March 29, 2024 • 40 mins
Former Astro turned Space City Home Network analyst Geoff Blum is back this season with The A-Team. He reacts to the Astros frustrating Opening Day loss to the Yankees. Plus, he talks about what could still be ahead in this long season for the 'Stros.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
You look at it. Look atit. Oh yeah, this is radio.
You listen to it on Sports Talkseven ninety astro's broadcaster Jeff Blum on
seven ninety is brought to you bylow T Center. Yeah he is,
And for the first time all seasonlong, Blummer is on with the A
(00:23):
team here on Sports Talk seven ninety. WEX and ac out here at minute
made Park and Blum is not becausehe's not working tonight. You know what,
he hasn't much deserved day off afterhaving to watch that decision making last
night. Where is Dusty Baker?And I'm getting I'm not doing it.
I'm just doing it for a fact, Blummer. But you've already seen and
heard that on the social streets bynow. I'm sure is he there?
(00:50):
Man, his opinions, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. I
had a mute myself because you weretalking about the previous you know, things
that were going on, and you'reyou know, you can't rag on Joe
the first game of the year.Man, I'm not, but everybody else
is. Well, it's amazing howquickly. Yeah, I've already, i
(01:11):
mean, social media went nuts withthe first game of the year. I
mean, there were so many thingsgoing on. I mean, everything that
we talked about in spring training withJoe spot of having to deal with,
he had to deal with in thatfirst game, right, And you know
what, I'm okay with I'm okaywith it because Joe said he's going to
be a little more aggressive, andguess what, we saw him aggressive.
Joe's spot up and it just didn'twork out. It actually should have been
(01:34):
a lot worse considering how many baserunners the Yankees had. I think they
faltered a little bit and missed someserious opportunities. But Opening Day was still
fun. Right, Oh my gosh, when is it not. That is
probably one of the happiest days ofthe year for any baseball player. I
don't care how long you've been doingit. You know, if you're out
(01:55):
tu By has been doing it forthirteen fourteen years, or if you've got
guys like you know, Guynor Diezand you know a guy like Taylor Scott.
You know who gets a chance tomake an opening day roster. The
emotions are always the same and youcan always tell when guys get announced on
the line. And now two daysone of those guys you just kind of
go to because he's so pure inyou know, his emotion on things.
(02:15):
I mean, he's standing at thefront of the lineup, you know,
on the line getting ready for thenational anthem, and he's like waving a
kids in the stands, He's wavingat his family, and you know,
it's just kind of that pure joyand adrenaline that the game can bring.
But you know, the second gameof the season, all of a sudden,
you're right into the grind. Itcould be a game too, or
it could be Game seventy eight.It feels the same way. Well,
(02:35):
yes, there's definitely a grind feelto it when everybody wants to pick apart
every little thing that went into andout of yesterday's opening day loss. With
one hundred and sixty one to go, we'll see if the Astros can make
up the one game deficit they havein the division now over the next one
hundred and sixty one games, roughlyone hundred and eighty days. We'll see
if that's insurmountable or not for them, along with the three other teams in
the Aos, in that unenviable positionof trailing the Vision leader by one game
(03:00):
with one hundred and sixty one togo, but we shall see. Let's
take it away from the field first, just the feel of it inside the
ballpark yesterday. You're like all thoseguys that are on this year's teams,
You've been to and been a partof so many opening days as this team
continues in this golden era. Itfelt like it has, at least to
(03:20):
me, exactly the same as it'sfelt for almost a full decade now inside
this building. No, it has. You know, it kind of felt
a little bit subdued coming into thatgame yesterday. It was kind of a
slow filling crowd that I would imaginea lot of that had to do with
what you guys were doing out onstreet Fest, enjoying all the festivities.
It was kind of funny to hearTK talking about how he went out there
(03:42):
for street Fest and he had JPFrantz and Hunter Brown with them, and
he kind of expected JP to bethat, you know, kind of the
veteran ring later and have some funwith the fans, but it was actually
Hunter Brown that kind of lost hismind a little bit and enjoyed hanging out
with the fans and you know,kind of getting them fired up and energized.
But it's it's a good it's agood ballpark. Everything that you hear
(04:05):
from everybody's the excitement. I knowthat everybody wanted the roof open because the
weather was actually glorious yesterday. Butat the same time, when you can
actually suppress some of that noise andkeep it in there, it's going to
be a blast. And I thoughtit was. I thought it was a
good entertaining ball game, even thoughit didn't go the Astros way. Excellent
timing on your roof comment. Wearrived here today between one and two thirty
(04:29):
and the roof was open, andit could not have been a more glorious
name. But as we speak,the roof is closing. Well. I
mean it's supposed to pick up andget a little bit windy. Because I've
actually been watching and listening to someof the coverage of the U. I
almost said the US open US andopen out there at Memorial Park, and
(04:49):
they were, you know, obviouslyhad a great day yesterday with no wind.
But today's the wind is supposed topick up. And I think that's
the one element that absolutely is theworst of all the elements that can be
involved in a baseball game or golf. It's just it moves the baseball around,
So I kind of understand the factthat it would be closed on a
night like this, whereas yesterday theshadows might have been a pain in the
(05:12):
ass for the guys seeing the pitches. And you know, you don't want
to go into your first game ofthe season not being able to see the
baseball, and that can happen whenyou start those games at three four o'clock
at Minute May Park. But youknow, the game tonight will probably be
a little bit windy, and that'swhere it kind of turns into this weird
Bowl situation where the wind is swirlinga lot, and I'm you know,
I kind of wonder if we're tryingto appease Aaron Boone and the Yankee fans,
(05:34):
because the wind apparently blows in fromcertain sections wherever they hit the ball.
So I think they're trying to appeaseeverybody by having that roof closed and
having a controlled environment. Clearly,the nine hole hitter for the Yankees has
more pop to right field here inthis ballpark than Aaron Judge does, so
basically hit it in the same placeand it went over the nab of the
(05:55):
roof was closed. I'll let meget you one quick thoughts that you brought
it up. I was out atthe golf earlier this week talking to a
lot of people out there about theconditions that day. It was Tuesday when
I was out there, and theconditions were unbelievable. Expecting more of the
same. It certainly had them yesterdayand has the makings of them continuing throughout
today. Scotti Scheffler is right thereamongst the best. And look who's at
(06:16):
the top of the leaderboard. Hefired a sixty two today in hopes of
defending his Texas Children's Houston Open titles. Tony feenw man a sixty two.
That is phenomenal I've watched. Ithink. I think what's fun to watch
about the Memorial Course is that,you know, the greens are getting comparisons
(06:39):
to what they're kind of getting readyfor in Augusta, and watching the way
that you know, Tony Fenwe Scheffler, you know Wyndham Clark, the way
they kind of moved around the course. You know, if these guys can
chip and putt. But I reallyfeel like that first day of the Houston
Open, they went to school onhow these greens were moving a little bit
(06:59):
because you know the undulations are goingto be a little bit tougher. They're
going to be hard to read thespeed of the greens. But man,
if you can get a read andmake that adjustment. It doesn't surprise me
that Tony Senow is putting up asixty two just because he hits the ball
so damn far. There's not manybunkers on that golf course. And if
you're hitting that green in regulation andputtnam and figure it out, I mean,
you got a chance to go low. But I didn't realize sixty two
(07:21):
is going to be the score.That's impressive. I like the fact that
you don't have to drive to Humbleto watch it anymore. Oh gosh,
it's so easy. It is unbelievable. Yeah, And the players play enjoy
not having to hop on a cartafter a whole number one and take like
a forty five minute train ride toa whole number two. It is quite
(07:42):
different everything from our standpoint, amedia standpoint, the setup is unbelievable.
Obviously, some of the holes,specifically fifteen, I really have the makings
of a great afternoon. Saw somepeople in round one just in front of
the grand stands. I think itwas Billy Horsell. He hold out and
it's just what you hope for atthat particular hole with how it's set up.
And again a little hat tip tothe Astros and Astros Golf Foundation personnel
(08:07):
as they are well, they're beingpulled into extremely different, very long day
directions all week from Thursday through Sundaywith the Yankees in town for four and
the tournament, which obviously truly froma work standpoint, gets started long before
the Thursday first round. But everythinglooks great out there, and obviously it
looks like everybody that is in itis enjoying the conditions out there that everybody
(08:30):
else gets to enjoy the rest ofthe year. And what's going on out
here as an opportunity for a Yankeekiller Christian Javier to go out there and
show that he is ready to kindof take on a little bit more important
role. Do you think he feelsthat this team is maybe counting on him
more than ever, not necessarily becauseof injuries or anything, maybe something he
(08:50):
felt as soon as last season ended. No, I think it's appropriate that
Hobber kind of feels a little bitof that, because you know, he
kind of pitched himself under relevance inthat twenty twenty two season, had a
great, great run throughout the postseasonto get the Ashers to that second World
Series title, and then he gotthat big contract, And you know,
(09:11):
the thing that it was a littleinconsistent last year. Obviously, we're going
to see flashes of brilliants when thatfastball is working well, but I really
didn't feel like he had that consistentrelease point that he needed to kind of
snap that fastball through the zone andget that good rise out of it.
So it was kind of a rollercoaster for him. So, you know,
in spring, maybe looks a littlemore athletic. You know, didn't
(09:31):
have to make those final two orthree starts to finish off that postseason.
But he's also starting the season againstthe team that he has phenomenal numbers against.
This is a heavy it's still aheavy swing and miss team for me
with the New York Yankees, eventhough they're taking more pitches, and I
think Christian Harvier really does a goodjob of taking advantage of some of these
bigger hitters, these big swings thatthese guys take at the top of the
(09:54):
zone trying to hit the ball outof the ballpark because he can have that
late ride on the fast ball andsneak it past some of these barrels,
and those numbers have bared themselves out. You know, he has a two
oh three era against them. They'reonly hitting one to fifteen against them in
thirty two career innings against New York. So what a better way for him
to start his season against a teamthat he has good numbers against. But,
(10:18):
like you're saying, Wets, thisis also an opportunity for him to
kind of step up behind Fromber andmaybe get back that game that they felt
like they lost yesterday. Well,we're going to talk about Fromber when we
come back. As Jeff Blum iswith us here on the debut edition of
his Hour, his weekly hour hereon the eighteam each and every Friday,
typically schedule permitting. We will gethim in here to discuss all things astros
(10:43):
and MLB and we will continue withhim when we come back here on the
eighteen. There's a Space City HomeNetworks. Todd callin, there's the A
team. You got him, theAdam Clinton and Adam Wegfler. Clinton,
stop impersonating me on Sports Talk,all right, Blummer it's the taste tests,
(11:05):
immediate reaction. What do you thinkthat is outstanding? I don't know
why you guys possibly put me ona spotway that one. Man, that's
much boy, but that is goodstuff. There's a new liner. Help.
Todd couldn't have been nicer to provideus with that nugget for the program.
I recorded that in the booth inFlorida for this show. I love
(11:30):
Todd Kallis. He's the best.I mean, I mean, he's one
of the best individuals I've ever beenaround. And the fact that he still
keeps secrets on me from two thousandand four when he first met me makes
him even better. Yeah, No, he is. Uh. He just
makes everything seem so effortless and easy. And I know we tell you guys
this and everybody takes the same thingall the time, and we're not blowing
(11:54):
smoke. You guys are the bestbooth in the majors. It's not even
close, and we enjoy it.And it's Uh, that's what makes tonight
unfortunate because you guys aren't gonna beon the call, but we can.
We can recap what happened yesterday anda lot of elements from an opening day
loss for the second consecutive year.I don't feel this is going to be
(12:15):
a news flash to everybody on theair and listening. I don't feel like
upset. I don't feel like thingswere off. I think that was a
game that primarily the Astros probably lostmore than the Yankees went out and took
from them. But I do thinkthat there is going to be lingering concerns
about from bra Valdez basically until therearen't, you know, until we see
a guy who doesn't look like he'swalking too many pictures, doesn't look like
(12:39):
he can't find the strike zone.You know, were there some tough luck
things that happened, Yes, wherethere's some maybe you know, some moves
that Joe a Spot had pulled thatdidn't work out for him. Yes,
But I think the biggest concern youtake away, like Wex said in the
opening segment, is the pitching.And he's right at the center of that
because well, he's the only outingwe have so far time talk about.
(13:01):
I mean, there's a couple ofthings. You're right, it is the
only out thing we had to talkabout, so obviously we can play that,
you know, Friday Friday afternoon quarterbackand kind of dissect what was going
on. And I think it wasa really easy start to kind of dissect,
just in the sense that you know, he goes out there and walks,
you know, six guys. Hehas more walks than strikeouts, which
is kind of rare. And itwas, you know, in between innings
(13:24):
talking to you know, Todd,when he got out of three innings in
two of those where bases loaded jams, he gets out of them with double
plays. I've looked over to him, I'm like, man, I feel
like we're in twenty eighteen nineteen againwith Fromber just because he has that escapability.
Fortunately, and that's why I sayit could have been a little bit
different in the sense that, youknow, if the Yankees get one base
(13:46):
hit with runners in scoring position outthere with the bases loaded, it could
have been a ballout. So youdo give him a little bit of credit
and the defense obviously for the afterus for getting getting credit to get out
of those situations. But at thesame time, you know, I wrote
down a couple of numbers from lastyear the first half for fromber Valdez a
two point five to one ERA anda six to Zho three ops against the
(14:09):
second half, and this includes thatno hitter that he had in August was
a four point sixty six ERA anda seven twenty two OPS. So that
kind of tells you, you know, that the walks get ramped up,
and then you start leaving pitches outover the plate, you start to get
hit around a little bit. Andthat's kind of what we saw yesterday,
is that he's got so much movementon his fastball that he doesn't have he
(14:31):
doesn't have that release point or thatdelivery that can get the pitch on the
plate, because even if he throwsa fastball down middle, I think his
stuff plays with so much movement,but the command just wasn't there. James
Hoy's zone was a little you know, mercurial at times. But I also
feel like Fromber didn't have those wildmisses. He was missing by, you
(14:52):
know, a couple of inches offthe outside edge. So I'm gonna cut
him a little bit of slack,even though he couldn't find his own and
to his credit to the it waskind of funny, but wats were at
least efficient. I mean, therewere four pitch walks there, weren't you
know, three two six seven pitchwalks. I mean he put them on
base in a hurry. Let mehelp out our listeners here, Blum the
definition of mercurial liable to sudden,unpredictable change. That was the man behind
(15:16):
the plate last night. I wouldtotally agree. I also think it was
for both pitchers, with both strikesthat weren't called and balls that were called
strikes. Everything you have in it, it was all there specific to Fromber
and maybe I'm wrong. Was herefor the all of his performance yesterday,
but when it was able to goback and rewatch it via Space City Home
(15:39):
Network afterwards, it looked like hehad more movement on most, if not
all, of his pitches that I'mused to seeing. Is that what you
saw? No, that's exactly whatI see when I see Fromber missing the
zone. It's not it's because thatbaseball is moving so much, and I
really feel like, you know,it's an actual and a detriment at the
(16:00):
same time, because he doesn't havethat one fastball or he can he you
know, I don't know if hecan grab a four scene and just pump
it to get it over the strikezone because he relies so much on that
movement to get soft contact. Thepitch moves away from the barrel, it
gets ground balls, So you wantto have that movement in there. But
I feel like there's some alex wherehe goes out there and the ball is
(16:21):
moving so much that he can't adaptto how to get it onto the plate.
And that's what's crazy about Fromber becauseyou watch the ball come out of
the hand, and even if he'smissing an inch off the outside corner,
two inches off the outside corner,the pitch is moving horizontally about six or
seven inches, which is you know, extremely rare this day and age where
everybody's throwing that straight, forcing fastballin the upper nineties, and Fromber can
(16:45):
actually you know, add and subtractmiles per hour to his fastball, which
I find highly appealing and very toughto hit. But I'm with you in
a sense that yesterday maybe he wasyou know, it could have been adrenaline,
it could have been you know,a different baseball than he was working
in spring training, but that ballhad all kinds of crazy movement all over
the place, and it really itlooked like were starting to frustrate him later
(17:07):
in that outing because he couldn't getit over the plate well. And the
frustration is is I mean, wewere talking about the physical, right,
but the frustration is the mental sideof it. That again is something that
even when he was going well intwenty twenty two, for example, you
had to always take into account.And you know, Carlos Korea is not
walking through that door to give hima pep talk. But you know,
(17:30):
I think we all would have agreedthat we thought he was maybe over that
hump. And I'm not saying thathe's you know, backtracking or regressing.
It's just that for the foreseeable future, this is your ace and so that's
a big it's a big deal ifsome of the same problems are happening.
But like I said, all ofthat said, whether it was fromber,
whether it was some of the decisionsthat were made, I feel like the
(17:52):
Astros just kind of maybe gave thatone away. If I'm the Yankees,
I'm not exactly cocky after Game one. Oh, I completely agree on that.
And I you know, I understandwhat you're saying about Farmer, because
especially guys on this team, wetalk about how consistently they've been in the
postseason, and you know, youmake a name in the regular season,
(18:12):
and then you make your legacy inthe postseason. And these guys have really
created really good regular season numbers,and then you pitch in the postseason,
and that's a different mentality. That'sjust you know, you've got to level
up or whatever you want to callit, and find that zone that you
can get into and not not giveinto the adversity, go out there and
execute. And I think that's kindof what you're hinting at with Farmer Valdez
(18:34):
is he's been doing this long enoughthat you feel like he would be able
to make the adjustment and get backin the zone and make it a competitive
game for five or six innings likewe saw in twenty twenty two, because
that was really the year that wewere like, Wow, this guy's turned
the corner. He's found a wayto harness the movement and get in the
zone and find a way to getthrough games without your best stuff. And
(18:56):
that's exactly what separates great pitchers fromgood pitchers is the ability to pitch when
you don't have your best stuff,whether it's the New York Yankees or the
Oakland A's. And I think that'skind of where we're trying to see from
or take that next step, andif he's able to make that next step
with his stuff, he's going tobe great. But I agree with you
in a sense, if I'm theNew York Yankees, you know I'm doing.
(19:18):
I didn't see any of the postgameinterviews, but I would imagine they
were just kind of like, yeah, we won the game, we had
our chances. We're looking forward tomorrowbecause there's nothing to go out there and
say that. We absolutely dominated thatgame. They had plenty of guys left
on base. They actually did agood job of getting on base. They
just couldn't come through with that bighit to drive in multiple runs. And
then it took an incredibly ridiculous,insane throw from Juan Soto to keep that
(19:44):
game from being tied up. Ifone Soto doesn't charge that ball and make
a great play like he did,you know, we might still be playing
this game, or the Astros eventuallygo out there and win that game.
That's what's crazy to think about it. That game was still with all those
walks and all that traffic, itwas still the Astros game to have just
out of curiosity because at the timeI did not see it was yord On?
(20:06):
Is there a reason? It doesn'tmatter at this point. Alex grounded
out to end the game. Wasyord On a reason he was not on
third base following that Tucker single?It could be watching the play. I'm
not sure. You know, sometimesyou get stuck. You buy a ticket
and you're out there watching go on. Hopefully this guy's scores. But at
the same time, you do haveto be a little more aggressive. But
(20:26):
you know, that's game one.You learn from your mistakes and you move
on. Because it's not for lackof speed. We know Jordon can run
a little bit. But you knowthat's a good question because if you just
move that runner ninety feet and putthe tiny run at third base, it
puts that much more pressure on thedefense. Yeah, the Astros put together
a great ending. Usually you getthree hits when you have the right part
(20:47):
of the order up and it worksout that way. Yeah, you're gonna
find a way to get someone on. And something we talked about throughout the
week, we'll continue our conversation withyou on that topic is kind of that
alternate leadoff spot in the lineup everyin the rest of the game after the
first you know, these guys arehitting in front of these guys, meaning
Paynya and Myers and ultimately Dubon.They're hitting in front of Altuve, Alvarez,
(21:10):
Tucker, Bregmant. So we'll hiton that when we come back.
Talk a little bit more about today'smatchup between Christian Javier Marcus Stroman Yankees an
Astro, some of the other openingday festivities around baseball. Yesterday, You'll
never guess which team in the divisionout West that's in Oakland had the smallest
crowd among opening day teams. Ithink I gave it away, But we'll
talk to you about that as wecontinue here on the eight team with Jeff
(21:30):
blown all down the thunder, Well, now you got it, Adam Glenton,
Adam Wexford, all right, Glengo we The eighteen continues on Sports
Talk seven ninety eight. Team rollingalong here on Sports Talk seven ninety Jeff
Blum with us for another half houror so as we take you up until
(21:55):
well, we're gonna take you upthrough the Astros on Deck Show tonight,
but we our show will take youup until six o'clock, and we got
Blum until the top of the hour. Astros zero to one coming into this
second of four matchups to open upthe year at home against the Yankees.
I was thinking about this too,especially in light of what happened up North
(22:15):
last night. I know Yankees fanswould probably like to say that this is
a intense rivalry, but I think, you know, if you were to
talk to Astros fans, they justkind of dismissed that, and they would
want to talk about the Rangers becausethat's now actually a thing because they have
actually beaten the Astros. Yeah,I mean, it's always fun beating up
(22:37):
on the Evil Empire and whatever theywant to call the New York Yankees.
But I think that the Astros arekind of I mean, we've talked about
it before, where you know,rivalries are when it kind of it goes
back and forth. It really hasn'tgone back and forth in the postseason with
the Astros and the Yankees. Iknow that the Yankees have kind of I
think they've won four straight regular seasongames since that two alcs or the Astros
(23:00):
just pulled the doors off them andran into that World Series. But you
know, I think it's kind ofit's a little more fun for me to
say that the Texas Rangers are thatrivalry team just because they're in the same
division. You see that a littlebit more often. Then you have the
great State of Texas that you're kindof competing for the silber boot, you
know, whatever it may be.And I just think the Astros have kind
(23:23):
of dominated this deck this last decadeafter moving into the American League and getting
abused by the Texas Rangers and kindof said, Okay, that was cool.
We gave you a couple of yearsthere in thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.
Now we're going to come back anddominate from seventeen forward. But yeah,
it makes it a little more fun. I think the Rangers kind of
need that rivalry because if they don'thave the Astros to say that they have
(23:45):
that rivalry, what else is therefor the Rangers to look forward to.
That's what's kind of interesting to move. They're kind of in no man's land
up there. Did you happen tosee the wrinkled napkin that was their championship
banners? Yeah, give me theleaf blower any day. I mean not,
yes, somebody was like unveiling theirbanner. Yeah, but it was
(24:07):
solid, literally, yeah, andit's legit and it's and it's beautiful,
but dude, you guys, Imean, you guys are on social media
as often as I am, andthis day and age with photo shops and
you know all this other you knowai and what they can manipulate the fact
they I saw it right in themiddle of the game when I was strolling
through my uh my ex or Twitterfeed, whatever you want to call it,
(24:30):
and I saw that thing flopping aroundand I'm like, I'm like,
somebody's messing with me. I'm like, somebody's messing with us. There's no
way this is legitimate. And ofcourse this morning and all of a sudden,
did it look fake? Yeah,I looked like something an Astros fan
that was bitter would have done.But no, alas, that looked like
somebody prouted on a napkin that thelocal bard said here, this is going
(24:52):
to be it, and they putit up there. But I mean,
this morning and I'm watching you know, all the the you know, even
the national pundits, and somebody canmy barstool or there making fun of it.
So at first I'm kind of like, well, I'm an Astro fan,
obviously I'm gonna make fun of it. But then all of a sudden.
I saw national media kind of runwith it, and I'm going,
okay, that was a little subpark, just something else. We'll leave it
(25:14):
at that for now. It's justdreadful, and I would say just unbelievable.
What was dreadful yesterday? So theRangers had a home opener, forty
two thousand plus there to see them. Few more fans were actually here yesterday
also in the forty two thousands,forty four thousand in Cincinnati, same in
San Diego, forty five plus inSeattle, fifty plus in LA. Mostly
(25:37):
this is what we saw around MajorLeague Baseball, except in Oakland. We
saw thirteen five and twenty two fansas they're announced attendance for what should could
might be there last year. InOakland, there's still no telling where they're
gonna play next year. They mightstill try to extend their time there so
they have a place to play,or Salt Lake City or Sacramento, could
(25:57):
be any of those, but possiblythe last opening day for a lot of
fans who have you know, grewup part and sould these are, you
know, this is their team,all that kind of stuff. But what
they did to keep the numbers lowis they attended the game, but declined
to enter the ballpark. They tailgatedout in the parking lot during the game
and held you know, their formerprotests and had a bunch of groups out
(26:18):
there talking about the situation. Andit was just a new and interesting way
because I had already gone to gamesout of protest. But what do you
anticipate this year being like and maybeeven the next several years for one of
the Astro's division mates. You know, I am partial to northern California,
having gone to Cal which is about, you know, fifteen to twenty minutes
north of Oakland. And I've actuallygot a great text thread that I've got
(26:42):
going with some some some Cal alumniand guys that I played with when I
was at school, and we're allthoroughly disappointed. We've been exchanging stories of
taking part and going down there.This is obviously a long time ago,
and way before Mount Davis appeared.I think Mount Day this was the beginning
of the end of that stadium,because before that you actually had a clear
(27:04):
view of the Oakland Hills. Thebleachers in right field and left field were
amazing. You know, there weredollar nights where you could go out there
and buy a ticket for a dollarand take all your buddies out there and
get absolutely obliterated and started yelling atKen Griffey Junior. Those were really good
times and there were memorable moments.And I think, you know, since
that the movie Moneyball came out andthen what is currently happening with the Oakland
(27:29):
A's, I think a lot ofcurrent baseball fans don't realize the legacy that
was established in Oakland. You know, they had a three peat World Series
championship team out there in the seventies. You know, we see Reggie Jackson
on a daily basis here in Houston, and he was a great part of
that organization. There's a lot oflegacy, the Bash Brothers, you know,
those nineties teams, and there's alegacy there that I think has kind
(27:52):
of overlooked when we start to talkabout I'll get him out of there,
get him out of Oakland, movehim to somewhere else because it's so much
better. But I think it's acombination of Major League Baseball. I think
it's a combination of ownership with thatthat has kind of boxed themselves into a
corner, giving up on the cityof Oakland. Giving up on the fans
and giving up on that team andsaying, we've got to move you somewhere.
(28:15):
And I thought it was kind ofironic too. I watched all the
news reports, helicopters flying above,and there are way more people in the
parking lot than there were inside thestadium, which is a shame. But
I think the message was sent.But I'm with you, guys. I
don't understand what they do next,because they haven't broken ground in Vegas,
and by the time they do that, they'd be lucky to have a stadium
(28:37):
in twenty twenty eight. And whatdo you do until then? When the
lease runs out at the end ofthis year, and if nobody's showing up
to these games this year, whywould you extend the lease at the Oakland
Coliseum. It's dilapidated, it's fallingapart. They haven't invested in it,
the fans don't show up, andthe players don't want to play there.
So, you know, do youmove to Sacramento for a year or two
and try and upgrade that stadium too, to hopefully hold the capacity to watch
(29:02):
a baseball game. I'm not sure. But whatever they need, whatever they
plan, or whatever they hope todo. I hope they do it quickly
because I think there needs to bean answer in order to gain ground and
develop another fan base or just getthese guys a reason to play in Oakland,
because right now, when you showup, I played in Montreal on
that in the lean Ears, whenthere's five thousand people in the stands and
(29:23):
there's nothing less motivating than going outthere and realizing nobody wants to watch you
play. Let's face it, theonly improvement they've made to the Oakland Stadium
there is taking that disgusting, filthycarpet out of the broadcast boos for you,
dude, Hey, that's actually areally good point, the one upgrade
(29:45):
in that stadium, and it wasbecause we showed up and there, man,
dude, Yeah, I mean there'sa lot of thing there. I
want to before they tore that carpetout, the desk was legitimately carpeted,
and I'm not sure what the impetusof that was, but it was fully
carpeted, and it would have beenreally interesting before they actually either covered it
(30:06):
up or tore it out, ifthey kind of like we're able to blue
light that thing or have come inand like discover how many different variations of
DNA were all over that thing.I mean, it would have been incredible.
Well, the lesson has always acouple strains of something. Yeah,
oh, lesson as always as wego to break is that we prefer hardwood
(30:26):
floors over carpet every single time.We got one more segments ago with Jeff
Blum here on the A Team SportsTalk seven ninety. Adam Clinton sounds like
this, Adam Clinton Here, AdamWexler sounds like this. Hey, it's
Adam Wexler. Which one is missingin Adam's apple? They don't recoup them
(30:48):
with it D eighteen continues on SportsTalk seven ninety. Final segment here on
a Friday edition of the Eighteam withJeff Blum. He's joining us each and
every week this season, as hehas been for a long long time,
and we don't take it for granted. It is one of our favorite hours
each and every week, especially duringbaseball season. Just one game into this
one, but obviously you've got therest of this weekend with the Yankees,
(31:11):
You've got the Blue Jays coming totown, and then you'll get to reunite
with those sisters of the poor upin southern Oklahoma soon enough. We will
just see that wrinkled napping for ourselvesnext weekend in Arlington. But first things
first, got to take care ofbusiness against the Yankees. You do not
want to go oh to two tostart the year. How about what we
did see yesterday on the good side, how about Jake Myers first swing That
(31:36):
was actually a lot of fun andyou know, it's really kind of cool
to the story of Jake Myers isso interesting with the Astras because we saw
Mauricio Dubon play a competent center field. We saw Chas McCormick make a phenomenal
play in the twenty twenty two WorldSeries, and it's still felt like the
Astras are kind of, you know, kind of fluctuating on who to use
in center field and Joe Spottaga's namemanager Joe s says, Hey, Jake
(32:00):
Myers is going to be our guy. And it could be it could be
that they realized potential in Jake Myers, which I think there's still plenty in
there, and I think it,you know, maybe it's a monetary issue.
They don't want to go out andtrade or sign a free agent.
That's another thing. They don't wantto trade away other pieces of their property
(32:20):
that they want to maybe hold onto and use in later years. But
the fact that they went out thereand kind of settled Jake down a little
bit and said you're going to beour guy. It didn't just send a
message to Jake. It sent amessage to guys like Chas McCormick Mauricio Dubon
that you know, Okay, nowmy role is going to be a little
more defined. I'm going to beplaying left field with your don. If
you're Chas McCormick, and if you'reMauricio Dubon, you're going to get your
(32:43):
spot starts. Probably it would getyour starts when Justin Berlander comes back,
because it seemed like Dubon was thepersonal center fielder. But I love the
fact that it kind of gave JakeMyers an opportunity over the offseason to say,
Okay, I'm the center fielder.How do I get prepared to be
that opening day center fielder and getprepared for a season where I'd know definitively
that I'm not going to be traded, I'm not going to be optioned out.
(33:06):
I'd have the opportunity to go outthere and expose my abilities. And
I had a chance to talk tohim over the in spring training for a
couple of days that we were outthere, and I noticed he made a
little bit of a swing adjustment.He's got his hands a little bit further
away from his body. They're notkind of tight and close to that back
shoulder, and he said the reasonhe did that was the kind of clear
(33:27):
space in between his body and thebaseball to be able to get his hands
to move a little more freely throughthe zone. And last night was actually
yesterday was actually a really good exampleof it, when Nestra Cortez challenged him
inside off the plate and he kepthis you know, he kept the integrity
of his swing, didn't open up, and allowed those hands to fire through
the inside. He puts it upon the train tracks. So we'd have
(33:51):
an idea of the capabilities of JakeMyers. It's just a matter of can
he go out there and consistently doit. And I think part of the
fun of watching Jake hit that homerun was also watching these you know,
the seven to eight guys go outthere and kind of complete that triumvirate at
the bottom of that bottom third ofthat order for the Astros and put up
some big numbers that really showed thatthe possibility of depth in this lineup.
(34:14):
That was a lot of fun towatch. Yeah, the guys at the
bottom of the lineup are going tobe hitting in front of the top four,
which look like they're locked into thosespots, meaning anytime they get things
going well, that certainly could pointto potentially having some pretty big innings.
And they thought they had the opportunityto do that a couple times yesterday,
I just didn't materialize. A multihit day for Jordan Alvarez, a three
(34:34):
hit day for Janer Diaz. Andwould you think that Joe Aspota is open
to working his way through who batsfive, six and seven on any given
day in light of maybe matchups orwho might be hitting better than somebody else
because a Brallia, McCormick and Diazwill be in the lineup a lot together.
Yesterday it was a Bralliw McCormack Diezfive sixty seven. Do you think
(34:58):
Joe is going to watch that andbe over but to maybe tinkering with it
now, even on a day today basis, I think you have to
be open to the idea of havinga little more, you know, some
fluidity to that lineup. I thinkthat you know, we're seeing the lineup
tonight is going to be. Ithink it's pretty much the exact same as
it was yesterday, except you're goingto see maybe you're done out in left
field, but uh, you know, I can't. It's it's a really
(35:22):
old school mentality to say, thisis my lineup, and I'm going to
throw it out there every day untilyou know, somebody breaks and I have
to take him out and put somebodyelse in. I think that Joe,
Joe is is part old school,part news school, and and he's still
trying to discover who he is.But I think there is going to be
some fluidity because you know, ifyou start to have some hiccups behind your
(35:45):
behind Alex Bragman and Chas McCormick swingingthe bat, well, why wouldn't why
couldn't you move him ahead of JoseBray you and kind of create a situation
where you take some of the pressureoff Jose and allow some of those other
guys to pick up the slack untilJose gets going, or you just feel
more comfortable with a dinor Diaz hittingfit, and you want to have him
with more opportunities to drive the baseballin because you know, as much power
(36:07):
as Yiner has, as much poweras Chas McCormick can show you, I
think that yesterday you kind of sawthem maturing a little bit and taking base
hits where they were available, andthat lends itself to maybe driving some more
runs in and extending some of theseinnings and putting pressure on opposing pitchers.
And I think Joe's going to beopen to a little more fluidity maybe if
(36:30):
the opportunity arises. And who's tosay that, you know, this lineup,
no matter where you put these guys, they're going to be able to
score over runs. Because the onlything that really kind of it didn't really
falter, but it didn't produce asmuch as the first three or the last
three spots in the order was themiddle third of that order. And if
Joe can mix that up a littlebit and find some continuity to create opportunity
(36:51):
in the middle part of that lineup, I wouldn't be surprised if he does.
Yeah, about thirty seconds before ChasMcCormick made it a two nothing Astros
game, I had posted loaded againstthe lefty for Chaz hmm, and it
worked out perfectly. That's why he'sin that spot. That's something he's continued
to excel in batting against lefties.And I'll leave you this last thought.
The last handful of Astro's pitches thrownyesterday came out of the left hand of
(37:15):
Josh Hater. How'd that go?How'd you like that? Are you kidney
with this guy? I mean,we all watched him from Afar and we
kind of had an idea of whatwhen he was in the Astro's minor league
system, we all kind of said, well, damn, this guy's he's
got some serious, serious filth.I wonder if his stature is able to
maintain that or if that violent delivery'sgonna hold up over time. And dear
(37:38):
Lord, did it ever? Imean, the way he pitched in Milwaukee,
the way he pitched in San Diego, he has definitely created an aura
about being a very good closer.But what I saw last night was absolute
domination. And when you finally getto see it in person, like we
are going to see over the nextfive years, is pretty pretty damn impressive.
(38:02):
I was thoroughly impressed with what JoshHayder brought. I love the mentality.
I love that bulldog in him thatkind of gets on the mound.
You ignore the scorer, you ignorethe hitter. I've got three pitches that
I don't think you can hit.I'm going to bring them at you,
and I'm going to aggressively attack youand try and break you down as quickly
as I possibly can. And that'sexactly what he did of Gien Carlos Stanton,
(38:23):
That's what he did of Rizzo,and I thought it was a lot
of fun to watch, and it'sgoing to be even more to fun to
watch when he does get those leadsto work with. But man, is
that guy a dominant force. AndI know it's only one out, but
good grief striking out the side.I like that. Turns out ninety five
million dollars does go as far asit used to. Glummer, We appreciate
(38:44):
the time as always. We'll doit again next week, and we always
appreciate the people who make it possiblefor you to join us for an hour
each and every week here. Yeah. No, so, I you know,
and I'm a believer in low TCenter. Make sure you get a
low T Center. Check them out. Their entire goal is to make men
better all the way around, whetherit be from sleep, bolesterol, diet,
(39:07):
whatever it may be. And obviously, you know some of that bedroom
activity can be enhanced a little bit, So check out low tcenter dot com.
For me, personally, I sleepbetter on it, and my recovery
from workouts are phenomenal. And atthis day and age, when I'm in
the fifties now, of course,Jeff Witch at Vision Center is the place
I go for all my vision needs. He is at the cutting edge of
(39:29):
everything that has to do with youreyes. And you know, he's done
a lot of clinical tests and he'sactually the one you sit down and have
your consultant meeting with. So Jeffwitzet and Lo Ti are the two main
factors for me on the radio andoff the radio. You don't look at
day over forty three, Jeff Blum. That's externally. Internally, holy how,
(39:51):
it's a different story. All right, buddy, feel better and we
will talk to you next week.Okay, Yeah, I appreciate it.
You're attractive to Adam, Thank you, thank you, ah man. The
bromance continues for another season here.Yeah, just for you two guys on
sports Sox seven ninety
You look at it. Look atit. Oh yeah, this is radio.
You listen to it on Sports Talkseven ninety astro's broadcaster Jeff Blum on
seven ninety is brought to you bylow T Center. Yeah he is,
And for the first time all seasonlong, Blummer is on with the A
(00:23):
team here on Sports Talk seven ninety. WEX and ac out here at minute
made Park and Blum is not becausehe's not working tonight. You know what,
he hasn't much deserved day off afterhaving to watch that decision making last
night. Where is Dusty Baker?And I'm getting I'm not doing it.
I'm just doing it for a fact, Blummer. But you've already seen and
heard that on the social streets bynow. I'm sure is he there?
(00:50):
Man, his opinions, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. I
had a mute myself because you weretalking about the previous you know, things
that were going on, and you'reyou know, you can't rag on Joe
the first game of the year.Man, I'm not, but everybody else
is. Well, it's amazing howquickly. Yeah, I've already, i
(01:11):
mean, social media went nuts withthe first game of the year. I
mean, there were so many thingsgoing on. I mean, everything that
we talked about in spring training withJoe spot of having to deal with,
he had to deal with in thatfirst game, right, And you know
what, I'm okay with I'm okaywith it because Joe said he's going to
be a little more aggressive, andguess what, we saw him aggressive.
Joe's spot up and it just didn'twork out. It actually should have been
(01:34):
a lot worse considering how many baserunners the Yankees had. I think they
faltered a little bit and missed someserious opportunities. But Opening Day was still
fun. Right, Oh my gosh, when is it not. That is
probably one of the happiest days ofthe year for any baseball player. I
don't care how long you've been doingit. You know, if you're out
(01:55):
tu By has been doing it forthirteen fourteen years, or if you've got
guys like you know, Guynor Diezand you know a guy like Taylor Scott.
You know who gets a chance tomake an opening day roster. The
emotions are always the same and youcan always tell when guys get announced on
the line. And now two daysone of those guys you just kind of
go to because he's so pure inyou know, his emotion on things.
(02:15):
I mean, he's standing at thefront of the lineup, you know,
on the line getting ready for thenational anthem, and he's like waving a
kids in the stands, He's wavingat his family, and you know,
it's just kind of that pure joyand adrenaline that the game can bring.
But you know, the second gameof the season, all of a sudden,
you're right into the grind. Itcould be a game too, or
it could be Game seventy eight.It feels the same way. Well,
(02:35):
yes, there's definitely a grind feelto it when everybody wants to pick apart
every little thing that went into andout of yesterday's opening day loss. With
one hundred and sixty one to go, we'll see if the Astros can make
up the one game deficit they havein the division now over the next one
hundred and sixty one games, roughlyone hundred and eighty days. We'll see
if that's insurmountable or not for them, along with the three other teams in
the Aos, in that unenviable positionof trailing the Vision leader by one game
(03:00):
with one hundred and sixty one togo, but we shall see. Let's
take it away from the field first, just the feel of it inside the
ballpark yesterday. You're like all thoseguys that are on this year's teams,
You've been to and been a partof so many opening days as this team
continues in this golden era. Itfelt like it has, at least to
(03:20):
me, exactly the same as it'sfelt for almost a full decade now inside
this building. No, it has. You know, it kind of felt
a little bit subdued coming into thatgame yesterday. It was kind of a
slow filling crowd that I would imaginea lot of that had to do with
what you guys were doing out onstreet Fest, enjoying all the festivities.
It was kind of funny to hearTK talking about how he went out there
(03:42):
for street Fest and he had JPFrantz and Hunter Brown with them, and
he kind of expected JP to bethat, you know, kind of the
veteran ring later and have some funwith the fans, but it was actually
Hunter Brown that kind of lost hismind a little bit and enjoyed hanging out
with the fans and you know,kind of getting them fired up and energized.
But it's it's a good it's agood ballpark. Everything that you hear
(04:05):
from everybody's the excitement. I knowthat everybody wanted the roof open because the
weather was actually glorious yesterday. Butat the same time, when you can
actually suppress some of that noise andkeep it in there, it's going to
be a blast. And I thoughtit was. I thought it was a
good entertaining ball game, even thoughit didn't go the Astros way. Excellent
timing on your roof comment. Wearrived here today between one and two thirty
(04:29):
and the roof was open, andit could not have been a more glorious
name. But as we speak,the roof is closing. Well. I
mean it's supposed to pick up andget a little bit windy. Because I've
actually been watching and listening to someof the coverage of the U. I
almost said the US open US andopen out there at Memorial Park, and
(04:49):
they were, you know, obviouslyhad a great day yesterday with no wind.
But today's the wind is supposed topick up. And I think that's
the one element that absolutely is theworst of all the elements that can be
involved in a baseball game or golf. It's just it moves the baseball around,
So I kind of understand the factthat it would be closed on a
night like this, whereas yesterday theshadows might have been a pain in the
(05:12):
ass for the guys seeing the pitches. And you know, you don't want
to go into your first game ofthe season not being able to see the
baseball, and that can happen whenyou start those games at three four o'clock
at Minute May Park. But youknow, the game tonight will probably be
a little bit windy, and that'swhere it kind of turns into this weird
Bowl situation where the wind is swirlinga lot, and I'm you know,
I kind of wonder if we're tryingto appease Aaron Boone and the Yankee fans,
(05:34):
because the wind apparently blows in fromcertain sections wherever they hit the ball.
So I think they're trying to appeaseeverybody by having that roof closed and
having a controlled environment. Clearly,the nine hole hitter for the Yankees has
more pop to right field here inthis ballpark than Aaron Judge does, so
basically hit it in the same placeand it went over the nab of the
(05:55):
roof was closed. I'll let meget you one quick thoughts that you brought
it up. I was out atthe golf earlier this week talking to a
lot of people out there about theconditions that day. It was Tuesday when
I was out there, and theconditions were unbelievable. Expecting more of the
same. It certainly had them yesterdayand has the makings of them continuing throughout
today. Scotti Scheffler is right thereamongst the best. And look who's at
(06:16):
the top of the leaderboard. Hefired a sixty two today in hopes of
defending his Texas Children's Houston Open titles. Tony feenw man a sixty two.
That is phenomenal I've watched. Ithink. I think what's fun to watch
about the Memorial Course is that,you know, the greens are getting comparisons
(06:39):
to what they're kind of getting readyfor in Augusta, and watching the way
that you know, Tony Fenwe Scheffler, you know Wyndham Clark, the way
they kind of moved around the course. You know, if these guys can
chip and putt. But I reallyfeel like that first day of the Houston
Open, they went to school onhow these greens were moving a little bit
(06:59):
because you know the undulations are goingto be a little bit tougher. They're
going to be hard to read thespeed of the greens. But man,
if you can get a read andmake that adjustment. It doesn't surprise me
that Tony Senow is putting up asixty two just because he hits the ball
so damn far. There's not manybunkers on that golf course. And if
you're hitting that green in regulation andputtnam and figure it out, I mean,
you got a chance to go low. But I didn't realize sixty two
(07:21):
is going to be the score.That's impressive. I like the fact that
you don't have to drive to Humbleto watch it anymore. Oh gosh,
it's so easy. It is unbelievable. Yeah, And the players play enjoy
not having to hop on a cartafter a whole number one and take like
a forty five minute train ride toa whole number two. It is quite
(07:42):
different everything from our standpoint, amedia standpoint, the setup is unbelievable.
Obviously, some of the holes,specifically fifteen, I really have the makings
of a great afternoon. Saw somepeople in round one just in front of
the grand stands. I think itwas Billy Horsell. He hold out and
it's just what you hope for atthat particular hole with how it's set up.
And again a little hat tip tothe Astros and Astros Golf Foundation personnel
(08:07):
as they are well, they're beingpulled into extremely different, very long day
directions all week from Thursday through Sundaywith the Yankees in town for four and
the tournament, which obviously truly froma work standpoint, gets started long before
the Thursday first round. But everythinglooks great out there, and obviously it
looks like everybody that is in itis enjoying the conditions out there that everybody
(08:30):
else gets to enjoy the rest ofthe year. And what's going on out
here as an opportunity for a Yankeekiller Christian Javier to go out there and
show that he is ready to kindof take on a little bit more important
role. Do you think he feelsthat this team is maybe counting on him
more than ever, not necessarily becauseof injuries or anything, maybe something he
(08:50):
felt as soon as last season ended. No, I think it's appropriate that
Hobber kind of feels a little bitof that, because you know, he
kind of pitched himself under relevance inthat twenty twenty two season, had a
great, great run throughout the postseasonto get the Ashers to that second World
Series title, and then he gotthat big contract, And you know,
(09:11):
the thing that it was a littleinconsistent last year. Obviously, we're going
to see flashes of brilliants when thatfastball is working well, but I really
didn't feel like he had that consistentrelease point that he needed to kind of
snap that fastball through the zone andget that good rise out of it.
So it was kind of a rollercoaster for him. So, you know,
in spring, maybe looks a littlemore athletic. You know, didn't
(09:31):
have to make those final two orthree starts to finish off that postseason.
But he's also starting the season againstthe team that he has phenomenal numbers against.
This is a heavy it's still aheavy swing and miss team for me
with the New York Yankees, eventhough they're taking more pitches, and I
think Christian Harvier really does a goodjob of taking advantage of some of these
bigger hitters, these big swings thatthese guys take at the top of the
(09:54):
zone trying to hit the ball outof the ballpark because he can have that
late ride on the fast ball andsneak it past some of these barrels,
and those numbers have bared themselves out. You know, he has a two
oh three era against them. They'reonly hitting one to fifteen against them in
thirty two career innings against New York. So what a better way for him
to start his season against a teamthat he has good numbers against. But,
(10:18):
like you're saying, Wets, thisis also an opportunity for him to
kind of step up behind Fromber andmaybe get back that game that they felt
like they lost yesterday. Well,we're going to talk about Fromber when we
come back. As Jeff Blum iswith us here on the debut edition of
his Hour, his weekly hour hereon the eighteam each and every Friday,
typically schedule permitting. We will gethim in here to discuss all things astros
(10:43):
and MLB and we will continue withhim when we come back here on the
eighteen. There's a Space City HomeNetworks. Todd callin, there's the A
team. You got him, theAdam Clinton and Adam Wegfler. Clinton,
stop impersonating me on Sports Talk,all right, Blummer it's the taste tests,
(11:05):
immediate reaction. What do you thinkthat is outstanding? I don't know
why you guys possibly put me ona spotway that one. Man, that's
much boy, but that is goodstuff. There's a new liner. Help.
Todd couldn't have been nicer to provideus with that nugget for the program.
I recorded that in the booth inFlorida for this show. I love
(11:30):
Todd Kallis. He's the best.I mean, I mean, he's one
of the best individuals I've ever beenaround. And the fact that he still
keeps secrets on me from two thousandand four when he first met me makes
him even better. Yeah, No, he is. Uh. He just
makes everything seem so effortless and easy. And I know we tell you guys
this and everybody takes the same thingall the time, and we're not blowing
(11:54):
smoke. You guys are the bestbooth in the majors. It's not even
close, and we enjoy it.And it's Uh, that's what makes tonight
unfortunate because you guys aren't gonna beon the call, but we can.
We can recap what happened yesterday anda lot of elements from an opening day
loss for the second consecutive year.I don't feel this is going to be
(12:15):
a news flash to everybody on theair and listening. I don't feel like
upset. I don't feel like thingswere off. I think that was a
game that primarily the Astros probably lostmore than the Yankees went out and took
from them. But I do thinkthat there is going to be lingering concerns
about from bra Valdez basically until therearen't, you know, until we see
a guy who doesn't look like he'swalking too many pictures, doesn't look like
(12:39):
he can't find the strike zone.You know, were there some tough luck
things that happened, Yes, wherethere's some maybe you know, some moves
that Joe a Spot had pulled thatdidn't work out for him. Yes,
But I think the biggest concern youtake away, like Wex said in the
opening segment, is the pitching.And he's right at the center of that
because well, he's the only outingwe have so far time talk about.
(13:01):
I mean, there's a couple ofthings. You're right, it is the
only out thing we had to talkabout, so obviously we can play that,
you know, Friday Friday afternoon quarterbackand kind of dissect what was going
on. And I think it wasa really easy start to kind of dissect,
just in the sense that you know, he goes out there and walks,
you know, six guys. Hehas more walks than strikeouts, which
is kind of rare. And itwas, you know, in between innings
(13:24):
talking to you know, Todd,when he got out of three innings in
two of those where bases loaded jams, he gets out of them with double
plays. I've looked over to him, I'm like, man, I feel
like we're in twenty eighteen nineteen againwith Fromber just because he has that escapability.
Fortunately, and that's why I sayit could have been a little bit
different in the sense that, youknow, if the Yankees get one base
(13:46):
hit with runners in scoring position outthere with the bases loaded, it could
have been a ballout. So youdo give him a little bit of credit
and the defense obviously for the afterus for getting getting credit to get out
of those situations. But at thesame time, you know, I wrote
down a couple of numbers from lastyear the first half for fromber Valdez a
two point five to one ERA anda six to Zho three ops against the
(14:09):
second half, and this includes thatno hitter that he had in August was
a four point sixty six ERA anda seven twenty two OPS. So that
kind of tells you, you know, that the walks get ramped up,
and then you start leaving pitches outover the plate, you start to get
hit around a little bit. Andthat's kind of what we saw yesterday,
is that he's got so much movementon his fastball that he doesn't have he
(14:31):
doesn't have that release point or thatdelivery that can get the pitch on the
plate, because even if he throwsa fastball down middle, I think his
stuff plays with so much movement,but the command just wasn't there. James
Hoy's zone was a little you know, mercurial at times. But I also
feel like Fromber didn't have those wildmisses. He was missing by, you
(14:52):
know, a couple of inches offthe outside edge. So I'm gonna cut
him a little bit of slack,even though he couldn't find his own and
to his credit to the it waskind of funny, but wats were at
least efficient. I mean, therewere four pitch walks there, weren't you
know, three two six seven pitchwalks. I mean he put them on
base in a hurry. Let mehelp out our listeners here, Blum the
definition of mercurial liable to sudden,unpredictable change. That was the man behind
(15:16):
the plate last night. I wouldtotally agree. I also think it was
for both pitchers, with both strikesthat weren't called and balls that were called
strikes. Everything you have in it, it was all there specific to Fromber
and maybe I'm wrong. Was herefor the all of his performance yesterday,
but when it was able to goback and rewatch it via Space City Home
(15:39):
Network afterwards, it looked like hehad more movement on most, if not
all, of his pitches that I'mused to seeing. Is that what you
saw? No, that's exactly whatI see when I see Fromber missing the
zone. It's not it's because thatbaseball is moving so much, and I
really feel like, you know,it's an actual and a detriment at the
(16:00):
same time, because he doesn't havethat one fastball or he can he you
know, I don't know if hecan grab a four scene and just pump
it to get it over the strikezone because he relies so much on that
movement to get soft contact. Thepitch moves away from the barrel, it
gets ground balls, So you wantto have that movement in there. But
I feel like there's some alex wherehe goes out there and the ball is
(16:21):
moving so much that he can't adaptto how to get it onto the plate.
And that's what's crazy about Fromber becauseyou watch the ball come out of
the hand, and even if he'smissing an inch off the outside corner,
two inches off the outside corner,the pitch is moving horizontally about six or
seven inches, which is you know, extremely rare this day and age where
everybody's throwing that straight, forcing fastballin the upper nineties, and Fromber can
(16:45):
actually you know, add and subtractmiles per hour to his fastball, which
I find highly appealing and very toughto hit. But I'm with you in
a sense that yesterday maybe he wasyou know, it could have been adrenaline,
it could have been you know,a different baseball than he was working
in spring training, but that ballhad all kinds of crazy movement all over
the place, and it really itlooked like were starting to frustrate him later
(17:07):
in that outing because he couldn't getit over the plate well. And the
frustration is is I mean, wewere talking about the physical, right,
but the frustration is the mental sideof it. That again is something that
even when he was going well intwenty twenty two, for example, you
had to always take into account.And you know, Carlos Korea is not
walking through that door to give hima pep talk. But you know,
(17:30):
I think we all would have agreedthat we thought he was maybe over that
hump. And I'm not saying thathe's you know, backtracking or regressing.
It's just that for the foreseeable future, this is your ace and so that's
a big it's a big deal ifsome of the same problems are happening.
But like I said, all ofthat said, whether it was fromber,
whether it was some of the decisionsthat were made, I feel like the
(17:52):
Astros just kind of maybe gave thatone away. If I'm the Yankees,
I'm not exactly cocky after Game one. Oh, I completely agree on that.
And I you know, I understandwhat you're saying about Farmer, because
especially guys on this team, wetalk about how consistently they've been in the
postseason, and you know, youmake a name in the regular season,
(18:12):
and then you make your legacy inthe postseason. And these guys have really
created really good regular season numbers,and then you pitch in the postseason,
and that's a different mentality. That'sjust you know, you've got to level
up or whatever you want to callit, and find that zone that you
can get into and not not giveinto the adversity, go out there and
execute. And I think that's kindof what you're hinting at with Farmer Valdez
(18:34):
is he's been doing this long enoughthat you feel like he would be able
to make the adjustment and get backin the zone and make it a competitive
game for five or six innings likewe saw in twenty twenty two, because
that was really the year that wewere like, Wow, this guy's turned
the corner. He's found a wayto harness the movement and get in the
zone and find a way to getthrough games without your best stuff. And
(18:56):
that's exactly what separates great pitchers fromgood pitchers is the ability to pitch when
you don't have your best stuff,whether it's the New York Yankees or the
Oakland A's. And I think that'skind of where we're trying to see from
or take that next step, andif he's able to make that next step
with his stuff, he's going tobe great. But I agree with you
in a sense, if I'm theNew York Yankees, you know I'm doing.
(19:18):
I didn't see any of the postgameinterviews, but I would imagine they
were just kind of like, yeah, we won the game, we had
our chances. We're looking forward tomorrowbecause there's nothing to go out there and
say that. We absolutely dominated thatgame. They had plenty of guys left
on base. They actually did agood job of getting on base. They
just couldn't come through with that bighit to drive in multiple runs. And
then it took an incredibly ridiculous,insane throw from Juan Soto to keep that
(19:44):
game from being tied up. Ifone Soto doesn't charge that ball and make
a great play like he did,you know, we might still be playing
this game, or the Astros eventuallygo out there and win that game.
That's what's crazy to think about it. That game was still with all those
walks and all that traffic, itwas still the Astros game to have just
out of curiosity because at the timeI did not see it was yord On?
(20:06):
Is there a reason? It doesn'tmatter at this point. Alex grounded
out to end the game. Wasyord On a reason he was not on
third base following that Tucker single?It could be watching the play. I'm
not sure. You know, sometimesyou get stuck. You buy a ticket
and you're out there watching go on. Hopefully this guy's scores. But at
the same time, you do haveto be a little more aggressive. But
(20:26):
you know, that's game one.You learn from your mistakes and you move
on. Because it's not for lackof speed. We know Jordon can run
a little bit. But you knowthat's a good question because if you just
move that runner ninety feet and putthe tiny run at third base, it
puts that much more pressure on thedefense. Yeah, the Astros put together
a great ending. Usually you getthree hits when you have the right part
(20:47):
of the order up and it worksout that way. Yeah, you're gonna
find a way to get someone on. And something we talked about throughout the
week, we'll continue our conversation withyou on that topic is kind of that
alternate leadoff spot in the lineup everyin the rest of the game after the
first you know, these guys arehitting in front of these guys, meaning
Paynya and Myers and ultimately Dubon.They're hitting in front of Altuve, Alvarez,
(21:10):
Tucker, Bregmant. So we'll hiton that when we come back.
Talk a little bit more about today'smatchup between Christian Javier Marcus Stroman Yankees an
Astro, some of the other openingday festivities around baseball. Yesterday, You'll
never guess which team in the divisionout West that's in Oakland had the smallest
crowd among opening day teams. Ithink I gave it away, But we'll
talk to you about that as wecontinue here on the eight team with Jeff
(21:30):
blown all down the thunder, Well, now you got it, Adam Glenton,
Adam Wexford, all right, Glengo we The eighteen continues on Sports
Talk seven ninety eight. Team rollingalong here on Sports Talk seven ninety Jeff
Blum with us for another half houror so as we take you up until
(21:55):
well, we're gonna take you upthrough the Astros on Deck Show tonight,
but we our show will take youup until six o'clock, and we got
Blum until the top of the hour. Astros zero to one coming into this
second of four matchups to open upthe year at home against the Yankees.
I was thinking about this too,especially in light of what happened up North
(22:15):
last night. I know Yankees fanswould probably like to say that this is
a intense rivalry, but I think, you know, if you were to
talk to Astros fans, they justkind of dismissed that, and they would
want to talk about the Rangers becausethat's now actually a thing because they have
actually beaten the Astros. Yeah,I mean, it's always fun beating up
(22:37):
on the Evil Empire and whatever theywant to call the New York Yankees.
But I think that the Astros arekind of I mean, we've talked about
it before, where you know,rivalries are when it kind of it goes
back and forth. It really hasn'tgone back and forth in the postseason with
the Astros and the Yankees. Iknow that the Yankees have kind of I
think they've won four straight regular seasongames since that two alcs or the Astros
(23:00):
just pulled the doors off them andran into that World Series. But you
know, I think it's kind ofit's a little more fun for me to
say that the Texas Rangers are thatrivalry team just because they're in the same
division. You see that a littlebit more often. Then you have the
great State of Texas that you're kindof competing for the silber boot, you
know, whatever it may be.And I just think the Astros have kind
(23:23):
of dominated this deck this last decadeafter moving into the American League and getting
abused by the Texas Rangers and kindof said, Okay, that was cool.
We gave you a couple of yearsthere in thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.
Now we're going to come back anddominate from seventeen forward. But yeah,
it makes it a little more fun. I think the Rangers kind of
need that rivalry because if they don'thave the Astros to say that they have
(23:45):
that rivalry, what else is therefor the Rangers to look forward to.
That's what's kind of interesting to move. They're kind of in no man's land
up there. Did you happen tosee the wrinkled napkin that was their championship
banners? Yeah, give me theleaf blower any day. I mean not,
yes, somebody was like unveiling theirbanner. Yeah, but it was
(24:07):
solid, literally, yeah, andit's legit and it's and it's beautiful,
but dude, you guys, Imean, you guys are on social media
as often as I am, andthis day and age with photo shops and
you know all this other you knowai and what they can manipulate the fact
they I saw it right in themiddle of the game when I was strolling
through my uh my ex or Twitterfeed, whatever you want to call it,
(24:30):
and I saw that thing flopping aroundand I'm like, I'm like,
somebody's messing with me. I'm like, somebody's messing with us. There's no
way this is legitimate. And ofcourse this morning and all of a sudden,
did it look fake? Yeah,I looked like something an Astros fan
that was bitter would have done.But no, alas, that looked like
somebody prouted on a napkin that thelocal bard said here, this is going
(24:52):
to be it, and they putit up there. But I mean,
this morning and I'm watching you know, all the the you know, even
the national pundits, and somebody canmy barstool or there making fun of it.
So at first I'm kind of like, well, I'm an Astro fan,
obviously I'm gonna make fun of it. But then all of a sudden.
I saw national media kind of runwith it, and I'm going,
okay, that was a little subpark, just something else. We'll leave it
(25:14):
at that for now. It's justdreadful, and I would say just unbelievable.
What was dreadful yesterday? So theRangers had a home opener, forty
two thousand plus there to see them. Few more fans were actually here yesterday
also in the forty two thousands,forty four thousand in Cincinnati, same in
San Diego, forty five plus inSeattle, fifty plus in LA. Mostly
(25:37):
this is what we saw around MajorLeague Baseball, except in Oakland. We
saw thirteen five and twenty two fansas they're announced attendance for what should could
might be there last year. InOakland, there's still no telling where they're
gonna play next year. They mightstill try to extend their time there so
they have a place to play,or Salt Lake City or Sacramento, could
(25:57):
be any of those, but possiblythe last opening day for a lot of
fans who have you know, grewup part and sould these are, you
know, this is their team,all that kind of stuff. But what
they did to keep the numbers lowis they attended the game, but declined
to enter the ballpark. They tailgatedout in the parking lot during the game
and held you know, their formerprotests and had a bunch of groups out
(26:18):
there talking about the situation. Andit was just a new and interesting way
because I had already gone to gamesout of protest. But what do you
anticipate this year being like and maybeeven the next several years for one of
the Astro's division mates. You know, I am partial to northern California,
having gone to Cal which is about, you know, fifteen to twenty minutes
north of Oakland. And I've actuallygot a great text thread that I've got
(26:42):
going with some some some Cal alumniand guys that I played with when I
was at school, and we're allthoroughly disappointed. We've been exchanging stories of
taking part and going down there.This is obviously a long time ago,
and way before Mount Davis appeared.I think Mount Day this was the beginning
of the end of that stadium,because before that you actually had a clear
(27:04):
view of the Oakland Hills. Thebleachers in right field and left field were
amazing. You know, there weredollar nights where you could go out there
and buy a ticket for a dollarand take all your buddies out there and
get absolutely obliterated and started yelling atKen Griffey Junior. Those were really good
times and there were memorable moments.And I think, you know, since
that the movie Moneyball came out andthen what is currently happening with the Oakland
(27:29):
A's, I think a lot ofcurrent baseball fans don't realize the legacy that
was established in Oakland. You know, they had a three peat World Series
championship team out there in the seventies. You know, we see Reggie Jackson
on a daily basis here in Houston, and he was a great part of
that organization. There's a lot oflegacy, the Bash Brothers, you know,
those nineties teams, and there's alegacy there that I think has kind
(27:52):
of overlooked when we start to talkabout I'll get him out of there,
get him out of Oakland, movehim to somewhere else because it's so much
better. But I think it's acombination of Major League Baseball. I think
it's a combination of ownership with thatthat has kind of boxed themselves into a
corner, giving up on the cityof Oakland. Giving up on the fans
and giving up on that team andsaying, we've got to move you somewhere.
(28:15):
And I thought it was kind ofironic too. I watched all the
news reports, helicopters flying above,and there are way more people in the
parking lot than there were inside thestadium, which is a shame. But
I think the message was sent.But I'm with you, guys. I
don't understand what they do next,because they haven't broken ground in Vegas,
and by the time they do that, they'd be lucky to have a stadium
(28:37):
in twenty twenty eight. And whatdo you do until then? When the
lease runs out at the end ofthis year, and if nobody's showing up
to these games this year, whywould you extend the lease at the Oakland
Coliseum. It's dilapidated, it's fallingapart. They haven't invested in it,
the fans don't show up, andthe players don't want to play there.
So, you know, do youmove to Sacramento for a year or two
and try and upgrade that stadium too, to hopefully hold the capacity to watch
(29:02):
a baseball game. I'm not sure. But whatever they need, whatever they
plan, or whatever they hope todo. I hope they do it quickly
because I think there needs to bean answer in order to gain ground and
develop another fan base or just getthese guys a reason to play in Oakland,
because right now, when you showup, I played in Montreal on
that in the lean Ears, whenthere's five thousand people in the stands and
(29:23):
there's nothing less motivating than going outthere and realizing nobody wants to watch you
play. Let's face it, theonly improvement they've made to the Oakland Stadium
there is taking that disgusting, filthycarpet out of the broadcast boos for you,
dude, Hey, that's actually areally good point, the one upgrade
(29:45):
in that stadium, and it wasbecause we showed up and there, man,
dude, Yeah, I mean there'sa lot of thing there. I
want to before they tore that carpetout, the desk was legitimately carpeted,
and I'm not sure what the impetusof that was, but it was fully
carpeted, and it would have beenreally interesting before they actually either covered it
(30:06):
up or tore it out, ifthey kind of like we're able to blue
light that thing or have come inand like discover how many different variations of
DNA were all over that thing.I mean, it would have been incredible.
Well, the lesson has always acouple strains of something. Yeah,
oh, lesson as always as wego to break is that we prefer hardwood
(30:26):
floors over carpet every single time.We got one more segments ago with Jeff
Blum here on the A Team SportsTalk seven ninety. Adam Clinton sounds like
this, Adam Clinton Here, AdamWexler sounds like this. Hey, it's
Adam Wexler. Which one is missingin Adam's apple? They don't recoup them
(30:48):
with it D eighteen continues on SportsTalk seven ninety. Final segment here on
a Friday edition of the Eighteam withJeff Blum. He's joining us each and
every week this season, as hehas been for a long long time,
and we don't take it for granted. It is one of our favorite hours
each and every week, especially duringbaseball season. Just one game into this
one, but obviously you've got therest of this weekend with the Yankees,
(31:11):
You've got the Blue Jays coming totown, and then you'll get to reunite
with those sisters of the poor upin southern Oklahoma soon enough. We will
just see that wrinkled napping for ourselvesnext weekend in Arlington. But first things
first, got to take care ofbusiness against the Yankees. You do not
want to go oh to two tostart the year. How about what we
did see yesterday on the good side, how about Jake Myers first swing That
(31:36):
was actually a lot of fun andyou know, it's really kind of cool
to the story of Jake Myers isso interesting with the Astras because we saw
Mauricio Dubon play a competent center field. We saw Chas McCormick make a phenomenal
play in the twenty twenty two WorldSeries, and it's still felt like the
Astras are kind of, you know, kind of fluctuating on who to use
in center field and Joe Spottaga's namemanager Joe s says, Hey, Jake
(32:00):
Myers is going to be our guy. And it could be it could be
that they realized potential in Jake Myers, which I think there's still plenty in
there, and I think it,you know, maybe it's a monetary issue.
They don't want to go out andtrade or sign a free agent.
That's another thing. They don't wantto trade away other pieces of their property
(32:20):
that they want to maybe hold onto and use in later years. But
the fact that they went out thereand kind of settled Jake down a little
bit and said you're going to beour guy. It didn't just send a
message to Jake. It sent amessage to guys like Chas McCormick Mauricio Dubon
that you know, Okay, nowmy role is going to be a little
more defined. I'm going to beplaying left field with your don. If
you're Chas McCormick, and if you'reMauricio Dubon, you're going to get your
(32:43):
spot starts. Probably it would getyour starts when Justin Berlander comes back,
because it seemed like Dubon was thepersonal center fielder. But I love the
fact that it kind of gave JakeMyers an opportunity over the offseason to say,
Okay, I'm the center fielder.How do I get prepared to be
that opening day center fielder and getprepared for a season where I'd know definitively
that I'm not going to be traded, I'm not going to be optioned out.
(33:06):
I'd have the opportunity to go outthere and expose my abilities. And
I had a chance to talk tohim over the in spring training for a
couple of days that we were outthere, and I noticed he made a
little bit of a swing adjustment.He's got his hands a little bit further
away from his body. They're notkind of tight and close to that back
shoulder, and he said the reasonhe did that was the kind of clear
(33:27):
space in between his body and thebaseball to be able to get his hands
to move a little more freely throughthe zone. And last night was actually
yesterday was actually a really good exampleof it, when Nestra Cortez challenged him
inside off the plate and he kepthis you know, he kept the integrity
of his swing, didn't open up, and allowed those hands to fire through
the inside. He puts it upon the train tracks. So we'd have
(33:51):
an idea of the capabilities of JakeMyers. It's just a matter of can
he go out there and consistently doit. And I think part of the
fun of watching Jake hit that homerun was also watching these you know,
the seven to eight guys go outthere and kind of complete that triumvirate at
the bottom of that bottom third ofthat order for the Astros and put up
some big numbers that really showed thatthe possibility of depth in this lineup.
(34:14):
That was a lot of fun towatch. Yeah, the guys at the
bottom of the lineup are going tobe hitting in front of the top four,
which look like they're locked into thosespots, meaning anytime they get things
going well, that certainly could pointto potentially having some pretty big innings.
And they thought they had the opportunityto do that a couple times yesterday,
I just didn't materialize. A multihit day for Jordan Alvarez, a three
(34:34):
hit day for Janer Diaz. Andwould you think that Joe Aspota is open
to working his way through who batsfive, six and seven on any given
day in light of maybe matchups orwho might be hitting better than somebody else
because a Brallia, McCormick and Diazwill be in the lineup a lot together.
Yesterday it was a Bralliw McCormack Diezfive sixty seven. Do you think
(34:58):
Joe is going to watch that andbe over but to maybe tinkering with it
now, even on a day today basis, I think you have to
be open to the idea of havinga little more, you know, some
fluidity to that lineup. I thinkthat you know, we're seeing the lineup
tonight is going to be. Ithink it's pretty much the exact same as
it was yesterday, except you're goingto see maybe you're done out in left
field, but uh, you know, I can't. It's it's a really
(35:22):
old school mentality to say, thisis my lineup, and I'm going to
throw it out there every day untilyou know, somebody breaks and I have
to take him out and put somebodyelse in. I think that Joe,
Joe is is part old school,part news school, and and he's still
trying to discover who he is.But I think there is going to be
some fluidity because you know, ifyou start to have some hiccups behind your
(35:45):
behind Alex Bragman and Chas McCormick swingingthe bat, well, why wouldn't why
couldn't you move him ahead of JoseBray you and kind of create a situation
where you take some of the pressureoff Jose and allow some of those other
guys to pick up the slack untilJose gets going, or you just feel
more comfortable with a dinor Diaz hittingfit, and you want to have him
with more opportunities to drive the baseballin because you know, as much power
(36:07):
as Yiner has, as much poweras Chas McCormick can show you, I
think that yesterday you kind of sawthem maturing a little bit and taking base
hits where they were available, andthat lends itself to maybe driving some more
runs in and extending some of theseinnings and putting pressure on opposing pitchers.
And I think Joe's going to beopen to a little more fluidity maybe if
(36:30):
the opportunity arises. And who's tosay that, you know, this lineup,
no matter where you put these guys, they're going to be able to
score over runs. Because the onlything that really kind of it didn't really
falter, but it didn't produce asmuch as the first three or the last
three spots in the order was themiddle third of that order. And if
Joe can mix that up a littlebit and find some continuity to create opportunity
(36:51):
in the middle part of that lineup, I wouldn't be surprised if he does.
Yeah, about thirty seconds before ChasMcCormick made it a two nothing Astros
game, I had posted loaded againstthe lefty for Chaz hmm, and it
worked out perfectly. That's why he'sin that spot. That's something he's continued
to excel in batting against lefties.And I'll leave you this last thought.
The last handful of Astro's pitches thrownyesterday came out of the left hand of
(37:15):
Josh Hater. How'd that go?How'd you like that? Are you kidney
with this guy? I mean,we all watched him from Afar and we
kind of had an idea of whatwhen he was in the Astro's minor league
system, we all kind of said, well, damn, this guy's he's
got some serious, serious filth.I wonder if his stature is able to
maintain that or if that violent delivery'sgonna hold up over time. And dear
(37:38):
Lord, did it ever? Imean, the way he pitched in Milwaukee,
the way he pitched in San Diego, he has definitely created an aura
about being a very good closer.But what I saw last night was absolute
domination. And when you finally getto see it in person, like we
are going to see over the nextfive years, is pretty pretty damn impressive.
(38:02):
I was thoroughly impressed with what JoshHayder brought. I love the mentality.
I love that bulldog in him thatkind of gets on the mound.
You ignore the scorer, you ignorethe hitter. I've got three pitches that
I don't think you can hit.I'm going to bring them at you,
and I'm going to aggressively attack youand try and break you down as quickly
as I possibly can. And that'sexactly what he did of Gien Carlos Stanton,
(38:23):
That's what he did of Rizzo,and I thought it was a lot
of fun to watch, and it'sgoing to be even more to fun to
watch when he does get those leadsto work with. But man, is
that guy a dominant force. AndI know it's only one out, but
good grief striking out the side.I like that. Turns out ninety five
million dollars does go as far asit used to. Glummer, We appreciate
(38:44):
the time as always. We'll doit again next week, and we always
appreciate the people who make it possiblefor you to join us for an hour
each and every week here. Yeah. No, so, I you know,
and I'm a believer in low TCenter. Make sure you get a
low T Center. Check them out. Their entire goal is to make men
better all the way around, whetherit be from sleep, bolesterol, diet,
(39:07):
whatever it may be. And obviously, you know some of that bedroom
activity can be enhanced a little bit, So check out low tcenter dot com.
For me, personally, I sleepbetter on it, and my recovery
from workouts are phenomenal. And atthis day and age, when I'm in
the fifties now, of course,Jeff Witch at Vision Center is the place
I go for all my vision needs. He is at the cutting edge of
(39:29):
everything that has to do with youreyes. And you know, he's done
a lot of clinical tests and he'sactually the one you sit down and have
your consultant meeting with. So Jeffwitzet and Lo Ti are the two main
factors for me on the radio andoff the radio. You don't look at
day over forty three, Jeff Blum. That's externally. Internally, holy how,
(39:51):
it's a different story. All right, buddy, feel better and we
will talk to you next week.Okay, Yeah, I appreciate it.
You're attractive to Adam, Thank you, thank you, ah man. The
bromance continues for another season here.Yeah, just for you two guys on
sports Sox seven ninety
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.