- 2 days ago
ITL debates whether Houston has rediscovered something more meaningful than simply becoming baseball's boogeyman again.
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00:00I think the most interesting thing, and yes, I did say most interesting thing,
00:03is that the Astros are kind of a different Astros in a way.
00:08Yeah, they are.
00:09Because this is, after a three games, three games win,
00:13or winning three games in the four-game set, rather,
00:15that's the way to say it, versus the Tigers this weekend,
00:18they are now five, like, they've now won five series in a row.
00:22They are right at the top of the eight.
00:25Rangers have technically taken the top of the league.
00:28Yeah, they've actually had a little stretch of themselves.
00:30I think they were like 11-4 or something like that.
00:32Yeah, they've been cooking.
00:33Where are the Rangers at?
00:34First place.
00:35First place in the ALS.
00:36This is a wild division, man.
00:37Don't worry about it.
00:38The Astros are only a game out of that, in large part,
00:41because of the fact that they've been winning these games,
00:42whether it's by hook or by crook or whatever.
00:45And then also, it's worth noting that the Astros won seven out of their last ten.
00:48I think it's something like, it's a big number over the last, like, you know, 26, 27 games.
00:55Needless to say, the Astros have been clawing their way back into the top of AL West contention,
01:00which, again, not the steepest hill, but still one that you need to climb.
01:03And the question that you've enjoyed asking at times during the season is,
01:07is the boogeyman back or is there any level of feeling the boogeyman back?
01:10And I think that that's just squarely no.
01:12This is not an Astros team that strikes fear into other teams necessarily.
01:16Not even necessarily.
01:17I just don't think that's the way that this kicks it, right?
01:19Clearly there's maybe one or two guys that you talk about that have maybe some level of effect like that.
01:23Yordan Alvarez, who, mind you, this weekend didn't do much of that.
01:27I think in the last three of the four games, he didn't get a hit, right?
01:31Like, he wasn't hitting the ball hard and he still managed to win.
01:33And that actually, for me, points to the thing that I think is actually that they are becoming,
01:38or maybe are, that is maybe more impactful, John Lopez.
01:41How's that?
01:42I think they're the roaches.
01:43The roaches?
01:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:44You can't kill them.
01:45You know exactly where I'm going.
01:47You think you step on them, you think you squish them, and you think,
01:50ah, I saw some guts squirting out of that roach.
01:52Was it 94?
01:53Yeah.
01:53And he still walks away.
01:53Was it 94 or 95 when Charles Barkley said something similar about the Houston Rockets?
01:58They're cockroaches.
01:59Right?
01:59Yeah.
02:00You think you've stepped on them, and they just keep coming back.
02:03Like, they're still here.
02:05Yeah, yeah.
02:05This Astros team.
02:06And, of course, you start comparing people to roaches, and your libel gets swung on.
02:10Right?
02:10But this is a good roach.
02:11Right.
02:11And I think, yes.
02:13Yeah, the ones that have wings, clearly.
02:15No, I think.
02:16It's good roaches.
02:17It's a good roach.
02:17Right?
02:17Like, those exist.
02:18I think that the Madagascar Hissken Cockroach is a good roach.
02:21Yeah.
02:22All right?
02:22Text me, you're a good roach.
02:23Tell my wife that.
02:24She don't think anything is good roach.
02:26Yeah, tell me the good roach.
02:27But I think you get what I'm saying.
02:29Absolutely.
02:29I think that's a great way to put it.
02:31This is a by hook or by crook team.
02:32And the reason why I said that is, I was this weekend just thinking,
02:35what is it that the Astros are doing so well?
02:37Like, what is it that's happened?
02:38Because, obviously, we're watching these games, and I'll be honest.
02:41I don't get the feeling like, oh, there's something that is just so great
02:45that is getting them to this point where they're managing to stack series.
02:48And so, I did what only, well, maybe not only I do,
02:52but what you would expect that I do.
02:53I was like, all right, is there a statistical thing that will point me to
02:56the thing that they're doing well, right?
02:57Because I think that that's the way that probably you should use analytics,
03:00see if there's something statistical that then matches what you talk about.
03:03Maybe we'll have a deeper conversation about that later.
03:05And as I'm looking for it, there's nothing that jumps out, right?
03:08It's not like their OPS is incredible.
03:10It's not like they're hitting a ton of home runs.
03:12It's not like, there's nothing that points, and that's just at the plate.
03:15Like, pitching-wise, they have been pretty good,
03:18but it's not like they've been exceptional, right?
03:20A lot of these things, in the ways that, oh, they're pretty good at it,
03:23they'll be top 10, but they won't be top 5, right?
03:25There's nothing that I can point to as a singular,
03:27this is the thing getting it done.
03:29They're just kind of managing to be solid at everything,
03:32and especially with the pitching that they've gotten back,
03:34I mean, what, 5 out of the last 6 or 7 outings have been,
03:39hey, that guy doesn't look great, but he's just making it through 4, 5, 6 innings
03:43and giving these guys in late in games, then stack together their runs
03:47versus, you know, either later in the opposing starting pitcher's outing
03:51or in the bullpen, and then get the runs that they need to get over
03:54and get victories and then move on to the next day.
03:56They just are surviving and advancing in the ways that, like,
03:59the 90s Rockets cockroaches did, and it feels like that is impactful.
04:03Like, that is important because I don't know that a boogeyman
04:06magically arises from the embers of what this season has been.
04:10But I can see a cockroach is climbing to the top of this AL.
04:13You know what it is, and I'm going to mix sports here.
04:16Back when the Texans had that, remember the next man up season?
04:21They had a lot of injuries, and they just kept having guys come up
04:23and different characters.
04:25I don't think they have a thing that is really sort of defining this run
04:31that they're on.
04:32I think it's kind of like next man up.
04:34You know, the outfield all of a sudden needs someone to step up
04:37and have a big hit.
04:38Hey, look, there's Taylor Trammell with a home run to win a game.
04:41You know, the infield, you mentioned, you know,
04:44maybe Yordan is scuffling is a bit much.
04:47Yeah, one weekend and you're not doing your job.
04:49What the hell, man?
04:50Maybe it's a tiny, tiny –
04:52You had a day off?
04:52Are you crazy?
04:53Maybe it's a tiny little scuffle stretch that Yordan is through.
04:56Well, then Isak Bader steps up.
04:58Or shout out to Reynel Delgado getting his first blast.
05:01Or Delgado.
05:01So it's not like, oh, look, these guys,
05:04these two or three guys are carrying the team.
05:06No, it's these two or three, then these two or three,
05:09then this guy, then pitching.
05:11Let's get to pitching.
05:12All of a sudden, you know, Emai might have something going on,
05:15which, by the way, you know, obviously he had it.
05:16Hey, buddy.
05:18Buddy was cooking.
05:19Ten strikeouts in his outing.
05:23And then all of a sudden, maybe, you know, doing well.
05:26Well, you got a couple of wins from, you know,
05:28Eric Getty on a great stretch.
05:29Now Eric Getty's scuffling.
05:30Oh, all of a sudden, Mike Burroughs has an outing.
05:32It's next man up.
05:33Peter Napalm and Mary Lambert.
05:35Lambert had his stretch.
05:37Even the bullpen.
05:38You know, when you all of a sudden, you know,
05:39hey, they have no bullpen left.
05:41What are they going to do if they go to the bullpen?
05:43Oh, okay, blue ball all of a sudden went two innings of no run ball.
05:47Yeah, not giving up a run.
05:49So it's not as if they have these guys that are just stepping up.
05:53It's like this guy one day, what is it, Tuesday?
05:56It must be Peter Lambert.
05:57Thursday, it must be blue ball.
05:59You know, it's like a next man up mentality,
06:01which is really kind of a boogeyman characteristic, you know,
06:06to everybody stepping up, you know, because they are the ass.
06:10Organizational-wise, I think it is.
06:12I think people just looking at the front of the jersey,
06:15people are like, oh, man.
06:16Yeah, see, but I don't think that's the way.
06:18I don't think that the.
06:18It's not the scary boogeyman.
06:20They have some characteristics of these guys stepping up.
06:22Yeah, they are the undead.
06:24But see, you got to look at the other team's fan bases.
06:27When they see this going, they're like, oh, man, not the ass.
06:30I don't think.
06:31I sincerely.
06:32I was talking to somebody up in Seattle.
06:33They were just like, oh, man, did y'all find something?
06:37It's just that nervousness.
06:39It also helps that they have found something themselves,
06:41which is the same old Seattle Mariners.
06:43They have stunk over the last, like, two weeks.
06:46We'll talk more about that later.
06:47But I just think it's a lot of people that's just in the back of their mind.
06:50Like, of course, you don't have the same Jose Altuve,
06:53those teams, those championship teams.
06:55And that's part of it.
06:56It's kind of like, damn, man, I hope they ain't find nothing again.
06:59Yeah, and the thing about it is, again,
07:02I don't even know what the thing that is that they're resilient.
07:06They've just had timely hitting or just perfectly timed performances
07:11from those various different places that they need to step up.
07:13And it is resiliency, which does make me ask the question, John Lopez.
07:17Do we, the collective royal we?
07:19Yeah.
07:20Oh, one, Joe Espada, some apologies.
07:23Because this is the type of thing that you go,
07:25okay, there's not a particular thing.
07:26This must be a manager.
07:27I know what I was saying, yeah.
07:29Just getting the best out of his team when they need it for what they need.
07:33I mean, you have to be fair.
07:34You know, every button that he switched and turned here during this stretch
07:39has somehow worked.
07:40That's not what they're doing, John.
07:42And let's be completely honest.
07:45Let's be completely honest here.
07:47I haven't had a lot of confidence in these guys going out there sometimes
07:51and the outfield and some of these at-bats and some of these relievers,
07:54and yet it's worked.
07:56No, really and truly.
07:57So, yeah, no, the Astros, who at the very least in the last six games,
08:00have won the last five, right, they are indeed seeming to cook.
08:04Let me ask y'all this real quick.
08:06Is it time to buy?
08:08Is it time to buy?
08:09No.
08:09Buy as in buy stock in the Astros or literally at the trade deadline?
08:12No, I have to trade that line.
08:13No, I am steadfast on that.
08:15They're too weak in the minor leagues.
08:17Come on, man.
08:17No, well, here's the other thing you need to realize.
08:19Well, I don't know.
08:20You see Xavier Nyan's looking pretty good.
08:22He could be someone that maybe people want,
08:24even though he's playing in high A ball right now.
08:26Oh, even though what?
08:27Say that again?
08:27He's playing in high A ball right now.
08:28Oh, okay.
08:29Here's the other thing that we need to absolutely mention,
08:31to be fair on both sides.
08:33Exactly four teams have a winning record in the American League.
08:36Correct.
08:36The American League is ass right now.
08:40And so you are benefiting from that.
08:41Oh, of course.
08:42Of course.
08:42But, I mean, am I going to apologize for that?
08:46I was about to say, just to be fair, it's not like, hey, you know,
08:48maybe that is a reason to be buyer, but I just don't want to give up that.
08:52Well, that might be a good reason to take advantage of that.
08:53But I don't know if there's an advantage to be taken,
08:55because if there's a whole bunch of teams that are still contending for AL playoff capabilities,
09:00they are also possibly buying.
09:02So it's going to be a seller's market.
09:03That probably drives the price up.
09:04And as you said, the war chest, proverbially, for the Astros,
09:08maybe not the most full, but at least more.
09:10You have more of a, I think, more of an appetite for it,
09:12because the Astros have played this way.
09:14They have forced the hands of us onlookers,
09:17and more importantly, of their organization,
09:19and maybe think more in those ways.
09:22Somebody said, hasn't this been an easy stretch of schedule?
09:24Tell me about the easy stretches of schedule earlier for the Astros
09:27in the earlier portion of the season where they did something similar.
09:29Like I think that...
09:30But like I said, there's only four teams with a winning record.
09:32Everything's kind of easy.
09:33Right, getting this done.
09:34Right, the Blue Jays are one of the better teams.
09:36Now, they hadn't been on a good run in this stretch of things,
09:39but they were one of the better teams.
09:40You managed to win two out of three there,
09:42although you did need 11 innings for one of them.
09:44So, no, I'm not looking to give horse in the mouth right now,
09:46because, again, this is just kind of the...
09:48This is a departure from where the Astros had been earlier on in the season.
09:52We'll see. We'll see.
09:53I mean, ultimately, that remains to be seen,
09:55but they are answering the call, right?
09:57We have put a number of calls up for them.
10:00Can they do this? Can they do that?
10:01And they're starting to really...
10:03Maybe starting isn't right,
10:04but they are answering those pretty summarily right now.
10:07Another three-game set starts today back home for the Astros
10:10as they face off against the Minnesota Twins, 7-10 first pitch.
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