Dodger Talk (2-17-23)

Spring Training Dodger Talk with David Vassegh live from Tarantula Hill Brewing Company joined by former Dodger and current broadcaster James Loney.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We are still alive here at TarantulaHill, a thousand Oaks. Thank you
for pushing through. I know you'veall been served since three o'clock. Petro
some money did a great job fromthree to seven, so appreciate them being
the fluffer to Dodger talk tonight.Thank you, Petros, Thank you appreciate
it. We are going to haveJames Loney here in person any minute.

(00:22):
He is parking, so James Loneyis going to join us in person,
and we do have technology. Wehave technology where we have a wireless microphone
here at Tarantula Hill and Thousand Oaksand we will pass that around if you
have a question for James Loney,So anything Dodgers you can ask Loni.
You could ask him about Kemp andRhanna. Anything you want, ask LONEI

(00:45):
about it. As we have Jamescome here in person, and you know,
Petros did such a great job ofgiving the history a thousand Oaks at
three o'clock, I feel like wehave to do an eight oh five roll
call, which I'm sure many ofyou have seen famous Major League Baseball players,
current and former around Thousand Oaks andaround Tarantula Hill. So I guess

(01:07):
are my neighbor Jeff Wurdsheim's here.He plays golf at North Ranch, and
the Weavers are infamous of playing golfthere, So Jared and Jeff Weaver would
be at the top of my eightoh five list as far as former baseball
players go. Mike Lieberthal, whoremembers Lieberthal, right, Phillies, Right
here we go, Mike Sosha,Rick Dempsey who's seen the eighty eight Dodger

(01:30):
catchers around town. And we gotMike Mustakis from Chatsworth High that lingers around
the ATO five, Christian Yelich,who is part of the Milwaukee Brewers Westlake
High Zone, former MVP who's kindof hit some hard times here Yelly and
Belly. That campaign went away veryquickly. Matt McGill, who remembers Matt

(01:52):
McGill from the Dodgers. Yeah,Jack Wilson and Kurt Stilwell, really evoking
the emotions from all of you outhere in Thousand Oaks. But as we
roll along until eight o'clock, Yes, this is my final show in Los
Angeles as we get ready for Dodgerbaseball. It is time for Dodger baseball.
As pitchers and catchers have reported tospring training. The first Cactus League

(02:15):
game is a week from tonight inwhere is it Merryvale? Actually it's a
day game in Merryvale. A weekfrom today. Dodgers Brewers. We'll see
whether or not Corbin Burns wants topitch after the way the Brewers treated him
in arbitration. So Corbin Burns notfeeling the love from the Milwaukee Brewers,

(02:38):
and he's a free agent after twentytwenty five. But there's a very good
chance that Corbin Burns may want outof Milwaukee, and they may want him
out of Milwaukee sooner rather than laterbecause of the bad feelings of the Brewers
basically going up against him in arbitrationfor less than a million dollars. Less

(03:00):
than a million dollars to go intoarbitration, and the way arbitration works is
the team puts down their own playerto win the salary. Oh, here
he comes. He's walking in,very nonchalant, very nonchalant. He just
came from his son's baseball practice.He's a champion of the city and a
man that will come all the wayout to Thousand Oaks, a man that

(03:23):
started his career with the Dodgers sevenof his eleven years in Major League Baseball
worth the Dodgers. And that's myguy, James Loney. Please Thousand Oaks
give him a warm welcome. Hereyou go, Loney, sit down,
relax, enjoy yourself. Do youwant beer, liquid, candy? Yeah,
we could drink. It's all goodwater. Okay, very very responsible

(03:44):
of the Looney. Thank you forcoming out here. Appreciate it. Yeah,
thanks for having me. Did yousee everyone? Is this the farthest
you've been up to? Note oneon one? Nah? I've been messing
around with the golf a little bitout here too, So there's actually yeah,
if you ever played North Ranch rightthere, that beautiful bald head in
the front row, he's like runsNorth Ranch. No, I haven't been
out there. I've been going tothis little indoor spot. It's called SBN

(04:05):
two and you get the track mantechnology. Looney, What is this like
drive line golf? What are youdoing simulating eighteen holes in two hours?
Oh? My god? It's goodfor me because I'm still working on I'm
working on it. Okay, Yeah, Loney, there's these people are not
here for me, They are herefor you. Sure, Yeah, I
think so. I think they arehere for you, and we have a

(04:28):
wireless microphone. They're gonna ask youquestions. We do have giveaways still,
are we still raffling off opening daytickets weeks or is that over with?
All right? We're still I gotthe raffles going on for opening Day.
I have a copy of Joe Kelly'sbook that will give away at a certain
point in time. We have hats, t shirts, so we got things
going on. But Loney, thesepeople are here for you. And you
came up with the Dodgers, spentyour first seven years with the Dodgers.

(04:53):
You haven't played in a while forthe Dodgers, but people still have a
special place in their heart for you. Yeah. No, it's good be
back out here. You know,I've been living out here the last couple
of years and just to see,you know, all the fans still right,
like, there's just so much energy, and I think after winning the
World Series, you know, itreally helped just bring back the excitement.
You know, we were trying whenwe were playing. We kept running into

(05:15):
the Phillies and they just kind ofkept beating us up in the playoffs.
So I'm glad, you know,they got to win in twenty twenty.
What was the best dough Tric teamthat you ever played on? Best one?
I thought, let's hear what youhave to say. I know there's
a few. I will say therewas one in the minor leagues where we
were, you know, ranked thenumber one. I'm just saying we were
in ranked number one team in theminors with a bunch of guys that I

(05:38):
ended up playing with in the bigleagues. So I think that definitely helped,
you know, helped us get ready. I would probably say either oh
eight or oh nine. Yeah,I would say, like when we've got
Manny Ramirez, you know, Dereklow was one of our main guys.
We had a great you know,overall just overall team. I'm trying to

(05:59):
think of some of the older guysto you know, Nomar was oh seven
was his last year. Casey BlakeFoundation, I think the Brick would like
to say at the base, Iwould say, oh nine were the best
years there. From the outside lookingin, it felt like, oh wait,
you guys had something. It wasManny's first year. Yeah, and
you beat the one hundred win Cubs. Who remembers James Loney's Grand Slam at

(06:19):
Wrigley Field in Game one in twothousand and eight. It felt like that
was the year you guys had somemagic. But like you said, the
Phillies were damn good. Yeah,they kept adding pieces, you know,
they would add like Cliff Lee oryou know, Roy Holliday yea, So
they were always, you know,coming for us, but we were always
right there with them. You know, they were just I feel like they'd
always get one big hit against usin the playoffs, or I remember,

(06:41):
you know, Matt there said thathome run and just looking up like hurt
my neck looking back at the ball. So just little things like that.
You know, I didn't put themover the edge. But you know,
we had a lot of young guystoo. I think I was like twenty
two, twenty three at the time. But we definitely, you know,
we worked our butts off. Youknow, we were definitely felt like we
should have won to We always havethat mentality, So I don't think we
can look back and say, like, you know, we didn't give it

(07:03):
our all. That's the voice ofJames Loney has joined us. Live here
Tarantula Hill and Thousand Oaks. We'regoing to be here until eight o'clock too.
Forty four Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Ifyou're in the area, there's still
plenty of seats available. Some ofthe people from earlier have dropped like flies
as far as being over served,But we full house here and Tarantula Hill

(07:26):
and Thousand Oaks sell out crowd,wouldn't you say, LONEI yeah, I'm
surprise you by how many people werethere. I haven't been here and I
love it. I mean yeah,I just love the place, the great
aesthetics. You know, I'm gonnahave to come here after I play my
indoor around, yeah, or ifI head out to the North Ranch.
They got the wood Fire pizza outthere. You see those Dodger fans in
the kitchen right there. They loveJames Loney. Yeah. So it's been

(07:48):
a great day out here. Thankyou all for coming out here and sticking
around for James Loney and Dodgery talk. If you're listening on the roads out
there in Los Angeles, we aretaking your phone calls if you have questions
for James Loney at eight six sixnine eight seven two five seventy. Also,
we have the wireless mike here ifyou want to ask James a question.

(08:09):
One of our guys right here,will right there, see it,
hold it up for everybody to see. There you are. That's our wireless
Mike question. Man. So ifyou have questions for James Loney, you
can do that. But you justmentioned some of the young players that you
came up with. You guys werecoined the Jacksonville Five. Do you remember
that? Yeah? Do you rememberthe five? Who is it? You

(08:31):
were one of them? Russell Martin, Yeah, Roach, that's right,
Roach, Yeah, Joelum that's right, that's right, and James Jacksonville five.
Memory. I'm still yeah, youstill got it, I would hope.
So, I mean, I meanyou were part of it. But
yeah, I mean I just Iremember I couldn't remember if it was like
Billingsley Bay. Yeah. What canyou say about those group of young players

(08:56):
and the name that you made foryourselves, because consider during the hard times
the Dodgers were in at that pointin time. Yeah, without you young
players, it would have been hardtimes. There was not going to be
an NLCS back to back appearance.Yeah. I think a lot of people
don't understand. You know, atthat point of when we got drafted,
we were so young. You know, Russell Martin was a third baseman.
You know, he learned catcher afterhe got drafted. You know, Matt

(09:20):
Kemp wasn't necessarily a polished product atthe time. He definitely, you know,
turned into the hitter he became throughoutlike the end of his minor league
career, and then even like Billingsleyand Broxton, you know, they had
always had good stuff, but Ifeel like when they got to the big
leagues, you know, they reallyjust learned how to pitch. And then
Kershaw came a little later. Butyeah, I always like to include him
in there. Yeah, it's kindof weird how Kershaw was the younger guy

(09:43):
of the group, right, Yeah, he was drafted a couple of years
after you guys started to make thingshappen in the minor leagues. Now he
can grow his beard in. Inoticed that it used to always be patchy,
and now he's got the full thinggone. Is it strange to see
him and see the evolution of hiscareer considering who he was on that first
start in two thousand and eight againstthe Cardinals and who he has become as

(10:05):
far as a future Hall of Famer. Yeah, I mean, I think
the evolution is a great word.You know, when he first came up,
he had that big, devastating slowcurveball, and you know, over
time guys were like, all right, maybe we can sit and wait on
that. And then he developed thatnasty slider, you know, kind of
cutter. It was like mid eightiesto low nineties, and it's just that's
one of the toughest pitches to hit. So I think he always adapted well
to the hitters. You know,it's fastball, he can mix it in,

(10:28):
he can mix it out, youknow, not throwing his hard the
last couple of years, but stillknowing how to pitch. So you know,
I remember playing with a guy GregMaddox. Yeah, when he first
came up, he was throwing hardlike her Shaw, and you know he's
got older. He wasn't throwing hishard, but he still knew how to
pitch. So, you know,anybody el young young kids out there that
are pictures, it's not always aboutthe velocity. So I know, travelball,
yeah whatever, it's Yeah, everybody'stalking about the ninety you know,

(10:52):
eight plus, But if you canpitch, I think they'll find a place
for you. When you look athim, now, did you ever believe
that he would reach where he hasgotten Yeah, I think. I mean
we saw it at the first game. You know, he had it in
his eyes. I feel like hehad that Patrick Mahomes kind of look right,
He's just like I got this,I'm locked in. This is my
game. And I just felt like, you know, he's gonna be dominant

(11:13):
from the beginning, and he nevergot too higher, too low. If
he had about bad game, hecould bounce back. And that's the thing
about you know, professional sports.I feel like the great ones bounce back
quicker. You know, like wetalked about having it at bat adjustin pitched
the pitch instead of a bat toa bat or game to game. It
feels like learning from him, justbeing around him. He continually says the

(11:37):
reason and everything that he does,it's about being consistent. It's one thing
to have one good starter than threenot so good starts. But I think
what separates him is the consistency.Do you feel like that's what separates the
great ones from just the good ones? Yeah? I think so. And
for you know, a pitcher executinghis pitches, hitting his spots. You
know, like you said, maybehe has one bad game, but he'll

(11:58):
come back the next week and throwhis bullpen session. You know, work
on what he has to work on, and that's what I think separates,
you know, being able to hitthose spots consistently, and then you can
get away with mistakes here and there, right, because guys hitters, aren't
we always gonna hit a home runon mistakes. So you know, if
you can limit those with the stuffthat he has, you know you're gonna

(12:18):
be pretty damn good. All right, James Loney is with us for the
full hour here at torrantiala LF thousandhons to sell out frown of great Dodger
fans as we are getting ready forthe first Cactus League game of twenty twenty
three coming up a week from today, Dodgers Brewers at twelve ten, and
you'll hear it right here on DodgersRadio and five seventy LA Sports. When

(12:41):
we come back, questions for JamesLoney line up, we'll get you up
here and we'll get James to answerthose questions rapid fire. And James has
definitely been around the game, sowe'll ask you about this year's Dodgers team
and those pesky padres that are allof a sudden not the little brother anymore.

(13:01):
They're trying to step to the bigbrother up here, so we'll get
into that as well. And Imay have a surprise guest calling in for
you lung shot across the world,but it might happen. So a lot
to get to between now and eighto'clock from Trrantilo Hill and Thousand Oaks with
James Loney on Dodger Talk until eighto'clock a five seventy LA sports folks.

(13:28):
Thank you to everybody who got hereand watch Petro some money do their show
and sticking around for Dodger Talk untileight o'clock. James Loney has been kind
enough to show up in the eightoh five and hang out with us for
the full hour. He is goingto take questions here around the Brewco.
So if you got something, stepup to the mic and maybe a good

(13:48):
question, we'll get you a copyof Joe Kelly's new book and you could
take it out to spring training.There we go, Joe Kelly t shirt.
Hey, come on, step upand you could take it out to
spring training. Joe told me thatyou have a better chance of getting an
autograph from him if you hold upthe book instead of a baseball. So

(14:09):
if you take this book to springtraining Camelback Ranch, same spot that the
Dodgers training and share the facility withthe Chicago White Sox. You tell Joe
Kelly you won this book on DodgerTalk. He will sign it for you,
no doubt. So James, pleaseput on your headset broadcasting one on

(14:30):
one. James. Yeah, okay, you got you got friends and family.
I hear your kissing babies out here, James. Flag football coaches?
Is that what you're telling me?I'm coaching four teams right now, four
teams and flag football fall. Ohmy gosh, James, I'm tired.
And you have kids at that veryelite school in Chatsworth, don't you to

(14:54):
my kids? Yeah? And thekids go there, so they're played a
little flag football there, and andone of them is like kind of in
the baseball program. Okay, yeah, what's uh? Have you ever been
to a basketball game? I have, I've been the one game. And
what's your scanner report on this kidnamed Brounnie? James? So, actually
I went a few years ago.I think it's been two or three years,

(15:16):
and he was a freshman. Yeah, you could tell. I mean
he had the potential obviously, andthe way he moved his basketball IQ,
you know, and just the thingsthat he was looking for on the court,
you could tell that he was youknow, you know, I don't
say be Lebron, but you knowhe's definitely gonna improve and get better what
he's done. So you feel likeif he gets to the NBA, it's
not nepotism. I don't think so. I mean, I think he's got
the tools. You know, you'veseen him with the dunks and like I

(15:37):
said, I just feel like hishis IQ is is so high. You
know, he's been around the gameand he knows when the past. I
feel like he knows when to shoot. And I'm sure he's still learning with
those things. But you know,to be at that school, you're you're
with one of the best programs inthe in the country. So you you're
gonna have high school baseball coaching inyour future. We'll see, we'll see

(16:00):
take it. I think Royce Claytoncoaches at Oaks Christian, Right, Yeah,
yeah, I run into him everyonce in a while. Did you
ever play against Royce Clayton. Idon't think we played against each other.
I think I just missed him.Is he running a good program? Out
there. I mean they get itis kind of like a college out there
more than out here, right,Yeah, I know it's big time,

(16:21):
you know. And I think theyeither won the championship last year or came
pretty close to it. So andI know, I think a couple of
his boys are playing and once incollege. So you know, he's doing
a great job. You know,he's played what ten over ten years,
so I think I think you knowwhat he knows what he's doing over there.
All right, that's the voice ofJames Loney. He is with us
live at Tarantula Hill and Thousand Oakes. We're here until eight o'clock. We

(16:41):
still have the raffle going on foryour chance to win Opening day tickets.
We got t shirts, hats,So thank you for everybody's sticking around.
So many people here. It's greatto be out here at Tarantula Hill and
Thousand Oaks. So James, thankyou for coming out here. And you
know, as we get in tothe twenty three baseball season, I feel

(17:03):
like you're to blame for a lotof these rules changes, James. I
remember being in the Dodger clubhouse aftera game where James was not happy with
the home played Umpire that night.They called him out bad bad strike three
call. It decided the game andyou were not happy. And one of
the few times James Loney gave hisopinion, Your opinion was you need Baseball

(17:26):
needed Robot umpires. Do you rememberthat, James, Yeah, I definitely
remember. I remember, I thinktalking to you about it. I was
there. I think I even gotwell I did, I've gotten ejected before
after the game was over, whichis I don't know if that's possible after
the game was over. Yeah,he said, you're gone. I'm like,
I'm leaving. Anyways, you calledme out games games over, I
mean might as well, you know, yeah, that's right. That was

(17:48):
twenty twelve, so that probably wasthe game that probably was the game that
put me over the line. AndI you know, for me, it's
like I get it's a hard job, especially being back there and know,
but I just felt like that callwas really a ball and it was so
I mean, like I said,I understand they're gonna miss, you know,
the tough ones a couple inches offhere and there, But I mean

(18:10):
I'm all for like getting the gamecorrect. You know, you see it
in the NFL A lot with thereplay, and obviously baseball has the replay.
But you know, I think thestrike zone is the most missed,
most missed calls in any sport.I mean, obviously it's it's repetitive,
right with ball strikes. I mean, you know how many pitches a game,
Probably over two hundred and fifty pitchesfor total, So you know they're

(18:32):
gonna miss some, but you know, you hate for it to come down
to that. And then as afan, everybody sees it at home with
the strike zone indicator. Yeah,and everybody knows that accept the umpire.
So wait a minute, James Loneyis still in favor of robot umpires,
and it looks like the automated strikezone is on the horizon because they are

(18:53):
going to test it in Triple Athis year. So I feel like when
the automated strike zone comes into play, it should be called the James Loney
automated strike zone. Since you werethe first player to advocate for this,
I'll second that. I'm good.I'm good with that. So you're still
all in for the robot umpires,I'm all in. I mean, as
long as it's a smooth process andit's accurate, you know, I'm all

(19:15):
for it. You know, youdon't want to take it too much time
away from the game. You know, they're changing some of the rules because
the game is too slow already.So yeah, I'm I'm I'm good with
it. See, I feel likewe're not perfect. Umpires are not perfect.
The game of baseball is not perfect. And the reason why I think
all of us fell in love withbaseball is the personalities of the game is

(19:38):
a big part of it, andthe umpires are a big part of the
personality of the game. So Idon't know if you're gonna sterilize the game
a little bit too much. Yeah, I know. I do like the
arguing, and you know, youlike the back and forth. I like
going into the clubhouse and baiting youto rippire. It gives you questions,
ask yeah, exactly, it won'tbe fun anymore right right now? I

(20:00):
get it. I get it.But what do you feel about do you
feel like these new rules? Andif you do go that far, will
it take the human element too farout of the game. I mean,
like I said, I think aslong as it's quick enough, you know,
I don't think people will have anissue with it, you know,
I think the whole point is toget the calls right, and especially as
a hitter or even a picture right. It's like I did my job by

(20:22):
taking a close pitch and now you'recalling it a strike on me. Right.
I don't think no player wants that, right, Nobody wants to go
down strike three balls eight inches offthe plate, you know for the human
element, like we're not, wedon't care. Okay, Yeah, I
could live with that change. Yeah, I mean, I mean think about
it. I mean, over thecourse of the year, if that happens,

(20:44):
you know, a few times,that could be a game you lose,
which maybe be a game that youmiss the playoffs because of right,
So just those things out up andobviously numbers right, right, some people,
you know, maybe I can getas bigger contract, right if they
you know, have five less homeruns or if they miss you know,
thirty home run season or whatever.So it's just stuff like that where I
feel like we have the technology,you know, we have the capability to

(21:07):
do it. You know, atleast let's try it and see what happens,
all right, James Loney, howabout the new rules that are in
play for this year, You likethe pitch clock obviously to get the game
going. What about the bigger bassesand limiting how many times pictures can throw
over as far as disengaging the rubberonly twice. Yeah, I think it's
a little low, you know.I think they could maybe maybe four or
five just to experiment with that,because I do like the art of the

(21:32):
stolen base. So with the artof the stolen base comes with the art
of the pickoff, right, Like, all right, am I gonna,
you know, hold a little longerhere? Am I gonna do a quick
move? You know? As alefty, Am I gonna hang? Am
I gonna you know, pick overon this pitch? So, you know,
I feel like the pictures should havea few more options, you know,
to work with, even though Ias a hitter, I'm just giving
them a little little credit right nowthat they could potentially pick off guys.

(21:55):
Do you know as a hitter,you have to be in the batter's box
and ready to go with eights lefton the clock. Would James Loney be
ready with eight seconds to go?I wish I would have brought a bat
for you to demonstrate how long ittook you. I got about Yeah,
maybe you should we can get thatbat out here, and you can tell
us your routine. Because last nighton Sports in at La, Jerry Harriston
got the buzzer. Yeah he didnot. He didn't like it. He

(22:18):
couldn't get he did. His wholething is swing a couple of times,
you know. Yeah, Jerry's gonnatake twenty five minutes to yese get right.
You know, the buzzer came onhim. How about on you with
the buzzer, come on you.I mean I think I think that too.
I mean I think there should beabout twenty five thirty seconds, you
know, just to get a littlelonger. You know, some guys have

(22:40):
the routine right you're thinking about,well, what did he pitch me last
and the situation? Yeah right?And or what about taking you know,
taking signs right from the coaches,you know, stuff like that. I
guess in triple A asking like JamesHoutman last year, he told me as
a hitter to get the signs fromthe third base coach. Now, you
better start looking as soon as yougo from the on deck circle to home

(23:00):
plate because you can't step out andthen look. So that's how they hit
her some triple A. We're gettingthe signs they were looking over as they
were walking to home plate. Right, yeah, I mean that's the thing.
Everything's gonna be sped up in thatregard. And you know, I
think some hitters, like you said, it's just more of like, all
right, I got time to getmy signed do I got time to think
about the situation. Only time willtell. But I guess with the data

(23:22):
they have, you know, receivedin the minor leagues, you know,
I guess it's been good enough.Yeah, right, so I guess you're
like, all right, these numberswork, So let's see if it works
in the big leagues. All right, James Loney, We're gonna take a
time out here, our final timeout on Dodger Talk. When we come
back. If you have questions forLoney, line up right here and we'll
take them for you. And uh, if we like the question, if

(23:44):
Loney likes the question, no,if you like the questions, okay,
sorry, I'll be the bad cop. You're the good cop, A good
cop. Loney right here. Questionsfor James Loney live at Torrantula Hill and
Thousand Oaks. Next plus maybe maybethat special guest we'll hall from New Zealand.
You never know. You never know. James Loney is live with us
until eight o'clock right here on afive seventy LA Sports. All right,

(24:10):
we are back live at Treential Hilland thousand, notas James Loney. All
is well, All is well,James Loney signing hats, signing autographs,
doing a great job out here.Thanks a lot for coming out here,
Loney. Can you believe we haveless than twenty minutes with you? I
mean this is flown by yeah pro. Let's get your mic on here,

(24:32):
Loni. There we go, proMan. Yeah, you know, all
goods following your steps. Thank you. It's been we've known each other since
you first got called up with theDodgers. I know, I've been hosting
Dodger Talk and traveling with the teamsince twenty twelve. But you were the
only guy that would talk to meback in the day. I was trying
to keep you, keep you,I know, keep you around and look

(24:55):
see I know still here. Everybodythinks Ethier was my first guy from here.
No, it was James Loney.James Loney was the first one that
really embraced me. And then youwere part of a long line of guys
in that area of the Dodger Clubhousebecause at first it was Jason Worth in
the in that area of the oldDodger Clubhouse, and then Alex Cora and

(25:17):
Caesar as tourists were my guys aswell. I never went too deep into
that clubhouse. That was the deepend of superstars. That was where Nomar
and Jeff Ken and Maddox and DerekLowe were, So I did not want
to dive deep into that clubhouse.I was young and intimidated a little bit.
You know, it took some time. It took some time. But
if you have any questions for JamesLoney, he would talk to me and

(25:41):
answer my questions. We got somepeople here that want to ask James some
questions, So just say your nameand where you're from, and then fire
away. Kristen is my name.My question is do you have a favorite
Dodger memory with Vince Gully or justDodger memory in general? I mean I
could probably. I mean my favoritememory as a Dodger probably personally would be

(26:06):
hitting nine RBIs in one game,you know, I think it was.
It was my first year up anduh yeah, it was just a great
day for me personally, and thenrealizing the next day, I wasn't starting.
Yeah, I got kicked out thelineup. Yeah, I did not
start. It's a tough and thatwas pre analytics. It was pre analytics.
Yeah, they were like, Idon't know who we were facing Riety

(26:26):
the next day. Yeah, thematchup the computer did. You can't blame
the computer. But I did goin that game and my first a bat
I hit a home run? Wow? Who was that? Off Jason Schmidt?
Jason Schmidt, right, kind oftea great question, great question.
You're in the running for this book. Alright, Uh, I'm Bram.

(26:51):
What's the toughest picture you ever faced? And why? So? I did
face Mariano Rivera only twice. I'mone for two, so I'm hitting five
hundred, but it was a sixhopper groundball at the middle that barely got
through but still counts, still counts, still counts. But overall, I
would probably say Barry zero left hander. I was like two for twenty five

(27:15):
Offen and he wasn't throwing that hard. It was kind of late in his
career, and I guess I kepthim around longer. I don't know.
It must have been up in SanFrancisco, because those pictures are different animals
up there. It was everywhere.Really, you couldn't see the curveball it
was coming towards you. Yeah,he hit it out for me, all
right, Barry Zo never would haveguessed that one, but it was a

(27:36):
giant all right. Who else dowe got out here? I'm body goodman,
and I'm wondering when did he like, no, baseball was gonna be
your in sport that you could actuallyget far and make a career off it.
I remember being in elementary school andriding down, you know, and
it was for like a project orThey's like, what do you want to
be? I was like, I'mgonna be a baseball player, you know,

(27:57):
like there was really no out inmy mind. You know. I
don't know exactly why at that time. I just like playing it. I
know. I would practice on myown, like I would just throw a
ball, a tennis ball off thewall to myself, you know. I
would go to the park play withfriends. So I just felt like I
was always involved in some capacity.You know. I would watch the game
differently. I feel like I wouldwatch shortstops a lot. I would watch

(28:18):
pitchers just to kind of be like, oh, this is how they move
you know, this is how theyyou know, pitch batters, just stuff
like that. Really trying to like, you know, watch all kind of
views of the game versus just youknow, the home runs. So yeah,
you know, definitely in probably thirdgrade, you know, I would
say like, no, this isthis is what I want to do.

(28:40):
So you're saying, little James Loneyin Houston, Texas was throwing tennis falls
office garage door. Who were youpretending to be when you were you know,
emulate We all emulate somebody in thebackyard, right, Yeah, it
was. Remember there's a lot ofLatin shortstops, I think at the time,
So I think I just picked themshortstops. And then like remember like

(29:02):
ray Ordunians. Yeah yeah, greatglove, no bat great glove. You
know I was watching the gloves.Yeah right, but yeah, I just
I just love how smooth those guyswere, and I just felt like,
oh, maybe this is the wayyou're supposed to move with your body.
And you know, I felt alwaysfelt like pretty relaxed up there, you
know, and I've tried not toever get tense because I always felt like
that would slow you down or you'dget nervous or something like that speaking of

(29:25):
your youth and playing baseball and youthbaseball, aren't you a product of the
RBI program. You're living proof thatit works. I did. I played
a year there, I think itwas in ninety nine. Yeah, and
we ended up going to the DisneyResort in Orlando and playing like a big
World Series against other states. Sowhen you're that young, you know it's
it's obviously a great moment. Youknow, you even make you know some

(29:47):
new friends from different areas, right, you keep up with what they're doing
in their baseball career. So yeah, I know it's a great programs kids
asking you questions. I'm sure they'replaying Little League, and my son just
started playing Little League last year,and they don't provide bats, helmets,
or gloves anymore. I was shot. It is an expensive sport. And

(30:07):
I know you're part of the PlayersAlliance, and I'm sure you're tired of
hearing why there isn't more diversity inthe game of baseball as far as African
Americans. But I don't know howanybody can afford playing baseball these days.
They've got to do something about thecost of equipment, right, Yeah,
I mean, you know there's somany different companies out there too now competing
and I think with the technology,especially with the bats, you know,

(30:30):
they're just making them a lot different. And you know, even me,
I don't even know what bat tobuy my kids. You know, I'm
like twenty different models and which onegoes farther or which one you know,
is more balanced and all that.But yeah, I know it's it's a
tough. It's tough, you know, and it's like, what does my
kid really need? At wood age? And I always recommend if you are
going to spend on equipment, definitelydo it on the glove. You know,

(30:52):
always get try to get like oneof the best gloves out there,
because you know, I know mykid was like t ball. I hated
the t ball glove. Yeah,it didn't matter what kind of was like,
just didn't really close, right.Yeah, So I was always like,
I gotta get them, you know, the good gloves and you know
they're gonna feel confident when they're onthe field, and you know, so
you always want to make sure that'skind of like your number one priority as

(31:14):
far as equipment. Growing up inthe San Fernando Valley, I knew so
many great players that came out ofLocke High School, like Eddie Murray and
Ozzie Smith or Darryl Strawberry was oneof my favorite players out of Crenshawn Eric
Davis out of Fremont. There's justso many. The list goes on and
on. How do we get thosekids back involved in baseball when the cost

(31:37):
of playing is so high? Yeah, No, I think it's programs like
the RBI, the Players Alliance,you know, really get it out in
the communities and you know, beinga voice, right, showing our face.
And I think instruction too, Right, Baseball is not always the easiest
sport to pick up if you haven'tplayed it at an early age. So
whether it's learning how to feel thegroundball or you know, visualizing your swing,

(32:00):
just stuff like that, right,Just like the little nuances there of
the game, because I think it'sa great sport for for everyone. Right.
And then I know a lot ofkids that didn't play at an early
age, but they're already athletic andbasketball or football and they picked it up.
They picked it up later, youknow, really well because they're listening.
I feel like those kids are actuallyeven could be even hungrier because it's

(32:21):
like, oh, I want to. I need they know they need to
learn, right wheresus? Some kids, when they're really natural, sometimes it
doesn't you know, they're like,oh, I'm already good. So you
know, I don't really need tolike listen to the coach all the time.
I'm coaching fourteens guys. So it'sa lot of yelling. It's a
lot of yelling. James yelling.I can't picture that. So it's I
think you're yelling? Is not areyelling? I have a whistle? Okay,

(32:45):
whistle is good. I have awhistle. You want to take the
headset off? Whistle? You can'twhistle with your fingers? Wow? You
got the chain too? I shouldYeah, the lanyard, yeah yeah,
yeah, I got all? Igot it all. Yeah. What's the
other thing? The bullmorn? Iwas, Yeah, that's right. I
was gonna get that. That's thenext step. That's the megaphone. Oh

(33:06):
my gosh, James, I don'twant to know what kind of kids you
got on your team there. JamesLoney is lie with us at Torrentially Hill.
We only have about ten minutes leftwith him. Thank you so much
for coming out, and we stillhave more fans. I want to ask
him some questions, So step upto the mike. What do you got
for James Loney? Say you're namingwhere you're from? Do it like you
would be calling in right now.But I can't hang up on you if

(33:28):
it's not a good question. That'sthe only difference. Hey, James,
my names Rene, lifetime Dodger fan. I know you came up with the
Dodgers, played with some others otherteams throughout your career, and here you
are back years later representing the Dodgers. What makes you proud to have been
a Dodger. That's a good question. I get that a lot. You

(33:52):
know, I always started with thehistory, right, you know, you'ven
going back to Brooklyn and just whenI got drafted in two thousand and two,
you know, being around like TommyLosorda, Mariy Wills, don Nucam
and those guys, just being aroundso much and embracing us right, wanting
us to be better, you know, being around the bat and cage while
we're hitting. I just think thingslike that they're always gonna stick with me.

(34:14):
So I would always say, like, those memories and those moments,
you know, are kind of whatyou know keeps the allure of the Dodger
nation. You know for me,great question. You want that book?
Come on, get that book,Come on, get that book. He
liked that. Questions are pretty good. Answer. Well, you said it
was a good question, So herewe go. Oh you want the book

(34:35):
too, I'll ask Joe Kelly onefor you. Great question. All right,
who else we got out there?I got another young fan. Hey,
I'm Aidan from Long Beach. Iwas wondering. I always felt like
you and Ethier had the prettiest swings, both lefties. What do you think
it is about lefties that make himhave the prettiest swings. Yeah, I
don't know. Maybe it's because youdon't see it all the time, you

(34:58):
know, I don't know. AndI feel like we got some pretty good
like finishes with our swing. Youknow, you go back to like Ken
Griffy Junior, and you know,he's always kind of the guy we looked
at growing up, is having apretty swing. That's Ethier's favorite player.
Yeah, yeah, he was definitelyone of mine, you know, in
my top three for sure. Soyeah, I mean, I just think
you don't see it very often.And then, you know, I know,

(35:19):
lefties, you know, we getto a lot of low and end
pitches, so then our swing isactually a little more under the ball because
it's a lower pitch. So thenlower the pitch, you know, probably
the higher the finish we're gonna have. So maybe maybe that's what it is.
Speaking of Andre Ethier, we allsaw how emotional he would get in
his younger days when he would strikeout, come on, don't Yeah yeah,

(35:40):
how would you avoid that that batrack and just avoid his tantrums?
Yeah? You kind of just knew, right, like, all right,
I'm gonna back up a few stepshere. I actually remember doing that in
double A myself. Really. Yeah, but it was just like, all
right, I don't want to keepbreaking all the bats in the bat rack.

(36:01):
You would have to appreciate, though, a player, a guy on
your team that cares that much,that's gonna go to that level of frustration.
Yeah. No, I mean hedefinitely cared. I think, you
know, as a unit, that'sthat's how we looked at it, right.
It was always like, all right, you know, what what are
we doing out here? We're righthere to win, you know. Now.
It's just kind of the mentality allthe time. Yeah, And I
always felt like we should have abig pinata sound loud with maybe not candy,

(36:27):
but what's something that, yeah,you know, we would like and
yeah, just take it out onthe pinata. Love it. I love
that honest answer. All right.We have another young fan that has a
question for James Loney from Terrantla Hill. Hey, what was it like playing
for Joe Tory? Oh that's right. Joe Tory was your manager at No.
Eight oh nine until twenty eleven,right, I think so, yeah,

(36:52):
twenty ten, Now it was great. I mean, you know,
it's very calm presence, but expected, you know, expected a lot of
us, you know, if hesaw something. I remember, you know,
then I got picked off first baseleading off and I wasn't even stealing,
and he's like, oh, youknow, he just kind of came
to me. It was like,look in that situation, you know,
this is what I want you tobe thinking. Right. So I just

(37:15):
felt like, you know, whenhe needed to say something, he would,
but then when he needed to letus play, he would. It's
always felt like it was a goodbalance and you could you could tell the
care you know, so we alwayskind of looked at him like a father
figure in that regard, and uhno, it's great. You know him
coming off the Yankees and we hadsome great years together. I remember Shack
would say, you know, DelHarris never really got his respect. But

(37:37):
then when Phil Jackson came in withthe Rings and you know, the reputation
that he had, everybody listened.So was it like that with Joe Tory?
It felt like the players had moreattention towards him and what he had
to offer. I mean, Ithink you're definitely, you know, thinking
about that, either out loud orin the back of your head, right
in some regard. So yeah,I mean I think there was an expectation

(38:00):
too. When he came over.It was like, all right, you
got any manager can from the Yankeeswinning championships. You know, that's what
he's gonna bring here, and that'swhat we're gonna do, you know.
So I just felt like all theplayers kind of looked at him like,
yeah, like we're ready to go. We're ready to go battle, you
know with this guy. You know, I don't like to say four because
I always think players, you know, you should be bound you know,

(38:22):
for everyone, for yourself too,right, right, So you know,
I felt like we always had agreat mentality, but you know he was
he was great, you know,just having just having him like even view
the game in different whether it's defense, pitching, you know, offense.
There were so many different different anglesthat he could approach. All right,
a couple of more for James Loney. We're out of here in just about

(38:42):
five minutes, and I will unveilwho the special guest that I was trying
to surprise James with. It's notgonna happen. And also once we sign
off here, if you still haveyour raffle ticket, hold on to it
because we will raffle off opening daytickets plus a lot of other prizes.
So hang out after the show ends. But we have a couple of more

(39:04):
questions, So just say your nameand where you're from and how much you
love Dodger talk. Just say,okay, my name is Peyton Eklan.
I'm from Templeton, California. Butmy question is wait, wait, wait,
where's Templeton, California? Like SanLouis Like yeah, okay, And
my question is what was your favoritestadium to play at? And why favorite

(39:24):
stadium? I was here with anew California city every day. I've never
heard of Templeton. No, myfavorite stadium obviously here guys, come on
right, yeah, road city.Favorite road city would be Chicago. Yeah.
Is it because of the Grand Slam? No? No, well parts
maybe now partially, Yeah, ButI just love the you know, nostalgia

(39:49):
there right, Like the stadium Ithink was Builton, I don't know,
nineteen o eight or something, yeah, or that was when they want I
think last one, but maybe eveneighteen hundreds, you know, you know,
whenever it was built. Yeah,that water fountain has a lot the
dents on it over one hundred years, in that dugout, in the ivy
on the wall. I just loveplaying there. The fans kind of feel
like they're on top of you.The seats are closer than a normal stadium.

(40:10):
But yeah, I didn't hitting theGrand Slam doesn't hurt, you know,
a lot of a lot of peopledid not like me. The next
day, that was great. Iwas at il Taredo and Woodland Hills watching
that game. I was very excited. Nice, nice and overserved. One
more question, one more question?What do we got? Walk us off
tonight with James Loney? I justMichael from Santa Karita for some foremost you're

(40:32):
my favorite Dodger of all time.Thank you. You're not just saying that
because he says you can verify withdoctor Luke. He's got a tattoo,
I think. Okay, Okay,so if I brought Blake to Wit up
here next week, you're not gonnasay Blake de Witt was your favorite Dodgers.
Okay, what's your question? Myquestion is most people don't know that
you were a pitcher. What wasyour goal to pitch? And do you

(40:57):
wish that you had an opportunity topitch in a majors So, I mean,
and I played pitch in high schooland then I'd probably say my go
to pitch in that time was myfastball, and I had a pretty good
change up too, So but yeah, I mean I was I was kind
of begging them to let me pitch. But you know, at that time,
back in the day, it's likethey didn't really they didn't want you
to get hurt, you know,trying to do that, and they wanted

(41:19):
you to focus on hitting and that'swhat they drafted you for. But they
did tell me if the hitting thingdidn't work out, then we could try
you as a pitcher. So Idon't know, I guess I didn't play
right field, ran into the wall. I did. That was the last
time I played right field. Yeahall right, well thank you everybody for
now. I'm sorry. See thisis where I would hang up onto you.
No, there's no follow up here. Okay, we'll do that after

(41:42):
we are wrapping it up here.I have to let James know who the
special guest was that was going tocall in. I put a text into
Manny ramiress assistant yesterday. Manny wastraveling to New Zealand yesterday and Manny being
Manny, ghosted us. So I'msorry. Yeah, there you go.

(42:04):
I was trying to surprise you withManny MRIs. Appreciate it. Thank you
for coming out. Really appreciate it. Please everybody give James Loney a round
of applause. If you have questionsfor him, he'll stick around. Thank
you to the entire and five seventyLA Sports crew for all your help,
especially our marketing guru, Vice presidentof Everything, Dave Weis. He had

(42:25):
the vision for this and it cameto fruition. So thank you, Dave.
Great job. Thank you to JohnEdney and Alizia, the owners of
Torrantula Hilling thousand Oakes. Thank youfor all that. Thank you to our
guy Burt Weiner. Thank you toPetros and Money for coming out here all
the way from where they live PartsUnknown, and especially my guy, the

(42:47):
lone Dog, James Loney. Greatto be back together again and trust me,
you will see a lot more ofJames Loney in twenty twenty three.
Thanks a lot, James appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thanks for having
me. Guys. We will belive from Arizona on Monday night for Dodger
Talk. Thank you for coming outhere and sending me off. Next time
you hear from me will be fromKemmelback Ranch. Have a great rest of

(43:09):
your night here at Trentually on onethousand Oaks. See U.