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.
Speaker 2: We're Get Right running.
Speaker 4: Back, hosted by Dodgers and seigner David Bassi, a threet
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Speaker 4: to Cancer. We got this to get in on the
Speaker 4: show called eight six six not eighty seven two five
Speaker 4: seven Day, and be sure to follow Dodger Talk wherever
Speaker 4: you get your podcasts. Here's your host, David vasse Day.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Dodger Talk. David Vase with you until eight
Speaker 2: thirty tonight here on AM five seventy LA Sports and
Speaker 2: one oh four point three HD two. After the Dodgers
Speaker 2: fall to the Cardinals three to two and squander Rochi
Speaker 2: Sasaki's best start, I would venture of his career. I
Speaker 2: don't remember him pitching this well in any of his starts.
Speaker 2: Last year he went six innings tonight, through a career
Speaker 2: high in pitches, went over the one hundred pitch mark
Speaker 2: tonight and retired the last ten batters that he faced.
Speaker 2: After the third inning, which was a rocky third inning.
Speaker 2: That's the inning where he gave up all three runs,
Speaker 2: he settled down. I'm not sure if Mark Pryor told
Speaker 2: him something in the dugout, because he was a completely
Speaker 2: different pitcher and started to attack the strike zone with
Speaker 2: his fastball, something that everybody's been pleading for going back
Speaker 2: to last year. He seemed to be throwing his cutter
Speaker 2: splitter first pitch in the first three innings, and then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, a switch went off and he
Speaker 2: started throwing his fastball for first pitch strikes and attacking
Speaker 2: the strike zone, not pitching away from contact. That's something
Speaker 2: else you've been hearing Dave Roberts talk about. They want
Speaker 2: him to not be afraid to pitch to contact, and
Speaker 2: that's how he was able to get easy innings in
Speaker 2: the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. So maybe this is
Speaker 2: a start that helps Sasaki turn the corner because it
Speaker 2: was his best and I don't give him praise easily,
Speaker 2: and tonight it was really good. It's unfortunate. The Dodger
Speaker 2: offense is still in a slumber and really have been
Speaker 2: going back to the last road trip at Corus Field.
Speaker 2: Sure they had a couple of outbursts against the Cubs,
Speaker 2: but outside of that, this offense has not done what
Speaker 2: it did the first three weeks of the season. And really,
Speaker 2: if you look at how they did it the first
Speaker 2: three weeks of the season, they were getting a red
Speaker 2: hot out of this world. Andy Pa has to go
Speaker 2: along with a red hot Max Munsey, and the bottom
Speaker 2: third of the order was doing their job. All of
Speaker 2: a sudden. Now Pajez has come back to earth in
Speaker 2: a big way. You're still not getting anything from Otani
Speaker 2: and Tucker and Will Smith has been luke warm. Not
Speaker 2: to mention, Freddie Freeman was in a horrendous slump before yesterday.
Speaker 2: So you know, the Dodgers have not gotten what they
Speaker 2: need to get out of the big boys, the guys
Speaker 2: that are paid a lot of money to produce. The
Speaker 2: Dodgers went out to get Kyle Tucker to get more
Speaker 2: offensive outfield production, and it hasn't been there. It's still
Speaker 2: a crater sized hole to begin this season. And today
Speaker 2: it was nice to see Tucker make contact and get
Speaker 2: something going in that ninth inning, but it has not
Speaker 2: looked good for him. He's hitting two thirty eight with
Speaker 2: a six eighty seven OPS. Today, the Dodgers one through
Speaker 2: four hitters were combined two for fifteen with three strikeouts
Speaker 2: and no extra base hits. Come on, that's not gonna
Speaker 2: win you a lot of games, and it's part of
Speaker 2: the reason why they're in this funk of losing nine
Speaker 2: of their last thirteen. They've lost four in a row,
Speaker 2: and you heard Freddy Freeman say it on the last
Speaker 2: day of the homestand a big reason why the Dodgers
Speaker 2: are twenty and thirteen is because of their starting pitching.
Speaker 2: If they were not getting the type of starting pitching
Speaker 2: that they have gotten to start the year, they might
Speaker 2: be a five hundred team. Because it's certainly not the offense.
Speaker 2: The offense has got to figure it out. And look,
Speaker 2: the scary part of this is the second half of
Speaker 2: last year. Andrew Freeman and Dave Roberts did not hide this.
Speaker 2: After the season. They brought up that they needed to
Speaker 2: fix the offense add to the offense because of an
Speaker 2: extended second half slump, not by just one guy but
Speaker 2: the entire offense, and then in the postseason you look
Speaker 2: at the World Series, they only hit two oh three.
Speaker 2: So the only concern for me is these same pretty
Speaker 2: much group of players have been in a slump for
Speaker 2: the better part of the second half of last year
Speaker 2: and now the first month of this season, and that's concerning.
Speaker 2: Really the only consistent hitter since day one for the
Speaker 2: Dodgers has been Max Munsey. Can you name anybody else
Speaker 2: that has been as good as Max Munsey from day
Speaker 2: one to where we're at right now, there hasn't been.
Speaker 2: Otani is hitting two fifty two, by the way, with
Speaker 2: an eight thirty five OPS. He hasn't hit many home runs,
Speaker 2: and you know, he's zero for eleven during this four
Speaker 2: game losing streak. So the reality is right or wrong,
Speaker 2: good or bad, if you agree with it or not.
Speaker 2: The reality is the Dodgers feed off Otani. If Otani's
Speaker 2: not going, this offense is not going to go. Kyle
Speaker 2: Tucker has been moved down to the fourth spot. The
Speaker 2: Dodgers have done as much as they can to try
Speaker 2: to make him feel comfortable. But like I said last night,
Speaker 2: if I'm Dave Roberts, I'm considering moving Max Munsey up
Speaker 2: to the cleanup spot and moving Tucker to the sixth spot.
Speaker 2: He's supposed to be a guy that sees a lot
Speaker 2: of pitches, Well, make him see him in the sixth
Speaker 2: spot until he gets it going again. And if you
Speaker 2: go back and look at Tucker's best years, it was
Speaker 2: when he was hitting fifth and sixth for the Astros.
Speaker 2: That's the reality of it. And how much a player's
Speaker 2: making makes no difference about the reality of what he
Speaker 2: does on the field. So you know, it is what
Speaker 2: it is. The Dodgers paid him because they could, and
Speaker 2: they thought that they were getting an upgrade, and they
Speaker 2: very well, I'm not going to say they very well
Speaker 2: might they will get that return at some point this season.
Speaker 2: It just hasn't been to begin this year. And a
Speaker 2: couple of things when it comes to Kyle Tucker. He's
Speaker 2: swinging at the first pitch more than ever, almost double
Speaker 2: the time that he has in his entire career. He's
Speaker 2: swinging at the first pitch fifty two percent of the
Speaker 2: time this year. Last year, just for some context, he's
Speaker 2: swung at it thirty five percent of the time. And
Speaker 2: now he's getting spun to death. Pitchers are throwing a
Speaker 2: lot of spin at him because they know he gets
Speaker 2: his power off the fastball. And even when he does
Speaker 2: get a fastball, he's fouling it back or he's rolling over.
Speaker 2: So you know, I don't he's gonna get it going
Speaker 2: at some point. He's too good not to. But right
Speaker 2: now a lot of guys that a lot of guys
Speaker 2: are in a slump at the same time, and you
Speaker 2: just wonder what's been said in those hitters meetings and
Speaker 2: how are those guys coming to the realization that you're
Speaker 2: trying to cover. I'll go back to what two guys
Speaker 2: that are experts and really good forget about me, Adrian
Speaker 2: Gonzalez and Nomar Garcia Para said at it perfectly last night.
Speaker 2: These guys are trying to cover too much of the plate,
Speaker 2: and they're swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, and
Speaker 2: they're not being aggressive early in the count. Once you
Speaker 2: start doing that and maybe flipping the script on some
Speaker 2: of these pitchers, you might be in a better spot.
Speaker 2: Eight six, six nine, eight seven two five seventy is
Speaker 2: the phone number. Dodgers fall to the Cardinals for the
Speaker 2: second straight night, three to two. The final score. Michael
Speaker 2: McGreevy at a Saclamene induced four ground ball double plays
Speaker 2: by the Dodgers. Roki Sasaki takes the loss and Riley
Speaker 2: O'Brien with his ninth save of the year, a game
Speaker 2: that saw the Dodgers go homerless again. It's now five
Speaker 2: straight games the Dodgers have not hit a home run.
Speaker 2: The last time they had a drought like that, Don
Speaker 2: Mattingly was the manager back in May of twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: Let's go out to more Park. Don lead us off
Speaker 2: on Dodger Talk.
Speaker 5: How you doing, Don, Well, I'm doing great, and I'm
Speaker 5: here to remind you that the Dodgers are on pace
Speaker 5: to win ninety five games this season. So there's no
Speaker 5: reason to summon the panic brothers.
Speaker 2: Look, they are panicking right now up on the hill.
Speaker 2: But the one thing that's concerning Don is the offense.
Speaker 2: And you're waiting for this offense to really get going
Speaker 2: because they have so many good players in this lineup
Speaker 2: and we just haven't seen that going back to the
Speaker 2: first half of last year.
Speaker 5: Well, I can tell you right now what's happening. The
Speaker 5: first five are not seeing the ball out of the
Speaker 5: pitcher's hand. They're just not getting a good read. Every
Speaker 5: one of them has a stance like a hundred year
Speaker 5: old woman with extreme or arthritis, and their swings are
Speaker 5: glitchy as a ninety year old.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, we get the analogies. I get it, all right,
Speaker 2: Don I get it.
Speaker 5: I mean what they need to do is they need
Speaker 5: to get back to their stance they had at the
Speaker 5: beginning of last season. They need to find their place
Speaker 5: in the batter's box, and they need to lay off
Speaker 5: those energy drinks because what's happening is their retinas are
Speaker 5: bouncing up and down inside their eyeballs.
Speaker 2: So you think they're too caffeinated. You feel like they're
Speaker 2: too caffeinated. Okay, Don, thank you for the phone call. Look,
Speaker 2: I love a good accelerator before a game. Don't get
Speaker 2: me wrong, but hey, all I can tell you is
Speaker 2: I agree with Don. The only thing I agree with
Speaker 2: Don about are two things. It's not panic time and
Speaker 2: b Yes, a lot of guys are not seeing the
Speaker 2: ball well and that's evident by their swings. A lot
Speaker 2: of indecisive swings, a lot of expanding of the strike zone.
Speaker 2: So yes, Don, I agree with you, and I'm not
Speaker 2: sure I'm going to use any of your ninety year
Speaker 2: old geriatric analogies moving forward. But I appreciate the attempt.
Speaker 2: Let's go out to Roy, who's in downtown. How you doing, Roy,
Speaker 2: You're on Dodger Talk, Good.
Speaker 6: Dave, How are you great as usual?
Speaker 7: Hey?
Speaker 6: I think we need I don't get why we don't
Speaker 6: do this some more creativeness in the in the in
Speaker 6: the lineup, in the batting order. I mean, the only
Speaker 6: guys really producing are Max and Sasaki in short so
Speaker 6: and that gotta be probably a good leadoff guy. You know,
Speaker 6: I disagree.
Speaker 2: I disagree with you. Kim. Kim would not be a
Speaker 2: good leadoff hitter because he doesn't know the strike zone.
Speaker 2: And I think that's obvious by the way that his
Speaker 2: betting average and on base percentage have gone down consistent
Speaker 2: since he has gotten more playing time. He's now hitting
Speaker 2: two ninety three and his OPS is seven sixty one.
Speaker 2: I think the Dodgers not having rookie Bets. Dodgers not
Speaker 2: having rookie Betts is a huge hole in this lineup,
Speaker 2: and I feel like people don't appreciate how good rookie
Speaker 2: Betts still is. I feel like he's such an oversight
Speaker 2: and nobody even brings him up. He would be in
Speaker 2: your lineup instead of Hayes On Kim.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but the guys I'm producing and you don't have Bookie,
Speaker 6: so you gotta shake it up. Why not shake it up?
Speaker 6: You know, Max? Put him third or forth, he's he's
Speaker 6: hitting the crud.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you. I think Munsey should hit clean
Speaker 2: up tomorrow and Will Smith probably is gonna get a
Speaker 2: day off day game after a night game, so it'll
Speaker 2: be great to have Dalton Rushing in the lineup. He
Speaker 2: struck out to end the game coming off the bench,
Speaker 2: but he's one of the best hitters this side of
Speaker 2: month Sie. The Dodgers have had a specially in the
Speaker 2: month of May. Excuse me, April, thanks for the phone call, Roy,
Speaker 2: appreciate it. Yeah, that's another part of this that I
Speaker 2: think we're ignoring. No Mookie bets and I know he
Speaker 2: was off to a slow start, but he only played
Speaker 2: the first two weeks. Number two, I think you're missing
Speaker 2: Dalton Rushing. Dalton Rushing had forty something at bats in
Speaker 2: the month of April had an ops of thirteen hundred
Speaker 2: seven home runs, the second most to Max Munsey, who
Speaker 2: plays every day. I really believe Dalton Rushing was gonna
Speaker 2: come through there in the ninth inning, he took a
Speaker 2: first pitch fastball, and that's what I mean, be aggressive
Speaker 2: early in the count I remember Mike Piazza used to
Speaker 2: say this all the time. He believed that you only
Speaker 2: get one pitch per at bat to hit, and it
Speaker 2: could be the very first pitch. No Mare Garcia Para
Speaker 2: felt that way too, So I would have liked to
Speaker 2: have seen Rushing step into the batters box even coming
Speaker 2: off the bench, ready to hit, because Riley o brian
Speaker 2: was on the ropes right there with a string of
Speaker 2: hits and on the ropes, and he allowed O'Brien to
Speaker 2: get ahead of him and threw him a spinner and
Speaker 2: he struck out the end to end the game. But
Speaker 2: that's gonna happen. It's a tough job coming off the bench,
Speaker 2: especially when you're a young player. But I like Dalton Rushing.
Speaker 2: I like the way that he has brought out different
Speaker 2: clubs for different situations. That's part of the reason why
Speaker 2: he's hitting close to four hundred with runners in scoring position.
Speaker 2: So look, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith are going to
Speaker 2: play every day. But the reality is Dalton rushing has
Speaker 2: been one of the best hitters this side of Max Munsey,
Speaker 2: and he'll be in the lineup tomorrow somewhere, and I
Speaker 2: think that'll help the Dodgers score some runs against Dustin May.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Will Smith, did you know Will Smith is
Speaker 2: one of the best catchers percentage wise of getting calls
Speaker 2: overturned with this new ABS. He's got twenty three out
Speaker 2: of thirty two challenges right behind the plate. That's seventy
Speaker 2: two percent correct. That's as much as Augustine Ramirez of
Speaker 2: the Marlins, who is tied with Will Smith for the
Speaker 2: best percentage of getting calls overturned. I had a chance
Speaker 2: to catch up with Will Smith to ask him what
Speaker 2: his strategy is, what the Dodgers strategy is, and how
Speaker 2: he thinks so far this ABS challenge system is working.
Speaker 8: No, it's not used as many as you can. I
Speaker 8: think it's you know, know the situation, No, the count,
Speaker 8: you know, kind of where we're at in the game,
Speaker 8: when anywhere at was to score, you know, I think offensively,
Speaker 8: we've we've talked about trying to be a little more
Speaker 8: aggressive with it, firing a few more bullets at times
Speaker 8: instead of just leaving it to you know, Dalton and I.
Speaker 8: So it's just reading the game. You know, if you're right,
Speaker 8: If you know you're right, call it. But other than that,
Speaker 8: like kind of know the situation, but also don't be
Speaker 8: afraid to fire a bullet.
Speaker 2: You know, does some homeplate umpires embrace it more than
Speaker 2: the others?
Speaker 8: Uh, just to know. I think overall they've been really good. Actually,
Speaker 8: I think it kind of holds an accountable you know,
Speaker 8: pitch to pitch, they got to be really locked in
Speaker 8: or else they're gonna get kind of embarrassed. If they
Speaker 8: don't want to be embarrassed. You know, they're all trying
Speaker 8: to do a really good job, and I think it
Speaker 8: just helps, you know, helps them.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, there is Will Smith. You could
Speaker 2: hear that full conversation, by the way on the iHeartRadio app. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's been that good behind the play getting seventy two
Speaker 2: percent of his challenges right. And going back to the
Speaker 2: beginning of the year, the Dodgers started with their strategy
Speaker 2: to give their catchers Will Smith and Dalton Rushing the
Speaker 2: majority of the opportunities to challenge pitches, not really having
Speaker 2: their hitters challenge it unless it's a big spot. But
Speaker 2: you just heard what Will Smith said. They've kind of
Speaker 2: tweaked their strategy to try to be a little bit
Speaker 2: more aggressive with their challenges as hitters if they believe
Speaker 2: that the ball is outside of the strike zone. So
Speaker 2: I know a lot of you are wondering what the Dodgers'
Speaker 2: strategy is. I gave you a taste of it early
Speaker 2: in the year with Max Muntsey, and you're just getting
Speaker 2: an updated strategy on what the Dodgers are doing ABS
Speaker 2: challenge wise from Will Smith. And he's been one of
Speaker 2: the best. He's been really good. Eight six, nine eighty seven,
Speaker 2: two five seventy is the phone number. I don't know
Speaker 2: about you, but when it comes to these ABS challenges,
Speaker 2: I know, when it comes into the strike zone and
Speaker 2: we're all watching it, it's great TV. If you're in
Speaker 2: the stadium, it's great. It's great drama. But don't you
Speaker 2: feel like the spirit of the rule was not to
Speaker 2: have this electronic baseball barely touched the border of the
Speaker 2: strike zone and be called a strike. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like when they put the instant replay in and base
Speaker 2: runners were going in doing the pop up slide and
Speaker 2: they were coming off the base for a split second
Speaker 2: and being called out that that wasn't too me. The
Speaker 2: spirit of why they put in the challenges or why
Speaker 2: instant replay was in similar to this. I kind of
Speaker 2: feel like if I were to make a tweak to
Speaker 2: this ABS challenge system is to designate a percentage of
Speaker 2: the ball in the strike zone if you're going to
Speaker 2: call it a strike, whether it's for the Dodgers or
Speaker 2: against the Dodgers. I think it's really weird when you're
Speaker 2: watching this electronic baseball just barely a centimeter, barely touch
Speaker 2: the border of the strike zone. To me, that's not
Speaker 2: why the ABS challenge system was put in place. But
Speaker 2: I asked Bob garn this, who is Dave roberts right
Speaker 2: hand man with the bench coach Danny Leman, and he said, Okay,
Speaker 2: I understand what you're saying, and it looks weird. But
Speaker 2: if a baseball is hit and barely hits the foul pole,
Speaker 2: is at fair or foul for a home run? I said, well,
Speaker 2: it's a home run, it's fair. Well, there you go.
Speaker 2: Same thing with the ABS challenge system. But still it
Speaker 2: feels like the umpires are getting it right for the
Speaker 2: most part, and when an umpire calls a pitch a ball,
Speaker 2: and then they challenge it and it barely touches the zone.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a little cheap right there. I
Speaker 2: feel like at least forty five percent of the baseball
Speaker 2: has to be in the strike zone to overturn it.
Speaker 2: I don't know, that's my feelings. Eight six six nine
Speaker 2: seven two five seventy is the phone number. We have
Speaker 2: two lines open. Let's go back out to the phones.
Speaker 2: Kenny in Tarzana. You're on Dodger Talk with David Vasse.
Speaker 2: How you doing.
Speaker 7: I'm doing really well. Gaby first call the season. Hopefully
Speaker 7: we'll have a number of others. So you you talked
Speaker 7: about rushing and you felt that he was not aggressive
Speaker 7: enough tonight he got a nice pitch. But then you
Speaker 7: also were criticizing Tucker for I think you said he's
Speaker 7: swinging at fifty did the first pitch?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because that's not who he is. He's been in
Speaker 2: the league a long time. He's only swinging at thirty
Speaker 2: percent of the first pitches that he sees. Now all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, he's swinging at fifty two percent.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Well, you know, I didn't understand the Dodgers begging
Speaker 7: the second highest average annual value a top ten MVP
Speaker 7: one time. I didn't get it. It's nice to have
Speaker 7: him on the team, but we overpaid him. But watch
Speaker 7: out for show. Hey, you remember fifteen home runs last
Speaker 7: year in May, He's gonna get on fire. We'll see.
Speaker 2: Yes, I've repeated that too a few times, so we'll
Speaker 2: keep on trying to speak it into existence. Kenny, Yeah, good, Okay,
Speaker 2: thank you for the phone call. Look, what I'm seeing
Speaker 2: is a lot of hitters. And you've heard this phrase
Speaker 2: a few times. Paralysis by analysis a lot of guys,
Speaker 2: and the Dodgers are the best at this. Not everybody
Speaker 2: is one size fits all. A guy like Andy pa
Speaker 2: Has does not lead a lot of information. He's not
Speaker 2: the same as Will Smith. Freddie Freeman is not a
Speaker 2: guy that's gonna look at the iPad at his swing.
Speaker 2: He doesn't need to. He has said that repeatedly. But
Speaker 2: I feel like in a good way, the Dodger hitting
Speaker 2: coaches are providing a lot of information, and I think
Speaker 2: at times, especially when things are not going well, it's
Speaker 2: paralysis by analysis. Too much information, and some guys get
Speaker 2: overloaded by that information. And look, the Dodger hitting coaches,
Speaker 2: as all their coaching staff does, puts in a lot
Speaker 2: of work, a lot of time to filter the information
Speaker 2: to make it easier for the players to process and perform.
Speaker 2: But right now, with the swings that I'm seeing on
Speaker 2: certain pitches, certain counts, it just reminds me of what
Speaker 2: we have seen the last four year years or so
Speaker 2: when things are not going well. Teams are starting to
Speaker 2: pitch the Dodgers backwards and their information is not caught
Speaker 2: up to what's happening in real time. The adjustments in
Speaker 2: game need to be made quicker and better. I think
Speaker 2: that's what we need to see. Eight six six nine
Speaker 2: eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Celebrate
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Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna take a time out here on
Speaker 2: Dodger Talk. When we come back, more of your phone calls,
Speaker 2: and also you'll hear from Joe Kelly. Plus we have
Speaker 2: great news when it comes to Bruce Star Grattarol and
Speaker 2: Brock Stewart. Two big time relievers that the Dodgers have
Speaker 2: not had in quite some time, So we'll give you
Speaker 2: an update on when they may return. And also you'll
Speaker 2: hear from Joe Kelly, who gave his opinion on and
Speaker 2: how the Dodgers should manage Shoho Tani on the days
Speaker 2: that he pitches. So a lot to get to between.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: In the bottom of the hour, the Dodgers fall to
Speaker 2: the Cardinals three to two. They have lost four in
Speaker 2: a row and have not hit a home run in
Speaker 2: their last five games, and they're trying to turn it
Speaker 2: around Tomorrow. We'll see if they can against former teammate
Speaker 2: Dustin May. But we got a lot more Dodger talk
Speaker 2: next right here on a F five to seventy LA
Speaker 2: Sports and one of four point three HD two.
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Speaker 1: This is Dodger Talk with David Bassan.
Speaker 2: Cardinals beat the Dodgers tonight three to two in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2: Saint Louis has won six in a row after sweeping
Speaker 2: the Pirates in Pittsburgh. In a four game series. They
Speaker 2: come back to beat the Dodgers in the first two
Speaker 2: games of this series and have the same record as
Speaker 2: the Dodgers twenty and thirteen. The Dodgers offense continue to
Speaker 2: struggle tonight. They were not heard from until the ninth inning,
Speaker 2: when Max Munsey, Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pajez were able
Speaker 2: to mant a little bit of a rally, string some
Speaker 2: hits together and score the only two Dodger runs. But
Speaker 2: unfortunately it was not enough, as the Dodgers go down
Speaker 2: to the Cardinals tonight three to two. Daniels Jewelers presents
Speaker 2: the home Run Forecast. For your chance to win a
Speaker 2: fifty dollars Daniels Jeweler's gift card, visit AM five to
Speaker 2: seventy lasports dot com, use the keyword home run and
Speaker 2: to your name and you could win Daniels Jeweler. Daniels
Speaker 2: Jewelers own the dream all right, And by the way,
Speaker 2: I want to remind you on May seventh, which is
Speaker 2: this coming Thursday, all be out at Downy Hunday with
Speaker 2: our guy Alex Vesia. That's right, Alex Vesia will be
Speaker 2: at Downy Hunday this Thursday, from four to five o'clock
Speaker 2: and it is gonna be a good time. He'll be
Speaker 2: out there taking photos. We're gonna have a DJ out there.
Speaker 2: We're gonna have a big time experience. We'll do a
Speaker 2: Dodger talk from out there as well. So it's gonna
Speaker 2: be a good time this Thursday out at Downy Hunday
Speaker 2: four to five o'clock with alex Vesia. So we look
Speaker 2: forward to seeing you out there Downy Hunday. It's all
Speaker 2: about the experience. By the way, speaking of the bullpen
Speaker 2: in alex Vesia, help is on the way. Brock Stewart
Speaker 2: has completed his rehab assignment in Oklahoma City and is
Speaker 2: expected to rejoin the Dodgers when they go to Houston.
Speaker 2: So that's great news. And how about this Bruce dar Gretorol,
Speaker 2: who has not appeared in a professional game since Game
Speaker 2: five of the twenty four World Series, was back in
Speaker 2: action tonight for Oklahoma City. Remember Graterol underwent shoulder surgery
Speaker 2: after the twenty four season. It's been a long road back.
Speaker 2: That shoulder has not responded until now. This is the
Speaker 2: farthest his shoulder has allowed him to go. And Bazooka
Speaker 2: tonight in his first game since the twenty four World Series,
Speaker 2: pitched a one two three inning with two groundouts and
Speaker 2: a strikeout in eight pitches. So Bruce star Graderol fingers
Speaker 2: crossed he bounces back well tomorrow, but certainly a big
Speaker 2: time hope that Bruce dar Grattarol can return and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, the Dodger bullpen will look significantly different
Speaker 2: when they get Brock Stewart back in Houston, and then
Speaker 2: probably in three to four weeks Bruce s Darr Gratterol,
Speaker 2: not to mention Evan Phillips coming back from Tommy John
Speaker 2: surgery at some point in the second half, and also
Speaker 2: Edwin dis the Dodger bullpen is going to be significantly
Speaker 2: deeper over the course of the season as it goes along,
Speaker 2: and Joe Kelly knows all about that. Joe Kelly was
Speaker 2: a big part of the Dodger bullpen from twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: to twenty twenty four, and he joined us on the
Speaker 2: pregame show and Dodger Talk, and I asked him about
Speaker 2: Otani because he is never short of an opinion. He
Speaker 2: watches the Dodgers every game, and I asked him how
Speaker 2: he believes the Dodgers should manage O'tani when he pitches.
Speaker 14: How would I manage it? I would manage it just
Speaker 14: by a personal feel or a healthwise standpoint. Right, we
Speaker 14: don't know what if he's barking from you know, taking
Speaker 14: swings and pitching, Like, what if his arm gets more tired,
Speaker 14: you know in the past couple starts while he's hitting.
Speaker 14: What if he's having those conversations behind the scenes. No
Speaker 14: one knows, right, So I would just probably you know,
Speaker 14: try to be in tune with showhy as much as
Speaker 14: I can leading up to a start. You know, if
Speaker 14: he says he's ready to rock, and I'd let him
Speaker 14: swing if something's bugging him or or maybe the swings
Speaker 14: are messing with his mechanics or you know, I mean
Speaker 14: he's dominating on the mountain, right and something you don't
Speaker 14: want to mess up. He's one of the best pitchers
Speaker 14: in all of baseball, you know, American League, National League.
Speaker 14: So when that's happening, you know, as an organization, you're like, well, shoot,
Speaker 14: maybe he's more valuable as a pitcher and we could
Speaker 14: just keep him at this high level of performance that
Speaker 14: he's doing now, and we'll just skip the four at bets.
Speaker 14: He's gonna get that game, you know what I mean.
Speaker 14: So if that's the case, I would if you know
Speaker 14: that that's the reason why Show he could pitch that, well,
Speaker 14: I would definitely as a as a manager or as
Speaker 14: an organization, I'd be like, hey, Show, Hey, you are
Speaker 14: the best pitcher in baseball right now, Like, do you
Speaker 14: want to mess that up? And I just asked him personally,
Speaker 14: And if he says no, they'll be like, all right,
Speaker 14: well you're not going to hit today, you know what
Speaker 14: I mean. So it just be those conversations that I'd
Speaker 14: have behind the scenes that no one knows. No one
Speaker 14: knows the real reason, right, We'll never get the real reason.
Speaker 14: You know, you know how baseball goes. But you know,
Speaker 14: if it's working, you know, hes dominating the amount like he is.
Speaker 6: You know, it's.
Speaker 14: Whatever he feels he's most comfortable with to keep that
Speaker 14: high level of performance.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: So there you have it from Joe Kelly. It sounds
Speaker 2: like he is on board with what the Dodgers want
Speaker 2: to do. And if shohy Otani really does want to
Speaker 2: shoot for the cy Young this year and help the
Speaker 2: Dodgers win a three peat by pitching on the mound.
Speaker 2: It makes complete sense that you've got to be able
Speaker 2: at thirty one years old to not be able to
Speaker 2: do both every single day. But look, the reality is
Speaker 2: Otani has not pitched since the last homestand and he's
Speaker 2: still scuffling offensively. So I'm not sure if the pitching
Speaker 2: is taking more out of him and it's taking longer
Speaker 2: for him to recover, and if that's taking something out
Speaker 2: of his lower half when he hits, and if that's
Speaker 2: taken something out of his lower half for not just
Speaker 2: the day after, but the next couple of days, that's
Speaker 2: something to consider. But he certainly has not looked like
Speaker 2: sho Hey Otani from the last two years as a hitter,
Speaker 2: and I just think he's not seeing the baseball really well.
Speaker 2: I don't believe it has anything to do with his pitching.
Speaker 2: And like I said, as he told me in Toronto
Speaker 2: when the Dodgers were on their first road trip, he said, April,
Speaker 2: he's not feeling like himself, but he always feels historically
Speaker 2: like May is his month. By the way, as the
Speaker 2: Dodgers are wrapping up their series in Saint Louis tomorrow,
Speaker 2: Blake's now will be making his third rehab start in
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City against round Rock. All is going to make
Speaker 2: one more rehabs start after tomorrow and then should return
Speaker 2: to the Dodger rotation. And after the way Roki Sasaki
Speaker 2: has pitched his last two starts, especially the way he
Speaker 2: pitched in the final three innings tonight, you gotta wonder
Speaker 2: if what I mentioned last night may happen. If Roki
Speaker 2: can continue to show that he can attack the strike
Speaker 2: zone and be what he was tonight, either sheh or
Speaker 2: Robleski's gonna go to the bullpen and piggyback him as insurance.
Speaker 2: I don't see any other way this is going to
Speaker 2: work out. And let's be honest. If you had to
Speaker 2: say who pitched better out of these last two nights,
Speaker 2: it's Roki Sasaki. He pitched better than she in She
Speaker 2: and only didn't even go five innings. Last night, Roki
Speaker 2: Sasaki won six innings and retired to the last ten
Speaker 2: that he faced. So you know, I still maintain that
Speaker 2: it's not a competition. Andrew Freeman already knows what he's
Speaker 2: going to do, and I believe he's not going to
Speaker 2: be influenced by any one start, But after what he
Speaker 2: saw tonight from Roki Sasaki. That may give him encouragement
Speaker 2: that Roki can handle staying in the rotation pitching once
Speaker 2: a week, and you can have Robleski or Sheh on
Speaker 2: alert to back him up any start and manage your
Speaker 2: your high leverage relievers that way, Let's take one more
Speaker 2: phone call before we say goodnight. David in Pasadena walk
Speaker 2: us off on Dodger Talk tonight.
Speaker 15: Hi, David, good to hear your voice. And I've called
Speaker 15: you a couple of times in the last two or
Speaker 15: three weeks. I had a quick question for you on
Speaker 15: one of your comments.
Speaker 16: I'd like to ask you about this idea regarding Dalton
Speaker 16: Rushing getting more at that so we know Will Smith
Speaker 16: is going to catch three out of four games. He's
Speaker 16: America's catcher. We know Freddy's not going anywhere because he's
Speaker 16: a first ballot Hall of Famer. And what about the
Speaker 16: idea of benching ti Oscar for about a month.
Speaker 15: And just put Dalton out there on the left field.
Speaker 15: I think, well, what doesn't Tioscar He's got a seven
Speaker 15: oh six. Ops I just checked on Google while I
Speaker 15: was waiting. He's hitting what two thirty eight? And Dalton's
Speaker 15: got what a fifteen hundred ops or fourteen hundred and
Speaker 15: he's got you know, home, he's crushing the ball. Why
Speaker 15: don't we ride that wave and just put tioscar the
Speaker 15: love the sunflower seeds and he's he got the great
Speaker 15: smile and the energy. But come on, Rushing needs to
Speaker 15: be in that game every day.
Speaker 2: I agree with you. And if he was more comfortable
Speaker 2: in left field, I would say I would give him
Speaker 2: more reps out there, But he has not picked up
Speaker 2: an outfielder's glove since the middle of last year in
Speaker 2: the minor leagues, so he's gonna be I personally believe
Speaker 2: his future position with the Dodgers is going to be
Speaker 2: first base. I really do. I believe there's a very
Speaker 2: good chance he could even be the Dodgers starting first
Speaker 2: basement at some point next year. And look, I'm not
Speaker 2: ready to bury Freddie Freeman like everybody else is, but
Speaker 2: I feel like with Will Smith on this team, the Dodgers,
Speaker 2: who got criticized David for or Or are getting more
Speaker 2: jealousy and envy of having Otani not count as a pitcher. Well,
Speaker 2: they could have Dalton Rushing as their backup catcher and
Speaker 2: be their starting firstman at the same time and not
Speaker 2: have just an obligatory backup catcher roster spot moving forward
Speaker 2: similar to what they have now, and have an extra
Speaker 2: bench players spot if Rushing can do both. So left
Speaker 2: field to me is not in play right now. I
Speaker 2: would love it to be in play, but it's not
Speaker 2: so until I see Dalton Rushing taking fly balls in
Speaker 2: left field, it's first base or catcher for him.
Speaker 15: Okay, I understand, Thank you, Okay.
Speaker 2: David, thanks for the phone call. That'll do it for
Speaker 2: us tonight.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, if one of these outfielders is slumping, I
Speaker 2: would be all for Dalton Rushing playing left field. It
Speaker 2: I just haven't seen him even have an outfielders glove.
Speaker 2: He has a first baseman's glove. I don't think he
Speaker 2: has an outfielder's glove. He never played the outfield in
Speaker 2: spring training either, so maybe that'll change. We'll see how
Speaker 2: things go for Taya moving forward. Tomorrow, Justin Robleski will
Speaker 2: be on the mound for the Dodgers. He's four and
Speaker 2: oh with an ERA of one point fifty, going up
Speaker 2: against former Dodger Dustin May, who is three and two
Speaker 2: with an ERA of five twenty eight Our coverage begins
Speaker 2: at ten am tomorrow with Tim Kates and Morongo Casino
Speaker 2: Dodgers on deck. First pitch from Saint Louis at eleven
Speaker 2: fifteen with Rick Monday and Tim Neverett. By the way,
Speaker 2: the Dustin May trade another under the radar, really good
Speaker 2: trade by Andrew Friedman. You traded Dustin May to the
Speaker 2: Red Sox and he only made five starts for them,
Speaker 2: and you got back James Tibbs the third and Zach Erhart,
Speaker 2: two future major league outfielders, one of them that could
Speaker 2: be starting as soon as next year. I mean, both
Speaker 2: those guys are major league outfielders. Earhart probably a fourth outfielder.
Speaker 2: Tibbs has a chance to be a starter. And you
Speaker 2: got both of them for five starts of Dustin May
Speaker 2: and Austin I mean, come on, that's a really good trade,
Speaker 2: all right. Thanks to our guy Daniel West and our
Speaker 2: Burdbank Studios, Thanks to Dwayne McDonald in Saint Louis, and
Speaker 2: thanks to you for listening. In case you missed any
Speaker 2: of the show, you know where to find it on
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. Make us a preset, subscribe to Dodger Talk,
Speaker 2: and also you can listen to AM five seventy LA
Speaker 2: Sports and Dodger Talk on one oh four point three
Speaker 2: FM HD two. I had a chance to do that
Speaker 2: last week and man AM five seventy in stereo is beautiful,
Speaker 2: So we are a FM station. You just gotta go
Speaker 2: to HD two one to four point three and also
Speaker 2: you can listen on the iHeartRadio app once again. The
Speaker 2: final score tonight in Saint Louis, the Cardinals beat the
Speaker 2: Dodgers three to two. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 8: See you.
Speaker 1: This has been another edition of world champion Dodger Talk.
Speaker 6: We are back to bank.
Speaker 3: Yes yeah.
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Speaker 11: The Dodger's the best team ever.
Speaker 13: I mean, that's the best team I've ever seen assembled
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