DodgerHeads: Clayton Kershaw shines, Dodgers beat Padres, Max Muncy’s injury
It’s time for Dodgerheads. High fly ball into right field. Hey, Dodgers have won it all in 2020. So Tony 50 club hits the ball. He is gone at the party. The Dodgers have won the World Series. What’s up everybody? Welcome into Dodgerheads Live presented by DodgerBlue.com part of the mediumarge sports network. My name is Jeff Beagle joined tonight by Anthony Witrado and Matthew Moreno hopping in with us to celebrate to talk about to discuss a 3-2 Dodgers victory over the San Diego Padres’s. Clayton Kershaw was awesome. The offense did literally just enough. The bullpen did literally just enough. But the key thing here is the Dodgers win. So Anthony vibes up and to the right so far tonight. Big time up and to the right tonight. Um, that was a that was one we had to sweat out, right? I mean, especially with that with the bullpen situation down the stretch, not knowing where what uh what was coming next. So, huge to get this first one. My the biggest takeaway for me was um boy, Kershaw looked fantastic. He was sharp. Um that that’s that was a start they needed from him on a night they needed it and he delivered. Yeah. Look, what I was thinking beforehand, there were two ways that this night could have gone totally sideways. One was Kershaw gets shelled. Two was the Dodgers lose. If both of those things happened and Moreno and I were hopping on for a postgame show, I I don’t know what I would have done. There would have been uh this this Drake next to me would have been a lot more full. Let’s just say that. And yet, we get neither of those things, Matt. We get a Kershaw gem. We get a Dodgers victory. And all is right in the world. Yeah. Instead, we uh we get to be a little insufferable tonight. Jeff, you and I have have long been on the uh Kershaw, and I know Anthony as well on the uh Kershaw is still plenty effective, can still pitch when he’s healthy, and and I get that that’s somewhat of a big if considering his age and and injury history of the last few years, but he’s healthy right now. He’s out there and I know uh I saw the tweets, the responses when we were, you know, tweeting out the rotation and stuff for this weekend, and there’s a lot of concern about Kershaw starting tonight in his 89 mph fastball. But as I like to remind you guys in our text and I’ll remind the people who are joining us live tonight and who are listening in the podcast after the fact, can’t measure heart, man. And you know, all these nerds have all these stats with the plus, the X, the Y, this, that, and the other. You’re you’re not you’re not putting that on Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is the anomaly for sure. Um, what did you say is fast ball? Did you say 89 miles an hour? I guess it was 89.2. So, you were fair there. There were uh there were a couple that uh 87 that that got tossed in there, but the guy was effective. And look, you take away that first start back. Anthony, we’re talking about a gentleman with an erra that starts with a two again at age whatever age he’s at. People wrote this guy off. He doesn’t have the swing and miss stuff. Guess what? It’s soft contact. It’s pitching to pitching to the parts of the plate that he needs to pitch to. Spray pattern as Oral Hershiser talked about. It’s just a master class on how to win without 99 mph fasts. Big picture for his career, he’s done a fantastic job of adjusting to his own stuff. Yeah. Um the the hiccups have been there as he’s kind of sort of tried to maneuver that, but he’s at at each stage he has found it. He’s found that level that he needs to be. Um, and I think we’re seeing when he was healthy last year and this year, we’re seeing him finding like getting into that comfort zone of where he’s living now. Um, big picture for 2025 Dodgers. This this could be the start of him forcing his way legitimately into the conversation about October. Oh, there we go, Anthony. We’re there already. 5 minutes and 26 seconds in and we’re talking Kershaw postseason rotation. Matthew, the smile on my face, I can’t contain it. Yeah, Anthony, welcome to the club. Jeff and I have been have been we firmly planted our flag there uh what a month ago at some I mean I I really for me like heading into once Kershaw was pitching like I felt like if he gets to the end of October excuse me end of September and is healthy and is pitching like pitching reasonably well effective if you will however you want to describe it like I don’t I still don’t see I didn’t see a scenario where he would be left off the playoff roster and I know you know Jeff you and Blake and Daniel did that bullpen video and it it’s we joked about sort of being a kiss of death because of uh what happened after you guys recorded that with injuries and performance and stuff. Uh and and I understand, you know, Blake’s line of thinking of, hey, in an NLDS type thing or wild card, like you’re not going to need that kind of length guy potentially that Kershaw would be, but I still like I I I don’t know if they leave like I don’t see a scenario where they leave him off if this is the level he kind of sticks at. This is now what three starts in a row of six innings and I think one either one or two uh earned runs allowed something like that. So I mean he’s doing his part like at 37. Anthony you said it tonight like you can’t ask for much else from him. No totally. Uh look he he he has found sort of where he needs to be with things. Um and he’s he’s figured out a way to be effective. Um the the fit I will say this the fit in October particularly like in the NLDS is not easy if if the rotation goes in healthy the way it’s built right now. Um but it’s a conversation that I think needs to be had about what his role is at least in that first series and then I think in a seven game series he’s he’s your guy that’s in there. He’s the guy that you add I think to the rotation. Um, you know, he’s it’s been good enough for long enough at this point where, you know, and he’s doing it against good lineups in big spots. Like tonight was sort of a test I was waiting to see. I was excited that he was starting not just in this series, but game one of this series. What kind of tone was he going to set? And he went out there and he did it. He knew exactly what the plan was. He knew exactly what his job was and he executed. It was It was pretty impressive to watch it. Yeah. 18 innings, two earned runs for Clayton Kershaw over his last three starts, including tonight, uh, to Matt’s point. So, I mean, he continues to be amazing. And I I’ve joked with Greg Bergman multiple times. He says a lot would have to go wrong for Clayton Kershaw to be starting a postseason game. And my response has been the same or a lot went right. And so far, a lot is going right for the older gentleman named Clayton Kershaw, who continues to do it so far for the Dodgers and just continues to shove and in moments when they need it, right? Like, this isn’t a postseason game. We know the Dodgers aren’t treating this like a postseason game, but I to all the doubters, I would say this moment, the slide they’re on, they hand the ball to Clayton Kershaw. He gives you six innings, two hits, one earned run. How could you not be pleased with that? Let’s get to some of these. You might not have even given up that earned run if you didn’t get squeezed early. Totally. There’s that. And even like look, I I don’t like to play this game because it is the I’m a results guy. Like I I give you guys a hard time when you throw this expected data at me and stuff, but like that home run that he gave up too was like not a cheapy, but it did hit the foul pole. And so like, you know, it could have potentially been a shut out uh a scoreless outing. But anyway, take the one run, take the six innings, and like like we said, you can’t can’t ask for much more out of him. Yeah, we got some super chats coming in. Shelley Lawrence in honor of number 22, the goat. I tweeted it. Hey, my goat ain’t cooked, folks. My goat ain’t cooked, baby. People buried this man. People buried this man and he just comes out here and he continues to shove. Bacon tree says Clayton Kershaw top of the lineup needs to step up. Nights like this where the bottom of the order carries it will not happen a lot. Trying in fresh for tomorrow. Um I’ll just interpret the middle part there. Matt, I think what Bacon Tree is saying Michael Conforto starting the two-run rally. I think I when he says bottom of the lineup carrying things is I maybe I’m reading things into this. You tell me if I’m wrong here, Matt. Did I am I misunderstanding this? I I’ll let that one slide tonight. Okay. Okay. Uh, it was I mean I will say this to his point, Conforto and Freeland two of like if you want to talk about two guys who have summarized some struggles over the last five or six days. I think Freeland was 0 for 17 or 0 for 18 coming into this one. Conforto was like two for his last 26 to the to see those guys go single single Anthony in the bottom of the third. Uh Rojos bunt that I mean look if Manny Machado diving for a bunt and like taking it off of his dome is just a beautiful thing to watch. Uh, and then Otani RBI ground out Mooki sack fly to to the point of of this super chat. Anthony, the bottom of the lineup did their job for the Dodgers tonight. And it came from guys in Conorto and Freeland that you probably aren’t normally expecting it from, but you got to give credit where credit is due. Alex Call walked later in the game, pimped the walk a little bit, but the bottom of the order did their job and and scratched together just enough offense. Yeah, they did. Um, some would say it’s about time. Uh, and you know, look, they they did they they put together some pretty good at bats. Um, uh, you know, I thought Freeland’s at bat in particular was was pretty impressive. I thought he showed some some pretty good discipline there. Um, the bunt I was screaming at the TV to not give up that out in that way. Um, and it they got might as well been screaming at the gentleman sharing the screen with us, Anthony. That’s a big small ball guy right there. Finally though, uh, a little luck. It feels like finally a little luck goes the Dodgers way. I don’t know what Manny Machado was doing there. Um but thank God he did it. And then uh you know the the super chat mentioned the top of the order that needs to do more. Look those were two pretty good at bats I thought from Otanian Betts um to to drive those runs in. They didn’t get hits but they didn’t strike out. And Otani’s ball like Otani was jogging up the line. There was no way they were going to turn that on him. And then Muki’s at bat. He kind of stayed short with the swing and and got a ball where he could handle it and knew he knew exactly what he was doing. I This is this is prototypical classic Mookie Bets as a Dodger, right? A really professional at bat got the ball out there long enough to get the run in. Um so I mean for for my money, I thought that they they showed you why like you know it’s not just the homers and the singles and and doubles and all that stuff. Like they knew they had a job to do when they when they got up there and they both did it. Yeah. I mean, the Mookie Bets sack fly was like picture almost frame for frame the same as game five of the World Series last year after Gavin Lux had a sack fly, then Mookie Bets has a sackfly, they score the go-ahead run. So kudos to them to your point. I mean, you look at this and you see 0 for12 from Otani Betts, Smith and Freeman with just a pair of walks. But to your point, like when the bases are loaded and nobody’s out, we we all are rooting for singles, no doubt. But if you get two productive outs that score two runs, let let’s just take Let’s not get greedy here, folks. Okay, they scored two runs and they won. They’re like over for They’re still over for a million, I think, with the bases loaded. Uh 300 says it was so flat in the stadium and I think it played in the Dodgers favor. Padres’s thrive in hostile environments. Oh yeah, Mason Miller is intimidating. Um the broadcast mentioned this a few times Matt about just how oral in the ninth particularly was like everybody’s quiet sitting still nobody’s hands are moving. What did you make of um you know from from afar the vibes in Dodger Stadium? Yeah I mean I it’ll be interesting to hear from Blake. Uh, but that certainly was evident like watching it on TV. And I do I think honestly a lot of that stems from just the situation like the the Dodgers not only are in a four-game losing streak, but how they’ve been losing with the bullpen with this extended rut that they’ve been in since July 4th. Like I think there was as Oral said like a lot of like anxiousness and nervous energy and sort of anticipating like okay when is this going to go wrong because we have seen it we’ve seen this story you know so many other times already recently. Uh, but credit, you know, to the guys that got it done. And I know, you know, uh, this wasn’t a a playoff game. Uh, not even per se. It wasn’t a playoff game, but I think we did see some some different urgency from Dave Roberts into as to how he was sort of managing things tonight with his pitching decisions. And I know we’ll maybe get into some of that of, you know, trying and just needing one pitch and coming out of the game and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean I I think tomorrow will probably be a little bit more lively because you know at this like getting the first one of a series whether it’s the Padres’s, whether it’s any anybody like it it it means something like that’s the one you typically want to get, right? And so now you know sure you obviously don’t want to lose the next two if you’re the Dodgers, but you feel a little bit better having gotten the first one and maybe there’s just less stress throughout the stadium. Uh I saw some people mentioning my mic was a little off so I tried to tweak a couple things on my end. Hopefully it sounds better. keep me keep me accountable in the chat, please. Um, but you know, yeah, Dave Roberts even said, like we talked about, it’s game one, it’s the Padres’s, yada yada yada, but like Dave said he was managing with more urgency and conversations that he had before the game and obviously five relief pitchers taking down three innings. Uh, you know, we ended up seeing that to to a large degree as well. Um, let’s see. Okay, people say it sounds better. Good to hear. Uh, Gabriel with the uh super chat and that’s all she wrote. Game over. Dodgers win, baby. It was an all-around team effort. Tonight’s game ball definitely goes to Clayton Kershaw. Go Dodgers. Uh, real quick, Anthony, any issue for you? Kershaw getting taken out after six innings. I believe he was at 76 pitches. Um, with the way the Dodgers bullpen has been struggling, I saw some discourse around whether or not they would have put him back out for the seventh inning, 3, four, and five do up for the Padres’s. How did you feel Dave Roberts handled that decision? I thought it was the right one. Um, I thought going into that six inning, this is it. Like, get through this. That line looks very pretty. Um, you know, and and get out of here clean. I thought, you know, the p people are wrenching the pitch count I saw on social, but for me, I don’t think that’s that’s so much um what it just comes down to for him. You know, I think for a guy like him, there’s other factors involved. And aside from the fact that Manny Machado was coming up and he has had some success against Clayton Kershaw. Um so no, I thought I thought it was it was um the right decision. If he stays in there and hangs something and he and Manny bangs it out, we’re having a we might be having a very different conversation at this point. But no, I thought that um and I I it it almost looked like he knew what the game plan was and when he when he walked off the mound in the six, he was essentially already you could see the the look on his face was like, “Yes, I I I went out here and I did my job.” So, I’m totally fine with that. And look, I think it has to be a very specific kind of situation where like the guy is absolutely just cruising. Yeah. For them to go beyond six innings at this point. uh with him. So, I I I expected it and I was fine with it. I will say I I’ll add really quick. I think considering what his pitch count was at had if the Dodgers were winning like five to one, I think I think you would it’s batter by batter like okay, you got through the six, how are you feeling like can you can you start the seventh and then we kind of we go from there. I think a lot of that too was was on the offense and yes Anthony to your point like if Kershaw makes a mistake and it becomes a completely different conversation a completely different start potentially different outcome and it just changes the game alto together but I I think if the offense and I think that applies to your broader point too of like if there is a comfortable because Dave did say this when they were down when we were in Anaheim that considering how the bullpen is both like results and injuries like yeah he might need to lean on the starters and push them for an extra inning here or Otani is not going to be one of them. Like he did mention him. I think Kershaw probably isn’t going to be one of them just because his age and stuff. Say it’s the other four guys that I think yeah the other guy like the Yeah, the like the glass now is the snail like yeah those guys will definitely if there’s an opportunity there but I do think tonight that because of Kershaw’s relative efficiency like if they’re winning five to one I think maybe you’re going batter by batter. Look nobody is higher and more confident in Clayton Kershaw. And when he gave up a single to lead off the sixth inning, nobody was more stressed about what that final line. Your boy wrote down his five inning line just in case we needed to circle back to how awesome he was in the first five innings, but my guy got through six. And we’ll leave it at that. Uh shout out to our guy Bruce Counz by the way who’s in the chat joining us tonight. Shout out to everyone over 1,800 people on Facebook, on YouTube, on Twitter. We appreciate all of you for hopping in with us to celebrate a Dodgers victory. I see some people saying it’s Friday. What are we doing? This isn’t Thursday. It’s not Sunday. Look, game one of the Padres’s, Clayton Kershaw. Some of us still celebrate Clayton Kershaw day over here, okay? And against the Padres’s, we celebrated especially. So, we’re in here on a Friday night. And and to be fair, we we planned this before we knew the outcome of the game. So, as some people said, we might just like pain and we might like torturing ourselves. It was going to be Matt and I. Kudos to my guy Anthony who said yes to this show. If I was Anthony, I’m waiting until the ninth till that final out and saying, “Oh, by the way, do you need a third for a little bit? I’ll hop in now that they won. Our guy was willing to be here win or lose. So, shout out to Anthony. That That’s a brave man. That’s a company man who’s doing it for for the I did get nervous about the the decision uh when I saw Diaz coming in for the night. Buddy, we’re going to get there. We’re going to get there and I have some thoughts. Uh Cer says, uh Matthew Moreno is a great analyst and Jeff and aunt, thank you. We appreciate you. Uh, Jedi engineer, I hope the rest of the pitching staff takes some cues from Kershaw on how to adjust to your stuff, Matt. Get the nerds out of baseball. Get Kershaw, the old school guy, teaching these guys how to pitch like Greg Maddox, huh? I mean, should he just become like a a a third assistant pitching coach on the staff at this point while he’s also uh still serving as the ace of of the rotation? I mean, it’s, you know, we’ve seen it in other sports, a player manager type thing back in the day. So, maybe maybe he could do something similar. Is that a Mark Prior shot or no? We just gonna just curious. No, that’s See, so that’s why I said a third assistant. I didn’t say a full I didn’t say the new pitching coach. You guys can take that however you you want. That was a question I’m obligated as a journalist to ask, Matt. I just had to I had to follow up. You’re going to love this one. Jonathan says, “Finally, a win. I’m celebrating a Cheesecake Factory with the Matt Morendo Thanksgiving special. Wedge salad and Snickers cheesecake. Let’s go.” I mean, it’s Matt’s jealous right now. You got some You Grubhub after the game here, maybe. Matt, I you know, honestly, I might have to think about it. There’s not a cheesecake there’s a cheesecake that’s not too far from me. Uh, and I definitely I’m going to have to look up after we hop off. I’m going to have to see what their hours are on Friday night. And I I will say uh here’s a nice way for me to weave in bring people into what we’ve been discussing as a staff the last few days. I I’m going I Cheesecake is not high on my list. The the Snickers uh cheesecake is good, but Cheesecake is solid. restaurant as a whole is not, but it is way up on my list compared to uh BJ’s, which Jeff, I know like that’s gonna you’re a big pizza from BJ’s guy. And uh heaven forbid a place, you know, that’s known for its dessert called Cheesecake Factory ranks higher on that list, right, Matt? Yes, absolutely. Just wanted to check. Wedge Salad, by the way, don’t order that to go. Please don’t Uber Eats Wedge Salad for me. That would be an all-timer. There should be rules against thing like that. Uh Casey says, “Anyone else need new underwear?” Phew. Go Dodgers. Uh some people in Dodger Stadium might need new underwear to be fair. Uh Tom says, “Uh I said, “Thank you for the free out when the Padres’s bunted down two runs.” Anthony, you were pissed when Rojos bunted early. The Padres’s uh top of the eighth. Vessia is in the game. He’s been a disaster the last three outings. Uh first batter 02 fights off like six pitches in a row and then maybe gets hit. I mean, they showed one replay. I’m like, “Are we sure this guy got hit?” He gets first base. Next batter, hit by pitch again. And so, with runners on first and second and nobody out, they lay down a sacrifice bunt. It was their number nine hitter to put runners at second and third. Uh, Tatis ends up walking, but then it’s a sack fly to left field. Run scores, but does not advance to third base, and then Trinan gets Machado to pop out. So Anthony, based on your your thoughts on Miguel Rojos’s first bunt, I imagine the number nine hitter bunting these guys over in front of Tatis was something you were pleased about. Oh yeah, give it to us all day. Keep doing it. Love it. Does I mean the fact that it was the number nine hitter like if if there was ever going to be a spot in both teams cases it was the number nine hitter trying to get some guys over. I don’t have an overly strong feeling. Obviously Padres’s being down, Dodgers in the situation they were in. you can make a case. Maybe they’re different scenarios, but um in real time, I didn’t hate it. But in hindsight, obviously, it worked out well for the Dodgers. Not not waiting out Vesia, like with their advanced scouting, knowing kind of what he’s been going through. Them not waiting out Vesia was a a I think that was a critical mistake on their part. Yeah. Because you’re a big You’re a big punt guy. you you at that point that late in the game the Dodgers are counting outs and you just you handed them one for free. Yeah. Matt, what did you think of the two bunt decisions? One by Rohos that works out and one by for mean that did not. The Rojos one it didn’t really bother me a ton. I’m assuming the issue and the concern is if you do that like sure you advance the runners but you take the bat out of Otani’s hands, right? That’s a huge part of it aside from just not wanting to give them the out. That is that’s at least 50% of it for me is that your best hitter doesn’t get to hit. That’s fair. I think the mookie bets we’ve seen the last two weeks like I’ll take my chances with him and the bases are bases are loaded. But I and that’s understandable, but 10 times out of 10 I would rather have Otani hitting in that situation than Oh boy. I mean pro. Yeah, that’s fair. I I didn’t I didn’t feel I’m just here to watch the game and have fun. I I didn’t feel too strongly either way with with those bunts to be perfectly honest with you guys. Like I I could see I can see both sides and logic behind it. And so like I said it a week ago, 10 days ago like these two backto-back weekend series were going to be fun. Like this it’s a long season. We’re in the middle of August. You know, sure the Dodgers aren’t playing well and that kind of took some shine off of it. But you know, let’s take the field, line the two teams up and and snap the football as they say and go play. Matt, I was giving you the chance. I was giving you the chance to say get pissed about them taking the bat out of Miguel Rojos’s hands. Oh, I missed it. Yeah. I just put it on a tea right there. I mean, he’s what? Like top three hitter on the team, right? He’s he’s cooled off a little bit. He’s top five, though. Top five. Okay. Still in the top five. Yeah. And like we don’t like to I know we don’t Jeff, you and I in particular don’t like to do this, but I was first guessing the process of this from the start in in our chat. Um but if that if Manny catches that ball Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah, that’s fair. This could have been a very different inning and the outcome of the game could have been very different. Yeah, but hey, we’re not allowed to play the if game when things go badly for the Dodgers and they lose. So to those people, I say we’re not playing the if game tonight. So it’s we’re all all fair. Uh as Aaron says, World Series back on, baby. Here we go. Here we go. Up and to the right. Uh Rod says, “Love Kershaw. One more ring and retire on top. I love it. The vibes. The vibes are back, baby. We just needed one. This is a very different chat tonight. Yes, I love it. Fritz says, “What’s up, Doc? Going to the pen so often tonight. Great show as always, guys. The Dodgers bullpen. Five relievers combined for three innings, two hits, one earned, one walk, two strikeouts, two hit by pitch. Uh, this to me was the most interesting storyline. Excuse me. It’s Kershaw for six, then it’s Kasparius for 345, which as I tweeted, that’s top of the trust tree stuff for Ben Kasparius, then they go to Vessia, who’s a mess, our king, Blake Trinan, game five hero of the World Series that I will never forget. Gets Machado to pop out weekly, I might add. Manny Machado weekly pop out with runners on first and second in a one-run game. Then it’s Diaz for the ninth. I got thoughts for days. And then, hey, Jack Dryer, rookie, two outs, ninth inning, runner on. Here you go. Hand me the ball. Uh, Matt, I’ll give you first pick. Kasparius Vessia trying to Diaz or Drier. Which one of those five decisions uh did you love or hate the most? I mean, none of them, like with with Kasparius, I I think it’s a mixture of trust and the reality of who’s available and who’s doing what right now. Uh the try the the Trinan one. I I guess I’ll pick that just because he has not been good since coming back and I do think like he does need some time to to knock some rust off and and all that. But so that was a a big spot to go to him and and he did look yes we’re not going to play the if like game because we don’t do it the other way. But he also like that pitch that he got Machado to to pop up on. It was a hanger and like it that very easily could have been, you know, a different a different outcome. Uh so that one I would say kind of concerned me or, you know, had me thinking like, oh, like is this is this the right call here? Love me some Trin. Love me some Trin. I said I might be an idiot, but I I love this man in this moment. Uh to me, the Casperius one, I think he’s been good, and I like I think he earned the right given who else was available. I liked the tryin one. Uh, Vessie has been a mess. We’ve talked about that. I mean, Anthony, give me your Alexis Diaz thoughts. Closing that one out. I tweeted Robleski, Bonda, Drier, Enriquez. I would have taken any of the four over Diaz and yet that’s who they went with. Um, quickly, Kasparius, that call did make me a little bit nervous. Uh, just because it’s probably not his inning if there are a couple of other options available. Mainly probably Brock Stewart. Um uh but beyond that the I thought with especially with the one pitch to Machado that that Blake was coming right back out. Yeah. Um and at the very least like on a batter by batter basis at least he was going to start the ninth inning I thought. Um and real quick on that as we we did get some clarity from Dave postgame that they are not doing the updown with Blake Trinidon. So there is sort of I don’t know if you want to call it a medical reason, but they’re trying as hard to avoid it. And Matt, what was the exact quote, which I know you love on this one, was what the the reason that Blake Trinan uh didn’t do an updown tonight, Dave Roberts said is quote because it wasn’t game seven. There you go. There you go. In case people in case people lost track of the calendar and up until that point, he was managing like it was game seven. True. Like five relievers through three innings to cover three. But uh yeah, when they when when they flash D is on the screen, I was like, “Oh boy, this is getting thick here.” Yeah. Okay. Um I don’t think any of us were fans of that call. Uh but he got the job done. I I’ll say this, Jeff, you pointed this out in our in our own chat, but the the low 90s fast balls, middle middle, it’s crazy. Very nerve-wracking. Now, there there are scouting reports that say like his extension is very good and like it doesn’t play that way to a hitter, but still you see 92 middle against, you know, guys who can swing it a little bit and you get nervous. Um, with that said, that slider is really, really dirty. When he’s got it going, you can see why that guy has been effective in the past because there’s remnants there. There’s flashes of that brilliance. That pitch is dirty. like no guys are totally fooled and they’re not even close to touching it. So, you know, with all of that said, like he does have some stuff that plays up. Uh I will give him that. But still, that’s that that’s not a guy I want to see closing out games right now. It felt like old school baseball where it’s like, “No, no, no, but this guy’s been a closer before, everybody.” Like, this is like late 90s stuff. If I and he may have said it anyway, but I thought having listened to Dave for years, if that went badly, he was going to say, “Well, you know, he’s got closing experience. We liked him out there in that situation.” Like I could have I could type it right now in a quote for a story. Um, but it it worked out and and he he did throw a couple of really filthy pitches in that inning. Yeah, it it was a mix to your point of the two sliders that he got strikeouts on were like 10 out of 10 pitches and there was a 92 and a 93 that was just absolutely down the pipe. Like Enriquez throws 103 and gives up the two-run single to blow the game and Diaz throws 92 right down the middle and it just gets fouled back. Crazy stuff. And then I mean I got to give Dave credit because then he goes to Jack Dryer who’s the rookie who’s been fantastic. Why the Padres’s brought in a lefty is beyond me. But they bring in a lefty. Dryer gets the call and Dryer gets the final. I mentioned this gentleman was in the chat. Well, he’s now in the studio with us. Shout out to Bruce Coons hopping in with us on a Friday night as well. Uh Bruce, I asked Matt this question. Kasparius, Vesia, Trinan, Diaz, or Drier? Uh, was there one of those decisions that you particularly loved or particularly hated? Not really, because I think it was all like Matthew kind of touched on, it was rolling with the punches of what’s the best that you can do. It helps me to know that uh hearing that quote from Roberts that they don’t want to do updowns with Trinan because that one confused me a bit in the moment to not send him back out there after he threw one pitch. But um with that explanation being had that was really the only thing I was questioning. I liked uh not in a vacuum but with the circumstances given I thought going to Diaz was fine because you know he’s got the experience as a closer. I thought the slider looked a lot better than it has through, you know, the first couple Dodger outings tonight and I thought he threw the ball well. So, um, going to Drier I also thought was good to face O’Harn regardless of, you know, rookie anything, I think Drier has shown that he’s got the composure to pitch in that spot. So, I I thought that with uh how tough the Dodger bullpen management situation is, I thought tonight was kind of just not only how I had to go, but also the best way to navigate it. I know I wasn’t Oh, go ahead, Matt. Real quick. uh we glossed over it because we were laughing about Dave Roberts saying that it’s not a game seven. But the other the other layer to try and only throwing one pitch tonight, not going back out there is that he should be available now tomorrow night. So, so that is that factored into their decision-m as well. I was going to say I know I wasn’t the only one when Dryer bounced his first pitch that was a little bit nervous about how the rest of that was going to go, but then he lands a slider and ends up getting the job done. Uh Matt, I want to ask you real quick about Alex Vestia. this guy, he and Drier have, not basically, they have been the two most valuable pitchers for the Dodgers the entirety of this season out of the bullpen. Uh, and Vessia, this is fourth consecutive outings now where he has been a mess. I wrote down before he fell apart that that seventh inning when he was warming up as the Dodgers were hitting, that was a long half of an inning with Teao’s home run, a pitching change, and then a number of guys reaching base and whatever. That’s not an excuse entirely, but I I literally wrote in my notes like, man, if this goes sideways, like he it was sort of a bizarre spot. But from your perspective, Matt, what do the Dodgers do with Alex Vessie now? He’s been at the top of the trust tree and now you can make a case he belongs at the bottom. I mean, you sort of see if Drier and Banda can can handle some of those leverage situations. I think maybe the NE obviously, I don’t know if they’d run Dryer back out there for back toback. I mean, maybe if the if the right match up, maybe if it was just for a batter or two type thing. It’s not going to matter when they win nine to one tomorrow, though. That’s true. Yeah, that’s Yeah, I mean, yeah, that is an easy way to, you know, you have bullpen concerns. Just just hit your way to a win. Uh I I wonder if maybe they do kind of start going towards back to primarily Drier maybe being the high leverage, you know, lefty specialist type thing and maybe a little bit of Banda mixed in and then get Vessia into some lower lower leverage stuff to sort of get back on track. Um, but even then, like Dave Roberts has he we know that he sticks with his guys. I mean, he’s been uh pra I don’t want to say praising or defending he’s still been speaking highly of Vessia this past week when we he was getting asked about him down in Anaheim. Uh so I I mean they might just still, you know, stay the I mean look, it’s this front office, this organization, they they very much believe in the guys that they have and in their process and they they will stay the course. And I know it drives maybe us to a lesser extent as crazy compared to, you know, a lot of the people who join us on these shows, but that is the reality is, you know, they they believe in in what they’re doing. And if Bessie has somebody that they trust, then they’re going to think like, yeah, if we put him out there on Sunday, then he’s going to pitch the way we expect him to and, you know, not the way the last four games have gone for him. And it sucks because he gets ahead 02 on the first guy and you’re thinking like, all right, thank goodness. It seems like he settled down and then you just can’t put him away and it’s hit by pitch. Hit by pitch and things go sideways. So, uh G2 Gregs, so glad the boys won tonight. I live in San Diego. I would be hearing it all weekend at work. Uh congratulations to you maybe more than anybody else, Greg. I I know that feeling when you’re surrounded by the opposing team fan. There is nothing better than getting that first uh first victory. The cope the cope right now by some Padre accounts on social is uh is real. It’s amazing. They call they because you know the Padres’s live rent free in Dodger fans heads that this is why they posted that uh tonight the Dodgers won their World Series. Yeah, that’s fantastic. We should put a banner up. Uh Jedi engineer said uh which players weekend limited time snacks are you guys grabbing at the park this weekend? Um this this is a I I I’ve got four here. Matt, are there more than these four from Freeman, Betts, Otani, and Muny, or is it just these four? It should be just those four to the best of my knowledge. Okay, so we’ve got Freddy Freeman’s steak fre. We’ve got Muki Bett’s ch chicken parmesan fry helmet, show Otani’s Takayyaki Meno. Yeah, sorry. I don’t know how you say that. I did see some clarificate that it’s like spicy cod row or something. Okay, that’s interesting. And then Maxiey’s soup dumplings. So, Bruce, uh, steak fruits, chicken parmesan fries, takayyaki, or soup dumplings? What are you going for? First, we need to Bruce, are you gonna be at either of the two games this weekend? Oh, don’t do this to the guy. The guy already gets killed for being at these games when they lose. No, cuz now we can Now No, now we can find out if he’ll actually try one, not like play a hypothetical game. I’ll need a security detail now, too. I I’ll be there the next two days. Oh, here we go. There we go. Well, we need wins. Bruce needs wins more than any. So Bruce, if you were going to try one of these, which would you try? If’s the big word because I won’t be. I don’t pay stadium prices, but if I were, I think that chicken farm fries sounded interesting to me. I’d go with that. That sounds ballparky and and like it could be interesting. Mareno, I saw you nodding your head. Is that what you’d go with? Yeah, that’s the one I’d go with. The steak is is next on my list, but I’m not sure if I’m I’m trusting chicken before I I like have steak at a baseball stadium. Like that that’s just not you’re trusting chicken out of before. Yeah, because I I understand like this like the potential sickness like sure like I could see that but I I’m trusting the chicken. I think chicken is more likely to be edible than like you’re going to have like good steak at a state at the state at least in that sense if you go down into the you know fancy seats where maybe maybe Jeff has been a few times. That’s where Well, we’ve all seen Jeff’s house. He can afford it. That’s right. That’s true. People love that. Uh, I will say when you look when you ask this question, the not the question is not which of these has the highest ceiling. The question is which of these has the highest floor because you have to just start by assuming that none of these are the best version of the dish. It’s like which one of these has the lowest possibility of sucking the most. Which means I’m not touching soup dumplings. As much as I love soup dumplings from Dodger Stadium, uh, with all due respect to Otani’s dish, I’d have to figure out exactly what I’m eating first. So, I’m going steak fruits. that feels like it’s just like you can’t screw this up that badly. Chicken parmesan fries I would be open to as well, but that’s what I’d go with. Anthony, what’s the go? No, Anthony, go for it. Like at a restaurant. No, these all sound pretty good to me. Okay. Okay. Like the codro sounds pretty good. The soup dumpling sounds legit. Um I would say for ballpark food, the the fry helmet is probably where I would go. It seems like the safest. like that they wouldn’t screw that up too bad. But the Dodgers have brought in some nice vendors, especially for their Asian dishes uh in the last couple of years for obvious reasons. Um so I might I might venture out with the soup dumplings at a at a ballpark just to kind of see. Good for you. I will say uh Blake Blake got the chicken parm fries and I think he said that they were they were pretty or not bad. I mean, yes, I I love Blake. That’s my guy. But it’s it’s Blake we’re talking chicken. There was there was no question what dish he was going to go with. Yeah. Obviously. I mean Andy I mean I don’t He wouldn’t even eat those other three. I don’t think he doesn’t like steak. He the fish. There’s no chance he’s touching that dish. He might do soup dumplings, but that seems No, he’s not going. No, there’s no way that Okay. So, he’s one one for four. Oh, speaking of right on Q. Right on Q. I don’t even know how five people are gonna fit on the screen. There he is. There you heard the chicken parm talk coming and he had to join. Uh we need Blake. We need the scouting report. First two questions actually before you talk chicken parm. Would you eat any of the other three dishes that were mentioned? I have the steak fries. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Not a steak guy, but you’d go steak fries. I mean steak’s fine. It’s just not my favorite. So yeah. How is the chicken parm fryback b helmet or whatever? On the Dodger Stadium scale, they were like an 8.5 out of 10. Okay. So, fine, I guess, but I wouldn’t call them great. Okay. Well, you’re at the stadium obviously covering the game, Blake. So, uh, one of the questions we got earlier was just like the vibes in the stadium seemed um, light. So, h how was it being there? What did it feel like in the stadium as the game progressed? And then in the ninth inning, kind of felt like the same as always here. I mean, I think fans like know that it’s a big series, so they got hyped up at times, but a lot of times Dodger Stadium is more of an experience than like a actual place to go watch a baseball game. So, sometimes kind the baseball park gets kind of lost. Well, the r the rally flags were out tonight. That’s when, as Blake tweeted from me, that’s when you know it’s it’s a big game. Blake, what was the uh was the stadium sound the speakers were they at playoff level uh tonight? Aren’t they always? I feel like I mean yes, but I feel like for when the Yankees have been here, the Padres’s like it they tend to uh to get a little bit louder. I mean, I don’t think so. I think they’re just kind of as loud as always. Not great, but you know. Yeah. I got shot in Anaheim. Sorry, Jeeoff, but when when I was down uh for the Dodger Angel Series, I couldn’t hear anything on the PA because Dodger Stadium is so loud that going down there and not having it feel like it’s rattling my rib cage, I I couldn’t tell anything that was being said. It was weird to you. Yeah. Blake, my favorite question I’ve asked these guys is which relief pitcher decision they either loved or hated the most. Uh, of the five guys Dave went to, was there one you were particularly fond or disgusted by? No. felt like standard Dave operating procedure today. I mean, they don’t have a ton of options, so can’t be too mad either way with what they’re doing. Yeah. Okay. The people like the facial hair situation, by the way, Blake, there’s lots of chatter going on uh with the the clean shave version. So, there you go. Yeah. Well, I’m going to head out now. I just wanted to jump in because I heard the chicken slander and I saw stuff left out when everyone else was on here. So, I’m uploading all the videos and everything from tonight. Well, we appreciate it, Blake. Keep up the hard work. Thanks for popping in. Uh David with another super chat. Does Freeland’s defense make up for his minus 200 average? I think like roughly 200 average. Uh I could go I could go one of two ways. I’m going to go Bruce here first though. Uh Bruce, does his defense make up for his offense? His defense makes up for it and his offense also won’t be that low for very long. I’m surprised we’re still waiting on his first uh extra base hit. That’s not going to be the case for very long either. So, I think that his at bats for the most part have looked pretty composed. He took a couple of called third strikes tonight that you want to see a little bit more aggression when you get deep in counts like that, but he’s patient and he hasn’t lost that part. So, I I think that he looks composed at the plate and I’m just waiting for the offensive numbers to catch up to the look and I think that’ll happen. Anthony, is there an unofficial rule about swinging at a three- 0 pitch and then staring at a strike three pitch in the exact same at bat? It feels like both of those, if your name is Alex Freeland, are unacceptable. Yeah, seriously. Uh, god, that that’s getting old quick. Yeah. Um, I’ll uh to answer the question that you asked Bruce, um, I do think he’s better than this. The the one and I know like some of the underlying numbers aren’t very positive for him so far, but I I do like his approach. I think that’s what’s impressed me most offensively is that, you know, I I mostly only see highlights, at least I have only seen highlights from when he was coming up. Um, and so you don’t see the entire at bat, but that’s I think what’s impressed me most is that for a guy that’s that young and who’s just come up, um, his approach is pretty impressive and I like that. And that typically is going to lead to pretty pretty decent things even if he’s not like an all-star caliber offensive player for the defense. Boy, that plays Yeah. I mean, this guy can pick it and he can go get it. He made that over the shoulder grab at second base in shallow right a last week or whatever it was. That was that’s that’s a really difficult play if if if people haven’t played the infield before. That that ball is not easy to go get. And he went and got it and made it look nice. And then the two plays he made tonight at third um were really really nice. So uh he’s the kind of infielder that I think kind of gets me going. Like I like when the ball gets hit to him. Uh you know there’s some other good defensive players on this roster. Rojos Kim is good. Even Muki’s been pretty good. But, uh, I kind of I’m I’m a fan of when they hit balls at Freeland right now because he he can go get it. I just want to warn you, Anthony, everything you just said about Freeland’s offensive game, that sounds a lot like early onset Michael Conforto fanism and I just I’m identifying it in you and I just want to warn you that you go down that road too far of I like his approach and I know all the numbers, but I like the approach. I’m just from experience. I’m just trying to help a brother out. Two things and that’s fair and I appreciate it. Just this is why me and you are boys. This is why we’re the Tuesday and Sunday night crew. Two things. Conferto’s approach never looked quite like this. I mean, and two, Conforto I no one has ever said about Michael Conforto. I hope the ball gets hit at him. I’m just talking offense. Just talking offense here. I’m just saying likes the approach. Some underlying numbers. I just I heard a bunch of buzzwords that I’m like, you know, it’s what you Google that in WebMD and it’s a picture of Michael Conforto where the dog usually is inside of somebody’s heart. So, I’m just Just, you know, just be careful out there. Be careful out there. Uh, Carolina says, “Love you guys. Blue at first base. Blue the check swing call. Ump behind the plate stunk. Is it me or have Blues been atrocious as of late? Do better. I mean, robot umps tomorrow, right, Matt? Look, I I’ve said that the umpiring this season has made it harder and harder for me to continue to stand by the human element. Uh, I still would prefer that there is more accountability and like clarity on the accountability with them before we went uh full-blown robot. But I will say like singing the ABS in spring training like it was fine. It wasn’t uh too invasive or anything or too radical for for me and I don’t need to go yell at any clouds uh anytime soon. So So it’s fine. Like yeah, bring on bring on Yeah, that Oh, of course. There’s always going to be a reason. Uh bring on ABS. Like it’ll be fine. I’ll be okay. I’ll live. Yeah, exactly. my guy Kershaw getting squeezed and then the check swing down at first base were I can’t I can’t be having that. You can’t put that in my life. So, uh David says this is one of the best nights ever on Dodgerheads. Five guys. Matt, you would know like have we done six? Did we do like after a World Series? I mean, we probably have had six people on the same show, but I don’t know if we’ve ever gotten to six at one time. Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t even know if we’ve ever done five at one time. That might have I don’t remember seeing us like that small like after game five last year it was just four max even though that’s what I thought. Yeah, I think we were rotating it because I wasn’t on at first. I was doing like postgame videos. Blake was obviously uh in the clubhouse sneaking bottles of champagne and you know having his first his first sip. Uh I’m just kidding. Like I I which you know about which part? Well, all of it just in case, you know, I don’t want MLB to come, you know, as I’m sure the MLB league office is tuned in to to this show right now. But, uh, in all seriousness, yeah, I don’t think we had five people on it at one time. So, that was that was certainly a first. Uh, I wouldn’t have guessed that, you know, the middle of August is when we would have done it, but hey, circumstances call for it. Then, here we are. Yeah, I’m going to be honest. When I clicked add to studio for Blake, I had literally no idea what was about to happen on the screen. I was like, I don’t know. Maybe one of us is going to be massive. Maybe they’re just going to choose which one they like the least. AI chat GPT 4.0. Who knows? So, uh, Laura wants to know, “Prediction for tomorrow’s game. Snellzilla versus CE.” Bruce, by all accounts, on paper, this is a good matchup. Cease is a guy the Dodgers have actually performed well against, and obviously Blake Snell, uh, when he’s right, one of the best pitchers in baseball. So, how are you feeling about tomorrow’s game, Bruce? Yeah, I’m feeling about a 60% chance, right? 65 somewhere in there of there’s never going to be an easy game against the Padres’s. I I don’t think there’s ever going to be an easy game against the NC regardless of what the numbers have said. That guy’s very good. But I think Blake Snell’s looked good the last couple times out. Um coming off a game like tonight really helps to have won tonight and have that feel going into tomorrow of um we kind of talked about it yesterday, Jeff, but having the Dodgers kind of feel like they’re back in control, right? Feel like this is the, you know, dynasty Dodgers. The Padres’s are still the team down south that are coming in and trying to change things, right? It doesn’t feel like that the Dodgers are on a down slide anymore. So, going into tomorrow, it can feel much more like business as usual. Yeah. Anthony, what about you? I’m about the same as Bruce. I would say 65%. Um I I like Snell in these kinds of situations. He’s a he’s a dog. Um, like there’s been there was talk during the off day on a lot of shows uh about how like the Padres’s and Manny Machado in particular like really thrive off of sort of hostile environments or you know these kinds of like tight situations. Snail is that kind of guy. Um I I like him in these sort of pressure rivalry type of scenarios. U I think he shoves tomorrow. Yeah, there you go. By the way, Bruce, the odds on this game minus 132. to the Dodgers, which is like a 58% implied probability. So, there you go. You say 60%, Vegas says 58%. Matt, you feeling good about this or you want are you going to do your whole like, well, we can’t we can’t all pick the Dodgers here. We can’t all be positive, so I’m not not picking the Padres’s. Are we doing this thing or where are we going? Well, first, I was told there would be no math tonight. That’s one. Two, uh I think a team will win tomorrow. So, yeah, I that’s that’s what I’m going to stand by. The Dodgers are going to win, you said. Sure. Okay. Sure. I mean, Jersey, yes, that’s what Will Smith said about the janitor, and we all know what that means. So, there we go. You know, uh 300 wants to know, are the Brewers peaking too soon? Anthony, this is this is your your world. So, I got to come to you. 13 in a row from the Brewers. As we all know, winning 13 in a row in the middle of August is actually truly a bad thing in Major League Baseball, right? I asked this exact question to one of their beat guys yesterday. Um, and their response was, I don’t think so. So this feels real. And I said, “Even for the offense?” And they said, “Yeah.” And I said, “How about don’t give me what their records are against the current playoff field with for games that happened in June and July? Like what does this look like to you?” And then it started to back up a little bit. And I was like, “Okay, look,” because I mean they’re winning games in crazy ways. Yeah. They’re down eight to one. They were down eight to one today and one. Yeah. Um I mean they’re legit good. Don’t get me wrong. They are legit good. they’re a legit contender. Um, but I I just and my response to them at the end of the day to to one of the beat riders was, I just don’t trust until I see it from them that they can go into a series and face legitimate frontline pitchers every single night and do what they’re doing offensively. I have no doubt that they can pitch. Now, their starters also don’t go in deep into games, but they have a pretty good bullpen. Um, and so, uh, you know, there are those factors as well, but just I think that you, let’s say the Dodgers match up with them because that’s what we care about, right? That’s what we’re asking. You throw Snell, Glass Now, Yamamoto, Otani, and maybe a Kershaw at him. And and I just I don’t think that that offense is as dynamic as it looks currently. Yeah. Well, it it’s so interesting because we’re having this whole conversation, right, about this Dodgers team and are they actually good and are they going to win the World Series, but what you just said about the Brewers, I think, is kind of the argument for the Dodgers. Your whole point was like until I see them do this against a great team when the Chips are down in the postseason. It’s going to to be hard for me to believe. And that’s pretty much the argument that Bruce and I were making for the Dodgers last night on the show was like, yes, but whether whatever you think like the Dodgers are the opposite, right? They’re stumbling now. They’re not winning 13 in a row. And yet, we’ve seen them do it when the chips are down. And we’ve seen them in those big moments hit and pitch and get big outs. And so, it’s an interesting sort of dynamic to to look at the opposite thing happening. And so, if you’re skeptical of like, well, I mean, is that really going to happen? Is that really going to continue? Like, you’re asking the same question just in the opposite direction that that many people are asking about the Dodgers. Matt, I you and I have not had that specific conversation and nobody’s overreacting to one win against the Padres’s and saying, “No, no, no. All the doom and gloom. The sun has come out and all of that is is put away.” But where are you at, Matt, on this particular Dodgers team? You you you saw them go and beat San Diego, who’s one of the best teams in the league at home. Not a must-win, but an urgent game, as Dave Roberts would say. Where are you at with this team? I I was grow I’ve been growing more and more concerned with their like level of play of late just because like I felt like it’s been so much of like you know Mookie until fine he the last two weeks like he he did get going but Freddy Freeman I feel like as much as he kind of started to turn around I know he’s still like doing okay if you look at like big picture but I feel like his at bats necessarily aren’t that great. Tay Oscar hit the home run tonight, but he’s, you know, been still inconsistent in strugg. So, I wasn’t I’m not I don’t think I’m going to get short of I mean, look, Max Monk’s injury, which we haven’t discussed yet. Like, that that throws a wrench into things. And I know that they are saying, you know, week to week, maybe he’s back in a 3 weeks, a month or so, like that that is concerning where we sit right now. Like I’m not at the point where I’m I’m writing the Dodgers off and saying there’s no way that they’re going to win October because frankly like that’s how I felt last year because of their lack of rotation. I was like there’s no way this team is going to make it through October. And of course like of all years when you’re not expecting them to do it that’s when they somehow are able to piece it together. And the reality is show Otani, Muki Betts, Freddy Freeman, if they put together one good month, if two of those three put together a good month and the other guys kind of, you know, get closer to some of their career averages, like it changes the complexion and the feeling of everything. And I know that Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates and Michael Copek aren’t popular names, but, you know, they are going to come back and if if they just don’t pitch as poorly as they have, they are going to be additive to the bullpen and so things sort of stabilize. Like I can they still win a World Series? Yes. Like would I feel comfortable picking them to do it? Not necessarily. But I think like you could say that about every team. Like I think you could go to Brewers fans like as much as they’re riding high right now with their 13game winning streak. Like if you ask them, do you guys like comfortably feel like are willing to predict or pick that the Brewers win the World Series? Like I don’t know how many of them you would find that would say yes. But with all of this though, that was a good super chat. And I I do have to segue. I can if you can kick this question around to Bruce if you want but then come back to me because I have a question for Anthony. Okay. Well, I was I was you go for it because I we let’s talk my next but you go first. Let’s do it. Uh Anthony, when you and I I text you so kind of warm. You and I were on the uh the power of the pocket pancakes now are 13 and0. Yes. I know. I know how much you you love that. Uh my the question that I meant to ask you that I forgot when we were host I don’t know when it was a week ago whatever it was. What are you pick? What are you putting in your pockets? If if not a pancake, what’s what’s your food of choice? And I apologize. I know we usually leave food until the very end, but we’re making an exception here because I forgot to ask Anthony last time. Um, what am I putting in my pockets? It’s going to be like probably candy of some sort. But it can’t be a bag. It’s got to go just straight raw into the into the pocket. Yeah, it’s got to be like cuz like pizza like I mean, the right answer in a dugout is sunflower seeds. Yes. Fair. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but if we’re if we’re getting if we’re getting weird with it, uh, what am I putting raw dog into my pockets to eat later? I’ll say pan. This is one question where pancakes beats waffles and French toast. I’ll give pancakes that. If I’ve got to choose one of those in the pocket, I’m going pancake. That That is That part is fair. Uh, I might I might have to go like a Napoleon Dynamite and say like French fries tater tots kind of kind of situation. It’s a good choice. It’s a good choice. I like that. I like that. Um, okay. Back to baseball. Matt, you mentioned Maxie. Uh, to the injured list with an oblique injury. Uh, Bruce, you and I were on last night. At the time, we were told it was not muscular, that it didn’t feel like what it used to feel like, and that unlikely to be an oblique injury. And then we woke up today and he’s on the injured list with an oblique injury. But don’t worry everybody, don’t worry. Very different than the last time. He’s going to be back by the end of the season. That’s what we’re being told. Again, if you choose to believe these things. Uh Bruce, this feels like a really big deal because we’ve talked a lot over the last three weeks about how critical Max is offensively to this lineup and now we’re facing at least a couple week absence of Maxy. It’s a huge deal because Maxy being out of this lineup at any time is really going to be impactful. And this oblique is that raises all the red flags for me and is he going to be back this year? And I know that they said that they believe he will be, but and I’m not even normally one of the guys to say that I everything out of Dave Roberts mouth regarding injuries is a lie. I I don’t really think that way, but uh we’ve already seen it with Muny in the past. You see it with oblique injuries all the time that these are the exact kind of injuries that just nag on and they don’t heal on a timeline that you expect them to or they do but it’s like very unpredictable and the last time my went down with the oblique injury that they say was a little worse than this but it’s still oblique he wound up way longer than we expected him to be out. Um so this is very concerning for me. I’m kind of in a place of just hoping that he’s back by the playoffs and I’m not gonna believe anything that’s said until I see him back. I was already in that place when he hurt his knee and then he was back super fast. So, I don’t know. It’s concerning. Uh I I’m not ready to throw in the towel and assume he’s gone the whole year, but I’m certainly worried about it. Yeah. Uh Matt, you’re our expert in speaking Dave Roberts. Uh how do you interpret the comments he made today about Max Mudsy’s injury? I mean, I I think it’s more opt like I don’t want to call it wishful thinking because I feel like that can be a little demeaning, but I think it is more of like being hopeful that it will be, you know, week to week. It’s not as bad. I mean, the M like I don’t think he’s lying. Like I’m assuming like an MRI did reveal like a grade one ST. I don’t think I don’t think that they would get the the severity in that sense wrong. Like I maybe he would say, oh, it’s kind of mild. I don’t know if they would label it grade one, grade two, where like that stuff is kind of like easy to sort of track. That being said, I think an an oblique injury is an oblique injury. Like the the concern here is you can’t rush him back too quickly because if you do and he aggravates it, then you’re probably losing him for the rest of the year short of like maybe if the Dodgers reach the World Series and enough time has passed depending on when that aggravation would have happened. The biggest thing, honestly, if we learned anything from last year, I hope Muny was at the chiropractor already getting work done so that we can avoid a repeat of, you know, six weeks of not knowing what’s going on and can’t get past, you know, swinging a bat and this and that. So, uh, yeah, I mean, it’s it’s concerning. Um, but, you know, you just, I guess, hope that it is genuinely, you know, something that’s on the more mild side this time. Yeah, absolutely. Our guy Scott is in the chat and uh, Kershaw is in my playoff rotation. Jeff was a real thing that Scott Gar just posted. So, I mean, there you go. There you go. It’s all it’s all uh it’s all coming full circle here. So, shout out to you, Scott. Again, I mean, the biggest curse I got here, I’m not there yet. Like, he’s still fifth in a four-man competition, but he’s on the he’s on the roster, no doubt, as we’ve been talking about. So, there we go. Uh LLM with the super chat. Let’s not act like this offense is all good. They still can’t hit with the bases loaded. They can’t hit against bums like Matsui and Vasquez. I mean, guys, come. They won. It’s They won three to2. Like, we don’t get credit when they score six runs and lose. We can’t We can’t be only negative when they score three runs and win. They won. They play to win the game. They won the game. That’s all I got to say. Uh Tom says, “Dodgers secure the tiebreaker with one more win.” Uh Matt, when they win the division by seven, I’m not sure the tiebreaker will matter though. No, it won’t. Not at all. Yeah. Yeah. So, there you go. Aussie pointing out Devin Sports Gospel didn’t do a postgame tonight. Uh, you know, hey, I’ I I’ve been there, buddy. I’ve been there. But, uh, good for them. They were awfully quiet. Hold on. We show up. I’m I’m saying I’m saying I’m just saying like I’ve been in the mental and emotional space where the idea of not showing up to do a post game. I can empathize with. Let’s say that. Matt and I signed up on the dotted line. Anthony as well. Prior to outcome tonight, we signed on the dotted line to be here for you all tonight. And thankfully, there’s 2,200 people in here celebrating a victory. So there we go. 300. Why 300? And Will looks to be going into his second half funk. The guy hit a home run last night. Like, can we just be positive? Can we just enjoy the victory? Bruce, why do we have to be like this? Why do we have to Why are we finding things to be mad about tonight? I I think there might be some people that didn’t close the YouTube tab last night and just kept it open and just refreshed tonight because uh yeah, I I don’t if there’s one excuse to be positive, I’m I’m jumping at it. That’s the whole reason I’m here right now. I wasn’t planning on joining the show tonight, the Dodgers one. I’m the fair weather guy tonight. I’ll come right out and say it. There’s no chance I’d be here if they lost. I would not do that again. But here I am because there was a chance to try and flip the script and not have to wait a week to say anything remotely positive after yesterday’s stream. Yeah. G2 says, “Take me back to Napoleon Dynamite with the tots.” Uh I I have to ask Matt, you’ve seen Napoleon Dynamite, right? Yes. Bruce, have you seen Napoleon Dynamite? Okay. Thank goodness. I just I’m I just I needed to check Needed to check these things. Is there any chance Blake has? No chance. He’s in the chat. Blake, respond if you’ve seen Napoleon. Respond if you’ve seen it and and like give us some quote us a line or something like that. Uh, Jedi engineers on the same page as you, Matt. Have they checked that Muny’s ribs are all in the right place? We’re going to get on that. They’re going to check his eyesight again, too, just to be safe. While they’re there, uh, Ram Lake Jurers says, “Kershaw 3 has gone six innings in six of his last nine starts. What’s his role in the postseason?” Um, I’m still on souped-up run Honeywell if pending health of the four guys in front of him. Uh, Matt, what’s what’s Kershaw’s role in the postseason if uh if the status quo remains? Yeah, I mean I like I could see that type of thing, you know, a long man uh out of the bullpen kind of, you know, hey, this game got out of hand sort of. I I don’t know if if they’re getting crushed. I don’t know if they would do that to Kershoff, say, “Hey, like go mop this game up.” I just don’t know what the value is in that role for him. Well, they need some I it’s the value is they need somebody to do it, right? But then on the roster, if you’re only if you’re talking about mop-up situations, why risk him in that role for for that? Like just get somebody who this is the final line, lack of a better way to say, you don’t care if he gets hurt or whatever. Correct. If that’s the role, then throw him in that role in like, let’s say, a five game series. In a seven game series, he’s a starter. And I’d be worried, too. Like, you cannot put a guy on your postseason roster that you’re not willing to at least consider pitching in a big spot. And so, I I’m going to be hated for this, but I really don’t think that it’s an impossible world for me to envision that Kershaw’s not on the postseason roster. Because for me, if he’s not in the starting rotation, I I I don’t see a spot. I think that if we’re talking about the souped-up Brent Honeywell, I think Justin Robleski fits that spot a lot better. And if you get deep in a game and you need to turn to Robo for a couple of batters or something, I think you can do that. You’re not going to do that with Kershaw. So, I think you’re you’re limiting your options by putting Kershaw there. And I I just don’t think there’s any guarantee that he shifts to that role and and that it all goes smoothly. I think the way that Kershaw makes a postseason roster is if he’s a starter. And I I just don’t see it as likely that they try and mop up a postseason roster spot that’s so valuable with a guy who’s purely long relief and that’s it. Who invited Who invited Bruce? Not me. Not me. I mean, geez Louise, we’re crapping on Kershaw and Kershaw night. No, no, no. That’s not what that is. It’s clearly a fit thing. It’s a fit thing. I I’ll say this. Uh, one is this is the last ride. I’m not worried about his health in NLDS and the NLCS. The man is going out on his sword one way or the other. And look, I Yes, if if push came to shove and Kershaw’s the last arm in the bullpen and it a that mean things got weird. And if things get weird, give me Clayton freaking Kershaw taking the ball for however long is left. But if his goal is to come in when they’re losing nine to one in the sixth inning, what value is that for him to be on the roster at all at that point? Well, I just I if it’s me, I would rather be on the roster, right? Like I if the stupid example for me is when I was a junior in high school, they were like, “Do you want to play varsity and sit on the bench and not be a participant or do you want to be on GV and start the whole time?” And I’m like, “Vench?” Like, I want to be in the game on the on the big field whether I’m playing or contributing or not. Like, I just can’t imagine a world where Clayton Kershaw would rather not be on the roster. If you put Kersaw in that role, he’s not going to retire. And not only is he not going to retire, he’s going to go sign in Texas next year. No way. 0% chance any of that strength. I mean, I I agree. I’m just I’m talking I’m just talking head here, but that’s a completely ridiculous role for him to be in. If you actually value what he that he’s good, the reason why you’re saying that this is potentially a possibility is because he’s been good. Now, if you’re going to say you’ve been so good, you’re the mop-up guy. That just doesn’t make sense to when you have no glass now Yamamoto and Otani as your four starting pitchers. I understand that which is why I’m saying he might not be on the roster in the NLDS, but he’s on it for a sevename series. That’s that’s my thing with it because then you could you could slot him in as as a rotation piece here. I’m going to this this is what’s going to end up happening, guys. So, don’t worry. I figured it out. I figured it out. when Otani starts his playoff game there there’s no guarantee like there the Dodgers haven’t said but I it would it be a complete shock if maybe he only necessar like maybe goes four innings because the intensity is up maybe he’s had to labor a little bit more and so he’s not going to be pitching five or six so if he goes four innings in a theoretical scenario and then you follow up with Clayton Kershaw giving you four or five innings then you just covered an entire game sheen like depending on what the bullpen ends up looking like with with some of these guys coming back like you might need Shien in the bullpen in like a more of a traditional role, not necessarily the the piggyback guy. Same thing like Robleski maybe could be the hybrid sort of uh piggyback or mop up if as Bruce outlined like he would be better for that. So that’s how they’ll make it all work and it’ll be everybody will be fine and and Kershaw’s not because I don’t I don’t think that they’re going to put Kershaw in like a 91 you know they’re losing type of game. I don’t think they would do that from a like respect stand. And I could be wrong, but I just I don’t see that happening. I’ve been I’ve been a fan of that sort of scenario. I haven’t used Kershaw in that role, Matt, but if that’s what it is, I’m good with that. I’ve been fine with with them. If they went said if they said, “Look, Otani’s in the rotation, but he’s only going to go four, and then we’re going to piggyback him with another legitimate starter after that to try to give us four.” I would be I’d be totally fine with that situation. It’s It’s the mop-up role that I have a problem with Kershaw being in. Jeff, don’t don’t put Blake on the screen. Uncle Ro’s here. Uncle Rico’s here to tell us all about it. So, Uncle Rico trying to cook has not seen has not seen Napoleon Dynamite, by the way. Well, yeah, there’s uh no chance they’re putting Kersha on a mop-up roll. First of all, they won’t need it because they’re not going to be punting every third game. Second of all, they’re gonna say he’s keeping his arm ready to start and leave him off the roster there. And that’s what it’s going to be. If if Otani or someone ends up not starting, then yeah, Kershaw is going to be in that rotation, but they’re not putting him in a mop-up role. I would guarantee that. I I just there’s I don’t see a world where Kershaw pitching the way he’s pitching is not on the postseason roster. And to your point, they have four starters that as incredible as Kershaw has pitched, he’s not one of the four best starters. And so how you sort of navigate a world where like he’s he’s it seems incredibly likely that he’s going to be on the roster and it seems incredibly likely that he’s not going to be one of their four best starters. How you navigate those two things, maybe it’s this piggyback type role, maybe it’s a mop-up role, maybe he’s just a peer reliever. I I just don’t know. I just to me I find it hard to believe that he’s just not going to be on the roster. And I understand like mop-up role sounds disrespectful for Clayton Kershaw, but like leaving him off the postseason roster sounds more disrespectful to me. Well, there’s just no value in using him in that role if you if you do think like he might have a role for you later in the playoffs. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess I I don’t know if I he has a role. Like, we looked at the numbers. You could get by with a fourman rotation in the CS and the World Series. So, they probably won’t though because they don’t want anyone pitching on short rest or anything. They want to keep everyone on long rest. So, it’s going to be Kershaw is going to be off the DS roster and if they make it to the CS and World Series, he’ll join the rotation. They’re just not putting him in a mop-up role. Blake, what’s your reaction going to be when it’s Clayton Kershaw, game one starter of the NLDS? I just want to be in Blake Williams head when that headline comes across. Vasset tweets, Clayton Kershaw announced as game one starter. Um, we’ve already seen that recently. Not a huge fan of it. Um, I wouldn’t mind if he’s in the rotation because I know we’re all predicting like everyone stays healthy. The reality is probably not going to happen. So, we’re discussing all this and he’s probably going to end up in the rotation. It’s like the number four anyway. So, love it. Cool. So, Jeff, as you like to say, we landed the plane. Exactly. Kershaw playoff starters. Everybody predicted. So, there we go. Who does uh Blake I don’t know if you’re welcome to stick around. If you don’t stick around, you got to go watch Napoleon Dynamite. It’s an absolute incredible movie. Um, yeah, I’ve seen all the memes and everything from it, so I’m aware of it, but haven’t ever seen it. Um, I’ll stick around because I’m just sitting here in the press box right now because they did their road night and the parking lot is still full. People want to know who’s going to leave the stadium later tonight. You or Vass, is he still here? Well, all right. He might be doing his He might be doing his postgame show. I don’t know if I don’t know how late they were going, though. There you go. Uh, we got some super chats here. Uh, LLM says, “Let’s uh Oh, never mind. We already did this one.” Uh, let’s see. Um, G2 Greg, take me back to Napoleon Dynamite. Uh, okay. We saw that one already. Sorry, I’m catching up here. Um, here we go. Uh, Jy Kim, it seems more outfielders and hitters are getting injuries normally associated with pitchers, oblique injuries, UCL’s, etc. Uh, Bruce, what do you think? like is this something you’re noting that there’s some like abnormal injuries being diagnosed in offensive players? Not a ton. Um I I think that you could probably like for those two injuries, especially the general u increase of strength and and general athleticism of guys probably is tied to the increase of injuries everywhere. So I haven’t noticed anything really specifically, but like I’ve always thought of oblique as just as much of a hter injury as a pitcher injury. I don’t know if I’m off base on the the UCL one is probably a little bit more of a newer one for position players, but the oblique thing got real popular unfortunately like in like the 2007 8 n like that kind of that era. Um, you know, I don’t know if guys were training differently or what, but it became more of a thing uh that kind of it kind of was running rampant around around baseball. Um, and it was never a I think it still gets big di misdiagnosed in hitters because it’s like ah he’ll be out for two weeks. Yeah. And the guy’s out for two months like th those be just because I think the nature of the violent hacks that guys take these days. Um, that thing does not heal quickly and it’s becoming it for it’s been about 10 years now that it’s been a pretty common thing for hitters. It’s possible that 10 years ago is where they figured out where the oblique was on the body as well. It’s possible that those two things are related. Sorry, Jeeoff, for for the UCL thing, too. And I think it you could tie just every big leager pitched at one point in middle league. And now that we’re in the era of every single big leager has been a 12 month baseball baseball player since they were 10 years old. Like it makes sense to say that all of them by the time they reach the major leagues probably have worse more shredded elbows than the yester year. Yeah, absolutely. Uh David wants to see Scott and seeing if we could fit a six person on here. So Scott, invite officially extended. There you go. Uh outgoing tech still the Stark in there, Mareno. Are we still are we getting left on red by our guy Dark? No, I didn’t bo I didn’t bother him, but I am sad to report that my local cheesecake factory just closed. That’s tragic. It’s tragic. Sorry to hear that. Sorry to hear that. There might be a BJ’s open near you. Jedi engineer, I’m having a hard time finding a Kershaw spot, too. I don’t think his pregame routine works for being a dedicated pen roll. Maybe assistant assistant assistant pitching coach. Blake, I don’t know if you were paying attention earlier, but Moreno is giving Mark Prior’s job to Clayton Kershaw. That happened like 10 minutes in. He was He just said Prior’s out. Kershaw’s in. So, I don’t know if you agree with that. Yeah, I don’t think so. I think uh one of the problems with really good players becoming coaches is they’re very stubborn and they don’t end up being good as coaches because everything worked for them before and they don’t have to learn new things. So, I think we have kind of seen Kershaw adapt more as he’s gone on. But, yeah, he didn’t spend a whole lot of his career having to learn how to be good. Yeah. Uh he’s also just going to go hang out with his kids for He’s got zero interest in this. zero ne negative negative interest. Uh Ray wants to let us know just got unsubscribed by a San Diego postgame show for my invasion. Sore losers. Left them a nice super chat though. So kudos to you, Ray. You know, kudos for the uh for the super chat and for uh for how are they coping, Ray? Uh drop it in the chat. I can imagine. I can only imagine. Uh all caps questions if you’ve got any of those. We’re at the hour 15 mark. Almost 2,300 people in here. Again, we appreciate you. Thanks to everybody listening live on YouTube, uh, Facebook, Twitter. Thanks to everybody watching or excuse me, listening via podcast, Apple, Spotify, and Google. We appreciate all of you. Uh, here we go. GI right from the top jump. Why Buddy Kennedy over someone like Senzel or Hosie? Do they think either of these guys have a future with the org? It could have just been why Bunny Kennedy, Blake, I think is we could have just stopped it right there. Uh, but do you have any insight in why not Nick Senzel or Cody Hosey? They haven’t been very good in AAA and it’s a very hitters league. You’re basically playing every game in Kors Field and I think both of them have an OPS below 800. So doesn’t project well to the major league level. Buddy Kennedy is a guy with experience and versatility. He can play first, second, and third. So just kind of a body right now to have around until Kik and Kim get back and Tommy Edmond. I don’t think you have to look too much into it. They just wanted an infielder and he was available and they claimed him to add some depth. Now, tell the truth. Raise your hand if any of the four of you had heard of Buddy Kennedy before today. Anybody? We got We got Good for us. Good for us. Whoever was was the admin earlier though, uh, after that got announced, kudos. I I legit laughed out loud. Someone asked someone said, “What is a Buddy Kennedy?” And whoever the admin was says he’s a Kennedy, buddy. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Uh, Scott can’t join. He’s currently getting in and out. So, wins everywhere for Scott tonight. Yeah, except he’s getting the one. What’s the one he gets where it’s the two big pieces of onion with meat in the middle of it, Blake? That’s the Flying Dutchman, but I don’t think he’s getting that. I think he’s getting his double double with uh no cheese on it and peppers and grilled onion and whole onion. So, yeah. Isn’t he like the the whole not like raw onion, he wants the full circular all the way filled in raw onion, I think. Yeah, he does that in out and just orders produce. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Uh Dong wants to know the duo of NBA Jam on my shirt. This is this is an alltime shirt, people. I’m just warning you. This is a legendary Lakers team and it is uh Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kosma we got going on on the NBA Jam shirt. So take that haters. Take that. Yeah, absolutely. Shout out to Homage. This shirt’s so comfortable. uh sign stealing scandal. Do you remember the last time it was decided Rojos would not quote take the bat out of Otani’s hands against San Diego? Game ending triple play. So there you go, Anthony. Take that. Yeah, that was bound to happen again. Yeah. Uh sign stealing scandal. This is a great one. Bruce, I’ll come to you first. He said, “Concerning the button taking the bat out of Otani’s hands, if you could press a button that guarantees Otani walks every play appearance for the rest of his career, would you take it, Bruce?” No. No. Yeah. I I know because you’re eliminating the slug, but it’s also like kind of an impossible question because it it’s hard to say that. Um the main thing it boils down to like that in this theoretical world would be a thousand ops. So Donnie is better than that when he’s at his best and the slug is more valuable than base. So the answer is what I was thinking, Bruce. But um I I think that like in a specific situation like this um it comes down to like tonight, how much faith do you have in the guys behind Otani and Mookie Betts and Will Smith and Freddy Freeman and the Dodgers still have a lot of confidence in those guys. So when you put the two situations uh together and you say first and second, nobody out with Rohos up there. Um, if you just, you know, say go up there and take three pitches down the middle, which is what everybody wanted Rohos to do last year after the triple play, looking in hindsight, u, and then you send Otani up there first and second, one out versus bases loaded or second and third with one out and or yeah, bases loaded with one out with Otani going up there to first base and Mookie coming up. The Dodgers are taking that because they still have confidence in Mookie bet. So, I I think that in that sort of sense, I don’t think that you need to worry about taking the bat out of Otani’s hands. Blake, you’re pro. You’re pro 1000. Top guys win batting titles and they’re essentially league average hitters. Blake, you would take this. Press the button. Otani walks every plate appearance. I think you guys are underestimating how valuable it would be to have a guy on base literally every single time he comes up to bat and never producing an out. Like with Otani speed, he’d probably steal 150 plus bases. He’d score 300 something plus runs. Like Matt, yes. If he could walk every single time, he would take that. Matt, we got we got two against it. We’ve got one for it. I I can’t figure out what the anti- nerd eye test get off my lawn old school guy is going to say here. I mean, because on one hand, he doesn’t value walks because it it’s a zero batting average Matt is going to note here. And on the other hand, it’s none of this strikeout home run crap either. So, Matt, where do you fall? No, you don’t take that. Like it doesn’t guarantee it doesn’t guarantee any. Sure, he’s on base. He’s not running as much though. If he’s still pitching, so the stolen base threat isn’t quite what it was last year. Then you are relying on the rest of your lineup to bring him in. Like just let he’s too good. Give him a chance to uh to hit the home run himself. The only run that he’ll ever drive in ever again is with the bases loaded, which isn’t going to happen very much. So you’re you’re taking the best run driver in the lineup and and making that a complete moot point for the rest of his career. So I I like your point, Blake, and having a guy on base every single time is a crazy thing to even imagine, but I feel like Otani is maybe one of three guys in baseball that the answer is no. He’s still producing out 60% of the time basically. Like but he’s 100% of the time he’s on base. He’s also producing bags at a higher rate for the most part than a walk every time. Yeah. Uh Ray, by the way, giving us giving us an update on the Padres’s chat. They are crying hard. He said, by the way, for those that are wondering, uh Aaron wants to know, except for in Bruce, you know, situation also like he’s never going to win you a game. Yeah. Uh Boston Blake, Aaron wants to know, has Fraso improved much? Any chance he makes his debut? Nick Fraso is not a prospect anymore. He has uh completely fallen off a cliff since his shoulder surgery. He had a nice little month for like few innings, but regressed again. He’s not striking guys out. He’s walked too many people. I I think he’s a DFA candidate before the chance to make his debut. Crazy. There you go, Bruce. You agree? Yeah, I He’s down at 45 on my prospect list now. Dropped like 30 points. And I really thought about maybe even dropping him off the list to be quite honest. Uh I think in the bio that I wrote, like I I kind of said the same thing as Blake. I don’t think that he’s going to make his debut as a Dodger and once the 40man crunch comes this off seasonason like it always does. I think he’s on the outside looking in, which is very very unfortunate given that I was a huge Nick Frosto guy two years ago, but that’s where we are. Yeah. Uh Alleluya wants to know, “Are you surprised we’re getting a first pitch by LAFC’s son before Luca?” Blake, do you know who the first person in this in this question is? I wrote a a story about the Dodgers welcoming him. So, yes. Um, no, I’m not surprised. Um, takes two to get to the stadium. So, yeah, I’m sure Luka didn’t want to come. Yeah. Yeah. Luca’s playing for Slovenia in uh a tournament somewhere. And yeah, son obviously one of the most famous athletes uh in the world. Definitely one of the most famous athletes in South Korea and now he plays in LA and is here. So, yeah. Uh Michael wants to know where Blake is streaming from. That’s the Dodger Stadium press box right there. So, there you go. If I uh turn my camera around, we got the field out there. Look at that. Look at that. Love that. Yeah. Uh uh Bruce, I’ll come to you. Any chance we see Jervis on this team? Yeah, he’ll he’ll pitch for the Dodgers at some point before the end of the year. He I think I I like the acquisition because he’s a guy that I feel very good about being able to bring up anytime they need a fresh arm. Like he’s better than a lot of this season has been like Noah Davis and and guys that you know are not going to be on the roster next year. Derves, he he could have a future in the organization and right now he has taken that place of like triple AAA bullpen fresh arm and and he’ll be up at some point. Do you think he’s a September guy, Bruce? Like called up when rosters expand, you mean? Yeah. Um I don’t know if they do that rigidly. I think that they just literally manage with him as the like next guy up in TripleA as soon as they need someone and then if he looks really good, maybe you keep him up because obviously there’s been spots in the bullpen up for grabs. I I have a question. Can I can Are we allowed to do questions? Not you. Just shadow. Just shadow only. Okay. Broken all the rules tonight. So, here we are. Um, has Bobby Miller earned a spot in the Oh, here we go. Should we mute Blake before we ask this question? This is This is uh I think Blake might I think Blake might be in on Bobby Miller. He’s in on Bobby Miller. That’s what I mean. This is Blake. This is the streams crossing on me and Blake. Bobby Miller guys over here. Yeah, he’s worth a look. But I think that they’d probably wait till September and see him keep building upon his success and thought like it’s been what, seven innings, something like that. So pretty small sample. Yeah, he’s retired like 22 of 24 batters that he’s faced over his last like six or seven appearances, something like that. So Bruce, you buying any of it? I’m not all the way in. I think that I pumped the brakes a little bit because uh the problem with him was never stuff and the stuff still looks really good. It still did. even as he was getting his brains beat in in the big leagues, there was something there that maybe they fixed it and maybe that’s why he’s having success again. That would be great. I think they know more and Bobby Miller knows more than we do on the outside. But, uh, I I could see him for sure coming up before the end of the year if this continues and just, you know, see what it looks like. But, I am really in a dubious place with him as a player and I I am not going to trust anything until I see him have success at the big league level again. It’s the mental part you’re talking about, right, Bruce? Yeah, that that’s there was something like that was completely fractured and uh that that’s something that is I wonder if that’s mitigated in this kind of role. I I would think that you know just some sort of shift, right? Like he he was so broken that a mindset change getting to come in and try to put everything he has into each pitch. I I don’t know exactly because I don’t know exactly what was wrong. I don’t even know if they did. But to me, Bobby Miller was never a guy that had a lot of relief risk because he was never like strike throwing wasn’t a huge issue once you reach the upper minors. The stuff the arsenal was wide enough to be a starter. So to me throwing him in the bullpen was first it was sort of a concession of we don’t know what to do and how to fix him because Bobby Miller should be a starting pitcher. And it was kind of an admission of like he’s broken and we don’t know what’s wrong. So, we’re just going to do something to try and reset the mojo, change the mindset, and see if that fixes it. Yeah, absolutely. Uh Blake Dong wants to know how late you’re able to stay at the stadium. I think it’s an hour and a half after interviews end. So, on the close. That’s a soft That’s a soft rule. Yeah. Could be longer. Definitely been there later. Yeah, I’ve been there. I I’ve left like midnight, 12:15 sometimes after like a 7:10 game. There you go. There you go. Well, it’s 11. That’s 11:12 now, so you got time. Blake, in the World Series after that game five, I was there till like 3:00 a.m. or something. Oh, yeah. I’m sure. 300 on Bobby Miller says he’s good until he blows a safe, then he’s a headcase. That’s That’s probably true. One bad outing from him. Uh uh Scott says, “Blake yapping again. SMH. I made some fire smash burgers that he loved. Confirm or deny, Blake. We gota We gota They were good. I can’t I got up too much. I can’t let him build up that ego.” Um, I can report Scott was the only one who didn’t have cheese on his burger. So, you all can make fun of that. I know. I love I became the I don’t like cheese guy, which one isn’t even true when we literally had a guy on staff at the time that did not like cheese. Like, we That guy was right there and we just Mareno’s over here just inventing a false narrative. It wasn’t me. It was I was b going based off of your words. You were saying how you don’t put cheese on a bunch of different items and so then you became the no cheese guy. It was your It was your own doing, Jeff. That was not me. Right. Uh Carolina, we got food questions here. Oh, actually here. Robbie’s got one. Matt, this is for you. Uh where are we at on Joe Kelly right now at this point with the way things have been? Isn’t he at least worth a shot? I mean, he’ll sign a minor league deal before the end of August. That way, he’s in the the organization in time to be eligible for the playoffs. You believe that? I I kind of Okay. Kind of. I like it. Blake, any any any stock in that? No, I think he’d be behind Bobby Miller. I think he’d be behind Paul Jervase. They have Tanner Scott, Kirby Ace, Michael Copc coming back. I don’t know. I just don’t really see a spot for him. Okay, there you go. Uh Carolina says, “Allan Bees or El Tapioak?” I’m gonna be honest, guys. I don’t know what either of these two things are. Uh anybody Blake, I’m assuming doesn’t know either. Uh Moreno, anything. Bruce Anthony, I’ve had Elteio. I have not heard of or been to LMB, so I can’t uh adequately answer this question of course. Yeah, I I I’m the same. So, by default, I have to go tep. Okay. I I don’t even know what what kind of food are we talking here. Mexican food. Okay. Well, I mean, I guess I guess I don’t know about Alan Beast. I’m assuming that that would also be Mexican. One of these places feels like a safe bet that we’re talking Mexican. The other one does not me. Uh David wants to know since it’s Friday, who had fried fish a fish fry today? I did. Uh, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess we’re 0 for five on fish fries today. Is that a fair assumption, boys? We are. It was a Friday night with the big Dodger game, so we just we just dialed in the pizza. Okay. Uh, we have a pizza question here in just a second. But, uh, this is I was on the East Coast and I asked Bruce this question last night. Are lobster rolls. Are we in or out on lobster rolls? Bruce, buddy. This is You haven’t had one, right, Bruce? Yeah, I I like lobster, but not not experienced in lobster rolls specifically. Anthony, are you a hot lobster roll or a cold lobster roll guy? Uh, I like hot. I think we’ve talked about this actually on the show before. I order mine from a place in Seattle. They do uh That’s right. the What is it? Gold belly. Is that the delivery service? Yeah. So good. Okay. Mareno, are you a Are you a lobster roll guy? I am. I have to like kind of be in the mood for one. Like I prefer like a burger to a lobster roll type thing, but uh and I I do they do need to be warm. I I won’t do a cold one. Blake, you know, my s just I I want to assume the best for you, Blake. And so I just always want to leave the door slightly cracked that you’re going to surprise me on these questions. That’s all I’m asking. The only time you don’t ask is when he’ll get mad and he’s like, “Hey, I like that.” Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. Uh Cole wants to know breakfast for dinner. Mark, absolutely 10 out of 10. Breakfast for any meal. No question. And then pizza for breakfast. This is going to be a take that I I think I’ve already said this. I’m pretty sure Mareno already made fun of me. Breakfast pizza is a thing. There’s a there’s a Mod Pizza. Like if you’ve ever been to Mod Pizza or Piology or one of these, like make your own. There’s one in the Portland airport and it’s the only place that does this because the Portland airport is open so early where they will put egg on your pizza. So they literally have like raw egg, like scrambled eggs mix. Basically, you make your pizza, they pour the scrambled egg mix on top and then it as it bakes the pizza, it cooks the egg on top and it’s freaking incredible. So pizza for breakfast. Just go breakfast pizza. That’s the answer. Eggs, cheese, bacon, the bread. I mean, literally, it’s like a breakfast burrito in pizza form. Mareno, you’re not you’re not buying it. No, that’s disgusting. And I think I said the same thing to you last when you first brought Put it on my plate. Uh, no. It’s just a laid out breakfast burrito. It sounds like That’s what I’m saying. That’s what But it’s like in pizza form, so you can imagine the joy of eating pizza and breakfast burrito flavors. I take more joy eating burritos, though. Yes. Yeah. Well, I look So, there’s not always burritos available. Okay. It’s like a right next door. The other thing with pizza for breakfast is I I’m perfectly happy eating leftover pizza for breakfast. I I don’t have any problem with that. If I’ve got pizza in the fridge and I wake up in the morning and I don’t feel like cooking something or having cereal again or whatever, pizza, I’m good. Cold or hot, whatever I’m feeling that day, pizza for breakfast, I’m cool with. But how early are you guys doing something like that? It it there’s no time limit for me. If I’m waking up early to go to a club baseball game and and the thing in the fridge is pizza from last night, cool. I won’t heat it up. I think warmed up pizza for breakfast sounds weird to me. cold pizza. I’m like, for some reason that makes perfect sense. Uh, so there you go. Jeff described. I love kiche. It’s not kiche. It’s not a kiche, but I do love kiche. Kiche is a big thick egg. We’re just talking a little thin layer on top of a pizza crust. Blake pizza uh breakfast pizza. Yeah, I’m with it. I think it’s better cold in the morning. If it’s like 11 or so or later, I will heat it up then. But yeah, I’m fine with cold pizza. Have I shared my take that I think pizza that is reheated in an air fryer might actually be better than fresh hot pizza? This is a take that I have. Costco pizza in an air fryer is like dramatically better than regular Costco pizza. And I like Costco. Something anybody has ever done in Earth’s history. I did not know that was a an idea that people had. Pizza in the air fryer. No, I’ve never heard of that. Oh my gosh, bro. Game changer. Yeah, that’s the only way you can heat it up. Well, Anthony, have you had air fryer pizza? I have air fryer pizza rolls, but I have not put a slice of pizza in an air fryer. Throw a slice in the air fryer and thank me. Have you ever done it in a toaster oven? That I have. Yes. Yeah. So, I mean, air fryer is just a way better version of the toaster oven preheating. Okay. Okay. I’ll I’ll do that. Costco pizza. Mareno, I’m going to let you have this one. As Yes. As Amanda was as Amanda’s pointing out, your first mistake was saying Costco pizza and even eating pizza from I thought you liked Costco pizza, Marino. No, I think it’s so overrated. like it’s fine. I think it’s extremely overrated. Okay. Well, this does set the stage for Mareno had the worst one of the worst food takes I’ve ever heard of late. There’s a there’s a big conversation going on at our company about BJ’s. Apparently, I’m in the minority for really liking BJs. Everybody else thinks it’s mid, which is fine. Matt told me we’re talking about BJ’s restaurant, brewery, whatever. They do deep dish pizzas. I think it’s great. Matt told me he would rather have DeJouro pizza than pizza from BJ’s. Bruce, thank you. That’s the appropriate reaction. DeJouro pizza. I I wouldn’t even prefer DeJouro pizza over not eating, I think. Yeah, a good pizza from BJ’s. I I like BJ’s pizza, the deep dish with bacon on it. I I think that is a great great pizza. I’m I’m all over that. Bruce, I jump in here real quick. What’s that? So, I was back there yesterday, funny enough. So, I’ve went there two days in a row after never going there in my life. Um, I was with I was with some friends out late and we were hungry and it was open and there’s not many places in the valley open that late. So, we went there and I got the pizza like Jeff said to do. It was fine. I I think it’s comparable to DeJouro’s like Yeah. I mean, nothing special about it. Insane. Anthony, you’ve had a DJO pizza, right? Yes. You make fun of my BJ’s opinion. You have to admit that this is insane what Matt and Blake are saying right now. Yeah, BJ’s deep dish pizza is much better than Dejour’s. I will say that. And and my my criticism on BJ’s was uh me and Scotty G were both like, “It’s fine. It’s like I have no problem going there. The food is fine.” You called it special and awesome and we were like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy.” Yeah. I’m convinced Anthony hasn’t actually had a pazooki. I know he tells us he’s had a pizookie. The criticism that I’m getting here that if you if someone gave you a smaller version of the cookie that they serve in the pazooki and it was just like a regular cookie size and said, “Here, try this.” You’d be like, “Okay, that’s a good cookie.” You wouldn’t be like, “Oh my god, this is amazing.” The cookie part of it is the disappointment for me in the Pizookie there. It’s fine. It’s not bad. It might be, but I’m not like this. I’m going there to a to Matt’s point, I’m going to this restaurant that has food because of the dessert. I’m not doing that. I want to eat. And I admit that there there’s a draw to BJs for me other than fizookies and pizza. I don’t know if you guys have had they uh at least they used to. They brew their own cream soda and they brew their own root beer, too. But it’s the cream soda that I go for. A bacon deep dish pizza, cream soda, and then a pizookie after is going to be expensive, but it’s going to be a great trip for dinner. Good place to sit at a bar and watch a game. I like BJ’s for that. I’ll tell you guys what we end on we end this stream before midnight. I can go to uh my local BJs and get a baking dish pizza and because your boy over here has an alarm set with a number that starts with a four. So, it’s going to be an early morning and oldest pizza for breakfast. Jeff pizza for breakfast. Wife and oldest daughter headed out of town. So, not only am I waking up at 4, but then I’m solo dad for like five straight days after that. So, there’s no nap in the car. Sleep. You’re just waking up to see him off. Uh, no. I’m driving him to the airport. Oh, gotcha. We’re loading all the Yeah. And I’m getting my two youngest. They’re going to be up in the car. We’re leaving at 5:00 a.m. So everybody’s getting woken up early and then I’m just solo dad for like till the Padres’s game ends tomorrow. Like good lord, your boy. They just It’s a sunk cost at this point. Like I might see if I can get in there and get a mod pizza with egg on it. I might get a ticket just to get through security to get myself one of those. But we’ll see. Uh Aaron wants to know what’s up with me hating cheese. I love cheese. I love cheese. I don’t know. This just nonsense. Nonsense takes. I don’t like it on cold sandwiches. What was the other thing I said I didn’t like it on, Matt? Tacos. T Oh, yeah. Yeah. Street tacos. No, burritos. No, burritos. It was I don’t need it in my burritos and I don’t need it in my cold sandwiches. Those were my two takes. So, um Bruce, by the way, I don’t know if you all caught this. Bruce had an absolutely unbelievable take. He was given the choice for any protein in his burrito and he said ground beef last. I need to issue a retraction. I choked. I choked as soon as as soon as I hit the leave button on the meeting. I said, “Why carneada is my answer? Why didn’t I say that?” I choked. I feel like you had answered carne asada before. I could not believe it when you said ground beef last night. So, I choked. That was that was on me. I I will mo very comfortably answer any baseball question and then the food went that I was the lights were too bright. I I flat out choked. To be fair, Bruce and I had recorded a full hour, taken a 90 second break, and then we’re on an hour and 20 of live immediately afterwards. So, I’m going to give him a slight pass. But on a on a show that’s never going to let you live that down, I just want you to know that will never be forgotten. I deserve it. I deserve it. You should have said chicken. Yeah. Yeah. Bruce will never That’s I That’s chicken parm from IHOP. Love Bruce goes to Taco Bell for his burritos. Yeah. Hey, I mean, look, Taco Bell ground beef. Now we’re talking here. Uh, let’s see. Uh, Aaron says, “Mareno, you love Taco Bell and Panda, but you’re snobby about Costco.” Definitely. Yes. No, it’s not that I’m snobby about it. I just think it’s overrated. Like, I’ll eat it. I just choose it. And I think it’s overrated. The rating for a Costco pizza is the size for the price. I don’t quality of it. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s good enough. It’s it’s plenty good enough to justify spending $10 on a pizza that big or $1.99 on a slice that big. Uh, Carolina, anybody going to Sunday’s game? Bruce will be there it sounds like. Uh Blake, will you be there on Sunday? I don’t think so. As of now, potentially maybe, but we’ll see. Okay. All right. Wrad, you will not be there. I will not be there this weekend. No, I’ll be I’ll be solo dad in Portland, so hopefully watching. Uh oh. O Donny boy. Even Diddy Reese is better. Diddy Reese. This another It’s another famous. Go ahead, Jeff. Go ahead. Used to be a$150. Used to be a dollar cookies. $10 cookies used to be a$150. It’s all I’m saying back in my day. Anthony, you ever gone to Diddy Reese? No. It’s fantastic. It’s right by UCLA. Two cookies with a scoop of ice cream right in the middle. Ice cream sandwich. Used to be a $150. I said that on show. Mareno looked it up and it’s like $475 now or something like that and I got killed for it. So, there we go. What is your uh Home Alone uh meals look like, Jeff? Oh, me in charge. Yeah. big breakfast burrito guy that I’m famous in my house for making breakfast burritos. So, we’re doing eggs, hash brown patty in the air fryer, some scrambled eggs. My girls don’t like cheese in their breakfast burritos. That’s not my fault. I’m putting cheese all over my breakfast burrito. I’m just saying. Uh, but so breakfast burritos for sure. Um, let’s see. You know, Dino nuggets, absolute staple. 20 of those in the old air fryer. Just fire that bad boy up. Throw some barbecue sauce on the plate. We’re definitely eating out more than mom would normally eat out. I mean, that is just like written in pen. No doubt about that. Is is is mom just going out of town? Mom and oldest daughter. They’re doing a a girls trip with my mom to New York. Gotcha. So So you won’t be home alone. Just Jeff. No, no, no. I got I got the nine-year-old and the four-year-old. Gotcha. Okay. Red Robin. Jeff, is that Red Robin visit in your guys’ future? How many is the better question is how many Red Robin visits are in my future? So, yeah, we’re uh we’re doing this. Anywhere that doesn’t charge extra for lemonade, Jeff’s there. Yeah. $10 pizza, $25 fountain lemonade. Jeff is set. Um Oh, I have Okay, this we’ll end on this. We’re at the hour 40 mark. I’m so surprised. I haven’t been following the chat, but nobody’s been complaining too badly about the food questions. So, I I just need to know. So, I go to Hawaiian place the other night. I love Hawaiian food. You guys like Hawaiian food? Yes. It’s elite. Elite. Hawaiian food’s fantastic. So, we go It’s a new place. My wife’s gluten-free. So, we call ahead. Hey, is your stuff gluten-free? Some Hawaiian stuff is, some isn’t. They’re like, “Yep, everything’s gluten-free.” Great. Show you chicken is like our go-to, which is like kind of a sweet ginger shredded chicken most places you go. So, we go to this place, they have Show you Chicken. Great. We order the Showy You Chicken. First thing we notice, it’s not shredded. It’s like full thigh pieces in this sauce. And I’m like, “All right.” And and I asked, I said, “Hey, show you chicken.” And they’re like, “Yeah, we we don’t shred it.” I’m like, “Okay, sure.” I taste the show you chicken and it like this is not even remotely close to show you chicken. It tastes like gravy. It does not taste like showyu sauce at all. And my wife is looking at me and she’s like, “You’re not saying anything.” Like this is a order at the counter, they bring you your food and teriyak chicken here, teriyaki beef for the kids. My wife’s like, “You’re not saying anything?” I’m like, “Really not saying anything? Like this is for sure. They messed up. Like I think this is a mess up. They had a show sauce thing on like the condiment bar. I’m trying the show you sauce. I’m like this sauce ain’t this sauce.” And my wife’s like, “No, we’re packing it up. I’m going to eat I’m going to eat four bites and we’re taking this home.” And that’s just going to be that. So my question for the crew is if you’re not positive that they screwed up your order, but you’re fairly confident that they screwed up your order. Are you saying anything about it? Matt, I’ll start with you. I think it depends on what I what like the potential mistake is and where I’m at and and honestly and what kind of mood I’m in. If I’m like really hungry and I feel like they might have messed up my food, like I’m probably kind of angry. If you know it was kind of in passing, if then I might let it slide. Okay, Blake. I feel like I’ve never been in that situation where I’m not confident that they ever had it messed up my order. So, it’s very hard to answer that. Well, and I had already gone up once to ask about the like, “Hey, it’s not shredded.” And they’re like, “Yeah, yeah, we don’t do it that way.” So, I had already gone up once with a false assumption and was wrong about that. Anthony confirmed that it was the right order. It just sucked. Yeah, exactly. But I’m like, I can’t believe they screwed it up this bad. Bruce, are you are you saying anything? So, my completely honest answer is even if I’m fully sure that they screwed it up, I’m probably not going to say anything. So, the answer is no. Yeah, you seem like a nice guy. Yeah, Bruce is too. It literally was gravy. I’m like, my good, there’s no there just no chance. There’s just no chance. So, anyways, uh somebody said this. Erin said, I bet these guys like Stonefire Grill. I love Stonefire Grill. Anybody else? Any Stonefire Grill fans? Go ahead. Good. Yeah, I like it. The garlic bread stick things. Amazing. Yeah, I just had to Google that. It’s really good. There’s only a few. I mean, they’re kind of scattered. There used to be one where my parents used to live and I like my dad loved the tri tip from there and so like every time there was an anniversary or something, I would order them food from Stonefire. But the one time I went, it was fantastic. So, there you go. Uh, okay. Blake, sounds like you got something you need to get off your chest. So, I’m going to hand hand the microphone over to you. We have uh one question that we have to get to first. Yeah. Yeah. He’s been asking a few times. Uh does this win tonight prove the big brother little brother with the Dodgers and Padres’s? Is this what you wanted to talk about, Blake, or something else? Something else. Um I’ll I I’ll take this one first. Um because I’ve been going a little bit back and forth with some people on Twitter about this tonight. Um for the for the people in the clubhouse, I can’t speak to that. Um although there was some social media chatter when the Padres’s played the Giants about like fans in a Padres’s and Giant series walking up to Padres’s players like during BP and stuff like that and saying you know hey the Dodgers suck and the Padres’s players going like you know I hear you like whatever. Um but I’ll say the fan base fullon little brother syndrome full on. Yeah. Yeah. I’m with you. I’m with you. So, all right, Blake, the floor is yours. So, yeah. So, apparently, uh, these things have become very popular thanks to Tik Tok, and they sell out immediately, like before the Dodgers even open the gates to fans. Like, all the employees are buying them. And feel like that’s kind of ridiculous. Like, they shouldn’t let the employees buy them all before fans can even go in when they’re very popular. I see a bunch of people wanting them on Twitter and everything. It’s a Dodger dog keychain. So, friend of the program, my friend asked me to get one for him. So, that’s why I have one. I would not have bought this myself. But yeah, it’s a Dodger Laboo basically. Um, but yeah, so if you’re trying to get one of those, good luck. They are sold out immediately before the gates are even open. So, yeah, I I feel like that’s kind of messed up and they should do something better about that and produce more of them. Well, how did you get one? I was just gonna say immediately. Like, can you believe it? The fans should be able to buy these things. It’s for a fan. So, I just You could say Scott’s name. It’s fine. It’s like I mean, he’s probably not here anymore. It’s actually a different friend of the show who hasn’t been on but is in the comments a lot. Okay. I love it. How much those things go for? $22 each. Crazy. Yeah. Shout out to our friends at Foco. What are they Not my money, but what are they selling for? I I haven’t looked, but you know, that might be a good idea. My friend might not be getting them. Tell your friend, “Hey, I could get a $100 for this, so meet me somewhere in the middle.” Yeah. Right. But yeah, I mean, they should have more of them or something. And I know they announced it on social media that they were coming back today, so everyone was very excited about it. But Oh, it’s not a regular item. Well, it just sells out so quick like all the employees buy them. Like employees were running around to different stores trying to get them. Oh, wow. Yeah. This is uh this is the first I hear about it. Shout out our friends Foco. It looks like you could buy the Dodger dog. We got some bobbleheads. We got a patch. We got an LED. I don’t think they have it. Yeah, they don’t have Foco doesn’t have one. I’m saying it’s Yeah, this the same made by Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. made by them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I guess poor Foco. They’re not even capitalized. I mean, I guess they’re selling crap. There’s more than two Costco pizzas. Damn right. Damn right. There will be a Costco pizza for sure in my future. Uh the two girls that are left are the pepperoni pizzas and that’s $10. That’s going to give me like three and a half meals for those two girls. So, we’re going to be doing good on that front. Maybe a maybe a hot dog or two for myself on the side. So, we’ll be uh we’ll be doing Jeezy. Here we go. $70 on eBay. Yeah. Um might have to kidding. Crazy. I hate resellers. So, no. Won’t be me. There you go. There you go. Uh all right, everybody. That’s going to do it here for us on Dodgerheads presented by doblue.com. Uh, thank you to everybody who joined us in the chat. Thank you to Matt, to Blake, to Anthony, to Bruce who all hopped on, for Scott for being in the comments at one point. Uh, it’s been a great show. The Dodgers won three to two. Uh, we will be back on Sunday night. Myself and Anthony will be back uh for that show, wrapping up the series after this one goes in goes goes final. Hopefully a sweep. Hopefully, we can cross our fingers that there’s a sweep for the Dodgers. We know they won’t be swept, so that’s good news. But, uh, if you’re new, please subscribe, ring the notification bell, check out dodgerblue.com. Again, the podcast. Dodgerheads. Uh, subscribe, rate, review. That would be greatly appreciated. Dodgers win three to2. Clayton Kershaw six innings, two hits, one earned run. Absolutely incredible performance. The Dodgers bullpen does just enough for the Dodgers to close this one out. Jack Dryer with the save. Enjoy the rest of your night everyone. As always, go Dodgers. And yes, still champs.
“DodgerHeads” Live postgame show with DodgerBlue.com host Jeff Spiegel, executive editor Matthew Moreno and Forbes’ senior MLB contributor Anthony Witrado react to the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the San Diego Padres to move into a tie for first place in the NL West, Clayton Kershaw’s start, plus Max Muncy, Brock Stewart and Tanner Scott updates.
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If Shohei keeps getting caught trying to steal it can only mean that he's too slow as a runner now and he's real slow getting a jump once he decides to run. You can't steal unless you have no delays in your reaction time to the pitcher's cue that he's beginning to lift his front leg and move towards home plate. Any delays from the signal from the brain to the movement of the feet can cost a fraction of one second to one full second delay which is the difference between getting caught attempting to steal a base. Once your brain says "GO" you need to anticipate before you run that you might run . You can't have a slow signal from your brain to your first step towards second or third. Even on a squeeze play at home on any bunting the runner must possess perfect timing for a successful steal . Lately the Dodgers timing has been horrendous for the entire offense on reads and reaction quickness on moving into full sprint mode relatively fast without any delays from the mind to the first step .
Well you have to examine in retrospect what went wrong with Rojas's bunt attempt. Like why did he pop it up? Was the pitcher too tough with wicked movement to even attempt a bunt? You can't just bunt off any pitcher. That may reflect on the manager not knowing his stuff . Which is a veey likely scenario possibly with Dave , depending on the situation and circumstances. If the manager can't maneuver that could more than likely cost the team several games over the course of a full season. Of course those mistakes would be amplified in the playoffs. Or they could be unless you have a little luck and you avoid being punished for mistakes you make . Which also happens in the wave function of probability in a full spectrum analysis. Which would read as a percentage or a fraction of possible outcomes as a probability factor . So a good thinking ballplayer might ask 'So why did Rojas pop that ball up on a bunt attempt? What was the root cause? Then a good thinking ballplayer might consider how fortunate and lucky Rojas was that Machado couldn't corral that easy , lazy , slow little pop fly that he should catch all day and night long every single time! He's supposed to catch that ball 100% of the time almost. Wouldn't you agree? You have to replay the day's events to figure out what happened . That's the road to improvement. You can't go into the playoffs lollygagging on whatever daydreams you might harbor based upon all your fantasies and delusions of grandeur . It's no cakewalk in the playoffs. It's more intense. Senses must be honed to razor sharpness. You have to try to keep your wits together before you melt down and fall apart completely! And that happens to everyone periodically. If it's not happening to you it could happen to one of your teammates. You have to be alert to what may be occurring with the team,both teams,the fans,the weather ,the opposing ballparks construction. And any sudden changes or signs of upcoming changes that can affect playing conditions and the potential course of a game. Especially in critical situations where the players and logistical support needs to be more aware and stay on top of those micro details that many if not most shy away from and open the floodgates into an invitation to losses. That's exactly what you don't want in the postseason. A lack of awareness . Slacking off on the details of playing higher quality baseball. Forgetting how to play is a common occurence in sports. That's exactly why the Dodgers have lost too many games recently. Tonight was a little improvement though. Kershaw looks like he wants to pitch next year too. If he keeps it up he might pitch next year also.
Kershaw's slider looked like it was back up to 88mph today. And one fastball was clocked at 90mph I noticed. That's within his effective range in recent years.
If C3K lives in the literal edge, the lower corners of the strike zone, he will enduse weak contact. This should be C3K new way of pitching, pitching for weak contact