Astros Sweep Guardians, More Verlander Talk, & 2019 Astros

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
The word. He's done. Nowkick back, pop a top and catch
up with your Houston team. ThankCap, Thank This is the Nightcap with
Ross ver Real Bankcap Banca Try sixso one in the PM here on Sports

(00:39):
Talk seven Idy, Hello and welcomein to another edition of the Nightcap program,
Ross ur Real with you until seveno'clock alongside my producer David Artists.
How's it going where? We dohave a lot of things to get to.
I'm doing pretty well, David.I ran into a lot of traffic
and I was rushing getting up here, but I'm gonna be okay. We're

(01:00):
all gonna make it breaking news.The traffic in Houston sucks. Anyways,
we got a lot of different stuffto get to, of course, now,
talking mostly about your Houston astros.Phone lines wide open and available for
you at seven one three two oneto two five seven ninety seven one three
two one two five seven ninety tweetsat sports RV if you want to get

(01:23):
there as well. So where dowe even begin? Well, how about
we start with talking about the Strossweeping the Cleveland Guardians and it was nice
to get the win today and ofcourse last night. I'm not sure if
you heard, maybe you've been livingunder a rock. The Houston Astros,
most importantly fran Er Valdez no hittingthe Cleveland Guardians in or out to that

(01:48):
sweep and not necessarily like a dominatingperformance from the team. Probably the best
win coming on Monday with JP Francehaving a solid start for the most part.
In that game, you had likea five run lead. Well,
I guess those two insurance runs camein the eighth, didn't they. And
then while Ryan Stanek didn't retire abatter and Ryan Pressley had to come in

(02:09):
and close it out and gave uplike a sacrifice fly run and then was
okay from there. And then yesterday, thank goodness, fram Berveldez was the
starter, opener whatever you wanted,and the closer to save the bullpen for
the ash shows that we know hasbeen struggling or at least been in high

(02:30):
usage for their high level, highleverage guys, which is just gonna come
with the territory. When you're talkingabout a team that has had pretty good
pitching all year and mediocre to worsehitting all year, that means you're gonna
be in a lot of close games. You're gonna be using a lot of
leverage relievers and guys who are gonnaget taxed. That, of course getting
addressed by Dana Brown with the tradeof Kendall Grayman last week, and then

(02:53):
hopefully in a way with the tradeof Justin Verlander now here, hoping he
can continue to go deep in gamesas he's been going fairly deep last couple
of months for the Mets, andhopefully we know this track record as a
major league starter, he can dothat for the Stros as well. And
then you got the win today.I mean, really, it was Chaz

(03:15):
McCormick three, Robert Ford even sayingthis on the broadcast late in the game.
Chas McCormick three, Cleveland Guardians two. Chas McCormick with the two runs
shot in the second and then thesolo shot in the sixth, and that
was it for the Astros offensively,where I mean, okay, at least

(03:36):
you didn't have Jose l two eighttoday, you didn't have your Don Alvarez
yesterday. But it'd be cool ifthey'd start scoring some more runs at least
in the last couple of games.Just two yesterday was the Kyle Tucker.
All praise be to Kyle Tucker allyesterday. All praise be to Chas McCormick
today, Kyle Tucker with the tworuns single yesterday, and this offense needs

(03:57):
to be a little bit more consistent. One for six with runners in score
position yesterday, seven guys left onbase today, one for ten with runners
in scoring position, eleven left onbasset boop boop boop. Quick math,
that's two for sixteen there, lookat my powers of deduction there twelve once
at a one twenty five batting averagethe last two games in runners in scoring

(04:21):
position situations. They've just got tobe better, and they're gonna be okay,
especially when you do end up withJanier Diez in the lineup more often
than not, which has been thecase for the most part, and then
when you get every day you're onand every day jose Al twve it,
it's gonna be an improvement, especiallythe way that the Kyle Tucker has been

(04:44):
hitting and Alex Bregman turning it aroundand finally getting his average over two fifty
as well. And he had acouple of hits today and a couple of
walks. So I think they're gonnabe fine. I don't know about you.
But I'm feeling pretty darn good aboutthis Houston Astro squad and where they
are. No result as of yetfor the Texas Rangers, who are playing

(05:04):
the terrible Chicago White Sox. Firstpitch seven h five on that one.
You do have at least Dylan ceasedgoing for the White Sox, but their
offense is just terrible and Dane Dunning. It's Dylan versus Dane, the battle
of people with bad first name.Okay, sorry to any Dylan's or Danes

(05:24):
out there in Arlington. Tonight we'rerooting for the Dylan side so that the
Astros can finally wrestle control back fromthe Texas Rangers in the American League West.
If they were to lose tonight theRangers, they would be tied in
the lost column, Astro's up onein the win column, and then they
would finally be back in first place, which is really the only thing that

(05:46):
was keeping last night and yesterday forthe Astros from being a perfect day.
I mean, how much better canit get where your team that you root
for makes a huge deadline deal andthen your start that you honestly had been
your ace for the most of thepart of the year, but was a
little bit shaky for a handful ofstarts. There. Fifteen runs in fifteen

(06:10):
innings since the All Star break forthose of you computing at home, that's
a nine r A. And thenhe just completely slammed the door shut on
the Cleveland Guardians. And you cantell from the beginning of that bad Boy
you didn't necessarily say for sure itwas going to be a no hitter.
You can never predict that, butit was like man fred Or Valdez freaking
dialed in tonight, and he wasdialed in, only allowing the one walk

(06:33):
and then going for the no hitter. There just it's funny the storybook type
of stuff we seem to get fromthe Astros throughout these last several seasons.
I mean, the playoffs have beenstorybook with the multiple World Series championships,
but there's always been like these littlemoments that we can point to where you're
like, wow, that was cool, like Justin Verlander's no hitter in twenty

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nineteen, and Abraham Toro with thedramatic home running that one, Jose l
two vas, various ownings of theNew York Yankees and late comeback home runs
and stuff like that, and thenyesterday with the no hitter from fan Buraldaz,
after everything that had been going througheveryone's minds about the Astros and they're
starting pitching and all that type ofstuff. For that to happen, that

(07:20):
was pretty darn cool. And Iguess I spoke about it last night because
I was hosting the postgame show,and it happened to this third hour of
the Matt Thomas Show as well.But really, I would be scared to
go back and listen to that lasthour of The Matt Thomas Show when we
found out that Justin Verlander had beentraded to the Astros, because I didn't

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feel like I just spent most ofthat time in shock. First of all,
we were waiting for the details ofwhat was going to happen. So
I haven't really spoken much about iton air. I've been thinking and thinking
and formulating more of opinion, andnow we have almost all the pertinent facts
that it is Justin Verlander coming tothe Houston Astros, Drew Gilbert and Ryan
Clifford going to the New York Mets, and then fifty four of a possible

(08:05):
ninety three million dollars owed to JustinVerlander over the next three years coming back
to the Astros. So my initialreaction first of all was, wow,
they did it. Justin Verlander isback. He's a Houston Astro. That's
crazy. Then it said I think, was that Bob Nightingale was like two
minor league players, and he saidand then he said, Drew Gilbert in

(08:28):
some insignificant player, and it turnedout to be their number two prospect and
a guy who was some people mighthave in their top hundred lists. I
don't know. These farm system gurusupdate their lists all the time, so
we'll see where Ryan Clifford factors infrom there. But Drew Gilbert number one
prospect of the Astros. Across theboard, a lot of people having Ryan
Clifford at number two. So itwas a steep price. And so when

(08:50):
that piece of information came out,my reaction was WHOA, yeah, sure,
I was sure paid a lot fora forty year old pitcher that they
could have signed for free in theoff season. Then came, of course,
the final piece, all the moneycoming back to the Houston Astros,
and at that point, to me, it feels like the Astros did not
get fuleased. If all that moneyis coming back. You're talking about prospects

(09:13):
that were unknowns, and as manypeople have pointed out, the first trade
for Justin Verlander had higher rated prospects. The trade for Zach Grinky in two
thousand and nine had higher rated prospects. And those guys are for the most
part, doing a whole lot ofnothing at the major league level. So
there's no guarantee that Drew Gilbert orRyan Clifford are gonna do much of anything
in Major League Baseball. And maybethey will come on and both of them

(09:37):
or one of them will go onto be an All Star caliber player for
the New York Mets. But theAstros, that's a couple of years off.
The Astros are worried about winning.In twenty twenty three, Rangers are
making deals. Rangers went and gotMax Scherzer, Rangers went and got Jordan
Montgomery and got I'll roll to Chapman. And that is the team that is
most closely in your crosshairs that youneed to worry about. Out of all

(10:00):
the Jones Joneses on every block inthe neighborhood, you need to be worried
about the one next door, andthat one is the Texas Rangers and the
moves that they made. So isthe Justin Verlander deal gonna work out long
term? I don't know. Butdid the Astros make a bold, ballsy
move where they're daring to be greatand going all in for the twenty twenty

(10:22):
three season. Yes, Jim Crane, Dana Brown, I don't know,
Jeff Bagwell, Reggie Jackson, Orbit, whoever you want to give the credit
to. It was a ballsy moveby the Astros. Does it feel like
twenty nineteen when they brought him inwhat way where Grinky didn't do much well?
It was a big trade at thetime, and at that point it

(10:43):
was like they already had Verlander andKail And No, yeah, it feels
different because you had I mean,you had Garrett Cole and Verlander that were
won two for the Cy Young Awards. You had a great offense you had,
I mean, that was one ofthe best offenses. I think somebody
pulled up like the best offenses likeBYRC plus since nineteen fifty or whatever in
the twenty nineteen Astros or number one. Oh that's a team. So I'm

(11:09):
going to still say that's the bestAstros team they've had in this entire run.
I mean, you had Garrett Cole, you had Justin Verlander, you
added in, you mentioned kaikol Um. Charlie Morton was still on that team
too, right, I mean,how do they freaking lose? How did
they lose to the Washington Nationals?For Yeah, I mean it's just insane
that team. So, no,it feels different to me because this twenty

(11:33):
twenty three year they've had to dealwith more adversity in strife. I think
that they have in most of theseyears. Probably sixteen was really bad.
Uh eighteen, didn't they have alot of injuries in eighteen or something like
that. I'd have to go backand try to remember. But yeah,
they've had Every year has been adifferent story, and this one doesn't feel
like any of the others to me. I mean, you've had the odd

(11:56):
injuries of jose Al Twove freaking getsplunked in the thumb and WBC coming off
of last year was ops was overnine hundred and he's one of the best
players, one of the best hittersin baseball. Last year and then yeah,
he had a three hundred and thenhe pulled the parachute. I think
he sat out there like the lastday of the season, and then you're

(12:16):
Don Alvarez being as dominant as hehas been missing a lot of time with
that oblique injury, missing like basicallya month and a half. Yeah,
this is a different season. Butthe troops are rally and it feels good,
and we'll see what happens with JustinVerlander. Like I said, I
can't predict the future very well.Could be the fact he comes over here
and it's a disaster and he's badin the playoffs like he was last year.

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But the Astros are swinging for thefences. Will the ball make it
over? We shall see seven onethree two one two five seven ninety.
If you want to get in sevenone three two one two five seven ninety,
it is the night Cap with youuntil seven o'clock here on Sports Talk
seven ninety, where we will beback after this short break National Sports Talk,

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No No Houston Sports Talk. Thisis Houston Sports Talk seven ninety home
for your home teams six twenty inthe PM here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

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Welcome back to the Nightcap program,Ross View Ria with you fun lines
open at seven one three two onetwo five seven ninety seven one three two
one two five, seven ninety.We're basically keeping it in like extended Astros
postgame mode, you know here onSports Talk seven ninety. First of all,
I mean, we do talk alot of Astros. We carry the

(13:48):
team, but also we talk aboutwhat's been relevant, and well, the
last several years, what's relevant hasbeen the Astros. I don't know if
you've heard their reigning World Series champions. They just swept the Cleveland Guard audience,
and tonight your motto for the eveningis go white socks and go Dylan
Cease seven o five, first pitch, Dylan Cease versus Dane Dunning. The

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Astros, well, of course,they have to control their own what they
can do. In a way,they control their own destiny because they have
games against the Rangers, and ifthey win out, they'll win the division.
But of course it's baseball, andnobody's gonna win out, and even
the best team in the world losesfifty five to sixty or more games in
a season, and the worst teamwins fifty five to sixty games in a

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season. But Astros in a goodspot now, I mean, just considering
that's the thing. It's a lookat the forest of everything that has happened
this year and Luis Garcia remember thatguy, Lance mccollers, jor remember that
guy. And Josiara Keaty remember thatguy. And the injuries of course it
we've gone through and everything still justa half game out, a bit of

(14:58):
moment him with the sweeping of theGuardians, the no hitter yesterday and the
trade for Justin Brooks Verlander. Heis back for your Houston Astros seven on
three two one, two five sevenninety is the phone number? Uh?
Is this true? Is this person'sname is x or? I guess perhaps

(15:20):
they didn't want to give away theirfirst name. Is that? What's happening
here? David? Okay? Sox in kingwood go ahead, and I'm
not hearing the car it voice fora while, but I digress. Okay,
Yeah, I don't take that personanymore, David. That's that's somebody

(15:45):
that's been banned oled for a longtime from the air here on Sports Talk
seven nineties, Scott in the Woodlands, what's up, yo? What's up?
You got me? I do haveyou? What do you got?
Hey? Man? I wanted tochime in on the car station of the
two nineteen Astros, but first ofall, I was at the game today

(16:06):
to give a shout out to Checkright when we sell off a coveted center
fielder and then Chat comes out withbig RB eyes and wins the game for
us today when our second baseman then, But I'll tell you the season we
win. I was the thinking WorldSeries, which was a crazy World Series,

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and the fact that all seven gameswere won eight team, but at
seven we made a picture in thebulletin. I was ready to go with
the Navy Garrett Cole, and hedidn't get the call. And I'm very
confident that if A. J.Hinch had given the ball to him in
the eighth or ninth inning, wewould have won that game. And when
I was watching the postgame interview,Garrett Cole was sitting in the dugout shaking

(16:48):
his heads hand. Hell, no, I'm not signing the contract with the
Astros. Well, we put iton the eighth of the ninth inning.
We would have won the World Seriesand maybe we would have resigned them,
and who knows what would happened toall right, Scott, Yeah, you
go ahead. A couple of thingson that number one. Garrett Cole was
like one or what was he ontwo days rest. I think when that
was pot No, no, no, I'm gonna call BS on that.

(17:12):
We can go look it up.I think it was three I don't it
was it three days rest? Let'ssay, let's say it's two, but
it's getting seven of the World Series. You're gonna tell me he's not coming
out. I'm gunning one hundred milesan hour. They went with Will Harris,
who had been great the entire player. Are we really hold on what
year is this? Are we arguingabout the two thousand nineteen World Series in

(17:32):
twenty twenty three? And no,Garrett cole is gonna be gone anyways?
Yeah, go ahead, calls inabout twelve minutes ago when we were actually
talking about it. So yeah,yeah, all right, Scott, thank
you, appreciate it. Yeah,I'm just messing with you. But no,
look at the time, first ofall, the Asho wasn't won a

(17:52):
World Series and in so we Imean we all are over it. I'm
not saying Scott's not over it,but a wee can go. I'll go
look up and see what Garrit coleRest was on. I'm fairly certain it
was not even three days rest.I want to say it was two days
rest. So I'll defend j Henshould bring in Will Harris, because yes,
yeah, Will Harris was nails theentire time. Howie Kendrick barely snuck

(18:17):
a ball over the fence. Itwas a good pitch as well. Um,
yeah, and then Garritt Cole wasnever signing with the Houston Astros anyways.
It just wasn't going to be feasiblefor the Astros to hand out that
kind of contract. Yeah, theYankees gave him three hundred something million dollars,
like the Astros were just quite frankly, they were never going to do

(18:41):
that. So, um, Iguess at that point, I'll go look
up the game logs and see exactlyin the postseason when he pitched. Let's
see October twenty seventh. He pitchedseven innings in that two thy nineteen World
Series, and then yeah, twentyeight twenty nine two days rest, So

(19:03):
the thirtieth was basically or does thatcount as three days? I guess maybe
it was the third day. Whatdo you count that as you count that
as two days rest right in between? What is it again? The days
of rest? He pitched on thetwenty seventh, so he was off the
twenty eighth, twenty ninth, andthen the thirtieth was the day. So
that was that. I don't believeyou count that as a day's rest for
pitcher. If he pitches that day, it would be two days rest.

(19:25):
Noral pitcher gets four days in betweenthe right exactly, So it was two
days rest, It was not threeor four. And what I don't even
want to go back to that,unfortunately, because the Astros have since one.
But yeah, the two thousan nineteenAstros, that's the best. I
will stick by that. That's thebest team that I've seen in this run.
Of course, you did have likevery young in the game, yourd

(19:48):
On Alvarez Rookie of the Year.And by the way, if anybody ever
wants to say that the Astros werecheating and had buzzers and they knew what
was coming in twenty nineteen, watchJordan Alvarez is at bats in twenty nineteen
in the playoffs. Man, hedidn't know it was coming. Carlos Carey
was not good in those playoffs.I don't think either. But anyway,
like watch some baseball before you justgo ahead and go on some there's a

(20:11):
wrinkle on ALT two of a shirt. He's got a buzzer. There's confetti
on Josh Reddick's shoulder. He's gota buzzers. So the stupidest thing I've
ever seen. Yeah, and theycouldn't hit with runners and square positions.
Yeah seriously, So just if youhad actually watched Astro's games into the two
thousand nineteen playoffs, you would knowthat they weren't cheating. But anyways,
I digress. We don't need torevisit that. We We're gonna come ahead

(20:33):
and focus on the twenty twenty threeAstros. But yes, you're right,
Scott, I did bring it up. But yeah, Garrett Cole wasn't staying
and that that hat that he wearsthat he wore was a Scott Boris hat
that he wore pregame. And traditionally, you have players go to the ballpark
in an outfit, they change intotheir uniform, and then after the game

(20:57):
they change back into the same outfit. So that's just how it works in
baseball. So he put that haton. He wasn't sending a message.
He was probably never coming back anyways, But yeah, there you go.
Twenty nineteen Astros revisited here on aSports talk seven ninety. We're gonna ahead
and take a bottom of the hourbreak. Those you on hold, I
promise you are next. If youwant to get in and talk about the

(21:19):
twenty twenty three team, we cando that as well. They got justin
Verlander. How do you feel aboutthe trade? Like I said, I
understand, it was a steep price, but at least you got all that
money back and they're going all infor twenty twenty three, So I'm on
board. What about you see twoone two five seven ninety seven on three
two one two five seven ninety backin a minute here on the Nightcap.

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Hey, it's Robert Forts from theAstros broadcast team. Catch every Astros game
on Sports Talk seven ninety. Imean, iHeart Radio app Home of your
Astros. I feel just like arock stars, the Beatles, Elvis Presley,

(22:11):
Post Baloon, three of the greatestartists of our times. Welcome back
here on Sports Talk seven eighty.Happy birthday to my brother Ray. If
he's listening, I'm not sure thathe is, but he could or maybe
he's not, but that's okay.I won't say how old he is today,
but it rhymes with Bordi, Socongratulations to him. You made it.
We're all proud of you. Happybirthday to you. All right,
welcome back to the Nightcap program hereon Sports Talk seven. Idy Ross Ivirial

(22:36):
with you. I don't even knowcan we do full on twenty nineteen Sports
Radio. What is wrong with ChrisPaul? The Rockets? Hashtag run it
back? I thought they were gonnamake it in two thousand and eighteen,
but the hamstring was just no good. And then Chris Paul just, I
mean, he can't dribble past anyonethis year. It's just an embarrassment at

(23:00):
this point. Seven one three twoone two five seven ninety Ken Bill O'Brien
into Shaun Watson. Bring the HoustonTexans a championship. Seems like the offensive
it and been pretty good, buthe's always going nine and seven or ten
and six, and they just can'tseem to say make that leap. Will

(23:21):
they be able to at some pointseven one three two one two five seven
ninety? Okay, you don't haveto call about any of those things.
But we're here having some fun onthe Nightcap. But number you on hold.
So number one, I appreciate yougetting in the number two. Let's
go ahead. And get after it. Aggie Doug Man. I don't remember
the two thousand and nineteen Texas Aand m Aggie season. I imagine it

(23:41):
didn't end with a conference championship,but we can go from there, go
ahead. I think it was somesort of disappointing season. But didn't they
be the LSU like by a bunchof Oh is that what they're like?
That that fifteen overtime game? Yeah, I think that was it. And
then they changed the rule in theCOVID season, So yeah, they were

(24:03):
really good in the COVID season.Yeah, congratulations to the Aggies and LSU
playing for like, well, itwasn't. Everybody was going down with cramps
like every single play by the endof that and they're like, we got
to change the rules. Yeah,it was like seventy four or seventy two
or some some something crazy you Andto be fair, I'm gonna put this
out there. I don't tell manypeople that I actually left that game.

(24:26):
I WHOA, what happened? Doug? So, so basically we were down
ten ish at that point, andI want to say, like two minutes
left and some sort of immaculate youknow, interception happened. Oh, that's
right. It was a miracle comeback. Oh by the way, though Google
is saying that was twenty eighteen,I'm sorry. Oh okay, so I

(24:49):
was one year off. But butagain, so just reliving that moment I
actually left that game and then waswith the swell of people that we almost
that's the it's the only time thatI've ever left the game that you almost
got back. There were so manypeople that were trying to Oh you guys
were like those Miami You're like thoseMiami Heat fans in twenty thirteen. Yeah,

(25:12):
when when and made that shot?Sure, I'm not sure we can
hold off these people at this point, but we didn't get back in um
so it was unfortunate because there wouldhave been a lot more people charged in
the field at that point. Butbut it was crazy, is that?
I mean? It was. Itwas the craziest game that I haven't ever
been a part of. But youknow what's crazier is the Astros have done

(25:36):
what we thought wasn't impossible. SeasonWHOA, all right, yeah you can't,
Doug, Doug, this is whatI would have argued with you about
if I had the opportunity, Ididn't have to cut you off there is.
This is not a bleep season.It's they're they're tied for first place

(25:56):
in the AL West in a surgingRangers team is there and they're still top
five in the RA. They're aroundlike top fifteen in uh in offense.
They're just not blowing everybody out ofthe water like they had several years ago.
This is how it should be.You look around the major leagues.
There's a dog fight in the AmericanLeague East, in the in the AL

(26:19):
Central you have the Guardians still aftergetting swept by the Astros, only two
and a half games back. TheBraves are running away with the National League
East. But then every other raceis close. Red's Brewers, Cubs all
locked up in the in the NLCentral race, Dodgers and Giants, and
the Diamondbacks a little bit further back, all fighting for the National League West.

(26:41):
Like every division, there are teamswithin like two games of it,
except for the Braves, who arejust far and away the best team in
baseball and right now World Series favorite. So this is normal. This is
just it's not a bleep season.It's just we've been so spoiled that we're
not used to being in a fightfor the division. But that's what the

(27:03):
Astros are in, and the Rangershave come heavily armed with money and trade
bait that they've gotten from other places. So it's gonna be a good race
in the Astros. Of course,America's team, the underdogs, they're gonna
try to win. Okay, maybethey're not underdogs, but they just traded
for Justin freaking Verlander, and it'sgoing to be pretty darn fun. If

(27:27):
you ask me, all right,seven one three two one two five seven
ninety, I'd like it if youwatch your language on the phones. Seven
one three two one two five sevenninety. Max in Cyprus, next up?
What's up? Max? Hey?Rossum, I ain't gonna lie to
you so prior to the trade deadlinewhen I'm like refreshing Twitter every five minutes.

(27:53):
At first, when I saw thatthe Angels got Gielito, because that's
who I've wanted personally, either himor at Water Rodriguez. But of course,
hindsight is twenty twenty, I'm like, uh, darn, we didn't
get them. But okay, thenI see the Verlander trade. It got
popped up, and honestly I wasindifferent about it. At first. I

(28:19):
was indifferent, but okay, butwhat I'm thinking and now that for what
we gave up right when they gotrid of Melton and Gilbert, when the
Astros are in the World Series andthey'd be either the Braves, Reds or

(28:40):
d Backs that final strikeout when theywin the World Series at home again,
it is priority number one that theyresigned Kyle Tucker. All right, thanks
a lot, Maxie. Well we'llsee on that. It is, of
course, long standing has been theAstro's philosophy that they don't like handing out

(29:03):
contracts of any amount over five years. This would be the one time to
do it. Of course. Yeah, um, we we'll see. I
don't think it will, but Idon't know. We could see precedent being
said or something that Jim Crane doesn'twant to set because he can go to
everybody. Now, he can goto Framer and say, hey, we

(29:23):
don't sign your deals over five years. That's just how it's gonna be.
Thanks, have a great day,Hey, Kyle Tucker, we don't sign
deals over five years, etcetera,etcetera. But I mean, you're lucky,
luckily you were able to buy outsome arbitration with guys like Christian Javier,
who hopefully that works out, andyou're on Alvarez. We already know
that's gonna work out. So therehas been that, and the Astros have

(29:44):
always tried to buy out arbitration forguys over the last you know, decade
or so. They did it withOsel Twove, they did with Alex Bregman.
They offered it to George Springer,he said no thanks, offered it
Carl's Corea, he said no thanks, and those guys moved on. So
it's been hit or mes, butthe Astrost philosophy has been not to sign
guys long term. Kyle Tucker,Yeah, I get it. I'm down

(30:07):
with it because ten years from now, Kyle Tucker is gonna be thirty six.
You just signed a thirty six yearold to a three year deal in
Josea Bray You So, I meanit makes sense from that standpoint. You
just got a forty year old pitcherover here, and he's under contract for
this year, in two more years. His name is Justin Verlanders. Yeah.

(30:27):
I believe he's either forty or turningforty this year. Yeah, basically
I don't know when his birthday is. Happy birthday to Justin Verlander. Let's
see, his birthday is February.Yeah, he's forty. February twentieth,
he turned forty. I heard,yeah, so Tom Brady. Tom Brady,

(30:48):
when you say you don't want tohand out a contract over five years,
what you're actually saying is you don'twant to pay old players. Well,
they're paying old players right now,Josiah Bray, you is example one
of probably, well you don't wantto pay old players. So maybe I
don't know. Jim Crane has ascoreboard on that, because you do look
at some of these deals that havebeen made across the leagues with guys making

(31:10):
those big, long term deals,and some of them have been shaky.
Mike Trout continues to get hurt.He's making big money. Francisco Lindor got
that huge deal from the Mets,and he was just horrible his first year
of the Mets. In the nextcouple of years, he's been okay,
not terrible, not great, hasn'tmade an All Star team as a Met,

(31:30):
and he's out three hundred and fortymillion dollars. Garrett Cole was probably
shaky, maybe at not even shaky, but just not up to the standard
of what he was as an Astrohis first year with the Yankees, but
now, man is that long ago. He's into his fourth year as a
Yankee and so far that's working out. But he's thirty two years old and
he's under contract for what like sixseven more years or whatever it is.

(31:51):
So it's if you look at thedeals around the league, the long term
ones and the older players and stufflike that, Jim Crane probably has a
lot of scoreboard there, so Iunderstand. But as far as the Verlander
trade, yeah, I'm more allin on it because the Astros are all
in and Jim Crane is pushing hischips into the middle. He's getting ballsy,

(32:15):
he's going for it. It's goingfor the gusto and that's that's cool.
That's what you want from honors.I mean, if you want to
him and hanging over he's going prospectsover parades. That's been a very popular
phrase I've seen over the last weekor so. Does that mean the Astros
are guaranteed to win the World Seriesthis year? Of course not, but

(32:37):
they've got more of a chance thanthey did before the deadline, if you
ask me. With the addition ofJustin Verlander, Okay, we're gonna take
a final break of the Nightcap hereon Sports Talk seven ninety. My name's
ros Vi Real. You want toget in seven one two one two five,
seven ninety is the phone number thoseyou unhold. I promise you are
next as we keep going till seveno'clock here on the Nightcap on Sports Talk
seven ninety. We are former players, we are lifelong facts and where you're

(33:01):
home for your voice. You goahead, Nick Walking heard today Sports Talks
seven nineties, your most complete lineupin Houston, Sports Liam, sit down,

(33:24):
welcome back. Final segment of theNightcap program. You're on Sports Talk
seven ninety. Aggie Doug tweeting inOMG, too many Crawford Box. Yeah
I got Oh did Aggie Doug sayhe was at the game today? Maybe
that was it? That's all right. Is a little bit of day drinking
happens. We are getting late hereon the evening for the nightcap. That's

(33:46):
that's what the show's called. Soif you had a bunch of Crawford Box,
you're supposed to call into the Nightcap. That's how this works. Baby.
But no, that's all right,Doug. It happens. Appreciate it.
But yes, you should know better, all right, seven one three
two one two five seven ninety thephone number. Actually, sadly enough,
I was digging around because we werejoking earlier. We had the call caller

(34:09):
talking about the twenty and nineteen Astrosand uh calling in and talking about like
Garret rehashing the Garrett Cole a J. Hinch thing like if Will Harris comes
in there and shuts it down,nobody says a thing. It's just results
oriented thinking. And unfortunately at thetime, you would go with your reliever

(34:30):
who had been nails over a starterwho was on two days rest, and
and it was discussed pregame. AJHinch mentioned that he was basically going to
be in a crooser's role up threeruns or fewer late in the game.
Garrett Cole was going to come in. He was effectively the old school closer's

(34:51):
role, and that's what he wasgoing to be in. And it wasn't
a closing situation. They as theydidn't want to bring him. Yeah,
he also, yeah, I wouldn'thave been like a clean inning as well,
I believe so, yeah, nota clean inning, wasn't a closed
role. He was on two daysrest. Will Harris was great a J.
Hinch through all his faults, anddon't you forget it, there was

(35:13):
a lot of you. I tooka lot of calls on these postgame shows,
a lot of you calling and complainingabout a J. Hinch and talking
about how he was holding back theteam. They were there, and of
course we get a lot of thesame. Well with Dusty Baker, probably
a different story for well, abit of a different story as far as
the those managers. At least aJ. Hinch, I will give him

(35:34):
credit for any time he was doinganything, he would give you a reason.
A J. Hinch would join theMatt Thomas Show on a weekly basis.
I believe at that time it wasnot co well I think you had
by twenty nineteen is when I startedco hosting. So for that season I
was co hosting with Matt Thomas andget a question here or there, but
anything you asked a J. Hinch, he'd gave you a straight answer and

(35:54):
he'd give you reasoning. And DustyBaker, he's a little bit more old
school, he's a little more dodgy. KG whatever says, Hey, I've
been doing this a long time andI'm doing what I'm doing so Yeah.
A J. Hinch answered all thequestions, gave all the gave all the
reasons why he was doing what hewas doing in that situation. All right,

(36:15):
let's go to a Paul in myland here on the phone lines real
quick. What's up, Paul.I'll tell you what. It's the hottest
season we've had in hees the wife'sair conditional one out? Oh my god,
doesn't it always seem like it goesout in the summer. It's crazy,
man, but hey, it worksgood in a ragged old truck.
Okay, so you've just been sleepingin the truck or what might tonight?

(36:37):
Okay, good luck, hey man, go to the Super eight, Paul,
Come on, man, that's whatI told her. Hey, happy
birthday to your brother Ray. Okay, first name Paul too. His first
name is not Paul, no,Okay is actually Ray is short for Ramon,
and it's a family name. That'smy dad's name and his dad and

(36:59):
his dad's name before him. I'ma good r roller myself. Hey,
I saw a little uh pop upthe head on the game today. I
was watching the drown the stream them. But since nineteen sixty two, the
expansion era. Well, this isthe astros first season. Yeah, yeah,

(37:21):
we had the most no hitters amongbaseball teams sixteen, yes, that
is correct, next in the lineof thirteen after that. And the only
teams that have more no hitters thanthe Astro's pitching stands over the years are
teams that have been in the yearLeague a hundred years or more. Yeah,
pretty impressive. Head to them,very impressive. Yeah. It took

(37:42):
down at them, what like,uh fifty some odd years to win a
championship. Fifty five took a whilefor that, took him fifty five years
to win a championship. But alongthe way, they had a lot of
no hitters and we got two now, so more than a lot of other
teams, as correct. All right, Paul, all right, I appreciate

(38:04):
it. Yeah, I saw thatas well. It was and did you
see it was? Now? Ofcourse it doesn't you know, when a
manager says most no hitters managed,it's not like Dusty Baker ever went out
and talked to Framber Valdez and needsto get credit. He it was Framber's
turn of the rotation. He filledup the lineup card and it said LHP
Framber Valdez on it and then hewent out there and he threw a no

(38:24):
hitter. But it was crazy tosee that, like most no hitters managed,
it was some old guy who hadseven, and the next was a
J. Hinch was six, andthen Dusty Baker tied with a bunch of
guys for what five. That wascrazy to see. I got a tribute

(38:45):
question for your ross. Okay,so there's been one Astro I actually know
this because I did. Okay,but one Astros thrown two no hitters?
Can you name that one? As? What do you mean? Two note
hitters for the Astros? For theAstrosum? Does it count as a starter?
Is a Christian Javier? No,it's a complete game. Oh both

(39:05):
completely got to think way not wayway back, but like I'm thinking eighties.
Okay, so wait, so it'snot Nolan Ryan No. Three through
one. I'm gonna go with MikeScott No, Okay, who is it?
Don Wilson? Okay, Don Wilsonwho his number is retired by the
Houston Astros. I do know that? And are you one of the ones.

(39:25):
I'm gonna tell you I've heard thistrivia question like fifty five times because
when you go to the press boxand before games and you're going to get
Dusty Baker normally around four o'clock they'redoing tours. Do you do the same
Dusty Baker was on deck when HankAaron hit the seven fifteen home run.
So yeah, Actually, one inwhat we do as tour guides is someone

(39:46):
says something and then they hear itwe all repeat it. So, okay,
a person said that, so it'sthe same speel. Yeah, not
everybody. What was this written likein the nineteen eighties? What do you
mean the when was this tour guyto Speel written? Do you have like
a script that you have to memorize? Yes? Actually, when I first
started, it was a forty pagescript. Now it's like three hundred pages.
What you can't you can't memberize threehundred pages, Like seventy percent of

(40:09):
that stuff is not necessary. Youcan't, you know, Okay, So
it would be like a nineteen hourtour and people would die of thirst on
the way. I actually don't evenlike that Dusty Baker nugget I just talk
about I think it's cool. Imean, yeah, Milos Hampton calling it
and Dusty Baker was on deck.I think it's a good little nugget.
I just say, like, holytalito, he called games more for more
than sixty five years. Okay,okay. It is the Milo Hamilton Press

(40:31):
Area. Yes, and then insidethe bathroom is the Matt Thomas Urinal,
which a lot of people don't know. All right, So all right that
in that note, that's gonna doit for the nightcap program here on Sports
Talk seven ninety. My name isRoss vie Real. I would like to
say thanks to all of you whoare listening to the show. I really

(40:51):
appreciate you. Thanks for those ofyou got involved directly via tweet or a
call or whatever it may be.I appreciate a well thanks to David Artists
for producing the program. That's gonnado it for this show. Back in
action personally at noon as part ofthe Matt Tomas Show, but of course
keep it right here all day long, starting at six am with the Sean

(41:14):
Salisbury Show. And with that,first of all, one more time,
happy birthday to my brother, andI'll talk to you folks tomorrow. I
have a pleasant and safe rest ofyour Wednesday evening.