00:00If you've got thoughts on the Orioles 2-1 opening day victory, get on in here.
00:03410-583-1057.
00:05We'll get the phone calls rolling right now with Joe in Ellicott City.
00:10What's going on, Joe?
00:12What's up, guys?
00:13Doing great.
00:14Yeah, man.
00:15I was there yesterday.
00:17Pretty electric atmosphere, man.
00:18It was really cool.
00:20That screen they had, that new jumbo screen, it kind of blew me away.
00:23I was really stunned to see how big that was.
00:26But it was just great.
00:27I don't know.
00:28The day it was, how nice it was outside, it just made me have hope for the Orioles,
00:33even if it's just one day.
00:35Just positives I saw that I really liked.
00:37And just one thing I was a little worried about.
00:40Positive, Adley looked great, man.
00:42There's that bat he had.
00:44I mean, it was one game again, but he kind of showed me, like, the old Adley again,
00:47like working counts, going off the field.
00:50Looked really sound.
00:51And I know you had a tough year last year.
00:53But the only concern I had was the corner outfield defense.
00:56And, I mean, O'Neal, like, that drop he had, I don't know how that happened.
01:03Maybe it was the sun or what have you.
01:05And then Ward with that, I didn't see it because I was in left field.
01:08It looked like he had trouble getting the ball that Brian Bucs ended up getting a triple on.
01:12And I don't know how he is in left field, but a little concerning seeing some of those routine plays,
01:20I guess you could say, that just weren't – they looked pretty ugly, in my opinion.
01:24But other than that, it was a great day, and I was really excited.
01:27Yeah, good thoughts.
01:28Thanks for the call.
01:29Yeah, I mean, Joe, to follow up with that, there was a lot of positives.
01:34And when you win, you sometimes can push off to the side.
01:38So I'll talk about the outfield position since you're saying there's a concern.
01:42So I'll start with Taylor Ward.
01:45Going to left, and especially the ballpark dimensions have changed there over the last –
01:50if we're going to say the last five, six years.
01:52I forget when they moved the wall initially, and then they're moving it back in, right?
01:56So you're getting used to a new ballpark, how that plays.
01:59So maybe you don't understand the ricochet.
02:02So it looked like, to me, Bucs had hit the ball down the line.
02:05Ward thought it was going to bounce up more, and it just didn't have that bounce.
02:09And Byron's a 5'2 player, and he's a burner.
02:12So he's watching it all, and he's in his unique New York instincts.
02:18He's got instincts in the game of baseball.
02:21So he's watching it, and he made the read, and that cost the Orioles
02:26because the Twins were able to get him in.
02:28Now, in right field, it didn't cost the Orioles because Trevor Rodgers worked out of it
02:32with a runner on second and no outs.
02:34But that whole situation, that's Tyler O'Neal's ball.
02:37He called it late.
02:39So if you're watching the play, Tyler's running in.
02:41Blaze Alexander is running from second.
02:43He's going as long as he possibly can until he gets called off.
02:49And if he doesn't hear it, he's going for the ball, which it seemed to me, Nolan,
02:53that call was late because Blaze was right there.
02:56And then Tyler looked like, said, I got it.
02:59And he overran it a little bit, hit the glove, and bounced out.
03:03But is that a fair validation of having some concerns?
03:07I'm not going to jump to that conclusion yet, but it is something that the Orioles as a whole
03:12are going to have to look at.
03:14And I think, Nolan, going into this year, the outfield defense was just going to be curious
03:21to see how it would play out.
03:22Because even, you know, Couser or Beavers or whoever plays center, it's the first time
03:27having an everyday center fielder that hasn't been Cedric Mullins in years.
03:31So there is some things to monitor there.
03:34But other than that, overall, the Orioles played a clean game.
03:38And I'll tell you, a guy that played really clean, Kobe Mayo III, really made some great plays.
03:42And obviously, his defense has been talked about a lot during this spring training.
03:46Well, that was just kind of the mixed bag, I think, that might end up being a microcosm
03:50of the entire season, where Kobe Mayo, everyone's talking down on his defense, goes out there
03:55and turns two absolutely necessary double plays, by the way.
03:59Clutch double plays to help Trevor Rodgers extend his outing as long as it did.
04:03Traffic on the base pass all day long.
04:05We'll talk about Rodgers a little bit later.
04:07The corner outfield stuff, the Ward one, I can give the benefit of the doubt a little bit
04:13just because it is new.
04:15But he was moving slow.
04:17And ultimately, is this a thing where we say Buxton with his wheels probably makes it the third either way?
04:24Even if it's a competitive throw, he's probably still in there and safe instead of just a stand-up triple.
04:29In that moment, you don't like to see it because you just gathered this two-run lead
04:33and then all of a sudden there's a guy on third base with no outs, but no harm, no foul
04:38in the long run.
04:39The O'Neal one, the frustration to me is that, okay, communication aside, it was in the glove.
04:45So you did all this other stuff wrong, but in the moment, in that split second, it was in your
04:50glove.
04:50Squeeze it.
04:51Let's get out of here.
04:52It looks ugly.
04:53Nobody's going to remember it in 24 hours, but he dropped it.
04:57So I think ultimately that'll end up being the story of the Orioles' defense this year
05:01is that, you know, we could even see it tomorrow.
05:03Kobe Mayo could have an error on what could reappear to be a routine play.
05:07That's just going to be life with him at third base.
05:09You got to take the good with the bad.
05:11Yeah, I mean, the infield part, right?
05:15And let's just, let me backtrack that.
05:18Defense in general, and it's cliche and it's corny, but it will win you games and it can cost you
05:25games.
05:25Yesterday, the Orioles won, but that error with O'Neal could cost them in the future.
05:34Because good teams, it just takes one mistake for them to capitalize on a situation on a moment.
05:41You getting an extra base, you can capitalize on a situation, and that can be the difference
05:47of getting a guy in or falling one run short.
05:50You know, and I had a chance earlier, knowing I was catching up with Derek Sheldon, the manager
05:54of the Twins, this morning.
05:56And we were just going over, because even in his mind, he thought there was an instance
06:01where the Twins, on even their cutoff or relay and their opportunity, he felt that the Orioles
06:09were maybe given an extra base or opportunity, and the Orioles cashed in.
06:13So you see how that is?
06:14It's not something that will always go down the scorebook.
06:18Like Taylor Ward, it's not going to go down the scorebook.
06:20But those are things that you have to consider moving forward, because the great teams, that's
06:26how they continue to take advantage of days when pitchers are on.
06:31You look for the cracks, and the team that cracks more, typically is the one that loses
06:36that day.
06:36Let me ask you this, since we're on the defense subject, and Mike just texted this in here.
06:41It's a good point.
06:42Says, you know, they didn't make any defensive substitutions late in the game.
06:48And it's a one-run game.
06:49You know, I mean, think typically, I said it to Steve earlier, that would be a scenario
06:54if you've got more of a sure-handed bench third baseman sitting there, Kobe Mayo is
06:58probably out for the ninth inning.
07:00Just a hunch.
07:01But a day like yesterday, he was playing so well, maybe you say, just let him keep going
07:06for confidence purposes.
07:08Mike here texts in and says, no consideration to move Couser to left for the ninth.
07:13Bring Tavares in to play center.
07:15So, I think down the road in the season, you can look at more of defensive replacements.
07:24But early on, I don't really like doing that.
07:27And this is my reason.
07:29You want to instill confidence in players?
07:31You play them the whole game.
07:33And I know that you could say, well, Ryan, you got to play to win the game.
07:37I also think last year at times, or in the years, even when Hyder was the manager, I think
07:42when a guy gets pulled because of defense, you're saying, hey, great job, but we like
07:47someone else out there more than you.
07:49So, what does that do to a young player?
07:52That goes, I made some good plays, but they're not good enough for us to win the game.
07:57You see what I mean?
07:58And baseball players are fragile.
07:59And that's how I think early on, I love that Albie didn't sub anyone in.
08:03You're winning the game.
08:04People are doing things well overall.
08:08Build off of that.
08:09I think for all the good, since you mentioned Kobe, if you took Kobe out of the game after
08:14the good plays he made earlier on this game, all that leaves is a young player frustrated.
08:20And I thought Kobe had some good at-bats.
08:22He ran the base as well, had that stolen base as well.
08:25So, that's where I go with that, Nolan.
08:27Down the road in the season, and you've identified a little bit more, sure.
08:33Early on, build up these guys' confidence so they can show you what they're capable of.
08:38And that could be another instance of, like you said, maybe it's just an early season thing,
08:44but also could be an Alburnas thing.
08:46Right?
08:47Everyone loves to say the stuff about, well, you know, Mike Elias has his fingerprints on
08:52the lineup.
08:53That's fine.
08:53But once the game starts, it's Alburnas, decision-wise.
08:58Everything.
08:58Pinch hitting, bullpen, that's him.
09:00So, you know, when we start talking about or trying to look at what may be different about
09:05him compared to the Brandon Hyde era, this could be one of those differences where I think
09:11Hyde was a little more quick with the defensive substitutions, lived and died by the lefty-righty
09:16matchups.
09:17That's another thing I'm interested to see out of Craig Alburnas with his bullpen decisions.
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