- 4 months ago
ITL examines the early struggles on the mound and whether fans should be concerned long-term.
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00:00Thankfully, not bad to that degree.
00:01The Astros pitching in their first series versus the Angels.
00:05Unfortunately, not great, though, as a decent amount of runs given up and everything.
00:11Even, I mean, Hunter Brown, even on day one, did not go nearly as deep as I thought he would.
00:14Four and two-thirds wasn't a problem, though, and he had, as we mentioned, 102 pitches.
00:18But then after that, Mike Burles, they got after him early.
00:21He did end up going five and two-thirds, but they got after him early to, what was it, like
00:24four runs early?
00:26Five earned runs.
00:27Yeah, five earned, and then Christian Javier with six earned himself on Saturday.
00:32And then Tatsuya Imai was really the one that was shocking, two and two-thirds.
00:35And the reason why it was shocking to me is that at first, the first couple innings, I was like,
00:40okay, this is passable, clearly a little bit off.
00:42And then the third inning, he just lost all the command, it felt like.
00:44And then that's when you saw all of these runs come through.
00:48But is this a red flag for you?
00:51Because this is the heart of the rotation that we were looking at that we had some optimism for.
00:55Or is this just kind of a bad start in the start of a season where it's a long marathon?
00:59Well, I'm glad you said, you know, we had some optimism for it because I don't think it wanes any.
01:05I still am very high on Imai.
01:07He talked about being really, really nervous, you know, for his outing, something that he was unfamiliar with, having played
01:13professionally for, what, six, seven years or whatever.
01:17But, you know, this is a different world in some ways, quite literally, for him.
01:21But he talked about the nerves and he didn't expect it and all that.
01:24So, actually, I have it.
01:25Let's hear it.
01:25This is Tatsuya Imai through his translator, mind you, after the game.
01:29I believe Luis Ortiz got this, asked this question.
01:32But he was basically asked about, you know, his outing.
01:35And this is what he said.
01:36Well, I always watched on TV while I was in Japan, but I always noticed that these hitters can hit
01:43the 100-mile-per-hour fastballs really hard.
01:47So, I was definitely a little bit fearful of that, a little anxious, too.
01:51But so, with that said, I had to kind of adjust according to that.
01:55But I saw that for the first time today.
01:58So, I think, you know, there will be that adjustment.
02:02Bottom line, I just said bottom line, but bottom line for me is this is not one where you're like,
02:07oh, my goodness.
02:08I think what it does sort of highlight and put very directly in front of us is you do have
02:14to have better, you know, the best version of these pitchers and pitching in general.
02:19You do have to, you know, for the margins we always talk about, for the questions we might have about
02:25the bottom of the order, et cetera.
02:28And you just didn't quite have, you didn't quite have their best.
02:31Nothing to raise a red flag about, as we talked about here to start the segment.
02:35Okay, so you're not on red flag.
02:36I don't think you raise a red flag.
02:38I think it highlights you have to have these guys go more, and they can't walk as many as they
02:44did.
02:44The Astros pitching in general had 28 walks.
02:4728 walks over the course of the series.
02:50That includes relievers, but your starting pitchers, what, 6, 10, 14 walks, just those four guys right there.
02:59That makes it something that you just can't have.
03:02You have to highlight that these guys have to be better.
03:04I also wonder how much of that was the, like, having the advent of ABS in this.
03:10And I think we'll talk more about ABS just generally, but I wonder how much of that, you know, factored
03:15in for this team where you go, all right, we're going to have to be even more on our P's
03:18and Q's.
03:18Now, of course, to be fair, ABS has been in practice through all of spring, so maybe I cannot use
03:24that.
03:25But I did wonder, it was a curiosity.
03:26Ultimately, you're right, though, right?
03:28They need to be more effective.
03:30And the thing that I think makes it uncomfortable, maybe even more on the individual case than all four of
03:35these guys together, is that this is not a great Angels lineup.
03:40Right.
03:41Right?
03:41So it's not, I can understand Emi talking about, you know, the kind of daunting nature of just the American
03:46game generally.
03:47And I imagine that maybe that settled in with him.
03:49And I can kind of see that if I retrofit my viewing of his outing there.
03:55Some of these other guys, I go, Mike Burroughs, you know.
03:57So that's one where I was a little bit.
03:59And I was a little disconcerted about that one.
04:01Christian Javier, especially when you're talking about what he's coming back from and the idea that he wasn't able to
04:05get.
04:05He only got one strikeout while also having six earned runs and four walks.
04:09Like that, that, those are the ones that I go, ooh, because not only are those the guys that maybe
04:14struggle more, but also those are the guys that I think were closer to, in my estimation.
04:20Okay, these are guys you want to figure out if they could be your second best pitcher.
04:23Right.
04:23And that you can ride, you know, when things get a little tougher.
04:26But, of course, it's early.
04:27It's just a start.
04:28But, again, I also look at the Angels lineup and I go, there's not a lot daunting over there.
04:32And you're going to see a lot more daunting as you go through a season.
04:34No, that's absolutely, you'll see more daunting today with them facing the Red Sox.
04:41Obviously, and that's going to be Lance McCullers Jr.
04:43And another one to sort of circle and see how that plays out.
04:49Burroughs ultimately was a little disappointing.
04:51I think Javier ultimately kind of expected that from him, you know, not to go real far and certainly have
04:57his ups and downs.
04:58The walks ultimately, to me, were the one, I guess, you know, concern.
05:03I thought the bullpen was okay.
05:05I thought the bullpen pitching was okay, you know.
05:07And so, we'll just see where it goes from there.
05:10But, it just highlights to me, you have to be effective with the starting pitching.
05:14We talked about that was their superpower when they were making runs.
05:17It has to be, not necessarily a superpower, but something that you have to be able to rely on.
05:25Astros lead the league in walks.
05:26You know who's second?
05:27Who?
05:28Los Angeles Angels.
05:29Oh, boy.
05:29I don't know.
05:30Didn't need to hear that.
05:31Yeah, I don't know.
05:32Because that helped the Houston Astros come back.
05:34That 100% did.
05:35I don't know how much I go, was that just some level of, I don't know, mysticism in the building
05:41where everybody couldn't hit the play?
05:42Or was it just, you know, who's behind the plate with these?
05:46I don't know if any of that factors in.
05:48But, that is kind of curious to me that both teams were just walking left and right and how much
05:53that, I don't know, is there some level of contagious within this?
05:57Sometimes, yeah.
05:57And you get out of this circumstance and maybe this levels out for you.
06:00But, no, you had the most walks that they were giving.
06:03And that's not, as you mentioned, that's not something that works.
06:06But, also, you get this to ERA and the Astros are bottom four, bottom five with this.
06:13Like, it just can't be this.
06:15It can't.
06:15And I don't think that it will be.
06:17However, there, I think Hunter Brown clearly is one that, that felt like that was more circumstance.
06:23EMAI, I think that you could say that's more circumstance.
06:25The ones that I'm interested in on, Burrow, Burrows, because the stuff was there and he was attacking the zone.
06:31It just made me go, okay, is this going to be a thing where you just got to, you got
06:34to be better at painting the corners or whatever.
06:36And then the Javier is the one that really troubles me because if that, if that carries on for any
06:41sort, that feels like that's untenable.
06:43Well, and McCullers Jr. tonight.
06:46You know, those three guys are ultimately going to be the difference between, okay, you can, you can rely on
06:51pitching.
06:52Because right now you're relying on, you know, crooked number, number innings and, and that, that, that big, crooked number
07:00innings.
07:00And this is not, that's not the recipe.
07:03I mean, that's been part of it, but the recipe has been being able to rely on that pitching to,
07:07to, to sustain you.
07:08Now, 100%.
07:09How'd you feel about Brian Abreu though, out of the pen?
07:12Because Brian Abreu was one that, of course, he's, he's having to handle closer duties.
07:18And as I know you were like the, the pen seemed to be okay, but also like he, he looked,
07:22he looked a little, he looked a little shaky.
07:24Out of, out of character, you know, not, not, not his, his place, but able to do it.
07:29But I thought by and large, the bullpen was okay.
07:32Given that they were without Josh Hader and they were without, um, um, the, uh, what Benasusa?
07:39Benasusa.
07:39Yeah.
07:40But I thought a blue ball was good.
07:42Uh, we will see where it goes from there.
07:45Yeah.
07:459, 3, 6 happens every year across the league.
07:47this weekend most starters were not going deep
07:49in the start. I agree.
07:51That's the funny thing. I wasn't really all that worried
07:53about the depth in the starts. It was more of the
07:55ways that it went.
07:57We talked about this Friday. We were shocked
07:59that Hunter
08:01Brown went as deep into that game. It really wasn't
08:03necessarily the depth. It was the number of pitches
08:05that he had early in the game. That was the part that
08:07actually I was surprised it went
08:09the other way. It was more, as you mentioned,
08:11the walks and some of the lack of
08:13command. But of course, again, early.
08:15Maybe you find a way to solidify
08:17and stabilize there. But earlier
08:19or not, they are at the bottom
08:21in terms of control and
08:23walks. So it has to improve.
08:25That's ultimately where it is. If that doesn't improve,
08:27we continue to see that as
08:30April gets here. And then
08:31into May, then all of a sudden you're going to start
08:33seeing some real problems. What's the timeline?
08:36Well, just in terms of
08:37pitching, they've got to know.
08:39I'm just saying, what's the timeline when we need to panic?
08:42Well, I don't know about panic.
08:43We good on the panic for right now.
08:44We're good on panic for now, but I think
08:46you get into May.
08:48So June, we shouldn't panic.
08:49Yeah.
08:51It depends on what you're talking about.
08:52TBD. TBD.
08:53It depends on what you're talking about.
08:54Overall record.
08:55You know,
08:56overall record, you know, they have shown
08:58that they can come back.
09:00It's September.
09:00He keeps turning that.
09:01He keeps turning that.
09:03Let me answer this, Figgy.
09:05Overall record, they've proved that
09:06they can come back from big deficits
09:09as a squad.
09:09I don't know if this squad is exactly
09:11the same as previous ones.
09:12We'll see.
09:13But pitching like this,
09:15you get into May and you're still walking
09:17a lot of guys and you're still wondering
09:18about Burroughs and Javier
09:20and we'll know about McCullers.
09:22All of a sudden in May, you know,
09:24that's a trend.
09:25That's two months.
09:26Yeah.
09:26Hey, buddy.
09:27Can we talk about A.J.
09:28Blueball real quick, though?
09:29Mm-hmm.
09:29A.J.
09:29Blueball.
09:30I mean, shout out to him because obviously
09:32we mentioned the idea.
09:33Now, he did get a loss in one of these
09:34outings.
09:35But, I mean, he's looked really good
09:37in the pen and that feels like
09:40found money to me.
09:40I know that they expected him
09:42to be a part of it, so it's not
09:43found money to them.
09:44But I didn't know exactly what to expect
09:46from him in the pen.
09:47And he looks like he's going to be.
09:48Him and, I mean, Brian King is one of
09:50the guys that you depend on,
09:51you depended on last year.
09:52Makes sense.
09:53But A.J.
09:53Blueball, like, that gives me a little
09:55bit of peace in my spirit.
09:56In addition to knowing that Brian
09:58Abreu has had stuff.
09:59We've seen him, you know, be in this
10:01role before.
10:02Or, I can maybe try and just wipe
10:04that away, you know, as the first
10:07weekend he will stabilize.
10:08And if I come with Brian King and A.J.
10:11Blueball, I go, okay, there's some
10:11dudes that I feel a lot more
10:12comfortable.
10:13Don't talk to me about Roderick
10:14Munoz right now.
10:15But, like, there's some guys that I
10:17like out of the pen right now that
10:18make me feel a little bit better.
10:19Because, again, we came into this
10:20with the pen being big, big
10:21question marks for us.
10:22No, Blueball and Brian King are the
10:25two that are the reason that I said
10:26the bullpen was more than okay.
10:29By and large.
10:30Are you with this person on the
10:32text line from the 8-3-2?
10:33Gold Glove, Cam Smith?
10:34If you feel like...
10:35Oh, I think...
10:36I wouldn't be...
10:37Did you see that run that he
10:39made in right?
10:39He made a really good play.
10:41Two of them, actually, that I
10:42saw.
10:43Yeah, which one are you talking
10:44about?
10:44The one where he would...
10:45The one where he ends up in the
10:47netting on the first baseline, man.
10:49Like, this is really cool defense.
10:52I mean, we knew defensively that he
10:53was going to be that.
10:53It feels like there's even more
10:54growth there, which I feel good.
10:56Because, again, what we're
10:57talking about is, in a
10:59roundabout way, where are the
11:00Astros going to find their
11:01superpowers, as I think we've
11:03discussed it before.
11:04Pitching felt like that was a
11:05possibility.
11:06And through the first weekend,
11:07that's no.
11:07Now, first weekend, early,
11:09opportunities for more, so on and
11:11so forth, understood, right?
11:12I just have to put the caveats
11:13out there.
11:13Yeah.
11:15Offensively, you go, there's
11:16some runs there.
11:17It's not as steady right now.
11:19And, of course, early.
11:21And it's not as consistent.
11:22So, maybe you can't get to there
11:24yet.
11:24If you can have the defense be
11:26really solid, which it did,
11:27including Isak Paretta's playing
11:29second base, which looked pretty
11:31damn smooth in our early looks at
11:33it.
11:33If the defense can be one of those
11:35things, maybe you go, okay, this
11:36is another way into being a better
11:38version of the Astros that we were
11:40hoping for.
11:40Well, defense is one of those things
11:42that should, you know, and it's
11:43cliche, but, you know, you should
11:44always be able to rely on to be
11:46able to keep you in games.
11:47Cam Smith, he's an outfielder.
11:49I mean, that's it, right?
11:51Yeah.
11:51He's going to be an outfielder
11:52because he has excelled at that
11:54position.
11:54And I didn't flinch when the
11:57texture said gold glove.
11:58I think it could absolutely be in
12:00play.
12:00He felt he was close.
12:01He was close to it last year.
12:03So, it feels like that very well
12:05could be in play.
12:06All right.
12:06You're in the loop here on
12:06Sports Radio 610.
12:08What did we decide on?
12:08Just Georgia saying bad start?
12:10Is that that's where we're at
12:10right now?
12:11Yeah.
12:12We're monitoring the situation.
12:13Nobody's throwing up a red flag
12:15just yet.
12:15We continue to monitor today.
12:17This is a bigger monitor because
12:18you talk about can't get right.
12:19Lance McCullers Jr.
12:20has been that.
12:20He's on the bump for the
12:22Astros and it feels like we're
12:23very quickly going to see how
12:25comfortable we are.
12:26A lot of pressure on him today,
12:27man.
12:27It does feel like that.
12:28There's a lot of pressure on him.
12:29Yeah.
12:30It shouldn't be because.
12:31Because of the narrative.
12:32Yeah.
12:32The narrative and true.
12:34If he keep going like having
12:35some bad stars, he'll lose his
12:37job.
12:37Right.
12:38How many more times can we.
12:38Is there somebody down there?
12:40Yeah.
12:40It's a big pressure game for
12:42Lance McCullers.
12:42Yeah.
12:43How many more times can we run
12:44out here with Lance McCullers
12:45Jr. is the plan of what we're
12:47trying to do at the back end of
12:48this rotation?
12:49Yeah.
12:49It feels like we're reaching the
12:50end of that.
12:51We are.
12:52I thought we reached the end
12:53of it.
12:53Didn't you?
12:54Yeah.
12:54I did too.
12:55I thought that was it.
12:56Yeah.
12:57So really hoping now it's not
12:58all going to hit on this game,
12:59but this game tells us a little
13:00something as he is opposite
13:02Ranger Suarez as the Red Sox
13:04are in town.
13:05That's a 7-10 first pitch.
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