- 1 day ago
ITL breaks down the win, what it means moving forward, and whether a change behind the plate is needed.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The Astros, back on the winning side of things for the first time in over a week.
00:05An eight-game losing streak snapped last night with a doozy of a baseball game, if I do say so,
00:12myself.
00:12And the question that immediately came to mind as I was watching this game,
00:16there was a few of them, to be honest, but the number one question that came up
00:20when they ultimately get it done at the end of this game is a 7-6 win, mind you.
00:26What does this game mean?
00:28Yay.
00:29I mean...
00:30Like, what does this win mean?
00:317-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.
00:33That's kind of where I was with it because these guys are just, they'll give you cardiac, man.
00:40They'll give you a cardiac episode, the way they play.
00:43Okay, here's the best thing that came out of the game.
00:45They won.
00:45The single, okay.
00:47They won.
00:47All right.
00:47Yeah, that is can confirmed.
00:49And, you know, yesterday right here, I was just saying, just get a win.
00:52Okay, they got a win.
00:53But it was wild, man.
00:55Ain't that so American of us?
00:58Ain't that so, yeah, America's just like, hey, you did what I asked you, and now I have
01:04more expectations that we did not previously discuss.
01:06Well, it's just really just sort of reflective on the game, analysis of the game.
01:10The way I looked at it was, I don't feel any better or worse, you know, because of how
01:17they looked, because the way they tried, I mean, it was a good night to be a Christian.
01:22It was a real good night to be a Christian.
01:24I took that literally.
01:25Even though you had to say your prayers late.
01:27See what I did?
01:28Ah!
01:28Oh, bars!
01:29See what I did there?
01:30That's the one you get.
01:31Everything else is in this area for the rest of the show.
01:33Christian Walker, Christian Vasquez, kind of did everything on the night.
01:38But other than that, I mean...
01:39I think five hits between them.
01:40Yeah.
01:41Three runs scored between them.
01:42Yeah.
01:42But you get into late innings.
01:44I mean, the confidence level, I don't know about you guys.
01:47I know both of you were watching it as well.
01:49Eighth inning, ninth inning.
01:50I'm like, oh boy.
01:52You know, and they scored seven runs.
01:54They continue to score runs.
01:55Yeah.
01:56Pitching, I guess, did the job.
01:58All right, let's start there then.
01:59Because Colton Gordon goes three and two-thirds.
02:02And we can start with the simple thing, which is one of the questions that we've been asking,
02:06or one of the things we've been asking of this team is throw some damn strikes.
02:09And Colton Gordon did that.
02:10The problem is he don't got swing and miss stuff.
02:12Yeah.
02:12So a good amount of that was going the other way.
02:14I do wonder if you can get more of the other pitchers that you are actually having going right now,
02:20starting with Spencer Ergady today.
02:22If you can get those guys to throw strikes, dudes that maybe have more swing and miss stuff,
02:26is this the blueprint for you to be able to win some games going forward?
02:32I think that that's a possibility.
02:33Because, again, we're talking about a circumstance under which, yes,
02:36you barely snuck through against this Colorado Rockies team.
02:39And that is something where it doesn't feel the best.
02:42Let's be honest, right?
02:44Their last win was against you.
02:46Yes, that's a great point.
02:48Who technically has the worst record of baseball, the Houston Astros, right?
02:51But the idea of swap out that Colton Gordon three and two-thirds with even like four and two-thirds
02:57where you don't have four earned runs, maybe it's two earned runs.
03:02Like maybe you have something that's a lot more manageable from your starting pitching
03:04before you get to your bullpen.
03:05And we're talking about a game that feels a little more comfortable, I believe.
03:09Right?
03:09I think you're right.
03:11Pound the zone and count on your offense is pretty much all you can do right now,
03:16given the pitching shortcomings.
03:19And, you know, is that going to be a winning formula as in what we're used to around here?
03:23Absolutely not.
03:24I mean, you know, you're facing the Rockies right now.
03:26Then you have the Cardinals coming in.
03:28That's it.
03:28You are facing a Rockies team that wasn't that good.
03:31And you beat the hell out of Michael Lorenzen who helped you out a good amount.
03:35Like he just – this was the Michael Lorenzen that I was expecting last time you faced him
03:38when his ERA was double – it was like 14-something.
03:42And he actually had a good outing against you in Denver.
03:45Now you face off against him.
03:46And this is the Michael Lorenzen that I was expecting.
03:48And he only goes two and two-thirds.
03:49And then you get into the bullpen and do some damage there as well.
03:53Or actually, all the damage was done on Lorenzen, really.
03:56Right?
03:56How much of that was Lorenzen having a bad game I think is a fair question to have on the
04:00other side.
04:00Yeah, but if you can just, you know, find somebody who could pound – you know, just keep pounding the
04:04zone.
04:05Make them have swings and misses or swings into fielder's gloves.
04:10And then rely on your offense.
04:11Because the offense is not an issue.
04:12We've talked about it multiple times.
04:14But you're facing the Rockies.
04:16Then you face the Cardinals.
04:17They're in the – you know, I think they're like 9 and 8.
04:19Then you're facing the Guardians.
04:20They have a winning record as well.
04:22So you're going to face better competition.
04:24Can you win like that?
04:26Absolutely.
04:27Last night they did it.
04:28Can you sustain – you know, successfully sustain wins that way?
04:32I don't know.
04:33Yeah.
04:33Yeah.
04:34To the larger question of what was that game from the 8-3-2, it's a game that got them
04:38off the slot.
04:39Shout out to Lil' Keith.
04:40No, I mean, look, I do appreciate that, if nothing else.
04:43Like, there is something to be said for the vibe being different, even though this was a game in which
04:48you slid by a Colorado Rockies team that –
04:51well, Fig asked earlier today, like, did they have any expectations?
04:54And the answer is a capital N, capital O, no.
04:57Right?
04:57Like, this was a team that did not have expectations.
04:59And if they had not swept you last week, you would view them incredibly lowly.
05:03And it took – it took everything.
05:05Not only did it take that, it took your bullpen doing a whole bunch of – I guess, yeah, scrambling.
05:10Because I think only –
05:11Yeah, Blue Ball gave up a home run.
05:12It was only Steven Okert that came in with a clean inning.
05:14Right?
05:15Blue Ball had to come in and he gave up a home run, you know, in a – in a,
05:19you know, precarious circumstance.
05:20Then you had to bring in Kai Wei Tang in a circumstance where he had to come in and get
05:24an extra – you know, get extra outs.
05:26Because, like, you had a whole bunch of – a whole bunch of guys have to come in, including Daniel
05:31De Los Santos, at the very end, to get the final out that you needed.
05:34While it looked like us, Brian King, who did come in in a high leverage circumstance, or at least was
05:40in there late in the eighth and then into the early portion of the ninth.
05:42And he was looking like, okay, it's cool, and then it fell off.
05:45The bottom fell out, right?
05:46So, they're still having to piece together the bullpen.
05:50And maybe you have a better, you know, starter that makes it a little bit less of a precarious circumstance.
05:57Yeah.
05:57But that's still an issue that you have is that your bullpen is not a shut the door.
06:01It's just can we creak it all the way there to get the door closed?
06:05And even Daniel De Los Santos, through the translator, you could kind of tell there was a little bit of,
06:09whoo!
06:10Oh, yeah.
06:11Oh, yeah.
06:11No, look, this is a – it was a win.
06:14And given what they were in the midst of, it was a great win just to get off the schneid.
06:20And beyond that, you still – where were the answers?
06:24I thought you came up with one when we were texting last night.
06:27Okay.
06:27That might be a possible answer.
06:29You know, at least a little bit of the puzzle.
06:32You know, but the answers in the bullpen, I guess it's approach.
06:36You know, hitting the strike zone, as we've talked about.
06:38Excuse me.
06:40And offensively, just lean on that.
06:42But you brought up an interesting topic that you know I'm all in on.
06:45Yeah.
06:45And I want to know if you're in on this, on the text line.
06:48713-572-4610.
06:52Christian Vasquez had – you mentioned – had a good day along with, and good might not be a good
06:56way of characterizing it,
06:57along with Christian Walker.
06:58Vasquez, two of four, you know, at the plate.
07:01A run scored as well, including a double, an RBI double, if I remember correctly.
07:08Great day at the plate.
07:10Good day behind the plate as well.
07:11I think he gunned down somebody still in second at one point.
07:13I think that was right before he came up to bat and was able to get on base as well.
07:18And it made me wonder, in addition to, you know, that stuff, you know that he can call a game.
07:25Does Christian Vasquez need to be playing more catcher compared to Yainer Diaz,
07:28who Yainer Diaz has not been good at the plate.
07:30But Yainer Diaz, there's a question – well, you know, I know your big complaint about him is he does
07:35not –
07:35he does not really give you a chance of throwing dudes out and keeping dudes off the base pass.
07:38Yeah.
07:39But maybe more importantly, and this is something that you mentioned kind of in passing that we didn't sit down
07:43on.
07:44How good is he at this pitch sequencing thing at calling the game?
07:47Because I'm starting to have a question of how much of the Astros starting pitching problems is also your pitch
07:53sequencing that's happening with your catcher.
07:54Well, one of the things that you – that I mentioned the other day that you're referencing is the sequence
08:00of pitches that he's throwing.
08:02And I forget the exact player it was, but it ended up being a home run where, you know, it's
08:06easy –
08:06he's trying to hit the zone with some fastballs, and this is a fastball hitter, you know, and I'm just
08:12like,
08:12why are you doing that?
08:13Why are you throwing that pitch?
08:14But beyond that, my bigger problem with Yonard Diaz –
08:18It was Burroughs.
08:19Was it Burroughs?
08:19I think Josh Naylor is the dude.
08:21Yes, it was Naylor's home run.
08:23And Naylor's sitting fastball, and Mike Burroughs has a pretty good change.
08:28Yeah.
08:29Pretty good change, and he throws a fastball similar – well, actually, first one is high.
08:33Second one, he kind of hangs belt high, and boom, you're putting this into the seats at T-Mobile Park,
08:39and you go, you don't have to be the smartest baseball mind in the world to know, hey –
08:43What are we doing?
08:44His best pitch plays with this batter.
08:46Why is that not being called?
08:48And I do wonder how much of that comes to Yonard Diaz.
08:50That's a big thing right there, but it's secondary to me.
08:52When you are this team that has to, you know, be able to prevent any runs,
08:57as many runs as possible because your pitching staff is so bad,
09:00you've got to have a catcher defensively that can be a plus player.
09:03Yonard Diaz is –
09:04Okay, those are important.
09:05I mean, Yonard Diaz is not a plus player behind the plate.
09:08Certainly, you know, in that sequence we're talking about and beyond, you know, pitch sequencing,
09:13but defensively, it is a green light.
09:16It is, you know, opposing players get on first base, get on base.
09:20It's a green light, you know, against him.
09:23And you can't have that because every single run at this point –
09:25you won 7-6 last night.
09:27You know, every single run – you're going to score runs,
09:29but every single run you can prevent is that big.
09:31No, for sure.
09:32And I know Christian Vasquez, one of the questions you have is, like,
09:37how does the bat show up?
09:38Right now it's showing up really well.
09:39The only questions I have when we get to talking about these types of things, right,
09:42big swings in the way that you handle things.
09:44And maybe it doesn't have to be a giant swing.
09:45Maybe it's just we give them more of an even share or even, you know,
09:48just tilt whatever the percentage – the number of games that each guy plays
09:53a little bit more to Christian Vasquez's side.
09:56The question I have is do you lose a guy, right?
09:58That is the people portion of sports that I try and be cognizant of at times is
10:04if you make a swing or a change, do you lose a guy,
10:08especially with the Christian Vasquez where he's hitting well right now.
10:11I don't know how sustainable that is.
10:12I do think that some of the other stuff is sustainable, right,
10:15him throwing guys out, him calling a good game.
10:17But do you lose entirely on your ideas?
10:19And how much does that matter?
10:20It doesn't matter at all to me right now.
10:22Not with this team, not with this pitching staff,
10:25not with the total inability to keep the other team from scoring runs.
10:29I think – and he's not – look, he's Yonor Diaz.
10:32He's a respected player.
10:33I get it, but he's not Correa.
10:35You know, he's not Altuve where, you know, pencil him in.
10:38He'll hit his way out of it or, you know, he'll be –
10:40we can deal with his bad defense because of his – no, he's not that.
10:44No, I think you'll put Christian Vasquez a lot more.
10:47Yeah.
10:47The one more thing I want to mention here in this game where, again,
10:50you just barely get out – in fact, you were out hitting this game 12-10.
10:53Yeah.
10:54Right?
10:54This was – this one came down to the hairs, right?
10:58The hairs on the chin-to-to-chin of the Astros here.
11:02Late in the game.
11:02I mean, this is top of the ninth type stuff.
11:05There is a ball hit to right field, and Cam Smith is coming in on it.
11:08And as that ball is getting out there, in my brain, I'm like, yo,
11:13I think you need to go make this play.
11:15Yeah.
11:16He tries to make it, and unfortunately, he's not able to catch it,
11:18but he is able to kind of keep it from squirreling away from him,
11:21which would have allowed the Rockies to at least tie it.
11:23I can't remember exactly if the circumstance would have allowed them to bring the running –
11:27Ended up first and third, right?
11:28Right?
11:28Yeah.
11:28So, I do wonder, though, how were you feeling in that moment?
11:33Were you like me, where you felt like, hey, they need to make a play?
11:35Because I do wonder if that's a good thing, if the Astros are in a place where they all feel
11:38like they need to make a play
11:39because the margins are both –
11:41I actually agree with that, you know, because of what I just talked about with –
11:46you can't prevent them from scoring runs, so you have to be able to maybe extend yourself,
11:51you know, literally in some cases to get that done.
11:54And interesting text here real quick from the 832, not necessarily defending Diaz,
11:58but do you realize for three years in a row the Astros have the slowest time to home plate of
12:02any pitching staff?
12:02I think that's even more reason to go with Vasquez.
12:05Because you can't have the combination of, you know, slow approach to the plate
12:08and a defensive catcher that's not good enough.
12:11Yeah.
12:12Yeah, that's cool.
12:14Dust Baker vindicated.
12:15Is that what we're doing here?
12:16That's cool.
12:17That's cool.
12:17All right.
12:18Just getting going here on a Wednesday in the loop on Sports Radio 610.
12:22Astros have an opportunity to actually go and try and win a series tonight.
12:25We'll see if they can make that happen because this game means absolutely nothing if you don't stack on top
12:30of it.
12:30I think that's the – it's one thing to win a single game in baseball.
12:33Bad teams do that, right?
12:34There's 162 of these.
12:35Can you start stacking these again to give us – to validate what Carlos Correa said a couple days ago
12:41that this is a good team playing bleepy baseball?
12:43I think that you get out of that bleepy baseball and you can demonstrate yourself being a good team
12:46by starting to stack some of these games.
Comments