Walker Joins The A-Team, Do Runs Join The Astros? Gator Chas To The Bullpen!

Wex and AC react to another shutout loss against the Tigers on the road, plus Christian Walker joins the show. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam, raised by Earl.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Nolan.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Volted by the magnificent roller coaster ride.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
That is Houston.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Sports, chill lags down for the only homegrown afternoon team.
Is Talking Your Teams? Adam Clinton and Adam wexlerd are.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
The a team?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
What's going on Houston, Texas? It is a Sports Talks
seven ninety. It is a Tuesday edition of the program.
Is we are often running? Getting you ready from the
latest Astros blowout. I'm just kidding. Hunter Brown should be
fine tonight, but oh my gosh, let's play a game
called besides wex he can't play this game? What inning

(01:19):
did you turn it off in a fit of rage?
For me, it was after it was five to nothing,
and I actually didn't even turn it back on. I'll
be full disclosure. That's where I was last night. Mentally,
I just well, I was like their offense checked out.
So I just walked away from the car accident and
enjoyed the rest of my night.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
That's what I had to do. I had to cleanse the.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Palates team effort. The offense is doing things so poorly
right now, not scoring in three of their last four games.
That is taking the attention away from their pitching, which
is performing very poorly. Right now, I know we've got
roughly three hours to fill, the last half hour of
which will be dedicated to the Astros. Four thirty, we'll
get started with the Astro on Deck show. But I

(02:01):
think you can encapsulate at least the last seven games,
even though one of them was a series victory, those
three against Boston, followed by the three against Baltimore and
then yesterday against Detroit. In those last seven games, you
have requested the same position player to get you three
outs in a game, which he's done all three times.
Chas McCormick, including back to back days and back to

(02:23):
back scoreless outings.

Speaker 5 (02:25):
He's the only guy that was unscathed.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
We can get in all the details, and clearly we will.
I don't know if the Astros have already made the announcement,
but it seems pretty obvious that they'll have to make
more changes to their bullpen. You Taylor Scott will be
the latest. Hey man, we really need you now get
out of here because you're terrible. Jordan Williams was right
before him, Taylor Scott right after him. The Astros are
familiar with a lot of players because they've gone through
a lot of players three times this year. They have

(02:49):
added a player who's been designated for assignment twice. In
one of those instances, it was a pitcher who they
were one of those teams that dfad that player earlier,
and Cooper Hummel twice. Secret Nearis had been dfayed twice.
They brought them all back and the results were as
you'd expect. In Hummel's case, they had to bring him back,
I guess because they needed a body, and he actually

(03:10):
got a bunch of playing time while not performing very well.
In the case of Ners, obviously they were without very
many available arms and he pitched very poorly. And now
Taylor Scott's the latest. But because they continue on this
stretch of another six days without a day off, they
can't even carry Taylor Scott well good because I wouldn't

(03:30):
think they'd want him out there. But you can't carry
guys that can't pitch for you, I mean physically. He
will physically not be asked to throw any more pitches
today after throwing forty two bad ones yesterday. But that's
where they are right now. So it is a team effort.
The offense definitely looks lifeless to be shut out in
the manner they've been shut out, not a lot of
traffic through most of those games, and that's what makes

(03:53):
yesterday seem like how things can change quickly. Could the
Astros have made their fortunes change quickly? Well, sure, the
bases were loaded in the first inning, you had runners
on first and third with one out in the first inning,
but you did not score, then barely put up much
of a threat against Flaherty, who had been consistently poor
all season. I don't know that if that his stuff

(04:13):
was much better yesterday. You know, when the Astros are
patient at the plate, they're down oh two in the count.
When the Astros are not patient at the plate, they've
grounded out on the first pitch of the at bat.
Whatever they are doing isn't working. And I'm not saying
what they're doing is wrong. I'm saying whatever they're doing,
however they go about attacking in at bat or a pitcher,
whether it's an Oriole or a Tiger, it just simply

(04:33):
hasn't worked. And obviously today they face a much better pitcher,
a lefty in Tark Schooble, they will throw their own
much better pitcher in Hunter Brown. Hopefully it lives up
to that, but if it does, then the Astros are
going to be looking to win. I have a very
low scoring game, which unfortunately their offense is up for
because that's all they've been doing lately. Scoring five runs

(04:56):
and twelve innings on Saturday, none the day before, and
none in the two games after.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
If I never see Riley Green's dumb face again, it'll
be too soon.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Man, these good ballplayers. You don't like him.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
I just don't like him in particular because he kills
the Astros. He kills are Getty. He kills the Astros.
I mean he I think he is? He over thirty
Now he's gotta be Did that microphone just break right
there on the air?

Speaker 6 (05:22):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (05:23):
Amazing?

Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's the arm and it's fixed all right?

Speaker 5 (05:27):
Good? But yeah, I mean it wouldn't have mattered last night, Like.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Well, why him I Carpenter homered when sil Perez homered?

Speaker 4 (05:36):
I like, why they all annoy me? But he homers
more against them, so he annoys me more. It's it's
direct correlation to the production that hurts the Astros as
it pertains to my level of sports hatred. I don't
hate him personally. I don't want bad things to happen
to him or his family. Nothing like that. Unless he
homers again tonight, and then we'll revisit this.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
He's got very good history against the Astro, so I'll
you know what stamp of approval that one.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
The one thing that the Astros have going for them,
and it has nothing to do with the offense, is
Hunter Brown. And it's not just because he's their best
pitcher this year or one of the best pictures. I
don't know, it depends on what day it is. For
fromber lately he's their best picture or Hunter Hunter. Okay, good,
we're in agreement. But when he pitched it, when he
pitches in Detroit, as I recall, he's even better. He
like gets up for that game because it's his hometown.

(06:24):
So I think you're in for a sensational outing from
him tonight and then you have to just squeeze a
little bit of water out of that rock. Basically that
is the Astros offense. But yeah, it's been it's been
a tough watch lately. Like I I'm not not gonna
act like I just sat here and like did you

(06:45):
sit there through every inning of that and just.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Of course why because they played baseball.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
No they didn't, Yeah they did.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
They they struck out, they walked, they did all the
things baseball the guys do.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
The Tigers played baseball. The Astros just were on the
field wearing cost teams, as you like to call it.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well, it's easier to score runs when you play baseball
and you launch the ball over the fence. The Astros
don't do that. They used to, not really that much.
They've been sitting in the middle of the league, which
I still find amazing from a home run perspective. I mean,
give you the home run counter before every Astros game, sixteenth, eighteenth, twentieth,
somewhere in that's neighborhood. But they're batting average, very good.
They get a lot of singles, and they get guys

(07:22):
on base, they don't drive them in. It's there are
pockets of the season where I've been able to back
off that comment and they have driven in runs. They've
had multi run games, they've had multi homer games, they've
had high scoring games. But for the great majority of
the season, they don't drive runs in. They don't drive
the ball, they don't drive the ball into the gaps.
They don't drive the ball over the fence. They don't
have extra base pop, they don't have a team that slugs,

(07:43):
and so for all the runners they get on base,
and sometimes when they're patient at the plate and they
get generated on additional runners via walks, they just hang
out there. Unfortunately, they go station to station, and other teams,
even worse hitting teams, simply because they hit the ball
over the fence, they put a lot more runs on them.
And you know, it's some of it is philosophical, and
some of it, much more of it is clearly personnel.

(08:06):
I don't think their philosophy to say cam Smith is
whatever you do, do not try to hit the ball
over the fence. If you told me he was going
to play one hundred and whatever number of games, will
end up with probably in the neighborhood of won twenty
one to twenty five. And unless he goes on some
kind of crazy binge at the end of the season,
he's not even gonna hit ten home runs this year
and five hundred major league at bats. I would have
never thought as a Major leaguer, even at the highest

(08:28):
level of competition, which he's completely unused to. I'm there's
no way I would have said he'll only get into
a ball ten times all year when he doesn't get
around on much. And I'm not picking on him, I'm
just kind of pointing out what seems like the obvious.
They just don't drive the ball well. You gotta score
runs by hitting that getting extra base hits, and they don't.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
The Mariners, the Blue Jays, the Red Sox, and the
Rangers all lost and the Mariners despite it, so they
he got shelled too. Their pitching got beaten up too,
but they still managed to score seven runs.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yeah, after they were down seven to nothing, they started
putting runs on the board, scored seven times in the
final three innings. Their starting pitcher didn't even throw a
pitch in the third inning, gave up six runs ten
batters early in the game, and that was it for him.
And that was Logan Gilbert. They will be whole as
a pitching staff when Bryce Miller makes his appearance today.
He will start for the Mariners against the Phillies. But

(09:27):
the Astros are in well, definitely, They're in their worst
hitting pocket of the season individually and team wise, and
nothing's happened to their lead in the division. It doesn't
give you much confidence for what they might do if
and when they get to the postseason. Sure, but hopefully
the team that's hitting the field each day hit home
against Baltimore, now on the road in Detroit and again
in Baltimore. Hopefully that's not really what we're seeing. At

(09:48):
some point this team will. They'll start hitting the ball
at some point, maybe starting today, we'll see something that
suggests signs of life from number forty four. Until we
hear otherwise, is to be in the lineup tonight for
the Corpus Christy Hooks.

Speaker 5 (10:02):
He is Jordan Alvarez.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
By the time the Astros get home to Houston, if
there are no setbacks, he definitely will be playing games
for them. And I suppose there's still an outside chance
that it could come sooner as in on this road trip.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
Yeah, dhing, you'll hear from Joe Espada about that aspect
of his attempted comeback here as it pertains to playing
him in the field versus just getting him more at bats.
But yeah, it's going to be a site for sore
eyes for sure, and everybody will be holding their collective
breath in the Astros organization and anybody else who cares

(10:35):
about this baseball team, because he absolutely should help them
if he's right, and can't get him fast enough.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
With the way things are going.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
It's just it's interesting that he's making his start as
far as playing in games the day after the Astros
get shut out on offense for the second time in
as many days, and what's going on with their offense
right now. So yeah, that is certainly something will be
keeping an eye on tonight, Like wex, we'll get you
ready for game two of this three game set with

(11:03):
the Astros on deck show coming up at four point thirty.
Some Texans conversation when we come back, and it includes
another site for sore eyes, maybe two of them. If
you were paying attention to practice earlier.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Today was I was out there. I paid attention, That's
what I was, eyes were open and everything. I even
took notes. You didn't take a nap. Not then, My
naps take place in the evening hours when you're unintending,
when it's bedtime. Oh, that's not a nap, that's sleep.
That's right, that's the difference.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
All right.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
We'll get to all of that and more here on
a Tuesday edition of the program.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
The eight on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
John tell them what things for you is we get
into segment two of hour one of three hours with
us here on Sports Talk seven ninety, we say, see
Cole Thompson here with you a five forty first pitch
from Detroit for the Astros. So we will get you
into Astros on deck. Not too long from now, we
will chat with Christian Walker, Astros first basement. He will
join us on the show next segment. So right around

(12:07):
two thirty we expect to have a conversation with Christian Walker.
And as expected, the Astros did make that roster move.
Logan Van why will be recalled and Taylor Scott has
been designated for assignment. It's simple math kind of stuff.
They need available arms and Taylor Scott's arm is not available.
Doesn't help his case that he was not very effective game.

(12:29):
So I don't think he'll be back, even if he
accepts not being claimed by anybody, not being traded anywhere,
and then if they offer him a deal and he
says yes, I don't expect him to be throwing any
more major league pitches for the Astros. I quite honestly
didn't expect the major league pitches that he threw yesterday
to happen for the Houston Astros. Was not very good
with them this year, so they let him go. And
then Arizona picked him up and he was not very

(12:50):
good there either, so they let him go. And then
he pitched for sugar Land for the last eleven games
and the Astros run a bind. So there he was yesterday,
giving up a couple of homers and five runs and
that was all she wrote for him. So logan van
why a second opportunity with the Astros. Aj Bluebaugh, by
the way, is not far behind. I would expect him
to be a part of the Astros sometime before the

(13:11):
end of this road trip. And as we know, there
are a few other arms, Lance mccullors Junior and Louis
Garcia specifically that probably aren't far away either. Mccullor's next
pitch could still be for the Astros. Garcia is still
slated to make at least one more rehab appearance. But
we mentioned the Texans they also play. They aren't playing
any games that count in standings you should care about

(13:34):
just yet. September seventh, It will be here soon enough.
Remember this weekend opens up. There's football every weekend until
the end of the calendar, so that is a good thing.
NFL football back this weekend for the results don't matter
portion of their season preseason football. They have another Saturday
noon game against the Lions. They will leave tomorrow for
Detroit after one final brief practice in the morning. Today

(13:56):
was pretty legit outside in the exception only thick air
early and then it was just a typically hot day
after that. For those of you that aren't aware, it
rained and hailed all over the city last night and
the aftermath of that was felt in the air over
at the facility this morning. But they got in a
pretty good set of eleven on eleven seven on seven
work saw Cam Robinson back on the field. He did

(14:21):
take a handful of reps with the ones at left tackle,
but more of his reps were with the twos at
left tackle as their ones continue to work as I
still expect them to when they get there for the opener.
That means Titus Howard on the right side at tackle
and tay Ersrie on the left side at tackle, with Ingram,
Tomlinson and Andrews at center on the interior. But you

(14:43):
also saw a little bit of a Juice Scrugs being
worked at both guard positions because right now they have
more than enough offensive linemen to have a completely different first, second,
third team with fourth teamers still on the field. When
you get to the season, even with the practice squad,
you just don't have that many guys. Nine guys essentially
that they are going to make your active roster, and

(15:03):
then on game day you have eight, so a little
flexibility with those that you have up. Juice has played
across the interior, so seeing him get work at different
spots likely suggests he's probably got a spot on this team.
Blake Fisher did not practice today as expected, leaving the
game on Saturday with what appeared to be some sort
of lower leg issue. I believe it's an ankle issue.

(15:24):
His spot on the team's a little bit different. They
don't have a definitive swing tackle, though it very easily
could be Cam Robinson. You don't have Trent Brown off
the pup list yet, but they only have a couple
of players on the active roster that aren't currently practicing.
It does not include Christian Harris and Damian Pierce. Both
of them practice today and have been working themselves back

(15:45):
into the kind of shape that suggests they will be
active and ready should they make the roster, and they
will for the game on September seventh against the Rams.
Jalen Reed is an active player, but he has a
practice for a couple of weeks. He was out on
the practice field today viewing, watching as he has been
no brace on the knee that he is giving him problems.
And they have players working out on the side. We

(16:09):
don't do much with them, certainly don't have much to
say with them or about them. But CJ. Gardner Johnson
is a player that Demiko Ryan said they hope to
have back soon and others have reported possibly by the
beginning of the season. And he is working out on
the side field at least outdoors today, sometimes getting the
work done elsewhere where. We can't see him, but I

(16:30):
can see him today. I'm not a doctor, so I
don't want to go too into detail what I think,
but yeah, I could see him coming back early in
the season.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Was there a Simpsons like gasp when everybody saw that
he was out there doing physical activities on him.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
No, because we're a billion miles away and if you
aren't paying attention, you don't even know he's but in
my mind, I hear well, three days, four days a week.
I can't remember the exact number of days after he
was hurt and taken off the field. He was at practice.
He wasn't doing anything, but he was there. He was
walking around. He wasn't wearing a cast, he wasn't wearing
a sleeve, he wasn't limping, he wasn't wearing crutches, and

(17:04):
he was just walking around. And now he's doing, you know,
getting you some work in some rehab work, in trying
to prepare for the season.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
It'd be fantastic because again, the defense is gonna I
hones to say it's gonna carry this team because you
still have to score. Yeah, that they have three parts
of the team. And we don't really get into if
the special teams is awesome or terrible, because it probably
doesn't matter a whole lot to the end game. Wins
and losses very important, but a little less in that regard.
The defense is better than the offense. Easiest way to

(17:31):
say it, Yeah, but I already knew that the defense
is a lot better than the offense. Easiest way to
say that. I need that too.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
They have a top five defense, They need to play
like it. They need to keep teams from scoring when
they get in the red zone, they need to create turnovers,
and all the evidence is there that that's exactly what's
gonna happen. The offense is a much bigger question mark.
If I told you they had a top twenty offense,
you would say, of course, I want to believe you. Yeah,
but you're not even positive that you can.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
Is there somebody you trust that could look at that
offense of line and then convince you like and I'm
let's face it, I'm probably talking about a former player,
and not just a player, but a former offensive lineman.
They could They could look at the offensive line and
convince you that they're not only going to be improved,
but it's going to be enough to where you're not
gonna need to be worrying the way people like I

(18:18):
am heading into the season.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
I don't know how to answer that, because you're gonna
be worried no matter what, because they're not a good offensive.

Speaker 5 (18:25):
No, not if you convince me.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
But why would I want to do that? Well, I'm
at practice. I don't want to lie to you.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
Here's why. So you don't like what you see, I.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Do like what I see in comparison to last year.
But holy cow, lower the bar.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yeah, it was What I meant was what I why
I brought this up is I saw someone and I
can't remember who it is now, but I want to
say they were a former offensive lineman and it was
just basically saying, not not only are they better, they're
gonna be a lot better, which again the bars low,
that's fair. They are going to be a lot better.

(18:56):
But if that's the case, then I feel great about
the season.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Well, let's what as we've seen them play against an
awesome defense at practice if you're lucky enough to go
to practice or care to, and then we've seen a
play against attacked not you a couple of snaps, ten STAPs,
eleven snaps. They played eleven STAPs last week against Carolina's
an offense their defense they played at little less as

(19:22):
an offensive unit. Now there are ones on the offensive
line have gotten more work than CJ. Clearly they played
twenty five snaps and ten snaps in the two games.
CJ's played fourteen plays, so it's a little bit different.
But this is who we're actually getting to see them against.
So now you get a chance to see them against
Detroit if you care to go to that practice. See
and I'm getting at me. I'm not going to the
practice against Detroit on Thursday. I'm gonna be here with

(19:43):
you guys, right here in the age. I watched the
game on Saturday, and I don't know if any of
the ones are going to play. They are They care
about pushing people around. Any offensive line that doesn't care
about that sucks, And honestly, that's what I think the
Texans offense line was like the last several years, not
just last year, but I think the year before for sure,

(20:04):
and maybe even prior to that under totally different coaching staff.
That's all that matter. You want to bury these other
guys every play. I know pass blocking is totally different
because you're basically going backwards and run blocking. You want
to bury these guys, just push them over. Here's the
line of scrimmage. I'm moving forward. My running back might
run into me. And if he runs into me and
falls down, so what, we just gained four yards because

(20:26):
I got four yards down the field because I pushed
this guy out of the way. I guided him into
the place where I wanted to. Because that's also part.
You don't have to push the guy back, but when
your edge rusher takes the line inside and you push
him inside, whether there's a huge hole for Nick Chubb
to run into because you physically guided him away from
a tackle and you opened up a hole that if
you're running back sees it, or if the play was

(20:47):
designed for it because you felt like you knew what
was coming from their line. Defensively, well, the play worked.
You don't have to just overwhelm them and put them
on their back and pancake them. But if you do
your job and you push people around a little bit,
my goodness. I do think this line is made up
of players that are maybe more capable of doing that,
and I think we'll see that early on. But you

(21:09):
still have to recognize who they've played.

Speaker 5 (21:11):
Again.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
They're gonna play one of the three best fronts they're
gonna play all year in Week one when they face
the Rams and Jared Vers in my opinion, and I
hope they're ready for it.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
Well, I hope that Matthew Stafford doesn't play for them,
because that would wait.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
He plays that's totally different. He plays on offense. I know,
like for instance, today they were running most of the
you know the ones, we're out there against the ones,
and then as the drive continues, usually Burke will shuffle
out some of the defensive line. Obviously, Anderson and Hunter
are your ones today. Derek Barnett and Darryl Taylor your two's,
with Dylan Horton mixing in, and then similarly on the interior,

(21:47):
Tim Settle and Sheldon Rankins usually are your two starters.
With Photocasi back at practice. He is now out there
on the interior Tojii's out there on the interior. Some
kind of combination of those players along with Mario Edwards Junior.
Three consecutive plays, tay Erstrie, as the left tackle for C. J. Stroud,
was trying to block Derek Barnett. He beat him both times,

(22:08):
once with a great spin move inside would have been
a sack or at least blown up the play. Once
he went to the outside, just got right past him.
The next play, it was a third and obvious passing situation,
so Daneil Hunter had come back in at that edge,
and then he beat Ursery one two three snaps, first second,
third down. He got beat on all three plays. I
don't know that they all would have resulted in sacks,
but they likely wouldn't have resulted in the play you

(22:30):
had called in the huddle.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
He's a rookie, it's gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Yeah, And when he goes out there and starts, which
I still think he should and will, that is going
to happen.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
It happened a Dwayne Brown and he was fantastic for
the Texans for a long time and then even after that.
So yeah, that's growing pains as it were. All Right,
we will take a quick time out because when we
come back, we are gonna be joined, as promise by
Astro's first baseman, Christian Walker.

Speaker 5 (22:55):
That conversation is next the.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
A Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Back here on the A team wex and ac Adam
Wexler and Adam Clinton here with you. Pleased to be
joined by Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker in Detroit
with the ball club set for game two of the
three game series, Game two of a seven game road trip,
and Christian, we certainly appreciate the time. If I can

(23:26):
take you back to last weekend, what was it like
for you to see the first Astros jersey you ever
put on a race to the rafters and retired number thirteen.

Speaker 7 (23:36):
Yeah, that was very cool as a you know, honor
honored to be a part of it, for sure. I
was actually I asked to wear thirteen going into this year,
and obviously pretty soon after that like now we're going
to retire Wag's got in or or at the time
it was like we're pretty sure he's going to get in.
So yeah, I know, it was cool to see, for sure.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
I want to ask you about the weekend. Being obviously
a newcomer to the Astros, it's Hall of Fame weekend.
There are so many legends back, both from just a
played here perspective and Hall of Fame caliber players who
actually in cases, Bagwell and Visu are around quite a bit.
But for someone who's only been with the organization a
short time, obviously well aware of the organization's history, you know,
what was a weekend like that for you as you

(24:21):
were going through your baseball games.

Speaker 7 (24:24):
It's cool, it's cool, you know, put things into perspective.
It's you get caught up in in what's going on
right now in the game, and you know how how
competitive is it and how many great players there are,
and you know, it's a good reminder of you know,
all the great players that were before you, and you
know guys that you know here on you know, mid thirties.
You know, I've cross paths with a few of these

(24:46):
guys and it's just cool to you know, be a
be a small part of something super special.

Speaker 4 (24:53):
Talking to Christian Walker here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
Astros are in Detroit, game two of that three game series,
getting on away in just a bit. Obviously last night
not something you'd hope for, and and lately the offense struggling.
I you probably get asked this question every single season
if you do some sort of interview, whether it be
on the radio or just with regular media, because that's

(25:15):
the nature of a long, one hundred and sixty two
game grind is is that kind of what this is
right now is just the dog days? But or does
it feel to you like it's a collective thing team
wide and you just need to break out of this slump?

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (25:30):
I think it's just one of those things, Like you said,
it's a long season. It's you know, it's really hard
to dominate all year long. You know, you look back
at that all you know, all the all the teams
that have had really good runs and have been dominant
for a long time. They all hit a stretch at
some point in the year. It's inevitable. It's just a
matter of how how short can you keep those down,

(25:51):
you know, those valleys, and then and then once once
it flips and you get back on top, how how
long can you maximize it and make it laugh you.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
At least obviously had a couple of series now played
since the trade deadline, since catching throws from your new
third basement Carlos Korea, what's been like for you to
see him now back with this team, obviously from inside
the clubhouse, but also the I'm sure big time excitement
from the fan base as well.

Speaker 7 (26:15):
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, obviously the history that Carlos has
is here in Houston, but you know, the transition was
was seamless, right right from day one. You know, he
comes in and you know he wants to be a leader.
He's he's very much a part of his leadership group,
and you know, you can't help but to look up
to him and learn from him. The guy's had a
lot of success and you know he's one of the
best at what he does every day, and that's not

(26:37):
on accident. You know that's not by chance. He's he's
out here earning it every days. He's so disciplined and
convicted in what he does, and you know what makes
him great. So yeah, it's been been fun to learn
from him and and you know, kind of be by
aside through this.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
It seems like where he's been in the order has
allowed him to either come around and score or continue
rounding the bases on a homer And and you're either
at the top step or in the on deck circle,
still waiting. It seems like you had created a celebration
with one another already, Like it appears your relationship with him,
without much history, has evolved rather quickly.

Speaker 7 (27:10):
Yeah, for sure, I think that's you know, that's the
kind of personality he is. Like I think the first
or second day he was already talking about trying to
get to know me. You know, we're going to be
playing together for a while, and we wanted we got
to figure out what makes each other tick. What when
we're our best, you know, what does that look like?
When when stuff's not going great? What did that look like?
So we can hold each other accountable. And I think

(27:30):
that that extreme open communication and and you know, honestly vulnerability.
It takes a lot to you know, just come into
a clubhouse. I know he's been here before, but just
to kind of put yourself in a spot where you
know guys, guys are going to lean on you, and
guys are looking forward to your leadership, and you know,
to make yourself a you know, vulnerable and be willing
to take on that role.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
I'm glad Wegg's asked that because I was watching you
guys do that celebration after a win the other night
back here in Houston, and I'm always curious how that
comes about. How organic is it or does some does
one of you approach the other and say, okay, we're
gonna do that.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
How does that happen?

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (28:08):
You always, you always just want handshakes and things with guys.
You know, for me, I do the finger guns, doubles
and homers. It's just something that's kind of just happened
over the years. And you know, Carlos was like, hey,
let's do a handshake and just all natural, just to
incorporate that. But it's it's always something, you know, whatever,
you know, a funny joke in the clubhouse, or you know,

(28:31):
any any little inside edge just to you know, kind
of kind of keep the camaraderie going. Is it's it's
a fun thing.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
Camaraderie obviously important in a baseball team more than almost
any other because of that long grind I was talking about,
we here on the show are driving the uh, the
Joe a spot a Manager of the Year parade.

Speaker 5 (28:50):
We're like the grand Marshals.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
If you had to kind of sell to the voters
why this season, especially maybe today on a daylight today
where you guys, you know, took one on the chin
last night, as is the best time to ask this?
You know, how would you sell him as the best
choice for you know, twenty twenty five manager of the year.

Speaker 7 (29:08):
Yeah, absolutely, There's there's two things that come to mind
with Joe, you know, first and foremost is the passion
and the emotions. He's he's he's in the fight with us.
It's it's we're all out there together.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
You know.

Speaker 7 (29:22):
It's easy to be like, oh, well, you know, like
you know, the players, the ones on the field or whatever,
and and that's just not the case. He's he's out
there in the grind with us every day. You can
feel it. And you know, when we have success, you
know it's it's undeniable that that he's noticing it and
aware of it. And the other side too, we're grinding.
He's he's right there grinding with us. And and I
think a part B to that is is knowing when

(29:45):
to show that emotion and and knowing when that you
know the guys are are looking for, you know, captain
of the ship, to be stoic and and just keep
things going because you know everything's gonna be okay. And
you know Joe has that experience, you know, being a
part of some really really good teams that you know
it's it's not easy to make in plinch and and
you know, I think a time at the moment when

(30:06):
you know, when we feel like, you know, we're grinding
and looking for that time we hit, I think it's
easy to look towards him for that. You know that
that steadiness and and there's no panic and and you
just you know and trust in each other that we're
going to pull through this and everything's gonna be all right.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
You mentioned earlier in our conversation Christian, well, what the
team's going through. You're you're not going to be dominant
all season long, does Joe or anybody in the clubhouse.
Does it need to be said from anybody that, hey,
we are a first place team. There's a couple of
weeks left in the season. Whatever we wanted to accomplish
this year, is there for us to go and accomplish.
Is that ever set out loud or is it understood?

Speaker 6 (30:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (30:44):
I think it's both. You know, there's conversations. We understand
how how good this team is and and you know
how good we've been this year. And I think it's
easy to look at, you know, a lead that we
had in the division and be like, oh, you know,
it's it's slipping, blah blah blah, this is happening, This
is happening. But I think I think that's why getting
hot like that early and getting that lead is so valuable,

(31:05):
because because these these values are inevitable and to be
able to buy yourself you know a little bit of time.
Not that it's you know, complacent or content or anything
like that. We understand that, you know, there's a lot
of good teams that are all fighting for these spots.
And I think when when you look at our track
record this year and a lot of good teams that
we've we've played really well against and took series against.

(31:27):
I think that's what you look back and you gain
confidence from and and you know, just just start leaning
on each other.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
Do you remember what Jordan Alvarez looks like? And how
much are you excited to get him back in the lineup?

Speaker 7 (31:38):
Yeah, very excited. I mean that guys just has a presence,
you know, a presence in the dugout, of presence in
the batter's box. It's another huge bat. Obviously, the talent
is there, that's that speaks for itself. But I think
just you know, have another guy who's comfortable in big
situations and comfortable coming through and clutch moments. You know,

(31:58):
you think about timely hitting and driving in runs, latant games.
You know that that's the guy who who has to
be in the conversation.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
When as we wrap things up here what he's been
in the dugout recently and the nicest and most understanding
way possible. Do you say, come on, man, when are
you coming back? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (32:14):
Yeah, every day every time I see them, like, man,
come on, what do we got? But you know, we
all we've all been there. It's it's tough, you know.
The body, the body is is a frustrating thing sometimes.
And you know what we do is, yeah, you know,
we try to stay healthy and all this stuff because
we're athletes and and the lifestyle requires it. But you know,
sometimes for whatever reason, it's just the inflammation, the body

(32:36):
doesn't cooperate, and it's you know, it's it's not fair
to look at a guy and be like, oh, come on,
play through this, because you don't know what the players feeling.
And like I said, we've all been in that spot
where you know, you just don't trust it, and and
you know there's there's some value in that too, where
if I can't be one hundred percent or you know,
ninety percent and I'm out there guarding or or trying
to protect things, or the pain is occupying my brain,

(32:58):
it's it's really hard to secute at this level, you know,
not not at maximum capacity. So you know, it's it's
it's nothing but but Goodbbe. We're all, you know, obviously hoping,
hoping he keeps feeling better and he keeps you know,
gaining on this this you know, hand thing risk thing.
But you know we're we're we're very excited to get
him back for sure.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
And last on your performance, Last two months. Anything you
can pinpoint about what's worked better. Is it more just
feeling comfortable with the plate, or have the balls just
dropped in a little bit more often?

Speaker 7 (33:28):
Yeah, I think, you know, just like you said, we
we have this opportunity of playing a really long season,
so making adjustments and and you know, the cage work,
just just staying strict to a routine and and working
on things that I know are are applicable in the
batter's box.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Right.

Speaker 7 (33:47):
If you find a feel in the cage, you find
a feel in the game, and it's it's about repeating
and and staying you know, staying confident and staying competitive.
But yeah, I think I think just you know, the
back end of a lot of hard work this season
that I'm just going to continue to keep doing well.

Speaker 4 (34:04):
We look forward to seeing you take tark Schooble over
the fence tonight in Detroit.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, let's do it, all right.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
Christian Walker here on Sports Talk seven ninety Astros and
Tigers later on, Christian, thanks for the time, look forward
to doing it again soon.

Speaker 7 (34:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me guys.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
All right, Christian Walker here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
We'll react to some of what he had to say there.
When we wrap up the two o'clock hour next the eight.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
On Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Ninety, do you have the time to listen to me?

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Why?

Speaker 4 (34:37):
And thanks again to Christian Walker Astro's first basement joining
us a last segment. If you missed any or all
of that, we will have it up on the podcast asap.
But I was told about him from somebody I trust
earlier in the year and when he was really going
through it. You know, Christian Walker got here much bally

(34:57):
hooded signing. You know, he was going to be the
answer at first base, and he was going to be
a guy that was going to provide an instant boost
in the offense, and it just didn't go that way
early on. But you know, this person was like, this
guy's super accountable, he's a pro, he's he's you know,
you feel for him when he's going through this because
he is absolutely the type of guy you want in

(35:18):
your clubhouse and on the baseball field. And it's good
to see of late he has been coming around. He
heard the interview right like he's just he is like,
that's a that's a man's man.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
I don't yeah, since July first, his ops is eight
thirty six among currently healthy astros, it's trails only Jose
Al two, then Carlos Korea.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
See, that's what people were hoping would happen with jose
A Braw and he just kept getting worse.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
And when the astro side jose A Brew even though
it was a short season, his sixty games in whatever
year COVID was, I'm bad with years he won the MVP.
He won the MVP in the league. So a sixty
game stretch was deemed more valuable to his White Sox
than any other player in the American League. And a
couple of years later he was an astro. There were

(36:06):
some signs of deterioration with his bats, feed and other
things that maybe they overlooked more than they should have,
and then they rapidly declined once he arrived. But there
was no stretch of games where he produced this. He
hit homers, he ran quickly around the bases in Oakland.
There was a spot here or a postseason home run there.
But we can, at least in year one of Christian Walker,

(36:27):
look at seven weeks of baseball since the beginning of
July and say he's produced for this team. He and
al Tuove have twenty eight RBI, that's the best on
the team. He and al Tuove lead the team for
the season with runs batted in, and they're the two
constants in the lineup that have been at their best
over this period of time. And it also should point
out how Altuve's OPS in that time is nine sixty two,

(36:49):
which is elite. It's among the best in baseball, and
this is while he's mired in a three four twenty
four slump after his bunt hit last night, so he
clearly been hitting the ball very well. Unfortunately, two of
the other players who have that time period truncated due
to injury are guys that you've missed. Peretis isn't coming back,

(37:10):
and he was just the same. He's like the most
consistent player they've had, and obviously he's not playing anymore,
but he was where he was pretty much all year
and his OPS was well over eight hundred is on
base was well over three to fifty most of the
year in the three seventies, and the other players Jake Myers,
he also was pretty consistent, not producing much pop, but
playing elite level fielding in center field and getting on

(37:31):
base because he was hitting three hundred almost for this
team for so so a long period of time. We
talked to Christian at length about not having Jordan Alvarez
in the lineup, but this year we should also be
talking about not having Christian Walker's teammate in center field
all season. Because Jake Myers helped this team win games.
He played good enough baseball, was a big enough contributor

(37:54):
while they were winning a ton of games and getting
to well over five hundred and getting to first place.
I don't think anyone debates it, even someone who might
call the Matt Thomas Show with Ross and said, believe
Wagner stinks and doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame,
or have his number retired by the Astros. I don't
know that anybody else could argue that Jake Myers hasn't
helped this team tremendously in twenty twenty five and has

(38:15):
missed tremendously while he's been out.

Speaker 5 (38:17):
I know there was that happened today.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
If you missed it, if you weren't listening to the
station earlier.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
Yeah, I know that, Like well, you know, Ross is
the Jake Myers president of the fan club. I know that,
you know, even the most I guess positive outlook on
the season. Nobody would have expected what Jake Myers did
before he went down, Like nobody. That's fair, I mean,
and it's been fantastic, and there were times where it

(38:43):
was a good thing he was doing it, and Jeremy
Pania too to a lesser extent, When some of the
other guys in this line, and Christian Walker was one
of them, was they were not performing. They weren't putting
up the numbers that were expected during spring training. So
it just feels like this is one of those years
where if you could just get everything on the same page,

(39:04):
you'd be good to go. I don't know if I
agree with that about the pitching. I mean, you've got
your two horses going the next two nights. I don't
know if it's any more clear at this point than
it was. Like i'd like to think Christian Javier will
be okay, you know, if it's not, if it really
was just an illness thing, which I have no reason
to believe it was anything else, I don't I would

(39:26):
like to think that that's one, two, three, or at
least that's going to be a solid third after those two.
But too many question marks about that kind of performance
of late, and we'll get into all of that as
we continue here on a Tuesday edition of the program.

Speaker 5 (39:39):
When we come back, though.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
I'm going to declare somebody that was at the top
of the draft with CJ.

Speaker 5 (39:44):
Stroud a bust already.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
The ad on Sports Talk seven ninety two lifelong Houston
sports guys named Adam Talking Your Team's Adam Clinton and

(40:09):
Adam Wexler are the A Team.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
Welcome into our number two of the A team, Sports
Talks seven ninety and now our number one on Space
City Home Network simulcast underway.

Speaker 5 (40:30):
We're on for a little bit today.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
I'm on the TV side of things as we get
you ready for yet another Astros on Deck show that's
gonna get under way at four thirty Astros in Detroit.
So time gets bumped up, especially when you've got a
five forty first pitch and look last night, as much
fun as that was, and the game before that and
two games prior to that, it's just been a rough

(40:53):
goal of it late. But we've already had Christian Walker
on the program. If you missed any or all of that,
you can check that out over on the podcast sports
Talk at seven ninety dot com social we'll have it
out there sooner rather than later. But you know, he,
as most baseball players do, especially veterans, he pretty much
downplayed the fact that they're doing this collectively, team wide,

(41:15):
this offense that's just been stuck in the mud, as
that's baseball.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
It was very Craig bigew of him. The only thing
he missed saying on.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Wait till Year from Joe A. Spotta during the Astros
on Deck show, he actually said those two words together
when asked about the malaise that the offense baseball, he did,
he's right, yeah.

Speaker 5 (41:35):
He is.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
But the Astros aren't the best offense in baseball. They're
currently producing like the worst. They aren't the worst offense
in baseball. They currently during this extremely long baseball season
are If I take the numbers from Friday until today,
they're the worst offense in baseball.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
Would have been outscored lately three to five or something
like that. Well that's the other part of it.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
They could have been outscored nine to five and they
would could have lost all they have a win. Yeah,
in this stretch up four games, they won a game, barely,
just barely, But they didn't twelve innings. It took him
twelve innings to score five runs, the last run scoring
when the third baseman decided, rather than keeping that run
from scoring, he would try to turn a double play.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Well, I never thought Baltimore was the smartest team in
the Major.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
I mean, they almost turned a double play, but instead
they threw the ball into not the first baseman's hand.

Speaker 5 (42:24):
You know what. And I'm glad you brought that up.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
And we'll talk about this when we start going over
the highlights from last night.

Speaker 5 (42:29):
And by that I mean low lights.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
I thought, when Spencer Arraghetti got out of that jam
basses loaded with a double play following a strikeout, all right,
he's gonna turn the corner here, We're good to go.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
Two innings later he was getting shelled.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Yeah, four innings into the game, the corner had been turned,
and then the next corner he ran into the wall.

Speaker 5 (42:48):
The frying pan hit him in the face.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
They were they were bad pitches, they were catching too
much of the plate. The Perez at bat was pretty troubling.
Perez hit a ball over the fence with home run distance,
but foul twice, and then straightened it out the third
time for an actual discounts as a run Homer. He
had him dialed up and Spencer and his battery mate
never got unlocked from that. He basically had radar lock

(43:13):
on him like MAV and he was ready to fire,
and he did. Eventually it went over the fence and counted,
and then the succeeding at bats were very similar. Rockets, rockets, rockets,
and then his day was done, just like that.

Speaker 5 (43:24):
Come on, come on, give me tone, give me tone,
give me tone.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
Uh yeah, it wasn't great. It wasn't fun to watch.
So I didn't you did like.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
You could have been Goose also throughout the game yesterday,
describing what was happening. This is not good.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
Well, I thought you were gonna see. I thought you
were going to a much darker place. Offense was Goose
nobody when he hit the canopy in the head on
the and that was it.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
It's more like his kid when he said it's not working.

Speaker 5 (43:51):
I'm sorry, Rooster, that's such a good movie. I hope
three is good, just a little.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
There's no three.

Speaker 5 (43:57):
They're gonna make three.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
There's no Top Gun three.

Speaker 5 (44:00):
They're making it.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
They're not making Not only are they making it, they're
gonna kill Tom Cruise in that one.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
No, they're not.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
Okay, do you want to bet on this?

Speaker 3 (44:07):
I don't. How's pony Jesus go? He's not dying. They
are all the people that were. I know people died
in the movie, but.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
Ice passed well. Ice had cancer, so they need mav
to also pass well. They can't kill Iceman again, he's
already dead. How about nobody. No, he's got to die.
Somebody has to. Somebody dies in every Top Gun movie.
So who died in the first one, Goose? And then
who died in the second one?

Speaker 5 (44:34):
Iceman?

Speaker 3 (44:35):
And now the main character. To ensure they don't make
four No Top Gun four, Well, it.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
Took them like thirty years to make the second one,
So if they make the third.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
One day now, I mean, if they wait another thirty years,
I will agree. There will be a Top Gun within
the next five years. Top Gun three will be released.
It on Top Gun three. When Tom Cruise demanded he
continued to do his own stunts.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
It's not just a I've Gun franchise that he did
that with am I all the time.

Speaker 5 (45:03):
He's like on the side of a mountain.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
They're like, well, he had a small harness and that
was it he wanted.

Speaker 5 (45:07):
To do this? Well, he busted up his ankle, did
the worst one.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Because you know me, I don't fear many things at all,
but I don't like heights.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
You like you need stunt doubles.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
I don't want to be in a tall building if
I'm not filming a movie. What if you're not by
the window? MM when you're at the top of the
Empire State Building and you can feel it swaying in
your inside.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
I've we've only been here a short time in these
new this new building, totally redone, all ready to go.

Speaker 5 (45:33):
We're on the seventh floor.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
I a little birdie told me. We're moving into a
much much taller building. It's thirty seven floors and we've
got the entire thirty seventh floor? Are we and we
have a window in our studio? Are you still coming
to work?

Speaker 6 (45:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (45:46):
I mean I'll do it.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
You know we do have a number that's too many floors. Probably, Hey,
I heard you got it. You got us all set
up on vacation t you got us a hotel room
and everything in this extremely tall, sweet awesome place. What
floor are we on? How can I go?

Speaker 4 (46:01):
So?

Speaker 5 (46:01):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (46:01):
Glad you mentioned that number one. You and I have
done many many shows together at a different location on
the nineteenth floor.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
Yeah, and with no time.

Speaker 4 (46:10):
The power was out, so the elevators didn't work and
I had to climb nineteen flights to get to it.

Speaker 5 (46:15):
Thanks Hurricane whatever. But another time we.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
Were overlooking the highway.

Speaker 4 (46:20):
I could see the Texans Stadium from there, back when
it was called Reliant.

Speaker 5 (46:24):
But okay.

Speaker 4 (46:26):
She got us this room at the Cosmo in Vegas
one time, and she's notorious for getting to the front
desk and saying, hey, do you have any upgrades because
the room isn't ready. Like, she gets there early enough
to where they will definitely tell us the room isn't ready,
and then she'll ask for an upgrade and she'll get
it for way less.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
I don't know how she does it.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
She's like, oh, you don't have right, No, So she
does it. She gets whatever she wants wherever we go,
and I don't ask.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
About hers, just open.

Speaker 4 (46:53):
So we get up there and it's one of those
wraparound suites. It's a nice room, like six people could
have stayed in this place hangover nice.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
Not that nice. It wasn't a tiger either, but.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Like well, Caesar doesn't live there, right.

Speaker 5 (47:07):
I'm not getting a sig im my beeper.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
But like, it was one of those wrap around balconies,
and I went out there like an idiot. You can
see the entire strip and nice, it's very nice, especially
at night. But I did not lean over the side
of the railing. And when we went to the Willis
Tower in Chicago, after I got hit by the car
on the way in, By the way, that's another story
for another time. I was not in good shape taking

(47:29):
a picture in those little plastic boxes they build on
the side of that thing. What a stupid invention, that is.
One thing goes wrong, you don't kind of make it
from up there has nice, the whole box goes down,
You're dead. Has not happened? It will it won't. Well
how long is that building gonna stand there long enough
for that not to happen.

Speaker 5 (47:48):
Well, it's been like one hundred years already.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
The boxes weren't there for one hundred years. Well, all
I know is in us grade too. How much more
money can we get from the tourists who come up here.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
When I see people that go out in those boxes
and they're like hanging upside down, and doing cartwheels and stuff.
I'm like, you idiots when you're like athletes. No they're
not athletes, Yes they are. They're not athletes. They do
a cartwheel and a plastic box.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Top gun three afraid of heights. We get it.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
So here's the deal, Anthony Richardson, total hours, total bust.
You cannot be replaced. It's not just that you're being
replaced as a starter for week one in August. By
the way, they've already got they got to play one
more preseason game. But the Colts are like, screw it,
you're so bad. Daniel Jones is our guys. And that's
the other part of this. You got replaced by Daniel Jones,
who's a cast off from the Giants.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
You suck.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Is this worse or better than being replaced by Joe Flacco,
which also has already happened. I know, but he's got
staying power. At least he's forty. He stinks.

Speaker 7 (48:46):
I know.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
He's hilarious. Man, there's so much good sound from Joe Flacco.
He's he is absolutely like that Tiger Woods sound bite. Yes,
of course, for the way he delivers the information and
it's hilarious for how he is as a football player,
like the the it's good to be confident and cocky
and sure of yourself. And I'm playing in the NFL,

(49:08):
and Philip Rivers was, but givin Philip Rivers was good
at playing quarterback.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
It was also the exact opposite personality of Joe fla.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Oh man, this is so much fun, isn't good? And
he walks around the last six years as a backup
like he shouldn't be a backup. I don't want to
be a backup. I shouldn't be a backup. I'm not
here just to collect a check. I want to go
play football. I want to be on the field. That's great,
but have you watched when you're on the field, and
he's the player that Shane Steiken said, we got to
give the ball to this guy. You know, you tapped out,

(49:37):
you're off the field, you've been hurt. It's not going well.
We're going with Joe. And then Shane went back to
Anthony last year. This isn't college football where you can
get away with well, we're going to extend the competition
into the season and after we're done with Illinois, Wesleyan
and Northeast Side Central College of mechanics. We get to

(49:58):
our our legitimate conference games, we'll have an answer by then,
and we'll elevate this guy to the start. And then
the first game matters. When you're the Colts, when you
start two or three or four, and you in the NFL,
even in camp, certainly during the season, guess how much
work the backup quarterback gets in practice? Almost none when

(50:22):
the season starts, and as you gear up for the season,
where twenty some odd practice is in for some teams
into training camp, Well, you'd like the true number one,
the guy that's gonna start the opener, the guy that's
gonna start the path towards the top of the draft
for you to get more of the reps with the
ones instead of splitting them like they have and splitting

(50:44):
their gameplay like they obviously have. And even saying that
Richardson briefly got hurt again, Yeah, well that's what he does.
But listen to this, an unbelievable and unnecessary hit, not
to his blind side.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
I ain't Steichen. I think the guy's talking about Daniel Jones.
I think the guys have taken to him. He's a
great communicator with the guys. You can see that veteran
presence out there. So I'm excited for that, and then
asked if it was a permanent move. He's our starting
quarterback for the season. I don't want to have a
quick leash on that. I feel confident in his abilities. Boy,
was I wrong about Anthony Richardson, and so were a

(51:22):
lot of other people, apparently, including the Colts. Yep, Daniel Jones,
that's two strict That's why Gary sign for the text.
It's why they signed him. They signed him to beat
him out.

Speaker 5 (51:33):
That has happened.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
They signed him to compete with him and beat him out,
and that is what has happened. So the Colts will
start the year and if all goes well, complete the
year with Daniel Jones starting a quarterback for this AFC
South juggernaut.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
The aed on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Yeah, that's a good point, wex. We both made Christian
Walker laugh. Not everybody can do that.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
I did have a little hesitation at the onset of
the interview about immediately firing away with a joke, which
is what I did.

Speaker 5 (52:11):
Hey, so you got shut out again last night? Did
you trip? Did you follow what happened?

Speaker 3 (52:15):
Not like that, but you know the Wagner number retirement.

Speaker 5 (52:20):
Some guys.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
My favorite is when we have one of these Astros
players and they've all been great, all of them have
been good dudes, but when they don't quite hear the
first ques. Actually, it happens a lot. He was locked in,
he was like, oh, yeah, I wanted to, you know.
It was a really good moment for both of us.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
I do think it was probably pretty interesting for a
player with less history with this team to be a
part of all that and every weekend that they've had
since the onset of inducting people associated with the organization,
the majority of which are players but not all into
the Astros Hall of Fame, it's been great. I think
the team has done a fantastic job with that over
the years. This one's a little bit different, obviously, like

(52:57):
when Bigio and Bagwell went to the Hall of Fame
to have Billy Wagoner there for the Hall of Fame
to have his plaque there, which is very rare for
the Hall to do that and have people able to
see it take pictures with. It's one of the big
reasons why so many fans love going to Cooper's Town
because such is such a unique experience. And how that
was brought to Houston. And I would also add I

(53:17):
think both of us felt similarly, and I think lots
of people who have been with this franchise in whatever
fashion basically fans for ten, twenty, thirty, forty years. You know,
the winning is great, the parades are great. They're few
and far between or maybe never, but when things like
that happen, and when you recollect your time growing up

(53:40):
or being an adult with your kid, when Billy Wagner
was doing his thing, or Bigio or Bagwell or any
number of Astros or certainly for another generation twenty years
from now whose kids grew up during the golden era
of Astros Baseball, what they did this past weekend. And
we heard it in the booth on the radio side
with Robert and Steve, We saw it in the booth
with Esch and Blum on the TV side. It's awesome

(54:03):
and you can feel it with everybody that's involved. You
can feel it with the broadcasters who are involved with
this team, and see it in Blum's case and that
he played for this team, in Esh's case, that he's
been with this team for so many years, and he
from a Space City Home Network side along with Josh
Marshall and Max and many others.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
They went to Cooperstown.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
They talked to his parents, they talked to his family,
they got all the footage they put together the Journey
to Cooperstown Special, and it was awesome. If you didn't
catch it Sunday or Monday, it is on again today.
It's why you're a fan. Even I'm watching all of
these things, the games and the special thinking that very
same thing. And they carried the the jersey retirement, the

(54:44):
thirteen right next to the seven. If you didn't immediately
know that was going to happen, certainly when you saw
it seven to one to three next to each other
up in the rafters with Vigio seven and the Sunshine
Kids pen next to thirteen, it's all there. And it's
why you're fan sports. It's why you're fans of baseball
more than any other in this regard. And you know,

(55:05):
I felt it. I've been here my whole life basically,
and I think so many others did as well. It's
cool to have that as a franchise, as your team,
to have things like that, to have moments like that,
and to care about something like that. The winning is
also nice. The last eight years have been awesome and
I hope for more of it this year. But you
don't have to have that only to have Well, here's

(55:27):
why I love the Astros, Here's why I love whatever team.
You have to have these things, and they have it.

Speaker 4 (55:32):
Do you think if they retire Carlos Correa's jersey and
then like ten years fifteen years from now, they can
retire Bryce matthews jersey, they could put them side by
side so we could get two eight one.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Well, twenty eight this year was issued to Bryce Matthews
and he's a Houstonian. He took it from last year's
twenty eight. John Singleton and Carlos Correa reassumed his old jersey.
Wants it, he wants it to be retired, and I
think there's a really good chance he will be. Yeah,
but it's it's gonna be one number off. There's gonna

(56:03):
be two seven to one in the rafters, not two
eight one.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
Well, they could give al Tuovey his own spot, because
he's the best astro of all time already.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
Yeah, they're both running out of room. Al Twovey's clearly
not gonna be worn by anybody else, and it is interesting,
and I'm glad I brought it up. Like I mean,
Christian Walker took it from another player the thirteen. He
didn't take it from Billy Wagner. He took it from
Cooper Hummel. And I think the Astros recognized the way
things had gone and we're going because by the way,

(56:31):
the Astros are very involved in a player of theirs,
like many franchises are, who's could be inducted or deserves
more consideration, or they need to help inform the voters
about the player that they could be voting on. So
I think they had a pretty good feeling about this number.
Maybe shouldn't be on the backs of any of our
current players ever again, because this is the year he's

(56:53):
going in.

Speaker 5 (56:53):
You know what I hate about all this? Who's the
next guy to go in for the Astros.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
It's obvious and it's not jose.

Speaker 4 (57:00):
Don't what you said. I was just gonna get you
to read that. But it should be another guy first,
and it's not gonna.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
Be in the actual Hall of Fame.

Speaker 4 (57:08):
No, it should be a guy who's not there that
should be got Lance Berkman. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I
don't think he's gonna get in, and I think it's crap.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Well, he's definitely not getting in the conventional way because
that was no longer available to him after he got
such a paltry vote total. But if Ave Parker gets
in the way, he got in, and Dick Allen gets
in the way, he got in very well deserved in
both of their cases. And I think Berkman had a
better career than both of him, not just for his
era a bit, just in general and for his era.

(57:36):
And I think that is there is a real real
chance that that is how he gets into the Hall.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
You would have told me when he was playing here.
Forget what happened after going to Saint Louis. That was
just that hurt for.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
A couple of teams.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
You don't play for the stupid Yankees too, anyone else
played for the dumb.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
A case for Lance to get in as he wrapped
up his major league career in New York, Saint Louis
and Arlington. The Yankees are currently pretending to be a rival,
even though they can't beat Houston. The Cardinals were Berkman's
and the Astros rival at the time.

Speaker 5 (58:13):
From going to the World Series a year prior to
the one he went to.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
And obviously the Rangers during this Golden era did almost
nothing except prevent the Astros from going back to the
World Series again and then winning on their own. What
a stupid flucu. That's how Lance finished things up. So
if you missed it on the A Team today on
August nineteenth, twenty twenty five, around three twenties twenty ish
Adam Clanton wants you to get behind him as he

(58:39):
starts to work on the petition the grassroots Movement to
get Texas Ranger, New York Yankee and Satan Louis Cardinal
great Lance Berkman into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
You hear that Freudian slip guys, he said, Satan Lewis,
I heard it.

Speaker 5 (58:53):
That's what he called them.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
His Astros career was just awesome.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
So is his Saint Louis career. I mean, go back
and look at the year.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
The whole season career. It was one year there was very.

Speaker 5 (59:03):
Good, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (59:04):
Like Albert Pooholes had thirty seven home runs that year
that they won the World Series over the Rangers. Uh,
and he had thirty one. He was really coo like
he was really good. And it wasn't just oh he
hit home runs, because as we know, big Puma, he
was five tool, I was speedy on the base paths.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Yeah, but man like it.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
I really do think, and I think you're right later
on that type of vote can get him in.

Speaker 5 (59:27):
But I hate the fact.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
But I wonder if they if he gets into the
Hall of Fame, did the Astros then retire his jersey
they should already retires Church Well, I think so too,
but since we need nudges these days, apparently.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
I think that's a possibility. And it just so you
know that year you're talking about in Saint Louis thirty
one Homers in the regular season had a very good postseason.
They played the Rangers seven games necessary to win the
World Series for Saint Louis. They won the last two games,
which obviously means they were at the end of Game six,
they were trailing three games to two and got back

(01:00:04):
home in won games six and seven. And his performance
in those two games he went four for eight, he
scored six runs, He didn't strike out at all in
those two games that they won to clinch the Cardinals
World Series.

Speaker 4 (01:00:17):
So when the lights were the brightest, he was the
most clutch. What did Albert Poohols do? I don't know exactly. No,
I just and I think it'll happen, but I would
hate that. Like if Billy Wagner didn't go into the
Hall of Fame, do you think they retire his jersey here?

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
I mean, it's pretty easy to say no, because why
they It's already wasn't retired.

Speaker 5 (01:00:39):
Right And that's situation right now.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
It's I mean, it's not like the other sports, and
I think that's very individualized for this particular sport, in
this particular team. If you compare him to those that
are there, he fits in both of those two players,
Wagner and Lance, no question about. Not at the level
of Bagwell and Visio. Probably at a comparable astro's level

(01:01:02):
to Nolan Ryan. But Nolan Ryan's one of the all
time greatest baseball players whose career was so much more
than just his time in Houston. But as an astro,
very very good, but no more good with Houston than
say Lance or Billy. And then you keep going further
down the list and you could easily argue that their
respective astro's careers were better than many of those who

(01:01:23):
are those who have their number retired, like Mike Scott,
magical nineteen eighty six season and some of the greatest
moments this franchise will ever have.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
The Mets wanted no part of him.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
The Mets wanted no part of him, and neither would
anybody else have. And they would have gotten it had
they gotten too a Game seven, which he and they
would have won. But it was such a short period
of time of excellence, very short period of time of care.

Speaker 5 (01:01:44):
A few scuffing baseballs, Go scuff your own balls, like.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
The recent issues in Major League Baseball that were all
pinned to Houston. Undoubtedly the only pitcher in the majors
at the time that was scuffing baseball's was my Scott.

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
And so your entire team was on drugs.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Mets fan, there are Hall of famers who aren't noted
ball doctorers like gay Lord.

Speaker 4 (01:02:09):
Perry would be careful saying that ball doctors say doctor balls,
then they pitch with them.

Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
When we come back, we've.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
Got trouble in Cincinnati and trouble in Chicago. Plus Greg
Olsen is going to finally verbalize what a lot of
us have been thinking about.

Speaker 5 (01:02:28):
NFL executives for a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
The a te on Sports Talk seven ninety all right.

Speaker 5 (01:02:41):
I'll get you a choice.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
I'll take a second.

Speaker 5 (01:02:44):
No, I haven't told you what order.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Okay, go ahead. Which Midwest city would you like to
go to?

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
First? Chicago or Cincinnati?

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
I mean, if it's me and the family, I would
want to go to Chicago more than I would want
to go to Cincinnati. I've been to both. It's yes,
I guess if you want me to.

Speaker 5 (01:03:01):
Don't mean you've got something against the Queen City.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
I don't have anything against it, but you're asking me
to comp them. We'll take the city that's better first.
That's Chicago.

Speaker 4 (01:03:09):
All right, let's go to Chicago, where Kyle Tucker has
been given days off to rest as part of trying
to get him out of this epic slump. As it's
been called an epic slump.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
It's accurate, it is large, and it's visibly frustrating the
former Astros right fielder. They were to play two games yesterday.
The second of the two games was rained out, so
that'll turn into today's work. Cubs are actually winning without
him today over the Milwaukee Brewers, and they'll get the
nighttime portion of that started in a couple of hours.
But he is in an extended, frustrating, awful slump. Days off, well,

(01:03:52):
the Cubs don't have any days off this week, and
like I said, they're playing two games today. Maybe it'll
just be games off and they can all make it
happen in just one day. But I wouldn't want him
missing too, even though he's hitting very poorly. By the way,
he's not alone. The all world, can do no wrong,

(01:04:12):
can do everything well. Pete crow Armstrong also mired in
an extended slump during roughly the exact same five to
six week period as Kyle Tucker talk about a persona
I don't like. Why come on, man, PCA, what's wrong
with them?

Speaker 5 (01:04:29):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:04:30):
Total del de bravo. Everything about him screams that they
are perfectly synced up to make the playoffs in the
National League. But as they play the Brewers, they have
just blown past the Cubs, who sat in first place
for a good chunk of the season. Obviously most of
their team was playing a little bit better then.

Speaker 5 (01:04:50):
Than playing better then.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
Yeah, he had a great start to the season when
I had predicted that he finished top five in MVP
in the Mayor National League this year, his first year there.
I felt pretty good about that about ten twelve weeks
into the season. Pretty sure he will not finish top five.
No matter how he finishes the season.

Speaker 4 (01:05:07):
He's too good a player for it to not click.
He's going to get hot again, hopefully it's a torrid
hot streak like it was in April. I got news
for you. He fades, He just does, and it's not
I mean, he did this last year before he got hurt.
He was killing it and then his knee got killed,

(01:05:30):
and then he came back, and it just what I mean.
But the postseason alone, the postseasons of Kyle Tucker's career
here in Houston, lend itself to just like Jed Hoyer
was the one that was saying that the Cub's president
of baseball Operations. I don't think he's going to get
torrid hot like it was in April this year.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
I don't either. Last twenty seven games for Kyle hitting
one seventy six ohps under six hundred, only has one homer,
only three extra base hits. He still walks somehow, He's
walking more now. He walked a lot last year. That
was kind of the first sign of him being a
little bit different at the plate, and he's walking even
more this year, has more walks than hits during this
time period. It's pretty much the only way he's getting

(01:06:09):
on base. It's okay, he's he is doing this, and
there's plenty of time for him to right the ship.
There's thirty plus games left and there's pro season. Either
of those things could have plenty of suitors saying no problem.
The several hundred million dollar offer is just as it
was going to be. I wonder if there are some

(01:06:31):
other teams who are already hesitant to do so, would
just take themselves out of it, thinking this is the player.
We're gonna pay this player more than anybody else on
our roster. We're gonna pay this player to be the player.
At some point, when you're making that kind of money,
you probably do need to be the leader of the team,
or very close to it, a vocal leader, or just
a how you go about your business worker, a leader

(01:06:53):
like Altuve. And if this performance makes you think this
is how he is and the things you were talking
about from his astro's career, if you believe that, and
there are some numbers that absolutely back that up, that's
got to make GMS and subsequently owners pause. I would think, pause,
all right, you want to go to Cincinnati, Let's go
to Cincinnati. Well, this is a completely different situation and

(01:07:15):
a different league. But Trey Hendrickson, he is dug his
heels in. This is not a all right, he's holding in.

Speaker 5 (01:07:25):
That's exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
I this, this might not, this might not happen.

Speaker 5 (01:07:32):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
I don't know if it's gonna get to like the
Michael Micah Parsons situation where he's just like, all right,
I want to trade.

Speaker 5 (01:07:39):
By the way, you still think that's happening.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
Well, that's why we were certainly at this point, what's
going to happen? Trey Henderson gets traded. Most likely to
happen Trey Henderson gets traded from the Bengals, Michael Parsons
gets traded for the cow from the Cowboys, or neither.
And then the fourth asking is, Okay, what is it
that they're doing this season? They are both under contract,

(01:08:02):
they are holding in as they don't want to play
out the final year of their contract fifth year option
on a rookie deal for Parsons and the most recently
signed extension for Hendrickson, and they're at the facility. They're
not practicing with the team, but they're there obviously. The
Bengals played the last game of preseason Week two last night.

(01:08:22):
Most of the story about the game was not Hendrickson,
but rather, why are they putting Joe Burrow behind that
offensive line in the preseason when they don't have to.
They have to during the regular season, they don't have
to during the preseason. I don't think Jerry Jones will
trade Micah Parsons. I wouldn't say the same thing about
the Bengals owner. I think it's most likely of those

(01:08:44):
three that I just said, Hendrickson does in fact get traded.

Speaker 5 (01:08:47):
Why aren't they traded for each other?

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
That'd be fun, But then you're in the same boat. No,
I don't want to pay Trey Henderson, but I will
pay Michah Parsons. I don't want to pay Mike Cah Parsons,
but I will pay trade And it's not gonna work.

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
It is.

Speaker 4 (01:09:00):
So he's set to make sixteen million this season. I
don't know how much Micah Parsons is set to make.
I feel like it's more than that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
It would be he would most likely be in one
fware in other words, the biggest guarantee or the biggest
AAV or the biggest total amount of cash or the
biggest contract in general, with how many other edges recently
have re inked, like TJ. Watt, there's a pretty clear
place where he would need to be, and that would

(01:09:27):
be at the very.

Speaker 5 (01:09:27):
Top of it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:28):
He turns thirty one this fall. How old is different?
How old is Micah Parsons twenty five?

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:09:35):
Oh, that's right, he's way younger.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Uh, double check, but I believe it's twenty five.

Speaker 5 (01:09:39):
That definitely curtails the trade idea.

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
Well, it's just it makes it makes little sense. He
turned twenty six a couple months ago.

Speaker 5 (01:09:45):
Okay, he's way younger than I thought he was. I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
He's only in his fifth SEA. This is to be
his fifth season, and he's been awesome from moment one.
Trey Hendrickson will turn thirty during this upcoming season as
he plays thirty one as he plays ninth NFL season
if he plays, he's also for the last four years
for both of them eight Pro Bowls combined, they've both

(01:10:09):
been awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:10:10):
Is Le'Veon Bell the only guy who really saw it
through and subsequently just his career createred after that.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
It's a pretty good case study. And don't do that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:18):
I can't think of anybody else that actually like saw
it through the whole season. He set out the whole year.
It just these guys, they always end up playing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
It's the better, it's the answer. You can potentially get
your way.

Speaker 4 (01:10:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
James Cook is just running back to running back. He
went to Buffalo and held out briefly, then held in briefly,
and then got his money.

Speaker 5 (01:10:39):
We shall see.

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
It's gonna be interesting on both these cases with Kyle
Tucker and Hendrickson, and also to see what Jarah does
there in Arlington with Michael Parsons. All right, we'll take
a quick time out when we come back. We are
both well, all three of us are huge fans of
Greg Olsen, even though he got demoted for Tom Brady.
But what he does on broadcast is fantastic. What he

(01:11:01):
said about what he found out from researching for broadcasts
is even more interesting.

Speaker 5 (01:11:07):
We'll let you hear that when we come back.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:11:19):
All right, we are pro Greg Olsen here on the show.
As the NFL season rapidly approaches, we are well into
the preseason, before you know what the games will count,
and before you know that after that, you're gonna have
Fox broadcasts in which Greg Olsen's not.

Speaker 5 (01:11:35):
On the A team anymore. Not good.

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
I'd love to get him on the A team at
some point, But I bet you we could. I'm sure
we could.

Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
I bet you'd tell you what.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
I bet you'd be easier to get Greg Olsen on
the show than Tom Brady.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
Yep, even though Tom Brady is the A team.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
Well, greg Olsen is mainly known for how good he
is as an analyst, and you know what about football
well after his playing career.

Speaker 5 (01:11:59):
IM talking about broadcaster now.

Speaker 4 (01:12:02):
I mean because there are guys that can they can
deliver well in his role, but they don't particularly say
anything of note. And then there's guys that don't say
anything and they don't deliver well, and they're called Tony Romo.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
Right, He's he is smart about one thing.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
They can't knowse his coworker's name, So how can he
possibly get taken off that broadcast team unless they hire
another person named Jim.

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
Well, it's good, it's a good career play. They I
gotta work with him, man, because he's the only name
I know.

Speaker 4 (01:12:34):
Fifty times during a broadcast. That's job security. Yes, smart,
I don't get it. Genius.

Speaker 5 (01:12:39):
I'm gonna need this explained.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
He's he's creating a partnership, like, hey man, it's a team. Well,
Jim doesn't seem to want to be partners. He keeps
doing games with him. He doesn't go to management and say,
hey man, what can you do for me?

Speaker 4 (01:12:51):
I bet you if Jim nance went to the network
and said I want another guy, they'd be like, sure,
he hasn't.

Speaker 5 (01:12:57):
Hey friends, Hello friends.

Speaker 3 (01:12:59):
That's what's going to make said.

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
He hasn't said that. He clearly he likes him. Hello friends,
He's not one of them. Get him out beat it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
He's fine, all right.

Speaker 4 (01:13:08):
So Greg Olsen just really really good in depth knowledge.
And that's ironic here because he sat down for one
of those podcasts. I'm not gonna I just can't think
of the name thrying out with John milcough there is Uh.
He's very candid about pretty much everything. I mean, he
was very candid about how he felt about Tom Brady

(01:13:28):
in that whole situation. He didn't have any problems about,
you know, voicing his displeasure about being supplanted. But he
this is what surprised me. When you sit down for
these pregame meetings, pre it's i mean pretty much meeting
production meetings.

Speaker 5 (01:13:43):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:13:44):
When you sit down for those kinds of things, you're
getting inside information that I'm sure some of these people
that are giving you the information know is going to
make its way to the airwaves in some ways.

Speaker 5 (01:13:56):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:13:57):
But there's other situations where I don't know that Greg
Olsen's going to be sitting down with the same people
again anytime soon, because he basically threw a lot or
at least some NFL executives various roles under the bus
by basically saying they make stuff up, they don't know
what they're doing. If you don't believe me, listen to
the SoundBite.

Speaker 6 (01:14:19):
The coolest part of the process is the insight into
how a lot of these teams work, just organizationally, both
through structure, through communication, through processes, do what they have
in place of how they evaluate talent and how they
roster construct and how they do the draft. And you know,
when you sit down and you talk to general managers
in front office personnel and they really give you a

(01:14:40):
clear vision of why we've done certain decisions over the
last two or three years to get to this point.
It's an unbelievable insight and process into how much time
and thought is put into why certain teams are really good.
And then you talk to other teams and you get
off and you're like, these guys have no idea what
they're doing, and it's no wonder they're not good. Like
there's countless times a year where I up off of
some coaches conference meeting and I'm like, I get why

(01:15:03):
Sean McVay wins a lot, I get why Kevin O'Connell
wins a lot, And there's a million guys. And then
you also get off some other calls and you're like,
they have no clue that there's make up, Like they're just,
they're just and it's it's amazing at the NFL level,
but that's real. So that's the most interesting part. And
then from a schematic standpoint, just keeping up to date
with the trends and the ebbs and flows of professional football.

(01:15:26):
It's very different than college football. It's very different than
NFL football. When I first came into the league in
two thousand and seven.

Speaker 4 (01:15:33):
You noticed he didn't name names when he was named
on the bad side. Man, I wonder who they are.

Speaker 3 (01:15:40):
Well, I wonder who they are. But this is obvious
to everybody. He just happened to be talking about it.
So he said, do we not think this already? Yeah,
we think this all the time. We say it all
the time. This team is clueless. This coach is in
over his head, This GM is making mistake after a
mistake after mistake. It's awesome that they're in this division

(01:16:00):
for that other team because they're going to keep winning
because that team doesn't get it. And we say it
about owners all the time. He said it because he's
one of them. We say it from a little bit
different perspective because we're not saying it after we've had
a conversation with him. That's worse because he's he's a
football player to hear this, and he's a football analyst,
and he's talking to the people inside the organization, a

(01:16:20):
coach at GM, whomever it is, and he's listening to
them thinking, dude, I've been there and you are clueless.
It's even worse than me saying it, even though I
think it's true. But who who I mean? I'm a
little I'm not surprised with the names he mentioned. I'm
amazed at how much people love Kevin O'Connell already. Like
he's very new to coaching NFL coaching period, and certainly

(01:16:43):
head coaching. He's just a couple of years in. He's
coming off of a great year. He had a great
year in his first year, and I agree, I think
he's very good. But rising up the light, there's thirty
two jobs and he's talking about him like he's one
of the best out there. He could have said a number.
I'm sure there's probably another five he could have easily
rattled off on the positive side, gets off the phone
with Mike Tomlin, Demiko Ryans whomever, and thinks Sean McVay

(01:17:07):
he mentioned McNay. Yeah, And then I do think we
could probably guess educated guess who the other ones are
because they're so they're gonna get fired soon. They do
things where like you're that's not a winning program. You're
putting together the personnel you have a side. You may
not be coaching a strong team talent wise, but the

(01:17:28):
things you're doing make it look like you wouldn't win
with better players. You're not run through a wall. Guy
if that's what you believe schematic Well, see Cleveland's not
like that. I think Kevin Stefanski is regarded as a
decent he wouldn't. I don't know they'd be in the
top eight, but I doubt, very seriously he'd be in
the bottom door about if he's talking. But again, I

(01:17:48):
don't think Andrew Berry is a bad general manager. But
I think both Stefanski and Andrew Berry are hamstrung by
the person that is both of their bosses. Do you
think the owner of the team, jim and likes to
throw under the bus his wife.

Speaker 5 (01:18:03):
D Well, she's part of it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:06):
Yeah, I'm sure she has a lot to do with
why this team is making awful decisions. She probably was
beating the table for it. Yes, we absolutely need to
give the first ever guaranteed contract to a quarterback, and
it has to be Deshaun Watson. Jimmy, what do you think?
Because that's what I think. I'm sure that's how that went.

Speaker 4 (01:18:21):
Was she not standing right there when he gave that
awfully tone deaf press conference?

Speaker 3 (01:18:25):
She was there. You don't think she was just being
Someone was saying she was anti or pro, but I
don't think she was the owner who was the driving
force behind some of the absolutely ridiculous things they've done.
And yet there are times when he presents it like, yeah,
the two of us this and the two of us
that night. I get it. Come on, man, I wonder
what he thinks about the Colts.

Speaker 5 (01:18:44):
I wonder if he thinks that about.

Speaker 3 (01:18:46):
Well, you said something a couple segments ago about Anthony Richardson.
You said I was wrong about it. And so we're
a bunch of people, including the Colts. It's Chris Ballard.
He's one of the people I was just talking about.
And they haven't been a miserable franchise during the Texans
run the last ten years where they won the division
title six times. But man, in my opinion, is it
good that the Ursays now as a family, keep Chris

(01:19:09):
Ballard as GM. He has made so many egregious mistakes
that some of the good selections they've made, good trades
they've made, the talent they brought in, it doesn't even matter,
because this whole career is not awful. But man, this
guy makes a lot of bad decisions. It's great for
the rest of the AFC South. Fantastic for the rest
of the AFC South. He's preventing them from competing with
the best teams of the AFC South all this time

(01:19:31):
as general manager, and they still don't have a quarterback
since Andrew Luck left. They're still they're starting Daniel Jones.
It's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:19:40):
I know, I love it. I'm very happy about this
upcoming season for that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
For that, like the Titans quarterback might be bad, but
eventually they said, I mean, we won as much as
we could with Ryan Tannehill and then we top drafted
Will Levison quickly turned two years later, turned the page
and had the number one pick and didn't hesitate for
a second taking cam Ward. There's a plan, there's a hope.
And in the Jags case, I mean I kind of
like their GM, not just for the soundbites he'll provide,

(01:20:05):
but for the team he's putting together. But Trevor Lawrence
is at least trying. They're trying to win and they're
not going to It's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:20:14):
It's awesome. That's two out of three in the Titans
or the other team. All right, we will break it
right here. We'll come right back four o'clock hour. Next
Astros on deck at the bottom of this upcoming hour.

Speaker 2 (01:20:26):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:20:28):
Ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam talking your Team.
So Adam Clinton and Adam Whitefler are the eighteen.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
Four o'clock here on the A Team half hour of
this half hour of Astros on Deck, part of this
hour's worth of programming, and not long after the Astros
and Tigers will get together again. Season series was tied
up last night with the Tigers victory. They just eked
out a ten to nothing went over the Astros last night.
Astros had taken two out of three from Detroit in
their opening series of the season back in April, and

(01:21:10):
still have the opportunity to do that here. But now
they must win the game tonight with Hunter Brown starting,
and win the game tomorrow with fromber Valdez starting. Had
a conversation with Christian Walker earlier on the program, well
here a little bit of that during the Astros on
Deck show. Talked quite a bit about a couple of
different things that are of obvious great interest to the Astros.
The return of Jordan Alvarez, who's been in the dugout

(01:21:32):
quite a bit, been with the team quite a bit,
but has not played since May third tonight's expected to
be in the lineup for the Corpus Christy Hooks six
thirty five, first pitch. They're at Waterburger Field for their
game against Frisco, and hopefully the next couple of days
we'll give him an opportunity to say, yep, I am
ready to be in joe a spot as lineup. We'll

(01:21:53):
have the lineup for you tonight, a left hander on
the mound, so a little bit more of a right
handed lean for what Joe is sending out there. And
obviously the Astros will be in and out of Detroit
by tomorrow late afternoon, just about the time the Texans
are getting into Detroit, have a joint practice with the
Detroit Lions on Thursday. Tomorrow, they have a brief practice

(01:22:16):
here in Houston before leaving. The two teams will obviously
then get together Saturday afternoon for the final preseason game.
I do not expect the starters to play. I do
expect the starters to play Thursday for the joint practice,
and that will be the work necessary, especially since they
got work done. Talk to a bunch of the veteran players,

(01:22:36):
elite level players, Nico Collins, daneil Hunter, obviously CJ. Stroud
was at the podium and a lot about was this necessary?
Did you get what you wanted out of it? You know,
I think we've seen what they need to see from
those players in a game scenario, and we won't see
them on Saturday. Somebody else we won't see on Saturday.
And we didn't get into this whole lot yesterday was

(01:22:58):
John Metchi was made official today by both the Eagles
and the Texans couple of late round pick swaps and
Harrison Bryant tight end comes to Houston. He's been on
the practice field both yesterday and today as an additional
option at tight end, likely battling with IRV Smith for
the veteran tight end spot that should be available behind
Cad Stover and Dalton Schultz. Luke Leche the drafted rookie

(01:23:22):
out of Iowa. Maybe they think they can pass him
through waivers and get it back on the practice squad
as a twenty twenty five late round draft pick, but
they might not, and so they might also roster all
four of them. But John Metchi was sent to the
Philadelphia Eagles three years in Houston one year clearly was
unable to be played with his diagnosis. Coming back from

(01:23:44):
that was very difficult in and of itself, just from
a physical nature and being away from the game for
as long as he was also something difficult to do
his last two seasons on the field, knowing he was
in a position battle going into camp this year, they
had signed Braxton Barrios, they had signed Justin Watson, and
then they drafted two more wide receivers and Jayden Higgins
and Jalen Nol, both of whom are obviously ahead of

(01:24:07):
him on the depth chart from just a roster standpoint.
They're making the roster. They also signed Christian Kirk to
go with Nico Collins as a tremendous amount of competition,
a tremendous amount of depth, and they traded for a
position of weakness tight end from a position of strength
wide receiver.

Speaker 4 (01:24:26):
That was what got my attention, the tight end acquisition,
not that it's gonna it just felt like depth to me.

Speaker 3 (01:24:34):
Well, they need somebody else that knows what they're doing
at tight end because Brevin Jordan is unavailable. I don't
mean to demean Luke Lache, but I don't think they
envisioned him as their third tight end On game day.

Speaker 5 (01:24:44):
Didn't you predict Mets you would be traded well.

Speaker 3 (01:24:47):
I thought it made a lot of sense if you
felt like you were getting what you wanted from those
first two free agents. You signed Watson and Burrios, and
they're not either of them guaranteed to make the team.
In my opinion, they have a top five. I mentioned
the four of them already. Xavier Hutchinson, like Nico Collins,
is at least a holdover from last year's group, and
now he's been here for a couple of seasons. I
think he's on the team. I think he's made the team.

(01:25:08):
I think they want him on the team, not only that,
they want him on the field when and if the
situations with different groups and combinations, I think he'll find
himself on the field. And I think he's made enough
of an impact as a special team option for them
that they don't feel like they're hurting numbers in Frank's
Ross's position with who they need up on game day.
So those are your first five, and if Braxton Barrios

(01:25:30):
is your number one punt returner and possibly your number
one or two kick returner, I still think that maybe
Tremont Smith, but he's got to make the team then,
and he needs to be active because by being your
punt returner, it prevents you from putting Jalen Knowle or
Christian Kirk back there. Not that they both can't do
it or can't do it well, but if they're a

(01:25:51):
bigger part of your offensive game plan, you usually like
to protect those players from being in that situation. And
in Justin Watson's case, I just think it's a different
type of player. I don't think John metchi Is is
similar to him. I don't think he's similar to a
lot of the other guys that they have, And it's
probably more about the Eagles saying we need the depth
fix on our end, and you need the depth fix

(01:26:13):
on your end. Irv Smith is a guy that's here.
He's just don't I don't know how else to say.
He's just the guy he was. That's why he was
available last year. He got on the field for the
Texans last year. He's known more as a blocker than
a receiver. Had a nice game this past weekend catching passes,
but they didn't I don't think they just wanted to
automatically put him on the team, and he had some

(01:26:33):
practice time missed with a minor finger injury. But this
is why Harrison brian is here. Harrison Bryant's been on
the field as a reserve tight end all five years
he's been in the NFL. He signed a free agent
deal with the Eagles, not knowing that they would bring
Dallas Goddard back, not for sure where Grant Calcata would
fit in. They actually he was in a numbers game there.

(01:26:55):
Big tight end probably can help on special teams, which
the Texans are also losing with Brevin Jordan not being
out there. Frank Ross had some awesome stuff to say
about how important to the unit that Brevin Jordan. He
called him a unicorn for what he can do. Basically
a tight end and a linebacker's body who can tackle
and do all the things you'd want the guy to do.

(01:27:15):
They're missing that. But Briant, even in a short two
week window, he has a real chance. They traded for
him for a reason. He has a real chance to
make the original fifty three.

Speaker 4 (01:27:26):
It's probably one of the more intriguing parts of this
offense that doesn't have to do with the offensive line,
is well a really the weapons that CJ has and
you mentioned or I mentioned you talking about Mechi maybe
being the odd man out.

Speaker 5 (01:27:41):
I don't really remember exactly how you phrased it.

Speaker 4 (01:27:43):
But when you're bringing in those guys, and you're drafting
two guys that play that position, I don't want to
say the riding was on the wall, but you knew
at the very very least there was going to be
a competition, and I don't know, maybe that's why he
I thought he was. I actually thought he showed some
flashes last year.

Speaker 3 (01:28:00):
I think he's shown flashes a bunch of different times.
I think he's had trouble shaking a huge negative for
a wide receiver size hands.

Speaker 5 (01:28:08):
Oh well, I was god. I thought you're gonna say
the size.

Speaker 3 (01:28:10):
Is not ideal, but it's not a detriment. He's bigger
than Braxon Barrios. He's the same size as a Christian Kirk.
He's bigger than Jalen Knowle. He's fine. Well, everybody can
be well, right, He's not a true number one, a
true exa true Nico or Jayden. Which that's the thing.
It's not just they drafted two young kids. They drafted
these players that are just so ideal for well, the
NFL and obviously for what Nick Cayley's offense is it

(01:28:33):
was a numbers game, but I don't think he has
shown the greatest hands, And as a wide receiver, that's
that's tough to overcome the trust factor with your quarterback,
your coaches, and everybody else. He'll get an opportunity to
do that with a fresh late in Philadelphia for a
very good team with a little bit different needs from

(01:28:54):
their wide receivers with how they use their personnel groups
and how heavy they are in the run game, but
they need they needed help at wide receiver. Which of
the guys behind their top wide receivers are probably a
bunch of guys hardly anybody.

Speaker 4 (01:29:07):
Knows we're sitting in here first of February, or you know,
whenever after the super Bowl's over, whenever that may be,
whenever the Texans season may be over, more importantly.

Speaker 3 (01:29:17):
The super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:29:17):
Yeah, hopefully, hopefully. Which of the two rookie wide receivers
made the biggest impact.

Speaker 3 (01:29:23):
I that's a great question because I think what Higgins
is is a big play number one and what nol
is is a clear slot receiver. But in their first
season in this offense, with where they might be asked
to play, how often they're asked to play, but more importantly,
how often their quarterback looks their way. I'll answer the

(01:29:44):
question easily. If Davis Mills was the Texans quarterback, the
answer is easily. Jalen Nole, no question about it. He
throws to the slot receiver non stop. He's throwing every
pass in practice. It seems like to Burios and Nol
and nobody else. And clearly they're getting a lot more reps.
So a little bit to do with it. But I
think in this offense you may see the value of

(01:30:05):
and I think they got additional value from both of
their new slots Christian Kirk and Knowl in that they're
diverse enup, they can stretch the field. I mean, if
you recalled last year when Noel or when Kirk got hurt,
he was on a deep down the field, right over
the middle of the field, deep rout he landed on
his collarbone. He has a big play deep threat talent

(01:30:28):
at the NFL level, and I think we're gonna see
the same thing with Jalen Knowl. Higgins is just I mean,
we didn't even talk about the catch he made in
last week's last Saturday's game, phenomenal route running. He set
the dB up brilliantly, and the throw required him to
make a dive and grab. He went out and got
it with his hands and so quickly pulled it into
his body to secure the catch. It was veteran type stuff.

(01:30:50):
I mean, I don't want to go crazy, I don't
want to jump overboard yet, but I could not like
their two rookie wide receivers more having seen all the
work that been able to see out at training camp. Obviously,
I saw plenty of them at a Hiowa State, but
I'm way more impressed seeing them here than I was
watching them on television.

Speaker 5 (01:31:10):
Yeah, well I would hope.

Speaker 4 (01:31:11):
So I'm seeing as al they did it on the
college level, but they're gonna have to do that here.
But I just hope CJ has enough time to find them.

Speaker 3 (01:31:19):
I think the offense is geared towards the possibility that
he won't, which is why they got to looking so
bad last year, because it never was. They just said,
here's what we're running. We don't have an alternative. We're
not adjusting to the fact that they're getting to us.
We're not adjusting to the fact that everything exotic they do.
We miss CJ. You need three and a half seconds

(01:31:41):
to go through your progressions, but you're gonna get hit
one second into your drop back. They just never adjusted
to it, And it wasn't all on CJ. And so
much less of the offense was put into his hands.
So much more of the offensive decision making pre snap
is in his hands this year. And even what you
saw in the two drives they had against Carolina the weekend,

(01:32:01):
those were he had protection, which was great, but he
also wasn't just hanging out back there waiting for his
second read to go through and then his third receiver
to create space. He was dropping. Look, look, throw. That's
something you want, regardless of if your offensive line can
hold steady or not.

Speaker 4 (01:32:21):
All right, when we come back, we got one more
segment of the show before we get into Astros on Deck.

Speaker 5 (01:32:27):
We will continue on the other side, the.

Speaker 1 (01:32:31):
A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:32:44):
It is the A Team Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:32:48):
Right around the corner, we will have all sorts of
goodies for you.

Speaker 5 (01:32:51):
In the Astros on Deck show.

Speaker 4 (01:32:52):
You'll hear from Christian Walker here from show Espata, and
we'll get you ready for what we hope will be
a you know what, I'll just be happy if.

Speaker 5 (01:33:01):
They score tonight. That's where I'm at right.

Speaker 3 (01:33:03):
Now, again for the at least the third time this afternoon.
Different reasons. Man, that bar is low. I just hope
they score tonight. I mean, that's how bad it's been
the last handful of days. Shut out in three of
their last four games. So you could say it like this,
provided the Astros have scored in their last four games,

(01:33:23):
chog it up to a win. All they had to
do was score and they win the game they scored
on Saturday. That equals a win. The only way they
can lose over the last four games is if they
don't score any runs. Once they get the first one,
it's over win. Yeah, I Tark schools good. He hasn't
been unbelievable recently. I mean he's still been very good,

(01:33:45):
but far from untouchable. But they're losing to Jamokes in
near perfect games lately. This is true, so he didn't
need to be like perfect. That kind of goes back
to the like, what's he going to do that hasn't
already been done to them? Like every budd's done that
to them the last four games, So what difference does
it make if they're facing an ace. They've hit aces before.

(01:34:06):
Who did they beat when they won two of three
games against Boston? They hammered Garrett Crochet.

Speaker 5 (01:34:12):
Yeah, night.

Speaker 4 (01:34:14):
But that's why last night I'm like, well, they're playing
a good team, so we're gonna get the real Astros.

Speaker 3 (01:34:19):
No, the current real Astros did show up. Unfortunately, they
currently are in a tailspin.

Speaker 4 (01:34:24):
I just felt like they would play up to their
competition like they've done, whether it be up or down,
all season long, and that didn't happen last night.

Speaker 3 (01:34:32):
So no, it didn't happen last night. We'll get into,
obviously a whole lot more Astros discussion. We're about to
hit the Astros on deck show a couple other things
as the Texan set sail for their final couple of
days of meaningful preseason action, the joint practice and then
the game itself. Essentially it will be in game mode
after that, and the first game is rapidly approaching, coming

(01:34:53):
up on the seventh. A lot of roster decisions still
to be made. We still have not seen Joe Mixon
come off the NFI list. They still have five players
remaining on the pup list, including Trent Brown, who easily
could be in the competition as a reserve tackle, and
obviously Jimmy Ward, if healthy or had no legal issues,
he would be on the field potentially as a first

(01:35:14):
teamer with the Houston Texas. It's at the safety position
vacated by the currently injured CJ. Gardner, Johnson, Damian Pearson
Christian Harris both returned to practice the fact that they
both practice today doesn't tell me the answer for sure,
but it wouldn't shock me if they saw activity on
Thursday against the Detroit Lions. I actually think it's going
to happen in Pierce's case for sure, And I'm just

(01:35:36):
wondering if there's still a plan that they just have
and want to stick to for Christian Harris. I'm sure
they're fine with Christian Harris not facing any opponent competition
between now and September seventh, and having him be active
in play a significant role against the Rams, But if
they're also comfortable with the plan that's already in place
and it already included likely being healthy at this point
in time, which he is and participated as such. Today.

(01:35:58):
He had a play today that quite obviously was so
well drawn up the Texans offensive line, they just didn't
see what was coming. They actually had three edges on
the field at this particular juncture and two linebackers, Harris
being one of them. And when he ran to kind
of blitz, he wasn't standing on the line at the snap,
and it wasn't really a delayed blitz. He just waited

(01:36:20):
for the massive hole to open and he ran right
through it and then basically stopped at CJ's feet so
as not to tackle him. But the play was blown
dead and it was an obvious sack, and it was
very well designed. And there are things that he does
that they don't have other linebackers that do. And there
are three linebackers that will all play together. There will

(01:36:43):
be times where all three of them are on the
field together. And I do think there are times where
any one of the three Henry Toatoa as he's al
Shaier and Christian Harris, any one of the three could
be on the sidelines. I don't have to figure out
exactly how important that is with the green dot, the
so called quarterback of the defense. But nonetheless, I think
for whatever they needed to do medically, because I did

(01:37:03):
have somebody one day last week or maybe earlier this week,
I said Christian Harris is out here, but he's not
practicing whatever their plan was. And someone responded on my
post on X to Christian Harris is the yord On
Alvarez of the Astros or of the Texans, and that
whatever this calf injury is, my gosh, is taking forever.

(01:37:27):
But they're not playing games. They're not trying to get
him healthy for August seventh or July twelfth. They're trying
to get him healthy for September seventh, and then they
can keep him healthy through January whatever. Very very different
situation on an in season injury and multiple of them
for both of them, and an off season recovery plan.

(01:37:50):
He also didn't. He hasn't. He hasn't gotten hurt recently.
He's just trying to come back from that particular injury.
Probably the most fun play of the day over at
practice today, probably less fun for coach Vasso. In the secondary,
Davis Mills was throwing a ball down the left side
of the field and he had overthrown Braxton Barrios and
the ball was actually Barrios was not even as far

(01:38:13):
along as the dB that was in coverage, so Barrios
intentionally ran into him and the official threw the flag
for defensive pass interference and Vasso, who was on our
side of the field this play took place on the
far side. He was about five feet away from us,
and he just let out on what the because he
knew the call was probably right and it was a smart,

(01:38:35):
savvy veteran wide receiver move that all of us when
you're rooting for the team watching on TV, A fan
of the team that got the defensive pass interference called
You're like, do you that is so weak that it's
smart if it's for you?

Speaker 4 (01:38:50):
And it sucks and you're like, this is stupid gaming
the officials. And you know he wasn't gonna catch up
balls nowhere near him.

Speaker 3 (01:38:57):
I mean, could he have maybe, But he also created
all the contacts.

Speaker 5 (01:39:02):
Man, that's the SGA way.

Speaker 4 (01:39:04):
That's the uh I guess in baseball, it's more about
framing to game the officials.

Speaker 3 (01:39:11):
There's not a lot of things where when and if
we have Wednesday's bs going and or maybe you know,
ain't nobody got time for that? That probably is a
better fit. These pitches that are so bad, why are
you framing them five feet away from where you caught it?
Like moving it up from the bottom of the zone

(01:39:33):
to from the outside the zone to the bottom of
the plate to just inside the zone. That's framing a
pitch that's a little lift as soon as you catch
it right into the zone. But these balls that are
about to hit the dirt that you reach down to
catch and then pull up above your eyes like a
literal three to four foot pull up, right. Come on, man,

(01:39:54):
get out of here with this nonsense. We bring on
the robo umps.

Speaker 5 (01:39:59):
You sound like Lawrence Butler. Did you see what he said?

Speaker 3 (01:40:02):
What did West Sacramento Athletic Lawrence Butler have to say.

Speaker 4 (01:40:06):
I'm fed up with the umpires. I've had enough with
the umpires. They missed too many calls both ways. They
call strikes, balls, ball strikes. I want the challenge system
three per game, just like they do it in Triple A.
If you look at Triple A, the umpires are a
little bit more cautious of what pitches they call because
they know a pitcher or hitter might challenge it and

(01:40:27):
it might embarrass them, so they might be a little
bit more cautious to pull that trigger. I feel like
up here they don't give a bleep. I love Lawrence
Butler for saying that.

Speaker 3 (01:40:39):
They're in a position to carry that attitude because there's
no recourse. You yell at them, you're ejected, you disagree
with them, and don't get ejected, then you're liable to
see an even worse call the next time you're at
the plate. There's no recourse. The obviously the same word
could be used, accountability, And I think he's right, and
I think the league would be very very concerned, or

(01:41:02):
the umpires Union would be very very concerned about any
challenge system that allows you to keep your challenges when
you are correct. Because that evening after the game, we're
going to say that was an all time record in challenges.
The Athletics just challenged the home played umpire on a
ball strikes call, and because they got it right nine times,

(01:41:23):
there was a tenth and eleventh and twelfth challenge in
the game. That's an awful and clear look at a
night of bat officiating if that happens. So if we say, oh,
you can have three challenges, you can get them right,
that's great, but there you use them, then you lose them.
So then oh, well, this umpire was only wrong the
three times. No, we were only able to challenge how

(01:41:43):
wrong he was three times?

Speaker 4 (01:41:45):
Yeah, plus umpire auditor or whatever says otherwise.

Speaker 5 (01:41:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:41:49):
By the way, the bat thrower in the minor leagues
for the Seattle Mariners or in this case, Tacoma Rainiers
vi ten game suspension with which he is offering I appeal.
He's appealing the suspension.

Speaker 5 (01:42:01):
Yeah, who get it knocked down to five?

Speaker 3 (01:42:04):
We'll see.

Speaker 4 (01:42:05):
By the way, tomorrow on the show, I already have
my favorite story of the day that's sort of it's
sports related, but it has nothing to do with sports.

Speaker 3 (01:42:14):
How Hunter Brown announced his presence with authority into the
American League sy Young race.

Speaker 4 (01:42:19):
Well, that would be awesome, but that's not what I
had in mind. It involves drinking enough red bull to
kill a small elephant.

Speaker 3 (01:42:25):
Did you already line up a guest? Nope? Did you
line up Nebraska corn Huskers offensive coordinator for tomorrow's show?

Speaker 5 (01:42:31):
Nope?

Speaker 3 (01:42:32):
I know who that is. I know you know I'm
talking about it.

Speaker 5 (01:42:34):
I can't. I can't say it. I want to. People
have to tune in tomorrow later.

Speaker 3 (01:42:38):
We've done some road shows here not too long ago,
at college football stadiums before their games here in Houston,
and uh when they did. Cougar Walkie walked right by
with the red Bull in his hands a couple of
years back. It's not him, it's not Dana Holderson. Okay, no, no, no, no,
it's not Dana. I know I'm poking fun at the
whole red bull imbibing that Dana is notorious for.

Speaker 4 (01:42:59):
Well, you have to wait tomorrow because right now, straight ahead,
it's the Astros on Deck Show, next

Speaker 2 (01:43:07):
The Ad on Sports Talk seven ninety