Luke Jones and Nestor discuss pitching brilliance of Orioles four-game sweep in Tampa

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

pitches, innings, orioles, pitching, talking, rodriguez, threw, grayson, week, day, hitter, baseball, bullpen, year, outing, put, point, game, weekend, arm

SPEAKERS

Nestor J. Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor J. Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home we are W n s t TAs and Baltimore, Baltimore positive reminding you once again, if you watch us out on YouTube or you hear us on the radio or you see us out on the podcast land or just listen, somewhere in the cosmos, mix your set in place on the radio dial it and 1570. We are still on around the beltway and I gave us a spin last week and some of the competitors were pretty good at this. So it’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I don’t know I have a handful of Pac man’s left. I gotta get the lucky sevens this week from Ross. We’re gonna be a Coco’s pub on Wednesday from two until five. I think I erroneously said one to four, but Coco’s just kind of small and tight. She gets a big lunch crowd, we’re going to be there two to five, we try to stay out of the way even though we’ll be in the way Max Weiss will be there. I have some old friends threatening to show up who are remaining anonymous right now. We’ll talk to them a little later on. But we’re sick is going to be my co host with a que Damita dar he’s going to be over talking politics life in the big city, and lifting Baltimore. That’s what we’re trying to do around here. I got my Baltimore shirt on, courtesy of our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter, who are also involved in our 25th anniversary documentary. Lots of folks still feed back on that and have watched it on a plane over the weekend. Somebody wrote to me this weekend, so I said, thank you very much. Appreciate all the feedback. I’m still sharing pieces of that out. Luke Jones is a big part of that, especially at the at the end comes in around 2000 789 Somewhere in there and all we’ve done since then is fixed the baseball franchise feed the football team, and he has a about to burst sister with another child. So we have labor care, Deacon Jones Braves in town Phillies in town, Fleet Week, and oh, by the way, they’re gonna like gather and have I put air quotes on this for those of you not watching real practice this week at an Owings Mills. Are you telling us you’re not shaved? Are you like on a shaving strike to your sister gives birth to your second nice?

Luke Jones  01:58

No, I just hate shaving but I need to do it every few days because I get that you know that five o’clock shadow grows in just about instantaneously. But yeah, busy week. Good week. Good, really good weekend for the Orioles. And part of that a nod to the LA Dodgers for taking two out of three from the Yankees after the Yankees hadn’t been losing it all year over the last

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:21

recent Dodgers should never play anywhere. But in the World Series. That’s a freaking roll. That’s the way it should be. It is

Luke Jones  02:27

funny when you get a matchup like that. And obviously, so much of the history. I mean, if you’re really a baseball fan and a historian, I mean, it’s the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, you know, when you go back to the days of Jackie Robinson and soar so forth, but

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:41

like Dodgers fans marching on Yankee Stadium was kind of cool. Yeah, it was

Luke Jones  02:45

it was and like I said for Orioles fans. It was cool to see the Dodgers win a couple games there and the Orioles able to gain some ground this weekend. And you know this weird wrap around for game set with a Monday night getaway game. I mean, you want to talk about complaining about the schedule. And we’ve talked about this

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:04

was hokey. I looked at it and I thought they were playing the Braves Monday night. Right? And almost makes Monday feel like a holiday and it’s like June temps.

Luke Jones  03:10

Whoa. But the thing is with with the Monday getaway game, why aren’t they playing at one o’clock in the afternoon? I mean, you typically try to do get away days a day game for the road team to get home, especially when they don’t have an off day the following day.

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:24

What difference does it make in Tampa? Nobody’s coming anyway. Right, exactly. But

Luke Jones  03:28

like we’ve talked about this long stretch for the Orioles where they have this one off day in the month of June and oh yeah. You’re playing a four game set in St. Pete. Okay, fine. But then, yeah, Monday night’s game, you’re playing a night game.

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:40

They got to get a nice dinner down in St. Pete on Sunday night after the game and it’s lovely. And under the bridge. Yeah. But I mean, I hear you. I mean, these are this one we talked about last week, Dog Days, right? Like, and the dog is really begin now. Not now. But like now like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, when you know, my wife’s like, who’s in next week when you wash your foots in a cast. And she’s sitting here watching some broadcast and we never heard off and Brian Roberts. I mean, all of these broadcasters last week and a half have been interesting. And you know, Greg author, I love Greg Olson, but I missed by McDonald, Jim Palmer to some degree, but I would say this the schedule, just the schedule itself. days off. Awful, right? I mean, that’s hard enough, whether it’s gonna be 90 degrees here come Thursday afternoon at one o’clock, of course, when somebody will offer me tickets to go out to the game and sit there and sweat my polyester. I would just say that these next two weeks and as I talked to you sort of I’m not I’m not dour about it. But I said if they have a 16 and 12 month, this month or something that feels like not 700 ball but feels more like 550 ball. That would this would be the time of the year where I could find that you don’t want to find yourself at nine and 11 the next 20 games, but this is where it would happen. Pitching problems, guys He’s going away. tough schedule, and you’re playing the best teams every night. And in some cases getting their best starters too. Yeah,

Luke Jones  05:07

but but at the same time, I mean, when is this team played like that? I mean, going back to last year, when have they had stretches where they’ve struggled even like that against good teams? I mean, it’s it’s very rare that you know, they had that stretch, right around the Fourth of July last year. What was it? They lost six of seven. At one point, I was gonna say

Nestor J. Aparicio  05:23

they haven’t had a whole lot of tenant tents.

Luke Jones  05:27

Yes, my point. I mean, okay, we can talk at times and say, okay, they haven’t been great that they they’ve been pretty good. But I mean, like, this weekend was a perfect example. I mean, we talked about the disappointment of how the Toronto series finished up, you know, there was concern at the time as far as Okay, Kate Povich is coming in, what does that mean with Kyle? Bradish? Is he not feeling great? Kyle? Bradish look pretty darn good on Saturday, you know, so again, it’s just another matter of, can you keep him healthy over the course of the year because you you’re reminded every time he goes out about what kind of pitcher he is, but you know, I mean, they get a good start from cole Irvin on Friday night. Bradish does what he does on Saturday, Grayson Rodriguez perfect through five innings, you know, disappointing for way for his start to finish in the sixth inning, you know, ran out of gas a little bit and couldn’t quite finish off that inning. But they still, you know, they won the game and they score runs late to pull away. I mean, I’m sitting at the bar,

Nestor J. Aparicio  06:20

Costas. And I said to John and Karen way, I’m like, a hit yet. It’s like the fourth and fifth. It was like perfect. Yeah. I mean, then the walkout. Like I’m like, alright, you put your thinking out loud. He finishing the game anyway, you know what I mean? None of these guys are and that certainly speaks to Bradish couple of weeks ago, but it doesn’t matter. Rodriguez burns does it on Monday night won’t matter. There’s no such thing as a 92 pitch nine inning, you know, no hitter in the modern era. The way hitters work counts as much as anything else work pitches, and are trained to do that. That even 112 pitch. You know, no hitter? I don’t know. You get the 98 pitches in the eighth inning. What do you it’s, I don’t know how there’s going to be a no hitter in the the way we Nolan Ryan, and Cy Young would want it to be. I

Luke Jones  07:10

think you’ll still see it because you still see some complete games around baseball. But boy, the pitch count is so crucial. And that was the thing with Grayson Rodriguez, as well as he pitched I mean, I think he was at 75 pitches through five innings which isn’t a bad average. I mean 15 pitches per inning. I mean, even you’ll hear Jim Palmer talking to telecasts that’s kind of, you know, that’s not optimal. But that’s kind of the the idea where

Nestor J. Aparicio  07:32

is the limit on? I mean, I don’t even know because I don’t feel like we ever see it because they’re always gone at 7080 or 90. I don’t know if there is 100 206 100. We don’t see that anymore.

Luke Jones  07:43

He threw 107 on Sunday. I mean, he got into the sixth inning, and it was clear Brandon Hyde was trying to get him through that inning,

Nestor J. Aparicio  07:52

by the way, the last 15 pitches, you could have taken him out at 92. If you had more. And you weren’t in a streak of three weeks in a row, you know, that last inning was gonna get crushed? Yeah,

Luke Jones  08:02

well, and I think some of that is also I mean, I thought the last inning was also an example of his development that you’re trying to have him pitch through that and he didn’t quite do it now. I mean, obviously it’s not like he had a bad outing. You know, Dylan Tate comes in, you’d like him to not give up inherited run, inherited runs. But you know, that kind of is what it is. Overall, the bullpen was great over the weekend, you know, at least going into the Monday night series pending outcome for that, but I think that was an example of maybe last year, Brandon, I just pulled the plug on Grayson Rodriguez before that final batter. Just couldn’t quite put them away. And yeah, I was actually wondering you kept seeing him blow on his fingers. I was wondering if he was actually trying to fight off working off potential blisters starting there. I mean, we’ll see. Not trying to sound the alarm, but he kept good see, kept blowing on his fingers. The last three, four or five batters of that outing, but he was really, really good. And I couldn’t help but I had the tweet fired up and it would have I didn’t pull the trigger on it because it felt like a little anticlimactic, because he didn’t get through the six. But you know, I just kept thinking as I was watching him over the last couple of innings on Sunday on the heels of Bradish pitching on Saturday, and knowing that burns was going Monday night. Just thinking Corbin burns, Kyle Bradish Grayson Rodriguez, if the Orioles can just find a way to get those three to October healthy, and, you know, you just daydream about the potential there and look, other teams have great rotations and you know, I mean, look what the Yankees have done. I mean the Phillies have an amazing starting trio, atop the National League, but burns Bradish Rodriguez if they’re all healthy, come October, and that’s a big F especially with Bradish right now. I mean, I’ll take my chances, especially with the way this team hits the ball. I mean, so it was just, it was good to see that. Again. You We’d love to see grace and get through sixth there. No doubt about it. But you’re right. I mean, when you’re looking at this, and you know who’s hating the scenario, I mean, he loves it because they’re pitching well, but bread and hides, hate seeing grace it Rodriguez perfect through five, what he’s already at 75 pitches that he’s just like, oh my gosh, it’s no way this guy is gonna be able to finish this. But I don’t want to be the guy that pulls about what he’s has a perfect game. I mean, you know, he will. And we saw it with Kyle Bradish. A couple of weeks ago,

Nestor J. Aparicio  10:28

the only way the game stays perfect is to conserve pitches. When you have a 28 pitch inning, you’re still probably not throwing a no hitter anymore. I mean, that’s literally part of the gig. Right? Right. But but even

Luke Jones  10:39

and that, you know, kind of goes to the point that you were making that I mean, the stars have to, I mean, the stars always had to align for a perfect Gabrovo hit, or let’s be clear about this. But even more so in the modern day with pitch counts, and the injuries just being so abundant across the loot.

Nestor J. Aparicio  10:56

Here’s the problem. It’s June 10. Here, and we’ve already had three or four occurrences with this franchise, and these starters, putting us in a position where you might have to send that a text in the eighth inning night, I don’t know where, but like, we’ve had no hitter conversations once a week here for a month and a half. Because guys keep doing it. You know, so I don’t know, you say do you have no hit stuff? Well, we can’t go a week without talking about what Brandon hide this. And how many pitches is that? And whatever? Man, these are. Our conversations have come a long way, bro, I was just gonna

Luke Jones  11:31

say these are good problems to have what you’re what you’re talking about your pitch count, but because your guys yeah, they

Nestor J. Aparicio  11:36

had a weekend sweep. That wasn’t a sweep because they’re playing a Monday night. We can’t call it that, but they haven’t lost since last week. And we’re nitpicking on whether Rodriguez should be throwing the 105th pitch probably not, by the way, all things being equal at this point, based on what we saw. So I think we do learn a little bit more about it. And, you know, do that kid’s gonna have five other occasions in his career where he’s going to take a no hitter into the fifth or sixth or seventh. To your point, getting to the ninth. That’s that’s, that’s the magic trick that no one in that real war horses guys that could get 140 pitches out of their arms, because none of those guys did it with 92 pitches either. Yeah,

Luke Jones  12:15

I mean, that’s the thing unless you’re a Greg Maddix, which, you know, famously, I mean, they they nicknamed a complete game of under 100 pitches a Maddix. You know, unless you’re in more of that scenario where you, you know, you can have one or two innings where the pitches are up there. But you better have a seven pitch inning because Maddox

Nestor J. Aparicio  12:30

was throwing the ball at two miles an hour and it looked like a beach ball and you couldn’t hit it. Yeah. Although, although

Luke Jones  12:35

he’s still struck out his fair share of guys, but But yeah, I mean, it’s your point,

Nestor J. Aparicio  12:39

when they swing and miss. They don’t make contact, they have to do that three times to strike out. So when they can’t hit it. Sure, sure. Swinging and missing and he has to throw more pitches, which is how pitch counts happen. Right, Nolan Ryan struck out 12 And a no hitter. Well, dude, right off the bat. You know, I know he threw some balls, because he was gamely wild, and maybe not at the end of his career. But in the middle, he was for sure. Like Randy Johnson, the one works against the other, I don’t want to say you know, you sat with George showing you with a school teacher, tell me what that scientific property is. But whatever that is, if you’re a strikeout pitcher, you throw a lot of pitches. If you’re a strikeout pitchers, guys can’t touch the ball, which is part of the gig. And you wind up with a lot of pitches so that it really does it’s counterproductive to thinking you can throwing a no hitter in any era, let alone in this era with the mindset. I mean, the first thing we’re saying at the bar, Costas is this organization is not going to let him finish a game like no

Luke Jones  13:39

nor nor should they, and again, where he was now. There are layers to this. I mean, if the stars align and the pitch count is I mean, we saw you remember this the game he had against Tampa last September. I mean, he went eight innings in that game. Yeah, if he had if he had had a no hitter through eight innings at that point, I can’t remember what the pitch count was off the top of my head, that might have been a scenario where you might have send them out there. And you go hitter by hitter and, and

Nestor J. Aparicio  14:05

it’s also it’s the game one to nothing to nothing or see exactly, exactly. And that’s the

Luke Jones  14:09

thing. And I was texting with my cousin who was a longtime Orioles fan, and we were just we pretend to text during games, especially when he knows I’m not at the game, you know, when they’re on the road, and I’m just watching at home. And I said, you know, I mean, look, no hitters and shutouts and perfect games and all that stuff is great. And that stuff is becoming more and more of a rarity. I mean, we all know that. But at the same time, and he wholeheartedly agreed just speaking strictly as a fan. You’re you’re thinking about October, I mean, you’re thinking about that Mike Mike Okay, Kyle Bradsher whatever you do. Exactly. And look, you can you can take all the precautions and you still have no guarantee that you’re going I mean look, look at John means. I mean, he just got second Tommy John surgery and 25 months. I mean, it’s brutal. It’s absolutely brutal for him and it’s not as though the Orioles did anything reckless with him. He he rehabbed and he Yep, through four starts last September and he didn’t didn’t feel great. And through four starts in May and didn’t feel great. I mean, it’s. So you always have to think about the end game. What’s best for your team? And also, yes, what’s best for the pitcher? And so many of these guys, I mean, Grayson Rodriguez, you could see, I mean, he was fuming in that sixth inning. I mean, you see why the Orioles love him so much why his teammates love him. I mean, he really does have that old school competitor mindset to him. I mean, you mentioned Nolan Ryan. I mean, he’s the kind of guy that if he, you know, if he pitched 40 years ago, he would have had that Bulldog mentality that I’ll throw 140 pitches tonight. That’s fine.

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:39

LeMans was that way too? Yeah.

Luke Jones  15:41

I mean, they’re putting it that way. I

Nestor J. Aparicio  15:42

mean, you know, in the modern era, there were definitely some guys that that had that Bob Gibson drives that, you know, like, whatever that extra kick Jack Morris, I mean, go through the names of, and it is an attitude. It really is what you bring to the mound. I mean,

Luke Jones  15:56

it’s ticked, you’re ticked off for greatness, right. I mean, for to use the Ray Lewis description, you know, cleaned it up a little bit. But I mean, it’s just, I mean, Grayson Rodriguez wants to be great. He’s not a finished product yet, by any means. I think we see that. And that’s why I said I thought Brandon Hyde leaving him in to try to finish the sixth inning there. That that felt a little one he was pitching so well. And to I think it was one of those spots where that was kind of a teachable moment or a moment where he could learn something he could learn something about his pitches are showing confidence in him. Right, that’s my point. So and, and look, you have to pick your spots there. And he threw 107 pitches, I’m guessing they’re probably going to try to slot Cade Povich in to try to get Grayson Rodriguez an extra day between you know, the start and his next start for that reason, because 107, I believe, was his career high. I think they said that on the telecast. And I believe it, knowing how he’s been handled mostly. So, you know, you’re not sounding the alarm because he threw 107 pitches, but if you can give him an extra day here,

Nestor J. Aparicio  17:00

I wonder if you talk to him the day after two days after and he were being honest. And like, back in my era, they were always honest, right? When I would talk to Messina or talk to Mark, you know, whoever was that was pitch Ben, any of those guys, you know, how that how’d you do? They would sit at their locker and say, Yeah, you know, like 100, Nate feels different than 90, did they after like, and I don’t know that. But I do know. And it’s been a while because I’ve been thrown out by Greg Bader and these folks that I haven’t it’s been a while since I’ve been in the locker room after game with the guy had the bag ice on his shoulder. I don’t know if they still do it that way, or they stem out or whether sometimes they’re at their locker literally iced up. But the icing process and all of that, from a journalist standpoint, was something I didn’t know about until I had a press pass. Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t, or talking to so many of them about their arms on a daily basis. I really do wonder for a young guy like that, when it’s been taxed more than ever in his in his modern career, maybe at some point when he was younger, some somebody threw him after a little league and let him throw the ball all night. I don’t know. But that is pretty much where the limb me Buck bucks, seven bucks, eight, you know, a buck 12 A buck 15 And part of it really is how do you feel? How not what he’s going to tell us how he really feels in that sixth day would say would speak a lot to that to say that he feels like he needs it. But to your point, precautionary you know, once the once the doctors come down and say you’re gonna give it to him because the chart says we’re gonna do that. To your point. They’re all managing that at this point.

Luke Jones  18:39

He is right they are but as Mike Elias said when he announced the John mean surgery news, you know, there’s still a lot more art than science to it. I mean, and it’s not just how they feel, I mean you have with all the tracking data, the Statcast data all that I mean you can really see you know, you can see when they deform yeah below dips you know how the movement on their pitches looks different. I mean the release point changes a little bit I mean yeah, I mean there’s there’s lots of data there. But you know, at the same time there’s a feeling out process to it I mean to your point not all sixth inning or eighth inning or nine inning outings are created equally you know if Grayson Rodriguez had a nine nothing lead there rather than what it was to nothing at the time or three nothing at the time. You know, that might have been a little bit different there. He might have pitched a little bit differently there but you know, it’s close game at that point in time. So you know, it’s just we remember what what was it three weeks ago I guess it was Corbin Burns was done it like was it at five pitches and fans were you know fans on social media were kind of like hey, what’s going on? Why why did hide pull them after at five pitches? Come to come to speak to Corbin Bernsen in the clubhouse after the game he flat out said look. I’ve seen I was gassed. It was one of those outings where you know you have some of those long at bats and guys foul off pitches and you have some eight 910 pitch at bats and sometimes sometimes you’re Right after it, the manager appreciates

Nestor J. Aparicio  20:01

that. Yeah, yeah, I think I mean, I, I, you know, just as a human, I appreciate candor and honesty, you know, across all of that. And this does speak to how much you and I’ve been talking about Tommy John surgery, and my era of being what a journalist used to be in your era of what a journalist is, and what they’re going to say and what they’re not going to say. And in the old days, it was very much, if you came in with a sore arm, you’re letting everybody down. You don’t want to tell anybody, right? You want to work through it. If you’re one pitch away from Norfolk, and you’re on that boat to begin with, you don’t want to tell anybody that there’s something wrong. And to your point, the minute they show the video, you can see they’re favoring something, they’re like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing here, you know, arms, dropping a quarter of an inch, something’s wrong. So and the science part of that would rat a lot of that out, I think at this point, right? Like, and also the macho manliness fighting for my job. Everybody’s getting this freakin surgery, everybody’s afraid of it. It’s the Boogeyman. And in some cases, I guess, if you’re a parent, and 17 year old, you think, oh, we’ll fix little Johnny, and he’ll pitch 12 years in the majors, because there’s a lot of that that’s going on too. And I like $6 Million Man surgery, right? Or something like that. I just look at it as managing assets. And the old way of doing it the new way of doing it, of what a sore arm or dead arm period or whatever, those things you would old days, you would say it’s something’s tender, something’s wrong. And I know as a 55 year old guy, when I walked through much on my knee, it’s a little tender, it’s a little wrong. And it tells me to get off it, not to stay on it. But I’m not doing that to make a living. And if I was delivering milk crates, I’d have to get on it. And that’s part of injured workman’s comp, all the things that happen when you try to stay on your job, and you’re a little messed up. I don’t think they’ll allow pitchers to do that anymore to your point, because the science would shut that down quicker than their macho would allow them to come in and say, coach got a something’s wrong today? Yeah,

Luke Jones  22:08

I mean, I think you’ll still find some of that, but I’m guessing that those periods of time where someone’s pitching with some discomfort or whatever, it is far more fleeting than it might have been years ago, where someone might pitch with a bad elbow for two months. Now, it might be, um, maybe, maybe you’ll get a start or two, but it’ll start to show up, it’ll start to show up in the below. Yeah, release point, whatever, you just starting to get hit hard. Sure, exactly. So to go back to something you said, because I wanted to make this point as well, because you mentioned as far as seeing guys with our ice bag, all that you have to remember, pitchers don’t go as deep into games on the regular anymore. So for the icing, right, usually done most of that. I mean, they’re kind of showering up. And that’s not to say they won’t get any more treatment or anything like that. But yeah, the last point on that, because, you know, I don’t want to dwell too much on the healthier because I mean, they also just performed really well over the weekend. But you know, I think with pitchers, they know their bodies. And look, there is general soreness that they all experienced after every outing. I mean, how could you not in the same way that you go to the gym, it’s leg day, your legs are sore the next day just for the common man who’s working out. But these guys also know when something feels off. And again, that goes to the point that we were just talking about. So, you know, again, with Grayson Rodriguez, remember he had the shoulder inflammation earlier in the year. You know, you’re obviously being mindful of not having anything like that, but he pitched really, really well on Sunday. That was great to see it was it was even. I mean, great. Great to see Kyle Bradish do what he did Saturday, on the heels of him getting a couple extra days and there was some speculation like you know, what’s going on here. And I think a lot of that was I don’t want to say gamesmanship. They wanted to give him a couple extra days but I think the Orioles being as tight lipped as they were for a couple of days just led naturally to some speculation. But I think a lot of it is just you know, they’re just trying to be mindful here you know, they know that and this is why I talked about this down the stretch last year we talked about it a lot as far as the Orioles Yeah, they wanted to overtake keep the rays in second place and they wanted to win the division but I we kept reminding that Kyle Bradish career high in innings Grayson Rodriguez career high in innings, Dean Kramer career high in innings you know Tyler wells started having issues at the Austin right around the all star break. So you know, I mean, you’re talked about

Nestor J. Aparicio  24:31

this a lot last spring a year and a half ago, you started talking about it more than I could it’s clearly it’s a buzz around all the organizations and around the sport. And now we’re seeing the backside of it a year and a half later with three key cog guys that they want to give the ball to in whatever way closer starter who threw a no hitter, left hander part of your rotation part of the plan, you know in the in the return and wells, whatever he was going to be very effective guy beginning last year, and would have been a nice arm to have a nice piece stab in October, gone. And this is one of the this is a good organization. This is an organization that thinks it’s going to win the World Series still, you know has all these bats as that but this is devastating when you put it that way when you start talking about two starters and and you’re closer going on the shelf within eight months of each other while you’re trying to win a World Series. You know, this is the Ravens losing Pick, pick your guy pick your offensive lineman, your linebacker and your secondary guy, right? Yeah, yeah,

Luke Jones  25:37

I mean, the one thing I’ll push back on a little bit is at full strength Tyler Wells is going to be in the bullpen. But it’s still put still holds true especially with no Batista, you know, was Tyler wells. I wasn’t projecting him to overtake Craig Kimbrel. Let’s be clear about that. But I thought Tyler Wales had the chance to be a really nice seventh and eighth inning option so

Nestor J. Aparicio  25:59

he was going to be an 8090 inning six seven inning guy. Yeah, I

Luke Jones  26:03

mean, I mean, obviously he was in the bullpen because they had an or he was in the rotation because they had a need early on with means and Bradish sideline but I think if you’re talking about everyone being at full strength to me wells as a bullpen arm but that’s still hey, we’ve been talking about the bullpen all year.

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:17

We’re gonna keep would have been a guy that pitch three times a week in some capacity. Yeah, yeah. And

Luke Jones  26:21

maybe some high leverage situations as well. So So other than that, though, I mean, yeah, I mean, this and look at when we talk about innings limits and pitch counts and all that I don’t. Because I know a lot of old school fans get frustrated with that and look from an aesthetic standpoint. Yeah, I missed starters, not going seven innings on the regular and pitching complete games more consistently and all of that. But we’ve talked about the mentality the mindset of how these guys pitch is just different than than it was in decades past. I’m not saying it’s better. I’ll continue to say that I question quite a bit. The the long term viability of what we’re seeing across baseball, not the Orioles specifically, but just the max effort, mindset, because which is different than the way Boddicker Flannigan said Greg.

Nestor J. Aparicio  27:13

And Steve stone all those guys threw the baseball differently. In first inning, you go out, you get into the groove, you’re pitching, but you’re not out there. Three, two, you know, bases loaded.

Luke Jones  27:26

I’ve got to blow it by and kind of thing like that. Was you through 12 of those a game? Yeah, not 58 of them. Yeah, exactly. And to be clear, I mean, this is, some of this is just the natural evolution of baseball, those guys that you just mentioned that pitch 40 or 50 or 60 years ago, pitched way differently than sai Jung did. At the end of the 19th century. It’s early 20th century baseball. I mean, those days guys pitched every other day, but they were not putting much on their arms anyway. And part of it was it was a dead ball era, no one was gonna hit the ball out of the ballpark. So So you know, you have that over the course of the history of baseball, but I saw a stat the other day, I saw it on Twitter. It was it just had a list of the number of pitchers used across baseball for in a season. And it started in 98, which last time we saw expansion in Major League Baseball at the rays in the Diamondbacks in 98. And to see the numbers from 98, the total number of pitchers used in 1998, across the major leagues, compared to what it is now. And to really see how dramatic the shift has been over the last 12 years or so. I mean, it just speaks to the difference in, you know, the strategy and the mindset and the approach of how guys are pitching, and also the injury factor. So

Nestor J. Aparicio  28:47

and the way organizations have to play yeah, yeah, I think 22 pitchers, they know even if you’re a good team, you’re gonna go through 2022 pitchers in a year, that pitch innings, right, your organization, even though we go down to Sarasota, and we haven’t all about who the 12th or 13th guy is going to be and what they’re going to do when they come up on April 1. We sit here on June 10. And it we’re in a different world, dude.

Luke Jones  29:12

No doubt about it. And that’s why I kept saying, you know, as I you know, revealed my little daydream, as I was saying about burns, Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish. And whatever order you want to put them burns, of course, being the number one, but if you can just navigate this, these next three and a half months, and have those guys all healthy for October, I mean, man, I mean, that’s just we were talking about that. What was it February 1 When the Orioles acquired burns, you know, a couple days after the ownership news, but I mean, it’s it’s a long season, and every team, every team is talking about what you and I are talking about right now. I mean, the Yankees are getting ready to get Garrett quarters kind of pitch. But you know, Garrett hole comes back who else is gonna stay healthy? I mean, you You love the guys that you’re pitching right now? I mean, the Orioles have gone through a stretch here where even with some of the concerns about the health that we’ve talked about, and when the heels of losing means and wells for the season, they pitched really well. I mean, look at the aggregate results. They pitched really well here over for weeks now. But there’s still that angst as far as who’s staying healthy. How are you getting through this stretch without without any off days, six man rotation seven man bullpen? I mean, all these different questions. I mean, that’s why, you know, Mike Elias and the coaching staff and Brandon Hyde. I mean, they’re, they’re in constant dialogue in terms of trying to manage this. And that’s why they’re scouring the waiver wire. And we’ve seen, you know, like, the Vierra, the guy they brought in and didn’t last long, obviously. But those are the kind of arms they

Nestor J. Aparicio  30:44

went with Fuji until it, you know, whoever they bring in, you got to give them an opportunity, and

Luke Jones  30:50

especially if they have a live arm, right? I mean, that was the thing. I mean, you saw the air through 98, his one out here with Dan and Norfolk, he figures it out. I mean, the guys that you can try to do that with you do it. But I mean, a lot of these guys, the problem is every all 30 teams are looking for arms like that. So when someone shakes loose, you say, oh, that’s an interesting chance. But then you see him and say, Oh, I I could see now why the last guy gave up on him. So you know, I mean, we’re going to talk about this the trade deadline is still what, six weeks out? Something like that.

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:21

And they say every day this month, so yes, it’s pitching is going a bit what we’re talking about.

Luke Jones  31:25

Exactly. And that’s why you know, on days where Grayson Rodriguez throws 107 hate I’m not saying that that’s wrong or that Brandon Hyde was foolish there anything like that. But that’s why don’t be surprised if they bumped Grayson Rodriguez back a day or you know, and most likely were Kate Povich is still in the in the majors, you know, so barring, barring a starter get knocked out between now and whenever his turn would come up. Yeah, he’s probably going to start and that’ll bump everyone else back a day. And by the way, even Corbin burns as great as he is, could still benefit from an extra day now. And then I’m not saying you do that with him all the time, obviously, but you want to keep him healthy because he’s your ace. So so there’s a lot of that going on. But in the meantime, good pitching over the weekend. And you know this to your point, we can’t call it a sweep because of this weird Monday night finale but good to see the Orioles regroup the way they did. And let’s also point something out here now just in a big 30,000 feet kind of look and perspective as the Orioles just moved over 20 games over 500 You know they moved to 20 over on Sunday. And meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays are under 500. We know how these teams fought all summer and fall, September last year for the division. Yeah, I get it. The rays traded glass now they traded Margo. So it’s not like they were the same exact team. But they were great last year. I mean, give them credit for all the rotation, attrition that they IX they endured and they experienced losing McClanahan and some of those other guys that they lost as far as bullpen starters and relief options. Yeah, they were great. But you see how it’s gone for them this year? And that’s where I look at this and say, you know with the Orioles specially with how the Yankees have just been so great. I mean, the Orioles are hanging right there. I mean, they’re right there. And you know, they were able to trim a couple games over the weekend. And that was great to see. They’re getting ready to play the Yankees here after this, this upcoming homestand they’ll be going to the Bronx after that. You know, I mean, buckle up. It’s gonna be really interesting, exciting, nerve wracking, angst filled summer. And I’m all for it. I mean, that’s what you and I and so many fans were longing for for such a long time and save for a few years here and there over the last 25 It’s been very fleeting. So for them to follow up a 101 win season with what they’ve done to this point. Just look at the race and let’s not take this for granted regardless of what happens with the Al East race specifically that the Orioles are doing this two years in a row. Very rare, not just in the Camden Yards era of Orioles baseball, but in the history of the franchise again, go back and look 6970 Or is the one example of anything, you know, a little bit better than what we’re seeing because what they want 109 and 69 and I think it was 108 and 70. But back to back 100 Plus win seasons. I mean that’s, that’s rare. That’s very rare.

Nestor J. Aparicio  34:30

So for the Orioles to be doing this and fully acknowledging not everything’s gone perfectly for them to this point. It really does speak to the overall state of this organization and how exciting it truly is. We’re gonna talk about how they catch the ball and hit the ball as well as throw the ball. This is a lot of pitching in here, Luke and I get after it. Almost every day in talking to real baseball. You can find it all out of Baltimore positive of course wn st am 1570 All made possible by our friends and many sponsors, including our friends at Royal farms who put the coffee in the coal room big mug, big appreciation to them as well as wise markets for their annual sponsorship. We do the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery in conjunction with our friends at Liberty pure solutions keeping our water clean and Jiffy Lube multicam. We’re going to be Coco’s on Wednesday afternoon. Friday we are Cooper’s downtown the winner Fells Point we’re up at Cooper’s North last week talking about Fleet Week this week. So we’re not a fate leaves on Friday. We are Cooper’s down on the square in in beautiful Fells Point as the planes fly over the Phillies fly in the ballpark sold out. Phillies. That’ll be this weekend. Luke’s gonna be out of training camps. We got football, baseball, the Braves are in pictures of Bob Horner and Dale Murphy are showing up on my timeline, as well as Henry Aaron, where a lot of throwbacks, but I would wear that white and blue, you know Braves Atlanta. Hank Aaron 44. I’d like to get me one of those. It would have to breathe a little better than my polyester will in the sun on Thursday. I am Nestor. He is Luke. It’s football, baseball, and more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.