Speaker 1: One thing about this gene is the invisible and tangibles
Speaker 1: that they have.
Speaker 2: This team is really becoming a family.
Speaker 1: Let's not play one on Tom.
Speaker 3: Let's lend it.
Speaker 4: I love writing me these guys after the show.
Speaker 5: So just thank you, give me are your attention, your fire,
Speaker 5: and not a piss.
Speaker 6: This is world champion, Dodgers, world championing for a small.
Speaker 2: Soft time they get up people. What they want to
Speaker 2: die in a row two is special. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's not a headache. One of a con. This ball's gone.
Speaker 2: You ready to go? Sure, held time go to the South.
Speaker 6: Grab your phone to get in on the show called
Speaker 6: eight six six nine eighty seven two five seven and
Speaker 6: go to the show. And now your host of Dodger Talk,
Speaker 6: David Vasse.
Speaker 7: We are live at Chase Field after the Diamondbacks defeat
Speaker 7: the Dodgers tonight by a final score of five to three.
Speaker 7: Welcome the Dodger Talk David Vasse with you until ten
Speaker 7: thirty tonight at eight six six nine eight seven two
Speaker 7: five seventy. The Dodgers still have baseball's best record at
Speaker 7: twenty five and thirteen. They're tied with the Detroit Tigers,
Speaker 7: who are also twenty five and thirteen. This is the
Speaker 7: first meeting between these two teams, the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks,
Speaker 7: and incredibly, the first time the Diamondbacks have faced a
Speaker 7: team in the NL West all season long. We're thirty
Speaker 7: eight games into the season. The schedule is a little wacky.
Speaker 7: The Dodgers are not going to see the Giants or
Speaker 7: Padres until June. The only team they've seen in the
Speaker 7: NL West is the Rockies, and nobody's complaining about that
Speaker 7: because you get some wins against that team. But nonetheless
Speaker 7: still a little strange with this so called balanced schedule
Speaker 7: where every team plays every team, and look, that makes
Speaker 7: the travel a little bit more challenging. The Dodgers are
Speaker 7: on the last leg of a three city, ten game
Speaker 7: and ten day road trips, so all of that factors
Speaker 7: into a game like tonight. But I really believe the
Speaker 7: Dodgers had a great opportunity against the Diamondbacks bullpen to
Speaker 7: come back and win this game, and they certainly made
Speaker 7: it close because Brendan Fought had all the answers against
Speaker 7: the Dodgers tonight. Fought and Gabrielle Moreno, the two Diamondbacks
Speaker 7: that essentially beat the Dodgers tonight are household names in
Speaker 7: LA and they should be, because Fought and Gabrielle Moreno
Speaker 7: were the two players that really helped the Diamondbacks sweep
Speaker 7: the Dodgers back in twenty twenty three. Fought was spectacular,
Speaker 7: whether he was coming out of the bullpen or making starts.
Speaker 7: Gabrielle Moreno hit some big home runs, including one of
Speaker 7: the four against Lance Lynn in Game three. Tonight, Gabrielle
Speaker 7: with a grand slam in the fourth inning off of Yamamoto,
Speaker 7: and that certainly seemed to be more than enough for
Speaker 7: Brandon Fott. But when you get into the Diamondbacks bullpen,
Speaker 7: they are without Justin Martinez, they're without aj Puck, and
Speaker 7: they're a little thin in that department. And that's the
Speaker 7: reason why their bullpen, Elray and their bullpen every category
Speaker 7: is near the bottom of Major League Baseball. And the
Speaker 7: Dodgers just ran out of outs against that bullpen because
Speaker 7: they had a five nothing cushing going into the eighth inning.
Speaker 7: The Dodgers scored twice and Otani's home run with two
Speaker 7: strikes and two outs made it a five to three game.
Speaker 2: But that's where it would end.
Speaker 7: Eight six, six, nine eight seven, two five seventy is
Speaker 7: the phone number. I just didn't believe that Yamamoto and
Speaker 7: Will Smith were on the same page. You heard Mota
Speaker 7: bring up the point that the curveball was not in
Speaker 7: play as much as it has been and recent starts
Speaker 7: for Yamamoto, and that was that's a big pitch for him, right.
Speaker 7: I know, the cutter is a big pitch against lefties,
Speaker 7: but the curveball is a big pitch against righty's and lefties.
Speaker 2: And we just didn't see it.
Speaker 7: And Yamamoto was a little bit off, and like we
Speaker 7: talked about, we don't want to hear that he was
Speaker 7: only on five days rest. That's not the reason why
Speaker 7: he was not on his game tonight. It just wasn't
Speaker 7: his night tonight. And h you know, it just didn't
Speaker 7: seem to me that the catcher and the pitcher for
Speaker 7: the Dodgers tonight was on the same page. Eight six
Speaker 7: six nine eighty seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Speaker 7: Let's head downstairs right now to hear from manager Dave Roberts.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I echo that I don't think he was as
Speaker 8: sharp as he has been. You know, even the three
Speaker 8: two breaking boat Peven Smith if he strikes that. I
Speaker 8: think it's a different inning, a different game, and you know,
Speaker 8: gets count leverage on Suarez and hits them with the
Speaker 8: split to load the bases. And I honestly thought Moreno
Speaker 8: took a good swing on a two zero cutter, but
Speaker 8: was behind the count to go opposite way. Really good swing,
Speaker 8: and then the Marchey home. I thought it was a
Speaker 8: good pitch. It was down and in, maybe in off
Speaker 8: a little bit, but again, I think the story is
Speaker 8: he just wasn't completely sharp.
Speaker 3: Tonight talks about it ahead of the game. Just obviously
Speaker 3: you knew that Diamondbacks were going to find a way
Speaker 3: to battle and try to win this one. What does
Speaker 3: this just say kind of about this matchup and kind
Speaker 3: of what you expect from this series.
Speaker 2: It's a good matchup.
Speaker 8: This is what we expected as far as kind of
Speaker 8: the back and forth tight ball games. And you got
Speaker 8: to give credit to their defense. Tonight, I thought they
Speaker 8: really caught the baseball well, certainly in the outfield. I
Speaker 8: thought we squared up a lot of baseballs and didn't
Speaker 8: get anything to show for it. So overall, I don't
Speaker 8: think the line score speaks to how well we swung
Speaker 8: the bats. But you got to give credit to those
Speaker 8: guys running them down out there, and also that double
Speaker 8: play ball off comfort those bats a heck of a
Speaker 8: play by Martek.
Speaker 9: Michael g t point encouraged just the last couple of
Speaker 9: days with how hard our.
Speaker 2: Contact has been.
Speaker 8: I do I do you know? He's taking good at bats,
Speaker 8: certainly not getting a whole lot to show for it.
Speaker 8: But I think for me it's easy to bet on
Speaker 8: him because the head is still there, the work is
Speaker 8: still there, and so they're going to fall. It's going
Speaker 8: to turn as long as he keeps having those good
Speaker 8: at bats.
Speaker 7: All right, there's manager Dave Roberts who brought up a
Speaker 7: few really good points. Number one, the walk to Peven
Speaker 7: Smith in the fourth inning and also hitting Suarez with
Speaker 7: a pitch with two strikes on in the fourth inning
Speaker 7: by Yamamoto certainly put him in a bad spot with
Speaker 7: the bases loaded and nobody out in that fourth inning,
Speaker 7: which set up the Gabrielle Moreno Grand Slam. And look,
Speaker 7: it's not always about the home run or the Grand Slam.
Speaker 7: It's what takes place ahead of that. Not only Peven
Speaker 7: Smith walking and Suarez getting hit by a pitch with
Speaker 7: two strikes, but Mookie Betts making a poor decision after
Speaker 7: making a great stop on a hard hit ground ball
Speaker 7: by Josh Naylor in that inning after the Smith walk.
Speaker 7: Smith is a pretty fast runner and Naylor's a really
Speaker 7: slow runner.
Speaker 2: In fact, Josh.
Speaker 7: Naylor, as a right handed hitter, has grounded into seven
Speaker 7: double plays, so as Michael Conforto as a left handed hitter. Tonight,
Speaker 7: his double play that ended the eighth inning was his
Speaker 7: seventh grounding into a double play. But nonetheless, Mookie Betts
Speaker 7: had a lot of time to get up and throw
Speaker 7: and get Naylor out at first base. That's where his
Speaker 7: momentum was care him to try to make a spectacular
Speaker 7: play to get the lead runner. That just wasn't the
Speaker 7: right play, and hopefully Mookie learns from that. Obviously new
Speaker 7: at the shortstop position, it's one thing to be able
Speaker 7: to field ground balls make great stops. It's another thing
Speaker 7: to make the right decision. And on that one he
Speaker 7: did not make the right decision. And that just was
Speaker 7: part of the fourth inning that got Yamamoto to a
Speaker 7: point where he made a poor pitch to Gabrielle Moreno
Speaker 7: for a grand slam eight six, six, nine, eight seven two,
Speaker 7: five seventy is the phone number. I also agree with
Speaker 7: Dave that the Diamondbacks played great defense tonight, and that's
Speaker 7: part of it, right, I mean, that's who they are.
Speaker 7: They're a fast team, they're an opportunistic offense, and they
Speaker 7: have pretty good starting pitching. That's how they beat you.
Speaker 7: Cormyan Carroll made a great catch going towards the line
Speaker 7: in the sixth inning on Will Smith. Michael Conforto in
Speaker 7: his first at bat tonight, flew out to center field
Speaker 7: on a ball.
Speaker 2: That was hit one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 7: And in this ballpark, you got to have a good
Speaker 7: center fielder, and that's what Arizona has and Alec Thomas
Speaker 7: and Thomas made a really good catch to track that
Speaker 7: one down as well. Eight six, six, nine eighty seven,
Speaker 7: two five seventy is the phone number. Dodgers fall to
Speaker 7: the Diamondbacks tonight, five to three. Let's go out to
Speaker 7: the phones for the first time tonight, Bill and Mission Viejo.
Speaker 2: You're on Dodger Talk live from Chase Field.
Speaker 9: Hi, Bill, Hi, thanks for taking my call. Did you
Speaker 9: know that the Dodgers lead the Majors had given up
Speaker 9: Grand Slams this year? It's been a early part of
Speaker 9: the year, but they've given them for.
Speaker 7: Three okay, interesting and they still have baseball's best record.
Speaker 2: That's quite a.
Speaker 9: Feat, right, And also, when do you think the Michael
Speaker 9: Comforto situation is going to come to a head? Do
Speaker 9: you think there's a little more patience with him?
Speaker 2: A lot of patients with him.
Speaker 7: They signed him to a seventeen to eighteen million dollar
Speaker 7: cont tracked and you know he's a veteran that has
Speaker 7: the resume bill. They're not going to say they're done
Speaker 7: with Michael Confordo after forty games.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you, all right, thanks for the phone call.
Speaker 7: Eight six six nine seven two five seventy is the
Speaker 7: phone number. Look, it hasn't been a great start to
Speaker 7: the season for Michael Confordo.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 2: Not only did he go oh for.
Speaker 7: Thirty one which ended in Atlanta, but also the double
Speaker 7: plays are a problem. I mean, he's a left handed
Speaker 7: hitter that's hit into seven double plays this year. He's
Speaker 7: tied with a lot of right handed hitters for that distinction.
Speaker 7: So that eighth inning double play you could say was
Speaker 7: hit hard all you want it was ninety five miles
Speaker 7: an hour on the ground.
Speaker 2: That still nagates. How hard you hit it.
Speaker 7: It's not like it was a rocket up the middle
Speaker 7: that Marte had to dive and stop and turn a
Speaker 7: double play. It was hit right at him on the
Speaker 7: right side of the infield, and that's gotta stop. Confordo's
Speaker 7: got to get it somehow up in the air.
Speaker 2: Easier said than done.
Speaker 7: Hard game to play, but tonight, in his first two
Speaker 7: at bats, he hit the ball hard. So the Dodgers
Speaker 7: are seeing signs that it's getting better with Conforto. Let's
Speaker 7: go out to Norwalk. Jesse, you're on Dodger Talk Live
Speaker 7: from Arizona.
Speaker 1: Hi, Jesse, Oh, I don't. I'm just going about the
Speaker 1: same thing the other the colinator about Conforto that you know,
Speaker 1: they seem to be having a lot of patients with him.
Speaker 1: Seems every time he comes up, he strikes out or
Speaker 1: hits into a double play or something.
Speaker 7: Jesse, how about this? Yeah, he was zero for thirty.
Speaker 7: How about this. You guys can complain about Michael Conforto
Speaker 7: all you want, and he hasn't played well, But the
Speaker 7: facts are the Dodgers have the best record in baseball
Speaker 7: even with zero production from him and minimal production from
Speaker 7: their third baseman. So that's the reason why the leash
Speaker 7: is a little longer, because they have baseball's best record.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but well, these games that they're losing because of him,
Speaker 1: that he doesn't he doesn't help them, but.
Speaker 7: They're not losing that much. They have the best record
Speaker 7: in baseball. If they were losing, if they were thirteen
Speaker 7: and twenty five instead of twenty five and thirteen, then
Speaker 7: I would say the pressure would be on those guys
Speaker 7: to perform, But it's not.
Speaker 1: So they can't send them to the minors.
Speaker 2: Or no, no, they cannot, No, they cannot. Thanks for
Speaker 2: the phone call, Jesse.
Speaker 7: Look for the first couple of weeks, Max Munsey was
Speaker 7: the punching bag. Even poor Chris Taylor, who barely plays,
Speaker 7: was the punching bag. Now I understand it's Michael Conforto.
Speaker 7: That's a little bit more fair, considering he did sign
Speaker 7: a lucrative contract during.
Speaker 2: The off season.
Speaker 7: They did kind of box themselves in with him having
Speaker 7: left field. But the facts are the Dodgers have the
Speaker 7: best record in baseball, which allows them to give Michael
Speaker 7: Confordo time to get himself out of this slump. And tonight,
Speaker 7: like I said, he hit the ball pretty hard. His
Speaker 7: first two at bats just didn't have anything to show
Speaker 7: for it. I mean, he hit a hard line drive
Speaker 7: that Martell made a great play on to get him
Speaker 7: out for the last out of the fourth innings.
Speaker 2: So I think.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna give it a little bit more time. I'm
Speaker 7: gonna give him more than forty games. How about that?
Speaker 7: Speaking of Michael CONFORDO, let's head back downstairs to the
Speaker 7: Dodger clubhouse to hear from the Dodger left fielder.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm definitely frustrated, happy with a couple hard
Speaker 4: hit balls today, Frustrated about being in the situation to
Speaker 4: keep a rally going and not being able to beat
Speaker 4: that ball out. It's frustrating. It makes me sick. I
Speaker 4: just gotta keep going. It's don't working hard, and you
Speaker 4: know a lot of it's you know, I'm putting together
Speaker 4: better better at bats and hitting the ball hard, and
Speaker 4: you know, I just gotta keep going out there and
Speaker 4: you know, just keep focusing on that and you know,
Speaker 4: hopefully find some holes and and start rolling it to
Speaker 4: feel close to where you kind of wanted to be
Speaker 4: just in church, like especially the heart contact and everything
Speaker 4: that's sort of coming out of it. Yeah. Yeah, Uh,
Speaker 4: you know, two balls today hit well and you know,
Speaker 4: you know I wouldn't I wouldn't change anything about those
Speaker 4: those swings. Yeah, So you know, I definitely feel better
Speaker 4: about the swings for sure.
Speaker 1: Things this way that you've been kind of working on
Speaker 1: here the last few weeks.
Speaker 4: Uh, just being more consistent getting the barrel of the
Speaker 4: ball and being on the heater, being able to drive
Speaker 4: the ball, you know, just being being a tougher route.
Speaker 4: You take songs from some of those bat tonight or
Speaker 4: is it just more frustrating that you hit the ball
Speaker 4: that way and that they don't drop it. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, I definitely you know, I'm trying to I'm
Speaker 4: trying to focus on what I can control and getting
Speaker 4: the ball hard is one of those things, and you know,
Speaker 4: and try to take that home with me and you know,
Speaker 4: build off of that. And but like I said, I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, just uh frustrated to not come through in
Speaker 4: the in the age.
Speaker 3: You played in this division in the last you know
Speaker 3: a couple of years. And it's still pretty early in
Speaker 3: the season, but you know, how kind of deep and
Speaker 3: competitive can the NLS be? You know, just from your experience.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think the records show, you know that
Speaker 4: there's a lot of great teams in this division. It's
Speaker 4: going to be very competitive all year, you know, all
Speaker 4: the way down to the end. And there's just a
Speaker 4: lot of a lot of good players in this in
Speaker 4: this division. Yes, we got to bring our EA game,
Speaker 4: take advantage of every opportunity.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 7: There's Michael Confordo obviously cares a lot and not happy
Speaker 7: that he's not being able to contribute in key spots
Speaker 7: and grounding into that inning ending double play with the
Speaker 7: Dodgers rallying against the diamondbacks bullpen, certainly frustrating for him.
Speaker 7: Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is
Speaker 7: the phone number I mentioned. The Dodgers have baseball's best
Speaker 7: record twenty five and thirteen, tied with the Detroit Tigers,
Speaker 7: which is surprising for the best record in baseball, but
Speaker 7: the San Diego Padres are not that far behind. The
Speaker 7: Padres lost two in a row and are twenty three
Speaker 7: and thirteen, a game back of the Dodgers. The Giants
Speaker 7: percentage points back as well a game back of the
Speaker 7: Dodgers in Arizona. With their twentieth win of the year,
Speaker 7: they're twenty and eighteen, five games back of the Dodgers.
Speaker 7: Let's go back out to the phones. Bob in Malibu.
Speaker 7: You're on Dodger Talk Live from Chase Field.
Speaker 11: Hi, Bob, Hey, Dave, how you doing man?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good, feeling good.
Speaker 11: Live in the dream Nott in Arizona. I love a
Speaker 11: DV always man, always positive.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's beats working.
Speaker 1: Good on you, man.
Speaker 11: You know two quick things. First of all, everyone needs
Speaker 11: to lay off Michael Conforto. You know, he reminds me
Speaker 11: of similar situations we've seen. We've seen it with Trey
Speaker 11: Turner in Philadelphia. Obviously not as big of a deal
Speaker 11: as Trey signed, but you know, give the guy a break.
Speaker 11: It's my prediction, and I'm going to go on the
Speaker 11: record with you now, Dave. I think Michael Conforto is
Speaker 11: going to be one of our biggest producers and a
Speaker 11: huge ally in the postseason for the Dodgers. That's what
Speaker 11: I think. Post All Star break, Michael Conforto is going
Speaker 11: to be a player. We talk about a lot in
Speaker 11: a positive way.
Speaker 2: I agree with you, Bob. He's a guy that cares.
Speaker 7: It's one thing if he's performing this way and doesn't care,
Speaker 7: But from what I understand and what I've observed, he
Speaker 7: cares a lot. And if you don't care, you're not
Speaker 7: gonna be on this team because there's a certain level
Speaker 7: of accountability that you have to have with your teammates
Speaker 7: in that clubhouse. So Confordo definitely conforms to that, and
Speaker 7: he certainly is going to get an opportunity. The good
Speaker 7: news is he's struggling while the team is winning. That's
Speaker 7: a little bit easier to digest in some ways, So
Speaker 7: they've given him some time to figure it out while
Speaker 7: they're twenty five and thirteen, lead the NL West and
Speaker 7: have the best record in baseball.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a time out here on Dodger Talk.
Speaker 7: When we continue, more of your phone calls at eight
Speaker 7: six six nine, eight seven two five seventy and you
Speaker 7: also hear Dave Roberts reaction to former Dodger Ross Strippling retiring.
Speaker 2: Dave did not know surprise.
Speaker 7: You'll hear his reaction on the other side as we
Speaker 7: continue live from Chase Field after the Diamondbacks defeat the
Speaker 7: Dodgers five to three on a five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 5: Dodger Talk is available on AM five seventy LA sports
Speaker 5: dot Com. Hand on the iHeartRadio app Back to more
Speaker 5: Dodger talk with Dodger insider David Basse three two.
Speaker 7: From Ginkle swung on a hammer DP Wright Center toward
Speaker 7: the pool.
Speaker 5: That ball is gone.
Speaker 2: Home run Old Tony's when there's.
Speaker 7: The eleventh home run and our rocket out to dright
Speaker 7: center field.
Speaker 2: I got out there and I blink him an eye.
Speaker 7: Show Hey o'tany not giving away any at bats, even
Speaker 7: down to his final strike, the final strike of the game.
Speaker 7: He hits a four hundred and twenty six foot home
Speaker 7: run to make this game close, but the Dodgers fall
Speaker 7: tonight to the Diamondbacks five to three in Game one
Speaker 7: of the four game series. Here in the Desert, Daniels
Speaker 7: Jewelers presents the home run forecast. Go to AM five
Speaker 7: to seventy lasports dot com.
Speaker 2: You know what to do.
Speaker 7: Type the keyword home run in for your chance to
Speaker 7: win a fifty dollars Daniels Jeweler's gift card predicting the
Speaker 7: number of home runs in the next game.
Speaker 2: Daniels Jewelers own the Dream.
Speaker 7: Eight six, six, nine, eighty seven, two five seventy is
Speaker 7: the phone number want to send a very special happy
Speaker 7: birthday to my guy l Titan Adrian Gonzalez. He was
Speaker 7: celebrating today with his wife Betsy in Los Angeles. So
Speaker 7: happy birthday, Adrian Gonzalez. You meant a lot to the
Speaker 7: Dodgers in your short time with the Dodgers, but it
Speaker 7: felt like you were a Dodger longer than any other
Speaker 7: team that you played for, and you certainly made a
Speaker 7: huge impact right away. And I always say the Adrian
Speaker 7: Gonzalez trade that brought Adrian nick Punto, Josh Beckett and
Speaker 7: Carl Crawford to the Dodgers in twenty thirteen or twenty twelve,
Speaker 7: excuse me, signified the start of this ownership group and
Speaker 7: how serious they were about winning. And it just showed
Speaker 7: Dodger fans that they were going to deliver on their promises.
Speaker 7: And certainly that trade for Adrian Gonzalez and taken on
Speaker 7: all that money just to get Adrian certainly sent a
Speaker 7: message that Guggenheim was here to play for good and
Speaker 7: they certainly have. Like I said, a lot of owners
Speaker 7: come in, they say all the right things, but don't
Speaker 7: really back it up. The ownership of Mark Walter, Todd
Speaker 7: Bowley Stanksten Magic Johnson have backed up everything that they
Speaker 7: said they would and then some eight six six nine
Speaker 7: seven two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go
Speaker 7: out to Eric, who is here at Chase Field tonight. Hi, Eric,
Speaker 7: you're on Dodger Talk.
Speaker 10: Hey Dave, thanks for taking my call. First, I want
Speaker 10: to take you up on the where I was for
Speaker 10: Freddie Freeman's Grand Slam. I made sure to start at
Speaker 10: three am that day, and I drove up to Prescott
Speaker 10: hour and a half to watch the game with my
Speaker 10: family and my good buddy from high school and he
Speaker 10: actually went with me to the game tonight. And my
Speaker 10: main question was how do you fill the team's offense,
Speaker 10: especially is affected on these long road trips, being on
Speaker 10: the second half of this road trip with no rests.
Speaker 10: And also what's the hold up on Dalton Rushing getting
Speaker 10: called up? Is it because he's not on the forty
Speaker 10: man or how does that work. I'm gonna go ahead
Speaker 10: and hang up and let you take it from there.
Speaker 10: Thanks for taking my call, all right?
Speaker 2: Eric, love hearing that.
Speaker 7: And like I said at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 7: I don't care if the Dodgers are in Arizona. I
Speaker 7: don't care what day it is. If you ever want
Speaker 7: to share with us where you were when Freddy Freeman
Speaker 7: it is walk off Grand Slam. That is fair game
Speaker 7: every night of the week and after every game. Love
Speaker 7: hearing those type of stories. And Freddie is actually going
Speaker 7: to join us on the pregame show tomorrow and we'll
Speaker 7: share part of that conversation with you on Dodger Talk
Speaker 7: after tomorrow night's game as well. But as far as
Speaker 7: Dalton Rushing goes, the reason why he hasn't been called
Speaker 7: up is because the Dodgers don't have a position for
Speaker 7: him to play in the big leagues. They're locked into
Speaker 7: a contract with Michael Confordo. Freddie Freeman is not going
Speaker 7: anywhere at first base, and you got Will Smith as
Speaker 7: your catcher playing every day. Even if you were to say,
Speaker 7: well Rushing should back him up, how many days of
Speaker 7: the week is Rushing going to play behind Will Smith?
Speaker 7: So in the beginning of the season, going back to
Speaker 7: spring training, the Dodgers told Dalton Rushing, We're not going
Speaker 7: to play you in left field anymore for whatever reason,
Speaker 7: And all of a sudden, now in the last week,
Speaker 7: Dalton Rushing has played left field twice, So the Dodgers
Speaker 7: are trying to find a position for Dalton Rushing because.
Speaker 2: His back is for real, it's major League ready. They
Speaker 2: just don't have a position for him.
Speaker 7: If he could play third base, which he can't, maybe
Speaker 7: there is a maybe there is a greater chance. If
Speaker 7: he could play center field, maybe there is a greater chance.
Speaker 7: But he's a catcher that the Dodgers are trying to
Speaker 7: make a little bit more versatile. And I kind of
Speaker 7: see him as and scouts have compared him to a
Speaker 7: mini Kyle Schwarber because of his built his swing, his power,
Speaker 7: the veracity that he plays the game so and the intensity.
Speaker 7: I'm looking forward to seeing Dalton Rushing and Alex Friedland
Speaker 7: in the Big Days one Big Leagues, One day soon.
Speaker 7: Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is
Speaker 7: the phone number. Speaking of the Oklahoma City Comets, Michael
Speaker 7: Kopek made his first rehab appearance for Oklahoma City tonight.
Speaker 2: It did not go so well results wise. I don't know,
Speaker 2: you know what.
Speaker 7: It didn't go well at all because Coopek, who was
Speaker 7: the opener for Oklahoma City tonight, couldn't get a single
Speaker 7: out in the first inning. In fact, Kopek walked five
Speaker 7: batters and he gave up five earned runs in that
Speaker 7: first inning. Kopek threw twenty three pitches, only three of
Speaker 7: them were strikes. Not a great first appearance for Michael Kopek,
Speaker 7: who is on his way back. So you know, I
Speaker 7: take that with a grain of salt, but I have
Speaker 7: never seen that before where a pitcher on a rehab
Speaker 7: assignment gives up five urned runs, walking five batters, not
Speaker 7: getting a single out, and only throwing three strikes in
Speaker 7: the first inning. So when I see Copek when he's
Speaker 7: back here active with the Dodgers, I'm gonna ask him
Speaker 7: about this first rehab appearance.
Speaker 2: But he's healthy, apparently healthy, and we'll see where it
Speaker 2: goes from here.
Speaker 7: Speaking of Oklahoma City as well, Clayton Kershaw is going
Speaker 7: to make another rehab start for Oklahoma City on Sunday,
Speaker 7: not sure if he'll make another one after that. He
Speaker 7: is able to be activated from the sixty day IL
Speaker 7: on May seventeenth, with possibly a start in the sits
Speaker 7: against the Angels on that Sunday afternoon May eighteenth, when
Speaker 7: the Dodgers return for this upcoming homestand so Sunday probably
Speaker 7: is Kershaw's last rehab start as he is coming back
Speaker 7: from offseason left knee and foot surgery. Eight six six
Speaker 7: nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number
Speaker 7: in case you missed it. Last week, one of Kershaw's
Speaker 7: former teammates with the Dodgers announced his retirement on social media.
Speaker 2: That was Chicken strip.
Speaker 7: Ross Stripling announced his retirement after nine seasons in Major
Speaker 7: League Baseball. He was drafted by the Dodgers in twenty
Speaker 7: twelve in the fifth round out of Texas A and M.
Speaker 7: Made his major league debut with the Dodgers in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 7: and if you followed the Dodgers, you knew he was
Speaker 7: a very popular teammate and a fan favorite. I asked
Speaker 7: manager Dave Roberts before the game today what his memories
Speaker 7: were of Ross Strippling and whether or not he got
Speaker 7: the Instagram post that Stripling retired.
Speaker 12: Well, congratulations of Ross.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that.
Speaker 12: I'm sure he's gonna be managing money going forward. I
Speaker 12: think I just valued he was just a good teammate.
Speaker 12: He did a lot of different things for us, helped
Speaker 12: us win a championship. I mentioned him in twenty twenty,
Speaker 12: and you know getting the trophy. He just a really
Speaker 12: good teammate. I'm happy I had a chance to coach him.
Speaker 2: All right, there's raw.
Speaker 7: Dave Roberts on Ross Stripling retiring last week. Certainly, Dave
Speaker 7: and Ross had an interesting time together with the Dodgers.
Speaker 7: Ross in his first start after coming back from elbow surgery,
Speaker 7: had seven no hit innings in San Francisco, and there
Speaker 7: was a lot of debate on whether or not he
Speaker 7: should have been able to continue that start. Also, Dave
Speaker 7: Roberts after the Dodgers won the twenty World Series shout
Speaker 7: it out Ross Stripling even though he had been traded
Speaker 7: in the middle of that year, and thanked Ross Stripling
Speaker 7: for his contributions.
Speaker 2: And speaking of Ross Stripling, he is going to.
Speaker 7: Join us on our off day Dodger Talk show this Monday,
Speaker 7: so you don't want to miss that. That'll do it
Speaker 7: for us on Dodger Talk tonight postgame Dodger Talk tonight
Speaker 7: after the Dodgers fall to the Diamondbacks five to three. Tomorrow,
Speaker 7: Roki Sazaki will be on the mount for the first
Speaker 7: time against Arizona. He's won and one this year with
Speaker 7: an ERA of three eighty six. He made one start
Speaker 7: already on this road trip. That's where he won his
Speaker 7: first major league game in Atlanta. He's going up against
Speaker 7: left hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who is one in three with
Speaker 7: an ERA of five to ninety two.
Speaker 2: You may remember that name because as the.
Speaker 7: Dodgers tried to acquire Rodriguez at the trade deadline in
Speaker 7: twenty twenty three, and he refused to waive his no
Speaker 7: trade clause.
Speaker 2: Morongo Casino.
Speaker 7: Dodgers on Deck begins at five thirty tomorrow, with first
Speaker 7: pitch at six point forty. Thanks to Colin Ye back
Speaker 7: out our Burbank Studios, Thanks to Dwayne MacDonald out here
Speaker 7: at Chase Field, and thanks to you for listening. In
Speaker 7: case you missed any of the show or our pre
Speaker 7: game conversation with Austin Barnes, you can find it on
Speaker 7: the iHeartRadio app once again. The final score tonight from
Speaker 7: Chase Field in Arizona. The Diamondbacks win the series opener
Speaker 7: five to three. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a
Speaker 7: great rest of your night.
Speaker 2: See up