Speaker 1: The quest for the three peat has begun.
Speaker 2: Only four teams in Major League Baseball history have won
Speaker 2: three consecutive titles. The Dodgers are the favorites to become
Speaker 2: the fifth.
Speaker 1: This is World Champion Dodger Talk.
Speaker 3: Here we go again, Briga running.
Speaker 4: Back to get him on the show called eight six
Speaker 4: six nine eighty seven two five seventy, and be sure
Speaker 4: to follow Dodger Talk wherever you can catch your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, David Vase.
Speaker 2: Last day, the Dodgers win the series over the Rangers,
Speaker 2: but fall today by a final score of five to two.
Speaker 2: Welcome the Dodger Talk David Vase with you until five
Speaker 2: thirty tonight. We have phone lines open at eight sixty
Speaker 2: six nine eight seven two five seventy. Jose Moto will
Speaker 2: check in in twenty minutes and we'll give you the
Speaker 2: latest on Edwin Diaz.
Speaker 3: There seems to be some questions about.
Speaker 2: His availability last night, his availability if the Dodgers had
Speaker 2: a save situation today after blowing the save on Friday night.
Speaker 2: So we'll get to that, and I have my own
Speaker 2: personal theory on why or why not he may not
Speaker 2: have been available yesterday or today. So we'll get to
Speaker 2: that in a moment, But really the story today is
Speaker 2: that the Dodger pitching staff was off to a slow
Speaker 2: start from the very beginning, because, as Dave Roberts always
Speaker 2: likes to say, the starting pitcher sets the tone, and
Speaker 2: quite frankly, Roki Sasaki couldn't find the strike zone today
Speaker 2: as he walked five batters in just four innings of work.
Speaker 2: The Dodger pitching staff walked ten batters for the first
Speaker 2: time since last September. The Dodger pitching staff through one
Speaker 2: hundred and ninety nine pitches today, including ninety four from Sasaki,
Speaker 2: in only four innings of work. He's very fortunate that
Speaker 2: he only gave up two earned runs because he was
Speaker 2: all over the place today and he only threw forty
Speaker 2: percent of his pitches in the zone. The major league
Speaker 2: average this year is forty nine percent. And when you
Speaker 2: see things on Twitter saying hashtag roller coaster Rokie, it's
Speaker 2: really not a roller coaster. He hasn't been throwing strikes
Speaker 2: consistently all year. There's no roller coaster. It's very consistent
Speaker 2: because today he only threw forty percent of his pitches
Speaker 2: in the zone, and for the year, he's only throwing
Speaker 2: forty percent of his pitches in the zone, and like
Speaker 2: I said, the league averages forty nine percent. I think
Speaker 2: we all understand what's going on here. The Dodgers are
Speaker 2: in a developmental phase with Roki Sasaki. He only has
Speaker 2: one major league win in his young career. After pitching
Speaker 2: the first couple of months last year and then going
Speaker 2: into the bullpen at the end of the year and
Speaker 2: in the post season, and look, he played a huge.
Speaker 3: Role to fill that void for the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: And here he is again trying to go back into
Speaker 2: the rotation, and his spray chart is just all over
Speaker 2: the place. And you know, in any other circumstance, any
Speaker 2: other team that couldn't afford this luxury of allowing Roki
Speaker 2: Sasaki to develop at the major league level, he would
Speaker 2: be at the minor leagues. That's where he would be.
Speaker 2: That's what it looks like right now. He should be.
Speaker 2: This was the Rangers, for example, There's no way they
Speaker 2: can handle this burden on their bullpen the way the
Speaker 2: Dodgers handle it.
Speaker 3: Every week.
Speaker 2: Ben Casparrius Will Klimb, Jack Dryer all did as much
Speaker 2: as they could do. But that's where it's at. And
Speaker 2: look the Dodgers. That's how good the Dodgers are. That's
Speaker 2: how loaded the Dodgers are to be able to absorb
Speaker 2: this to start every five six days, six seven days.
Speaker 2: No pun intended right there, six seven days. But he
Speaker 2: got out of a basis.
Speaker 3: Loaded jam in the third inning. That was good.
Speaker 2: But the Rangers were one for seven with runners in
Speaker 2: scoring positions, one for seven with runners in scoring position
Speaker 2: off him, and they left eight men on base in
Speaker 2: the first inning. Corey Seeker was trying to hit it
Speaker 2: to Pasadena. If he stays within himself, you know, that
Speaker 2: could have been a home run, a three run home run,
Speaker 2: could have been a Grand Slam. So I really do
Speaker 2: believe the Rangers let Sasaki off the hook. And all
Speaker 2: in all, the Rangers left twelve men on base today
Speaker 2: and we're just two for fourteen with runners in scoring position,
Speaker 2: with the Dodgers handing out ten free passes today and
Speaker 2: throwing one hundred and ninety nine pitches. So that's just
Speaker 2: where it was today for the Dodgers. It was not
Speaker 2: off to a good start with the way Sasaki was pitching,
Speaker 2: and he kind of felt like, Okay, when is Ben
Speaker 2: Casparius coming into this game. He was actually the middle
Speaker 2: guy after Jack Dryer came in and then Will Klein
Speaker 2: finished the game for the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: So that's how today went for the Dodgers. And they're
Speaker 3: very like I.
Speaker 2: Said, they are so good to absorb this type of
Speaker 2: performance every six seven days. They were eleven and four
Speaker 2: baseball's best record. And Jacob deGrom was really good today.
Speaker 2: He went six innings, had nine strikeouts, allowed just the
Speaker 2: leadoff home run to Otani. And you got to tip
Speaker 2: your cap to de Gram, who is a two time
Speaker 2: CYANNG Award winner and when he's healthy, he's one of
Speaker 2: the best out there.
Speaker 3: And he showed why today.
Speaker 2: And like I mentioned last night, I was a little
Speaker 2: skeptical about how long he was going to stay in
Speaker 2: this game after feeling something in his right knee after
Speaker 2: his last start, so much so he had an mri
Speaker 2: I on his right knee that came back clean. But
Speaker 2: Dave Roberts said before the game they anticipated no restrictions
Speaker 2: on to Gram and that was evident today. Eight six
Speaker 2: six two five seventy is the phone number. Let's head
Speaker 2: downstairs to the Dodger clubhouse right in Nadi. Here from
Speaker 2: today's starting catcher Dalton rushing on what he saw from
Speaker 2: Roki Sasaki.
Speaker 5: I thought he walked a couple guys that he could
Speaker 5: have beat personally, But it was good to kind of
Speaker 5: see him bounce back after walking a couple of week
Speaker 5: off guys and getting some swinging mess. I uh, I
Speaker 5: don't think it was a bad outing at all. It's
Speaker 5: kind of the same thing. We just have to lean
Speaker 5: on really attacking hitters a little more and getting ahead,
Speaker 5: and I think that changes the counts for hitters facing
Speaker 5: him and also gets a little more chase. You see
Speaker 5: what he did obviously with runners on and getting ahead
Speaker 5: with the splitter, getting ahead with the cutter, getting more
Speaker 5: mess on his fastball, getting my mess on my switter.
Speaker 1: He felt like this splitter work was playing better. Now
Speaker 1: were you seeing that? And just how much was sharp
Speaker 1: it is?
Speaker 5: I guess in this outing, Yeah, I guess you could
Speaker 5: say it was a little sharper. I think I think
Speaker 5: that just came with like establishing the strikes on with
Speaker 5: it and then kind of flooding away from it with
Speaker 5: it as well. But yeah, at the same time, I
Speaker 5: think we can get him to establish the strikes in
Speaker 5: a little sooner and if we do that from pitch one,
Speaker 5: he'll be lights out.
Speaker 3: I said at him.
Speaker 6: Once he got to two outs in the third day,
Speaker 6: and then you know, a bunch of guys reached at all.
Speaker 5: I do maybe just lost Phil a little bit, sped
Speaker 5: up a little bit. I really I haven't spoke to him.
Speaker 5: I'll talk to him tomorrow about his outing and we'll
Speaker 5: kind of go through each pitch, go through each batter
Speaker 5: and understand what he did really well, understand what he
Speaker 5: could improve on.
Speaker 2: All right, there's Dalton Rushing who was behind the plate
Speaker 2: today for Roki Sasaki. And speaking of Rushing, he tried
Speaker 2: to bail him out in that third inning where things
Speaker 2: were really starting to go off the rails, but didn't.
Speaker 2: He tried to challenge a borderline pitch in the third
Speaker 2: inning to prevent the bases being loaded against Josh Young.
Speaker 2: Instead it was a ball and Young walked to load
Speaker 2: the bases. Luckily, there was a play that Freddie Freeman
Speaker 2: and Roki Sasaki made that got them out of it.
Speaker 2: Ezekiel Durant hit a ball why to first base that
Speaker 2: Freeman fielded, and good on Roki to field his position
Speaker 2: and break for first base right away, and he was
Speaker 2: able to get that final out. So that was one
Speaker 2: of the houdiniacs that Roki Sasaki had today. And the
Speaker 2: Dodgers were out of challenges after the third inning because
Speaker 2: after rushing came up empty on challenging behind the plate
Speaker 2: on that young ball or strike, Hayes on Kim ill
Speaker 2: advised challenge in the third inning, And that was an
Speaker 2: issue as well, because I've gotten a glimpse into the Dodgers'
Speaker 2: strategy as far as challenging pitches as a hitter number one.
Speaker 2: Max Munsey is on the record saying they want to
Speaker 2: leave as many challenges for the catcher number two. The
Speaker 2: Dodgers are not going or not supposed to challenge pitches
Speaker 2: like that that are not going to really make a difference.
Speaker 2: Because when Kim struck out looking in the third inning,
Speaker 2: there was just a runner at first base in Alex's
Speaker 2: call and nobody out. I mean, that's not what the
Speaker 2: Dodgers are looking for from their hitters to challenge later
Speaker 2: in the game. A leverage count, a situation with runners
Speaker 2: on base, runners in scoring position, that's what they're looking
Speaker 2: for from their hitters on when to challenge, and that
Speaker 2: just seemed to be an impulsive challenge that the dugout
Speaker 2: was not happy with that Hayesan Kim did and he
Speaker 2: was wrong. He was wrong, and he couldn't believe he
Speaker 2: was wrong either. Eight six six nine eight seven two
Speaker 2: five seven.
Speaker 3: He is the phone number.
Speaker 2: There was another play that just was indicative of how
Speaker 2: the Dodgers played today.
Speaker 3: Runners at first and second.
Speaker 2: This third inning, by the way, was the ugliest inning
Speaker 2: for the Dodgers because this took place in the third inning,
Speaker 2: leadoff walk by call. Kim challenges, fails, strikes out looking
Speaker 2: for the first out. Shoe a Otani walks, and Kyle
Speaker 2: Tucker is at the plate and strikes out one of
Speaker 2: two strikeouts, so that was the second out. Then you
Speaker 2: have Andy Piz, who is hitting third today, who has
Speaker 2: been outstanding with runners in scoring position, runners at first
Speaker 2: and second with two outs, Piz in a one to
Speaker 2: two count albeit and he is at the plate fighting
Speaker 2: to Grom and it feels like you have the right
Speaker 2: guy at the plate to get the Dodgers back in
Speaker 2: the game. And there was a double steal that went awry,
Speaker 2: and Dave Roberts explain what took place. Who was at
Speaker 2: fault was an Alex Call who stopped or Otani not
Speaker 2: realizing Call was not going to third base. On what
Speaker 2: they were reading at that play as what it looked
Speaker 2: to be a double steal.
Speaker 5: Cal said, there if it wasn't a double steel call
Speaker 5: later he just started reading that in real time.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think, you know, if we had to do
Speaker 7: it over again, he's got to be a second base.
Speaker 7: You know, you've got your arguably your hottest hitter or
Speaker 7: your heart at your hottest hitter at the plate with
Speaker 7: two outs, and you know, he just can't get caught
Speaker 7: up in a rundown there. You can't do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, looking at the high home angle that we have
Speaker 2: here at our disposal, Call was way off second base.
Speaker 2: And then he started to break for third base, and
Speaker 2: he was halfway between second and third and stopped and
Speaker 2: went back, and O'tani was standing at second base when
Speaker 2: all that happened. I guess it goes back to what
Speaker 2: everybody talks about. If you're the trail runner, you got
Speaker 2: to make sure that lead runner is going. But yeah,
Speaker 2: Alex Call got caught in no man's land and that
Speaker 2: ended the inning with Paz holding the bat in his hand,
Speaker 2: and to me, that was a disastrous third inning.
Speaker 3: In more ways than one.
Speaker 2: Eight six, six, ninety seven, two, five seventies the phone number.
Speaker 2: Dodgers fall to the Rangers today five to two, but
Speaker 2: take two out of three from Texas. Let's go out
Speaker 2: to Chatsworth. Glenn, you're on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi.
Speaker 3: Glenn, Hey, Dave, go Dodgers.
Speaker 8: Loving the Dodgers a Rokie, he battled, He did everything
Speaker 8: he could. I know he didn't have complete commands, but
Speaker 8: he showed the ability to get strikeouts. Maybe he needs
Speaker 8: a bitch to contact a little bit more. Maybe he
Speaker 8: needs a more experienced catcher like Will Smith in there
Speaker 8: with him instead of Dalton.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 8: But the Dodger Vassi to come alive to healthy, kid out.
Speaker 9: I think I love the Dodgers.
Speaker 8: I mean, come on, let's go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Dodgers are going to have a big season, Glenn,
Speaker 2: but there are going to be times where they don't
Speaker 2: play their best. They're human, they're not perfect, and they
Speaker 2: can overcome a lot with their talent. Just today they
Speaker 2: coulind of overcome a bad third inning, and really their
Speaker 2: pictures not throwing strikes starting with Roki Sasaki. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a big year, no doubt about it,
Speaker 2: or it already is. They have the best record in baseball.
Speaker 2: Eight six, sieven two, five seventy is the phone number.
Speaker 2: Let's go out to Sierra Madre. Josh, you're on Dodger
Speaker 2: Talk on this beautiful Sunday.
Speaker 10: How you doing, Josh, Hello, David, Thank you for taking
Speaker 10: my call. I appreciate it. It's a very sticky situation
Speaker 10: with Rokie, There's no question about it. I think today
Speaker 10: you kind of saw the yin and the yang. He
Speaker 10: saw the good, the potential of what he could be
Speaker 10: with the six strikeouts, but he also saw the ugly side,
Speaker 10: like five walks in a game is unacceptable for any
Speaker 10: for any picture. And I understand the Dodgers want to
Speaker 10: do right by him. They made a promise to him
Speaker 10: and they want to keep it that way, and you
Speaker 10: know they don't want to hurt his feelings and whatnot.
Speaker 10: At the same time, you have to wonder how much
Speaker 10: longer they can go with this, because at some point
Speaker 10: the Dodgers will have other pitchers ready to step in,
Speaker 10: Blake Snell, River, Ryan, Gavin Stone. I'm sure they want
Speaker 10: to give rob Leski some more search. So it's great
Speaker 10: that you know they want to give Susaki this runway
Speaker 10: or whatnot, but at some point, if he's not able
Speaker 10: to put it together, they're going to have to set
Speaker 10: him to okay. See because you said it and other
Speaker 10: people have said it. If this was any other picture,
Speaker 10: he'd be in the minor leagues trying to figure it
Speaker 10: out right now. And you just can't keep but putting
Speaker 10: guys on base. There's too many erratic pitches out there,
Speaker 10: and it's we'll see, but at some point he's got
Speaker 10: to put it together or they have to set them
Speaker 10: to okay.
Speaker 9: See.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe when Snell comes back that's kind of
Speaker 2: be that's going to be the crossroads of where he's
Speaker 2: at and what the Dodgers decide to do, and that's
Speaker 2: not going to be until mid May. So he still
Speaker 2: got some opportunities luckily for him today and in his
Speaker 2: last start, the Dodgers picked him up and we're able
Speaker 2: to compensate for him not being able to fill up
Speaker 2: the zone. But you're right, there's no other team in
Speaker 2: baseball that could absorb these type of starts and have
Speaker 2: a six man rotation to be able to absorb a
Speaker 2: number one number two to be able to have the
Speaker 2: depth they have, the team they have, and that's part
Speaker 2: of the long game the Dodgers are playing this season.
Speaker 2: Eight six six, seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Speaker 2: Let's go to Edwin Diaz. I'm not a big guy
Speaker 2: that loves to talk in hypotheticals, but Dave Roberts was
Speaker 2: asked after today's game if it was a safe situation,
Speaker 2: was Edwin Diaz available, and he refused to answer. He said,
Speaker 2: I'm going to keep that one close to my vest.
Speaker 2: That's gamesmanship. Before the game, he was asked a lot
Speaker 2: about Edwin Diaz, and I saw Edwin out here this
Speaker 2: morning throwing with the other reliever like he does. He
Speaker 2: comes out every day, throws off flat round, tries to
Speaker 2: work on his pitches, and look, the reality is the
Speaker 2: fastball was down. I pointed that out after Friday night's game.
Speaker 2: But then you start to look a little bit deeper
Speaker 2: into his history, and April seems to be the month
Speaker 2: that his fastball is a little slower than what it
Speaker 2: is in the rest of the season. Rest of the
Speaker 2: season outside of April, he's averaging ninety seven on his fastball.
Speaker 2: Right now, he's averaging ninety five and that's what he
Speaker 2: averaged the last couple of years in the month of April.
Speaker 2: But really on Friday night, it wasn't just the fastball,
Speaker 2: it was his flat slider. So as a relief pitcher,
Speaker 2: you don't have the luxury as a starter to try
Speaker 2: to work things out mechanically five or six days in
Speaker 2: between appearances. You may be called the very next day,
Speaker 2: and it's hard to get yourself right when you're pitching
Speaker 2: virtually every night and the guy that they count on
Speaker 2: in the ninth inning. So here's my theory. Dave robert says,
Speaker 2: it's not physical. We saw Edwin Diaz out here throwing.
Speaker 2: He seemed fine, and then Dave Roberts said, it's not
Speaker 2: mechanical either. So if it's not physical and it's not mechanical,
Speaker 2: and you're not going to see whether or not he
Speaker 2: was available today, what's going on? Should there be a
Speaker 2: cause for concern? And I believe it's a very simple
Speaker 2: answer that the Dodgers don't want to disclose because it
Speaker 2: could give them a competitive disadvantage today tomorrow, until this
Speaker 2: period is over. And what this period is, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: I don't know anything, but I have seen, you know,
Speaker 2: over the years, some things and pictures have said at
Speaker 2: the end of spring training and sometimes the first couple
Speaker 2: of weeks of the regular season, they may experience what
Speaker 2: they call dead arm. It just doesn't have the life
Speaker 2: in his arm. Doesn't mean he's hurt, doesn't mean he
Speaker 2: has any mechanical issues. It's just dead arm. And a
Speaker 2: lot of time pitchers get that coming out of spring training,
Speaker 2: maybe at the end of spring training, and sometimes some
Speaker 2: pitchers get it at the end of the season or
Speaker 2: in August.
Speaker 3: So this is normal.
Speaker 2: But do the Dodgers want to let anybody know that
Speaker 2: Diaz has dead arm and that's the reason why they're
Speaker 2: not going to pitch him today or tomorrow. They very well,
Speaker 2: he may feel great tomorrow. We'll have to wait and
Speaker 2: see if that situation arises. But from what I gathered,
Speaker 2: I mean, there was so many wires crossed with some
Speaker 2: of the answers Dave Roberts was giving even Edwin Diaz
Speaker 2: spoke to us this morning and said there was nothing physical.
Speaker 2: But a lot of times a player will say that
Speaker 2: when they don't want to let anybody know. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it could be a little bit of dead arm. I
Speaker 2: don't think there's any cause for alarm outside of that,
Speaker 2: especially with his history in the month of April. But
Speaker 2: that's where it's at with Edwin Diaz in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Eight sixty six, nine eighty seven two five seventy is
Speaker 2: the phone number. Maybe he needs to go see my
Speaker 2: guy Sam, a Downy Hundai. He sells cars. Maybe he
Speaker 2: could help with dead arm. Took care of me, I
Speaker 2: mean my my Hyundai Tucson weathered the rain last night
Speaker 2: and this morning, and I was feeling great. Great windshield wipers,
Speaker 2: great vibe. Thank you to Downey Hunday. They're getting me
Speaker 2: to the stadium all season long. Let's go out to
Speaker 2: Nick and Northridge. You're on Dodger Talk.
Speaker 6: How you doing Nick, I'm doing good, mister Vass. Thank
Speaker 6: you for taking my call.
Speaker 9: Thank you for calling me that.
Speaker 3: And stop that. Do not call me that, Dave I digress, please,
Speaker 3: it makes it awkward.
Speaker 6: Your coverage is exceptional, and especially your postseason coverage. I
Speaker 6: really appreciate all you do bringing us coverage of the
Speaker 6: team all year round. Thank you so much. I have
Speaker 6: a thought I want to float your way about about
Speaker 6: roll on, take.
Speaker 2: A breath, See hey Nick, Nick, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 2: a a lesson in speech, see the period number one,
Speaker 2: thank you number two.
Speaker 3: Just call me David. Now, go ahead and tell me
Speaker 3: what you see with Roki.
Speaker 8: Thank you, David Comma.
Speaker 6: Here's a thought I'm wondering if I'm wondering if if
Speaker 6: Doc and Mark Pryor might want to think about this.
Speaker 6: Rochi was so successful out of the bullpen for us
Speaker 6: in the post Singson last year, and he's obviously struggling
Speaker 6: as a starter a bit with the mentality right now.
Speaker 6: I'm wondering as he's also developing a feel for a
Speaker 6: third pitch. First off, I think he's going to benefit
Speaker 6: so much more by being in Los Angeles. I really
Speaker 6: don't think sending him down to Oklahoma City, sixteen hundred
Speaker 6: miles away and culturally the state of Oklahoma is not
Speaker 6: going to benefit Roki Sasaki as much as being.
Speaker 3: In one Are you taking a shot at Oklaho home
Speaker 3: a city? Right now?
Speaker 6: Being being sitting next to Yamamoto and Otani for one
Speaker 6: sixty two, as a human being and as a professional,
Speaker 6: he's going to learn more and be a better ballplayer
Speaker 6: by being around those two guys as a young man
Speaker 6: and as young as a young Dodger that is going
Speaker 6: to benefit him in the long run more than anything
Speaker 6: that he can learn down in. Okay, see, but here's
Speaker 6: my thought, and I want to hear what you think
Speaker 6: that kind of middle ground between jumping right into the
Speaker 6: rotation and being a reliever is would Doc and Mark
Speaker 6: pryor maybe think about an opener at this point of
Speaker 6: the series or at this point of the season and
Speaker 6: maybe start tasparious for an inning or two and then
Speaker 6: bring Rokie in and let him try to go three,
Speaker 6: four or five innings or until you know, just kind
Speaker 6: of change.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I would not
Speaker 2: be behind that idea because number one, he's a guy
Speaker 2: that obviously has a routine. He has strong beliefs in
Speaker 2: his routine and doesn't want that disrupted if he's going
Speaker 2: to be a starting pitcher. So no, I would say
Speaker 2: I would not be in on an opener, especially when
Speaker 2: you have a guy that right now can't throw strikes,
Speaker 2: and then you use an opener and all of a
Speaker 2: sudden you got a guy that's supposed to be your
Speaker 2: bulk or starting pitcher that can't throw strikes. I would
Speaker 2: not be in on that. I'm not opposed nick to
Speaker 2: Roki being a reliever. That may be his future in baseball.
Speaker 2: This version of him, we saw him do pretty well,
Speaker 2: but then it started to tail off towards the end
Speaker 2: of the postseason last year. And look, I'm all in
Speaker 2: Otani's not tutoring Roki Sasaki.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: He's got his hands full pitching and hitting right now,
Speaker 2: so he's not mentoring Roki Sasaki. Maybe Yamamoto can help
Speaker 2: him a little bit, But I'm a big believer of
Speaker 2: working things out. When you're a young pitcher twenty three
Speaker 2: years old and you're not a finished product, developing in
Speaker 2: the minor leagues and getting reps and getting on the
Speaker 2: mound talking about it is not going to do anything.
Speaker 2: But look, he's here to stay for now. You heard
Speaker 2: Dave Roberts. They're gonna put him out there again, and
Speaker 2: let's see if the developmental process that you're talking about
Speaker 2: works at the major league level. That's what the Dodgers
Speaker 2: are counting on. I think everybody's coming up with different ideas.
Speaker 2: Either he starts at the major league level, or he
Speaker 2: starts in the minor league level, or you say, you
Speaker 2: know what, you may be better suited in the bullpen
Speaker 2: I'm not no no opener. No, all right, We're going
Speaker 2: to take a time out here on Dodger Talk. When
Speaker 2: we come back, we'll check in with Jose Modo. We'll
Speaker 2: get his thoughts on what direction the Dodgers should go
Speaker 2: at Roki Sasaki and also get his thoughts on how
Speaker 2: things went today for the Dodgers after they fall to
Speaker 2: the Rangers five to two, but win two out of three,
Speaker 2: win the series in their first series of this homestand
Speaker 2: close it out with three against the struggling Mets. There's
Speaker 2: more Dodger Talk on the other side right here on
Speaker 2: A five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 4: On air at AM five seventy, online at AM five
Speaker 4: seventy LA sports dot com, and available my podcast on
Speaker 4: the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: This is Dodger Talk with David Fastca.
Speaker 2: He was dealt with injuries throughout his career, but he's
Speaker 2: certainly been able to prevent runs. Otani swings the first pitch,
Speaker 2: hits a drive tape to.
Speaker 1: Right right back. It's god first pitch home run.
Speaker 2: Back to back days for old Tani with leadoff home runs,
Speaker 2: and the Dodgers jump.
Speaker 3: On the com one nothing.
Speaker 2: Show, Hey Otani, extending his on bass streak with one
Speaker 2: swing of the back to lead off the bottom of
Speaker 2: the first inning. Otani now forty six games of reaching
Speaker 2: base that is still the fifth longest in franchise history. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: that was not enough to beat Jacob de Gram and
Speaker 2: the Rangers today, as Texas Salvage is the final game
Speaker 2: of this three game series with a five to two win.
Speaker 2: Daniels Jewelers presents the home run Forecast. For your chance
Speaker 2: to win a fifty dollars Daniels Jeweler's gift card, visit
Speaker 2: a five to seventy LA Sports dot Com.
Speaker 3: Use the keyword home run. Daniels Jewelers own the dream.
Speaker 1: It's time to go around the horn with jose Mota.
Speaker 2: All right, Jose Mota. The Roki Sasaki debate rages on today.
Speaker 3: What would you do with Roki?
Speaker 2: What's the way to try to find a way to
Speaker 2: make him a finished product?
Speaker 9: The only one that's going to happen is to understand
Speaker 9: that he is in the perfect system that at this
Speaker 9: point kind of zor what he's doing. Rookie needs to
Speaker 9: get better in a lot of ways, but Roki also
Speaker 9: needs to understand that hitting is hard in the big leagues, Dave,
Speaker 9: and I think he's just given too many guys way
Speaker 9: too much credit. Rookie's average against in his career, okay
Speaker 9: including today is two thirty four. It's not like they're
Speaker 9: just going out there and smacking them around. But the issue, obviously,
Speaker 9: I mean not discovering anything here is the walks. He
Speaker 9: gets himself into a lot of trouble by not having
Speaker 9: assistant confidence, I'm going to say, which is to me,
Speaker 9: the biggest word. He lacks confidence in early inccounts to
Speaker 9: go out there and fill his own When you're nibbling
Speaker 9: and you're missing by that little Dave, when you're zero
Speaker 9: zero count, what an account. It seems like you were
Speaker 9: afraid of contact and consider something else. He's pitched himself
Speaker 9: out of trouble throughout his career one seventy average against
Speaker 9: them throughout his career men in scolling position. But he's
Speaker 9: got to avoid those situations by going out there and
Speaker 9: trusting that by keeping the ball down as he asked
Speaker 9: me that last night. Spinning the ball down also and
Speaker 9: having a better finish on that sladder is going to
Speaker 9: make everything better. But it all starts with his head,
Speaker 9: with confidence and understanding that he's in the big leagues
Speaker 9: and that is very hard to hit guys of this
Speaker 9: stuff at this level.
Speaker 2: And when you talk about not attacking and not having confidence,
Speaker 2: does he feel like he doesn't have what it takes
Speaker 2: to be able to get big league hitters out?
Speaker 3: Does he have enough in the holster?
Speaker 9: I think on the mental side was affecting him, thinking that, well,
Speaker 9: if I just started popping balls right down the middle
Speaker 9: or getting some you know, breaking balls over, I'm going
Speaker 9: to get hit. He's not. He's going to believe that. Again,
Speaker 9: you can tell guys in BP what's coming. Everybody doesn't
Speaker 9: get a baseit VP ball coming to fifty miles an hour.
Speaker 9: But here's some numbers that really caught my eye and
Speaker 9: I'm gonna share with you. Consider this it there's a
Speaker 9: lack of focus to me, and also like a lack
Speaker 9: of like attack and certain times the leadoff hitter came
Speaker 9: into today in his career bting three sixty lead off
Speaker 9: hitters okay six eighty slugging, number two hitter two hundred,
Speaker 9: number three hitter one forty three, number four hitter one hundred,
Speaker 9: number five hitter one hundred, now number eight hitter four
Speaker 9: seventy four, number nine, hitter three fifty seven. Are you
Speaker 9: going to tell me that number one, hitter eight, and
Speaker 9: nine are better than the guys in the middle. No,
Speaker 9: but his stuff is good enough to attack what he
Speaker 9: needs to and those are numbers he needs to see
Speaker 9: because he's going out there and attacking some guys what
Speaker 9: he needs to. But it seems like he lacks a
Speaker 9: little bit of focus and understanding what he needs to
Speaker 9: do against guys with lesser names, lesser average, lesser greentios,
Speaker 9: because those are the guys that are really hurting him.
Speaker 9: Looking what happened today and tell me who hurt him
Speaker 9: those guys again?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. I mean he he was lucky.
Speaker 2: Corey Seeger though in the first inning, really pulled his
Speaker 2: head towards the Rangers, dugout over swung and I just
Speaker 2: feel like the Rangers helped him out a lot today
Speaker 2: with some of their swings against him.
Speaker 9: And again, Corey Siegert, middle of the older guy, what
Speaker 9: does he do well? Corey Siegert pulled out a little
Speaker 9: bit because he was able to at least say I'm
Speaker 9: gonna come with this, which is hitable, try to hit it,
Speaker 9: and that's what he needs to do a little bit
Speaker 9: more of So the experiment will continue, the volt will continue.
Speaker 9: But at some point you're going to just understand that
Speaker 9: he might be just asked to give you five good
Speaker 9: innings out there, and give you five let it go.
Speaker 9: But Dave, no matter what, developmentally, he's got two of
Speaker 9: the best in the business in developing pictures and making
Speaker 9: pitture to understand what they have, and Mike Prior and
Speaker 9: a Cunnor McGinnis. And to me, the slider that he
Speaker 9: has is not good enough to play in the big consistently.
Speaker 9: And somebody, and I understood this from Buddy Black years ago,
Speaker 9: somebody with a big whip in his arm like he does,
Speaker 9: has to have a slider that's tight. It's uncomfortable, and
Speaker 9: it's really hard to lay off of when he does
Speaker 9: it right, But he throws us so carefully sometimes and
Speaker 9: so cautiously that it just does not have that consistent
Speaker 9: vite to get guys out.
Speaker 2: Jose Mota is joining us on Dodger Talk after the
Speaker 2: Rangers defeats the Dodgers today five to two. There was
Speaker 2: a plane the third inning that everybody was confused about
Speaker 2: what went wrong, whose fault was it, and that was
Speaker 2: the base running play where Pa has at the plate
Speaker 2: with Otani at first base, Alex Call at second base.
Speaker 2: You heard what Dave Roberts had to say, but is
Speaker 2: it on the trail runner to recognize that the lead
Speaker 2: guy Call in this case is caught in no man's
Speaker 2: land and he's not going.
Speaker 9: It starts with a guy leading, and that's Alex Called,
Speaker 9: who have been bouncing around second base a little bit
Speaker 9: with Pie hitting. You want to avoid anything with Pie,
Speaker 9: especially with two struts and facing a guy like the Graham.
Speaker 9: You cannot have that happen. Now on showy side, he's
Speaker 9: got to make sure that number one, there's not just
Speaker 9: two steps on a fake that the guy is going.
Speaker 9: So they're both at fault, but mainly the main the
Speaker 9: main guy is the lead guy because he started everything
Speaker 9: with that movement by checking everybody out, which in a
Speaker 9: situation to where you do not want to do that
Speaker 9: With the best side base hitter in baseball hitting that call, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I felt like that was a golden opportunity and indicative
Speaker 2: of the way today was going. Because the Dodger pitching
Speaker 2: staff walk ten hitters and the Dodger hitters struck out
Speaker 2: twelve times today. That's not a recipe for a win,
Speaker 2: no matter how good you are.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I got a look at the big picture. Yeah
Speaker 9: they won the series resculated. But I think when you
Speaker 9: lose like this, you see a lot of things that
Speaker 9: are exposed and that you know they're going to go
Speaker 9: out there and tighten up. And again you're facing one
Speaker 9: of the best pictures in this generation in the groum.
Speaker 9: Who's not given in And one thing that really was
Speaker 9: noticeable today they pay attention to this with the Gram
Speaker 9: and Danny Jensen behind the plate, a lot of less
Speaker 9: than batters, saw a lot of brick and balls away
Speaker 9: for strikes, fast away for strikes. So the Gram, even
Speaker 9: though he does possess a big fastball, that's what we
Speaker 9: talk about respect. They have to respect his fastble so
Speaker 9: much that he was able to go, you know what,
Speaker 9: you're giving me so much in the other half, I'm
Speaker 9: going to exploit it. And that was the main cost
Speaker 9: not Ey three pitches so effectively, you know, six innings,
Speaker 9: which reminded us of who the Gram is really as
Speaker 9: a two time shall you want to award winner?
Speaker 2: All right, Jose, thanks a lot for checking in. We'll
Speaker 2: see how things go against the Mets. It should be
Speaker 2: a fun series, should be a sellout crowd for all
Speaker 2: three games.
Speaker 9: A new day, new series. You think edywin does don't
Speaker 9: want to be out there against the men's I'm counting
Speaker 9: on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so. He'll do whatever it takes
Speaker 2: to be ready for them.
Speaker 9: Have a great Sunday, my friend.
Speaker 3: Thank you too.
Speaker 2: There he goes Jose Mota, part of the Dodgers Spanish
Speaker 2: radio broadcast. Dodgers fall to the Rangers today, five to two.
Speaker 2: Corey Seeger, after hitting a three run home run in
Speaker 2: the first game of this series, really didn't do much
Speaker 2: of anything after that. He was zero for four today.
Speaker 2: Jock Peterson one for four today with a run score.
Speaker 2: Texas left twelve men on base even though they beat
Speaker 2: the Dodgers five to two, and tomorrow the Dodgers will
Speaker 2: welcome in the Mets. As we mentioned the struggling Mets.
Speaker 2: The Mets are coming to Dodgers Stadium, losers of five
Speaker 2: in a row and have been shut out by the
Speaker 2: Sacramento As two of the last three games, including today
Speaker 2: one to nothing. The Dodgers are going to see David
Speaker 2: Peterson tomorrow night. The left hander in three starts is
Speaker 2: zero to two with an ERA of six fourteen. He's
Speaker 2: going up against Justin Robleski. The pitching matchup that I'm
Speaker 2: the most eager to watch in this series is the
Speaker 2: middle game of this series, Yama Moto against rookie Nolan McClain.
Speaker 2: That is going to be an outstanding pitching matchup because
Speaker 2: those in Mets camp told me that this kid McClain
Speaker 2: is real and he may be a similar type of
Speaker 2: pitcher as Yama Moto. So Yama Moto versus Nolan McClain.
Speaker 2: That's the game that I'm circling. The middle game of
Speaker 2: this three game series against the Mets tomorrow night, and
Speaker 2: all three games first pitches at seven to ten. Our
Speaker 2: coverage begins at six o'clock. That'll do it for us
Speaker 2: tonight from Uniclo Field at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 3: Thanks to Colin Ye back at our Burbank studios, Thanks.
Speaker 2: To Dwayne McDonald out here at the ballpark, and thanks
Speaker 2: to you for listening. In case you missed any of
Speaker 2: the show, you can find it on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: You know who talked to Jack Dryer, who again pitched
Speaker 2: a scorelessening of relief today after striking out the side
Speaker 2: last night.
Speaker 3: This guy did relief etiquette rules. I talked to him
Speaker 3: when he gave up runs in the lead in Toronto.
Speaker 3: I'm the only guy that talked to him.
Speaker 2: Since he put up zeros the last two games. Have
Speaker 2: some relief etiquette people. Fox Sports Radio is coming up next.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a great rest of
Speaker 2: your night. The Rangers beat the Dodgers, but the Dodgers
Speaker 2: won the series.
Speaker 3: Have a great rest of your night. See them