The Norris & Long Show Best Of - Week Of October 8th
This week's edition of the Norris & Long Show best of includes interviews with Orioles GM Dan Duquette, Terps head football coach D.J. Durkin on a big match-up with Penn State, and Clifton Brown of Comcast Sportsnet reviews a tough loss for the Ravens.
DAN DUQUETTE
General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles Dan Duquette joined Ed and Rob to talk about his team playing in the AL Wild Card game in Toronto tonight.
Duquette takes pride in making it to the playoffs for the third time in his five years with the Orioles. "This is the American League East, it's a tough division. Every year, night in and night out, it's the toughest division in baseball."
Between Kim and Jimenez, many questioned the decisions of the organization earlier this year, but both players ended up helping the Orioles seal the deal when it came to the postseason. Duquette says, "Kim wasn't in great shape when he got to spring training and he needed time to make adjustments and he's proved to be a good solid hitter. Jimenez has been a streaky pitcher his entire career, when he's on, he's great and when he's not, it's not so great, but he helped us get to where we are tonight."
Overall, Duquette is proud to have the team that he does. He points out, "We've got a Cy Young candidate in Zach Britton, we have a MVP candidate in Machado, an All-Star catcher and the home run champ in Mark Trumbo. We have a lot to talk about and those guys having great years is one of the reasons we're here tonight. We're in a dead heat and we're going to play a death match tonight."
Duquette also went on to talk about the decision to start Chris Tillman in the playoffs, his confidence in Buck Showalter and the keys to a victory tonight.
D.J. DURKIN
Coach Durkin started by talking about the great start to the season and whether or not he is surprised or if the team is on schedule saying "I'd say we're on schedule obviously you go into every game with a plan to go win it, we're only 4 games into the season and I'm pleased with the results so far...we have a tough schedule but we're happy with how we've done so far."
As for how he has turned the fell of the Terps program around so quickly Coach Durkin gave credit to his players saying "I think our players have done a really good job of embracing change and buying in...in order to turn things around or head in the right direction it takes commitment from your players, change is uncomfortable and not usually embraced but our kids have bought in and really embraced it."
Coach Durkin also talked about his team having a lot of fun because they're winning and playing really well right now, and Coach also talked about this weekend's game in Happy Valley.
