Steve Sparks, former MLB pitcher and Astros radio broadcaster, joins The Sean Salisbury Show following Sunday's 12-6 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In his fourth start since missing over two months with neck stiffness, Justin Verlander allowed eight runs and eight hits with no strikeouts in three innings, his second-shortest start with the Astros. Verlander showed "encouraging signs with his velocity," but has put his playoff rotation spot into question following poor starts. "If anybody can fix it, he can," Sparks said. Despite a rough beginning to the month of September for Spencer Arrighetti, giving up nine runs in the first inning Wednesday, the Astros "pitching staff has been unbelievable," led by Yusei Kikuchi, Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez. The Astros hold a 4.5-game lead above the Seattle Mariners in the AL West and will host the Oakland Athletics for a three-game series starting Tuesday. "The Astros are going to have to slug to beat them."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
As we do every single Monday at eight thirty, we
welcome in Astro's badcaster, Steve Sparks. We sure do Steve
Sparks for his weekly visit at eight thirty. Great to
have him on four and a half game lead for
the Astros. Tough one, but took two out of three
from the Diamondbacks Arizona. I mean the Oakland Athletics in
town starting tomorrow night. Steve, welcome in. Let's first go here.
(00:20):
What's wrong with Justin Verlander from your vantage point.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, it's not velocity.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I mean, last night's velocity was up a couple of
months four hours, so that was encouraging. And for me,
you know he talked about it was more about his
off speed stuff, his curved, his slider.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
He didn't feel like he commanded that well, so probably
guys were just setting on the fastball.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
For me, it was more fastball location because of the
way the fastball profiled.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But what I mean is like, usually his fastball has
really true ride on that pitch where it looks.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Like it hops, and I thought last night a lot
of those fastballs tailed so he couldn't get inside to
the LEFTI peved Smith got him a couple of times.
I think fastballs trying to get inside it bleeds back
over the middle of the plate toward the barrel of
the lefties. I thought was problematic. But when the velocity
is there, I think there's a fix there. And if
(01:12):
anybody can fix something. I don't want to be too
fluffy about this, but I think that was some encouraging
signs with his velocity ticked up about two or three
miles per hour.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Again, yeah, Steve, Aside from that velocity, we you know, fans,
we all react quy, we need jerk. You see it
every day, instant. And we're looking at a guy in
the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been so good and
you trust him because he knows him, then he'll go
to work. But that being said, the trend has been
struggling for the least what three or four starts. So
is that if this trend continues, and I know this
(01:42):
is tough, but I got to ask it, how can
he be one of the rotation guys once we get
to the postseason. If this is the if these are
the results we.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
See, well there's still some time to go. So that's
all I'm going to say about that. Is justin Verlanders.
So if anybody can fix it, he can. And all
I'm going to say about is his velocity was I
think he can fix it. I think just you know,
just probably a couple of tweaks here and there to
get things back under control. And if he doesn't, then
you deal with it at the end of the road.
(02:10):
So I think the main thing right now is the
Astros have a few weeks. He's got three or four
starts left, see if he can make some adjustments, because
when he's at his best.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You need him.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Oh boy. And that the true Steve Sparks for his
weekly visit, Steve. If I were to tell you in
spring training that this was going to happen, what's happened
with all the injuries this year, the Verlander struggles now,
all those things with the pitching staff, and I said,
they're going to be four and a half games in
front of first place, and Kyle Tucker out, we can
include that as well, and Bregman struggles early. And I
said their four and a half game in front of
(02:41):
first place and that the pitching staff has been a strength.
Would you have told me I was nuts?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, I wouldn't have thought they would have been able
to score enough runs. I didn't see, you know, the
arrogant He's coming out of the woodwork, you know, to
come and be as good as he's been. We'll see
how he bounces back from a rough one in Cincinnati
against Oakland on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
So uh, But just overall, the pitching stats have been unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I thought it was a great pickup to get Fakucci
Uh and the ash Sean. You look at what they've
done against the contenders. They've played very well against the
hopeful so far all around Baseball National League, American League,
they've got favorable records against the majority of all those
contenders for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Steve this, I mean watching this team and not only
at the plate, but on the mound and seeing that
the way they've played against good teams. Now as we
go to the stretch run of teams like Oakland come
to town, is the hitting where you wanted to be
Where we are today, pitching seems like it is for
the most part, is the hitting where you want it
to be.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Well, it was the first time you got the big
four in the lineup for the first time in three months,
you know, since June third, and Tucker went down.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You weren't able to get you know.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Your best hitters, al Toovey, Bragman, Alvareza, Tucker and the
same lineup together in a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So Bregman's probably going to deal with some things from
time to time. I'm encouraged by his heart outs. Jordan
and Altuve are swinging.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
The bats great, and Tucker probably within a week will
start to have a lot better timing.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So I don't think it could come at a better time.
You know, you might have some of these guys.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Pretty well rested going into the playoffs, including Sean. I'll
say this, it's been a weird stretch for the Astros
this last week since since we talked anyway, but they've
had a lot of lopsided games, you know, whether it
be the wrong way or not, but.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
They haven't been able to haven't had to overuse a
bray You and Hater and.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Taylor, Scott im Pressley and these guys. They haven't pitched
that much at all this month. So I think that's
going to bode well going down the stretch of being
able to push these guys when they need to. Oakland's
no cupcake. These guys, I think they have the third
best record since July first, and how did that happen?
(04:58):
But they can bang, they can hit homers, they can
score a lot of runs. So the Astros are gonna
have to slug the beat them. Two to three would
be great against.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Them, no doubt. Steve, with Kyle Tucker, do you see
and you mentioned the timing which will come with more
at bats, but is there anything in his swing or
in his does it look like he's got the torque
in the lower half explosion that you need for it
just to be timing and nothing but more reps.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think it's more timing than anything else.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I think he's putting a lot of pressure and it
force down on that leg to to give you encouragement
about where he's gonna end up. I think it's just timing,
just be on time for the fastball and just everything else.
He's given you a lengthy at bats where sometimes a
lot of these Astros try to ambush hitters. Kyle still
have to see some pitches, and I think that's nice
(05:44):
in the middle of your lineup to be able to
get a more blend offensively. But other than that, I mean,
you feel encouraged by yiner, you know, and things are
starting to stretch out. McCormick starting to swing the bat well.
If you can get him to anywhere close to where
he was the previous two years, that makes the line
(06:04):
up pretty lengthy.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Steve sparks a couple more minutes here for his weekly
Monday visit on Sports Talk seven to ninety. Steve, has
Kakuchi exceeded your expectations?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, the slider's better than I thought it was, and
he's tweaked it. He's getting two and a half more
inches drop on that pitch where he could throw it
to both sides of the plate and get a lot
of swing and miss. It's hard like a slider, and
it breaks more like a curve ball, and that's lethal.
That's lethal against righty's and lefties, and that's why he's
getting so many strikeouts.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So I love that acquisition.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I don't think, you know, I know they overpaid, and
Dana will tell you, like, yeah, we had to overbid,
and we had to outbid a lot of teams to
get the guy that we wanted.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
But they got the right guy.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
That was great evaluation and the Astros are perfect and
his game started all right.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Steve if ver Let's go back to if Verlander isn't Verlander,
which we hope he is, there's no question about it,
but the what if part of it? Are they good
enough to win a World Series? If he doesn't put
I'm just let's just say he's a bullpen guy good
enough to win a World Series with their staff? They are,
aren't they?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I do yeah, To be honest with you, there's a
lot of teams that are going to be in the
playoffs that have warts just like the Astros.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
You can look around and you don't have to be
a rocket scientist to figure out that there's some weak
points in this Astros lineup, in the bullpen, rotating whatever
you want to say. But I would say there's probably
less with the Astros than most teams. And I think
the Astros have the pedigree to play very well in
October and I would expect a nice run, not to
(07:47):
say that they're anywhere.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Close to the finish line.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yet, there's still nineteen games left and Seattle Mariners are
playing better baseball. They've got to take care of business,
win a two out of three out of against Oakland.
I would feel like doing a back handspring as well
as they've been playing.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So you got to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
But but right now, with what you got, and you
look at Brown and Valdez as you're one two punch.
There's not many better in all of baseball right now
than those two, and I think you got to feel
great about that going into any series.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Steve, I'll leave you with this is Fromberg. I mean,
we've had some incredible stretches by him. You know, in
different seasons. Have you seen him pitch better than he's
pitching now.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
He's pitching as good as he's ever pitched, you know,
And I think he's very confident.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
But I mean, I just love the he's simplified.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
He's gone to the three pitches that I think are
his best, and I think they're all that he needs.
He can tell you that a fastball's coming and you're
still going to hit it into a double play. It's
just that turbulent when it gets into the hitting zone,
you just it's.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Really hard to square up. We've seen it for years.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
And when he's on his game and he's got that pitch,
I don't care who it is, you know, righty, lefty,
low ball hitter.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I don't care who it is. He's going to make
you pound it into the dirt, and I love that
about him.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
His curveball is one of the best swinging miss pitches
in baseball, and I think when he's pitching as confidently
as he is, I think everybody feels it that he's
a hard matter up for anybody.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
We're in for one hell of a run these last
nineteen games in the postseason. It's going to be a
blast to watch and three good games coming up with Oakland.
Can't wait to watch it, and we always appreciate your
phenomenal insight for us.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Brother, Thank you you got Sean, Thanks for having me
boud it you bet
As we do every single Monday at eight thirty, we
welcome in Astro's badcaster, Steve Sparks. We sure do Steve
Sparks for his weekly visit at eight thirty. Great to
have him on four and a half game lead for
the Astros. Tough one, but took two out of three
from the Diamondbacks Arizona. I mean the Oakland Athletics in
town starting tomorrow night. Steve, welcome in. Let's first go here.
(00:20):
What's wrong with Justin Verlander from your vantage point.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, it's not velocity.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I mean, last night's velocity was up a couple of
months four hours, so that was encouraging. And for me,
you know he talked about it was more about his
off speed stuff, his curved, his slider.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
He didn't feel like he commanded that well, so probably
guys were just setting on the fastball.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
For me, it was more fastball location because of the
way the fastball profiled.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But what I mean is like, usually his fastball has
really true ride on that pitch where it looks.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Like it hops, and I thought last night a lot
of those fastballs tailed so he couldn't get inside to
the LEFTI peved Smith got him a couple of times.
I think fastballs trying to get inside it bleeds back
over the middle of the plate toward the barrel of
the lefties. I thought was problematic. But when the velocity
is there, I think there's a fix there. And if
(01:12):
anybody can fix something. I don't want to be too
fluffy about this, but I think that was some encouraging
signs with his velocity ticked up about two or three
miles per hour.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Again, yeah, Steve, Aside from that velocity, we you know, fans,
we all react quy, we need jerk. You see it
every day, instant. And we're looking at a guy in
the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been so good and
you trust him because he knows him, then he'll go
to work. But that being said, the trend has been
struggling for the least what three or four starts. So
is that if this trend continues, and I know this
(01:42):
is tough, but I got to ask it, how can
he be one of the rotation guys once we get
to the postseason. If this is the if these are
the results we.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
See, well there's still some time to go. So that's
all I'm going to say about that. Is justin Verlanders.
So if anybody can fix it, he can. And all
I'm going to say about is his velocity was I
think he can fix it. I think just you know,
just probably a couple of tweaks here and there to
get things back under control. And if he doesn't, then
you deal with it at the end of the road.
(02:10):
So I think the main thing right now is the
Astros have a few weeks. He's got three or four
starts left, see if he can make some adjustments, because
when he's at his best.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You need him.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Oh boy. And that the true Steve Sparks for his
weekly visit, Steve. If I were to tell you in
spring training that this was going to happen, what's happened
with all the injuries this year, the Verlander struggles now,
all those things with the pitching staff, and I said,
they're going to be four and a half games in
front of first place, and Kyle Tucker out, we can
include that as well, and Bregman struggles early. And I
said their four and a half game in front of
(02:41):
first place and that the pitching staff has been a strength.
Would you have told me I was nuts?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, I wouldn't have thought they would have been able
to score enough runs. I didn't see, you know, the
arrogant He's coming out of the woodwork, you know, to
come and be as good as he's been. We'll see
how he bounces back from a rough one in Cincinnati
against Oakland on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
So uh, But just overall, the pitching stats have been unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I thought it was a great pickup to get Fakucci
Uh and the ash Sean. You look at what they've
done against the contenders. They've played very well against the
hopeful so far all around Baseball National League, American League,
they've got favorable records against the majority of all those
contenders for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Steve this, I mean watching this team and not only
at the plate, but on the mound and seeing that
the way they've played against good teams. Now as we
go to the stretch run of teams like Oakland come
to town, is the hitting where you wanted to be
Where we are today, pitching seems like it is for
the most part, is the hitting where you want it
to be.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Well, it was the first time you got the big
four in the lineup for the first time in three months,
you know, since June third, and Tucker went down.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You weren't able to get you know.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Your best hitters, al Toovey, Bragman, Alvareza, Tucker and the
same lineup together in a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So Bregman's probably going to deal with some things from
time to time. I'm encouraged by his heart outs. Jordan
and Altuve are swinging.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
The bats great, and Tucker probably within a week will
start to have a lot better timing.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So I don't think it could come at a better time.
You know, you might have some of these guys.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Pretty well rested going into the playoffs, including Sean. I'll
say this, it's been a weird stretch for the Astros
this last week since since we talked anyway, but they've
had a lot of lopsided games, you know, whether it
be the wrong way or not, but.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
They haven't been able to haven't had to overuse a
bray You and Hater and.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Taylor, Scott im Pressley and these guys. They haven't pitched
that much at all this month. So I think that's
going to bode well going down the stretch of being
able to push these guys when they need to. Oakland's
no cupcake. These guys, I think they have the third
best record since July first, and how did that happen?
(04:58):
But they can bang, they can hit homers, they can
score a lot of runs. So the Astros are gonna
have to slug the beat them. Two to three would
be great against.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Them, no doubt. Steve, with Kyle Tucker, do you see
and you mentioned the timing which will come with more
at bats, but is there anything in his swing or
in his does it look like he's got the torque
in the lower half explosion that you need for it
just to be timing and nothing but more reps.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think it's more timing than anything else.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I think he's putting a lot of pressure and it
force down on that leg to to give you encouragement
about where he's gonna end up. I think it's just timing,
just be on time for the fastball and just everything else.
He's given you a lengthy at bats where sometimes a
lot of these Astros try to ambush hitters. Kyle still
have to see some pitches, and I think that's nice
(05:44):
in the middle of your lineup to be able to
get a more blend offensively. But other than that, I mean,
you feel encouraged by yiner, you know, and things are
starting to stretch out. McCormick starting to swing the bat well.
If you can get him to anywhere close to where
he was the previous two years, that makes the line
(06:04):
up pretty lengthy.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Steve sparks a couple more minutes here for his weekly
Monday visit on Sports Talk seven to ninety. Steve, has
Kakuchi exceeded your expectations?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, the slider's better than I thought it was, and
he's tweaked it. He's getting two and a half more
inches drop on that pitch where he could throw it
to both sides of the plate and get a lot
of swing and miss. It's hard like a slider, and
it breaks more like a curve ball, and that's lethal.
That's lethal against righty's and lefties, and that's why he's
getting so many strikeouts.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So I love that acquisition.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I don't think, you know, I know they overpaid, and
Dana will tell you, like, yeah, we had to overbid,
and we had to outbid a lot of teams to
get the guy that we wanted.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
But they got the right guy.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
That was great evaluation and the Astros are perfect and
his game started all right.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Steve if ver Let's go back to if Verlander isn't Verlander,
which we hope he is, there's no question about it,
but the what if part of it? Are they good
enough to win a World Series? If he doesn't put
I'm just let's just say he's a bullpen guy good
enough to win a World Series with their staff? They are,
aren't they?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I do yeah, To be honest with you, there's a
lot of teams that are going to be in the
playoffs that have warts just like the Astros.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
You can look around and you don't have to be
a rocket scientist to figure out that there's some weak
points in this Astros lineup, in the bullpen, rotating whatever
you want to say. But I would say there's probably
less with the Astros than most teams. And I think
the Astros have the pedigree to play very well in
October and I would expect a nice run, not to
(07:47):
say that they're anywhere.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Close to the finish line.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yet, there's still nineteen games left and Seattle Mariners are
playing better baseball. They've got to take care of business,
win a two out of three out of against Oakland.
I would feel like doing a back handspring as well
as they've been playing.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So you got to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
But but right now, with what you got, and you
look at Brown and Valdez as you're one two punch.
There's not many better in all of baseball right now
than those two, and I think you got to feel
great about that going into any series.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Steve, I'll leave you with this is Fromberg. I mean,
we've had some incredible stretches by him. You know, in
different seasons. Have you seen him pitch better than he's
pitching now.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
He's pitching as good as he's ever pitched, you know,
And I think he's very confident.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
But I mean, I just love the he's simplified.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
He's gone to the three pitches that I think are
his best, and I think they're all that he needs.
He can tell you that a fastball's coming and you're
still going to hit it into a double play. It's
just that turbulent when it gets into the hitting zone,
you just it's.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Really hard to square up. We've seen it for years.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
And when he's on his game and he's got that pitch,
I don't care who it is, you know, righty, lefty,
low ball hitter.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I don't care who it is. He's going to make
you pound it into the dirt, and I love that
about him.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
His curveball is one of the best swinging miss pitches
in baseball, and I think when he's pitching as confidently
as he is, I think everybody feels it that he's
a hard matter up for anybody.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
We're in for one hell of a run these last
nineteen games in the postseason. It's going to be a
blast to watch and three good games coming up with Oakland.
Can't wait to watch it, and we always appreciate your
phenomenal insight for us.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Brother, Thank you you got Sean, Thanks for having me
boud it you bet
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