As the Orioles continue to sink in the standings and battle back to .500, these nine games on the West Coast look perilous with the offense sputtering and the pitching questionable at best. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Birds many woes and the road ahead in Seattle and Los Angeles.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance and upcoming West Coast trip. The Orioles had a promising 7-3 home stand but struggled with a 3-4 record in their last seven games. They highlighted the team’s inconsistency, noting that despite improved offense, the pitching and defense remain issues. The team ranks 7th in runs per game but struggles with runners in scoring position. The upcoming nine-game road trip against Seattle, LA, and Anaheim is crucial for their season. They also touched on the recent beanball incident involving Trey Gibson and Xander Bogaerts.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Be on-site at Sorrento’s in Arbutus on Wednesday afternoon to host the radio show, cover Copa Mundial and Knicks afterglow segments, and give away Maryland Treasure scratch-off tickets.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Be on-site at Green Mount Station in Hampstead on the Wednesday after the election to host the radio show and related segments.
• [ ] Monitor the Orioles’ nine-game West Coast road trip (Seattle, Los Angeles, Anaheim) and report back on key games and developments.

Orioles’ Recent Performance and Upcoming Challenges

• Nestor Aparicio discusses his recent visits to sponsors and mentions having Pizza John’s pizza.
• Nestor and Luke Jones talk about the Orioles’ recent series against the Padres, highlighting the team’s mixed performance.
• Luke Jones describes the pivotal nature of the upcoming West Coast trip, noting the team’s inconsistent performance since their last home stand.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of winning a series in Seattle and the challenges of facing the Dodgers and Angels.

Orioles’ Record and Predictions

• Nestor mentions a listener’s prediction that the Orioles will be 10 games under by the time they return from the West Coast trip.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the potential outcomes of the upcoming games, including various win-loss scenarios.
• Nestor expresses concern about the team’s current state, mentioning issues like defense and pitching.
• Luke highlights the team’s improved offense over the past few weeks, but notes the inconsistency in performance.

Pitching and Defense Concerns

• Luke Jones discusses the recent struggles of starting pitchers like Bradish and Trey Gibson.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the team’s defense, noting the errors and poor decisions that have impacted games.
• Luke mentions the importance of the bullpen, despite its ups and downs, and the role of Ryan Helsley’s return.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s overall performance, emphasizing the need for consistency in all aspects of the game.

Offensive Performance and Run Scoring

• Luke Jones points out the Orioles’ improved run-scoring performance, ranking them seventh in Major League Baseball.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the feast-or-famine nature of the team’s offense, with some games seeing many runs and others seeing none.
• Luke highlights the importance of hitting with runners in scoring position and the team’s struggles in this area.
• Nestor and Luke agree that the offense needs to be more consistent to support the pitching and defense.

Historical Context and Team Expectations

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s performance over the past two years, noting the high expectations set by Mike Elias.
• Luke mentions the team’s strong start in 2022 and the subsequent decline, comparing it to other teams’ performances.
• Nestor discusses the team’s potential to win 85 games and sneak into the playoffs, despite the current challenges.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the team to play consistently well to be in a position to make trades at the deadline.

Defensive Issues and Player Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s defensive struggles, with Nestor mentioning the lack of clean defensive games.
• Luke highlights the importance of good defense in winning games, noting the team’s recent improvements but overall inconsistency.
• Nestor compares the team’s defense to past teams with strong defensive players like Manny Machado and JJ Hardy.
• Luke mentions the team’s reliance on young players like Gunner Henderson and Colton Cowser, who have shown promise but also had struggles.

Impact of Injuries and Roster Management

• Luke Jones discusses the impact of injuries on the team’s pitching rotation, mentioning the absence of key players like Ephraim Diaz and Dean Kremer.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the team’s reliance on younger players like Brandon Young and Trey Gibson to fill in for injured starters.
• Luke highlights the importance of Ryan Helsley’s return and the potential impact of his addition to the bullpen.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s overall roster management and the need for consistent performance from all players.

Team Culture and Player Personalities

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s culture and the personalities of players like Craig Albernaz and Walker Buehler.
• Luke mentions the team’s reputation for being aggressive and the potential impact of this on their performance and interactions with other teams.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the importance of maintaining a positive team culture and avoiding unnecessary conflicts.
• Luke highlights the need for players to focus on their performance and not get distracted by external factors.

Upcoming Games and Strategic Planning

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming games against the Mariners, Dodgers, and Angels, noting the challenges of playing on the West Coast.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of winning a series in Seattle and the potential impact of the team’s performance on their overall record.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the team’s strategic planning and the need to make adjustments based on their current performance.
• Luke highlights the importance of staying healthy and avoiding injuries, which could further impact the team’s performance.

Listener Engagement and Community Support

• Nestor mentions the importance of listener engagement and community support, encouraging listeners to follow the team and participate in discussions.
• Luke highlights the team’s efforts to engage with fans and the importance of maintaining a positive relationship with the community.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming events and appearances, including the Maryland Craft Beer Tour and the Getaway Day at Green Mount Station.
• Luke emphasizes the team’s commitment to supporting local businesses and community initiatives, reflecting the broader mission of Baltimore Positive.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, even though I’m wearing my Coco’s gear here. I’ve been visiting all of our sponsors here the last couple of days. I actually have warm Pizza John’s pizza sitting right on my counter right now that I just retrieved, and if you’re listening to this on a Monday, you’re screwed, because you can’t get pizza John’s on Monday. Also, Fourth of July is coming up, and I was reminded that that’s happening. So, if you want your Pizza John’s fix, get it. And Luke Jones is going to join me right now. He will not be at Sorrento’s on Wednesday, Sorrento of Arbutus. We will be there all day on Wednesday doing some fantastic radio working on some Copa Mundi al as well as the Knicks after glow and all the other stuff that’s going on but I went to Pete Johns tonight and I don’t know I must have heard your echo or something I got a meat sauce pizza with green pepper mushroom and olive on it. I kind of like went like without a sausage, without a pepperoni, delicious. But I did the meat sauce thing, because, like, I look at your hat five days a week, and it makes me, you know, I think of you. How are you, man? Wild weekend with those Padres. Maybe it’s a bean ball, we had some awful defense, we had some Mason Miller, we had.. did we.. we had a little.. we had some Manny Machado flashing some leather, Gunner Henderson flashing some concrete as well. I don’t know, dude, it’s they’re going on the West Coast, and you have to stay up late to stay with them here next week, week and a half or so, right? Yeah,

Luke Jones 1:40
and I think this feels like a pretty pivotal West Coast trip. I mean, they haven’t followed up that great seven and three home stand with much to write home about since then. It hasn’t been a disaster, but you look at it, they’ve kind of reverted to this 500 ish. Yeah, they’ve fallen back a few games further away from 500 I mean, even the series, I mean, it starts out really promising on Friday night, a seven to three win, and you know, Boz wasn’t at his best by any means, but he kind of labors through five, but they, you know, they get a home run from Messiah, they get a home run from Gunner, Alonzo drives in a couple, and anytime you win a series opener, you’re thinking, hey, I mean, we’re on our way to at least winning a series, and then they drop the next two, right? And that’s probably, I think, it’s the fourth or fifth time that’s happened this year, where you win the opener, and at that point you’re thinking, hey, series win at a minimum, right? I mean, you’re thinking even more than that, and

Nestor Aparicio 2:37
well, if you’re going to be a competitive team, you have to think that way, right? That’s that’s the way you think to your wake up Monday morning, you’re on the plane to Seattle, and you’re like, oh, what happened, right? Like,

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Luke Jones 2:46
yeah, and I mean, it’s just, we talked about it going into the series, I mean, this was not a San Diego team that was playing well whatsoever, I mean, they were really struggling here of late, and instead they’re the team that scrambles and recovers to win a series, and then you know you’re leaving and going out on the West Coast, do get a day off. I think that’s beneficial. Certainly, they played a lot of baseball here, not many days off here of late, but you’re back to five under. You’re going to Seattle, who did not have a good weekend over against the Nationals right down the road, so you’re hoping maybe that’s a sign that they can go out there and play well, and win a series after they had to scramble just to get a split against the Mariners this past week, but it doesn’t get easier after that. They go to Chavez Ravine, and they’re playing the defending world champions, and okay, they’ll face the Angels on the final leg of this three city, guess two and a half city road trip. Right? I mean, LA and Anaheim aren’t exactly the same, but so close to each other, but you certainly don’t want to go out there to the West Coast, and you know, put up a three and seven, or something like that. Then once again, you’re talking about, you’re kind of close to circling the drain at that point in time, so it’s going to be big for them to go out there and regroup from a disappointing weekend, a underwhelming homestand in general, right? Three and four, so three and

Nestor Aparicio 4:06
seven, they’re playing nine, right.

Luke Jones 4:08
Oh, I’m sorry, not no, I don’t want to be corrective. I was like, no, no, I was, I was thinking of

Nestor Aparicio 4:14
even bringing this up. Is Pat Schroeder my one time Section 513 my one time roadie for Ridgemont High, he’s one of the 10 individuals in my life who still text me angry shit about the Orioles, you know, when they, when they do stupid stuff, I get personal texts from him, and he texts me they’ll be 10 games under by the time they get back, and I’m like, hold on, they can go three and six, they can go two and seven, they can go one and eight, they can go six and three, but so I was trying to do the math on how they would be 10 under, and I’m like, oh yeah, they go two and seven, so, so I had to, I had to fart with the math a little bit too, yeah, I make it work for him, but I’m thinking to myself, like, he might not be wrong. Ha, the grander pointed you, they can’t put a three and seven, they can’t put a three and six. I don’t know, this is a tough trip for them, and, and where they are right now, it’s the Pasayo thing with Albernaz last week, that you know, that didn’t smell good. There’s, there’s a lot of things that don’t smell good, including their defense right now.

Luke Jones 5:21
Well, I mean, I think first of all, the last couple days of this series, notwithstanding, they’ve swung the bats much better over the last three or four weeks. I mean, really, you look at this offense, other than Gunner Henderson, at this at this moment, it’s you kind of look at the runs per game since the second or third week of May, it’s much more in line with the best projections you could think of back over the winter when they sign Alonzo, when they acquired Taylor Ward, right. So, so that’s trending upward. The pitching we talked about it a lot over that seven and three home stand, and that’s what I was thinking of. I was thinking about the 10 game homestand was in my mind, it’s

Nestor Aparicio 6:01
totally fine. I was just redoing the math, because it’s three, three, and three, because I’m adding it up, but,

Luke Jones 6:06
but I just, you look, the pitching had been really good for a while. It hasn’t been a disaster over the last week, but there’s been a little bit of a backslide there. I mean, Bradish being one, I mean, Trey Gibson was not good on Saturday. I mean, you’re down for nothing before you even go up to the plate. I mean, that, that was reminiscent of what we saw a lot the first seven weeks of last season, when they were off to such a disastrous start. So, you have that. I mean, the thing that was frustrating about Sunday, especially, that’s the best Trevor Rogers it looks has looked since April. I mean, even the two runs he gave up early, that was nothing, that was horrendous luck. I mean, a slow grounder hits the bag and turns into an RBI double when he would have been out of the inning at that point. I mean, that was just rotten luck, and I’m not even blaming the defense in that specific instance either. But they got a good version of Rogers on Sunday, and I mean, they just, they couldn’t get anything going with runners in scoring position. They had several golden opportunities over the course of that game, early and even getting into the sixth inning. So

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Nestor Aparicio 7:09
even the early runs they gave up were a little slapstick. I mean, the ball came out, bag, I mean, just weird, just bad luck. Yeah,

Luke Jones 7:16
I mean, for Rogers specifically, it was bad luck. That was rotten luck in the second inning. There he, he pitched well, if you can get that version of Trevor Rogers, that’s much more in line with, okay, not a sub two ERA like last year, but a guy that a three and a half ERA, a 375 ERA, like I take that from Trevor Rogers, but a

Nestor Aparicio 7:35
chance to win every five, yeah, exactly,

Luke Jones 7:37
and like I said, overall they’re starting pitching has been better in that regard over the last month or so. Here, over the last week, not as good, right? I mean, Bradish with two clunkers in a row, Trey Gibson on Saturday. I mean, strike a few more people out, he was able to strike out a few more people, but he also walked people and gives up two home runs, like I said before. You even go to the plate to hit, so expect

Nestor Aparicio 8:02
that from a kid, right? Oh,

Luke Jones 8:04
sure, sure. I mean, I’m not, I’m not blaming him per se, that I mean that, but that speaks to less than ideal, that you know Ephly, gone for the year already, different

Nestor Aparicio 8:14
to my 92 wins, and that is Zach Efflout, just getting ready to say, you pull Ephly and out and give me this. You can’t expect it to be anything like that. Oh, it’s not just,

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Luke Jones 8:25
but it’s not just Ephlin. I mean, it’s Kramer too. I mean, yeah, right. I mean, it’s those combinations. I mean, Brandon Young’s made up for the fact that those two guys have been absent, and Bass has not been as advertised anyway. But yeah, you still have to make that up, and Trey Gibson, you know, was not good on Saturday, you know, but frankly, I mean, Boz wasn’t very good on Friday night, I mean, he had, he was at his pitch count through three innings, I think it was 74 I mean, it was borderline miraculous, he got through five, and you know, he was able to get the win, and he didn’t give up runs, but I mean, it was a major, major struggle for him with the pitch efficiency, so, but it’s just this is what’s been frustrating about this team. It’s, it feels like when you get something that’s shored up or something that looks better than something else, kind of, you know, you spring a leak elsewhere, right? I mean, even, even Sunday, and you mentioned the defense, they played really good defense through the first six, seven innings of that game. I mean, Gunner Henderson, even though he made two errors in the ninth inning, he made three or four plays that were really good defensive plays, but it was kind of a.. it’s kind of a microcosm of this team, right? I mean, they just cannot sustain prosperity, you know, I mean, think about it, they seven and three homestand, and I think they’re what, a game under 500 since then, you know, you look at this series, I mean, Friday night you feel really good about that, and right off the bat, Saturday you’re down four nothing before the bottom of the first inning, and then Sunday they get a really good pitching performance. From Rogers, but then Rico Garcia comes in and gives up a two run homer, right? I mean, it’s just.. there’s.. it’s that’s

Nestor Aparicio 10:07
falling down the mountain, right? You thought you had a closer six weeks ago, now you got to get it, can’t get you out of the seventh inning, right? I mean,

Luke Jones 10:12
he.. look, he was.. I mean, let’s call Spade a spade, man, he wasn’t going to have a 0.5 ERA the rest of the year, he’s given up runs three out of the last four outings, as long as he writes himself. Now, look, that’s the ebb and flow of a season. I mean, even the best closers in baseball, other than maybe Mason Miller, who we saw Friday on

Nestor Aparicio 10:30
the road to being a closer versus being a seventh inning guy, and where the guys are going to give up some.. well, just where his role is going to be, that’s all. I don’t know where he’s still going to be. I

Luke Jones 10:40
mean, you know, even after this four game stretch here, I mean, he still has a 182 era. The bullpen’s

Nestor Aparicio 10:45
been way better than advertised. It was time we’ve talked about in the off season that that would be their downfall. That has not been their downfall.

Luke Jones 10:54
Oh, it’s had its moments, though. I mean, April was really surprising. It hasn’t been all that great since then. I mean, if we’re calling a spade a spade, but I would agree with you, it hasn’t been in the way that they’ve blown ninth inning leads over and over, or something like that, right? I would agree with you, it hasn’t been the most problematic part of this ball club, but it’s just something else that has taken its turn at times, not being good enough, so I mean it’s just, it’s frustrating just looking at it through the lens of, you have a home stand, it started out bad, right? I mean, they, you know, they lost the last two in Toronto, you lose the first two against Seattle, you’re thinking, oh man, they’ve lost four in a row, and then they win three straight, and then you’re thinking, okay, they’re punching back here, that’s good, but then they dropped the last two, and they’d lose this series. It’s a losing home stand. Now you’re going out on the road. I mean, again, it’s not, not as though Seattle, like the Mariners have played great baseball, right? I mean, they’re barely over 500 The Dodgers going there for three, yeah. I mean, good luck, right? And you’d say that about any team, but that’s where you look at this thing and say you better win a series in Seattle, and you better win in Anaheim, because you know certainly on paper aren’t going to love their chances against the Dodgers, but we also saw this team get thoroughly embarrassed by the Yankees in the Bronx, and then they take two out of three at home, and so they’re just they’re what they are right now, which is a team that shows promise, looks good for a period of time, but it’s all too fleeting, and then you know they kind of fall back down the mountain a little bit, but this is a very pivotal nine games coming up, I mean, a West Coast trip is always challenging, you know, it’s a three three leg road road trip out on the West Coast, and two of the three teams are playoff-caliber teams. I mean, my goodness, I mean, the Mariners, look at them, look how close they were to go into the World Series last year. So you’re playing them, you’re playing the Dodgers, and I don’t need to say how difficult that’s going to be, how challenging that’s going to be. And then you know, by the time you get to the Angels series, you’ve been away from home for seven days. At that point in time, you’re fighting some weariness there in terms of looking ahead and wanting to get home and everything. So it’s going to test their, their, their resolve a little bit, especially depending on how those first couple series go. So you know, I’m not trying to sound the alarm that, like, that it’s dire that they’re circulating the drain, but you don’t want to be in a position that this road trip goes so poorly that you’re coming home and we’re having conversation very similar to what, how we were talking, gives themselves

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Nestor Aparicio 13:34
no rope, right? I mean, that’s really where this is, with not as poor a start as last year, but way on the wrong road, way on the wrong road. So much of this is on the wrong road that on a daily basis I don’t know that I was um, remember last year you were like we were in a state of shock when it just went to hell in a hand basket before it started. We had a moment, you know, about three, my Mike Fire, Mike Elias Day, whenever that was, three weeks ago, where we were feeling like it’s not going to happen, there’s not going to be a season, you know, the more you get into it, we’re out on the all-star break now, a couple weeks out, so there’s been a season, and there’s also, well, the team in the lead for the wild cards, either a game above 500 or at 500 so what you’re chasing feels not outrageous. I mean, it’s not like you’re 18 games back or something silly. You can be that far back in your division, even if you’re San Diego and the West, and still make a run because of the way baseball’s structured at this point, but the optics of this team, of whatever level of consistency would be through the phases of the game, hitting with runners in scoring position, doing little things, running the bases the right way, taking pitches. Is work at working counts, that’s the hitting part, and then then the defensive part’s just horrific, and the pitching part, it’s a whack a mole every time you and I get together, it’s a whack a mole, because they don’t really have an ace, we want to call Bradish this and that, he stunk this week twice, right, Rogers fine, but you’re trying to make him a three and a half guy, which all off season I’m trying to make him a left hand, trying to make him Jeff Ball or Dave McNally or something, and then the bullpen, which I want to talk up, you know, I don’t, I’m not, I’m not down the bullpen, I said that a few minutes ago, you talk about April, and this and that. I mean, for the other parts of the team that were supposed to be the strengths, and this is where I hear Luke Jones on my shoulder saying they’re supposed to hit the ball, don’t make excuses for them when they don’t hit the ball. All these guys are one ones, cows are striking out, cows are striking out, Henderson didn’t 210 I mean, like, the these are their guys, these are their core guys, and I don’t know until they hit their way out of a paper bag. I’m not thinking they’re ever that this group’s going to pitch great. So to your point, the hitting has to be better than just good lately. It’s got to be opportunistic. I mean, they’re not going to get a lot of chances in LA this weekend when they get some runners on, that’s when they need a weaver, not a Cowser. I didn’t mean to be mean about it, but that’s true.

Luke Jones 16:32
Well, I will also say Colton Cowser has been one of their best hitters over the last month, you know, just, you know, me, that’s our, that’s become our stick over two years now, about Colton Cowser being the case study, but look on

Nestor Aparicio 16:46
him while he’s hot, you’re allowed to know, I mean, I’m not gonna bury Henderson while he’s cold and stay, he stinks, but like when Cows is hot, I still think he kind of stinks, but that’s just me,

Luke Jones 16:59
I mean, I do want to point this out, and I’ll continue to point this out. They entered Sunday. Where do you think they rank and run scored in Major League Baseball?

Nestor Aparicio 17:09
You’re going to tell me they’re in the top 10 or something.

Luke Jones 17:12
They’re seventh before, before Sunday. So, okay, maybe they, maybe they dropped to, they were tied with the White Sox at 4.74 runs per game, so maybe remember

Nestor Aparicio 17:22
a couple weeks ago you were impressed with, they were like 14th or something, you know, they were climbing the charts, as Casey Kasem would say. Oh, and I think

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Luke Jones 17:29
the point, the point I’m trying to make there is, first of all, we have to keep remember reminding ourselves this is not the run-scoring environment of 10 or 15 years ago, let alone 3020 years ago, I mean, runs are at a premium, that’s what you find around the league. I will say this, however, and this is – I’m not saying that to give them a total pass by any means. Let me be clear, I do feel it’s been very feast or famine, though, in the sense of they’ll go through a stretch where they’re great with runners in scoring position, and they’ll hang some crooked numbers on the board, and they’ll, you know, they’ll win some games and win some games by scoring a lot of runs, but then you’ll have some instances like we saw over the course of this homestand, quite frankly, and more specifically the last two days against the Padres, where I mean on Sunday, I think it was what, one for eight with runners in scoring position on Saturday, which Saturday I still put a lot of that on the pitching. I mean, Trey Gibson just was not good enough, but they were over seven with runners in scoring position on Saturday, right? I mean, they had a chance, I mean, that that was a four to two game, you know, that that game didn’t really get completely out of hand until the last couple innings, right? I mean, they were within four runs, you know, two runs, you know. So, but, but it’s just.. it’s very.. it does run very hot and cold. There’s no doubt about that. I’m not going to sit here and say it’s the best offense in baseball. I’m not suggesting that, but it does speak to where this team is, that you know, it’s just, it’s very, it runs this hot and cold. It really does. I mean, if you ask me, like, just, you know, just taking a step back and looking at, like, the whole picture of this team, 34 and 39 feels very appropriate. You know what I mean, like they’re still in it, and that, and thanks in large part to the overall mediocrity of the American League, they’re not horrendous, right? I mean, we’re not talking about a team that’s.. we’ve won this year,

Nestor Aparicio 19:29
dude, you know, but we know this year, exactly. Yeah, exactly, that this isn’t rebuild back is highly disappointing with the cast that they’ve put together and the history of the last eight years of losing, getting rid of Angelos, getting a new owner, spending money, renovating the stadium, you know, having the Red Sox come back to Earth, you know what I mean, having some franchises not feel like beasts, which is the door that’s open. For them to win 85 games and sneak into the playoffs, and somehow Bradish and Rogers win a couple of games and get them to the next round, and then Ruchman hits the cover off the ball, for, you know, like that’s how they become a World Series team, because it ain’t going to be winning 100 free games this year, it’s not going to be these guys are going to start to play defense, you know, or the pitching is going to get fixed. To your point, you’re bragging on the hitting, and it’s still not good enough, still not good enough. All this hitting they’ve been doing for a month, what are they three games over 500 since their bottom of their pit when they were eight under? I mean, that ain’t saying much over a month, they’re picking up a, you know, that’s not picking up ground for me.

Luke Jones 20:48
Yeah, I mean it’s picking up a little bit, but it’s not, it’s not a springboard, right? I from them when they had the home stand that right, and not to say they’re going to continue to play 700 ball, right, I’m not saying literally in three every 10 games, I mean that’s, you know, that you’re not going to do that, but I didn’t want to see then, you know, a three and three road trip was okay, I can live with that on the road, but then you come home and you have a three and four homestand, right, against a Seattle team, that’s okay, right? I mean, they’re better than the Orioles, I want to be clear on that, but they’re not a juggernaut, right? They’re not playing great baseball, you know. You saw what happened to them against East against the Nationals over the weekend, but you know, you wanted to see them come home and, you know, have a five and two home stand, then that, then that’s when you start, you’re getting closer to 500 maybe 500 You move a couple games over 500 and at that point you’re hoping your confidence and the mental part of that, you’re starting to feel like a good ball club again. I mean, these guys talk a lot, and I don’t mean this in a like with bravado, but they talk a lot about, we know how good we are. We know how good we can be, and it’s just one of those things. When you hear that, you’re just, you know, you’re thinking, okay, well, why aren’t you showing it more consistently then? You know what I mean? Like, and look, no one’s going to sit there in front of cameras and in front of microphones and say, oh, we stink, right? And they don’t stink in the way that you think of the worst of the worst last place rebuild era Orioles, but for me, I just kind of think this is more of the same of the last two years, right. We’re coming up this coming week is going to mark two years since you and I were sitting at Costas, and they were finishing up that series in the Bronx that was heated, right? They won two out of three. That was on the heels of, they had had that series against the Phillies at Camden Yards. That was, we were talking about that potentially being a World Series preview, where they won two out of three in that series, and that was even with Brad going down in the opener. I mean, that you and I said it at that point in time, we were wondering if they were the best team in baseball. They certainly, I mean, record wise, they were in the top three, right there with the Yankees and the Phillies at that point in time, and you know they were, I think the record was 49 and 25 I mean they’re talking about not just 100 wins, but were they gonna challenge the 69 Orioles, the 70 Orioles, right, I mean like that kind of space, and it’s like it just stopped, and they really have never recovered. Now they’ve had some stretches that have been better than others, and they’ve, you know, like last year, the first six weeks were, you know, rebuild era terrible, right? I mean, in terms of their record, but you know, like everything we’re talking about, and you know, we can sit here and we can look at the schedule, we can look at the wild card standings, you can look at this or that, or if that goes really well, if that surprises you, if that stands firm, if they can stay healthier, let’s say, but that’s not what this was supposed to be a couple years back, right? I mean, the idea was Michaelias was supposed to be building a juggernaut, right, and I don’t mean that they were going to win 101 every year. It’s really hard to do that. We’ve even seen the Dodgers at times not look like this unbelievable juggernaut of a team that’s going to win 115 games, and you know, I mean, we’ve seen the Dodgers in an era

Nestor Aparicio 24:18
they were going into that was the promising era. It was the good side of a Phillies, Braves, Indians era, not this purgatory of whatever this has been for 43 years, which is not.. I mean, it

Luke Jones 24:34
just.. well, and again, I mean, and I understand what you’re saying, but I’m trying to keep it in the present as much as I can just, where it was in 20, you know, from the July of 22 through June of 24 I mean, that two year stretch, the Orioles, in terms of wins and losses, go look at what their record was stacked up with anyone else. I mean, they were very high up on the list over those two years and. And of course they didn’t win a playoff game, didn’t want to play off series, obviously, so you had that disappointment, but you know, you just look at it, I mean, we’re kind of, I feel like we’re, we keep trying to talk ourselves into them being good enough, you know, like that, like that’s what I feel like we’re doing on a day by day, series by series, week by week, because it’s

Nestor Aparicio 25:23
happening in front of me, dude. Yeah, I know, I know, like, yeah, because every day they show us who they are and how they’re playing and what their ceiling is, and these walk-off home runs and stuff that doesn’t get me excited. What gets me excited, when they went six to two, shut the door, starter makes it six innings, two or three of their stars step up with a couple of hits tonight, and they don’t strike out in double digits, and if they kick the ball around three times, they only get charged with one error, because that’s a good night for them. Kicking the ball around three times is an over under on them. They never have a clean sheet, never. So, I mean, even when they, they screw up sometimes, it’s not an error, sometimes it doesn’t show up on the scorecard, just decisions that are made, not errors on the scorecard, a clean sheet, a clean game defensively. They’re incapable of doing that. Meanwhile, I see Machado come in here and play third base, like it’s effortless, you know? Just like the ball gets hit down there, and it’s just like a vacuum sucked it up, and he’s going to count to three, pat pat his ball, and then the ball’s just going to be on a line, like, and then Pavan Palmer talk about JJ Hardy and Machado, and then Blanchard and Brooks. I looked up the 66 Orioles, Aparicio and Brooks, both gold glovers. How Palmer didn’t bring that up, I have no idea that I wasn’t around in 66 but I was around in 14, and you know, I’ll say this. This defense, even on nights when they’re going to get really good pitching, they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot. That defensive part of this, I can’t get over how bad it is on, like in a general sense, how I

Luke Jones 27:20
mean, it’s all stemming from from the night, and look, they made three errors, and in the ninth, they still weren’t beating Mason Miller. I mean, it didn’t matter. I hear you. I don’t have. Go ahead. I’m sorry, that’s a bad

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Nestor Aparicio 27:33
taste in my mouth. And we’re in a weird delay anyway, so you can have at it. I mean, my angst is my angst about all of it, but I do agree with you, when you’re like we’re talking ourselves into how bad they are. Yeah, because I spend three hours a night with them every night, and they don’t smell like a good baseball team right now. That’s all to me. Yeah,

Luke Jones 27:54
I mean, you are what your record says you are, right? And I think they’ve been better in areas, certainly their offense has picked it up over the last three or four weeks, and I think the numbers would bear that out. I’ve already said in our conversation, and in other conversations, that relative to run scoring around baseball, that it’s not a bad offense, but it’s a very feast or famine offense. But you do look on the on the flip side, and you were talking about the defense, and you know what happened in the ninth inning. I mean, they, a two run lead was a was insurmountable against Mason Miller, let alone a three run lead. I mean, that was just kind of insult to injury at that point. The defense, I think, over the last month has been better. Is it ever going to be good? No, I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s going to be a good defensive club, I think, at times they’ve been cleaner, and the times where they’ve been cleaner, they’ve been a little bit better overall, right? But yeah, as you look at that overall profile, even if we give them plus offense overall, even if it’s not as consistent as you’d like it to be, which some of that is just baseball, but I do think you look around the league and the teams that have so much success. I mean, look at the Yankees, for example, right now, and put the payroll part of it aside for just a moment. Just how they play, they’re missing Aaron Judge right now, and yet they’re a team that’s going to be okay because they pitch and they defend well enough, right, and you just look at the Orioles right now, and as they’re presently comprised, and okay, I’ll buy Bradish getting back on a roll again, I’m not ready to write him off, Brandon Young’s been really good, Boz has been much better than than bad over the last month, you hope Trevor Rogers, what he did Sunday, he can continue looking more and more like that. Dean Kramer’s probably going to be starting a rehab assignment here in the not too distant future. He’s ramping up, but even, even with all that said, it’s not going to be a top five starting rotation in the American League, right? So you look at that, you look at the pen. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this, Ryan Helsley’s going to be back on this West Coast trip, I mean, he’s, he had two rehab, you know, two rehab appearances at Norfolk over the, you know, the last four days, looked good, barring an unforeseen setback, or him not feeling good again, or something like that, you know, the Vilo, by all accounts, sounds like it was really good, so they’re going to get him back, but you just kind of look at the whole ball, right? You know, put it all together, lump it all together, the whole pie, and I’m with you, like, like I think it’s okay. I think at times it looks pretty good, but is there a run where it’s going to look great? It’s tough to envision this being consistent enough, where they really get on a roll, right, and that’s where you just look at this thing, and that’s where, for two years now, right, we’re coming up on two years since, as we mentioned, that that series in the Bronx, where they look like they might be the best team in baseball, and it’s just, just feels lacking, and it feels like, again, it’s not bad across the board, but it’s not good enough across the board, and that’s where you kind of look at this thing and say, all right, I’ll hear you, the rest of the American League’s not very good either, but I don’t know, does this team have a run in them where they can not just win seven out of 10 at home in a nice homestand, but to play like that for I don’t know, three weeks or four weeks, or to just be more consistent and just win two out of three, win two out of three.

Luke Jones 31:30
I’m trying to give them that path, but then you look at how the last couple of weeks or the last 10 days have gone since that last home stand, where you know, three and three road trip, three and four homes, stand, you know, you, they haven’t gained any ground here over the last week and a half after they had finally, you know, kind of put a dent in that early hole. So we’re going to see, I do think this, I think this road trip is going to be illuminating in the sense that if they start getting really sloppy again, like for example, how they looked in the ninth inning on Sunday. Then, yeah, then this has the potential to be a disastrous kind of road trip, and maybe we’re talking about them being nine or 10 games under 500 again. And then the difference between that and when we were talking about that three and a half, four weeks ago, is you now have fewer games to make up ground, right? You can tread water and keep talking about treading water, but eventually you start looking at the calendar and say, okay, well, then when they get home, the all-star break’s going to be right around the corner, and then after that the trade deadline, right? And what are they going to do with the trade deadline? Where are they going to be mathematically? Where is the rest of the American League going to be? So you know, I’m not ready to throw in the towel. I want to be very clear about that, but you know, at some point my eyes can’t keep ignoring what I’m seeing too often, which is just a lot of really inconsistent baseball, and on any given night, or any given series, or any given week, every part of the game does something. I mean, even one, even Friday’s win, right? Go back to the first inning in that game, Kobe Mayo made an error that cost them a run, and Gunner Henderson was caught stealing in a, you know, and Craig Albernaz kind of said that they had a scouting, you know, they, there was something in their scouting report, he didn’t really put it on Henderson, he said the pod, you know, Padres kind of did something different there, whatever, whatever, they, they cost themselves an out on the bases, but even that inning, they finished that inning up three to one, it should have been for nothing, right? So, so even when they win, you see imperfections that really show up, and just, you know, just casts a lot of doubt as far as whether they’re going to be able to do it consistently enough, and I’ll keep saying what I’ve been saying, even going back to that road trip, or, uh, that home stand that looks so good, and then show us, right, win, keep winning, if you start winning, win some more, right? I mean, it’s just that simple, and you know, I’m not expecting them to go on a miracle run here to get back in the, you know, where the Yankees and the Rays are right now, but they, they’ve got some work to do for me to really feel a high level of confidence to say one, they can be one of the wild card teams, and two, they can be in a position, come say the third week of July, where you say, okay, Michaelias, go get this, go get X, Y, and Z to help help your calls, here they need to play well enough to be in position to do that, and again, it’s where we look at this nine game West Coast trip, it feels pretty pivotal in that way, in terms of where they’re going to be as the calendar is getting ready to turn to July in a couple weeks.

Nestor Aparicio 34:35
He is Luke Jones, you can follow him out at Baltimore, Luke is as well as at Baltimore Positive, his football is on the slide right now. The NBA is over with, the NHL is figuring it out, and World Cup is in progress. We’re going to be doing the show at Sorrento of Arbutus on Wednesday afternoons, the Maryland Craft Gate Tour. It is presented by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. I have the Maryland Treasure scratch-alls to give away. We’ll also be a Green Mount Station. Hampstead next Wednesday after the election, the election’s 23rd on the 24th will be at Green Mount Station. The Orioles are playing in Anaheim, that they’re going to be on the road this whole time. I want to put this to you, because I had a listener, Mark wrote to me about it, and it was all over the internet, and the Bean Ball situation, and Gunner Henderson, and hitting their guy in the head, and ejections and stamina, and like, where are you on all of that? I mean, we’re not the most macho around here, but certainly the way Albernaz talks and the way they go, they had a run-in with Seattle before, where are you with their demeanor in not escalating things further with the San Diego Padres.

Luke Jones 35:45
I mean, I’m never going to sit here and condone throwing at people or anything like that, right? I mean, I know what Albert has said. I know some old school type fans didn’t necessarily like it. I mean, I’ll say this. I mean, I don’t.. I don’t think Trey Gibson was trying to hit Xander Bogarts in the head. I don’t, I don’t really see. I don’t think there was intent there. However, I also can understand San Diego being upset when a guy gets hit in the head, when you know there had been another pitch that had come inside prior to that. At the same time, I also look at it and say, you know, before Gunner got hit in the ninth, his previous at bat, they buzzed him inside twice, and to me, I kind of view it through the lens of you’re supposed, like, if there’s like retaliation, like you get a shot, like you hit someone, okay, you’re gonna hit one of our guys, but that doesn’t mean you get to throw multiple pitches inside until you finally actually do it. Yeah, it’s like the

Nestor Aparicio 36:44
circus, where you’re sitting there in the dumper, where they like exactly.

Luke Jones 36:48
I mean, like, to me, throwing the ball to you, hit it, you hit them, you get one shot at it. And again, I don’t like.. I’m just.. I don’t like that stuff, because it can also go horribly wrong, even if you say you’re just going to hit them in the, in the hip, but Albernaz said what he said, and I would say this. It’s funny, I was talking to another reporter, this was as the game was over, Albernaz just wrapped up, and we were walking to the post-game clubhouse, and this individual, who you know, covered Saturday’s game, he made the point, if that game had been a little more out of hand on Sunday, one way or the other, you do wonder if there had been something going on, and I thought it was even interesting, like it wasn’t even wasn’t even a pitch, but how about the little confrontation that Walker Buehler and Leody Tavares had? Right, I mean, Tavares swings at a three zero pitch, flies flies to the outfield. I mean, and Bueller said something to him, and Tavares had to be restrained to the point where, you know, Gavin Sheets stepped in between them, and then Craig Albert, Albernaz came out and make sure Tavares, you know, didn’t, didn’t hear specifically what was said. It sounded like it was just the typical bravado that lingers when something like Saturday happens, so I, you know, you said

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Nestor Aparicio 38:07
something to another player too.

Luke Jones 38:08
He, I mean, he has a reputation, I mean, going back to even when he was, you know, free injuries and had his absolute best with the Dodgers. From what I understand, he kind of has a reputation. Palmer

Nestor Aparicio 38:20
alluded to that,

Luke Jones 38:21
yeah, kind of has a reputation for smelling himself, so to speak. So, but it was just odd, right? I mean, Tavares swung at a three zero pitch and flies out. I mean, Bueller should be happy, right? He’s the one who got behind three oh, he swung at a three oh pitch, but you know, kind of said something. It did make me wonder if you know, was there a little bit of history between those two up. I’m not aware of anything, but, but yeah, I mean, I think it’s much to do, and out about nothing moving forward, because, well, I mean, they’re not going to play the Padres again unless they’re facing them in the World Series, right, which I don’t like either team’s chances, chances for that at this point. So, but it’s one of those things that, especially when you have a young pitcher who, I mean, let’s face it, Trey Gibson really struggled with his command. I mean, he was walking people, and you know, was not sharp on Saturday, but I, again, I understand the Padres being upset when Xander Bogarts gets hit in that hit in the head. Thank goodness, I mean, he was back in the lineup Sunday, so no concussion, anything like that. Hopefully no symptoms pop, pop up for him, but, but yeah, there to me there was a little bit of, okay, you threw it, Gunner, you know, came inside back to back pitches the previous at bat, and maybe if the biggest fault might have been there, maybe a warning should have been issued at that point, maybe I don’t know, but you know, no one else got hurt to me. Move on, I mean, it’s that simple, and you know, but as far as like the old school kind of stuff, you know, me, man, I’m not, I’m not big into that, I’m just, I’m just not, I don’t like the idea of, you know, weaponizing something that could. Go horribly wrong, because we’ve seen it go horribly wrong in accidental settings, let alone someone doing something with intent, so you know it happened. It was uncomfortable there, but to me, all right, one for one, it should be over then, right? And fortunately, there was nothing else, other than, like I said, that kind of weird moment there between Bueller and Tavares, where Albernaz came out to make sure his guy was going back to the dugout, which seemed like seemed like an appropriate move for the manager, not one his guys to get mixed up in anything else after what happened Saturday.

Nestor Aparicio 40:35
All right, day off, night on, take a nap, everybody, if you watch on Tuesday, Wednesday, they’re in Seattle late night. They’re in LA all late night over the weekend. There are some afternoon games on Thursdays. I am going to be at Sorrento of Arbutus on Wednesday of this week. We’re going to be next Wednesday at Green Mount Station. That is the Getaway Day. I was wrong about that. It’s the Anaheim Getaway Day on Wednesday, the 24th We’ll be there for that, so nine games in a row out on the West Coast, six in the Los Angeles area, six starting things in Seattle, where Adley Ruchman sort of calls home, and so we’ll see how that goes late into the night. Luke will be monitoring all that, I will be monitoring as well. I am Nestor, he is Luke, we are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking, Baltimore positive,