as if the Rams didn't have enough problems they lose their top receiver for at least four weeks the LA Times explores the Dodgers full frontal assault on pitching elbows and Pierre Luke Duo speaks on failing with the Kings conveniently forgetting why he's failed everywhere else good morning I'm James this is your daily dose Sports and snark for the greatest sports city in the world Los Angeles this is a faithful angelino's Morning Report it's September 10th 2024 and you know it's like my grandfather told me sometimes life is like sitting in a bucket of lukewarm excrement but we are here in the sanctum sanctorum of LA Sports and we are going to get our day off right by talking about La if you like being in the Noah about LA Sports click the Clack the like button CLI the Clack the Subscribe button there's a notification Bell hit that it'll let you know when we drop new content content sharing is caring let people know exist and by all means comment now before we go through the news and notes a look at the scoreboard Cubs 10 Dodgers for we have to face reality we always talk about facing reality here Walker bu simply doesn't have it five earned runs allowed 10 base runners by the way in five innings his erra is at 5.95 meanwhile mooki bets homered sh Otani with stolen base number 47 in his hot pursuit of going 5050 the Dodgers still lead the division by 5 A2 the magic number is 19 but again face face it Walker bu isn't the guy this year meanwhile today Cubs at Dodgers at 7 welcome back yoshinobu Yamamoto from a thre Monon absence due to a shoulder problem his ra is 6 and2 with a 2.92 ra Shota ianga is 12 and3 with a 2.99 erra Connecticut is in town to play the Sparks at 7 only five more Sparks games to go before we can finally end that which is gross you might recall how the Sparks upset the best team in with the uh best record in the WNBA and the Sparks coach was like yeah there's no quit here wrong Sparks haven't won sense so there's that let's get to the news before we go into depth about the Rams injury problems which are so profound that I had to break out the white board of infinite knowledge I want to tell you why this is so intriguing to me because sha McVey said something to the Press Sunday that seems awkward but it will make sense as we break it down quote basically we didn't operate off anything that our game plan was we had to truly change in the middle of that game plan our running back back rotation reflected as much unquote and you're sitting there going running back it's the offensive line that's the problem right but here's what he meant and it's going to take a while to unpack that so give me a little patience but if you're a ran fan this is something you're going to want to know we'll go through as many of the injuries as we can now the latest injury obviously is puka nakua he was terrific last year rewrites the rookie record book kept the Rams offense going when kairon Williams was injured last year same for Cooper Cup who was dealing with hamstring problems all year now what will ncua do for an encore he's going on injured reserve nkua is going to be out for at least four games due to a knee injury now it's the posterior cruciate ligament in the knee it's the same knee that had been giving Thea issues All Summer Long I will say this on the plus side Sunday cup went nuts Sunday night with 14 receptions okay so you're going to see cup you're going to see Robinson as for who's going to back up ncua we'll get to that in a moment but we can also have yet another Rams offensive lineman going on injured reserve and missing four games as well the judgment on Steve obil laaw has not been rendered yet this is according to veay they need to determine how bad the strain on aila's medial collateral ligament is in the knee now to be clear to break it down uh the posterior cruciate ligament you have two ligaments in the center of your knee the posterior one is the behind one now with regards to Aila you also have two ligaments going on the side of your knees the medial collateral ligament is the one that's closer to the Cent Center of your body to give you an idea Avila missed most of the second half Sunday this by the way is after he was so healthy he did not miss a single snap his rookie year so now we've got Aila off the board if you're looking for pluses and there aren't many Joe Noteboom who is replacing Rob havenstein he's definitely not going on injured reserve he's only going to miss a couple of weeks due to an ankle injury are you starting to get the grasp by looking at this board looking at all these slashes over what the Rams have to solve again he got hurt during Sunday's game now how many weeks it could be two it could be four if it's not a break and there's no indication to say that he broke his ankle ankles tend to be either two weeks for a problem or four weeks and by the way guard Kevin doson while he hasn't been put on any list he's also uh worried about an ankle problem so if you take the count you're looking at as many as seven or eight offensive linemen that could be out uh the top receiver on the team you're playing on the road backto back weeks all in all that's one enchanting Monday wouldn't you say now how the Rams patch up the offensive line is mostly guesswork right now you might recall that in Sunday's game the Rams were down to their fourth left tackle that was AJ R Curry who committed a penalty a crtical penalty during a Ram's potential scoring drive but we start with a general perception how do you protect Matthew Stafford at all costs he is still an elite quarterback because look if he gets injured you can't go to Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday that guy is suspended just like Aller Jackson Just for different reasons you would be down to your third string quarterback in ston Bennetts that's going to be an automatic L guys so protecting Stafford this Sunday is your top priority to provide Stafford with extra protection and this is where it goes back to that quote that I gave you from McVey if you're remember watching Rams football last year Kiron Williams would cheat up to the line of scrimmage prior to the staff prior to the snap he would sit in with the offensive lineman he would know just like the lineman where the blitz was coming from so he wouldn't s he wouldn't be like Oh I'm just going to sit back behind Stafford he'd be like look I'm not getting the ball I'm going to help the offensive line block so Williams played more snaps Sunday and Blake Corum who we've been hearing nothing but great things about in training camp as a backup running back didn't play a single offensive snap and by the way what do you think Shawn MC is going to do do you really think he's going to run a no tight end offense that puts Stafford at risk what are you going to do empty the back field no not when you're down to your third or fourth string lineman and they ran all those underneath routes for a reason too the bubble screens the quick hitches they very rarely went deep why because it takes time to run deep again putting Stafford at risk so in Arizona what we do believe rookie Bo limmer will probably start at Center Jonah Jackson is probably back to left guard we don't know enough about the condition of Kevin Dotson's Uh Kevin dodson's Health McVey said they don't know who the hell's going to play left tackle as for wide receiver without ncua you might presume it's Tyler Johnson a rookie but he had a breakout performance on Sunday Jordan Whittington also impressed during training camp I've read a couple of subscribes suggesting Tut two Atwell but I believe that to be doubtful Stafford completed seven passes to seven receivers on Sunday not one to Atwell so yeah we did this deep dive for a reason sometimes you need to visualize just how much McVey has to work out before the game against the Cardinals you let me know what you think in the comments thread lots to talk about today so much meanwhile the LA at times attempted a deep dive into whatever role the Dodgers have played in their own pictures forming a conga line from the bullpen to the operating table the aam's razor conclusion that they appeared to draw is that they ask their pitchers to throw too hard no no kidding a friend of mine I've mentioned him before on this show he was drafted by a different major league team years ago and underwent surgery and he suggested that's the reason that the human arm can only take so much so it's nice to see the LA Times playing catchup with this program very well done times but it was a Fair article they told us some stuff we did not know the article talked about pitchers going to private Labs with Cutting Edge training to create a biomechanically engineered delivery with the point to create maximum effort and maximum velocity on every pitch despite the fact that the Dodgers have undergone 12 starting pitchers going on the injured list this year multiple pitchers by the way needing Tommy John surgery and you're sitting there going why would you willingly put yourself through that well Walker buer answered quote had I not done that who knows if I get to the big leagues there is some cost benefit to it unquote so you then sit there and ask yourself why is velocity spin rates Etc why is that really so important it didn't used to be the most important thing back in the day right because the National League batting average against fast balls slower than 95 miles an hour is 261 the National League batting average when it's higher than 95 miles an hour is 227 that's four almost 40 points of a difference guys but let's continue the obvious train of thought can the arm really handle that much speed at all times a doctor who also advises Major League Baseball told the times quote if you're throwing all your pitches at maximum effort you are putting maximum load on the Tommy John ligament the ulner collateral ligament you are putting maximum load on the Tommy John ligament and other parts of your body that I believe is a recipe for trouble unquote but the same doctor then he told us stuff we didn't know he posed a fascinating theory that pitching Labs analyzing your delivery for velocity could theoretically use those same computer tools to investigate if the delivery increases the risk for injury for example if your mechanics put too much strain on your elbow because you're dropping the arm when you pitch maybe the prospect you could tell from the computer lacks shoulder strength and therefore needs more buildup there so on but to be fair the times didn't say okay are these Labs doing it we don't know now to be fair the times mentioned that the Dodgers use a biometric system that helps the medical and training staff analyze mechanics they just don't talk about it to the press or in public because this system hasn't produced any tangible results yet so there's that I would also credit the times though for also finally getting pitching coach Mark Prior on record about it the problem prior wasn't particularly enlightening at least he went on record quote stuff is great stuff is at an all-time high and it's really fun to watch what these guys throw but is that the reason I don't know unquote he doesn't know a guy pitches five years in the majors his career was undercut by arm injuries and he doesn't know he underwent the knife he doesn't claim to know the Dodgers go through 12 starting pitchers and he's like it's a mystery mystery to me bro to paraphrase the late James Earl Jones the denial runs strong in this one so these are my thoughts about what we've learned uh Clayton kersa never had to Flame guys he was a made man with the Dodgers before Andrew Friedman showed up and changed the philosophy they were not going to do anything with Kershaw that way one reason why Kershaw didn't have to Flame guys was he was tutored mentored by Greg Greg Maddox Greg Maddox the Hall of Famer for the Braves did Pitch for the dodgers for about half a year Maddox was never a speed guy if I were the Dodgers I would want someone like Greg Maddox to help run Dodgers pitching to change speeds and be deceptive that way while the technology catches up and teaches pitchers how to be helpy while cranking up the mph once science determines a way to Flame guys with less of a chance of your arm exploding go for it great Maddox faced guys during the steroid era and still got them out regularly there's something to be learned from that somebody from a Montreal news Outlet asked Pierre Luke Dubois what went wrong when he played for the LA Kings and the answer was vapid not just because he spoke French by the way the reason it was a nothing Burger of an answer is because he blamed the Kings for a lack of communication and then blamed himself for not communicating back well done well done my mind is just bursting with hockey Knowledge from hearing this quote I live the worst case scenario hence the scars I've always needed to have clear instruction instructions to do my job 100% I get mixed up when there are gray areas I question myself too much I've been working on that since I was young from my first conversations with the team I didn't really know what was expected of me I didn't know where I stood you can't play well when you question yourself too much unquote okay so let's take this crap from the top hence the skar SCS the next scar you see on Pierre Luke Dubois will be the first scar you see on Pierre Luke Duo there is an Infamous clip on YouTube Type in Pierre Luke Dubois Columbus and Google will add the word shift it shows a shift of du where he just Lolly gaged skated around didn't touch an opponent didn't touch the puck not once even when the puck was at his feet he didn't even bother to look down and say oh there's the big black the big black slidy thing I'm supposed to hit he didn't do it the only scars that are associated with Pierre luk DUIs are the ones from fans of the team that he plays for committing acts of self harm so they could at least feel something secondly there are always things that you could learn in any sport I agree that there's Nuance but but when you are a big bodied Center in hockey your job could not be more clear plant your big ass in front of the net like an oak tree move Defenders out of the way screen the goalie and then you put the puck in the net you don't need a lot of counseling when you're a big bodied Center in the NHL and by the way Washington is his fourth team and he's only 26 this wouldn't be just the Kings this would Mark three three teams that didn't send him a detailed user manual in how to play hockey then du concedes that maybe he's the idiot so finally we get something correct quote maybe I was too demanding wanting to have the path explained to me it's obviously my fault that it didn't work you're not supposed to expect your entourage to help you gain confidence but it can help unquote so the point is this if you know anyone who is a fan of the Washington Capitals I sure as hell don't feel free to send them a get well soon card because they're about to go experience deep trauma meanwhile the athletic wrote a column listing eight teams who are in danger of staying in the NHL's mushy middle which means they wouldn't be terrible but no threat to win a cup they included the Kings and if you're a fan as I am you're probably thinking what the hell do you mean in danger they are the definition of the mushy middle if if they are the mushiest of the mush and the midest of the mid if the kings were a chick you wouldn't wife her up but at least you wouldn't be clowned by your friends for the booty call that's how mid the kings are for the Kings to break this glass ceiling they're going to have to pray that Quinton bfield or Brant Clark go nuts this year Lakers backup Christian Wood underwent a second Arthur scopic procedure on his left knee this year the procedure happened Monday he'll be out for eight weeks and that will carry into the regular season which is about a month and a half away he hasn't played since February 14th so for all you hopeless Romantics out there he hasn't played since Valentine's Day when he did play H he averaged about seven points a game so n but you let me know what you think in the comments thread talk to me about the Rams trying to assemble some way to keep Matthew Stafford upright are you interested in the Dodgers way of pitching are you finally at the end of your rope about the Dodgers way of pitching and if you enjoyed the content don't forget to subscribe to faithful angelinos we're talking a lot of LA Sports every single day thank you for watching I'm James we'll be back tomorrow faith angelinos is a Kean Corel queso production take care