Speaker 1: The quest for the three peat has begune.
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 2: Here we go again. We're gotta running.
Speaker 1: Back to get him on the show called eight six
Speaker 1: six nine eighty seven two five seventy, and be sure
Speaker 1: to follow Dodger Talk wherever you get your podcasts. Here's
Speaker 1: your host, David Vase.
Speaker 2: Welcome the Dodger Talk. David Vase with you until eleven
Speaker 2: thirty tonight. After the Dodgers fall to the Giants again tonight,
Speaker 2: the final score six to two eight six six nine
Speaker 2: eighty seven two five seventy is the phone number. Jose
Speaker 2: Mota will join us next hour as we get closer
Speaker 2: to eleven thirty, So it's it's the vent hour. I
Speaker 2: guess tonight because the Dodgers will pull out of this.
Speaker 2: Everybody realizes that, but while they're in it, it's really
Speaker 2: tough to watch. And the Dodgers have now lost four
Speaker 2: straight games by at least four runs. That doesn't happen
Speaker 2: very often. In fact, it hasn't happened since nineteen thirty six. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the last time the Dodgers lost four straight games by
Speaker 2: at least four runs was July of nineteen thirty six,
Speaker 2: So this is something that nobody is used to. So
Speaker 2: there's no sugarcoating what's going on right now. The Dodger
Speaker 2: offense is abysmal. They're averaging two runs per game since
Speaker 2: April eighteenth. That's the reason why they're nine and fourteen.
Speaker 2: Only the Mets and Diamondbacks have a worse record since
Speaker 2: April eighteenth than the dodgers nine and fourteen record. And
Speaker 2: I talked about having a little bit more urgency. I
Speaker 2: didn't see a lot of urgency tonight. I extremely didn't
Speaker 2: see a lot of urgency in the seventh inning when
Speaker 2: the Dodgers were down a run. Now, I'm not a
Speaker 2: baseball expert or a baseball coach, but I have noticed
Speaker 2: when you're down a run laid in the game, your
Speaker 2: third baseman should be guarding against doubles down the line.
Speaker 2: And the Dodgers are really good at placing their infielders
Speaker 2: and outfielders. So I'm not gonna question that. I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna question whether or not it was the right place
Speaker 2: to have Munsey way off the line when Helia Ramos
Speaker 2: was leading off the seventh inning. Isn't that something you
Speaker 2: don't want to happen, to have a leadoff double, to
Speaker 2: have a guy standing at second base with nobody out,
Speaker 2: Don't you want to guard that line? And I paid
Speaker 2: attention to Matt Chapman the very next inning when the
Speaker 2: Giants were ahead by four runs. He was guarding the
Speaker 2: line when Mookie Betts was leading off the eighth inning.
Speaker 2: So that's number one. Number two. The Dodgers were celebrated
Speaker 2: last year during the NLBS for the wheel play in Philadelphia. Well,
Speaker 2: you know, the Dodgers over the last ten years have
Speaker 2: been pretty good at the wheel play. The best Dodger
Speaker 2: first baseman I've ever seen crashing to make the wheel
Speaker 2: play work is Adrian Gonzalez. There's no better Dodger first
Speaker 2: baseman that I've seen spoil a safety squeeze play than
Speaker 2: Adrian Gonzalez. Freddie Freeman's pretty good, but he wasn't that
Speaker 2: good tonight In the seventh inning, when Drew Gilbert was
Speaker 2: pinch hitting for Harrison Bader and runners were at the corners.
Speaker 2: The Giants were up just one run at that point.
Speaker 2: In time, and everybody in the stadium that was paying
Speaker 2: attention knew that Gilbert was going to safety squeeze. And
Speaker 2: you had the middle infielders playing barely at double play
Speaker 2: depth and Freddie Freeman's gotta hold the runner at first
Speaker 2: base Munsi was barely at the cut of the grass.
Speaker 2: And Freddy really didn't crash that hard on you know,
Speaker 2: a pretty well placed bunt. There was some English on
Speaker 2: the ball, and I think that's the reason why when
Speaker 2: he tried to bare hand it, he couldn't get a
Speaker 2: grip on it. But that wasn't executed really well. And
Speaker 2: Mookie Beds and Hayesan Kim were spectators on the play.
Speaker 2: So those are the little things. When your offense is
Speaker 2: only scoring two runs per game since April eighteenth, that
Speaker 2: rear it's ugly head when you're not outslugging those mistakes,
Speaker 2: and right now the Dodgers are not outslugging mistakes. Eight
Speaker 2: six six nine, eight seven two five point seventy is
Speaker 2: the phone number. And another concerning thing other than opposing
Speaker 2: team's number nine hitters beating you. If you remember in
Speaker 2: San Francisco, so the recently traded Patrick Bailey, number nine
Speaker 2: hitter beat the Dodgers with a three run home run
Speaker 2: in the middle game of the series in San Francisco,
Speaker 2: and the Giants shut the Dodgers out that night three
Speaker 2: to nothing. Well tonight, since Bailey's been traded, it was
Speaker 2: Eric Hass who did not have a home run this year,
Speaker 2: hitting ninth, hitting two home runs off the World Series
Speaker 2: MVP Yoshi Yamamoto. No Giant since Dodgers Stadium opened in
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty two has ever had a multi homer game
Speaker 2: here at this ballpark until tonight Eric Hass. And Eric
Speaker 2: Hass almost became the first Giant in seventy five years
Speaker 2: of Dodgers Giant's rivalry to be a catcher for San
Speaker 2: Francisco or New York and have a three homer game
Speaker 2: against the Dodgers. He was inches away from doing that
Speaker 2: in the seventh inning. You just when you're in it
Speaker 2: the way the Dodgers are in it nine and fourteen
Speaker 2: since April eighteenth, these things happened to you, and you've
Speaker 2: got to be resilient. And I hear players talk about
Speaker 2: this all the time. If you do your job, if
Speaker 2: everybody does their job, things will fall into place, which
Speaker 2: is true. But you got to come together as a unit,
Speaker 2: and it just seems like every at bat is on
Speaker 2: an island. Dave Roberts said, there were minimal opportunities tonight,
Speaker 2: I guess, but the Dodgers, I thought, let Adrian Houser
Speaker 2: off the hook in the very first inning, bases loaded
Speaker 2: one out and you only get one run. How About
Speaker 2: in the eighth inning, bases loaded one out, Max Munsey
Speaker 2: at the plate, the guy you want, and Max Munsey
Speaker 2: takes cold strike three on a fastball away from him.
Speaker 2: He obviously was guessing for something else and he kind
Speaker 2: of gave up on the ad bat. I love Max Muncie,
Speaker 2: but he was so upset for taking strike three that
Speaker 2: he forgot to challenge a borderline pitch, or he blacked
Speaker 2: out and didn't. He was so angry that he didn't
Speaker 2: challenge a borderline pitch with the bases loaded and won
Speaker 2: out in a full count. That could have changed things
Speaker 2: at that point in time if it was called ball four.
Speaker 2: If it's not, it was still worth the challenge. That
Speaker 2: was the highest leverage of situations that the Dodgers want
Speaker 2: their hitters to challenge pitches in. So those type of
Speaker 2: things again are happening and happen when you're going through
Speaker 2: it the way the Dodgers are going through it, and
Speaker 2: they've got to find to pull themselves out of it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I said last night, I demanded six in
Speaker 2: a row as far as wins go. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: already upset to split four games against these giants, but
Speaker 2: you gotta find a way to win the next two.
Speaker 2: And it's not going to be easy facing Robbie Ray,
Speaker 2: who has been historically really good against the Dodgers. Here's
Speaker 2: something else that's alarming. Yamamoto last year only gave up
Speaker 2: fourteen home runs. Tonight he gives up three. He's given
Speaker 2: up eight home runs already this year. You know what
Speaker 2: that is trending towards. It's trending towards Yamamoto being on
Speaker 2: pace to give up thirty one home runs this year.
Speaker 2: That is alarming. You even heard Rick Monday and Steven
Speaker 2: Nelson talk about the fact, and Yamamoto even said this
Speaker 2: in his postgame media conference that players are barreling the
Speaker 2: ball up more on him for some reason. This year.
Speaker 2: No Dodger has given up thirty home runs in his
Speaker 2: season since Jeff Weaver in two thousand and five. I
Speaker 2: lived through that. It wasn't pretty. He gave up thirty
Speaker 2: five home runs in two thousand and five. Now, I
Speaker 2: will say this in yamamotos defense. He did not walk
Speaker 2: a batter tonight, so all three home runs were solo
Speaker 2: home runs. But it's hard. It's hard to go back
Speaker 2: into that dugout when you give up three home runs
Speaker 2: to the number eight and number nine hitter of the
Speaker 2: San Francisco Giants, who, coming into this series were the
Speaker 2: worst offense in baseball, fewest runs scored, fewest home runs hit.
Speaker 2: They had only hit twenty six home runs coming into tonight,
Speaker 2: they hit three. It was their eight to nine hitters.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you this is inexcusable. They're losing to an
Speaker 2: inferior team. Celebrate ninety years of racing at Santa Anita
Speaker 2: Park every Friday through Sunday with millions in pay every
Speaker 2: race day for heart pounding action and new experiences. Visit
Speaker 2: Santa Anita dot com slash events. Now, I will say
Speaker 2: this in the defense of the Dodgers. They lost all
Speaker 2: six games to the Angels last year and they went
Speaker 2: on to win the World Series. So, like we talk
Speaker 2: about all the time, these games in may matter yes,
Speaker 2: but at the end of the season, when you're the
Speaker 2: Dodgers and you're in the postseason, people don't remember these
Speaker 2: type of games. But certainly you got to get there first,
Speaker 2: and everybody expects the Dodgers to be there. And I
Speaker 2: hate when I hear national hot takes saying the Dodgers
Speaker 2: are just going to sleep walk through the regular season.
Speaker 2: They can't afford to sleep walk through the regular season.
Speaker 2: Eight six, six nine, eight seven, two, five seventy is
Speaker 2: the phone number Dodgers fall to the Giants tonight, six
Speaker 2: to two. Let's go out to Rancho Cucamonga. Ralph. You're
Speaker 2: on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi ro, Hey.
Speaker 3: Did you kind of stole some of my thunder? I
Speaker 3: was going to ask you about the ADS system, you know,
Speaker 3: the protocol. I mean, obviously months he taking that third strike.
Speaker 4: Which you know you can tell on TV that it
Speaker 4: was a ball, and you got two challenges.
Speaker 3: I mean, what are you waiting for? You know you're
Speaker 3: not going to take them home with you. Same thing
Speaker 3: earlier in the year. I remember it was a game
Speaker 3: with Freeland.
Speaker 5: I think goes up.
Speaker 3: Same thing.
Speaker 4: Took another call strike three, obvious ball, didn't challenge with
Speaker 4: old Tani on deck, you know, and they lost that
Speaker 4: game just and you know, kept.
Speaker 3: The two challenges. Is there a protocol amongst them, the managers,
Speaker 3: you know, talking to them saying hey, yeah.
Speaker 2: That was the situation, Ralph. That is the exact strategy.
Speaker 2: The Dodgers want their hitters to challenge borderline pitches like that.
Speaker 2: And like I said, Monsey was upset that he thought
Speaker 2: he struck out and it was a fastball. He guessed wrong,
Speaker 2: and he was upset. And you know, I don't want
Speaker 2: to say he gave up on the bat, but he
Speaker 2: certainly wasn't in the right frame of mind to say, hey,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, I'll challenge that. So his head wasn't
Speaker 2: in the game. He was just upset at himself. And
Speaker 2: that's what I mean. You can't just be worried with yourself.
Speaker 2: You got to know the situation. And look, this is
Speaker 2: something the Dodgers have talked about as a strategy, and
Speaker 2: there was no more particular moment than that, that particular
Speaker 2: moment that they would want the Dodgers, a Dodger hitter
Speaker 2: to challenge a pitch. See, he just he made a
Speaker 2: mistake and that happens.
Speaker 3: Ralph, Yeah, I.
Speaker 6: Guess so, yeah, because I mean there's not more of
Speaker 6: a of a bigger spot than that. Bases loaded in
Speaker 6: the eighth and you got two challenges left. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 6: if you lose it, you still have the last one.
Speaker 6: But I just was curious about, you know what, what
Speaker 6: the thinking is, you know, by the mannerers talking to
Speaker 6: them before they go up.
Speaker 2: I mean, you have two seconds to challenge. You don't
Speaker 2: have all day, you don't have the chance to go
Speaker 2: to the phone. So they hitters have got to have
Speaker 2: the presence of mind and be able to challenge a
Speaker 2: pitch like that one. And look, Muncy has been the Dodgers'
Speaker 2: best player all around this year, so I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: crush him for that one particular moment. But it wasn't
Speaker 2: his best moment, I'll tell you that, all right, Thanks Daude,
Speaker 2: all right, Ralph, Yeah, it's hard for me to crush
Speaker 2: Max Munsey, who leads the team with eleven home runs,
Speaker 2: who is one of the best defensive third basemen this
Speaker 2: year in baseball. He had a bad moment at a
Speaker 2: bad time of the game, but he's had a lot
Speaker 2: of good moments this year. Let's go out to Santa Monica. Justin,
Speaker 2: You're on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi Justin, Hey.
Speaker 7: Dave, thanks for taking my call. Yeah, so, I just
Speaker 7: kind of want to piggyback a little bit about our
Speaker 7: hitting and let's just talk a little bit about Otani.
Speaker 7: It was really encouraging, certainly to see him get a
Speaker 7: home run tonight, but you know, we got one of
Speaker 7: the greatest players of all time in his first really
Speaker 7: major slump of his career, and I don't think the
Speaker 7: best idea is Roberts to just yo yo him in
Speaker 7: and out of the lineup to instill some sort of confidence.
Speaker 7: I mean, I think there's you know, at this point,
Speaker 7: you know, let's talk about Aaron.
Speaker 8: B Like, it's like, well, we're.
Speaker 7: Gonna play it. We're gonna let him bat this game.
Speaker 7: But now I'm not like last week, the middle of
Speaker 7: the game they decided that they weren't going to let
Speaker 7: him hit the next game. It's kind of like, you
Speaker 7: gotta led him. He's one of the greatest hitters we've
Speaker 7: seen in our time, so you know, he has the
Speaker 7: talent to do it. And I'm going to call out
Speaker 7: our hitting coaches. I'm like what are they doing to
Speaker 7: earn their salaries. It's like this is the prime example
Speaker 7: where we need your expertise to have them take a
Speaker 7: look at what he's doing right and wrong with that
Speaker 7: swing of his and help him. I mean, basically, have
Speaker 7: him just even look at the pitches that he's going
Speaker 7: outside the zone with he's just throwing as bad at it.
Speaker 7: I mean, I don't I'm not a professional. I'm not
Speaker 7: paid to be on the sidelines. I wish I was,
Speaker 7: but these guys are not just seem like they're doing
Speaker 7: what they need to be doing with our team now,
Speaker 7: just averaging under three runs per game this month, like
Speaker 7: you called out, outside of the Houston games. It's just
Speaker 7: like it seems that we need to get our coaching
Speaker 7: to be a little bit more responsible here. I really
Speaker 7: don't like what Roberts has been doing with Otani either,
Speaker 7: to have him coming in and out of the lineup.
Speaker 2: I disagree with you. I don't think he's doing that.
Speaker 2: That was that one particular game, and I don't disagree
Speaker 2: with him. He said yesterday, and I'll let you hear
Speaker 2: that after we hang up, but he already made it
Speaker 2: clear and he didn't let Tonight's performance sway him from saying, uh, okay,
Speaker 2: you're gonna hit now tomorrow night. As what you're saying
Speaker 2: the yo yo, he's not yo yo ing him. He's
Speaker 2: not hitting tomorrow even though he had his best offensive
Speaker 2: game in quite some time.
Speaker 7: So do you think that's a good idea to take
Speaker 7: him out of the lineup when judge he might be
Speaker 7: starting to figure out.
Speaker 2: Out well when history tells us that sixty four at
Speaker 2: bats with him pitching, when he hits, he's hitting two
Speaker 2: hundred with two home runs. So even when he does
Speaker 2: well the nights before and around it, when he pitches,
Speaker 2: he's hitting two hundred and sixty four at bats with
Speaker 2: the Dodgers.
Speaker 7: Okay, you're around the team more than I am, clearly,
Speaker 7: But like, do you like what do you see from
Speaker 7: our hitting coaches and working not just with Otani but
Speaker 7: the rest of the team. I mean, Tucker, I mean,
Speaker 7: he's doing a really good impression of Conforto if you
Speaker 7: ask me, It's like, I just see a guy that
Speaker 7: we put a lot of faith, a lot of money in,
Speaker 7: and I'm seeing mediocre results too, And it just seems
Speaker 7: overall there's a little bit of a malaid with the
Speaker 7: hitting on his team. So I'd like to see our
Speaker 7: hitting coaches step up and do more with this team.
Speaker 7: And I also like to see the team show a
Speaker 7: little more fight. Like you said, it's like you see
Speaker 7: like they're sleepwalking out there. There's a lack of focus
Speaker 7: and overall fight. And example is with our abs challenges.
Speaker 7: I have not yet seen Otani challenge a pitch when
Speaker 7: it's outside his own and I guess.
Speaker 2: That's not true. He has he has, Justin, I understand
Speaker 2: the frustration with what happened in the eighth inning tonight,
Speaker 2: but you're making a lot of generalities, and I understand
Speaker 2: your frustration. But I feel like I've let you vent
Speaker 2: enough and I'll let you hear what Dave Roberts had
Speaker 2: to say before the game about his plan for Otani
Speaker 2: tomorrow and Thursday. How about that? Can we agree on?
Speaker 7: That sounds awesome, Dave. I'll be at the Ravine tomorrow.
Speaker 7: Let's hope we turn it around, all right?
Speaker 2: I love it, Justin, all right, since everybody wants to know,
Speaker 2: and I understand what Justin is saying, but it's perception
Speaker 2: not reality. The Dodgers are not yo yoing Otani. They're
Speaker 2: going with the plan, and they're sticking with it. In
Speaker 2: this case, the yo yo would have been they see
Speaker 2: him get on base three times tonight, they see him
Speaker 2: hit his second home run in one hundred and eight
Speaker 2: plate appearances, and they say, you know what we said,
Speaker 2: you weren't going to hit tomorrow, Well you are now.
Speaker 2: That would be a yo yo. This is what Dave
Speaker 2: Roberts said before the game yesterday, and he has maintained
Speaker 2: a stick with the plan of Otani only pitching tomorrow night.
Speaker 5: I do know he's not going to hit on Thursday.
Speaker 2: I do know that.
Speaker 5: And then as far as tomorrow, I haven't decided yet,
Speaker 5: probably leaning towards not having him hit tomorrow, thinking that,
Speaker 5: you know, it might just be a be a good
Speaker 5: thing to take a little bit of a load off
Speaker 5: of his plate offensively, so, but I haven't made that decision.
Speaker 5: Maybe some of it is affected by tonight, but I
Speaker 5: don't know. Like I said, I'm probably leaning towards not
Speaker 5: having them hit for the next two days. The pros
Speaker 5: are taking the hitting part off his plate, letting his
Speaker 5: body recover a little bit. As far as being a
Speaker 5: two way player for a couple of days, playing more
Speaker 5: the longer view, potentially giving him a reset on the
Speaker 5: offensive side. The cons is just not being able to
Speaker 5: write his name in the lineup at the top of the.
Speaker 2: Order, all right. So that is the explanation for Justin
Speaker 2: and Santa Monica and you as well, what the Dodgers
Speaker 2: plan is for thirty one year old two way players,
Speaker 2: show Hey Otani, who has been one of the best
Speaker 2: starting pitchers in baseball this year with an ERA under one.
Speaker 2: There's no disputing that. If you had to handicap the
Speaker 2: Cy Young race right now, it would be Mason Miller
Speaker 2: from the Padres, it would be sho Heyo Tani, and
Speaker 2: it would be Christopher Sanchez. Those would be the three
Speaker 2: best right now. If you're handicapping the early May National
Speaker 2: League Cy Young race, those three right now are very
Speaker 2: much in the conversation above everybody else. But I it's
Speaker 2: hard for me to disagree with that. And I'm not
Speaker 2: a guy in the boat that says Otani should give up,
Speaker 2: because he's not. He's very much intent on trying to
Speaker 2: be the best picture he can be, and that is
Speaker 2: his identity. When the Dodgers signed him, they knew that
Speaker 2: was his identity, a two way player, not just a hitter,
Speaker 2: but a two way player and the best player on
Speaker 2: the planet. Because of that, now you can argue what
Speaker 2: the Dodgers need more? Do they need Otani the hitter
Speaker 2: more or Otani the pitcher more? I would argue the Dodgers,
Speaker 2: if I had to choose one, it would be Otani
Speaker 2: the hitter. They need him more then they need Otani
Speaker 2: the pitcher. But he is a two way player, the
Speaker 2: greatest player on the planet, and there is no disputing
Speaker 2: the fact he has been one of the best, if
Speaker 2: not the best, starting pitcher in baseball this season. And
Speaker 2: you're gonna see that on display again tomorrow night. Now
Speaker 2: here's my thing. Okay, Otani's not going to hit tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Who should be the DH and who should lead off?
Speaker 2: I would have Mooki Betts leading off tomorrow. I would
Speaker 2: have Mooki Betts leading off Thursday. I would have Freddy
Speaker 2: Freeman DH. I would have Dalton Rushing playing first base.
Speaker 2: And I have maintained that for the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman's thirty six years old. The Dodgers are in
Speaker 2: the middle of playing thirteen in a row. Freddy wants
Speaker 2: to play out every day. Fine, you're gonna be the
Speaker 2: DH Dalton rushing, You're going to play first base. And
Speaker 2: Mookie Betts, who has been one of, if not the
Speaker 2: best leadoff hitter this game is seen in the last
Speaker 2: twenty five years, should be the leadoff hitter on those days.
Speaker 2: And if he performs well, and if Otani still is,
Speaker 2: you know, taking a step backwards offensively where he's only
Speaker 2: quote only hitting thirty home runs this year, then maybe
Speaker 2: he shouldn't be the leadoff hitter. Maybe it should be
Speaker 2: Mookie Betts. But Mookie's got to prove that Mookie's back,
Speaker 2: and I've seen signs of that which is encouraging. But
Speaker 2: for me, tomorrow night, just in the here and now,
Speaker 2: Mookie Betts should lead off for the Dodgers tomorrow night.
Speaker 2: Eight sixty six eighty seven two five seventy is the
Speaker 2: phone number. When we continue, we'll take more of your
Speaker 2: phone calls at eight sixty six nine eighty seven two
Speaker 2: five seventy. And that ice cube Magic was back at
Speaker 2: Dodgers Stadium tonight. It was his bobblehead night. He threw
Speaker 2: a strike to Mike Epps for the first pitch. Of
Speaker 2: course he would. He's not fat Joe He's not bouncing it.
Speaker 2: He's not fifty cent sending it down the backstop. He's
Speaker 2: ice Cube. He's way too cool for that. We'll let
Speaker 2: you hear his moment during Gotani's home run in the
Speaker 2: Sports net LA booth with Oral Herscheizer and Joe Davis.
Speaker 2: So don't go anywhere more Dodger Talk until eleven thirty
Speaker 2: right here on A five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: On air at AM five seventy, online at amfive seventy
Speaker 1: la sports dot com, and available by podcast on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: This is Dodger Talk with David Bassi.
Speaker 1: Two and one, the count Hiershuser, Coltani drills one left failed,
Speaker 1: This ball's hit deep, and it is gone.
Speaker 6: He looks to the sky rounding first base as if
Speaker 6: to say, finally.
Speaker 2: Show Heo Tani with his first home run in his
Speaker 2: last twenty four games. That one came at a good time,
Speaker 2: tying the game, but the Dodgers would eventually fall to
Speaker 2: the Giants tonight, six to two, and for show Hao Tani.
Speaker 2: That ended an eleven game homerless streak, which was his
Speaker 2: longest as a Dodger. He finished two for four tonight.
Speaker 2: He walked, and he had two of the Dodgers four
Speaker 2: hits tonight against the Giants and Adrian Hauser. Daniel Stewlers
Speaker 2: presents the home run forecast for your chance to win
Speaker 2: a fifty dollars Daniel Steweler's gift card visit and five
Speaker 2: to seventy LA sports dot Com used the keyword home
Speaker 2: run and to your name and you could win. Daniel
Speaker 2: Stewlers owned the dream by the way, and that at
Speaker 2: bat in the eighth inning that Max Munsey struck out
Speaker 2: looking on ninety three fastball on the outer part of
Speaker 2: the plate, that was definitely challengeable, not saying it was
Speaker 2: gonna work out, but certainly worth a try. The count
Speaker 2: was one and two, so it would have gave him
Speaker 2: second life. The count would have been two and two
Speaker 2: if the call was overturned. With the bases loaded and
Speaker 2: Munsey facing the left handed reliever Henches of the Giants. Instead,
Speaker 2: he didn't challenge and there was two out spaces loaded.
Speaker 2: Andy pah haz flew out to shallow left field and
Speaker 2: that was one of two bases loaded opportunities the Dodgers
Speaker 2: did not really cash in on in the eighth inning.
Speaker 2: No runs in the first inning against Houser, they had
Speaker 2: base loaded one out and could not cash in more
Speaker 2: than one run in that inning. Ice Cube was at
Speaker 2: the ballpark. It felt like ice Cube was in the house.
Speaker 2: Good things were going to happen. The Dodgers were going
Speaker 2: to end their losing streak. Instead, the Giants hand the
Speaker 2: Dodgers their fourth straight loss, and something that hasn't happened
Speaker 2: in quite some time for the Dodgers. They lose their
Speaker 2: fourth straight game, and they also lose it by four runs.
Speaker 2: And the last time the Dodgers lost four in a
Speaker 2: row by at least four runs was July of nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty six. But there was good vibes. You just heard
Speaker 2: Stephen Nelson call Otani's home run in the third inning
Speaker 2: right here on a five to seventy LA Sports and
Speaker 2: the Dodgers' audio network. But at the time of Otani's
Speaker 2: at bat, ice Cube was in the booth with Joe
Speaker 2: Davis and Oral herzt Scheizer, and of course the good
Speaker 2: luck charm for the Dodgers. The last couple of years
Speaker 2: brought some more to show. Hey, Otani, tell me about
Speaker 2: that night for you, oh man. That night we was
Speaker 2: broke as a joke. When I say we it's me.
Speaker 2: There is a drive off of the back of Sani
Speaker 2: headed for the lot of the seats. There we go.
Speaker 1: All we had to do was bring ice kby.
Speaker 2: I know tany figures it out. It's not simple, amazing.
Speaker 9: You couldn't have scripted it better.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go live here and stay that way.
Speaker 2: But when we do the replay, you could break it down.
Speaker 1: Okay, down the piss and the swim.
Speaker 9: No problem, there you go. But he lined that up,
Speaker 9: send it right down the middle of the plate, right
Speaker 9: where he loves it, and he smacks this thing all
Speaker 9: the way goes yard the man. How great is it
Speaker 9: to be a Dodger fan?
Speaker 2: Right now?
Speaker 1: I thought you were.
Speaker 2: Gonna read that was pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I need
Speaker 2: someone beat Yeah, how about that analysis by ice Cube?
Speaker 2: So ice Cube in the booth with Joe and orl
Speaker 2: when Otani was at bat and when Otani uh snapped
Speaker 2: his eleven game homerless streak, hitting that home run to
Speaker 2: tie the game in the third inning.
Speaker 9: So uh.
Speaker 2: Not only did ice Cube bring the Dodgers a lot
Speaker 2: of luck during the twenty four World Series, but tonight
Speaker 2: he helped out Otani, who had his best offensive game
Speaker 2: in quite some time. Eight six six nine, eight seven
Speaker 2: two five seventy is the phone number. I wonder if
Speaker 2: Joe and orl H after the inning was over, you know,
Speaker 2: gave Cube a sample of what they did in year
Speaker 2: one together, filming driving down to San Diego and singing
Speaker 2: a very very white version of eminem lose yourself. I
Speaker 2: wonder if they if they showed Cube that video. Do
Speaker 2: you think they did Cube? Do you know we uh
Speaker 2: we sing a little eminem ourselves. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: don't think they did that. I don't think they did that.
Speaker 2: But it was great to have ice Cube at the
Speaker 2: ballpark tonight, and hey, that's a cool moment right there.
Speaker 2: To have ice Cube in the booth with sports Net
Speaker 2: LA and Joe and ORL and I love how Oral
Speaker 2: was trying to talk ice Cube through a sports broadcasting
Speaker 2: mechanics is we're showing the live shot right now, but
Speaker 2: as soon as we show the replay, that's not a
Speaker 2: live shot. That was great, That was great, but it
Speaker 2: was great that ice Cube played along and he was very,
Speaker 2: very inclusive. Today. We had a chance to catch up
Speaker 2: with ice Cube before he threw out his first pitch
Speaker 2: and I was gonna replay that interview, but I feel
Speaker 2: like the Dodgers losing their fourth in a row and
Speaker 2: the way they lost it to the Giants. I just figured,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'll save that for another time, or
Speaker 2: you can do it at your leisure on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: So it was really great to meet ice Cube was
Speaker 2: he went to high school at Taft High School in
Speaker 2: Woodland Hills, where I'm from. I did not go to Taft.
Speaker 2: I actually went to El Camino my freshman year and
Speaker 2: then transferred to Notre Dame High School. But he knew
Speaker 2: all about that in and out on Ventura Boulevard between
Speaker 2: DeSoto and Wineka right there. So I love it. He's
Speaker 2: a valley guy. He's la And how about this. Mike
Speaker 2: Epps was in the house when I walked into ice
Speaker 2: Cube sweet, I was like, wait a minute, that's Mike
Speaker 2: Epps right there. There's ice Cube. I mean. It was
Speaker 2: a Friday reunion and coming up on Friday, July seventeenth,
Speaker 2: ice Cube, Mike Aps, Warren g Scarface. They're going to
Speaker 2: be at the Long Beach Amphitheater and tickets are going
Speaker 2: on sale this Friday for all that Friday, July seventeenth,
Speaker 2: I got to see if the Dodgers are in town.
Speaker 2: Oh man, Oh it's the first game of the second half.
Speaker 2: I won't be there, but tickets go on sale for
Speaker 2: ice Cube with Mike Apps Scarface war g Friday July seventeenth.
Speaker 2: The Long Beach Amphitheater. Tickets go on stay Sail this Friday.
Speaker 2: Here's another thing I wanted to bring up, as far
Speaker 2: as the game goes and the way the Dodger offense
Speaker 2: is going for a few guys, now, I think you
Speaker 2: all know that I'm not a huge All in World
Speaker 2: Baseball Classic guy. It's it's a cool tournament, but I'm
Speaker 2: not going to over emphasize the importance of it like
Speaker 2: some others will and I do believe it takes away
Speaker 2: from the regular season for certain players, and it feels
Speaker 2: like more than usual this year. You take, for example,
Speaker 2: the two catchers who split up time, cal Raley and
Speaker 2: Will Smith. Cal Rawley's having an awful year to start
Speaker 2: the season. Will Smith is not Will Smith yet by
Speaker 2: the way. Uh, there's been flashes, but he's a two
Speaker 2: sixty five hitter after going zero for to tonight and
Speaker 2: his ops is seven oh one, and he doesn't have
Speaker 2: a home run against a lefty this year. Will Smith
Speaker 2: and cal Rawly split time. They didn't get many at
Speaker 2: bats in spring training, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: we're asked to catch their pitching staffs and b the
Speaker 2: American League MVP and b Will Smith, who caught more
Speaker 2: innings than any other catcher in World Series history, including
Speaker 2: all eighteen innings in Game three. You don't think that
Speaker 2: has a residual effect all those things on Will Smith,
Speaker 2: who's now thirty one years old.
Speaker 8: I do.
Speaker 2: How about sho Hao Tania and Yamamoto. You're telling me
Speaker 2: a disjointed spring training for both those guys in a
Speaker 2: season where Otani's trying to go back to being a
Speaker 2: two way player has not had a residual effect on
Speaker 2: him early in the season.
Speaker 8: I do.
Speaker 2: Did you realize that Vladimir Guerrero Junior only has two
Speaker 2: home runs this year? Oh? Yeah, he played for Team Dominican.
Speaker 2: So did Fernando Tatist Junior, who's slugging three hundred these days.
Speaker 2: I could go on and on about players that played
Speaker 2: in the World Baseball Classic that are off to really
Speaker 2: bad starts, and I won't even mention Edwin Diaz and
Speaker 2: Trek Skubele undergoing loose body surgeries in their elbows. I
Speaker 2: won't even go there. Now, that's not an excuse for
Speaker 2: Teoscar Hernandez or Kyle Tucker or Mookie bats, but it does.
Speaker 2: Nobody has pointed this out because everybody wants to honk
Speaker 2: the horn for the World Baseball Classic, which is a
Speaker 2: fun event, and I do believe if you're going to
Speaker 2: do it, it's that time of the year. But the
Speaker 2: reality is a lot of these guys that played, and
Speaker 2: a lot of guys that didn't get a lot of
Speaker 2: at bats when they should have been getting their fifty
Speaker 2: at bats on the backfield and in spring training, did
Speaker 2: not get them playing in the World Baseball Classic, and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden we're asked to jump start
Speaker 2: their season again, including Otani, including Yamamoto, and including Will
Speaker 2: Smith and cal Rawley, who were the catching combo for
Speaker 2: Team USA. Two guys that split out bats that didn't
Speaker 2: catch every game have gotten off. To cal Rawley's case,
Speaker 2: horrid start, Will Smith a very average, not Will Smith
Speaker 2: type start. You can't tell me that did not have
Speaker 2: or does not have an effect on these guys. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: There's just too many of these guys that played in
Speaker 2: the World Baseball Classic that are off to not very
Speaker 2: Vladimir Guerrero Junior like starts eight six six nine to
Speaker 2: eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Let's
Speaker 2: head out to Jose Mota.
Speaker 1: It's time to go around the horn with Jose.
Speaker 2: All right, Jose Moto, Let's start with the good, which
Speaker 2: was show Hao Tani doing show Hao Tani things and
Speaker 2: not only hitting a home run for the first time
Speaker 2: in eleven games, but going the opposite way. I felt
Speaker 2: like that was the biggest encouraging part of his home
Speaker 2: run tonight.
Speaker 8: Very encouraging to see that, saying through the baseball very nicely,
Speaker 8: David really pays to the importance of coming to hit outside.
Speaker 8: And even though he did put a little bit of
Speaker 8: a show yesterday on in that first round, at least
Speaker 8: he can see that when he his body was not
Speaker 8: positioned right, the ball was still caring, but it was
Speaker 8: not the same swing against seventy miles an hour, And
Speaker 8: I think there's a true value in show. He was
Speaker 8: talking about this before with me about this. The netting
Speaker 8: is one thing. When he hit the ball against the
Speaker 8: net in the cage. It's one thing when you see
Speaker 8: the ball travel with batsman is a different thing. When
Speaker 8: we hit runs in VP without the right swing, you're
Speaker 8: fooling yourself. Now if he a line drives the other
Speaker 8: way in BPA see to travel and to carry, then
Speaker 8: is a different story in today. I think hopefully it's
Speaker 8: a good start to what he knows he needs to
Speaker 8: do to continue to drag the baseball up the middle
Speaker 8: in the other way.
Speaker 2: All right, So let's get to Yamamoto, his Japanese counterpart,
Speaker 2: giving up eight home runs so far this year. He's
Speaker 2: on pace to give up thirty one. He only gave
Speaker 2: up fourteen all of last year. Why is he giving
Speaker 2: up so many home runs?
Speaker 8: We see the barrels, which he admits, and he knows,
Speaker 8: and numbers are not lying. And one thing that's concerning
Speaker 8: to me with Yamamoto is menus score vision twenty one.
Speaker 8: Coming into today, Number eight hitter has now hit three
Speaker 8: home runs against him. Number nine hitter hits two tonight,
Speaker 8: and that's five. So I think, and I believe, and
Speaker 8: I see this run for my eyes, Dave, he is
Speaker 8: very split happy right now. He is a fastball type guy.
Speaker 8: That can base off of that with his cutter. He
Speaker 8: can based with the sinker and with his four ceiling.
Speaker 8: But he came into today with you know, more dominance
Speaker 8: from the split side. Ninety one bald Nard splitter average
Speaker 8: thirty percent, usage twenty five percent on the fastball, cover
Speaker 8: eighteen percent. So I think there's a little life missing
Speaker 8: in that fastball because obviously let's talk about this too.
Speaker 8: You just talk about the WBC. Right, Delamoto was pitching
Speaker 8: on November first, Okay, Delmoto was warming up for the
Speaker 8: eighteen inning game. He pitt it back to back games,
Speaker 8: I mean, and then he had a very short offseason. Really,
Speaker 8: he's not sixty three two forty this guy is. You know,
Speaker 8: he's put together. We know the industrant that he does have,
Speaker 8: how well prepared he is. But I've talked to a
Speaker 8: couple of hitters now around the league and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 8: we see ninety seven, ninety eight, but there's no carry
Speaker 8: as much as he used to. And that's why I
Speaker 8: see and I look at the numbers game saying why
Speaker 8: is he so heavy on the splitter? And perhaps it's
Speaker 8: because he knows his fasto's getting scored up and he's
Speaker 8: not throwing it enough to have the command that he needs.
Speaker 2: My point, Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, nobody
Speaker 2: pitch more than Yamamoto in the postseason last year, and
Speaker 2: nobody had to turn it around quicker than Yama Moto,
Speaker 2: not to mention doing it in twenty four as well.
Speaker 2: So another part of my point about the players that
Speaker 2: participated in the World Baseball Classic not having a great
Speaker 2: start to the year.
Speaker 8: Jose, Yeah, maybe that's why I'm not having a good
Speaker 8: star byself.
Speaker 2: Maybe so maybe. So how about Max Munsey tonight in
Speaker 2: the eighth inning, Jose, do you feel like he just
Speaker 2: blacked out there and completely forgot about the two challenges
Speaker 2: at that point in time, or do you believe that
Speaker 2: he thought it was just so way outside it would
Speaker 2: have been a waste of time even though it was
Speaker 2: a borderline strike.
Speaker 8: Hey, mac Munsey has perhaps the best eye of any
Speaker 8: Dodger when it comes down to pitches right on the
Speaker 8: edges and the grace on and I'm surprised he did
Speaker 8: not do that. I think out of the frustration and
Speaker 8: knowing that you got to tap right away. You take
Speaker 8: a couple of steps and you're done, he forgot about it.
Speaker 8: Is ideal spot, you know, and he's just playing very
Speaker 8: well here, you know, throughout this whole show. You know,
Speaker 8: when season began and spring running again, you've got to
Speaker 8: be strategic and pick your spots about it. That would
Speaker 8: have been a perfect spot. And then there's a couple
Speaker 8: of confusion things today. There is a time in which
Speaker 8: Andy Payes tapped his helmet, but he was thinking about
Speaker 8: if the umpire's gonna call him getting just grazed by
Speaker 8: the ball or not. That's confusion. The other part of
Speaker 8: the confusion part we saw today with the Dodgers is
Speaker 8: the player were talking about before Drew Gilbert's safety squeeze.
Speaker 8: You got Kim playing to pull plane deep. This guy's
Speaker 8: up for a reason. He's gonna put the ball and
Speaker 8: play and can run. We'll keeps looking at the dugout
Speaker 8: asking somebody if the ball did to me, what do
Speaker 8: I do? Wor'st Kim gonna be There's gonna not gonna
Speaker 8: be an old play. Max Munsey right before that, on
Speaker 8: the visit to the mound, he goes over and says, hey,
Speaker 8: am I looking for the butt or not. So there's
Speaker 8: a few things today that I think need to be
Speaker 8: addressed to clean things up a little bit more. And
Speaker 8: of course these things look way bigger when they're not hating.
Speaker 8: But these are things that do happen and will happen
Speaker 8: in tight postseason games. Is you got to go out
Speaker 8: and clean up a little bit more.
Speaker 2: But for sure, great Jose, because the Dodgers pulled off
Speaker 2: that wheel play and incredible will play in Philadelphia that
Speaker 2: helped him beat the Phillies. And then tonight they were
Speaker 2: they were, like you said, confused and flat footed and
Speaker 2: out of position.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it happens when we're not hitting. It happens. We'll
Speaker 8: be on the field for a long time when you know,
Speaker 8: it happens with the team like the Giants, which to me,
Speaker 8: if he deserves confusion, Tony Bartolo is gonna say in
Speaker 8: the college days, you're tought, if there's confusion, put the
Speaker 8: play on. It'll cause more confusion. Guys out of wet.
Speaker 8: And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2: A lot of confusion, not a lot of runs, too
Speaker 2: many hugs at second base, and the Dodgers have lost
Speaker 2: the first two games of this series. So Robbie Ray,
Speaker 2: he's done a number on the Dodgers. Going back to
Speaker 2: his diamondback days. Jose, it's not going to be easy
Speaker 2: to break out of the slump, but you know you're
Speaker 2: gonna get a good start out of Otani.
Speaker 9: On the mount.
Speaker 8: Robbie raised a gut dogs last couple of stars. He
Speaker 8: has not gone the easy way for him to cans
Speaker 8: him the night final. All you got to make them
Speaker 8: those strikes and find a way to be be aggressively
Speaker 8: five fo those have beast man and just go out
Speaker 8: there and grind it out and find the way to
Speaker 8: win at bats. Quite simple.
Speaker 2: All right, Jose, We'll see you out here tomorrow night
Speaker 2: for Otani days should be fun.
Speaker 8: Okay, there he goes.
Speaker 2: Jose Mota, part of the Dodgers Spanish radio broadcast, and yeah,
Speaker 2: it's Otani versus Robbie Ray tomorrow night. Otani with a
Speaker 2: sub one Elra zero ninety seven. He's two and two.
Speaker 2: And like I've said before, but especially on nights that
Speaker 2: Otani is starting, it's an event at Dodger Stadium. And uh,
Speaker 2: you don't need a bobblehead, you don't need to give away.
Speaker 2: You just need to say Otani's starting, and you find
Speaker 2: a way to Dodger Stadium tomorrow night, going up against
Speaker 2: left hander Robbie Ray three and four with an ERA
Speaker 2: of two seventy six. Our coverage begins at six o'clock tomorrow,
Speaker 2: with first pitch at seven ten. I'll be riding to
Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium in my downy Hyundai Baby Ionic nine Dodger
Speaker 2: Blue Collar. My guy Sam hooked it up last Thursday.
Speaker 2: Even Alex Vesio couldn't believe it, but it's true. I'm
Speaker 2: riding with that Ionic nine thanks to our friends at
Speaker 2: Downy Hunday every game this season. So if you see me,
Speaker 2: don't cut me off, Just honk all right. Thanks to
Speaker 2: calling to you back at our Burbank studios, Thanks to
Speaker 2: Dwayne McDonald out here at Dodger Stadium, and thanks to
Speaker 2: you for listening. In case you missed any of the show,
Speaker 2: you know where to find it the iHeartRadio app. That's
Speaker 2: also where you can hear me and ice Cube. We
Speaker 2: were together a session before you threw out the first pitch.
Speaker 2: I was going to replay tonight, but you know, the players,
Speaker 2: they really relyow me to have good feel, and I
Speaker 2: felt like it would be bad feel to replay like
Speaker 2: a jovial ice Cube interview on a night where the
Speaker 2: Dodgers lose their fourth in a row and are nine
Speaker 2: and fourteenth since April eighteenth. So I decided, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna wait until they win and snapped losing streak.
Speaker 2: Could be tomorrow night on Otani Night, but you can
Speaker 2: listen to the interview on the iHeartRadio app in seclusion
Speaker 2: and nobody will know. Once again, the final score. Tonight,
Speaker 2: the Dodgers fall to the Giants six to two. Have
Speaker 2: a great rest of your night. See it