With the Orioles sputtering in Toronto over the weekend, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Birds returning home to Camden Yards and trying to get back to .500 while battling some of the better teams in MLB in the coming weeks.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting their inconsistency. Despite a promising start on Friday, the team lost two out of three games to Toronto, with key moments including a controversial call on Ernie Clement and a failed bunt by Blaze Alexander. Luke noted the Orioles’ improved pitching since May 22, with a sixth-place ERA in the majors, but criticized the inconsistency of starters like Dean Kremer and Trevor Rogers. The team faces a tough schedule, including games against Seattle and San Diego, and must capitalize on home games to stay competitive.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Run the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event on the 10th (promote on air and attend as hosts; bring any planned materials and coordinate guests)
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour stop at Sorrento of Arbutus later this week (Wednesday) with guests
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Post the Rush intro tour review on social media (publish review and related content to station channels)
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Bring Maryland Treasure scratch-off tickets to giveaways for the Sorrento event and station appearances
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the station appearance at Green Mount Station in Hampstead on the 24th (coordinate logistics and giveaways)
- [ ] Give a live on-air shout-out to Farn and Dermer (promote them as ‘the comfort guys’)
Orioles’ Mixed Performance in Toronto
- Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST 1570 and discusses the Orioles’ recent performance, noting their inconsistency.
- Luke Jones joins the discussion, highlighting the encouraging win on Friday night despite a slow start against Trayce Thompson.
- Luke mentions the disappointing performance of Dean Kremer on Saturday and the strong start by Spenser Watkins on Sunday.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the controversial call on Ernie Clement’s play, which significantly impacted the game’s outcome.
Challenges and Opportunities for the Orioles
- Luke Jones criticizes the Orioles’ inability to capitalize on their opportunities, particularly in the sixth inning of Sunday’s game.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of executing small ball strategies effectively, citing the Blaze Alexander bunt attempt.
- Luke emphasizes the need for the Orioles to show resilience and not let one bad call or play derail their performance.
- Nestor compares the Orioles’ current situation to the Baltimore Ravens’ recent performance, highlighting the importance of strategic decision-making.
Evaluating the Orioles’ Pitching and Offense
- Nestor and Luke discuss the inconsistency of the Orioles’ starting pitchers, particularly Dean Kremer and Spenser Watkins.
- Luke notes the improvement in the Orioles’ offense, with players like Adley Rutschman and Pete Alonso performing well.
- Nestor expresses frustration with the Orioles’ inability to maintain a consistent level of play, particularly in terms of defense and pitching.
- Luke highlights the importance of good starting pitching in making the game easier for the offense and improving overall performance.
Upcoming Schedule and Expectations
- Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming schedule, including the series against the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres.
- Luke emphasizes the need for the Orioles to take care of business at home and not let the recent losses affect their performance.
- Nestor mentions the importance of the Orioles’ upcoming games against the Mariners, who have cooled off after a strong start.
- Luke highlights the challenges of the upcoming West Coast trip, including games against the defending World Champion LA Dodgers.
Final Thoughts and Future Outlook
- Nestor and Luke reflect on the Orioles’ recent performance and the importance of learning from their mistakes.
- Luke emphasizes the need for the Orioles to maintain a positive attitude and not let the recent losses affect their confidence.
- Nestor discusses the importance of the Orioles’ upcoming home games and the need to perform well to stay in contention.
- Luke concludes by highlighting the importance of good starting pitching and effective execution of small ball strategies for the Orioles’ success.
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively welcoming both birds back onto the field. The birds of Owings Mills will be doing their thing out in Owings Mills this week. We’ll be doing our Maryland crab cake tour thing on the 10th, we’ll be at Sorrento of Arbutus later on this week with some guests. We’re getting up on election, getting up on guests, getting up on things happening around here, getting up on the Orioles. Coming back home after, I don’t know, choppy up down one day, it looks like it’s okay, the next day the pitching is good, the next day they kick the ball around, next day they get a bad call. Luke Jones joins us now, and double duty this week, right? So, you know, they’ll be a lot of focus on the baseball team after we get a couple of days of Camp Minter, which will look and sound a little different for you this week, but as far as the Orioles, you know, not bad enough to fall out of contention, not good enough to sort of climb back into the reality of thinking, yeah, yeah, maybe they’re better than we think they are, as comprised. It just depends on which day you ask me, man.
Luke Jones 1:10
Yeah, I mean, it’s just a frustrating weekend from the standpoint of how fun, how encouraging Friday night was. I mean, that was a game they’re trailing three one, they had one hit through five innings against Tray Ya Savage, and the bats explode late, right? And they win going away, I think. What was it, uh, 11 or 12 unanswered runs over the final four innings? And you’re saying, hey, you win the opener of a road series, get one more, and you’ve got the series right, and you’ve got Bradish and Boz going the next two days. Saturday it was pretty cut and dry. I mean, this was the Brad we saw at the beginning of the year, right? I mean, he just.. he was not very good. The stuff wasn’t great. The command wasn’t great, so you know, there wasn’t a whole lot to take away from me, other than that. I mean, the Orioles hit three home runs in that game, but I mean, Sunday you put up a four spot against Gosman in the fifth inning, after he looked really good early on, and you’re saying, hey, I mean, Boz, Boz is cruising, I think, what, 12 pitches total to get through the third and the fourth inning, pitch counts looking like he’s got a chance to go seven, and it’s my
Nestor Aparicio 2:16
fault, I tweeted that he was out donutting Gosman at the time, because it felt clever to me until the next half inning, so,
Luke Jones 2:22
and I think he still did overall, but you know that fifth inning he had the lead off walk, he didn’t look as crisp in the fifth, he got out of it, so it wasn’t, you know, no harm, no foul, and then the sixth inning, I mean, the lead off home run, you know, they’re clearly hitting them harder, Gunner makes the error, and you know, obviously you get to the Clement play, which I mean, it was an awful call. I’m not going to sit here and try to sugarcoat it. I mean, anyone who knows the baseball rules, first of all, there’s no such thing as a baseline, actually, between first and second. There’s a base path that’s established by the runner, and you can see, I mean, I think I texted to you and said early, Ernie Clement was halfway to Montreal with the right turn that he tried to make there, but the umpire did not see it that way. They rule it a non, you know, it’s a non out there, so it’s only one out instead of an inning, ending double images
Nestor Aparicio 3:16
out on social media, one image down the baseline. It looks like he’s literally running the right center field, right? Right,
Luke Jones 3:24
I mean, you could see the path that he was on, and then he takes such an extreme right-hand turn, and the rule is you can, you can’t deviate more than three feet beyond the base path that you established that was easily more than three feet. The one thing I’ll say about the play, and I know Alberna has even cited this, and I’m not saying I agree with this, but when you’re talking in terms of baseball instincts and selling calls, just like we talked about in basketball, right? I mean, so much talk in the Western Conference Final with SGA and Oklahoma City, with all the flopping that they do, right? The idea there was expressed by the umpire to Albernaz, that Gunner didn’t make.. I don’t even know, he obviously made an attempt at a tag, but he didn’t sell it, right? I mean, I’ll use a wrestling term for you, he didn’t sell it quite as much as maybe he should have there to make it clear that, hey, Clement’s way out has gone way out of the base path here. He kind of just gave it a quick one, and then he just threw the first, and I get it, he’s still trying to get the play at first, he’s trying to turn two. But all that being said, I mean, it’s, it’s a really difficult call there. It’s a bad call. I’m kind of surprised Albernaz didn’t get run there, you know, just, you know, just sticking up for his guys and all of that. However, Shane Boz can’t just let that unravel there, they can’t let that as a club unravel as much as it did there, and you know, he gets hit hard, you have the, you know, after it was the game, literally. That’s the
Nestor Aparicio 5:00
game, right
Luke Jones 5:01
after Boz was pulled. You have the Jackson Holiday glove glove flip play that was very ill-advised, and that allowed the runner to score from second base, and I mean that was the go-ahead run right there. So, as much as I feel for Boz, I do feel for the Orioles in terms of that call being a really tough call going against you, I mean, there’s no.. I mean, it’s a bad call. Period. Really bad call. But that said, and I even said this to you, as you and I were texting, you know, kind of following, watching the game and all of that. You can’t let the inning continue to unravel to the degree that it did there in the sixth, and even as it does, you’re down five four, you’ve got three more innings up to go, right. That’s where you want to show some resolve and say, hey, you know, we’re not going to let an umpire’s call, we’re not going to sulk over it the rest of the day. I’m not, and I’m not saying that that’s necessarily what they did, but boy, they still had a lot of chances there. I mean, they had the seventh inning, you know, they have first and second nobody out. First of all, I’ll be totally honest with you, and you know me, Nestor, I’m not a small ball guy. Generally speaking, I don’t like bunting. I honestly didn’t love the Blaze Alexander calling for the bunt there with him. I mean, he had two doubles in the game. He’s been one of their better hitters the last few weeks, but if he is going to be asked to bunt there, you need to get it down and not have the runner thrown, he’s one of the three
Nestor Aparicio 6:22
or four guys that, if he’s up to win the game with his bat, you’d almost swing letter swing. I mean, better was it the house, or even guys that have been heroes lately, right? Yeah, yeah.
Luke Jones 6:33
So, but I understand what you’re trying to do there. I’m not saying like that’s the most egregious decision, or I’m just saying my personal, my personal call there would have been to let him swing away there, or hey, have an approach where you let the ball travel, hit the ball to the right side, you know, we’ve seen him do that on a number of occasions the last couple weeks, but but it was just another example of hey, there was a chance right there, they they get to the ninth inning and you know, Rico Garcia gives up the lead-off home run in the ninth inning, that makes it a two-run game, you know, with Toronto’s closer, you know, who’s, I mean, obviously he’s been fantastic, as much as we kind of have talked about Jeff Hoffman, I mean, Varland is, I mean, he’s got a 0.26 ERA, so when you’re down one in the ninth inning, you’re not feeling great about it, and then when it’s a two run game, I mean, it was just so.. and I’m with you, I mean, you don’t want to overreact to this, I’m not as well as they’ve played the last two and a half weeks, I’m not going to jump ship after they lose a series, but at the same time, they were two games under 500 on Friday night, and you’re thinking, man, you got a chance to things go really well the next couple days with your two of your three best starting pitchers on the hill, maybe you’re 500 when you come home. At the very least, you’ve, you’re two under and you’ve won another series if you get one of those games. So to drop the last two in the way they did with Bradish and Boz going
Nestor Aparicio 8:00
speaks to your expectation and my expectation of them, right? Like they, they’re starting to win some games at the bottom of the rotation, or at least compete in those games that would lead you to believe that, and I’m not putting Rogers in that category just yet, but, but Bradish and Boz would, on Saturday and Sunday, to your point, the reason you’re disappointed is you’ve elevated your expectation of those guys, want to get one of those at least, like at a minimum, one of those. Well, I mean, Basa’s start wasn’t bad, right? So, like, you know, so, so let’s, you know, who’s a donut through five, right? So we’ve had Rogers go through six with a donut, only to go out there in the seventh to get lit up, because they let him in there for two home runs in the seventh inning. Like, this has all happened in a week and a half. This is either bad managing or bad general managing that leads to managing, or bad bullpen managing, or, you know, in the case of strategically speaking, I don’t know that the Elias playbook would have them having anyone squared a bunt, let alone one of their three or four better hitters later in the game. Like, I’ll say this reminds me, and look, it’s a football week, and I’m in the land of Jim Harbaugh, right now, and Getty Lee, and Alex Lifeson, and Annika Neils, and literally down the street, that so much so that Joe Ortiz got a note for me today, but John Harbaugh had a very distinct second act around the time Flacco came, and around the time Lamar came to reevaluate fourth and short fourth in this and fourth in that, and you and I at that time in our radio career, I can go back and find the files of it, talked about it being like blackjack, and I just left Las Vegas after a couple days, I didn’t play any blackjack, but I watch other people. Play, and there’s a, there’s a book, right? There’s just a book, like on 17 you do this, on elevens you split aces, eights, you know, when you double that, like there’s a book on it, right. And for 100 years, there was this little bit of a baseball book on how you would, or how you wouldn’t, including the other night I looked up maybe Saturday’s box score, and I saw, like, the middle of the order had left on base two and three and two, and I’m thinking to myself, does the middle of the order even matter? Does it a 345, hit, or does that even represent what it used to represent when you have nine or eight left on base at that point in a game, you lose, you look at it, and you say, all right, you know, the media, I don’t even know how to evaluate some of this stuff. I think, as I look at it, but if you’re going to follow the book, and if the book says we don’t ever sacrifice, we don’t ever small ball, we don’t hit and run, we don’t do that Billy Martin stuff from 50 years ago, that you know, I don’t even, Casey Stengel, I don’t know that we evaluate the game differently at this point. It is weird that they would move to that in that circumstance on the road, and hey, I hear it all day, because I’m an old school baseball nerd, that I’d say, get the run, get back in the game, have your bullpen not get sloppy, you know, even it out, you know, where I’ll hear all of that, it just feels like a departure, and the reason I bring John Harbaugh up, because we’re going to be evaluating Minter, you know, hey dude, Lamar’s got the ball in the 44 yard line, and it’s fourth and two on his own 44 Are the Ravens going this year? Are they not? Who’s their center, by the way? But, but for me, there’s going to be a way that they do it, and it’s well, maybe in the first half we play it this way, maybe in the second half of them, maybe in a three point game we play it this way, maybe in the bad weather we play, maybe in the wind, maybe in a division game, maybe in a home game, maybe in a road game.
Nestor Aparicio 12:04
I don’t know, Luke. I’m just saying, like, when they start playing small ball and they lose the game, they give up another run. They don’t, you know what I mean? They can’t convert on small ball if they choose to, because even when they try to do it, they either can’t get the bunt down, can’t get, they say you can’t get the sacrifice, can’t get the hit, hit into the double play, force them to walk a guy that then it’s next guy hits it. There’s just a lot of ish that can go wrong if you’re trying to get one run late in the game and you think your bullpen’s going to lock down on the road, right to your point, like you’re on the road, I don’t know what the book is, and I’m not there to ask Craig Albernaz, because I’m Hispanic, and they don’t let me in, but like, I don’t, it’s all circumstantial, and it’s all we’re playing to the weather, and the day, and the pitcher, and the bullpen, and the fatigue, and the home, and the like, and the splits, and the biases, and this, like all of that, but it feels like, let’s check the wind, let’s see, it feels that way to me. It doesn’t feel like they talk about it ahead of time on those kind of strategic things in the same way back to John Harbaugh, some weeks that play I told you, fourth and two from the 43 would be a absolute let’s go for it, and sometimes it’d be a run, sometimes it’d be a pass, sometimes it’d be a sneak, and sometimes it’d be a failure, like it was in the playoffs against Chargers and the Titans, it cost them games, or sometimes it’d be, well, bring on Sam Cooke, let’s punt and live another day, or like I don’t know, but it, but it is evaluative in that same football kind of way, where you’re not playing it the same way every time, the way you do blackjack, you know, right?
Luke Jones 13:50
And you shouldn’t, because there are other variables, right? I mean, blackjack’s not impacted by the wind, or by the fact, by the fact that the guy, do who’s due up is, you know, a right hander against a lefty, whatever it might be, right? I mean, there are always so many variables, and I would say, whatever your philosophy is, and this is where I’ll point out, and I want to be clear here, this isn’t me bashing Craig Albernaz for bunting there, it’s a completely, you know, you can defend that optimal school base, I mean, any old school fan listening right now might be cursing us for questioning it, right? I mean, not like that’s how strongly some people would feel about it. I would just look at it through the lens of, and I’ll say this, they have bunted more of late. We’ve seen the OD Tavares dropped quite a few sacrifices. I, I’m looking, I’m doing a social media search in real time here. I saw one of the Orioles reporters in recent days had even broken, had even brought up how many sacrifice bunts they had so far this year compared to the last few years. Well, maybe that’s a Brandon
Nestor Aparicio 14:49
Hyde thing, maybe that’s a, it’s a personnel thing. I mean, personnel thing,
Luke Jones 14:54
but I, but I would, I guess, for me, Blaze, Blaze Alexander swung the bat so well. So you’ve had that he had two doubles already at that point in the game, and I think some of that is also, I’m not just playing for a tie right there, it’s the seventh inning, you and I’ve talked about this a lot, it’s not as though the Orioles have a shutdown deep, extremely trustworthy bullpen from top to bottom right now, I mean, you have Rico Garcia, you have a couple other guys who’ve pitched well, but Rico Garcia is the one guy where you, and ironically, he gave up a home run, but he’s the one guy that’s your full, full blown shutdown guy right now. So, my point is, I’m not playing for the tie there, I’m a little more inclined to say, hey, let’s not give away an outright here with someone who’s handled the bat pretty darn well of late. Let’s maybe turn this into a three or a four or five run inning. So, again, it’s a preference right there to me. It was completely, you know, you can obviously defend it, and, and here’s this – it’s kind of similar to what I was talking about with the bad call, whether you agree with the decision or not. Blaze Alexander did not execute there, and that’s on him, right? So, same thing with the Ernie Clement non-call. It was a lousy call that doesn’t give the Orioles license to just let it completely unravel, then after that, right? I mean, you can’t, if that’s, if that’s the message, we’ll just pull your guys off the field and go home and take your L and save your trouble, right? I mean, you still have to fight, so you know it’s disappointing. And, like I said, I mean, there were a couple defensive miscues in that, you know, in that sixth inning, right? I mean, I mean, it’s, you know, in the case of Blaze Alexander, I mean, he doesn’t get the bunt down well, you still have first and second one man out and the top of the lineup coming up, and they didn’t get it done there, so there were a lot of things that happened that you know the call was unfortunate. In the case of Shane Boz, Gunner making the air did not help him, right? He would have been out of it there with just Gunner, could have just thrown the first, and that’s it. But at the same time, you always have to respond to the sequence of events, right? Any single event happens, and then there’s going to be a chain reaction, good, bad, or indifferent. The Orioles didn’t handle the chain reactions well in either of those two situations, regardless of your opinion, right? I mean, regardless of whether it was a terrible call, a bad call, or someone in Toronto, right now is probably posting stuff on social media, saying, “Hey, by the letter of the law, Ernie Clement was actually right within his right to do that. I mean, I wouldn’t agree with that, but I’m sure you could find Blue Jays fans who would argue otherwise. But the point is, there was a lot of game records, Canadians, what do they know? It’s like, all right, or something, but, but in either of those instances, I mean, you know, the Orioles still had chances there, they still had ways that they could make up for either of those things happening, and they didn’t do it right, and they, they led a very winnable, not just a winnable game, a game they should have won, right? I mean, they, they jump ahead for nothing, and you’re feeling great about their chances at that point, Boz is cruising, and you know you got to Gaussman, you chase him after five innings. I mean, you’re thinking at that point, man, this is, you know, you don’t even have to worry about the possibility of facing Varland in the, in the ninth inning or the eighth inning. I mean, you have a lead, right? And they didn’t, they didn’t finish the game. I mean, it’s that simple. You play nine innings, right? You play nine innings, good or bad. Friday night, that was a good thing for them. It looked awful after five innings on Friday night.
Luke Jones 18:26
I mean, Brandon Young pitched well enough, and you’re saying, well, other than Adley Ruchman’s home run in the first inning, they weren’t doing anything against you, Savage. And then, before you know it, they’re chasing them from the game, and they’re scoring at will the rest of the night, so 27 outs, right? You’ve got 27 outs that you have to get, or you have 27 outs that are at your disposal as an offense. There was an instance, you know, the Blaze Alexander play was one of those where you could argue and say, “Hey, you give up one of those to get the go-ahead run in scoring position, or you can argue and say, “Hey, there’s a lot of baseball left. I don’t want to give up one of those 27 outs, because I might be needing to play for a bigger inning here, you know. The rest, you know, to have a not just a tie game or a one run lead, but maybe a two or three run lead. So, again, it’s not even a criticism, it’s a, you know, it’s a constructive criticism, it’s a debate, right? It’s a debate of what you want to do in that spot, but again, either one of those, whether we’re talking about a bad call or a specific play where they failed to execute, and they had a number of plays where they didn’t execute on either side of the ball, you know, you’ve got to do it right, you can’t let one bad call or one bad play then snowball, and especially after that call, I mean, you know, the Clement call, it completely fell apart, but, but even after that, they still had their opportunities, and you know, they didn’t take advantage, and they come home losing two out of three, instead of being in a position where they easily should. Have won two out of three, but we also saw that last weekend, where Toronto easily could have won the first three games of that series in Baltimore, before the Orioles had a miracle comeback. It’s baseball, right? And that’s why the biggest thing they have to learn from this is to turn the page and be ready to welcome the Seattle Mariners into town, who are coming off of losing three out of four after they had looked unbeatable for the last week or so. So the Orioles need to take care of business here. Schedule is not going to let up as they are now entering this stretch where they’re going to play a bunch of teams over 500 Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 20:35
I mean they get out of the AO East and now they’re going to go and play better teams than even the teams in their own big bad AL East might be the big bad NL Central before it’s all over. By the way, Luke Jones is here, he is Baltimore. Luke, want to give a shout out to Farn and Dermer, they are the comfort guys. And it was a little uncomfortable over the weekend, HVAC eight AC for sure this time of year and plumbing, 410 36777 You can find them out at the front of Baltimore Positive, as well as our friends at GBMC. I’ve been doing a whole bunch of chats in lots of different ways about cancer centers and construction and all sorts of things happening. I want to construct something before we get to the West Coast here, and we start talking about better teams and home cooking, while you’re out messing around with whether Marlon Humphry’s coming to, you know, mandatory mini camp or not, right? This is one of the weirder Oriole years for me, as you know, I went out to the West Coast for a couple of days, I was watching the Orioles play in Vegas casinos in the middle of the day, the middle of the morning, and you know, one case, right? And disappearing on it for a minute or two, and seeing like odds on the Ravens, as an example, winning a Super Bowl, because I, you know, I’m not a gambler, I’m not looking at odds and ads, but like when you’re walking through casinos and you see this stuff, and you’re watching Oriole games, sit down and having a ginger ale in the middle of the afternoon, or Shirley Temple, in my case, anything you need to do to hydrate when it’s 107 you know, I think about the Orioles season, and I’m like, all right, would I bet $1 on them being a playoff team or not a playoff team, theoretically or not theoretically, would it be a good bet or a bad bet? Do I believe in them less or more than my 92 wins, which was my over under, which is such a Vegas offseason. Make that bet anytime between November and march 26 and you have a little fun with over under, as opposed to are the Orioles winning the freakin World Series. That’s a crappy bet, no matter who you are. Even though mr. Costa’s used to make that bet for $100 every year, because he wanted to cash in a ticket, some years it was probably, you know, 900 to one, or whatever, right? And this is where maybe my Vegas walking around, am I meandering, other than seeing Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, and you know, seeing the changes in Vegas and sphere and sports in general, and what people are gambling on, what they’re talking about, the Knicks, the hockey thing was really going on there for the third time, they have a Stanley Cup final, but I go back to my old baseball thoughts about them expanding baseball to give teams a chance, right, there was a whole notion of all of this is that the Orioles won 101 games and make the playoffs 50 years ago. They added teams, you know, interleague play, all of these things that were supposed to make it. But Jackie Robinson Day, Hispanic Day, by the way, I saw this beautiful woman at the pool wearing all this Clemente gear, all this Puerto Rican Clemente gear over the weekend, I didn’t want to engage with disappointed in my Espanol, but, but the baseball thing at this time of the year, as much as Belmont runs, and that was an exciting thing for Cherie Devoe again, with another wars, you got NBA, the Knicks are about to win, you know, this time of year we get into this baseball thing, and this is supposed to be for Katie Griggs and Don Rovak and Mark Fine and Rubens down there. This is their time to print money to own the headlines.
Nestor Aparicio 24:12
The Ravens go by on Thursday for two months, it’s pennant race, it’s night after night, it’s this, it’s that, and they’re right in the thick of it, in a way that, and you can speak to this, and I know I can speak to this, having done this 35 years, and if Mark Fine wants to sit here, I’d educate him about these kinds of, certainly could educate Katie. I’ve been taking calls here for 35 seasons in a row, 35 Junes, 35 Julys, 35 Augusts. Some summers I could plan my Jamaican expedition on my anniversary in July. Now 23 years, anytime I wanted, knowing there was no, or I knew in February there wasn’t a July. Most years, most years I. Go through maybe the Palmeiro year, there was a Hargrove year, there was a Limazilla year, where there was some expectation. The Palazzo years, the Trembley years, they were all throwaways. Everything Hyde did was a throwaway, other than the year and a half that it wasn’t, right? Like, so the notion that I thought they, they could be a premier team, which is, I thought they could win the division. I thought they could win 101 games with Ephaly and with an emerging Gunner Henderson, and with a one one holiday healthy, and with a Westberg back, and with an award bat, and, uh, blah blah blah blah blah blah. I picked them to win 92 not 101 just good, just good, not great, good. Instead, they were crappy, eight games under 500 and quarter pole, crappy. Now they’re back up to this sort of semi crappy four under, that’s semi crappy, but you’re going to say they’re a game and a half off the wild card, or whatever it is, and we’re then going to say, well, all they got to do is play better than these other crappy teams for a week during the course of this, just like have a week where they’re on fire, and then play 500 the rest of the way, your Tampa Bay theory, and they’ll be a contender in all of this, so it feels easy to be a contender. It feels easy to think like I buy into them. It feels easy for me to feel your disappointment. They lost two out of three on the road in the division to the last year’s World Series team, and we’re like, I can’t believe, because they had Bradish, and they, because we believe in these guys, and we stole every night Alonzo on his contract, Henderson on his pedigree, Holiday on his daddy’s pedigree, and what he’s going to become, Ruchman on what we’ve seen him on his best day. All I’ll buy into all of these guys, I don’t know when it becomes a symphony. I don’t know when they can play 600 ball for a month, just for a month. Just give me a nice.. I don’t know, dude, you know, give me a like a 15 and eight or something, you know. Give me, give me something. They were on that pace, and we started to believe a little bit, but this is one of those really unique years for the fans, for the fans, not for Katie or Don Rovak, or for all of us who’ve been doing this a long time. This is one of the years where they had a chance because they went out, spent money, and Angelos isn’t in front of this anymore. They bought a $19 million pitcher. He’s not pitching well, but they bought a $19 million pitcher in February. You know, they made a move on Grayson Rodriguez, and they went and got an outfielder they thought to be productive at home run this weekend. Should a few more of those, but like I’m I’m buying what they’re selling as a contending team, but it really is go time. They’re home now. Nobody’s going to the ballpark’s up when it’s bobble heads, weather’s broken, kids are out of school, like all of that.
Nestor Aparicio 28:09
This is their 60 days, so they don’t have to be cardiac every night and do stupid stuff and fall behind and win games and walk offs, but my god, win 545, times a week for the next three four weeks, you know, and just that, just that alone would you, they don’t need to run away, they don’t need to win 101 games, just get me to the all-star game where you’re one up and not five back, that’s all, that’s all I’m asking.
Luke Jones 28:35
No, I think that’s reasonable, and I think that’s where the disappointment of Sunday’s loss stems from because you were continuing, you know, as I’ve said to you, when they had the seven and three homestem, which felt like very much felt season saving, at least for the time being, right? When you’re eight below 500 if they had gone three and seven on that road trip, you and I would barely be, we’d be talking about mandatory saving it, but resuscitating it. Right, I mean, back to life, right? And it saves, not the right term, but it seems under your dad. They showed they still had a pulse, right? They showed that the pulse is there, it’s not as healthy as a marathon runner, but they’re not circling the drain either, because it’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:19
so inconsistent, and the defense, I know, is going to suck, but the equilibrium of giving a game away, like they did on Sunday on the road, like that’s just immaturity, and that’s just, you’re, you’re not a playoff team when you do things like that, that’s,
Luke Jones 29:33
I mean, really, what it is, it’s just that’s the ebb and flow of baseball, right, you know, for his, you know, we think of the best of the best, right, the Dodgers, the 69 through 71 Orioles, right, who are winning, winning well over 100 games per year. You look at that, and then you have the worst of the worst, the rebuild era Orioles, the 88 Orioles, right, teams that you know didn’t even win 60 games, right, so. But we know that there’s a big gap in between those two, and what you find are a lot of teams that frankly resemble what the Orioles are right now, they’re not terrible, but no one’s going to sit here and confuse them with a great club or a really good club, they’ve played good baseball over the last two and a half weeks, that’s been good to see, however, because they played bad baseball when they were through, you know, through the point they were eight games below 500 at some point you do have to make things up, right? The idea that if you flip a coin, hypothetically it can land heads five times in a row, that doesn’t mean that the probability then shifts that it’s going to land on tails the next five times, right. So, at so, at some point, like, if you want to get to where you want to be, in terms of whether it’s a 92 win team or a 90 win team, or whatever the third wild card ends up being, 8586 wins, whatever it ends up being, the way the AL is shaping up right now, it’s probably not going to be much more than that, unless we start seeing some teams really taking off, but you need to make up that ground, and as I said to you, when they had the seven and three home stand, hey, just keep winning series, and they were on schedule, they did that in Boston, they won a series, you know, they won the rubber match, and hey, great, and they had that such a golden opportunity to do that on Sunday, after even after the disappointment on Saturday. That’s where you look at it and say, hey, in the big picture sense, it’s one game, but it’s also another game now down the line that you have to make up ground, right? And, and it’s funny, you were talking about, like, perception, and I could.. it’s not baseball, but I couldn’t help but think about this past year’s Ravens, right? I mean, we’re talking about a team that’s entering a new era, new head coach, new coach, waiting
Nestor Aparicio 31:47
for them to put the foot down and say, you have Lamar Jackson, you have Roku on Smith, you have Derrick Henry, you have, you have, you have it’s, but
Luke Jones 31:54
it’s more than that, it still came down to Tyler Luke missing a field goal, they literally were going to be hosting a playoff game if he makes that kick, despite regardless, regardless of all that. So, and no one was going to sit here and say that that that team, them being a smashing success because of that. Yeah, but you
Nestor Aparicio 32:12
felt like their offense could have been more consistent last year. And this team here, right, it’s funny, are gonna kick the ball around, they’re going to throw the ball around like the Fed News Bears. The more they can minimize that, the more success they’ll have, thrown to the right bases, just things like that, right? I mean,
Luke Jones 32:29
and I will, Toby
Nestor Aparicio 32:30
Mayo look like a third baseman for a minute over the weekend, right? I was
Luke Jones 32:33
going to say, I mean, if you look at their numbers, and you can even look at some of the fielding metrics, and I would even say my eyeball test, which is worth about as far as you could throw it, but they have defended better over the last three or four weeks, and they are now in games early. What
Nestor Aparicio 32:50
else they haven’t done? How much have they struck out? Have they had 12 and 14 and 16 strikeout games the way four times a week? How about lobs? Are they having double digit lobs four times a week in games where they’re losing three of them, you know what I mean, because that was going on in April, and that’s what I’m saying, dude. So, when that starts to roll around a little bit, and all of that ish that Ben McDonald has to peddle on behalf of Greg Bader and on behalf of Michaelias about spin rate and bat rate and ball contact, and he hit it hard three out of four times, but he hit it right, like all, and the weather’s going to warm up, and the splitter is going to split, and the spinner is going to spin, and the like all of that, all of that, the numbers are going to even out, and Pete Alonso is going to be a good ball player, and we think Gunner Henderson’s going to be a really good ball player when it all, you know, what, but for me, I just mentioned a couple facets of the game, their strikeouts, their power, you know, that warning track power, that’s going to be a home run for a for Ward two three weeks from now, where a couple of those are going to fly out of this ballpark on the right day. Brought to you by Farnham and Dermer, the comfort guys make it uncomfortable in Camden Yards, we get more home runs both ways for our against our pitching as well, but that’s where it is for me with the pitching, because I don’t know Earl Weaver on you or Bobby Cox or Leo Mazzoni on you, but man, who those five cats are every day and what they do, and even, and we talked about this. Rogers did it for six innings, got banged in the seventh inning, but bad on the manager. They lose a game, you know, over the weekend. I mean, you didn’t like Bradish’s effort, you know. And then, okay, well, then Boz comes out, it’s okay for five innings, you know, and then even the bullpen giving up the one kind of felt like three at the end when it went from five to four to six to four, so to me the pitching part of it, that’s you have no chance without that, you know, and that’s where Bradish and Rogers over the bulk over two. Months now, two months in a week or two, right, of work over nine to almost 10 weeks into the season at this point. They’ve been the most inconsistent part for me, and it’s been amazing the Brandon Young starts that they’ve had, right? And you know, the Cade Povich efforts, when given the, you know, like those have been okay, given what they were supposed to be with your fourth or fifth starts anyway, but Bassett Boz stinking early, Rogers stinking for the most part, and Bradish stinking, then being really good, and then you know, whatever this was, right, like to me the starting pitching is the difference maker, because the bats are going to heat up, cut down on that on on the left on base, cut down on the strikeouts, and to your point, the defense, they’re working on that. You know what I mean, like they’re at least focused on that. The starting pitching, without that, they’re not going to, they’re not going to be get where they need to go if every other day we’re wondering what Brad is going to show up, what Rogers is going to show up, what Boz is going to show up, because if that’s what it’s going to be, if that’s going to be the inconsistent part of this ship, it’s not going to get there. It’s not.
Luke Jones 36:10
I don’t disagree with you on that at all. I mean, while you know we’ve, we’ve talked about this, going back to the beginning of last year, right? I mean, this team was constructed to be a club that its offense does the heaviest lifting, that that hasn’t changed, right? And that’s how they’re constructed, and that’s where Pete Alonso, looking very much like Peter Lonzo over the last month, has been a good development, right? Samuel Bisayo, until you know these couple things where he’s got nicked up and everything has been one of their best hitters. That’s been a great development. Adley Ruchman, looking like 2023 2024 Adley Ruchman, first half of 24 Ruchman has been a great development. Right, you know, Taylor Ward, I want to see more pop. You need to see more power from him. There’s a happy medium between the walks and the fact that he hasn’t hit for much power, he hit a home run over the weekend, that was good to see, but you’re still waiting on Gunner Henderson, but everything you just said about the starting pitching, of course, no one, and whether you like Mike Elias, whether you think he needs to be fired yesterday, whether you’re not sure about Michaelias, whatever, no one is at all saying that how they’re starting rotation performed for the bulk of the first two months is remotely good enough. It wasn’t, but since may 22 and this is excluding Baza’s stats, I haven’t had a chance to add those in since may 22 which was the start of that homestand, sixth in the majors in starter ERA. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 37:41
playing 580 ball, whatever the number is. I’ve written it, I’ve said
Luke Jones 37:45
this to you, you and I’ve said this so many times. Anyone who knows baseball will say this. It’s amazing how much easier the game looks when you get good starting pitching. It doesn’t have to be all world, although if it’s all world, it feels flat out easy, then. But it’s, it’s amazing how much easier, how much more winnable each game is when you, your starting pitchers are giving you a chance, and that’s, and that’s again, that’s kind of where the disappointment of, I mean, Brad had looked so good, he didn’t look good on Saturday, and look, I mean, it’s not like he was going to pitch like Cy Young, the rest of the year, I mean, he’s still going to have anyone’s going to have a clunker or two along the way, but they need that, right? I mean, they need, I mean, Brandon Young has been, he’s been fantastic for them relative to expectations, he’s been a great story, they, you know, Shane Boz, sixth inning notwithstanding on Sunday, has pitched much more like the guy that, if you recall, we were sitting at Planet Fitness a couple days before Christmas, and I was telling you, I like this trade, you know, I like this trade, you know, and that was before giving an extension, and you know, we’ll see how all that turns out, right? I mean, probably we won’t know for sure, might be long after Mike Elias is even, you know, gone, potentially, yeah, with the money gives
Nestor Aparicio 39:01
him a long leash, he’s getting all, he’s, oh, I mean, yeah,
Luke Jones 39:04
but, but the point is, he’s shown better, they’ve obviously brattish until Saturday had been really, really good, his previous four starts, you know, I mean, you’re hoping that you’re hoping that Trevor Rogers, this last time out, is a sign of better things to come, right? I mean, it’s.. I mean, he needs to be better, he needs to be a lot better. He’d be the.. he’s the first to tell you that. I think anyone who’s seen his post-game press conferences, you can see how frustrated he’s been. No, I never thought he was going to repeat a sub two ERA like he did last year, but I think he’s good enough that he can be a three and a half sub four starting pitcher, which is still way better than he’s been this year. So, there’s no question. I mean, they, and those are the things that they’re going to have to do. I mean, yes, I want their offense to be the kind of offense that I think it could be a top five in the American League offense consistently, yeah, and. That’s even with some strikeouts, and that’s even with some sometimes where they might be a little more one dimensional. I mean, that’s that’s a lot of baseball in the modern day, right? And, and maybe what I’m just saying there is maybe an argument for why Craig Abernass called for a bun in the seventh inning on Sunday, and maybe, maybe that’s maybe I’m wrong, right? And then, and that’s fine, but yeah, it comes down to it, they’re gonna have to pitch, and they have pitched better over the last two and a half weeks, and that’s the big reason why they have been better shows confidence
Nestor Aparicio 40:32
in his bullpen, it does, and like I said,
Luke Jones 40:35
I let me be clear once again, for anyone who’s listening, this was not me saying that that was 1,000% the wrong move. I’m just saying that, that to me is like chocolate or vanilla ice cream, Coke or Pepsi, right? Like my preference there, whether you have to
Nestor Aparicio 40:49
deal with the consequences, you have to deal with the indigestion after,
Luke Jones 40:52
and either way, whatever you decide to do, you’ve got to execute, and Blaze Alexander did not execute there. Don’t
Nestor Aparicio 41:01
mix milk and Pepsi, unless you’re Laverne and Shirley, but,
Luke Jones 41:04
but it comes, comes back to it,
Nestor Aparicio 41:05
indigestion,
Luke Jones 41:06
you know, they, they have played better, this series was disappointing, they lost to your point, in the big picture sense, it’s a road series loss against the defending AL champions, it’s not that big of a deal, unless you come home and you’re feeling sorry for yourself, and you come out flat, and you lose three out of four to the Mariners, and then the Padres come in, and by the way, I’d given San Diego credit a couple days ago, man, they’ve really scuffling, and you know, of late, it’s you know, Manny Machado’s questioning analytics, and all kinds of stuff going on with them, I mean, for a team that got off to a really good start, I mean, give everybody a
Nestor Aparicio 41:44
chance to boo Manny on Friday, get a bigger, you know,
Luke Jones 41:47
they did get a win, you know, they stopped the bleeding of their losing streak, but you know, they’ve been scuffling, so my point is, turn the page from losing a series in Toronto, where you should have got come away with a series win, have another winning home stand, and then it’ll be time to bear down, because you have a three leg West Coast trip, two of those against good teams, including the defending World Champion LA Dodgers. You know that continues a stretch, you know, until late in June. They’ll, or they’ll finish off that three game, or three, it’s not three city, I guess. I guess technically it’s three cities, but you know they’ll finish off with Anaheim, then that’ll be their breather in what, two and a half weeks, or whatever it is, three weeks. So they don’t have any time here to feel sorry for themselves, turn the page, come home, be ready to play against the Mariners team that had been red hot, but they’ve cooled off here over the last three or four days. You want to take care of business at home,
Nestor Aparicio 42:46
all right? Luke will be working on his sun tan out in Owings Mills here this week, as we get mini camp rolling. We’ll be at Sorrento of Arbutus doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour this week on Wednesday, and then on the 24th will be a Green Mount Station in Hampstead. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lotter. I’ll have the Maryland Treasure scratch-offs to give away. Also, our partners at GBMC and Farnon and Dermer – they are the comfort guys. I am comfortably numb as we enter summertime here, and a rush intro tour that I’ll have my review up on social media. We are WNSD AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking. Baltimore positive, and hopefully brush fingers, a pennant race.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
