LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts doesn’t quite understand all the fuss. After all, it’s not like they re-invented the wheel play.
“Never. I’ve never had (so much reaction to a defensive play),” he said of all the comments that followed the critical bunt play in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ Game 2 victory in Philadelphia.
“Especially for such – I think it’s such a basic play. There’s only, like, two or three ways (to defend against a bunt), and that’s one of them.
“It would be like the Lakers if they won the NBA championship running the 2-3 zone. That’s how I view it. It’s just we ran it in a big spot and we were able to do it right. I think we executed it really perfectly myself, just the timing of it, I think.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it “our only chance, really, to win that game in that moment” with the Phillies threatening to tie the score and potentially even the best-of-five National League Division Series.
But Betts thought another play was more difficult – first baseman Freddie Freeman’s sprawling scoop of second baseman Tommy Edman’s one-hop throw to end the game.
“Freddie’s play was way harder than the wheel play,” Betts said Tuesday. “That was a tough situation. But, I mean, sometimes you just … get a group of guys together and you just figure out ways to win. It’s not always going to look pretty, but you just figure it out.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson praised Betts for disguising the wheel play by staying close to second base long enough to prevent the baserunner, Nick Castellanos, from getting a big lead or the hitter, Bryson Stott, from pulling back from the bunt and trying to slash a ball through the infield.
“I just think they made a great play,” Thomson said Tuesday. “Mookie Betts did a heck of a job by breaking very late so the hitter can’t adjust to the slash. And it’s tough for Nick to get a proper secondary or bigger secondary (lead) because Betts is sitting right behind him.
“At the end of the day, they made an aggressive play and they made it work.”
CLOSER TO CLOSER
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came closer to calling Roki Sasaki his closer going forward. He called Sasaki “the primary option now” to close out games.
But he cautioned against expecting Sasaki to handle every ninth-inning situation because of his limited experience in a relief role. Sasaki had never pitched out of the bullpen as a professional before making two relief appearances for Triple-A Oklahoma City in September.
“There’s also a component that we have to win ‘X’ amount more games, and he’s not going to close every game. It’s just not feasible. So you’ve got to use other guys,” Roberts said.
“It’s a balance. This is something he’s never done. And you’re expecting to go a few more weeks (in the postseason). So all that stuff has to play in that a lot of people don’t have any appreciation for.”
Emmet Sheehan is another young starter the Dodgers plan to use in crucial situations out of the bullpen. Sheehan has more experience pitching in relief than Sasaki but “it’s uncharted territory for everyone,” Roberts said.
“So there’s a balance of trying to build up some type of consistency to then get to the next graduation point as far as back-to-backs or whatever it is,” Roberts said. “And there’s no guarantee what the stuff’s going to be like (in repeated outings as a reliever. So that’s stuff that me, the pitching coaches talk about because they know, we know our players better than anyone. So those are things that we talk about daily to, again, put our players in the best position.
“I would love to have Roki throw every single day if he could, but that’s just not feasible. Again, we have a lot of conversations, and then I make my decision.”
POWDER BLUE
The Phillies have a plan to even this series – powder-blue uniforms.
The Phillies will wear the 1980s-style throwbacks for Games 3 and 4 (if necessary) at Dodger Stadium.
Thomson said the players like the look and came to him about wearing the retro jerseys during the postseason.
“We had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared, just to get it OK’d by Major League Baseball that we can wear those on the road,” Thomson said.
The Phillies have gone with the throwback look occasionally at home since 2018 (including seven times this season) but have never worn them during the postseason or on the road before.
Thomson joked that the Phillies can’t change their mind now.
“I don’t think we brought the gray, so we’ve got to stick with them,” he said.
UP NEXT
Game 3: Phillies (RHP Aaron Nola, 5-10, 6.01 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 12-8, 2.49 ERA), Wednesday, 6:08 p.m. PT, TBS, truTV, 570 AM