And now your host of Dodger Talk, David Vasse.
Welcome the Dodger Talk David Fasse with you until eleven thirty tonight, taking your phone calls at eight six six nine, eight seven two five seventy. The Dodgers beat the Rockies tonight six to two, so that means they have won the series and the streak is over. They had lost three consecutive series going back to Philadelphia and our Nation's capital, Washington, DC. The Cubs came into town took two out of three from the Dodgers. So the Dodgers getting healthy against the
team they should get healthy against. Last year, the Dodgers beat the Rockies ten out of thirteen meetings. Tonight they took care of business and again they didn't even play their best game. But I felt like the third inning may have been their best or their their best night as an offense. I really do the way they passed the baton the way they got on base, a two out base hit by Chris Taylor. Yes, the three run home run by Will Smith was the big one, but
look how it got set up. It was the two guys ahead of Will Smith, part of the Big Three show. Hey Otani who led off the inning with a walk, stole second. Mookie Betts flew out that was the first out of the inning, and then Freddie Freeman took a walk, and then Will Smith hit a home run. So a lot of times players will tell you, yes, the home run is big, but look at the sequence of events
that took place ahead of the home run. Yet bat right ahead of the home run, and those two guys Otani and Freeman set the table for Will Smith, who quietly, as always, is having a really hot start. In fact, he has the second most hits by any catcher in baseball seventeen to only Cabert Ruiz of the Nationals. Will Smith tonight two for five with threebis. He has now driven in five runs in the first two games of this series. Eight six six nine seven two five seventy
is the phone number. Our guy, the voice of God, Todd Lights is in the booth tonight. For some reason, he wanted to check out how Dodger talk is done. Why don't you say hi to the people, Todd Lights before I get really into them? Go ahead, there it is. There we go, melt the other one hit the other one. There we go.
See I'm a rookie when it comes to be in radio here.
So hey, Dave, dramatic pause right there, Todd lights Now now you're hitting the cough button. See this is a high tech booth. People just think I show up and throw on headsets on and start yap and no, this is the real world.
Well that's why I wanted to be here and see you do what you do. This is what I listen to on the way home every night, and I love it.
Man, it's great to be here. Ah that voice, Oh man, that is great. Hey, maybe when we go to the calls, you could say the callers' names. That would give them a Let's do that, all right, eight six, six, nine eighty seven two five seventies the phone number. Dodgers beat the Rockies tonight six to two, and the Padres finally lost a game at home. They lost two to one in ten innings to those pesky Cubs. Nico Horner, with a go ahead triple in the tenth inning, handed the
Padres their first loss at home. But I am not falling into the trap of scoreboard watching this early in the season. All I could say is the NL West is shaping up to be the best division in baseball. I know a lot of those East Coasters that East Coast bias. They don't stay up this late to watch the Padres or the Giants or the Dodgers unless they're in their time zone. But they better start recognizing because the NL West is the only division in baseball that
has three teams with at least twelve wins. The Padres are fourteen and four, the Giants are twelve and five, and the Dodgers are thirteen and six. Not to mention, the Diamondbacks are ten and seven. It's these Rockies that are the anchor of the NL West at three and fourteen, after the Dodgers beat them again tonight six to two.
And just think back, it wasn't that long ago that the Dodgers and Rockies played a Game one sixty three right here at Dodgers Stadium, where the legend of Walker Bueller was born as a big game pitcher, he beat the guy that's starting tomorrow night, Herman Marquez, in Game one sixty three here at Dodgers Stadium. And how the Rockies have fallen a mile high off the mountain after the Dodgers crushed their dreams in Game one sixty three
back in twenty eighteen. The Dodgers have kept going. Teams like the Rockies have had miracle years like twenty eighteen. The Giants had a miss miracle year in twenty twenty one. But the Dodgers stay consistent, and they've won two World Championships. They've been to the World Series four times. And yes, seasons like this do appear where you know you have a surprise team like the Giants come from out of nowhere to give the Dodgers a run for the money
in the division. But for the most part, the Dodgers have been the pillar of strength in the NLS. But don't sleep on the fact. I mean, early on, it looks like the NLST very well could have not only a division winner, but the rest of the wildcard playoff picture in this division with the Padres playing as well as they are, And look, I warned you about the Padres.
Everybody thought the Padres were going to sell off their team with some of the disputes going on in their ownership after the unfortunate passing of a great man, Peter Seidler, who was the nephew of the great Walter O'Malley. But they did not sell off anybody. They kept the same core group that took the Dodgers to five games in the NLDS. They just didn't add any big pieces. So they are still that team. And I have a feeling that the Dodgers and Padres are going to see each
other at some point in October. Again. Eight six six nine, seven, two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to the phones for the first time tonight. Abby, who was at Dodgers Stadium tonight? Abby? Do you feel like Todd Litz brought his a game tonight? All right, all right, I'm doing great. Thank you. Hey, Abby, your cell phone connection is really bad. I'll put you on hold and Colin's going to take care of that for you. I
just can't subject us to that. I mean, there was a lot of wind and a lot of static, but not a lot of Abby's you regroup and we'll get back to you in a second as far as tonight's game goes. Jack dryer Man waited his turn when he was added to the forty manter roster during the offseason.
He kind of had a feeling that his time was coming, and he pitched so well during spring training he forced the Dodger's hand to put him on the roster, and he has delivered with flying colors tonight and inning and two thirds of scoreless relief, four strikeouts, one walk, and extends his consecutive scoreless inning streak to eleven and a third innings. It's hard to do being a relief pitcher and coming in and facing the meat of the order
a lot of times. And for Jack Dryer not only coming in for one or two batters, but going back to the dugout and coming back out to pitch a second inning. So Jack Dryer and for the most part, Ben Casparius have been big additions from the farm system to this Dodger bullpen. And how about Taylor. How about
Chris Taylor getting his first start in center field. Since last June, Chris Taylor hasn't played a lot, and I'm really happy for him to be able to contribute the way he did tonight in the third inning with a diving catch in center field to rob Ezekiel Tovar and then coming up with a two out base hit to tack on the fourth run of the third inning. Many
of you want to barry Chris Taylor. He doesn't play certain nights the Dodgers win, and I have a full board of calls of you trying to bury Chris Taylor, a two time World Series champion, the guy that won the Wildcard Game for the Dodgers in twenty one with a walk off home run, a guy that hit one of the biggest home runs in the twenty seventeen World Series Game one off of Verlander, leading off the World Series with a home run, A guy that made one
of the great catches in the twenty eighteen NLCSM Milwaukee Game seven on the warning track, and you all want to bury this guy. Look, Chris Taylor is not the perfect player, but how many are There's not too many perfect players. The Dodgers have three that are pretty close in Otani and Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman. But what
Chris Taylor has. He has that blue collar type of attitude, that type of accountability to himself and to the team and to the fans to try to get better and contribute when called upon and not make a big stink about it when he doesn't play. And he has that championship pedigree. He knows how to play the game on the biggest stage. And look the swing It's a work in progress, right, It's not the same swing that can work in twenty twenty five the way it worked in
twenty seventeen. But Chris Taylor isn't going anywhere. He's making a pretty large sum of money this year in the final year of a four year, sixty million dollar contract. Last year, if you look at his second half, it was better than what it was in his first half. And tonight was a big night for Chris Taylor because he proved to himself, he proved to his teammates, and he proved to you to a certain extent that there's still something left in the tank. And you have to
appreciate guys like that. Look, is he going to be an everyday player? Is he going to be the twenty seventeen Chris Taylor? Probably not, But I do believe it's unfair to say this guy cannot play anymore and everybody wants to throw dirt on his grave prematurely. He has a role on this team. Is it to play every day? No, But he knows how to play center field, he knows how to play left field pretty well. He could play second,
in short and third base. There's a value for a guy like that and also a guy that has veteran experience. So I'm just saying it's early in the season and you might want to just take some inventory on what the resume is of certain players. If Chris Taylor was unproven, I would say, of course, they just picked him up get rid of him. But he has a track record, and that track record is pretty impressive. Is it what
it was in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen? No, but is there still something that can help the Dodgers win. He proved it tonight that yes there is eight six six nine eighty seven, two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to La Nick. You're on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi. Nick.
What's up, Dave. How are you doing tonight?
I'm doing great.
That's great. I'll just listening to your coumbo on Chris Taylor. I mean, I've been a huge Cresce hitter fan since since we got him back from Seattle. And I mean, like you said, moment after moment, he's he's there. You know that, he's I don't want nobody else in the outfield, nobody else anywhere. I want, you know, ball hit to him because you know he's gonna give you a hundred percent, full on effort. But with that being said, why don't we give him I don't.
Know about that. I don't know if I want the ball hit to him every time. I mean to ask her, this weeks pretty.
Good, Yeah, I mean, why don't we give him a shot at three v you know once he's you know, kind of struggling to start the season off.
To see here we go. It's either Chris Taylor or Max Munsey, take your pick, because they seem to be the poster child for everybody's critique. And Max Munsey for the second straight game tonight, did you know, for the second straight game, Nick, Max Munsey took two walks. And that's what the Dodgers need out of the seven eight to nine holes. They need those guys to get on base to turn that lineup over. And it's been a little better here the last two nights, kind of tonight
was much better than last night. So I don't want to hear that on Max Mounsey either. It's seventeen games in. Uh, it's a little premature to start saying that Max Mounthsy's washed as well.
No, no, another question. I know that now was gonna begin his his throwing process again that that. How did that or is there any info on that went good?
It went good. He's been all smiles the last two days, which tells me that things went well and he's happy with the way the shoulders feeling. So it's gonna be some time to build back up, but not a lot of time. Like I said last night, I kind of feel like when the Dodgers go on their East coast road trip and end in Arizona, when they play ten games on the road to start May, that's when you're going to see Blake Snell return to the Dodger rotation.
All right, Nick, thanks for the phone call. Eight six six seven two five seventy is the phone number. Think about the Dodgers starting rotation. Dust May and Yamamoto have been by far the two best starters the Dodgers have had this year. Tyler Glass now has had two good starts at home, but had a not so great start in Philly. So I would say he's third behind those two guys. And if you look at the guys that are not pitching for the Dodgers right now, that at
some point this season, will pitch for them. It's pretty scary for the rest of the league because you got Blakesnell coming back in the beginning of May. Kershaw, who is starting a rehab game in Oklahoma City tomorrow morning, is eligible to come off the sixty day il mid May. Let's not forget about Emmitt Shean. Emmit Shean physically looked more imposing in spring training than I saw him before he had his Tommy John surgery. Shean more than likely will be able to pitch in the second half of
the season. And oh yeah, that guy number seven team, that's a great dh, A fifty to fifty guy. Show Hey Otani, He's going to be pitching at some point in July, August, September to get ready for October. So those are four big time guys that could start in the Rockies rotation tomorrow. And the Dodgers have a pretty full rotation right now. Eight six six, nine eighty seven
two five seventy is the phone number. We have two lines open when we continue more of your phone calls, and we will also let you hear from Michael Kopek, who experienced his first Jackie Robinson Day with the Dodgers he'll give us an update on where he's at. Oh yeah, By the way, the Dodger bullpen has been really good and Evan Phillips, Bruce dark Raderol and Michael Kopek have
yet to throw a single pitch this season. You'll hear from Kopek and also we'll share Vin Scully's memories of the great Jackie Robinson as we celebrate forty two today and every day right here on five to seventy LA Sports, your home for the world champion Dodgers. They beat the Rockies sixty two. Be happy.
Dodger Talk is available on AM five seventy LA sports dot com, hand on the iHeartRadio app. Back to more Dodger Talk with Dodger insider David Basse.
There's lead, big lead.
It first for Freemam.
There's a swing a dry left field.
This ball's deep and caring bean back to the wall.
He looks up, better's got a hold. Run Will Smith with a three run shot and the Dodgers lead it four and nothing.
Second home run of the season for Will Smith as he just hammered this one out for the right of the bull bend into the first row of the home run seats.
A big night for the Big Three last night, with Will Smith driving in two runs, and then tonight, Will Smith with the hammer, a three run home run part of a four run third inning for the Dodgers as they go on to beat the Rockies tonight six to two. Daniels Jewelers presents the home run Forecast. Go to AM five to seventy lasports 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 very next game. Daniels Jewelers own the Dream. Eight six, six, nine, seven two five seventy is the phone number. Will Smith off to a very hot start with an ops of over one thousand. He's hitting three sixty seven. His strikeout to walk ratio is remarkable. He's only struck out fourteen times this year, and he's already walked ten times. He has two home runs and twelve RBIs and certainly uh the ideal guy to be hitting behind guys like Shoe Aotani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman.
That three run home run was set up by walks from Otani and Freddie Freeman, as Will came to the plate with one out and Freddy Tonight on base four times, two walks, and he had two hits, and he came this close to hitting a home run inside the left field foul pole. Instead it was fouled by a few feet, and Freddie was a little annoyed. You could tell he thought that. He well, he takes pride in keeping those type of fly balls fair, so he holds himself to
a higher standard than anybody else would. How about Tommy Edmund who went over last night but came back big tonight four for five. His four hits tied a career hides the fourth time Tommy Edmond had four hits in a game. The last time was back in twenty twenty three. So it's been a while for Tommy Edman. Thank you very much, Saint Louis for Tommy Edman, by the way, I mean, I can't believe the Cardinals traded that guy, but the Dodgers are very fortunate to have him in
their lineup. He is huge, plays gold Glub's second base. He's really the captain of that infield, and then you could kick him out to center field in the middle of the game like they did tonight, like you saw in the postseason last year, he could play shortstop for you all the way to an NLCSMVP and to a World Series Championship. So to me, Tommy Edmin is the glue. Hey, we want to send our thoughts and prayers out to
Jose Mota and his pops, Manny Mota. Jose's not joining the show tonight and did not join it last night because his dad, Manny, who is a legendary Dodger, suffered a stroke. He's in recovery where he's responsive to commands and is resting comfortably. Jose was at the ballpark calling the game for Spanish radio tonight. I'm sure he's with his pops tonight, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Number eleven and the Motive family. Man. He's a great guy and means a lot to this organization and
can't wait to see him back here. I was actually just joking around with him a couple of days ago, because he's here virtually every day. He was wearing a three quarter zip with the Chiefs logo. I was like, Manny, you're a Chiefs fan. He's like, yeah, you didn't know that. I said, no, I'd never seen you wear any Chiefs gear. He said, I played with Patrick Mahomes's dad back in the day, so all right, that justifies wearing a Chiefs
three quarter zip. Michael Kopek not sure what team he roots for, but Michael Kopek was such a big part of the Dodger bullpen last year as they really did something unprecedented to carry the Dodgers and support a staff that basically only had two and a half starters to the World Series Championship and nothing more evident and encapsulated what the Dodger bullpen did than Game five of the World's Series as they were able to pick Jack Flaherty up,
capped off by Blake Trinan and Walker Buehler doing herculean things to help the Dodgers secure that World Series championship. But Michael Kopek was so big as well part of that World Series run for the Dodgers after they acquired him along with Tommy Edmund in that three way trade with the Cardinals in White Sox last July. Michael Kopek, by the way, knew his elbow wasn't feeling great during that October run, but pitched through it and now he's
trying to come back and good news. He threw a bullpen session today, his second, and he feels like things are going in the right direction.
I think with the game in general, excuse me, with the game in general, there's a lot of ups and downs. Yeah, you know. So you know I'm let's say I'm healthy right now and I'm pitching. I and go out there and I can feel great for one game. In the next game maybe not so good, and you have to
find a way. There's a little litle bit of that when you're doing a rehab stant too, but you don't know if you're going to bounce back when you have a bad day and rehab, so it can be this roller coaster of emotions if you if you ride every single feeling of every single day, but to have a high day make it that a little bit easier and you get to kind of just build off of that.
Like I said, I have so much respect for you and for all those guys in the bullpen last year that were pushed to the limits to try to win the World Series. You guys were able to do that. I haven't talked to you about this, but you what you guys did as a group is unprecedented to carry a pitching staff that far. How proud are you of that? And I mean literally left your arm out on the mound last year?
Uh yeah. I think the main thing is I'm I'm incredibly grateful to be a part of a group that that was that was that special. You know, whether one guy did the job every single night, or you know, somebody needed to get picked up, like, we never shied away from that, and we had a group of guys that were willing to fight that battle all the way through. And to be a part of that group and a part of guys that are just so determined to win no matter you know, what the feeling is or what
the situation is. Like, the World Series was the end goal and site and that was what we were all working towards. So to be a part of a group that worked that hard for it, I was incredibly proud of.
No doubt, they'll go down in history as maybe the greatest bullpen in a World Series. I'm not saying all of them were better than you know, the Nasty Boys of the Reds in nineteen ninety or k Rod and Perceval and shields of the Angels O.
Two.
But I will say this, none of those bullpens had to shoulder the workload that bullpen had to do. And I would, pound for pound take them over any other bullpen. And you can't measure the size of their heart, because that was immeasurable. They had a heart of a lion to be able to do what they did last year. There's no ways around that. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to Bob in Malibu. Bob, can you believe this
Dodger bullpen is pitching as well as it is? And there's no Grattarol, no Phillips, and no Copek.
Yet, not only can I believe it, Dave, I believe in it every single time these guys take the mound, Man, they give us such strength out there. They come in after our starters. Grateful to all the bullpen first and foremost, Dave, do I want to echo your thoughts about Manny motive men, Dodger nations behind that guy, thinking of him, thinking of his family, So wishing Manny the best man in the full recovery.
Anything you want to say to Todd lights the voice of God, the PA announcer for Dodger Stadium. He's hanging out in the booth tonight. Bob, you want to say hi?
All I can say is thank God. Todd.
Yeah, go ahead, Todd sale Hell to Bob and Malibu. There you go.
Hey you Bob, Thanks man, come on out and see.
You like hearing the voice of God right over my telephone. Thanks for being with us. God Man appreciates you.
Dave one for some reason, he's a sick man. He's a sick man that wants to sit here and watch me do sports talk radio at night. Bob, thanks a lot, Bob appreciated man. How about that a big fan right there. Todd. You know a lot of people hear the voice, but they really don't hear the personality of the PA announcer.
Well, I try to add a little personality if I can. But yeah, we're on a limited wavelength up there in the PA booth. But boy is it exciting to be out here with fifty thousand plus fans every game. And we sold another game out tonight and these fans just keep turning up. It's a it's a Tuesday night in April, and we've got a full house out here, so of course it's Jackie Robinson night and everybody wants to be
part of that. But you fans are amazing and we feel your energy and I know the team thrives on it too.
So love it. And you were out there today. I saw you at the statue. You were wearing your Dodger jersey with the forty two on the back. How great was Kareem today?
Kareem was fantastic. I loved his stories about growing up in Manhattan as a Brooklyn Dodger fan. You mentioned that he was born the day after Jackie broke the color barrier, and it was just he's such as he's such a sage man, you know, and such just such a towering figure, both physically of course, and in our culture and here in Los Angeles, and it's just great to see him out there. And I know he's not moving around as well as he used to, but he's got a lot
to say and he's got a lot to offer. So we love Kareem.
Hey, we love Todd Lights. Thanks for hanging out with us tonight. Todd. I'm glad I could share you with the people.
Thank you, David. You're always a very hospitable. I appreciate it. I love the show. Dodger Talk is the best seventy LA sports clip.
That calling. That's a promo right there, Voice of God, just endorse me clip that clip that that'll run every single night. Todd, thank you very much. Eight sixty six nine eighty seven two five seventy is the phone number. On the topic of Kareem and Jackie Robinson. I wanted to share with you a very special conversation or part of a very special conversation I had with Vin Scully back in twenty twelve. I had so many questions for him about the Boys of Summer and in particular Jackie Robinson.
So here is the great Vin Scully on the grate forty two.
Well, I think, first of all, when I first started, I was the same age as many of the rookie players. I can remember sitting in the back of the bus with Dick Williams, who was a rookie outfielder for the Dodgers who eventually became a Hall of Fame manager. So a lot of years go by, and in those days with Jackie and I, we were sent to the Catskill Mountains.
There were a resort up there called Gros singers, pretty famous in the East, and it was dead of winter and we were going to hold a Q and A with the guests and do whatever we could do to entertain. So I brought my ice skates because I was a kid from the East, and I skated and Jackie and Rachel came, and Rachel was about eight months pregnant, and Jackie said, oh, you're going to go skating and I said yeah. He said, well, I'll go with you. I
said okay, so Rachel said I'll go too. Well. We went to the rink right at Grossingers and there was a lady named Maureen Mellerrick and she took Rachel off to get her skates, and Jackie and I went in the locker room and Jackie got a pair of rented skates and I was putting on mine and Jackie said, when we get out there, I'd like to race you. And I was shocked, and I said, jack I didn't
know that you raced your southern California. I knew about basketball, I knew about football, but I didn't know you ice skated. And he said, oh, I've never been on skates in my life. So I looked at him and I said, well, jack I mean, I'm not a great skater, but I can skate, and there's no way that you're going to beat me in a race. And he said, I know, but that's the way I'm going to learn. And that really was the competitive fire inside of Jackie Robinson.
Can you talk about what you went through and how you witnessed everything that he did go through as one of the pioneers not only in baseball but in American society.
Well, actually, when Jackie started with the Dodgers nineteen forty seven, I was not there. My first taste of what it was like to travel with Jackie was the spring of nineteen fifty and we went from Vero Beach to Texas on our way to Brooklyn. So it was a long, long trip and we came back from Texas through the South, and that's when I realized the impact that he had made on the country. Jackie was very forceful, however, with
the people. If the black community came out, and they did, they were in right field and center field and some of the small ballparks, and Jackie would go out and if he saw one or two, let's say, who were over celebrating, who perhaps had gone to the hard stuff. Jackie would really not ball them out, but he would say to them, this is not the way to behave. You can be happy, but you don't want to show
some bad habits while trying to be happy. So he was very concerned about the reaction of the black people in the South. But he was a remarkable man. And I've often said this, most of us lose some of our skills when we get angry. Jackie actually excelled when he got angry, certainly on the baseball field. That's why Leo Durocher and other managers used to say, leave him alone, let him sleep, because if you got him angry, he
could do the most remarkable things. And I remember in Pittsburgh one time they threw at him and he got angry. So he had a base hit, then he stole check, and then he stole third, and then he stole home. And so that's the kind of a player he was. The fire in his belly was amazing.
Vin Scully with the final word tonight on Dodger Talk, sharing incredible stories that he lived with the great Jackie Robinson, and that was part of an interview that I did with Vin right here in the press box back in twenty twelve. I never get tired of hearing that voice or hearing those stories, and we miss Vin a lot, but his legacy lives on, just like Jackies does through his voice, through his storytelling, and through things like that.
So thank you Vince Scully, because you gave us a first hand account of the greatness of the person of Jackie Robinson. Then I'll do it for us tonight on Dodger Talk. In case you missed any of the show, you can find it on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks to calling Ye back at our Burbank Studios, Thanks to Dwayne McDonald out here at Dodger Stadium, and thanks to Todd Lights for hanging out with us, and thank you for
hanging with us every single night. Once again. The final score tonight from Dodgers Stadium on Jackie Robinson Day, the Dodgers defeat the Rockies six to two. Ben Maller on Fox Sports Radio is next. Have a great rest of your night. See yup.