Speaker 1: Welcome back to Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: David Vase with you until seven o'clock tonight here on
Speaker 2: AM five to seventy LA Sports on this off day
Speaker 2: as the Dodgers get ready for a three game series
Speaker 2: against one of the best teams in the American League,
Speaker 2: the Baltimore Orioles. And since Monday is a day of
Speaker 2: rest for the Dodgers, there is no chance Joe Kelly
Speaker 2: was going to come in studio, and there is even
Speaker 2: less chance I was going to be able to call
Speaker 2: Joe Kelly because he is a father of eight or
Speaker 2: nine kids these days. So here we are at Dodgers
Speaker 2: Stadium with the one and only Mariachi Boston La Joe Kelly,
Speaker 2: Rancho Cuca, Manga's Mayor. Thanks a lot for the time,
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: That intro, David Vassay is something that I never want
Speaker 3: you to do again. Please.
Speaker 2: You really made me work for this interview. I had
Speaker 2: to find a cup of coffee in the Dodger Clubhouse
Speaker 2: to be able to coerce you or bribe you to
Speaker 2: speak to the people.
Speaker 3: Well, rumor has it you're out of Travis Matthews swag,
Speaker 3: So I decided I needed a cup of Joe to
Speaker 3: help me get through this interview.
Speaker 1: With you, can I ask you a question.
Speaker 2: You were just playing like a stationary like game, foosball
Speaker 2: game with your fingers.
Speaker 1: Why are you sweating so much?
Speaker 3: I'm not this is this is my hat doesn't fit
Speaker 3: my head very well, so I for anyone out there
Speaker 3: who can't see, I have my hat on and David Bessett,
Speaker 3: I think I'm sweating. I did my hat and water
Speaker 3: to get it to fit to the shape of my
Speaker 3: head a little better when the hats are kind of newer.
Speaker 3: But by the way, the foosball game you're talking about
Speaker 3: is not foosball. It's finger soccer. Is called bino and
Speaker 3: the number one rank player in the in the clubhouse,
Speaker 3: I've probably played over a hunter games. I've lost once
Speaker 3: to my wife, I've lost once to River Ryan by
Speaker 3: one goal, and I've lost once to Blake by one goal.
Speaker 3: Other than that, I've beat the hell out of everyone else.
Speaker 2: The first time I saw anybody playing this was in
Speaker 2: the Oakland Visiting Clubhouse. Had it been going on before
Speaker 2: or all you guys got hooked after that.
Speaker 3: It's been going on before, but we all got hooked
Speaker 3: from that visiting clubhouse experience, and now we can't stop.
Speaker 3: It's been fun.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Sometimes there's some friendly wagers, sometimes there isn't. But if
Speaker 3: you're playing Blake, he likes to play for free. It's
Speaker 3: it's not fun for me anymore.
Speaker 2: In Milwaukee, I saw you going up against Otani with
Speaker 2: see tough competition or not so much.
Speaker 3: I beat him once and then we haven't played again.
Speaker 3: We played a fake game to three. The game goes
Speaker 3: to seven, so I beat him in a real game
Speaker 3: to seven, and then we had to go out for
Speaker 3: the anthem. So he got me to three. It was
Speaker 3: like three to two, but obviously that game doesn't count.
Speaker 3: But I'm waiting to waiting to play him again.
Speaker 2: You're super competitive, He's super competitive. How does that go
Speaker 2: when somebody loses, does he flip the table or does
Speaker 2: Joe Kelly flip the table?
Speaker 3: Well, I've only lost three times in like one hundred games,
Speaker 3: so there's not very much of the table flipping going
Speaker 3: on around here. But no, he is super competitive. He
Speaker 3: it was his first time playing. He's obviously picked it
Speaker 3: up pretty quick. He's, you know, a man of many talents.
Speaker 1: 's for sure, many talents, but few words, right.
Speaker 3: Very few words, a lot of laughs, a lot of smiles,
Speaker 3: a lot of head shakes. The words are i'd say,
Speaker 3: if he's like close to you, he'll talk to you.
Speaker 3: But yes, a lot, a lot of headshakes and you know,
Speaker 3: good to see you and smiles.
Speaker 2: Okay, speaking of all that, the emotions or lack thereof
Speaker 2: from Otani, when he hits that walk off grand slam,
Speaker 2: you guys mob him out on the field. Is that
Speaker 2: the most emotion you've seen from him in a good way?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: He uh, he doesn't like to you know, it's not
Speaker 3: like he's.
Speaker 1: Oh, quidato, here comes ta Oscar.
Speaker 3: It's not like he's you know, bat flapping or pimp
Speaker 3: and every homer or showing something that much emotion. But
Speaker 3: you know, there was a big spot. You know, obviously,
Speaker 3: you know, basically loaded twots in the ninth. You know,
Speaker 3: for him to come through with just a hit would
Speaker 3: have done. But obviously to hit a grand Slam for
Speaker 3: his you know, fortieth homer, that was a pretty special
Speaker 3: and you know, I think he enjoyed it more than
Speaker 3: what he probably showed. I mean, he's celebrated, but you know,
Speaker 3: I think he respects the game so much and respects,
Speaker 3: you know, his opposition, and he knows that any kind
Speaker 3: of spore could be humbling. So I think he doesn't
Speaker 3: ever really want to show up, you know, anybody, because
Speaker 3: he knows kids are watching. He's very aware of his surroundings,
Speaker 3: you know, daily, you know, whether it's in the clubhouse,
Speaker 3: whether it's on the field, whether it's you know, driving,
Speaker 3: you know, he's very aware of you know, where he's
Speaker 3: at and you know who's watching, and you know, trying
Speaker 3: to be a leader, you know, like I said, day
Speaker 3: in and day out. And I think that's probably one
Speaker 3: of the coolest things about him. You know, he's not
Speaker 3: going around talking about you know, oh, I'm a forty
Speaker 3: forty guy. He keeps himself. You'd never know that it
Speaker 3: means a lot to him, but I'm sure it does.
Speaker 1: So we saw the celebration on the field. What was
Speaker 1: it like in the clubhouse?
Speaker 2: Because I remember when Kurz shot through his no hitter,
Speaker 2: the team just showered in with a bunch of stuff,
Speaker 2: baby powder, all that in the shower. Was it similar
Speaker 2: to that last night in the clubhouse?
Speaker 3: So the problem with last night was it's firework night,
Speaker 3: so we all really sprint out and Number two problem
Speaker 3: is Showy always has his own media, So by the
Speaker 3: time show he was done with his own media. We
Speaker 3: barely saw him in the clubhouse. We saw him walk in.
Speaker 3: We all congratulated him. We wanted to shots, but Sial
Speaker 3: he had to do his media, so it was not
Speaker 3: the celebration you would think, but we all obviously congratulated him.
Speaker 2: And that's another layer to him being Shoe a Otani
Speaker 2: the greatest player in the world is that there's a
Speaker 2: lot of people that want a piece of him.
Speaker 1: How is he is? That even?
Speaker 2: Does it make what he's doing even more remarkable considering
Speaker 2: how much attention, how much people want a.
Speaker 1: Piece of him. For him to lock in and have
Speaker 1: this type of year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's always wanted to be the best
Speaker 3: at whatever he does, right, you know, whether it was
Speaker 3: pitching obviously now he's a d h You know, he
Speaker 3: knew he was fast, so obviously put it on his
Speaker 3: radar where I want to steal you know, forty bags.
Speaker 3: Going into the year, he wanted to steal a bunch
Speaker 3: of bases. He knew that, you know, he could be
Speaker 3: the best, one of the best base runners in the game,
Speaker 3: and he's proved that, So I think, Uh, he's a
Speaker 3: big goal guy. So I think any kind of a
Speaker 3: goal he puts in his mind, he tries to you know,
Speaker 3: attains as much as he can without you know, letting
Speaker 3: people know about it, right Like I you're like, hey,
Speaker 3: what's your goals. He's not going to tell you exactly
Speaker 3: what his goals are, but I think he has some
Speaker 3: in the back of his brain where you know, he
Speaker 3: wants to go out there and say he wants to
Speaker 3: hit a hunter urbiys this year he wants won twenty
Speaker 3: like you might see him lose betting average and go
Speaker 3: for abi eyes like there's probably you know, little games
Speaker 3: he plays within the game. That's what the greats do.
Speaker 3: And obviously being here as a Dodger teammate with him,
Speaker 3: and you know, especially the fans, they get to come
Speaker 3: out and watch a literal you know experience. You know,
Speaker 3: it's like going to watch a live concert, like watching
Speaker 3: show Hey play, It's it's different, you know, area bad
Speaker 3: as must see even my son knocks, you know, watch
Speaker 3: the games once a while and show showy bats like
Speaker 3: you know, be like, hey, show it up and then
Speaker 3: I'll go watch the game. And then I'll go back
Speaker 3: to do him playing Fortnite whatever he does. But uh yeah,
Speaker 3: he's much must watch baseball and you know, like I said,
Speaker 3: there's any given night he's gonna break history. And you know,
Speaker 3: it's it's very fun. And obviously he's a great teammate too,
Speaker 3: and a great player, but it's very fun, you know,
Speaker 3: to be a part of it, and you know, be
Speaker 3: able to tell my kids and say, hey, I was
Speaker 3: at that game where you know where we were at
Speaker 3: when you hit forty forty we while I was in
Speaker 3: you know, in the bullpen. We're all celebrating. So it's
Speaker 3: going to be a cool experience, you know, when it's
Speaker 3: all said and done, to be able to play with them.
Speaker 1: Could you see where the home run landed? And did
Speaker 1: you see the fans?
Speaker 2: There were two fans that got in each other's way
Speaker 2: and clinked it off their hands.
Speaker 1: Did you see all that?
Speaker 3: No, I saw I saw it go over the fence.
Speaker 3: I didn't watch the fans. You know, you just wait,
Speaker 3: go over the fence and you start celebrating. You don't
Speaker 3: really care what the fans are doing. I didn't have
Speaker 3: that angle. But no, we just made sure it cleared
Speaker 3: and you know, the game was over. It was a
Speaker 3: not anything in particular that we were looking for after that.
Speaker 2: You've been around baseball a long time, Joe Kelly's played
Speaker 2: baseball for a very long time. Would you rank that,
Speaker 2: outside of winning the World Series, as one of the
Speaker 2: coolest moments you've been part of.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's definitely. For a regular season game, it's up
Speaker 3: there with, you know, the coolest experience I've had on
Speaker 3: a baseball field. Anytime you see someone hit a milestone,
Speaker 3: you appreciate it. You know, Freddy Frieman playing in two
Speaker 3: thousand games, you know there's been multiple milestones. You know,
Speaker 3: Kershaw with wins or you know he's coming up on strikeouts.
Speaker 3: So it's it's one of those things where you know,
Speaker 3: just because you didn't play or you're not part of
Speaker 3: that game, you know, to be on the team and
Speaker 3: to be able to experience those moments with the guys
Speaker 3: and watch it through their rise and see how they react.
Speaker 3: You know, some guys you know all only live for,
Speaker 3: you know, moments like that like oh, I'm gonna check
Speaker 3: off my scorecard or I'm gonna check my box score
Speaker 3: to you know, to get to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: But the cool thing about being a Dodger is we
Speaker 3: don't have any of those guys in our clubhouse. Like
Speaker 3: they get those milestones, but it's never even talked about, like,
Speaker 3: you know, the next day, like you got three dound strikeouts,
Speaker 3: He's like, all right, cool, and then on the business.
Speaker 3: So that's a good thing about being in this organization.
Speaker 3: You get the right type of talents as Hall of
Speaker 3: Fame players and you know, good people on and off
Speaker 3: the field, and you know, makes up for a lot
Speaker 3: of wins.
Speaker 2: Joe Kelly is our guest here on Dodger Talk speaking
Speaker 2: of the club house, since you are, you know, one
Speaker 2: of the leaders, one of the veterans on this team.
Speaker 2: A lot of people were making a big deal when
Speaker 2: all of us were a little surprised when Jason Hayward
Speaker 2: was designated for assignment. Can you set us all straight
Speaker 2: on the effects inside that room compared to being professionals
Speaker 2: and just keep being keep moving forward. How how does
Speaker 2: that dynamic work?
Speaker 3: Well? Yeah, I mean it's it's baseball, and it's like
Speaker 3: you said, it's it's a it's a profession. And you know,
Speaker 3: obviously we weren't all here at when it happened. It
Speaker 3: was on the off day. But you know, if people
Speaker 3: talk about it yet, it's sad, it sucks, but you know,
Speaker 3: it's not like we're gonna go out there and you know,
Speaker 3: not play the game of baseball. You know, he's a
Speaker 3: great teammate, a great friend. It's not like all of
Speaker 3: a sudden you don't become friends when someone's off your team.
Speaker 3: So it's decisions like that happen, you know, throughout the league,
Speaker 3: throughout everybody's teams, and like I said, it's one of
Speaker 3: those things that you talk about. You know, it's not
Speaker 3: going to be obviously forgotten. He's gonna be missed for sure,
Speaker 3: but it's doesn't change the way you play the game
Speaker 3: of baseball as a professional athlete.
Speaker 1: Joe Kelly is our guest. It feels like you guys
Speaker 1: have not.
Speaker 2: Played your best baseball all season yet. A lot of injuries,
Speaker 2: a lot of different dynamics, but it feels like now
Speaker 2: you have your team back together, you're getting healthy and
Speaker 2: you're going to continue to get healthy. Do you feel
Speaker 2: like you're starting to hit your stride and this division race?
Speaker 2: Is that going to be significant with you guys playing
Speaker 2: meaningful games down the stretch?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Injuries, you know, they happen. We've had a ton.
Speaker 3: A lot of teams had a ton. It's kind of
Speaker 3: just been battling the season, you know, rather than you know,
Speaker 3: playing good or bad baseball. Well, it's been kind of
Speaker 3: battling the ups and downs of you know, who's ready
Speaker 3: to pitch that night, who's not going to be, you know,
Speaker 3: in the lineup. You know, maybe a sore foot, like
Speaker 3: there's just little things here and there, and obviously major
Speaker 3: injuries and surgeries. But obviously our lineup is back, you know,
Speaker 3: we get our relievers are pretty much all back starters
Speaker 3: are making their way back. So it's good to see. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, obviously the leads a little bit closer than
Speaker 3: it has been in the past few years. It's not
Speaker 3: talked about what between guys or or or players. You know,
Speaker 3: it's something more for the fan to say. I think
Speaker 3: that you know, the division is it is what it is,
Speaker 3: you know. But for us, the way we're playing the
Speaker 3: game of baseball, you know, we just want to play
Speaker 3: Obviously solid defense, starters go deep, bullpen does her job,
Speaker 3: you know, and then make guys work. And that's what
Speaker 3: our line has been doing, you know lately, and you know,
Speaker 3: it's given life to I think, at least to speak
Speaker 3: to the guys down there in the bullpen. It's given
Speaker 3: life knowing that you know, we're down two runs, you know,
Speaker 3: going past the sixth. Other teams have good relievers, but
Speaker 3: with our lineup being so deep, you know, everyone's pretty
Speaker 3: much we don't really have I would say, like low
Speaker 3: leverage guys in our pen. They're all pretty nasty. So
Speaker 3: I think that at any given point, you know, every
Speaker 3: single relievers checked into the game, because at any given point,
Speaker 3: our name could be called because the game in the
Speaker 3: blink of I could be tired or we could go ahead.
Speaker 3: So that's the cool part about you know, our team
Speaker 3: getting healthy now and being able to see where you know,
Speaker 3: you're warming up and all of a sudden you got
Speaker 3: a leading got to protect and and it makes it
Speaker 3: a lot more fun, you know, as as as a
Speaker 3: as a player and being part of the team, you
Speaker 3: want to you know, help your team win games. And
Speaker 3: so when you see those guys fight in the box,
Speaker 3: you're all right, le let's go pick them up out
Speaker 3: of the bullpenner started his job, Let's go pick them up.
Speaker 3: So it's been the past i'd say week and a
Speaker 3: half two weeks has been a lot, I want to say,
Speaker 3: more fun, but it's been you know, definitely more interesting
Speaker 3: and the energy has definitely been up all around, you know,
Speaker 3: from bench guys to role players to bupen guys like
Speaker 3: I said, the starters to superstars. Everyone's caring, kind of
Speaker 3: a little bit different buzz and and kind of locking
Speaker 3: in a little bit more.
Speaker 2: Everybody's got the same goal World Series, and Joe Kelly
Speaker 2: wants one for sure. We'll see whether or not he
Speaker 2: comes back next year if he's got a third World
Speaker 2: Series ring on his finger. I give a salute to
Speaker 2: that big mural on the reserve level, Mariachi, Joe.
Speaker 1: And when you.
Speaker 2: Come in, well, not that kind of salute, Joe, I
Speaker 2: give it a different kind of salute. Hey, you want
Speaker 2: to take us to break? Since you're so confident you
Speaker 2: could take my job.
Speaker 3: I don't really want your job, David. You did a
Speaker 3: great job.
Speaker 1: Why don't you take us to break? Say? Hey?
Speaker 2: Coming up next, More Dodger Talk on AM five to
Speaker 2: seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 3: Coming up next, More Dodger Talk on AM five seventy
Speaker 3: LA Sports with Joe Kelly, Sea David