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 getting ready to run it back.
Speaker 1: To get in on the show, call 866-987-2570. And be
Speaker 1: sure to follow Dodger Talk wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: And now your host... Here's Tim Cates.
Speaker 4: All right, well, it's not panic time yet, Dodger fans,
Speaker 4: but certainly a concerning three-game series in Atlanta ends with
Speaker 4: the Dodgers getting shut out by Chris Sale in a
Speaker 4: 1-0 Braves win tonight at Truist Park. Tim Cates with
Speaker 4: you here on AM570 LA Sports, live everywhere on the
Speaker 4: iHeartRadio app. Thanks for being with us on this Thursday night.
Speaker 4: 866-987-2570 is our number. Jump on board. We've got a
Speaker 4: line open. If you want to talk a little Dodgers
Speaker 4: baseball tonight, and certainly I feel your frustration. I see
Speaker 4: your frustration all over social media. But you know what?
Speaker 4: Tonight is one of those nights you have to just
Speaker 4: tip your cap to Chris Sale. He out-pitched Yoshinobu Yamamoto,
Speaker 4: who pitched really well again and gets nothing for it
Speaker 4: and gets tagged with the loss. And Yamamoto, outside of
Speaker 4: the solo home run that he gave up to Drake
Speaker 4: Baldwin on the first pitch that he threw, again, a splitter.
Speaker 4: Jose Moda said it perfectly on the Clubhouse Show. If
Speaker 4: Drake Baldwin is sitting splitter for the first pitch he
Speaker 4: sees in the first pitch thrown by Yamamoto in the
Speaker 4: game and hits it out of the park 402 feet
Speaker 4: into the chop house in right field, then you got
Speaker 4: to say, attaboy, way to go, Drake Baldwin. You got
Speaker 4: a good swing on that. Because nobody else is looking
Speaker 4: for a splitter right there. But he left it over
Speaker 4: the middle of the plate. First pitch he threw. And
Speaker 4: that proved to be the biggest home run of the game.
Speaker 4: And the only home run that the Braves needed to
Speaker 4: win this game tonight. Because Chris Sale was that good.
Speaker 4: His fourth career shutout. His first since 2019. As Chris Sale,
Speaker 4: after the eighth inning, went in and told Walt Weiss,
Speaker 4: you could see him mouthing the words, I got it.
Speaker 4: I got it. As he made his way to get
Speaker 4: a towel and get ready for the top half of
Speaker 4: the ninth inning. Because the way he was pitching, he
Speaker 4: was not even close to 100 pitches. and he goes
Speaker 4: back out there in the ninth inning and shuts down
Speaker 4: the Dodgers despite a leadoff single from Freddie Freeman. Just
Speaker 4: could not get any offense going tonight. And we've seen
Speaker 4: this so many times. And when a game in which
Speaker 4: the Dodgers will get five hits, and they actually out-hit
Speaker 4: the Atlanta Braves tonight. They out-hit them 5-4. But they
Speaker 4: couldn't string together the hits tonight. And in this series,
Speaker 4: they couldn't get the big hit when they needed it.
Speaker 4: They lose by one in the series opener. They lose
Speaker 4: again last night in a one-run game to the Atlanta Braves.
Speaker 4: And they lose one to nothing tonight. And what's interesting
Speaker 4: is all three games, the Dodgers had a runner in
Speaker 4: scoring position, a chance to just manufacture, try to push
Speaker 4: across a run. In the first two games, it was
Speaker 4: to take the lead late in the ballgame. Tonight, it
Speaker 4: was the fourth inning, and you knew 1-0 game at
Speaker 4: that point. Chris Sayles on the mound. Folks, he struck
Speaker 4: out five of the first 11 Dodgers that he faced.
Speaker 4: You know what kind of night it's going to be.
Speaker 4: A leadoff double for Mookie Betts in the fourth inning,
Speaker 4: and he gets stranded. Can't even get him over to third.
Speaker 4: in that fourth inning. That has got to be a situation,
Speaker 4: and the Dodgers know it's a playoff-type atmosphere. It's a
Speaker 4: 1-0 game. Runs are at a premium. We've got to
Speaker 4: do something to get them over to third base, and
Speaker 4: we've got to try to get a sack fly something
Speaker 4: to drive in that run and tie this up at
Speaker 4: one and make it a whole new game. But they couldn't.
Speaker 4: They strand Mookie Betts at second. That's where my frustration
Speaker 4: is right now, is the Dodgers' opportunity in these three games,
Speaker 4: and they can't get the big hit. They can't deliver
Speaker 4: with Shohei Otani standing 90 feet away the other night
Speaker 4: in Atlanta with nobody out in the ninth inning. And
Speaker 4: they get zeros on the board late in the game
Speaker 4: in the series opener on Tuesday. They get zeros on
Speaker 4: the board in the ninth inning last night. And again tonight,
Speaker 4: the Dodgers just couldn't do anything offensively against Chris Sale.
Speaker 1: 866-987-2570.
Speaker 4: Dodgers baseball brought to you by Modelo. Modelo, the mark
Speaker 4: of a fighter. Now, the Dodgers at 80-54 are three
Speaker 4: games back now in Milwaukee for the number one spot
Speaker 4: in the National League. And again, we all know they
Speaker 4: need one of the top two spots in order to
Speaker 4: not play in the wild card round. Well, right now,
Speaker 4: the Dodgers have a one-game lead over the Braves.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's it.
Speaker 4: The Dodgers had a four-game lead over Atlanta for the
Speaker 4: number two spot and had a chance to build on that,
Speaker 4: and they lose all three games. So now they're only
Speaker 4: one game up on Atlanta going into the final month
Speaker 4: here of the regular season. We'll hear from the manager,
Speaker 4: Dave Roberts, coming up in just a little bit. Also,
Speaker 4: in case you missed it, Tarek Skubal joined David Vasse
Speaker 4: on Dodgers on Deck, our pregame show. It was a
Speaker 4: great conversation, very candid conversation about his workout process, how
Speaker 4: he's incorporated yoga, but also Tarek Skubal's emotions going back
Speaker 4: to Detroit where he pitched for so many years for
Speaker 4: the Tigers and gets traded at the deadline to the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: And now he's going back there and will get to
Speaker 4: start in the series opener against the Tigers tomorrow. So
Speaker 4: we'll hear from Tarek Skubal. in that conversation with David
Speaker 4: Vasse coming up in just a little bit. Let's go
Speaker 4: out to the phone, though, because I know you Dodger
Speaker 4: fans want to weigh in, and I want to hear
Speaker 4: from you.
Speaker 1: 866-987-2570.
Speaker 4: Sam in Buena Park starting us off here on Dodger
Speaker 4: Talk on this Thursday night.
Speaker 5: How are you doing, Sam?
Speaker 6: Not too well, considering we just got swept. I haven't
Speaker 6: called in a long time, but all season long, the
Speaker 6: Dodgers haven't, I don't even remember if we won a
Speaker 6: series against a winning team.
Speaker 1: It's been a while.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so, you know, it's concerning, but luckily it's just
Speaker 6: a regular season. We just need to get in and
Speaker 6: get the first two spots. So, you know, hopefully, you know,
Speaker 6: Will Smith missing is a big factor in producing runs.
Speaker 6: I think when he comes back, he's going to change
Speaker 6: the dynamic of our team. Otherwise, you know... Yeah, he's
Speaker 6: our biggest reinforcement. And, you know, hopefully Dalton Rushing can
Speaker 6: come off the bench during the playoff time. Otherwise, you know,
Speaker 6: losing 1-0, it's not too bad. You know, we pitched
Speaker 6: a good game. All three games we lost by one run.
Speaker 6: So it shows that, you know, the games are ours
Speaker 6: to take. We just got to, you know, manufacture those
Speaker 6: runs because that's what, you know, World Series championships do.
Speaker 7: No doubt.
Speaker 4: No doubt, Sam. I appreciate the phone call, Sam. I
Speaker 4: know where you're going, and I appreciate it because I
Speaker 4: understand what you're saying. You lose three one-run games. You're
Speaker 4: right there in all three of those games, but you
Speaker 4: can't get the big hit. What was the difference between
Speaker 4: these three games and, I don't know, last year's postseason
Speaker 4: and the year before against the Yankees? The Dodgers got
Speaker 4: those hits. You know, and then hopefully in October, it
Speaker 4: flipped for the Dodgers. And I think we saw it
Speaker 4: a year ago. They struggled against the Brewers in the
Speaker 4: regular season. They struggled against Philadelphia. And in those matchups
Speaker 4: in the postseason, a lot of baseball pundits kept saying, well,
Speaker 4: you know what, they can't figure it out. They're not
Speaker 4: going to be able to go up against that pitching.
Speaker 4: of Milwaukee or that big lineup of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Speaker 4: And the Dodgers got big hits. They played good defense.
Speaker 4: They got good pitching. And they got big hits when
Speaker 4: they needed them. Teoscar Hernandez, a home run against Philadelphia
Speaker 4: on the road, a three-run home run late in the game.
Speaker 4: You know, we know what happened in Game 7 of
Speaker 4: the World Series with those great home runs and then
Speaker 4: the game winner from Will Smith in extra innings. So
Speaker 4: they were able to do it in October. They just
Speaker 4: haven't been able to do it here against teams during
Speaker 4: the regular season that are the better teams in baseball.
Speaker 4: I mean, the Dodgers in six series sweeps this year.
Speaker 4: Six series sweeps, eight series against them, three Dodgers sweeps,
Speaker 4: and then they were victims of being swept by opponents
Speaker 4: three times. So you can kind of see where they're
Speaker 4: at in these tight series against better teams around baseball.
Speaker 4: They're falling short, whether it's against the Brewers losing three
Speaker 4: or four and now getting swept by the Atlanta Braves
Speaker 4: in all three games of this series. It's certainly a
Speaker 4: frustrating night all around for the Dodgers offensive. But again,
Speaker 4: Chris Sale was that good. A complete game. Five-hitter, struck
Speaker 4: out 11, didn't walk anybody. The fastball was unhittable, and
Speaker 4: the slider was just absolutely like a cartoon curveball, just unhittable.
Speaker 4: He made the hitters of the Dodgers look silly tonight.
Speaker 4: Shohei Ohtani was swinging at pitches a foot outside the
Speaker 4: strike zone and then swinging at pitches a foot above
Speaker 4: the strike zone at 99 miles an hour. It's just
Speaker 4: one of those nights for the Dodgers offense in which
Speaker 4: they just got just got dominated by an opposing pitcher.
Speaker 4: And tonight it was Chris Sale who made them look
Speaker 4: foolish at the plate tonight. But you know what? Dodgers
Speaker 4: can get right back at it against the Tigers tomorrow night,
Speaker 4: and it's going to be a tough three-game series against
Speaker 4: the Tigers at Coamerica Park.
Speaker 1: 866-987-2570.
Speaker 4: Charlie in El Sereno is next up on Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: How are you doing, Charlie?
Speaker 6: I'm doing great, Tim.
Speaker 8: Thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 9: You know, I just want to.
Speaker 8: Kind of reiterate, you know, we talk about how the Dodgers–
Speaker 8: play chess and everyone else playing checkers, you know, I
Speaker 8: kind of feel losing to the Braves may be an
Speaker 8: advantage in the postseason where the Braves are now five
Speaker 8: games ahead of the Phillies where Phillies have been a
Speaker 8: threat in the postseason and we're still one game ahead
Speaker 8: of the Braves.
Speaker 10: So kind of feel, you.
Speaker 8: Know, I don't think, you know, I don't think they
Speaker 8: did it, but I don't know, you know, they didn't
Speaker 8: make any productive outs where we could have gotten like
Speaker 8: some sacrifice life and bunting.
Speaker 10: You know, so I just feel like trust the process.
Speaker 8: I think the Dodgers know exactly what they're doing. And
Speaker 8: when it comes postseason time, I think we'll know. We'll
Speaker 8: be meeting up with the right team to match up.
Speaker 5: We'll find out.
Speaker 4: We'll find out, Charlie. I appreciate the phone call. Thanks
Speaker 4: for checking in.
Speaker 11: 866-987-2570.
Speaker 4: Teoscar Hernandez, another 0 for tonight at the plate. The
Speaker 4: struggle is real for Teoscar Hernandez. And the landing pad
Speaker 4: here for him to figure it out and get right
Speaker 4: is getting shorter and shorter and shorter. here with the
Speaker 4: regular season now. A month to go in the regular season.
Speaker 4: He's got to figure it out. And tonight, he looked
Speaker 4: foolish at the plate from Chris Sale. And Chris Sale
Speaker 4: did that to a lot of the Dodger hitters tonight.
Speaker 4: So it wasn't just Teoscar Hernandez. But Teoscar Hernandez's struggles
Speaker 4: at the plate, whether it's a lefty, whether it's a righty,
Speaker 4: We've seen the defense last night with the ball in
Speaker 4: left field. He's got to clean it up. He's got
Speaker 4: to play better. There's no doubt about it. And he's working.
Speaker 4: He's trying to. He's the first guy to tell you
Speaker 4: he's not happy with his season. But the Dodgers really
Speaker 4: need to find out what he can do here the
Speaker 4: final month of this season, or they're going to have
Speaker 4: to start asking some questions, some legitimate questions when it
Speaker 4: gets to October. Is Quique Hernandez a better fit in
Speaker 4: left field? Is Teoscar Hernandez, in fact, the right guy
Speaker 4: to be in left field come the postseason? Carlos and Valencia,
Speaker 4: thanks for being patient. Welcome to Dodger Talk after the
Speaker 4: Braves shut out the Dodgers tonight behind Chris Sale's five-hit
Speaker 4: complete game. How are you doing there, Carlos?
Speaker 11: Doing okay, doing okay.
Speaker 12: Yeah, you know, you guys are talking about they don't
Speaker 12: do great against teams that are pretty good. Actually, since
Speaker 12: the All-Star break, These guys are 6-16 against teams with
Speaker 12: a 500 or better record. And sometimes you can say
Speaker 12: they're just not playing good ball. But against teams that
Speaker 12: are below 500, they're 13-2 in that same span. So,
Speaker 12: I mean, they're really, you know, this is real. And today, obviously, Chris.
Speaker 1: Sale was dealing.
Speaker 12: And, you know, if it's a one off, you say,
Speaker 12: you know, hats off to him. But this is happening
Speaker 12: way too often against the teams that they're probably going
Speaker 12: to play in the playoffs. Now, they've built a lot
Speaker 12: of equity, obviously. I mean, you know, two championships. So
Speaker 12: but I mean, winning three is really difficult.
Speaker 6: Yeah. And this is just an example of that.
Speaker 4: No doubt, and it's a testament to how good this
Speaker 4: team is that they've gotten this far and still an
Speaker 4: 80-win season. They got a month to go, but as
Speaker 4: you mentioned, it's 6-16 against teams over 500. They're not
Speaker 4: winning those series because they're running into teams that have
Speaker 4: good pitching, and the Dodgers' offense has just not been
Speaker 4: up to par. You can win series against the Royals.
Speaker 4: You can beat the Rockies, no doubt about it. You
Speaker 4: can beat the Pirates and sweep them in three games,
Speaker 4: and I appreciate the phone call. But when it gets
Speaker 4: to these series where it's tighter, I mean, this did
Speaker 4: feel like a postseason series. All three games, one-run games,
Speaker 4: all three of them. And they had the atmosphere, a
Speaker 4: sellout crowd at Truist Park. They were behind their Braves
Speaker 4: all three games. And these kind of games are low scoring.
Speaker 4: These kind of games are tight. These kind of games,
Speaker 4: as we know, in the last couple of postseasons, and
Speaker 4: the Dodgers are not strangers to this. This isn't an
Speaker 4: inexperienced team in postseason play.
Speaker 1: They know.
Speaker 4: They played in a Game 7 of a World Series
Speaker 4: last year with their backs up against the wall in
Speaker 4: the ninth inning. They know pressure. They know how high
Speaker 4: stakes it is comes October. So I expect this team
Speaker 4: to turn it up another notch. I expect this team
Speaker 4: to play at a different level when we got to October.
Speaker 4: I expect that. But right now, against the better teams
Speaker 4: in baseball, those teams are coming out and shoving against
Speaker 4: the Dodgers. And it's the offense. It's just plain and simple.
Speaker 4: I mean, look at the pitching in these last three games.
Speaker 4: It hasn't been bad. You know, you saw last night
Speaker 4: Sasaki get the blister and come out of the game.
Speaker 4: But the bullpen pitched well. Tonight, pitching into the seventh inning,
Speaker 4: Yamamoto gave up one run on four hits, struck out eight.
Speaker 4: He gave the Dodgers every chance to win this baseball game,
Speaker 4: and they couldn't.
Speaker 13: 866-987-2570.
Speaker 4: We'll take one more call before we take a break.
Speaker 4: Let's go out to Edgar in Anaheim. Thanks for being patient, Edgar.
Speaker 4: How are you doing?
Speaker 11: Hey, guys.
Speaker 9: I think we're panicking a little bit here. I think
Speaker 9: we're panicking a little bit. You've got to have some confidence.
Speaker 9: You've got to realize the Braves, the other good teams,
Speaker 9: the Brewers, they have one good pitcher, right? And the
Speaker 9: guy that pitched against the Dodgers today.
Speaker 10: That's all they have. Eventually, all that's going to be
Speaker 10: exposed in the playoffs. It's going to be exposed. The
Speaker 10: Dodgers have more options, and it will show in a
Speaker 10: seven-game series the best team will win, and it's going
Speaker 10: to be the Dodgers. We've got to calm down a
Speaker 10: little bit. The one thing that does worry me, something
Speaker 10: that worries me, we have to match the other team's
Speaker 10: intensity because the Dodgers, right now, they're a huge target. Remember,
Speaker 10: nobody has ever won three World Series in the Rona
Speaker 10: National League. It's never happened. So this is not going
Speaker 10: to be a cakewalk. It's going to be hard. You've
Speaker 10: got to expect every team we play, they're going to
Speaker 10: bring their A game.
Speaker 6: No doubt.
Speaker 4: Every team is. It's the Pirates, the Royals, or it's
Speaker 4: the Atlanta Braves. And I appreciate the phone call, Edgar. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: The Dodgers know this. This isn't a secret. This isn't
Speaker 4: something that's catching up to them and catching them by surprise.
Speaker 4: They know. They're getting everybody's best shot. And they've weathered
Speaker 4: a lot of storms this season. to get to 80 wins,
Speaker 4: to have an eight-game lead in the division, to be
Speaker 4: the second-best team in the National League. I don't think
Speaker 4: people are necessarily panicking, but the reality is they're 6-16
Speaker 4: against teams over. 500. And they're beating the teams that
Speaker 4: they're supposed to, but when they get to better teams
Speaker 4: like the Brewers and the Braves, who they're going to
Speaker 4: most likely see one or both in the postseason, they
Speaker 4: lose three or four to Milwaukee and they get swept
Speaker 4: by Atlanta. That's the reality of it. We'll take a break.
Speaker 4: We'll come back. We'll get to more of your phone calls.
Speaker 4: We'll hear from Tarek Skubal as well. Dodgers lose to
Speaker 4: the Braves.
Speaker 1: Tough one.
Speaker 4: Chris Sale shoved tonight. A complete game shutout allowed five hits,
Speaker 4: struck out 11. He was really good to pick up
Speaker 4: his 13th win. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, equally good. Pitched into the
Speaker 4: seventh inning. One run, four hits, eight strikeouts. Dodgers just
Speaker 4: couldn't get going anything offensively tonight against Chris Sale. We'll
Speaker 4: take a timeout. We'll come back. More of your phone
Speaker 4: calls as well right here on AM570 LA Sports. Live
Speaker 4: everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 11: Dodgers fans, this is Mookie Betts.
Speaker 3: You're listening to the home of the back-to-back world champion
Speaker 3: Dodgers on AM570 LA Sports.
Speaker 4: Mookie Betts had a couple of base hits for the
Speaker 4: Dodgers tonight. Had a double in the fourth inning to
Speaker 4: lead off against Chris Sale, but the Dodgers stranded him
Speaker 4: in second. Dodgers had five hits in the entire game.
Speaker 4: That was it offensively as the Atlanta Braves and Chris
Speaker 4: Sale shut out the Dodgers 1-0. Sale, a complete game shutout.
Speaker 4: Five hits struck out 11 to get the win. His
Speaker 4: 13th of the year. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the loss. He
Speaker 4: falls to 12-8. Dodgers baseball is brought to you by
Speaker 4: our friends at Daniels Jewelers. They present the Home Run Forecast.
Speaker 4: For your chance to win a $ 50 Daniels Jewelers gift card,
Speaker 4: just visit am570lasports. com. Keyword home run into your name, and
Speaker 4: you could win Daniels Jewelers' Own the Dream. Chris Sale
Speaker 4: owned the Dodgers tonight, but you know what? The Dodgers
Speaker 4: lose all three games in Atlanta by one run in
Speaker 4: each game. Very easily could have flipped the other way
Speaker 4: for the Dodgers, as it is. The Dodgers now at
Speaker 4: 80-54 on the season as they head to Detroit for
Speaker 4: a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. We'll hear from
Speaker 4: Tarek Skubal coming up. in just a couple of minutes
Speaker 4: as he joined David Vasse on the pregame show. Let's
Speaker 4: go back out to the phones. My guy, Ken Newport Beach.
Speaker 1: How you doing, Ken? Hey there.
Speaker 11: Doing okay. A little upset. Just a couple of stats
Speaker 11: here and there. Dodgers are 11-13 the month of August.
Speaker 11: They're now four or five games under. 500 with winning
Speaker 11: teams over. 500 this year. The biggest problems they have,
Speaker 11: I'm going to talk about two, and then the third
Speaker 11: one that really bothers me. See, Oscar's hitting 170 in
Speaker 11: the month of August. Yeah. Tucker, not much better. But
Speaker 11: don't expect those guys to consistently hit, and they're not.
Speaker 11: Otani is a real problem for me. He's hitting 263
Speaker 11: in the month of August with 28 strikeouts, and he
Speaker 11: looks terrible.
Speaker 6: He's swinging at.
Speaker 11: Pitches two feet away. He's letting balls go right down
Speaker 11: the middle. This is the worst I've seen him.
Speaker 4: You hope, Kenny, he figures it out come October. You
Speaker 4: hope these guys can turn it around. And I appreciate it,
Speaker 4: and I got to keep going, Kenny, here. But I
Speaker 4: understand what you're saying. And I'm going to throw another
Speaker 4: one on top of that.
Speaker 10: Is that– is the.
Speaker 4: Fact that– Freddie Freeman hasn't hit a home run since
Speaker 4: the 4th of July. There's no power there. This is
Speaker 4: a team that relies on slugging. When Freddie Freeman's not
Speaker 4: hitting home runs, and Teoscar Hernandez is not hitting home runs,
Speaker 4: and Shohei Otani's struggling the way he did tonight in
Speaker 4: this series, and as you mentioned in his last 16 games,
Speaker 4: the struggle is real for this offense. You're relying on
Speaker 4: Tommy Edmond to hit home runs, and Max Muncy can
Speaker 4: only save you so many times. Kyle Tucker's struggles are
Speaker 4: real as well. You're seeing it right now. I think
Speaker 4: the worst part for the Dodgers is a lot of
Speaker 4: guys are going through it, but you hope that they
Speaker 4: can get through, get to Labor Day, get to September,
Speaker 4: and hopefully turn things around here as they move forward
Speaker 4: into October. I believe they will. I believe they will
Speaker 4: put it all together. They've put together the defense for
Speaker 4: the most part. They've gotten better on the base running,
Speaker 4: and certainly the pitching has been really good as of late.
Speaker 4: Let's head back out to Atlanta. Let's hear from the
Speaker 4: Dodger manager, Mookie, the Dodger manager, Dave Roberts. Let's see
Speaker 4: what he has to say postgame after the Dodgers lose
Speaker 4: 1-0 to Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves.
Speaker 7: They went toe-to-toe. I thought Yoshi was great. Obviously, first
Speaker 7: pitch of the game, split, you know, get a strike,
Speaker 7: and Baldwin hits a homer, and that's all they did
Speaker 7: to threaten, and that's baseball. But I think total body
Speaker 7: of work. Yoshi was fantastic. And just tonight, you know,
Speaker 7: we ran into a buzzsaw. Chris Sale, I don't think
Speaker 7: he won his last. He lost his last three decisions.
Speaker 7: And so he brought it tonight. And you can see
Speaker 7: the velocity, the slider. You know, everything was working tonight.
Speaker 7: So it really couldn't threaten tonight. So it's just one
Speaker 7: of those games. But obviously, you know, you get swept.
Speaker 7: So it stings a little bit more. on the back
Speaker 7: end of losing three in a row, but it's baseball.
Speaker 7: And it's one of those things where, as I was
Speaker 7: thinking about it tonight, it's, you know, the game tests you.
Speaker 7: And I think that this is one of those things
Speaker 7: that August is at third leg of a mile and
Speaker 7: it's the hardest leg. And, You know, we've got to
Speaker 7: get through it and grind. And there's a new series,
Speaker 7: a new team. We've got school going tomorrow. We've just
Speaker 7: got to flush it. I wish we'd played better. I
Speaker 7: wish we'd have won the game. I wish we'd have
Speaker 7: won the series. It didn't happen. But right now, there's
Speaker 7: nothing we can do but just go out there and
Speaker 7: keep trying to get better and win a baseball game.
Speaker 7: So it's going to be a quick turnaround. And like
Speaker 7: I said, we've got to flush.
Speaker 1: It and move on.
Speaker 4: All right, there's the manager, Dave Roberts. He's absolutely right.
Speaker 4: Chris Sale was that good. You tip your cap to him.
Speaker 4: But now they've got to turn around, and they can
Speaker 4: easily turn things around by winning the series or getting
Speaker 4: a sweep in Detroit against the Tigers this week and
Speaker 4: get back on track and then get back home for
Speaker 4: the first homestand coming up here in September, which actually
Speaker 4: begins on the 31st and then continues here into the
Speaker 4: first week of September. 866-987-2570 is the phone number. Blake
Speaker 4: in Colorado. My God, Blake, thanks for being patient. How
Speaker 4: you doing, buddy?
Speaker 13: Good. How are you doing today?
Speaker 4: I'm a little frustrated. Blake, are you worried? Are you
Speaker 4: hitting the panic button yet?
Speaker 13: Yeah, I'm getting a little worried because we got swept
Speaker 13: from the number two best team in baseball. Number three
Speaker 13: best team in baseball.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it seems like when the Dodgers run into really
Speaker 4: good pitching, and they saw that in the Milwaukee Brewers series,
Speaker 4: they saw it in the Philadelphia Phillies series as well,
Speaker 4: and they saw it certainly in these three games against
Speaker 4: the Braves, tonight in particular with Chris Sale, they struggle.
Speaker 4: You know, they get into these high-leverage games, you get
Speaker 4: into these tight contests where runs are at a premium
Speaker 4: and the Dodgers just can't string together the hits.
Speaker 13: Yeah, they can't.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, it's off to Detroit now, Blake, and hopefully this
Speaker 4: team can turn things around. And no better guy to
Speaker 4: have on the mound than Tarek Skubal tomorrow in the series, Oprah.
Speaker 4: Are you doing well other than that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, hi.
Speaker 13: Do you see any changes coming as we spend a
Speaker 13: roster in September?
Speaker 4: Well, I think they're going to add another arm. Probably
Speaker 4: Emmitt Sheehan will get called up. And then, Derek, you
Speaker 4: only add two. Remember, you don't expand the rosters too much,
Speaker 4: but you can add two. So we'll see if Tibbs
Speaker 4: is a guy they bring up from AAA who's having
Speaker 4: a really good season as an outfielder and first baseman.
Speaker 4: We'll find out. Don't forget, Will Smith's going to come
Speaker 4: back for the next homestand, it looks like. as he
Speaker 4: continues to play well in AAA Oklahoma City on his
Speaker 4: rehab assignment. I appreciate the phone call, Blake. I'll be
Speaker 4: back on Sunday after the finale in Detroit. All right,
Speaker 4: my man?
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 13: Talk to you Sunday.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 5: Good talk to you.
Speaker 4: Real quick, let's say hi to Izzy. Izzy, how frustrated
Speaker 4: are you right now?
Speaker 13: Very frustrated. I've been frustrated all year with the offense.
Speaker 13: You know. I don't know. I'm so disappointed about them
Speaker 13: losing to Atlanta. And please tell Manny P that it's
Speaker 13: not time to play the panic button. Please, if it
Speaker 13: was the playoff, yeah, I would agree with that. But
Speaker 13: this isn't the playoff. But still, though, they are not
Speaker 13: playing well. They just got swept in Colorado. It's going
Speaker 13: to be hard sleeping the whole weekend. I'm disappointed. I
Speaker 13: really started with two outings. If it were two outings
Speaker 13: last night, I would have been okay with it. I
Speaker 13: don't know what to say anymore.
Speaker 5: I'm with you, Izzy. I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I'm frustrated.
Speaker 4: I'm at a loss for words, but unfortunately I can't
Speaker 4: be at a loss for words because I've got to talk.
Speaker 4: We've got to talk here on Dodger Talk, and I
Speaker 4: appreciate it, Izzy. We'll check in with you soon. Thanks
Speaker 4: for checking in tonight. I get your frustration. The Dodgers
Speaker 4: need to turn things around offensively, and at this point
Speaker 4: it's now a collection of Dodger hitters that need to
Speaker 4: turn things around, from Shohei Otani to Kyle Tucker, who
Speaker 4: has struggled all season long, to Teoscar Hernandez, who, folks,
Speaker 4: the struggle is real for Teoscar Hernandez. who was 0-4
Speaker 4: tonight with two strikeouts, they're going to have to make
Speaker 4: a decision. As I mentioned earlier, with Quique Hernandez able
Speaker 4: to play third base and left field, both right-handed hitters, Mr. October,
Speaker 4: Quique Hernandez, they're going to have to make a decision.
Speaker 4: What are they going to do come October in left field?
Speaker 4: Is Teoscar Hernandez going to play himself out of starting
Speaker 4: in left field and become a guy off the bench?
Speaker 4: He could if he continues to play the way he's playing,
Speaker 4: defensively and the way he's not hitting at the plate.
Speaker 4: It's a real question.
Speaker 5: I think the.
Speaker 4: Dodgers coaching staff, Dave Roberts, are going to have to
Speaker 4: start looking at this. what to do in left field
Speaker 4: come October. The Dodgers are going to flush this, as
Speaker 4: Dave Roberts said. I get what he's saying. They're not
Speaker 4: going to see Chris Sale until the postseason. Then it'll
Speaker 4: be an adventure against him as well because he's certainly...
Speaker 4: One of the best pitchers in baseball, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4: What's frustrating is, think about it, the Dodgers actually out-hit
Speaker 4: the Braves tonight. Out-hit them 5-4. They just couldn't string
Speaker 4: together those five hits over nine innings. And one mistake,
Speaker 4: that's it, one mistake given up by Yamamoto on the
Speaker 4: first pitch he threw in the bottom of the first
Speaker 4: to Drake Baldwin. A splitter over the heart of the
Speaker 4: plate and he took it deep into the chop house
Speaker 4: in right field. The only run of the game in
Speaker 4: a 1-0 Braves shutout as the Dodgers fall to 80-54.
Speaker 4: They get swept out of Atlanta. They're now three games
Speaker 4: back of Milwaukee for the top spot in the National
Speaker 4: League and only one game up on Atlanta for the
Speaker 4: second spot in the National League. And again, the top
Speaker 4: two teams in the National League will get buys in
Speaker 4: the wild card round. Now it's off to Detroit for
Speaker 4: a three-game series. Scooble, Snell, and Glasnow will pitch this
Speaker 4: weekend at Comerica Park. Yes, the return of Tarek Scooble
Speaker 4: as he heads back to Detroit where he came up
Speaker 4: and he pitched and won a Cy Young with the
Speaker 4: Detroit Tigers, traded to the Dodgers at the deadline, and
Speaker 4: now he's heading back. What are his emotions going into
Speaker 4: this series against the Tigers? Well, on the pregame show
Speaker 4: earlier today, David Vasse caught up with Tarek Scooble.
Speaker 2: What are your feelings? Do you have a little butterflies?
Speaker 2: Are you looking forward to it? I know you have
Speaker 2: to pitch tomorrow. How do you handle all this?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the game of baseball is always going
Speaker 3: to stay the game of baseball. You know, that's something
Speaker 3: that I pride myself on is treating every game as
Speaker 3: if it's the same, you know. But, you know, I'm
Speaker 3: very familiar, obviously, with the stadium and all the guys
Speaker 3: across the way.
Speaker 5: And, you know, I look forward to seeing all those guys, too.
Speaker 3: You know, some of those guys are my really good friends,
Speaker 3: and we're going to have relationships soon. beyond baseball. So,
Speaker 3: you know, I look forward to getting back there and,
Speaker 3: you know, pitching.
Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman, since we're in Atlanta, when he first came
Speaker 2: back to Atlanta with the Dodgers, it was obviously an
Speaker 2: emotional return. He's a position player. He can do all
Speaker 2: that stuff. Do you feel like going back to Detroit
Speaker 2: will be a certain sense of closure for you?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 8: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't, I mean, I'm not really looking for that either.
Speaker 3: You know, it's It's a sport. It's a business, right?
Speaker 5: Things happen.
Speaker 3: I look forward to just competing with my teammates. That's
Speaker 3: kind of what I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 2: When we're in Detroit, will you be ashamed of me?
Speaker 2: Will you deny me three times? How will you embrace
Speaker 2: me in your former baseball home?
Speaker 10: The same.
Speaker 3: No, yeah, when I get there, I'm going to act
Speaker 3: like I don't know anybody on the team. That's what
Speaker 3: I'm going to try and do. No, no, I'm the same.
Speaker 3: I'm the same guy.
Speaker 2: Derek Skubal is our guest, and I've, in the short time,
Speaker 2: I've gotten to really enjoy being around you, and I
Speaker 2: love the way that you talk the game. You said
Speaker 2: in your introductory press conference you'd be a weirdo and
Speaker 2: go watch other guys throw their bullpen sessions. I've noticed
Speaker 2: you go out there and watch Yamamoto, who's pitching tonight.
Speaker 2: So what have you taken away from watching Yamamoto and
Speaker 2: how he goes about his in-between starts preparation.
Speaker 5: Yeah, his process is so special. It's so unique. It
Speaker 5: works for him.
Speaker 3: He's so methodical on every single time he throws the baseball. And,
Speaker 3: you know, even if it's just like warming up, you know,
Speaker 3: I feel like there's just the intent behind everything is special.
Speaker 3: The intent behind the way he warms up is directly
Speaker 3: correlated to how he throws the baseball. You know, it's
Speaker 3: just his whole process is pretty special. And that's something
Speaker 3: that I've taken away is I should probably have a
Speaker 3: little bit more focus on my day-to-day throws, you know, on,
Speaker 3: on each and every throw and, and the way he
Speaker 3: commands the baseball, there's no mistake, you know, there's no, like,
Speaker 3: he's not just gifted. I think he works his ass
Speaker 3: off to, to be able to do all those things.
Speaker 3: And he's become very good at commanding the baseball. And
Speaker 3: that's something that, um, I would always love to get
Speaker 3: better at. And I've been fortunate enough to be able
Speaker 3: to pick his brain and kind of ask what he
Speaker 3: cues for this cues for that, what he's thinking in
Speaker 3: this situation, um, and all that stuff.
Speaker 5: So I, I, I'm a big fan of, of how
Speaker 5: he goes about his business.
Speaker 2: I saw you doing yoga in the clubhouse yesterday. When
Speaker 2: did you start to incorporate yoga?
Speaker 5: It's not really yoga. It's just a warm-up.
Speaker 1: What is yoga?
Speaker 3: Well, certain positions are just good for your spine and
Speaker 3: good for your body and good for your hips. And
Speaker 3: you do those positions in yoga a lot, for sure.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's just what works for me and gets
Speaker 3: me moving every single day to where I feel comfortable
Speaker 3: when I pick up a baseball and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 2: So I don't want you to feel like you're in
Speaker 2: the shadow of Kershaw with me, but I spent every
Speaker 2: day for 15 years watching him and He kind of
Speaker 2: went away from, you know, crushing in the weight room
Speaker 2: and then started to go to yoga and doing some
Speaker 2: of the moves that you did. Is that something that
Speaker 2: you've incorporated recently, or is that something.
Speaker 5: That you always did?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I've always done that preparation since 2018, really,
Speaker 3: since I got into pro ball. And then that routine
Speaker 3: has changed over time, but I've always had some sort
Speaker 3: of prep routine to get going. And as far as
Speaker 3: working out, you know, I don't really– I've also– changed
Speaker 3: that a lot, made some adjustments on that aspect of
Speaker 3: how I treat my in-seas lifts and when I work out,
Speaker 3: how I work out. All that stuff is very structured
Speaker 3: to what I think works for me and what keeps
Speaker 3: me fresh. And a lot of that changed after I
Speaker 3: had an injury in 23. I changed my entire routine,
Speaker 3: and it's just made me feel fresher, better in between starts,
Speaker 3: and I'm not so run down anymore. And I just
Speaker 3: feel like I can be healthier and sustain some stuff.
Speaker 3: And you can kind of see it in my velocity.
Speaker 3: And obviously the results are the results. But just the
Speaker 3: way I feel every fifth day is really good too.
Speaker 3: So that's how I know my process is. is the
Speaker 3: right thing for me. And it's always evolving, you know,
Speaker 3: with a workload and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Hey, speaking of the results and velocity and your last
Speaker 2: start at Dodger stadium, it was impressive to watch you
Speaker 2: dig deep in the sixth and seventh innings over a
Speaker 2: hundred pitches and dialing up what you were dialing up.
Speaker 2: Where does that come from? And I'm curious if you've
Speaker 2: ever pitched angry, have you ever pitched angry?
Speaker 3: Um, I think there's always a little bit of edge.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's anger, but there's always a
Speaker 3: little bit of edge, you know, when I pitch, um,
Speaker 3: I don't know. You just kind of find some things,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you're frustrated with yourself, and that's all it takes. But, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think sometimes there's times to kind of let it
Speaker 3: go and then get after it, and I think that
Speaker 3: I can do that throughout an entire game. I can
Speaker 3: run it up to 100 in the first, and I
Speaker 3: can run it up to 100 at pitch, 100 plus.
Speaker 3: I've always thought that that's the way that I play baseball,
Speaker 3: and it's the way that I prepare. It's the reason
Speaker 3: I do everything that I do is so that way.
Speaker 3: when I'm out there, I feel confident in going out
Speaker 3: there and putting our team in a really good spot
Speaker 3: to win a game.
Speaker 2: That's what's special about you and other guys that are
Speaker 2: at the top of your game. Obviously, everybody sees what
Speaker 2: you do when you're on the mound, but what's so
Speaker 2: special is the privilege of watching you and others go
Speaker 2: about your preparation to get to that point.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 3: I think all the good ones have a really good
Speaker 3: process and a really good plan of what makes them
Speaker 3: good and what makes them tick, and and each guy,
Speaker 3: the individual of each guy is going to be different, right,
Speaker 3: you know, what works for me isn't going to work
Speaker 3: for the next guy, you know, what works for Blake
Speaker 3: is not going to work for me, you know, what
Speaker 3: works for Glass, but I think that everyone has that
Speaker 3: process that they're super bought into, and they're almost stubborn
Speaker 3: to it, you know, and they just stick to it,
Speaker 3: whether things are going well or things are going bad,
Speaker 3: they stick to it, they make these little micro adjustments,
Speaker 3: and then they turn into the player that you see
Speaker 3: every fifth day, and that's what I've noticed just being
Speaker 3: around really good players. Um, and that's why I love
Speaker 3: being teammates with really good players is you kind of
Speaker 3: just watch and feed and learn and listen and all
Speaker 3: those things. And I've been fortunate enough to have some
Speaker 3: really good managers too, you know, in my career and,
Speaker 3: and some really good coaching that has kind of helped
Speaker 3: guide me and corral me and get my focus on
Speaker 3: what my focus needs to be.
Speaker 4: All right, well, there's Tarek Skubal with David Vasse earlier
Speaker 4: today on Dodgers on Deck. He makes his return back
Speaker 4: to Comerica Park. Yes, traded to the Dodgers at the deadline.
Speaker 4: Dodgers on this road trip heading back to Detroit for
Speaker 4: a three-game weekend series. And as it lines up, Tarek
Speaker 4: Skubal will make the start in the series opener against
Speaker 4: Drew Anderson tomorrow. And there was Tarek Skubal again with
Speaker 4: David Vasse earlier talking about what his feelings are going
Speaker 4: back to Detroit. Well, that's going to do it for
Speaker 4: Dodger Talk on this Thursday night. A rough night for
Speaker 4: the Dodgers as they get shut out by Chris Sale,
Speaker 4: a complete game five hitter, 11 strikeouts. Braves, a solo
Speaker 4: home run in the first. That's all they needed, though,
Speaker 4: from Drake Baldwin as they beat the Dodgers 1-0. Thanks
Speaker 4: to Colin Yee. Thanks to all you for being a
Speaker 4: part of the show. We're back at it tomorrow. Morongo
Speaker 4: Casino Dodgers on deck starting at 230. First pitch at 340.
Speaker 4: Tarek Skubal makes his return back to Detroit. So long, everybody.