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Talk. You out by back damn Cats. That's what I'm talking about.
Dodgers. Eleven runs, fourteen hits. Every Dodger starter had a base knock,
Three different Dodgers go deep. Mookie Bett to three run home run,
Freddie Freeman three run home run, they Oscar Hernandez, his thirteenth home runner
of this season, gave the Dodgers the lead in the fifth inning. The
Dodgers get the series ending win in Pittsburgh tonight with an eleven to seven victory
over the Pirate. Hi, everybody, and welcome to Dodger Talk here on
Am five to seventy. LA Sports phone lines are wide open and they're filling
up quickly at eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seven. We appreciate
that. Eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seventy. We're gonna hear
from Mookie Betts coming up in just a little bit. He had a big
night tonight for the Dodgers. In the lead offs spot, he had a
single de lead off the game. He would score on the Freddie Freeman three
run home run two batters later tonight, Freddie Freeman hit a three run home
run early. Mookie Betts bookended in the fifth inning with a three run home
run, and the Dodgers explode for eleven runs tonight as Freddie Freeman had the
home run. Mookie Betts two for four, three ribbys, on base four
times with two walks that he drew as well. It's no secret that when
Mookie Betts is clicking, the Dodgers' offense is clicking, and you gotta give
credit to everybody else in the lineup. Tonight I mentioned every starter had a
hit in this win against the Pirates. Ta Oscar Hernandez kept the line moving.
He goes three for five, a triple shy of the cycle. He
hit a home run. Miguel Rojas three for four tonight with a couple of
ribbis. He's now hitting two eighty seven on the season. Kick At Hernandez
had an RBI single in the sixth Tony. Miguel Vargas got into the fun
as well. He was on base twice tonight, including a walk. Austin
Barnes was one for three tonight and scored a run for the Dodgers. He's
now pushed his average over two to sixteen on this season. It's the Dodgers
capitalized with runners in scoring position. Again, it's not brain surgery. When
guys produce and they cash in those runners that are on base. You go
six for fifteen with runners in scoring position. More times than not, you're
gonna win a baseball game, even when your starter gives up afore nothing lead.
Even when you give up seven runs in a game, you win eleven
to seven because you outscore the opponent with eleven runs on fourteen hits in a
winning efforts. Dodgers now thirty nine and twenty five on this season. They
pick up a half game on the San Francisco Giants, who were idle tonight.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers could pick up another game on the San Diego Padres
that came down in San Diego. Right now between the Diamondbacks and Padres is
in the fourth inning with the Diamondbacks up three to nothing, but as we
speak, Padres seven and a half games back and the Giants eighth and a
half games back. With the Padres, by the way, I have lost
four in a row, including getting swept in Anaheim by the Angels, who
are in last place in the Al West, and now they're in Arizona or
hosting Arizona tonight out at Petgo Park and find themselves down three to nothing in
the fourth inning. Eight six, six, nine, eighty seven to two
five seventy is our number. Big win for the Dodgers tonight. They're not
gonna score eleven runs on fourteen hits every single game. But certainly you don't
like seeing the Dodgers anemic as they were the first two games of this series
against the Pittsburgh Pirates. And I know I've already seen it on social media.
I've already seen the comments. Well, it's because they weren't facing the
guy throwing ninety five to one hundred like they did in the first two games
of this series. Dodgers can't hit guys who throw near one hundred. Dodgers
are gonna be in trouble in the postseason when Bailey Falters throwing night. Yeah,
they're sitting on it and they're scoring eleven runs and scoring early and often.
I've already seen it. So that's what you're gonna call up and talk
about. About oh yeah, anice win against the guy who's not throwing a
hundred mound save it. Just save the minutes, save the energy, save
your time, in my time and everybody else's time. I don't want to
hear it. Dodgers tonight explode for eleven runs on fourteen hits against a Bailey
Falter who had like sixteen plus innings without giving up an earned run against the
Pittsburgh Pirates team that has had its way the first two games of this series
with the Dodgers offense now. Certainly Jones and Skiings, the two young twenty
two year old right handers who just pump gas are different than Bailey Falter,
but the Dodgers were able to get to Skiens last night a couple of home
runs, so Tany went deep, so it's not like he just completely dominated
the Dodgers last night. Struggled the last three weeks, no doubt about it.
Been up, been down, lost five in a row, won five
of six. They lose two to three in Pittsburgh, but look at what
they're doing as far as maintaining their leading the division. There's still seven and
a half games up. They went on that East Coast road trip They played
five hundred baseball with the course of sixteen games, and they're still with a
seven plus game leading the division at the moment, seven and a half games
up on the San Diego Padres. Didn't lose any ground. Sky is not
falling. It's still June, and this Dodgers team is still way up in
the division. Now. I had Dodger Talk the other night, and a
lot of Dodger fans wanted to say, well, that's great. We don't
care what happens during the regular season anymore. Get us to October. Look
what happened last night. Look what happened against Jones and the series opener.
Dodgers couldn't hit a guy throwing one hundred miles an hour. Just like the
postseason, they faced good pitching and they're going to struggle. Well, certainly,
you get to the postseason more times than night. You're not gonna win
a game eleven. And that's the case, then you got bad pitching on
both sides. Tonight the Dodgers Walker Buehler, in my opinion, looked better
than he did in his last couple starts. This was start six for Walker
Buehler, and for those of you thinking I'm crazy. Look at the numbers
and the results. He didn't get any help on all on defense tonight.
He went out there and gave up an infield single in the first eleven pitches,
struck out the blast batter that he faced in the first to get out
of the first inning on eleven pitches. The second inning started with an air
at shortstop by Mookie bent On what should have been a rootine play at short.
Instead, the throw pulls Freddie Freeman off the bag and he kn't get
his foot back lead off runner aboard. Then Walker Bueler gets too quick out.
He should have been out of the inning in the second inning instead another
heir this went on keyk Hernandez, who, like Dub hop the ball over
to Freddie Freeman who couldn't make the pick two on two out and Walker Bieler
should be sitting in the dugout spitting some smacking sunflower seeds. Instead he's still
out in the mound, gives up an RBI single and then has to get
a strikeout twenty six pitches into the second inning, third inning, leadoff strikeout,
a couple of base hits, sack fly, and then on the eighth
pitch of a bat to naken Zalees Lee's went over the middle of the play.
You know what, you tip your cap at that point, that point
it's eight four, four to four game, and what happens, a fly
ball to the left Miguel Vargas cannot play it right, goes off his glove,
another air. They ruled a double. I don't know, I guarantee
maj Leaue Baseball is gonna overturn that that was an air on Miguel Vargas with
two outs in the third inning, when that balls hit the left field instead,
they ruled a double. A walk. Obviously, Walker Bueler is frustrated
an infield single on a ball hits a shortstop. But with the way the
shift was on with runners on base, nobody was at third. Miguel Rojas
couldn't get the second in time, and there was no way that Mookie Betts
was gonna make a clean throw to first to beat to beat the runner.
So you got the bases loaded before finally a ground ball out to get out
of the third inning. Game tied at four. Forty one pitches thrown in
the third inning alone. In the third inning alone, forty one pitches thrown
by Walker Buel. That's why he was done after three innings seventy eight total
pitches in three innings, forty one of which came in the third, twenty
six pitch second inning, in which the Dodgers had two airs. He didn't
get much help behind him, but yet didn't criticize anybody postgame, didn't point
fingers at anybody, said it's part of the game, and was happy with
the production the offense gave him and the bullpen in an eleven to seven win
over the Pirates. With that all being said, I thought he looked better
out in the mound. I thought he looked more confident. His body looked
more in control on the mound. He seemed more fluid out there. Even
when I with pitching out of the stretch, his velocity to me was up
a little bit. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but
it felt like he was hitting ninety four to ninety five, ninety six more
than he was in his previous starts. But he had the taxing second inning,
and he had the lingering third inning in which he had to throw a
lot of extra pitches to cut in into his outing. Tonight does only three
innings, four runs, three strikeouts, and a no decision for Walker Bueller.
The results, Yes, when you look at the box score tonight,
you're gonna say, oh wow, what happened to Walker Bueller? No,
no, no, didn't get help with defense behind him, would have been
out of that second inning, and could have been out of the third inning.
Yes, the home run tie in the game, but he had to
have pitched up four more batters after that, in which he should have been
out of the inning in the third. So those things add up. If
you don't think they add up, you're crazy. Because he's lingering for extra
pitches, extra bats. A double should have been an air, should have
been the end of the inning. But Miguel Vargas drops the ball in left
field, and then, out of frustration you can see, didn't have the
command, walks the next batter infield single to load the basis because nobody's covering
the bases because of the shift. Frustration. No doubt from Walker Buehler,
but he's the last guy to point a finger, and he celebrated the win
tonight. You heard him in the Clubhouse show talking about how he felt okay
about his outing. Dave Roberts. You heard him in the Clubhouse show talk
about his frustration with the defense, said it was the worst defensive performance by
far this season for his Dodgers team, by far, the worst performance on
defense by this Dodgers team. Tonight. We're gonna hear from Mookie Bets coming
up in just a little bit. Mookie offensively tonight played really well. Defensively,
had his struggles, and David Vassay said he talked to him in the
clubhouse. We'll hear from in just a second here about his struggles on defense
and his struggles at the plate. Maybe it's too much of a workload for
Mookie Bets. Maybe he's doing too much and preparing every day, taking all
the ground balls that he's doing at shortstop pre game, that it's taken away
from his performance at the plate. Maybe he's worn down from doing too much.
In fact, let's hear from Mookie post game with David Vassa about his
struggles and about his workload. MOOKI, how would you describe this twin?
I mean, obviously you guys lost the first two, but to get out
of here, to salvage this series, is that the most important part?
Yeah, this is definitely the most important part winning, you know, no
matter how it looks, you know, a win is a win. Obviously
we want to especially myself. I mean, I gotta clean up a lot
of things and getting back to the drawing board, back to back to working.
But you know, I went as a win. You've been playing pretty
well at shortstop. When you have a game like this, How do you
not just dwell on this type of game and not on the others. I
don't know. I don't know. I had to. It's all new,
it's all new, and so getting over the homes I haven't had to.
So this is the first time I'm gonna really have to do it. And
it could be just showing up to the park tomorrow and you know, doing
my normal work. You know I always do extra. So maybe it's that
I have no idea, but I definitely am not happy with the way I've
perform today. Do you feel like the swing is back? Do you feel
like you've shortened the swing and you're back closer to where you were earlier in
the season. I do feel that, you know, it's just one game.
Anything can happened in one game, and so we have to put some
games together. So we'll we'll know in a couple of days. Obviously,
Like when the numbers tail off, people are gonna wonder if the shortstop part
is contributing to it at all, Like physically, have you felt different at
this point of the season in the normal year, like with all the extra
stuff you've been doing, just like, how is that part kind of come
together? Oh no, no, this is the best I've felt since I
was probably twenty one or twenty two years old. So that absolutely has no
no part. Now it's just purely me and there's no excuses. But a
fact is this is all new to me. Man, this is all new,
and it's going to take more than two months to get and especially you
know, I was talking to Lux during the game, like this is the
hardest thing I've ever had to do, you know. And so I'm going
out there and you know, with two outs and second and third and having
to make a play, and I'm not looking for any sympathy, but you
know, it's just tough and so but I gotta get it done. All
right, there's Mookie post game with David Vasse and the media. He's right,
we can sit and get on Mookie all we want maybe we can say,
oh, he shouldn't be at shortstop. He is at short and he
took on that responsibility late in spring training because of the struggles to Gavin Lux
and because he's such a gifted human being and so athletic he can make that
move to shortstop, not only right before the season starts, but at this
point in his career to make that move not only from the outfield to second
base and now second base over to one of the hardest positions in all of
sports, shortstop. On a daily basis, one hundred and sixty two games
playing shortstop and batting lead off. It's not easy. It is grinding,
it is taxing on the body, and he's having to figure it out really
on the go here before the start of the season and now during the first
third of this season. And nobody said it was going to be easy.
He knows that, and nobody feels sorry for him because he's the one that's
taken on this responsibility. But with the good come the bad, and for
everything good, Mookie has done and the production he had early on this season
and hopefully tonight is the start of something they can get going offensively. And
he even said just one game. Give it a few games and then we'll
see where we're at. You know, defensively, nine airs on the season,
most of them throwing airs. So you kin, you kind of take
to go with the bad and you hope that the defense will continue to improve
because he's made some good plays. But tonight, I'll be honest with you,
I'm not picking on Mookie, but those are plays that need to be
made, especially that ground ball to your glove side early in the game to
lead off the second inning for the Pirates. You got to make that play
and you get to a ball, yes, but arm strength is the second
part about it. Making a play clean, whether it's glove side, backhand,
in the hole wherever, charging a ball, you know, stabbing a
line drive, one hop or whatever. Then you gotta make the throw and
arm strength is huge. You got to make the play defensively clean and then
make the throw, and that's not easy. And I think tonight the arm
strength was something that caught up with Mooki on that play because it's a tough
play. Moving to your left, you kind of not throw across your body,
but you're not making a traditional tyle a throw, and he pulled Freddie
Freeman off the bag. So it's i know, frustrating for Dodger fans.
And certainly if the Dodgers would have lost again tonight and got swept in Pittsburgh,
the world would have been the ending with Dodger fans talking about the defense
and need for change. But when you score eleven runs and you win the
game eleven to seven, everything's okay, and those kind of get makeup put
on them and nobody sees them and you kind of move forward on this season.
But those airs are still there and the airs are starting to mount up
for this Dodgers team. And tonight again, as I mentioned, officially three
airs against the Dodgers defense, but in reality it should have been five airs.
Ground ball, the mookie had it go underneath his glove, they ruled
a base hit, and the fly ball to left center field that should have
been caught in the third inning by Miguel Vargas ruled a double for some reason,
but was clearly an air for dropping the baseball. Eight six six,
nine eighty seven two five seventy eight sixty six nine eight seven two five say
we'll take a break, We'll come back right to your phone calls we got
full lines right now, we're gonna get to all of it. Plus we're
gonna hear from the great Vin Scully. Well, a flashback to twenty fifteen
on this D Day, the eightieth anniversary of D Day, and storming the
beaches of Normandy, France. And of course nobody better to talk about it
than the late great Vin Scully. So we'll have that coming up and your
phone calls when we come back. Dodgers win tonight in Pittsburgh, eleven to
seven over the Pirates. Postgame Dodger Talk right here on your Home with the
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We're streaming online. We stream every game too. Come find me back
to Dodger Talk on AM five seventy LA. Boards Bett swings hits a drive
to center fielding deep Sowinsky. Going back to the track, he looks up.
It's going a home run. Mookie Betts the dead center hit it into
the shrubbery. A three run home run for Bets, his tenth home run
of the season. I told you I like the number ten even better than
eight. Tenth run of the night for the Dodgers. Tenth home run of
the season for rookie best three run home run forener in ten feet to center
field at PNC Park, happing off a six run fifth inning for the Dodgers.
They beat the Pirates tonight by a final of eleven to seven. As
Michael Grove pitched two scoreless innings the fourth and fifth inning, he gets the
winning relief he's down three and two. Bailey Falter at a Chino Hills High
School. He gets the loss. He falls to three and three. The
Dodgers said nine into the plate in the first inning. They score four runs.
The Dodgers then said nine batters of the plate in the fifth inning,
and they score six runs as they go on and get the win eleven to
seven. Tiascar Hernandez his thirteenth home run, a solo shot, his fortieth
RBI. He's now fifth in the National League at home runs and he's tied
for six in RBIs as he goes three for five tonight, a triple shy
of the cycle Miguel Rojas, by the way, the bottom of the lineup
three for four, a couple of ribbies. Every Dodger starter had a base
hit tonight, as the Dodgers had eleven runs on fourteen hits and three home
runs. Also had three airs in the game tonight. And talking about Mookie
Bets, I had a former big league infielder text me, not the name
drop, but yeah, I had a big league infielder text me and said,
it's not the arm strength of Mookie Bets. Said, it's a mechanical
issue. His front shoulders flying open when throwing like a quarterback. Just needs
to focus on being square longer. It's an easy fix because he's in a
position he's got great hands and footwork, just needs to stay a square.
So there you go. I stand corrected. Does have a great arm in
the outfield. From my point of view, just kind of felt like the
arm strength maybe wasn't there. But I stand corrected from a big league infielder
he even know playing the big leagues in a long time and text me on
my secret textosal line that it's a mechanical issue that can be fixed really quickly.
And for a guy in Mookie Betts. That takes I don't know,
probably one hundred ground balls before every game. With Dino Ebel and Miguel Rojas
out there, it's gonna be fixed. And again he's learning on the fly.
He's doing everything he can to help out this Dodgers team. And that's
what really what it is. Think about it. He's so unselfish that he
makes the move to second base, and even more so realizing if this team's
gonna be successful, they're gonna need a guy at shortstop they can rely on.
And seeing the struggles of Gavin Lux with the Yips during spring training,
Mookie Bets unselfish that he is, takes it upon himself to say, I'll
play short I'm that good of an athlete. I'm gonna figure it out as
we go. I'm gonna be the best I can at it, and I'm
gonna you to learn. I may, I may struggle, but I'm gonna
figure it out. And when he's producing offensively the first three weeks of the
season, we're not talking about the defense. It kind of like I said,
we put a little lipstick on it, a little makeup, and it
gets covered up and the Dodgers are winning. So it's not an issue.
But when the Dodgers lose five in a row, the Dodgers struggle gets swept
in Cincinnati. When the Dodgers lose two to three in Pittsburgh, then you
start looking at the airs. Whether it's Mookie or and throwing air from Kei
k a Heernandez or Miguel Vargas and left field tonight, you can't necessarily use
that makeup and lipstick to cover up the airs. Thankfully, he had eleven
runs tonight. It makes up for It doesn't cover it up, but it
makes up for the three airs officially five airs unofficially for the Dodgers tonight on
defense eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy. All right, let's
go out to the phones. Everybody's been patient. James been weighing the longest.
James, How you doing? Hey there? How you doing? Jim
doing good tonight? James? Hey? I want spanned upon the conversation on
MOOKI from a personal trainer's perspective, which is what I do, he was
really throwing off the back foot a lot, and I think he was doing
that because he threw a lot of awkward, you wrong foot throws, and
I think that he's probably been working on having his feet in the right place.
But if you're backing up on a ball as athletic as Mooky is,
I think he is completely capable of doing the Derek Jeter. And we all
know what that looks like, where he gets so much rotational torque with his
feet not on the ground, and that just comes from like thoracic spine,
meaning your rib cage mobility, throwing the hips with it, basically spinning yourself
like a top, using your obliques and core strength to do that without your
feet planted on the ground. I think that, in addition to what you
said about his front shoulder flying open or what that infielder said, I think
that he is perfectly capable of learning how to pull a Derek Jeter. So
as far as arm strength on those throws goes. I mean, we know
he's got it from right field, but there's no reason why a guy like
Mookie can't pull a Derek Jeter. So I like to say that about him
on defense. If I could say one more thing about Chris Taylor versus James
Outman, I love Chris Taylor. He went to my alma mater, University
of Virginia loved him for many, many years. But this guy has got
to play every single day and be working with the hitting coaches before the game
to get out of this kind of slump. Meanwhile, James Outman is raking
down there in Triple A, and we just don't need Chris Taylor's versatility right
now because we've got Key k who plays every position pretty much. We got
Niggie Rowe who plays three in field positions. Pay Oscar can go left field,
right field. I think it's time to bring up the better offensive production
now. I know that Chris Taylor would have to agree to this as a
season veteran, but as the team guy that he is and seeing the struggles
that he's had, I don't think it's too big of an ask for an
organization like the Dodgers. It's all about team and a guy like Chris Taylor
who's always been bought in on team to say, Chris, you gotta go
down and work on this every day in Triple A. We need a bat.
We want you to get right. We're gonna need you to be the
clutch guy that you've always been in the postseason later on, get it figured
out. Yeah, I'd be interested to see if he'd be receptive to that.
James, I appreciate the phone call. I think more of a realistic
opportunity. And I don't even know if he could be sent down, he'd
have to be optioned down. I'm not positive on the transactional details on how
that would work for a veteran guy. And Chris Taylor, I do know
he's owed a lot of money over the next couple of years from the Dodgers,
and if they tried to trade him near the offseason, I'm sure those
efforts were made. And right now you kind of give him the benefit of
the doubt that he'll so he would figure it out offensively, let him work
through it, give him a landing opportunity as far as offensively to get right.
Just hasn't happened yet again. Struck out tonight, hitting well below one
hundred. I think the best scenario and most likely scenarios to what they did
like and David Vassay has mentioned this. This is my own opinion is to
put him on the injury list and you know, uh soreness in the shoulder,
an oblique, you know, hamstring injury, calf, sowreness, whatever,
and let him just get right mechanically. Let him go back to Arizona
and the cant Back ranch and just work on the swing again and get a
lot of swings and games in a minor league rehab assignment so he can get
out of it. Look what James Outman did. James Almond went to Triple
A not because of an injury. Ils did it because he had options left.
But you sent him to Triple A Oklahoma City, and you're right,
he is. He is hitting really well. Maybe he's got that that hit,
that swing back and has figured it out and now he's right. Maybe
he makes his return sooner than later. I don't know, but it took
him going to Triple A, getting bats, maybe getting his confidence, the
pressure off his shoulders, and he's back hitting the ball like he was last
year in his rookie year at the big league level, albeit at the Triple
A level. Right now he's doing it. That could be something that Chris
Taylor just needs. His more opportunity, no pressure, no eyes on him.
Nobody's here on Dodger Talk talking about is over performance or what he's hitting
and what how much he's making. Just go back to playing baseball. And
h not on a big stage like this and go and get right and hopefully
turn things around. Because he's been so good to this team and meant so
much to this team in playoff baseball and during the regular season. I still
think he's got something left to the tech I do. I still believe he's
got something left to give to this Dodgers team. Freddie on the Miracle Mile
in La Fred, How you doing? Yeah? I want to pick up
on the Chris Taylor thing. Sure. So there's a stack called ops plus,
yep, where the average batter rates one hundred. Okay, do you
happen to know what Chris Taylor is? Ops plus? Is his ops plus?
The league average is one hundred. The league average is one hundred.
His ops plus I know his ops for the season is probably right around three
hundred. What is his ops plus right now? It's negative seventh. He's
in negative numbers. That's not good. So, I mean, I understand
what you're saying about him rehabbing his swing, Like, why is the team
dedicating even a forty man spot to him? Because they are a lot of
money Where one hundred is the average, they owe a lot of money to
him and they're not going to eat that much money right now, and because
they're hoping, they're hoping, well, different scenario. I don't know.
This is a different management. There's just different front office, different philosophy,
different give and take. So i'd appreciate the phone call. I'm not going
to get into an argument with you about Chris Taylor. Certainly, he's hitting
ninety five on the season, oh ninety five, zero home runs, He's
got one double, he's got zero triples. He's truck out thirty eight times
in his eighty four appearances coming into tonight. I get it he has struggled.
He would oh for this series in Pittsburgh. I get it. He
hasn't had a hit since May twenty eighth. But then again, he hasn't
played a lot and doesn't play a lot. I don't know what the answer
is. I don't know how much longer of a quote unquote least they're gonna
give him. That's not up to me. But you're right, he has
taken up a spot on the twenty six man roster, he has taken up
a spot on the forty man roster. But I truly believe they're gonna give
him as much room as possible, and it's only June sixth. We haven't
hit the All Star break. Miguel Vargas, a rookie last year, a
rookie last year, got the entire first half of the season to try to
figure it out. I think Chris Taylor's gonna get a little bit longer than
that. I believe now he's got to turn it around. There's no doubt
about it. He's got to figure it out offensively, and I hope he
does. I hope he does. Greg and Elson, Gundo's next. How
you doing? He's him pretty good. I think I think your idea of,
you know, maybe an eye out stint would fix it. But we
got to give Chris Taylor a break. I think we've all been through some
sort of slump in our lives, and the more we hear about it,
it doesn't go away. So perfect From that topic, two thoughts that I
want to get from you. One. Uh, the fifth the fourth and
fifth spot in rotation right like last now has been solid. If we just
scored two runs a game, he's four zero and the last four right in
it starts Yoshi's great. Uh. The stone has been a revelation. So
I think you know where I'm kind of going here, what's going to happen
in your mind when Millard comes back? Because I know the easy answers,
you know, six man rotation, we got rooms for everybody, but realistically,
you know, these guys are competitors. A Obviously it was not Walker's
issue. I mean watching this game was painful. In the first four innings.
It was like we were trying to hand the game back. So I
totally get that. But Walker has been kind of he's been touched up the
last two starts, so on that part, like, I kind of want
to get your thoughts on, like what's going to happen to Paxton. I
think that's kind of what everyone's thinking about, like he's almost being groomed to
be a long guy or a piggyback and the sucking keys. There's all the
injuries we have. Yeah, and I don't know if you can can't mention
the regular base or everybody else but us, but Christian Xavier, Tommy John,
jose Er, Kidi, Tommy John, a lot of these guys,
they're they're sitting out months with these elbow injuries, these warm injuries, thinking
like we don't know what's going to happen. And I think about Walker with
two seasons ago, now I got time is going by Sullah. Yeah,
three months he sat on the IOLT and we all kind of knew, like
what's going on, and he just sat there and and And I think that's
kind of something we should be talking about, is the way these injuries are
managed or I don't know how they're diagnosed. Like granted, I've never had
an elbow injury and I hope to never have one, but I feel like
it threw him off, like he didn't get an entire offseason and entire spring
to ramp up, and then this season like he's been kind of start stop,
slow down, ramped down twenty three. I think at twenty two we
should have been honest. I think you know, obviously no one knows,
no one knows what is really going on, but I think everybody had the
feeling like you get Tommy John once you're it's likely you'll get another one,
right if you throw that hard like he does. So I'm just wondering if
you think he played baseball, I did not. Is there something to that
where you know you kind of let the injury kind of you rehab itself.
You try to do it the holistic way without the surgery, but then you
go and try to ramp it up and then at him and you got to
do it. But then six months has gone by, you're kind of getting
a little bit of rusty, and then it's a whole twelve to eighteen months
to get back on the field. I think we got to give him a
break too, because I imagine the forty sixty innings. Yeah, I gets
where you're going. Great, I appreciate it. I go back to twenty
and he pitched eight games in the regular season because it was the abbreviated sixty
game season, so there wasn't a lot of stress on the arm. The
year before he threw I think one hundred and eighty somewhadd innings and that was
the most in his career thirty starts shortened season in twenty twenty one, he
comes back and he makes thirty three starts in twenty one, thirty three starts,
two hundred plus innings for Walker Bueler. That's a taxing season to go
from eight starts and abbreviated COVID season and playoffs. So then all of a
sudden you're ramped back up, and I know he's young and he's got ready
to go because of the shortened season. I understand that. But thirty three
starts, two hundred and seven innings in twenty one and he comes back out
he makes twelve starts in twenty two and suffers the elbow injury. So I
don't know if the wear and tear of the twenty one season had something to
do with it. There's so many innings on an arm, and I guess
I understand this is his second time on having Tommy John surge, so maybe
it was a taxing twenty one season with the two hundred plus innings and then
to start in twenty two in which twelve starts in, was pitching really well
sixty some odd innings already into the season and has to shut it down.
Now, last year he tried coming back but wasn't ready, so he had
an off season to continue to build up. I know he wanted to come
back in the last year and help this team in the postseason, but it
just wasn't in the cards. He wasn't ready to go. That's rushing it
to have him come back. So now that he's six starts in, and
again I mentioned it earlier. I felt like tonight was one of his better
starts, even though the numbers and the results don't show it. Didn't get
help on defense, but I thought he had better command. I thought he'd
pitched stronger, especially out of the stretch. Got some outs that he needed
and should have gotten outside of the ears. I thought he pitched really well
tonight. Good mix up on his pitches. He wants that ball back that
he give to Gonzales on the eighth pitch of the bat in the thirty the
two run shot. Certainly he left it over the middle of the play,
but you give credit to Gonzalez for hitting out of the ballpark as well.
Very easily could have been a mistake over the middle of the point like it
was and a pop out to left. And we're not talking about this,
We're talking about a walker. Bueler goes five innings against the win. But
it is what it is. I think he's building and I think you can
hear it in his voice tonight. We had it in the clubhouse show.
Not only was he not pointing fingers, but he had confidence. You can
you can you can feel like he was happy with his outing. Not the
results. Okay, not the results, but the way he went through it
any the way he continues to progress coming back from the second Thomas John Tommy
John surgery. He kind of felt like maybe he's getting that mental confidence back
and the repetition and the rhythm that he's starting to get into now could be
a good thing. Maxwell and Austin will be our final call tonight, Maxwell,
how are you doing tonight? Doing good? I'm doing fantastic. What's
on your mind? So I've been very happy lately with Andels. So this
team was very good. I saw him, I saw him and ground Rock
Okay, wow, Andy has very good Yeah, No, that's awesome.
How is the stadium in a Round Rock here? It's awesome. Oh,
it's very cool out there. Yeah, that's great. And it's the minute
drafts of mine house, Hey even better. Yeah. You've seen some good
players come through Oklahoma City when they made that trip down to Round Rock.
And Oklahoma City is a spot this year that we've seen a lot of guys
plucked from and help out this Dodgers team. Maxwell, Andy Potter has Miguel
Vargas. We've seen some of the relief pitchers that have been brought up to
help out this Dodgers team. No doubt they have been big and plug starts
and filling innings for this Dodgers team because of the injuries to the bullpen.
I know, double A Tulsa and really great Lakes. Cans talk about as
far as where the top prospects are right now in the Dodgers farm system,
But yeah, you're seeing a lot of guys Sweeney's having a great season for
Oklahoma City. So yeah, I'm glad you had a chance to check them
out. Hopefully you can check out a Dodger game at the big league level,
Sue Maxwell, great to hear from him, don't be a stranger here
on postgame Dodger Talk. Awesome to hear from Maxwell from Austin, Texas checking
out the Dodgers' TRIPAA team. Well, we all know what today is.
It's June sixth, twenty twenty four. It is the eightieth anniversary of D
Day. And on this day, nineteen forty four, Normandy, France,
US and the Allied forces invaded the coast of France to get onto the land
and to fight that front of World War two against Nazi Germany, and thousands
of US and Allied soldiers were lost on that day. Thousands of young American
men lost their lives getting off the boats and just getting onto the beaches at
Normandy, France. It was a bloody day as a day we'll never forget
eighty years ago today and we go back to twenty fifteen, nine years ago
and the great Van Scully, who was aian, not just a baseball but
of life, talking about d Day, third inning, no score in the
ballgame on miss June the sixth, Going back to nineteen forty four, the
operation was called Overlord, the largest AirLand and sea operation undertaken. It included
over five thousand ships, eleven thousand airplanes, one hundred and fifty thousand servicemen.
And it came down to this. The boat ramp goes down, you
jump, swim, run, and crawl to the cliffs. Many of the
first young men were not yet twenty years old, and they entered the serve
carrying eighty pounds of equipment. Many of them drown. They faced over two
hundred yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection at all.
You know, machine guns and explosives certainly weren't the only weapons tearing up
the beaches on d day, there was he a British officer who was nicknamed
mad Jack. Mad Jack's name was Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill.
He actually jumped from his landing craft with a sword in hand. He also
threw a grenade for good measure as he ran towards the battle, and he
managed to capture over forty German officers at sword point in only one raid.
He also holds the last reported long board kill in history, for a kill
shot he made in nineteen forty. He was not surprisingly a little insane,
and when they talked about Lieutenant Colonel Churchill, he is reported to have complained,
quote, if it wasn't for those damn Yankees, we could have kept
the war going for another ten years. Yeah, he had to be crazy.
The roar in the back. Somebody decides he's bigger than the game and
runs out on the field, and they have escorted him off and we'll get
on with the game. Mad Jack. Can you imagine nineteen forty four charging
the beach at Normandy waving a sword. On that fateful morning of June sixth,
there was a young author who landed on Utah Beach amongst the fray of
broken bodies, artillery fire and blood soiaked shores. He was meant to arrive
with the first wave of troops at six thirty am, but he ended up
landing in the second wave a few minutes later. And there was a reason.
The reason that they went in the second wave. The ocean's current staggered
the landing about two thousand yards southward, taking the author and the other officers
of the fourth counter Intelligence Coore Detachment away from the strongest German defenses. And
this small difference made very well have saved his life and the others with him.
He was the author of an American classic. The author of the American
classic was carrying the first six chapters of his novel on that morning of the
invasion of Normandy, with all the hell. He was carrying six pages and
chapters and his backpacker who was the author. His name was J. D.
Salem June, and the sixth chapters in his knapsack was the beginning of
the classic, The Catcher in the Rain. And with that they'll say good
night to June sixth, nineteen forty four, the great Vin Scully Man.
We miss him every single day. What a story about World War Two and
JD. Salinger, the author of Catcher in the Rye and World War II
in Normandy, and just a tragic day in our country as far as the
loss of so many young brave men fighting in World War Two there on that
day, D Day, eighty years ago. Today, it's the greatest generation,
hands down, not even an argument. The strongest people, men and
women went through that time, to live through it, to power through it,
to defend our country, to defend the freedoms of people around the world.
The greatest generation. And we're starting to lose them as we get older
here and the years go on, but we'll never forget them, especially on
this D Day. Well, great to hear Vin Scully, and he did
that so many times, whether it's D Day or Memorial Day or Fourth of
July, to give you a history lesson, weaving it in between pitches,
weaving it in between at bats and innings of a baseball game, to keep
you listening and just intentively listening to see what he's going to tell you and
what history lesson you're going to learn on that given day. Just awesome to
hear. We miss again, Vin Scully. Every single day there is a
Dodger Game. Dodgers win it tonight in Pittsburgh. They went it by a
final of eleven to seven. What an offensive performance for the Dodgers, exploding
for eleven runs on fourteen hits, three different home runs, three run home
run from Mookie Betts, and a three run home run from Freddy Freeman.
Not to forget a solo home run from ti Oscar Hernandez in the fifth inning
to break open a tie game. As the Dodgers go and win it by
a final eleven to seven. Daniels Jewelers celebrates every home run. Celebrate Dad
by stopping by Daniels Jewelers at the Glendale Galleria this Saturday. I was just
there a couple of weeks ago. I went in and asked for a bracelet.
I said home run and I got a Dodger bracelet. That is awesome.
Well, this Saturday, you can go to the Glendale Galleria Daniels Jewelers
and meet Adrian Gonzalez at noon this Saturday. Get out there, Dodger fans,
make sure you get time to park. It's a big mall to Glendale
Galleria this Saturday, starting at noon, meet Adrian Gonzalez Daniels Jeweler's slash Dad
Tori VP Daniels Jewelers dot Com slash Dad to RSVP. Alright, that's gonna
do it for Dodger Talk tonight. Appreciate all your phone calls, Thanks for
listening, Thanks for being a part of the show. Thank you for podcasting
the show as well. Appreciate you spending some time with us here on this
Thursday night. A lot of happening. We appreciate your time, no doubt,
thanks to Coliny, Thanks to you. Dodgers. Back at it tomorrow.
Oh, doesn't get any bigger than this three game series in the Bronx
against the Yankees. Yoshio, we have a moto on the mound series opener.
Oh, two best teams in baseball to two most historic teams in baseball
squaring off. Could be a precursor for the World Series. Dodgers Yankees.
We'll get it all started with Moronco Casino. Dodgers on deck at three o'clock,
first pitch at four o five, right here on your Home of the
Dodgers Ham five seven, DLA Sports Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. So
long, everybody,