Dodger Talk is sponsored by La Care Health Plan, providing affordable healthcare insurance to
millions of Angelinos for over twenty five years. And now your voice for Dodger
Talk like back David Vase. Welcome the Dodger Talk David Vase live at Dodgers
Stadium. After the Dodgers take care of the Diamondbacks tonight by a final score
of six to four, phone lines are open eight sixty six nine to eight
seven two five seventy is the phone number. We have a couple of calls
on hold, on ready, so on hold already, and so we have
a few more lines open if you want to get in and talk about these
Dodgers who continue to put on a show. They have the largest divisional lead
in all of Major League Baseball. They win their thirty third game of the
season tonight, beating the defending National League champions behind a very good performance by
Yoshi Yamamoto, who continue I used to show that he has a lot of
compete in him because in the third inning he was up to the fifty pitch
mark, but he found a way to push through. He got a great
play behind him by Jason Hayward to end the third inning, and from there
he cruised into the seventh inning, and he threw one hundred pitches in the
game. That's the first time he has ever thrown one hundred pitches in a
Major League baseball game in his young career. So a really good night for
Yamamoto. The split fingered fastball was working really well. My favorite at bat
of the night that showed a lot of compete in him was the top of
the fifth inning because earlier in the game, Jock Peterson drove in the first
run against Yamamoto in the top of the third inning. Jock got him on
his split fingered fastball. So Yamamoto made the adjustments, and in the top
of the fifth inning he threw three straight fastballs by Jock Peterson and he sent
it up a notch ninety six miles an hour. So that was really impressive,
and to me, that was my favorite at bat of the night.
That was indicative of yama Moto's competitive fire where he was able to remember what
Jock Peterson did and then say, all right, you got my split fingered
fastball, Let's see what you could do with this ninety six and he struck
out Jock Peterson on three pitches tonight. The Dodgers starters have been unbelievable.
Not only are they going deep into games, but they're giving great great I
mean, I hate to say defending the runs or whatever they say run prevention.
They're pitching great, and they're keeping teams down and they're letting the offense
do their job. They got six runs for Yamamoto tonight in the third inning
thanks to a Freddie Freeman Grand Slam and two other home runs. But now
Dodgers starters are the Dodgers. They're twenty two and three when their starters go
six or more innings, and that's not a coincidence. Anytime you get starters
going that deep into the game means something is going right. And the Dodgers
certainly not only have quantity, but quality in their starting rotation with Clayton Kershaw
and Bobby Miller on the horizon. Freddie Freeman hit his third Grand Slam as
a Dodger tonight in the third inning. Let's head downstairs right now to hear
from steady Freddie Freeman on sports and at LA just to hear the chance.
What did that mean for it? Yeah? I mean like I to ok
here, So it's nice. We were working every day, grinding every day,
and and fans appreciate some little things in the games when we're ultimately trying
to get the win. It's just it feels good. Yeah, okay,
yeah, you have been It feels like I've been treading water all the year,
but you know, still looking at the numbers and they're okay. So
I'm just kind of waiting for the really really hot streak. But ultimately my
swinging feeling a little bit better. Been like today, both balls kind of
in the middle, even the double play against mantiplay Saint Crinity to to stay
inside of it. So even though it's an out, there's little little wins
inside those that create things later in the game. So feeling a little bit
better. It's played as approachaseed to Cooni that ning where for six guys reach
safe from kind of we just had a game plan of you know, we've
never faced the guy before and two steamer change up kind of a cutter guy
against Righty's kind of occasional cribbos a LEFTI so trying to get him up and
be on the heater and we're able to do that in that ending. Well,
the game plan came from Key k Hernandez. At least that's how it
appeared from up here, because after Key k let off the third inning with
a home run of his own, it seemed like he was having a lot
of conversations with the hitters that were coming up after him. So I don't
believe it was a coincidence the Dodgers had a big third inning against Slay Chacone.
I really do believe keyk Hernandez brought some information back and the rest of
the Dodger hitters were able to follow. Eight six, six, seven,
two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to the phones for
the first time tonight. Let's head out to Gabe, who is at Dodgers
Stadium tonight. Hi, Gabe, you're on Dodger Talk. What's up,
David. It's a new season, You're still awesome? And yeah, I
brought my friends Ellie and Mike. Mike's in town from Denmark. It's not
his first baseball game, but it's his first Dodger game, so it's good
to see the win. It was a great time to be their great atmosphere.
That inning with the six runs was awesome. I definitely would love to
see a lot more, you know, run run, spread out through innings.
But I'll take the win. Yoshi was solid. I thought, is
strike two or strike three pitches rather? Especially that splitter you were talking about
was on. It's great to see that I did have a question for you
because you did mention you got Clayton Kershaw and Bobby Miller on the horizon.
What are the Dodgers do in that situation? Paxson is pitching excellently, and
you know Bueler's pitching excellently. Gavin Stone is making a case to stay up
like it seems to be a log gym. Do you stack guys up?
Do you have long relievers? So what's the game plan once you get into
the dog days? With six seven you know, solid starters who put up
good numbers. I know it's a great problem to have, but it is
something that I'm very curious about. Okay, Gabe, Well, number one,
A lot can happen between now and the dog days of August, right,
I mean, we see injuries happen all the time, especially the pitchers.
So I would love to believe that nobody's going to have any little hiccup
to their season, But the chances are one of these guys is going to
have a hiccup to their season. And also, the Dodgers have a lot
of starting pitching where they can manage these innings with a guy like Walker Bueller
that's coming off as second elbow surgery, Guys like Gavin Stone who's in his
first full May League season. James Paxton's thirty five years old. So when
I say Clayton Kershaw's on the horizon, he's in on the horizon after the
All Star break to provide support for all that. And as far as Bobby
Miller goes, he's going to be back within the next month. But the
one thing gave the Dodgers cannot continue to go on a six day rest rotation,
and I don't believe they will. They're coming off the earliest spring training
of any team in baseball because of starting the season in Korea. The first
couple of months, we've seen a lot of pitching injuries, and the Dodgers
have done a pretty good job of using their depth to manage the workload on
these guys. So I would imagine as we get into June and July,
we're going to see a more traditional rotation. Yeah, I agree with you
on that, especially once you get to playoffs, you gotta have a five
to five day rotation, even with a four man starting lineup there starting rotation
for pictures. So I do completely agree this six day rest thing. It's
nice that we can spread it out, but it doesn't get pictures in a
rhythm. It can throw people. I've seen it thrown pictures off in past
season. So I completely agree, and you make a good point. A
lot can happen. And it's also, like I said, it's a great
problem to have when you have the guys who are there now putting in quality
innings, you know, doing like what Yoshi's doing thoughing hundred pitches in striking
out seven people, eight people, and then you got more guys coming for
reinforcements, and who knows. I mean, I remember one season, I
think it was Donsol and Dustin May stacked up or something like that, and
they had those two guys there and then one of them went down. So
you make a good point that things can happen between now and then. But
in any case, I love the win man. Thanks David, all right,
Gabe, thanks for the phone calling Yamamoto himself. They're keeping them on
six days rest, but this is his first full major league season. It's
very different. A couple of Japanese report orders were explaining this to me.
The travel itself is more rigorous for Yamamoto and Major League Baseball than what it
would be in Japan. For instance, if Yamamoto was pitching his next start
in New York, he would not travel to Cincinnati with the Dodgers. If
this was Japan, he would travel directly to New York to make that start.
So not only are the days of rest different, but the travels different.
The expectations are different, the baseball is different. So there's a lot
of differences between playing in Japan. The seasons longer here as well. The
Dodgers have expectations to play deep into October, so Yamamoto is another guy that
you have to take into consideration where they may find a way to pause his
season to keep him fresh for October as well. Let's go out to Danny
who is at Dodgers Stadium tonight. Danny got a chance to see Yamamoto tonight.
How you doing, Danny doing great day? Thank you for taking my
call. Yeah, Yamamoto is electric. I got to watch him up,
watch him warm. Up in the bullpen and the ball just flies out of
his hand. He's really cool to watch, has a lot of unique techniques
when he's getting ready, don't see other pitches do, and the ball is
just so alive out of his hand. I've been watching bullpens all year and
there's been no one I've seen like Yapamoto, but the player I want to
talk about Dave the play at the game, I don't think anyone's talked about
it yet. First ginning show, Aotani drops a fund Yeah, where did
that come from? Man? The most surprised people were proud of the Diamondbacks.
I agree. I think maybe the Dodgers were surprised as well, because
he did that on his own. He saw the left side of the infield,
the third baseman shifted where the shortstop usually plays. It's the first inning,
so he's trying to set the table for the guy behind him. Maybe
he's trying to send a message to the rest of the team that he's not
just there for himself or to slug. So we have to find a way
to ask Otani the next time he speaks to the media what was going through
his head to decide that was the play? But hey, they're giving it
to him, so why not take it? Hey, I love seeing it.
That was one of the coolest things. He's the all round ball player.
I go to a lot of games with my friend Mark, who's an
old school Dodger fan from the sixties, and he's always complained that these guys
don't find anymore nobody bunts, and so it made his day to see show,
Hey drop that button, get on first station. Are you saying,
Danny, your buddy would rather see O'tani drop a bunt there than hit a
home run? I mean, he does lead major League Baseball and home runs.
That's the catch twenty two. Do we really want Otani dropping bunts?
I'm sure the Diamondbacks prefer that. Hey, every once in a while,
why not when you got the bass open and there's a reason to do it.
He gets plenty of homers. You know, I don't mind seeing stuff
like that every once in a while. Day. All right, Danny,
thanks for the phone call. First time ever we've had anybody say they'd rather
see Otani drop a bunch than hit a home run. How about that?
I'm not sure I would go that route. And really, that's the thought
between opposing teams shifting that way. Even with a big power hitter, they
would prefer him to drop a bunch and to swing away and possibly give the
Dodgers a one nothing lead in that situation. But I'm sure he saw something.
Maybe he wasn't picking up the ball really well from man to to play,
and he saw the way they were defending him, So why not try
to get on base for Freddie Freeman, who followed by hitting into a double
play. Eight six six nine seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Dodgers scored six runs in the third inning with three home runs tonight, first
time since twenty twenty two the Dodgers have hit three home runs in the same
inning. The Turners were part of that. Not Jerry Turner, he's the
old clubhouse attendant. Justin Turner and Trey Turner were part of that three home
run inning back in twenty twenty two. Tonight it was Keith a Hernandez,
Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith went back to back, Freddie with the grand
Slam and Will Smith with his fifth home run of the year. Eight six
six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Dodgers beat the
Diamondbacks tonight six to four in Game one of this three game series. We
were talking about the Dodgers starting pitching well. I had a chance to catch
up with Walker Buehler, who has certainly been a fan favorite over the years
because of his ability to pitch big in big games. Here's what he had
to say about just his mentality then and now. Do you pitch with a
chip on your shoulder? People always seemed to short change you, whether it
was in college, you were better than where they slotted you. You were
better than where you were drafted. Do you pitch with that chip on your
shoulder? Yeah? I think so. I mean I think you're kind of
always teetering with you know, if you're having any sort of success, I
think you're teetering behind or between like that chip. And then you know,
being too common it in and you know, when you get hurt. I
think that's probably the most humbling thing that can happen to an athlete. You
know, if you if you perform badly, like you get to do it
again the next week or the next day or whatever. But getting hurt it's
really you know, for me, it's been what twenty two months of kind
of trying to figure out how to be good at this game again and you
know, provide for your family and all of that, and so yeah,
I mean I think there's some sort of chip I think for that to actually
do anything, you have to like physically be right and mentally be ready to
compete. And I think this last start was kind of all of that coming
together. Before I let you go, you must have been feeling a little
buffalo trace ish when you gave Austin Barnes credit for why you moved on the
mound. I thought that was really revealing. He's been telling me this for
a couple of years and I don't I don't like doing it, but Barnsy
has his moments, and it really made a difference, I think. So,
I mean, you know, it's kind of an abstract thing, but
the orientation of our b and the way my eyes see the plate and stuff
like that can kind of dictate some things happen physically. And you know,
Barnes has always talked about how he wants certain things to come out in certain
you know, lanes and things like that, and I had to be really
perfect for it to come out like that where I used to be and so
hopefully, you know, this kind of change works for the long term,
but even just for the one I have to give him a little little hot
top. That's a lot for Walker Buehler to concede that to Austin Barnes.
And certainly that's the value of a backup catcher that has the baseball IQ and
the awareness that Austin Barnes has to see things like that. And I guess
he's been telling Walker Buehller to move to that part of the rubber for a
couple of years now, and he finally conceded, and he pitched six scoreless
innings and had what seven strikeouts with no walks. So let's see if it
works again in Cincinnati. Buehler's expected to pitch there on Friday, the first
game of a three game series against the Reds in their ballpark. We're gonna
take a time out here on Dodger Talk. When we come back, we'll
check in with Jose Mota and also more of your phone calls. At eight
sixty six seven two, five seventy. After the Dodgers defeat the Diamondbacks six
to four on a five to seventy LA Sports, Dodger Talk is available on
AM five seventy LA sports dot Com. Hand on the iHeartRadio app Back to
more Dodger Talk with Dodger insider David Vasse. The walls one stripe so Cony
de Freeman, I am here center field, hit deep, Harold's at the
wall. It is gone, Hey Graham. Swing for Freddie Freeman. Freddie
Freeman all smiles after a grand slam with nobody out in the third inning to
give the Dodgers a five to one lead. Will Smith would follow with a
home run of his own, the second time the Dodgers have hit back to
back home runs this season. Freeman and Otani did it earlier this year.
Tonight, a grand slam by Freeman and will Smith the second time the Dodgers
have hit back to back home runs, and that would be the scoring for
the Dodgers as they defeat the Diamondbacks tonight six to four for their fourth straight
win on this homestand the Dodgers now thirty three and seventeen on the season.
They lead the second place Padres by eight games in the NL West. Daniels
Jewelers is the official sponsor of the Trip Around the Diamond stop by any Daniel's
location and say home run for your free team bracelet and fifty dollars gift card
toward any purchase of ninety nine dollars or more Daniels Jewelers Own the Dream.
It's time to go around the horn, Hosean Mota. All right, Jose
Mota. We could talk about that third inning, we could talk about Yamamoto.
But I feel like after the other night where Mookie Betts was so hard
on himself, a night like tonight might not get talked about because he made
the plays. Muki is ready to make plays. Dave, There's no doubt
about it. I mean, you know, one thing about guys that want
to be better is that they want the ball hit to them. Usually when
guys are struggling and they're not very sure about themselves and the work they've done
previously the game and throughout their year, well, you know what, there's
a hesitation of I don't know if I want the ball hit to me.
That goes along with every single player that's played the infield, even in the
outfield. It happens sometimes, But I'm glad that Muki wants the baseball.
The ball it's going to continue to find him at shortstop and I just continue
to do a very good job positioning him. He did a great job on
a badhanded play that's given him a lot of trouble earlier tonight on a sharp
ground ball and there was a line out, hard hit line drive and he
was able to react and shortstop. Like I said, Jose the other days
or if there are plays that he doesn't make, it's going to be talked
about a lot. But how many people are talking about the fact that on
nights like tonight he makes the plays that most shortstops make. Yeah, these
players are not gonna make any highlight reels anywhere around on national TV. But
here's what we know. We talked about this coming into the season. All
Mookie Best needs to do is make the routine plays. Everything beyond that with
the athleticism is going to come naturally by instincts. Okay, And I did
notice it's light change in his backhand today. I saw doing before the game.
He's trying to get his body a little bit lower, so his eyes
are a little bit closer to the glove, thus the ball. In other
words, he's not trying to reach out and extend that left him. He's
getting ready to as he gets to the ball on the backside and flips his
glove to get us by a little bit lower. Then he's got some momentum
and to push off right away to make a longer throw, which you know,
I think still overall, he's going to do a better job using the
outfielder's arm, which I think he hasn't yet at short stop. I like
to see, you know, I like to see a little more a little
Sean Dunston in him. Just air it out sometimes, just let ago.
But for sure, he is making strikes every single day, and I'll be
very happy if he doesn't make a highlight play the rest of the season,
but makes the routine play, because that's what wins games like today with Yamamoto,
throw a lot of strikes. Yeah, Yamamoto was in trouble in the
third inning. Hoseah mentioned this. He was up to fifty pitches in the
third inning. He got bailed out by Jason Hayward making a great catch,
and then from there, I mean, it seemed like it was a lot
smoother sailing for him into the seventh inning. Oh Man, Samurai was on
man. He was sharped one thing and he mentioned this the best sequence,
and I haven't written out of my book. Also, the same thing you
mentioned, the one against Jack Peterson, and why is that to me?
First of all, he knows jacka is looking down, dipping up front shoulder,
looking for the hofspeed and especially that splitter right so he has enough of
that fast to elevate in three different levels and three different lanes. I would
say to get just over the hands. And then his last pitch that he
got him the fastball in the fifth inning. I mean, that's a game
changer right there. Jock has enough power to hurt you and make that bag
him a little bit closer right then, and amplify even the amount of pitches.
But he came back with number one knowing that reading batter's intentions as we
saw Chota and I would do so well in Chicagoan's highlighted and document it same
thing. He reads intentions on the swing and counteract because he does have a
cliffer of pitches and very happy to day day once again to see more sliders.
It is going to be a big pitch for him, and I'm glad
his back. Yeah, the Dodgers are bringing that along little by little.
The last time he was out there only three sliders tonight, ten sliders for
Yamamoto. That's a pitch that they've been working on with him. As far
as the Dodger offense goes Jose, obviously, how can you complain about a
six run inning, But any concern they're not able to tack on, and
the fact that they've only scored in three of their last nineteen offensive innings,
No, I'm not gonna be concerned about it because they're winning games, and
you know, winning games comes in different designs. It's not how you do
it or how much he scores, is the fact that you score more than
the other team if the other team obviously is battling and coming back, obviously
going to find a way to strategize and find a way to score more runs.
But you know, in one sixty two, man, you go through
so many stretches when you're pounding runs, and then your pitcher gives it up
and you got pounding runs again. So I'll take this. It doesn't matter.
You know, they score only in what that one inning, in the
sixth inning, because what they made was the most that one inning before actually
getting retired sixteen in a row because she called him ended up finding a nice
little groove there, but it was nicely. Plus he had the right hind
the mound, knowing that he's not going to be going away and giving away
walks to get that team back into the game too. Yamamoto, all right,
yeah, we'll take it for sure, just thinking big picture. There's
it's okay. You know what it's in the World Series game today. Would
you complain about it? Not at all. But I think we're facing slate
Chicone in the World Series. But a six running is a six running,
no matter if it's April or October. You'll think it anyways, because it's
a win, no doubt. But I love the tech on runs too.
Tech I love it too, don't don't get me wrong, I do too.
All Right, Jose, we'll see out here tomorrow night. I love
watching Gavin Stone pitch looking forward to it. Yes, he's your guy,
he's your pick. I remember you send sprint training big Year. Yeah,
big Year, big Year, Big rookie Year. Thanks Jose. There he
goes. Jose Mota part of the Dodgers Spanish radio broadcast, and man,
they had a celebrity in their booth. I forgot to ask Jose about that.
I mean they had a big time star from the Apple TV series that
I love Ted Lasso. I don't even have to say Apple TV Ted Lasso.
One of the main characters from that show, was visiting the press and
specifically the Spanish radio booth. Cristo Fernandez, who played Danny Rojas. Football
is life, coach, No, Baseball is life. And he actually said
that to me in the hallway. So awesome meeting Cristo Fernandez, who is
here at Dodger Stadium, and Joe Davis called me out. He said,
don't go fanboy on that guy. Well I did. I love ted Lasso.
My wife hated me watching it, but I loved it. Danny Rojas,
Baseball is life. Awesome meeting Cristo. Thanks for coming out to Dodger
Stadium tonight. Let's go out to the phones again, Gil and Aliso Viejo.
You're on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi. Gil, Hey, Dave,
Plus, let me say this's a Jose the best man. He knows
his stuff. Hey. My question or comedy is with Kershaw and Miller coming
back. I think our pitching staff is best on baseball? What do you
think? Yeah? I would agree. I saw some ranking from one of
these websites that had the top ten pitching staffs and all of baseball, and
the Dodgers were like nine or ten. I'm not sure if they're watching or
understand the depth the Dodgers have, but I would put them at the top
with anybody. Yeah, those are the East Coasters, so they don't know
baseball. You're right, they had the Orioles number one, Gil, thanks
for the phone call. Appreciated. Yeah, pound for pound, I would
stack the Dodgers pitching staff up against any team out there when you go one
through not just one through five or one through six, one through thirteen.
The Dodgers, especially when they're healthy, pound for pound, I would take
them. When you're talking about pitching staffs, you're not just talking about the
ace of that staff, You're talking about the entire staff. So I was
a little surprised to see it was actually Mookie's website, the br Walkoff,
that had the Dodgers pitching staff down at the Bottommokie obviously did not rank them.
It was some other Jabroni that I've ever heard of that ranked it.
But anyway, let's go out to Sacramento. Frank, you're on Dodger talk
with David vasse Hi. Frank, hey day, first time talking to you
this year. That's been going, man, I've been waiting for you.
Frank, Thank god you've called. Just want to talk about that third inning.
I mean, Key k hitting their home run and then Freddy Freeman with
this grand Slam and then will get jiggy with it in the Hey, fred,
why don't you do us a favor? You said Freddy Freeman's name so
nicely right there. How would you recreate that call of that grand Slam?
Can you call Freddy's Grand Slam for us? I can try, all right,
Let's give it your best shot right here, Freddy Freeman, there's a
drive to deep center field. It is a grand Slam, Freddy freaking Freeman.
I love it. I love it. Frank, we'll walk it off
right there. Thank you for the phone call. Yes, indeed, I
hope Stephen Else and Joe Davis are not nervous after Franken Sacramento just put out
his audition tape right there. Hey, before we say goodnight. You don't
see too many times players in Major League Baseball stealing home plate. Right The
one famous attempt of stolen base in recent history was Manuel Margo trying to steal
a home during the World Series against Clayton Kershaw. He was cut down at
the plate. Well tonight, Christian Yellich in Miami, his former team,
the Brewers were facing the Marlins. He was back in his former city of
Miami, and in the top of the sixth inning, with one out and
the right handed hitting William Damas at the plate, Christian Yelich caught the Marlin
sleepin'. It's a quick oh too, that one didn't There comes Yelich to
the plate and Yellis is safe at home. Oh my goodness, and now
our teams is gonna take second base. As forts is down, Yelich came
sprinting home on the throw back to the picture, and that was Jeff Levering
on the Brewers TV network. Yeah, Yelich picked their pocket there as the
catcher was throwing it back to the picture. There, Yelich saw that they
were just going through the motions in I'm sure lackluster atmosphere there at Marlins Park,
with what thirty five hundred give or take right, So he was able
to take off and steal a home plate and with the right handed hitting Adamis
he stepped out at the last minute, and he went feet first as you
should when you're sliding into home plate and caught the Marlins napping. So Christian
Yellich, out of Westlake Village High School, was able to steal home plate
tonight in Miami against his former team, the Marlins. That'll do it for
us. Tonight On Dodger Talk tomorrow, Gavin Stone will be on the mound
for the Dodgers. He's four and one with an ERA of three to twenty
seven, going up against Brandon Fott, who gave the Dodgers fits last year
this season. Fought is one in three with the n ERA of four seventeen.
Morongo Casino Dodgers on Deck begins at six o'clock with first pitch at seven
ten. How about that? Tonight in Major League Baseball Show, Hey Otani
bunts for a single and Christian Yellich steel's home plate. How about that?
And we had Frankett Sacramento call Freddie Freeman's vand Slam Special night around the League.
Thanks to calling ye back at our Burbank Studios, Thanks to dwayn McDonald
out here at Dodgers Stadium, and thanks to you for listening. In case
you missed any of the show or our interview with Walker Buehler, you can
find it on the iHeartRadio app. Just search Dodger Talk. Subscribe and you'll
get all the Dodger content that you need. Once again, the final score
tonight from Dodgers Stadium. The Dodgers win their fourth in a row with a
six to four victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Have a great rest of your
night. Ben Mahler on Fock Sports Radio is next. See yup.