With the Baltimore Orioles navigating tough times in every phase of the game, the New York Yankees come stumbling into Camden Yards after a bad weekend in Milwaukee. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the mountain ahead for the Birds after a four-game sweep at the hands of the first-place pinstripers in the Bronx last week. Oh, and this Jackson Holliday experiment at third base gets heavy examination and criticism here…

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ current struggles, noting the team is six games under 500 and facing a tough schedule. They highlighted the Yankees’ upcoming series, with the Orioles losing two out of three games against the A’s. Luke criticized the team’s defensive performance and the decision to move Jackson Holliday to third base. They also touched on the Orioles’ pitching, praising Kyle Bradish and Chris Bassett’s recent performances. Luke shared a personal story about taking his niece to an Orioles game, where they met Adam Jones. They concluded with plans for upcoming events, including the Maryland crab cake tour.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and represent on-site at Faidley’s crab derby on Wednesday (participate in event and coverage as planned).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and participate in the Maryland crab cake tour / Fishmonger’s Daughter event in Catonsville next Thursday (be present for the tour and related coverage).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Give Luke the new swag (deliver the Orioles swag that was intended to be handed over after Friday).
• [ ] Pick up the item Scarlet selected at the team store during another ballpark visit this week and deliver it to her later this week.

Orioles Game and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the upcoming Maryland crab cake tour and mentions Ivan Bates and Megan McCorkle as guests.
• Nestor talks about his vegetarian meal and plans to get a broiled crab cake at Costas.
• Nestor mentions new swag and the legendary Dick Girardi joining the show.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss their affinity for horse racing and the state of horse racing.

Orioles’ Current Standing and Upcoming Series

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ current standing, with the team being six games under 500.
• Luke highlights the poor state of the American League and the Orioles’ chances of making the wild card.
• Luke mentions the Yankees’ recent struggles and the Orioles’ upcoming series against them.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ recent performance, including the pitching of Kyle Bradish and Chris Bassett.

Orioles’ Pitching and Bullpen Strategy

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ bullpen strategy, including the use of openers and the performance of Chris Bassett.
• Luke explains the concept of openers and their potential benefits and drawbacks.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of bullpen management on game outcomes.
• Luke highlights the importance of having a strong bullpen and the challenges faced by the Orioles.

Orioles’ Defense and Lineup Changes

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ defense and the recent changes in the lineup, including Jackson Holiday playing third base.
• Luke expresses concerns about the defense and the impact of lineup changes on the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of moving players around the field.
• Luke questions the organization’s decision-making and the long-term impact on the team.

Luke’s Family Trip to the Orioles Game

• Luke shares his experience taking his niece, Scarlet, to her first Orioles game.
• Luke describes the preparations and the activities they did at the ballpark, including meeting Adam Jones.
• Luke talks about the gifts and swag he gave to Scarlet and the overall experience of the day.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of creating memorable experiences for young fans.

Orioles’ Upcoming Schedule and Challenges

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ upcoming schedule, including games against the Yankees and other teams.
• Luke highlights the challenges the Orioles will face in the coming weeks and the importance of winning series.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s need for better performance and the potential impact of returning players.
• Luke expresses hope for the team to improve and the importance of building momentum.

Community and Personal Connections at the Ballpark

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the sense of community and personal connections at the ballpark.
• Luke shares memories of his father and the impact of attending games with his family.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of creating a positive atmosphere for fans, especially young ones.
• Luke highlights the significance of the ballpark experience and the impact it has on fans’ lives.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Nestor and Luke discuss their future plans, including upcoming events and guest appearances.
• Nestor mentions the Maryland crab cake tour and the involvement of various guests.
• Luke shares his excitement for future shows and the importance of community engagement.
• Nestor and Luke express their commitment to supporting the Orioles and providing quality content for their listeners.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Yankees, crab cake tour, Maryland lottery, GBMC, horse racing, American League, wild card, Kyle Bradish, Chris Bassett, bullpen strategy, Jackson Holiday, Adam Jones, fan experience, community.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively into the crab cake season, and especially for our dear, dear friends at the faidleys family. I didn’t even do this on purpose. It just worked out this way. They’re doing the crab Derby on Wednesday. We’re going to be down there. We’ll have the scratch also in the Maryland lottery, in the Maryland treasures. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour. Ivan Bates is going to be joining me. Just learned that. Megan McCorkle, formerly of channel 13 and formerly the Enoch Pratt library system now with live Baltimore, she’s going to be joining us. I think Luke is coming by. I think we’re going to talk football on Wednesday, unless he has a whole segment about taking his niece to the Orioles game on Saturday, and just the Nelly part of the extravaganza as well. It’s all also brought to you by our friends at GBMC, keeping me alive and well, my wife made a vegetarian meal tonight. We’re trying to like, did have some cheese in it? I didn’t control it at all, but it was House made. Going to be getting the Greek salad with the light dressing when I’m at Costas. I’m going to be getting a broiled crab cake, against my better wishes when I’m in certain places here this summer, as well as our friends at Farnham, Dermer who joined me. Gabe Luke, you haven’t even gotten the new swag, Dude, I got some new swag here. I meant to give you some of it on Friday when we were together at Costas with the legendary Dick Girardi, who’s going to be joining us this week. You know, look, I could count on you for ravens, I can count on you for Orioles. I can count on you for wrestling. I can count on you for pizza reviews and Wildwood. But like, you’re not going to be a really good rail bird for the track this week at Laurel,

Luke Jones  01:56

from what I understand, yes, probably not. Your not your thing? No, it’s not my wheelhouse. I I have an affinity for it, just from a local, historic standpoint. But, you know, I’ve been to Preakness, but it’s not something that you’ve

Nestor Aparicio  02:10

been to Preakness. Yeah, I only know that

Luke Jones  02:14

only once. I mean, I did it 15 years ago. We actually, you act you just don’t remember. We saw each other.

Nestor Aparicio  02:21

I took it. We took a picture. You look nice, yeah. I remember now, yeah, okay.

Luke Jones  02:26

But full disclosure, I’m not gonna pretend. I’m not gonna fake it. I mean, it’s not something that I’ve ever had a strong interest in, other than just I watched the Triple Crown races. And now, with the state of horse racing being what it is and the schedule being what it is. And I’m not judging it one way or the other. When you don’t have triple crowns in play, interest crashes, it craters. I mean, for anyone who’s not a die hard, it’s kind

Luke Jones  02:48

of

Nestor Aparicio  02:48

like when you’re six games under 500 and you know, the Yankees are coming to town like, like I started in with you earlier this week about going to New York last week and doing the Yankees game, and then maybe doing Springsteen the next night in Long Island. I And then, and then you didn’t really want to do it. And now we’ve talked about San Diego, San Francisco, doing these trips and whatever. But like, you said to me, you want to go to Fenway Park. Like, if that would mean something to you to cover a game Fenway Park, and I’m like, All right, well, they play up there in July. You’re gonna ball because you’re gonna, like, that’s my vacation. Right after I get back and they all start getting but the Orioles are playing in Boston on July 20. What are the odds of that? Meaning anything? Well,

Luke Jones  03:38

I would say, I will continue to say this, the overall state of the American League is not good, right? We’ve talked about that. So that is the opportunity, right? That’s going to be that your Battle Cry is going to be no one’s going to run away. Therefore, if your team’s under 500 and the leaders two games over, it’s like a bad golf tournament where everybody shoots par, right? Like, literally. I mean, you look at the state of the wild card and look, it’s so early. I hate looking at the standings now, but it just it gives us proper context as far as what the entire league looks like right now. I mean, the Yankees, amazingly, they lose three straight over the weekend. Get their feelings hurt. Built by Milwaukee and Tampa Bay is in first place and but it’s been those two teams, right? But then you you look at beyond the division leaders at this point in time, the second wild card is as we begin play on Monday, brand new week. The second wild card is the Chicago White Sox at 19 and 21 I mean, just let that marinate. None of us think the White Sox are any good, right? None of us think Kansas City is any good. None of us think the Rangers are any good. I mean, those are the teams ahead of the Orioles and ahead of Seattle and ahead of Toronto and ahead of Detroit and Minnesota’s same record as the Orioles, they haven’t been good. But you look at these teams, I mean even the very bottom, I mean right now, the angels and the Astros are at the bottom in the Al West, in the American League in general. They’re nine games under 500 as we begin action on May 10, you know, talking about this in real time. Or may 11, I’m sorry, they’re three and a half games out of the final wild card spot. Now, let me be very clear when I lay all that out, when you put yourself in a position where there are potentially six or seven or eight teams ahead of you, even if it’s a relatively small gap, that doesn’t mean that you’re overly optimistic, because, I mean, the reality is, you look at this weekend. I mean, okay, they went on Sunday. They did get some good pitching over the weekend. Kyle Bradish was fantastic on Friday night, even if the the numbers, like the box score, doesn’t reflect how good he actually was. That was really the first time all year where from start to finish, it really looked like Kyle Bradish to me, at least the best version of him that we saw, not even talking, just the end of last year, but 24 before the arm, you know, before the elbow gave out, and 23 in the second half of the season. So that was a positive, but they kicked the ball around. They didn’t score many runs, and they lost right Sunday. They got a really good it wasn’t a start. It was a bulk outing, because they used the opener, Chris Bassett was really good. So I can take a couple positives away, and that’s well and good, but they lost two out of three, right? And they’re back to five games under 500 and here come the Yankees, who are scuffling here suddenly, but we all know what happened a week ago at this time, so yes, mathematically, they’re perfectly fine. I don’t want to say great. I don’t want to say Good, fine. Mathematically speaking, eyeball test wise, not so much. I don’t think this is a very good baseball team. And even with Sunday’s victory, which was the first time in 25 games, they allowed fewer than three runs in a game which

Luke Jones  07:01

they

Nestor Aparicio  07:01

also had a closer close the game too, which we’ve been up in arms about hellsley. Like, that’s something that the that the bullpen one run ball game, 2121, I mean, like, you know, they can’t get it hit. Anderson striking out, like, just by the skin of their teeth, but also by the skin to their closer, right? You

Luke Jones  07:21

know, Rico Garcia has been great, and he was rested because, well, they didn’t have a safe situation Friday or Saturday, right? So, so I mean to go back to your original point. Am I going to sit here and make a bold proclamation that, yes, I feel great that come the third or fourth week of July, they’re going to be right in the thick of things, I don’t know, but at the same time, based on what we’ve seen and we’re, we’re a quarter of the way through the season at this point in time. Who do you really believe in in the in the American League, the Yankees are really good this weekend, notwithstanding whatever happens with the Orioles and them, they’re

Luke Jones  08:01

you can

Nestor Aparicio  08:01

make this case all you want, but if they’re 10 games under, I don’t think it’s going to matter that it’s mediocre. Last place still smells like last place,

Luke Jones  08:11

but I would. But my point in what I’m saying is, until someone starts rising, you know, until the cream, wherever it might be, starts rising to the top, then, you know, not going to sit here and say that. I think the some, some of these teams that I just mentioned, are markedly better than the Orioles. I don’t think they are, but inevitably, do. I think a couple teams of that, you know, from the White Sox on down to the Red Sox, let’s say do, a couple teams are going to catch fire and play better, right? Doesn’t mean they’ll win 95 but I don’t think, no, we’re not going to be talking about sub 500 wild cards. So, yeah, they’re going to have to start playing some better baseball at some point in time. And this, this weekend, was the latest example of they had a rare opportunity to play a team that is above 500 and you saw what happened. I mean, they lost a close game Friday night. Saturday was not close. I mean, just a listless performance. I mean, I had a wonderful day with my niece, and we can talk about that in a few moments. But the one thing that I kind of joked about with my sister and some other friends who kind of asked me how the day was, I said, Well, Scarlet got to see, kind of have a an authentic experience of what it’s been like to be an Orioles fan for the better part of four decades.

Nestor Aparicio  09:27

She saw Colton cows are driving run. She

Luke Jones  09:30

did, she did. She absolutely did so. But, and then Sunday, hey, they pitched well, right? I mean, and look, you know me, I’ve been harder on the hitting going back to last year, because the expectations have been higher on that side of the ball. You know, if we’re talking about that specific phase, you know, I didn’t expect the pitching to be great last year. I’ve been disappointed in the rotation. Let me be clear about that, not so much in terms of that they wouldn’t have some issues with the health problem. Films they’ve had, but we’ve talked about it. Bradish, until Friday night had been bad. Boz has been, you know, Boz, another very uninspiring effort on Saturday. Bassett, until Sunday, had not been, you know, yet, two of his last three outings have been pretty good. Other than that, he’s been bad. Let’s

Nestor Aparicio  10:15

talk about something, because I put some notes down about the basset thing and the Aiken thing and the opener thing and going lefty on lefty when his reverse splits aren’t great, he clearly knows how to warm up as a starter, because he was a starting pitcher. And then you look up and you know, bassett’s pitching in the seventh inning, which is, it feels like he went seven innings, even if he didn’t, you didn’t see the beginning of the game, and you didn’t get the first three outs of the game, or whatever it is. A really explain it to me, like you’re young and I’m old. Luke,

Luke Jones  10:54

well, so a lot of this really stems and, you know, openers are nothing new. We’ve seen that that’s been something that’s been in the game to some degree or another. Some teams using it more than others, probably, probably coming up on about 10 years since we started seeing this, at least in small doses, and it’s never even the teams that have done it with greater frequency. You’ve never seen it be an all year kind of thing, because I still think, practically speaking, it’s tough to do well, it also began as a bullpen game, right? Not as more or less, I mean, not exactly, though, because really, where this stems, it comes down to you have pitchers. You’re you’re not. You’re not doing this with an ace, right? You’re not doing this with a stud. You’re not doing this with someone that you would consider to be obviously an ace, or a great number two, or even a good number three. There’s a lot of this really stems from the principle a third time through the order penalty, and we’ve talked about that over the years, the idea that when typically when you look at numbers for starting pitchers, the more that the batters see them, the more success the batters ultimately have. Some people have opined, you know, whether fatigue can be a factor in there, it can be. But even when you look at pitch count, even even even when certain starters are moving right along third time through the order, even if their pitch count is very reasonable, they can run into problems. So the idea behind it, and, you know, you can have an opener that’s one inning. Sometimes you’ll see it with two, you know, if you get into more than that, that tends to be a little more, I don’t know if I’d say little more bullpen game like, but it’s a little little less than what the idea we’re talking about here is, it’s, it’s done with the thought that if the starting pitcher can avoid facing the top of the order a third time, you can hypothetically extend their outing out a little bit deeper into the game and kind of avoid the number one, number two, number three hitter, seeing the starter a third time, but, but then you face the rest of the order a third time. So that was kind of, you know that, and that’s a thumbnail. I’m not there’s, there’s some deeper game theory that you could really get into the weeds in but that’s kind of where it comes from. I do think there’s something to be said with certain pitchers. Maybe it’s just to change up routine a little bit. I think maybe there was some merit to that with Bassett. You know, it’s not as though Aiken goes out there and Bassett sitting on the bench and then, like, sprints out there and gets right. I mean, as the game starting, he’s already preparing and going through his free start routine, prepares,

Nestor Aparicio  13:34

like the game’s a 205 game instead of a 135

Luke Jones  13:36

Exactly. So, so that, I mean, that’s, that’s the, I mean, I hope I was clear.

Luke Jones  13:41

It’s a

Nestor Aparicio  13:41

weird thing to bet on, too. I won’t even take us down that lane, because that’s not our lane. But for sure, like, anytime you ever been in Vegas back in the day, just who the starting pitcher is matters to how you bet on it,

Luke Jones  13:55

right? And you get into interesting dynamics, like, for example, does it impact how the opposition stacks their lineup, right? I mean, in the case,

Luke Jones  14:05

at

Nestor Aparicio  14:05

what point do you declare it too? You know what? I mean, like 11 o’clock before 130 game 12 o’clock, when the lineup car comes out like that, that that, to me, feels like the home team gamesmanship, right? Bella, check, getting a defensive, you know, call onto the field, or in hockey, getting a line change, which, you know, any head coach would tell you that’s, it’s just huge that you match up.

Luke Jones  14:31

And, yeah, what’s really interesting, I mean, baseball, and this goes down to, I mean, even talking about things such as injury reports, right? I mean, baseball doesn’t really have anything of that ilk, right? I mean, you have, you have an injured list, right? I mean, someone can be placed on the injured list,

Nestor Aparicio  14:48

but what point does the manager, the A’s know? Well, that’s, that’s what’s gonna start the game under the guys that bass, it’s gonna pitch, and we think he’s gonna pitch. He might, second, might. Pitch a third like, so there it really is. I mean, this is Poker in a different kind of way that we’ve ever played it.

Luke Jones  15:07

And I think what’s interesting about it is, and I could be wrong on this, and if I am, then I will, you know, I’ll plead not knowing. And that’s on me. It’s always been more of a gentleman’s kind of thing in terms of, like, for example, we’ve seen it how many different times TBD, even, even the next day TBD, and sometimes they’ll even leave it TB TBD after that day’s game. But there was always kind of an expectation that you at least give a few hours notice, right? Like, like, you’re not, like there’s not gonna be it’s not like pro wrestling where, like the mystery opponent is and then the theme music hits, right? Like it’s not supposed to be that. That said, I don’t know if there’s any anything clear cut in the rule books that say you must declare your starting pitcher by four and a half hours prior to first pitch, right? And in this case, it’s not

Luke Jones  16:02

even

Nestor Aparicio  16:03

think if he’s got diarrhea 20 minutes before the game,

Luke Jones  16:07

well, and that’s the thing. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  16:08

he gets hurt warming up, right?

Luke Jones  16:10

We all remember, I mean, the last time Grayson Rodriguez was preparing to pitch for the Baltimore Orioles in a real game, he got scratched in Toronto because he wasn’t feeling right in the bullpen. So but, but, to go back to this specific example, they announced on their Orioles PR Twitter account at 1054 that Keegan Aiken was starting the game. It did not sit now. There was no announcement that Bassett was scratched. So,

Luke Jones  16:38

yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  16:38

it’s like he turned his ankle getting out of bed this morning or like something, right? Yeah.

Luke Jones  16:42

So I think I, the best way I can answer this is there’s gray area, and I will say this from having talked to a few people around the game, I think the Orioles are a team that we’ve talked about this, how they’ve been, you know, I’ve talked about it a lot, how I’ve seen the NFL style of reporting on injuries or not reporting on injuries, or being as vague as possible, compared to buck Showalter spelling it out for you 15 years ago, I’ve seen that culture trickle into the Orioles at the very least, and other teams. I don’t cover other teams, right, so I don’t follow it as intimately. Again, baseball doesn’t have a formal injury report if a player’s day to day, there’s no such thing as they’re probable for for the next day’s game, right? I mean, it’s you’re at the mercy of what they tell you or what they don’t tell you, but it’s definitely been more of that, and I know from having talked to people that there are teams around the league that have noticed that the Orioles can be a little more secretive about it. And by the way, I’m not saying they’re the only team that does that. I think, I think that goes on more as time goes on, because every team is desperate to try to find whatever perceived, whether it’s legit or not, but perceived edge from a competitive standpoint that they can find. So it is interesting in that way. And you know, Sunday was an interesting example of you do that. Now, here’s the problem. You know, you can talk about all these things in a vacuum, and you can say, Okay, well, akin is going to throw one inning. What happens when Aiken gets completely lit up and bassett’s not ready to enter the game? You don’t really want him to enter the game. If the bases are loaded and they’re two outs, and Aiken’s already thrown 36 pitches, and you need to pull him so guess what happens? You got to go to another reliever who can warm up quickly, and then all of a sudden, you’ve already burned two relievers, and you have no idea what your bulk starting pitcher, but bulk pitcher is going to be that day. So point is, these are, this is one of those pieces of strategy that I absolutely see the merit of it in a vacuum and on paper. But if you’re in a position, especially like the Orioles are right now, where you don’t have off days, and they have one this week, obviously, finally, but you’ve been in the midst of a stretch where you don’t have many off or any off days, and you do this, but then your opener gets shellacked, and then you have to bring someone else in, and then your ball pitcher comes in and, well, just like any starting pitcher, he could have a bad day, and he gets knocked out.

Nestor Aparicio  19:17

Well, he’s already coming in a game, three or four down. If bad things happen.

Luke Jones  19:21

There’s

Luke Jones  19:21

that, or you’re in a position where you’ve already burned through three or four pitches and, oh yeah, it’s only the fourth inning, and you still have, I don’t know, 16 outs to get or something like that. Like you can really wreck your your bullpen and your pitching staff if you go to that well too often. So again, there’s a purpose to it. I think teams, you know, six or seven years ago, I think there was a thought amongst some baseball intellects that maybe that’s something that would become much more commonplace. And I think it’s something that’s, you know, situational. I think sometimes there’s some merit to it. If. Have some lesser starters that are filling in, you know, because you’ve had some injuries to your starting rotation. I mean, look at the Tigers. The Tigers, when they had their unexpected run a couple years ago, they were running multiple openers and playoff games, if you remember, so well

Nestor Aparicio  20:16

worked out perfectly for them Sunday, no matter what Bassett out there, pitching in the seventh inning and a winnable game.

Luke Jones  20:24

Sometimes, I mean, sometimes it can be as simple as, you know, let’s give someone a different look, you know, like, let’s just change it up. Give someone something, you know, in the same way that you shake up the batting order, or, you know, whatever it might be that you just say, let’s, we’re going to try something different here. And sometimes it’s as simple as the way a team stacks their lineup. The top hitter, let’s say the number one and the number three hitter in that order has monster career numbers against them. Well, we’re going to try to avoid them the first time through the order, right? The opener is going to throw against those guys, and we’ll try to avoid that third time through the order for the bulk pitcher, until the seventh inning, if it comes up that way, if you’re, if you’re pitching well enough to avoid it. So, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s one of those things, again, it’s not new openers kind of started to become a thing that was, you know, Tampa Bay was a team that did it early on, some other other teams that were considered a more, a little more ahead of the game analytically, started doing that, and, you know, that’s been 10 years. I mean, I give or take, it might be a little long or might be a little less, but it’s not a brand new idea. It hasn’t taken off in mass. Because, like I said, I think it’s one of those things that looks great in a vacuum, in the same way that managing a bullpen and say, I’m not going to have guys in any specific role, I’m going to manage by whatever the leverage of that game is. And you can do that, and frankly, should do that in the postseason setting, when it’s a full blown sprint, but to try to do that over a 162 game marathon, that’s when it tends to be really tough to manage a bullpen that way. So these are game theory ideas. It’s interesting. It worked out on Sunday. I don’t think that necessarily means that Bassett is going to have an opener moving forward, or maybe they’ll try that for the time being. I don’t know so, but Aiken did a nice job, and Bassett came in, and I thought he was good the first game of the doubleheader a couple weeks ago. Now, at this point, I thought that was a really good start, and this wasn’t a start, but it was a bulk outing. I guess you would call it long relief, however you want to categorize it, he pitched well. So you know, really, I mean to me, Bassett and Bradish were the highlights of the weekend, and what was an otherwise disappointing losing two out of three series loss and a team that now is bracing to have the Yankees come in ready or not, a Yankees team that’s probably going to be in a foul mood after getting swept over the weekend.

Nestor Aparicio  22:43

Kevin Brown referred to the athletics as nomadic. I thought that that was kind of good. Yeah, nomadic is so All right. So you got anything you want to say about the Yankees before we get to your niece? Because I do want to, like, this is the best part of the whole weekend for me.

Luke Jones  23:00

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we’ll see you. Look at who they’re going to face. I mean, there are no breaks in the Yankees rotation. I mean, rodone came back on Carlos. Rodone came back on Sunday, and they’re going to miss him, but they’re not going to face Garrett Cole I mean, they’re going to face weathers on Monday. You know, lefty, another lefty. They’re oh and nine against left handed starters this year they after they lost on Friday night. So the Orioles have to solve that. They’re going to face will Warren, who has been really good, and they’re going to face Max fried again on Wednesday. So, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  23:33

where’s Zach Rogers appear in all this?

Luke Jones  23:35

Trevor Rogers,

Nestor Aparicio  23:36

what am I sorry about that? Trevor Rogers, sorry,

Luke Jones  23:39

yeah, yeah. Well, Brandon Young’s gonna start on

Luke Jones  23:42

why

Nestor Aparicio  23:42

did I say Zach? I’m just now. Who is Zach Rogers? Go ahead. Yeah, I don’t know. I do that

Luke Jones  23:47

too,

Nestor Aparicio  23:48

Buck Rogers. I know Steve Rogers was a hell of a pitcher for the funniest

Luke Jones  23:52

thing. I don’t know if I told this any

Nestor Aparicio  23:54

Rogers was the gambler.

Luke Jones  23:56

I told this to someone recently. You know, Fernando Mendoza, the number one overall pick, you would not believe how many times I’ve talked just I’m talking sports privately with a friend or something like that. How many times I have called him Romero Mendoza, the old pitcher, right?

Luke Jones  24:13

Better than

Nestor Aparicio  24:14

Jessica,

Luke Jones  24:15

exactly, very true,

Nestor Aparicio  24:17

or Mario,

Luke Jones  24:18

but, but, I mean, look, this is an Orioles team that needs to figure out ways to win ball games and get themselves back to the right side of 500 is that going to happen? Well, I mean, they can’t. They obviously can’t do it in one series, but you need to start winning series, and you need to start stacking some success. I mean, another disappointment, where they won two in Miami. Then they lose the finale, which we talked about that already, and then they lost the first two against the A’s. I mean, it’s you win two in a row, and then you lose three, and then you’re you’re worse off than you were to begin with. I mean, it’s just they have not been able to stack any momentum. The offense is, was not good enough over the weekend. That’s clear. Boz was not good enough on Saturday. I’m not going to let him off the hook. But they pitched well enough on Friday, and obviously they pitched well enough and they won on Sunday. Pitched great on Sunday, but

Nestor Aparicio  25:12

still had terrible situational hitting him. One

Luke Jones  25:14

Sure. I mean, they had, yeah, of course. I mean, they had their chance to add on in the sixth

Nestor Aparicio  25:18

and still kick the ball around in one

Luke Jones  25:20

Sure. Well, I mean, that’s the point I want to make before we get to the fun stuff with you know, my family trip on Saturday to the ballpark, this had nothing to do with the Major League club, but it does, because I assume he’s going to be back soon. Why are they dabbling with Jackson holiday playing third base. What are we doing here? I mean, I’m trying to give this organization the benefit of the doubt. I really am. And I mean, you and I debated a lot last year as far as whether michaelias And this front office should continue on or not. We talked a lot about the lack of leadership exhibited, not lack of zero leadership exhibited when they fired Brandon Hyde. So we talked about all that disgraceful

Nestor Aparicio  26:09

to fire your manager on a break this morning Milwaukee for three and a half days. You know, I don’t

Luke Jones  26:14

want to get that is a

Nestor Aparicio  26:15

fireable offense.

Luke Jones  26:17

Yes, very poor form. I don’t think there’s any way to justify it. I low

Nestor Aparicio  26:21

rent, low class. Bush league understood the things that Don Roback and Mark

Luke Jones  26:26

fine, right? Just trying to acknowledge that. But I also, we also debated plenty in terms of where they were from a baseball standpoint, the injuries, where they are, with development, with certain guys, all that. And we talked I was okay with I supported the idea of giving my Goliaths another offseason. But when I see something like this, it may it makes me lose whatever confidence I have in the direction and the wherewithal and the vision of the organization that you have someone who has not yet mastered second base at the major league level, and that is a position that is still relatively new to Jackson holiday to the point where a couple years ago, we asked the question, why didn’t he play more second base, when it was becoming apparent that the plan was to keep gunner Henderson at shortstop, right? So you have that factor. You have what’s been a very bumpy rehab from broken ham eight surgery that he’s, you know, still, I mean, he’s playing minor league games again, great. It sounds like he feels better. It feels like maybe he’s getting past, you know, kind of getting to that turning point as far as not feeling the hand and all that. So you have those factors, and I get it, and I’ve had some people push back and say, well, Kobe Mayo doesn’t that’s a false choice. It’s not Kobe mayo or Jackson holiday at third base. There are, there are alternatives to that, like go out and acquire even a replacement level third baseman to play, right? I mean, someone that’s like Ramon Arias, you know? I mean, you’re not gonna have to trade your whole farm system. Point is, I see something like that, and it makes me feel like you’re just throwing ish at the wall and hoping it sticks and it doesn’t it. It further diminishes my level of confidence that this organization really knows what it’s doing and has the kind of vision that they know how to maximize whatever this is at this point in time. By

Nestor Aparicio  28:29

the way, for kid being one, one, the only time he ever really hit the ball was when his father got involved. And

Luke Jones  28:35

that’s and look, I mean, and this isn’t me even like it’s not about coddling Jackson holiday, but this goes back to what I talk about with this defense. Like, so we’re going to put another guy out of position, and we think that’s going to fix the problem here. Like, what are we trying to do with all this versatility, if no one can play any of these positions to any strong level of aptitude, right? I mean, strong level of performance, I look at that and I say, I mean, if we’re going to do that, I’d be much more inclined to say, move gunner Henderson to third base, where I think that might be his optimal position, all things being equal, put in a vacuum, not knowing who would replace him at shortstop, but just what might be his very best position defensively. Because I thought gunner played a heck of a third base and remember the reason he was kind of moved to short was Jorge Mateo’s bat falling off a cliff a couple years ago. But if we’re going to start changing and moving things around, why not try that and put Jackson holiday at short? Now, one of the reasons Jackson holiday was moved off shortstop isn’t just gunner Henderson. It’s also a lot of questions about his arm. So he he’s showed, I think, an adequate arm to play a solid second base, whether he’s played a really strong second base or not. I think that’s, you know, I would say not to this point in his career. But again, it’s a newer position for him, so now we’re going to move him. Back over to third base, a position where he has next to no experience, and there’s going to be questions about his arm at third base too, and that’s going to solve the problem here. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not this isn’t me about wanting to bury Jeremiah Jackson, but are we really going to do this to accommodate Jeremiah Jackson remaining at second base? Have we seen how Jeremiah Jackson swung the bat the last couple of weeks? And go look at how many walks he has for the season. I just look at this and say, like, what are we doing here? Like, is the idea that we, you know, we’re so smart that we can just put anyone at any given position, and it doesn’t really matter. I mean, I don’t know. Man, I just, I look at that, and I have even less confidence that the leadership of this organization really knows how to maximize this and get this thing back on track. I will

Nestor Aparicio  30:50

fire Elias on Thursday if they get swept again, right? I just look at

Luke Jones  30:54

this, and I’m like, so okay, I fully understand Kobe mayo. I’ve said it too. I would, he would be in the minor leagues right now, if I were the guy,

Nestor Aparicio  31:02

every part of this feels desperate, right? Like, I mean, that’s just all of this feels a little desperate.

Luke Jones  31:08

I mean, like, are we really solving a problem by doing that? And then we’re gonna potentially mess up Jackson holiday even more from a defensive standpoint. Now, you give him something else that’s gonna weigh on his mind, and you know, we’re already wondering if he’s gonna be healthy. We’re already wondering if he’s gonna fulfill his if he’s going to fulfill his promise with the bat as a one, one, and now you’re throwing them at another position. I hate it. I hate it. I really hate it. And it again, it makes me question whether this organization really, truly knows what it’s doing to the degree that it needs to to right the ship. Right? I’m not saying that I know more than them, but I do question How wise, how smart this is, because I just, how are you going to solve a problem by then potentially creating another problem? Now, with another guy that’s supposed to be one of your most important pieces moving forward, i How

Nestor Aparicio  31:58

can he possibly be a great third baseman

Luke Jones  32:00

by

Luke Jones  32:00

July. I don’t if you had questions about his arm, even at second base, which, frankly, I had quest some questions about his arm at second base, not that, not that it’s a disqualifier. Let’s be clear. But he doesn’t have the strongest arm like I’ll give you a perfect example. I don’t think Jackson holiday has near the arm that Jonathan scope had for a second baseman. If you remember scope man Hardy and him turning a double play that relay. I mean, he would just throw it an absolute seed to first base and double up guys that you thought had got no chance.

Nestor Aparicio  32:30

Leota Tavares threw a seed from the outfield the other I mean, they’re guys with an arm, you see it? And I think when it’s in play, Machado, you know what? I mean, it’s amazing, right?

Luke Jones  32:40

And holiday doesn’t have a plus, plus arm. I think his arm’s good enough for second base. I don’t know if His arm’s good enough for third base. So while we’re trying to solve a third base problem, are we just going to create another problem in a in a big picture sense, with him, just because we’re going to accommodate Jeremiah Jackson to stick it second I mean, I don’t know, man, like, it’s just, I see something like that. And again, it makes me question if these if, if this organization’s as smart as we all thought it was a couple years ago. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  33:12

well, they think they’re cute, they think they’re real smart. They would just, they’re that they can coach anybody up and put anybody anywhere out on the field. The

Luke Jones  33:20

results specifically suggest otherwise, right? I mean, you’re talking about one of the worst defenses in baseball. I mean, look, you can sell me on this offense being better. And we talked about until this weekend, the offense had been better the last two or three weeks compared to how they were earlier in the year. You can even sell me on Bradish being better and Bassett being better and Boz being better and Rogers coming back, like you can sell me on that back, back of the very back of the rotation depth, you know, until Kramer’s back and healthy, yeah, that’s, you know, we’ll see bullpen, until they have Helsley back, we’ll see. But you’re not going to sell me on this defense getting much better. I I think it needs to at least find a way to be incrementally better, but it’s going to be a below average unit. I just we have so much of a body of work,

Nestor Aparicio  34:09

by the way, Ben McDonald’s pimping, Pete Alonso is a Gold Glove guy,

Luke Jones  34:13

wow. I will say this. I’m glad you brought that up for as much as Pete Alonso hasn’t necessarily wowed with the bat to the degree that we were hoping he would from Jump Street. He has been very good defensively and better, like the defensive metrics, you know, even like the nerdy fielding stats that sometimes you trust and other times you say, I don’t know if that matches the

Nestor Aparicio  34:35

stepping and throwing double play ball. He’s been

Luke Jones  34:39

a very good first baseman, so I will say that, but I mean, who else is a plus defender on this team? So again, I don’t understand, with all that being said and everything that Jackson holiday has been through this spring, we’re really going to start doing this. And who knows, I’ll give them some small benefit of the day. Out. Maybe he started on Sunday. They didn’t like how it looked, and that’s it. Maybe, maybe he doesn’t play another game at third base. But I just see this, and I’m just like, we doing here? Like, really, what are we doing here? And it’s not, this isn’t Kobe mayo or Jack. No one is saying they have to move Jackson holiday to third base. Like, there are other alternative, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  35:22

Mayo needs to figure out how to be a big league player, because

Luke Jones  35:24

he’s

Luke Jones  35:25

right now, I don’t disagree. I mean, I’m not gonna sit here and, you know, I mean, Kobe mayo, I saw it. Remember, he had the stretch where he humored in three straight games, you know, going back to that Kansas City series, since then, four for 35 with 14 strikeouts.

Nestor Aparicio  35:41

And he’s chased foul balls, fair kickballs around, thrown balls away.

Luke Jones  35:46

I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  35:47

even just no

Luke Jones  35:48

for me. I don’t even have the energy to tear the kid down at this point. You just watch it and you see it and and that doesn’t mean he’s never going to become a major league caliber player. But if this team is truly trying to win right now, you’ve got to do better than that. And maybe, and maybe, that’s maybe they’re saying, Well, the best way we think that might be is maybe to do a Jackson holiday. I I don’t like it. I just don’t there’s got to be another way go out and find what I’ll go back to what I said a few days ago. I’d rather see Blaze Alexander just play third base every day than move Jackson holiday from second to third base, or Jeremiah Jackson and blaze battle it out at third the

Nestor Aparicio  36:38

best guy to play third base is with third baseman.

Luke Jones  36:41

Well, the best guy to play third base is Jordan westburg, and he’s not come if he’s coming back, it’s not as a third baseman, right? I mean, I, I’m bracing more and more that we’re going to hear an announcement about him having surgery, then some idea that he’s going to be available at third base at any point here in 2026 I don’t know that. I’m just, I mean, if he shut down a couple months after he had the PRP. What does that tell you? I mean, we saw what happened with Kyle Bradish, right? PRP pitched for six weeks. Even pitched really well for six weeks, and then he started peeling the elbow again, and it was time, right? So I don’t know. I just I hope we see a much more representative effort, a much more major league contender, quality effort against the New York Yankees over the next three days, to sit here and say I have any strong conviction about that, other than just it’s baseball, and they are playing at home this time, and the Yankees have lost three straight, but I’ve watched the same series everyone did else did last weekend in the Bronx. It was really, really ugly. So I’m hoping, you know, if you can find a way to win two out of three, then great, then good, that’s, that’s a chance, then to build and build some momentum as you go back out on the road. But you look at this stretch and it’s, you know, it’s not just the Yankees, but okay, they go to DC, but where did they go after that? They go to Tampa for three, and the rays are playing excellent baseball. So the stretches, we keep saying it, you know, they the stretch

Nestor Aparicio  38:12

is stretch.

Luke Jones  38:13

I mean, you know, don’t completely but 500

Luke Jones  38:17

I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  38:17

lose two out of three against Miami, win two out of three against Oakland, Sacramento, Las Vegas, whatever they are at this point, treading water is not going to get it done. But if this is what you’re doing, holding off, waiting for Jackson holiday to get here, waiting to get Trevor Rogers back into turn, waiting to see Bradish. Look right, waiting to see Bassett, look right. I They don’t have much else to do waiting for Henderson and Alonso to hit the ball and come out of the funk, right?

Luke Jones  38:48

Be those guys. Yeah. I mean, go look at Norfolk’s roster right now. I mean, there’s not much there that you can point to. A couple of the pitchers, three

Nestor Aparicio  38:57

of their opening day starters, have been starting here and being counted on in Bovis young and Jay Gibson pitching

Luke Jones  39:03

out of the bullpen the other night. So

Nestor Aparicio  39:05

I was going on with Scarlet. Give me the story I sent you guys and the ballpark. First off, did you get a Tupac bobblehead Friday? I

Luke Jones  39:14

did get one.

Nestor Aparicio  39:14

Oh, good for you. Did

Luke Jones  39:16

you

Luke Jones  39:16

see Did you see eBay on Friday night? It was 200 bucks. I mean, they’re most of them were 100 150, 200 I saw this. And, I mean, I lost it. Someone listed a Tupac bobblehead for $11,000 and I’m just like, what are we doing here? I mean, does someone think that do know the autograph on it’s fake, right? Or we do know that tupac’s ashes are not in the bobblehead, right? I mean, like, we’re not, like, but I, but, yes, I did get that, but Saturday, so I picked, picked her up from my mom’s house. My sister, my brother in law, were actually out. She’s four. By the way, she will be five in a week and a half. Oh, she’s also.

Luke Jones  40:00

Can

Luke Jones  40:00

basically say she’s five, but she stayed at my mom’s because my sister and my brother in law were at a wedding. I picked her up. I had been teasing the surprise for a couple weeks. The only time she has ever been a passenger in my car has been a couple beach trips. So the first guest that she had middle of last week, I think I shared this with you, she thought Uncle Luke was taking her to the beach. No, of course not. But I hear that. I’m like, Oh man, if she’s thinking we’re going to the beach, a baseball game might be pretty underwhelming. So her next guest, which I found this out Friday night talking to my mom that so it’s funny, she knows I work in sports, but she knows Uncle Luke has lots of other interests, and she sees the uncle who just plays different games with her. And you know, we play baseball in the backyard, but we also play all kinds of different other games, blocks and puzzles, and we read books, and we go to church together, and all those types of things. But one thing that we both enjoy is licorice. We both like the Twizzler pull and peels, you know, the stringy kind Sheet, Sheet said to my mom on Friday, I think she actually said this to my brother. She thought we were going to a licorice factory again, once again. I’m thinking

Nestor Aparicio  41:19

now you got to do that. I gotta find you at least

Luke Jones  41:21

factory. So, but, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  41:23

anybody has a licorice factory, right to me,

Luke Jones  41:26

probably, I mean, Hershey, I guess, right,

Nestor Aparicio  41:30

they make it somewhere, yeah, to be a Willy Wonka.

Luke Jones  41:33

So anyway, like, you know, we, we tell her that we’re going once we met, you know, we met my sister, my brother in law at the park and ride. We got down to the ballpark. I worked pre game, but before I went in, just to go do clubhouse and all that. And they went and had lunch, and I met them after but before that, I had put together. My mom helped me out with this shout out to her Happy Mother’s Day. She helped me out with this as well, but I put together a full blown gift bag of Orioles, like soft baseballs, you know, that were age appropriate. She had, like a little bird doll. I saw a stuffed Oriole bird, you know, stuffed animal Oriole bird, an Orioles bank. They gave away on kids opening day. They gave away. They had blank pennants where, like the fabric is, you could color on it. So I got one of those as a giveaway that I held on to an Orioles water bottle. So basically a swag bag that you would give someone that you Hey, first game like. So we did that.

Nestor Aparicio  42:29

Probably can’t panel cap. I

Luke Jones  42:31

saw that, yep, white panel cap filter, perfect, you know, did that and, you know, so. But we, we did the game. Got her, you know, popcorn, hot dog. She got a proper soft ice cream and an Orioles helmet. I mean, everyone’s got to have that, right when you’re a kid. Did so did all that. Went to the team store. She picked out something, but it was kind of big to carry around. So I said, Scarlet, Uncle Luke will be back at the ballpark three more times this week. I will pick it up and I’ll give it to you later this week. So she was cool with that, but it got to be so it got to be around the fifth inning. At this point, the Orioles were down. What four? Nothing, five, nothing at that point. And she was, she was a trooper. She did not complain. Once. She asked for snacks. She asked for water at one point, which, at that point, I was parched. Tonight, I got the water as well. But she did not complain or say she was bored or anything like that. She was great. She was a total rock star for a five year old, not quite five year old, but anyway, got to be about the fifth or sixth inning. And we all kind of said, Let’s walk around. You know, we we had walked around a lot during the game. We saw the statues be up beyond left center. We did some your

Nestor Aparicio  43:42

sister sent me a picture her with the Cal Ripken eight out on the prom.

Luke Jones  43:46

Oh, yeah, absolutely. But we did all that, all those different things before the game and, you know, pregame and all that. So we walked out to Utah Street, and we walked behind the scoreboard where the Orioles Hall of Fame plaques are. So we were kind of going through it. And I pointed out, I pointed out all the ones that I had covered, you know. So, hey, there’s JJ Hardy, I covered him. There’s Nick Marco’s. I covered him Scarlet. There’s Adam Jones. We have the same last name, and Adam was one of my favorites that I covered Adam. And I keep in touch a little bit here and there, you know, I’ve seen him a couple times all that. We’re Facebook friends, whatever. So I was, I was going on and on for like, two or three minutes about Adam Jones. I said he was a really good player, and he cares about Baltimore and all. And I said he was here last night. I didn’t get to see him, you know, because I had seen he. He was in one of the suites Friday night. So right after that, literally wasn’t even five minutes after that, we walk around to the other, to the front of the scoreboard, behind the bleachers, that little area where, you know, they kind of have, like a party area there. Now, I kid you not, I look over actually, I think my sister noticed him first. We both looked at each other the same time. It’s Adam Jones so and my my niece is very shy around people. She. Doesn’t know, like, it’s something that, you know, she, she’ll, she’ll be fine. But so she was really scared, like, to, you know, to, you know, he said, Hi, but it was neat. I got to introduce him to my sister, who had never met him. My brother in law had never met him. And, you know, we didn’t. He was starting up. People were starting to notice he was there, right? But it was one of those things that I joked with my sister and my brother in law, and said, Man, I could have planned out something to seem like I’m like, this hot shot. Like, No, I like, I couldn’t have planned that better if I tried it that I literally was just talking about it. But then it’s like, oh yeah, there he is, right there. What’s up? Adam, you know, like, shake hands, give each other a quick pro hug, whatever it was, just one of those things that was just really, really funny, and, you know, like, I wish, in hindsight, because she’s so shy, maybe if I had held her and Adam would have taken a picture with us, no problem. But we didn’t do it. But we just talked to him for a couple minutes. I didn’t want to bug him. I mean, he’s, you know, having a good time and working he’s a special ambassador to the ambassador. He was taking pictures with just average Joe fans, like he wasn’t in a suite or anything, but so, but it was just, it was so full.

Luke Jones  46:10

It’s

Nestor Aparicio  46:11

always been that way, though. So that’s not, doesn’t shock Absolutely.

Luke Jones  46:14

I mean it, but it was cool. I mean, and I, I saw Adam the night of his Oriole Hall of Fame induction. What was that? Last year? I guess it was. I was. I hadn’t really talked to him much since then, but I

Nestor Aparicio  46:25

saw him last year that week, because he did the morning connects event with Mike Tish, but I did Hunt Valley. I

Luke Jones  46:31

just thought it was so funny, because I was just going on and on to Scarlett about him, and sure enough, he’s three minutes later, as I said, I could have tried. I couldn’t have planned that like a more elaborate plan work out more perfectly than that did. So it was fun, you know, we, she, it was funny. We, we ended up we hung around to hear the beginning of the Nellie concert because the idea was, if you leave, just like all the people who aren’t staying for the concert at all, you’re going to be stuck sitting in traffic getting out of the parking lot, and if you wait till it was over, because I’d say at least a good, easily, 15,000 people, I think, stayed for the concert. You know, it the crowd wasn’t quite as big on Saturday as it was on Friday, but it’s good crowd both nights. That’s why it’s disappointing. They lost both games. I mean, they had 39,000 on Friday night, and they had, I think it was 30, just under 31 on Saturday. But, you know, we did the we heard a few songs, and then we said, All right, let’s go now. We’re not going to hit any traffic. Parking Lot was, you know, we zoomed right out, and we’re on our way. And it was funny as we got in the car, like, Oh, you’re tired, Scarlet, you’re gonna fall asleep on the way home, she’s like, No, I’m not. I said I would bet money, right? I would bet you money for your piggy bank right now that you’ll fall asleep. So she made it to the JFX, and I think she was out by about Cold Spring. I

Nestor Aparicio  47:53

offered her Koco’s crab cake. Testimony,

Luke Jones  47:56

it was just, it was a long day. I mean, full disclosure, we all were tired. I mean, but it was a great day. I

Nestor Aparicio  48:02

think Pete and the Costas folks would have mixed up a little peanut butter and jelly, you know,

Luke Jones  48:06

definitely do a rain rain check. I mean, I love going to cost us, as you know, but everything, other than the performance of the baseball team, it was fun. She definitely, I think she’ll, she’ll want to go again. So what? Cotton candy? Cotton candy was the one thing we didn’t get. We had had so many sweets, it was just like, All right, that’s it’s a bit too

Luke Jones  48:27

low.

Nestor Aparicio  48:28

But you promised, Uncle Luke promised cotton candy.

Luke Jones  48:31

What was funny I told you about the licorice factory thing? Well, guess what? Uncle Luke had to stop and and buy on the way to the ballpark. We had to get some licorice to have a proper snack. But that we brought into

Luke Jones  48:41

this

Nestor Aparicio  48:42

is the red stuff right now, like the black stuff?

Luke Jones  48:44

Oh no, no, black licorice. My grandfather, God, rest his soul. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  48:49

my father loved it. My wife’s father loves

Luke Jones  48:52

this disgusting

Nestor Aparicio  48:53

both of our fathers love black licorice. That’s not my thing at all.

Luke Jones  48:57

Yeah,

Luke Jones  48:57

my aunt likes it. My mom does not like black licorice. So, yeah, I don’t know people who like it, love it, but that’s not

Nestor Aparicio  49:04

I like that. Can’t that? That the candy kitchen shoestring? Yeah, really, really thin, you know, like down at the boardwalk,

Luke Jones  49:12

see the pull and peel is kind of like that. It comes like, like, it’s like, strands of a rope, but you can, you know, you pull it apart so you end up having, like, you

Nestor Aparicio  49:20

reminded me of the boardwalk down in Ocean City, Maryland, where I’m going to be soon enough as the good weather comes in. Luke’s going to be down at the ballpark. The Yankees are in town. We are going to be down at faidley’s on Wednesday doing the crab derby. Ivan Bates is going to join us, and Megan McCorkle is going to be there. I think Luke’s going to stop by. Word is my dude, Jason seimer is going to come by. I don’t know where in the world he’s been lately. He’s been in like Borneo and like places that I need to Google Maps. So he’s going to stop by. And of course, they’re opening the fishmonger’s daughter, it is open now in Catonsville. We will be there next Thursday, doing the Maryland crab cake tours presented by our friends at GBMC, as well as Farnan and. Irmer, who joined us at Planet Fitness last week. I had April on in May. Luke, you missed that man. Viviano came by. We did like, an hour and a half. He wouldn’t leave. He just kept talking. We did an hour and 19 minute segment. Dude,

Luke Jones  50:16

well, think about he’s retired, so he doesn’t get to do the sports talk to the degree that he did. He did. He

Nestor Aparicio  50:20

didn’t want to do sports talk. We were talking about Little League.

Luke Jones  50:23

Oh, well, but still it.

Nestor Aparicio  50:25

First thing he said to me is, I’m not really up on the team, so we couldn’t do sports

Luke Jones  50:29

talk. Him. That’s

Nestor Aparicio  50:30

what, right? That’s what I told him.

Luke Jones  50:32

Well, and this also goes back to what we said the Orioles put the record aside, it’s just not a very enjoyable product, but he’s busy and he’s he’s coached for a few years now, but now

Nestor Aparicio  50:44

you’re old and the 10 year old, I mean, it’s crazy, Saint,

Luke Jones  50:46

I’ll get out. You did not know this, and I don’t think I’ve told any like, I haven’t told anyone this, other than just my immediate family. So a couple years ago, Scarlett didn’t have a proper baseball mitt. Viv, one of his boys is a lefty. My Scarlett’s lefty. Actually, he gifted that. He

Nestor Aparicio  51:06

handed it down to you,

Luke Jones  51:08

yeah, and, like, the only thing he said was, pay it forward when she outgrows it, or if Evelyn outgrows it, you know, to hand it on to someone else. But wow, viv’s Good man, you know, he and I, we probably talk about our faith as much as we’ve talked about baseball over the years. But it doesn’t surprise me, though, to hear that you had a nice, long conversation like that, and I’ll have to check that out for sure. Viviano’s decency comes through before we even started. He had me laughing because well as a side story, five minutes after he walked in, a guy came up to me at Planet Fitness and tears in his eyes. Lost his father. Five days earlier,

Nestor Aparicio  51:51

I went to high school with his father, and he knew that, and his father was a fan of mine. He’s getting broken up. He had to he’s in the midst of getting a heart transplant is young man named Ryan. So, like, I kind of, like, needed, it got real dusty in Planet Fitness all sudden. So, like, I had to, like, and vivs, like, Oh my God. Like, April heard too. And vivs like, Does that happen to you a lot? I’m like, I don’t know. It’s kind of like the guy that came up to us at the ballpark last week that was like, Adam Jones for you, like, if I was just trying to a guy came up to you and me and said the nicest things to us last week.

Luke Jones  52:29

So

Nestor Aparicio  52:29

people come up. So I was a little bit of a mess, and I was trying to get, like, organized, because I had VIV there and whatever. And I sat down, and VIV was, like, trying to make me laugh before I started the show. So, like, I began the whole show and sort of this wacky, irreverent mode with VIV and it went downhill from there. So if any of you want to see it, it’s, it’s up at Baltimore positive and at YouTube, we talked about, like, everything you talked about media, we talked about kids, we talked about Little League. Talked about stay in the world. We talked about sports. We talked about John horrible we talked about everything, yeah,

Luke Jones  53:08

and, I mean, you think about it, you and I don’t get this deep that often, but I mean the sense of community. I mean the biggest thing that when we’re walking in the ballpark on Saturday, I was thinking about my dad, and, like, in a happy way, right, thinking like, Man, this is cool. Like, you know, we’re taking my niece to her first Orioles game. And I was thinking back to 33rd Street, my dad being an usher and all that. Like, you know, like, it was cool. Like, and I said at one point later in the day, I said it to my sister, I’m like, Dad would be really, really happy about this. And you know, I knew my mom was too, but well,

Nestor Aparicio  53:41

you joined us Friday

Luke Jones  53:43

with Dick Girardi and Mike Marlowe, who were my first guys from four years ago, and all three of us talked about that time you walk into the ballpark and the portal doors, as you get you get closer up and you’re little, and all that green grass comes so, so We, we we walked perfect. We walked around the ballpark for a while. But I wanted, I wanted her to see the standing room on top of the out of town scoreboard, and right. So that was her, there was an opening, but I lifted her up, and I, you could, kind of like, she didn’t gasp. I don’t want to make it too dramatic, but she’s like, that’s really green, you know, like, and, you know, I mean, like, look, we’re we live up here in southern Penn,

Nestor Aparicio  54:23

real in a ring, Luke, you’re real.

Luke Jones  54:25

So, like,

Luke Jones  54:25

I don’t want to make it seem like she’s never seen wide open grass before. I mean, the kid’s

Nestor Aparicio  54:30

never gonna touch a lacrosse stick in southern pub.

Luke Jones  54:32

It was pretty cool. And, you know, again, I definitely saw Dad, my grandparents. It was cool. Kid’s got a

Luke Jones  54:39

glove.

Luke Jones  54:39

She’s gonna play softball. My heart was full, other than looking at the final score, but that’s in

Nestor Aparicio  54:45

your pockets were empty because you spent your

Luke Jones  54:47

money again.

Luke Jones  54:47

That is true.

Nestor Aparicio  54:48

He is Luke. I am Nestor. We are I think we’re supporting the Orioles. I’m wearing my orange. It’s Zach Dermer. Will end up giving me the. Yes, I feel like I’m going to be eating poi with Fred Flintstone and Maui or Kawhi or something. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.