Speaker 1: It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Dodgers Stadium. The temperatures
Speaker 1: are a little cooler, but obviously in the upper nineties,
Speaker 1: and Alex Vesia is always hot when he comes into
Speaker 1: the game no matter what the temperatures are outside. Thanks
Speaker 1: a lot for the time, VESSI appreciate it.
Speaker 2: What an introduction. Wow, yeah, baby, an introduction.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's gonna be a hot one to day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Speaking of that, you know, relievers are humans too. Relievers
Speaker 4: are people. They have lives too, and they matter as
Speaker 4: far as what is going on in the bullpen as
Speaker 4: far as these the heat wave here in Los Angeles,
Speaker 4: What are the conditions down there in the bullpen, because
Speaker 4: I know for many years that shelter you guys have
Speaker 4: out there did not give you much shelter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you for putting that out there. I appreciate
Speaker 3: all the love. But yeah, I mean they've given us
Speaker 3: a fan with some like mister on it and then
Speaker 3: in the bullpen room.
Speaker 2: And stuff we have ac so'll be all right for today.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be really easy to get hot today. That's
Speaker 2: that's for sure. We're you know, another day, another day.
Speaker 3: We're looking forward to another good ballgame, Bessia.
Speaker 4: When I was coming to ballgames, and sometimes I would
Speaker 4: have seats along that Chain League fence next to the
Speaker 4: Dodger bullpen and the visitors bullpen on a hot Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 4: I remember one Sunday one of the relievers from the
Speaker 4: Cincinnati Reds picked up the water hose and started spraying
Speaker 4: the fans to help cool them off. Does any of
Speaker 4: that still happen.
Speaker 2: I've never heard of that. So you're the first one
Speaker 2: to tell me that, And it.
Speaker 3: Might be a good idea for today that the fans
Speaker 3: might appreciate that out of me.
Speaker 2: So we'll see. We'll see if we've got a hose
Speaker 2: down there. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 4: Last night the Dodgers use seven different pitchers in a
Speaker 4: bullpen game. Can you describe what a game like that
Speaker 4: is like for the bullpen and just the mindset to
Speaker 4: get ready for a situation like that.
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, I mean, obviously we have our game kind of
Speaker 3: meeting and we talk and and so we kind of
Speaker 3: understand what the game, you know, might bring us, you know,
Speaker 3: and pretty much after the third or fourth inning, it's
Speaker 3: you know, all bets are off, and you know, we
Speaker 3: we've got to be ready, you know, and that's whenever
Speaker 3: our name is called upon, you know, we we do
Speaker 3: a really good job of going out there executing our
Speaker 3: pitches and you know, putting up a zero, you know,
Speaker 3: one inning after another. You know, so got to give
Speaker 3: it to you got to give it to the guys
Speaker 3: because it was a grind yesterday. And thankfully, you know,
Speaker 3: the the offense set the set the tone really early.
Speaker 3: So you know, six runs in the first that's.
Speaker 2: It's a good day for the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: All bets were off when you score six runs in
Speaker 4: that first inning, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, it was great. It was that was that
Speaker 2: was a fun inning.
Speaker 3: And uh, you know, we just wanted to keep putting
Speaker 3: up zeros to get the offense back into the into
Speaker 3: the dugout, get them hydrated, and having them stay cool,
Speaker 3: not to you know, you know, everyone helps everyone in
Speaker 3: that in that situation.
Speaker 4: See, that's an interesting part of bullpen games because a
Speaker 4: lot of us still don't understand how works for relievers.
Speaker 4: When you say all bets are off, we always presume
Speaker 4: that you know, when you're coming in what inning, do
Speaker 4: you have some sort of idea.
Speaker 3: That there's a we call it our lane right, and
Speaker 3: you know, whether you're facing five, six, seven, eight, nine
Speaker 3: or one two, three, four five, right, like, it's kind
Speaker 3: of broken up two for like myself or Blake or
Speaker 3: Buddy Evan.
Speaker 2: Kope right like, all it's broken up differently.
Speaker 3: And you know we're talked about that and told, but
Speaker 3: still the game, right.
Speaker 2: You know, there's certain situations where if.
Speaker 3: I'm coming in, I can come in the fourth inning
Speaker 3: to face a certain amount of hitters. I can come
Speaker 3: in the eighth inning to face those same hit hitters.
Speaker 2: So you know, and that's that's a DOCS call.
Speaker 4: And you know we're we're ready for you've been able
Speaker 4: to come in, whether it's the fourth, the eighth, the ninth.
Speaker 4: Is there something different about the innings even if you
Speaker 4: have that certain lane you described.
Speaker 2: Uh, no, we try to keep it.
Speaker 3: You know, the score is irrelevant, the inning is irrelevant.
Speaker 3: Uh you know, we go out there and do our
Speaker 3: job right, And that's where you don't you don't put
Speaker 3: more pressure or less pressure on yourself depending on the situation.
Speaker 3: You want to kind of eliminate all of that and
Speaker 3: focus on the you know, one, two or three hitters
Speaker 3: that you know you're the task at hand. Basically and
Speaker 3: you know that's it helps kind of eliminate riding the
Speaker 3: highs too high and the lows too low, right, And
Speaker 3: that's trying to stay consistent, is you know, just knowing
Speaker 3: what to do when you go out there for you know, preparation,
Speaker 3: all that stuff that you can do before the game
Speaker 3: before you.
Speaker 2: Know your name gets called.
Speaker 3: And once you out there, your job is to get
Speaker 3: three outs, put up a zero, get the game going.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: What a mindset and what a bullpen for the Dodgers
Speaker 4: this year. It's the dog days of August. You guys
Speaker 4: have been leaned on a lot best. Yeah, how are
Speaker 4: you feeling good?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean my routine has been really good this year.
Speaker 3: I like the certain things I've I've implemented, some things
Speaker 3: I've taken out, you know.
Speaker 2: But it's also the knowledge.
Speaker 3: That I've gained with you know, talking to the bullpen
Speaker 3: guys about certain routine stuff over the years. You know,
Speaker 3: I've had some pretty good mentors over the years with
Speaker 3: you know, Kenley Jensen, with Joe Kelly, you know, with
Speaker 3: Daniel Hudson to name a few, right, And it's just
Speaker 3: you know, I give them a lot of credit and
Speaker 3: I'm glad that they were able to, you know, help
Speaker 3: me out and tell me how it is, you know,
Speaker 3: because tough conversations are are what make you better, you know.
Speaker 2: The ones that are that are easy like that doesn't
Speaker 2: help me out in the long run. So it's it's been.
Speaker 3: It's been good, and I'm really looking forward to the
Speaker 3: next couple of weeks, you know, get you know, staying
Speaker 3: strong and uh, you know, playoffs is.
Speaker 2: What was what we want. It's the best baseball in
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 4: Love it. I know you relish it, I know you
Speaker 4: embrace it. Can't wait to see you in October again, Bessia.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 4: Really appreciated. And the water hose will be a welcomed
Speaker 4: feature in the bullpen today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see. We'll see about that. We'll see about that.
Speaker 3: You'll see you'll see me on social media if I
Speaker 3: do have water hills out there, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 4: He is the man, Alex Vetsia. The Dodgers are very
Speaker 4: lucky to have him.