Dodgers Territory - Dodger Slug Returns, Sneaky Good Tucker, Friedman Patience with Roki

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

Katie Woo and Clint Pasillas get to talk about a Dodgers victory! The Los Angeles Dodgers have finally won a game and they did so with slug from Mookie Betts and Santiago Espinal. Are the Dodgers back...? The hosts discuss. (3:10) Kyle Tucker has been hot. What has gone right for King Tuck since moving out of the 2 hole? (8:12) Shohei Ohtani found something with the bat on Tuesday, but is expected to be held out of the lineup two days in a row. Is that the right call? (17:20) Katie expands on her Roki Sasaki story and the organization's patience for the second-year pitcher as he works to make himself a better Major League starter. (30:19) Plus, a look ahead to the Anaheim series on this edition of Dodgers Territory! :hot_pepper: Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order* seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Subscribe on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@DodgersTerritory  Follow our social media channels for more content!https://x.com/LADTerritory https://www.instagram.com/ladterritory/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578546105253  Check out DT merch at https://dodgersterritoryshop.comSupport Guidry's Guardian at https://guidrysguardian.org  Find Clint on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@alldodgers Follow Katie's work at The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.
Starting point is 00:00:23 Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was finally.
Starting point is 00:00:44 You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.
Starting point is 00:00:55 So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to fupas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter.
Starting point is 00:01:27 Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I got to hear a little Randy Newman last night. So that was a different kind of experience. I heard that first. I heard the beat drop. And I was like, oh, yeah, there he is. There's I guy, Randy. What is going on, everybody?
Starting point is 00:01:58 Welcome to a Thursday edition of Dodgers Territory. I am not Alonarizzo. I am Clint Paceas. And that is not Clint Pascis. That is Katie Wu. We are two thirds of Dodgers territory. and we get to talk about a win. Talked about a win last night.
Starting point is 00:02:12 We're going to be joyous in that. Before we get to that, though, we want to remind you, as we always do at the top of the show, please like us, love us, want some more of us, subscribe to the channel, help us get to 20,000 subscribers.
Starting point is 00:02:24 It would help a lot. Also, rate and review the show in its podcast platforms. It's another thing that helps us a lot. You know, get our bosses off our asses. They're actually, they're nice people. We appreciate them. But Katie,
Starting point is 00:02:37 We got a Dodger win to talk about. I say we do that. Let's dive in in the big ticket. Dodgers know how to win a baseball game for nothing is the final. The offense needed to run through Santiago Espinall. Talk more about what you saw from this ball club on Wednesday night. Well, first, I got to hear a little Randy Newman last night. So that was a different kind of experience.
Starting point is 00:03:04 I heard that first, I heard the beat drop. And I was like, oh, yeah, there he is. There's eye guy, Randy. But no, it felt like a textbook Dodgers win yesterday. Show Aotani's seven scoreless. Nice appearance by the bullpen, Tanner Scott and your guy Kyle Hurt. High leverage, Kyle Hurt, may I add. Got some slug.
Starting point is 00:03:21 I hadn't seen that in a minute. Back-to-back homers from Santiago Espinal and Mookie Betts' first home run off the IL. And a couple of insurance runs late. So, yeah, when you look at the Dodgers, this kind of look like they're kind of game. And it's been a minute since we saw that. They snapped the four-game skid. They put some runs on the board. board and they took some really good swings up, Robbie Ray, too.
Starting point is 00:03:42 So all in all, vibes are good. We're back. Hopefully they can salvage a series against the Giants tonight. That was one of the things I was going to say leading into this. It's like, you know, there's a lot, there's some things you can nitpick about. The fact that they did not score after the fourth inning. My heart of hearts, I want to say the Dodgers are finally getting back on track. Maybe it's grasping at straws here, but they needed that slug.
Starting point is 00:04:04 That's something that had been desperately direly missing for this team. and I said it last night. I'll say it again, as my buddy Doug McCain likes to say, if you want the dub, you got a slug. And that is kind of a prerequisite for this team to win baseball games. You got, I mentioned Espinall jokingly as the hero for this team, but Moogie Betts getting on track and then getting today off. A lot of good stuff from this one, three guys with multi-hit games. Shohei, we're going to talk about Show-Hae in a little bit. I don't know, do you want to talk about Show-Hay first and his dominance, or do you want to talk about Kyle Tucker?
Starting point is 00:04:38 And his, I guess, you know, the rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. Shocker, we got a little dramatic. Certainly not this show. Let's go right in to Kyle Tucker because he's been such a main source of our conversation, rightfully so when you come in and you're the prized free agent signing and you get off to a slow start. I think that's actually pretty common in baseball land. You know, you come in, you see a lot of veterans come in signing the big contract and want to perform immediately. And it takes some time to acclimate to a new organization and a new team and all of that stuff that comes with the big signing.
Starting point is 00:05:14 I like Kyle Tucker in the two hole when he's hitting like Kyle Tucker. And at the start of the season, he wasn't really doing that. The problem was that Dave Roberts didn't really have a good supplemental piece to put in the two hole with mooky bets on the aisle. So Kyle Tucker just kind of had to wear it for a couple more weeks than maybe warranted. Now, Dave Roberts is a good manager in the fact that he knows his veterans and he gives them an extended leash. She's not gonna like, like rush through and make any changes. He's going to give his veterans proper time to figure it out. We got to a point in San Francisco, I believe,
Starting point is 00:05:43 where they just seen it up from Kyle Tucker. And it hadn't looked good. So you move him down in the order. The offense didn't really follow Sue, but Mookie is back now. So you have someone that you can put up in the two hole. And we're just seen this kind of production from Kyle Tucker, which can only lead to better things for the rest of the lineup.
Starting point is 00:05:59 And this is something that we talked about with Dave Roberts as well, is when you have so many guys scuffling, like, the Dodgers do. It can be really hard to change up the lineup because it doesn't matter where people are hitting if they don't feel good about hitting in general. I think that's what happened to Kyle Tucker early in the season, but you move him down, you get pitched differently when you're hitting four or five than you are too. All of a sudden, he gets his confidence back. He's seen the ball better. We talked to Kyle on Monday, I believe. He still thinks there's a way to, there's some ways to go. Quint, he said, personally, my feel for my swing
Starting point is 00:06:28 isn't where I wanted to be necessarily, but I've had some good swings at certain times with good results, some extra base hits. Overall, It's fine just trying to get more consistent. The Dodgers, they will take fine for now because all of the things that we're seeing from Kyle Tucker suggests that fine will turn into more consistent. And he's looking and swinging the bat a lot more like what they first imagined when they signed him. Yeah, I mean, well, I think right now in the month of May, and I said last night as well, I'm not cherry picking and taking the first game off where he was over two.
Starting point is 00:06:57 He's hitting 315, I think, in May, OPS around 950. That's part of why I decided to make him our, our fan. Banduel player spotlight here. We go ahead and throw the wipe up on there because he is, he's my daily dinger. Honestly, he is the guy who I trust right now to keep writing this hot streak. He's the pressure of that contract being taken off of his shoulders, moving out of that two hole. You see him hitting a little four, little five, little six, moving around, and he's just
Starting point is 00:07:29 producing. You're getting the Kyle Tucker swing that you anticipated. A couple of doubles last night, a little bit of slug in there. You're going to see some homers as well. And obviously the Dodgers have one more game against the Giants at home. But eventually they will be, it is in Anaheim, I believe, the next series. They will be playing the Angels facing the lowly angels of Anaheim, who they were swept by last year. But I am watching Kyle Tucker in that Angel series.
Starting point is 00:07:56 If you guys are looking for a daily dinger in his career, 294 with an OPS over 1,000 against the Anaheim Angels, 27 dingers, like 70-some-odd RBI. This is a dude who loves taking it to the Angels. And I don't know. I don't think I'm wrong to pick Kyle Tucker in a series against the Angels or against anybody right now. Dude is hot. You're never wrong, Clint. Let's be honest.
Starting point is 00:08:21 But no, I think it would be a nice start to the 10-day road trip we have come, 10-game road trip we have coming up. Tonight for Kyle Tucker, considering there will not be Shohay Otani in the lineup. And Muki Betz, who is supposed to have the day off yesterday. day will now have the day off today, Dave Robert said yesterday. So you're out two significant bats. Kyle Tucker can just go ahead and take care of the Dodgers problems there. But no, let's get into some Otani talk because surprise, surprise. One final thing we got to do, Fandul related. We got to tell people that it's all good. It's all good. It's part of it. The MLB season is in full swing. Fan Duel is giving you a chance to call your shot with Daily Dangers. You see it on the screen here.
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Starting point is 00:10:16 Very excited to see you with the show. Kiss all the time, disco occasionally, available now. All right, you tease show. Hey, we got to talk show. Hey, he was really, really good last night, Katie. What'd you like? I liked pretty much everything about that game, especially the 213 game time.
Starting point is 00:10:33 So shout out Shohei for that. The straight up dominance on the mound. And look, we've rightfully talked a lot about the lack of offensive production for Mr. Otani here. But make no mistake about who he is on the mound firmly reestablished himself as one of baseball's best pitchers already. Just coming in, he has an ERA at 0.82. That's like not even a real number. He has dominated his opponents.
Starting point is 00:10:55 It's all looked fantastic. And I know that there was, I wouldn't say concern. I don't think there was ever any internal concern from the Los Angeles Dodgers coming into the season. Just more of a not sure what to expect because here's a guy that's coming off from playing in the WBC, hasn't had a full season of two-way duties since 2023. As we know, it's the Dodgers first time having a full season of full two-way show. Hey. So like Dave Roberts has said, like Andrew Friedman has said, they have to be a little fluid on how they use him. We know Otani is so convicted in trying to win the National League's Ayung Award. he'd be the first Japanese pitcher to ever win the award.
Starting point is 00:11:30 He's really fixated on being the best possible pitcher he could be. Well, look at those numbers. I think we're on the right track. The question, of course, now becomes how can they get the best versions of both sides of Otani? Because it was clear talking to him yesterday through interpreter Will Arerton, shout out Will, that he's frustrated about his offense and rightfully so, right? Clint, we've talked about this for weeks now. The slug hasn't been there.
Starting point is 00:11:52 The power hasn't been there. The chase rates up. He's not getting on base. And he's just not Shohei Otani, the hitter. So you have the pitching side. That looks great. Now the question is, is his fixation on pitching and bleeding into his impact at the plate? The Dodgers don't think so.
Starting point is 00:12:08 Shohei, though, said he knows it needs to get better. He's going to go into take this rest day today, hopefully get right against his former team against the Angels. But it's something worth monitoring as the Dodgers continue to figure out what's the best way to use their player, their two way star, to ensure they're getting the best possible two way results. Listen, I would argue. I don't argue often against Dave Roberts. I have a lot more in the past. I don't as much these days. But I would kind of argue that if he's coming off of a game in the box where he felt better,
Starting point is 00:12:38 he had two hits. He had a homer in that game his first homer in, and I think 17 years at that point, or at least that's what it felt like. I would get him in a game. I know they said last night they confirmed he's not going to be in the lineup. Listen, I pivot course. I changed the course there.
Starting point is 00:12:53 I understand the idea two days ago to not have Shohay in this lineup because it very much looked like he needed a blow. He needed a mental reset. Just something to kind of take the bat out of his hand and his mind off of his swing for a little bit. But when you find something, the only way you're going to kind of find that repetition of it, in my opinion, and I am not a good hitter. Never made it to the bigs. Shocker. But the only way you're going to get good with it is by practicing it. So I would not be shocked.
Starting point is 00:13:23 I also don't hate if he's not in the lineup today. Somebody did ask in the chat, do we think he's in the lineup? I would not be shocked if Dave does change course. I think you kind of disagree with that. Is it the right call to leave him out today? Stick with the point. I actually, I would be surprised. And I'll play devil's advocate here.
Starting point is 00:13:41 One, showy Otani could be available off the bench today if the game just calls for it. So it's not like it's a total he's unavailable situation. But he is not going to be in the starting lineup unless something's changed within in the last hour or so. And I think the reason for this is when you look at Otani at the plate, when we asked Dave Roberts, when you are looking to give guys a blow or just give them a reset, what is the trait that stands out for you? And he said with Sho Hey, it's the chase rate.
Starting point is 00:14:05 We expect fatigue in the middle of the season. We didn't really expect fatigue in May, but it makes sense as he's adjusting to a workload that only he and all of baseball has to adjust to. So yes, he had a break from hitting on Wednesday, but he didn't have a break from playing. And the mental exhaustion of just being able to have one day to reset. Show Hey probably is not going to want that if I'm being honest. But is it better for him the long term to get right? Yes, we talk about load management with the Dodgers all of the time.
Starting point is 00:14:34 This is just a different version of load management. Give Otani a day. He goes out and he homers on Tuesday. The swing looks better. You saw him running around the bases, the big sigh of relief, the dramatic look to the sky. We love our dramatic king asking for the ball in the dugout to sign like that can be a good reset to say, okay, I figured it out. I can go focus on pitching on Wednesday and really just take the day Thursday to lock in, make some changes and not feel like I have to go out there and produce because you go out there on Thursday today and let's say Otani goes over four, all of the goodwill that you had on Tuesday, you're feeling a little bit better. That's out
Starting point is 00:15:09 the window right before a 10 game road trip. Also, let's keep in mind how sore starting pitchers are after making a start. He threw a season high 105 pitches last night and they were all very dominant. But overall, when you're looking at making sure Otani has enough rest and recovery for the whole season and to be able to contribute effectively at the highest level, both as a hitter and a pitcher, giving him a day and a half, I wouldn't even say a day and a half because he pitched a day reset. That's super important, especially given how he looks at the plate right now. And I think something to a lot of us, especially me in what I'm arguing here, need to pump the breaks a fair amount because these are the Dodgers. We don't care. We don't need to care.
Starting point is 00:15:53 They don't need to care about April, about the month of May, even the month of June. It's okay to give Shohei a little bit of an early blow, backload his workload when it comes to him being a two-way guy. The Dodgers are not winning. They're not winning a third straight world series if he is not a two-way player and his best version of himself in October. So there's no real reason. And I know he does not like not being in the lineup. But, you know, it's like, I don't have to like you, but I have to respect you here. There is a plan.
Starting point is 00:16:27 This team has a plan. And that is to make sure that he is fully built up, not overworked and overextended in August and September. So they can write him out in October. So you don't have to agree. But the Dodgers know what they're doing. Disagree. agree on that? Yeah, I agree. I agree here.
Starting point is 00:16:50 Again, it goes back to load management. We talk all about, you know, how they are able to use their starting pitching to make sure that they're healthy in September and October. If this means we're not seeing Otani do as many two-way days or he has a little more rest days, he might not like it too, although Dave Roberts has gone out and said that he seems to be on board. Not really sure what else you can say in that regard. But that's the mess day Robert's job to protect his players, just knowing who O'Tonnie
Starting point is 00:17:13 is and in thinking of, you know, he's the greatest baseball player will ever see. the high expectations he has for himself. I would imagine he doesn't like this rest period, this rest day, but it is probably what's best from in the long term. I asked him yesterday, actually, how he felt he was adjusting to two-way duties. And he said, first and foremost,
Starting point is 00:17:30 I'm not injured, knock on wood, so that's great. And that's what matters. But he does want to see better production from the offensive side. And that's going to take a work in progress, because this is a big ass that the Dodgers are asking him to do. Yes, he's done two-way duties before. I know.
Starting point is 00:17:45 And with all, respect to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It's a much different situation, much bigger stakes here in Dodgerland than Angelsland when he was doing this. The Dodgers need him to be right in September and October and if that means you taper off a little bit in April, May, maybe even June, that's just what you do. Yep. Again, buy into what the Dodgers are doing. It's fine. Everything is going to be great. We got some more to talk about. No break yet, but we do have to change subjects and we're going to do that with the front end for behind the seams. You know this is going to be a segment where the baseball comes out. We're talking about
Starting point is 00:18:24 Roki Sasaki and I get to do this with weird things and people's faces if you guys are watching. If you're watching again, we appreciate it, like, subscribe, all that kind of stuff. You're looking for a way, a different way to support the show. Do join our YouTube members platform. It's 499 American money. With that you get custom emojis, you get there's polls that we have run. You get 5% off in the DT. store and very soon, Katie, we need to figure this out. Very soon, very soon. We'll have the first Dodgers territory happy hour where who knows what the hell is going to happen. So that's only for... Twist my arm. An excuse to drink at work. Yeah. Do you have your bottle yet? Do we got to get this
Starting point is 00:19:02 sorted out? I don't know if you, you know, loaded up, stocked up the home bar there. No, you'll be shocked to know that I don't have, you know, a case of Tito's in my kitchen. But I could make that change. I do live next to a liquor store that comes in handy, you guys, comes in handy. But yeah, please come to our happy hour and we can talk all things, Dodgers, and it will be great and we'll have a great time and we'll try not to get canceled. Yay. We'll do our best. We'll do our best. There's only going to be a handful of us here. But we've got to talk about Roki Sasaki because you did pen a column in the athletic, which is your real job this week talking about less so the changes that he is making with the grips and all of that kind of stuff and more so from the
Starting point is 00:19:43 organization side. If we're talking patience for fans with Shohei Otani, we also got to have patience with Roki Sasaki, who is a work in progress. And I think some people tend to forget that as well. This is the Los Angeles Dodgers. You just plug in somebody and he's supposed to be good. But this is essentially a minor leaguer and not all young players are polished products. Tell us more about your column. Correct. And that's a great point. I think we just forget it because the overall standard of excellence and going out and buying or are signing the best possible players in their position, you just kind of assume that that's also going to be the case for Roki Sasaki, but that's not why the Dodgers went out and signed him. They did it as a building for
Starting point is 00:20:26 the future. There was always going to be some trial and error, some development, and some patience. I really hate using that word with a fan base because I came from a team where that was, that word was often used to gaslight a fan base. So Dodger fans, I promise. I'm not gaslighting you here. It just is what's required to get the best version of Roki Sasaki, which the Dodgers knew they weren't going to get in 25 and they're not going to get in 2026. Their hope is to get that in 2027, 2028 and beyond. And to do so, he's going to have to learn to fail and succeed at the major league level. So there is no use for Roki Sasaki to go to the minor leagues and work on all the things that he could be working on right now, whether it is getting the fastball below back higher to where it used to be,
Starting point is 00:21:09 expanding the arsenal, which he's done a nice job and with the different variations of the forkball and the more traditional splitter, working in that slider. I think, dare I say, Roki has a true four pitch mix right now. So already making progress. The numbers there, though, don't reflect that of a successful major league pitcher. They're not supposed to right now. And let's backtrack a little bit because as a Dodgers fan, you're looking at that and being like, what does she just say?
Starting point is 00:21:32 This is the Los Angeles Dodgers. I get it. But in a conversation I had with President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman, he made a really good point that this is about both winning at the short term and winning in the long term. And Roki Sasaki, if the Dodgers are going to continue this dynastic run, is going to be a big part in that. So Andrew Friedman said that he 100% appreciates and gets that right now fans don't care at all about three years from now or five years from now. But when we get there, they definitely will. And guess what? He's not wrong. So for as painful as it might. be or as frustrating as it might be to watch Roki Sasaki struggle at the big league level for the daughters to continue to explain why going to the minor leagues is detrimental
Starting point is 00:22:12 and how he won't learn anything from there. Keep in mind that they have the luxury of being able to spend one day out of the week where they're maybe not putting their best five or six starters out there. They're putting Roki out there instead to hope that they'll get him there eventually. Yeah. And it's funny to hear you say four pitch mix because, yeah, to a degree. It is, but it's not, but it is, but it is. And, you know, what's been so tough, and we've talked so much about, like, he's, he's really
Starting point is 00:22:43 close. They haven't been terrible starts. It's been one inning, almost without fail. He's had one really bad inning. Not even really bad. Like the last one kind of, it wasn't super his fault, you know, pitching into the sixth inning, but you find a way to clean up those innings where he's coming off of an up-down and maybe he just loses the mechanics a little bit.
Starting point is 00:23:04 would be the next big thing I would I would wonder about he's when he does pitch out of a stretch it's all or sorry out of a wind up it's still almost a stretch but just more with that exaggerated leg kick and that's something in the broadcast oral herschizer was talking about how much better he is is getting into his body when he is less where he's more quiet with that front leg that lead leg his rockettes leg and he's able to drop and drive a little bit more consistently is that something where I don't know if you've heard Mark or, you know, Connor or anybody speak about, maybe just keeping him in that traditional stretch pocket and that delivery and letting him build off of that. Is that something they're exploring yet?
Starting point is 00:23:50 That's a great question. And it's a good point because I don't think anything should be off the table with Roki. I say problem and I think that's kind of a strong word. What the Dodgers and Roki Sasaki are looking to kind of do here is when Roki was so effective in Japan. He had that two pitch mix that we know. It's the fast ball and the fork ball and he was able to command the ball so much better than he was as now. And that's because there are two different balls. So the balls that they're using in Japan are smaller, easier to command, easier to spot. And I don't think he's been able to have, well, I know he hasn't been able to have the same success with the command and the spin with the MLB balls.
Starting point is 00:24:25 So it's adjusting to that. It's adjusting to the delivery. It's adjusting to the leg. It's expanding the arsenal. It's all of these things that he's looking at to do at the major league level because as Andrew Friedman has said multiple times before, he doesn't, they don't learn anything. The Dodgers don't learn anything from what Rokey can do in the minor leagues. Rokey doesn't learn anything against minor league hitters. The gap from AAA to the majors is wider than it's ever been. So all of these fixes they're asking him to make. I don't think anything should be off the table. I think Roki has done a better job of being open-minded to things this year than maybe last year. But they have to experiment at the major
Starting point is 00:25:03 major league level because these are the kinds of talent and players that he needs to be successful about. He can go out there and try and do all of these things against the minor leagues and maybe he has a much better ERA. But that's because the talent and caliber of level is so much lower. So it's frustrating. And I get it like Dodgers fans are not conditioned to to understand development at the major league level. That's like takes you back a little bit. This is the Los Angeles Dodgers back to back world champion winners. But for Roki Sasaki and ensuring that the Dodgers have the best possible chance of being World Series contenders for years to come. Outside of this current core window, the trial and error and growing pains are absolutely going
Starting point is 00:25:42 to be a part of this process. Do you, in your opinion, you think, you know, obviously you're still new here, so you're going to get better at reading between like the docisms and reading between the Friedman. Is there something maybe you were able to pick up on or zero in where there. is a point, again, he's not the problem right now, but there is a point where it's like, look, you're not making enough gradual or large steps forward. Maybe we do take you out of this spot. We got some other guys, you know, River Ryan is about to start pitching again at AAA. We know Tyler Glass now is starting to throw baseball again, not expected to be on the
Starting point is 00:26:25 shelf for very long. There are other guys clamoring for these, you know, one of those six spots. Sure, they have Amichian, who they will likely jennel. or send down to AAA to get sorted out. But is there kind of a limit to where you're not making enough progress, Rokey? We're going to send you down for a bit. Not right now, but not indefinitely. And what a luxury it is to have so much pitching depth of Los Angeles Dodgers where you're like, oh, oh, no, we have too many good options.
Starting point is 00:26:55 But for Roki, and I think this is true, again, it comes back to load management, which should be like the Dodgers trademark phrase, when it comes to crunch, time and really winning the games that matter late September, October, the Dodgers are going to go the all-hands-on-deck approach. And that might be the time where we see Roki go to the bullpen because he's most effective in short stints. And there's more, to be quite honest, establish and consistent starters ahead of them on the depth chart. But right now, the Dodgers are committed for as long as they possibly can to give him as much opportunity here at the big league level to start building more and more success. And to their credit and to Roki's credit,
Starting point is 00:27:32 two, the last restarts have looked better. I'm not over here saying all star alert, but I am saying if we're looking for incremental, tangible evidence that he's making changes and getting better, we're seeing it. And it is exhausting from a fan perspective to like go ahead and pick apart the arsenal and the spin rate and the VLO changes in the command.
Starting point is 00:27:52 Because ultimately, if you're a fan, you don't really care about any of that. If the box score ends in a loss or the ERA is above five, I get it. But it's a bigger picture process for the front office as they figure out how Roki can best fit in to this rotation for the long term. Their commitment to him right now is going to last
Starting point is 00:28:07 until they're forced to make a difficult decision. I thought a couple of weeks ago, they were going to get to that point. And then Tyler Glassdown landed on the IEL. Emmett Sheehan, they're working on the below stuff. Justin Rebleski poised for a bounce back outing on Saturday against the Angels. We'll see.
Starting point is 00:28:21 Andrew Friedman loves to kick that can down the road. And I understand in this instance, why talk about a tough decision that you're going to have to make when you're not there yet. Right now, though, It seems like Roki is safe for the foreseeable future, but that doesn't mean forever. Baseball has a funny way of figuring itself out when it comes to that kind of stuff. Really good stuff there.
Starting point is 00:28:40 Katie, always appreciate talking Roki. He's everybody's favorite guy to talk about. I say now we talk about Seatgeek, tell people some cool things because they're sponsoring today's show. It's right, guys, today is a show presented by Seat Geek, and I was looking ahead at this series with the Angels. They are in Anaheim, the Dodgers, and it's so weird. Just looking at that calendar, usually I like to look at Dodger series and be like, oh, they got this giveaway and this giveaway. The Angels have nothing.
Starting point is 00:29:13 They have bupkis. There is Saturday Night Fireworks, End of List, which is funny. But if you guys are one of the billions of Dodger fans that want to get out to Anaheim and root on your team and boo the angels as they deserve, Seek can help you out here with over 35 million download. Seatkeek is the number one rated ticketing app. You get tickets to a Dodger game, of course, to an angel game. I guess technically
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Starting point is 00:30:16 Thank you, Seekkeek. Now, come let's get to Leslix. That's a cool deal, by the way. Experience Harry Styles live in London, England at Wembley Stadium. This is Harry Styles. IHart Radio wants to send you and a mate across the pond with flights from Virgin Atlantic, hotel from TripCentral.C.A., tickets, and $1,000 cash. Here we got to.
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Starting point is 00:31:00 We're going to reintroduce you here to Chip. Chip on the show and I wanted to put him back up. Alana didn't give me a dog for today because she's got better things going on. Maybe she's the problem. But Chip is just a handsome boy. Look at that bow tie if you're watching. That is that is 100% certified good boy. Maybe almost as good as my dog. But Chip is a year and a half old mixed breed dogo. Great with other dogs and kids. They say he is active, has the puppy energy, big puppy energy, fully vaccinated, neutered, microchipped, all of that stuff for a small adoption fee. you can have Chip in your home
Starting point is 00:31:35 and Alana would very much appreciate that so make sure you guys go visit Guidry's Guardian.org to find a way and we pop this up on the screen as well to find out how to get your paws on Chip if you will and it's not there it is there's okay if I had my soundboard on I'd boo for that
Starting point is 00:31:54 that's all right you get a pass okay I appreciate you much nicer than Alana is because she would give me so much shit for that way. Well I have to put good karma in the universe because I got a I will talk about big show tomorrow yes yeah actually before before we get to our baseball thoughts for the road huge day tomorrow you have katie woo on uh spot starting for scotty brawn on foul territory tomorrow there's a lot of eyes on you a lot of eyes i got to channel my inner justin rebloskey spot start earn my way into the starting rotation uh mark if you're listening
Starting point is 00:32:28 starting in advance everyone set your expectations accordingly which is low for tomorrow Cratsy and the Todd father will have to carry the show. I'm just there for vibes. Yeah, I'm somewhat disappointed you're avoiding AJ because I really love like the big brother, little brother bullying you guys have. If you guys missed it earlier this week, she was on with them and he, yeah, it's just always good stuff. I like AJ.
Starting point is 00:32:51 Yeah, that was actually one of the selling point is that AJ was not on the show on Friday, so like the abuse level would be a lot lower. Can't wait for that. We appreciate. Okay, I'm going to walk away from that one. All right, Anaheim is coming up. Dodgers, of course, have one more game to win tonight to split this series, which you don't play to split, but that's the best they can do. Emmett Sheehan on the bump before we talk about Anaheim. What do you need to see today out of Emmett Sheehan? I think we are once again talking about the same thing we've talked about all season with Mr. Sheehan. Let's sustain some velo.
Starting point is 00:33:26 And I'll be the first to say, I've completely believed that at my own, I know better. But I do believe the Dodgers. believe Emmett most importantly when he says, you know, I'm not dealing with any injury. And the reason I believe that is because each start he comes out pumping 95, 96. The below is sitting right where it needs to be. If you're a player who's hurt, you're not coming out and establishing that below from the jump. Now, the fact that it drops down so dramatically and the fact that the Dodgers have not been able to pinpoint exactly why this point in the season is pretty concerning. They're a smart group over there. So the fact that this has been plaguing Emmett Sheen for about eight weeks is weird. When I talk to Emmett is basically like,
Starting point is 00:34:00 yeah, there's some things with my delivery. It's mechanical. He looks to be falling off towards the first base side as his outings go on. Maybe tonight will be the time that he changes it. We got a fun little matchup against, oh my gosh, Landon Rupp, who actually pitched really well against the Giants or against the Dodgers, excuse me, last time. But, you know, when we talked about this being a get right series,
Starting point is 00:34:21 once again, it's more of a can we salvage it, split it, and get right before this 10-day roadie. Angels, Padres, Brewers, should be. good one. A little bit of a get right series for the Giants, for being honest, that was not in the plans there. But you got to win this one. And you're going to do it with another weird looking lineup. Look ahead to the Angels. No shock here. They're not very good. Near the bottom. My expectations were low, but wow. Mid or bottom at best in most offensive categories. Same on the pitching side as well. Last year, the Dodgers were swept. And I had to hear a lot
Starting point is 00:34:58 of shit about that from Angels fans. Sorry, I have one Angels fan friend in my life and he's dumb so we allow it. Look, you have to let Angels fans have a source of happiness for like, I mean, they have 162 games of pain every year. So it's not great, but I understand. Yeah, that's, that's pretty fair. A couple of Superchats before we get out of here. Actually, two from the same person. I'm guessing this is 80. I'm not even to try to say all that, but we appreciate a $2 super.
Starting point is 00:35:28 chat Canadian money, I believe that is. Keep it coming. The wins. Let's go. Dodgers. We appreciate that. And also 80 on the super chat. 10 bucks for the happy hour. Yes. There's your bottle of Titos. Part of it's quite literally a bottle of Titos. I'm there.
Starting point is 00:35:44 Or maybe the little fifth. I just need a fifth for happy hour. It's fine. No, we're going hard. We're blacking out. In the afternoon, we're going to have a good time. Guys, hopefully you had a good time on this edition. Alana will be back with us Monday we will hopefully be talking about a weekend sweep of the angels but before we get
Starting point is 00:36:04 out of here like subscribe do all that kind of stuff tell your friends tell your your mailman about Dodgers territory tell your grandma's uncle's cousin that works at the nail salon about Dodgers territory goes a long way and helping us out buy some stuff in the DT shop that is dodger territory shop dot com scan that QR code which is about the pop up on the screen scan that QR code click the link in the description below buy stuff Support the gang. We'll see you on the next one. Bye.
Starting point is 00:36:38 Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band
Starting point is 00:36:54 with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygel and Friends on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne.
Starting point is 00:37:13 Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast.
Starting point is 00:37:24 We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming.
Starting point is 00:37:46 Ramos sending on the Army Stewart. The chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bowker. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions. And the truth about the U.S. team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart
Starting point is 00:38:12 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast.

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