Itโs taken a year for the Baltimore Orioles to get back to the baseball that matters. Luke Jones and Nestor get Birds fans ready for October and sudden death baseball with Kansas City Royals. Gotta win Game 1 and Corbin Burnes vs. Cole Ragans is a good one.
Luke Jones and Nestor get Orioโฆseball with Kansas City Royals
Mon, Sep 30, 2024 7:33AM โข 36:53
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, team, game, pitching, baseball, talking, good, week, luke, series, bats, october, play, oysters, months, camden yards, win, season, feel, royals
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Music. Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are a Baltimore positive.com you find all of our work out in those places. My man, Luke Jones, can be found anywhere the internet travels. He is Baltimore. Luke out on all the social medias. Our friends at the Maryland lottery are powering us up with these Raven scratch offs. Weโll have these next Friday crab cake tour on hiatus this week. Too much unpredictable baseball scheduling going on this week. But we allegedly are gonna have next Friday off on the 11th. Luke will be celebrating his birthday, which comes this week, my birthday, which comes next week, will be a pizza Johns on the 11th. Next Friday in the afternoon, weโre gonna be having some pizza, some crab cakes and crinkle cut fries. Might even get Luca meatball sub or one of those delicious imported ham they imported. I donโt know if itโs from Dundalk or from Italy. Iโm not sure, but itโs imported ham in Essex. They import it from somewhere outside of Essex, maybe Middle River or Rosedale. Weโre going to be down there next Friday. Our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter, as well as our friends at the Liberty pure solutions powering up the oyster tour, which is coming toward an end, and about the platform that the entire month of October, so the folks can be educated about the bay and about the oyster recovery partnership and all of that fun stuff. Jiffy Lube has him back and forth from Owings Mills to Camden Yards. I would implore everyone to please read my dear David Rubenstein letter. Everybody told me all summer, just give the new owners a chance. Youโll have a press pass because heโs a bomber guy. And Iโm like, Okay, so my press credentials have been denied this week. Luke will be at the baseball games. Luke will not be in Owings Mills. See steel comma Chad. We will not have representation for at least a couple days this week in in preparing for the Cincinnati Bengals. But Luke and I will both be watching the same game. Heโll be in Camden Yards, in our W NSD press box seat, and I will be watching on the telly. You know, itโs kind of a bummer. Ben McDonald and Jim Palmer go away. Iโm not, Iโm not want, Iโm not ready for, like, out of town announcers, because you know how we feel about that in the playoffs. But I would say this Luke a different draw. I donโt know if theyโll be Thursday morning. Weโre crying, and we got swept out of this thing by the Kansas City Royals. But if we would have asked for something last week, maybe we would have asked for this, maybe when the shadows are falling in the seventh inning and they have two hits against Reaganโs on Tuesday, that will feel differently. I donโt know. But how are you can you get baseball on the brain off of football. I mean, this has been a weird couple of days to be thinking football, football, football, baseball. Now weโre going to turn it back on again, and weโre going to say Lamar, who that was so Sunday night.
Luke Jones 02:32
Well, especially with the Orioles having wrapped up everything they needed to wrap up by Friday night. I mean, Iโll be honest with you, Nestor, I think I saw about three pitches total on Saturday and Sunday. I mean, good job Emmanuel Rivera on Saturday and they get a win on Sunday. But it really did allow itself to, you know, they had a chance to exhale. Fans had a chance to exhale. There had been a hyper focus on the Detroit Tigers and Tarik scuba and mainly because the Orioles had played the Tigers six times in the month of September, but lo and behold, it ends up being the Kansas City Royals. And Iโll say this, the Tigers were the hotter team, although they lost two out of three to the White Sox over the weekend. So I mean, they have no one to blame but themselves. I guess, you know, if they would have rather gone to Baltimore rather than Houston for the opening round. But Iโll say this over the course of the full season. I mean, this Kansas City team is definitively better than the Detroit Tigers, and for as much as, yes, itโs a good thing that the Orioles are avoiding. Terek schubel In the first round. Cole Reaganโs is pretty darn good. Seth Lugo is pretty darn good. I mean, look at the numbers that they put up. Michael Walker, whoโs going to be the game three starter, if necessary, a pretty darn good they have a guy who, in a world where Aaron judge didnโt exist, would be the slam dunk definitive MVP in Bobby Witt Jr. So this is a talented team, and I think whatโs so interesting about them one the Orioles played the Royals six times back in April, they they won four of the six. But you know, close games in there. I I can recall you, and I even saying at the time, for a team that lost 106 games in 2023 it felt like the Royals were better even then. Now, I would have never predicted this, that theyโd be playing in October. But the point is, theyโve got some really talented young players, and theyโve got some veterans, you know, as I mentioned, a couple of those starting pitchers, specifically Lugo and waka that have really held up that rotation to a high level. And, you know, they added Lucas airsig to become their closer at the trade deadline. The, you know, everyone talked about Mason Miller and the Aโs potentially dealing him. But I, I remember sitting with you at fadele saying, hey, Lucas airsig Would would be a nice addition, and the Royals went out and got him. So, you know, Iโm not sitting here saying that, that the Royals are this juggernaut, that the Orioles are in deep, you know what, or anything like that, but itโs baseball, and itโs a two out of three, and itโs a royal. Team that kind of like the Orioles, not last week, not withstanding, didnโt really finish the season in the month of September, the way that they would have wanted. But, I mean, give them credit, they improved by 30 games from last year. I mean, this was a 106 loss team, and suddenly theyโre in the postseason a year later. I mean, itโs kind of like the jump that we saw the Orioles make from Oh, or 21 to 22 and then another jump in 23 so theyโve got good starting pitching, and theyโve got a couple bats, you know, weโll see about Vinnie past Pasc. I always struggle with that name. I know you do, but he could be back. It sounds like itโs possible he could be back for this series, and he heโs another formidable bat to add to that lineup. So, you know, I mean this, I said this talking to a few people in the press box. I mean to sit here and try to view this three game series differently, other than itโs in October, other than the stakes being through the roof for these two teams. Obviously, itโs a three game series. I mean, think about a three game series of the best team in baseball against the worst team in baseball, the Tigers, who arenโt even the best team in baseball, but had been red hot the White Sox, historically, record setting, terrible. They took two out of three from them this weekend when they needed to win, right? I mean, so thatโs where you look at this and say, I mean, you just presented the, the scenario that no one wants to think about. But, I mean, by Thursday, this could be over. By Wednesday, this could be over. It could be right. I mean, Iโve said this. This is why I said all season long, give me the, give me the five days off and having to deal with some rust rather than dealing with a three game series. That, letโs face it, is a weighted coin flip at best. You know, maybe 5545 maybe 6040 right? I mean, thatโs, thatโs what youโre talking about with a three game set. So especially with the Royals having good starting pitching. I mean, the Orioles have to be ready to go. It was encouraging to see how they finish the regular season, the way they swung the bats. That needs to continue. You obviously have Corbin burns going in game one. They need to see the Corbin burns that we saw over the last few weeks, which was better cutter, more swing and miss, dominant Milwaukee esque version of Corbin burns, rather than the version that we saw for much of the season, which was really good, but not necessarily getting a ton of strikeouts. So, you know, this is going to be an interesting series in that way. I mean, the Orioles are at home. Theyโve got the home field advantage for all three games. Thatโs a major edge. Certainly, they have more experienced than the Royals in the postseason, although Salvy Perez will have something to say about that, the veteran catcher. So weโre going to see what the Orioles learned from last year. Weโre going to see what the Orioles learned over the last few weeks about themselves, in terms of hoping that the bats stay awake after it looks like they woke up here over the last week or so. But, you know, this is a Royals team that no one should be taking lightly. I mean, I think there, there was very much a perception because of school, because of how red hot the Tigers were that, Oh, good. You donโt have to face the Tigers. Thatโs the wrong thinking. Because, I mean, this is a Royals team thatโs absolutely capable of beating them if they donโt play really good baseball these next couple days.
Nestor Aparicio 08:24
This was the better team all year, right? I mean, like, so letโs not act like we got the light load here or whatever. But how are you feeling about the Orioles? Maybe itโs about the opponent all day long. How are we feeling about pitching now that itโs just a game or two, you know what? I mean? This isnโt about will they survive the month? This is about rested, bullpen, Monday, off, home cooking, late afternoon. Shadows gonna have that, right? Um, home cooking, home crowd. Itโll be raucous at be like a football game out there. It should be, and it open open is, I donโt know all the football people might be a little hung over this morning, you know, ramp it back up and and the baseball crowdโs different than the football crowd, but it these games when theyโre done, right? And I remember vividly, and again, that we had just stolen their football team, but the 9597 era of the Cleveland Indians, I remember going to those games at the football game the when the Phillies play playoff games, itโs like an Eagles game. Itโs just a different sound in the ballpark. And you know that we havenโt played, not that well, we havenโt played a whole lot of playoff games here. But you know, this is a time to look at Delmon young and say, Thatโs all we got. Thatโs literally in the history of that ballpark. Moments in that ballpark, I forget Cal Ripken, forget the pope coming, because I know youโre Catholic, and thatโs a big deal. I have Springsteen coming and Billy Joel, Iโll throw those in there. Those are, those are my high priests. Um, I, Iโm thinking about moments in that ballpark, and I think. About 30 years into this, I wrote my letter to Dear David Rubenstein because I am a band media member, which is very disappointing from the new ownership. For me, extremely disappointing, quite frankly, that Iโm locked out from watching the games, but that moment in the ballpark and that sound in the ballpark that can only have when itโs full, it doesnโt get full all that often anymore, which Iโm writing a letter to Katie Griggs about that a moment and having moments where you win series, win big games, get a key hit in the seventh inning, get get a double off the wall that we remember and talk about 1012, years later. Um, this is all those commercials Major League Baseball. This is what we play. This is where. These are the moments. I donโt know where the pile diver is. I always love using pile diver because I remember the day that I met Angela Showalter after Greg Bader in the Orioles told her that I was a bad guy and Iโm to be avoided. I remember that day Buck Showalter as the last press car while I was at the Brandon high press conference last year, the last real press conference I attended, I snuck into at the Camden Yards warehouse the day they hired Buck Showalter, and Buck talked about pile divers, pile he didnโt say that a lot during the course of his time here, but pile divers. And I thought, who are the pile divers here? To me, Jordan westburg is my favorite pile diver. Um, just this is the gritty time of the year where like heroes are made, and the Aaron Boone home runs happen. And I want to feel that. I want that for our fans, I mean, and if weโre here Thursday, and we got our feelings heard, and Reagan shuts them down on Tuesday, and somehow the bullpen blows it on Wednesday, and you know, itโs just not good enough, and Cano isnโt whatever happens here and they donโt hit the ball, which, I mean, thereโs anything, any reason that weโre here reading a requiem over them before the the Ravens play next weekend. Itโs gonna because they donโt hit the ball and they havenโt hit the ball consistently in months. I just want to have some moments and and there werenโt none last year, right? I mean, they made the playoffs. It was good time and all that. I donโt want our best moment to be the curse of and Dino, for crying out loud. You know, letโs improve upon that. And this is the only time you can improve upon that, because walk officer Jackson holiday and sitting little baseballs out and saying, and we, we did this. We had a walk off, we danced, we had water fountains, and we spurted everybody in May. No, no, no, no. These are, every one of these is times 10 for games, no, times 100 because the memory will be there if they win and if they lose. Um, you know, weโll look back on August and September and say they are who we thought they were, because they havenโt been a very good baseball team the last two months. They really havenโt. No,
Luke Jones 12:41
they havenโt. The offense is obviously a big part of that. I would actually disagree with you a little bit, though, because you asked me how I was feeling about the team going into the season or going into the postseason. Iโm a little nervous about the bullpen. Imagine that, right? Imagine that. But at the same time, you know, we talked about this last week. I mean, yen your canoe not looking great his last few times in the regular season. You know, even Sir Anthony Dominguez, they got him some work on Sunday. And, you know, gave up a walk, gave up a hit. You know, itโs been a little choppier for him. And just the general, you know, do you have enough length? Do you have enough guys that are going to miss bats and do that? I mean, look, obviously itโs a non starter, if they donโt swing the bats at all, and Cole Reagan, Cole Reaganโs tosses seven shutout innings, and Seth Lugo tosses six shutout innings in game two. And then, chances are, youโre probably going home at that point. I mean, itโs that simple. So of course, I mean, thereโs the I donโt want to even say extreme example, because youโre right. I mean, we saw mean, we saw in August, and very much, especially in the first three weeks of September, how much they struggled to swing the bats. Of course, youโve got to play complete baseball, right? I mean, you have, thereโs no such thing as you know, especially considering where the Orioles are, because you donโt have Kyle Bradish, you donโt have Grayson Rodriguezโs upside, right? I mean, you have Corbin burns, whoโs a bonafide ace, Zach Eflin, who pitched a lot like that, but generally speaking, has not been that in his career. I mean, even last year for Tampa Bay, I mean, was as close as heโs been to an ace, but generally heโs been more league average to above average. You know, Iโm hoping his last start against the Yankees was a little bit of an aberration, you know, with with the walks, and not because heโs wearing down or anything like that. But, I mean, youโve got to play complete across the board. You know, this isnโt like we talk about it all the time, about Lamar putting on the Cape, right? And Lamar doing it all for the Ravens at times, you know, especially in a pre Derrick Henry world, right? But you know, thereโs no, thereโs no such thing as that in baseball, right? I mean, unless, I guess, you have the most extreme of Reggie Jackson hitting three home runs or something along those lines. Baseball such so dependent on passing the baton and having more than one guy. Do it so, you know, yeah, they need their offense to look more like it did over the last week or so. And you mentioned Jordan westburg Being a pile diver. You canโt just have one. You need five or six guys that are going to do it, right? I mean, okay, there might be an MVP of a series, but theyโre going to need multiple guys to swing the bats. You know that gunner Henderson, who was far and away their best player this year, you know, Anthony sundant Santander, who led them in home runs. Theyโre going to need those guys to be big. Theyโre going to hope that Adley rutschman wakes up. Weโve been talking about it for two months now, but it improves their chances tremendously if Adley rutsman can swing the bat more like he did in the first half than what we saw in the second half, which was one of the worst regulars in Major League Baseball, you know, offensively over the last three months. So, you know, thereโs a lot, thereโs a lot to really like about this team. Weโve talked about this all along. You know, you donโt get to a point where youโre what their high water mark was, 24 games over 500 you donโt get to that point in June or early July by being, you know, just really, really lucky. They were excellent over the first half of the season, but to your point, they werenโt so good over the second half of the season. And thatโs where you kind of look, not that the Royals are a mirror image of them, but you know, the Royals were a team that was very hot and cold over the course of their 86 and 76 win season. I mean, they they had some stretches where they looked fantastic, and they had some other stretches where you wondered if they were going to win another game. You know, a week ago, at this time, we were wondering if they were going to make the playoffs, because they kind of looked like, oh, that thatโs not looking good. But give them credit, they did just enough, and other teams, like the Minnesota Twins, completely collapsed and allowed them to make it. But itโs a new season now, and thatโs why, when you look at these short series, itโs hard to focus on anything but the pitching. And thatโs where you look at this and say, Hey, burns against Reaganโs. We saw it twice in April. You know, the one matchup, you know, Reaganโs was excellent. The other matchup in Kansas City, the Orioles clobbered Reaganโs, and he was out after a couple winnings. So youโre hoping to see more, more of that than the former. But you know, this is a team that really leaned on its rotation big time. And you know, theyโve got, donโt get me wrong, theyโve got hitters. I mean, Bobby Witt, one of the best players on the planet, you know. I mean, we love our guy here in Baltimore, Gunner Anderson, but you know, Bobby Witt in the second half was every bit as as great as gunner was in the first half. But you know, add in more athleticism, right? So, I mean, heโs a phenomenal talent that that lineup one through nine doesnโt necessarily frighten you, but you know, they certainly have guys that can do damage. And again, you know, there feels like theyโre, you know, they were able to write the ship a little bit, I suppose, but itโs a, itโs a clean slate, you know what? Everything youโre, youโre, anything that you would say about the Royals in terms of how they finished in September, you kind of say the same thing about the Orioles in terms of wanting to paint an optimistic picture and say, Hey, fresh start. Put September behind you. Put August behind you. You swung the bats really well over the last five, six games of the season. Great. Now letโs roll that into October. But again, that Royals rotation, theyโre gonna have something to say about it. Because, I mean, when youโre talking about pitchers with the, you know, the eras that they have, and the wins above replacement. You know, you look at Reaganโs and Seth Lugo, I mean, these were five win pitchers, you know, in terms of wins above replacement. I mean, thatโs, thatโs rare territory there. I mean, thatโs really, really good. Not to mention Michael waka doing what he did. So again, there was such a hyper focus on the Tigers, because they played them in September, and these teams havenโt met since April. I mean, think about everything thatโs changed for the Orioles since April. You throw that out. I mean, I donโt know if any of thatโs relevant, but they better be ready to play, because this is a the Royals are kind of where the Orioles were a year or two ago, where you just say they might just be ignorant enough to to not realize that theyโre ahead of schedule, and especially when youโre talking about a best of three, you better start fast, because you can have a bad 24 hours and and then weโre given this teamโs eulogy. And certainly no one wants that, but you know what you mentioned, at the very least, forgetting about the World Series or anything like that. At the moment. At the very least, how about win a postseason game for the first time since 2014 letโs start with that. And to your point, give the fan base a moment here. You know, whether itโs a Delmon young kind of moment, where itโs something dramatic, you know, come from behind, walk off whatever it is, something like that, which obviously would help them win a game, but it also would get be a be a jolt of energy that this team, this fan base, needs that reward, right? I mean, regular season, so they donโt need to
Nestor Aparicio 19:54
win the World Series to have a moment. Weโre still talking about Delman freaking young, and we, nobody even knows. We if heโs one. Look through Baltimore. Nobody even knew he is right. So, like, and they didnโt win the World Series, only talking about Tito Landrum when, you know, or Rick Dempsey, you know. Like, I just, for me, itโs been a long time since theyโve had a moment there that hasnโt been Billy Joel or Bruce Springsteen. Like, literally, and Iโm getting old, and they can only have these moments now, because you can win all the games you want in April and May and June, you can have all the exciting you know, you could drink from. You have five hoses on that, on that, that water hydration, bong, that theyโve the Homer hose, or whatever they are. I just, I want to see the promise for all the year, all the new ownership, all the new everything. And by the way, I have a letter coming for David Rubenstein this week that the fans get to squeeze some juice out of this, and the players do too, because itโs been a little morose the last couple of months. Because I think hope was a little bit lost. My hope is not lost on any of this. But they donโt need to win the World Series to have a successful October, in my mind, because I think the expectations have been set differently. I think if the world series started in July, they better win or bust, certainly, what a series or two, you know, and I think watching them play over the last 60 to 90 days, and I think the the injuries were certainly a part of that, through pitching, huge disappointment of the ball pan, the fact that the bats went called, the fact that the one and Adley rutschman. I mean, this would be like Lamar Jackson not looking good all of a sudden when Adley rutman Doesnโt look good, and you say, Well, how can we win without him? You know, I want to see the leaders lead. And all the things that you talked about back before the trading deadline, which was, yeah, Mike Elias can deal for Zach Eflin or Eloy Jimenez or, you know, Trevor Rogers, or a deal for any of these guys, the guys are gonna need to win this, or name rutchman and Henderson and Santander and cows are and westburg the guys. I want to see that, by the way. And weโll talk more baseball, guitar, baseball week. I find the Arizona Diamondback situation on Monday to be like the way theyโve done this. Used to do the one day playoff, remember that Randy Johnson game years ago, or the one day playoff, and like, they play all night, and this what happened to the schedule and rain delays in baseball and a double header in a in the middle of a monsoon thatโs going to decide whether the diamond Diamondbacks get on a plane to Milwaukee, and if they split the series, itโs Itโs no bueno. It has to be a sweep, just a wild circumstance. I Iโm, Iโm glad the Orioles arenโt in that circumstance. Thatโs all,
Luke Jones 22:30
Oh, sure, no question. And especially on the heels of the Diamondbacks, they had a really good second half, and then itโs like what happened at the very end, right? I mean, they were really trending up, and then, then youโre at the mercy of other outcomes. And to your point, you donโt have these games 163 scenarios. Now itโs all about tie breakers and and theyโre doing that because they added another round of the playoffs. So I get that, you know, Iโm not thatโs not even a criticism. Itโs just the reality of what it is. But you flip a coin for as much as for as much hand wringing as there was about the Orioles over the last couple months. And I understand that, and I think youโre right. I mean, I do think it zapped a lot of the enthusiasm. I think itโs ramped back up over the last week. You know, I think people are excited now, especially finally knowing what time the game is, even if you know you got to take off a half day of work, at the very least. But you know, there it is tough when you have a season that they had last year, when that felt so ahead of schedule, when you have the first half that they had this year, and then maybe not even first half. Because, you know, by the last week of June, things were starting to go awry a bit. But just what they did through June 20, you know, whatever that date was, when they finished off the series win at the bro in the Bronx, when they completely clobbered the Yankees, you know that that that was the high water mark of the sea of the regular season, really. So itโs tough when you canโt maintain that, and you backslide some, and you have a month of September that was on track to be a losing month until this last week, where, fortunately, they regrouped and they did what they needed to do to clinch the top wildcard spot. You know, the playoff making the playoffs itself. You know that was never in danger, because they had done such heavy lifting over the first three months. But you know, wherever theyโre ultimately going to wind up. And you know, you asked me a week ago whether I thought that they would still be playing. I think I forget what date you said. I said or it was october 11. I think it was whatever it was. Point is, you asked me if they were going to make a deep run, and I said, if you want my honest opinion, I donโt think that. You donโt think weโre having pizza next. Doesnโt mean they take it on, right? That would be too serious. Theyโre going to, um, yeah, I mean, I would that would be that theyโre ALCS bound. You. Iโm not saying they canโt. Iโm not saying, pack it. Pack things up. Itโs over. Iโm not, of course, Iโm not saying that. But if youโre asking me, you know to bet $100 on it, Iโm gonna say probably not. Because Iโm just Iโm concerned about their pitching. I just am. Theyโve, theyโve experienced so much attrition with their rotation, even though Dean Kramer pitched really well down the stretch, and obviously they have Fn and burns, you know, one two punch there that Iโll take against most teams in the field. You know, maybe not every team, but most teams, Iโd say, or at least Iโll go up against any team. But you know, the the bullpen is still, Iโve been consistent. Youโve been hearing me talk about this since March, and obviously a lotโs happened in terms of injuries and Craig Kimbrell not being effective and to the point where heโs off the roster entirely. So you know, thatโs where I have a tough time envisioning them playing deep, deep into October. But hey, no one like the Texas Rangers bullpen at this point last year, so you never know. I mean, if, if Corbin burns can be the best version of Corbin burns, and Zach Eflin can be the best version of Zac Eflin, and we see a dean Kramer that looks like the Dean Kramer weโve seen the last few couple weeks, got a heck of a shot, assuming they swing the bats well enough, right? So
Nestor Aparicio 26:27
well the adjustment of pitching, if Kramer doesnโt have to pitch, if they win two games, things change a lot. If this turns into a 18 inning series as opposed to a 30 inning series, right? Like, to some degree over the next couple of days. And thatโs about length from the starting pitching. Thatโs about how theyโre going to swing the bats the next couple days. But I donโt want to see them playing baseball on Thursday, right, like that. And you know, the odds of that are probably, youโre, youโre the, youโre the mathematician here as to how they would split. But man, if it comes down to Thursday, and Dean Kramerโs got the season on the line, you know? I mean, I swallow hard on that, thinking about that, just in a general sense, with a little bit of a taxable pen, right? Letโs say that all their guys are going on Tuesday and Wednesday, and letโs say it goes 12 innings one day, whatever, Thursday becomes problematic. I I wonโt feel good about Thursday if you and I are getting together Thursday morning, and there is a Thursday
Luke Jones 27:23
Yeah, and look, a lot of that is just because itโs an elimination game. I mean, thatโs just because youโre never going to feel great about that those situations. I mean, youโll feel great about whoeverโs pitching that night, if itโs a pitcher that you love see and take the hill. But you know, game seven and game five in the Division Series. I mean, thatโs as nerve wracking as it gets. I mean, I mean, your seasonโs on the line so but you just, you just spelled it out better than I did a few minutes ago, where you just said, you know, talking about this series in terms of 18 innings compared to 27 or, you know, throw in an extra inning or two for good measure. Thatโs where I do have my concerns about this team making a deep run. Itโs that cumulative impact of the pitching. Itโs not itโs not that the bullpen isnโt good enough to do it on October 2. Itโs can they do it? October 1, second, third, if necessary. October 5, October 7, October 9 and 10th, October, 12, you get my point like it starts to build. And thatโs just, thatโs a lot when youโre talking about a bullpen that, you know, I just, I donโt have a high degree of confidence in every pitcher in that pen, you know. I mean, Iโd like to think I have a confidence in Sir Anthony Dominguez, but the last week or so, it hasnโt been looking as good. Same with Cano. I mean, Danny cool on my love, but is it going to be Danny cool? He was just, heโs back, and thereโs no more rust, and his elbow feels fine and all that, you know, some of the other guys in the pen, and, you know, CNL Perez walks too many hitters, you know, I mean, and heโs been a guy that theyโve tried to trust throughout the years. So again, you can win a series, you know, you can win games, you know, with a less than great bullpen, but itโs the cumulative impact when youโre talking about, I mean, these guys are entering their seventh month of play, all these guys, you know, not, not just the Orioles, all these teams, you know, thatโs part of the, you know, the endurance. We think about it in terms of it being a sprint in October because of the short series, but it takes a lot of endurance because, you know, youโre going to the bullpen quickly. You know youโre we saw it how they how Brandon Hyde handled Dean Kramer in his last start. I mean, two times through the lineup, and then they went to the pen. Iโm guessing thatโs what youโre going to see. You know, certainly, whether itโs Kramer or, you know, Albert Suarez, whoโs not going to pitch into a potential Division Series, you know, I think that was clear based on how he threw on Sunday. What? Six innings, 71 pitches. But you know, youโre having to lean have. Fully on your pen. Iโve cited it for months now. The teams that made it to the World Series the last three years, they averaged using four and a half to five relievers per game in October. I mean, thatโs what youโre looking at there. So tell me your five that you feel the best about in the Orioles pull pen right now, and you might get 10 different answers from 10 different Orioles fans if you ask them that right now, so, but
Nestor Aparicio 30:26
weโll see. Well, this is what makes things nervous. They get in trouble and burns. Yeah. I mean, if Burns is only three and a third somehow, and the gameโs five, four, I that becomes problematic for me, right? Or right off the bat Tuesday, right?
Luke Jones 30:41
Sure, sure. And look, any team thatโs in that position, unless your pitching is so tremendous that you feel so great about four or five guys in your rotation. But if you know, and a lot of these teams are like the Orioles, where itโs like, Hey, you have an ace, youโve got a number two, you feel really good about your number three, youโre like, hey, okay. And then number four is kind of like, okay, can that guy get us one time through the order, you know, a clean and then weโll kind of go hit her to hit her after that. You know, there are other teams in this postseason field that kind of fit that description, and thatโs kind of where the Orioles are. So, yeah, youโre going to have to lean on your bullpen a whole lot, but youโve, youโve made the point for probably the better part of the last month, youโve talked about game one, game one game one, game one in a best of three. Especially now forget about the Division Series, forget about the LCS, forget about the World Series, for the moment when youโre talking about a best of three. Game one is massive. I mean, it absolutely is massive. You know, kind of in the way that you think about a regular season series, where you say you win game one, you got a heck of a chance to win a best of three, right? Only your seasonโs on the line. This isnโt May or June or even September. So, yeah, they need burns to be great. Yeah, they need to go out and not get completely shut down by Cole Reaganโs and, you know? But if they donโt, then itโs, Hey, youโre playing for your life and all hands on deck, and you canโt worry about the next day or the next series. I mean, you gotta do whatever you can to survive. I mean, thatโs just where it is right now. So it would be way easier to do that if your offense looks like the offense we saw in the first three months of the season. Thereโs no question about it. So hey, I wish I had some genius insight for you, but itโs a best of three baseball series. I mean, the stakes are so much higher, but itโs the best of three. Itโs not much more than a coin flip in one way, one direction or the other. I mean, it really isnโt. So thatโs why you you hope that you play well, and you hope that the that the ball bounces your way. I mean, thatโs thatโs a big part of this. I say it all the time in October, Nestor luck is way more involved in October baseball than anyone cares to admit. Yeah, you need your great players to be great. You need some lesser players to be better than you expect if youโre going to make that deep run. But so much of it still comes down to, you know, is the ball going to bounce your way? You know, is the umpire going to make the call in the spot on that two, two pitch with two guys on base? So, you know, weโre going to see, and again, this Oreos team, you hope last yearโs experience plays a part this year with these guys hopefully being a little more comfortable understanding the tempo, the crowd, noise, everything thatโs involved in October baseball. And in turn, you hope that the Kansas City Royals, who other than a couple veteran players here and there, largely, I mean, Bobby WITTs never played in the postseason. Gunner Henderson has Adley rutman has. So youโre hoping that thereโs a little bit of an edge there that I donโt think is going to be the deciding factor in the series, but you hope it can give the Orioles a little bit of an edge to, at the very least, get off on the on the right foot in game one.
Nestor Aparicio 33:55
Heโs Luke Jones. Heโs Baltimore, Luke. He will be at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I am band. David Rubensteinโs getting his finally getting his letter. Heโs owned the team for six months now. I have been locked out for six months. Luke will be at the ballpark Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Luke will maybe not Thursday, Luke. Luke will be at Owings Mills, maybe on Friday. I donโt we donโt have any rain in the forecast here. Itโs a weird week, man. I will be here monitoring it all. I am a very available individual, and Iโm gonna be doing a lot of writing this week. Hope youโre enjoying my columnist if you havenโt watched our our retrospective, hope that you do that. I have a letter to Eric DeCosta. I have a journalistic letter out about how Iโm banned and my employees allowed to go but the Luke will do a bang up job. And hey, look, if they lose, itโs your fault because youโre there and Iโm not so Luke will be down at the ballpark, and the the ravens are off the hook here for at least a little while, after a really, really impressive win on Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, ravens a two and two Orioles at 0.0 but. And earn a World Series here this month. So big doings around here, big times at the ballpark, four oโclock Tuesday, 430 on Wednesday. Hopefully not necessary on Thursday, but if so, itโll be four oโclock on Thursday afternoon. I am eating oysters everywhere. Itโs all brought to you by our friends at the Liberty pure solutions water company. They keep your well water clean, and theyโre great plumbers as well. Theyโve done all the work for me over the last couple years. Doug workman and his friends, one 800 clean water and also liberty, pure solutions. I highly vouch for them, just like the oysters keeping the Chesapeake Bay clean, Iโve been eating oysters every single day for our 26th anniversary, 26 days, 26 oysters, 26 ways. It all launches tomorrow, on October 1. So weโre going to do that through the month of October. Itโs also brought to you by our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter. Iโm wearing my curio Orioles gear. I have purple gear. I have Marilyn gear on. Our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter encourage you to learn more about CBD. THC, things that help, bombs rubs, things that that help my aching back like this crazy move product that doesnโt smell and isnโt greasy and weird and makes me feel better because I have an l4 condition. So big thanks to curio wellness, as well as our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care and royal farms for powering Luke up and getting him back and forth wherever he needs to be, from Camden Yards, the Owings Mills and back and forth again. They donโt let me go out of the house. I have to watch the games on television. I hope the announcers are good. Thatโs the most important thing. Heโs Luke. Iโm Nestor. Huge week ahead here, and itโs not just because itโs Lukeโs birthday. Will be a pizza Johnโs next week, celebrating with our friends at the Maryland lottery. Iโll have these Raven scratch offs to give away. Mark that down next Friday. Itโll be an American League Championship preview is we go to I want to be optimistic Houston, because I think we canโt beat Cleveland. Gotta worry about beating Kansas City. Heโs Luke. Iโm Nestor, baseball, football ahead. Weโre Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.