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

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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What can the baseball knowledge do for you as what
Brian mctiger does for us every Thursday here on the show.
First of all, great win last night. The Astros, I
think were beneficiary of a few calls. Clearly the Yankees
would agree with me on such a notion. But it
also underscores the value of Jordan Alvarez and what he
does the links in this lineup, and by the way,

(00:21):
he just strikes fear in opposing teams. And it's so
nice to have him back. And I don't care if
he takes a day off here and there, whatever the
case may be, because obviously, in my mind, Brian the
day off work because he came out with all guns
of blazing too.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
That victory against the Yankees last night.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, the swings on the five balls he put in
play were I mean, he crushed all five of those balls.
I mean, and you don't hear much about it because
the balls weren't in the air. Generally didn't hit any
home runs, but all five balls he hit were one
hundred and three point five x velocity or higher. The
only other person to do that is in since they

(01:00):
started tracking the the ex velocities in twenty fifteen is
Sho hal Tani. He did it last year and Alvarez
has done it twice. Now, I mean that that was impressive. Yeah.
He he just adds a total different element in there.
I mean even even when he came back the first
couple of games, they're pitching around him already, even though
he missed one hundred games. They want no part of him.
You know, he draws four walks his first eight played appearances.

(01:22):
He changes everything in that lineup, and I think he's
going to start, you know, hitting the ball in the
air eventually and doing some serious damage. I mean, he's
played in what eight games, he's slashing four thirty five
is on bas is over five sixty and he's slugging
six on nine. He's only hit one home run. So
I think the best is still yet to come.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
You know, the argument is are the Astros being patient enough?
Are they being too patient? There have been a lot
of single digit number innings by opposing pitchers, the last
probably in the last month or so. Carlos Kray was
asked about that in the clubhouse a couple days. He says, look,
we're aggressive.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Where a type of team that's going to try to
get out in front of these things.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
I didn't find it ironic at all.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Tag yesterday at the Astros started to make their move
with a lot of first pitch swinging.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, I mean I think, you know, facing a tough picture,
they kind of wanted to set the tone a little bit.
But especially when they got to that bullpen, they I
think they heaven Devin Williams was just like putting meat
in the water and they were sharks. They know he
can struggle at times, and you got to get him
up on the zone. And so I think they went
there with the mindset. Anything up in the zone, you know,

(02:36):
we're gonna we're gonna take or swing at. And he
proved to be a little bit wild. So the approach
against the relievers was was really good. You know, took
advantage from wildness and drew some walks and then got
a couple of big hits in that eighth inning. But yeah,
Corena is right, I mean, they can't go out and
just change their approach. I mean they do. Miss perretis
a lot, just with the amount of pitches he takes.

(02:58):
But I don't think guys like Yeahing or Altuve are
suddenly gonna start working counts deep. I mean, Yanner did
have a really good at batt late in the game.
I think he went nine pitches, ended up striking out.
He fouled a bunch of pitches off. But this team
is what it is, and uh hey they got they
got Alvarez back, and you know we saw how much
that can that can change the whole lineup.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
Continue with Brian McTaggart here on Sports Talk seven ninety
and Brian, every season is kind of its own story,
and Jason Alexander has been a good part of that
story lately. I mean, how about him coming out of
nowhere and how long do you think that he can
just keep this up. He wasn't spectacular last night, gave
up a couple of runs, but he has been a
very important part of the Astros trying to keep this

(03:40):
Boata float.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, and I don't think he is going to be spectacular.
He's gonna do you know what he's done. I mean
they've won the last seven games he started, which is
which is pretty incredible. So he's in this rotation I
think through the end of the season. You know, he
didn't do anything fancy. He just he strikes, he keeps
him off balance a sinker sweeper change up. He's very prepared.
I mean, this Yankees lineup is very dangerous. You know,

(04:04):
I think everybody, everybody in the lineup had hit at
least eighteen home runs. You know, they lead to majors
in home runs, So there's power up and down this lineup.
So giving up a couple of home runs, you know,
it's not the end of the world. But he limited
the damage after that. And yeah, I mean he's you know,
there's two or three guys you can say, where would
they be without Blank and Jason Alexander is one of them.
Considering the injuries they've had to the rotation and another

(04:27):
one they got yesterday with Spencer Arrighetti.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah, that leads me to what my next question was
going to be with Raghetty. Obviously hard to speculate, we
don't know a whole lot, but obviously hard to feel
encouraged by elblow elbow inflammation.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, it doesn't sound good. I mean, how many elbow
inflammations that we heard this year and I don't think
any of them have come back. You know, Quicker very
quickly and the fact that he's you know, there's three
and a half weeks left in the regular season, he's
going to be out two weeks, so without even knowing
what's going on, the chances of him coming back and
pitching at the end of the regular season, you know,
don't look very good. I mean, so where are they

(05:04):
at with the rotation right now? Well, I mean they
had a six man rotation and so now they had
five guys in the rotation, Javier Brown, Garcia, Valdez and
Alexander and they have some days off coming up. So
I mean, you can stick with a five man rotation.
That doesn't mean that that Brown, Garcia, and Valdez are
gonna have to pitch on on four days rest. Uh,

(05:27):
you know this weekend, the Astros, you know, going to
be comfortable with that or do they want to maybe
slide aj blue Ball in there, just to slide everybody
down a day. But they have a day off Monday,
and then you know, all those guys could continue to
pitch on on five days of rest. So not good news, certainly,
but they the fact that they did get Garcia back

(05:48):
in javiy airback. They do have five guys now in
the rotation, and that might be the five guys they
have to march forward with. The end of the season
and end of the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Did you get any recon and all on Jake Myers
and he left the game early last night in sugar Land.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, I got someone that at Sugarland told me that
he foiled a ball off his leg or shin or
something and left. So it doesn't appear it was caps related,
so it might have just been precautionary. So I don't
know him more than that. I mean, he was scheduled
to play again today, take Tomorrow off, and then join
the Astros in Arlington on Saturday, So I don't know

(06:26):
if this changes that or not. You know, the fact
that they have a four game lead, if they have
to give him a couple extra days, I think they'd
be willing to do that at this point. But we
should get more information on him later today.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
You know, we have not talked to you on air
since the whole Fromber situation. It has been universal in
terms of the national perspective, and I know that Joe
a spot a minute a point yesterday to say, you
know what, I don't look at social media, but people
have told me that social media has attacked the Fromber
valted situation, and hopefully it is something that will not

(06:58):
linger for this team. But the amount of major league
players that are now analysts that have come to the
defense of Caesar Salazar and not to from Burvaldez, it
certainly has hurt from ber when it comes to his
national appeal. I don't know if one start or one

(07:20):
act would cost him a contract of any length in
terms of dollars or cents, but it is interesting there
is very little benefit of the doubt coming from the
farm Bervaldez side of things.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, and you know, I think for good reason. I mean,
you know, watching it, it didn't look good, especially the
way you know, Frombert just took the ball and turned around,
and it didn't seem to show, you know much reborse
or put his hand up and say my bad. You know,
I'm not gonna sit here and say it was intentional.
Salazar didn't seem to think it was intentional, and the

(07:53):
spot has seemed to think that, you know, Salazar's explanation
of it was pretty plausible, but I definitely sense that
that he was frustrated. I mean, you maybe he threw
the pitch he wanted to pitch that Salzar didn't call,
and you know, Salsar clearly wasn't expecting it, couldn't catch it,
and maybe he didn't expect to hit him. But whatever
the case, you're right, it didn't look good. And you know,

(08:14):
Fromberg a couple of times this year is you know, questioned,
you know, the positioning, the defenders. The one game that
ball hit the right field that was extra bases, he
wondered what Trammel was playing, where he was playing, and
you know, there's been a couple other things here, and
there were some of the things he says that you
know about, you know, some of the other plays. Things
he can't control, things like that. So yeah, it's gonna

(08:37):
be interesting to see if he can get it together
over here for his last you know, three or four starts,
because like it or not, he's your number two star
on the playoffs and they need him to pitch like
he did in the playoffs in twenty twenty two for
them to have a shot behind Hunter Brown. So with Fromber,
you take the good and the bad. I mean, he
was really good for three months and the what thirteen

(08:57):
starts in a row they won, and now they there's
struggling every time he's on the mound. So he's got
to get it turned around between the ears, get it
turned around on the mounta and quick.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
And there's been a lot of talk about, I don't
possible disciplinary action for him or whatever. And we know
that Joe Spotted took him in the manager and talked
to him. I mean, is there is there anything? I mean,
is it just one of those situations where he's gonna
do what he's gonna do and you just got to
roll with it, I mean clubhouse wise, or or with
the manager or with anybody.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, I mean, Joe said, you know, they put it
behind him and so over. I mean, there's nothing really
they can do. I mean Joe, you know, talked to
both guys in the clubhouse together after the game. I
mean the reporters that were in the clubhouse when we
got in there. Uh Salazar with his locker, with his
clothes on, uh with his uniform on. Al Uh Fromer
was standing uh standing up and talking to him in Spanish.

(09:45):
It was a, you know, a pretty uh emphatic conversation.
And then Omar Lopez, the bench coach, came in and
seemed to take them into the manager's office, where they
continued there and Joe Spot has said the conversation continued
there and and that you know, Joe said what he
had to say, probably to Fromber and we don't know
what that is. And you know, that's probably the end
of it. So Prober is going to get the ball

(10:06):
here in a few days. And if he goes out
there and pitches, well, it saw water under the bridge,
and I think everyone moves forward.