- 15 minutes ago
Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast react to Astros players expressing their frustration with the lack of fan support in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Chicago White Sox.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00We'll start it off with baseball. Hello, Seth. How are you?
00:03Hello. Oh, there's baseball play. Is that what we're calling that right now?
00:06Baseball. Bunch of slack-jawed relievers going out, and boy, boy, it's the playoffs.
00:14Oh, yeah. Who are you rolling out? Who are your aces? Bunch of guys.
00:18Yeah, a bunch of dudes. Bunch of guys. Bunch of fellers.
00:21Dudes. And, you know, Chicago's going to do a better job of rolling out different guys
00:27and the Astros, different guys for your pitching staff.
00:31It was a good strategy by Venables there.
00:34Yeah, I did not realize until I woke up this morning
00:39and saw Chandler Rome's article on this game.
00:42And go find it. If you're a subscriber to The Athletic, I think it's free.
00:47Yeah, I think it's not behind the paywall.
00:50So go out of your way then to find it this morning.
00:53Chandler, I'll reiterate, Chandler, I think, does a really good job covering this team.
00:58The big story, apparently, yes, big enough to where it's the lead in Chandler's recap of this game.
01:03Because, let's face it, there's not much to recap from an Astros perspective in this game.
01:07The offense did what they do, which is largely fell asleep.
01:11Their runs were largely scored on a pinch-hit home run from a guy who wasn't even on the team
01:14until two weeks ago,
01:16Nelson Velasquez. They lost 6-3 yesterday.
01:19The pitching was sloppy and terrible from the bullpen.
01:24And the White Sox get a win in their first trip to the playoffs in a long time with a
01:28really young team.
01:29And now they can put the Astros out of their misery today.
01:32Well, as they said on the broadcast yesterday in the wildcard round,
01:35teams are 15-1 in winning the series when they win the first game.
01:39I couldn't believe that.
01:40I know. I couldn't either.
01:41I thought maybe he was saying it incorrectly or something.
01:44Yep, yep.
01:44Teams that win game one in the wildcard round are 15-1 since they went to this format.
01:49So, we've got plenty of people to take aim at today.
01:52Ironically, two of the people that were on my list are two of the people that are complaining the most
01:56loudly about you, the Astro fans.
01:58If you're an Astro fan, Bennett Souza and Christian Walker are not happy with your act today
02:05because you are one of two things, and they're angry with both of them.
02:08You're either somebody who was at the game yesterday and didn't give them enough support,
02:12or you're somebody who didn't go to the game, thus leaving 7,000 seats empty at the game yesterday.
02:17So, just know that the guy who committed an egregious throwing error in the first inning,
02:23he decided to throw the ball to left center field at Christian Walker.
02:29That handed them the first run of the game.
02:31Yeah, yeah.
02:32That basically all but scored Antonacci.
02:35Oh, no, Antonacci hit the single on that one.
02:38And then Bennett Souza.
02:39Bennett Souza of the wild pitches.
02:41You remember Bennett Souza of the wild pitches?
02:43I do, I do.
02:44He also is upset with the way that Astros fans treated this just sparky group of Astros baseball players.
02:54Dude, that Christian Walker and Bennett Souza are the two guys complaining is just so rich in this whole thing.
03:00Yeah.
03:01That these are the two guys that are giving the quotes on the lack of support they're getting from the
03:05fans.
03:06Let me read some of these quotes.
03:07If you're an Astros fan, this is going to stir the pot for you here.
03:11So, and there's several in here.
03:13I'm going to pick out the high points.
03:14This is Bennett Souza.
03:15The very first quote in Chandler's article.
03:17The fans here are definitely spoiled with a lot of ALCS and World Series runs.
03:21And we have to earn that right to bring this team back to that position.
03:24That being said, when this team was in their first playoff series 10 years ago,
03:29Minute Maid Park was probably packed.
03:31It makes a big difference.
03:32If we were in Chicago, it'd probably be loud as bleep.
03:36End quote.
03:37Yeah.
03:37Yeah.
03:38Yeah.
03:39Dude, it gets worse.
03:41It gets even worse with these quotes from freaking Bennett Souza.
03:45Yeah.
03:46Yeah, dude.
03:47Yeah.
03:47I'm like, all right, man.
03:48Yeah.
03:49Keep reading, Sean.
03:50Okay.
03:51I'm going to stick with Souza.
03:52I'll go back to Bennett Souza.
03:55As a team and a staff, we know how we feel about our guys.
03:59And if that's felt differently from the outside, that's okay.
04:02We can live with that.
04:04But as a team, we know that we lay it on the line every day.
04:08We've been working our ass off.
04:09We've been playing hard.
04:10We got to the playoffs.
04:12We just really need the support of our fans.
04:14End quote.
04:15Okay.
04:15Let me, let me point out two things here.
04:16Two things.
04:17And this kind of goes back to the first quote from Bennett Souza when he's deciding 10 years
04:22ago, you know, when the Astros were on the cusp of becoming a multi-time world series team.
04:25Those were better baseball teams than you.
04:28Those were way more watchable baseball teams than you.
04:32Those were also teams that weren't falling behind 3-0 in the first and second inning of games
04:36by trotting A.J.
04:38Bluebaugh and Brian King, of all people, out there.
04:40I checked yesterday, and apparently Joe Spada had a ton of relievers available.
04:45How do I know this?
04:45Because he used a bunch of them.
04:46And he thought Brian King, who's got an ERA of like 12 over the last month, was the best guy
04:52to bring.
04:52Big shock, that guy put five straight guys on base in the second inning.
04:56Yeah, it's been at least a week and a half since I've seen a performance like that out of Brian
05:00King.
05:00Right, right.
05:01Okay, the second thing here with Bennett, with Bennett Souza, okay?
05:05Bennett Souza, a soft-tossing lefty setup guy on a mediocre baseball team.
05:11But as a team, we know we lay it on the line every day.
05:15Bro, you are not a first responder.
05:18You're not a fireman running into a burning building.
05:20You're not even a football player.
05:24We lay it on the line.
05:25I could live with a football player.
05:27I could live with a football player saying, we lay it on the line.
05:31You actually sustain injuries.
05:34You know, like you actually get surgeries.
05:36And I know baseball players get Tommy John, things like that.
05:39Bro, you are a soft-tossing lefty reliever.
05:42You lay it on the line every day.
05:44You do not quote triumph to me, young man.
05:47Oh, my God.
05:48You do not.
05:48Be more dramatic, dude.
05:52Holy smokes.
05:53You're Bennett Souza.
05:54This is – between that and if I'm an Astros fan, that Chicago quote chaps my ass, man.
06:00If we were in Chicago, this place would be loud as bleep.
06:03I'm telling you Astros fans right now, and I never do this.
06:05I'm not a booer.
06:06I say that all the time.
06:08People can boo if they want to.
06:10I'm not a booer.
06:10You're more about doers than booers.
06:12I'm a doer.
06:13I'm not a booer.
06:14Yeah.
06:15If Bennett Souza comes into the game today, you should boo his ass back to wherever he's
06:19from the second his foot hits the grass coming out of the bullpen.
06:23In defense of Bennett Souza, let me read another quote from the article.
06:27Yeah.
06:28I'm not going to lie to you.
06:29I was pretty pissed off in the dugout when I came in.
06:32Yes.
06:32About the booze.
06:33Yeah.
06:34This team has laid a lot on the line to be in this position to give the fans a playoff
06:39game, a playoff series.
06:41We want their support.
06:44Yeah.
06:44Yeah.
06:45We lay it on the line.
06:47Oh, my God.
06:50Now, here's Christian Walker's quotes.
06:53Yeah.
06:53Christian Walker.
06:54Christian Walker.
06:54He took a break from launching baseballs where they're not supposed to be.
06:59Old mister put it where it shouldn't be.
07:01And from Mr. Slow Walk back to the dugout.
07:05Mr. Mopey Pants.
07:06Surprise, surprise.
07:07Was verbally moping in the clubhouse.
07:10It's extremely frustrating as a home player.
07:12We're here playing at home.
07:14We need cheers.
07:15We need energy.
07:16We don't need booze.
07:17What purpose does that serve in that moment?
07:20Whatever fans are feeling, we're feeling it tenfold.
07:23We're the ones out there.
07:24We're the ones in the fight.
07:25We worked our butts off this whole season to put ourselves in this spot.
07:29And for guys to get booed, it's frustrating.
07:31You know what, Christian Walker?
07:33Have an OPS better than 645 since the All-Star break, and you won't get booed.
07:38You know who doesn't get booed?
07:39Jordan Alvarez, ever.
07:40Right.
07:40Because he's good at baseball.
07:42Yeah.
07:42Like, hey, you guys aren't treating us as well as those other Astros teams.
07:47They were actually competitive and had a pulse and were surpassing expectations instead of deflating the fan base.
07:55Unbelievable.
07:56And you know what?
07:57This gets a spot-a fired.
07:58Like, dude, honestly, this is the crap that I'm dealing with?
08:01You guys want an attaboy?
08:02You want a pat on the butt that you waltzed your way into the playoffs?
08:05But that's the complaint about a spot-a is that he's just too soft on this team.
08:10That they could lose 9-0, and he's going to talk about how the pitcher had good stuff.
08:15You know, his stuff was good.
08:16His stuff was good.
08:17Like, whatever.
08:18We lost 10-2.
08:20We had good at-bats, though.
08:21We had good at-bats.
08:22His stuff was good.
08:23Go back and look if you want to.
08:25It's 162 games.
08:27He'll find something good and lead with that in every loss.
08:31This is a great point, Seth.
08:33I'm just getting angry at the playoffs.
08:35Especially Christian Walker.
08:36You make $20 million a year to suck.
08:37Shut the hell up.
08:38And Bennett Sousa, who the hell are you?
08:40So I am frustrated with that line of reasoning.
08:45I am doubly frustrated by the guys who are espousing it.
08:49Like, if Jose Altuve were saying it, then I might listen.
08:53Like, he's a guy who actually was here for the glory days.
08:55He's a guy who actually is a franchise icon.
08:58He's a guy who actually does have a World Series ring or two.
09:02Like, I'll listen to Jose Altuve.
09:04Christian Walker?
09:06You've been trashed since you got here to make $20 million a year.
09:09Bennett Sousa?
09:10You're barely a Major League pitcher.
09:12You're the guys that are complaining about this?
09:13We're the worst team to have ever won a division in Major League Baseball.
09:17Oh, my God.
09:18And this is the thanks we get.
09:19Dude, you're only making it harder for the 30,000 that show up today to cheer for you.
09:24I'm telling you right now.
09:26Like, yeah, I'm rooting for the Astros to win because there's guys on this team I really like,
09:31and they're my team.
09:31I want more baseball.
09:33You know, but this is – get the hell out of here with that, man.
09:37Sterling, at some point during the break, you've got to find the Derek Carr, I'm pissed off.
09:42Oh, the hockey.
09:43I'm so pissed off.
09:45I'm pissed off.
09:46It's in there somewhere.
09:46I'm pissed off.
09:48It's in there somewhere.
09:48They're pissed off.
09:49That's Bennett Sousa.
09:51That's – that it's these two guys, man.
09:53Well, I remember, you know, Derek Carr was always still pissed off about the fact that
09:57Texans fans booed David Carr.
09:59That's right.
10:00Yeah.
10:00That's right.
10:01Just because he wasn't a good quarterback.
10:01That's right.
10:02Well, Derek Carr was pissed for the very thing that Bennett Sousa is saying, that we put our
10:07bodies on the line.
10:08We put our bodies on the line.
10:10Like, Derek Carr, I can listen to that.
10:11He's a quarterback.
10:12We put stuff in our bodies.
10:13Yeah, well, you don't know what we put in our bodies.
10:16I'm about to get – I'm about to get a doctor.
10:20I'm just pissed off.
10:21Yeah, there you go.
10:22I'm about to get –
10:23Get it again, sir.
10:24I'm just pissed off.
10:25Yeah.
10:26I'm so pissed off I'm about to have a doctor lose his license when I disclose the things
10:31that he's prescribed to me.
10:33Bennett Sousa, how do you feel about the Astros fan base right now?
10:36I'm just pissed off.
10:37Okay.
10:37What about you, Christian?
10:38What about you, Christian Walker?
10:39I'm just pissed off.
10:40Yeah, they're all pissed off, man.
10:41I go out there and I throw wild pitches.
10:43Oh, my God.
10:43And I just expect somebody to support the – I want the cheers to coax that baseball back
10:49into Yonor Diaz's mishandled mitt, yeah.
10:55Dude, the only thing we needed was Brian King complaining about the fans, and we would
10:58have hit the trifecta.
10:59Oh, if you would have said something, I would have threw up.
11:01Oh, man.
11:02I come in there and I try to –
11:05I'm just pissed off.
11:06I'm just pissed off.
11:06I try to load up the bases the best I can.
11:09Hey, here's the other thing.
11:10You and I had a back and forth about this yesterday, and I thought – this is my feeling early
11:15in the game, and I know it would have been unpopular because it would have been semi-punting
11:19on a game, but I could kind of sense which way this game was going early on.
11:23I was pissed off about this.
11:25You were pissed off about this because you were pissed at this opinion because one of
11:28your replies was, they're only down by three runs, which is true.
11:31Yeah.
11:31But my feeling, and I felt strongly about this, is that given that – look, you're
11:38going to ride or die probably with Hunter Brown and Hayden Wisniewski and however they
11:42do in those two games, and whatever needs to come in after that.
11:46Just sensing the way this game was going early yesterday, when it got to 3-0, I would have
11:50started getting Tatsuya Imai warming up in the bullpen.
11:53He's on the roster, so let's make him serve a purpose.
11:56Oh, wait a second.
11:57Would Jim Crane possibly have to pay a little bit extra money?
12:00It's a regular season thing.
12:02We've got to be sure there's no incentives involved because we know Jim Crane isn't
12:05going to play him.
12:05No, no, no, no.
12:06I wouldn't have suggested it if that were the case because I know how Crane operates.
12:10No, but when it got down 3-0 and you could see kind of the direction the offense was
12:14going early too, and this is not a good offensive team.
12:17I don't want to get snowed under by the fact that they scored 13 and 9 runs against the
12:21A's their last two games.
12:22This is a bad offensive baseball team that goes as Jordan Alvarez goes.
12:26And credit the White Sox.
12:27They did a pretty good job of cutting the head off the snake yesterday.
12:30I thought when it was 3-0, they should get Emi up and start warming because if it got
12:35any worse, just bring Emi in and let him pitch.
12:38And if you happen to get good Emi, then great.
12:41If you get bad Emi, then you end up losing whatever, 8, 9, 10, nothing.
12:45But let him burn his arm out for five or six innings, save the bullpen, and then go clean
12:51into these last two games with a full set of relievers.
12:54Hunter Brown and Hayden Nowisneski starting.
12:57Fully bore, full bore, at home, albeit in front of a crowd that's booing you, ready
13:01to go.
13:02I thought early that should have been a strategy to protect them from what happened, which was
13:08Brian Abreu and Josh Hader coming in and pitching the 8th and 9th inning in a game
13:14they had no chance of winning.
13:15Yeah, yeah.
13:16Virtually no chance of winning.
13:17I was pissed off that your defeatism was actually, like, you had the right approach.
13:24To protect Espada from himself.
13:26Yeah.
13:27To do that.
13:28You didn't know that Bennett Sousa, at that point I didn't know that Bennett Sousa was
13:33going to go in and A, suck, and then B, be angry that the fans pointed out he sucked.
13:37Yes.
13:37All right?
13:38Yes.
13:39I don't know how other people felt about that, but it was a really interesting game.
13:43I mean, I thought in the first inning, I tweeted it.
13:45Dude, honestly, by the time I saw frickin' Hendrickson, I was like, all right, this is
13:49where we are with it.
13:49Yeah.
13:50Hendrickson is the guy that did it in for me.
13:52Yeah.
13:52Where I was like, yeah, Sean's right.
13:54I like it to be very, oh, oh, good.
13:57No, we get it with Van Wye.
13:58Okay, cool.
13:58Yeah.
13:59Cool.
13:59Yeah.
14:00So, it was a parade.
14:01That's the problem.
14:02You're seeing Hendrickson.
14:04You're seeing Van Wye.
14:05Yeah.
14:05At no point did I think, oh, yeah, you got to be sure you roll out a Breu and Hader
14:09at some
14:09point in this game.
14:10Right.
14:10Just to be sure that those guys might be a little bit beleaguered by game three if you
14:15make it there.
14:15When I saw Hader, Abreu coming in was one thing.
14:18I'm like, okay.
14:18Yeah.
14:19Like, that seems, it was only a three-run, or no, it was a four-run game when Abreu came
14:22in.
14:22So, yeah.
14:23I was like, okay, this is a little strange, but there's no way he brings in Hader if,
14:27there's no way he brings in, and he brought in Hader.
14:29Like, that's unconscionable.
14:31That is D'Amico Ryan's not-calling-timeouts-level mismanagement.
14:36A closer who's had shoulder issues, who you shout from the rooftops when he pitches more
14:42than one inning, it becomes a headline.
14:44Yeah.
14:44We're not going to give up.
14:45All right.
14:46Well, you might as well have brought him in after Uyola.
14:50You know?
14:50Like, that's, you gave up already after Uyola goes out.
14:54Yeah.
14:54And then you decide not to give up at the very end of the game.
14:57Let's burn these guys.
14:58Yeah.
14:59And so, Espada, I think Espada, I mean, I've got a poll that feels completely obsolete
15:05now, because I put up a poll yesterday talking about what you and I were hitting with Espada.
15:09Like, how far does he need to go?
15:11How far do the Astros need to go in the postseason for Joe Espada to keep his job?
15:15And the results of the poll were really interesting throughout the afternoon, because it's very
15:19even.
15:19I'm not going to say what they were, because you may want to guess.
15:21But for me, like, can one game completely shift the calculus?
15:26Yeah.
15:26When it's a playoff game where you, where manager, the manager is going to be a key in a game
15:31like this, where it's a bullpen game, and you're having to really read the room and figure
15:37things out, and it's a short series, and you're, like, it's an allocation of resources
15:41issue over the course of this series.
15:43Bringing in Brian Abreu and Josh Hader, like, if there's, if for some reason, I can't imagine
15:49they'd be unavailable because it's an all-hands-on-deck situation.
15:51So they're going to pitch.
15:53But if they're ineffective, then, and it's a reason they lose the game and the season's
15:58over, Hader or Abreu, I mean, Espada's already going to get fired, probably.
16:02So this isn't anything where it's, like, probably tips the scales.
16:05For me, tip the scales, though, because I feel like I was, I was more, I was being more
16:10generous to Espada than I think the general public.
16:12I think he's gotten handed a tough, a tough hand out of the shoe here with what Dana Brown
16:18put together.
16:18But he does stuff like this, and this is just romper room type stuff, man.
16:22What are you doing pitching Abreu and Hader?
16:24Put Emai in.
16:26It doesn't, yeah.
16:26And let him burn his arm for two innings.
16:28It doesn't help that Venables is getting all kinds of credit for the way he managed the
16:31bullpen game and kept the Astros hitters unsettled.
16:36And he ended up using five relievers in this bullpen game, whereas the Astros end up using
16:40eight guys.
16:41It burned eight guys in a 6-3 loss.
16:43Like, what are we doing, man?
16:45What are we doing?
16:46Yeah, the other thing, too, is, like, in hindsight, I get kind of pissed off that the Velasquez
16:51pinch hit situation worked out just because it's more like it's the very thing that got
16:56a spot of this job was when he pinch hit John Singleton after Dusty.
17:01He had kicked out of the game that one time.
17:04And it wasn't a smart move because Singleton hadn't done anything, but he does something
17:09in that moment.
17:09And you're like, oh, look at this clever move by the bench coach and how it all worked out.
17:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:16One of the outfielders they picked up off the scrap heap got a home run yesterday.
17:20All right, so we'll talk more about the Astros for sure as it goes on.
17:23But just know, if you're waking up, Bennett Sousa and Christian Walker are very angry with
17:26all of you.
17:27Yeah, Bennett Sousa wants to know that the issue is that you guys are booing when he
17:32sucks.
17:33Right, right, right.
17:34Because you wouldn't have booed those previous Astros teams that were actually good baseball
17:39teams.
17:39And you're not as good as fans in Chicago.
17:43You're just not as good of fans.
17:44These guys, they never booed Charlie Morton on his way to being a cog, a key cog in winning
17:51a World Series way to getting the last out of the World Series.
Comments