August 11, 2025 • 17 mins
Returning home to Daikin now following the conclusion of their weekend series in New York, the Astros take 2 of the 3 games from the Yankees in what appears to be a turnaround for them since the All-Star break and the trade deadline. Rolling on to take on a former Astros veteran, Alex Bregman and the Boston Red Sox tonight, Steve shares some positives from the Astros' weekend in New York, along with what to expect going into this series with one of the Astros' frontline starters set to make his season debut.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eight o'clock cour is here, and you know how we
start at the eight o'clock hour during Astros season on
a Monday, we talk with our good buddy Steve Sparks
after the Stros take two out of three over the
weekend from the Yankees in New York. Now they get
the Red Sox back here at home, and Sparky, let's
start with that. Where yesterday you get the six innings
out of Jason Alexander scoreless, he was fantastic. You get
(00:22):
both Jose Altuve and Carlos Korea factoring at the plates.
I mean, just how huge of a boost can that
be for this team as they come home for a
crucial Homestand.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, it's perfect Dan in New York when you get
Korea and l two hey just contribute and play so
well against the Yankees and very frustrating for their fans
of course, and they haven't been playing well, but the
Astros to be able to win four out of six
to end that road trip is perfect before the homecoming
of Korea.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Steve, you and I have been having these conversations on
here for years now about this Astros resilience and grit
and am I nuts? So maybe I'm just a glutton
for punishment, which is well nuts. I know you're going
to answer that, yes, of course you're nutshot. But I
know it's only a half game. But I like it,
And maybe the metrics don't bear it out, and maybe
it's the player in me, but I like this, Steve,
(01:15):
I do. I like the fact that it's close and
that they got to stay on edge the whole time.
Sure you'd like a ten game lead with a week
to go, but if it's gonna be like this, advantage
Astros they seem to rise in moments like this two
years ago, five out of six to get in and
win the tiebreaker. So, Steve, and I don't know what
your thought process and if you liked this as a player,
(01:37):
but to me, the Astros thrive and these elements more
than they would if they were comfortable with a twelve
run lead sans getting rest for their players.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
You know, I as a broadcaster, I love it. As
a player. The only drawback I think Sean would be
you know, and this is fresh on my mind just
because the way we saw a bray. You come into
that game yesterday ninety four ninety five miles per hour
and you're going mall, what's going on? Pretty good moment,
close game, and then he finishes up with three pitches
(02:10):
eight ninety eight ninety nine, So you're thinking, is he's
trying to tiptoe into this game? Is there ten to nineties?
I mean, what is going on? So I think there's
some relievers that would definitely love to have a little
bit of some breathing room so they could get some rest,
But that's just not going to be the nature of
this race this year. I mean, very similar to last
(02:30):
year with the Mariners nipping at their heels, but I
think it's going to go down to the end. I
think Seattle is really good and I think the Astros
are very good too, so I think it's going to
be a really, really fun race. I don't want to
discount the Rangers, and they might be able to get
on a run too, but this is going to be
a fun race and I love that. And I think
(02:51):
you're right. It does keep them on point and now,
and you guys have probably talked about this this morning.
Is a difference in moments like this because he keeps
everybody on point. There's no mental lapses with Carlos Carrey
out there. He keeps everybody alert, He keeps everybody energized,
(03:12):
and I think he's re energized too. I think I
don't think they should have gotten anybody better at this
point in time their franchise than to get Carlos Carea
back in the fold.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, Steve with that, there's a big part of me.
Now there may be somebody with better numbers across the league.
Since the All Star breakdown was trade. There was traded, right,
I get that. I'm talking about the I'm talking about
the whole umbrella over the entire player in impact on
their new team, which is his old team but new team.
There can't be a guy who and he's performing on
(03:44):
the field as well. There can't be a more valuable
pick up at this point in time, considering the circumstances
with a bunch of injuries they're trying to get healthy.
Then Carlos Carea to this team.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Joeyshaw, he's so happy. Think about it. His parents live
in Houston, his wife's parents live in Houston. He still
has a house in Houston to be able to come
home and be with some of these lifelong friends, guys
he played with. Josh Hater. I mean, I know he's
gone all over the place, but those two were teammate
(04:18):
in a couple of different spots of the my leagues.
There's a lot of close friendships on this team. In
Korea is a big part of this. But when you
watch the games, and I know they probably talked about
it on the television broadcast too, he goes out to
the mound and the catcher's there, and then all three
of the other infielders there. He's like a magnet. Everybody
wants to hear what he has to say in a
(04:39):
conference between a pitcher and a catcher, so he I mean,
there's a lot of validity to what he says and does,
and he's going to keep everybody on their toes and
I love it. I think they needed it. They needed
an extra leader. And I remember what Joe a Spotta
was talking about. You know, we were at Fenway and
we were listening to Joe and one of the things
(05:02):
he said was, Carlins just can't talk or calling me.
And he wanted to know about Christian Walker. He wanted
to know about so and so and so and that
he wanted to know what made guys click, and he
wanted to be the best teammate. He could for all
of these guys as soon as he stepped in the door,
and he asked, but he wanted all that information just
(05:22):
about the personalities of his new teammates.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Steve Spars joins us for his weekly visit here on
the Sean Salisbury show Sports Talk seven ninety. What did
we see different from Brian King yesterday? Because the previous
outings had not looked like what yesterday's.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Did you know what? I asked the pitching coach last
night we were on the plane. I just said, hey,
did Brian race his arm angle a little bit? Looked
to me like he had, you know, got his hand
up a little bit higher on his release. And he said, well,
if you saw it, I trust that. I don't know.
We didn't talk about it specifically because he had just
(05:59):
fished the day before, so he didn't, you know, have
any conversations with about it with him about it. But
most likely he probably watched some video it probably noticed
that his arm had dropped a little bit. This is
my eyes and I'm just you know, I'm a little
bit of a ways away, but I see these guys
that I think I can usually see when when something's
a little bit different, but he was getting underneath some
(06:22):
of his pitches and they were flattening out. Yesterday, I
thought he got it up a little bit higher, maybe
two or three inches, and had he had that great
deception back. So I think that was the little correction
he was able to make. And they're going to need
him down the stretch. They're gonna need everybody down the stretch,
and I think that was a nice, little subtle adjustment
he made, and he looked great striking out the side.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Hey, Steve, Steve sparks ash those broadcasters weekly visit on
a Monday. Steven and I get asked the question a
lot on quarter mechanics. You and I've discussed the whole
mcha the pitching and quarterbacking, the similarities and arm angles
and all those things and getting back to to king,
you know, and people ask me, well, how does a
guy who's locked in with mechanics sometime during the season,
(07:05):
how does it change? How does the arm angle change
as well? Number One, legs get a little tired, and
when legs get tired, it affects res and arm angle
may drop. Or if you're like Tiger, if Tiger Woods
needed a golf instructor to watch his swing. When he's
winning four hundred straight tournaments. Then everything we all do right, Steve,
But with that, explain to people, Explain to people, you're going,
(07:25):
you're going, you're going. Then all of a sudden you
wake up one day it's like the arm angle drop
when you see that. How does that happen three quarters
the way? Is it simply just tired legs or is
it not attention to detail and losing focus? What happens
with that?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Looky, I don't need to violin to talk about the
Astros travel. You know, it's very good, you know, everything
is perfect right, but it's a long schedule, you know,
and you're getting in very late at night. You know,
everybody you know watch the Astros game probably or listen
to the game yesterday and they were done, and it
(08:03):
was seven hours later that I walked in my door,
you know, after people turn off their television sets and
we're happy about the Yankees went. I mean, it's just
a lot longer portion of these days. So the Astros,
the seasons go along, and you're traveling in a very
nice fashion. I get it, but it's it's tiresome and
(08:23):
it's grueling. On your body and to go out and
play catch. Like if somebody one of the Astros relievers
goes to play catch out in the outfield that I
can park tomorrow, not every single one of them is
going to throw every baseball with perfect intent. Right. You know,
you be having a conversation with somebody, You might be
talking about something you watched uh on your on your
(08:47):
iPad on the plane the night before. You you know,
your mind wanders from time to time, and if you
don't do things perfectly in practice, bad habits creep in.
And that the point of this is it's really hard
to stay on top of that for an entire season,
especially for a reliever who might come into the game
sixty or seventy times during the course of a year.
(09:09):
Every once in a while, things are going to creep in,
and you just you know, sometimes and thank goodness for
this video and what they're able to be able to
capture to see what they were doing right, And then
they can put something on top of another tape and see, okay, yeah,
my hand was down lower about an inch and a half.
I need to get it up again and turn my
(09:31):
wrist in. You know, they can figure out what they're
doing well and what they're doing differently when they're not
going so well. So makes things a little bit easier
in that sense, but those habits can creep them very easily.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And Steve, you make such grand people that are listening,
if you're listening as a young baseball person, this is
such a great point. Be intentional. I tell them all
the time. See, you can have you can still be
laughing and joking with the fellows, but when the ball
hits the hand, there's got to be a purpose. And
because it's so, it's much easier. It's much easier to
lose than it is to retain. It just is so
(10:07):
you can get into those bad habits. All right. So
I got a Bregmant question I want to ask you
after Dan has his. But before I get to that question,
I do want to if you have the Rangers, and
I know you brought you the Astros are your team,
but just remove yourself and just be a baseball a
pitcher and a baseball fan. Astros, the Mariners and the
uh uh, the Rangers pitching, starting pitching. I'm just sticking
(10:30):
to starting pitching. See they're all good when they're all
healthy on paper. What would the majority who's got the
strongest starting staff as we sit today, not performance wise,
maybe on paper, the perception of what the national people
would say.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Well, I think I think the ass the Rangers are
very similar with the Baldi and de Gram and the
Astras top two, and I think they're very similar. Then
they're they're they're looking for that third, fourth, and fifth,
and guys are have done great. I mean, Jason Alexanders
and phenomenal. Blue Ball was phenomenal on the road trip
in Arraghetti. I'm sure is going to be really good.
(11:07):
And I think Cobber, you know, you're crossing your fingers
that he can get back in it too. But I
think the Rangers and Astros are more similar to each
other than they are the Mariners, because I think the
Mariners starting staff one through five is better than either
of the other two. So that's what they hang their
hat on. That's what they've hung their hats on for
(11:29):
two or three years now, and that's why they took
so much criticism for not doing anything for their offense
last off season in the winter, like, how can you
continue to roll out this almost historical starting staff and
make that offense a little bit better? And they address that.
Of course, it's a trade deadline with Naylor and Suarez,
(11:52):
but I think this is going to be unbelievable, almost
exact scenario Sean is last year. I think the Mariners
were just a couple of percentage points behind the Astros
at this juncture, and the Astros finer stuff. I want
to say, twenty eight and sixteen or twenty six and
eighteen something like that to win the division. But they're
going to need every bit of that to win the
(12:13):
division again. And it's going to be fun watch them
to see how this unfolds. And not just because you
have the best starting staff. I mean I think the
Astros all the way one through thirteen, as far as
the relievers and all that, I think the Astros are
the strongest.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Sparky you mentioned Fromber, are we in skip of start
territory with them? With his last two outings.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I don't think they can afford that. Dan, and you
know you need Fromber to get out there and do
his thing. You know, Velocity wise, there is nothing wrong,
so I don't think there's any alert as far as
like a tired arm. I just think you know, he
couldn't land his curve ball for a strike. His last
game just never got a feel and kind of back
to what I was saying about Brian King, maybe just
(12:54):
watch a little bit of video, make a simple correction
this time of year, and he's been one of those
guys who's been able to roll out of bed and
throw that curveball first right just about any time he wants.
So that last game against the Yankees was pretty odd
in that sense that he wasn't able to throw up
for strikes, only one slinging myth on his curveball. I
think that entire outing. So once he gets that iron
(13:16):
back out, I think we'll see him, you know, rattle
off a lot of a lot more good starts to
finish this thing.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Steve, you mentioned Korea and how his impact changes other
people's approach. He just has that leadership. Another guy who
was a big part of this team and is coming
to town is having a good year with Bregman. And
we hear all the time about his mindset, and we
hear it, what do we mean by that? What's different
(13:44):
about his mindset, whether it's here or anywhere else that
others don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, I mean that's a good way to put it.
His mindset was different from most. And I've told this
story a few times and I'll tell it again. It
was toward the end of twenty eighteen seasons, so he
was he was fresh in the league. He's probably twenty
four years old something around then. And the Astros were
(14:11):
going to have one more series that season, and it
was against Baltimore. But the games didn't matter at all.
The Astros were already in the playoffs. They already knew
who they were going to play. They were going to
play Cleveland. And my wife had met me on the
road trip. We were in Baltimore the night before the
series started and we went downstairs to grab a drink
(14:33):
and I saw Bragman downstairs and he goes, hey, wats
what I do during this series? I go, what are
you talking about? He says, well, these games don't matter.
I know Cleveland's going to have their scouts and stands
to scout their advanced scouts for the for the division series,
and I'm going to get jammed the whole series. I'm
(14:55):
going to break bats. I go what he said, yeah,
watch this, so sure enough for calling these games and
he's shattering bats and they're jammining. I think he goes
one for eleven. He gets an infield hit something, but
it's just firewood and sure enough Alds. First game, Klueber
(15:16):
tries to come inside on Bregman. He takes him deep Bregman.
The second game of the series, I think Bauer comes
in that game, he tries to get inside on Bregman,
he takes him deep. Bregman I think goes five for nine.
He walks four times. They're continually trying to pitch him inside.
But he threw away a complete series just to get
(15:41):
a scouting report to take a pitchym inside. And he
wrecked them in that series. And if they would have
had an MVP for the American League Division series, he
would have won that going away. But that was just
I couldn't believe, you know, it was just another example
of the way he thought and what he needed to
do to get an advantage in that first game in
(16:03):
the playoffs, which games meant more. So that was classic
began for me.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And you know what's crazy about that, Steven, what a
friggin great story is. Also, you're sacrificing batting average, You're
sacrificing media, media and social media to say what's wrong
with Bregman. It's at the end of the year. He's
not ready for the postseason. Oh my gosh. Alls you
got to do is pitch him inside and he can't
hit bingo bango bongo, and here we go. So the
(16:30):
brilliance of that is not only a message for us
to think, but also opposing team to understand that they
all matter. You're working gamesmanship on all of them. Friggin
great story, But that's kind of been the way he's
gone about his business his whole career, which made him successful, right, Steve, Yeah, really.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I appreciated everything he brought to this team. You know,
he was a winner and he was going to do
everything he could to help his team win a World Series.
And I think that's what it's all about. And I
think that culture still lives on. Uh, But it's because
the guys like him. This culture still here because he
taught a lot of these guys. And he asked Hunter
Brown about Alex Bragman and Hill Gush. So I hope
(17:12):
he gets a nice round of a pause he deserves.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Agreed, Yeah, I agree, one hundred percent, Steve. Great stuff man,
awesome as always, brother, for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
For sure. Sparky, You're the Best Man see at the
ballpark later on the night.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Take care guys, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Thanks, but I'm a good series.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Thanks
Eight o'clock cour is here, and you know how we
start at the eight o'clock hour during Astros season on
a Monday, we talk with our good buddy Steve Sparks
after the Stros take two out of three over the
weekend from the Yankees in New York. Now they get
the Red Sox back here at home, and Sparky, let's
start with that. Where yesterday you get the six innings
out of Jason Alexander scoreless, he was fantastic. You get
(00:22):
both Jose Altuve and Carlos Korea factoring at the plates.
I mean, just how huge of a boost can that
be for this team as they come home for a
crucial Homestand.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, it's perfect Dan in New York when you get
Korea and l two hey just contribute and play so
well against the Yankees and very frustrating for their fans
of course, and they haven't been playing well, but the
Astros to be able to win four out of six
to end that road trip is perfect before the homecoming
of Korea.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Steve, you and I have been having these conversations on
here for years now about this Astros resilience and grit
and am I nuts? So maybe I'm just a glutton
for punishment, which is well nuts. I know you're going
to answer that, yes, of course you're nutshot. But I
know it's only a half game. But I like it,
And maybe the metrics don't bear it out, and maybe
it's the player in me, but I like this, Steve,
(01:15):
I do. I like the fact that it's close and
that they got to stay on edge the whole time.
Sure you'd like a ten game lead with a week
to go, but if it's gonna be like this, advantage
Astros they seem to rise in moments like this two
years ago, five out of six to get in and
win the tiebreaker. So, Steve, and I don't know what
your thought process and if you liked this as a player,
(01:37):
but to me, the Astros thrive and these elements more
than they would if they were comfortable with a twelve
run lead sans getting rest for their players.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
You know, I as a broadcaster, I love it. As
a player. The only drawback I think Sean would be
you know, and this is fresh on my mind just
because the way we saw a bray. You come into
that game yesterday ninety four ninety five miles per hour
and you're going mall, what's going on? Pretty good moment,
close game, and then he finishes up with three pitches
(02:10):
eight ninety eight ninety nine, So you're thinking, is he's
trying to tiptoe into this game? Is there ten to nineties?
I mean, what is going on? So I think there's
some relievers that would definitely love to have a little
bit of some breathing room so they could get some rest,
But that's just not going to be the nature of
this race this year. I mean, very similar to last
(02:30):
year with the Mariners nipping at their heels, but I
think it's going to go down to the end. I
think Seattle is really good and I think the Astros
are very good too, so I think it's going to
be a really, really fun race. I don't want to
discount the Rangers, and they might be able to get
on a run too, but this is going to be
a fun race and I love that. And I think
(02:51):
you're right. It does keep them on point and now,
and you guys have probably talked about this this morning.
Is a difference in moments like this because he keeps
everybody on point. There's no mental lapses with Carlos Carrey
out there. He keeps everybody alert, He keeps everybody energized,
(03:12):
and I think he's re energized too. I think I
don't think they should have gotten anybody better at this
point in time their franchise than to get Carlos Carea
back in the fold.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, Steve with that, there's a big part of me.
Now there may be somebody with better numbers across the league.
Since the All Star breakdown was trade. There was traded, right,
I get that. I'm talking about the I'm talking about
the whole umbrella over the entire player in impact on
their new team, which is his old team but new team.
There can't be a guy who and he's performing on
(03:44):
the field as well. There can't be a more valuable
pick up at this point in time, considering the circumstances
with a bunch of injuries they're trying to get healthy.
Then Carlos Carea to this team.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Joeyshaw, he's so happy. Think about it. His parents live
in Houston, his wife's parents live in Houston. He still
has a house in Houston to be able to come
home and be with some of these lifelong friends, guys
he played with. Josh Hater. I mean, I know he's
gone all over the place, but those two were teammate
(04:18):
in a couple of different spots of the my leagues.
There's a lot of close friendships on this team. In
Korea is a big part of this. But when you
watch the games, and I know they probably talked about
it on the television broadcast too, he goes out to
the mound and the catcher's there, and then all three
of the other infielders there. He's like a magnet. Everybody
wants to hear what he has to say in a
(04:39):
conference between a pitcher and a catcher, so he I mean,
there's a lot of validity to what he says and does,
and he's going to keep everybody on their toes and
I love it. I think they needed it. They needed
an extra leader. And I remember what Joe a Spotta
was talking about. You know, we were at Fenway and
we were listening to Joe and one of the things
(05:02):
he said was, Carlins just can't talk or calling me.
And he wanted to know about Christian Walker. He wanted
to know about so and so and so and that
he wanted to know what made guys click, and he
wanted to be the best teammate. He could for all
of these guys as soon as he stepped in the door,
and he asked, but he wanted all that information just
(05:22):
about the personalities of his new teammates.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Steve Spars joins us for his weekly visit here on
the Sean Salisbury show Sports Talk seven ninety. What did
we see different from Brian King yesterday? Because the previous
outings had not looked like what yesterday's.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Did you know what? I asked the pitching coach last
night we were on the plane. I just said, hey,
did Brian race his arm angle a little bit? Looked
to me like he had, you know, got his hand
up a little bit higher on his release. And he said, well,
if you saw it, I trust that. I don't know.
We didn't talk about it specifically because he had just
(05:59):
fished the day before, so he didn't, you know, have
any conversations with about it with him about it. But
most likely he probably watched some video it probably noticed
that his arm had dropped a little bit. This is
my eyes and I'm just you know, I'm a little
bit of a ways away, but I see these guys
that I think I can usually see when when something's
a little bit different, but he was getting underneath some
(06:22):
of his pitches and they were flattening out. Yesterday, I
thought he got it up a little bit higher, maybe
two or three inches, and had he had that great
deception back. So I think that was the little correction
he was able to make. And they're going to need
him down the stretch. They're gonna need everybody down the stretch,
and I think that was a nice, little subtle adjustment
he made, and he looked great striking out the side.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Hey, Steve, Steve sparks ash those broadcasters weekly visit on
a Monday. Steven and I get asked the question a
lot on quarter mechanics. You and I've discussed the whole
mcha the pitching and quarterbacking, the similarities and arm angles
and all those things and getting back to to king,
you know, and people ask me, well, how does a
guy who's locked in with mechanics sometime during the season,
(07:05):
how does it change? How does the arm angle change
as well? Number One, legs get a little tired, and
when legs get tired, it affects res and arm angle
may drop. Or if you're like Tiger, if Tiger Woods
needed a golf instructor to watch his swing. When he's
winning four hundred straight tournaments. Then everything we all do right, Steve,
But with that, explain to people, Explain to people, you're going,
(07:25):
you're going, you're going. Then all of a sudden you
wake up one day it's like the arm angle drop
when you see that. How does that happen three quarters
the way? Is it simply just tired legs or is
it not attention to detail and losing focus? What happens
with that?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Looky, I don't need to violin to talk about the
Astros travel. You know, it's very good, you know, everything
is perfect right, but it's a long schedule, you know,
and you're getting in very late at night. You know,
everybody you know watch the Astros game probably or listen
to the game yesterday and they were done, and it
(08:03):
was seven hours later that I walked in my door,
you know, after people turn off their television sets and
we're happy about the Yankees went. I mean, it's just
a lot longer portion of these days. So the Astros,
the seasons go along, and you're traveling in a very
nice fashion. I get it, but it's it's tiresome and
(08:23):
it's grueling. On your body and to go out and
play catch. Like if somebody one of the Astros relievers
goes to play catch out in the outfield that I
can park tomorrow, not every single one of them is
going to throw every baseball with perfect intent. Right. You know,
you be having a conversation with somebody, You might be
talking about something you watched uh on your on your
(08:47):
iPad on the plane the night before. You you know,
your mind wanders from time to time, and if you
don't do things perfectly in practice, bad habits creep in.
And that the point of this is it's really hard
to stay on top of that for an entire season,
especially for a reliever who might come into the game
sixty or seventy times during the course of a year.
(09:09):
Every once in a while, things are going to creep in,
and you just you know, sometimes and thank goodness for
this video and what they're able to be able to
capture to see what they were doing right, And then
they can put something on top of another tape and see, okay, yeah,
my hand was down lower about an inch and a half.
I need to get it up again and turn my
(09:31):
wrist in. You know, they can figure out what they're
doing well and what they're doing differently when they're not
going so well. So makes things a little bit easier
in that sense, but those habits can creep them very easily.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And Steve, you make such grand people that are listening,
if you're listening as a young baseball person, this is
such a great point. Be intentional. I tell them all
the time. See, you can have you can still be
laughing and joking with the fellows, but when the ball
hits the hand, there's got to be a purpose. And
because it's so, it's much easier. It's much easier to
lose than it is to retain. It just is so
(10:07):
you can get into those bad habits. All right. So
I got a Bregmant question I want to ask you
after Dan has his. But before I get to that question,
I do want to if you have the Rangers, and
I know you brought you the Astros are your team,
but just remove yourself and just be a baseball a
pitcher and a baseball fan. Astros, the Mariners and the
uh uh, the Rangers pitching, starting pitching. I'm just sticking
(10:30):
to starting pitching. See they're all good when they're all
healthy on paper. What would the majority who's got the
strongest starting staff as we sit today, not performance wise,
maybe on paper, the perception of what the national people
would say.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Well, I think I think the ass the Rangers are
very similar with the Baldi and de Gram and the
Astras top two, and I think they're very similar. Then
they're they're they're looking for that third, fourth, and fifth,
and guys are have done great. I mean, Jason Alexanders
and phenomenal. Blue Ball was phenomenal on the road trip
in Arraghetti. I'm sure is going to be really good.
(11:07):
And I think Cobber, you know, you're crossing your fingers
that he can get back in it too. But I
think the Rangers and Astros are more similar to each
other than they are the Mariners, because I think the
Mariners starting staff one through five is better than either
of the other two. So that's what they hang their
hat on. That's what they've hung their hats on for
(11:29):
two or three years now, and that's why they took
so much criticism for not doing anything for their offense
last off season in the winter, like, how can you
continue to roll out this almost historical starting staff and
make that offense a little bit better? And they address that.
Of course, it's a trade deadline with Naylor and Suarez,
(11:52):
but I think this is going to be unbelievable, almost
exact scenario Sean is last year. I think the Mariners
were just a couple of percentage points behind the Astros
at this juncture, and the Astros finer stuff. I want
to say, twenty eight and sixteen or twenty six and
eighteen something like that to win the division. But they're
going to need every bit of that to win the
(12:13):
division again. And it's going to be fun watch them
to see how this unfolds. And not just because you
have the best starting staff. I mean I think the
Astros all the way one through thirteen, as far as
the relievers and all that, I think the Astros are
the strongest.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Sparky you mentioned Fromber, are we in skip of start
territory with them? With his last two outings.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I don't think they can afford that. Dan, and you
know you need Fromber to get out there and do
his thing. You know, Velocity wise, there is nothing wrong,
so I don't think there's any alert as far as
like a tired arm. I just think you know, he
couldn't land his curve ball for a strike. His last
game just never got a feel and kind of back
to what I was saying about Brian King, maybe just
(12:54):
watch a little bit of video, make a simple correction
this time of year, and he's been one of those
guys who's been able to roll out of bed and
throw that curveball first right just about any time he wants.
So that last game against the Yankees was pretty odd
in that sense that he wasn't able to throw up
for strikes, only one slinging myth on his curveball. I
think that entire outing. So once he gets that iron
(13:16):
back out, I think we'll see him, you know, rattle
off a lot of a lot more good starts to
finish this thing.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Steve, you mentioned Korea and how his impact changes other
people's approach. He just has that leadership. Another guy who
was a big part of this team and is coming
to town is having a good year with Bregman. And
we hear all the time about his mindset, and we
hear it, what do we mean by that? What's different
(13:44):
about his mindset, whether it's here or anywhere else that
others don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, I mean that's a good way to put it.
His mindset was different from most. And I've told this
story a few times and I'll tell it again. It
was toward the end of twenty eighteen seasons, so he
was he was fresh in the league. He's probably twenty
four years old something around then. And the Astros were
(14:11):
going to have one more series that season, and it
was against Baltimore. But the games didn't matter at all.
The Astros were already in the playoffs. They already knew
who they were going to play. They were going to
play Cleveland. And my wife had met me on the
road trip. We were in Baltimore the night before the
series started and we went downstairs to grab a drink
(14:33):
and I saw Bragman downstairs and he goes, hey, wats
what I do during this series? I go, what are
you talking about? He says, well, these games don't matter.
I know Cleveland's going to have their scouts and stands
to scout their advanced scouts for the for the division series,
and I'm going to get jammed the whole series. I'm
(14:55):
going to break bats. I go what he said, yeah,
watch this, so sure enough for calling these games and
he's shattering bats and they're jammining. I think he goes
one for eleven. He gets an infield hit something, but
it's just firewood and sure enough Alds. First game, Klueber
(15:16):
tries to come inside on Bregman. He takes him deep Bregman.
The second game of the series, I think Bauer comes
in that game, he tries to get inside on Bregman,
he takes him deep. Bregman I think goes five for nine.
He walks four times. They're continually trying to pitch him inside.
But he threw away a complete series just to get
(15:41):
a scouting report to take a pitchym inside. And he
wrecked them in that series. And if they would have
had an MVP for the American League Division series, he
would have won that going away. But that was just
I couldn't believe, you know, it was just another example
of the way he thought and what he needed to
do to get an advantage in that first game in
(16:03):
the playoffs, which games meant more. So that was classic
began for me.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And you know what's crazy about that, Steven, what a
friggin great story is. Also, you're sacrificing batting average, You're
sacrificing media, media and social media to say what's wrong
with Bregman. It's at the end of the year. He's
not ready for the postseason. Oh my gosh. Alls you
got to do is pitch him inside and he can't
hit bingo bango bongo, and here we go. So the
(16:30):
brilliance of that is not only a message for us
to think, but also opposing team to understand that they
all matter. You're working gamesmanship on all of them. Friggin
great story, But that's kind of been the way he's
gone about his business his whole career, which made him successful, right, Steve, Yeah, really.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I appreciated everything he brought to this team. You know,
he was a winner and he was going to do
everything he could to help his team win a World Series.
And I think that's what it's all about. And I
think that culture still lives on. Uh, But it's because
the guys like him. This culture still here because he
taught a lot of these guys. And he asked Hunter
Brown about Alex Bragman and Hill Gush. So I hope
(17:12):
he gets a nice round of a pause he deserves.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Agreed, Yeah, I agree, one hundred percent, Steve. Great stuff man,
awesome as always, brother, for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
For sure. Sparky, You're the Best Man see at the
ballpark later on the night.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Take care guys, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Thanks, but I'm a good series.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Thanks
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