One thing about this gene is the invisible and tangibles that they have.
This team is really becoming a family.
Let's not play one on Tom.
Let's wind it.
I love writing me these guys after the show.
So just thank you, give me are your attention, your fire, not a pisson. This is world champion, Dodgers, world champion.
Put a small soft time they get up people what they want to die in a row two is special. I'm like, yeah, it's not a headache. One of a con. This ball's gone. You ready to go?
Hell time go to the South, grab your phone to get in on the show called eight six six nine eighty seven two five seven.
And go to the show.
And now your host of Dodger Talk, David Vasse.
We are alive at Dodgers Stadium after the Dodgers defeat the Pirates tonight by a final score of eight to four. David vass with you until ten thirty tonight. We have phone line. It's open at eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy. And No, the tarp is not
on the infield tonight. Obviously it rained in Los Angeles during the morning time in early afternoon, but there was no hitch to Dave Roberts, baballhead night and first pitch between the Dodgers and Pirates, which saw the Pirates trying to hand this game to the Dodgers a few different times, and until the eighth inning, the Dodgers were not taking it. In fact, it felt like the Pirates were saying, here, you take it, and the Dodgers were saying to them, no, no,
you take it, you take it. Get We got enough wins. We're gonna get wins. But it was good to see the Dodgers win this game. It would not have been pretty if the Dodgers had lost four in a row in a game like tonight, But looks that's what the Dodgers have against teams like the Pirates. They just got more. They got too much for teams like the Pirates when it's a close game going into the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings of games. And that was evident tonight. Too
much Tani, too much Taoscar Hernandez. And then you add in Andy Paz, who is starting to heat up and play better defense in center field. It's just too much for a team like that. Andy pa has three for four tonight, including robbing Brian Reynolds of what would have been extra bases at the very least in the fifth inning. So all the Andy pa has haters are quiet for
the last week or so, Taoscar Hernandez. Everybody loves Tao and thank goodness the Dodgers resigned him because him and Tommy Edmond and Will Smith had basically been carrying this
offense for the first three weeks of the season. Taoscar Hernandez drove in the tying run in the first inning with two outs, and Taoscar Hernandez, just to put this in context, you know he's clutch and was clutched last year with runners in scoring position, But how about this season, Taoscar Hernandez, when he comes to the plate with two outs, he's sitting three to twenty three with fourteen RBIs. There's not too many players that can say that on the
Dodgers or in Major League Baseball. And then, of course his go ahead home run in the eighth inning, which opened up the floodgates for a four run eighth for the Dodgers to beat the Pirates tonight eight to four. So ta Oscar Hernandez did everything tonight. He drove in runs.
He gave the Dodgers the lead in the eighth inning, and then he threw out Joey Bart, who made an awful base running play in the second inning, trying to tag up when Taoscar caught Tommy FAM's fly ball as he was running in in shallow right field, the former Giant catcher not five Beta Kappa, trying to tag up on Taoscar Hernandez. And then you look at Freddie Freeman.
He had a really good night tonight. He drove in a run and he also made a great defensive play that is going to go overlooked in the scheme of things, but because Jack Dryer was a little wild again, the Pirates had opportunities to score not only just one run, but multiple runs. And Freddie Freeman made a great play in the seventh inning off of the cleanup hitter Emmanuel Valdez. If Freddy Freeman doesn't make that play, the Pirates are scoring more than one run, and who knows where the
momentum goes after that. So there was some really good defensive plays by the Dodgers tonight and certainly that helped them win. And that's something we've been talking about the Dodger defense has not been very good so far to start the year, at least consistently good, and their base running hasn't been that great either consistently to start the year. Tonight, both things were really good, and both things helped the
Dodgers win tonight. Yeah you might look at the three run pinch hit home run by Key k Yeah, you're gonna look at ta oscars go ahead home run. But it was these other things, the base running in defense that helped them win this game tonight and pick up their pitchers. Whether it was or Jack Dryer, it was the defense that helped the Dodgers win this game tonight and show, Hey, Otani came to life tonight for the first time in a while. He's human. But you know,
every baseball player goes through slumps. It's the ones that don't let it extend into one for twenty one for twenty fives. Otani coming into the game tonight was one for his last fifteen. That's over with because he was three for five tonight with two doubles, a triple, a stolen base, and he drove in a run and scored twice. So I would say it was the ta Oscar and Otani show offensively for the Dodgers tonight. And Otani I thought once he got on base, he was trying to
change the game with his base running. He was intent on forcing the issue and making the Pirates make mistakes. So a great job by him, A great job by Dino Ebel, who was waving Andy Paez around from first base. A great read on the outfielders. Dino's job doesn't start it's seven to ten either. He's doing a lot of extensive scanner reports on what the outfielders can do when they move side to side, laterally, arm strength, all those things to be able to uh make great judgments in
the third base coaching box. Eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to the phones for the first time tonight.
Ed.
Who is at Dodger Stadium tonight? Hi, Ed, You're on Dodger Talk.
Hey Dave, thanks for taking my call. Just leaving Dodger Stadium right now. What a great night, Dave Roberts boblehead, Such a fun time, Dodgers got the w Hey, I just wanted to talk about something really fast. I feel like, you know, Smith's something that was overlooked Will Smith's catching. Roki Esaki did a great job. We need that more consistent offense from the catcher position when Rokie's pitching, So I just really we got to stick with him. Thanks
so much, Dave. Do you have a great time all right? Ed?
Thanks for the phone call. Hey, if you're trying to take a backhanded shot at Austin Barnes. The last time Barnes caught, he had two hits, including a double. But I mean, nobody's on Will Smith's offensive level. He's the best hitting catcher in baseball. And yeah, he did a great job with Sasaki tonight. You know one thing about Sasaki, it's still a work in progress. He pitches once a week. In case you haven't noticed, he's like a college pitcher.
He pitches every Saturday night, and Yamamoto pitches every Friday night. It's like UCLA Baseball here at Dodger Stadium. But I mean it's basically for Sasaki. Yamamoto would be able to pitch on regular rest, which is four or five days. But this is to try to keep those guys fresh and healthy for October. And I would love to see Sasaki have more mound presence. He still seems to be unsure of himself, and you know, he's starting to throw more strikes, which is helping him. But I would just
say he was fine tonight. I'm not going to gush over him tonight. It's a work in progress, and the Dodgers were fully aware of that when they signed him and brought him in under this type of contract. It's not a three hundred million dollar contract, it's a normal minimum salary, and they understood he was not a finished product. But are hoping that by the time August rolls around, he'll be a better picture than what we saw tonight, and a better picture than what we saw two starts ago.
Let's go out to Ken in Newport Beach, a rare phone call from Ken on a winning night.
How you doing, Ken, Hey, David, thank you? Good come Buck and Goodwin. Even though they are all last place team Pittsburgh, they're actually pretty good. But I think it's time to take a look at keyk one of your best infielders who now has five home runs, and I think it's time for him to play or third base, because I don't see Muncey coming out of this slumpy as no home runs and strikes out way too much. Key K, We'll take your five home runs and multiplayers feel.
Yeah, you know, I'm not a post to that, Ken, And tomorrow is probably a day Max Munsey is going to sit. I could see Dave Roberts doing that with a lefty on the mound and Kik Or Rojas getting the start at third base, and I'm not opposed to that. I don't believe Max Munsey has earned just the blind getting into the starting lineup. But I don't believe the
Dodgers are giving up on Max Munsey yet either. We've seen starts like this, We've seen stretches like this, so hopefully this is similar to the other years where he gets out of it some way, somehow. But yeah, I'm not opposed to having more Rojas and more key K at third base until Munsey comes out of this.
All right, great, thank you?
Hey, we agree, And you called on a winning night. Wow, this is a big Saturday.
I was getting a little frustrated, so I had to do it.
I bet you were. I bet you were. Thanks Ken, Thanks for the phone call. Everybody was getting frustrated, no more than those players in that clubhouse and in that dugout. There's a lot of professional pride by those guys who are, by the way, just five months removed from winning the World Series. I feel like a lot of times in the moment, you forget the fact that these are the defending World Series champions. They did deliver a World Series to you last year for the second time in what
five years. I mean, they did give you a parade for the first time since nineteen eighty eight. So let's give these guys a little wiggle room here. But the last year was last year, and they talked about trying to win the World Series again. The front office spent a lot of money to try to make that happen. I will just say this, A lot of times players come into the season because they put in a lot
of work during the off season. And you're looking at probably two out of the three at the top of the Dodger lineup that didn't have the opportunity to do that because of surgeries Shoe Aotani with the left labrum shoulder surgery, Freddie Freeman with the right ankle surgery. How much time did they have to get baseball ready? Were they just trying to get their bodies put back together
after having significant surgeries. I think we all forget that, and maybe there's some guys in this starting lineup that maybe celebrated too much during the offseason and did not really get prepared for this upcoming year. I'll say this about Mookie Bets. I saw him at Justin Turner's golf tournament in mid November, and he told me he started working a couple of weeks after the World Series was over.
No matter what you want to say about Mookie Bets, I would venture to say, no, nobody worked harder during the off season to get ready for this year than Mookie Betts. Eight six six, nine eighty seven two five seventy is the phone number. The Dodgers beat the Pirates tonight by a final score of eight to four. It was a big night by Taioscar Hernandez and show hey Otani, but also Andy PA has not too many phone calls coming into praise Pa Haz these days. Everybody was calling
in ready to pull the plug on Pa Haz. And that's why you know, it's a long season, and I know we're emotional, and that's what feeds this show emotions, and even the host can get emotional at times, and I would say, I'm an emotional person, no doubt about it, But it's early in the season, you know. Quite honestly, I couldn't even tell you who is where in the standings because I don't even look at the standings until
the beginning of May. And I would advise you, for your own sanity not to look at the standard until May. And the Dodgers won their seventeenth game this year, how do you think Braves fans are feeling? You know, that would be the only time I would look at the standings as if a team is off to a really red hot start, or if a team is off to a horrible start like the Braves were. And by the way, the Braves, with their win tonight in Arizona in ten innings,
have climbed back to five hundred. They're not done. Trust me. They got a lot of talent. But Alexanthopolis did a little bit too much over the last couple of years after winning the World Series in twenty twenty one, and the Braves are kind of paying the price for that. But nonetheless, I'm just saying, it's what twenty one games into the season, twenty seven games into the season are we really going to overreact to one game in April. I mean, the Dodgers are seventeen and ten. It's not
like they're ten and seventeen. If they were ten and seventeen, I would welcome all the calls and the sky is falling. But just because a couple of players are off to a slow start, I don't feel like it's time to overreact. Just think about this. The Dodgers are seventeen and ten. They haven't got any offensive production from two main starters in Michael Confordo and Max Muncy. Their defense has been marginal,
Their base running has been marginal. In fact, I would venture to say both have been subpar to the Dodgers standards. They haven't had Otani, Betts, and Freeman in the lineup more than half of their games, and those three guys have not really caught fire yet. You haven't had Blake Snell for more than two starts. You don't have Blake Trinan now for the next probably two or three months. You don't have Michael Kopak. You just got Evan Phillips back.
Do I need to keep going? And the Dodgers are seventeen and ten, They're seventeen and ten, second pl place in the NL West. I think we all should take a step back and re examine all of that and say, oh, wow, the Dodgers are seventeen and ten and all that is happening. That's pretty scary for the rest of the league. Eight six, six, nine eighty seven, two five seventy is the phone number. Let's go out to Malibu, Bob, Malibu's most wanted. You're on Dodger Talk, Dave.
Always great to hear your voice. Thanks for having me on, Man, and you know what, big thanks to you to call in to Dwayne. I know the travel you guys do at your time in Chicago, it means a lot to of all us Dodger fans. You guys are on the field with that team and you keep us up to date. Man, So thank you guys, first and foremost appreciated day.
Hey, thank you, Bob. I know it's a tough life going to Chicago, horrible city.
Whoa Hey, I'm calling to cash in my andy Pojez praised shit. I called about a week ago on a rough night where PA has looked to improve at the plate, but still at an air in the field. I see improvement that guy. And my only hope is that he continues on this path man and keeps putting in the work. I feel like it's paying off, and it seems like it's firing up the other guys a little bit to see him succeeding. So I hope he continues with that.
He's putting in the work every day and that work is starting to pay off in games. He's out here early every day working with Dino Ebol, who is now the outfield coach, and it's it's working. You heard Rick Monday talk about how his foot his feet are grounded when the pitch is being delivered and he is in better positioned defensive athletic position to make plays like he did tonight against Brian Reynolds in the fifth inning and he shortened his swing. I mean, Rick Monday's talked about
that as well. So he's put in a lot of work and I'm happy to see a payoff and the Dodgers need him to get on base hitting ninth. Thanks for the phone call, Bob, appreciate it. We're gonna take a time out here on Dodger Talk when we come back. More of your phone calls at eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy. We're going to check in with Jose Mota as we take you to the bottom of the hour after the Dodgers defeat the Pirates tonight
eight to four. The World Champion Dodgers Audio Network.
On air at AM five seventy, online at AM five seventy, la sports dot Com, and available by podcast on the iHeartRadio app. This is Dodger Talk with David bassin.
Left tender, Ryan Barrookie is warming up or Pittsburgh and this Paul's hammer taped to.
Left field way backing Dawn.
Tioscar Her Mendays with a go a head home run of the eighth nd hits five to four Dodgers. Taiosker with his seventh home run of Little Susar Oh, what a blast, A frozen rope in the left field.
Pavilion that put the Dodgers ahead for good in the eighth inning. A leadoff, go ahead home run from tioscar Her and Say Savado Hey Ganta for ta Oscar and the Dodgers as they defeat the Pirates tonight eight to four. Daniels Jewelers presents the home run forecast. Go to Am five to seventy LA Sports dot Com use the keyword home run for your chance to win a fifty dollars Daniel Jeweler's gift card predicting the number of home runs in the next game. Daniels Jewelers Own the Dream.
It's time to go around the Horn with Jose Mota.
A man that's not emotional at all, always steady, our guy, Jose Mota, and everybody's emotions are on the happy side tonight, Jose.
Oh my god, I just learned something about this show today, David. I did not realize it was about emotions.
Really.
Yeah, it's a roller coaster.
Some nights you're so revealing.
Hey, you know what, it is an emotional game. It could drive you crazy so quickly. He could be so good and score ten uns and lose a game in Chicago, then scores six runs and lose a game.
In Chicago, and then we think the offense is terrible.
Right, Well, the pitching was not good, but that's just the way it goes. I'm glad you covered so many things, Dave, including you know it really cut my ear was Among many things is the fact that you know the rookie Sasaki steps are getting better. He is throwing the ball a little more confidence. He is not there yet, but gradually we see that the confidence being given to him is getting better. And again I think, oh Westing, this guy right now is to keep the team in the
game and get the team a chance. And he did it again today. Just a couple of little mistakes here and there. But he can't blame it Forneil Cruz in the first any of My goodness, how do you have that kind of length and wing span?
My goodness, Yeah, he's he's really physically imposing, that's for sure. Let's talk about ta Oscar Hernandez. He has been great for the Dodgers since he arrived last year. What makes him so special in how better of a hitter is he now than what he was in Toronto even just three years ago.
Well, Mookie Bets describe j Oscar to me as a guy that comes into the clubhouse and you don't know what happened the day before, good or terrible, you don't know. That's number one, That's where his life is. That's where
he lives, and that's where he plays. And he's understood that. Yeah, there's a bigger responsibility now with a bigger life magic thing used to be the same player among that also, you know, a big part of the Jostus has told me that there's some resources here with the Dodgers available to him when he came from as a free agent that he did not know where available to make him a better hitter. And he's been made aware of those
and he's taking advantage of it. You mentioned about the two strike and two out approach and things like that. The important that he plays and he's not a guy who's gonna go out there in final walk. He's going to find a way to square a ball, make adjustments and be productive. So it's been fun to watch his production and where would they be without him today? And for an offense that's still a little sputtery. I think he has been a key clock of the whole.
Thing, no doubt about it. And what was Joey Bart doing in the second inning? I think Tae Oscar was even taken off guard by a catcher trying to tag up on him.
Yeah, that's the main thing, though. You got to be aware of those situations and never never play, you know, don't be the umpire. In other words, don't think the guy's not going to go on. You just player be aware. And I also saw a lot of communications with the guys in front of him, just alerting him to be on a gult because the guy was tagging up and he pretty much threw the ball into the home played area. Lock and infielder very much adjustable the feat too.
Jose Mota is joining us. After the Dodgers beat the Pirates tonight eight to four, all right, talking about two strike approach, Rick Monday pointed this out and highlighted Otani's at bat which tied the game against former Dodger Caleb Ferguson in the seventh inning. He was down two. He had filed off a couple of pitches, but Rick pointed out that he felt like Otani stayed inside the ball
well even though it was middle middle against Ferguson. And that's not something we've seen of late from Otani.
We saw today.
And Rick has a very good point himself a left handed hitter and understanding what left handed hitters go through. We have so many people trying to bust you in and get you off the plate to eventually throw your sliders, to get your you know, to swing and miss Shohe did a better job today staying a little bit tolerant and also be inflexible with a swing and not being as sloopy with that swing. And we saw him there
first inning. But to get to the bat, as you mentioned against Caleb Ferguson, he had to fight out some good pitches, get off the edges to make sure that at least data or bring him up. And when you do that a couple of times, believe me, big leagues are not you're prone to find a mistake. And he did and put a nice swing on it. But overall today posher position and pitch selection where ki for showy and hopefully he'll continue on with extra based barogity out here tonight.
Another player I want wanted to highlight with you. Jose Is somebody we talked about and he deserves it because fans were calling in about Andy pa Has and he's put in a lot of work and tonight another big night offensively and another great night defensively for pi Has.
He needed to be challenged than he has been. There's one thing about Pies that you understand is he needed to do something right. Either you're going to play defense, they're going to be a hitter. You cannot do both run. You know, you're around the big leagues very long. So he improved his defense first and started getting better and putting the work in, you know, diligently putting the work in to know that there's some things that he needs
still to be better. Once you do that, you get your manager in front off is a chance and more thoughts about leaving you in for a reason beyond that. Then he said, okay, I got to score up my game. Rowdy Banyez has been influential with him when he comes in here. Rowley banya is a key piece in that organization as an advisor, just talks at the same level. They're both gobanos. They understand exactly what to be done.
And Pious is finally bringing Dave his batting practice swing into the game, which is the squirt up shoulders, swinging the better pitches and be an investor they play is so important fitting the top that is quite noticeable when he's doing well. This is a pie that when the Dogets were phrasing the Rocky if Year was hitting one thirty seven, and then little by little he found the power. He found the other way, He found the other line
than right field. He's a much better player and hopefully he can build off with this.
And you know, the base running has been questionable as well, and that seems to be coming around a little bit as well. Den know Ebel certainly helped him in the seventh inning scoring from first base. So it's starting to come together for a young player, right.
Jose, little by, little man. The mistakes are there. They hurt, especially when you are facing you know, you're you're together and presented with a very good big league team, inspective to win, and those mistakes have been a part of the history for many times. That Hey for you, Dave A Sabogente with the Hernandez com powders today, what a night.
Oh, big knight, big night for the Hernandez Hermanos for sure. Jose can't wait to keep it going tomorrow. Kike should be in there against the lefty tomorrow.
He needs to be in there tomorrow.
Oh I love it. What's Coachito Cruz bringing for breakfast tomorrow?
Maybe some burritos?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they got some connections warm.
I don't want freeo burritos.
I wants I know what you're talking about, so I will.
Thanks Jose Le's We'll see You Maniana Jose Mota, part of the Dodgers Spanish radio broadcast with Luis Cruz and the one and only Pepe in Ingez. I don't know how anybody else talks with Pepe. I mean Pepe everywhere you see him. He's always yapping. You don't know, you don't know when he takes a breath. But he's a great guy and has one of the best voices out there.
Great set of pipes on Pepe and Ingaz. All right, before we say you can, there are a few things around Major League Baseball that you have to highlight and tip your cap to. And something occurred tonight in the desert with the Diamondbacks third baseman Hujuenio Suarez, who hit four home runs tonight. Yeah, he hit four home runs tonight. The Diamondbacks lost, though, so that's why we could celebrate
this a little bit more. But Suarez's fourth home run was the game tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Who hie ball, there's four headwre ties.
There have been nineteen four homer games in Major League history, the last two.
By the Arizona Diamondbacks.
JD. Martinez in twenty seventeen at Dodger.
Stadium and today at Chase Field.
Yeah, that was Diamondbacks television, no doubt about it. America's DH JD. Martinez was indeed the last major league player to hit four home runs in a game. He did it right here at Dodger Stadium on September fourth, twenty seventeen. Jujuenio Suarez now joins JD. Martinez and eighteen other players or seventeen other players to hit four home runs in a game. And the Diamondbacks lose that game in ten
to the Atlanta Braves eight to seven. And the reason why we bring up hitting four home runs in the game, you might believe that's happened a lot. Like they mentioned, only nineteen times, only nineteen players have ever hit four home runs in a game. Just to put that in context, that's less than how many perfect games have been thrown
in Major league history. There have been twenty four perfect games thrown in major league history, and only nineteen times has there been a four homer game in baseball history. Sean Green of the Dogs did it in that famous game in two thousand and two in Milwaukee, and also for the Dodgers in Brooklyn. Gil Hodges hit four home runs on August thirty first, nineteen fifty against the Braves. So two Dodgers are part of that list of nineteen
that have had a four homer game. The first to do it Bobby Lowe of the Braves in eighteen ninety four against the Cincinnati Reds. So Huenio Suarez joins JD. Martinez and another group of select players that can say they hit four home runs in one major league game. Again, twenty four perfect games have been thrown in major league history. Only nineteen times has there been a four homer game in baseball history, one of them tonight in Arizona with
Uenio Suarez a four homer game for the Diamondbacks. Tomorrow, maybe we'll see another four homer game by Shoe Aotani or Mookie betsor te Oscar Hernandez. Highly unlikely considering how rare it is, but nonetheless you could be hopeful. In a day game. Tyler glassnow is on the mound for the Dodgers. He has only thrown seventeen innings in four starts this year. He's looking to bounce back and give the Dodgers some length because their bullpen has been taxed
to the max. He's going up against left hander Bailey Fulter, who is one and two with an ERA of five nineteen Morongo Casino. Dodgers on Deck begins at noon tomorrow with first pitch at one ten. Thanks to Colin Ye battling Larry Jidis at our Burbank studio. Thanks to Dwayne McDonald out here at Dodgers Stadium. He does a lot more than just keeping us on the air. He gave us the great note that you just heard about as far as four homer games and perfect games in baseball history.
And thanks to you for listening. In case you missed any of the show, you can find it on the iHeartRadio app once Aga again. The final score tonight from Dodgers Stadium, the Dodgers defeat the Pirates eight to four. Have a great rest of your Saturday, Be safe, Seal