Tag Archives: Trey Mancini

Podcast Episode 16: Time to book a February weekend in Atlanta, right? Featuring Logan Levy of Baltimore Beatdown

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Welcome to Episode 16 of the Charm City Bird Watch Podcast with site owner Jake McDonnell, editor Nolan McGraw, and author Ian Schultz.

Kicking off this week’s show is a full recap of the Ravens’ 47-3 dismantling of the Buffalo Bills (3:19). Along with revealing our players of the game (19:14) and discussing who’s trending (24:29), we discussed Lamar Jackson‘s regular season debut, the impressive effort put forth by the new wide receiver core, and the defense’s dominance. If you watched from home, Nolan and Ian will fill you in on what was featured on the new corner scoreboards at M&T Bank Stadium. They’ll also give an estimate of how full the crowd looked.

Even though Sunday could not have gone any better, the Ravens will head to Cincinnati on a short week to tangle with the Bengals on Thursday Night Football. We’ll tell you what to watch for (33:42) as the Ravens begin a five-game stretch with four of those contests taking place on the road.

Up next, we welcome in this week’s guest – Baltimore Beatdown Editor & Take it to the Bank podcast host – Logan Levy, who shares his thoughts on the Ravens’ dominant win (44:55). Levy also reveals his pick for Thursday’s game and ponders which areas of the contest will likely decide the outcome.

Ravens fans in the northern Maryland/Southern York County area: Come celebrate our first sponsorship on Thursday night at Seven Sports Bar & Grille in New Freedom, PA. Happy Hour is from 4-6 and you can also catch the Ravens game against the Bengals at 8:20. Specials are $3.50 Shock Top drafts & $8.77 half-rack ribs. We hope to see you there! 

Over the weekend, the Orioles eclipsed 100 losses on the 2018 season. Our next segment (1:03:10) dives into the club’s questionable decision to sit Adam Jones to “get a look” at other outfielders like Joey Rickard and John Andreoli. Needless to say, you won’t want to miss this rant. Jake, Nolan, and Ian also call into question the reasoning of Orioles ownership as to of why the brass of the team has not addressed the fanbase yet over the franchise’s direction.

To wrap up the show, we dive into our weekly numbers segment, taking a look at the best Ravens & Orioles players to wear the number 16 (1:17:24).

You can find the Charm City Bird Watch Podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, and now Google Play. Please leave us a review on iTunes, we love to hear your feedback and may read it on a future episode. Thank you for listening!

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Podcast Episode 14: We can smell the regular season…Featuring Ebony Bird Site Expert Chris Schisler

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Welcome to Episode 14 of the Charm City Bird Watch Podcast with site owner Jake McDonnell, editor Nolan McGraw, and author Ian Schultz.

To kick off Episode 14, we dove into the trade that sent Ravens linebacker Kamalei Correa to the Tennessee Titans for a sixth-round draft pick (4:17). Our Ravens segment is loaded with great stuff this week, including the following:

  • Recap of the Ravens’ 27-10 preseason week 4 win over the Miami Dolphins (7:58)
  • What an Idiot – Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso runs to the wrong sideline during the first quarter of Saturday’s game (12:06)
  • Injury discussion surrounding several Ravens rookies (15:50)
  • Who’s Trending (22:41)
  • What to watch for on Thursday night as the Ravens take on the Washington Redskins to wrap up the preseason (31:50)

Up next, the guys go over the Fantasy outlook surrounding the Ravens (35:07). Do the Ravens have any sexy Fantasy Football targets? Drafts are taking place this week and next week. Checking out this segment will help you out if you’re thinking about drafting anyone on the Ravens.

After the fantasy segment concludes, we welcome in Ebony Bird site expert Chris Schisler as this week’s guest (42:17). Jake spent a better part of the last two years writing and podcasting for Ebony Bird. Not only was it great for Jake and Chris to catch up, but they got into more preseason banter and talked about some bubble players and their chances of making the 53-man roster. You’ll also hear more about Jimmy Smith‘s suspension and the bigger world problems involved in it.

After Chris’s call-in, the Charm City Bird Watch crew moved on to the Orioles (59:40). Recently, manager Buck Showalter discussed Trey Mancini‘s ability to play first base. With Mancini and Chris Davis beginning to split time between first base and designated hitter, could the Orioles move on from Davis this offseason and hand the first base keys to Mancini? The guys ponder the probability of this scenario actually taking place.

To wrap up the show, we dive into our weekly numbers segment, taking a look at the best Ravens & Orioles players to wear the number 14 (1:09:36).

All of us at Charm City Bird Watch want to send a shoutout and thank you to Bloomsburg University graduate student Jake Hare for throwing together our new podcast intro! Hare is a good friend of McDonnell and we plan on using his voice more in the future for other podcast purposes!

You can find the Charm City Bird Watch Podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, and now Google Play. Please leave us a review on iTunes, we love to hear your feedback and may read it on a future episode. Thank you for listening!

Reasons for hope as the Orioles season trudges along

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As the Baltimore Orioles crawl towards the finish line in what has been arguably their worst season ever, several veteran Orioles are doing their best to instill some hope in what has been a disappointed fan base.

Free agent pitching acquisition Andrew Cashner delivered a quality start Tuesday night against the Mets, going seven innings and giving up just two earned runs on five hits while striking out three and walking three.  Cashner (4-10) dropped his season ERA to 4.71 and has rebounded nicely since his clunker on August 2 against Texas.

In his last eight starts, Cashner has surrendered two earned runs or fewer in six of them. Cashner has begun to right the ship at the same time as fellow free agent signing Alex Cobb has seemed to turn the corner as well.

Cobb (3-15) has lowered his ERA from 7.23 on June 10 to 5.31 now. Unfortunately for Cobb, it has not translated in the win/loss column as he appears headed to a potential 20-loss season. Cobb has given up one earned run in four of his last five starts but has just one win to show for it as the year-long struggle at the plate continues for the Birds.

Other Orioles who have seen recent upticks in play include outfielders Trey Mancini and Mark Trumbo. Mancini has raised his batting average from .220 to .235 out of the All-Star break by hitting .300 month in the month of August to-date. Mancini has four homers and ten RBI in what is already his most productive month on the season.

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Trey Mancini has picked up his play since the All-Star Break. Image Credit: AP

After exploding on the scene last season, Mancini had gotten off a rough start in the 2018 season. While he won’t reach his production levels from 2017, it is an encouraging sign that he now appears poised to salvage what is left of this forgotten year.

Trumbo has taken his season average from .250 at the All-Star break to .264 currently. This is thanks in-part to what has been a massive August for the 32-year-old Trumbo. In the month, Trumbo is hitting .350 with 5 homers and 13 RBI and is getting on base at a .372 clip. Not to mention that he’s doing this with knee discomfort that had Buck Showalter talking about an injection as recent as Sunday.

The Orioles sit at 36-84, a whopping 49.5 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. This is not an attempt to put lipstick on a pig by any means. This season has been a disaster of epic proportions. Long-standing Orioles Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Zach Britton, Brad Brach, and Kevin Gausman are gone and it remains to be seen what the returns for those players will produce.

But it is encouraging to see some of the key veteran players remaining on this team play well down the stretch. All four players figure to factor heavily in the equation in regards to next year’s team while Cobb and Mancini have potential to be here through the rebuild and the hopeful eventual rebirth of the team.

Stay faithful Orioles fans. There are reasons for hope.

Image Credit: USA TODAY Sports