- 2 days ago
ITL reflects on Houston’s dynasty era as another core piece goes down.
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00:00The Astros got a series win!
00:02They did get a series win.
00:04Look at that!
00:05Pretty impressive the first couple of days.
00:06Shout out to the pitching.
00:09Buddy.
00:09Arrighetti.
00:11Arrighetti looked phenomenal.
00:13Was it seven and a third that he ultimately went in the game?
00:17And then you had, who was that Saturday?
00:19Why is memory fading for me?
00:22Was it Kaiwe?
00:23Yes, it was Kaiwe Tang.
00:25Kaiwe Tang.
00:26And then you had, unfortunately, Peter Lambert had to get busted up.
00:31We couldn't get a full series of it.
00:33What happened to Peter Lambert?
00:34I don't.
00:35I turned to Peter Frampton.
00:38I think eventually the Rangers were going to find their best to some degree.
00:42They are a league-averaged offensive team, although they had been really bad coming into this.
00:47Either way, right?
00:48Astros get a series victory, but I do wonder, do you view it as Pyrrhic in any way?
00:54Was it, I don't know, what is the context to get?
00:57Bittersweet.
00:58There we go.
00:58I did use the word Pyrrhic, and I was like, damn it.
01:00He's going to play this drop on me if I'm not careful, so let me try and explain it.
01:03But yeah, was it bittersweet?
01:04Because in the midst of this, I think it was Saturday's game, in fact, Jose Altuve with an oblique strain
01:11as he is swinging a bat.
01:12In fact, he does not even get on the base pass.
01:14He barely gets out of the box.
01:15Yeah.
01:16And so we find out that this is actually going to put him on the IL.
01:18So yet another of your dynasty players has gone down, and it's just Jordan holding it down right now.
01:25Alex Bregman is no longer on the team.
01:26Kyle Tucker traded away.
01:28Uli Gurriel, George Springer, Michael Bramley, so on and so forth.
01:31I mean, even Carlos Correa, who came back, is not on the roster right now.
01:35Was it everything that it should have been is the question that we're asking.
01:37Well, there's a lot here.
01:39We're down to one in terms of everyday players.
01:42You mentioned it.
01:43Jordan is it.
01:44But did that hit you the same way it hit me?
01:48Because Altuve, it's going to be a minimum of a month that he's out.
01:51I mean, you know, when you have those types of injuries, I think Jake Myers, that's what kept him on
01:54the shelf for a while.
01:55Yeah.
01:56Now, every player is different.
01:57But, yes, that is absolutely.
01:59Jake Myers was the comparison I saw drawn as well.
02:02And he had, I'm trying to remember exactly how long he was out for it.
02:04I think it was about a month.
02:05Yeah.
02:06Yeah.
02:06I mean, you're right.
02:07Like, it feels like that's the case, especially when you consider, you know, the torque that he uses, talk less
02:13of any baseball player coming from that trunk.
02:15That oblique is very vital to that.
02:17Talk less of anything that he plays in the field.
02:19Like, you're going to need time for that to resolve itself.
02:22So, a couple thoughts past, you know, I was thinking about it as I'm watching this.
02:27First of all, obviously, it just stinks, you know, especially, you know, Altuve is an older player.
02:33And to be able to, you know, to bounce back, you have to kind of wonder about that.
02:37But the two things that really crossed my mind were, is that it?
02:42That's the end of an era?
02:45You know, Correa's done for the year.
02:46You just now getting here?
02:47No, no.
02:48But, no, no.
02:49We've talked about it.
02:49Thanks for joining us.
02:50No, we've talked about it.
02:51Refreshments are on the side table.
02:52We've talked about it, but it just sort of kind of hammers it home, right?
02:55That's it.
02:57That's it.
02:57You know, if you didn't think so before, this is one of those where it just sort of hits you,
03:01you know, square in the face.
03:02And then the second thing is, did you get them?
03:06Was it good for you?
03:07It was very good in terms of 2022 and 2017.
03:11But was that, did we get the most out of that run?
03:14I mean, no, but I don't think that, I think it's very rare that a dynastic run gets everything.
03:20That you get all of it.
03:22There's very few that are 99% efficient in this.
03:26It's because this is the nature of competition, and it's not like you're playing against nobody, right?
03:29This is not a ringer in an intramural league.
03:33These are all good teams.
03:35They get paid, too, so on and so forth.
03:37You were able to get, I think the only thing that I could really say is you left 19 on
03:41the table, right?
03:422019.
03:43But even then, I think you had a pretty damn good run of, I mean, legitimately.
03:47I told you about the podcast that I jumped on last week in Dallas.
03:51They were asking me, is the boogeyman dead?
03:53And I saw it in their eyes, and they was not asking that as a joke.
03:56They were happy.
03:57They wanted to know.
03:57They were like, hey, guys, are they gone?
03:59Is it safe to come outside?
04:00That is something that you were able to invoke across the league.
04:03That means something to me, man.
04:05I feel like that matters in what you did, and so, no, I think that was fulfilling.
04:10The way that you knew that a summer was going to be full of life because the Astros are there,
04:15that means something over that time period.
04:17So I do think that it was most of what it could be, and anything extra, obviously, we can quibble
04:22on it,
04:22but I think that that's the nature of sports is that it's damn near impossible for you to get to
04:28a place
04:28where you just dominate the entire time, and you get all of the juice out of the sweet.
04:33It does, but on the other hand, if we go back to 2017, and they're all there,
04:38and they're relatively all still on their first good contracts, I should say, put it that way,
04:43I was thinking three, four, more.
04:47Not five, not six, not seven, not what you're doing.
04:50No, no, I mean, I'm dead serious.
04:51If you take yourself back to 2017, and we're all giddy, and we're at the parade,
04:56and you look at this roster, and you just mentioned Bregman, Tucker, Correa,
05:00you know, Altuve, still young, Gurria, well, yeah, Gurria wasn't here in 17, was he?
05:05Anyway, you know, that core, all those guys, I expected at least three, probably four,
05:11and that's with what you're talking about, with knowing that you can't win every single year.
05:17You know, Figgy?
05:18It's crazy.
05:19Yeah, no, I got it, but I still feel like, because they got to the World Series how many times?
05:23Like, was it four or five times?
05:26They got to four.
05:27They lost to the Nationals, and then the...
05:29Yeah, I kind of look at it overall, like, how many times they got to the World Series.
05:33I know they won two, but how many times they got to the World Series,
05:35and how many times they dominated this division.
05:39So, I think overall, when you look at the total picture,
05:42I think we could have got another World Series.
05:44I think about that 2019 one, with Garrett Cole and all that,
05:49but outside of that, I think I feel pretty satisfied outside of that one World Series they could have got.
05:54I brought this up because I don't know how I feel.
05:57I see what you're saying, Reggie.
05:59You got the two, you went to four, you know, you're in a spot where it's hard to be greedy,
06:05but you were also in a spot, if you take yourself back, where I don't think it was greedy.
06:10I don't think it was greedy to expect the real thing.
06:12No, and I think that's the expectation that every fan has,
06:15and I jokingly alluded to the Heatles, right, the Miami Heat,
06:19and I know not everybody will enjoy this comparison, but I think it's apt.
06:22They got up on a stage doing the not three, not four, not five, not six,
06:26and of course that was to rally the base, but I know deep within them,
06:28they're like, yo, we got to hit all these.
06:30They went to four straight finals, and even they ended up with two of those, right?
06:33And I think that, yes, you could probably say that they should have won more of those
06:37in the basketball context, but if you go and you ask Heat fans,
06:40especially now that they are out of that era,
06:42did you get, was it satisfying, I guess, ultimately?
06:45I think that they'd say yes with the level of context,
06:47and I think that for me, in trying to make sure that I'm appreciative of what happened,
06:52I think that this was satisfying, knowing that you had a team that not,
06:56because I, sorry to be, I'm going to be like a real,
07:00I'm going to be real, I don't know, quote heavy,
07:02or like, you know, the woo-woo or whatever,
07:05but, hey man, if this is only going to be about the end result,
07:08we're not going to be satisfied with much of anything.
07:09I think that the process, the journey along the way,
07:12being a team that was dominant, being a team that was feared,
07:15being a team that allowed you to talk to your friends and neighbors
07:17in whatever way that you saw fit, because you knew that they were going to come back around.
07:21We've all seen like the little dude that goes into a bar and talks crazy
07:24because he's got the big dude around him that's going to fight his fights.
07:26That was the Astros for you for a good, like, decade,
07:29was that you could talk any type of noise baseball-wise,
07:32and you knew that the Astros were going to come over and deliver.
07:34That means something to me.
07:35No, I get it, but that is one of those things where you do go back,
07:40and fair is fair, and even though we don't agree with it,
07:43you know, from a national perspective, 2017 has a bit of tarnish on it.
07:47And so really, you start looking at national writers and national fans
07:51looking at this 10-year run, and you're like, yeah, with 2017, we know what happened.
07:56You know, so it becomes one in some circles.
07:59No, you're right, and that's the thing I've said is,
08:00I think that this dynasty becomes entirely unassailable with 2019 if you do get it done.
08:06And a good point made about 2023 probably should have been yours as well
08:09if you can manage to knock off the Rangers.
08:12But, yeah, man, I understand that perspective,
08:15and if that's where you're coming from where you go, it's not complete,
08:18you didn't ring all the way out because you didn't get 2019,
08:20and 2017 has, for some people, some level of tarnish on it,
08:25I can hear you out on that.
08:26I just know that around these parts, we don't give a damn about y'all and y'all asterisks.
08:31We got 2017.
08:32No, I get it, and that's what I'm saying.
08:33We don't necessarily agree with it, but it's funny because a lot of texters,
08:36you know, should have had at least three, probably more.
08:39Should have won three at least.
08:40Yeah, I think the three at least.
08:41Three would have done it.
08:42That 2019 one, that's the one that kind of keep me up at night a little bit, man,
08:47because that was the best team I've seen in a long time.
08:51Because it was.
08:51Yeah, yeah, I think that team should have won, and if it wasn't for A.J. Hinch not bringing
08:57in Garrett Cole at the end and using the gassed up Will Harris, I think you could have had
09:02three.
09:03We would have been satisfied.
09:04Yeah, but that's the thing is, I understand that, yes, that was there for you, and you can
09:08get me on that.
09:09You going to tell me that you're just not satisfied with it?
09:11No, no.
09:12No, I'm asking, was it everything?
09:14You know, of course we're satisfied with that.
09:15I mean, two World Series for a city that hadn't won any?
09:17I think it's good for the simple fact you did get to how many World Series, and you only
09:21won two, but you did get to those World Series.
09:24You dominated the division, man.
09:26Yeah.
09:27How many times?
09:28Eight straight?
09:28Mm-hmm.
09:28Nine straight?
09:29Whatever it is.
09:30Right.
09:30I think just that domination, the fear in the whole baseball, everybody in baseball was
09:36scared of you.
09:36Right.
09:37So I think that alone made me feel better.
09:39Hell, even the last two years where you could maybe quibble on whether the dynasty was still
09:43going, there was a level of fear around baseball because we know who they are.
09:46They've done it, yeah.
09:47Right?
09:47What they did to the Yankees, all of that.
09:50I think that that matters to me in a way where, yeah, I feel like that's the nature of dynasty
09:55for me, is that constant ability to be there in the end and be amongst it, even if you
10:00didn't squeeze all of the juice out of it.
10:03Yeah, if you look at it on paper like you, Lopez, I think I can understand where you're
10:07coming from, but just living in it and just seeing the dominance in real time, what they
10:12did to the Yankees every single time, I think I'm satisfied with that.
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