Remembering the shame of striking out back before it was cool

Our resident Florida sportswriter and author from Baltimore Joel Poiley returns to talk Orioles baseball floundering in August and the chase of pennant race that leads to porous defense and double-digit strikeouts most nights. Putting the ball in play here…

The discussion focused on the Orioles remaining in the American League wild-card and pennant race after a strong series in Tampa Bay, and on the factors that could determine whether they reach the postseason.

Playoff Outlook

• Nestor argued the Orioles still have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs, emphasizing that with about 37 games left, they do not need to dominate the league so much as finish ahead of a weak cluster of competitors.
• Both Nestor and Joel framed the upcoming Yankees series at Camden Yards as pivotal because the club is home for six games before a 10-game road trip.
• Joel remained skeptical about a full breakthrough, while agreeing the race is unusually open because multiple contenders have been inconsistent.

On-Field Issues

• Joel cited recurring problems with defense, bullpen reliability, and pitcher workload. He pointed to Coby Mayo missing a key play, questioned confidence in Yennier Cano, and noted that relievers repeatedly escape jams in high-stress situations.
• The two discussed concerns about starters such as Brandon Young, Bradish, Boz, and Rodgers, especially around innings limits, health, and declining command late in the season.
• Offensive optimism centered on Gunnar Henderson swinging better, Holliday looking more competitive, Westburg being missed, and useful contributions from players such as Tyler O’Neill and Encarnacion-Strand.

Baseball Context

• Joel emphasized that teams like the Rays win by putting the ball in play, bunting, and executing situational offense, contrasting that with the Orioles’ heavy strikeout tendencies.
• The conversation broadened to the value of simply reaching the postseason in the current format, with references to Texas making a late run in a prior season.
• An open question remained: can the Orioles get enough consistent pitching and contact hitting over the final stretch to convert a mediocre but open race into a playoff berth?

Labor Questions

• The discussion briefly shifted to MLB labor issues, including the possibility of a future work stoppage, the limits of the current wild-card structure as a form of competitive balance, and the longstanding gap between high-spending clubs like the Yankees and Dodgers and lower-spending clubs such as the Rays and Pirates.
• Another unresolved question was whether MLB ownership would ever accept stronger payroll constraints tied to a more balanced competitive system.

• Remind Rick Vaughn about the lost 1992 print-vs-broadcast media game videotape and encourage him to help locate or share it.
• Call Mark Karol Kowski and invite him to appear on the show, and also invite Johnny Rallo to participate if possible. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Host Ron and Max on the upcoming Maryland Crab Cake Tour episode at Koco’s next week. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Continue hosting this week’s Fishmonger’s Daughter segment and other planned shows featuring guests such as Bill Cole, Damian Hawn, Alan McCallum, and Luke. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Write an article reflecting on O.J. Brigance’s legacy and impact on Baltimore sports. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Orioles Playoff Race

• Discussion centered on whether the Orioles are still a real contender in the American League playoff race.
• Nestor argued they have more than a token chance because the field behind the leaders has been inconsistent.
• The upcoming home series against the Yankees was presented as a major test before a longer road stretch.

Recent Rays Series

• The Orioles were credited with playing strong baseball in Tampa Bay and nearly sweeping the Rays.
• Joel said the series also exposed familiar weaknesses despite the competitiveness.
• The Rays were described as a team that still executes small-ball fundamentals effectively.

Pitching and Bullpen Concerns

• Brandon Young’s rough outing and comments about being hurt raised concern.
• Joel questioned the reliability of Yennier Cano and the broader bullpen, describing too many high-wire escapes.
• Starters including Boz, Bradish, and Rodgers were discussed in the context of fatigue, command, and innings limits.

Defense and Lineup Evaluation

• Coby Mayo’s missed play at first base was cited as a costly defensive lapse.
• Gunnar Henderson, Holliday, Westburg, Tyler O’Neill, and Encarnacion-Strand were discussed as important offensive variables.
• The hosts contrasted home-run power with the need for more contact, bunting, and productive situational hitting.

Broader Baseball Issues

• The conversation expanded to Hall of Fame debates, steroid-era legacies, and the omission of Tommy John.
• They also discussed possible future MLB labor conflict and the structural imbalance between large-market and small-market teams.
• The expanded playoff format was described as both better theater and a system that rewards mediocrity while keeping more teams relevant late in the season.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call it Baltimore positive. We’re positively out on the Crab Cake Trail this week. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. We’ll have the Kiss Face Ravens scratch offs in the Maryland Lottery. We’ll have a fishmonger’s daughter on Wednesday. I’ll be joined by Bill Cole over there, Damian Haunt’s going to come by, and our old pal Dennis Collazo is going to come by, talk some football and some leadership with us. It is all brought to you by GBMC, leading the market, trying to keep me healthy. Not an easy job. I’ve been eating some ice cream lately, but also hitting the hot yoga mat. Thank you, Planet Fitness. Also, our friends at Farnin and Dermer that have kept me very very comfortable even this week when I’ve been talking about O.J. Brigantz and football players and stuff. No crying over baseball. Not certainly with the Yankees in town and the Orioles in this in the midst of this real pennant race that Joe Poyley wrote to me and sassed me and shamed me on Friday as the Orioles arrived in Tampa before they came three chances from sweeping them on Monday night. It has been a busy time here, and you know I um I’ve shed some tears. I um if I’m if I’m snotty in this segment, Luke and I got going on O.J. Brigants, and it’s one of the reasons I can’t like get after it with Bonnie Downing or or Mike Gath again, or call around to people I know who knew O.J. Drew Van Landy. I’m I’m gonna give myself Ray Lewis always called it the 24-hour rule. 24 hours after the game, you know. I need a little 24-hour rule because I’m not there yet. But I’ve been writing about it. You know, you wrote this incredible book on Tom Mattie, and you know, the day we lost him, there was a viral story that I told about him coming to me at the front desk in front of Tony Lekus and telling, saying to me, “Hey, you know, I’m I’m here to help people. And my God, what these Joe Irman, what these men, these mighty men-not like John Harbaugh, but what these mighty men did in this town and Brooks Robinson. It was Boop Pal’s birthday the other day. It pisses me off when I see that the Orioles mistreat Jim Palmer. But nonetheless, you know it’s why we love sports, right, Joel?

Joel Poiley 2:12
Oh, there’s no question about it, man. Hey, I was sad to see you know Tommy John go. You know, oh, there

Nestor Aparicio 2:19
you go, right?

Joel Poiley 2:20
Well, we were talking about the Hall of Fame the last time I was on. Excuse me. How the hell is he not in the Hall of Fame?

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Nestor Aparicio 2:28
He’s famous. There’s no doubt about that, right?

Joel Poiley 2:30
27 years pitching, 288 wins. I mean, the surgery was Doctor Job. I mean, it’s just named after Tommy, but that’s an injustice as far as that goes. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 2:43
the fact that these guys die, and you know, Harold Baines has had some health challenges, and and and I’ll make a case either way, you know, for him. And my last name’s Aparicio, and Joel, man, back in our day when you were a sports writer here in the ’80s, and I was coming on to radio in the ’90s here, this was 365 arguing about Pete Rose or arguing about you know after the drugs happened in 98 with McGuire and Sosa and Palmeiro and just down the list of who didn’t who didn’t and A Rod and Barry Bonds, like I would just say to you the Hall of Fame thing it’s become so convoluted for me that unless I’m with somebody a year or two older than me, like you, that I can discuss it with, I don’t even know that it’s a discussion now, right? Like Bonds isn’t in, Clemens isn’t in. What you know that it’s I don’t even know, and and Tommy John’s not into your point. The guys who didn’t drug.

Joel Poiley 3:39
Yeah, I mean, I know we were going to talk about the O’s, but it’s look those. It’s proven those guys were cheaters, and they denied it for so long, and they’re still denying it. I mean, Bonds would. I was yelling at

Nestor Aparicio 3:51
Brady Anderson. He’s in the dugout last week for the Angels. He’s their hitting coach, and I wasn’t yelling at him about that. But I mean, if he sat in front of me, he’d look me in the eye and swear to me he was the only clean one.

Joel Poiley 4:02
I interviewed him the year before he hit 50 jacks, and the year after during spring training down here. I mean, you look at these guys, and you know they did something. And then plus the fact that the year after he hit 50, would he hit 18? I mean, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio 4:20
I I had a full-on, and I could bring John Maroon into this. I could bring Rick Vaughn into this. I could bring Charlie Steinberg. They were the PR directors during all that era of the ’90s when I was around all of this. Mike Flanagan, God rest his soul, said many, many, many, many things to me about people in the organization over drinks at Michael’s Cafe up across from Costas and Timonium, and in our private time together, and my friendship with Mike, that of that era and the steroid era and all that it was and is that made baseball that era. But the Hall of Fame, it’s just a mess, and you know Mike. Doesn’t by the way, I know you know this because you’re an old fart and you know baseball. He’s the oldest living Hall of Famer, the oldest living Hall of Famers, Luis Aparicio. So, and I love having old baseball heads on like you, dude. You text me last Friday and you’re like, if I read it right now, I’ll embarrass your ass right now. Don’t throw that bolt. Yeah, I will because you said I was getting soft. I was too soft on the Orange. Yeah, but

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Joel Poiley 5:23
you said I said you were on crack. But we’re having fun with it. What’d you say I was

Nestor Aparicio 5:29
on?

Joel Poiley 5:30
No, all I said was you’re ruining your reputation as nasty Nestor because you really thought they still had a shot at the pennant race. They still

Nestor Aparicio 5:39
have a shot at the pennant race. I did not ruin my reputation. Take that back.

Joel Poiley 5:43
Well, they were coming off those two lousy series and against Texas and Minnesota. Look, I thought they’d either get swept or lose three out of four down here, so they shocked. They caught them the whole

Nestor Aparicio 5:54
broken Zephyrs. They almost swept the best team in the American League.

Joel Poiley 5:57
I know, I know. But see, this series again proved that it’s so weird. If I was Chuck Thompson, you know, I would say you know it’s just a wild and wooly, wacky wild card race. But even Tampa, not. I mean, they’re beatable. All these teams are beatable, but the O’s played very well. I mean, I was at. You got to get

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Nestor Aparicio 6:21
good pitching, timely hitting. All those Earl Weaver things, man, right?

Joel Poiley 6:25
Yeah, I was at the game last night. I was going to

Nestor Aparicio 6:27
ask if you went. Okay, so this is a little. Joe Poily is my guest. If you don’t know him, he’s the Tom Mattie author. He is a Baltimorean by you know until he left here 40 years ago, never came back. Hold the book up. Tell everybody about Last Man Standing. Go ahead. Promote the book. All

Joel Poiley 6:42
right. Now I talked about before. You know, came out a couple years ago, but it’s about Tom Maddie’s life and all his connections with people in Baltimore. A lot of familiar names. I saw something on a Facebook post the other day. People still remember him, you know. And people were talking about like the grittiest players in NFL history, and they named Tom like one of the top 10. So people still we just lost Sam

Nestor Aparicio 7:09
Lamanti a couple weeks ago from the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation. You know, I can’t think of OJ Brigantz without thinking about the word courage and what courage would mean. You know, Tom stood tall at and and his life as a former Colt and O.J. Brigantz and all these people we talked. I mean, Harry Swain and I connected the other day on some texts back and forth because he’s not really following football in that way. He’s a man of God, and you know, and I I I saw him during the the anniversary. We’re now on our 25th anniversary of the Ravens’ first Super Bowl win, of which OJ was a part of. I mean, these legacies and how it ties together, and even OJ being a stallion and Tom Maddie being the voice of the stallions, right? Like had a ring, the whole deal with Bruce Cunningham. So he wore that Gray Cup ring. I remember seeing it. So listen, I I’m I’m here to tell these stories about these people. There’s never a bad time, but you’re a beauty because, like, you moved down to Florida. You you went into sports for life. You’re a sports writer. You’ve written books, and you’re down there. And I’m thinking the Orioles are down there, and you’re an Oriole nerd. And I’m thinking, did you get in the car and drive into St. Pete? And you live like north, right? You live up north of Tampa, so it’s a not a day trip, but it’s an it’s a buck 15 from your house in bad traffic, right?

Joel Poiley 8:26
Yeah, it’s close to an hour, no question. And I went with a couple other guys, good friends down here, and they’re they’re from other places. But they’re not Orioles

Nestor Aparicio 8:36
guys; they’re just baseball guys.

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Joel Poiley 8:38
Well, one of them is kind of. He grew up in Washington, and he went to a lot of games at Memorial and Camden. The other guys from Brooklyn, but they’ve become Rays fans, but great baseball fans. We had a great time. But I’m your intrepid reporter to report on what I saw last night. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 8:55
you saw a hell of bad start by Brandon Young, but keep well. A

Joel Poiley 8:58
couple things, just about the game in general, it reminded me though of why I still don’t think they’re going to make it, because you saw the bad defense rear its ugly head in that seventh inning. That ball that Mayo missed, and everybody’s saying Alonzo would have had. Mayo just has bad hands. I mean, yeah, he had to die for it, but that should have been made as an out. And we can talk about Cano, and I’ll get to him in a minute because I don’t have a lot of confidence in him. But you mentioned Young. I think that’s something with these 37 games left. We really have to watch because Boz’s last start wasn’t good. I heard after the game that Young said he’s hurting. These guys are reach. They’ve been great. They’ve kept us in this race, but if you want to call it a race, but they’re all reaching their innings limits. Bradish hasn’t pitched this much, and. Sure, Luke has brought this up since 23, and now 37 games left. They are all important now, so that’s something we really have to watch. And and these next

Nestor Aparicio 10:10
six are the biggest of the year, right? Yeah, I mean the

Joel Poiley 10:12
bullpen’s getting overused, but I mean here’s my take on Cano. I know he’s had a comeback year, and you know he’s gotten that sinker to dip more in the zone. I don’t like his demeanor. He he gets when he comes in in close games or the ninth inning, he gets that deer in the headlights look. I have a good friend up there, great baseball fan, lifelong friend. His name’s Larry Rooner, the best pitcher nobody ever heard of. And Larry texted me during because he knew I was at the game last night. When he saw Cano coming in, he said, “I have no confidence in Cano, and and he didn’t even get anybody out. He hits Diaz with a one-two count, and talking about our pen, I know they’ve been good, and I know you know they’re ranked pretty high in league numbers, but they remind me of like the great Houdini or the Flying Walenda. These high wire death defying acts. They come in, they walk a guy, they hit a guy, they go three zero on the first guy with the bases loaded. They Rico Garcia. I mean, they’ve wiggled out of a lot of jams, but I don’t have a lot of confidence in those guys either. So it’s too bad because they could have won last night’s game, but between the bullpen, Young, and the bad defense, but I will say this, and I’ve said this all year, they have a lot of fight. The guys in that clubhouse believe in them a hell of a lot more than the rest of us. Well, the

Nestor Aparicio 11:42
Alonzo thing. I mean, you were at the game. I don’t know if you could see into their dugout from wherever you were sitting with the 5900 people that were there. But Alonso had a lot of a lot of pepper, a lot of energy, and more than the broadcast, which is Brian Robertson, you know, whatever. But you know, for me at this point, for them coming home, and this is what I said to Luke: tickets are 20 bucks, give or take 25 bucks. The Yankees are in town, readily available. Looks like the weather’s going to be pretty decent.

Joel Poiley 12:09
School’s still out. School.

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Nestor Aparicio 12:10
Well, kids are going back to school a little bit, but yeah, I hear you a little bit. But either way, I’m I’m of the mindset for them that this is this 40-game sprint. There’s like 3736, games left when people hear this, as to whether they’re going to be 24 and 12 and go to the playoffs, or whether they’re going to be 20 and 16 and play around to be let somebody else go 21 and 15, or whatever, they need to be the team. You don’t need to catch fire here. You don’t need to play 800 ball. You’re not catching five teams. You’re trying to stay ahead of five teams that haven’t been able to stay ahead of themselves over 135 games here already, right? So, as we’re getting into this stretch run, it really is about tonight, and it really is about a depleted Yankees team that’s coming in with pitching, and it’s about the how Boz looks at the next start, how Rodgers looks the next start, how Bradish is. You know, Bradish getting away with not throwing a lot of strikes. All these guys are trending a little bit down from the pitching standpoint. To your point, but Henderson’s hitting the ball. Holiday doesn’t look like a little leaguer. Basalio’s coming back. I mean, Kozler’s hitting the ball a little bit. O’Neill, when given the opportunity, has been hit the ball. The Encarnacion Strand guy that’s been here a week and a half has been good enough. So, look, it is a race to the bottom, and you know, or Luke calls it the race of the undead. They just need to. It’s about Gunner Henderson, about Pete Alonza. This is about Bradish and Rodgers. This is about the guys that we, you, and me that are here and Luke talked about all last off season as the key guys. And Westberg aside, and whatever I thought of Efflin and Albazzi’s coming back, whatever you thought of the bullpen and what the money they were going to spend on you know buying Hellsley and all that. Forget all that. Where they are right now facing a Yankees team that doesn’t have a judge. The Stanton thing, you know, bringing back the pitcher in the first game that hasn’t pitched. But but

Joel Poiley 14:16
this is

Nestor Aparicio 14:17
they have the pedigree to beat up on the Rays the way they did over the weekend, they’ll have that pedigree to beat up again this weekend on them. But you know, on a daily basis, bro, I don’t know, man. I’ve I’ve 35 years into my radio career, we’re gonna celebrate with some rock and roll, and and 28 years into having the station, there have not been a lot of August 18, 19, 20s around here, where I could open the phone lines and take phone calls, or have someone like you on and say, “There’s a game down at Camden Yards tonight,

Joel Poiley 14:50
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 14:51
and the playoffs are at stake, and the Yankees are in town, and the sun is shining.

Joel Poiley 14:54
Right

Nestor Aparicio 14:55
now, that’s not the strike or the off season or the water. Down of the wild card, or the watering down a bit, like any, or your complaints with their defense, or my com, or their fundamentals, or like any, I’ll hear all of that. But if you’re into this, if you’re into baseball, and you’ve waited your whole life for them to make any sort of run, you got to make the playoffs. And I don’t want to do if you’re saying they’ve got a chance. Yeah, I mean they got it’s better than a chance.

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Joel Poiley 15:24
Fans out there, if you’re ever going to come back and invest in this team, if you quit on them in June, like I don’t need to

Nestor Aparicio 15:33
sell tickets for them, but I, but I, but I’m just I’m thinking of going Wednesday night. You know, I am.

Joel Poiley 15:39
Yeah, I’m. I’m just saying. They gave

Nestor Aparicio 15:40
me a ticket. I’d go probably. This

Joel Poiley 15:42
is it. You know, they’re home for six games, and they go back out on the road for 10. So, I’m I’m not pimping. You know, going the Orioles. But if you enjoy, if you want to call this a pennant race, or

Nestor Aparicio 15:56
they’ve given you reason to put the game on the

Joel Poiley 15:58
chase, go down there and enjoy some hopefully competitive baseball. Couple things you were talking about music.

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Nestor Aparicio 16:04
635, by the way. Next three nights, by the way, and the weekend game. Even on Saturdays and night game, they got. Yeah, I don’t know if you heard. Vanilla Ice is coming to town this week. So,

Joel Poiley 16:13
well, it was interesting this weekend. The only good crowd the Rays had was when they had a concert after the game Saturday night. I mean, there were 10,000 people there last night, but if you would listen to the Rays post game show, they made that win over the pesky Orioles like it was a playoff win. I mean, there’s they’re scared of the Orioles, and the Orioles came in there, you know, limping like they usually do. But I love the reference you have. What do you call it? The race to the bottom of the top. I’m going to give you a musical reference. I’m calling the wild card chase the Grateful Dead. They’re all basically somnamulant most of the season, but they’re grateful to be in the in the yeah. But then they got to

Nestor Aparicio 16:54
get three pitchers lined up and go play some baseball, right? Like and and and whoever the team is, and I can predict this because I’ve done this. They’ll be the hot team. Whoever the team is that gets in there will have played decent enough baseball to get there. Whatever the fist.

Joel Poiley 17:09
Before the race series, I would have said 20 and 17. Well, back then it would have been 40 games, but now 20 and 17 would not have been reasonable. But you’re right. If they can hit the ball,

Nestor Aparicio 17:23
I still don’t believe 81 or 82 is going to win it. I believe it’s going to be 84, 85. I think some team’s going to win. Somebody’s going to play 625 ball the next one of these six teams is going to play good enough ball to be five seven games over through the body of this to get the three or four over. That that’s how I see it.

Joel Poiley 17:41
All right, I did a little reporting on this in the wild card era. In a full season, there’s never been a team that was under 500. The worst team was San Diego in 80, not 82, 2005. They finished 82 and 80, and then they got swept by St. Louis in the first round. In shortened seasons like COVID, the 81 strike, some other strike seasons. Yeah, some teams made the playoffs with below 500 records. But

Nestor Aparicio 18:14
correct me if I’m wrong, but that might have been a one-game playoff, though. No.

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Joel Poiley 18:18
Well,

Nestor Aparicio 18:19
I’m just saying, like you have more of an opportunity when you get in now. In the same way, if you win too much, you get that crazy buy, and then you don’t play, and it kind of screws up your whole baseball bio rhythm. So, and we’ve been on all sides of that. I mean, the Orioles have been in those play play in games, the Zach Britton game, the game down in Texas. I mean, that you know that that was exciting. That one game playoff thing was very exciting. Remember Randy Johnson? I mean, Seattle played like Anaheim or something in a big, yeah, big game. You know, one game playoff kind of neato, right? I don’t know. You you get into this new tournament. There’s a lot of validity to try to get in, and it’s the same validity, Joe Poyley that I would have made two and a half weeks ago when I would have said this is why you quote unquote don’t deal Rutschman because you don’t want to quit on a season where you really have a chance like not a fake chance not we’re six games back five teams in front of us you know we’re gonna deal Scouble whatever at Tigers and look at what they’re doing but I’m just saying. In a flat world, you would look at this and say, “We have a chance. Let’s go for it. And they do have a chance. And I’m not. And as much as you gave me a hard time calling me reputation and whatnot, it was this Zephyrs. I, I, there, the chances are better than that. And I’m going to play along with the fact that they can be a playoff team.

Joel Poiley 19:42
Now, my old high school coach Dave Wright. Every time we we botched a play in the field and played terrible, he called us the Hoboken Zephyrs. So that was that was the reference. But

Nestor Aparicio 19:53
who did they play? Were they playing the Max Packin All Stars or?

Joel Poiley 19:56
Yes, yes. I figured you’d know what. Talking about the race is so crazy, Nestor. I mean, the a couple days ago when the Orioles finally got into that third and final spot, every other team lost that night except Seattle won the final game of the night. So it’s weird because you think you’re battling with seven teams and it’s going to be hard to to jump over them. The Orioles jumped over everybody by winning three in a row in three days. So it is. It’s wide open, and you’re right. If you’re hot going in, look at Texas. A couple years ago, they they were pretty much out of the race with what two weeks to go. They barely scraped in on the last day or next to last day, and they go on a run and win it all. So, you know, get there as you’ve been saying. That’s the key to this thing.

Nestor Aparicio 20:48
Joe Pointley is here. We like talking baseball and football. He is the author of a a Tom Maddie book. We were talking a little about O.J. Brigantz and the playoff race and and where we are. You know, I haven’t talked to you much about this, and I know like you’re you’re an old head about baseball the the work stoppage part of this and how the trading deadline was impacted by that in regard to like me being able to say they’re going to get more tread out of these younger players if there’s a work stoppage and the Red Sox are going to get out of Ruchman let alone the 30 million bucks let alone whatever the event let alone that he didn’t want to be here, and you know, per all the things we’ve talked about,

Joel Poiley 21:24
it is

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Nestor Aparicio 21:25
an amazing thing. And I wrote this, and my buddy Matt Gallagher, who once ran the city government and then the state government along with Martin O’Malley, wrote that it’s you know it’s a principle addition by subtraction. Yeah, basic management. In some cases, it has been a fascinating thing for them, the Tigers and others, that we play the trading deadline up so much. But I guess historically, I mean, I’m going back 40 years, you and me, with this.

Joel Poiley 21:49
Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 21:50
how many times do those things have the kind of impact on a 25 man roster over 60 days to really drive a team or to make a difference? You wind up having guys like Encarnacion Strand, you know these sort of edge of the roster Steve Pearce kind of guys wind up making more Blaze Alexander or something, making more of an impact Todd Cruz 43 years later than you think, right?

Joel Poiley 22:18
I mean Andrew Miller was a good pickup by Duquette. I mean, we were already in pretty much in because that was what 14. But I don’t know that we would have beaten Detroit in that first series because he saved all three of those games, and that was too bad that we couldn’t keep him around. But I’m with you. It’s it’s the guys you have to have. And look, I was watching real intently last night, and these are a couple things I saw. I mean, I know Elias, you know, loves his high draft picks. I mean, Mayo has light tower power, man. I mean, everybody’s oohing and awing. Hit that ball 468 feet, but he has such a violent swing. Another reason the Rays won that game-they put the ball in play. They bunted. They played some small ball. I was

Nestor Aparicio 23:06
going to say, dude, that bunt.

Joel Poiley 23:08
Oh,

Nestor Aparicio 23:09
I almost texted you when that bunt happened. I knew you were at the game, but I’m thinking this is what we’re talking about. That like, I almost statused and said anybody can hit a home run in Major League Baseball. Show me a dude that can bunt like that. That was a bunt.

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Joel Poiley 23:25
And well, and said is, and he struck out I think two or three times, but he laid down a bunt. But the thing about buntness is they are slump busters. When you’re not hitting, if you can bunt, lay one down and get a base hit, get on base, help your team, and you know boost your average a little bit. But what I’m getting at is, I haven’t seen a guy swing as violently as Mayo since Mike Epstein. Now you’ll remember him, but he

Nestor Aparicio 23:54
twisted himself into the dirt. Reggie,

Joel Poiley 23:57
I my dad used to get tickets from his company sitting behind the visiting teams on deck circle at Memorial, he would swing so violently he’d slam the bat into his back, and you hear him grunt. That’s what Mayo reminds me of. That’s why he can still get beat on high inside fastballs. He still got that little hitch in his swing when he can get his hands moving. You can see the damage he can do. But put the ball in play. It’s like Mayo, not Mayo, like Holliday. You know, I’ve been cranking on him all year about his swing. It looked even more violent in person, long and and winding. And he comes up in two critical situations last night, where one he grounded out, and then the other one he struck out. I guess it was against Baker. And dude, just put the ball in play. Good things can happen. You can hit. Look what happened with a Caminero. Caminero had like two seeing eye 70 foot rollers in these games. There was. Those are the games the Orioles won, but he tied the game I think Saturday with one of those. Just hit the ball. Just you know, it’s amazing

Nestor Aparicio 25:07
watching these Rays guys play. They’re in town this weekend. The tickets are out there, and you go see Fenella Ice, see all the 90 stars, whatnot. They’re more exciting to watch, you know. And these the first three guys in their batting order, Caminera, you mentioned, like

Joel Poiley 25:21
Diaz.

Nestor Aparicio 25:22
Forget the jerseys that the Yankees are going to wear. That you know are the same ones with Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle and whatnot. Derek Jeter, whoever your heroes are of the day. I mentioned Reggie already. Not my hero, but nonetheless, you know that’s a formidable bunch. There’s a reason they’re in first place, and those guys hit professional hitters, as you know. We I would say all of them.

Joel Poiley 25:44
Their top five’s pretty good. I mean, that guy Aranda. You don’t know a lot about him. 287, 16 homers, 80 like 87 ribbies. Can you imagine

8

Nestor Aparicio 25:55
that kind of productivity at a Rutchman or even at a Gunner right now? I mean, like you take out of out of Taylor Ward, I mean, these are the kind of number. Be Tyler O’Neill. If any of those guys had that kind of number, 285 pushing up on 2025 home runs this year, you know, Pete Alonso’s got to be better than that, and he has been. I think Gunner has to be better than than he’s like where we are. But in a general sense, that’s where they wanted Westburg to be. That’s where they want Holiday, right? They have that kind of productivity in August, and that’s why they’re playing 600 ball, right?

Joel Poiley 26:30
Well, it’s like we they really have missed Westberg because he was one of their best clutch hitters. But you brought up Gunner, and everybody down here, you know, looks at Gunner because he destroys the raise. He destroy, and I’m sure everybody knows the numbers up there. He made a nice

Nestor Aparicio 26:45
defensive play on that double play.

Joel Poiley 26:47
That was a hell of a play. He smiled

Nestor Aparicio 26:49
at himself. I don’t know if you saw that on the replay, but he gave himself a wow. Look at what I did. He showed

Joel Poiley 26:55
it on the board. Sometimes I do

Nestor Aparicio 26:57
that only once or twice a year.

8

Joel Poiley 26:59
I told you usually in a

Nestor Aparicio 27:00
yoga class, you know, I I get in the I’m like, man, look at that, you know, woo, you know, I I celebrate that, you know, I get in the yeah, that was in a drinking bird or something, woo, yeah, that

Joel Poiley 27:12
was one of the plays of the year for me. I told the two cats I was with, I said, if the Orioles win, that might have saved the game. That was a sweet play, but as far as his bat, everybody down here looks at him and says, “God, Gunner’s an all-star. And I had to pump the brakes. I said, “Yeah, and he’s the reason why they’re three games under 500 and are struggling to stay in this race. And they said, “What are you talking about? I said, “You see a couple of games here, but he hasn’t played well, and he really hasn’t fielded that well. He hasn’t run the bases that well, but he can’t if he can just like get up to 250. He looked good. I didn’t see him over swinging. I was watching his demeanor. He got mad when he struck out last night because just before he struck out, he hit a long foul ball to right field. It would have been I think like three run dinger maybe. It was an entertaining game. You’re right, and the Rays are fun to watch because they do all the things that you need to do. It’s like Milwaukee, you know, last in the majors in home runs, but first with hitting with runners in scoring position. Well, the Yankees

Nestor Aparicio 28:20
are going to be boring because they’re going to pitch well.

Joel Poiley 28:21
Yeah, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 28:22
And and these guys are probably going to strike out 1214, times a night if they’re going to lose. If they’re going to win, it’s going to be because they’re not striking out. It’s going to be because they’re hitting doubles and home runs.

Joel Poiley 28:32
Although they struck out 15 times, I think Saturday night they struck out 10 times last night. Dude, we’re

8

Nestor Aparicio 28:39
saying like old farts, you and me, like get off my lawn, this strikeout thing. Yeah, I mean they embrace this. I I’ll never understand the, and I never told this story. And I’ll leave you with this because I like telling my little league stories because it’s the pinnacle. You know, I wanted every level except college and pro, Joel. But you know, in my little league, I remember playing in Berkshire Little League, probably the last year I ever played, so probably was like 1213, Probably played six years of little league. Johnny Rallo, I played Mark Carroll Kasky, very serious league at Eastwood. I mean, big house league, travel league. Berkshire was more laid back, more neighborhood, more community. We didn’t have a league in Colgate in my neighborhood, so we went over to Berkshire. Eastwood did too, and I remember the year that the last year I played, I prided myself on never striking out. I loved Rod Carew, and when I had him on, I batted like Rod Carew. I batted lead off most of the time. I was a catcher, and I never struck out. So like whatever at bats, I would have 40, 5060, at bats in a season. Whatever, whatever we play, 10 games times two, and I get three, four at bats. Maybe get 70 or 80 at bats a year. My dad would keep the box scores. I found one of them. My my son found

Joel Poiley 29:51
that’s great. My

Nestor Aparicio 29:52
little league. I put it up for my Eastwood Little League guys. I sent it over to Rallo. I can find it. I can tell you what I was hitting, and this was. More when I was 10 or 11, but I never liked to strike out. Like I never like to fail. Like in a general sense, had a big. Ask Stan Charles when you see him how I was wired when I was 23. Ask anybody. I mean, competitive ML doesn’t begin to express what these what I let these, the shit these young people get away with. To be honest with you, a saying about me on the internet, like I would have fought with every one of them 30 years ago, but I’m older than that now, right?

Joel Poiley 30:30
Right.

Nestor Aparicio 30:30
But in a general sense, I didn’t like losing, and I hated striking out, playing baseball. Hated it. Hated double faulting when I when I played tennis. I was very demonstrative bowling. If I had a gutter ball, you know, on a spare break, I’d lose my mind. My my like literally ask ask anybody that competed with me when I was a kid because I was little and I was fat and I was slow, but I tried hard and you know whatever.

Joel Poiley 30:58
Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 30:58
But Joel,

8

Joel Poiley 31:00
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 31:00
never struck out. Like you know what I mean. Like when I say never, I mean like I struck out one time in the Berkshire Little League in the the last year I was there. Like maybe once or twice, and it bothered me that I struck out. Like bothered when the bat went through the zone, and I swung and I missed and it was like the mighty Casey. The it crushed me, and I’m telling you, I’m gonna find my little league stats. And I’m not lying to you. If I struck out five times in a year, it was a lot. But I tried to go the whole like some kids, and this was not me at all. Wanted perfect attendance. Remember at the end of the year, the assembly they call little Sally up. It was always Unyoung Lee in our class because they, the Asian folks, like that was a part of going. They had to go to school every day. So like in my school, they got perfect attendance. Like I think UnYoung may had all six years of my my elementary. I don’t think she ever missed a day of school, but I didn’t mind missing school, striking out. No, no, no, no, no, no. We didn’t do that. So I’m. I don’t think I’ve ever been on this barrage on the air, even telling this story. But that’s true as I’m sitting here right now. That I hated striking out, and I made sure I never did it.

Joel Poiley 32:15
I have a couple of addendums to that. And I’m still.

Nestor Aparicio 32:19
I’m still obviously very connected to my little league experience.

Joel Poiley 32:24
I told this story before, but Kenny Singleton said that when they used to strike out and they had to walk back to the dugout, especially when they took third a third strike, which Ken didn’t do very often, they couldn’t look Weaver in the eye. I mean, that’s how much not striking out was important to them. A couple things in my two years of high school, I struck out four times. So there you go. I and I was kind of the same kind of guy. I’m 581 40. I was a basic leadoff guy. Put the ball in play, make something happen. It’s a point of pride, you know. But it’s not the way the game is now, and we have to adjust to that. And that it’s sad; it really is, because that’s why to me the game isn’t as good.

Nestor Aparicio 33:08
It was crazy when my kid was looking through the house I grew up in and found my dad’s handwriting, and they were the Eastwood stats from the summer of 1978 or 79. And I hit, and Carol Kasky was batting like 529 or you know what I mean like at that point in the season he was 13 for 23 or something with four home runs. Meanwhile, I probably was hitting 380 with yeah you know I threw a lot of walks you know because nobody could find the strike zone and I didn’t like swinging I didn’t like swinging at pitches where I couldn’t hit the ball. If I couldn’t own the ball, I wasn’t swinging at it, you know. But

Joel Poiley 33:46
it is-it’s

8

Nestor Aparicio 33:47
crazy you would bring this up because my two most famous childhood stories are striking out to Richie Pack with the bases loaded, and it was a call third strike, and then Frank Robinson. Did you hear my Kirkchin piece?

Joel Poiley 34:03
Yeah, I watched. Kirkchin

Nestor Aparicio 34:04
was in the game. Peter Schmuck stood me out to lead the game off on a three-two pitch. Vaughn Rick Vaughn has the videotape, dude. You, if listen,

Speaker 1 34:19
this is

Nestor Aparicio 34:19
important. If Vaughn, I’m I’m being serious with you, okay? Can I give you some homework? Tell everybody about Burns Steakhouse.

Joel Poiley 34:28
Well, it’s considered one of the top steakhouses in the country. Would I love

Nestor Aparicio 34:32
to take you to dinner at Burns Steakhouse?

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Joel Poiley 34:34
Highbrow. Would I buy

Nestor Aparicio 34:36
you dinner at Burns Steakhouse if I liked you?

Joel Poiley 34:39
Hell yes. Okay, and if I did that, would

Nestor Aparicio 34:41
that be a big night out for you and me?

Joel Poiley 34:43
Yeah, it’s it’s known too because you can take a tour of the place, and they show you. I’ve done all this. The

Nestor Aparicio 34:48
ice cream room upstairs. I’ve been back, seen the wine.

Joel Poiley 34:50
It’s a special event. If you

8

Nestor Aparicio 34:52
look at the my history at Burns Steakhouse, I won a bet with Papa Joe Chevalier, the late great Papa Joe. Chevalier. It was a Steelers Ravens bet that we made in 2000 or 2001. I won the bet. He owed me a stake. He died. I never got the stake. I’ve been there. Ryan Jensen, when he signed his huge contract with the Buccaneers, when the Capitals were playing the Bolts in the playoffs with Trots. I was down in Tampa. Ryan Jensen and his wife had just made their baby. It was the first time their baby was out of the house. Was with me. Their baby was this. Well, a little bigger than that. They’re bigger people. And this is red hair. This is before Tom Brady. Before he won Super Bowls, he took me to Burns Steakhouse that night. He paid the bill because he got a $55 million contract, the one times a player of that has taken me to dinner, took me to burn. So here’s the deal, and I’m I’m not BSing you. This is serious business. Okay, Mike Flynn came up with the videotape, the lost videotape of the Super Bowl. Took him 17, 1819, whatever many years it was, but I have it.

Joel Poiley 35:59
The

Nestor Aparicio 35:59
lost videotape that I need.

Joel Poiley 36:02
I’m writing this down.

Nestor Aparicio 36:03
Rick Vaughn knows this.

Joel Poiley 36:04
Okay. The

Nestor Aparicio 36:05
internet knows this. If I told my clone, it would know this.

8

Joel Poiley 36:08
Okay.

Nestor Aparicio 36:09
Rick Vaughn has the tape of the baseball game that we played at Camden Yards. It was a media game, Joel. If you were still writing down in PG County, and you were covering the Orioles, or you were at in Westminster,

Joel Poiley 36:23
Carroll County. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 36:24
you would have been in the game. You would like in 1992. Do you know about this game? Do you know about the picture of this game?

Joel Poiley 36:32
Well, I know there were media guys. I I played in one down here. I mean, yeah. See, this

Nestor Aparicio 36:37
didn’t. This was print versus broadcast 1992, and Schmuck was the pitcher for print. I was a trader. I was a longtime print guy. I had moved to broadcast, right? So I was on the broadcast team with like Stan Charles, Alan Charles, Keith Mills. These guys were on my team, right? Phil Wood was on my team. So we played this game, and it was on the scoreboard. It was professionally shot by the home teams. I think Bill Brown might have been there shooting it, literally, right? Literally, it was on the scoreboard. All of our replays. I made this incredible dive at a play and foul. I played third base that day because Keith played shortstop because Keith was a better athlete. And I mean, Keith was like all city when Cal Ridge. Keith was a hell of an athlete. Don’t let him anybody tell you he was. I remember, but but I made a hell of a play in foul territory. I also hit a double, and and I did I RBI. I knocked in a run, so I want to get the video of this. If if Vaughn gets it, okay, I would insure it, have it mailed here. Towson transfers. You know, Greg Landry would take this thing and digitize it, make it HD if I ask him to. Frank Robinson called balls and strikes from behind the pitcher’s mound and rung me up incredibly demonstratively on a three-two, and I bitched. I yelled at him. I yelled at schmuck, and then I and then I got I I got a knock off him the next time. I’m not gonna run. So I want the video of all of this of these things that were 36 years, 35 years ago now, and I’m willing, not a shtick, to make things right for Papa Joe to know that I got my free meal there, and like Ryan went all in. He was getting the YU. I mean, he was down. I mean, he just signed his deal, made a baby. He loved me, still loves me, and he made a lot more money, so he could afford the $200 he blew on me that night. But I’m going to take you and Vaughnner to Burn Steakhouse if we get the tape. If we get the tape, I just got to get the tape, and I will personally bring it back home and give it so it doesn’t get mailed or anything. But I will fly down, and I will buy dinner. Serious? Don’t get fancy on me. Just get a step. I mean, don’t, don’t.

Joel Poiley 38:57
I got you.

8

Nestor Aparicio 38:58
I mean, I like a bottle of Malbec, but don’t get the ones with the dust on it that are 10 grand. Okay, I mean I’m in for $100 bottle of wine with you guys because I love you. So, but if we can do this, this is the motivation. All right, it’s now the holy grail. It’s missing. All right,

Joel Poiley 39:15
I’ve been trying to get a hold of Rick because I want to do some volunteer work with him. Me too.

Nestor Aparicio 39:20
I told him I would volunteer when I came down.

Joel Poiley 39:22
Yeah. I told him if he

Nestor Aparicio 39:23
found the tape, I would come down and volunteer and help

Joel Poiley 39:26
him. He did. Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 39:27
Okay. Let’s make this a thing. Let’s make this a thing. All right.

8

Joel Poiley 39:30
I’ll remind him definitely.

Nestor Aparicio 39:32
And if we find it this year, I have a companion pass. I can bring my my wife down and see her mother her mother. You know. There you go. Because my mother-in-law lives down there. Let’s make a thing. Come on.

Joel Poiley 39:42
There you go. All right. Get bonner on it. Burns is a famous place. All right. So

Nestor Aparicio 39:47
that’s that. That’s me, and that’s the importance of my little league and my practical experience. I struck out on this videotape. Peter Schmuck struck me out. I want to see. Frank’s dead, okay. I want to see if it was really a strike. That’s really what I want to see. And if it was, I’ll take Schmuck to dinner too. All right,

Joel Poiley 40:09
you don’t forget those things. One of the few strikeouts I had in high school, I got called out on a third strike at Howard High my senior year. You never forget. And the damn pitch was a foot out. It was a three-two count with the bases loaded, and the pitch was a foot outside. I’m so

Nestor Aparicio 40:25
glad I told you this story because Luke hates my stories. He’s so bored with me, and I just I’m gonna call Mark Karol Kowski and get him on. This is my high school team at McBuckey. I’ll get get Rallo on too, even though we’re not gonna talk politics. But that’s neither here nor there. But I still love all these guys. They’re they’re

Joel Poiley 40:42
getting back to there’s no

8

Nestor Aparicio 40:43
love like the teammates you had when you were a kid, right?

Joel Poiley 40:46
Oh, I mentioned that guy Larry Runer. One of the reasons I was one of the reasons I was such a good hitter. Larry had the best curveball I’ve ever faced, and we played stick ball summer, and he got me prepared for high school baseball. He should have played, but he wanted to work and get a call. And when I hear from

Nestor Aparicio 41:04
my old buddies Danny McCann and Ray Toscas, and you know the old guys I played ball with, you know the Shennings, Jeff Shenning, and no, it’s fun. Yeah, man, it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful relationship to have the the teams and friendships. So that’s beautiful, man.

Joel Poiley 41:18
Yeah, I just thought something. This goes back to baseball a little bit. You were talking about the strike. I covered the strike, you know, 94 no World Series, and into 95, you know, with Angelos not wanting to play because of Cal’s streak.

Nestor Aparicio 41:36
Chapter four of the Peter Principles, by the way.

Joel Poiley 41:38
Yeah, it’s going to get. I mean, you know more about this than me, but the players were so together back then, and I interviewed a lot of the guys from Tampa McGriff, Boggs, Lance McCullers Sr. The union is not as strong right now, and the owners are going to really hold fast. All I’m saying is this, because we were talking about the game last night because the guys were saying, “Well, what do I do about my season tickets next year? Do I get refunds and all? I said, “You get the first question you have to ask the Rays ticket office is, will you get a refund when there’s no baseball until June or something? But it could get nasty, brother, and that-that’s a feeling. You know, I

Nestor Aparicio 42:18
grew up with Kurt Schilling across the street marrying my best friend in his early days, and I grew up in a locker room with Rick Sutcliffe, Mike Messina, Mike Flanagan. Trying to think of the people around me. Cal didn’t talk about it a lot, but when he did, he knew about it. Brady, all those guys in the ’90s, Mike Devereux, but Jimmy Poole and Mike Messina were the player reps at that time. Obviously, Sutcliffe came from all the, you know, I’ll stick a can of corn in your ear kind of guys, and then being around all of that mess and being on the radio is going to be a real benefit to anybody that listens to me, because I’m going to be bringing the smartest people I can on, and I already have, and Evandrelick, and Mari Brown, and and Eric Fisher and different people that really understand this top down as to what they need and what they don’t need. And look, it’s millionaires and billionaires. And I can take the Curt Schilling line in this, or take the line of Tom Glavine, or any of the you know the Hawks and the and the Doves from back in the day, and just say fundamentally, the Yankees and the Dodgers are playing at a different sport than the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, and it’s and it’s because the system’s been that way for 50 years. And if they want to socialize it, that’s really going to take the Yankees and the Dodgers saying we don’t want to be the the the United States and China anymore. We’re willing to be Switzerland, and I think that that’s something that the NFL owners and all the old Republican guys that got together and decided to be socialists, as Kevin Byrne would always tell me, with Art Modell in a room with all of those guys and Pete Rozelle saying to them, the pie will be bigger for all of us, even though Cincinnati will be a shit show and Arizona will be and the Bidwells will take their franchise and Al Davis will sue us all across the country and all across five states. Whatever’s going to happen, we’re going to make more money if the Green Bay Packers can compete with the with the New York Giants. That we don’t want big bands and opening bands. We don’t want the Harlem Globetrotters and the the Zephyrs. We want everyone to have a chance to win. And the NFL and the NBA and the NHL that have had hard times. I mean, I was out drinking all sorts of Corvasse off the table with Charles Barkley and Mugsy Bogues at the Rio in 1998 and the NBA strike. One of the great stories of my life. Running into those guys and partying with the NBA guys, guys all night in the Thunderdome in the Rio with Mugsy.

8

Joel Poiley 44:40
Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 44:41
Barkley was the greatest guy ever. By the way, if anybody ever says anything that Charles Barkley’s not a great guy, that’s because they didn’t go drinking five hours with him in Vegas the way I did one night. Seriously, but I’m saying like that was the strike for the NBA, and then the NHL a season lost. I mean, me and Kenny Albert go through that all the time, right? Right. But the baseball thing-I mean, this has been the story of our lifetime, where my dad canceled the sporting news in 1981. Over it had no box scores anymore, and then me being without sponsors with a 10-year-old boy with a fledgling AM radio show, Nasty Nestor, Budweiser Sports Forum, where John Dow and George Acton sat over in Winter Distributing, right over by the Kmart in the neighborhood I grew up in in Colgate, and said to me, “Young man, baseball will be back. You know, George with his cigar saying, “We’re going to keep our sponsorship with you. Because I thought I was going to starve because there was no baseball and Joe Smith was going to the NBA. So I mean, and that was five minutes ago to me, but it was 32 years ago. I’ve understood it top down. To me, the real story is how you get these owners that want a salary cap that they’re going to force all of these Marlins and Rays and poorly run Angelo’s outfits to get in line to say you’re going to spend 150, 180 million dollars. You’re going to have to, and you’re going to spend it wisely, and you’re going to tell the Yankees and the Dodgers that they’re not China anymore. And I think that that’s a that’s going to be a very hard concept amongst the owners to accept their own socials.

Joel Poiley 46:14
But but in the meantime, you know, Manfred’s going to point to the fact that look at the wild card races and how that keeps you know 80% of the teams in the race. That is

Nestor Aparicio 46:27
their competitive balance.

Joel Poiley 46:29
Yeah, and it’s that anyone can

Nestor Aparicio 46:31
reach mediocrity.

Joel Poiley 46:32
I was just going to say it’s the epitome of mediocrity. And well, isn’t

8

Nestor Aparicio 46:36
that what March Madness has been forever? We didn’t really think Coppin State was one of the best 64 teams. We put them in. I mean, even though you know, even though they can play with Notre Dame, that’s 17 and 14, and you know, but bring some fans or whatever. I mean, like that’s always been around the edges of all this, letting the 16th team into the Stanley Cup playoffs when there’s 21 teams. You know, I mean, it’s all a hocus pocus business transaction to monetize October. I mean, really, it

Joel Poiley 47:05
is exactly. I mean, it was cool because I went to Umbeck, and that year they knocked off Virginia in the tournament or whatever. But I also go back to the year Maryland with Elmore and McMillan and Lucas didn’t get to the tournament because they lost in triple overtime in the ACC conference final to whoever it was, Duke or what? You know,

Nestor Aparicio 47:24
Joel, I’ll leave you with this. I’ve sat here and pimped this, and you smacked me around, and Luke smacked me around pretty good about this being a pennant race or whatever. You know, they got exactly what they want. They have a bad baseball team, three games under 500, playing a team that has spent $300 million more than them, and every year for the last 40 years has like literally gang tackle China playing Taiwan in pinochle, literally and caring about it, and having all these people come down for all this. And you know what? They’ve hocus pocus this into a pennant race game tonight, and tomorrow, and all weekend, and I’m selling it as such. Even though the diluted part of this, the watered down part of this, is apparent to you and I, it is better theater. And then you know, for that, we’re going to watch games this week that are going to matter. And that’s that’s where they got the hook in our mouth. That’s all.

Joel Poiley 48:20
Well, my good friend Runner, you know, always says hell

Nestor Aparicio 48:24
of a pitcher. I hear.

Joel Poiley 48:25
Oh, he was great, a little league phenom. But he he texted me after they won. I guess Saturday night’s game in extra innings. He said they always suck me in for one more game. If I

Nestor Aparicio 48:37
could just get all my little league goons, Todd Nerwinski, you know, I get some of these guys together. We just bring them all together one night because we all love baseball at one point, right? We got to get our whole lives. I mean, when when mr. Butch would reach in and we had the Yankees, and he’d say, his voice would get real low. He’d say, “Yeah, fellas, it’s a big game. Can’t have you in the pool this afternoon, okay? If you rest, if you have air conditioning, you stay inside. Don’t let your muscles get tight.

8

Joel Poiley 49:07
Right.

Nestor Aparicio 49:08
I’m nine years old, Joel. Okay. You wonder why. Play this segment for Stan Charles, and you’ll wonder why I was the way I was back in the day. Speaking of best of Baltimore awards, by the way, oh yeah, congrats,

Joel Poiley 49:23
brother. Oh yeah, you know

Nestor Aparicio 49:24
what? I’m I’m feeling so, I’m feeling my oats and feeling myself a little bit. I’m gonna have Ron and Max join me next week on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at Koco’s. This is called Payola Plu Gola. They give me an award, I give them crab cakes, but everybody knows I’m in on it. This is my chance to completely annihilate them forever, even thinking of giving me a Best of Baltimore award. Because now I can’t harass them about it anymore. So they’re going to come on the show, and I’m going to have to say, “I told you I was the best in Baltimore the whole time. What you’ve. Finally, what I don’t even know what I’m going to say, but I do have, I have props, I have props. That’s why I’m going to come, I’m going to come with a a dossier of props, including Ravens scratch offs here from the Maryland Lottery. I’m going to have Ravens kiss face birds. Our friends at GBMC put us on the road as well as Farnan and Dermer, they are the comfort guys. 410 367777. I’m wearing my Raskin Global shirt because he loved O.J. Brigantz and supported the Brigants Brigade. Leonard supports a lot of great things around town. It’s one of the reasons I still get along with him, even though he’s a Republican. Sometimes that’s harder than others, and we all and you know what I’m talking about. All of you, you live in Florida, dude. I don’t even need to say anything. So anyway, we will be doing Fishmonger’s Daughter this week with some friends and family. Bill Billy Cole’s going to join us. Damian Hawn’s going to join us. Not Billy Hahn. Dawn, Billy Cole. Close, pretty good though. And also, Alan McCallum’s buzzing around. Luke’s buzzing around. The Orioles are buzzing around. They’re playing at Camden Yards. Their football teams out in Minnesota getting better. Something I don’t know what they’re getting out there. It’s Minnesota. The weather’s got to be better than it is here, at least this time of better, bigger mosquitoes probably if they’re in Minnesota at this time of year. And we lost O.J. Brigants, and I’m a little busted up about it, so I’m not going to talk about it right now. But I am going to write about it. It’s summertime. We’re sort of independent race. We’re a couple

Joel Poiley 51:23
weeks

Nestor Aparicio 51:23
out on football, and I am plotting my 28th anniversary celebration in a rock and roll way. And that’s all I’m going to say because I haven’t made up my mind yet. Back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.