Now, can we convince Dave Roberts’ critics in the Dodger fan base – and they might not necessarily be plentiful but they sure are loud – to give him the credit he deserves? October after October, and throughout recent regular seasons as well, those critics have hammered the manager for his pitching decisions, for his lineups, and for occasionally punting a game if it will save valuable resources down the line. Admit it, you probably were railing at your TVs on Tuesday night as Roberts declined to use all of his top bullpen resources while Game 4 against the Yankees got out of hand. So, what did you think of Game 5? The point: Roberts knows his personnel and their capabilities better than any of us do. He knows what makes his players tick, as well, and keep in mind that what goes on in the clubhouse and the dugout often has a direct bearing on what happens on the field. There is, as I’ve noted often, a reason the head guy is called the “manager,” because a large part of the job is managing people. Few do it as well as Roberts, especially in an organization where analytics play a large role – which organization doesn’t these days, actually – and players sometimes (often?) have to be convinced that what’s good for their careers isn’t always good for the team’s success. But let’s put the abstract concepts away for a while. Roberts earned his second World Series ring in five seasons on Wednesday night when the Dodgers wrapped up the 2024 World Series. (It would have been three in eight seasons but for that hidden closed-circuit camera and those damn trash cans in 2017. Hello, Houston!) Roberts still has the best regular-season winning percentage of anyone who has managed in the major leagues – not just currently active, but ever – with an 801-507 record and .627 percentage. The only managers better in the history of the game were Negro League managers Bullet Rogan, Vic Harris, Rube Foster and Dave Malarcher, none of whom ever had the opportunity to test their skills in the major leagues. But don’t just take my word for it. “I’ve played for four teams now,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said before Wednesday’s clinching game. “And Dave, I think, is one of the best managers that I have (had). Charlie was a great one, too, Charlie Montoyo (with the Toronto Blue Jays). “It’s just the confidence that he gives to the players. He lets you have fun. His communication with his players we’ve seen is (some) of the best that I had in my career, and I think that’s why he’s so special for this team and the players.” It is a big part of the job, but one that many fans overlook if they think about it at all. Roberts says he tries to communicate with every player every day to make sure they understand where they fit in, and while some of those conversations are easy, some aren’t. And the tone can be different at this time of year. “Some players are in a good place,” he said. “Some players, I think I need more out of. Some people are starting to feel a little bit of the anxiety. Some people might need a little bit of reassurance, encouragement.” Consider this vignette from the eighth inning on Wednesday night. Reliever Blake Treinen had already gotten six outs, but was struggling to get the seventh and last two he would need in the eighth to protect the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead. He had thrown 37 pitches, and given up a one-out double to Aaron Judge and a walk to Jazz Chisholm. Roberts popped out of the dugout and went to the mound. Ordinarily, that would mean a pitching change. Instead, Roberts talked to Treinen emphatically, putting his hands on the pitcher’s chest for emphasis, and then went back to the dugout. Treinen got Giancarlo Stanton on a pop-up and struck out Anthony Rizzo. End of threat, and Roberts explained later that he needed Treinen to finish out that inning to enable Walker Buehler to pitch the ninth. Buehler, essentially the last option, set the Yankees down 1-2-3 in the ninth to secure the title. And, said, Roberts, “he wanted the baseball. I just felt that he wasn’t going to run from the moment.” It was called turning a negative into a positive. After starter Jack Flaherty lasted all of nine batters, Roberts had to use all of those leverage pitchers he was able to rest in Game 4, and he still needed the projected Game 7 starter to close it out. Before Wednesday’s game Roberts was asked if his team reminded him of himself as a player. “They do,” he said. “They’re just more talented, but they do remind me of me. I had the toughness, but I didn’t have the talent of Mookie Betts. “I love people that fight. I don’t know if it’s my football background, but the playoffs, as I’ve said many times, it’s a fight. It’s a scrap. It’s a dogfight. It has to be that way.” Roberts and his counterpart in this series, Yankees manager Aaron Boone, are in similar positions. Managing a big city franchise with a history of success (and, yes, a willingness to spend money on payroll) has its advantages, but it also creates a no-win situation. Remember the old line from basketball’s Pat Riley that there’s winning, and then there’s misery? These guys live it. “We all have opinions or thoughts about what we would do or should do,” Boone said. “It’s one of the beauties of the game. Every move, if it works, it was the right move. If it didn’t, it wasn’t. That’s not necessarily true either. This game is gray and debatable. 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They’ve competed against each other as players (Red Sox and Yankees), and there’s a mutual respect but there’s also this. “I think Aaron is the only one in baseball that can really relate to my job in the sense of either win a World Series championship or you failed and you’re not doing a good job in the respective markets,” Roberts said. As Boone put it afterward: “This is going to sting forever.” Winning and misery. [email protected]