- 3 days ago
Paul Gallant and Brandon Scott are in for Sean and Seth on this fine Memorial Day. They kick off the show by assessing if the Astros sweeping the Cubs over the weekend makes them feel any more optimistic about them right now.
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00:00Astros got a sweep over the weekend, man, so they actually know how to win ball games.
00:05They do.
00:06And quiet is kept, Pauly, man.
00:07They suddenly don't suck as much anymore.
00:10Now, don't get me wrong.
00:11They still suck.
00:13It's still a lot of suck.
00:14There's plenty of suck there, but it's less suck than it was before, which makes me feel
00:19good because I was having a tough time, and I was saying this in weeks prior.
00:23It's like, I don't know what this baseball season is going to look like once we get into
00:27June, once we get into mid-June.
00:29We even did a segment last week of what's your deadline before the deadline?
00:33We know what the trade deadline is, but do you have a deadline of when you're done with
00:38the Astros or when you want them to start selling or when you've basically reached your wits
00:44in?
00:44And now they've kind of reeled us back in a little bit, so shout out to them for their
00:48sweep over the Cubs at Wrigley over the weekend.
00:50I am curious to know how you guys are feeling about this sweep of the Cubs.
00:55The American League West is still a largely embarrassing division from a wins-loss perspective.
01:02The A's are the only team that's above 500.
01:05They're one game above 500.
01:07They're in first place.
01:08The Astros are four and a half games out of first place as they sit currently in fourth.
01:14You beat the Cubs three times in a row.
01:17A Cubs team that did have a pretty good start to the year, but has certainly cooled off of
01:21late.
01:22They are not playing particularly well.
01:24I think that's eight straight losses for them, because they came into the series having
01:27lost five straight, and then they just got swept.
01:30And that's just math.
01:30That's just my basic math.
01:32Don't ask me to do anything more complicated than that.
01:34Taking care of business, though, considering the injuries that they are dealing with.
01:39It is some wind in the sails.
01:40Is it momentum?
01:41I think that's the question that is tough to answer at this moment in time, because you
01:47are talking about three wins in a row over a team that is playing like crap right now.
01:54And you are also a team that is very banged up and does not look like it's going to be
01:59much healthier in the immediate future.
02:02Now, at least we're seeing Hunter Brown get another rehab start in, and we are seeing arms
02:07step up that you were not expecting to think much about this year.
02:11Spencer Arrogetti, Kiwi Tang, but Peter Lambert, that's what the whole weekend was about, honestly.
02:16I mean, that's literally how they won.
02:18It's like, okay, you feel better.
02:21So, look, momentum?
02:22Hell no, because we're at a space of, like, I think I'll feel better if some of these healthier
02:28guys or some of these injured guys get healthier, but you're basically, like, holding on to
02:34a string here with the Spencer Arrogettis of the world, who didn't even start off the
02:38year with you, Kiwi Tang, who started off in the bullpen, and Peter Lambert, who's essentially
02:43found money at this point.
02:45So, man, it's tough.
02:47It's like, man, you're waiting on those three guys to step up in the rotation to feel good
02:52about a three-game stretch.
02:54That doesn't feel like the exact recipe.
02:56Now, if they could be supplemental instead of being your stars, your main guys, then
03:01I could feel a little bit more excited, a little bit more optimistic.
03:04But can I call it momentum?
03:05I can say that they're playing better baseball.
03:07I'll give them that much credit.
03:08They do seem to be playing better baseball, but they're going to have to do it for a much
03:14longer stretch than this for me to really buy him.
03:16Right.
03:16To what you were saying a little bit earlier, B. Scott, talking about how there's a lot of
03:22people who are perhaps wavering as far as how much attention do I want to give this team
03:27the rest of the summer.
03:29I am at the point where they do not get number one TV treatment.
03:34For those who don't know, I have a setup where I have a big TV.
03:37It's not that big.
03:38It's 48 inches.
03:39I have another TV atop.
03:40It's 32 inches.
03:41Yeah.
03:42When the girlfriend's over, the Astros will get the top TV treatment.
03:47Right.
03:49When the girlfriend's not over and I have the ability to watch whatever I want and I'm
03:53not trying to make her happy and stay happy, I'm still putting the Astros on the top TV.
03:58Yeah.
03:58Even with the sweep that they had over the Cubs at this moment in time.
04:02But if certain things that we saw over the weekend continue, perhaps there is something
04:08to be said about momentum carrying forward.
04:10And I would specifically point to a guy who I am shocked is top 10 in the majors and homers.
04:17Well, Christian Walker, C wall, as they call him.
04:22He had two home runs on Saturday.
04:24He had another home run yesterday.
04:27He is hitting very well.
04:29And if you go back to last year after the rough start that he had, like first two months of
04:34the season, yikes, it was bad.
04:36And you're like, oh my God, they just got another Jose Abreu.
04:38But since then, he's been damn good.
04:41And this is a pretty good start to the year.
04:43Okay.
04:44266.
04:44I think it's the average at this moment in time, but his 14 home runs is tied for eighth
04:49in the majors right now.
04:50They just had to get that Jose Abreu bad mojo off of him, man.
04:54He, it wasn't even just that he's the first baseman free agent.
04:58They stuck him at Jose Abreu's locker, man.
05:02That's how they started the season.
05:03They were like, oh, we don't, apparently baseball players and teams aren't superstitious anymore.
05:08Right.
05:08What's up with that?
05:09Because they just stuck my man right in Jose Abreu's locker for him to pick up right where
05:13Jose Abreu left off.
05:15I think they switched that at some point during the season, if I'm not mistaken.
05:18But either way, he was also injured early on last year.
05:22And that was a part, you know, they don't like to make excuses and neither do we, but
05:26he wasn't the same guy.
05:28I think from last year to this year, he's made some improvements with like his conditioning,
05:33dropped a little bit of weight, and he's healthier.
05:36And like you mentioned, like the end of his season, if you take the end of last year
05:40and carry it on into this year, he's actually been a pretty decent sign.
05:43And we just couldn't get, we couldn't get rid of that first impression that looked way
05:49too much like the last impression of what we got from the other guy.
05:52Right.
05:53You're like, okay, damn.
05:54Did Jeff Bagwell make this deal happen as well?
05:56Yeah.
05:57What are we doing here?
05:58Yeah.
05:58Come on, Reggie Jackson and the Astros Skull and Bones Letterman Jacket Society with Jim
06:03Crane, all the jocks sitting at the table wearing their Letterman jackets thinking about,
06:07hey, who are we going to sign?
06:08Then you got Reggie Jackson getting duped by AI.
06:11Dude.
06:11You see that?
06:12Yes, I did.
06:13That was rough.
06:15But put a pin in that because I'm not, I don't know if I'm done with that concern considering
06:19that everybody that's in charge is on a, you know, obviously Jim Crane, but everybody
06:23that's under Jim Crane at the charges on a lame duck contract, I feel like we're going
06:27to be back in this space where AI susceptible figures are going to be in charge of telling
06:35the guy who signs the checks whether it's a good contract or not.
06:38Who is the most AI susceptible figure in Houston sports?
06:42713-572-4610.
06:45Just kidding.
06:46It was Reggie Jackson.
06:47Hopefully there will not be another Reggie Jackson moment.
06:49Guys, everything looks like artificial intelligence these days.
06:53You should just constantly be wary and make sure that you're not reposting something that
07:00is AI.
07:01It's happening to me every now and then.
07:02Don't believe bleep that you see.
07:04That's basically it.
07:05Don't believe bleep.
07:06Speaking of bleep that we saw, so the Astros get the sweep over the weekend, but on Saturday
07:12we did have another scare in a year where there has been injury after injury after injury.
07:18It was Jordan Alvarez who was scratched before his third at bat on Saturday after dealing
07:27with a back spasm.
07:28After the game, he said that he had felt one earlier in the day and that he had another
07:33one while lifting weights prior to his sixth inning at bat.
07:38Now, I don't think that he's, you know, lifting a dumbbell, doing a hammer curl or something
07:42like that in the dugout.
07:43I'm assuming this is him putting the weight on his bat and swinging it a little bit before.
07:48I'm hoping so.
07:48It would be hilarious, though, and very baseball injury if Jordan's just in the dugout just
07:55pumping iron like he's Ron Burgundy and Anchorman.
07:58Oh, 1,000.
07:591,001.
08:00Yeah.
08:00Oh, my arm burns.
08:02I could see it, though.
08:03I could see it because it'd be so Astros.
08:05I mean, this is the same guy who went out there and put on a light show of a bat
08:10in
08:10practice when he had a hand that was like 40% still broken and didn't even know it was
08:17broken at the time.
08:18They come to find out after the fact that it's now 60% healed.
08:22Oh, crap.
08:22When was it broken?
08:23We never knew.
08:24No one ever told us.
08:25So, like, that is totally something that could happen with Jordan Alvarez.
08:28But I don't want to say false alarm because anytime you talk about a back spasm, I'll put
08:33a pin in that, too.
08:34We can come back to that.
08:35It's like, you should probably check on this.
08:37How's his back doing?
08:38How's this injury-prone guy's back doing?
08:41But it seems like a false alarm.
08:43He was scheduled for a day off the next day anyway.
08:46Wink, wink.
08:47Sure he was.
08:48Right?
08:48And so we got that, kind of got that story.
08:51And it seems like, because I feel like we would have probably heard something by now,
08:55either from the Chandler Roams or Brian McTaggart's of the world, Matt Kawahara, somebody
08:59who's on the beat every day would have said, hey, they've got some concerns about Jordan
09:02or he's headed to the IL.
09:05None of that.
09:06But back spasms, bro?
09:08Back spasms?
09:09And I feel like we're old enough now to know a back, it can come and go like that.
09:15So that doesn't make me feel good for a guy that is already injury-prone and we're not
09:20exactly sure how old he is anyway.
09:22That is such a good one.
09:24I'm just saying.
09:25No, I mean, I think it's a fair question.
09:28But, like, he might be how old they say he is.
09:30He might not.
09:31I don't know.
09:32I don't know.
09:33I don't know if I trust the records of a communist country.
09:36You're right.
09:37I mean, should you?
09:38You know what I mean?
09:39Look, Jordan's been through a lot.
09:41All right, so he had the back spasms earlier in the week.
09:44So before the back spasms, Paul, I don't know if you saw this, but he's been having some,
09:47like, legal back and forth with his, what would you call the, what do we call those?
09:55We call them coyotes when they just bring them over for asylum or whatever.
09:59I don't think it's like a baseball coyote, basically.
10:01Brought him into the system over from Cuba.
10:04He's a Dominican guy.
10:06I can't remember his name.
10:06But he's been trying to, basically, trying to get 40% of Jordan's contract since the
10:10beginning of time.
10:11Right.
10:11Manuel Azcona, who is a person in the Dominican Republic who has filed an arbitration lawsuit
10:18against him.
10:18I guess five days ago, Alvarez won again against this guy.
10:23Yeah.
10:23So he won his arbitration.
10:24Didn't have to give up 40% of his salary.
10:26Thank God.
10:27I mean, that sounds awful.
10:29And then the back spasm thing.
10:31So I'll say all of that to say, guy's been through a lot, seen a lot in supposedly not
10:36that many years of life, supposedly.
10:38It is kind of concerning to have this person in your life suing you.
10:43And you wonder, does this person perhaps take things to another level?
10:48Yeah.
10:49Like, it's one thing to be litigious.
10:51But like, if you're as sketchy and as shady as some of the people try to make this guy out
10:56to be, it doesn't make you feel like, oh, well, he's just going to take, he's not going
11:01to be a sore loser at all.
11:03He's going to take losing this arbitration hearing just fine.
11:07He's not going to want to do anything else.
11:09Like, I don't know.
11:10I don't know.
11:11I'm not sure.
11:12I'm reading this article by Francis Romero, who is part of the Baseball Writers Association
11:19of America.
11:20It's a very detailed article about this guy who's in Jordan's past.
11:24And there's this picture of him, which I think he posted on Instagram, where he's by his
11:30pool, and he's wearing long pants with flip-flops and a polo.
11:35And he's got what looks to be some sort of sparkling white wine to his right in a glass.
11:41But he looks rather menacing in this photo.
11:43I think he's trying to come across as somebody who you would not want to stiff 40% of your
11:49earnings from.
11:50What are the odds that Jordan had back spasms because his head was on a swivel?
11:55I would keep that on a swivel.
11:57Because he was just watching his back.
11:58Yeah.
11:59Lifting weights or just watching your back because you won an arbitration hearing and
12:03got your money?
12:04I don't know.
12:04We'll see.
12:05We'll see.
12:05But it was mostly good, right?
12:08Like, Jordan, you don't want to see him go down.
12:10But the best of news that you can possibly get if Buddy's having back spasms is that it
12:15ain't that bad or it's not oh-so-reoccurring and all that kind of thing.
12:19And then the Christian Walker thing that you mentioned, right?
12:22Two home run game followed by another home run game.
12:25I mean, it says here, this is straight from the Astros, that he currently ranks fourth in
12:33the American League in RBIs.
12:35Or RBI, excuse me, baseball peers.
12:37RBI.
12:38I say RBIs.
12:39They make the baseball peers, Matt.
12:41Right.
12:41Yeah, especially on a day like this, man.
12:43The baseball peers, if y'all are up, I'm going to make y'all mad.
12:47Sixth in total bases.
12:49Tied for six in home runs.
12:50That's surprising.
12:51All of us.
12:51I mean, seventh in slugging.
12:53So Christian Walker's probably looking around the clubhouse like, I know this team suck,
12:58but it ain't me.
12:59It's the rest of y'all.
13:01Y'all need to get your weight up.
13:02We'll see if they are able to keep this going.
13:05The rest of the week, they have a four-game series against the Texas Rangers, which starts
13:09tonight at about six o'clock or so.
13:12And it's going to be the very, very trustworthy Tetsuya Imai on the hill.
13:19Let's go.
13:20I'm so excited.
13:21And this really feels like this streak is going to keep on going.
13:24The train.
13:25Bobby Dynamite.
13:26Woo-woo.
13:27We are going to keep on going.
13:29Win number four.
13:29Here we come.
13:30Yeah.
13:31I'm a lot higher on the way the weekend went than I am on Imai's prospects.
13:38Like, he's got even more to prove.
13:40He's got, like, the most to prove.
13:42Anytime you go out, like, you're out of the lineup or you're out of the rotation because
13:48of fatigue and we're not at the end of the year or you didn't just come off of some 18
13:54-inning
13:55game or, like, you didn't just throw 150 pitches.
13:59Like, none of that happened.
14:00None of that was the reason why this guy was tired.
14:02He was just tired.
14:05So, like, I just – that doesn't – it's rough.
14:07That doesn't give me a lot of confidence in a guy, you know.
14:10Obviously, all Astros fans are rooting for Tetsuya Imai to succeed, and I would include
14:15myself in that.
14:16So, I'm not – I'm not making fun of him because I'm rooting against him.
14:19I'm just, like, thrown off by, like, an $18 million guy.
14:23Dude, I was sitting right here when the Astros signed him or when the news came out, and Patrick
14:28Creighton was sitting in the seat that you're sitting in, and I thought we were going to
14:31have to put a sock on the door.
14:33Honestly.
14:33I thought we were going to have to put something – I thought we were going to have to do
14:36something to, like, let people know.
14:38So, maybe to cover up the blinds or something, like, Patrick Creighton was going to lose
14:45his mind.
14:45And I was like, oh, okay.
14:46That must mean – that must mean we really upgraded here.
14:49And every time he goes out there and screws up or every time I hear about him being tired,
14:54I think about that moment with Patrick Creighton here.
14:56I'm like, why don't you tell me this guy was good?
14:58Why don't you tell me this guy was good?
15:00Sometimes you think it'll be a lot better than it ultimately ends up being.
15:03But, my God, this guy's been a disaster to the point where, hey, the last time that
15:08we saw him out were giving him a pat on the back because, oh, well, I mean, he only gave
15:12up two home runs this time.
15:15Seriously, though.
15:16I mean, I saw people saying that afterwards.
15:18Oh, yeah.
15:18Seems like he took a step in the right direction.
15:20It's like, oh, because he didn't give up six runs?
15:22Yeah.
15:23I mean, you got to crawl for it.
15:24You can walk, Father.
15:25That game against the Mariners where he allowed the Grand Slam and it was clear things were
15:31falling apart.
15:32There is a part of me, and I talked about this on my podcast, where I remember
15:38looking at Joe Espada going into that night's game, being asked about Tatsuya Imai, and
15:45there's a moment where he purses his lips while being asked about Imai, and I was like, oh,
15:52I don't think Espada likes Imai.
15:53I mean, how would you feel if you were in a contract year and this was one of your most
15:58important acquisitions in addition to your team?
16:00And he's extremely expensive, and he can't be out there on a night-to-night basis.
16:05Yeah.
16:05I would feel pretty bad about it as well.
16:08There's a part of me that wonders if after he allowed that Grand Slam, if Espada left
16:14him in either as a middle finger towards Dana Brown and Jim Crane or just because he wanted
16:21to see Imai suffer a little more.
16:23I don't know.
16:24I'm just speculating here, but big night for Tatsuya Imai tonight against the Texas Rangers,
16:32a team that is only a, what is it?
16:36I forget how this works because they've, doing a little math here, they are two games ahead,
16:41but they haven't played the same amount of games, the Rangers and the Astros at this
16:44moment in time.
16:45The Rangers in third place.
16:46The Astros in fourth.
16:47Yeah, so they got one more, all the math is is they got one more win and three fewer
16:51losses.
16:52That's it.
16:52So they just, they haven't played as many games, so they haven't had a chance to suck
16:55as much.
16:56Oh.
16:56So yeah, I mean, good for them.
16:58There we go.
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