Space City Saturday w Dan Mathews 8-24-2024 Misunderstanding

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcomeboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
All these great Houston fans here. We love you all.
So finish up on that to do list.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Slute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start now bear.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Near the eight.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is Space City Saturday's inane.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews. Yeah, that eight th inning
last night. That was insane. Not in a good way either.
We'll get into that as the show goes along. Dann
Matthews here Space City Saturday, and as we are with

(01:01):
you here for the next couple of hours.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
I mean, it's a.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Beautiful morning in a lot of regards around these parts
today because I mean it's the start of college football
and you always know good things are ahead whenever you
turn on ESPN in the morning and you see college
Game Days on. They're over there in Dublin for the
Georgia Tech Florida State game that is going to be

(01:25):
played there as week zero. And you know, here's the
other part of it as well as I do want
to start off a little bit with this, and you
know how hour one goes. It's a majority Astros and
that's the way we're going to keep it. So if
you got some Astros thoughts, maybe you didn't have a
chance to join me last night on the Astros tenth
Inning Show, you can do so Sebon one three two
on two, five seven ninety once again at Sebone three

(01:45):
two on two, five seven ninety. Is. Of course, the
immediate follow up to Week zero games is oh, well,
you've got this game, You've got that game. My response
to those people who say that is it's college football.
How long we've been waiting for all of this to
come back and it's finally here. So are they necessarily
the greatest games? No they're not, but it's still college football.

(02:09):
I'm still gonna watch and we've been yearning for it
to come back. We're ready for it to come back.
And I understand it's not fully in earnest. It's a
soft opening. If you will, you know, new restaurant opening
around the corner from your house right there. Well, I
mean you don't just jump in day one and it's
immediately How you know things are going to run with

(02:29):
the restaurant. You've got to figure out, hey, do our
systems work? You know it kind of sound like John
Taffer right there on bar Rescue. This place has no systems,
But I mean, you know, that's how you have to
try and find out how everything's going to work. If
maybe your servers are they right for the job, are
they not? The bartenders, do they have everything down? Are
the pores correct? I mean again, you know, it's another

(02:49):
thing we learn on bar Rescue. But you've got to have,
you know, kind of figure all those things out. So
let me with the games tonight gonna be fun looking
forward to it. We're an hour away from the Georgia
Tech Florida State kick off there in Ireland. Rec that
you got Pat McAfee and also to Nick Saban. Saban

(03:09):
seems like he's really enjoying the role there on college
game day, as I mean, yesterday with McFee and the
crew there in Dublin. I think that probably there was
a little bit of Saban saying I retired from coaching
to do this because Pat was having fun yesterday and
so was the crew over there. But you know what,
you're supposed to have fun in this industry and appreciate

(03:32):
those who do so. Anyway, I know that McAfee's not
for everyone. I personally like him, but know that not
everybody is on board with his work.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
But anyway, hopefully.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
You are on board with our work here on Space
City Saturday. It's a home game today here in studio
second straight one. I mean, what's going on around here?
You know, usually doing these from the house there in
Imperial Oaks, but decided to come on in today. That's because, well,
I know that our microphones are pretty good at blocking
out noise. But at the same time too, we're having

(04:06):
roofwork done today. And not only are we having roofwork done.
If you follow me on social media and especially Instagram,
I posted it this morning at Dan Matthews twenty seven.
You know, if you want to see pictures from numerous
different things, random things, whatever it might be, well then
I'm your guy. I did a great job of selling
it right there for you. But Pixie, our puppy, was

(04:29):
definitely letting the roofers know that it was her house
and non stop barking this morning out of her I
dropped the line from Pirates of the Caribbean that the
beatings will continue until morale improves. And that's what it
kind of was. So in between that and you know,
hearing re you know, and you know everything in the background,

(04:50):
I figured that you all didn't necessarily want to hear
that today. So that's why I'm here Melvin Brown behind
the glass doing a great job. As always, we will
have fun. What was not fun was that bottom of
the eighth inning last night at Camden Yards. Astros lose
seven to five to the Orioles in Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Brian to Bray, you not your best.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
I mean, you give up a couple of leadoff singles
right there, and then you have the Gunner Henderson ball
hit right back to you trying to make a play
at third base, doesn't workouts and it sets up Anthony
santan Dare and we know how it plays out from there.
Then Baltimore able to add one more run after that.
So the Astros dropping a game last night, and I mean,

(05:36):
I think along with that too, just bad baseball played
at times in that game last night. You have the
error earlier in the game that gives Baltimore their first
run by Jeremy Pania, and it immediately had me firing
off at text to my buddies on the Astros venting
text of dude, what is up with Paynia right now?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Like struggling at the.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Plates, hasn't necessarily been making strong good contact at the plate,
lots swing and miss, And then I mean, and you know,
usually he is as sure handed as you can be
fielding the baseball, and he has not been at times.
The fielding part has not been the issue. It's been
the throws at times with him. But he has that
throw wide of Jose L Twove there at second base,

(06:17):
so that allows for a run, but made up for
it RBI double and also a solo homer last night
in the game, so hopefully he can carry that momentum
into today's game.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
But that's not even the worst part of it.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
I mean, the Mariners a couple of days ago, they
decide to tell Scott's service service is no longer needed.
Head to the door, and we'll promote Dan Wilson. And
not only did they promote Dan Wilson, I didn't realize
that they also had let go of their hitting coach,
as Wex had pointed that out yesterday during the Astros
on Deck show, and they promoted Edgar Martinez to be

(06:53):
part of the staff. So I'm almost kind of wondering,
are the Mariners trying to recreate Camelot up there?

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Kind of a little bit of.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
What the Texans tried to do with Tamiko Ryans of staying, hey,
things were pretty good when Dimiko is around here, and
why not bring him back? And in this case right here,
the Mariners probably same. Well, some of our best years
where when those guys were here, that guy that wore
number twenty four, Oh yeah, Ken Griffy Junior, and Jay Buhner.
So I guess if they bring back Griffy and Buhner,

(07:20):
then you really know that they're trying to recreate the
good vibes around there in Seattle. But they get rid
of their manager, and the complete opposite of what happened
to the Astros last night worked in the favor of
the Mariners. I mean, I'm paying attention to that game.
They're in the bottom of the eighth inning and Tyler
Rodgers comes on for the Giants and you're kind of
thinking yourself, all right, he's pretty sure handed out there.

(07:43):
He's pretty good at being able to shut things down. Well,
the Mariners decided, yeah, you know, I know that we
can't really hit across the board, but we're gonna hit
right now, and they did so for four runs there
in that inning, and then you know we got extra innings.
Is both the Giants and the Mariners go scoreless in
the ninth, and then the Mariners walk it off and

(08:04):
you're just kind of like.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
A man like, just bat all the way around.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Not fun, and now they're four and a half games back,
and you kind of wonder a little bit is some
momentum kind of being.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Created up there.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
I talked about this a little bit on the Tenth
Enning Show the other night, that sometimes getting rid of
the manager and you know, bringing in somebody else can
kind of give a little bit of a fresh mindset
inside a clubhouse. We saw it here in two thousand
and four with the Astros of you know, seeing this
team that had Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitt and roy Oswalt
as your front line starters, and also to Jeff Kent,

(08:39):
you go out and you get Carlos Beltron, and the
Astros at the time had decided this can't continue the
way that it's going under Jimmy Williams, so scrap Iron.
Phil Garner, You're in and nearly took them to the
World Series that year. And we saw it workout in
Philadelphia a couple of years ago against a Phillies team
that came here to Houston and we were able to

(09:00):
beat in six games. But still, I mean, what Joe
Girardi as their manager, that was the Phillies brass there
saying not good enough and this team is not responding
the way that we hoped that they would respond under him.
So bring in Rob Thompson and things worked out well.
They won the National League and they nearly won the
World Series that year. So I mean, maybe it is

(09:21):
a new day up there in Seattle. But I think
the other part of all of this too as well
for the Astros is today. I mean, kind of bringing
up the Phillies right there leads me into the next
point here that we'll talk about here in this hour
from er Valdez going today. For the Astros, he's been
a stopper. He's been your most consistent starter as of late.

(09:42):
And I mean you're kind of hoping a little bit
of a gut punch loss last nights. I mean you
kind of felt that way after Game one of the
twenty twenty two World Series where the Astros had a
five run lead and gave it up and lost that game,
and you're kind of thinking to yourself, we're going to
do this again in the World Series, like we're seriously
going to get to this point and it's not going
to go our way, And from er Valdez the following

(10:04):
night said hey, hey, hey, let me get out there,
let me work some ground balls, let me let me
be able to you know, do my thing on the mound,
which again, for the better part, he's been the complete
opposite of what he was at this point last season.
So Astro's hoping that is the case with him today.
So we'll see if that is indeed the case. Astros

(10:25):
on deck coming your way two o'clock here on your
home of the Astros Sports Talk seven ninety yours truly
going to be leading you up to that three zero
five first pitch up there in Baltimore and the other
way and see as well is on Jordan Alvarez, I
know after the game last night talking about having a
little bit of that next stiffness there on the left side,

(10:45):
which of course is his push side where he swings
from the left side of the plate right there saying
that it was going down into the scapula a little bit,
so hopefully able to get some good treatment on that,
and you'd love to see number forty four back in lineup.
And you almost wonder if this is something he's been
dealing with with some time, because let's be honest here,

(11:06):
aside from those couple of games in Boston, the power
numbers have been down for your on and he's had
pronounced struggles at times this season. So I mean, you
wonder if maybe, hopefully kind of like in the same
vein of Alex Bregman, this is a couple of days
off and then he's able to get back on the
field and you know, have a strong push and finish

(11:28):
here for the final thirty plus games that the Astros
have the rest of the way this season. So you know,
time will tell on that. And of course, to update
on Kyle Tucker, we might have that as the show
goes along. Dana Brown passing along some info on him
when he joined MLB Network yesterday, so maybe we will

(11:49):
have that as we continue. Texan's playing their final preseason
game today against the Rams. Of course, no starter is
going to go in this one, but there are still
jobs to be one. I mean, I think we want
to see what's going to happen with maybe that final
or final couple of receiver spots who shure us up
the backup quarterback job? Does this team keep three? Also

(12:12):
as well? You know, who is a possibility to be
able to help out with some of the linebacker depth
because I heard Wex bring this up yesterday and they're
talking about that. You know, Christian Harris likely going to
be down. I mean, aside from Aziz al Shaire, you
don't really feel like you have a lot of proven
linebacker depth. So I think that's something to be you know,

(12:34):
a point of attention today in the game. And not
only that, but also too as well, the fact that
you've got a lot of guys who are trying to
make the team as reserves and also special teams guys.
I mean, I made the line yesterday or a couple
of days ago when I was on the stand Norfleet.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
This is the Frank Ross game.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
This is when you really get the chance to see,
all right, who am I going to have as part
of my fifty three man roster that's going to be
available to me on special teams? And that's where I
think all of that kind of comes in so again,
jobs to be one today over at NRG Stadium.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
And one thing I do want to get into with the.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Texans next hour is culture defined for the team, and
I'm here for it.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
We'll talk about that also too.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Like I said at the outset of the show, college
football season is here, and like I said, don't complain
about what's on today, just watch, just enjoy. And at
eleven fifteen, speaking of college football, in college sports all encompassing, yesterday,
new University of Houston athletic director Eddie Nuniez joined The

(13:39):
Matt Thomas Show, so we will hear that. Eleven fifteen
here on the show is when we will hear from
the new boss of U of h Athletics as not
only to hear from him, but also to got some
intel on him as well. Got familiar with his work
a little bit when he was on the athletic department
staff over there at LSU.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
So you know, we'll talk about that a little bit.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
For the Koog fans out there what to expect from
the new boss of U of h Athletics as well
as Longhorn fans. I do want to talk to you
at some point in the show today, And I think
that probably Longhorn fans at first will be upset with me.
But I'll explain also to why you shouldn't necessarily be
upset with me. So we'll talk about that as the

(14:24):
show runs along here for the next hour and forty
five minutes or so, plus.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
I mean, Tim Willing, if we can do it.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Last week, we didn't have a chance to do it,
but we're gonna try to get it in this week.
Beyond the gray Hair, I feel like I got some
doozies for that one as well. Jason Tom see you
guys there on the phone lines. Get to you on
the other side. But coming out next, this Astros team
is equipped to do great things this season, but can
they get out of their own way? That's next here

(14:52):
on your home of the Astros, Sports Talk seven to.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Ninety, Space City Saturday continues find Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
I just don't get it right, Matt Thomas, Ross, Am
I doing it right? Part of the Matt Thomas Show
a weekly staple there. I mean, look, if you love
Bits and you love Ross, then noon the three right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety that's your place right there.
That is the Matt Thomas Show pretty much in a nutshell.

(15:27):
Speaking of the Matt Thomas Show, like I said, new
U of H Athletic director Eddie Nuniez catching up with
Matt yesterday of course, Matt proud University of Houston Cougar.
But not only that, also part of the broadcast team
there for U of H football, So have a chance
to hear that visit coming up next hour. So KOOG

(15:48):
fans going to be want to be locked in for
that one again. On the phone lines, you want to
join in, you can do so. Dan Matthews here, Space
City Saturday seven one three two one two five, seven ninety.
Let's go to a caller that we can always count on.
Jason and Katie on's the way in here on Sports
Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Jason, what's up?

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (16:08):
None much?

Speaker 4 (16:09):
I just I saw something last night that I've seen
in many baseball games, and I wonder why they do it.
And that's just the astros. I've seen many teams do it.
I think it was the fifth inning. You had runners
on second and third and with one out, and they
send the runner on third on contact when the infield

(16:32):
is in and they throw them out of home. I've
seen that so many times, and I don't get the
logic with doing it with the infield in because if
they get the ball, they're going to throw it home
and nine times out of ten the guy's house. The
only time I've seen a guy score in that situation

(16:52):
is if the ball got through. So if you and
if you don't send the runner on third and the
ball get through, he's gonna score anyway. You know, It's
just like you're trading a guy on third or a
guy on first.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Right, why do teams do this?

Speaker 4 (17:07):
Well, I mean, am I missing something?

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:10):
So what it's called is called the contact play. But
it's also too it has to be committed to. And
here's what I mean by that. You could see that
Jake Myers had a little bit of hesitation there. Well,
if that's the case, then stay on third. And if
you're the trail runner right there at second, then notice,
all right, he's not going I need to lock on
here at second base and you try again on the
next play. But again, I mean, sometimes hesitation leads to

(17:34):
bad things. And what a contact play is is you're
told by the third base coach, all right, ball on
the ground, you're going like just your head is down,
go towards home. If you need to get down and slide,
get down and slide. Otherwise you can get in safely.
But I mean that ball weekly tapped right there to
first base. I mean that was hand and the glove

(17:55):
right there for the first baseman to just be able
to throw home easily and get myers. So it was
poorly executed, is the best answer I can have. But
I mean that is a play that is on in
those situations. I mean it's situational baseball. Where all right,
what am I doing in this spot? I mean, the
same deal we talked about and I talked about it
last night on the Tenth Inning Show too, Jason. Where

(18:17):
you know his fielders, I mean you know you're you're
told where even with that ball back to a bray,
you if that ball gets through. Jeremy Pania's job right
there is to say, all right, can I get the
out at second?

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Can I go over first?

Speaker 3 (18:29):
And we've got two outs right there the run scores, which, honestly,
in that spot I understand it was a little bit
of bang bang in terms of how everything happened. A
brain you thought the runner wondered too far off third base.
That's why you threw it over there. But it's also
too as well. You're taught as a pitcher in that situation,
run the runner back and even if you just take

(18:50):
a step back and you see he's going back to
the bag, throw it the first and at least get
the out there in that case, because if he's going
back to third, chances are he's not going to try
to break it for home in that point. So that's
really what it is. It's just a play that has
to be committed to, and it just was incredibly poorly executed.

Speaker 5 (19:09):
I've seen it.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
I've watched a lot of baseball, and I've seen it
in many different teams, and the only time I've ever
seen the player from third score was when the ball
got through the infield.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Gotcha, Hey, Yeah, I appreciate the call, Jason. I mean,
I think base running across the game is incredibly lacking.
I mean, I just I think that you do only
see it with the Astros. I mean you see poor
base running on other teams as well. I mean you
see it in the college level. I mean for years.
I remember when Wayne Graham had those Rice teams. They

(19:40):
were one of the worst base running teams that you
could possibly have, of the amount of outs that they'd
run into, but they had so many masters in that
lineup that it didn't necessarily matter, and they had such
elite pitching that again, I mean, it didn't necessarily cost
them in games. But when you're in games like this
this time of the year, and I talked about it,
I brought this up last night on The tenth Inning Show.
You're in post season level baseball games right now, because

(20:02):
you're playing against a team that likely you could see
if you finish this thing out and win the American
League West and the Baltimore Orioles again, and who knows,
if you make it all the way out of the
American League and you make it to the World Series,
you could possibly see the Phillies again. You're gonna see
them for three this week. So you make mistakes, they're
gonna be amplified, and you're gonna have teams like that

(20:23):
that make you pay for said mistakes. And that's what
we saw last night from Baltimore, is that, I mean,
you load the bases there with no outs even though
you got a three run lead. You're not feeling good
in that situation, and you definitely didn't feel good when
ninety eight miles an hour up in the zone over
the you know, kind of outer third of the plate

(20:44):
was turned around the right center field over the wall
for a grand slam. So that's kind of what I
wanted to talk about in this segment too, Jason was.
I mean, the Astros path to the postseason is pretty simple.
Do you win ball games. And I understand a lot
of people might say, come on, Dan, what kind of
take is that? But it's them. The Astros have proven
numerous times this season that if they if they put

(21:08):
themselves in a position where you have to try to fight,
scratch claw out of a hole that you dig for yourself,
then a lot of times it's not going to go
well for you. And I mean we've seen them be
able to do it at times. I mean, the Dodgers
game is a scenario where they were able to come
back and win the ball game.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
I mean, you know, against.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
The Red Sox earlier this week, that's another one that
they were able to come back and be able to win.
But then you know the other two games did not
go your way. So I mean we've seen sloppy defense
from this team during this past week, And I know
that Joe Aespota, even after the win on Monday night,
talked about that and said, yeah, we've got to take
more pride in that. We've got to sure that up
because if we don't, we're going to lose ball games.

(21:49):
And I mean, you even saw it a little bit
last night. You know, it became a two run loss
for you in that game. But one of those runs
you gave up was a ball that probably should have
been a short double play there at second base. Is
it necessarily the easiest throw for Jeremy Peney to make
that toss over to Jose al Tuve. No.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
But if that's the case and you feel like it's
gonna be a tough.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Play, then have your momentum carrying you to first base,
make that throw over first and at least get the
out that way. So I just think that last night
it was a little bit of a situation with this
team of compounding mistakes of not only that run coming
in right there, but also to a couple of different
times of being able to add on and against a
team like the Baltimore Orioles, you have those opportunities. You

(22:33):
got to cash those in because if you don't, they've
got a lot of masters in that lineup that are
going to be able to make a three run lead
become obsolete here in very short order.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
And that's what they did last night.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
So I think with the Astros, that's what it really
comes down to, is what have they been predicated on
the better part of these last seven years, sound defense
and sound baseball. I mean, I remember hearing when he
was part of the Barstool Baseball podcast, Jake Arietta. I
think a lot of people know around here from when
he played his college ball at TCU, but also too,

(23:05):
I mean, we're familiar with his work on the major
league diamond as well, especially with that twenty sixteen Cubs team.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
But one of the.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Best compliments that I think a team could be paid
was by him where he said the Astros just don't lose.
I mean, they just do not beat themselves. But unfortunately
this season we've seen them do that, and I think
that's what's kind of been a little bit of a
concern for some with this Astros team. That kind of
makes you wonder, does his team have what it takes

(23:34):
to be able to not only get through the American League,
but to possibly win the entire thing. I mean, injuries aside,
we understand that, but also too as well, where you've
seen shoddy defense at times that kind of makes you
worry a little bit with this team. So I mean,
I think those are things they can absolutely sure up.
I think that also too, situational baseball, which they have

(23:54):
mastered at being good at here. The better part of
these last few years is things that at times has
slipped through the cracks with this team. And that's what
I talked about last night too as well. I mean,
you know, I think you could kind of sense Joe
Aspota's frustration, and we'll hear from him on Astros on
Deck a little bit later on today, but I mean,
I think that he was incredibly frustrated with how that

(24:16):
eighth inning went and the play there by Bray You.
I mean, he did stand up for his guy to
a certain point of saying, hey, look, he's trying to
make a play. But I talked about it last night
again on the postgame show. Is I think if I'm
Joe Aspota after that, don't make a huge deal of it,
but hey, Skip wants to see you in his office
and you have Josh Miller in there, and you just say, hey,
kind of take us through that play, like, what way

(24:38):
did you see? What were you trying to do in
that spot? And of course, you know he'd probably tell
you how. You know, I saw the runner wonder off
third base. I thought that maybe I could have an
outright there. And that's where again Pitcher's fielding practices you
worked on at spring training and you don't necessarily work
on as much during this season as you do that.
You know you'll go through it at West Palm Beach.

(25:00):
But I mean that's something as well that I think
you kind of just you know, enforced. Hey, we've been
through this, Brian. We know what to do in that
situation right there. Step off to the side, throw it
to second, get the out at second. If that run
comes home and scores, then it comes home and scores.
But if you've got an opportunity to turn two right there,
Anthony santan Dare, at that point doesn't necessarily matter. You

(25:21):
make that same pitch. He hits a home run. All right,
it's a five to four game. You've still got two outs,
and maybe at that point you decide, let's bring in
Josh hater and have him get four outs right here
and get us out of here with a win. So
I think that those are things that again you don't
harangue them, you don't, you don't beat them up about it,
but you do let it be known like, hey man,
we got to be smart in that situation, because we don't.

(25:44):
We don't make the right call right there that loses
us a ballgame, and it did. So that's where I
think these things need to be nipped in the bud.
And of course too, I mean, we found out this
week with Alex Bregman's not nip nipped in the butt.
It's nipped in the bud. That's the right saying there.
But regardless, but that's what I mean. That's how I
think you shore up some of these things is that

(26:04):
you talk about it and you just say, hey, look,
let's be smart in that situation right there, let's get
a sure out wherever it might be, and let's not
compound this thing. And unfortunately you did, and you let
the ending get away from you. And that's the result
that you see is those five runs being scored there
in the eighth inning, and of course ended up being
the difference in the game last night. So frustration, frustrating,

(26:27):
no doubt about it. But we'll see how it all
shakes out.

Speaker 4 (26:31):
All right.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
Coming up next as we continue the Astros conversation. If
you want to join in on the phone lines, you
can do so. Sebon one three two one two five
seven ninety. Once again, that's SEB one three two one
two five at seven ninety. I get the angst, but
also some patients could follow. I'll explain next as we
continue the Astros conversation here on Space City Saturday, Dan

(26:51):
Matthews here on your home of the Astros Sports Talk
seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Welcome back to Space City Saturday or Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
So tough one last night for the Stros.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
Luckily, though, you don't have much time to try to
sit and stew on it, because I mean you come
right back and play a mid afternoon game there in Baltimore.
So again two o'clock Astros on deck, coming your way.
It'll be fromer Valdez Albert Suarez, which the Astros at
times in bounce back performances this year have not done

(27:27):
well against pitchers who have pitched well or pitched poorly
against him the first time. But remember the Astros got
after Swarez the last time out, so hoping they can
replicate that today. But Suorez pitching a lot better as
of late, as a matter of fact, going six innings

(27:48):
and his last outing six and two thirds the outing
before that, but the Astros were able to get after
him for five earned runs there in five innings of
work back on June twenty third, So hoping they can
be able to replicate that again today. You want to
weigh in on the phone lines, you can do so
subone three two one two five seven ninety once again.

(28:09):
That's SEB one three two one two at five at
seven nine zero. And I said going into a last
break that I get the angst because, I mean, the
Astros dealing with it right now on the injury front,
and really for the most part, been dealing with it
all season long. It's kind of odd though, that, you know,
the pitching side starting to shure up a little bit.

(28:30):
I mean, we had kind of the carrot dangled out
in front of us a little bit that maybe we
could see Luis Garcia and or Lance McCullers junior later
on in the season this year. But then we got
definitive word no, not the case, but you get Justin
Verlander back. That's nice. You'd love to see that, and
also too as well. On the same front, you lose

(28:51):
Ryan Presley, even though I'm sure for a lot of
you out there you're probably seeing, eh, you know, probably
good that Presley's stepping aside here for a lot bit
with that lower backstrain. But I mean before his recent struggles,
he had been one of your best relievers coming out
of the pen and had been you know, scoreless through
us sixteen straight outings as well, So I mean he

(29:12):
was looking like Ryan Presley that we've seen in the past.
So you get Hector Narris part of the fold. He
is supposed to be with the team today. Once all
of the lineup and everything else come out a little
bit later on, we'll find out for sure. He and
Caleb Ort supposed to join the club today. That's what
Joe spot had told reporters yesterday. But the large focus

(29:33):
for people with the Astros right now is what's the
deal with Alex Bregman. Well, before Jordann Avarez went down
with the neck issue yesterday, you were supposed to have
Alex Bregman playing at third base.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
But then once that happened.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Joe Spottas said, all right, how can I have my
deepest lineup right here?

Speaker 2 (29:49):
All right, We'll have.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Bregman as the DH, you get Decenzo, you get Whitcomb
at the corners for this one, and then a little
bit later on the game you decide to lift Decenzo
and also Chas McCormick and bring in both Ben Gammele
and Victor Caratini. And it didn't necessarily work out in
terms of being able to add on to the production
because the Astros getting their four runs they're in the

(30:12):
third inning, and then of course a couple of runs
or excuse me, yeah, yeah, they got four runs there
in the third and then of course adding another run
later on with the Jeremy Pania home run. But I
think the way you look at it is the way
that they're handling the situation at this moment. I think
Jospota coming into that game yesterday says five and a
half game lead. We feel like if we continue to

(30:34):
play near five hundred baseball, then we probably sure this
thing up. But I mean, you've got a tough schedule
ahead of you. You're in the middle of that right now,
and it doesn't just end here because then in September
you get the Reds and you also get the Arizona
Diamondbacks in that you know that part of the schedule
as well, and also too, I mean, you get to

(30:55):
the Mariners here later on in the season. So it
could kind of set up to be a similar look
to what we saw last year up in Seattle, where
the Astros were going for an opportunity to be able
to win the American League West and not only win
the West, but get into the postseason. And he went
up there and took two out of three from the
Mariners in those games. So I think, you know, just
the situation with Jordon is it's frustrating, But I think

(31:19):
what's equally as frustrating is that you're not getting the
amount of production that you need out of him right now.
The R ANDBI singles are nice, they're they're fine, they
add up.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
I get all of that.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
It's kind of a penny saved as a penny earned
to a certain point. But we also know that that's
not Jordon. Jordon is a guy that's I mean, as
we heard Joe Davis saying in the World Series a
couple of years ago, turns the game upside down with
a massive home run with a couple of runners on base,
and you're able to say, hey, there's that three run homer.
We've been looking for that where you've been, and that's

(31:51):
what he's been. You know, you hope that he's able
to provide for you, but he's not been able to
do that for the better part of the second half
of the season. And I mean, you know, you've seen
spurts where the long ball has shown up, but also too,
you've seen where it's completely gone away. And I think that,
you know, maybe this is something that I don't know
if it's been a lingering issue. I didn't see if

(32:12):
he said that it had been that case. I mean,
of course, you know, I think at this point when
it comes to injuries, as soon as we get them
and I get it too, it's a trained response with
the astros because they seemingly undersell the severity of things.
So then it starts to have us asking questions, Okay, well,
I thought you said that you weren't expecting to be
out long. It's two weeks now, we haven't seen them,

(32:34):
So where's the disconnect here?

Speaker 2 (32:36):
What am I missing?

Speaker 5 (32:37):
Like?

Speaker 3 (32:37):
What did I not ask or what did you not
tell me to necessarily get us to this point.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
I'm not saying that's the case with jord On, but.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
I get the immediate frustration when you see the news
of him being scratched out of the lineup, because again,
I mean we've heard it numerous times. I mean, it
goes back to Justin Berlander being scratched from his start
on that Saturday with neck discomfort, and you're thinking to yourself,
all right, maybe starter or two, and then it became
a two month thing. Same deal with you know, with
Kyle Tucker as well. I mean, we were wondering if

(33:07):
it was only going to be a couple of weeks
of a situation, but now we're going on three months
without Kyle Tucker in this lineup. So I get the
angst of all of that. But I also too, would
say this is where the patience part of it comes in.
You can't win the division right now, Sure you can
lose it. I get all of that, but also as well,

(33:28):
you don't want to give yourself a sure opportunity to
be able to lose it, and the way that you
do that is pushing guys too hard.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
At this point of the season.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
I think the Astros look at it, even with a
tough schedule, and say, all right, we might take a
couple of losses because we don't have some of our
key guys in the lineup at this point, But do
we want to necessarily have those those losses be compounded
and you know, be to where this all of a
sudden five and a half game lead becomes a one

(33:57):
or a half game lead or something like that. Then
you're pressing even more at that point. I think they're
kind of playing the long game here at this situation
of saying, if we need to rest guys a little
bit longer, even without an Iel stint, then that's the
better part of valor that we need to do at
this point, because if you don't, and say, this neck
issue with Jordon becomes an even larger issue, and it's

(34:19):
something that probably could have been alleviated by just not
playing for a couple or three days, as opposed to, hey,
he's gonna give it a go, he's gonna push, he's
gonna push for his team, and you make it even
worse and all of a sudden, now you're talking about
a guy that at times has been ineffective being completely
ineffective because you don't even have them at that point.

(34:40):
So I think that's where the patient's part of it
does need to come in. Here is I get it.
We want to have the full lineup. We want to
see what this thing looks like with Kyle Tucker, with
Jordon in it. We're starting to see now what a
six man rotation could look like for the Astros. And
it's something too and the better part of this stretch
because again, you don't have an off day until September
the third against the Reds. You're playing baseball every day

(35:02):
right now until a week and a half from now.
So I mean, as many guys as you can have
healthy and ready to go as possible, that's what you
need to hope for at this point. And that's what
Joe Espada is trying to do. And you know that's
the other part of it as well. I mean, you know,
we're still fielding the calls about how he's handling his lineup.
I think to a certain point, it's kind of a

(35:23):
what do you want him to do? I mean, if
you don't have two of your top five best hitters
in the lineup at this point, then you're kind of
limited about how effective you can be in said lineup. Now,
one thing I will say is, even though the Astros
have now lost three of their last four games, I mean,
it's still a situation of you're actually getting a little

(35:45):
bit of production from the middle to bottom part of
your order. I mean, I talked about it that Jeremy
Pania had been struggling at the plate yesterday.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Was nice to see out of him.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Hopefully he can be able to get on one of
his Jeremy Penia runs, because we've seen what happens when
he's able to do that and propel the middle to
back end of the order. Then some other guys start
to contribute. Jake Myers contributing at points this year, It's
been nice to see the at bats that Ben Gamble
was giving you. If nothing else, he puts the ball
in play. I know his first at bat was a strikeout,
but still, I mean, he at least gives you competitive

(36:16):
good at bats.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
At that point.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
And I think even for being so young, I've liked
what I've seen out of Shae Whitcomb, and also too,
I know that there's a little bit more swing and
miss out of Zach Desenzo, but I think he's also
given you some good things at the plate as well.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
So if you're able to get those guys.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Contributing, I think that even if you do have to
be without jord On for a little bit of time,
I think you're able to feel a little bit better
about this lineup then probably you did about two weeks ago,
because remember two weeks ago we were talking about with
this team. This team just can't hit right now and
that's what costing them ballgames. And I've railed against that
numerous times, either on air or on Twitter. Trust me,

(36:54):
if I've had the chance to be able to play
the Astros hitters this year, boy I've done it.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
This night was not the case.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
I mean, that was the situation of a guy that
you need to count on in the eighth inning to
come in and do a job, not doing a job.
And I don't care about oh, it was a good pitch,
all of those different types of things.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
It wasn't. The ball went over the wall. And I understand.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
I tell you guys all the time, don't focus on
the results, But don't tell me it was a good pitch.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
It wasn't a good pitch.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
If it was a good pitch, it would have been out,
or it would have been not even not even contacted him.
So that's where I think that part of it goes.
But aside from everything else, I mean, I still think
that there is a lot of meat left on the
bone for this team in terms of how good they
can actually be this season. And that's what kind of
encourages me about them having a chance to not only

(37:38):
be able to get into the postseason, but maybe even
have an opportunity to snatch one of those top two
spots in the American League and get the wildcard round
off in the postseason and start in the ALDS. Because
I think the way that this pitching staff has performed
this season, you carry that over into the postseason. I
think you feel really good about this team's chances and
hopefully again that you do have Dana Brown, you know,

(38:01):
being right on the money where you're able to get
Kyle Tucker back into the fold. But I think if
that's the case, I gotta tell you, I got to
start hearing, hey, guess what, he started to run bases like.
I've got to hear that in the next few days
for me to believe that, because at the very least
you probably need about a week down in the minor
leagues to get back in the playing shape and be

(38:22):
able to be ready to go and hitting in the cage,
putting balls in the upper deck. That's nice, that's all
fine and good. But I got to have a little
bit more than that if I'm going to believe that. Indeed,
the beginning of September, first week of September is a
real possibility for Kyle Tucker to return back to this team.
So only time will tell what to wait and see.
All right, coming up next, speaking of Kyle Tucker, is

(38:43):
he close? We need to know just how close he is?
That's next week right here on Space City Saturday. I
see Brian, I see Joe on the phone lines. You
want to join them?

Speaker 5 (38:52):
There?

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Please do so? All the cool kids are doing it.
Don't you want to be a cool kid? Yeah, there
you go. Seven one three two one two five seven nine.
Once again, that's seven one three two one two five
seven ninety. Dan Matthews here on your home of the
Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talks seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Just think I got it?

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Some can maybe say last night was a little bit
of sabotage, self sabotage. I guess we all have our
friends or family members that you know, you say, man,
they are experts at self sabotage.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Well, you just do your best to let them know, Hey,
that's not cool, man.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
You know, try to figure things out and you know,
be better the next time around. So that's what the
Astros are hoping to be able to do today. Seven
one three, two one two five, seven ninety is the
number to get in on the phone lines. Brian and
Parland wants to weigh in here on Sports Talk seven
ninety Brian, what's up, buddy?

Speaker 6 (39:55):
Hey, good morning Dan, And first of all, I'm sure
you would agree eagle fight.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Never does, right, Eagle fight never dies, you know, at
forty five hundred forever.

Speaker 6 (40:03):
Exactly, real quick, I think more of my frustrating issue
in the game last night. I mean, that's part part baseball.
But yeah, you gotta have Everybrady you close that out.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
I don't get to.

Speaker 6 (40:14):
Watch many other teams obviously, as much as probably you
guys do tuned in on the media. Is there any
other team in baseball that's his clandestine with injury information
as the Astros are, because I don't call hearing anything
from Kyle Tucker at all during this three months. I
mean even Bregman.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
Spoke the other day. I was like, look, I slept
up on it wrong. It was a little bit of swelling.

Speaker 7 (40:37):
Whatever.

Speaker 6 (40:37):
Whether that was the reason or not, I don't know,
but at least you heard from him. Even Burlander would
talk a little bit during his deal. And I get
mccolors and those guys just because they're all freehabbing and
doing all that. But you haven't heard a word out
of Kyle Tucker. And I wonder what the reasoning for
that is, Like why the media and approach those guys
and say, hey, what is going on even off the record,

(41:01):
like I got to give something back to the fans
directly from you, or this is what I'm hearing more directly.
It's just it seems to be so cloak and dagger
about what is actually going on with these guys and
their injuries. I think that's the frustrating part to the
fans is you see all this mc color's throwing and
all that, and Garcia and you have a sit you know, oh,

(41:22):
they're on pace of ramping up, and all of a
sudden it's a set back in the three months. It's like, okay, well,
were they possibly going to you know, faster than they
needed to trying to rush him back as opposed to, look,
he's gonna miss the season, and if he comes back sooner, great,
Like give me the worst and if the better case
scenario happens, awesome.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
But you know, I don't know if other teams do.

Speaker 6 (41:45):
That, But I think that's my biggest frustration. I don't
know if that's a Jim Crane edict of we're not
gonna talk to the media and give any information because
it might give out, you know, information to our opponents.
But have you seen anything like this with any other
organization in baseball?

Speaker 3 (42:03):
I appreciate the call, Brian, I mean, not necessarily in baseball.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
It is a little strange.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
I mean, I think a lot of this kind of
does go back to the Jeff Luno days.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
I mean, you know, I remember was it Mark A.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
Pelle that it was a whole situation of is he
throwing or is he not? I'm trying to remember exactly
what happened with that, and I remembered Luno's response was,
you know, it's a personal, you know, organizational you know, situation,
and it was kind of dodgy with that. That's about
the only time. But I mean, look, I mean we've
been seeing this for the better part of the last

(42:33):
few years. I mean a couple of years ago with
Michael Brantley and also Lance McCullers junior of you know,
where are these guys. Where are they in terms of
their rehab? Are they coming back? You know, Oh yeah, hey,
they're gonna start hitting. You know, Brandley's gonna start hitting
on the field next week. Up now his shoulders shut
him down. I mean, it is kind of a little
bit of you feel like there's a huge gray area

(42:55):
in terms of the player handling of all of this
the way that I've understood it, and I'm not in
the clubhouse every single day like Chandler Rome, Brian McTaggart,
Matt Kawahara and Julia Morales, people who are regularly around
this team. A lot of it too is because of
my duties here on the A team not able to
be in there, but also as well just you know,

(43:17):
just the schedule doesn't necessarily provide for it, and you know,
those those guys and lady are there every single day.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
So I mean, I know that they have tried. They
you know.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
The way that it happens is usually there in the
open clubhouse portion. If a player is in there, you
can walk up to the locker. Hey, you got a
few seconds. Sometimes they'll give you the time. Sometimes they'll
say I've got to go get treatment, I've got to
go eat, I've got to get out in the field
and hit early BP, whatever it might be. It's kind
of up to the player in that regard. Alex Brugman

(43:49):
is a little bit more open when it comes to
the media than Kyle Tucker is. Tucker, I think is
the type of guy that if he didn't necessarily have
to speak to the media, I don't think he would,
and I don't think he does it necessary in a
rude fashion. I just think that it's not necessarily one
of his favorite things to do, and I think the
way he kind of looks at it is that if
there's not necessarily anything for me to report on myself,

(44:11):
then I'm kind of spinning my wheels and there's no
real need for me to say anything other than I'd
pretty much be saying the same thing I told you
last time. You know, we're trying to make progress we're
trying to come back all those different types of things,
and that's where I think he kind of is with that.
Could he help himself out with this? Sure he could,
but it's also too as well. My guess is that

(44:32):
he's frustrated by how long this is taking. I think
that he's a competitive player who wants to be out
on the field, and he wants to be helping this
ball club as much as possible, because I mean, I
think he realizes it that this lineup and this team
would be much better with him being healthy out there
on the field. I mean, I've talked about it numerous
times how valuable Kyle Tucker is to this team. Probably

(44:52):
pound for pound, your best power hitter on this team,
best all around hitter on this team, a team that
includes Jordan Alvarez and Jose on this team.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
I think that says a lot.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
And also to what he gives you from a speed perspective,
he gets on base, he can steal bases. I think
that not only that, what you get from a defensive
perspective as well, both with the glove and with the
arm that's coupled with the speed that he has out
there in right field to be able to kind of
lock down the better part of not only right field,
but you have Jake Myers being able to run down

(45:22):
everything there in center field. You feel really good about
when a baseball is hit with enough carry there into
the outfield, if it stays in the yard, you feel
like those guys can come down with it. And that's
a huge benefit to have and it's huge mentally for
the pitchers. So that's where I think he kind of
is with all of this. I think that you know,
it's it's wearing on him from you know, just the

(45:44):
kind of you know, slow trudge.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
That this has been to this point.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
But I think also too as well, that he's just
kind of trying to take this and stride and when
he has an update to give, he'll give it.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
But I get it too as well.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
I mean I talked about last segment that you know,
we've got a lot of angst because again, the Astros
do this to themselves when it comes to underselling, you know,
the severity of things. I think that probably if you
set the expectation from the beginning, and I think maybe
they've tried of its day to day because I mean,
even though you know, yeah, technically it is day to day, Well,

(46:19):
then it becomes weeks and it becomes months. Well what
goes into those weeks and months day to day? So
I think to them they kind of feel like, well,
we're not misleading you. We're not, you know, trying to
hide things from you. Okay, fine, But at the same
time though as well, I mean, don't necessarily insult our
intelligence when it comes to this, Like, if you know
pretty much from the onset this is going to be

(46:41):
a week to week thing, then tell us it's going
to be a week to week thing. Or Hey, I
hate to tell y'all, I know you don't want to
hear this, but this might be a couple of months
that were without this player. Fine, then the questions stop.
But I think that the problem is that a lot
of organizations cause for themselves, and they're able to shroud
themselves a little bit from having to deal with this

(47:01):
on a day to day basis to a certain point,
because I think they kind of feel like, if we
don't talk.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
About it, nobody else will ask.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
But the problem is is people will ask, especially when
it's about players who are going to hopefully be a
huge reason why you're able to accomplish your ultimate goals.
So I usually just think, I mean, let's just think
about it from our own lives. If one of your
friends does something to you that disappoints you, don't you
appreciate if they own up to it and just say, hey, look,

(47:29):
I messed up.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Here's what I did, this is what I did wrong.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I apologize, And even if it's not the greatest thing
in the world to have to try to do in
terms of facing the music on that, you're probably less
upset with them because you're like, hey, look, they brought
it to my attention, they said it. I get that
they're embarrassed by what happened, but at the same time
too as well, I appreciate that they came to me
with it, so I can't necessarily be upset with them

(47:55):
about it. And I think that that's kind of where
the astros have fallen off in that regard, where it's
just a situation of you know, kind of being dodgy
with your answers to this is why I think you
probably get people they're frustrated with how long this is
taken with Kyle Tucker and how long it could potentially
take with Jordn Alvarez. I get all that kind of stuff,
all right, So we're going to get actually that Dana

(48:15):
Brown sound about Kyle Tucker with MLB Network yesterday. We'll
have that on the other side here as we get
into the eleven o'clock hour, but then going to quickly
transition into Texans conversation as we're an hour away from
their final preseason game over there at NRG Stadium. Because
with the Texans, the culture has been set, it's been defined,

(48:36):
and we all want to be a part of an
exclusive club because we know it's hard to get into them,
so it must be worth trying.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
I'll explain that. Let you hear exactly what I mean.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Next, right here on your home of the Astros and
the Rockets, Sports Talk seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Welcomebore, Welcome to another space City Saturday and Sports Talk
seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
All these great Houston fans here.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
We love you all, So finish up on that to
do list, flute up the cooler, because you can't drink
in talk sports all day if you don't start. Now
bear me the eight This is face City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
It's in fain. Here's seven nineties Dad Matthews.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
Indeed Drue Dan Matthews here with you on your home
of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety
before I get into one last Astros thought and then
we transition into a little bit of Texans talk right here,
a shout out to a known listener of the show. Well,
you know him pretty well, and I think his wife

(49:58):
too as well, on and her work with KHOU eleven
in the past. A special shout out to KPRC two's
weatherman Justin Stapleton and his beautiful wife, Brandy Smith. Happy
anniversary to them, eighth anniversary to both of them. So
I know that Justin's a listener and he'll chime in

(50:19):
every once in a while join us here. So we
appreciate him being a part of the seven ninety crew
here in terms of being a listener and also to
supporting everything we do around here. And we also support
everything that he and the crew over at KPRC two
do as well. So happy anniversary to Brandy and Justin.
All right, so Astro's conversation here to kind of wrap

(50:42):
things up, When is Kyle Tucker coming back. That is
the million dollar question. Dana Brown on MLB Network yesterday
talking about that said topic. He said this to some
variation with the Sean Salisbury Show on Wednesday. He repeated
it yesterday with MLB Network.

Speaker 8 (51:00):
Yeah, hopefully we'll see Tuck back, you know, sometime early September.
He's starting to do more baseball activity on the field.
He's actually taken VP and hit him in the upper deck.
It's more of the baseball moves with this lower half,
you know, you know, when he has to sprint or
do anything at a quick pace, and so he still
feels some storiness there, but ultimately he's making big strides

(51:25):
and you know, it's been amazing that we played so
well without him. But hopefully we'll get him back, you know,
sometimes early September, hopefully the first week.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
All right, So there you go. First week of September
is the hope. And apparently Dana Brown reiterating said words
yesterday with the accompanied media there in Baltimore. No, Brian
McTaggart's there, Matt Kalahara is there, of course, Julian Morales
with Space City Home Network, she is there. And Chandler
Rome as well from the athletic, So you know, all

(51:59):
of those things are all fine and good, and the
hitting part of it, yeah, that's nice to hear. But
it's also to a certain point that you look at
with Kyle Tucker at this point, and I think that
it kind of becomes a question of you know, how
much pain tolerance can you handle? Number one, but also too,
I mean, if that's going to become a reality, you
got to start to push. Then you've got to start

(52:21):
to do those things like you would love to be
able to hear, maybe even tomorrow when Dana Brown joins
Astro Launch and Robert Ford and the crew there leading
you up to tomorrow night's Sunday Night Baseball, which, by
the way to programming note it is Sunday Night Baseball tomorrow.
So with Gordy getting you a setup for that game,
it will be a little bit later on in the day,

(52:41):
so of course, get everything you know handled and figured
out early on in the day before you can enjoy
the Astros tomorrow. But I think that all of that
kind of really comes in the full circle with him
of is he able to get that going, is he
able to get in position to be able to be
ready for that spot because I kind of feel like,
and it sounds like from listening to Joe Espada listening

(53:03):
to Dana Brown, that once he starts running the bases,
that's when he is going to be able to make
his way out to a rehab assignment. And if that's
the case, I mean, I've heard people say two or
three games, I would probably think if I'm Kyle Tucker,
I want a week's worth of games, Like I want
to be able to get out there and play at
least five six games. And also too, I mean, you've

(53:25):
got to be able to play back to back days.
You got to be able to play three days in
a row to kind of tell yourself and show yourself
you're ready to go. And I think that there is
going to be a little bit of an adjustment to
that point because you build up so much to be
ready to go for the course of a one hundred
and sixty two game season, but then you get to
the point where you're at you know, game shape, and

(53:47):
you're ready to go. All those different types of things
that kind of think about it from the way that
US Weekend Warriors are. I mean, if you're in a
good workout regimen and you're able to stick to it
and be able to, you know, get to the gym
three four times a week, then you're probably in pretty
good shape and you feel pretty good about the way
that you're progressing in terms of whatever fitness goals you have.

(54:08):
But then say the holidays come around and your little
lax on it, you don't necessarily get to the gym
as much, and you've kind of done that for about
two three weeks, maybe even a month, maybe you've even
kind of become sedentary to a certain point. How hard
is it to be able to get back to where
you were when you take that time off. I mean,
that's kind of I think the human element of all

(54:29):
of this that we can all relate to. And I
think that's kind of what Kyle Tucker is running into
as well. I mean, you know, just to kind of
expect that he's going to be this everyday same guy
that he was pre injury, I just think you're kind
of kidding yourself if you think that's going to be
the case. So again, hopefully we get some news on
him that he is starting to make those progressions and
that he is able to get on the field and

(54:51):
start working in that regard. But again, only time will
tell on that, all right, speaking of time will tell culture,
And a lot of times you hear about it from teams,
especially when they're losing, and fans don't want to hear it. Oh,
it takes time to build these things. All of that, well,
I mean all of us in this you know, microwave
society that we live in now, where we want immediate

(55:14):
results and you know, we want to be able to
see the fruits of our labor bear out right there
in front of us. Sometimes it is a long drawn
out process. I mean, we saw it with the Astros
for years of the early parts of the twenty tens,
you're kind of thinking to yourself, it's going to be
a really long time before this thing really gets going.
But all in earnest, it probably took about three years

(55:35):
to go through incredibly rough lean times. Twenty fourteen, I
think you kind of saw all right, at least you
can see the good times are ahead, and in twenty
fifteen you're probably a year or two ahead of schedule.
And then what happened in twenty seventeen, you won the
whole shebang. Well, the Texans trying to build a similar
you know, foundation underneath themselves over there on Kirby and

(55:58):
one of the things that was talked about out this
week during training camp practices was being a Texan and
this isn't for everyone. And it kind of goes back
to a question that I asked Will Anderson Junior, you know,
early this off season, where I had asked him about,
you know, going you know, into free agency and do
you have a lot of guys coming after you, you know,

(56:18):
saying hey, you know that looks special, that looks pretty awesome.
I want to be a part of that. He had
a line where he said, not everybody can be a
Texan and some people kind of, you know, once he
said that, were like, what do you mean, Well, of course,
if the Texans want to sign them, then they can
be it. But I understand what he meant of saying
this isn't for everyone, Like you're asked to do things
here that not a lot of organizations are asking their

(56:40):
players to do. And it's a standard's been set. And
it's also been something too as well that I've talked
about with winning organizations that they kind of have that
similar mindset of you know, all things matter, all things
you know are not the little things because those add up,
and you know, anything means everything in that case, and

(57:02):
one of the ways is on the practice field.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
And earlier this week.

Speaker 5 (57:06):
C J.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Stroud and also Jalen Peatries speaking with the media being
asked about you know, kind of those same comments and
you know, that same line of thought that Will Anderson
Junior had with this team, and c J. Stroud talking
about that very said thing, talked about exactly what sets
the Texans apart from other teams I've only.

Speaker 9 (57:26):
Been I've only been on this team, but from my
other guys been other teams. We don't practice everybody else
is practiced hard. And that's how I love it. That's
how I did in college, and that's what I'm used to,
and you know, I think that's what gives us our age.
And you know, not everybody wants to be that, you know,
so for have guys buy in, and that has been
pretty dope. And you know, Coach Deliko has been at
the front of that, and you know it's up to

(57:47):
me and the rest of the leaders to be right
behind him and leading away as well. So you know,
I think it's not meant for everybody, but the guys
are here they're meant to be here, you know.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
And I mean that's something too as well that on
the surface you might hear, all right, how much practice
necessarily matter. I'm telling you right now, especially in football,
the most successful organizations programs, whatever it might be the
college or the NFL level, they harp practice because they'll
tell you if you're doing it right.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
The games are the easy part. That's the fun part.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Like we enjoy playing in games because we've already gone
through all the physical practices. We've already gone through everything
that leads you up to this point. And that's why
you see certain teams are able to exert their will
on either Saturdays or Sundays. And that's what you hear C. J.
Stroud talking about right there, of trying to build up
that mindset of hey, let's make it easier on Sundays

(58:39):
and let's make this the hard part. Like you know,
you talk about it all the time. I brought up
the workout example. I mean, think about it. When you're
going through your workout, don't you want to really exert
yourself and push yourself once you're warmed up and everything
else of the sort that you're kind of gassed towards
the end of it. And that's the mental side of
it of being able to push through and finish those

(59:00):
reps and get through your workout that way that maybe
you then once you get to your cool down, you're
kind of like the endorphins are going, I'm feeling good.
I was able to really put together some good work today.
That's nice, and that's what I think. That kind of
is the mindset that they're trying to put together over
there on Kirby going along those same lines, Jalen Petrie
expanding a little bit on what CJ. Stroud just talked about,

(59:22):
and again too, what Will Anderson Junior brought up earlier
this offseason.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Not everyone's meant to be a Texan.

Speaker 10 (59:28):
The first thing I would say is the brutal honesty.
A lot of people, you know, a lot of themselves
and it can make you feel good, but around here
that's very hard to do because you know, the truth
is pushed here and the standard is a standard, and
the coaches do nothing but uplift the standard. The best
players do nothing but uplift the standard, and that does

(59:48):
nothing but bring everybody in the room up to the standard.
So there's a high standard on the Houston Texas team,
and you know, it's not easy. You know, I wouldn't
say that everybody can't play here, but it's not easy.
So yeah, I'm glad that I'm a part of the team,
and I'm very thankful to be a part of this team.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
There's a really good book that's now departed former mental
coach Trevor Mewad who passed away from a battle of
cancer a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
And he had a line, it takes what it takes.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
And you've heard numerous coaches all throughout high levels of
football use some of his teachings because he worked with
a lot of great programs Florida State when Jimbo Fisher
was there, Jameis Winston, Nick Saban at Alabama, Kirby Smart Georgia,
as well as he worked with Russell Wilson in the NFL.
He's worked with a lot of people throughout the game.
And one of his lines in the book was called

(01:00:40):
it takes what it takes. And you're kind of thinking
yourself on the surface, all right, well what does it take? Well,
how are you going to be able to accomplish your goal?
All right, that's what it takes. And that's what I
think you're kind of hearing right there from Jalen Peatree
is some of those teachings that a lot of these
coaches because again I've talked about this before in football,
nobody has an original idea. Everybody kind of picks up

(01:01:01):
something a variation of it somewhere else. Maybe it's either
you know, the coaching staff they were on a lot
of the guys that are from the Pete Carroll coaching tree,
they do a lot of the goofy things that Pete
Carroll would do. And you know of you know, one Team,
one Heartbeat. We heard at Ojeeron say it when he
was at LSU, all those things, and you know, dan
Quinn's done it in the NFL, and some people like it,

(01:01:22):
and you think, oh man, that's great.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
I want to run through a wall for that guy.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
But then you lose some games and you're kind of like,
this is corny, this is stupid. Tell me how you're
going to get us out of this. And sometimes the
coaches can't do that, and that's where you kind of
find out just how good at football coaches they are.
But that's another side topic on that regard. In this
regard right here. I mean, this is the expectations being
set with the Texans. I talked about it in year
one Dimiko Ryans was trying to teach his team how

(01:01:47):
to do these things. This is the reinforcement phase of
building up this organization. This is this is how we practice,
This is how we do things. This is how you
go about your business in this building. I don't need
to try to tell you this. You need to understand
this at this point. It's kind of like you go
to a job and you're trying to ask your bosses
again and again like, hey, how do you do something?

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Well?

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
Soon enough, what happens they start to have their patients
wear thin with you because it kind of reaches a
point where they're like, this is day one, Instaul, like
how do you not understand this at this point?

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Like do I have the right person for this job?

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
If that's the case, then that's kind of the weeding
out process of all of this, and that's the culture
that's that's put in place. And I think that it's
also too as well. You want to get to a
point as an organization that the Texans want to be
of being able to pick and choose when it comes
to players who want to be here, You bring them
in for a visit, You ask them what their mindset is,

(01:02:41):
and you kind of get a good idea of are
you a fit or are you not? Because that's what
successful organizations are able to do. They're able to say, hey,
we don't have to have you here. We want to
have you here, but you need to be able to
be here. And the way that you can do that
is if you're an organization fit, do you have the

(01:03:01):
same mindset that everybody else has, Because if you do,
that's how you become the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
That's how you become the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
San Francisco forty nine ers and consistently play for Super
Bowls and win super Bowls. That's how you do all
those different types of things. So again, how you do
one thing is how you do everything. And that's the
kind of mindset that's being fostered over there on Kirby Drive.
And now we'll just have to wait and see if
it translates in the wins this season.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
So time will tell.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
In that regard college football underway in earnest Over in
Ireland and first drive of the college football season by
the Florida State seminoles into the end zone, and not
only into the end zone, in the end zone twice
two point conversion. So FSU starting out the college football
season with an eight to nothing lead over Georgia Tech.

(01:03:47):
There less than five minutes to five minutes off the
clock there in that game. So we'll be keeping you
up to date on what's happening here during week zero
of college football. To get the football season started in Earnest,
all right, coming out next. Had a chance yesterday to
hear from the new boss over on Colin Boulevard. What
does Eddie Nuniez have in store for KOOG fans? Matt

(01:04:10):
Thomas tried to find out yesterday on the Matt Thomas
Show when he spoke with the new University of Houston AD.
And we'll have that for you right here on Space
City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you until noon on
your home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk
seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
Space City Saturday continues my Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
Well, hopefully you just drop her off the airport and
everything kind of picks up after that. I mean, you know,
that's remember the music video to this, That's what it was.
Is it was Kanye dropping her off the airport. So
there you go, all right. I mean some are probably
listening saying music videos hadn't heard that in a while,
and probably even some in gen Z if you're listening

(01:04:53):
right now, are probably like, what is that?

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
You can get out of here. No, I'm just kidding.
You can stay. But I mean you just down on
great times. That's just all I'm saying is there was
nothing like MTV Music Videos. I mean TRL, we probably
knew with Carson Daily that it was starting to come
to an end because thirty minutes are thirty seconds of
a music video. That's not a music video, It's just

(01:05:16):
a snippet right there. So anyway, had its time TRL,
we remember it right there at Times Square.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Eddie Nunia is the new athletic director over at University Houston.
He had a chance to join the Matt Thomas Show yesterday.
Wanted to let you all hear from the new boss
of Cougar Athletics as he joined sports MT.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
I wish I could.

Speaker 7 (01:05:39):
Have been at the introductory press conference of our next guest,
but Las Vegas called and saw I had to get
here for that. And now we are very happy to
be joined by the brand new athletic director of the
University of Houston. Eddie Nunia is with us here on
the show.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
Eddie, it's Matt.

Speaker 7 (01:05:53):
I'm a proud Cougar along. Welcome to Houston. How are
you friend? Thank you for joining me this afternoon.

Speaker 5 (01:05:58):
Thank you for having me, and it's a great to
me too. Hopefully we'll get to see each other in person.

Speaker 7 (01:06:03):
Well you don't know this, jet, but you and I
do a weekly segment on our football.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Pregame show, so we'll get We'll be best friends before.

Speaker 5 (01:06:09):
You know it. Let's go. I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
Hey.

Speaker 7 (01:06:13):
First of all, welcome to our town. Take us through
the interview process as much as you can. Obviously, a
lot of my friends and co workers at our radio station,
a new of you. With your success at LSU, you
get the opportunity to run your own shop at New Mexico.
Take us through what it was like to say, you
know what, I'm gonna kick the tires on you of
h and then what it was like visiting with the

(01:06:35):
doctor Cotour and Tilman and the rest of the border regions.

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
Yeah, no, it's it was a very detailed process and
I think that's what I've been told from theirs, from
doctor Detour as well as from Tilman for Teita and
has just the process they went through to get to
where they are where we are today, but it's for me.
I got a call very early in the process asked

(01:06:58):
my genuine interest in the in the opening, and I said, look,
I need to look honestly, always seen it from Afar
and when I spent time and LSU came through here
quite a bit and so I have you know, one
of the things I wanted to do is let me
understand it better. I've seen the lead they've made to
get into the Big twelve. I know there's an investment,
I know there's a commitment, but let me do my
own due diligence. And they said, well, the process will

(01:07:20):
be starting here soon. And as it went through, I'm
very candid with the search term and said, look, I
need I'm going to continue to do my job because
I owe it to them. I said, I'm not a
person that likes to look for jobs. I've never had
my name's been thrown out a thousand times. But the
reality is that's that's just people speculating. And so this
was one of those times that as the more the

(01:07:42):
more I looked into it, the more I felt there
was some great opportunities here that maybe weren't just tapped
into the way they maybe needed to be. And you know,
there's been some great success in many of the sports,
but how can we find the way to just continue
to elevate it. And then when I had that first
conversation with a Chance Tour and until meen it was

(01:08:02):
it was great. It was exactly what I expected it
to be, and I was I was energized. And and
then at that point, it was really sitting down with
the family and I and figuring out, Okay, is this
is this something we're gonna do together? Because moving us
down here was great because we spent a good part
of my life here down here in this area. But

(01:08:22):
my daughters, I wanted to make sure they were they
were all in and it was and I mean, I
already knew what the university was offering. So so I'm
start to finish. I can't I can't even tell you
that the timing, but I can tell you it was, Uh,
it was a very detailed process.

Speaker 9 (01:08:37):
Annie.

Speaker 7 (01:08:37):
Let me ask you, you get to Albertquerque, it's your
own school. It's the first time you get to have
the ady title put on you. Uh, what was the
biggest adjustment that you had to make going from a
quote unquote lieutenant to being in charge? And how much
will that help you when you get your feet wehte
here at the University of Houston.

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
I learned very quickly that it doesn't matter how many
nice little plans that everybody tells you you have to
put together first ninety days, sixty days, whatever, one hundred days.
Everybody has an.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
Iteration of that.

Speaker 5 (01:09:11):
I learned very quickly that press conference day that there
was a lot more that had not been told to
me at the Athlitic Department at New Mexico, and I
had to embark on, honestly cleaning up a lot of
challenges that if you didn't roll up your sleeve, it
was probably gonna get really nasty. So it changed me

(01:09:32):
from the standpoint of understanding, Okay, I'm not coming in
and just sitting here and you know, going to meet
some donors. I have to roll up my sleeves and
get after it, and truly get after because we've got
to say some things that are going to help the
overall improvement of the program. So when I did that overall, honestly,
it really made things so much easier as the time
went on because it was just meeting people, getting to

(01:09:55):
know people, and similar to here, I want to hear,
I want to listen. I want to be able to
take the things that I'll learned there and put them
into place here. The reality is that it's not going
to change is who I am as the person you're
going to find out with me. I'm bur authentic, I
am who I am. I'm I'm not going to sugarcode it.
I'm gonna I want to find ways to genuinely have

(01:10:15):
get to know people, show them that my interests, get
in the community, fundraise, do everything I need to do.

Speaker 7 (01:10:23):
My audience knows this that I am the biggest University
Houston supporter, perhaps on radio today, because I'm a produlum
and I've been able to work with the program on
a variety of things, whether it be on the television
or radio side. And we'll be involved in the football
broadcast this year, so they know they know I live
and die with this school and hopefully you will be
taking us to new levels. The hardest reality is we're

(01:10:47):
in a congested area. When it comes to the professional
sports teams and two monstrosities of college programs not too
far from us, you obviously get the due diligence on that.
So when someone says, how does the Universe Houston take
that next level now that we're in the Big twelve,
now that we're spending more money on nil and facilities, you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
Had to answer that question to Renew and to Tillman.

Speaker 7 (01:11:11):
So without getting into two specifics, how did you answer
such questions like that?

Speaker 5 (01:11:17):
Yeah, I think it's because I've been in the SEC,
spent so much time there. I understand what LSU brains
understand text A and M and the proximity of both
those schools to hear understanding the other institutions that are
in the state of Texas. For me, look, we're a
different brand in the professional sports, but the one thing
that's a commonality with all of us is we represent

(01:11:39):
this wonderful city of Houston, and that is how we
have to distinguish ourselves is saying, look, we are the
University not just of Houston, the University for Houston, and
that means we've got to do our part to show
them that we're all in. We got to show our community,
our fans that this is bigger than just supporting the

(01:12:00):
who exists. This is this is about supporting your city,
just like they do with the Rockets, the Texans, the Astros.
All that is is great and we're not trying to
compete against them. We're trying to be a part of this.
This this this great experience. So are we going to
be competing fan base wise with LSU and an M
one day? You never No. My my challenge today is

(01:12:21):
to continue to chick away at where we are today,
trying to figure out how do we make our campus,
our experience, our university, the ability to compete at a
high level what it needs to be today.

Speaker 7 (01:12:35):
Addie Nunya is new vice president of Incline Athletics, University
of Houston, with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
When you got into the administration side of athletics, the
portal was non existent, nil was non existent. Uh and
now the thought of perhaps paying players, you're going to
see scholarship numbers going up and up and up and

(01:12:55):
up and up. Just how much of a transition has
it been for your self, for your people that you've
worked with, with your fellow eighties in his country having
to navigate financial responsibilities to the school.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
But now the kids more than ever before. Yeah, there's
no different.

Speaker 5 (01:13:13):
Our our industry has changed, probably more so over the
last ten years than probably than the twenty or thirty
before that. But the reality is change has always happened
in college athletics. I think realignment's been happening since the
early years. When you talk about all the challenges we
dealt with cost of attendants. At one point, we dealt

(01:13:35):
with austin, We dealt with more food. Just remember when
nutrition became such a priority because we weren't doing enough
when when it came to food. So all those little things,
our money, our changes are different things. I mean the
transfer window and everything else. Dealt with that. That was
a challenge and it's still is. Don't get me wrong,
But we have to be nimble. We have to be willing,

(01:13:59):
willing to change and adapt. And I think that's the
one thing that you'll foind me is look, I like
to say I'm an old soul, and I like to
say I'm a I'm a creature of habit in a
lot of ways. But the fact is, if that's how
I am in this business, then we're not going to
be successful. And I think the one thing is you'll
see with me, I am going to roll up niceeves.
We're going to do things differently. We're going to throw

(01:14:19):
things on the wall. Some days they might stick and
sometimes they won't. But everything we do is going to
be focused on our student athletes and how we can
serve them, serve our fans, serve our coaches. If we
do that, we focus our student athletes, everything else is
going to fall into place because our coaches are going
to have what they need, the resources and everything else necessary.

Speaker 7 (01:14:40):
A final question, and a lot of times athetic directors
come in and they have them to tackle their coaching staff.
And you'll be doing that with some of the sports
on campus for sure. But I don't know if you
could have run into a better spot with Calvin and
what we've done in the basketball program, and Willie Fritz
anywhere he goes, he wins football games, so at least
you don't have that.

Speaker 5 (01:14:59):
I'm to do, no, no, no, And I when I
took over New Mexico, I had a coach that was
hired six months before me by the previous administration. I
had a football coach that just wasn't in the right
placement when it came to win the losses and when
I to come into this, this is an unbelievable luxury.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
There's a lot of challenges.

Speaker 5 (01:15:20):
Well, you have two coaches and they're both aligned, they
both are supporting each other. I mean, Calvin has been
not just great for the program, for his program basketball,
but great for this whole department. And when you add Willie,
who's just a tremendous person, tremendous leader. I'm static when
it comes to having those two by my side, and
as well as some of the other coaches that I

(01:15:40):
had the luxury to meet over the last couple of days,
and I'm fortunate. That makes a lot of things move
in the right direction better. And the one thing you'll
see with our coaches is, and I've told them this
the first time I'm met with them, it starts with us.
We are coaches have to start supporting each other. Our
teams have to support each other so that everybody and
the community knows that we're all in us together. And

(01:16:02):
they were all in so we got some great things
in that respect. So I do agree with you that
is that's a great luxury to have moving into this, Eddie,
thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
Very much for the time.

Speaker 7 (01:16:11):
I look forward to meeting you next week at the
UNLV Houston game at TDUCU Stadium.

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
Thank you for the opportunity to visit with our audience.

Speaker 7 (01:16:18):
I wish you'd been through with the very best and
we'll look forward to visiting a lot during those football
pre game shows during the course of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
Thanks for the time this afternoon.

Speaker 5 (01:16:25):
Thank you, guys.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
All Right, just a few more notes on New University
Houston athletic director Eddie Nuniez. Before going to New Mexico,
he was previously an associate ad at LSU and was
a huge part of their men's basketball program there at LSU,
and despite how it all played out, he was instrumental

(01:16:48):
in hiring Will Wade there at LSU, and I think
we can probably agree if you're a Tiger fan that
probably some of their most recent success they've had in
college basketball and being able to consistently make the tournament
and being a huge player in the SEC that was
something they hadn't had there and quite some times, so

(01:17:09):
that was part of his doing there. He was also
in charge of the Tiger Athletic Fund there in Baton
Rouge and that was their large main fundraising apparatus there
and obviously able to do a great job with that,
overseeing facility upgrades there to Tiger Stadium and also as well,
I think he was after the new alex Box Stadium there,

(01:17:31):
but still a huge part of overseeing those efforts. Then
he goes to New Mexico and breaks fundraising records there
in Albuquerque with the Lobos, and not only does that,
but brings over Richard Patino, who has gotten the Lobos
back into the NCAA basketball tournament, which if you know
anything about that community there in Albuquerque, they love University

(01:17:54):
of New Mexico Lobo basketball. And the fact that he's
able to get the pit going the way that it
is right now there, that was a huge part of
his doing and also to bringing over Bronco. Mendenhall is
a really accomplished and good football coach in his own rights,
so excited to see what he brings to you. Of
h I mean, obviously, I think a huge part of

(01:18:14):
why Chris Peesman is no longer in the job, as
they wanted to be able to up their fundraising efforts
there and really be able to get with the times
when it comes to name, image and likeness and the
other parts that make college sports what it is now.
And Eddie Nuniez seems to get all of those different
parts of athletics and looking forward to seeing what he
does there over on Colin Boulevard. All right, coming up next,

(01:18:38):
it's that point of the week. Didn't have a chance
to give it to you last week, so we'll do
it here this week. We go beyond the gray hair
here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets,
Sports Talks seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
It's Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
There we go.

Speaker 3 (01:19:01):
Get the shoulders moving a little bit. We're feeling good,
We're feeling better. The vibes are getting better around here.
College football is on TV Vibe number one. It's a Saturday,
somewhat okay weather day out there. You can still get
out there and be able to enjoy a few day
drinks and everything else.

Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
Astros Baseball coming your way. Three h five. All right,
there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
Let's have those vibes carry over into a win today. Right,
what do we say the Astros. You'd love to see
them be able to bounce back in a huge way.
All right, As we ought to do here at bottom
of hour two every single week on Space City Saturday,
we go beyond the Gray Hair, all right, so let's
start first with dogs. So if you're not too familiar

(01:19:46):
with what we do here on Beyond the Gray Hair,
we try to go a little bit outside of the
sports world, but sometimes the sports world creeps in. But
when it comes to dogs, I mean, who doesn't love
talking puffs? We love our puffs, right, especially little Pixie.
Oo there, I gave you my dog voice right there.
Don't say I never did anything for you. But anyway,
the clear Water Threshers single way, I believe. For the

(01:20:07):
Philadelphia Phillies there in Florida, they have a new bat dog, Lily,
the yellow Lab. So Lily's first night on the job
was last night's. And of course, you know, I mean,
we can pretty much train dogs to do whatever, right,
I mean, I think they're even trying to get trained
dogs how to you know, learn how to drive?

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
If I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 3 (01:20:26):
Well, anyway, Lily is the new bat dog, and Lily's
debut was colorful to say the least last night. If
you've seen the video, I posted it on my Twitter
account at Dan Matthews hou Lily of course directed go
out on the field get the bat. Of course, you know,
instead of bat boys or bat girls, you have bat dogs.

(01:20:47):
So you know, hitter takes a walk, drops their bat,
you know, you know, gets a base hit, whatever it is,
drops a.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
Bat on the ground.

Speaker 3 (01:20:54):
All right, Lily, go get it, and the dog runs
out there, it goes, tries to get the bat, bring
it back. Well, decide to have some extracurriculars, if you will.

Speaker 5 (01:21:03):
That.

Speaker 3 (01:21:03):
Lily then decided to not only try to go get
the bat, but also start making a lap around the
infield while the opposing team was starting to come back
out on the field and get their warm ups in.
And then Lily decided, right about in front of second
base on the grass, there's some grass. Well it's time
to go ahead and do my business. And I'm not

(01:21:25):
just talking about the lifting the leg or in Lily's case,
dropping a squat.

Speaker 2 (01:21:30):
I mean really dropping a squat right there.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
So Lily decided, all right, that's a good time for
me to do that. And of course, I'm sure ground's
crew probably had to come out there. I don't know
if they had any plastic baggies with them to be
able to pick up after your pup, but maybe a
shovel or something like that. But Lily probably gonna have
to go through a little bit more training in that
regard as well, So a little bit of fun on

(01:21:55):
the minor league level with little Lily the pup. Fantasy
football is how right now, so we continue to stay
in the sports element of it. Are seven to ninety
League is going to be drafting over at Big City
Wings on Wednesday, three o'clock during that Astros Phillies game.
So if you're in the area, sure you'll probably see me,
You'll see Sports RV, you'll see Adam Wexler, you'll see Clanton,

(01:22:17):
you'll see mt You'll see us all over there at
Big City Wings. So that's where we will be for it.
But of course as well, how do you do your
fantasy football draft? I mean, you know, in terms of
like picking the order. Sometimes it'll be just picking names
out of a hat. Sometimes too, whatever service you use
will let you kind of auto generate it, and you know,

(01:22:38):
somebody gets the first pick, somebody gets the last. Well
some of you may know this and may not, but
fantasy football is massive inside Major League Baseball clubhouses like
this point of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
That's all.

Speaker 3 (01:22:51):
When you step into a clubhouse, you'll hear players talking about, Hey,
what would it take to get you know, I don't
know justin fields. I'm just throwing out a player here,
what would it take to get them? And then the
player from the locker across the way, give me this receiver,
that running back and whoever else. I mean, that's literally
conversations you'll hear in there.

Speaker 5 (01:23:10):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:23:10):
Of course, some teams getting creative in terms of how
they picked their draft order. So earlier this week, the
Oakland A's had a bunch of their pitchers I believe,
out in center field there at Mount Davis at the
Oakland Coliseum.

Speaker 2 (01:23:24):
They had a target set up in the outfield.

Speaker 3 (01:23:27):
Closest to the target on throws was how the draft
order would be determined. Well, yesterday the Arizona Diamondbacks kind
of took it to another level. Diamondbacks manager Tory Lavolo
getting into the batter's box to take VP at Fenway
Park to set the team's Fantasy football draft order. Each

(01:23:47):
ball that was thrown to him was numbered in the distance.
Hits would determine position. So for pitcher Merril Kelly, Tory
being a former player himself, put one off the green Monster.
Merril Kelly is picking first in the Diamondbacks fantasy football draft.
He popped up Jock Peterson's baseball, so Peterson is going

(01:24:08):
to pick last.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
I mean, I've kind of seen it all and we all.

Speaker 3 (01:24:11):
I think that's the other part of fantasy football becoming
so popular that it has over these years that we've
loved to not only see creativity in this regard, but
also to creativity in how is the last place finisher treated?

Speaker 2 (01:24:26):
What's your punishment?

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
You know, maybe it's a sandwich board out here on
six ' ten on the frontage road of saying I
suck at fantasy football. Honked if you think I'm a loser,
whatever it might be, don't get any ideas sports RV.

Speaker 2 (01:24:39):
But not only that.

Speaker 3 (01:24:40):
Also too, I mean, when you were watching the Astros
game last week in Tampa against the Rays, you saw
the guy who had to dress up in a clown
outfit with the shirt that says I suck at fantasy football,
or even as well to pick the draft order?

Speaker 2 (01:24:54):
Did you say the one? And I think I shared
this from.

Speaker 3 (01:24:56):
Barstool that there was a group of guys that did
forty yard dash is for the fantasy football start. So
whoever ran the fastest one, of course, you got first pick.
And whoever ran the slowest, well, you got the last.
So there's some interesting ones out there. I'm sure get
at me at Dan Matthews hou on Twitter if you've
got any of the interesting variety in that regard. But

(01:25:18):
we're up against it on time in terms of everything
else with fantasy or excuse me, with college football starting today, which,
by the way, Florida State Georgia Tech just ending the
first quarter from.

Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
There in Ireland.

Speaker 3 (01:25:30):
The Knowles in front eight to seven, so Georgia Tech
able to come back, and also to Florida State, Mike
Norvel getting a little aggressive on a fourth and four
and the Jackets stopped the Knowles on fourth down. But
Florida State has the football back, so second quarter about
to get back underway in that one. Did you watch
College game Day today? Look pretty cool from there in Dublin.

(01:25:51):
I love the setup they had, But Florida State fans,
letting Kirk kurb Street know, they're not huge fans of his.
Of course, Herb Street was very vulcal about being on
board with the college football playoff, leaving undefeated and conference
champion Florida State out of the CFP last year, and
FSU fans every single time he spoke today they would boo.
There were a lot of clown those T shirts with

(01:26:14):
Herbstreet's image on the shirts of.

Speaker 2 (01:26:18):
NOL fans and Garnet and Gold. Let them know how
they feel.

Speaker 3 (01:26:21):
So if we have nothing else in college football, is
it pettiness? Some of the funnest parts of being a
college football fan. I feel like nobody does it better
than college football. And now that Texas is in the
SEC to join A and M there as well, well,
I gotta tell you the life I lived for the
last ten years, you're gonna know what life in the
SEC is like now. So anyway, that's what you have

(01:26:43):
to look forward to. Longhorn fans, Let's be on the
gray hair for this edition of Space City Saturday. All right,
coming up next, speaking of the Longhorns, I do have
a little bit of a message for you Longhorn fans
out there also to get you some last minute thoughts
on putting yesterday's game to bed for the Astros and
getting you ready for the third game of this series
with the Orioles. We'll do all that before we close

(01:27:05):
up shop right here on Space City Saturday. I'm Dan
Matthews here on your home of the Astros and the
Rockets and Longhorn football as well as LSU football here
on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:27:20):
Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 11 (01:27:24):
I get see if he Wills brass doesn't fire you up,
I don't know what to tell you, because it fires
me up, gets me in the movie, It gets me
feeling good.

Speaker 2 (01:27:35):
I'm ready to go. Let's go get him. Is this
a Chantelong song? There we go, Let's.

Speaker 5 (01:27:45):
Go get him.

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
There's go get him.

Speaker 3 (01:27:49):
There you go, feeling the vibes, feeling good. Love that
right there, Melvin Brown bringing us back with some good
brass right there to get us fired up on this Saturday.
Dan Matthews here with you for another few minutes on
Space City Saturday. College football, like I said, already kicked
off second.

Speaker 2 (01:28:07):
Quarter underway over there in Ireland.

Speaker 3 (01:28:09):
Florida State with a eight to seven lead on the
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Speaker 2 (01:28:15):
So get that game.

Speaker 3 (01:28:16):
That's obviously the largest game in terms of notoriety today
in terms of opponents playing against each other.

Speaker 2 (01:28:22):
Two Power five programs.

Speaker 3 (01:28:23):
And also although I guess now we're kind of down
to a Power four because I mean the Pac twelve
is now the Pac two with Washington State and Oregon State.
But aside from that, I mean, you know, now the
Big ten has swallowed up the Pac twelve as well
as the Big twelve has the acc to some regard
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:28:41):
I mean, that's the other part of it as well.

Speaker 3 (01:28:42):
Do we realize that now Stanford and col are in
the ACC, like we realize that right two schools that
are on the Pacific coast of the country are now
in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Interesting enough, So anyway, that's
the new age of college football, I guess. But the
Longhorn fans out there and there's a lot of the

(01:29:02):
highly you know, there's a lot of anticipation, a lot
of hype with this Texas team this year.

Speaker 2 (01:29:07):
And for good reason too, I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:09):
I mean, you know, this is a team that accomplished
a lot of really good things last year, went into
Big twelve, making it to the College Football Playoff, nearly
making it here to Houston for a chance to battle
against Michigan for the national championship game. You know, we
can talk about how fun that would have been. But
you know, with all of the preseason hype and anticipation
with this team, the only thing that I would say

(01:29:32):
to Texas fans is don't get to out in front
of your skis because I feel like the burden of
proof is on this Texas team much more than it is, say,
Ohio State, than it is you know, Georgia, you know,
any other teams that are out there that are expected
to make the College Football Playoff.

Speaker 2 (01:29:53):
I mean we saw it all morning.

Speaker 3 (01:29:54):
If you were watching the you know, college game Day
and seeing that, you know, the Kirk and Nick Saban
and Pat McAfee as well as Desmond Howard putting out
their twelve team college Football Playoff how they think it's
gonna go this season, and seeing all those teams and
they're in Texas littered all throughout it. But I also
would say though too as well, that even though this

(01:30:16):
season in the SEC might be a little bit of
a lighter slate, I mean outside of the mid October
games that you have there against both Oklahoma and against
Georgia and back to back weeks, I mean, you go
to Vanderbilt, you're gonna be able to take over that stadium.
Everybody takes over Vanderbilt. You're gonna have Florida coming here.
They might not even have Billy Napier as their head

(01:30:37):
coach at that time. You go to Arkansas, Kentucky, then
you get A and M.

Speaker 5 (01:30:40):
On the road.

Speaker 3 (01:30:41):
At the end of the season, you get Michigan, who
in their own right lost a lot of players as well,
so we'll see exactly how good Sharon Moore's team is.
But you go up there second week of the season,
so you get to test yourself right out the gate.
But I think it's also too as well with a
program like Texas is after you have season like they
had last year, is the expectation is, well, we've got

(01:31:03):
a lot of players returning, we can just run this
thing back and we'll be just fine. Not always the case,
because I think you kind of come to find out
that doing college football at a high level takes a
lot of good fortune. And also to what I talked
about earlier with the Texans is how strong is your culture.
That's where you find out are you a program as

(01:31:25):
opposed to are you just a collection of good teams.
We've seen teams in the past. My beloved LSU Tigers
seen it numerous times win a national championship the following year,
scraping by to maybe even just make it into a
Bowl game as a six win team. So being able
to do what Nick Saban did for years at Alabama
was unreal. To be able to watch what Kirby Smart's

(01:31:46):
been able to do at Georgia, same deal, unreal to
be able to watch because that's more often than not
the exception and not the rule. And that's what really
comes into play. Because what kind of makes me worry
a little bit about this Texas team. Let me just
read off some of the names that they lost from
last year's team. Jonathan Brooks, Keenlan Robinson already hurting at
the running back spot. We'll get to that in a second.

(01:32:08):
But you lose both of those guys. The receivers, you
lost a lot of really good receivers. And I understand
too that Steve Sarkisian was busy in the transfer portal
of being able to go out and get Isaiah Bond
as well as some other huge names there in the
transfer portal, but it's also too as well, how well
did those guys fit in and how good of a

(01:32:30):
fit are they in your scheme to be able to
make immediate contributions, Because, like I talked about that second
week of the season, you're going to Michigan and you're
taking on a team that's still pretty good in their
own right, but losing eighty Mitchell, Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington,
all three of those guys are collecting NFL checks right now.
All three of those guys were high NFL draft picks.
That's hard to replace. It continues.

Speaker 2 (01:32:52):
JT. Sanders a really good.

Speaker 3 (01:32:54):
Tied end and I think a guy that probably could
develop and be even better at the pro level, but
not only with him being gone. On the offensive line,
Christian Jones a really good offensive tackle. On the defensive line,
Byron Murphy to Andandre Sweat linebacker Jalen Ford, as well
as Ryan Watts back there in the defensive backfield. So

(01:33:15):
I mean just expecting that it's just going to be
easily replaced and run back with in some cases unproven
guys or even two as well being lighter at certain positions.
They felt good coming into this season at the running
back spot with CJ. Baxter as well as Jayden Blue,
but Baxter's done for the season with a knee injury,
and not only has he done for the season, Christian Clark,

(01:33:35):
another guy that you felt good about with this team,
a freshman out of Phoenix, that he's done for the season.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
What's an achilles injury?

Speaker 3 (01:33:41):
And you're getting to the point where you're having to
even try to move guys at positions over to the
running back spot. And then, of course, earlier this week
you get Velton Gardner who used to play at Kansas
and SMU announcing that he was going to join the
Longhorn program. But again, I mean, is that a guy
that necessarily you can count on immediately because at the
running back spot with this Texas team, even though you're

(01:34:02):
not playing the best of the best in the SEC
here in the first year in the conference, it's still
the SEC and going on the road and playing some
of these teams home field matters in the SEC. And
that's why you've seen the upsets that you've seen over
these years. Remember how good Tennessee was feeling a couple
of years ago. Then they go to Williams Price Stadium
and play a South Carolina team that they were better than,

(01:34:25):
but playing in that environment Saturday night there in Columbia
South Carolina. It didn't go well for them, and that's
what the SEC can deliver. Going to Arkansas, you're talking
about a program that their head coach is trying to
fight for his job and it's a program that hates
your guts. You don't think that place is going to
be rocking for that game and that they're going to
be fired up to try to play their best football

(01:34:45):
of the season in that game. I'm telling you right now,
you've got to be able to take care of business
and how well did you recruit, how well did you develop?
Those are going to be questions that need to be
asked and answered by Steve Sarkisian's team this year. All
gets going next week right here on your home of
the Texas Longhorns in Houston Sports Talk seven ninety. Speaking
of your home for teams on Sports Talk seven ninety,

(01:35:06):
the Astros coming your way in a couple of hours
with Astros on deck, getting you set up for the
Astros trying to make it two wins in this series
over the Baltimore Orioles. We'll see what they've got. I'm
Dan Matthews, He's Melvin Brown behind the glass. Thank you
all for listening. To Space City Saturday. Come back to
you in a couple of hours on Astros on Deck

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