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00:00Lance McCullers last night, seven innings, four hits, one earned, nine Ks against one
00:09walk in 96 pitches, right?
00:12First pitcher for the Astros to go six, first pitcher for the Astros to step into seven,
00:19and he finished the seventh inning.
00:21And before we kind of get deep into it, 713-5724-16, YouTube and Twitch, your feelings on what you
00:28watched last night for Lance McCullers because, hell, Lance needed that, but the Astros,
00:33it felt like what we watched the previous three starts before, they needed it as bad
00:38as Lance did.
00:39Well, I mean, I needed it more than all of them did, I'll be honest with you.
00:44I don't think you needed it more than Lance.
00:45That's fair.
00:46That's fair.
00:46I needed it.
00:47I needed it desperately.
00:48Look, the reality of it is it was just as an Astros fan in itself, it was good to see
00:56Lance McCullers in an Astros uniform doing what Lance McCullers once was doing.
01:01And now we'll see how long this thing lasts, but I am, it was an absolute joy to watch.
01:07It's been a long time since I've sat down to watch an Astros game and enjoyed to that,
01:16to that level.
01:17I'll be completely honest with you.
01:18Really?
01:18I was, I was absolutely.
01:21Because it was right off the bat, baby.
01:22It was strikeout, strikeout right off the bat.
01:24Well, when I sat down, it may have been the second, I think it was 1-0 in the second
01:28inning,
01:28I think, maybe.
01:31By the time I watched a little bit of it and watched him whizzing through them, then I look
01:34up and he's through four or five innings with, and it's like 46 pitch count.
01:38I was like, this got a chance to be special.
01:39And high strikeout.
01:40Yeah.
01:41This got a chance to be special now.
01:43And so, I don't know, man.
01:45It was just, not only did I watch it and the Astros were winning and there was obviously
01:48a pitcher on the mound that was a good performance, but the Lance McCullers fan in me returned
01:53immediately.
01:54And so, I'm emotionally tied to him doing well.
01:58And I'm excited for him.
02:00I'm excited for, even in that moment, not even what it means for the rest of the season.
02:05Just first and foremost, I'm excited and elated for the player.
02:09And to have that feeling of pitching, that dominant in a game this early in the season
02:16is absolutely beautiful.
02:17Now, number two, clearly the Astros were in a spot where they needed that desperately.
02:25Now, look, I know it's the first week of the season, but if you'd have gone four straight,
02:29if that thing would have gone like it very well could have gone with Lance McCullers.
02:33Well, let's be honest.
02:34We thought it probably.
02:35Yeah.
02:36I'm with you.
02:36I thought Lance, I thought, well, Lance, you can give me four or five.
02:40Yeah.
02:40And keep this thing under four runs.
02:42You know, you feel better about it.
02:43I mean, if that had been a three or four inning outing with five or six walks and four or
02:47five earned runs, and you're looking at Hunter Brown, the only guy that didn't, that the earned
02:52run column wasn't, I mean, through the roof for your starting pitch.
02:58We'd have been in a tough spot.
03:00I know it was early, but we'd have been in a tough spot.
03:02And so I think the Astros needed it in a major way, and Lance came through, and it was
03:06beautiful to watch.
03:07Yeah, as I see here on the text line, I'm shocked over the BP numbers the same way we
03:16said yesterday when it wasn't looking like, looking our way pitching, it's just one game,
03:22but it was refreshing.
03:24I'm reading that Lance changed where he lands his foot on his delivery by shortening it by,
03:30here, listen, man, you got that.
03:31I don't know his mechanics.
03:33I don't want to go and break down his mechanics.
03:36Uh, that's, uh, that's fine.
03:38Whatever he did, whatever he changed, it was, uh, it was amazing yesterday to the, to the
03:44tune of nine strikeouts, one walk, seven innings in, and putting up, uh, putting up the kind
03:49of game he said, see another couple of other people saying it's early.
03:52We can't, we can get to that.
03:54Well, look, I mean, there there's, there's no doubt that watching Lance, there's been a
04:00major change.
04:01And I don't know if it has to do with where his stride foot's landing or his arm slot is
04:06or what, but there's no doubt that mentally he's changed.
04:11Um, his approach to the game and to every pitch and to every batter has changed.
04:16He talked about it in the post game, talked about, he was on the mound last year and before
04:21he ever did the first pitch was, I got to strike this guy out.
04:23I got to find a way to strike this guy out.
04:25And right now, obviously the, the new pitching, I mean, the pitching staff has, has, has kind
04:30of tweaked his, his mindset and his thought process, his pre-pitch process to where he's
04:36just trying to locate pitches.
04:37He's trying to get ahead.
04:38He's trying to do this.
04:39He's trying to do that.
04:39It's not about striking the guy out.
04:41And so there's no doubt about it that, that the one change that we can all agree on, I,
04:46again, I don't know where his foot's landing, but the one thing that we can all see, we
04:50can all see when we watched Lance McCullers last night was mentally, he was, he was a
04:54different dude.
04:54Now, the beauty of that is, is when good happened, he still had that fire.
04:58He still had that juice.
04:59That's what I was going to say.
05:00See, that didn't change.
05:02And I know Tyler, you've watched him.
05:04I remember Lance in 15 throat slashing, uh, in the playoffs.
05:08Like he always had that, that passion.
05:11Did he, when, when Carlos made that play, you know, he's, I mean, he's what he said.
05:15That's my, my effing guy.
05:17Right.
05:18I mean, he like that, that passion.
05:20Confidence.
05:20That's what it was to me that, that, that looked different from what we've seen the
05:24years past is that confidence.
05:26That's why I want to start here with this, uh, Tyler Clint, the people you can jump in
05:31on this base power text line, seven, one, three, five, seven, two, four, six, 10 YouTube
05:34and Twitch.
05:35Yes.
05:36I understand.
05:36It's early.
05:37I've seen that come through a couple of times, but you watched Lance, you watched the game.
05:41You watch the stuff.
05:44Was it just an amazing night to you?
05:47Or did you look at that and think this is, this is a sign that this could be what he's
05:52looking closer to.
05:53Obviously he's not going to go out seven innings, nine strikeouts in a, in a wall, but did this
06:00look like, Hmm, this, this positive pitching can be sustainable.
06:06Or did you look at this and just say, all right, man, pump the brakes.
06:10This was one great night.
06:11We'll see.
06:12We'll see the rest of the way.
06:14I don't know.
06:15For me, it looked, as you will say, it looked convincing.
06:19Yeah.
06:19Right.
06:19It looked like he had control of his pitches.
06:22His off-speed stuff was nasty.
06:24Now the velocity wasn't as high as we've seen Lance at his best, but I mean, he was moving
06:30the ball up, down, North and South, East and West, and he had great control and they were
06:36completely off balance.
06:37It didn't just look like, Oh man, he's putting it together.
06:41And he ran into a Red Sox team that was having a bad night.
06:43He flat caused the bad night.
06:45Yeah.
06:46I'm going to go right now with Lance, even though I've got my, I've got my Lance McCullers glasses
06:51on.
06:51I I've got to go with just an amazing night.
06:53It's an amazing night.
06:54Uh, I need to see a bigger sample size.
06:57Um, given what he's been through the, the, the, the struggles, the injuries, um, obviously
07:03the need to feel like you need to change mentally and kind of your emotional approach to the game.
07:08I've got to, I got to see more before I say, this is a sign of things to come both
07:12from
07:12a health perspective, as well as a, a production, like a product.
07:15What is Lance McCullers on the bump look like?
07:18Um, I've got to see a little bit more, not to mention what you just said.
07:23Um, I mean, that night was so good that you got a temper expectation.
07:27Yeah.
07:28I'm not.
07:28Yeah.
07:28I didn't mean he's about to roll out here and, and, and do this, but I'm saying like,
07:33right before that start yesterday, I was blown away that he made the rotation.
07:38Yeah.
07:39You know, like, like I was in there.
07:41Like if, if I, if we had the button game, Tyler, if you'd have told me Lance going to
07:45go in and give you four innings and three runs, I would have hit it.
07:48I'd have hit the button.
07:49Yeah.
07:50And, and to me, is this, is this like, is, is this a sign that this is a guy that
07:57you
07:57can depend on in the rotation throughout the season?
08:00Oh, I feel good about it.
08:01I mean, given what we've seen through five starts.
08:04Yeah.
08:04I would, I would be shocked if Lance McCullers isn't a guy that you, that we can, we can depend
08:08on at least more so than some of the others moving forward.
08:11Like, like that, that was a convincing outing to where there's something about, there's
08:17something about the changes that Lance has made.
08:19There's something about the ability, how high the ceiling is with Lance, that if you roll
08:24him out there, I don't know, what is your average healthy starter in an, in a, in a major
08:28league baseball season?
08:29How many starts he get?
08:30I mean, in the thirties, 30, 30 starts, you know, 30, 35 starts.
08:35I feel pretty good that if you roll Lance McCullers out there 30 times, if he could be healthy
08:40enough to do it, right, right, right.
08:42If he, if he can stay healthy, I feel pretty good.
08:44I'm pretty confident that you're going to get a, a more times than not, you're going
08:48to get a solid outing based on what, now you, I don't know, I'm not going to sit here and
08:51tell you, you're going to get what you got last night, but I think you're going to get
08:54a solid, uh, outing more times than not out of Lance McCullers.
08:59I think it was that convincing.
09:00Now the health part of it is obviously a, uh, uh, you know, a different, different animal,
09:04but just what he's bringing to the table right now, do you believe that he's going
09:08to be solid, you know, at the very least?
09:11Yeah.
09:12I, I, I would bet on that.
09:13The health, the health part.
09:15And then like the one thing that holds me back, because what we saw just to me, just the approach
09:20of how he went about things.
09:22He was, he was aggressive in the zone.
09:25Like he was not afraid to hit it.
09:28Yeah.
09:29To, to, to, to, to have the ball get hit.
09:31And, uh, he did strike out nine, but again, he wasn't when you, you throw 96 pitches in seven
09:38innings.
09:38That means you're aggressive in the zone and, and, and you're not, there's not a lot
09:43of three, two counts.
09:44Tyler and Clint, you all have been through the Lance McCullers games.
09:47I can hear Ocho now.
09:49Like, Hey man, that he's good.
09:52He he'll, he's good for 24 pitch inning.
09:54He'll follow that sucker up with a 25 pitch inning.
09:58Maybe if he's feeling lucky, he'll get you 18 in the next, but like he, he will.
10:03So Lance is not a, not opposed to getting you 75 pitches in the, and you're in the third
10:09or fourth inning generally.
10:10And a lot of it is that he is trying to be too cute and fine on the corners.
10:16Yesterday, when he threw the ball out of the zone, it was them chasing because they
10:21were behind an account and he was using it as a strikeout pitch.
10:24Now that is, that is something that we'll have to continue to watch to see if Lance will
10:28continue to be aggressive, but if he is aggressive in the zone like that, you know, it may not
10:36always be seven innings, nine strikeouts, but he's going to give himself a chance and he'll
10:41he'll throw innings.
10:42Yeah.
10:42Probably keep the runs down.
10:44Cause this stuff is playing good enough.
10:45I think that's the, that's the thing with Lance, right?
10:48And that'll be the test.
10:49I don't know.
10:49Hopefully we don't see it until later.
10:51Hopefully he gets three or four of these, these, uh, dominant starts under his belt and
10:54the confidence is sky high and, and, and, and it happens.
10:57But at some point in time, he's going to be on the bump and he's going to be a little
11:02off and, and, uh, the pitch count, as you said, is going to climb the, he's going to,
11:06he's going to walk a few batters and that's when I think we, we see, you know, what Lance
11:13McCullers we have.
11:14I think he's, I'm, I would bet on him being one of five with the Astros the rest of the
11:19season, obviously after that.
11:21Now the question is, is do you get a guy that all of a sudden can, can, um, you know,
11:28can have a, a rough first and second inning and then buckle down and give you six and keep
11:34it in reach.
11:35You know, that, that's the, that's, that's the deal.
11:38Frambois Valdez was great at it.
11:39Frambois Valdez would have you good and pissed off by, by one out into the second inning and
11:44you're ready to pull him.
11:45All of a sudden you look up and he's done gone six and it's a quality start.
11:48Right.
11:48I mean, so does he have that ability to pull it together?
11:53Yes.
11:53Yes.
11:54I think that's the thing, Ron.
11:55I think that's the, the next test for him.
11:57And again, like I said, hopefully we don't find out for another month and a half, but,
12:00but, uh, whenever that happens is, and again, also going into it, hopefully the thought
12:05is he doesn't need to be, he could just be a bottom of the rotation guy, but we'll see
12:09with the rest of the guys.
12:11I mean, he's, he's trying to get the best start.
12:13Someone text in Lance had one really good start last year and we were projecting what it
12:17would be.
12:18None of it carried over.
12:19I just, that's why I, I stated you watched it.
12:24That looked different than anything we saw last year.
12:27I think the start you're talking about, I think it was against the nationals.
12:30I think I remember that looked different than anything else.
12:34I agree.
12:35And he saw like, like we saw the confidence, like, I mean, he's, I mean, that was turning
12:39around on some of them pitches like Steph Curry before the thing, it's the glove, like walking
12:44back.
12:45He, you saw the fire and the confidence and you could just see the confidence grabbing
12:50the ball and, and, and just throwing it and just pitch it instead of thinking and all
12:54that stuff.
12:55That to me was different than what we've seen, not just last year year for years with Lance.
13:01So I get what you're saying.
13:03He did have a good start.
13:04Yeah.
13:04I'm not, I'm not pencil in saying Lance's is the guy, but if you watched how he pitched,
13:12he pitched and what he did in the mindset and how they were going after hitters, that
13:17was more convincing than, all right, man, dude, just dude, just was, was throwing and, and,
13:23and striking out guys looking and, and, and had guys numbers.
13:26It was, it was everything that you would want to see from a guy like Lance.
13:32I do want to throw this out there as a shout out to the manager, Joe, Joe Spada, Joe Spada.
13:41And I think this, this will help Lance and he instilled a level of confidence in Lance.
13:48And I'll be honest with you.
13:48I thought Joe was, was, was maybe pushing his luck a little bit with how long he went
13:53with Lance in that seventh inning.
13:55I don't know about you, Clint Tyler.
13:57I thought maybe, maybe, maybe it's time to get him out here.
14:00Let's not ruin this thing by, by, you know, having him give up three, four runs or something
14:04when he got a little trouble, but he let him get out of it.
14:08And I think right there, that is going to be a huge confidence boost.
14:14And as a manager, this is the kind of stuff that you get paid for.
14:18And, you know, you saw Lance come off the mound.
14:21He was amped and the team was amped behind him to finish seven innings and finish with
14:26that strikeout.
14:27I love what Joe did.
14:28And I think that's going to pay a lot down the line with Lance.
14:32And I think that was a strategic move by Joe Spada, how he handled that.
14:36And I think that's going to pay for it.
14:37Well, it worked out beautifully.
14:38You know, I don't know if it was strategic or not, but it worked out well because Lance
14:42was, Lance, it was, yeah.
14:44I mean, look, he, he admittedly said he had guys hit the ball, hit balls hard and that
14:48got in a little bit of a bind in that seventh, but he was able to fight through it and
14:50get
14:51out of it.
14:51And, um, I mean, I think him putting the exclamation point on that, on that seventh
14:55inning, you know, and, and that entire outing, I think is, is a big plus.
14:59So, um, yeah, man, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm looking forward to start number two.
15:03I only got to wait five more games for it.
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