June 17, 2025 • 10 mins
Winning 5 of their last 6 games, the Astros seem to have hit a wall last night as Oakland rallies back late in the 9th for a stunning victory over the Astros' 3-1. Following a solid start with Ryan Gusto on the mound, Bryan Abreu suffers a hurtful loss following Nick Kurtz's walk-off 2 run homer at the bottom of the 9th to spring the A's into victory. Discussing a few things that weren't appeasing to the eyes last night, Sean and Dan share a few takeaways from last nights loss and what adjustments must be made going forward regarding games that appear on the schedule as essential wins for the Astros.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pages in a letter. At this point when it comes
to another part of the frustration is you get one
run last night against an A's team that has been
playing better ball as of late. I mean, with that
win last night, they've now won four straight, swept the
Royals over the weekend in Kansas City. Hey, that's not nothing,
but three. You get beat three to one last night.
(00:23):
You only get that one run on the leadoff home
run by Jose al Tuova in the first And usually
the next metric we go to is runners left on base,
runners in scoring position, all of those things. Zero for
five with runners in scoring position. Not great, but it's
not the worst. And also you ground into two double
plays you line out into one, which that's another part
(00:46):
of it too as well. The hell's Jake Myers doing there?
I mean, that's little league baseball where you learn freeze
on a line drive, see it go through. Then you
take off, but his momentum carries him too far off
first base and he gets doubled up back there first.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yep, your natural reaction is not to go back. It's
your natural actions to go forward right and to be aggressive.
And so ball hit first. It's like when a ball
is a line drives city to center fielder, what do
they normally do for? I mean some take but one
you think it's going to be a sinking line drive,
you go up and ends up over your head and
sometimes you know what I'm saying, sure a charge. It's
(01:22):
the same thing here. I think the momentum naturally when
you see a line drive hit is too it's going through.
You're just it's reaction. The problem is you got to
the reaction's got to be so quick, the quick twitch
to get back to the base, and it almost freezes you,
you know, because you also say, well, if it's a
base hitting the gap or something I want to get through,
it's a bummer. But as a veteran you probably got
(01:43):
to know better. You just do. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean and especially too, I mean for being one
of the guys that you're counted on to be one
of the better base runners for this team. I mean
that's the frustrating part too. But you know that's one
of three double plays that you either lined it out
into or grounded into last night. And I mean the
other frustrations just continue. Where you get the home run
from Josel Tve that's nice. One for four night out
(02:09):
of him one for four with a single from Christian
Walker to twelve on the season, and a couple of
strikeouts you had to get when he faced Mason Miller
there in the ninth inning, I knew, without a shadow
of a doubt, this isn't gonna go.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well. Yeah, he can ramp it up a little bit
Canty one on one, Yeah, and that's on that that
may be on the low side at times, from he
can he can pump it up there. So yeah, no
shock there. I just I don't need him to hit
two eighty five, but two forty five, two sixty five
somewhere and that range would be nice. And what's he
(02:42):
at now, he's almost with nine home runs, eight home
runs somewhere in that range. Yeah, he's nine home runs
last season, so you know on pace to what hits
you of them? Yeah, I could use it about a
half dozen more right over that and maybe he'll go
on that street. But you're waiting. But it's the like
I said, that's why I don't jump through the ceiling.
(03:02):
When somebody goes four for four one night and they're
hitting one ninety seven, I got to see it's a
consistent of a month where you put together good at
bats well, and that's just it.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I mean, it's it's it's the frustrating saga that has
been Christian Walker through seventy two games this season.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And that position for the better part of three years now.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, bingo, I mean that's that's just been it that
you haven't been able to find anybody over there that
can consistently put together.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And Steve Sparks said yesterday good at bat right.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I mean, you've seen good things at times, But when
I pay three years, sixty million for a guy that's
supposed to shore up that position every once in a while,
just isn't gonna cut it.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, No, it's true. And it was a no brainer
to upgrade the position, right, and I think they did.
But you know, seventy plus games in, you're the frustration
of okay, win and if somebody tells me you know
who your team is or or the trend of your
team seven sixty to seventy seventy five games in, we're there.
(04:05):
And what happened Obviously the longer goes, but the batting average,
it's the slugging and the driving in runs and the
constant grade at bats for him that are gonna be
You don't. You don't think you sitting to ninety and
needed do I and we knew that wasn't gonna happen
when he came here. But there's got to be more
pop there. You just did without Jordon, and even with Jordon,
that's got to be in the lineup. Pardus can't lead
(04:25):
this team in home runs. That makes sense, he can,
but you get my point. He came back last night,
so yeah, it was less frustrated, right, and it obviously
pretty tough. Didn't let it keep him down very long,
took care of his business. So my point is is that,
I mean, what a blessing if he's able to, you know,
continue to hit the ball out of the ballpark. But
you're gonna need Walker and you're gonna need DZ and
(04:47):
you're gonna need Jordon Alvarez to do so because you
put a lot another you put a lot of strain
good pitching in the bullpen and last night starting pitching
for Gusta and you get to the ninth than a
guy you can rely on usually as your EIGHTHNY guy
you know, hangs one up there and gets hammered. So
pitching once again does everything that they need to do.
You give up three runs against the A's, you would
(05:10):
expect to win. I'll just put it to you that way.
You would hope, yeah, would And it doesn't shock me
how you know. When Mason Miller's pitching, I mean, you
better get it started early, and he's got some stuff
that everybody wants a piece of. Not the opposing hitter,
but every team would like to have that type of guy.
So yeah, Christian Walker, I'm curious to see what happens
(05:31):
when a guy like him starts if and when he
gets going. I know what happens to the team when
Jose does and you're done that if you get two
or three of those big bats in the middle that
we've talked about going At the same time, I'm looking
forward to seeing what this version of it looks like.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Well, and yet another night where the offense is minimal
at best for you, where you get the three runs
on Saturday, you get two on Sunday, and then you
get one yes, where you're just like like.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And your starting pitcher gave you another and that's just it.
Where it's it's another loss that I understand. There's also
been wins that you've had I mean Saturday and Sundays.
I just mentioned the pitching is what helped you win
that game? Again some walk off key hits.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Oh sure, and that's and that's fine, but it's just
it's also too Why do you continue to put your
pitchers in this position? That's the frustrating part of it all.
Why do you continue to do this? Like?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Where? Where is the change? When does it happen? Is it?
What kind of change you want? You want change in
the way they're doing it? Do you want change in
the lineup?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I want a guy that I'm paying sixty million over
three years to be able to be a reliable bat
in the middle of the lineup.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
So far he has not been. It is the frustration
also with him, not just the money and the expectation
bringing him here, but does the past at the position
for the last three years affect your thoughts too? It's
like it's hyper sensitive. I know it is for me
because of the lack of production at first base. It's
become on this team the last three years, it's become
(07:03):
a now. Christian Walker has a lot of respect around
the league, no doubt, and he can beat you with
the long ball, but for the most part teams are
not coming to this ballparker when you go visit them
on the road, sit there saying, man, I got a
lad Grail type at first baseball. You you got to
get him out right now, it's you pitch him pretty well,
(07:25):
you got a good chance of getting him out. And
that's going for a lot of the guys with the
bat in their hand on this team. It really is,
and especially in a part of the lineup where they
absolutely are going to have to have it. It is
such a and I know pitching goes out there and
expects to pitch well every night, but you're asking a
lot of them for you to be scoring one, two
and three runs. And you're also asking a lot of
(07:47):
yourself to be consistent with, oh it's one to one
and get the hit that gets you the walk off
single to write or gets you the walk off home
run like you saw for them last night or this
past weekend to get that or the sacrifice fly right.
You put a lot on you when it comes down
to one swing of the bat. Plus you also allow
average teams when you allow them to hang around, one
swing of the bat also can get you last night. Yeah,
(08:09):
so what happens is. It's like in football, you let
a team that sticks around for a minute, and they
stick around Vanderbilt Bama a couple of years ago, right,
let them stick aroundhere. They have no business playing with you,
just on the sheer skill set alone. They hang around
all sudden fourth quarter hits, you know what, they're even
looking around saying, one turnover on the right hit and
one big play and we beat them, and there you go.
(08:33):
It's the same thing here. You let teams you're supposed
to beat hang around. One swing of the bat sends
you to Game two and you've lost. You're already down
one in the series on the road in a minor
league ballpark. And that's exactly what happened. So you're asking
a lot and if let's be real, at some point
in time, dask these guys to go six and seven
(08:53):
innings and keep the score below three, and you're giving
them one or two. It's going to backfire on you
if continues. It just absolutely is. Well, the law of
averages tell you that it is. I mean, it's even
as a lot of metrics it'll point that out too.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
But even as good as this group has been, no doubt,
you cannot continue to think that this is sustainable, to
believe that you're going to continue winning games this week
because you're not well.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'll tell you what o'll rear its head is when
the pitching staff does go through a few struggles, and
as Steve Sparks said, it will happen. Sure it's a
long it happens to every one of them. It is.
What's going to happen is and you're scoring one or
two runs, then you're going to find that see that
winning streak where you win five out of six or
eight out of ten, or twelve out of fourteen, he'll
go the other way. You'll go two and ten on
(09:38):
your on the last twelve, you're gonna have to get
some You're asking a lot gusto pitch well enough, as
did the bullpen until you got to a brave You're
to win last night, and one run is not going
to do it on the road in a ballpark with
some feisty young players that are trying to prove that
they belong and you'll hang him. A high schooler is
going to hit that out of the ballpark if he's
a good player, because you couldn't have stuck it into
(09:59):
some Mick for any bass hanging there and hovering like
the matrix, and the guy it felt like you put
it on a tee and then he smoked it and
has the ballgame. So that's going to happen. And this
pitching staff doesn't blow much the hitting, the hitting's going
to have to improve.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Well, you keep walking the tightrope like that, soon enough
you fall off. And that's what happened to the Astros
last night again, losing on a walk off to run
Homer by Nick Kurtz there in the bottom of the
ninth inning. All right, for all of the things that
we've talked about this morning that have annoyed us with
the Astros, they did something yesterday that actually made us happy.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
We'll talk about it right here.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
It is the Shawn Salisbury Show, Sports Talk at seven
Pages in a letter. At this point when it comes
to another part of the frustration is you get one
run last night against an A's team that has been
playing better ball as of late. I mean, with that
win last night, they've now won four straight, swept the
Royals over the weekend in Kansas City. Hey, that's not nothing,
but three. You get beat three to one last night.
(00:23):
You only get that one run on the leadoff home
run by Jose al Tuova in the first And usually
the next metric we go to is runners left on base,
runners in scoring position, all of those things. Zero for
five with runners in scoring position. Not great, but it's
not the worst. And also you ground into two double
plays you line out into one, which that's another part
(00:46):
of it too as well. The hell's Jake Myers doing there?
I mean, that's little league baseball where you learn freeze
on a line drive, see it go through. Then you
take off, but his momentum carries him too far off
first base and he gets doubled up back there first.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yep, your natural reaction is not to go back. It's
your natural actions to go forward right and to be aggressive.
And so ball hit first. It's like when a ball
is a line drives city to center fielder, what do
they normally do for? I mean some take but one
you think it's going to be a sinking line drive,
you go up and ends up over your head and
sometimes you know what I'm saying, sure a charge. It's
(01:22):
the same thing here. I think the momentum naturally when
you see a line drive hit is too it's going through.
You're just it's reaction. The problem is you got to
the reaction's got to be so quick, the quick twitch
to get back to the base, and it almost freezes you,
you know, because you also say, well, if it's a
base hitting the gap or something I want to get through,
it's a bummer. But as a veteran you probably got
(01:43):
to know better. You just do. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean and especially too, I mean for being one
of the guys that you're counted on to be one
of the better base runners for this team. I mean
that's the frustrating part too. But you know that's one
of three double plays that you either lined it out
into or grounded into last night. And I mean the
other frustrations just continue. Where you get the home run
from Josel Tve that's nice. One for four night out
(02:09):
of him one for four with a single from Christian
Walker to twelve on the season, and a couple of
strikeouts you had to get when he faced Mason Miller
there in the ninth inning, I knew, without a shadow
of a doubt, this isn't gonna go.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well. Yeah, he can ramp it up a little bit
Canty one on one, Yeah, and that's on that that
may be on the low side at times, from he
can he can pump it up there. So yeah, no
shock there. I just I don't need him to hit
two eighty five, but two forty five, two sixty five
somewhere and that range would be nice. And what's he
(02:42):
at now, he's almost with nine home runs, eight home
runs somewhere in that range. Yeah, he's nine home runs
last season, so you know on pace to what hits
you of them? Yeah, I could use it about a
half dozen more right over that and maybe he'll go
on that street. But you're waiting. But it's the like
I said, that's why I don't jump through the ceiling.
(03:02):
When somebody goes four for four one night and they're
hitting one ninety seven, I got to see it's a
consistent of a month where you put together good at
bats well, and that's just it.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I mean, it's it's it's the frustrating saga that has
been Christian Walker through seventy two games this season.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And that position for the better part of three years now.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, bingo, I mean that's that's just been it that
you haven't been able to find anybody over there that
can consistently put together.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And Steve Sparks said yesterday good at bat right.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I mean, you've seen good things at times, But when
I pay three years, sixty million for a guy that's
supposed to shore up that position every once in a while,
just isn't gonna cut it.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, No, it's true. And it was a no brainer
to upgrade the position, right, and I think they did.
But you know, seventy plus games in, you're the frustration
of okay, win and if somebody tells me you know
who your team is or or the trend of your
team seven sixty to seventy seventy five games in, we're there.
(04:05):
And what happened Obviously the longer goes, but the batting average,
it's the slugging and the driving in runs and the
constant grade at bats for him that are gonna be
You don't. You don't think you sitting to ninety and
needed do I and we knew that wasn't gonna happen
when he came here. But there's got to be more
pop there. You just did without Jordon, and even with Jordon,
that's got to be in the lineup. Pardus can't lead
(04:25):
this team in home runs. That makes sense, he can,
but you get my point. He came back last night,
so yeah, it was less frustrated, right, and it obviously
pretty tough. Didn't let it keep him down very long,
took care of his business. So my point is is that,
I mean, what a blessing if he's able to, you know,
continue to hit the ball out of the ballpark. But
you're gonna need Walker and you're gonna need DZ and
(04:47):
you're gonna need Jordon Alvarez to do so because you
put a lot another you put a lot of strain
good pitching in the bullpen and last night starting pitching
for Gusta and you get to the ninth than a
guy you can rely on usually as your EIGHTHNY guy
you know, hangs one up there and gets hammered. So
pitching once again does everything that they need to do.
You give up three runs against the A's, you would
(05:10):
expect to win. I'll just put it to you that way.
You would hope, yeah, would And it doesn't shock me
how you know. When Mason Miller's pitching, I mean, you
better get it started early, and he's got some stuff
that everybody wants a piece of. Not the opposing hitter,
but every team would like to have that type of guy.
So yeah, Christian Walker, I'm curious to see what happens
(05:31):
when a guy like him starts if and when he
gets going. I know what happens to the team when
Jose does and you're done that if you get two
or three of those big bats in the middle that
we've talked about going At the same time, I'm looking
forward to seeing what this version of it looks like.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Well, and yet another night where the offense is minimal
at best for you, where you get the three runs
on Saturday, you get two on Sunday, and then you
get one yes, where you're just like like.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And your starting pitcher gave you another and that's just it.
Where it's it's another loss that I understand. There's also
been wins that you've had I mean Saturday and Sundays.
I just mentioned the pitching is what helped you win
that game? Again some walk off key hits.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Oh sure, and that's and that's fine, but it's just
it's also too Why do you continue to put your
pitchers in this position? That's the frustrating part of it all.
Why do you continue to do this? Like?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Where? Where is the change? When does it happen? Is it?
What kind of change you want? You want change in
the way they're doing it? Do you want change in
the lineup?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I want a guy that I'm paying sixty million over
three years to be able to be a reliable bat
in the middle of the lineup.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
So far he has not been. It is the frustration
also with him, not just the money and the expectation
bringing him here, but does the past at the position
for the last three years affect your thoughts too? It's
like it's hyper sensitive. I know it is for me
because of the lack of production at first base. It's
become on this team the last three years, it's become
(07:03):
a now. Christian Walker has a lot of respect around
the league, no doubt, and he can beat you with
the long ball, but for the most part teams are
not coming to this ballparker when you go visit them
on the road, sit there saying, man, I got a
lad Grail type at first baseball. You you got to
get him out right now, it's you pitch him pretty well,
(07:25):
you got a good chance of getting him out. And
that's going for a lot of the guys with the
bat in their hand on this team. It really is,
and especially in a part of the lineup where they
absolutely are going to have to have it. It is
such a and I know pitching goes out there and
expects to pitch well every night, but you're asking a
lot of them for you to be scoring one, two
and three runs. And you're also asking a lot of
(07:47):
yourself to be consistent with, oh it's one to one
and get the hit that gets you the walk off
single to write or gets you the walk off home
run like you saw for them last night or this
past weekend to get that or the sacrifice fly right.
You put a lot on you when it comes down
to one swing of the bat. Plus you also allow
average teams when you allow them to hang around, one
swing of the bat also can get you last night. Yeah,
(08:09):
so what happens is. It's like in football, you let
a team that sticks around for a minute, and they
stick around Vanderbilt Bama a couple of years ago, right,
let them stick aroundhere. They have no business playing with you,
just on the sheer skill set alone. They hang around
all sudden fourth quarter hits, you know what, they're even
looking around saying, one turnover on the right hit and
one big play and we beat them, and there you go.
(08:33):
It's the same thing here. You let teams you're supposed
to beat hang around. One swing of the bat sends
you to Game two and you've lost. You're already down
one in the series on the road in a minor
league ballpark. And that's exactly what happened. So you're asking
a lot and if let's be real, at some point
in time, dask these guys to go six and seven
(08:53):
innings and keep the score below three, and you're giving
them one or two. It's going to backfire on you
if continues. It just absolutely is. Well, the law of
averages tell you that it is. I mean, it's even
as a lot of metrics it'll point that out too.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
But even as good as this group has been, no doubt,
you cannot continue to think that this is sustainable, to
believe that you're going to continue winning games this week
because you're not well.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'll tell you what o'll rear its head is when
the pitching staff does go through a few struggles, and
as Steve Sparks said, it will happen. Sure it's a
long it happens to every one of them. It is.
What's going to happen is and you're scoring one or
two runs, then you're going to find that see that
winning streak where you win five out of six or
eight out of ten, or twelve out of fourteen, he'll
go the other way. You'll go two and ten on
(09:38):
your on the last twelve, you're gonna have to get
some You're asking a lot gusto pitch well enough, as
did the bullpen until you got to a brave You're
to win last night, and one run is not going
to do it on the road in a ballpark with
some feisty young players that are trying to prove that
they belong and you'll hang him. A high schooler is
going to hit that out of the ballpark if he's
a good player, because you couldn't have stuck it into
(09:59):
some Mick for any bass hanging there and hovering like
the matrix, and the guy it felt like you put
it on a tee and then he smoked it and
has the ballgame. So that's going to happen. And this
pitching staff doesn't blow much the hitting, the hitting's going
to have to improve.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Well, you keep walking the tightrope like that, soon enough
you fall off. And that's what happened to the Astros
last night again, losing on a walk off to run
Homer by Nick Kurtz there in the bottom of the
ninth inning. All right, for all of the things that
we've talked about this morning that have annoyed us with
the Astros, they did something yesterday that actually made us happy.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
We'll talk about it right here.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
It is the Shawn Salisbury Show, Sports Talk at seven
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