Latest / Birdland Territory / Orioles sweep the White Sox, Is Trevor Rogers an ace? Is Adley Rutschman playing enough?

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Orioles sweep the White Sox, Is Trevor Rogers an ace? Is Adley Rutschman playing enough? · Birdland Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Hey, os fans, that's more like it. The Orioles went
0:11
Speaker 1: to the Windy City and they have a history of
0:13
Speaker 1: kind of beating up on the White Sox, and he
0:15
Speaker 1: did it again. They swept that series. So after the
0:18
Speaker 1: panic that set in briefly in Birdland in Pittsburgh, got
0:21
Speaker 1: a lot better in Chicago. They're six and six coming
0:24
Speaker 1: home and we're glad to be with you for our
0:26
Speaker 1: second show, Birdland Territory. Steve Maleski former O's pitcher, Brad
0:31
Speaker 1: Brock and Tim Barblays from one of five to seven.
0:33
Speaker 1: The fan and guys, it always feels better to win.
0:36
Speaker 1: He cures all ills, even though it wasn't perfect. The Oriols,
0:40
Speaker 1: I don't think are clicking on all cylinders by any
0:42
Speaker 1: means right now, Brad coming home six and six. Nice
0:46
Speaker 1: few days in Chicago.
0:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
0:48
Speaker 3: I think after that series in Pittsburgh, you know, like
0:51
Speaker 3: you said, the panic button was hit a little bit.
0:52
Speaker 3: But three wins are three wins no matter how you
0:55
Speaker 3: get them. In the big leagues that they all count
0:56
Speaker 3: the same. So maybe not how everybody expects thor wants
1:00
Speaker 3: them to win, but like I said, three to zero
1:02
Speaker 3: in a three game series, is exactly what you're looking for,
1:05
Speaker 3: and they did a great job. They pulled out games,
1:07
Speaker 3: close games, and those are kind of momental builders throughout
1:10
Speaker 3: the year.
1:11
Speaker 4: And Guys, I think when we did our first show
1:14
Speaker 4: on Sunday, we didn't know who was going to start
1:16
Speaker 4: the series opener. We speculated maybe Albert Suarez. I think
1:20
Speaker 4: you give a big hat tip to Brandon young Man
1:22
Speaker 4: with that spot start on Monday, setting the tone. You
1:25
Speaker 4: head into that game having lost five of six, Brandon
1:28
Speaker 4: young steps up five shutout innings and just sixty six pitches.
1:32
Speaker 4: And also for the defensive struggles that the Orioles have experienced,
1:37
Speaker 4: the defense was on display on Monday. You had to
1:40
Speaker 4: strike him out, throw them outs. Tyler O'Neil had the
1:43
Speaker 4: diving play in right field. And how about Pete alonso
1:46
Speaker 4: Man that play in the ninth inning, smothering that ball
1:49
Speaker 4: on the first base line, that really played a big
1:51
Speaker 4: role in saving that game.
1:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead, Brad or Steve.
1:56
Speaker 3: I think that played with Pete Alons I said, I
1:58
Speaker 3: was when I was watching.
1:59
Speaker 2: I'm thinking Oriols.
2:00
Speaker 3: Fans might not see the bat they expected so far,
2:03
Speaker 3: but I don't think anybody expected to see the glove
2:05
Speaker 3: like that. That was the play of the game. Like
2:06
Speaker 3: you said, that's very easily at least one run score there,
2:09
Speaker 3: maybe gets two in with who knows how the ball
2:12
Speaker 3: hits off the wall down the line. So I unbelieve
2:14
Speaker 3: we will play by Pete there. And I think, you know,
2:16
Speaker 3: bringing up the defensive part with having Brandy Young out there,
2:18
Speaker 3: he pounds his own, gets balls in play and kind
2:21
Speaker 3: of kept guys in the game right away from the beginning.
2:23
Speaker 3: And I think that that can help with your defense
2:25
Speaker 3: sometimes is having guys that you know, don't strike everybody
2:28
Speaker 3: out and they just let the guys but not that
2:29
Speaker 3: he's trying to let them put it in play, but
2:31
Speaker 3: the ball gets put in play a lot when he's
2:33
Speaker 3: pitching and they're they're on their toes and ready to
2:35
Speaker 3: make the plays win the balls hit to them.
2:37
Speaker 1: And some nights in baseball it won't be perfect. I
2:40
Speaker 1: think if fans or media or any of us are
2:42
Speaker 1: looking for the perfect win, a complete win, everything clicked,
2:46
Speaker 1: it's not gonna happen. And then this series, guys, they
2:49
Speaker 1: won by one, two and two, so they didn't blow
2:52
Speaker 1: away the White Sox. In fact, they trailed in a
2:54
Speaker 1: couple of these games, but they made just enough plays
2:57
Speaker 1: to win, and maybe that's how the train gets wrong.
3:00
Speaker 4: Well, Steve, I think yesterday's game was the perfect example
3:04
Speaker 4: of that. It was so frustrating watching all of the
3:07
Speaker 4: chances that this offense had. They left fourteen runners on
3:11
Speaker 4: base and you're trailing two to one. At one point
3:14
Speaker 4: you scratch and claw, and Gunner Henderson came through with
3:17
Speaker 4: that big blow in the eighth inning and it puts
3:20
Speaker 4: all of those bows behind you, where the frustrations with
3:24
Speaker 4: runners in scoring position. You started one for eleven in
3:27
Speaker 4: that game, and you're wondering when is this offense gonna
3:29
Speaker 4: wake up? But they found a way to win. And
3:32
Speaker 4: this early on in the season, Brad, when we were
3:35
Speaker 4: doing the show Sunday three and six, you're just looking
3:38
Speaker 4: the stack series wins. It's tough to pick up sweeps
3:42
Speaker 4: in MLB, especially on the road.
3:44
Speaker 5: And now you come home five hundred.
3:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was huge.
3:48
Speaker 3: I think, like you're saying, with the offense, you're kind
3:50
Speaker 3: of you want to see all these big hits with
3:53
Speaker 3: runners in scoring position, and a lot of times right
3:55
Speaker 3: now they're just in a funk. They're not getting the
3:57
Speaker 3: base hits when they needed. But what was encouraging was
4:00
Speaker 3: then put the ball in play, have RBI groundouts, have
4:02
Speaker 3: a sack fly. Those kind of things I feel like
4:04
Speaker 3: can lead to more momentum on the offensive side. And
4:07
Speaker 3: for me, you know, this is gonna seem obvious, but
4:11
Speaker 3: for me, the bullpen there was.
4:12
Speaker 2: That was a huge series for the bullpen.
4:14
Speaker 3: There. You found multiple guys that come in big spots
4:17
Speaker 3: and they all stepped up. And I think that is
4:20
Speaker 3: also a huge momentto builder moving forward to the next
4:22
Speaker 3: series and beyond Brad.
4:24
Speaker 4: I thought today it was a big thing that Craig
4:29
Speaker 4: Alburn has put Anthony Nunez back out there in a
4:32
Speaker 4: leverage situation. It was identical to the moments Saturday in Pittsburgh.
4:37
Speaker 5: One run game in the eighth inning and nunyas.
4:40
Speaker 4: He got the first two outs on four pitches and
4:42
Speaker 4: then ended that inning with the strikeout.
4:44
Speaker 5: I thought that was huge with Nunya.
4:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's big. I think it goes to
4:48
Speaker 3: show you what they think of him. I think they
4:50
Speaker 3: see him as a setup, seventh inning guy, maybe out
4:52
Speaker 3: there for you know, opportunities to close if they need be.
4:55
Speaker 3: But I think you're right, that's a great point. I
4:57
Speaker 3: didn't think about that, but getting them back out there,
4:59
Speaker 3: there was nothing better than as a reliever, the manager
5:02
Speaker 3: putting you back out on that same spot in a
5:04
Speaker 3: big in a big situation and coming through. For me,
5:06
Speaker 3: that was such a confidence booster. And I know for
5:08
Speaker 3: him this is his first year in the big league,
5:10
Speaker 3: so to go out there and be able to get
5:13
Speaker 3: those outs today after being yeah, I mean he made
5:15
Speaker 3: the pitches, just didn't feel that ball the other day.
5:18
Speaker 3: So but to go out on that same spot today
5:19
Speaker 3: and have such a cleanendy he looked he has filthy stuff.
5:23
Speaker 3: I mean, he has elite stuff. So to take the
5:25
Speaker 3: elite stuff and then get the job done, I feel
5:27
Speaker 3: like was a huge confidence booster for him moving forward.
5:31
Speaker 1: Interesting stuff on the bullpen and the numbers back up
5:33
Speaker 1: what you guys are talking about there. You know, the
5:35
Speaker 1: oil star and hitting a ton. We know that they
5:37
Speaker 1: scored just eleven runs in Chicago, just eight in Pittsburgh.
5:41
Speaker 1: But the Oriel bullpen one run in the series in Chicago.
5:46
Speaker 1: That's over eleven innings with fifteen strikeouts, two twenty eight
5:50
Speaker 1: ERA on the road trip, five twenty three ops against.
5:53
Speaker 1: All these numbers look good for a bullpen, which oh,
5:56
Speaker 1: by the way, doesn't have kit rich or aching. Right now,
5:59
Speaker 1: they're gonna get those guys back now, Brad, you're making
6:02
Speaker 1: a good point. You guys talking about Nunez. I want
6:04
Speaker 1: to ask you because Albernaz said, Anthony Nunez is he
6:09
Speaker 1: doesn't show his emotions. He's real in control out there
6:12
Speaker 1: for a guy who's hardly fitting the big leagues a
6:14
Speaker 1: couple of games. Now, as you said, this stuff looks
6:17
Speaker 1: really good, but is a separator Maybe that guy who
6:20
Speaker 1: can just be calm out there and he seems so
6:23
Speaker 1: much more mature than someone who's young.
6:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
6:26
Speaker 3: I think when you're asked to get big outs seventh, eighth,
6:29
Speaker 3: ninth in and you know, those high leverage outs, you've
6:32
Speaker 3: got to have a cool and calm, collective demeanor.
6:35
Speaker 2: However way you can do it.
6:36
Speaker 3: But a lot of guys that take some years to
6:39
Speaker 3: learn how smooth and how nonchalant he's been out there
6:42
Speaker 3: when he's out in these games. So I think for
6:44
Speaker 3: him to have that from the get go is really
6:46
Speaker 3: a good sign. And like I said, I think when
6:48
Speaker 3: you start getting these guys come in these positions that
6:50
Speaker 3: they're not necessarily used to he's never been in the
6:53
Speaker 3: big leagues.
6:53
Speaker 2: You're bringing the closer today.
6:56
Speaker 3: Also, he's out there, never had a save opportunity in
6:59
Speaker 3: his career, and he falls and throw seven pitches to
7:02
Speaker 3: start the ning and still gets to say that is
7:05
Speaker 3: huge and stuff like that.
7:06
Speaker 2: Just you can just grow from that day to day.
7:09
Speaker 4: That's exactly where I was going, Brad, because they had
7:12
Speaker 4: Ryan Helsley yesterday and it was shaky for him, but
7:16
Speaker 4: he was able to get the job done, so wasn't
7:19
Speaker 4: available today. You go with Rico Garcia and we talked
7:22
Speaker 4: about him on Sunday, how he's been a real pleasant
7:25
Speaker 4: surprise for this club. At that point, it was five
7:28
Speaker 4: scoreless appearances. And how tough is that being a reliever
7:32
Speaker 4: where seven straight balls to start the ninth inning and
7:36
Speaker 4: then just finding it because that second batter he ended
7:39
Speaker 4: up striking out despite going three and zero.
7:42
Speaker 3: I know, I think let's talking about with Steve before
7:45
Speaker 3: we started, how the ninth inning is just a different animal.
7:48
Speaker 2: I don't know how to explain it. Pitching seventh and
7:51
Speaker 2: eighth a lot.
7:51
Speaker 3: When I got into the ninth inning, these guys are
7:53
Speaker 3: just not willing to take that bad swing, not willing
7:55
Speaker 3: to just take a bad at bad.
7:57
Speaker 2: They're all up there trying to get on basic, get
7:59
Speaker 2: it to the next and for whatever reason, the nine
8:01
Speaker 2: thing is a different animal. And to start that off
8:03
Speaker 2: throwing seven in a row.
8:05
Speaker 3: I wish I could say I hadn't been in that
8:06
Speaker 3: position before, but I know I have before, whether it
8:08
Speaker 3: was a miners majors, I've done it before. And you're
8:10
Speaker 3: just like, am I ever gonna throw this ball over
8:12
Speaker 3: the plate? And when I do, this guy's gonna be
8:14
Speaker 3: ready to swing. But he did such a great job
8:16
Speaker 3: composing himself there, getting himself back into good counts, and
8:19
Speaker 3: then that nasty change up he's stone inside to the
8:22
Speaker 3: lefty more is it more cowie for sorry if I
8:25
Speaker 3: said that wrong for the White Sox, But he's throwing
8:28
Speaker 3: that change up inside to him and that's such a
8:30
Speaker 3: dangerous pitch to throw, but it shows the confidence he
8:32
Speaker 3: has in that pitch, because that's like the one thing
8:34
Speaker 3: they tell you not to do is throw an inside
8:36
Speaker 3: change up to lefties, especially with the game on the line.
8:39
Speaker 3: And he came back to it multiple times in that
8:40
Speaker 3: back and got that strikeout and you can tell he
8:42
Speaker 3: kind of just rolled from there. So yeah, it's it's
8:45
Speaker 3: tough going out there. When it's tough going out there,
8:48
Speaker 3: when you know you have a two run lead, you
8:49
Speaker 3: walk the lead off guy, but then you start the
8:51
Speaker 3: next guy three to zero. It's like you're just you
8:53
Speaker 3: can kind of see steamrolling the other way just as
8:56
Speaker 3: well as he can get going good for yourself, you
8:58
Speaker 3: can see it going bad.
8:59
Speaker 2: But he he did a great job.
9:00
Speaker 3: Composing himself there and getting those final three outs.
9:04
Speaker 1: Real impressive from seven pitches out of the strike zone.
9:06
Speaker 1: It looked like it was going to get away from
9:08
Speaker 1: the Orioles and it did a great job there by
9:11
Speaker 1: Rico Garcia, first career save in his sixty fifth career appearance.
9:15
Speaker 1: And now we get to Taylor Ward. After a remind
9:18
Speaker 1: of viewers, thanks for finding us today here on Berdland Territory,
9:22
Speaker 1: a new show, our second show. Please subscribe, please follow us.
9:26
Speaker 1: We're on Twitter and Acts as well, so check us
9:29
Speaker 1: out in all these channels, and glad you joined us today.
9:32
Speaker 1: Four for five, three doubles for Taylor Ward. Oh by
9:36
Speaker 1: the way, he's not two for fifteen anymore. And people
9:39
Speaker 1: wondering should he'd be batting the lead off guys. He's
9:42
Speaker 1: got nine doubles in the last eight games. He didn't
9:44
Speaker 1: have one in the first four. What is going on
9:47
Speaker 1: with Taylor Ward right now? And he looks like such
9:50
Speaker 1: a great addition Steve.
9:52
Speaker 4: I just think his reputationation coming over from the Angels
9:58
Speaker 4: was just his wealth of knowledge when it comes to
10:01
Speaker 4: the strike zone. And if you look at his Baseball
10:03
Speaker 4: Savant page, his stack cast, he's in the top percentile
10:07
Speaker 4: in chase rate. He doesn't chase, he doesn't swing and miss,
10:11
Speaker 4: and his walk percentage is great in the eighty fifth percentile.
10:15
Speaker 4: He is that ideal leadoff man. And today they moved
10:18
Speaker 4: him out of the leadoff spot for the first time,
10:21
Speaker 4: bumping Gunner down to the two hole. But coming through
10:24
Speaker 4: another four hit game. He had a four hit game
10:27
Speaker 4: last week. It was the first one of his career.
10:30
Speaker 4: Now he's got two and we're not even two full
10:32
Speaker 4: weeks into the season.
10:33
Speaker 5: Brad.
10:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, his hitting approach is super impressive. I mean he's
10:37
Speaker 3: hitting ball as the right center, he's pulling balls in
10:39
Speaker 3: the left field. He's hit him in the gaps both directions.
10:42
Speaker 3: The guy like that is just really tough to get out.
10:44
Speaker 3: He does not want to expand his own He's not
10:46
Speaker 3: going to swing at balls, so you have to change
10:49
Speaker 3: the way these guys pitch. Nowadays, they're gonna have to
10:51
Speaker 3: change the shape of their pitch, and he's able to
10:53
Speaker 3: see when it's up on the zone, and I think
10:54
Speaker 3: that's what he's seeing right now. He's super comfortable at
10:57
Speaker 3: the plate. There's really no pitch that he's not. You know,
11:01
Speaker 3: he's not scared to beat down No.
11:02
Speaker 2: Two and at bats, and to me, that was always
11:04
Speaker 2: the hardest hitters of face are guys that are willing
11:06
Speaker 2: to have two strikes and hit, and that's what he
11:08
Speaker 2: seems to be doing. Every single at bat.
11:09
Speaker 3: He's either a three to two or he's ahead of
11:12
Speaker 3: account and he's taking advantage of all the pitches he's
11:15
Speaker 3: seen in the zone. He's doing such a great job
11:17
Speaker 3: getting on base, driving in runs, and it's just awesome
11:19
Speaker 3: to see when you know Pete's kind of struggling right now,
11:22
Speaker 3: but that's not going to continue. And I've always thought
11:24
Speaker 3: about lineups this way, where you fans obviously want to
11:27
Speaker 3: see every single hitter one through nine hitting together, but
11:30
Speaker 3: when you have Gunner and Taylor kind of carrying the
11:34
Speaker 3: offense right now, you know, Pete's gonna come around. You
11:36
Speaker 3: don't want all these guys crushing the ball all together.
11:39
Speaker 3: That'd be great if they could do it for one
11:40
Speaker 3: sixty two, but it's just not possible. I just always
11:42
Speaker 3: thought of, like, when I'm on a team, I want
11:43
Speaker 3: to see a couple of guys get hot together, and
11:46
Speaker 3: you know, everybody's not gonna stay cold the rest of
11:48
Speaker 3: the year. So Taylor's kind of carrying it right now.
11:50
Speaker 3: And like I said, they're getting wins any way they can.
11:52
Speaker 3: They're not, you know, ripping the cover off the ball,
11:54
Speaker 3: but they're doing just enough and having great pitching in order.
11:57
Speaker 2: To get these wins. And that's really all you care
11:59
Speaker 2: about the end of the day, how many wins you get.
12:01
Speaker 1: Sometimes box scores tell unique stories. The one for the
12:04
Speaker 1: Oriols offense today tells us that one player went four
12:08
Speaker 1: for five and everybody else went three for twenty eight.
12:12
Speaker 1: Ward today had more hits than the entire rest of
12:15
Speaker 1: the lineup. Somehow it added up to an Oriel victory
12:18
Speaker 1: and a sweep in Chicago. A lot more to do
12:20
Speaker 1: tonight on the Birdland Territory. Glad you've joined us. Later
12:24
Speaker 1: in the show, we're going to talk about Adlie Richman's
12:26
Speaker 1: playing time. What do we make of that? What we've
12:28
Speaker 1: seen so far, how they're using the catching. But next,
12:31
Speaker 1: how about the opening day? Lefty, He's still rolling in Birdland.
12:37
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12:55
Speaker 1: You're watching Birdland Territory, part of the Foul Territory Network
12:58
Speaker 1: with Steve Mluski, Brad Brock and Barbara les So. This
13:01
Speaker 1: young left hander, he's still kind of young to me.
13:04
Speaker 1: Trevor Rodgers is got it going, guys. He's the only
13:07
Speaker 1: Oriole starter with a quality start this year. He's made
13:10
Speaker 1: three starts as there is under two. Again, the Orioles
13:14
Speaker 1: have won each of his starts. Last year, they won
13:16
Speaker 1: thirteen of eighteen. Almost study numbers we look at. Looks
13:20
Speaker 1: so good. Right now, let's start with you, Brad, what
13:22
Speaker 1: have you been most impressed by Trevor Rodgers start to
13:25
Speaker 1: this season?
13:27
Speaker 3: I think just keep rolling what he's been doing. I
13:29
Speaker 3: think it's tough to carry success from one season. To
13:31
Speaker 3: the next and it seems like he hasn't he hasn't
13:33
Speaker 3: missed a beat. For me, this is the first time
13:35
Speaker 3: we've seen somebody in Baltimore that is a you know, either.
13:38
Speaker 2: A streak ender or a streak continuer.
13:41
Speaker 3: They go three games, they lose three games, they get
13:43
Speaker 3: a win that first game of the series, you have
13:45
Speaker 3: Trevor Rodgers if they had lost that fourth one. He's
13:48
Speaker 3: the guy that stops those kind of streaks. And I
13:50
Speaker 3: just feel like we there hasn't been a starter in
13:52
Speaker 3: Baltimore for a long time that you is that guy,
13:54
Speaker 3: and he's that guy right now. He's one of the
13:56
Speaker 3: best pitchers in baseball. On the broadcast, they were talking
13:59
Speaker 3: about him having better numbers than schemes and school ball,
14:04
Speaker 3: and anytime you're in that conversation right now, you know.
14:06
Speaker 2: You're in good company. And he's he's living up to it.
14:08
Speaker 3: And I gotta be honest, I think he's one of
14:11
Speaker 3: those guys where you've got to.
14:12
Speaker 2: Show up to the ballpark to watch. I think it's
14:14
Speaker 2: he's becoming.
14:15
Speaker 3: He's put on that good of a stretch that it's
14:16
Speaker 3: almost must watch TV when he's pitching, and you know,
14:19
Speaker 3: the Oarls have a chance to win every time he
14:21
Speaker 3: takes them out.
14:22
Speaker 5: And Brad, that's stats.
14:23
Speaker 4: So it's twenty one starts going back to May twenty
14:26
Speaker 4: fourth of last season. That was when he was elevated
14:29
Speaker 4: as a twenty seventh man.
14:36
Speaker 1: All right, Tim, I think your internet book got you there,
14:39
Speaker 1: but you were making a great point at how he is.
14:41
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Tim, you're back.
14:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's got a one a two ERA in that
14:46
Speaker 4: twenty one start stretch and only Paul Skeens has a
14:49
Speaker 4: better ERA than Trevor Rodgers. And you think of the
14:53
Speaker 4: story guys, you traded for him at the twenty twenty
14:57
Speaker 4: four deadline. He made all of force starts before getting
15:01
Speaker 4: sent down to the miners. He was hurt at the
15:04
Speaker 4: beginning of last year, came up as the twenty seventh
15:06
Speaker 4: man in that game that I was mentioning, went back
15:09
Speaker 4: down and then came back up. And it's just been
15:12
Speaker 4: on an unbelievable tear for this club.
15:16
Speaker 2: And Brad.
15:17
Speaker 4: We had him on my show on one of five
15:19
Speaker 4: seven the Fan prior to Opening Day, it was a
15:21
Speaker 4: week prior, and he's been very open about just his
15:26
Speaker 4: struggles with mental health and just he got to a
15:28
Speaker 4: point where he thought his career was going to be over.
15:31
Speaker 4: He would just beat himself up when he would have
15:34
Speaker 4: these poor outings, he would have these poor starts. But
15:37
Speaker 4: now he's working with a mental coach and he just
15:39
Speaker 4: seems like in a great headspace. It's cliche, but they
15:44
Speaker 4: do say baseball it's ninety percent mental, Like how much
15:49
Speaker 4: can that snowball on a pitcher or a player?
15:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, big time. I think getting someone you're able to
15:56
Speaker 3: talk to. When I was playing, it was kind of
15:58
Speaker 3: like this this like thing you don't talk about. You
16:02
Speaker 3: got to get over it, you got to figure it out.
16:03
Speaker 3: And I think guys teams start to hire mental skills
16:07
Speaker 3: coaches and like just use these guys to your benefit,
16:10
Speaker 3: because it is tough when you get on a bad
16:12
Speaker 3: stretch and when you you know, you get sent down.
16:15
Speaker 3: You're part of a you're supposed to be part of
16:18
Speaker 3: this trade that's supposed to be you know, a front
16:19
Speaker 3: end line starter, and it just doesn't work out the
16:22
Speaker 3: way you envision it can. It can be tough, and
16:25
Speaker 3: when you don't have you know, nine ten years of
16:28
Speaker 3: sustained success to fall back on and kind of having
16:31
Speaker 3: the back of your mind. I feel like it is,
16:33
Speaker 3: it can snowball really bad. And I think he's just
16:36
Speaker 3: a perfect example of if you put the work in,
16:39
Speaker 3: you know, you work on your mental skills also, it
16:42
Speaker 3: can it can turn back the other way just as fast.
16:44
Speaker 3: And he obviously has the stuff and it was probably
16:47
Speaker 3: more of a mental thing than anything else. And I
16:49
Speaker 3: think they had COVID yesterday on the broadcast and he
16:52
Speaker 3: was talking about how Rogers had talked to him about
16:55
Speaker 3: being sent down and using those starts down in triplay
16:58
Speaker 3: to really get himself locked back in, and Kate kind
17:01
Speaker 3: of took that approach this year. He said when he
17:03
Speaker 3: went down at Triple A, he was going to use
17:04
Speaker 3: those starts to help himself moving forward.
17:07
Speaker 2: And that's really all you can do.
17:08
Speaker 3: You just got to kind of have, you know, have
17:09
Speaker 3: that one good outing and just kind of keep it in.
17:12
Speaker 2: A positive light.
17:13
Speaker 3: And if you have a bad one, you got to
17:15
Speaker 3: kind of just know how to like kind of compartmentalize
17:17
Speaker 3: it and move on from there. But it's a lot
17:19
Speaker 3: easier said than done. And really I didn't really get
17:22
Speaker 3: in a good spot until I was probably five six
17:24
Speaker 3: years in when I started working with the mental skills
17:26
Speaker 3: coach and You just kind of helped me kind of
17:28
Speaker 3: put everything in perspective and it's okay to have these
17:30
Speaker 3: negative thoughts. You just got to be able to move
17:32
Speaker 3: past some quicker, especially as a reliever when you get
17:34
Speaker 3: more routings than you do a starter. I just couldn't
17:36
Speaker 3: imagine sitting around four days after a bad one or
17:39
Speaker 3: a really bad one and just sitting on it over
17:41
Speaker 3: and over and over again. That's why I think the
17:44
Speaker 3: starting pitchers are just so impressive, how they're able to,
17:47
Speaker 3: you know, have their start good, bad, indifferent, get their
17:50
Speaker 3: work in, be ready to go the next time. But
17:52
Speaker 3: it's definitely not easy when you get traded over to
17:54
Speaker 3: an organization that has these high hopes for you, it
17:56
Speaker 3: doesn't go well and then it just kind of snowballs
17:58
Speaker 3: from there. So you know, kudos and hid I mean,
18:00
Speaker 3: it's really just great to see him back out there,
18:02
Speaker 3: just being the dominant pitcher that I think everybody thought
18:04
Speaker 3: they expected to see.
18:06
Speaker 1: Here's the question Berdland's asking, is Trevor Rodgers an ace?
18:10
Speaker 1: My answer to that is, Okay, the industry doesn't consider
18:14
Speaker 1: him in the same stratosphere as Schemes and Scooble, as
18:17
Speaker 1: those guys, but his results are there and when he
18:20
Speaker 1: does it more and more as he's starting to he's
18:24
Speaker 1: very much pitching like an ACE. Whether he gets that
18:26
Speaker 1: label or not, who cares. It's the results the Orioles
18:29
Speaker 1: care about, and they're very much ACE like.
18:33
Speaker 4: Look at the raw numbers, you look at the advanced analytics.
18:36
Speaker 4: He has been one of, if not the best pitcher
18:38
Speaker 4: in baseball since coming up at that point in late May,
18:42
Speaker 4: and I think that's where the discussion goes a step further.
18:45
Speaker 4: Steve where some fans and the Orioles have been proactive
18:49
Speaker 4: recently about exploring extension talks with players. They just got
18:52
Speaker 4: an extension done with Shane Boz at the beginning of
18:55
Speaker 4: the season. I think this is a guy that you
18:58
Speaker 4: should explore talk to. I think he clearly loves pitching
19:03
Speaker 4: in Baltimore, and I'm sure he has a soft spot
19:06
Speaker 4: for this organization for really turning his career around here.
19:10
Speaker 4: And I asked him the question prior to opening Day.
19:13
Speaker 4: They haven't talked to him yet. He said he would
19:15
Speaker 4: be open to discussions during the season, but it would
19:19
Speaker 4: be great to lock up this type of arm long term. Brad,
19:23
Speaker 4: you mentioned the fact that having this caliber of a pitcher. Yeah,
19:27
Speaker 4: the Orioles had that one year with Corbyn Burns. But
19:30
Speaker 4: it would be nice to lock this guy up.
19:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think he has. You know, he's a
19:37
Speaker 3: lefty on top of all that, so it's like you're
19:39
Speaker 3: looking for and you can say, is he and Aswallas,
19:42
Speaker 3: you know what, he's the Orioles ace and there's no
19:44
Speaker 3: doubt about it, and he is doing it by pitching
19:47
Speaker 3: well and proving it himself. So whether people can consider
19:50
Speaker 3: him an ace throughout baseball, I don't think the Oriel's
19:52
Speaker 3: care and I don't think Baltimore should care because he's
19:54
Speaker 3: he's the ace of this team and he's leaving no
19:57
Speaker 3: doubt about it. But I agree with you. I think
19:59
Speaker 3: he's one of those guys you got, if it's possible
20:01
Speaker 3: at all, you got to lock him up because he's
20:03
Speaker 3: obviously hitting his stride here. He feels comfortable here in Baltimore.
20:06
Speaker 3: And just like hearing these guys talk. We talked about
20:08
Speaker 3: a last show, but there's major chemistry on this team.
20:11
Speaker 3: Every single guy talks about it. It's it's been every
20:14
Speaker 3: after game interview, It's been every interview I've seen to
20:16
Speaker 3: this point. They constantly talk about the clubhouse, so you
20:19
Speaker 3: know it's you. You always wonder what could be elsewhere.
20:24
Speaker 3: But when you have something good going on, while you're
20:26
Speaker 3: in a city with a bunch of guys you love playing,
20:28
Speaker 3: there's nothing better than that. And I don't care the
20:30
Speaker 3: amount of money you get. There's no amount of dollar
20:33
Speaker 3: you can put on being comfortable in a place you
20:35
Speaker 3: enjoy playing. And he's obviously showing that right now with
20:37
Speaker 3: the way he's pitching and performing for the Oriols.
20:40
Speaker 1: Great stuff by you guys there. And some of these
20:43
Speaker 1: stat guest stats don't make sense at times. Here's one
20:47
Speaker 1: from last year for Rogers in hard hit percentage, he
20:51
Speaker 1: was in the third percentile that means bottom of the league,
20:55
Speaker 1: and yet is e A and his results were so good.
20:58
Speaker 1: This year he's in the top seventeen percent and of
21:02
Speaker 1: not allowing not a lot of hard hit. So if
21:04
Speaker 1: this guy goes from he's got command, he's increased his
21:08
Speaker 1: VLO the last year or two. Now he's hard to
21:11
Speaker 1: square up and last year was a little easier. By
21:13
Speaker 1: the metrics he might have at all. That's what oil
21:17
Speaker 1: fans are hoping.
21:19
Speaker 5: What's really impressive.
21:20
Speaker 4: And I know the ballpark is a lot different now
21:22
Speaker 4: than when you pitched in it, Brad, but his er at.
21:26
Speaker 5: Home is unbelievable.
21:28
Speaker 4: Steve last year in an era below one at Camden Yards,
21:33
Speaker 4: and you look at the splits, you're trying to find
21:35
Speaker 4: areas in which, okay, is he struggling against righty's. He's
21:38
Speaker 4: struggled five nineteen ops against righty's of four to twenty
21:42
Speaker 4: seven ops against lefties last year. It's so hard to
21:46
Speaker 4: poke a hole in Trevor Rodgers. The one area that
21:49
Speaker 4: you could say this season is with two outs. That's
21:53
Speaker 4: where he's giving up the four earned runs, the two
21:55
Speaker 4: in this past game and the two in the prior game.
21:58
Speaker 5: Eight h eight ops.
21:59
Speaker 4: All of him with two outs this season, but a
22:02
Speaker 4: very very small sample side.
22:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the one thing.
22:06
Speaker 3: Just speaking of pitching at cam Yards, anytime I had,
22:10
Speaker 3: you know, buddies and another team that come over talking there,
22:12
Speaker 3: how do you pitch in this park? I'm like, I
22:13
Speaker 3: don't want to talk about it. It's like you said,
22:16
Speaker 3: the park is change a little bit, but it was
22:18
Speaker 3: one of those things you just didn't talk about, you
22:19
Speaker 3: didn't worry about. I always thought it was very comfortable
22:21
Speaker 3: pitching there. You just try not to worry about the
22:23
Speaker 3: dimensions and how the ball flies in the summertime.
22:25
Speaker 2: But uh yeah, I agree with you. I just don't
22:28
Speaker 2: know you can look up and down.
22:29
Speaker 3: Someone's going to try to find some stat or number
22:31
Speaker 3: that's gonna but they win games. Like you said, I
22:34
Speaker 3: think you said, fifteen out of eighteen is last eighteen starts.
22:36
Speaker 3: It's that's what you're looking for when you have a
22:38
Speaker 3: starting pitcher out there, and it's hard to poke a
22:40
Speaker 3: hole in that number.
22:41
Speaker 2: And that's all the Oriels to care about.
22:43
Speaker 1: At this point, he's become that guy that fans are
22:46
Speaker 1: going to say it's Trevor Rodgers' day like they say
22:48
Speaker 1: it's Skeen's Day or scooball Day, that it can't miss television,
22:51
Speaker 1: can't misge to the ballpark to see it, and Trevor
22:54
Speaker 1: Rodgers rolling again early for the Orioles. Guys, Let's get
22:58
Speaker 1: to a topic that's kind of interesting here and Tim,
23:00
Speaker 1: you were talking about it earlier this week. Adley started
23:04
Speaker 1: eight out of twelve behind the plate, Psio started four
23:07
Speaker 1: out of twelve. They've been in the same lineup together
23:10
Speaker 1: just four times. I thought I would find out it's
23:12
Speaker 1: more than that, but dh Pisio Ketch Rutchman where they've
23:16
Speaker 1: both been in there only four times and none in
23:19
Speaker 1: the last five games. We's been one or the other.
23:22
Speaker 1: So it's kind of interesting how they're using Retchman right now.
23:25
Speaker 4: Well I'm paraphrasing here, but Craig Albernaz because Adley was
23:29
Speaker 4: out of the lineup yesterday and that was his fourth
23:32
Speaker 4: time not being in the starting lineup and at that
23:34
Speaker 4: point in eleven games, so you're talking more than the
23:37
Speaker 4: third of the games. Adley Rutchman was not in the
23:39
Speaker 4: starting lineup and he's been one of their better offensive players.
23:43
Speaker 4: Today he didn't have a hit, but he drove in
23:45
Speaker 4: a run on a sack fly. Craig Albernaz, he brought
23:49
Speaker 4: up a conversation that he had with Buster Posey back
23:52
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty one, and Buster was telling him how
23:56
Speaker 4: he really broke down and felt like he didn't have
23:59
Speaker 4: his many off days as he would have preferred. And
24:02
Speaker 4: clearly that conversation made an impact on Craig Albernas. And
24:06
Speaker 4: make no mistake about it, guys, I'm sure one of
24:08
Speaker 4: the biggest objectives for Craig Albernas and Michael liias this offseason,
24:13
Speaker 4: how do we fix Adley Rutchman. We talked about it
24:16
Speaker 4: on the first episode. This team has gone as Adley
24:20
Speaker 4: has gone in the past year and a half.
24:22
Speaker 5: I think he's dealt with a ton of injuries.
24:24
Speaker 4: So is this a situation where they're just trying to
24:27
Speaker 4: keep him as healthy as possible?
24:29
Speaker 5: Maybe baby him a little bit? I hate to use
24:31
Speaker 5: that word, but Brad.
24:33
Speaker 4: It's it's a tough line to walk keeping arguably one
24:38
Speaker 4: of your more productive offensive players out of the lineup
24:41
Speaker 4: that often it's hard to do.
24:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is.
24:46
Speaker 3: It's it's I think it's a tough line to walk,
24:48
Speaker 3: and it's a tough line to figure out. But what
24:51
Speaker 3: better example than Buster Posi, I mean, one of the
24:53
Speaker 3: better offensive catchers in the last generation of players.
24:56
Speaker 2: So it's a great example to go by.
24:59
Speaker 3: But it's definitely to be something tricky to figure out
25:01
Speaker 3: because it's a bat you got to have in the lineup,
25:03
Speaker 3: But how do you have him at one hundred percent
25:06
Speaker 3: or as close as one hundred percent as you can
25:07
Speaker 3: be throughout the season. So this will be interesting storyline
25:10
Speaker 3: or kind of topic to see how they continue doing it,
25:13
Speaker 3: because for it, of every eleven game sitting just doesn't
25:17
Speaker 3: seem sustainable at this point. But you really don't know
25:20
Speaker 3: what You really don't know how it's going to go.
25:22
Speaker 3: And but it'll be definitely be interesting to see how
25:24
Speaker 3: they they run him out there. And I'm sure there's
25:27
Speaker 3: gonna be stretches where he has you know, six out
25:29
Speaker 3: of seven, seven out of eight, those kinds of things.
25:31
Speaker 3: But I think those more off days are going to
25:33
Speaker 3: be in there, sprinkled in there here and there. But
25:35
Speaker 3: I think it goes to show with the side of
25:37
Speaker 3: that they trust him back behind the play too. So
25:39
Speaker 3: I think it's having that guy you can plug in
25:42
Speaker 3: there and you feel like you don't miss a beat
25:43
Speaker 3: with him back there. So it'll definitely be interesting to
25:46
Speaker 3: see how they do it and kind of see if
25:48
Speaker 3: Adlete starts giving feedback like, hey, guys, I'm good today.
25:51
Speaker 3: I might need one in a couple of days, but
25:53
Speaker 3: I want to play three, four, five, six games in
25:54
Speaker 3: a row, you know.
25:56
Speaker 4: And Steve, I know you recently in the past couple
25:58
Speaker 4: of weeks put out your internet national prospects list on
26:01
Speaker 4: sub stack and we were talking about it on opening
26:04
Speaker 4: day with Samuel Bisio, and yes, he's struck out and
26:07
Speaker 4: he's yet to really get going.
26:09
Speaker 5: But the confidence that they have in him steve.
26:12
Speaker 4: Where he's batting clean up or batting fifth, he's not
26:15
Speaker 4: in the bottom third of the lineup. They're giving him
26:17
Speaker 4: some serious opportunities.
26:20
Speaker 1: They are, and I mean, I think fans are starting
26:22
Speaker 1: to find out this kid's mature beyond his years. And
26:25
Speaker 1: he told me late last year he felt like he
26:27
Speaker 1: was slowly gaining the trust of the pitching staff, not
26:29
Speaker 1: only what he was calling, but he you know, he
26:32
Speaker 1: had a couple of miss blocks last year and a
26:34
Speaker 1: couple that you know, really bounced to look rough for him.
26:37
Speaker 1: But I don't think that many and the Orieles have
26:39
Speaker 1: told me for years when this kid was on the
26:41
Speaker 1: farm he can catch in the major leagues. I had
26:44
Speaker 1: scouts who told me he can't and he won't. But
26:48
Speaker 1: some of those gentlemen proved to be wrong. I didn't
26:50
Speaker 1: have a lot, but I had a few who said,
26:52
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to catch in the major leagues.
26:54
Speaker 1: And so what do you see from him, brad back
26:57
Speaker 1: there so far?
26:58
Speaker 3: I think he's fine, and I think, you know, learning
27:00
Speaker 3: from a guy like Adley is huge. Having a guy
27:02
Speaker 3: that you get to watch on a daily basis, who's
27:04
Speaker 3: done it for a few years now, and he's young
27:06
Speaker 3: in him. He's young himself, so he's not that far
27:08
Speaker 3: ahead of misioh. And I just think the more he
27:12
Speaker 3: gets back there, the more comfortable is going to get.
27:13
Speaker 3: And I think the more comfortable he gets, the more
27:15
Speaker 3: comfortable pictures will get. It's kind of a it's a
27:18
Speaker 3: give and go relationship when it comes to pitchers and catchers.
27:20
Speaker 3: But you know, with the pitchcolm and everything like that,
27:23
Speaker 3: now I feel like it can get kind of accelerated
27:26
Speaker 3: and the relationship can get a lot easier that way,
27:28
Speaker 3: faster than as opposed to when I was there and
27:31
Speaker 3: having to put the signs down and new catchers trying
27:33
Speaker 3: to figure you out. It's it just can kind of
27:35
Speaker 3: be like when you're back there shaking no no, no,
27:37
Speaker 3: no no, it can get a little frustrating. Maybe frustrating
27:40
Speaker 3: is the wrong word. It's just okay, yes, I'm gonna
27:42
Speaker 3: call this because I think he's got a good idea
27:44
Speaker 3: for this. But I think with the pitch com it
27:46
Speaker 3: kind of helps speed up that you know that you're
27:48
Speaker 3: not sitting there shaking five pitches off it's just either
27:50
Speaker 3: the pitcher can click it or he puts.
27:52
Speaker 2: It down right away and yep, let's go.
27:54
Speaker 3: So I think that takes away that little doubt that
27:56
Speaker 3: you might have with a newer catcher.
27:58
Speaker 2: Younger catcher.
27:59
Speaker 1: It's a good point. And some veteran pitchers, essentially they
28:03
Speaker 1: always called their game the pitchers. If the pitcher doesn't
28:06
Speaker 1: want to throw the pitch, he shakes to what he wants.
28:08
Speaker 1: But now they don't have to do that. Some of
28:10
Speaker 1: these pitchers initiate the pitch com and Trevor Rodgers told
28:14
Speaker 1: me he initiated a couple games last year with the SiO,
28:16
Speaker 1: not that he had any issue with him. It just
28:19
Speaker 1: like you just said, maybe a smoother process. Take one
28:21
Speaker 1: thing off of this kid. And so we believe in him,
28:25
Speaker 1: but you know, let me roll it, which because he
28:28
Speaker 1: again he's gonna have to final say anyway no matter
28:30
Speaker 1: who puts a finger down or hits the button. So
28:33
Speaker 1: I think he's making nice progress. And for me, that
28:36
Speaker 1: arm would be wasted in a lot of other defensive spots.
28:40
Speaker 1: I mean, that is a hose back.
28:41
Speaker 4: There, and something that we've seen and especially in this
28:45
Speaker 4: White Sox series, guys throwing behind runners. That has to
28:49
Speaker 4: have been a point of emphasis by Craig albern As
28:51
Speaker 4: because the amount that we've seen it at the beginning
28:54
Speaker 4: of this season, I can't recall seeing it this much
28:57
Speaker 4: last year.
29:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, very well could be. I think they were.
29:01
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, you never see that many backpacks, you
29:04
Speaker 3: never It could have very well been the way the
29:06
Speaker 3: White Sox are so aggressive on the basis. I mean,
29:08
Speaker 3: they were borderline reckless out there and ended up working
29:10
Speaker 3: in their favor.
29:11
Speaker 2: I just can't.
29:11
Speaker 3: Imagine that kind of base running continuing to be successful
29:15
Speaker 3: throughout the year. There was a couple you know, delayed
29:17
Speaker 3: steals here there, and it kind of took the Orioles
29:20
Speaker 3: by surprise.
29:20
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think it's probably is a point of emmeasis.
29:23
Speaker 3: They have good arms back there, why not use them
29:25
Speaker 3: catch if you can catch one out a series as
29:28
Speaker 3: a freebie, why not try it? As long as you're
29:30
Speaker 3: not throwing the ball in the outfield and making bad
29:32
Speaker 3: throws are kind of dumb throws, why not use that
29:35
Speaker 3: as a weapon and use it to your advantage.
29:39
Speaker 1: So guys, man, we hit on some good topics. That
29:41
Speaker 1: was an interesting show just to be a part of.
29:43
Speaker 1: Hopefully when people were watching it, they're going to feel
29:45
Speaker 1: the same. But we're underway. Show number two just about
29:48
Speaker 1: in the books here on Birdland Territory, and we'll have
29:52
Speaker 1: another one coming pretty soon after this, so don't go
29:55
Speaker 1: too far. Please check out our ex site, but also
30:00
Speaker 1: YouTube of course, and subscribe. Follow Birdland Territory any chance
30:05
Speaker 1: you get and watch all these great videos when I
30:07
Speaker 1: have come in your way all season long. All right, guys,
30:10
Speaker 1: thanks until we meet again here for Brad Brock and
30:12
Speaker 1: Tim Barbelace, I'm Steve Muleski. Thanks for checking out Birdland Territory.