- 3 hours ago
Seth and Sean discuss the Astros losing 5-1 to the Pirates last night, but in the big picture playing like a 94-win team since our show "reset" the season.
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00:01Slowly hit towards short. Triolo to second for one. The Pirates turn a double play to take two out of
00:06three in this series.
00:08The Pirates win this game 5-1 and continue to play good baseball. They've won five of their last six
00:15and are now 34-29 on the year. The Astros fall to 28-36.
00:19Yeah, there you go. Astros fall to 28-36. The update, we'll give it right out of the chute until
00:24it's inappropriate to.
00:27The Astros are five and a half back in the division. They are still three games back in the wild
00:31card after last night.
00:32They lose 5-1 to the Pirates. We've got a lot to get to today, not just with the Astros,
00:37but we've got some Texan stuff to get to, some NFL stuff to get to.
00:40It's a Friday. Good to be with you. We're with you until 10 a.m. this morning.
00:43I am Sean Pendergast. He is Seth C. Payne, a.k.a. Pope Zaza. Hello, my friend.
00:48Hey, you know, there's one thing. If you just ignore, if you just would take the highlights from this game
00:54and cut out any plays where people cross the plate, I feel like it was a pretty good game for
00:59the Astros.
01:00Oh, yeah.
01:00They just happened to be 0 for 8 with running position.
01:03There was a lot of action.
01:05There was stuff going on.
01:05Yeah, we've got something going here.
01:07It's popping.
01:07I remember at one point I did, I kind of, I wasn't paying close enough attention.
01:11I had some other stuff going on.
01:13And I remember looking up at one point when it was 3-0 Pirates, and I was like,
01:16I thought the Astros had scored three runs at this point.
01:20What's going on here anyway?
01:21Yeah, it wasn't great with runners in scoring position last night.
01:26Yeah, it was funny.
01:27You know, you come in in the morning, and if it's a weekday game, it's kind of nice
01:32because Colin Neal, who produces Area 45, and these guys are here until, you know,
01:3611 o'clock at night doing a pseudo-Astros postgame.
01:41And Colin will have all the audio.
01:43He'll have all the highlights and all the espada clips.
01:45And, like, the game two nights ago, it takes a while to sift through it because it was
01:5011-9, and there was a comeback, and everybody's talking about it.
01:54This one this morning, there's like five cuts total.
01:57With the espada and the highlights, you can tell what kind of game it was by what number
02:02highlight the final call is.
02:04Like, the other, the 11-9 game, final call was like cut number 11, which means there's
02:09all kinds of stuff going on.
02:11Tonight, or today, this morning, Astros play-by-play, cut number two, final call.
02:18Yeah.
02:19It was Paredes home run and the final call of the game.
02:22That's it.
02:22Let me check something, too, because usually, like, for those West Coast games, a lot of
02:26times I wake up and I just, I watch the YouTube highlights, you know, if I decided to go to
02:30bed and get five hours of sleep.
02:33Correct.
02:34And, yep, yep, yep.
02:36Nine minutes, 58 seconds long for these highlights.
02:39Usually, the good games are like 16.
02:42Yeah, the highlights were 16 minutes and 23 seconds.
02:45Yeah, yeah, that's why I was...
02:46Last night, they were nine minutes and 58 seconds.
02:48And yet, you still found some things that were popping for you last night in this game.
02:52I, yeah, I don't know, I don't know.
02:55You know, it is, it was really, I was, my attention was very divided and I just happened
02:59to every now and then look up when Tramiel's hitting a double that almost could have stretched
03:03it out to a triple and whatnot.
03:06But, yeah, I think, like, the Kiwi Ting's really struggled against the lefties and you're going
03:12to have a good team.
03:13And the Pirates have a boatload of lefties out there and it looked like he'd, looked like
03:18he'd settled in at some point and then it looked like he unsettled again.
03:21The same thing happened with Burroughs the other night.
03:23You know, they, they, they, they both pitched five good innings and then they came back out
03:27for the sixth and everything just went to hell in a handbasket.
03:31So that's what happened last night.
03:33So the Astros lose five to one.
03:34This was the other wake up call last night too with me for the Astros.
03:38Seth was they, they, they pick up this Lamont Wade character and they bring Colin, they bring
03:45Colin Price, Lamont Wade, because he's a lefty who doesn't strike out all the time.
03:51That's, that's his role is to, from what I was reading in Chandler Rome and maybe I'm,
03:56you know, maybe I'm butchering that a little bit.
03:57And then they call up Colin Price, they DFA Cesar Salazar, uh, the backup catcher, and
04:03they bring up Colin Price to be the backup catcher.
04:05And this was the wake up call.
04:07I'm like, this is still a team that injury wise and just level of talent wise on this
04:12team, they're picking up guys off the street and they're batting them for their fifth in
04:17the line of Lamont.
04:18They pick this guy up off the street and they put the lineup out and he's batting fifth.
04:22Taylor's been your cleanup hitter since he's come back.
04:24Like this is, it's, we are still in kind of dire straits with the talent level on this
04:30baseball.
04:30And I know, I know.
04:31So as, as fond as you are of rehab assignments, I know that you love just seeing that Loper.
04:36Hey, Loper Fido's raking down in triple A.
04:38Yeah.
04:39Game after game after game.
04:41Right.
04:42Okay.
04:42Cool.
04:43Yeah.
04:44Let's see if he can rake in the big, big leagues.
04:46Yeah.
04:46Yep.
04:46So that's, so that was, the lineup comes out.
04:49I mean, I saw they picked this guy up and then they, they picked him up and I see the
04:53press release and like, he takes a spot on the MLB, on the, the, the, the major league
04:57roster.
04:57I'm like, okay, well, I guess we'll just, we'll see.
05:00This is some depth in the outfield.
05:01And then they dropped the lineup and the dude's batting fifth.
05:04Like, okay.
05:05Yeah.
05:05I'll tell you one thing.
05:06I don't want to hear any more griping and groaning from the broadcast crew about their road
05:10trips and their travel and how big their suitcases are.
05:13This team needs to get back out on the road.
05:15And they do.
05:15They are, they're like railroad men, you know, you keep them at home too long.
05:21They start getting kind of antsy.
05:22Yep.
05:22Gotta be out there riding the rail.
05:24Yeah.
05:24The kids, the kids start to bug them a little bit, you know, like it gets a little hectic
05:27in the house.
05:28Like, you know what I need?
05:29A quiet hotel room.
05:30That's exactly what I read.
05:31I read a book about the Edmund Fitzgerald last month, Sean, uh, the wreck of the Edmund
05:35Fitzgerald.
05:36And, uh, that's what these, these great Lake sailors, that's what they're like.
05:39You know, they, they, they have a few months at home and just get kind of agitated.
05:44Uh, just rather, I'd rather, I'd rather get sunk at sea than be here with this damn whining
05:51kids.
05:53And this nag.
05:56Oh, man.
05:56The gals of November never sounded as agonizing as this old hag.
06:02That's great.
06:03The hags of December are way worse than the gals of November.
06:06Hags of December.
06:08Um, so, so there was that.
06:11So there was the Lamont Wade guy and then Colin Price catching, catching last night.
06:15This is Joe Espada on Price calling the game for the Astros.
06:19I think, you know, he showed that he's familiar with some of those guys.
06:21I think he looked comfortable.
06:23Um, call it a really good game.
06:25Um, came in, asked some questions.
06:28Um, and, but, you know, but I thought that it was, it was on the same page with, with
06:34the game plan and, and, and, and with our, and with our pitchers.
06:38This was the other thing too, the jump, there was, there, there was not much in the game to
06:42jump out at me and come in on hot takes.
06:44It was just, it was one of these games that has become all too typical for the Astros the
06:48last couple of years where they just don't get hit.
06:50Literally didn't get a hit with runners in scoring position last night.
06:53I saw Colin Price's post game availability.
06:58I think, I don't know if it was a, if it was a locker, I can't remember.
07:01It was a locker room, uh, like a clubhouse availability to the media, or if it was just
07:05Juliet going one-on-one with him.
07:07It was an interview right after the game, his major league debut.
07:09And his, I think his family was there and then it's really, really cool.
07:13And he's just over the moon about his major league debut.
07:16He was super excited after the game about the whole thing.
07:18And I started thinking to myself, I'll make, this is one of the differences between football
07:22and really all the other sports because of the scarcity of the games.
07:26You would have never caught somebody after their debut in the NFL over the moon at their
07:32locker over their debut.
07:33Like this is where, this is where 162 games allow you to maybe be a little more honest
07:39when you're a player about how excited you were just to get the call up.
07:42Like you wouldn't, if you had just lost the equivalent of a five to one baseball game in the NFL,
07:47like if you just lost the game 28 to six, something like that.
07:51And you're some guy that got called up off the practice squad.
07:54I don't think there's a smiley interview going on.
07:57Oh yeah, no.
07:57There's no, there's no point this year where the Texans, the Texans drop a game to the Cowboys
08:01or something.
08:02And they're like, Hey, but Noah Whittington got three clutches.
08:05Let's interview Noah Whittington.
08:07And Whittington's just beaming in his locker.
08:09Like, oh, boy, I'll tell you what, it was really good to get my feet wet out there.
08:13It felt like we did some good things.
08:15Am I a petty person because that's what was jumping out at me?
08:18Like, what the hell are you so happy about?
08:20No, be petty.
08:21Yeah, be petty, damn it.
08:22Good, good.
08:24That's what it feels like.
08:25No, you know why, though, too?
08:27Because it does feel, you know, when you and I reset the season,
08:30which is still a good move on our part.
08:32They're still above 500 since the reset, I think.
08:34Yes, yes.
08:35They're a better team ever since Payne and Pendergast reset the season.
08:38And yet, there's a little bit of a gut punch back to reality when you face a couple of
08:45the best teams from another division in the Pirates and the Brewers, and you realize,
08:50oh, yeah, there are better baseball teams out there than the Rangers and whatnot.
08:56And even they swept the Cubs, and the Cubs record at the time was better than the Pirates
09:01record right now.
09:02But the Cubs had lost like five in a row.
09:05Oh, yeah, it was extending a miserable stretch.
09:07Yeah, it was like a bad version of them.
09:09So, I'm pulling it up right now.
09:11When we reset it.
09:12Well, the Cubs are 33-30 right now.
09:14Yeah.
09:15And that's, so they've continued to lose.
09:18You know, I feel like the Astros kind of kept their tailspin going.
09:21Cubs right in.
09:23They must have, because they're 4-6 right now.
09:25Okay.
09:25Since they lost to the Astros.
09:279-4, 9-5.
09:284-6 in their last 10, sorry.
09:2910-5.
09:30The Astros are 11-8 since the Payne and Pendergast reset.
09:34Oh, that's pretty good.
09:35That's not bad.
09:35What's that on pace for?
09:36I don't know.
09:37Well, it would definitely make the playoffs in the AL, because right now the final playoff
09:41spot is occupied by the, it's a tie between the Rangers and the team coming to town tonight,
09:48the Athletics, who are both two games under .500.
09:51They're playing like a 94-win baseball team.
09:53Of course they are.
09:54That's what I saw last night.
09:55I'm like, you know what?
09:5611-8 would be on pace for 94 wins if that was the beginning of the season.
09:59I don't care what that scoreboard says.
10:02This is a 94-win team.
10:04That's what I was saying to Amy last night as I was sitting in my chair, and I looked over
10:07at her on the sofa.
10:07I said, you know what?
10:085-1.
10:09I don't know.
10:10What I saw right there, that's a 94-win team to me right there.
10:13That's right.
10:13Yeah.
10:14Yeah.
10:14So they're 11-8 since the reset, and that's all we talk about on this show.
10:18Highway Tang's still got a 3.6 or 7 ERA right now.
10:23He was fine until the sixth inning, and then, yeah, he's...
10:26No, it is.
10:26They had seven lefties in the lineup last night, and that's his big obstacle this season.
10:31Yeah, that he made it to the sixth inning.
10:32We should be happy about that, I guess.
10:34That's where, I mean, Espada kind of talks like that, and I don't 100% blame him for it.
10:38There have been so many times this year where, just because a pitcher goes six or seven innings,
10:43a parade hit, like, Espada's talking about it almost like it was a victory.
10:48Yeah.
10:48You know, like, hey, hey, he won seven innings.
10:50Let him 11 runs.
10:52Well, look, our relievers are fresh.
10:53Yeah.
10:54I don't have to think too hard for the next few days.
10:56Yeah, yeah.
10:56I always love the consolation prize being whatever inning the guy got to.
11:02Yeah, and they're begging to go back out there.
11:04He said, hey, I could give you eight innings and 15 runs allowed.
11:09That's okay, Kai.
11:10Go sit over there.
11:12Hey, if you're into the Jordan MVP candidacy, which I can't imagine if you're an Astros fan,
11:17you're not into it, because it's tough to get into the standings right now.
11:20You're not.
11:20Yeah.
11:21It took a big step forward yesterday.
11:24Aaron Judge, stress fracture, out four to six weeks at least.
11:28That's the main Komsky-Tishkin right now is Popeye.
11:31It's a horrible crying shame.
11:32Yeah.
11:32Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:33Oh, yeah, yeah.
11:34I have great empathy.
11:35We can't tempt the gods.
11:36That's right.
11:36That's right.
11:38Yeah, that's a shame.
11:39It's a tragedy.
11:39It's a shame.
11:40And as an aside, that really helps Jordan's MVP candidacy.
11:45He's, by the way, winning.
11:47That's his laughter of pain.
11:49Yeah, that's.
11:50Can we get a little Brandy action here?
11:52A little Brandy laughing action?
11:55There we go.
11:56Yeah.
11:59So, Judge has a stress fracture.
12:01To be clear to everybody that doesn't know, that's not her normal laugh.
12:03That's her making fun of me.
12:05Can you imagine?
12:06Wow, Seth's married to a Husky gal.
12:11That would suck being married to somebody with a horrible laugh.
12:14That was also, but that is her genuine laugh when I tore my ACL for the third time.
12:18That's what she, she pointed at the knee.
12:24We knew exactly what she was laughing at.
12:26It's the same laugh she gives when I threatened to hit her.
12:28That's.
12:28She's like.
12:31You.
12:33She knows you.
12:34Fancy lad.
12:36Yeah.
12:37Like, I swear, Brandy, one of these days, to the moon.
12:40Yeah.
12:40And she's like, yeah.
12:43Whatever.
12:46Oh, my God.
12:48So, the other thing I saw yesterday is we'll stick with the Astros.
12:51We'll get to the Texans at 623 or whenever we come, 625, because there was big doings
12:57at Texas, Texas practice yesterday, especially on the heels of something Nick Casario said
13:01on this show on Wednesday.
13:04But the other Astros thing I saw yesterday, Seth, was, and look, the longer we get into
13:09June, and the longer the Astros trail in the playoff hunt, these are the conversations
13:12that are going to be had.
13:13Jeff Passon of ESPN had one thing that you can look at for each team as the trade deadline
13:19approaches next month.
13:22His for the Astros was Jeremy Pena.
13:25Jeremy Pena being the best asset the Astros have to move in a trade that's not Jordan Alvarez,
13:31because he concedes that Jordan is probably not going to be on the move.
13:36And he also concedes, Passon does it.
13:37Look, Jim Crane, I'm paraphrasing, but Jim Crane will go down with the ship as long as
13:42they're in shouting distance of the playoffs in terms of trading off pieces in season.
13:48Obviously, they traded Kyle Tucker a couple years ago in the offseason.
13:51They're going to be in a similar situation with Pena if he's still an Astro come next year.
13:56Of course, there's a work stoppage looming, so who knows how long that takes to resolve.
14:00But I got thinking about the Pena-Tucker dynamic and the emotional hit.
14:07Look, anytime you move on from any of these guys from that era of Astros baseball when
14:11they were winning World Series, there's an emotional element to it.
14:14You know, George Springer was really probably the first one we had to experience that with.
14:18I know Charlie Morton left and Garrett Cole left.
14:21Springer was like the core drafted homegrown guy to leave, and that was hard.
14:27But Carlos Correa, hard.
14:29Maybe not as hard as George Springer, but that was tough.
14:33Alex Bregman a couple years ago, or two years ago, whatever it was.
14:37Pena and Tucker specifically, though, because these would be guys they traded away.
14:41They voluntarily said, we're going to get rid of these guys, and we've got to bring something.
14:44If they were to do this with Pena, I contend that Pena would be way more emotional than
14:49Kyle Tucker for the fan base to trade away, especially in season.
14:53Oh, yeah, yeah, I think so.
14:55But I think even in the offseason, too.
14:57With Kyle Tucker, it was even, you know, the people who are pro not trading Kyle Tucker
15:03away, you could almost, whenever you would talk to him about it, it would always be more
15:07of a, I sat down and I contemplated this for a while.
15:11And, you know, if you gave people the either or of Kyle Tucker or Jordan Alvarez, the emotional
15:16attachment is 4,000% in favor of Jordan Alvarez.
15:20But if anybody came to the conclusion that they'd rather trade away Kyle Tucker, or they'd
15:25rather keep Kyle Tucker than Jordan, it was almost, they would do it agonizingly.
15:29They'd say, well, I would just, such and such and such and such, but yeah, I guess, I guess
15:34we have to keep Kyle.
15:34There was no emotional, there wasn't nearly the emotional bond with Kyle Tucker as there
15:39had been with any of those other guys.
15:40Right, well, because I think, what's the great Kyle Tucker moment in the postseason?
15:44Yeah.
15:44Catching the final out of the World Series on a play that 8,000 other people could have
15:49caught a fly ball.
15:50Like, that's the only thing I think of with Kyle Tucker is him catching the final out of
15:53the 22 World Series.
15:54That's where the Pena comparison comes in for me.
15:56Like, Pena is a postseason hero.
15:59Kyle Tucker's a dud in the postseason, you know?
16:03Pena, I think a shortstop is a position where it's like, oh, that hurts.
16:09Whereas right field is a little bit more of a commoditized position.
16:12Defensively, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I guess...
16:15Corner outfielders are just a bigger commodity than middle infielders, shortstops, when it
16:20comes to how they're valued and whatnot, and I also think the...
16:23Well, I mean, but ultimately it comes down to what you do at the plate, though.
16:26Yeah.
16:26Right?
16:26Yeah, I'm not as worried about the defensive contribution as much.
16:30Yeah.
16:30I mean, it's not that I'm not worried about it, it's just that those kind of cancel each
16:33Yeah, I'm just saying, like, Pena compared to Tuck, just comparing those two.
16:37And the ladies love Jeremy Pena also.
16:40You know, he's kind of, he's got that look.
16:42Kyle Tucker, Kyle Tucker looks like he got stood up on a lot of dates if they didn't
16:46know he was an athlete, you know?
16:48I think, you know, Pena's got, Pena's a handsome fella.
16:51Or it feels like he got cheated on a lot, even though his girlfriend wanted to go out with
16:56him because he was the star athlete.
16:58Star of the baseball team.
16:59She was always looking elsewhere.
17:00Yeah, yeah, man.
17:01Pena's got all those commercials, too.
17:03You got H-E-B.
17:04These are the things that matter.
17:06Taqueria's around us.
17:06Well, I'm just saying, these are the things that matter to some fans, you know?
17:08Like, it's the emotional attachment to the guy.
17:11I don't know.
17:11I guess I've gotten kind of numb to...
17:14Yeah, you seem a little empty inside about this right now.
17:16Well, as far as, I don't know.
17:19Like, you've seen enough, you've parted ways with enough guys emotionally or what have you.
17:23And I think a lot of people now are looking back and thinking, man, boy.
17:28Because remember, Fromber was still really good at the trade deadline last year.
17:31He was.
17:32It was after the trade deadline that he fell apart.
17:35Yeah.
17:35I think you look back at that and you think, okay, if they had traded Fromber, boy, that
17:40would have been the right decision, given that they missed the play.
17:43Fromber continued to have kind of these volatility issues.
17:47Yeah.
17:47And that, I don't know, I don't, I guess I'm a little bit dead inside because I just, I
17:53know that at some point with this barren pipeline that they have, that they're going to have
17:58to make some emotionally difficult decisions.
18:00So it's already, the war is already, the war is already lost in terms of, okay, the right
18:06thing to do for this team at some point is to part ways with some guys that you love.
18:11But gosh, there, if you ever want to get back to where you were, I don't see how you do
18:17it without some pain along the way.
18:19No, no, no question.
18:20But I mean, yeah, I mean, they're eight or nine games under 500 right now.
18:23It's not a good baseball team.
18:25What's his name here on ESPN had brought a pass and had brought up the prospect of Jordan
18:30Alvarez, but quote, opposing executives don't see that happening.
18:34Then they shouldn't trade Jordan Alvarez in my opinion.
18:37He's still under contract for two years.
18:38If you're of mind to trade Jordan Alvarez, you're going to have plenty of time to do
18:41it down the road.
18:42Well, and he's got, the other thing about Jordan too, is he's on an incredible contract.
18:45Yeah.
18:46That'll be the emotional, I mean, that's going to be the tough thing when it gets down to
18:50that one year remaining with Jordan.
18:52Yes.
18:52And there, there's a team out there that might be crazy enough to give him a really long
18:58contract, you know, at an advanced age in injury history.
19:03Not an advanced age.
19:04He'll only be, he'll be what, 30?
19:06Yeah.
19:07Early thirties.
19:07Oh, he turns, no, he turns 29 in, uh, in June.
19:10Okay.
19:11Late June.
19:11So he'll be 30, 31.
19:13Yeah.
19:13So 31.
19:14And that's the, look, there's teams out there that'll give a 10 year contract to a 31 year
19:17old.
19:17He's a DH.
19:18Yeah.
19:18He can hit until he's 50.
19:20Yeah.
19:20Yeah.
19:21Yeah.
19:21So, um, so they're off running on a Friday.
19:25There's your Astros, uh, update or recap from last.
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