July 18, 2025 • 10 mins
Rolling into the second half of the season now following the conclusion of the All-Star break, the Astros tee back into action tonight for a 3 game series against their division rivals, the Seattle Mariners. Still leading the AL West 5 games ahead and shifting back into consecutive games night after night, Sean and Dan take a moment evaluating how important this Mariners/Astros series is coming out of the break and can they sustain this amount of great play moving forward in hopes of making another postseason run.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seven one three, two one two five seven ninety is
the number to get in. And Sean me and you
were talking about this a little bit before the hour
three heading an hour four break about how crucial this
series is this weekend, because as it stands right now,
you're five games up Seattle, a three and three week, Like,
that's the thing to think about from how last week went.
(00:22):
What if the Astros just went three and three, two
out of three against the Cleveland Guardians, which they probably
could have had an opportunity to do and they didn't,
and then you know, you lose two out of three
to the Rangers there over the weekend, but still you
split three out of three, then you know you're you're
looking at a chance taking it. You'll be what six
(00:44):
games up, probably six seven games up right now. So
we're talking about a totally different scenario heading into this series.
But now you're five games up. I mean you talked
about I mean, you know, kind of looking at like
the golf perspective of you got a really good golfer,
that's that's charging you a top the leader, and you
drop a shot, they gain two, and then maybe you
(01:04):
par one, they add one. Any of those different types
of things. That's the scenario that you're at right now,
where all of a sudden you look and you say,
oh man, I'm approaching number fifteen. I'm only up by two.
It's not good.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Now, I want you to think about this, which I
we just give the what if scenario on both sides,
which is fair. Well, of course we don't want to
see this. Want it happen? What happens if you struggle
in this series, lose two or three, you lose three
or three. How do you think that Grippin's going to
start to kick in? And I'm talking about it, it's
coming right out of the gates. Well you'll hear. It's
a long season. The truth is it's not that long anymore. Well,
(01:36):
it's not that long anyway. You are, well, I know
for the true meaning of stretch run, maybe what the
last thirty games, it's a handful of weeks now, right,
that's exactly right. And you start this off wrong and
you're still beat up and injured. Think about the narrative
or the the the feeling you're going to have. It's
only natural when things start to go sideways. The great
(01:59):
ones and great team teams, and maybe they have this
in him, are able to it's going to be okay
and keep doing it and how much resilience can this
team continue to have right with injuries and keep doing it.
But you do not want to let creep in what
is very possible you go into Seattle and get beat. Now,
even with a two or three game lead, you're sitting
(02:20):
here thinking this is this is one series away from
changing the entire course. And just a couple of weeks
ago we were six seven games in front of first place.
So that I told you, I thought that the last
six games were monumental. Now when you say, Sean, the
devastating monumental me And it's not just in the win lost, Calum.
It's how you approach what's going on and how you
(02:41):
approach the second half and the confidence you come out
of it with. And people will tell you when you're
on the losing side, you say, oh, it's a long season.
When you're on the winning side, you say, we needed
it right, it's urgency. So I look at it from
you want them to win, but from a different perspectiveause
I'm not out there playing. But to me, I thought
the last two series, the last games before we're hugely
(03:02):
important because of not only that, but who you had
to come out and play and spend on the road.
Coming out of it, you blink and you are now
within one series. So they've got to continue to do
what they've been great at and that's not blinking much
when things hit. But it's still a really good thing
to know that if you got swept again, you're still
(03:23):
in first place. But you don't want to have many
more of those because then that thing starts to roll
and you're not healthy and you're trying to figure out
how you can stop that thing from rolling downhill, and
it can happen, and it happens in a hurry in
professional sports. So this is a this is a big,
big series coming out of this All Star break it
all that relaxation you've got to do, and well, rest good.
(03:44):
I hope your mind's right and rested, because this isn't
Oh yeah, we got another series. This is Seattle, and
this could come down to deciding what happens in September.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think this is a huge series and well, are
we putting too much emphasis on it? I don't know.
I put in this is on all of them, and
especially when their arrival, especially when I say rival they're
a division rival, and especially when they're the team quite
frankly was a team supposedly to beat this year in
the American League West. This is a big This is
a big series, and how you perform the optics for
(04:15):
your own self, not for us, for your own self
for important too. Even if you win, but if you
win and gutted your way through it, we'll all start
to think. Man, the resilience and guts of this team,
but how long can guts last and beat out just
attrition and people wearing out. That's exactly what they're going
to have to do if they want to get to
another level. That's just my opinion. They got it. They
have got to go in and win this series, or
(04:35):
at least play like, oh, if you get beat nine
to seven, well then we'll be bummed about pitching. If
you get beat two to one or win two to one,
we're bummed about hitting. It's got to almost feels like
for them the optics have to be ass whooping, right,
But you'll take a win anyway and get them because
that's all we count. But this is important series.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
You get swept this week and I guarantee you're losing
this division, because.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
That's not hyperbolic by you.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
You belie I one hundred percent believe that because they're
going to be able to significantly add at the deadline.
They already have good enough pitching, They've improved their offense
this year, and it's gonna be kind of like the
way that the season started last year, where you had
to be able to try to sprint at the end.
I mean, this is one of those where you got
to pick the pace up again, and it's one of
those that you've already been striding out a pretty good
(05:20):
amount in this season. Can you do that? And I
don't think the Astros can.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And the problem and we're talking a lot of that
too has to do with the health because of the
depth and what they're doing is yeah. And I'll tell
you what you tell me. Whenever you've looked over your
shoulder driving that the the you that looking through the
either rear of your mirror looking back over your shoulder
allowed you to look forward good? It doesn't you spend
so much time doing that and then when you put
your eyes back on the road, you got to get
(05:44):
back in your lane because you're like, what the hell
is going on here? We all do it and it exists,
and I don't really care how good you are. Human
nature will be yeah, if they go in there and
get swept in this series. Human nature is simply to say,
I gotta work harder. Sometimes it's not harder, it's just
a little smarter on how you go about your business.
I trust the Astros and I trust that they're going
(06:05):
to play well in the series. But if they don't,
those whispers are going to become a lot louder, my
man about what this division looks like and what do
you need to do within the next two weeks to
get yourself back on track, because that wouldn't be good
where you were one in what, one in eight in
your last nine Yeah, and I know we're far We're
ways away from that because it's a three game series.
(06:26):
But you're facing a team that can pitch and a
team that can hit now, and uh, you have got
to play your best baseball against this team on the
road or trouble will loom.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Now, it definitely will. I mean, you know, you feel
good about where you're at right now standings wise, but
I mean coming out of that series, some of those
comments are going to absolutely change because you're not going to.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Feel good one percent, and it can change on a
dime and they won't leave nine cents change if it does.
You've got to play well this weekend. Absolutely huge.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It is no, it's the biggest one of the seasons
so far at this point. Someone three two, one, two,
five seven ninety is the number to get in. Uh,
let's get in a phone call here really quick. Robert
south Houston wants to weigh in. Robert, good morning, Hey.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Good morning guys, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
As usual.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I uh, I just wanted to say before I talk
about the Ashers, I just want to say thanks for
helping the transition move. I I called you guys a
couple of weeks ago and told you I had to
move to Fort Worth and uh I was really really
homesick and being able to listen to you guys on
the iHeart app has really helped. But UH, I don't
(07:31):
agree with uh with you on the uh they'll lose
the division because they still have one more series with
Seattle uh towards the end of the season. But I
do see how I mean, obviously it's very important, but
UH yeah, I think they just gotta they just gotta
play well against these, uh, these good teams and and
(07:53):
start playing well against these bad teams, because I mean,
I don't understand why me and my sister talk about
all the time, like why do they play so bad
against the bad teams and they play so good against
the good teams. I just don't get it. And uh, yeah,
that's it. Thanks for taking my call, and you'll have
a good day.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I appreciate it, Robert. I mean, you know, we've talked
about it too. Of how they've been this season. Teams
above five hundred, they are twenty eight and nineteen, so
they've lost twenty one games to teams that are below
five hundred, So they're twenty eight and twenty one against
those teams, whereas the team's above five hundred, they're nine
games above five hundred.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So that's where you get read when you read both
those day fifteen sixteen games oh five hundred, if it's
like this is awesome, but then you say, okay, we're
oh one in five the last five Oh we're going
to Seattle and Arizona on the road, right.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Both of them on the road, two games about five hundred.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
That's exactly what's that on the road two games above five?
That's exactly. But you look at it when you say,
okay they beat good and betch, you start to look
at the numbers say okay, they favor us. But you
can blink and mean two games out and be twelve
games over five hundred and now the person who's chasing
the rabbit is feeling good about their game and you're not.
And we know that the mental and emotional part of sports.
(09:10):
Baseball is huge, right it is. They all know how
to play, but this is going to be I'll stick
by my part of it. I don't think that they're
going to lose the division. If they lose these they may,
but I'm not giving up on that. But I believe
this is a final series. Now, whether it comes down
to the final series, this is a you know, I
wouldn't mean. I don't even know who their last series
(09:32):
of the seasons against. I guess we could look. But
this is I've said it's the last two weeks of
the year, been saying all along decide the division. And
I still believe that even though they're five games up,
because I just think we're far from seeing the best
baseball of all three of them. Yet the Astros have
played some pretty damn good baseball and from mid June
to until that final series they've been pretty consistent. But
(09:55):
they the other two are going to run. They're going
to run rough shot over some opponents along the way
as well. So I do I think this is I
don't think hiding away, running away and hiding this division
I don't think is going to exist for any of them.
I'd rather be five games up than not. But I'd
also rather be healthy than not, and that's a ways
away apparently, at least from the way it looks here.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
We'll find out a little bit more about the health
part of it today when Joe A. Spotta meets with
the media later in Seattle. Kenneth and John, see you
guys right there. You want to join them seven one
three two one two five seven ninety against seven one
three two one two five seven ninety. A couple of
things working in the astros favor. We'll also discuss that here.
It is a Shawn Salisbury show on a Friday Sports
Talk seven to ninety
Seven one three, two one two five seven ninety is
the number to get in. And Sean me and you
were talking about this a little bit before the hour
three heading an hour four break about how crucial this
series is this weekend, because as it stands right now,
you're five games up Seattle, a three and three week, Like,
that's the thing to think about from how last week went.
(00:22):
What if the Astros just went three and three, two
out of three against the Cleveland Guardians, which they probably
could have had an opportunity to do and they didn't,
and then you know, you lose two out of three
to the Rangers there over the weekend, but still you
split three out of three, then you know you're you're
looking at a chance taking it. You'll be what six
(00:44):
games up, probably six seven games up right now. So
we're talking about a totally different scenario heading into this series.
But now you're five games up. I mean you talked
about I mean, you know, kind of looking at like
the golf perspective of you got a really good golfer,
that's that's charging you a top the leader, and you
drop a shot, they gain two, and then maybe you
(01:04):
par one, they add one. Any of those different types
of things. That's the scenario that you're at right now,
where all of a sudden you look and you say,
oh man, I'm approaching number fifteen. I'm only up by two.
It's not good.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Now, I want you to think about this, which I
we just give the what if scenario on both sides,
which is fair. Well, of course we don't want to
see this. Want it happen? What happens if you struggle
in this series, lose two or three, you lose three
or three. How do you think that Grippin's going to
start to kick in? And I'm talking about it, it's
coming right out of the gates. Well you'll hear. It's
a long season. The truth is it's not that long anymore. Well,
(01:36):
it's not that long anyway. You are, well, I know
for the true meaning of stretch run, maybe what the
last thirty games, it's a handful of weeks now, right,
that's exactly right. And you start this off wrong and
you're still beat up and injured. Think about the narrative
or the the the feeling you're going to have. It's
only natural when things start to go sideways. The great
(01:59):
ones and great team teams, and maybe they have this
in him, are able to it's going to be okay
and keep doing it and how much resilience can this
team continue to have right with injuries and keep doing it.
But you do not want to let creep in what
is very possible you go into Seattle and get beat. Now,
even with a two or three game lead, you're sitting
(02:20):
here thinking this is this is one series away from
changing the entire course. And just a couple of weeks
ago we were six seven games in front of first place.
So that I told you, I thought that the last
six games were monumental. Now when you say, Sean, the
devastating monumental me And it's not just in the win lost, Calum.
It's how you approach what's going on and how you
(02:41):
approach the second half and the confidence you come out
of it with. And people will tell you when you're
on the losing side, you say, oh, it's a long season.
When you're on the winning side, you say, we needed
it right, it's urgency. So I look at it from
you want them to win, but from a different perspectiveause
I'm not out there playing. But to me, I thought
the last two series, the last games before we're hugely
(03:02):
important because of not only that, but who you had
to come out and play and spend on the road.
Coming out of it, you blink and you are now
within one series. So they've got to continue to do
what they've been great at and that's not blinking much
when things hit. But it's still a really good thing
to know that if you got swept again, you're still
(03:23):
in first place. But you don't want to have many
more of those because then that thing starts to roll
and you're not healthy and you're trying to figure out
how you can stop that thing from rolling downhill, and
it can happen, and it happens in a hurry in
professional sports. So this is a this is a big,
big series coming out of this All Star break it
all that relaxation you've got to do, and well, rest good.
(03:44):
I hope your mind's right and rested, because this isn't
Oh yeah, we got another series. This is Seattle, and
this could come down to deciding what happens in September.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think this is a huge series and well, are
we putting too much emphasis on it? I don't know.
I put in this is on all of them, and
especially when their arrival, especially when I say rival they're
a division rival, and especially when they're the team quite
frankly was a team supposedly to beat this year in
the American League West. This is a big This is
a big series, and how you perform the optics for
(04:15):
your own self, not for us, for your own self
for important too. Even if you win, but if you
win and gutted your way through it, we'll all start
to think. Man, the resilience and guts of this team,
but how long can guts last and beat out just
attrition and people wearing out. That's exactly what they're going
to have to do if they want to get to
another level. That's just my opinion. They got it. They
have got to go in and win this series, or
(04:35):
at least play like, oh, if you get beat nine
to seven, well then we'll be bummed about pitching. If
you get beat two to one or win two to one,
we're bummed about hitting. It's got to almost feels like
for them the optics have to be ass whooping, right,
But you'll take a win anyway and get them because
that's all we count. But this is important series.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
You get swept this week and I guarantee you're losing
this division, because.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
That's not hyperbolic by you.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
You belie I one hundred percent believe that because they're
going to be able to significantly add at the deadline.
They already have good enough pitching, They've improved their offense
this year, and it's gonna be kind of like the
way that the season started last year, where you had
to be able to try to sprint at the end.
I mean, this is one of those where you got
to pick the pace up again, and it's one of
those that you've already been striding out a pretty good
(05:20):
amount in this season. Can you do that? And I
don't think the Astros can.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And the problem and we're talking a lot of that
too has to do with the health because of the
depth and what they're doing is yeah. And I'll tell
you what you tell me. Whenever you've looked over your
shoulder driving that the the you that looking through the
either rear of your mirror looking back over your shoulder
allowed you to look forward good? It doesn't you spend
so much time doing that and then when you put
your eyes back on the road, you got to get
(05:44):
back in your lane because you're like, what the hell
is going on here? We all do it and it exists,
and I don't really care how good you are. Human
nature will be yeah, if they go in there and
get swept in this series. Human nature is simply to say,
I gotta work harder. Sometimes it's not harder, it's just
a little smarter on how you go about your business.
I trust the Astros and I trust that they're going
(06:05):
to play well in the series. But if they don't,
those whispers are going to become a lot louder, my
man about what this division looks like and what do
you need to do within the next two weeks to
get yourself back on track, because that wouldn't be good
where you were one in what, one in eight in
your last nine Yeah, and I know we're far We're
ways away from that because it's a three game series.
(06:26):
But you're facing a team that can pitch and a
team that can hit now, and uh, you have got
to play your best baseball against this team on the
road or trouble will loom.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Now, it definitely will. I mean, you know, you feel
good about where you're at right now standings wise, but
I mean coming out of that series, some of those
comments are going to absolutely change because you're not going to.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Feel good one percent, and it can change on a
dime and they won't leave nine cents change if it does.
You've got to play well this weekend. Absolutely huge.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It is no, it's the biggest one of the seasons
so far at this point. Someone three two, one, two,
five seven ninety is the number to get in. Uh,
let's get in a phone call here really quick. Robert
south Houston wants to weigh in. Robert, good morning, Hey.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Good morning guys, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
As usual.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I uh, I just wanted to say before I talk
about the Ashers, I just want to say thanks for
helping the transition move. I I called you guys a
couple of weeks ago and told you I had to
move to Fort Worth and uh I was really really
homesick and being able to listen to you guys on
the iHeart app has really helped. But UH, I don't
(07:31):
agree with uh with you on the uh they'll lose
the division because they still have one more series with
Seattle uh towards the end of the season. But I
do see how I mean, obviously it's very important, but
UH yeah, I think they just gotta they just gotta
play well against these, uh, these good teams and and
(07:53):
start playing well against these bad teams, because I mean,
I don't understand why me and my sister talk about
all the time, like why do they play so bad
against the bad teams and they play so good against
the good teams. I just don't get it. And uh, yeah,
that's it. Thanks for taking my call, and you'll have
a good day.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I appreciate it, Robert. I mean, you know, we've talked
about it too. Of how they've been this season. Teams
above five hundred, they are twenty eight and nineteen, so
they've lost twenty one games to teams that are below
five hundred, So they're twenty eight and twenty one against
those teams, whereas the team's above five hundred, they're nine
games above five hundred.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So that's where you get read when you read both
those day fifteen sixteen games oh five hundred, if it's
like this is awesome, but then you say, okay, we're
oh one in five the last five Oh we're going
to Seattle and Arizona on the road, right.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Both of them on the road, two games about five hundred.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
That's exactly what's that on the road two games above five?
That's exactly. But you look at it when you say,
okay they beat good and betch, you start to look
at the numbers say okay, they favor us. But you
can blink and mean two games out and be twelve
games over five hundred and now the person who's chasing
the rabbit is feeling good about their game and you're not.
And we know that the mental and emotional part of sports.
(09:10):
Baseball is huge, right it is. They all know how
to play, but this is going to be I'll stick
by my part of it. I don't think that they're
going to lose the division. If they lose these they may,
but I'm not giving up on that. But I believe
this is a final series. Now, whether it comes down
to the final series, this is a you know, I
wouldn't mean. I don't even know who their last series
(09:32):
of the seasons against. I guess we could look. But
this is I've said it's the last two weeks of
the year, been saying all along decide the division. And
I still believe that even though they're five games up,
because I just think we're far from seeing the best
baseball of all three of them. Yet the Astros have
played some pretty damn good baseball and from mid June
to until that final series they've been pretty consistent. But
(09:55):
they the other two are going to run. They're going
to run rough shot over some opponents along the way
as well. So I do I think this is I
don't think hiding away, running away and hiding this division
I don't think is going to exist for any of them.
I'd rather be five games up than not. But I'd
also rather be healthy than not, and that's a ways
away apparently, at least from the way it looks here.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
We'll find out a little bit more about the health
part of it today when Joe A. Spotta meets with
the media later in Seattle. Kenneth and John, see you
guys right there. You want to join them seven one
three two one two five seven ninety against seven one
three two one two five seven ninety. A couple of
things working in the astros favor. We'll also discuss that here.
It is a Shawn Salisbury show on a Friday Sports
Talk seven to ninety
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