Latest / Birdland Territory / Orioles swept, sluggish start, Adley Rutschman hitting a bright spot

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Orioles swept, sluggish start, Adley Rutschman hitting a bright spot · Birdland Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Heyo's fans. Well, that was not a great weekend for
0:08
Speaker 1: the Birds in Pittsburgh, no doubt about it. The Oriols
0:10
Speaker 1: lose on this Sunday eight to two. They got swept
0:14
Speaker 1: by the Pirates and now they'll head to Chicago and
0:16
Speaker 1: try to regroup and get back in the wind column
0:18
Speaker 1: on Monday night against the White Sox. Welcome Inos fans.
0:23
Speaker 1: You are watching a brand new show. It's our debut.
0:26
Speaker 1: It's Birdland Territory as part of the Foul Territory Network.
0:30
Speaker 1: I'm Steve Muleski, so thrilled you're with us, joined by
0:33
Speaker 1: Tim Barbarleace of one of five seven The Fan in Baltimore.
0:36
Speaker 1: You hear Tim weekdays from two to six on Inside
0:39
Speaker 1: Access on one of five seven the Fan. So great
0:42
Speaker 1: to have Tim with us and a familiar face to
0:45
Speaker 1: Oriole fans. Former Birds pitcher Brad Brock was with the
0:48
Speaker 1: ball club for five years and pitched so well for
0:50
Speaker 1: the Orioles to a two nine ninety era and on
0:53
Speaker 1: the Orioles Watch. He made the All Star team in
0:56
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, pitching the playoffs a couple times. So welcome
1:00
Speaker 1: Tim and Brad. Glad to have you part of this.
1:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, glad to be here. This is this is gonna
1:05
Speaker 2: be fun.
1:05
Speaker 3: I'm excited to get into some of the discussions we're
1:08
Speaker 3: gonna have throughout the year. And it's fun to get
1:09
Speaker 3: back into the flow of watching more some more baseball
1:12
Speaker 3: and especially pol of the o's here and looking forward
1:15
Speaker 3: to just everything where you get to discuss this here.
1:17
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we're gonna have fun, guys. Even if the Oris
1:21
Speaker 1: didn't have a fun weekend, Yeah in Pittsburgh and and
1:25
Speaker 1: uh tamp I'll start with you. I mean, you know,
1:27
Speaker 1: we're disappointing the team's play this weekend. I've got to
1:30
Speaker 1: clean it up and it's just a rough, rough weekend.
1:33
Speaker 1: What stood out to you besides the fact that they
1:36
Speaker 1: just didn't get a victory.
1:38
Speaker 4: Well, I think what concerns me, Steve, and I'm not
1:42
Speaker 4: hitting the panic button. We are all of nine games
1:45
Speaker 4: into the season at this point, but a couple of
1:47
Speaker 4: concerns that we had heading into the year the defense
1:51
Speaker 4: and not a ton of plus defenders on this club.
1:54
Speaker 4: And you saw that on display Saturday, a couple of
1:57
Speaker 4: pfps that Shane Boz and Nuniez ended up messing up.
2:03
Speaker 4: We saw today Jeremiah Jackson not having his foot on
2:06
Speaker 4: first base on a bunt, So I think the defensive
2:11
Speaker 4: struggles that definitely stood out to me and Chris Bassett
2:16
Speaker 4: Today was just a rough second game for him in Baltimore.
2:20
Speaker 4: He just hasn't been able to find a feel for
2:22
Speaker 4: his sinker, and we saw that in his first start
2:25
Speaker 4: against the Rangers, where first time threw he leaned into it,
2:30
Speaker 4: then kind of leaned more into the curveball. He kind
2:32
Speaker 4: of saw some of that today he got hit by
2:34
Speaker 4: a comebacker. I couldn't believe that he even stayed in
2:37
Speaker 4: the game one hundred and twelve miles per hour off
2:40
Speaker 4: the bat.
2:41
Speaker 5: But the O's are just.
2:42
Speaker 4: Finding themselves in these early inning deficits. It's been four
2:47
Speaker 4: times now that the starting pitcher has given up four
2:50
Speaker 4: earned runs in the second inning.
2:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, some rough stats right now, no doubt about. The
2:55
Speaker 1: Oil scored just eight runs in three games in Pittsburgh.
2:58
Speaker 1: They've scored two runs their last five times already, you know,
3:01
Speaker 1: five times in nine games. So they're actually a game
3:04
Speaker 1: behind their pace last year, which was such a rough start.
3:07
Speaker 1: They were four and five, then they're three and six now.
3:10
Speaker 1: So Brad, you've been on some really good oriel teams,
3:12
Speaker 1: but even good teams have bad stretches. I think we
3:15
Speaker 1: hope this is going to prove to be a good
3:17
Speaker 1: team and that this is going to prove to be
3:19
Speaker 1: a bad stretch. But from the mindset of the clubhouse
3:22
Speaker 1: and the players, what do they have to think about
3:25
Speaker 1: and do right now to get this turned around?
3:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, like you said, it's it's like nine
3:30
Speaker 3: games into the season, but everything is obviously under a
3:33
Speaker 3: huge microscope right now. With how the team started last
3:35
Speaker 3: year and just how they got off to there's just off.
3:38
Speaker 2: It just seems sluggish.
3:39
Speaker 3: It seems to be some you know, like we were
3:41
Speaker 3: talking about the pfps and a couple of defensive things
3:43
Speaker 3: that they'll clean up and they'll get better with it. And
3:45
Speaker 3: I think you talk about in spring training all the
3:48
Speaker 3: pfps you do and all the ground balls you take,
3:50
Speaker 3: but when you get into game speed, everything just kind
3:53
Speaker 3: of speeds up on you. And that's what I saw
3:55
Speaker 3: at Newton's es Sha in that one play. It's like
3:56
Speaker 3: he made the pitch, got exactly what he wanted, and
3:59
Speaker 3: he's looking at also the first base of that having
4:01
Speaker 3: the baseball, and there's just it's hard to replicate those
4:03
Speaker 3: kinds of things in spring training, and when you start
4:06
Speaker 3: getting the big league speed of everything added on top,
4:09
Speaker 3: the little things become the big things, and you give
4:11
Speaker 3: extra ninety feet on the bases, you give extra base
4:14
Speaker 3: runners when guys are walking guys, and that's how these
4:16
Speaker 3: things can kind of snowball. But back to your point
4:18
Speaker 3: where the slow started. The guys aren't paying, they're not panicking.
4:22
Speaker 3: We've been on I've been on oils teams where you
4:24
Speaker 3: get swept early on and you get on the plane
4:27
Speaker 3: and you got Chicago like they're doing tonight and they
4:29
Speaker 3: won't even remember this this series come tomorrow. So that's
4:32
Speaker 3: a good thing about it all. You just you want
4:33
Speaker 3: to see the little things kind of cleaned up here
4:35
Speaker 3: and you're hoping, like you're saying, for a good season.
4:37
Speaker 3: You just those little things become big things when when
4:39
Speaker 3: you get off the bad start, like you're like, we're
4:42
Speaker 3: talking about today.
4:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's it's nine games enough to mentally
4:46
Speaker 1: get down a little bit, or does that?
4:49
Speaker 2: Is that not happen?
4:50
Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't.
4:50
Speaker 3: I don't think so I think And you know what
4:52
Speaker 3: it is too, it's the first road trip of the
4:54
Speaker 3: year where you're leaving your families, You're leaving your wives, girlfriends, everybody.
4:58
Speaker 2: For the first time.
4:58
Speaker 3: It's like you go to spring training, you're all together.
5:00
Speaker 3: They went back to Baltimore, they had opening Day, they're
5:02
Speaker 3: all together. So this is like the first time getting
5:04
Speaker 3: away and getting on the road. Sometimes it could be
5:06
Speaker 3: a good thing, but sometimes it just takes a little
5:08
Speaker 3: bit to get going. And I think that's really all
5:10
Speaker 3: this is the case of. I mean, like we said,
5:12
Speaker 3: they have the pieces to win. This team is a
5:15
Speaker 3: winning ball club and they just haven't shown it to
5:17
Speaker 3: this point. But don't panic yet. It's only nine games in.
5:19
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody in that clubhouse is having any
5:21
Speaker 3: kind of panic either.
5:23
Speaker 4: I know no one's panicking, Brad, But I think something
5:26
Speaker 4: that Steve and I were talking on opening day of
5:28
Speaker 4: Pickles Pub on one O five to seven the fan, how, look,
5:32
Speaker 4: it's not the end all be all, but you would
5:34
Speaker 4: like to get off to a good start this year
5:36
Speaker 4: just to kind of flush the mess that was the
5:39
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five season. And how the schedule set up
5:43
Speaker 4: their first twenty five games, they only face two opponents
5:47
Speaker 4: six games total against teams with win loss totals. Projected
5:52
Speaker 4: from odds makers of over five hundreds. So it's not
5:56
Speaker 4: the end of the world, but I think getting back
5:59
Speaker 4: on track, you're especially this upcoming week against the White
6:02
Speaker 4: Sox team that's done really well against the Blue Jays,
6:05
Speaker 4: it would be big.
6:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think like, I think that is a good
6:08
Speaker 2: point too.
6:09
Speaker 3: Like when you're talking about last season and the roster
6:11
Speaker 3: is very familiar with how the season started and what
6:14
Speaker 3: ended up happening with that season, you just definitely don't
6:16
Speaker 3: want to find yourself ten games below five hundred at
6:19
Speaker 3: the start of May.
6:19
Speaker 2: That's like, that's worst case scenario. That's you know, that's.
6:22
Speaker 3: Borderline, redline territory of talking about even having a shot
6:26
Speaker 3: to get to the playoffs. So I definitely agree with
6:28
Speaker 3: what you're saying with that, you definitely don't want to
6:31
Speaker 3: find yourself five games below ten games below here the
6:34
Speaker 3: first couple of weeks. So I can definitely understand where
6:36
Speaker 3: the you know, the concern is leading from last year
6:39
Speaker 3: into the season. So I definitely see where you're coming
6:41
Speaker 3: from with that.
6:42
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I think the clubhouse will handle it fine.
6:45
Speaker 1: There are enough veterans in there to show the way
6:48
Speaker 1: and the young guys have been through their ups and downs,
6:50
Speaker 1: but there's also a new coaching staff, mostly new, and
6:53
Speaker 1: a new manager in Craig alburn As. I'll start with
6:55
Speaker 1: you first, tim you know what's he going through right
6:58
Speaker 1: now because he's been really in spring. We've seen his
7:01
Speaker 1: confidence level, We've seen how he's blended so well with
7:04
Speaker 1: the team. He seems to find the right balance between
7:07
Speaker 1: being kind of, you know, their friend and their boss
7:09
Speaker 1: sort of thing. And yet this has got to be
7:12
Speaker 1: a little bit of a test for him.
7:14
Speaker 4: Well, I think that's the thing, Steve, you don't know
7:17
Speaker 4: what you don't know. This is Albernaz's first tough stretch
7:21
Speaker 4: and this.
7:22
Speaker 5: Is the beginning of his managerial career.
7:24
Speaker 4: And we saw some frustration boil over today and once
7:28
Speaker 4: he got ejected where it looked like Blaize Alexander.
7:30
Speaker 5: He was not granted a timeout.
7:33
Speaker 4: Albernaz is chirping at the ump and he ends up
7:36
Speaker 4: getting tossed.
7:37
Speaker 5: But I think it's we don't know how.
7:40
Speaker 4: Craig Albernez is going to react, and I think that's
7:42
Speaker 4: where the importance of the veteran leadership. And Brad, I
7:46
Speaker 4: know we had you on my show a couple of
7:48
Speaker 4: weeks ago, just talking about the importance of having a
7:51
Speaker 4: Pete Alonso, having a Chris Bassett, Guys that have been
7:55
Speaker 4: in the majors for quite some time now, experiencing the
7:58
Speaker 4: high highs, experiencing low lows, and we've heard so much
8:02
Speaker 4: about their leadership throughout spring training. I think those two
8:06
Speaker 4: guys they could be big for ALBURNAZ right now.
8:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
8:10
Speaker 3: I think when especially, I think that the key to
8:12
Speaker 3: that is having a position player and a pitcher. You
8:15
Speaker 3: have two guys who have been through, Like you said,
8:17
Speaker 3: they've done everything in their career to this point, the
8:19
Speaker 3: highs and the lows, so they know how to deal
8:21
Speaker 3: with it. And this is such an interesting group I
8:23
Speaker 3: think of. You know, we call them the young guys.
8:25
Speaker 3: Now they're in their third, fourth, fifth season. Some of
8:28
Speaker 3: these guys, when I was doing some of the games
8:29
Speaker 3: on mass and it was these guys are rookies and
8:31
Speaker 3: they kind of didn't know what was happening. Next they
8:33
Speaker 3: know they're winning one hundred games now on the reverse side,
8:35
Speaker 3: last year they saw the lows and they know what
8:38
Speaker 3: that feels like. So it's such an interesting, I think,
8:41
Speaker 3: such an interesting Rochester roster when it comes to like
8:43
Speaker 3: their superstars that have been with the Orioles this whole time,
8:45
Speaker 3: because they have experienced both of those already in such
8:48
Speaker 3: a short career, and the team leans on them. They
8:51
Speaker 3: need those guys to step up and do what they
8:53
Speaker 3: expect of them if that's where they if they want
8:55
Speaker 3: to get to where they're trying to go to the season.
8:58
Speaker 1: One thing we're going to be tracking is defense for
9:00
Speaker 1: this team this year because I think people are thinking
9:03
Speaker 1: team defense overall could be a shortcoming where the Orioles
9:07
Speaker 1: will have to prove to us that they can cover that.
9:10
Speaker 1: And so there were some physical errors, there were some
9:13
Speaker 1: mental errors, you know, and I'm not sure, Brad how
9:16
Speaker 1: teams overcome that. But you know, it wasn't all bad.
9:21
Speaker 1: Let's look at Kobe Mayo, the double plays he turned
9:23
Speaker 1: early and some of the throws he's had have been good.
9:26
Speaker 1: But there's just a couple of leaks right now that
9:28
Speaker 1: has to get cleaned up.
9:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, and like the ground ball yesterday, it's you're not
9:31
Speaker 3: a big deal. He got out of first, but moves
9:33
Speaker 3: the runners for second to third as opposed to maybe
9:35
Speaker 3: turning double play taking that guy out of scoring position.
9:38
Speaker 3: And that was just one of the huge things I
9:39
Speaker 3: distinctly remember Buck talking about all the time, the extra
9:42
Speaker 3: ninety feet, and it was just they somehow will come
9:45
Speaker 3: back to bite you at some point, and it just
9:48
Speaker 3: it kind of seemed like it all just showed up
9:50
Speaker 3: this weekend in Pittsburgh, and it really showed up in
9:52
Speaker 3: a big way in that game yesterday with just really
9:55
Speaker 3: those two plays that I mean, it's hard not to
9:57
Speaker 3: say they lose that game yesterday if they make those
10:00
Speaker 3: those two individual plays.
10:01
Speaker 2: And that's part of baseball. It happens.
10:03
Speaker 3: But like you're saying, if that was a huge concern
10:06
Speaker 3: going in the season, it kind of just showed its
10:07
Speaker 3: ugly face early on here.
10:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, and unfortunately, it seems like there's been one or
10:13
Speaker 4: two of those instances pretty much in all of these
10:16
Speaker 4: nine games. And Brad just take us in the mind
10:19
Speaker 4: of a pitcher on the mound, like, is that in
10:21
Speaker 4: the back.
10:22
Speaker 5: Of your head at all?
10:23
Speaker 4: With the defense struggling, you have to have such a
10:26
Speaker 4: short memory being a pitcher.
10:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, big time.
10:29
Speaker 3: And I mean it's I don't think you're gonna change
10:31
Speaker 3: the way you're pitching, but you're, like, I think in
10:33
Speaker 3: the way the baseball's played today with how many strikeouts
10:36
Speaker 3: are there are now, I think that's in the back
10:38
Speaker 3: of their mind more than like worried about ball being
10:40
Speaker 3: hit somewhere.
10:40
Speaker 2: It's like, I gotta strike this guy out.
10:42
Speaker 3: I gotta strike And that's when things start to that's
10:44
Speaker 3: when you hang the breaking ball. That's when you don't
10:46
Speaker 3: look at your fastballs because you're so concentrated on thinking
10:49
Speaker 3: you need to strike everybody out. I know for me personally,
10:52
Speaker 3: and I know it's just not a place you want
10:53
Speaker 3: to be when you're sitting there on the mound, going
10:55
Speaker 3: I gotta strike, I gotta strike this guy out. I mean,
10:57
Speaker 3: there's no other way to get this out here. I
10:59
Speaker 3: gotta do this my set. And that's definitely what you
11:01
Speaker 3: don't want to do when you're on the mound. That's
11:02
Speaker 3: the last thing you want to be thinking about. But
11:04
Speaker 3: it maybe it is, maybe it's creeping in back some
11:06
Speaker 3: of these guys heads. I don't think it is, but
11:08
Speaker 3: it's it's just an instant interesting point to bring up
11:12
Speaker 3: that who knows, maybe this started to creep in early
11:14
Speaker 3: on here and that's just not something you want to
11:15
Speaker 3: see continue. And hopefully they can nip it in the
11:18
Speaker 3: butd here if not in Chicago, and this next six
11:20
Speaker 3: games really just kind of tighten it up, get it
11:22
Speaker 3: back to how they were feeling good coming out of spring, and.
11:25
Speaker 2: Just kind of know that, Okay, we got this.
11:27
Speaker 3: Now, Let's get the ball, let's the balls on the ground,
11:29
Speaker 3: Let's turn two pitchers, get the strikeouts when you need it,
11:32
Speaker 3: Let's cover first base when we need to. Let's make
11:34
Speaker 3: the plays there too, And it's just kind of everybody
11:36
Speaker 3: feeds off each other, I think when you start making
11:38
Speaker 3: all those kinds of plays.
11:40
Speaker 1: So a rough weekend in birdland in Pittsburgh as you
11:42
Speaker 1: always lose three. Now on to Chicago. The White Sox
11:45
Speaker 1: may be sweeping the Blue Jays, by the way, so
11:48
Speaker 1: no picnic as they move on to the next leg
11:50
Speaker 1: of the road trip. But there were some things to
11:54
Speaker 1: like about Oriel baseball so far. So let's get into
11:56
Speaker 1: that and talk about what we've liked so far from
11:59
Speaker 1: this team. And I'll start, guys, I like the way
12:01
Speaker 1: Adleie Richman's swinging it right now. I mean, he is
12:05
Speaker 1: obviously a mark guy. After kind of two down years,
12:08
Speaker 1: we've seen him have an eight hundred ops and those
12:10
Speaker 1: fans know what he can do two time All Star,
12:13
Speaker 1: you know, but last year his OPS was six seventy
12:16
Speaker 1: three and his ops plus was below average ninety. He's
12:19
Speaker 1: at nine sixty four right now. He didn't play today,
12:22
Speaker 1: got the day off. One eighty two OPS plus three
12:25
Speaker 1: thirty three average four to forty on base And really
12:28
Speaker 1: it's the metrics within that. How hard he's hitting the ball.
12:32
Speaker 1: I mean, Adley's exit velocity is way up again, small sample,
12:37
Speaker 1: but it's ninety three point one on average. His hard
12:39
Speaker 1: hit rate way up, his expected slugging numbers are way up.
12:45
Speaker 1: He's squaring up the ball according to stack Gass metrics,
12:48
Speaker 1: and he's putting the ball in play. He's not swinging
12:50
Speaker 1: and missing much at all. He's actually even attacked the
12:53
Speaker 1: first pitch a couple times, which we almost never see
12:56
Speaker 1: Adlie Ruchman do. So there is a lot to like
12:59
Speaker 1: about way he's swinging it. Yes, he did a get
13:02
Speaker 1: off to a good start last year and then by
13:04
Speaker 1: the end of April he wasn't hitting, so we gotta
13:07
Speaker 1: see more. But that's what I like so far. How
13:10
Speaker 1: about you, Tim Oh, Steve.
13:12
Speaker 4: First on Adley, I'm totally with you, And something that
13:16
Speaker 4: I've been saying for years now. I don't think it's coincidence.
13:19
Speaker 4: You look, when he came up in May twenty twenty two,
13:22
Speaker 4: they had a losing record at that point.
13:24
Speaker 5: He was really, really good his rookie season, finished second
13:27
Speaker 5: in Rookie of the Year voting.
13:29
Speaker 4: Oh's surprised had a winning record twenty twenty three, he
13:32
Speaker 4: was an All Star. They won over one hundred games
13:34
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four. The first half of the season, they
13:37
Speaker 4: had the best record in the American League. Adley Rutchman
13:40
Speaker 4: All Star again, was fantastic in the first half. But
13:43
Speaker 4: the past year and a half, Brad, when he's been scuffling,
13:48
Speaker 4: this team has been scuffling. I don't think that that's coincidence.
13:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think so. I think, you know, being
13:54
Speaker 3: the catcher is huge. He's he's a marquee position. He's
13:57
Speaker 3: dealing with the pitchers. He obviously has a hit every
13:59
Speaker 3: sing day being a switch hitter on top of all
14:02
Speaker 3: of that too. So I just think I think you're right.
14:04
Speaker 3: I think he he had so much to the team
14:06
Speaker 3: in so many different ways that when he's going, like
14:09
Speaker 3: you're saying, it's not a quincidence. When he's going well,
14:11
Speaker 3: the team's gonna do well when he kind of struggles,
14:13
Speaker 3: it's going to come from him. He's the captain of
14:15
Speaker 3: the team when he's out there, and it's like you're saying,
14:18
Speaker 3: he's just kind of the cast of everything that happens
14:21
Speaker 3: on the mound and in the batter's box. So I
14:23
Speaker 3: think you're right, there's no there's no non quincident coincidence
14:26
Speaker 3: with how the team does with him.
14:28
Speaker 4: I'll give you a couple of names for me, and
14:31
Speaker 4: one being Blaze Alexander, and I don't think that michae
14:34
Speaker 4: Elias anticipated that Blaze would have this big of a
14:37
Speaker 4: role this early on in the season. But remember when
14:41
Speaker 4: they acquired him and they gave up Cage Stroud and
14:44
Speaker 4: Bullpen has been a big question mark heading into the year.
14:47
Speaker 4: It seemed like Stroud would have made this club. They
14:50
Speaker 4: gave up Stroud to bring in Blaze Alexander, and then
14:54
Speaker 4: Jordan Westberg went down, then Jackson Holliday went down, and
14:58
Speaker 4: Blaze he's really he had a great start to the season.
15:02
Speaker 4: How about that diving stop in foul Territory the other day,
15:06
Speaker 4: Brad that, Oh my god, that's.
15:08
Speaker 3: The first thing I thought when I saw that I've
15:10
Speaker 3: seen that play before a different number, but seen before
15:13
Speaker 3: in this jersey.
15:14
Speaker 4: It was unbelievable. And the fact that hey Blaze is hitting.
15:18
Speaker 4: He started his first five games with a hit, he
15:21
Speaker 4: was on base again yesterday. I think Blaze Alexander is
15:25
Speaker 4: off to a really solid start.
15:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's doing great job. And I think just the
15:30
Speaker 3: fact that you can plain in multiple positions. I almost
15:32
Speaker 3: I don't know what his history was shortstop, but the
15:34
Speaker 3: way he made that play at third base, I mean,
15:35
Speaker 3: if you had to get shorts top off, his knee,
15:40
Speaker 3: off his legs dip for the day, you could plug
15:42
Speaker 3: him out there. I feel like he could play some
15:43
Speaker 3: shortstop too, So that's invaluable to have on a roster.
15:46
Speaker 3: I think he's doing a great job too. And for me,
15:48
Speaker 3: just seeing Taylor Ward, I really like that pick up.
15:51
Speaker 3: This offseason. You know, everybody was with Grayson Rodriguez.
15:55
Speaker 2: They he had.
15:56
Speaker 3: So much potential, so much hope for Orioles fans, and
15:58
Speaker 3: it just kind of just didn't work unfortunately with all
16:01
Speaker 3: the injury bug that he was kind of getting there
16:04
Speaker 3: when he was in Baltimore.
16:05
Speaker 2: But I think Taylor Word's huge for this lineup with him.
16:08
Speaker 3: If you wanted to put Henderson to bat first and
16:10
Speaker 3: put him second, I think you could swap those guys.
16:13
Speaker 3: You could move him a second and move Henderson the
16:15
Speaker 3: third if you wanted to move the lineup around a
16:16
Speaker 3: little bit. I just think the way he approaches being
16:20
Speaker 3: leadoff is really impressive. Say he had a couple walks
16:22
Speaker 3: without even swinging the bat, and it's when the guy's
16:24
Speaker 3: up there and pitchers know that, that just means he's
16:27
Speaker 3: going to get more pitches of the hits the season
16:28
Speaker 3: goes along. And that's in my opinion, I think the
16:31
Speaker 3: more he takes his walks, the more that these pitchers
16:35
Speaker 3: early in the game are going to have to attack him.
16:36
Speaker 2: And that's what you want.
16:37
Speaker 3: You want to have him on base for Pete, You
16:38
Speaker 3: want to have him on base for Adley and for
16:40
Speaker 3: Henderson and for all these guys. And it's just I
16:43
Speaker 3: think he's going to be a huge asset to this lineup.
16:45
Speaker 3: And I think just having somebody who's also willing to
16:47
Speaker 3: take the singles when they have to just move the
16:49
Speaker 3: lineup along goes a long way. When you seems like
16:52
Speaker 3: the offense is kind of built on the home run ball,
16:54
Speaker 3: having a guy that's able to hit the ball the
16:56
Speaker 3: other way, put the ball in play for singles and
16:58
Speaker 3: get on base.
16:58
Speaker 2: I think is going to be huge for this or
17:00
Speaker 2: his team this year.
17:02
Speaker 4: And Steve, I always laugh when people, you know, when
17:06
Speaker 4: it's such a small sample size and Warred his first
17:09
Speaker 4: couple of games, he's not doing much and everyone saying.
17:11
Speaker 5: Oh'll get him out of the leadoff spot. Get him
17:13
Speaker 5: out of the leadoff spot.
17:13
Speaker 4: Now, look, he's been their best hitter at this point,
17:16
Speaker 4: had his first career four hit game a few days
17:19
Speaker 4: ago and three hits again today.
17:22
Speaker 1: Well, he is doing something this year he has done
17:26
Speaker 1: earlier in his career, and that's see a lot of pitches.
17:29
Speaker 1: He was one of the AL leaders last year in
17:32
Speaker 1: pitches per played appearance. I think he was four point two.
17:35
Speaker 1: He's four point three right now to begin this year,
17:38
Speaker 1: So this is not an outlier. He sees a lot
17:41
Speaker 1: of pitches. He's a patient hitter. I'm sure if it's
17:43
Speaker 1: right down the middle, he'll attacked the oo. But if
17:47
Speaker 1: it's not, if it's on this corner, he might spin
17:49
Speaker 1: on it and get in the county. Hopes that he
17:51
Speaker 1: can handle. So a real professional hitter, and I think guys.
17:55
Speaker 1: I start with you, Brad that the veteran warred a
17:59
Speaker 1: Lonzo Bassett, Kittridge Hellsley. I mean, that's a lot of
18:04
Speaker 1: veteran power in that clubhouse, and they all seem to
18:08
Speaker 1: be happy to mentor younger guys over six months of
18:12
Speaker 1: baseball and they've already been together obviously through spring. I
18:16
Speaker 1: just see that having a good impact on the entire roster.
18:20
Speaker 3: It does, and I think the key to what you
18:22
Speaker 3: said was that they're willing, because there's a lot of
18:24
Speaker 3: veterans that aren't necessarily willing to put into time with
18:26
Speaker 3: the young guys. It's not everybody, but you come across
18:28
Speaker 3: them every once in a while. But the fact that
18:30
Speaker 3: they're willing to sit and help guys and that I
18:32
Speaker 3: think they seem to me to be very comfortable or
18:36
Speaker 3: make other guys really comfortable to come to them, Which
18:38
Speaker 3: is also the other huge X factor in that equation
18:41
Speaker 3: is having these guys being open, but they having these
18:44
Speaker 3: young guys being able to go to them at any
18:46
Speaker 3: time and ask them like, hey, what are you seeing?
18:48
Speaker 2: What should I be doing? What should I be working on?
18:50
Speaker 3: And I just think that's, like you're saying, it's huge
18:52
Speaker 3: for them, and it's huge over six months because they're
18:54
Speaker 3: just going to keep getting better and better and have
18:55
Speaker 3: a better chemistry as they go along here during the season.
18:59
Speaker 4: I remember Ben mcdown donald was on with us a
19:01
Speaker 4: couple of weeks ago and Ben talking about a story
19:05
Speaker 4: in which the team was kind of laxadaisical running through
19:09
Speaker 4: some defensive drills and Chris Bassett got everybody together today,
19:13
Speaker 4: we got to run this right. And Ben McDonald told
19:16
Speaker 4: us that he went in Craig alburn as his office
19:19
Speaker 4: later that day and said, look, there hasn't been this
19:22
Speaker 4: type of leadership on this team in recent years. And
19:25
Speaker 4: heck I think back to when the Orioles played the
19:28
Speaker 4: Netherlands in an exhibition game and Pete Alonso calling a
19:32
Speaker 4: mountain visit, the first baseman calling a mound visit, Steve.
19:35
Speaker 5: So that's the type of leaders Those guys are. Big bad.
19:40
Speaker 6: Morning Show Finny and Haney Inside Access Live on YouTube
19:45
Speaker 6: weekdays six till six, Search Baltimore one O five seven
19:49
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19:52
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19:55
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19:56
Speaker 1: Well, you know, there's been a lot of talk early
19:58
Speaker 1: coming out of Spring of a good vibe and good
20:00
Speaker 1: chemistry of the Orioles. So Albert has even mentioned, you know,
20:04
Speaker 1: we even made the NRI guys in Spring feel like
20:07
Speaker 1: they're completely part of the team, non roster invites. He said,
20:10
Speaker 1: I haven't seen that a lot where there's such a togetherness.
20:13
Speaker 1: But he also said, the great chemistry we have now
20:17
Speaker 1: we'll see how that holds up when things go wrong,
20:21
Speaker 1: and to this is kind of a time when we're
20:24
Speaker 1: gonna see really if that vibe been there and the
20:27
Speaker 1: togetherness is really legit, and if it stays together, and
20:31
Speaker 1: you know, because in the social media age, three and
20:34
Speaker 1: six is not like in nineteen eighty two, three and
20:37
Speaker 1: six or even two thousand and two. Three and six.
20:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right, And I think sometimes being
20:42
Speaker 3: on the road like they are is the best thing
20:44
Speaker 3: you need for something like that. It builds you know,
20:47
Speaker 3: the flight, the bus ride, not not being with all
20:50
Speaker 3: the families at the time, it's just.
20:52
Speaker 2: Kind of like it's a little getaway.
20:53
Speaker 3: So I know that three games didn't go well, but
20:55
Speaker 3: like you're saying, you hope to see some improvements here
20:57
Speaker 3: in Chicago and hope for this flight tonight. They you know,
21:00
Speaker 3: they get to hang out with each other and just
21:02
Speaker 3: kind of talk about baseball and just and even if
21:05
Speaker 3: they don't talk about baseball, but they're together and they're
21:07
Speaker 3: going through this all together, and it's like you're saying,
21:10
Speaker 3: you're gonna see it pay it pays dividends at some
21:13
Speaker 3: point with good chemistry.
21:14
Speaker 2: I think it's one of those games.
21:15
Speaker 3: The thing in the game today that's really overlooked our
21:17
Speaker 3: good clubhouse guys. They don't a lot of front offices
21:19
Speaker 3: don't see it as this huge asset anymore like it
21:23
Speaker 3: used to be, and that goes a long way. You
21:25
Speaker 3: can tell the teams in the playoffs in October and
21:27
Speaker 3: September they really enjoy being around each other. And if
21:30
Speaker 3: that's truly is the case with this team, and they
21:32
Speaker 3: stay together and they do enjoy being around together, they're
21:35
Speaker 3: gonna be there right at the end and they'll they'll
21:37
Speaker 3: have a shot at the playoffs come September and October.
21:40
Speaker 4: What's really going to be interesting, guys, is the immediacy
21:43
Speaker 4: who's gonna start for them tomorrow. Because Kate Povich, when
21:46
Speaker 4: he got brought up, when Eraldo got put on the
21:49
Speaker 4: fifteen dayil, people thought that he was just gonna slot
21:52
Speaker 4: right into tomorrow because Trevor Rodgers is starting Tuesday, and
21:56
Speaker 4: I believe Kyle Bradish on Wednesday, it's still TBA tomorrow.
22:00
Speaker 4: So Povich he helped really save the pen today. Man
22:03
Speaker 4: five and two thirds. That was definitely one of the
22:05
Speaker 4: bright spots in and a not so great game. But
22:09
Speaker 4: my assumption would be Steve, maybe Albert Suarez gets the
22:13
Speaker 4: spot start and you're kind of leaning into the bullpen,
22:16
Speaker 4: that should be frash after today.
22:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and big Al went three a couple days ago,
22:22
Speaker 1: so mainlybe he could go three or four or five
22:24
Speaker 1: if everything's perfect. But you're right, Povich saved the bullpen
22:29
Speaker 1: like big Al did when he came up, because everybody
22:33
Speaker 1: will be available to Marcano got one out today and
22:36
Speaker 1: so might be like a not a you know, you know,
22:41
Speaker 1: one inning start, but it might be a three or
22:42
Speaker 1: four inning So we'll see how that one's going to
22:45
Speaker 1: play out in Chicago. But so guys, the Oils are
22:48
Speaker 1: three and six, and we've discussed some of the not
22:51
Speaker 1: great and some things that we do like so far.
22:53
Speaker 1: But let's talk about if this lineup is going to
22:56
Speaker 1: get rolling, and it hasn't yet eight runs in three
22:58
Speaker 1: games in Pittsburgh. The top of the order might show
23:01
Speaker 1: the way we've discussed Ward the great start, he's off
23:04
Speaker 1: to Gunner. We know what he could do batting second,
23:06
Speaker 1: and Alonzo third. That is a pretty tough one two three,
23:10
Speaker 1: And I think it's been interesting that that's been the
23:14
Speaker 1: lineup nine out of nine. One two three has been
23:17
Speaker 1: the same for all nine games. And Brad, do you think, uh,
23:21
Speaker 1: that's how Laburnaz is gonna stick with it. He kind
23:24
Speaker 1: of likes those three in that order.
23:27
Speaker 2: I think so.
23:27
Speaker 3: I think I think at this point with nine games,
23:29
Speaker 3: I know it's not a lot, but I think he's
23:31
Speaker 3: showing his hand on those are the three guys he
23:33
Speaker 3: wants in those spot, and they're gonna have one hundred
23:35
Speaker 3: and sixty to one hundred and sixty starts, and I
23:37
Speaker 3: think that's what you're gonna see one two three, And
23:39
Speaker 3: obviously from there you can kind of play with it
23:41
Speaker 3: and move guys around if you want, maybe Pete slots
23:44
Speaker 3: back in the four, if you want to move Adley
23:46
Speaker 3: up to the three spot or something like that. But
23:47
Speaker 3: I think I think those three are are who you're
23:49
Speaker 3: gonna roll out with. One two three every single game,
23:51
Speaker 3: and I would want that three is my top three
23:55
Speaker 3: to start off every game if I was a manager too.
23:57
Speaker 3: So I don't think it's any surprise anybody, but uh,
24:00
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see if that's how they continue
24:01
Speaker 3: to go, or if the offense continues to not get
24:04
Speaker 3: things going quite as much, if they try to just
24:06
Speaker 3: switch the numbers around. But I think those three guys
24:09
Speaker 3: are gonna be one, two, three, in whatever order they
24:11
Speaker 3: actually put him in.
24:13
Speaker 4: I think so too. And look, I still have questions
24:17
Speaker 4: about the bullpen. I still have questions about the defense.
24:19
Speaker 4: But guys, this lineup's gonna hit. I really really believe that.
24:23
Speaker 4: The fact that they've been held the two runs or
24:25
Speaker 4: less in five of these nine games, it's very surprising.
24:30
Speaker 4: And we knew that strikeouts were going to be a
24:32
Speaker 4: part of this team. Now they have been walking more
24:35
Speaker 4: to start this year, but no walks today to fourteen strikeouts.
24:39
Speaker 4: Taylor Ward, he's really really hot right now. You're still
24:42
Speaker 4: waiting for Gunner to get going. Pete had a double today,
24:46
Speaker 4: but that was only his I believe his second extra
24:48
Speaker 4: base hit because he had the home run last week
24:52
Speaker 4: and then a double today. So Pete's going to hit.
24:55
Speaker 4: The power is going to be there for him, and
24:57
Speaker 4: really you could say Steve the four spot. It's been
25:00
Speaker 4: pretty consistent because it's been Adley or Samuel Bissio who
25:04
Speaker 4: was in the lineup today, and obviously Adley, as we
25:07
Speaker 4: talked about earlier, is all to a great, great start.
25:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. Some guys, I think, like to know
25:12
Speaker 1: where they're hitting every night. Others say, just just put
25:14
Speaker 1: me in there. I don't care where. I mean. Gunner,
25:17
Speaker 1: I asked him before the first game, where do you
25:19
Speaker 1: think you'll hit? Where would you like to hit? He goes,
25:22
Speaker 1: I think it'll be in the top two, and that's
25:24
Speaker 1: good for me. One or two works for me, And
25:27
Speaker 1: so it's kind of interesting. Now a lot of teams
25:30
Speaker 1: go with their best guy hitting second. But that's a
25:32
Speaker 1: potent one two, three for the Orioles. And I think
25:34
Speaker 1: also Albernas likes having two righty's around Gunner. So you
25:39
Speaker 1: can't always match up left on left. This three batter
25:42
Speaker 1: rule you have to face. And now if a guy
25:44
Speaker 1: comes into face Gunner for the left on left, he's
25:47
Speaker 1: either gonna if he say, he's got to stick around
25:49
Speaker 1: and face Alonso. So that's probably how he stacked it
25:53
Speaker 1: that way.
25:54
Speaker 3: And I think when you were talking about Taylor Ward
25:56
Speaker 3: seeing pitches, we know Gunnalle likes to swing first pitch,
25:59
Speaker 3: So be than to have a guy who's gonna see
26:02
Speaker 3: on average, four to five pitches in that bat he's
26:05
Speaker 3: on first, Gunner coming out, he's coming up, and now he's
26:07
Speaker 3: got he's ready to go first pitch, And to me,
26:09
Speaker 3: that's that's a great I think Taylor war is really
26:12
Speaker 3: gonna help Gunner this year do even better, just because
26:15
Speaker 3: I think when you like the swing first pitch and
26:17
Speaker 3: you have a guy who goes up there looking to
26:19
Speaker 3: swing first pitch, is the leadoff guy, you're really kind
26:22
Speaker 3: of hesitant to want to swing at that first pitch
26:24
Speaker 3: again if he happens to get out, because now you're
26:26
Speaker 3: looking at two pitches, possibly two outs, and you're just
26:28
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna say, Gunner's gonna be out there not
26:30
Speaker 3: trying to hit the first pitch if the guy gets
26:32
Speaker 3: out on the first pitch, But I'd say, you're like,
26:34
Speaker 3: you're a little bit hesitant there. I know whenever I
26:37
Speaker 3: was facing guys that if the guy the if the
26:40
Speaker 3: leadof hitter was hitting and he swung with the first
26:42
Speaker 3: pitch on I got out, I felt so much better
26:44
Speaker 3: about the inning.
26:45
Speaker 2: And with Gunner out there.
26:46
Speaker 3: Swinging first pitch too, you could see yourself getting two
26:49
Speaker 3: pitches and two outs or two pitches and three outs.
26:50
Speaker 3: And I just think Taylor Ward is really going to
26:53
Speaker 3: help Gunner this season, be able to just go out
26:55
Speaker 3: there ready to fire. Then talking about Pete, he's one
26:58
Speaker 3: of those guys you know he's gonna hit thirty five
26:59
Speaker 3: or four. He's proven it year in year out, So
27:02
Speaker 3: what did they come now or they come somewhere? I mean,
27:05
Speaker 3: he's going to have his numbers. And that's that's the
27:06
Speaker 3: beauty of having somebody like Pete Alonso in your lineup.
27:09
Speaker 3: You know exactly what you're gonna get. He's proven it
27:11
Speaker 3: year after year.
27:12
Speaker 5: Well, and that's the thing that's so exciting about that.
27:15
Speaker 5: Top three.
27:15
Speaker 4: Taylor Ward hit over thirty home runs, drove in over
27:18
Speaker 4: one hundred runs last year, Pete Alonzo over thirty home runs,
27:23
Speaker 4: over one hundred RBIs Gunner Henderson a couple of years
27:26
Speaker 4: ago hit thirty seven bombs.
27:28
Speaker 5: The power was down last.
27:29
Speaker 4: Year because the shoulder impingement and he had the intercostal
27:32
Speaker 4: strain during spring training. So that's three guys with a
27:37
Speaker 4: ton of thump in that top third of the lineup.
27:43
Speaker 1: It's interesting with the Oriels not collectively hitting right now,
27:46
Speaker 1: and some guys are hot and some guys aren't. We
27:49
Speaker 1: see it every year, somebody who was great in spring
27:51
Speaker 1: training starts one point fifty someone who was hitting four
27:54
Speaker 1: hundred in Florida, you know, the opposite. And so it's
27:58
Speaker 1: just going to take a couple guys get going. But
28:01
Speaker 1: I think guys, and again, I'll get back to the
28:02
Speaker 1: point of a couple minutes ago in a social media Eerr,
28:06
Speaker 1: there's so much pressure on this team right now, three
28:09
Speaker 1: and six and coming off of last year seventy five wins,
28:12
Speaker 1: so that can kind of swallow up a team. I
28:16
Speaker 1: think I hope it doesn't happen to this Orial team,
28:19
Speaker 1: and they just need one, maybe one or two guys
28:22
Speaker 1: to make one or two plays and get a couple
28:24
Speaker 1: wins and hopefully get rolling as we wrap this up
28:27
Speaker 1: and they head into Chicago, it's time for that. We're
28:30
Speaker 1: all agree, let's go.
28:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, they'll get it, and I think they're gonna
28:35
Speaker 3: get there. I think it's I think it's just when
28:38
Speaker 3: you talk about you're saying they only scored eight runs,
28:40
Speaker 3: or like they've only scored two runs. It's like almost
28:42
Speaker 3: shocking to hear that this lineup has only scored two
28:45
Speaker 3: runs in five of the games and this past years
28:47
Speaker 3: only scored eight runs.
28:48
Speaker 2: Like we said, I don't think.
28:49
Speaker 3: The scoring runs is going to be an issue for
28:51
Speaker 3: this team. I think once the weather starts to warm
28:53
Speaker 3: up a little bit. We know how Cammi Yards plays.
28:54
Speaker 3: Once the weather gets a little bit warmer, balls we
28:57
Speaker 3: jumping out of there left and right, and the I
29:00
Speaker 3: will call him the thump will be there. And the
29:02
Speaker 3: guys at the bottom of the lineup, Beavers is swinging
29:04
Speaker 3: it well. That I think is going to be a
29:06
Speaker 3: huge key for this offense, just to have those guys
29:09
Speaker 3: be able to wrap the lineup back around, because those
29:11
Speaker 3: pitchers know those guys are there one, two, three. Getting
29:13
Speaker 3: those guys on base in the bottom of the lineup
29:15
Speaker 3: is where the runs are going to come from once
29:17
Speaker 3: we once the offense starts getting getting going, and I
29:20
Speaker 3: think the guys in the bottom might actually help set
29:23
Speaker 3: the tone for the guys at the top here just
29:25
Speaker 3: kind of get things.
29:25
Speaker 2: Rolling here early on.
29:27
Speaker 4: No, I completely agree, and someone we were talking about
29:30
Speaker 4: last week on the show was Colden Kowser and another
29:33
Speaker 4: guy that has really been seeing a lot of pitches
29:35
Speaker 4: this year. We haven't seen the power from Cowser yet.
29:38
Speaker 4: We know that there is swing and miss, but he
29:40
Speaker 4: had been better. I know he struck out a couple
29:42
Speaker 4: times over the weekend, but having him in the bottom
29:46
Speaker 4: third of the lineup taking a lot of pressure off
29:48
Speaker 4: of him, and we know that he can steal bag
29:51
Speaker 4: as well. So yeah, I think just turning this lineup
29:55
Speaker 4: and blaze, Alexander's done a great job of that as
29:58
Speaker 4: a nine hole hitter.
30:01
Speaker 1: Well, guys, we covered a lot of ground in about
30:03
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, and I think for our first show, if
30:06
Speaker 1: we don't say so ourselves, I think it went pretty well.
30:09
Speaker 1: I want fans to know you're watching our first show,
30:11
Speaker 1: our debut show, Birdland Territory. We're gonna be here all season, Steve,
30:16
Speaker 1: Brad and Tim covering all aspects of the Orioles. Please subscribe,
30:20
Speaker 1: please follow. We'll be all over our social media here
30:23
Speaker 1: in the next few days, letting you know we're on
30:25
Speaker 1: the air. Now, we're out here and we're we're not
30:27
Speaker 1: going anywhere. We'll be around a lot three or three
30:30
Speaker 1: or so times a week, so fans will see shows
30:33
Speaker 1: pretty often. So Brad Day one went well.
30:37
Speaker 2: Oh I hope so I hope. Well I'll get there. Uh.
30:40
Speaker 3: Like I said, start watching more baseball now and getting
30:43
Speaker 3: the follow The Orison Daily basis is fun. I'm gonna
30:45
Speaker 3: be watching with my kids, give him something to watch.
30:47
Speaker 3: So I'm hoping the O's can be a winner. Every
30:50
Speaker 3: team we've watched so far as has been losing games,
30:52
Speaker 3: So I'm like telling my son at one of these.
30:54
Speaker 2: Points, we're gonna win a lot of games here. It'll
30:56
Speaker 2: be fun to watch these games.
30:58
Speaker 1: Tim, we're gonna have to pun that year.
31:01
Speaker 4: Oh, definitely really looking forward to being with you guys
31:04
Speaker 4: multiple times a week. Hopefully the O's are able to
31:08
Speaker 4: get back on track this coming week.
31:11
Speaker 1: So thanks for watching today and be tuning in with
31:13
Speaker 1: us all year on Berdland Territory for Brad Brock and
31:16
Speaker 1: Tim barbo Lace. I'm Steve Buleski and we'll talk to
31:19
Speaker 1: you next time.