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.
We are live at Dodgers Stadium after the Dodgers shut out the Guardians by a.
Final score of ford and nothing.
Welcome the Dodger Talk David Vase live at Dodgers Stadium with you until five o'clock tonight. We're leading you up to We are leading up to Fox Sports Radio Sunday Night. Football is on another station tonight, so I was thinking we were going to carry it, which we are not. But we have Dodger Talk for you until five o'clock. We will hear from Jack Flaherty, we will hear from Alex Vesia, we'll check in with Jose Mota, and we'll
also give you a Teoscar Hernandez update. But you know, the Dodgers, after the way people have been talking about them, you would I think they were five or six games back in the NL West and fighting for their playoff lives.
Instead with the win.
Today, they have the best record in baseball. How about that? That doesn't seem to be what we're reading, what we're hearing, all the panic in the streets, what you're reading, it seems like, oh, the Dodgers are falling apart, and so is their record. Well, they may not have their full compliment of pictures that they would like to have right now, but slowly but surely they're getting them back, and in the meantime, they're winning games, and they're beating the best
I know. We don't keep tabs on the Guardians out here in LA. I don't keep tabs on anything Cleveland, by the way. I mean they could be from Mars, basically, anything from Cleveland. I mean, they might be in a different solar system as far as I'm concerned. So I feel like you may be feeling the same way. The only thing we really know about Cleveland is Lebron James. Let's be honest. Nobody else in LA knows about anybody
or anything in Cleveland except for Lebron James. And the Guardians, by the way, are one of the best in the American League. They are in first place in the Al Central, even though now their lead has shrunk to two and a half games over the Royals. So the Dodgers beat a very good team, and yesterday I said, I thought it was important for the Dodgers to have a lead going into at least the seventh inning, so they did not have to see some of the two best high
leverage relievers the Guardians have to offer. So not only did they have a two nothing lead, but they tacked on two more against a low leverage reliever in the eighth inning, Max Munsey Homer will Smith was part of the action with a double and they go on to beat one of the best teams in the American League, the Cleveland Guardians. But by the way we get phone calls and what you read online, you would think the
Dodgers were six or seven games back. The truth of the matter is the Dodgers' magic number is down to thirteen to clinch the NL West again and there's only nineteen games to go. The Padres lost again to the Giants. They're six games back. The Diamondbacks are in the middle of playing the Astros right now. They have an early three to nothing lead out there in Houston. But right now the lead is seven games. If they win, it'll be six and a half again. But time is running out.
The calendar is on the Dodgers side. After taking three out of four from Arizona, they basically took control of this division. It got down to four games a couple of days ago, but the Dodgers took control of this division taking three out of four in Arizona, and now take even more of a tighter grip on this division by taking two out of three from the Guardians.
Shutting them out four to nothing.
Behind Jack Flaherty's best performance not only as a Dodger, but of the entire season for Jack Flerity in his renaissance season for Jack Flarity. Jack Flerity now is twelve and six on the year with an ERA of two eighty six overall with the Dodgers five and one a two sixty one ERA in seven starts. His whip is one sixteen uh. He has forty seven strikeouts, only ten walks today, six strikeouts, no walks, four hits. It was his finest moment and I'm sure he loved doing it
here at Dodger Stadium. The last time Jack Flaherty pitched into the eighth inning of a game was when he was with the Cardinals in twenty nineteen. That's how good he was today against a very good slugging hitting team in the Guardians seven and a third scoreless innings for Jack Flaherty. Let's head downstairs right now and here from the winning pitcher, Jack Flaherty on sports net LA.
It was fun. You know, those are when you get different elements like that, whether it's super cold or really hot, you know, it's just another challenge that's, you know, fun. Then it just leads to a lot of preparation before you know, I go to make sure you know, everything's moving, you're hydrated, But I'm pretty sure everybody else was hotter than.
I was out there.
You were excellent today, and just what was the focus for you? Navigating through their lineup and being able to get deep into the game and just be efficient with your stuff today.
You know, they came out swinging the bat early, so at that point we just you just got to go go out and execute and let everything else come to you. You know, we had some strike casts as a game went along, but you know, first and foremost, run about and execute some pitches, and they're swinging the bats early, and defense made some great plays. You know, I didn't know months could jump like that. That was that was impressive and a huge play too, because ball gets through
the inning looks a little bit different. Man said he get two outs on that play and uh able to get laying out right after that, so, uh, you know it's a huge play. Yeah, guys did a good job all weekend.
What was the conversation up to the seventh penny?
Uh, it was just you know, how you're feeling, and I was like, you know, I I'm always honest. It was like I knew it was getting towards the end there, just with where my body was at and how I kind of diden feeling all week, you know, a little like little uder the weather kind of throughout the week. So you know, I went out, gotten out, kill a hit, and kime and got me. So it was uh yeah, it was pretty straightforward.
Tale and get deeper into games. Just what did it mean to get into the.
Eighth and uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, just just huge, especially you know you get the bullpen day yesterday, which which they did a great job brace starting the game and then you know, guys were putting up putting up runs and uh, just the way the offense came out and swung it in the way that guys came out and threw it, so you don't get deep after after a bullpen game, you know, was huge, and yeah, it's just it's a nice feeling when you.
Think about just kind of pitch usage. Fastball is really good, but also you kind of went to it more. Was that a part of the game plan going into it or was that field during the game.
I think it's all feel, you know. I feel like he had asked that a lot. And it's just a game to game thing. Like we threw more sliders today, not as many curve balls, and it's been kind of the opposite in the last couple months because I haven't felt I haven't had a good slider, so I had a better one today. Worked on it all week and I was able to make you know, execute. So that was nice for me to see having worked on it
all week and really try to make some adjustments. But it's just a game to game thing.
Well.
It does a really good job of mixing things up.
You know.
I shook once and I shook a couple of times. One of them I get a hit and I, you know, give him a little okay out ones on me. So but he does really good job and they do a really good job of game planing and just find ways to mix it up.
Jack Flaherty did a real nice job today, efficient and effective seven and a third scoreless sinning. And when he talks about the slider today, he got five swings and misses on his slider. That was the second most swings and misses by any pitch he threw today. The one he got the most on was his curveball. So all of it was playing together, the fastball, the slider, and the curveball. And if you're asking me right now, to me, Jack flaherty has separated himself as the number one starter
in this rotation. As I have mentioned before, I'm a firm believer Glass Now and Yama Moto are going to be coming back, but they're only going to get one or two starts. Don't expect five or six innings from Yamamoto on Tuesday. He's only pitched two innings and two separate rehab starts because of pitch count, so don't expect him to go more than four or five innings on Tuesday. Whether or not he's built up for Game one of the postseason. I still don't see the Dodgers going that route.
I want Jack Flaherty on the mound. That guy has the edge and attitude you need to set the tone for a playoff series. Oh, by the way, Michael Kopek remember him. Yeah, he's pretty good too, and he was in the game today after Flairty came out with one out in the eighth inning and he was able to retire the rest of the Guardians by He was able to retire the side in order the two batters he faced, and he also had a strikeout.
With the Dodgers.
Michael Kopek in seventeen games is three and zero with an ERA of zero fifty three zero fifty three for Michael Kopek. So the two pitchers the Dodgers acquired at the trade deadline have been huge impact guys because of injury and also just performance, flat out performance. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Let's go out to Hollywood. Eric, you're on Dodger Talk. How you doing? Go ahead, do your Dodger nation?
Damn it?
Love taking care of the Guardians. Man, forget about these guys, but listen continue, Eric, listen to you now. You were so down in the dumps the last couple of times you called me. But what did I tell you, Eric, You'd be calling back, hooping and hollering, Dodger nation and all that stuff, And here you are crawling back to.
Me, David. Come on, nobody likes me.
I keep the receipts, Eric, I keep the receipts.
Nobody likes somebody that's right all the time. That's not cool, Man, I was wrong.
I've been wrong.
No, Well, you always I mean, as far as I'm concerned, you're always killing me. Man, You're always right.
You're always telling me be cool.
You know what I mean.
But I love it. I love this game.
I love this win. I'm still a little bit concerned about the pitching.
I am.
I know we have a couple of horses coming back, but I'm a little bit concerned. And Yo, David, what's up with Kevin stone Man?
That was like a shot.
That was like a shot in the dark.
Man, what's up with that? Yeah?
That was shocking to all of us, Eric, I mean, unfortunately, another one of a long line of pitchers this season that have gotten hurt for the Dodgers. He's thrown more innings than any starter on the Dodgers staff. He has made twenty five starts, the most of any other Dodger, so he's had a big workload and unfortunately for him, the shoulder just couldn't take it anymore. But I will say this, Eric, the Dodgers are not ruling him out
to return this season, which is a good thing. They don't know really right now, and nobody really knows for the next ten days or so until he starts to pick up a baseball again and sees how his shoulder feels when he throws it. But I would say Gavin Stone coming back in time for Round one probably not likely. If he does come back, it would be in a limited fashion.
Well, I love the Dodger W Dodger Tax, Shane Caambo, George Hornhey Bray.
We all love you.
Keep doing your thing man, go blue all.
Right, Eric, thanks a lot for the phone call.
Eight six six seven two five seventy is the phone number the Dodgers shut out the Guardians today, Ford to nothing. We're gonna take a time out here on Dodger Talk. When we come back, we'll hear from Alex Vesia and we'll check in with Jose Mota. Plus we have a ti Oscar Hernandez update for you as well, Dodgers have the best record in baseball after their ford to nothing victory over the Guardians. On the Los Angeles Dodgers Audio Network.
On air at AM five to seventy, online at AM five seventy, LA sports dot com, and available by podcast on the iHeartRadio app. This is Dodger Talk with David Bassan.
Sure, hey, swings and hammers one way down the right bit line.
That ball's gone home run show, Hey tony number forty six? Oh, what a monster blast over the visiting bullpens. Incredible Big Tokyo show, Hey Otani with this forty sixth home run of the season.
What a shot. We have not seen that before.
We have seen home runs hit into the loge level, down the right and left field lines, But when was the last time you saw a player hit a ball one hundred.
And seventeen miles an hour?
That hit direct shot on the nineteen fifty five World Series banner on the stadium club Even Dave Roberts said he has never seen it. What a shot four hundred and fifty feet by Big Tokyo, Sho, hey Otani. 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. Daniel's Jewelers own the Dream. So the Dodgers win the final two
games of this series. The Dodger bullpen yesterday had seven different pitchers come out of that bullpen, starting with Ryan Brasier, ending with Brent Honeywell. Alex Vesia was our pregame guest and he took us through what it's like for a reliever during a bullpen game.
We call it our lane, right, and you know, whether you're facing five, six, seven, eight nine or one two, three four five, right, like, it's kind of broken up to for like myself or Blake or Huddy, Evan Kobe, right like all it's broken up differently, and you know we're talked about that and told, but still the game, right. You know, there's certain situations where if I'm coming in, I can come in the fourth inning to face a certain amount of hitters, so I can come in the
eighth inning to face those same hitle hitters. So you know, and that's that's a DOCS call. And you know we're ready for it.
Have you've been able to come in whether it's the fourth, the eighth, the ninth. Is there something different about the innings even if you have that certain lane you described, Uh, no.
We try to keep it. You know, the score is irrelevant, the inning is irrelevant.
Uh.
You know, we go out there and do our job right, And that's where you don't you don't put more pressure
or less pressure on yourself depending on the situation. You want to kind of eliminate all of that and focus on the you know, one, two or three hitters that you know you're the task at hand basically, And yeah, that's it helps kind of eliminate riding the highs too high and the lows too low, right, And that's trying to stay consistent, is you know, just knowing what to do when you go out there for you know, preparation and all that stuff that you can do before the
game before you know your name gets called. And once you out there, your job is to get three outs, put up a zero walk out, gets the game going.
Hey, that's what Alex Vesia and the other six relievers did for the Dodgers last night in a big win. Vessia was one of those seven pitchers, and certainly that bullpen game went smooth, smoother than most. With a six run first inning by the Dodgers in their seven to two win last night, you would love to see Justin Robleski and all the Dodger pitchers for that matter, throw strike one and get those guys back in the dugout.
And that's what Jack Flaherty did in his seven and a third scoreless innings today as the Dodgers shut out the Guardians forward to nothing.
All right, let's head out to our guy, Jose Moda.
It's time to go around the horn with Jose Moda.
Jose Mota. Jack Flaherty almost went to the Yankees. They backed out because they were concerned about his back. The Dodgers right there to catch him. Where would they be without Jack Flaherty.
Uh? Not where they're at right now, because this guy takes the ball and he has set it tom pretty much for guys on that rotation, and in fact, tegue to some of the players in the staff was expected. Now that every game matters, every game is a playoff game, and it just it's beautiful to watch him pitch because his pace is one thing, but also how he reads how guys take pitches. It's something that hitters and opposing size.
I've told me he's like he sees how guys take a pitch, and he'll double up on him and full them, thinking that he's not going to repeat it, and before we know, they're swinging him, especially when he throws those breaking balls all in different angles.
He was talking about his slider today.
Was he using the fastball office slider or was it the fastball establishing that command and then going to the curveball and slider.
He had command of the fastball, which is number one. If you're erratic with your fastball and you try to spin the baseball, you're not going to have success in guys spreading this all more. But when you have command Dave, even if you're missing close enough like he does with a fastal sometimes on purpose, especially up and a way on lefties, they're going to be looking out there. He backs or breaking and steals strikes in that manner. So and he's a strikes through which is a beautiful thing.
But you know he got the strikeouts. He's closing in on two hundred punchoes, but he throws strikes and is not afraid of contact. But certainly you saw that, you know, the pitches kind of accumulated a little bit more is he found more strikeouts and swings and missus. But he's like the perfect versatile picture on getting his defense ready to play, keeping them on their toes, but also when he needs to wrap it up, he does it all right.
So, like I mentioned at the trade deadline, there were some concerns about Flaherty's back. Have you seen anything that tells you that there should be any concern when a guy goes into the eighth inning, it feels like, I know, a back can pop up at any time, but it doesn't feel like he's dealing with anything right now.
The only thing I've seen from this guy that convinces me that he is all fine is his workout. This guy is in the clear and cursehop mode of just being an animal in the eating of everything that has to do with equipment or waits or running in conditioning. He just goes after and just gets through it. And the hottest days and the coolest days, it doesn't matter. He stays with his routine. And when your manager says that he is one of the hardest workers you've ever
seen Dave Rowan's been around a lot of guys. But to say that with the guy that just got here, you know a few weeks ago. He speaks loudly and then I pay attention to mechanics. Is he varying anything, Is he favoring anything? Absolutely now, So obviously Dodgers that due diligence on him in this medical report to say, get him over because no matter what, they're gonna be taking good care of him, and they have.
Jose Mota has seen a lot of games played here at Dodgers Stadium, going back to when his dad, Manny, was playing for the Dodgers.
Have you ever seen.
Any of your dad's teammates hit a home run off the stadium club facade where Otani hid his today.
Ep I mean that is absolutely ridiculous for show. Hey, Oshue City ought to be very proud of their native son, because there's been nobody that I've ever seen in nineteen sixty nine. The furthest one I've seen, Oh, the right field side is stargled over the bleacher. Okay, but pavilion on that roof, but nothing like this on the pole side to stay fair and the blast off the bad. The sound is just tells you that a big boy hit it and de Ble kept traveling as you mentioned.
Who knows how far would have lended had not death thought up there.
So you're saying you don't like my nickname the big Tokyo for Otani when you mentioned.
I would say Oshu probably most likely.
Yeah, so you want me to say the big Oshue.
Big Oshu fits better?
Mayoral here It sounds more lively when I say the big Tokyo rather than the big Oshue.
The big Oshue is You're gonna get more applied from that, and no questions that whatsoever, knowing that you did your homework. He did play in Tokyo, he did play he played ok Io when he played in the fam. No matter what, you know what, there's a big.
One wow, jose Mota bringing the guntlent on me. Correction and retractions from jose Mota.
Hey, I'm not gonna make it look bad. That's what I don't want anybody saying. Hey, by the way, he said it wrong, and Jose knew about it. He didn't tell you anything. Well, you know what, I am your friend, I am your wingman, and I'm just telling you that I want to be correcting myself when they'll say things right on the air.
Hey, I just try to bring the dramatics, Jose, That's all I try to do. The big Dominican Jose Mota or the big Fullerton.
Guy ticket today.
So I'm glad, all right, Hose, thanks for checking in. Appreciate it.
You got it?
Brother, There he goes Jose Mota Wow.
The authority on Japanese nicknames, Jose Mota Wow. Do not do not overstep on the o Tani nicknames here, all right. I'll let Victor Brick know as well. Eight six six nine eighty seven two five seventy is the phone number Dodgers shut out the Guardians today. Ford to nothing, Man, I'm getting criticized for a lot of different culture pronunciations.
People are all over me for not.
Saying Chef Merito correctly, and now I got Jose coming down on me for on a highlight call saying.
The big Tokyo show.
Hey, Otani, the real big Tokyo is Kevin Seki out there in Torrence, California, who was out here with his little buddy Ryan. So that's where things stand as far as nicknames go.
All right.
Another update, on Teoscar Hernandez. You heard from him on yesterday's show where he said that he dodged a huge bullet. The ct scans came back negative on his left foot after being hit by a pitch in the first game of this series, and today he was out here with Thomas Albert and his staff doing some agility drills testing that left foot, And just by being out there this morning watching him, what I observed was he he was still feeling a little something in certain movements with his
left foot. So him being back in the starting lineup tomorrow may seem like a stretch, but it feels like he's getting closer. And as far as Bruce Star Grattarol goes, they did call up Noah Ramirez or Nick Ramirez today, there's a possibility they were going to use him today or tomorrow. The Cubs have a lot of lefties in their lineup, so the Dodgers may be playing the matchup game to a certain extent. It feels like Greterol will not be activated until the second or third game of
the series against the Cubs. So that's your update on ti Oscar Hernandez and Bruce Starr Grattol tomorrow, it will be Walker Buehler on the mound for the Dodgers going up against Kyle Hendricks Morongo Casino. Dodgers on Deck begins at six o'clock with first pitch at seven ten. And on Tuesday night, that's the Japanese marquee matchup show dot Imanaga going up against Yoshi Yamamoto on Tuesday night right
here at Dodger Stadium. That will be broadcast to Japan, Tokyo, wherever you want to talk about it, they will be watching in the country of Japan. So Tuesday night a marquee matchup. That'll do it for us on Dodger Talk tonight. Thanks to Colin Ye back at our Burbank studios, Thanks to Dwayne McDonald out here at Dodgers Stadium, and thanks to you for listening. In case you missed any of the show, you can find it on the iHeartRadio app.
Once again, the final score from Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers shut out the Guardians Ford to nothing.
Have a great rest of your night. We'll talk to you tomorrow. See them