August 27, 2025 • 10 mins
Returning home to Daikin set to tee off their 9-game homestand, the Astros somehow stay afloat, still leading the division roughly 2 games ahead of the Mariners. Losing their series opener to the Colorado Rockies yesterday with a final of 6-1, many began to question if this Astros club can sustain their position atop of the AL West Division and through the postseason. Addressing a few things, Dana shares a few resolutions regarding the Astros' recent struggles and what to expect as we course through the last 30 games of the season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dana, welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
We're, you know, trying to figure out the psychological side.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
You see it all when you're playing a team you're
supposed to beat. And I know baseball is hard and
it's hard to win when you're playing a team. What's
the philosophy going in against the team that run differential
was three hundred and forty nine on the negative? One
two is they haven't they haven't won forty games. They're
coming into your building. You're trying to get hot. Jordan's
in the lineup. The mentality going into that game is
(00:26):
it easy to get casual because you're supposed to win.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, look here, this is this is what defines baseball
right here right you You take a first place team,
you take a first place team, and you take a
last place team, and you put them in the same ballpark.
And the beauty of baseball is you just don't know
who's going to win that particular game. And last night,
you know, there was a Coffly error that extended the inning,
(00:52):
and I mean it hurt, you know, and you know
we couldn't get the offense going. I mean that one
ball that I'll two they hit toward the gas the
Centifilda made a good play, If that ball gets down,
it's a whole different game. And so it's just it's baseball.
It's these kind of losses could be frustrating, you know,
because you're going in feeling really good. You know, you've
(01:14):
got a Hunter Brown on the mound, you're a first
place team, You're playing a team with the worst record
in baseball, and you feel really good about that game
going in. But you know, baseball sometimes like a game
of life. You know, you you come up on a
short end.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Dana, I know there's one hundred and sixty two of them.
And the grind and grit that you've talked about and
this held true for your team. Well, you talked about
the frustration of losing a game like that, But can
of loss like that become devastating in the end.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
No, you just have to flush it. You know. You
know you're a good team. You come back out today,
you love your chances again, you have Fromber going you know,
so you feel good about this game. And then tomorrow,
you know, we don't want to look ahead, but tomorrow
we have Alexander who's four and owns last four starts,
So you know, you know, you've got to rebound and
win the series, because that's what it's all about. You've
(02:06):
got to win the series. But you have to flush it.
You know, you can't dwell on it. You know, today's
a new day and if you dwell on the pass
and we'll bite you.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Dan, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but
I was talking about the numbers looking at you know,
the analytics of since July seventh, six and fourteen at
home hitting two ten, the strikeout to walk a bucks
seventy five to fifty nine. This I'm talking about the
astros and the starters at four eight one era and
Bolton era almost six and a half that since July
seventh and homes six and fourteen. Is there should we
(02:39):
be looking into this? I mean, should this bother us?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But is there something deeper than just the fact that
you just didn't have it those those twenty games.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, here's what I would say. All teams go through
this downward spiro during the course of a season and
you just have to spin out of it. Right, you've
got thirty games left, You're still up first place by
a game and a half. You know your opponents that
are right behind you, they have a pretty much a
tough schedule. You have to start winning baseball games. And
you know, you know, we've talked about this a couple
(03:11):
of weeks ago. I said, the team that makes the
least amount of state mistakes, we're going we're going to
finish on top. And you know, last night we made
a mistake that cost us, and so, uh, you know,
you have to uh, you know, cut down on your mistakes.
You're going to make them in baseball. It's just the
way the world goes in the in the in the
game of baseball and the game of sports. But you
(03:33):
have to make at least amount of mistakes as possible,
and that's where you know, last night it got us.
But look, we're still uh, we control our own fate.
We're still in the driver's seat. We're you know, a
game and a half up. We still have to play
Seattle as well, and so, uh, the next thing is
to get this series right. You've got to keep the
(03:54):
main thing the main thing. And that's what it's all
about tonight when tomorrow, when win.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
The series, Dana, this team is obviously talented, but are
they cape just looking at the numbers for the season,
and I know, you're you're the GM. Of course they're
capable in your eyes, but from a vantage point is
somebody who's not around it, from the fans vantage point
looking at it, you know, one hundred and thirty games
and you kind of understand who a team is and
they can go on a run.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
They're well, they're good enough to do it. Have they
been consistent enough to go on the run that you desire?
Offensively and quite frankly, with a pitching stat at the top,
who's who's struggling a little more than they have in
the past.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They've been so damn good.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is this team capable of rolling off twenty and ten
or eighteen and twelve the next thirty games?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, this team is absolutely capable, you know, and we
just have to get the job done. There comes a
time where you know, you got to really get the
job done. And we're at that point where it's like, okay,
let's get the job done. You know, we need to
win some baseball games in a row. We need to
on an eight game run in a row. Certainly, the
(05:03):
line up, if you look at our lineup, particularly with
you know, Jordan coming back, the lineup's really good, you know,
we got two big time starters at the top, so
we're built for the postseason. We just have to go
on our run, you know, win this division and go
deep into the postseason. And it's all right in front
of us. It's right there. It's a game and a
(05:23):
half up with thirty to go, with a good team,
a good ten, good defense, and so, you know, good rotation,
it's right there. We just have to take it right
and I mean then nobody's going to hand it to us.
You have to take it. And that's where we are
right now. I think this team for sure is certainly
(05:44):
good enough. You know, we have you know, a combination
now three lefties in the lineup. You know, at times
when we need to do it, we have some really
good hitters in this lineup, and so I think it's
all about taking it and not expecting anybody to hand
it to us.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Dana, what how would you you're you're a pitcher or
you're a manager on another team, how would you pitch
the Jordon judge and you're playing the Astros?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
How would you pitch him these last thirty games?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, I wouldn't want to pitch the Jordon, you know,
you know it's just like Jordon's pretty good, you know,
like you you saw a little bit of it last
night with the two Walks. You know, they pitched around them.
You know, think about it, he's oh for two with
two walks because they pretty much pitched around him. They
wouldn't give him anything to hit. And uh, and then
(06:33):
and that's how it's going to be. You know, we're
gonna have to, you know, uh make sure that some
of the other guys may have to pick pick us
up because if they continue to pitch around them, you know,
which it seems like they're going to do. You know,
it could it could make it make things a little
bit more difficult. But I think we have enough guys
in this lineup where there's really no escape, right and
(06:56):
so you know, but they're gonna, I really see that
they're going to pitch around them. You know. Maybe maybe
the guys coming in at the end of the game
that are throwing real hard, you know, they may go
right at them. But some of the starters I think
is gonna pitch around them.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, which is my concerned Ay, and you and I
talked about a little bit in your confidence that Jordan
makes everybody better and obviously he even changes the pitchers
approach right just with him in the lineup obviously, But
if you don't, it's almost like you got You've got
to get production for protection, because you and I both
know fort place, it's logical.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I'm not letting that cat beat me.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So I can literally take the bat out of his
hands if I don't get other guys that are forcing
you to have to pitch to him. And that's the concern.
Is there any concern that you're gonna see this the
next thirty days or do you believe wholeheartedly that the
Walkers and the diaz Is and the Koreas and the
al Twoves are going to hit enough for the other
teams to say we can't afford to put him on
(07:52):
with four pitches.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And also I think he's probably gonna hit a little
higher in the lineup, and then we're trying to get him,
you know, go back going again. Uh, And and they're
gonna look, there's gonna be no escape in this lineup,
and you try to walk yourd on, you're just gonna
put runners on base that are gonna end up scoring.
And so I feel very confident about you know, our
TV and Walker and Sanchez being able to drive Jordon
(08:17):
and if they walk them, you know, because those are
some of the guys that may hit behind them. But
you know, make no mistake, the team's good enough and
then lineup's deep enough that you can't just walk yourd
on and expect to win baseball games.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I'm gonna end with this one man, Thank you. I
know your schedule is busy. We appreciate you being able
to come on, uh on the shorter Notice this starting
pitching staff, you know you got there. Like you said,
you're built for playoffs when they're right. Is your starting
pitching staff right right now?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah? I mean, look, Hunter Brown's out in last night
was the quality start, you know. You know, he pitched
more you know, six and two thirds, and you know
he gave up like two earned runs and seven punchouts
with no walks, and so it's tough to be on
the losing end of that, you know. And so you know,
(09:10):
and then you have Fromber. You know, Farmer's been good.
You know the fact that Farmber won thirteen in a
row at one point, we've won thirteen in a row
at one point, and with his starts, I think he
was like ten and oh during that time, and so
you know, sure like Farmber's good, like he's the top
of the rotation guy, and you know we're getting some
guys back, you know, with Javier and Raghetti that we
(09:33):
you know, we're gonna expect to turn the corner. And
Alexander's been outstanding. As I mentioned this last four starts
were four and oh, and we're expecting him to you know,
throw well again on Thursday. And so, look, this rotation
is good enough. We have thirty games. We're good enough
in the rotation, We're really good in the bullpen. We
can catch the baseball defensively, we made the mistake last night,
(09:55):
and we could swing the bats. So you know, there's
there's not a mistake. While we're in first place, there's
no mistake. Even with all the injuries, there's still no
mistake that this team's really good. And so I would
expect that, you know, we should go on a run,
win the division, get deep into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Your ace last night six and two thirds. You said,
six hits, scattered, six runs, two earned, seven k's, no
base on balls. That's good enough to win most nights.
And it's going to have to be a little more
production to give him some run support.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And I'm not telling you anything you don't know, Dana.
Good luck. We appreciate you fitting it in. Man. It's
a dead sprint now, my man.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Until the finish, thirty games to go and we look
forward to next Wednesday's conversation.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Appreciate you absolutely dead sprint. Let's go ask those fans
hanging there. We're gonna get hot.
Dana, welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
We're, you know, trying to figure out the psychological side.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
You see it all when you're playing a team you're
supposed to beat. And I know baseball is hard and
it's hard to win when you're playing a team. What's
the philosophy going in against the team that run differential
was three hundred and forty nine on the negative? One
two is they haven't they haven't won forty games. They're
coming into your building. You're trying to get hot. Jordan's
in the lineup. The mentality going into that game is
(00:26):
it easy to get casual because you're supposed to win.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, look here, this is this is what defines baseball
right here right you You take a first place team,
you take a first place team, and you take a
last place team, and you put them in the same ballpark.
And the beauty of baseball is you just don't know
who's going to win that particular game. And last night,
you know, there was a Coffly error that extended the inning,
(00:52):
and I mean it hurt, you know, and you know
we couldn't get the offense going. I mean that one
ball that I'll two they hit toward the gas the
Centifilda made a good play, If that ball gets down,
it's a whole different game. And so it's just it's baseball.
It's these kind of losses could be frustrating, you know,
because you're going in feeling really good. You know, you've
(01:14):
got a Hunter Brown on the mound, you're a first
place team, You're playing a team with the worst record
in baseball, and you feel really good about that game
going in. But you know, baseball sometimes like a game
of life. You know, you you come up on a
short end.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Dana, I know there's one hundred and sixty two of them.
And the grind and grit that you've talked about and
this held true for your team. Well, you talked about
the frustration of losing a game like that, But can
of loss like that become devastating in the end.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
No, you just have to flush it. You know. You
know you're a good team. You come back out today,
you love your chances again, you have Fromber going you know,
so you feel good about this game. And then tomorrow,
you know, we don't want to look ahead, but tomorrow
we have Alexander who's four and owns last four starts,
So you know, you know, you've got to rebound and
win the series, because that's what it's all about. You've
(02:06):
got to win the series. But you have to flush it.
You know, you can't dwell on it. You know, today's
a new day and if you dwell on the pass
and we'll bite you.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Dan, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but
I was talking about the numbers looking at you know,
the analytics of since July seventh, six and fourteen at
home hitting two ten, the strikeout to walk a bucks
seventy five to fifty nine. This I'm talking about the
astros and the starters at four eight one era and
Bolton era almost six and a half that since July
seventh and homes six and fourteen. Is there should we
(02:39):
be looking into this? I mean, should this bother us?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
But is there something deeper than just the fact that
you just didn't have it those those twenty games.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, here's what I would say. All teams go through
this downward spiro during the course of a season and
you just have to spin out of it. Right, you've
got thirty games left, You're still up first place by
a game and a half. You know your opponents that
are right behind you, they have a pretty much a
tough schedule. You have to start winning baseball games. And
you know, you know, we've talked about this a couple
(03:11):
of weeks ago. I said, the team that makes the
least amount of state mistakes, we're going we're going to
finish on top. And you know, last night we made
a mistake that cost us, and so, uh, you know,
you have to uh, you know, cut down on your mistakes.
You're going to make them in baseball. It's just the
way the world goes in the in the in the
game of baseball and the game of sports. But you
(03:33):
have to make at least amount of mistakes as possible,
and that's where you know, last night it got us.
But look, we're still uh, we control our own fate.
We're still in the driver's seat. We're you know, a
game and a half up. We still have to play
Seattle as well, and so, uh, the next thing is
to get this series right. You've got to keep the
(03:54):
main thing the main thing. And that's what it's all
about tonight when tomorrow, when win.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
The series, Dana, this team is obviously talented, but are
they cape just looking at the numbers for the season,
and I know, you're you're the GM. Of course they're
capable in your eyes, but from a vantage point is
somebody who's not around it, from the fans vantage point
looking at it, you know, one hundred and thirty games
and you kind of understand who a team is and
they can go on a run.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
They're well, they're good enough to do it. Have they
been consistent enough to go on the run that you desire?
Offensively and quite frankly, with a pitching stat at the top,
who's who's struggling a little more than they have in
the past.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They've been so damn good.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Is this team capable of rolling off twenty and ten
or eighteen and twelve the next thirty games?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, this team is absolutely capable, you know, and we
just have to get the job done. There comes a
time where you know, you got to really get the
job done. And we're at that point where it's like, okay,
let's get the job done. You know, we need to
win some baseball games in a row. We need to
on an eight game run in a row. Certainly, the
(05:03):
line up, if you look at our lineup, particularly with
you know, Jordan coming back, the lineup's really good, you know,
we got two big time starters at the top, so
we're built for the postseason. We just have to go
on our run, you know, win this division and go
deep into the postseason. And it's all right in front
of us. It's right there. It's a game and a
(05:23):
half up with thirty to go, with a good team,
a good ten, good defense, and so, you know, good rotation,
it's right there. We just have to take it right
and I mean then nobody's going to hand it to us.
You have to take it. And that's where we are
right now. I think this team for sure is certainly
(05:44):
good enough. You know, we have you know, a combination
now three lefties in the lineup. You know, at times
when we need to do it, we have some really
good hitters in this lineup, and so I think it's
all about taking it and not expecting anybody to hand
it to us.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Dana, what how would you you're you're a pitcher or
you're a manager on another team, how would you pitch
the Jordon judge and you're playing the Astros?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
How would you pitch him these last thirty games?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, I wouldn't want to pitch the Jordon, you know,
you know it's just like Jordon's pretty good, you know,
like you you saw a little bit of it last
night with the two Walks. You know, they pitched around them.
You know, think about it, he's oh for two with
two walks because they pretty much pitched around him. They
wouldn't give him anything to hit. And uh, and then
(06:33):
and that's how it's going to be. You know, we're
gonna have to, you know, uh make sure that some
of the other guys may have to pick pick us
up because if they continue to pitch around them, you know,
which it seems like they're going to do. You know,
it could it could make it make things a little
bit more difficult. But I think we have enough guys
in this lineup where there's really no escape, right and
(06:56):
so you know, but they're gonna, I really see that
they're going to pitch around them. You know. Maybe maybe
the guys coming in at the end of the game
that are throwing real hard, you know, they may go
right at them. But some of the starters I think
is gonna pitch around them.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, which is my concerned Ay, and you and I
talked about a little bit in your confidence that Jordan
makes everybody better and obviously he even changes the pitchers
approach right just with him in the lineup obviously, But
if you don't, it's almost like you got You've got
to get production for protection, because you and I both
know fort place, it's logical.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I'm not letting that cat beat me.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So I can literally take the bat out of his
hands if I don't get other guys that are forcing
you to have to pitch to him. And that's the concern.
Is there any concern that you're gonna see this the
next thirty days or do you believe wholeheartedly that the
Walkers and the diaz Is and the Koreas and the
al Twoves are going to hit enough for the other
teams to say we can't afford to put him on
(07:52):
with four pitches.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And also I think he's probably gonna hit a little
higher in the lineup, and then we're trying to get him,
you know, go back going again. Uh, And and they're
gonna look, there's gonna be no escape in this lineup,
and you try to walk yourd on, you're just gonna
put runners on base that are gonna end up scoring.
And so I feel very confident about you know, our
TV and Walker and Sanchez being able to drive Jordon
(08:17):
and if they walk them, you know, because those are
some of the guys that may hit behind them. But
you know, make no mistake, the team's good enough and
then lineup's deep enough that you can't just walk yourd
on and expect to win baseball games.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I'm gonna end with this one man, Thank you. I
know your schedule is busy. We appreciate you being able
to come on, uh on the shorter Notice this starting
pitching staff, you know you got there. Like you said,
you're built for playoffs when they're right. Is your starting
pitching staff right right now?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah? I mean, look, Hunter Brown's out in last night
was the quality start, you know. You know, he pitched
more you know, six and two thirds, and you know
he gave up like two earned runs and seven punchouts
with no walks, and so it's tough to be on
the losing end of that, you know. And so you know,
(09:10):
and then you have Fromber. You know, Farmer's been good.
You know the fact that Farmber won thirteen in a
row at one point, we've won thirteen in a row
at one point, and with his starts, I think he
was like ten and oh during that time, and so
you know, sure like Farmber's good, like he's the top
of the rotation guy, and you know we're getting some
guys back, you know, with Javier and Raghetti that we
(09:33):
you know, we're gonna expect to turn the corner. And
Alexander's been outstanding. As I mentioned this last four starts
were four and oh, and we're expecting him to you know,
throw well again on Thursday. And so, look, this rotation
is good enough. We have thirty games. We're good enough
in the rotation, We're really good in the bullpen. We
can catch the baseball defensively, we made the mistake last night,
(09:55):
and we could swing the bats. So you know, there's
there's not a mistake. While we're in first place, there's
no mistake. Even with all the injuries, there's still no
mistake that this team's really good. And so I would
expect that, you know, we should go on a run,
win the division, get deep into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Your ace last night six and two thirds. You said,
six hits, scattered, six runs, two earned, seven k's, no
base on balls. That's good enough to win most nights.
And it's going to have to be a little more
production to give him some run support.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And I'm not telling you anything you don't know, Dana.
Good luck. We appreciate you fitting it in. Man. It's
a dead sprint now, my man.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Until the finish, thirty games to go and we look
forward to next Wednesday's conversation.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Appreciate you absolutely dead sprint. Let's go ask those fans
hanging there. We're gonna get hot.
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