- 16 hours ago
Seth and Sean kick off the show talking about last night's super fun 5-1 win by the Astros and how DeMeco Ryans says Texans OTAs have been so far.
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00:00This ball hit by Nicky Lopez to right, and the Astros are going to win this series and have a
00:047-3 road trip.
00:06What a trip for the Astros. They had struggled on the road all season long, but they go to Minneapolis.
00:12They play the Cubs in Chicago, and they come here to Arlington and take three out of four.
00:17Plummer, that is quite a trip after starting out 1-2 against the Twins.
00:21Yeah, tripping is definitely what it is, and I am happy that the Astros end up with a winning road
00:29trip.
00:29I'm happy the way they played these games. They played well here in Arlington to finish off. Now get me
00:34home.
00:37All right, Todd Callis on the call, Jeff Blum on the call.
00:40We sipped and savored that final call on that game. We got everybody in that one.
00:44That was fun, man. That was a whole lot of fun.
00:47Just last night or the whole series?
00:49Well, both series, really.
00:51Nobody's been better to the Astros this year than the Rangers. Generous, I would say.
00:55I mean, everything kind of turned around when we reset the season at the beginning of the first Rangers series.
01:02Yeah, I'm glad you are allowing us to continue to take credit for this.
01:07Oh, 100%.
01:08Well, look, let's not be selfish. We have to give the Rangers some credit, too.
01:14We couldn't have done it without them.
01:16I mean, it would have been hard to make it through this season without the Rangers, so thank you to
01:20the Texas Rangers.
01:21So that makes the Astros 5-2 against the Rangers this year.
01:26They're two wins away from clinching the silver boot, which, as we all know, is the greatest trophy in the
01:31history of sports.
01:32Yeah.
01:33That was fun last night.
01:34No, that was, look, and you get it started off immediately with Pena.
01:38Yeah.
01:40And, Jordan, I didn't realize that it was going to be a record if you'd hit another home run.
01:44Record for a series.
01:45For a series.
01:46Yeah.
01:46In a four-game series.
01:47Yep.
01:47Would it tie the record?
01:48No, would it set the record for the Astros?
01:51Yeah.
01:51Yep, yep.
01:52Oh, just for the Astros?
01:53No, for Major League Baseball, I think.
01:54Was it MLB?
01:55Oh, okay.
01:55Which seems kind of odd for me.
01:58But, no, because I was watching the highlights this morning, and the Rangers broadcasters said,
02:02basically framed it like it was in all of baseball.
02:04Oh, okay.
02:05But who knows?
02:06Yeah, I just know there's been games where people have hit four home runs before, so
02:10I'm like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like, that's a, you know, that's
02:12so, I, yeah, the Astros announced team made it sound like it would be a team record, but
02:17whatever the case may be, either way, Jordan has been amazing lately.
02:22No home runs for him last night, but two in the first inning, and that was enough.
02:25In fact, that was, that was, that might have been the greatest first inning ever.
02:29That was fun last night, because they, it was, it was Nathan Uvalde who they've had
02:34some trouble against.
02:35You know, Uvalde's been a good pitcher.
02:36Yeah.
02:37Houston's own son, Alvin Texas's second greatest pitcher of all time behind Nolan Ryan, and
02:42they got to him right away.
02:44They had three runs on the board before he got anybody out last night.
02:47Let's relive some of the magic for those of you who may have missed it, because there's
02:50still some of you who are like, until the Astros do, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, I'm
02:53out on them.
02:54Well, you missed a hell of a series by the Astros, taking three out of four from the Texas
02:59Rangers, and you missed a hell of a start, again, by Spencer Arrighetti last night, who
03:03held them to one run over six innings, still got an ERA in the 1.3s, he's got seven wins
03:09now.
03:10Arrighetti's on his way to the All-Star game.
03:11If he has a June like he had, he, if he has a June like he had in May, he
03:15might be in
03:16line to start the All-Star game.
03:17He's been incredible since he got called up from Sugar Land.
03:21Here was Joe Espada on the first inning last night, and then we'll relive some of the magic
03:25via Todd Callis.
03:27Yeah, that was huge, that was a big swing by Paredes, and I thought another big play
03:31in that first inning was Ken Smith's play in right.
03:34You know, we scored three, we want to keep the momentum on our side, you know, that ball
03:38leaves the yard, you know, they're getting a run back, but Ken Smith made that play.
03:42We played really good defense this road trip, really good defense, and we're known playing
03:49good defense, and it really, it really showed the last, in this past road trip.
03:54That is the one thing all year, Seth, as inconsistent as the pitching has been, horrible at the beginning
04:00of the year, really good over the last several weeks, as inconsistent as the hitting's been,
04:05otherworldly for the first two or three weeks, and then just serious concerning lulls, but
04:10it's been better lately.
04:11The defense has been a constant all year.
04:13The defense has been a constant.
04:15I mean, last night, Cam, again, yes, with a magnificent play, a stolen hum run there.
04:21Pena, Pena's made some great plays in this series, too, and last night, Bryce Matthews
04:25had a little bit of a glove flip.
04:27There's a little bit errant, and Pena had to adjust on the fly, barehand it, and throw
04:32it to first on a double play.
04:33Yep.
04:34It's been really, really good.
04:36And, uh, and Arrighetti, Arrighetti, I like Arrighetti because Arrighetti, very demonstrative
04:41when somebody helps him out in the field.
04:43Yes.
04:43Yeah, just like, clapping his eyes, it looks like he's a fan in the stands.
04:47He's got a face that pops for that sort of thing.
04:49Yeah, I like, Arrighetti's got that nastiness to him that you just love to see, especially
04:55when he's dealing the way he is.
04:56His hair's all flying all over the place.
04:58Yeah, his hair's flying, he's getting angry, he's getting excited.
04:59You pointed that out all season, yes.
05:01There's like a, there's a caveman quality to him.
05:05There's a definite caveman quality to him.
05:07So, yeah, as you pointed out, a bunch of people have hit four home runs in a single game.
05:11Yeah.
05:11And so you'd think that there'd be, that it would be higher, the record for a home runs
05:16in a series, in a four game series, it's still, uh, it's seven home runs.
05:20Okay.
05:20It's weird to say that that sounds low, but for a record in the history of Major League
05:24Baseball, it feels like, yeah.
05:26So he was going for an Astros record then, because he was going for his sixth home run
05:29last night.
05:29Yeah, it would have been an Astros record.
05:30Seven would have been, uh, seven would have tied Sean Green.
05:34Oh, I remember Sean Green.
05:35In 2002.
05:36Yeah, Sean Green.
05:37Yeah, the Astros.
05:38Dodgers, right fielder for the Dodgers.
05:39Astros.
05:4040-40 guy.
05:41Um, all right, so let's relive some of the magic of that first inning last night.
05:45If you didn't get to see the game, this thing was over in the first inning, uh, in, in retrospect.
05:49Here was Jeremy Pena.
05:50This is encouraging to see, by the way.
05:52Here's Jeremy Pena going all George Springer on fools.
05:55First at bat tonight against Ovaldi, which is usually better for Jordan.
05:59And Jeremy delivers deep to left field, all the way back.
06:02Asuda, that ball's in the second deck.
06:05JP three with his second home run of the series.
06:08And right away puts the Astros in front.
06:11One to nothing.
06:12He smoked that one, man.
06:14Second deck.
06:15So you're up one nothing.
06:16A little taste, a little, a little, a little homage to George Springer with the leadoff home run of the
06:21game.
06:22Um, and then Jordan works a walk after going down 0-2.
06:25He went down 0-2 in that count and then works a walk.
06:28So he gets on base.
06:29So up comes Isak Paredes.
06:31Here's Isak Paredes.
06:33It's delivered one deep down the left field side.
06:35If it stays fair, it's trouble.
06:37It's gone.
06:39Isak Paredes hits a two-run home run.
06:42And just like that, the Astros out in front 3-0 against the guy who had a 0-6-6
06:47ERA against them in his last four starts.
06:50Yeah, that was the biggest thing to me last night, Seth.
06:52And you felt it early.
06:53They jumped on a guy who has dominated them.
06:56Um, yeah, you know, and that was because the Rangers, I'm sure, came into that game going,
06:59okay, we can at least get a split out of this thing.
07:02And, you know, and then, and then we'll, you know, we move on.
07:05Um, taking three out, the Astros taking three out of four on the road up there and jumping on Uvalde
07:09early.
07:10While you have what the guy who's essentially become with Hunter Brown out, he's become your ace.
07:14Yeah.
07:14Spencer Ergeti's the guy you trot out there every five days going, all right, we, we, we know we've got
07:18a great chance of winning this game based on how he's pitched this year.
07:21That was huge to jump on them early like they did.
07:25One more here from Todd Callis, and then we'll break it down even more.
07:27But you mentioned it, and Espada mentioned it, Cam Smith in the bottom of the first, just gold-gloving things.
07:36It's this ball deep to right field, Cam Smith going back to the wall, and he will jump up.
07:41Does he make the catch?
07:43No, it's just over his club.
07:44No, he got it.
07:45He got it.
07:46Cam just robbed him of a home run.
07:48He deked me initially.
07:50I did not think he brought that back, but he did.
07:52Cam Smith, the best right fielder defensively in 2026 saves a run.
07:58He's awesome.
07:59He's really, I mean, the fielding for the Astros, as you pointed out, it's been, look, it's been good for
08:06a long time.
08:07It's one of the reasons, it's one of the reasons, the sneaky, sly reasons that they've been able to be
08:12competitive even if they've had disastrous stretches in the last three seasons.
08:16Well, and it's a big reason why, like some of these pitchers whose numbers have not been great, you feel
08:21like, okay, well, even when they're giving up hard, like, Emai, the other night, Emai and the no-hitter, needed
08:27two or three really good defensive plays to keep the no-hitter alive.
08:30You know what I had been hoping, when they made all the rule changes and they got rid of the
08:34shift and everything, one of the thoughts was, oh, it's going to be a return to the days of the
08:39base hit.
08:39And I thought that was going to be another real, like, it would become more of an advantage for the
08:43Astros to be so good in the field.
08:45But by and large, baseball teams are saying, yeah, cool, we're still going to try to hit home runs.
08:50They're just, they're not, they haven't, it hasn't turned everybody into a bunch of Ichiro's out there.
08:55So, the Ichirofication of MLB has failed because teams, all the analytics tell you, you should just still be trying
09:05to put the ball in the air.
09:06Dude.
09:06Yeah, Cam, how about Eric?
09:08No, but to which, to wit, it helps that Cam is so great in the outfield because it still matters
09:14a whole bunch.
09:15It's really incredible.
09:15And we've been hard on Cam because of the offensive stuff and, in particular, his proclivity to challenge pitches that
09:22are clearly strikes.
09:23He's like a lawyer who objects too much.
09:26Objection.
09:26He doesn't even know what he's objecting.
09:28He's like a lawyer who doesn't really know what he's doing, so he just objects.
09:32And he doesn't know on what grounds.
09:34Well, and he objects at, like, the worst times in the trial.
09:37You know, like the time where you do, you don't, that's like.
09:40Objection.
09:40This works out poorly for me.
09:41That's the equivalent of the 0-1 count that he's objecting.
09:45Like, why are you.
09:46Objection.
09:46This makes me uncomfortable.
09:48Objection.
09:48The air conditioning's not up high enough.
09:51Like, no, just worry.
09:53Objection.
09:54Late talk this morning.
09:55So we've given, we've been, you and I have been plenty hard on Cam about that part with the numbers
09:59and everything else.
10:00He is outstanding defensively.
10:02And I, man, this is where I would love to talk to somebody who's actually won a gold glove as
10:08a lifetime right fielder and just get a, really get a gauge for just how difficult the, just the degree
10:17of difficulty to what Cam Smith has done defensively, which is immediately become an elite right field.
10:23He was elite last year.
10:25He was a finalist for a gold glove last year.
10:27He's going to win it this year.
10:28He was elite right from the jump.
10:29Yeah.
10:30I mean, he ended up being, within the first couple months, you know, people were making comparisons between him and
10:34Tucker, but it was, at the very least, and this is the kind of thing that if you pointed out
10:38at the time, Cubs fans would jump on you immediately.
10:40You could say something like on Twitter, something like, Hey, I know this isn't the thing that matters the most,
10:46but for whatever it's worth, you know, look at Cam's defensive numbers versus Kyle Tucker.
10:51Yep.
10:52And Cubs fans would immediately say, Oh, no, we're winning.
10:55Well, I don't know.
10:56I can't do a Chicago accent.
10:58I jumped right into New Jersey.
11:00Hey, Cam Smith there.
11:02I look like, uh, Chicago is more like a Minnesota, Wisconsin kind of accent.
11:07Oh, nasally.
11:08Yeah, yeah, nasally and kind of, yeah, just not, not, not, not really on, on women, especially not a very
11:14attractive accent.
11:15Ew.
11:16Yeah.
11:16Oh, gross.
11:17Yeah.
11:18Just these Chicago women eating Chicago hot dogs.
11:20I can deal with a woman with a good New York accent.
11:22That's, you know, it gives you a little bit of Marissa Tomei vibe from, uh, my cousin Vinny.
11:26Oh, oh, yeah.
11:27There's no sexy Chicago accents out there.
11:29It gets, it gets pretty obnoxious pretty quick, I can tell you.
11:32Oh, yeah.
11:33No, I'm not saying.
11:34I haven't played a lot of downstate New Yorkers.
11:35Not for a long-term relationship, but for a night or two.
11:38Yeah.
11:38Yeah.
11:39So, um, so Cam's great.
11:41Uh, Astros are playing really well right now.
11:43You can only hear, you can only hear it pronounced mozzarella so many times before you flip out.
11:49Ah, like I'm getting picky.
11:50What are we doing here?
11:51Uh, so Texans started out OTAs yesterday.
11:54Here was D'Amico Ryans on the start of organized team activities.
11:59Yeah, so far from where we are in our off-season program, I think, you know, we're, we started
12:03off to a really good start.
12:04I have some really great practices, uh, day two, but it's good to just be out there, have
12:09everybody on the field practicing.
12:11All right.
12:11We're going through some team drills, doing actual football, because I believe you get
12:15better at football by doing football.
12:16So, having an opportunity to do that, our guys are taking advantage of it.
12:20Both sides being very competitive, offense and defense.
12:23Both sides are making plays, which is good to see from my perspective.
12:27And we're in a, uh, a much better place than we were a year ago at this time.
12:31So, I'm excited about the growth for where we, where our team is.
12:34And I'm excited about the depth that we have and all of our young guys.
12:38I will say the part I like about that, Seth, is D'Amico saying you get better at football
12:41by doing football things.
12:42Yeah.
12:43Um, for OTAs, I thought it was kind of spicy yesterday.
12:47Oh, yeah.
12:47You know, seven on seven and 11 on 11.
12:49A little, uh, little scuffle at one point.
12:52Yeah.
12:52Um, from, with some nondescript individuals.
12:55And, uh.
12:55Was that after the Josh Kelly touchdown over there on the far side of the field?
12:59I can't remember when it happened.
13:00I didn't actually see it.
13:01I was doing something else.
13:02It was, uh, because the Texans social media put out some of the plays from OTAs.
13:06Um, and one of them was that.
13:07It was with Jerry, I was with Jarrett Kingston and somebody.
13:10Oh, Jarrett Kingston and Cade McDonald got into it a little bit.
13:14Is that what it was?
13:15But that was after Josh Kelly got a touchdown on some backup, backup cornerback and spun the
13:20ball at his feet.
13:21Yeah.
13:21Oh.
13:22Yeah.
13:22That wound up on social media.
13:24So if you go find that, but that, so, um, so it was, yeah, for OTAs.
13:29And we'll go through your things you were genuinely excited about at seven o'clock.
13:32And how much did, how much did D'Amico Ryan's and the Texans titillate the things that, the
13:37scratch you where you were itching yesterday?
13:39I've got bad news for you.
13:39Based on yesterday's OTA, the Texans aren't going to win more than three games this year.
13:43Hot takes a coming.
13:44No, yeah.
13:45There's a, there's a, there's a, there's some good stuff.
13:47Yeah.
13:47You know, I always caution myself of getting too excited about OTAs.
13:49But there's, I like, you know, I was on with the afternoon show yesterday afternoon and
13:53Ron asked me basically, you know, just kind of like, what's your overall impression of
13:58the way the team operates?
13:59And I, I hadn't really thought about it from that perspective in a while because I think
14:04that like this team has always practiced pretty crisply.
14:08Was that the gist of the question?
14:10I don't, I think so.
14:11Yeah.
14:12I feel like it's, I, you know, it's not like I'm going to go out there at OTAs and say,
14:15well, this is a championship caliber practice.
14:18Sure.
14:19But I think there's a certain, there's a, to be clear.
14:22Like there's a, I, there's a, there is a tempo about the way they do things that it's
14:26been good ever since D'Amico got here.
14:28Some teams it's not quite like that.
14:30Yep.
14:30You go out and sometimes when you watch combined practices, you're looking at the other team and
14:33you're like, what the, geez, these guys just, there's no attention to detail.
14:38But ever since D'Amico took over and including with Bill O'Brien, Bill O'Brien ran pretty
14:43tight practices.
14:44Yeah.
14:44I think the biggest thing yesterday with no pads on, obviously things are going to be
14:48different, but I think that there's a much better chance that we actually see competition
14:54between the Dean's.
14:55That's other than Will Anderson destroying drills.
14:58We'll get to him in the next segment.
15:00Yeah.
15:00If anybody was worried about Will Anderson's engine somehow revving down after he signed a
15:04big contract, worry not.
15:06No, no, no.
15:07I, so Will Anderson looked like a coach had come up to him before.
15:11Like he was an unrestricted, uh, like he was a rookie free agent and a coach had come
15:16up to him and said, Hey man, you got to do something.
15:18You better make an impression today.
15:19Yeah.
15:20Will Anderson looked like the guy who was most afraid of getting cut yesterday.
15:23That's how hard he was playing.
15:24He's the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL.
15:27He worked like he got no, he worked like he got no money.
15:30Yeah.
15:31And what was that?
15:31Love like you've never been hurt.
15:33Work like you got no money.
15:34Right.
15:34And dance like no one's watching.
15:36Dance like no one's watching.
15:36I bet Will Anderson is a, is a solo dancer.
15:40On the dance floor is incredible.
15:41You know, you know, I'm, there's never been a wedding that Will Anderson has been at where
15:46his tuxedo was not soaked.
15:48Oh, so it was just soaked out there.
15:50Untucked.
15:51Yeah.
15:53Untucked for sure.
15:54Cumberbun around his head, like a bandana.
15:56There was no chance in hell he didn't either put his cummerbun or his bow tie around his
16:01head, like a bandana.
16:02Like a bandana.
16:03Oh no, that's a hundred percent.
16:05A hundred percent.
16:07So yeah.
16:08Will Anderson was wrecking shop.
16:09We'll talk about that.
16:10Here's one more from me and we'll get to CJ Stroud and the contract talk in the next
16:14segment as well.
16:15Don't worry.
16:16Um, this was one more from D'Amico Ryans.
16:19I'm curious if you agreed with this after watching the 40 or 45 minutes you and I got
16:23to watch yesterday.
16:24Yeah.
16:24D'Amico asked, was asked, what was the difference?
16:27What's the biggest difference between this year's OTAs and last year's OTAs?
16:32Yeah.
16:33For us, uh, you feel we're much further along with our installs, what we're able to install
16:38a year or two of the offense.
16:39Now going into year four of the defense, we're just able to speed things up when it comes to
16:44an installation process and our guys are able to absorb a lot more, you know, mentally.
16:48So when you, when you can do a lot of the things that we're doing now on the first day,
16:52it's just, uh, no, we're light years ahead of where we were last year.
16:55Okay.
16:56Okay.
16:56So two things, I'll, I'll tackle that defensively and offensively.
16:59Defensively, what I'm intrigued by this year is that I have to remind myself sometimes
17:04how young that secondary is that, okay, Derek Stingley and Jalen Petrie have been in the
17:08league a while now.
17:09They're veterans, but Kalen Bullock and Kamari Lasseter were just second year players last
17:13year.
17:14And, um, you remember all those graphs and charts last year that would show that the Texans
17:19disguised less than any other defense in the league.
17:22Oh yeah.
17:22They basically just line up and play football.
17:24They don't care if the offense knows what they're going to do, you know, and it was a
17:27point of pride, really.
17:29It's like, nope, we're just going to go out and execute and we're going to be better than
17:31you.
17:32Um, I would imagine that D'Amico, you know, in self scouting is probably going to want to
17:36disguise more this year.
17:37And it's, and that's where it's, it's hard with young guys in the secondary because you're
17:42trying to nail everything down and you don't want to add too much complexity, uh, at the
17:47expense of making mental errors with the addition of Reed Blankenship, especially, I think they're
17:52going to be able to be a little bit more either complex or disguise a little bit more this
17:57year.
17:57And then on the offensive side of the ball, one thing D'Amico mentioned, we'll play it
18:01later, um, is the importance of the pre-snap communication, being loud, being clear, being
18:06concise.
18:06So everything we've complained about how, man, it just looks like it just has not looked
18:11with this offense, like the quarterback line is image with enough time and, and, and enough
18:17authority and making the calls.
18:19And I'm not, I'm not specifically blaming it on CJ.
18:22I mean, ultimately he's responsible for the pre-snap execution.
18:25Um, but like all of that, that's something that I can remember the defense coordinator
18:29in D'Amico's rookie year, Richard Smith, as much criticism as I have for him in general.
18:34Uh, one of the things I loved Richard Smith was he would constantly stress the importance
18:38of loud communication before the snap.
18:41And it was really, and it was, I think that was drilled into D'Amico's head because he's
18:45the middle linebacker, you know, making the calls.
18:48Um, and as, as he got over to the offensive side of the ball more last year, I'm guessing
18:52that was kind of something that jumped out at him.
18:55Like, why are you guys, why are you guys speaking like, you know, in a library or something?
19:00Yeah.
19:00You're, you're, you're, you're speaking and communicated like timid librarians.
19:04Yell at each other.
19:05All right.
19:05Be a body librarian.
19:07That's right.
19:08That's sexy.
19:09You know, those body librarians.
19:10Not one of those.
19:11Yeah.
19:11Like the hot for teacher librarian.
19:13Yeah.
19:13Oh yeah.
19:14She was a teacher.
19:15I don't know what I'm watching during the break now.
19:17All right.
19:17Hence the name.
19:18Teacher, not a librarian.
19:19It wasn't, uh, it wasn't hot for librarian.
19:21That was the sequel.
19:22Hot for librarian.
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