- 2 days ago
Seth and Sean kick off the show talking about the Astros 4-3 win over the Rangers, some good news as far as Jose Altuve's progress towards coming back.
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00:00Ball game over.
00:01Astros win it 4-3.
00:04They continue on this great road trip after losing 2 out of 3 in Minneapolis.
00:09They have now 5 of the last 6, including 2 out of 3 here in Arlington.
00:16Yeah, another win last night.
00:18That was good.
00:18Talk to Alice on the call.
00:19Space City Home Network.
00:20Jordan Alvarez goes out, wins the game for you.
00:23That was a whole lot of fun.
00:244-3, the final score.
00:25Got a good start out of Mike Burrows.
00:27Maybe feeling a little bit of this heat with some good starting pitching when it all comes back.
00:31Burrows is like, I better turn my game up here and get my ERA under 5.8.
00:36Sorry, I got confused when you said feeling some of this heat.
00:38I was like, it's delightfully cool outside.
00:40What are you talking about?
00:40It is nice outside, yeah.
00:43Metaphorical heat.
00:44Yeah, Jordan Alvarez just cranking home runs out there.
00:48Speaking of heat.
00:49With regularity.
00:50And this might have been the most beneficial back spasm in all of human history.
00:57How many times in human history, honestly, how many times in sports have you heard, oh, big man's got a
01:05back spasm.
01:06But turns out, in the days following the back spasm, he just started, went on a home run hitting tear.
01:13Yeah, yeah.
01:14Well, I'll say this.
01:15As we welcome everybody in here on a Thursday, a beautiful Thursday outside.
01:18As Seth just said, it's nice and cool outside this morning.
01:22But, you know, being cautious with him, you know, maybe there's a lesson in not letting him have played through
01:29that on Saturday.
01:30Yeah, he had played, you know, that was the first break he had gotten, and it came courtesy of a
01:34back spasm.
01:35Yeah.
01:35Well, he had said he was going to get that day off anyways.
01:37But just pulling him out of the batter's box and saying, hey, man, it's game 53 of 162-game season.
01:44And I don't know if you've noticed the back of your baseball card, Jordan.
01:46There ain't a lot of 160s under games played for you.
01:49No, but if you go back, just aside from that specific situation, as he'd been slumping and still has, still,
01:55guys, remember how bad he was for a few weeks there?
01:58Still has the highest OPS in the entire league.
02:00Yeah.
02:01It's incredible how good he was early in the season.
02:04It's always kind of been that way.
02:05Even his slumps, it's really funny, man.
02:08When he slumps, and he slumps from time to time, his overall numbers never dip to where you're overall concerned
02:15about him.
02:15Right, he doesn't.
02:16Well, last year was the first extended slump he'd ever had.
02:18But also, even when he, before that, any of his, air quotes, slumps, had been, oh, he's hitting like an
02:25average hitter.
02:26Yeah.
02:26You know, that's how good and consistent he is.
02:28Yeah.
02:29But, no, I'm just thinking about if earlier in the season, if you had, you know, given him a break
02:34here or there.
02:35Right, right.
02:35In the middle of his really rough stretch there.
02:38He played every game.
02:40He's going to fight it.
02:41But, you know, I love that Bagwell tells a story, a great story, about how just, like, managers would have
02:48to trick him into taking a day off, basically.
02:50Oh, trick Bagwell?
02:51Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:54I'd love to know how they did that.
02:55Bagwell just hated taking days off.
02:57Likes playing baseball, man.
03:00So, yeah, so two Jordan bombs last night.
03:02My only wish, I'm going to start to get greedy.
03:04I wish there was more guys on base when Jordan was hitting these home runs.
03:07Yeah.
03:08Something like, he's got, what, 20 of them now?
03:10Something like that.
03:12And most of them are solo home runs.
03:14That's why he has, you know, 20 home runs and 40 RBIs.
03:18That's why it's awesome that he's good.
03:20You know, he loves being the second guy in the lineup and all.
03:23But it just doesn't always work out.
03:25It doesn't pop sometimes.
03:27When eight days, eight, nine, and seven, eight, nine are so key.
03:31Who's on base in front of you?
03:32It's tough.
03:32It's like almost asking, asking for somebody who's already lent you a bunch of money for a little bit more
03:36money.
03:36Yeah.
03:36I know you're doing a lot for me and everything, but would you mind chipping in on the kids' college
03:41tuition?
03:42Just a little more.
03:44So that was fun last night.
03:45Jordan with a couple of home runs, including one in the eighth inning.
03:50Yeah, in the eighth inning.
03:51And they thankfully tacked on another run when the Rangers did a little Bad News Bear stuff out there.
03:56Because Brian King came in and gave up a run to make it four to three.
03:59He made it a little closer than it needed to be.
04:02But they bring the ship to shore.
04:04And once again, they get another good performance from a starting pitcher last night.
04:08Mike Burrows, a little shaky early.
04:12Gave up a couple of runs in the first three innings.
04:14But overall, hung in there and was really good.
04:1791 pitches.
04:18Just gave up those two runs early.
04:21Seven innings.
04:22Seven innings is the key.
04:24That's the key.
04:26Espada, if you go seven innings but you allow ten runs, Espada thinks it was a Cy Young performance.
04:30Oh, yeah.
04:30You could lose 11 to three.
04:33I empathize with him.
04:34He's always, you know, he's looking three days out, four days out with what he's going to do with his
04:38relievers.
04:38And it's always, it's tough.
04:40It's a part of the manager's job that we don't probably appreciate enough.
04:43It is.
04:44Well, and it was horrible at the beginning of the year when nobody could even make it through three innings,
04:48let alone five or six.
04:50But when was the last time that we've even discussed the usage of the bullpen?
04:55I mean, it's been weeks since we've discussed that.
04:58And you got Josh Hader coming back soon.
04:59And you got Josh Hader, who I think has just one or two more minor league appearances, and then he'll
05:04be back.
05:05So, yeah, so the back end starts to look a little more solidified.
05:10You know, he can settle into a little bit different role.
05:13They've had him as much more of a leverage guy these days.
05:17Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:19I've grown to like him in that role.
05:21Yeah, yeah.
05:21But I think if you, like, ideally, they want this thing to ultimately look like, I think, Brian King in
05:28the seventh, Brian Abreu in the eighth, Josh Hader in the ninth.
05:31In a perfect world, that's what it would look like.
05:33There's still, clearly, there's still trust levels with Brian Abreu.
05:36Or he would have been in there last night.
05:38You know what, look, honestly, ideally for me, it would be more just, it's Brian King in any high leverage
05:44situation.
05:44And it's so, sometimes it's the seventh, sometimes it's the eighth.
05:47And Abreu, you just work him in however you need.
05:50Yeah, yeah, I would like for Brian Abreu to become relevant.
05:52Yeah, if Abreu, if you feel better about Abreu, then sure.
05:56Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying.
05:57In an ideal world, that's what it would be.
06:00So that was fun last night.
06:01Man, there are a few things in Houston sports that are more fun than I can think of than just
06:07when Jordan Alvarez's at-bats are as must-watch as they are.
06:10You don't leave the room.
06:11He's in the batter's box.
06:13You know, I've got to go to the bathroom, but I've got to wait.
06:15I've got to see what Jordan does.
06:17That's where we are right now.
06:18He's the last since the back spasm.
06:20Since the back spasm, he's back.
06:22He's April Jordan again.
06:24Yeah.
06:24It's been great.
06:25We got some good Jose Altuve news yesterday.
06:28Joe Espada, this is a tweet from, I think this is, yes, from Chandler.
06:32Joe Espada intimated that the Astros are exploring the possibility of simulating some at-bats.
06:38Okay, I've got to read that again.
06:40Joe Espada intimated that the Astros are exploring the possibility of simulating some at-bats in West Palm Beach.
06:47In lieu of a rehab assignment for Jose Alvarez, healing at an, quote, incredible pace.
06:54Altuve ran the bases, took grounders, and, wait for it, is swinging at 75 to 80% effort.
07:07So, basically, that sounds like, all right, if you're up to a level of, you know, playing baseball like a
07:15lazy second grader, then that's a good spot.
07:19That's where he is right now.
07:20This kid, well, he's learning how to swing the bat.
07:23Yeah.
07:23He knows how to, he knows to run the bases, you want to run it in a counterclockwise fashion.
07:28Yep, yep.
07:29You know, he knows to start off.
07:30First base, second base.
07:31He knows where first base is now.
07:32So, he's running the bases in the proper direction.
07:35Oh, my God.
07:36And he's swinging at 75 to 80% effort because he's a lazy second grader.
07:41Oh, my God.
07:42Can you imagine when he starts playing catch how excited I'm going to be?
07:46Don't be afraid of the ball, Jose.
07:47Yeah.
07:47Don't be afraid of the ball.
07:48He's playing catch.
07:50Jose Altuve is catching the ball without closing his eyes.
07:53Ooh, baby.
07:55Jose Altuve did not ask, did not ask for snacks until the game was over.
08:01No orange wedges.
08:02Nope.
08:03Jose Altuve knows what the vowels are.
08:06This is good news just because I like having Altuve back.
08:08It's not nearly, I mean, I hate saying this, like, it's not like bringing Jose Altuve back.
08:14All of a sudden pushes your lineup up a few levels in terms of its overall potential.
08:20Like, he's just not what he used to be.
08:22This year, he's been an average Major League Baseball player.
08:24So, it'll be good to have him back just because he's Jose Altuve.
08:27And he's always capable of turning it up a notch for a few weeks.
08:30When the issues with his team, very annoyingly so, is how incredibly bad they are base running.
08:36Oh, it'll be good to get him back.
08:38So, it'll be good to get him back, too.
08:40Again, the second grader.
08:41Yeah.
08:43He's at a point in his room.
08:44Now, his rehab, you know, different things advance at different paces.
08:48He's at about, you know, a four-year-old level in terms of his base running.
08:52But he'll get back up to his average, you know, fifth or sixth grade level base running.
08:56Oh, yeah.
08:57Oh, yeah.
08:57So, Astros win last night.
08:59So, that was good.
08:59So, everybody waiting to text in.
09:01Why do you guys start with the Astros?
09:03They're so bad this year.
09:04Not last night.
09:05Not this series.
09:06What are they since we reset the season?
09:09They are 8-4.
09:108-4.
09:10Since he reset the season.
09:12Sean T. Pendergast and Seth C. Payne reset the season.
09:16Emai is rocking a 2.6 ERA since we reset the season.
09:21I did the whip numbers.
09:22Under one.
09:23Under one.
09:24Under one.
09:25Whip.
09:25Whip.
09:26And that's after a first inning.
09:28And quits per innings pitched.
09:32Yes.
09:33Oh, yeah.
09:33That's right.
09:33There's no H in whip.
09:35I've got to stop pronouncing that.
09:36Remember when I started, I was going to just annoyingly be the guy that pronounces the H
09:40and all those, and I started adding H's into words that weren't there.
09:43Yeah.
09:43Yeah.
09:43They're only three games back in the division right now, which, by the way, is led by the
09:4828 and 29 Seattle Mariners.
09:51We're in the second grade of divisions.
09:54We're in a division full of second graders also.
09:56It's so bad.
09:57Right.
09:58Playing against sixth graders.
09:59Yeah.
10:00Seattle's.
10:00Nothing like winning the division, but being theoretically out of the wild card race.
10:05That's what I'm checking right now.
10:06Hang on.
10:07That's what I'm checking right now.
10:08The old NFC South dynamic.
10:10No.
10:10They've actually been in the wild card lately than in the division.
10:13Yeah.
10:13And they're the same.
10:15No, wait.
10:15No, they're closer in the wild card right now.
10:17There we go.
10:18They're two and a half back of the wild card right now.
10:22Now there's a bunch of teams in front of them.
10:24The American League West is just a mess, just a cesspool.
10:31The overall American League ain't much better.
10:34AL Central, the White Sox are in second with a 28 and 27 record.
10:37The last wild card spot would go to one of three 27 and 29 baseball teams right now.
10:43I mean, there's only, and by the hair of their teeth, there are three winning baseball teams
10:49in the American League.
10:50In the American League, yeah.
10:51No, four.
10:53I'm sorry.
10:54There's four, including the White Sox, who are 28 and 27.
10:57Who are barely a winning team.
10:58So they're, yeah.
10:59The White Sox.
11:01That's how bad the playoff race is right now.
11:03The White Sox are right back in this thing, man.
11:05As I sit here in the AL with four teams that have a winning record, I take everything back.
11:13I don't like interleague play.
11:15Let's just play amongst ourselves.
11:17Yeah, I don't like this.
11:18I don't even want to look at that record.
11:20Yeah, I just.
11:21How's the American League doing against the National League?
11:23I don't know what you're talking about.
11:24I like the old days when you just flat out didn't know how the AL was going to do versus
11:28the NL until you got to the World Series.
11:30Yeah, yeah.
11:31Look at the Astros.
11:32The Astros are just like, they're very consistent.
11:35They're 25 and 32.
11:36Not a great record.
11:37They're 12 and 14 at home.
11:39Not a great record.
11:40They're 13 and 18 away.
11:41Not a great record.
11:43There's nothing that really pops that they do super bad or super well.
11:47They're just kind of average, mediocre everywhere they go.
11:51No one getting.
11:52So it does.
11:53Boy, because since we reset the season.
11:56Dude, they could be a playoff team by the end of the weekend.
11:59Two and a half back of the playoffs right now.
12:01That's right.
12:01They're on a tear.
12:02I wish they could play the Rangers every single day for the rest of the season.
12:05They play the Brewers this weekend.
12:06That'll be tough because the Brewers are good at baseball.
12:09That's my assessment of things.
12:11They're leading the NL Central right now.
12:14They're 33 and 20 with a big run differential.
12:17Holy crap.
12:18Plus 78.
12:18You know what I feel bad?
12:19Look, poor Pirates.
12:21I know everybody tunes in to hear NL Central talk on this station.
12:25But, I mean, the Pirates, who, you know, have lifted themselves out of the misery, they've
12:32got a winning record.
12:33They're 29 and 27.
12:34They're in last place.
12:35They're in last place.
12:37I mean, it just, and we're sitting here looking at them like they're the richest people on
12:42earth.
12:42They would be winning the AL West.
12:45Yes.
12:45So they've got a 29 and 27, playing against much better baseball teams on average than
12:50the Astros have been.
12:52And they're in last place in the division.
12:54Oh, well.
12:55Sorry.
12:56Sorry.
12:57That'd be a big one.
12:57Okay.
12:58So the Brewers, it's nice.
12:59It's nice how things have changed in baseball somewhat.
13:02Some of the, over the last couple of years, some of the paupers of the league have actually
13:06managed to, you know, be competitive.
13:08It's not as, it's not as determined by salary anymore.
13:12No.
13:12And so the Brewers, you, for, for those of you that, that, that haven't paid attention
13:17to divisions that actually matter, or that actually play good baseball, that's a big
13:22test for the Astros.
13:23Yeah.
13:23Yeah.
13:23Yeah.
13:24Yeah.
13:24It'll be huge.
13:25This will be a good weekend.
13:26Got one more tonight and it's tonight.
13:27It's, I know it's a getaway day, but it's 7.05 tonight is the Rangers and the Astros.
13:33Yeah.
13:33It's funny along those lines, they, I guess the, I, I hate hearing.
13:38It's funny about the negotiations between the players and the owners.
13:41Yeah.
13:41Cause it always reminds me like at the end of this season that we could get a work stoppage
13:45with baseball.
13:45And I know I even put up a poll about this during, like it's during the off season, like
13:51does the, does the looming work stoppage ruin any of your enjoyment of the actual season
13:58going on right now?
13:59And it hasn't for me, except that I'm reminded of it.
14:01But yesterday the players association submitted their first proposal to the owners and the
14:08owners were shocked and disgusted.
14:10I'm guessing the owners haven't said anything.
14:12Reportedly, the owners are going to come back with their proposal today.
14:15So it was kind of like, yes, negotiations work.
14:18Yes.
14:18Yes.
14:19The one side sends over their proposal, but, but here's where I was going with it is that
14:24I just saw Jeff Passan reporting.
14:27It was like a three tweet report of all the different elements and I'm not going to go
14:30through all of them, but I'm reading through it.
14:32I'm like, Oh, this all looks very reasonable that the players are proposing, you know, raising
14:35the, raising the minimum salary to over a million dollars, uh, making sure teams and that's
14:41nice.
14:41That's a nice minimum.
14:42Um, uh, making sure teams spend up to a certain amount.
14:45If they don't, they're penalized floor, raising the competitive balance tax significantly, all
14:51these things.
14:51And I'm like, these all look very reasonable.
14:53I think this will be a smooth negotiation.
14:55And then Passan's final tweet was like, the owners will fire their salvo with the proposal
15:00of a salary cap tomorrow.
15:01I'm like, Oh God, here we go.
15:04The owners aren't doing themselves any favors though, because some of the laggards in spending
15:08our, our competing on the baseball field.
15:11Yeah.
15:12That's, that's not, that, that, uh, that's not going to bode well, maybe for, uh, for
15:17saying a salary cap makes sense.
15:18Hey, we need to have a parody, et cetera.
15:21So we need to have a salary cap, whatever.
15:22Um, it's the only sport without a salary.
15:24Yeah.
15:24People don't, it's one of those things that the, the poll that you would put out to pay
15:30off on that.
15:31What did people say?
15:33Largely, it does not affect their enjoyment.
15:34They just don't care.
15:35Right.
15:35And I think that's the same thing with Nico Collins.
15:37I don't remember the percentage.
15:38Nico Collins getting the pay raise.
15:39I kind of, I tried to, I put my finger in the air yesterday to get a feel for whether
15:43people actually give a damn about it.
15:44People don't care about that stuff because, um, usually it's my concern with anytime you
15:49give somebody a raise with no necessarily reason to other than out of the goodness of
15:54your own heart is okay.
15:55What kind of a precedent are you setting?
15:57Um, and it's not a huge concern as long as your GM and your coach just don't start doling
16:03out money haphazardly.
16:04But by and large, most people just don't give a damn because it's, it's not a problem now
16:09and it's not a problem for them.
16:11Um, and it's something that's off in the far distant future.
16:14Yeah.
16:14I'm super interested by that stuff.
16:16That's, that's my, I won't say blind spot.
16:19Cause I understand that not the average fan just doesn't want to get into the minutia of
16:23the salary cap.
16:24And you know what, what it means that Nico gets this, what's the precedent that it's
16:28setting, et cetera, et cetera.
16:29Won't stop us from talking about it again later in the show, probably, but we'll talk
16:33about it on a much more surface level.
16:34My favorite self-absorbed thing you do is, um, when you get very concerned about the TV
16:39not being on in the studio.
16:40Uh, and you'll, you'll reassure me and be like, okay, Aaron's going to come and he's
16:44going to fix it, Seth.
16:45And I'm like, uh, I never stare.
16:47I don't, I specifically don't look at the television.
16:51And I don't avoid interaction as much as possible.
16:54Okay.
16:55Um, so it's, uh, I always get a chuckle inside when you say, don't worry, we're going to,
16:59Aaron's going to fix the TV.
17:00That's self-absorbed that I'm trying to make you feel better about something.
17:03Not self-absorbed in a bad way.
17:05Uh, seeing things through your own filter.
17:07Okay.
17:07Yeah.
17:08Gotcha.
17:08Gotcha.
17:09I know.
17:09I like that you're looking out for me, but it's just, but I don't need you to look
17:12out for it.
17:13Do you want the TV on or off?
17:15In my, I'll leave it off.
17:17No, no, no, no.
17:17In my perfect world.
17:19Yeah.
17:19I wouldn't, I wouldn't have it off, but I know that you enjoy being able to look up
17:23and see what's going on and everything.
17:24So I just don't look at it.
17:25It sometimes becomes fodder for the show.
17:27Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
17:28No, it's good.
17:29You can look up and see what people are getting heated about on ESPN.
17:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:31Or, or, or breaking news.
17:33Yeah, for me, selfishly, I would ignore it completely.
17:36But I know I also need you to actually be somebody who's capable of paying attention.
17:40Gotcha.
17:40Okay, no, that makes sense.
17:41Because I was trying to reassure you about that.
17:43I know, I know, I know.
17:43Yeah.
17:44And I always laugh on the inside.
17:45Yeah, that's funny.
17:46I don't, well, what am I going to do?
17:49And I don't want to be like, Sean, I don't care.
17:51Yeah.
17:51Because then I'm being a jerk.
17:52Right.
17:52So instead, I'll talk about it publicly.
17:54On the show, I would call you self-absorbed.
17:57Self-absorbed, okay, I should have, Ben, how should I have said that?
18:00Seeing things through, I, you know.
18:01Self-absorbed is a negative adjective.
18:03Well, the things where you see things through your own lens, you know.
18:06That's probably better, yeah.
18:07Yeah, which is a normal human thing.
18:08Right, right, right.
18:09Right, right, right.
18:10Yeah, I would say your, maybe Sean-centric thing that you do.
18:14Yeah, which we all do.
18:15Right.
18:15We're all living.
18:16I don't even know if you're a simulation or not, okay?
18:19That's right.
18:19So.
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