September 26, 2025 • 39 mins
On the day the Los Angeles Dodgers clinch the National League West division title, Dodger Blue Dream is back! Join Richard Parks III and DBD's brand-new co-host, chef Wesley Avila, as they re-cap the 2025 Dodgers baseball season, over tacos. It's been a weird year for baseball, and it's been a weird year for Los Angeles and this country. Even if you haven't followed baseball this year, not to worry. Imagine a world where the defending World Series champions go back-to-back. Dodger Blue Dream is back to cover the 2025 post-season!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the eve of the release of this episode September
twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, something magical happened.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Ground bout a third over the first. The Dodgers have
won the West.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Dodgers did it? We own the West.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We're going back to the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Baby twelve division titles in thirteen years from a Dynasty.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The timing is cosmic. Our first episode comes out in
h later.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Tonight, Dodger Blue Dream needed to come back on air
for them to get it together.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
DVD is back. The Dodgers are in the playoffs. Foremost
Dodgers Dodgers and now onto the show.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's time for Dodger.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, let me take a check to month.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. I'm Richard Parks, the
third and it's been a minute. Let's catch up. Now
you wanna tell me who you are and what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Uh. This is Wesley Avila and we are driving on
the one ten headed to Lorreta Street, about to talk
about the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yes, my friend, Wes Avila an amazing chef with restaurants
all over LA and all over the world. He makes
food based on the traditions of his Mexican heritage, and
we actually wrote a cookbook together called Gorilla Tacos. But
now I've asked Wes to jump in and help me
(01:43):
host Dodger Blue.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Dream DBD the return, don't stop the dreaming, Still dreaming,
still dream free.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yes, we're still dreaming out here in La the City
of Tomorrow, perched as we are on the precipice of
the twenty twenty five Baseball postseason. And the dream we're
having is the same one we had going into the
last postseason. And you all remember how that went down.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Cortes delivered freem hits upot right field, SA.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Saint to us, your doctors, sous.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Dodgers took it all the way last year, won the
World Series as they have every year that Dodger Blue
Dream has been releasing episodes so far, as.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Long as we've been releasing episodes, they've won chips. So
you got to keep that going.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
The Baseball gods are happy with DVD exactly. Only fourteen
teams in Major League Baseball history have ever won back
to back World Series championships. The last to do it
was the New York Yankees, who won three consecutive from
nineteen ninety eight through two thousand. It hasn't happened in
(03:10):
this millennium, according to AI. Given the increased parody in
free agency in modern baseball, some analyzes estimate the chance
of going back to back is four percent or less.
The recently expanded playoff format makes this much harder to
do than ever before. Unlike the post seasons of old,
(03:33):
where the best team from the National League and the
best team from the American League would duke it out
in a single winner, take all, seven game World Series,
today there are four rounds of baseball playoffs, and an
even dozen teams make it to the first round. After
the wildfires and the ice raids. We need this out
(03:54):
here in LA. And this is why I brought back
DBD after a near year long hiatus, because, like a
lot of baseball fans, I'm a touch superstitious and I'm
not totally certain the Dodgers can do this without me.
Why test it. I'm Richard Parks third, and this is
my Dodger Blue Dream. The dream continues. If you haven't
(04:24):
been following along this season, it's all good. Now is
the perfect time to start paying attention to baseball, because
this is when stuff gets real and the Dodgers are
at the center of baseball's drama, and your boy RP
three is here to provide you with all the context
(04:44):
and need to know so that you can tune in
to the most exciting baseball games of the entire year.
This is the podcast that isn't just for diehard fans.
It's also for their wives or their kids, their moms
and dads. The podcast you send to someone you're dating
and say, here, this is why I like baseball. This
(05:05):
guy gets it. And on this episode, we're gonna look
back on the twenty twenty five baseball season that was
the highs and lows and a few of the in
between's for your Los Angeles Dodgers, and we're gonna do
it over food Tacos, specifically at a historic restaurant and
a place that chef Wes and I love to grab
(05:27):
food before or after a ballgame. I invite you to
visualize us driving in Wes's big blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
As we crest the hill where the one ten Freeway
lets out for the ballpark. The downtown LA skyline comes
into view, and we exit at Hill Street, wending our
(05:50):
way through Chinatown, and I think, how to sum up
this year, how to be comprehensive, how to be complete?
And then I think, forget it, Barksy, it's Chinatown. I mean,
it's time to wrap up the introduction and move on
with the show.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Still Dreaming, Still Dreaming. So we've had quite the year
it's been. It's been a weird year. It's been a
very weird year.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Coming up on Dodger Blue Dream, we take a look
back at a weird year. But first let's take a
little break. Welcome back to the show. Been a weird year.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's been a very weird year. High expectations, really really
high expectations.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
On opening day, What are you thinking, how do you
think this season.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
At least wins? Honestly, honestly, that's what I expected with.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
This He's I'm not kingfectations.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's my expectations. I mean, on paper, on paper, if
everybody's healthy, there's not a lot of teams that are
going to beat us consistently, you know, indeed, and we
should be beating people consistently, but it didn't. Hasn't turned
out like that, right, We've had stints of greatness in
the beginning and then just really kind of okay in
(07:26):
the middle, and then just just really bad.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yep, all right, let's take you through it. At a
pregame ceremony on opening day this year, the Rapper ice
Cube drove onto the field in a classic nineteen fifty
seven Chevrolet Lowrider painted Dodger blue with the Commissioner's World
(07:52):
Series Trophy riding shotgun. It was a display of bravado
only imaginable in la, a visualization of the swagger we
were feeling going into the twenty twenty five baseball season.
We had every right to be cocky. We were the
World Series champions, and we had added to our roster
(08:12):
in the off.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Season, the signing of like basically everybody who you wanted
on the off season.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Retaining not just the core but essentially the entire roster. Yeah,
that World Series winning team. And as you're pointing out,
the front office also went out and made big signings
to bolster the World Series winning roster. The biggest additions
were to our starting pitching rotation.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Getting the dream team, the Murderer's Row of pitching. You know.
One of the big ones was Roki.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Roki Sasaki, the young Japanese phenom and also Blake Snell,
two time Cy Young Award winning pitcher Veteran. Had any
other franchise signed Blake Snell or Roki, it would be
something to do, would like plan their season around.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
But for us, it was just a little something extra
on top of on top of getting glass.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Now, yep, it was an embarrassment of riches. We got
everything that we wanted, but we didn't stop there. We
wanted to add to the bullpen a little bit too.
We needed some studs to help us close out games.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
We got trying it back.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
In addition to re signing Blake Trinan, we added Kirby
Yates and the Pias de la Resistance. And so we
went out and got Tanner, Scott, Tanner, Scott, Tanner, Scott
Tes Yes Terror Squad. So Tanner Scott is essentially.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
The showy killer. Yes, two balls and.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Two strikes show Haltani the postseason for the first time.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Last year he was on the padres.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
He is the pitcher who was brought in to get
sho Hao Tani out when the game was on the line,
and he did.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Scott sat on the corner, locked him up.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
God, And so that's how good of a picture he is.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, Johnny thought this was up and out.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
It's close, and in a very competitive market, we went
out and got him, and it has not worked out
for Tanner Scott more Tanner Scott in a little bit.
The point is, you know, we resigned everybody who we
needed to, and we added stars. You can't be overstated
(10:31):
how well stacked this team is a total David and
Goliath story in baseball, where we are Goliath and every
other team is David.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Right out of the gate. We opened the season really strong.
Oh yeah, six plus runs on average. First a couple
of weeks we were like.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Champ shot Freeman, coming under it, Dodgers will win it.
It celebrates a whole opening win on a center field
Harris is back times, swims fob by lucky center on
the running track out the world.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Max Monthy's two hundredth home run as a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Give with an eight and zero record after two weeks.
It was the best start ever for a defending World
Series Championship winning team. Forget one hundred and twenty wins.
We were starting to think about could the Dodgers go
undefeated all year?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
And I think we.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Had something like a nine to three record and then
the Dodgers did something that every World Series winning team
does every year.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Good looking through.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
You see some people, oftentimes like politicians behind me, it's
not so pretty.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
They visited the White House, and they visited our new president.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
And I'm thrilled to welcome to the White House the
twenty twenty four Worlds Series champion, the Los Angeles Dodge.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So this is a customary thing that you do.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It's a privilege.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Obviously, humble ball players get to go to the White House.
The World Series winning baseball team gets that honor and privilege.
And some people started to see that as the turning points.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, they did. I mean a lot of fans, lifelong
fans were really upset with the Domagers doing that because
I think that's before like maybe before the Ring, was
even before the ice raids. That's yeah, nuts, Like the
people were really upset with the Dodgers with going to Visitland.
They felt that maybe some of them should have boycotted.
Not all, not all the players were happy to be there.
Some of them were a little bit more exciting than.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Footage of them during the photo with the President in
the old Office. And take a look at it yourself,
and you know, read into the expressions and sort of
non verbal signaling.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
That's kind of the body language that was going on.
And things started happening. They started losing, started losing, They
started losing after their visit to the White House.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
The Dodgers started playing way worse, way worse before their
visit to the White House, and so all of a sudden,
they're losing, and it kind of feels like the baseball
gods are not happy.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
They were not happy. Things just kept not falling the
Dodgers way like it's just not flying.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I don't want to make too much of the White
House visit or the idea that it was a curse
upon the team, but there were other things happening, like
a super mysterious stomach bug Mookie Bets was battling through
where he lost ten pounds.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
That's when we started getting a couple injuries as so.
Freddie got hurt, once he got hurt, Tommy got hurt.
Rookie was you know that he was really hyped up,
and right away May thirteenth, he had an injury. And
then everybody just started slumping, you know what I mean.
Just Mookie was slumping back for a long long time,
(14:00):
like straight up, like straight up he I think they
were saying that his numbers were worse than any other
year he's ever had in the major leagues. It was
bad keeping a hanging back contract. Just got to play
better in all Facetskay can't speak very one. There's not
for me. She got to play better, she gotta figure
(14:22):
it out. I think the baseball gods were pissed off about, like, no,
you can't just be that good. You can't have that
many stars on your team.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
The theme so far is a little bit of seems
like bad luck a little bit, but it wasn't all bad.
There were always bright spots amid our struggles early on,
foremost among them, even with the slumping and the injuries
in the early part of the year, there was one
player that was carrying a lot of the load, and
(14:53):
that's Will Smith. That's well Smith, America's catcher was getting
jiggy with it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
My constellation of ideas of perfection that we called Will Smith.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Sorry wrong clip.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Be able to get a good swing on him.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
There's our boy, love you, Smitty. I mean, he was
like leading the league in.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
That's well Smoth.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
This season also represents the end of an era for
Dodger Baseball, and one of the most enjoyable things to
watch is how the story of one of the greatest
Dodgers of all time is wrapping up this year. The
one sort of symbolic starting pitcher who did remain and
who ended up paying huge dividends surprisingly way beyond any expectations,
(15:57):
is the one and only the greatest of all time,
Persh Kersh Clayton Cars y'all with a rugged of sixtion
two want to zero against the Rockies this year eleven
and five. Clayton Edward Kershaw was re signed for one
last season as a Dodger, and there wasn't a whole
lot expected of him due to the simple fact that
(16:18):
we had so so many other great pitchers in our
starting rotation. But then with early season injuries to the
big dogs like Tyler Glassnow and free agent signing Blake Snell,
in a surprising turn of events, Kersh emerged as an
elder Statesman lynchpin in our starting staff.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Like what that's going on? He's pitching like I mean,
he's like he found his like his second h his
second calling, you know what I mean. He's his pitching's
changed a little bit it's a little bit, you know.
It's kind of like that in Maddox or like these
guys who have been in the game were in the
game for a really long time, you know, you adapt
(17:00):
and change your style a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
His fastball is eighty eight miles an hour. Yeah, but
he has learned how to use He's just got everybody guessing.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
It's crazy because like these pitches, like there, I'm from
a batter's point of view on you. It's really annoying
because it's like they look slowly. It's like, how are
the missy beats?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's like, you know, but they do.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
They do. He's got them off balance. He's got them
way off balance.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And we got to see him hit a milestone in
his Hall of Fame career that we may never see
reached again in baseball when he threw his three thousandth
strikeout at Dodger Stadium on July second.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
The ravine risings ready to erupt.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Due by the All Star break. It certainly wasn't the
script you would have written. On opening day, a lot
of Dodger fans were belly aching and more than a
(18:07):
little worried about the team's chances overall, but at the
same time.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We were still in first place.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I asked Wes how he felt around the All Star Game,
which happens right around the middle of the baseball season.
At that moment, with a fifty eight and thirty nine record,
the team was on pace for approximately ninety five wins,
not the record setting pace of one hundred and twenty
wins Wes had expected on opening day. But nothing to
(18:36):
sneeze at.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I mean, happy we were in first place, but not
happy because we weren't falling out like we should, Like
why are they They're just playing like a mediocre style
of baseball, like mistakes, not getting hits when they should,
not bringing them in when they should. But still we
were in first place, which is hard to explain because
teams must be playing worse we are. It's like, how
(19:01):
are we still in first place?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Speaking of other teams, So the Padres are always in
the picture, little brother.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
They're completely irrelevant. They started getting that whole.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You know, like, but this year they have been vying
for the division with us. After the break, I would
say that the low point of the season was when
the Dodgers dropped out of first place. Things get spicy.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Can we get some of that red stuff, spicy stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Can you describe the scene a little bit for me
this season? What we're doing right now.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
We're right here on Caesar Travis, heading into that parking lot,
right on the side of Clito Famoso Takitos Vera Street.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
We'll get back to our season recap in a moment. Tito. First,
let's take a little pit stop. We're hungry, so explain
Olvera Street and this restaurant. For those who don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
It's one of the oldest spots in Los Angeles. It's
one of the oldest streets. It's one of the oldest
tourist areas for sure. An tilitoo, the iconic takitos dorados,
one of your favorite tacos.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, something that you've ripped on in your own restaurants,
And there's a recipe before it in the cookbook that
we worked on together.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
For sure. Oh Vera Street.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
It's in an area of downtown called El Pueblo, considered
to be the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles
as we know it, and so naturally there's a complicated
history there. The street itself is meant to evoke old
Los Angeles It's essentially like a alleyway with kind of
ramshackle shacks and kiosks.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Lots of old main restaurants, clothes. Yeah. So the stories
have some really cool stuff as some local arts.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I come here every year to shop for Christmas. There's
always a little something that you can get.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Absolutely absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
So we're right down the street from Union Station, the
central translation of Los Angeles in view of city Hall.
The most expensive gas station in towns across the street
right regular is seven eighty nine.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, yea, what do you see? What does it look like? Colorful?
A lot of flags pel Picado in a traditional cut paper,
Mexican flags, American flags, you know, the old school seventies
or sixties. Brick on the floor. I love this place.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Grapevines hanging from trellises that date back to the eighteenth
century when this area was a huge wine producing region.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
That's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
A little known fact about Los Angeles. It once was
the center of winemaking in California.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Check out my la it's not article about a lot
of history here. Also, somewhere off of this alley is
the oldest structure, the ave La Adobe.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Joking Lee, my family's Adobe.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yees, no relation to Chef West.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It's not it's not really.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I mean it could be the same conquistador, but it's
the oldest I think adobe structure.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
In Los Angeles. In Los Angeles. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Ci Alito Lin though has been serving freshly stuffed, rolled
and fried taquitos since nineteen thirty four.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
This is one of the spots too. That's really great
to come before or after the game, right, a passage
for me? This is Dodger's territory.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
You know, we're essentially down the hill and like a
little bit farther down the river from Chevez Ravine.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
What do you get?
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I'm gonna get what you're getting here. You get the
number one, right?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
No, I usually get the the tamal or the chile
reano to add to it.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Okay, so you get the taqitos with the chile reano. Okay,
a little bit more, a little bit more food, why
not hashtag chef life.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Let me get the number three please.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
Cheese?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Okay, guys, anything to drink one medium Hamika number two?
Number three coming out? Can we get some of that
red so that spicy stuff? All right?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
See what the sleigh very spicy sauce on Yeah, what
would you guess the components of that are probably chew.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Because it's not super are belief spicy? They're good today? Yeah,
they are.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I am aware that some of our listeners are fans
of other baseball teams, and for those of you who are,
a warning, the remainder of this episode might get pretty
annoying with a couple Dodger fans talking about what only
can be described as first place problems. Second half of
(24:06):
the year was honestly not great. When the Dodgers play
bad teams this year, there's been a trend.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
When we play the teams we should beat, we lose
like bad, like where it's so frustrating to see them
get struck out by these guys who are like journeymen
for teams that aren't they're not in the race. You know,
they won't be in the race for like a year
or two. They're like rebuilding and they'll beat the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
We got swept by the Angels, we got swept by
the Pirates, then we got swept by the Angels again.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
They've had their struggles this year. They lost a couple
games to the Pirates and then it's like, all right, guys,
we'll take the last one.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
And you look up and you're like skiks no, no wrong.
By early September, the Dodgers had lost thirteen of their
last seventeen games against teams with a losing record, which
brought their season total of such losses to twenty seven.
That's been hard to watch.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And it's one of the most frustrating things. I shut
the TV off. I personally will not watch them lose
when I sense they're going to lose by the seventh
or eighth inning. Think if I sense it, You've.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Been known to shut the TV off well before.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
The seven, well before the seventh, well before the seventh.
And I'm a deackhard fan, but I don't want to
see them lose because it's infuriating. I don't want to
invest the time to see them lose, cause what's the point.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
What's the point? Sometimes when you follow a baseball team closely,
spending hours and hours watching and listening to games day
after day for months, you find yourself asking that question
a lot, because we were losing a lot to these
sub five hundred playing teams. And then the unthinkable happened
(25:55):
when the Dodgers dropped out of first place. It got
so bad that we dropped out of first place.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
What's worse. We were supplanted in the top spot by
our upstart division rivals to the south. And we saw
the Padres in first place in the NL West this year,
which is not something that we like to see.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
No, we don't want to see them ever first place
in the NL West.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
But we did, and it's stung the Padres were in
first place.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Padres have been a pain in the Dodgers for the
past the whole season, they've been second place, second place,
second place, just right behind the Dodgers. And there was
a point where the Dodgers were just not clicking. We
were losing, they were winning, and I think they were
ahead of us by two games at one point. That
you know, and then congratulations. That's why I'm saying congratulations
to them. We give props where props are due. They're
(26:51):
a very good team. I'm not saying they're not a
good team. They're a very good team. They're very good.
When they click, they click, but not as good as us. Yeah,
it hasn't been pretty. They're not even going to reach
one hundred wins.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So it's like It's like, what's the point we weren't
playing our best baseball. We were searching for something to
galvanize the team. You have to fall down in order
to get back up again stronger than ever. Every team,
(27:26):
including all of the great ones, have their lulls, their slumps.
It's not about being perfect. It's more about timing. You
got to get hot at the right time, like right
as you head into the postseason. The problem is when
exactly these hot streaks and cold streaks happen is beyond
(27:50):
our control. So at this point in the season, what
you're hoping is you've already hit your lowest point, the
nay dear. As we look back at the twenty twenty
five Dodgers baseball season, when was our nay dear? Take
it away me, I would say that at the lowest
point the nay dear was the other night in Baltimore.
(28:17):
The other night in Baltimore, the Yoshinobu Yamamoto was throwing
a no hit game. We were just coming off of
a series where we were swept by the last place
Pittsburgh Pirates, and going into this game in Baltimore, we
had lost the previous four games straight. But then that
(28:38):
night in Baltimore, Yama puts the team on his back, flowing.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Past his pitch count.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
We don't care leave him in because he's gonna make history.
Tonight's history history tonight A no hit game from our ace,
Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That's the thing we need to get us
going again, getting.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
At ovation in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Whether folks are wearing blue or orange, many have risen
to their feet, an acknowledgment of what Yumblemotal can do,
what he has already done, done.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
No hits, giving up going into the ninth inning. All right,
the ninth thing. I was recording myself. Come on, so
was Wes.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Now it's recording.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
First batter, Tom, I'm swinging, strikeout, nasty pitch, one down,
strike out, the first hitter of the ninth inning. Second batter,
all the number nine hitter, Kobe Mary swinging on the
very first and.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Hitch just to Dean's ears.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Simple fly ball, out, routine, fly ball to the outfield.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
One, two gone, Okay, we got one more out.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
One hundred and eight pitches, Yams is close.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Everybody's standing up.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Foul ball to the backstop, and there's one.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Strikeouts, one strike one hundred and nine pitches. That's old
school baseball. Baby, it's a lot of pitches.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Rodgers need this.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Need a win, let alone this. Come on. It's a
ball all one and the count is even at one
and one.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Now this pitch will be his major League baseball career.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
High pitch.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Tails away ball two velocity is still there for amblebodo
that was it?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Ninety eight? Oh?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Come on?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
And then on the fourth pitch, Yama throws to Jackson Holiday.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
I feel look at the long posters, w W did
he go?
Speaker 5 (30:41):
Whoa what?
Speaker 3 (30:44):
That's a home run?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I guess that Jackson Holiday something better, just like the doctor.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Gladden us down.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
It's just martally ours.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
That's crazy. Oh well, hopefully they can win this one.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Still still.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
First batter out, second batter out, one out away from history.
And then what happened.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Gave it a home run, give him a cookie.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Barely a home run, ball that bounced off of the
wall and came back into the field of play. No
hitter gone, shutout gone, Gushoba Yamamoto comes out of the game.
But we still had the lead. It was our game
to win, and we needed to end this losing streak
that we were on. It was up to our bullpen.
Blake trying comes in.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Flight ball left field, toward the gap. It is over
the base of.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
The wall, trying and doesn't have it till the backstop.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Oh no, I hit him ball. Four bases loaded.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
You can't throw a strike out? Why can't these guys
just throw a strike.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And with the bases loaded, full of Orioles and still
two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dodgers
manager Dave Roberts ops for his silver bullet to preserve
the Dodgers' one run lead. The offseason free agent acquisition
that was made expressly for scenarios just like this.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
The killer Tanner Scott, Yes Terror squad.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
He had had a rough start to his season and
he'd blown a handful of save opportunities like this one.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Like he was playing not so hot in the beginning.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
In the beginning, I felt like every time he came
in he was giving up a home run. Yeah, But
then he had corrected.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
And then he got good. He had a run in
July juneish where he had six six games saved like
in a row.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
On this night in Baltimore, we needed Tanner Scott to
come through. Wes just texted me stop watching.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
He said, as went it was.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
A pick, he could try and throw it for strikes, hotail,
a third hotail, well storm game over.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Oh wow, yeah, Tanner Scott comes in and immediately gives
up a game losing hit.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, that was absolutely heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
This was supposed to be the big turnaround. Instead it's
like the most disappointing kind of loss. We've both watched
a lot of baseball games, and I would say for me,
it was the most heartbreaking loss I've ever seen, because
you're watching this game for a few hours of your life,
and the excitement is building over time of a complete game,
(33:47):
no hitter, and then for that to evaporate so quickly
and turn into a heartbreaking loss. It almost felt like
the experience of a really promising season that falls apart
in the postseason immediately. It's a like a microcosm of that,
a one game version of that. It's that type of part.
(34:11):
And then another theme is like jumping on the field
and like ripping each other's shirts off and like crying
with happiness because they just feed the Dodgers.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
And they shouldn't have. Oh yeah, it's terrible. I mean,
I'm having the worst year of my life. So it's
it's not fun. Baseball hates me right now? All right,
you want to cruise down overa street a little bit,
sure jeeh, Let's check it out.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And now to close out this episode of Dodger Blue Dream,
we invite you to take a walk with Chef West
and myself down the historic Olvera street. To walk through
reminded me of something that at this moment seems inescapably true.
As weird as this year has been for the Los Angeles,
it's been a much weirder year for the people of
(35:04):
Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
It was like the random pictures. It's like they have
El Chapel with uh In the Jata, the Joker, and
uh Tony Soprano, like all in one picture, playing cards
like oil painting.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, it is pretty quiet down here.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
This is very quiet. This is like usually peak time,
tons of tourists and well, this is quiet quiet, man,
It's kind of eerie. This is the quietest I've ever
seen it.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
A lot of these little stalls that sell knickknacks are
shuddered and locked up.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, the shame, but I mean, if there's no customers
we're going to sell to, you.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Know, it's been a weird summer for the Dodgers, and
it's been a weird summer for Los Angeles in this
country with all the ice raids, and this has sort
of been ground zero for all of that.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah, I mean we're we're a five to ten minute
walk from the Federal building where all the National Guard
was at and everything was popping off. You know, we're
like right by there, right across the freeway, and it
sucks the effect that it has, you know, ripple effects
of all that. You want to check out the store, Hello,
thank you. Oh, here we go. This is what I'll
(36:27):
get turner. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's the perfect thing.
Just this please. Oh it's audio recorder.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, we're recording a podcast that we make about the Dodgers. Yeah,
it's been slower here, huh.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, the terrible tourists from around the world. They used
to go in the sun. Yeah, time we walk along. Yeah,
not even a rare point. He's just quieter than the pandemic.
(37:10):
They said it wasn't even this bad during the pandemic,
which is hot because the pandemic sucked for everybody to
especially stores, you could even come out.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
But there are a few people dancing in the square. Oh,
it is live music. It's just some like sort of
automated vacuum tracks.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I think it's like a DJ USB and he's playing
along with like different instruments, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Actually, yeah, he just put down his guitar own and
picked up of native flutes.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Pan flute.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, people dancing, really nice data day, perfect day, beautiful
day in l a crazy that is so quiet down here.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
The air.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
This is awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
And yeah it's a little sad.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Anything else. Oh, just people come eat here. It's really
chill right now and it's not normally like this, so
come get these taquitos. Well it's well, there's no line. Yeah,
signing off. This is wes Avila.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I'm Richard Parks in the immortal words of David VASSA
Sea Dodger. Blue Dream is written and produced by me,
Richard Parks, the third. My co host is Chef wes Avla.
(38:54):
Original music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch Jonathan
Snipes by me. This episode was story edited by Caitlin Esh.
Production assistance from Tyler Hill. Special thanks to Cilindo and
Olvarita's Village. Get out there and support these great La institutions.
(39:17):
Dodger Blue Dream is produced in partnership with iheart's My
Cultura podcast network. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. We'll be back with new episodes of Dodger
Blue Dream every Friday. Tell your friends thank you so
(39:39):
much for listening. Go Dodgers
On the eve of the release of this episode September
twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, something magical happened.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Ground bout a third over the first. The Dodgers have
won the West.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Dodgers did it? We own the West.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We're going back to the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Baby twelve division titles in thirteen years from a Dynasty.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The timing is cosmic. Our first episode comes out in
h later.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Tonight, Dodger Blue Dream needed to come back on air
for them to get it together.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
DVD is back. The Dodgers are in the playoffs. Foremost
Dodgers Dodgers and now onto the show.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's time for Dodger.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Okay, let me take a check to month.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. I'm Richard Parks, the
third and it's been a minute. Let's catch up. Now
you wanna tell me who you are and what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Uh. This is Wesley Avila and we are driving on
the one ten headed to Lorreta Street, about to talk
about the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yes, my friend, Wes Avila an amazing chef with restaurants
all over LA and all over the world. He makes
food based on the traditions of his Mexican heritage, and
we actually wrote a cookbook together called Gorilla Tacos. But
now I've asked Wes to jump in and help me
(01:43):
host Dodger Blue.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Dream DBD the return, don't stop the dreaming, Still dreaming,
still dream free.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yes, we're still dreaming out here in La the City
of Tomorrow, perched as we are on the precipice of
the twenty twenty five Baseball postseason. And the dream we're
having is the same one we had going into the
last postseason. And you all remember how that went down.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Cortes delivered freem hits upot right field, SA.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Saint to us, your doctors, sous.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Dodgers took it all the way last year, won the
World Series as they have every year that Dodger Blue
Dream has been releasing episodes so far, as.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Long as we've been releasing episodes, they've won chips. So
you got to keep that going.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
The Baseball gods are happy with DVD exactly. Only fourteen
teams in Major League Baseball history have ever won back
to back World Series championships. The last to do it
was the New York Yankees, who won three consecutive from
nineteen ninety eight through two thousand. It hasn't happened in
(03:10):
this millennium, according to AI. Given the increased parody in
free agency in modern baseball, some analyzes estimate the chance
of going back to back is four percent or less.
The recently expanded playoff format makes this much harder to
do than ever before. Unlike the post seasons of old,
(03:33):
where the best team from the National League and the
best team from the American League would duke it out
in a single winner, take all, seven game World Series,
today there are four rounds of baseball playoffs, and an
even dozen teams make it to the first round. After
the wildfires and the ice raids. We need this out
(03:54):
here in LA. And this is why I brought back
DBD after a near year long hiatus, because, like a
lot of baseball fans, I'm a touch superstitious and I'm
not totally certain the Dodgers can do this without me.
Why test it. I'm Richard Parks third, and this is
my Dodger Blue Dream. The dream continues. If you haven't
(04:24):
been following along this season, it's all good. Now is
the perfect time to start paying attention to baseball, because
this is when stuff gets real and the Dodgers are
at the center of baseball's drama, and your boy RP
three is here to provide you with all the context
(04:44):
and need to know so that you can tune in
to the most exciting baseball games of the entire year.
This is the podcast that isn't just for diehard fans.
It's also for their wives or their kids, their moms
and dads. The podcast you send to someone you're dating
and say, here, this is why I like baseball. This
(05:05):
guy gets it. And on this episode, we're gonna look
back on the twenty twenty five baseball season that was
the highs and lows and a few of the in
between's for your Los Angeles Dodgers, and we're gonna do
it over food Tacos, specifically at a historic restaurant and
a place that chef Wes and I love to grab
(05:27):
food before or after a ballgame. I invite you to
visualize us driving in Wes's big blue Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
As we crest the hill where the one ten Freeway
lets out for the ballpark. The downtown LA skyline comes
into view, and we exit at Hill Street, wending our
(05:50):
way through Chinatown, and I think, how to sum up
this year, how to be comprehensive, how to be complete?
And then I think, forget it, Barksy, it's Chinatown. I mean,
it's time to wrap up the introduction and move on
with the show.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Still Dreaming, Still Dreaming. So we've had quite the year
it's been. It's been a weird year. It's been a
very weird year.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Coming up on Dodger Blue Dream, we take a look
back at a weird year. But first let's take a
little break. Welcome back to the show. Been a weird year.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's been a very weird year. High expectations, really really
high expectations.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
On opening day, What are you thinking, how do you
think this season.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
At least wins? Honestly, honestly, that's what I expected with.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
This He's I'm not kingfectations.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's my expectations. I mean, on paper, on paper, if
everybody's healthy, there's not a lot of teams that are
going to beat us consistently, you know, indeed, and we
should be beating people consistently, but it didn't. Hasn't turned
out like that, right, We've had stints of greatness in
the beginning and then just really kind of okay in
(07:26):
the middle, and then just just really bad.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yep, all right, let's take you through it. At a
pregame ceremony on opening day this year, the Rapper ice
Cube drove onto the field in a classic nineteen fifty
seven Chevrolet Lowrider painted Dodger blue with the Commissioner's World
(07:52):
Series Trophy riding shotgun. It was a display of bravado
only imaginable in la, a visualization of the swagger we
were feeling going into the twenty twenty five baseball season.
We had every right to be cocky. We were the
World Series champions, and we had added to our roster
(08:12):
in the off.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Season, the signing of like basically everybody who you wanted
on the off season.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Retaining not just the core but essentially the entire roster. Yeah,
that World Series winning team. And as you're pointing out,
the front office also went out and made big signings
to bolster the World Series winning roster. The biggest additions
were to our starting pitching rotation.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Getting the dream team, the Murderer's Row of pitching. You know.
One of the big ones was Roki.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Roki Sasaki, the young Japanese phenom and also Blake Snell,
two time Cy Young Award winning pitcher Veteran. Had any
other franchise signed Blake Snell or Roki, it would be
something to do, would like plan their season around.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
But for us, it was just a little something extra
on top of on top of getting glass.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Now, yep, it was an embarrassment of riches. We got
everything that we wanted, but we didn't stop there. We
wanted to add to the bullpen a little bit too.
We needed some studs to help us close out games.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
We got trying it back.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
In addition to re signing Blake Trinan, we added Kirby
Yates and the Pias de la Resistance. And so we
went out and got Tanner, Scott, Tanner, Scott, Tanner, Scott
Tes Yes Terror Squad. So Tanner Scott is essentially.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
The showy killer. Yes, two balls and.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Two strikes show Haltani the postseason for the first time.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Last year he was on the padres.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
He is the pitcher who was brought in to get
sho Hao Tani out when the game was on the line,
and he did.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Scott sat on the corner, locked him up.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
God, And so that's how good of a picture he is.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, Johnny thought this was up and out.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
It's close, and in a very competitive market, we went
out and got him, and it has not worked out
for Tanner Scott more Tanner Scott in a little bit.
The point is, you know, we resigned everybody who we
needed to, and we added stars. You can't be overstated
(10:31):
how well stacked this team is a total David and
Goliath story in baseball, where we are Goliath and every
other team is David.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Right out of the gate. We opened the season really strong.
Oh yeah, six plus runs on average. First a couple
of weeks we were like.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Champ shot Freeman, coming under it, Dodgers will win it.
It celebrates a whole opening win on a center field
Harris is back times, swims fob by lucky center on
the running track out the world.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Max Monthy's two hundredth home run as a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Give with an eight and zero record after two weeks.
It was the best start ever for a defending World
Series Championship winning team. Forget one hundred and twenty wins.
We were starting to think about could the Dodgers go
undefeated all year?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
And I think we.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Had something like a nine to three record and then
the Dodgers did something that every World Series winning team
does every year.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Good looking through.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
You see some people, oftentimes like politicians behind me, it's
not so pretty.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
They visited the White House, and they visited our new president.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
And I'm thrilled to welcome to the White House the
twenty twenty four Worlds Series champion, the Los Angeles Dodge.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So this is a customary thing that you do.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It's a privilege.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Obviously, humble ball players get to go to the White House.
The World Series winning baseball team gets that honor and privilege.
And some people started to see that as the turning points.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, they did. I mean a lot of fans, lifelong
fans were really upset with the Domagers doing that because
I think that's before like maybe before the Ring, was
even before the ice raids. That's yeah, nuts, Like the
people were really upset with the Dodgers with going to Visitland.
They felt that maybe some of them should have boycotted.
Not all, not all the players were happy to be there.
Some of them were a little bit more exciting than.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Footage of them during the photo with the President in
the old Office. And take a look at it yourself,
and you know, read into the expressions and sort of
non verbal signaling.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
That's kind of the body language that was going on.
And things started happening. They started losing, started losing, They
started losing after their visit to the White House.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
The Dodgers started playing way worse, way worse before their
visit to the White House, and so all of a sudden,
they're losing, and it kind of feels like the baseball
gods are not happy.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
They were not happy. Things just kept not falling the
Dodgers way like it's just not flying.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I don't want to make too much of the White
House visit or the idea that it was a curse
upon the team, but there were other things happening, like
a super mysterious stomach bug Mookie Bets was battling through
where he lost ten pounds.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
That's when we started getting a couple injuries as so.
Freddie got hurt, once he got hurt, Tommy got hurt.
Rookie was you know that he was really hyped up,
and right away May thirteenth, he had an injury. And
then everybody just started slumping, you know what I mean.
Just Mookie was slumping back for a long long time,
(14:00):
like straight up, like straight up he I think they
were saying that his numbers were worse than any other
year he's ever had in the major leagues. It was
bad keeping a hanging back contract. Just got to play
better in all Facetskay can't speak very one. There's not
for me. She got to play better, she gotta figure
(14:22):
it out. I think the baseball gods were pissed off about, like, no,
you can't just be that good. You can't have that
many stars on your team.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
The theme so far is a little bit of seems
like bad luck a little bit, but it wasn't all bad.
There were always bright spots amid our struggles early on,
foremost among them, even with the slumping and the injuries
in the early part of the year, there was one
player that was carrying a lot of the load, and
(14:53):
that's Will Smith. That's well Smith, America's catcher was getting
jiggy with it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
My constellation of ideas of perfection that we called Will Smith.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Sorry wrong clip.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Be able to get a good swing on him.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
There's our boy, love you, Smitty. I mean, he was
like leading the league in.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
That's well Smoth.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
This season also represents the end of an era for
Dodger Baseball, and one of the most enjoyable things to
watch is how the story of one of the greatest
Dodgers of all time is wrapping up this year. The
one sort of symbolic starting pitcher who did remain and
who ended up paying huge dividends surprisingly way beyond any expectations,
(15:57):
is the one and only the greatest of all time,
Persh Kersh Clayton Cars y'all with a rugged of sixtion
two want to zero against the Rockies this year eleven
and five. Clayton Edward Kershaw was re signed for one
last season as a Dodger, and there wasn't a whole
lot expected of him due to the simple fact that
(16:18):
we had so so many other great pitchers in our
starting rotation. But then with early season injuries to the
big dogs like Tyler Glassnow and free agent signing Blake Snell,
in a surprising turn of events, Kersh emerged as an
elder Statesman lynchpin in our starting staff.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Like what that's going on? He's pitching like I mean,
he's like he found his like his second h his
second calling, you know what I mean. He's his pitching's
changed a little bit it's a little bit, you know.
It's kind of like that in Maddox or like these
guys who have been in the game were in the
game for a really long time, you know, you adapt
(17:00):
and change your style a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
His fastball is eighty eight miles an hour. Yeah, but
he has learned how to use He's just got everybody guessing.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
It's crazy because like these pitches, like there, I'm from
a batter's point of view on you. It's really annoying
because it's like they look slowly. It's like, how are
the missy beats?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's like, you know, but they do.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
They do. He's got them off balance. He's got them
way off balance.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And we got to see him hit a milestone in
his Hall of Fame career that we may never see
reached again in baseball when he threw his three thousandth
strikeout at Dodger Stadium on July second.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
The ravine risings ready to erupt.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Due by the All Star break. It certainly wasn't the
script you would have written. On opening day, a lot
of Dodger fans were belly aching and more than a
(18:07):
little worried about the team's chances overall, but at the
same time.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We were still in first place.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I asked Wes how he felt around the All Star Game,
which happens right around the middle of the baseball season.
At that moment, with a fifty eight and thirty nine record,
the team was on pace for approximately ninety five wins,
not the record setting pace of one hundred and twenty
wins Wes had expected on opening day. But nothing to
(18:36):
sneeze at.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I mean, happy we were in first place, but not
happy because we weren't falling out like we should, Like
why are they They're just playing like a mediocre style
of baseball, like mistakes, not getting hits when they should,
not bringing them in when they should. But still we
were in first place, which is hard to explain because
teams must be playing worse we are. It's like, how
(19:01):
are we still in first place?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Speaking of other teams, So the Padres are always in
the picture, little brother.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
They're completely irrelevant. They started getting that whole.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You know, like, but this year they have been vying
for the division with us. After the break, I would
say that the low point of the season was when
the Dodgers dropped out of first place. Things get spicy.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Can we get some of that red stuff, spicy stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Can you describe the scene a little bit for me
this season? What we're doing right now.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
We're right here on Caesar Travis, heading into that parking lot,
right on the side of Clito Famoso Takitos Vera Street.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
We'll get back to our season recap in a moment. Tito. First,
let's take a little pit stop. We're hungry, so explain
Olvera Street and this restaurant. For those who don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
It's one of the oldest spots in Los Angeles. It's
one of the oldest streets. It's one of the oldest
tourist areas for sure. An tilitoo, the iconic takitos dorados,
one of your favorite tacos.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, something that you've ripped on in your own restaurants,
And there's a recipe before it in the cookbook that
we worked on together.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
For sure. Oh Vera Street.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
It's in an area of downtown called El Pueblo, considered
to be the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles
as we know it, and so naturally there's a complicated
history there. The street itself is meant to evoke old
Los Angeles It's essentially like a alleyway with kind of
ramshackle shacks and kiosks.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Lots of old main restaurants, clothes. Yeah. So the stories
have some really cool stuff as some local arts.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I come here every year to shop for Christmas. There's
always a little something that you can get.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Absolutely absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
So we're right down the street from Union Station, the
central translation of Los Angeles in view of city Hall.
The most expensive gas station in towns across the street
right regular is seven eighty nine.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, yea, what do you see? What does it look like? Colorful?
A lot of flags pel Picado in a traditional cut paper,
Mexican flags, American flags, you know, the old school seventies
or sixties. Brick on the floor. I love this place.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Grapevines hanging from trellises that date back to the eighteenth
century when this area was a huge wine producing region.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
That's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
A little known fact about Los Angeles. It once was
the center of winemaking in California.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Check out my la it's not article about a lot
of history here. Also, somewhere off of this alley is
the oldest structure, the ave La Adobe.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Joking Lee, my family's Adobe.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Yees, no relation to Chef West.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It's not it's not really.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I mean it could be the same conquistador, but it's
the oldest I think adobe structure.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
In Los Angeles. In Los Angeles. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Ci Alito Lin though has been serving freshly stuffed, rolled
and fried taquitos since nineteen thirty four.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
This is one of the spots too. That's really great
to come before or after the game, right, a passage
for me? This is Dodger's territory.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
You know, we're essentially down the hill and like a
little bit farther down the river from Chevez Ravine.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
What do you get?
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I'm gonna get what you're getting here. You get the
number one, right?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
No, I usually get the the tamal or the chile
reano to add to it.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Okay, so you get the taqitos with the chile reano. Okay,
a little bit more, a little bit more food, why
not hashtag chef life.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Let me get the number three please.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
Cheese?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Okay, guys, anything to drink one medium Hamika number two?
Number three coming out? Can we get some of that
red so that spicy stuff? All right?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
See what the sleigh very spicy sauce on Yeah, what
would you guess the components of that are probably chew.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Because it's not super are belief spicy? They're good today? Yeah,
they are.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I am aware that some of our listeners are fans
of other baseball teams, and for those of you who are,
a warning, the remainder of this episode might get pretty
annoying with a couple Dodger fans talking about what only
can be described as first place problems. Second half of
(24:06):
the year was honestly not great. When the Dodgers play
bad teams this year, there's been a trend.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
When we play the teams we should beat, we lose
like bad, like where it's so frustrating to see them
get struck out by these guys who are like journeymen
for teams that aren't they're not in the race. You know,
they won't be in the race for like a year
or two. They're like rebuilding and they'll beat the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
We got swept by the Angels, we got swept by
the Pirates, then we got swept by the Angels again.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
They've had their struggles this year. They lost a couple
games to the Pirates and then it's like, all right, guys,
we'll take the last one.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
And you look up and you're like skiks no, no wrong.
By early September, the Dodgers had lost thirteen of their
last seventeen games against teams with a losing record, which
brought their season total of such losses to twenty seven.
That's been hard to watch.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And it's one of the most frustrating things. I shut
the TV off. I personally will not watch them lose
when I sense they're going to lose by the seventh
or eighth inning. Think if I sense it, You've.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Been known to shut the TV off well before.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
The seven, well before the seventh, well before the seventh.
And I'm a deackhard fan, but I don't want to
see them lose because it's infuriating. I don't want to
invest the time to see them lose, cause what's the point.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
What's the point? Sometimes when you follow a baseball team closely,
spending hours and hours watching and listening to games day
after day for months, you find yourself asking that question
a lot, because we were losing a lot to these
sub five hundred playing teams. And then the unthinkable happened
(25:55):
when the Dodgers dropped out of first place. It got
so bad that we dropped out of first place.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
What's worse. We were supplanted in the top spot by
our upstart division rivals to the south. And we saw
the Padres in first place in the NL West this year,
which is not something that we like to see.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
No, we don't want to see them ever first place
in the NL West.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
But we did, and it's stung the Padres were in
first place.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Padres have been a pain in the Dodgers for the
past the whole season, they've been second place, second place,
second place, just right behind the Dodgers. And there was
a point where the Dodgers were just not clicking. We
were losing, they were winning, and I think they were
ahead of us by two games at one point. That
you know, and then congratulations. That's why I'm saying congratulations
to them. We give props where props are due. They're
(26:51):
a very good team. I'm not saying they're not a
good team. They're a very good team. They're very good.
When they click, they click, but not as good as us. Yeah,
it hasn't been pretty. They're not even going to reach
one hundred wins.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So it's like It's like, what's the point we weren't
playing our best baseball. We were searching for something to
galvanize the team. You have to fall down in order
to get back up again stronger than ever. Every team,
(27:26):
including all of the great ones, have their lulls, their slumps.
It's not about being perfect. It's more about timing. You
got to get hot at the right time, like right
as you head into the postseason. The problem is when
exactly these hot streaks and cold streaks happen is beyond
(27:50):
our control. So at this point in the season, what
you're hoping is you've already hit your lowest point, the
nay dear. As we look back at the twenty twenty
five Dodgers baseball season, when was our nay dear? Take
it away me, I would say that at the lowest
point the nay dear was the other night in Baltimore.
(28:17):
The other night in Baltimore, the Yoshinobu Yamamoto was throwing
a no hit game. We were just coming off of
a series where we were swept by the last place
Pittsburgh Pirates, and going into this game in Baltimore, we
had lost the previous four games straight. But then that
(28:38):
night in Baltimore, Yama puts the team on his back, flowing.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Past his pitch count.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
We don't care leave him in because he's gonna make history.
Tonight's history history tonight A no hit game from our ace,
Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That's the thing we need to get us
going again, getting.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
At ovation in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Whether folks are wearing blue or orange, many have risen
to their feet, an acknowledgment of what Yumblemotal can do,
what he has already done, done.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
No hits, giving up going into the ninth inning. All right,
the ninth thing. I was recording myself. Come on, so
was Wes.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Now it's recording.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
First batter, Tom, I'm swinging, strikeout, nasty pitch, one down,
strike out, the first hitter of the ninth inning. Second batter,
all the number nine hitter, Kobe Mary swinging on the
very first and.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Hitch just to Dean's ears.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Simple fly ball, out, routine, fly ball to the outfield.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
One, two gone, Okay, we got one more out.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
One hundred and eight pitches, Yams is close.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Everybody's standing up.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Foul ball to the backstop, and there's one.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Strikeouts, one strike one hundred and nine pitches. That's old
school baseball. Baby, it's a lot of pitches.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Rodgers need this.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Need a win, let alone this. Come on. It's a
ball all one and the count is even at one
and one.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Now this pitch will be his major League baseball career.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
High pitch.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Tails away ball two velocity is still there for amblebodo
that was it?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Ninety eight? Oh?
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Come on?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
And then on the fourth pitch, Yama throws to Jackson Holiday.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
I feel look at the long posters, w W did
he go?
Speaker 5 (30:41):
Whoa what?
Speaker 3 (30:44):
That's a home run?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I guess that Jackson Holiday something better, just like the doctor.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Gladden us down.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
It's just martally ours.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
That's crazy. Oh well, hopefully they can win this one.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Still still.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
First batter out, second batter out, one out away from history.
And then what happened.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Gave it a home run, give him a cookie.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Barely a home run, ball that bounced off of the
wall and came back into the field of play. No
hitter gone, shutout gone, Gushoba Yamamoto comes out of the game.
But we still had the lead. It was our game
to win, and we needed to end this losing streak
that we were on. It was up to our bullpen.
Blake trying comes in.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Flight ball left field, toward the gap. It is over
the base of.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
The wall, trying and doesn't have it till the backstop.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Oh no, I hit him ball. Four bases loaded.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
You can't throw a strike out? Why can't these guys
just throw a strike.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And with the bases loaded, full of Orioles and still
two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dodgers
manager Dave Roberts ops for his silver bullet to preserve
the Dodgers' one run lead. The offseason free agent acquisition
that was made expressly for scenarios just like this.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
The killer Tanner Scott, Yes Terror squad.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
He had had a rough start to his season and
he'd blown a handful of save opportunities like this one.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Like he was playing not so hot in the beginning.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
In the beginning, I felt like every time he came
in he was giving up a home run. Yeah, But
then he had corrected.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
And then he got good. He had a run in
July juneish where he had six six games saved like
in a row.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
On this night in Baltimore, we needed Tanner Scott to
come through. Wes just texted me stop watching.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
He said, as went it was.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
A pick, he could try and throw it for strikes, hotail,
a third hotail, well storm game over.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Oh wow, yeah, Tanner Scott comes in and immediately gives
up a game losing hit.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, that was absolutely heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
This was supposed to be the big turnaround. Instead it's
like the most disappointing kind of loss. We've both watched
a lot of baseball games, and I would say for me,
it was the most heartbreaking loss I've ever seen, because
you're watching this game for a few hours of your life,
and the excitement is building over time of a complete game,
(33:47):
no hitter, and then for that to evaporate so quickly
and turn into a heartbreaking loss. It almost felt like
the experience of a really promising season that falls apart
in the postseason immediately. It's a like a microcosm of that,
a one game version of that. It's that type of part.
(34:11):
And then another theme is like jumping on the field
and like ripping each other's shirts off and like crying
with happiness because they just feed the Dodgers.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
And they shouldn't have. Oh yeah, it's terrible. I mean,
I'm having the worst year of my life. So it's
it's not fun. Baseball hates me right now? All right,
you want to cruise down overa street a little bit,
sure jeeh, Let's check it out.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And now to close out this episode of Dodger Blue Dream,
we invite you to take a walk with Chef West
and myself down the historic Olvera street. To walk through
reminded me of something that at this moment seems inescapably true.
As weird as this year has been for the Los Angeles,
it's been a much weirder year for the people of
(35:04):
Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
It was like the random pictures. It's like they have
El Chapel with uh In the Jata, the Joker, and
uh Tony Soprano, like all in one picture, playing cards
like oil painting.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, it is pretty quiet down here.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
This is very quiet. This is like usually peak time,
tons of tourists and well, this is quiet quiet, man,
It's kind of eerie. This is the quietest I've ever
seen it.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
A lot of these little stalls that sell knickknacks are
shuddered and locked up.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, the shame, but I mean, if there's no customers
we're going to sell to, you.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Know, it's been a weird summer for the Dodgers, and
it's been a weird summer for Los Angeles in this
country with all the ice raids, and this has sort
of been ground zero for all of that.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah, I mean we're we're a five to ten minute
walk from the Federal building where all the National Guard
was at and everything was popping off. You know, we're
like right by there, right across the freeway, and it
sucks the effect that it has, you know, ripple effects
of all that. You want to check out the store, Hello,
thank you. Oh, here we go. This is what I'll
(36:27):
get turner. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's the perfect thing.
Just this please. Oh it's audio recorder.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, we're recording a podcast that we make about the Dodgers. Yeah,
it's been slower here, huh.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, the terrible tourists from around the world. They used
to go in the sun. Yeah, time we walk along. Yeah,
not even a rare point. He's just quieter than the pandemic.
(37:10):
They said it wasn't even this bad during the pandemic,
which is hot because the pandemic sucked for everybody to
especially stores, you could even come out.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
But there are a few people dancing in the square. Oh,
it is live music. It's just some like sort of
automated vacuum tracks.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I think it's like a DJ USB and he's playing
along with like different instruments, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Actually, yeah, he just put down his guitar own and
picked up of native flutes.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Pan flute.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, people dancing, really nice data day, perfect day, beautiful
day in l a crazy that is so quiet down here.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
The air.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
This is awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
And yeah it's a little sad.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Anything else. Oh, just people come eat here. It's really
chill right now and it's not normally like this, so
come get these taquitos. Well it's well, there's no line. Yeah,
signing off. This is wes Avila.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I'm Richard Parks in the immortal words of David VASSA
Sea Dodger. Blue Dream is written and produced by me,
Richard Parks, the third. My co host is Chef wes Avla.
(38:54):
Original music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch Jonathan
Snipes by me. This episode was story edited by Caitlin Esh.
Production assistance from Tyler Hill. Special thanks to Cilindo and
Olvarita's Village. Get out there and support these great La institutions.
(39:17):
Dodger Blue Dream is produced in partnership with iheart's My
Cultura podcast network. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. We'll be back with new episodes of Dodger
Blue Dream every Friday. Tell your friends thank you so
(39:39):
much for listening. Go Dodgers
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