Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Orioles’ momentum and Tigers and Yankees after Santander walkoff win.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, game, pitching, win, thursday, bullpen, weekend, bats, happen, thursday afternoon, talking, team, yankees, baseball, ninth inning, good, week, rangers, santander, dominguez
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, Towson, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We are positively into a weekend where hope abounds for the Baltimore Orioles and certainly hope better abound for the Baltimore Ravens. We’re going to be doing the crab cake tour. The Maryland crab cake tour will return next Friday at Faith, these were, excuse me, fates, this week it cost us next Friday on the 27th uh, we will be in Dundalk. That’s a guest book for that. John Sarbanes going to join us at fadelies. You’ll be hearing that into next week as well. Hope you enjoyed our our conversation with Dave shining as well as my dear friend Chad weasling, who’s running back, Josh Jacobs, did the the dirty work last week in the backfield that we hope that Derek Henry does Meanwhile on the baseball diamond. And Luke, you and I, almost like Adam, wanted to talk baseball this week because it’s been so morose, so defeatist. So how in the world they gonna win two weeks from now? And lo and behold, there’s, uh, some late afternoon excitement some after some very bad things happened in the bullpen, but the Orioles had an exciting win for the fans. I don’t know. We always think that one walk off win, it’s going to change everything. It’s going to go back to being May. I don’t think it’s going to be but for one afternoon, Tony taters got the job done. Yeah.
Luke Jones 01:17
I mean, it was roughly a month ago when he hit the big grand slam against Houston, and, you know, in what was at the bottom of the eighth. So it wasn’t a walk off, but it might as well been, in terms of excitement. And I mean, it didn’t really produce the spark or the resurgence that the Orioles were hoping to have. But I mean, you just kind of said it. I mean, I think the term I used in my piece at Baltimore positive.com was, it’s kind of felt like a doom spiral the last two weeks where, I mean, they lost the last game of the White Sox series, they lose the rays series, they lose the Boston series, they lose to Detroit last weekend, they lose two out of three, and are in danger of being swept on Thursday afternoon. They get a pretty good performance across the board, until Sir Anthony Dominguez, who had walked a total of four batters since becoming an Oriole in late July, walks the first two batters of the top of the ninth inning. A weird fly ball that, I mean, Brandon high talked about it. The wind kind of took it in a weird direction. And, you know, Cedric Mullins and and Austin Slater collide the tying run scores, but Gregory Soto comes in, gets a big time double play ball to keep the game tied. And then Anthony Santander, I mean, say what you want about the overall offensive struggles of this club. I mean, they entered Thursday last in the American League and run scored for the month of September. Say what you want about gunner Henderson, who absolutely is the MVP of this team. I will not waver from that whatsoever. The numbers don’t lie. But if you want to talk in terms of who’s been the most clutch, who’s come through the most in these types of situations, it’s been Anthony Santander, and he came up with a huge blast on Thursday afternoon. And as I wrote, and as Zach Eflin said in the post game, it was a breath of fresh air for this ball club that really felt, I mean, really spiraling here over the last couple of weeks. You know, they’ve struggled the whole second half. We get that, but it’s really been bad the last two weeks. So is it a breath of fresh air, just for a day where you exhale and then, oh, you remember the Tigers are coming to town and how red hot they are, or could this be the spark? Was that the day that gets this team going. Keep in mind some other good news on Thursday as well. Jordan westburg began his rehab assignment. Ramona Reus began his rehab assignment. Danny coulam could be activated this weekend. We could be seeing him pitching in Baltimore this weekend. Ryan mountcastle could be joining the tides this weekend. So other than you know, the Grayson Rodriguez, murkiness in terms of whether he’s going to be available, if he’s going to be available, what capacity we don’t know, but in terms of everyone else that we knew had a chance to come back, it feels like that’s imminent. So it’s go time see what happens. It’s a long shot for the division. We know that even with three in the Bronx, I mean, that it’s going to be a tall order to do that, but they maintained a three game lead as far as the top wild card with their win on Thursday, and we’ll see how these final nine games go. But boy, that that just felt like a game they absolutely had to win, even before what happened in the top half of the ninth inning, but Anthony Santander came through in a major way for the Orioles
Nestor Aparicio 04:41
feels to me like just the fact that we’re like counting, doing the math as to whether what they’re going to have to do to clear it when they’re actually going to clinch, you know, the actual playoffs, given the fact that the Yankees appear to be better than them now, winning games there feels tough and. Then this Detroit train company, if they win five of six, they’ve done something against good team that would change things or change perception. But I can’t. I once I get this close to it, I’m going to be very prickly about this and just say, yeah, they lost 10 to nothing the other night. They won it’ll walk up. None of that matters. What are they going to do against the Royals? And I think one thing we could discuss all next week is, what are they capable of doing. And I think what are they capable of doing becomes what we need to talk about from a hope perspective, from a ceiling perspective, and what they’re capable of doing is winning any night, right? They really are, if they get the three pitchers they need to the post. Um, they’re capable. I mean, even Dean Kramer, you know, like I I’m not down on the pitching the way I thought I would be in July, or down on the bullpen. I’m down on the hitting, as you predicted I would be if they got eliminated, that if their hitters don’t hit, they’re going to get eliminated. You said that before effluent was here. You said that before Bradish was hurt. You know what I mean, like so now that we get up on it. Yeah, I want to see this weekend, and I want to see walk offs, and I want to see pat on the backs, just for their morale. Because I do think you were saying it was a death spiral. I think you you use the term. That’s pretty good. I think they went home feeling good about themselves on Thursday, and it’s been a while since that happened. And to your point, they won a lot of games. You went down that club as you know what their victory song is in the clubhouse. You heard it enough. You’re down there, you see that look, and that’s who the team was for a year and a half, two years, they did a lot of winning, and then all of a sudden, it just the spigot stopped. So I think that feeling of winning that Hyde had in the post game, that the fans had, a little bit that’s a good endorphin, that’s a good feeling. But at the end of the day, whatever Sir Anthony Dominguez did on Thursday walking guys, as long as he doesn’t do that two weeks from now with one run lead in the ninth inning. And I don’t know that the past equals to, you know, no situations equal, but I do know they have capable ball players. They have they have capable players to win a three game series against the Royals two weeks from now.
Luke Jones 07:11
Yeah, and even with what happened on Thursday with the bullpen. I mean, look, I mean, if Sir Anthony Dominguez starts walking people now, in addition to what we’ve seen, which is a propensity to give up a home run, and, you know, give up a solo home run. I mean, he had been perfect, what in his first nine save chances. But there was some good news from the bullpen, and that yanir canoe came in and pitched and looked good, struck out a couple V Low. Was good. Remember, there they he had acknowledged a couple days ago that he was dealing with some forearm tightness. That’s why we we had talked about it at the time. He only threw two pitches in that last appearance at Fenway, and he was pulled then. And we were kind of wondering, you know, how that was? You know why that was the case? Turns out he was dealing with a little bit of a forearm tightness. Says he’s good, like I said velocity was good. I think a big key will be, how does he feel Friday? How does he feel Saturday? Because they need him. I mean, I hear what you’re saying, and I agree in principle, as it pertains to cordon burns, Zach, Eflin, and then Suarez or Kramer or whoever, right? I
Nestor Aparicio 08:17
mean, the rotation as you’re convinced of that? Yeah, I
Luke Jones 08:22
mean, if he pitches, it feels like it’s going to be some kind of hybrid bullpen role. And I don’t know if he’s, I don’t know if that’s gonna be the wild card round. I don’t know if that would be the Division Series. I don’t know if that’d be the ALCS. I mean, he’s, he’s not throwing the live hitters yet. I mean, he’s not throwing live batting practice yet, let alone putting together a sim game. I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m not saying he won’t pitch, but where he is right now, with a little over a week to go in the regular season does not equate to starting game three of a wild card series. I mean, that’s just, that’s just not going to happen. So so it is very much a case of, how does the rest of the rotation kind of play out? If you look at the calendar, if everyone stays on turn, Zach Eflin would go game one, and Gordon burns would go game two. I’ll take that with the way they’re pitching. I mean, Zach Eflin really good again on Thursday. I mean, he’s been everything the Orioles could have asked for in terms of coming in and helping to stabilize that rotation. But like I said, the bullpen. Do I like it more with Jacob Webb back and with Danny cool on presumably being activated this weekend? Yeah, absolutely. But does that mean it’s optimal? Does it mean I feel as confident about it as I did say the 2014 Orioles with Zach Britton and Darren O’Day and Andrew Miller and Brad Brock and Kevin Gosman, no, so that’s still a question and but to your point, and look at anyone that’s going to be in the postseason at this point in time. This applies, right? I mean, you can win games. It’s baseball. The high day to day variance of baseball is. Know why so many have kind of looked at expanding the playoff field, and then we wonder why the number one seed doesn’t get to the World Series, or we wonder why the number two seed doesn’t get to the World Series. It’s because when you add more teams to it, it becomes more random. Because baseball is just a very random game when you look at a very small sample of games, right? Especially a three game series, you know this wild look at
Nestor Aparicio 10:20
last year, all the effort they did last year, all the traveling, all the money, all the everything, and then it pissed a drop in October, if somehow somebody hits a three run home run in the first inning next week, they’re already in better shape than they were. Winning 101 games last year. Just having a lead in game one is better than anything they did last year, even though they did a lot of walking off and had a lot of fun, and everybody, you know, like all of that, that it’s it’s so judgmental in October, right? Like the success of this team is not going to be judged Until next month, and all of this lack of success the last eight weeks, and the hardships of the injuries, all that goes away if you win a game or two next week and two weeks from now, and they’re capable, and I think Tony Santander hitting that home run. Anytime anything good happens, you’re like, Oh, this is that feeling they’re capable of doing this in game one. And I’m not gonna, over the next 10 days. You’re gonna, I’m gonna wear you out on that, because I I’ve seen it so often. I can’t be morose about October and September. You know what I mean? I I can’t think October’s often, not in September, especially when most of this conversation has been good news about per key personnel coming back that’s going to change the team that’s on the field two weeks from now, as opposed to what was on the team two weeks ago.
Luke Jones 11:44
Yeah. I mean, and that’s a huge part of it. It has to be, I mean, the fact that Jordan westburg was playing in a professional game on Thursday afternoon, that was a good thing to see committed an error in the first inning. And some Orioles fans joked and say, Hey, he’s ready, right? I mean, that’s what the Orioles do with the second half. But in all seriousness, just seeing him get those at bats, I mean, he’s going to need some at bats this weekend, and then I assume we’re going to see him, you know, the final week of the regular season, because Norfolk’s not playing anymore. So you kind of get to the point where you say, Well, if he was healthy enough, and the wrist or or the hand feels healthy, then you bring him back, and he just gets at bats against the Yankees and against Minnesota the last weekend, and you try to get them in a groove. You try to get Ramona Rios in a groove. In the same way they’ve been trying to get so many guys in their current lineup going. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention before what happened with Dominguez in the ninth inning. I mean, Jackson holiday was shaping up to be the hero, one of the heroes. On Thursday afternoon, I had a real nice two run single and a you know, despite it being the fourth inning, felt like a big spot as the Orioles went from trailing to to leading three to two, he had two hits the night before. So I used Evan Carter as the example of what he did for the Rangers late last year as a rookie. Nothing says Jackson holiday can’t be one of the guys that gives them a spark, right? I mean, it could be anyone. I mean, we’re talking about a franchise where Rick Dempsey won the MVP the last time they won the World Series. You brought
Nestor Aparicio 13:11
that up. It’s been 40 years since I brought that up. That’s pretty good, that Rick Dempsey would be the star. Who is the Rick Dempsey, you know, James
Luke Jones 13:18
McCann. And let’s be clear, it doesn’t have to be that guy, but it’s got to be somebody. You know, you need at least a few It can’t just be and we’ve talked about this the last few weeks, it can’t just be gunner Henderson and Cedric Mullins. And hopefully Cedric Mullins is okay after that nasty collision on Thursday afternoon. The early indications, you know, he stayed in the game, sounds like he’s okay, but you never it looks awful, no, but, yeah, it was such a bizarre play. I mean, again, it was one of those, the ball just the wind was just kind of odd, and it just took it to this. Mullins looked like he was going to have a beat on it, and he just kept running, and it just kept carrying. It was so high up in the air. Is one of those plays where it’s like, how does no one get under this? But it just me, even tracking it, just watching it from the press box. It, it was a really bizarre fly ball, like it, like I said, the wind kind of just took it in a way that you typically don’t see it Camden Yards, but again, added to what’s felt like just such, you know, I didn’t call it a death spiral, but a doom spiral, right? I mean, just how the last couple weeks have gone for them, where they’ve been bad and unlucky at times too. So, so, so you really hope that this is the turn. You hope that this is the spark that they need. You never really know it’s as good as the next day’s starting pitcher, Corbin burns goes in the opener. The team’s magic number is down to six. So hypothetically, that you know they they could clinch by Sunday. You know, they’re playing the Tigers. Who are that, you know, that team that’s trying to scrap and you know, they’ve been really good. But you know, I want to go back to something that you just said. And Brandon Hyde even addressed this. He was asked about this on Thursday, late morning before their one o’clock game. He was at. About the Rangers last year, and he flat out said, Look, if anyone knows that a team can get hot after an unimpressive second half or a frustrating September, the Orioles know it, because they were victimized by that last year. I mean, think about it. The Rangers, I think, were one game under 500 in the second half of the season. Okay, the Oriole has been a little worse than that, but not dramatic. You know, it’s very comparable. In that way, the Rangers, even in late September, had taken the Al West lead again. They had had kind of an up and down September with losing streak, winning streak, losing streak. They take the lead and then they lose the division the final weekend of the season, which sounds as deflating as it can possibly get. And then they go down to the trop, and they sweep the rays, and they come to Baltimore, and the Orioles are puffing out their chest as a 101 win team, and I’m not, I don’t mean puffing out their chest like you know that I’m degrading the Orioles. Just talking about it in terms of a narrative, right? I mean, AI remember
Nestor Aparicio 15:56
you say, beware the Rangers. I remember your you. There was something about the Rangers you didn’t like
Luke Jones 16:02
well, I mean, because they had played so well at times. I mean, and the Orioles are a great example. You know, the Orioles, it was a long time ago, but Nestor, as you and I are talking, Friday, the 20th marks, exactly three months since you and I were sitting at Costas in watching the Orioles absolutely bludgeon the Yankees, I mean, just destroyed them in the Bronx and the Orioles at that point were 24 games over 500 they had just finished a four and two stretch against the Phillies and the Yankees, who had been the two best teams in baseball at that point in time, everything about the Orioles looked like they were on their way to not just matching what they did last year. But who knows? Maybe challenge the 69 or the 70 Orioles for the number of wins in a season. But we know how it’s gone since then. I mean, they’ve been an operation seven games under 500 since then. Over the last three months, it’s been, at best, mediocre and at times worse, a little worse than mediocre, so, but all you need is a spark. All you need is to get on a roll. All you need is to get a few guys back healthy, and that’s happening now. Now for them, doesn’t mean that they’re the favorite. They’re far from the favorite at this point in time. I mean, they’re a lot of those injured guys aren’t coming back, right? So we understand that. But in terms of looking at this field in terms of trying to try, trying, trying to handicap who the favorite is. I mean, even the Yankees, okay, they, they they’ve played better, and they’ve taken this lead over the Orioles. And the Orioles have some work to do if they even want to make this series in the Bronx, even have a chance, give themselves a chance here. I mean, they’ve got to do some work this weekend, and hope that the Yankees scuffle in Oakland against an A’s team that’s actually been pretty decent in the second half. Go look at their second half record. They’re slightly above 500 so it’s not a complete lost cause, but this is all so fragile for anyone. I mean, Juan Soto, I was listening to the Yankees mariners game on my way home from the ballpark on Thursday evening, Juan Soto makes a kind of a diving play down in foul ground, and then he was down for a few moments. Looked like, you know, he stayed in the game. Looks like he’s okay. You know, you’re not wishing an injury on anyone. But yes, something like that happens over the last week of the season to any of these teams. You know, a key player gets hurt, you know, Aaron judge turns an ankle, or, heaven forbid, Gunner Henderson, or go through the list, you know, Altuve, or whoever you want to name for the Astros, it can change the complexion of the postseason field in the Al so you still don’t know, you know, we can still look at this and try to say, Okay, well, the Yankees are they have the best record. The Astros have the best pedigree out of all these teams in the Al field. You know, the Orioles have struggled mightily in the second half of the season, but they showed what they’re capable of doing in the first half of the season, and they’re capable of swinging the bats at a much higher level than they have, they than they have for the last six weeks, especially, who knows? I mean, I like to think I know a little bit about baseball Nestor, I
Nestor Aparicio 19:03
don’t know. You don’t know that much.
Luke Jones 19:05
I don’t, right? I don’t, I mean, it’d be boring if I knew that much, right? You know? I mean, Buck Showalter used to always say, if we knew what was going to happen, no, no one would watch the games, right? I mean, there’s still that unknown. So if you ask me, do I think they’re going to make a deep October run at this point in time, probably not based on what we’ve seen, and a lot of it happened to do with the injuries and do they have enough pitching depth? Do they have enough in the bullpen? I have my doubts about that. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen now, and certainly, when you get a moment like they had on Thursday, you hope that galvanizes these guys. Because, as I noted. I mean, Brandon Hyde even acknowledged before Thursday’s game that it’s hard right now. I mean, he said that it’s hard right now to be patient and to be positive when you’re scuffling like this. Gunner Henderson, just a couple nights ago, called it kind of weird that they haven’t been able to snap out of it. Said that they’ve just kind of been out of sync. The pregnant pauses. When you ask players in recent games, how they turn this thing around, what needs to happen for them to start playing better baseball again, you can tell they’re searching for the words, not that they don’t care, not that they’re not putting in the work. But when you struggle, when you scuffle, as long as they they have, of course, you’re going to doubt yourself. We’ve been talking about these same things. If the ravens, heaven forbid, fall to zero and three on Sunday, you know, we’re going to be talking about some of those same storylines for them, and it’s not even October yet, but at the same time, you get a big moment, you get a big win. You have your ACE going on the Hill The following night. You hope that one win turns into two, and then that turns into a series win, at the very least, against the Tigers. And then you see what happens with the Yankees out west, and then see what happens in the Bronx this week. And you know, if you’re within three games, you’ve got a shot and and, you know, so you really do have to try to compartmentalize as much as you can I mean, I I talked about this when you and I talked about the Ravens the other day that you know, there’s no three win play, right? I mean, there’s no three win play that suddenly erases the first two win or the first two losses that the Ravens had. There’s no 10 win performance that the Orioles can put out there on one night where all is forgiven, and the right back where they were back in June. But
Nestor Aparicio 21:24
one thing being said this weekend, with the Tigers in and a competitive team, and the last home games, and then they’re going to go to Yankee Stadium, where they’re going to they’re going to get a good punch right there. I call this fall training, is what I’ve called it, and I guess in the case of Jordan westburg to try to get back on the field, and Grayson Rodriguez to try to get back up to 40 pitches, or whatever they think that they could get out of him. Or maybe, in your case here, maybe it’s 18 pitches, and just trying to use it for an inning or two. But where would you trust him if you haven’t seen it? But all of this ramp up is good fall training for them, and better than the preseason games were for the ravens, you know, real tests, real big leaguers, a chance for West Bergen, you know, Reus, some of these guys to maybe shake off some ring rust and play a little bit. But I’m not beholden to the outcomes. And I said that earlier in the week, I I’m much more beholden to health and CRISPR baseball, and that’s just across the board. And I guess that means not running into each other in the ninth inning, creating an error that probably should have been two runs and put them behind and getting hurt. You know, there’s the freakish things that can happen. Let’s not have those happen the Soto thing in New York. Let’s not have that happen here again. Let’s, let’s get ready to play a playoff game in two weeks. That’s how I feel. Let’s get ready to play a playoff game. I would almost feel like when Joe Flacco came up to me at the Harriman house and said, You’re not going to Cincinnati this week, Rick, because I’m not playing week 17. You know, I’m not. It’s not going to be a real game. Um, these games are real, but I’m not as married to the outcome as I am to no errors. How’s my pitching looking? They lose three two games every night for the next week. I can live with that. I really can.
Luke Jones 23:14
I would say, Yes, I do want to see some of these guys start swinging the bats better, though. It doesn’t mean you got to score nine runs, but, I mean, Natalie rochman had a really nice at bat with his RBI double on Thursday afternoon. Was down, oh, two worked a three two count that looked a little more like Adley rutschman. Want to see that I’ve said it over and over. I mean, I’ve talked about this for weeks. You need your stars to be like to be stars, right? I mean, Corbin burns the last time out. We’ll see how he looks this weekend, the last time out that looked like elite Corbin burns that looked like Milwaukee Brewers. Corbin burns striking people out, missing bats and looking like a bona fide ace. Not to say that he hasn’t been really good for August aside, but he hasn’t necessarily looked like that elite Cy Young Award winner from three years ago. If you get elite Cy Young Award caliber Corbin burns for the next three and a half, four weeks, we might be talking about the Orioles in the ALCS at the very least. Well, you’re talking
Nestor Aparicio 24:14
about five starts, right? Five, six starts, where he can be really good,
Luke Jones 24:20
right, right. So, but, you know, but I’m just talking about anyone who’s been scuffling, anyone that you count on, right? I mean, Adley rutschman. I mean, I mentioned Jackson holiday, not that they’re counting on Jackson holiday, but they meet. They need some more guys to be swinging the bat, other than gunner Henderson and Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander, the way he hit the home run on on Thursday, even though Santander overall hasn’t necessarily swung the bat at his best in recent weeks. But you know, can you see some individual performances like that? Obviously, they need to take care of the of sewing up the the wild card spot. You want to, at the very least hold on to this top wild card spot. This Best of three is. A tricky proposition for anyone, let alone you don’t want to be going on the road to do it. So, you know, at least have home field advantage there. See what happens in the Bronx. Again, if you’re within three games, you’ve got a shot. Now, I’m not saying that going to the Bronx and being being in a position where you need to sweep the Yankees is a, you know, a high probability outcome, but give yourself a chance, and then, you know, you see what happens. And even at the division, which the division statistically is absolutely a long shot at this point. But with their win on Thursday, I think fan graphs had them at like 99.4 baseball reference had them at 99.5 I think ESPN had them at 99.6 I mean, well, coach, win a game playoffs now
Nestor Aparicio 25:42
is a game or two.
Luke Jones 25:47
Yeah, I’m right, right, exactly. Yeah, you can’t if you lose out, then, yeah, you are starting. You’re at the mercy of looking at the scoreboard, sure, of course. But what makes these tigers games? That’s why Thursday’s win was so good. I mean, Tigers will help them to exhale. One of the teams chasing Right, sure. I mean, they’re playing really good baseball. They’re very they’re they’re playing really good baseball. We saw this firsthand. I mean, the fortunate thing for the Orioles, they missed tare scuba again, he pitched on what, Wednesday, so he won’t be pitching in this series. But, you know, we saw this. I mean, with the Tigers, whether they were using an opener or whatever. I mean, they’ve they’ve got arms that certainly showed they’re capable of shutting down this Orioles lineup. Although, you know, the the skeptic would say, the cynic would say, Well, everyone shut down this Orioles lineup this month, and they’re not. They wouldn’t be wrong when they said that. So I’m in agreement with you. I don’t need to see the Orioles go eight and one over these last nine games. I don’t even need to see them win every single series over these last three. But show some signs. Show some signs, show some some positives here, getting guys back healthy. Westburg looking like the guy that was an all star you know, that would be huge by next weekend, if he, you know, has a couple doubles and a home run. I mean, that would be great to see, you know, that’d be great to see Adley rutschman swing the bat better over this final week of the season. It’d be great to see Jackson holiday turn these two games into maybe a stretch like he had in early August, where he won a won the Orioles some games at that point in time. You know, it doesn’t mean, you know, he’s really scuffled, but it’s a talented kid. I mean, you don’t become the top prospect in baseball by accident. Clearly, there are people that have seen this from him and seen it at a high level. So you go through the list to your point, hope everyone stays healthy. I mean, again, one of the more understated developments from Thursday was seeing yen your canoe look, right? I mean, he threw the ball well, Filo wasn’t down again. You hope he feels good the next day, the day after that, because he’s huge for their bullpen, right? I mean, Dominguez is the closer we think, and has been, and until Thursday, had been quite good in that role. But I’ve said it, you need four or five guys in the bullpen that that that can do real work for you in October. And you know, Dominguez, Cano, Jacob Webb’s back, CNL, Perez, I mean, Gregory Soto, big double play ball that he got on Thursday. Maybe that’s the start of him helping you out a little bit more than he has. I mean, these are a lot of ifs and buts I understand. Well, that was something for the playoffs necessarily. Talking about all these you come out in a tight
Nestor Aparicio 28:29
game, sure, Anthony can’t get it done, and he’s going to Soto, and we’re like, okay, you know, and they win the game
Luke Jones 28:38
it. I mean, even if they make a deep October run, something like that’s going to happen. I mean, some pitcher will get in a in a jam, and you’re going to have to go to someone that you don’t feel great about going to, and then they have to do the job. I mean, that’s how this works, even, you know, I mean, the Rangers last year, and that’s why, you know, people talk so much about the Orioles and relying on the home runs so much. And look, I get it. They haven’t slugged nearly as well in the second half of the season. I understand all that, but go look at the Rangers. Yeah, they had Jordan Montgomery and yeah, they had evaldi and their bullpen, but their bullpen, which was not all that highly regarded, kind of did a heck of a job for them and probably pitched a little bit above their heads in October, and they got a bunch of home runs. I mean, it’s not, it’s not that complicated. What needs to happen for the Orioles to make a run doesn’t mean it’s easy. Doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen. But the path is, you know, it’s still the same game at the end of the day, and that’s where, again, you hope the Santander home run just reminds these guys that, hey, it’s all still sitting right there for you. And you know whether they’re going to finish with 90 wins or 89 wins or 91 wins. I mean, to your point, who cares about that element of it? As long as you’re in no it’s go time. Get these guys back healthy that are coming back. And, you know, two. To put together some good performances, some good at bats, some good pitching. Keep everyone healthy. You know, if you get to a point where you have nothing to play for the last game or two next weekend in Minnesota, then rest a couple guys, you do that. And then, hey, it’s play ball early next week or early the following week. So, and like I said, their calendar currently sets up for Eflin game one burns Game Two, if they are indeed pitching in the wild card series, which, you know, barring amazing, an amazing run here over the last week, that’s what it’s going to be. So it sets up there. And there you go, your top two starters in the first two games of a best of three. It can’t get better than that, because Kyle Bradish isn’t walking through that door. Grayson Rodriguez isn’t ready to start a game one or a game two at this point in time. John means isn’t walking through that door. So Felix Batista is not coming out of the bullpen in the ninth inning. So and Palmer
Nestor Aparicio 30:55
at this point I know this. So, right, right.
Luke Jones 30:59
Exactly, exactly. So. Mike Messina, right? I mean, so you go with what you have, and you roll the dice, and, you know, finally, the Orioles got something good to happen for them on Thursday. And again, is it just a temporary respite from from this doom spiral that it feels like they’ve been on, or will it truly represent a spark for them to perhaps make some noise in October. We’ll find out very quickly, because the Tigers are coming to town with plenty to play for, and they’ve been playing really good baseball. So this will be to your point, whether you’re September training, October training, however you want to call it the these last couple series will certainly be a nice tune up. And if you want to call it a litmus test for where the Orioles are, well, so be it, the Orioles haven’t played well even against mediocre teams. So maybe they’ll elevate their play a little bit facing some tougher competition. Who knows? You
Nestor Aparicio 31:52
think gunner Henderson will ever go six for six with 10 RBIs and three home runs in a game?
Luke Jones 31:57
Oh, my goodness, I’m glad you at least brought that up. You know that I’ve, I’ve talked so fondly of Shohei Otani the last few years now. I mean, it’s just, it’s remarkable what he’s doing. And I mean, the fact that he hasn’t even been able to pitch this year because of elbow surgery, and then suddenly he invents something new, that some new amazing accomplishment for someone to go 5050, I mean, I remember Jose Canseco going 4040, you know, when I was a kid, and how big of a deal that is. And this guy 5050, and, oh yeah, he’s an ace on the hill when he’s healthy. I mean, it’s just it truly is remarkable. And I hope baseball fans young or old, those who are just new to the game, or those who are cranky and don’t like war and ops and weighted runs created and analytics and the pitch timer and all the thing you know, all the all the old school fans, things that they might complain about, appreciate what you’re seeing From this guy, because this is so incredible, and as a baseball fan, you know, there are plenty of greats. We talked about this not long ago with the passing of Willie Mays, and I told you the reverence I have for him as someone who wasn’t born for another decade after he played his final games in the major leagues. But Shohei Otani, I mean, you know, Babe Ruth is this mythical, you know, the one, of course, one of the greatest players of all time. I’m not saying he isn’t, but also as a folk hero, right? He’s this mythical creation, you know, the called shot and a two way player. Ruth as a two way player, that was a very fleeting thing. He did it for a couple years and wasn’t really, truly a two way player, meaning, like, did both full time. Ohtani has done that for a couple seasons when he’s been healthy, and now he’s, oh yeah, the power’s gone up. Stolen bases have gone up. And, you know, I mean, I think what’s fascinating is the Dodgers pitching situation. Nestor, is there a pathway for Shohei Otani to throw a couple innings from the mound before it’s all said and done in October? I mean, I’m not, I am not going to cap anything that that guy can do. I’m not going to say that he can’t do anything, because he is just absolutely remarkable. And again, as someone who loves baseball, loves the history of baseball, it’s I feel pretty privileged, pretty fortunate to simply get to say that I’ve I’ve been able to watch Shohei Otani play. I’ve seen him play in person. I’ve seen him pitch. I’ve seen him hit a home run in right center field at Camden Yards that few people reach that kind of territory there. So, I mean, what he did on Thursday to join the 5050 club, and then what, I guess it’s the 5151 club now, and he still has a little over a week to go. I mean, I. Guy’s unbelievable and really, really fun to watch. And like I said, baseball fans, young and old, appreciate what you’re seeing, because we use the term generational talent very loosely in across sports. I think it’s probably something we we overuse. But if it doesn’t apply to Shohei Ohtani, that it doesn’t apply to anyone. Because you might very well be looking at, I don’t even want to say White might, if we’re talking just in terms of true, pure talent. What he is is doing. How can you argue against him being the most talented player in the history of the game? Doesn’t mean the best longevity and all those things. I mean, you know, I’m not not saying he’s the greatest of all time, but in terms of talent, what he is doing, it’s absolutely extraordinary. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 35:51
freakish. I don’t know what else to say. And maybe we’ll get to Dodgers next month in the World Series when we get there. Luke Jones, we’ll be monitoring all things. Orioles, we’ll be watching the Ravens in Dallas this weekend. We’ll be back after it, during the games, after the games, early in the morning. Follow us out on social media. We’ve been doing a Maryland crab cake to represented by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have the Raven scratch offs beginning today and moving forward. So don’t forget the 27th we’re Costas on the 11th. We’re going to be a pizza Johns. You’ll hear all about that. My oyster tour has taken on new dimensions. I went out and had another oyster shooter in Columbia the other night on the way to DC. All of it brought to you by friends at Liberty. Pure solutions, one 800 clean water, if you have well water, if you need a plumber, if you have water issues, you need liberty. Pure solutions. They do great work. They’ve done great work by me. I am Nestor. He’s Luke. We are wnst am 1570 Taos in Baltimore. Yankees are up next for the Orioles and the bills are up next for the Ravens. Gonna be long weekend around here for sports, stay with us. You.
