Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Can the Orioles sweep the Nationals?
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Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the restore hybrid collection. It combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to 5 star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. They always have a sort of a ramp up plan that we try to abide by and follow and those guys are on that on that path. But it was good to see them back out there. That was John Harbaugh yesterday is TJ Tampa finally got out of the practice field and were shot. Bateman returned to the practice field much more active today with the practices ending around 4 o'clock and us being done at 5 30. Don't have time to turn around any audio now because they're talking right now. But this was harps yesterday talking about Tampa and Bateman coming back and I've been waiting to see TJ Tampa for a while at the hernia surgery and now he's back on the field. Yeah, I'm very interested and I'm not expecting him to play in the preseason game this weekend. But maybe he's got a chance for next week in Green Bay and he obviously will take part in the joint practices in Green Bay against the Packers. But TJ Tampa was one of those finds that a lot of draft pundits thought that the Ravens possibly got a steal there in the fourth round where they thought maybe he would be a day to pick and it just gives this Ravens secondary even more depth. And Rashad Bateman who fell on a football but last week now back on the practice field was there quickly yesterday but today it seemed he was more involved in 11 and 11 stuff. They need him stay healthy and they need him to stay healthy and participate in as many of these practices leading up to week one as possible because he's already missed quite a few already. We know his spotty track record in terms of practicing over his first few years of his career and they're going to need him. And Bobby D, it's something we'll get into more tomorrow, he was basically saying yesterday that Bateman has the talent. Yeah, it's not a question of talent at this time. It's availability and it's getting on the same page with Lamar Jackson. If there's a knock on Lamar Jackson's game, it's the deep all accuracy which we gave out yesterday. And a big reason for that has been Lamar throwing deep through her shot Bateman. It's even worse than the rest of the guys. So they got to find a way to get on the same page this year. More from Harbs yesterday discusses what our Darius Washington means to the defense. Yeah, you know, it's funny, Darius and I had a conversation today in my office and it was a good one. It wasn't called to the principal's office. It was just a guy to talk about his vision for the season and what he thought he could accomplish. He's playing at a high level, you saw it today. He's playing both safety positions, he's playing the nickel. And he could play the corner outside if you had to. You got to get you out of game and he could go in a dime if he had to. He knows the defense that well. His style is pretty much patented. That's his style, the way he plays. And I think it's a style worthy of emulating, so very glad he's on it to you. John Harbaugh, glowing about our Darius Washington. It's a guy that they like. Remember, his issue is something he can't control. It's his height. Yeah, which causes the injuries. And he played a ton of snaps, week one and week two. He even started that game week two against the Bengals last year on that historic defense, where if he can stay healthy, he's another one of those chess pieces for Zach or, and the fact that he can play safe, you can slide him inside at nickel. It's just, he's got to stay healthy. But if he does, I think he can have a role for them. He also gave up a touchdown to, I think it was Chase. I think it was Higgins. Higgins had two touchdowns. It was Higgins. And it was purely because Higgins is a foot taller than him. Like he had good coverage, just couldn't get to him. More from Harbs yesterday. Kyle VanNoy back for his second season. And Harbs talks about VanNoy and his leadership. Kyle has definitely, I think he's enjoyed being here from the beginning. I mean, you know, you come in once the season's begun and you're just kind of trying to play catch up with the defensive scheme, but also with the relationships. Now he's one of the guys. Everybody knows him, respects him. He's definitely a leader. Knows the defense very well and practicing hard every day. So it should be a plus four. Yeah, he didn't get into what after week four and still had nine sacks. And now we heard from him earlier. He's, now he's, he can hit the ground running. He knows everybody. He's comfortable. And he knows all the plays. With the Kyle VanNoy, something that we're going to continue to monitor throughout the season is how many plays is he playing? I just don't want to see something that happened with Kaleas Campbell a few years back. We're still had the ability, but a guy on the wrong side of 30 and playing way more snaps than he should. And then he ended up wearing down as the year goes on. And that's why it's so important for A, especially Adave OA to step up. But B, I mean, who are those other guys? Is it going to be an Adiza Isaac as a rookie? Is it going to be a Tavis Robinson who Bobby DePaul is really high on? They need some of these young guys to step up to kind of take some of the load off, Annoy. More from John Harbaugh speaking yesterday after practice. Raven's just got off the practice field today. Chuck Smith, we've talked a lot about Chuck Smith. He spoke to the media yesterday. Will Harbs talks about Chuck Smith's value. You know, it's kind of a unique way to do it and Chuck's an all-around football coach. You know, he'd coach every part of the position. He was a pass rusher as a player, one of the all-time great passrushers, and then kind of took that on as an obsession almost, I would say. And he's become one of the, maybe the best foremost pass rusher and coach in the business. I feel that way about him. So to have him here with our guys, I mean, that speaks a lot to what, you know, I think the way the guys are building into his style and what he teaches. And I know they love it. You know, they love learning from him. So let's see where it takes us. It was good last year. It was good last year. They let the Leanna fell in sacks a year ago. And Chuck Smith, obviously a tactician as a pass rush specialist. And we saw what clowny having a bounce back year. Manoy, we mentioned, and even guys like Oway, who didn't have the numbers, but the metrics said, "Man, this guy got to the quarterback." And guys inside, like a Justin Matipique having a breakthrough year. And it was a big topic of conversation last year. Just what Chuck Smith meant and meant to, you know, adding to this staff that John Harbaugh had brought him in, because a lot of Ravens players were already using him in his pass rush camp, if you will. But I think it's huge. Yeah, all of those guys gush when they talk about Chuck Smith, and all of those, you know, clowny and Van Noy having career years when they were both over 30. I think a big reason for that is Chuck Smith. Big topic of conversation on this show, and yesterday was Josh Johnson, the backup quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. And Arbs tells us why he has confidence in Josh Johnson. I mean, Josh Johnson is a vet. He's a pro. When he's played in games, he's played good football in games. He hasn't been a lot, but he's played good football in games. He's got to run our offense well. We love Josh. They love Josh. We know they love Josh. He's a pro. He's a vet. Would you expect anything different? I mean, he's a vet and a pro. He's been with Jim Harbaugh. He's a Jack Harbaugh. I didn't coach him. So this is a guy that obviously the Harbaugh family thinks highly of. And this is Josh Johnson's second term with this team. Remember, he was with him in 2021, left in 22, and then back last year where they're huge Josh Johnson fans, Bobby DePaul. He's big on Josh Johnson. He thinks that a Taylor high. Signed him in the UFL. Yeah. He thinks that a Taylor high and a key would be an upgrade. And I get what Bobby DePaul was trying to tell us yesterday and the fact that when you're paying Lamar Jackson, 50 plus million dollars, you're going to have to kind of cheap out in some spots. But this backup quarterback position has predated a Lamar Jackson big deal predated a Joe Flacko big deal. Do you ever wonder why we call John Harbaugh harbs, but nobody calls Jim Harbaugh harbs? Does anyone call Jack harbs? Nobody called John's the only harbs, but they're all. Yeah. I don't know. That is weird. It's hard around forever. Harbs is a great nickname. I like it. It's a brand and high kind of Nick. Oh, it is. John Harbaugh played for the world. He'd be hard. Easily. Harbs. Harbsy, maybe? Yeah. Yeah. Harbsy. Harbsy. Yeah. That's definitely. You want to hear one more from harbs? Why not? One more from harbs. Let's go with cut 11. Is the team living up to the vision he had at the outset of camp? I would say very well, you know, and I think the vision, once you become as a football team, is a product of the people who do it and what they do, you know, and what happens every day and the things and challenges that you have and the obstacles you have to overcome and how you approach those things. If you're willing to keep fighting and keep getting back up and never quit, then, you know, the fight's not over until you say it is, no matter what happens. And that's, you know, it's a big statement, but camps a little bit like that. You know, you've got to keep coming back every day and come out and grind and try to become better. You become a better player and a better team every day. And I think our guys are doing that. And that's really the task at hand right now. I have to admit, I was a little distracted during that cut from harbs because an incredibly pungent weed smell overtook us here at Pickles. Yeah. It just is loud. Yes. No music playing, but it's loud. Yeah. That kind of took me over. It's a welcome back weed smell. It's everywhere. He was talking about the training camp. He's talking about the vision and has it lived up to the vision. There's a lot of coach speak. Yeah. I think what he was trying to say is absolutely. Yeah. I didn't. I didn't hear any. Go to white castle. Yeah. I didn't hear any stacking. He did not stack. He did not stack. I would have expected that out of John Harbaugh, this part of camp, but. Yeah. If you are listening between two and six yesterday, I think you felt pretty good about the Ravens outlook. I'm happy to Paul is gushing about this Ravens team. Really not that many question marks according to Bobby. He also eviscerated the Steelers. Oh, we will get into that later in the week. Yes. Hey. Also use the term that maybe. Yes. Maybe. Let's scout. Yeah. It's in the parlance of. That's how scouts talk. Yeah. Coming up next. We get back to the world. Calvin Meyer is going to join us at 4.30, but coming up next. Post season is quite Kimball have a role in this bullpen come the playoffs we discuss next here on the fan. Worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect impress them on the third date guacamole? Well, good thing Instacart shoppers are as picky as you are. They find ripe avocados like it's their guac on the line. They are milk expiration date detectives. They bag eggs like the 12 precious pieces of cargo they are. So let Instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date. Download the Instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives well better. Despite all this we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on trail navigation download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep and when you don't get the rest you need your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1400 air chambers in the gel flex grid you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the restore hybrid collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast. Get your head in the financial game with smart investing and budgeting tips straight from the nerds. Nerd wallets experts will set future you up for success. With dependable fact-based insights, no financial misinformation allowed. Learn how to save on your summer vacation. Find your next credit card or loan for a big purchase and invest in your next index fund. Make smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. Get your laugh on with me Chris Jericho and the talk is Jericho Podcast. We've got Guns N' Roses, Hall of Famer, Duff the Kagan and his joke of the week. Every Friday plus regular visits from the hilarious Brad Williams and special appearances by everyone from Gabrielle, Fluffly Iglesias, Mark Marin, Dennis Miller, Cheech Marin, Kevin Neeland. If they're funny, they're on Talk Is Jericho. So listen to and follow Talk Is Jericho now on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. He's going to be writing the thick of things. This is one of the best ever to do it. He's at an age and experience level in his career where he's not 24 years old anymore, but he's still one of the leaders and saves in all the baseball. He's got an extended run of excellence this season. He's got another one right around the corner. Players have ups and downs throughout the year and he could turn the corner starting the day. So he's our closer. That's Mike Elias, General Manager of the Orioles talking on I think Saturday about Craig Campbell, and he says he's got a run of excellence. You made a good point, Bone, earlier. You said it's been a tale of three seasons for Campbell. Start out really slow. And then he did go on that brilliant run, but since July 14th, his earrings over eight. And when he came into the game on Sunday, Ty gave him the eighth inning. He immediately walks the lead off, man. He does a horrible job of holding runners, so any walk is a double. He didn't have a double steal later in the inning at second and third. They get the winning run because he can't hold runners in large part and then a flyout. And I just wonder if Coulomb and Webb come back and are ready for the playoffs, is there a place for Craig Campbell at the end come the postseason? I mean, if those guys come back and they get a couple of weeks to get tuned up, I mean, it's a serious discussion. If things do not get better now, obviously, there's still time. There's over 40 games to go. Maybe he goes on another run and it's a tale four seasons at that point. But right now it's ugly. His last nine games, eight and two thirds innings. He's given up nine hits, eleven walks in that span, eleven walks, eight earned runs. Sunday's game, your offense only scored one run. And that's a whole separate conversation. It's a different kettle of fish. That is a different kettle of fish. But you're going to have games in October where it's going to be tied. It's going to be close. It's going to be late situations, high leverage situations. And right now, Craig Campbell, you cannot use him in those situations because more often than not, especially in this stretch, he's just not being competitive. A lot of those pitches weren't competitive. Morel, the third batter that inning, he walked him on four pitches and they really weren't all that close. And it's night and day in terms of if guys are on or if the bases are empty. 471, OPS against him with no one on. Great, fantastic. 760 OPS when anyone's on 817 OPS with runners in scoring position. And his inability to close to whole runners, that's a significant issue. Oh, and by the way, the nats are in town and they have the second most stolen bases and bases. Well, they ran all over the Orioles in that two game series in Washington and Emory serves. It's a different conversation, maybe something we should get into tomorrow. That is Corbin Burns and Craig Campbell and just a complete lack of willingness to hold runners. And it becomes a track meet when runners get on. You add that with Adley Ruchman not being able to throw anybody out. It's a recipe for disaster, but the Kimbell part of it, like I get what Elias is saying. And he's got a shot to be in the Hall of Fame one day because of his career. But everybody's athletic mortality hits at some point. Nobody plays forever. He's not the guy he used to be and he has to be so good with his control. He's got to have that, you know, when he gets two strikes, it's that rising fastball that makes you chase. And if he's not pinpoint with the control, it's not even, it's not a pitch that anybody even takes a half swing at. The other issue is the fact that he doesn't get any ground ball at all. I mean, bottom fourth percentile and ground ball rate and he's getting barreled up, the walk percentage. I mean, that's bottom three percentile, chase percentage, bottom first percentile in baseball. I mean, these numbers are extremely troubling and you almost know how a Craig Kimbell outing is going to go after the first batter. Yes, that guy gets on buckle up. Yeah, if the ball could so lead off double. Exactly. Exactly. And if it's a one run game, I mean, gosh, how long, how deep into the season before he got a one run save? I mean, that took a while. Yeah, I hope there's, there's that lockdown period around the corner. But indeed, yeah, we were shocked. Brian Baker was on the playoff roster a year ago. And he got put in a game and he immediately gave him a grand slam. But like, I don't know how if you're looking yourself in the mirror, you're the, you're Brandon Hyde, you're Michael Iis. The way he's going right now, how do you trust him in a, in a playoff game in any kind of leverage situation? This sort of tells you everything you need to know. And I know this sounds kind of crazy on the surface, but I'm just saying in terms of this recent run. Who do you trust more? Craig Kimbell or birch Smith? I trust birch Smith. I know. And I know that's insane. What? I know. But I'm saying it just kind of tells you where we're at with Kimbell right now. I mean, he's walking a ton of guys and just, he continues to get barreled up. Yeah, it's not good. And I'm curious to see how this goes. And I hope Michael Iis is right that another good stretch is around the corner. But as of yet, I'm not seeing it coming up next. We'll talk some more Orioles. Jacob Calvin Meyer covers the O's for the Baltimore. And we'll get his thoughts on Craig Kimbell. And this team as they started two games set with the Nationals tonight. Remember Baltimore Baseball tonight, T-Bone and Ryan Ripken at 5.30 here on the fan. Orioles enter tonight's play a half game up on the Yankees for first place in the ALs. Nobody is running away with any division in baseball. Perfect time to talk to our friend Jacob Calvin Meyer who covers the O's for the Baltimore Sun and Jacob. Thank you as always for joining us. Play a little hypothetical game with us, if you will. Let's assume that both Jacob Webb and Danny Coulomb are healthy for the postseason. Could you see a scenario where Craig Kimbell is not on the playoff roster? Wow, I stumped him. Where do we go off the air? I think we're still on. Oh, we lost. You did. You asked him a question that I stumped him. You couldn't even... Wow. Well, we will effort to get Jacob back. His mind was blown from that. I was playing 3D chess there. That's what I was doing, you know? $13 million. Not on the playoff roster. Most guys play checkers. Yeah. And I was doing a little 3D chess there. And, you know, it takes a crazy question to stump Jacob Calvin Meyer. Yes. That much I know. I think that, like, he literally said, "I'm not doing this interview." Yeah, he hung up. I'm sick of this. I know when I go into the dining room later in the press box, I'm probably going to get yelled at you. What kind of nonsense is that? She's really blindsided me right now. Show a little class. Show a little professionalism. I was like a Yankee pitcher against an oral hitter, like throwing a little bit of chin music there. But, oh, we're efforting to get Jacob back. We're live at Pickles across Street Memorial Park in Camden Yards. We're going to start that 2-game series against the Nats. And then 4 against the Red Sox at home. We will be at Pickles all week long. All week long, Jan. Excited about that. Yeah, it's a fake. Food's really good here. We got the line up, if you want to... Yeah, you know what I'm doing. Yeah, we got Colton Cowser leading off. Oh, we got Jacob. Okay. Jacob, are you there? Jacob. There we go. I hear him. I hear him. Jacob, are you there? My self-service is terrible. I don't know what's going on. Are you on cricket? Yeah. Hopefully they're not as sponsored. Are you on cricket... Oh, man. Well, let's just say... Could you see a scenario where Craig Kibberle is not on the playoff roster? Ah, crappy self. Hey, you guys are starting me. And no softballs. Yeah. Jason's not here, so we got to give you fastballs. Yeah, we got to pick it up. Oh, the thing with Kimberle... Yeah, I mean, he's not going to be on the playoff roster. As of right now, I would expect him to be on the playoff roster. I don't really see a credible scenario where he's not... Listen, at the end of the day, the general manager signed Kimberle for $13 million in the offseason. And when you make a kid, you got to lie in it. And this is how it goes with Kimberle. There's ups and downs, and the downs are really, really low. And the ups can be really high. And I think they're just hoping that they can get them out of this rut. But this most recent rut has been pretty tough. Jacob, you wrote in the Sun yesterday just about this historic parody, maybe mediocrity, in MLB this year. And if the Orioles can somehow thread this needle in terms of the injuries and these guys come back, despite the warts and the flaws that we know about this roster, could you still see them making a deeper on in October? Yeah, it's a great question. It's funny. I've come on, I think, this program and others on 1-5-7. And have discussed the fact that teams that have as many injuries as the Orioles have suffered this year, those teams don't typically win the World Series. It's a call to lose the best closings in baseball, a thigh-on contender in Kyle Braddish, and all-star in Jordan Westbrook, John Means, Tyler Wells, you know, the list goes on and on. It's up to lose all of those guys and then still make it run. And that's kind of been my stance for most of the past few months, especially after Braddish went down. And then I started to look at things the other day, and I was like, wow, there are no great teams in baseball. The Dodgers have a ton of injuries. We don't even need to get into the Yankees. We don't have enough time to talk about those guys, what's going on up there. And the Guardians are playing way above their base runs record. They've had a lot of luck so far this season. So, so, we've spread the needle, the perfect phrase, in that if the Orioles get... The injury luck has been really bad. If they can get... If they can turn that around and they can get Grayson, Westbrook, and Coulomb back in mid to late September, I think they would have just as good of a chance to win a World Series as any other team in baseball. But that's a big... Yeah, it's a very big year. We're talking to Jacob Calvin Meyers inside access here on the fan. I feel like we've been on this road before, but Kobe Mayo yet to have a major league hit. He's not in line up tonight, which I said earlier makes sense because Trevor Rodgers is a ground ball pitcher, and we saw what that looked like the last time he pitched. But are you starting to be concerned that maybe we see him get optioned back to Norfolk? Yeah, listen, any type of player starts this rough, and they... Isn't exactly there. You do have to start thinking about what's best for the player and what's best for the team. I think right now, the way I view it is clearly different than the way the team views it, which is the way I view it is either play the kid all the time, maybe not every day, but most days, or send him down. Because having him on the bench is virtually useless for you because you can't really pinch hit him other than for the DH, because you don't want to put him anywhere because they're not comfortable with him playing third base late in games. And so it's like, okay, he's on your bench, and you have this right-handed bat that in theory is comfortable with pinch hitting for, I don't know, let's say, Colton Calzer with the base is loaded just to pull up a random example. And then you're concerned about him, sorry. Then you're concerned about his defense. And so I think that, listen, the start that he's had is not just like a slow start. I mean, this is almost historically bad. I believe only two or three other players in MLB history have gone hit. Listen, they're first six games with 10 strikeouts. This is more than a rough start. However, the numbers in Triple A speak for themselves. If you give this kid more at best, he's going to start hitting at some point. But the question remains, is this more similar to Jackson Holiday and Calzer, where there's a massive flaw in their swing, where they need to go down and get it fixed before they come back up? Or is this more similar to Adley and Gunnar, where you just have to work through it? The challenge with, again, with Mayo is that he doesn't have the defense of any of those players that I just named. Speaking of the defense, Jacob, I know it's a small sample size, but is his future a third base or maybe it's possibly a first base? I don't think anybody knows. I'm not expert enough in third base defense to answer the question simply based off of the few games he's played and the ground ball work I see him do at third base. However, I will say he does not have the throwing accuracy that you would expect from a big leader playing on the left side of the infield. And so that's a work in progress. He's still a really young player. I will say, I think he's a good athlete. It's just tough to see at third base when he's so big. When he was drafted, you guys might remember a lot of people had him projected to be a right fielder in the future because his arm strength is one of his third tools and the defensive ability at third base was a question. And it's been four years. He's barely played any outfield in terms of practicing. He didn't do any during spring training. And so it seems like if they wanted him to be in right field in the future, they would have done that by now. But at the same time, it does seem like defense at third and first were made massive question marks. I mean, we've seen Ryan Mountcastle turn into a pretty solid defensive first baseman, not anything special, but like a pretty solid defensive first baseman. And Ryan Mountcastle seems to be a much better defender than Kobe Bayo is at this point. And so if I had the answer, I would say right field. And that's me saying I've never seen him play outfield at all. But I do think that's what makes the most sense when you look at this team and that in two years, they're not going to have, they're not going to have sound sound on there. They're not going to have Mullins. And at first base, you probably want Bessio and Bessio there playing at least some of that time. So I think that's a big question with Mayo is or the answer to this might just be him. Jacob, we know that the Mike Elias and the Orioles farm system are on a historic run in terms of just prospects in the top hundred top 25 where, you know, that's going to wear off over the next year or so, where their farm system rankings are going to take a hit. But you recently did a piece on Brandon Young, who Michael Elias referenced along with the Cade Povich Corps and as guys that maybe could start games for the Orioles down the stretch. If more injuries happen for fans, unaware of Brandon Young. What could you tell them? Yeah, you ever had that moment where you're watching like a TV show or a movie and you're like waiting for the person to say the line? And then you're like, "Ah, he said it." That's what I felt like with Brandon Young the other day. And I'm not the only one. I mean, people like Baseball America, John Mioly at the Baltimore banner, Eric Logan Hagen, who I think is the best prospect rancor in baseball over at Dangrafts. They've all been talking about Brandon Young for months now. But I've been mentioning him in minor league reports for the Sun for several months now. Just because of how the eye popping numbers that he's been putting up this season, just the quick TLDR about Brandon Young. He was an undrafted for agent in 2020 because that was a five round draft because of COVID. He's six foot six. He's got a fastball that was in the low 90s a few years ago. And then he dealt with injuries for two years and barely pitched. And then now he came back and he's healthy. And now a fastball of more like mid 90s. He's gained like two ticks on his fastball. He's got a really big looping curveball, like a kind of an old school, mid 70s curveball, which hitters don't really see much nowadays, which kind of differentiates him. And then he's got a pretty good change in that he's actually set to the side of the plate. He's got to take it with each cup. And now he's in triple A and having a lot of success there. And so he's 25, almost about to be 26 years old. He does seem like an arm that could be called up sooner rather than later, especially if the injury bug concerning the theme. Jacob Calvin Meyer covers the o's for the Baltimore Sun. I don't know who you talked to, but the phone got a lot better as the interview went. So we appreciate your help there and always appreciate your time. Phone got better. The answers were just as bad. I appreciate that. Thanks, buddy. Hey, coming up next Orioles and that's game one of a two game set. We've got the lineup and some thoughts as the Orioles and that's played six 30. Baltimore baseball and I coming up live here from Pickles at 5 30. That's the bone and Ryan Ripken here on the fan Orioles and Nationals tonight at 6 30. Colton cows are leading off in left field Anthony Santon. There's a right field batting second. Gunnar Anderson's a shortstop batting third. Ryan O'Hern, your DH betting cleanup. Adley Rotter batting fifth. A catcher Ryan Mount castles batting sixth at first base. Cedric Mullins in center field batting seventh Jackson holiday. Batting eighth at second base Ramona Ories is your third baseman batting ninth behind Travis Rodgers. I'm going to ask you the question that you just asked Jacob, Jacob Calvin Meyer. Are you concerned that Kobe Mayo is going to get sent back down? I'm more concerned now than when I asked the question because I didn't realize just how bad Mayo was historically. Like this is not so for what 15, six games, 10 strikeouts. He doesn't look like he's close to getting good contact on anything. I didn't understand pitch hitting him in the Blue Jays game and then he struck out and he strikes out a lot watching that game Sunday. His first two of bats, both four pitch strikeouts, one swinging, one looking. I think Jacob hit it on the head where you want this guy playing. He absolutely should have been called up. I am not Monday morning quarterbacking that. His numbers in AAA speak for themselves like Jacob said. But right now him not playing that often, something's got to give at some point. The lack of hitting combined with just how bad he is defensively, which I had no idea because I really hadn't seen him. But man, like it's not good. It's not smooth bone. It's not smooth over there. Why? And that was Trevor Rodgers, what his first star? Second star where he started in Toronto where Kobe Mayo had the one official area. He had two. One of them were taken away. Which should have been a double play. Exactly. And that's with Harms, your pitcher who, you know, is just coming off a rough debut where Trevor Rodgers coincidentally enough back on the bump tonight. Against the Nats and just looking at some of their numbers and we know that the Nats, much like the Rays, much like the Blue Jays, who they play before them. They were sellers at the deadline, Hunter Harvey, Jesse Wanker, Layton Thomas, Dylan Floro. They're all gone. And you look at their offense, not much pop at all. They're dead last in home runs. 23rd in OPS, 19th in Walks. But something to keep an eye on and you mentioned this earlier, they're going to be running. They get on the base pass. The Nats will be taking off. They're second in baseball in stolen base. It's just four stolen bases behind the Reds for the lead. They also have two young guys that look like they're going to be stud. C.J. Abrams, who was an all-star. And James Wood, who they brought up a few weeks ago, both guys look like they're going to be something special. But yeah, there's not a whole lot of there there with the Nats. I'm kind of surprised how Finnegan is still there. He's a little closer, like you didn't trade him for something at the deadline. Okay. But yeah, that's not a great baseball team. Now, bullpen 20th in reliever ERA, 23rd in reliever whip, 25th in reliever strikeouts. And then starters 22nd in ERA, 24th in starter whip. And right now they're facing Jake Irving. And he's at a rough August thus far. Two outings. He's gone 10 and 2/3. He's given up nine earned runs. And he'll look at his baseball savant. Doesn't walk a ton of people. That's kind of the plus thing with Jake Irving. He's got a solid ERA. Yeah, he does. Did he pitch well against the world in Washington? Am I imagining that? Let's see. No, I feel like he pitched in one of those two games. But maybe I'm just... I do not see that. Okay. They played him back. I may. Yeah, I made it up. Now, it was a long time ago. Well, hopefully that's not a prediction that's going to come true tonight, Ken. But we have seen some crazier things. Oh, we have. And you're right. They're going to... If a guy gets on first base, almost all of them will be running against the Warriors. But Ken, it's... When you're going up against these teams who sold, and that's been another frustrating part where the Rays, you won the series, and you've done extremely well at the top this year. But losing that series to the Blue Jays and going just seven and six against them on the season series. These are the games you've got to win. Stack 'em! You've got to stack 'em. We've got to see 'em stack three straight, three consecutive wins since the All-Star break. And it's so important to get these because you got Boston coming to town. And the Astros next week, Mets and the Dodgers. So you've got to tough stretch up coming. So you've got to find a way to win these games. And that 6.30 Baltimore Baseball tonight is coming up at 5.30. But coming up next, we get back to football. What is Bucky Brooks from NFL Network? Think of the Ravens as they enter this season. We're going to ask him next year on the fan. Nice! Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast. 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