- 3 hours ago
Seth and Sean kick off the show by discussing the Rockets' 111-94 revenge win over the Knicks last night as well as the Astros taking it to the Red Sox again, this time with a 9-2 final score.
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00:0026,000, 930 strong tonight. Ground ball left side, Allen has to move to his left, cuts in front of
00:06Pena, a good play to end this one. Nick Allen throws out Marcelo Meyer and the Astros on back-to
00:13-back nights have defeated the Red Sox handily 8-1 last night, 9-2 tonight. Bummer, a couple of seven
00:21-run wins against the Boston Red Sox team that went to the playoffs last year.
00:25Yeah, you've got good pitching and you've got excellent offense going right now. The Astros are firing on all cylinders,
00:31figuring it out and putting together some good team victories.
00:34Hell yeah, they are, man. Hell yeah, they are. It is a good time to be an Astros fan. They
00:40just score runs and runs and runs and it's, they have mopped the floor with the Boston Red Sox through
00:45two games. Welcome in, everybody. Happy Wednesday. It's a very happy Wednesday and the Rockets win last night. It's a
00:50good day.
00:50Rockets beat a good opponent. Good day to beat. Yeah, yeah. The Rockets get you a win that you can
00:55actually find something in as opposed to, you know, going to New Orleans and beating the Pelicans or something like
01:01that. So it was all in all a good night last night. I am Sean Pendergast. He is Seth Payne.
01:06How are you doing this morning?
01:07I'm good. I was complaining to you before the show began that I'm kind of annoyed that both the Rockets
01:13and the Astros are looking good all of a sudden because there's too much to be happy about.
01:19Come on, guys. We need some balance in the universe. Dial it back. Yeah.
01:23I thought, to start with the Rockets real quick, I thought the most encouraging thing about last night, just from
01:27a kind of a good feelings kumbaya type of situation was, okay, Tari Eason got the start.
01:34But it was because of matchups and Udoka said that Reed Shepard will probably start in the next game.
01:42And it doesn't feel like a huge deal. It doesn't feel like a big existential, Udoka hates Reed Shepard and
01:50he refuses to acknowledge where they need to make some changes.
01:53It was, okay, on a case-by-case, team-by-team basis. Tari Eason is playing well again.
01:59And at any given moment, maybe Reed Shepard starts or maybe Tari Eason starts.
02:04And both we can coexist with those two realities.
02:08I think the bottom line is, as long as those two guys are cool with an arrangement like that, that's
02:13all that really matters.
02:14You know, we can all say what we want on the outside.
02:16Oh, Reed should start there.
02:18Whatever their record is.
02:19You know, at one point they were 10-2 with Reed Shepard's starting games, mostly because of injury, not because
02:24of performance.
02:26They both played well last night.
02:27Tari was back in the starting lineup.
02:29He had 17 points.
02:30Reed had 20 points off the bench, shot the ball real well.
02:33It still gets a little harrowing looking at a Rockets box score and just realizing how few guys they have
02:41that you would probably trust in a game in April or May.
02:44Yeah.
02:45But, you know, you can't do anything about that at this point.
02:48The depth is what it is.
02:50I like last night that they came out and just took control of that game from the get-go.
02:54They had 37 points in the first quarter of that game.
02:57And unlike the last time they played the Knicks, Seth, where, if you recall, in Madison Square Garden, the Rockets
03:04coughed up an 18-point fourth-quarter lead.
03:06They let Jalen Brunson do whatever he wanted to in the fourth quarter of that game.
03:09The Knicks cut the lead.
03:12You know, the Rockets were winning by double digits all night long, sometimes high double digits.
03:17The Knicks cut it to 12 with a few minutes to go in the third quarter, and then the Rockets
03:21go on a 7-0 run.
03:23Yeah.
03:23You know, there are plenty of examples we can point to lately where the other team starts to build a
03:29little momentum, and the Rockets let it snowball on them.
03:32This time, at home, you know, they're able to go on a run, push the Knicks back to being down
03:3819, and they just kind of bring, you know, from there, they just sort of bring the ship into the
03:42shore last game.
03:42Well, and I think one of the things, when you start thinking about how are they going to match up
03:45versus playoff teams, okay, what are you going to do when they trap Durant?
03:50Durant just looked way more automatic in figuring out, you know, if anything, he looked less automatic in a good
03:58way, just because he was making the right decisions, getting the ball out of his hand.
04:02A lot of times it was the Shane Goon, and they did a great job when the Knicks were trapping
04:07Kevin Durant.
04:08Doka said that Durant had been predetermining where he was going to go with the ball in those situations, where
04:14now I think Durant's just being a better option quarterback there.
04:17And these are the things that we've just been wondering and waiting for.
04:20Okay, how are you – look, teams are going to double Durant.
04:24You've got to have an answer for it.
04:25You've got to figure it out.
04:26And they just look way more capable of executing that now than they had for about two or three months.
04:32Yeah, that would explain all the turnovers in part at least.
04:35Yeah, he only turned the ball over twice last night.
04:37Right, right.
04:38Yeah, like if other teams are seeing tendencies on film and they're jumping the passing lanes or they know that,
04:43you know,
04:43here's where you're going to try to step through and dribble through guys and whatnot.
04:46So that was a good win last night.
04:48There aren't many opportunities left on this schedule to, you know, to make an impression on Rocket fans to where
04:55they feel like, okay,
04:56they can, you know, win a playoff series even or, you know, maybe win a couple playoff series.
05:00I would say the game last night and probably the game against Minnesota, depending on, you know,
05:06what Minnesota looks like and what they're – you know, by the end of the year,
05:09you don't know if teams are going to be resting guys or whatnot.
05:11But it's a pretty favorable schedule the rest of the way for the Rockets.
05:17They've got Milwaukee coming to town tonight, so they are in a back-to-back.
05:19This is another one of those awesome Houston sports days potentially.
05:23If you're just hanging out downtown for the day because you've got a day game for the Astros.
05:28The Astros go for the sweep this afternoon.
05:30You'll be there.
05:31I will be there.
05:32I will be in the good seats.
05:33If you're watching on Space City Home Network, I will be to the left as you watch the screen on
05:39the left side of the screen there.
05:41My bald head is very easy to see.
05:42Joe Sutton gave us those tickets.
05:44Shout out Joe Sutton, man.
05:45Yeah, the last time you and I went to a game sitting in those seats, Kyle Tucker broke his leg
05:51by fouling a ball off of it.
05:52After which I predicted he would be back the next night.
05:55Remember he tried to stay in the game?
05:56Yeah, it was wild.
05:58And then nobody heard a thing from him, and all of a sudden he's with the Dodgers.
06:01Did you even know that?
06:02Yeah.
06:03The last thing I knew, he's with the Dodgers.
06:05Yeah, I had totally forgotten about the kid.
06:07Yeah, I don't know what happened to that guy.
06:09By the way, he's off to an awful start with the Dodgers.
06:11Yeah, that's a shame.
06:12That's a damn shame.
06:13It's really a shame.
06:15$60 million a year doesn't get you what it used to get you back in the day.
06:19Speaking of the Astros last night, another big win, another game of scoring eight or more runs.
06:24This team has gone from looking completely impotent for two games, two and a half games, basically.
06:32That eight run, Seth, we may look back at least in the short term here at that eight run inning
06:37they had against the Angels on Saturday in that game where they fell behind 6-0 and they end up
06:42winning 11-9.
06:43That, man, that was like an offensive enema.
06:47You know, it unclogged all the pipes.
06:49Oh, yeah, that's right.
06:50And everything's running smooth and easy now.
06:52Ever since then, they wind up scoring 11 in that game.
06:56Yeah.
06:56They score nine the next day.
06:58They score eight on Monday.
07:00They score nine again last night.
07:01And they're doing it all sorts of ways.
07:03It's fun.
07:04It was getting Cam Smith's even getting on the board now with home runs.
07:06This is good stuff.
07:07Yeah, they're unclogged.
07:0818-hour flight to Australia, no big deal.
07:11Unclogged.
07:11This is, I feel comfortable and good and free.
07:15El Tuve walking as many times as he has, is he up to nine at this point?
07:20Like, honestly, of all the jaw-dropping stats that the Astros have been able to compile over the last four
07:27games,
07:27the fact that El Tuve has walked basically three times as many times as he did in his first 90
07:33at-bats last year has been very, very encouraging.
07:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:38I'm looking it up right now.
07:39Nine sounds like a lot, but you may be right about that.
07:42But he's, yeah, that's, you know, I think that's the theme.
07:45Like, the more games they have like this, the more accolades that they're going to get for making the, you
07:52know, kind of tearing down the coaching staff on that side of the ball.
07:56Here's a stat I do have, okay, just from the, as I was screen grabbing the various Space City Home
08:02Network graphics last night,
08:03one of my favorite screen grabs was El Tuve and his chase percentage.
08:08He drew his eighth walk.
08:09I wrote this down when he drew his eighth walk of the night.
08:12That's a lot, man.
08:13Yeah.
08:13So, in 2025, 39% chase rate.
08:162026, 20%.
08:18He's swinging balls outside the plate half as much as he was last year.
08:25It's crazy.
08:26God, and it almost makes me mad.
08:29It makes me mad they didn't make changes with the hitting staff sooner.
08:34This is a guy who's, you know, again, it's, you know, we're six games into the season.
08:38So, you know, he could, he could start chasing the ball again.
08:41We don't know.
08:43But if El Tuve is able to make these types of adjustments at age 35 or whatever he is.
08:48Yeah.
08:50That's pretty remarkable.
08:51I mean, like at this stage in most people's career, you are what you are.
08:54You know, your tendencies are your tendencies.
08:56You're wired how you're wired.
08:58Eight, you're right.
08:59Eight walks for El Tuve this early, this early in the season is.
09:04That is, that is the one that jumps out at you.
09:06The other, the other part of that, the other part of that graphic that matches the eyeball
09:10test last year, he swung at 49% of pitches this year.
09:1432%.
09:15Yeah.
09:15Just more selective, man.
09:17That's good.
09:18You know what it is?
09:18That's wisdom.
09:19That's a wisdom that comes with middle aged.
09:21Um, you would like, he's downright elderly by baseball player standards.
09:25He's the dad in the clubhouse, man.
09:27Yeah.
09:27He is that guy.
09:28He's not, he's not out there.
09:29He's like the old bull at the top of the hill telling the young bull.
09:32Hey, we don't have to, we don't have to go.
09:34We don't have to go down there and, you know, have relations with all the bulls.
09:38We don't have to run down.
09:39We don't have to run down there and have relations with one of those cows.
09:43We need to walk down and have relations with all of them.
09:45And those cows aren't going anywhere.
09:47They're going to be there.
09:48You know, the pitches.
09:49There'll be pitches to swing at.
09:50There'll be pitches to swing at.
09:51They're going to, those are the cows.
09:53Yes.
09:53You know how good it was last night?
09:54It was so good for the Astros that Cam Smith walked after striking out the, the play where
10:01Loper Fido had stolen second.
10:04There was an error run scored.
10:06That was on an own two count that, that was where Cam Smith had swung at a swung and struck
10:13had a strike on for the second.
10:16So to make it an own two count and there was a lot of replays and everything.
10:20And then all of a sudden they came back and Cam Smith swung and striked again for the third
10:25time.
10:25Should have been the third strike.
10:27Umpire had lost track of the count and Cam Smith ends up walking after striking out.
10:31I didn't see this live.
10:32Nobody noticed it.
10:33Yeah.
10:33I watched it.
10:34I just watched the Boston broadcast this morning.
10:36Yep.
10:36I was confused at the time and it was one of those things you're watching a game and I'm
10:40looking at Owen to count and Cam Smith swung, but nobody says anything.
10:46So I figured the graphic must've been wrong or maybe I, I didn't realize something that
10:50had happened.
10:51You know, usually I blame my dumb self, but Alex Cora, most importantly, and nobody on
10:56the Red Sox noticed it either.
10:58And they just let, they let the play continue.
11:01Did we, did it, did it get addressed?
11:03I, the umpire, the umpire, the umpire said I screwed up.
11:06Oh, he did.
11:06Okay.
11:07Okay.
11:08That's okay.
11:08That's on the Red Sox.
11:10Right.
11:11Yeah.
11:11Yeah.
11:11Yeah.
11:11I dug out full of people that don't know what the count is.
11:13Right.
11:14That's the, well, it was, it's one of those situations where because of the, because of
11:19all the chaos on the base pass and then they go back and all of a sudden, everybody else
11:23is probably watching the replay and everything and not really paying attention.
11:27I watched the Boston broadcast this morning and it was one of those things where they
11:31were coming back from the replay immediately as Cam Smith was swinging.
11:35Yeah.
11:35And it, it sounded like nobody had psychologically moved on from the previous play.
11:39That's so weird, man.
11:40I credit Joey Loprofito.
11:42Yeah.
11:42And his blazing speed.
11:43Blazing speed, chaos causing Loprofito.
11:46Yeah.
11:46Two errors on that play.
11:48Yep.
11:48And, uh, it's so good job, Joey Loprofito turning the umpire into an idiot.
11:53Yes.
11:53I like it.
11:54These poor umpires, they got everything they got to deal with, with just with, with, you
11:59know, getting overturned.
12:00Oh yeah.
12:01No, they're getting, 50% of the time, the computer's selling, they're getting shown
12:04up by AI now on a regular basis.
12:07Yeah.
12:07Oh, the Red Sox batter early on, I'm blanking on who it was, that challenged on a, on an
12:12O and O count with, uh, with nobody on base.
12:15It was in the second or third inning.
12:17You're like, well, what are you doing, man?
12:19It just, and he, and he lost a hundred round.
12:20It just painted the corner.
12:22Yeah.
12:22And it was a beautiful pitch that was a strike and it was, but for what, why are you challenging
12:29that?
12:29I think that's the thing that we're, that the teams and fans and media are quickly learning
12:33is that you only get two of these to be wrong on.
12:37Yeah.
12:38And if you're going to use them, you better use them in situations where there's a major
12:43upside to getting the call, right?
12:45You know, like the difference between being one in one and two and O in the third inning
12:50of a game where there's nobody on base, as you just point out is so negligible that the
12:56risk of losing, the risk of losing the challenge is just way too high.
13:00And I mean, look, a lot of these, the ones that, that I see that get, that get one, that,
13:07that they win, you know, the batters, you know, like the margins with, here's what I'm trying
13:12to say.
13:12The margins are so thin, even on the ones that are like, wow, that was by a whole two and
13:17a half inches.
13:17Like in the moment, a 95 mile an hour pitch, I don't know, to the regular person, like
13:23two and a half inches feels like a tiny margin.
13:25Did you see the one the other night though, that I forget who challenged it.
13:28It might've been the first one that the Astros had that was successful.
13:31It might've been Altuve.
13:31I can't remember.
13:32It was less than like a 10th of an inch.
13:35Yeah.
13:36It's crazy.
13:37The technology.
13:38Those ones are, I'm, I'm inclined to say, all right, you know, let some of these go.
13:41I don't know.
13:42Cause the one, the previous one Altuve challenged was two inches inside the strike zone.
13:48And, uh, but I know it'll be, it'll be fun to watch as the season progresses.
13:54Yep.
13:54I'm guessing that the umpires are going to get better when they've got that, that constant
13:59scrutiny.
14:00I think any of them that might tip back a few every night might decide to become teetotalers
14:06when they're being judged in the moment like that.
14:09Or at the very least, they won't become teetotalers, but the night before they get home plate duty,
14:14they'll, they'll, they'll take it easy.
14:16Yeah.
14:16They'll, they'll still be a bunch of drunks when they're on the road, but they'll be a
14:20little more judicious about how they, how they do it.
14:23It's like anything else in life.
14:24When you get immediate feedback, it's a lot more effective.
14:27Yes.
14:28And, or when you, an embarrassment, yes.
14:30If you, or if you know, you've got a big presentation coming up the next day, you know, you're not
14:35hanging out at lizards all day long, that kind of thing.
14:37Yeah.
14:38Uh, no, I always get annoyed when you tell me that one of the, uh, the home plate umpire
14:43for that day was at lizards with you for three hours before the game.
14:47Now I'm hoping it benefits the Astros now that they've got these laser eyes that they
14:52have, you know, now that, and it turns out that the, you know, umpires are just giving
14:56the Astros, uh, strikes.
14:58Yeah.
14:59It was just like, you know, we'll give you a mulligan on that one.
15:01Cam Smith.
15:02Yep.
15:02Yep.
15:02Yeah, exactly.
15:04The Astros get four strikes.
15:06Not.
15:06Yeah.
15:06Yeah.
15:07Yeah.
15:07It's nice.
15:08Um, Jordan Alvarez hit another bomb.
15:10We're just kind of freestyling on what we liked last night.
15:13What's not to like about a nine to two win.
15:14Probably the two biggest things, Seth, coming out of that game, um, are Jordan hitting another
15:19bomb.
15:20Like Jordan is dialed in peak Jordan right now.
15:23That's great to see.
15:24He's hitting three 86.
15:26He should have four home runs if they just opened the roof on opening day, but we'll take
15:30the three that he's got.
15:31And Hunter Brown was great last night.
15:33That's another thing that is, that was great to see.
15:36Um, Hunter Brown kind of the first outing of the year wasn't great.
15:40It wasn't horrible.
15:40It was four and two thirds innings, but not efficient at all 102 pitches last night.
15:46He, he threw, you know, 80 some odd pitches.
15:48He did the six innings got out of there.
15:51It was a, you know, by then it was a big margin.
15:53So you didn't need to keep, you know, if it was a two nothing game or a one nothing game,
15:57something like that, two to one Hunter Brown probably stays in for the seventh inning,
16:00but it was a blowout.
16:02So you were able to take him out after six really good innings.
16:04Gave up one hit, one run, struck out a bunch of guys.
16:07Here was Joe Espada on the plan last night for Hunter Brown.
16:09Yeah, the plan was somewhere in there.
16:12Um, and I'm glad that we, we score those runs and we were able to get him out,
16:19especially the fifth inning.
16:20He worked really hard.
16:21Um, you know, he, he was on regular rest.
16:25It's a long season, um, fresh bullpen, offense clicking.
16:30So perfect time to do it.
16:3378 pitches.
16:34That was, uh, yeah, I got that visit during the Connor Wong at bat,
16:37Portland high school graduate.
16:39I assume he graduated, but yeah, at the very least we assume with high school.
16:44Yeah.
16:46College.
16:46It's, you know, it's, it's, it's, Oh God.
16:48Yeah.
16:48Yeah.
16:49Yeah.
16:49Especially with baseball, anybody these days.
16:51Yeah.
16:51Um, yeah, the, uh, that, that hairiness with the mound visit, uh, him coming back out,
16:57closing out the six.
16:58And then when I heard the Cody Bolton walkout music, I got freaking amped.
17:03The, uh, Cody Bolton gives you three innings.
17:05How about that?
17:06How about Cody Bolton?
17:07Who I'd never heard of until I was firing open the, uh, the, uh, my internet last night.
17:12I had heard of him only because I remember when Kawahara had announced the move that they
17:16were, uh, there was Neske was going to the 30 day or 60 day IL or whatever.
17:21I just, his 5.47 ERA caught my eye when, uh, that was a couple of days ago.
17:27And, uh, Astros relievers are getting tested a little bit here.
17:31I got a little bit nervous about that 5.47 ERA.
17:33And now it's probably a little bit lower.
17:36Yeah.
17:36He'll be, he'll be one of the ones that are, uh, Cody Bolton.
17:40And it'll be taking Waymo's back and forth to sugar land over the next couple of months.
17:43They're going to have a bunch of guys like that that are going to be going up and down
17:46and up and down.
17:47And it worked out pretty well, at least so far.
17:51We'll see what happens today with Javier or with, um, with Burroughs, but the, you know,
17:55they get a rest on Thursday.
17:57So that being able to get six innings out of Hunter and seven innings out of Lance was
18:02a big deal for where the relief staff was six innings out of Hunter.
18:05And then they get seven innings out of Lance and then Weiss finishes the rest of it up.
18:09Yeah.
18:09And then Bolton finished.
18:10They only use two pitchers in each of the last two games.
18:14That's huge, man.
18:15Is that enough for a Bray to find his missing three miles per hour?
18:19I don't know.
18:19I don't know.
18:20It's extra time for him to work on his mechanic.
18:23Left it somewhere.
18:24He's, he better find it.
18:25That's for sure.
18:25He's their closer as of right now.
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