- 13 hours ago
Seth and Sean talk about the Astros 5-3 loss to the Orioles, Teng only giving us 3 innings as the "starter," and Tatsuya Imai struggling in his rehab game in Corpus.
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00:00And he's going to try and butt his way on to bring the tying run to the plate.
00:03Blaze Alexander makes a nice play, and that'll be the end of the game.
00:07Alexander with a bare-hand play to get out to Bay.
00:10Helsley faces three in the ninth, and the Orioles hold on to win it 5-3
00:14to open up this six-game road trip for the Astros.
00:17There you go. Road trip's off to a rip-roaring start.
00:20The Astros lose 5-3 last night to the Baltimore Orioles.
00:24Welcome in, everybody. Happy Wednesday to all of you.
00:26Hope you're doing well. Hope you're having a nice morning.
00:28If you're an early riser, we appreciate you getting up with us.
00:31We are with you until 10 a.m. I'm Sean Pendergast. He is Seth Payne.
00:34Good morning, my friend. How are you?
00:35Shut up your stupid mouth.
00:37Oh, stop it. You and I have been laughing already off the air today.
00:39It's been a good morning.
00:41Yeah, but now I'm stage persona.
00:44Now that's true.
00:45And we haven't played.
00:46Yeah, now I'm performative.
00:51Seriously, though, shut up.
00:52This is...
00:53Fair.
00:54I hate this team.
00:55I know.
00:55I hate it so much. You know what I hate the most about it?
00:57What about it?
00:57I hate seeing...
00:59I hate statistics.
01:01I hate when even somebody's trying to massage the situation and says,
01:07well, hey, their expected ERA to take luck out of the equation is actually 4.56.
01:14That's still one of the worst in the league.
01:16It's still bad.
01:17It's still bad.
01:19They're like, hey, hey.
01:20Hey.
01:21Now, if you're more analytically minded, just know this.
01:24They're still really bad, but not the worst.
01:27It's not a six.
01:28Great.
01:28It's not a six.
01:29The worst part for me about last night, and good morning, everybody, was that Kiway Tang
01:36pitched the first three innings.
01:38He threw about 45, 46 pitches, something like that.
01:42So right about in that pitch count that you and I talked about yesterday.
01:45I thought it was going to be about a 50-pitch pitch count.
01:46Yeah, yeah.
01:47You and I were hoping for four innings out of him yesterday, and then once they kind
01:51of outlined what their plan was, I'm like, all right, well, in my mind, I'm like, all
01:54right, well, they get three.
01:55They got three.
01:56He was not good.
01:58He gave up two earned runs, and yet two earned runs in three innings brought the team ERA
02:03down for the season.
02:06That's six.
02:08That's exactly six.
02:10Kiway Tang came in and was not good as a starter, and yet brought the team ERA down
02:16with a two-run three-inning outing.
02:18Good for you.
02:19Which is why I want to listen to this right now, and then you and I will chop it up,
02:23Seth.
02:23This was, I got to hear, this is Joe Espada on Kiway Tang's, I hesitate to say start.
02:30They even coined it as he's going to be more of an opener than a starter.
02:33So whatever.
02:33His first stint as an opener yesterday.
02:36Um, settle, settle in after that first inning.
02:40Um, you know, the velo wasn't as, as what I was expecting.
02:47Um, but, you know, he threw, you know, he gave us an opportunity, right?
02:51Weiss came in and came in with those two big punch outs.
02:54And, you know, aside from the, uh, the two-run homer by Alonso, I thought he'd throw the
02:57ball really well.
02:5936 strikes or 54 pitches he made.
03:01Um, and, you know, I thought Suisse is also another positive.
03:05Um, came bounce back, three punchies.
03:07He looked really good.
03:09Punchies.
03:09Punchies.
03:10You're not allowed to say punchy after a loss like that.
03:12He's, I've never heard him called punchies before.
03:14I thought they were called punch outs.
03:15I've never heard him called punchies.
03:16You've heard it.
03:17You've just, uh, repressed it.
03:19Maybe.
03:20Maybe.
03:20Maybe.
03:21Joe Espada.
03:22You know who needs Joe Espada?
03:23Mike Rabel.
03:23You can show on the dowel the time you heard punchies.
03:26Uh, what we, oh, he needs those?
03:28Rabel needs Joe Espada.
03:29I think anybody going through a crisis needs Joe Espada.
03:31Joe Espada can take almost any situation and try and spin it positively.
03:35I mean, Rabel's operating in a situation now where he doesn't have a trusted person that
03:38he can leak information to.
03:40Right.
03:40You know, he's talking to his therapist and be like, if I, if I tell you this, will you
03:45leak it?
03:46Will you, will you make a report on X?
03:48And, uh, and the therapist is like, no, I'm specifically not allowed to do that.
03:52Yeah.
03:53I went to the wrong therapist.
03:54I need some stuff leaked out there.
03:56Well, I'm just thinking like Joe Espada could find a way to take my brave, Mike Rabel situation
04:00and spin it to Jen Rabel in a way that's positive, you know, it's just a story for the age.
04:05Right, right, right.
04:06He could be like, he'd be like, yeah, you know, it's an extramarital affair.
04:09Right.
04:10Um, it's not something you should do, but he's learning some things in that extramarital affair,
04:14you know, in the bedroom that may come back to benefit him in his marital relationship,
04:18you know, or it's, it's another way of him to stay in shape.
04:21You know, he's burning 250 calories every time he, he does it with Diana Rossini.
04:26So he's in much better shape.
04:27Joe Espada would find a way to do that.
04:29He found a way to, this Kai Wei Tang really just ratchet opener that he had yesterday.
04:36And he's like, yeah, you know, Velo was a little down, but he recovered from the first inning.
04:39And then Weiss came in and got a few punchies.
04:41And now all of a sudden I'm supposed to feel good about this five to three loss to the Orioles
04:45yesterday.
04:46He's confessed to loving Nicholas Sparks books, you know.
04:51That's the guy that, that wrote the notebook and everything.
04:55So he, uh, yeah, he's gonna, he's gonna figure out a way to explain how these guys are all
05:00just being done in by letters that have been sequestered by his girlfriend's mom.
05:05Yeah.
05:06It's, uh, the, the, this is the thing I it's, it's really a threefold problem is one, obviously
05:13the offense is great, except they are constantly, they're constantly playing under pressure.
05:19I feel like every Astros game is like one of those hydraulic press videos on YouTube.
05:23Oh, the one that, like the one, like the one that, was it the Texans or the Chiefs?
05:28I'm trying to, they used it for their schedule release video.
05:30Oh yeah.
05:30Yeah.
05:30They just had a hydraulic press squishing all their opponent mascots.
05:34You know, when you watch it, do it a bowling ball or something.
05:36Yeah.
05:36Like, Hey, the bowling ball's holding up all right.
05:38And then all of a sudden, boom.
05:39Yeah.
05:40It shatters and you're two for 14 with runners in scoring.
05:42Yeah.
05:43Yes.
05:43This team is.
05:44And then you have the injuries.
05:46Yes.
05:46Okay.
05:46To the pitchers.
05:47So that's real.
05:48That's legitimate.
05:49This is the problem.
05:50This vaunted influx of pitchers that we got in the off season, these six pitchers that
05:55are all starting caliber pitchers, not to mention, you know, in Kiwi Tang, your opener
05:59now, they've got a collective six plus ERA when healthy.
06:04Yeah.
06:04There's nothing you can point to where you can say, well, if only these guys were healthy,
06:10then we'd be, no, you're just, you were supposed to be built to withstand a certain amount of
06:15injuries at least.
06:16And I understand it's been extreme and you can't expect the Astros to have a great ERA or anything,
06:21but none of those guys, it's just, it's been atrocious whether they're healthy or not.
06:25You've got five quality starts this year in 30 games.
06:29That's unacceptable.
06:30And a quality start in Major League Baseball, like the floor for a quality start is very
06:36attainable.
06:37It's relatively, it's six innings with three earned runs or less.
06:42That's a 4.5 ERA.
06:43Yeah.
06:44They haven't even gotten to the point.
06:45How many times have they had a starter go more than six, go six innings?
06:48They've had five starts of six innings or more.
06:50That's a quality start.
06:51No, no, no, no, no.
06:51But with a, but with three, with a three ERA or less.
06:54With more, well, with more, with more than six innings.
06:57The Lance in his first start, Spencer Arrighetti in his last start.
07:01And I think that's it.
07:02The other, I mean, I can, Hunter Brown had a quality start.
07:05Peter Lambert had a quality start.
07:06I'm not asking about quality starts.
07:06I'm asking about just the first criterion, which is six, six innings.
07:10And that's what I'm saying.
07:11These are, I'm naming the starts that are six innings for this team right now.
07:14I'm literally naming them for you right now.
07:16But you understand, as I understand, that just six innings isn't the only criterion.
07:20I get it.
07:21I get it.
07:21You were asking how many starts have they had of six innings or more?
07:24And I'm saying five.
07:25Hunter Brown had one.
07:26Spencer Arrighetti said two.
07:27Lance has one.
07:28And Peter Lambert has one.
07:29Those are the five.
07:30Yeah.
07:31Why are you mad at me about this?
07:33I'm not because you were trying to explain to me like an idiot that I didn't understand
07:36a quality start.
07:36No, I wasn't.
07:36I wasn't.
07:37I really wasn't.
07:38I wasn't trying to explain it all.
07:40I was explaining to the audience that the bar for a quality start in Major League Baseball
07:44is very low.
07:45Yeah.
07:45Giving up three runs in six innings is not a huge ask in Major League Baseball.
07:50I wasn't doing that.
07:51I don't know why you're pissed off at me about this.
07:53I was trying to explain because you said how many quality starts they had.
08:01And I said, how many times have they even just gone six innings?
08:05Right.
08:05Which could include six innings but letting up four runs.
08:08That's true.
08:08Yeah, no, but it's...
08:09Yes, that's 100% true.
08:10No, it's true.
08:11And they've had none of those.
08:12Yeah, maybe Mike Burroughs had one.
08:14I don't know.
08:14Every time they've gone six innings, it's been a quality start.
08:16I think so.
08:17So there we go.
08:17They're batting 1,000 on going six innings.
08:19There might be one more start where they had six innings.
08:21Yeah.
08:21Yeah, sorry about that.
08:22Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.
08:25Because all the starts that aren't quality starts, they give up like...
08:28They go four and a third.
08:29They go three and a third.
08:30They go two innings.
08:31They go one inning.
08:32That's true.
08:32Because if they do go...
08:33If they manage to get to six innings, it's like, well, it's a performance for the ages.
08:37Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
08:38Like, yeah, so I understand what you're saying.
08:40Like, yeah, there might have been a six-inning start where they gave up seven runs or something
08:43like that.
08:44That's true.
08:46The worst thing that happened to the Astros last night actually didn't even happen in
08:50Baltimore.
08:51It happened in Corpus Christi.
08:53A game that my son was at last night, actually, in Corpus Christi.
08:56I was scouting for us.
08:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:58Sammy was at a conference in Corpus.
09:00Tatsuya Imai, two innings.
09:03And Chandler Rome tweeted about this, and I got a little triggered by it.
09:07He's like, Tatsuya Imai threw 59 pitches and got six outs in Corpus Christi.
09:12And I'm like, oh, okay.
09:13He's pitching a couple innings in a rehab start.
09:16And then you look at the box score, and he put nine guys on base in two innings.
09:23That's a different mound in Corpus.
09:25Oh, yeah.
09:25Oh, yeah.
09:26Did we get a post-game interview?
09:28Did we get a post-game interview?
09:29Six hits, three runs, or six...
09:32Maybe it's a different time zone somehow down there.
09:34I don't know how they operate in Corpus.
09:35But sit on the other side of the border.
09:37Six hits, three walks, five earned runs, two strikeouts, gave up a home run.
09:44It's just, he's a disaster.
09:47He's an absolute disaster.
09:48This is a double-A.
09:48This has been the worst offseason ever, man.
09:53Dana, Dana's...
09:54This is a double-A.
09:55Are we going to blame Espada for Imai's poor start in Corpus?
09:58Are we going to have, like, what can we blame Espada for at this point?
10:02Espada is number two on the board right now for next manager to be fired.
10:07The Phillies fired their manager, I think it was yesterday, while we were in the toss within the loop.
10:13I think it was yesterday.
10:15And they actually offered the job to Alex Cora, who got fired by the Red Sox two days ago.
10:19And he's like, no, I'm good.
10:21I'm going to go to Cancun with my family.
10:23No thanks, Philly.
10:26Espada, I get what you're saying.
10:27And Dana Brown said the same thing over the weekend, which is, hey, it's not Joe's fault we're walking, guys.
10:31It's not Joe's fault we have injuries.
10:33It's not this.
10:34But sometimes the only move is to fire the manager.
10:37Right.
10:38Yeah, sometimes there's just a time where you've got to try something.
10:41And if you're not 100% convinced this is the guy to lead you into the next golden era,
10:46that you just try to do something to jostle things up.
10:50What's going to be the equivalent of the manager throwing a bunch of baseball bats into the shower?
10:56Yeah.
10:56Just to wake people up.
10:57I don't know.
10:58But that's the other frustrating part is when it comes to the runners in scoring position,
11:03like you have guys that have, they've performed like the back of their baseball card over the course of the
11:10season.
11:11And yet, you know, Paredes striking out on a full count after having a nice lead in the count early
11:18on,
11:19Altuve whiffing in that point.
11:21Correa's just, Correa's the Marisnyk of the infield.
11:24He's overrated, man.
11:25He's just, he's always, and I like Carlos Correa.
11:28I liked when they brought him back because they brought him back for nothing.
11:30And he does bring something to the clubhouse.
11:32I'm not going to deny all that.
11:33And he's an outstanding defensive player.
11:35Whether it's third base or shortstop, he's an elite defensive player.
11:39He's just never, never really become the offensive player that everybody hoped he would become
11:45when he came up as a stud from the minor leagues back in 2015.
11:50He's had his moments.
11:51He's had, he's had full seasons where he's been a good offensive player, but just by and large throughout his
11:57career,
11:57he's been a slightly above average offensive player for what you expect out of him.
12:03I mean, the guy looks like he was built in a lab and everybody's expecting the next A-Rod out
12:07of him.
12:07And he's just, he's been bad this year in coming up in situations with guys on base.
12:11When he was batting cleanup earlier this year, and this team was really clicking offensively,
12:16you know, when they were walking 10 times a game and when they were leading the league in every offensive
12:20category,
12:21he was batting cleanup.
12:22And he came up with the bases loaded, I think more than anybody else in Major League Baseball felt like.
12:26And he just didn't come through in a lot of situations.
12:29And again, last night, he didn't come through.
12:32They had second and third, nobody out.
12:33He strikes out, doesn't put the bat on the ball.
12:36And then that leaves, that leaves first base open for them to intentionally walk Jordan Alvarez.
12:42And they intentionally walk Jordan and then Paredes and Altuve strike out.
12:46Just a disastrous inning all the way around.
12:48You have a chance, you give yourself a little bit of hope to get back in this game.
12:51And then bottom of the eighth, they score a couple runs.
12:53You get a home run from Bryce Matthews.
12:56That might've been earlier in the game.
12:57Anyways, you get it to 5-3 and then Correa strikes out again in the eighth inning.
13:02So, Carlos, he's just not a guy that I trust offensively.
13:06He's a circle of trust guy based entirely on defense.
13:09You and I were talking before the show.
13:11And Carlos would always bring up war back in the day.
13:13Yeah.
13:14What a great wins above replacement he had.
13:16And it's like, well, yeah, you're a gold glove shortstop.
13:18You're going to have a good wins above replacement if you're just an average offensive player.
13:21Well, you remember it was annoying, too, because you remember Carlos Correa, the ultimate teammate.
13:26It was the year that La Pina was the batting champ because they had the highest batting
13:31average in the league.
13:32And Correa would have all these interviews where he'd say, nobody cares about batting
13:36average anymore.
13:36Look at my war.
13:37Look at my war.
13:38He's right there, Carlos.
13:40Yeah, and it's right.
13:40Your war is based on your defense.
13:42The reason your war is so high is not because of your offense.
13:45It's because you're a really, really good defender.
13:48That's why you're one of the war leaders.
13:49Yep, yep.
13:50Did you see Casario and McAfee yesterday?
13:53I did.
13:54Yeah.
13:54They love him.
13:55So, McAfee, who you despise, does love Casario.
14:00Yeah, yeah, he does.
14:00I don't despise McAfee.
14:02I'm just a little burnt out on McAfee, that's all.
14:05It's just a bit much.
14:06He's everywhere.
14:06It's a bit much all the time.
14:08Yep.
14:08Yeah.
14:09Like the draft, when he was up there, I'm like, like a lot of these people with the
14:12draft, I don't know how you feel about these guest pickers for the draft.
14:15Yeah.
14:15I like the ones that just get up, maybe say two words, and then make the pick.
14:18These people that get up there and monologue, like McAfee did.
14:21McAfee is like an overly rambunctious sophomore in a fraternity house.
14:26Yes.
14:27He's just trying, he's trying so hard to show how gung-ho he is all the time.
14:31And you're just like, all right, just tamp it down a little bit, buddy.
14:33You're going to kill a pledge.
14:34Yes.
14:35All right?
14:35We're just, we got to.
14:37He is.
14:38He is.
14:38Totally.
14:39He's a meathead frat boy.
14:40If McAfee hasn't killed a pledge, then I don't even know how to judge people anymore.
14:45I tell you what, I mean, and you saw the interview, he does, I will give McAfee credit,
14:51he's not afraid to bring up negative graphics or stats with his guests on there, at least
14:55with Casario.
14:56Like, I think you can tell he's really feeling it with his relationship with Casario.
14:59He literally put up the equivalent of, like, the mock draft report card that we did yesterday
15:05that showed the Colts number one.
15:08He cherry-picked one that had the Colts first, former Colt, Pat McAfee.
15:12And then the Texans were 28th, and he's like, hey, Nick, guys really aren't liking your draft.
15:17These experts out there really aren't liking your draft.
15:20You know, it's interesting.
15:22I listened after Casario went off, and I don't think we have that clip.
15:27I might grab it for later in the show, but they talked about how, you know, they had
15:31been crushing Casario early on because, with his tenure with the Texans, because Casario
15:37was on the headset.
15:38So remember, that was the big thing.
15:40Everybody thought Casario was telling the coaches what to do.
15:42And then they went into a little aside about how David Culley really got the runaround down
15:46there.
15:47You know, he just thought it was, like, you idiots.
15:50But then they talked about how, you know, they talked about that openly with Casario, and
15:56Casario explained why he was on the headset, and now they all love each other.
15:59Yeah, they love each other.
16:00But yeah, to his credit, he doesn't shy away from, you know, bringing up what his criticisms
16:05are of guys.
16:06Yeah, I thought, I was just looking at it, he's got graphics to back it up and everything.
16:10I'm like, oh, you're feeling it.
16:12Here was Casario McAfee yesterday.
16:14They asked him, how do you figure out if someone is a Texan?
16:16It feels like you are targeting a certain type of player, and how do you figure out if a person
16:21is a Houston Texan-like player, and why these guys?
16:24I mean, I think we've all seen toughness and physicality winning this league.
16:28I think we feel that way.
16:29There's a number of teams that feel that way.
16:31When you look around the league, I mean, in the end, that's going to be an important part
16:35of it.
16:35So we try to identify who are those players that have those requisite traits and characteristics
16:40throughout the course of the process.
16:41I think our scouting staff does a great job of being able to get the information and identify
16:46those players that maybe fit the profile so that when we transition after the season,
16:50when the coaching staff gets involved, when D'Amico gets involved, we can maybe identify
16:54some of those players that have those characteristics that we're, I would say, targeting and have
16:58discussed that we feel are important to winning.
17:01But I would say those two players in particular that you mentioned, Rutledge and McDonald,
17:04we feel they both have those qualities.
17:06Both played for really good programs.
17:08I'd say tough, hard-nosed coaches.
17:10I mean, Coach Kia, Georgia Tech, does a great job.
17:12He's done a great job, and we've all seen what Coach Day has done at Ohio State.
17:16And, you know, Coach Patricia, I'd say, put his kind of stamp on the defense there a little
17:19bit, so there's a familiarity to some extent with maybe some of the things that they were
17:23doing there.
17:24But those were two players that we had a certain level of conviction on, and we were fortunate
17:28enough to be able to add them to the team.
17:30They probably differ in opinion on some things.
17:32D'Amico and Nick, I'm guessing they do.
17:33Everybody does.
17:34But they seem to be pretty aligned with what a Texan is supposed to look like.
17:40Yeah, I guess, and that's the one part where I do sometimes wonder and I worry about a little
17:47bit when you start to really funnel down your prospects into like, hey, we want to see that
17:51they've done this, we want to see that they've done that, that sometimes you can maybe narrow
17:56your pool of players too much.
17:58I mean, 40% of the offensive linemen they've drafted in the top two rounds since Nick got
18:03here have been involved in a car accident of some sort.
18:06So between Juice Scruggs and Keelan Rutledge, it's a big part of their story that they had
18:12this devastating car wreck and they came back from it.
18:15Right, right.
18:16Like, all right, two of the five guys that they've drafted early.
18:19It feels like they're looking at the car facts as part of their scouting report.
18:22Some guys just haven't had the good luck to have been involved in a car accident, you
18:27know?
18:27Yep.
18:27So it doesn't mean that they couldn't overcome it.
18:30That's right.
18:31And I say that tongue in cheek, but there are, you know, that's where I think people get
18:36nervous when, if all you're doing is getting this certain type of gritty, tough guy, do
18:40you end up with a bunch of gritty overachievers that also aren't athletically gifted enough?
18:46Yep.
18:46So when a team starts reaching, or what's, you know, when you start drafting guys above
18:52and beyond where most people have them ranked, are you overvaluing some of those swarm type
18:57tendencies?
18:58Yep.
18:58And I'm not saying they are, that's just the thing you have to watch out for.
19:03Yep.
19:03Because you get the teams that reach a lot, quote unquote, reach a lot, like the 49ers,
19:07as good as the 49ers have been, man, their fan base is, is, is furious right now.
19:13Oh yeah.
19:13Yeah.
19:1449ers.
19:14You look, and we're, we're over on time, but you, if you look at their recent drafts, it's
19:19a miracle.
19:19They're still as good as they are.
19:20Yeah.
19:21It's, they have not drafted way, like they've been reaching and it's not been going well for
19:25them.
19:25So yeah, that's pretty wild.
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