June 23, 2025 • 12 mins
Moving on from Sacramento down to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, the Astros go on to take 2 of the 3 games from the Angels resulting in another series victory for Houston. Battling the Yankees for the second seed in the American League as both teams are tied at 45 wins and both roughly 3 games back from the Tigers, Steve joins and shares his takeaways from the Astros' weekend in Anaheim along with a couple of future decisions that must be made looking ahead following the great play the organization has sustained still without a few notable names in the lineup.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is seven o'clock our hour early or the normal.
He's got an event he has to do. We're great
for him. I know it was a long trip and
back here and to get up this early. We appreciate
Steve Sparks Astros broadcasts here on our radio Sports Talk
seven to ninety for those Astros games every single day.
Good to have you on, Steve. We appreciate, we appreciate you.
I weekends like this you learn to me. You learn
(00:22):
a lot about your team. And I, Steve, I know,
ten to two wins and all that are fun. But
I kind of like when I see Gusto have to
fight through and get through it, when he scattering some
hits and they're scoring some runs, and you know when
somebody else different dubon yesterday, Christian Walker starting to get
a little hotter, and the way pain is energy, it
seems to be there's always somebody different. But when yesterday
(00:45):
or when the pitching staff starting pitching struggled, the bullpen
was there. But more importantly, the hitting seems to have
picked up, even though it hasn't been consistent. It starts
to look a little different from my optic Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You know, you look at that series, and I look
back at the day before that because Brandon Walter didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Pitch that well, right, but he pitched.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Six innings and they only had to cover eight innings
losing on the road, so you only had to use
two relievers the night before. So I think you're always
going into those road series, in particular Sean, trying to
win those series. And you win that first one, it's
certainly a luxury. But what Walter is able to do
as far as get deeper into the game despite not
having his best stuff, he got them six innings and
(01:27):
you had a loaded bullpen for yesterday's game and you
needed them, yep, And that's the reason why they won.
I mean, what Walter did the night before is the
reason why the Astros won yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Steven, are we on pace?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You've probably looked at the metrics or the analytics of
you know, the innings and usage and stuff, which you
do very well, the fresh leg starting pitching, I know,
with the injuries, but also the bullpen. Are we on
pace to say we're not giving them too much usage?
Are we on pace right now? Do you feel good
about the way they're being used?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I do? You know?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think if you're able to keep a little bit
of a cushion, you're going to get creative, I think,
and that's what the Astros did in twenty twenty two.
They were more fresh and livelier than anybody else, especially
in the pitching department, because they went to that six
men rotation for more than half the season, and it
was very evident that the.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Astros were they still had a lot to go.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Remember the extra inning in Seattle, there was a famous
line by the Astros pitching coach Josh Miller said, Hey,
we still had one hundred pitches left in our in
our chamber.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
They really did, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
They still had Urkidi and they had somebody else, and
I think they felt very comfortable that they could have
played another five or six innings. So I think that's
the goal for the Astros is to build this lead,
continue to play good baseball. Despite Jordan alvarezby an ounce
it's May third, I believe it is in Houston, still
ten games over five hundred in its absence.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But if you can continue to.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Increase that lead, I think you got a chance to
get creative. Maybe skip a guy, start keep a six
man rotation. I'm not sure how this looks right, but
maybe be creative with that injured list.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Steve Sparks Astro's broadcasters Weekly visit an hour sooner today,
got an event to go through and we'll we'll change
days or schedule for him anytime. Joined us here on
Sports Talk seven ninety Sean salisby show, Steve, you've been
in playing it and covering it all these years, You've seen,
you know, managers that have.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
To make tough decisions in games.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I was just thinking, you know this morning, how often
you know, somebody reminded me of that.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
How often in a game, in a series throughout the season.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I'm talking about those tough, tough decisions that come within
a game. How often do you see managers hapen to
make tough tough decisions in professional baseball?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
You know, in a game to game decisions.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I think it varies just because you know your personnel
better than anybody else. And that's what that's probably my
favorite question is to ask a manager of the day after, is.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
What was your toughest decision yesterday?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
But when you think about toughest decisions for me, if
I was a coach or a manager, I think the
hardest part for me personally would be releasing guys, you know,
especially in the minor leagues.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I was thinking about this yesterday.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I played in the California League for three seasons, and
one year I had a minor league coach who had
five kids, and the last three weeks of the season,
his wife decided to take his four youngest kids back
home to Arizona for the rest of the season, and
his oldest kid was nine years old. He ended up
staying with his dad for the rest of the summer,
(04:34):
so he would be at the ballpark every.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Day, and we had a great time with him. But
he just became part of the team.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And I remember one day in Bakersfield, California. We were
stretching before batting practice one day and Ben, the oldest son,
he was nine years old, was just kind of sifting
through the rest of the players. Now keep in mind,
he was around his dad in the hotel rooms. He
heard all his dad's conversations on the landline back in
the hotels in those days, talking to the front office.
(05:01):
But he was running around with the guys on the
team and they were punching him and knocking him down
and just having a good time.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
He finally he goes up to this one guy in.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Our team who was stretching, and he shook his hand
and he said, hey, John, Hey, I'm gonna miss you.
And John goes, oh, Ben, are you going home with
your brothers and sisters? He goes, no, I'm not going
anywhere you are. He goes, what, Yeah, I heard my
dad on the phone.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Oh my god, getting released after the game. Oh my god,
look at him.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We're going getting released after the game. And he goes, yeah,
you and Scott both, and then we all looked at
Scott and literally, these two guys got up out of
the stretch, went into the coach's office and got released
and we never saw him again. That's how they got
released from professional baseball by a nine year old in
front of their whole team.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Gosh, dang.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, it's one thing find out on the internet, but
the nine year old's got it before you do. Yeah,
I get the conversation. It's like, hey, breaking news. It's
not Jeff Passon. Happens to be the nine year old
who's the son of a kid out there during batting
practice and you guys are gone. And it's also part
of when you lose teammates like that, to go somewhere
else you never see him again.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
David Craig.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
When I was my rookie year, he wasn't nice to
me during training camp, and you know what he told
me after and make a long story short, and he
became one of my dear friends. He said, Sean, I
developed these relationships with guys I've learned, and then they
get cut or they're not here and he goes, and
it bothers me. He goes, So I'm a little cold.
Once you make the team. He was the first guy
to hug me, But during the whole time I wanted
to fight him because he he wasn't talking to me
(06:27):
very much. It wasn't because of his job. He'd been
in the league, but he didn't like that gut wrenching
feeling of forging relationships and then all of a sudden,
the guy's gone.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
So making the team made it a little easier.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
To for forge a long term relationship. Yeah, talk about
tough decisions and then having a nine year old come in.
That's not what a manager or teammates want to hear.
I would imagine, Steve Right.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It was brutal, though, I mean, losing your buddies, you know,
along the way through the minor leagues and you knew
it would never be the same, and you try to
keep in touch, but it's never the same as when
your teammates.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Steve, is this team good enough in your eyes? Right now?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I'm talking about with the with the injuries they have
right now, And I said, can you see them in
the World Series?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
What's your answer?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I mean, I look at everybody, everybody's got warts Sean,
and I just feel I don't think Jordon's too far away.
And you say, look at them right now, but I
don't think they're too far away from getting their best
hitter back right And I think that's that's gonna make
everybody better. But you look at three guys in particular
offensively for this team, and we've talked enough about the pitching.
(07:35):
The pitching, there's no question they have as good at
pitching as anybody in.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Baseball Amen one through thirteen, yep. But they need jord On.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
But but there's three guys in particular, Pana, Myers and
Paradus have the have three of the top eleven upticks
and ops of anybody in all of baseball. So when
you look at those guys and see their improvement. Jake,
he's got the second best road batting average in baseball
behind Aaron Judge. I mean, there's some crazy stuff kind
(08:07):
of going on right now, but you've got enough guys
in there that are putting together some kind of breakout
seasons and it's fun to watch that stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Steve, he's about eighty or eighty or ninety points higher
than you said when the spring training you said, I
don't care what he hits, the way he plays defense,
We're going to be fine.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And this bonus and blessing.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
So you've covered baseball for a long time and watched
him closely since he's been here. Why there's got to
be it's not just always you know the ball's falling
where they you know where nobody is. Now what is
You can't keep hitting it like that and it just
be an aberration at least maybe it can seventy five
eighty games in, but you see it every day. Why
(08:46):
is he better? Why is he making so much contact?
Why is he so confident right now?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I think he really concentrated on the right things in
the offseason. I played against his dad in the minor leagues,
and his dad helped him in the in the off season,
talking about approach and figure out what you hit best,
where's your zone, and concentrate on that early in the count.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I think it's as simple as that.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
He's swinging at better pitches, he knows himself better, and
he's sticking to a plan.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
He's staying up the middle.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
He's not pulling off, trying to pull balls up in
the air, something that he's not really good at to
begin with. He's just staying in the middle of the diamond,
staying gap to gap, using his speed, stealing bases, still
two bases yesterday. He's just doing the things that he's
capable of. And to learn yourself. You know, three or
four years in, probably more healthy than he's ever been.
(09:40):
I think you're starting to see somebody's really starting to
blossom into who they can be. And and you get,
you know, almost halfway into the season. Now you figure
out this guy is not only one of the best
center fielders in baseball, this guy is starting to be
a threat offensively too.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah, no doubt, Steve Sparks. So one final question, Steve,
I know you've got some stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
To do today.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Is with this team and the pitching what do you
do to play the game with you speaking a tough decisions?
You'd be the manager and the general manager combined right now,
And we're sitting in a room and all of a sudden, Garcia,
we start to see, you know, he's improving. I don't
know how long it's going to be, but let's just
the what if game and then Arraghetti and then Xavier
what pumped it up to ninety five last week throwing?
(10:23):
So it doesn't feel maybe I don't know when not far?
Is is it fifteen days? Is it forty five days?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Too much?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
But let's just say the pitching continues like it has
and these guys are healthy. Talking about tough decisions. How
do you keep a full roster of pitchers engaged?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think that usually takes care of itself, number one,
But I mean, you love problems like this, right Thinking
about Christian Xavier at points that like long term for sure,
and they signed him up and locked him up to
a long term deal. Long term you want him as
a starter, but he's he's really excelled as a reliever
at times, and he's ninety five without adrenaline in a bullpen,
(11:02):
in on the side fields in Florida. Right now, I
can't I can't even imagine where he could probably touch
in a one or two inning stint, you know, in
game action. So that's a possibility. I mean, there's there's
limitless possibilities. But I'll go to this too. You get
a lot of guys healthy, say Luis Garcia, Spencer Arrighetty,
(11:25):
Lance McCullers, JP France. You mix and match, and you
can piggyback, you know, on certain days with with with
a couple of starters and have them go four and
four and that's another rest day for your bullpen.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Things like that. I think what you're trying to do
is keep these guys as fresh as possible.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
While you're winning these games, and then continue to play
great baseball. The record in one run games is certainly
flip flop from years past. I think they're fifteen and
seven now after yesterday's game. So winning close games is
I think probably a byproduct. You know, twenty two comeback
wins is a lot of it. That's a great trait.
(12:06):
We've talked about that. The two outruns that they scored
this year, they're up among the leaders, and in their pitching,
I think they've got a lot of good traits of
good teams.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, and at no time in the history of baseball
or sports anywhere has anybody complained about having too much pitching.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
It'll never happen, So there you go. Good problem to have.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Hey, enjoy your event today, brother, hit him straight, and
then we'll do it again next Monday. We appreciate you
moving it around so you could join us today.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Good talking to you, you too, brother.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
That's a great Steve Spark solid ball striker, Solid ball striker.
It is seven o'clock our hour early or the normal.
He's got an event he has to do. We're great
for him. I know it was a long trip and
back here and to get up this early. We appreciate
Steve Sparks Astros broadcasts here on our radio Sports Talk
seven to ninety for those Astros games every single day.
Good to have you on, Steve. We appreciate, we appreciate you.
I weekends like this you learn to me. You learn
(00:22):
a lot about your team. And I, Steve, I know,
ten to two wins and all that are fun. But
I kind of like when I see Gusto have to
fight through and get through it, when he scattering some
hits and they're scoring some runs, and you know when
somebody else different dubon yesterday, Christian Walker starting to get
a little hotter, and the way pain is energy, it
seems to be there's always somebody different. But when yesterday
(00:45):
or when the pitching staff starting pitching struggled, the bullpen
was there. But more importantly, the hitting seems to have
picked up, even though it hasn't been consistent. It starts
to look a little different from my optic Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You know, you look at that series, and I look
back at the day before that because Brandon Walter didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Pitch that well, right, but he pitched.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Six innings and they only had to cover eight innings
losing on the road, so you only had to use
two relievers the night before. So I think you're always
going into those road series, in particular Sean, trying to
win those series. And you win that first one, it's
certainly a luxury. But what Walter is able to do
as far as get deeper into the game despite not
having his best stuff, he got them six innings and
(01:27):
you had a loaded bullpen for yesterday's game and you
needed them, yep, And that's the reason why they won.
I mean, what Walter did the night before is the
reason why the Astros won yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Steven, are we on pace?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You've probably looked at the metrics or the analytics of
you know, the innings and usage and stuff, which you
do very well, the fresh leg starting pitching, I know,
with the injuries, but also the bullpen. Are we on
pace to say we're not giving them too much usage?
Are we on pace right now? Do you feel good
about the way they're being used?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I do? You know?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think if you're able to keep a little bit
of a cushion, you're going to get creative, I think,
and that's what the Astros did in twenty twenty two.
They were more fresh and livelier than anybody else, especially
in the pitching department, because they went to that six
men rotation for more than half the season, and it
was very evident that the.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Astros were they still had a lot to go.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Remember the extra inning in Seattle, there was a famous
line by the Astros pitching coach Josh Miller said, Hey,
we still had one hundred pitches left in our in
our chamber.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
They really did, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
They still had Urkidi and they had somebody else, and
I think they felt very comfortable that they could have
played another five or six innings. So I think that's
the goal for the Astros is to build this lead,
continue to play good baseball. Despite Jordan alvarezby an ounce
it's May third, I believe it is in Houston, still
ten games over five hundred in its absence.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But if you can continue to.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Increase that lead, I think you got a chance to
get creative. Maybe skip a guy, start keep a six
man rotation. I'm not sure how this looks right, but
maybe be creative with that injured list.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Steve Sparks Astro's broadcasters Weekly visit an hour sooner today,
got an event to go through and we'll we'll change
days or schedule for him anytime. Joined us here on
Sports Talk seven ninety Sean salisby show, Steve, you've been
in playing it and covering it all these years, You've seen,
you know, managers that have.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
To make tough decisions in games.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I was just thinking, you know this morning, how often
you know, somebody reminded me of that.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
How often in a game, in a series throughout the season.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I'm talking about those tough, tough decisions that come within
a game. How often do you see managers hapen to
make tough tough decisions in professional baseball?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
You know, in a game to game decisions.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I think it varies just because you know your personnel
better than anybody else. And that's what that's probably my
favorite question is to ask a manager of the day after, is.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
What was your toughest decision yesterday?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
But when you think about toughest decisions for me, if
I was a coach or a manager, I think the
hardest part for me personally would be releasing guys, you know,
especially in the minor leagues.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I was thinking about this yesterday.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I played in the California League for three seasons, and
one year I had a minor league coach who had
five kids, and the last three weeks of the season,
his wife decided to take his four youngest kids back
home to Arizona for the rest of the season, and
his oldest kid was nine years old. He ended up
staying with his dad for the rest of the summer,
(04:34):
so he would be at the ballpark every.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Day, and we had a great time with him. But
he just became part of the team.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And I remember one day in Bakersfield, California. We were
stretching before batting practice one day and Ben, the oldest son,
he was nine years old, was just kind of sifting
through the rest of the players. Now keep in mind,
he was around his dad in the hotel rooms. He
heard all his dad's conversations on the landline back in
the hotels in those days, talking to the front office.
(05:01):
But he was running around with the guys on the
team and they were punching him and knocking him down
and just having a good time.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
He finally he goes up to this one guy in.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Our team who was stretching, and he shook his hand
and he said, hey, John, Hey, I'm gonna miss you.
And John goes, oh, Ben, are you going home with
your brothers and sisters? He goes, no, I'm not going
anywhere you are. He goes, what, Yeah, I heard my
dad on the phone.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Oh my god, getting released after the game. Oh my god,
look at him.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We're going getting released after the game. And he goes, yeah,
you and Scott both, and then we all looked at
Scott and literally, these two guys got up out of
the stretch, went into the coach's office and got released
and we never saw him again. That's how they got
released from professional baseball by a nine year old in
front of their whole team.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Gosh, dang.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, it's one thing find out on the internet, but
the nine year old's got it before you do. Yeah,
I get the conversation. It's like, hey, breaking news. It's
not Jeff Passon. Happens to be the nine year old
who's the son of a kid out there during batting
practice and you guys are gone. And it's also part
of when you lose teammates like that, to go somewhere
else you never see him again.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
David Craig.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
When I was my rookie year, he wasn't nice to
me during training camp, and you know what he told
me after and make a long story short, and he
became one of my dear friends. He said, Sean, I
developed these relationships with guys I've learned, and then they
get cut or they're not here and he goes, and
it bothers me. He goes, So I'm a little cold.
Once you make the team. He was the first guy
to hug me, But during the whole time I wanted
to fight him because he he wasn't talking to me
(06:27):
very much. It wasn't because of his job. He'd been
in the league, but he didn't like that gut wrenching
feeling of forging relationships and then all of a sudden,
the guy's gone.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
So making the team made it a little easier.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
To for forge a long term relationship. Yeah, talk about
tough decisions and then having a nine year old come in.
That's not what a manager or teammates want to hear.
I would imagine, Steve Right.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It was brutal, though, I mean, losing your buddies, you know,
along the way through the minor leagues and you knew
it would never be the same, and you try to
keep in touch, but it's never the same as when
your teammates.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Steve, is this team good enough in your eyes? Right now?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I'm talking about with the with the injuries they have
right now, And I said, can you see them in
the World Series?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
What's your answer?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I mean, I look at everybody, everybody's got warts Sean,
and I just feel I don't think Jordon's too far away.
And you say, look at them right now, but I
don't think they're too far away from getting their best
hitter back right And I think that's that's gonna make
everybody better. But you look at three guys in particular
offensively for this team, and we've talked enough about the pitching.
(07:35):
The pitching, there's no question they have as good at
pitching as anybody in.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Baseball Amen one through thirteen, yep. But they need jord On.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
But but there's three guys in particular, Pana, Myers and
Paradus have the have three of the top eleven upticks
and ops of anybody in all of baseball. So when
you look at those guys and see their improvement. Jake,
he's got the second best road batting average in baseball
behind Aaron Judge. I mean, there's some crazy stuff kind
(08:07):
of going on right now, but you've got enough guys
in there that are putting together some kind of breakout
seasons and it's fun to watch that stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Steve, he's about eighty or eighty or ninety points higher
than you said when the spring training you said, I
don't care what he hits, the way he plays defense,
We're going to be fine.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And this bonus and blessing.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
So you've covered baseball for a long time and watched
him closely since he's been here. Why there's got to
be it's not just always you know the ball's falling
where they you know where nobody is. Now what is
You can't keep hitting it like that and it just
be an aberration at least maybe it can seventy five
eighty games in, but you see it every day. Why
(08:46):
is he better? Why is he making so much contact?
Why is he so confident right now?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I think he really concentrated on the right things in
the offseason. I played against his dad in the minor leagues,
and his dad helped him in the in the off season,
talking about approach and figure out what you hit best,
where's your zone, and concentrate on that early in the count.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I think it's as simple as that.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
He's swinging at better pitches, he knows himself better, and
he's sticking to a plan.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
He's staying up the middle.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
He's not pulling off, trying to pull balls up in
the air, something that he's not really good at to
begin with. He's just staying in the middle of the diamond,
staying gap to gap, using his speed, stealing bases, still
two bases yesterday. He's just doing the things that he's
capable of. And to learn yourself. You know, three or
four years in, probably more healthy than he's ever been.
(09:40):
I think you're starting to see somebody's really starting to
blossom into who they can be. And and you get,
you know, almost halfway into the season. Now you figure
out this guy is not only one of the best
center fielders in baseball, this guy is starting to be
a threat offensively too.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah, no doubt, Steve Sparks. So one final question, Steve,
I know you've got some stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
To do today.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Is with this team and the pitching what do you
do to play the game with you speaking a tough decisions?
You'd be the manager and the general manager combined right now,
And we're sitting in a room and all of a sudden, Garcia,
we start to see, you know, he's improving. I don't
know how long it's going to be, but let's just
the what if game and then Arraghetti and then Xavier
what pumped it up to ninety five last week throwing?
(10:23):
So it doesn't feel maybe I don't know when not far?
Is is it fifteen days? Is it forty five days?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Too much?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
But let's just say the pitching continues like it has
and these guys are healthy. Talking about tough decisions. How
do you keep a full roster of pitchers engaged?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think that usually takes care of itself, number one,
But I mean, you love problems like this, right Thinking
about Christian Xavier at points that like long term for sure,
and they signed him up and locked him up to
a long term deal. Long term you want him as
a starter, but he's he's really excelled as a reliever
at times, and he's ninety five without adrenaline in a bullpen,
(11:02):
in on the side fields in Florida. Right now, I
can't I can't even imagine where he could probably touch
in a one or two inning stint, you know, in
game action. So that's a possibility. I mean, there's there's
limitless possibilities. But I'll go to this too. You get
a lot of guys healthy, say Luis Garcia, Spencer Arrighetty,
(11:25):
Lance McCullers, JP France. You mix and match, and you
can piggyback, you know, on certain days with with with
a couple of starters and have them go four and
four and that's another rest day for your bullpen.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Things like that. I think what you're trying to do
is keep these guys as fresh as possible.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
While you're winning these games, and then continue to play
great baseball. The record in one run games is certainly
flip flop from years past. I think they're fifteen and
seven now after yesterday's game. So winning close games is
I think probably a byproduct. You know, twenty two comeback
wins is a lot of it. That's a great trait.
(12:06):
We've talked about that. The two outruns that they scored
this year, they're up among the leaders, and in their pitching,
I think they've got a lot of good traits of
good teams.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, and at no time in the history of baseball
or sports anywhere has anybody complained about having too much pitching.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
It'll never happen, So there you go. Good problem to have.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Hey, enjoy your event today, brother, hit him straight, and
then we'll do it again next Monday. We appreciate you
moving it around so you could join us today.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Good talking to you, you too, brother.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
That's a great Steve Spark solid ball striker, Solid ball striker.
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