April 4, 2024 • 24 mins
Ross and Gordy are back recapping the Astros rough 2-5 start to the season, but some positives to highlight as Ronel Blanco threw a no-hitter, Yordan Alvarez' bat came to life & they won the series vs Toronto. Now a trip up to Mimic Maid Park lies ahead.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Astros fans, cheers, Wucky Lucky, Welcome to the Crawford Box Cast,
Houston Astros. Proud leadbord for youby Crawford Bach from Carbak Brewing. You're
getting bear. Oh my godness,the Crawford Box Cast starts now here we
(00:29):
go. Here's Chris Gordy and RossViarel and what's up everybody. This is
a new edition of the Crawford boxCast, presented by Carbok Brewing and the
Crawford Bach and uh Man, whata weird, weird first week of the
season for your Houston Astros. Alot of what's going on, a lot
(00:50):
of oh my god, freaking out. The dynasty's dead too. Okay,
maybe it's just a rough start andthe Astros are still the Astros. Welcome
into the show. Uh Chris cordhere, Ross vi RelA Ross. A
two and five start for your HoustonAstros. Auspicious start, maybe is how
we would describe it. Is it? Inauspicious? Auspicious is good? Right?
Inauspicious? I think it's bad inauspiciousstart to the season for the Houston
(01:14):
Astros, I guess overall, butmy panic level as close to zero,
especially the way I mean they wontheir two games ten nothing over the Blue
Jays and a no hitter, eightnothing and a one hitter. You're one
Josh Hater out away from sweeping thatseries and being three and four on the
season you were. I mean,it was just weird that series against the
(01:37):
Yankees. I mean, they werejust completely snake bit runers in scoring position.
They couldn't get it done. Bullpenwas shaky as well, even guys
that you know you're going to beable to rely on for the remainder of
the season, and Presley Hater anda Bray you all giving up runs at
points in that series. It justfelt like, Okay, yeah, they
got swept, but it's not likethey were getting blown out a twelve to
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two every single game exactly. Andthen things came around, obviously in the
Toronto series. And that's what Italk with John Hayman about on Sunday.
You know, we had him onthe pregame show and he said, ned
remind you the Yankees might actually bepretty good. He goes, right now,
because I know the Astros fans,you've become a used so accustomed to
beating up on him and all this. But he goes, they've since two
(02:20):
thousand and nine, last time theYankees won a World Series. They have
been chasing greatness and the Steinberger familyhas been spending money and money and money
and all these free agents, andlook at how they've missed. Like John
Carlos Stanton has been kind of adud for them. Like he hits home
runs, but he's constantly injured.He strikes out a ton, like all
these big name acquisitions they went after. Garrek Cole's been good, but like
he's on the sixty dayil right now, Yeah, exactly, but even he
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hasn't elevated him. But he goes, look at this offseason. Wan Soto
was a huge acquisition. Look atwhat he did. Marcus Stroman was a
huge acquisition. He looked good sofar. U verdugo in left field,
like he goes. All these yearsof the Yankees missing, missing, missing,
eventually there was gonna be a yearwhere they hit and they actually are
good. And so it was justa reminder that, yes, it sucked
at the Astros to lose to thatteam four straight games, stinks, but
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you're right Ross all four were close. The Friday Night one got away,
you know late when the bullpen blewit. But all three card Yeah,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, everystarted left the game with the lead.
Yeah on h On Sunday, youknow, JP France pitched well enough to
keep him minute. You know,five and two thirds three runs. That's
fine, that's what you expect outof your number four, number five guy.
He gave you a chance. Theproblem was you you didn't score many
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runs. So now to fast forwardto the Toronto series, a sweep was
there to be had. The JoshHader, you know, blows it.
But dude, the up and downroller coaster of this of this offense.
So let's start there. Like youstruggle to score runs in the whole Yankee
series. You score a ten spoton Monday, you score one on Tuesday,
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like you were trying to win thatgame one nothing. Shot it.
Yeah, you're trying to win thatgame one nothing. And then Saturday we
see or Wednesday we see the offenseexplode again with eight runs. So it's
just this like boom or bust.Well, you know they have it in
him, but man, just couldwe be more consistent. That's just the
nature of a baseball season. Imean, we see it. We talked
about it last year, We've talkedabout the last couple of years where sometimes,
yeah, the bats will go cold. How many years have we had
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this narrative of the Astros score doubledigits in a game that means they're losing
the next game. I mean ithappened here. They scored ten runs and
then they score one in the nextgame. They go one for eight with
runners in scoring position, that onebeing Bregnant reaching on a single but hitting
out two bay So the inning wasover. Yeah, No, it was
rough and and and trying to capitalize. And what's so weird so far is
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through the start? Is you know, Jordon Alvarez was prior to Wednesday night,
we're looking at it. You're notgoing, hey, bro', where's
the MVP candidate? Jordon Alvarez,where's home run? Crushing yord On?
And man, he woke up.All he needed was some familiarity seeing Chris
Bassett, who his best friend,he owns him, and we saw yord
(04:55):
On wake up with not one buthis first two home runs of the season.
Was four hits on the night,Yes, nearly had a fifth hit
on third home run four hundred feet. Yeah, I mean it was.
It was pretty incredible, but justto kind of hit on some of the
averages so far. Jan Er Diazhas been your best hitter. Awesome,
giving you all that batting four tosixty two at the catcher spot. Jeremy
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Panya whatever that he that thing hetweaked and spring trading with the swing.
It's working. He's batting four hundred, jose Al Tuove two and jose Al
Twove things batting three forty five andthree home runs already. Ross We're not
even a full week into the seasonyet, and he's got three home runs.
H Kyle Tucker came around after acouple of cold days. He's three
thirty three. Chas McCormick's three thirtythree. Uh, and then down below
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it's Jordan batting two forty one,Alex Bregman really off to slow st on
betting two hundred, and then joseA Bray your first baseman. Ooh,
did Father Times he's got two singles? Did Father Time take his toll?
Batting one oh five? But overall, it's funny because we talked about the
the offense hasn't been great, butyou look at these averages and these numbers,
you go, that's awesome. Yeah, I would wonder I guess I
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can pull it up like the MajorLeague Baseball overall stats, like they're two
and five, But I'm sure they'regoing to be one of the best offenses
of baseball, like along with maybelike the Braves and the Dodgers. They're
gonna be in that mix. Ifeel like all season long, especially if
like you just rattled off the numbersfrom Jery Payna, if he's gonna be
hitting like that, Oh and that'syour eight guy right now. Of course
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a Brady you could get bumped downand he's gonna be the seven or six
guy or whatever, it doesn't matter. But if you're going like seven deep
of really good to above average hitters, if Jeremy Payne can find that form
and have the best offensive season ofhis career, which I did predict he
was gonna do started the season justbecause I'm buying in to the guy.
He has work ethic, he's gottalent, he's putting in the work,
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he knows the noise from last yearand so far, very early, but
we are seeing it payoff dividends.I expect that to continue, and this
is just gonna be one of themost potent offensive in baseball, if not
number one about Diaz, Pagal two, Va, Tucker all over one thousand?
Oh, yes, right now,that is that's pretty good. You
take that. They're all the MVPcandidates right now. How about wins above
replacement? Uh, Yaner Diez,Josel Twovey zero point seven, already almost
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a full win seven games day.Wait a minute, they only have two
wins. How can they be almosta full two wins from them? Explain
that to me? War leaders.Dusty Baker is telling you, you guys
are gonna thank me later. Soyeah, Yaner Diaz has been awesome and
and and how about the highlight ofthe season so far run Al Blanco throwing
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a no hitter? Yes, uhthe other night, just absolutely incredible way
to get his season started. Andwith j Ordaz behind home plate on top
of wednesday Nights one hitter, allthe questions about Diaz ready to handle this
pitching staff. Is he on thesame page? Can he call a good
game again? I'm not saying it'sall solved in one week, but so
far it's a great start. Ithink it's funny and that's okay. The
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fan base still wants to dunk onDusty and all that type of stuff with
that happened with the no hitter.But also, I mean the first four
games, it's not like, well, only Victor Carrottina, I guess catching
a couple of those, and Karatinacatching fromer as well, right, I
think on yes, in his secondstart, so Kartini with a couple of
starts. But Yanyarda is calling ano hitter. That's fine. And also
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it's something that we had Joe spoton the Matt Thomas Show, as we
do every week Tuesday's twelve thirty scheduleddepending but for the most part that's where
he's on. He said, likethe first thing they did this offseason was
get him in, get Victor Carrottiniin as well, start working on Hey,
this is how you want to callpockets of lineups. These are our
pitchers, these are the opposing lineupsyou're going to go against. And that's
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something that's started off this offseason.And there has been improvement from Yanyar Diaz,
according to Joe Spata, from callingand handling lineups and pitchers since the
start of the work that he putin in the off season. So he
had an off season to know he'sgoing to be the everyday catcher. So
he's getting better. From that standpoint, we're already seeing some early returns.
He called a freaking no hitter withRonel Blanco and oh, by the way,
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the dude is mashing at the plate. Christian Javier to start so far
an era of zero run, OldBlanco a start zero era, and Hunter
Brown. I know anything, whatfour innings but zero era. I mean,
that's incredible to say we're weak inthe season. Three year starters have
not given up a run. Yes, yeah, so that means how are
(09:22):
you losing all these games? It'sthe bullpen. So I think there are
guys, like we said, Presleyhad given up runs, Josh Hater giving
up runs, brianon Bray as well. They're gonna be fine if the guy
you get these guys stretched out.Oh by the way, justin Verlanders getting
his rehab start on Sunday. Iam for a team that is two and
five. My panic level is likea zero out of one hundred. And
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by the way, from Ber bouncesback after the rough outing on opening day,
it wasn't even that rough. Hewasn't getting hit around. He just
the control was out and he hadsix walks what do you come back with
the other night rows? Zero walks, I mean, yes, six walks
the first start zero walks. Andif you want to be concerned about Javier,
I don't remember how he walks hehad in his first start, but
he did have five last night andracked up the pitch can yeah, scoreless
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outing, but he did rack upfive walks. And there was a little
bit of a dip in velocity latein that outing, but that's okay,
don't give up a run. Didyour job so yeah, So just between
Valdez, Javi or Blanco, HunterBrown and JP France, so far,
so good and uh and then ontop of it, like you said,
the news coming out yesterday, JustinVerlander is throwing a bullpen today at minute
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made. He will make a scheduleto make a rehab start and triple a
on Sunday, and as Chandler Roamreport, he'll probably need or Joe Spotta
said, who probably need probably twotwo starts, he feels. And if
after he does that he slights tocome back for the series against Atlanta Braves,
Hey, great, Justin may lookat that and go, maybe we
(10:48):
can take a couple more days.Can we play after that, but you
know, one of the best lineupsin all baseball. Yeah, no,
I bet you he's planning to tryto get lined up to where he doesn't
have to pitch in Mexico City.Well that's probably the other part. But
yeah, after the Braves, it'sthe Nationals and the Cubs road trips to
DC and Chicago, So maybe maybehe opts to wait for that, but
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no, it's it's a great thing. And then you know Jose or Keati,
they said, you know, he'sa couple of weeks away, he's
he's on track, going well.And then how about the report the other
day too that Luis Garcia through fifteenpitches off the mound, like what they
said, he's ahead of schedule.Tommy John, you know about a year
ago and he's already a little bitahead of schedule. So, you know,
I think we make a mistake toa lot of people, like to
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we group or Luis Garcia and mccullorstogether because the reporters are both going to
be back somewhere around All Star break. But understand, they're two different things.
They're two different injuries. Luis Garciais coming back from Tommy John,
and look at the tracker. Otherguy's come back from Tommy John. Almost
all of them come back good,and a lot come back better. The
velocity's even higher on some of thesepits. So I Luis Garcia, I
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have full faith he's going to comeback and probably be really good. Mccullors
is in a separate category because theguys just he hasn't earned our trust because
it's like, dude, every timeyou're about to come back or do come
back, you get hurt again.So it's it's just one of those things
where I want to separate him becauseOkay, mccullegs will wait and see,
but at least Garcia and Arkidi andVerlander. I feel good about those guys
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coming back. I'm still less.I'm less worried than most about Lance mcullor's
junior because I think people get thisfatigue injury fatigue, and Lance Colors junior,
by the way, has the injuryfatigue as well. But this is
from the injury that he had intwenty one. That's basically what he had
been rehabbing and then now had addressedwith the surgery. So he should be
over that hump he has had.Tommy John, now he had this whatever
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it was. What did they say, alima bean sized bone spur whatever he
had removed or so something that hadbeen bothering him as well. It was
a major surgery. So injuries aren'tpredictive, although it kind of does feel
like they are with Lance mccullors Junior. I get that, but this is
a bump of twenty one. Itbought him in twenty one, twenty two,
and twenty three, same injury addressedsurgically, So I actually am more
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optimistic than most of him helping outthe team late in the season. Okay,
so that's starting pitch. Yes,Now we got to talk about the
bullpen, Martinez, and this hasbeen one of the problems. But I
have some breaking news coming out aswe're doing this. Oh and it's not
good news. Oh no, Ross, who is our most beloved guy out
of the bullpen towards the end oflast season, Brian A. Bray You
(13:16):
well, the guy who had onlybeen here about a month. Oh uh
what Kendall Graveman Waite. Uh he'sa lefty old Bennett's sus said, Susa,
he has been hurt. He hasbeen hurt and breaking news as we're
doing this podcast. Lefty Bennett Sussaunderwent surgery for sir thoracic outlet syndrome,
(13:37):
will miss the remainder of the twentytwenties. So that's a guy. Those
guys. I mean, yeah,you got a good inning out of Dylan
Coleman, but yeah, some ofyour offseason guys you were looking to maybe
contribute somewhere. He was so goodin September. The problem was he could
be on the postseason roster because heyou know, he was acquired too late,
right, So anyway, that wasa guy we were excited about.
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He was a i'ort a guy whowas really excited being with the Astros in
spring training and he wasn't far fromhis hometown and all that. So he
is out. So we cannot counton Bennett sus It would have been nice
to have another lefty out of thebullpen, but when we look at the
rest of this bullpen ross, theguy's like, well, Josh Hater issued
most you know, your off seasonprized acquisition, a blown save and a
(14:20):
couple have been in four of thesix games or I guess four of the
seven now at this point, andhe's not gotten to save. Yeah,
so it's it's not great. Asix seventy five e RA so far for
Josh Hater, but'll be fine.Look, he's he's here for four years
on what a ninety million dollars dealhe got, so five years ninety five,
yes, so he ain't going anywhere. He's going to get it figured
out. Taylor Scott is an interestingone. That's a guy that made the
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roster. He was he was alittle bit of surprise. He made the
team out of spring training and reallyonly had one bad outing. The other
ones I thought had been pretty goodfor him and the ERA. You know,
on paper it's five forty, butI thought Taylor of Scott's done okay,
he's he's you know, gotten somebig outs, particularly on Sunday's game
against the Yankees. I think hestruck out Judge and Stanton or something like
(15:05):
that. So anyway, I likeTaylor Scott. Rafael Montero has pitched in
three games, and while the ERAonly says three thirty eight, yes,
he's given up some hits on runsthat went to other pitchers. That's true.
So that's always the deceiving stat aboutERA on relievers. Ryan Presley has
made three appearances. He has anarea of seven to seventy one Ross.
(15:26):
Uh. Yeah, his first coupleoutings were bad on I think it was
Monday night, right he or Tuesdaynight the fromber start. He came in
the eighth inning with a runner onat two outs and got George Springer to
ground out. That was a bigspot for him. Yes, it's just
one of those interesting things when wewatched Ryan Presley, like his mental adjustment
to pitching in the seventh or eighthinning as opposed to you know, the
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ninth that's fine. I mean youwhen you got him, he wasn't your
ninth inning guys, So I meanhe's used to that. Brian Abraw has
appeared in two games in an areaof eleven fifty seven. That was really
there are this fine. That wasreally that Saturday game where he came in
and just gave blew the game.Yeah, and then uh, Mushinski and
Seth Martinez they're kind of they arewhat they are, Like I think they're
(16:11):
gonna be fine, but they're justthey're the middle relief guys. You're asking
to get some outs and limited theday. They're hoping that you just get
one or two innings or need oneor two innings out of those guys,
and then the hammer comes down.Hopefully it will, it will shape up
that way. I still have faith, of course that I pray you Presley,
whatever rule do you want to putthem in bray, you Presley hater,
it's gonna be. The door isgonna close. So we fast forward
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to today, Ross and the Astrosdid make a couple of waiver claims.
Now, these are people that aren'tgonna get anybody excited because nobody's ever heard
of these guys. But one ofthem is an arm and it is right
handed reliever Miguel Diaz from the Tigers, and it was inter as a chandler
Romee pointed out, Diaz is outof minor league options one, so if
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they're claiming him, they're gonna keephim. He's pitched parts of six with
the Padres and Tigers, and hehas a four eighty four e RA over
that time. Okay, good,not great, but then go look at
his numbers last year, you likeone point something without his point sixty four
I think over like fourteen innings though, yeah, it was small sample size,
but still'm like, okay, wellthat's better than the selling the four
eighty four. Like what are alwaysdoing baseball. What have you done for
(17:18):
me lately? Of course? Well? Yeah, and also when astros bring
pitchers over a lot of times theyimprove, And wouldn't that kind of be
compliment or similar to what Bennett Sussadid and with so just an interesting when
he's again he's a right handed reliever. But we'll see what role Miguel Diaz
place here. But I got tothink if they're claiming off waivers and he's
out of options, he's gonna pitch, They're gonna use him, and then
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well they need arms, So let'sgo the Miguel Diaz. The other piece.
What's his name? Yeah, Migueld got it right or Diaz.
I don't know. He may pronounceit. I gotta wait to look where
the accent is. The other onethat they claimed is a guy named Cooper
Hummel. Cooper Humble sounds like abasketball player, but he is I was
gonna go with like a four starquarterback out of suthe Carol. He is
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a super Hummel. He is acatcher slash first baseman that he can play
some first base. Jele Roone pointsout, but his number is not great.
He played in sixty six games forthe Diamondbacks in twenty twenty two,
batted one seventy six with three homers, seventeen ribis, and twenty three walks.
And then last year Ross played ninegames that the Mariners at the start
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of the season. Yes, twohits in twenty three at bats. I
don't know if I've ever seen anegative ops plus as I pull his page
up minus six average. I don'tknow what they're thinking here. Maybe they're
thinking John Singleton's not going to bethe answer at backup first base, so
maybe maybe this guy can be canplatoon as a backup first base, maybe
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catch a game here or there.I don't know what the thinking is here,
But we'll see what happens with Cooper. Hummel comes over from the Giants,
but again played last two big leagueseasons with the Diamondbacks and the Mariners.
So we'll see on those two guys. But Waiver claims and they're just
trying to see if there's something thereon either of these guys. Yeah,
(19:03):
that's fine. I mean, DanaBrown is doing his job. They're gonna
because they don't have a whole lotof wiggle room with attacks. They're not
gonna make a lot of splash trades, or certainly not at the beginning of
April or anything like that. Soyou got to find some diamonds in the
roughs, So you got to picksome One man's trash is another man's treasure,
and hopefully you got some of that. So as we start to look
ahead ross, the Astros go totheir home away from home, Mimic Made
(19:26):
Park as we call it, upthere in Arlington, Texas, where we
just saw the Astros take all threegames of the Alcs last fall. They
go up there and Texas off toa good start. You know, they've
they've won their first two series ofthe season. Yes, so, but
gonna be interesting. Hunter Brown isslated to go Friday night against the Rangers.
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They are scheduled to throw Cody Bradford. He is want to know with
a three to sixty ERA. Saturdayis expected. JP Frantz will be back
from paternity leave. They had thebaby. I think he'll make the start
on Saturday. He'll be a posedby John Gray. Now, John Gray
got ruffed up by the Cubs.He gave up five runs off seven hits
in just three and two thirds.So i'd like to hear that, So
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John Gray has not been great.And then on Sunday, Renald Blanco,
coming off of his no hitter,will take to the mound against Dane Dunning.
He's want to know with a fourto twenty six RA that will have
roughed him up a couple of times. That one will be Sunday Night Baseball.
That will be primetime, nationally televisedaudience in ESPN. So how does
ron O Blanco react? Hey,fine, throw the no hitter on Space
(20:30):
City Home Network. But now thatyou got all the eyeballs on you,
because what are they going to betalking about the whole broadcast? This guy
just got throw hitter. Well,talking about the pre game television, the
pre game, the pregame hype,will all be conversations about. I mean,
I'm not gonna I'm not okay.He might he might go out there
and get shelled, but I don'tthink it'll be because he's on National tell.
And then and then a rare Mondaynight game finishing off a four game
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series will be fromber Valdez against Andrewheeny heeney uh oh, and one a
one ninety three RA against Tampa wherehe give up one ear and run three
runs one earned on uh in fourand two third. That sounds like a
solid three out of four to me. Let's go. I mean, look,
these are pitchers that the Astros havegotten after at times, so it
will be interesting. And then afterthat ross a three road three three game
(21:15):
road trip out the Kansas City andthen home for the Rangers. So we
know this team played better on theroad last year, so your home hasn't
gone so hot. Maybe that's maybethat's what they need. Well, yeah,
minute made north, let's go.So how do you see this one
playing? I go, three outof four? Is? But is that?
Is that two? Amrazing the expectationstoo much? There? No,
(21:37):
you're fine, okay, Third bestoffensive baseball, as I mentioned because I
looked it up, it's of coursethe Braves and the Dodgers one and two
in terms of team ops, Astrosthird. Right now, I'm just happy
to see the power come out becauseafter Sunday Russ, do you know the
Astros were second to last in theleague at home runs? And look,
home runs aren't the the end allbe all stat but in a lineup that
features Kyle Tucker, you'rdon Alvarezo heTova Alex Bregman and they were second to
(22:03):
last. I'm like, where isthe power? And then and then and
then you play Toronto. Some guynamed some guy named Bowden Francis Francis,
who did you know he was?He's born and raised in Tallahassee. It
was named for Bobby Bowden. Ithought of I mean, that thought crossed
my mind, but then I waslike, no, no way. But
if I saw that he was bornin Tallahassee, hopefully some of these Rangers
(22:25):
pitchers pitch like a Bouten Francis thisweekend. And you know what the good
part is Russ and being up therein Arlington. We won't be making the
trip, but a lot of Astrosfans will. They sell car back up
there in Ireland and it's one ofthe it's one of the few saving graces
of that ballpark. That's why theAstros win there. That's probably it.
They see the car box side andthey go, oh, we feel like
we're at home here. So uh, it's gonna be fun out there.
(22:47):
I know a lot of people wouldbe drinking Crawford Box all weekend. That
was the cool thing of these lasttwo home stands. Ross being at the
ballpark, so many Crawford Box andpeople's hands, I mean they they the
coolers are filled at the start ofthe game, empty at the and and
everybody's drinking them. So go getyour hands on a Crawford bock. It's
a home run every time. Andof course the great people at Carbox Brewing
(23:07):
doing that. So this has beena all new edition of the Crawford Box
Casts. Anything you want to throwin, No, I just don't panic
two and five. Don't look atthe record, look at what's happened on
the field. The astros are goingto be fine. Yeah. My favorite
was the A team at Jeff Blumon Friday on Friday afternoon, and the
headline of the podcast was no,no panic after one loss. And then
(23:29):
everybody came in on the Facebook comments, what about after two losses? What
about after three losses? Hey?So be fine? Yeah, look it's
it's gonna be fine. You wishthey could have swept Toronto. You had
it in your hands. You hada couple of games in that New York
series you'll let slip away. Solet's find ways to finish games and let's
have let's have Josh Hater earn allthat money that he's making, and we'll
be back Ross via Al Chris Gordyon all new Crawford Box casts next week.
(23:53):
Right here wherever you find your podcast, and it's sports seven ninety dot com
Astros fans, cheers, Wucky Lucky, Welcome to the Crawford Box Cast,
Houston Astros. Proud leadbord for youby Crawford Bach from Carbak Brewing. You're
getting bear. Oh my godness,the Crawford Box Cast starts now here we
(00:29):
go. Here's Chris Gordy and RossViarel and what's up everybody. This is
a new edition of the Crawford boxCast, presented by Carbok Brewing and the
Crawford Bach and uh Man, whata weird, weird first week of the
season for your Houston Astros. Alot of what's going on, a lot
(00:50):
of oh my god, freaking out. The dynasty's dead too. Okay,
maybe it's just a rough start andthe Astros are still the Astros. Welcome
into the show. Uh Chris cordhere, Ross vi RelA Ross. A
two and five start for your HoustonAstros. Auspicious start, maybe is how
we would describe it. Is it? Inauspicious? Auspicious is good? Right?
Inauspicious? I think it's bad inauspiciousstart to the season for the Houston
(01:14):
Astros, I guess overall, butmy panic level as close to zero,
especially the way I mean they wontheir two games ten nothing over the Blue
Jays and a no hitter, eightnothing and a one hitter. You're one
Josh Hater out away from sweeping thatseries and being three and four on the
season you were. I mean,it was just weird that series against the
(01:37):
Yankees. I mean, they werejust completely snake bit runers in scoring position.
They couldn't get it done. Bullpenwas shaky as well, even guys
that you know you're going to beable to rely on for the remainder of
the season, and Presley Hater anda Bray you all giving up runs at
points in that series. It justfelt like, Okay, yeah, they
got swept, but it's not likethey were getting blown out a twelve to
(01:59):
two every single game exactly. Andthen things came around, obviously in the
Toronto series. And that's what Italk with John Hayman about on Sunday.
You know, we had him onthe pregame show and he said, ned
remind you the Yankees might actually bepretty good. He goes, right now,
because I know the Astros fans,you've become a used so accustomed to
beating up on him and all this. But he goes, they've since two
(02:20):
thousand and nine, last time theYankees won a World Series. They have
been chasing greatness and the Steinberger familyhas been spending money and money and money
and all these free agents, andlook at how they've missed. Like John
Carlos Stanton has been kind of adud for them. Like he hits home
runs, but he's constantly injured.He strikes out a ton, like all
these big name acquisitions they went after. Garrek Cole's been good, but like
he's on the sixty dayil right now, Yeah, exactly, but even he
(02:42):
hasn't elevated him. But he goes, look at this offseason. Wan Soto
was a huge acquisition. Look atwhat he did. Marcus Stroman was a
huge acquisition. He looked good sofar. U verdugo in left field,
like he goes. All these yearsof the Yankees missing, missing, missing,
eventually there was gonna be a yearwhere they hit and they actually are
good. And so it was justa reminder that, yes, it sucked
at the Astros to lose to thatteam four straight games, stinks, but
(03:07):
you're right Ross all four were close. The Friday Night one got away,
you know late when the bullpen blewit. But all three card Yeah,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, everystarted left the game with the lead.
Yeah on h On Sunday, youknow, JP France pitched well enough to
keep him minute. You know,five and two thirds three runs. That's
fine, that's what you expect outof your number four, number five guy.
He gave you a chance. Theproblem was you you didn't score many
(03:29):
runs. So now to fast forwardto the Toronto series, a sweep was
there to be had. The JoshHader, you know, blows it.
But dude, the up and downroller coaster of this of this offense.
So let's start there. Like youstruggle to score runs in the whole Yankee
series. You score a ten spoton Monday, you score one on Tuesday,
(03:49):
like you were trying to win thatgame one nothing. Shot it.
Yeah, you're trying to win thatgame one nothing. And then Saturday we
see or Wednesday we see the offenseexplode again with eight runs. So it's
just this like boom or bust.Well, you know they have it in
him, but man, just couldwe be more consistent. That's just the
nature of a baseball season. Imean, we see it. We talked
about it last year, We've talkedabout the last couple of years where sometimes,
yeah, the bats will go cold. How many years have we had
(04:12):
this narrative of the Astros score doubledigits in a game that means they're losing
the next game. I mean ithappened here. They scored ten runs and
then they score one in the nextgame. They go one for eight with
runners in scoring position, that onebeing Bregnant reaching on a single but hitting
out two bay So the inning wasover. Yeah, No, it was
rough and and and trying to capitalize. And what's so weird so far is
(04:34):
through the start? Is you know, Jordon Alvarez was prior to Wednesday night,
we're looking at it. You're notgoing, hey, bro', where's
the MVP candidate? Jordon Alvarez,where's home run? Crushing yord On?
And man, he woke up.All he needed was some familiarity seeing Chris
Bassett, who his best friend,he owns him, and we saw yord
(04:55):
On wake up with not one buthis first two home runs of the season.
Was four hits on the night,Yes, nearly had a fifth hit
on third home run four hundred feet. Yeah, I mean it was.
It was pretty incredible, but justto kind of hit on some of the
averages so far. Jan Er Diazhas been your best hitter. Awesome,
giving you all that batting four tosixty two at the catcher spot. Jeremy
(05:17):
Panya whatever that he that thing hetweaked and spring trading with the swing.
It's working. He's batting four hundred, jose Al Tuove two and jose Al
Twove things batting three forty five andthree home runs already. Ross We're not
even a full week into the seasonyet, and he's got three home runs.
H Kyle Tucker came around after acouple of cold days. He's three
thirty three. Chas McCormick's three thirtythree. Uh, and then down below
(05:39):
it's Jordan batting two forty one,Alex Bregman really off to slow st on
betting two hundred, and then joseA Bray your first baseman. Ooh,
did Father Times he's got two singles? Did Father Time take his toll?
Batting one oh five? But overall, it's funny because we talked about the
the offense hasn't been great, butyou look at these averages and these numbers,
you go, that's awesome. Yeah, I would wonder I guess I
(06:02):
can pull it up like the MajorLeague Baseball overall stats, like they're two
and five, But I'm sure they'regoing to be one of the best offenses
of baseball, like along with maybelike the Braves and the Dodgers. They're
gonna be in that mix. Ifeel like all season long, especially if
like you just rattled off the numbersfrom Jery Payna, if he's gonna be
hitting like that, Oh and that'syour eight guy right now. Of course
(06:24):
a Brady you could get bumped downand he's gonna be the seven or six
guy or whatever, it doesn't matter. But if you're going like seven deep
of really good to above average hitters, if Jeremy Payne can find that form
and have the best offensive season ofhis career, which I did predict he
was gonna do started the season justbecause I'm buying in to the guy.
He has work ethic, he's gottalent, he's putting in the work,
(06:44):
he knows the noise from last yearand so far, very early, but
we are seeing it payoff dividends.I expect that to continue, and this
is just gonna be one of themost potent offensive in baseball, if not
number one about Diaz, Pagal two, Va, Tucker all over one thousand?
Oh, yes, right now,that is that's pretty good. You
take that. They're all the MVPcandidates right now. How about wins above
replacement? Uh, Yaner Diez,Josel Twovey zero point seven, already almost
(07:10):
a full win seven games day.Wait a minute, they only have two
wins. How can they be almosta full two wins from them? Explain
that to me? War leaders.Dusty Baker is telling you, you guys
are gonna thank me later. Soyeah, Yaner Diaz has been awesome and
and and how about the highlight ofthe season so far run Al Blanco throwing
(07:30):
a no hitter? Yes, uhthe other night, just absolutely incredible way
to get his season started. Andwith j Ordaz behind home plate on top
of wednesday Nights one hitter, allthe questions about Diaz ready to handle this
pitching staff. Is he on thesame page? Can he call a good
game again? I'm not saying it'sall solved in one week, but so
far it's a great start. Ithink it's funny and that's okay. The
(07:55):
fan base still wants to dunk onDusty and all that type of stuff with
that happened with the no hitter.But also, I mean the first four
games, it's not like, well, only Victor Carrottina, I guess catching
a couple of those, and Karatinacatching fromer as well, right, I
think on yes, in his secondstart, so Kartini with a couple of
starts. But Yanyarda is calling ano hitter. That's fine. And also
(08:16):
it's something that we had Joe spoton the Matt Thomas Show, as we
do every week Tuesday's twelve thirty scheduleddepending but for the most part that's where
he's on. He said, likethe first thing they did this offseason was
get him in, get Victor Carrottiniin as well, start working on Hey,
this is how you want to callpockets of lineups. These are our
pitchers, these are the opposing lineupsyou're going to go against. And that's
(08:37):
something that's started off this offseason.And there has been improvement from Yanyar Diaz,
according to Joe Spata, from callingand handling lineups and pitchers since the
start of the work that he putin in the off season. So he
had an off season to know he'sgoing to be the everyday catcher. So
he's getting better. From that standpoint, we're already seeing some early returns.
He called a freaking no hitter withRonel Blanco and oh, by the way,
(09:01):
the dude is mashing at the plate. Christian Javier to start so far
an era of zero run, OldBlanco a start zero era, and Hunter
Brown. I know anything, whatfour innings but zero era. I mean,
that's incredible to say we're weak inthe season. Three year starters have
not given up a run. Yes, yeah, so that means how are
(09:22):
you losing all these games? It'sthe bullpen. So I think there are
guys, like we said, Presleyhad given up runs, Josh Hater giving
up runs, brianon Bray as well. They're gonna be fine if the guy
you get these guys stretched out.Oh by the way, justin Verlanders getting
his rehab start on Sunday. Iam for a team that is two and
five. My panic level is likea zero out of one hundred. And
(09:43):
by the way, from Ber bouncesback after the rough outing on opening day,
it wasn't even that rough. Hewasn't getting hit around. He just
the control was out and he hadsix walks what do you come back with
the other night rows? Zero walks, I mean, yes, six walks
the first start zero walks. Andif you want to be concerned about Javier,
I don't remember how he walks hehad in his first start, but
he did have five last night andracked up the pitch can yeah, scoreless
(10:07):
outing, but he did rack upfive walks. And there was a little
bit of a dip in velocity latein that outing, but that's okay,
don't give up a run. Didyour job so yeah, So just between
Valdez, Javi or Blanco, HunterBrown and JP France, so far,
so good and uh and then ontop of it, like you said,
the news coming out yesterday, JustinVerlander is throwing a bullpen today at minute
(10:28):
made. He will make a scheduleto make a rehab start and triple a
on Sunday, and as Chandler Roamreport, he'll probably need or Joe Spotta
said, who probably need probably twotwo starts, he feels. And if
after he does that he slights tocome back for the series against Atlanta Braves,
Hey, great, Justin may lookat that and go, maybe we
(10:48):
can take a couple more days.Can we play after that, but you
know, one of the best lineupsin all baseball. Yeah, no,
I bet you he's planning to tryto get lined up to where he doesn't
have to pitch in Mexico City.Well that's probably the other part. But
yeah, after the Braves, it'sthe Nationals and the Cubs road trips to
DC and Chicago, So maybe maybehe opts to wait for that, but
(11:09):
no, it's it's a great thing. And then you know Jose or Keati,
they said, you know, he'sa couple of weeks away, he's
he's on track, going well.And then how about the report the other
day too that Luis Garcia through fifteenpitches off the mound, like what they
said, he's ahead of schedule.Tommy John, you know about a year
ago and he's already a little bitahead of schedule. So, you know,
I think we make a mistake toa lot of people, like to
(11:31):
we group or Luis Garcia and mccullorstogether because the reporters are both going to
be back somewhere around All Star break. But understand, they're two different things.
They're two different injuries. Luis Garciais coming back from Tommy John,
and look at the tracker. Otherguy's come back from Tommy John. Almost
all of them come back good,and a lot come back better. The
velocity's even higher on some of thesepits. So I Luis Garcia, I
(11:52):
have full faith he's going to comeback and probably be really good. Mccullors
is in a separate category because theguys just he hasn't earned our trust because
it's like, dude, every timeyou're about to come back or do come
back, you get hurt again.So it's it's just one of those things
where I want to separate him becauseOkay, mccullegs will wait and see,
but at least Garcia and Arkidi andVerlander. I feel good about those guys
(12:13):
coming back. I'm still less.I'm less worried than most about Lance mcullor's
junior because I think people get thisfatigue injury fatigue, and Lance Colors junior,
by the way, has the injuryfatigue as well. But this is
from the injury that he had intwenty one. That's basically what he had
been rehabbing and then now had addressedwith the surgery. So he should be
over that hump he has had.Tommy John, now he had this whatever
(12:33):
it was. What did they say, alima bean sized bone spur whatever he
had removed or so something that hadbeen bothering him as well. It was
a major surgery. So injuries aren'tpredictive, although it kind of does feel
like they are with Lance mccullors Junior. I get that, but this is
a bump of twenty one. Itbought him in twenty one, twenty two,
and twenty three, same injury addressedsurgically, So I actually am more
(12:54):
optimistic than most of him helping outthe team late in the season. Okay,
so that's starting pitch. Yes,Now we got to talk about the
bullpen, Martinez, and this hasbeen one of the problems. But I
have some breaking news coming out aswe're doing this. Oh and it's not
good news. Oh no, Ross, who is our most beloved guy out
of the bullpen towards the end oflast season, Brian A. Bray You
(13:16):
well, the guy who had onlybeen here about a month. Oh uh
what Kendall Graveman Waite. Uh he'sa lefty old Bennett's sus said, Susa,
he has been hurt. He hasbeen hurt and breaking news as we're
doing this podcast. Lefty Bennett Sussaunderwent surgery for sir thoracic outlet syndrome,
(13:37):
will miss the remainder of the twentytwenties. So that's a guy. Those
guys. I mean, yeah,you got a good inning out of Dylan
Coleman, but yeah, some ofyour offseason guys you were looking to maybe
contribute somewhere. He was so goodin September. The problem was he could
be on the postseason roster because heyou know, he was acquired too late,
right, So anyway, that wasa guy we were excited about.
(13:58):
He was a i'ort a guy whowas really excited being with the Astros in
spring training and he wasn't far fromhis hometown and all that. So he
is out. So we cannot counton Bennett sus It would have been nice
to have another lefty out of thebullpen, but when we look at the
rest of this bullpen ross, theguy's like, well, Josh Hater issued
most you know, your off seasonprized acquisition, a blown save and a
(14:20):
couple have been in four of thesix games or I guess four of the
seven now at this point, andhe's not gotten to save. Yeah,
so it's it's not great. Asix seventy five e RA so far for
Josh Hater, but'll be fine.Look, he's he's here for four years
on what a ninety million dollars dealhe got, so five years ninety five,
yes, so he ain't going anywhere. He's going to get it figured
out. Taylor Scott is an interestingone. That's a guy that made the
(14:43):
roster. He was he was alittle bit of surprise. He made the
team out of spring training and reallyonly had one bad outing. The other
ones I thought had been pretty goodfor him and the ERA. You know,
on paper it's five forty, butI thought Taylor of Scott's done okay,
he's he's you know, gotten somebig outs, particularly on Sunday's game
against the Yankees. I think hestruck out Judge and Stanton or something like
(15:05):
that. So anyway, I likeTaylor Scott. Rafael Montero has pitched in
three games, and while the ERAonly says three thirty eight, yes,
he's given up some hits on runsthat went to other pitchers. That's true.
So that's always the deceiving stat aboutERA on relievers. Ryan Presley has
made three appearances. He has anarea of seven to seventy one Ross.
(15:26):
Uh. Yeah, his first coupleoutings were bad on I think it was
Monday night, right he or Tuesdaynight the fromber start. He came in
the eighth inning with a runner onat two outs and got George Springer to
ground out. That was a bigspot for him. Yes, it's just
one of those interesting things when wewatched Ryan Presley, like his mental adjustment
to pitching in the seventh or eighthinning as opposed to you know, the
(15:48):
ninth that's fine. I mean youwhen you got him, he wasn't your
ninth inning guys, So I meanhe's used to that. Brian Abraw has
appeared in two games in an areaof eleven fifty seven. That was really
there are this fine. That wasreally that Saturday game where he came in
and just gave blew the game.Yeah, and then uh, Mushinski and
Seth Martinez they're kind of they arewhat they are, Like I think they're
(16:11):
gonna be fine, but they're justthey're the middle relief guys. You're asking
to get some outs and limited theday. They're hoping that you just get
one or two innings or need oneor two innings out of those guys,
and then the hammer comes down.Hopefully it will, it will shape up
that way. I still have faith, of course that I pray you Presley,
whatever rule do you want to putthem in bray, you Presley hater,
it's gonna be. The door isgonna close. So we fast forward
(16:34):
to today, Ross and the Astrosdid make a couple of waiver claims.
Now, these are people that aren'tgonna get anybody excited because nobody's ever heard
of these guys. But one ofthem is an arm and it is right
handed reliever Miguel Diaz from the Tigers, and it was inter as a chandler
Romee pointed out, Diaz is outof minor league options one, so if
(16:56):
they're claiming him, they're gonna keephim. He's pitched parts of six with
the Padres and Tigers, and hehas a four eighty four e RA over
that time. Okay, good,not great, but then go look at
his numbers last year, you likeone point something without his point sixty four
I think over like fourteen innings though, yeah, it was small sample size,
but still'm like, okay, wellthat's better than the selling the four
eighty four. Like what are alwaysdoing baseball. What have you done for
(17:18):
me lately? Of course? Well? Yeah, and also when astros bring
pitchers over a lot of times theyimprove, And wouldn't that kind of be
compliment or similar to what Bennett Sussadid and with so just an interesting when
he's again he's a right handed reliever. But we'll see what role Miguel Diaz
place here. But I got tothink if they're claiming off waivers and he's
out of options, he's gonna pitch, They're gonna use him, and then
(17:38):
well they need arms, So let'sgo the Miguel Diaz. The other piece.
What's his name? Yeah, Migueld got it right or Diaz.
I don't know. He may pronounceit. I gotta wait to look where
the accent is. The other onethat they claimed is a guy named Cooper
Hummel. Cooper Humble sounds like abasketball player, but he is I was
gonna go with like a four starquarterback out of suthe Carol. He is
(18:00):
a super Hummel. He is acatcher slash first baseman that he can play
some first base. Jele Roone pointsout, but his number is not great.
He played in sixty six games forthe Diamondbacks in twenty twenty two,
batted one seventy six with three homers, seventeen ribis, and twenty three walks.
And then last year Ross played ninegames that the Mariners at the start
(18:21):
of the season. Yes, twohits in twenty three at bats. I
don't know if I've ever seen anegative ops plus as I pull his page
up minus six average. I don'tknow what they're thinking here. Maybe they're
thinking John Singleton's not going to bethe answer at backup first base, so
maybe maybe this guy can be canplatoon as a backup first base, maybe
(18:41):
catch a game here or there.I don't know what the thinking is here,
But we'll see what happens with Cooper. Hummel comes over from the Giants,
but again played last two big leagueseasons with the Diamondbacks and the Mariners.
So we'll see on those two guys. But Waiver claims and they're just
trying to see if there's something thereon either of these guys. Yeah,
(19:03):
that's fine. I mean, DanaBrown is doing his job. They're gonna
because they don't have a whole lotof wiggle room with attacks. They're not
gonna make a lot of splash trades, or certainly not at the beginning of
April or anything like that. Soyou got to find some diamonds in the
roughs, So you got to picksome One man's trash is another man's treasure,
and hopefully you got some of that. So as we start to look
ahead ross, the Astros go totheir home away from home, Mimic Made
(19:26):
Park as we call it, upthere in Arlington, Texas, where we
just saw the Astros take all threegames of the Alcs last fall. They
go up there and Texas off toa good start. You know, they've
they've won their first two series ofthe season. Yes, so, but
gonna be interesting. Hunter Brown isslated to go Friday night against the Rangers.
(19:47):
They are scheduled to throw Cody Bradford. He is want to know with
a three to sixty ERA. Saturdayis expected. JP Frantz will be back
from paternity leave. They had thebaby. I think he'll make the start
on Saturday. He'll be a posedby John Gray. Now, John Gray
got ruffed up by the Cubs.He gave up five runs off seven hits
in just three and two thirds.So i'd like to hear that, So
(20:07):
John Gray has not been great.And then on Sunday, Renald Blanco,
coming off of his no hitter,will take to the mound against Dane Dunning.
He's want to know with a fourto twenty six RA that will have
roughed him up a couple of times. That one will be Sunday Night Baseball.
That will be primetime, nationally televisedaudience in ESPN. So how does
ron O Blanco react? Hey,fine, throw the no hitter on Space
(20:30):
City Home Network. But now thatyou got all the eyeballs on you,
because what are they going to betalking about the whole broadcast? This guy
just got throw hitter. Well,talking about the pre game television, the
pre game, the pregame hype,will all be conversations about. I mean,
I'm not gonna I'm not okay.He might he might go out there
and get shelled, but I don'tthink it'll be because he's on National tell.
And then and then a rare Mondaynight game finishing off a four game
(20:52):
series will be fromber Valdez against Andrewheeny heeney uh oh, and one a
one ninety three RA against Tampa wherehe give up one ear and run three
runs one earned on uh in fourand two third. That sounds like a
solid three out of four to me. Let's go. I mean, look,
these are pitchers that the Astros havegotten after at times, so it
will be interesting. And then afterthat ross a three road three three game
(21:15):
road trip out the Kansas City andthen home for the Rangers. So we
know this team played better on theroad last year, so your home hasn't
gone so hot. Maybe that's maybethat's what they need. Well, yeah,
minute made north, let's go.So how do you see this one
playing? I go, three outof four? Is? But is that?
Is that two? Amrazing the expectationstoo much? There? No,
(21:37):
you're fine, okay, Third bestoffensive baseball, as I mentioned because I
looked it up, it's of coursethe Braves and the Dodgers one and two
in terms of team ops, Astrosthird. Right now, I'm just happy
to see the power come out becauseafter Sunday Russ, do you know the
Astros were second to last in theleague at home runs? And look,
home runs aren't the the end allbe all stat but in a lineup that
features Kyle Tucker, you'rdon Alvarezo heTova Alex Bregman and they were second to
(22:03):
last. I'm like, where isthe power? And then and then and
then you play Toronto. Some guynamed some guy named Bowden Francis Francis,
who did you know he was?He's born and raised in Tallahassee. It
was named for Bobby Bowden. Ithought of I mean, that thought crossed
my mind, but then I waslike, no, no way. But
if I saw that he was bornin Tallahassee, hopefully some of these Rangers
(22:25):
pitchers pitch like a Bouten Francis thisweekend. And you know what the good
part is Russ and being up therein Arlington. We won't be making the
trip, but a lot of Astrosfans will. They sell car back up
there in Ireland and it's one ofthe it's one of the few saving graces
of that ballpark. That's why theAstros win there. That's probably it.
They see the car box side andthey go, oh, we feel like
we're at home here. So uh, it's gonna be fun out there.
(22:47):
I know a lot of people wouldbe drinking Crawford Box all weekend. That
was the cool thing of these lasttwo home stands. Ross being at the
ballpark, so many Crawford Box andpeople's hands, I mean they they the
coolers are filled at the start ofthe game, empty at the and and
everybody's drinking them. So go getyour hands on a Crawford bock. It's
a home run every time. Andof course the great people at Carbox Brewing
(23:07):
doing that. So this has beena all new edition of the Crawford Box
Casts. Anything you want to throwin, No, I just don't panic
two and five. Don't look atthe record, look at what's happened on
the field. The astros are goingto be fine. Yeah. My favorite
was the A team at Jeff Blumon Friday on Friday afternoon, and the
headline of the podcast was no,no panic after one loss. And then
(23:29):
everybody came in on the Facebook comments, what about after two losses? What
about after three losses? Hey?So be fine? Yeah, look it's
it's gonna be fine. You wishthey could have swept Toronto. You had
it in your hands. You hada couple of games in that New York
series you'll let slip away. Solet's find ways to finish games and let's
have let's have Josh Hater earn allthat money that he's making, and we'll
be back Ross via Al Chris Gordyon all new Crawford Box casts next week.
(23:53):
Right here wherever you find your podcast, and it's sports seven ninety dot com
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