Yard Work podcast: Episode 10

Hey, O's fans. Welcome to this week's edition of Yard Work. In this week's episode...

As the season moves into August, the Orioles find themselves battling the Blue Jays and Red Sox atop the American League East. For the Birds, it's been an odd season full of streaks. Since June 22, the Orioles have had two winning streaks of at least five games and two losing streak of at least five games. Is there a reason for the team's streaky nature? Steve Melewski and I will discuss.

In trade deadline news, the Orioles acquired left-hander Wade Miley from the Mariners and re-acquired veteran Steve Pearce from the Rays. Miley hopes to be the answer to a starting rotation that has underachieved this season, while Pearce comes back to Baltimore for his fourth stint with the team. Are the O's better off now than they were before the trades and will Miley and Pearce lead the team to its second division title in three years?

Speaking of the starting rotation, Dylan Bundy has put the "charm" in Charm City. He's just 2-2 in his four starts, but it seems like every time this guy takes the mound there is a chance for something special. Bundy took a no-hitter late into Tuesday's win over the Rangers and picked up the victory. We'll take a look back at Bundy's long road to the starting rotation and just how professional the young pitcher is about the entire process.

In injury news, the Orioles will likely be without the services of rookie Joey Rickard until September as he continues to battle a thumb injury. Rickard's rehab is slow but steady and the Orioles hope to have him on the roster for the stretch run. The roster, meanwhile, will expand in September, allowing for manager Buck Showalter to add a few more weapons to his arsenal. We've seen Showalter be a little stingy in the past in terms of call-ups, but who are some of the names we might see in Baltimore next month? Let the debate begin.

As for the Yard Work podcast, we are thrilled to announce that you can now find all of our episodes on iTunes in the Podcast section. We hope you enjoy and, of course, please be sure to leave any questions or comments you might have below.

Note: The Yard Work podcast will be recorded each week; therefore, all Orioles records and statistics will be current at time of recording, but may be different when podcast is downloaded. Please don't hold that against us!