August 5, 2025 • 9 mins
Nomar talks about the team's struggles at the plate, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts' slumps and Freddie Freeman's recent hot streak.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk. Well,
I'm joined by a man that only takes the one
ten freeway from the South Bay to Dodger Stadium. You
won't see him anywhere else north or south, and certainly
not in my area. The Grade one eight that is
two time batting champion and a champion of sports net La,
(00:20):
the one and only Nomar Garcia para nomr. Thanks a
lot for the time. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I appreciate it, Dave. And you know what, I would
go to your area. You just have never invited me
for dinner or anything like that, so don't blame me
for not going over there.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I feel like you're the type of friend where I
have to come see you.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That'd be nice, though, But you know I am by
the beach, so you know, as a friend, i'd say, listen,
why don't you come over here. The weather's nice, nice
little cool breeze. We can eat outside.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hey, that's the veteran attitude. You have to come to
me if you want help.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh, I wasn't thinking that way. I was just thinking
about surroundings.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey, the valley's great, Nomar, you gotta get a taste
one day. But you're the hit doctor in my opinion,
you obviously are very cerebral about hitting offense, team offense,
individual offense. What do you see with this Dodger offense
right now in the last not even ten games, but
thirty forty games?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You know, it's I know, it seems like collectively there's
a lot of guys who are struggling or in the slump.
You know, obviously looking at Freddy Freeman him coming out
of it. You see show hey o Tani right now,
he's struggled a lot of swings and miss. I think
that's one of the things that I think is more
stuggling than anything, just the amount of swing and miss
by this offense. I think early on, even if they
(01:31):
may not have been scoring, or we were even questioning
about this offense, remember early in the season, we're like, man,
the bottom part of the slide up really needs to
get going. The top part was carrying them, but there
was no bottom part. And I thought, Andy Pie is
when he really started going really linked in the lineup,
really changed things. You know, Max Munsey too, you know,
(01:51):
and then he got started getting hot. That started changing
the combination of those. But I think the swing and
miss wasn't as much as wasn't as prevalent. May not
have been getting hits, but there wasn't as much swing
and miss as what we're seeing right now, and more
swing and miss. Maybe it's more amplified. It is because
you're seeing it more from the Superstars than anything, you know,
So Freddie Freeman obviously is gonna have a show. Hey,
(02:12):
there has been an awful lot. I think from a
mechanical standpoint with show, Hey, you know, I think I
could tell that he feels like he's not where he's
supposed to be. So we as hitters, we have a
tendency always when we're in a slump like we're gonna
feel beat. So we are already maybe deciding before the pitchers,
before he even releases the ball, before we even see it.
(02:33):
And so I think his front side is clearing. I
think you have that feeling of being beat, so you
want to clear that front shoulder out. Your body naturally
instinctively says okay, I got I gotta get the barrel
to it so you fly open, and I think he's
doing that. So both his hips and his shoulder are
flying open together. This top half usually stays closed while
his bottom half goes. So I think that haves it.
(02:55):
So I think you see a lot of these guys
who are maybe later swinging underneath it. It's that feeling
right now and not trusting that you can let the
ball travel. You always hear when guys you're doing well, Dave,
don't you always hear that term, I'm letting it get deep,
I'm trusting my hands, I'm letting the ball travel. That's
because you feel like you're in a good spot. You're
not going to feel beat by this picture on his fastball,
and you can wait for it to maybe when they
(03:17):
release it, to maybe make your decision before trying to
make a decision before that.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
No, Mar Garciapara, No Mar. Everybody seems to have a
solution for Mookie Betts. What do you see for Mooki?
This is not a month, this is not two months,
it's a whole season.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah. Well, if you watch our show, there's a lot
of times you hop. Jerry and myself we talk about
the top hand an awful lot and we always believe
when Mooki Betts is going right, that top hand really
comes into play. And the reason why we talk about
the top hand so much. Is a lot of times
that top hand when you're holding your bat helps you
(03:53):
keep the barrel above the ball almost as long as possible.
You think about keeping that barrel above the ball, and
then it eventually falls into the hitting zone as you're
swinging through. You know, old school when everybody's like, oh,
you swing down on the ball on your tad like, oh,
they're thinking about swinging down, you don't swing down on
the ball. Well, the reason that guys old school would
think about swinging down is, you know, you're really trying
(04:14):
to think about keeping the barrel above your hands as
long as possible. Tony Wynn, for example, would always talk
about knob to the ball. He was a big knob
to the ball, right. Well, if you think about that,
if you took the knob toward the ball, where the
ball's down below your you know, going toward your waist
or wherever it is, it's below your hands when they start,
for example. But as you put that knob to the ball,
where's the barrel, the barrel still above your hands. So
(04:37):
he might have been maybe bottom hand dominant with thinking
that bottom hand taking the knob to the ball to
keep the barrel above the hands. Some people are doing that,
but then I use my top hand a lot, so
I thought top hand to keep my barrel above my
hands as long as possible and then fire it through.
Mookie Betts has a tendency where that barrel lags early on.
As he's starting to swing, it starts going down it's
already underneath. So you see a lot of balls where
(04:59):
he's underneath when he swings and misses, or when he
does make contact, it's that pop up or honestly, it's
a flare to right field. You don't see the backspin
going to right field. You see that slice to right field.
We actually even saw it yesterday when Lars made that
amazing play on it. That was what we call a
flare or the spin on the ball because he was
underneath the ball or he's almost to the side of
(05:20):
the ball as he's making contact, because that barrel is
dropping way too early.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, mar I've heard different players say you could be
in a hitting cage for three hours and find any
little thing and put yourself into a slump. Do you
feel like, obviously, work ethic is not Mookie Betts's issue,
but do you feel like he's doing too much.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Listen, it's I will never knock somebody say hey, you're
doing too much or you're doing it's it's not a
matter of doing too much, it's a matter of understanding
what you're doing. I mean, it's like you know, you
always say, hey, practice makes perfect, well does it's then
you but we always say perfect, practice makes perfect, and
you're never going to be perfect. But with that's more
(06:00):
talent is like, listen, you got to practice the right
way in order to get to where you want to be.
I mean, if you're doing something that's wrong and you're
just you know, swinging, and I swung for hours, but
I was still continuing doing the same thing wrong over
and over again, while I'm just making it worse, not
necessarily making it better. Trust me, I do that on
the driving range all the time, trying to figure out
(06:21):
what am I doing wrong? Here?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
No, mare Garcia Para knows hitting better than most is
joining us here before first pitch. No, mar, let's talk
about somebody that I think you can relate to as
far as just the way you see hitting. Freddie Freeman
in a long slump but found his way out of it.
Now on the last road trip, how I mean, can
you relate to Freddy? Am I saying that correctly?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well? You know what? I love talking hitting with Freddy
or listening to him talk hitting as well, just because
he understands himself, He knows himself. He knows when things
are going bad, he knows when things are going well.
And you always hear him like I'm grinding or I'm struggling.
(07:06):
It's true. Just because you know when things are going
well about yourself doesn't mean you always have. It doesn't
mean you but you understand it. Like you know, Freddie
Freeman talks about ballflight at times, you know, or the
spin of the ball coming off his bat. He recognizes
to understand, okay, if it's not coming off the way
you like or what you're used to, you know something's
off in your swing. May not know what at that moment.
(07:27):
You're maybe grinding to try to find that, but you
know there's something that's causing that. But you're like man I,
So he's practicing maybe to try to get a certain
spin off the ball or a certain area. If I'm not,
you know, this ball on the inner half, I should
be turning on it better or I should be staying
inside of it. Better whatever. Maybe he understands himself and
that's what's just so impressive, which I always say, he
(07:49):
minimizes his sumps very well. You can go through a slump.
We're all going to go through him. But he does
an excellent job minimizing his slumps very well. And then
when he finds it, has a tendency to stay in
those zones a lot longer as well. So he's so
impressive to watch. But the other thing I love about
Freddie Freeman is when he is in a slump, he
has something that like he goes to or that like
(08:11):
when the game is telling him, like you gotta battle,
you gotta grind, you have to find a way. You
see him do that, Like it's not the same swing,
but maybe he's working on something in one at bat
and nobody on and he's trying to find it, and
he misses a pitch whatever, But there's a man on
third base and there's less than two outs that swing.
All of a sudden changes it's no longer about worried
(08:33):
about my mechanics are offer. I'm struggling on trying. He's going, listen,
I am grinding, I have a go to swing that
I got to figure out how to put this ball
play because that RBI guy's mine and we've seen him
do that. And when he was in a slump like,
he finds a way. Whether it's a rollover to second
basement because the second basement's back, or the short stuff,
but he's finding a way. And that's what I also
love about him is that he also knows he has
(08:53):
to go to that when they push comes to Shob,
I'm winning.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I'm a big believer. The Dodgers have a great resource
here before every home game that he's working on sports
and at LA he's in a tie, he's in a
dress shirt. He's always here. Nomar garcia para, Nomar. Thanks
a lot for the time, and man Part four five
six is coming up soon.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You're the best, Dave. I appreciate it.
And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk. Well,
I'm joined by a man that only takes the one
ten freeway from the South Bay to Dodger Stadium. You
won't see him anywhere else north or south, and certainly
not in my area. The Grade one eight that is
two time batting champion and a champion of sports net La,
(00:20):
the one and only Nomar Garcia para nomr. Thanks a
lot for the time. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I appreciate it, Dave. And you know what, I would
go to your area. You just have never invited me
for dinner or anything like that, so don't blame me
for not going over there.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I feel like you're the type of friend where I
have to come see you.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That'd be nice, though, But you know I am by
the beach, so you know, as a friend, i'd say, listen,
why don't you come over here. The weather's nice, nice
little cool breeze. We can eat outside.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hey, that's the veteran attitude. You have to come to
me if you want help.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Oh, I wasn't thinking that way. I was just thinking
about surroundings.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey, the valley's great, Nomar, you gotta get a taste
one day. But you're the hit doctor in my opinion,
you obviously are very cerebral about hitting offense, team offense,
individual offense. What do you see with this Dodger offense
right now in the last not even ten games, but
thirty forty games?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You know, it's I know, it seems like collectively there's
a lot of guys who are struggling or in the slump.
You know, obviously looking at Freddy Freeman him coming out
of it. You see show hey o Tani right now,
he's struggled a lot of swings and miss. I think
that's one of the things that I think is more
stuggling than anything, just the amount of swing and miss
by this offense. I think early on, even if they
(01:31):
may not have been scoring, or we were even questioning
about this offense, remember early in the season, we're like, man,
the bottom part of the slide up really needs to
get going. The top part was carrying them, but there
was no bottom part. And I thought, Andy Pie is
when he really started going really linked in the lineup,
really changed things. You know, Max Munsey too, you know,
(01:51):
and then he got started getting hot. That started changing
the combination of those. But I think the swing and
miss wasn't as much as wasn't as prevalent. May not
have been getting hits, but there wasn't as much swing
and miss as what we're seeing right now, and more
swing and miss. Maybe it's more amplified. It is because
you're seeing it more from the Superstars than anything, you know,
So Freddie Freeman obviously is gonna have a show. Hey,
(02:12):
there has been an awful lot. I think from a
mechanical standpoint with show, Hey, you know, I think I
could tell that he feels like he's not where he's
supposed to be. So we as hitters, we have a
tendency always when we're in a slump like we're gonna
feel beat. So we are already maybe deciding before the pitchers,
before he even releases the ball, before we even see it.
(02:33):
And so I think his front side is clearing. I
think you have that feeling of being beat, so you
want to clear that front shoulder out. Your body naturally
instinctively says okay, I got I gotta get the barrel
to it so you fly open, and I think he's
doing that. So both his hips and his shoulder are
flying open together. This top half usually stays closed while
his bottom half goes. So I think that haves it.
(02:55):
So I think you see a lot of these guys
who are maybe later swinging underneath it. It's that feeling
right now and not trusting that you can let the
ball travel. You always hear when guys you're doing well, Dave,
don't you always hear that term, I'm letting it get deep,
I'm trusting my hands, I'm letting the ball travel. That's
because you feel like you're in a good spot. You're
not going to feel beat by this picture on his fastball,
and you can wait for it to maybe when they
(03:17):
release it, to maybe make your decision before trying to
make a decision before that.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
No, Mar Garciapara, No Mar. Everybody seems to have a
solution for Mookie Betts. What do you see for Mooki?
This is not a month, this is not two months,
it's a whole season.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah. Well, if you watch our show, there's a lot
of times you hop. Jerry and myself we talk about
the top hand an awful lot and we always believe
when Mooki Betts is going right, that top hand really
comes into play. And the reason why we talk about
the top hand so much. Is a lot of times
that top hand when you're holding your bat helps you
(03:53):
keep the barrel above the ball almost as long as possible.
You think about keeping that barrel above the ball, and
then it eventually falls into the hitting zone as you're
swinging through. You know, old school when everybody's like, oh,
you swing down on the ball on your tad like, oh,
they're thinking about swinging down, you don't swing down on
the ball. Well, the reason that guys old school would
think about swinging down is, you know, you're really trying
(04:14):
to think about keeping the barrel above your hands as
long as possible. Tony Wynn, for example, would always talk
about knob to the ball. He was a big knob
to the ball, right. Well, if you think about that,
if you took the knob toward the ball, where the
ball's down below your you know, going toward your waist
or wherever it is, it's below your hands when they start,
for example. But as you put that knob to the ball,
where's the barrel, the barrel still above your hands. So
(04:37):
he might have been maybe bottom hand dominant with thinking
that bottom hand taking the knob to the ball to
keep the barrel above the hands. Some people are doing that,
but then I use my top hand a lot, so
I thought top hand to keep my barrel above my
hands as long as possible and then fire it through.
Mookie Betts has a tendency where that barrel lags early on.
As he's starting to swing, it starts going down it's
already underneath. So you see a lot of balls where
(04:59):
he's underneath when he swings and misses, or when he
does make contact, it's that pop up or honestly, it's
a flare to right field. You don't see the backspin
going to right field. You see that slice to right field.
We actually even saw it yesterday when Lars made that
amazing play on it. That was what we call a
flare or the spin on the ball because he was
underneath the ball or he's almost to the side of
(05:20):
the ball as he's making contact, because that barrel is
dropping way too early.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, mar I've heard different players say you could be
in a hitting cage for three hours and find any
little thing and put yourself into a slump. Do you
feel like, obviously, work ethic is not Mookie Betts's issue,
but do you feel like he's doing too much.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Listen, it's I will never knock somebody say hey, you're
doing too much or you're doing it's it's not a
matter of doing too much, it's a matter of understanding
what you're doing. I mean, it's like you know, you
always say, hey, practice makes perfect, well does it's then
you but we always say perfect, practice makes perfect, and
you're never going to be perfect. But with that's more
(06:00):
talent is like, listen, you got to practice the right
way in order to get to where you want to be.
I mean, if you're doing something that's wrong and you're
just you know, swinging, and I swung for hours, but
I was still continuing doing the same thing wrong over
and over again, while I'm just making it worse, not
necessarily making it better. Trust me, I do that on
the driving range all the time, trying to figure out
(06:21):
what am I doing wrong? Here?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
No, mare Garcia Para knows hitting better than most is
joining us here before first pitch. No, mar, let's talk
about somebody that I think you can relate to as
far as just the way you see hitting. Freddie Freeman
in a long slump but found his way out of it.
Now on the last road trip, how I mean, can
you relate to Freddy? Am I saying that correctly?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well? You know what? I love talking hitting with Freddy
or listening to him talk hitting as well, just because
he understands himself, He knows himself. He knows when things
are going bad, he knows when things are going well.
And you always hear him like I'm grinding or I'm struggling.
(07:06):
It's true. Just because you know when things are going
well about yourself doesn't mean you always have. It doesn't
mean you but you understand it. Like you know, Freddie
Freeman talks about ballflight at times, you know, or the
spin of the ball coming off his bat. He recognizes
to understand, okay, if it's not coming off the way
you like or what you're used to, you know something's
off in your swing. May not know what at that moment.
(07:27):
You're maybe grinding to try to find that, but you
know there's something that's causing that. But you're like man I,
So he's practicing maybe to try to get a certain
spin off the ball or a certain area. If I'm not,
you know, this ball on the inner half, I should
be turning on it better or I should be staying
inside of it. Better whatever. Maybe he understands himself and
that's what's just so impressive, which I always say, he
(07:49):
minimizes his sumps very well. You can go through a slump.
We're all going to go through him. But he does
an excellent job minimizing his slumps very well. And then
when he finds it, has a tendency to stay in
those zones a lot longer as well. So he's so
impressive to watch. But the other thing I love about
Freddie Freeman is when he is in a slump, he
has something that like he goes to or that like
(08:11):
when the game is telling him, like you gotta battle,
you gotta grind, you have to find a way. You
see him do that, Like it's not the same swing,
but maybe he's working on something in one at bat
and nobody on and he's trying to find it, and
he misses a pitch whatever, But there's a man on
third base and there's less than two outs that swing.
All of a sudden changes it's no longer about worried
(08:33):
about my mechanics are offer. I'm struggling on trying. He's going, listen,
I am grinding, I have a go to swing that
I got to figure out how to put this ball
play because that RBI guy's mine and we've seen him
do that. And when he was in a slump like,
he finds a way. Whether it's a rollover to second
basement because the second basement's back, or the short stuff,
but he's finding a way. And that's what I also
love about him is that he also knows he has
(08:53):
to go to that when they push comes to Shob,
I'm winning.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I'm a big believer. The Dodgers have a great resource
here before every home game that he's working on sports
and at LA he's in a tie, he's in a
dress shirt. He's always here. Nomar garcia para, Nomar. Thanks
a lot for the time, and man Part four five
six is coming up soon.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You're the best, Dave. I appreciate it.
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