And now your host of Dodger Talk, David Vasse.
Welcome to Dodger Talk.
David Vasse with you until eleven thirty tonight right here on AM five to seventy LA Sports. After the Dodgers hold on to beat the Rockies five to three, eight six, six, nine, eight seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Look, a win's a win.
This wasn't the Dodgers' best performance and by no means are they playing their best baseball of the season tonight. They had the big boys carry them. There's no way around this. Dustin May, plus Mooki Otani and Freddie Freeman carried them tonight. Otani, Bets and Freeman were combined seven to fourteen with two home runs, a double, three RBIs and five runs scored. They scored all five of the
Dodgers runs tonight. They needed those three in a big way, or they may not win this game tonight with a team that came in after getting swept by the Padres and not scoring a single run in San Diego. The Dodgers five through nine hitters, again struggling, including two ending double plays by Michael Conforto. Dave Roberts can talk about hitting the ball hard as much as he wants, But when you hit the ball hard on the ground, it's
not good. Hitting the ball hard on the ground with runners on base turn into double plays like we saw tonight. So the five through nine hitters struggle again one for fifteen combined. The only kind of silver lining was Max Munsey walking twice, which is a good sign after a sacrifice fly from Monsey last night to tie the game. Keike A Hernandez also in the fifth inning, kept the line moving with a one out single to put runners
at first and third. So the fifth inning was the best inning for that group of hitters, but still one for fifteen, getting on base what three times and that was only two players. Not great, so still concerning in that department. Good news for the Dodgers. They recorded ten hits for the first time this season and they only struck out three times. That's big as well. Eight six, six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy is the phone number.
Nothing bigger than Dustin May doing what he did tonight again in three starts, and May has gone six innings. In all of them, He's allowed just two runs tonight, one run, seven strikeouts, no walks, in six innings of work, and I'm sure he was very emotional after he came out of the game and after the Dodgers got the win, because that was Dustin May's first win of the season, and that was Dustin May's first major league win. It's
May sixth of twenty twenty three. Let's head downstairs right now to the Dodger clubhouse to hear from tonight's winning pitcher.
Just getting ahead early, being able to strike the breaking ball and then use the sinker off of it was huge, and being able to command both of them tonight was really big for a moratus.
Did you find just kind of your rhythm was getting in a good spot really early in this one'u?
It seemed really as soon as you took the mount after that first inning, you kind of works on a roll.
Yeah, Yeah, it was. It was really smooth saling. Like I said, if I was if I've been able to be in the zone throughout the year, they're not really hitting it. So being able to get in the head, get ahead early and not fall behind was big.
Just because you felt about your breaking ball just since coming back and as you kind of a ramping pack towards.
At this point.
I mean, I would say that my breaking ball feel has been pretty much about even every start. It's more so just been like sinker command was really good.
In that the guys here just seemed a little down the way things have gone the last week or so.
How much of a lift was tonight's win?
I mean every win is big. I mean, yeah, we haven't been playing our best, but that's baseball. You go through the epsom flows.
So.
Definitely gonna use this one and pushing them off.
All right, there's Dustin May on sports net LA, and yeah, he's right. A win's a win in the major leagues no matter how you do it, especially when you're not playing your best baseball, and the Dodgers are not playing their best baseball. Their offense is not hitting on all cylinders, but they're getting good starting pitching. Whenever Dustin May and Yoshi Yamamoto are on the mound, those two guys have been spectacular. They have been the two most consistent and
dependable starters the Dodgers have had this season. And it's so cool to see Dustin May be that guy, because you know, he was so hyped up to be so great, and unfortunately he's had two elbow surgeries. He obviously had a life threatening surgery with the esophagus tear last year after you know, coming back and being ready to go to pitch. To have that happen certainly was obviously scary number one and number two disappointing after he was able to recover. So all of this has been very emotional
for him, and you can understand why. But now that he's gotten some firsts out of the way since twenty twenty three, including tonight getting his first win since May sixth of twenty twenty three, he could settle in and just keep moving forward and building upon this. I love the way he's turned into a pitcher. And yes he still throws hard. Yes he could still hit ninety six, but it feels like he's not and he said this during spring training. He's not trying to throw as hard
as he can every single time out there. He's not trying to hit one hundred miles an hour like he was before he had his second elbow surgery.
I could remember.
Maybe in twenty two when he came to spring training or twenty three, and the first day of spring training there was buzz around Camelback Ranch that he hit one hundred miles an hour and it was the first week of spring training. That's nothing to be proud of. You don't want to throw one hundred miles an hour when
you just get to spring training. And that goes back to another conversation where basically, these pitchers feel so much pressure because they're competing against each other and they're competing against the data on those iPads. You know, Jim Palmer told me and Jose Mota last year when he came to Dodger Stadium with the Orioles, he thinks a lot of these arm injuries early in the year would go away if teams would just get rid of those iPads and the track man and all that for the first
two weeks of spring training. Just get them away. Let these guys ease into it and not try to throw max effort and try to be the best, just because they're concerned that if they have one bad day and it shows up on that iPad, all of a sudden, the front offices around baseball are down on them. But going back to Dustin May and this version of him, I love that he is changing speeds and changing line eyesight lines with his fastball. He's changing the line of sight.
With his fastball, he's stepping on the gas when he needs to. With the fastball, he's taking his foot off the gas a little bit with the fastball. And you heard this breaking ball, you know. I asked him, what is this pitch? Is it really a sweeper? Is it
a slider? What is this pitch? And he said, I don't really know what you call it, but all I know is that it gives me a pitch that goes east to west or west to east, because a lot of his pitches are down in the zone and that's why he gets a lot of ground balls he can elevate. But that sweeper, let's just call it, that runs into lefties and runs away from righties. And he threw it twenty eight times tonight. He only threw seventy six pitches and six innings, so that just shows you how efficient
he was. So can't say enough about Dustin May. And it's really cool to see him turn into a pitcher and not just be a thrower. Eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to West La Trey. You're on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi, Trey.
Oh, thank you, sir. I get to kick it off tonight. I appreciate that.
Yes, saw much. How you doing, I'm doing great?
Well. Hey, look, you can't say enough about Dustin. I went the fans to appreciate what this guy had to come back from. How difficult that is with you know, with the two surgeries and the craziestophagus thing. And he has been spectacular. We are blessed have him at this point. Call me crazy, but his presence and his command that he's shown in these past two games, he's given me like low key kind of Randy Johnson kind of vibes. The upside is fantastic. So I wish him the best.
Let's see him go the rest of the season. I do have a question for you, and you've spoken about that with hitting them runners in scoring position and the offense not clicking where we're lying a little bit too much on the home run, And do you think we should be more aggressive on the base pass or what do you think is going on there with getting hits in time?
You can't be aggressive on the bass if you don't have anybody on base. So that's my answer to that. Who are you going to be aggressive with the first three hitters, the stars got on base and did their job. Tonight, the five through nine hitters were combined one for fifteen with two months. He walks, how do you get more aggressive if nobody's getting on base ahead of those guys?
That's true. Do you think show hay Is is taking a little easier on the base pass this year? Just considering he's going to try to pitch later on this season.
I think there's something to it.
And also he wants to be careful with that shoulder, that left shoulder. He did have surgery on it, so I'm watching him when he slides. Sometimes he falls back into his old habit of sliding and putting that left hand down into the ground. I just think that he's trying to be careful because there's so much at stake.
Yeah, completely agree. Well, Hey, we got to win tonight and always I appreciate you taking the call early in the season. We got a great team and we'll be here till the end. We're going to be uh, We're gonna come out on top again, all.
Right, Tray, thanks for the phone call. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Dodgers beat the Rockies tonight five to three. Bets and Otani, Homert and Mookie Betts loves seeing Antonio Senzatela. He now has three home runs and twenty two at bats, he now has what is it, it's eleven hits now in twenty two at bats against Antonio Senzateela for Mookie Betts and Otani came very close to hitting three home runs tonight.
He hit two fly balls, one to right center and one to left center that were caught at the wall, and there was almost a collision with Mickey Moniak, the Rocky center fielder, with his right fielder and left fielder catching those fly balls that were up against the wall. So Otani came this close to having three home runs, but it wasn't meant to be.
And all in all, you know.
This game should have been a blowout for the Dodgers. Quite frankly, they'll take the win, but they left a lot of runners and opportunities on base. They left ten men on base and they were two for ten with runners in scoring position. I thought this game should have been over by the fifth inning. But look, the Dodgers are grinding right now. And I know people ask me all the time, is it some sort of emotional let down or World Series hangover?
Not at all.
Number One, they haven't gotten consistent starting pitching and getting starters to go deep into games consistently. Outside of tonight's sky Dustin May and Yamamoto, who I picked before the season to win the cy Young, they don't have Blake Snell. They probably won't have Blakesnell by the way, until they go out on an extended East coast road trip that will take them to Atlanta and Miami and then wrap
up in Arizona. That's probably where it's at. Blake played catch today, so there's a process to get him back to be built up, and if you do the math on all that, it's probably gonna end up him coming back to pitch in Atlanta or Miami because they're gonna need him in that spot as well.
No days off on that road trip.
They play three in Atlanta, three in Miami, and four in Arizona, so they're going to need a starter right there, and that's where it would benefit the to have Snell come back and be available to start one of those games early on in that road trip. Eight six, seven, two, five,
seventy is the phone number. Dodgers beat the Rockies tonight five to three, and speaking of starting pitchers, Tomorrow, land Nak is going to make his second start of the year for the Dodgers, and also on Wednesday, the Dodgers are going to need a spot starter. And Dave Roberts didn't say it point blank, but he didn't shy away when somebody brought up the other day that Bobby Miller only threw two or three innings in his last start.
So we may see Bobby Miller make his major league debut on Wednesday in the finale of this three game series against the Rockies. Eight six six seven two five seventy is the phone number. We're going to take a time out when we come back. More of your phone calls you'll hear from Alex Vesia as well. Dodgers beat the Rockies five to three on a five to seventy LA.
Sports on air at AM five to seventy, online at AM five seventy LA sports dot com, and available my podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Dodger Talk with David Bassey.
Out of the Strench's Senstello Tani off of First the Pitch Swang hot hammer, dape left, paild way back, it goes and ass go damnage done for Mookie Bets as he's hit his fourth home none.
Of the season.
The Dodgers jump on top.
Too Nothing.
Dodgers with Otani, Bets, and Freeman all in the game for the first time in quite some time consistently, they have the Big Three back in the lineup together, and they delivered Tonight's scoring all five of the Dodgers runs. Mookie Betts with a two run home home run in the first inning. O'tani also homered for the Dodgers in the third. Freddie Freeman doubled and the Dodgers beat the Rockies five to three. Daniels Jewelers presents the home run Forecast.
Go to AM five to seventy LA sports dot com and use the keyword home run for your chance to win a fifty dollars Daniels Jeweler's gift card predicting the number of home runs in the next game. Daniels Jewelers own the dream Yeah the Big Three Tonight seven for fourteen with two home runs, a double, Mookie's two run home run, Otani solo shot, and they all scored the
runs for the Dodgers tonight. Five runs scored between those three superstars Otani, Betts, and Freeman, and they got a great pitch start from Dustin May, who went six innings tonight, allowed just one and run at seven strikeouts and no walks. He was very efficient. He only threw seventy eight pitches, so a great night from him. And for the Rockies, they came into town after going twenty seven consecutive innings
in San Diego without scoring a run. It lasted thirty two consecutive innings until former Dodger Kyle Farmer doubled down the left field line for the first Rocky run in quite some time. But they lost, and they lost again, which means their record is three and thirteen to start the year, while the Dodgers are twelve and six. The
Padres one tonight. The Giants won tonight, so the NLST continues, at least early on to be the toughest division in all of Major League Baseball, the only division that has three teams with at least ten wins. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number
you know. Part of tonight's game included Anthony Bunda relieving Dustin May and at that point in time, I was down at field level seven delivering a Hello Kitty plush to Petro's Papadaegus's daughter because when she came through the gates, they.
Had run out.
So Petro's text me, can you get an extra one? So I said yes, I brought it down and at that point in time, I was standing on the field level when Anthony Banda was introduced and warmed up for the seventh inning, and man, I couldn't get over the fact how these fans go wild for Anthony Banda. We're talking about Anthony Bonda here, and it feels like ever since he went shirtless in the parade last year, fans have gone wild. He had to do three different autograph
signings in the same Montebello mall during the offseason. That's how popular and in demand Anthony Banda was. Unfortunately, he gave up a two run home run when he was in the game tonight. But I still I can't get over the fact how the fans react to Anthony Banda. Now eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number if you're part of the bund The band I would love to hear from you and why he has become this cult figure among Dodger fans.
Is it just because you know, you like the tattoos when he was riding around on the parade bus. It might be just that simple who knows part of the Dodger bullpen. Alex Vesia joined us on the pregame show and we talked about a few different things, and it kind of went back to the Dodgers setting the bar so high for themselves that maybe you're a little spoiled. Do you feel like you guys have set the bars so high for yourselves that to a certain extent, people are spoiled.
I mean, ah, I'm not too sure. Obviously, that's a that's a tough question. But at the end of the day, our job is to go out there and do the best we can and to win that day. Right, and it's one hundred and sixty two games. We're not gonna win them all. Yeah, we win every single game. You know that that's at stake, So taking it one day at a time, right, And you know it's it's very early in the year, and you know we're gonna have ups and downs. We're gonna you know, even when you
look back to last year. Last year, a lot of people have had a lot of opinions, and our season turned out pretty darn good, right, So you know, take it one day at a time, right, and not to to not get too far ahead of ourselves. And you know, we we do have a really good group of guys here with you know, our our leaders and the guys that are out in front. You know, we have full faith in them. They have full faith in us, right, And that's what I think makes this team so special.
You're not a young buck anymore, Vesia, You've been here for a while. Do you feel like you're starting to evolve into that leadership role to go along with what you've learned from past veterans and current veterans like Blake Trining?
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's every year there's new challenges, right, There's there's different you know, not every year is the same.
I think, you know, the adversity that I've faced over the last five years, it's you know, it's definitely helped me and it's also helped me teach guys like Ben and Jack, you know, just how to how to be a big leaguer and you know, and what might work for me might not work for them, right, But we do have a very good communication down there to where we're able to bounce ideas, topics, just anything off.
Of each other.
And you know, with with that open and honesty, knowing that like everything that I say is is in in good spirits, you know, and I think that that's that goes a long way. And yeah, man, you know, every every year it's you know, it's a new opportunity to uh to go out there and win World Series.
All right, that's Alex Vessia And can you believe it's vessius fifth season with the Dodgers. He was acquired from the Marlins in exchange for Dylan Floro after the Dodgers won the twenty World Series and Floro had such a big part of that in Game six and you know, he struck out Randy a Rose Arena for a big out in that Game six of the twenty World Series. And he was traded for this unknown left handed reliever that we heard was very excitable and Alex Vesia and
that proved to be true and he still is. But it feels like he's been able to over the last two or three years. Channel it in the right direction. But yeah, Vessi has been part of the Dodger bullpen for the last This is his fifth year, so the last four years. So he's a guy that's experienced. And we talk about Keik Hernandez being an October performer, you go look at what Alex Vesia has done in his last five years or his first five years with the
Dodgers in October. He's pretty good. He's mister October out of the bullpen, that's for sure. Eight six six nine, eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Dodgers beat the Rockies tonight by a final score of five to three. Will Smith drove in two runs tonight. He was hitting cleanup for the Dodgers tonight, And I like that dynamic because if you look at the others that are not named Ota, Betzer Freeman, Will Smith is the guy that's hitting the ball the best, seeing the ball the best.
Why not have him hit clean up?
Especially on a night that Oscar Hernandez was not in the starting lineup because of a stomach bug. So you know, if ta Oscar's not in there, why not have Will Smith hitting clean up? He was two for three each night with two RBIs, he's hitting three sixty four, his ops is nine to eighty two, and he's six for nine this year with runners in scoring position with six RBIs. If you remember, in those two games in Tokyo, he didn't drive in a lot of runs, but he was
seeing the ball really well. He walked five times in two games in Tokyo, and you look at his strikeout to walk ratio right now, thirteen strikeouts and only ten walks to start the year.
You heard him allude to it.
He's not going to get into too much detail, but he did say during the offseason he worked to tweak his his swing a little bit, and that's the reason why he believes he's been able to be so consistent from Tokyo to North America again. And if you think back to what he did during the Cactus League, remember he started out a little bit later because of a left bone bruise that he played through last year, so the Dodgers slow played him, and when he did get
in there, he was really good during spring training. And a lot of times when guys are really good in spring training, they start off cold when the season begins. But he's been hot ever since the start of spring training. I mean he's slugging five hundred now is on basis
at for eighty two. He has been really good from day one, and we'll see if he can carry this forward, not just to the All Star break, but after the All Star break, because the last couple of years he has kind of dropped off significantly offensively for one reason or the other.
So we'll see whether or.
Not a traditional first half hot hitter can keep it going in the second half. But as of now, with the Dodger offense kind of struggling after Taoscar Hernandez, it.
Would be it would be good to have Will Smith.
I don't care if you have back to back right handers, maybe hitting a little higher in the order, because with Freddie Freeman back in the starting lineup, with Mookie, Betts and Otani, all three of those guys in the lineup, which we haven't seen for more than what four or five games so far this year, that's big They're gonna get on base, and until the eight to nine hitters can turn that lineup over, you want to have somebody that can hit behind those big three and drive them in,
like Taoskar and Will Smith. That's for sure, so tonight it worked out well for the Dodgers because those first four guys did all the damage for the Dodgers offensively. Tonight, will Smith drove in two runs without hitting a home run, Mookie Bets hit a two run home run in the first inning, and shoe Hey Otani hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning, And you go back to Mookie's two run home run that gave
the Dodgers the lead. They've been playing from behind a lot, not just during this recent downturn as far as losing three straight series, but if you go back to them starting the year here at Dodgers Stadium, after those first two games in Tokyo.
They're playing from behind a lot.
So it was good to see them, even against the Rockies, get the lead early, because that's tough to do as an offense if you always feel like you're playing from behind. And it feels like the Dodgers have been playing from behind quite a bit, you know, last time I checked, six of their wins this year are from coming from behind. Half of their wins are coming from behind after getting down early.
So that's a real thing.
So hopefully things start to pick up for the Dodgers and they can get everybody going. Tommy Edmund got the start in center field tonight. He was a rare zero for four, so he was part of that five through nine tonight that were combined one for fifteen. All right, Tomorrow, it's Jackie Robinson Day, a special day at Dodger Stadium as always, and Kareem abdul Jabbar is scheduled to speak by the Jackie Robinson statue before the game and before
gates are open. It's been come a tradition ever since that Jackie Robinson Statue was moved to the center field plaza to have the Dodgers and whoever they're playing congregate out there. And Dave Roberts has said some words in the past, Jason Hayward has said some words in the past. They've had Reggie Smith go out there and say some
words in the past. And tomorrow, a great man, a great scholar, a great activist in his life, Kareem duel Jabbar will be the guest speaker out there with the Rockies and Dodgers around the Jackie Robinson statue, so that'll be special. And then once the gates are open, it's Jackie Robinson Night April fifteenth, the anniversary of Jackie breaking the color barrier making his major league debut, and to celebrate it this year, the Dodgers are going to give
away at Jackie Robinson nineteen fifty five replica jersey. So it'll be special tomorrow night here at Dodgers Stadium. And it's always great when Jackie Robinson Day happens when the Dodgers are at home, and hopefully that can continue whoever makes the schedule to keep the Dodgers at home on Jackie Robinson Day. Tomorrow night, it's Landon Neck making his second start, going up against Ryan Feltner Morogo Casino. Dodgers on Deck begins at six o'clock tomorrow, with first pitch
at seven ten. Thanks to Colin Ee back into Burbank Studios, thanks to Dwayne McDonald out here at Dodgers Stadium. Thanks to you for listening. In case you missed any of the show, you can find it on the iHeartRadio app. You can also hear our full conversation with Dodger reliever Alex Vesia on the iHeartRadio app, and they also on the new improved iHeartRadio app. Have a dashboard you could set up Dodger Talk and AM five to seventy LA Sports on your preset dashboard to.
Make it easy once again.
The final score tonight from Dodgers Stadium the Dodgers defeat the Rockies five to three. Ben Maller on Fox Sports Radio is next. Have a great rest of your night see them