- 1 day ago
ITL debates what defines this Astros team and what kind of club they really are.
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00:00Because the Astros absolutely took an ass-whipping yesterday.
00:02It was Kai Wei-Tang on the mound, and I felt very bad having my thought validated
00:07that he is very susceptible to the wins of luck or up-and-down nature.
00:13What was it? Is it his slider or sweeper?
00:15I can never remember which one we ultimately are going with.
00:17It's the same pitch.
00:18All right, I know. That's fair. I should have expected that.
00:20Don't start.
00:21I've got to know who I'm talking to.
00:22Not you two.
00:23That's on me. I've got to know who I'm talking to.
00:25He really got him with that sweeper.
00:27Could be a slider. Either way.
00:28No, it was. It was a slider. It wasn't a sweeper.
00:32Should have remembered that he did not care.
00:34But either way, that pitch did not serve him well on the day,
00:37and then they just taxed him.
00:40And it's not off the base of this game alone,
00:42but it's one of these things where when you stop down and you think about it,
00:46this is a straw on a large pile of straws that makes you go,
00:51all right, we need to stop and ask a question.
00:52I think I am prone to ask of the Rockets during their season.
00:56We asked it of the Rockets.
00:57Three, four, three.
00:59At least times.
01:00I don't know.
01:00Over the course of the season.
01:01What's their identity?
01:03I don't know.
01:04Well, I think it fits better with the Astros.
01:06Yeah, yeah.
01:07Let's break it down.
01:087-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.
01:10If you have a feeling there, because I immediately,
01:13my first thought was what at least should be their identity?
01:16Because I think one of the complicating factors that's clearly there is
01:18they're dealing with a whole bunch.
01:20They have dealt with a whole bunch of injuries.
01:21It was the same thing last year.
01:23And as we were just talking about with the Texans, right, with the tight ends,
01:26when you deal with injuries, it takes you away from what your given plan was.
01:30And so I think we have to acknowledge that, that they've had a lot of injuries
01:33to this point in the season that I imagine has made it difficult to get to
01:36whatever the desired, I guess, identity for this team had been.
01:41All right.
01:41I want to have some fun.
01:43Figgy, do you like to have some fun?
01:44I love having fun.
01:45Reggie, do you like fun?
01:47Hell no.
01:47I know.
01:48I knew that answer already.
01:49Skip to sports.
01:51Listeners, do you like to have some fun?
01:53Let's have some fun.
01:54Because I was thinking about this, and we can get into the numbers, and we will.
01:58Really?
01:59Because I think the numbers say a lot about their identity.
02:00Okay, I'm on Reggie right now.
02:02Now I'm having fun.
02:02Let's go.
02:02Oh, numbers.
02:03Now I'm having fun.
02:04Numbers?
02:05Let's go.
02:05That's not the fun I'm talking about.
02:07Yeah, man.
02:07That's not the fun I'm talking about.
02:09Why are you burying the lead?
02:10This is the fun I'm talking about.
02:12Figgy, I'm going to put you on the spot.
02:13All right.
02:14If the Astros were a person, what would be their identity?
02:19How would you describe them?
02:20If the Astros were a person, because I have something in mind, but I'm going to put you
02:24on the spot.
02:24I'm trying to see what you're doing out here.
02:25How would you describe that person if the Astros were that?
02:28I would describe them as, I can see them having some potential a little bit, but they
02:35not really in my class, like my type of girl.
02:39Okay.
02:39If they dress up and address this and lose a little weight here, put some makeup on,
02:44lashes and all this other stuff.
02:45Yeah.
02:46They can be, she can look all right.
02:47That's fair.
02:48I went more the workplace route.
02:51Okay.
02:51Okay.
02:51This is how I would describe the Astros.
02:53They're that person that you ask to do something and they say they're going to do it and then
03:00it never really gets done.
03:02And then you follow up and say, well, what about such and such?
03:05And they're like, oh yeah, I sent the email to here and I talked to so-and-so, I'll get
03:10right back to you.
03:12And still doesn't get done.
03:13And then two days later you go, hey, did that ever, you know, did you ever get an answer
03:17on blah, blah, blah?
03:19And they're like, yeah, still working on that.
03:22That's, that's the Astros still working on that.
03:26And Reggie, I know you hate fun, but if you had to describe the Astros as a person, to
03:30me, that's what they are.
03:32I mean, the Astros in my estimation are the friend that comes through sometimes, but not
03:38always.
03:38Cause this is the thing that's the most, and this is the thing that's been most frustrating
03:41for me is that we all know the friend that you just can't depend on.
03:44And that actually is great because I know not to ask you for nothing.
03:47Right.
03:48Right.
03:48Like what?
03:49Hey man, somebody needs to pick up my kid.
03:51I can help you.
03:51No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:53Your kid will be standing in the rain.
03:54Like whose kid was standing in the rain the other day?
03:57Somebody said that.
03:58Somebody left their kid in the rain?
03:58Yeah.
03:59Like they were meant to go pick them up and they forgot.
04:00Oh man.
04:01They were just standing and oh, I'm mixing shows.
04:04That was on the podcast.
04:05That was on the Bite Me podcast.
04:06I was like, I feel like I did not hear about this.
04:09I'm like, damn, Jacob.
04:10Captain Caleb McCumber.
04:11Why do you leave Natalie out there in the rain like that?
04:13By the way, you can listen to the podcast on Sports Radio 610 or any, wherever you get
04:16your podcast.
04:18There you go.
04:18We were doing it and he was working on something.
04:22Maybe the Astros are Captain Caleb McCumber.
04:25He was working on something.
04:25Damn, he put the whole name in.
04:26That's crazy.
04:27Let me search his name right now.
04:29He was working on something.
04:30He was supposed to pick up his kid after practice, right?
04:33Totally forgot.
04:34Kid is a big old storm comes through and he's standing in the parking lot getting drenched.
04:38Oh man.
04:39Text his dad.
04:40Hey, are you coming?
04:41Yeah.
04:41Yeah, I'm coming right now.
04:43That's the Astros.
04:44My point in saying that is we've seen instances where the Astros kind of put it together in
04:49various different ways.
04:50In every facet, right?
04:51We've seen them make incredible defensive plays, had incredible defensive games.
04:55And then you can see last night where both of your middle infielders make what look like
04:59errors.
04:59One of them is an actual scored an error and the other one, because you get an out with
05:03Jose Altuve but you don't turn the double.
05:05It's not scored an error.
05:06It's a fielder's choice or something is ultimately what it gets scored as.
05:10But you get your two middle infielders, two of the guys that you respect, at least one
05:13of them should still be at the top of his game in Jeremy Pena.
05:16And they're dropping balls or not being able to make transfers out of the glove.
05:19And you go, this is Little League.
05:21And this is not just Little League.
05:23It's Little League for y'all.
05:24Y'all should be able to do these things.
05:25And yet you've seen them also make incredible plays.
05:28You've seen the offense clearly be really good at times.
05:30And then you've seen them put up absolute stinkers when the pitcher's like, please help
05:34me.
05:35And I don't say that without acknowledging that baseball is a sport.
05:40That it's a marathon, not a sprint.
05:41There's ebbs and flows.
05:42It's not going to be that you get absolutely the same thing every time.
05:45But if you look at me in the face and you tell me that this is the average level of
05:49ups and downs for a baseball team, I'm calling you a liar to your face.
05:51Right.
05:52And now we can get into some of those numbers that I promised Reggie and we can't get out
05:55of this segment without.
05:56God bless.
05:57Okay, so you want the good or the bad first?
05:59The bad is they have a minus 37 run differential, which is awful.
06:06They're projecting under 80 wins.
06:09Jose Altuve right now.
06:11What do we have?
06:1290 something games left, right?
06:14Sounds about right.
06:15Batting 237.
06:18It's an asinine conversation.
06:20Hey, by the way, we may have to revisit that at some point.
06:22My man.
06:24Wow.
06:26Whoa, no.
06:27No, we're not going to speed by that like you didn't put all that sarcasm in there.
06:31What?
06:32Was he talking about this show in that clip?
06:34Yes, yes, yes, yes.
06:37Shout out to my guy, PC.
06:38My man.
06:39How'd that work out?
06:40My man.
06:41Carlos Correa, done for the year.
06:43Young players are not showing up.
06:45Bottom of the order.
06:45We talked about it yesterday.
06:47Manager and general manager, lame ducks.
06:49I mean, there's no other way to put it, right?
06:50And until further notice, until you hear otherwise, they're lame ducks.
06:54They're in the last year of their contract.
06:55On the other hand, you do have players coming back.
06:59You do have your Don.
07:00They are not trading him, if you haven't heard.
07:03You know, they've been pretty good on defense last night, notwithstanding.
07:07And they're still technically in the race.
07:11Their identity is purgatory.
07:13Their identity is purgatory.
07:16They're in a bad spot no matter what.
07:18Yeah, because in the same way of what I was talking about, right?
07:21Even pitching-wise, where if you look at their starting pitching, the wins above a replacement just by position.
07:27It is bottom three when it comes to starting pitching, and it is dead last, DFL, when it comes to
07:32relief pitching, which is not surprising.
07:34But at the same time, within that, you get Spencer Arrigetti out here having incredible outings.
07:39You get him.
07:40He was capable of playing out here having really good outings.
07:43And so the question that I think is the most interesting one off of this, because it's easy to just
07:47go, hey, guys, they are, as someone said, schizophrenic or whatever, or bipolar.
07:51That's the easy part.
07:52I think the more difficult question is, what is the most attainable identity that they could find at some point,
08:00right?
08:00Like, obviously, right now, it feels like the identity is that there's not a clear identity.
08:05They should be a better hitting baseball team.
08:07They want to be a better pitching baseball team, so on and so forth.
08:10What is the one that is actually closest to that they could maybe find, right?
08:13Is it them actually fully being a power team behind Jordan and Christian Walker and then finding a few more
08:19people that have a little bit more pop in their back?
08:21I was shocked by that as being more consistent with the pop, I think, could be one of those.
08:25If Cam Smith hits one of those hot streaks, which we've seen him have before.
08:29We have two and a bunch of possibles.
08:33Yes.
08:34But just the thing is, so is that closer, or is it possible that you get a whole bunch of
08:38guys that are now hitting better for average,
08:39and we're just getting on the base pads and running, except, bad thing about that,
08:44the Astros are literally bottom three in baseball when it comes to stolen bases,
08:48so the idea we're going to get on the base pads, we're going to put stress on pitchers,
08:51has not been the case to this point.
08:53Is that closer?
08:54Is it closer that they find all these young guys in the outfield all of a sudden are going to
08:58be defensive masterminds?
08:59It's purgatory.
09:00Right?
09:00Like, what is the closest thing?
09:02Honestly, what can they do to make this interesting?
09:04Like, what can they do to, you know, I don't want to sit here and say, trade for this and
09:09that and get this person,
09:10but what can they honestly do to, I guess, make a run?
09:14Maybe not even a World Series run.
09:16If you're not watching, my palms are up.
09:20I think the two most likely are that you get some of your starting pitching back from injury,
09:25Emai continues to progress forward, and then you become a pitching team somehow.
09:28That becomes their identity?
09:29Like, I think that one or what I was talking about earlier where you find two more bats that are
09:35really powerful.
09:36Because, I mean, this is still a team.
09:38I don't even want to do that.
09:39This is a team that their OPS plus is 103, and when it comes to, like, home runs, they are
09:467th, I think,
09:47when it comes to home runs in all of baseball.
09:50That can tick up pretty quickly if now you're not just having Jordan and Christian Walker doing it.
09:54If Cam Smith is adding into the party, if Isak Paredes is doing it a little more consistently,
09:59I don't even know what other bats, are we going to throw maybe Altuve, find some more to pop?
10:03Like, I think that there's, these are not impossible.
10:06I might characterize this as improbable that all these things come together,
10:10but it feels like the closest to an identity that might coalesce.
10:13Several texts coming in, multiple are saying the Astros are bipolar.
10:17One said the Astros are butterface.
10:20Another one said schizophrenic or bipolar.
10:24And then a favorite 6-10 day moment when J-Lo said,
10:28do not talk, tell me about the labor, show me the baby.
10:31Yeah, thank you.
10:32I remember that, too.
10:34Somehow he does.
10:35You and the 8-3-2 are the only ones who remember that.
10:38We're right.
10:39We're right.
10:39All right, you're in the loop here on Sports Radio 610.
10:41As we continue to hope that the Astros find some level of consistency and identity in their hope.
10:46And right now it is just hope to make the postseason.
10:49And right now it is just hope to make the postseason.
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