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Cats, blame it on the Ghosts. Gotta blame it on something or somebody. The Dodgers with three airs leading to four unearned runs tonight in Milwaukee, lose to the Brewers five to four. Tim Kates with you here on postgame Dodger Talk. Thanks for being with us here until the bottom of the hour. Eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy is our number. Jump on board, got a couple of lines open. Let's talk some Dodger baseball.
Eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy. The Dodgers tonight gave the ball to Walker Bueller for the first time since June eighteenth. He was back up on the bump. He had been on the injured list since then with a hip discomfort. He went to get right. He went to the manor leagues to get some rehabits.
Starts in there. Last time out, felt pretty good in his final outing for OKC comes back tonight for the first time since June eighteenth, and walked the first three batters that he faced, got out of the first any thanks to Kevin Kiermeyer great throw from center field and nail the runner at the plate. He then gave up three runs in the second, the Dodgers would give up one more in the fourth, The Dodgers would blow a three to nothing lead and then go on and lose
by a final of five to four. Lots to digest with this Walker re Bueller start tonight, we kind of had a feel in the last twenty four hours this would be a big one for Walker and this is just not the same Walker Bueller that we are accustomed to seeing. His second Tommy John surgery, missed all of last year, comes back this year late, did not look like the same Walker Bueller, did not have his command or consistency as far as throwing strikes, and went to
the injured list. And it's been there since June eighteenth, and here we are, almost two months later, and he comes back in his first start, and he even admits he needs to keep plugging away. He's hoping it comes together. Feels like the mechanics are still not right, says. He feels closer than he did back in June now, but
still nowhere near the walker Bueller of old. And I don't think quite, frankly, we're gonna see the walker Bueler of old, pumping ninety seven, ninety eight, hitting the corners, not afraid to throw inside on the hitters, devastating off speed pitches to go along with that electric fastball. This is a different walker Bueller. And you can say the mechanics aren't there. I'm not smart enough to figure out
what he's doing wrong. Certainly they've had two months now to try to figure out what his issue is with his mechanics and his wind up and his delivery and throwing the ball and not throwing strikes consistently or no more. Garcia Para set it on TV. Jose Mota talked about it. It's no secret, you know, the former players see it. He's not throwing strikes early in the count. He's struggling to throw strikes period. And tonight he failed to get a first pick strike on nine of the eighteen batters
that he faced. So he needs to do a lot better job of getting ahead in the strikes as far as the count is concerned, because tonight he just did not do that, and he needs to be a guy that can throw strikes consistently when he falls behind an account, be able to have a pitch to get him back into account, whether he gets a swing of miss or
is able to get contact and get an out. Dave Roberts, we've talked and heard from him in the postgame show the clubouts show there is that he's still searching, he's inconsistent, he's out of sync, he's trying to find his way and admitted that he is going way deep into counts and he's falling behind in too many accounts. And that's what happened tonight. You spot him a three to nothing lead, go out and be aggressive, Go out and challenge hitters.
The first inning after a three spot is put up on the board in the top half of the first walker, Bueler needs to go out there and just go out there and try to get contact. Go out there and see if you can get guys to swing and miss. He walked the first three batters that he faced to
load the bases. He got out of that Jim because of a fly ball to center field and Kevin Kiermeier throws a dart ninety nine miles an hour from center field to Austin Barnes behind the plate to tag the runner at home for a double play, throw him out at home and the next batter flew out to in the inning. No damage to Walker Buehler after that, you got to come back out in the second inning and
be aggressive again with a three to Nzhing lead. Instead, he gives up a home run to the first batter in the second Jake Bowers get to strikeout, a ground out, air, a groundout, and a triple and then all of a sudden it to a three to three game after an infield single. Scores terrang That is not aggressive pitching from Walker Feler. And when you don't have control, it's gonna be hard to find the strike zone and a heart
to attack hitters when you're just not close. And tonight he struggled to get ahead of the counts, and he struggled with hitters at the plate in general. He battled to go at one two three third inning. I give him credit for that. After a thirty five pitch second inning in which he gave up the three to Ninheing lead, he comes back and has a one two three third good job. The fourth inning, though a leadoff walk, a leadoff walk, and that runner would come around and score
on an air at third base. Too many heirs, too many opportunities extended to the Milwaukee Brewers tonight, giving them extra outs, extra at bats, leading to runs. Four unearned runs scored by the Brewers. They scored five, four of which were unearned defense giving up runs for the Dodgers tonight. You out hit a team in Milwaukee, like the Dodgers did nine to four. You put up a three spot in the top half of the first inning, your bullpen has to come in and pitch four and two third
innings combined. And what did Bonda, Honeywell, Phillips, and Grove do. One earned run, one hit, six punch outs. The game was a mess that they had to inherit and go for the final four and two third innings, but they continued to pass the baton to the next reliever, put up Zeros. One unearned run in the seventh inning was the difference a single to right from Jackson Cherio. Mookie Betts misplays, the ball goes past him, and Joey Ortiz scores the go ahead run and what would be the
winning run for Milwaukee. I don't know if it's the ghost at the Fister Hotel in Milwaukee where the team is staying. Mookie Betts is staying at an Airbnb, so can't blame the ghosts on the mis Q and right field. But the Dodgers collectively three errors tonight. As great as the Kevin Kuermeyer play was, and Freddie Freeman had a great play at first as well, three airs cost the Dodgers tonight. And yes, somebody tweeted at me and said, ninth inning, heart of the order, where are they at?
Well?
Devin Williams, who's been one of the better closers in baseball healthy, now comes in and faces Otani, Betts and Freeman, three former MVP candidates. Dodgers need the ball in play, runners on base or a home run to tie it. Otani flies out to left, Mookie Betts strikes out, and Freddie Freeman grounds out. Ballgame over a disappointing night for
the Dodgers. As great as the first two games have been, tonight was equally disappointing to see how they played on defense to out hit the Brewers tonight, to have the bullpen do the job they did when asked last night, Land and Neck picked them up, pitched fourth innings in relief,
didn't need to go to the bullpen. All those arms saved, and four of them had to come out of the bullpen tonight and save Walker Buehler and keep the Dodgers in the game by putting up zeros and then an unearned run because of an air, and then a zero in the eighth to keep it a one run game. Dodgers lose five to four. On top of all this, the leads now down to two and a half. The Padres just won't lose. The Diamondbacks won't lose. They're the
two hottest teams in baseball the last twenty games. They won't lose. They have absolutely closed the gap in the division race. What was a nine and a half game lead has shrunk to two and a half games. And the Dodgers tonight did not help themselves out with their defense. Maybe you want to blame the ghosts, the haunting of
the hotel. I don't know what happened, but the Dodgers defense was sloppy tonight and that led to four unearned runs and led to the Dodgers' first loss and snapping their five game winning streak as they fall five to four. Let's go out to the phones. We'll here from Mookie Bets in just a couple of minutes. Let's go out to the phones. Let's go to Eric and Buyna Park starting things off here on this Wednesday night Dodger Talk, Eric,
disappointing night. Let's hope we never see three airs again by a Dodgers team in a game.
So you know, Tim, I called you last year when we had that really rough playoff series with the Diamondbacks. And for me, it's not about tonight. It's about what's going to happen in the playoffs. So we have more pitching. We have essentially some of the same position players plus Otani, which is a big get and I get that, but really, where do we go from here in the playoffs? If our bats cold? Do we have enough pitching to move on?
But tonight nine hits, they scored three runs in the first, they were able to manufacture a run to tie it in the seventh inning. Defense was a huge problem tonight. You cannot gift a team four un earned runs.
Eric.
But the other thing, too, Tim, is you know that in the playoffs things are tight. Sure, pitching's better, the bullpen is better. So really, what we're talking about here is Otani. We've added Otani and we've added pitchers, but is that going to be enough to get us out of that proverbial you know, regular season championship? And I have no doubt we're gonna we're gonna make the playoffs. We're gonna go to the wild card. Yeah, we're gonna
win the division. That's that's gonna happen, even though the Diamondbacks and the Tatters on our heels. But do we have enough in a short series, in the longer series to really contend? And really, that's that's the big question, right because it enough.
We're gonna find out, Eric, and I'm brought glad you brought up Otani.
Shoey.
Otani goes over for for tonight with a walk and scored run in the first any part of that three run? First, you bring up postseason play in games getting tight? Well, first off, Walker Bueller, let's put all the cards on the table right now, Dodger fans, All right, let's be completely truthful, and let's see what we're working with. Walker Buehler is not starting the postseason game. He's not unless things dramatically change from this start tonight to October first.
I don't see Walker Buehler a part of this rotation, and quite frankly, I love Walker Bueler the guy, but I don't think he's a part of this postseason roster. Okay, with that being said, show he O Tani. I love show Hey, He's he's a unicorn. It's gonna be a possible fifty to fifty guy this year. Certainly he's gonna be a forty to forty player, the sixth all time in baseball history. But think about tight games, clutch hits.
A time in this season where the Dodgers needed a walkoff hit or a big hit in the ninth inning or late in the game, He's got one walk off hit for the Dodgers. We talked about his numbers with runners in scoring position the second half of the season not being very good. Yeah, he's putting up numbers with the home runs. It's gonna go. He's gonna be a forty to forty guy, forty selling to bestolen bases, had two more tonight, but when the Dodgers needed him to
get on base in the ninth inning, he flut. They need a show Altani to rise to the occasion in October. And I'm saying this now in August because watching this Padre series a couple weeks ago in which the Dodgers struggled in San Diego, the Philadelphia series, both of them at home and in Philadelphia before the All Star break. These are playoff atmospheres. These are playoff teams. Certainly, the Brewers are gonna be a playoff team. Good pitching, good closer,
and Devin Williams's gotten healthy. Now we need show Heotani to deliver in October. He's gonna have to deliver with some big hits late in the season here as well. I love that he's a forty to forty player. I love it, and he is a superstar, no doubt. But the numbers are are great, and the individual accolades are awesome and so well deserved because he's so good. But on this team and getting wins, and more importantly getting wins in October, they need show Heyo Tani the clutch player.
They need sho Heo Tani with the big hit late. They need sho Heo Tani able to get on base late in the game, cost him havoc and let the Dodgers potentially win a game that way. So I love the individual numbers I do, and what he's doing is is historic. He'll be one of these six players in the history of the game to be forty forty, forty
home runs, forty stolen bases. That is impressive, But you know, it's also impressive being there in October, being clutch for your team, coming up with bas it, starting rallies, continuing rallies, being that guy in the lineup. Pitchers fear, teams fear, and when you get on base, you cost havoc. The numbers individually are great, but show hey to me, it's gonna be what you do in October. It's gonna be
what you do here now. With a two and a half game lead into Division mid August eight six six nine eight seven, two five seven, let's hear from Mookie Betts, who tonight Mokie two for five at the plate. Mookie Bets struck out three times, including the ninth inning. Mookie Betts had a costly air in the seventh thing he missplaying a ball in right field that led the go ahead run and now eventually winning runs score for the Brewers as they went at five to four let's go
back to Milwaukee. David Vasse in the media with Mookie, Oh.
Sort of what sort of happened on that play in right field?
I was coming in. I know that guy's fast and trying to make a play. No, I just missed it.
I think he was going to gym and I unhitdled third.
I mean I would I just assumed with the base a base right there, and he's really fast, so yeah, I thought he was going, but I just missed it.
How frustrating was the strike zone for you in the ninth inning?
Ah, it is what it is, man. You just got to play the game, and uh know, and giant got to protect and I tried and missed it.
All right, Not a lot there for Mookie. Betts had a missque in the seventh inning. Dodgers heart of the lineup won two to three hitters. Three former MVPs go down and order. In the ninth inning as the Dodgers lose five to four, Colin, he brought a great point. We're anxious to see what shoey Otani does for this Dodgers team in the postseason.
Uh.
Colin just reminded me choey Otan has never played in the postseason in the major leagues. He's played in big games in the World Baseball Classics, certainly, but we've never seen him in October. And also the point is Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts had great regular seasons last year, put up historic numbers, career numbers for both those guys, Freddie Freeman with the doubles setting a franchise record. What happened in October? Where was their offense? Then? Where was
their elevated play in the NLDS. Go back to the year before against the Padres in the NLDS and the lack of offense and the poor playing by the Dodgers and the losing that series to the Padres. I just don't want to see the same horror movie again come October. I mean, they make Halloween movies and now they're like at Halloween nine. They make Fight, the Fight the Thirteenth movies, and they've got like ninety thousand different sequels of this movie.
I don't want to see Dodger postseason four. I don't want to see it. I've seen it the last couple of years. I don't want to see it again. I want to see guys elevate their play in the postseason. I want to see guys deliver in October. Great individual regular seasons, fantastic And it's not a point the finger at show hey thing, but you know what, he is a superstar. He's paid to be a superstar, just like Freddy, just like Mookie. We didn't see them last year in
October deliver for the Dodgers. Nobody did quite frankly, but come down the stretch come October. We need more on of show, hey Tani. As far as getting this team to wins, helping this team win games. Late, Rick Monday had the stat. Gosh, I wish I wrote it down. He had the stat on TV and I Rick was doing TV because Oral Herscheiser's under the weather, so Jose Mota squeezed over and did the radio with Tim Netreck
did a fantastic job. Rick moved over to TV along with David Vasse and Steven Nelson and he had a great number. Gosh I wish I would have was the Dodgers are three and forty in games after the eighth inning in which they're losing. Not a lot of walkoff wins. I mean, I know, Show, he's got one walk off hit for the Dodgers this year. And sure he's gonna hit forty home runs and steal forty bases, but I want memorable moments from show. Hey, O Tani, I do.
That's what I want down the stretch here. That's what we need to see come October. And I don't think it's overreacting to a game here on August fourteenth. It's just the realization that the Dodgers now are in a race. It is two and a half games, folks. The Padres and Diamondbacks aren't going away. Last year we kept saying Arizona's gonna go away. They don't have the pitching, They don't have enough guns down there on that roster to
get Oh yeah they went to the World Series. Oh the Padres, the little brothers down south, can't get over the hump. Well we owned them in the regular season. What happened two years ago in the NLDS. It can't think that way anymore. Here come the Padres, Here come the Diamondbacks. Dodgers better get ready and get ready for a stretch run here. That's gonna be a lot of fun if you're a baseball fan, But it's gonna be a little really nerve racking if you're a Dodgers fan.
Let's go to Brian and Guardina before we take a break. Brian, Welcome to Dodger Talk. Thanks for checking in on this Wednesday night.
How you doing, Brian, Hey, Ken, how's a guy?
I'm all right, I'll get a little fired up.
Yeah, yeah, I like it, though I feel like this postseason will be different. I don't feel like they'll have that same groove that they were in the last couple of seasons. But I just want to get your take on how I think Charlie did talk about it. They score I think it was like thirty or six runs in the first five innings, but they had like three runs in the six innings on I just that was I saw that earlier today watching the game, and that didn't really stick well because that's not a good stat
you know. You see the Padres lately in the Diamondbacks, they score late late in the game and that's what theyen keeping them on the win streak. And it's hard because we only scored one I guess in the late anything three early.
Yeah, they throw the three runs of the first sitting, Brian appreciate it, and then they scored that run. In the seventh thinning, Miguel Rojas, a clutch two out RBI single tied the game at four, gave the Dodgers the momentum, and then an air in the bottom half of the seventh inning gave it right back and the lead to the Milwaukee Brewers. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seven. We'll take a break, we'll come back. We'll get to more of your phone calls. Tough night for
the Dodgers. I'm not sure who you blame the airs on, but the Dodgers need to clean up that defense. Three airs tonight, leading to four unearned runs. Dodgers out hit the Brewers, but just three for ten with runners in scoring position. Today, bullpen did their job four and two third innings, one earned run, one hit, six punch outs. The Brewers, though, get the win five to four, snapping the Dodgers five game winning streak and the Dodgers leading
the division down to two and a half. We'll come back right here on a five seventy LA Sports Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio.
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Dodger Talk continues on five seventy LA Sports Live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for podcast of the show as well. We appreciate your listening. No matter where you're at around the world, Dodger Nation is represented everywhere, and the Dodgers tonight needed
some representation. In Milwaukee, three airs leading to four undern runs, Dodgers out hit the Brewers, but the Brewers come back and win it five to four as Walker Buehler got to start his first since June eighteenth, when three and thirty eight gave up four runs, one earn, three hits, three strikeouts, four walks. Yeah, one of the four runs he gave up was earned, So three unearned runs that Walker Buehler gave up. But you can't sit there and point the finger and say, oh, he pitched really well,
but the defense cost him. He struggled tonight with his command. He struggled tonight to finish off hitters. I mentioned it earlier, his first pitch strike. He struggled only seven of the eighteen batters that he faced he got a first pitch strike. Dave Roberts afterwards was pretty critical, saying that he's still searching inconsistent out of sink and is backing himself into counts too much as far as falling behind. So a lot of work to do for Walker Bueller moving forward
here at the rest of this season. Some injury update news. Ryan Brasier pitched in Oklahoma City and pitched well. He went out there and back to back nights, and according to Dave Roberts, he's going to be activated this weekend when the Dodgers head to Saint Louis going to Roy in Santa Monica's next up here on Dodge Talk. Dodgers lose to the Brewers five to four.
I Roy, Hey, damn, that's great. Shouts tonight sounds great. I got a couple of things, Tim. Do you think it would make that much of a difference. I mean, you know, I think a lot of people probably question him in first or second when he's like, you know, this may be old skoo, but he would be the ideal clean up pay there. And then also James Autman. I mean, uh, that guy's a power hitter. He had twenty three as a rookie. And I don't get it. Well, I mean, Dodgers seem like they you know, he's just
out of the picture. And I mean, uh, Pie has not been bad, but out then you know he may not be hitting. But I just I guarantee you if you give him as a bats, he's gonna pop twenty five thirty home run all.
Right, appreciate it.
Roy.
I think right now the head to head battle is Kevin Kiermeyer and anybody else in center field until Tommy Edmonds get there. And Edmond's gonna be activated next homestand and we'll see what he adds to this Dodgers team in the outfield and at the plate. But Kevin Kiermeyer tonight had some really good at bats. Kevin Kiermeyer tonight played really good defense, and that's what he hangs his hat on, is really good defense. And we saw that tonight with his throw from center field to nail the
runner at the plates in the first inning. So I think Kevin kier Meyer right now is the center field there, especially against the right handers, and they're going to see another one tomorrow. The Dodgers when they wrap up this series against the Milwaukee Bros. Jack Flaherty on the Mount against Tobias Myers will have first pitch at eleven ten. Brad and Mission Baho is next up here on Dodgers Offics one on.
Brad, thanks for taking my call. Yeah, just a couple of points. The honey wasn't help matters by hitting or teased to lead off that inning, you know, that was one of the one of my points. And then of course the throw after that, the misplayed ball, And then my other point is, yeah, San Diego is eighteen and three in the last twenty one game and Arizona all they've done is put up like a two twelve spots in an eleven spot in the last four days, twice
against Philly and then tonight against the Rockies. So they're scoring a lot of runs.
Yeap, they are scoring a rawal of runs. It doesn't to me. I don't look at that. I don't look at a team that's scoring eleven, ten, twelve runs. And you know they won tonight eleven to four of the Rockies. That's great. It's a w whether you win five to four or eleven to four. You know, it's not like you get style points or Brownie points for winning by more. You know, the Rockies, you know, got boat raced tonight. Doesn't mean the Diamondbacks get two wins because they won
eleven to four. A win is a win whether you win by one or you win by seven. So to me, that doesn't matter. Yeah, they're they're scoring runs, certainly, but you're not gonna score the numbers will even out. They're not going to score that many runs every single night. So I don't put that much stock into the fact that they've scored eleven runs, ten runs, whatever they has been over the last week or so. They're winning games. That's all that matters. And so is a Padres. They
got to win today over the Pittsburgh Pirates. And the fact is the Dodgers have themselves a race. Now, the Dodgers have themselves a fight. How are they gonna react? How is this Dodgers team gonna come out now moving forward ready to fight? Are they gonna lay them up and go out there and get ready to fight against the Padres and against the Diamondbacks the rest of the way, You know, they're very limited in their head to head battles. They get the Arizona Diamonbacks at the end of the
month for three over in the Desert. They'll get the Padres, what three more times at the end of September. That's it on the twenty fourth, twenty fifth, and twenty sixth the Dodgers Stadium. That's it. The Dodgers got four in Arizona at the end of the month and three at home against the Padres.
That's it.
As far as head to head, it's not like the old days where you face the team nineteen times in your division and in the month of September it's all divisional games and sometimes you can face the same team six times in a week and a half. It's just not the case anymore. So the head to head meetings are going to be huge. Four in Arizona at the end of the month, and then they've got three at home against the Padres the final two weeks of this season.
Let's think about it. Is he hopefully she's not sleeping. Let's see if she's sleeping? Is he?
Hi? Hi?
Is he?
How are you tonight?
Well?
I did jabs take on tatoos? Now never mind anyway. Yeah, I'm okay, I'm kind of bummed, but you know what, it's happy having three three every stating if to win tonight Perier.
So I mean so anyway, but yeah, why is so like it's gonna be okay?
Yeah, they're being fine. Yeah, calling in I told you the Yeah, I know, I say I told you that. So I never tad in the Chayoffs.
So any I think I.
Think these are gonna change is Yeah, I'm confident this Dodgers team guys will rise to the occasion and the stars will be stars come October. That's what this Dodgers team is needs. Easy. I'm gonna I'm gonna use that slogan we need the stars to be stars in October. How about that. Let's make a T shirt out of that. How you want to do that is you'll make a T shirt says stars need to be stars in October?
Yeah, all right. Launching Pad to morning.
Launching Pad tomorrow. Yeah, I have your phone in your radio on tomorrow? Is he We'll check in with you, okay? All right, all right? Is he great to hear your voice. We'll check in with you tomorrow. In the Launching Pad with Petro some money. That's gonna do it for Dodger Talk. Many thanks to all you for being a part of the show, for participating, whether you're on the air, calling in, or on Twitter X. You can always follow me at
Tim Kate's Tim c a t Ees Real Easy. I don't got any numbers, no underscores, nothing at Tim Kate's Real Simple. It's my name, Tim c a t S. I appreciate the follow I love engaging on social media, especially talking some Dodgers baseball. Tough one tonight for the boys in Blue. Three runs in the top of the first, feeling so good, and then it was given back in the second. They fell behind. They tied it in the seventh, only to see the winning run come across in the
bottom of the seventh. On an air from Thank You Bets. Dodgers need to clean it up. They need to figure it out and figure it out fast as they get ready for the series finale tomorrow Milwaukee. While wrong with Casino, Dodgers on deck at ten am, Jack Flaherty Tobias Myers the pitching matchup, first pitch at eleven ten. Until then, have a great, safe rest of your Wednesday night. Sold everybody