What will neon lights and radiating bats of New York mean for Orioles in The Bronx?

It’s showtime on Broadway for the up-and-down Baltimore Orioles as four games in The Bronx with the Pinestripers will test their mettle for a spring awakening. Luke Jones and Nestor preview the Birds big weekend and a bright lights series with the Yankees in New York. Concrete jungle where dreams are made of…

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance and upcoming series against the Yankees. They highlighted the Orioles’ defensive struggles, particularly in a doubleheader where they committed multiple errors. Craig Albernaz’s management was debated, with Jones noting Albernaz’s lack of influence compared to modern front offices. They emphasized the importance of the upcoming series, with Jones suggesting a split would be a positive outcome. Key players like Taylor Ward, Adley Rutschman, and Jeremiah Jackson were praised for their recent performances. The conversation also touched on the broader context of Orioles’ history and the need for sustained success.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Alibi breakfast at Laurel on the morning of May 14 on behalf of WNSD/Baltimore Positive
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host/appear at Faidley’s event (crab derby/appearance) on May 13 and be present for the public appearance before the Yankees game
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – If the Orioles win the first three games of the Yankees series, call Lock and Forda and invite him to travel to New York (Bronx) with Nestor
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Send a letter to Don Rovack and Katie Griggs outlining perceptions of the franchise and suggested concerns (organizational observations) regarding team direction
• [ ] If the Orioles win three in a row this weekend, consider traveling to New York (Bronx) on Monday to attend the game and coordinate logistics

Orioles’ Recent Games and Defensive Issues

• Nestor Aparicio discusses his recent experiences at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, including attending game one and witnessing a grand slam by Jackson.
• Nestor recalls his father’s criticism of the defense during a game, comparing it to a low-level baseball team.
• Luke Jones mentions Craig Albernaz’s criticism of the defense, noting that the second game of a double header was particularly ugly.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges of managing a double header, with Nestor expressing his lack of opinion on Albernaz based on limited interaction.

Managerial Changes and Historical Context

• Nestor reflects on the recent firings of managers in Boston and Philadelphia, and the potential impact on the Orioles’ management.
• Luke Jones compares the current state of Orioles’ management to historical figures like Joe Maddon and Rick Vaughn, noting the evolution of managerial roles.
• Nestor shares his memories of past managers and their impact on the team, emphasizing the importance of player relationships.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the modern structure of baseball teams, with front offices playing a significant role in player acquisition and strategy.

Orioles’ Front Office and Managerial Influence

• Luke Jones highlights the influence of the front office on team decisions, contrasting it with the more hands-on approach of past managers.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the role of analytics in modern baseball, noting the shift from traditional management to data-driven strategies.
• Luke mentions Joe Maddon’s observation on the modern structure of baseball teams, emphasizing the balance between front office and managerial roles.
• Nestor reflects on the changes in team management over the years, comparing the current approach to past practices under figures like Earl Weaver and Buck Showalter.

Orioles’ Current Performance and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Orioles’ current performance, noting the team’s mediocre record and the impact of injuries on key players.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of the upcoming series against the Yankees, highlighting the need for the Orioles to hold their own and avoid a sweep.
• Nestor expresses optimism about the team’s potential, despite the challenges, and suggests that a strong performance in New York could boost morale.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the importance of key players like Taylor Ward, Adley Rutschman, and Jeremiah Jackson, and their contributions to the team’s success.

Potential for Playoff Contention

• Luke Jones argues that the Orioles’ current record and the mediocre performance of other teams in the American League could still leave them in playoff contention.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for the Orioles to make a strong run in the coming weeks, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a positive attitude.
• Luke highlights the need for the team to stay healthy and avoid significant injuries, which could impact their chances of making the playoffs.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the historical context of the Orioles’ struggles, noting the long period since their last World Series win and the challenges of rebuilding the team.

Upcoming Series and Team Strategy

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming series against the Yankees, emphasizing the importance of key pitchers like Bradish, Boz, and Povich.
• Luke notes the challenges of the Orioles’ current pitching rotation, with several key players on the IL, and the need for strong performances from the remaining starters.
• Nestor expresses his desire to see the team perform well in New York, suggesting that a strong showing could boost morale and set the stage for a successful season.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the potential impact of the series on the team’s overall performance and their chances of making the playoffs.

Personal Reflections and Future Plans

• Nestor shares his personal experiences attending games and interacting with fans, highlighting the importance of community and support for the team.
• Luke and Nestor discuss their plans for attending future games and events, including potential trips to New York and other venues.
• Nestor expresses his hope for a vibrant and engaged fan base, emphasizing the need for the team to perform well and engage with the community.
• Luke and Nestor reflect on the broader implications of the team’s performance, noting the impact on the city and the broader baseball community.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Yankees, double header, defense, Craig Albernaz, pitching, Adley Rutschman, Taylor Ward, Jeremiah Jackson, Yankee Stadium, playoffs, injuries, rotation, Camden Yards, baseball season.

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SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this ship Baltimore positive, and we’re taking that on the road. I’m going to be pizza John’s here this week. You’ll be hearing I don’t hold my Maryland treasures, tickets upside down. Can’t have upside down horses and bridges and crustaceans. I will have these at Planet Fitness in Timonium. On the seventh 13th, we wind up at faidleys at Lexington market before the Yankees play. It’ll be last day of the Yankees. Have seven games. Yikes. And then on the 21st we moved to the fishmonger’s daughter in Catonsville. I’m doing a bunch of shows, even into like June and stuff, because I’m not really going anywhere, kind of landlocked, kind of hanging out watching this baseball season. My wife and I wound up at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the end of game one, the wandering around, which we enjoyed immensely, just sort of wandering around. It’s four seasons at Camden Yards, about 345 on on Thursday afternoon, Luke Jones caught up with me and my wife, which is like, really, like, I don’t know the last time the three of us were in a room together. I mean, sometime 2022 or something like that. But we were at the ballpark, and I sort of got the backside of the the efforts in the afternoon we you know, I caught the grand slam on TV. I caught Jim Palmer eating a wing, and then I caught the second, the Jackson Grand Slam. Like I was sort of in what you would not know is Chinatown, but it was Chinatown back when I was a kid Park Avenue. We were kind of coming into the city, down Maryland Avenue, and I heard the second Grand Slam, and I’m like, we’re missing all the fun. And this is where my dad would have said, like, yeah, save some of those runs for the second game. And then we got down there, and all I saw was, like, the bad news bears version of triple A pitching, double A field. Not even dude went even double A Fielding. Like my dad would have been pissed about that at the Eastwood Little League with Johnny Rollo and Mark Karol Koco’s key back in 1970 in 1978 he would have called that Mr. Butch would have called that unacceptable. The defense that I saw in the first I don’t know, three innings would they kick the ball around six times?

Luke Jones  02:12

Oh, Mr. Butch wasn’t the only one. Craig Albernaz said after the game, he said when he was asked specifically about the defense the second game was just ugly. That’s unacceptable. I know it’s a double header. It’s tough to win one game in the big leagues, never mind two, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win this game. I mean, that was his quote verbatim, and he was right. So, you know, it’s always interesting when you have a double header, because the sequence has a lot to do with how you feel about it, right? I mean, if the Orioles had lost game one, and then what they did in in the first game came

Nestor Aparicio  02:44

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in the one on Saturday didn’t need a double header, it needed some rest.

Luke Jones  02:48

Yeah, yeah, so. But I mean, game one was great, and even the defense I was remarking to a couple other reporters as we were kind of watching the early innings of Game Two, when it was a laugher right off the bat, where I had really thought that their defense through probably the first seven innings, you know, they had a couple defense got a little leaky late when they had a big lead in game one, but first seven innings, that was as as good as the defense has been all year. I mean, they made some really crisp plays, you know, double plays, all kinds of plays where you’d say, hey, that looked pretty good.

Nestor Aparicio  03:25

Hollander was very excited about some of the defensive efforts in the three

Luke Jones  03:30

it was, it looked good. I mean, you know me, I’ve been hard on the defense for a long time. It looked good, and then it didn’t. And to say it wasn’t good after that was an understatement. I mean, it was, it was awful. To your point. I mean, it was very much below the line. And that was, I even asked some of the reporters who covered the Orioles on the road, and I asked, is that as critical as Albernaz has been after a game? And they the consensus was yes. And I think a couple also remarked, this is also the first time he’s been involved in a double header as a manager. So it’s a long day, and when you play that way in the night cap, you’re probably going to be a little crankier than you might be. As I said, if the two the two games had been flipped, I think the the attitude toward a double header split would

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Nestor Aparicio  04:14

have

Nestor Aparicio  04:15

been, I don’t have any opinion on Albernaz Right now, like if anybody were to ask me, I mean, I spent the afternoon at the ballpark. I haven’t met him. I’m not going to meet him. I see him on television. You’re in a room with him. I don’t, I don’t. Do you have enough to say that you have a real opinion on him? Or do you listen? We’re going to Yankee state. We have all this stuff. But like this week, we’ve had a manager fired, that created another manager getting fired in two of the markets that matter in baseball, in Boston and Philly, sure,

Luke Jones  04:47

one team tried to, one team tried to hire the manager that the first manager that was fired,

Nestor Aparicio  04:52

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right? So, so knowing all of that, and knowing where if I brought Joe Madden on the show, and instead of Joe Madden, I’m bringing. Rick Vaughn, I’m bringing the heater in, Ricky. Rick Vaughn, once I started mentioning Glenn Davis earlier this week, and I had Jamie Moyer on. It’s good that I geez, right? I mean these like, I go out to the ballpark. I’m there five minutes, and you paid some nice man, really nice man, to come up and say nice things to me at the ballpark. I love the memories and the people that have been involved in, you know, Oriole baseball through all of this. And I have opinions on Mike Hargrove and Ray Miller and Elrod. I mean, I mentioned Rick down and Chuck Cottier this week when I had Casper wells on last week at Koco’s, and we sat and gazed about baseball and his era versus my era versus you’re down there every day, and I was down there watching it. I don’t really know how much to blame Craig Albernaz for, because I don’t think you know how much to grab the blame Craig Albernaz for, or where Cora gets canned by these corporate goons who have zero like and spending the day there, believe me, my letter to Don rovac and Katie Griggs on what my perceptions of the franchise and whether you know how I put my dipstick is when I go down there and walk around between double headers on a 65 degree day with a good friend of mine, Wendy Brown, find thank you for offering me tickets last minute. We had. I mean, I saw a lot of friends, I’m there. But like, the whole part of this, I don’t recognize some of it. Part of it is the manager thing, of just sort of, like the the lineups and the way they’re constructed on any given day, and now, like, even their number one pitcher getting the flu, they’re in a scheduling period where they have to play dominoes to figure out their starting pitching at this point. And I really feel like Elias is way more integral, much more so than maybe Hank Peters was with Earl Weaver or rolly HeMan coming down and talking to Frank Robinson about the lineup tonight or whatever, like, I even Flanagan running the team in my very close relationship with him at that period of his time in his life, with him and Jim Beatty. And you know, it was Lee Mazzilli for five minutes and Sammy Palazzo. And you know, like, I knew all of those cats really well, and it was never a problem to ask Johnny Oates, or even go into the locker room and grab a player, even a player that wouldn’t necessarily be on my team, let’s say BJ sur off or beat or Jeff rebella, and ask them what the hell just happened out there, and have somebody explain it to you a little bit. You know, I’m just like, literally, that’s the era I grew up in, where Rex Ryan would say, have skin like an armadillo, about what you could say, Dude, they kicked the ball around like the freaking bad news bears. And if Charlie Eckman were sitting here, or Jeff Rimmer were sitting here, or Stan Charles were sitting over there, anybody on sports radio or whatever, but I don’t think Rob long can go on the big, bad morning show this morning, and talk about that hanging out in the dugout in that way, about guys kicking the ball around the way that you and I can, but for Albernaz to like not be able to be critical in the aftermath of that, or to like not offer that the organizational statistical sheet says that we should be playing beavers in center field and Tyler O’Neill and right field, or whatever their algorithm is for the left handed pitcher, the right handed pitcher, rushman, is going to be playing his ass off. We just won’t play him in the second game, because it’s a second game and we’re going to Yankee Stadium, like all of these basic things, I don’t necessarily feel included as a as, not a media member, as a dude watching Jim Palmer and Melanie Newman and Rob long I have to sort of tea leave this through you and rock Koco and whomever about who’s really making decisions with any of this stuff, but Albernaz, to me, I’m watching it. I’m not turned on. I’m not turned off. I’m not. He’s a genius. I’m not. He’s a great massager of players, or getting the most out of this or that. I have no opinion on him yet, and I don’t. I’m waiting on that a little bit. But where are you on him?

Luke Jones  09:14

Oh, I mean, it’s hard for me to disagree with that overall sentiment that you know you kind of summed up and saying you don’t have a strong opinion, because we’re talking about a talking about a month, right? I mean, they’ve been mediocre, they haven’t been awful, they haven’t been good, they’ve hovered,

Nestor Aparicio  09:30

right?

Nestor Aparicio  09:30

If it’s his fault,

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Luke Jones  09:32

right? That’s where I’m sorry, and that he could control. I would say, I would say, this module, any of this. I mean, to go back to what you said. Look, once upon a time, Hank Peter’s worked for Earl Weaver, basically, basically, I mean, don’t get me that player, Hank, right, exactly. I mean, Hank Peters, I remember, you know, I remember miracles on 33rd Street, and some of the different VHS tapes they would do that talked about the history of the of the club. And, you know, Hank Peters talking about, you know, I talked about. Would talk to Earl Weaver, and I wanted to put together a 25 man roster where Earl had very specific roles in mind for each guy on his bench and all that left handed pinch hitter. Let’s bring wire in here. And it’s funny, I was just watching MLB now on MLB Network. It’s Brian Kenny’s show that’s a little more intellectual. It’s great show. I mean, for anyone who’s a really No, I mean, it’s a little higher level than us. Sometimes I’m flat out, flat out. Admit that’s good. He had Joe Maddon on, and Joe Maddon made such an interesting point. I mean, it was just, you know, it was not a long segment, but he talked a lot about modern day structure of a baseball team. And he talked a lot about, hey, the front office, the general manager, the front office there, they run the show in the offseason, right? As manager, they might ask you about a player here or there, but in terms of the moves they’re going to make, the front office runs the show. And it’s more, you know, it’s, think of it as digital, right? And he said, that’s fine. I think that’s a good thing. I think I think General Managers and scouts and front office types are way better at the player acquisition part than coaches and managers who are more on the day to day fundamentals going out there and play by

Nestor Aparicio  11:16

the way he translates to right now on the football side, that it’s sort of the same way where Eric Decosta and and in the old days Joe Ortiz cocaine is that group Joe Douglas, when he was here evaluating pro personnel to pick up the Jets fourth cornerback, then even the cornerbacks coach, or the secondaries coach, or John Harbaugh or Jesse Minter will be here as a head coach. It’s, it’s been the same way. I mean, Billick was very laissez faire about that, like, Hey, that’s not my job. That’s Ozzy’s job. I think in baseball, it’s gotten blurred once the lineup cards handed in. You know what I mean for me, at least as a fan watching this over 50 years. And I think Sparky Anderson and Tommy Lasorda would would agree with me, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  12:01

to

Luke Jones  12:02

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go back to the point I was trying to make. Though, Joe Madden talked about it in terms of, like, that’s kind of the digital way, new digital way of looking at baseball. But he lamented a little bit in terms of when the season starts, he’d like to see more of a analog focus, which would be more manager, coach, driven. And I thought, I just thought that was an interesting observation, right? But to go back to your

Nestor Aparicio  12:28

point, analog, meaning the psychology

Luke Jones  12:31

or so, like the more old guys in all this, right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  12:35

you know, a little bit managed from the gut,

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Nestor Aparicio  12:39

sure,

Nestor Aparicio  12:39

yeah, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  12:40

Things

Luke Jones  12:40

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that aren’t measurable can be manageable things, right? You know, Joe Maddon didn’t manage in 1985 right? I mean, he was the manager at the Tampa Bay Rays, you know, one of the teams that were considered more cutting edge in terms of what baseball has become in the modern day. You know, go back to, you know, you go back to Billy Bean in the A’s. You go, you look at the rays, who somehow were competing in the American League East, despite a fraction of the payroll of the Yankees and the Red Sox, I mean, all of that. So I just

Nestor Aparicio  13:06

sort of authored that transition, right? I mean,

Luke Jones  13:08

he was, it was one of those, yeah, one of those teams, you know, one of those clubs, you know, in the same way you talk about Andrew Friedman before he went to LA and now the Dodgers, you know, still, still exercising many of the same intellectual, smart principles, but also having more money than anyone to spend in the process,

Nestor Aparicio  13:24

keeping

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Nestor Aparicio  13:24

in mind that the last time the Orioles were any good as well, they were really sort of doing it the ear Weaver way like Buck Showalter and Duquette were much more in tune with the way rolly HeMan did things than the way that whatever these corporate schlubs are doing it now, like I’d be, I just, I’m on the outside for a very good reason. They don’t want me to know about this stuff or ask about this stuff. But if I were more involved, I’d be asking Eve and Mike, how do you do this? You know? And

Luke Jones  13:55

they wouldn’t tell you a thing, right? Because it’s proprietary, right? In their mind. Um, yeah, yes. And no one thing, one thing I’ll say about Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette, that era, the Orioles actually were one of the more cutting edge teams that really leaned hard into infield shifting. If you go back and look and you know, 2011 2012 2013 you would actually find the Orioles were amongst the teams that were shifting the most. So they were kind of cutting edge problem was they kind of got left behind from that point on, right to the point where you got to the last couple years of that era where they were really lagging behind. From an analytics standpoint, we know there was a disconnect. There was dysfunction there. I mean, Duquette and Buck made it work for a long time, until it didn’t work

Nestor Aparicio  14:38

anymore scouting and they weren’t allowed in Korea, and they didn’t care about the Korean

Luke Jones  14:43

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where ownership was at that point in time. I mean, you’re talking about Peter’s health declining, all that, all that so

Nestor Aparicio  14:48

well, to some degree, that’s one of the reasons they had an old school operation. Is because Peter wouldn’t have understood the new school, and John did, to the point where John had that meal with Eric dick. Costa di Costa recommended this sigma gel guy and this Elias guy down and and, you know, like that. That brought a whole new era that we’re talking about now, because there really is a philosophical break with how we could evaluate Craig Albernaz, the first month in a week where the Phillies in the Red Sox are just wantonly firing guys, and Mattingly, who is his old school, the guy, as is part of the new school, is the guy taking over. But I mean, for my for just for me, and watching Albert, is I really don’t know how to judge him, so I’m, I’m trying to figure out the book on how to do that.

Luke Jones  15:40

I think that’s fair. I mean, to make, to put it very plainly, I’ll kind of go back to what I said a lot about Brandon Hyde at this time a year ago. I don’t know how much you can put on him, because how of everything else had gone wrong at that point in time and again. I’m talking April going into May of 2025 I mean, where things hadn’t completely fallen apart, but they were in the midst of starting to unravel at this point last year, like big time, to the point where we were about two, two weeks out from him being fired a year ago at this time. But I to me, I look at some of the same issues, you know, the defensive issues big time, where I say, okay, these were things. These were things I don’t I mean, it’s just not good whether it’s worse or not. I mean, it’s just not good enough, right? It? It’s but as I’ve said to you at various times, what evidence is there that they really value that in terms of the players they acquire, in terms of how they play, in terms of the way they move guys around the diamond, and just say, Oh, well, we’re going to put this guy in center field today, or oh, we’re going to put this guy at this position that he hasn’t played a whole lot in the major leagues, right? So, so there’s a lot of that. I mean, it’s like putting me at a backer act table. I know the rules, but the casino to kind of just sum it up. I mean, I don’t know, you know, I don’t feel like Frank Albernaz has moved the needle. And I think a lot of that is a big reflection of just where we are right now. I don’t think modern managers move the needle dramatically. I think there are better managers than others, sure, but to sit here and say that with any conviction that I think there are any field managers in this day and age that are really moving the needle dramatically in terms of, like, turning an 80 win team into, like a 93 win team. I don’t know how

Nestor Aparicio  17:29

much ever is smarter than I will say, like,

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Luke Jones  17:31

yeah, and I will say this, the other thing that’s really interesting when you kind of look at the makeup of managers across baseball, and this lends itself to what you were just talking about. What managers do you really think have a whole lot of influence, you know, like an outsized proportion of interest, of influence in a front office, in decision making that goes beyond in game, maybe Dave Roberts. I mean, Alex coral would have been one of the guys that I would have probably cited if you asked me this question three weeks ago. There aren’t many managers where you feel that way, as I’ve said to you, and I’m not. I’m not. I didn’t come up with this on my own. I’ve heard many smarter baseball people and analysts say this for years now, field managers have become middle management. It’s not go back to Hank Peters. I made the comment that you kind of looked at the structure, it felt like he worked for Earl Weaver. Then you kind of had the model of side by side. I would say, Duquette and Buck were very side by side. There are no structures like that in modern Major League Baseball now the general manager and baseball ops,

Nestor Aparicio  18:42

Elias is deciding when you send that W NSD text, brought to you by Call Roofing and Gordian energy, and they’ve put their Rogers on the D or the IL for having the flu when you send that, Elias is making every decision. This is the guy we’re bringing up, and you’re going to start him on Monday in New York, which brings us to the series, right? Maybe we get out of this philosophical and I love these philosophical conversations because, like I said to Casper wells last week, and Jamie Moyer, and when I spend time with good baseball people, I don’t have time for bad phone calls. I have time for, like, deep dives as to, like, why this is working or not working. I was at the stadium on a day where, like, I look at the is the franchise working? Is this working for the city? I had Astros fans. I had a couple Japanese fans behind me too, really excited, the big Orioles fans. They had their city connect rolling on. But I almost went to Google Translate because I thought it was kind of fun having Japanese people near me sitting next to me, Camden Yards. It’s kind of cool, but, but it was all Astros fans around me, and I just I went into the gift shop. I went to the outfield. I almost took a funny picture with Brooks because I was wearing my 59 Go. Go. Socks, Aparicio jersey. So, like, I love baseball and and now we’re the battle. Drums are up. The first thing I woke up to this morning making coffee was Manfred, yeah, we’re gonna have conversations about labor and what. And I can’t talk to anybody astutely about the game. I mean, Jamie Moyer lived through all the strikes, so I talked to him about it. I’m gonna have Rick Vaughn on. Screwed his life up. You know what? I mean, he got out of the sport. He went did football, he went work for the gypsies during that period of time. So I just, and then he’s Joe maddon’s guy, right? Rick Vaughn is, and he was Larry Latinos guy. So I have all this institutional baseball stuff. I hope Katie Griggs has it, you know, I hope Don Roback has it. I hope that Mike Elias has it. I mean, Michael ice, who I met, that didn’t even know Louis played for the Orioles, like he’s just not in touch. He doesn’t care. That’s cool. That’s fine, and all that. I hope somebody besides Bill steca Over there can help resurrect this thing and have people talking about it. I thought the Jim Palmer wing thing was brilliant, right? Like, it’s great, just having fun

Luke Jones  21:05

and unbelievable. How are you 80 years old and never had a chicken wing? I mean, we’re not talking about some kind of exotic, ethnic dish that you’ve never heard of before. Like, you know me, I’m not much of a foodie, so there are plenty of things that you’ve had and tried that I haven’t even

Nestor Aparicio  21:26

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never had no alligator,

Luke Jones  21:27

but it’s a chicken wing. You know what? I mean, like, it’s just, it’s wild to me, but it’s great. It was great. Go ahead, sorry. I

Nestor Aparicio  21:32

thought he was so grossed out too. I mean, like, the best part of the whole shtick was him rooting for the left fielder that had the ball to make the catch,

Nestor Aparicio  21:45

yeah,

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Nestor Aparicio  21:45

he’s sassing the center fielder for dropping the ball,

Luke Jones  21:50

yeah, because

Nestor Aparicio  21:50

now he’s got to eat the wing.

Luke Jones  21:52

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Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  21:52

Was it even spicy? I don’t know it happened

Luke Jones  21:54

probably. I’m guessing it probably had like, mild to medium buffalo sauce on it, or something like that. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  22:00

it seemed to me like Jim didn’t want to taste the Wing or the chicken part of it, or that he’s more because

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Luke Jones  22:06

Jim eats really healthy, and that’s why he look, that’s why he looks how he does and gets around as he does at 80 years old, right? That’s part of the

Nestor Aparicio  22:13

that’s why Jim’s perpetually younger than me. Now exactly seven, Jim’s got to be younger than me, right? I mean, I think right, now, I love Jim Palmer, and I love fun at the ballpark, and I love seeing you. I You know, I saw lots of friends. I mean, just in the little space I was in, people come up say the nicest things to me. I like the fella that came up to you and me and my wife was so nice that if we caught it on camera, it would look like, like, the Trump admitted, like, he set it up. Like, literally, like it wouldn’t. So people are nice, and I see people out there. I wish it felt more vibrant to me, and the sort of, it’s not built for me, dude, my wife got pissed because Brian Poole showed up in the middle of the crab shuffle and screwed her crab shuffle up. Man, she got mad at him. She like, literally, you got in the way to craft shuffle. Now I’m screwed up. And that was a mustard. It was mustard relish. It was the mustard hot

Luke Jones  23:07

dog race, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  23:08

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And

Nestor Aparicio  23:08

apparently mustard just getting, you know, right,

Luke Jones  23:11

yeah, the hot dog race that, that was my stick. And then everyone got into it, and then I got out. I was like, the the fan of the band at the ground floor, and then when they got busy, like, that’s how I was at the hot dog race. I joke with a few of my friends about

Nestor Aparicio  23:27

jump the shark. You think for yeah,

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Luke Jones  23:28

oh yeah. I mean, because, dude, I was the one tweeting about it back in 2021 when, when the Orioles were in the midst of losing 110 games. And I would make it stick, because I needed to entertain myself in some way, because they’re down 11 to two in the fourth inning, right?

Nestor Aparicio  23:45

My

Nestor Aparicio  23:45

wife is not bougie in any way like that. But there was, like the third inning, the Orioles finally scored a run. They were losing 10 to nothing in the second game. And we looked at left field, and first off, there’s 3500 people in the ballpark at this point, right? And I guess the 12 O’Clock credit had enough, and they rolled and there was no the Tuesday night crowd got to cash their tickets in. So like, I’m there, curio wellness, foreign daughter, Wendy called me late, offered me the tickets. I went down in the fourth inning of the first game. My wife played hooky. She did Ferris Bueller. I did hold in Caulfield. We you know, 65 degrees. I’m like, we’ll surprise Luke, and we surprised you. I mean, you were shocked to see me. There we went and had some heritage barbecue. And, of course, light in the corner, because heritage barbecue. Brian Poole, my dear friend’s brother in law, has heritage barbecue in York row. They were the special Camden crossing. Common barbecue boots was closed in the center field. The bathroom was shut, shuttered behind first base. I just, I didn’t have the experience that Katie wants me to have, you know, I mean, like, just in a general, like, I’m back at the pub. My wife hasn’t been in years. My wife hasn’t been. I think since we left downtown, I could find me. I don’t think my wife has been. It’s maybe like the plague, you know. I mean, because we haven’t lived downtown in four years, I like, I’d really have to ask her, the last time she went to a game we were there, the curse of the Andino. I mean, we lived downtown for 20 years. We used to walk up because we just walked up. Somebody offered us tickets and got stuck with tickets or I just really want to see this. You’re there a lot. Dude, like, I don’t, like, I can’t pretend even the early crowd was, like, a great it was, it was boisterous, and it was awesome that they had two grand slams, and awesome that John Martin’s got to go figure out how to find to pay all these people. But here come the big bad Yankees and dude, all things beating the Astros aside. And I had McLean on, and I had Matt Thomas on talking about how awful the Astros are. I haven’t bothered my cousin Louie down in down in Katy, Texas. She’s such an Astros fan. All the years they were cheating, cheaters. And I didn’t even get to haze altaden play in the second game. And I’m on the on deck circle. I was all ready for him. Oh, my God, I was ready for him. And he’s Venezuelan, so I you know. But Yankees seven games, here we go, defensively, kicking the ball around. Now some guys are hitting the ball, right? So we have some very positive stories, right that go into Yankee Stadium and say, okay, Paint me a Picture that they can go four and three in these games and pick a game up and stay above water and be on and I this was my gage Preakness week. I’m going to, well, you attended the alibi. Brett, haha. I have a media pass. How about this? I have a press pass from the Maryland Jockey Club and from Gulfstream. This is their, I think, their last year running this thing. But the 13th, I’m at faidley’s, even though I’m wearing my planet fitness shirt and I’m having a litany of great guests and ask some really cool things happening that day. It’s the crab Derby, Maryland lottery, GBMC and foreign and Dermer sending me down for for this at fadeleys. We’re going to have mustard into crab cakes, because that’s the way they do them at fadeley So mustard is going to be a big winner on May 13. The Yankees are in. You’re going to stop down and see me that day. The NFL schedule release is going to be that night. Don’t tell anybody, but it’s been that night every year the last couple years. It’s not that night. It’ll be around. Then the freaking straw is going to be right before then. And then I’m doing the alibi breakfast at Laurel, and that’s what Charlie Ackman called it, Laurel on the morning of the 14th. And the Yankees are the 13th. You and you’re going to come down. We’re going to have a proper crab cake, and you’re going to get your french fries and cucumber salad proper. I might give you some mac and cheese that day. Ivan Bates is going to be with me that day. We’re going to talk about the opening of fishmonger’s daughter and Caitlin. We’re going to be there in the 21st so on the morning of the 14th, I’m going to attend the alibi breakfast on behalf of wnsd and Baltimore positive at Laurel. If they’re two games over 500 at that time, I feel good about them, sure, if they’re three games under 500 at that time, I won’t feel great about how they did against the Yankees. I mean, it might have meant they held their own with the Yankees. If they’re five games under 500 the season’s on in a bad, bad way, going into Preakness weekend, and not much better than it was a year ago when they fired Brandon Hyde. So this, to me, is, like, big don’t tell anybody. Bill Cole admitted this last week on the air with me. He’s never been to New York, like, literally. And I thought, dude on Monday, maybe play hooky, go up Sunday night, hang out in New York. And I checked the weather, it’s going to be cruddy. So even, like, I like New York when it’s 75 it was 51 last week, it’s fine, but I don’t want to sit at a ball game when it’s 48 degrees. It’s not my thing. But that being said, like I almost thought of going up this weekend and just, you know, I’m going to see what I saw, the Orioles experience. Now I want to see, yeah, I want to see, yeah, I haven’t been at Yankee Stadium in several years, and I thought, Man, this would be a great if you love the Orioles and you love baseball, we could now the weather’s not going to be great in the Bronx, but like this is a real this is a big series for this franchise, for this ownership, for this team, for where they are, for where like that. These should be big series. I shouldn’t be when’s Raven’s schedule coming out. I shouldn’t be talking about Coleus Campbell, and we will. But I want some juice for this, because they go to Yankee Stadium this weekend. Take three or four. You know, I start feeling like Fred Lynn in the Aqua velvet commercial.

Luke Jones  29:40

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Yeah, they better hit the ball if they’re going to do that. I mean, I’ll say that much because, I mean, you just look at will Warren, 2.59 era. Ryan weathers 3.21 Max freed on Sunday. Schlittler, who has been phenomenal for them a one and a half. Era right now, he goes on Monday. And the Orioles right now, it’s, it’s some team. BD and who’s getting caught up and who’s pitching Monday and and all that. But your point is well taken. These are this two week stretch for May, and I’ll always say that because there’s a ton of baseball left. And as much as we’ve banged the drum about the Orioles being mediocre, that’s most of the American League right now. The Yankees have been good. Tampa Bay has been good. Who else

Nestor Aparicio  30:24

seems like a horse race where they’re turning the first turn right, they’re going around the backstretch, and you’re just, you’re in the race, and that’s all I need them to do. Fine. It’s not they need the same horse in the back like the way they were last year. But this is the time of the year when, like, Dude, it has been a really rocky I mean, it’s amazing. Their 500 team to me, with all the If I would have told you everything was going to go wrong and they’re going to Yankee Stadium with a chance to go up there and split or take a couple of games like I, you know, I and they’re hitting the ball a little bit. I want to be optimistic about them, to be honest with you. But this will be a gage as to whether I’m allowed to be optimistic by Preakness weekend or not? Well, this

Luke Jones  31:03

is where, as much as we’ve talked about them being mediocre in April, this is where I’d say, if you can at least be, at least be mediocre over the next couple of weeks, I’m not saying I’ll feel better, but I won’t feel worse, right? I mean, and that sounds like that’s like really faint, like a backhanded compliment, or something like that, and how I’m talking about them, but we are talking about an American League right now where the Yankees are good, Tampa Bay are they’re they’re good. Who else right now? I mean, everyone in the Al central going into Friday’s action is 500 or worse. Now, only Kansas City is really bad in that division right now, though, the twins have not been trending well here of late, either the A’s are leading the West, but there are three games over 500 right? I mean, there are a lot of teams that are waking up in a lot of cities and markets, waking up going into the weekend and saying, seems mediocre most teams in baseball or in the American League anyway right now, now that said they’ve held their own against the schedule that hasn’t been terribly difficult. Maybe it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would have been a month ago, but certainly has not been a juggernaut of a schedule that they’ve played and they, they took two or three from Houston, which, hey, the Astros hit the ball. So I was very much encouraged by what I saw from Shane boss and you and I haven’t mentioned it yet, Chris Bassett pitched really well on Thursday. That was good to see that that was more like the Chris Bassett that has been one of the, you know, I want to say best pitchers in the American League over the last five, six years, but has been on the better side over that period of time. So that was really encouraging to see. But you know, they haven’t played the toughest schedule, and they’ve been mediocre. I mean, let’s just call it what it is. They’ve been a mediocre ball club. Every time they get to 500 they stub their toe and lose two of the next three, and then they’re fighting to get back to 500 and they do it, and then they fall back. And that’s just kind of how it’s been. One step forward, one step back, two steps forward, three steps back, one step forward, two steps you know, like that. That’s kind of how it’s been. So

Nestor Aparicio  33:13

it’ll be okay if that’s what they do the next

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Luke Jones  33:15

week Exactly. And that’s where you look at this thing you made mention of fadeleys on May 13, my hope, let me rephrase that, my realistic expectation. If I’m still trying to be optimistic, right? You know, I’m trying to be realistic, but optimistic at the same time. If that makes sense, is they’re going into that final game of seven games against the Yankees over these next two weeks, and they’re three and three, and they have a chance to win that game, to take a series at home and go four and three, very

Nestor Aparicio  33:51

much. And they’re

Luke Jones  33:52

not in first place or anything like that, but they’re still at the very least, hovering right around 500 and look, here’s the reality. But, and I just said this with the American League as a whole, as mediocre as the Orioles have been, go look at the wild card standings right now. They’re a half game out of the last spot. Now that’s not worthy of a parade, or praising Mike Elias, or praising Craig Albernaz or any of that, but it just speaks to where we are in baseball, especially with the current playoff system that we have. Point is the Orioles might look like this, like what we’ve seen right now. That might be what they are for the better part of the next three or four months. I don’t know. But when you look at where you typically have to fall win loss wise to get into the tournament to make the playoffs. Basically, you’re talking about, can you have some stretch of time over the next five months where you play your butts off for three and a half weeks and you rip off a, I don’t know, I mean, a 17 and six. Or something like that, right? Which isn’t that’s not like unheard of historic kind of run that’s like a good run over the course of 162 at some point, if you do that and you’re kind of middling other than that for the entire for the of course, you’re gonna have some stretches where you’re not as good you understand me. Just humor my humor me with this point, when you’re looking at a team, then that is very much in position to make the playoffs. Just

Nestor Aparicio  35:24

8

gonna

Nestor Aparicio  35:25

win 100 games. They’re all gonna win in the Yankees, and that means you stay in it. That’s

Nestor Aparicio  35:29

all.

Luke Jones  35:29

The Yankees might win 100 I mean, the way they’re looking, they look like they could. They might be running away with this division.

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Nestor Aparicio  35:34

It’s not six of them happen in the next seven days. That’s all. Bruh,

Luke Jones  35:37

sure, sure. I mean, I mean, I’ll say this much. Okay, if the Orioles go six and one against the Yankees over the next two weeks, and we’ll we’ll revisit this. But what I’m seeing right now, I’m not ready to write off the Orioles playoff chances by any stretch of the imagination. Let me be very clear about that. And I didn’t pick them to win the division going into the season either. I’m not seeing a team that’s going to win the at least. I mean, I’m just not. But that said, that doesn’t mean they can’t be one of the three that are making it as a wild card, and who the heck knows by then, right? I mean, what I

Nestor Aparicio  36:09

want to do is have a conversation about whether they’re buyers or sellers on July 20, when the Raiders are playing meaningless football games, and trying to figure out if the the kid that they just drafted can run the ball seven times a game or not. You know what I mean? Like, I like to not have seasons around here after 35 years of doing this. That’s all part of my letter to Katie Griggs, and that’s all part of me standing in the bowl of the stadium on Thursday between two games of a double letter and looking at all of these other people, many of them older than me, and thinking a lot of these people, like, I could have Memorial Stadium conversations with lots of people that were sitting and walking out, especially leaving that the the matinee game. And I’m just thinking, this is a lot of suffering, dude. It’s 43 years of people putting their money up, paying these prices, coming out here, seeing the new coat of pain. You know, my wife got her first look at, oh, what happened to the press box, you know? And my wife got the first look at the scoreboard, you know, just like the first smell of somebody who’s been in that stadium 100 times. I mean, we had our wedding party in that stadium, right? I mean, it’s not, you know what? I mean, I saw the pope in that stadium, you know. So I like, I want it to be vibrant again. And the only way that’s going to happen is for them to have a weekend in New York that wakes everybody up that, you know, or something like that, you know. I

Luke Jones  37:30

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mean, it needs to be a little more than that. It needs to be more extended and sustained than that. But your point is well taken. I’ll make one more

Nestor Aparicio  37:38

the Yankees this weekend, which you’re laughing, I’m laughing. That can’t happen because they haven’t looked like at all. But if they do that, I think we come back here on Tuesday with a whole different conversation and enthusiasm for their season, and saying, Well, we got to watch the game on Tuesday night. You know, like, like, that’s what they need that is oral magic and like, and bundle up what I just said and send that over to Katie Griggs and Don rovak, you know what I mean? Like, Mark fine. Like that really is the story of, like, how this thing’s going to get better and fuller and more vibrant. And they need stars to be stars, period. Pete, you know, everybody right? Literally,

Luke Jones  38:21

I’ll make one final macro point, and then I need to get into the micro, because I do want to talk a little bit about where they are with their pitching right now. But you made the point, because you’re talking about big picture and how long it’s been. I shared this with you the other day, and it was honestly someone I graduated high school with, who I’m not close with, but we’ve stayed in touch. We played, played little league together. My dad coached our team. See,

Nestor Aparicio  38:43

born before or after October the 15th of 2019 83 he’s

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Luke Jones  38:47

my age, so, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  38:49

so, right? He has no recollection of the world,

Luke Jones  38:51

technically alive, but he made the point I said. I shared this with you the other day. The Orioles last winning the World Series is closer in history to Pearl Harbor than the modern day. 1983 Pearl Harbor was 4142 years. 1983 to 2026 we’re going on 43 years that that broke my brain the other day, and you know, you and I were having a conversation about like, relative, how time’s relative, how you think about time as a as a 40 something or a 50 something is way different than when you were 20 or when you were a kid, all of that. But boy, that that’s that shocked my core a little bit to read that and to think, Oh my gosh. But to bring it back to the micro, yes, it sounds great for the Orioles to go win three out of four, or even better, to dream of that. It’s baseball. You never know what’s going to happen, right? I just

Nestor Aparicio  39:48

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want to

Nestor Aparicio  39:48

play well. I want

Luke Jones  39:49

to Sure. And let me be clear, I’m not saying this with the expectation that they’re going to go to the Bronx and get swept either. I’m not saying that that is remotely acceptable. However, when. You do look at the state of the rotation now, with Trevor Rogers flew they put him on the IL they couldn’t afford to play a pitcher down for, I don’t know, the next four days, whatever it is when you just had a double header, which, by the way, once upon a time, had the Orioles been faced with this schedule, you know, with the postponement and having to play the double header with no break to go play four in the Bronx Buck show Walter would have been so mad, like, so mad about that, you know, again, it can’t be, can’t be helped. But just one

Nestor Aparicio  40:32

of those phone I got to talk to him,

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Luke Jones  40:34

yes, yeah. I mean, he would have been mad about a four game, you know, wraparound series in in the Bronx anyway, just because that’s not an easy

Nestor Aparicio  40:43

I got pictures hiding out in all five burrs right now. Wait,

Luke Jones  40:46

yeah, no doubt about it. No doubt. I mean, I mean they had, I mean, they had, they had arms and options just about anywhere you could find them in any given road city. But you do look at this and say, Okay, we’re, you know, we’re expecting to see Kay Povich this weekend. You know, I they, they didn’t announce Friday starter right after the game. I think it’s going to be that, you know, they’re TBD throughout the weekend. We know we’re going to see Bradish, barring something unforeseen. We know we’re going to see Boz borrowing something, something unforeseen. And Monday, I have no idea. I mean, it’s bullpen, someone called up from Norfolk to make a spot start, whatever, because you just had Bassett and Brandon young pitch in a double header. Well, they’d be on short rest on Monday. I mean, is there a scenario where Bassett would do that? He has in the past? I don’t think you’re going to try to do that when you’ve already you know half your half your starting rotations on the shelf right now. You know, including F Lynn Dean Kramer and now Rogers. So when you look at that, and then you look at the Yankees pitching and their probables, it’s hard to be overly optimistic about that. Let’s just put

Nestor Aparicio  41:54

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it that way. Now that’s gonna be underdogs in all four games if

Luke Jones  41:56

you’re a gambler, yeah. I mean, yeah, I don’t know what the scenario? I mean, Brian weathers, his era is only 3.21 compared to the other other guys having twos and ones. But it’s not going to be easy that. Now, that said, I do want to point out that this club, there are some guys that are really swinging the bat. Well, I mean, Taylor Ward’s done it all year. He’s walked more than he struck out this year. Now, I get it. He only has one home run, but sitting over 300 he’s got an ops that

Nestor Aparicio  42:28

power will come with him so but 30 home

Luke Jones  42:31

runs, but if he only hits 18 home runs, and he’s leading the league in doubles, you know, and is doing what getting on base? He’s getting on base, getting on base. I mean, he has a 429, on base percentage right, which they need gunner Henderson to start getting on base more consistently, especially if he’s going to stay in the lead off spot. But you have Ward you and I, we’ve talked about it, but we probably haven’t talked enough about it. And I get it. He was on the IL, had a 10 day stint on the IL Adley rutschman. And people will say, you know, skeptics will say, well, it’s only how many it’s been 64 plate appearances for Adley rochman, and I get that 64 but over the last two calendar years, this is easily the best 64 plate appearance stretch that we’ve seen from Adley rochman. This looks like he’s going the other one, right? He’s going, he’s going the other way. He’s hitting for power. He’s drawing walks. He’s

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Nestor Aparicio  43:25

not striking

Nestor Aparicio  43:27

come back, right? I mean, it’s just he walked like a different guy the last two years. And all of that hustle and all of that that you thought was a little foe, which was bat him on the ass, and be the ra, ra, and all that, I’m not seeing that yet, you know, like I kind of, I went to the second game yesterday to start, and he wasn’t a lineup, and it was, you know, as the B team or whatever, and nobody was there. And then they get their asses kicked, they ball around. And I’m thinking part of my thing being that close would have been the smell out, you know, the rushman factor. Because I do think he’s got that in him a little bit. I don’t know whether he’s still selling that or not, but it felt like he sold that from the minute he came up. Then I don’t feel it being the biggest part of the heart and soul of the team the way it did before he was hitting 180 or whatever it’s well, eight years,

Luke Jones  44:14

as we’ve said, and we use this talking point a lot in football, it’s tough for you to lead if you’re not one of the best players. And rutsman had not been one of the best players, especially at the plate. Going back to the second half of 24 he’s been one of their absolute best players so far this year. So that part of it looks different. He’s framing very well. He threw out throughout Altuve trying to steal in the first game on Thursday, he’s really performing. So you have Ward you have Adley rushman beside his bat has really come alive, not not so much Thursday, but just in over the last 10 days, we’ve seen him really swing the bat. Jeremiah Jackson, defensive gaffs aside, in the night cap hit a grand slam one. On Thursday afternoon, and has been a great story. Leoti Tavares has become the starting center fielder, not just because of Colton cows are struggles, but because he swung the bat. So we had

Nestor Aparicio  45:11

8

a great walk up song too. So go to the ballpark, you learn these things,

Nestor Aparicio  45:14

sure,

Luke Jones  45:15

but I’ll say, I mean, there’s still meat on the bone. I mean, Pete Alonso is still not hitting right. Gunner Henderson has hit home runs, but hasn’t done much else other than that. So they’re kind of doing this with everything that’s happened, as negative as we’ve been at times and and negativity has absolutely been warranted at various times over this first month. I’m not going to shy away from that. I’m not, not going to sit here with orange colored glasses on the flip side, however, they have had a lot of injuries. And the guys that I deemed Cal and Eddie going into the season, you know, Gunner Henderson and Pete Alonso were going to be this team’s Cal and Eddie. If they were going to do anything special, they haven’t been Cal and Eddie so far, right? I mean, so Well, if they win 89 games with this outfit at this point, with these injuries,

Nestor Aparicio  46:00

it would mean that holiday comes back and looks the way Richmond’s looking right now. I mean, one, one, you know? I mean, it would mean that Henderson comes to life. It would mean that Alonzo is earning his money. It would mean that war doesn’t cool off. I mean, I’m assuming cool off. I’m assuming that Jeremiah Jackson’s not going to hit a grand slam every week. You know what? I mean, I’m assuming Richmond’s not going to hit 351 right? But, but I’m also right, but, but I’m also over the body of work. They need to stay healthier and get healthier, and not have guys with the flu and missing starts and four game weekends, dare I say, or they’re going to get swept by the Yankees this weekend, and then things start to tumble down the hill. So in the, in the in the mind frame of they can hit the ball this weekend and make things happen. Who’s pitching?

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Luke Jones  46:47

Well, that’s going to be the, that’s going to be the big question, right? We’re going to see Bradish. We’re going to see Boz, right? Presumably, Saturday and Sunday, for those two

Nestor Aparicio  46:57

nice efforts. Out of those guys, think

Luke Jones  46:59

we’re going to see

Nestor Aparicio  46:59

8

games there, right? You

Luke Jones  47:00

know, I assume we’re going to see Povich. I don’t know what they’re going to do Monday. I mean, it could be a bullpen game. It could be Albert Suarez being resigned and back on the roster, and I don’t know. So it could be one of the guys at triple A, you know, whether they’re really ready or not. You know,

Nestor Aparicio  47:15

not going to be young after we saw on Thursday. I know, if

Luke Jones  47:19

this were August, I wouldn’t put it past Bassett to say I’ll pitch on short rest. I don’t think you’re doing that on on May 3 or may 4, right? I mean, I think that would be especially considering you don’t want to, you don’t want to do anything that’s going to jeopardize his health this early, when you have three other guys on the shelf and two, one of them not coming back, obviously, in flands. So we’re going to see about that. If I’m being realistic, I think the Oreo, I think if they can come away with a split, you’d feel pretty good about that, not doing cartwheels, right? It’s a split, you know? You know, you don’t want to lower the bar in a big picture sense, but for where they are right now, in the micro with where their pitching is, how they’ve been playing compared to how the Yankees have been playing. I think you’d be okay with a split, you know, you don’t want to get swept. It’s that simple. Obviously, if you would three out of four, you know, if a miraculous sweep in their favor, then you’re then you’re feeling great. Then you’re saying, Oh, wow. Game on, 2026 on, it’s go time. But hold your own. Just hold your own. And I for me, and that’s really the next two weeks until they get an off day on May 14. You know, they’re, they’re playing every single day, and not just the Yankees, but Miami. They’re going to Miami, and I get it some Orleans. I’m not not saying they’re a jug or not, but they haven’t been bad. Then they’re going to come home and they’re going to play the A’s. The A’s are they’re leading their division right now, albeit not by a impressive margin or anything.

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Nestor Aparicio  48:55

Here’s what I’m making. I’m going to do a Jim Palmer right now if, if the Orioles win the first three games this weekend, if they win Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I think you and I should go up to New York on Monday, because you know what? It’s going to be sunny and 71 in New York on Monday. So if you just think about it,

Luke Jones  49:14

I’ll think about it.

Nestor Aparicio  49:15

Could

Nestor Aparicio  49:16

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you get a press pass?

Luke Jones  49:18

I mean, I could, yeah, think

Nestor Aparicio  49:21

about

Nestor Aparicio  49:24

it. You and me in the Bronx, man, come on, 71 degrees, I’ll take you. Get you some Bing sue in Koreatown.

8

Luke Jones  49:32

Well, think about it. They need to win three games before we’re even

Nestor Aparicio  49:36

love the Orioles the way I love the Orioles, Luke, don’t love them the way I do. You

Luke Jones  49:42

know what I would say to that if I’m being perfectly unfiltered and talking more as Luke, the 10 year old Orioles fan, the Orioles haven’t loved me enough over the course of my lifetime, it’s actually

Nestor Aparicio  49:56

8

saying, like Nestor, you’re just saying. Because the owner the station hates the Orioles. That’s what I’m saying.

Luke Jones  50:03

No, no, I’m saying

Nestor Aparicio  50:04

that, dude, I would totally go to New York. It’s a night game. We could get up, man, get a little coffee on the way up. We could hang out a little bit, like, don’t tell Mark, fine, but you could get a press pass. I know your boss. You might not even have to work if you don’t want to there’s things you can get New York. You can’t get anywhere else. I’m telling you, man, that’s 71 degrees in New York. But the real charge would be they have to win Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So if they win Sunday afternoon, about, I don’t know what time that game is going to end, about four o’clock, 430 on on Sunday. I’m going to have to hit you and say, Dude,

Luke Jones  50:43

you

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Nestor Aparicio  50:44

want to take a broom and go up to the Bronx with the broom. You and me

Luke Jones  50:48

that that would be a great decision to have to make, because how about, how about this? Try to win Friday, and if they do that, then, all right, win Saturday, right? I mean, here’s what

Nestor Aparicio  51:00

I’m going to do. If they win three, I’m going to call lock and for it and invite him to go with us on Sunday night. You Me and lock and fora in the Bronx Monday.

Luke Jones  51:08

8

Oh my gosh, I don’t know, wow, that’s That’s funny. But,

Nestor Aparicio  51:14

I mean, I can for I was bougie man. If I take him to New York, I’d have to take him to, like, a big steakhouse or something. Dude, you know, I’d be

Luke Jones  51:22

okay with some New York pizza. I mean, you

Nestor Aparicio  51:24

know, locking for right now, I had to go to New York every weekend up there and sit on the set and CBS, I can show you around New York. I got, I got a place best salami. I’ll tell you Italian meats. Where I take it. I So lock and forward, show us around New York. But either way. I mean, look, I’m, I’m, I’m not kidding. I would go to New York and you’d see a baseball game on Monday night if it mattered. I guess that’s my point. My point is, you would say, Dude, last time we were up there, it was game five the Al DS we saw rat is, you know that this big? And we had to remember seeing that, right? Peter angelos, that night. Dude,

8

Luke Jones  51:58

I did, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  52:00

Hard

Luke Jones  52:00

to believe that was 14 years ago, but that

Nestor Aparicio  52:03

8

was 14 years ago.

Luke Jones  52:04

That’s 2012

Nestor Aparicio  52:06

you’ve been knowing me a long time. Yeah, yeah, but,

Luke Jones  52:08

but no, just to go

8

Nestor Aparicio  52:09

back for do? To go back to Yankee Stadium. You and me, we don’t love the Orioles enough,

Luke Jones  52:13

you know? I, I want to see them play well this weekend. I want to see them hold their own. I’m being realistic about this, looking at what the Yankees have been and what the Orioles have not been so far this season. But can you go there? Hold your own, win a couple ball games, not get swept, not not get embarrassed, not get swept out of New York and look like you don’t belong in the field with the first place Yankees. Can you do that? That’s not a high bar. I mean, for what we thought this team could be going into the season. That shouldn’t be something that feels unrealistic. I mean, it’s baseball, you know, like, this isn’t like, the number one team in the country against, you know, San Jose State or Alcorn State or something like, you know, some kind of weird FBS versus FCS college football matchup. This isn’t that. It’s big league baseball. Big League Baseball. Go up there and go up there and look like a big league team. That’s what I ask. And hold your own. Win a couple ball games. If you come, you go out of New York and you’re still a game under 500 Hey, that means you you split. And I would take that. I wouldn’t do cartwheels, but I would take that, but let’s see. You know, but, but it is tough to talk in terms better than that when you don’t even know what your rotation is going to look like over the four games. So you know they need Bradish and Boz to pitch well in the midst of that series, right? It’s go time for those guys, especially with Rogers on the shelf right now. Boz, love what I saw from his last time out. I need to see that continue. Bradish, he’s still finding it. He needs, they need the Bradish of a couple years ago to to show back up. If they do that, then I feel way better about their chances over the course of this series. So we’ll see. It’s gonna be fun, right? I mean, go play the best. I asked Jeremiah Jackson, you have a chance to go play the best in the in the Al east and see how you measure up right now, not necessarily expecting great things, but hey, if you can at least hold your own, you’re still very much in the fight, as we’re getting into the month of May. Now,

Nestor Aparicio  54:12

some folks like to get away. Take a holiday from the neighborhood. Come on. Man, we’ll go to New York, you and me. Man, I’m getting New York state of mind. Let’s go, man, hop a fly to Miami Beach or to Hollywood. If they win three in a row, you’re gonna get a phone call from me on Sunday afternoon, and we’re gonna have to make some hard decisions. They win three in a row,

Luke Jones  54:35

8

we will talk,

Nestor Aparicio  54:37

I would say, to mark fine and Katie Griggs and Don rovac. They’ve earned our support. They’ve earned all 188 of those miles that the Peter Pan bus would do at 4am when I drag you down here, down the maman, we’re going to go to low up. We’re going to do it all, if you’ll be worn out by the time that you get your Yankees press badge and I pay $23 Dollars on Seat Geek to sit out in left field, trust me,

Luke Jones  55:03

sounds

Nestor Aparicio  55:04

good. It’s been 14 years,

8

Luke Jones  55:06

2012

Nestor Aparicio  55:08

if they had Mark cakes, things would have been different.

Nestor Aparicio  55:12

I’m

Luke Jones  55:12

8

telling you, if Nate McLeod, if that was ruled as hitting the foul pole, who knows

Nestor Aparicio  55:18

if we just had the ABS system back then. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We’re going to come back talk about Coleus Campbell and football, and we’re going to get serious about things around here, like the football season. Stay with us. We’re Baltimore positive.