We’ve seen better baseball from the Baltimore Orioles over the past two weeks and after a 7-3 homestand with some walkoffs and walkovers, Luke Jones and Nestor give the Birds a June “reset” as they head to Fenway Park and then to Skydome in Toronto to tackle more of the AL East, where they hope to make up ground as a sub .500 squad thus far.

Overview

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, highlighting their 7-3 home stand, including three walk-off wins. They noted the team’s resilience and the importance of key players like Bisayo, Cowser, and Alonzo. Despite being 4 games under 500, they expressed cautious optimism, emphasizing the need for sustained improvement. They also touched on the potential impact of an upcoming MLB work stoppage on team strategy and fan engagement. The conversation concluded with a preview of the Orioles’ upcoming series against the Red Sox, stressing the importance of winning series to maintain momentum.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Sorrento of Arbutus on the 10th (promote the appearance and coordinate logistics for the show appearance)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Contact Justin and the Planet Fitness Randallstown location to discuss free summer memberships for high school kids and coordinate promotional plans before the summer ends
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Continue mentioning and promoting the 92-win prediction in each future segment as a recurring talking point

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Sponsors

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, mentioning upcoming events at Sorrento of Arbutus on June 10.
• Sponsors mentioned include the Maryland Lottery, GBMC, Farn and Dermer, and Planet Fitness.
• Nestor highlights the importance of community engagement and the positive impact of sponsors like GBMC and Farn and Dermer.
• Nestor shares a personal story about a longtime WNST listener and GBMC engineer, emphasizing the importance of community support.

Orioles’ Recent Performance and Resilience

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ recent performance, noting their resilience with three walk-off wins.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of winning games in various ways, including blowouts and walk-off wins.
• Nestor expresses hope for the team, mentioning players like Alonzo, Henderson, and Ruchman, and their potential to perform better.
• Both Nestor and Luke acknowledge the team’s inconsistency but remain optimistic about their recent positive streak.

Challenges and Opportunities for the Orioles

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ current standing, noting they are four games under 500.
• Nestor expresses hope that the team can still make the season relevant, despite the challenges.
• Luke highlights the need for the team to sustain winning baseball and play like a playoff-caliber team.
• Both discuss the importance of the bullpen and the need for better starting pitching to support the team’s success.

Player Performance and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss the performance of key players like Bisayo, Cowser, and Alonzo.
• Luke notes the improvement in Bisayo’s performance and his role as the team’s best hitter.
• Nestor mentions the importance of players like Cowser and Alonzo stepping up to contribute to the team’s success.
• Both acknowledge the team’s young core and the need for them to develop and perform consistently.

Bullpen Issues and Relief Pitching

• Nestor and Luke discuss the bullpen’s struggles and the absence of key relievers like Ryan Helsley.
• Luke highlights the inconsistency in the bullpen and the need for more reliable options.
• Nestor mentions the importance of players like Rico Garcia and the need for better management of the bullpen.
• Both discuss the potential return of Helsley and its impact on the bullpen’s performance.

Impact of Upcoming Games and Series

• Nestor and Luke preview the upcoming series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of winning series and the need for the team to continue their positive momentum.
• Nestor discusses the challenges of playing against the Red Sox, who have also been struggling this season.
• Both express hope for the team’s performance and the potential for a series win.

Future Outlook and Team Improvement

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s future outlook and the need for continued improvement.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of the team’s performance in the next few weeks to solidify their standing.
• Nestor mentions the potential impact of the upcoming work stoppage on the team’s business and strategy.
• Both express optimism for the team’s potential and the need for continued effort and development.

Personal Reflections and Experiences

• Nestor shares a personal story about watching a game on Peacock and the unique experience it provided.
• Luke reflects on the history of Jim Palmer’s broadcasting career and the impact of different broadcasting styles.
• Nestor discusses the importance of different perspectives and the value of alternative broadcasting options.
• Both express appreciation for the unique aspects of the Peacock broadcast and the insights it provided.

Community Engagement and Fan Experience

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of community engagement and the fan experience.
• Nestor mentions the positive impact of events like the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on the community.
• Luke highlights the importance of creating a positive fan experience and the role of community events in achieving this.
• Both express hope for continued engagement and the positive impact of community events on the team’s success.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

• Nestor and Luke share their final thoughts on the team’s performance and future outlook.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of winning series and the need for the team to continue their positive momentum.
• Nestor discusses the potential impact of the upcoming work stoppage on the team’s business and strategy.
• Both express optimism for the team’s potential and the need for continued effort and development.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, June reset, Fenway Park, BoSox, walk-off wins, bullpen issues, starting pitching, Alonzo, Cowser, Bisayo, Helsley, Kramer, Red Sox, labor war, fan engagement.

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively getting the Maryland Crab Cake Tour back out on the road. We will be at Sorrento of Arbutus next week, that is on the 10th. We’re gonna be doing a lot of things to June. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery. We’re doing Miss Pac-Man, as well as the Maryland Treasures, on having some fun with Home Run Riches and the Big Spin, as well. Our friends at GBMC, keeping me alive and well, also educating me all summer long on all sorts of medical issues and things going on in our community here at Towson, including it’s a great chat this week with a longtime WNST listener who’s an engineer who built all of the oncology facilities over there. Just a great story about his, about his mom, and we talked about my wife and battling, and so it was cool. GBMC, check that out, as well as our friends at Farn and Dermer. They’re boring, you know. They just do HVAC and plumbing, and when it’s 150 degrees and your thing blows up, they run, fix it for you, so 410 36777 Luke’s wearing the shirt I’m wearing, my Planet Fitness shirt, because if you’ve got kids of that age, like high school, free all summer long at Planet Fitness, I’ll be talking to Justin and our friends at, I think, the Randallstown location before it’s all over with you this summer. Birds out of town won a couple of games, dude. It’s been such a screwy couple of weeks, because, like, I can’t make the case that they’re a good team when they win. It’s sort of by the skin of their teeth, and you know, walk off home runs, and Colton Cowser catches fire the last 10 days and makes me an idiot for wanting to trade him two years ago, and you and idiot for wanting to trade him last year, or whatever. You know it’s baseball, it doesn’t necessarily make any sense, but that home stand was really weird, and the way this team has gotten its ass kicked so many times this year and has been swept away, and then swept Tampa. I mean, just weird. I don’t think they’re winning the World Series, but at least for now it’s interesting, and that’s all I can ask for. Luke is, they head to Boston.

Luke Jones  02:07

Yeah, I’m going to be more positive than that about the home stand, because frankly, it’s the first time all year where they’ve had an extended stretch where you can be that positive about it. I mean, three walk-off wins, if you want a team to be resilient, if you want a team that can be good, those are the kind of things you have to do. Yeah, I go back to a couple years ago where I kind of joked with you, it was tongue in cheek, but it wasn’t entirely tongue in cheek, where I said, man, it’d be nice if they just won a few more blowouts, because you talk about it in terms of your bullpen, or or putting less stress on whatever, right, whatever element of your team, but that’s also not reality all the time. Sometimes you have to win some games, like Saturday, for example, where it felt downright awful in the top of the ninth inning. They were down five, you know, down five to one, and you’re thinking, oh my gosh, this is going to be their third straight loss. They’re in a position now where they might not even have a winning home stand, and the how it started is going to be all for naught, and they’re going to be back to eight games under 500 and and then the bottom of the ninth inning happens on Saturday, and they win, and they still have a chance to go seven and three, if they go out and score at least a few runs for Kyle Bradish, and that’s all he needed, but they scored more than a few, so it was very positive. I wrote at Baltimore positive.com before this homestand began, I said to you what they needed to go seven and three, they went seven and three, so that’s not to say that four games under 500 is the goal. That’s not to say that they’re completely fine. That’s not to say that they can settle back in to be in a sub 500 team from this point on, but it’s an, it’s the kind of springboard that they needed. And now you’re saying, okay, you’re much closer to 500 Calendar just turned to June. It’s four months of baseball left.

Nestor Aparicio  04:00

You can still make this season. I don’t want to say anything you want it to be, because you look at the standard standings in the AL East, and realistically speaking, we’re talking about a team that’s the level set that makes the season so irrelevant is that if you show up in October, cool, and that’s what gives me hope at this point that I’m the village idiot, thinking like Alonzo Henderson Holiday, all of these guys, Ruchman, and when we talked about him all off season, that their best angels will show up, and in the real angel Kyle Bradish, his best angels are showing up here all of a sudden, right? So parts of this are germinating as we, that’s what it takes to be seven and three, but parts of it is you need three walk-offs in order to, like, it’s not like that impressive to me to be on the train at two games under 500 and trending up a little bit, and I’ll buy into everything you’re saying, because I’m a holiday believer, I, I picked them to win 92 games, I’m going to keep. Bringing that up, I’m going to bring it up in every segment, because I was the believer in the one four of Colton Cows, or as much as the one one of Holiday. In that, come on, man, they don’t all have to go to the Hall of Fame and be Mickey Mantle, but if they got three or four tools, they ought to be able to put some of them to work here at some point with some training and look like a major league baseball player, which Ruchman didn’t last year. Cowser hasn’t at various times. Henderson has struggled for 60 days now and had his own physical issues around this time last year, and Alonzo looked overwhelmed by the money in the new role in the beginning, which is weird, because, like, he wanted this, he signed up for this team captain, like you know all of that. There is a point that 60 days into this, maybe this levels out, and they play like a 92 win team for like 45 days leading up to the all star break, and maybe they’re six games over 500 by then, because that’s kind of what it would be, right? Like, you know, I mean, and if they’re that no more fire, Michaelias. I’ll rip it up. I’ll call him a genius. I’ll say it was a stroke of genius that he hid in the dugout for three and a half days after he fired his manager. Albernaz is a genius, that you know, like it’ll smell that way if this rosy scenario that I could paint, but I can’t paint it because I watched the first seven weeks of this, not the last week and a half.

Luke Jones  06:24

Sure, and let me be clear, I’m not describing this in a way that this is any kind of a culmination. It’s not. It needs to be the commencement of playing like a playoff caliber team, and playing like a team that can be one of the wild cards, and playing like a team that can sustain winning baseball, not just for 10 days, albeit a fun 10 days with three walk-off wins, but there’s also the flip side of that, right? They lost the game on Friday, they absolutely shouldn’t have lost, they lost a very winnable game on Thursday, right? So you can kind of make the argument any way you want, and that’s why I’m not going to split hairs, oh well, they needed three walk-off wins, well, they should have won two other games that they didn’t win. So, like, what are we doing here, right? Yeah, they urinated two

Nestor Aparicio  07:05

away, and then they steal two, and then

Luke Jones  07:09

Pete Alonzo even made that point after Saturday’s game. He said, “Look, I mean, we really shouldn’t have won this game, but the previous night we should have won a game, and we blew a five nothing lead in that game, so it’s baseball, right? You’re going to have that happen, but for me it’s just seeing this team showing more fight when you have three walk-off wins like that rather than just going quietly in the ninth inning, right? I mean, and that was the thing, I go back to Saturday and look, I had some people dunking on me on social media, because even though I made provided the caveat, and this is fine, this is good-natured fun kind of dunking on social media, but I made the point, barring a ninth inning comeback, this has been a demoralizing last three days for the Orioles, and it absolutely was on its way to being that. Bisayo strikes out to lead off the bottom of the ninth Saturday, it looks like he’s hurt his shoulder, even, even though he’s fine, but you

Nestor Aparicio  08:06

said, oh, he’s been there, he’s been their best player too, which is crazy,

Luke Jones  08:09

he’s been terrific, yeah, he’s their, I mean, he’s been their best hitter, right, and he’s caught better than he did as a rookie, or he’s still a rookie, but and he can

Nestor Aparicio  08:20

barely drink,

Luke Jones  08:21

yeah. I mean, he’s 21 years old, right? I mean, he’s for as much as we’ve talked about the young core and the disappointment, and you know, the players like Hauser or Mayo, who’ve struggled and struggled for extended periods of time. You know, Bisayo, he took some of his lumps the last six weeks, last year, albeit he also had some moments in the process of doing that, but he’s been probably since about the third week of April. I mean, go look at his numbers, he’s absolutely raked. So, but, but they have, go look at the main numbers for a lot of guys. They’ve had quite a few players come alive over the last month or so, and it’s been nice to see it come together as a team, in terms of wins and losses over the last 10 days or so, but I’ll also go back to they’re getting better starting pitching, right? I mean, the bullpen right now is the, is the concern. We’ve, we’ve almost reverted to how we felt in spring training. If you’re looking at the current state of this club right now, the starting pitching has been better. I, you know, Rogers even had an encouraging beginning to his outing, and obviously it was so disappointing on Friday, which I still put more of that on. He should have been pulled, I mean, he should have been pulled after the first home run, that was

Nestor Aparicio  09:33

it, was where 81 pitches at that point, or something like that,

Luke Jones  09:36

it was, but at the same time, you have to understand, you have a guy who has a near seven ERA going into Friday night start? He pitched well. I get it. I have no problem with him starting that inning. My point is, you can’t leave him in long enough to give up two two-run homers in that inning. You got to pull him after that first two-run homer. I’m like, I just.. and frankly, Albernaz admitted he left, left him in too long. But part of that problem, and this is what I was just saying,

Nestor Aparicio  10:03

so there is managing going on from the manager, I’m just saying, right? I mean,

Luke Jones  10:06

I, as I’ve said to you, there’s nuance to that,

Nestor Aparicio  10:09

there’s a lot of nuance to that, because Elias isn’t hitting a little red button, saying pull the pull the manager from upstairs, like

Luke Jones  10:15

if you did that, you’d get in trouble, right, I mean, like that, like you’re not allowed to do something like that, but but the point I was trying to make is part of the problem that that happened is who do they trust in their bullpen right now. I mean, that’s the, that’s the area this team that’s really gone south, while the other elements have have trended upward, and that’s not shocking,

Nestor Aparicio  10:37

given the pedigree, and given where we were in March, that was our, that was the original sin, and the original concern was that we spent months in the off season talking about that more than we talked about most anything else, because some of the things we felt were certain, like Henderson and Alonzo, and I mean, I never felt Westberg was certain, you know, certainly, but there had been brighter parts to this, and the bullpen was a bright part for the first 45 days. I’m not shocked that there’s a bullpen yet. Now that being said, you know, off day Monday they get a little bit of rest, but they did play 12 innings, let you know, so there’s been some of that during the home stand, but it needs to be better when you go to

Luke Jones  11:20

it, no doubt, and let’s face it, we were talking about it, and they haven’t had Ryan Helsley for the last month. I mean, that’s, that’s really where, and it’s not, it’s not so much. Okay, well, Rico, Rico Garcia has been great, but you had Rico Garcia and Ryan Helsley, right? And that makes your, your late ending leverage better, and, and let’s face it, I mean, Nunes, as much as he was so impressive in the first month of the season, he struggled, even though they’ve continued to try to use him in high leverage. Andrew Kittredge has been disappointing, Keegan Aikens been disappointing, Tyler Wells had been better until this most recent outing, but he hasn’t been as good as I hoped he had potentially could have been in that role,

Nestor Aparicio  12:03

that was part of the nine to one, like, come on in and make yourself feel good, and then it didn’t feel good.

Luke Jones  12:08

Well, and like I said, he had pitched, he had pitched quite well recently until that outing, and then you kind of look at that and say, okay, well, like, who do you really trust in this bullpen right now, and Rico Garcia, and everyone else is not guys that can’t get outs for you, but a little more unpredictable in terms of what you’re going to get. He

Nestor Aparicio  12:26

might be their only all-star too, as we’re six weeks up on this, right?

Luke Jones  12:29

Well, I mean, I haven’t looked at that right, quite frankly, but Hadley Ruchman’s having a heck of a year. I mean, you just mentioned, you know, Bisayo, probably, you know, as a rookie who mainly DHS, and he’s a backup catcher, probably not going to fit into that picture, but I mean it’s possible, but at the same time, I mean, you just kind of look at the pen, and you know, Garcia has been great, but how much have they had to lean on him? Who else can you really count on there? Cano had looked great until you know he kind of had that hamstring cramp on what was it Thursday night, and then, or when I guess it was Wednesday, actually, yeah, it was the blowout game against the Rays, and then gives up the lead on Friday, so he kind of takes a step back, but but you kind of look at how they’re currently constructed and what’s going well, they’re swinging the bats better overall. I mean, they still have their days where

Nestor Aparicio  13:30

it’s not runners in scoring position. And by the way, can I give a plug to Peacock? Did you know? Sure, I got to give a plug to my sister-in-law, because I stole her address and password to actually watch it, so, and I didn’t realize that even existed. My wife was out hiking, and she said, “Hey, you can still get the game, and I’m like, “I got your peacock right here, but I did, I did watch, and Jim Palmer was in on the broadcast, and I’m really glad that Dexter Fowler finally came to Baltimore, you know, I know you and I did to bring him to Baltimore from the Cubs out at the combine in Indianapolis a decade ago. You and I have been at this so long, dude, that I can throw a Dexter Fowler trash at you, and you know right where I’m coming from, even though it was like a dozen years ago, right? There were a couple of stats, and this is the interesting part of when Peacock does the game and Jim Palmer can sit in the booth and be a little more sartorial, let’s say, but the stats are the stats, and they’re things that Kevin Brown wouldn’t say, that they’re the sixth oldest team in the league, we think of them as being young, these are just some stats that I threw out in the first couple of innings before the game got kind of got out of hand, they were hitting a league low 145 with two strikes, worse than major leagues as a team. These are just stats that I’m like, they’re not, they’re not going to be in the press notes that Jennifer Grandal puts together, they’re not going to be on the broadcast. Asked, they might make it into, you know, Jacob’s piece in the that nobody reads behind the paywall, like all that, but, like, there, there’s some really sort of weird things that come up in a Peacock broadcast that are more like down the center than watching stilted coverage every night of the year to some degree, and I found it interesting that that Peacock went in on the game once, so because we don’t get, I don’t get that other view of it much, right? The Apple TV, I don’t watch, honestly, on Friday night, and apparently it’s not very good from what I hear. I thought the Peacock thing was like I was wondering who the voice was, then I heard it was Dexter Fowler, and then I’m like, then I heard him call him Matt, and I’m like, okay, so I know who that is, and I’m kind of like getting grounded on it a little bit, but it was like it reminded me a little bit, and you’re a young one, but I know you were a kid, little NBC game of the week, Tony Kubek, kind of Joe Garagiola, it kind of had a little vibe, and the moving can’t, the camera, the it was shot differently than, I mean, dude, when you watch Mass in 155 nights a year, you only see the game through Ben and Jim, and whatever Rob Long wants to give you in the pre.. and it’s all very like the same every day, so it’s kind of neat to wake up early and watch the game on TV. So I’ll say that before, the game wasn’t like so good, but I thought Palmer was Palmer. Palmer brought his A game, like a different kind of granddaddy to these broadcasters that made it way, it was I felt like I was in the booth because they didn’t know Palmer well, and it made the broadcast really good. I thought, I just want, yeah,

Luke Jones  16:32

well, and it’s funny, I was even thinking about it on Saturday, I guess it was, and I had realized, oh yeah, it’s it’s a Peacock came the following afternoon. When was the last time Jim Palmer was on a national TV broadcast? I mean, I’m thinking, was it remember they had the baseball night in America 1995 It was weird. Remember, ABC had some of the games, NBC had some of the games, and they pivoted to Fox the following year. Did this at such a high

Nestor Aparicio  17:05

level that people don’t know about Monday Night Baseball when his career was over, like he, if baseball would have been a bigger sport and he had aspired to fly around and be that guy,

Nestor Aparicio  17:17

he could have

Nestor Aparicio  17:17

done Joe Morgan’s job. I mean, John Miller and Jim Palmer in the booth, if he wanted to do

Luke Jones  17:23

that

Nestor Aparicio  17:24

back when he was young and sexy, in his 40s and 50s and 60s, when he didn’t need the money, he can sign autographs. Like, I don’t, I don’t know Jim, and I love Jim on the air, and I love Jim the pitcher, and I love Jim the legend, and I like, I love Jim, so like Jim doesn’t love me, blocked me on Twitter, but he actually does. He, I shouldn’t say that, he, he did block me on Twitter, but I’m good with Jim, you know? Like, Jim doesn’t come on the show because they would fire him, but seeing Jim in a different light for three hours, it wasn’t what I expected when I stole my sister-in-law’s password, that’s all you know, saying like I put the game on, like what kind of are they going to put on today? And Palmer’s voice is on, and the way it was miked, and the way it was shot, and the way it looked, you could hear the crowd more like it. It had more of a Memorial Stadium kind of sound to it, that it sounded like a national game. It looked.. I don’t know, it.. I can’t even bring it back, because I was watching it on my.. I hate modern television. I’m watching it on this stupid laptop, instead of like.. and pausing it in 10 second delay. There’s my old guy rant for you, but like, I wish I could have watched it on the flat screen on the wall, but that’s my fault for not being all bouged up and having to clicky click click, and I mean AId up, but I can’t figure out how to get a rush video to project on a wall, but I, you know, when the baseball games come on these weird things, I feel like a lot of people just skip out on the game or don’t realize they’re playing at 12 o’clock. It is, it is a weird kind of getaway, but crowds were great on Saturday and Sunday, the Star Wars thing, when they give jochies away, and there’s energy in the ballpark, even when I don’t know 30% of the crowd left before the comeback on Saturday, because, like, it felt a little dire, and, like, let’s get out of here and let’s go downtown, let’s do whatever we’re going to do on a Saturday afternoon, but it was for the ballpark and for winning the kind of momentum they could build something around to sell some tickets, I guess the shirts off is a thing, right? I mean, there have been some squirts, there’s been some fun, there’s been some big hits, like seasons on, I mean, to your point, it’s June and the season’s on, whereas two weeks ago this, it looked DOA, it really did after the sweep in Tampa, it looked, did not look good here.

Luke Jones  19:53

Well, it’s like I said to you, it wasn’t over, but it was really starting to feel like it was over, right, and that. It’s the difference, I mean, last year at this time they actually went on a nice little run at this time in the calendar last year, but when you had fallen 18 games under 500 a nice little run’s not getting you back to, you know, it got them back to, I think, 11 games under 500

Nestor Aparicio  20:14

I mean, 18 games under 500 over, dude, they’re like two under five under right now, this is a real season, I mean, it’s been choppy, it’s been rough.

Luke Jones  20:23

They’re four under, four under going into this.

Nestor Aparicio  20:25

Four, I’m sorry. Okay,

Luke Jones  20:28

well, it’s all good.

Nestor Aparicio  20:29

But I mean, the

Nestor Aparicio  20:30

stats that I gave is why I interrupted you, just to talk about, like, they don’t talk about how bad some of this has been, and you said the hitting’s getting better, and I’m thinking, well, dude, 145 with two strikes throughout the roster, that dog’s not gonna hunt, you know what I mean. Sixth oldest team in the major leagues, recalling him young and young Oriole, like that’s this is stuff that I didn’t even intellectually know or hear, right? Like literally,

Luke Jones  20:56

I would also say in response to that, and this isn’t me defending them as much as just providing context, the overall average, the major league average with two strikes is very bad. I’m just saying, like, you’re not going to find it. There’s not a team out there that’s hitting 330 with

Nestor Aparicio  21:12

it’s not a hitter’s count.

Luke Jones  21:14

Yeah, that’s that’s the point I wanted to make there, in terms of the age. I mean, you know, you kind of look at it through the lens of, well, Chris Bass, it’s 37 Andrew Kittredge is up, up there in age, so

Nestor Aparicio  21:26

reason why 92 wins, and it’s now time. This isn’t rebuild, this isn’t the general managers going to survive last place in eight games under 500 and getting swept in New York and Tampa Bay, right? Like, so yeah,

Luke Jones  21:39

but we’ve talked about it. I mean, obviously, you have the lockout and just a labor fight looming next year, which you know that that impacts every team.

Nestor Aparicio  21:48

I’m trying to understand how that, how that will affect their business specifically. Oh, sure, their ownership, their debt service. I’m working on that because I think that will greatly affect franchise, not Elias’s direction, or what Albernaz wants, or even what Adley Ruchman wants. It’s going to affect the way these franchises steer their boat toward a labor war, and I know it’s boring to everybody, and they just want to talk about the runners in scoring position, and like all of that, but like deep down these billionaires, they need to figure out how to float debt, how to float risk, and I love, dude, you’re smart guy, I’m a smart guy, we know more about baseball than Michael Araghetti or David Rubenstein will ever know, because we’ve studied it. You tell me, what the risk is of a labor war next year. What’s the risk?

Luke Jones  22:46

I mean, I

Nestor Aparicio  22:46

think, as far as how far, how long it’ll go, who kisses who, because Don Fear is gone, Marvin Miller’s gone, Dieter Angeles is gone, George Steinbrenner is gone, the Hawks and Doves, and all of that. We’re into a whole different level of modern money and media. They don’t even understand this guy owns a television network, and doesn’t even understand what he owns, and he doesn’t have anybody around him who understands it or figures out how to monetize it. You know how I know that, because when I watch Monumental and I watch Mass in Two, they have a, they have a, the 2am coding, they don’t even know what to put on their on the network they own, because they’re so wealthy, these guys that own these teams, but all that being said, when there’s a labor war and lawyers and guys are making 10s of millions of dollars, these guys don’t have a lot of employees that are making what Peter Lonzo’s making, they just don’t, they don’t pay people like that, they don’t get wealthy doing that, so the and the mind frame of modern baseball owners, not just Rubenstein, the guy that owns the Royals. Now there’s new owners in several places. How they’re going to do war. I remember when Angelos came into this, he had no idea how to think worked, and I have no thought that Rubenstein really could sit and explain it to me, and but they’re going to have a philosophy. Eric Eddie’s going to call Katie Griggs and Don Rovak and Michaelias and say we’re not in on this, we’re not open for business to this to this degree, because this is going to be what happens during the labor stoppage next may 15, when we’re not playing baseball, we have no revenue, we have no ticket sales, we have no gate. This is how we’re going to have to manage it. I don’t know what that is, but I think it’s going to be weird, and I think it’s going to affect baseball, if not the Orioles. If you’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re mr. Big, then you go fleece the teams that are poor, that that, that want to get out of the business in July. I mean, there’s two, there’s an opportunity,

Luke Jones  24:46

and even before you get too much into the weeds of however this is going to look right, whether I mean, there’s obviously going to be a lockout. The question is going to be, how long does it last? Well, there. Are degrees to this right? If there’s a lockout, but they don’t miss any games next year, fans aren’t going to care whatsoever, right? I mean, they won’t, they’ll be fine, but you start getting to, oh, we got to push opening day back, oh, we’re going to miss the first two weeks of the seat, like you start getting into that territory, that’s when things really start to get ugly in terms of how you are perceived, so I think specifically for a team like the Orioles, right, where the last two calendar years have not gone how anyone has wanted it to go. I think there probably is something to be said of if we are in a position where this could potentially be a long-term labor fight, and I am not going to sit here and make a prediction that I definitely know how it’s going to

Nestor Aparicio  25:42

go. How much would you be willing to bet against that is my question, right?

Luke Jones  25:46

But my point that I’m trying to make, though, is if you are in a position where you are bracing and preparing for that possibility, I would think you want to try to make your customers for the remainder of 2026 as happy or excited or encouraged as possible, whether that ends in winning a World Series or not. No one knows that. No one can guarantee that. I guess the Dodgers can come close based on the fact that they’ve won back to back, but the point is you kind of, you really hope you can be in a position where people are feeling better about your product over the last three months of this season compared to how they felt over the last 24 months about the Orioles on the field, because you don’t know, and you’re one of 30 when it’s when you’re talking about labor, and really it’s more than that, because

Luke Jones  26:38

if the whole

Nestor Aparicio  26:39

industry smells, you smell

Luke Jones  26:41

exactly, exactly. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  26:43

that’s the thing for them locally, that they need to smell less here to their fans. Sure, I don’t know what that is, and it’s probably going to involve them bsing, which it usually does. And I’ll be here with the sniff test for everybody, and the saliva test through all of this, because I’ve been here from the beginning on all of this, but I don’t think any of them, certainly not Katie Griggs, or, you know, neophytes, these people that were not in on this 2535 years ago, certainly not 40 years ago, when all of this was going on, as to what happens to the rank and file employees who get laid off, who you know, we’re not going to do this, we’re not going to do that, because that’s the way it used to be. Now, billionaires may behave differently, but they might not either. And I think there’s also the how, how do you conduct business in the strangest of times, when you don’t have a business, and prepare for that, and whether you want to say Adley Rochman’s on the team when this thing comes together, or whether we burned it down in July getting prospects in because we weren’t good enough, or whether, to your point, hey, we got tickets sold in August, that was the old Angelos thing. We’re going to always go all in. We’re never going to put the white flag up, and I’m not saying they should. They’ve battled back to a position of four under 500 now to be at least thinking in that direction, but I’m with you, like having a sell off and then not having a season next year and having no reason to buy tickets, I mean, they are very, very up against it for selling their brand, and that’s why I said this weekend they actually got people in the stadium for Star Wars-ish that bringing them back for baseball-ish later on in the year would be a really good idea, and winning is part of that, and all of that. It can’t be their last visit to get a bobblehead this season, and then not have a season next year, because the thing’s withering. I mean, I see how empty it is on a general basis. I see what the network is, and then they’re going to shut down in four months. They better damn sight win the next 60 days. They, they, the next 60 days better be 60 good days for the franchise, and not, oh my god, we got to sell off Rushman, and the season’s over, because that would be really bad with the work stoppage, and you and I don’t talk work stoppage often, and it is june 1, and I think it’s an appropriate time to talk about it a little bit, because it absolutely is going to affect everything about the industry in the way that billionaires and their baseball people and their business ops buy and sell baseball players the next eight weeks, it’s going to affect everyone’s racing and risk management. For what you’ve already said is, well, there’s going to be a lockout. I mean, they’ve already, we already know there’s going to be a war, right? Like, so that’s

Luke Jones  29:45

it’s just going to be a matter of what that war actually looks like, right? Again, 95% of fans, probably higher than that, do not care if there is a lockout from December until you. Could probably go to March one and still be in a position where you can have a long enough spring training that the season starts on time and you play right there might be some fallout there might be a couple more pitcher injuries than normal whatever but we saw that I mean that played out in 2022 fans didn’t care like that there was no there was no tangible fallout in terms of like how fans perceive the sport based on that one, but when you start talking about missing games and think about it, I mean this popped into my mind as we were talking about this, looking at it from through the eyes of the Orioles specifically, if they are in a position where this could end up being the first extended work stoppage since 9594 95 There’s no Peter Angelos saying he’s not going to field replacement players, and then as a result, Cal Streak being protected. Right? I mean, you know, regardless of motivations or anything, you know the real reasons for that. Fans, Orioles fans perceived the Orioles and Peter Angelos far more favorably at that moment in time because it was protecting Cal from the streak ending. It’s just reality. I’m not, again, not saying how real that really was, but perception is reality, and there is nothing like that this time around, you know. I don’t, I don’t. At least I don’t think so. I don’t think David Rubenstein’s gonna go against well, and

Nestor Aparicio  31:24

to your point, the owners have nothing to hang their hat on in the middle of a work stoppage. If it ended today, there’s four games under 500 the stadium’s empty, they’re nothing bit of last place team that is a but where they end this year will be where they end, and that will be whatever they have to sell, whenever the war is over, right?

Luke Jones  31:43

But you, but you remember what the environment was back then. I mean, in 95 when the sport returned, Camden Yards was not impacted near the, to the degree of so many other places out there. I mean, I remember the empty ballparks, Camden Yards wasn’t empty, not saying it didn’t hurt attendance a little bit, but Camden Yards, by and large, was still

Nestor Aparicio  32:06

my point is it’s already empty, you know, like 31

Luke Jones  32:12

years ago, 30 years ago, 32 I guess 32 years ago, with the start of the strike in 94 the franchise was in such a different place on in so many different ways, that yeah, but you know, again, and I don’t want to dwell on this too much, and for one, deadlines are what spur action, and we’re talking about something that won’t happen before I think, I think december 1 or somewhere around there is when the CBA expires. So

Nestor Aparicio  32:38

all that being said, they get, they keep the pitch and get the bats together, Fenway Park this week. They’re going to run this. This is Division Ball. They can bury the Red Sox a little bit. I mean, the Red Sox, the

Luke Jones  32:48

Red Sox have been a massive disappointment, right? I mean, they.. it.. it’s not, you know, they fired Alex Cora, and they’re still in last place, right? I mean, I know they’ve won a couple games over the weekend, but when

Nestor Aparicio  32:58

you talk

Luke Jones  32:58

about ownership issues, there’s a real perception there that these people don’t know what the hell they’re doing. There’s a real perception there that they just, you know, they don’t seem as into winning as they used to be. You know, I mean, you think about where John Henry and that, and Epps,

Nestor Aparicio  33:11

you know,

Luke Jones  33:11

Theo Epstein, and it like all of that. You know what that felt like 20 years ago compared to what it feels like now. I mean, that’s a, that’s a really different kind of, you know, different kind of vibe that’s going on with the Red Sox. I mean, you know, Cora, as, as disappointing as the year had started, you know, Alex Cora was one of the last links remaining to their 2018 World Series team, right? And, you know, Mookie Betts is gone, and Dev, they traded Devers last year. They didn’t resign Bregman. I mean, you know, they’ve got some good young players, but you kind of look, and, and you take their pitching, but you look at their offense, and you kind of look at their lineup, and they don’t feel like the Boston Red Sox anymore. I mean, like, just, just saying it, and that sounds kind of, you know, simplistic, but that’s kind of what it feels like.

Nestor Aparicio  34:01

Well, we’re gonna watch him next couple nights. I mean, well, if you’re looking to stay out of the cellar and make hay here, this is a two out of three on the road kind of thing, right?

Luke Jones  34:10

I mean, and really, that’s.. I mean, that’s kind of what that for a team that was eight games under 500 not that long ago. That’s what your mentality has to be, no matter who you’re playing. Win a series, win a series, win a series, right? I mean, like, it’s it doesn’t have to be this extended, crazy long winning streak, or you know, they don’t need to win 15 of 17. I mean, it’s great when you do, I mean, if you can, like, I’m not, not discouraging that possibility if you’re capable of doing it, but they’ve gotten themselves back in a position where you win a series, you win a series, you split a four game series, and again I’m just making it up, but you do that, you’re going to find yourself continuing to be in a perfectly acceptable, not say an optimal, but acceptable position in the standings, in terms of you. Still in a position to do whatever you want to do, right, to

Nestor Aparicio  35:02

be a buyer next month, not a seller,

Luke Jones  35:04

exactly. And again, I look, I don’t want to say that this was the end goal. I mean, they’re 10 games out of first place, right? I mean, Tampa Bay and the Yankees have been able to run and hide from the rest of the division at this point. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  35:17

well, you can address certain deficiencies. We talked about third base and the problem of Westberg, I think they look like a better team with Holiday in the lineup, even they put him in the 10 hole, let alone the nine hole, and it’s, you know, I saw, like, struck out with a, you know, like, but

Luke Jones  35:31

he’s swinging the bat pretty well, I mean, yeah, I mean, he’s hit a couple long balls, I mean, he’s, he’s

Nestor Aparicio  35:36

got upside, he’s got potential, well, he’s 22 years old, he’s a one one, like, I want to see him in there getting 30 at bats a week and feeling good about, like, you know, a month and a half from now he feels more like that pedigree of player, not the guy that’s coming back with the hammy bow, it was playing on a last place team and trying to figure it out while they get their ass kicked five days a week, you know, because that’s what it was a month and a half ago,

Luke Jones  36:01

yeah. And look, I mean, that was a frustrating rehab for him. He’s talked about it, I mean, the team’s talked about it. I wasn’t the way I talked about that was not me trying to be like a hot take kind of guy or anything. He missed a lot, a much longer period of time than you typically do for a hat bone. That said, if the silver lining is truly, he comes out of that, and to this point, you know, I’m not saying his numbers are through the roof or anything, but his numbers have been solid, you know, he’s hit a couple home runs,

Nestor Aparicio  36:31

he looks healed, he doesn’t look injured,

Luke Jones  36:33

he looks comfortable, right, he doesn’t look like he’s, you know, he’s not not shaking his wrist after he swings hard, and all that, like, and that’s a good thing, if you had to endure an extra month of rehab and an extra month of him not being out there, and let’s face it, Jeremiah Jackson played well in his absence. I think since then we’ve seen Jeremiah Jackson still profiles best as a bench player. I, you know, he doesn’t walk enough, I mean, that’s kind of the simplistic way of looking at him, he’s got one of the lost lowest walk rates in the majors, but for a guy that you know is a, an extra infielder, you know, can play second base. They started him in right field the other day, you know, he can go out there and I mean, none of their outfielders, other than Cowser, and even Cowser is, you know, will will bobble a ball or something like that from time to time, but at least he’s the guy that is your most consistently solid outfielder, but you know Jeremiah Jackson did a nice job, but yeah, you wanted Jackson Holiday back in there, and it’s looked pretty good overall. We’ve talked about Bisayo, we’ve given him credit, Colton Cowser, his swinging the bat much better over the last three and a half weeks or so, I mean, he still profiles much more like a fourth outfielder than you’d like him to be, you know, considering he’s a top five pick, but that’s also baseball, right? You and I could go through, we, you know, in a recent discussion talked about some of the one ones, you know, not Orioles, but just one ones in general, who, you know, didn’t even make it, let alone became this, you know, become this impact player or anything. So it’s coming together. It’s still a flawed product. We understand that, but they have gotten better starting pitching, very much better starting pitching of late, other than Rogers. And even Rogers, you know, first six innings on Friday night, it felt, hey, that was encouraging. And then it wasn’t after that, but, but they’re getting better, starting pitching the offense, you know, despite some of the situational hitting frustrations. I think they’re 10th in the league, and runs scored, you know, 10th in the majors, and runs scored per game. I’ll continue to remind, I’ve said this since the beginning of the season, offense is down across baseball, you know, like, so you, you do have to look at it through the lens of how the entire league looks, so you know they, they’ve had an offense that you know has, I’ve heard some people say the offense stinks, and look, they have their share of nights where it stinks, yeah, sure, I mean, that’s that’s also baseball, but you look at it in its totality and look at it with the context of the rest of the league, it’s been an offense that you know it’s been a little, little closer to average than than you’d like it to be, but it, it’s actually, they’ve actually graded out better than a lot of people think in certain areas, but they’ve got a ways to go, there’s no doubt, but to your point, Holiday, Bisayo, Ruchman’s been back, Pete Alonso had a much better May than April, as expected, but until you see it, you’re, you’re kind of bracing for it. They need Gunner Henderson to try to get back to being a more consistent version of

Nestor Aparicio  39:34

that’s sort of the missing ingredient, right? I mean, that, that, I mean, Rogers had a great six inning start, Bradish had a great start, division at home, better weather, you know, like all of that, the things that would make this a 92 win team, Westberg notwithstanding. The missing ingredient for me is, is, is Anderson, right this minute, right this minute, like him being that guy. Going to hit 412 for 10 days and help you win six games in the way that Cowser Alonso have stepped up the win games here that they’ve had bright lights and Boz even pitching better too, like I’ll throw him in there for the top of the rotation because you know 92 wins isn’t about one guy or two guys or one or two hitters, or one Sam Basio. It is, it’s the collective of the best angels of all of these guys, and right now some of them, I mean, Brandon Young, you know, I mean,

Luke Jones  40:34

he’s been a great story.

Nestor Aparicio  40:35

Yeah,

Luke Jones  40:36

he, his, his most recent start, you know, on Saturday he was good. I mean, he had career high seven strikeouts. He missed bats. I think most of his starts this year have been much more in the smoke and mirrors. He’s getting decent results, but you know, overall, when you look at it, it’s not terribly impressive. But he was good on Saturday. That was good to see. I mean, that was kind of the thing that, for me, a lot of the frustration going into that before the comeback was, man, they got a great start from Brandon Young, and they totally just wasted it, right? So,

Nestor Aparicio  41:09

man, the way in Jens and the Miguel Gonzalez’s, and those guys that you know, that emerge

Luke Jones  41:15

some of that

Nestor Aparicio  41:16

from this, you know, not everybody’s going to be the golden child that you know, and I don’t even know that Bradish was really the golden child. Grayson Rodriguez was the golden child, right? Like, so

Luke Jones  41:28

Bradish was part.. I mean, when, when they traded Dylan Bundy to the Angels, I mean, Bradish was very much identified as someone they really, really liked, but that said, that didn’t mean that you knew he’s gonna blossom into a guy that got Cy Young award, Cy Young

Nestor Aparicio  41:45

candidate,

Luke Jones  41:46

he was fourth in 2023 2023 So, so, yeah, I mean, there, there are things to be encouraged by. There are still major questions on this club. They are still four games under 500 so it just means, hey, like, you haven’t done any, you haven’t proven anything yet, other than you just had a really good homestand, you know. Sometimes a good week ends up being just a good week, sometimes a good homestand ends up being just a good homestand, because that’s the ebb and flow of 162 right? I mean, we at least

Nestor Aparicio  42:15

it was a good

Luke Jones  42:16

home, but I would agree, but it’s trending in the right to, but I

Nestor Aparicio  42:18

don’t know what to make of these guys, is my point, and that’s where I began, because it is up and down, and when you need walk-offs, and you need four runs in the ninth inning, things are not ideal, that’s all, just not ideal, and that being said, not ideal, but at least interesting in June. Wake me on July 1, and let’s see where they are, if they’re still interesting, because that’s the important thing,

Luke Jones  42:39

but I’ll stop you and say it’s not so much wake you because them doing this has made them that much more interesting going into June, whereas two weeks ago we were okay. When’s the next OTA? When’s mandatory mini camp, right? I mean, that’s next

Nestor Aparicio  42:56

week, by the way, that’s right,

Luke Jones  42:57

exactly. But that’s where that to me is where I’m hardened from the idea of it’s a long summer. We did this last year, right? Where they fired Brandon Hyde in mid-May, and then it’s like, all right, what’s going to happen the rest of the year? When can they call up Posio and have him be a rookie next year? Still, when they, when can they call up Dylan Beavers? Who are they going to trade at the deadline? I mean, you want to be talking about those things in June, right? You want to talk about meaningful baseball, and look, they have a long way to go still, but the last week and a half I’m encouraged by that, and I

Nestor Aparicio  43:28

don’t think

Luke Jones  43:29

they’re going one

Nestor Aparicio  43:30

in five this week, you know, in Boston.

Luke Jones  43:33

We’re going to be right back to being concerned about them.

Nestor Aparicio  43:34

No, we’re gonna be right back to like mini camps next week, you know. We’re into it, so they need to quit

Luke Jones  43:39

doing it. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  43:40

I don’t think that they’re trending that way, so for that, and the way the pitching is going, I’m not on the 92 win train, but I’m on the if they could be a game over 500 on july 1, that would, that, that would at least, they don’t, you know, they don’t need to play 700 ball for me, they just need to not be losing two out of three, and the kicking the ball thing, you know that we’ve talked less about that this week. It’s of them kicking the ball around,

Luke Jones  44:07

it’s been better. It’s still not where you’d like it to be, but it’s been better. I mean, and that’s you just said it. I mean, they have the bullpen, is has gone in the wrong direction, but I feel like everything else has gone in a better direction. And by the way, Helsley throw a bullpen on Saturday, I think there’s a hope that maybe by mid June, you know, maybe june 15, june 20, something like that, he can be back because they need him, because

Nestor Aparicio  44:34

who else are they waiting on?

Luke Jones  44:36

I mean, Beavers and Dean Kramer,

Nestor Aparicio  44:39

Kramer,

Luke Jones  44:39

you know, beavers, I think it feels like he’s starting to, you know, he’s ramping up, he’s starting to hit, and everything. Kramer, I mean, in hindsight, and they say so little, I mean, it’s become much more of an NFL kind of mindset, in terms of them talking about injuries, but it’s very apparent he had a pretty significant quad strain, I mean. I’m starting to wonder if he partially tore it. I mean, that, like, that’s how, how slow that appears to be going. So, it’d be nice to get him back. That said, Brandon Young has been everything they could have reasonably hoped for, filling in for that number five spot that was Efflin for five minutes to start the year, and then Kramer after that. So, they, you still want to get Dean Kramer back. I mean, we know what he’s capable of doing, in terms of just, hey, just taking the ball and giving you a chance, right? I mean, that’s there’s value to that, even if he’s not your number two or your number three, or whatever. But, but, yeah, those are kind of the three for me: Helsley, Dylan Beavers, Dean Kramer. I mean, there’s some other, you know some other arms here and there, but no one that you really look to as someone that was going to be a big part of what you do, so but it feels like you know Helsley start starting to pick up in terms of I could see him, yeah, I think even he taught, he talked on Sunday and kind of alluded to the idea that maybe he starts a rehab assignment after this road trip’s over, so, and he probably wouldn’t need more than a couple, a couple outings down below, three outings about down below, as long as he’s, as long as his elbow is feeling fine, and the beat low is okay, and everything, so we’ll see, but he’s the guy they need to get back, because that bullpen, right now, that’s the area right now where you kind of, especially if it’s a night where Rico Garcia’s pitched the two previous nights, then you’re kind of like, I have no idea how they’re gonna get through the last few innings of this ball game.

Nestor Aparicio  46:29

Luke Jones, here he’s Baltimore. Luke, last thing for you, man, we talked about Fenway Park a little bit. I’ll give you a little oxygen on this. You said something about, like, a bucket list thing for you, would be going to Fenway and covering a game. We’re gonna watch some games up there. What’s your Fenway? You’ve been to Fenway, right? I’ve been to Fenway.

Luke Jones  46:46

I’ve attended a couple games there. I did a tour there with a good buddy of mine. You know, this was 20 years ago, right? I mean, it’s when the Fenways, the top of the top of the monster seats, were still a, you know, still kind of a novelty, and not just like something that’s been there now for 20 plus years, but you know, I mean, it’s, you know, how that place works. I mean, you got to pitch a certain way, you, you know, the Orioles, you want your right-handed hitters to play pepper with that wall, and, but the big one, and this is, you know, going back to what we were just saying, you’ve got to defend center and right field. I mean, there’s a lot of territory to cover out there. I would assume, I would assume, regardless of any pitching matchups or anything like that, you’re going to want Colton Cowser out there covering as much ground as possible in right field, because that is a big outfield. So, I’ll

Nestor Aparicio  47:39

make a prediction: something will go wrong in the outfield for the Orioles in Fenway Park over the next,

Luke Jones  47:44

probably a decent bet, hopefully it doesn’t cost you a ball game, but, but hey,

Nestor Aparicio  47:48

hopefully we’ll look slapsticks,

Luke Jones  47:50

like we said, I mean, this is a Red Sox team that is in very similar space to the Orioles, in terms, in terms of like what’s going on here, but the difference is you used to talk about the Red Sox in the same breath as the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers, right, the Phillies, and they just.. and that’s not to say their payroll’s bottom bear, bottom of the barrel, right, but they just don’t feel like they have, from ownership on down, the same level of urgency to be a great team anymore, and that’s just what’s kind of weird, I suppose.

Nestor Aparicio  48:20

What makes it great,

Luke Jones  48:22

I suppose. You say, well, they won four world titles in the last 25

Speaker 1  48:26

Yeah, I’ve

Nestor Aparicio  48:26

talked about them enough. Yeah,

Luke Jones  48:27

but yeah, so hey, this is this is an opportunity to solidify their standing in last place in the division, but certainly you don’t want to be in a position where it’s the other way around, and they’re handing you two out of three, or a sweep, or something like that. You don’t want to, you don’t want to backtrack on what you just gained over the last 10 days. That’s why it was so important for them to win on Saturday, because three days in a row there it was feeling like, oh man, like all the momentum had gone, had just evaporated. And then, well, what do you know? Eight guys reached, you know, eight straight hitters, reached on Saturday, and they pull off a miracle win, and then take care of business on Sunday. It’s the kind of thing a good team should be able to do, lose the first two of four, and then you regroup, and you get a split. That was, I sign off on that with a thumbs up, that was a good job.

Nestor Aparicio  49:18

Well, I’m not going to throw my wife under the bus too much, but she was looking for her Red Sox hat two weeks ago, and we played the Red Sox here, and she couldn’t find it, and she informed me on her birthday, which was Sunday. Happy fourth, yes,

Luke Jones  49:31

happy birthday

Nestor Aparicio  49:32

to her, happy birthday to my wife, that she found her Red Sox hat at the bottom of the hat box. I mean, imagine it being in the hat box, the hat, but nonetheless, I said was at the bottom of the box, just like the Red Sox at the bottom of the standings, their last place, the Orioles are not in last place, trying to better be nice if it’s a bad week, or they go back to the seller, so

Luke Jones  49:53

and I’ll say one thing, because I’ve buried them a lot, and look, they’re they’re still eight game, you know what, whatever, eight game. Under, I guess it is, or but they have taken, they did just take two or three from Cleveland, and Cleveland’s good, so that don’t just show up at Fenway thinking, hey, you could just sleepwalk through three games and win a series, like the Red Sox, they need to be feeling just as much urgency, I mean, they’re certainly not in a great spot, but they, yes, they did just win two out of three from Cleveland, and Cleveland, by the way, is in first place in the AL Central, and you know, just like they always are, they’re just good, right? No matter what happens with their roster, they’re just good. So I do want to acknowledge that, but yeah, go to Fenway, go get a series win.

Nestor Aparicio  50:37

All right, well, I’m hoping that on July 20-first we awaken, and I’m on Boylston, and taking the tea over to Cambridge, and going to Fenway Pack, having some chowder. I told Jen I sort of missed the Legal Seafood that we had in Baltimore, so I want to go to Legal Seafood and get some clam chowder in Boston. I know you got some breakfast ideas in Brookline, I got to get some Santa Po’s pizza by Logan Airport in Boston, but we’re not doing it on this trip because both of these teams stink right now, and the Orioles need to get a little better. Four games under 500 they stink, right? I mean, so I’m

Luke Jones  51:15

not body at work. I won’t say stink because stink belongs to like what the Detroit Tigers have become over the last three weeks, right? Or, but they’re two sub 500 teams, to a fourth, fourth place team and a last place team.

Nestor Aparicio  51:30

Stink, stank, stunk is all I’m saying.

Luke Jones  51:33

Literally, of stink is different than how I would use it, but have at it. It’s fine. Hey, they got to be better. They’re, they’re a sub 500 team.

Nestor Aparicio  51:40

I’ve invested two months of my life in this baseball team. It needs

Luke Jones  51:43

to be better, sure. And they have been better the last 10 days, and I hope that continues.

Nestor Aparicio  51:48

So do I. He’s Luke, I’m Nestor. We’re Dump W S T A M 15 70,000 Baltimore. We don’t bicker too much, not too much. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.