Dodgers pregame: Dave Roberts expects rebound from Walker Buehler, update on Yoshinobu Yamamoto

[Music] with Walker deer today what are you hoping to see from him and I guess just what I guess what is telling you that he's continuing to progress in the right direction um what what uh is telling me he's progressing I I think the conversations uh that we've had um you know talking to Mark Prior um so that's one part of it I think that what I'm looking for tonight is strike one um you know it's no secret that when a pitcher gets a head in account um he has a lot more success um you know that last start in Milwaukee I think he was somewhere in the 30s or high 30s per of first pitch strike so you know if we can get it somewhere around 60% um he's going to have a lot more success and it's going to be an easier path for him so I think that you know sitting here right now now I'd like to look back and say hey he filled up the strike zone I got strike one tonight with the um with the offense what we saw L I know you talked about just not only being a complete win for this team but just how you've seen everyone come back together and being healthy just how valuable has that been it's been great um I I think that now we can start you know if it stays kind of How It's been and guys can sort of get comfortable in their individual roles and then it's starting to kind of play out as we envisioned it um I thought last night we ran out a very competitive lineup and sort of weighed out woo Who through a heck of a ball game we've got a tough task tonight in Miller who's really good as well and um I like the guys running out there giving me the day off but to still have Tommy head short and to run Kar out there in center field I think we can prevent runs and so yeah I think the length is there the left right and um you know we just got to get you know certain guys to go out there and and Pitch well doesn't get strike point is it more like how he's attacking guys or is it just inconsistencies his delivery yeah I mean I I I think that that's all part of it but when you're in a major league game at some point it just the results matter so the deliver is the delivery it's got to you got to go with h what you got that night and you know we're trying to win a game so the point is you need to get strike one and attack and get it different ways whether it's a cut fast ball it's a breaking ball it's a fast ball to different parts of the plate different quadrants and um that's what it boils down to what happened uh today was a touch and field um so tomorrow he's going to um he was off the mount a little bit but he's going to throw alive tomorrow okay so that was that was plan Revenue be two innings two innings okay and then three three then we'll send them out um with uh kind of what BS was asking but with Walker is that like a a focus thing early in a account is it needing to be more aggressive with his mindset or is it more like mechanical just kind of execut I I think it's uh trying to be a little bit too edgy um I don't think it's a focus thing I think it's um you know maybe giving the hitters too much credit um you know I thought that the finger what we were calling you just didn't and you couldn't get strike one so I think that it's kind of uh you know not trying to be too fine but you know to be fair there's there's probably some delivery part of it too but at the end of the day it's you know once the game starts you've got to make pitches and and there's just that's just the way it is I asked you about this kind of in the first goore round when it was kind of right going got off to like a rough start but like how much especially now at this J of the season with the standings where they are if this doesn't get better like how much more can you keep sending them out there um I I haven't I don't think we've put our you know our minds there um you know Bob's still trying to find his way too so he's in our rotation um I think Landon has been fantastic for us you know um Robo is still trying to find his way so you also have to um try to appreciate the Alternatives and so um I I don't think there's a set number of starts that you can look at and honestly you know have another alternative right now yeah so I mean that was going to be my second part I so there's really kind I mean you almost kind of have to run them out there at this point yeah yeah and and I think that you know he's healthy um the track record certainly has to matter um so there is certain leash that I think he's earned but we're in a pennant race right now and and he's well aware of the fact that he's got to give us some length and also give us a chance to win um so yeah but it's just thing that we just continued to kind of assess you know each start and go from there does that make you think that this process any part of the fact that you guys are in a I'm guess it's not ideal right to try to be coming back from something like this and rehabing walk like in the middle of a pen race um it's it's not ideal but I do think that Walkers had plenty of time to rehab get right um and I feel very good about tonight and going forward um in in him and so you know whether you're independent race or you're not the point is is that I think it's still a separate point is that he still wants to be good and we need him to be good um but obviously it's certainly more magnified you know where where where the standings are are you going to try to get copc in under day yeah I I think we we'll see I mean I'm going to go watch his catch play and and kind of let uh B report back to me as as Evan worked his way Evan Phillips worked his way back you want to be the closer now is he the closer no worked his way back up the trust yeah he's doing great I mean I'm putting him in great situations he's thrown the baseball well and um he's come up big force and so that's what I expected I think that it's only fair when things are not going well to kind of give people a different look I'm doing the same thing with Will Smith and I'm not punting on him I'm not punting on Evan it's just kind of that's just the way it goes and then you kind of you know navigate as such what's the difference that you're seeing from him now from July um I think Evan he is he is commanding the fast ball he throws 96 97 sometimes 98 mil an hour um when he's really good he doesn't walk guys he gets ahead of guys and then he can get guys to chase um when he wasn't good right before the break he was ball one he was working behind I felt he was was uh trying to be too fine or nibble and um now you know I thought the that last night with the Ros Arena kind of epitomize what he can do and so working on both sides of the plate having him onor the slider and be able to get left and right out is a guy that I've counted on and so when you do have you know copc down um and huie you know you want to kind of stay away from or whatever type a guy that you feel comfort that can get those last three outs we have that um and for me I feel we got a few guys that can do that today no Blake will be active tomorrow um I I just think that you know where we're at we're almost to that off day we've got to make sure that we have uh some length so Hiser is going to be here for length and then you know once we get through today then that's proba probably a different conversation and then you're expecting Chris on the weekend I take it something like that we'll see um he's at ranchill right now and we'll just kind of see how his rehab goes so is that going to be another situation where the rest of the roster kind of it's going to be another kind of tough decision to make when he's back yes yeah do you guys have a sense of that yet if you look at like these couple days as you know still trying to figure out what the best version of this roster looks like or kind of where are you at in that process um I think that you know there's some different you can debate different things so I think once we get to that point once CT pass all the test then um you know we'll have some difficult conversations he said he been like working through some swing overalls while all like what are the reports been just for what how the S is looks in terms of re reports have been reports have been good um he's healthy I think the thing with for me looking for Chris is um obviously he's got a he's got a handle the fast ball um it's got to be a swing that um it works well enough to not play every day um to come off the bench and take good at bats and so that's going to be the role and so whatever that looks like he's done it before and that's what I'm looking for um so he is certainly a mechanics guy um but once we get him back you know I expect him to be back and be be ready to help us win because you know we're going to need all 26 guys to to be productive what's the plan with Conor brin's rehab I'm not sure he started a no idea can you go a picture short the rest of this month just to preserve your position play your to get it to September no you have to have 13 and 13 you have to I should remember sure having those uh left right right right um zigzagging batting order how um ideal it is to have those B orders especially the um it's important because it um It prepares you prevents um against um potential matchups in the bullpen ideally you want to have your right-handed hitters be able to hit right-handed pitching or your left-handed hitters hit left-handed pitching um if there's big splits then you potentially got to hit for guys and could compromise defense it's just all a part of the strategy so if you can you know that that's that's probably the kind of the Crux of it it gives you a chance to get through the starter and also the last call it four or five four three or four Innings to kind of feel like you have a chance to counter a potential Bullpen move