Dodger Talk is sponsored by LA Care Health Plan, providing affordable healthcare insurance to millions of Angelinos for over twenty five years. And now your voice for Dodger Talking like back, David Vasse.
Welcome the Dodger Talk David Vasse live at Dodgers Stadium until ten thirty tonight on AM five to seventy LA Sports. We have three phone lines open at eight, six, six, nine, eighty seven, two five seventy. The Dodgers fall to the Rockies tonight by a final score of six to three. The Padres beat the White Sox tonight in San Diego six to two, So the Dodgers' lead in the NL West is now three games. Look, there's no way around this.
Even if the Dodgers win tomorrow, the chances are the Padres are going to sweep the White Sox.
The NL West at this.
Point in time is going to come down to the three game series that begins on Tuesday night between the Dodgers and Podres.
And that's the way it should be. It's been a great season.
The Dodgers have overcome a lot of pitching injuries. They overcame Mookie Bets being out for six weeks. Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers overcame him being out for a period of time to deal with his son Max's illness, and he's back and Freddy's dealing with a broken right middle finger. So the Dodgers have gotten through a lot of adversity
and here they are in control of their destiny. Even with the loss tonight, even if they win tomorrow, their lead is three games going into Tuesday night here at Dodgers Stadium against the Padres, and that three game series is going to settle everything. The Dodgers look, they are the better team. They are going to find a way to be able to beat the Padres. But it's going to come down to pitching for the Dodgers. I'm confident
they're going to win that series. I'm confident they're going to win the NL West, but it's coming down to pitching. And tonight was encouraging from Walker Buehler, but I'm tired of saying encouraging. The Dodgers need a win. He's given up four earned runs tonight. He went five and a third innings. He did have nine strikeouts, no doubt about it. He pitched well, but the offense needed to score more
tonight against cal Quantrill. And once they got cal Quantrell out of this game at one hundred pitches with two outs in the fifth inning, they really couldn't do much of anything against the Rockies bullpen. I know there's a pitchers coming out of even the worst team's bullpen that are throwing upwards of ninety five ninety six miles an hour, But this was the type of game the Dodgers do damage in getting a mediocre starter out of the game early.
They did that, but they really couldn't score much.
And honestly, I didn't feel like the Dodgers played that great of a game from start to finish. They hit into two double plays, they left twelve men on base. You had Mookie Betts jogging to first base in the sixth inning instead of trying to hustle up the line to break up a double play or make it close. And then you had that first inning. That was an ugly first inning by the Dodgers. They did not help out Walker Bueller. There was a fly ball leadoff double
by Charlie Blackman to start the game. Tommy Edmund probably should have caught that ball instead. It's a leadoff double. Then you have Walker Buehler throwing a ball wide of Hunter Fiduccia, which allowed the first run to score in the game tonight. A better throw gets the runner at home.
And you're not talking about being down early in this game one to nothing and having Walker Buehler throwing twenty seven pitches in the first inning, not to mention having lux dropped a foul ball later in that first inning that could have limited the the uh the the pitches for Bueler as well. So the throw to Hunter Fiducca
allowed Charlie Blackman to uh get in safely. There's one of two things Walker Buehler could have done, made a better throw to Fiducca or b how about throw to first base and get the sure out at that point in time. So the first inning was ugly and the Dodger offense just wasn't there tonight unfortunately. Eight six six nine, eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Let's head downstairs right now to the Dodger Clubhouse to hear from Walker Buehler on sports Net LA.
Yeah, I mean I feel like I could kind of do something if I could get through the first two clean and yeah, something frustrating. Obviously, come out of the bullpen, you feel good and warmed up good today and just didn't kind of carry it over obviously, put you know, the bat on some decent pitches and and kind of not manufacturing them. But you know, I don't think it was I don't feel like they were hitting you know,
six straight balls off the wall. So some encouraging things about it, but obviously not good enough at kind of at this point of the year, trying to.
Keep the living indivision.
It is one of the encouraging things for you just the swinging message we're able to get tonight and kind of executing those pitches.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's always kind of encouraging. But at the end of the day, none of that really matters if they keep putting up numbers, so, you know, really kind of deflating. We tie the game up and then I give up a homer, and you know, it
just sucks that I don't think. Yeah, I think I've had some rough patches and really questioned if if I have this stuff for the you kind of have it to compete, and tonight I felt like I could could you know, I could compete and just just didn't make the you know, the big pitches in the in the big spots, or kind of made little mistakes and in the big spots.
And that's for sure, considering just one more start in the regular season, is there I guess obviously we'll kind of take these days to look at some stuff, But is there something that you really want to guess achieve in that final regular season?
Adding Yeah, I mean, you know, I think pitching on both sides of the plate at and command the fastball to the armside quite the way I wanted to today, and I think in Atlanta that was a big thing for me, being able to kind of throw strikes on the inner half arrities, and you know, the slider wasn't quite where I wanted to be in terms of getting it over the plate. So definitely some stuff to kind of look through and work on, but you know, some stuff to kind of build on as well.
There's Walker Buehler on sports and at LA and yes, honestly I could understand why he and the Dodgers are encouraged by what they saw tonight. I still love that Walker Bueller is pitching. He threw more cutters than any other pitch tonight. He threw twenty nine of those. He threw seventeen curveballs. He hung two, and those two mistake pitches really hurt him. Ezekiel Tovar, who is one of
the best young shortstops in all of baseball. Tonight, his two out, two run double in the second inning gave him forty on the season. I thought I saw something to thanks to our guy, Rick Krajuski. He's the first Rocky since Matt Holiday back in the early two thousands to have that many doubles for the Rockies. Forty four doubles for Ezekiel Tovar, and that was on a hanging curveball. The home run that Ryan McMahon hit to put the Rockies ahead in the top of the fifth inning first pitch,
hanging curveball. So two mistake pitches hurt Walker Bueller, But overall, he pitched really well, and I don't have any qualms with him starting a playoff game with what I've seen in the last two starts. The bigger issue here is Daniel Hudson, who has been such a pillar of strength for the Dodger bullpen on the mound and also as a mentor in that bullpen for the rest of the relief crew. The first half of the season, he was great.
His ERA was under two, but all of a sudden now since the All Star Break, Daniel Hudson, including tonight, twenty four games with an ERA of five sixty four and the home run he gave up to Charlie Blackman tonight was the fifth home run Daniel Hudson has given up this second half, and that was a big home run.
If it's if this was a one run game going into the bottom of the ninth inning with Otani Betson Freeman, I have no doubts the Dodgers win this game tonight eight six, six, seven, two, five seventy and they had the look at it. Max Mounsey struck out to end the game with the bases loaded. The Dodgers were very close to getting to set Halverson. He got a little bit of an assist tonight by the home plate umpire Jeremy Reehack, who did not have a great night behind
the plate start to finish either. Let's go out to John who is at Dodgers Stadium tonight. Hi, John, You're on Dodger Talk.
Yeah, the umpire was horrific. I mean, but I have to say Max Monthly is way too impatient for the moment. He has to be a bit more patient. Even with the horrible call at the plate, it was I mean, it wasn't the homeplate umpire's fault that the Dodgers lost to Night. I mean, there were way too many mistakes made at the plate.
I'm not saying anybody is blaming the homeplate umpire for the Dodgers losing this game.
But he did kill it couple of rallies.
I mean, that second strike to Muncie was very high, and then he called out Tommy Edmund looking in the fourth inning. That was a ball, that was a way that he called for strike three, So I thought, excuse me, that was the strikeout looking in the seventh for the second out after ta Oscar got on board with a one out air. I just didn't think the homeplate umpire was good. But I'm not saying that's the reason why the Dodgers lost the game.
David, Can I tell you my theory on why umpires make the calls that they make, how horrible they are, okay with you, Marry the calls. They make the horrible calls because they have to go to the bathroom. They literally are.
In need of a thank you, John, appreciate it. I could feel it was going a little bit too long there. Thank you for your theory.
Eight sixty six seven two five seventy is the phone number. Look, that could be a possibility, but honestly, no, sorry, let's go out to Ryan. It sounds like a Petros and money theory right there. Ryan, Are you buying that theory or not.
I'm not buying that theory. But I had to go to the bathroom between the fourth and fifth in English course, because you know, I was in between my third and fourth modello. But hey, thanks for taking my call. I appreciate everything you do.
Thank you for all of that. Appreciate that. What do you have for us when it comes to baseball?
Really?
So when it comes to baseball, well, first off, I think that this was actually a promising loss. We had trapping on the bases all night, just didn't get the big hit. But I guys, stop.
You really quick, because I know you've had a few Modellos. At this point in time in the season, there are no promising losses.
Okay, absolutely, I okay, let's talk about Daniel Hotsone like Houston struggling a little bit. But what I noticed, he's not like he's like on a set pause. I thought that he bocked about four times and they didn't call it. And I thought that Charlie Blackman was just in a rhythm so where it was like hey, set pod bang, And I think that it's something that that the staff needs to take a look at that Daniel Hudson might be bocking one. I don't want that to come back
and bite us in like the playoffs or two. Something that he needs to set pause and where like the hitters, you know, have a different look at. And that's just something that I noticed from the top deck and maybe we can look at the video on but it was very very close multiple times. And then Charlie Blackman, he was just on time and then he yanked one down the line and there's a three run yambo, you know, so.
Anyway a two run yambo, and I just felt like Daniel Hudson was living dangerously. His ninety five US ball was getting too much of the plate. And look, the facts are the Dodgers have leaned on this bullpen a little bit too often for a lot of people's likings. Since the beginning of the year, and Daniel Hudson especially. I mean, this guy hasn't pitched these many innings or been in these many games in like three four years, so he's a veteran.
He's thirty six.
You got to imagine maybe the tank is a little bit empty. The Dodgers, I believe, at the beginning of September towards the end of August, tried to stay away from him as much as possible to try to allow him to regroup and maybe get a second wind. But obviously it hasn't worked out consistently. So hopefully he gets back on track, because it would be great to have
Daniel Hudson effective going into the postseason as a veteran. Remember, Daniel Hudson was the last pitcher standing when the Nationals won the World Series all the way back in twenty nineteen. Eight six two five seventy is the phone number. Wanted to give you an update on Tony Gonsolin, who made his third rehab start tonight for Oklahoma City, and it was a good one. Gonsolin only threw forty five pitches, He threw three scoreless innings, did not give up a hit,
only did not walk anybody. And had six strikeouts. So Tony Gonsolin's name. I know there was a lot of a lot of buzz about show Hey Otani possibly pitching in the postseason. I know Otani is a sexier name, but the realistic name that may appear in the postseason for the Dodgers or maybe by the end of the regular season is Tony Gonsolin. The Dodgers are not having him go through these rehab starts for next year. They could be, but it kind of feels like they are
strongly considering Tony Gonsolin. We'll see what happens after another strong outing by the Catman and his third rehab start for Oklahoma City. Let's go out to James in North Hollywood. You're on Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi.
James.
Hey, David, I agree on your take with Daniel Hudson, and I'm really happy to hear the news on Tony Gonsolin because Lord knows we need it. You know, if I'm the Dodgers, I'm putting Hudson out there no more than two more times before the postseason. Yeah, you got to get him back on track. But he's a veteran, he knows how to pitch, and he looks a little tired of me, and I think I mean he the number of outings, appearances. He is no spring chicken, and you got to get him rested, and I think that's
what gets him on track. To be honest with you, they did rest up.
They didn't pitch him for ten to eleven games in a row when they had opportunities, just because he didn't go on the il, they did not pitch him.
That was a little while ago, though he's been in a lot long ago, three weeks ago, well, but this last week, last couple of weeks, Well, you're not.
Going to pitch him. You just don't want to pitch for two months.
No, I'm not saying that, David. Come on now, well, I'm saying.
That exactly what you're saying.
They just gave him a rest where he hadn't pitched for a long time, just to let him regroup. He's got to pitch at some point, and you know, at that point the snowball already happened. You can't take back the innings that he threw the first half of the year or coming out of the All Star break. At this point in time, he's got to keep pitching to keep some stamina, or he's going to be stale by
the time October rolls around. So you can't you can't put the genie back in the bottle when you've pitched your bullpen these many innings.
I do agree with that, but as opposed to eleven days off and then running him out there every other day, I mean, I think having him out there every third or fourth day, just knowing that he's an older guy, he you know, dealt with He's dealt with injuries with that knee in the past, and I look at all that and.
Do you have the bullpen usages?
Are you keeping track of Dave Roberts' bullpen usage because he doesn't put Daniel Hudson out there the way you just described it, he threw seventeen pitches in the last three games. He's only thrown a total of sixteen pitches. And he pitched Friday, he pitched on Tuesday, so he had two days off in between appearances, and he hadn't pitched back to back since the beginning of last week,
and he threw minimal pitches there. So you want to talk about Walker Buehler, James, you're losing a battle here that you're not going to win.
So what do you have to say about Walker Jeweler just a minute?
I okay, I think we're looking at Buehler and hopefully Kershaw. He's looking good like you might likely come back. You got Yamamoto and Flaherty as number one number two guys to head the rotation going into the postseason. You need to guys like that. Preferably you got a third. I look at Kershaw and Bueller as like number four stars that we're hoping our offense can pick us up with. So I did see some promising things tonight. For sure. I'd like him to lean on that cutter more like
he did tonight. Oral said that his curveball, you know, was his best pitch at the start of the game. I think the curve and the cutter, because you know that fastball doesn't have the same life and run. It's
been raided and all that. I want to pivot to Gonsolin for a second and say that I think he could be a incredibly effective long man piggyback option out of the bullpen when you need If Kershn Bueler have to be taken out early because in the postseason you don't have the luxury of letting guys figure it out, you know, in the third or fourth inning.
We'll see what it looks like.
I would love to see Tony Gonsolin pitch in a regular season game instead of having his first major league appearance being in a playoff game. So we'll see where it goes between now and the end of the regular season. Thanks for the phone call, James appreciated. Eight six six, nine eighty seven two five seventy is the phone number. Look, when it comes to Daniel Hudson, there's no way getting around that. He is thirty seven years old. He hasn't had this type of workload or innings because of two
knee injuries and close to three or four years. So hopefully he can get back on track because he was a big part and still is a big part of this Dodger bullpen. And to have a veteran presence at the back end of your bullpen like Daniel Hudson, it's invaluable in the postseason. He's been there, like I said, last Man Standing, but that was all the way back in twenty nineteen.
So we'll see.
I have no doubts that Daniel Hudson is going to be on this Dodger playoff roster. You just got to get on track and have better command, and he understands that. And maybe he's pressing a little bit too much as well. Happens for pictures no matter how many years you've been in the league. Eight six, six nine, eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. We're gonna take a time out here on Dodger Talk. When we continue, we'll
check in with Jose Mota. Also speaking of relief pictures, Anthony Banda, who had a fracture in his left pitching hand after he got frustrated on the last homestand may not be done for the rest of the year.
We'll fill you in next.
Dodgers fall to the Rockies tonight six to three on AM five to seventy LA Sports.
On air at AM five seventy, online at AM five seventy LA sports dot com, and available by podcast on the iHeartRadio apps.
This is Dodger Talk with David Bassin pitch, the Mookie swings hits a drive to left best.
Ball heading back at as Hokey his eighteen from a season smokimexit up three to two games. Hookie Betts with this eighteenth.
Home run of the year that was his only hit of the game. It pulled the Dodgers within one at that point in time, but the Rockies went on to beat the Dodgers tonight six to three. David Vasse live at Dodgers Stadium as the Dodgers and Rockies will close out this three game series tomorrow. With the loss tonight, coupled with the Padres win, the Dodgers lead in the NL West is at three games. Daniels Jewelers is the
official sponsor of the Trip around the Diamond. Stop by any Daniel's location and say home run for your free team bracelet and fifty dollars gift card toward any purchase of ninety nine dollars or more. Daniels Jewelers owned the Dream. Speaking of Daniel Hudson, that was the conversation we were having before we went to break and I mentioned twenty nineteen where he was the last man standing on the
mound when the Nationals won the World Series in twenty nineteen. Well, this season, Daniel Hudson now has pitched sixty one innings. That's the most innings Daniel Hudson has thrown in a season since that twenty nineteen year where he threw seventy three innings between Toronto and Washington. So this is the most thirty seven year old Daniel Hudson has thrown in quite some time. And tonight was his sixty third appearance
of the year. He hasn't made that many appearances in a season since also twenty nineteen, when he made sixty nine appearances. So the reality is he's a thirty seven year old pitcher. Even though he has missed the last two years with knee injuries on both knees. You got to imagine that the workload the Dodgers have put on him as starting to show it's wear and tear. But he is one of the toughest guys you will meet.
I have said this before. He reminds me of Chase Suttley in the relief pitcher form, and tonight he just got two outs and made a bad pitch to Charlie Blackman. And as I mentioned, the Dodgers have given Hudson some pretty long rest gaps during this season. They gave him a six day rest period from July twenty seventh to August second, then a nine day gap from August twentieth to August twenty ninth, and then recently it was five days between appearances September sixth to eleven. So he's not hurt.
He just may be a little overused at this point in time. So the Dodgers have done everything they possibly can to try to compensate for this heavy workload that thirty seven year old Daniel Hudson has had this year. And the reason why he's been used this much is because a earlier in the year and basically the entire season, the Dodgers have not been getting a lot of quality innings from their starters, and b he was really good the first half of the year, so they kept using him.
And kudos to Daniel Hudson, he's been healthy all season long. Now, speaking of the Dodgers relief corps, remember on the last homestand Anthony Banda did not have a good outing and Dave Roberts said that in frustration he banged his left hand and broke his left hand. Well, I found out today number one, I witnessed Anthony Banda throw a bullpen session. I found out it was his second bullpen session since
going on the il. He is going to throw to hitters in the next few days and after that he will be activated before the end of the regular season. So Anthony Banda season is not over. My understanding is he broke his is left pinky bone, a bone in his left pinky in the perfect spot where he kind of just backhanded something and it broke. So it wasn't like him punching a wall, which we were led to believe.
Nobody has really spoken to Banda. I did today and that's what Dave Roberts and Banda let me in on.
So there you have it.
Anthony Bunda will return before the end of the regular season. According to Dave Roberts. All right, let's get out to Jose Moda.
It's tough to go around the horn with Jose Mota.
All right, Jose Mota, I'll bring you into this conversation. What is the balance for the Dodgers at this stage of the season, with what seven games to go and that type of workload already for Daniel Hudson.
The balance is that if he becomes one of your best options to go out there and get some house, you got to use him. And then the other option is how much longer can I give him to rest when you mentioned he got some time off the rest because obviously you know h it's on him. And there's no doubt about this guy is a fighter man. He wants to pitch, he wants to be successful, but the
results have not been there. Go back to the Jake Berger home run and that eleven to nine loss, and then the last couple of outings with the home runs and then e RA dating back to August. By the way, you know, this goes back to August when the ERA was over five and here we go and in September. But it's a guy that you pull for because he's done it before, because he doesn't back away from the talents. Now reality is when do you bring him in? And hollis sharp, can you keep him now between now and
seven games left where you don't getting get rusty? And because of that, he is not affected when you need him. So he would say that, yeah, a couple of days off right now would be great, and you got to find a way to do that. But you got to keep this guy in his game and bring him back to what he is because he's done it before. Without a couple of miles an hour, they're licking, lacking right now.
He is able to pitch well enough. Now it's just a matter maybe even not trying its hard enough, because he made a couple of good pitches on Blacklan and before you know it, he just hung on maybe Chroy Tiller too fast or too hard and this stutt Flind his own got hurt.
Daniel Hudson, in twenty four games in the second half of the season, has an ERA of five sixty four. He gave up his fifth home run since the All Star Break tonight, a big one, a two run home run to Charlie Blackman. Let's go back to Walker Buehler because big picture wise, whether the Dodgers are the division winner or a wildcard team, they're going to need Walker Buehler.
How encouraging was tonight considering he did give up four runs, the defense wasn't great, the first inning wasn't great, but he did have nine strikeouts.
Encouraging because we have to see that a lot of the you know, the tunnel wish that you know that first inning had been a little bit cleaner. He talked about the first thing in the outings and his ERA and also the average coming into today three sixty seven. So he says it feels great coming out and coming out of the bullpen. Execution has not barn been their shar But also one thing today, but I mentioned this two paper to my left to Igo. The weirdest things
happen when this guy's on the mount. He's got a broken bat. Okay, the bat flies out like a sword, ends up being located well between the short something in the third basement that's a base it. Then the players that are not then made. Then the wild pitch on the ball that he bounce and produce actually blocked well. And you know, he's been tested so many times with the things that he cannot control that I would say, because he was able to get to the sixth inning,
we have to say it was success. The line to me doesn't tell the whole story, but overall, I'll take the punch out, and we know he likes punch outs. But I think the life and even the way he pitched after the first stinning and just being able to locate better with the fastball, throw the cutter and then have the curve will be effective down in the zone.
It's encouraging too, but I mean the big league man, you get away with it, you throw a couple of mistakes and Dave, he just cannot get away with it. And as a team, overall, you got a plot him and say have we scared a couple more runs? He would be probably all, you know, getting hiself a doubly. So it goes on the offense too.
Yeah, the offense was kind of flat tonight. I know it always looks flat. But they did their job getting Cal Quantrill out of this game in the fifth inning with one hundred pitches, and you would assume that at that point in time they would have been able to score some runs against this poor Rockies bullpen.
Well, this Rockies bullpen the last three weeks has been one of the best in the game. And they showed why some new arms, some young arms, guys would throw strikes. And Buddy Black has been telling me about these guys. This kid Parata, who's a cousin of Freddy Parata with Milwaukee.
You say, wait till you see this guy pitch. He's like five ten ninety seven on the fastball, ninety five painting in eighty two on that breakab But overall, there's a couple of balls hit hard that you know could have changed things to one by Mookie Bits to a third base of place as deep as Matt Chapman. The only guy is McMahon, who did a fine job covering and getting that double play started. But then even some pitch selection, they could have been a little bit better.
But you know, the Rockies when they needed to they there's nothing missing over the plate today, Dave, where you can say, wow, they missed that picture. That picture did not have a chance to get somebody out of that game. As you mentioned with Quanto, their very fine job, but just that one contact was not made. And I think you know as a general comment here, Dave, the Dodgers playoffs starts tomorrow, and I'm gonna say why tomorrow is a game in which you want to take momentum coming
into the Padre series. Okay, the Potter series is a playoff game for the off series for you already, so you cannot wait to turn it on and off. It's about urgency, it's about how you plan things out. It's about after an off date, everybody gets a little rest and go out there and play better basebally because overall the picture today was not one with the dollars played good baseball.
Yeah, that's a great point Jose, Yet tomorrow begins the postseason for the Dodgers because the Padres are not going anywhere. They haven't gone anywhere, and those three games are going to decide whether or not you got five days off or you're going to be tested with your pitching in the best of three series. We'll see out here tomorrow for game one of this start of playoff.
Like baseball, it is Samurai baseball with yoshinog with tomorrow.
Be ready.
Okay, thanks, Jose, We'll see you tomorrow, Yoshi Yamamoto.
Yes, we'll be on the mound tomorrow.
And look, this will be his first taste of, as Jose described it, playoff intensity baseball. The Dodgers have to approach it that way beginning tomorrow, and I know they're looking forward to that Monday day off, but they need that win tomorrow. And you're only as good as the tone you're starting pitcher sets, and Yamamoto has been pretty good in his first two starts off the il for the Dodgers, and each of his first two starts he
has pitched four scoreless innings. And for the Dodgers, with the loss tonight, it will be their first full season without winning one hundred games since twenty eighteen. Right, first class problems right there for the Dodgers first full season without winning one hundred games in a season. But they're going to the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive year. That'll do it for us on Dodger Talk tonight, thanks to calling you back at our Burbank studios. Thanks to Dwayne
McDonald out here at Dodgers Stadium. Like I mentioned, Yamamoto will be on the mound for the Dodgers tomorrow, going up against Antonio Senzateela, making his second start of the season.
Morongo Casino.
Dodgers on Deck begins at noon with first pitch at one ten from Dodgers Stadium, and before the game, one of the great Dodger catchers in their history, Steve Jaeger, is going to be presented with the Tommy Lesorda Bleed Dodger Blue Awards.
So we look forward to seeing Steve.
Jaeger back at Dodger Stadium tomorrow once again. The final score tonight from Dodger Stadium. The Rockies defeat the Dodgers six to three. Have a great rest of your night.
See us time