TORONTO — There was a time when Dave Roberts could spark a team with his legs.
Maybe that day hasn’t passed.
During Thursday night’s off-day workout at Rogers Centre, the Dodgers manager challenged utility player Hyeseong Kim – the fastest player on the Dodgers’ roster – to a race from first base to third base with the 53-year-old Roberts getting a 20- to 30-foot head start.
Roberts tried to take more of an advantage, cutting across the edge of the infield grass rather than touching second base. Roberts stumbled and went sprawling onto the dirt as Kim cruised on by.
“I was trying to add a little levity, that’s for sure,” Roberts said Friday. “I wasn’t trying to do a face plant at shortstop.
“The legs just gave way. That will be the last full sprint I ever do in my life. And I paid my debt, because there was a little wager, so I did own up.”
With players and media on hand, there were plenty of angles and the video was posted in multiple places – including the team’s own social media.
“It’s definitely on the family thread, a little bit bigger circle than that,” Roberts admitted sheepishly. “I don’t do social media – thank goodness, but I guess it’s pretty out there.”
Roberts got up clutching his hamstring with an exaggerated limp and joked that he came in early for treatment Friday.
“Yeah, I got some meds in me. I’m still going to post. I’m probable,” he said. “Not my best decision, but it worked out.”
Veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said the team enjoyed the moment, breaking any tension there might have been after back-to-back losses in Los Angeles and a potential elimination game coming Friday night.
“It makes you smile and it makes you have a good time,” Rojas said. “When the head of the group is loose like that, and he’s willing to do anything, that’s what it tells everybody, that he will do anything for the team. Even though he got no chance to beat Kim to third base, he tried to do, like, the shortcut. He didn’t know that the camera was there. He tripped on the camera and we saw the rest, right?
“It’s all over social media on the biggest stage of the year, and right before a Game 6 facing elimination, this guy is on the ground with his uniform full of dirt, and he’s not backing away from it. So that’s what it tells you about Doc. He’ll do anything for this group to spark the team.”
LINEUP SHUFFLE
After making some changes to the lineup for Game 5 and not getting positive results, Roberts tried some more changes for Game 6.
He dropped Mookie Betts to third for Game 5 and another spot to fourth for Game 6 with Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman at the top.
Tommy Edman moved from second base to center field. Edman hadn’t started a game in center field since Sept. 24 due to concerns about his recurring ankle injury. Rojas got the start at second base instead.
“I just really wanted Miggy in there,” Roberts said. “He’s been a really glue guy for our club this year, and I just feel that having him in the lineup infuses some extra intensity, energy into the lineup. On the defensive side too. I wanted him to be in the lineup, and nothing against anybody else.”
Betts hadn’t batted lower than third in a lineup since the 2017 playoffs with the Boston Red Sox.
But Betts had batted just .164 (9 for 55) since the end of the Wild Card Series. Roberts has said he feels Betts is “pressing.”
“I just felt that I wanted those three guys (Ohtani, Smith and Freeman) to have a chance to get on for Mookie, get on base, and have those guys take the most at-bats,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of the math a little bit.”
OHTANI OPTION
Before Game 5 in Los Angeles, Roberts said he would talk to Ohtani about potentially pitching in a Game 6 or 7 in Toronto. Before Game 6, Roberts said Ohtani was not part of the pitching plan but no decision had been made about a potential Game 7.
“I think right now we’re just focused on today. Shohei’s not part of the pitching plan today,” Roberts said before Game 6. “Win this game tonight then we can kind of circle up and have that conversation tomorrow.”
A more simple scenario than bringing Ohtani on in relief in Game 7 would be to simply have him start the game, pitching the first one or two innings. That would allow the Dodgers to keep him as DH for the rest of the game. If he comes in in relief during the game, he would have to finish the game on the mound or the Dodgers would lose the DH when he stopped pitching. It would also eliminate the logistics of Ohtani trying to warm up during the game.
“We haven’t thought that one through,” Roberts said. “We have to get through this one, and then I think all that logistic stuff, we’ll kind of talk through and figure out what’s best for Sho, what’s best for us.”