Dave Roberts on Tucker versus Alex Call — and yeah, there were two layers of 'probably' in one breath. Let's unpack the spin. This is Dodgers Daily — Buehler's revenge night is behind us, the Padres series is live, and we've actually got a farm story worth smiling about. Chase Harlan had two homers at High-A, plus we've got the Padres matchups. But Roberts' lineup math comes first. Zachary Weinberger, writing in ClutchPoints:
“It’s been great. Alex is such a good guy to have on the team,” Roberts said, via Sports Illustrated. “He knows his role. He’s dependable. He prepares. When you lose a guy like Kyle for whatever period of time, to fill in with Alex, you don’t lose much. You really don’t. I love his energy.”
Dave Roberts on losing Kyle Tucker to that back issue — quote, 'you don't lose much.' That's a brave sentence to say out loud about a four-time All-Star. You don't lose MUCH? Skip, the man is a star! Alex Call had a nice three-game run, good for him, but let's not start engraving plaques. Roberts does have some cover here. Call filled in clean — four hits, two RBIs, his first homer of the year across those three games. The numbers backed the kindness, at least for a weekend. A weekend! That's exactly the window I trust the least. Call hits one out and suddenly it's 'dependable, knows his role, you don't lose much.' Cool — ask me when Tucker's out of the building for two weeks. And underneath it, there's a depth-chart wrinkle. With Hyeseong Kim optioned, Roberts calling Alex Call the guy you 'don't lose much' with tells you how thin those corners actually are. Here's Nelson Espinal at Dodgers Nation:
The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing the San Diego Padres for an early taste of a postseason atmosphere on the road. The Padres have won four of their last five, including six of their last 10. San Diego sits at 42-37, nine games behind the Dodgers in the National League West.
Dodgers Nation has the series preview, and they're selling the Walker Buehler revenge game as the headline. So, yeah, one start against his old club is the marquee event of the weekend. Look, Buehler already did his damage. We took that one on the chin. Now it's about the rest of this thing — what does San Diego actually have after the loud night? Here's the number that cools the rivalry talk — Padres are 42-37, still nine games back at the halfway mark. They've won four of their last five, and they're still staring up at us. Nine games back, and their fans want to call this a war. Win four of five, sure, and you're still in second place looking up. That's the whole San Diego experience right there. And on the mound for them Friday, it's Roki Sasaki opposite Buehler — the matchup that matters more than the revenge storyline. And yeah, I'll be watching how our bats handle a guy who knows every sign we've got. MLB has the details on this one. Chase Harlan, two bombs in one night at High-A. After the week we've had, you have no idea how good it feels to talk about the farm without it being a 'we need warm bodies' conversation. It's the only clean win on the page today, Joey. Harlan goes deep twice — and with the big-league depth chart as thin as it is, that's a name worth tracking, not just filing away. Right? Call it coping if you want, but the pipeline is real — and the night after Buehler does what he did to us, I'll take a kid mashing two over the wall as a sign somebody in this org still knows how to swing. I'd keep the thermostat right where it is. One two-homer night at High-A doesn't mean he's on the doorstep. But it's a genuine exhale, and this week earned one. Got a Dodgers question, a story idea, or a correction we should know about? Send it our way at dodgersdailyfancast at lantern podcasts dot com. We read your notes and appreciate the help keeping the show sharp.
You'll find links to everything we talked about today in the show notes, so if a story caught your ear, that's the place to dig in a little more.
That's Dodgers Daily Podcast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.