June 5, 2025 • 9 mins
Following their 3-0 Game 1 shutout against Paul Skenes on Tuesday and moving along to Game 2 yesterday, the Pirates turnaround and shut the Astros out with a final score of 3-0 now evening the series 1-1. Assessing yesterday's game noting the Astros constant struggles in finding ways to put up runs with runners in the scoring position, has played quite a factor in the games they tend to lose. Focusing on Cristian Walker and still without Yordan, Dan and Cole share what adjustments should be made to counter their struggles until their home run slugger returns to the lineup.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three, two, one, two, five, seven to ninety. The number
to get in JTC right there gets you in a second.
But I mean, we've seen this reluctance to move Christian
Walker the cleanup spot in the past, and at times
it has paid dividends, and especially to I get it.
You don't have Jordan Alvarez right now. But I brought
this up last night Cole on the tenth Inning Show.
(00:21):
I think you guys know that I'm an LSU fan.
Most people probably know that about me. And on Monday night,
LSU was able to beat Little Rock. And if you've
been watching the college you know the super Regionals that
are coming up this weekend, Regionals last weekend, you know
you've been following along of who's still in all of
those different things. But it's the LSU example. They have
a guy on their team, Jared Jones, one of their
(00:44):
best hitters on the team, one of their best power hitters,
all of those things. I think he had batted second
all season long. He'd been struggling mightily SEC tournament and
in the regionals, and they finally decided to shake things
up on Monday night and they moved them down to
six spot and j Johnson's reasoning for it was, I
feel like the first five guys are gonna put together
(01:05):
really tough at bats for the pitcher that you wear
him down and you just can't keep redlining all the
way through the lineup. You're going to let up at
a certain point. And you feel like that that point
he could let up at is number six. I feel like,
let's just try it out for a couple of games,
have him there, and in even more than a couple
of games a week two, Christian Walker in the sixth spot,
(01:27):
Victor Karattini as your cleanup man right now, and just
see how it goes in terms of the at bats.
Karatini's gonna put together at a good at bat. Karatine's
gonna put the ball in play. Is he gonna give
you the power that Christian Walker can. No, he's not.
But at the same time, he's going to make it
a tougher at bat than Christian Walker is right now.
Because we touched on it earlier. He misses that first pitch,
(01:49):
the rest of his at bat is gone.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I don't disagree with you about moving him because he
shouldn't be in the four hole at this point. And
when we have the results, and we also look at
the numbers in the five hole, he's pretty decent. At
least he's better in the five hole than he is
in the four hole.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
His splits have been incredibly better in the five and
then also in the three this year, Why.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Not the two hole?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Just humor me for a second. Why not the two
hole because of at least then let's say Jeremy Panga
doesn't get on base. All right, but you're down zero two.
But let's say he does get on base, it's your
first out versus him being in a situation where maybe
you're gonna have multiple rations scoring position. So you start
off the game Jeremy Paanya walks, Estoch Grants gets a single.
Then you get a Jose al Tuove, you get a
(02:30):
Joseel two by walk, so bass is loaded. Then we
throw in Kartini in the four hole, he strikes out,
Yannid is in the five hole, he strikes out. Now
you get Christian Walker up.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
To the plate.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, then it's even more so a blow because if
you had the bases loaded and still the results are
in paving the way, and he's probably the last guy
that you trust right now to drive in a run.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
But when you throw.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Him in the two hole, even if he does get
on base, okay, he gets on base at least, then
you're putting him in a position to where ninety percent
of the time runners in position are not going to
be in play for him to be able to drive
them in or to disappoint and feel to meet expectations.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I mean, it's also to you figure that your two
your two hole guys gonna have as many opportunities, maybe
even more to get more at bats. But also I
mean the way that the bottom of your lineup has
hit right that it's going to be RBI situations those
have been when he struggled at times this year. I
just I feel like taking that pressure off of him,
moving him down a couple of spots as opposed to
(03:26):
moving them up a couple of spots, I think that
that plays out more dividends.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
The question that I have right now is and it's
the youurd on effect, because when you have your on
in the lineup, it allows you to do a couple
of things a little bit different, whether that be your
on in the four hole or pitch differently right. But
also you're on in the three hole, you're on in
the two hole. Printers can move down, you can move
carotene up, you can move Yaner up if you want to.
That's the issue right now. I just I don't know
how far down I want to move Christian Walker, because
(03:51):
I agree with you in the sense of the way
that you're seven eight nine's hitting, you are going to
have more situations. And Jeremy Paine has been seeing this,
but with him leading off, you can have more situations
to drive into runs. But I feel like starting off
the game is the issue for Christian Walker. Ninety percent
of the time when he gets on base first at bat,
when he's able to drive the ball first at bat,
he gains a little bit more confidence. I think that
(04:12):
he looks his pitch, looks at the pitches differently. I
think he also is more balanced and consistent when selecting
what way he wants to go. So if you start
him off early in the two hole, let's just say
it's like for four games and he ends up going
in all four games, he goes three for four with
his leadoff hit, the first inning hit. At least you
know that maybe at this point he's gaining that confidence
(04:34):
to know what he's looking at when it comes to
the pitch.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I mean, it's just that's also been a problem for him,
is I mean I touched on it, you know, the
early in the count and then finding himself in two
strike counts, finding himself behind a one whatever it might be,
where then it's the pitcher's game, it's not yours. I mean,
that's something that you want to talk about approach and
being able to change things up. I mean that's I
(04:57):
think at nauseum and maybe Alex and Tron and Troyce
Nicker doing this with them, of showing him on the
iPad of hey, look look at how much better you
are when you offer first pitch and you are able
to put the ball in play as opposed to trying
to hit from behind as you've done for most of
the season.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, at this point, it doesn't feel like that he's
earned the right to be able to go up there
thinking that I can swing at first pitch, Like it's
not the Hoseal Twova treatment, who for the last five
years was batt in three to zero two, three, twenty
three and had earned that respect of hey, if it's
even close to the zone, I'm swinging because I know
that I can hit it like he hasn't earned that right.
So I think the entire approach for Christian Walker right
(05:34):
now has got to be wait until you see your
pitch now again, I agree with you after that four
pitch walking. You see what happened last night, that hanging
slider that is usually gonna go four hundred and twenty
feet if you swing properly, especially with the guy who
asked that not much power like Christian Walker. But at
the same time, you got to make sure that your
pitch count is selective. And I think that he's so
(05:57):
much in his head right now when it comes to
what am I looking looking at versus what am I
seeing that's out there? How many guys are in base,
how many guys are on base? What is my situation
where if I if I ground it out, am I
going to be in trouble? Like it's so much going
on in his brain that he's not able. I think
to focus in on the actual pitch count.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, I mean, you know he should. Doesn't mean it
necessarily does, and that's been the problem. I mean again,
you're batt in two o eight right now, Well, that
means that a lot of things are not going to
your direction. In terms of trying to be able to
produce at the plate. But sebone three two one, two,
five seven ninety. Let's up in Illinois, j T. Good morning, JT.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Hey, well, first up, the Extro's got to win this
series today on the road with Fromber pitching. But I
just wanted to say a couple of things. So the
run that this organization has been on since twenty fifteen
is unbelievable. And I look at this season, you know,
thirty three and twenty five. I think most people would say,
(06:58):
you know, if you look at this part of season,
would you say, would you take thirty three and twenty
five at the beginning of the year and then factor
in the most feared hitter in baseball other than Otani
hasn't played much of that. And I'll just say this
because the Astros don't aren't in a position to probably
make a big deal at the trade deadline. So the
one thing I like about Jordon being out is if
(07:21):
he's out for an extended period of time and he
comes back and he's one hundred percent healthy, I mean
that's going to be the key, that's the spark that
lineup needs. And the other thing that I think is
the key for them is And I don't know if
it's just an outlier with the last couple of games
mccullors is pitched, but I mean if he gets on
a roll, I like the prospects for the Astros with
(07:42):
the top three, and then I think this team, and
again this it's dependent on yourdon being one hundred percent healthy.
But I think this team kind of reminds me of
the twenty twenty two Phillies when they had Nola and Wheeler.
You remember they just kind of limped basically to the
finish line, but the series lined up perfectly for them
(08:02):
and they threw their top two and they usually got
up two to zero in those series because if you
remember that year they almost blew it against the Cardinals.
They had to rally to win that game. So I
think if Fromber and Hunter Brown stay healthy, I think
the Astros are in a pretty good position. And again
it's all it's it's the key to yourd on. I mean,
if he's if he's seriously going to come back in
(08:24):
one hundred percent healthy, I think this team is in
a pretty good position to compete in the the American
League playoff system. Because I don't and maybe you guys
can elaborate on this. Do you look at any American
League team right now and say, oh, man, I'm really
scared of this team, because I think most teams in
(08:44):
the AL right now, if you throw them in a
basically a bag, you say, what, who's the best team
right now? I really haven't noticed a clear cut Hey,
here's the favorite to win the American League. But anyway,
I hang out. I'll hang up and listen and level
listening every morning. Thanks a lot, Hey, thanks JT.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I mean it gets back to what I said earlier
June the fifth. I mean I don't need to be great,
you know, on June the fifth. I need to be
great on October the fifth. And to his points, and
we can talk about this a little bit after we
hit the stakeout, but I mean, to his point, I
need my best baseball August, September, October, that's when I
(09:23):
need my best.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Sure, I know that we gotta get to a point,
and we gotta get to a break. There is one
team I think right now you can claim currently as
the favorite in the American League that you should fear.
And we'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, for sure, we'll continue the Astros conversation here in
this hour number two, but coming up a trend that
is pretty funny and I don't know if you've done it.
We'll talk about it here. It is The Sean Salisbury Show,
Sports Talk seven ninety
Three, two, one, two, five, seven to ninety. The number
to get in JTC right there gets you in a second.
But I mean, we've seen this reluctance to move Christian
Walker the cleanup spot in the past, and at times
it has paid dividends, and especially to I get it.
You don't have Jordan Alvarez right now. But I brought
this up last night Cole on the tenth Inning Show.
(00:21):
I think you guys know that I'm an LSU fan.
Most people probably know that about me. And on Monday night,
LSU was able to beat Little Rock. And if you've
been watching the college you know the super Regionals that
are coming up this weekend, Regionals last weekend, you know
you've been following along of who's still in all of
those different things. But it's the LSU example. They have
a guy on their team, Jared Jones, one of their
(00:44):
best hitters on the team, one of their best power hitters,
all of those things. I think he had batted second
all season long. He'd been struggling mightily SEC tournament and
in the regionals, and they finally decided to shake things
up on Monday night and they moved them down to
six spot and j Johnson's reasoning for it was, I
feel like the first five guys are gonna put together
(01:05):
really tough at bats for the pitcher that you wear
him down and you just can't keep redlining all the
way through the lineup. You're going to let up at
a certain point. And you feel like that that point
he could let up at is number six. I feel like,
let's just try it out for a couple of games,
have him there, and in even more than a couple
of games a week two, Christian Walker in the sixth spot,
(01:27):
Victor Karattini as your cleanup man right now, and just
see how it goes in terms of the at bats.
Karatini's gonna put together at a good at bat. Karatine's
gonna put the ball in play. Is he gonna give
you the power that Christian Walker can. No, he's not.
But at the same time, he's going to make it
a tougher at bat than Christian Walker is right now.
Because we touched on it earlier. He misses that first pitch,
(01:49):
the rest of his at bat is gone.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I don't disagree with you about moving him because he
shouldn't be in the four hole at this point. And
when we have the results, and we also look at
the numbers in the five hole, he's pretty decent. At
least he's better in the five hole than he is
in the four hole.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
His splits have been incredibly better in the five and
then also in the three this year, Why.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Not the two hole?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Just humor me for a second. Why not the two
hole because of at least then let's say Jeremy Panga
doesn't get on base. All right, but you're down zero two.
But let's say he does get on base, it's your
first out versus him being in a situation where maybe
you're gonna have multiple rations scoring position. So you start
off the game Jeremy Paanya walks, Estoch Grants gets a single.
Then you get a Jose al Tuove, you get a
(02:30):
Joseel two by walk, so bass is loaded. Then we
throw in Kartini in the four hole, he strikes out,
Yannid is in the five hole, he strikes out. Now
you get Christian Walker up.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
To the plate.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, then it's even more so a blow because if
you had the bases loaded and still the results are
in paving the way, and he's probably the last guy
that you trust right now to drive in a run.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
But when you throw.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Him in the two hole, even if he does get
on base, okay, he gets on base at least, then
you're putting him in a position to where ninety percent
of the time runners in position are not going to
be in play for him to be able to drive
them in or to disappoint and feel to meet expectations.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I mean, it's also to you figure that your two
your two hole guys gonna have as many opportunities, maybe
even more to get more at bats. But also I
mean the way that the bottom of your lineup has
hit right that it's going to be RBI situations those
have been when he struggled at times this year. I
just I feel like taking that pressure off of him,
moving him down a couple of spots as opposed to
(03:26):
moving them up a couple of spots, I think that
that plays out more dividends.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
The question that I have right now is and it's
the youurd on effect, because when you have your on
in the lineup, it allows you to do a couple
of things a little bit different, whether that be your
on in the four hole or pitch differently right. But
also you're on in the three hole, you're on in
the two hole. Printers can move down, you can move
carotene up, you can move Yaner up if you want to.
That's the issue right now. I just I don't know
how far down I want to move Christian Walker, because
(03:51):
I agree with you in the sense of the way
that you're seven eight nine's hitting, you are going to
have more situations. And Jeremy Paine has been seeing this,
but with him leading off, you can have more situations
to drive into runs. But I feel like starting off
the game is the issue for Christian Walker. Ninety percent
of the time when he gets on base first at bat,
when he's able to drive the ball first at bat,
he gains a little bit more confidence. I think that
(04:12):
he looks his pitch, looks at the pitches differently. I
think he also is more balanced and consistent when selecting
what way he wants to go. So if you start
him off early in the two hole, let's just say
it's like for four games and he ends up going
in all four games, he goes three for four with
his leadoff hit, the first inning hit. At least you
know that maybe at this point he's gaining that confidence
(04:34):
to know what he's looking at when it comes to
the pitch.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I mean, it's just that's also been a problem for him,
is I mean I touched on it, you know, the
early in the count and then finding himself in two
strike counts, finding himself behind a one whatever it might be,
where then it's the pitcher's game, it's not yours. I mean,
that's something that you want to talk about approach and
being able to change things up. I mean that's I
(04:57):
think at nauseum and maybe Alex and Tron and Troyce
Nicker doing this with them, of showing him on the
iPad of hey, look look at how much better you
are when you offer first pitch and you are able
to put the ball in play as opposed to trying
to hit from behind as you've done for most of
the season.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, at this point, it doesn't feel like that he's
earned the right to be able to go up there
thinking that I can swing at first pitch, Like it's
not the Hoseal Twova treatment, who for the last five
years was batt in three to zero two, three, twenty
three and had earned that respect of hey, if it's
even close to the zone, I'm swinging because I know
that I can hit it like he hasn't earned that right.
So I think the entire approach for Christian Walker right
(05:34):
now has got to be wait until you see your
pitch now again, I agree with you after that four
pitch walking. You see what happened last night, that hanging
slider that is usually gonna go four hundred and twenty
feet if you swing properly, especially with the guy who
asked that not much power like Christian Walker. But at
the same time, you got to make sure that your
pitch count is selective. And I think that he's so
(05:57):
much in his head right now when it comes to
what am I looking looking at versus what am I
seeing that's out there? How many guys are in base,
how many guys are on base? What is my situation
where if I if I ground it out, am I
going to be in trouble? Like it's so much going
on in his brain that he's not able. I think
to focus in on the actual pitch count.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, I mean, you know he should. Doesn't mean it
necessarily does, and that's been the problem. I mean again,
you're batt in two o eight right now, Well, that
means that a lot of things are not going to
your direction. In terms of trying to be able to
produce at the plate. But sebone three two one, two,
five seven ninety. Let's up in Illinois, j T. Good morning, JT.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Hey, well, first up, the Extro's got to win this
series today on the road with Fromber pitching. But I
just wanted to say a couple of things. So the
run that this organization has been on since twenty fifteen
is unbelievable. And I look at this season, you know,
thirty three and twenty five. I think most people would say,
(06:58):
you know, if you look at this part of season,
would you say, would you take thirty three and twenty
five at the beginning of the year and then factor
in the most feared hitter in baseball other than Otani
hasn't played much of that. And I'll just say this
because the Astros don't aren't in a position to probably
make a big deal at the trade deadline. So the
one thing I like about Jordon being out is if
(07:21):
he's out for an extended period of time and he
comes back and he's one hundred percent healthy, I mean
that's going to be the key, that's the spark that
lineup needs. And the other thing that I think is
the key for them is And I don't know if
it's just an outlier with the last couple of games
mccullors is pitched, but I mean if he gets on
a roll, I like the prospects for the Astros with
(07:42):
the top three, and then I think this team, and
again this it's dependent on yourdon being one hundred percent healthy.
But I think this team kind of reminds me of
the twenty twenty two Phillies when they had Nola and Wheeler.
You remember they just kind of limped basically to the
finish line, but the series lined up perfectly for them
(08:02):
and they threw their top two and they usually got
up two to zero in those series because if you
remember that year they almost blew it against the Cardinals.
They had to rally to win that game. So I
think if Fromber and Hunter Brown stay healthy, I think
the Astros are in a pretty good position. And again
it's all it's it's the key to yourd on. I mean,
if he's if he's seriously going to come back in
(08:24):
one hundred percent healthy, I think this team is in
a pretty good position to compete in the the American
League playoff system. Because I don't and maybe you guys
can elaborate on this. Do you look at any American
League team right now and say, oh, man, I'm really
scared of this team, because I think most teams in
(08:44):
the AL right now, if you throw them in a
basically a bag, you say, what, who's the best team
right now? I really haven't noticed a clear cut Hey,
here's the favorite to win the American League. But anyway,
I hang out. I'll hang up and listen and level
listening every morning. Thanks a lot, Hey, thanks JT.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I mean it gets back to what I said earlier
June the fifth. I mean I don't need to be great,
you know, on June the fifth. I need to be
great on October the fifth. And to his points, and
we can talk about this a little bit after we
hit the stakeout, but I mean, to his point, I
need my best baseball August, September, October, that's when I
(09:23):
need my best.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Sure, I know that we gotta get to a point,
and we gotta get to a break. There is one
team I think right now you can claim currently as
the favorite in the American League that you should fear.
And we'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, for sure, we'll continue the Astros conversation here in
this hour number two, but coming up a trend that
is pretty funny and I don't know if you've done it.
We'll talk about it here. It is The Sean Salisbury Show,
Sports Talk seven ninety
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