Dodgers Territory - Struggles Continue; Tucker Bust? Dodger Bullpen Woes Ohtani Related?

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Alanna Rizzo, Katie Woo, and Clint Pasillas take a big picture look at the continued struggles for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The presentation has been poor for LA and it showed in a series loss to the NL-best Milwaukee Brewers. (6:31) The hosts get into Kyle Tucker's weekend benching and the state of the Dodgers which, for the first time in a long time, feels a little hopeless. (21:45) In Behind the Seams, we take another look at the pitching situation and explore the trickle down effect Shohei Ohtani's absence from the starting rotation has had on the bullpen. Use our code for 10% off your next order of MLB tickets on SeatGeek*: seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Get 20% off your first order of $125 or more at MackWeldon.com with promo code FOUL Subscribe on YouTube!https://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.com Support 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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Bell, connection is everything. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook. Every episode, we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. The show's famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed, and Mary Steenberg. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Nick Tuturo. You probably know me for me. NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lease Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Tatoro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing, my belt? To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am.

And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tuturo. It's called Happiness, Delivering Happiness. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happen is with Nick Tuttle. And listen now. For the Dodgers to come out there and play a truly important game on Sunday and show up with not a lot of fight, pretty lackadaisical, sloppy baseball.

I understand why fans are going in the ninth. Welcome to this Monday episode of Dodgers Territory. Alongside Clint Paseas, I am Alana Rizzo. Katie Wu will be joining us momentarily. She's traveling, so she's going to join us as soon as she can. Great to be with you guys. I tell you what, Clint, I'm glad you had a good. weekend I know it was well earned lots to get to and I got to tell you

you didn't miss much good baseball let's get to blue balls all right so the Dodgers lose three of four to the brew clue brew crew they lose the season series which is far more the bigger situation because now if there's any sort of tiebreaker scenario it goes to the way of the Milwaukee Brewers that is what I was concerned with going into this series is that number one seed and home field what are your thoughts all right katie so we're going to ask you the same question while clint figures out his audio situation here katy's joining us now we appreciate it i don't know katie if you can hear me okay you good

i can hear you but when clint started talking i was like is he coming from another universe yeah he's still under a rock in the creek someplace but katie i'll ask you the same question Dodgers lose three or four to the Milwaukee Brewers. And I'm more concerned about the seating situation and the fact that the Brewers took the season series from the Dodgers because of how that may play out in a playoff scenario with home field and those types of things.

What was your takeaway? Yeah, you're spot on. It's the Brewers win the season series. They win the tiebreaker. So if the Dodgers and the Brewers finish with the same record, the Dodgers have to actually beat them by a game. So it complicates things. And it sounds dramatic to really talk about playoff implications in a series in August.

But this is like one of the 10 truly, truly important games the Dodgers play in the regular season. And you could see it with the same comments. Dave Roberts said, yeah, I really wanted to win this one. Max Muncie, he said today the same thing. Should have won yesterday. And they didn't. And it sucked. So when you're looking at how this could play out,

I think why this is such a big deal is because the Dodgers have made it very clear. they want to avoid the first round buy. And I think we really need to expand on why that's so important to this team because the counter argument is, well, I didn't have the buy last year and it worked out just fine. Yeah, true. I get that. But when you look at the overall age of this roster,

it's a very accomplished roster. It's not a young one. And how daunting the travel can be, especially knowing that the Dodgers aren't going to really be able to go any more west than they already are. Cutting off a round of travel and keeping yourself fresh, the strategy behind resting your best starters and being able to be fully plugged in for the DS,

all of that matters. So for the Dodgers to come out there and play a truly important game on Sunday and show up with not a lot of fight, pretty lackadaisical, sloppy baseball. I understand why fans are booing in the ninth. Katie, we're going to talk a little bit more about that approach momentarily.

I think another thing that was pretty stark to me was just the lack of offense. And it hasn't been just in this series, but only scoring 10 runs, which is even more exacerbated when you realize it's over a four-game series, not even just a three-game series. So you're only scoring 10 runs and four games. I mean, that's a little over two runs per game. I'm not great at math, but I think that's right.

I mean, does that stick out to you is something that is obviously very problematic? Because it's been that way for the last three, four, five, six weeks, obviously not just me saying that. But, Clint, excuse me, Katie, Dave Roberts saying that as well. The offense is non-existent right now. You know, if it was just the 10 runs in these four games, I could probably explain it away as to the Brewers have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. This is what they do. They're a team that's hard to score off of, but it's not. You see the street from Fabian there.

I was there when Dave Roberts said it. It's been four, five, six weeks of below average production from our offense. It's the truth. And we've all seen it. And it's been a collection of guys outside of Max Muncie, who I think has been by far the most consistent offensive player for this Dodgers team. And Freddie Freeman, who's like having the. quietest 300 season ever. There's just been not a lot of collective good approach or good plate disciplines from this

team. You're seeing it with Mookie Betts. You're seeing it with Kyle Tucker, certainly at home. We'll get into that. You're seeing it with with Teoska Hernandez. And part of the reason I thought this was telling why Tucker sat on Saturday and Alex call got the start is because Dave Roberts likes the quality of ambassadors getting from call.

And it makes sense. When you're Alex call, you're getting about, you know, if he's lucky, five plate appearances a week, you're going to grind out those. those at baths, you're going to make sure they're real quality. You're going to work for it. And what does he do? He singles off Mizorowski in the first hit of the game on Saturday. And that kind of approach, I think, because the Dodgers have been missing collectively,

basically one through nine. And it's a couple of things. It's a couple of guys searching for feel. You know, we've gone back and forth with Mukki all year long. Teo has really struggled against the Ritees. Tucker cannot hit a Dodger Stadium. I think they really miss the presence of Will Smith, who was always taking a quality at bat. and even Dalton rushing in the nine spot.

Their quality of bats overall as a team had been very undodger-like. And until we see more discipline and more patience, it's kind of hard to say when that's going to turn around. Yeah, I think you guys can finally hear me now. So we're back. We're all the way back, even though the voice is sore. I feel better than the Dodgers do.

I'll tell you that much. The presentation is bad. They're looking bad in every single aspect of the game right now. They can't hit. They can't defend. As I love to say, our pet's heads, they are following off. The pitching is struggling. mostly in the bullpen.

We're going to talk more about pitching later. But yeah, everything seems that that could go wrong kind of feels like it keeps going wrong in each game, each series, something. You mentioned Katie, you know, Muncie kind of talking about the team needing urgency. We've heard a lot over the last couple of weeks. Everybody's saying the team needs urgency.

I don't know how you manufacture urgency. I don't know what exactly they feel they're missing outside of just a win, stacks, good vibes. or something like that, but I do want to talk more about the Tucker thing here. Let's group think tank this thing because basically benched because basically unplayable at Dodger Stadium. Katie, you're the one who mentioned to us when I was asking you yesterday. He's like, hey, I didn't watch any of this crap.

What happened while I was awake? Because usually they just like sweep and everybody says, oh, go back on camping vacation or whatever. But 0 for 19 for Tucker in the series, 189 average at Dodger's stadium 60 games this year. $60 million player with a 0.3 wins above replacement. It's over 117 games, not like five at bats. The boo birds getting louder at home.

Like, is Kyle Tucker a bust, Katie? I think I always try not to put that label on players, but I can certainly understand the frustration and the disappointment. I think that was evident when he was booed in the ninth inning. ball to track i understand the sun's out there he's looking back for the wall he knows it's coming up on him that's a catchable ball it's a martin the glove and he knows it and i think what upset fans even more was the perceived lack of hustle after the ball i mean it's it's the top of the ninth you haven't had a hit all homestand and it didn't play saturday because of your inability to consistently put offense together in your home stadium and the jog after the ball and what ultimately led to two more runs and really put the ball game away for the brewers i i think dodger fans have seen enough and it's It's rare for these fans to boo because this team gives them so much to cheer about on a daily basis.

But it was warranted. This whole Kyle Tucker was signed to Los Angeles to help bring this overall age of the roster down to help infuse youth into this experienced, but again, not super young, Lina. And he just hasn't looked comfortable at home. And I know he's more of a calm, quieter guy. I'm not saying you have to be Al Kike Hernandez all the time. That's not who Kyle Tucker is and that's okay. But these numbers aren't who Kyle Tucker has been throughout his entire career either. And for the Dodgers, that's not okay.

I mean, you think about the introductory press conference from Dave Roberts. Actually, even before that, Dave Roberts at the winter meetings said nothing for certain, but we're looking around Kyle Tucker, or not after the winter meetings, excuse me, to be maybe our number two, number three hitter. Well, Kyle Tucker hasn't hit number two or three in that lineup since the end of April. And that to me has really, especially with Will Smith out, put guys in spots where it's not optional for them to hit. Andy Paa has, probably not your two-hole hitter or three-hole hitter. But it's the only place Dave Roberts has to put him because the guy that the Dodger went out to buy to produce runs at the top of the order cannot do so specifically at home.

And it's a collective frustration of things. Kyle Tucker is certainly not the only reason why the Dodgers are playing bad baseball right now. But it doesn't help when you're being paid $240 million to contribute. and you've been one of the least guys, or you've been one of the least contributors on this roster so far. I think that's why it's exacerbated and why it's magnified, right? Guys, there's a couple of reasons, and I want to pull up a super chat here from Richard Flores.

Superchat 499. Dodger offense has been stinking the place up. Tucker went hitless his homestand as we've been discussing. I never ever wanted to sign him felt his demeanor was not a fit. Again, to Katie's point, you do not have to be a rah-rah guy. You cannot have 26 guys that are rah-rah guys or Yassio Puegs or Kike Hernandez's or, you know, guys that have a lot of emotion, a lot of, you know, every single thing is like this. You can't do that with 26, but you also can't have 26 flatliners either. And I think because his demeanor

doesn't necessarily fit with what fans would prefer to see maybe a little bit more urgency or maybe a little bit more emotion, when you have these kind of numbers, it does get magnified a little bit more. I think another thing is, to Katie's point, not hitting in the two hole, not hitting in the three hole, you're forcing the lineup to not be constructed the way that it was designed to when you actually wanted to sign him in the off season to bring him to LA as your two or three-hole hitter. But baseball is a really funny game, right? I mean, it doesn't just stay with Kyle Tucker. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., you guys, has not hit a home run at home all season long.

He hasn't had one home run at Rogers Center all season long. So again, this is not just a let's bash Kyle Tucker. This is a weird game, but he has yet to have any sort of traction in terms of becoming a bona fide. Dodger. We're still waiting for that Dodger moment to happen, and it just hasn't happened yet, and it's 117 games. It almost looked to me like when he was trying to run out that ball to right field, was he thinking about Aaron Judge in his mind, and when Aaron Judge hit the wall and hit the door and then broke his foot or whatever it was, and he was out forever. Like, I felt like he was almost anticipating the hit on the wall or getting to the warning track and hitting that door,

then he was like kind of, you know, kind of tracking the ball. Obviously, I'm guessing, I don't know. I haven't talked to Kyle Tucker about it, but it's just like you're not living up to the numbers in terms of the pay, right? We always associate massive numbers. It better be massive production. How can you guarantee or qualify, you know, that contract? He doesn't have much emotion to show good, bad or indifferent.

He's just kind of always like this, which it makes it more, it makes it less palpable for Dodger fans or fans in general. We're like, does this guy even care? Of course he cares. Of course he cares. But it just doesn't seem like it when you have. have that type of personality, and he's just not playing well. So I think it's just a three-headed monster of Kyle Tucker that is also magnified when the

rest of the team isn't hitting. Like when the rest of the team isn't hitting, you would hope that there would be some Kyle Tucker moments to get this team back on track, but it's just been pretty flat all season long. He has yet to ingratiate himself to the Dodger faithful. Oh, bonus word. That's a four-star word right there. Nice.

put that in there. Are we getting points for these shows now? Because I haven't done the math. I'm probably way behind everybody. But anyways, yeah, the thing with Tucker is it's tough. And now we're looking at mid-August. It's really hard to claw yourself out of that hole. The way you do is, of course, having a fantastic postseason,

which we still got a month and change before we get there. But it's all of the struggles. It's not just on Kyle Tucker. Yeah, he had a really crappy. home stand and the defense didn't help them. But to me, for the first time, in a long time, it feels like things are kind of hopeless for the Dodgers in that clubhouse. Usually they say all the right things.

Or when we get Salty Dave, the team gets off their ass. They figure something out. We've had Salty Dave now a few times over the last couple weeks. It hasn't done anything. You kind of got, I wouldn't say Dave and Freddie sort of budding heads, but they have a difference of opinion about we're eventually going to figure it out and go figure it out right now. But we have a clip from Muncie. I don't think we need to play it right now. We get the idea of, you know, the urgency and all that. There was something from Mike Petrielle I thought was

interesting, who of course has covered the Dodgers for a bajillion years, a big fan of Mike. And he talked about the team having holes right now. We all have holes. Everybody walk away from that. But this is a team. It feels like a roster that is worth 400 billion dollars that just doesn't mesh well how Katie does a $400 million roster or whatever have holes at this point post deadline where you win the deadline you get the starting

pitcher that everybody wanted in Terrick Scoople yet it still feels disjointed Because this roster is built for October and you can see a lot of the Dodgers pointing towards little go with their bullpen for example this is not the bullpen that they're going to roll out in October

it's not the rotation which far in away has been the most consistent and impressive part of this Dodgers team all year long. Everything about the Dodgers is, can we compile the best 26 players for what we need, specifically the best 14 pitchers with Shoah, to really make a run in October? And when you look at the guys coming back from injury, how they can reassess their rotation and slide some guys to the bullpen, that makes sense. But for me, it's can you patch up this offense?

Because that is less easy to fix. You can't just say, okay, Will Smith's going to come back early in September and hit a stride and no disrespect to Will Smith, but this is the guy that hasn't played since June. He's going to have, what, three weeks of a batts to really get back into the swing of things and be a clean-up hitter for this team? It's more to me, and this is why I thought Max Muncie's comments post-game yesterday were so refreshing because he basically backed up his manager and said, yeah, there needs to be more urgency. This was not good baseball.

We haven't been playing well. We need to pick it up. He specifically said that about the defense, which is another uncharacteristic thing about this Dodgers club. it's usually a very tight fundamentally sound very good defensive team and we just haven't seen any of the dodger characteristics over i would say the last really since the trade deadline so is it frustrating for for the dodgers and dodgers fans yes do they are they afforded whether it's fair or not more patience because of the pedigree of their roster because of the players that they have every day yes does that mean they can afford to be complacent and can take games off every now and then yes but not to to this extent. This has just been a very frustrating stretch of baseball. It's reminded the Dodgers that you can't just go in there in August and go full dog days. There has to be a recommitment to

doing the little things, a recommitment to a better quality of a bat, working counts. If you're out there 0-1 every time with an offense that has really struggled to put, you know, any kind of run production with runners on base lately, you can't go out there and immediately put yourself in a bad count, knowing what to do on defense, stop taking plays off, all these things that the Dodgers really don't do all that often, I've seen more and more. And I think that's just a product of the dog days. I think it's a product of the Dodgers saying, look, we know we're going to be in the postseason and we're going to come out of it at some point.

I agree with Dave Roberts. It's the wrong mentality to have at this point in the season. I don't think they need to go pedal to the metal gas on the floor right now, but there definitely needs to see a more pickup sense of urgency and a more commitment to playing Dodger baseball because this level of play, no matter whether it's August, September or October, is not going to cut it. Well, you can't rest on your laurels that they're the back-to-back World Series champions and just assume that it's just going to happen again because they're the Los Angeles Dodgers. I mean, I still am okay with the fact that the Dodgers have a seven game lead in the National League West, but 14 seemed a whole heck of a lot better.

I think we were at 15 and a half games at one point, and now we're down to seven. I mean, the Padres are eight and two in their last 10. Arizona's five and five. They start a series today with the Boston Red Sox, but the Dodgers have lost two in a row, okay? And that's not, I mean, it's not even just the two in a row. It's what they've done in the last six seasons or six weeks, but also to kind of build on what Katie was saying about the defense. It's not just the offense that's struggling.

But Mike Petriello was also talking about how the defense in terms of fielding run value in particular has continued to worsen. So in March and April, it was five, May, 7, June 6. July, it was a zero fielding run value. In August, it's negative two. I don't know much about fielding run value and Bappet and War and Bip and Boppet and Boo, But that doesn't seem like that's a good direction to go in when your offense is struggling. And then you're giving up more runs, obviously, than you typically have earlier on in this season.

And I do think that we should, Clint, if you don't mind, play the Max Muncie Sound because I love how honest he is. And he's not afraid to say, yeah, you know what, we sucked. And by the way, I think Max, thanks to Katie, is going to come on the show on Thursday. But Clint, let's play that really quick before we move on to Sea Geek. Right on. Where's this team at right now and how do you guys get out of this? Yeah, we haven't been good. It's one of those stretches.

We need to have a little bit more urgency. We need to fix some things, but, you know, ultimately it still is baseball. Things like this are going to happen. We very easily could win the next two weeks in a row, and this gets put in the rearview mirror, but, you know, today really sucked. It was a big game. We kind of needed to win this one, and we didn't. But it's just how it goes.

earlier to see you guys were on a losing street we came over to talk to you said you know no need to worry we're going to come out of it you did that said now this is kind of this stretch is kind of extending a bit right i mean any kind of concern i guess from that standpoint i mean you have to really kind of look at it and like i said you know we've been getting guys on base that's the important part you can't do anything unless you're getting guys on base it's just we got to find ways to have better at bats in those situations and you know that's again you know we've hit a lot of balls hard just right at people people in those situations. And, you know, you look at the ball show hit today. He hits a, you know, 100 plus miles an hour for double play. And it's like, you know, you can't ask guys to do anything more than hit the ball hard. And we've been doing that. It just, we haven't been getting lucky with, you know, where it's been placed. And yeah, it's, it's more the same of just, they're doing some of the right things well or some things right. They're just, it's not a complete package. It does not dodge your baseball right now. Um, how do they fix that?

Start winning baseball games. A good stretch right here. Hopefully to kind of get fat a little bit with three in Colorado. Then you got another three against Pittsburgh back at home. It's time to start winning some games. When I was gone, you guys had the show where everything felt great. They just swept the Royals. Start beating up on bad teams so you can feel good again and build that momentum

because Atlanta is next week. And that series also means a lot. Yeah. I mean, there's no question about it. I mean, if you're thinking you're going to three-pit, you have to beat everybody. It doesn't matter. I mean, it shouldn't be just feasting on the really bad teams. It's you have to take every series.

You don't have to sweep every series, but you have to win every single series. All right, guys, a lot more to come on Dodgers territory, but first, a word about seat geek. We're talking about it. It's a get-right stretch for the Dodgers. Get yourself some tickets with our friends at Seat Geek. Over 35 million download Seatheek, the number one rated ticketing app. You get your tickets to Dodger game.

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Now let's get behind the seams where we're talking about pitching. Behind every night's making the kids lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the Pesto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is

everything. Nailed it. Yeah, Katie, let's talk about the bullpen for a hot second. Is the bullpen the biggest problem for the Dodgers? We just got done 22 minutes talking about the offense being the biggest problem for the Dodgers. But are we right in that assessment, or does it come down to the woes of the pen, in your opinion? Yeah, this is feeling like a very therapy-esque version of DT. And nothing, I think, has been a bigger trigger word for Dodgers fans than the bullpen. And perhaps no bigger trigger sound than,

Edmund Diaz's trumpets in the ninth. It has just not been a good stretch for Edmund Diaz since coming back. And we've talked a lot about Diaz over the weekend. Dodgers think they've identified something with his struggles with the arm angle. We can get into that later. But looking at the bullpen collectively, as a whole, it's been a tough stretch. The lefties that have really carried this team in the first half, Alex Bessia, Tanner Scott, Jack Dreyer,

hitting a little bit of a rut. And that's to be expected, given how heavily they've been used. I mean, these are guys that, again, really carried this team in the first half. You don't have Blake Trinon. You don't have Brock Stewart. Evan Phillips has come back and shown a lot of Russ, which is to be expected coming off of Tommy John. You just never know how guys are going to reacclimate to the big leagues. And the hope was Evan Diaz coming back would at least solve one question about the ninth inning.

It has done the exact opposite. It has brought in even more scrutiny. And bullpins are so volatile. I think the reason that we collectively as an industry, as a fan base, freak out about them is because they cause, because of when they come into the game, the direct correlation on the score. If your best hitter is scuffling and he goes 0 for 4, that isn't going to reflect in the final score

as much as your clothes are coming in and blowing a save for the third time in a row. So you can't really mask a bullpen problem because it's always going to come down and show itself in the late Indians when the game is decided. And we can go into Dave Roberts' usage, why he's in particular about Diaz and the ninth, the limitations he's had with the rest of his score,

squad. This bullpen that is sitting here on August 17th is not the bullpen that's going to take over come October, not even close. But the Dodgers have to figure out a way to win right now with this group of guys, and they have to figure out a way to get Edwin Diaz right, because rolling out the trumpets for a 1066 ERA is eyewash. Sorry, it's not fun. And there was nothing comfortable about Edwin Diaz's entire performance over the last week. Not a lack of effort on his part. I'll commend him. He was at his locker every single night. win, lose, blown, save, victory. We didn't even have to wait. He's made himself available every single time to discuss his troubles and be accountable. That goes a long way.

This is the guy who has been out in the bullpen's pregame every single day since, working with Mark Pryor, Carter McGinnish, trying to fix that arm angle. It's a want to get better. He thinks that he understands what he needs to do going forward, but we need to start seeing some changes pretty quickly with Ben, Deez. And I think that Ventura Borjean, 81, 26, agrees with you because he wants to know,

can we get Diaz a kaz a kazoo instead of trumpets? Perhaps that's what we need. Perhaps that's what we need. And I love the trumpets. I love when he comes out to it. It gives me goosebumps, but the performance, it is. It's eyewash right now. And when you have a song like that or when you have like, you know, a crazy, you know,

all the lights go off and all this pomp and circumstance, you better be able to lock that stuff down because otherwise it's just absolutely ridiculous. All right, does this coincide with Shohei Otani's first misturn in the rotation, Clint? It begs the question and you pose the question, so I will turn it and ask you. Does a six-man rotation only work when Shohei is pitching? Having, what are we at, six, seven weeks of, of, sorry, listen, listen, just deal with it. I'm back. I'm in control. Now, having X amount of weeks of sample size to see how everybody's responded with a seven-man bullpen and no show-hay as a six-man

rotation. Yeah, I think it's a pretty big cause and effect here, not having, you know, Cho Hay be that guy, taking advantage of the fact that he is a two-way player, has very much hurt. The bullpen, since he has been out, has a 466-ERA over that stretch. And it's not exactly, you know, just him, you know, it's, well, I guess really since his first misstart is what I should say, but the guys we thought, you know, we're going to be the bullpen saviors. They've been bad with Evan Phillips, of course, an ERA north of five, already talked about Edwin Diaz in there, but the starting rotation also just getting on in the season,

getting a little overworked. He got Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki for that much since the second half. They've been absolutely crushing it. They've been carrying it and all that kind of stuff. But Snell was great in his first start back. Lauer mixed in a stinker. Scobel hasn't quite been up to his standards, but I'm losing the point here of focusing on

on the show hay factor it feels to me like there is a there is cause here's your point show hey is out of the rotation and everything is just kind of falling apart since that point katie you're you're you got smarter brain about this like how well one how close is show hey to getting himself back i know he's been throwing these face and hitters to some degree and all that again he's gone for a weekend drunk on a boat i don't know all the things that have gone on at dodger stadium um How much closer is, like, he to coming back? And also, like, when will they, I guess they've already kind of conceded with the Rebleski. Totally my elbow hurts or forearm hurts, a IL placement for Reblesky, kind of conceded.

They needed that extra guy in the bullpen. They do, they do. And the six-man rotation, really, the Dodgers are able to, I don't want to say manipulate, because it's allowed in the parameters of the rules, but they've been able to reap an added benefit, if you will, because of Otani status as a two-way player. Now that's out the window currently because he can't do two-way duties. But the Dodgers aren't budging off their six-man rotation because it's not just important for Otani. It's important for the health of Yamamoto and Sasaki.

And also with Snell back and Tyler Glass now coming back, the six-man rotation has been an anchor for this Dodgers team because it's what they believe allows their team to be best suited for October. It goes back to what we were saying this roster and the decisions that they make about this roster are all about what puts them in the best position come the final. game of the regular season. So that six-man rotation is not going anywhere. That's really never been under consideration even when Otani was no longer usable as a two-way player. But it showed up with a seven-man bullpen already thin in the middle of 13 straight at a time where the Dodgers since that Cubs series have, or even dating back to the D-BAC series on the road, have every single game has been decided by three runs or fewer. That is a really, there's been no garbage time, win or lose, up five, down five.

To throw some of the relievers that you want in less leverage to kind of get the Tanner Scots a day off or the best he has a day off. Edgaro Enriquez has been so, so consistent. And I don't want to diminish what he's been able to do for this team this year. But he's not the guy that you want to see from the right side every single day. But Dave Roberts is already down a guy because they're using one of those pitchers in the rotation, which makes sense. And he has to use the same guys over and over again because the Dodgers are playing

such tight games because they're not scoring. So it's all cause and effect, right? Now, when you're looking at why Dave Roberts keeps going to Edwin Diaz, that's exactly it. I knew he drew a lot of commentary, a lot of criticism when he said, give me another option. I don't have another option besides Diaz. Well, you can look and be like, what about Tanner Scott? He has literally 16 saves. Because of the reasons I just mentioned, he can't.

He feels like he can't use these guys because he needs them every single day and has to be able to play the matchup. When you're Dave Roberts, you're not just looking at how to win that game. you're looking at how to win the series. You're looking at usage and availability going two, three, four days in advance. So it's not ideal. And the Robleski IL stint that, you know, he's totally, I don't see a ghost at all for that stint.

That allows them to kind of rebalance this, but to get your original point, Clint, show he just through a bullpen at Dodger Stadium. Rest and recovery is key. We know they're not going to bring him back or rush him back before he needs to. He's going to throw at least one more. He's going to need at least one more.

least two lives. And then we can do the typical Dodgers stretch him out in one to two in instance, two-way player back. We've seen that last year. We know what that looks like. Right now, though, it's again patchworking. Come September 1st when rosters expand, I imagine all the Dodgers, the Dodgers being like, okay, all our problems are going to go away. And you know what? They might. They really might. But right now it doesn't make things anything easier. Yeah, for for people here looking for like any signs of hope when it comes to the pitching, barring a setback, we know, knock on desk here. You're going to get Tyler Glasnow back in the rotation.

Hopefully, Brock Stewart is somebody that can stop being hurt again. I know he's facing hitters this week. He can head out. He could maybe not even need a rehab, but he's somebody who can return soon. Blake Trinan is heading out on a rehab. Maybe he's got one final, you know, Swan Song in the right shoulder there to be helpful. Chris Boobitch is somebody who could potentially join this team, this bullpen by, you know, beginning of September, maybe even slightly before.

Maybe there's something with Seth Halverson. His one appearance seemed promising. Obviously, he couldn't really figure out how to get him back up here because they had the option and because the bullpen is so overworked, but we should see him back soon, should see another 100 miles an hour in the back end of the bullpen. Maybe one of Ben Casperius, Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone, could rise from the ashes of being dead for the last couple of years and show us something. Maybe Emmett Sheen can be a solid enough bullfell.

pen arm like he wasn't last year in the postseason. Maybe he's somebody who can show something this year and kind of, you know, put to bed all of the bad and the inconsistency of the totality of his 26 season so far. But for now, Dave, this is all he has. He's going to keep running these guys out there and hopefully they do their jobs. And that's with Dave Roberts. That's what he does every year. And for the last two years, we get to praise him for being a back-to-back World Series, you know, champion manager. He trusts his guys at times to a fault, much to the chagrin of us. Fans, people that cover the team, ask the questions, and he doesn't want to give you

the full answer why. He'll just tell you, because I don't have it. Who's better? Who's better? Yeah, Tanner Scott would be the better option, but can't burn him right now. Keep running guys out there. Eventually they need to do their jobs. Remember when we wanted to run Tanner Scott out of town?

I mean, there's also, there's other reasons, I'm sure, that Dave is running the guys out there that he's running out there. I mean, there's probably stuff going on that we don't have any idea about. But the fact of the matter is it's a lot of things on both sides of the ball that are not going well. And this team looks, they look fallible right now. They look beatable right now. And that's why I have to tell you that you can spend all the money in the world. Look at the Mets. They're not going to make the postseason.

You can spend all the money in the universe. it doesn't guarantee championships. And that's why you hope that the experience and the back of the baseball card and the experience that Dave Roberts has and the amount of World Series champions and MVPs and all of the things that are on this roster that have been constructed by the daughters in the offseason. And again, at the trade deadline, getting a two-time Syung Award winner, Terik's Hubel over here.

That's when you hope that those decisions pay the dividends. Yeah. And honestly, like, do you make a good point, Alana, there are so many things with this bullpen right now that we fans, media, don't know unless we ask. And there are guys where Dave Roberts isn't just managing the situation of the game. Evan Phillips only needs clear, or Dave Robert's preference is to only give Evan Phillips clean innings right now because of his struggles. The last thing he wants to do is put Phillips in with the two-on-one one-out jam and further

complicate, you know, has already a little rusty return to the major leagues. Alex Vescia has really never been an up-down guy over the last couple of years. And, you know, he's ready to go. answers the bell every single time, but that's for one inning. Tanner Scott, he can log multis, but if you're going to have Tanner Scott log multiple innings, that means he's down for multiple days. So can't do that either. So I've seen a lot of, you know, Tanner Scott only got one batter in the eighth.

He could have pitched the ninth. Sure, he could have in that game. And then you don't have him for the next two because the Dodgers need Tanner Scott on September 30th, just as much as they needed him on August 14th. All of these little things get further amplified because there's only seven believers to choose from in the first place and a lot of them have been having to use over and over because of just the tightness of the games bullpen managing is the easiest thing to couch manage there are so many things beyond even what i'm i'm available to see every day that goes into those decisions

yeah this is this is how it goes this is the fun part the fun part of the series the season gang uh anyways we take a breath we're going to come back we're going to talk about a dog but first we're to hear from our friends at Fowel Territory. We have pop and colors for McWeldon here. I've got a little green shade, you've got a nice blue shade, and what else do you love about Mac Weldon crats? I can be head to toe with Mac Weldon.

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That's M-A-C-W-E-L-D-O-N dot com, code F-O-U-L. Behind every night spent making the kids' lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pasto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit.

Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. All right, guys, you've heard about Nacho before. He is ready for his forever home. He's a big Dodger go boy. This dog's head is massive, and he has a heart besides to match. He's so very sweet. He's learning leash manners.

He's getting so much better. So please share him for adoption. He's being fostered in the La Pouinthe area right now. But if you can't adopt, it doesn't cost you anything to share the post. And we actually could use some supplies for him. He is in need of treats, food, wipes. and a Kong toy, like a non-destructible Kong toy. So if you want to check out his wish list, I have posted it on my social and on the Gidreys

Guardian social as well. All right, Clint and Katie, let's check out some super chats as we get ready to say goodbye here. We had one earlier from Richie Flores, but let's get some others up here, Clint, if you don't mind. Smurphy 24 do we? I don't know. Dodgers would need to have the stars aligned to get the one or maybe even the two seed. Yes, the team went through this last year, but they're older and not being able to hit fastball.

lately shows it. What do you say to that, guys? That's an interesting point, too. You're not not being able to hit those fastballs. What do you think about that, Katie? Yeah, this is a fair point. It's kind of what we talked about earlier in the show. Age is a factor. They've been getting bullied by the fastball per Dave Roberts. And if you can't time up a fastball, you sure as heck are going to struggle timing up any sort of breaking pitch or off speed. So this is a team that we see a little bit more slug. We talked to you in about Friday Freeman and his quiet 300 season. There just hasn't been a lot of pop or barrel. that we've come to expect with the names on this roster.

You have to take advantage of the heater because you hear opposing pitchers say this all the time or even Dodgers pitchers. You know, anyone can time up 101, 102. It's not about the speed or the velocity. It's just about knowing when the fastball is coming. The Dodgers haven't really seen that. Is that correlated to their age?

Is it correlated to this point of the season where they're tired and fatigued? You know, right or wrong, this is not a group that likes to take days off. Freddie Freeman took a header into the visiting dugout down the stairs and was in the lineup the next day. All right, I commend it. That's because he had a scheduled day off on Friday.

There's no way Freeman's taking two days off in a row. So all of that plays into, like these guys do not, they're very proud. They're not going to take days off. You respect that you want that from your group, but they are older. And you saw them coming out of the break, that three city trip, travel kind of beat them up. And that's why the buy is so important. If you can just eliminate one round, get everyone rested, line up your starters the way that you want, goes a long way. I absolutely think age is a bit of a factor in this.

Luckily, they're going to the thin air of Colorado. That always plays well. Very well. If they can't hit, you guys, if they can't hit in Colorado, it's a rock. It's less dense. It is less dense. It's not thin. It's less dense.

God. As a Colorado native is pretty thin. It's pretty thin. We also had a super chat, kind of in the same vein from Isaiah earlier with, I don't know, Australian. There's an A in front of the 10. Whoever, whatever the domination money there is denomination. Isaiah asking, didn't we just have the same exact issues during last year's regular season?

Hate to say it, but our offense never was the formula for the postseason. It's great starting pitching and timely runs. You face really good pitchers in the postseason. That makes it a lot more difficult for even the best of offenses. But looking at the names up and down, that 26-man roster or your 13-14 position players, 13 position players There's a lot of dudes Who should be hitting

Who should be able to perform Who should be able to handle the big moments Through the over the course of 162 games And over the course of 11 postseason wins As things are trending right now 13 postseason wins By playing a wild card round They do go through this

It just feels like this is a much longer stretch Much more extended stretch than we're used to And that's what's making it more frustrating it's usually like 10 games and you figure it out right now suddenly it's a month that's annoying back to you in the studio and navash back to navash with the final super chat 499 it would just be nice to hold on to lead and win is that too much to ask for right now hell yeah it's way too much you ask for yeah and you honestly if you're like as great as Colorado should be for the offense not exactly the place that i want to see edmond d's trying to get right but you know what

we're in this together and if we need to know the therapy session with Max Muncie on Thursday, we let it ride. Let it ride. So good luck. Clint and I are going to be back tomorrow night for post. Obviously, Katie, will be working post game, but Clint and I'll be back tomorrow. And then Katie and Clint and perhaps somebody else on Thursday, because on Wednesday, I leave for Italy. So I will not be here on Thursday. Bye.

Don't forget you guys to make sure you subscribe and like our channel because we need all of the help we can get. Getting to 20,000 subscribers. Please help us. So smash and subscribe. that button on YouTube, please rate and review the podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Don't forget to check out the shop Dodgers Territory Shop.com

for some cool stuff. It helps us out. We appreciate you guys very much. Yeah, that's it. Go Dodgers. See you guys tomorrow. Bye. Bye. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clemens.

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