Altuve Leads Astros In Series W, Rockets Season Finale, Texans Back At Work

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Yeah, lunchtimers, this is theMatt Thomas show. Baldy hants over the
head of the wind up D twoand al Twove hammers a keep down the
left field line. Ball is hookingand it stays fair Ritch gone and it
hits off the foul pole. Alead off home run for Jose al Tuo
by what nothing Astros. That's fourjacks on the season. Now for al

(00:23):
Twove on an O two pitch fromNathan Valdi, he just spun on it.
Here's a Riyoda mose and he cranksthis one left field. Is it
too, si signor another jack forall Tuvey his fifth of the season,
crowd favorite Jose al Tuo by twonothing Astros, ninety seven mile an hour

(00:49):
fastball that was four or less downof middle. A Twove knows what to
do with those. Slice the otherway and that is a base hit right
down the line, bouncing by thethird baseman. McCormick's score racing this second
is CARROTENI say a double for victorthree to one. Carrotini does it again?

(01:12):
Popped up shallow left field racing outdubon racing in McCormack and McCormack makes
the catch, wouldn't so a slideAt the very end, he was on
his knees as he came up withthat baseball looked like that fight gloop in
pitch that jammed to Veris. Butnow the Rangers are down to their final

(01:33):
out? Are they back? Arethey back in the saddle again? Well,
at least they want a series.Well, at least they want a
couple of games in a row.We will take it. Hello, and
welcome into a Monday edition of TheMatt Thomas Show without Matt Thomas. Stan
Norfleet is sitting in. He's offto a rippering start. Let's see,

(01:55):
he talked on air before the introand then he and then he just dropped
all his his notes to go behindthe curtain. Everything is okay, right
here, just a minute show.I slide over to the two jail.
I actually forgot that. I agreedto hang back. I know you're fatigued
after a full two hours on theair. It's very taxing and tiring,

(02:15):
and so the very last segment,I'm asking for some overtime. We'll get
into it. I don't even knowwhat you guys were arguing about, but
we'll figure out. Okay, thatis Stan Norfleet. I am rossby real
it is the Matt Thomas Show withoutMatt Thomas. He is traveling with the
Houston Rockets. What is he whiningabout? What? The game was done

(02:35):
at like five o'clock? So theydid they stay at night in l A.
So some of the guys did.I didn't know that I heard.
Who was I think? Okay,so Matt wanted Matt stayed back to party
with Jalen Green and the boys.This is what happened, I guess.
Okay, So Matt is out today? Was eating at No Boo for dinner
land money? Yeah? I thinkhe was. It was all over his
ig story. So Matt is outtoday. I will be out the rest

(02:59):
of the week, just on vacation, and I will not see Matt Thomas
this whole week, and it'll bea good week. I can get some
rest and relaxation in and I'll beready and refreshed for next week. But
Stan, thank you being gracious enoughto hang out with me. You folks
you want to get in. Wegot a lot of stuff to get to
of course. Phone lines open atseven to one three two, one two
five seven ninety seven one three twoone two five seven ninety and of course

(03:23):
I would be remiss if I didnot mention the Maestro Connor McGovern is back
there doing things, doing his thingas well. Okay, so we're with
you until three o'clock. We gota lot of stuff to get to,
but of course we will start withyour Houston Astros. Thankfully we have a
Monday or a day where we don'thave to start with Astros over reactions.
Over the weekend, they win theseries against the Texas Rangers. Friday was

(03:46):
a disaster, but at least theyhad that five run seventh where okay,
they showed some signs of life andthey fought back in one of these games,
and not that they were gonna winor anything like that. It's so
bad. Our good friend brock Burkeof the Texas Rangers, he punched a
wall. When are these pictures gonnalearn he punched a wall and broke his

(04:09):
hand two years ago. Yeah,Mayton punched a locker, which I tried
to When you first hear that,you're like, okay, he punched a
locker. Yeah, those are metaland hard, but he's like, wait
a minute, like a major Leaguebaseball locker. Those are different. It's
not like it's like you're in highschool and there's everybody's got their little master
lock on their thing and you're punchingthat Which part of the locker? Did
Phil Maeton punch the one that hurtthe most because it fractured his hand?

(04:31):
But then also like I'm a pitcherthat's punching things with you know, my
hands are kind of important to whatI do for a living. It seems
like this happens all the time.I don't give a bleep about that guy.
What's that guy's name for the rangeagain? The brock Burke man.
Bleep that guy because he hit youon on once? For sure? Did
he hit him twice over the weekend? Oh yeah, you might be right.
I'm not exactly sure. So thenthe Astros bounce back with a nine

(04:56):
to two win on Saturday and thenan eight to five I've win yesterday,
and really the margin not as notas close as it looked, because you
did have a three run shot givenup in the ninth inning by our good
friend Seth Martinez, so Josh Haterhad to come in and clean that bad
boy up. But they still gotthe victory. And how about this Stan
you get hits and extra base hitswith runners in scoring position, good things

(05:19):
happen. Funny how that works.The bats were alive a minute May Park.
Who by the way, Astros,as you know, Ross haven't won
back to back games at MMP sincewhat September last season? Yes? Correct?
So you got at least eight runsscored in all three games over the
weekend, typically a good sign,I think. So they're trending in the

(05:40):
right direction. And I talked aboutthis with I do the Crawford box cast
with one Chris Gordy. I don'tknow if you've heard of him. Thanks
to the folks at CARBOK, wedo that, and yeah, he was
very panicked last week about the runnersin scoring position, and I mean everybody
was panicked. Right They were twentyseventh I think at one point in all
of Major League base all with runnersin scoring position and teams in terms of

(06:01):
team ops. They're back. They'reup to seventeenth now and I think that'll
continue to go up. Last yearthere were second, the year before they
were fourth. So this is stillthe majority of the same hitters. Of
course, the quality of Jose Bray, who has gone down, we can
talk about. Yeah, well,he went over for yesterday Saturday. He

(06:23):
had a double, he had twohits, he had an extra base hit,
and it's we were all just sohappy for him. It's like when
a baby takes its first steps.They stumbled up. Yeah, yeah,
exactly, the legs quake in andthen they fall down right after. But
you're like, oh my gosh,little Jose, you don't great job of
brays the extra base hit. We'reso proud of you. If that's what

(06:45):
we're doing with Jose, like heshould he should never be below the Mendoz
line. Well he well, heis significantly. He's below the Moldonado line,
and that's another line you don't wantto be below. So things are
not going well for him. Howabout having Kartini and Yannadas in the lineup,
Yeah, yeah, well and John, Well, you've been having some

(07:05):
guys sick. Of course, AlexBregman's at least he was off. I
don't know what he had, buthe was missing some time. So hopefully
he will be back very soon forthe Houston Astros. And then you had
Chas McCormick back in the lineup.He had missed some time with a hamstring
injury. What'd you like, Okay, wait, he's been having a hamstring
issue, and they put him inthe lineup, and they put him in

(07:26):
center field, where you have todo the most running possible. Somebody got
somebody knocked in? Who was that? Was it? Kartini? Somebody got
knocked in and they kind of slidAwkwuay over home place. Yeah it was
yeah, that too. But hewas okay after that. So yeah,
that's something a monitor, I guess. But I thought I was like,
okay, yeah, Chas mccaoriy backin the lineup, cool off a hamstring

(07:47):
injury. You're the most running possiblethat you can do on a baseball field,
and then put him in center field. But okay, so good thing.
Back to back quality starts, Houstonastrot it up last week. There
were ten teams last week that hadmore quality starts than the Astros did.
That's it. That's not that bad. Ten teams considering how they were four

(08:13):
and eleven, it was, well, now they're six and eleven. So
runout Blanco three starts in the season, three quality starts, and then Christian
Javier seven innings, two earned runs, and especially going up against this Texas
Rangers lineup, I'm feeling a littlebit better, We're feeling okay about the
starting pitching, or you want tosee this turn of these three that had
three disasters taking on the Atlanta Braves. So next three games for the Astros,

(08:39):
they got back to back quality starts. You got Spencer Arraghetty to day,
Hunter Brown, Hunter Brown tomorrow andthen JP France Lad the day after
against the Atlanta Braves. Fancy Arrogattytonight e r A twenty one point zero.

(09:00):
It's gonna be okay, Hunter Brownsixteen point four to three. Is
that early on eight point two?It's early on all right. I'm going
to guarantee you two out of threeof those their eras go down. I
can't guarantee you all three. Ican't guarantee you all three, and I
refuse to it. I will notas long as they win the game.
I wouldn't give a bleek going tobring the point when uh yeah, Herey's

(09:20):
got an e or he of onethirty five, I believe. But and
they won that game. But ittook literally the performance we hadn't seen from
a bullpen eight to eight and twothirds since nineteen seventy four. That's how
baseball is historic. They needed tobull back again. It's his something historic
has been happening all year with theseAstros. Hunter Brown had the worst start

(09:41):
basically in baseball history, because hegave up eleven hits and didn't he didn't
finish it, didn't finish the start. I didn't finish an inning. So
that's that's just how the Astros role. They're gonna be either historically great or
historically horrible. That's what we've beenseeing so far, and it all balances
out to a six and eleven record. Okay, we got to get to
our first break. We didn't evenget into, I mean, dip our

(10:03):
toe into everything we have to getto with the Astros. Jose A Brew
and the way that he's pitching,this starting rotation, these three guys that
all got sheld last week going upagainst the Atlanta Braves. Where are you
on the squad in general as well? Seven one three two one two five
seven ninety is the phone number?Seven one three two one two five seven

(10:24):
ninety. We also have the Rocketsseason ending. We can get into that.
The Texans are doing some stuff todayrevealing those new uniforms. We'll get
to that as well, or arewhat are they doing? Demiico, CJ
and Will Anderson JUNI are speaking.Today is the first day of Locator.
I thought they were. When arethey revealing the uniforms? Oh? The
twenty thirdiform Oh that's next week.I'm sorry, Well I read the wrong

(10:46):
date. I'm stupid. Okay,the Texans are doing things. People are
speaking, so we can get tosome Texan stuff as well. So we
got a lot of stuff to getto you. With you until three o'clock.
It is the Matt Thomas Show withoutMatt Thomas. He is recovering from
partying in La All last night.And Stan Norfelid is here. I am
here, mcconomcgovern as well, andyou at seven one three, two,
one two five, seven ninety.This is Craig Bigio Bigiogo back to Matt

(11:11):
Thomas on Sports Talk seven ninety Boa. Haven't You're home with the Stros?
Two twenty pm here Sports Talk sevenninety, Thanks Vigio, Thanks Craig,
jose L two. Vay's coming foryour your Astros hit record. Got a

(11:31):
long way to go, but acouple of home runs against Nathany Valdi yesterday
a step in the right direction.Jose L Twovey off to quite the hot
start of the season, Astros wentback to back games. We're back here
on the Matt Thomas Show without MattThomas as he continues to be out,
Stan is here. I'll be joinedby I don't know one of the Adams.

(11:52):
Nobody really agreed. I was like, hey, They're like, hey,
we'll figure it out. Well,I want to give them fair rain.
I don't want to play favorites oranything like that. So I normally
ask them both at the same time. I wonder do they get pissed when
you when people just throw out theatoms and just whichever one of them choose.
Yeah, would you rather just sayWexler or client? And it's very
confusing situation. Yeah, So Isay wex and Ac. Okay, wex

(12:13):
and Ac. I'll just go withthe Adams you mentioned. If they don't
like it, that means I'm gonnasay it even more. Uh. Yeah,
because I know you guys have athing you two shows. Can I
add I'm soul friends. Jose Yeseleventh multi homer games, seven career home
runs off Valdi, most against anypitcher in his caress doesn't have three more

(12:35):
against anybody else. I believe.I saw our good friend Chandler Room put
that out thirty six career lead offhome run, which third in franchise history
behind George George spring Ah and ofcourse Crabyiel. Of course, yeah,
it's pretty good that guy. Imean, we keep waiting for him to
slow down. He keeps getting older, and he just keeps hitting. He's

(12:58):
like having one of his best now. Of course we are early on to
the season. I don't think he'sgonna finish the season with about a twelve
hundred ops and hit three eighty two, one of the best thoughts of his
career, of any season. He'she's awesome, and it's so fun having
him at the start of the lineup, and I just love that he just
keeps on chugging along and being asexcellent as he does with all the hate

(13:20):
that he gets every stadium, Likehe's getting booed in Kansas City. I
heard that. I'm like, whaty'all are in Kansas Kansas City? What
wrongs did the twenty seventeen Houston Astrosdue to the Kansas City Royals stop?
Unfortunately, Bro, just where weare as a society, there's just going
to be a segment of the fanof sports fans, and I think it

(13:43):
will lessen as the years go,but for right now, well it's not
as intense, but it is.But it just makes me, I'm like,
what, like, so this islike the nicest human being ever.
And then he just continues to hit, and he continues to hit and hit
and hit, and then he's havinga great offensive season and an ops over
nine hundred. Last year, ofcourse he missed that time with broken thumb,
and then now he's back and he'sjust having one of his best offensive

(14:05):
years again if you remember last year, and I wanted to see how that
would carry over for this season.He started with the broken thumb World Baseball
Classic, then he had a heelon one foot, and then he had
he had three or four things thatcaused him. He had the the uh
oblique yeah it was yeah. Andthen Jordan had his oblique issue, had

(14:26):
it on both sides. Mine hadsomebody else with th oblique issues, Like
everybody, we need a new obliqueguy. It was weird whoever was doing
they were going to see Carlos Coresmasus. I don't know what's going on with
that anyway. Oh well, that'strue. All right, Sorry, let's
keep it going. A couple ofall on the phones want to get in.
We're talking to Mashow's a lot ofdifferent stuff to get to. But
appreciate y'all getting on the phone line. So let's go ahead and start it
out with Jay W holding longest.What's up? J W? Oh doing

(14:52):
good? Sorry about having to hangup earlier, had to go to the
doctors. Oh man, Okay,anyway, couldn't be more proud of the
Astros just beating the Texas Rangers theway they did to show them that it
wasn't a fluke the first time.But anyway, still worried about that Bray
you. I'm sorry, let's pronouncedit wrong of Braik. Who oh,

(15:16):
just just to being a smart Alex. But anyway, the Astros are going
to be fine. I just kindof worried about their their home pitching.
But I'll tell you what his Blanco, he's been amazing, totally amazing.
Yeah, all right, thank youj W. Appreciate you getting in and
yeah, that's renew Blanco has beena revelation, that is he You know,

(15:41):
it's funny, it seems like thereare different times and places that we
can point to with the Astros,Like in twenty seventeen, I think it
was I actually think it was MikeFires. They had a bunch of injuries
and he was holding the rotation together. I think there was a bunch of
injury there was like these years,it'll happen. Last year JP France came

(16:03):
up huge, absolutely, and it'sjust like somebody comes out of nowhere and
it really just becomes this big help. And yeah, last year was JP
France and then this year so farit's been Renel Blanco. Like it's somebody
who completely do not expect. Andby the way, if they had assigned
a front line free agent starter,Renel Blanco wouldn't even have been in the
rotation to start the season because he'sthe fifth guy. But now he's got

(16:26):
you three qualities starts so far,helping the starting rotation for the Astros.
Or instead of seeing Blair Henley,we see Renel Blanco, instead of seeing
arrogantty, we see Renel Blanco.We win games on the front end because
these guys, which they never wouldhave done. But anyways, it's good
to have Renel Blanco doing what he'sdoing. He's added the change up.

(16:47):
He's using the change up a bunchand so far early return. I don't
think he's going to end the seasonwith just having a quality start every single
time out there. But it's alsohe twice doing it to this Rangers lineup.
This is one of the best lineupsin baseball, and Renald Blanco's doing
a thing. It's quite impressive,no question about that. What do you
go fourteen and two thirds or somethingwithout allowing to hit through those first two

(17:10):
starts and I think forty four outsor whatever it was. Then he comes
out and does another quality start overthe weekend. It's impressive, no doubt
about it. And he's clearly earneda right if somebody's the eye man out
between j JP, France, HunterBrown, it's not evenna be close.
So that's the thing that we werethinking about that like, Okay, Verlander
comes back, who are you gonnago? Are you gonna go? Well?

(17:33):
There, of course there's a sixman rotation as well, so I
wonder exactly what they would do.Yeah, I wonder. I feel like
those are all three candidates, andyou don't want to say they're pitching for
their major league lives. This upcomingof these next games from each of them
that they're probably going to hang onsome of it. If one of them
stabilizes and goes out there and givesyou, like, you know, six

(17:55):
innings a two run ball and thenthe other two gets shelled, then that's
probably gonna be the guy that mightstay up. I would have to imagine,
unless they're really I mean, you'vealready called up Arraghetty. So yeah,
he's on the four, he's onthe forty man, so it doesn't
matter necessarily there. And then yeah, JP Franz and Hunter Brown. You
maybe even want him to go downthere to Triple A and work on some

(18:15):
things. I'm not exactly sure whatthe plan would be for the Ashtros with
the starting pitching depending because you dohave Verlander coming back Friday and apparently good
news of Frommer he should be backedby hopefully by the end of the month.
So two things I want to reactto something you just said. Number
one, Raghetty, I feel sosorry for him. Not just his debut
went like that last week versus theRangers, but now he comes back off

(18:40):
that outing to try and prove thatthat was just a fluke, and he's
going up against Marcelozuna and yeah,Ozzie Abbys and Austin Riley and of course
Ron de Counya Junior in Atlanta.So I can't wait to see the night
how he responds going up against thatfit. This is it Welcome to the
big league, Jack, It's not. It's not two of the best five

(19:02):
lineups in baseball. You just saidsomething just then, you said JV on
Friday? Is that confirmed? Ibelieve that's the plan. So he was
in Corpus on Saturday, that's hissecond rehab start, and I have been
awaiting to see Friday. I readthat with it. Okay, Friday.
I think that's what Marky Calender's Fridayin Washington was a thought, and that

(19:25):
had been thrown out. Would yousee him the Washington series or would they
hold him back to the next timethere? And Minte May end of this
month, first week of May,which is probably where I'm more inclined,
and Gord did and I disagreement.The rehab start Saturday, say, as
long as he's feeling it, Ithink he's supposed to pitch Friday, I

(19:45):
believe is the plan. Yeah,why not? He pitched really well because
he spent so much time on theIL to start last season? Why not?
Why not give him time? Andmaybe this is enough time. I
hadn't talked to him, yeah,and I know his doctors, but I
do know that he needs to triggerat thirty five million bucks and get those

(20:07):
hundred forty Wow. Well we candiscuss after this. Bottom of the hour
break time for a break here onthe Matt Thomas Show. Is Justin Verlander
just hunting money? Oh? Thoseare the exact words verbatim from it?
Does he have? Did he haveto file his taxes today? And he
was like, oh my god,I better get in the starting rotation again

(20:30):
the exact words of stand Northfleet.Okay, maybe, uh, okay,
we'll talk about that when we comeback. First of all, though,
I do have to maybe his energy'sfeeling good, Maybe he is feeling like
he's got his his mojo back,and well maybe you can get your mojo
back if you want to go tofixmlow tea dot com. You know what
Justin Verlander's forty one, when youhit your thirties and your forties and beyond.

(20:53):
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low t dot com is where youfind a Synergenics. Cynergenics is somebody which
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(21:15):
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Centergenics. That's fixmlow tea dot com. Continuing along here on the Matt Thomas

(21:37):
Show without Matt Thomas. He'll beback tomorrow. My name is Ross High.
I will be gone the rest ofthe week, and well, I
don't know what plans Matt Thomas hasas far as doing the shows. You
you know what, I don't care. I'm gonna be on vacation. That's
okay, You're going somewhere far.You don't have to know. I will
be going out of town. Allright, We'll leave it at that.

(22:00):
All right. Anyway, Stan Norfeleetis here. Thank you for hanging out.
Stan, I appreciate you. Andokay, I've heard reports verbatim you
said Justin Verlander is just looking tosteal money, he's not healthy, and
he's looking to rack up innings.Correct. Is that what you're saying about
him coming back and he's in arush coming back on Friday with that type
of verber You've been hanging out witha certain I got those the exact text

(22:22):
from Chris Cordy, that's see said. Your exact words were no, okay,
all right, so let's let's talkabout this then, I guess.
So are you your concerned that JustinVerlander is coming back a little bit too
early? I am questioning if indeedhe is healthy enough to return. Some
people would rather take the players word, the teams were, the trainers word,

(22:45):
and all of that. Maybe I'mjaded. You know, I've done
work for all the professional leagues.I see dudes lie all the time,
of course, and really, evenif you, even if he feels great,
do you think it's to the advantageof the team to say, hey,
we're playing the loan game here.We saw you missed time last year
on the IL. What did youmiss some thirty five games or something for

(23:07):
the Mets last year. Yeah,I think he was like a month and
change. So I'm like, allright, maybe we replicate that formula because
we're gonna need you down the stretch. I don't know. I think it's
every situation is different and it's anindividual situation. I also think I think
at forty one years old, justinVerlander and he even kind of said this

(23:27):
when he first got hurt, He'slike, you know what, I know
my body and I've gone through thiswhole number of times, and he knew
something wasn't right, and he calledat the time at the time, he
called it a hiccup, and hesaid it was basically just gonna he we
all figured from the way that hewas discussing it it was gonna be a
couple of weeks, month maybe,And now the season has been going on

(23:48):
for what they've played seventeen games,so a little bit over a half month,
let's say, let's call it threeweeks or whatever it is, so
that it feels about right for himto come back after a couple of rehabs
starts and start the way that hedid, because I think if he were
let's say he were rushing back andhe didn't think he was ready, I
think he's smart enough to know thatthat's a bad idea because you're just gonna

(24:08):
reinjure yourself, especially when as we'retalking about something like a shoulder. Well,
I think guys that are great whenwe hear this all the time,
regardless of sport, ninety percent ofme is still better than ninety percent of
what's out there right Well, that'strue, and the state of the rest
of this rotation that's probably true aswell. That's another thing. It's like

(24:30):
also playing the long game. Ifeel like the Astros in a way they
can't afford to do that, depending, of course, pending on what happens
in these next three starts. Butevery one of your guys that's starting in
this Brave series was an abject failureand a disaster lash last week. So
you it's looking like you're gonna needsome starting pitching help. And Justin Verlander

(24:52):
is obviously a guy that's gonna waltzinto the Hall of Fame, no questions
asked. Is nice to have himin your back pocket and have him coming
back that again, depending on howyou want to look at it, is
that more incentive for Verlander to rushback air quotes because the team is losing
games with these guys that are notquite you know, Aaron Getty's not ready
to be here. We know Henleywasn't ready to be here, and we'll

(25:14):
see, yeah, we're hen'ing reallywas. He was in an emergency injury
situation from Aveldez got hurt that day. They needed to go with somebody.
France has been bad for a littlebit, yes, not yes, correct,
So I think like Verlander is watchingthese thoughts, going, well,
hell if I don't get back insoon the postseason and it's way early,
but you get the thoughts. Ithink. I think we are hopefully,

(25:37):
hopefully just having a bit of ofrecency bias with the last starts from Hunter
Brown and JP French, which werehorrible, right but Hunter well, at
least by the end of the season. Last year, the wheels kind of
came off of both of them becausetheir rookies, and there were stretches for
last year where they were both prettygood, especially JP French JP Frince,
Like I said, he was partof the glory that was holding this this

(25:59):
whole rotation together last year. Soyou're hoping that he can at least you're
not asking him to go out thereand give you seven shutout innings or anything
like that, but you're just hopingfor close to a quality start. If
you get if from any of theseguys six innings and three runs given up,
especially against this Atlanta Braves lineup,you would take that, and that's
what you're hoping for. I understandthe logic, and I agree specifically about

(26:21):
berland Is and the organizations. Howlong do you let this play out?
What the like? Do you playhim in the Washington series? Do you
wait and you play them? That'swhat it sounds like. They're going to
Mexico City. Do you play Don'tput him in Mexico City? Like,
where do you play them? I'msure he's the last one that wants to
get those e r A numbers inflated. Everybody. The ball is going to

(26:44):
be flying out in Mexico City.It's worse, it's I believe it's a
higher elevation. Yeah, I wouldgo look at that Mexico City series from
last year because that was when wewere we were in Vegas for the Matt
Thomas thirty k and and there wasa guy I don't remember who. There
was guys playing the over every singlegame, and then the over was hitting
by like the third inning. Itwas just, yeah, let me find

(27:10):
actually, since you're talking about ballsleaving the park, that in Vegas that's
sixteen to eleven. The first twogames were sixteen to eleven finals, Joey
Lop balls leaving the yard. Yeah, that's true Vegas over the weekend.
Are you would bring Loo up?Right now? Guy, I where's are
you going to play him? Hehasn't got that much of a look at

(27:33):
first base. They do like thework that he's getting in first base.
He's been playing first for the lastcouple of weeks. Yeah, a couple
of weeks. I mean he's SteveSparks came by Sean Salisbury this morning and
Sparky was saying, look, he'sa two letty guy, more notably in
the outfield, but he's the guythat you could put difference. That's what
Dana Brown said, Yeah, thathe they would come him and use him

(27:53):
as a utility guy and put himeverywhere. He's destroying the baseball. He
is destroying the baseball. He is, and that's just I think one of
the worries, and they're there.I mean, that's a lot. There's
been a lot of prospects like that. When they get a hold of one,
it goes a long way. Butthen you come up to the major
leagues when you're you have an zerofor six game with six strikeouts early on
in the season, that's a littlebit cause for concern. But that's up

(28:15):
to them. I don't know.I'm not watching every Joey Loperfito at bat.
I'm not going to pretend I'm anexpert on him and his pedigree and
all that type of stuff. Butsound Yeah, the home run numbers are
good, and I understand we're lookingfor we are desperate for anything other than
Jose Bray. Right now, letme add this. This is a post
on the X platform from Michael schwabLo. Paffito tied for second among all

(28:38):
minor league baseballers in homers, thirdin runs, tied for fifth, and
RBIs seventh in total bases. Okay, and that was as of a couple
of days ago. So this thislope. Oh I'm sorry, Brian mctagger
a day ago. Coming into Sunday, low Pafito led the Miners in home
runs, total bases, and runscored, tied for the league extra base

(29:03):
hits, second in RBIs third andslug and seventh in OPS. That sounds
like a resume that tells me hasearned a shot. It's fourteen games.
It's also fourteen games, so win. And I don't know Brad's out here.
Betton one eleven last year and heonly played thirty two games with the
Space Cowboys. Did low Berfito andhe hit two thirty five with an OPS
of seven thirty six. So Ithink that that's the thing. That's another

(29:26):
thing, too, is are theygoing to I'm gonna tell you, I
don't think they're not shelved. It'snot gonna happen like today that Joe lo
Berfito's up and then Jose Bray who'sgiving up. He gave you a couple
of hits over the weekend. AndI'm not saying I think that Jose Bray
who is gonna wake up and bethis great offensive force, I'm saying that
he's gonna get every chance to dothat with the Astros because they're not going

(29:47):
to just put it's not just twentymillion of this year, it's twenty million
next year. You're lighting forty milliondollars on fire. I don't think they're
gonna be prepared to do that justyet. I don't even all the reports
coming from overd is going to letobray you work about this thing. And
I'm just like, Okay, well, he looks like he is uh he's
on life support, that is whatyou think he's healthy? Is he playing

(30:11):
poorly because last year they said lastyear was the back injury. He doesn't
look to me like he's he's asyou could kind of tell that something wasn't
right with the way that he Helooked very stiff when he was up there.
Now it's just like he just can'tcatch up the fastballs and everybody if
it's if anybody can throw basically overninety four miles an hour, he's got
no shot. Kyra Horror of theChronicle had an article he did a sit

(30:34):
down through an interpret with Jose Abrayou I believe last week and a braid
he was talking more about his mentalYeah. I just don't have my confidence
right now forming MVP, and you'renot seeing the ball. Well, you
don't have confidence in yourself. That'sgotta be tough. But that's what's humbling
about this game. That's why Imean, yeah, it's hard to be
confident when they bump you over fifthto sixth, to seventh to eighth within

(30:56):
the first three weeks of the season. Okay, we got to take another
break here. The man Thomas withoutMatt Thomas, stan Norfleet is hanging out.
You want to get in, youcan? You want to talk some
strows? How long do you wantto see jose Bray you get I imagine
most of you want him out today? And should Joey low Braffito be called
up immediately? We could talk aboutthat and other astro stuff at seven one
three two one two five seven ninetyseven one three two one two five seven

(31:19):
ninety Hey it's Jeff Blum. Ohhave we waited for blooming firm? Fact?
Not only am I a former player, I was also Junction Jag for
a few years until Matt Thomas stolemy gig. The Matt Thomas way of
doing it. That dude looks waybetter in Bunny Ears. Deal with it.
Yep, all facts, all right, Junction Matt take it away.

(31:41):
Liam sit down junction. Matt isout today, he will be back tomorrow.
I'll be hitting vacation throughout the week, but that's okay. You always,
of course keep it here or Talkseven ninety for all your astros,

(32:01):
Rockets and Texans needs phone lines openfor you at seven one three two one
two five seven ninety right now ifyou want to catch up on some of
the things being said by C.J. Stroud, Demico, Ryans,
others as Will Anderson Junior, It'sall available on our Sports Talk seven ninety

(32:22):
Twitter page. As would you sayit's the first team workouts voluntary workout voluntary
workouts today for I think there aretwenty two teams that qualify, okay,
Texans being one. Would you sayif the voluntary workouts don't they get paid
for those stills they show up likethree hundred and fifty bucks or something like
that. I think I saw somebodyon Twitter say, well, a lot
of guys contracts will have workout bonusesin them. I mean they can range

(32:44):
from a couple thousand, depending onwho you are, to a couple one
hundred thous I mean some guys,some guys depending on where you are.
Let's say you have issues with yourweight or whatever. I mean, you
can get a meal for working out. Oh, there you go. I
guess that's something. They show upand way in the teams. Just want
around, show up, weigh in, go through phase one phase two of
iron conditioning program, and be aroundthe guys, especially if you knew it

(33:06):
like I always started, would behooveguys that are new Stefan Diggs. Yes
you're a veteran, but ingratiate yourselfwith the organization. Pull up and let's
do the things. Okay, Sothere you go. That's going on down
in Texanville. We've been also talkingabout the Astros winners of back to back
games against the Rangers, not goingto get any easier. The Braves in
town for three games. Well,unfortunately they don't have Spencer Strada unfortunately for

(33:30):
them and the Astros. Is goingto be a fun series at least to
figure out what's going on with thepitching because it's arrogaty Hunter Brown and JP
France. Oh boy, oh boy, pray hard to the baseball guds for
this one coming up against the Braves. Dan on a mobile wanted to get
in and talk some Astros. What'sup Dan Dan or Don Oh, I'm

(33:53):
sorry, Don, I can't read. I'm learning. Hey, no problem.
Hey, I tell you guys this. I know you guys won't say
it, but I can say itonline and get away with it. But
until Jeff Bagwell steps down from whathe's doing, Jeff Bray, who's going
to be there until until the movecomes over? That was his boy that

(34:15):
he picked. He's not gonna swallowhis pride and uh, and they're not
gonna let him go, guys.I mean, that's just that's just back
to life. And I would goahead and take a breath on our next
three starters. Man, you neverknow what's gonna happen from day to day.
I know you guys are in aheavy, heavy sigh right now,
but hey, anything can happen.But hey, this is Bray. You

(34:36):
think you know we could hide Maldonadolast year because we had eight good batters.
Right now we have basically six anda half to seven. We can't
hide a Bray you that's the reasonwhy he's sticking out so bad right now.
So I'll just hang up and listen. But man, Jeff Bagwell,
if you're listening, man, yougot a dumble Brad you man. I'm
sorry, dude. Jeff Bagwell,Hello, if you're listening, I appreciate

(34:58):
you. I think you're one ofthe all time greats, and congratulations to
you on your storied career. That'sall I have to say. Jee.
No, the question is, andwe actually we got into this discussion last
year, but it took a lotlonger, of course because jose Abray who
had just been signed. The questionis, where is the tipping point?
Where do the astros tap out ifhe continues to hit one to eleven with

(35:23):
no pop? Is it going tobe a month, Is it going to
be two months? Is it goingto be further down than there? I
don't think. I don't necessarily onehundred percent agree with Don that it's never
gonna happen because Jeff Bagwell is theguy that signed him. Jeff Bagwell is
going to fight for the guy thathe signed in turning things around. But
I think he knows just as goodas anybody this is a business, and

(35:44):
in this business, if you donot perform, you are not going to
play. And they Astros may haveto come to a point at some time
and say we can't do this anymore. We are hurting our team too much
to continue to give him this opportunity. These at bats that he's having right
now, they're they're worse than we'veever seen from from jose A Brave.

(36:04):
He's just been completely non competitive exactly. He's being struck out by He's being
struck out by literally ninety mile anhour fast bass, Like, what are
we doing good? Yeah? Sonow here's where I'm not Yes, I
agree with Don they're not going topull him and the reason they're not going
to pull him, and he specificallyassociated that decision making because you remember that

(36:29):
was in between we hadn't hired DanaBrown yet, so without a general manager,
Bagwell and Jim Crane went shopping andthat's when you dole out the Montero
money and then you go pay abray you nineteen mill in a year for
the last year, this year,and the next year. I have not
seen them essentially bench anybody that theypaid real money to. Yeah. I

(36:52):
don't think they believe in that,Yeah, but I don't think. I
don't think we're going to be sittinghere in July and he's still hitting one
eleven and they're not gonna I canhave done it anything trying him out every
year. Yeah, but he wasn'thitting. It wasn't this bad. It
wasn't this bad. It was andit took him a long time to hit
a home run. And now whenhe came around in September in October,
he was solid. So Dusty endedup being right by staying with him.

(37:13):
He got his body healthy. Hedid miss what it was. He missed
the time in the IL when he'dcome back from the IL. But this
is the thing, this is whyit doesn't make sense. He had come
back from the IL and he lookeda lot more fresh, and I want
to I would have to go lookit up. I want to say,
maybe he was even solid, likethe first week or two of the season
last year. Then he just wentway down the drain and then and then

(37:35):
we had to wait till June forany sort of sign of life, for
a resurrection for him, and thenwe didn't see it again until he hit
the IL. So the Astros haven't been playing him every single day.
Yeah, they've bumped him down inthe lineup there and it's still looking as
as bad as it does. Okay, last year, yeah, he looked
well, he didn't hit a homerun for a while. But first,

(37:59):
well, how many games are weof the season? Seventeen first seventeen games
of the season. It's not goodthough, he was hitting two thirty nine.
Still better. He was hitting twothirty nine with ops of five to
sixty two, which is horrible,but it's still better than what we're seeing
right now. He never hit thiswhole time. I'm just scrolling through from
last year. Then he never reallygot under two hundred. Right now,

(38:22):
we're seventeen games in. That's atenth to over a tenth of the season,
and he's still hitting one to eleven. So I think there there is
a little bit cause for a concern. Then he came back, Let's see,
he came back August twenty third froma stint on the il, and
then he started hitting a little bit. But he wasn't hitting It's not like
he was getting a bunch for average. But then he was hitting some more

(38:45):
home runs. He had a twohome run game, let's see September.
Yeah, and then in the playoffshe was really good. He hit like
two ninety something with an ops overnine hundred. But that's also in the
postseason. Here your play for twodays and then you're offered you play for
two more days in your offer aday. If you sweep somebody or beat
somebody in five games, you geta week off. They got a week

(39:05):
off before the season even started.We talked about that last year, how
important it was for him to getthere, for not him, but for
everybody to get that week off towin the division because you got that extra
rest for all your guys who areolder and longer in the tooth and Josea
Bray, you justin Verlander, othersbeing part of that. Yeah, yes,
everything you just said, I'm inagreement. I just keep thinking,
like, what is that tipping point? Yeah, that's what we need to

(39:27):
figure out how this first time we'reseeing him in this position. So it's
not like we have a history topick from, and there's a lot of
factors. It's it is the contract, it is the history with jose Bray,
it is the Jeff Bagwell factor isa factor. Yes, it's a
real deal, by the way,and we got into it on our show.
I don't know how comfortable you areor not. Doesn't sound like people
were really feeling Jeff Bagwell. Asa broadcast of filling in for Todd Kallis

(39:52):
on the weekend. He's just nota professional. He's just a ballplayer who
just talks and then he like bighits happen and he kind of steps all
over the call. He's not atrained professional. That is fair, but
people were also saying, from whatI can gauge, hey man, you
can't peel on my leg and tellme it's rare. Well, he's got
a defend this guy exactly. There'sonly so much of that that you can

(40:13):
sell us. And it sounded likeit was Overkeell I did. I didn't
him. I was at the gameon Friday, so I didn't hear him.
I call it there and then,yeah, I didn't listen much yesterday
because I had both games on,but I had the audio on the Rockets
because I was doing Rockets pre andpost games, so that had to garner
most of my attentions. I havethe astros on and I'm watching the game,

(40:36):
but I'm also was more focused onthe Rockets because I was doing the
postgame show. So I honestly didn'thear a whole lot of Jeff Bagwell,
but I did see a lot ofpeople complaining anyways, stand thanks for hanging
out Happy jack Robinson Day. Allright, Yes, happy Jackie Jackie Robinson
Day number forty two himself for allthose who celebrate, you should all be

(40:57):
celebrating Jackie Robinson Day. All right, We're gonna take a break here.
That's our number one of the books. Thanks to stand for hanging out our
number two. I don't know somerandom adom is going to be showing up
our number. I'm sorry and askhour number three, Hour number two.
It's just me you so you wantto get in, you want to converse.
I will be solo, which meansI need your help at seven one
three two one two five seven ninetyseven one three two one two five seven

(41:21):
ninety the phone number. Tweets atSports RV as well will continue The Matt
Thomas Show without Matt Thomas after theshort top of the r break lunchtimers,
this is the Matt Thomas Show,our number two of three of the Matt
Thomas Show without Matt Thomas. RosVIIa with you. They're putting me to

(41:42):
work before I hit vacation tomorrow.That's okay, flying solo this hour.
Thanks to Stan Norfley for joining inthe last one of the Adams will be
joining me coming up at two o'clock. That means it's me and you between
then, So you want to getin and discuss anything that you have on
your mind. We can. It'sseven one three two one two five seven

(42:05):
ninety. C J. Stroud,Dimiko Ryans and others speaking. We'll hear
from them coming up at one thirty. You have the Rockets winning yesterday against
the Los Angeles Clippers, boban Marjanovichexploding for thirteen points. That was fun.
And the Rockets have a five hundredor above record for the first time
since the twenty twenty season. Wecould talk about that. But also we've

(42:29):
been heavy on the Astros, ofcourse because they've won a couple of games
in a row and now take onthe Atlanta Braves where they're starting pitchers in
this series will be Spencer Arighetti,Hunter Brown and JP Franz. How we
feel in seven one three two onetwo five seven ninety The phone number seven

(42:52):
one three two one two five sevenninety of course one of the talking points,
and it feels like we're trying tojust patch everything up. R At
the start the season was a bunchof leaks for the Houston Astros. It
was starting pitching. Okay, Well, we got a nice quality start from
reneld Blanco. Okay, Christian Xavierhad a great start. He went seven
innings. He hadn't done that sincelike May of last year. That's cool,

(43:14):
that's looking good. Justin Verlander's comingback on Friday, Okay, he
was giving up a lot of runsin his first two starts and as far
as in his rehab starts. Buthe's supposed to come back Friday, and
then hopefully at some point during thisseries you can get a solid start from

(43:35):
somebody as well, and then thethings will get patched up. One of
the other leaks that we're hoping he'llget patched up soon is the first base
situation. The first base situation hasbeen a disaster for the Houston Astros.
And well what is this? Whyis this happening right now? Okay,
Well, first of all, letme get this mouse working. This says

(43:58):
line number two. It says,Matt, Matt Thomas, what are you
doing? I heard you said youwanted call her, so I thought i'd
call it. Oh, you know, what, where are you los Angeles?
You're still in Los Angeles? When'sthe team coming back. You were
you parting with JG and the boyslast night? What were you doing?
We're leaving in about half an hour. Okay, that's cool, that's fine,

(44:20):
and you'll be back tomorrow. Ican work with you today. But
the air fairs really expensive. Yeah, I get it. I mean we
don't want you to have to spendtoo much money. And it's also tax
day. I imagine you got abig tax bill because you were you were
in the millionaire's bracket. So that'sfine. A lot of income bringing that
up. Yeah, sorry, yeah, lift driving sounded like a good idea
at the time. I guess.Anyways, what do you want to talk?

(44:42):
Okay, Matt, how are youfeeling? This is what I was
asking the people. Your next threestarters against the Atlanta Braves lineup? You
know what I'm gonna flip it on. You know how you always make me
make noises? I want you tomake noises? Okay, Spencer Arraghetti versus
the Braves tonight, I don't know, are you okay? Then tomorrow Hunter

(45:07):
Brown against the Braves. Oh oh, and then the day after JP France
and is eight point two two er A. Oh okay, well thank
you for that. I appreciate it. So you're feeling a little bit better

(45:28):
about Spencer Arraghetty then, I mean, it's fine. What are you gonna
do? I mean, thankfully.The good news about Robbery is he's gonna
maybe hopefully avoid having to go downand work at the UH with the Triple
A of the Double A team andBerliner sounds like it could be coming back
sooner though. He's been hit prettyhard, so it didn't give have like
twelve runs and two starts or somethinglike that. Oh, nothing'll worry about

(45:52):
okay, here, nothing, He'sjust gonna get Helplinder's okay with that,
Hope's brothers. Okay. During thistime of trouble, uh, there was
a certain host into noon that thinksJustin Verlander maybe rushing back so he gets
his money with his innings pitched tovest his next option. Your thoughts,
I mean, does every professional athletewant to capture every possible dollar amount given

(46:15):
possibly? Oh to him. Yeah, that's not the craziest thing I've ever
heard, and normally I hear alot of crazy things tend to do.
That's what I was thinking. Yeah, okay, it's not the craziest thing.
No, Well, I wouldn't see. It's probably not top five craziest
thing. No, No, there'sway you know what we should do.
We should do one day. Weshould do Fantasy five Worst next uptakes.

(46:39):
Oh, how about we do thebrutal truth of sports, Harvey. That
was always a big no. Nomore brutal truth. You know what I'll
call in No, I won't.What do you? What are you?
What are you gonna be back tomorrow? No, I'm not gonna call him.
I forget it. And you're goingyou're not calling You're taking the rest
of the week off. You're comingout here to hear at my hotel room.

(47:01):
Now you're probably not. I'm notthat fancy. No, let's not
kid ourselves. I'll be at therotail ricks rotail ricks, all right,
So I just want to stay afterback tomorrow. We got Joe spot up.
We don't know what players going tojoin us, but the player join
us the show. So excited aboutthat. And I don't know if there's
getting any rockets chatter going, butit was a nice way to close up
the year yesterday with the win againstDid I hear a sound effect back there?

(47:23):
No? Sorry, my knee snapped. That was you hate your knee
snaps, right, Well, Ihit it against this, you know I
always bang my knee on this uhwhatever this is this desk. Well,
I just want to say you wantto call so you know what I'm trying
to start it. I'm starting tostart the train. Thank you. Well

(47:44):
nobody has followed you up, butthat's okay. And then one more thing
we were just about to get into, and we might have to push you
back to the next segment. Whendo you want to see Joey lo Berfido
up for jose Bro playing some moretime over jose A Bray Probably by June
first, Okay, you know it'sApril fifteenth, a lot of time.
The reality is little Perfrido's having agreat run, but there was nothing that
would explain through previous experiences of watchinghim and seeing the stats that says this

(48:08):
is a guy that's going to bea difference maker. Now, granted,
if he's having this turnabout, youknow, and is able to you know,
become the phenom that the Astros certainlywould like him to have. But
you gotta remember nineteen and a halfmillion dollars this year, nineteen and a
half next year in Jeffrey Allen Bagwell, who is Jim Crane's close confident wants
to have faith in him, andso this can be given every opportunity for

(48:30):
him to basically, if he hasn'tdone it already, severely plays a way
out of playing first base. ButI don't think there's any rush on Litperfedo.
I think he's got to play somemore first base defensively too, before
they bring him up here to beginningwith. I think so as well.
This is what we come to youfor, Matt measured smart baseball analysis.
Thank you, Hey, anything foryou, guys. I look forward to
visiting with all of you tomorrow andNewton until three. Ross have a very

(48:52):
safe trip. The weather out herein California was horrific in the last two
days, but it's good for you. Today's sixty two degrees and a few
puffy clouds in the sky. Ohyeah, by the way, you went
to a Dodgers game? Right?How was that? Yes? I did?
Did you get me in a half? Any fish fights suck? Oh?
Yeah, the Dodger dogs are overrated. They just are. Okay,
all right, thanks Matt, andthink for you, but I appreciate it.

(49:15):
Okay, Well, that's going tobasically put us up against a break.
You want to follow, Matt Thomas, you can do that at seven
one three two one two five sevenninety seven one three two, one two
five seven ninety I think a lotof what he said is is going to
ring true. I agree as faras jose A bray You, Joey Loperfido,
and Jeff Bagwell. It's a bigproponent of jose A bray You and

(49:37):
what he can bring. I thinkhe's not braying a lot obviously, but
I just think he's going to continueto get looks. I just think people
are uh in the Astros organization aregoing to give him every chance because of
the money, because of the Bagwellfactor, and because Joey Loperfido continues to
need to get some work over thereat first base, and you probably want

(49:57):
to see a little bit more ofhim as more than fourteen games of a
sample size of him hitting at tripleA. Okay, we're gonna take that
break when we come back. DanaBrown, the Astros general manager, speaking
about Joey Lo Prafito will have thatas well. And as Matt mentioned,
we could talk about the rockets ifyou want to get in on that.
They they won yesterday forty one andforty one record. Jalen Green long term

(50:22):
buy or sell his all Star levelstock. We will talk about that.
We'll hear from the Texans coming upat one thirty as well. And you
at seven one three two one twofive seven ninety seven one three two one
two five a seven ninety. Butagain I have to ask you an important
question. How'd you feel when youwoke up today and this morning? Did

(50:42):
you have like five alarm set andyou're hitting snooze and you don't want to
get out of bed and you've justbeen feeling lethargic, and the energy hasn't
been good and the motivation's not there, and you've hit your thirties, forties
and beyond and you're slowing down.You're like, man, I just want
to sit here and start at theceiling. I don't know what's going on.
Well, maybe your testosterol levels will. If they are low, you
can get them fixed. Step oneto getting them fixed is getting them checked.

(51:05):
That's why you go to fixmlow tdot com because with the convenience of
the on site lab with Synergenics,you're getting your levels back at your first
visit, they're gonna say, hey, no, your levels are low,
You've got some other issue. Orthey're gonna say, hey, you have
this type of testosterone at this level, this other type of testosterone. It's
at that level. We're gonna tailortreatments to you on an individual basis.
And again, trust me when Isay not every clinic in town does it,

(51:29):
but they do it at Centergenics becausethey are the experts. That's why
you go to fixmlow t dot comto see the clinics all over town.
That's fixmlow t dot com for Centergenics. What we got. Coach Bumphillips said,
you fail all the time, butyou aren't a failure until you start
blaming someone else. Or now pitchfor the A's. Hey, this is

(51:52):
Mike Fires. Sometimes I'm getting firedup for more Houston sports talk. Back
to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk sevenninety Astros Baseball lives there. Like certain
hosts of the station, Well,I will say I think that Mike Fires

(52:15):
line is still kind of funny,but it is outdated because it says he
pitched for the Oakland A's, whichhe hasn't done for several years. He's
been out of the Mexican League,and I think out of baseball for a
couple of years now. But that'sokay. It just makes me laugh hearing
Mike Fires getting fired up for someAstros baseball here on a Sports Talk seven
ninety ros Veyria back with you hereon the Matt Thomas Show without Matt Thomas.

(52:38):
You just heard from him in thelast segment. He will be back
tomorrow. I guess the Rockets decidedthat there were parties more parties in La
as they stayed there last night.And he will be flying back today and
then he'll be back tomorrow. Butalso I am going to be hitting some
vacation because well I get a lotvacation, so I take a lot of

(53:00):
vacation. I think it's my firstvacation of the year. We're talking about
being into April, the middle ofApril, so I'm feeling pretty proud of
myself for making it this long.Anyways, you want to get in phone
lines open at seven one three twoone two five seven ninety seven one three
two one two five seven ninety We'vebeen hitting on this Jose braw thing.
I know there are a lot ofyou that just want Joey Loperffido called up

(53:23):
here as there is uh Luke Siversor Severs tweeting me his stats. Yeah,
fifty seven eight bs, ten homeruns, twenty four runs batted in,
one point three two four ops.That's pretty darn good. But I
think I want to say he's alsostruck out like twenty seven times in fifty

(53:44):
seven at bats, so he's gonnaget a little more of a look in
triple A. He's going to geta little bit more work at first base
because that's what they want. They'rewhere they want him. But let's hear
what our good friend Dana Brown.I believe this is from the pregame yea
yesterday, Correct, mister McGovern Okay, this is from the pregame yesterday,

(54:05):
Dana Brown joining the Astros radio networkas he does every single week. Here's
what he had to say about thehot start of one Joseph loperfdo. Yeah,
excited about Loperfido. Glad to seethe power he's showing down there.
You know, at some point,as I mentioned before, I think we're
gonna get him up here for sure. But it's good to see he's off

(54:27):
to a good start. We'd liketo see him cut down the strikeouts a
little bit, you know, makesome contact there, but you know,
ultimately showing some good power to hisgame and you know, coming along well
at first base. You know,he'll be a nice utility piece for us,
and we can move him around,give some guys some days off,
and he can give us some offense. And the fact that he's he has

(54:51):
some utility that's gonna get his batin the lineup even more so. As
he continues to keep coming, We'llkeep looking at him and we'll make a
decision when we think it's the besttime to get him up here. And
yeah, that's basically where we areright now. And you heard Dana Brown.
Sounds like he's trying to temper expectations. And I think it's the right
move calling him a utility guy,like we see these Oh my god,

(55:13):
he's got ten home runs. Ohhe has a thirteen hundred. He's gonna
come up here and he's gonna makethe Hall of Fame. We always need
to calm down, We need totemper ourselves. So this is in basically
everything in baseball. It's the slowestsport that we have. And I don't
even mean that about when you're watchingthe games, and thankfully it's been a
lot better since you've added the pitchclock. But in terms of things take time.

(55:36):
Players take time to develop, andit's not only necessarily just a player
development like Joey Lo Pafito, it'sover the season. Is that you don't
want to overreact to a handful ofgames in a good way or in a
bad way. So I think theAstros and the organization and Dana Brown,
they're not gonna want to overreact tofourteen fantastic games from Joey Loperfido, which

(56:00):
if you go look at basically anytop one hundred prospect list that there is
Baseballamerica, MLB dot Com, BaseballPerspectives, Keith Law, whoever of the
athletic Joey Loperfdo isn't in there now. Of course, also saying that that
doesn't mean that somebody outside of thetop one hundred prospect list isn't going to

(56:22):
be able to succeed. But alsoI just want to tell you to temper
your expectations because if there's one sportthat you're going to follow and you don't
want to be prisoner of the moment. It's baseball. It's where we had
people wanting to jump off a bridgelast week with all these bad starts and

(56:42):
just talking about how this team isdone. The run is over. I
can't tell you how many people Ihad tweet me last week the run is
over, the window is closed.Well, you beat the Rangers two out
of three over the weekend, youget back to back quality starts from your
starters, and you're feeling a littlebit better. Is everything okay? And

(57:05):
the Astros are gonna be hunky doryand it's like they're gonna waltz into first
place in the American League West atthis point. No, and that's not
what I'm saying either. But now, after this horrible, terrible, disastrous
start to the season where it justcould didn't seem like it could go any
worse, the Astros are two twogames back of the Rangers for first place.

(57:27):
I'm sorry, two and a half. So yeah, they're in last
place. The Oakland A's, bythe way, have won three straight freaking
series, so it'll be funny tosee what's going on there. But we
just always have to I think,especially when I like I say, when
it comes to baseball, you haveto be a little bit more measured.
You have to just not take thesmall samples and then go crazy. Now

(57:50):
you can also look a little bitdeeper than the small samples when it comes
to jose braw and just looking likethis guy looks completely lost out there.
He can't catch up to a fastball. He's swinging it stuff out of the
zone. He's pressing, he's hittinghimself on his helmet because he's frustrated.
And that's also what he said inan interview with the Houston Chronicle that he's
just not feeling like himself. Yeah, there's costs for a concern there,

(58:12):
there's cause for alarm. He's notconcern. It's alarm bells right now.
But he's gonna get every look becauseof the contract, because of the person
who gave him that contract and allthose things that that Jeff Bagwell was saying
on the on the TV broadcast overthe week about Joseah bray you and turning
it around and all that type ofstuff. You know, who else is

(58:34):
getting an ear full of that typeof stuff, Jim Crane, Because Jeff
Bagwell has the ear of Jim Crane. And that's how it's gonna be,
and so we're scans to sit thereand hope that Joseah Bray you can turn
it around. If things stay theway they are for a length of period,
for a period of time, wewill see changes. Josea Bray you
can't hit his way out of awet paper bag for the for for another

(58:58):
month plus, and joe Litperffito justcontinues to launch everything that he sees out
of the park in TRIPLEA, thenwe will see a change. But it's
gonna take more than a fourteen gamesample from Joey Loperfido and more than a
what seventeen game sample or whatever itis from jose A Braw who's also just

(59:20):
not even been playing in most ofthe games, not most of the game
that's that's not accurate, but hasbeen sitting a lot more than he was
last year. He's played fourteen games, he's hitting one eleven three thirteen ops
my favorite ops plus minus seven onehundred is an average hitter. He was

(59:40):
eighty seven last year, which ishorrible for a first baseman. Minus seven
who I would like to see thatnumber go up very soon for jose A
Braw and everybody wants it to seeup. Jose A. Brady wants it
up. Jeff Bagwe wants it up. I want it up. You should
want it up as well. Hehas just been a sinkhole wherever he comes

(01:00:02):
up in that lineup, whether itbe fifth, sixth, seventh, and
now eighth, he's been placed inthat Astros lineup. Okay, we're gonna
take a bottom of the hour break. When we come back, we'll hear
from some of the Houston Texans.We'll get to those of you on the
phone lines as well. If youwant to get in. Seven one three
two one two five seven ninety isthe phone number seven one three two one

(01:00:22):
two five seven ninety CJ. Shroud, Dimico, Ryans and more speak.
We'll hear from them next and takeyour calls on The Matt Thomas Show.
With you until three o'clock here onSports Talk seven ninety day day one thirty

(01:00:49):
two pm here on Sports Talk sevenNighty. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas
Show without Matt Thomas. He'll beback tomorrow. I am Ross v Real.
I was joined in the first hourby stand nor Fleet. Thanks to
him, we're doing the new Neapolitanthing here on the show. It'll be
me solo here thanks to those ofyou getting on the phones, and then
it'll be one of the Adams.I don't know, Adam Wexler, Adam

(01:01:12):
Clinton. Will find out in thetwo o'clock hour here on Sports Talk seven
ninety. The meantime, there aresome of you who got in on the
phones. Appreciate you. At sevenone three two one two five seven ninety
seven one three two one two fiveseven ninety. Let's start it out with
Chase in Conroe holding longest Chase,what's up? Hey, what's going on?
Man? Not a whole lot?What's going what you got? Man?

(01:01:37):
Just talking about the Astros. Youknow, I'm not worried about that
hitting. I mean, what's greatto see, especially from last year's our
strikeouts. We're not striking out atthe plate. We're putting the ball in
play. It's that er that's killingme watching that pitching. I think we're
like second most highest runs er rightnow. So maybe reaching out. I've

(01:01:59):
been watching Trevor back, that guy, he's picking it up. Maybe we
go out there, maybe stir upthe pod a little bit. At Bras
might be looking at him. Whereyou been watching him? He's like the
Japanese travel team or something, right, No, he's with the Mexico Diabolosh
Okay, yeah, he's out there. I know he pitched against the Yankees
too. Oh, Diablos Mexico.Yeah. How's he doing out there in

(01:02:23):
the Mexican League? Man, he'sHe's pushing ninety eight ninety seven average.
His spin is crazy fast. Uh, his his numbers look better than when
he left the league. Okay,Well, first of all, what do
you what is the what is thissticky stuff situation in the Mexican League by
the way, Uh, sticky stuffthat man? I don't know. Yeah,

(01:02:45):
what is their enforcement? Because youknow, first of all, of
course, there's a number of thingsthere. There are the cases that that
Trevor Bauer had against him, right, and I know one of them was
dropped. I don't know. Ithink he's got some other cases as far
as that. So there's that concern, and as far as the Astros and
and signing Trevor Bauer, and thenthere's another concern is that his numbers and

(01:03:07):
his spin rates all went tumbling downas soon as they made the the they
clamped down on the spider tack stuff. Mm hmm. Man, I've been
reading articles on that. I've beenreading some guys are talking about the sticky
stuff is actually leading to all thearm surgeries and the damage because they said

(01:03:27):
back when the sticky stuff is legal, it's put a lot less strain on
the elbow because they didn't have togrip the ball as hard. But uh,
man, I'm not sure about whatthat with Trevor Bauer. Yeah right
now, I don't want to Okay, I'm gonna tell you this, Chase.
Don't get your hopes up. Idon't think it's gonna happen. There's
he's been available to thirty teams obviouslywith these stuff in these cases, and

(01:03:50):
there was a hearing and they suspendedhim. I don't think major League Baseball
didn't know anything and then suspended himas long as they did. I mean,
there are people that are saying,like in the the meetings and stuff
like that that they had that therewere really incriminating videos with Trevor Bauer and
then I mean, the dude gothow long was he spend It was for
a full year, right, yeah, that's very long. Yeah, So

(01:04:12):
I don't think they do that outof nowhere. I think there's also the
sticky stuff concerns, and like yousaid, the Atlanta Braves maybe are looking
at him, but I mean,he's been pitching in Japan, he's been
pitching in Mexico. He's had everyopportunity. He is free to be signed
by Major League Baseball teams. He'sfree to be signed for the major league
minimum, and nobody's picking him up. I think that should be that the

(01:04:33):
silence should speak volumes to you.I think as far as the Trevor Bauer
situation, oh yeah, his attitude'sdefinitely toxic. You would have to put
up with that for sure in thelocker room. Yeah, So I just
don't think it's going to happen.Thank you, Chase. We've been taking
a lot of calls on this lately. I don't exactly know why, but
yeah, there's been multiple assault allegations, his spin rate numbers all took a

(01:04:57):
huge tumble when the sticky stuff wasenforced against the spider attack or whatever you
want to call it. And thenhe's been available at all thirty teams and
nobody signed him. So I guesswe can keep bringing it up. But
I also wouldn't expect a whole lotto be happening on the Trevor Bauer front.
Who I mean the dudes in theMexican League. Now, I imagine

(01:05:18):
I'm gonna go ahead and guess gutfeeling for tomorrow, Tuesday at one,
since I won't be here. TrevorBauer never pitches in the major leagues.
Again, just a gut feeling.I could be wrong, but we shall
see seven one three, two onetwo five seven ninety The phone number,
UH texts A can is next up? Holding longest? What is up?

(01:05:40):
Texa Can? Hey? I wantedto talk about a brave and the pitching
coach for the Astros. Okay,I think a braidon needs to just button
up his shirt, jersey all theway, yeah, like a baseball player.
Maybe even just cut the chin hairand be queen you know, you

(01:06:00):
know, and clean face. Butyou think he can't He ca't can't hit
because his shirt's unbuttoned. Maybe ithas an effect, but I'm pretty sure
you want an MVP with his shirtunbuttoned. Oh yeah, it looked like
I got one button down now,Okay, from then, so maybe matched

(01:06:21):
what he did over there with theWhite Sox. He's getting too much crosswind
in his Jersey when he's up atthe bat right, and then then it's
it's like popping out and slowing downhis bat and that's why he can't hit
fastballs. Uh. Yeah, that'son the lighter note. But it's most
serious. Is maybe the conditioning coachfor the the pictures starting pitchers and it

(01:06:43):
seems like everybody's getting hurt. They'renot doing their their stretches long enough or
okay, see, I don't knowwhy they're all going down all at the
same time the last two years.And I don't know who the coach is,
but or the conditioning coach for theyou mean the asher is individual picture's
been going down everywhere across baseball.Have you been paying attention to Yeah?

(01:07:09):
All right, thank you Texican.Yeah, it's something you know. There
is an interesting bite from Justin Verlander. I played it in the pregame I
think last week. It was afterhis first start in sugar Land, and
he went on this really long Idon't want to call it a die trip
because that means I'm trying to likesay it was not good or boring or
anything like that. But he wenton this just basically really long soliloquy about

(01:07:34):
what is going on in baseball,and a lot it was really good.
I don't want to play it allfor you guys, because it was like
four and a half minutes long,but I'll try to give you the gist
of it. It's a number ofthings. It is guys starting out from
very young age throwing as hard asthey can, trying to spin the ball
as hard as they can. Youlook at I saw this on Twitter a
couple of times. You look atlike all the guys from the highest velocity

(01:07:58):
fastballs that were thrown on average lastyear, and they're like they've crossed out.
It feels like ten of the fifteenguys have been crossed out, like
they've gone down with injuries. Soyou're prioritizing velocity, you're prioritizing spin.
You're starting at a lot younger agethrowing as long as hard as you possibly
can, and you're into this ageof where the ball flies out of the

(01:08:21):
ballpark a little bit differently according toJustin Verlander, so what you need to
do rather than pitching to contact isyou need to get swing and mess.
And so when you're prioritizing all ofthose things, and you add in starting
from younger age you add in startingfrom off seasons where you would take the
whole off season off, as JustinVerlander explains, and now you've got guys

(01:08:42):
working on throwing programs, adding pitches, trying to add velocity. You're also
pumping up and hitting the weight strongerand getting bigger. And if you have
muscles that cannot be supported by tendonsand ligaments as well, then are going
to be snapping as you're If you'repushing your body more to the max,

(01:09:03):
then you're also going to be goingover that edge. Right. If you're
always looking for max spin, maxvelocity, max speed, mass strong,
that means you're pushing your body toits limit. And what happens when you
push your body to its limit Atsome point, it's going to break down.
So I don't know what the solutionexactly is, but this is something

(01:09:26):
that should not be a surprise toanyone. Justin Verlanders in his Old Long
Thing, he suggested tying in theDH to the starting pitcher, incentivizing guys
going longer in games, whether yoube pitching pitching, you know, six
seven innings or eight innings, ratherthan having a guy go out there and
throw as hard as he can forfive innings and rack up a bunch of

(01:09:46):
swing and miss, but also throwa lot of balls, rack up a
pitch count, all that type ofstuff. But then how do you mitigate
that with what he also said aboutthe ball being different and flying out of
the park easier. So I don'tknow, i'd I don't know what the
solution exactly is, but they're clearlyis a problem with pitchers everywhere getting hurt
and going down and all these frontlineguys, and it's just shouldn't come as

(01:10:12):
a surprise. It certainly is anepidemic right now in baseball, and I
don't know what the solution is.And oh, by the way, the
pitchclock as well, he mentions.He says he doesn't think it's all the
pitchclock. I think it's a lotof that other stuff that I said,
as well as far as spin rateand all those other things. So there's
certainly an issue right now in baseballwith pitchers maxing themselves out and using I

(01:10:35):
mean, your your arm is notsupposed to torque a spinning ball and throwing
it one hundred miles an hour seventyfive eighty five times every few days.
And the work. You get inbetween a all that and then doing it
year round, and then doing itstarting from age ten. Verlander says he

(01:10:56):
didn't start throwing as hard as hepossibly could until after college guys got due.
You've got young kids doing this becausethey want to get noticed. They're
in selectball, they want to getnoticed from recruiters. They want to get
noticed from these these all star teams. Then they want to get noticed from
colleges. It's it's and then youhave them all playing year round as well,
rather than when you were We knowus older folks, when we were

(01:11:19):
kids, you play baseball in thespring in summer, then you play fall
sports in the fall, basketball,football, track, whatever. Now you
got kids traveling around throwing as hardas they can for three hundred and sixty
five days a year starting at ageten. Well, yeah, their arms
in their body is gonna break down. Shouldn't come as a surprise. All

(01:11:41):
right, quick break, here acouple All on hold, we'll get to
you. I promise seven one threetwo one two five seven ninety. The
phone number seven one three two onetwo five seven ninety. Matt Thomas Show
continues until three o'clock here on SportsTalk seven ninety. Quick cannibal fact number
two hundred and thirty three. Mostwhales don't watch sports. They're Dallas fans.

(01:12:02):
And when I think of whining,I think of Dallas and speaking of
Wales. Back to former whale MattThomas, I'll be back to my girlish
weight of two eighty six on SportsTalk seven ninety. Welcome back to the

(01:12:24):
Mad Thomas Show. I don't knowwhy those are even funnier when Matt's not
here. Very very rude liners wehave here at Sports Talk seven ninety.
Anyways, Oh, welcome back.Come Matt is out, he'll be back
tomorrow. I'm here ros view realnormally with you folks. You want to
get in seven one three, twoone two five seven ninety. A lot
of interesting astros discussion with you folks. We still have some text and stuff

(01:12:45):
to get to as well as weroll along until three oclock. But a
lot of y'all getting in on thephone, so let's go ahead and keep
it rolling. Raymond in the Woodlandsholding alongest. What's up Raymond? Hey?
Ross? Are you doing great?What's up up? Hey? Uh?
Well, first off, Matt,Matt really weighed to eighty six at
one point I think the days.Yeah, wow, I did not know

(01:13:10):
that right now anyway, Trim now, yeah, good for m Hey yeah
good. Thank you for bringing upthe Verlander h quote from the other day,
because I found that really really interesting. And you know who else to
take advice from on this than youknow, a future Hall of Fame pitcher,
right. Uh. You know it'snot spider Tack, it's not Hosea
Bradys Jerseys. That's that's uh,there's there, There's there's no secret behind

(01:13:32):
it. It's when you throw atwo seam fastball, your arm is straight
over your head. When you throwa slider, you're it's out to the
angles and it's putting pressure on thatnerve. So yeah, it's it's it
makes total sense, you know,the slider usage. And then I'll be
has gone up, uh and pastballusages has gone down actually, So I
mean literal Romel Blanco is his hischange up has four different directions you can
go and you get in time.So it was a good quote and I

(01:13:55):
thought he made good sense there.You know another thing about our our pitching
staff. We we have pictures wehave with some big boys, you know,
Romote Blanco and from where they're they'rebig boys, they're not that protypical
lengthy, lanky picture body builds,so that you know, I'm suppose Rummer
hasn't had more injuries, to behonest, but I wanted to ask him.

(01:14:15):
Ross's you know, optics on theastros not young decision is And I've
done some of my research here,but you know, I'm looking at fielding
and you know it based on previousyears where we've been so money and on
points with with our fielding and uh, you know, throwing throwing guys out
who're trying to steal. I thinkwe were top five and twenty twenty two.

(01:14:36):
This year we're middle of the pack, which isn't terrible. But it's
one thing that I'm poking out onon screen to me, uh, you
know, the bravest of the numberone fielding percent in the in the league.
Right, So we'll see them,We'll see them, uh you know
later tonight. It'll be interesting.And to that note on your ideas,
uh, you know, it's likeI said, I haven't done my full
research on this, but you know, guys are not afraid to test him

(01:14:57):
in terms of stealing basis, andhe's not I don't think he's throw anybody
out this year, which short simplesize, but he is with the bat.
Seems like he's kind of wearing downat that at that home place.
He's not he's not getting in frontof balls, not to stop. You
know a lot of pass balls.So well, you get your thoughts on
that, Russ. Okay, thanksa lot, Raymond. I to me,
first of all, I'm throwing guysout. I think you get very

(01:15:20):
little help from the pitching staff onthat front here as far as like a
Christian Xavier is pretty slow to theplay or he's not always checking guys.
I feel like a number of thesteals that I've seen, like the runner
is not even being checked. Andunfortunately it's a little bit difficult because you
can only throw over there twice.You get two disengagements and then that's that.
So I think, yeah, hefor the for the most part,

(01:15:43):
I haven't felt like the throw hasbeen bad. This pop up time is
normally pretty good. I think I'llalso a couple of times he's been caught
with and the pitch was a littlebit further outside. He's getting his feet
crossed up, and it's not necessarilyhis fault because he's not getting any help
from the pitchers either with the locationof the pitch or holding guys on he
did throw. I have a prettysolid cat stealing percentage last year thirty percent,

(01:16:05):
but he hasn't caught anybody this year. But I expect him to be
okay there. And then as faras I mean, you would have to
be asking the pitchers more. Asfar as calling games, we know that
the results have been a mixed bagfor sure, but also Victor Kartin he's
been back there for some really disastrousstarts for the Houston Astros. So I'm

(01:16:28):
not going to give all the blameto Yanyardiaz on that front. And then
as far as blocking and all thattype of stuff, I would have to
go look. I know there area bunch of websites that look at like
blocking above average and all that typeof stuff. I'm not going to tell
you that I've been watching with akeen eye every single time that he's been
able to block a baseball. Andlike I'm some kind of like former catcher,

(01:16:48):
and I can tell you I cango look up numbers, but that's
basically the extent of my expertise onthat, because like I said, I'm
not watching you know. Oh mygod, I can't believe beyond your ears
didn't block that ball. But tome, just from my naked eye,
it hasn't seemed like he has beena butcher back there. But I would

(01:17:09):
have to go do some digging toreally get you a more concrete answer on
that. Seven one three two onetwo five seven ninety the phone number.
Let's keep it going on the phones. Chandler and sugar Land. Next up,
what's up Chandler? Hey, howyou doing Ross? I'm doing great.
It's a beautiful day. It isa beautiful day. First time caller.

(01:17:30):
But I you know, y'all justtalked about a segment about the pitch
timer and a quick question about that. Okay, So I mean, if
you think about it, the pitchclock is shortened already, and I think
that could be a big reason whythese people are getting hurt, because if
you look at whether it's lifting orboxing or any other sport, if you
take the rest time down, dingji'sare going to go. And I feel

(01:17:51):
like, you know, as someonewho was a reliever, I know it
was just high school, but Ididn't throw anywhere near as fast as all
these people. Who throw upper ninetythese hundreds, and I mean you could
definitely feel that soreness. And Ifeel like, you know, when the
shortened pitch clock got implemented, theseall these injuries started going up. And

(01:18:12):
I think it's because they're not gettingas much rest between pitches, and some
of these pitchers that they aren't doinggood. Theither're on thirty to forty different
pitches and ending and all the times, if it's first ending, you're gonna
stay out there. It's all aboutthe fit, and so I think that
could really have an impact. Andalso I feel like this pitch clock can
also affect the new rookies. Iknow the new picture we had out there,

(01:18:33):
Henley, I think that was hisname. I feel like it could
be really intimidating for them as well. You know, you're going into your
first game, your debut. Youknow, if you start off bad that
pitch clock, you have no nothingto do but just continue to go and
continue to go, and things aren'tgoing your way. That could really take
attack from your mentality. And soI think, you know, these are

(01:18:55):
some big games and big debuts,and I don't think we should throw these
starting pictures just yet. Give themanother start to see how they go.
It's man, I know I amnervous right now, just on a phone.
Yeah, it's like the mountains.All right. Thanks a lot,
Chandler. I appreciate you get inand thank you for calling in. Yeah.
I think the pitchclock is certainly afactor, I think, but it's

(01:19:18):
also you know, you have toyield to the experts. Verlander in those
long comments that I reference in thelast segment, he did mention the pitchclock.
He mentioned as a factor, butI think he just his words where
it's also not just that it's throwingmax at one hundred percent. It's throwing
every single pitch, every bullpen session, every off season, workout, all

(01:19:40):
that type of stuff, and thenalso going with max spin and you're torking
more on your elbow and all thattype of stuff, and that's just not
something that they did back in theday. There was an Angels broadcaster,
Mark Kubiza, who also was apitcher back in the day, and said,
yeah, I mean back when Iwas throwing, we were thrown between
eight and twelve seconds every single pThat's just how it was. But it's

(01:20:00):
just about the max effort. SoI think it's a mixed thing, and
you could talk to different Kenley Jansenthinks that it is the pitch clock,
and so you talk to one hundredpittuers, you're probably gonna get one hundred
different answers. And these are theexperts, these are the guys that are
going out there. So that iswhere the issue is. We have to
figure this out. And also,unfortunately, two years of an injury sample
size isn't really enough for us tofigure this out. Unfortunately. You know,

(01:20:26):
the thing is with numbers is youcan have maybe it was just a
bad rash of injuries for two yearsand then maybe it'll get better, or
maybe it isn't just the pitch clock. You have these other variables, like
we said, throwing hard, offseason workout programs, all these other things.
I don't know. So unfortunately,we're just gonna be searching and grasping
for answers. And for the nextcouple of years, studies are gonna have

(01:20:48):
to be done and you're gonna haveto talk to all these pictures and like
I said, you're gonna get differentanswers from different pictures, and Justin Verlander
and who and Kenley Jansen and whoever, else so it but everybody agrees though
it is a problem, and itis something that we need to certainly keep
an eye on and monitor as wego forward. How much of it is

(01:21:09):
the pitch clock or how much ofit is just the state of pitching and
the way the game is today whereit's always about spin rate, spin rate,
spin rate vlo velo velo swing amiss as much as possible, And
how much of that is the theis the ball different? I don't know.
All right, seven one three twofive, seven ninety We're going to
take a quick break. We aregoing to hit the top of the hour,

(01:21:31):
number three of the Matt Thomas Showwithout Matt Thomas. Ross very out
with you, and we'll be backin a second. All of you on
hold. I promise we'll get toyou in just a minute. Here as
we hit our number three of theMatt Thomas Show. Lunchtimers, this is
the Matt Thomas Show, our numberthree of the Matt Thomas Show without Matt

(01:21:53):
Thomas. He'll be back tomorrow.Ros Vy out with you. Own lines
open at seven one three two onetwo five seven ninety seven to one three
two one two five seven ninety We'vebeen getting to a number of different things.
As far as the show, ofcourse, the Astros winning back to
back games against the Texas Rangers,back to back quality starts. What will

(01:22:19):
it continue, Well, we'll seethe Astros with a tough series, the
Atlanta Braves coming into town for threegames, and well facing one of the
best lineups in baseball. Are thethree pitchers that each gave you a lot
of trouble last week? What wasit? Three innings I think and seven

(01:22:39):
runs given up somewhere in that neighborhoodby one Spencer Aarraghetty. But it wasn't
at least with him. It wasn'tlike a bunch of hard hit contact.
I think there was only one ballhit over one hundred against him, although
hard hit I believe is ninety fiveplus and there was a few of those.
But then Hunter Brown eleven hits,nine runs, only recorded two outs,
I mean, one of the literallythe start in Major League Baseball history,

(01:23:01):
the only person to ever not togive up eleven hits and not give
up more than not get more thantwo outs. So hopefully he can be
okay. And then JP Franz alsonot very good the last time that he
went out I mean just back toback to back, not what you would
want to see out of your startingpitchers. He gave up eight earned runs

(01:23:25):
in four innings. I mean,by the standards of what Hunter Brown did
the day before, that was agood start. Eight earned runs in four
innings against the Texas Rangers on Friday. So hopefully, I mean, can
we get some improvement across the boardon that. That's what I'm hoping for
to see from the Houston Astros.So we've been talking about that. Of

(01:23:45):
course, the Rockets win yesterday againstthe La Clippers, Boban Marianovitch explodes for
thirteen points. That was exciting aswell. And on the Texans front,
we do have some audio from DemiicoRyans and others speaking earlier today in Texanville.
First team workout voluntary workouts, butsounds like a lot of the heavy

(01:24:06):
hitters from the Houston Texans were there. So let's go in and hear from
Demico o'ryans speaking earlier today. Firstthing, biggest thing from year one to
year two that Demico Ryans wants tosee from his Texans squad. You have
to watch guys who've had a lotof success, all Right, Guys,
you can't fall into a trap ofthat you've made it right just because you

(01:24:28):
have success in year one, thatdoesn't garner that you're gonna instantly have success
in year two. You still haveto put in even more work right because
now, oh you if the yearwork for tendencies on tape, other teams
around the league are watching you.They're kind of honing in on what you
do well. So how are yougoing to attack your offseason and truly focus
on improving your craft and being betterthan you were in year one? Guys,

(01:24:54):
can't you know? You can't fallasleep to oh, I did it
one year, it's easy. Yourelax your second year. That's the biggest
thing I've seen where guys kind ofhave that drop in their second years where
they relax and they think they havethat I made it moment. Nobody's ever
made it. You continue to putthe work in, You dive in even
harder because you've had success, absolutelywhat you want to hear. And as

(01:25:16):
far as like with Demiko Ryans andhis coaching with the Houston Texans, it's
always I feel like there are certainworries you have with head coaches and maybe
it's calling plays. Maybe it's timeclock management, maybe it's running the locker
room and having the voice of yourguys when it comes to Dimiko Ryans as

(01:25:40):
far as setting the tone and themindset and saying the right things to his
players and knowing from somebody who wasa he was a Pro Bowl middle linebacker
and middle linebacker along with maybe safeties. As far as being the most cerebral
players on the field and being basicallythe quarterback of the defense, I have
trust that he is really smart andhe knows about how to carry yourself as

(01:26:04):
a professional. And I think thatis exemplified in that answer right there talking
about the first season and all thissuccess we had in saying, hey,
it's year to year and everything thatyou did last year does not matter.
You got to keep bringing it andthen you got to improve and you've got
to get better. So definitely theright thing said by Demiico Ryans. And

(01:26:25):
not like he's going to come outthere and be like, yeah, you
know what, we're pretty good andwe don't have to really try hard or
anything like that, but the everyday, relentless nature of improving and getting better
in the NFL and having a headcoach who is going to preach that,
and who's going to set that toneand who lived that as an NFL player.
I think that's I mean, obviouslyone of the reasons that Demiico Ryans

(01:26:45):
is such a great asset as ahead coach, and just that answer there,
I think encapsulating what you can canexpect from Demiico Ryans as far as
his mindset and his attitude with theHouston Texans. So also Demiko Ryan a
little bit more from him speaking onsomebody that had a great year one and
CJ Stroud himself individually, I don'tthink he's going to be resting on his

(01:27:06):
laurels either and making that leap inyear number two. Here's what Demko had
to say about his quarterback. Yeah, with CJ, we're very proud of
his success his first year. Imean, he came in and probably shocked
a lot of people with how heplayed, and he played at a very
high level. He continued to progressand get better throughout the entire year,

(01:27:27):
So we're very excited about what hewas able to do. Now can he
pick up where he left for himright as he finished the year off.
He had a strong year, Butas a player, you always are your
toughest critic. Can he continue tomaster the same thing I talked about,
those techniques and fundamentals. Can hemaster those things to continue to lead our
team in the way that he's doneit. Excited to be able to work

(01:27:49):
with him for another year. Ithink for all of our younger players,
especially the rookies, last year,that year one, the year two,
that's where you see the biggest jumpor I've seen in my career. And
guys have a true offseason to dedicateright and focus on themselves and them getting
better. They don't have to worryabout combine or draft prerip. They can

(01:28:10):
truly work on the things that we'veasked them to do. And I think
it's also a plus for him byhaving Coach slow Coach Girard having him back,
and we're still doing our same schemeright, same system, So he's
already a step ahead of where hestarted last year. So I'm excited to
see his grow from year one toyear two. There you go, Coach

(01:28:31):
talking about the growth. I think, yeah, you were excited, and
I think we're going to see it. And I think I think Bobby Slowak
staying is is a huge I don'tknow. I mean we talked about when
it was happening and when Bobby slockwas getting looked at from other teams,
whether it be Atlanta Carolina or wasit Washington as well. I can't even
recall where he got multiple interviews andwas possibly going to be hired away.

(01:28:54):
It's I mean, it's huge havinghim back being in the same spot,
that year of growth that he canhave being in the same system, same
terminology, same plays, and andI think one of the things that Bobby
slog talked about at the end ofthe year is is also I think it
was a divisional game and Bobby Slokwas speaking to the media and unfortunately that
can go very well for the forthe Texans at all offensively, but knowing

(01:29:18):
more towards the end of the seasonthan he did in Week one as far
as tailoring game plans to CJ.Stroud's strengths and at that time Devin singletaryes
but now, of course Joe mixMix and being the lead back for the
Houston Texans and Damian Pierce Steel beingin the mix, maybe they go and
draft the guy. I don't know, we'll see, but I think working

(01:29:42):
with a coach who is the playcaller who also you know c J.
Stroud knows Bobby slock and his schemebetter, and Bobby Sloan knows CJ.
Stroud and everything that he's capable ofmuch better. And that's why. And
then you add Stefan Diggs, whichof course is a risk. They li
a number two pick on fire fornext year. It's gone, it's done.

(01:30:03):
That's a lot. That's one ofyour, I mean, top assets
for team building is something like asecond round pick. But also I think
Nick Cassario recognizes this is the timeto go all in. We're doing this
for one year of Stephan Diggs,and then if he's really good, we're
gonna franchise him, or we're gonnagive him an extension that's front loaded that
maybe we can get out of intwo years. If he's mining his p's

(01:30:25):
and q's, if he's not blowingup on the sidelines, you're getting him
in on his best beat hey behavior, and you're getting his best efforts,
which I think you're going to dobecause he's on a contract year, because
you've basically voided the last three yearsof it, which at the time certainly
a curious move. I understand it, but at the end of the day,
it doesn't matter. What's done isdone. Last three years of Stefan
Diggs contract are done. He canbe a free agent after this year second

(01:30:49):
round pick is gone. The factof the matter is on the field,
you've got Stefon Diggs, You've gotNico Collins, Dalton Schultz, and oh,
by the way, is feeling alot healthier as well. So I'm
pretty excited about where things are headedwith these Houston Texans in this second year

(01:31:09):
of CJ. Stroud and you knowwhat, I think we're hopefully it's gonna
be tough in the AFC because ofLamar Jackson, because of that guy named
Pat Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. I don't know if you ever heard
of him, Harball. Now withJustin Herbert and the Chargers, it's gonna
be fun. But I feel likeyou've got a team right there in the
mix. There's not gonna be asingle week where you're gonna say to yourself

(01:31:31):
the Texans have no chance. AndI think there were a lot of weeks
in the last years past that wesaid that and we meant it. But
I'm not gonna look at whenever theschedule releases for the NFL and be like,
no, that's elle. Let mejust say, you know what,
they could go out there and theycould win because they got number seven and
they got those weapons around him.And oh, by the way, Daniel

(01:31:53):
Hunter and Will Anderson, who willhear from in just a little bit in
the next segment over there as bookenddefensive ends pretty darn good as well with
Dimiko Ryans at the helm. Allright, quick break here those of you
and Hole will get to you aswell. Also here from Will Anderson who
spoke to the media, and alittle bit more on the Texans. We
can also talk, of course aboutthe baseball side. We've been talking some

(01:32:13):
stros rockets. Anything you want toget to. Seven one three two one
two five, seven ninety is thephone number here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
It's seven one three two one twofive seven Night lunch Timers. Back
to Houston's longest running lunchtime sports showwith a guy that yells for a living.

(01:32:36):
Yes, Matt Thomas, the legendcontinues. Now gee Jerry sis right,
welcome back Matt Thomas Show without MattThomas, Ross Virial with you phone

(01:32:59):
lines open, at seven one,three, two one two, five,
seven nine, even talking everything HoustonSports Astros went back to back games.
Rockets finished the season five hundred Texansspeaking. We just heard from Demiko Ryans
in the last segment. Coming up, we'll hear from CJ. Stroud and
Will Anderson, the number two andthree overall picks, respectively from last year's

(01:33:21):
draft. But Christian and Lamark hasbeen waiting patiently. So Christian, go
ahead. The floor is yours.Oh, how are you, sir?
I'm doing great, Christian? Howare you? I'm doing alright? Ross,
I mean I can't play okay,please don't. Oh, I'm definitely

(01:33:43):
not going to. I mean,you think after me sitting around for two
hours on a media call for afight promotion is bad enough. You haven't
seen me waiting around for this show. But still, though, enough shit
chat about that. I got twoquestions to ask. First of all,
when it comes down to the Rockets, I know they've been through some rough
seasons the last few years, butconsidering the fact that they just ended this

(01:34:09):
season at forty one up and fortyone down, even though they didn't make
the playoffs or to play in forthat matter, how would you. I
mean, how would you say thisRocket season turned out from your point of
view? And also, I knowyou're probably not a big hockey guy neither
his math and he'd done PA announcementsfor the Arrows back in the day.

(01:34:32):
But with the NHL saying that itis going to Salt Lake City, of
all places next year, just tomove the the Arizona Coyotes to that particular
place, what is your gut feelingthat Houston might get a return to professional

(01:34:53):
hockey, let alone and invites onthe NHL within the next two years.
Yeah, I don't know, Christian, It's a tough one as far as
the NHL to Houston. I feellike the Arizona Coyotes the relocating sounds like
it's going to be a done dealthat they're going to be Utah Jazz owner
Ryan Smith is going to be acquiringthe franchise and then move them to Salt

(01:35:15):
Lake City. I don't know ifthey'll stay the Coyotes or whatever the hell
they're going to call them over therein Utah, but sounds like the it's
going to be unfortunately a swinging amiss as far as the efforts of them
coming to Houston. It feels likewe've been talking about this now at this
point for several decades and it justhasn't happened. I don't know if there's
not enough corporate support. Seems likeTilman Fertita this go round was a little

(01:35:39):
bit more on board then he wasperhaps in last go rounds. And I
don't know if that's because he andJim Crane acquired the Space City Home network
and that would mean eighty two moredates of programming, eighty two more dates
of selling advertising, and if theywould be able to be more profitable on
that front. So I'm not exactlysure what's going to happen, but it

(01:35:59):
just I'm not gonna get my hopesup, not that my hopes are up
in a big way anyways, becauseI'm not a big hockey guy. I'm
not a big NHL guy. Idon't know a lot about the sport,
and that just be another sport thatit'd have to get into and learn the
ins and outs of, and itwould be certainly a big learning process for
me. For the most part whenit comes to hockey, I don't even
know. I mean, I've beenhaving explained to me a bunch of times.

(01:36:21):
I can't even remember what icing is. I don't even we'd have to
bring in our hockey expert, ConnorMcGovern, I think would have to explain
all this to me. Connor,what is icing? Can you explain this
to me? Like I'm five yearsold? It's when you send the you
send the puck over there, nobody'sover there or something like that. Yeah,
it's to avoid cherry picking or forpeople hanging around the offensive zone.

(01:36:42):
So the puck has to be Youcannot so you know the middle red line,
Okay, can't, Yes, shootthe puck into your offensive zone behind
that red line. You have tocross that red line. Then you can
dump the puck in. That's toavoid cherry well, yeah, Jerry,
pure kicking or yeah, just likeshooting it across ice and having your guy
hanging all the way down there.Okay, well, thank you. There

(01:37:05):
we go. That is the residenthockey. If we get a hockey team
here in Houston, we're just gonnahave to put you on the hockey beat.
Now you're gonna have to completely removefrom the rockets beat. We're putting
on the hockey beat. That soundsgreat, okay, Houston. Well it's
not going to be the Coyotes.I don't know what the hell are hockey.
Bring back the arrows, that'll befine, all right, thank you
for that. But yeah, Idon't. I just don't. It doesn't
feel like it's gonna happen. Hejust keep swinging and missing and all this

(01:37:26):
talkeets. I feel, like Isaid, it's been a couple of decades
we've been talking about Houston getting somehockey and it hasn't happened. And then
all the Rockets front. Yeah,they exceeded my expectations. I thought there
was no chance that they would getinto the playing game. Now at the
end of the day, they finishedfive games out of the play in so
it's not like the way that theyThings kind of fell apart from them after

(01:37:48):
that eleven game win streak and theylost five in a row. They did
win I think three of four toend the season forty one and forty one,
So that was nice to see witha couple of wins, but they
should have beat the Jazz. Butanyways, if you finish five games out,
it's not like you were busting downthe door. Maybe you were knocking
on the door, but it wasn'tthere. But still exceeded my expectations.

(01:38:10):
I thought they'd win about thirty thirtyfive games, and they went pretty well
over that, and I didn't thinkit was gonna be enough to get them
in the play in But coach,you Dokins have done a really good job.
The defense has been really good,and now they just need to figure
out putting the pieces together to makethat next leap. Phase one is losing
and acquiring a bunch of picks.Phase two is starting last year, starting

(01:38:32):
to push for the playoffs. Andthen in my mind, I don't know
if rafel Stone and Matt Thomas keepssaying he wants phase three, I'm like,
well, phase two is going totake more than one year. I
think these phases are multi year phases. But I think phase three is to
me championship contention. But in orderto do that, really you need top
ten caliber talent. If not one, then multiples. I mean the number

(01:38:58):
one seed Oklahoma City Thunder. Theyhave Shay Gilgess Alexander who is an MVP
candidate. Then Chedd Holmgren is reallygood. They've got some good pieces around
as far as you know, likethe Josh Gettys of the world. The
Blue Dort is a good defensive player, and he's come along as far as
a three point shooter as well.The Jalen Williamses can play. So yeah,

(01:39:20):
they've got some good pieces, andthey've got a guy who's a top
ten talent and Shay Gildges Alexander oneof the great scorers in the league and
also a really good perimeter defender.Denver Nuggets, need I say more.
I mean they've you know what's goingon over there? Minnesota Timberwolves. Lelly
Clippers have three future Hall of famerson their team. They won fifty one
games. They're fourth in the West. So tip of the cap to the

(01:39:43):
Rockets for finishing five hundred in thisWestern conference, to where if they were
over there on the other side,they would have finished ninth in the East
with forty one wins. The factof the matter is we've been waiting and
projecting the West and the death ofthe West for like it feels like a
decade at this point. West hasbeen tougher than the East for years and
years and years, and unfortunately hejust keeps on getting harder and harder to

(01:40:05):
win. But that's the way itis. I didn't even get to the
Mavericks, Luka Doncic need I saymore, Kyrie Irving need I say more?
Then the Phoenix Suns have Kevin Durantand Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.
They have all those guys. Theyfinish six in the West. It's gonna
be tough. So what are yougonna need. You're gonna need to match

(01:40:28):
those guys talent for talent, andthat means is that gonna be internal or
external? If Jalen Green's gonna bea top ten fifteen player in this league,
he's got to make some leaps bigtime, mostly with consistency. He
played like a top ten to fifteenguy in March, But what about January?
What about December? What about November? Well, what about really April?

(01:40:49):
He didn't at all. So yousee it one month out of the
year, You need it for fouror five months out of the year.
An outprnching goon and then how dothose guys mesh? Then? Where else
I mean is Amn Thompson? Imean he got off to a nice start
of the season. He ended upwith his first triple double of his career.
But does he have top ten guywritten all over him? Not necessarily

(01:41:11):
right now. Jump Shot needs toimprove. He does have a lot of
good tools, and I think hewill be a lockdown defender in this league
when it's all said and done.But then you know, Dylan Brooks is
going to be a complimentary piece.Fred van Vliet love Fred van Vliet,
but he's not. I don't thinkhe's going to emerge as a top ten
fifteen talent. Cam Whitmore will seeit's getting aggressive. He scored to I

(01:41:35):
think twenty one points yesterday. Butthat's what you need. That's the bottom
line. How do you win inthe NBA very easy, have one or
two of the best players on theplanet, and the Rockets don't have any
of the best players on the planet. So is it going to be in
a draft which unfortunately this season hasthought of as one of the worst NBA
drafts in the history of the league. But that doesn't mean anybody can't emerge.

(01:42:00):
You can't try and make the rightpick. But that's the accumulation of
top level talent. That's how youwin in the NBA, and then you
build around it as best you can. All right, time for bottom of
the hour break. When we comeback, we will hear from the CJ.
Stroud and Will Anderson. You wantto get in. The phone lines
are open at seven one three twoone two five seven ninety seven one three
two one two five seven ninety Backto Matt Thomas drives this day to left

(01:42:26):
center fail. This is Sports Talkseven ninety, home of Astros Baseball.
Nothing to stop me. I'm allaway Upway Halloway, two thirty three pm
here on a Sports Talk seven ninetyA couple of segments ago, the Matt
Thomas Show Without Matt Thomas. He'llbe back tomorrow. I am Ross viveral

(01:42:49):
Hi. I will be gone forthe remainder of the week, so we'll
be passing the baton to him andwell he can figure out what the heck
he's going to do the next fewdays. But I'll be back next week,
hopefully rested and refreshed and hopefully witnessingsome Astros wins at some point,
because they are still six and eleven, They're still only two and a half

(01:43:12):
games back in the AL West.That's good. You win a couple.
It would have been nice to sweepthe Texas Rangers, but Friday was a
complete disaster. If you as youhad JP Franz giving up eight runs there,
but you win the last couple ofthem, and I think they're going
to be fine. I don't knowthat they're gonna win one hundred games and
then this is just gonna be oneof the great seasons in the history of

(01:43:33):
the franchise. But the division isstill well within reach. And the good
news is the Seattle Mariners off toa pretty bad start, and I just
don't think long term the Angels inthe A's are going to be a long
term just contending for the division allseason long either. All right, seven
one three, two, one twofive, seven ninety. We've been talking

(01:43:55):
some about the Texans Rockets and HLlast segment as well, So anything you
want to get into, you can. But I did mention that we would
be playing some of this audio fromearlier today Texans voluntary workouts. We heard
from Demiko Ryans talking about making thatyear two leap, or not necessarily to
year two leap, but just transitioningfrom year one to year two, keeping

(01:44:16):
up the level of greatness, tryingto sustain that and all that type of
stuff. So one of those guysthat he also talked about, Demiko Ryan,
CJ. Stroud, what does yeartwo have in store for him.
Well, one thing we know ishe's going to be playing alongside Stefan Diggs.
And here's what he had to sayabout that. That's okay, sometimes
our software doesn't work. Yeah,I'm really excited to work on He's one

(01:44:39):
of the best guys in the league. And obviously he's been watching him for
a long time and he's been playingreally well. And I can't wait to
work with him and get on thesame page and get to work. That's
basically what I figure he's going tosay, Okay, well he will get
this working at some point. It'sgoing to be Okay, Connor, It's
fine. It's just live radio.So yeah, see, I mean we
mentioned it. CJ. Stroud,you get to know, you get the

(01:45:00):
year of continuity with Bobby Slowick,you get the year of just being here
and having all that. I mean, you're not supposed to do what CJ.
Stroud did coming into the NFL,where you just come over and storm
and take over the league, especiallywhere he was drafted number two. Especially
you know this question marks with himat Ohio State and the offense run there.
I think that's why he did slipthe way that he did is Is

(01:45:21):
he going to be able to processon his own and read defenses and check
downs and find the right tight windowsand all that type of stuff. And
I feel like year one, I'vealready seen enough that I'm ready to call
him a franchise quarterback. And Ithink most people are not everybody, and
that's okay, But it's not necessarilyjust the results. It's not necessarily just

(01:45:41):
looking at the end of the gameand reading the box score and saying that
guy's a franchise quarterback. It's aboutthe way that he carries himself. It's
about the way that he handles himselfon the field. It's about the way
that you can just tell he's calmunder pressure, the throws that he makes,
even the bad throws that he does. Was it the Cardinals game where
he had like three interceptions and acouple of those he was forcing it in

(01:46:03):
a little bit. It was justto me, CJ. Stroud, in
order to kind of be that dude, you got to be willing to let
it fly. You've got to bewilling to let it go. You can't
be scared. You can't play scaredas a quarterback in the NFL, because
as soon as you have a littlebit of a hesitation. As soon as
you're not ready to make a throw, that's when the window closes and you've
already missed your opportunity. So,yeah, CJ. Stroud had a few

(01:46:26):
picks, but it wasn't a ton. It was like several weeks before even
threw one, even though he hada couple of turnover worthy plays and some
drop picks, which is why Idon't put as much dock into that number
as some other people do. ButI still think we're talking about a guy
who is going to reach the upperechelon. He's a franchise quarterback. He's
going to grow and he's going toget better. And that's that's also a
reason why I'm just ready to fullfledged call CJ. Stroud a franchise QB

(01:46:54):
because he's going to get better.Yeah, maybe we'll see somewhat of a
sophomore slump, but I'm just reallynot projecting it. Especially now that the
team got better around him. You'rehoping that there's going to be more health
than the offensive line as well.I mean, think about that too.
You're learning on the fly, you'reat the highest level of football. Your
offensive line has been and injured andthen coming into the season last year,

(01:47:21):
we talked about the Texans wide receivingcore being like thirty two or thirty one
in the entire NFL, and itwasn't that case by the end of it.
Unfortunately Tank Dell got hurt. Butstill, I mean, now you
had Stefan Diggs, Dalton Schultz isback, things are going to get even
better for the Houston Texans and theirquarterback c J. Stroud. He also

(01:47:45):
mentioned, unfortunately, I think we'restill having some technical difficulties back there,
but Tank Dell is something that CJ. Shroud addressed and working with him and
we'll see what happens and if hecan stay together for stay healthy or a
full season and all that stuff.But I I just think Tank Dell is,
you is just gonna be a hugepiece for the Texans. And I

(01:48:09):
don't know how much we're gonna seehim in a goal line situation and in
this situation where he was where he'sblocking and getting rolled up, kind of
a freak accident the way that happened, And I wonder what's gonna happen in
those short yarded situations. If you'regonna see more runs or if you're gonna
see Tank Dale not necessarily on thefield. We know that in twenty twenty

(01:48:30):
three, twenty twenty four, thingslike to get spread out at the goal
line. Everybody's always like, whydon't you just line up and get in
the A formation and get beef youwith three tight ends and punch him in
the mouth. Well, because theyknow and they have numbers that when you
spread things out, when you spreadout the defense, that opens things up
for the run game. And thenyou're you know, you get five wide
receivers out there, four or threein a tight end or whatever type of

(01:48:54):
personnel you're gonna be in, chancesare one of them is gonna be open
and you're hoping the defense if you'rerunning pick out, pick routes, rub
routes, whatever you want to callhim, that somebody's going to be able
to get opened down there. ButTank Dell, obviously factoring is a part
of that. We'll see what theplans are exactly as far as the goal
line offense coming up, but thebottom line is when he's there, from

(01:49:15):
the start of the start of thepossession towards getting into the red zone,
Tank Dell's going to be one ofthe best in the game. He's just
always open, always open. It'snot that it's the anticipation that CJ.
Stroud throws with and then the separationthat Tank Dell himself confined and that he's
always going to be looking for.As long as he comes back is healthy

(01:49:39):
and as quick and as fast ashe was in his rookie season, he's
going to be a huge asset forthe Houston Texans. Will Anderson also speaking
to the media, he's going tobe working with daneil Hunter and an interesting
bite as well the unfortunately we can'tplay because we're having some technical difficulties,
is that he's talked about guys atthe Pro Bowl talking about wanting to play
in Houston. That's how we getturned around. That's what's really been remarkable

(01:50:01):
to me with this Houston Texans franchise. Babe at eight, I mean,
this was a laughing stock of afranchise. It was the Davis Mills David
Cully led Houston Texans two seasons ago. We were in twenty twenty two and
we're talking about the most vanilla,bland, uninteresting franchise in all of football.

(01:50:29):
And now you get CJ. Shroud. Now you get Demico Ryans,
Now you get Stefon Diggs, JoeMixon, and you've gone from a complete
laughing stock to a destination for otherteams, for other players from other teams
and guys talking about wanting to playhere. That's that's the kind of the

(01:50:50):
funny. The beauty of the NFLis it's a curse in a way,
and that you can all the superBowl window can be taken away from you
in a year or two, butthen it can open up so quickly with
the way that the rosters are turnover. Because it's a hard cap league,
you're gonna be able to get otherplayers from other teams that are pretty good

(01:51:12):
except for you know, quarterbacks,edge rushers, left tackles, stuff like
that. Those are the harder thingsto find. But it's easier to fill
rosters. You get those draft picksand you get the right coach and you
get, oh, by the way, a franchise quarterback fall into your lap
at number two. You can turnthings around pretty quick. And that's what
the Houston Texans did. Seven onethree, two, one two five seven

(01:51:33):
ninety is the phone number, nobelieve it or not. Today with Matt
Thomas out, so if you wantto get in you can. One segment
to go. This is the MattThomas Show without Matt Thomas with you until
three o'clock until the A team righthere on Sports Talk seven ninety The Matt
Thomas Show to in fine Sports Talkseven ninety Home of the Strows. Final

(01:52:05):
segment, The Mad Thomas Show aboutMatt Thomas, ros Vieia with you and
uh now I believe I'm joined byI was wondering if it was gonna be
one Adam. Apparently it's gonna beboth down at Minute May Park, Adam
and Adam, why are you alldown there? It's a great time to
welcome in a new ball club toMinute May Park, especially when it's a

(01:52:27):
former friend of theirs from the NationalLeague. The Atlanta Braves are in town.
Our good friend Jeff Blum will joinus. So I thought a live
appearance from Blummer would be worth itfor our listeners, worth it for us,
and just make for great radio today. I mean, the Astros are
hot after all. Oh that's true, They've one ton of two hi other,
Adam, duh. The Astros arehot, Hey, you know the

(01:52:47):
other reason. And I'm gonna giveaway his business. But it's fine.
He doesn't mind. He wasn't onwith us on Friday because he was,
you know, paling around with hisbougie friends at the mass. So that's
why Blum is on not once buttwice this week. Wow, that's just
beautiful, aren't you guys? Lucky? You know what I gotta? I
always had Stan on the in thefirst segment, and he asked me,
do you think those guys mind beingcalled the atoms? Do you want your

(01:53:10):
own identity? Or is it okayif we refer to you folks as the
atoms? I mean, I've beencalled so many worse things over the course
of my broadcast career that it's it'sfine. Yeah, I'm not a big
fan of it, but I canmanage. Oh okay, Well, see
then what would you rather see?Do we go into alphabetical order? Then
Planting and Wex, Wex and ac. Why don't you just cast the eighteen

(01:53:31):
that's the name of the show.Of the show should be properly titled in
every single reference in house, memos, online recognition, yes, spots on
our blog and website. It's thea team with Wexler and Clanton. Do
you have matching eighteen tattoos. No, I can't match anyone's tattoos with zero

(01:53:51):
of them. Oh do I havea matching tattoo on my body? Believe
it or not? I will saybelieve it. Believe it. I'm gonna
say. Now, there's two favorites. It's either gonna be your wife.
That's the only option ever in thehistory of mankind. I thought it might
be your boy, Dustin. Nowwhy would I do that? I don't

(01:54:12):
know. You guys, Yeah,you don't have to be married. So
what Kyle Shanahan and Chris Sims don'tthink you need to be married to have
matching tattoos. Do they have matchingtattoos? Or are you just saying that
because they're inordinately close? No?They do. Can I interject, by
the way, to this really compellingstory, Yes you did. Astros starting
pitcher fra Amber Valdez is on thefield right now. I'm making throws in

(01:54:33):
front of the athletic training staff.Looks to be roughly about sixty feet from
here. Obviously he's not recoiling oranything like it. Youre licks in now
major League Baseball, because the leagueis soft. When they get backed the
rest of the i elers were outthere earlier, mccolors, Garcia, Murphy,
and Orcadi all going through their throwingprograms, and so hopefully we will

(01:54:55):
hear from some of the astros injust a little bit about how things went
today for f But like he toldeverybody over the weekend, and the manager
and general manager told us on AstrosRadio they expect he would throw this week.
And here he goes, Okay,well, you guys have the ballpark,
so I got a couple of questionsto throw at you astro's side.
Uh so let's go ahead and startwith yes, okay, but is it

(01:55:16):
gonna stay? Is it going tostay open? No? It will not,
Okay, And how are we feeling? I say, Spencer arraghetty,
and then you have Hunter Brown andagainst the Atlanta Braves. How we feeling?
Can I do my noises? Matt, Yes, you can go down
the list again, Spencer Arraghedtty,Hunter Brown, JP, friends, that

(01:55:40):
was me falling out of my chair. Okay for the last one, that
meme with Vince McMahon exact, well, yeah, that doesn't age well sharing
what he was doing anyways. Okay, so how are we feeling? I
mean, it can't get worse forHunter Brown, can it? No?
He had literally the worst starting majorLeague baseball history, gave a bo and

(01:56:02):
didn't get throw it any So ifit's measured in hits in major league history,
you don't lose games on hits.You lose games on runs. Okay,
Well I done. Yeah, makingout in crotch grabbing leads to sex
wax. Okay, hits leads runs. That's how it goes, presuming there's

(01:56:24):
two people involved. Yes, that'swhat it leads to. Michael Jackson operation
again. Though this actually is shouldbe a good way for you know,
I thought and usually think this way. Righett. He's a local kid,
he's a Houston kid. He's calledup to the big club for the first
time, and he knows he's probablygonna get a couple of starts, at
least while Framber is unavailable. Firststart was on the road. Now he
gets to pitch here after putting thatone behind him tonight, in front of

(01:56:45):
I'm sure even more people than sawhim the first time, get a little
understanding, and if you had,I'm sure you did. Ross Hurd a
chance to hear what he said afterhis poor start. He man does he
get it? And is he biginto the analytics of everything? So I
think it was, you know,so he just doesn't work at the back
of a baseball cardalytics. There's nothingon the back of his baseball card.
Oh, that's yes, Araghetti BrownFrance. Each of their last turns was

(01:57:10):
poor seven, eight and nine runsrespectively allowed. Ross. Have we reached
the quota of the back of baseballcards references for a season? We've got
any. We've got it over theweekend from Bagwell and then we got it
last week from Dana Brown as well. Correct, that's what I'm saying.
Can we just stop with that?That's not that's not a good thing to
say. Well, speaking of theman that they were talking about the back

(01:57:31):
of his baseball card, that wouldbe one. Jose A Bray You how
long of a leash does he haveto be this poor as the first baseman
for your Houston Astros. You wantto do my leash or the organization?
Yeah? I do both, Giveme both. Which do you want your
leashes? Last week? I'm guessingmy leash doesn't exist. It's like sider,

(01:57:54):
Yeah, he's out of here exactly. And then the organization, I
mean you know, Wex will probablydisagree with me on this. If Well
the organizations is probably going to belike end of July. I mean,
I mean, but he can't hitone to eleven July. Well, he
didn't hit his first home run untilwhat June last year, But at least

(01:58:15):
he was getting hits at some point. I mean. Now that's not the
right answer, of course, itneeds to be much sooner like yesterday.
But you know that's what you've got. You just said it yourself earlier.
Bagwell is in Crane's ear and he'slistening. He's not just in his ear.
Crane's listening to him because otherwise hewouldn't be here. Still, I
mean, just the money. It'slike Wex said last week, the money's

(01:58:39):
gone like that. Forget about Ohwe're spent. It's spent. So now
make the best decision for your baseballteam. That's what this comes down to,
Not to be anything other than authenticallyme wet blanket. You guys know
the difference between a mountain and amolehill, right? Ye? Yes,
I think that's what people are doingwith Jose Bray, who matters almost not

(01:59:00):
at all to how the Astros perform. Yeah, He's got a good point,
because he's like, how far downthe list of things that are actually
this? Seasons of Bradi showed upand the manager reacted accordingly by burying him
in the order on the days heeven plays. Right then problem solved.
They're not going to solve the problemby magically making their first basement hit.
But that's a first base problem,only it's not necessari it's not really killing

(01:59:23):
the Astros. It wasn't before whenthey weren't scoring any runs, and it
isn't now when they're scoring eight,nine and eight runs over a three game
span. The rest of the hitterswere always going to make this team win
or lose. It's bad to havea black hole out there, or a
sinkhole as some people might call it. No, but I think if you
have long term for the course ofthe season, you absolutely were counting at
some point for Jose ready to provideyou something offensively. He's at first base

(01:59:47):
likepposed to be. He already isn'tat first base. It's already made accommodations.
As brief as they are and aspoor the options are, they got
production out of both of their firstbasement essentially all weekend except for yesterday when
they scored eight runs with no productionfrom them. I get that it is
an issue, but I think peopleare just circling around him, just feasting

(02:00:09):
and buzzard like over something that isjust not paying. I would say,
Okay, it's not the biggest dealfor this team, but I think it
is going to be something to monitorat some point throughout the season and something
that that they are going to haveto address because you are I mean,
he did start an opening day?Was he what five in the lineup?
So that that means they gave hima chance deal, you won him.

(02:00:30):
That's exactly where you want him.That's what you're projecting him to spot.
The man made because the manager madea mistake. If he didn't know that
Yaner Diaz and Chas McCormick and nowfinding out that Jeremy Pania are all better
options. He made a mistake,which he corrected in about ten days.
Yes, he did correct him,but that's I think that gives you into

(02:00:50):
a window of what you were hopingto where he would be. Yeah,
that's probably more like a Brad pittArt House situation. We're gonna go ahead
and bat him fifth. Uh,I am Okay, let's see what happens
and then can I make changes whenI see fit? Okay? Perfect?
And then he did. Absolutely,he's your eight guy now. Thankfully Jeremy
Pania is showing up the way thathe did. But I don't know that
he's gonna hit three fifty off season. To be cool if he did,

(02:01:12):
but I think at some point,yeah, you would. You're not gonna
say our games are won and lostby jose A Brayw. But I think
having his offense is something that theprojector the Astros were projecting to have better
than what it is at this pointof the season. So I think get
outsider information from our Astros insider who'ssitting here with us at the A team
which one that's me right now?First Astro offensive position player on the field

(02:01:33):
today is jose A braw He isswinging his bat right now step a cage,
and he's going to try to seeif he can get his timing right
for the vaunted Atlanta Braves pitching staffset to throw baseballs towards home plate starting
tonight. You've only got so manyswings in that bat, Jose save them
all right, Thanks, guys,I'm turning you off, bye bye,

(02:01:53):
all right, they'll be back inlike three minutes. That is Adam and
Adam. They love to be calledthe Adams. They are the eighth.
They're coming up next. Thanks tosand Northfleet for hanging out the first hour.
Thanks to all of you on thephone lines. Thanks to the Adams
as well. Thanks to Connor McGovern. I'll talk to you folks next week
because I'm hitting vacation, but MattThomas will be back at noon tomorrow right

(02:02:14):
here on Sports Talk seven, outof your home for your Houston Astros.

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