00:00We've talked about it already, but seeing it happen yet again was fantastic.
00:04The Astros getting another win.
00:05I just want to go immediately to you, John Lopez,
00:08because Mike Burroughs was a thing for you, right?
00:10You've been looking at what is the Mike Burroughs experience for you.
00:14Second outing, how did you feel about the Mike Burroughs experience?
00:17Well, I think it relates to what we've seen from pitching
00:20outside of Hunter Brown altogether.
00:22It's doing enough.
00:25I mean, Sean was there.
00:26He was in big trouble in the first inning.
00:28Yes, he was.
00:29Like, he was in big trouble.
00:30I think he got out of the inning.
00:32I think there was two men on and only one out with a run in already.
00:35And here you go.
00:37You're like, oh, boy, what's it going to be here?
00:39Got out of it.
00:40You know, just enough.
00:42And then he started to settle down and did his job.
00:45And then it ties in.
00:47Now, he played at a much higher level.
00:49But Lance McCullers, we were wondering, you know, what's it going to be?
00:52There's a lot of pressure on this guy, all that stuff.
00:53So, to me, I have three takeaways.
00:56As Sean would say, it's a three-point plan to the Astros' success.
01:01Do we have, like, sound effects for these three points?
01:03Do I need to?
01:06Number one, I think this is the most important one.
01:08I talked about yesterday how it just – I didn't expect to have that much fun.
01:12To me, the number one thing right now with this team is it doesn't feel fluky.
01:16It doesn't feel like, oh, well, he's just off to a hot start.
01:19Or, you know, the pitching staff is – they're still trying to get the book on these guys.
01:25No, there's a book on these guys.
01:27There's a book on McCullers.
01:28There's a book on Burroughs.
01:29To a certain degree, because he plays so much professionally, there's a book on Emai.
01:33You know, obviously –
01:34I feel like the Emai is a little bit harder to have a book on.
01:36But there's MLB scouts in Japan 24-7, 365.
01:40You know, there's a book on him, you know, no matter what.
01:45So, I don't – it doesn't feel like a –
01:46I think it's more of a novella, less than a book.
01:49I'll let you have that.
01:50I felt good about it, mind you.
01:51Even though I'm going to say book continually.
01:53Anyway, and then the other part of it is this isn't like, hey, Cam Smith's off to a hot start
01:59his rookie year.
02:00No, no.
02:00These are people like Yordan and Correa and, you know, guys that have been around and doing it.
02:06It doesn't feel like a fluke.
02:07Speaking of the Yordan.
02:08Yeah, I know.
02:09Yeah.
02:10Hey, man.
02:10Yeah.
02:11I know yesterday someone got on me, and I feel where they were coming from.
02:14When I even used the name Barry Bonds in the same sentence as Yordan Alvarez, people bucked back.
02:20And I get it.
02:20I would be that way, too.
02:22I view Barry Bonds as maybe the best baseball player that we've seen, right?
02:27However, I was more saying like the Barry Bonds-ian way that people treat him if he's playing in a
02:33certain way.
02:33I didn't anticipate it to feel like it was happening this early with him getting hit in the game.
02:38Is that how you read it, at the very least, him getting hit, or did it feel very different?
02:42No, because I think that happens to a lot of big-time sluggers.
02:45You know, they'll be pushed back, and they'll get hit occasionally.
02:47But it's trending.
02:49It's trending that way simply because he's on such a tear, and he fits in that category.
02:54You know what his OPS is right now?
02:55What is it, 1.4?
02:571.48-0.
02:58Yeah.
02:58So basically almost 1.5.
03:00Yeah, yeah.
03:01So pitching, not overwhelming, doing the job, though, and scrambling.
03:06And just so you have the numbers for Mike Burroughs, he ended up going five hits, only two earned runs
03:11after that first one that you mentioned earlier that got out of the jam.
03:13And then he kind of stabilized, got 84 pitches in, so like still got a pretty good outing for you.
03:19And then he turned it over to the bullpen that handled their business pretty well as well.
03:23So, yes, pitching, it doesn't feel like a fluke.
03:26And then the third thing for me that I wrote down here, I wanted to make sure I had it
03:29right, and that is, the way I put it here is, Carlos Correa is real.
03:36The Carlos Correa factor is real.
03:38It backs up that hit by pitch, you know, with a big swing.
03:44His impact, it feels like he never left.
03:46It feels like he never left.
03:48And to have another guy like that on top of Altuve and McCullers and, you know, some of these other
03:52guys that have been around for a while, maybe not since 2017, it just feels like a real factor having
03:58Correa back in the house.
03:59No, for sure.
03:59The fellows were just playing audio from up in Boston, them talking about the effect that was lost in Alex
04:06Bregman no longer being there.
04:08We talked about the similar effect that we had here without Alex Bregman.
04:11You're seeing some of that, right?
04:13Some of that culture that we were, you know, kind of lamenting last year, it's kind of there, right, to
04:18what you're talking about.
04:19But even on top of that, or maybe more simply, I should say, it just feels like guys are picking
04:24up for the guy ahead of them, right?
04:26It's more of an interconnected lineup than individuals getting up here and plying their trade.
04:31You're seeing the effect of one batter on the next batter on the next, which I think is in no
04:36small part why this is one of the most scoring-est teams in all of the majors.
04:42Are we going with that?
04:43I don't know.
04:44It's just fun to say right now.
04:45Let me know.
04:467-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.
04:48Do you like me calling?
04:48It kind of makes me, you know.
04:50Oh, it's a little bit of an ick for you?
04:51A little, yeah, a little bit uncomfortable.
04:53It's an ick?
04:53Yeah.
04:54All right, is that an ick or isn't it hit?
04:557-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.
04:57I won't say it again until y'all decide.
04:59But, yeah, no, I think that all of those things factor in.
05:01And with that being the case, and the reason why I say that is literally the Texans, or goodness, the
05:05Astros, are tied for the most runs scored through the first week of the season.
05:12The first week of the season has brought us our first power rankings.
05:16ESPN did this.
05:17I believe it was Buster Olney of them.
05:19Are they hating?
05:20Because I do think that we ourselves have been getting to a place where we go, how much are we
05:25buying into this?
05:25How much do we make of this, whether you talk about the fact that all seven games have been at
05:29home, that's a factor to consider, right?
05:31Obviously not the greatest teams to this point, because you see the way the Red Sox are playing.
05:35Yeah, the Red Sox aren't much.
05:37These things come up, but we are also seeing a team with greater approach at the plate.
05:41Definitely the defense is showing up, all the way down to Altuve showing up, flashing the leather a little bit
05:45at second base.
05:46I take you to ESPN's first power rankings, week one power rankings in Major League Baseball.
05:52Where do you believe the Astros rank, according to Buster Olney?
05:56Well, they've got to be top five.
05:59Dodgers, one.
06:00Yankees, two.
06:01Mariners, three.
06:02Mind you, Mariners are three and four.
06:04Blue Jays, four.
06:05Mets, five.
06:06Would you like to venture another guess?
06:07Well, they've got to be top ten.
06:08All right, here we go.
06:10Milwaukee Brewers, six.
06:11Philadelphia Phillies, seven.
06:13Chicago Cubs, three and three, mind you.
06:15Eight.
06:15Detroit Tigers, two and four, mind you.
06:17Ninth.
06:18Atlanta Braves, finding a way to be above 500, tenth.
06:21You want to venture another guess?
06:22They've got to be top 13.
06:23All right, Atlanta Braves, I mentioned 10.
06:26Texas Rangers, 11.
06:29Boston Red Sox, 12.
06:33Baltimore Orioles, 13.
06:35Your Houston Astros, five and two, coming 14th in the very first ESPN.
06:41By the way, who did the Astros just sweep?
06:43The Boston Red Sox.
06:44Yeah.
06:45And they hire.
06:46Correct.
06:47Somehow, some way.
06:48The blurb that they write is, Lance McCullers first started 2026, saw him throw seven innings
06:52for the first time since September 2022.
06:54We've talked about that.
06:55Qualifying as one of the coolest stories of this season's first week.
06:59You already know where this is going from there.
07:00McCullers missed the entirety of 23, 24, worked his way through, so on and so forth.
07:04It was hard to expect anything from him going into this year, but then he recorded 21 outs,
07:09blah, blah, blah, blah.
07:09If the Astros can get more starts like this from McCullers, they might just make a playoff run.
07:16Normally, I would say I kind of get it because, obviously, we've talked Lance McCullers ad
07:22nauseam, but it's not just him.
07:23I don't get this.
07:24It's not just him.
07:26You know, you know what you're getting out of Hunter Brown.
07:28You know what, you know, we talked about the pitching in this segment.
07:32The hitting, as much as it is still top-heavy, they're not a bunch of schmucks at the bottom
07:37of the lineup outside of a couple of guys that have started a little slow.
07:40They're getting it done on the bottom of the lineup.
07:42Are you watching?
07:43I mean, sometimes I would say, I get it, you know, blah, blah, blah, if you're talking
07:46specifically about a guy that's been injured and hard to stay on the field.
07:49But it's not just Lance McCullers that the reason that they're 5'0".
07:52Right, and this works a lot better if you rank the Astros highly and you're going,
07:55hey, we're just highlighting one of the really cool stories because, let's be honest,
07:59it's an incredible story.
08:00We talked about that with Lance McCullers Jr.
08:02You are simultaneously putting these Astros behind teams that they've beaten
08:05and teams that don't have as great of a record.
08:08And again, we've admitted to, there's things that still remain to be seen with just how,
08:12but this is, no mention of the fact that this team has scored all of the runs to the point
08:16where they are tied as the highest run scorers in all of the majors.
08:22None of that shows up, neither in the way that you rank them, nor in the way that you talk
08:26about them.
08:26They're hating, I tell you.
08:27This already feels like hate, and it's easy for me to say that because even with our, I guess,
08:33caution in the way that we talk about them right now, it still don't feel like they're half,
08:37like midway point of the majors right now.
08:39And it feels like a power ranking that's a weekend should be able to ride the rails a little bit.
08:44I understand that it could be a little reactionary, but I feel like this is reactionary the other way
08:48and trying so hard to not give them credit for what has been a really good first week of the
08:52season.
08:52Totally agree, 100%.
08:54Yeah, 7-1-3, yes, it's hate on them, and Cleveland, it's BS, okay?
08:58The power rankings only say that they're willing to admit that the preseason assessment was wrong.
09:04Interesting.
09:05And then talking from the 2-8-1, Correa's leadership in the field talking to the pitcher and catcher were
09:10great to see.
09:10That's a great point as well.
09:11It's a real thing, having Correa back.
09:13No.
09:14It's special.
09:15I mean, just the restoring the feeling, man.
09:18Jordan feels like he's otherworldly.
09:21They're hitting up and down.
09:22The defense is there.
09:23All that remains is the pitching going to continue to demonstrate itself to be above just sufficient to pair with
09:29a really good offense
09:30because there will be times when the offense, I'm going to knock on wood because I don't hope this is
09:34the case,
09:35but I imagine that there will be times through a 162-game season when the offense won't be this.
09:38Of course.
09:39This pitching right now, you wonder, is that capable of sustaining during those periods?
09:43Tatsuya Imai going on Friday, seeing him in the second instance will give us a little bit of a better
09:48understanding of that as well.
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