Orioles Update with MASN's Amy Jennings The O's go for the Series Vs BoSox

The Orioles wrap up this three game homestand vs. the Red Sox with a "rubber - match" tonight. MASN'S Amy Jennings gets you ready for the game tonight. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Amy Jennings, my baseball buddy.I missed you over the weekend and I'm
so glad to catch up with youagain today. How are you doing.
I'm doing well. How are youdoing after your long weekend? It was
a lot going on. It's beena blur. I've got my baby girl
is graduating from high school, sothere's all kinds of festivities, you know,

(00:20):
going around with the graduation parties andthe and the uh one thing after
the next with that. So there'sjust been a lot happening. But you
know, well, congrat well Ihad I had very little to do with
UH with her her graduating college,but I will pass it along. So
hey, let's talk about the Orioles. What has been going on. We

(00:42):
were in a situation where we're tryingto win the series tonight, and I
know that Grayson had some problems eventhough he did do pretty well after he
got through the second inning. Thatis what I know. Yes, yeah,
he kind of settled in, butone of his more starts for sure.
But yeah, they win tonight,they win the series. That'll be

(01:03):
the eighteenth straight series they've won againstthe Alis, so it means a lot.
And it's the beginning of this crazyfourteen division series stretch. We talked
about how June is supposed to bejust insane for the Orioles, but it
really starts with this series. Tomorrow'sthere last off day before this crazy month

(01:23):
when they only have one off dayof the whole month. So crazy.
But I feel like every time wetalk, we have another injury to report.
Last time we talked, it wasJohn Means had just gone on the
IL, and now it's Dean Krameron the AL. So two starters that
were a big part who have beenreally consistent recently, both hitting the al
not good. Now, what isgoing on with Dean? Is it anything

(01:46):
with his finger because he had ablister issue? Is there something else right?
No, it's all right, trisub strain, Okay, he was
just had some soreness. I thinkit seems like he's gonna be on the
first fifteen and then come off.They said he's close to throwing, which
is good. So hopefully it's justsomething minor and he'll he'll be right back

(02:07):
in this rotation. But you know, you saw it last night. It
puts a lot of strain on thisbullpen and you had to pull because not
only are they having to eat upmore innings? But you took two of
your more reliable relievers in Cole Urbanand Albert Suarez, who I realized both
made starts, but you know youmoved them to the bullpen. They were
your more reliable go to guys.And now they're forced back into the rotation.

(02:30):
And if it wasn't for them,they've been a blessing. If it
wasn't for them, the Orioles wouldbe in some deep doo doo. I
saw, like I was, Iwas out and I was watching the game
as much as I could. Isaw CNL was in. How did he
pitch last night? Okay, thebullpen overall wasn't It wasn't great, right,
But you know you can't you can'tput too much of that put on

(02:53):
them, you know, especially afterthe start that Grace and Rodriguez got out
to yesterday. So well, hopefullytomorrow the day off. Today you're seeing
kind of like ramon Uius is inthe lineup where hey, MATEOSM lineup.
Ad Lee's out, so I think, you know, they're trying to give
him back to back day's rest beforethis crazy schedule, and I think we're

(03:14):
going to see more lineups like tonightwhere you know they're trying to give guys
this rest, the rest that theyneed, especially moving forward. Right.
Well, the thing is they're lookingat a day off tomorrow and then they
kick off Friday against the against theRays, and like you said, uh,
in the division, it's important thatwe do well in those games.
So those three games this weekend arereally important. We got to get a

(03:36):
lot of Orioles fans out sharing andit has been right, it's it's been
great. The turnout has been huge. Oh, it's been it's been crazy.
The Memorial Day crowd was just insane. I know a lot of people
like to go to the ballpark righton that day, but I mean,
I was just so surprised. Thecrowd has been really great off season long,
but especially in those days. Youreally notice it is passed, which

(03:59):
is great to see. All Right, Now, what is your take on
the hot dog race, because wenow have like a whole new, a
whole new thing going on. Whatcan you say about that? Well,
I know the person that was Mustard, and let me tell you, I'm
disappointed in the performance, but Ithink I think it's exciting. I am
surprised, just how much adults getinto this hot dog race. They gave

(04:24):
away those T shirts on Memorial Day. You can pick between Relish, Mustard
and catch Up, and I thinkpeople were upset if they didn't get their
condimental. So I think it's Ithink it's fun, really fun for kids.
But all of you adults who tookthis a little too seriously, I'm
looking at you. Well, andnow that they're gambling on it, I

(04:45):
mean it's you know, you getmoney involved, and there's there's craziness.
Now is this Are they going tobe doing that throughout the season or was
that just for this week? I'mnot I think it was just for this
week, but I'm not entirely sure. I did see the condiment costumes out
on Utah Street earlier today, Right, the mascots, I guess we'll call

(05:05):
them, so maybe they're here tostay for a little bit. I guess.
I guess i'll find out with you. Well, the President's run around,
you know, in Washington all yearlong, so I don't know why
we can't have, you know,the hot dog race all year one.
Yeah, they need a real liferace to do it on the scoreboard is
not good enough. We want wewant a live race exactly. I think

(05:27):
that would be great, all right, And and uh, the last thing
I want to ask you about isI've been reading about the outfield changing,
so uh, I mean, Iknow this is kind of like it's a
big conversation and it's not going tohappen in one game, one week,
whatever. But there's a lot oftalk that we're going to be you know,
I mean because at the end ofthis season, Santander is a free

(05:48):
agent. For one thing, allthree of them, Mullins, you know
included, they're not hitting well.And uh, we've got Colton up who
who does look good, and helooks like he's gonna end up. I
wouldn't be surprised in center field ifMullins doesn't start, you know, I
don't know. Yeah, it's kindof tough because, you know, defensively,

(06:12):
Cedric Mullins is I think the bestway above these other guys. Yeah,
center field for sure. Any combinationof those guys can play center field,
but nobody can really do it likeyou know Cedric did. And you
look back to his thirty thirty season, it's kind of been downhill ever since
then. So you know, youdon't know if you missed the boat on

(06:33):
trading him at his max value.The same thing with Austin Hayes, So
I think we're going to be havingthose conversations. Same thing with Anthony Santander.
I mean, that's somebody that theygot with a wolf ive pick and
they've gotten so many. He wasthere for the bad years and now he's
here for the good years and reapingthe rewards. But he's been a really
solid everyday player for them. SoI think over the next few weeks will

(06:57):
be obviously super telling as we getcloser closer to the tree deadline what those
guys are able to do. Sothat would be interesting to see. But
you guys have a lot of guysrate on the horizon. You have Colton
Kawser, who is more than earnedto spot in this outfield, So that's
going to be interesting to see.But I do think we're going to see
a different outfield if things go accordingto plan, a different outfield at the

(07:19):
end of the year. Then westarted the year right. Well, that
answers that question. And my finalquestion is I noticed batting average disparity on
ADLEI that is really crazy. Haveyou looked or have you noticed I mean,
when he's dhing. I don't havethe numbers in front of me,

(07:40):
but it's insane. It's like he'sthe he's got like the best average in
all of MLB, and when hecatches, it's significantly less. Yeah,
and it's I mean, I guessthat kind of makes sense. I know
a lot of guys, not specificallythe catcher position, but some guys when
they're dh their numbers drop off.So when they're in the field. I

(08:01):
don't know if it's a matter of, you know, having to sit on
the bench and then go up thereand at that, but I think it's
oftentimes the opposite when it comes tocatchers, because that's such a taxing position,
right Like, you go out there, you catch, you turn around,
you think up all your equipment,and you go up there and hit.
So I think, you know,that's why you're seeing that, but
it definitely is. It's interesting andmaybe his approach changes a little bit when

(08:22):
he's just going up there in dhing. So you've seen his plugging percentage go
up this year versus last year.The on base percentage has gone down because
he's not drawing the walks like hehas. But overall, as a team
it seems like they're drawing some morerocks, getting more comfortable taking pitches.
You know, pitchers are adjusting tothem. They're being more careful with those

(08:43):
guys, especially Gunner Henderson. He'swalked nineteen in his times in his last
twenty two games. He's getting muchmore comfortable taking pitches. I think you're
going to see that across the entireteam, and maybe with Adlete. It's
been a good thing that he's beenmore aggressive. We've talked about, but
I think you're gonna see him maybesettle in and take some more walks and

(09:03):
that's where you're going to see thedifference in his on base percentage. And
Westburg has been so exciting to watch. It's it's really cool to see what's
happening with him. It's like everysingle game he got hit by a pitch
and I was a little bit worried. And he's out of the lineup tonight.
But Brandon Hyde, I mean hewent back in the game. He

(09:24):
was fining. Brandon Hyde said hewas just a little bit short today and
he was leaving it up to him, right. But he's find us a
little bit of soreness. Nothing tobe worried about, but definitely that happens,
and you have injuries to the pitchingstaff. You don't want anything to
happen to this lineup that's been justjust on fire, especially a guy like
Jordan Westbrook. I totally agree.Well, go oh's, excuse me,
go oh's. It was good catchingup with you today. Maybe we can

(09:46):
talk tomorrow, all right, soundsgood. Amy Jennings from mass In checking
in on the latest on the Orioles. You can follow along, make sure
you subscribe, follow me here onthe Michael J Podcast and we will keep
you up ftated all season long.