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The O's get swept by Boston as playoff hopes are fading · Birdland Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Oh, Birdland, bad time for a losing streak. The Orioles'
0:10
Speaker 1: streak reaches six in a row. That's their longest losing
0:14
Speaker 1: streak of the year, and that's their longest losing streak
0:17
Speaker 1: since last season, as they fall to the Red Sox
0:20
Speaker 1: 3-1 on this Sunday afternoon and get swept four straight.
0:24
Speaker 1: The Orioles scored six runs the entire series, one run
0:27
Speaker 1: the last three games, and the hopes are fading fast
0:31
Speaker 1: in Birdland, and that's a sad note to start on,
0:34
Speaker 1: but it's a reality. Welcome to Birdland Territory with Steve, Tim,
0:39
Speaker 1: and Brad. And guys, I don't want to say this
0:41
Speaker 1: is the series where the music died, but it's looking
0:43
Speaker 1: like it is. The Orioles are four out. Cleveland pulled
0:46
Speaker 1: their game out today with 18 to play. They come
0:49
Speaker 1: to town, but even if the Orioles swept them, which
0:51
Speaker 1: seems unlikely, they'd still be trailing in the wildcard race.
0:55
Speaker 1: So this is pretty bleak right now, unfortunately.
0:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, unfortunately, I think it really is just kind of bleak.
1:02
Speaker 2: They play the teams that are ahead of them coming
1:05
Speaker 2: up these next two series. Like you said, Steve, even
1:08
Speaker 2: if they swept both teams, chances are the Indians– sorry,
1:13
Speaker 2: the Guardians or the Blue Jays just wouldn't give up
1:17
Speaker 2: enough ground in order for them to take the lead
1:18
Speaker 2: of the wild card. So it was just a tough
1:21
Speaker 2: series all around. It's just there wasn't much to kind
1:25
Speaker 2: of get excited about in that series.
1:26
Speaker 3: They really– Never.
1:28
Speaker 2: Got anything going, never really seemed to have a chance
1:31
Speaker 2: except that first game of the series.
1:32
Speaker 3: But outside of that, it was a tough one.
1:35
Speaker 2: They just never were able to get the ball rolling offensively.
1:38
Speaker 2: They had really great starts from all the guys that
1:42
Speaker 2: started this series. And it's just, it's unfortunate that it
1:44
Speaker 2: went this way. You kind of lose all four. Like
1:47
Speaker 2: we've talked about in previous episodes, when you get swept
1:49
Speaker 2: in a four game series, that's tough. When you go
1:52
Speaker 2: one and three is one thing, you lose two games.
1:55
Speaker 2: But when you lose all four, it's tough to make
1:57
Speaker 2: up that ground, especially with not much time left in
1:59
Speaker 2: the season.
1:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's, it's brutal guys. There's no way around it.
2:03
Speaker 4: And this offense just.
2:05
Speaker 3: It's been rough.
2:06
Speaker 4: I'm back to the Colorado series and it's crazy to
2:09
Speaker 4: think that Monday that Colton cows are catch. That was
2:14
Speaker 4: their last win. They haven't won a game since that point.
2:18
Speaker 4: And that was arguably the biggest moment of their season
2:21
Speaker 4: thus far. And they haven't been able to build off it.
2:24
Speaker 4: And again, Guys, it's going back to that road trip
2:27
Speaker 4: and sort of a microcosm of their season where you
2:31
Speaker 4: go six and three, but it's how you got the
2:33
Speaker 4: six and three, where you started six and one, you
2:35
Speaker 4: drop back to back gut punch losses to the Rockies
2:39
Speaker 4: who were the worst team in baseball. But OK, you
2:41
Speaker 4: got to regroup because this is the biggest homestand of
2:44
Speaker 4: their season. You know, four games against the Red Sox,
2:47
Speaker 4: a team that you weren't going to catch, but you
2:50
Speaker 4: were chasing them. And then, of course, the Guardians come
2:52
Speaker 4: to town tomorrow to drop the first four. It's brutal.
2:56
Speaker 4: There's no way around it.
2:59
Speaker 1: You know, Craig Albert, as you said, he's not wrong.
3:02
Speaker 1: The Orioles have answered every punch this year and come back.
3:06
Speaker 1: But I think today in his postgames, he said, you know,
3:08
Speaker 1: this is the biggest punch of the year. And with
3:10
Speaker 1: the games dwindling, it's almost reality is setting in the clubhouse.
3:14
Speaker 1: And how much fight can you have when it plays
3:18
Speaker 1: with your mind out? You feel like there's almost no chance.
3:20
Speaker 1: You still got to play the games. You still have
3:22
Speaker 1: mathematical hope, but not much beyond that. So I think
3:26
Speaker 1: the best the Orioles can do right now, I guess,
3:28
Speaker 1: is show up every day, play hard, try to get wins,
3:30
Speaker 1: hope they roll all five in a row or something,
3:33
Speaker 1: and then look up and go, let's go from here.
3:35
Speaker 1: But everybody watching them right now doesn't see that coming.
3:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think, honestly, when you kind of think
3:42
Speaker 2: about this team right now, there's not a guy that
3:45
Speaker 2: can take a game off or take the rest of
3:47
Speaker 2: the season off because they're mathematically out of it or
3:50
Speaker 2: whatever the case may be. I mean, I just don't–
3:53
Speaker 2: outside of Pete, and obviously Gunnar's not going anywhere, CES
3:56
Speaker 2: has earned a spot in my eyes. Blaze Alexander, to me,
4:00
Speaker 2: shows me the way the game should be played. The
4:02
Speaker 2: fire that he gives, the passion that he gives is honestly–
4:06
Speaker 2: I love watching it, and I think– They need more
4:09
Speaker 2: of that on this team. I don't know what it
4:11
Speaker 2: is that I know they have a lot of guys that,
4:13
Speaker 2: you know, they're they're very good players that it's just
4:16
Speaker 2: there's something missing. And when you're watching the game, you're
4:20
Speaker 2: watching the way this team plays. Craig Albert has done
4:22
Speaker 2: a really good job of saying that they're, they're all
4:24
Speaker 2: day to day and they really kind of keep their
4:26
Speaker 2: emotions even, which is, which is fine to a point
4:30
Speaker 2: where you have to try, you have to want to
4:31
Speaker 2: win baseball games and just watching this team, this series,
4:34
Speaker 2: it was just kind of like a friendly get together
4:37
Speaker 2: with another team in the division.
4:39
Speaker 3: It was just a, just a weird vibe all weekend.
4:42
Speaker 3: Maybe that's just me watching.
4:43
Speaker 2: Maybe it's being a little bit too close to stuff
4:45
Speaker 2: like this, but the passion to me is just something
4:48
Speaker 2: that seems to be lacking on the offensive side of things.
4:50
Speaker 2: And I can't, put my finger on it. Maybe I'm
4:52
Speaker 2: looking at and seeing something wrong, but that's just what
4:55
Speaker 2: I got this whole weekend. It was just something lackluster
4:57
Speaker 2: the entire time.
4:59
Speaker 4: I think you're right, Brad. And that's what makes Blaze
5:03
Speaker 4: so exciting. He was ready to take on that whole
5:05
Speaker 4: Red Sox team the other day. How could that not
5:09
Speaker 4: impress you? And he's just a ball player, man. He
5:12
Speaker 4: plays with his hair on fire. He's one of those
5:15
Speaker 4: players that every single team in baseball needs and Blaze delivers.
5:20
Speaker 4: But to, to your overall port point bread. And, and
5:24
Speaker 4: Michael is kind of acknowledged this as much guys at Steve.
5:27
Speaker 4: I remember you brought up this point, you know, trading
5:29
Speaker 4: away Adley was kind of admitting like something hasn't clicked
5:34
Speaker 4: for whatever reason. And unfortunately this team with how they
5:39
Speaker 4: have been constructed over years now, this lineup had to
5:43
Speaker 4: mash and, and everyone went in with sky high expectations
5:47
Speaker 4: for this lineup because they Look at all these guys.
5:50
Speaker 4: Look at all this talent. And it just has not clicked.
5:53
Speaker 1: At all, guys.
5:54
Speaker 4: Right now, the Orioles are right in the middle in
5:57
Speaker 4: terms of run score. They're tied for 15th in baseball
6:01
Speaker 4: in run scored. So it's not that the offense has
6:04
Speaker 4: been bad, but when you consider the expectations that were
6:08
Speaker 4: set for them heading into the season, they just haven't
6:11
Speaker 4: come close to measuring up.
6:13
Speaker 1: Sure haven't. Now, runs per game, they've outscored some teams
6:16
Speaker 1: that are going to be in the American League playoffs.
6:19
Speaker 1: But here's what we're looking at the last six series.
6:23
Speaker 1: Look how inconsistent and at times bad this is. Five
6:26
Speaker 1: runs against the Yankees. Nine runs against the Rays. they
6:30
Speaker 1: didn't do well there. 26 at St. Louis, 17 against
6:34
Speaker 1: the Athletics, they went 5-1. 9 in Colorado, they went 1-2.
6:39
Speaker 1: 6 against Boston, they go 0-4. So that is the
6:43
Speaker 1: definition of inconsistency. When you add it up, runs per game,
6:47
Speaker 1: it may not look terrible, but we see how bad
6:49
Speaker 1: it is in four of those series. The Orioles just
6:52
Speaker 1: are not getting it done now offensively. I'm not sure
6:56
Speaker 1: where they.
6:59
Speaker 1: Heard from here but they got 18 games to still
7:02
Speaker 1: play yeah.
7:04
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah and it's it's funny when you look at
7:06
Speaker 2: that that run of teams you just mentioned really only
7:09
Speaker 2: one that kind of stood out to me there was
7:11
Speaker 2: colorado only scoring the amount of runs they did there
7:14
Speaker 2: but outside of that it was teams going to the
7:15
Speaker 2: playoffs their runs are way down and when you look
7:18
Speaker 2: at the teams they play that aren't in the going
7:20
Speaker 2: to the playoffs they scored a ton against and i
7:23
Speaker 2: Does that mean that their offense can't score against good pitching?
7:26
Speaker 3: I don't know.
7:27
Speaker 2: I don't think it's hard to tell series by series,
7:29
Speaker 2: but just looking at those numbers there, that's what jumped
7:31
Speaker 2: out to me. The Yankees going to the playoffs didn't
7:33
Speaker 2: score a ton of runs. The Red Sox going to
7:35
Speaker 2: the playoffs didn't score a ton of runs. The Rays,
7:37
Speaker 2: they played a good series in Tampa, but they didn't
7:40
Speaker 2: score a ton of runs there either. So it's just,
7:42
Speaker 2: is this team just going to be in mediocrity? They're
7:45
Speaker 2: going to be able to beat the teams, score a
7:46
Speaker 2: bunch of runs against teams that they should score runs against.
7:49
Speaker 2: But the teams that you really want to be in
7:51
Speaker 2: the conversation with, you can't score runs. So it's just
7:54
Speaker 2: disheartening because I had such high hopes going into this weekend.
7:57
Speaker 2: I thought at Camden Yards, the place would be packed.
8:00
Speaker 3: It'd be a fun atmosphere.
8:01
Speaker 2: And it was just dead all weekend. And I know
8:05
Speaker 2: it's because the offense couldn't get things going there for
8:07
Speaker 2: those last three games, but it's just disheartening. I feel
8:11
Speaker 2: for the fans because that was definitely not what I
8:13
Speaker 2: think a lot of people saw going into this weekend.
8:16
Speaker 4: Oh, it's frustrating. And look, fans have every right to
8:19
Speaker 4: be frustrated. This team has underachieved the past couple of years,
8:25
Speaker 4: and you just wonder where they go from here. And
8:29
Speaker 4: heading into an offseason with so much uncertainty surrounding the
8:33
Speaker 4: lockout that everyone is assuming is going to happen, what
8:36
Speaker 4: is the economic landscape going to look like on the
8:39
Speaker 4: other side of this? There's so much uncertainty to me
8:43
Speaker 4: with this team because... You have to do something like
8:48
Speaker 4: you have to shake it up in some way for me,
8:51
Speaker 4: because what they've been doing, it just it hasn't worked.
8:56
Speaker 4: And you don't want to get to the point where
8:58
Speaker 4: it's the definition of insanity doing the same thing over
9:01
Speaker 4: and over again. And look, I think one player, Brad,
9:04
Speaker 4: kind of going back to your point that they're missing
9:07
Speaker 4: and it's unfortunate. the loss of Jordan Westberg is is
9:12
Speaker 4: really big for this ball club and it's unfortunate he's
9:15
Speaker 4: been very injury prone over the past couple of years
9:18
Speaker 4: but I just feel like Jordan Westberg is such an
9:21
Speaker 4: underrated player in this offense a run producer he's extremely
9:25
Speaker 4: clutch he's got that kind of added you know laser
9:29
Speaker 4: focused uh sense to him that I feel like this
9:33
Speaker 4: this club lacks.
9:37
Speaker 1: And I want to go back to your point, Brad,
9:38
Speaker 1: about Blaise Alexander. I was in the press box. There's
9:43
Speaker 1: no cheering. But I think under my breath, I might
9:46
Speaker 1: have been cheering him on a little bit the other
9:48
Speaker 1: night because that passion and fire has been missing from
9:54
Speaker 1: the Orioles. Let's go back to when they won the
9:57
Speaker 1: AL East. Brandon Hyde gave a lot. of credit to
10:01
Speaker 1: two players who hardly ever played, and when they did,
10:04
Speaker 1: they weren't that good. And Robinson Chirinos. And the credit
10:09
Speaker 1: he gave is they brought toughness to the clubhouse. They
10:12
Speaker 1: didn't accept mediocrity, even if they weren't in the game.
10:15
Speaker 1: They had enough stature in their careers to that they
10:18
Speaker 1: would call young players aside and say, in Baltimore, we
10:21
Speaker 1: don't do it that way. It's harder to do that
10:23
Speaker 1: when you're sitting on the bench. It's probably easier for
10:26
Speaker 1: Pete Alonzo to do that. But I think Blaze, give
10:30
Speaker 1: me 10 more of him. That fire is needed. And
10:35
Speaker 1: I think that fire burns in other players, but they
10:38
Speaker 1: just don't express it the way he does. And if
10:40
Speaker 1: that ruffled the Red Sox feathers, good. I'm glad we
10:43
Speaker 1: ruffled your feathers. That fire is taking crap from the
10:46
Speaker 1: Red Sox and Yankees. Yeah. They came in here and
10:49
Speaker 1: called the new layout a joke of a ballpark. Yeah.
10:54
Speaker 1: And I'm like, have you seen your own right field? Yeah.
10:59
Speaker 1: You make every decision in baseball. So Blaze said, I'll
11:03
Speaker 1: show you what. And I'll tell you something furthermore that
11:05
Speaker 1: I can't say. He wasn't. There's nothing out of line here.
11:08
Speaker 1: But I went up to Blaze. the day after that
11:10
Speaker 1: play at second. And I said, off the record, I'm
11:12
Speaker 1: not writing this. I just want to hear your thoughts
11:14
Speaker 1: on it. So I can't get into it because it
11:16
Speaker 1: was off the record. But I know he wasn't totally
11:19
Speaker 1: thrilled with that. And I felt, I said to somebody
11:22
Speaker 1: in the press box, if Blaze has a chance to
11:24
Speaker 1: go hard in the second tonight, he's going to. You watch.
11:27
Speaker 1: And he did. And so I liked it.
11:31
Speaker 2: And, you know, the one thing I just can't help
11:34
Speaker 2: getting over, and I don't, this is not against the
11:38
Speaker 2: player Colton Couser is, But I'm sorry, that video of him.
11:41
Speaker 3: And Adley next to each other kind of joking, I'm sorry.
11:44
Speaker 3: That's just– it bothered me.
11:46
Speaker 2: It bothered me as a former player and it bothered
11:48
Speaker 2: me as like Blaze is out there, fired it up
11:51
Speaker 2: enough at whatever the case may be, whether he was
11:54
Speaker 2: pissed off about the night before getting slid in hard
11:56
Speaker 2: at second base.
11:57
Speaker 3: He's pissed because they're not scoring. He's pissed for something.
12:01
Speaker 2: And I understand that they're great friends and it hasn't
12:04
Speaker 2: been a long enough time, but I just– it always
12:06
Speaker 2: bothered me.
12:07
Speaker 3: It's not this, this team.
12:08
Speaker 2: It's always the going after other guys in the heat
12:12
Speaker 2: of battle. You want to go say hi, you want
12:13
Speaker 2: to joke, you can go to breakfast, you can say
12:16
Speaker 2: hi before the game. But like when the game starts,
12:18
Speaker 2: it's just your teammates out there. And like, you don't know,
12:21
Speaker 2: it only takes one guy that just has a wrong
12:24
Speaker 2: idea of what's happening and it can get ugly fast.
12:26
Speaker 2: And they just kind of see the, like, I know
12:29
Speaker 2: they tried to like cover it up and I understand
12:31
Speaker 2: they're great friends. It's just, I feel like that's what's
12:34
Speaker 2: lacking from this team is that sense of urgency, that
12:37
Speaker 2: sense of fire.
12:38
Speaker 3: It's like, it's all fun and games, but like at
12:41
Speaker 3: some point it can't be that anymore.
12:43
Speaker 2: And it has to turn into something else or otherwise you're,
12:46
Speaker 2: you're where they are right now. And I just, like
12:47
Speaker 2: I said, it's nothing against Colton. It's nothing against the
12:49
Speaker 2: guys on this team. I know that's a tough situation,
12:52
Speaker 2: having your best friend be on the other team, but
12:53
Speaker 2: it's like in the heat of that moment, there's gotta
12:56
Speaker 2: be somebody else that was ready to go out there
12:57
Speaker 2: and back them up and be as fired up as
12:59
Speaker 2: he was at that play.
13:01
Speaker 4: I think it's a great point. I think it's a
13:03
Speaker 4: great point, Brad. And to be honest, you can say
13:07
Speaker 4: probably fair to say that this core group, they lack
13:12
Speaker 4: a little edge. You know, I think that that's probably
13:15
Speaker 4: fair to say, you know, some somebody that is going
13:19
Speaker 4: to say, OK, enough's enough. And you're going to stick
13:21
Speaker 4: up for your teammates and the rest of the organization, because. Look,
13:26
Speaker 4: this is the perfect example where two teams that are
13:29
Speaker 4: always going to be a thorn in, in the Orioles
13:31
Speaker 4: side and the American league is that the Yankees and
13:34
Speaker 4: Red Sox, they're not going anywhere. And unfortunately it's been
13:37
Speaker 4: a rough year for this Orioles team against both those clubs.
13:41
Speaker 4: They're six and 17. You know, if you're going to
13:44
Speaker 4: get back to where you want to get back to,
13:46
Speaker 4: and that's winning AL East titles, getting back to the playoffs,
13:49
Speaker 4: you are going to have to be a lot better
13:52
Speaker 4: against both of those teams. And, and, You know, you
13:57
Speaker 4: got to fight back. You got to push back at
13:59
Speaker 4: some point. And that's why I appreciated Blaze totally.
14:03
Speaker 1: Totally. And I appreciated Odor and Chirinos for what they
14:07
Speaker 1: did on those teams that hardly got noticed because we
14:11
Speaker 1: were none of us were there, including media, when they
14:13
Speaker 1: were doing their magic behind the scenes and instilling a
14:17
Speaker 1: certain attitude. in that team that helped them win 101
14:20
Speaker 1: games when the American league East same players, many of
14:23
Speaker 1: which would lost 115. So the talent, a lot of
14:27
Speaker 1: it is here in Birdland. Maybe what blaze Alexander showed
14:31
Speaker 1: the other night, we need to see others do that.
14:35
Speaker 4: Yeah.
14:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. And obviously talent goes, talent goes a long way,
14:40
Speaker 2: but the wanting to get to the point where you're
14:43
Speaker 2: not okay with losing. And that's really hard. That's really
14:46
Speaker 2: hard to get to that point. But I feel like
14:48
Speaker 2: they have the pieces to do that. It's just how
14:51
Speaker 2: do you get that attitude about yourselves?
14:53
Speaker 3: And it's fine.
14:53
Speaker 2: There's nothing. You don't want to see guys do anything dirty.
14:57
Speaker 2: You don't want to see guys do anything obnoxious or whatever.
14:59
Speaker 2: But there's still a certain attitude that you have to
15:02
Speaker 2: have to compete in AL East. And it's just been
15:04
Speaker 2: I just have not seen that this year. It's just
15:06
Speaker 2: kind of like we.
15:07
Speaker 1: Go out there.
15:08
Speaker 3: We play good. We win. We don't play good. We lose.
15:10
Speaker 2: And it's at what point can you tip the scales
15:13
Speaker 2: the other way where we are not going to lose
15:15
Speaker 2: tonight against these guys? And there's I just like I said,
15:19
Speaker 2: it's just something about this weekend just did not sit
15:21
Speaker 2: well with me. And I can't put my finger on it.
15:23
Speaker 2: But it's like we said, the town is there. It's
15:26
Speaker 2: just where is that attitude going to come from?
15:28
Speaker 4: You know? I just think it's perfect. Just circling back
15:31
Speaker 4: to this entire thing. You know, we, we do the
15:33
Speaker 4: show Wednesday and look, that was, that was a brutal
15:36
Speaker 4: loss that they just had to the Rockies, a brutal
15:38
Speaker 4: series loss, but you know what? This is the biggest
15:41
Speaker 4: homestand of the year. Adley is coming back. Like there's
15:45
Speaker 4: storylines galore. And for this team to get shut out
15:50
Speaker 4: back to back games, you know, in the middle two
15:52
Speaker 4: games of this series and, and just, It was a
15:56
Speaker 4: rough watch, you know, just in terms of base running blunders,
15:59
Speaker 4: errors leading to unearned runs, even more of them today. Like,
16:03
Speaker 4: it's just, it was a frustrating weekend for the team
16:08
Speaker 4: to be as flat as they were considering the stakes.
16:13
Speaker 1: They asked Craig Albertans after the game about Red Sox
16:15
Speaker 1: fans cheering in this series, and he had the perfect answer.
16:19
Speaker 1: They support their team on the road. I've been with
16:22
Speaker 1: several major league clubs I've seen at other places, and
16:25
Speaker 1: we didn't give our fans things to cheer about. That's
16:28
Speaker 1: the biggest issue. When you score one run in three games,
16:31
Speaker 1: how much cheering can you do? So there would have
16:34
Speaker 1: been plenty of cheering if the shoe would be on
16:36
Speaker 1: the other foot, and that originates with the Orioles who
16:39
Speaker 1: have to make that happen. When we come back, let's
16:41
Speaker 1: get into some really interesting topics here. The unearned runs,
16:44
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about that. Kyle Bradish, where are we
16:47
Speaker 1: at with his innings? LDL, as we're now calling him,
16:50
Speaker 1: Luis De Leon, he flashed stuff again today. We'll talk
16:54
Speaker 1: about that kid and these other topics coming up on
16:57
Speaker 1: Birdland Territory.
16:59
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17:12
Speaker 1: Well, I started to pot this week. I didn't intend to,
17:17
Speaker 1: but man. I wrote about the left-right, and it certainly
17:22
Speaker 1: frustrated me the other night to see Navarro hit a
17:28
Speaker 1: tie game in the seventh inning Thursday night. He hasn't
17:31
Speaker 1: been hitting. He doesn't have an RBI in 57 at-bats,
17:34
Speaker 1: and Masayo couldn't hit. The reason he couldn't hit is
17:37
Speaker 1: it was left-left. There's more to it than that, I'm sure,
17:41
Speaker 1: but that certainly frustrated me, guys. I do think long-term,
17:45
Speaker 1: the Orioles have to I think that's all we can
17:48
Speaker 1: start with. Get away from this a little bit. I mean,
17:50
Speaker 1: you can't do the left-right thing every night. There has
17:53
Speaker 1: to be nights you go by feel, you go by
17:55
Speaker 1: the eye test. You've got these young talents, Kouser, Holliday,
18:01
Speaker 1: and Basayo. Are we already calling them platoon players? One
18:04
Speaker 1: of them you gave a long-term contract to. He can't
18:07
Speaker 1: hit for Nervarez at that spot? Yeah.
18:11
Speaker 2: I just– I can't quite figure it out. And it's
18:15
Speaker 2: been something that's been kind of bothering me all season
18:17
Speaker 2: watching how it's just– it's so– you.
18:19
Speaker 3: Know exactly what they're going to do when they're going
18:21
Speaker 3: to do it.
18:22
Speaker 2: And I just feel like that's just not having a
18:24
Speaker 2: feel for what's going on in the game. It's not
18:27
Speaker 2: having a understanding of this guy's really hot. It doesn't
18:30
Speaker 2: matter who he's facing right now. And we kind of
18:33
Speaker 2: talked about it the other night in text. We were
18:34
Speaker 2: talking about LDL when he came in. We'll get into
18:36
Speaker 2: him a little bit. Right. You bring in a righty
18:38
Speaker 2: to face a lefty with a lefty on the mound.
18:40
Speaker 2: And I understand they could have pinch hit or done
18:42
Speaker 2: whatever there. But it's I just I some of the
18:46
Speaker 2: moves just are kind of dumbfounding at this point. And
18:48
Speaker 2: I just can't quite figure out why it's been so
18:52
Speaker 2: by the book all year long when it's given the
18:55
Speaker 2: results that they've gotten.
18:56
Speaker 3: And I just don't know why it hasn't been changed.
18:59
Speaker 4: You know. And we've seen it done every single time
19:03
Speaker 4: with these young guys. I remember Gunnar Henderson couldn't, you know,
19:06
Speaker 4: bat against left-handed pitching when he started, but like guys,
19:09
Speaker 4: there was a moment. What was it in June? I
19:11
Speaker 4: want to say Jackson holiday had a four hit game.
19:16
Speaker 4: And then he was benched the next day because they
19:18
Speaker 4: were facing a left-handed starting pitcher. He just had a
19:21
Speaker 4: four hit game. Like he's feeling good about himself. It
19:24
Speaker 4: just seems like a no brainer. And you circle back
19:27
Speaker 4: to Samuel Basile and let's just use him for an example. Like,
19:31
Speaker 4: who knows if Samuel Bissau can hit left-handed pitching, but
19:34
Speaker 4: I can promise you we will never find out if
19:36
Speaker 4: you don't give him consistent at-bats against left-handed pitching. Let
19:41
Speaker 4: him prove that he cannot hit left-handed pitching. Let him
19:46
Speaker 4: prove that. Give him the opportunity to pickle. or succeed.
19:51
Speaker 1: Yeah. If we're going by the numbers, the numbers as
19:55
Speaker 1: of Thursday night said this. OPS, runners in scoring position. Basayo, 800. Narvaez, 250.
20:04
Speaker 1: That's his OPS with runners in scoring position. Two on,
20:08
Speaker 1: two out, tie game. I don't know. I had some
20:11
Speaker 1: media argue with me about my take, and I don't
20:14
Speaker 1: get their argument. I'm sorry. I just don't.
20:17
Speaker 2: And Steve, too, I just think a lot of times, too,
20:19
Speaker 2: it's been regardless of what the pitcher that they're facing,
20:23
Speaker 2: his stats, he could be a reverse split guy, but
20:26
Speaker 2: they're still going to hit the righty off because that's
20:29
Speaker 2: what favors whatever algorithm or whatever the method to their
20:33
Speaker 2: madness is.
20:34
Speaker 3: That's what they're going to do every single time.
20:36
Speaker 2: And like I'm saying, at some point, you just have
20:39
Speaker 2: to see like, okay, we can't get over 500 here.
20:42
Speaker 2: We've been doing this since April.
20:43
Speaker 3: It's now June. When are we going to start going
20:46
Speaker 3: off a feel?
20:46
Speaker 2: When are we going to start Jackson Holiday against a
20:48
Speaker 2: lefty because he had four hits the night before? When
20:50
Speaker 2: are we going to find out what Samuel Basayo, because
20:52
Speaker 2: he's going to be here for the next eight years,
20:54
Speaker 2: can do against lefties no matter what?
20:56
Speaker 3: And I just think at this.
20:57
Speaker 2: Point, I think Samuel Basaya has just shown to have
20:59
Speaker 2: a flair for the dramatic and he gets better when
21:01
Speaker 2: he comes in those later situations, regardless of who he's facing.
21:05
Speaker 3: Righty lefty, closer, non closer. It doesn't matter.
21:08
Speaker 2: And sometimes there's that X factor that no matter what,
21:11
Speaker 2: how many times you run it in an algorithm or
21:13
Speaker 2: a computer, you're never going to be able to come
21:15
Speaker 2: up with that, what that X factor is.
21:17
Speaker 3: And I think Visayo has that.
21:18
Speaker 2: So to me, it's just a lot of these things
21:21
Speaker 2: have just been so methodical that, I mean, at some
21:24
Speaker 2: point you just got to be like, Hey, we're going
21:26
Speaker 2: to go with field tonight.
21:26
Speaker 3: This guy looked really good in pregame.
21:29
Speaker 2: I don't care if he's facing the left ear righty
21:31
Speaker 2: where he's going to hit the, it's just, it's been
21:33
Speaker 2: kind of one of those things all year.
21:34
Speaker 3: And I think now where the record is, where it is.
21:36
Speaker 3: You just got to think back and go, man, why?
21:39
Speaker 2: Because at this point, they still have the same questions
21:41
Speaker 2: that they had when the season started with these things.
21:43
Speaker 2: And I just feel like now you have no answers
21:45
Speaker 2: and you're getting close to the end of the season.
21:47
Speaker 3: You're not going to have anything moving forward.
21:48
Speaker 2: And I just feel like they haven't found anything for 2027,
21:51
Speaker 2: which to me is even more frustrating now where they
21:54
Speaker 2: find themselves in the standings.
21:57
Speaker 4: It is.
21:58
Speaker 1: And Peyton Tolley, by the way, has reversed splits, like
22:01
Speaker 1: you mentioned. A hundred points lefties hit him a hundred
22:05
Speaker 1: points higher OPS than right. So left hits him better.
22:10
Speaker 1: Knowing that the Orioles batted Tavares, who this year has
22:13
Speaker 1: an OPS against left of 491 and is six for 50.
22:19
Speaker 1: And they also batted Narvaez, who's hitting 088 this year
22:23
Speaker 1: and his OPS against left. is 460. If you're going
22:27
Speaker 1: by the data, the data is screaming to you to
22:30
Speaker 1: play someone else. I don't get it if this is
22:34
Speaker 1: coming from above in the front office. The front office,
22:37
Speaker 1: in my humble opinion, has to do some soul-searching about
22:40
Speaker 1: these lineups.
22:44
Speaker 6: Ultimately, guys, something has to give because you can go
22:48
Speaker 6: back now to, what, June 21st, 2024, and this organization
22:53
Speaker 6: is over 20 games below 500.
22:55
Speaker 4: We're talking more than two full calendar years where something
23:00
Speaker 4: is not working, you know, and things need to change.
23:05
Speaker 4: And I just don't understand how you can continue to
23:09
Speaker 4: keep doing this and harming yourself in the long run,
23:12
Speaker 4: like you said, Brad.
23:14
Speaker 1: Let's get into two quick topics in our final minutes.
23:18
Speaker 1: I think they should shut Kyle Braddish down. I know
23:21
Speaker 1: mathematically they still have a shot. I'm worried. He's 100
23:24
Speaker 1: innings over what he threw last year, counting the minors.
23:27
Speaker 1: They've signed him long term. I want to see him
23:30
Speaker 1: pitch 30 starts the next three or four years. I
23:33
Speaker 1: don't need to see him anymore. I don't know what
23:35
Speaker 1: the Orioles will do. I think they should shut him down.
23:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
23:39
Speaker 2: When you kind of brought that up just before Steve,
23:41
Speaker 2: I was thinking, I just think it's, he's got the
23:44
Speaker 2: end of his rope. I think he's done exactly what
23:46
Speaker 2: you need him to do this year. He's proven he's healthy.
23:48
Speaker 2: He's pitched really well. And it's just, he's getting tired.
23:51
Speaker 2: I mean, if you watch his last, however many starts,
23:54
Speaker 2: the breaking balls aren't as sharp. His fastball just doesn't
23:57
Speaker 2: have the same jump. He's not getting the swing. He's
23:59
Speaker 2: just having tough at bats throughout his start. And it's,
24:02
Speaker 2: that's not Kyle Braddish that we had seen in the
24:04
Speaker 2: middle of the season in May, June, July, August of
24:07
Speaker 2: this year. I just feel like it's just gotten to
24:10
Speaker 2: the point where you've gotten everything out of the season
24:12
Speaker 2: you could possibly ask for and then some from him.
24:15
Speaker 2: Sign him long-term, keep him healthy, get him in the
24:18
Speaker 2: offseason so he can go through a regular, complete, full offseason,
24:22
Speaker 2: completely healthy, and have him as your ace or number
24:25
Speaker 2: two going into next season.
24:28
Speaker 4: I think you've got to be smart with him. And
24:30
Speaker 4: I've been saying going back to spring training, guys, just
24:34
Speaker 4: the fact that you needed to do something to– artificially
24:38
Speaker 4: keep down his innings, whether it's skipping starts or a
24:40
Speaker 4: six-man rotation or something. But they haven't done anything up
24:46
Speaker 4: until this point, and you can totally see it. He's
24:49
Speaker 4: just really laboring through his starts, and the walk rate
24:53
Speaker 4: is really, really high for him at this point. He
24:55
Speaker 4: had four more walks in his last start today. And
24:59
Speaker 4: it just doesn't look right for Kyle Braddish. The curveball
25:02
Speaker 4: and the slider just aren't nearly as crisp. The fastball
25:05
Speaker 4: command isn't what we've become accustomed to seeing with Kyle Braddish.
25:10
Speaker 4: And I think something needs to give, and you have
25:13
Speaker 4: to be really smart with him because you have signed
25:16
Speaker 4: him long-term. And we know what Kyle Braddish can be
25:19
Speaker 4: when he's at his best. And I just think you've
25:21
Speaker 4: got to be smart down the stretch with him.
25:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I say shut him down not because he's
25:25
Speaker 1: not been good, because he's very good. Yeah. The other reason.
25:29
Speaker 1: He's the best they got long term. He's the number one.
25:33
Speaker 1: He's the opening day starter next year, barring some acquisition
25:36
Speaker 1: we don't see coming. And as you said, he's done
25:39
Speaker 1: enough for this season. But I don't know how the
25:41
Speaker 1: Orioles will play it. I think we're in agreement on
25:44
Speaker 1: what should happen. Let's get to Luis De Leon. I
25:48
Speaker 1: was thrilled to do a great interview with him the
25:50
Speaker 1: other day. He's so proud of being the first. international
25:54
Speaker 1: pitcher on the Oriole Watch, Elias Kobe Perez, to make
25:58
Speaker 1: the majors. Dominican Republic all the way through AA, AAA
26:02
Speaker 1: to Baltimore. We see this stuff is real. We saw
26:05
Speaker 1: it again today. That was some electric stuff. He's taken
26:08
Speaker 1: two losses, but I ain't worried about that. The other day,
26:11
Speaker 1: I asked Craig Alpernaz, what went into the organizational decision
26:15
Speaker 1: when he first moved presented it this way it was
26:22
Speaker 1: an organization-wide uh neighborhood meeting as he called it everybody
26:26
Speaker 1: got together the pitching coaches on the farm the pitching
26:29
Speaker 1: coordinators the pitching coaches the decision was made he can
26:34
Speaker 1: handle it this kid is ready for this challenge and
26:39
Speaker 1: brad you've got a lot of experience with seeing young
26:42
Speaker 1: guys come up yeah what are.
26:46
Speaker 2: No, I think everything we've seen so far is great.
26:48
Speaker 2: I just, I just think it was more unfortunate than
26:51
Speaker 2: anything else. His first two outings are in tie games
26:53
Speaker 2: in the, in the race here. But I mean, if
26:56
Speaker 2: you're saying that Steve, I think everybody was in agreement.
26:59
Speaker 2: He was built for those spots and they didn't see
27:01
Speaker 2: anything else. So I, I, I mean, it's justified by
27:03
Speaker 2: them saying that everybody in the organization see him pitching
27:07
Speaker 2: in big spots and his stuff is electric. So I
27:10
Speaker 2: I'm really excited about this arm and I'd love to
27:13
Speaker 2: see him get a start. If they're not going to
27:14
Speaker 2: use Kyle Braddish, like, throw him for two or three.
27:16
Speaker 2: I know he has, he's done pretty much relief work,
27:19
Speaker 2: but throw him in a two, three innings outing and
27:22
Speaker 2: see what he can do because he is cool as
27:24
Speaker 2: a cucumber though.
27:24
Speaker 3: I mean, he's been in a couple tough spots there.
27:27
Speaker 2: I mean, the first battery ever faced in the big
27:29
Speaker 2: leagues pops up and is an error and he's still
27:32
Speaker 2: like made his pitches. Unfortunately he's pitching a course field
27:35
Speaker 2: and you're going to hang a breaking ball here or there.
27:37
Speaker 2: So I've really been impressed with what he's done and
27:41
Speaker 2: I hope that, This is just a sign of things
27:43
Speaker 2: to come for this kid because I really think he
27:44
Speaker 2: could be a mainstay, whether it's in the bullpen or rotation,
27:47
Speaker 2: whether they see him moving forward. But it's been a
27:49
Speaker 2: really encouraging few outings for him so far.
27:52
Speaker 4: It really has. He has an electric arm. And you
27:56
Speaker 4: think even Thursday, guys, he had the Blaze Alexander throwing error.
28:00
Speaker 4: So his first two outings, his defense was not exactly
28:03
Speaker 4: picking him up. But look, we've been talking a lot,
28:07
Speaker 4: especially since the trade deadline, of how deep this pitching
28:12
Speaker 4: prospect pool is that the Orioles have. And Luis de Leon,
28:17
Speaker 4: he's going to get an opportunity down this stretch. And
28:20
Speaker 4: I think he's going to take advantage of it. I mean,
28:22
Speaker 4: it's a special arm.
28:24
Speaker 1: This will show you how different it is when you
28:29
Speaker 1: sign and scout international guys that you're watching at age 14. Basayo,
28:34
Speaker 1: the first position player to make it, Got $ 1. 3 million
28:37
Speaker 1: at age 16. De Leon, the first pitcher to make it,
28:41
Speaker 1: got $ 30, 000 at age 18. When you sign a player
28:45
Speaker 1: at 18 out of the Dominican, that's ancient. That's a
28:48
Speaker 1: late bloomer. Why didn't anybody sign him at 16 or 17?
28:52
Speaker 1: Why did it take until 18? Well, whatever the Orioles saw,
28:55
Speaker 1: and they signed him in December of that year. It
28:57
Speaker 1: was a late bloomer. and the kid just wanted to
29:01
Speaker 1: play pro ball and we're giving you 30,000 that's products
29:04
Speaker 1: and MLB money I want to play I'll take it
29:06
Speaker 1: I'll sign let's go yeah I got I got 100 picture.
29:10
Speaker 2: Yeah it's amazing I got a soft spot my heart
29:12
Speaker 2: for I signed for a thousand bucks out of college
29:14
Speaker 2: so I know what it's like to you know just
29:16
Speaker 2: kind of go out there and you know just give
29:18
Speaker 2: it a shot and you you're out there you enjoy
29:20
Speaker 2: playing it's not about the money it's not about this
29:22
Speaker 2: but uh It's great to see him be able to
29:25
Speaker 2: do that because, like you said, Steve, 30,000 for an
29:27
Speaker 2: 18-year-old out of Dominican. You don't hear about those guys
29:30
Speaker 2: making it to the major leagues too much. So it's
29:32
Speaker 2: great to see him move. And what I really liked
29:34
Speaker 2: about him is that he moved his whole way and
29:36
Speaker 2: earned his whole way up to the big leagues. It
29:38
Speaker 2: wasn't like he skipped a level. like they had a
29:40
Speaker 2: certain need that they had to fill at the time.
29:42
Speaker 2: It was, he, he showed that he was ready to
29:44
Speaker 2: pitch in the major leagues. And like you said, the
29:46
Speaker 2: conversations you had with everybody. they said he was ready
29:50
Speaker 2: for this spot. So to me, that's a different story
29:53
Speaker 2: than someone where he gets called up because they need
29:55
Speaker 2: a lefty arm out of the pen because they can't
29:57
Speaker 2: find somebody and they need somebody that throws hard. He
30:00
Speaker 2: was proven, and I mean, the spots they put him
30:02
Speaker 2: in these first two games really goes to show what
30:04
Speaker 2: they think of this kid. And I just hope that
30:06
Speaker 2: he's able to, first of all, stay healthy and just
30:09
Speaker 2: use that electric arm because you don't see too many
30:11
Speaker 2: lefties throwing upper 90s like he can. With a really
30:14
Speaker 2: devastating split that we didn't really get to see the
30:16
Speaker 2: first couple or the first outing, He showed it against
30:18
Speaker 2: the Red Sox the other night, and then that slider
30:21
Speaker 2: is electric, and that is a wipeout slider. So it's
30:24
Speaker 2: definitely somebody that Birdland should be excited about here moving forward.
30:29
Speaker 1: He's so proud to be the first to make it.
30:31
Speaker 1: It's awesome. And the other day he told me the
30:33
Speaker 1: other Dominican kids have already told him, we want to
30:35
Speaker 1: follow you. And he's a trailblazer, Orioles international, really proud
30:40
Speaker 1: to get to know Luis De Leon. All right, guys,
30:45
Speaker 1: we'll see where it goes from here. The Orioles are
30:48
Speaker 1: reeling into this Boston series, and now they've got to
30:51
Speaker 1: get it going and try to salvage something. And if
30:53
Speaker 1: they don't, whether they do or they don't, we'll still
30:56
Speaker 1: be here talking about it and bringing some interesting topics
30:59
Speaker 1: your way. Thanks for checking out today, this latest edition
31:03
Speaker 1: of Birdland Territory.
31:06
Speaker 3: If you made it this far, you'll love this next video.
31:08
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