Speaker 1: And now your host of Dodger Talk, David VASEI.
Speaker 2: Welcome the Dodger Talk David Vase, closing things out here
Speaker 2: at Angels Stadium with you until nine thirty on Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: Phone calls are wide open at eight six six nine
Speaker 2: eighty seven two five seventy. Jose Moto will join us
Speaker 2: in twenty minutes. You will hear from Dustin May and
Speaker 2: Mookie Bets in just a moment, and we will give
Speaker 2: you our picks as far as division winners and playoff
Speaker 2: teams coming up a little bit later, as that is
Speaker 2: our tradition in the final game of the Freeway series.
Speaker 2: It means absolutely nothing, but it's my opinion and I
Speaker 2: want to hear yours. Eight six six nine eight seven
Speaker 2: two five seventy. Spoiler alert, I'm not picking the Rockies
Speaker 2: to win the NL West in case that's what you
Speaker 2: are anticipating. No, no, that's not happening anyway. The Dodgers
Speaker 2: won tonight four to one. More important, everybody got out
Speaker 2: of this game clean, meaning no new injuries. And more importantly,
Speaker 2: the Dodgers got Mookie Bets back after missing the last
Speaker 2: couple of weeks, including the first two regular season games
Speaker 2: in Tokyo with some sort of stomach virus that caused
Speaker 2: Mooki to lose close to twenty pounds. He told us
Speaker 2: a couple of nights ago he left spring training one
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy five pounds and now he's one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty seven pounds, So that's not normal, no matter
Speaker 2: what you got. And today he was in great spirits.
Speaker 2: He reassured everybody he was feeling good. He played five
Speaker 2: innings today, was zero for three. He's going to play
Speaker 2: a simulated game tomorrow at Dodger Stadium and declared himself
Speaker 2: ready to go for Thursday. Here's part of what Muki
Speaker 2: had to say after he came out of the game tonight.
Speaker 3: I'm actually stronger than I was before. My body's been
Speaker 3: perfectly fine, only be my stomach, literally only my stomach.
Speaker 3: I'd been working out, doing everything perfectly normal. It was
Speaker 3: just hard to hold down food, but I'll fine out.
Speaker 2: Remember a couple of nights ago we shared with you
Speaker 2: that Muki was going to start some new medication and
Speaker 2: he was hopeful that would turn things around for him. Well,
Speaker 2: they apparently did, because yesterday Dave Roberts was encouraged after
Speaker 2: hearing Muki had a great day working out at Dodger
Speaker 2: Stadium and said he would be here tonight in Anaheim,
Speaker 2: and he was.
Speaker 4: And Muki, you know, he's.
Speaker 2: Down playing and now, but he was pretty down in
Speaker 2: the dumps the other day and not very optimistic he
Speaker 2: was going to play for the home opener, but that
Speaker 2: changed in the last twenty four hours. Here's what Muki
Speaker 2: had to say about why he believes he's feeling a
Speaker 2: lot better and now able to hold down solid foods.
Speaker 3: I just figured out what it was. I figured out
Speaker 3: what I need to stay away from and may turn
Speaker 3: plays Hern in the corner.
Speaker 2: Maybe dairy free now, maybe Mookie's dairy free. You know,
Speaker 2: he goes around with the chef everywhere, so he's got
Speaker 2: a personal chef to customize whatever he needs, Taylor to
Speaker 2: his diet. And it's good news, all joking aside that
Speaker 2: Mookie is feeling better. That kind of stuff is scary
Speaker 2: when you can't hold down solid foods, and certainly good
Speaker 2: for the Dodgers that MOOKI is going to be ready
Speaker 2: on Thursday, because no disrespect to anybody else, a Mookie
Speaker 2: bets at one hundred and fifty seven pounds is better
Speaker 2: than most players, and the Dodgers now will have their
Speaker 2: big three at the top of their order for the
Speaker 2: home opener against one of the best pitchers, if not
Speaker 2: the best pitcher in Major League Baseball and Tarrek school Bowl.
Speaker 2: A great pitching matchup coming up at Dodger Stadium on
Speaker 2: Thursday afternoon. Two Cy Young Award winners and Snell and
Speaker 2: school Bowl facing off against each other. Two of the
Speaker 2: best lefties in the game. And the Dodgers certainly want
Speaker 2: to be at full strength and it's not going to
Speaker 2: be a cakewalk for school Bol.
Speaker 4: This is not just your.
Speaker 2: Run of the mill Minnesota Twins al central lineup. This
Speaker 2: is the defending world champion Dodgers that have just only
Speaker 2: gotten stronger. So it should be a great matchup of
Speaker 2: this Dodger offense going up against school Ball on Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is
Speaker 2: the phone number. Also, the other storyline tonight was the
Speaker 2: fact that Dustin May was pitching in a Big League
Speaker 2: ballpark for the first time in nearly two years. Dustin May,
Speaker 2: in case you missed it, was declared the Dodgers' fifth
Speaker 2: starter after Tony Gonsolin went down a couple of weeks
Speaker 2: ago in the weight room in spring training with some
Speaker 2: sort of lower back injury. They were competing for the
Speaker 2: final spot coming out of spring training, and with Gonsolin
Speaker 2: injuring his back over weight train, Dustin May is the
Speaker 2: fifth starter. There was some question whether or not Dustin
Speaker 2: May would make this roster out of camp, and even
Speaker 2: more questions about whether or not he would make it
Speaker 2: out of camp as a starting pitcher. But you saw
Speaker 2: tonight five strong innings, six strikeouts, and was able to
Speaker 2: bring along that breaking ball, sweeper, whatever you want to
Speaker 2: call it, sweeper, slider, slurf. He had that to play
Speaker 2: off his fastball, and he's really excited and obviously an
Speaker 2: emotional journey the last couple of years for Dustin May,
Speaker 2: not only baseball wise, but life wise, life threatening, you know,
Speaker 2: choking with the esophagus, had to be rushed to the
Speaker 2: emergency room, and here he is back in a big
Speaker 2: league ballpark. We had a chance to talk to Dustin
Speaker 2: after he came out of the game tonight, not only
Speaker 2: about what he was doing with his off speed pitch,
Speaker 2: but just this journey that he's had to go through
Speaker 2: the last couple of years.
Speaker 5: She's being able to land the breaking ball.
Speaker 6: That's been my biggest thing in basically my career hasn't
Speaker 6: been very many innings, but I mean in my career,
Speaker 6: just being able to land the breaking ball opens up
Speaker 6: everything else. I mean, I move the ball a lot,
Speaker 6: and just being able to land the breaking ball on
Speaker 6: the zone opens everything else up.
Speaker 2: Have you started to get a feel for that in
Speaker 2: the last year working on it before obviously the esophagus issue.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean that was what I was hammering home
Speaker 6: throughout my whole rehab, was just being able to land
Speaker 6: the breaking ball.
Speaker 5: Being able to strike the breaking ball.
Speaker 6: That was what I've been hammering home because like, if
Speaker 6: I can do that, it opens up a lot of doors.
Speaker 5: Like I said, so it.
Speaker 6: Helps me out if I can do it, So why
Speaker 6: not try and be better at it?
Speaker 4: Were you getting depth on it tonight?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'd like the shape of the ball. The shape
Speaker 6: of the breaking ball was where I was wanting it tonight.
Speaker 5: Yet he's a lot of that breaking ball being more consistent.
Speaker 6: Just being able to understand like release point and like
Speaker 6: how I want it to break and like where I
Speaker 6: wanted to start and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Is the anticipation of pitching next week at your stadium
Speaker 2: similar to the anticipation you had coming back from Tommy
Speaker 2: John or even coming to make your major league debut.
Speaker 2: Can you describe how you feel leading up to next week.
Speaker 6: I feel like there's gonna be a lot more emotions
Speaker 6: for me because of all the time that I've had
Speaker 6: to think about it. When I first got called up
Speaker 6: for my debut, I mean it was like a four
Speaker 6: day thing, so it was like kind of right on it.
Speaker 6: But for this, I mean I've been I was waiting
Speaker 6: for I don't know thirteen months, and then the esophagus
Speaker 6: thing happened, and then that changed my perspective on a
Speaker 6: lot of things in life. And it's gonna it's I'm excited,
Speaker 6: just gonna put it that way.
Speaker 5: I'm excited.
Speaker 2: With that being said, last time we saw you very
Speaker 2: emotional picture on the mound with that perspective that you gotten.
Speaker 2: Have you Are you the same emotional, fiery type of
Speaker 2: guy or is there a different.
Speaker 6: I definitely have. I definitely have the spark inside of
Speaker 6: me for sure. Still like it's definitely in there. It's
Speaker 6: starting to wake up a little bit as I'm starting
Speaker 6: to get back into the games a little bit more.
Speaker 6: It was definitely very calm collected. But as I'm starting
Speaker 6: to get back in the games and get kind of
Speaker 6: like my feeling and feet back under me, it's definitely
Speaker 6: definitely coming back.
Speaker 5: But yeah, it's definitely going to be more.
Speaker 6: On the shadowed side, but it's gonna it'll come out
Speaker 6: every now and then.
Speaker 2: All Right, there's Dustin May after a strong performance to
Speaker 2: close out the exhibition season with five innings and six strikeouts.
Speaker 4: Only allowing one earn run.
Speaker 2: And when you look at the Dodgers starting rotation, it's Snell, Yamamoto, Sazaki,
Speaker 2: Glass Now and Dustin May. And when you look at
Speaker 2: what the Dodgers are going to do with their bullpen
Speaker 2: in the North American part of their schedule to start
Speaker 2: the season, at least, I don't see any changes from
Speaker 2: the bullpen we saw out there in Tokyo outside of
Speaker 2: the fact that you're going to have Landon Naxt starting
Speaker 2: year in the minor leagues, and you were able to
Speaker 2: carry an extra reliever because of Blake Snell not being
Speaker 2: on the roster out there, but I mean, well he
Speaker 2: was because you couldn't leave him off or he would
Speaker 2: have been out, but outside of a Landon Nak, I
Speaker 2: feel like it's the same eight relievers. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: Tanner Scott, It's going to be Alex Vesia, It's going
Speaker 2: to be Blake Trining, Kirby Yates, benk Casparius. It to
Speaker 2: me is going to be the breakout bullpen star of
Speaker 2: the season. Anthony Banda is still part of this bullpen.
Speaker 2: Jack Dreyer, who was added to the forty man roster
Speaker 2: during the offseason, definitely impressed in spring training and also
Speaker 2: held his own in Tokyo and then Luis Garcia because
Speaker 2: the Dodgers are going to need some depth behind Suzaki
Speaker 2: starts and Louis Garcia can eat some innings at least
Speaker 2: two like we saw in Tokyo. So that's the way
Speaker 2: it stacks up for the thirteen pitchers the Dodgers are
Speaker 2: going to use coming out of Tokyo and into the
Speaker 2: meat part of their schedule here in North America, picking
Speaker 2: up where they left off after sweeping the Cubs in
Speaker 2: that two game Tokyo series. Where does it go from
Speaker 2: here with their pitching? Look, Clayton Kershaw, nobody's really talking
Speaker 2: about him, but I don't see him not pitching, you know,
Speaker 2: for three or four months. I see him coming back
Speaker 2: in June. He's on his way back. You're going to
Speaker 2: have Clayton Kershaw back before the All Star break. Now
Speaker 2: as far as Otani goes, what's the rush. Do the
Speaker 2: Dodgers really need Otani to pitch in the first half
Speaker 2: of the season.
Speaker 4: I don't believe so.
Speaker 2: They don't need Otani until the second half of the season,
Speaker 2: maybe not until August. The part of Otani pitching for me,
Speaker 2: with the Dodgers having the depth that they have, is
Speaker 2: getting Otani ready for the postseason to be that weapon
Speaker 2: for you, either as a starter or well, he's not
Speaker 2: going to be a reliever as a starter to start
Speaker 2: a game, whether it's three innings, for innings, whatever you
Speaker 2: want to do. He's a weapon in the postseason. And
Speaker 2: that's the focus. It's not about June or May. It's
Speaker 2: about the second half of the season. Otani's going to
Speaker 2: throw a bullpen on Saturday at Dodgers Stadium. But there's
Speaker 2: no rush, and I think you're seeing that from the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: They are not trying to rush Otani to be ready
Speaker 2: by May. They're not trying to rush him to be
Speaker 2: ready by June. I believe you're not going to see
Speaker 2: Otani pitch until July if that, because there is no rush.
Speaker 2: Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is
Speaker 2: the phone number. The Dodgers are getting set for the
Speaker 2: home opener on Thursday, Blakesnell against Trek Skouble. That's the
Speaker 2: first series at home against the Tigers, and then they
Speaker 2: will welcome in the Atlanta Braves. And the Braves have
Speaker 2: a tough road trip to start the year. The Braves
Speaker 2: start out in San Diego and are coming to Dodger
Speaker 2: Stadium after that series, so they're gonna see glass now,
Speaker 2: they're going to see dustin May. It's not going to
Speaker 2: be an easy first week of the season for the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Braves, who I do believe are going to make
Speaker 2: the playoffs. But here is my declarations of who is
Speaker 2: winning each division and who are the wildcards this season
Speaker 2: in Major League Baseball. I got the Phillies winning the
Speaker 2: NL East. I got the Reds winning the NL Central.
Speaker 2: I got the Dodgers of course in the NL West.
Speaker 2: And my three National League wildcard teams are the Braves,
Speaker 2: the Diamondbacks, and the Padres.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 2: The New York Mets are not making the playoffs with
Speaker 2: Juan Soto and they're broken down starting pitching. I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: they're just not I know the Padres have had some
Speaker 2: disagreements in their ownership level, but the facts are they
Speaker 2: have not sold off their roster. They still have Tattoos,
Speaker 2: they still have Machado, they still have Luisa Rise, they
Speaker 2: still got Bogarts, they still have Dylan Cees and You
Speaker 2: Darvish and Michael King, and they still have a solid
Speaker 2: bullpen until that changes. I got the Padres getting into
Speaker 2: the postseason. In the American League, I have the Red
Speaker 2: Sox winning the AL East.
Speaker 4: They're over under for wins this year is eighty six.
Speaker 2: I got the over They're a very good team, and
Speaker 2: they got a lot of depth, and they got good
Speaker 2: young players that can help them this year. In the
Speaker 2: Central I got the Guardians simply because they got great pitching.
Speaker 2: They have the best pitching in that division. Are you
Speaker 2: telling me the Twins and Royals are better than the Guardians?
Speaker 4: I don't think so. Nothing's really changing there.
Speaker 2: In the AL West, I have the World champions from
Speaker 2: twenty to twenty three, the Texas Rangers winning the AL West,
Speaker 2: Corey Seeger, the Grom coming back, not to mention two
Speaker 2: young pitchers that are ready to contribute this year, and
Speaker 2: Jack Lider and Kumar Rocker. I feel like those guys
Speaker 2: are really going to help them out. I like the
Speaker 2: Rangers in a week Al West, the Wildcards. I got
Speaker 2: the Orioles, who don't have great pitching, but they can
Speaker 2: add during the year. I got the Yankees even without
Speaker 2: Jan Soto. I got the Yankees even without Garrett Cole.
Speaker 2: I got the Yankees. I got the Tigers being the
Speaker 2: final American League wildcard team.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 2: No more Houston Astros. They are in disarray. They're not
Speaker 2: the same team, that's for sure. So those are my
Speaker 2: twelve predicted twelve playoff teams in Major League Baseball this season.
Speaker 2: Take what you want from that. Let's go out to
Speaker 2: La Cindy. You're on Dodger Talk. How you doing, Cindy?
Speaker 7: I'm good?
Speaker 8: Are you.
Speaker 2: Tremendous? I had no fans come and slam dunk call
Speaker 2: my face today?
Speaker 9: Awesome?
Speaker 4: What's going on, Cindy? You called me?
Speaker 10: Yeah?
Speaker 9: So I just have a question on your opinion. How
Speaker 9: do you think Mookie Bets will be for the rest
Speaker 9: of the season with the whole him being out for
Speaker 9: the Tokyo series and how he played today, you know,
Speaker 9: the five innings during the Angels game today. How do
Speaker 9: you think he's going to be going throughout the whole season.
Speaker 9: Think he's gonna get healthier? Do you think we're gonna
Speaker 9: have another issue with Mookie Beds coming out.
Speaker 2: I don't know, Cindy, but look, it's not ideal for
Speaker 2: him to have missed as much time as he did
Speaker 2: and to lose as much weight as he did. Even
Speaker 2: though he said he's stronger than ever, that's a little
Speaker 2: bit of a contradiction from what we heard two nights
Speaker 2: ago where he said he weighed one hundred and seventy
Speaker 2: five pounds and now only weighs one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: seven pounds. That's that's a huge contradiction that he feels
Speaker 2: stronger than ever. I feel like he's trying to convince
Speaker 2: himself more than he's trying to convince us. And he's
Speaker 2: playing the most demanding position on the infield and maybe
Speaker 2: outside of catcher on a baseball diamond. So Mookie's an
Speaker 2: extraordinary athlete. If anybody can, you know, overcome it early on,
Speaker 2: it's Mookie Betts. But the good news is he doesn't
Speaker 2: have to be superman. He doesn't have to carry the team.
Speaker 2: He just has to make the plays at shortstop.
Speaker 9: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I was at the game today. Yeah, you look pretty
Speaker 9: good at shortstop. So let's hope for the good Wookie
Speaker 9: Bets moving on.
Speaker 11: Forward, all right?
Speaker 2: Indeed, drive safe wherever you're going. Eight six six nine
Speaker 2: eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Look
Speaker 2: at Mookie's own words two nights ago, he said he's
Speaker 2: starting the season feels like going uphill, And I would
Speaker 2: agree with him, you know, Like I said, I feel
Speaker 2: like he was trying to convince himself today more than
Speaker 2: he's trying to convince anybody else. But the facts are
Speaker 2: the Dodgers are loaded. They just can't beat themselves. With
Speaker 2: giving the opent extra outs and making their starting pitchers
Speaker 2: throw more pitches. All Mookie has to do is make
Speaker 2: the plays at shortstop. Nothing spectacular. He doesn't need to
Speaker 2: be Omarvis Skill or Ozzie Smith. He just needs to
Speaker 2: make the plays. Make the plays like Corey Seeger used
Speaker 2: to make the plays. Seeger used to make the routine plays,
Speaker 2: and there was no issues. That's all the Dodgers need
Speaker 2: from Mookie Betts. Eight six six nine eight seven two
Speaker 2: five seventy is the phone number you know. One of
Speaker 2: my favorite baseball podcasts is Buster Only's Baseball Tonight's Show,
Speaker 2: And in case you missed it, Apple TV has the
Speaker 2: World Series Championship video on demand. You could stream it
Speaker 2: on Apple TV. And the executive producer was Richie Cunningham
Speaker 2: aka Ron Howard. And Ron Howard joined Buster Only on
Speaker 2: his recent podcast and sang the praises of our favorite
Speaker 2: Vin Scully, the voice of Dodger Baseball so long and
Speaker 2: just like all of us. Vin Scully had a huge
Speaker 2: influence on Ron Howard becoming a Dodger fan and a
Speaker 2: baseball fan.
Speaker 7: I give a lot of credit to Vin Scully, the
Speaker 7: announcer of the of the Dodgers. I was first teased
Speaker 7: by a moment in nineteen sixty two. I had been
Speaker 7: given a transistor radio for my eighth birthday, and so
Speaker 7: I was playing around with this transistor radio out in
Speaker 7: the backyard, just doing the dial, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 7: I hear this crowd noise, and I'm hearing this go go, go,
Speaker 7: go go, just weird and Vin Scully is doing this
Speaker 7: thing where he lets the radio audience hear the crowd
Speaker 7: and they were all chanting for Mary Wills to steal
Speaker 7: a base. And then Vin Scully starts to explain, you know,
Speaker 7: this wasn't the steal that broke the record, but he says,
Speaker 7: as he's chasing the record that they, you know, the
Speaker 7: crowd is determined for Mary to go. Everybody in the
Speaker 7: park knows he's gonna go.
Speaker 4: But will he go go go?
Speaker 7: Yeah, And here's the pitch and he goes, you know,
Speaker 7: faith and will that you know, and the crowd is
Speaker 7: going nuts. And so I was so hooked into the
Speaker 7: drama of will this guy who I never heard of
Speaker 7: do a thing I don't even fully understand at this
Speaker 7: point in my life, which is, I guess, steal a base.
Speaker 10: But it was all so clear.
Speaker 7: The next year, sixty three, I didn't pay much attention
Speaker 7: to it during the season, but my dad was directing
Speaker 7: a very low budget version of a play that he'd
Speaker 7: written in local little theater in Burbank, California, which is
Speaker 7: where we lived, and they were building the sets that
Speaker 7: day and I was just hanging around kind of out
Speaker 7: in the alleyway messing around with two before's and this,
Speaker 7: you know, the scrap wood that was laying around. But
Speaker 7: again I had my transit you're going, and again it
Speaker 7: was Vin and it was the sixty three World Series,
Speaker 7: and I got caught up an inning two and listened
Speaker 7: to the entire game, Kofax striking out fifteen. And by
Speaker 7: the time spring training rolled around in sixty four, you know,
Speaker 7: I had the magazines, I knew the players, I was
Speaker 7: collecting cards, went to my first major league game in
Speaker 7: sixty four and the rest is history with me.
Speaker 2: And that's Ron Howard on the Baseball Tonight latest episode
Speaker 2: with Buster Only sharing his love for baseball because of
Speaker 2: the great Vin Scully. And I think we all can't
Speaker 2: relate to that, right. Vin Scully taught me the game
Speaker 2: of baseball growing up. He made me fall in love
Speaker 2: with the game of baseball. He would be on in
Speaker 2: our house. Even my mom, who didn't care about baseball,
Speaker 2: didn't mind having Dodger Baseball on the TV or on
Speaker 2: the transistor radio in our home because of Vin Scully.
Speaker 2: And it's so cool to hear a high profile guy
Speaker 2: like Ron Howard share the same stories. And I'm sure
Speaker 2: you all have as far as listening to Vin and
Speaker 2: falling in love with the game and just awesome. And
Speaker 2: Ron Howard, like I mentioned, is the executive producer of
Speaker 2: the World Series Championship video that's streaming on Apple TV.
Speaker 4: So a very cool thing. And yeah, Ron Howard.
Speaker 2: Richie Cunningham from Happy Days, Opie, from the Andy Griffiths Show.
Speaker 2: That's how we knew him. I didn't know him with
Speaker 2: the Andy Griffiths Show. I'm not a boomer, but I
Speaker 2: knew him on Happy Days. He was my guy, Richie
Speaker 2: Cunningham right there. All right, we're gonna take a time
Speaker 2: out here on Dodger Talk. When we come back, more
Speaker 2: of your phone calls at eight six, six, nine eighty seven,
Speaker 2: two five seventy, and we'll check in with Jose Mota
Speaker 2: and you'll also hear from Angels manager and former third
Speaker 2: base coach with the Atlanta Braves when Freddie Freeman played there.
Speaker 2: Ron Washington is going to share where he was when
Speaker 2: Freddie hit his walkoff grand slamming Game one of last
Speaker 2: year's World Series.
Speaker 4: You want to hear that.
Speaker 2: Don't go anywhere more Dodger Talk from Angel Stadium after
Speaker 2: the Dodgers close out the exhibition season with a four
Speaker 2: to one win on the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers
Speaker 2: Audio Network.
Speaker 1: On air at AM five seventy, online at AM five seventy,
Speaker 1: LA sports dot com, and available by podcast on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4: This is Dodger Tom when David Bass saying.
Speaker 10: Oh, one pitch and Will hits one eye on the
Speaker 10: air deep bright center heading back toward the wall, Isswall
Speaker 10: is going to be up and off the wall for
Speaker 10: a home run.
Speaker 4: Will Smith a two.
Speaker 2: Run homer and the Dodgers jumping front two notho. Will
Speaker 2: Smith four for twenty in spring training this year. That
Speaker 2: was his second home run of the exhibition. See He's
Speaker 2: in two home runs three RBIs this exhibition season for
Speaker 2: Will Smith, who was dealing with a right ankle issue
Speaker 2: since last year or excuse me, a left ankle issue
Speaker 2: since last year, and starting to round into shape out
Speaker 2: there in Tokyo. He had a great, great two games.
Speaker 2: His OPS was fifteen hundred. He was on base seven
Speaker 2: times in those first two games in Tokyo. So forget
Speaker 2: about the exhibition. Will Smith is feeling good when the
Speaker 2: games count. Daniels Jewelers presents the home run forecast. Go
Speaker 2: to AM five to seventy LA sports dot Com and
Speaker 2: use the keyword home run for your chance to win
Speaker 2: a fifty dollars Daniels Jeweler's gift card predicting the number
Speaker 2: of home runs in the next game. Daniels Jewelers owned
Speaker 2: the Dream. The Dodgers beat the Angels tonight four to one.
Speaker 2: They are getting set for the home opener on Thursday
Speaker 2: against Trek Scooble and the Detroit Tigers. Let's go out
Speaker 2: to Loope in Wittier. You're on Dodger Talk from the
Speaker 2: Big A.
Speaker 11: Hi, Loope, what's up, brother? How you doing?
Speaker 4: I'm excited for Thursday and Friday?
Speaker 10: Good good, good?
Speaker 11: So all am? I So, what are we thinking about
Speaker 11: Blake Snell? I'm excited that he's starting off the season
Speaker 11: for us. Is he going to be the workhorse that
Speaker 11: he's been in the recent future? I mean, in the recent.
Speaker 4: Past, I would expect him to be. Loope. I mean
Speaker 4: people aren't.
Speaker 2: I know, when a guy doesn't pitch for the Dodgers,
Speaker 2: people act like it's his first year in Major League baseball.
Speaker 2: Blake Snell is a very accomplished major league pitcher. That's
Speaker 2: the reason he got the contract from the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: He got.
Speaker 2: He's a two time Sight Young Winner. He started Opening
Speaker 2: Day twice for two different teams.
Speaker 4: He's a dude.
Speaker 2: Don't act like he's not so. I know he's new
Speaker 2: to Dodger fans, but I would expect a lot out
Speaker 2: of him this year.
Speaker 4: Loope. And if he doesn't deliver, you can blame me.
Speaker 11: No, I will never David, but I'm put I will
Speaker 11: never mister Vassa, but I'm expecting to bet from him.
Speaker 11: He's been great. He's a workhorse, he's a strong arm.
Speaker 11: I'm expecting a big season for him, and I hope
Speaker 11: the Dodgers, the Dodger fans rally behind him. I hope
Speaker 11: they don't have any they.
Speaker 2: Will will everybody will fall in love with snell Zilla
Speaker 2: and you know his The rap on him, right or wrong,
Speaker 2: is that he's a slow starter. But I'll tell you this,
Speaker 2: I rather have a picture that is better in the
Speaker 2: second half than a guy that's great in.
Speaker 4: The first half. That that's the way I feel. If
Speaker 4: you had to choose.
Speaker 11: One one, Hey, I want mister October, not mister May.
Speaker 11: Let's get him strong, all.
Speaker 2: Right, thank you for the phone call. And here's another thing.
Speaker 2: To the whole Blake Snell career resume. I hate to
Speaker 2: break it to you, but he never has had run
Speaker 2: support in his career, whether it was with the Rays,
Speaker 2: the Padres, or the Giants. For the first time in
Speaker 2: his career, he's going to have a real offense putting
Speaker 2: up runs for him. Eight six six, nine eighty seven,
Speaker 2: two five seventy is the phone number. We're gonna have
Speaker 2: a great day on Thursday, school bol versus Blake Snell,
Speaker 2: and Jose Mota will be there too.
Speaker 1: It's time to go around the horn with jose Mota.
Speaker 2: All right, Jose Mota, I know you're excited about Thursday
Speaker 2: school ball against Blake Snell home opener at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2: You've been beside your father in the early eighties, late
Speaker 2: seventies for these type of days.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be spectacular.
Speaker 10: It's going to be great. And as you mentioned and
Speaker 10: keep emphasizing, I mean it's a premier matchup. I mean
Speaker 10: it's like a playoff game opening here in America. And overall,
Speaker 10: you made some great points about lakes now that people
Speaker 10: need to be aware of, and one of the bass
Speaker 10: days is to run support. He looked all look at
Speaker 10: wins and losses. Those are the things that obviously we
Speaker 10: know more and more than guys can not control, especially
Speaker 10: now when guys are not pitching deeper into games. But
Speaker 10: when I see a guy like Blake Snell who's had
Speaker 10: to fight for every w which matters to the players.
Speaker 10: No matter what the modern analytics people say, wins matter
Speaker 10: to guys on the mouth, they go and take them
Speaker 10: out to get wins. Well, he's one of a lot
Speaker 10: of close ballgames because of that reason, And what better
Speaker 10: to have a guy that's gonna go out through accumulated
Speaker 10: innings and at times even reinvente over the middle of
Speaker 10: the game. There's conversations I've had with Blake still in
Speaker 10: the past and back when he was a Tampa Bay
Speaker 10: as a youngster, saying, well, was I couldn't find that
Speaker 10: pitch in the in the first of innings and I
Speaker 10: went to something else which I didn't have the bullpen.
Speaker 10: So he's a guy that's not afraid to reinvent himself
Speaker 10: to explore other options during the game to reach swings.
Speaker 10: And I just don't see anybody else pitching more inning
Speaker 10: or want to pitch more innings in the staff than
Speaker 10: the guy like Blake Snell, no.
Speaker 4: Doubt about it.
Speaker 2: He's a guy that has really come into his own
Speaker 2: the last couple of years, and it should be fun
Speaker 2: to see what the Dodger offense can do against Trek Skuble,
Speaker 2: who many consider the best pitcher in all of Major
Speaker 2: League Baseball. It's certainly going to help to have Mookie
Speaker 2: Bets and Freddie Freeman behind show Aotani, what did you
Speaker 2: see from Mookie tonight at shortstop?
Speaker 10: Well, one thing I saw it was a lot of energy.
Speaker 10: He was not lacking down. He had a ground ball,
Speaker 10: hustling in the first base like Mookie always does. I
Speaker 10: don't see anything concerning the bad speed or any of
Speaker 10: the gems that he took a short step where he
Speaker 10: was not very active, but always going to be able
Speaker 10: to stammin how he responds tomorrow that type of body
Speaker 10: in the top of demands are going to be one
Speaker 10: and playing short that we're going to be large, and
Speaker 10: hopefully he can go out there, as he mentioned, just
Speaker 10: minimize things, make the routine play and that's it. You know,
Speaker 10: if it takes a little bit more for him to
Speaker 10: throw on the run, just cut it down and get
Speaker 10: your feet set and make that throw, but very encouraging
Speaker 10: coming from me yesterday, from his workout into today and
Speaker 10: now tomorrow with a similar game. Good to see Mookie
Speaker 10: back on his feet and I know he's not afraid
Speaker 10: of charge ball.
Speaker 4: No doubt.
Speaker 2: And one thing Jose that he said two nights ago
Speaker 2: is that he feels like he's going to have to
Speaker 2: play uphill to start the year. How steep is that
Speaker 2: hill going to be for him?
Speaker 10: It's going to be steep, but because of who he is,
Speaker 10: the pride that he takes being you know, the premier player,
Speaker 10: and Mooki considered before I want to be great and
Speaker 10: that's the standard that he said for himself and.
Speaker 5: That bar that said real high in.
Speaker 10: That respect is the less he tries to do, the better,
Speaker 10: because say, his strength is not going to be there
Speaker 10: all the way, you know, first game, but it doesn't
Speaker 10: mean he can't hit a home r. Mooki is a
Speaker 10: guy that has such great leverage and what he does
Speaker 10: in the batter thos that he is not needed to read,
Speaker 10: bounce hit home runs in his career, Muki knows how
Speaker 10: to hit. Mouki knows that is not just on him
Speaker 10: and everything that he's surrounded with David and and everything
Speaker 10: from from Max Months of the world down to Will
Speaker 10: Smith down to kick it all of that and task
Speaker 10: and show, hey, it's gonna make him even better because oh,
Speaker 10: I am not going to be a hamps of the team,
Speaker 10: especially Windows of you one hundred percent, and it's only
Speaker 10: going to make him better knowing that he's gonna have
Speaker 10: a pace on himself, not compared to anybody else. But man,
Speaker 10: when somebody wants to be out there, you know, applaud it.
Speaker 10: Especially nowadays, Well, guys are very careful what step they take,
Speaker 10: and they're listening to people outside the organization that when
Speaker 10: a guy wants to play, just Brandon will evaluate him.
Speaker 10: Now you have every single too to do that with biometrics,
Speaker 10: but let him play because there's nothing you can beat
Speaker 10: or see better than a guy that really wants to
Speaker 10: have that spirit to go out there and play baseball.
Speaker 4: All right, Jose, we'll see out there at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2: It should be a fun day out there and a
Speaker 2: great pitching matchup like we talked about between two of
Speaker 2: the best lefties and all of baseball.
Speaker 4: Look forward to it, Jose.
Speaker 10: Same to look forward to talking to you very soon.
Speaker 10: I mean adios.
Speaker 2: All right, there he goes Jose Mota, part of the
Speaker 2: Dodgers Spanish radio broadcast. Should be a fun day on Thursday.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure Freddy Freeman is going to get a
Speaker 2: hero's welcome at Dodger Stadium. He will live forever in
Speaker 2: Major League history with that record setting World Series that
Speaker 2: he had to help the Dodger offense get over the hump,
Speaker 2: get over those Yankees. But more importantly, the similarities, the
Speaker 2: parallels that he had with Kirk.
Speaker 4: Gibson, who hit his home run in Game one of.
Speaker 2: The World Series, a walk off shot on basically one
Speaker 2: leg against Dennis Eckersley and Freddie Freeman obviously dealing with
Speaker 2: his right ankle and also the left rib cage area
Speaker 2: bothering him. We didn't know the extent of it when
Speaker 2: he had that one swing of the bat Game one
Speaker 2: of the World Series, a walk off grand Slam, first
Speaker 2: time that has ever happened in World Series history. He
Speaker 2: is going to get a heroes welcome, And like I
Speaker 2: told you during the offseason, I will never get tired
Speaker 2: of hearing where you were when Freddie Freeman hit his
Speaker 2: walkoff grand Slam in Game one of the World series,
Speaker 2: and you are going to love this story from Angels
Speaker 2: manager ron Washington, who was watching Game one of the
Speaker 2: World Series last year in his home and who is
Speaker 2: very close to Freddie Freeman.
Speaker 8: If you got a minute, I want to show you
Speaker 8: what I said about that.
Speaker 2: You are a badass, Frederick. Continue to have fun. Love
Speaker 2: watching you compete.
Speaker 4: Ronald?
Speaker 2: How long ago after did you send that? As soon
Speaker 2: as you saw it after they won the game?
Speaker 4: When he hit it?
Speaker 8: When he hit it on the twenty fifth, at eight
Speaker 8: forty six pm at night, he wasn't even in the
Speaker 8: clubouts yet he was still running around a basis. That's
Speaker 8: what I think of Frederick. I call him Frederick, but
Speaker 8: that's what I think of Freeman. Great teammate, well prepared,
Speaker 8: show up every day to be the very best that
Speaker 8: he can be, brings his teammates along, and that's why
Speaker 8: he was a part of that championship team over there
Speaker 8: with the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: You know how much he loves the game.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that was one of those greatest
Speaker 2: examples of the game rewarding him.
Speaker 8: Well, he put hisself in position to be rewarded, and
Speaker 8: because the game of baseball knows Freddie Freeman. He was
Speaker 8: blessed by the baseball guys, and that's how that happens.
Speaker 8: And he deserved to be MVP because he played MVP
Speaker 8: caliber baseball on our bad ankle, on our bad ankle,
Speaker 8: and he didn't complain about nothing.
Speaker 4: Never do.
Speaker 5: That's Freddy Freeman.
Speaker 2: How about that Angels manager Ron Washington, who is the
Speaker 2: third base coach with Freddie when the Braves won the
Speaker 2: World Series a few years back, showing me his phone
Speaker 2: his text records to Freddie Freeman or as he called him, Frederick.
Speaker 2: As soon as Freddie hit that wall off Grand Slam,
Speaker 2: before he even touched home plate, Ron Washington was sending
Speaker 2: a text to congratulate his former player and still to
Speaker 2: this day very close to the World Series hero, Freddie Freeman.
Speaker 2: So it should be a great day on Thursday, and
Speaker 2: an even better day on Friday when the Dodgers received
Speaker 2: their championship rings. We will see you out there at
Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium on Thursday. If you can't be with us,
Speaker 2: stick to AM five seventy LA Sports. We have all
Speaker 2: day coverage from Dodgers Stadium. Rogan and Rodney from nine
Speaker 2: to noon, then Petro some Money from noon to three
Speaker 2: leading up to Dodgers on deck at three o'clock with
Speaker 2: first pitch at four to ten between Blake Snell and
Speaker 2: Trek Scooble.
Speaker 4: It will be epic. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 2: Thanks to Dwayne McDonald out here at Angel Stadium, thanks
Speaker 2: to coling Ee back at our Burbank studios, and thanks
Speaker 2: to you for listening. In case you missed any of
Speaker 2: the show, you can find it on the iHeartRadio app
Speaker 2: once again the FI I'll score tonight from the Big A.
Speaker 2: The Dodgers close out the exhibition schedule.
Speaker 4: With a four to one win over the Angels.
Speaker 2: We'll see you on Thursday, Snell Zilla Day at Dodgers Stadium.
Speaker 4: See them time sending away