Welcome to our final show before the All Star Break ends. We have phone
lines open tonight. I promised phone calls after heavy interviews the previous three nights.
David Vasse with you here on a five to seventy LA Sports until eight
o'clock tonight. Phone lines open at eight six six nine, eight seven two
five seventy and coming up at the bottom of the hour. We do have
a surprise guest that was a late addition to the show, and that is
rookie right hander Justin Robleski. Justin Robleski will join us at seven thirty tonight,
so we'll hear from a man that is going to start the second game
of the post All Star break schedule for the Dodgers. We got news today
that the Dodgers have lined up their first three starters for this series against the
Red Sox. It will be Gavin Stone tomorrow night in the opener of the
three games series, then Justin Robleski on Saturday, and on Sunday it will
be James Paxton. And you may say James Paxton, Yeah, James Paxton,
who is one of the few veterans that is still standing at this point
in time in the Dodger rotation with Glass now still on the il, Yamamoto
still not certain when he is coming back, Bobby Miller down in Oklahoma City.
So these are the three guys the Dodgers have to come out of the
All Star break. And James Paxton, by the way, is really good
at Dodger Stadium this season. He's three and zero with an ERA of two
sixty seven, while on the road is ERA is closer to six. So
James Paxton a much better pitcher at Dodger Stadium. Well rested, as is
the entire Dodger pitching staff after having four days off after what was a very
disappointing and frustrated finish to the first half for the Dodgers, where they finished
one in six on their six game road trip to Philadelphia and Detroit. We
don't have to go all the way back there, but yeah, the Dodgers
limped into the All Star Break with that one and six record, and since
May twenty first, the Dodgers are a game under five hundred, twenty three
and twenty four, so they're looking to take advantage of this All Star break
reset for a few guys like keik A, Hernandez and Chris Taylor. This
is their time of the year, the stretch run, and we all know
October is Keik and Chris Taylor's month, and they need to start to get
momentum heading into the postseason. I will say this, I will flip the
script tonight with all the panic and the negativity surrounding the Dodgers play on the
last road trip, and since the middle may consider this, with all the
injuries the Dodgers have had to deal with to their pitching staff, to Mookie
Betts and Max Munsey, We'll get to Munsey in the next segment. They
still have a seven game lead in the lost column over the Arizona Diamondbacks and
an eight game lead in the lost column over the San Diego Padres. The
Diamondbacks have leapfrog the Padres for second place in the NL West, and I
mentioned this during the last road trip. I thought the Padres blew a golden
opportunity to make up ground in the division with the Dodgers struggling as much as
they have been lately. But the Padres themselves have been struggling lately as well,
so it's been the Diamondbacks who have leapfrog the Padres. For second place
in the division, and it feels like between the Giants, the Padres,
and the Snakes, they've all been taking turns but really not making up a
lot of ground for whomever has been in that second place position since the Dodgers
have been playing basically five hundred ball since May twenty first. If you go
back to when the Dodgers had thirty wins on May twenty first, they still
had a seven and a half game lead in second place over the Padres.
You look at the way they stumbled into the All Star break, here they
are still with a seven game lead. And if you believe Fangrafts, who
does a lot of dissecting of schedules and statistical analysis, the Dodgers have one
of the softer schedules in the second half of the season. And if you
look at their schedule when it came out, and we'll get into next year's
schedule, even though I don't really care about twenty twenty five. Right now,
the Dodgers are in a dogfight to a certain extent, and trying to
get into the postseason and trying to win the World Series. This year very
odd time for Baseball to put out the schedule right in the middle of the
season. But anyway, we could get to the schedule later if you care
about it. But the Dodgers are opening up in Tokyo next year after opening
up in South Korea this year. So two games against the Cubs in Tokyo
next year, which is significant because that's two straight years the Dodgers will have
to start spring training early, and two straight years they will start the season
not in North America. Anyway, going back to all this in twenty twenty
four, the Dodgers are in a pretty good spot considering they have already played
the tough part of their schedule with a lot of travel, a lot of
trips to the East Coast, and now they have a lot more days off
in between. The travel is not as extensive as it was, and you're
going to get Tyler Glass now back, no doubt about that. Do have
doubts about Yoshi Yamamoto because there seems to be a veil of secrecy surrounding the
extent of his injury and what is going to happen with him the rest of
the year. Somehow, I feel like all that will come out after the
trade deadline. But nonetheless, you look at the Dodger schedule the rest of
the way, and their only trip to the East Coast is in September when
they play four games and three against the Marlins, so the schedule is definitely
in their favor. It does start out tough here right out of the All
Star Break, with seven games at home against the Red Sox, the surprise
team in Major League Baseball they are the last wildcard team currently in the American
League. And then four games against the Giants, who all of a sudden
are getting their pitching healthy. And in case you missed it, snell Zilla,
in his last start before the All Star Break, had a perfect game
in the seventh inning and the Giants blew it and lost that game. But
nonetheless, Nelzilla is back, and we all know how well he pitches a
against the Dodgers and b at Dodgers Stadium. Eight six six nine eight seven
two five seventy is the phone number mentioning Key a Hernandez and Chris Taylor,
who do you believe needed the All Star Break more than any other Dodger player.
Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy. It's going to be
fun to have the Red Sox in town. It's always electric when you have
the Yankees or Red Sox at Dodgers Stadium, and it's even better when those
teams are good, and Boston is a very good team. It's going to
be great to have Kenley Jansen, the all time Dodgers saves leader, back
at Dodgers Stadium. He has had a tremendous year with Boston. He hasn't
been back to Dodger Stadium in a couple of years, and when he was
back, he was with the Atlanta Braves. It's also going to be fun
to have Alex Kora back at Dodger Stadium, not only because he was part
of the best double play combination defensively in dodd La Dodger history, at least
with CAESARUS Tourists, but Adrian Beltray, his former teammate and Dave Roberts' former
teammate, is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend.
So it'll be great to have Alex back at Dodger Stadium with Dave Roberts and
to celebrate Adrian going into Cooperstown. And I even exchanged texts with Sean Green
today. Sean Green was on his way to New York to be part of
the ceremony or being attendance for the ceremony. So that twenty fourteen was a
pretty tight team. And Sean Green and Adrian Beltray, Alex Corra, CAESARUS
Tourists, Dave Roberts, all those guys certainly still have a bond, even
though they came up short that year, and Dave was traded unceremoniously by Paul
D. Podesta at the trade deadline that year. But nonetheless, the Rodgers
got to the playoffs in four and actually one at that time, the first
playoff game since Game five of the nineteen eighty eight World Series in Dodger history.
So that's how thin things were since eighty eight. But it feels like
a different world, feels like a different organization from when Adrian Beltra got called
up at nineteen years old by then interim manager Tommy Losorda. How about that
eight six six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy is the phone number?
When we continue here on Dodger Talk, we'll get you an update on
Max Munsey, Clayton Kershaw, Joe Kelly, and where is Walker Buehler.
If you're in Florida and you've seen Walker Buehler. Please call in eight six
six nine, eight seven two five seventy Off day Dodger Talk heading into the
second half right here on AM five seventy LA Sports. David Vasse with you
until eight o'clock tonight here on AM five to seventy LA Sports. We've had
a great All Star break of shows. Want to say thank you to all
the guys that came on the last three nights, starting with John Smoltz Buster.
Only people have been getting on me for the way I pronounced Buster's last
name. So thank you to Buster. Thank you to Jake Peevey. Thank
you to America's pitcher Rich Hill, who joined us last night. You heard
the full conversation. And look, rich Hill is not the savior for any
team out there. Don't get anything twisted here, but Rich Hill can bolster
a pitching staff, especially with teams that need some link out of their bullpen.
Rich is forty four years old. He's not going nine innings, even
though he probably thinks he could. I mean, he called me yesterday and
woke me up at seven thirty in the morning on his way to or on
the way back from throwing a one hundred pitch bullpen session somewhere out there in
New England, so he is fired up and ready to go, and coming
up at the bottom of the hour, we will hear from twenty four year
old Justin Robleski, who is starting Saturday at Dodgers Stadium against the Boston Red
Sox. Let's go out to the phones, Frank and garden Grove. You're
on Dodger Talk. How you doing, Frank, I'm doing great. How
are you, Dave tremendous? Ready for the second half to start? Ready
for the stretch run A man? Hey, I wanted to get your take
on all the extra rest that the Dodgers are giving their pitchers, because I'm
wondering if it works. So a lot has been made about how they're giving
five and six days rest to these starters. Glass note, for example,
pitched on back to back Sundays, including one where we went twee and last
Now has only pitched on four days rest once. And you know what the
difference is, Frank. The Dodgers have number one, the depth to be
able to do that, and number two, they're taking care of the pitchers
because Glass now is coming off career highs and starts an innings and you look
at what the White Socks have done with Garrett Crochet. They have pitched Crochet,
I believe, eleven times on four days rest for a guy that only
threw twenty five innings last year. And that's part of the problem now for
teams that want to trade for Crochet and just overall for him personally. The
White Socks really haven't taken great care of Crochet this year. Okay, But
that's the deeper part of my question, Dave. Because Cloche is healthy,
Glass knows on the IL, Yamamota's on the IL, Wheelers on the IL,
Dustin May is on the IL. Okay, well, hold Donslin's on
the IL. Bobby Miller got hurt. So what I'm asking is no,
no hold on, hold on, Let's go back to Glass now. Number
one. He said at the All Star weekend that if he needed to pitch,
he could pitch, but the Dodgers are taking extra care of him.
Dustin May, Yeah, I don't know, David. I'm just saying you
can't just throw it all in one bucket. Frank, there's different reasons for
why different pictures have gotten hurt. I get that vote, and I'm asking
the principle of does more rest lead to healthier pictures and isn't. One of
the reasons I ask is when Otani was an Angel a couple of years ago,
before it was clear how great he was, you made the point that
one of the things, one of the costs of having Otani in the rotation
is that you could only pitch once a week, and it throws all the
other pictures off their schedule. Some pictures like more rest, some don't.
And I think there's a case to be made that you sacrifice command when you
pitch so infrequently, and there's a cost that you pitch your best pictures less
if you're giving everybody more rest. So the payoff has got to be okay,
But these guys are going to be healthy when we need them. But
if they're not going to be healthy when you need them, what's the payoff?
So what's the proof that extra rest actually leads to healthy pitchers? Because
I don't see it on the Dodgers this year or last. No, there
is no proof. And I think if you spoke to Andrew Friedman or Brandon
Gomes or anybody in baseball, there is no exact science to how to keep
pitchers healthy these days. But I do agree with you, Frank. A
lot of pitchers are creatures of habit and they want a five day routine.
And the one thing I could say is the Dodgers have given some semblance of
consistency to all the pitchers in their rotation. It's not like they're going from
four days rest to five days rest, back to four days rest. It's
been pretty consistent since the beginning of the season that you're pitching on five days
rest. So it feels like guys have gotten used to that. And let's
not forget, Frank, the Dodgers pitchers and catchers and team reported to spring
training before any other team in Major League Baseball this year. Don't discount that
fact either. Now it's fair enough. I just think it's interesting that for
thirty forty years, pictures pitched on four days rest all the time, and
I'm not sure you could say that those pictures were getting hurt more than the
ones in the modern day. So it's an interesting question. Thank you,
Thank you, Frank, appreciate it. Well, if you go back forty
to fifty years, there used to be only a four man rotation and then
all of a sudden it turned into a five man rotation in the late mid
eighties, and now we're at a five man rotation, and now we're giving
pitchers five days rest. So there's an evolution to things. But really I
go back to what Sandy Kofax always preached, and he not only was a
great pitcher but also a great student of biomechanics and pitching. And he used
the analogy if you are a marathon runner, are you going to train for
the marathon by running sprints leading up to the marathon or are you going to
run long distance? Similar to pitcher. If you're a starting pitcher and you're
going to be pitching a lot, don't you want to throw more to get
your arm conditioned to that? So I'm not one to argue with Sandy Kofax,
who has They talk about coaching trees. Sandy Kofax has a coaching tree
as well that goes back to when he retired and when he was pitching.
Guys like Johnny Padres, guys like Phil Reagan, guys like Dave Wallace,
Rick Honeycut, Claude Ostein all those people are part of the Kofax pitching tree,
coaching tree, and Oral Herscheizer is part of it. So it's hard
to argue with Sandy Kofax, and it makes a lot of sense. Let's
go out to Whittier, Tony. You're on Dodger Talk. How you doing,
Tony? Hey, what's up? Dave? Have a going tremendous I
have a question. This might be off topic, but I'm in the minority
where I don't want to see a tiny pitch aside from obviously him BEINGDH is
there a possibility he can ever play the outfield. I'm sure he can.
I'm just wondering if I'm an advocate for that, Tony, because there are
no guarantees. I mean, O'tani is one of the most incredible baseball players
you will ever see, so I'm not going to put anything past him.
And he is a big physical guy as well. So if there is one
guy that can do what Nathan Valdi has done and come back from two elbow
surgeries, it's show. Hey, Otani. We can't pretend like it's not
a risk that he won't re injure his pitching elbow. And if he does
that, then he's lost as a hitter as well. You lose him for
the entire season. He wants to try it again. So the Dodgers are
going to, you know, go along with this to allow him to pitch
again, but most people expect in the next five years he will not be
pitching anymore. Yeah, I really don't want to see it. I'd rather
just see him maybe just play dher just maybe roam the outfield. I'm just
not I just don't have a good feeling about at the field or first base.
In my opinion, is his future after pitching is done with. That's
another possibility I was also thinking of thinking of also, Dave, I just
want to ask you one quick question. Back in ninety one, when the
Dodgers blew that division lead, do you really think they could have beaten the
Braves in the NLCS. Well, they wouldn't have played the Braves in the
NLCS. They would have played the Pirates. Yes, without a doubt,
they would have beat the Pirates. They were a better team than the Pirates
and there would not have been a play at the plate with Sid Bream.
Trust me, that season still hurts. Well, thanks for taking my call,
Dave. I appreciate it. Hey, thank you, Tony, appreciate
it. Yeah, if you remember in nineteen ninety one, and John Smoltz
and I talked about it a couple of nights ago. The Dodgers had a
seven game actually five or seven game lead over the second place Reds in the
Atlanta Braves at the All Star Break in nineteen ninety one were nine games back,
and they came back to win the division by one game. On the
final day of the regular season, the Dodgers lost in San Francisco. I
forgot where Atlanta was. And the Dodgers blew a nine game lead at the
All Star Break with a very talented team with Brett Butler, Wan Samuel,
Darryl Strawberry, Oral Herscheizer, Ramon Martinez. The list goes on and on
of how talented they were. And that's why I'm preaching not to be complacent.
Baseball is a strange game. There are no guarantees. So all this
talk about October, when we get to October, we have to line our
team up for October. How about get to October first, and how about
securing the second seed in the National League playoff picture before you start talking about
the playoffs, because when you look at the new playoff format, which is
much different than what it was even in nineteen ninety one. It's important to
have one of the two seeds so you don't have to play that best of
three wildcard series against probably a very hot wildcard team. And the Dodgers right
now are just a game ahead of the Brewers in the lost column for the
number two seed in the National League playoff picture. So don't just worry about
the division. Worry about that as well, or focus on that as well.
Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Part of the reason why the Dodgers have been a very average offense and average
team since May twenty first is because they have been without Max Munsey and a
whole host of pitchers and also now Mookie Betts, who is hoping to return
by the second week of August. And we've heard Max Munsey is getting closer,
then we hear Max Munsey has been shut down. Then we hear Max
Munsey is swinging, then we hear Max Munsey is doing nothing. Well.
Max Munsey joined the Foul Territory podcast and gave an update on where his recovery
is. Uh No, it's definitely not like that case. It's more of
a you know, we've been trying to get back in. Uh, you
know, I've tried several times to start ramping things up. It's more for
me, it's more my body just hasn't cooperated and hasn't bounced back to a
lot of the treatments that we've been trying to do. And uh, you
know, we can't necessarily figure out why that is. You know, I've
gone in and done testing multiple times, gotten a whole bunch of scans and
images, and uh, you know, we've just really struggled to kind of
put our finger on what's been going on. And you know, that's its
wise. It has been taking longer than what we thought. All Right,
there's Max Munsey on the Foul Territory podcast. It feels like what did Max
Munsey do? Too much? Kind of like how he originally injured his oblique
trying to swing too hard during batting practice. Very concerning for the Dodger and
what does that mean for the trade deadline? Do the Dodgers need to consider
a third baseman? I saw a report today that the Rays may be considering
training Isaac Peretti's as well. He's having a great year at third base for
Tampa Bay. The Dodgers have obviously made big trades with the Rays. Do
the Dodgers now have to consider not only starting pitching, but also a third
baseman, because, frankly, the three guys that have been rotating their at
third base have not gotten the job done offensively, Keick a Hernandez, Cavin
Bigio and Chris Taylor. Do the Dodgers now start to consider trading for a
third baseman with the uncertainty of Max Munsey returning, And when Max Mounsey returns,
what version of Max Munsey will the Dodgers get? Eight six six seven
two five seventy is the phone number. We're gonna take a time out here
our final time. I'm out on Dodger Talk. We have two lines open.
We will take your phone calls. But first we are going to be
joined by rookie right hander Justin Robleski, who is going to be making his
third Major League start on Saturday at Dodgers Stadium. He will join us next
right here on Dodger Talk on five to seventy LA Sports. The Dodgers are
back in action tomorrow night at Dodgers Stadium. Our coverage begins at six o'clock
with first pitch at seven ten Between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. Gavin
Stone will be on the mound for the Dodgers, and on Saturday afternoon,
evening twilight, our guest will be on the mound for his third Major League
start. A man that certainly has burst onto the scene and has made his
name be known in the City of Angels, and that is the one and
only Justin Robleski. Justin, Thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.
Yeah, yeah, no, no worries. Hey, let's just get
this out of the way right now. I've heard people refer to you as
Robo. I'm not in with that nickname. I'm not sure if you're in
with that nickname. Can you just set the record straight. If you want
people to stop referring to as Robo, we can make that happen right now,
you know what. So when I was in when I was in fourth
grade, when I was in fourth grade, fourth grade, oh yeah,
that's when that's when it started. And then kind of just my whole life,
everyone's called me that. So I've kind of grown into it and I
kind of like it. So that's that's what we're gonna stick with, all
right, all right, I was hoping you would say you hate it.
No, it's it's it's kind of just like it's me now, you know
what I mean. At this point, I've written with it for so long
and it's kind of just who I am. I mean, I look at
your name. I don't see Robo anywhere in this name. It's just it's
just because Robleski and I's for whatever reason, just Robo. That's just what
it was. So win a W in the front though not Robo. It's
Wrbo. Yeah, and maybe that's why the fourth graders there just went with
robo right right there. Yeah, W Yeah. Easier to say, hey,
justin I know you're in the big leagues right now, but man,
you are an underdog story. You were an eleventh round pick in twenty twenty
one. You were the three hundred and forty second overall pick that year.
Do you feel like you're an underdog story? I would say yeah, but
kind of had a lot of unfortunate things happened in my college career that kind
of, I guess, not derailed, but just kind of made my path
different than a lot of other people's. So I've always kind of felt,
you know, that's kind of a chip on my shoulder, like they don't
think I can, so I will. I think that's just kind of who
I am. But yeah, it's I would say I'm an underdog, but
I would say I've never I've never viewed myself as like lesser than I guess
if that makes sense. I've always had confidence. Yeah, no doubt.
I saw that at Dodger Stadium. You really had mound presence for a guy
that was making his major league debut. Where does that come from? I
think I think it just kind of falls back on my preparation, just kind
of I don't know, I guess just who I am as a person,
Like if I if I feel prepared, I think, you know, I
can compete with with anybody. So I guess that's where it comes from.
It's just I guess slowly been built up over time. But it's it's just
kind of I don't know. That's a good question. But I'd say it's
just something I've slowly built over time. Hey, I guess if you feel
like you're prepared, you have that confidence. If you're not prepared, that's
when you're nervous, Right, I actually did some homework on you real I
actually text your triple a manager, Travis Barbery, and asked him what he
thought about Justin Robleski. You want to hear what he had to tell me.
If they were good things? Yeah, they were good things. And
it goes back to preparation. He said. The biggest thing that stood out
to him is how detailed your pre start preparation is and the homework you do
on the lineup that you're going to face. And I'm sure when you were
in that hotel room before you made your major league debut against the Brewers,
you were doing a lot of studying. So did I interrupt the preparation for
the Red Sox? Uh? No, that's that's already been. I mean,
there's already been a lot of that that's done already. Obviously I'm gonna
go probably going tomorrow and look at a few more things. But yeah,
it's I kind of I try to do it. It's kind of like homework
for me. I guess I just kind of I try to get it out
of the way and then so I can look over it and kind of really
understand, like what I'm trying to do. From that standpoint, what are
you looking at? Without giving away too many secrets, why are you so
detailed. Are you looking at the swings? Can you read swings as the
game is going on? What do you what are you looking for? I
think for sure reading swings is part of it for me. I'm I'm I'm
definitely more of a numbers guy, So I like, I have a customer
report that the Dodgers have that I've always I've looked at. And there's a
couple other things that they've helped me kind of I guess mold and there's certain
certain tendencies and other things that I'm looking at. I'm not going to say
everything, but yeah, just certain tendencies kind of what guys like to do
where they do damage. I guess it is kind of the biggest pieces of
it for me. And where did that come from? Justin did you learn
that over the years in the minor leagues? Did you learn that in college
at Oklahoma State or has that always been you going back to high school.
Yeah, it's just it's definitely a minor league thing because you don't really have
the data your fingertips, so that we dude now in college, in high
school, but definitely kind of when I got to the minor leagues and kind
of got access to data like that. It's just kind of from my perspective,
it's like this can make me better, so why would I not use
it and use it to its full ability? So just kind of but it's
a process to try and figure out, like what do I need to look
at, what's important, what's not important? What's that way? You don't
have too much to look at. So it's been kind of a process these
past, you know, two seasons, just really trying to figure out what
I need to know and what I don't. Justin Robleski is our guest.
He started the season in Double A, made two starts at Triple A,
and here he is just two days away from making his third major league start
against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium. I'm curious, Justin, when
a rookie comes up and a pitcher that's starting so quickly after he gets activated,
how have you your teammates treated you. They've been great. Everybody's been
really kind of accepting and kind of just helpful to me and obviously teaching me
kind of how things work and how things go. You know. Luckily,
I know a couple of guys and Knack and Gavin and Bobby and guys like
that that have been really just helped me out. And the guys that I
had knew previously so just kind of had that comfort. But everyone's been really
awesome. So it's been it's been a i'd say not it's not easy,
but they've definitely made it easier to kind of, just, I guess mesh
into the team. And from what you told us, Clayton Kershaw was kind
of the guy you looked up to when you were a kid. How strange
and surreal was it to be in the dugout with him? Yeah, it's
crazy. It's crazy, just kind of all those years watching him and just
kind of especially as a lefty grown up. I mean, Kershaw was going
to be your guy. So it's it was real and obviously something that I'm
thankful for and I won't forget. Did you ever try to emulate anything of
his delivery when you were a kid. Have you seen my delivery? It
does not look like his. No, no, no, There's only one
person that can throw that way, and that's him. Have you ever thought
about, you know, when you're out of the stretch, like bringing both
hands up above your head. Have you ever thought about doing that Robleski.
You know what, never once, never once have I thought about Justin Robleski
is our guest. Obviously you could tell he's an easy guy to root for.
And you went to college at Oklahoma State. Your college coach was Josh
Holliday, who's known for being a hitting guru, because that's where a lot
of even major leaguers go to kind of get back on track. What was
it like playing for him? It was great. It was great there.
They're great people over there, and you know, obviously can't thank them enough
for giving me the shot they did as a as a junior college guy.
So it was awesome, and they were really really awesome to me in my
time there. And unfortunately I wish, I wish I could have fished in
the postseason and done all that at Oklahoma State, but didn't get the opportunity
because because of TJ. But they've they were awesome with everything, and they're
great people and I don't can't, uh, I can't ever have a bad
word to say about those guys, you know, Kershaws guys over at Oklahoma
Skip Johnson. Yeah, I don't, I don't, UH. Is there
a rivalry? How to answer that one? I don't know how to answer
that one. We'll leave it right there. We don't want to upset anybody.
Hey, before I let you go, the one thing that we were
all impressed about that you don't see a lot of pitchers do or know how
to do, is how you change speeds, not with different pitches, but
even how you change speeds with your fastball. Uh. That is something that
shows signs of mature beyond your years. Yeah, it's funny because I think
it's It definitely adds a layer of kind of I guess deception to me,
where it's like you're expecting one thing and you get another, and you got
two different fastballs to worry about that moved the same. So I think that
front of boat game is really important, no doubt. And it's been working
for you and I can't wait to see it again on Saturday. We're all
looking forward to a Justin and really appreciate you taking time out to jump on
the show. Looking forward to seeing you out there at Dodgers Stadium tomorrow.
Yeah, no worries, thank you guys. Hey, there he goes Justin
Robleski. You can call him Robo. He's given us permission. There he
goes. He's making the start on Saturday for the Dodgers against the Boston Red
Sox. Twenty four years old. Started the year out at Double A Tulsa,
and here he is pitching for the Dodgers and making his third me major
league start coming up in a couple of days. So definitely excited for the
young man and definitely is to me an underdog and a guy that certainly pitches
because a lot of people I'm sure counted him out. Eleventh round pick coming
out of Oklahoma State in twenty twenty one. Another good pitching fine for Billy
Gasparino and his staff. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is
the phone number. Just to remind you about this weekend Dodgers Red Sox.
Tomorrow night is at seven ten, but Saturday and Sunday will be at four
o'clock. First pitch on Saturday four point fifteen Sunday just about four oh eight,
So make your arrangements and you can come to Dodger Stadium two and a
half hours before first pitch. That's when gates open. Let's go out to
the Bay Area. Lewis, you're on Dodger Talk. How you doing Lewis,
I'm doing real well, Dave. First of all, that was a
tremendous interview with Rich Hill last night. I really really enjoyed it. I
had a great laugh. I'm actually house sitting for my cousin in Santa Cruz
and I was really, really nice, So I really appreciated that. Yeah,
I hope it works out for him the way he plans it. Yeah,
I mean, I'm like you, I'm optimistic. I could tell you
a ninety one story of sitting in the left field bleachers in the last series
before the Dodgers went to San Francisco where they blew I believe, like two
of three to Cincinnati where they had leads they couldn't get runners in. It
was so frustrating, but you know that happens. Here's my question, though,
way back when I called you and you said, oh, Munsey's coming
back, I'm concerned about him, and I'm of the beliefs that they should
try and find some replacement third baseman, even you know, with a hope
that however long it takes him he comes. He obviously comes back. But
I think you know, if he started swinging a bat tomorrow, he's not
going to take him off from whenever, whenever he's told me, whenever he
starts swinging a bat and it gets ramped up, it's going to be two
weeks. And that's just when he starts getting going, and he has not
been able to really take this to another level. Obliques are strange, Lewis,
and look, I'm not opposed to it either. I even threw out
inquiring about Vladimir Guerrero Junior, who's not the best third baseman defensively, but
he would sure be an impact bat in that lineup. Yeah, I was
wondering if they would look at Brian Anderson, who is just released, who's
an infield outfielder, and I feel like they've gone down this path already with
Cavin Bigio. I don't feel like they need to go down this path with
Brian Anderson. Okay, well, fair enough. I'm hoping for good things,
but I'm with you that to me, that is as important as the
starting pitcher. I think they can figure out the outfield stuff, but if
they don't get somebody to replace Monthcy, don't. I just don't have the
confidence I love Chris Taylor that he can really take it up that. Yeah,
we'll see where it goes from here, Lewis, thank you for the
phone call. Yeah, it's It's interesting because right now on July eighteenth,
the Dodgers can go so many different directions, and there are a lot of
teams right now that are on the bubble, and the way their teams play
between now and July twenty ninth is going to determine whether or not they are
still in the race or if they believe that they are out of the race,
which means there are more sellers than there are currently and that's why many
people out there believe with this new playoff format and with the waiver trade deadline
done with, and there's only one trade deadline now, they should push this
back to August tenth August fifteenth, so there is more action and more clarity
from these teams with the extra playoffs spot on whether they are in or whether
they are out. Give them a little bit more time since there's only one
trade deadline. Now. Let's go out to our friend Isabelle in Anaheim.
I could not leave you on hold again, Isabelle, I could not take
it. Welcome the Dodger Talk. Oh yeah, I think you, David,
how are you? I'm doing great? Isabelle, how are you that
I'm okay, I'm gonna do Hey, didn't let you know I hate sick
up for you where we're shaken, So anyway, I ax impidence pick up
for you. So you know I will always sick up for you. So
I appreciate it. You're welcome. But listen, I got to get this
off my check be could have been buzzing me since this week. How long
have you wait to get this off your chest? This since this week?
Because I have to get this before tomorrow. To describing me crazy, this
was unreseparable, loudy, lousy. Well, okay, I take understand losing
to Philly because Philly is editing than the Dodgers. But Detroit, I'm sorry,
I just couldn't taken. Oh God, I'm so upset with the team
right now. So I'll give the I'll give them, I'll give them a
dig. I'm trying to be generous, but I just don't think I'm generous.
I mean you think. Well, it sounded like you needed a reset,
all star break reset as well Asabelle. I was hoping you would have
a uh be able to start fresh tomorrow. How about that? Oh?
I will, but well you were actually you were acting. You needed the
time off. You can't point at any flinger. I think that on needed
the time off. If you really wanted to know, so did you say?
But listen, I think everybody, the whole team needed the day off,
even the coaching self, the management. You clarly point one fingers.
So, but it was we sat. It was see let them be boss
I'll take two hours three this window. Therey is you guys. I hain't
anything to do with bosses right now. So this b bosses as how you
did it? But lad, yeah, and the Giants next week, who
I hate more than oh I know, the two LA rivals Boston and San
Francisco. Yeah, and David you really yes, this is not the launching
pad. There's a lot. This is not the launching pad with Petros money.
Isabelle. One final thought that we could take away for tonight. Yeah,
well you were later. iHeart do Kimmy championships go Giants game. So
anyway, so I just need to get that off. But I have a
good week and we'll talk Saturday, Okay, Isabelle, I look forward to
Saturday's conversation. There she goes. Isabelle formerly from Buena Park now in Anaheim.
She sounded very frustrated, and I hope things change for her and the
Dodgers coming out of this All Star break. But as I let Petro some
money know a few different times this week, and they did not want to
accept this. They acted like this was breaking news that Gavin Stone, Justin
Robleski, and James Paxton were going to be the first three starters out of
the All Star Break. Just because there was an All Star Break does not
mean there was any certain miracle that healed Yoshi Yamamoto, Walker Bueller or Tyler
Glass. Now, for these first three games, it's just not the reality
of things. And Tyler Glass now, as he said to people out in
Texas, if this was a playoff game or a must win game, he
would pitch. But because the Dodgers are managing his season, they feel like
they can give him this first series off and look, there's an outside chance
that he could pitch against the Giants, and if not against the Giants,
certainly on the upcoming road trip, which will take the Dodgers from Houston to
San Diego and then Oakland for the five time in Dodger history, they will
be up at the Oakland Coliseum, where there has been a lot of history
between the Dodgers and Athletics. The nineteen seventy four and nineteen eighty eight World
Series come to mine right at the top of my head, of course,
so there's been some history between those two teams in that ballpark. But the
Dodgers have to take care of business now, and it's not going to be
easy against the Boston Red Sox, who are turning a lot of doubters into
believers out there in Beantown. And say what you want about Alex Cora,
but Alex Cora gets a lot out of less than most managers s. He
did not have a great team last year and they were hovering around five hundred
and this year he has his team as the third and final wildcard team in
the American League. So I feel like Alex Cora might be the most coveted
free agent this side of one so right, he's a free agent manager with
Craig Council being signed to a big contract. Ironic that Council is in last
place with the Cubs while the Brewers are in first place with Pat Murphy.
Anyway, that'll do it for us on Dodger Talk tonight. We'll be back
with you tomorrow night from Dodgers Stadium, Morongo Casino. Dodgers on Deck begins
at six o'clock with first pitch at seven to ten. It will be Gavin
Stone on the mound for the Dodgers tomorrow night as they start a three game
series against the Red Sox. Gavin Stone will be opposed by Nick Pavetta,
who is formed sixth this year with an ERA of four to eighteen. And
don't forget Long Beach State dirt Bag and All Star Game MVP Jaron Duran will
be in the house as well. So the Dodgers have their work cut out
for them in these three games against the Red Sox, and then they'll welcome
I'm in the San Francisco Giants for four games after these three games over the
weekend. Thanks to Katie Newton back at our Burbank Studios. Thanks to you
for listening. In case you missed any of the show, you can find
it on the iHeartRadio app. That's also where you can find our conversation with
Justin Robleski. Coming up next Jason Smith on Fox Sports Radio. We'll talk
to you tomorrow. See you