September 13, 2024 • 43 mins
Former Astro turned Space City Home Network analyst, Geoff Blum joins The A-Team for his weekly visit. He talks about what the Astros need to do in this stretch of games against the Los Angeles Angels. He also talks about Kyle Tucker trying to make his way back to every day game shape. Plus, what he expects from Justin Verlander the rest of the season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You look at it, look at it, look at us.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh yeah, this is radio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You listened to it on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Astros broadcaster Jeff Blum on seven ninety is brought to
you by low T Center.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Blumber.
Speaker 5 (00:20):
It is the A team here on Sports Talk seven
ninety and Yes, live from Well I'm gonna assume Sonny Anaheim, California.
Blum joins us via the phone line for the next
hours we discuss all things Astros for his weekly visit
WEX over there, AC right here and yes, Blummer, I
am glad that you were joining us after the Astros
salvage that series, because those were a couple of gut
(00:43):
punch losses in the first two games against Oakland and
with the Mariners not really cooperating with the situation the
way they were supposed to. It wasn't feeling great losing
six out of eight. But then the Astros did what
they did with that rally yesterday late and then the
Mariner started cooperating again late last night.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah, everything's back to normal after that salvage of a win.
But you're right, and it is sunny. It's gorgeous other
than it being fire season out here. Everything's pretty good
in southern California. But I would like the Astros to
come in and play the next seven games they have
against the Angels in that same kind of fashion that
(01:22):
we saw that game finish against the Oakland A's, because
I'm not sure you know if it's intensity, if you're
playing down to the level you're exhausted. I understand it's
the middle of late September when you're kind of grinding
things out. But it was a little unfortunate to lose
two out of three in that series. But luckily down
the stretcher, you've got seven against a pretty awful team
and the Angels, and you want to continue to reinforce
(01:43):
that idea by beating them as many times as you can.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
Let's send you not just out to California, but let's
send you into the way back machine.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Jeff, if you would play along.
Speaker 6 (01:53):
Let's let's take you back to Let's take you back
to April of this season. I'm going to give you
two statements and tell me which one sounds like. Yeah,
I can believe that the Astros just won a game
by having fromber Valdez pitch brilliantly as the starter, and
then he turned things over to a bray you, Presley
and hater. They got to win. That statement number one.
(02:14):
Now here's statement number two. The Astros just got a
win and had their runs driven in by Hayward, Myers,
Singleton and Dubond. That's the second statement, which sounds.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
More believable the former. Yes, and even.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Though they are both true and they were a description
of yesterday's game. They scored six runs without Altuve, Tucker, Diez,
Alvarez or Bregman driving in any of them.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, So you're selling hope Man, You're getting us all
fired up to trying to explain. You know that this
is a relatively deep lineup, and as much as fun
as it is, you don't expect those guys to go
out there on a daily basis and kind of be
that run support system that you're looking. But I think
in this situation, it was a real opportunity for them
to kind of step up and take control of the
(03:05):
situation because you know you're gonna see the middle part,
the top middle part of the order get pitched pretty tough.
If those guys are getting pitched tough, you're gonna have
to rely on some of those guys at the bottom,
and every once in a while, those guys are gonna
jump up and hopefully bite you in the ass, like
they did last night, And that was kind of fun
to watch them go do that because the big boys
weren't taking care of it. But there's some guys in
(03:25):
supporting roles that can go out there and take care
of business as well. So that was kind of fun
to watch, to be honest.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah, And I don't want to diminish it in any way.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
They haven't gotten a home run from Jason Hayward yet
he put them in front to nothing, how to you know,
fromber who probably doesn't need it because he's been unbelievable
for about three months now. But it's a better place
to pitch when your team's up to nothing. And then
it's two to two in the bottom of the eighth
inning and you've just given up the lead and it's
Singleton who comes up with the go ahead after Diaz
(03:53):
had gotten a hit, after Alvarez.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Had opened the inning.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
You you couldn't ask for much more of where you
were in the lineup, but Alvarez opens the inning and
doesn't get on Bass, and then Diaz has his third hit,
of the day, Singleton drives him in, Meers drives am
run in, and Duban makes it a lot easier on
whomever Joe gives the ball to. With hater al or
being hot, that's what he gave the ball to, but
now he's pitching with a four run lead. These type
of hand the baton type of bats, pass it to
(04:18):
the next guy. I haven't seen a ton of it consistently,
but that was exactly what it was from an unlikely
set of hitters.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, and in a perfect one, you would like to
see a little more of that consistency and have those
guys just kind of provide maybe an extra run or
two like Mauricio do did and just kind of cruised
into a victory. And don't forget John Singleton came off
the bench earlier in that series and had a almost
hit one out the left center field. So I think
it's kind of cool that you're seeing these guys maybe
roles that you're going to see, you know, during this
(04:49):
push for the Pennant, hopefully into the postseason, where they're
going to come off the bench for some bigot bats
or have the opportunity because they're around some of the
big dudes, that you're going to have those opportunities later
in uh later in the ballgame and face you know,
substantialis of the bullpen. So you know, this is all
experience that is hopefully leading and building up to a
(05:10):
not just a you know, a potential play playoff spot,
but a playoff run. And if you're getting hot at
the right time, like we all know, at the end
of September, things can look pretty good.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Well, you know, talking about hot the pitching for the Astros,
even though the other two that I would mention in
the same vein with with Fromber, you know, Hunter Brown,
Spencer Arighetti, they had tough luck losses in their last
two outings in a lot of ways. But with what
Fromber did again yesterday, what Fromber continues to do throughout
(05:42):
most of this season. And I saw somebody mention this
last night just in the the stratosphere of social media.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Did the Astros if.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
They weren't maybe necessarily strongly consider it, it's considering it.
Do you think they have maybe changed their mind and
look to to make him a long term addition? And
I'm not asking you to say anything you don't know
or do know, but I just he has kind of
returned to that twenty twenty two form after a really
up and down year last year, which included a no hitter,
(06:10):
by the way, but like what he's doing lately has
been really impressive.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, yeah, and you just really hope that it's kind
of that, I mean, we say it so often with
bromber Valdez. You really hope it's part of that maturation
process where he gets to a level where he can
pitch consistently at this level, because the dude's stuff is remarkable.
You know, there's not too many big league pitchers that
go out there and really have successful careers pitching with
(06:37):
basically two pitches. He's at two seam fastball, he's that curveball.
The occasional change up will be mixed in there, you
know if he wants. And he threw a couple more
sliders in that last doubting to left handed hitters. But
at the same time, if you really narrow it down
and you were going to face bromber Valdez, you're gonna say,
I'm gonna pick on the fastball or I'm gonna pick
on the curveball, because trying to cover both of those
really doesn't go your way if you're an opposing hitter,
(06:59):
as we've seen for the last two and a half
three months and over the last five years of fromber Valdez,
So you know, you hope that he's gotten to a
level where he understands he's like, you know what, I'm
pretty damn good when I'm convicted and I'm focused and
I go out there and execute. And if he goes
and does those three things, the Astros are going to
be in great shape. And I think another thing that
you can kind of put in that cap of fromber
(07:22):
Valdez is maybe a couple of things, but the one
thing is is the fact that he's a stopper. I
think he is now seven and one after losses for
the Astros. So he's that guy that in the rotation
where if you get to a point where you desperately
need to win, he's going to provide that win. And
I think that's really good. And also, the drafts looked
a little bit longer, and I kind of like the
(07:42):
flow coming out the back because it feels like the
more show he's got, the better he is.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Man, you're a big flow guy, no matter what the situation,
would you like it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You got to have it.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
There's got to be a little bit of attitude, a
little bit of hey, check me out, you know, when
you're out there. But he has the stuff to back
it up. Where I was using my check me out
to distract from the talent?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
What was your check me out?
Speaker 6 (08:04):
For those of our listeners that are what thirteen or
fourteen years old, I guess, oh.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, I got I remember vividly, you know, since we're
right around that September eleventh moment. I was playing at
the time in two thousand and one, and I, you know,
my wife and I we we agreed that after nine
to eleven that we were going to, you know, somehow
pay tribute. And I decided to dye my hair red,
white and blue for that and I finished the season
with that color. But if a lot of people who
remember me getting traded for Montreal to the Houston Astros.
(08:33):
First interview I did was with Alan Ashby, who's going
to be on the Media Hall of Fame here in
the next year or so. I had black hair with
white tips that was.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Special frosted tips, way ahead of his time.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
This guy, Yeah, well, it's just but you listened to
the year he's talking about that is very like, all right,
I already know the answer to this.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
It's going to ask him to complete the outfit.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Well kind of, I'm gonna ask him to complete the couple.
I know for a fact right now that Corey's eyebrows
were super thin during that time period.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh very I mean, yeah, we were as trendy as
trenty couples could be. We were actually when we first
started dating, we were. I mean, this is probably way
more than people want to know, but I was living
with her maybe about a block south of Sunset Strip,
and that should pretty much explain it all.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Wow, you had some late nights, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Late, Well, it depends on how you look at it
could be late night or early.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Morning, early mornings exactly. Now, that is definitely the case.
We're talking to Jeff Blum of Space City Home Network
on Space City Home Network and of course Sports Talk
seven ninety right now on a Friday edition of the
program Astros in Anaheim to you know, get it on
with a team that every time I feel like the
Astros go there, they've got at least one major injury,
(09:52):
if not more. The Anaheim is the Anaheim Angel situation
ever going to change in your opinion.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Dude, that's a really good question. You guys could probably
spend the next week talking about this if we really
started to dig in. Because I'm as curious as you
guys are. It seems like Arti Moreno is an owner
that has money and is willing to spend it. But
I think he's willing to spend it in the wrong
ways because he's trying to, you know, benefit off of
off of selling tickets and maybe selling jerseys in a
(10:24):
team store, as opposed to going out there and spending
the money appropriately to put a team out there. Because he,
you know, the last three years up until this year,
he had or three or four years, he had the
two best players arguably in all of baseball on his team,
and he couldn't put anybody around him to go out
there and support Shoho Tani or Mike Trout. And I think,
you know, who knows, maybe Mike Trout's windows starting to close,
(10:45):
but he's sitting on some bad contracts right now. I
know that Perry Menissian, the GM of the Angels, has
a really good reputation. He speaks really well, he knows
the game, but I just don't know if he's had
the opportunity to put together a team that he's wanted
to because they're pitching has been in shambles for what
as long as we've been in the American League West.
(11:06):
So I think it's an excellent question, and I don't
know the answer to it because I can go ahead
and spot a ton of problems, but I'm just not
sure how long it's going to take the fixes.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Now, for sure will We'll continue to discuss the Anaheim Angels,
your astros, and all things MLB when we come back
with Blummer here on a Friday.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Edition of The A Team.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
The Aight on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
You know, Blumber, it is so good to have a
reliable connection in your home at all times, especially when
you know that either you're going to have people coming
home from school in your case and my case, or
you know, people coming over. Doesn't have to be a
situation where you're worried about the Wi Fi connection when
Infinity is involved.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
No one of the most reliable networks that anybody can have.
And I know I can speak for that truthfully because
we've had it at our house. We've had storms, we've
had heyofs of having you know, thirty forty people at
the house, all trying to load music or trying to
stream a show. Meanwhile, I'm trying to prep for a game.
And never let me down. It's been fantastic. I love
Exfinity WiFi yep.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
And you can get that kind of connection to now
through the twenty first when you get Exfinity Gig Internet
for twenty five dollars a month. When you add Exfinity
Mobile with unlimited data and get Peacock Premium thrown in,
go to Exfinity dot com, call one eight hundred Exfinity,
or visit a store to switch today.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Exfinity Bring on the good stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Back to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, the eighty.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Eight team rolling along here on a Friday edition of
the show Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Home Network.
We are joined by one of their employees talking about
Jeff Blum, Astro's color analyst. He and Todd will be
on the call this weekend in Anaheim where the Astros,
after salvaging that series with the Oakland A's, head out
to the West Coast for you know, a date against
(13:00):
the team. As we were talking about towards the break,
it just has not gone their way in spite of
the money they've spent.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
The Astros don't want to hear about it.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
The Astros are trying to get right, and the Astros
are trying to get right in a lot of ways,
including physically.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
How much of a relief.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
And I know you're around the team more than we are,
but it's kind of harder maybe at home versus on
the road. How much was it a relief factor permeating
through the club when it kind of looked like maybe
we avoided the worst news possible about Jose Altuve.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Bro when he came out of that game.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
I think we all felt the same, just going, dude,
wait what here? You're not You're not feeling good. You're
coming out of a game. We just got one of
our favorite weapons back in Kyle Tucker. We're starting to
see Ja Burlander pitch a little bit more often, hopefully
he turns the corner. And now you're telling me we
got to deal with, you know, bragman we have with
his elbow, and now we got to deal with al
(13:57):
tuo Ve having issues with his side. To be honest,
I was a little flabbergascid and it's not too often
I get locked up in the booth, but in my head,
I'm going, dude, there is no way we can go
try and finish this thing off. If this guy's not
in the lineup. It's gonna be a lot harder, obviously,
but it is a sigh of relief kind of waking
up today and realizing, you know that he took the
(14:18):
day off yesterday and was able to recover. And I
think one of the things that Altuba actually has going
for him is that I know he's getting You know,
he's thirty four years old. You get up there a
little bit older, it's tougher to heal. But in the past,
this guy's been one of the best at getting healthy
and getting back on the field. So hopefully it's just
a little something that tweaked and he can be back
(14:39):
as soon as possible.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
When you saw it, and he obviously called out for
both Jeremiah Randall and Joe Aspata having swung the bat
at the major league level before, like neither myself or
Adam has, do you automatically start thinking back to, Okay, well,
this is the area that I think that and again,
you might not want to speculate it at the moment
during the game, Well, if you feel even more comfortable
(15:01):
speculating here now that we know a little bit about
the back discomfort, But is it kind of an automatic
feeling back to taking a swing and this could happen?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I think that's always in the back of your head
once you've had one of these oblique or one of
these back injuries, is you know, is this going to
be the one where it snaps and I go down
in a heap? But you know, I have had I've
actually had personal experience with obliques, and.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I know this is not.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I don't know actually what's going on with poseyol two
by specifically, but the fact that he said that he
was okay and some of the rotation workouts that he
was doing yesterday went well kind of gives me an
indication that maybe it's not truly that side muscle that's
the oblique. There's a couple of them over there. But
if it is something like that, because he's already had
the left oblique issue that kept him out for quite
(15:47):
a while. And that's the tricky part about oblique injuries
is that any swing could aggravate it, and if you
do aggravate it, it takes forever to come back.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
From it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
But if it's a lower back or you know, is
something else other than I think you're going to be
all right and be able to play through it. So
hopefully that's all it is. Yeah, because I don't want
to speculate and say it's this or that. But when
you start talking about sides and obliques and stuff like that,
that's when you worry.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
But if he's not worried, you know, I don't. I
don't feel like we should be too worried about it
because Jose's actually been one of the more honest guys
about some of these injuries.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
In the past.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Yeah, and again, not to dive further into it more
than I'm going to ask you to, but let's say
your worry level is, you know, seventy five percent when
you see him talk to them and you see him
do that, and then maybe it drifts down to fifty
percent when he stays in the game. Between fifty and
one hundred percent worry, where did it go back up
to when he bunted foul and left the game and
(16:41):
left the dugout too?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Well?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I think that I would have loved you know, there's
obviously a lot of moments we would love to be
in the dugout for moments, conversations, situations. But I would
have loved to have been in the dugout when he
takes that swing, gets into a two strike count, you know,
talks to Jeremiah Randall, talks to Joe's spot and it says, no,
I'm good, I'll finish off the bat, and he proceeds
(17:05):
to go out there in front one fount. I would
I would have loved to have been there when he
got back in the dugout and having Joe's spot of going,
hey man, you know, you know, bat out there. But
that would have been funny. But it's kind of nice
to see guys joking about it now. But at the
time I was like, what in the hell?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah, I mean I almost thought, you know, it buys
him a tiny, tiny bit of time before he has
to make the ultimate decision of am I really out
of the game. He can maybe if if the inning
gets extended, it wasn't the last out.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
If you're you got a three.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Minutes, five minutes, four minutes, whatever it is, maybe there's
an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And maybe that was all not even knowing it.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Maybe that was our first sign that things might not
be so bad that he consider, well, if I can
just get them to look at a little more, really
think about it before the next half inning starts, when
I'm probably gonna need to go out to second base
since I'm in the lineup. Maybe that was there. Maybe
we flipped this into what do we see from Kyle Tucker?
Now he's had a chance to get out there. The
expectation is he will be using his glove this weekend
(18:03):
against the Angels. He picked up a pinch hit opportunity
and came through with a pinch hit. Seemed to be
connecting with many more higher bat speeds, a lot more
higher exit velos. He said, Oh, you're going to play
the third base, a third basement almost on top of
off second base. Well, I'll just smash one through that
enormous hole. Does he look more comfortable? Are the results
(18:26):
just happenstance or are you seeing things that suggest better
Tucker is arriving soon.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I've got no problem
with Kyle Tucker. You know, baseball is an extremely hard game,
and it's extremely hard when you haven't had the prep
to come back and make that comeback. He's kind of
doing his rehab assignment while he's in the big leagues,
and that's not exactly easy to do, so you know,
I'm kind of giving him a little bit of grace,
but he's showing better timing. And you know, another thing
(18:56):
you can't underestimate is the ego of a professional athlete period.
These guys are going to go out there think that
they're the best in the world and expect the best
from themselves. And I think Kyle Tucker is kind of
in that boat too, where he's not going to let
this linger for too long. He's going to make the adjustment.
He's going to find a way. He's going to grind
through some of these bat at bats and figure out
where his swing is at, because, like you said, that
(19:17):
that speeds starting to come around a little bit. You know,
he's off by just a little bit of a tick
with some of these foul balls, and that's something that
I know Tucker can correct because nobody knows his swing
better than Kyle Tucker, and he's a guy that is
one of those natural kind of swings. He didn't develop
this by watching a Tom Emanski video or watching you know,
some of these other guys in the big leagues. He
(19:38):
developed Kyle Tucker's swing and he's really the only one
that can adjust on or off of it, and he's
going to be just fine. I think once you start
to see a couple of these barrel baseballs find some holes,
get that believe or not, get that confidence up. For
a guy like Kyle Tucker, he's going to take off.
But it just takes that one of you know, that
one sensation of getting the barrel through the zone the
way you wanted to, getting it slotted, owing some of
(20:00):
that quickness and then feeling that chrisp connection with the
baseball and having it go is what changes everything. And
Kyle's getting close.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
You mentioned that Tom and Mansky line there as if
you do have former players, maybe that did use the
Tomamnski video to make themselves the ballplayers they are today.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Oh yeah, I mean, and there's plenty of guys too.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
You know, when you know.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Clubhouses are tough, you know you've got to have a
kind of a tallist personality to be able to handle
some of the some of the jabs you're going to
take inside the clubhouse verbally, mentally, emotionally, And you know,
if you had a bad game and you start kicking
the ball around. You can guarantee that somebody will mail
order a Tomamnsky video that may show up in your
locker someday. So when that shows up, you just got
(20:45):
to kind of grin and go, yep, I kind of
deserve that. But I actually got to play with Fred
McGriff and got some insight behind the tom Ofmansky video,
so that was kind of fun too.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
The hat atop the head is putting and the ball
going into the trash.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Can at home play. I think we've all got that
re brained in there.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Great skills, great clinic. I'm sure people still use these
same drills today.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Oh obviously, why wouldn't they, I would nothing's advanced. Hey,
you know, and we're talking to Jeff Blum here on
Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Home Network. You're gonna
have a front row seat to not only this series
this weekend is very interesting and none of it has
to do with the Angels. You have Kyle Tucker in
him in the field potentially, well he'll be in the field,
that's what we've been told. So you're gonna have that,
(21:27):
but you're also going to have an interesting up close
and personal front row seat to the latest installment of
Justin Verlander. And I hesitate because Wex pointed this out
the other day. Since he's gotten back, all he's faced
are like murderers row lineups.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
I don't think you're gonna have that in Anaheim.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
But yet that means, doesn't it that if he has
a successful night, maybe we shouldn't celebrate too much about that.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, there's a couple of things in that. And by
the way, Tucker playing hopefully playing right field tonight, it's
because it's a smaller right field. You can kind of
control that area, so I think it's kind of smart.
And then you can put your you know, guys with
more range out here in left field because it's so
much bigger. But Justin Burlander, you know, he's got great
numbers in his history against the Angels. Obviously the lineups
(22:16):
have been a little bit different. But what's crazy to
me is that Justin's had to kind of have his
rehab starts here at the big League as well. And
like you're saying, facing, you know, some of these bombers
that come out here and put together some unbelievable at bats,
and they they respect Justin Burlander so much. They're not
facing him thinking that he's anything other than vintage Justin Burlander.
(22:37):
And that's what makes it tough, because Justin probably trying
to find the release point on his basketball. He's trying
to find the release point and create the shape he
wants and his sliders and his curveballs, and meanwhile, if
he makes a mistake, it gets absolutely hammered. So that's
got to be frustrating in itself. But I think he's
going to be, you know, continually working in between starts,
continually trying to get better, and I think he has
(22:57):
the expectation of being better every time he's out there. Fortunately,
he's going to be in a place like Anaheim where
he's had a lot of success on this mound, and
he's had a lot of success against this ball club.
The only thing I'm kind of curious about is is
it sometimes when you get a veteran facing a team
that are a team of young hitters, y that he
hasn't faced and really hasn't developed his own book against.
(23:18):
Because you're gonna have a lot of data.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Plummer, we're gonna have to have you.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
We gotta stop right here because we got to take
a quick time out.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
We'll be right back the ad on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
We will get back and pick up where we left
off with that thought. But we need to give you
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Because Coushata is there, That's why.
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And if you are into football, it's a great time
of year to be going to Kushata.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Another big month out there.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
Uh, the one hundred thousand dollars Football Frenzy hot seat
giveaways are every Tuesday, So that's right around the corner.
Just one of a number of things going on out
there at Kushata.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, he's basically trying to send you the rest.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Sportsbook's a great place to enjoy all that wagering with
the pigskin or everything else that's going on.
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They've got it all for you. It's very easy to do.
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You can do it in the comfort of their awesome
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(24:24):
enjoy yourself. All sorts of ways to do it at Cushata.
At Cushata Casino Resort dot com.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
There's a space City Home Network's Todd Kallis, there's the
A Team.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
You got him.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
It's Adam Clinton and Adam Wesler.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Clinton, stop impersonating me on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Sorry about that, Todd, callus.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
The A Team returns here on Sports Talk seven ninety
with Todd's broadcast partner Jeff Blum. Sorry we had to
cut you off there at the end of last segment, Jeff,
but you know how it goes with these breaks these days.
Wanted to let you finish your thoughts on not only
justin Verlander and what you might see from him during
this series, but then going forward. You know, I don't
(25:12):
The big talk after his last start was that maybe
the Astros have to have a difficult.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Conversation about the postseason.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Are you still looking at that situation as all right,
there's a lot of time, not a ton of time.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
But there's still a.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Few weeks left before we need to start even thinking
about a conversation like that.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Absolutely, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold out and just
be patient with the whole situation because if it was
because you don't want to have that conversation too early,
because if Justin figures it out and the ball starts
to come out of his hand the way he wants to,
and his body is working the way he wants to,
he's dominant, and you don't want to risk not having
the opportunity of having a guy like Justin Verlander in
(25:52):
your rotation down the stretch or the postseason, whatever it
may be. And you also got to look at it
in the sense that if he does figure it out,
still have a solid three that can get you through
a wild card round or through the beginning of a
division series before you get to a Justin Verlander. So
you know, you ruling him out now would just be premature,
just because of the pedigree, the history, and then his
(26:14):
ability to adapt to the big leagues. You know, much
like we were talking about Kyle Tucker. You know, there's
a certain arrogance and ego you need to perform at
this level, and these guys are going to find a
way to compete. And I'm not gonna I'm not going
to panic just yet on Justin Verlander. But that being said,
you know, sometimes when you face a team like the
Angels where you don't have a lot of history against them,
(26:36):
and I think that's where history really really benefits Justin
Verlander because he knows guys' weaknesses or how he's attacked
into the past, and he knows how to set them up.
You know, now you're facing a bunch of guys in
this line that maybe you don't have a lot of
experience again, so you're kind of experimenting in the middle
of the game as opposed to going out there and
having a game plan. So that's where I think it
might be kind of, you know, a little iffy for
(26:58):
Justin Verlander, but if he has the command of his
fastball and both of his off speed pitches, he should
be just fine. Because I think the slider and the
curve ball were the real issue in that last start.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Obviously, almost everybody's talked about that one because it's gone
start to start to start in the real definitive end
in sight and you look at somebody who while he
won't pitch in this series, Rigetti will pitch after they
finish this series. Went out there and had a really
good long stretch of August where he was just blowing
hitters away, showed off the stuff that he had to
get swing and missed to put the Astros in great
(27:29):
position to win every time you handed it on the ball.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
And then had a massive hiccup game.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
And I feel like I could call it a hiccup
game because of how the way he pitched in his
last game, and even more so because of how that
last game against Oakland began where he didn't look like
he maybe had his best stuff, where it didn't look
like he was going to give them a bunch of
clean innings and pitched deep into the game, But he did.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
What did you see from him?
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Maybe even from the mental side as much as the
stuff side.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Yeah, First of all, congratulations to him for being that
rookie pay sure the man cheap month.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
He earned it.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
He pitched extremely well. I think he had forty seven strikeouts,
and you know, in five starts he looked phenomenal. He
started to get that chest puffed out a little bit.
The flow is out the back like we talked about earlier,
just feeling himself and guess what, Baseball comes up and
just wham, it'll slap you upside the head and put
you right back in your spot. And sometimes that's a
(28:22):
good thing because you realize how hard this game is
and to be that consistent and that good is extremely tough,
no matter who's who you're pitching against. And he got
he got smacked around, he had some bad luck, hit
some barrels, and he got taken out of that game quickly,
and I was really curious to see how he would,
you know, rebound next time out. And I thought he
(28:43):
looked great. You know, he may may not have had
his A plus stuff to go out there and get
the swing and miss. Maybe still working on a couple
of things as far as the delivery, but the fact
that he went out there and competed it and didn't
let that previous start fluster him or compound from start
to start is what I found really interesting. I think
that's of a sign of a guy who understands the
game a little bit and is willing to work through
(29:05):
even some of the worst games. And that's what you
want to see. You want to see that resilience and
that it's not that stick to itiveness, but it's that again.
It goes back to the ego and the arrogance saying,
you know what, that wasn't mean, this is going to
be me. And he made the adjustment. I loved it.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
And Todd often or Kevin or Julia, whoever's in the
booth with you at any given game, will often take
advantage of working with the crew and saying, let's get
this shot, or they say we have this shot and
you'll get something in the dugout and you'll see Hunter
Brown sitting next to so and so, and you say,
Kakuchi making his way into that group and speaking about
arag Getty, When you think about Hunter Brown's seasons in
(29:42):
this dugout, in this clubhouse, and now arag Getty's season
in this clubhouse and in this dugout in game talking
with these guys, how much do you think that is
a part of getting to become a better Major leaguer
Of the time they spend with one another in the
dugout as games go.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
On, there's nothing better that for a young player. There's
nothing better for a veteran player or anybody in between.
Any time you're in that dugout, and you know, some
of your you know, some of your harshest critics are
going to be in that dugout, but also some of
your greatest peers are going to be in that dugout
as well. And when you're all wearing the same uniform,
you're all pushing in the right direction. You all want
(30:19):
each other to succeed. And that's something that really has,
you know, become the culture in that dugout for the astros.
So when you're able to have those conversations, you can
sit down and go, hey, did you see anything with
this pitch? Am I tipping?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Am I? Am I?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Where's my where's my arm swing? You know, pick out
something and look look at it for me and we'll
talk about it the next inning. Or did you see that,
you know, did he was he sitting on that pitch?
Should I make an adjustment here? And that's how you
just kind of figure out how to get better day
in day out, And you also learn how to read
the game a little bit because you're watching other guys perform,
(30:53):
so you're watching the intricacies of their delivery and the
process of the game. And then you have the conversations
and you may wonder why somebody did something, and they
may have a perfectly valid reason for why they did that,
and you can glean off that information and use it
for yourself. But you know, I've had some of the
greatest conversations and some of the greatest feedback from asking
guys to watch my bats, watch my swing. What do
(31:16):
you think this guy's going to do in it?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Too to count?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Have you been watching the sequencing, you know, And that's
where you start to gain a lot of knowledge. And
I would imagine even more so this day and age,
with as fast as this game is being played and
as hard as they throw, that every little intricate detail is.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Going to mean something.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
But some of that instant feedback in the dugout during
the game means a lot.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
As we continue down the stretch, I know that it
would probably have been better if the Astros hadn't had
that losing six of eight stretch.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
That we just got done talking about that.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
Does it cease ever cease to amaze you just how
much of a spiral the Mariner season has become since
losing that division lead.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean yeah, I would imagine if there's writers
and radio up in Seattle They've got plenty of material
to try and decipher what's going on. But the one
consistent conversation that I have with even people in Seattle
and outside of Seattle watching the West is how did
you waste? I hate using the word waste, but how
(32:16):
did you waste a year of this rotation that they
have being healthy pitching as well as they have been
all year long, and not have an offense to back
them up. That has got to be one of the
most frustrating things in baseball to watch nationwide, because that's
the one conversation I have with a lot of people
inside the game talking about the Seattle Mariners, is you
spend so much time and effort and money to put
(32:37):
that rotation together that you just lacked the ability to
put an offense out there that was going to make
those guys better. Because if you think about it, when
you have a starting rotation that has a low three eer,
how many runs do you have to score to win
just four four to five runs a game and you're
going to be fine. And they weren't able to do that,
and they went from a high strikeout team to a
(32:58):
higher strikeout team. So there's a lot of of there's
a lot of self diagnosis that's gonna have to go
on in the Northwest because that pitching staff is probably
the best in baseball.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Awesome stuff. We've got one more segment with you.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
I'm gonna head out of the studio grab some tissues,
so I'm crying about how sad I am for the Mariners.
We've got one more second segment with Jeff Blumm coming
up here on the A Team.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
Maybe Seattle has low testosterone.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
I'm not accusing him of anything, but I'm just saying
if you had low testosterone and you hadn't gone to
Men's Tea Clinic to get it checked out, well, maybe
you would spiral out of a double digit division lead
and your season would be wasted. Hey, but that's not
our problem here in Houston, because there's five Houston area
locations that are convenient for Men's Tea Clinic and their website,
Men'stclinic dot com. In fact, head on over to Men's
(33:49):
Teaclinic dot com and find out exactly where the addresses
and the specifics are for the locations in Spring Pasadena, Paarland, Cyprus,
and the Heights over at I and Durham where I
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like I do most Thursdays. You get a simple blood
test done to find out if you have low testosterone them.
Because they have on site labs in each of those
(34:09):
five locations. You'll get your results back that same day
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To get back to being you head on over to
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Speaker 7 (34:23):
Yet us write this to Trilo Chief bummbe get into
bad boom. We roll over with the eight team, Adam Westland,
Adam Clinton. Right now, let's go two Adams for the price.
One on Sports Talk seven night, another.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
Segment on a Friday with Jeff Blum here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety, and of course simulcast on Space
City Home Network. As we each take you into Astros
Baseball deeper into the evening tonight out on the West Coast.
An eight thirty eight start for their game against the Angels.
You say, Kakuchi, we'll try to make it eight for eight. Team,
We'll try to make it eight for eight. He's gotten
(34:57):
four of the wins in his seven starts, all of
which Astro's victories. Obviously Verlander going Saturday, Renal Blancos set
to go on Sunday. I brought this up after we
did our postgame show out at Minute May Park yesterday
because it was so fresh and I had to see something.
Seems like it's happening here with their first basement offensively,
John Singleton, Jeff, over the last fifteen games, they have
(35:18):
one hitter with an OPS over one thousand, and it
is John Singleton.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
You talked about him a little bit earlier.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
That pitch hit opportunity might have been one of the
best balls he hit. It was a four hundred and
seven foot fly ball into the ballpark, not out of
the ballpark, just because of where he hit it. But
he has been not only picking up hits, he's hitting
these balls with such typical for him, but such force.
But to have them all clumped together over this stretch
of time seemed like much of the season he was
(35:44):
sprinkling a three or four day stretch or a couple
of game stretch. This seems like a little bit longer
stretch of Singleton looking like he's the aggressor. He's the
guy that's gonna succeed him versus Pitcher anything other than
maybe getting a little bit more consistent playing time.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
How about the help he's given this team.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
He's been a huge boost and I think that, you know,
it is a credit to John Singleton.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Also the fact that.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
You know, it's kind of been a revolving door over
there at first base and John's really the only true
first basement that the Astros have.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yet.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
At the same time, he hasn't complained, He hasn't run
into Joe's office, he hasn't talked to a reporter behind
the scenes and said, hey man, this should be my job.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
He just kind of.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Said, you know what, this is what it is. This
is my opportunity, and this is my role. And he's
kind of taking advantage of it and run with it
a little bit. So I applaud him for having that mentality.
But he's also working hard every single day. You know,
a lot of people don't see the pregame work that
this guy's putting in with the glove, you know, doing
picks and trying to make sure that he's ready anytime
(36:44):
he's called on. He takes batting practice every single day,
and I'm sure there's more work going on underneath, but
it's really starting to pay off and he's kind of
become you know, his career arc is so interesting that
I think it does actually provide a little bit of
calm for him in some stress situations on the field.
And it's really started to pay off here down the
stretch because he's been a key piece off the bench
(37:05):
and in that lineup for Joe.
Speaker 5 (37:07):
Yeah, you need consistency at this time of year, and
that's kind of what I wanted to ask you about next.
We always talk about and you mentioned it earlier in
the hour. You know, who's getting hot both pitching and
hitting and all that kind of stuff can go hand
in hand. It's hard to have all the planets align
the way you want them to. But is there a
(37:29):
sense that sometimes teams and I'm not just talking about
the Astros, because there's there's some teams that have been
like the darlings of whatever flavor of the month here
in the MLB season, like there is every year, is
there a sense that teams can peak too early? And
especially since we just talked about the Seattle Mariners last segment.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Yeah, I think there was evidence last year of the
Philadelphia Phillies kind of made a run towards the end
of September, sprinted into the postseason, and then flinged out
against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who came in with some good pitching,
and then the Diamondbacks end up in the World Series.
So I do think there is some validity to that.
I'm not sure you know how often that actually happens.
(38:05):
But at the same time, you know, you've got to
be very careful. It's like, you know, it's like speaking
in spring training and getting you know, hitting three fifty
in spring and you're pissed because you know, once the
season starts, you can't take those numbers with you and
it's hard to get it to translate and turn into
a season where you hit that well. But I think
I think for the Astros having and this is you know,
(38:27):
this is just funny because they've done this so many
times that I don't think that they actually think about
being hot. I think they actually think about being healthy
and taking quality at bats. That's what they look to
bring into the postseason. If they get to that point,
they're not worried about how well they're hitting, because these
guys have just done it too often, too many times
at too high a level to even worry about how
(38:49):
hot I am going into a postseason potentially.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
Well, we have a brief moment here during this segment,
probably a good time for you to make sure to
tell the people who help make these parents this happen
how much you pretiate them.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah, Lot Center has been fantastic for me. I know
everybody thinks about testosterone. Obviously that's a key issue. But
they can help you with sleep athnea, they can help
you with cholesterol, they can help you with diabetes. It's
a full men's health type clinic. So make sure you
go to Lowti center dot com and check that out
because they will get you right and it's a quick,
easy process in and out. So low tcenter dot Com
(39:23):
for them. Actually, just a couple of weeks ago, had
my sit down with doctor Jeff Witztt and his group
over at the Witched Vision Group. They're fantastic. I get older,
my eyesight gets worse, but there are plenty of options.
And it's also comforting knowing that when I sat down
for my consultation, I was sitting directly across from doctor
Jeff Witzett and that's kind of service he provides. So
(39:44):
the Witchet Vision group is the one for me.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
Definitely appreciate them.
Speaker 6 (39:48):
And you look at the big picture for the Astros,
this is their series in Anaheim, followed by a series
in San Diego.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
They close out on the road with the Guardians.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
Those are their nine road games remaining, the series at
home of seven total of sixteen have the Angels a
second time, and then of course that series with the Mariners.
They have seven games remaining with this team. They start
in on those seven tonight. They've shockingly split the first
six of the season series, winning a series two games
to one, losing a series two games to one. They've
(40:18):
scored six or more runs in five of those six
games despite not dominating this series. What kind of expectations
do you have for this team with these three pitchers
set to go, and similarly, with the three pitchers that
the Angels are set to throw against the Astros, including
a pitcher who is relatively new to the big leagues tonight.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how this lineup,
you know, faces some of these new guys because you know,
you've guess some prospects coming up and trying to cut
their teeth here at the big leagues for the Angels
to see what they potentially have in the future. And
I think it's a real opportunity for the Astros hitters
to do their homework. I know they're super aggressive, but
you know, maybe temper that a little bit and see
what this guy has tonight. And overall, I think just
(41:01):
for this ball club, you know, hopefully or maybe that
series against Oakland was a little bit of a wake
up call saying, you know what, we're the better team.
We need to play like the better team. And hopefully
that kind of invigorates them and inspires them because they
know they can see the light at the end of
the tunnel and it's up to them to go ahead
and punch their ticket to the postseason. And the way
you do that is beating teams you're supposed to.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
Is the Twins cutting a minor league catcher for tipping
pitches to hurt his own team the craziest thing you've
ever heard.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
It's the craziest thing I ever heard. And the punchline
of that whole thing I have a little bit of
respect for is he said, why they asked him, why
did you do it, and he goes, listen, man, I'm
ready for this season to be over.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
I mean, we have the motive.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
That's unbelievable, dude.
Speaker 6 (41:47):
In other words, for those that aren't one hundred percent
familiar with this, his team might have had postseason in
their future, but he wanted no part of that, right,
whether they did or not.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Real man. And by the way, he probably had a wedding.
He probably had a wedding or something planned in you know,
October that he doesn't want to miss.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
He was the one hundred and eighty eighth pick this year,
and he signed for just under two hundred and ninety
eight grand. He's going to keep the entirety of his
bonus in case you're wondering, So.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
They're literally paying him to go away.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
About that for an explain, I mean, that's a terrible attitude.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
By the way, it.
Speaker 6 (42:25):
Happens from time to time in sports, and usually we
hear about it because it's so bad something has to
be done. Astro's six game Roady begins tonight right here
on Sports Talk seven to nine and of course also
on Space City Home Network, where many of you are
catching our simulcast right now. Jeff, we always appreciate the time,
enjoy the time out in California, bring back some dubs,
lower that magic number, and we'll see you real soon.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
No, it sounds good, and that sounds like a definite plan.
Catch some doves and head home and see you guys
at the studio.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Enjoy the time, Astros after dark, crossing our fingers.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Ooh yeah, let's do it
Speaker 4 (42:58):
All right, Blummer, We will talk to you next week.
You look at it, look at it, look at us.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh yeah, this is radio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You listened to it on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Astros broadcaster Jeff Blum on seven ninety is brought to
you by low T Center.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Blumber.
Speaker 5 (00:20):
It is the A team here on Sports Talk seven
ninety and Yes, live from Well I'm gonna assume Sonny Anaheim, California.
Blum joins us via the phone line for the next
hours we discuss all things Astros for his weekly visit
WEX over there, AC right here and yes, Blummer, I
am glad that you were joining us after the Astros
salvage that series, because those were a couple of gut
(00:43):
punch losses in the first two games against Oakland and
with the Mariners not really cooperating with the situation the
way they were supposed to. It wasn't feeling great losing
six out of eight. But then the Astros did what
they did with that rally yesterday late and then the
Mariner started cooperating again late last night.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah, everything's back to normal after that salvage of a win.
But you're right, and it is sunny. It's gorgeous other
than it being fire season out here. Everything's pretty good
in southern California. But I would like the Astros to
come in and play the next seven games they have
against the Angels in that same kind of fashion that
(01:22):
we saw that game finish against the Oakland A's, because
I'm not sure you know if it's intensity, if you're
playing down to the level you're exhausted. I understand it's
the middle of late September when you're kind of grinding
things out. But it was a little unfortunate to lose
two out of three in that series. But luckily down
the stretcher, you've got seven against a pretty awful team
and the Angels, and you want to continue to reinforce
(01:43):
that idea by beating them as many times as you can.
Speaker 6 (01:46):
Let's send you not just out to California, but let's
send you into the way back machine.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Jeff, if you would play along.
Speaker 6 (01:53):
Let's let's take you back to Let's take you back
to April of this season. I'm going to give you
two statements and tell me which one sounds like. Yeah,
I can believe that the Astros just won a game
by having fromber Valdez pitch brilliantly as the starter, and
then he turned things over to a bray you, Presley
and hater. They got to win. That statement number one.
(02:14):
Now here's statement number two. The Astros just got a
win and had their runs driven in by Hayward, Myers,
Singleton and Dubond. That's the second statement, which sounds.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
More believable the former. Yes, and even.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Though they are both true and they were a description
of yesterday's game. They scored six runs without Altuve, Tucker, Diez,
Alvarez or Bregman driving in any of them.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, So you're selling hope Man, You're getting us all
fired up to trying to explain. You know that this
is a relatively deep lineup, and as much as fun
as it is, you don't expect those guys to go
out there on a daily basis and kind of be
that run support system that you're looking. But I think
in this situation, it was a real opportunity for them
to kind of step up and take control of the
(03:05):
situation because you know you're gonna see the middle part,
the top middle part of the order get pitched pretty tough.
If those guys are getting pitched tough, you're gonna have
to rely on some of those guys at the bottom,
and every once in a while, those guys are gonna
jump up and hopefully bite you in the ass, like
they did last night, And that was kind of fun
to watch them go do that because the big boys
weren't taking care of it. But there's some guys in
(03:25):
supporting roles that can go out there and take care
of business as well. So that was kind of fun
to watch, to be honest.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah, And I don't want to diminish it in any way.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
They haven't gotten a home run from Jason Hayward yet
he put them in front to nothing, how to you know,
fromber who probably doesn't need it because he's been unbelievable
for about three months now. But it's a better place
to pitch when your team's up to nothing. And then
it's two to two in the bottom of the eighth
inning and you've just given up the lead and it's
Singleton who comes up with the go ahead after Diaz
(03:53):
had gotten a hit, after Alvarez.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Had opened the inning.
Speaker 6 (03:55):
You you couldn't ask for much more of where you
were in the lineup, but Alvarez opens the inning and
doesn't get on Bass, and then Diaz has his third hit,
of the day, Singleton drives him in, Meers drives am
run in, and Duban makes it a lot easier on
whomever Joe gives the ball to. With hater al or
being hot, that's what he gave the ball to, but
now he's pitching with a four run lead. These type
of hand the baton type of bats, pass it to
(04:18):
the next guy. I haven't seen a ton of it consistently,
but that was exactly what it was from an unlikely
set of hitters.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, and in a perfect one, you would like to
see a little more of that consistency and have those
guys just kind of provide maybe an extra run or
two like Mauricio do did and just kind of cruised
into a victory. And don't forget John Singleton came off
the bench earlier in that series and had a almost
hit one out the left center field. So I think
it's kind of cool that you're seeing these guys maybe
roles that you're going to see, you know, during this
(04:49):
push for the Pennant, hopefully into the postseason, where they're
going to come off the bench for some bigot bats
or have the opportunity because they're around some of the
big dudes, that you're going to have those opportunities later
in uh later in the ballgame and face you know,
substantialis of the bullpen. So you know, this is all
experience that is hopefully leading and building up to a
(05:10):
not just a you know, a potential play playoff spot,
but a playoff run. And if you're getting hot at
the right time, like we all know, at the end
of September, things can look pretty good.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Well, you know, talking about hot the pitching for the Astros,
even though the other two that I would mention in
the same vein with with Fromber, you know, Hunter Brown,
Spencer Arighetti, they had tough luck losses in their last
two outings in a lot of ways. But with what
Fromber did again yesterday, what Fromber continues to do throughout
(05:42):
most of this season. And I saw somebody mention this
last night just in the the stratosphere of social media.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Did the Astros if.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
They weren't maybe necessarily strongly consider it, it's considering it.
Do you think they have maybe changed their mind and
look to to make him a long term addition? And
I'm not asking you to say anything you don't know
or do know, but I just he has kind of
returned to that twenty twenty two form after a really
up and down year last year, which included a no hitter,
(06:10):
by the way, but like what he's doing lately has
been really impressive.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, yeah, and you just really hope that it's kind
of that, I mean, we say it so often with
bromber Valdez. You really hope it's part of that maturation
process where he gets to a level where he can
pitch consistently at this level, because the dude's stuff is remarkable.
You know, there's not too many big league pitchers that
go out there and really have successful careers pitching with
(06:37):
basically two pitches. He's at two seam fastball, he's that curveball.
The occasional change up will be mixed in there, you
know if he wants. And he threw a couple more
sliders in that last doubting to left handed hitters. But
at the same time, if you really narrow it down
and you were going to face bromber Valdez, you're gonna say,
I'm gonna pick on the fastball or I'm gonna pick
on the curveball, because trying to cover both of those
really doesn't go your way if you're an opposing hitter,
(06:59):
as we've seen for the last two and a half
three months and over the last five years of fromber Valdez,
So you know, you hope that he's gotten to a
level where he understands he's like, you know what, I'm
pretty damn good when I'm convicted and I'm focused and
I go out there and execute. And if he goes
and does those three things, the Astros are going to
be in great shape. And I think another thing that
you can kind of put in that cap of fromber
(07:22):
Valdez is maybe a couple of things, but the one
thing is is the fact that he's a stopper. I
think he is now seven and one after losses for
the Astros. So he's that guy that in the rotation
where if you get to a point where you desperately
need to win, he's going to provide that win. And
I think that's really good. And also, the drafts looked
a little bit longer, and I kind of like the
(07:42):
flow coming out the back because it feels like the
more show he's got, the better he is.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Man, you're a big flow guy, no matter what the situation,
would you like it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You got to have it.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
There's got to be a little bit of attitude, a
little bit of hey, check me out, you know, when
you're out there. But he has the stuff to back
it up. Where I was using my check me out
to distract from the talent?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
What was your check me out?
Speaker 6 (08:04):
For those of our listeners that are what thirteen or
fourteen years old, I guess, oh.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, I got I remember vividly, you know, since we're
right around that September eleventh moment. I was playing at
the time in two thousand and one, and I, you know,
my wife and I we we agreed that after nine
to eleven that we were going to, you know, somehow
pay tribute. And I decided to dye my hair red,
white and blue for that and I finished the season
with that color. But if a lot of people who
remember me getting traded for Montreal to the Houston Astros.
(08:33):
First interview I did was with Alan Ashby, who's going
to be on the Media Hall of Fame here in
the next year or so. I had black hair with
white tips that was.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Special frosted tips, way ahead of his time.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
This guy, Yeah, well, it's just but you listened to
the year he's talking about that is very like, all right,
I already know the answer to this.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
It's going to ask him to complete the outfit.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Well kind of, I'm gonna ask him to complete the couple.
I know for a fact right now that Corey's eyebrows
were super thin during that time period.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh very I mean, yeah, we were as trendy as
trenty couples could be. We were actually when we first
started dating, we were. I mean, this is probably way
more than people want to know, but I was living
with her maybe about a block south of Sunset Strip,
and that should pretty much explain it all.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Wow, you had some late nights, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Late, Well, it depends on how you look at it
could be late night or early.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Morning, early mornings exactly. Now, that is definitely the case.
We're talking to Jeff Blum of Space City Home Network
on Space City Home Network and of course Sports Talk
seven ninety right now on a Friday edition of the
program Astros in Anaheim to you know, get it on
with a team that every time I feel like the
Astros go there, they've got at least one major injury,
(09:52):
if not more. The Anaheim is the Anaheim Angel situation
ever going to change in your opinion.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Dude, that's a really good question. You guys could probably
spend the next week talking about this if we really
started to dig in. Because I'm as curious as you
guys are. It seems like Arti Moreno is an owner
that has money and is willing to spend it. But
I think he's willing to spend it in the wrong
ways because he's trying to, you know, benefit off of
off of selling tickets and maybe selling jerseys in a
(10:24):
team store, as opposed to going out there and spending
the money appropriately to put a team out there. Because he,
you know, the last three years up until this year,
he had or three or four years, he had the
two best players arguably in all of baseball on his team,
and he couldn't put anybody around him to go out
there and support Shoho Tani or Mike Trout. And I think,
you know, who knows, maybe Mike Trout's windows starting to close,
(10:45):
but he's sitting on some bad contracts right now. I
know that Perry Menissian, the GM of the Angels, has
a really good reputation. He speaks really well, he knows
the game, but I just don't know if he's had
the opportunity to put together a team that he's wanted
to because they're pitching has been in shambles for what
as long as we've been in the American League West.
(11:06):
So I think it's an excellent question, and I don't
know the answer to it because I can go ahead
and spot a ton of problems, but I'm just not
sure how long it's going to take the fixes.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Now, for sure will We'll continue to discuss the Anaheim Angels,
your astros, and all things MLB when we come back
with Blummer here on a Friday.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Edition of The A Team.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
The Aight on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
You know, Blumber, it is so good to have a
reliable connection in your home at all times, especially when
you know that either you're going to have people coming
home from school in your case and my case, or
you know, people coming over. Doesn't have to be a
situation where you're worried about the Wi Fi connection when
Infinity is involved.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
No one of the most reliable networks that anybody can have.
And I know I can speak for that truthfully because
we've had it at our house. We've had storms, we've
had heyofs of having you know, thirty forty people at
the house, all trying to load music or trying to
stream a show. Meanwhile, I'm trying to prep for a game.
And never let me down. It's been fantastic. I love
Exfinity WiFi yep.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
And you can get that kind of connection to now
through the twenty first when you get Exfinity Gig Internet
for twenty five dollars a month. When you add Exfinity
Mobile with unlimited data and get Peacock Premium thrown in,
go to Exfinity dot com, call one eight hundred Exfinity,
or visit a store to switch today.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Exfinity Bring on the good stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Back to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, the eighty.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Eight team rolling along here on a Friday edition of
the show Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Home Network.
We are joined by one of their employees talking about
Jeff Blum, Astro's color analyst. He and Todd will be
on the call this weekend in Anaheim where the Astros,
after salvaging that series with the Oakland A's, head out
to the West Coast for you know, a date against
(13:00):
the team. As we were talking about towards the break,
it just has not gone their way in spite of
the money they've spent.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
The Astros don't want to hear about it.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
The Astros are trying to get right, and the Astros
are trying to get right in a lot of ways,
including physically.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
How much of a relief.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
And I know you're around the team more than we are,
but it's kind of harder maybe at home versus on
the road. How much was it a relief factor permeating
through the club when it kind of looked like maybe
we avoided the worst news possible about Jose Altuve.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Bro when he came out of that game.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
I think we all felt the same, just going, dude,
wait what here? You're not You're not feeling good. You're
coming out of a game. We just got one of
our favorite weapons back in Kyle Tucker. We're starting to
see Ja Burlander pitch a little bit more often, hopefully
he turns the corner. And now you're telling me we
got to deal with, you know, bragman we have with
his elbow, and now we got to deal with al
(13:57):
tuo Ve having issues with his side. To be honest,
I was a little flabbergascid and it's not too often
I get locked up in the booth, but in my head,
I'm going, dude, there is no way we can go
try and finish this thing off. If this guy's not
in the lineup. It's gonna be a lot harder, obviously,
but it is a sigh of relief kind of waking
up today and realizing, you know that he took the
(14:18):
day off yesterday and was able to recover. And I
think one of the things that Altuba actually has going
for him is that I know he's getting You know,
he's thirty four years old. You get up there a
little bit older, it's tougher to heal. But in the past,
this guy's been one of the best at getting healthy
and getting back on the field. So hopefully it's just
a little something that tweaked and he can be back
(14:39):
as soon as possible.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
When you saw it, and he obviously called out for
both Jeremiah Randall and Joe Aspata having swung the bat
at the major league level before, like neither myself or
Adam has, do you automatically start thinking back to, Okay, well,
this is the area that I think that and again,
you might not want to speculate it at the moment
during the game, Well, if you feel even more comfortable
(15:01):
speculating here now that we know a little bit about
the back discomfort, But is it kind of an automatic
feeling back to taking a swing and this could happen?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I think that's always in the back of your head
once you've had one of these oblique or one of
these back injuries, is you know, is this going to
be the one where it snaps and I go down
in a heap? But you know, I have had I've
actually had personal experience with obliques, and.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I know this is not.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I don't know actually what's going on with poseyol two
by specifically, but the fact that he said that he
was okay and some of the rotation workouts that he
was doing yesterday went well kind of gives me an
indication that maybe it's not truly that side muscle that's
the oblique. There's a couple of them over there. But
if it is something like that, because he's already had
the left oblique issue that kept him out for quite
(15:47):
a while. And that's the tricky part about oblique injuries
is that any swing could aggravate it, and if you
do aggravate it, it takes forever to come back.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
From it.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
But if it's a lower back or you know, is
something else other than I think you're going to be
all right and be able to play through it. So
hopefully that's all it is. Yeah, because I don't want
to speculate and say it's this or that. But when
you start talking about sides and obliques and stuff like that,
that's when you worry.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
But if he's not worried, you know, I don't. I
don't feel like we should be too worried about it
because Jose's actually been one of the more honest guys
about some of these injuries.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
In the past.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Yeah, and again, not to dive further into it more
than I'm going to ask you to, but let's say
your worry level is, you know, seventy five percent when
you see him talk to them and you see him
do that, and then maybe it drifts down to fifty
percent when he stays in the game. Between fifty and
one hundred percent worry, where did it go back up
to when he bunted foul and left the game and
(16:41):
left the dugout too?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Well?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I think that I would have loved you know, there's
obviously a lot of moments we would love to be
in the dugout for moments, conversations, situations. But I would
have loved to have been in the dugout when he
takes that swing, gets into a two strike count, you know,
talks to Jeremiah Randall, talks to Joe's spot and it says, no,
I'm good, I'll finish off the bat, and he proceeds
(17:05):
to go out there in front one fount. I would
I would have loved to have been there when he
got back in the dugout and having Joe's spot of going,
hey man, you know, you know, bat out there. But
that would have been funny. But it's kind of nice
to see guys joking about it now. But at the
time I was like, what in the hell?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah, I mean I almost thought, you know, it buys
him a tiny, tiny bit of time before he has
to make the ultimate decision of am I really out
of the game. He can maybe if if the inning
gets extended, it wasn't the last out.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
If you're you got a three.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Minutes, five minutes, four minutes, whatever it is, maybe there's
an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And maybe that was all not even knowing it.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Maybe that was our first sign that things might not
be so bad that he consider, well, if I can
just get them to look at a little more, really
think about it before the next half inning starts, when
I'm probably gonna need to go out to second base
since I'm in the lineup. Maybe that was there. Maybe
we flipped this into what do we see from Kyle Tucker?
Now he's had a chance to get out there. The
expectation is he will be using his glove this weekend
(18:03):
against the Angels. He picked up a pinch hit opportunity
and came through with a pinch hit. Seemed to be
connecting with many more higher bat speeds, a lot more
higher exit velos. He said, Oh, you're going to play
the third base, a third basement almost on top of
off second base. Well, I'll just smash one through that
enormous hole. Does he look more comfortable? Are the results
(18:26):
just happenstance or are you seeing things that suggest better
Tucker is arriving soon.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I've got no problem
with Kyle Tucker. You know, baseball is an extremely hard game,
and it's extremely hard when you haven't had the prep
to come back and make that comeback. He's kind of
doing his rehab assignment while he's in the big leagues,
and that's not exactly easy to do, so you know,
I'm kind of giving him a little bit of grace,
but he's showing better timing. And you know, another thing
(18:56):
you can't underestimate is the ego of a professional athlete period.
These guys are going to go out there think that
they're the best in the world and expect the best
from themselves. And I think Kyle Tucker is kind of
in that boat too, where he's not going to let
this linger for too long. He's going to make the adjustment.
He's going to find a way. He's going to grind
through some of these bat at bats and figure out
where his swing is at, because, like you said, that
(19:17):
that speeds starting to come around a little bit. You know,
he's off by just a little bit of a tick
with some of these foul balls, and that's something that
I know Tucker can correct because nobody knows his swing
better than Kyle Tucker, and he's a guy that is
one of those natural kind of swings. He didn't develop
this by watching a Tom Emanski video or watching you know,
some of these other guys in the big leagues. He
(19:38):
developed Kyle Tucker's swing and he's really the only one
that can adjust on or off of it, and he's
going to be just fine. I think once you start
to see a couple of these barrel baseballs find some holes,
get that believe or not, get that confidence up. For
a guy like Kyle Tucker, he's going to take off.
But it just takes that one of you know, that
one sensation of getting the barrel through the zone the
way you wanted to, getting it slotted, owing some of
(20:00):
that quickness and then feeling that chrisp connection with the
baseball and having it go is what changes everything. And
Kyle's getting close.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
You mentioned that Tom and Mansky line there as if
you do have former players, maybe that did use the
Tomamnski video to make themselves the ballplayers they are today.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Oh yeah, I mean, and there's plenty of guys too.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
You know, when you know.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Clubhouses are tough, you know you've got to have a
kind of a tallist personality to be able to handle
some of the some of the jabs you're going to
take inside the clubhouse verbally, mentally, emotionally, And you know,
if you had a bad game and you start kicking
the ball around. You can guarantee that somebody will mail
order a Tomamnsky video that may show up in your
locker someday. So when that shows up, you just got
(20:45):
to kind of grin and go, yep, I kind of
deserve that. But I actually got to play with Fred
McGriff and got some insight behind the tom Ofmansky video,
so that was kind of fun too.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
The hat atop the head is putting and the ball
going into the trash.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Can at home play. I think we've all got that
re brained in there.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Great skills, great clinic. I'm sure people still use these
same drills today.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Oh obviously, why wouldn't they, I would nothing's advanced. Hey,
you know, and we're talking to Jeff Blum here on
Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Home Network. You're gonna
have a front row seat to not only this series
this weekend is very interesting and none of it has
to do with the Angels. You have Kyle Tucker in
him in the field potentially, well he'll be in the field,
that's what we've been told. So you're gonna have that,
(21:27):
but you're also going to have an interesting up close
and personal front row seat to the latest installment of
Justin Verlander. And I hesitate because Wex pointed this out
the other day. Since he's gotten back, all he's faced
are like murderers row lineups.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
I don't think you're gonna have that in Anaheim.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
But yet that means, doesn't it that if he has
a successful night, maybe we shouldn't celebrate too much about that.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, there's a couple of things in that. And by
the way, Tucker playing hopefully playing right field tonight, it's
because it's a smaller right field. You can kind of
control that area, so I think it's kind of smart.
And then you can put your you know, guys with
more range out here in left field because it's so
much bigger. But Justin Burlander, you know, he's got great
numbers in his history against the Angels. Obviously the lineups
(22:16):
have been a little bit different. But what's crazy to
me is that Justin's had to kind of have his
rehab starts here at the big League as well. And
like you're saying, facing, you know, some of these bombers
that come out here and put together some unbelievable at bats,
and they they respect Justin Burlander so much. They're not
facing him thinking that he's anything other than vintage Justin Burlander.
(22:37):
And that's what makes it tough, because Justin probably trying
to find the release point on his basketball. He's trying
to find the release point and create the shape he
wants and his sliders and his curveballs, and meanwhile, if
he makes a mistake, it gets absolutely hammered. So that's
got to be frustrating in itself. But I think he's
going to be, you know, continually working in between starts,
continually trying to get better, and I think he has
(22:57):
the expectation of being better every time he's out there. Fortunately,
he's going to be in a place like Anaheim where
he's had a lot of success on this mound, and
he's had a lot of success against this ball club.
The only thing I'm kind of curious about is is
it sometimes when you get a veteran facing a team
that are a team of young hitters, y that he
hasn't faced and really hasn't developed his own book against.
(23:18):
Because you're gonna have a lot of data.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Plummer, we're gonna have to have you.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
We gotta stop right here because we got to take
a quick time out.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
We'll be right back the ad on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
We will get back and pick up where we left
off with that thought. But we need to give you
guys another thought. Going to Kinder, Louisiana and you're like,
why would I drive over there?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Because Coushata is there, That's why.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
And if you are into football, it's a great time
of year to be going to Kushata.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Another big month out there.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
Uh, the one hundred thousand dollars Football Frenzy hot seat
giveaways are every Tuesday, So that's right around the corner.
Just one of a number of things going on out
there at Kushata.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, he's basically trying to send you the rest.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Sportsbook's a great place to enjoy all that wagering with
the pigskin or everything else that's going on.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
They've got it all for you. It's very easy to do.
Speaker 6 (24:02):
You can do it in the comfort of their awesome
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Casino Resort dot com to get informational promotions, events, contest,
how to get yourself booked to enjoy yourself there at Cushata.
Their golf course is tremendous Cassati Pines, number one rated
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(24:24):
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At Cushata Casino Resort dot com.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
There's a space City Home Network's Todd Kallis, there's the
A Team.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
You got him.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
It's Adam Clinton and Adam Wesler.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Clinton, stop impersonating me on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Sorry about that, Todd, callus.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
The A Team returns here on Sports Talk seven ninety
with Todd's broadcast partner Jeff Blum. Sorry we had to
cut you off there at the end of last segment, Jeff,
but you know how it goes with these breaks these days.
Wanted to let you finish your thoughts on not only
justin Verlander and what you might see from him during
this series, but then going forward. You know, I don't
(25:12):
The big talk after his last start was that maybe
the Astros have to have a difficult.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Conversation about the postseason.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Are you still looking at that situation as all right,
there's a lot of time, not a ton of time.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
But there's still a.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Few weeks left before we need to start even thinking
about a conversation like that.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Absolutely, yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold out and just
be patient with the whole situation because if it was
because you don't want to have that conversation too early,
because if Justin figures it out and the ball starts
to come out of his hand the way he wants to,
and his body is working the way he wants to,
he's dominant, and you don't want to risk not having
the opportunity of having a guy like Justin Verlander in
(25:52):
your rotation down the stretch or the postseason, whatever it
may be. And you also got to look at it
in the sense that if he does figure it out,
still have a solid three that can get you through
a wild card round or through the beginning of a
division series before you get to a Justin Verlander. So
you know, you ruling him out now would just be premature,
just because of the pedigree, the history, and then his
(26:14):
ability to adapt to the big leagues. You know, much
like we were talking about Kyle Tucker. You know, there's
a certain arrogance and ego you need to perform at
this level, and these guys are going to find a
way to compete. And I'm not gonna I'm not going
to panic just yet on Justin Verlander. But that being said,
you know, sometimes when you face a team like the
Angels where you don't have a lot of history against them,
(26:36):
and I think that's where history really really benefits Justin
Verlander because he knows guys' weaknesses or how he's attacked
into the past, and he knows how to set them up.
You know, now you're facing a bunch of guys in
this line that maybe you don't have a lot of
experience again, so you're kind of experimenting in the middle
of the game as opposed to going out there and
having a game plan. So that's where I think it
might be kind of, you know, a little iffy for
(26:58):
Justin Verlander, but if he has the command of his
fastball and both of his off speed pitches, he should
be just fine. Because I think the slider and the
curve ball were the real issue in that last start.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Obviously, almost everybody's talked about that one because it's gone
start to start to start in the real definitive end
in sight and you look at somebody who while he
won't pitch in this series, Rigetti will pitch after they
finish this series. Went out there and had a really
good long stretch of August where he was just blowing
hitters away, showed off the stuff that he had to
get swing and missed to put the Astros in great
(27:29):
position to win every time you handed it on the ball.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
And then had a massive hiccup game.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
And I feel like I could call it a hiccup
game because of how the way he pitched in his
last game, and even more so because of how that
last game against Oakland began where he didn't look like
he maybe had his best stuff, where it didn't look
like he was going to give them a bunch of
clean innings and pitched deep into the game, But he did.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
What did you see from him?
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Maybe even from the mental side as much as the
stuff side.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Yeah, First of all, congratulations to him for being that
rookie pay sure the man cheap month.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
He earned it.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
He pitched extremely well. I think he had forty seven strikeouts,
and you know, in five starts he looked phenomenal. He
started to get that chest puffed out a little bit.
The flow is out the back like we talked about earlier,
just feeling himself and guess what, Baseball comes up and
just wham, it'll slap you upside the head and put
you right back in your spot. And sometimes that's a
(28:22):
good thing because you realize how hard this game is
and to be that consistent and that good is extremely tough,
no matter who's who you're pitching against. And he got
he got smacked around, he had some bad luck, hit
some barrels, and he got taken out of that game quickly,
and I was really curious to see how he would,
you know, rebound next time out. And I thought he
(28:43):
looked great. You know, he may may not have had
his A plus stuff to go out there and get
the swing and miss. Maybe still working on a couple
of things as far as the delivery, but the fact
that he went out there and competed it and didn't
let that previous start fluster him or compound from start
to start is what I found really interesting. I think
that's of a sign of a guy who understands the
game a little bit and is willing to work through
(29:05):
even some of the worst games. And that's what you
want to see. You want to see that resilience and
that it's not that stick to itiveness, but it's that again.
It goes back to the ego and the arrogance saying,
you know what, that wasn't mean, this is going to
be me. And he made the adjustment. I loved it.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
And Todd often or Kevin or Julia, whoever's in the
booth with you at any given game, will often take
advantage of working with the crew and saying, let's get
this shot, or they say we have this shot and
you'll get something in the dugout and you'll see Hunter
Brown sitting next to so and so, and you say,
Kakuchi making his way into that group and speaking about
arag Getty, When you think about Hunter Brown's seasons in
(29:42):
this dugout, in this clubhouse, and now arag Getty's season
in this clubhouse and in this dugout in game talking
with these guys, how much do you think that is
a part of getting to become a better Major leaguer
Of the time they spend with one another in the
dugout as games go.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
On, there's nothing better that for a young player. There's
nothing better for a veteran player or anybody in between.
Any time you're in that dugout, and you know, some
of your you know, some of your harshest critics are
going to be in that dugout, but also some of
your greatest peers are going to be in that dugout
as well. And when you're all wearing the same uniform,
you're all pushing in the right direction. You all want
(30:19):
each other to succeed. And that's something that really has,
you know, become the culture in that dugout for the astros.
So when you're able to have those conversations, you can
sit down and go, hey, did you see anything with
this pitch? Am I tipping?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Am I? Am I?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Where's my where's my arm swing? You know, pick out
something and look look at it for me and we'll
talk about it the next inning. Or did you see that,
you know, did he was he sitting on that pitch?
Should I make an adjustment here? And that's how you
just kind of figure out how to get better day
in day out, And you also learn how to read
the game a little bit because you're watching other guys perform,
(30:53):
so you're watching the intricacies of their delivery and the
process of the game. And then you have the conversations
and you may wonder why somebody did something, and they
may have a perfectly valid reason for why they did that,
and you can glean off that information and use it
for yourself. But you know, I've had some of the
greatest conversations and some of the greatest feedback from asking
guys to watch my bats, watch my swing. What do
(31:16):
you think this guy's going to do in it?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Too to count?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Have you been watching the sequencing, you know, And that's
where you start to gain a lot of knowledge. And
I would imagine even more so this day and age,
with as fast as this game is being played and
as hard as they throw, that every little intricate detail is.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Going to mean something.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
But some of that instant feedback in the dugout during
the game means a lot.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
As we continue down the stretch, I know that it
would probably have been better if the Astros hadn't had
that losing six of eight stretch.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
That we just got done talking about that.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
Does it cease ever cease to amaze you just how
much of a spiral the Mariner season has become since
losing that division lead.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean yeah, I would imagine if there's writers
and radio up in Seattle They've got plenty of material
to try and decipher what's going on. But the one
consistent conversation that I have with even people in Seattle
and outside of Seattle watching the West is how did
you waste? I hate using the word waste, but how
(32:16):
did you waste a year of this rotation that they
have being healthy pitching as well as they have been
all year long, and not have an offense to back
them up. That has got to be one of the
most frustrating things in baseball to watch nationwide, because that's
the one conversation I have with a lot of people
inside the game talking about the Seattle Mariners, is you
spend so much time and effort and money to put
(32:37):
that rotation together that you just lacked the ability to
put an offense out there that was going to make
those guys better. Because if you think about it, when
you have a starting rotation that has a low three eer,
how many runs do you have to score to win
just four four to five runs a game and you're
going to be fine. And they weren't able to do that,
and they went from a high strikeout team to a
(32:58):
higher strikeout team. So there's a lot of of there's
a lot of self diagnosis that's gonna have to go
on in the Northwest because that pitching staff is probably
the best in baseball.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Awesome stuff. We've got one more segment with you.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
I'm gonna head out of the studio grab some tissues,
so I'm crying about how sad I am for the Mariners.
We've got one more second segment with Jeff Blumm coming
up here on the A Team.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
Maybe Seattle has low testosterone.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
I'm not accusing him of anything, but I'm just saying
if you had low testosterone and you hadn't gone to
Men's Tea Clinic to get it checked out, well, maybe
you would spiral out of a double digit division lead
and your season would be wasted. Hey, but that's not
our problem here in Houston, because there's five Houston area
locations that are convenient for Men's Tea Clinic and their website,
Men'stclinic dot com. In fact, head on over to Men's
(33:49):
Teaclinic dot com and find out exactly where the addresses
and the specifics are for the locations in Spring Pasadena, Paarland, Cyprus,
and the Heights over at I and Durham where I
go each and everyone. We can hit them up yesterday
like I do most Thursdays. You get a simple blood
test done to find out if you have low testosterone them.
Because they have on site labs in each of those
(34:09):
five locations. You'll get your results back that same day
and you can go about determining what you need to
do for your next step. It's Men's Teaclinic dot Com.
To get back to being you head on over to
Men's Teaclinic dot Com today.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
Yet us write this to Trilo Chief bummbe get into
bad boom. We roll over with the eight team, Adam Westland,
Adam Clinton. Right now, let's go two Adams for the price.
One on Sports Talk seven night, another.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
Segment on a Friday with Jeff Blum here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety, and of course simulcast on Space
City Home Network. As we each take you into Astros
Baseball deeper into the evening tonight out on the West Coast.
An eight thirty eight start for their game against the Angels.
You say, Kakuchi, we'll try to make it eight for eight. Team,
We'll try to make it eight for eight. He's gotten
(34:57):
four of the wins in his seven starts, all of
which Astro's victories. Obviously Verlander going Saturday, Renal Blancos set
to go on Sunday. I brought this up after we
did our postgame show out at Minute May Park yesterday
because it was so fresh and I had to see something.
Seems like it's happening here with their first basement offensively,
John Singleton, Jeff, over the last fifteen games, they have
(35:18):
one hitter with an OPS over one thousand, and it
is John Singleton.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
You talked about him a little bit earlier.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
That pitch hit opportunity might have been one of the
best balls he hit. It was a four hundred and
seven foot fly ball into the ballpark, not out of
the ballpark, just because of where he hit it. But
he has been not only picking up hits, he's hitting
these balls with such typical for him, but such force.
But to have them all clumped together over this stretch
of time seemed like much of the season he was
(35:44):
sprinkling a three or four day stretch or a couple
of game stretch. This seems like a little bit longer
stretch of Singleton looking like he's the aggressor. He's the
guy that's gonna succeed him versus Pitcher anything other than
maybe getting a little bit more consistent playing time.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
How about the help he's given this team.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
He's been a huge boost and I think that, you know,
it is a credit to John Singleton.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Also the fact that.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
You know, it's kind of been a revolving door over
there at first base and John's really the only true
first basement that the Astros have.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yet.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
At the same time, he hasn't complained, He hasn't run
into Joe's office, he hasn't talked to a reporter behind
the scenes and said, hey man, this should be my job.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
He just kind of.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Said, you know what, this is what it is. This
is my opportunity, and this is my role. And he's
kind of taking advantage of it and run with it
a little bit. So I applaud him for having that mentality.
But he's also working hard every single day. You know,
a lot of people don't see the pregame work that
this guy's putting in with the glove, you know, doing
picks and trying to make sure that he's ready anytime
(36:44):
he's called on. He takes batting practice every single day,
and I'm sure there's more work going on underneath, but
it's really starting to pay off and he's kind of
become you know, his career arc is so interesting that
I think it does actually provide a little bit of
calm for him in some stress situations on the field.
And it's really started to pay off here down the
stretch because he's been a key piece off the bench
(37:05):
and in that lineup for Joe.
Speaker 5 (37:07):
Yeah, you need consistency at this time of year, and
that's kind of what I wanted to ask you about next.
We always talk about and you mentioned it earlier in
the hour. You know, who's getting hot both pitching and
hitting and all that kind of stuff can go hand
in hand. It's hard to have all the planets align
the way you want them to. But is there a
(37:29):
sense that sometimes teams and I'm not just talking about
the Astros, because there's there's some teams that have been
like the darlings of whatever flavor of the month here
in the MLB season, like there is every year, is
there a sense that teams can peak too early? And
especially since we just talked about the Seattle Mariners last segment.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Yeah, I think there was evidence last year of the
Philadelphia Phillies kind of made a run towards the end
of September, sprinted into the postseason, and then flinged out
against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who came in with some good pitching,
and then the Diamondbacks end up in the World Series.
So I do think there is some validity to that.
I'm not sure you know how often that actually happens.
(38:05):
But at the same time, you know, you've got to
be very careful. It's like, you know, it's like speaking
in spring training and getting you know, hitting three fifty
in spring and you're pissed because you know, once the
season starts, you can't take those numbers with you and
it's hard to get it to translate and turn into
a season where you hit that well. But I think
I think for the Astros having and this is you know,
(38:27):
this is just funny because they've done this so many
times that I don't think that they actually think about
being hot. I think they actually think about being healthy
and taking quality at bats. That's what they look to
bring into the postseason. If they get to that point,
they're not worried about how well they're hitting, because these
guys have just done it too often, too many times
at too high a level to even worry about how
(38:49):
hot I am going into a postseason potentially.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
Well, we have a brief moment here during this segment,
probably a good time for you to make sure to
tell the people who help make these parents this happen
how much you pretiate them.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah, Lot Center has been fantastic for me. I know
everybody thinks about testosterone. Obviously that's a key issue. But
they can help you with sleep athnea, they can help
you with cholesterol, they can help you with diabetes. It's
a full men's health type clinic. So make sure you
go to Lowti center dot com and check that out
because they will get you right and it's a quick,
easy process in and out. So low tcenter dot Com
(39:23):
for them. Actually, just a couple of weeks ago, had
my sit down with doctor Jeff Witztt and his group
over at the Witched Vision Group. They're fantastic. I get older,
my eyesight gets worse, but there are plenty of options.
And it's also comforting knowing that when I sat down
for my consultation, I was sitting directly across from doctor
Jeff Witzett and that's kind of service he provides. So
(39:44):
the Witchet Vision group is the one for me.
Speaker 4 (39:46):
Definitely appreciate them.
Speaker 6 (39:48):
And you look at the big picture for the Astros,
this is their series in Anaheim, followed by a series
in San Diego.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
They close out on the road with the Guardians.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
Those are their nine road games remaining, the series at
home of seven total of sixteen have the Angels a
second time, and then of course that series with the Mariners.
They have seven games remaining with this team. They start
in on those seven tonight. They've shockingly split the first
six of the season series, winning a series two games
to one, losing a series two games to one. They've
(40:18):
scored six or more runs in five of those six
games despite not dominating this series. What kind of expectations
do you have for this team with these three pitchers
set to go, and similarly, with the three pitchers that
the Angels are set to throw against the Astros, including
a pitcher who is relatively new to the big leagues tonight.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how this lineup,
you know, faces some of these new guys because you know,
you've guess some prospects coming up and trying to cut
their teeth here at the big leagues for the Angels
to see what they potentially have in the future. And
I think it's a real opportunity for the Astros hitters
to do their homework. I know they're super aggressive, but
you know, maybe temper that a little bit and see
what this guy has tonight. And overall, I think just
(41:01):
for this ball club, you know, hopefully or maybe that
series against Oakland was a little bit of a wake
up call saying, you know what, we're the better team.
We need to play like the better team. And hopefully
that kind of invigorates them and inspires them because they
know they can see the light at the end of
the tunnel and it's up to them to go ahead
and punch their ticket to the postseason. And the way
you do that is beating teams you're supposed to.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
Is the Twins cutting a minor league catcher for tipping
pitches to hurt his own team the craziest thing you've
ever heard.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
It's the craziest thing I ever heard. And the punchline
of that whole thing I have a little bit of
respect for is he said, why they asked him, why
did you do it, and he goes, listen, man, I'm
ready for this season to be over.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
I mean, we have the motive.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
That's unbelievable, dude.
Speaker 6 (41:47):
In other words, for those that aren't one hundred percent
familiar with this, his team might have had postseason in
their future, but he wanted no part of that, right,
whether they did or not.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Real man. And by the way, he probably had a wedding.
He probably had a wedding or something planned in you know,
October that he doesn't want to miss.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
He was the one hundred and eighty eighth pick this year,
and he signed for just under two hundred and ninety
eight grand. He's going to keep the entirety of his
bonus in case you're wondering, So.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
They're literally paying him to go away.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
About that for an explain, I mean, that's a terrible attitude.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
By the way, it.
Speaker 6 (42:25):
Happens from time to time in sports, and usually we
hear about it because it's so bad something has to
be done. Astro's six game Roady begins tonight right here
on Sports Talk seven to nine and of course also
on Space City Home Network, where many of you are
catching our simulcast right now. Jeff, we always appreciate the time,
enjoy the time out in California, bring back some dubs,
lower that magic number, and we'll see you real soon.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
No, it sounds good, and that sounds like a definite plan.
Catch some doves and head home and see you guys
at the studio.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Enjoy the time, Astros after dark, crossing our fingers.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Ooh yeah, let's do it
Speaker 4 (42:58):
All right, Blummer, We will talk to you next week.
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