Dodger Talk (5-10-25)

And today another really good starting pitcher in Major League Baseball doing it a little bit longer than Paul Skens was Corbyn Burns, who was vintage Corbyn Burns today, seven scoreless innings for the Diamondbacks right hander and certainly his best start of the season for Arizona. Remember, Burns signed a lucrative contract during the offseason with the Diamondbacks, and certainly the Diamondbacks have tried to put together a team

that would match up really well against the Dodgers. You heard Jose Mota mention what was the biggest key for Corbyn Burns keeping the ball away from the Dodger hitters. And he was doing that today with his cut fastball and his change up, and that certainly was the recipe for success as Arizona shuts out the Dodgers today three to nothing. Dustin May was really good too, except for the fact that he blinked a couple of times when Corbyn Burns did not blink at all in the staredown.

Dustin May gave up a triple to Corbyn Carrol. I felt like Hay Song Kim misplayed that into a triple, and Carol was standing at third base with less than two outs and scored on a ground ball to the right side, and then I felt like, Hey Song Kim later in the game really misplayed a ball. And I was wondering when I saw the starting lineup today why Hay Song Kim was starting in center and keyk Hernandez

was starting at second base. It feels like, and after watching the postseason last year, Key k a Hernandez is a really good center fielder, and you could say, and I would argue that keyk right now is probably the best defensive center fielder with Tommy Edmond on the IL

and Kim's an elite defender on the infield. My only explanation would be is that the Dodgers want to see what Kim can do in center field, but this is a tough center field to give him an audition because this outfield, left field, center field is a huge outfield for him to cover, and it didn't seem like he had his feet set when pitches were being thrown, So that's something he's got to learn the pre pitch, to be better prepared with his feet on the ground, to

get better jumps in center field. But nonetheless, you know that's not the reason why the Dodgers lost. It was because they didn't score any runs after scoring fourteen runs yesterday and an exhilarating fourteen to eleven come from behind win eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy

is the phone number. My other question as far as what happened as far as strategy goes, was in the fifth inning, after a lead single by Hayesng Kim, Austin Barnes was at the plate and on the very first pitch he saw from Corbyn Burns, he sacrificed Kim to second base. I have no issues with Austin Barnes sacrificing.

That's exactly what he should be doing. But I felt like he should have been able to try to give Kim at least two pitches to try to steal second base and then try to bunt him over to third base to get a run across. Why are you bunting Kim to second He can get there on his own. You need to give him a chance to steal second and he probably would he was already under Burns's skin.

Burns made a violation of throwing over and stepping off well three times and going over the limit by one the last time Kim was on base in the third inning,

so already Kim had him distracted. So Kim could have stole second base easily in the fifth inning, and then you could have Austin Barnes button him to third base and see what o'tani could do with him just ninety feet away rather than him being at second even though Kim no doubt could have scored from second base, but it feels like you could have held on to that sacrifice just a little bit. Again, not the reason why the Dodgers lost, but a few things that stand out

to me as far as this game goes. And if we're gonna do a Dodger talk show, I can't just sit here the whole hour and give you hot takes. We got to talk about the game that was right in front of us. And look, this is a different series than what we saw in Atlanta and Miami. This is a division rival, and the reality is this team

and a lot of the players are still here. Is the last team to eliminate the Dodgers from the postseason, a sweep in the twenty three NLDS, which fueled the fire for Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts to come back stronger last year and into October. So coming into the year, I thought that the Diamondbacks and Padres were the biggest threat to the Dodgers in any sort of postseason series. And you see why. You have a guy like Cormyn Burns out there doing his thing, and then you never

know what happens with these other pitchers. But I will say this, after seeing the Diamondbacks in the first three games of this series, they do not have enough pitching in their bullpen to even think about beating the Dodgers in a playoffs series. Maybe they'll add by the time the season ends at the trade deadline, they're hoping to get back aj Puck and Jason Martinez, but right now

their bullpen is really short. And they were very fortunate that Ryan Nelson was on his game and was able to get the top of the Dodgers order out in the eighth inning one, two, three, Otani, Betts and Freeman. And by the way, Muki Betts not hitting the ball really hard these days. I know he lost a lot of weight with the illness to start the year. But has anybody wondered if his focus on being the best shortstop that he can be has taken away from his offense.

I mean, he's been fine defensively, but hasn't taken away from his offense. I'm not going to say that right now after you know, thirty plus games, but something to keep your eye on. And you know, when I heard that Muki lost twenty pounds to start the year with that illness, and by the way, Christoph porzingis of with the Celtics, is going through something similar. He doesn't know what the diagnosis is, but he's not at full strength.

So my point of being is Mookie Bets putting in all that work since November, all of a sudden now is playing from behind because of that illness that made him lose twenty pounds. So it's unfortunate for Mookie, but he's still out there every day and he's trying to help the Dodgers win. Today. He was zero for four. He grounded into a double playing the first inning. Freddie Freeman oh for four, snapping a fourteen game hitting streak eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is

the phone number. David Vasse live from Chase Field and downtown Phoenix after the Diamondbacks shut out the Dodgers three to nothing. Coming up later in the show, you will hear from Blakesnell. He joined us on the pregame show and gave us an exclusive update on where he's at in his rehab, his throwing, and when he might return. Also, former Dodger and two time world champion Daniel Hudson, who lives in the Phoenix area, showed up at the ballpark

today and got his World Series rings. So you'll hear what it was like in the Dodger clubhouse when Annuel Hudson was presented with his twenty twenty four World Series ring. Let's head downstairs to the Dodger postgame club house to hear from Dustin May.

in the clubhouse. Obviously, he was frustrated when he was taken out out of the game and the seventh inning after striking out Heraldo Perdomo with Tim Tahwah at second base after walking and stealing second base off of Austin Barnes and Dustin May but Corbyn Carroll was coming up against May for the fourth time, and Dave Roberts obviously thought the left handed Carroll was seeing Dustin May really well and he wanted to go to his left hander, Alex Vessia, and it turned out to be the right

move because Vessia, bouncing back after giving up back to back home runs last night in the eighth inning, struck out Corbyn Carroll to end the seventh inning. But Dustin May in the heat of the moment, not really happy being taken out of the game, and Dave Roberts didn't seem very happy with the way Dustin May handed in the baseball, and he had a conversation with May in the dugout after that. So you know, obviously, in the heat of competition, you love seeing that. Here's the catch

twenty two. You can't hold it against a guy that wants to stay in the game, is competitive after getting the first two outs in the seventh inning and then be upset at another pitcher that is looking at the bullpen and is very ready to hand you the baseball. I'd rather have a guy like Dustin May doing what he did and doesn't want to come out of the game eight six six seven two five seventy is the

phone number. Speaking of Dave Roberts before the game today, he was asked a few different questions about Roki Sazaki, and I mentioned this yesterday. For a guy that pitches once a week and was heralded as much as Sazaki was, and I know coming into the season and in spring training, the Dodgers made it clear to me, just their brass that they believe that Roki Sazaki was going to be a much better pitcher by the second half of the season than what we're going to see in the first

few months. That's fair, But with the way the innings have gone for the Dodger bullpen, with them throwing more innings than any other bullpen in baseball, and Roki Sazaki only pitching once a week and half of his starts have been four innings or less. To me, that puts

the Dodgers in a very tough position. And it's hard when a team is trying to win a World Series and has the expectations the Dodgers have to just allow a pitcher or a player to go out there and put their bullpen and put their pitching staff in a vulnerable position. Not only during his start, but also the few days after in the few days before. That's difficult, especially, like I said, when you're only pitching once a week and the Dodgers are lining things up for Sazaki specifically

to pitch basically every Saturday. Dave Roberts was asked about whether or not the Dodgers can afford to have Sazaki go through this learning curve at the major league level.

But here's the catch. If Sazaki goes to a team that isn't a contender, similar to when Shohe Otani decided to go with the Angels, and his agent Nez Bulelo actually said this at a conference the other day. It benefited Otani being with the Angels with the expectations very low and being able to get acclimated to major League Baseball and figure things out and become the player that he has become and signed with the Dodgers last year. Roki Sazaki being with the Dodgers does not have that luxury.

He's under the microscope every time he goes out there and is expected to deliver. There is no room for growing pains or learning curve. I should say there is a little bit of room for that, considering the depth the Dodgers have, But you saw it earlier this season. Bobby Miller got an opportunity, didn't pitch well, sent back to the minor leagues. Justin Robleski got an opportunity for his start, didn't pitch well, sent to the minor leagues.

Landon Nak had a couple of poor starts to start the year, sent back to the minor leagues, finally came back pitch well in Miami. So my point is other pitchers do not have the opportunity or the luxury to work through things at the big league level that Roki Sazaki is being given. And you know he's only pitching, like I said, once a week. That's what makes it tough. Eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy is

the phone number. When we continue live from Chase Field in downtown Phoenix, we'll hear from Blake's now he'll get an update on when he may return to the Dodger rotation. Also, you'll hear from two time World Series champion and one of the leaders of the Bullpen a year ago, Daniel Hudson. You will hear him receiving his World Series Championship ring earlier today in the Chase Field visiting Clubhouse. Dodgers shut

out for only the third time this season. Corbyn Burns and the Snakes do it three to nothing on the World Champion Dodgers Audio Network.

sports dot Com. Use the keyword home run for your chance to win a fifty dollars Daniels Jewelers gift card predicting the number of home runs in the next game. Daniels Jewelers own the Dream. I wonder if Bud Black finally lost his cool. I wonder if he had a lee Ilia type of tirade after losing twenty one to nothing to the Padres. Look at all these Padres at Homer tonight at Corsfield to beat them twenty one to nothing.

Fernando Tatis, Xander Bogart's, Jason Hayward, Jake Croninworth and Gavin Sheets all homeward for the Padres who be the Rockies twenty one to nothing tonight at corus Field. I just can't get over that they scored five runs in the first, eight runs in the fourth inning, four runs in the fifth inning, and then sprinkled a run in the second, third, sixth, and eighth inning of tonight's game. Yikes. Yeah, Well, the Dodgers got some wins against the Rockies, so that helps anyway.

The Dodgers, by the way, are looking for a split in the series tomorrow, and they would end their longest

road trip of the year on a high note. They would have finished this ten game road trip six and four, and that's pretty good considering they had to fly to the East Coast, endure a three hour rain delay before the second game of the series in Atlanta, then go to Miami overnight after Sunday Night Baseball, then flycross country after a four o'clock Eastern game in the final game of the series against the Marlins, and now play a

four game series against the Diamondbacks. So a split here is what I predicted, and that's pretty good for the Dodgers to end that road trip six and four. Look, that's the way you got to play on the road. You can't expect the Dodgers to go seven and one,

nine and one on these arduous road trips. I don't believe many people appreciate the fact that the Dodgers are not playing many day games, even on getaway Day, and are playing primetime games, and even some teams like the Marlins, are playing games to push it as far back of a start time as possible on getaway Day just so they could have the Dodgers in primetime or as close

to prime time. Not to mention the national networks Fox, ESPN, Apple, they want a piece of the Dodgers as much as they can be and those are night games as well. When the Dodgers play the Mets on their next road trip, all three games at City Field are night games on nat TV. So that's life being a Dodger, and no other team has that type of schedule. Eight sixty six seven two five seventy is the phone number. We had a chance to catch up with Snell Zilla Blake Snell

before today's game. He hasn't really spoken publicly about how things are going with his left shoulder rehab, and he gave us uh the exclusive I'm where things stand.

myself and start learning more about the team. It's just really helped me mentally, just you know, focus on day by day and when it's my time it will be my time, but right now it's not, and I got to accept that and focus on rheab get as strong and healthy as I can get. Then when it's my time, I'll be ready to go.

He will come back, and I feel like with him starting to throw probably tomorrow, you're gonna see him back sometime in June, and that's gonna be a huge boost to the Dodger rotation. They're gonna be getting Clayton Kershaw back a week from tomorrow. Kershaw is eligible to be activated nick Saturday and probably will start the game on

Sunday afternoon at Dodgers Stadium against the Angels. He's pitching one more rehab game tomorrow at Oklahoma City on Mother's Day eight six six, nine, eight seven, two five seventy is the phone number. Dodgers are shut out by the Diamondbacks three to nothing. We are going to have an off day Dodger talk show on Monday, and our guest is going to be former Dodger and recently retired raw Strippling.

That's right, Chicken Strip is going to join us at seven point thirty on Monday night on an off day show before the Dodgers open up their next homestand against the A's and Angels, and quite frankly, on that six game homestand I think the Dodgers should only lose one game, and that would be to the A's, no doubt. They should sweep the Angels. And you know the A's has

some power. They got some good young players. I'm not sure about their pitching, but I could see the Dodgers taking two out of three from the A's and then sweeping the Angels and being five and one on this next homestand before they head out to the East Coast again to Cityfield to face Juan Soto and the Mets and also the Cleveland Guardians on that next road trip.

The Dodgers, as you heard Jack Harris present to Dave Roberts in their last twelve games are just three and nine against teams above five hundred, so they're looking to get the win tomorrow and hopefully change that narrative. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. It was great to see one of the real leaders of the Dodgers from a year ago, and that is Daniel Hudson, who was a part of and

a big part of the Dodger bullpen last year. One of the images I'll always have is Daniel Hudson in New York, since we were talking about City Field, being at City Field in that double header, pitch in that first game and getting himself in a bases loaded jam and getting himself out of a bas's loaded jam, and then as he came back to the dugout, put his fingers over his lips to silence the crowded City Field.

And he said after that game that the reason why he did that was to signify to his teammates, who weren't playing that great at that time, that they are still the Dodgers and they would go on to beat the Mets in the NLCS. That's actually when the Mets

turned their season around. After the Dodgers swept that doubleheader, and later in the year, Daniel Hudson and the Dodgers would go back to New York and beat the Mets in six games in the NLCS, and Daniel Hudson was warming up in the Dodger bullpen before Walker Bueller was, and eventually Buehler would come in to close Game five in the World Series because Daniel Hudson's elbow, the way he described it to teammates was that it was on fire and he was con concerned that if he did

go into the game he was going to blow out his arm. So that's the reason why Walker Buehler. Another reason why Walker Bueller was so valuable in that ninth inning to come out and close it out, it's because the veteran Daniel Hudson had nothing left in the tank. Anyway. Daniel Hudson, who lives in the Phoenix area, was here at Chase Field today and was presented his World Series ring and his gold Dodgers World Series jersey.

run to the World Series in twenty nineteen. The nineteen Nationals beat the Dodgers, as you know, in five games in the NLDS and went on to beat the Astros in the World Series, and Daniel Hudson was the last pitcher on the mound for that World Championship, so a two time World Series champion, and he had such a big smile. He was so talkative today. Was always so intense and very stoic when he was pitching, and now he's retired he could relax, exal and have a good time.

So really great to see Daniel Hudson and great to see him enjoying retirement. And he certainly meant a lot to the Dodgers, and the Dodgers are actually going to Boston this year, so the Dodgers are going to present Walker Bueller, I believe with his World Series ring when the Dodgers are at Fenway Park after the All Star Break. I hope they do it where we see it and they post it online like they did with Daniel Hudson.

I hope they didn't just mail it to him, and I hope that it's not just an undercover World Series ring handed to Buehler. He's kind of in the same position as Justin Turner because after Turner signed with the Red Sox, the Dodgers went to Fenway the following season, so Justin Turner had to wait for his homecoming last year when he came to Dodgers Stadium with the Mariners, not even with the Red Sox or Blue Jays, the

team that he originally signed with. So hopefully Walker Buehler eventually gets back to Dodger Stadium with whoever he's pitching for in a couple of years and gets the deserved ovation that he will get from the fans in LA because he will forever be remembered in Dodger history as one of the big game pitchers they have ever had put on their uniform, not only last year to close out the World Series, but going back to the twenty twenty World Series, I think back to Bueller striking out

the side and order with the bases loaded in the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves. I think back to him being a big time pitcher in twenty eighteen Game one sixty three to win the nl West. And also he was the starting pitcher in that eighteen Inny marathon of Game four of the World Series where Max Munsey hit the walk off home r on off of Nathan Valdi.

So it'll be great to see Walker Bueller actually keep in touch with him quite often via the text, So can't wait to see Bueller after the All Star break in him and Daniel Hudson had a really tight bond. In fact, Daniel Hudson told me today that he kept his emotions together while he was in the bullpen watching

Bueller close out the game. But once the final out was recorded, once Bueller struck out Alex Verdugo and they started to rush out of the bullpen, he said he was looking for one guy and that was Walker Buehler. And once he found Walker Buehler and they embraced a lot of emotion, tears came out. That's how much those two men to each other. And Daniel Hudson was a mentor to Walker Bueller. So just wanted to share that

with you as well. By the way, this next homestand is not a six game homestand it's the A's, Angels and Diamondbacks a nine game homestand so a three game series again those three teams. So the Dodgers should go into that Diamondback series five and one after beating the A's and sweeping the Angels and then probably take two out of three from the Diamondbacks. In case you haven't been keeping up with the Halos down south, After a pretty good start to the season, they have really fallen

off as far as record wise. They are in last place in the AL West, fifteen and twenty two, seven games out of first place, behind the Seattle Mariners, who are in first place. The A's are just two and a half games back of Seattle, but that's a really weak division. Tomorrow, it'll be the finale of this four game series in Arizona and the finale of the Dodgers' longest road trip of the year ten games and ten days. The Dodgers looking for the split. Tony Gonsolin will be

on the mount tomorrow. He's one to zero with an ERA of five zero nine going up. And Zach Gallen, who's three and four this year with an ERA of four p thirty seven. Marongo Casino. Dodgers on Deck begins at noon tomorrow with first pitch at one ten. That'll do it for us tonight from Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. Thanks to Dwayne McDonald here at Chase Field, thanks to calling me back at our Burbank studios, and thanks to you for listening. In case you missed any of the show,

you can find it on the iHeartRadio app. And I want to send out happy Mother's Day wishes to all the moms out there. You are the backbone of every family we know, we appreciate you and we love you. And a special Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Bianca. We are going to celebrate after the road trip with dinner at Monte Steakhouse. Michael Levine be ready once again the final score tonight from Arizona. The Dodgers are shut

out for just the third time this season. The Snakes, behind Corbyn Burns seven shutout innings, beat the Dodgers three to nothing. Have a great rest of your weekend, Happy Mother's Day.