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April 30, 2025 • 13 mins
Coming back home to Daikin from their series in Kansas City following the Royals taking 2 of the 3 from the Astros, the Astros seem to have shook back into gear as they've rolled on and have now taken 2 of the 3 games from the Detroit Tigers looking to gain the series sweep later this afternoon. Revisiting last years Wild Card round loss to the Tigers, Dana joins and shares a few takeaways from this series specifically in comparison to back then regarding how far the team has come from the year prior along with what he loved most coming out of this series here at home against Detroit.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dani, welcome in, my man. Good talk to you too.
Straight against Clee Cleveland against Detroit. Let me ask you
if I'd have said this to you, what twenty what
twenty nine games in? If I'd have said, your big
hitters hitting sub to twenty, your catcher's hitting sub two hundred,
and a new guy at first base is hitting sub
two twenty, and you're sixteen and thirteen, what would you

(00:22):
have said to me?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, I wouldn't even have projected that these guys would
have started to slow. But it's good. It's good to
see that these guys are heating up. And the main
thing is like, look, I would tell you anytime you pitch,
you're going to be in the game, and our pitch
has been doing very well.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Danny, you're pitching staff.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
I know it's early in the season and you talk
about the marathon and the grind, but if there's health
involved and this is what you get, you're all pitching
travels like defense. I would imagine you're a bit ecstatic,
and I know you didn't get all of it out
of it, but you know what, he hung in there last
night was able to grind. After a slow start, bullpen
came in hater had a few hiccups, but hasn't had

(01:04):
any for the most part this season. You've got to
be elated with the early start of your pitching staff.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, very very uh, you know, excited about what the
pitching's done, you know, pretty much led by Brown. Hunter
Brown's got a chance, you know, the pitcher at the
months he's thrown so well, you know, four and one
with a one two two Ernie, he's you know, with
a bunch of strikeouts, so he's thrown well. Uh, look,
we've been getting good starts. Our bullpen has been really good,

(01:34):
and it's really good to see that. You know, when
you have pitching, you win games.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Dana, is he from last year at this time?

Speaker 1 (01:42):
And I know we've discussed him, but is there one
particular thing that turned his fortune around from last year
at this time to this year at this time?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Brown?

Speaker 3 (01:56):
I know I'm talking about Hunter Brown.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yes, yeah, oh yeah, Brown. I think what happened was
when we added that two seamer last year. You know,
the guys couldn't just sit on that four scene fastball.
That two seemer is running in on the hands and
so with the disten of that pitch, you know, since
you know since last year. May first, I think he's
probably you know, got the best eur run average in baseball, Uh,

(02:21):
just just just ahead of Scooball, you know, and scooball
of course Cy Young.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
But look, ultimately Brown has been a big anchor for us.
He's been outstanding, you know, and he's been he's been,
he's been in the grind. So it just tells you
how much how good the makeup is when you can,
you know, he had such a slow start last year,
turned it on and has not taken his foot off
the gas.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Is Jeremy Pania taking on a leadership role just because
he's a I mean, more verbal or is this just
because the guy the way the guy runs and hustles
and plays defense. It feels to me like, even though
he's in the infancy of his career, it's all almost
like a leadership role is just being heaped upon him
in a good way, and he's taking it and running
with it. Now sitting up front of the leadoff spot,

(03:08):
I almost feel like he's making great maturity strides as
a leader on this team. You can have more than one,
but he sure is embracing it.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Dana, Yeah, I like the way Joe mixed the match
with the lineup just to you know, get some guys
hot and it's working, you know, putting Jeremy at the
top of the order. You know, he's taken well to it.
You know, hopefully he keeps it up. You know, he is,
you know, Jeremy was, you know, a quiet leader even
you know before you know, we all know the postseason

(03:37):
twenty twenty two Jeremy. But you know, Jeremy will take
on some leadership roles, you know, just because you know,
being the shortstop, you're the general first of all. And
then you know, I think guys gravitate to him. They
really like him, and it's been excited. It's been exciting
to watch.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
And Christian Walker used to you were talking about him
hitting the ball hard. Thanks are starting to come around
for him, You feeling good about even though the average
isn't where it wants to be. Ball jumped out of
the park this past weekend. It feels like he's starting
to see it a little bit better.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, overy's last ten games. You know, he's got a
nine eighty two OPS, so he's been really swinging the
bat well, with three home runs in that stretch. So
you know, he's coming around, and look, he's been so
so good at first base as well. So you know,
then once that bat comes around, you know, I think
guys will see, you know, while we signed them, because
you know, this guy's got a chance to get to

(04:32):
that high ops with power and play elite defense at
first So uh, you know, you don't win at go glove,
you know, by accident. You know, you really have to
be good over there, and he's been really good.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Dang, if somebody asked you at a speech or something
you weren't on radio, and said, tell me about the
depth of your team, non starters, how would you describe him?

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, I mean these guys could start on other clubs,
you know. I mean I think that's what you want
from your death, you know, just you know, looking at
a guy like you know, Karantini for example. Karantini can
go to most places and be an everyday catcher, you know,
catch more than one hundred games if he had to,
you know, and we we have guys on the bench,

(05:16):
you know, d Bonds can can play everywhere. I mean,
just a very good piece to have, you know. Uh,
and that's just the valuable piece. You know, when you
can play seven different positions and be above average to
plus at each one of these, uh you know positions
in Descenzo, you know, he's a young, you know, young

(05:37):
star with power. He's got a chance to you know,
play every day somewhere else. And so uh, you know,
these these guys that we have, you know, on the bench,
and and and look we think about it. We have McCormick,
who's who's had over an eight hundred ops with over
twenty home runs, but you know, just a couple of
years ago. So these guys really look, our bench is

(06:00):
really strong, and you know we joke and mix and match.
He can give guys days off, as you guys will see.
I think, uh, you know, Joe's done a good job
of you know, mixing this lineup up, you know, from
the slow start to starting to get guys to hit.
And so yeah, it's a it's a good bench, you know,
it's a good bench to have.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Astro's GM Dana Brown for his weekly visit for a
few more minutes here Sports Talk seven nine. You mentioned McCormick.
It can be tough on guys, like you said, you
mentioned the season he had two years ago, had his
struggles last year. But when you are in a platoon,
but getting starts and not starting. It's tough on guys
that are competitive. How how is he handling not being

(06:40):
an everyday player, Dana, It looks like he's handling it well.
And it looks like this team, which is always hard
to break the lineup, you got a bunch of guys
that just kind of come to work without bitching and complaining.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, look, he's you know, he's well aware, like, look
he's starting, he's off to a slow start, but he's grinding.
You know, he's doing things like getting a new mustache.
You know, I'll tell you that and let you know that. Look,
I'm i'm, i'm i'm, I'm trying all kinds of ways
to get myself back into this. And you know, he's
been great here in this organization, played on some really

(07:11):
good teams. Uh, you know, he's taken to this new
role and you know, look he's not he's not giving in.
I mean, he's working his tail off. He wants to be,
you know, a starter. So I think he's going to
continue to grind and work his way back in the
lineup if you could. But I you know, I've always said,
you know, competition is not the enemy of wins. When
you have good competition, you to have a good chance

(07:33):
to win a lot of ball games. And I think
healthy competition is very, very good for any club in
any sport.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Danny, you mentioned your pitching staff. I want to get
back that. I ask you this, I think the last
two years around this time every year, and I'm going
to ask it again, and I know things change. It's long,
but considered as we sit now, injuries included, is this
a World Series pitching staff today?

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah. Look, I mean we're gonna get my colors back
here soon, you know, hopefully he comes in and that
to the mix. But when you have two pillars at
the top of your rotation, you know, uh and Framburgh
and Brown. You know, you got Valdez and Brown right
there at the top. Those are two big pillars. I mean,
you know, not many clubs you know have that. You know,

(08:20):
we we lost you know, Arraghetti. You know, hopefully he'll
be back at some point. But you know, that's another
guy that's that's really good in the rotation. This rotation
is in pretty good shape, you know, And I think
we can definitely get back to the World Series with
this rotation and so I'm you know, with the with
the way the rotation is setting up, and you know,

(08:42):
we got some guys coming back, and the bullpen's been good.
You know, make no mistake, you can't fake your way
into what we're doing right now and as a pitching staff,
and these guys have been really good.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
What do you expect from blue Ball tonight?

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, I expect blue Ball to take the ball. Pick
the ball tonight and you know, be anywhere from ninety
five to ninety eight. I expect him to grind through it.
I know he's a fighter. I feel strongly that you know,
you'll give us four or five inmes, maybe more, but
you know, look, this will be his opening start. We're
all fired up for him, and I think he's gonna

(09:21):
really show what he's capable of doing. And to let
everybody know that, look, we got a depth starter that's
making a start tonight who's gonna probably be somewhere between
ninety five and ninety eight. That's pretty good to have
as your depth.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, and I'm sure he's excited about him. Back to
Lance McCullers, you mentioned hope to have him back soon.
Do we have a timeline or a close date yet Dana,
that we're looking at.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think he's gonna make any
more rehab starts. You know, I think he's gonna throw
a bullpen and then we'll decide where we're gonna slide
him into, you know, the rotation you know we got,
you know, that stretch coming up of seventeen straight games,
we're probably gonna we're probably gonna go to a six
man rotation. He'll probably be one of them. So you know,

(10:04):
if all goes well, you know, he should be back
very soon.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Dana.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
I know we don't have to get into the money
or any of that stuff. And I know you guys
negotiating private, but just I guess it's an obligatory question.
With from Er you mentioned and our talk started now,
or is this an off season move for you guys.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
With fromber.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Well, talks haven't started, but you know, you know, we
at some point, I feel like, you know, you know,
we'll talk with the agent and Forember, but you know,
we we we haven't started to talk right now. We're
focused on you know, getting you know, multi you know,
double figure games over five hundred, you know, getting that,

(10:47):
you know, winning that division, getting deep back into the postseason.
But I'm sure you know, at some point, you know,
we're gonna have some discussions.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Do we think Garcia is going to pitch this year
for you guys.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Dana, Yeah, I think act year we'll pitch. You know,
I think you know he's gonna he's already throwing, you know,
seventy five to one hundred feet, it's all flat ground.
But look, I think at some point he'll he'll get back,
you know, on this in this rotation, and you know

(11:19):
we're probably going to need him because you know, one
hundred and sixty two games, you know, a lot could
happen in the rotation, but you know, we're optimistic that
he'll definitely return.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Come from behind point yep, come from behind wins the
last two days, Dana. We were at this point last
year and twelve and twenty four. I mean, we hadn't
played that many games yet. But man, this has got
to be with all the changes in the different things
you guys have had to do this offseason to get
this team ready and injuries, you've got to feel pretty
good about being three games over five hundred right now.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, I mean last year at this time we were
ten and nineteen, you know, we were nine hunder and well,
I feel really good about where the team is. We
made some decisions just offseason that we're you know, not
all easy decisions, but we tried to construct this team
to win in the present and also win in the future.
And these guys have answered the call and they're playing

(12:11):
well right now, and we hope they continue to battle
through it and play well. So you know, like I said,
the goal is, let's let's get multiple double figure games
over five hundred, you know, and and continue to continue
to win, win ball games, get this division, get deep
back into the postseason, and.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
We'll finish with this.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
When that hitting on a regular basis matches the pitching,
it's going to be hell to pay for opposing teams,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
I told you, Once these bats come along, man, this
team will be on all cylinders. We you know, the defense,
we haven't even talked about the defense in this segment,
but the defense has been outstanding. So you take the pitching,
the defense, and if once these come around, I'm telling
you right now, we're we're in for a treat astro fans.
So you know, things are starting to move in the

(12:57):
right direction.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Dana. We appreciate you, mom. Man.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Thanks, He will look forward to next week's conversation. Keep
it rolling, get another one today, man sixteen and thirteen.
Good start, all right, take care shutting, let's go.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
There you go. That's Dana Brown.
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