Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: When a future Hall of Famer is only eight strikeouts
Speaker 1: away from three thousand in his career, you got to
Speaker 1: get dressed up, and I'm dressed up for this guy,
Speaker 1: Clayton Kershaw on Sunday. Thanks a lot for the time,
Speaker 1: and yeah, you look great too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for thanks for we'reing the three piece today, David,
Speaker 2: you look great, You look great.
Speaker 1: How does it feel being just eight strikeouts away?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I know Freddy reminds you how close you're getting every start,
Speaker 1: but do you have to fight chasing those eight.
Speaker 2: Bus It's taking a little while, taking a little longer
Speaker 2: than I thought, But uh no, you know, I'm really
Speaker 2: just trying to pitch. You know, at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, the strikeouts are supposed to happen, and they'll
Speaker 2: just come when they come.
Speaker 3: But it is getting closer.
Speaker 2: You're starting to feel it a little bit more, and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, I try not to pay too much attention
Speaker 2: to it, but you know, I am thankful. My teammates
Speaker 2: are excited for me, and Freddie especially keeps reminding me.
Speaker 3: So it's uh, that is that is cool.
Speaker 2: I mean it shows that big care and they want
Speaker 2: me to, you know, do something cool like that.
Speaker 3: So I do appreciate that. That's cool.
Speaker 1: You hear about hitters when they're on the doorstep of
Speaker 1: five hundred, they kind of go into a little prolonged
Speaker 1: slump trying to hit that home run. Is it different
Speaker 1: for a picture, Well, I.
Speaker 2: Think so you got more opportunities to strike people out,
Speaker 2: you know, I think, uh, you know, you only get
Speaker 2: four maybe five at bats of game, so that that.
Speaker 3: That's a little more understandable.
Speaker 2: You know, I shouldn't I shouldn't go on a strikeout
Speaker 2: drought that bad. You know, we are going to Colorado next,
Speaker 2: but make make make get it through that one and
Speaker 2: then see where we are.
Speaker 1: Skip Schumacher was your first ever strikeout here at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 1: How often did you remind him of that? And how
Speaker 1: often do you still remind him?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great, you know, I get to uh, I
Speaker 2: get to have that for the rest of my life
Speaker 2: with Skip, So that's awesome. And it's just kind of
Speaker 2: cool that, you know, I got to play with Skip
Speaker 2: and get to know him, and he really is one
Speaker 2: of the best. So it's a it's a cool strikeout
Speaker 2: to have, and yeah, I remind him all the time.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 1: Shoe a Otani's on the mound today, second time with
Speaker 1: the Dodgers. You're always top step watching every game, but
Speaker 1: is it different on days like today.
Speaker 3: Well, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2: Like that crowd for the first game, it was like
Speaker 2: it was like a golf match. Like it was like
Speaker 2: we were back in Japan. You know how quiet it
Speaker 2: was because they're just watching so intently, and it was
Speaker 2: so quiet that first sitting just watching show. Hey, like
Speaker 2: you saw everybody on their feet, like with their cameras,
Speaker 2: and it really is just kind of like a spectacle,
Speaker 2: you know. And so you know, eventually we'll get used
Speaker 2: to him being back on the mound and being out there.
Speaker 2: However many times he pitches, but you know, the first
Speaker 2: couple of times is pretty impressive because you know, we've
Speaker 2: seen him as this for so long now as the
Speaker 2: best hitter in the game and now potentially being one
Speaker 2: of the best pitchers in the game is just I mean,
Speaker 2: it's kind of amazing to see on a day and
Speaker 2: day out basis.
Speaker 1: Were you checking out his preparation before a pitching start.
Speaker 2: It's kind of yeah, like just everything he has to do,
Speaker 2: like I was, you know, day game. You know, if
Speaker 2: you're pitching a day game, the starter leaves early, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, he's got in that bat here in
Speaker 2: the eighth inn. You know, you can't leave, and so
Speaker 2: you know just what all it goes into and all
Speaker 2: the different things that he has to do to get ready.
Speaker 3: It's I'm not envious of him, for sure.
Speaker 1: Hey, I remember a pitcher when pitchers used to hit,
Speaker 1: hitting a big home run against the Giants an opening
Speaker 1: day back in twenty thirteen. So don't sleep on kersh
Speaker 1: on what he can.
Speaker 2: Do, that's right, Yeah, I mean show air very similar
Speaker 2: in the box, very similar back in the day.
Speaker 1: Hey, you've seen a lot over the course of your
Speaker 1: eighteen years with the Dodgers. You've had flare ups with
Speaker 1: different teams, Prado para Diamondbacks, Granky versus Quintin with the Padres.
Speaker 3: What did you make of what took place.
Speaker 1: During that four game series against the Padres.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just kind of blame it on the schedule.
Speaker 2: You know, you played seven games in ten days, and
Speaker 2: you know there's hit by pitches that are a little
Speaker 2: bit more on the forefront of people's minds. Just because
Speaker 2: you know, it's happened so recently, so at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, you know it's it's probably fair on
Speaker 2: both sides, you know, like that tempers boiled over. They
Speaker 2: didn't like Tatis getting hit. We obviously didn't like show
Speaker 2: Hey getting hit. So it's just kind of one of
Speaker 2: those things part of the game. It happened a lot
Speaker 2: more back in the day, and you know, both teams
Speaker 2: handled it and hopefully it's you know, over and done
Speaker 2: with come August.
Speaker 1: There was a period of time in thirteen and fourteen
Speaker 1: the Cardinals' pitching staff seem to be throwing inside with
Speaker 1: no regard and whether or not they would hit any Dodgers.
Speaker 1: What what is the unwritten rules about pitching inside?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you have to pitch inside, you know.
Speaker 2: I think if you hit the same guy on purpose
Speaker 2: or on accident multiple times, you have a right to
Speaker 2: get upset, especially when he's one of your superstars. So
Speaker 2: I understand that side of it for sure. And you know,
Speaker 2: if you're going to retaliate and it's going to be
Speaker 2: on purpose like that, you're going to get suspended. And
Speaker 2: that's that's just the way baseball is. That's whay it goes.
Speaker 3: Where does it rank?
Speaker 1: As far as it seems like you guys take on
Speaker 1: all comers over the eighteen years you've been here, I don't.
Speaker 3: Know, there wasn't a lot.
Speaker 2: I think I was more you know, Shilty and Doc
Speaker 2: getting after it a little bit, which I appreciate. You know,
Speaker 2: they're both protecting their guys. So I think the players
Speaker 2: it was a little bit more of like a staring contest,
Speaker 2: you know, which is probably probably good. We don't do anything,
Speaker 2: but Diamondback one was pretty wild. Yeah, I think that
Speaker 2: was you know, I remember Big Mac having you know,
Speaker 2: Matt Williams over there and.
Speaker 3: Kirk Gibbs, all those guys. So that was that one
Speaker 3: was real. That one was real.
Speaker 1: All right, Clayton, thanks a lot for the time and
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you at Chorus Field. Eight strikeouts
Speaker 1: away from joining Steve Carlton, C. C. Sabathia, and Randy
Speaker 1: Johnson as the only left handed pitchers in baseball history
Speaker 1: to have three thousand punch outs.
Speaker 3: That's a great list. Thank you. That'd be cool.