Brian McTaggart Joins The Show After Astros Take Game 2 vs Rockies

Brian McTaggart Joins The Show After Astros Take Game 2 vs Rockies 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Eleven o'clock straight up here on Sports Talk seven to
ninety it is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross with
it without Matt Thomas. As we broadcast live from a
Pizza and Pints Carbrock Brewing, the doors opening up. If
you want to come by and say hello, you could
do that. As I said, Matt Thomas is out, Chris
Cordy is with me, and I gotta be honest, I

(00:23):
was like in Friday holiday mode, so I didn't tease
this properly. But we have, of course the regular Thursday guest,
Brian mctaggartofastros dot com, MLB dot com, our weekly Thursday
guest here at eleven o'clock. Brian appreciate the time as always.
Let's go ahead and start with the Picture of the month.
We were talking about this earlier. To me, one of

(00:46):
the big marks of an ACE is you don't have
your best stuff. You gotta ditch a pitch and figure
things out. That's what Hunter Brown did yesterday with the
curveball in Denver. He is a bona fide ACE.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
I mean, he came into that start leading the major
leagues and era an opponent Savage, which is pretty incredible.
But yeah, he admitted after the game, you know, his
curve ball wasn't performing like it should have been just
because of the altitude, so he sort of had to
change things a little bit on the fly through the
change up a little bit more. But you know, he

(01:21):
was solid. I mean he was a ninety something pitch,
I think ninety one pitches. After the fifth inning, they
went back out, got them through six, which is really
important because they were without a couple of their key
bullpen guys, and picked up his first win since June first.
So it looks like to me he's probably headed the
All Star Game as well.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
He should be.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
What's crazy to me, Brian, it's how this team is
able to do this night in a night out that
even when some of their pitchers don't have their best stuff.
You know, we saw it from Colton Gordon the other night.
It was first start and I think seven starts where
he wasn't able to go full five and gave up
four and runs. He yet the Askers still find a
way to win. It's it's crazy. I mean, obviously, when

(01:59):
you have the two front end starters in Fromber and Hunter,
doing their thing is awesome. But I'm just I'm wild
about what they're getting out of these other guys. And
we're gonna get to see Brandon Walter go today. But
I mean, that's that's the guy we had. His name
wasn't even on the radar a few months ago, and
it's like he's come out of nowhere and been great
for him. It's it's pretty shocking how they're they're getting

(02:19):
this thing done right.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
It is, I mean, and then you know they call
up Jason Alexander h another guy no one knows anything
about it.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
He pitches really well, you know.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Uh, you know, big props for their pitching coaches for
getting these guys ready. I mean, every one of these
guys when they pitted, the no name guys, you know
I say no name and not the household name guys
when they pitched, even like you said, even when they're
they're not great, they're they're keeping the team in the game,
and you know, give them five innings and hand the
ball over to that bullpen and you know it's shut
down time.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
So can they keep this up here over the final
three months? You know, who knows.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
But the good news for the Astros is they should
be getting a lot of the you know, they're at
least some of their starters back healthy, and you know,
guys like arra Getti will be back. You know, Javier
seems like he's trending towards coming back, and all of
a sudden, you got starting pitching depth.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So that'll be a good problem to have if they
can get there.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Brian McTaggart with us here on Sports Talk seven to nine,
And of course, Brian, the big story overall this week
has been the yord On Alvarez saga, and it seems
to unfortunately keep popping up with the Astros and they're
handling of things and the medical staff and all that
type stuff. Of course, we know a lot of the
fans are upset and all that, but just your perspective,
I mean, it does seem to me like a lot

(03:36):
of this is some bad luck. But at what point
do you say, is this just too much to be
a coincidence? Just what do you think about the way
that things have been handled with the Astros and some
of these injuries and then the latest with the yord
On Alvarez.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, well, there's been a lot of pitching injuries around
the League. I mean Astros, I think our third with
the most il days. So there's a couple of teams
ahead of them in that regard to Dodgers of him.
So to have a bunch of pictures on the aisle
not ideal, but you know, some other teams are going
through the same thing. The Alvarett situation, yeah, has got
to be frustrating because that's twice now that they were

(04:13):
close and then he had a setback. You know, I
will say, it's not like they they were pushing him
when they didn't think he was ready. By everything, they
by everything that, you know, all the information they had,
especially the last time they thought that he was close,
and you know, Dana Brown said Monday they were thinking
about flying him to LA this weekend, and then he
came in you know, Tuesday after taking some swings and

(04:35):
the hand was sore again. I mean, I think we'll
probably get an update on Alvarez today in Denver.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
I mean, I'm in the press box right now at
Curse Field, so it'll.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Be in the clubhouse here in a few minutes, so
hopefully within the next hour, maybe the Joeah Spoder or
Dana Brown is here and give us an update to
see what's next for him. But it certainly appears like
the Astros might be without Alvarez for a little while.
But hey, they've been without him for two few months
and they just keep on trucking. So the bigger thing
I think in the short term is getting Penya back

(05:07):
and putting him back at the top of the lineup
because they really miss him as well.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
It's uh, it's crazy too bright with the injury to
Jeremy Pina. I mean, we keep looking and saying, how
many more injuries can they overcome? And you know, Jake
Myers gets hit on the side last night. I think
we all kind of breathed a little bit, you know,
paused a little bit, going, oh my god, not another one.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
But luckily he stayed in the game.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
But I mean it does if you're Dana Brown, I mean,
he's been preaching for the last couple of weeks. You know,
we're looking at a left handed bat, left handed bat,
left handed bet. I just almost wonder the approach if
youron's going to be out a significant amount of time,
which it just feels that way, I mean, does that
maybe escalate them a little bit more? Here at the
deadline to say, you know what, we have to get

(05:51):
a bat regardless.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, Dane, We asked Dana about that the other day
and he said, they go down injury really doesn't change
their off to the trade deadline. He's been on record
saying they need a left handed bat. The urgency is there,
and it still is, so I think it's pretty safe
to say they're going to get some kind of bat
to add to this lineup. The left handed bat. They're
not going to replace Jordan Alvarez for sure, but they

(06:15):
definitely I think they're nineteenth and runs per game, so
they definitely could use just another, you know, another capable
bat in there, especially one that can bat from the
left side, because even though they've they've called up some
guys here they can hit left handed in the last
couple of weeks, guys like Hubble, but they're still very
much right handed when it comes to the core guys

(06:35):
in the lineup. So they will add a left handed
bat to the deadline. I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
What do you feel about the pitching side.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
I think it's kind of a tough situation because you've
got all these guys who are coming back or look
like they're on track to come back, but then it's
kind of an unknown thing as far as setbacks or
new injuries popping up, and the deadline now being four
weeks away from today.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, I think if they don't have any more injuries
to their pitchers and they feel confident, they're gonna get
rig Getty back. And I think he would be the
first one to come back. And he's still only throwing bullpens,
but you know, he's completely healthy.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
He's just on it.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
He's just building up right now like he's at spring training,
so he will be back. I think Javier's pretty far
down the road as well. I mean I have to
take a little bit of that with a little bit
of caution because some of these guys have suffered setbacks.
But if they can get ri Getty and another one
of these other rehabbing pictures back at the end of
July early August, really no need to go get a

(07:33):
starting pitcher. I mean, the starting pitcher is gonna cost you,
you know what, three prospects last year at Kakuchi, so
the price on those is pretty high. And they have
six on my als, and for of them are deep
in rehabs in Florida, So I don't think the urgency
is there for starting pitching. I think offense is definitely
where they need to bolster the lineup well.

Speaker 4 (07:53):
And I almost wonder too, though, Brian, Like, if you're
getting a bat or you're getting an arm, I almost
think you want to go rental as opposed to a
guy who would have multiple years of team control, because
all these injured guys are going to be back that year.
Presumably you know, the Tommy Young guys won't be back
at the start of the season. But like I just
when you get back fully healthy. I mean, you know,

(08:15):
in a perfect world, you don't have any open positions
position wise and all that kind of stuff. So unless
it's like a pure upgrade where it's a guy, are
we got three more years of control, whatever, I almost
think it'd be easier to go rental and and easier
to part with maybe a middle tier prospect for a
guy who's a rental.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, I don't
get think they're gonna get anybody.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
I think they're gonna trade for a bat who they're
you know, they're gonna plug into the lineup for the.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Next three or four years.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
It's gonna be a guy who can you know, hit
six or seventh, or you know, someone's getting a day off,
can hit second, you know, just give you another bat
from the left side. It's gonna be have to be
somebody with some positional versatility, just with the way this
roster's set up, and like you said, some guys are
coming back off injury. Maybe someone that can like second
and outfield, or or maybe first an outfield. But uh yeah,

(09:04):
I mean I I certainly agree with you. I think
it'll be someone, you know, like a you know, a
Trey Man Seni who's only here for a couple of months,
and uh, you know, you hope to catch lightning in
a bottle.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Brian McTaggart Astros dot com, MLB dot com with us
here on Sports Talk seven ninety Josel two a passing
Jeff Bagwell last night on the astros All Time Hit List.
You've obviously been there covering his career. I mean, just
we just did you love on Josel twove what it's
been like. And I think, to me personally, uh, the

(09:38):
the hand eye coordination impresses me the most about him.
What about you and what is it's been like following him?
And just an all time astros.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Great.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, he's got the best back to ball skills that
I that I've seen, just daily close up. I mean,
you know, I didn't get a chance to see in
person anyway Wade Bogs or twenty Gwyn, but just seeing
how two by every day's back to ball skills are
just super elite. And the thing that stands out for
me also is just how clutch he is. I mean,
look at his postseason numbers. Uh, they speak for themselves.

(10:08):
But even last night, like the hit to pass Bagwell, uh,
first pitch to run single up the middle.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
I mean that you know that that hit won the game.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
I mean that that's a huge hit in the grand
scheme of things, and and that's just what he does.
And I know that his numbers have declined a little bit,
but I think the question now becomes can he get
to three thousand hits on me? I think he has
a really good shot. I was able to top the
Bagwell during the game yesterday, and and I thought it
was it was funny. After the game al two, they

(10:38):
said Bagwell texts him all the time about his swing
and if he if he takes a bad swing, Bagwell
text him says, what the heck was that? So, uh,
there's not very there's not very many people that can
criticize Jose Altube, but Bagwell is one of them. And
you know, he's now passed him on on the hits list,
So he's got some work to do to get to Bigio.
But uh, I would not doubt that he's gonna get
to three thousand and and and passed Joe here in

(11:00):
the next four or five years.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
Tucker to Brian McTaggart, and Brian, do want to overlooked
today's game? Obviously, the Astros go for a sweep against
the Rockies today this afternoon.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
You'll hear that right here on seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
But looking a little bit ahead to this weekend, going
out to Dodger Stadium July fourth weekend, it's gonna be
a heck of a series. I'm sure you'll have a
lot of celebrities out there and that sort of thing.
But a big star for Lance mccullor's coming this Fridays.
He wants to balance back from that outing against the Cubs.

Speaker 5 (11:27):
But it's crazy, Brian. The last two times Lance.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Mccullors has pitched at out there at Dodger Stadium. Last
time was August third, twenty twenty one, in a regular
season game where he went six and two third shutout innings.
Astras won that game three to nothing. And then I
believe the time before that was Game seven of the
World Series in twenty seventeen. So it's a place mccullus
has had success. But you know, you just look at
that daunting Dodger lineup and say, God, it's gonna be

(11:52):
a tough test.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, very tough test.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
And you know, Lance's is coming off, you know, a
start that wasn't great, you know, his first start off
the IL. So but you know, Lance is a competitor
and I guarantee you he's probably gonna be froth them
at the mouth for this chance to go out there
and pitch it at Dodger Stadium. Yeah, he did start
Game seven and twenty seventeen. Didn't pitch deep in that game.
Also had an RBI in that game. If people don't remember,
it was kind of a it was kind of a

(12:17):
crazy game. But yeah, I mean, if they can go
to Dodger Stadium and win that series, then Dan, I mean,
I think they got a chance maybe to get the
number one seed in the American League. I mean, even
if they go to Dodger Stadium and don't win the series,
not the end of the world. The Dodgers are really good.
They're really good at home. Astros a shorthanded, it's gonna
be a really tough series for sure. But they do

(12:39):
have from Ervaldez though on in one of those games,
and they've won what ten consecutive starts he's pitched, So
if they can win his start and scratch out another
win somewhere and come home after a good road trip
in good shape.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Here a week out from the All Star Break.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Brian McTaggart astros dot Com with us year on Sports
Talk seven. Honey, we appreciate the time as always, Brian,
What the fuck folks know what you got up at
the website?

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, I got some cool stuff up there. Like I said,
taught to Bagwell last night. Have a story on Bagwell
and al two by sort of talking about each other
as they they as Alto Bay passes him on the
hits list.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
A A. A.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Redditt Ama yesterday asked me anything and I had to
transcribe to that on the website as well, So check
that out.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, what was the craziest question you got or answered
the craziest question you answered, how about both? The craziest
question you got in the craziest one you answered, Uh.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Somebody asked me about my how I got started in journalism.
I didn't answer because I don't think anybody cares. And
other than that, they were all pretty straightforward to Someone
asked my favorite Astros player to cover of all time,
and I said Lance Berk, of course.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
So oh okay, all right, well, thank you, Brian. Will
check that out at astros dot compress and.

Speaker 5 (13:50):
Get the Astros Beat emails sent right to your email.
Newsletter Baby, it's great.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Newsletter came out yesterday or the day but I can't remember,
but another one is coming out Saturday. That's gonna I
did an interview with Bryce Matthews talking about his progress
and the Futures game coming up, so.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
That'll be in your inbox Saturday.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Wow, you're you're officially the hardest working beat reporter on
the Astros Beat.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
All right, I'll take it out of the three and
I'm one of three.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Thanks Bright, We'll touch you. Debatable, but thank you.

Speaker 5 (14:21):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Brian mcdagger, great stuff with him, as always