Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: It's the Dodgers and Padres Round six, and we're joined
Speaker 1: right now by Dodger third baseman Max Munsey. Max, thanks
Speaker 1: a lot for the time, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, anytime.
Speaker 1: All right. So, you hadn't seen the Padres all season long,
Speaker 1: and now you're seeing them seven times within a week.
Speaker 1: How much does that contribute to the playoff feel? And
Speaker 1: maybe you know, obviously the intensity we've seen over the
Speaker 1: course of the last week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, just like the whole last month, it's
Speaker 2: kind of felt like that's been our stretch. We were
Speaker 2: playing these teams back to back a bunch, you know,
Speaker 2: you talk about the Mets and you some of these
Speaker 2: other teams, we're seeing them a lot, and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: just over the last couple of weeks, we've played a
Speaker 2: lot of teams that are in first place, you know,
Speaker 2: fighting for first place right around there, and so it's
Speaker 2: just been, uh, you know, it's been a tough couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. And then we get these guys, like you said,
Speaker 2: seven times in a week, and you know, it's always
Speaker 2: a lot of energy in these games, and it's a uh,
Speaker 2: you know, it's been a fun atmosphere and you know,
Speaker 2: thankfully here has been what it's been otherwise, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, with where we're at right now, i'd be
Speaker 2: a little tough to get through the games.
Speaker 1: What was playing in last night's game, like it did
Speaker 1: feel like a playoff game, as you pointed out after
Speaker 1: it was three and a half hours.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we it was a national TV game.
Speaker 2: We seem to be getting quite a lot of those recently.
Speaker 2: And you know when the national TV games they go
Speaker 2: to you know, three minutes in between innings instead of
Speaker 2: just the two minutes, and it's it's crazy how much
Speaker 2: just you know, it's eighteen minutes added on to the
Speaker 2: game right there. And then you know, they just feel
Speaker 2: so much longer. And you know, when you get used
Speaker 2: to having the you know, the new rules with the
Speaker 2: pitch clock and everything, the games just feel to go,
Speaker 2: you know, so much faster, You feel in rhythm, you
Speaker 2: don't feel like you sit around as much. And then
Speaker 2: you get the TV games and you feel like you're
Speaker 2: sitting around all the time all of a sudden, and
Speaker 2: you know, it just it just it's a it makes
Speaker 2: for a longer game and last night was definitely a
Speaker 2: really long game, and you know, had a little bit
Speaker 2: of everything involved in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, including show Heo Tani being hit by Randy Vasquez.
Speaker 1: We're are you as surprised as a lot of us
Speaker 1: were to see him take not just one shot, but
Speaker 1: two shots to try to hit your star player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I had last night. I said I
Speaker 2: didn't think it was intentional. I just thought they were
Speaker 2: trying to get fastballs in on them, And going back
Speaker 2: and watching it, I might have a different opinion now,
Speaker 2: but you know, it's over with. It is what it is.
Speaker 2: We got another game today. Last night was last night.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have any effect on today's game at all.
Speaker 2: And so you know that's how we've always approached things,
Speaker 2: you know, all year long. Today's the only day that matters.
Speaker 2: Nothing that happened previously matters at all, and nothing that's
Speaker 2: going to happen tomorrow matters. And you know, we got
Speaker 2: to get through today. We got to prepare for today,
Speaker 2: to do whatever we have to do to make sure
Speaker 2: we're prepared to go out there and win the game tonight.
Speaker 1: Max Munsey is our guest in front of first pitch
Speaker 1: between the Dodgers and Padres You alluded to the stretch
Speaker 1: of the schedule, Max, How aware were you and your
Speaker 1: teammates going into it, going back to the last time
Speaker 1: you played the Diamondbacks, You're about to finish up a
Speaker 1: twenty nine game stretch again playoff contenders.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. You know, a lot of us
Speaker 2: don't really pay attention to the schedule other than you know,
Speaker 2: where are we going on this upcoming road trip that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. And you know, I think we were
Speaker 2: sitting there one of the games and on TV they
Speaker 2: showed what our schedule was upcoming, and a lot of
Speaker 2: guys were like, oh, we got a gauntlet coming up,
Speaker 2: and you know, that's basically all the comments that were made.
Speaker 2: It was just like, oh, it's gonna be a tough stretch,
Speaker 2: but all right, here we go. We got to get
Speaker 2: through it. And you know, every single game is tough.
Speaker 2: This is the major leagues. There's not I know, there's
Speaker 2: teams that have bad records, but there's no such thing
Speaker 2: as a bad team in the major leagues. These are
Speaker 2: the best players in the world and on any given night,
Speaker 2: a pitcher can go out there and you know, throw
Speaker 2: seven innings, you know, easy and on any given night
Speaker 2: a pitcher can go out there and not make it
Speaker 2: out of the first It's you know, it's baseball. Things
Speaker 2: are gonna happen, and you just got to find a
Speaker 2: way to get through it all.
Speaker 1: Max. I know everybody always focuses on offense, and you
Speaker 1: guys are the best offense in baseball. But you personally,
Speaker 1: it feels like the defense at third base not only
Speaker 1: has become more consistent, but you're starting to make plays
Speaker 1: that we have seen you make the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: So what do you attribute that to?
Speaker 2: One? Hard work, getting on your every day Me and Mookie,
Speaker 2: me and miggeiy Row, and you know, just continually talking
Speaker 2: about it. Getting knowledge about defense. I think that's a
Speaker 2: huge thing instead of just you know, learning how you're
Speaker 2: going about your work, what you're doing in your work,
Speaker 2: making each rep you take purposeful and not just you know,
Speaker 2: Oh I'm going out there and I took thirty ground balls.
Speaker 2: I feel good. It's you know, how are you taking
Speaker 2: those thirty ground balls? How are you to you know,
Speaker 2: what are you doing to make those better? How are
Speaker 2: you preparing for it? And then the other thing is
Speaker 2: just getting confidence, you know, and That's something I've talked
Speaker 2: about a bunch, whether it's on offense, defense, whether you're
Speaker 2: on the mound. You know, if you don't have any
Speaker 2: confidence in yourself, it's hard to compete in this game.
Speaker 2: And you know, sometimes all it takes is one play
Speaker 2: to to swing that pendulum the other way. And you know,
Speaker 2: for me, it's just getting the confidence back in the defense.
Speaker 2: One of those things where I've I don't know how
Speaker 2: many times I've told you, I really feel like I
Speaker 2: can be a good defender. I feel like I have
Speaker 2: the actions to be a good defender. But you know,
Speaker 2: when you lose confidence, it's it's hard to really go
Speaker 2: out there and do what you've been practicing. And so
Speaker 2: for me, it's just getting a little confidence back.
Speaker 1: It seems like you do have that confidence. It feels
Speaker 1: like you're kind of not not just writing a swagger,
Speaker 1: but kind of at peace with the way that you're
Speaker 1: happy with your play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can always get better, you know, it's baseball.
Speaker 2: You can always you can always play better. But uh,
Speaker 2: you know that's I think that's what makes this game
Speaker 2: so loving and frustrating at the same time, is you
Speaker 2: know you're never gonna be perfect. In this game, even
Speaker 2: though you try to attain it every single day, and
Speaker 2: you know, and that's that's the beauty of it, and
Speaker 2: that's the things that's that's some of the things that
Speaker 2: I've learned from my teammates over the years. When you
Speaker 2: talk about the guys that I've played with, whether it's
Speaker 2: Kershaw or Albert or you know, Matt Camp, all these
Speaker 2: guys they play for, you know, all these years, and
Speaker 2: all of them say, there's always things you can learn
Speaker 2: and always things you can get better at. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's the truth. Every single day you can learn something
Speaker 2: new and you can do something better, and you know,
Speaker 2: that's that's the end goal, is to try to get
Speaker 2: as much knowledge as you can and keep getting better
Speaker 2: every single day.
Speaker 1: You don't seem like a guy that chases numbers though.
Speaker 2: No I chase wins, you know, and I've said that
Speaker 2: my entire career at the Dodgers. I don't care what
Speaker 2: I do as long as I can put the team
Speaker 2: in a better position to win that night. You know,
Speaker 2: if I have to sacrifice myself to make sure that
Speaker 2: the team you get to win, that's something I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2: You know. If I haven't a bat, or if I
Speaker 2: have you know, a base running play, or if I
Speaker 2: see something from the dugout that might help a teammate.
Speaker 2: If there's anything I can do that's gonna make the
Speaker 2: ultimately the team be in a better position to win.
Speaker 2: That's what I try to chase. You know, the personal
Speaker 2: numbers are they are what they are. I know a
Speaker 2: lot of guys care about those, and that's ultimately you
Speaker 2: know how you get paid in this game. But for me,
Speaker 2: I've always played this game to win. I've always wanted
Speaker 2: to win. And you know that's the beauty being on
Speaker 2: the Dodgers. You always have the chance to win.
Speaker 1: No doubt in Max Munsey a two time winner World
Speaker 1: Series Champion and he's looking for another one this year.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time, Max, Always love catching
Speaker 1: up with you and keep it going of course, Thanks David,