Astros Take Game 1, Diesel Tonight, NFL Begins with Pats-Seahawks, Texans-Bills

Wednesday on The Dan Mathews Show, Dan and Josh reacted to the Astros’ win over the Phillies, looked ahead to Wednesday’s matchup with Hunter Brown on the hill, shared some insight on the Texans’ upcoming clash with the Bills, and much more. Plus, the guys shared their thoughts on the NFL season getting underway with the Seahawks taking on the Patriots.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Dan Matthews Show.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Lefty is set. Hands below the belt. The kick and
the one-two. And Schwarber skies this one. Right side of
the infield. Allen, a step into the outfield. Grass makes
the catch. And that is the ball game. The Houston
Astros take game one in Philadelphia. Beating the Phillies 6-5.

(00:27):
Haters scoreless streak ends today. But his perfect save streak
remains intact. Boy, all is well that ends well, right?
And with that, we say away we go.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Good morning. Welcome on in. It is the Dan Matthews
Show Sports Talk 790. I mean, as I said last
night on the 10th inning show, it's not even words.
It is only a reaction that you have whenever you
kind of skate by something or you escape a real
big pickle.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
And that is.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
I mean, that really was the reaction you had last
night to the Astros. As they hold on, beat the Phillies,
Robert Ford just giving you the final score right there.
They take the opener of this series and massive win
for the Astros that, of course, as the show goes
along this morning, we will get into because, well, it's
not every day that you face one of the best
pitchers in baseball, and it's not every day that you

(01:21):
have one of the best pitchers in baseball, which Josh Jordan,
I got to see what the over-under is for the
run total tonight. Like, I've got to believe it's probably
like five and a half. Because that, at least on
the surface, seems like what it should be. But then again,
I mean, how many times do we say this about
the Astros? One of the weirdest teams in Major League Baseball,
where I remembered a couple of years ago, they were

(01:43):
in a pretty crucial series against the Red Sox. And
we see Garrett Crochet is pitching and we're like, oh man,
this is going to be tough. And they get to
crochet for like five runs in the second inning. So
it's just like, okay. They seem to be able to
get after the guys that look like they're going to
be tough to get after. And then it's the guy
like last night. If you had told me Andrew Painter

(02:05):
went seven innings, giving up two runs, and he was, what,
three and eight with a 5.55 ERA, I would have
been like, yeah, that tracks.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
That tracks.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
That's usually the way it goes. But they were able
to get after him last night. Four runs there in
the second.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
We love that.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Shout out Christian Walker. I mean, same deal with him.
Dalton Varshow, too, as well. He was my player of
the game on the 10th inning show. And for good reason.
Three hits out of him last night, including the double
that got that four-run second inning going. And you were
able to do all of this last night offensively with
both Jeremy Pena and Jordan Alvarez going to combine one

(02:43):
for 10. That's good company to be in. And, oh,
by the way, Josh Jordan, I mean, we've been all
over Christian Walker. We've been all over Dalton Varshow. To
an extent, same deal, Yiner Diaz. Cam Smith, another guy, too,
as well, that gets it done with the long ball
and running through a stop sign at third base, which,

(03:03):
how about that? Tony Paraschika right there. Oh, lock on
right there at third, Cam Smith says.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Now I'm good, man. I got the wheels.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was proud of him.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I feel the need, the need for speed. I mean,
he was totally maverick right there. You know, son, your
attitude is writing checks your mouth can't cash. I mean,
that's the thing. I feel like, you know, you got
to have the guy that played Strickland right there. What
are your plans next, son? I'm thinking of becoming an instructor.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Top Gun, God help us. I love that guy. Same
guy from Back to the Future.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
No, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
He was Strickland. I can't remember what his name was
in Top Gun. I'm sure somebody will remind me on Twitter.
The guy smoking the cigar.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
No, that was always him. Ten minutes. This thing's going
to be over within two minutes. Get on it. He
was really good at being a ball buster.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
I mean, the same deal as the guy that plays
the principal in breakfast club, like they were both the
eighties ball busters.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
That's, that's what their roles were.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Like it was whenever they were casting movies and they're like,
you know, Hey, we need somebody that's just a real, just,
you know, chops buster. And they were like, Oh dude,
either this guy or that guy, the same guy that
was the principal was also a deputy Dwayne T.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
Marshall.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
In Die Hard. Oh, yeah, that's right. He's the one
that gets punched by the wife. He could be a bartender.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
James Tolkien is the name of the actor from Back
to the Future and from the other one you were
just talking about.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
That's him, James Tolkien. He's one of those that guys,
Top Gun.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
You recognize him, but nobody really knows his name.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well, it's like the guy that played Eddie Harris in
Major League. Anytime you see him in a movie, you're like,
I know that guy, but I don't know his name.
He was the ultimate that. Best line, though, in Die Hard,
I think we're going to need some new FBI guys. Oh, man,
it's so great.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
What he tells him he gets BF'd in front of
the whole world is pretty good. Well, I mean, yeah,
that was John McClain, you know, dropping that on him.

Speaker 6 (05:04):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, where, you know, either you're part of the solution
or you're part of the problem. Quit being part of
the problem. He had some good lines in that. But anyway,
I mean, the bottom of the order last night was
part of your solution. So, I mean, you appreciate that.
Because like I said, I mean, three hits out of
Dalton Varshow, two apiece out of Yiner Diaz and both
Christian Walker. And then you also get that home run

(05:26):
out of Cam Smith. So eight of your 11 hits
last night, courtesy of the six, seven, eight, nine guys
in the bottom of your order. Love to see it.
Love to see it. And then I didn't even throw
Taylor Trammell in there. So actually it was nine of
your 11 hits.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
We're legit.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
You're five, six, seven, eight, nine right there. five six
seven eight sound like i'm uh you know maybe that's
maybe that's what we call it you know find out
some sort of choreography for them all right boys here
we go from the top five six seven eight whatever works.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
Dad it you know it's funny you made that point
about crochet and you know christian walker getting the home
run off of garrett cole and then he shows up
in a big spot last night And they certainly needed it.
But he has a way of coming through in big
situations lately.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Well, and you definitely need him to come through in
a lot larger situations because, I mean, it just it's
the thing.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
I mean, it's that time of the year.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
And as we talked about all morning yesterday and even
into the afternoon, which, of course, we come your way
every single weekday morning into afternoon right here on the
Dan Matthews show. is that you're in postseason baseball. I mean,
that felt like postseason baseball last night. And a little
bit later on in this hour, there's somebody out there
that's a believer in these Strohs.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
And of course, one of.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
The first responses is from an Astros fan to said
person who voiced that they believe in the Astros. And
of course, you know, the pessimism about this team. And
the biggest reason was with a spot of managing. Josh,
what have I told you? What is my rule now?
You can criticize Joe Espada. That's fine. I need specifics.

(07:04):
I don't like the way he handles the bullpen. All right,
try again. I asked you for specifics. No, that's exactly it.
Because you have a first place ball club and they're
not the best. Nobody's asking them to be the best.
We're just asking them to get into the postseason. That's
what we're asking this team to be able to do.
And you get into the postseason. I say it all
the time. You got a shot. And last night, too,

(07:27):
I mean, in addition to the bottom of the order,
getting it done, Hayden Wisniewski. I mean, it seems like
right now you see Hayden Wisniewski in the rotation and
you're like, all right, it's going to be a good one.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
I mean, with Peter Lambert.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Kind of tailing off just a little bit here in
the last month or so, which is to be expected because,
I mean, he's thrown career high in innings. So, I mean,
you can understand that. But Wisniewski able to come through.
And have you been able to get that character from
Deadpool 2 that I asked you about before the show
of the really fortunate character that seemingly like whenever like

(08:01):
death was approaching, like they were somehow able to avoid it.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
That's AJ Blue Ball.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Like that was AJ Blue Ball to a tee there
in that seventh inning because you get those runners on
and you're just thinking to yourself at a minimum, at
a minimum, the Phillies are tying this ball game up.
But thank you, Jeremy Pena. for a nice play right
there up the middle. And also, thank you, Bennett Sousa.

(08:27):
I mean, a huge spot to come into and be
able to get that strikeout and get out of that inning.
And then, of course, Brian Abreu. I mean, he's got
to put his customary runner on base. And he put
a couple of guys on base because then he hit
the next guy and gets.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
A huge strikeout of Alec Bohm.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
Massive 98 miles per hour several times less he's.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Been gassing it he's been absolutely ramping it up here
these last few weeks and we love to see that
out of him and then i mean if we're gonna
say that about aj blue ball we gotta say say
the same thing about josh hater i mean that was
one of those that you give up the lead off
hit and you're kind of like okay you know he's
kind of done that and then mundo sosa able to
get on with the double and bring that run home.

(09:10):
And you're just like, this is going to be how
it's going to go tonight, huh? Like when he hasn't
blown a save all year, this is when it happens.
And I mean, able to get a fly out, don't
move the runner, another fly out, same deal there. Then
he's able to take third with the final hitter up,
Kyle Schwarber, which of course at that point, the whole
thought is, hey, we're just going to get an out.

(09:32):
And If we can just get the hitter out, then
that's massive. And sure enough, you just heard from the
final call, Josh Hader able to get that. So great
win for the Strohs. I mean, you want to be
able to start the road trip off on a high note.
That's exactly a high note. And I mean, it was
encouraging last night, especially from those guys at the bottom
end of the order.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Because here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
I'm not thinking that we're going to continue to see
combined one for tens out of Jeremy Pena and Jordan Alva.
Am I expecting them every single night to get two
or three hits a game? No, but you would like
to see them kind of get back on track. There's
no question about that. And you're not even wearing an
O for five last night. Still a lot of loud outs.
I mean, the first one he had takes the outfielder

(10:17):
all the way to the wall. I mean, nearly riding
one out for a 1-0 lead. And then he had
a couple of other hard hit outs in that game.
But still, I mean, by Jordan's standards, again, by Jordan's standards,
he's in a little bit of a funk. And you'd
like to see him be able to find his way
out of it because with said funk, he's now down

(10:40):
to 311 on the year, at least with the batting average.
But the OPS still well above 1,000. And yes, in
the month of September, he's now hitting 200. So he
was hitting 250 before last night. So do the math
on how it's gone. Five hits and 25 at bats.
That's how this month has gone so far for Jordan Alvarez.

(11:01):
But five walks in there, too.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Triple crown slipping away a little bit.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
You'd like to see him be able to get a
stranglehold on that.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
You really would.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
And, oh, by the way, too, I know that both
on deck and the 10th inning show, we give you
the pregame and then postgame AOS standings. Well, the Rangers
handled the Mariners last night, and now the Mariners are
seven games back of you. So, I mean, little by little,
It's depending on how you want to look at it.
Do you want the Mariners to be completely out of

(11:30):
this thing? Because I almost would maintain then if you
are in a closely contested race, they're entering the final
week of the season and you go to Seattle, oh,
they're still going to get up for those games because
they would love nothing more than to keep you from
being able to reach your postseason goals. They have a
seething hatred of this organization. Like, it's just there's no

(11:52):
question about it.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
They do.

Speaker 6 (11:53):
So.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
You'd like to be able to head into that series
with things kind of leveled out, things kind of figured out.
I mean, again, I personally would like, especially with a
seven-game lead, I'd like for the Mariners to be able
to win these next two games and for the Astros
to at least get one of those games because then
you could keep them at pretty good arm's length six

(12:16):
games back as you enter into the final two weeks
of the season, but also to be able to gain
a game on the Rangers. So, That's why it would
be really, really nice for the Strohs to at least
get one more of these in Philadelphia and then go
to Tampa. If you got two out of three in Tampa,
backflips heading into that Monday off day.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Backflips.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Absolute backflips. If you go four and two in this stretch,
that's massive. Last night, you've given yourself that opportunity to
be able to do exactly that.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
You got Hunter Brown tonight. I know that's a nice
pitching matchup, but Just nice to see some other guys
come through in the order. Jeremy Pena, not a great night,
but he did have a double. So at least contributing,
got a big hit there. And then his defense really
kind of Saved your butt at the end. We talked
about this with Blue Ball. It was that White Sox
series where he had the guy on third base, and
he makes the dumb base running decision, and Blue Ball

(13:08):
ends up getting out of it. And then again last night,
lucky to have that double play from Pena. So Blue
Ball's living right. He is on the right side of
things because he keeps having very fortunate luck in those situations.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
All right, so I don't know what Vegas knows, but
the over-under tonight with Christopher Sanchez against Hunter Brown, Is
nine and a half, according to FanDuel.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
Seems high.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
And the Phillies are an overwhelming favorite. Minus 245. So,
I mean, if you feel like taking some value, I mean,
the Astros run line plus one and a half are
minus 106. And then money line, they're plus 200. So,
you know, totally up to you. Plus 110 for over

(13:53):
nine and a half.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Maybe they're believing that the Strohs can be able to
put up some runs against Sanchez. I mean, I haven't
seen how he's been in his last few starts, but again,
he's 16-5 with a 2.58 ERA. Very much tracking to
be in the running for the National League Cy Young
this year.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
So you're facing a really good one. There is no
question about that.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
And we'll see if the Astros are up to the
task tonight because, yeah, Sanchez in his last few starts.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Oh, good.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
In his last five starts, he's gone no less than
six innings in any of those starts. Six, six, six
and two-thirds, seven and six.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Good.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
What are the year-end runs in those, you ask?

Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, his high watermark in those five starts has been
four in a start against the St.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Louis Cardinals. So you're saying there's a chance.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, you're right. It's three year-end runs in his last start,
zero in the one before that, but that was against
the Angels, and then he gave up four against the Cardinals.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
And three against the Braves, too, in a start that
he took a loss in. So you'd like to be
able to hand him his second straight loss. He hasn't
lost very many back-to-back games this year. As a matter
of fact, just looking at his game log, he hasn't
lost a single back-to-back start this year. No time like
the present to be the first. And that's exactly what
the Astros are trying to be tonight. But, of course,

(15:13):
the Astros conversation going to dominate the topics of the day.
Of course, got a lot of Texans. And, oh, by
the way, not to bury the lead here, but we
got NFL football tonight, boys and girls. We got the
Seahawks and the Patriots firing up the season. And a
little bit later on in the show, as a matter
of fact, Josh, Jordan, and everybody out there, we're going

(15:33):
to hit you with the look at the shield. Season
outlook coming your way. See, because we talked about this
before the show. We could do the AFC South. Who
wins the AFC South?

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Texans, Texans. You know, I mean, it's just to a
certain point it kind of gets repetitive. It's rinse and repeat.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
So, I mean, I just, I kind of feel like,
you know, if nothing else, maybe like a audio version
of a preview magazine, you know, it's not street and Smith's,
which I don't even know street and Smith's is still around.
It's not supporting news or anybody like that. It's Dan
Matthews and Josh Jordan kind of hitting you with that.
So we'll be chopping up some of the NFL at large,
looking at the shield at 1145, Joshua van UFC fighter

(16:10):
going to be calling in and joining us at one o'clock.
Of course, He trains here in Houston at 4 Ounce
with Jeremy and the crew over there. So he's going
to be hopping in, talking some mixed martial arts with us.
Looking forward to that and looking forward to you as
well at 713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Again, it's 713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I've used two words to talk about the Astros in
the last few months of this season. And those two
words are, come into play with this particular Astro. We'll
talk about it as we're getting going on a Wednesday
edition of the Dan Matthews Show here on your home

(16:47):
of the Astros and the Rockets. Sports Talk 790. As
we keep it going with the Strohs winning last night,
6-5 over the Phillies. Back at it again later on
this afternoon. 4.30, Astros on deck. Get you set for
a really good.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
One on the mound.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
You're going to have Hunter Brown taking on Christopher Sanchez. And,
of course, we'll have that for you right here, Sports
Talk 790. You get NFL football tonight. Seahawks, Patriots firing
up the NFL season. And then, of course, the Texans
back on the practice field to get ready for the
Bills on Sunday, a little bit later on in the show, too. Apparently,
the water carrying is already happening with Bills fans up

(17:28):
there for last year's loss to the Texans, kind of
coping with it a little bit and kind of trying
to use that as their point of why this time
around is going to be so different.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
So.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Anyway, we can talk about that a little bit later on.
And like I said, 1145, look at the shield. Of course,
getting ready for the NFL season.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
It's not going to.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Be the go division by division. Oh, you know, this
team wins. That team wins. Who's your MVP? Oh, this
guy's my MVP. It's not going to be anything like that.
It's just going to be a full-on conversation, even throwing
out some scenarios, too. So Joshua Jordan is going to
be driving the bus on that. And then, oh, by
the way, too, we got another pair of Astros tickets
to give away today. Look forward to doing that with

(18:07):
you because got the early Astros game tomorrow. So I
figured with the truncated show that probably want to be
able to hit you with those when we got to the.
Full crew going. And then, of course, we'll give away
another pair on Friday as well. So you got that
to look forward to. We hope that you can join
us for our listener appreciation night over at Dyken Park.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Again, it's 713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
I've been using the two words Josh Jordan in the
audience right now, especially when it comes to the Astros
pitching rotation, because for the longest time, the guy that
had right now attached to his name, was peter lambert
right now your best pitcher that is not named hunter
brown is hayden was nesky and i'm not saying anything

(18:56):
you don't know but was nesky last night i mean
it seems like that whenever he takes the mound it
is almost expected that he's going to go into the
sixth inning he will get into a little bit of
trouble and most of his starts not named last night
he will surrender a walk or two but didn't give
up a walk, struck out three, incredibly economical over those

(19:17):
six innings, scattering five hits. And he does have that
sixth inning where he gives up a two-run homer to
Trey Turner as part of it. But aside from that,
he was incredibly efficient and incredibly good for you. Right now,
he's your second best pitcher in this pitching rotation. And
if the postseason were to start today, and at the

(19:38):
moment you are in the wildcard round, Again, I say
that that first game matters so much in terms of
how you would lay out the rest of your pitching staff,
because if you're able to go out there and you're
able to get a win with Hunter Brown the next
game I think I would go Peter Lambert I would
go Lambert and I understand that he's not going to
get me deep into the game but the expectation at

(20:00):
that point would be that Brown can give you six
maybe even get you into the seventh there that would
be the hope And then you're able to kind of
set your bullpen up that way. You're not overly taxing guys.
Hopefully if that were the case, if like, say he
really were getting after it and giving you a seven innings,
then he'd go a Bray you and hater and head
to game two. So in that case, I would want

(20:21):
to reserve a guy that I know is going to
give me an opportunity to win a game for a
potential game three, because that's one of those that I
understand it's when the game that's in front of you,
nobody understands that like I do. But whenever you have
a lead in a series and it's not a desperation moment,
there's no need to try to chase it at that point.

(20:43):
And I understand that you're not guaranteed to win that game.
You're not guaranteed to win the third game. You could
kind of have this thing bookend on you and lose
both of them and you lose that series.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
I understand.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
But two at the same time, I think that probably
if you got into a five game series right now,
I'm going Hayden Wisniewski number two. That's my guy to
be able to back up my best in my rotation
to give me a really good chance to be able
to win a series.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
I don't see how you see it otherwise. He's been fantastic.
And the thing with Lambert, it's not like it's a
big fall off there. So I completely understand the logic
and Ever since the first start or two from Wes Neskey,
I was just like, just looks a little bit different,
a little more velo since the TJ. I mean, that sweeper,
he calls it a slider, is just nasty, but he
also has the cutter and the changeup. He's got so

(21:33):
many good pitches. The sinker can run in on guys.
I love having pitchers that have that many tools in
their bag. Well, it's not only that he's got a
lot of tools in his bag. I mean, it's also,
I mean, with that sweeper that you just talked about,
he can also throw it for strikes.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
He can effectively use it. He's not using it to
hit batters. I mean, that's why Kyway Dung is no
longer part of this team. I heard Adam and Adam
talking about this yesterday, and I liked Wex's example of
Kyway Dung kind of has the Lance McCullers Jr. issue where, yeah,
he's got a lot of movement, but because of said movement,
he cannot throw strikes at times. And that's what he's

(22:07):
run into. But Wisniewski, last night, throwing strikes. He was
able to find the strike zone. 82 pitches. Guess how
many of those were for strikes? I mean, you want
to talk about economical, how about 75% of those pitches
are in the strike zone?

Speaker 6 (22:22):
Amazing.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Astros still have that propensity, though, to get two strikes
on a guy and then hit him in the foot.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
See, here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
And maybe we can carry this over, because I think
that I might have cracked the code on why that's
an issue for this team this year, the 0-2s. As
a matter of fact, let's do that because I think
I understand what's being taught and what's being executed upon
when it comes to that. And in addition to that,

(22:49):
you got somebody out there that while some of you
are not optimistic about this team, well, somebody in particular
is optimistic about these Astros. heading into the postseason and
being able to do some damage. Share that with you
also as well. As we continue the Astros conversation, you
want to get in 713-212-5790. Again, it's 713-212-5790. As we

(23:11):
keep it rolling here on a Wednesday, it is the
Dan Matthews Show Sports Talk 790. Dan Matthews Show, hanging
out with you here on a Wednesday. Again, UFC fighter
Joshua Vann, Houston guy, going to join us a little
bit later on the show, 1 o'clock. He will be
hopping into the program. And then, of course, we'll continue
getting you ready for Texans Bills on Sunday. Got NFL

(23:33):
football tonight with the Seahawks and Patriots firing up the
NFL season. And Strohs trying to make two straight wins
up there in Philadelphia. It's going to be a tough task, though.
You got Christopher Sanchez going for the Phils, 2.58 ERA.
He's very good, 16-5. But then you got a really
good one going for you, Hunter Brown. And of course,

(23:54):
trying to be able to get the Astros at least
a series win up there in Philly with the getaway
day coming up tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Again, 713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
So in addition to talking about somebody who is a
massive believer in the Astros, which we'll get to here
in just a second. So Josh, we were talking about
the two strike issues that Astros pitchers have been having.
And I, like most people, have been Incredibly frustrated with
the O2 base hit given up where it's just like, dude,

(24:26):
you got them O2.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Like, what's the rush here? Speaking specifically to.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
That, I think that it is a thought that, look,
we've got to attack the strike zone. I mean, we're
not good enough being able to consistently hit the strike
zone this year that whenever you've got an opportunity to
be in the zone, be in the zone. And we
can live with giving up a hit. We can live
with whatever happens because of that, because we don't want

(24:54):
to get into the habits of, oh, hey, we can
just waste a pitch right here. Because again, like I've said,
I mean, that's been an issue for this team. So
that's what I think you're running into. And then I
think that probably the hit batsman is a little bit
of where you can run into trying to be too
perfect with your pitches. So then a sweeper, for example,

(25:14):
to a left-handed hitter, you might yank it a little bit.
And if you do that, that backdoor slider, whatever it is,
it's going to back foot them and they take their base.
Exactly like what we saw with Kyway dung. That's what
I think you're running into. That's why I think you've
seen at times problems being able to put hitters away.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
No, that makes total sense. We saw that last night,
the bottom of the eighth where a Bray, you had
two strikes on a rise and he hit him with
that slider too. Um, it, it, it checks out that
they're trying to be aggressive and they have led the
league and walk. So we can't, we can't be mad
at him for trying to strike guys out, but it's
just frustrating too. I think last night hater had two
strikes on, on one of the batters and threw him

(25:53):
a pretty hittable fastball that got crushed. But you hate
to second guess these guys on fastball versus breaking ball
because it's, it's real easy to be wrong. No, it is.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
And I mean, you know, with a guy like hater,
I mean, there's certain guys that I'm not going to
try to micromanage and he's one of them. I mean, I, I, I,
you know, weird way last night was kind of like, okay,
he blows this save here. I'm kind of curious because
I was doing the 10th inning show.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
What are these calls going to be?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
I mean, is somebody who are going to really get
on Joe a spot of, ah, Josh Hader, you've used
him so much. It's like, It's the ninth inning. You
have a two-run lead, and you had an off day
the day before. When's he supposed to use his closer? Yeah,
when should I use him then, if not now? I
was going to say, I mean, do we check with
you first before putting him into the ballgame? I mean,
you know, now that I know the expectations, I'll make

(26:42):
sure to do that. But, I mean, all's well that
ends well. Like I said, I mean, he gets the
first two guys on, including the second guy coming up
and knocking in the first guy with an RBI double.
But then kudos to Josh Hader. of getting a couple
of huge outs. And then said guy gets over to
third base. So you're like, man, you know, anything right
here is going to tie this ball game up. And

(27:05):
thank you, Kyle Schwarber, for going right up the elevator
chute and going right to Nick Allen, 27th out. Go
ahead and line up for those handshakes and high fives,
boys and girls. It's like two games in a row
where Hayter... got like three pop-ups in a row to
end a game. Of course, he gave up a little
damage before that in this contest, but he seems to
be getting the weak contact pop-ups and I'm a fan.

(27:26):
And the thing with Abreu I liked was you could
tell he was sitting on the breaking ball.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
So Abreu, he's like, I'm just going to put 98
miles an hour on the outside corner and strike you out.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Well, I mean, again, his job is to get outs 25, 26,
and 27. And despite how it looked, I mean, I
understand with our closer, you want it to go three up,
three down.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
You want it to be easy.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
And for the most part this year, it's been that
with Josh Hader. But I mean, if you want to
say that it's starting to get a little rocky with him,
I mean, again, he's got 24 saves now on the
season and he's had 24 save opportunities. So do the
math on how it's gone this year for him. Josh
Hader comes in in a safe situation. It's going to
go well for you. And it did last night. And
that was nice to see. I mean, what else do

(28:09):
you want to expect out of this guy? He's been amazing.
He's not perfect. It's not going to be perfect. Some
games aren't going to go well. But remember, we talked
the other day about him winning the award and we're like,
is this going to end up jinxing him?

Speaker 4 (28:20):
Remember?

Speaker 1 (28:21):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
And I think it was Gina that reminded me on
social media. I'm trying to remember exactly who it was.
I apologize for if I've gotten names wrong on that.
But when he got the save on Friday night, immediately
reaching out to me and being like, I guess the
curse is broken.

Speaker 6 (28:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
I guess so.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
I mean, as I even responded to somebody last night,
the gif of Billy Bob Thornton from being Coach Gary
Gaines in Friday Night Lights, ain't no curses, son. And
they flipped the coin and, well, the Panthers get into
the playoffs. How about that? I believe it was Midland
High School that got left out of the playoffs. I
think it was them and Midland Lee that get in.

(28:58):
And then, of course, the Permian Panthers able to make
a run until they face Dallas Carter, which is a
different story from how it actually went. But, of course,
that's what I always love. Don't you love that with people? Oh, well,
it wasn't anything like the book. Yeah, because the book
is long and drawn out. A movie, you have to suspend...
Like my brother, for example, speaking of Billy Bob Thornton,
is in Oil & Gas, and he goes... Yeah, you know,

(29:20):
I'd like to watch Landman, but a lot of that
is very far-fetched. I go, of course it is, because
just an everyday occurrence is a Landman. Oh, you mean
to tell me that Landmen and women over in West
Texas are not dealing with the cartel and dealing with
any other hijinks that come their way on a daily basis?

Speaker 1 (29:38):
I mean, my God.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Tommy Norris would be actually dead if he existed, if
this really happened.

Speaker 4 (29:45):
So land man, don't cut their fingers off when they
go to the hospital.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
He hit himself with a ball peen hammer.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
And then, you know, when they're coming over to him
and saying, Hey, you know, it's going to be a
few minutes before we take care of your finger.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
He's like, Nope, I'll just go ahead and take care
of it myself.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
What a show. Got a pocket knife here.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Which is probably, you know, in terms of like sterilization,
probably not the cleanest way to go, but Tommy Norris
absolutely decided to go that route.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Hey, real quick here. Pedro Martinez believes in these Astros.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
So last night on Twitter, throwing out, I'm not concerned
about their experience, offense or defense.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
It's their pitching.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
Seeing them win against the Phillies. They will face some
tough competition on the road. If they can put it
all together, they might be able to do some damage.
Which then, of course, I mean, that's one of those
that you want to see what the responses are to it.
And one of the first ones was, I've been saying
the same, but the bullpen worries me more than the
starting pitching.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
I don't feel that way.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Another one with this pitching, starting in bullpen and Espada
as manager, the ceiling is a wildcard playoff exit, unfortunately. Okay, again,
as I've said before, with Espada, you got to give
specific examples. He has his team in first place. He
has his team in position to be able to make
the postseason. And injuries are not a concern this year.

(31:04):
That's a good thing. It stays that way. But at
the same time, I want specific examples. If I ask you,
why do you not believe in Joe Espada? I don't
want to hear, well, I don't like the way he
handles his pitching staff. Specific examples, please. Like, for example,
last night, I can give you two times that he
could have been very reactionary and the game might be differently.

(31:27):
In the sixth inning, when he sends Josh Miller out
there after those three runs given up to Hayden Wisniewski,
trust this guy.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
Wisniewski finishes out the inning.

Speaker 4 (31:35):
A.J.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Blueball getting into a little bit of trouble, has his
three hitters, gets the double play, but then you need
to be able to get one final out in that inning.
And of course, I don't think there's any of us
that felt comfortable with Bennett Sousa coming in. And what
does Bennett Sousa do? Gets a strikeout right there. It's
not a lack of aggressiveness by Joe Espada. He's got
plenty of it. And I look, I'm willing to listen

(31:57):
to valid criticism.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
I am.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
I'm not unreasonable here. I think I've shown that on
this show that I'm not unreasonable. But at the same time,
when you just give me blanket statements, see, I call
that the genie effect is what I call it is
where people say things out loud without any real tangible
evidence to back it up and say it like it's

(32:21):
an actual fact. I mean, just saying things out loud
does not make it a fact. So when you're pressured
on it and you're pushed on it, that's when then
the personal insults start to come out or any of
the other projections and reactions that you might have from it.
And I mean, we've seen it here and heard it
here on the show, Josh. I mean, me being called

(32:41):
a homer because I said, my God, CJ Stroud is
a better quarterback than Davis Mills. I mean, am I
necessarily breaking news there? Is there anything that I'm missing
here in terms of believing and knowing that that's the case?
Because the numbers in the play would show you that
that absolutely is the case. And oh, by the way, too,
if you were counting on Baker Mayfield possibly being the

(33:04):
quarterback of the Texans in 2027, sorry, that ain't going
to happen.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Do you think Espada was playing a little 3D chess
last night? And here's why I asked that. He brings
in Sousa. essentially to face a lefty, right? And we
know that Seuss has been not very good against lefties
this year, much better against righties. Did he kind of
think that, oh, he's going to pinch hit for this
lefty with a righty, and I know that Sousa's better
against righties. In the last couple ball clubs they've played,

(33:34):
Todd Callis talked about it. That's been the M.O. as
they keep putting in righties to face Sousa, even though
he's been better against righties. Did Espada know they were
going to put in a righty, or was he rolling
the dice that he'd get that lefty out?

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Maybe so.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
He looked over there at Don Mattingly and, you know,
trying to figure out, as you said, the chess match,
how this was going to go.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
And he guessed right.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
So good on him as the Astros able to get
a huge out there.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Huge outs in the eighth.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
And then, of course, outs 25, 26 and 27th in
the ninth to be able to come out of.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
There with a win.

Speaker 6 (34:06):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
Again, it's 713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
We don't get into this one niche sport very often.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
But at least it has finally reached a conclusion that
a lot of us probably saw coming. And we'll talk
about it right here. As we continue, it is the
Dan Matthews show hanging out with you on a Wednesday
sports talk seven 90 on a Wednesday, got the Astros
winning last night, six, five over the Phillies, still two
game lead over the Rangers because they go up to
Seattle and clobber the Mariners last night, 10 to five.

(34:40):
So you're up to on them, but you're now up
seven on Seattle. So Little by little, Dan Wilson's club
slips sliding away from you and slips sliding away from
a chance to be able to make the postseason as
time is running out on them.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
So you got that.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
You also have the Texans back on the practice field today,
getting ready for the Bills on Sunday. NFL football coming
up tonight. Patriots Seahawks to open up the NFL season.
The niche sport that I mentioned, as we will jump
around here in just a couple of seconds, got that
coming your way. But I do want to get some
of you in on the phone lines if you want
to weigh in at 713-212-5790. Will and Memorial are going

(35:19):
to get us going.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Will, good morning. How are you doing?

Speaker 5 (35:22):
Good morning, guys. See, count me in as one of
those who think the Astros have a very good chance.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
One of the things was when.

Speaker 5 (35:29):
The trade deadline hit, I was on the fence whether
to trade the chips that we had because we knew
we could get some players or to stay packed. And
then one third, I'm going to play golf and I'm
listening to Jim Duquette on the Major League Baseball Network.
And he was asked a question. He said, do you
think the Stroh should trade or should they buy? He said,
I think they should buy. The guy said, well, why
would you do that? He said, who should they be

(35:51):
afraid of? He said, the two best teams are Yankees
and Tampa. Who should they be afraid of? And then
I got to thinking about it. Other than Tampa, who's
got the two heavy hitting right-handed batters, Most of the
damage is done by left-handed batters on the other teams. Well,
Joe Spada's back in his bullpen is left-handed. And it's

(36:12):
one that's in baseball. And I trust that Spada can
handle his bullpen. So, put me down as one of.

Speaker 6 (36:18):
Those who think they have a good chance in the playoffs.
Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Hey, appreciate it, Will.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
I mean, look, as I've said, too, as well, where
it's not exactly like anybody out of the American League
is far and away better than this team.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
I mean, Tampa Bay, good.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
But outside of Junior Caminero and Aranda, do you really
necessarily trust anybody in that lineup?

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Again, good team, really good pitching.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
I mean, kind of in a way what you would
like to see the Astros be able to get back to.
But still, I mean, that's a team that doesn't necessarily,
you know, scare me. Uh, same deal with the white socks,
same deal with Cleveland, whoever else you face in the
post season. I mean, yeah, that's, that's the thing that
I just never got. Like when it was the, you

(37:04):
need to trade away Pena and do all of this
and what signal to the clubhouse that you're not interested
in winning. Like what the hell kind of winning culture
is that? I don't understand thinking that I really don't.
I have an opportunity to make the post season. I
want to make the post season. I can worry about
everything else a little bit later on. And, you know,
people want to talk about the future. Again, as I've
said numerous times, you are never guaranteed to have a

(37:27):
rebuild go the way that it did from the early
2000s to 2017. Not ever are you guaranteed that. The
Astros hit the lottery when it comes to that. You
don't do that very often. That's hitting a huge hand
on Blackjack, getting a lot of checks pushed across.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
The table to you, and then saying, you know what?
I could do better.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Okay. Usually that's why the house is the house. That's
why those buildings out in Las Vegas are so big.
So you want to continue doing that gamble, then you're
going to be coming away from the table saying, hmm,
should have walked away. So that's usually the way that
always stands out in terms of rebuilds and trying to

(38:05):
prepare for the future. I'm fully on board with understanding
that this team has a little bit more of a
gap to get back to being... a World Series contender
than they do away from rebuilding. I completely understand that.
But two, at the same time, I mean, you're in
a winnable division right now. You're in a winnable league

(38:28):
right now. So all of this talk again about, oh,
they're a first round exit.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
You know what? Then don't watch and don't listen.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Like, I don't know what to tell you at a
certain point, like the fatalist Astros fans that are out there.
I really don't get you. I really don't because me,
I want to see the team do well. I want
to see the team win. I want to see the
team shock some people and have an opportunity to be
able to get far into the post season. That's what
I want to see. So sorry that I went a

(38:57):
little Nick Saban on you guys about it. But honestly,
like I just again, reading some of those responses to
Pedro Martinez, I just don't understand it.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I really don't. Let's hit a quick jump around.

Speaker 5 (39:07):
All right.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
So Josh Jordan and everybody else out there consider us
all to be shocked that this came down late last evening.
LiveGolf files for bankruptcy after Saudi fund pulls support as
players are now left owed millions in unpaid money.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
And part of that.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
group are pro golfers, John Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as
it pursues a restructuring plan. I don't think anybody necessarily
didn't see this coming. I mean, LiveGolf was at best
a niche sport and it is kind of a little
bit of a give and take here because I think
most of you know, since I've been on air here,
that I'm a pretty big golf guy. You watch a

(39:52):
run-of-the-mill PGA event now. Josh, I don't know 80% of
the field. I mean, there are so many people that
I see, oh, no, hey, this is a really good player.
I'm like, well, it's the first time I'm hearing of
this player. And not to say, because again, like I
would say that right now I'm probably as casual as
can be when it comes to following golf.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
I mean, I still do.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
And clearly, I mean, I know all the big names
and there's some of them that I've been able to
follow and say, yeah, yeah. You know, not quite a
household name yet, but can become one. I really feel
like that the best course of action here for the
PGA tour is olive branch to these guys.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
You can come back. We said what we said. You
said what you said. There was a lot of hurt feelings.
There was a lot of animosity. There was all of
those things. You need Bryson DeChambeau back in the fold.
You need Jon Rahm back in the fold. Dustin Johnson
back on the PGA Tour would be great.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
You need names.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
You need people who actually want to watch your tournaments.
As much as I like Scotty Scheffler, Scotty Scheffler doesn't
do it for me. Rory McIlroy wins a couple of Masters,
but still a little bit too inconsistent to be the
next guy.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
That's golf's problem right now.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
You don't have anybody that you can look to. As
much as some of you couldn't stand Tiger Woods and
Phil Mickelson, well, guess what? Every single time they took
a tournament, you wanted to see who's going to outdo
the other.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
You need attractions. You need names.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
You need people to be a part of something. I mean, again,
as I've said numerous times, That names get you into
the ballpark. Names get you out to the venue. You're
not going out there because, oh, I really want to
see Matt Fitzpatrick play.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
No, you're not. Stop.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
You need people that are going to be able to
sell tickets to your tents. and to be able to
be out there in the gallery. And you watch some
of these tournaments right now, you see that you have
a star problem on the PGA Tour. So again, I
understand what you did with Brooks Koepka. Don't do it
with these guys.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Bring them back.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
No questions asked. You got your tour card. You're back
out there. We need you as much as you guys
need us. I think that that's the route that you
should go. But again, not shocking with Liv. I think
that you knew eventually because here's the thing about billionaires.
They don't like wasting money. And I think that even
like the trillionaires damn near that were backing this thing.

(42:15):
We're like, yeah, this is some money pit. We're going
to go ahead and punt. And that's usually what happens.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
All right.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
10 o'clock hour is in the books. The 11 o'clock
hour is straight ahead. I do want to continue the
Astros conversation for at least one more segment because be
fair warned.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Tonight is going to be frustrating.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Talk about that right here as we get to the
11 o'clock hour on the Dan Matthews Show. Coming your
way here on a Wednesday, Sports Talk 790. 790 Strohs
back to action tonight after winning last night 6-5 over
the Phillies.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
You got to hold on.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
I mean, you absolutely were having to white knuckle that thing.
Hold the rope, as Skip Burtman used to tell his players. Well,
you held the rope last night. And that's exactly what
the Astros are able to do to get out there
with a series opening win. Trying to make it two
in a row tonight. You're going to have a really
good one on the mound. Hunter Brown taking on Christopher Sanchez.
430 Astros on deck. Get you set for that. So

(43:10):
look forward to that. You also have NFL football firing
up tonight.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
You got the Patriots.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
You got the Seahawks there to get the NFL season
kicked off. Usually it's a day later. But this year,
the NFL seemed, no, no, no. Let's go Wednesday night.
Got some thoughts on that that I'm going to share
a little bit later on, Josh, because I kind of
feel like this is a little bit of a trial balloon.
The NFL is trying to think they're being slick here.
I think I'm on to what they're doing. And then

(43:36):
the Texans are going to get back out on the
practice field, getting ready for the Bills. But as I
mentioned tonight, really good mound matchup. So it is one
of those that we talked about a little bit earlier
that my words could be completely canceled out by the
second inning of this game, because I've said it before.
You see guys like Garrett Crochet, Garrett Cole. I'm trying

(43:58):
to think who else, Tarek Scooble, whoever it is, although
Scooble has been able to handle them just like most
of the league whenever he's pitched against them. But you
get my point here facing against really good pitchers. And
somehow the Astros are able to come through and have
a really good day. I mean, I know that Rodriguez
pitching over the weekend for the diamondbacks that he was
tough on them, but still they've usually been able to

(44:21):
cause some damage against good pitchers. It's the guys like
last night, Andrew painter who get on the mound and
you're like, Oh yeah. Hey, they'll get after this guy.
And then you look sixth inning and you're like two hits.
What are we doing here? This guy's absolutely going off
against you. And last night, that wasn't the case because
you were able to get after Andrew Painter and you
get out to that 6-4 lead and you're able to

(44:43):
hold on and win that game. But tonight, I'm going
to go ahead and try to make a promise to
you all and I'm going to try to keep it.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
I really am because I want to be accountable for
my words. I really do.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
If you follow me on social media, at D and Matthews, H-O-U,
1T and Matthews, it's in all caps so you can't
miss me. As Adam Wexler tells you, I'm yelling at you,
you know, with my name. No, it's just more or
less just let it stand out I would say, I mean,
I will yell as I just proved in that last segment,
I will yell, but I try to be judicious with
said yelling.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
That's what I try to do. That's the Dan Matthews
show promise.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
And I haven't said this before, but I, I obviously
thought that it was understood or the show of honesty
around here, not to say that Matt and Ross are
not not say that Adam and Adam are not, but
I just, one thing that I pride myself on is
trying to be exactly that Josh.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
It's almost kind of like in.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
School when you had to write lines on the board,
to make sure that the lesson stuck. So I will
not get upset if the Astros don't come through with
runners in scoring position tonight. I will not get upset.
I will not get angry no matter what the scenario is.
I understand who's pitching. I understand that you have a
tough bullpen over there. So it is one of those

(45:55):
that you're going to have pretty limited opportunities to be
able to do it tonight. But at the same time,
It's kind of a little bit of a lesson that
it's taken me a handful of years now. So Domino,
the guy that taught me in Atlanta, I think I
finally let it stick. I think that it's finally crept
through the old thick skull that I got and right

(46:17):
into the gray matter that I've got in there, which
I mean, I feel like I've got a pretty decent
amount of it left, but maybe some of you would disagree.
So a few years ago, we were watching when the
Astros opened their postseason series against the Rays, and it
was Justin Verlander making the start. And Verlander, by his standards,
had a little bit of a rocky first inning, a
couple of walks. I think he even loaded the bases up.

(46:39):
And I'm starting to get frustrated. And Domingo himself, being
the wise old sage that he is, puts his hand
on my shoulder and goes, not him. I'll give you many,
but I'm not going to give you him. You don't
get upset with that guy. That guy will figure it out.
That guy will settle in. He'll be just fine. I
kind of feel like it's the same deal with the
guys that you got going tonight. With Hunter Brown, yeah,

(47:00):
you've got expectations.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
You understand.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
With Christopher Sanchez, the Astros are able to scratch across
two or three runs. Then you've probably done as much,
maybe even more damage than anybody else. With that 2.5 ADRA,
you score three runs. Oh, you did damage because that's
even more than what he's giving up in games. Because,
I mean, that ERA would tell you, per nine innings,

(47:22):
he's given up a little over two runs per game.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
So if you're able to do that, then good on you.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
I mean, you did have to use a good amount
of your bullpen last night, but still, same time I've
told you what this time of year is, if the
Astros get out of tonight with a close win, I mean,
you feel even better than you did the night before.
So I'm telling you right now, okay, I'm going to
try to be a governor for myself. I'm going to
try to do everything I can to to make sure

(47:50):
that I don't go hyperbolic, that I don't start going angry,
because angry Dan can come out every once in a while,
or as it was once called here on these very airwaves,
disdain Dan, double D. I'm going to try to make
sure that double D stays calm tonight, and that I
tamp down those feelings, because again, you got one of

(48:10):
the best pitchers in baseball going against you.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
You got a lineup that.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Really, honestly, probably don't have a ton of high expectations for,
But that being said, I mean, do you give me
permission then if they, say, jump all over Sanchez for
four or five runs in an inning? Do you give
me permission to be excited about that, Josh?

Speaker 4 (48:29):
Of course.

Speaker 6 (48:30):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
Especially the way Jordan and Peña are kind of slumping
right now. We can't expect the bottom of the order
to do that every night like they did yesterday.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
And then, of course, too, with the lefty going, I
kind of feel like that that's going to feed right
into Jeremy Peña. And then Jordan, I mean, I understand
that that low and away slider right now is kind
of a little bit of an issue for him.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
But two at the same time, I mean, Jordan handles
lefties pretty well. You know what? Two hits apiece tonight
for both of them.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
Ooh, I like it.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Calling it right now. Two hits apiece.

Speaker 4 (48:59):
And I think they need this one, Dan, because you're
facing Zach Wheeler tomorrow. And we got old TBD going,
which is probably Christian Javier. I was going to say.
He's pitched well there. We know the no-hitter, right? But
hard to expect something like that again.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
I was going to say. I mean, I.
Hey, who's going tomorrow? Oh, we're not sure. Hey, after
the game, Joe, who's going tomorrow? Christian Javier. Surprise!

Speaker 3 (49:20):
I mean, who are we kidding at a certain point?
Just put them in the rotation. Like, what are we doing? No,
you know, it would be a real coup.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Tatsuya. My goes tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
In theory, it could be Ronel Blanco too, but I mean,
this all sounds like fantasy, right? It's going to be Javier.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Well, I mean, Blanco, by his standards, the way he's
pitched this year, he gave you four scoreless and you
didn't end up winning that game. But still, I mean,
it was like, hey, I mean, he gave you four scoreless.
It's probably more than you could have hoped for. I mean,
they did pull a little bit of an okey-doke on
us and go with Ronel Blanco, which at the same time,
I mean, again, if you want to know how Joe
Espada feels about using Tatsuya Mai really in any situation,

(50:00):
I think that that was a good indication of how
he feels.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
A hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
And we found out later that Burroughs injured himself and
they didn't tell us until later. So the Blanco thing
was kind of a, they had to pivot at the
last second.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
See, I've heard of the Barking Crab, which is a
seafood place right there in the wharf in Boston. I've
never heard of a barking shoulder, but that's what Mike
Burroughs termed his shoulder inflammation. As he said, I was
throwing a couple of days ago and my shoulder started
barking at me. I like to be around there to
hear a shoulder bark. That would be pretty interesting to hear.
I mean, I hear my dog bark all the time.

(50:34):
You hear your dog bark all the time, but.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
Not a shoulder.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
I wasn't even sure that that was anatomically possible to happen,
but I don't know. I mean, maybe there's an ortho
out there listening that says, well, you know what? Actually,
there is a medical term for a barking shoulder.

Speaker 4 (50:48):
Really? There is.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Do you have like, have you recorded it doing it?
Because if you have, I want to hear said recording.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
Absolutely.

Speaker 6 (50:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
We'll see what happens with Burroughs. But yeah, if my
shoulder started barking, I'm definitely going to have that checked out.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Oh, brother, I'm calling anybody that would be willing to
pay for said thing, you know, as like being kind
of like a medical marvel at that point. If that
were the case, yeah, I'm willing to have that happen.
I mean, as long as I'm not getting poked and prodded.
I mean, you know, if you're willing to pay up
for it, then I'll make a damn shoulder bark.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
I'll join the circus and show everybody.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Along with the Cyclops and the bearded lady. It's going
to be, hey, aren't you the guy with the barking shoulder?
I used to be. That's how that would go. 713-212-5790
is the number to get in. Brian in Pearland wants
to weigh in.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
Brian, good morning. How you doing, buddy?

Speaker 7 (51:43):
What's going on, Dan? Hey, real quick, you know, it's
all about making the playoffs. You know, we've seen teams
with great pitching, and they get nowhere in the playoffs.
I mean, think about that Astros 98 team. You had
Randy Johnson, and you had some studs there, and you
got beat by Jim Layrit's home run.

Speaker 6 (52:03):
Off the foul pole.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
Sterling Hitchcock, don't remind me.

Speaker 7 (52:07):
Sterling Hitchcock, yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Greg Volk.

Speaker 7 (52:10):
It still hurts. Yeah, it still hurts, but that's what
I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Every time I hear Hell's Bells now, I think of
Trevor Hoffman.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Damn you, Brian.

Speaker 7 (52:19):
Speaker 3 5th, you know, I, I still live the
same trauma you do. And I still live the same drama,
but I'm just saying, you know, you, you never know
when you get into the playoffs, but the Rangers have
no cupcake schedule either. I mean, they, they finished against
the Mariners and then they get the red Sox who
are still fighting for a playoff spot and hopefully host
the wild cards.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
So they're going to be going full board.

Speaker 7 (52:42):
The twins are still trying to get in. So They
still have their work cut out for them, but the
23 Astros or the 23 Rangers, who thought they would
make it to the World Series? Now, I'm not saying
our offense is as good as theirs, but I think
our pitching is better than theirs was back there. So
you just never know when you get into the playoffs. But,
you know, I know everybody's bagged on GM Jeff Bagwell

(53:05):
for his Rafael Montero and Jose Abreu signings, but I
got to give the guy credit to reach out to
Stromi and bring him in. Look, Jeff Bagwell did that right.
He might have done other things wrong, but he did
that right. So you got to give him credit. because
I think it's helped. Look at what's next. He starts,
look at Brown, you know, guys are getting deeper into

(53:27):
games for the most part. And you got to think
there's some kind of correlation to just his tutelage and
his watchful eye pointing things out. So you can take
one more today. I think you're sitting in a good
spot with what magic number of 15, maybe, maybe 13
by the end of the day. And yeah, You know,
then you just go to that last week against bad

(53:49):
teams and God just went half of them and you're okay.

Speaker 6 (53:52):
But no, no, Dan, get into.

Speaker 7 (53:56):
The playoffs when the division crazier stuff has happened, but
have a good show.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Talk to you later, bud. I appreciate it, Brian. Always
good to hear from you, man. Eagle fight never dies.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
No, I mean, look, I've continued to say, and the
COVID year proved exactly that. I mean, I understand you
only played 60 games, but you went into the post
season under 500. And then you get in the said
postseason and you handle the A's, which that was nice,
especially with that rat Mike Fires out there in the
bullpen making fun of George Springer. And then George Springer

(54:25):
promptly goes on to hit a three-run homer there, which it's.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
Funny that fires.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
I think he only pitched at garbage time in that,
in the one game that the A's won. So again,
being a complete coward that he is.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
You know what he is?

Speaker 3 (54:39):
He's Marty Jannetty trying to jump out the window. Look
at Jannetty trying to run through that window like the
coward that he is. The Astros are over here as
Bobby the Brain Heenan supporting Shawn Michaels. That's what we are,
you know? We're the ones delivering the sweet chin music. Oh,
I knew he'd do that. There was nobody better than
Bobby the Brain Heenan.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
He was so good.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
Is he still with us?

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Oh, no, no, no, no. Bobby passed years ago. I
want to say it was cancer that got Bobby. But yeah,
Bobby left us, unfortunately. But anyway, I mean, you know,
those are times that obviously are part of the history.
And I mean, yeah, look, there are no guarantees. I mean,
Brian bringing up the example of 98, which up until 2019,

(55:21):
that was our mark of, of playoff disappointment because yeah,
you felt like when you went out and got Randy Johnson,
that it was the best record in baseball and you
got Randy freaking Johnson on your team and it just
didn't work out. The Phillies, DMU, Jim Lairitz, Greg Vaughn,
Sterling Hitchcock there in the final game, which, by the way, too,

(55:42):
it wasn't just the Astros that wore it that year.
The Braves also did. So, I mean, the two teams
that you thought were going to be able to represent
the National League in the World Series, neither of them
made it there.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
It was the San Diego Padres.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Then the Padres went out and promptly got smacked by
the Yankees, which the Yankees did that to a lot
of people in the late 90s.

Speaker 4 (55:59):
Kevin Brown throwing 98-mile-an-hour sinkers. That was the thing, man.
And then it helped them get paid. That's the old saying.
Post-season appearances can get you paid. And Kevin Brown definitely
found that out. And that was back when the Dodgers
were spending bad money. I mean, remember, it was him,
Gary Sheffield. I'm trying to remember all those other players
that you just look at them and you're just like,
how are you guys not better? Like, I don't understand this.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
And now, years later, well, joke would be on us,
I guess.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
It's kind of one of those, as I've said, you know,
it hadn't happened yet. Well, just wait. That's usually the
way that life goes.

Speaker 6 (56:32):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Again, it's 713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
There's a Texan that heading into the season has the
right idea, and my response to them, say it with
your chest, man. We'll talk about it right here as
we continue in the 11 o'clock hour on a Wednesday,
Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Ah, baseball in.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
Houston, where the roof is always closed.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
There was one that when it was Matt and Ross
in the midday that they had, That Bobian, our production
guy here, I'm guessing probably did, that it was giving
you the sound of like someone heating up some lunch.
And then I don't know why, like a balloon popping
noise or something like that always makes me laugh. And
they had one where it was, I guess, like, you know,

(57:18):
like you had the plastic film on something and then
it pops, explodes because, you know, it just got too
hot in there. But then the chances are, you know,
that like half of it is going to be like
scalding hot. Like you feel like that you just, you know,
try to eat battery acid. And then there's going to
be another side of it that's ice cold. And you're
just like, how does this make any sense? I don't
really understand it. I mean, I'm sure there's like ionization

(57:38):
and all that kind of stuff that's happening that is
way beyond my purview of understanding. But it's just that
one always cracked me up as, you know, you have
with Matt lunch timers, which now they're breakfast timers with
Matt and Ross in the morning.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
I guess that's what it is.

Speaker 4 (57:55):
Legs and eggs for waking up, they're putting to bed
the strippers, what have you.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
Yeah, you could have that. You absolutely could. You could
have the breakfast beer, which, I mean, dude, what are
we doing? Like, we're giving them ideas for show bits.
I mean, it's not like Matt and Ross need ideas
for show bits. I mean, their entire thing is show
bits and then making fun of each other for three
and a half hours every single morning. No doubt about it.
And we love it. Oh, dude, the best. Those guys

(58:20):
are the best. They're awesome. And Ross almost really, really
helped me out last night, too. But shout out to
U of H Volleyball, by the way, as I was
over there doing PA. And I'll admit that I had
my days mixed up and I was on Astros postgame
last night. So I'm thinking I'm like, oh, man, yeah,

(58:40):
not going to go well.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
I'm not going to be able to do both.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
So Ross was going to pinch hit with it being
an early Astros game.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
So I was like, dude, you're the best.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
But then again, shout out to U of H Volleyball
and also to Angie, one of our salespeople here. Her
daughter plays for who they beat, Lamar, but was over
there doing PA. So if you were in the building
at Fertitta Center last night and you heard somebody over
the loudspeaker, pal, I was your guy. So and also
to a shout out to the Ailey Felsick volleyball team.
They were all out there. So it was a fun time.

(59:10):
and David Rare's team able to get a nice little win.
So there you go. That's your volleyball segment. I know
you get plenty of that with Matt and Ross in
the morning. 713-212-5790 is the number to get in. You
got the Astros trying to go for two straight tonight
against the Phillies. They went last night 6-5, 430 Astros
on deck. Going to get you set for that. Hunter Brown,
Christopher Sanchez. a absolute, just dynamic mound matchup tonight. So

(59:34):
you're looking forward to that. You also have NFL football
tonight as well. I mean, a Wednesday night, two screen nights.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
Come on. Can't wait.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
I was going to say, I mean, we are all
Bart Scott. I mean, you get the Astros to get
you going. And then the about fifth, sixth inning. That's
when you fire on the other screen right there and
you get the NFL game going as well. Then you
got the Texans coming up on Sunday. I mean, September rules.
September's amazing. September is awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Can't wait.

Speaker 4 (01:00:06):
Three and a half point favorites the Seahawks are tonight. Ooh, man,
that kind of feels like a hammer the Seahawks right there. Ah, interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Which, of course, Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports, is going to
join us on Friday. as he's doing throughout the football season.
So curious to hear his thoughts on the Texans and
the rest of the NFL slate this weekend. So, of course,
Friday at 1 o'clock, we'll have our good buddy Lee
Sterling for Paramount Sports hopping on with us. So Aaron Wilson,
if you follow him, of course, on Twitter and social media,

(01:00:39):
you also know that he does some work for us
as our Sports Talk 790 Texans insider. So he and
a lot of media catching up with Nico Collins and
Collins talking about this season and expecting a quote special
season for the Texans. Feel the energy feeling good as

(01:01:01):
I mean, not only talking about this team, but also
talking about CJ Stroud of his belief in him, but
his exact quote about the team as a whole. It's
definitely going to be a special season, man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
I feel it. I feel the energy. I feel the
vibe from everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
Just can't wait, man, for the live bullets to get going,
for the real football to start. Man, because we've been
grinding our tails off every single day. I feel like
we've sharpened our blade and just can't wait for Sunday.
I feel like right now everybody's trying to find things
to get better, ways to get better, and to better
themselves personally. I feel like if everyone's doing that, then

(01:01:40):
sky's the limit. It's a long season. It's a marathon.
So I feel like 1% every single day, every single practice,
all you got, man, is really going to get us there.
It's going to get us to our team goal. And
we know where we want to go. We know what
we need to do before it starts right now. That
fires me up.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
It does.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
I mean, at the same time though, too, I understand
that some of you might have a little filing cabinet
in your brain and you kind of file that into the, yeah,
no kidding category, but I mean, I appreciate that there's
that belief in that building. I really do. Because, I mean,
you hear it all the time, too, of, hey, what's
your goal? Our goal is to win the AFC South.

(01:02:22):
And then some people might take that as to mean
like that is the goal.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
No, you don't understand.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
It's that you're putting goals in order of hit this one,
then you can focus on the next one. Hit this one,
then you can focus on that one. Because here's the
thing that I'll tell you, and clearly, too, from my
experience of losing a lot of weight, no question about it.
Whenever you start on a weight loss journey that you
want to be able to lose all that weight immediately.
And clearly there are ways that you can do that.

Speaker 5 (01:02:49):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
I just wouldn't recommend it because it's not sustainable. You're
probably going to have that weight boomerang and come back
to you once you get off said treatments. So that
being said, the best way in the only real way
to be able to do it is to take this
in increments.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
Now, you know what?

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
I want to lose say 50 pounds.

Speaker 4 (01:03:07):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
Try to lose five and try to lose 10. Try
to lose 15, 20. Do you get my point here?
Stack those days on top of each other. Stack those
wins on top of each other. Because honestly, too, as well,
it's even more gratifying. I mean, nothing in life is
worth doing unless it's a little hard. And in the
Texans case, I understand that we're over them winning AFC

(01:03:28):
South titles.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Yes, truly. I get it. Been there, done that. For sure.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Being able to win the playoffs. Same deal there. Just
not the second round, but at least you know you
can win in the wildcard round. Again, been there, done that.
Because it is one of those things that hearing all
the offseason hype that to a certain point, I think
for most Texans fans that I've talked with this offseason,
that's kind of going in one ear and out the other.

(01:03:54):
Because it's like, dude, I've been hearing this for years.
I heard it in 2011. They weren't even in existence
in 2001, but 10 years later, 2011. Heard the same
thing in 2012. 2013, you kind of were supposed to
have that. And then things went haywire and your coach
had a medical episode on the sidelines and eventually had

(01:04:14):
to step away from the team. So, I mean, clearly,
you know, it's one of those things that you kind
of have your best laid plans in your mind and
rarely does it ever work out that way. But whenever
a team says, yeah, our goal is to win the division,
everybody knows what the goal is in that building. The
goal is to be able to capitalize on the opportunity
that you have in front of you. The goal is

(01:04:35):
to be able to finally realize something that this organization
not once has ever done. In your 25 years of existence,
not once have you been able to get to the
AFC championship game.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
So yes, absolutely, that's a goal for this team.

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
But there are steps to get there along the way.
And I think that that's the thing whenever you hear,
you know, day by day or, you know, take it
one day at a time and all the cliches that
annoy us all. I get it all. But in a way,
that is the way that you have to approach this.
You have to approach it as let's win the AFC South.
Let's win the AFC South. Let's get home field advantage.

(01:05:14):
Because I remembered a couple of years ago, Willie Anderson Jr.
talking about that very thing, saying, you know what? Here's
something that I think could help us in the divisional round.
We have that game here in Houston because every single
time that you've had it, it's been on the road.
And clearly you've been over every single time that you
played in said round. So I think that that's probably
goal number two, be able to have that happen for you.

(01:05:36):
And then clearly to be able to take goal number three,
which is winning the AFC and then go to the Superbowl.
And whenever you're one of two teams that's there, so
I talked about earlier with the Astros, it's the same
deal with the Texans, and it's the same deal with
the NFL. I mean, how many people thought that the
New England Patriots that one year were going to beat
the St.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
Louis Rams? And what happened?

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
How many people thought that one year that John Elway
and the Broncos were going to beat the team that
just won the Super Bowl the year before, the Green
Bay Packers?

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Then it happened.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
I mean, we've seen it numerous times where it looks
like the team that's the odds-on favorite, again, you're there.
You've got every right to be there. I mean, did
anybody think that Tom Brady in Tampa Bay was going
to beat Patrick Mahomes and the Mighty Chiefs that one
year in that pared-down Super Bowl in Tampa?

Speaker 6 (01:06:19):
I did.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Where you've got.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
The weekend, walking through a maze, doing all these things
with people with bandages on their face. It was like,
what the hell is happening? If I were rolling on
something right now, this would be really tough to watch. 100%.

Speaker 4 (01:06:35):
Yeah, I actually did. I'm a big Tom Brady guy,
and I'm not a Mahomes guy, so I bet on
them there. And then with the Patriots and the Rams,
I find that it helps if you take the other
team's walkthrough. It gives you a bit of an advantage.
I heard things.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
I was going to say, I understand that certain things
were done, and things were committed. And yeah, that's usually
how that goes. I would not advise that, although I
do love hearing the story. I don't know if this
is supposed to be public knowledge or is, but maybe
the statute of limitations have run out.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
You got to tell us now.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Kind of the culture of paranoia that Bill O'Brien came from,
that apparently the hotel that can overlook the Texans practice field,
he wanted the top floor bought out because he was
afraid that people could be able to film inside their practices.
It's like, Hey, Bill, I hate to tell you this,
but nobody's worried about the Texans, like your version of
the Texans.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Nobody's worried about them. I don't think that anybody's going
to go out of.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Their way to do all of that to be able
to have a Connor Stallions-esque filming of your practices. I mean,
just go inside the bubble then if it's really that
much of a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
I don't know. Put some trees up.

Speaker 4 (01:07:45):
Like, whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
Like, it's a lot of these people create these issues
in their own mind. Oh, well, you can't talk about
that because it gives them a decided advantage. If you
can't defend somebody against a trick play for you, then
don't run the trick play. That's the way that you
handle that. AFC South champs, Dan.

Speaker 4 (01:08:06):
Right, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
Doesn't matter, Brian. Doesn't matter. what a clown period of
this organization.

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
Although I know that that's going to get a response
from somebody on Twitter because there is a Bill O'Brien
truther that whenever I bring him up immediately comes at
me on Twitter. So I look forward to your response.
713-212-5790 and 713-212-5790. You know, there's a way to go
through disappointment and there's a right way to handle it.
And I got to say this Texan doing exactly that.

(01:08:35):
Talk about it right here. And again, coming up in
about 15 minutes, look at the shield season outlook as
a whole. Again, we're not picking divisions. We're not doing
any of that kind of stuff. We're just having a
good conversation about the NFL as a whole. Got that
coming up for you a little bit later on in
this hour as we continue here on the Dan Matthews Show,
Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
Somebody out there is.

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
Not a huge fan of your Javier pitching back at
Citizens Bank Park comparison. As a matter of fact, they
wrote and said, if we're saying that Javier going back
to familiar surroundings is going to be a benefit to him,
then that'd be like the Packers bringing back Brett Favre
because he won a Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
No, I think that's a little far-fetched. I think that's
a little hard.

Speaker 4 (01:09:18):
Randy.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
Hitting you with that on Twitter. Take it easy on
Joshua Jordan, Randy. Yeah, who are your better options there, Randy? Well,
not Rene Blanco, not Tutsi. Yeah, we should probably go
Christian Javier. Unless, I mean, would you go opener again?
I mean, that worked out so well.

Speaker 4 (01:09:40):
Because that's gone so great this year, both times that
I can think of.

Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
Yeah, I was going to say. That's probably not the
way to go about it. But anyway, you're able to
get the win last night. And you got six innings
outside of Hayden Wisniewski. So you get a 6-5 win.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Okay, that's cool.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
And now you're hoping that Hunter Brown can be that
guy for you tonight. against a really tough one. Lefty
Christopher Sanchez going to pitch for the Phils. So you
got that coming your way. 430 Astros on deck. We'll
get you fired up for that one. NFL football tonight
to get the Seahawks and Patriots. You said the Seahawks
are a three and a half point favorite in that one.

(01:10:15):
So we'll see what Vegas knows. I mean, like I said,
with the Astros, the over under total is nine and
a half, which I was like, man, I am hitting heavy.
on that under in this one. I mean, if you
had told me six or seven and a half, I'd
have been like, that still might be the under.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
So it's going to be a good one.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
I mean, it's kind of like last year when Hunter
Brown went up against Jacob DeGrom and the one lone
mistake was the solo homer to Jake Berger, but Brown
went 80 things and gave up just that one run
and he took the tough luck loss just because you
could not solve Jacob DeGrom. So that's the type of
matchups you get. So if you're a huge fan of pitching, Oh,

(01:10:55):
you're going to get it tonight. And then the Texans
back on the practice field getting ready for the Bills
on Sunday. Speaking of the Texans and the confidence this
year by one CJ Stroud, we talked about that a
little bit more with our good buddy Jonathan M.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Alexander from the Houston Chronicle.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
Because CJ clearly had humility in a heaping helping of
it last year in the postseason. where it wasn't only
just the Patriots' loss. It was also, too, he did
not play well in the first half, I would say.
Second half, He actually played pretty decently against Pittsburgh, and
I understand that your defense really helped you out in that,
but still the fumbles happened, the mistakes were made, and

(01:11:36):
he's able to make good on it later on in
the game, but New England, that was not the case. Now,
it is one of those that some people might say
that I'm running cover for CJ, but let's also take
inventory of the situation that he was up against in
New England. Road game playoffs, I get it. You feel
like that you're in position to be able to win,

(01:11:57):
but you don't have Nico Collins. And then the first
drive of the game, you lose Dalton Schultz. So your
top two receivers that you've relied upon all season long
are now out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
So that means that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:08):
You're relying on a collection of Xavier Hutchinson, Jaden Higgins
as a rookie, Jalen Knoll, same deal there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
And who am I missing?

Speaker 4 (01:12:19):
Didn't Stover leave with a knee injury in that same game?

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
I think so, too.

Speaker 3 (01:12:22):
Yeah, I think Cade Stover also left in the game,
but Stover was not necessarily much of a contributor for
you in the passing game.

Speaker 4 (01:12:28):
But Schultz was out, so you didn't have a lot
of other options.

Speaker 1 (01:12:30):
No, you didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:12:31):
But as Jonathan Alexander writes in the headline reads, C.J.
Stroud ready to rewrite story. inside Texans quarterbacks off season transformation.
And some of the things that we talked about too, where,
I mean, clearly it's one of those that you got
to sit on it. You've got to go through what
the season was, but I mean, it was something that

(01:12:53):
he addresses head on. And he says all the criticism
that he's facing. This was at Ingram, all the criticism
that he's facing. I don't think it's fair, but we're
all humans. The end of the day, we're not perfect.
He's a great quarterback. I love CJ. I just think
about dude has been in the playoffs every single year.

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
He's been in the league. The proof is in the pudding.

Speaker 3 (01:13:13):
And every year we just go further and further. Well,
that last part's not necessarily true because, I mean, you've
gotten to the divisional round and not been able to
get past that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
But C.J.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
Stroud, when you get to the NFL, of course, my
rookie year, I had to make plays. I had to
extend things, do some things off schedule, and people loved it.
I loved it, and the coaches loved it. Of course,
then you go to that last game. Sometimes as players,
as people who watch football, we fail to realize sometimes
that it just doesn't go your way. And he says,
I'm close to some of those opportunities and making splash

(01:13:46):
plays like I've always done in my mind. I'm doing
the right thing. And of course, you watch it and
you realize I could have done this better. I could
have done that better. But that's every game. So kind
of taking everything in the right stride of understanding that
people were upset. And as you said, now, at least
the two different people, because it wasn't only just this conversation.

(01:14:08):
It was also DJ B enemy of ESPN who also
caught up with them of understanding that people were, let's
just say it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
They were pissed.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
I mean, I was, we all were, I mean, you
watch that game and you're kind of like, dude, like
you just hold on to the football a little bit
more than we're going to Denver. We're taking on the
Broncos in the AFC championship game. And then whatever your
story is for that one, your defense is going to
be able to help you because when you're going up
against Jarrett Stidham in the Denver Broncos, although wouldn't that

(01:14:37):
have been the berries if they went there and they
lost that one and you're just like, we lost a
chance to go to the Super Bowl, losing to Jarrett
Stidham and the Broncos. I mean, it wouldn't be the
first time that not only the Texans, but any team
has lost to a backup quarterback and seen their season end.
But seemingly, the Texans, when it comes to divisional round,
lack of success. They seem to do it really in
spectacular fashion. And I don't use spectacular to mean like

(01:15:00):
it's a good way. It's been pretty agonizing in some ways.
I mean, it's not only this one getting smacked those
years by the Patriots. The Ravens have gotten you a
couple of different times. The Chiefs game, too, as well,
where it starts off with a special teams penalty. And
then the rest of the game, too, where I mean,
not only did some of the penalties come back to

(01:15:21):
hurt you, some of those penalties that were called got
referees fired from the league where the league looked at
it and said, yeah, that was pretty bad. And we
can't have any remote connection to people think that we're
running cover for these guys.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
So you're out of a job. You're fired.

Speaker 3 (01:15:38):
It's nice to kind of have that accountability sometimes, isn't it?
And the league gave us that. But I mean, I
do appreciate that he's not shying away from it, that
he's obviously understanding that the criticism is there, but just saying, OK, well,
now it's time for me to go prove everybody wrong.
I appreciate that CJ Stroud has that mindset heading into
this season, and he said it now on two different occasions.

(01:15:59):
Now it's just about being able to prove it. I
personally believe that he will be able to prove it
this year. I think that you've made the improvements to
the offensive line. You had almost no tight end room
last year, and now you've added some tight end help
through the draft and also from the blocking perspective with
Foster Morrow. And then the run game where you believe
that David Montgomery with fresher legs of splitting those carries

(01:16:22):
and actually being the second guy up there in Detroit
is going to be able to get your run game going.
These are all reasons to believe in C.J. Stroud in 2026,
and I think that we're going to be speaking differently
about C.J.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
Stroud here in just a handful of weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:16:36):
I think nobody has to be more excited about the
season getting started than CJ. I mean, he's had to
live with this for the entire offseason. And remember, with
the Steelers game, they went into the fourth quarter. That
game was 7-6. CJ only had that one touchdown to
Christian Kirk. It was really the defense that got rolling
at the end of that game. So for me, he's
got two poor games in the playoffs he has to

(01:16:56):
kind of make up for.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
Did Kirk get hurt in the divisional round game, too?

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
I don't remember that being the case, but it's certainly possible.

Speaker 3 (01:17:04):
Well, anyway, he's feeling a lot better about his receiver group, too,
even without Jaden Higgins.

Speaker 1 (01:17:10):
But you bring in Kayshaun Booty.

Speaker 6 (01:17:11):
All right, 713-212-5790.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
Get it, 713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (01:17:12):
A special look at the Shield here as the NFL
season gets underway. some thoughts to share about the league
as a whole. We'll do that for you right here
as we close out the 11 o'clock hour. On a Wednesday,
it is the Dan Matthews Show, Sports Talk 790. 790,

(01:17:33):
Astros trying to make it two straight wins tonight, taking
on the Phillies. Again, we'll have it coming your way
just a little over four and a half hours from now.
As 430, Astros on deck, coming your way to get
you set for Hunter Brown against Christopher Sanchez. Second game
of the series after winning last night, 6-5. And, of course,
you can listen to it right here on Sports Talk 790.
You also have the Texans getting back on the practice

(01:17:55):
field to get ready for the Bills on Sunday. So
the NFL season is ahead. Joshua Jordan, you got those
scenarios fired up. Let's look at the shield. Oh, it
fires me up. I mean, I'm hearing this right now.
In my mind's eye, I'm seeing Boomer, Chris Berman, Tom
Jackson for NFL primetime.

Speaker 4 (01:18:19):
The Raiders.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
Nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills.

Speaker 4 (01:18:25):
Speaking of which, Dan, let's stay right there. We're not
going to go full breakdown, but Patriots or Bills? Who
takes that division this year?

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
I'm going to go Bills.

Speaker 3 (01:18:34):
I think that the Patriots are a lot like the
Texans going from 2023 to 2024.

Speaker 1 (01:18:39):
First place schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
You were able to skate by in some games last
year that I just think a first place schedule.

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
You're still going to have a good team.

Speaker 3 (01:18:47):
I i just think the bills are going to be
a lot better and it's not going to be an
easy game on sunday against buffalo no i don't think
so either i'm actually with you on that one i
think the bills take the division for a lot of
the reasons you laid out i could still see the
patriots making the playoffs though All right, let's jump to
another division.

Speaker 4 (01:19:07):
How about the AFC West? Chiefs finally don't make it
last year. Mahomes coming back from injury. Broncos look legit
once again. They added Jalen Waddell, but a lot of
people on the Chargers. I know you're not. Who takes
that division?

Speaker 3 (01:19:20):
Yeah, the Chargers did make some improvements to their offensive line,
but I got to tell you, I mean, I just
think that the Chiefs have one last run in them. Like,
I think that this is going to be where... you're
kind of seeing like at the end of Tom Brady
in new England, everything comes to an end, but you
got to believe it's one more year of Travis Kelsey.

Speaker 1 (01:19:40):
They've made the improvements. Kenneth Walker.

Speaker 3 (01:19:42):
I think the chiefs take that division. I mean, I,
I just, again, I'm not a Herbert believer. And, and
I think that you get him in a late season
matchup against Kansas city. I'm taking Patrick Mahomes and that
could be the difference in that division. So I think
one thing we can agree on that it ain't going
to be the Las Vegas Raiders.

Speaker 4 (01:20:03):
No, definitely not. And they have made some improvements, but
it's not time for them yet. For me, I'm going
to go with the Broncos to take the division. I
think the Chargers get in the playoffs, perhaps through a
wild card. I am a Justin Herbert truther. Let's move on.
What do we think? This one is actually one of
the most interesting divisions to me. NFC North. You've got

(01:20:24):
the Lions trying to bounce back. The Packers know Josh Jacobs.
The Vikings have a new quarterback. A lot of things
in the Bears. So much hype around their new offense.
Who takes that division, Dan? You know, some people might.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
Say that the way that I feel about Justin Herbert
is kind of the way I feel about Jared Goff.
I don't understand it. Like, I really don't. Like, he
is a new age Kirk Cousins guy. He's a stat patter.
You're not winning games because of Jared Goff, but what
kept the Lions from being able to reach the NFC
a couple of years ago was significant injuries, and they

(01:20:57):
were banged up a good amount of last year, too.
I just think that Dan Campbell's got a wrinkle for it.
And I think that also, too, losing his coordinators didn't help.
And that was a little bit of an adjustment. But
I think kind of the benefit of the doubt that
everybody's giving Nick Caley here, I'll give the benefit of
the doubt that the same with losing Ben Johnson last
year and having the rebound from that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:16):
So I like Detroit. Interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:21:19):
I'm kind of there with you as well. I'll go Detroit,
but I kind of sneaky like the Bears here. Maybe
they sneak into the playoffs as well. Let's jump back
over to the AFC. I think this is a two-horse race.
Who do you got, the Bengals or the Ravens? I
really like where the Bengals are. As I've told you all,

(01:21:40):
I'm a little bit more concerned about the Bengals game
than I am this week. I think the Texans go
one and one in these two games. The one that
I think they lose is the Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:21:50):
I really think that Joe Burrow Healthy, a little bit
of an improved offensive line, and also the defensive improvements.
I mean, I know they lost Trey Hendrickson, but you
go out there and you get sexy.

Speaker 1 (01:22:03):
What was it?

Speaker 3 (01:22:04):
Sexy Dexy Dexter Lawrence. Yeah, Dexter Lawrence there. So I
really like the Bengals this year. And again, people I've
talked with that are pretty close with Joe Burrow have
been told by him that he feels like this team
is better than twenty twenty one.

Speaker 4 (01:22:20):
Ooh, and I could certainly see why. I think their
offense is going to be good and defense much improved.
I'm with you. I am going to go with the Bengals.
Would not shock me if the Ravens get in, but
a lot of turnover there. Coaching staff, kind of hard
to figure out what they are going to be. All right,
we just got a little bit of time left. Let's
go to probably one of the best divisions in all
of football. Maybe not probably. Rams, Seahawks. Who do you

(01:22:41):
got in that one? And maybe the 49ers.

Speaker 3 (01:22:42):
I was going to say, don't write off the 49ers.
I mean, you know, electric substation or not. Kyle Shanahan
can coach up some offense. He was ravaged by injuries
last year. And determining what Mike Evans still has left,
I'm not completely writing them off. I mean, I understand
the Seahawks, the belief in them, the Rams, the same

(01:23:04):
deal there. But I got to tell you, a lot
of times the hype is never met. So I'm going
to go with surprise here. I think San Francisco says, oh,
you forgot about us? No, we're still here.

Speaker 1 (01:23:15):
Interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:23:15):
And they can make a statement here week one. That's
for sure. I'm going to go with the Rams, not
because of the front running as much as I think.
I just think losing your offensive coordinator there for the
Seahawks is going to be too much to overcome.

Speaker 3 (01:23:29):
And that's a look at the shield here. A lot
of people believe in the Cowboys too. I know we
didn't get into the NFC East, but I mean, there's
people even wondering out there if the Cowboys are the team,
the beats in the, in the NFC this year, which boy,
wouldn't that be something? I mean, as a, A good
buddy of mine mentioned the other day, Hank Hill. Oh,
an all-Texas Super Bowl. I mean, I know that people usually,

(01:23:51):
whenever they impersonate Cal McNair, break in a little bit
of Hank Hill, who was originally Mr. Anderson on Beavis
and Butthead.

Speaker 4 (01:23:58):
Those two boys are whacking him a camper. Never finish
with a prepositional phrase. Robert Stack in the Beavis and
Butthead movie that was out there. I mean, anytime you
got Robert Stack involved, you knew that you were into
some serious business.

Speaker 3 (01:24:14):
All right, noontime hour upon us as you head out
for lunch. Let's get back in a little bit of
Astros discussion because I've been telling you, this is a test.
Test number one passed with flying colors. Who got you
over the finish line last night? Talk about it right
here as we continue. It is the Dan Matthews Show
hanging out with you here on a Wednesday, Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
And the noontime hour is upon us here as.

Speaker 3 (01:24:37):
We continue coming your way here every single weekday afternoon
and even the morning. Getting you going, too, which it's
not the early mornings like I was getting used to.
It is now 10 a.m. to 2 every single weekday
right here on your home of the Astros and Rockets.

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):
Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 3 (01:24:55):
To get the Strohs winning last night, 6-5 over the Phillies.

Speaker 1 (01:24:59):
Trying to make it two in a row tonight. Going
to be a tough one, though.

Speaker 3 (01:25:02):
Christopher Sanchez, this year's National League starter, going for the Phils.
And you got Hunter Brown going for you. So you
got that to look forward to. 4.30, Astros on deck.
So four and a half hours from now. You get
Adam and Adam getting you ready for this one. You
also have the Texans on the practice field getting ready
for the Bills on Sunday. Of course, first injury report

(01:25:23):
going to come out. See who's going to give it
a go, who is going to be questionable, all that
kind of stuff. And then you get the NFL firing
up tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:25:32):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:25:33):
As you get the Patriots and the Seahawks starting up
the NFL season. We finally made it, folks. I will
give credit. Normally, I really try to not be caught
off sides by general team corniness on social media because
you will have the corny posts that it's like, boy,

(01:25:54):
you just really are not reading the room right now,
are you? But the Patriots had a good one. And
of course, with yesterday's news about Christian Gonzalez agreeing to
a contract extension, It's timely to be able to use him,
but you know how there's like countdowns and some people
sometimes will use graphics of players, jersey numbers of, we are, oh,

(01:26:14):
I don't know if the Chiefs ever wanted to go.
We are Joe Montana days away from kickoff to the
NFL season. So you post a picture of him in
his number 19 jersey. You get my point here. For them,
it was days until football and a picture of Christian Gonzalez, zero.
And it was like, speak it into existence. So whoever
that social media manager is, good on you. Yeah, you

(01:26:35):
actually struck a chord with a good one. See, like
I give points for creativity. I absolutely do. But like
one of the ones that when I was in my
previous stop that the NFL team there did once is
it was a player putting on their helmet. And the
caption was blocking out the noise.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
And it's just like, you're two and five.

Speaker 4 (01:26:55):
Stop.

Speaker 3 (01:26:56):
Like if people are talking badly about you, it's warranted
for them to talk badly about you.

Speaker 4 (01:27:00):
You suck.

Speaker 1 (01:27:01):
You're terrible.

Speaker 3 (01:27:02):
So all of this, we're blocking out the noise. Oh,
the haters will say this is fake. Well, the haters
know that you're two and five. So no, it's not fake.
You're bad. You're not good. So anyway, um, A little
just kind of rehashing the memories right there. Like I said,
disdain Dan will come out every once in a while,

(01:27:22):
not as much as he used to, especially when I
was 305 pounds and I probably wasn't a big fan
of myself. But those are stories for another time. 713-212-5790
is the number to get in. So I've been saying
all along that this is a test for the Astros,
that these series are exactly that, where you've got an
opportunity to be able to show that you're postseason worthy

(01:27:46):
and And there's no better test than this week up
in Philadelphia and then to close out the week in
Tampa against the Rays.

Speaker 1 (01:27:53):
Last night you passed. You passed with flying colors.

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
And I know that people out there are going to say, well,
you know, you gave up some runs late and you
had to scratch and claw to be able to win that.
Welcome to postseason baseball, boo-boo. That's what it is. It
doesn't matter to a certain point how it looked. It's
what were you able to do? Were you able to win?
And I know that the other part of it too,

(01:28:17):
as well, like I was just saying, and I, maybe
this can be haters. Maybe it's not, but, oh, well,
you know, speaking of haters or hater where he was
lucky to get out of that inning, he got out
of it. He got out of it. He didn't give
up any further damage. You won the game. That's fine
by me. I mean, do I want my closer to
be perfect every single time? It would be nice, but

(01:28:39):
you know what the goal of the closer is? Get
out of there with the save. And that's exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:28:44):
What he did. But the other would be too, as well.
You could look at it from the bright side.

Speaker 3 (01:28:51):
You had Jeremy Pena and Jordan Alvarez go a combined
one for five, one for 10, which is, Peña went
one for five, and then Jordan, of course, do the
math right there, the 0 for five. And you still
were able to put up 11 hits as a team. Five, six, seven, eight,
nine in your order combined for nine of your 11 hits.

(01:29:13):
One from Jeremy Peña, one from Isak Paredes. That was
the rest of your production in the game last night.
Christian Walker, getting the game going. I mean, Josh, we've
been talking about Christian Walker, and it hasn't necessarily been...
ton of confidence in the Astros first baseman offensively right
now but set the tone my man set the tone

(01:29:33):
last night he gets that three run homer what were
we talking about yesterday I'd like to see somebody be
able to send one over a wall in the huge
spot second inning right there so there's a lot of
ball game left but that set the tone for you
that got you going and then of course Cam Smith
Able to score on that double by Jeremy Pena, even

(01:29:54):
though you got Tony Paraschika coming down the line, holding
up the hands. No, no, no, get back to third.
Where Cam Smith said, I'm good. I feel the need
for speed. And you know what? It's time for me
to score and make it a 4-0 game. That's exactly
what he did. So great to see that out of
those guys last night. I mean, these are guys that

(01:30:14):
I've told you numerous times. You want to get where
you want to go. You got to get some of
those guys going. And here's hoping. Again, because I know
that a couple of weeks ago, I had called it
with Walker when he had the game in Yankee Stadium. Again,
huge home run in that series that I thought with
the way he was taking the ball the opposite way,
I was like, this is what gets Christian Walker going.

Speaker 1 (01:30:37):
Boy, was I wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:30:38):
But last night, it would be nice to see Christian
Walker get it going. Under, really, I would say an
under-told story, if that's even the right way, but a
story that's kind of going under the radar, I guess,
if you will, is Yainer Diaz has actually been swinging
a pretty good bat these last few weeks and a
couple of hits out of him last night.

Speaker 4 (01:31:00):
He's almost up to 270, Dan. Like he's really starting
to come around this year. And to your point about Walker,
he also had a nice catch on that Schwarber liner.
He had a nice double play. He had a base
hit up the middle. So he had a good game overall.

Speaker 3 (01:31:13):
You can always count on the defense for Walker is
going to be over there. And I understand too that
the frustration has been the bat not being better. But
what did I say yesterday about a guy that goes
0-3 in a game and then comes through in a
huge spot? Are you really talking about, man, this guy
hasn't been good since April? Or if he is able

(01:31:33):
to turn it on here these last three weeks of
the season, I think we're talking about Walker swinging a
good bat. I would like to be able to say
that into a live microphone. I would like to say,
that I feel like when Christian Walker goes up to
the plate, that I believe that Christian Walker can come
through in that spot.

Speaker 1 (01:31:51):
And last night he did.

Speaker 4 (01:31:53):
How much do we credit the shaving of all the
facial hair and the new eye black?

Speaker 1 (01:31:57):
Boy, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 3 (01:31:59):
I mean, there are some people that need to keep
facial hair on at all times. And they showed Christian
Walker on Space City Home Network in the clubhouse afterwards
talking about, Walker might be a guy that needs to
keep some facial hair on.

Speaker 1 (01:32:13):
At all times.

Speaker 4 (01:32:15):
It could be a little shocking sometimes when these guys
make these changes.

Speaker 3 (01:32:18):
It was incredibly shocking to see. Like, it was like
one of those, hey, man, no offense, but maybe throw
a hat on, you know, something.

Speaker 1 (01:32:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:32:28):
I mean, again, like there's a buddy of mine who
a few years ago, he had a huge beard and
he showed up one day, he had shaved it, but
it was in the middle of summer. So then the
place where his beard was was all white and the
rest of his face was tan. So we were like, boy,
we notice. We very much notice now. It's kind of
like somebody else that I worked with that used to

(01:32:49):
dye their beard. So then whenever they'd show up and
we'd be like, oh, he's back to being the pirate Blackbeard.

Speaker 4 (01:32:57):
It's like, whoa.

Speaker 6 (01:32:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:33:00):
It was a little bit, it's kind of one of those,
like once you start to show the gray, like you
can kind of like, you know, color it in accent
wise to maybe like it doesn't accentuate as much. But
when you go full on coloring, then it's like, okay,
we get what you're doing. And it is also too,
one of those that like, once you start, you got
to keep it going and it's an expensive habit. But

(01:33:20):
with Walker, I mean, look at this point, whatever works, man,
whatever gets you going, I am all on board with.
And I am fully on board with clean-shaven Christian Walker,
even if it's a little off-putting when you see him
in person without the hat on.

Speaker 4 (01:33:36):
We probably just need to get used to it. And
some of that beard dye, you're like, this color does
not exist in nature. Like, this is clearly not real. Well, yeah,
that's the thing, too, is, I mean, that's like, you know,
everybody with Ryan Day. It's like, dude, you're in your
mid to late 40s.

Speaker 1 (01:33:49):
Like, who are you kidding?

Speaker 5 (01:33:50):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (01:33:51):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:33:51):
Like Coach K all those years. It's like, Mike, you're
in your 70s. Like, we know that you got gray hair,
all right? Like, just kind of give it up just
a little bit, all right? But it was great to
see that last night out of that group. Now, am
I counting on that every single game?

Speaker 4 (01:34:07):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:34:08):
Am I wanting to see it a little bit more
out of Jeremy Pena and Jordan Alvarez?

Speaker 5 (01:34:11):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:34:12):
But again, like I said, every game right now is
in its own fishbowl. And for that one, it was
good enough to help you win a ball game.

Speaker 1 (01:34:20):
Good.

Speaker 3 (01:34:21):
It's fine by me. Because guess what? That's postseason baseball.
Nobody asks how you won game one or game two
or whatever it is in the postseason. They just ask,
did you win? And now you're up 2-1 in the series.

Speaker 1 (01:34:33):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (01:34:34):
And you needed that run where Cam decided to run
through the stop sign because if I remember correctly, Jordan
Cade and then Paredes Cade, and they wouldn't have gotten
a run that inning otherwise. And then you ended up
winning by one run.

Speaker 3 (01:34:46):
Well, and then on top of it all, too, a
guy that we've neglected to mention here in this opening
segment of the 12 o'clock hour, Dalton Varshow was massive
for you last night. He got the four-run inning started
with the double down the right field line. And then
the difference in the ball game, as you mentioned, That
was one of them. Cam Smith adding on with the
solo homer. Then Dalton Varshow's seventh inning homer won the

(01:35:09):
ball game for you. And that was before you went
back out there in the field and you got two
runners on second and third. And Jeremy Pena is able
to make a hell of a play for you. So
winning plays were made last night. I mean, again, your
pitching staff gives up five runs. Three of those to Spencer. Spencer,
oh my God, Freudian slip. To Hayden Wisniewski to be

(01:35:32):
able to get you through the sixth inning. And then
you do give up that one run there in the
bottom of the seventh. But then Bennett Sousa comes in,
gets a huge strikeout. Brian Abreu, his customary couple of
runners on. Don't worry about it. I'll handle it.

Speaker 1 (01:35:46):
He does.

Speaker 3 (01:35:47):
And then Josh Hader there. A little scary in the ninth,
but all is well that ends well. And you're able
to get the win. huge for the Astros, a massive
way to start this road trip, and now you're trying
to be able to finish it off with a win
in either of these final two games, but as you mentioned,
and I've mentioned too, it's going to be tough tonight
against Christopher Sanchez, and it's going to be tough tomorrow
against Zach Wheeler. I'd like to head into that Zach

(01:36:09):
Wheeler start of saying, well, you know what, yeah, we
do want to get out of here with a sweep,
but if we get out of here two out of three,
we're feeling pretty good heading down to Tampa Bay, and
I think that's what the Astros are trying to be
able to accomplish as they continue on with the second
game of this six-game road trip. 713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (01:36:25):
Again, it's 713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (01:36:29):
I've used two words to describe Astros pitchers earlier this season,
and those two words are back in play. Talk about
it right here as we continue in the noontime lunch
hour on the Dan Matthews Show right here on your
home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 1 (01:36:46):
So you've been listening all week.

Speaker 3 (01:36:48):
You know that we are giving away Astros tickets to
have you and whoever you want joining you to join
us for our listener appreciation night coming up next Tuesday
night as the Astros take on the Royals to open
up that series dollar dog night two at the ballpark.
So it's going to be a great night. You hanging
out with us, watching some Astros ball.

Speaker 6 (01:37:08):
Who knows?

Speaker 3 (01:37:09):
Maybe I'll go live Astros Twitter right there in person.
If you hang out with us there at the ball game.
So anyway, Coming up at 145, Josh Jordan's going to
play some audio from somebody out there. And a little
bit later on the show, when I prompt you to
call us, I want you to be able to give
us who that audio was from. So keep your ears

(01:37:31):
peeled for that. And ears peeled? I don't know if
that works, but you get my point. Keep your ears
open for that.

Speaker 1 (01:37:38):
Eyes peeled.

Speaker 3 (01:37:39):
That's the one. But in this case, since it's radio,
ears on this one. So at 115. Be able to
listening to that. And then when I prompt you to call,
give us a call and you deliver that name to
Joshua Jordan. Well, then you're coming to watch Astros Royals
with us next Tuesday night over there at Dyken Park.
So keep that in mind. 713-212-5790 is the number to

(01:38:01):
get in. Stroh is trying to make it two straight
wins over the Phils. Hunter Brown, Christopher Sanchez tonight. The
mound matchup going to be a lot of fun. 430
Astros on deck coming your way right here on Sports
Talk 790 after they win last night 6-5. And then
you got the Texans getting ready for the Bills on Sunday.
The practice week is underway over there at Reliant Park.

(01:38:23):
So you got that to look forward to. 713-212-5790 is the.

Speaker 1 (01:38:26):
Number to get in. on the phone lines.

Speaker 3 (01:38:32):
And the two words that I've used to describe this
Astros pitching staff for much of this season has been
right now. Because we've been saying all throughout the year, hey,
outside of Hunter Brown, who's probably your number two? Well,
right now it's Peter Lambert. And for much of the year,
it's been Peter Lambert. Um, right now, the answer you
stay is Hayden Wisniewski. There's no question about it. And

(01:38:54):
he proved it last night and he's been proving it
for you whenever he's taken the mound because Wisniewski has
been a guy that has been a just absolute automatic
quality start for you. I mean, isn't that a sight
for sore eyes? Isn't that a great thing to hear that?
When you listen to Robert Ford and Steve Sparks right
here on your home of the Astros, Sports Talk 790.

(01:39:15):
Because very first start of the season, five and two thirds.
He had a four inning one in there in between
as he only made it four innings against the Seattle Mariners.
But aside from that, he's gone six, seven, five, five.
And his last two starts, seven. And then he gives
you six innings last night. 3.35 ERA for you. Five
and one on the season. This guy has been automatic

(01:39:37):
as automatic can be.

Speaker 1 (01:39:39):
Out there on the mound.

Speaker 3 (01:39:40):
Yes, I understand the walks at a time have been
a little bit of an issue, and he has been
able to get some swing and miss, too. Didn't do
it a ton last night, only three of them, but still,
I mean, giving you a strong quality outing to get
this series underway last night, he's been massive for you,
and he's been a guy that at least, as you're
looking to the rest of this rotation, and I understand

(01:40:00):
that there is some concern when it comes to this
team and how they can fare in the postseason, but
at least with him right now, I trust that if
I put him on a postseason mound, that I'm going
to get the results that I want. At the very least,
Josh Jordan, he's going to have you in position to
be able to win a ballgame.

Speaker 4 (01:40:17):
Dude, yeah. He's been spectacular for what my expectations were.
And I know he's not... Like your typical Astros pitcher
is one of those really high strikeout guys. That's what
they love to have, to where he has at least
as many strikeouts for innings pitched. Whereas you look at
Wes Neske, 45 and two-thirds innings pitched, only 38 strikeouts.

(01:40:38):
But his whip is just a little above one, so
he's not walking a lot of guys. And I like
that he pitches to his defense a little bit, because
we saw in the game last night, you saw some
of those innings where he only had to throw five
or six, seven pitches.

Speaker 3 (01:40:51):
And, I mean, being able to be economical, a lot
of ground balls, and on top of it all, too,
82 pitches last night, 61 of them in the strike zone,
which a ball put in play is considered to be
a strike. Doesn't matter if it was out of the zone.
They don't care. I mean, they're counting it as a strike.
So he had a lot of ground balls, fly outs
last night, five ground balls, three fly outs, and facing

(01:41:15):
22 hitters last night and being incredibly efficient, incredibly good
for you last night.

Speaker 1 (01:41:21):
As he is able to get the win.

Speaker 3 (01:41:23):
I mean, you did have a couple of bean balls
from some of the Astros pitchers, but none of them
coming from Hayden Wisniewski. And he did not give up
a single walk, which by the way, by the way,
not a single Astros pitcher last night, giving up a walk.
Like I said, you had a blue ball and you
had a Bray. You hit a couple of guys, but
aside from that, you didn't give up any more free passes.

(01:41:43):
So that's something else. That is nice to see. A
nice development, if you will.

Speaker 4 (01:41:47):
Maybe a little more of that Stromy influence. You talked
to Joe Espada yesterday, and he said mostly it's just
been communications with Stromy. He's just kind of getting his
feet wet and talking to guys a little bit. But
I got to think there's some of that going on
right now where he told Chandler Rome, we got to
throw more first pitch strikes. Maybe that stuff's starting to
sink in. What kind of surprised me, too, and tell

(01:42:08):
me if this surprises you, Wes Neskey is only one
year younger than Lambert. They're actually less than one year apart.
Wes Neskey's 28, Lambert's 29. Didn't that kind of surprise you?

Speaker 3 (01:42:18):
It did kind of surprise me when I saw that
Wes Neskey was 28, because I would have thought that
he was in his mid-20s. But no, I mean, he obviously,
you know, got up to the major league level, pitched
well at times for the Cubs. But I mean, he
was kind of a little bit of a project for
the Astros of you feel like you like what you
got out of them.

Speaker 1 (01:42:38):
I mean, look, twofold.

Speaker 3 (01:42:39):
Now, Dana Brown can go into a next interview and say, hey,
look at that trade I pulled off because of all
three guys have been meaningful contributors for this team. And
the other one, too, you think that there's somewhere that
Dana Brown's watching the Astros and saying, fan base i
told you guys that hayden was nesky was like making
a trade deadline acquisition and you didn't believe me as

(01:43:02):
a matter of fact you wanted me whisked out of
here well who's laughing.

Speaker 4 (01:43:05):
Now and he said he was still going to be
rooting for the astros and he should right because that's
going to make getting hired easier if the guys that
he made deals for perform well.

Speaker 3 (01:43:15):
I think that dana brown's handled his exit incredibly well
i don't think anybody will disagree with that But in
terms of Brent Strom's actual influence on the team, I've
been wondering and I've been meaning to ask somebody, who's
been that guy wearing the wizard's robe and the wizard's hat?
Because it kind of feels like that's what it is.
You can try to fool me and tell me that's

(01:43:37):
not Brent Strom, but I can see that's Brent Strom.

Speaker 4 (01:43:40):
I don't think it's just with him. I know he
hadn't done a whole lot with Hunter Brown, but if
you look at what Hunter Brown's been doing over his
last several starts... He's been fantastic. He's turning back into
Hunter Brown, essentially. I mean, at the perfect time of year, Dan,
couldn't ask for a better time for Hunter Brown to
turn back into that dominant ace we know it can be.

Speaker 3 (01:44:00):
You're not making wholesale mechanical adjustments during a season, but
it could be something just as simple as, you know,
a passing conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:44:09):
Maybe try doing this.

Speaker 4 (01:44:10):
Well, no, no, I haven't.

Speaker 1 (01:44:12):
All right, give it a shot. See if it works.

Speaker 4 (01:44:14):
You know one thing that they said on the broadcast
I thought was interesting where Hunter Brown, it was right
when Stromy came in, he's like, any kind of quick tips,
anything you notice off the top of your head? And
I think it was TK that said this on the broadcast.
He's like, yeah, he's like, you're starting your curveball a
little too low. You could get some easy first pitch
strikes if you'd start a little higher and get that
called strike. He's like, it keeps finishing at the bottom

(01:44:35):
of the zone and guys aren't swinging at it. And
I noticed in his last start, Hunter Brown seemed to
be taking that advice.

Speaker 1 (01:44:41):
Oh, Brent Strom. We're big fans of that guy for
a reason.

Speaker 3 (01:44:45):
And look, I mean, it's not like to say that
Josh Miller and Ethan Katz weren't doing a great job.
I mean, I think in certain points it was they
were dealing with what they had. You didn't have Hunter
Brown for about two and a half months. I mean,
Christian Javier being out. And I understand that a lot
of people don't think that Javier has been the same
since Tommy John. But I mean, guys like Peter Lambert,
that's a little bit of tutelage. That's coaching. I mean,

(01:45:08):
guys like Hayden Wisniewski, same deal there. I mean, certain
other guys have been able to step up. So, I mean,
if you're going to say that the guys that aren't
working out are on their ledger, then you've got to
give the guys that are working out to them, too,
as well. Let's try to be fair here, all right?
In addition to being the show of honesty, we're also
the show of fairness, Josh Jordan.

Speaker 4 (01:45:26):
Wouldn't have it any other way, Dan.

Speaker 1 (01:45:28):
That's exactly it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:29):
All right, coming up, let's continue the Astros conversation because
while some of you might not necessarily be bullish about
these Astros in 2026, well, there's somebody out there that is.
and exactly what they have to say, lay it out
for you as we continue. It is the Dan Matthews
Show coming your way here on a Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (01:45:46):
Coming up here in a little.

Speaker 3 (01:45:48):
Over 20 minutes, Joshua Vann, UFC fighter, going to be
hopping on with us. Of course, he's a Houston area guy,
so look forward to being able to catch up with him.
You also have the Astros on your airwaves coming up
a little bit later on this afternoon. 4.30, Astros on
deck coming your way to get you set for Hunter
Brown against Christopher Sanchez.

Speaker 1 (01:46:08):
Really good mound matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:46:09):
In the second game of this series, Stroh is trying
to be able to clinch a series win after taking
last night 6-5. You also have the Texans on the
practice field getting ready for the Bills as week one
is upon us in the NFL. 713-212-5790 is the number
to get in.

Speaker 6 (01:46:29):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (01:46:30):
So Pedro Martinez, which of course with it being the
local game last night, you knew that we were going
to have it on Space City Home Network, but The
TBS crew doing it nationally. And the Astros, of course,
with that, you get the studio crew of Pedro Martinez,
I think is part of it. I'm trying to remember

(01:46:51):
who else. I know Lauren Shahadi is. I mean, you
can't mention that name and not get a text message
from Matt Thomas, which I'm sure will probably be coming
my way here in about a minute or two.

Speaker 4 (01:46:58):
Fitting name.

Speaker 5 (01:47:00):
Yep. Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:47:01):
Nope.

Speaker 3 (01:47:01):
She's quite, quite attractive. There is no question about that.
But when it comes to the Astros in belief and
said Astros, as I mentioned, Pedro Martinez, part of that
studio crew, and he threw this out on Twitter.

Speaker 1 (01:47:16):
Astros, I'm not concerned about their experience, offense or defense.
It's their pitching.

Speaker 3 (01:47:19):
Seeing them win against the Phillies, they will face some
tough competition on the road. If they can put it
all together, they might be able to do some damage.
And I mean, he even went a step further talking
about just they're going to need all the help that
they can get from every available arm. I think they
have enough thunder in the bats and solid defense, but
pitching concerns me a bit. I hope they can pull

(01:47:42):
it off. Jordan Alvarez, extremely impressed. He's not just making contact,
but it's solid contact. 90 plus RBI and doing this
pretty much on his own. He's got the average homers
in RBI. He's confident, healthy, and hits it when he
sees it. But he even had a step further about
the pitching where he said, if the Astros find the

(01:48:03):
proper pitching, they can be dangerous. The Phillies came back,
but they were so far ahead that they were able
to hold on to get the win. And then Dalton
Varshow doing everything right for the Astros tonight, which he's
not wrong about that. He absolutely did have a nice
night last night. So again, it's one of those. those
where the Astros have been the ones who have been saying,

(01:48:24):
feel confident in their team, feel like they got a
good team. I mean, I remember being at the all-star
break last year, catching up with Jeremy Pena. And of course,
Pena was, I believe, dealing with an injury at the
time Hunter Brown had just pitched on that Sunday. I
think the only available Astro in that game was Josh Hader,
and he didn't get into the game. But still, I
remember painting at the time saying, we've got a special

(01:48:45):
team here. Like, I really do feel like that this
is going to end the way that we hope that
it can. And it looked like it was tracking that
way with even without Jordan. And of course, the injuries
just became too much. When Jordan stepped on home plate,
it kind of felt like that that was the beginning
of the end for the Astros. And it turned out
to be the case. But this year, I mean, again,
I've said it numerous times. You got Jose Altuve in

(01:49:08):
that clubhouse. I still believe he got a chance. Possibly
Carlos Correa. I mean, I know that there's been a
lot of those calls, which we did have a call
last night of a guy asking about putting him in
left field. And I appreciate the question, but that ain't happening.
Carlos Correa is back. He's playing over at third base.
And I know that he said that he'd like to
play at third because I think Josh, when he said

(01:49:30):
what he said, is that he's considering that it's going
to be Jordan as the DH because, I mean, we
know that's usually how they handle things. But as we
pointed out before, there were a couple of games back-to-back
where Joe Espada played Jordan out in left field. So,
I mean, you want to be able to have as
many good sticks in this lineup as possible. And if
you believe that Carlos Correa is up to it, well, then, yeah,

(01:49:51):
you're going to put him over there at third base because, again,
as Pedro Martinez pointed out, you feel good about your defense.
At the same time, though, too, I need to feel
as good about the offense that that group can be
able to put up some runs. And at times, that's
been a concern for the Astros, and you'd like to
be able to alleviate those concerns.

Speaker 1 (01:50:08):
Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:50:09):
And I thought it was interesting, too, when you talked
to Joe Espada yesterday. He was like, yeah, when Carlos
comes back, we want the option to to be able
to play him every day if necessary. Now, I don't
know if that's actually going to happen, but I have
to take a spot at his word that we're not
bringing Carlos back unless he's ready to be a regular
contributor to this ball club. And I think that's how

(01:50:30):
they see it right now. And I think you're right.
Your lineup gets a little longer if you're able to, say,
maybe put Paredes in the DH, play Yordan in left,
play Carlos at third. That could work, too.

Speaker 3 (01:50:41):
Well, and I think that it's also where... As he
even said when he first started this, when he was asked,
I believe it was by Chandler Rome, you know, is
there a chance you come back? Matt Correa goes, I
wouldn't be doing all of this if I didn't think
there was a chance. I think that he probably has
the same attitude about I'm not coming back to get
a pinch hit or to get in in the eighth

(01:51:03):
inning as a defensive replacement. I'm coming back because I
want to be part of this team. I want to
be a guy that you have in the lineup and
is able to help this team out. I have my
serious doubts that he can do that on a long-term
basis with as much time as he's missed, but I
think that probably when he does make his return that
you are going to see he's in the lineup one day,

(01:51:24):
maybe he's off the next, and then you play him
a couple of days in a row, then you give
him that other day off. I think that that's probably
the build-up, what you see with him.

Speaker 4 (01:51:33):
See, I see it that way, too. That's why I
was kind of surprised the way Espada answered that question,
and maybe that's something you say as a manager because
you've you want to, you know, you want to speak
to Carlos and tell him the things he wants to
hear to work, to come back. But I don't know, Dan,
what do you think? Do you think they figure that
out in the rehab process to where it's how you
play a day, then you're off a day, then you

(01:51:54):
play a day. And I know it's, It's down in Florida.
It's not your technical type of stuff where you come back.
Do you think they'd figure that out ahead of time?
Or by the time they bring him back, they're going
to do that then as well? Well, I mean, yeah,
that's all being talked about.

Speaker 3 (01:52:07):
I mean, as you even heard Joe say yesterday, too,
is the more that they're comfortable with him doing, the
more opportunities they'll give him to kind of put in
that work down in Florida. So that's what I think
they're working through right now. I think they're kind of
to benchmarks. And then he passes that checkpoint, then go
to the next one. Okay, try him at this. I mean,
you heard what Joe Espada said yesterday. He's finally wearing cleats.

Speaker 1 (01:52:27):
I mean, my God.

Speaker 3 (01:52:28):
I mean, if it's just as simple as that, I mean,
I think that if nothing else, we've got to be
prepared for he won't be returning. Just that you've run
out of time. It's unfortunate. If he was able to, say,
start doing all of this in August, then I think
I'd feel a little bit better. I just, as the
days go by and I look at the calendar, I mean,

(01:52:49):
unless he's probably back by that final road trip of
the season, I don't think that you can count on
Carlos Correa being back and ready to go. I mean,
I guess maybe you could do like what the Cubs
did with Kyle Schwarber, because if I'm not mistaken, I
think he came back for the LCS is when he
was finally able to rejoin the team. So, I mean,
they're doing everything they can to try to make sure
that that happens. I just, I think that being able

(01:53:12):
to get him back would be a boost because I
As I've said, when you're an injured player, yes, you
are part of the team, but you don't feel like
you're part of the team. And I understand that he's
been trying to do everything he can to help him
out with the hitting meetings. And I mean, we've even
seen it when Victor Rodriguez is out there talking with
Jose Altuve. He's got the iPad in his hand. Who

(01:53:33):
else is out there? The guy that wears number one
for you, helping them out. So, I mean, I get
that he feels like he can contribute in that way,
but you want to be a full-time contributor. And that's
what he's trying to build towards.

Speaker 4 (01:53:44):
And of course, If you're Jim Crane, we need this
guy to be healthy in 2027 and 2028. And I
know there could be a lockout next year. I get
all that. But it's not just a one-year deal with Correa.
You have a long-term investment in him.

Speaker 1 (01:53:57):
You definitely do.

Speaker 3 (01:53:58):
And I know that a lot of people felt a
certain way when the Astros went that route with bringing
them back at the trade deadline.

Speaker 1 (01:54:05):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (01:54:06):
Again, it's 713-212-5790. So an Astros rival has found out
the old saying that the band The Who told us,
meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Well,
that's what they're hoping to avoid. Talk about it right
here as we continue. It is the Dan Matthews Show
hanging out with you here on a Wednesday. As we
continue the conversation, Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 4 (01:54:27):
10 minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:54:28):
Again, we're going to be catching up with UFC fighter
Joshua Vann. As of course, UFC always got something going
on and let him fill you in on what is
coming up with. involving him of course he's a houston
area guy so look forward to catching up with him
and look forward to being able to talk some mixed

(01:54:49):
martial arts you also have the astros getting ready for
the phillies tonight 4 30 astros on deck get you
set up for that one as the strohs trying to
make it two straight wins and a series clinching win
against the phillies after winning last night six to five
texans back on the practice field getting ready for the
bills as that game is coming up on Sunday. 713-212-5790

(01:55:12):
is the number to get in on the phone lines.
So we'll get into some Texans conversation a little bit
later on, but this is something that is Astros adjacent,
if you will. So last week it was announced that
Artie Moreno was selling the Los Angeles Angels to Stan Kroenke,
who is now going to be taking it over. And

(01:55:33):
Kroenke promptly As soon as he bought the team, the
announcement was out that guess what? We're tearing down the
big a and we're going to build up a new stadium.
We're actually going to be a serious organization for once.
So the athletic, a collection of two people on this.
It was a collaboration, Andy McCullough and Sam Blum Blum.

(01:55:55):
has covered the Angels for a long time, but now
does a lot of national stuff for the athletic. How
Artie Moreno's meddling, myopia, and penny pinching doomed the Angels
for a decade. There's a reason why as soon as
the announcement was made that you had guys like Mike
Trout out there who were like, this is a great
day for the organization. Now some people would look at

(01:56:16):
Mike Trout and be like, dude, you could have strong-armed
your way out of there so many different ways. Um,
you also didn't have to sign a contract extension with them. So,
I mean, a lot of this is kind of like, well,
you're either speaking up or you're allowing it to happen.

Speaker 1 (01:56:28):
And who knows?

Speaker 3 (01:56:29):
I mean, maybe we find out after the fact that
it was trout all along being like, Hey, like this guy,
he sucks, like not fun. But I mean, I've heard
different things just about obviously how the angels organization has
run that the news of Stan Kroenke coming in is
not good news here whatsoever. That guy's ownership group has

(01:56:50):
been able to win everywhere they have been. He owns
the Denver Nuggets. They have won. The Los Angeles Rams,
same deal there. The Colorado Avalanche, same deal there. He's
going to put the money and the efforts towards being
able to get the right people in place and help
this organization win. And the Angels, for the most part,
outside of 2002, have not been a winning organization whatsoever.

(01:57:14):
I mean, remember that year, the Thundersticks, all of that,
the Rally Monkey. Brendan Donnelly, Troy Percival, trying to think
who else was part of that bullpen that they had.
Francisco Rodriguez. Then you had Darren Erstad and all those guys.
I mean, they had good teams for years, but they'd
never necessarily built up to that point. And then, you know,

(01:57:35):
it was finally that year that you had like Tim
Salmon and Troy Gloss and all those guys making things happen.
Garrett Anderson, who we lost earlier this year. But a
toxic culture spilled into public view during the trials of
Tyler Skagg's death, his ballpark. The facilities fell into disrepair
in a situation that may be remedied under the stewardship

(01:57:58):
of new owner Stan Kroenke, who entered into an agreement
to purchase the team last week at a value of
$ 4 billion. So, I mean, it was a lot of
different things that were part of Artie Moreno's ownership As
Moreno talking about players that they'd had as well in
the past as Shohei Otani was a year away from

(01:58:19):
free agency and the Angels had yet to capitalize on
his two-way brilliance. And Moreno sounded uncertain of how to
value this generational talent. He said, arguably the most unique
player and probably one of the top five or 10
players in baseball, but it's a business. Yeah, that's what
your fan base wants to hear. And then, of course,
he had earlier this year the real great line that

(01:58:42):
his fan base just sure ate up in love of
something to the effect of, well, our fan base really
isn't all that concerned with winning.

Speaker 1 (01:58:49):
Oh, they're not? Oh, that's strange. Are you guessing that
from your attendance?

Speaker 3 (01:58:54):
Because the Angels actually still do have pretty decent attendance
at their games. They do have a strong fan base there.
They do have people who are not just Dodger fans.
They have people who you run into from Southern California
and they're like, no, I'm an Angels fan. They do
have a following. And I mean, usually with a fan base,
you kind of reach a point where you're like, enough's enough, man.

(01:59:14):
I'm not going to support this. I'm not going to
continue to be a part of this. And with Kroenke
taken over there, I think that that's going to absolutely
change the equation because I think that as he gets
into the baseball business, he's going to learn that, yes,
there are investments that you make at the major league level,
but more than anything, the investments that you make are

(01:59:34):
at the minor league level and it kind of builds
from the ground up.

Speaker 1 (01:59:37):
It's almost like the food pyramid at a certain point.

Speaker 3 (01:59:40):
And I understand how that's going to be approached by
some people, but that you build this thing with a
foundation and then those guys come up in your organization.
We saw it here in Houston, right? of where when
you finally decided to scrap this thing down and be
able to rebuild it from the ground floor up, that
you saw that you had an incredibly strong minor league system.

(02:00:00):
Not only that you had an incredibly strong minor league system,
but you also had people there that were cutting edge
in terms of how you develop players. I mean, how
many years, Josh Jordan, did we see the Astros call
players up and we're like, I don't know who this
guy is. Wow, hits the ball a ton. Man, this
guy throws the ball a ton. I mean, it's just
that's what scouting and development does for you. And the

(02:00:22):
Astros had that. And I think in some ways they're
trying to get back to that. And we'll see if
they're able to accomplish that. But still, bad owners just
don't get it. And at a certain point, they don't
have to. Because you know what the benefit of having
screw you money is? Is that you get to tell people,
screw you. I don't care. I'm a billionaire. And that
kind of seems like that was the way that Artie

(02:00:42):
Moreno ran the Angels.

Speaker 5 (02:00:44):
100%.

Speaker 4 (02:00:45):
I remember when Drayton McClain... reportedly just took all the
money out of scouting and development, and that really put
the Astros behind the eight ball for a long time.

Speaker 1 (02:00:54):
No good, that is for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:00:55):
All right, Joshua Vann taking part in USC 331.

Speaker 1 (02:01:00):
Talk about that.

Speaker 3 (02:01:01):
And also, too, like we said, he's a Houston area guy,
so look forward to maybe even getting his thoughts on
the Strohs, Texans, everybody else. Like I said, he's from
the H. We're catching up with them next right here
as we continue. It is the Dan Matthews Show on
your home of the Astros and the Rockets. Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 4 (02:01:17):
One o'clock hour.

Speaker 1 (02:01:19):
Here we go.

Speaker 3 (02:01:21):
Is the Astros back on the diamond here at 430
with Astros on deck? You set for them against the Phillies.
You also have the Texans on the practice field getting
ready for the Bills on Sunday. But right now we're
talking at UFC and we are talking at UFC 331.
This man going to be a huge part of it
coming up on Saturday, September 19th from crypto.com arena out

(02:01:43):
there in LA. He's a Houston guy trains here in
the H over at four ounce fight club. He is
Joshua van and he joins us right now. Hey Joshua, man,
big fan of your work and really look forward to
seeing you go up against Alexandria Pantoja. But I mean,
just talking about your Houston roots here. I know that
you're over with Jeremy and the crew over there at
four ounce. I mean, just, What does the H mean

(02:02:05):
to you, and what does it mean to have the
support of everybody here in Houston?

Speaker 6 (02:02:11):
Man, it feels amazing to represent Houston. You know, Houston
raised me. I was born in Myanmar, but Houston raised me.
So I see Houston as my own city, and it
feels amazing to represent Houston, Texas. And, of course, UFC 331,
you know, we're going to show out for Houston.

Speaker 3 (02:02:32):
And I mean, it's not only you that's from here.
I mean, I don't think a lot of people realize
the Houston connection that's currently in the UFC. I mean,
Derek Lewis, a Houston guy. I mean, is that kind
of a point of pride that y'all have where, I mean,
obviously Albuquerque, you know, with Holly home and that whole
crew of there and just, you know, all of the
Southern California gyms, but like, is Houston kind of starting

(02:02:52):
to put themselves on the map?

Speaker 6 (02:02:56):
Yeah, for sure, man. You know, my head coach, Daniel Pineda,
was the first guy to make it to the UFC
from Houston. And, you know, I'm the first champion. So,
you know what I mean? History repeats itself. And, you know,
the community, the Houston community, the MMA community is going
up for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:03:14):
Again, Joshua Vann, UFC fighter, joining us here on the
Dan Matthews Show Sports Talk 790 as Vann looking to
defend his UFC flyweight championship against Alexandria Pantoja coming up
here in about 10 days out in Los Angeles. I mean,
we hear about it all the time of going through
a camp, and I don't think a lot of people

(02:03:35):
necessarily understand that. Kind of take us through the basics
of what it means to be in camp to get
ready for a fight.

Speaker 6 (02:03:44):
Man, the camp is hard. We just have to be
100% locked in every day. Camp is hard, but like
I said, the hard work is over. In 10 days,
we're going to have fun in the cage, so you
guys will see the work we put in.

Speaker 3 (02:03:58):
It's kind of hard to believe this is going to
be your first main event that you've ever had in
your career. When you think of the fighters that come
through there, what does that mean to you?

Speaker 6 (02:04:07):
It means amazing for a flyweight to headline. In a
big car like this, it feels amazing, man, which is
riding history.

Speaker 3 (02:04:15):
And again, Joshua Vann joining us here. UFC flyweight champion
looking to defend his crown against Alexandre Pantoja coming up
on September 19th from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 (02:04:27):
UFC 331 headlining that night's event.

Speaker 3 (02:04:31):
Um, and you mentioned too, I mean, immigrating here from
Myanmar and, uh, being able to settle into Houston, uh,
just kind of take us through your background. I mean,
where'd you go to school? What part of town did
you grow up in and just your memories of Houston?

Speaker 6 (02:04:45):
You know, when I first got here, uh, when I
first got to Houston, I was, I was raised in, uh, Chinatown,
Bel Air. You know, I, uh, go to school and
they leave me to school.

Speaker 4 (02:04:57):
And, you know, I move around a lot.

Speaker 6 (02:04:59):
So I moved to Spring Branch area and then now
I'm in Cypress and things like that. So, yeah, I
grew around like everywhere in Houston, pretty much.

Speaker 3 (02:05:10):
And I mean, as we saw in one of the
last pay-per-views where you did take the flyweight crown away. Just,
I mean, all of that work you put in, Joshua,
I mean, what is that moment like when you hear
Bruce Buffer say that you've won the fight and then
Dana White is putting the belt on you?

Speaker 6 (02:05:28):
Man, in my head, I was just like, wow, we
did it. You know, I had my mom, that belt,
and it meant everything to me. Representing my country, Myanmar, and,
you know, representing Houston, Texas, it just felt amazing, man.

Speaker 3 (02:05:47):
And, I mean, usually when there's a buildup to a fight,
I mean, certain guys handle it a certain way. I mean,
you can go in there realizing it's a competition. Maybe
some guys, they've got to talk trash about their opponent.
But with Pantoja, I mean, is there a healthy respect there?
Or is this one of those that, you know, he's
coming for your crown and you want to be able
to hold him off. So there's kind of a little
bit of built-in animosity there.

Speaker 6 (02:06:10):
Yeah, it's all respect. You know, it's all business at
the end of the day. But it's just going to be...
Him getting his ass whooped in 10 days.

Speaker 4 (02:06:20):
There we go.

Speaker 3 (02:06:21):
Again, Joshua Vann joining us here. You're also on a
seven-fight win streak. I mean, just kind of take us through,
how hard is it just to win one in the UFC?
I think a lot of people see people like you
and some of the others that have been so successful
in this organization, but just all of the work, everything
that goes into just being able to win one fight.

Speaker 6 (02:06:43):
Yeah, to get a win in the UFC is hard.
You know, to get to the UFC is hard enough already.
So you just speak about, you know, what we do
in the gym and how hard we work outside of
the cameras and things like that. So it is hard
to get a win in the UFC, man, let alone
get into the UFC. So, yeah, it's pretty hard.

Speaker 3 (02:07:04):
And, I mean, clearly it's not just you training over
there at 4-Ounce. I mean, you've got so many other
people that are there with you. uh, Bobby, as you mentioned, Jeremy,
I know he's, uh, you know, another guy that's really
influential over there. I mean, do you kind of, while
you're in camp, even with like some of the younger
guys or somebody else that are trying to make their way,
do you try to kind of help those guys out too,

(02:07:25):
to understand that the path that they're on?

Speaker 6 (02:07:29):
Yeah. Uh, Bobby and Bobby and Jeremy is not four hours.

Speaker 4 (02:07:33):
No more.

Speaker 6 (02:07:33):
It was Daniel Panetta who run four hours.

Speaker 1 (02:07:35):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:07:36):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 6 (02:07:36):
You know, he, he doing, uh, he doing, yeah, he
doing a great job so far. And, uh, Yeah, so
we have four UFC guys now at four hours, so
you know what I mean? We're doing pretty well at
four hours.

Speaker 3 (02:07:50):
All right, so obviously you've been in camp, so nutrition,
everything is strict, but when you're not in camp and
you're hanging out here in Houston, where can people most
likely find you? I mean, I know you don't want
to give away the exact spots, but do you have
some favorite spots here in town that you always like
to hit up?

Speaker 6 (02:08:09):
Okay. For sure. You know, wherever there's a good steak,
that's where you will find me.

Speaker 1 (02:08:15):
Okay. Well, there's plenty of those around here. There's no question.

Speaker 3 (02:08:18):
Again, Joshua Vann joining us says it's going to be
Joshua Vann against Alexandria Pantoja. Coming up on September 19th
from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. That's UFC 331
Van versus Pantoja 2 taking place with Van defending his
UFC Flyweight Championship in this one. And you can find

(02:08:42):
it on Paramount Plus and a few tickets remaining there
at Ticketmaster.com.

Speaker 1 (02:08:46):
Hey, get you out the door with this.

Speaker 3 (02:08:47):
I mean, you know, obviously you've grown up a good
amount of your life here in Houston. Any favorite sports teams?
Anybody that when they're on and you're not in camp
that you find yourself in front of the TV watching?

Speaker 6 (02:09:02):
Like, I don't really watch sport on TV, but I
go to, you know, Astro games and things like that. So,
you know, shout out Astro.

Speaker 3 (02:09:11):
Yeah, I mean, I know that Carlos Correa is a
big UFC guy. Have you ever had a chance to
meet him, talk a little bit of mixed martial arts
with him?

Speaker 6 (02:09:20):
Not yet, man. Hopefully I'll get to meet him in
the future.

Speaker 1 (02:09:24):
Well, there you go. I mean, we got postseason time
coming up.

Speaker 3 (02:09:26):
So, you know, go to L.A., take care of business
and then show back up at Dyken Park with that
Flyweight Championship.

Speaker 1 (02:09:32):
And I'm sure they could probably make that happen.

Speaker 6 (02:09:36):
For sure, man. That would be amazing.

Speaker 4 (02:09:38):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (02:09:39):
Joshua Vann, again, joining us here. UFC 331 taking on
Alexandria Pantoja. Again, it's Vann versus Pantoja 2 for UFC 331.
And that's going to be coming up here in about
10 days out at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Hey, Joshua,
like I said at the beginning, huge fan of your
fighting style, huge fan of your work, and look forward

(02:10:01):
to seeing you go up against Pantoja in this fight.

Speaker 6 (02:10:05):
Thank you so much, brother. And make sure you guys
watch it.

Speaker 4 (02:10:09):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (02:10:10):
You heard it from the man himself. Again, Joshua Vann
joining us here. Houston's own Joshua Vann. So looking forward
to see him fight, as you heard him mention, trains
with Daniel Pineda and the crew over there at 4-Ounce
Fight Club. I believe 4-Ounce is on the north side
of town. I think it's over there like St. Pius territory.
I could be wrong about that. But anyway, looking forward

(02:10:31):
to see him go up against Pantoja in UFC 331.
As I mentioned, that'll be on Paramount +. All right,
coming up next, as I mentioned, we're giving away those
tickets a little bit later on in the show, but
I want you to keep those ears open because we're
going to play some audio for you. And when I
call for you to call in to get those tickets... well,
you're going to have to mention who the audio is from.

(02:10:51):
So keep your ears out for that. We also do
want to get into some Texans conversation because, well, somebody's
out there speaking highly about the Texans. My only advice
to them, say it with your chest. As we continue here,
it is the Dan Matthews Show coming your way on
a Wednesday, Sports Talk 790. Thanks to Joshua Vann again
taking on Alexander Pantoja coming up on September 19th from Crypto.com

(02:11:16):
Arena there as part of UFC 331 Vann vs.

Speaker 1 (02:11:21):
Pantoja.

Speaker 3 (02:11:23):
And you can watch that on Paramount +. Of course,
probably be catching that one. I do like whenever there's
good pay-per-view out there to be able to watch, be
able to check it out. So probably me and a
buddy of mine that is also a big UFC fan.
We'll go ahead and pull up for that one. Again,
that's coming up on Saturday, September 19th from their crypto.com

(02:11:43):
arena in Los Angeles and appreciate his time. 713-212-5790 is
the number to get in. Astros winning last night 6-5
over the Phillies. Trying to make it two in a
row tonight. 430 Astros on deck. Get you set for it.
And you also have the Texans just now getting back
out on the practice field to get ready for the
Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (02:12:03):
Okay, so I'm not going to give you an exact name, but.

Speaker 3 (02:12:07):
Joshua Jordan is going to play some audio for you
from a head coach of a school that just got
absolutely pantsed over the weekend in their travels to a
certain place in college football. So I'm going to ask
a question off this audio a little bit later on
the show. And if you have the correct answer for us,
then a pair of Astros tickets to go see the

(02:12:32):
Hanging out with us as part of our listener appreciation
night will be coming your way. So, Josh, without further ado,
there is a college football coach out there that, like
I said, his team just got absolutely worked over the weekend.
And he was asked a question from a reporter about
whether or not he had regrets over his roster construction

(02:12:54):
heading into that game.

Speaker 1 (02:12:55):
Here is said head coach.

Speaker 4 (02:12:57):
You're the gotcha guy.

Speaker 8 (02:12:59):
No, I don't.

Speaker 4 (02:12:59):
I don't, man.

Speaker 8 (02:13:00):
I regret being 0-1-1 right now. I regret that. Can
you ask me that at the end of the season?
The season isn't over. We've got one game. We've got
11 more. What if we go 11-1? You promise me
you'll ask me that then?

Speaker 6 (02:13:17):
Okay, good.

Speaker 4 (02:13:18):
I'll answer it.

Speaker 1 (02:13:19):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (02:13:20):
So that said college football head coach, We'll come into
focus a little bit later on the show. We'll give
away those pair of Astros tickets. So make sure that
you're listening closely when they do that prompt for you
to call at 713-212-5790.

Speaker 1 (02:13:35):
All right.

Speaker 3 (02:13:37):
In addition to hearing from random college football coaches, well,
we also at least had Aaron Wilson here from Nico Collins,
who he caught up with a couple of weeks ago
when the Texans were in Charlotte going through the Their
combined practice with the Panthers and Nico Collins at the
time calling his shot with the Texans this season, saying

(02:14:01):
that he believes it's going to be a special season. Now,
I understand a lot of people when it comes to,
you know, players saying this, coaches saying this. I mean,
I get it all the time. I mean, it's one
of those things that even us in the media, whenever
you deal with teams, you will have people who even,
you know, off the record, if you will, will be like, oh,

(02:14:22):
you know, yeah, hey, you know, this is going to
happen and that's going to happen.

Speaker 1 (02:14:25):
Oh, we're going to be a great team.

Speaker 3 (02:14:26):
Like almost kind of like trying to like goad you
into like going into their talking points. which then it's
one of those where as soon as that happens, I'm
usually one of those people that's like, okay, I know
what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to
do your PR for you. If you're bad, I'm going
to say that you're bad. If you're great, I'm going
to say that you're great. I mean, really, it's as

(02:14:48):
fair as it can be that I'm not going to
try to pee on y'all's feet and tell you that
it's raining, especially to when things are looking bad. I
think that I've got a pretty good track record of
telling you, how I view things and I mean if
it influences you great if it doesn't well then obviously
that's your decision too as well but I do appreciate

(02:15:10):
hearing Nico Collins say the words special season because I've
talked about it before of Willie Anderson Jr. where I
believe it was during OTAs and he was talking to
the team and he goes how many of you guys
think we can win the Super Bowl and And his
immediate response to that was, I better have seen every
single hand raised. Like, why else are we here if

(02:15:30):
we're not doing this? Now, I understand certain people talk
is cheap and it only takes you so far. But also, too,
can I introduce you to the power of positive thinking?
that if you want to be able to get towards
a goal, well, then you have to be able to
be positive about being able to reach your goal. Positive
about we're putting in the work. Positive about we've got

(02:15:52):
the support that we need in order to be able
to help us get to this point. I mean, the
Astros finally won the World Series in 2017. How many
times had we thought before, as Brian and Paralan brought up, 1998,
we thought that team had it.

Speaker 4 (02:16:07):
They didn't.

Speaker 3 (02:16:07):
They lost in the divisional round. 2019, you were a
game away with two of them back on your home field.
I don't mean to rip old Band-Aids off, but in
this case right here, well, that one's straight up a scar.
So we just reopened an old scar at that point because, yeah,
that one hurt.

Speaker 1 (02:16:25):
That one sucked. That one wasn't great.

Speaker 3 (02:16:28):
And in 2022, you're able to get revenge on the
baseball world. And you're able to tell everybody, hey, you
thought that we were just a bunch of cheaters that
couldn't win a World Series without it? Well, joke's on
you now, because guess what? Now you got two of
them staring at you up on that light stanchion out
there in left center field. So go ahead and enjoy
it when you come to Dyken Park and see it,
because they ain't coming down. They're staying right there because

(02:16:51):
they were earned. And I think most Astros fans would
agree on that. But at least when it comes to
the Texans, the burden of proof is absolutely on them
because the Rockets have done it. It's been over 30
years since they've done it, but they got two of them.
Those banners don't come down. They stay up there. 1994,
special year. I remember being in the building for it
and seeing it every time I hear Tina Turner, simply

(02:17:13):
the best. I always think about that night. And I
was eight years old at the time. But still, it's
something that even 32 years later has stuck with me.
Same deal also, too, with 1995. I mean, an unlikely team.
Six seed heading into the playoffs. And then you're thinking, okay,
you've won a couple of nice series. Well, now you
got the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Have fun

(02:17:35):
with that. No, it was quickly. No, have fun with
us going to San Antonio, being able to win both
of these games. And yes, we stub our toe back
in Houston, but then we'll come back here and win.
And then we'll take game six back in Houston and
be able to face an Orlando Magic team that nobody's
given us any opportunity against. And then Nick Anderson missed
some free throws and you're able to sweep them. And
you got Matt Thomas as he's doing the PA there

(02:17:57):
at the summit at the time, introducing the Orlando Magic into,
I believe it was game three that they introduced them.

Speaker 1 (02:18:03):
Matt's going to text me if I'm wrong. But small
world playing. It's a small world after all.

Speaker 4 (02:18:09):
Memories, right?

Speaker 1 (02:18:10):
We all enjoy it. We all love it. Texans have
not had that.

Speaker 3 (02:18:13):
Texans don't have a proud history when it comes to
disorganization whatsoever. I mean, yeah, we remember 2011 when they
finally kicked in the door and made the playoffs with
TJ Yates as their quarterback. But you had a defense
that was unreal that season. JJ Watt is a rookie.
We remember that pick six against the Bengals. It was

(02:18:33):
fun times. No question. You've had fun times in the
wildcard round. You've never had fun times beyond that. The
closest opportunity you had and the best you ever felt
was heading into that playoff game last year against the Patriots.
I thought there was zero chance they were losing that game.
And then quickly you started to realize, nope, we're making
life way too hard on ourselves and we're not going

(02:18:54):
to win this game. And that's the way that it
played out. But at least being able to have that
belief in yourself is massive because it's got to start somewhere.
You've got to be able to have people in that
building that keep your eye on the prize, that tell you, hey,
we're doing the right things. Continue doing this. We've got
the guys in this locker room. Is it going to

(02:19:15):
be pretty all throughout the year? No, this team's not
going to go 17 and 0. As a matter of fact,
they're probably going to lose at least one game this
year that we look back on and we're like, how
the hell did you lose to Washington Commanders? Or how
the hell did you lose in London to the Jaguars?
Whoever it is, we're going to have that reaction sometime
during this season. But I also think, though, too, as

(02:19:36):
I've continued to tell you all. This is the absolute
best that I've ever felt about a Texans team heading
into a season because for the life of me, I mean,
I understand the offensive line isn't proven, but at least
for the first time in a really long time, I
feel like that you have at least five guys that
you can count on on that offensive line. And if
you don't, then I feel like that you've got guys

(02:19:56):
behind them that can come in and be able to
provide and be able to give you a good group
of five up there. That's about the only question that
I have with this team. Maybe linebacker depth outside of
Aziz Alshayer and Henry Toto. But again, I think these
are kind of things that almost with a magnifying glass
that you got to kind of look for and see

(02:20:17):
what are some perceived weaknesses. And I know that some
of you out there are going to say that it's
CJ Stroud. I'm a believer in CJ Stroud. And I
think that this offseason kind of was a little bit
of a turning of a corner for CJ Stroud. I
don't think he had maturity issues or anything like that.
I just think at a certain point that you also
have to realize that there's another step to take in
the NFL and And that it took him a couple
of years to kind of realize the work that goes

(02:20:38):
into making sure that you can take that next step.
I think he put in said work over the offseason.
So when I hear players like Nico Collins say things
like this and that he can feel the energy amongst
the team, it fires me up for the season. It
gets me excited about what this team can accomplish because
I do absolutely think that this is a team that's
going to be playing on championship weekend for the AFC crown.

(02:21:00):
They have the team to be able to do it.
I think that they will be there. You look at
everybody else in the AFC, and me and Josh kind
of went through a little bit of the exercise a
little bit earlier. Do I necessarily think that the Buffalo
Bills are a team that is going to be a
massive threat to you? They could be there, but I
think that you are a better football team than the
Buffalo Bills are. A lot of people believe in the
Baltimore Ravens this year, and you've never beat Lamar Jackson. Again,

(02:21:24):
you haven't done something until you do it. And the Texans,
I do think, are plenty capable of being able to
beat Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 1 (02:21:32):
You can go on down the list.

Speaker 3 (02:21:33):
New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs, if
they're back, the Los Angeles Chargers, all of these teams
I look at and I don't necessarily say, okay, you're
not quite those guys. I think that now you can
look at those teams and they can say, you know what?
That's a damn good football team and they're probably a

(02:21:55):
little bit deeper than we are because for the job
that Nick Casario has done being able to build up
this roster, you can't really go into this season saying, boy,
you really kind of tried to stretch some things around
here to make this work. Really, the only one that
I could maybe look at is with the Jaden Higgins
injury of going out there and making the trade to
get Kayshaun Booty was one that you had probably some

(02:22:18):
concerns about that receiver group because of Nico Collins and
his injury history and probably having to believe that he's
going to miss a week or two sometime during this season.

Speaker 1 (02:22:28):
That happens.

Speaker 3 (02:22:29):
But I feel a lot better than I did pre-trade
I mean, if you were going into this season telling
me that it was going to be Xavier Hutchinson, Jalen Knoll,
I would have probably said, man, sounds like we're signing
up for a little bit more of Dalton Schultz being
your number two target on the field. And maybe that
still plays out to be the case. But at least,
I mean, believing that you can do it is the

(02:22:51):
first step. Then it's the actual execution of it. And
the Texans have been able to prove they can win
close games. The Texans have been able to prove They
can win huge games. And I understand what D'Amico Ryan's,
what the thought is with him and how he views
the offense. But you heard what he said the other
day of talking about the defense, where it was, well,
we had to go out there and we had to

(02:23:12):
prove it. Well, the offense, you got to go out
there and you got to prove it. And I think
that they will this season. Again, with all of the
moves that they made this offseason, I appreciate Nico Collins
saying things like this. And I appreciate it when I
hear it from any of the Texans players, because you
should feel that way about this team. Now it's about,
as D'Amico Ryan said the other day, it's about doing it.

(02:23:32):
And no time like the present to be able to
try to prove that you are that team. You are
those people. That's what it is. Remember, Braves beat the
Astros in 2021. And you had Jock Peterson saying, we
are those you-know-whats.

Speaker 4 (02:23:46):
Can't say it.

Speaker 1 (02:23:47):
FCC.

Speaker 3 (02:23:48):
Just took my FCC training. So I just want to
make sure we're on the right side of the law here.
But that's kind of the way that you got to feel.
That there's nobody out there that when we play like
who we are, that can beat you.

Speaker 1 (02:24:01):
And that's up to the Texans this year. Go ahead, Josh.

Speaker 4 (02:24:03):
I was just going to say the Ravens are that
team for me where you remember that Christmas Day game
where they were blown out just before the game barely
even started. I just... Seeing them take... Just take down
Lamar Jackson and win that game. That's a big concern
for me. But it doesn't matter if you don't meet
them in the playoffs. But you brought up Nico Collins.
We know that they won the game against the Bills
last year. He had three catches on three targets for

(02:24:25):
55 yards. Do you think that's enough this year when
they open up? You know what?

Speaker 3 (02:24:29):
I'm glad that you brought that up, too, because that
has been a talking point that has been going around already,
emanating from Buffalo this week. And it's kind of one
of those that you want to try to find out. Okay,
is there a point there? We'll have that for you
as we continue. It is the Dan Matthews Show, hanging
out with you on a Wednesday, Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 1 (02:24:48):
It is the Dan.

Speaker 3 (02:24:50):
Matthews Show, Sports Talk 790. Coming up here in about
10 minutes, going to be giving you that prompt to
give us a call at 713-212-5790. And if you got
the correct answer for one Joshua Jordan, well, then two
Astros tickets next Tuesday night. for our 790 listener appreciation
night out there at Dyken Park. Could be yours, so

(02:25:13):
keep your ears open for that, and we will have
it for you as you got the Strohs taking on
the Phillies tonight, second game of the series. They went
last night 6-5 and trying to be able to make
it at least a series win.

Speaker 1 (02:25:24):
Going to be a tough one tonight.

Speaker 3 (02:25:26):
Hunter Brown on the mound against Christopher Sanchez for the Phillies.
430 Astros on deck can be coming your way. You
also have the Texans on the practice field getting ready
for the Bills on Sunday. And you have NFL football
firing up tonight. Patriots Seahawks coming your way as the
NFL season gets underway.

Speaker 6 (02:25:44):
All right.

Speaker 3 (02:25:44):
So I don't know who Dan Mitchell is, but he
is at least verified NFL content creator. And judging by his,
I guess, avatar is what you call it on Twitter.

Speaker 1 (02:25:58):
It's 2026.

Speaker 3 (02:25:59):
I should probably know exactly what the actual term is,
but he's got a Bill's hat on in the little
caricature drawing of him. So Bill's injured players in 2319
loss last season to the Texans unavailable before the game.
Dalton Schultz, or excuse me, Dalton Schultz was out there.
Another Dalton that plays tight end, Dalton Kincaid, which by

(02:26:21):
the way, Dalton Schultz, he did give me confirmation. His
parents are big Patrick Swayze fans. So Dalton from the
movie Roadhouse, the original one, not the horse crap that
they put out with Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor, any
of those things. No, the actual good one, the double deuce,
like the actual double deuce right there.

Speaker 1 (02:26:40):
You know, of what's his name? Brad, Brad Wesley. Was
that his name?

Speaker 4 (02:26:44):
Oh yeah. It was Brad Wesley.

Speaker 6 (02:26:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:26:46):
Brad, Brad Wesley there, you know, trying to run the
town there. I gave these.

Speaker 3 (02:26:50):
People a life. I gave them homes and this is
how they repay me. Well, yeah, because Dalton showed up
and he was able to show you. Guess what, Brad?
People are tired of your crap. But anyway, so Dalton
Kincaid was out with a hamstring. Curry Samuel was out
with an elbow and a neck. Nicole Hardman, calf placed
on the IR. Fedarian Mathis, defensive tackle, shoulder inactive. Keon Coleman, inactive,

(02:27:13):
healthy scratch. Jamarcus Ingram inactive. And then Chase Lunt, who
is an offensive tackle for them, didn't play. And then
playing through injury or hurt during the course of the game.
He mentions that Josh Allen was hurt with the left shoulder,
played through it.

Speaker 1 (02:27:29):
No missed snaps.

Speaker 3 (02:27:30):
Khalil Shakir, concussion evaluation cleared and returned. Deion Dawkins, as
he had gone through the protocol and then cleared to
return but then later went into the protocol Spencer Brown
shoulder tried to play through didn't finish Terrell Bernard elbow
left in the third quarter did not return Maxwell Harrison

(02:27:51):
concussion did not return Christian Benford AJ Epinesa, who cleared
and returned, and then fullback Reggie Gilliam, brief evaluation, returned quickly.
To which one person's response to it from the Texans'
side was, all I really take from this tweet is
that the Texans beat you up. And, I mean, at

(02:28:12):
least with that, that is something that you could take
from it. But it seems like that that's a talking
point in Buffalo this week, where I've told you that
at least there is one that I guarantee you today,
which I'm assuming it's today that Josh Allen is going
to meet with the media is, Hey, you haven't had
any good trips down there. As a matter of fact,
you've had one out of four times you've played them

(02:28:32):
down there in the other four times that you've played
against them, which he's one in four against them.

Speaker 1 (02:28:38):
It has not gone well for you.

Speaker 3 (02:28:40):
So there is that one, but is that really a
talking point that Bill's fans are trying to hang on
here is that, Oh, we didn't beat the Texans because
we were hurt.

Speaker 4 (02:28:50):
Sounds like it sounds like an excuse to me, but
here's the thing that I'm kind of curious. The bills
are favored in this game and the games here in
Houston favored by a point and a half. I'm just wondering,
is this just because they have the better quarterback? Is
it that simple?

Speaker 1 (02:29:04):
I would have to believe so.

Speaker 3 (02:29:06):
I mean, I would have to believe that probably on
the national front, because I think there are people who
look at the Texans and it is a little bit
of fool me once shame on me kind of deal.
Fool me twice, shame on you or whatever the saying goes,
you get the point. Um, I'm almost wondering if that's
kind of a little bit of the way that it
starts off, but I'm going to be curious when we
have Lee Sterling on on Friday where that line is

(02:29:29):
because the sharp money hasn't come in yet. Sharp money
doesn't really start coming in until about Thursday or Friday.
So if that's the case, I would probably have to
guess that it flips to Texans minus one and a half.
Like I really think that the home crowd very first
game out the gate that both teams are healthy. And
as I've said, First-time head coach, Joe Brady. I mean,

(02:29:51):
a lot of people believe in him. Otherwise, he wouldn't
be a head coach up there. I still just think
that the built-in advantage is with the Texans playing on
their home field with the roster that they've got that's
fully healthy.

Speaker 4 (02:30:04):
I think some of the handicappers, maybe the public, probably
a little gun-shy to back C.J. Stroud until they see
him bounce back. And the other thing, defending C.J. just
a little bit, he hasn't had an experienced offensive coordinator
in his career yet. So maybe this is the year
that he finally gets a little help in that aspect.
And I know he was good as Ricky year, but

(02:30:25):
they figured that out. And that's why they moved on
from Bobby slug. So I think he has that working
for him, but yeah, I think that's part of it.
Dan is the public, the handicappers. They got to see
that CJ Stroud is, is recovered from what he showed
in the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (02:30:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:30:38):
Some of the Texan fans responses. One of them, no
one is reading all that bro. Just put the fries
in the bag. Another one, I love pathetic excuse making.
The best part is the entire second half of this
list is just saying that the Texans beat the hell
out of the Bills during that game. And Texans had
no significant injuries in that game and didn't start their

(02:30:59):
second string quarterback to put up a crappy stat line.
I'm glad we don't live in a society where men
use excuses for failure.

Speaker 1 (02:31:07):
Let's see.

Speaker 3 (02:31:08):
Allen has had eight months to play the injury card.
If he's not ready, it's 100% on him. Play or don't.
But bitching about it has no credibility. So there you go. See,
I like when college football Twitter starts to make its
way into NFL Twitter. And in the age of social media,

(02:31:30):
it's usually what it eventually devolves to. And in this case,
it seems like that's the case.

Speaker 1 (02:31:35):
So I like it.

Speaker 3 (02:31:35):
Have a little, you know, banter back and forth. One thing, though,
is people, I think, know that part of the iHeartRadio
family of stations here, 94.5. So Rod Ryan is a
big Buffalo Bills guy. Before Sunday, I am going to
ask him, I do want to see a table jump.
I do want to see somebody jump off a truck,
go through a table and see how it goes for them.

(02:31:59):
I do want to find out where that's going to happen.
I've been told numerous times, like I think where the
old Astroworld is, I think that's where one of the
Bill's mafia parties are. And I'm not going to go
across that bridge and go over there. But I do
want to see.

Speaker 1 (02:32:11):
One in person.

Speaker 4 (02:32:13):
How can you not?

Speaker 1 (02:32:14):
Well, I mean, I'm not going to be doing it.

Speaker 4 (02:32:16):
God, no.

Speaker 1 (02:32:17):
Yeah, that's for damn sure.

Speaker 3 (02:32:18):
I mean, I would think that probably even remotely getting
close to agreeing to do it would have to incur
a few drinks being had before then. That makes me believe, okay,
this will be just fine. And in the moment with
the adrenaline and everything, you'd probably be fine. But then
the next morning would be hell. So if you saw
me come in here with a limp table, huh?

Speaker 1 (02:32:36):
Yeah, it won.

Speaker 4 (02:32:38):
Broken hip. I don't see how those people don't kill
themselves doing that.

Speaker 3 (02:32:41):
Oh, my God, man. Look at that black, purple, and
blue on your hip right there.

Speaker 1 (02:32:46):
That ain't any good. Yeah, I don't want that life. Hey,
real quick here, too.

Speaker 3 (02:32:50):
I know that a lot of people have also been
paying attention to what's happening with LSU versus the SEC.

Speaker 1 (02:32:56):
Well, a couple of different reports out there now.

Speaker 3 (02:32:59):
The SEC's federal court hearing that was supposed to happen
today has been pushed to a later date as tensions
have been, quote, cooled. following LSU's decision to not roster
former NFL players, which they weren't former NFL players.

Speaker 4 (02:33:14):
I don't know why we continue to do this.

Speaker 3 (02:33:17):
Ross Dillinger also adding, that was from Yahoo, who was
aggregating Pete Thamel. The hearing's continuance not only follows LSU's
decision to finalize its football roster without pro players, but
LSU President Wade Roos and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey held
positive calls recently as the school makes efforts to deescalate

(02:33:37):
the situation. I'm almost wondering too, if part of that
said deescalation has been, Hey, uh, lane, no more wisecracks about,
cause let's be honest here. When you made that comment
on Saturday, you had to wonder what was going to
be the followup from that.

Speaker 1 (02:33:51):
Like, or it's just kind of like, Oh, okay. You're
not taking this seriously. We'll make you take this seriously.

Speaker 3 (02:33:55):
So, yeah, I mean, I think that that was part
of the decision, which, by the way, too, is we
had Matt Miscona on with us last week from ESPN 104.5.
Now LSU might be dealing with stuff on their own with,
I mean, at least making it seem like they were
going to roster those guys, and because of the court order,
they would have to. So now, I mean, I got

(02:34:15):
to believe some settlements will be paid out because the
thought is that those guys will now sue for damages
of not being able to come back and play.

Speaker 6 (02:34:23):
So.

Speaker 1 (02:34:25):
Legal ease. It just continues on.

Speaker 3 (02:34:28):
That's why a legal expert would be nice here on
the Dan Matthews show on Sports Talk 790. See, because
there's two things that I cannot stand when it comes
to people who try to speak about things they don't know.
And some people would think that it's medicine. Not necessarily.
It's people who have no understanding of basic economics and
try to tell you about something being economically done. And

(02:34:51):
the other is coming from a family of attorneys who
is people who try to interpret the law legally without
having that background. It drives me nuts. But anyway, all right.
The chance to win the tickets, that's coming your way. Also, too,
as well, as the college football weekend came to a close, well,
it wasn't LSU that was necessarily the one that had
everybody hating him. We'll talk about that as we close

(02:35:12):
things out on a Wednesday edition of the Dan Matthews
Show Sports Talk 790.

Speaker 4 (02:35:17):
Oh, good pull by you. It's the Dan.

Speaker 3 (02:35:19):
Matthews Show Sports Talk 790. It's one of TP's underrated tracks.
I'm a big Tom Petty guy, even though he was
a Florida guy. Anyway, you got the Astros getting ready
for the Phillies tonight. 430 Astros on deck for that.
Bills are going to be up for the Texans Sunday
to get week one of the regular season started over

(02:35:41):
at Reliant Stadium.

Speaker 1 (02:35:42):
And finally, now is your time to call.

Speaker 6 (02:35:44):
713-212-5790.

Speaker 3 (02:35:44):
Again, it's 713-212-5790. What college football coach did we play
audio from earlier in this segment? If you got that answer,
two Astros tickets to next Tuesday night's listener appreciation night
over at Dyken Park are going to be in your possession.

(02:36:07):
Give the answer of what college football coach I played
audio from earlier in this hour, and you'll get those tickets.

Speaker 1 (02:36:14):
Again, 713-212-5790 is the way to be able to get
in and get those tickets.

Speaker 4 (02:36:17):
All right.

Speaker 3 (02:36:17):
So Clearly, like I said, I mean, LSU dealing with
their own issues with the SEC, which if you didn't
hear me mention it in the last segment, the hearings
continuance has been delayed as the is going to be

(02:36:37):
rescheduled at another date, according to John Talty of AL.com.
And a huge part of that is because last night,
LSU finalized their roster. They didn't put any of the
players that were in either a pro camp or a
mini camp on the roster. So just not going to
fight that battle anymore. And apparently, according to Ross Dellinger,

(02:36:58):
that LSU President Wade Roos and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey
have had some positive conversations. And maybe it's a little
bit of, all right, hey, you know, I did this. Oh, yeah,
you did this. OK, you know, we get it. We're
past it now. So it doesn't look like LSU out
of the SEC is going to happen. Sorry, Matt and Ross.
Ross especially, because I'm sure you're probably hoping to make

(02:37:20):
sure that they're out of your way so then Texas
could make a clean run to getting to the college
football playoff. But obviously over the weekend, I mean, LSU
was incredibly impressive. against Clemson, but the Michigan and Western
Michigan fallout continues. I love how this is obviously devolved
where now you've got the conferences putting out, putting out

(02:37:45):
statements about how that was handled. Because if you didn't
watch the end of that game, Of course, Western Michigan
is up at the time, 7-6 on Michigan. And Bryce
Underwood throws a pass deep into the end zone, goes
through the back of the end zone, and is incomplete.

Speaker 1 (02:38:03):
And you're thinking to yourself, okay, the game is over.

Speaker 3 (02:38:05):
The NBC time clock that they had, that they had
synced up hours before the game with the actual time
clock on the field, had triple zeros, which the Big Ten...
And the crew that was out there said that, no,
there's one second left on the clock. So they put
that one second back up there. Underwood is able to

(02:38:26):
throw it into the end zone. This time it's caught, touchdown.
Michigan wins. Their fans rush the field, which, I mean,
I don't know of any Michigan fan out there that
would feel good after winning a national title here in
this town a few years ago of rushing the field
after you beat Western Michigan. But the best part of
all of this are the memes that have come out
after it. Like I saw one where there was a

(02:38:46):
guy that's walking through a crosswalk and it was clearly
an AI-generated video. I love that now with videos, how
everybody will then go to Grok.

Speaker 1 (02:38:55):
Hey, Grok, is this real? Like one of them.

Speaker 3 (02:38:59):
Where in another one that I saw of somebody saying,
when my mom asked me, is this real or is
this AI? And it's a dog riding a bicycle. What
do you think? If the dog is pedaling the bike? Yes,
it's not real.

Speaker 6 (02:39:11):
So.

Speaker 3 (02:39:13):
Anyway, the video that they had was a guy going
through a crosswalk in Ann Arbor and saying that this
is a crosswalk in Ann Arbor where it's counting down,
of course, and it gets down to one and it
stays on one as it's going all the way through.
I mean, Josh, I'm sure you saw the end of

(02:39:34):
that game. And I mean, just the craziness that happens
because of it. But it also just goes to show you, too, where.
Why do we have this issue at a certain point? Like,
how do you not have everything with all of the
money that's in it? Like for years with spotting the football. Oh,
I didn't get a good look at it. Just put

(02:39:54):
a damn chip in the ball and have it GPS
tracked of where it is. Like, is that really so
hard to ask? Are we really asking a ton here?
I've been banging the drum for that for years, man.
By the way, James was our winner today. Oh, shout
out to James. You got the correct answer. Dabo Sweeney,
of course, Clemson's head coach. We've got 11 games left.

Speaker 1 (02:40:14):
I mean, come on, man. We can go 11-1. Dabo,
you're not going 11-1.

Speaker 3 (02:40:18):
As a matter of fact, that team that I saw
on Saturday night, they've got good players, but they are
a far shell of what they used to be.

Speaker 4 (02:40:26):
This is going to be the end of Dabo Sweeney
at Clemson. Wow, calling your shot. Just quickly, Kevin was
our winner yesterday.

Speaker 1 (02:40:32):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (02:40:33):
So there you go.

Speaker 1 (02:40:34):
Well, there you go, Kevin and James. I mean, maybe
huge King of Queens fans right there.

Speaker 3 (02:40:38):
But anyway, we're going to be hanging out with us.
Looking forward to meeting both of y'all, and we're going
to give you one more chance. Again, tomorrow is going
to be a short show, so we'll give you that
opportunity again on Friday. We'll find a way to be
able to keep you on your toes and keep you listening. But,
I mean, just again, I mean, of some of these
things where I understand, and there's also a part of me, though,

(02:40:59):
that doesn't understand of, oh, we've got to have the
human element.

Speaker 5 (02:41:03):
Why?

Speaker 6 (02:41:03):
Why?

Speaker 3 (02:41:04):
There's way too much on the line in certain cases.
Like if you can get the call right, get the
call right one way or another. Baseball with the ABS
challenge system, I think that's about as perfect as it
can be. It's in the strike zone or it's not.
I mean, there is no in-between here of trying to
figure that out. And it seems like they continue to

(02:41:24):
try to figure these things out.

Speaker 2 (02:41:25):
All right.

Speaker 3 (02:41:25):
Well, anyway, that's going to do it for us here
on a Wednesday edition of the show. Huge shout out
to Kevin James, our ticket winners this week. Again, I'm
going to give you one more chance on Friday. Get
deeper into the Texans and Bills tomorrow, and obviously, too,
hoping we're talking an Astros sweep. So for young Joshua Jordan,
I'm Dan Matthews. The A-team, Adam Clanton, Adam Wexler, coming
your way next. We'll talk to you in 20 hours.

Speaker 1 (02:41:47):
Goodbye now.