostio sarcoma. So yeah,
Speaker 2: just kind of reminders, you know, keep those those guys
Speaker 2: in my thoughts and definitely puts things into perspective, like
Speaker 2: this is just a game, and you know there are
Speaker 2: bigger things in life.
Speaker 1: How much do you think about them when you're standing
Speaker 1: at second base pre pitch or maybe in between innings
Speaker 1: when you're warming up, or is it just something that
Speaker 1: you keep with you throughout the day and just know
Speaker 1: they're there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think it's you know, I don't
Speaker 2: know if I'm thinking about them like while I'm playing,
Speaker 2: or it's more just something you know, when I look
Speaker 2: down and see it, it's just a reminder, and you
Speaker 2: know I like to have that, you know, keep those
Speaker 2: keep those kids, and you know, keep them in my thought.
Speaker 1: Love it. Thanks Chris, Thanks for sharing and We'll look
Speaker 1: forward to seeing you at second base tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, looking forward to be back.