September 5, 2025 • 28 mins
Chris Gordy and Ross Villarreal are talking all things Houston Astros as we head down the stretch of the season - can the Astros play better than .500 ball the rest of the way?
The guys discuss the recent performances by the starting rotation, the Framber Valdez controversy with a cross-up with Cesar Salazar, the inconsistencies with the lineup at the plate, despite Yordan's great showing since returning. Presented by the Crawford Bock from Karbach Brewing!
The guys discuss the recent performances by the starting rotation, the Framber Valdez controversy with a cross-up with Cesar Salazar, the inconsistencies with the lineup at the plate, despite Yordan's great showing since returning. Presented by the Crawford Bock from Karbach Brewing!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Astros fans cheers bucking lucky.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Crawford Fox Cast, Hoss for you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
By Crawford Bach from Carbak Brewy.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're getting down bear, Oh my godness.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The Crawford Box Cast starts now here we go.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Here's Chris Gordy and Ross Uriel.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It is an all new Crawford Box Cast presented by
Carbach Brewing and the Crawford Bach. As the Astros continue
on down the stretch of the season, make sure you
are enjoying the Crawford from Carbak Brewing goes perfect with
Astros Baseball. Chris Cory here with you, Ross Veriel joined
alongside me as we get you caught up on the
latest with your Houston Astros as they head into this
(00:58):
weekend series against the Texas Ranger and Ross it just
feels like this Astros team is gonna play five hundred
ball the rest of the way. Basically, what they've been
doing the last couple of weeks is one step forward,
one step back, two steps forward, two steps back, and
they just can't seem to get this thing leveled out.
Since we last talked, I think they were coming off
(01:20):
to the win in two out of three against Colorado,
but split a four game series against the Angels and
then dropped two out of three versus the Yankees, And honestly,
we're pretty lucky to even win one game in that series.
They needed a late rally to do so. But what
do you make of where the Astros are right now?
Another injury to the pitching staff, Spencer arrag Getti to
(01:40):
the il. What do you make of where they are
here in the as we start to finish off the
first week of September coming down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, as we know, first of all, things can change
on a dime. They could change within a week. You
get a couple of good starts for some guys and
you're feeling a lot better. But right now, it is
what you're saying. They feel like about a five hundred
team that has been bogged down by injuries that is
just not what they once were. And I think the
(02:10):
biggest thing is those injuries. Thankfully, jord On Alvarez has
come back and he's been really good and he can
carry the offense to some extent. But right now you
have Hunter Brown as a reliable starter. From Ervaldez, we
know we went down and we could talk about it
I don't think we've talked about it so far on
this podcast about the whole Sasar Salazar situation. Javier wasn't
(02:32):
great the last time he went out. Spencer Eric Getty
just went down with elbow inflammation. They're talking about that
being at minimum three weeks for a reevaluation. Josh Hater
just had his reimaging. He has not been cleared to
return throwing as well, and so you just add it
all up. It's like, where are you right now? With
(02:55):
one reliable starter and a shortage of options at the
back end of the bullpen and some scuffling with runners
in scoring position. The lineup looks like it can be
dangerous with Payna Alvarez, Altuve, Corel Walker Diez as your
top six, but it's also not necessarily one of the
best lineups in baseball. I mean, you look at the
(03:15):
other side from this series, it's kind of a wake
up call for you, where it's like the ninth place
hitter Ryan McMahon has nineteen home runs. I think Anthony Volpi,
their eighth place hitter, has nineteen as well. There's seventh
place hitter Austin Wells has twenty home runs. So I
mean that's like almost sixty home runs. It's seven eight
nine and you're seven eight nine. You've been putting out
is Cam Smith, romon Urias or Dubau or Tremmel or
(03:39):
whatever mix of guys. So maybe you get Jake Myers
back and the lineup can get LinkedIn and some guys
can get hot at the right point. But I'm still
not feeling great about it being it's not World Series
pitching right now, starting or relieving, and so you add
it all up, and like I said, most of it
is injury. It's it's it's hard to feel super confident.
(04:01):
But the good news is there's still three and a
half games up on the Mariners. They can play five
hundred ball and the Mariners would have to far exceed
that to take over them in the American League West.
So you get in the West, maybe Fromber can can
kind of turn things around and this lineup can start hitting,
and you're feeling like you can maybe make some noise
in the American League playoffs.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
But right now my confidence isn't super high.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Yeah, and let's just say on the Yankees, they've won
fourteen is it nine of the last fourteen something like that.
They were ten and Lars fourteen, like they had been
playing really good ball, and so you know, there's no
harm in losing to them, other than the fact that
in the standings, Ross, i mean, the AL least his
hands down the best division in baseball this year, with
(04:45):
the Toronto Blue Jays leading all of baseball at eighty
one and fifty nine as of this recording. The Tigers
are just half a game back of them at eighty
one and sixty, so they are nipping at their heels
for the best record in the American League. But the
Yankees are just three back of the Blue Jays, Socks
three and a half back of the Blue Jays, and
they are both ahead of the ALS leading Astros.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
So thank god for divisions.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Otherwise the Astros right now would be the second wild
card spot, hanging on for dear life. But instead they're
lead to AO West and they're doing you know, doing
okay there. But the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays
all ahead of the Astros in the standings.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Pretty crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, American League is tough, and the Astros just the
way that they've been slogging through thankfully.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
The Mariners haven't been very good.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I mean, They've lost three in a row at this
point and have been doing some losing while the Astros
have been doing some losing.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
But and that's okay for the American League West.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But as we know here in Houston, and because of
the level of excellence the Astros have set, expectations are high.
The expectations aren't just to win the Aos last year.
I would say most Astros fans say, that's a disappointment.
You won the division, You're out in two games. I
think that could very well happen again this year. I mean,
even even if you right now the sixth seed would
be the Mariners and you would be going up against them,
(06:04):
and they're tough pitching in their lineup, which isn't hitting
right now. But I think there could be some danger
certainly in that series where anything can happen in a
short wildcard series. So I would like to see Frobert
to turn it around. I would like to see Jordan
and Alvarez continue to be the catalyst, but some other
guys come up in some situations, which they did have
(06:25):
clutch time situations in that game against the Yankees yesterday
with the basis loaded in the ninth inning and Carlos
Kore and Christian Walker strike out, and it's not like
you got to come up through come through every time
in those scenarios, and we would look at just that
game or just this series, as you said, like, hey,
Yankees are really good. It can happen, but it's piling
(06:45):
up on them. Split a series with the Angels, I mean,
the getting swept against the Tigers as well.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
They're just kind of the.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Up and down slightly above five hundred team, but they've
been below for a long time. Here can hopefully turn
up and ramp up here because it is still early September,
but we need to see it happen because the injuries
continue to pile up and the losses unfortunately are coming
as well.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Yeah, by the way, we should mention the you mentioned
being ahead of the Rangers.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Still.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Thank God for the Arizona Diamondbacks, because the Rangers had won,
you know, coming into out of Monday, they had won
six in a row and nine of their previous ten,
and they were coming to jump the Mariners in the
division and coming for the Astros with an ever important
series against them this weekend. Thankfully, the Diamondbacks beat them
(07:34):
Tuesday and Wednesday, and then that kind of dropped the
Rangers back a little bit. So the Rangers five back
of the Astros. But man, I could just imagine if
if they won those two games, they would have gone
into this weekend with a chance to perhaps tie or
even jump into the American League West lead in jumping
the mirrors in the Astros. So thankfully the Rangers kind
(07:56):
of drop back a little bit. But nonetheless, here we are,
you know, at seventy seven and sixty four going into
this weekend against the Rangers. Let's touch on a little
bit on the pitching staff ross because since we last talked,
it's just been it's been up and down.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
I mean, we had the not so.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Great start for Javier on Thursday night, you know, four
earned runs.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
It is what it is. We've seen a couple of
other up and down starts.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I mean Jason Alexander last week talked, he was lights out,
and now his last two starts were kind of just okay,
so he's kind of come back down to earth.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
We mentioned Eric getting back to.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
The il who had had a couple of good encouraging
outings and so he suffers a little bit of a setback.
Luis Garcia was good six innings of three run ball.
It's great to have him back for the first time
in two and a half years. So we'll see what
he gives you out of his next start. And then
Hunter Brown was fine against the Angels, but he got
no run support. You lost three to nothing. So what
(08:51):
do you make where the pitching staff is? And of
course highlighted by Fromber going Fromber going rogue the other
night doing Fromber things.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, and as somebody is who defended him on this
podcast and on air for and talked about how, you know,
the blow ups hadn't really been happening as regularly, and
you know, sometimes you just give up a couple of
runs and then people call it a blow up.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
With Forever, that was blow up.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I mean he gave up a Grand Slam unfortunately, but
he was getting waved off during that pitch and then
the cross up with Salazar.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
It's just inexcusable behavior.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I mean, he's just been became a national firestorm, really
and you're interested to see how it's gonna affect his
free agency as well. But we'll come to we'll cross
that bridge when we come to it. But yeah, it's
it's hard to feel super confident when you already have
baked in that you've seen from er have the wheels
(09:45):
come off here and there. You've seen bad starts from
him in the playoffs in twenty three and twenty one
and some other times as well, and where he's also
had some very good playoff starts. It's just been kind
of up and down from him. And outside of Hunter Brown,
where you were feeling like you got the one too,
it's like.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Okay, Javier and are Getty, we're all good.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
When once the playoffs come and you shorten up their rotation,
well we'll see.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
As you said, Luis Garcia was very good.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Lanza, McCullers, Junior gotta get back in the rotation.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I don't know, like I don't know what they're gonna do.
Jason Alexander, anything you've gotten from him at this point
has found money. Like a good month out of Jason Alexander.
That's basically all you can ask for. The dude was
literally dfaid from the Sacramento A's I mean, expectations low.
If he can just go out there and kind of
give you what he's been giving, like five six innings
(10:38):
of three run ball that's a gift at this point.
So all of that being said, is this run for
the championship rotation stuff. I think there's a lot of
question marks and it can become a clearer picture term
come October.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
But on my confidence level isn't super high. Stunt.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Yeah, I did see that they are calling back up
Colton Gordon, so we'll see. As of this recording, we
still didn't have an announcement on who was starting Friday night.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
But again, if you're listening to this, that's probably old news.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
But regardless, you know, there was even some conversation so
some people saying maybe they bring Hunter Brown, move him
up a start, or you know whatever. But it's just
you're facing some uncertainties right now with the pitching staff,
and it's it's not great. It's not great.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
So yeah, again, the good news is you got you
have Hove your back, you have Luis Garcia back, but
Javier kind of a mixed bag so far. Luis Garcia
look good. And then yeah, what is the role of.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Lansma Colors because they made it clear that we're just
moving him to the bullpen temporarily, Okay, And that was
kind of up and down.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
One good inning, one bad inning, so again what.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Happens with him as a starter, and just plenty of
question marks still to go Ross and even Jason Alexander
who had been so trustworthy, but the last couple of
outing is not great. So you're just trying to I
think Joe's just trying to piece this thing together and
really would like to see specifically Hunter Brown and fromber
get hot as the October approaches.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, that'd be nice, and you know, we'll say I'll
say again, I mean baseball's really hard. You mentioned up
and down, and it's like Glance mcullor's junior. You get
a couple of outs and you're great, and then you
just miss a couple of pitches, walk some guys, and
then all of a sudden, your era is ballooning fromber Valdez.
If Trent Grisham misses, I mean it was only out
of five out of thirty ballparks. It's not like it
(12:31):
was the I mean it was a middle, middle sinker.
He shouldn't have thrown it where he did, nor did
he want to. But you know, if he if Trent
Grisham gets under that a centimeter more right, it's it's
he's out. Of the inning and and then the the
whole cross up thing never happens, and we're talking about
how he had a great start. So it's just the
margins for error are so thin with both pitchers and
(12:53):
hitters that hopefully we can convince ourselves, like, hey, maybe
Frober will to use this as a as a turning
point and have some great starts and start to lock in.
And maybe you found something with Luis Garcia. And even
though Javier wasn't great in his last time out, he
had six innings of no hit ball before that, and
he can continue to fine tune things and round in
(13:16):
the form, and you got a good rotation, and Jordan's great,
and you Jeremy Pina keeps doing his thing, and Jose
al Tuve gets out of his funk, and Correa continues
to hit, and.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Walker and Diaz are good.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If all of those things kind of click into place,
you're you're challenging for an American League pennant.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
But that's a lot of ifs that have to click
into places.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
All yeah, no doubt, And again we'll see what happens
with the pitching staff want to adjust to the or
switch over to the hitters. What do you make of
the lineup right now where we are Paynya Jordan obviously
heating up, getting red hot Altove kinda up and down.
Krea has been a pretty consistent hitter, but I would
(13:57):
like to see some more big hits out of Korea,
some more home run, some more doubles and triples. I mean,
it seems like he's, you know, a lot most nights
he goes one for five or two for five and
they're just kind of dinky singles, which is fine. I'd
rather him hitting than not, but I would like to
see Korea be more a little bit more of an
impactful player. But you know, Christian Walker another oh for
five night on Thursday, yanner Diez another overnight. So what
(14:19):
do you make of where this lineup is?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, Korea is interesting. As you said, it's kind of
feels like he's trying to be a professional hitter more
than like a power hitter, which is okay. Like he's
sending the ball, uh the other way a lot. As
you said, it's he's getting a lot of singles. He's
doing some good situational stuff, very cerebral, very smart, knows
(14:42):
game plans, know the other other pitching opposing pitchers games
plans to where he's kind of getting playing that cat
and mouse game, and sometimes you want to like, hey,
just let it fly, baby and send one over the fence.
But it's of course easier said than done.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Jose L.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Tuve certainly isn't a funk. He's got oh for he
oh for the entire Yankees series. Came up in a
lot of clutch situations, wasn't able to come up big.
But also, I mean last year as ops was seven ninety.
This year he's a year older. It's a seven eighty two.
He's got twenty four home runs to lead the team.
So it's it's not like he's terrible. It's just we
(15:18):
have to realize we're watching a Hall of Famer that
is in decline in the back end of his career.
I'm feeling great about Penya, feeling great about Alvarez.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I will say I.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Love batting Alvarez second place in the lineup, even though
you know how Duve has come in and ground into
some double plays when Alvarez has gone and gotten on base.
I still like seeing that happen to where Alvarez can
come up clutching late situations, which you've already seen this
week where he is the man late in the game
because he's getting more plate appearances than alto They or
(15:49):
Kore or Walker or whoever. So it just feels like
Walker's a strikeout guy who's going to hit some home runs.
Janner Diez continues to just swing at everything. I'm not
feeling great about the state of the lineup. Top is good,
and then it just gets progressively worse, and I almost
don't even want to talk about the back end of
the lineup. Maybe you can get a little bit more
juice there with Jake Myers in the way that he
was hitting. Hopefully he can come back from his rehab
(16:11):
stint where he did foul ball off of his shin,
but then he dated the next day.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I'm not exactly sure where he is now at this point.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, it felt like every time they were updating us
on how Jake Myers was doing, it was like, you know,
at least for the last week, it's been like, yeah,
he went oh for four with a walk, or you know,
he went he went oh for three with a walk.
It's like, okay, well, like where's the hits? You like
want to he had a hit in like his first
game or two back, and then it was kind of
not many hits. So again not saying that gouls you know,
(16:40):
oh he's he's not ready or ready for the big leagues,
but you would just like to see a little bit reassurement.
I mean again, the issue right now is so often
there nights where so many guys are going hitless. You
want a guy that you're going to welcome back that's
gonna bring some hits.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
We did see.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Taylor Tremmell come back, did get a hit the other night,
but u yeah, that was a whole That was a
whole another issue. I expect that's gonna be a whole
lot of nothing. We'll see what comes out of that.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
But uh no, they already said that it was basically.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
The paint had worn off.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
They the Major League Baseball said it's the equivalent of
he wore gloves that were like a wrong color. No
competitive advantage was gained, but the bat was so worn
down that it was like an illegal It was an
illegal color scheme, but it wasn't an advantage gained. It
was an illegal bat as in like he shaved it
down and an advantage was gained.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Yeah, sucking Aaron Boone running out there to go tattle.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
We'll put some paint on it, Aaron. I think also
that was gamesmanship. I think they was back to back hits,
a second and third, nobody out in a ninth inning situation,
and he kind of wanted to break up the momentum
and do a little I think that was gamesmanship from
Aaron Boone.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Well, we did kind of we kind of gloss over.
You touched a little bit on Farmer. We do have
to talk about the issue the other night where you know,
it's an issue of he INSes our salaves are. Salazar
is up here because of the injuries that the to
Victor Karattini. He was he was banged up and uh
a concussion protocol. Jannar Dia has been a little bit
(18:07):
banged up, so Saysar. Salas are catching the game and
for whatever reason they weren't on the same page. Salas are, uh,
you know, with the bases loaded, asking Fromber to step off.
The step off and let's kind of reset Fromber, doesn't
he delivers the pitch. It results in a grand slam
Fromber's pissed. Very next pitch he throws right at Sasar
(18:28):
Salazar's chest obviously not second second pitch, but not the
pitch that says ar Salazar was expecting and kind of
glares at him and there was a little bit of
a tussle there.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
But what do you make of it?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Ross, because a lot of people saying, you know, look,
we we understand Fromber is probably gonna be a FRA
agent after this year.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
But you know this is this.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Is the roller coaster Fromber's career where you know he
gets in his head sometimes and I mean he's you
gotta be the bigger man, not bigger man, but like
you gotta you gotta respect your teammates enough that sometimes
they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, obviously, Frommer's agent came out and said it was
ridiculous that anybody would suggest that he would do that
on purpose.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
It was an accident, even though.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh, what everybody's talked about is you look at the
body language, it doesn't seem like there was any remorse.
Could he have been so locked in and how angry
he was that he didn't want to show remorse in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
It's possible.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I will just give my opinion, not knowing what's in
the hearts and my heart and mind of Frober Valdes.
It looked like it was on purpose. Didn't look good,
And honestly, it looked like a situation. I mean, it's
a situation where if Fromber was like your fifth fringe,
sixth starter and you know, wasn't important to the to
(19:41):
the left final stretch of the astros and your second
best picture, I could see a scenario where he'd be
DF eight for this. Like it just seemed like it
was not It was a pretty egregious mistake made on
the part of Fromer Valdes. Well, it's like you could literally,
I mean I won't get to legal on this and
stuff that happens within the lines of professional sports.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I mean you could argue he like assaulted them.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You're throwing a ninety four mile an hour or whatever
it was fastball at somebody's chest and they're not expecting
it and they get hit by it like that. That's
dangerous stuff. That's you know, that's just not good if
it was intentional, which I believe that it was.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So can they get over this?
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Has Farmer lost his mind on the mound before and
then everything's been fined the exact next time he's gone
out on the mound.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Absolutely, you go.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Even literally two starts ago and well before he lost
his mind. That first inning against the Detroit Tigers, He's
yank and pitches all over the place, gives up six
runs in the first inning. Then the next time he
goes out and it's seven shot out against the Rockies.
So he can flip the switch as good as anybody.
So as far as what happens on the field, I
think he can be okay. As far as what that
(20:52):
means for those guys in the clubhouse, I mean that's
between them, you know, uh, Gordy, just as much as
I do about how much clubhouse culture has mattered for
the Houston Astros throughout this run. And that is a
big disruption. You have one of your marquee pitchers getting
crossed up intentionally. It looked like with with a catcher
(21:14):
who is assault of the er triple, a guy like
every like underdog whatever you want to call him.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Like and very beloved. It's a bad, bad, bad look.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
And I don't know that it's going to necessarily equate
our add up to anything on the field, but it
just cannot happen.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Even though it did happen earlier this week with Farmer.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yeah, and and that's the you know, the the interesting
part is, you know, Fromber marches to the beat of
his own druma a lot of times. I mean, he
I've been in the clubhouse before. You know, it's very quiet.
He comes in singing very loudly. He's in his own
world and you know, just kind of does his thing.
But he's been a bulldog for you, he is. He's
(21:53):
been one of your pitching leaders throughout the years when
Justin Ferlander's gotten Hurd and everybody else, guys have come
and gone and all this. But yeah, it's just not
what you want. And and the other part of it too.
Salazar has been here before. Salasar's caught Fromber before. It's
not like this is some dude they just brought in
off the street. And you're angry that Krattini and jan
Arard in there and they're your guys and this guy's
(22:13):
having to fill in like whatever.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
But you're right.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
The Mini throws that pitch to Salazar, if he stares
at him, pats his chest and goes, my bad right there,
we know, okay, good, even if he meant intentionally, But
I think the thing is, yeah, I mean, the thing
is we think it's a digital because he immediately turns around,
looks pissed off, and walk. You know, it's like, dude, like,
you can't do that. You can't disrupt the culture in
(22:39):
his locker room. So, you know, again, we hope he's
gonna be a team player the rest of the way.
If this Astros seam is gonna win another World Series
fromber is gonna have to be a big part of
it if they do. So, you know, I just think
there's a lot of just inconsistencies right now with this team.
One night they look great and we're celebrating them. The
next night they look like a big fat dud, And
(23:00):
so you just hope they can kind of level out
with this remaining schedule with three in Arlington, three up
in Toronto, which again I'm putting the model on that one,
saying just don't get swept three out in Atlanta, which
you know, you're a better team than the Braves, you
should be able to win that series. And then your
last home stand three against Texas, three against Seattle before
you go finished with your last six on the road
(23:22):
on the West Coast. This is a doable schedule. It's
a doable schedule, but it's got to start with taking
two out of three this weekend.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, and yeah, I think last week we're like, you
gotta win that series against the Angels, and they didn't
do it. They split the series. And it's like this
is the bed that the Astros have made. There's important
games down here in the stretch. If they're a little
bit better and I will say more healthy, I think.
I don't think it's been like the team is just stunk.
I think a lot of it has been just unfortunately.
(23:52):
Some of it has been that's baseball, and some of it.
A lot of it has been you just run into
a lot of inner injuries. So yeah, big series come
up against the Rangers this weekend, and from here on out,
the schedule is not as soft as it was. They
didn't take it much advantage as we would like to
scene with some of those easier series. And so you know,
(24:14):
you are what your record says you are. You are
where you are in the standings where you're still in
first place, and the other teams, and the Rangers and
the Mariners need to make up some ground on you,
and they will have those opportunities.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
You're gonna have to fight them off, and they're either
gonna do it or they're not. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I still think with this lead that they have that
they should be fine, but I do have the question marks,
especially when it comes to long term, well not long
long term is meaning the rest of the month for
the starting pitching rotation and where everybody's gonna be.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Well, we will see what they do this weekend.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Again, you know some pretty good arms you're gonna be
facing against the Texas Rangers. It will start with Merrill
Kelly on Friday night, it'll be Jacob de Gram on Saturday,
both those guys having really outstanding seasons overall, and then
on Sunday it'll be Patrick Corbin, who seven to nine
on the season with a four to forty eight e RA.
But you know he's had some stretches this year where
(25:07):
he's where he's been very good. So it is pitching
advantage Rangers this weekend. But I could see if they
were at the astro was gonna win the series. Maybe uh,
maybe it's a bunch of three to two and two
to one type wins coming out of the weekend, but
certainly if you guys are watching all the action and
enjoying listening. On seven ninety you were doing so with
a nice cold Crawford bocking your hands from Carbock browing.
(25:29):
We'll be back out at Carbock very very soon as
we wind down the season. And by the way, Ross,
some news coming out of the Astros camp just now.
Uh cayleb Board placed on the fifteen day. I l oh,
so they are calling up Colt. That's the Colton Gordon
move again. I'd heard earlier today Colton Gordon was coming
(25:49):
back up. I almost I almost wonder, though, Ross, is
that a move because kayleb Board's been so bad lately
that they're almost saying, hey, look, you're hurt.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
We're gonna say you're hurt because swee somebody else here
up here who can we can rely on.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
It's possible. Do they say the injury was.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Oh, let's see here it is, uh.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Right, elbow?
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Elbow?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Oh my god, I don't know if that's made up?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Yeah, that's true. Could be. He was so bad, he
was he was throwing hard.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
What they say it was the weight room incident from
a color as. I could buy that, but elbow information,
I'm concerned.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah, that's uh, that's a little rough. By the way,
Zach Dezenzo has been returned from his rehab assignment due
to a right elbow sprain, So.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Oh great, is anybody's elbow?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Okay, how's your elbow?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Gordy?
Speaker 5 (26:45):
This is uh, this is nuts.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
So man, hey, silver boot, gotta go take the silver
boat this weekend. Astros is three and four against the
Rangers this season with six left to play.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
So series really feeling like it's not their year. I'm
just gonna say it, dude, it's just christ.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Well, look, just punch your ticket, get into the play.
You could still win this division. You're still leading the
division by three and a half games over the Seattle Mariners,
so getting the postseason, anything can happen, right Ross, We're
gonna be super positive there.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
But yeah, look, yeah they can get hot at the
right time for sure.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
If you want to be super positive, if you want
to be superdicative, whatever, just make sure you have a
Crawford Bock in your hands and you're doing it one
way or the other, and Drake responsibly. Final thoughts for
Ross as we wrap up, quick.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Note with especially with or going down. Jaden Murray made
his Major league debut yesterday. He got four outs, didn't
give up a run. And Craig Kimberl now in five
appearances at a Houston as the Houston astro, has yet
to give up a run.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yeah, I like that's he's played with some traffic, but
he's done a good job of a pitching.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
And it's funny too. Ross.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
I was doing that Sunday game where you know, Kenley
Jansen did pitched for the Angels and Craig Kimbrel and
there were some notes like those are two of the
greatest relievers in the history of baseball, like in terms
of just like strikeout total and all that.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
So kind of interesting to have this guy. You know,
these two guys.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
On the last legs of their careers but still pitching
and doing it at a high level. It is pretty crazy.
So we'll leave it there. We'll be back next week
with the Crawford box Cast, presented by carboch Brewing and
the Crawford Bach and Ross. Let's hope for a series
win this weekend. But for the Ross Verel, I'm Chris Gordy.
We'll talk to you guys next week right here on
the Crawford box Cast.
Astros fans cheers bucking lucky.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Crawford Fox Cast, Hoss for you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
By Crawford Bach from Carbak Brewy.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're getting down bear, Oh my godness.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The Crawford Box Cast starts now here we go.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Here's Chris Gordy and Ross Uriel.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It is an all new Crawford Box Cast presented by
Carbach Brewing and the Crawford Bach. As the Astros continue
on down the stretch of the season, make sure you
are enjoying the Crawford from Carbak Brewing goes perfect with
Astros Baseball. Chris Cory here with you, Ross Veriel joined
alongside me as we get you caught up on the
latest with your Houston Astros as they head into this
(00:58):
weekend series against the Texas Ranger and Ross it just
feels like this Astros team is gonna play five hundred
ball the rest of the way. Basically, what they've been
doing the last couple of weeks is one step forward,
one step back, two steps forward, two steps back, and
they just can't seem to get this thing leveled out.
Since we last talked, I think they were coming off
(01:20):
to the win in two out of three against Colorado,
but split a four game series against the Angels and
then dropped two out of three versus the Yankees, And honestly,
we're pretty lucky to even win one game in that series.
They needed a late rally to do so. But what
do you make of where the Astros are right now?
Another injury to the pitching staff, Spencer arrag Getti to
(01:40):
the il. What do you make of where they are
here in the as we start to finish off the
first week of September coming down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, as we know, first of all, things can change
on a dime. They could change within a week. You
get a couple of good starts for some guys and
you're feeling a lot better. But right now, it is
what you're saying. They feel like about a five hundred
team that has been bogged down by injuries that is
just not what they once were. And I think the
(02:10):
biggest thing is those injuries. Thankfully, jord On Alvarez has
come back and he's been really good and he can
carry the offense to some extent. But right now you
have Hunter Brown as a reliable starter. From Ervaldez, we
know we went down and we could talk about it
I don't think we've talked about it so far on
this podcast about the whole Sasar Salazar situation. Javier wasn't
(02:32):
great the last time he went out. Spencer Eric Getty
just went down with elbow inflammation. They're talking about that
being at minimum three weeks for a reevaluation. Josh Hater
just had his reimaging. He has not been cleared to
return throwing as well, and so you just add it
all up. It's like, where are you right now? With
(02:55):
one reliable starter and a shortage of options at the
back end of the bullpen and some scuffling with runners
in scoring position. The lineup looks like it can be
dangerous with Payna Alvarez, Altuve, Corel Walker Diez as your
top six, but it's also not necessarily one of the
best lineups in baseball. I mean, you look at the
(03:15):
other side from this series, it's kind of a wake
up call for you, where it's like the ninth place
hitter Ryan McMahon has nineteen home runs. I think Anthony Volpi,
their eighth place hitter, has nineteen as well. There's seventh
place hitter Austin Wells has twenty home runs. So I
mean that's like almost sixty home runs. It's seven eight
nine and you're seven eight nine. You've been putting out
is Cam Smith, romon Urias or Dubau or Tremmel or
(03:39):
whatever mix of guys. So maybe you get Jake Myers
back and the lineup can get LinkedIn and some guys
can get hot at the right point. But I'm still
not feeling great about it being it's not World Series
pitching right now, starting or relieving, and so you add
it all up, and like I said, most of it
is injury. It's it's it's hard to feel super confident.
(04:01):
But the good news is there's still three and a
half games up on the Mariners. They can play five
hundred ball and the Mariners would have to far exceed
that to take over them in the American League West.
So you get in the West, maybe Fromber can can
kind of turn things around and this lineup can start hitting,
and you're feeling like you can maybe make some noise
in the American League playoffs.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
But right now my confidence isn't super high.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Yeah, and let's just say on the Yankees, they've won
fourteen is it nine of the last fourteen something like that.
They were ten and Lars fourteen, like they had been
playing really good ball, and so you know, there's no
harm in losing to them, other than the fact that
in the standings, Ross, i mean, the AL least his
hands down the best division in baseball this year, with
(04:45):
the Toronto Blue Jays leading all of baseball at eighty
one and fifty nine as of this recording. The Tigers
are just half a game back of them at eighty
one and sixty, so they are nipping at their heels
for the best record in the American League. But the
Yankees are just three back of the Blue Jays, Socks
three and a half back of the Blue Jays, and
they are both ahead of the ALS leading Astros.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
So thank god for divisions.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Otherwise the Astros right now would be the second wild
card spot, hanging on for dear life. But instead they're
lead to AO West and they're doing you know, doing
okay there. But the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays
all ahead of the Astros in the standings.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Pretty crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, American League is tough, and the Astros just the
way that they've been slogging through thankfully.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
The Mariners haven't been very good.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I mean, They've lost three in a row at this
point and have been doing some losing while the Astros
have been doing some losing.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
But and that's okay for the American League West.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But as we know here in Houston, and because of
the level of excellence the Astros have set, expectations are high.
The expectations aren't just to win the Aos last year.
I would say most Astros fans say, that's a disappointment.
You won the division, You're out in two games. I
think that could very well happen again this year. I mean,
even even if you right now the sixth seed would
be the Mariners and you would be going up against them,
(06:04):
and they're tough pitching in their lineup, which isn't hitting
right now. But I think there could be some danger
certainly in that series where anything can happen in a
short wildcard series. So I would like to see Frobert
to turn it around. I would like to see Jordan
and Alvarez continue to be the catalyst, but some other
guys come up in some situations, which they did have
(06:25):
clutch time situations in that game against the Yankees yesterday
with the basis loaded in the ninth inning and Carlos
Kore and Christian Walker strike out, and it's not like
you got to come up through come through every time
in those scenarios, and we would look at just that
game or just this series, as you said, like, hey,
Yankees are really good. It can happen, but it's piling
(06:45):
up on them. Split a series with the Angels, I mean,
the getting swept against the Tigers as well.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
They're just kind of the.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Up and down slightly above five hundred team, but they've
been below for a long time. Here can hopefully turn
up and ramp up here because it is still early September,
but we need to see it happen because the injuries
continue to pile up and the losses unfortunately are coming
as well.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Yeah, by the way, we should mention the you mentioned
being ahead of the Rangers.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Still.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Thank God for the Arizona Diamondbacks, because the Rangers had won,
you know, coming into out of Monday, they had won
six in a row and nine of their previous ten,
and they were coming to jump the Mariners in the
division and coming for the Astros with an ever important
series against them this weekend. Thankfully, the Diamondbacks beat them
(07:34):
Tuesday and Wednesday, and then that kind of dropped the
Rangers back a little bit. So the Rangers five back
of the Astros. But man, I could just imagine if
if they won those two games, they would have gone
into this weekend with a chance to perhaps tie or
even jump into the American League West lead in jumping
the mirrors in the Astros. So thankfully the Rangers kind
(07:56):
of drop back a little bit. But nonetheless, here we are,
you know, at seventy seven and sixty four going into
this weekend against the Rangers. Let's touch on a little
bit on the pitching staff ross because since we last talked,
it's just been it's been up and down.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
I mean, we had the not so.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Great start for Javier on Thursday night, you know, four
earned runs.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
It is what it is. We've seen a couple of
other up and down starts.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I mean Jason Alexander last week talked, he was lights out,
and now his last two starts were kind of just okay,
so he's kind of come back down to earth.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
We mentioned Eric getting back to.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
The il who had had a couple of good encouraging
outings and so he suffers a little bit of a setback.
Luis Garcia was good six innings of three run ball.
It's great to have him back for the first time
in two and a half years. So we'll see what
he gives you out of his next start. And then
Hunter Brown was fine against the Angels, but he got
no run support. You lost three to nothing. So what
(08:51):
do you make where the pitching staff is? And of
course highlighted by Fromber going Fromber going rogue the other
night doing Fromber things.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, and as somebody is who defended him on this
podcast and on air for and talked about how, you know,
the blow ups hadn't really been happening as regularly, and
you know, sometimes you just give up a couple of
runs and then people call it a blow up.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
With Forever, that was blow up.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I mean he gave up a Grand Slam unfortunately, but
he was getting waved off during that pitch and then
the cross up with Salazar.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
It's just inexcusable behavior.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I mean, he's just been became a national firestorm, really
and you're interested to see how it's gonna affect his
free agency as well. But we'll come to we'll cross
that bridge when we come to it. But yeah, it's
it's hard to feel super confident when you already have
baked in that you've seen from er have the wheels
(09:45):
come off here and there. You've seen bad starts from
him in the playoffs in twenty three and twenty one
and some other times as well, and where he's also
had some very good playoff starts. It's just been kind
of up and down from him. And outside of Hunter Brown,
where you were feeling like you got the one too,
it's like.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Okay, Javier and are Getty, we're all good.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
When once the playoffs come and you shorten up their rotation,
well we'll see.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
As you said, Luis Garcia was very good.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I mean it's.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Lanza, McCullers, Junior gotta get back in the rotation.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I don't know, like I don't know what they're gonna do.
Jason Alexander, anything you've gotten from him at this point
has found money. Like a good month out of Jason Alexander.
That's basically all you can ask for. The dude was
literally dfaid from the Sacramento A's I mean, expectations low.
If he can just go out there and kind of
give you what he's been giving, like five six innings
(10:38):
of three run ball that's a gift at this point.
So all of that being said, is this run for
the championship rotation stuff. I think there's a lot of
question marks and it can become a clearer picture term
come October.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
But on my confidence level isn't super high. Stunt.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Yeah, I did see that they are calling back up
Colton Gordon, so we'll see. As of this recording, we
still didn't have an announcement on who was starting Friday night.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
But again, if you're listening to this, that's probably old news.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
But regardless, you know, there was even some conversation so
some people saying maybe they bring Hunter Brown, move him
up a start, or you know whatever. But it's just
you're facing some uncertainties right now with the pitching staff,
and it's it's not great. It's not great.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
So yeah, again, the good news is you got you
have Hove your back, you have Luis Garcia back, but
Javier kind of a mixed bag so far. Luis Garcia
look good. And then yeah, what is the role of.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Lansma Colors because they made it clear that we're just
moving him to the bullpen temporarily, Okay, And that was
kind of up and down.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
One good inning, one bad inning, so again what.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Happens with him as a starter, and just plenty of
question marks still to go Ross and even Jason Alexander
who had been so trustworthy, but the last couple of
outing is not great. So you're just trying to I
think Joe's just trying to piece this thing together and
really would like to see specifically Hunter Brown and fromber
get hot as the October approaches.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, that'd be nice, and you know, we'll say I'll
say again, I mean baseball's really hard. You mentioned up
and down, and it's like Glance mcullor's junior. You get
a couple of outs and you're great, and then you
just miss a couple of pitches, walk some guys, and
then all of a sudden, your era is ballooning fromber Valdez.
If Trent Grisham misses, I mean it was only out
of five out of thirty ballparks. It's not like it
(12:31):
was the I mean it was a middle, middle sinker.
He shouldn't have thrown it where he did, nor did
he want to. But you know, if he if Trent
Grisham gets under that a centimeter more right, it's it's
he's out. Of the inning and and then the the
whole cross up thing never happens, and we're talking about
how he had a great start. So it's just the
margins for error are so thin with both pitchers and
(12:53):
hitters that hopefully we can convince ourselves, like, hey, maybe
Frober will to use this as a as a turning
point and have some great starts and start to lock in.
And maybe you found something with Luis Garcia. And even
though Javier wasn't great in his last time out, he
had six innings of no hit ball before that, and
he can continue to fine tune things and round in
(13:16):
the form, and you got a good rotation, and Jordan's great,
and you Jeremy Pina keeps doing his thing, and Jose
al Tuve gets out of his funk, and Correa continues
to hit, and.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Walker and Diaz are good.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If all of those things kind of click into place,
you're you're challenging for an American League pennant.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
But that's a lot of ifs that have to click
into places.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
All yeah, no doubt, And again we'll see what happens
with the pitching staff want to adjust to the or
switch over to the hitters. What do you make of
the lineup right now where we are Paynya Jordan obviously
heating up, getting red hot Altove kinda up and down.
Krea has been a pretty consistent hitter, but I would
(13:57):
like to see some more big hits out of Korea,
some more home run, some more doubles and triples. I mean,
it seems like he's, you know, a lot most nights
he goes one for five or two for five and
they're just kind of dinky singles, which is fine. I'd
rather him hitting than not, but I would like to
see Korea be more a little bit more of an
impactful player. But you know, Christian Walker another oh for
five night on Thursday, yanner Diez another overnight. So what
(14:19):
do you make of where this lineup is?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, Korea is interesting. As you said, it's kind of
feels like he's trying to be a professional hitter more
than like a power hitter, which is okay. Like he's
sending the ball, uh the other way a lot. As
you said, it's he's getting a lot of singles. He's
doing some good situational stuff, very cerebral, very smart, knows
(14:42):
game plans, know the other other pitching opposing pitchers games
plans to where he's kind of getting playing that cat
and mouse game, and sometimes you want to like, hey,
just let it fly, baby and send one over the fence.
But it's of course easier said than done.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Jose L.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Tuve certainly isn't a funk. He's got oh for he
oh for the entire Yankees series. Came up in a
lot of clutch situations, wasn't able to come up big.
But also, I mean last year as ops was seven ninety.
This year he's a year older. It's a seven eighty two.
He's got twenty four home runs to lead the team.
So it's it's not like he's terrible. It's just we
(15:18):
have to realize we're watching a Hall of Famer that
is in decline in the back end of his career.
I'm feeling great about Penya, feeling great about Alvarez.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I will say I.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Love batting Alvarez second place in the lineup, even though
you know how Duve has come in and ground into
some double plays when Alvarez has gone and gotten on base.
I still like seeing that happen to where Alvarez can
come up clutching late situations, which you've already seen this
week where he is the man late in the game
because he's getting more plate appearances than alto They or
(15:49):
Kore or Walker or whoever. So it just feels like
Walker's a strikeout guy who's going to hit some home runs.
Janner Diez continues to just swing at everything. I'm not
feeling great about the state of the lineup. Top is good,
and then it just gets progressively worse, and I almost
don't even want to talk about the back end of
the lineup. Maybe you can get a little bit more
juice there with Jake Myers in the way that he
was hitting. Hopefully he can come back from his rehab
(16:11):
stint where he did foul ball off of his shin,
but then he dated the next day.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
I'm not exactly sure where he is now at this point.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, it felt like every time they were updating us
on how Jake Myers was doing, it was like, you know,
at least for the last week, it's been like, yeah,
he went oh for four with a walk, or you know,
he went he went oh for three with a walk.
It's like, okay, well, like where's the hits? You like
want to he had a hit in like his first
game or two back, and then it was kind of
not many hits. So again not saying that gouls you know,
(16:40):
oh he's he's not ready or ready for the big leagues,
but you would just like to see a little bit reassurement.
I mean again, the issue right now is so often
there nights where so many guys are going hitless. You
want a guy that you're going to welcome back that's
gonna bring some hits.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
We did see.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Taylor Tremmell come back, did get a hit the other night,
but u yeah, that was a whole That was a
whole another issue. I expect that's gonna be a whole
lot of nothing. We'll see what comes out of that.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
But uh no, they already said that it was basically.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
The paint had worn off.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
They the Major League Baseball said it's the equivalent of
he wore gloves that were like a wrong color. No
competitive advantage was gained, but the bat was so worn
down that it was like an illegal It was an
illegal color scheme, but it wasn't an advantage gained. It
was an illegal bat as in like he shaved it
down and an advantage was gained.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Yeah, sucking Aaron Boone running out there to go tattle.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
We'll put some paint on it, Aaron. I think also
that was gamesmanship. I think they was back to back hits,
a second and third, nobody out in a ninth inning situation,
and he kind of wanted to break up the momentum
and do a little I think that was gamesmanship from
Aaron Boone.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Well, we did kind of we kind of gloss over.
You touched a little bit on Farmer. We do have
to talk about the issue the other night where you know,
it's an issue of he INSes our salaves are. Salazar
is up here because of the injuries that the to
Victor Karattini. He was he was banged up and uh
a concussion protocol. Jannar Dia has been a little bit
(18:07):
banged up, so Saysar. Salas are catching the game and
for whatever reason they weren't on the same page. Salas are, uh,
you know, with the bases loaded, asking Fromber to step off.
The step off and let's kind of reset Fromber, doesn't
he delivers the pitch. It results in a grand slam
Fromber's pissed. Very next pitch he throws right at Sasar
(18:28):
Salazar's chest obviously not second second pitch, but not the
pitch that says ar Salazar was expecting and kind of
glares at him and there was a little bit of
a tussle there.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
But what do you make of it?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Ross, because a lot of people saying, you know, look,
we we understand Fromber is probably gonna be a FRA
agent after this year.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
But you know this is this.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Is the roller coaster Fromber's career where you know he
gets in his head sometimes and I mean he's you
gotta be the bigger man, not bigger man, but like
you gotta you gotta respect your teammates enough that sometimes
they know what they're talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, obviously, Frommer's agent came out and said it was
ridiculous that anybody would suggest that he would do that
on purpose.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
It was an accident, even though.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh, what everybody's talked about is you look at the
body language, it doesn't seem like there was any remorse.
Could he have been so locked in and how angry
he was that he didn't want to show remorse in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
It's possible.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I will just give my opinion, not knowing what's in
the hearts and my heart and mind of Frober Valdes.
It looked like it was on purpose. Didn't look good,
And honestly, it looked like a situation. I mean, it's
a situation where if Fromber was like your fifth fringe,
sixth starter and you know, wasn't important to the to
(19:41):
the left final stretch of the astros and your second
best picture, I could see a scenario where he'd be
DF eight for this. Like it just seemed like it
was not It was a pretty egregious mistake made on
the part of Fromer Valdes. Well, it's like you could literally,
I mean I won't get to legal on this and
stuff that happens within the lines of professional sports.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I mean you could argue he like assaulted them.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You're throwing a ninety four mile an hour or whatever
it was fastball at somebody's chest and they're not expecting
it and they get hit by it like that. That's
dangerous stuff. That's you know, that's just not good if
it was intentional, which I believe that it was.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So can they get over this?
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Has Farmer lost his mind on the mound before and
then everything's been fined the exact next time he's gone
out on the mound.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Absolutely, you go.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Even literally two starts ago and well before he lost
his mind. That first inning against the Detroit Tigers, He's
yank and pitches all over the place, gives up six
runs in the first inning. Then the next time he
goes out and it's seven shot out against the Rockies.
So he can flip the switch as good as anybody.
So as far as what happens on the field, I
think he can be okay. As far as what that
(20:52):
means for those guys in the clubhouse, I mean that's
between them, you know, uh, Gordy, just as much as
I do about how much clubhouse culture has mattered for
the Houston Astros throughout this run. And that is a
big disruption. You have one of your marquee pitchers getting
crossed up intentionally. It looked like with with a catcher
(21:14):
who is assault of the er triple, a guy like
every like underdog whatever you want to call him.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Like and very beloved. It's a bad, bad, bad look.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
And I don't know that it's going to necessarily equate
our add up to anything on the field, but it
just cannot happen.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Even though it did happen earlier this week with Farmer.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yeah, and and that's the you know, the the interesting
part is, you know, Fromber marches to the beat of
his own druma a lot of times. I mean, he
I've been in the clubhouse before. You know, it's very quiet.
He comes in singing very loudly. He's in his own
world and you know, just kind of does his thing.
But he's been a bulldog for you, he is. He's
(21:53):
been one of your pitching leaders throughout the years when
Justin Ferlander's gotten Hurd and everybody else, guys have come
and gone and all this. But yeah, it's just not
what you want. And and the other part of it too.
Salazar has been here before. Salasar's caught Fromber before. It's
not like this is some dude they just brought in
off the street. And you're angry that Krattini and jan
Arard in there and they're your guys and this guy's
(22:13):
having to fill in like whatever.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
But you're right.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
The Mini throws that pitch to Salazar, if he stares
at him, pats his chest and goes, my bad right there,
we know, okay, good, even if he meant intentionally, But
I think the thing is, yeah, I mean, the thing
is we think it's a digital because he immediately turns around,
looks pissed off, and walk. You know, it's like, dude, like,
you can't do that. You can't disrupt the culture in
(22:39):
his locker room. So, you know, again, we hope he's
gonna be a team player the rest of the way.
If this Astros seam is gonna win another World Series
fromber is gonna have to be a big part of
it if they do. So, you know, I just think
there's a lot of just inconsistencies right now with this team.
One night they look great and we're celebrating them. The
next night they look like a big fat dud, And
(23:00):
so you just hope they can kind of level out
with this remaining schedule with three in Arlington, three up
in Toronto, which again I'm putting the model on that one,
saying just don't get swept three out in Atlanta, which
you know, you're a better team than the Braves, you
should be able to win that series. And then your
last home stand three against Texas, three against Seattle before
you go finished with your last six on the road
(23:22):
on the West Coast. This is a doable schedule. It's
a doable schedule, but it's got to start with taking
two out of three this weekend.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, and yeah, I think last week we're like, you
gotta win that series against the Angels, and they didn't
do it. They split the series. And it's like this
is the bed that the Astros have made. There's important
games down here in the stretch. If they're a little
bit better and I will say more healthy, I think.
I don't think it's been like the team is just stunk.
I think a lot of it has been just unfortunately.
(23:52):
Some of it has been that's baseball, and some of it.
A lot of it has been you just run into
a lot of inner injuries. So yeah, big series come
up against the Rangers this weekend, and from here on out,
the schedule is not as soft as it was. They
didn't take it much advantage as we would like to
scene with some of those easier series. And so you know,
(24:14):
you are what your record says you are. You are
where you are in the standings where you're still in
first place, and the other teams, and the Rangers and
the Mariners need to make up some ground on you,
and they will have those opportunities.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
You're gonna have to fight them off, and they're either
gonna do it or they're not. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I still think with this lead that they have that
they should be fine, but I do have the question marks,
especially when it comes to long term, well not long
long term is meaning the rest of the month for
the starting pitching rotation and where everybody's gonna be.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Well, we will see what they do this weekend.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Again, you know some pretty good arms you're gonna be
facing against the Texas Rangers. It will start with Merrill
Kelly on Friday night, it'll be Jacob de Gram on Saturday,
both those guys having really outstanding seasons overall, and then
on Sunday it'll be Patrick Corbin, who seven to nine
on the season with a four to forty eight e RA.
But you know he's had some stretches this year where
(25:07):
he's where he's been very good. So it is pitching
advantage Rangers this weekend. But I could see if they
were at the astro was gonna win the series. Maybe uh,
maybe it's a bunch of three to two and two
to one type wins coming out of the weekend, but
certainly if you guys are watching all the action and
enjoying listening. On seven ninety you were doing so with
a nice cold Crawford bocking your hands from Carbock browing.
(25:29):
We'll be back out at Carbock very very soon as
we wind down the season. And by the way, Ross,
some news coming out of the Astros camp just now.
Uh cayleb Board placed on the fifteen day. I l oh,
so they are calling up Colt. That's the Colton Gordon
move again. I'd heard earlier today Colton Gordon was coming
(25:49):
back up. I almost I almost wonder, though, Ross, is
that a move because kayleb Board's been so bad lately
that they're almost saying, hey, look, you're hurt.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
We're gonna say you're hurt because swee somebody else here
up here who can we can rely on.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
It's possible. Do they say the injury was.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Oh, let's see here it is, uh.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Right, elbow?
Speaker 5 (26:12):
Elbow?
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Oh my god, I don't know if that's made up?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Yeah, that's true. Could be. He was so bad, he
was he was throwing hard.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
What they say it was the weight room incident from
a color as. I could buy that, but elbow information,
I'm concerned.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah, that's uh, that's a little rough. By the way,
Zach Dezenzo has been returned from his rehab assignment due
to a right elbow sprain, So.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Oh great, is anybody's elbow?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Okay, how's your elbow?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Gordy?
Speaker 5 (26:45):
This is uh, this is nuts.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
So man, hey, silver boot, gotta go take the silver
boat this weekend. Astros is three and four against the
Rangers this season with six left to play.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
So series really feeling like it's not their year. I'm
just gonna say it, dude, it's just christ.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Well, look, just punch your ticket, get into the play.
You could still win this division. You're still leading the
division by three and a half games over the Seattle Mariners,
so getting the postseason, anything can happen, right Ross, We're
gonna be super positive there.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
But yeah, look, yeah they can get hot at the
right time for sure.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
If you want to be super positive, if you want
to be superdicative, whatever, just make sure you have a
Crawford Bock in your hands and you're doing it one
way or the other, and Drake responsibly. Final thoughts for
Ross as we wrap up, quick.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Note with especially with or going down. Jaden Murray made
his Major league debut yesterday. He got four outs, didn't
give up a run. And Craig Kimberl now in five
appearances at a Houston as the Houston astro, has yet
to give up a run.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yeah, I like that's he's played with some traffic, but
he's done a good job of a pitching.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
And it's funny too. Ross.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
I was doing that Sunday game where you know, Kenley
Jansen did pitched for the Angels and Craig Kimbrel and
there were some notes like those are two of the
greatest relievers in the history of baseball, like in terms
of just like strikeout total and all that.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
So kind of interesting to have this guy. You know,
these two guys.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
On the last legs of their careers but still pitching
and doing it at a high level. It is pretty crazy.
So we'll leave it there. We'll be back next week
with the Crawford box Cast, presented by carboch Brewing and
the Crawford Bach and Ross. Let's hope for a series
win this weekend. But for the Ross Verel, I'm Chris Gordy.
We'll talk to you guys next week right here on
the Crawford box Cast.
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