Dodgers Territory - Roberts Losing Patience? Padres Staring Down LA; Fabian Ardaya Joins!

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

The Dodgers took 2 of 3 against the best team in the American League over the weekend but fans aren't quite satisfied after a frustrating loss in the series finale (1:21). DT hosts Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas dive into the positives and negatives from the series, and Dave Roberts' growing frustrations with his inconsistent ball club (3:37). Dodger beat writer, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, joins the show (13:24) to discuss LA's bullpen woes, Michael Conforto's struggles, and share his thoughts on the pulse of the team. Get up to 10 FREE meals and a free high protein item for life at HelloFresh.com/FT10FM. One item per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as a discount on the first box, new subscribers only, varies by plan.Download the DraftKings Pick6 app and use code FOUL for new customers to play $5, and get $50 in Bonus Picks instantly. Check out DT merch at dodgersterritoryshop.com! Support Guidry's Guardian at guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at @alldodgers! Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTube!Rate and review our podcast on Apple and Spotify!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Support the show in style. Dodgers Territory Shop.com or click the store button on YouTube. We appreciate that very much. Looking forward to a good show today. Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic is going to be joining us talking all things. Dodgers, of course, the last weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays and looking ahead to a lot of divisional games as well.

But before we get to Fabian, who's kind enough to join us today, let's get to the big ticket. Let's do it. Clint, the Dodgers take the first two from the Toronto Blue Jays, a team that has one of the best records in the league. And they dropped the third game, the finale of the series. And some folks are saying, hey, it should have been a sweep. There's some folks that are mad about the last game in terms of the loss. What did you take away from it when you were not on the raft or pontoon or taking a sip of an adult beverage? What's your takeaway?

That was part of the drive home kind of paying attention a little bit on game day, listening, watching where I could. I was passenger, so I was not doing anything illegal. But yeah, it just felt like a lot of moments you could have back. And you know, you want to be greedy. You want to go for that sweep. The Blue Jays are a very, very good team. You got the Padres nipping on your heels. The 30,000 foot view, I've already said this a few times on the Internet.

You feel good taking two or three against. the Toronto Blue Jays. They have the best record in the American League right now, so you feel good about that. But yeah, some people just, they have that, I don't know, I guess unsatisfied feeling deep down in their subcoccal region or whatever people might call that. That's what I like to call it. It's, it's a, you want a little bit more knowing that the Padres are right there. I am not upset about them taking just two of three. Of course, I would have loved for them to have swept the Toronto Blue Jays at home. But I think if you can win every single series, I think it's unrealistic that you're going

to win every single game. And I know that's not what you're saying, but I'm okay with two of three. I think the frustrating thing is when you beat yourself. I mean, you can take the L if the other team is just the better opponent on any given day. But when you are beating yourself, which I think kind of felt the way that they did it in the third game, I think that's where people's frustration mounts. I mean, if you look at the situation, the final two innings, as you mentioned in our rundown, a tough watch, right?

Basis loaded one out, Shohei, then Moogie up, and you kind of get nothing out of that now. I mean, yes, Shohei has hit, what, home run 40 and 41 this weekend? I mean, the man is ridiculous. So let's give him a little bit of a pass. And I am massively giving Mookie a pass. He is coming back.

He is coming back. He's not going to get a knock every single lap, but for whatever reason, Mookie has turned the corner. So I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it. I don't know, though, if Dave is okay with it. What do you think about the comments that their manager made?

Yeah, yeah, Dave, you know, it's funny. The chat is also feeling some of the same way. Like the way that game was lost, NS saying in the chat, like who's not frustrated with watching Shohei strikeout on what could have been ball floor? Rahul saying, you know, it's the way that they lost that game. And I think that's what we're kind of seeing with Dave Roberts, who said outright after the game. This was frustrating. It was a frustrating loss that they had, what, 23 base runners, 13 walks, 10.

and base hits. You have to win that kind of ball game. Again, the 30,000 foot view, you take two or three, you're happy. But, you know, pinch hitting with Michael Conforto over what's Justin Dean. Dave also aired out Conforto. You're three one there. You get a pitch to hit. You got to move it forward and you don't.

And I think we're starting to see Dave, those frustrations kind of mount. When Dave starts to gently throw some players under the bus, that's when you know. It's like, all right, I've had enough. I understand October is right around the corner when I'm looking at my wristwatch that isn't there right now. And you need to start seeing this team get a little bit more consistent. Right now they've been consistently inconsistent, especially since the All-Star break. They haven't rattled off more than like two wins at a time. You got to put the hammer down because the Padres, again, right on your ass right now.

Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second. We'll dive deeper into that with Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic who's coming up momentarily. I think the thing is, too, as I'm looking at the comments in our chat, we appreciate you guys being here so much. But Cap Caveman 68, the time for excuses are over. Okay. Maddie Man 5, Dodge says, wouldn't surprise me one bit if one game is the difference between first and second in the West. And that's where these types of situations come back to bite you, right? That's a really good point that Maddie Man 5 is bringing up because, yes, I get it.

It's one game in a series of three against the Toronto Blue Jays, but that may be the difference maker when it's all said and done. Bill Plunkett of the OC Register, 10 hits, 13 walks, seven in the last two innings, one for 10 with runners in scoring position. And he's season high, 16 left on base. That is massive. L.A.D., Los Angeles Dodgers, of course, still hasn't won more than two games in a row since that four-game winning streak back in June into July and the Padres. As we know, we can hear them.

We can hear the footsteps are just two games back. So I get it. And I think it was that ill-time stolen base by Shohei Otani. again, you know, it's Shohei Otani, but still, you have to still think about fundamental baseball, right? And I think you can deal with physical mistakes. I don't think as a manager you can deal with mental snafus and those types of things. So I get it. I get it.

That ill-timed, you know, on the 3-1 there, you get a pitch to hit. You don't do anything with it, Shohei, on a weird stolen base attempt. That being said, they still have the division lead. but is it worse because you know Clint Fasias that the Padres are playing incredibly good baseball. They just took two of three from the Boston Red Sox who are also a good team. Their bullpen is the best in the league and it got way better at the trait deadline with Mason Miller. Yeah, I mean, Padres are right there. It's making people uncomfortable even though this is kind of, you know, what we've asked or at least what I've asked for all season.

keep playing meaningful baseball through the entirety of, you know, 162 games. And sometimes that comes with these struggle points with having to play meaningful games in August, in September. Maybe you do lose the division lead for a little bit. Maybe you don't win the division, but you still make the postseason or whatever. That's not what people want. It's part of the long story of 162 game season. But Dodgers are playing the Padres a lot coming up. We'll talk about that again, more later on in the show.

Very interested in Fabian's thoughts about where the Padres are at compared to the Dodgers and all of that. But yeah, it's it makes people uncomfortable when they don't have like a 12-game lead in the NL West. No doubt. Remember when the Yankees had a seven-game lead in the division and now there's six and a half games behind the Toronto Blue Jays stuff? Life comes at you fast. Just ask Ferris Bueller in Ferris Day, or Bueller's Day offer, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or whatever the heck it was called. that's 30 years old at this point. We have a lot more to discuss here on Dodgers Territory,

including Fabia and Ardaya, coming up momentarily with the athletic. Back in a moment after a quick word from our friends at Fowd Territory. We have a little breaking news on Hello Fresh. We've talked about them for a long time, but this summer, they have their biggest menu upgrade yet. Ready for this, Todd, Father?

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That is one that can run a very, very large problem. To learn how IBM is building the future of computing, visit IBM.com slash quantum. We are back, Fabian, joining us shortly, but Alana, there were some positives from the weekend. Outside of taken two of three, Mookie, suddenly back to life. The guy, we, listen, we've been worried about him. We've been talking about him all season. What's going about with Mookie? Is it playing shortstop?

We had a great conversation with Adrian Gonzalez a week ago. Nine for his last 22. It's over the last five games. PS over almost 1,100, but it's over 1,000. And, you know, he had the conversation with the porters this week. He kind of put this season to bed. He's not worried about trying to fix the numbers on the scoreboard that you see every time he comes to it bad.

He's just trying to help his team win ball games. And the first thing I thought of when I saw that and I heard that is like, see, kids, it pays off to give up on yourself. First of all, let me put that out there in the universe that is not what Mookiee Betts is saying. Marcus Lynn Betts did not tell the children of the world that they should give up on themselves. I do believe that Mookie Betts things that thinks that the children are our future. No, I think he's just there. What else could he have done? I mean, he has tried every single thing in the world to get that swing right, to get his timing at the plate, to get the mechanics

down, to feel good offensively, to be able to be productive. He has done it all. Again, this is not from lack of effort. This is not from lack of trying, but this is the, you know, this is the try hard league. This is the Get Stuff Done League. And Mooky finally was like, you know what? Almost an exasperation, Clint, almost like, listen, I have done every single thing I can possibly do. At this point, I have to try less. And maybe that is what has worked for Mooky Betts. He's like, you know what? I give up. I literally just give up. I'm going to go out there, pretend that I'm a kid playing the ball, the game that I love, C ball, hit ball. And it's working. I mean, again, you mentioned the OPS at almost 1,100. He looks like he's having fun.

again and I know people want production every single time but sometimes you just have to try less and have fun. Less is more as Mark Wiener loves to say of course. Yeah, we've talked about this, you know, of the many, many ifs to help this team in the second half, it's if the starting rotation gets better, if you get this guy back, if you get Mookie Betts back, all of a sudden, the lineup is that much deeper because it turns out when he's right, he's pretty good at baseball. I do want to talk starting pitching for a second because Riz starting pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers has been also pretty good since getting a couple of key names back with Blake Snell, of course, Tyler Glass now in there. We look at the numbers here to start the month

of August. They've been very good. This weekend was no exception for the Dodger starting rotation. You got Kershaw going out there, Blake Snell shoved, and then Tyler Glass now was very, very solid. Yeah, you'd like to see him go a little bit deeper in the game, but three runs over 16 and two-thirds innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, who, what they, I think they, they, they assassinated the Rockies over the weekend or whoever they played last. Yeah, the Dodger rotation very good. The Rockies gave up like 64 runs or some some craziness to the Toronto Blue Jays. I want to talk starting pitching with Fabian Ardaya.

I want him to break down a couple of things, including a update, if you will, on Roki Sasaki. What I did want to talk about before we bring in Fabian is just how cool it was to see Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer go head to head. I didn't know what we were going to get. I didn't know if either one of them. was going to make it out of the third. You just don't know anymore, right?

It's not as much of a sure thing as it has been in the past for both of these, what I believe are future Hall of Famers. But it was so cool to see vintage Kirsch and vintage Max Scher go out there and go toe to toe. And they both pitched really well in the game. And it was kind of a nice old school pitcher's duel, even though they're not, you know, they're not young anymore, if you will, in terms of baseball age and time under their belt and back of their baseball cards.

But the mutual admiration and respect that those two have for one, another and you saw that they were both, you know, exchanged jerseys. They each signed the other one's jersey. It was really cool to see. So awesome to see that. And who knows if this is the last time that these two guys ever face off? Maybe they see each other in the postseason. Maybe they see each other next year if they don't retire. But it was cool to see. All right, Fabian, does a tremendous job covering the Los Angeles Dodgers as the beat reporter for the athletic, kind enough on short notice to join us today. Fabian, great to see you. Thank you so much. Let's talk starting pitching as that conversation continues. Great to have Blake Snell back. He's looked good, complimented, of course,

by Tyler Glassnow. Is it starting to be what we had hoped to see at the beginning of the season? I think it's exactly what they've been hoping to see. Obviously, we'll probably talk about Rokey Sasaki later, but like this is the rotation that they kind of envisioned when they kind of signed Blake Snell, who added him to Tyler Glass now, who's looked as good as he has in a Dodger uniform, probably at least since the first half of last season. You have Shohei Otani looking as good, if not better than anyone could have expected coming off a second surgery. And then you have Yomoto who kind of gets forgotten about a little bit,

but he's a guy who's probably going to wind up getting Sionboats because of how consistent and how good he has been over the course of this whole season going wire to wire. So yeah, this is exactly as the Dodgers probably could have envisioned it. Also Clayton Couragell throwing the ball well, Emmett Sheen throwing the ball well. You're in a position now if you're the Dodgers, where you kind of want to hope you can like freeze this and keep this health in place for October.

You know, as as good as the starting pitching has been, the bullpen starting to give us a little bit of worry again, putting some numbers up here on the screen. They lead baseball in innings thrown. They serve up all of the homers in baseball. You know, Blake Trinand, not hasn't been fantastic since coming back off the aisle. What's kind of the state of the bullpen in your opinion? Is this like a championship caliber bullpen or is it going to be, you know, kind of helped with some of the names that are returning in coming weeks? Yeah, I mean, it's very much in flux. I think it's the biggest way you can put it.

It's not nearly the strength that people envisioned coming into this season. And part of it's because of injuries. Part of this is because of poor performance. And yeah, like the home run stuff is and stuff that kind of alarms me a little bit because this was a staff that as of a few years ago was their whole strength was home run prevention, slug prevention. and all of a sudden now they're up towards the top of the leaderboard. Some of that's a byproduct of some of the guys they've had out there, and some of it is also just guys just aren't pitching well. This is a staff that probably will look a little bit stronger,

at least in a few weeks when you look at Michael Kopek coming back, Kirby Yates coming back, Tanner Scott coming back, possibly guys like Bruisedark Radarol and Kyle Hurt entering the fold as well, and we'll see how the rest of that picture unfolds if a guy like Bobby Miller sort of forces himself onto the radar. But we'll see, but obviously this is going to be a situation where if their rotation can stay healthy going into October, all of a sudden the bullpen looks a lot better because then you have a guy like Emmett Sheehan who can kick into the bullpen. A guy like Justin Robleski, you don't have to worry about keeping stretched out. He could be a short reliever. It's a situation where you're looking at just getting 13 quality pitchers into your pitching staff in October.

it's easier said and done, but if they're healthier at this point going into October, then you can sort of talk yourself into 13 arms being good enough to get you through a postseason run. And that's what Dave Robert said he was going to take Fabian 13 pitchers on that postseason roster. What does that mean for Roki Sasaki? Where is he at in his rehab process, progress rather, in terms of development? And would he be a good fit for the Dodgers bullpen? Would he be open to that? He said he'd be open to that.

he said he'd be open to whatever role the Dodgers asked but like whether it would be a good fit like there's so much unknown about him that we don't really even know what he is at this point and i think part of it's a byproduct of the fact that we've only seen eight big league starts out of him and also a lot of those starts were impacted by injury clearly so we'll get a better gauge of it once he actually gets into rehab games which his first rehab adding will be with okay c on thursday uh we'll see where the velocity's at we'll see if that new two seamer he's picked up is something that can help make the fastball play up because it's not a fastball even if he is throwing it 99-100 it's still a fastball that's going to get hit a decent amount just because of the shape it doesn't get the carry that you'd want it to get and some of those changes that could maybe improve it a little bit there's only marginal improvements you can make and also those are things that typically take place over an off season as opposed to even a long layoff like this so we'll see how much that work and progress is in place by time october rolls around but yeah there is a world where if everything kind of goes right He's a guy who you see as maybe possibly being helping out of the bullpen

or for a couple of innings in a postseason outing, just to sort of have his velocity, his splitter being that kind of one-of-a-kind pitch that can help you swing a postseason game. But obviously that's the best case scenario. There's also a scenario where he's not even on the postseason roster. A lot of it just depends on how he looks in these rehab outings. And Dave Roberts kind of said this past week, he needs to pitch. Like this is a guy who coming into this year, obviously was still very much an unfinished product.

And nothing has happened this season to sort of help move that along just because he hasn't pitched nearly enough. All right. One second here. It was adjusting something there. We've got to talk about Dave Roberts. We saw the team kind of obviously not play a great game Sunday against Toronto. And you're starting to see a little bit of that, you know, Bill Plunkett likes to call it salty, Dave. You're seeing him maybe be a little more open to throwing some guys. under the bus as as you know close to it as Dave can do what's kind of the pulse in your opinion of Dave as we get now into mid-August and kind of seeing some of these guys

you know either I guess really be consistently inconsistent somebody like Michael Conforto all season where is Dave Roberts at with the roster he has and you know I guess we can ask Conforto next but really your thoughts on Doc first yeah I feel like he's like really waiting for this run to come with with filling it into existence. He was kind of even talking about after Snell's out and they, all right, you're looking at it. This is a lineup that's a should produce runs when you look at the names in there. This is a rotation that's pitching as well as anyone could have expected. Like these are all the ingredients the Dodgers need to really go on this run that they've kind

of been waiting to go on pretty much all season besides that eight no start to the season. That just hasn't come. It seemed like yesterday it was kind of a perfect opportunity for it. The offense generated more than enough chances. And even then, like they had a one run lead. going into the eighth inning that you would expect two of your top relievers to be able to close it down. So to be able to lose that game in the way that they did. Yeah, it is clear that there's a lot of frustration there. And I think everyone kind of understands that. I don't know if it's panic in any way or anything like that, but it's more just frustration because this is a team that clearly has enough talent to be as good as last year's team, if not better, but they just have not

quite gone on that sort of hot run that you'd expect this team, usually this time of year, to kind go on. Fabian three games with the angels there in California and then a lot of games again against the Padres. It seemed like we hadn't played them forever. And now that's like all we're going to see is San Diego. Is it fair to say that the Los Angeles Dodgers are not a team that San Diego fierce. Tim Kirchon today on Fair Territory was talking about the fact that, listen, San Diego's not afraid of the Dodgers. Do you share that sentiment? I mean, they're only two games back. Yeah, I don't think it's necessarily a fear factor. Because like they play the other so many times there's no secrets between each side there's no mystique to

dodder stating that sometimes you'll see with visitor visiting clubs coming in just because they played each other so long they know each other for so long and there's a lot of bad blood that comes out of it I think you saw it last last time these two teams scored off where it was like they went all this long time facing each other and then you condense all these games in the short time frame and some tempers boiled over I don't I wouldn't say like it's gonna happen this time but I wouldn't be surprised if it does again I just just because of the byproduct of that.

But yeah, this is a Padres team that, understandably so, is feeling really good about themselves. Like, this is a team that is incredibly talented, added at the deadline, pushed the Dodgers to the brink last season. But obviously, there's still a hump for them to get over it because they haven't won the division over the Dodgers. They won the DS in 2022 against them. But even then, it still hasn't felt like they've consistently been able to topple the Dodgers.

So there's something definitely to an edge, there for the Padres, but I also don't think it's necessarily like, oh, the Dodgers are inevitable in a way that you sometimes feel with other teams. Yeah, I want to go back to a name I had mentioned, a name we see a lot online. It is the Michael Conforto name. You know, he kind of, I don't know, I don't say lied to us. He had a very good month leading up to the trade deadline. And then since the start of August, it's kind of fallen off a cliff here. How much longer does the Conforto experiment, really keep calling it. We keep calling an experiment, but when you're into August, I don't know if it's an experiment anymore,

but, you know, what does the next few weeks look like for Michael Conforto in a Dodger uniform? Yeah, I think if you sign a guy for 17 million offseason, it's not an experiment either. Like, this was an investment to try to push this lineup over the top, and it hasn't paid off like at this point. Obviously, there's a really good July, which I think is part of why they sort of looked at Alex Call being a type of addition they made it as opposed to really feeling like they had it add a left-handed bat, outfield bat at the deadline, which obviously there weren't a lot of those guys out there anyways, especially they did pursue upgrades with Stephen Kwan. But other than that, there weren't a lot of those guys out there.

So, yeah, I mean, I think Comforto, they've given him a lot of chance, a lot of runway. I mean, he's had a good day Saturday before Sunday. Obviously, we saw what happened in the eighth inning. But this is a guy that they've been winning to turn around. and they're kind of hoping that he kind of has a situation like mootie brett's kind of described a couple days ago we're like all right at the end of the day like his numbers for this season are not going to look pretty if he's a guy who is swinging a hotter bat in august and september going to october you feel a little bit better just because of how much they have invested there but obviously there has to be a point where you have to

see something consistently out of him and july obviously we saw some of that but a lot of that production was also in the early part of July. So we're still kind of waiting to see a sort of hot stretch for a conforteur kind of assures this place. But the Dodgers invested enough in him. They're looking at sort of a position where like up until the point where you kind of have to make decisions on postseason eligibility and whether or not you can go out of the organization and add someone who gets DFA or whatever before September 1, sort of like

you saw the Astros do picking up Jason Hayward last year. Once you get past that point, like you're sort of. internal options or that's it so i think they're willing to sort of play this out and see how it looks but yeah obviously the results have not been very good yeah not necessarily the production or the you know the the the quality of abs and production that they were looking for with michael conforto somebody that is starting to put together better a b's uh fabian is mooky bets and i don't know if it's because he just kind of threw his hands up in the air and said i've tried everything i can i'm just going to go back to trying to be a kid and have fun with this game but he looks better in his last five six

games. What have you noticed? You're there every day. You're talking to him. What have you, what have you seen? Yeah, I think he looks better. Obviously, it's still way too early to say, like, he's figured out. He's going to go on a run, especially with Mookie, you can sort of see, whenever he goes get hot, it's really easy to see that he's red hot. He sort of puts he's up in bunches. But yeah, I think there is something to basically say, like, hey, like, my numbers aren't going to be what they usually are at the end of the season. Like, at this point, it's a math problem. Like, he's not going to be able to get up to those numbers. But If he can be productive, find something that clicks into place.

I think he even saw last October or like he was able to put together a consistent stretch in October, be probably the daughter's most consistent overall hitter from start to finish in October and what that matters and what that matters to legacy and what that matters to his standing in this city. And I think he kind of understands what is essentially a two-month challenge at this point from here on now, like sort of find something that you can click into consistently, even if he's not the peak Buki Betts, but something that is a productive player,

a guy who is helpful offensively and understanding that his glove has been good enough, that that's going to be a very valuable player. If you have a sure-handed shortstop who can produce enough offensively hitting behind Shoah Otani and hitting in front of Will Smith and Freddie Freeman. Well, a lot of great insight here, Fabian.

Of course, you do a great job covering this team for the athletic. Make sure you guys go follow him. Well, not home, but like follow him, cover his coverage of the team. Again, you're going to find, learn a lot of great things about the ball club. But we thank you for the time. And, you know, hopefully, uh, hopefully next time we talk in Ford was either better or not a part of the roster. Thanks again. And, uh, guys, we will be right back after a word from me and Alana. The dog days of summer means MLB is fully heating up. And so is your shot to score big, download the pick six app for the easiest way to turn your baseball

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computing, whether it's coming up with new algorithms, coming up with better AI, coming up with quantum, or coming up with just how do different accelerators go together. It's our DNA to answer the question of what is the future. Isn't it a perfect problem for IBM because you kind of need to have a legacy of building stuff, building actual physical machines. Yeah, it's why I came to IBM. I wanted the experience, the culture of building hard things that others have not done before. Where do you imagine we are in the timeline of this technology? There will come a point when it will mature.

Right? My cell phone is a mature technology at this point. How far are we from that point with cars? By 2029, we'll build the first fault-tolerant quantum computer. That is one that can run a very, very large, large problem. To learn how IBM is building the future of computing, visit IBM.com slash quantum. All right, guys, it is time for last looks as we continue here on Dodgers territory, introducing you to Roxy.

Roxy was a sweet senior gal that was going to be killed. In fact, unfortunately, her sister was in the same kennel as she was at the shelter, and they did kill her sister, but Roxy made it out alive. Unfortunately, she has some dental issues, and Gidre's Guardian Foundation is helping her with that. She can, her teeth are so worn down. There's some visible black holes there. You can see the nerves. So imagine the pain that she is in.

But we're going to get her all fixed up. We could really use some help with donations, though. This is about a $2,000 procedure. But she deserves to be healthy and she deserves to be pain-free. If you can help us, we'd greatly appreciate it. Guidry's guardian.org, a dollar help. So any amount is very welcome. Appreciate it very much if you guys want to help Roxy.

Okay, Clint, what is coming up on all Dodgers with Clint Paseas? Today we will be post-gaming after the Dodgers ideally beat the Anaheim Angels down in Anaheim because that is where they play. So, too, Ben, check that out. Subscribe there if you wouldn't mind to hit that bell. And you'll know right when we're live. But myself and Jeff Snyder, we will be live. All right, sounds good. Speaking of Anaheim, they're there for three.

as that makes sense. So let's talk a bit about our baseball thought for the road. We see the Padre is a boatload coming up. Honestly, Clint, if you look at the Dodger's schedule, here we sit on August 11th. There are 31 days in August. The division could be decided in the next two weeks. And I'd hate to sound dramatic,

but they really need to make sure that they create some distance between themselves in San Diego. Am I fair to say that? Yeah, absolutely. And it starts with the series down in Anaheim. Like, angels, they're not a good ball club. They're not a terrible ball club, but they're not a good ball club.

So you have some horses going out there. You got Yamamoto leading off the series. He has to play the stopper to kill this entire one game losing streak. But, you know, this is what they pay Yamma a lot of money for. Get on the bump, beat bad teams. Emmett Sheehan going up against Tyler Anderson in the Tuesday matchup. We will be post-gaming after that one here on Dodgers territory. Could be one of Sheehan's final few starts before Sasaki comes back.

But the one I'm really excited about is that Wednesday matchup, Shohayotani making his first start against the Angels. So that should be fun. But yeah, you got to take two or three. You got to sweep this series because you are facing the Padres a lot right after that. Yeah, no doubt about it. And again, we're paying attention, of course, to our schedule, but the Padres as well. So everyone's going to do their part to create some distance in the NL West.

Thank you guys so much for being here on Dodgers, Hair. Don't forget, we want you to support the show and style. Dodgers Territory Shop.com so you can get some cool gear. We'd appreciate that very much. And, of course, like, subscribe, tell your friends. Clint and I are back tomorrow for post-game. So join us then. We'll see you then. Go Dodgers.

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