- 1 day ago
Seth and Sean lay out the most encouraging and most discouraging things they saw from the Astros in their season opening series vs the Angels.
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00:00I am still negative on the Houston Astros. And this is somebody who was extremely optimistic
00:05about the starting pitching during spring training. I feel like they wronged me. I feel
00:11like the starting pitching wronged me in the first series. Nobody was more enthusiastic nor optimistic
00:17as you pointed out every time I was both of those things about the starting pitching and out they
00:23go and they pitch a combined 17 in the third innings and give up 15 runs. You'll notice I
00:29didn't text you at all while Mike Burroughs was doing whatever the hell it was he was doing on
00:34Friday night because I didn't I didn't want to pile on to your dashed dreams and your embarrassment most
00:41likely that I you know I had to tell you hey Sean it's a spring training you know yeah that
00:47doesn't
00:47have a long track record I'm optimistic about him still I am but look you just you can't expect him
00:52all of a sudden to be Cy Young award winner right off the gate. The biggest one that worries me
00:56out
00:56of the four guys that pitched this weekend is Christian Javier because I think there's a chance
01:00he's cooked and the because you can make excuses for the other guys first of all you don't need to
01:05make any excuses for Hunter Brown. I don't think he's going to go out and throw less than five
01:09innings 103 pitches every time out like Hunter Brown would be fine and at least he didn't give up
01:13any runs. He's going to be fine. Burroughs I know we joke about Burroughs and how bullish I was on
01:19him
01:19and I looked at his spring training performance and I was you know penciling him in for the Cy Young
01:23whatever. I think there were a couple I think he was unlucky in that game. I think there was a
01:27couple times the Crawford boxes got him. I think there is probably a learning curve to pitching in
01:32that ballpark and how to throw to maybe avoid contact going out that way where it can can hurt
01:38you or at least minimize the chances of that. So Burroughs I like I'm I'm not I'm unmoved on Burroughs.
01:44I think I'm fine with him being the two the number two starter. It's going to be fine.
01:49Uh is that's how I feel. Emi I I think you can talk about the adjustment to the mound level
01:55the ball
01:56whatever the case may be. Um well in him with him as well aside from all that stuff too I
02:02mean he
02:02talked about it afterwards and basically said you know for one uh he's got a lot of respect for
02:08major league hitters and how good they are and that he felt like he was starting to try to just
02:12kind of do it with brute force instead of really being a pitcher. Um and that the the moment might
02:18have
02:18been a little too big for him. Yes I remember you said that yep. The fact that he's got a
02:22lot of
02:22respect for the opponents is good and all but now he's just got to kind of get into that realize
02:28that
02:28you're realize you're here man and that you can do it too. Javier is the one that concerns me the
02:33most because they've still got a long-term investment in him or at least a couple more years
02:37invested in him. He was one of the guys one of those guys Seth that chose to sign a five
02:41-year
02:41deal that bought out his arbitration years in the first year or two of free agency and the
02:46Astros gave him five years 65 70 million and since he since that contract went into effect
02:52he's not done anything close to earning that he it's not his fault he had to have Tommy John surgery
02:57I get that injuries are unfortunate but the bottom line is that Javier even though he only had a 1
03:04.9
03:04something ERA in spring training was still giving up hard contact was not hitting the velocities that
03:09we're used to seeing him hit when he was unhittable Javier back in 2022 I mean like at times
03:16literally unhittable he had a no hitter in the regular season was part of one and was the biggest
03:21part of a no hitter in the postseason that year that guy I feel like is so far from walking
03:27through
03:27that door like if you can just get Javier to where you get five innings where he gives up two
03:33or three
03:34runs each time out man I'd sign up for that in a heartbeat he looks cooked he's all over the
03:41place
03:41the pitch counts are up he gives up hard contact that's my biggest concern I don't think you're
03:45going to need to I think I think assuming health I think Hunter Brown Mike Burroughs Tatsuya Emeyer
03:51all going to be fixtures in this rotation Christian Javier feels like a pitching machine not in a good
03:57way you know like a batting practice machine when he goes out there the I guess if I were looking
04:03at a
04:03glass half full it's that you're two and two after a series in which you're starting pitchers
04:09were 7.64 ERA that is still figured out a way to win a couple of those games you did
04:16it against
04:17the team that I mean they did keeping their starter out there yesterday I can never pronounce his name
04:22properly long name that begins with a K yeah it's um that well no you know the whole thing about
04:28it is
04:28the CH is uh the C the CH is silent which I'm not a familiar uh uh Kahanowitz that's right
04:35um so
04:36Kahanowitz is out there I mean he gets the fact that he came out the Astros are working on their
04:40third pitcher by the time he's still in the game even after having surrendered six runs uh like the
04:46like that's the team you're facing that you can you can get those runs and the offense looked a
04:52whole lot better in the third and fourth game so that's great to see um but you did you you
04:58got
04:58those two games and your starters were 7.64 ERA I guess the they're not going to finish the season
05:06at 7.64 ERA but is like how how much higher can they rise from this point yeah I yeah
05:13and I think
05:13two of those guys are going to be okay I Javier I don't think so I like the contributions they
05:17got
05:17sort of up and down the lineup in those two games look they scored 20 runs without hitting a home
05:23run
05:23so there was a you know there was a lot of guys you know making good contact keeping the train
05:29moving on the bases angels fielding started to suck there was I was just going to say they got
05:33plenty of help from the angels as well that I mean that's where like Correa's defense was superb
05:38Correa made a bunch of prime vintage Correa type of defensive plays Cam Smith had a couple
05:44incredible catches both in the outfield and then along the right field uh uh around the first baseline
05:49there um and so that that's great I think they're at least you in terms of fundamental baseball at
05:57least helping you win a couple of games versus a probably bad team that was good I also I also
06:02expect that Mike Trout at some point just like he did last year will either get injured or fall off
06:07I would start it off on the same tear I was he bad hitting 464 at this point that's not
06:13going to
06:13sustain itself he's Trout leaves that game yesterday hitting 462 and his slugging at least
06:19in game when I was looking up at the the jumbotron was over 2000 you know early in the season
06:25here he
06:25looks really good um so we'll see he dh'd yesterday um okay so the the other issue for the Astros
06:32at
06:33least early in the season is the automated balls and strike system they've they've in they've initiated
06:38six challenges and haven't won any of them now there was one that they did maybe one or two at
06:45least
06:45one that I can think of in the ninth inning on Saturday where it might have been yesterday I
06:50forget because you texted me right after I was thinking the exact thing you were texting me I
06:54forget somebody's yesterday yesterday somebody challenged they didn't get it but it was in the
06:59ninth inning it was late in the game so you know smoke them if you got them you got these
07:03challenges
07:03they're going to go unused so go ahead and use them the most infuriating challenges though so far
07:09Yiner Diaz challenged one that wasn't even close Rotary Munoz a pitcher challenged a pitch on Friday
07:16and Joe Espada said after the game that we told him pitchers aren't supposed to be challenging so
07:22there's that and then Jose Altuve and Cam Smith of all people using up the Astros challenges by like
07:29the fifth inning in a game where they didn't really get their legs under them till the sixth inning of
07:34that game that's when they scored the eight runs in that game on Saturday so you were at a point
07:39in
07:39that game where you're trailing by a bunch of runs and Altuve and Cam Smith have used up your challenges
07:45so I'm not wild about that so far I love the system for baseball I think it's great Mike Trout
07:50challenging
07:52a pitch that he thought should have been strike three or should have been ball four and instead was
07:57strike three in the first inning yesterday was high drama at the game so I love the system I just
08:03don't
08:03love the fact that the team I root for has been so bad at using it so far the uh
08:07so far so it's
08:09only been six challenges and it's about 50 success rate catchers are better than batters and pitchers
08:17at it the catchers have about a 655 to 60 based on spring training stats um and I'm sure it'll
08:22change
08:22I haven't seen any stats from this weekend necessarily but uh so in a small sample size the Astros are
08:28at
08:28zero percent where on average 50 is what you're hoping for we'll see if they can we'll see if
08:34they can turn it around versus the Red Sox Sean yeah that's uh that's the only thing I care about
08:37in this series can you can you turn it around and be a 50 success rate on the ABS yeah
08:43yeah Lance
08:45McCullers going at least five or six tonight would be a welcome thing I guess that would be a welcome
08:50thing um we did get a manager getting chucked from a game Derek Shelton who manages the woeful Minnesota
08:57Twins um got thrown from a game because he was arguing with the umpires after an automated balls
09:05and strikes call that did not go again that didn't go in favor of his team here's what it sounded
09:11like
09:11on the broadcast and Helsley drops in a slider that is called ball four I don't think Adley Rutschman
09:20I think he probably did challenge the pitcher is challenging oh the pitcher is challenging yeah he
09:25put him right to his hat Ryan Helsley with the first pitcher challenge
09:30the first challenge by an Orioles pitcher and Derek Shelton is incensed he didn't think Helsley got that off in
09:40time well he went right to his hat he came off the mound and tapped his hat
09:47Laz Diaz is yelling at Derek Shelton to get back and the runner Keyshaw will be sent back to first
09:55and Derek Shelton's been thrown out he's arguing with the robots you can't defeat the robots
10:02I think he's arguing that Helsley took too much time he is to challenge it that's what he's arguing
10:09I just think you throw a pitch you think's a strike you kind of walk off the mound waiting for
10:13Adley
10:13and he dropped the ball a little bit I thought Adley when he dropped the ball turned to the umpire
10:18and verbally because you can verbally challenge exactly I was not watching Helsley yeah well he's
10:24tapping his hat yeah I didn't uh Rutschman is the catcher for the Orioles and Hemsley is there
10:29Hemsley is the pitcher for the Orioles there uh guys are and uh yeah the I I think that so
10:37the issue is okay did the pitcher challenge it quickly enough and I yeah I don't know
10:44what exactly the argument would have been against it other than he had kind of fallen away from the
10:48mound and maybe maybe the manager felt like he had you know looked to the dugout or something and
10:54looked for a consultation because you're not allowed to do that yep but the yeah the when
10:58you first saw that it was hey he's already ejected for arguing with the robot I haven't seen anybody
11:03argue with the robot yet no I think uh by and large people have faith in the computers are our
11:08future
11:09overlords yes I'm not I sure I sure don't want to piss them off that's for sure if this whole
11:14thing
11:15isn't just a simulation anyway this life we're living uh at the very least right now our future
11:20overlords have been pretty accurate way more accurate than the humans yes the fans in the
11:26ballpark seem to love it I think umpires must despise it because they're just continually getting
11:32shown up at a 50 percent clip uh but other than that I feel like this is a pretty good
11:37system be
11:37better at your job I don't know what to tell you be better at your job you won't get shown
11:41up as much
11:41I mean I think people understand that it's not easy calling uh calling balls and strikes in a major
11:47league baseball game as upset as I get with the umpires sometimes I'm still amazed at some of the
11:51ones they get right that are that I would if I run up I'd be so tempted to call a
11:55strike you know
11:56that they're just they miss by a hair and they they're right on I mean they're right they are
12:01right a vast majority of the time the one thing that I wish they would change is that the broadcasters
12:05at least so far the with the astros they they don't get to watch and see the strike zone on
12:11their
12:11monitors because nobody in the building is supposed to have access to it uh so you can you know nobody
12:16wants trash can thumping to let the catcher know that he should challenge the pitch um I would I
12:22feel like it's kind of leaving callous and blum out in the dark compared to what the viewing audience
12:27can see yeah those guys don't have as much information as the viewing audience because
12:30there's quite a few pitches if you watched on tv you notice man there's quite a few you could
12:35challenge sure and sometimes you you want a guy to make the challenge but there's not anything said
12:40about it from the broadcasters because they don't have a clue they're just they're they're as blind to
12:45it as everybody in the ballpark yeah I still don't get the do you get the motivation on that
12:49that the announcers shouldn't have the square I guess just because they're worried that if they
12:52have it on their monitor then somebody else I don't know yeah it seems like we have it on our
12:57tvs
12:57it feels a bit extreme yeah well because they don't want any of the tvs in the stadium to have
13:01it either
13:02because they don't want fans it could just be the uproar yeah from people in the stands yeah but
13:07yeah it feels like the technology shouldn't be that advanced that you can just be sure that just the
13:12people in the in the tv booth can watch them out callus and blum they're about giving the best
13:17experience to the people watching at home right in no position to influence anything you know unless
13:22they're watching on their phones because that's the whole thing somebody somebody watching on television
13:26outside the stadium could just as well have a buzzer as the as the as the professional broadcasters
13:31put up in the booth i don't know
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