Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / RIVALRY WEEKEND: Angels, Dodgers to battle for SoCal supremacy; Bill Plunkett joins

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RIVALRY WEEKEND: Angels, Dodgers to battle for SoCal supremacy; Bill Plunkett joins · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo Territory.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I am Mike D. G.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Havanna, former Early Times Baseball writer and host of the show,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: joined by Mark Trumbo, the former Angel slugger and regular
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: co host, and a very special guest today, Bill Plunkett
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of the Orange County Register, now longtime Dodger beat writer
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and a former Angels beat writer, going way back, Welcome
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to the show. How you doing today?
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: I think you should introduce Mark as the third baseman
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: for Jared Weaver's No hitter most notable accomplishment.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We've actually talked about that on this show, and we
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: asked Socio about that. Where is Albert Cayaspo is? But
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Mark is still wondering, Well, it's sad.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, let's get it going.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Rivalry Weekend has come a little early this year, which
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: means the Dodgers and Angels will tee it up in
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Anaheim for a three game set beginning Friday night somehow,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and we'll get into this later in the show. The
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Angels went six and oh the last place. Angels went
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: six and oh against the soon to be two time
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: World Series champion Dodgers. Still scratching our heads over that one.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: This year, however, the Angels enter this series with an
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: MLB worst sixteen and twenty eight record, and they've lost
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: eighteen and twenty three since an eleven ten start. But
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the two time defending World Series champion Dodgers are scuffling
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a little bit by themselves. By their standards. They've lost
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: fourteen of twenty four entering Thursday night, and this week
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: they lost four straight games by four runs in more
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: for the first time since nineteen thirty six, when my
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: then six year old dad was figuring out how to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: be a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. They're still twenty five and
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: eighteen and a half game behind San Diego Sandye in
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: the NS, but clearly, clearly they're not playing up to expectations.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: What's holding this team back right now, Punk.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: It's largely been the lineup. The offense. They have not
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: hit for about three weeks, and every big name you
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: can think of in the lineup has gotten off to
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: a slow start. Freddie Freeman's warmed up a little. Kyle
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Tucker has been better the last ten games, but it's
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: been Muncie and pie has who have kept them afloat
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: the rest of the guys have not performed up to standards.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: The offense has just been painful to watch a lot
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: of empty at bats.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, can we talk about a former Angel that some
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: of the Halo territory fans may recognize?
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Wednesday and that guy?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you might, you might be aware.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: Wednesday nighty pitch seven score sittings, he had eight strikeouts.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Looked like a fantastic game. He did not hit in
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: that game though, correct.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Correct last three of his seven starts. He is not yet.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: So He's made seven starts three and two records, got
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: a point eight to two earned run average that leads
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: all of baseball in that regard.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: His hitting.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: However, he's coming off back to about fifty homer seasons
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: hundred RBO. It is just goofy video game number seasons
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: MVP MVPs in both those years to boot. But it
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: seems as if his swing is not dialed in when
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: looking at some of the metrics. I haven't watched a
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: ton of as the bats, but I'm guessing he is
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: grounding out to the pull side a bit more than
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: usual and probably missing the district constantly.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's he's chasing everything first of all, far far
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: higher chase rate than we're used to from him, and
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: he's been He's an aggressive hitter, but he's getting himself out.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Pictures have not thrown him a strike it seems like
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: in a week. But he's still swinging. He's you know,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: beating it into the ground. He's striking out a lot,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: really out of sorts. The worst slump that we've seen
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: since he's been with the Dodgers. And you know, it's
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: he's been fantastic as a pitcher. You can't fault anything
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: from the pitching side. He went into this year with
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: an unspoken but kind of hinted that goal to win
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: a cy Young Award to go with his MVPs, to
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: be the first Japanese born pitcher to win a cy
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: Young in either league. And it seems like the focus
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: on pitching and the full workload has taken away from
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: his offense.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: I mean, would you say he looks fatigued? I know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: Dave Roberts said that that might be creeping in His
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: sprint speed is actually the slowest it's been in his
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: career too. For I mean, so you know he can
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: do it all. It's ridiculous, very envious of just about everything.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: But the fact he flies as well, but as sprintspeed.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: I always look at that in relation to guys possibly
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: getting a little bit older. Now I will never say anything.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: He's proven me wrong in every regard. I thought he
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: might struggle with the bout when he came over. No
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: such thing. You know, I assume he's one or two
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: hot games away from things. I mean, he doesn't have
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: enough at bets for this to be a sunk season
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: by any means. So this could turn out to be
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: another behemoth. But I guess they're going to try and
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: manage his workload and you know, give him as much
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: as they can. They have that luxury with their personnel,
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: and it seems like that they have a plan, which
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: is a good thing not every team does.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I think, in typical Dodger fashion, that they're overthinking it
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: a little bit. I like the idea of giving him
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: today tonight he won't he won't play at all, maybe
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: as a pin shitter. I like that the day after
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: a start, especially one where he went seven innings, the
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: idea of you're saving him somehow by not hitting him
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: when he's pitching. He's done it his whole life. This
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: what he knows and what he's built for so I
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: think that's maybe overdoing it a little bit. You talk
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: about his sprint speed. His bat speed is down this
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: year too. So far, still well above average for the
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: major leagues, but by his standards down a little bit.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: I'm not how could that be fatigued so early in
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: the year. I wonder about that he did go to
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: the WBC. That does kind of throw off the timeline
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: for your season prep and you're you're playing intense games
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: a lot sooner than normal. Uh, maybe that leads to
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: some fatigue, mental or physical. I think you're right. I
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: think we're going to see him just go off on
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: a tear at some point where he's, you know, thirty
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: for forty with eight home runs in five games or
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: some ridiculous o tany type heater that you know we've
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: seen before. But right now, if I had to diagnose it,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: I would say it's the focus on pitching's He's really
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: more focused on pitching this year, And the one admission
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: he made a couple starts ago was it's easy to
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: maintain your swing and also work as a pitcher. When
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: the swing is good. When the swing is off, you
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: want to put in extra work. You want to hit
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: your way out of it in the cage, all that
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff, and with the pitching side taking away
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of his time and energy, he hasn't been
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: able to do that. And it's a little harder to
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: write a swing when you're also pitching.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Mark there certain things you're seeing in show Hayes swing
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: that are a little different than the past or sort
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: of red flags a little bit for you.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: I as I hinted, I haven't seen a ton of
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: is abats. I hadn't covering another team a little more closely,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: but I did look at the metrics back to up
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: one thing. He is not hitting the fastball. It starts
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: and ends with me for the fastball, and he's do
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: you want the numbers negative four run value this year?
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: You want to know what he was last year? Plus thirteen?
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: It was that. That's how savant grades it. But when
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: you see the deep red with the plus sign, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: most guys I've been fooled a couple of times, but
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: rarely you got to look at how they're doing against
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: the fastball. And almost always when guys are not playing
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: like they're capable of, it's against the fastball. In addition,
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: it seems like he's catching the ball a bit deeper
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: as well. He's catching a negative three. Whereas we've talked
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: about netto catching it the furthest out in front of
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: home plate, like twenty one inches out in front nearly
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: two feet at times, Otani is backing it up, catching
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: it not not there's some guys that are a little
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: bit more, but that generally aligns more with a left
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: center approach, not a pole ground ball approach. So I
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: think his swing matchups are not quite ideal. I would
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: probably say he'd be better off looking to drive the
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: ball to left center, maybe with a little bit of
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: a line drive, look to it and see if he
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: can't dial it back in. His swing's so repeatable though,
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: there's just so few moving parts, and he has so
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: much leverage power whip that it's kind of strange to
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: see him get off but easy human just just barely.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And you know he's not immune.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna take a little break off. Oh good, punk.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: A couple things about that. The fastball is not just
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: him during this down stretch, for the whole offense has
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: now been hitting the fastball. You know, whatever the reason,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: there's a little age on some of these guys. That's
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: been a big symptom of the offensive slump that they're
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: going through. And the other thing show A finally hit
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: a home run two nights ago and it was to
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: left center, exactly like you're talking about.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna take a quick break for a word
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and when we come back, we'll talk
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about the Dodger pitching and chin
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to look back at that series Angel sweep of the
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Dodgers in twenty twenty five. Will be right back with
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: more Halo territory.
• 10:37
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• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mike Dgivana, Mark Trumbo,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Plunk one
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: more question about show Hey before we move on, and
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Mark and I were kicking this around on a recent show.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Why is it a headline every time Otani takes batting
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: practice on the field. They've been doing it for one
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: hundred years.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: Uh, Show Hey doesn't. By my count, he's done it
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: five times since he joined the Dodgers, and twice was
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: workout days during the playoffs last year, so he's done
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: it three times already this year. That tells you that
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: he's searching for something, he's breaking up his norm and
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: the reason he doesn't take it on the field he
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: loves the analytics, so he likes to take it in
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: the cage, get the feedback on his bat path is
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: bat speed, exit, velocity, whatever else these wonderful machines can
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: tell him. So, rather than be on the field and
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: just hitting in a group and trying to show off
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: for the fans, he likes to do his work down
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: in the cage where he can get that feedback. He
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: can take time between swings to read on the tablet,
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. He's not the only one. Freddie
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Freeman doesn't take batting practice routinely on the field. He
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: uses that as a slump breaker. When we see Freddie
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: taking batting practice on the field, we know he's not
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: happy with his swing that he's trying to break it up.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Taeoscar Hernandez is another guy who prefers to hit in
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: the cage. But the thing with show Hey is, and
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I learned this in the very first spring that he
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: joined the Dodgers, there are two rules about covering show Hey,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: o tany Number one is everything he does is news.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Number two is anything he doesn't do is also news.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: So yeah, whatever show Hey does, we're gonna follow.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Him now for sure.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: Interesting, Yeah, go ahead, Mark well, the the on field
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: batting practice is what these guys turn to when when
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: things are not going as well, and it's something they
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: don't do when things are. So I guess it could
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: be just like you're saying, mixing it up or something,
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: but it seems like they do see some value in it.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: But by and large, around the game, it's something that
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: is is. I went to a game last year to
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: see a buddy that's coaching with the Cubs, and they
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: had two guys out there. One was Justin Turner and
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: one other guy that was the extent of their on
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: field batting practice, and I was asking, what is this.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: I was also wondering when when the fielders are getting
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: their work, And I guess there's some individual stuff there,
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: but I only know what I know, and I hit
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: all the time. I mean, you plunk, you covered the Angels.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: We hit a lot of batting practice, and if you
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: weren't a regular player, you were out there early and
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: you were running bass paths and and other things. And
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: we had Joe Madden on recently and he was saying
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: he really prefers guys well rested. So I don't have
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: a strong opinion either way. I just think it's interesting
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: that that that on field. You know it does it
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: is different if you're very used to just being in
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: the cage, and we'll.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: See if it works.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: It obviously has worked for show, But Mark, what is
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: for the normal bingliguer? What is a guy missing by
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: not hitting on the field on a regular basis?
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Well, it's punk. What do you think?
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: I think the thing that I think is different. First
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: of all, things have gotten a lot more sophisticated since
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: your neanderthal days. In the big leagues, Mark, they have
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: so much technology around everything, especially the Dodgers, that it's
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: just remarkable. They're tablets and video monitors and just everything
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: everywhere in the cage. The difference I always thought, And
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: one of the batting coaches mentioned this the other day,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: Aaron Bates. When you're hitting in the cage, you don't
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: really see the flight of the ball, right If you
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: could hit pull a ball into the netting, that would
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: have been a four hundred foot drive out on the field.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: But you don't see that. So you get a little
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: bit of tunnel vision, and that could be good, that
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: could be bad. When they go on the field, part
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: of what these guys are looking for is to see
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: the flight of the ball and to see the actual
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: complete result of their swing.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I would agree with that.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: I'll keep it short, but you want to avoid seeing
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: side spin to the opposite field, and you want to
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: avoid seeing top spin, seeing top spin to the pull side.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: And right now, I would assume if show he was
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: out there a little bit more, you might see some
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: of those highly top spun. It might be line drives
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: to the pole side, but you may not be able
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: to drive it like you use those majestic pull side
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: home runs. It's a little harder if your mechanics are off. Likewise,
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: the low line drives to the six hole. Not that
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: that's a big part of his game, but I think
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: that every really good hitter has that in the cards
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: if you need it. And when the swing is off,
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: those two things kind of go hand in hand, they
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: kind of become off limits. So I will be watching closely.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: So he's not going to hit. Is he back to
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: hitting game one or is that going to be his second?
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, he'll be back in the lineup as DH
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: for the whole Angel series. He's getting tonight. I think
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: tonight is the first night he's had off completely with
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers other than the three days I think he
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: took for paternity leave when his daughter was born last year.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Hey Plunk, you mentioned the lineup getting a little old. Here,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: seems like Muncy pa has maybe Freddy Freeman are the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: only regulars that are producing at or above expectation level.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Then you look at Kyle Tucker, Ta Oscar Hernandez, Will Smith,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Otani definitely are not. Mookie Betts just returned from an
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: oblique injury. Do you feel like this lineup's gonna snap
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: out of it or is there some age creeping in?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Are there is this team getting old before our eyes?
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Right now, they are getting old. I don't think you
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: can stop that. They have the average age position player
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: age is the highest in baseball for the second year
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: in a row. Kyle Tucker had the last ten games,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: has really gotten going, so he's kind of moving from
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: one category to the other. Freddie the average is there,
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: but the production hasn't been quite as good. He's getting
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: going a little bit recently too. But the thing that
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers keep saying is they believe in the back
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: of the baseball card when these guys will get there eventually.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: Back in the off season, I talked to Andrew Friedman
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: about this idea of not letting the roster get old
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: all at once, and he said one of the things
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: he said was that they trusted the guys that they
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: have signed and invested long term in they believe will
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: age well. I think every team believes that about the
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Frenchman players, that they're going to age well until they don't.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: So you know, a lot of these guys really committed
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: themselves during the off season. Munsey dropped some weight, is
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: in better shape than he was a year ago, moving
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: better on defense, hitting really well. Mookie really hit it
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: hard during the off season. He was kind of embarrassed
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: by his offensive numbers last year, worst of his career.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: So I was watching him in spring training. I was
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: expecting a bounce back year from him. Then he gets
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: hurt thirty games out. So we don't know yet, but
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: that's the fear. If anything is going to stop the
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Dodgers from a three peat, it's gonna be that the
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: core of that lineup is gonna get old all at once.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna take one more time out for a
• 19:42
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• 20:49
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territorial with Mike Dgievana, Mark
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Trumbo in Bill Plunkett, the fine Dodger beat writer for
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: the Orange County Register. I believe Mark haz the next question.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: Plunk I need to know about the bullpen. I think
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: the starting bitching seems to be pretty solid to Blake.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Snell and Glass now are both on the shelf right now,
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: and Edwin Diaz is also injured, But yeah, they still
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: have a lot of big name guys that are getting
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: it done. Is the bullpen doing all right? Is it
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: a weak spot for him? What can we you know,
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: what can the angel fans look to see from the Dodgers' bullpen?
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: Maybe? Yeah, it changed a lot with Diaz's injury. The
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: idea was with Diaz as the closer, the first time
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: they've designated a specific closer for five years since Kenley
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Janssen was here. Everything else was going to fall into place,
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: that there was going to be multiple options for every
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: scenario leading up to the closer. Now you don't have
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: the closer. That kind of changed. Everybody kind of shifts
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: around and it's a little less certain Tanner Scott has
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: got most of the save opportunities so far, has been
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: a lot more reliable than he was last year. He
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: looks better. Blake Trinan has looked a little shaky. He's
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: a guy that they really depend on. Alex Vesia has
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: been fantastic until his most recent start the other day
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: against the Giants, or his appearance he gave it up
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: in that that time out. But the core is still
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: pretty good, the options are still pretty good. Without Diaz, though,
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: everything trickles down a little bit and gets a little unsettled.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Punk.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you about something our old
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: friend Alana Rizzo said on a recent Foul Territory Network show.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: She said, to the Dodgers, quote, this team bores me.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: They're kind of ho hum. The Angels would kill to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: be so boring. But what did I want to mean by.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: That they're boring? They aren't boring, and personally he's a
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: long gone.
• 23:11
  Speaker 8: Is the business like they just there's And I think
• 23:16
  Speaker 8: part of the thing when they're in a slump like
• 23:19
  Speaker 8: they are now that it might be irritating for fans
• 23:24
  Speaker 8: is that they just, you know, they just kind of
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: shrug their shoulders and say, yeah, it'll I'll straighten out.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: Every team goes through this and there's just not a
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: lot of uh, you know, thump the table and and
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: raw raw type of guys. They they're very business like.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: Uh that This past spring was the most boring spring
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: training I have ever had to cover. There was just
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: no issues, There were no drama. There was you know,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: half the team was off to the WBC.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a That was a long five weeks
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: in Arizona. You know, it's She's right, they are boring.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: All they do is win. It's not allowed to drown up.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to watch spring training? Yes, I get
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about last year. Now, I
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: am not a gambling man, but I did ask Trumbo's
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: good buddy Grock, what the betting odds would be to
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: get on the Angels going six and oh against the
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Dodgers this season, and it spit out five thousand to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: fifteen thousand to one odds. Now, I was pretty good
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: at math, but it doesn't take much to know that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: if you put ten twenty bucks on that happening, if
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: you did last year, you'd be a wealthy man, a
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: wealthy person. Right now, but somehow a team that went
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: an Angel team that went seventy two and ninety season
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: last season went six and oh against the eventual second
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: time World Series champion Dodters. Are we all still scratching
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: our heads over how that happened?
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Well, you see, I told Jeff Fletcher, our Angels writer,
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: after those six games, I accused him of having completely
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: misrepresented the Angels in his coverage. They looked like the
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: best team I saw all year. I don't know what
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: he's been writing about the problems that they're having, so
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: I don't remember the exact numbers, but there were they were.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: The Dodgers were like five hundred ish against all the
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: last place teams. Six to zero against the Angels certainly
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: helped boost that, but they I don't think they did
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: very well against the Pirates. For example, they crushed the Rockies.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Everybody crushed the Rockies last year, but there were these
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: soft spots in the schedule that they did not yet
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: up for. Let's say, if I remember right, the six
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: games last year, there were some close ones, and you know,
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: the Angels came through with the big hit. If I
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: also remember right, those series came at a time when
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: the bullpen was a mess, and I think the bullpen
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: was guilty more than once of being the reason that
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers lost in those games.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I tried to look at you know, I'm thinking, Okay,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: did the Angels just catch the Dodgers at the right time?
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: And before the first series last May, the Dodgers had
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: actually won thirteen of eighteen going into that series. Now,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: in that series, the Angels won six to two, eleven
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: to nine, and six to four, relatively close games, but
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: they did beat up on I guess what you'd call
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the second tier of the Dodger rotation. They beat dustin May.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: They soon to be retiring Clayton Kershaw and I'm most
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: likely injured and not telling anybody Tony Gonsolin. And yeah,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: you talk about big hits. O'hapi hit a three run
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: homer off Kirby Yates, another said struggling reliever in the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I forget what inning in that second game. Oh, they
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: scored five runs in the seventh against the bullpen, and
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: then Travis Darnaut snaps a tie with a two run
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: home run in of Anthony Banda in the third game
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: of that series. Now, second, Yeah, that second series, they
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: did they didn't beat up Yamamoto or Otani, but they
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: did win the games they started. Uh and one of
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: them was a ten inning game a Dell with an
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: RVII walk off RBI single in the tenth and that
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: was once again off the Angel bullpen. And the Angels
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: also had a pretty good closer back then and a
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: much better bullpen, and they actually won a bullpen game
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: in one of those games too. Mark, you played ten
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: years in the big leagues in your experience, when you
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: see things like what happened last year with the Dodgers
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: and Angels, is it Are the Dodgers just going into
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: a series like that taking them lightly or they think
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: they're gonna it's gonna be a cake walk?
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Is that?
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Is that a thing in the big leagues?
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: It's the battle for LA How could it not be
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: a big thing? Plunked? Are you hearing these guys talking
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: about it yet? Or what?
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: You know?
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: They have another opponent.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: He's not he's not turned into the Angel broadcast.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Huh.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: I mean this is a crosstown battle, and uh, I
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: would think that that it would be on their mind
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: after you know the uh the team in red took
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: it to him last year. But they they may actually
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: have other things. They're focusing on Linked Night's opponent, but well,
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: how that happened last year? It's I mean, there is
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: no answer. Anomaly is what I would say. It's it
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: is possible. There is a very weird things where you
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: the Angels. When I was there, Plunk, you were there,
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: j were there.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: We struggled at times against the Oakland Athletics and for
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: whatever reason, they played us very tough. They weren't winning,
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: you know, a ton on their own, but that was
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: a tough opponent for us. I then played it for
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: Seattle not not that long after, and we just mowed
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: them down.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: And the experiences I had, and it seemed like the
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: kind of the it was just expected. It was that,
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: you know, we the Mariners beat the A's. It's just
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: all they do. I don't know what it is here. Well,
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: you know, we have to go back a few years.
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: I think it's been probably more Dodgers than Angels, but
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: but it could be the other way. And the Angels
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: at times they binge. They have these games out of
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: nowhere where the stars aligned. It's been rough recently netto
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: maybe getting a going a hoppy maybe back Grayson Rodriguez
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: maybe making one of these starts. Soriano is really dialed in.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: Even the most casual Dodger fan probably has heard his
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: name a little bit. He used to have it a
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: nice season. So it's Kahanowitz, Soriano TBD.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe in that order, maybe not, but yeah, I think
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: it might be Grayson Rodriguez on Sunday would be a
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: good guess.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: And Blake.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Or Manoa, Blake Snell, Justin Robleski and Roki Sasaki starting
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: for the Dodgers, So two lefties and are righty, and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: we'll be back to wrap up that series early next week.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: That's going to close today's show. Gentlemen, Mark Trumbo and
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Bill Plunkett, the Dodger writer for the Orange County Register,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today. Please like and subscribe and
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: we'll see you next time on Halo Territory