Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Please to be joined by Matt Gagein the Houston Astros organization. Of course,
Matt, this is the question we'restarting off with. Everybody, by
the way, Ross Vell, Real, Dan Matthews, Adam Lexer with you
as well, or I think somebodyelse is hopping up because he looks like
he's backing upxt game to get ready. Yeah, that's okay. He's very
busy. He's a busy man,he says, we have time for you,
(00:21):
Matt. Okay, first question,we're asking everybody where were you when
you heard the Hater news and whatwas your reaction? Honestly, I was
just kind of at home and uh, just kind of on our way to
FanFest, getting ready for it.And when it came across that we signed
Hater, it was unbelievable because he'sone of the best closest in the game,
one of the best lefties in thegame. So adding in a guy
(00:43):
that's in the back end of yourbullpen through a bullpen that's really good already,
it makes us pretty scary. Andyou know, you got here last
year, and you know people alwaystalk about how that clubhouse is and just
the culture that's here in Houston.I mean, was it immediately evident to
you as you got here and asyou spent time with the guys down in
sugar Land. Well, the biggestthing is coming to winning organizations is you
(01:07):
have that chemistry already. It doesn'tmatter who you add, who you subtract,
you always have that winning chemistry becauseyou have that core. And I
think adding in pieces like Josh willdefinitely help for sure. And even going
down to sugar Land and going backup and down, you always have that
feel of winning. So you wantto win down there. You want to
come up here and do your bestand help the organization and win here as
well. Yeah, we had ParkerMashinsky on earlier and he's like, yeah,
(01:30):
I can't wait to get to theguy and talk to him. As
a lefty, it's like this organization, it feels like it's been lacking and
lefties and you're like, left theselives. I'm left handed by the way
myself, So left these lives matternow in the organization. Oh yeah,
for sure. I mean whenever youcan pick up something from anybody, but
it's definitely helps when you throw itfrom the same side and you pick something
up because you can kind of tailorit to yourself a little bit easier from
(01:52):
the left side than if you're tryingto pick up something from the right side,
just because the earth gravitational pull setsus up a little bit differently for
exactly exactly, And well, gogo ahead. Yeah, I was just
gonna say, Matt, it's Iwas talking with you a little bit before,
and you talked about you. You'refrom up up in New York,
the Northeast area. You played forToronto. It had to be a little
(02:14):
bit of a culture shock to comedown here to Houston and then sugar Land
where it gets to like one tenin the summer, Like what was that
like? You had to be like, oh my god, Like how do
I cool off? Here? Yeah? It was a lot different than Toronto,
for sure. I mean even inBuffalo, being right next to the
right next to the lake there,it's it's crazy different when you come down
(02:36):
here and it was one hundred andfive for like thirty days. I mean,
granted I did get to play inSugarland twice when I was playing independant
ball, but it was never thathot. Yeah, and to do it
for thirty days straight was absolutely ridiculous. But it was it was hot.
We made through it, and nowyou come in here, it's like which
one you want? Do you wantthe extreme here? Do you want the
(02:57):
cold? Sou just kind of walkingaround in short, it's not too bad
coming from six inches of snow vfrom just outside of Philly. Yeah,
I'm sure I do. Two yearsago, you get up with Toronto,
you pitch a handful of times,you pitch very well, and then they
let you go. Do you whatI mean? Like, you have to
feel like, Hey, I wentout there, execute did everything I could,
put up really good numbers. What'sthe explanation. When a team moves
(03:20):
on from me, You're like,I mean, what more could I have
done? Out there? Same thinghere. You got up and got a
couple of chances with the astros andthey look great when you got there.
I mean, I guess it's justone of those things. You got to
make the most of your opportunities everytime you get the ball. Well,
honestly, when you get dafade fora guy like Chad Green, you kind
of look at the writing on thewall. It's like, Okay, well
that guy's pretty good. I mean, he's getting money and you're not so.
(03:40):
But honestly, in with my careerbeing the way it has been,
being out of the game of baseballin the States, going to Mexico and
just kind of even coming back,Like I just embrace every time I get
to step on the model, whetherit's in TRIPAA, whether it's in the
big leagues. So when I getto go to the big league stadiums,
just I kind of trying to embraceevery little moment that they're as I try
to look in the stands. Ikind of just try to be a fan,
(04:02):
but I'm actually getting to play thegame as well, So I just
kind of sit there and just kindof just try to take it all in,
even if I don't get to pitchthat day. I mean, I
think there was a couple of streakshere last year that I didn't get to
throw for eight days. But itis what it is. It's part of
the game. It's the business,and honestly, like I said, I
just try to take day by dayand just try to experience everything. Because
(04:24):
I was a fan growing up,I never thought i'd be in the position
I'm in and I'm just truly blessedto be able to even be at fan
Fest. I never thought this waspossible, especially like I said, my
career has been all over the place, and I just try to embrace every
single day. You talked about thatmoment, and A. I hear that
all the time, especially from pitcherstoo, of just you know, having
that centralized just time. But Imean, no SAT player has the same
(04:47):
path to the majors. I mean, did you learn to kind of embrace
the moments or is that something thatkind of as you went through your career
that you said, A, that'sthe mindset I've got to have. Well,
honestly, I think it was whenI got drafted. When you're going
through the minor leagues, you getcoddled a little bit. And honestly,
when I got released by the Giants, went over to the Mets, and
(05:10):
then I went to the Rockies campand then went to Mexico, it's kind
of when you go to Mexico andyou play down there, it's all about
winning. They don't care about tomorrow, they care about winning today. And
when you get all of that developmentstage of the minor leagues and you go
and just play to win to winthe day, it's kind of like I
kind of it grew up a littlebit, honestly, and then It almost
(05:30):
took that mindset of like, okay, just embrace every day, like you
don't know when your career is gonnabe, when your career is gonna end,
because we're always told at some pointwe can't play the kids game.
Just some of us are told thateighteen, some of us are told at
forty. You just never know.And I've always believed that if I truly
believe that in my heart that I'mdone, I'm done. And until I
do believe that, I'm never gonnabe done. So I'm just gonna keep
(05:51):
embracing it, and we just keepgoing day by day. These guys know
me as the movie reference guy.I picked up what you just threw out
right there, so it's a it'sa solid movie. Oh yeah, for
sure. They went over my head. But an okay, we'll wait a
minute. Yeah, okay, yeah, I heard the line, but I
was trying to place actually when yousaid it. But I can't play the
kids game anymore. But well,you have the opportunity to play the kids
(06:13):
game here. We had Dana Brownon earlier and a lot of the words.
It's been used as far as theMajor League club this year internal options.
Your name has been one of theones that has been coming up,
so it seems like there is anopportunity for you here at this club this
year. Yeah. I mean,I'm truly blessed. Everything that Dana has
done for me and the organization hasdone for me, I can't say enough
(06:34):
of I mean, everything is goingthe right direction, and I have options,
and just being able to be evenconsidered for part of the best bullpen
in baseball, it's it's truly ablessing. And like having your name even
talked with some of the names thatwe talk about before, like Josh and
Presley and you Bray You and thoseguys. Like just being even mentioned and
(06:55):
walking out to the bullpen with thoseguys, It's truly a blessing, and
I just try to embrace it.Sorry, Michael, talking with Matt Gage
here on news radio forty k tH COMT live from fan Fest. It's
I was looking you played at Siena, right, yes, So talk a
little bit about what it's like playingin front of crowds like that college level,
(07:16):
then the minor leagues, and thenyou get up to the to the
big leagues. JP Frantz, whowill talk to a little bit later,
and said he's able. When hetakes that mount, he just kind of
blocks it out. He doesn't evennotice the fans of the stand. You
talk about being a fan, butit's gotta be a big league all those
kids out there. Well, honestly, like going to going to Seattle,
we played played in front of fiftypeople, right, And honestly, when
(07:41):
we won the mac Tournament in twentyfourteen, we went to TCU and we
played in front of five thousand people. Wow, And that was like,
Okay, this is a crowd.But then you get drafted and I went
to Augusta, Georgian and again weplayed in front of fifty people in the
minor leagues, and then I gotfrom one IT to double A and all
of a sudden, I show upto Richmond, Virginia and we have seventy
(08:01):
five hundred people there, and it'slike, okay, this is minor league
baseball, right. And then whenI ended up making my debut in Kansas
City, Yeah, we had araindoway of two hours and I didn't take
them mount until midnight, so there'sprobably maybe one hundred and fifty people in
the stands, so there was reallylike no one there. But and then
after that it's kind of just beena blessing. And like like I said,
it's it's just one of those thingsthat you run out there. You're
(08:24):
taking the field and being a littlekid getting to play the game. But
honestly, like, once I'm donewarming up and it's me versus the hitter,
it's the competitor in me, andI just go, okay, go
get the hitter and go get itout as fast as you can. And
that's all my mentality is. Thecool part is you guys are gonna be
heading to spring training here in acouple of weeks, and we all see
the games and listen to games onseven ninety and all that. But what
(08:45):
people don't see is a lot oflike the week's leading up and you get
the fit you know, get tothrow simulated, you know, mound performances
and all that. You get toface some of these hitters. How tough
is it when you look at Disastroslineup one through nine, I mean,
once again, one of the besthitting line up in all of baseball.
Well, it was kind of funnybecause last year I got designated one week
before spring training and then I comeover to here and I show up in
(09:07):
the West Palm and my first simulatedinnings, I get I'll two of a
twice, Tucker twice, and Iwas just like, what is going on?
I think maybe Peina hopped in thebox one more time, and I
was like, Okay, this isthe guy that I got. These are
the guys I got a faceball.Thank god, I'm doing anythher in spring
training and not during the season.So it's it's kind of competitive, but
(09:28):
it's fun because then you get tosee where your stuff and kind of matches
up or some of the best hittersin the game. That's kind of one
of those. So you think youcan pitch in the majors moments, right,
That's that's what that is. Imean, you know you hear that
all the time in the NFL,NBA, major League Baseball. You know
that kind of oh, this isreal, this is the moment. Do
you have that moment for you whereyou were kind of like, all right,
I'm here, this happening. Honestly, No, it's just kind of
(09:50):
going with it. And honestly,you always think that you're you're smaller than
what you are, and you kindof just go with it and granted and
luck. I've been blessed to beable to pitch with some of the best
organizations and pitch for some of thebest team out teams out there. So
it's just kind of go get outand if my stuff plays, my stuff
plays, and if it doesn't,it doesn't. I'm just trying to get
(10:11):
outs as fast as I can andget my team in that in that dugout
to go swarm more runs. That'sall I'm trying to do. Man.
I love that perspective, and Ithink you've got a future in like coaching
or being like a like a likea sports psychologist or something like that.
I appreciate it. You're making mecalm right now, man. I mean,
I've done this a long time.This is I'm going on year eleven
of professional baseball, so I meanit's it's truly a blessing. I'm truly
(10:33):
blessed to be in the position I'min and to be able to play this
game for as long as I have, and hopefully I keep doing it more
and more. Awesome. Man,that is Matt Gage. Appreciate the time,
appreciate your perspective here at Astros fanFest
Please to be joined by Matt Gagein the Houston Astros organization. Of course,
Matt, this is the question we'restarting off with. Everybody, by
the way, Ross Vell, Real, Dan Matthews, Adam Lexer with you
as well, or I think somebodyelse is hopping up because he looks like
he's backing upxt game to get ready. Yeah, that's okay. He's very
busy. He's a busy man,he says, we have time for you,
(00:21):
Matt. Okay, first question,we're asking everybody where were you when
you heard the Hater news and whatwas your reaction? Honestly, I was
just kind of at home and uh, just kind of on our way to
FanFest, getting ready for it.And when it came across that we signed
Hater, it was unbelievable because he'sone of the best closest in the game,
one of the best lefties in thegame. So adding in a guy
(00:43):
that's in the back end of yourbullpen through a bullpen that's really good already,
it makes us pretty scary. Andyou know, you got here last
year, and you know people alwaystalk about how that clubhouse is and just
the culture that's here in Houston.I mean, was it immediately evident to
you as you got here and asyou spent time with the guys down in
sugar Land. Well, the biggestthing is coming to winning organizations is you
(01:07):
have that chemistry already. It doesn'tmatter who you add, who you subtract,
you always have that winning chemistry becauseyou have that core. And I
think adding in pieces like Josh willdefinitely help for sure. And even going
down to sugar Land and going backup and down, you always have that
feel of winning. So you wantto win down there. You want to
come up here and do your bestand help the organization and win here as
well. Yeah, we had ParkerMashinsky on earlier and he's like, yeah,
(01:30):
I can't wait to get to theguy and talk to him. As
a lefty, it's like this organization, it feels like it's been lacking and
lefties and you're like, left theselives. I'm left handed by the way
myself, So left these lives matternow in the organization. Oh yeah,
for sure. I mean whenever youcan pick up something from anybody, but
it's definitely helps when you throw itfrom the same side and you pick something
up because you can kind of tailorit to yourself a little bit easier from
(01:52):
the left side than if you're tryingto pick up something from the right side,
just because the earth gravitational pull setsus up a little bit differently for
exactly exactly, And well, gogo ahead. Yeah, I was just
gonna say, Matt, it's Iwas talking with you a little bit before,
and you talked about you. You'refrom up up in New York,
the Northeast area. You played forToronto. It had to be a little
(02:14):
bit of a culture shock to comedown here to Houston and then sugar Land
where it gets to like one tenin the summer, Like what was that
like? You had to be like, oh my god, Like how do
I cool off? Here? Yeah? It was a lot different than Toronto,
for sure. I mean even inBuffalo, being right next to the
right next to the lake there,it's it's crazy different when you come down
(02:36):
here and it was one hundred andfive for like thirty days. I mean,
granted I did get to play inSugarland twice when I was playing independant
ball, but it was never thathot. Yeah, and to do it
for thirty days straight was absolutely ridiculous. But it was it was hot.
We made through it, and nowyou come in here, it's like which
one you want? Do you wantthe extreme here? Do you want the
(02:57):
cold? Sou just kind of walkingaround in short, it's not too bad
coming from six inches of snow vfrom just outside of Philly. Yeah,
I'm sure I do. Two yearsago, you get up with Toronto,
you pitch a handful of times,you pitch very well, and then they
let you go. Do you whatI mean? Like, you have to
feel like, Hey, I wentout there, execute did everything I could,
put up really good numbers. What'sthe explanation. When a team moves
(03:20):
on from me, You're like,I mean, what more could I have
done? Out there? Same thinghere. You got up and got a
couple of chances with the astros andthey look great when you got there.
I mean, I guess it's justone of those things. You got to
make the most of your opportunities everytime you get the ball. Well,
honestly, when you get dafade fora guy like Chad Green, you kind
of look at the writing on thewall. It's like, Okay, well
that guy's pretty good. I mean, he's getting money and you're not so.
(03:40):
But honestly, in with my careerbeing the way it has been,
being out of the game of baseballin the States, going to Mexico and
just kind of even coming back,Like I just embrace every time I get
to step on the model, whetherit's in TRIPAA, whether it's in the
big leagues. So when I getto go to the big league stadiums,
just I kind of trying to embraceevery little moment that they're as I try
to look in the stands. Ikind of just try to be a fan,
(04:02):
but I'm actually getting to play thegame as well, So I just
kind of sit there and just kindof just try to take it all in,
even if I don't get to pitchthat day. I mean, I
think there was a couple of streakshere last year that I didn't get to
throw for eight days. But itis what it is. It's part of
the game. It's the business,and honestly, like I said, I
just try to take day by dayand just try to experience everything. Because
(04:24):
I was a fan growing up,I never thought i'd be in the position
I'm in and I'm just truly blessedto be able to even be at fan
Fest. I never thought this waspossible, especially like I said, my
career has been all over the place, and I just try to embrace every
single day. You talked about thatmoment, and A. I hear that
all the time, especially from pitcherstoo, of just you know, having
that centralized just time. But Imean, no SAT player has the same
(04:47):
path to the majors. I mean, did you learn to kind of embrace
the moments or is that something thatkind of as you went through your career
that you said, A, that'sthe mindset I've got to have. Well,
honestly, I think it was whenI got drafted. When you're going
through the minor leagues, you getcoddled a little bit. And honestly,
when I got released by the Giants, went over to the Mets, and
(05:10):
then I went to the Rockies campand then went to Mexico, it's kind
of when you go to Mexico andyou play down there, it's all about
winning. They don't care about tomorrow, they care about winning today. And
when you get all of that developmentstage of the minor leagues and you go
and just play to win to winthe day, it's kind of like I
kind of it grew up a littlebit, honestly, and then It almost
(05:30):
took that mindset of like, okay, just embrace every day, like you
don't know when your career is gonnabe, when your career is gonna end,
because we're always told at some pointwe can't play the kids game.
Just some of us are told thateighteen, some of us are told at
forty. You just never know.And I've always believed that if I truly
believe that in my heart that I'mdone, I'm done. And until I
do believe that, I'm never gonnabe done. So I'm just gonna keep
(05:51):
embracing it, and we just keepgoing day by day. These guys know
me as the movie reference guy.I picked up what you just threw out
right there, so it's a it'sa solid movie. Oh yeah, for
sure. They went over my head. But an okay, we'll wait a
minute. Yeah, okay, yeah, I heard the line, but I
was trying to place actually when yousaid it. But I can't play the
kids game anymore. But well,you have the opportunity to play the kids
(06:13):
game here. We had Dana Brownon earlier and a lot of the words.
It's been used as far as theMajor League club this year internal options.
Your name has been one of theones that has been coming up,
so it seems like there is anopportunity for you here at this club this
year. Yeah. I mean,I'm truly blessed. Everything that Dana has
done for me and the organization hasdone for me, I can't say enough
(06:34):
of I mean, everything is goingthe right direction, and I have options,
and just being able to be evenconsidered for part of the best bullpen
in baseball, it's it's truly ablessing. And like having your name even
talked with some of the names thatwe talk about before, like Josh and
Presley and you Bray You and thoseguys. Like just being even mentioned and
(06:55):
walking out to the bullpen with thoseguys, It's truly a blessing, and
I just try to embrace it.Sorry, Michael, talking with Matt Gage
here on news radio forty k tH COMT live from fan Fest. It's
I was looking you played at Siena, right, yes, So talk a
little bit about what it's like playingin front of crowds like that college level,
(07:16):
then the minor leagues, and thenyou get up to the to the
big leagues. JP Frantz, whowill talk to a little bit later,
and said he's able. When hetakes that mount, he just kind of
blocks it out. He doesn't evennotice the fans of the stand. You
talk about being a fan, butit's gotta be a big league all those
kids out there. Well, honestly, like going to going to Seattle,
we played played in front of fiftypeople, right, And honestly, when
(07:41):
we won the mac Tournament in twentyfourteen, we went to TCU and we
played in front of five thousand people. Wow, And that was like,
Okay, this is a crowd.But then you get drafted and I went
to Augusta, Georgian and again weplayed in front of fifty people in the
minor leagues, and then I gotfrom one IT to double A and all
of a sudden, I show upto Richmond, Virginia and we have seventy
(08:01):
five hundred people there, and it'slike, okay, this is minor league
baseball, right. And then whenI ended up making my debut in Kansas
City, Yeah, we had araindoway of two hours and I didn't take
them mount until midnight, so there'sprobably maybe one hundred and fifty people in
the stands, so there was reallylike no one there. But and then
after that it's kind of just beena blessing. And like like I said,
it's it's just one of those thingsthat you run out there. You're
(08:24):
taking the field and being a littlekid getting to play the game. But
honestly, like, once I'm donewarming up and it's me versus the hitter,
it's the competitor in me, andI just go, okay, go
get the hitter and go get itout as fast as you can. And
that's all my mentality is. Thecool part is you guys are gonna be
heading to spring training here in acouple of weeks, and we all see
the games and listen to games onseven ninety and all that. But what
(08:45):
people don't see is a lot oflike the week's leading up and you get
the fit you know, get tothrow simulated, you know, mound performances
and all that. You get toface some of these hitters. How tough
is it when you look at Disastroslineup one through nine, I mean,
once again, one of the besthitting line up in all of baseball.
Well, it was kind of funnybecause last year I got designated one week
before spring training and then I comeover to here and I show up in
(09:07):
the West Palm and my first simulatedinnings, I get I'll two of a
twice, Tucker twice, and Iwas just like, what is going on?
I think maybe Peina hopped in thebox one more time, and I
was like, Okay, this isthe guy that I got. These are
the guys I got a faceball.Thank god, I'm doing anythher in spring
training and not during the season.So it's it's kind of competitive, but
(09:28):
it's fun because then you get tosee where your stuff and kind of matches
up or some of the best hittersin the game. That's kind of one
of those. So you think youcan pitch in the majors moments, right,
That's that's what that is. Imean, you know you hear that
all the time in the NFL,NBA, major League Baseball. You know
that kind of oh, this isreal, this is the moment. Do
you have that moment for you whereyou were kind of like, all right,
I'm here, this happening. Honestly, No, it's just kind of
(09:50):
going with it. And honestly,you always think that you're you're smaller than
what you are, and you kindof just go with it and granted and
luck. I've been blessed to beable to pitch with some of the best
organizations and pitch for some of thebest team out teams out there. So
it's just kind of go get outand if my stuff plays, my stuff
plays, and if it doesn't,it doesn't. I'm just trying to get
(10:11):
outs as fast as I can andget my team in that in that dugout
to go swarm more runs. That'sall I'm trying to do. Man.
I love that perspective, and Ithink you've got a future in like coaching
or being like a like a likea sports psychologist or something like that.
I appreciate it. You're making mecalm right now, man. I mean,
I've done this a long time.This is I'm going on year eleven
of professional baseball, so I meanit's it's truly a blessing. I'm truly
(10:33):
blessed to be in the position I'min and to be able to play this
game for as long as I have, and hopefully I keep doing it more
and more. Awesome. Man,that is Matt Gage. Appreciate the time,
appreciate your perspective here at Astros fanFest
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