Speaker 1: This is world champion Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: Here we go again.
Speaker 1: We get ready running back, hosted by Dodgers and signer
Speaker 1: David Bassi.
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Speaker 1: and now your host, here's Tim Kakes.
Speaker 3: Great to be with you on this Monday night, August
Speaker 3: the twenty fourth, as your Los Angeles Dodgers and join
Speaker 3: a day off as they head to Atlanta to begin
Speaker 3: a six game road trip tomorrow, first to three against
Speaker 3: the Brays. Hi, everybody, Tim Kates with you here for
Speaker 3: the next hour here on off Night Dodger Talk on
Speaker 3: your Home of the Dodgers, A five seventy LA Sports
Speaker 3: Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app Scorcher. Out there here
Speaker 3: in southern California, we have started a heat wave. We
Speaker 3: have started the heat of August, and just in time
Speaker 3: for all the kids that have gone back to school.
Speaker 4: As it was a.
Speaker 3: Nice cool, mid hot summer. It wasn't too bad really
Speaker 3: right through June and July. But here we are in
Speaker 3: late August, the kids have all gone back to school,
Speaker 3: colleges have restarted, and it's one hundred degrees in the
Speaker 3: San Fernando Valley. Is gonna be that way the rest
Speaker 3: of the week. But we got Dodgers baseball that is
Speaker 3: equally as hot. Dodgers winners of six in a row
Speaker 3: after a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend,
Speaker 3: and then now head to Atlanta for a big three
Speaker 3: game series against the Atlanta Braves, the team that is
Speaker 3: chasing them in the National League standings as far as
Speaker 3: the best record overall and the second place standings is concerned.
Speaker 3: And that's really at this point of the year I'm
Speaker 3: gonna start focusing on. I think the race as a
Speaker 3: whole is done. The Dodgers are gonna win the NL West,
Speaker 3: and I can say that with coms in that they
Speaker 3: are nine games up with thirty one to play. Now,
Speaker 3: can it happened? Certainly? We've seen teams blow leads before
Speaker 3: in the division, but it would have to take a
Speaker 3: disastrous run and a stretch of baseball that we have
Speaker 3: not seen in years from the Dodgers for that to happen.
Speaker 3: So I can say with a lot of confidence, I
Speaker 3: think we can all agree, right, Dodger fans, the Dodgers,
Speaker 3: with nine game lead in the division over the Padres,
Speaker 3: are gonna win the NL West at this point. The
Speaker 3: standings that to me mean the most are the overall
Speaker 3: National League standings. Best team in the league is the
Speaker 3: Milwaukee Brewers at eighty one and fifty infact, they're the
Speaker 3: best team in all of baseball. The Dodgers are one
Speaker 3: game back of the Milwaukee Brewers at eighty and fifty one,
Speaker 3: just one game back in the win and the lost
Speaker 3: column behind the Dodgers is the Atlanta Braves, who are
Speaker 3: four games back of the Dodgers at seventy six and
Speaker 3: fifty five. And nipping on their heels is the Chicago
Speaker 3: Cubs and right beyond them the Philadelphia Phillies. But those
Speaker 3: are teams that we're not necessarily worrying about right now.
Speaker 3: We're more focused on that separation between first and second
Speaker 3: and second and third in the National League standis because
Speaker 3: it is oh so important Dodger fans that the Dodgers
Speaker 3: get a buye in the wild Card round when it
Speaker 3: comes to October baseball. And certainly it's been up and
Speaker 3: down second half of this season. And a week ago
Speaker 3: we're talking and the sky is falling. The Dodgers lost
Speaker 3: three of four to the Milwaukee Brewers, and it's a
Speaker 3: Dodgers team that was struggling to do the simple things
Speaker 3: right defense, moving runners along, base running. Certainly, the pitching
Speaker 3: would have been up and down, the hitting had been
Speaker 3: sparsed times. The Dodgers just weren't playing very good baseball
Speaker 3: in all facets. And how things have dramatically changed for
Speaker 3: Dave Roberts and this Dodgers team, which had lost three
Speaker 3: or four to the Brewers, had a four and three
Speaker 3: homestand including the wins over the Kansas City Royals, and
Speaker 3: Dave Roberts said, this team was not playing up to par.
Speaker 3: This team was not playing the way he expected him
Speaker 3: to play. They go to Colorado, they sweep the Rockies
Speaker 3: in three games, and then they take care of the
Speaker 3: Pirates over the weekend in a three game sweep, and
Speaker 3: now the Dodgers have won six in a row.
Speaker 4: Really excited, I think, you know, from one side, it's
Speaker 4: good for us to feel like every single night we
Speaker 4: have a chance to win with the starter. On the
Speaker 4: other side, it's it's like I've used before, it's daunting
Speaker 4: as an offense, opposing offense to look at the PROBA
Speaker 4: bulls and you see Glass now Yamamoto, Snell Sasaki and
Speaker 4: then potentially show, Hey, it's like it gets daunting. And
Speaker 4: so from our standpoint, you know, you feel like you
Speaker 4: can keep you know, sustaining this run that we're on
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is the best way to describe what the
Speaker 3: Dodgers have moving forward, and that's why it's so important
Speaker 3: for them to get the wild card spot and not
Speaker 3: have to play in that round and get one of
Speaker 3: the top two spots in the National League. Is this
Speaker 3: is a daunting pitching staff and rotation that the Dodgers
Speaker 3: have now put together here in the second half of
Speaker 3: the season. And it's only you gonna get stronger with
Speaker 3: Tyler Glass now making the return tomorrow and further down
Speaker 3: the road show Hey Otani expected to get back into
Speaker 3: this starting rotation. This is absolutely a daunting rotation if
Speaker 3: you're an opposing team that you're gonna have to face,
Speaker 3: we talk about how deep this lineup has been over
Speaker 3: the years, and especially in the last three years one
Speaker 3: through nine. Where do you come up for water? Where
Speaker 3: do you get to take a deep breath if you're
Speaker 3: a pitcher on the opposing team. Where is there a break?
Speaker 3: Where's that out that you can see in this lineup?
Speaker 3: There's just hadn't been one. There was no holes really
Speaker 3: in this Dodgers' lineup. Well that's now the case with
Speaker 3: this Dodgers' pitching staff because they are going to finally
Speaker 3: be healthy here in short order, with Tyler Glass now
Speaker 3: returning and show Heyotani returning here down the road, this
Speaker 3: could be and there's no doubt the best rotation in baseball.
Speaker 3: And all the non Dodger fans are gonna say, yeah,
Speaker 3: of course, yeah, you stockpiled Blake's. Now you go out
Speaker 3: and get Trek Scoogle. Well, it hasn't necessarily panned out
Speaker 3: that way for this Dodgers team the last two plus seasons,
Speaker 3: and go back to twenty twenty four, as greyt as
Speaker 3: a rotation looked, everybody got hurt. There was nobody around
Speaker 3: to help you a start, and except for Yamamoto and
Speaker 3: Jack Flaherty in twenty twenty four. We were back in
Speaker 3: re We watched the three part docu series on Apple
Speaker 3: TV of the seven or the five game World Series
Speaker 3: back in twenty twenty four, and what a great series
Speaker 3: it is, by the way, my voice all over it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: the Dodgers relied so much on the bullpen because the
Speaker 3: starting pitching was banged up and hurt. Gavin Stone carried
Speaker 3: that rotation along with Yamamoto got hurt in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: It wasn't there for October last year. It flipped with
Speaker 3: the great starting pitching. The bullpen was up and down,
Speaker 3: but they made it work because guys like Yamamoto and
Speaker 3: Glass now came out of the bullpen and helped pitch
Speaker 3: in the World Series and the NLCS. You fast forward
Speaker 3: to this year, just when you think they have enough
Speaker 3: starting pitching, guys get hurt. Blake Snell's not ready, Tyler
Speaker 3: glassdow misses three months show, Heo Tani get shut down,
Speaker 3: hasn't pitched in the Cup couple of months, and the
Speaker 3: Dodgers are relying on Eric Lower and Justin Robleski to
Speaker 3: go along with a up and down rookie Susaki and
Speaker 3: a Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yeah, so on paper, all the Dodger
Speaker 3: haters are going to say, well, this is what you
Speaker 3: get when you buy the team, this is what you
Speaker 3: get when you get the best players in baseball via
Speaker 3: trade as well. Well, you know what, they hadn't had
Speaker 3: everybody healthy up until now this point. Tyler Glass now
Speaker 3: is going to return tomorrow and it's going to make
Speaker 3: this rotation even deeper than it was been or has
Speaker 3: been the last few weeks. And even so, Terror schoobill
Speaker 3: to get his first win until over the weekend. Blake
Speaker 3: Snell three great starts, but he's only made four this season.
Speaker 3: Health has been an issue. But now that they are
Speaker 3: getting healthy, look out at this daunting starting rotation that
Speaker 3: the Dodgers have. And we just need this rotation to
Speaker 3: stay healthy and we need to see show Hey o
Speaker 3: Tani slowly ramp back up.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 3: It's interesting. Matt mney Smith was talking about this earlier
Speaker 3: on Petro Some Money Show. Yeah, he's gonna come back
Speaker 3: and get some starts. Fingers crossed. He throws a bullpen
Speaker 3: session in Atlanta here either tomorrow or Wednesday, and if
Speaker 3: he feels good after that, the next thing that Shoeyotani
Speaker 3: is gonna do is most likely pitch in a game,
Speaker 3: be a starter. But he's not gonna throw five or
Speaker 3: six innings. He's not gonna empty the tank and throw
Speaker 3: a hundred pitches. This is gonna be the same thing
Speaker 3: we saw last year with Shoeo Tani coming back from
Speaker 3: arm surgery. It's gonna be one inning first start, one
Speaker 3: inning when he returns, then it's gonna be one plus
Speaker 3: two maybe two plus, and then after that maybe he
Speaker 3: builds up the three innings and then we're looking at
Speaker 3: the middle of the middle of September. Then you get
Speaker 3: to the end of the month and the end of
Speaker 3: the regular season, maybe he's up to four or five innings.
Speaker 3: So it's not like he's gonna come back and he's
Speaker 3: rarely ready to go and all right, five innings, seventy
Speaker 3: five pitches, and then six innings the eighty five pitches.
Speaker 3: This is gonna be a slow ramp up. And that's
Speaker 3: why I think that when he wants to win the
Speaker 3: MVP and he wants to go up against PCA, I
Speaker 3: think he's also keeping back of his mind shoot that
Speaker 3: he's also got to look at October and what he
Speaker 3: plans are for October baseball right now and being able
Speaker 3: to pitch and hit and be that two way dominant
Speaker 3: player for the Dodgers when it really counts in the
Speaker 3: month of October. Because right now, the Chicago Cubs, yeah,
Speaker 3: PCA has carried them, and they are one of the
Speaker 3: wildcard teams right now, but they're hanging on to a
Speaker 3: wild card spot in the National League along with the Phillies.
Speaker 3: They've got the Padres and the Diamondbacks all playing good
Speaker 3: baseball right behind them, so they've got their own issues
Speaker 3: in Chicago. The Dodgers, again, this lineup, this rotation is
Speaker 3: getting healthy at the absolute perfect time. And again Tyler
Speaker 3: Glass now tomorrow will be coming back. He is going
Speaker 3: to have Eric Lauer to piggyback him. That is the
Speaker 3: plan in case something happens and maybe he can't get
Speaker 3: out of a first or a second, or it's only
Speaker 3: a two plus in and outing for a Tyler Glass.
Speaker 3: Note who knows it's his first time pitching back in
Speaker 3: the big leagues in three months. You can make all
Speaker 3: the minor league rehab starts you want, but you get
Speaker 3: back to the big leagues and let's say you have
Speaker 3: a slip up and you can't get guys out. You
Speaker 3: don't have the control. It's just not there. In your
Speaker 3: first game back, they have Eric Lauer ready to go
Speaker 3: as he shifts to the bullpen in a long relief
Speaker 3: and a role now, and he'll be available to piggyback
Speaker 3: not only not only Tyler Glass now, but it looks
Speaker 3: like he and when Justin Robuski comes back, will be
Speaker 3: the two guys piggybacking show Heo Tani as well. Because again,
Speaker 3: when Shoeyotani returns, if it's in a week or ten days,
Speaker 3: whenever it may be, when he does return to the
Speaker 3: Dodgers starting rotation, it's gonna be one inning, two innings,
Speaker 3: two plus innings, three innings. It's gonna be a slow
Speaker 3: ramp up. So you need somebody to be that bulk
Speaker 3: inning guy. Almost like show Hay is an opener in
Speaker 3: what is a bullpen game, except this is one to
Speaker 3: be a bullpen game. This would just be a rehab
Speaker 3: one inning assignment so to speak, for shoe Heo Tani
Speaker 3: when he comes back. So that's what we're looking at
Speaker 3: with show Hay coming back, with Tyler Glass now coming
Speaker 3: back tomorrow and what is gonna be a fantastic three
Speaker 3: game series against the Atlanta brace And for thinking about
Speaker 3: how big this series is, well, the Dog right now
Speaker 3: are four games up on the Atlanta Braves for the
Speaker 3: second best record in the National League. That's important. Top
Speaker 3: two teams get a wild card by that round. If
Speaker 3: the Dodgers sweep the Atlanta Braves, that lead goes from
Speaker 3: four games up over Atlanta for the number two spot
Speaker 3: to seven games up over the Atlanta Braves. Let's say
Speaker 3: the Dodgers split, or the Dodgers come out of their
Speaker 3: five games up. That's still impressive. Worst case, the Dodgers
Speaker 3: get swept in Atlanta with glass now Susaki Yamamoto pitching,
Speaker 3: I find that hard to believe. But let's say they
Speaker 3: still get swept over the next three days by the
Speaker 3: Atlanta Braves. Is at the end of the world. No,
Speaker 3: because a four game lead will be down to a
Speaker 3: one game lead for the second best record in baseball
Speaker 3: with when what twenty eight games to go in the
Speaker 3: regular season. So it could be a big weekend for
Speaker 3: the Dog or big three game series for the Dodgers
Speaker 3: expanding their lead over the Atlanta Braves. Or they can
Speaker 3: find themselves in a little tighter crunch with Atlanta for
Speaker 3: the number two spot in the National League. Again, that
Speaker 3: to me is what is most important for the Dodgers
Speaker 3: the standings is looking at the top two spots in
Speaker 3: the National League from here on out to the end
Speaker 3: of the regular season. That last weekend in September eight six,
Speaker 3: sixth nine eighty seven two five seventy eight sixty six
Speaker 3: nine eight seven two five seventy. How about Will Smith
Speaker 3: gonna start a rehabit signment with Oklahoma City tomorrow. That's big.
Speaker 3: We haven't seen Will Smith since June fifth. We haven't
Speaker 3: seen Will Smith in a long time. And to have
Speaker 3: him going out on a minor league rehabit signment here
Speaker 3: on what will be tomorrow, August twenty fifth, potentially we're
Speaker 3: looking at a week to ten days for him to
Speaker 3: be in the minor leagues rehabbing and getting at bats
Speaker 3: and catching and going through all that he needs to
Speaker 3: do to get back to being Will Smith behind the
Speaker 3: plate catching every day. That's most likely what you're looking
Speaker 3: at is that kind of time from I don't think
Speaker 3: it needs three to four weeks for him to ramp
Speaker 3: back up, certainly, I know he's missed some time, and
Speaker 3: catching is a grueling position. But to me, seven to
Speaker 3: ten days down the minor leagues, he should be good
Speaker 3: to go after that, if everything checks out and he's
Speaker 3: healthy and his neck feels better and he's back to
Speaker 3: being Will Smith Man. What another cholt for this Dodgers team.
Speaker 3: Not that Hunter Forradusha and Ben Roadveatt haven't done a
Speaker 3: really good job. Because Roordy is one of the best
Speaker 3: defensive catchers. And I call him Rody because he's one
Speaker 3: of my favorite catchers. I just love everything about him.
Speaker 3: His style is command behind the plate, calling games and
Speaker 3: at this toughness. And then Hunter Fradusha, Hunter Forraducia delivering
Speaker 3: yesterday with a big RBI single proved to be big
Speaker 3: for the Dodgers and the win over the Pirates. So
Speaker 3: these guys have done everything they can possibly do to
Speaker 3: help out this Dodgers team with the absence of a
Speaker 3: Dulton rushing and Will smith both hurt and both on
Speaker 3: the injure list. Hunter Fradusha RBI single yesterday, I mean
Speaker 3: any offensive production you get from Fraducia and from Ben Roartfatt,
Speaker 3: it's like the cherry on top right, It's like just
Speaker 3: anything extra is all right. We'll take it. We're not
Speaker 3: expecting it, but we'll take it. Because what you brought
Speaker 3: those two guys in to do is be leaders behind
Speaker 3: the plate. Familiar with Mark Pryor, familiar with Connor McGinnis
Speaker 3: the assistant pitching coach, Familiar with Dave Roberts, this coaching staff, philosophies,
Speaker 3: game planning, terminology, everything that goes into it, and even
Speaker 3: for that matter, getting used to these pitchers again, having
Speaker 3: either caught some of these guys either starters or leievers,
Speaker 3: or been around them enough that it's right back into routine,
Speaker 3: catching them, calling pitches, knowing what they throw. Being on
Speaker 3: the same page with the Dodger pitchers, it was huge
Speaker 3: to be able to go out and get these two
Speaker 3: catchers again, not big all star catchers, not guys who
Speaker 3: are gonna tear the cover off the ball and hit
Speaker 3: thirty home runs, but for what you needed them for.
Speaker 3: They absolutely fill the void, both of these guys together
Speaker 3: and have been fantastic for Dave Roberts at the catching spot.
Speaker 3: And again, hopefully Will Smith is back in seven to
Speaker 3: ten days. That's the timeline I'm putting on it. That's
Speaker 3: not the timeline the Dodgers are putting on it, or
Speaker 3: Will Smith is put on it. I'm just hoping that
Speaker 3: within the next week to ten days, if he starts
Speaker 3: tomorrow in a minor league rehab assignment, we can see
Speaker 3: him out there and back behind the plate for the
Speaker 3: Dodgers in the final month of the season. Eight sixty
Speaker 3: six nine eighty seven two five seventy is the number.
Speaker 3: Eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seven. He
Speaker 3: got plenty of time for your phone calls between now
Speaker 3: and the top of the hour. We're gonna hear from
Speaker 3: John Hartong from Sports in ATLA coming up in just
Speaker 3: a little bit. It was just announced ago about maybe
Speaker 3: two hours ago from sports NETLA and our friends at
Speaker 3: the Dodgers that tomorrow on TV. Of course, you can
Speaker 3: hear every Dodger game right here on a five seventy
Speaker 3: LA Sports in the iHeartRadio app tomorrow will be Steven
Speaker 3: Nelson rip Monday doing a great job calling the games
Speaker 3: first pitch of four fifteen tomorrow on the TV side
Speaker 3: of it. If you sync him up, you'll be able
Speaker 3: to hear Joe Davis along with Clayton Kershaw. Yes, Joe
Speaker 3: Davis and Clayton Kershaw will be sliding into the analysts
Speaker 3: chair along with Joe calling nine innings of base ball tomorrow,
Speaker 3: so that'll be fun to hear him. Oral Herscheiz will
Speaker 3: rejoin the crew on Wednesday and Thursday in the final
Speaker 3: two games of the three game series in Atlanta, but
Speaker 3: will be kind of fun to hear for the first
Speaker 3: time ever. Clayton Kershaw is an analyst. I know he's
Speaker 3: done some stuff sitting dug outside for NBC and pre
Speaker 3: and postgame stuff for NBC on the Sunday Night Baseball,
Speaker 3: but for sitting into the analyst chair for nine innings
Speaker 3: and hear him break down what's happening during the game
Speaker 3: and at a during at bats and what's the thinking
Speaker 3: of Dodger pitchers and hitters. It's gonna be a lot
Speaker 3: of fun hearing Clayton Kershaw call a game tomorrow on TV.
Speaker 3: So that'll be the first time he gets to do it,
Speaker 3: and who knows, maybe that's something Clayton Kershaw wants to
Speaker 3: do more moving forward as he gets ready for Cooperstown
Speaker 3: to call him his name. In a couple of years,
Speaker 3: we'll take a break, we'll come back, We'll get to
Speaker 3: your phone calls. But up next from Sports net LA,
Speaker 3: the Emmy Award winning host at anchor. He's a guy
Speaker 3: who's been there since twenty fourteen, the day they flipped
Speaker 3: the switch to launch sports in NETLA and access sports Net.
Speaker 3: Dodger pre post off season. I get the honor of
Speaker 3: sitting over there with him during December and January and
Speaker 3: February and spring training, during all the off season Dodger covers.
Speaker 3: The great John Hartongue will join us when we come back.
Speaker 3: Not just a talking head, not just a good looking
Speaker 3: guy on Sports in LA. He's a valley guy. He's
Speaker 3: a Dodger fan, He's an Angelino. And we'll talk to
Speaker 3: John hartong next right here. Off Night Dodger Talk continues
Speaker 3: on n FI seventy LA Sports Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3: Off Night Dodger Talk continues here on AM five seventy
Speaker 3: LA Sports Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Dodgers heading
Speaker 3: to Atlanta. They start a six game East Coast road
Speaker 3: trip tomorrow at Trewis Park in Atlanta against the Braves.
Speaker 3: First pitch at four to fifteen Marago Casino. Dodgers on
Speaker 3: deck will get our coverage started at three o'clock. Tyler
Speaker 3: Glass now on the mount against Bryce Elder and joining
Speaker 3: us right now. One of the good guys, no, one
Speaker 3: of the great guys over at Sports a LA. You
Speaker 3: see his face every single night during the season, out
Speaker 3: of season Emmy Award winning host anchor sports net LA
Speaker 3: has been there since the launch of the Dodger station
Speaker 3: in twenty fourteen. It's been a fixed year here in
Speaker 3: Southern California's entire life. In fact, greatest moment I ever
Speaker 3: saw of John Hartzung hitting the home run in the
Speaker 3: media game Dodger Stadium many years ago. He legitimately hit
Speaker 3: it out of the ballpark at the Ravine. The only
Speaker 3: guy I've ever seen do it outside of a professional
Speaker 3: baseball player, the one and only John Hartzong.
Speaker 1: How you doing, John, Jim.
Speaker 5: That's a fabulous introduction, Thank you very much. And setting
Speaker 5: the mood as well with the music kount of thinking that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Heading to the South here against the Atlanta Braves Dodgers
Speaker 3: eighty wins. John, You've seen this team all season long.
Speaker 3: They've had their ups, they've had their downs, They've gotten
Speaker 3: through the injuries. They're still going through the injuries right
Speaker 3: now with Poe has but getting Glass now back, and man,
Speaker 3: you look at the road over the weekend with Yamamoto,
Speaker 3: with schoobl and Snell. This is how they drew it up, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, it doesn't get any better than what we
Speaker 3: saw over the weekend.
Speaker 5: Pitching wise, Yeah, I think it's scary for any other
Speaker 5: team watching these guys that they just keep putting out
Speaker 5: to the mound to start games. And now we get
Speaker 5: Tyler Glass now back tomorrow Showhy's going to be back
Speaker 5: possibly and I don't know this for certain, but possibly
Speaker 5: as soon as this weekend in Detroit. Otherwise when the
Speaker 5: Dodgers get back home next week, and so you're going
Speaker 5: to add him into the mix. And you've got Roki
Speaker 5: as well. I mean, what a scary group of starting
Speaker 5: pitchers the Dodgers have. On any given night. Any of
Speaker 5: these guys can shut down the best teams in baseball.
Speaker 5: And it's gonna be a lot of fun to watch
Speaker 5: over the final month of the regular season and to
Speaker 5: see how Dave Roberts uses all of these guys this
Speaker 5: wealth of starting pitching when they get to October again.
Speaker 3: John, you got a front row seed watching these games
Speaker 3: every single night, whether in studio or out there in
Speaker 3: the right field pavilion. What is about this team that's
Speaker 3: different you, I think in the last two years. Is
Speaker 3: there any difference from the twenty four and twenty five
Speaker 3: team that jumps out at you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean a lot of your core guys are
Speaker 5: still the same. And actually one of the differences for
Speaker 5: me is you have certain guys that quite haven't performed
Speaker 5: up to you know, the numbers on the back of
Speaker 5: their baseball cards, and yet you look at where they're
Speaker 5: at in the standings right now, just a game behind
Speaker 5: the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in all of baseball,
Speaker 5: and I think that speaks to, you know, some of
Speaker 5: the pitching that they've they've brought in this year and
Speaker 5: other guys just stepping up, and Andy Paie is taking
Speaker 5: another step in his career. But I think for the
Speaker 5: most part, for me, there's a lot of similarities. And
Speaker 5: I've seen this team come back against teams late in games,
Speaker 5: and they look like they still have another really good
Speaker 5: run in them. And I can't wait to see what
Speaker 5: these guys do. Because since day one of spring training,
Speaker 5: they've pointed toward the month of October and they've embraced
Speaker 5: the target on their backs is trying to three paint,
Speaker 5: and they didn't shy away from it. I know that
Speaker 5: any team and every team is going to go through
Speaker 5: rolls throughout the course of the season. The Dodgers are
Speaker 5: no different. But I think they're a really good place,
Speaker 5: and you look at their schedule going into September to
Speaker 5: be in a nice little run as they begin the
Speaker 5: month of October.
Speaker 3: You mentioned it. They have the core group, certainly, but
Speaker 3: I think what's been great about this last couple of
Speaker 3: years and the opportunity maybe to three pete is you've
Speaker 3: got those core guys that have been around certainly, but
Speaker 3: then you bring in guys that haven't won, whether it
Speaker 3: was a Blake Snell or Tyler Glass now or now
Speaker 3: you've got a Trek School bll and Kyle Tucker, guys
Speaker 3: who want to taste that and they've seen what the
Speaker 3: Dodgers are able to do. And I think that's something
Speaker 3: that Andrew Freeman and Brandon Gomes and even Dave Roberts
Speaker 3: have done a really good job, John, is to bring
Speaker 3: in guys that are still hungry and can keep that
Speaker 3: hunger going For the guys who have done this two, three,
Speaker 3: four times already.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, And that's a great point that you made, because
Speaker 5: Andrew Freeman has talked about that specific thing, and so
Speaker 5: is Dave Roberts. How it is important to incorporate some
Speaker 5: guys that have that hunger. We saw that last year
Speaker 5: with Blake Snell. And you know Blake being on the
Speaker 5: opening day roster last year and watching everybody else get
Speaker 5: their World Series rings and how that just drove him
Speaker 5: and motivated him to I want to be one of
Speaker 5: those guys next year getting one of these rings. And
Speaker 5: Derek Scooble, he's been in the postseason before, he's pitched
Speaker 5: in the biggest of games outside of the World Series,
Speaker 5: but he wants to get his hands on one as well.
Speaker 5: And you have other guys that just have a hunger
Speaker 5: in them that just want to win every single year,
Speaker 5: and you combine that hunger with the new blood as well. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and I think it's a great mixture of guys going
Speaker 5: into October.
Speaker 3: Again, John, when you think back to twenty fourteen in
Speaker 3: sports and at LA launches and the Dodgers had their
Speaker 3: own TV channel, you know, three hundred and sixty five
Speaker 3: days a year, it was still a Dodger period in
Speaker 3: which head they're winning the divisions or getting to the playoffs,
Speaker 3: and it really started this run that we've seen now
Speaker 3: that they've just rattled off, you know, going to World
Speaker 3: Series and playing in World Series and winning them. But
Speaker 3: that was kind of the infancy of when things really
Speaker 3: started with Andrew Freeman. What do you remember about those
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, those twenty sixteen years, those first
Speaker 3: couple of years of sports in La John and watching
Speaker 3: this team and what Andrew Freeman and Dave Roberts eventually
Speaker 3: started doing.
Speaker 5: We were just excited they were going to the postseason
Speaker 5: those first couple of years. To be honest with you,
Speaker 5: because as you know, I mean, if you've been a
Speaker 5: Dodger fan as long as I have, going back to
Speaker 5: the seventies, yablo make the playoffs year there, maybe make
Speaker 5: a run toward the World Series. But we haven't seen
Speaker 5: anything remotely like this in the history of this organization,
Speaker 5: where they've been in the playoffs every single year. This
Speaker 5: is now year thirteen of the network and we just
Speaker 5: never could have seen this coming if you would have
Speaker 5: told me we'd been here and year thirteen and the
Speaker 5: Dodgers have been in the postseason every year. They've won
Speaker 5: three World Series in the span of six years and
Speaker 5: been two other times as well. We probably wouldn't have
Speaker 5: believed you, but that groundwork was laid, you know, those
Speaker 5: early seasons of our network, even going back to the
Speaker 5: net Colletti teams and the guys that he drafted and
Speaker 5: brought in, whether it was Clayton Kershaw and Cory Seeger
Speaker 5: and Cody Bellinger, Jack Peterson bringing Justin Turner in. So
Speaker 5: the foundation was laid early on. We just didn't see
Speaker 5: this level of success coming. But Andrew Freeman, his group
Speaker 5: and this ownership group that had done just an unbelievable
Speaker 5: job of keeping the Dodgers not just relevant, but keeping
Speaker 5: the Dodgers at the top of the sport for so
Speaker 5: many years.
Speaker 3: Now, John, what is it like for you being a
Speaker 3: Southern California kid growing up, as you said, a Dodger fan,
Speaker 3: and to be the anchor, to be the face of
Speaker 3: the Dodger channel on sports and at LA What is
Speaker 3: this meant for you?
Speaker 5: I still have pinch me moments to this day. In fact,
Speaker 5: what happened just last week when Laurel Hersheiser invited me
Speaker 5: to be part of his Hollywood Walk of Fame star
Speaker 5: unveiling and thinking back to when I was a kid
Speaker 5: watching him pitch, and you know, even having a chance
Speaker 5: to do some pre and post game shows with Steve
Speaker 5: Garvey many years ago as well. These are guys that
Speaker 5: I grew up in, real baseball heroes of mine, you know,
Speaker 5: growing up in Wild Hills in the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 5: And now to be able to work alongside these guys
Speaker 5: and to call them friends and you know, hang out
Speaker 5: with them outside of baseball, outside of works, it's truly incredible.
Speaker 5: I mean to be honest with you, Tim, and to
Speaker 5: be able to cover my favorite team growing up as
Speaker 5: a kid in the manner that I do, it's truly
Speaker 5: a dream job. It's been incredible.
Speaker 3: I think it's awesome that the opportunities I have to
Speaker 3: come in during the offseason and sit with you guys
Speaker 3: at sports and at LA, to just sit then talk
Speaker 3: baseball with yourself and guys who played the game at
Speaker 3: the highest level and were Dodgers is unbelievable. What is
Speaker 3: that like, John take the listeners and Dodger fans kind
Speaker 3: of behind the scenes, What is that like, you know,
Speaker 3: on a nightly basis, to recap a game, to preview
Speaker 3: a game, to pick the brains of a Nomar Garcia
Speaker 3: par and Adrian Gonzalez A Jerry Harriston Junior and James Loni.
Speaker 3: What is it like, Dontrelle willis to just talk shop
Speaker 3: with these guys.
Speaker 5: It's you know, you played baseball yourself. I know you
Speaker 5: played it at a high level when you're in high
Speaker 5: school and maybe a little bit past that. And I
Speaker 5: played baseball as well. We also grew up fans, and
Speaker 5: I felt like I knew the game pretty darn well.
Speaker 5: And even some of the guys will say, wow, you
Speaker 5: really do know baseball. But I realized I didn't know
Speaker 5: a thing until I started talking about hitting or talked
Speaker 5: about pitching with oral and talking about certain strategy, and
Speaker 5: it just it's a completely different level that I can't
Speaker 5: truly explain to friends of mine. And some of the
Speaker 5: conversations that I've had, I mean, I've had a moment
Speaker 5: where Nomar and Chase Sutley were in the office and
Speaker 5: I'm sitting across from the guys. We're just talking about
Speaker 5: life in baseball, and then they get into this maybe
Speaker 5: twenty thirty minute passionate discussion about hitting, and I was speechless.
Speaker 5: I'm just listening to this, to these two guys talk
Speaker 5: about hitting the way that I've never heard anyone discuss
Speaker 5: hitting before ever, And I'm looking at these two guys thinking, Okay,
Speaker 5: now I realize why both of them were as great
Speaker 5: as they were. And even I've had conversations with Adrian
Speaker 5: Gonzalez too where I had the same reaction as I'm
Speaker 5: thinking to myself or talking pitching with Oral Herscheizer. So
Speaker 5: it's sometimes I'll find myself while we're on the postgame
Speaker 5: show and they're breaking down a pitching performance. They're breaking
Speaker 5: down and at bat, and I'm listening to what they
Speaker 5: were probably thinking if they were the hit or in
Speaker 5: the batter's box, then maybe try to put themselves in
Speaker 5: the shoes of whoever was at the plate in that
Speaker 5: moment as they're breaking down that bat, and I'm thinking
Speaker 5: to myself, Wow, I can't believe that these guys are
Speaker 5: sharing these thoughts and taking us behind the scenes and
Speaker 5: taking us inside the minds of these guys, because it's
Speaker 5: truly brilliant to hear and listen to the way that
Speaker 5: they think about the game and talk about.
Speaker 3: The game that is John Hartong from Sports and at
Speaker 3: LA Gimmy Award winning host anchor. You see him every
Speaker 3: night before and after all the Dodger games. All right, John,
Speaker 3: you watch this team, you know, night after night. What's
Speaker 3: the one thing that makes you believe that they can
Speaker 3: actually get a three peet when it's all said and done.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm going to start with the pitching because, and
Speaker 5: you mentioned the starting pitching. We've never seen a starting
Speaker 5: staff assembled like what the Dodgers have going into the
Speaker 5: month of September. Now, everyone has to be healthy, of course,
Speaker 5: but the bullpen has been a concern like it was
Speaker 5: last year. But you have even more starting pitching depth
Speaker 5: this year that you could use at the back end
Speaker 5: of that bullpen to help finish off games. And at
Speaker 5: the same time, I'm convinced and I'm confidence that you
Speaker 5: have certain guys that haven't performed up to their normal
Speaker 5: levels through the course of this season. But I think
Speaker 5: when the lights get the brightest down the stretch in
Speaker 5: September and into October, I think that they will perform
Speaker 5: up to those levels. So I have the utmost confidence
Speaker 5: in this team going into October that they can three peats. Obviously,
Speaker 5: It's a bit of a crapshoot. When you get to
Speaker 5: the postseason. You have a short series, but you get
Speaker 5: Will Smith back in this lineup, and you get Andy
Speaker 5: Paz back for October. And I don't see any reason
Speaker 5: these guys can't win another one.
Speaker 3: All Right, you guys do something fun on the pregame
Speaker 3: show right before first pitch, call your shot, which Dodger
Speaker 3: is going to hit a home run or have that
Speaker 3: big hit in that game that night. We're gonna do
Speaker 3: a little caller shot right here as far as the
Speaker 3: Dodgers are concerned with, John Hartzog, all right, which team
Speaker 3: do you believe presents the biggest threat to the Dodgers
Speaker 3: in this postseas? Either National League team or American League team?
Speaker 3: But when it comes October? Is there a team that
Speaker 3: just really opens your eyes? John, Like, Oh, this could
Speaker 3: be the team that knocks him off.
Speaker 5: The obvious pick would be the Milwaukee Brewers. The other team,
Speaker 5: though that would scare me because of the left handers
Speaker 5: they have, would be the Philadelphia Phillies. Yeah, and we
Speaker 5: remember that series last year. How close that series was?
Speaker 5: You know, Tail hitting the three run home run in
Speaker 5: Game one, which kind of flipped the series around, and
Speaker 5: then we know what happened in Game four when O'Ryan
Speaker 5: Kirkering threw that ball away. There were so many moments
Speaker 5: in that series alone that could have gone either away.
Speaker 5: Obviously there were a lot of those moments as well
Speaker 5: throughout the World Series too, but that series against the
Speaker 5: Phillies was very scary, and the pitchers that they have
Speaker 5: and having a healthy Zach Wheeler back as well, and
Speaker 5: they added a rise. For some reason, that Philly team
Speaker 5: scares me, I think a little bit more than most
Speaker 5: of the other teams.
Speaker 3: All Right, call your shot for October. Usually one guy
Speaker 3: rises to the occasion more so in the postseason than
Speaker 3: they're in the regular season. Keith A Hernandez is a
Speaker 3: prime example of that, Mister October with the Dodgers, who
Speaker 3: would you put your money on to be the Dodgers
Speaker 3: postseason MVP. Who's that one guy that really you think
Speaker 3: is going to shine this October?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, I mean, because they have so many
Speaker 5: guys that have already done it. If I'm going to
Speaker 5: pick someone who hasn't had that moment or done it yet,
Speaker 5: I'm going to say, if Andy pay has comes back
Speaker 5: and he's healthy from the hand that he's going to
Speaker 5: have a little bit of redemption on his mind for
Speaker 5: how his postseason went last year up until, of course,
Speaker 5: the catch of all catches saving the World Series in
Speaker 5: the bottom of the ninth inning. But you know, he
Speaker 5: listened to it and heard about it during the off
Speaker 5: season and spring training, and how he was benched the
Speaker 5: final two games of the World Series because he didn't
Speaker 5: hit at all. He was really struggling all throughout the
Speaker 5: month of October with the bat. I think Andy Paie
Speaker 5: has gonna have some big moments with the bat for
Speaker 5: the Dodgers in October.
Speaker 3: That, yeah, I hope.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 3: I think that's a great call for Andy pye is.
Speaker 3: Hopefully he can come back healthier and better than ever
Speaker 3: after that fracture at hand. Final one call your shot.
Speaker 3: John Hartongue here on Dodger to Talk. Can show hey
Speaker 3: Otani beat PCA for the MVP Award for the regular
Speaker 3: season the National League.
Speaker 5: Of course he can't, but he is a huge underdog
Speaker 5: right now. He would have to come back to the
Speaker 5: mounds very soon, and not just you know, pitch, He
Speaker 5: would have to dominate, I think on the mound for
Speaker 5: maybe five starts be great, but also he has to
Speaker 5: start in power again because what PCA has done the
Speaker 5: last three months of this season are unbelievable. I mean,
Speaker 5: you look at what he did his first couple months
Speaker 5: of the season. He was awful. He was betting eighth
Speaker 5: and ninth in the line if he was striking out
Speaker 5: a lot. And I don't know what changed with him,
Speaker 5: But the last three months he's been out of his
Speaker 5: mind and he's consistently kept going and he's probably he's
Speaker 5: probably going to have a forty to forty season and
Speaker 5: what he does defensively in center field. And I'm not
Speaker 5: a big fan of the war stat. I hate it,
Speaker 5: to be honest with you, but they're already talking about
Speaker 5: he could have one of the highest war numbers in
Speaker 5: the history of the game, and a lot of the
Speaker 5: MVP voters love that war stat for whatever reason. And
Speaker 5: I think PCA is the very likely winner of the
Speaker 5: MVP this year. But he could always tail off in
Speaker 5: September and show he could start doing show hey things
Speaker 5: and be dominant on the mound and for more power
Speaker 5: and could take it away from him. But right now
Speaker 5: I see PCA winning the MVP.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's gonna take a lot for show heye to
Speaker 3: overtake him Tomorrow, Dodgers in the Atlanta Brays, first to
Speaker 3: three from Truis Park, first pitch of four fifteen. You,
Speaker 3: of course can hear the game right here on AFI
Speaker 3: seven e LA Sports and watch it on Sports and
Speaker 3: at LA. And how about a special color analyst tomorrow
Speaker 3: in the booth for Sports in at LA, Clayton Kershaw.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we heard about this. We had to keep it quiet.
Speaker 5: We heard about it a little while ago. And I'm excited,
Speaker 5: and I know Clayton's excited, Joe Davis is excited. As
Speaker 5: a network, We're obviously very excited to have Clayton on
Speaker 5: the game and on the call for the game. And
Speaker 5: I think he wants just to see if he can
Speaker 5: be the next John Smoltz in the booth, if he
Speaker 5: can be and Adam Wainwright or someone like that, to
Speaker 5: see if he enjoys it. Yeah, because I think he's
Speaker 5: going to be very good, and this is going to
Speaker 5: come down to whether he wants to do something like
Speaker 5: that on a more regular basis. And everybody's waiting to
Speaker 5: see how Curse, How Curse does I'd like I said,
Speaker 5: he's going to be great in breaking down the game.
Speaker 5: It's just gonna be a matter of love and want
Speaker 5: to do it more regularly.
Speaker 3: No doubt. It's gonna be a great listen to tomorrow
Speaker 3: and watch on sports and at LA. John, really appreciate
Speaker 3: you jumping on Dodger Talk tonight talking some Dodgers baseball
Speaker 3: as we are now in the final stretch with five
Speaker 3: plus weeks to go here in the regular season before
Speaker 3: the postseason begins. So I really appreciate you, John, have
Speaker 3: a great night.
Speaker 5: Great up with you, Tim.
Speaker 3: Thanks all right, there, he goes John Hartsong from Sports
Speaker 3: in Net LA. We'll come back. We'll get to your
Speaker 3: phone calls at eighty six six ninet eighty seven two,
Speaker 3: five seventy off night. Dodger Talk continues as a Dodgers
Speaker 3: in Atlanta tomorrow, Marongo, because you know Dodgers on Decad three,
Speaker 3: first pitch of four fifteen right here on a five
Speaker 3: seventy LA Sports Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app five
Speaker 3: to seventy LA Sports thanks to John Hartsong from Sports
Speaker 3: net LA. Great guy. You see him every night pre
Speaker 3: and posts on Access sports Net Dodgers. You see him
Speaker 3: during the offseason as well. Great guy, big Dodger fan,
Speaker 3: live his dream and certainly great to catch up with
Speaker 3: John here on Dodger Talk. Eight six, six, nine eighty seven,
Speaker 3: two five seventy is the number before we get back
Speaker 3: out to the phones. Earlier today, down in San Diego,
Speaker 3: a new era of Padres baseball was officially introduced as
Speaker 3: they welcomed in the new owners. Jose E. Afliciano and
Speaker 3: Kwanza Jones were introduced as the new majority owners of
Speaker 3: the San Diego Padres. They were introduced at a press conference.
Speaker 3: They walked out to some theme music. It was certainly theatrical.
Speaker 3: They talked to the media and answered questions for almost
Speaker 3: an hour and set all the right things and things.
Speaker 3: As a fan of a team, you want your owner
Speaker 3: to say, you know, we're gonna be competitive, we want
Speaker 3: to win. What does that look like. We don't know,
Speaker 3: but we envisioned some things and we're gonna be competitive
Speaker 3: and our goal is to bring a championship to the
Speaker 3: San Diego Yeah. They set all the right things and
Speaker 3: talked about the fan base and the community in San Diego,
Speaker 3: and that's all you could ask for for a team
Speaker 3: to have owners that are willing to win and do
Speaker 3: whatever it takes to win, and certainly as Dodger fans,
Speaker 3: and we've seen that the last almost fifteen years with
Speaker 3: this ownership, with Mark Walter and Company and the group
Speaker 3: in Guggenheim committing to win. And I say that because
Speaker 3: you look around Major League Baseball and certainly with the
Speaker 3: impending labor stoppage which we can all assume is going
Speaker 3: to happen after this World Series is all over, because
Speaker 3: the owners want one thing and our dead said at
Speaker 3: having a salary cap, and the players do not want it,
Speaker 3: and they're drawn a line in the sand. You know,
Speaker 3: we could have a work stoppage and most likely will
Speaker 3: come next Spring training. Whether it's a lockout or a strike,
Speaker 3: whatever you want to call it, there's going to be
Speaker 3: labor strife between the two sides. And it's because there
Speaker 3: are certain owners around Major League Baseball who, while they're
Speaker 3: the owners of the team and the stewards of that
Speaker 3: team in that city, don't do whatever they can to
Speaker 3: win each and every year, don't put their money where
Speaker 3: their mouths are, don't necessarily spend what they should be
Speaker 3: to be competitive. And certainly, I get every market is different,
Speaker 3: every range of money that you have to spend as different.
Speaker 3: Whether you're in Kansas City or Pittsburgh or Cleveland, or
Speaker 3: if you're in New York, San Francisco or LA it's different.
Speaker 3: The revenues are different. I get all that, but Baseball
Speaker 3: has done a really good job at trying to level
Speaker 3: the field as best they can with the luxury tax.
Speaker 3: And the luxury tax is there to provide support for
Speaker 3: teams that maybe are in smaller markets that don't have
Speaker 3: as deep as pockets as the big market teams and
Speaker 3: owners do. It's there to level it out as best
Speaker 3: as possible and put money back in the pockets of
Speaker 3: owners who maybe can't get the revenue from radio and
Speaker 3: TV and advertising deals that the New York's and San
Speaker 3: Francisco's and Seattle's and Chicago's the New York's of the
Speaker 3: world can, but they don't put the money back into
Speaker 3: their teams. They don't put that money back into the
Speaker 3: product and to the development around. That's a shame and
Speaker 3: that is a problem, and that is the cry of
Speaker 3: the players Union, which I support. It's one thing to say, well,
Speaker 3: as owners, we need a cap. Spending is getting out
Speaker 3: of control as far as these players' salaries. We want
Speaker 3: to cap it off. We want to limit to what
Speaker 3: these players can make with the salary cap. Well, the
Speaker 3: players are rightfully saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. If you're trying
Speaker 3: to do that, and we got to make a floor here,
Speaker 3: we have to make some kind of floor where the
Speaker 3: owners have to spend at least this amount of money
Speaker 3: to make a case that they're trying to be competitive.
Speaker 3: You can't have salary you know, you can't have a
Speaker 3: salary cap at three hundred million dollars when you got
Speaker 3: a team that an owner not willing to spend seventy
Speaker 3: five million dollars total on a roster or one hundred
Speaker 3: million dollars on a roster. Again, this is big money
Speaker 3: that you and I can't live in that same world.
Speaker 3: It's just not a reality. But to see these guys
Speaker 3: next year potentially going at it owners and players over
Speaker 3: spending and salary caps and salary floors something nobody wants
Speaker 3: to hear about. I get that, and it's not fun
Speaker 3: to talk about it. And fans don't care about that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff because they just want to see baseball.
Speaker 3: I get all that, but this all being said to
Speaker 3: see these new owners in San Diego, and yeah, it's
Speaker 3: kind of funny. People are making fun of them on
Speaker 3: social media for their their personal song they walked out
Speaker 3: to and a kwanza Jones and Jose Fliciano saying things
Speaker 3: and kind of being outgoing and you know, not the
Speaker 3: typical owners meeting and press conference you used to see him.
Speaker 3: But I like that. I think it's fun. I think
Speaker 3: it spices things up. It shows you have young owners
Speaker 3: and a couple that is investing in now a city
Speaker 3: in San Diego, a professional sports team in the Padres
Speaker 3: and that stadium, and want to build a competitor. That's great.
Speaker 3: It's great for them, it's great for the Dodgers. It's
Speaker 3: great for baseball because it's another competitive franchise and that's
Speaker 3: what you want. More teams with fresh blood if it
Speaker 3: needs or the old doll us start spending some of
Speaker 3: that money that they got in their pockets, because they've
Speaker 3: got it.
Speaker 2: These guys are.
Speaker 3: Billionaires for a reason. They're businessmen and women. There's a
Speaker 3: reason why they're they're upper one percent of one percent
Speaker 3: as far as money in this world and owning professional teams.
Speaker 3: Spend that money you invest in it spend it make
Speaker 3: more money, because certainly the blueprint is there for successful
Speaker 3: teams and it's not just all about spending. For those
Speaker 3: of you who want to look at the New York
Speaker 3: Mets prime example, you can have all the money in
Speaker 3: the world, Steve Cohen, but if you don't make the
Speaker 3: best decisions for your team and that fit for your organization,
Speaker 3: from the major league roster to the people who put
Speaker 3: it together to the minor league system and development, it's
Speaker 3: not all going to come together like it has for
Speaker 3: the Dodgers. They've clicked on everything, putting the right people
Speaker 3: in place to call the shots and Andrew Freeman and
Speaker 3: Brandon Gohins in the front office, to the coaching staff
Speaker 3: to the players, bringing in the right players because you
Speaker 3: can bring in superstars and they don't work. I mean, heck,
Speaker 3: we can look at two superstars they signed this past
Speaker 3: offseason that haven't had the kind of twenty twenty six
Speaker 3: that we thought in the vision they'd have, and Edwin
Speaker 3: Diaz and Kyle Tucker. It hasn't panned out. It hasn't,
Speaker 3: but they've hit more times than they've missed, the Los
Speaker 3: Angeles Dodgers. And then you bring into development and how
Speaker 3: to draft and bring up players and go out and
Speaker 3: get other players from the minor league systems to be
Speaker 3: a trade and develop those players. They just do it right.
Speaker 3: And again with the new ownership in San Diego with
Speaker 3: Quanta Jones and jose E Feliciano, you hope they bring
Speaker 3: some new blood and that same competitive spirit that we
Speaker 3: see with this Dodgers ownership. Eight six six, nine eighty
Speaker 3: seven two five seventy. Let's go out to the phones.
Speaker 3: Thank you for being patient. We appreciate it. Stu and
Speaker 3: Calabass to start things off here on this Monday night
Speaker 3: and off night Dodgers talk. How you doing, Stu?
Speaker 2: Excellent? Very little warm out here today, but we can survive.
Speaker 2: Let me give you some options to wake up the
Speaker 2: Dodger offense. Okay, you move Miggi Rojas to second base.
Speaker 2: You take Tommy Edmond and put him into either left
Speaker 2: or right doesn't matter. You put Tieke in center, and
Speaker 2: you rotate Tucker and Tao one against the lefty and
Speaker 2: one against the righty. I don't think those guys are
Speaker 2: hitting above two hundred against the lefty, lefty, righty, righty.
Speaker 2: You tell me that's not a good option.
Speaker 3: That is an option. I don't necessarily think it's an
Speaker 3: option right now. I still think the landing runway here
Speaker 3: for Kyle Tucker and Taskar Hernandez to get right is
Speaker 3: going to extend all the way through the end of
Speaker 3: the regular season, and even then so Taskar hernanz John
Speaker 3: Hartong mentioned just a few minutes ago the big three
Speaker 3: run home run, the Tao hit in Philadelphia. Guy's proven
Speaker 3: in the postseason he can perform. I'm still gonna bet
Speaker 3: on him in the lineup rather than him not in
Speaker 3: the lineup. Kyle Tucker's still going to prove it to me.
Speaker 3: And the last couple of days, you know, he's come
Speaker 3: through with some hits. He had a big RBI single
Speaker 3: over the weekend against the Pirates. We're seeing some glimpses.
Speaker 3: They're small glimpses, but we're seeing them. So there's still
Speaker 3: time for him, in my mind, to show that he
Speaker 3: come October is going to be that right fielder for
Speaker 3: the Dodgers. I don't see it changing. I don't see
Speaker 3: them abandoned him all of a sudden and going to
Speaker 3: a different option. I think they're going to give him
Speaker 3: the longest route possible here to make it work here
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six and then into the postseason here
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty six, but that is certainly an option
Speaker 3: now with the center field spot and Andy Paie has
Speaker 3: you know, Alec Thomas has come in and had back
Speaker 3: to back RBI singles Saturday and Sunday since coming up
Speaker 3: from Triple A Oklahoma City Again. He's got four years
Speaker 3: in the major leagues with the Arizona Diamondbacks. For whatever reason,
Speaker 3: he fell off to start this season. They dfa'ed him,
Speaker 3: and the Dodgers gladly took them put him in Triple A,
Speaker 3: and for the last four months he has been redoing
Speaker 3: his swing. He has been working on, you know, his defense,
Speaker 3: and Alec Thomas the last couple of days has looked like,
Speaker 3: you know, the Alec Thomas we saw in Arizona, and
Speaker 3: that's all you can ask for from him until Andy
Speaker 3: Piz comes back. Now, the left field spot with you know,
Speaker 3: taoscar Hernandez. Okay, maybe maybe Tommy Edmand gets more more
Speaker 3: love some Keiky a Hernandez out in left field a
Speaker 3: little bit more. Okay, I'm all right with that because
Speaker 3: certainly those guys deserve playing time. I mean Kei ky
Speaker 3: Hearnandaz in particular. I'm talking about you got to get
Speaker 3: him more swings. It just feels like when Keyk's out there,
Speaker 3: he's making something happen. He's a spark and he's, you know,
Speaker 3: a guy who with you know you need a rally,
Speaker 3: you need something to get going. It's key K. I
Speaker 3: mean again, I watched the docu series and we watched
Speaker 3: the world series from twenty twenty four. It was Kei
Speaker 3: y Hernandez who got things going when they needed a
Speaker 3: big hit. Isabelle quickly, how you doing, Hey, I'm going
Speaker 3: to do it.
Speaker 2: Cam. I agree with you. I agree with you when
Speaker 2: you take there and they love Challenger.
Speaker 3: I agree everything.
Speaker 2: Dodger be fine. So anyway, all right, all right.
Speaker 3: Is it great to hear from you. Have a great
Speaker 3: rest of your night. Everybody else, you have a great
Speaker 3: rest of your night as well. Thanks to Ronnie Fossil
Speaker 3: for all his help. Thank you for listening, being a
Speaker 3: part of the show, Dodger Fans, and of course being
Speaker 3: a part on the podcast as well, where you can
Speaker 3: always listen on the iHeartRadio app Just listen for Dodger
Speaker 3: Talk and find it, subscribed to it and it's right
Speaker 3: there on your phone or tablet wherever you get your podcasts. Well,
Speaker 3: I'm wrong with casino Dodgers on deck beginning to three tomorrow.
Speaker 3: It's tyler Glass now making his return, Dodgers and braves
Speaker 3: until then, so everybody