With Kyle Bradish going eight strong innings in Anaheim on Monday night, Luke Jones and Nestor wonder if this surge can continue given his arm issues and innings restrictions. We like winning West Coast baseball as Shane Baz and Trey Gibson looks to bring the Birds home this weekend in a position to climb near .500 as the Nationals come to Birdland.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed Kyle Bradish’s impressive recent performances, noting his 3.64 ERA and 15.2 innings pitched with only one run allowed in his last two starts. They highlighted Bradish’s recovery from elbow surgery and his potential as a top-tier pitcher. The conversation also covered the Orioles’ overall pitching improvements, with the team’s rotation ranking third in ERA over the past month. They emphasized the importance of maintaining health and avoiding injuries, especially with key players like Blaze Alexander and Jackson Holliday potentially sidelined. The discussion concluded with reflections on the Orioles’ current road trip and the team’s prospects for the rest of the season.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Call Farnham & Dermer later today to arrange crab cakes for Wednesday’s Green Mount Station event.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Create and finalize the July schedule, including the July 4 respite and the upcoming weekend trip with Sammy Hagar.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Begin watching the World Cup starting next week.
• [ ] Join the WNST Baltimore Positive event at Green Mount Station in Hampstead on Wednesday afternoon before the game to appear live with the other guests.

Kyle Bradish’s Recent Performance and Injury Recovery

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss Kyle Bradish’s impressive recent performances, noting his 3.64 ERA and strong pitching since May.
• Luke highlights Bradish’s encouraging stats, including 15.2 innings pitched with only one run allowed in his last two starts.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on Bradish’s recovery from injuries and his ability to perform at a high level post-elbow surgery.
• They discuss the importance of Bradish’s continued good performance for the Orioles’ success and the potential impact on the team’s pitching strategy.

Challenges and Expectations for Kyle Bradish

• Nestor and Luke talk about the challenges Bradish faced, including his early struggles in June and the need to monitor his health.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of Bradish maintaining his velocity and effectiveness deep into games.
• They discuss the potential impact of Bradish’s performance on the Orioles’ offseason decisions regarding pitching acquisitions.
• Nestor reflects on the historical context of pitching recoveries and the advancements in modern surgery that have improved outcomes.

Modern Surgery and Pitcher Recovery Rates

• Nestor and Luke discuss the significant improvements in pitcher recovery rates due to modern surgery and rehabilitation techniques.
• Luke explains the higher return rates for pitchers undergoing Tommy John surgery compared to the past.
• They talk about the challenges of multiple surgeries and the impact on a pitcher’s career.
• Nestor shares his skepticism about pitchers recovering fully after multiple surgeries, contrasting it with the current medical advancements.

Felix Batista and Other Injured Pitchers

• Nestor and Luke bring up Felix Batista’s recovery from multiple injuries and the uncertainty surrounding his return.
• They discuss the recent advancements in surgical procedures, such as the nano needle procedure for Trey Mancini.
• Luke highlights the importance of managing pitchers’ workloads to prevent further injuries.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the challenges of balancing a pitcher’s health with the team’s need for strong performances.

Orioles’ Road Trip and Injury Concerns

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ recent road trip, noting the team’s success and the importance of avoiding injuries.
• They mention the return of key players from the injured list, such as Dean Kremer and Cade Povich.
• Luke highlights the importance of maintaining the team’s health as they continue to compete for a playoff spot.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s recent performances and the need for consistent winning streaks to secure their position.

Kobe Mayo and Tyler O’Neill’s Contributions

• Nestor and Luke discuss the contributions of Kobe Mayo and Tyler O’Neill, noting their different strengths and weaknesses.
• They highlight Mayo’s impressive performance against left-handed pitching and his recent home run.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of having reliable players like Mayo and O’Neill in the lineup.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s need for consistent contributions from all players to succeed.

Orioles’ Pitching and Bullpen Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ pitching rotation and the importance of consistent performances from their starters.
• They highlight the improvements in the rotation’s ERA over the past month, noting the team’s better overall performance.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the bullpen to perform well, especially with concerns about Ryan Helsley’s recent form.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the importance of maintaining a strong pitching staff to support the team’s success.

Upcoming Games and Team Strategy

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming games against the Angels and the importance of winning at least one of the next two games.
• They reflect on the team’s recent success and the need to continue performing well to stay relevant.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of managing pitchers’ workloads and ensuring they are healthy for the playoffs.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s overall strategy and the need for consistent performances to secure a playoff spot.

World Cup and Soccer Fever

• Nestor and Luke briefly discuss the World Cup and their interest in the tournament.
• Nestor shares his experiences attending World Cup games in Europe and his support for the US team.
• They reflect on the excitement surrounding the World Cup and the impact on the sports community.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges of hosting the World Cup in the US and the potential benefits for the city.

Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events

• Nestor and Luke wrap up the discussion, reflecting on the Orioles’ recent performances and the importance of maintaining momentum.
• They discuss the upcoming events, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and the Orioles’ game against the Nationals.
• Nestor highlights the importance of community engagement and the support from sponsors like the Maryland Lottery and GBMC.
• They express their excitement for the upcoming games and the continued support from the Baltimore community.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore Positive up late with your Baltimore Orioles, and of course, we’ll be up early on Wednesday before the game at Green Mount Station in Hampstead. Got some great guests, Casper Wells, my old major league baseball player who lives here from Schenectady and from Towson State University in the Tigers and Heller Co. which you’ll be joining us. Luke Jones is going to join us out in Green Mount Station on Wednesday. My bud Howard shares coming out, Zach Dermer from Farnham and Dermer, as well as Chris, who owns Green Mount Station, and David, who owns the Green Mount Bowl next door. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery. I will have the Maryland Treasures to give away. Also, our friends at GBMC, keeping me alive and well. I gotta get a razor here before the week is over, as well as Farnham and Dermer. They are the comfort guys, little uncomfortable here this week. Little sticky, your AC is not working. Give him a call, 410 36777 I’m calling him later today, getting him crab cake on Wednesday. Um, good pitching beats bad hitting and good hitting, but in the case of Bradish and Rogers, I don’t know what’s gotten into the water, the June water here, the summer water, and that we’ve had the solstice. This is the kind of pitching we kind of were expecting two and a half months ago, when they weren’t five games under 500

Luke Jones 1:19
Well, especially from Kyle Bradish, I mean, Trevor Rogers has been encouraging of late, but by and large, Bradish has been pretty darn good since the beginning of May, you know, second week of May, whatever it was, that’s

Nestor Aparicio 1:31
encouraging over six or seven weeks, given his injuries, given his fake restart two years ago, just all just keeping him healthy, right, and having him be this good,

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Luke Jones 1:41
yeah, yeah, I mean, the overall numbers, I mean, he’s a 364 ERA, reflects he had two really bad starts to open this month, and that’s where you were a little concerned, and you know you’re wondering, okay, is he healthy, he had been really good in May, but he’s gotten back on track, and then some, I mean, the last two times out, I mean, you’re talking 13 and two thirds innings, or no, I’m sorry, 15 and two thirds innings, and one run allowed. I mean, that’s how good he’s been. That’s been as good as we’ve seen him be, you know. Certainly post elbow injury, but even go back eight innings a length two

Nestor Aparicio 2:16
times out. That’s amazing. Exactly,

Luke Jones 2:18
exactly. And okay, we get it, not necessarily playing the best offense in baseball, but still really, really good, and I think what you’re

Nestor Aparicio 2:25
supposed to do against the bad teams,

Luke Jones 2:27
exactly, exactly. So really encouraging to see that, really encouraging just to see the amount of swing and miss has ticked up his velocity. I mean, one thing, even it back in May, when he was pitching really well, he wasn’t necessarily holding his velocity deep into outings, and that was something that wasn’t abnormal, but it’s something you want to monitor, but I mean, he was still, you know, velocity was still really, really good in the seventh and eighth inning. I mean, just he was excellent, and you know, the Orioles obviously give him an early lead, and he pitched well with it, right? I mean, how many times this year, not talking about Bradish, just in general, have we seen them struggle to pitch with a lead where they give it right back or they start walking? Guys, there was none of that from Kyle Braddish. She was excellent, and this is the version of Kyle Bradish that, when you’re talking in the off season and we’re debating going out and getting this pitcher or that picture, or that picture, and let me be clear, I’m not saying that I’m saying that Michaelias proceeded properly, but the one thing that I know I said, and others said at various points, was if you get the version of Kyle Bradish coming off of elbow surgery that is back to being pre-injury form, the guy finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2023 that version of Kyle Brattisch from a talent perspective, better stuff, higher upside than those pitchers that we talked about, specifically talking about them in their at their respective stages of their career, you know, talking about Framber Valdez at that point in his career, talking about, okay, Dylan Cease with more upside, and, but you see what the Blue Jays had to pay him to sign him, and you know, certainly talking about someone like Ranger Suarez, it wasn’t to say that Bradish was definitively better than any of those guys, that’s not what I’m saying at all, it’s if you’re talking in terms of upside and what someone’s going to be moving forward. My point was, regardless of who the Orioles might sign in the starting pitching department, if they’re going to be as good as they want to be, and that’s going to be critical for them the rest of the way. And we can even get into his innings here in a moment, but they need Kyle Bradish to be that ace caliber version of himself that we have seen the past, and certainly we’ve seen that here of late, and specifically these last two starts. I mean, he’s been absolutely fantastic.

Nestor Aparicio 4:51
Sorry, I had my mic muted in regard to length and allowing him out there in the sixth, seventh, and eighth. Thinning, and feeling like it’s not a bullpen night, when he puts a couple of these together, it almost gives that air that what an ace does. What an ace does is when he’s in the middle of a series and you tax the bullpen last night because you played 10 or 11 innings, you have him out there, he’s the guy you’re pushing a little further, and he’s the guy that was broken, and I think this is the part where you and I have such a long relationship of talking about this. We’ve been talking about him since the minute the trade happened, and he came over, right? Like, we’ve been talking about him as he’s in the bottom of the fish, and he looked pretty good. I remember he puts a game at Yankee Stadium a couple years ago, like, whoa, and all along you’ve been you’ve championed him and in two different times he’s had these horrific, we don’t know we’re going to see him again, and then you see him in the middle of the night, and I guess it speaks to modern surgery, Tommy John coming back from these things, the decisions that these 1718 year old kids take to get cut on to say, hey, 2436 months, and now I can be that. I think we were all wondering whether Bradish was going to come back to this level, and I’ll bring Felix Batista into this, right, who was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Right, I could also bring John Means into this. I could, you know, I could bring some other guys into this that never climb the mountain again. It’s not a, it’s not a will, it’s an if for all of these guys when they have these types of injuries, and for some of them to come back and pitch six, 810, years, get paid two or $300 million I don’t know whether Verlander Scherzer or those kind of guys have ever.. I don’t know their medical histories, because I don’t, you, you know more about soldiers, shoulder searches, anybody this side of Frank Joby. But for me, I just.. I marvel that they can be this good, because I’m always a doubter after they have a knife a couple of times,

Luke Jones 7:01
yeah. Look, I mean, you and I’ve had that discussion a lot. The return rate’s much, much, much, much, much higher than it used to be,

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Nestor Aparicio 7:08
and I think we need to say that out loud. Yeah, the old people like me in the audience, that’s not, say, I remember what happened to Frank Tanana, you know, I’m something you remember from 40 years ago, that’s not where we are medically, not even with your hip or your knee, if you’re going to GBMC and getting it replaced, right? If anybody out there knows, I had, I had orthopedist on recently. I said everybody I know who’s way older than me, I’m 57 These are people in their 70s getting double knees, double hips. One of the Orioles pitchers said his father had double knee the other day, and I’m like, oh, how you do that, but I know everybody does it, and, but I’m thinking, when you’re 24 and you have this kind of surgery in modern medicine, you can come back and do what Kyle Braddoche did the other night, and I don’t, such that my mind doesn’t come around, don’t I haven’t seen it, I’m just, I’ve had a knee surgery, I’ve had surgeries, it sucks,

Luke Jones 7:59
sure, oh, and I think it’s important to understand, and this is where I’ll push back on folks who want to be so skeptical when they hear a pitcher’s having a PRP injection, or they’re going to try to treat it conservatively. When I say that the return rate, and the individuals, and the percentage of pitchers who can continue their career, not just continue their career, but be as good as they ever were, or in some cases, you know, a lot of times you’ll hear, “Oh, he’s throwing harder than he ever than than he did pre-surgery. Well, a lot of times that’s the product of there had been some wear and tear that existed for a couple years prior to ultimately having surgery, but the point I’m making is it’s not 100% though. Right, it’s not 100% as much as that percentage is much higher, as much as you think of Tommy John surgery in 2026 as not the death sentence for a pitcher’s career in the way you thought of it. I don’t know when Tommy John had surgery, right? I mean, that’s why we call it that, but it’s still a lengthy procedure, and I think for me, when you look at it now, there’s also I think where the bigger concern is the number of pitchers you see who end up having multiple injuries, multiple surgeries, guys that have had Tommy John more than once, that’s when you start to get into the return rate not looking as good, that pitcher not being the same, right? I mean, in Felix Batista’s case, and it’s interesting you brought him up, he’s actually beginning to progress now to he’ll be throwing his first bullpen, you know, he’s throwing his first bullpen this week. Look, we don’t know what that’s going to look like, right? Even if Felix Batista returns in August or September, or whether we’re talking about it being next year, we don’t know if he’s ever going to be the guy that throws 102 again, right, because you’re talking about someone who had Tommy John surgery and rotator, a rotator cuff injury now. So I would very much err on the side. Side of not expecting anything, and but certainly rooting for him to get back and to continue his career, especially as someone who hasn’t made a whole lot of money to this point in his career, but, but yeah, it is incredible, and I mean, just recently, I mean, how about the Terek Scoob? situation where you know he had a bone chip loose deposit in his elbow, and this new procedure, he missed a month. I mean, that’s normally even on the on the best case scenario, two and a half, three month kind of thing, and he had a, you know, a what’s it called, the nano needle, or whatever. I’m not well versed on that, because I don’t cover Terex Google directly. Point is, it’s the latest advancement in a procedure that, at least in his case, and again, every pitcher is different, every human being is different. You come, you recovering from a surgery is not going to be the same as me, necessarily, but looked like it made him angry last week, got him almost in a fight with the older team, but right, but, but it just speaks to, I mean, he missed a month, right, and especially for someone who’s in a contract here, what it means for the Tigers, in terms of, you know, I know they played better of late, but you still look at their record, I mean, they’re still, man, we talk about the Orioles having some fans are

Nestor Aparicio 11:14
immediately like, go get the surgery, right,

Luke Jones 11:17
well, and that’s that’s where I always fanboy

Nestor Aparicio 11:20
talk, man, that ain’t real.

Luke Jones 11:22
Look, I understand the sentiment, and let’s be very clear. In the case of, like, Kyle Bradish, a couple years ago, right, when you have a UCL tear, and there’s wiggle room here, right, because a sprain is a tear, right? I mean, there’s a lot of.. I can remember over the years, hearing football coaches talk about, oh, someone has a sprained knee. Well, that means he has a tear in one of his ligaments, right? Doesn’t mean it’s a full rupture, but there’s a lot of wiggle room. But point is, when you do have these PRP injections and you try to treat it conservatively, yeah, a lot of times it’s still going to end up in surgery at some point down the road, whether it’s going to be soon or whether it’s going to be six months from now, or whatever. However, again, these are major surgeries, and you don’t always come back. And yes, for every example of pitchers who come back, and let me be clear, the evidence in the high return rate is how many pitchers have had it overall? Right, there wouldn’t be the caliber in terms of the talent that we see pitching wise across baseball if not for the high return rate of these surgeries, right. And, and certainly, there’s all kinds of debate and discussion and discourse that we could have about how we do a better job of keeping pitchers healthy, so that they don’t need these surgeries as frequently. That’s a totally different discussion, but the rehab, the surgical procedures themselves, all of that, it’s.. it’s become an increasingly refined industry from where it was 40 years ago, when you heard something like that, and and then you had significant doubts about a pitcher’s ability to one return to be anywhere close to what he was. Now it’s not 100% and again, that’s why you still will try to treat it conservatively if it makes sense. And yes, there have been pitchers who have had elbow issues, and they avoid surgery, and they end up pitching for a long time after that, but yes, there are plenty who don’t, and yeah, when you have an injection or there’s rest or a throwing progression, whatever, it sometimes can come across as well, you’re just kind of delaying the inevitable, well, because the inevitable is not always a certainty, right, so but in the case of Bradish, I think, what’s, you know, what’s going to be interesting here, and I, I’ll be honest, I hadn’t even given it a whole lot of thought since spring training, but he’s already up to 81 innings on the, actually, I’m sorry, he’s, he’s at 89 innings on the season, keep in mind this is someone who did not pitch a whole lot the last couple years. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m saying he’s going to be shut down, but I do wonder in the second half of the season if here and there you’ve got to, whether it’s

Nestor Aparicio 14:13
big number, right? Yeah, right number, and and I know you monitor such things, I know his agent monitors such, sure he’s trying to get money, and the club will, I mean, whether they, yeah, well, but the club’s trying to win, I mean, you know, to some degree, but

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Luke Jones 14:26
you need a healthy Kyle Braddish to do that, right? And you still, that’s why, that’s why you don’t see pitchers go 140 pitches anymore, I’m not saying 100 or 90 or whatever that arbitrary number is on any given night is necessarily the end all be at all. There’s plenty of actually, I’d say there’s a lack of statistical evidence that supports that. But my overall point is, will there will there come a time, at some point in August, some point after the all-star break, for an example, where maybe you just mean. Over the rotation a little bit here or there, you get him a few extra days rest here or there, because I would very much think you know, right now he’s on pace to throw about 180 innings, that’s very high for someone coming off of the kind of elbow surgery and recovery that he had. Now that said, that doesn’t mean you know, I think I said at the beginning of the season 165 170 and we’re talking about the difference of a start or two there, but at the same time there is also looking at this from a biomechanical standpoint with all of the measurements they take in terms of release point, velocity, all those different things that you look at to try to decipher if someone’s starting, starting to get fatigued. So, I think it’ll just be interesting to see that. Put it this way, I would be shocked if Kyle Braddish throws eight innings his next time out, no matter how the game’s going. If I’m being practical about it, that said

Nestor Aparicio 16:00
innings or pitches, where what is your message?

Luke Jones 16:03
I see, I think it has to be a moving target, because I think there are times when eight innings and 100 pitches, if you have a five or six run lead, as he did for a large portion of his start on Monday night, that isn’t a terribly stressful outing, 71

Nestor Aparicio 16:22
degree nice Southern California, that’s a different thing than a 42 degree Cleveland night or a 90 degree afternoon in Baltimore, right? Or

Luke Jones 16:30
you’re in the crucible of a two to one game and you only get through six innings because there’s a lot of traffic on the bases and you’ve pitched a lot of high stress five

Nestor Aparicio 16:41
six nothing, you’re going PP in the 6/7 eighth inning, right? To some degree, yes, you’re just kind of going through your, you’re going through your scout on the player heat low and away. We’re going to use the slider, we’re going to use the two, whatever, it’s going to you just go back to your scouting report and you throw your pitches when you’re up six nothing, and you hope to get a ground ball or fly out or a whiff, right? Like it’s, it’s way to your point, way easier to come in in Southern California, sixth inning, if you’re up four or five nothing, and you’re grooving against a bad team to say, “Hey, I, I mean, he looked angry, they took the ball away from last week, I thought,

Luke Jones 17:17
yeah, so seven two

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Nestor Aparicio 17:19
thirds, I thought he might have, he might have the game in him tonight, maybe, but

Luke Jones 17:22
it just, it varies. I mean, you can have.. there’s been a lot. I’ve read a few different pieces here over the last few months that really talk a lot about the spike, you know, spike in workload in the midst of a start. You know, famously, if you.. if you go back to opening day, remember Paul Skeens got pulled in the first inning, he was at pitching in New York against the Mets, and his pitch count got up to, I can’t remember what it was, 38 something like that. They really talk about not wanting to redline a pitcher in the midst of an outing, either, right? And that’s when you get into, if you have a really stressful inning, where there’s, you know, you’re pitching with the bases loaded, you’re up there approaching 35 or 40 pitches, that can be far more concerning than quibbling at the end of a stat over, well, he’s at 95 pitches, or he’s at 98 or he’s at 102 there would be much more concern over having that inning where you throw 38 pitches in one inning, and then your, your offense, your lineup makes you know has a 123, inning, and then you go back out there and you throw 23 more the next inning, like that would be the kind of outing right there where to me I’m saying I’m probably pulling him after 85 pitches, if that’s like the second and the third inning for that guy, so it’s it’s always a moving target, and let me be clear. What I’m talking about here isn’t necessarily something that has to be something drastic. It could be as simple as this. Let’s say, and I have no idea. I’m just, I’m completely speaking in a hypothetical here. I have no idea what the rotation, how it’s going to line up between now and the all-star break. But let’s say, just for argument’s sake, sake, that Kyle Brattis’s last start before the All-Star break lands on that Thursday or Friday. If you’re trying to massage his workload a little bit, maybe what you do then post All-Star break, you move him to fourth or fifth coming out of that, and essentially, even though not really, but essentially you’ve kind of skipped the start, you’ve gotten him a little bit of an extra rest, you’ve given him a buy, basically, exactly, exactly, so, and that right there could be, you know, that’s the difference of, you know, and I’m, I’m, I hate the idea of just arbitrarily putting it at a certain number of innings, I’m just saying, when you look at it right now, he’s at the beginning of

Nestor Aparicio 19:38
the year, you were looking at a buck 80, right? Probably 160 I

Luke Jones 19:41
think. Once somewhere in the probably, if I’m being realistic, probably in the neighborhood of 165 You think he was gonna touch

Nestor Aparicio 19:48
200 innings?

Luke Jones 19:49
No, no, I mean, not

Nestor Aparicio 19:50
he’s on pace, not well,

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Luke Jones 19:53
he’s on pace right now for about 180 I think it is, because they’re they’re almost at the halfway point, you know. So, and he’s at, yes, they are, it’s and.

Nestor Aparicio 20:00
The June, now

Luke Jones 20:00
he’s at 89 innings, so, so you know, and again, some of that is also, if you can play quality baseball collectively, you also want to have some bullets left for October. Where he is

Nestor Aparicio 20:16
right now, right where he is right now is eight innings, 100 plus pitches, Southern California night rolling? All the pitches are working

Luke Jones 20:24
right,

Nestor Aparicio 20:25
you know. You don’t want to go get him in the sixth inning. It’s telling you when he went to get him, when Albert has went to get him the last time out, he looked mad.

Luke Jones 20:33
Yeah, well, remember, he was at what, seven and two thirds that time. So, so, yeah, and look way, way more so than arbitrarily talking about how many pitches he threw, how many innings he completed, all that. How does he feel Tuesday? How does he feel Wednesday? How does he feel during his next bullpen? Is he feeling strong, or does he feel a little fatigued? He

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Nestor Aparicio 20:53
goes Saturday, right?

Luke Jones 20:55
Yes, are

Nestor Aparicio 20:58
they going to push a day? Because they all see

Luke Jones 21:00
that’s where I would say you have an off day Thursday, you’re he’ll pitch Sunday, right? Because right now, quite frankly, I mean, you like

Nestor Aparicio 21:07
all five right now,

Luke Jones 21:08
they’re doing, you know, Trey Gibson’s pitching well enough, right? Trevor Rogers, you’re gonna give everybody

Nestor Aparicio 21:15
an extra day because of this, and that’s a nice donut if they can win another game and a half year before we get to Green Mount Station on Wednesday, Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore. Luke, you can follow his work. If there’s any breaking news, you get it first on the WNST Tech SERPs. It’s all brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. We will be at Green Mount Station on Wednesday afternoon before the game in Anaheim. Casper Wells is coming out, former big leaguer, my buddy Howard Share, who is our first ballpark reporter. Luke Jones is our current ballpark. I didn’t want to recruit Alan all the way or Tom Cap all the way up to Green Mount Station. He’s in Florida, but Luke is here. We will be there. It’s all brought to you by GBMC and Farnon and Dermer. So, if you want to come out and say hello to Luke, tell him how great he is. Come get a crab cake with him on Wednesday afternoon at the Green Mountain Station. So the rest of this, and how this trip is.. we’ll get back to Braddish if you wish, but I’m looking at.. I want to do five two.. I’m like, whoa, you know, we were talking three and six, two and seven.. we wonder whether there were 10 games or nine.. I remember, go back to last week, and remember this road trip.. we’re about to blink, you and I are going to get together for a delicious Carroll County crab cake. I mean, it is delicious. It’s the Angelina’s recipe up at Green Mountain Station. I, you know, this has been a good road trip. This last, they’re at the end of the horse race. They got a three horse lead here, no injuries, no bean balls, no weird stuff. Get in, get out up all night, get back out of bed on Wednesday, and get back home. They’ve moved the season along so far on the West Coast that they don’t spit up all over themselves the last couple of games.

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Luke Jones 22:52
Yeah, I mean, certainly you need to, anything short of winning one of the next two is completely unacceptable if you’re looking at it through that lens you mentioned, don’t get anyone else hurt, because well, you know, Ellie Richmond’s on the IL, Jackson Holiday was unavailable on Monday night, and this is where we kind of go to Blaze Alexander has to leave the game. The good thing is it sounds like Albernaz said after the game that it was more of a bruise situation for Blaze Alexander, it doesn’t sound like there’s grave concern about his knee, but he leaves the game in awkward fashion, and because Holiday is unavailable, Leoti Tavarez plays third base, which I mean it worked out okay, right? He and the ball found him right away, and he made the play, but that really speaks to, okay, you’re feeling better about how this road trip has gone since Dodger Stadium. You want to finish that, but you also look around and say, let’s not start piling up the injuries again, because they’re in a position where Dylan Beavers is on an eye on a rehab assignment now, Dean Kramer and Cade Povich are on rehab assignments now, so you’re getting healthier, but now Ruchman with a concussion issue, and you and I have talked about that. You don’t want to panic, but you also know that it doesn’t mean he’s going to be back just like that either. And in the case of Blaze Alexander, I mean, my goodness, he’s he’s just been so phenomenal with the bat, I mean, it’s been such a great story, where he’s become an everyday player, basically, over the last few weeks. So he leaves the game, he wasn’t playing third base, but Kobe Mayo hits a three run homer, like that’s what you want to see from Kobe Mayo. If Alexander is going to have to miss a couple days, here I

Nestor Aparicio 24:37
look at Kobe Mayo, and I look at Tyler O’Neill, and I’m like, oh my, you know, you know, just from a batting average perspective, from what they’ve brought to the table, and I know Mayo has, they both have the ability to hit hit home run, but yeah, I mean,

Luke Jones 24:52
Mayo’s been way better, Tyler O’Neill, because, yeah, Tyler O’Neill,

Nestor Aparicio 24:56
lately, the last, if he was measuring Mayo on the last month, I. Give you that,

Luke Jones 25:00
yeah, yeah, and just he’s been more productive, I mean, Tyler O’Neill, right now, and I know he had a hit, made a nice diving catch in right field, I’ll give him credit for that, but I mean, he’s got a 276 on base percentage and a 271 slug, where I saw

Nestor Aparicio 25:15
that lob from the outfield the other night too, yeah,

Luke Jones 25:19
yeah, yeah, where, but, but you look, although I’ll, I’ll still say I don’t think that was that bad of a throw. I put that more on Bisayo, on that throw to the plate at Dodger Stadium. Besides, got a, he’s got to get in front of that ball, but anyway, but, but in the case of Mayo, we’ve seen, you know, I mean, that, that was a pretty impressive piece of hitting, I mean, that was a two-strike pitch, and you know, that was his 10th home run, believe me. I’m not sitting here saying Kobe mayo is a finished product, he’s far from it, right? And the defense is a question, and the consistency, and he’s, but I will say this, unlike Tyler O’Neill, who was signed specifically to do what I’m about to mention, Kobe Mayo is absolutely clobbered left-handed pitching this year, go look at his numbers, so even if that is what he is for right now, it’s something that’s helping this ball club. So you hope that plays Alexander’s gonna be back. It’s gonna be interesting to see with holiday, because Albernaz was pretty definitive in his post-game comments Monday night that holiday was completely unavailable. It makes me wonder, you know, there’s been a few days now. If he’s still unavailable, do you need to IL him? And you know you can backdate it a few days, but they certainly need to have another infielder, because you don’t want to be playing Leoti Tavares at third base again. I mean, that was an emergency situation that worked out, and it helped that they were winning six to one and had a lead and jumped out to an early lead in that game, but that was certainly not ideal, that’s that’s for sure, but it was one of those instances where the ball found him right away and he made a play, didn’t have to make a play after that, and then you say hopefully you could look back on this and say, well, how do you remember, like, like this season turned into something fun, and do you remember that road trip where Blaze leaves the game and Leoti Tavarez is playing the infield for the first time as a professional baseball player? I mean, so that was very interesting, but like I said, the bigger lesson there is, you know, let’s.. this team is gradually starting to get healthy over the last few weeks, and I’m making the assumption that these guys on rehab are going to be back here soon. You don’t want to start adding to that, right? And they’ve added to that a little bit here of late, and you certainly don’t want that to continue.

8

Nestor Aparicio 27:31
Well, I don’t look at any of those guys as deep impact guys, although I’d like to have Kramer having the ball every fifth day, right? Like we’re missing Dean Kramer around here, but in a general sense they’re winning ball games in the middle of the night when we’re all asleep, and they’ve breathed life back into their season in a big way, and I don’t want to get out ahead of my skis, because they could totally split up two games and still very close to the ages, right, like that’s possible, but they are trending in a direction that when the Nationals get back here, you’re going to be busy until you leave for your summer vacation, and it feels like they’re, they’re going to make it to the trading deadline with being relevant. They’re not going to be an absolute seller at this point, because of where they are. Yeah, I mean,

Luke Jones 28:20
I mostly agree with that. I mean, there’s still.. I mean, let’s face it, Friday, previewing the Dodger series, you and I had a very different tone. I wrote at Baltimore positive.com about it being two years.

Nestor Aparicio 28:32
Changes our tone is when they win, yeah. But when Bradish goes eight innings, but I’m also hitters start hitting, and when Henderson gets three hits, and all of that come to life stuff too little, too late, or whatever, but we know they’re capable of that,

Luke Jones 28:44
they’re capable, but they have to be consistent, right? They’ve, they’ve been in this territory of 345, games under 500 for a long time now, and Monday night marked the sixth time this season where they’ve put together a three game winning streak. Can you win four in a row? Right, I mean they don’t have a four game winning streak yet this year. Can you win five in a row? Can you rip off nine of 10? I’m of the thought that I need to see something like that before I’m really, really starting to buy this at this point. Like, they need to get to 500 I, I don’t disagree. Like, hey, they just won a series of Dodger Stadium, that was really encouraging to see, especially considering how, how it started in disastrous fashion on Friday night with blowing the lead in the ninth inning, but my point is this can also be very fleeting, right? I mean, they went 10 and four, then they lost eight of their next 12, you know. Now, now there’s

Nestor Aparicio 29:39
Soriano on Wednesday, by the way, and it will be Boz, and then Gibson, so you know, you got a guy you didn’t even want your rotation facing a real big, their real big league pitcher with the Angels, one of them, anyway, so yeah, I mean, it better win one

Luke Jones 29:53
of the next two, I don’t have

Nestor Aparicio 29:54
a broom out, you know, not just yet,

8

Luke Jones 29:57
well, I mean that, and that’s again. I win more than three in a row, right? A strap-up of Shane Boz

Nestor Aparicio 30:03
better be coming here soon, if they’re going to be relevant, right?

Luke Jones 30:05
I mean, I think overall I’ve been better. I think Boz has been pretty good overall. I mean, really, since early in the season. I mean, let me, let me try to pull up his game log, just to kind of show you the progression that we’ve seen from him, look, I’m not saying that I’m not hopeful that there’s another level for him to hit in the way that we’ve seen Bradish the last two times out just dominate, but you know, you look at Boz, I mean, you go back to mid-May, his ERA was 5.48 and over his last seven starts, his ERA is 2.62 I mean, he’s been pretty darn good. I mean, even of late, the thing I’ve liked about him of late, he had a couple starts there where he wasn’t great, but he got through five innings, he got through five and two thirds innings. There are a couple starts that really started off by third

Nestor Aparicio 30:55
inning, it was short night long, and then you look up and where’s Tyler Wells, right? Exactly right,

Luke Jones 31:01
and that’s that’s what I’m looking for from their pitching, right. They don’t need to have this elite rotation, they’re not going to have an elite starting rotation. I didn’t think that from from jump street, even even if you were laying out the best case scenario for this group, especially now when you consider the injuries they’ve had and all that, but if you can continue to get what they’ve been getting of late from these guys, just about all of them are giving them a chance. I mean, if you look at their rotation, where it ranks since the third, you know, for about a month now. Well, I haven’t put a game on where they’re down six to one in the fourth inning, exactly. Hasn’t

Nestor Aparicio 31:34
happened

Luke Jones 31:35
exactly. It’s that has been very rare when you’ve seen something like that. So, when, when you get that kind of pitching, you’re going to give yourself a chance. I mean, I’ll go back and hone it up right now, from about the third week of May until now. Go look at what their rotation numbers are. They’re way, way, way better than someone might think. I mean, but if you’ve been watching them on a nightly basis, they’ve been in a position where their starting pitching has been way more competitive, right. It’s not the most dominant, like Bradish is the guy that gets piles up the strikeouts, right. They don’t have a ton of swing and miss, so that’s where you kind of view it through the lens of, okay, how sustainable, how real is this? But yeah, since may 20, the Orioles have the third best rotation era in all of baseball, that’s that’s all that’s over a month now. I mean, that’s not saying that that’s who they are permanently now, but it does speak to their rotation has been legitimately good for them over the last month. I mean, it really has, and it’s a big reason why they’ve been better. And we haven’t had to talk about the

8

Nestor Aparicio 32:39
bullpen melting down because we don’t see him till the sixth or seventh inning. Yeah,

Luke Jones 32:41
exactly. I mean, the bullpen. I still have concerns about this bullpen, especially with the way Ryan Helsley’s looks since coming back. That hasn’t been the most encouraging development, but their rotation is pretty consistently, at least, getting to the sixth inning for them, and if you can get that in modern baseball, you have a pretty darn good chance to win most nights, and we’ve seen that, but I’ll continue to say it. It needs to continue, right? That they’ve played better over the last month, but they haven’t played like a juggernaut over the last month. They need to keep it going, and why I said finish this road trip on a high note here. Don’t, don’t do what we’ve seen them do, quite frankly, which is win the opener of a series, and then you kind of go to sleep for a day or two. They, they need to break that cycle, right? Again, I’m not saying it needs to be a 12 game winning streak, although that would certainly be very helpful to their big picture chances, but I want to see them start putting together these winning stretches, and then follow it up with something that’s not a losing stretch, right? It can you do a winning stretch, and then just be, hey, 500 ish for the next week, if, if you’re going to cool off a little bit, don’t, but don’t go two and five after that winning stretch, right, because then you’re just right back in the position you were, so we’ll see, but certainly with the way Kyle Bradish pitched, I mean, that that’s his last two times out, he’s been an ace, I mean, that’s that’s what you can get from Kyle Bradish, and let’s face it, understanding, look, he got hurt, I mean, pitchers hurt their elbows. It’s modern baseball, but when you look at what he’s been overall, when he’s been on the field since the second half of his rookie season, there aren’t many, many guys in baseball truly better than what he is when he’s getting going, and he’s out there on the mound consistently. I mean, he’s been very, very good in his career.

Nestor Aparicio 34:40
The fake rocks of Anaheim and the Big A in Southern California, my least favorite Major League Baseball stadium, and one that you do not need to see a game in, but you might want to watch this one on Tuesday night. Wednesday afternoon will be a Green Mount Station in Hampstead. I’m wearing my Coco’s pub gear here, so get on down to Coco’s and see Marcel. Before they take off on vacation next month, they got Pizza John’s out next week for Fourth of July, so summer vacations around, but we’re not taking a vacation, we’re moving onward and upward. Maryland Crab Cake Tour presented by the Maryland Lottery, four different scratch-offs to choose from on Wednesday, like Remount Station. I’m putting my July schedule together next week, we’re taking a little respite for the Fourth of July, and I’m taking a little weekend respite with Sammy Hagar, Mastoquila down in the lower part of our state in DC, but it’s gonna be a big week around here, we’re up late, we’re out early on Wednesday afternoon, my buddy Howard Chair will be by Casper Wells, former big leaguer, and Towson Tiger will be by Luke’s coming by, we’re gonna have a little baseball summit before a first pitch over in at Green Mount Station in Hampstead, as well as some really good crab cakes, as well. Our friends Zach Dermer and Farnon and Dermer, they are the comfort guys. 410 36777 Zach’s going to join us on Wednesday up at Carroll County, as well. He wants to meet Luke as a baseball idol. I, you know, he gives us great gear, far comfortable summer gear. So I have a blue shirt for you to wear, so you can look like you’re on Team USA here, as we get into the World Cup. By the way, Leonard Raskin and I, we inspired me, Luke, and let’s see, let’s see if you can do a little. Do you know your WNSD history? Okay, because I know your dad listened. You famously said you saw a barn show with, like, Qadri Ishmael back in 99 or something, you came out. I know you know nothing about soccer. You care nothing about soccer now or then, but are you aware of our rich history than 2002 that we had 3am soccer gatherings at the Kiss Cafe in Canton when USA played Team Mexico, or that we were gathered at the Hub Cap in when we lost to Germany and Oliver Kahn in 2000 Do you aware of any of this, this rich history of 24 years?

Luke Jones 36:46
I mean, I’d be lying if I said I was very aware, aware I remember about it this week

Nestor Aparicio 36:52
because, like, people are like, ‘Oh, World Cup man, and I can’t get Corinthians’ ass out because he’s running around with his kids because he coaches, he’s 100 years old, and he’s still out running around on humid days with little kids teaching him soccer, so that the soccer camp has kept PD away from me, who has been my World Cup analyst. We lost Billy Ronson a number of years ago. Billy always sat in with me, he was my mate, and I’m pulling for England just for the Trump chance, if nothing else. I mean, England’s got to win this cup here, so anyway, World Cup is on. I have not been blathering on about it, Luke, and I haven’t been discussing, because he doesn’t know a pitch from a witch. And beyond that, it’s on all day, every day. People are enjoying it. I’ve been enjoying it. I think my wife’s going to go party with the Germans on Monday up in Foxboro. I’m glad that she’s one of them, but it’s been fun to watch this. I’ve had friends, my friend Dave Rayther, who owns Mothers, was up at the Iraq-France game in Philadelphia. Ron Cassie joined me earlier this week. He was in Philadelphia last week for the Ivory Coast game up there, so in Ecuador. So, World Cup’s awesome. I’m taking a little respite, but I will say, out online, I attended the World Cup in 2006 I spent two weeks in Europe, I went to Germany, I stayed in Amsterdam, I saw the US play Italy and Kaiser Slaughter in one of the most famous World Cup games in the history of this country, maybe until this week, because it’s going to get a little better, especially if they get into the knockout, we get into, if, when they get into the, I was gonna say, even definitively, in Santa Clara, it’s, it’s rarified air to win two games, dude. You have no idea how many times I’ve sat in loonies watching us get our ass kicked by African teams in this, in these tournaments, in, in 610, 1418, 22 Russia, Qatar, United States, all the corrupt countries that host these, these mafia clowns, so we’re now one of them, and, and for all these poor people sitting out in the meadowlands, trying to wait to get home to where, and I don’t mean home to, like, Ghana, I mean, just get to Manhattan, the whole thing to me has been an unbelievable fiasco, Luke, that I cheered. There are pictures of me all over Europe wearing Bring Baltimore the World Cup stuff. That guy, Terry Hasseltine, who was zero on getting this thing done here, but I can’t imagine the World Cup being here right now, right? Like, if there were, if there were a couple of games here over the last three weeks, what the city would have been like, what the area would have been like. It’s kind of sad that we didn’t get it, but it’s also we didn’t get the tax bill either, as we’re on election day here. So I just want to do a little World Cup and let you know, Luke, and let our audience know, our baseball audience, primarily at this point, that we have a really rich soccer history here, so the fact that I’m not sitting in bars all day really speaks to the corruption involved in FIFA, because I don’t, I don’t want to support it in that way, and it also speaks to the fact it’s June and I got ish to do, and I just been working instead of watching soccer 18 hours a day, which I’m not against it, I think the. 48 team part of the tournaments, like the NCAA tournament, when they start having play-in games on Monday. I’m not interested, you know. Don’t bore us, get to the chorus. Chorus starts this weekend, once we get to the 30-two, so it’ll be great. I will be watching World Cup, probably beginning next week, because I sort of caught the fever again. Don’t tell anybody, but it’s Fourth of July week, and I don’t have anything to do next week anyway. He’s Luke, I’m Nestor. World Cup’s on, Orioles are playing, they’re back home against the Nationals this weekend. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.