Speaker 1: The Dodgers remain on the East coast here in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. And I'm joined right now by one of
Speaker 1: my favorites because he's Italian. I'm Italian, and we need
Speaker 1: more Italians on the Dodgers, and that is the one
Speaker 1: and only Michael CONFORDO. Michael, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, should I agree, we need more Italians on the team,
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt. Hey, how Italian are you though,
Speaker 1: That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2: Uh So, my dad's one hundred percent, which makes me fifty.
Speaker 2: You know, my most of my family is back in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: so I had some family out there in Philly, and
Speaker 2: uh so, my dad grew up in Altuona. My grandma
Speaker 2: has six sisters, so I have like sixty cousins out there,
Speaker 2: and they're all pretty much still around Altuna, and uh
Speaker 2: you know, we go back every every so often, but
Speaker 2: it's it's one big Italian celebration, you know, for family
Speaker 2: reunions and weddings and and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: So we ended up in Seattle, away from most of
Speaker 2: most of the family. So you know, I'd probably be
Speaker 2: a little bit more Italian if I stayed in Altuna.
Speaker 1: But hey, you got sixty cousins. That's legit right there.
Speaker 1: That's when I know you're Italian.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, a big, big family.
Speaker 3: It's always good to go back there and see family.
Speaker 1: Michael Conforto is our guest in front of first pitch. Now,
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you, all that Italian blood in you
Speaker 1: and all that family, what do you love the most
Speaker 1: about the food of Italy?
Speaker 2: Honestly, there's there's not really any kind of Italian food
Speaker 2: that I don't like. It's definitely my favorite food. My
Speaker 2: grandma always did, you know, big Sunday gravy. You know,
Speaker 2: she wouldn't call it gravy, but you know, like a
Speaker 2: Sunday red sauce with you know, she'd like the meatballs,
Speaker 2: the sausage, pepperoni.
Speaker 3: Let it all cook, you know, in the.
Speaker 2: On the stove multiple times, you know, so the sauce
Speaker 2: kind of soaks up all that flavor, and the meat
Speaker 2: soaks up all the flavor of the sauce. You know
Speaker 2: that that's our that's our Christmas celebration, our Easter celebration.
Speaker 2: It's been a while since I've been able to have
Speaker 2: it from her, but I've learned to make it. I
Speaker 2: try my best to make it and it's never like hers,
Speaker 2: but it's, uh, it just reminds me of home.
Speaker 1: Hey, good for you for trying that. Michael Conforto is
Speaker 1: our guest. I know it's only eleven games into the season,
Speaker 1: but it feels like as a group, as an offensive unit,
Speaker 1: it feels like you guys are starting to find that chemistry.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so, you know, I think it.
Speaker 2: You know, we just have a lot of really good players,
Speaker 2: guys who know who they are, and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's uh, it's just a matter of all
Speaker 2: of us kind of getting our timing and and uh
Speaker 2: and you know, just starting to just kind of feel
Speaker 2: free up there. I think it's kind of one of
Speaker 2: those things that cream is always going to rise to
Speaker 2: the top. You know, when you've got guys like Mookie
Speaker 2: and Freddie and Will Smith and show Hey and Tay
Speaker 2: Oscar and you know, you can just go on and
Speaker 2: on down the lineup. You know, we're gonna score some runs.
Speaker 2: We just have to, you know, I think just some
Speaker 2: of the little things we just have to make sure
Speaker 2: we don't lose sight of, and we'll be pretty hard
Speaker 2: to beat.
Speaker 1: I remember in spring training you were in the cage
Speaker 1: and Dave Roberts was behind you and he was shouting
Speaker 1: out situations that you might see in a game. Is
Speaker 1: that kind of what the identity of this offense needs
Speaker 1: to be to reach its potential, to be able in
Speaker 1: situations that aren't ideal, to come through two strikes, two outs,
Speaker 1: and you've done it so far.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: I mean I think, you know, take taking that next
Speaker 2: step is kind of in the margins where you know,
Speaker 2: the odds aren't in your favor. You know, with two
Speaker 2: strikes it's hard to hit, but to be able to
Speaker 2: come through in those situations is big, and so you know,
Speaker 2: I think that's why Doc likes to do that.
Speaker 3: He you know, he wants it to be hard.
Speaker 2: He wants you to be uncomfortable, and you know, we
Speaker 2: train those things, so you know, we really want to,
Speaker 2: you know, take advantage of every advantage, you know, every
Speaker 2: every little thing that we can and and just try
Speaker 2: to keep getting better every day.
Speaker 1: Is that one of the biggest ways to succeed. Have
Speaker 1: a plan?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I think understanding the situation, you know, what you're walking into,
Speaker 2: you know, is it a guy on second base?
Speaker 3: With with less than two outs.
Speaker 2: You know, or or with nobody out that you you know,
Speaker 2: the biggest priorities to get him over, you know. Or
Speaker 2: are you in a situation where you're able to swing
Speaker 2: free and try to slug you know, when you you know,
Speaker 2: maybe in you're at bat the plan changes, You're you're
Speaker 2: looking to slug, and then later in the at bat
Speaker 2: you're looking to, you know, do a job and move
Speaker 2: a guy over, or be a tough out, try to
Speaker 2: drive the pitch count up. You know, There's a lot
Speaker 2: of things. I think you just have to understand the situation.
Speaker 2: I think our our hitting coaches do a great job
Speaker 2: of just making sure that we're aware of, you know,
Speaker 2: what the plan is and what we want to do
Speaker 2: in each situation.
Speaker 1: Are you a big believer in the guy hitting in
Speaker 1: front of you and you hitting in front of the
Speaker 1: person behind you that affects the pictures that you may
Speaker 1: see and also who may be on base. Are you
Speaker 1: believer that even in this day and age of baseball,
Speaker 1: that remains true.
Speaker 2: I think there's definitely situations that that that comes up.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's every you know, every single
Speaker 2: time you go through the lineup, but I think, you know,
Speaker 2: on a high leverage spot where you know, they see
Speaker 2: show Hayes up fourth and they really don't want him
Speaker 2: to come to play with somebody on base, you know,
Speaker 2: it may change the way that they're going to attack
Speaker 2: the hitters, maybe a little bit more aggressive, you know,
Speaker 2: not wanting to walk anybody, you know, and just attacking
Speaker 2: the zone. But you know, that's just one example of
Speaker 2: how things can change.
Speaker 3: And I think.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of just like you know, they
Speaker 2: the pictures and our pictures, they have a plan for
Speaker 2: each guy. You know, they know, you know, the catchers
Speaker 2: and the pictures are going to try to exploit, you know,
Speaker 2: whatever weakness that you have. So there's that, and then
Speaker 2: there's also you know, the game within the game of
Speaker 2: you know, they see who's coming up down the line
Speaker 2: and who they feel like is a better matchup, you know,
Speaker 2: in each situation. So I think it's there's just a
Speaker 2: lot of things at play. I think that still holds true,
Speaker 2: but not always.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, you mentioned Otani, you've heard about him,
Speaker 1: you know about him, but now your teammates with him.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that surprises you or is now that
Speaker 1: you're behind the curtain on the same side, what have
Speaker 1: you learned about how he's able to be as great
Speaker 1: as he is.
Speaker 2: I never got to see how he worked. He works
Speaker 2: his ass off. He you know, when he trains, he
Speaker 2: trains to swing hard, trains speed at speed. Obviously there's
Speaker 2: technique in there, but like when he's in the cage,
Speaker 2: it's it's loud, and it's impressive how hard the ball
Speaker 2: comes off, and it's every day. So that that was
Speaker 2: awesome to see, not that I wasn't expecting it, it's
Speaker 2: just impressive to see in person. And you sometimes you
Speaker 2: like to sit down and watch. You don't like to
Speaker 2: necessarily get in the cage after him after he puts
Speaker 2: on that show. But aside from that, he's just he's
Speaker 2: a normal guy. He's he's got a great sense of
Speaker 2: humor and he's goofy, likes to mess around, and you know,
Speaker 2: I think that's why. You see how his teammates react
Speaker 2: to him doing things, and you know, he always seems
Speaker 2: to come through in a big moment.
Speaker 3: So that's great.
Speaker 1: Hey, Michael Conforto is fun to watch too, sit to hit.
Speaker 1: That's what I think about when I see Confordo in
Speaker 1: that batter's box. From the last left side. Thanks a
Speaker 1: lot for the time. Always great catching up with you
Speaker 1: and man LA's love and Michael Conforto.
Speaker 3: I love the sound of that.
Speaker 2: That's great. I hope they I hope they enjoy. This
Speaker 2: is gonna be a fun team to watch for sure,