The city, Oh the creative, creative, creative. Welcome to another Space
City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews Live and Local Beach Town breakdown
on the world that matters to you? Does Houston Sports World? All these
great Houston fans here, We love you all, So finish up on that
to do list, Load up the cooler, because you can't drink and talk
sports all day if you don't start now. This is Space City Saturday.
Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews. You know it's think big boys guy. I
am Dan Matthews. Gonna be with you here for the next couple of hours
Space City Saturday. Thanks some Doug Pike for getting us started today. You
know it's funny. I didn't even know that Doug was in studio as I
was driving in. I was listening to the show and I'm about to walk
in, and you gotta be careful with those outdoors guys. Man, they
got all the weapons. I mean, I'm lucky I didn't get a crossbow
or something, you know, pointed at me as I tried to walk into
the studio to start prepping for the show. But Doug's a nice man.
I think you would have let me have a pass. But anyway, thanks
to Doug for getting us going today, as we have got a lot for
you here. Of course, we are going to be massively astros loaded on
this show because these next couple of days the largest couple of days of the
season, and we have all of that for you. You can jump in
on the phone lines if you would like at seven one three two one two
five seven ninety seven one three, two, one two five seven ninety is
how we can get you in on the conversation. As I meant, we're
gonna have a lot of astro's talk. As a matter of fact, I'm
gonna go ahead and make a proclamation right now. I would probably say conservatively
eighty five percent of this show today is going to be astros because I mean,
that is the largest topic of conversation that we need to talk about on
the program today, so we will do that. Of course, recap last
night's two to one win over the Diamondbacks. WHOA, it got a little
hairy. They're late, didn't it. I mean it's one of those things
that you have the al twove air and then you have the moreno double,
which it's funny because I think like a lot of us now if you were
watching it on TV, which I was at the house in the Woodlands,
and I've got Direct TV stream as my viewing package, and so of course
when you stream, you're behind a little bit, and of course the atticipation
is killing you, right, So I then get on my MLB app and
I'm you know, I've got my girlfriend's brother, you know, he's watching
the game with me, and he's like, you're watching the head, aren't
you. And I was like, dude, I can't help myself, like
I've got to know what happens. And of course the moreno hit, you
see runs and I'm just thinking to myself, I'm like, no, no,
no, you didn't do this. You didn't just tie this ball game
up. And then I see a run scores and I'm like, okay,
well not great, but still you're still in position to be able to win
this game. You don't want to go the dreaded extra innings, which has
been exactly that, a dreadful situation for the Astros this season. I can't
remember exactly what the number is in terms of the record, but it ain't
good. And they were able to avoid that with Jose Altuve able to get
redemption for his error earlier in the inning with the Jace Peterson little rollover tapper
to the right side, nice little easy throw to jose A Bray. You
in the Astros are able to line up for handshakes and high fives and be
able to inch even closer to a playoff spot. So it's gonna be a
huge one again tonight. You get another really good pitching matchup for this game
coming up a little bit later on on seven forty and also right here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. There's gonna be a lot of gymnastics today in a
good way if you will here on our great family of iHeart stations, because
I mean the listening pleasure that is going to be at your disposal for everything
today here across our great stations of us right here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
also to KPRC nine fifty, and also News Radio seven forty kt r
H. As a matter of fact, six o'clock on deck gonna get started
over on News Radio seven forty kt r H, as we will have that
starting for you over at six o'clock, and that's gonna lead you up to
the seven ten first pitch from the deserts of Justin Verlander against Merrill Kelly.
So we will have all of that for you right here on Sports Talks seven
ninety. Coming up at one thirty, you're gonna have the Long Warns and
Kansas. A matter of fact, with that game, I am going to
get into some college football today. I mean, that's gonna be in there
in that little fifteen percent if you will, like I said, like I
said, eighty five percent of this show today is going to be Astros.
And if you have some angst, if you have some happiness, if you
have any of those things, please again seven one two, one two five,
seven ninety, let's talk through it. Let's do it, all right,
That's what I'm here for for these next two hours. Let's do it.
Let's have some fun, and we will do all of that. But
of course, last night you can't talk about that game without talking about the
yeoman's work. And that's the second time this week that on Twitter, I
have thrown that out for the followers out there and anybody else that can see
me on I can't call it X by the way, it just sounds weird
and it just sounds kind of repeat. I don't know, like you know,
I understand. You know, it's Elon Musks. He can do whatever
he wants, and he's obsessed with the letter X, and he's obsessed with
space Balls and all those different things, which I didn't know until listened to
the Joe Rogan podcast when he was on of his obsession with the movie space
Balls, which I think is a great movie. I think it's hilarious movie.
And like all of his tesla's have like space Ball references, like ludicrous
speed and everything like that. So we you know, as you'll find out
here as I host this show in the coming weeks, you're gonna know that
sometimes I get a little sidetracked. That's just the add in me. And
if you can deal with it, then we can have some fun. But
jose Ra Katie last night unbelievable, And like I said, second time this
week, I've thrown out Yeoman's work because Wednesday nights, I threw out that
word for Brian a bray you because he did. I mean, you don't
win that game Wednesday night without Brian a bray You just coming in an absolutely
throwing just stellar work at the Seattle Mariners as he was able to put together
an effort. And then last night, you know, I was in on
the nightcap with Ross Villerial and I said, Ross, you know, here's
the thing that I think that we can rest on with Jose Rakeati. This
time of the year is Raketi time. How many times in the World Series
in twenty nineteen game five up in DC when you needed a huge start and
you're like, Jose Raketi, Oh, I mean, I hope just keep
us close and maybe the bats can get to work, which they did that
night, and you were able to get a win, and you were able
to put yourself in position to be able to clinch the World Series at home.
I don't want to go through bad times with us. Obviously that didn't
happen. Twenty twenty one. You were down one zero to the Braves in
that World Series. In game two, you give the ball to Jose Rakeati
goes out to the mound to El Karrido, the mazit Lan, and he
is able to put together a strong start and you even up the series at
one one. And then last night he's told early in the morning that there
is a family emergency with JP France, which, by the way, his
wife Jessica on Twitter said the kids are great, We're all good. Thank
you all for your support, and you know, just really appreciate everybody reaching
out that did so. Sounds like at least that things have calmed down on
the family emergency front with JP France. Definitely hope that everything is good there
and hopefully he is able to rejoin the team here very soon. Of course,
be keeping tabs on that. But or Katie last night, I mean,
I think that most of us probably could have looked at it and said,
let's get maybe three innings out of him, because i think once he
got through three scoreless, you were like, okay. And I'm saying to
myself as i am leaving a grocery store to pick up some much needed supplies
to be able to watch the late night game, and I'm listening to Robert
Ford and Steve Spark on the way back to the house, and I'm saying
to myself, you know, doesn't sound like he's sawing a ton of pitches.
Maybe you run him back out there for the fourth and they did.
Maybe you run him back out there for the fifth and they did. And
after that, I'm in front of the TV at the time, I can
see the pitch count and I'm like, you know, the sixth inning is
not necessarily out of the question for him, and he went out there and
he delivered. And we'll let you hear from Dusty up Baker next segment about
the walkouts in the mound and you're thinking, all right, that's gonna be
it for Jose Rakeati says he looked at Raketi and said, I gotta ride
with this guy. I'm gonna go with this guy. So credit to him
and credit to others last night who were able to step up for this team
as well. Again, you can get in on the phone lines at seven
one, three, two on two five, seven ninety. Let's go ahead
and start it off right now. Mark on the west side wants to away
in Mark, what's going on Sports Tucks seven ninety. How you doing there?
Are you? I'm awesome, buddy, I mean, especially after a
two one win, this show has a lot more energy when the Astros win.
Can you agree? I agree? Listen, let me go over some
stuff you know mine? Please? Last night I had the Astros on the
radio and I had the Rangers Seattle game on the TV. And I'll tell
you what that Seattle crowd was pumped, man, I have never seen a
crowd at last and they you know, they wont eight and nothing. But
we've got some history with was bad history with Seattle. If it comes down
to that, we end up playing them again, you know, with the
narrowest rod Reagan. Still we've had you know, we've had some problems with
them on the field. You know, they don't like it. We don't
like them and they don't like us. And the Rangers we had to do
with Simeon you know, I believe it was it Fromer earlier in the year
and Maldonado. Yes, yes, So none of the three teams like each
other. But that being said, last night I was hoping as a Brave's
ball was out, but it wasn't. But we got two runs out of
it because they based it on where the runners would have been and I think
Tucker was the last runners, so he's fast and they figured he would have
scored on a double. So that's how we got the two runs. Two
runs is not enough. That's not gonna win me a lot of games.
Unfortunately, your Keatie pitch great. Like you said, our bullpen did a
good job. Now I want to get to Presley Pressley, I like a
lot. I think he's a good closer. Thank god we had two runs
and not just one. That guy just worries me sometimes. I mean always
say, if we have a one or two run league with Presley coming in,
get the first guy out that's key, which he did, right,
and then another the next guy I believe got a hit, and no he
did now to be made an error. Yeah yeah, yeah, that was
the al Twove error. And then you get the next outs. I don't
have the ending breakdown in front of me. But then, of course the
fourth hitter of the ending was Marino and that was the double that chas McCormick
tried to make a play on in centerfield. I'll tell you what, Dan.
First of all, you can't make errors like that big games like this,
But it happened. And that ball I thought it was out, I
mean McCormick. I thought either McCormick was going to make one of those great
catches jumping up against the fence. That ball was within less than a foot
going out, which would have taed the game. It was just like a
bruise ball, a braves ball. Yeah, that ball was what less than
six inches from going out. It's a game of inches. You know that
game was nerve rectal, but we won. That's the main thing. Let
me answer yeah real quick. Okay, we got Verlander going today, which
is good. I hope he repeat his last performance, and I hope we
score at least five runs. Let's say we sweep this series, just hypothetically.
Okay, now, if the Rangers just win one game out of the
four they've already lost the first two. We had the tape breaker with the
Rangers where we win the division based on that scenario, and I'll let you
go, but thank you. Yeah, I appreciate Mark. So I'm glad
you brought that up. By the way, Corey Lighter on Twitter has done
a great job if any of you follow him, and he has put together
a little spreadsheet, if you will, of scenarios. So the only way
the Astros are going to win the Al West is going to be if they
sweep this series. So they win tonight, they win tomorrow, and here
are the scenarios that goes. So the Mariners have won two, say the
Rangers win these next couple of games. The Astros, if that's the case,
would finish in second and the Mariners would be in third ergo, the
Mariners would miss the postseason, and the Astros would get that third and final
wildcard spot. Now, if the Mariners win one or two more games in
the Astros sweep, then the Astros win the American League West. So say
tonight, if the Astros win and the Mariners win again, then it's going
to be a tie going into tomorrow, and that's going to be an all
important one for the Astros to be able to get that one. And if
say the Rangers are able to win tomorrow, but then you're Houston Astros able
to put together a another great effort, then that is going to mean that
your Astros are Aos champions, and that means that we all get a stress
free week. Everybody gets to take a deep breath and be able to have
that buy and go in to the Alds instead of having to try to sweat
it out in the wildcard round. I'll break all of those scenarios down and
everything more. Plus let you hear from manager Dusty Baker about some of the
things that Mark just brought up right there, and I've brought up so far
in the show today, John Stick and stay right there. I'll get to
you here in just a second. So we're also here on the show today.
I'm gonna get into a little bit of college football coming up bottom of
this hour Mike Craven from Dave Campbell's Texas Football. He is going to join
us as there is a lot of great college football action happening around the lone
Star state today. We will touch on all of that with Mike coming up
bottom of next hour as well. My good buddy, you're a good buddy.
Everybody's good buddy or him every weekday morning here on Sports Talk seven ninety
with Sean Salisberry, Brian Lilima, gonna hop on and we're gonna chop up
some stros here coming up next hour. But all of that's in much more
tons of Astro's conversation. You want to line up, you can at seven
one three two one two five, seven ninety. We will also get into
some Texans talk a little bit today as well, because there are some things
that I do want to touch on. We will do all of that right
here Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you until noon Sports Talk seven
ninety. Welcome back to Space City Saturday one Sports Talk seven ninety Ibby Astros
as they were able to pull off a huge win last night over the Arizona
Diamondbacks out in Arizona. I'm gonna get to my Dusty Baker topic here in
JA a few seconds. Coming up in about ten minutes, gonna be talking
some college football as we'll break away momentarily again and that fifteen percent right there.
We'll talk some college football with Mike Craven, senior writer for It,
Dave Campbell's at Texas Football. Can you get to the Dusty topic here in
just a second. First, let's go back out to the west side.
John wants to weigh in here on Sports Talk seven ninety John. How you
doing, Buddy? I am doing fine. Actually answered part of my question
just a minute ago. But about the playoffs, my understanding is that if
there's a tie between the Rangers, Astros, and Mariners, that the Rangers
and Mariners will go and knock the Astros. Where the Astros hold a series
city the series over the Rangers, the Mariners hold it over us, and
I guess the Rangers hold it over the Mariners, and so in case of
the three way tie, I wonder why they would go and the Astros would
not. And then secondly, if there's a four way tie with the Blue
Jays, who gets to go? And then my other question is who is
the backup catcher for the Astros this year? If you know, it's Yin
er Ds, no, the emergency catch Oh god, his name escapes me
right now. I'll look it up here in just a second, but the
primary is Jiner Ds. Yeah, because I you know, I always wondered
who it would be. And obviously you don't want to ever use your emergency
catcher, but there's a lot of times where I thought maybe you could pitch
hit DS for Malvinado, and you know, if DS got hurt, you
could bring in your emergency catcher. So I'll just hang up and listen.
Thank you all. I appreciate the call there, John saysar Salazar, And
that's on me that I didn't remember who the third catcher is, but been
in the minor leagues for much of this season. But yeah, I mean,
anytime you have to go to the emergency part of the raw as you
don't want to do that. But last night it worked out. But here's
how it stands right now. Just to answer John's question even further, so,
Seattle is at eighty seven and seventy three. Astros are at eighty eight
and seventy two. So that would mean that the Astros they win one more,
that's two. If they win two, that locks them in they are
in the postseason. And in that case, that would mean that the Mariners
need to make up another game on the Astros. So if that happened,
they would have the tiebreaker for the division. The Mariners would win the AL
West. So that means that in this scenario right here again you can find
Corey Lder on Twitter and he lays it out, that would mean that they
have won one more than the Astros. In this case right here, that
means that they have won four. So the Mariners in that case would win
the AL West. In the Astros would be second place and they would have
that final wildcard spot and the Rangers would be missing out on the postseason.
Which I know there's probably not a lot of tears being shed if that's the
case. That if in Arlington they are watching us in the postseason, and
in this case right here too, that would mean if the Astros made the
wildcard and say they go up to Minneapolis and take care of business against the
twins that would possibly set them up, not possibly, it would set them
up for an alds on the road against the Mariners. Kind of a rematch
of last year's alds in this case though instead of starting it off at Minute
Made Park, you're starting it up there at T Mobile Park in Seattle.
And I know that you know that is something that as Mark pointed out a
little bit earlier, that it is creating a hell of a rivalry. Now.
I mean, somebody pointed it out on Twitter last night, and I
can't remember exactly who it is, but they said, look, you know,
you've got the Dodgers and Giants. That's a hell of a Major League
rivalry. Obviously the one that everybody looks to. That's kind of the Ohio
State, Michigan Army, Navy if you will, Texas O you is the
Yankees and the Red Sox. But I mean the way that the last few
years have gone, and of course to just the vitriol that we have for
the Mariners and their fans, and boy did they really show their backsides on
Monday night with that beanball of jose Al twove. See that's the funny thing
of all of this is the reaction to the hector nearest thing of just the
handwringing that is going on with that after you know, you've got people just
verbally cheering somebody getting hit in the game. Which if there's anything that's happened
with this entire situation of what happened in twenty seventeen, the guy that has
wore it and has never apologized for it and has never you know, said
why me or anything, it's been jose Al Tuove when it's been documented that
he did not benefit from said scheme. And this is something that has go
on for the last few years. And let's be honest here, most people
don't care about facts if it fits their narrative. And in this case right
here, it's Yankee fans channing fl TWOV and all of those different types of
things, and people just glomb onto it and go with it because there's comfort
in a crowd. There's comfort in oh hey, everybody else is saying it,
so I can say it too, right, And that's the way that
most people go about it. So anyway, that is how the brakes go.
Sometimes I get to my Dusty Baker topic. I think I'll do it
after we talk with Mike Craven here in a few minutes, but real quick,
let's squeeze in Ray and Memorial right here on Sports Talk seven ninety Ray,
what's going on, buddy, Hey, get good morning. I just
want to make a quick comment on hanging up in this an our coup question.
It looks like I've been pretty critical some of the moves Dust he's made
this season, but I was looking at just In verbend or going again tonight
if I'm if I'm not mistaken, it looks like which means it looks like
Wow may have gotten skipped into rotation, which is a good thing because he's
been downl terrible lately. And I just want to see if I can get
some cratification on there, because I'm no further under with you at at night.
I haven't seen Hunter Brown since he had a mild down a gift to
cancer the laws and gave up six runs in the first inning, and I
haven't seen him since I don't clare you on an eye up to listen all.
I appreciate the call. Ray. This would be the fifth day for
Justin Verlanders, so it would have worked out for him to pitch today.
I think had the Astros already been in a clinch situation that you would not
have seen him pitch in this game. But because they are still very much
in the race to try to clinch a spot, you need one of your
best out there, and Justin has been that. With Hunter Brown, I
think that it's probably a little bit of a couple of things. Number One,
I think that probably it's overworked to this point, and that's not necessarily
anybody's fault. It's just that you've had him in the rotation and he's thrown
more innings than he's ever thrown, So I think there's a little bit of
fatigue there. And I think also too, here's the thing is, sometimes
you have to put in the sweat equity and you have the tough results to
be able to learn in the future. I go back to my experience that
I had working in my previous market before coming back home, to coming back
home here to Houston in Atlanta, and I'm reminded so much of the Braves
rotation that they had when Max Freed was coming up, and also too when
you had Kyle Wright coming along, and Kyle Wright was one of those guys
in Atlanta that people were like, what is it with this guy, like,
come on, man, we've heard that you're supposed to be one of
the future greats in this rotation. And I remembered last year Brian Snicker when
I was in a press conference talking about Kyle Wright and saying, you know
what, I think last year in Triple A was so great for him.
And then, of course, unfortunately against the Astros, he kind of found
his legs in Major League Baseball and he went out and had a hell of
an outing in Game four of the World Series in twenty twenty one, and
that give him the confidence that he needed to be able to say, Okay,
I can get outs at this level. I think the good news is
that Hunter Brown has I can get outs at this level. I think that
for him, it's a all right, how do I space this thing out
to be able to make sure that I'm as fresh as I possibly can be
in August and September as I am in April and May at the beginning of
the season when the arm is a little bit fresher, all of those different
types of things. So I think that probably that's something that he's going to
get back in the lab and try to work on this offseason to make sure
that next year when he gets at this time of the year, that he
is a little bit more spaced out and he is able to throw some more
quality innings and put out some more quality work this time of the year when
you need him. But in the case of this, I mean, I
know Dusty Baker was asked in the postgame last night about what his pitching situation
is on Sunday, and he would not get off of it. And I
think it was a reporter from there in the Phoenix area. It did not
sound like Brian McTaggart or Chandler Rome or Julia Morales or anybody that was in
there talking with Dusty in the post game. But Dusty would not budge.
He just said, hey, look, I'm worried about Saturday, and when
we need to worry about Sunday, we'll worry about Sunday. But for right
now, we're worried about Saturday. So that's a huge one tonight again justin
Verlander against Merrill Kelly, and you can hear it right here on your home
of the Astros. Sports Talks seven ninety coming your way after Longhorns and Kansas
wrap up here on at Sports Talks seven ninety. The coverage will get started
over on our sister station at News Radio seven forty kat r H. All
right, let's get in some college football. We're gonna do that next with
my good buddy Mike Craven at Dave Campbell's Texas Football. We will do that.
We will get back into the Astros conversation because you know, Ray actually
just brought up something there that I did want to get to here, but
I kind of pinched myself on time a little bit. So I will get
to that with Dusty here coming up to close out hour one. But all
of that and more still to come. Right here. It's Space City Saturday
eight, Dan Matthews here with you until noon on Sports Talk seven ninety.
This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, let's
get right back to it's again you're home of the Astros and the Rocket Sports
Talks seven nineties. You just heard right there from Big Voice guy. It
is basically a Saturday on Dan Matthews with you here until noon, college football,
the conversation right here. Let's do it right now. Mike Craven from
Dave Campbell's Texas Football joining us here for a few minutes, Mike, appreciate
the time a game you're gonna be at, a game we're gonna have here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. You're home with Longhorns here in Houston, Texas
against Kansas As. Texas a pretty sizeable favorite in this one. But what
necessarily concerns you about this matchup today against the Kansas Jayhawks. I think the
thing that would concern Texas is just Jayleen Daniels, right. I mean,
he may arguably be the best quarterback, you know, not only in the
Big twelve, but just kind of in the Southwest region, probably have the
advantage at quarterback over Texas today. And so when you have a quarterback that
can, you know, make make plays with his arm, but also with
his feet, I think that puts defenses in a bind. And if Kansas
has a chance today, it'll be because he has a big game. And
you know, part of this Texas offense I don't think has talked about enough
is the work of Jonathan Brooks so far this season. I know that was
a position of concern for some just because you just didn't know what necessarily what
you had with b Jehan Robinson and Roshawn Johnson moving on to the NFL.
But what can you say about the work that Brooks has done so far through
four games. Yeah, I think it's a testament to his character, right,
I mean, you know, he sits behind the John Robinson, he
sits behind Rushawn Johnson. You know, this is a former mister Texas football
with a bunch of offers who broke you know, school records and came close
to breaking some state records, and you know, and then he finally gets
his opportunity, and then in the springing in the summer he gets beat out
by a five star true freshman, and instead of transferring or sulking, you
know, he stays the course. He waits for his opportunity, and when
he got it, he took advantage to the point that I don't think he
can put him on the bench again, right. I mean, he's going
to be the start running back for Texas as long as he's healthy the rest
of this year. And I think so so much in modern college football,
we get stuck talking about the poor conversation, like, you know, all
these kids never work hard, and they're always leaving and they're always looking for
great But there's plenty of stories like Jonathan Brooks around college football that fly the
opposite for it, and I'm happy that he's kind of getting his chance to
shine. You can find him on Twitter at craven Mike. He is Mike
Craven. Senior writer. Dave Campbell's Texas Football joined us here for a few
minutes on a Space City Saturday and one more on the Texas front. I
mean, I think we can agree here, Mike that two parts of this
team just looks so different than we've seen in past years. That's upfront offensive
and defensive line. Is it because now they finally have depth, size,
everything that you need at those positions, that there's real genuine buzz for people
to believe that this team can do some damage this year. I believe.
So, you know, I'm usually the guy and I grew up around this
program, so I'm usually the guy cautioning people from getting a little bit too
over the top with Texas love. But I think that's absolutely the difference.
You know, they usually have a pretty good seven on seventeen. Even in
their bad years in the odds, you know, they had good wide receivers,
they had decent quarterback play, they had you know, a decent secondary,
but they haven't had the toughness, and that toughness comes from the offensive
line. If you can be an offensive line led football team, they're gonna
be a tough, gritty football team because that's just what those guys up front
bring. And Texas hasn't had good offensive lineman. They haven't had a culture
established by the big, tough guys in a long time. It's been more
you know of a wide receiver culture, a quarterback culture, a defensive back
culture, and so I just think that they're tough for the first time in
a long time. I think the word soft is used for Texas. Even
back during the really good years of Matt Brown. I think the reputation across
the country and then the NFL was maybe it wasn't a tough program. I
feel like Bo Davis, Kyle Flood, just that sec influence and the guys
that they're bringing in has really made that locker room and that program tougher than
it used to be. And that gives me hope that maybe they avoid kind
of the collapse of the upsets that maybe they have in the past. Yeah,
no doubt about it. I mean you talked about Kyle Flood, he
is renowned. Bo Davis, I mean on the defensive line. When it
comes to programs trying to hire a top tier defensive line coach is a reason
why Bo Davis's name is thrown out there as much as it is a couple
more questions again, Mike Craven Dave Campbell's Texas football joined us for a few
minutes here on a Space City's Saturday. Let's flip up to Arlington a game
that's I mean, I kind of had to do a double take here,
Mike when I saw eleven am kick for A and M and Arkansas. Usually,
if nothing else, that's an SEC Saturday night game for Tom Hart Cole
Cublick in the through to be able to call that one. But we're gonna
get it earlier in the day. The Max Johnson time is here. Connor
Wegman done for the season with a foot injury. What does this offense look
like differently with Max Johnson now at the helm? I'm not sure, you
know, honestly, I think we're still starting to are still trying to figure
out kind of you know, what is a Bobby influence here? What's the
Jimbo influence still at quarterback? Does that change now? You know that Connor
Wigman's out. All I can go buy is the second half against Auburn,
and Max looked better than Connor, and they threw the ball around. He
had a couple of touchdown passes. He threw it eleven times and the second
half completed seven of them. So now Matt Johnson's had double digit starts in
the SEC. He started for A and M, he started against SEC or
against OR four LSU last year. He started in this game against Arkansas and
led Texas A and M to a victory. So now I think that their
position pretty well at the backup quarterback position. I just think it takes away
a little bit of their upside. I think with Connor they had an opportunity
to maybe upset l maybe push Alabama to be the best team in the SEC
West. I think with Max Johnson there, they're probably back firmly into an
eight and four seven to five team. But for me, you know,
I don't think it's about the offense. I think the offense is going to
be fine for A and M. For me, it's just about that defense
and if they've really turned a corner. Final one for you, Mike again,
Mike Craven Dave Campbell's Texas Football joined us for a few minutes, and
that is a game that we're gonna have over on our sister station, the
home of the Houston Cougar's AM nine fifty KPRC them going out to Lubbock and
taking on Texas Tech. Is this a winnable game for Dana Holgerson's team today
or is it just kind of like what we saw a couple of weeks ago.
It's a roster trying to find their way in the Big twelve. They're
not quite to where TC was at the time, and maybe where Texas Tech
is right now. I think there's still a little bit behind. But I
mean this Texas Tech team has been so bad and they don't have their starting
quarterback. The offensive line plays been really poor. So they're a team that's
beat up obviously. I mean, you lose to West Virginia on the road.
I mean, I'm not going to bet on Houston not having a chance
to come in there. I will say the advantage for Tech is they've been
kind of Jekyl and hide home versus away. I mean, they've been as
good at home as they've been bad on the road, and so I think
being at home, being in front of a sold out crowd, based knowing
that this one needs to be a win. It's Hall of Fame weekend,
so you know a lot of the big spaces and names are back in Lubbock,
you know, for this game. I think Tech is gonna be ready
to prove that, you know, they're better than what the start is.
Baron Morton's a pretty solid backup quarterback also, so I'll take Texas Tech in
this one. But I think with how poor they played and with the questions
they have up front, you know, anybody's beat able when you have a
poor offensive line. Again, you can find them on Twitter at Craven Mike.
He is Mike Craven, senior writer for Dave Campbell's Texas Football. He
will be in the building today at dk our Memorial Stadium. They're in Austin
for the two thirty kick of Texas and Kansas. Mike, appreciate the time,
buddy, Always great to catch up with You will do so again here
very soon as so we move along in the college football season. Absolutely,
sir, any time. I appreciate it. Mike Craven Again, great work
that he does over there. Dave Campbell's Texas Football. I mean, look,
you know, when you're talking about covering football in this state, is
there anybody that does it better than that magazine? I mean, I remind
you all that I'm coming back home from Atlanta, where college football is king
in that market and in that state, and obviously the last couple of years
the Georgia Bulldogs doing what they've done on the field, and every single year,
right around Memorial Day, you go to the grocery store and you see
the Athlon is there, You see that the Lendis is there, Lindy's Magazine,
which I don't think is as huge here even though we have the Lindy's
Report here on Sports Talk seven ninety. But you see those magazines. Of
course here in the Lone Star state. When you see Dave Campbell's Texas Football
is on the magazine racks, you say, let's go. Football season is
here. We're ready to go. And Mike helps contribute to that great publication.
By the way, speaking of football in this state, got to give
a shout out to the high school alma mater as the Saint Thomas Eagles going
over to Kincaid last night taking down those Falcons twenty eight to thirteen, So
huge shout out to coach Rick McGuire and the Saint Thomas Eagles going in there
and getting a huge win Class of O four. What's up? Eagle fight
never dies. Men of Saint Thomas stand for all to see, honor,
truth and understanding. Our motto will always be these days we spend together,
We'll cherish till we die because the world must know that we are the Men
of Saint Thomas High. Anytime I can built that out, I absolutely do
love forty five hundred Memorial Drive forty five hundred forever. All Right, that's
enough of that. Let's get back into the Astros conversation. We will do
that coming up next. Plus you're gonna hear from Dusty Baker, because I
think that Dusty gets a lot of grief, but it's what he didn't do
that might have been his best move yet. We'll talk about that and much
more to close out hour one of the show right here on Space City Saturday.
I am Dan Matthews. We are Sports Talk seven ninety, your home
the Astros and the Rockets. Space City Saturday continues live Sports Talk seven nineties.
Oh yeah, we are on an island in the sun, and the
sun is shining a lot brighter today. Two to one Astros last night over
the Diamondbacks. As the playoff hopes still very much in play. We will
talk about that in much more here on the show. If you want to
weigh in, you can see three two and two five seven nineties. We
get back into the Astros conversation. I know a lot of you definitely want
to be able to talk that. So last night in the game sixth inning,
Dusty Baker goes out to the mound, and you're thinking to yourself,
all right, hey, look, jose or Katy has given us much more
more than we could have ever asked for in this outing, and if that's
the end of the line for him, then that's it, and that's the
way it's going to be. But then you had Dusty Baker turning around and
leaving the mound. He didn't lift up his right arm, he didn't lift
up his left arm to signal for somebody to run out of the bullpen.
Very rare. You see that if the pitching coach comes out there, then
you know there's no threat that the pitcher is going to be pulled from the
game unless there's an injury or something like that which the manager would still be
out there, but ergo, he left him out there. And Dusty talked
about that after the game of the decision to not pull him, and he
said that it was actions that he saw that told him maybe this isn't the
move to make just yet. All right, we'll get to that audio here
in just a second, but it was Dusty Baker going out to the mound
in saying that you know, he saw something in jose or Keaty's eyes that
told him that this wasn't the move to make, and that he said,
okay, look for us, that this guy can be able to get some
outs and that he can find his way out of this inning. And he
did. He found his way and he was able to work his way through
the rest of the inning. The other part that I liked, and we'll
let you hear from Dusty a little bit later on in the show, is
that he talked about a lesson that he learned from Bo Schembeckler that in terms
of handling your players and just kind of getting a little bit of a feel
of should I make this move or should I not? And in the case
right there, he said, now, this guy's still got the competitor in
him. He's not ready to come off this mound just yet. I mean,
we've seen we've seen other, you know, demonstrative ways that pictures tell
managers know, I'm good, leave me out here. I mean Max Scherz
or years ago. I think it was Davy Johnson at the time, who
was the manager of the Nationals. I don't believe that it was Dave Martinez
just yet, but I believe it was Davy Johnson going out there and you
know you Scherzer basically yelling at him, telling him, no, you're not
pulling me off his mound, get back to the dugout and leave me out
here. And he did, and Scherzer was able to work his way out
of it. And I've talked about it before the back of the baseball card,
and some people, I know they gloss over with that's saying, but
it's so true. In this case, certain guys have proven that they deserve
the benefit of the doubt of if you go out there and they let you
know, no, I'm good, let me work my way out of this.
And I think that Hosier Katy for the reasons that I mentioned earlier in
the show has shown you that this time of the year, he deserves that
benefit of the doubt because for the resume that I've given you, at this
time of the year, he's been able to get some really strong outs for
you and been able to put you in position to win some very crucial games.
Talked about the World Series starts and this one. Now, I mean,
he finds out yesterday morning out there in Arizona. Hey, JP's not
gonna go today. It's gonna be you. And he talked about in the
post game as I was listening to his comments where he said, I was
prepared, I mentally prepare myself that I'm going to be out there on the
mound. And it's the old saying you don't have to get ready if you
stay ready, And in baseball that's so true, I mean, because you
never know how the complexion of the game is going to change. Who's to
say that Archidi wasn't going to be needed in the second inning of this game
yesterday because the Astros are very much in postseason mode. There is not going
to be a ton of Hey, let's let him work his way out of
this. There is over these next couple of days until the Astros had that
spot clenched up, they will be playing postseason baseball, and they will handle
it as postseason baseball. Now, again, certain guys earned a benefit of
the doubt. I think that Justin Verlander, if he's in a little bit
of a tight spot tonight, probably will have a little bit more of a
leash to be able to work with, as opposed to say, if you
had Christian Javier out there tonight, or maybe even Hunter Brown or somebody else
starting this game, that you very much need Because for the scenarios that I
threw out that the Astros if they win this game tonight, are pretty much
in the postseason. If I'm not mistaken, I think they are in the
postseason if they win this one tonight, and the scenarios that have been laid
out with the graph that is out there that yes, the Astros are locked
into second place if they win this game tonight, because let's see what happens
in terms of they win this one and the Mariners only win three games,
that would put the Mariners at eighty eight wins, and that would put the
Astros at eighty nine. So the Astros are in the postseason. So you
only need one more to be able to find your way to October. And
if they win this one, and I'll get to you here in just a
second queue, if they win this one, then you are into the postseason
no matter what. But I talked about this deal a night with Ross ross
Villereal in the nightcap, and that is, if you have an opportunity to
go for the division on Sunday, go for the division because that shows your
team, Hey, we're not just going for this thing. We're going for
this thing. And I think that everybody to a man will absolutely be on
board with that of do we want to guarantee ourselves at least a chance to
be able to have the week off and be able to give us give ourselves
some serious rest or do we want to just get into the postseason? Because
I think the Astros, judging from the results the last few years, they're
not about just getting in. They want to be able to not only get
in, but give themselves every single opportunity to be able to make a run
at this thing. So we'll see if indeed that is the case. You
can jump in on the phone lines if you would like at seven two two
five seven ninety as promise Q in humble, He joins us now on Sports
Talk seven ninety Q, how you doing, Buddy Good? Yes, there's
desipline it out there. Hannah Brown has been atrocious. Verlanda has had one
or two good games since he returned from about the JP franch Hannah Brown,
they all have been atrocious. So him not putting Hannah Brown and that man,
I was like, please don't put this guy in the game. The
game is too close. We know he's as Oh, he's gonna give up
a home run, maybe a two runshine three run shotting and we lose the
game. What it didn't moved by Dusty. Dusty does not deserve to take
the flat that he gets. I only believe they give Dusty flat is because
he's a black manager and they want to make sure that they get these shots
in on him when something goes awry. It is not Dusty's fault. The
pitching has been a troaches just like Matt Thomas. All right, appreciate the
call to you. I mean with Dusty, I think that a lot of
the grief that he gets is because the result doesn't work out. And I
think we do that a lot as sports fans. Is we focus so much
on the result and we say, oh, that was a failure. How
could you not know that. I understand the yiner Das situation. I've been
on record of the yiner Das situation that yiner Diaz deserves more playing time.
Dusty has come around on Chas McCormick. Chas McCormick's an everyday player now,
and he's earned the right to be an everyday player. And I think that
probably there was a little bit of you know, meeting, Maybe there was
that with Dana Brown the front office, or maybe even just kind of looking
at things and kind of taking a step back. If you're Dusty insane,
you know what, Maybe I am holding him too too high of a standard
in terms of what I'm asking out of him. And he deserves to be
an everyday guy, and he is, and credit needs to be given in
that regard. With Raphael Montero, and I understand the other night that was
incredibly frustrating. I shared that same frustration with you. But I go back
to a couple of things that Dusty has done incredibly well this season. Remember
at the beginning of the year, when he was being asked about having Mauricio
Dubon and also Jake Myers in the lineup almost on a daily basis. I
appreciated what Dusty said when he was asked about that. He said, I
got about six months. I forget however many months he had, but it
equated to the entire season. I've got to be able to count on all
twenty six of these guys, so I've got to give confidence to these guys.
And I understand that that's going to annoy some people in terms of certain
guys getting opportunities, but that is very much an old school approach of you're
in there, you're not going anywhere. You're gonna have your opportunity. With
Rafael Montero. While the results as of late have not been great, I
think we can all agree that Dusty's handling of Rafael Montero has been pretty expert
level this year in terms of he had that bad stretch there. I'm trying
to remember when the Dodgers series was. I think that was in June where
Dusty then said, maybe high leverage is not your spot right now. Let's
kick you back to middle relief and let's have you try to find your legs
per se. And he did, and Rafael Montero for a stretch here later
on the season had been really good, and lately that has not necessarily been
the case. But all in all, I think that a lot of the
things that Dusty gets a lot of grief for are again the results not necessarily
working out. I'm giving him credit for what he did last night because in
the age of analytics and the binders are out and all of those different types
of things, there would have been a situation where a manager goes out there
and says, well, the book says to pull you, I gotta pull
you. You don't play blackjack that way. I understand some of you have
the cards out there in Vegas and you're saying, well, the book says
to hit on this if the dealers showing a five, so I need to
hit on this. And of course the table gets mad at you if you're
sitting at third base and they say you just took the bus card, whatever
it might be, you screw the table. Well, in this case right
here, Dusty was sitting at third base and he did not screw over the
table. And that is something we can absolutely be very thankful for. All
Right, so we'll get some more of your phone calls if you would like
at seven, one, three, two and two five at seven ninety.
I do want to continue the Astro's conversation as we get in an hour two
because are you prepared for the HLPM? What is the HLPM? I'll explain
that right here in Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews here
on your home, the Astros and the Rockets City. Oh what the coach
and you pay sit grated? Didon grated? Did crated? Welcome to another
Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews Live and local Htown breakdown
of the world that matters to you? Does Houston Storms World? All these
great Houston fans here, We love you all, So finish up on that
to do list. Load up the cooler because you can't drink and talk sports
all day if you don't start now. This is face City. Saturday's insane.
Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews. That's all true and exactly what you heard.
Lance McCullers. Stay there in that production Htown, born and bred Htown
till I'm dead. Appreciate you all out there. You can join in on
the phone lines if you would like. Seven one, three, two and
two five seven ninety. Gonna get into more of the astros conversation because before
I get to Terrence here in just a second, what is the HLPM high
leverage Phil Maton? Are we aware of how good film Maton's been in the
month of September? Because I think there's a couple of different things that I'll
get to here in just a second with film Maton that people hold against him,
and I'm being one of those people. But he has a point eight
four er a only one earned run given up in ten appearances here in the
month of September. He's been somebody they've been able to count on, and
he's been somebody that's been able to get results. And I think that the
two things are Number one. Filmmates on. Everybody fills a role on a
major league roster of twenty six guys, And in terms of pitching in the
bullpen, there's always a guy that is the here eat this guy, and
Phil is that guy. He is usually when he's given the ball by Dusty
Baker, or if it's to start the inning, to run out of the
bullpen, pick it up and start doing his warm up pitches. It's here
eat this in terms of worked down by a lot, and I don't really
want to get into more of my high leverage guys. So you're going to
eat this and do your best to try to keep us here. But you're
going to be pitching into this situation or he comes into a pretty unenviable spot
where it's hey, man, do your best to hold us, and maybe
he gives up a run or two. And you know, he also had
had some bad outings early on in the season where he had really struggled,
and a lot of that is fatigue. When on the I l for a
second, came back and it looks like kind of like what I talked about
a little bit earlier with Hunter Brown, that Maton was a guy that probably
ran into a rough spot in the season and over a course of one sixty
two when it comes to relievers, that's going to happen. You're going to
have a bad stretch. You're going to have adjustments made against you where you're
just like, the hell is happening, man, Like I'm making the pitches,
they're just hitting the ball, and that's just baseball. And sometimes the
unperfect science of the game happens to you and it's unfortunate and it's not fun.
But Maton has been a guy that all of a sudden you look at
and are you putting the initials HLPM next to film Maton of high leverage film
Maton, because it does seem like we're doing that right now. We did
it last night in the seventh inning, philm Maton gets the seventh comes out
there, works a clean inning and was fantastic, hands it off to Hector
Nerris Nerris with a little bit of the walk bug there in the it's but
still able to find his way out of it. And a two nothing game
in the seventh inning. Yeah, that's high leverage film Matson. And then
of course the ninth inning, Ryan Pressley. I understand. I'll get to
that a little bit later on, but first I want to get to a
Terrence N. Galeria join us here on Sports Talks seven ninety Terrence, what's
going on, Buddy and the man? It's awesome to hear your voice on
a Saturday, Space City Saturday. Love hearing you talk, love the show
so far, and honestly just want to get your take on, Well,
first, are they gonna start Verlander tonight? Verlander is tonight? Against Meryl
Kelly. Yes, was that that's not a schedule start though, so Verlander
is very much a guy that likes to stick to his every fifth day,
and since he pitched on Monday, this would be his fifth day. Oh
so perfect, It is pretty much scheduled. Well, anyways, the other
thing, you've got some stuff to go through it. But can you explain,
like what the scenarios are, because I heard them talking about it the
other day of like us winning, Mariners losing, Rangers winning. That'll you
know what the math is there on what the Astros need to do to just
kind of clench this. Yeah, for sure, Terence appreciate the call,
buddy, and I know who that is. What's up, buddy, how
you doing? Shout out to t Mac out there? All right, So
let's just go through it the worst case scenarios. So the Astros took care
of the first part last night. They won one. Now, if say
tonight doesn't go their way, and God forbid, say tomorrow does not go
their way, then you need the Rangers to win these next couple of nights
and keep the Mariners there at that eighty eight win plateau. Because if that's
the case, then the Astros get that wild card spot and are able to
find their way into the postseason. Now, the doomsday scenario we here.
If those things that I just talked about happen and the Mariners win tonight or
even tomorrow, and they win three out of four against the Rangers in this
series, then that has the Astros on the outside looking in to the postseason,
and it has the Mariners finishing second and the Rangers winning the AL West.
Now, over the next couple of days, if the Astros are able
to win tonight, every single scenario has them finishing no worse than second.
They are locked into the second spot. They clinch a playoff spot they are
going if they win one of these next couple of games. Now Here is
where things kind of change a little bit. Say the Mariners only win one
more game, then the Rangers win the West. If they don't win any
more games, the Rangers win the West. If the Mariners win all four,
then the Mariners leap frog the Astros to win the AL West. In
the Astros again locked into that second spot, they would play in the Wildcard
round against the Minnesota Twins, and then you would move on to face the
Mariners. If You're able to beat the Twins in that best of three Wildcards
series and face them in the ALDS. So that is how that breaks down.
Now here's where it gets really good for the Astros. They win tonight,
they win tomorrow, they are in two out of three scenarios. You're
AOS champion. The only way they are not the AOS champion is if the
Rangers are able to bounce back these next couple of nights and beat the Mariners.
If that's the case, they have a game lead on you, they
will win the AOST. Now, if the Mariners win one of these next
two games in the Astros win these next two games, your Houston Astros are
AOST champions, and they get this next week off and they are able to
find their way into the postseason as champs of the AOST and able to have
that second spot in the buy in the American League playoffs. And then if
the Rangers lose these next two games and the Astros have won all three,
same thing. The Astros are going to go into the postseason and the Mariners
will finish in third place because the Astros have that tiebreaker over the Rangers.
I understand a lot of mental gymnastics to be able to go through. It's
just a scenario that you're just looking at and it's really just pretty simple,
you know. Here when it comes to the Astros, the simple scenario is
exactly what Al Davis said years ago after they won the Super Bowl with the
Raiders. Just win, baby, that's it, Just win. I said
it last night on Twitter. I said, there's no passing grades. There's
no letter grades this time of the year. Like it's one of those things
that I heard Dusty Bakers say when he was on with the Matt Thomas Show.
And it's so true. Nobody asks you how you won the division.
They just look back and say, hey, you won the division. There's
not gonna be people out there. Yeah, the Astros won the AO West,
but god, that two in seventh stretch against the Royals and the A's
man, I mean, you know, how do we look at this thing.
There's no asterisk, there's no any of those things. It's Hey,
the Astros won the AOST. That's exactly what that has said. So it's
past fail this time of the year. That's the way you look at it,
and you are trying very much to pass in the Astros for all the
things that we've lamented that they had not done to this point, ie not
beating the A's in the Royals. In those series, it can be washed
away if you win and take care of your business. And if you do
that, then you're in, and if you don't, then you're the ones.
Kind of like what Alex Bregman said after one of those games, if
you don't take care of your business, you're sitting on your hindside at home
for the postseason. And the Astros don't want to be sitting on their couches
for the postseason. They want to be in the postseason, and we all
want that to be the case, so we will hopefully make sure that happens.
All right, we'll get some more of your phone calls. Carl and
Debbie, stay right where you are. You want to join in, We
got a couple of lines open if you would like to hop on as well.
At seven one three, two one two five seven ninety a caller brought
up a good point that I had in my notes that I did want to
get to in the show today. As we'll continue the Astros conversation, I
will sprinkle in some Texans in as well, so as a matter of fact,
we'll try to do all of that here as we continue on in this
final hour of Space City Saturday. I'm Dan Matthews here with you until noon
on Sports Talk seven ninety, your home of the Astros and the Rockets.
It's Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety. Here, it's understands kind
o case, Sports Talks seven ninety, Space City Saturday. What's going on
everybody? Dan Matthews here with you for about another forty five minutes one thirty
here on at your home of the Astros and the Rockets. It's being a
College of Football Saturday. You're gonna get the Texas Longhorns taken on the Kansas
Jayhawks. I know Lex is up there in Austin, so WEX will be
there inside DKR Memorial Stadium taking that one in today. Also two one thirty
on KPRC nine fifty, You're gonna get You're gonna get to you of h
and Texas Tech two thirty kick there in Lubbock for that one. Also on
KPRC nine fifty to night. I know there's a ton of us here in
town that don the Purple and the gold Well. You're gonna be able to
get LSU at ole miss that's a huge one there in Oxford, and you
will have Chris Blair and the crew on the LSU Sports Radio network for that
one at five o'clock over on KPRC, so that likely will come and being
joined in progress over there after the U of H and Texas Tech game wrap
up and a lot of stuff happening here on our family of stations here at
iHeart Houston and the cluster of stations we've got here. Of course, you're
home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports seven ninety Astros coming your way tonight,
seven ten. First pitch from out there in Phoenix between the Astros and
the Diamondbacks. Justin Verlander getting the start against Merrill. Kelly had a tough
one last night against Zach Gallen as he was able to hockey terms here stand
on his head for the most part, but you were able to get a
puck into the net behind him. If we stay on the hockey parlance of
this and the Josea brayu At double that just missed being a home run.
As it was funny, you know, as I was watching it last night
with TK and Blummer on at and t and they made the joke about stat
cast saying that's a home run in all thirty ballparks of it going four hundred
and I guess what thirty two feet or something like that. He smoked it
and you were able to get both of those runs home, which ended up
being a huge one of getting Kyle Tucker home because once you got him home,
that was the go ahead and eventual winning run, so huge for him
in that regard. Carl, I hope you don't mind, because I need
to let the ladies get to the front of the line. Debbie joining us
here on at Sports Talks seven ninety Debbie, appreciate the call. How you
doing the day? I'm great? How are you doing very well? I
appreciate you asking. Okay, I haven't heard anybody comment about this. There's
a documentary that's coming out Tuesday on Frontline about the Astros cheating scandal. Yeah,
go ahead and go ahead. No, no, no, please,
no. I was just gonna say, I just wanted to see your comments
on it and how you think it might impact the Astros and how convenient it
is it is coming out the day that the playoffs start, just to get
into the Astro's head. Yeah, I appreciate the call. No. So
this is something that we covered, believe about a couple of weeks ago when
I was in with Matt Thomas while Ross was on vacation. And I mean,
I think at this point with the Astros, it's just kind of like
there's nothing new, There's nothing to necessarily be a distraction because the distraction is
on a nightly basis. When they go on the road. You don't have
as much of people making a side show of themselves and fans who think that
they are more important than they really are. Of I'm gonna wear a jersey
with an asterisk going it, I'm gonna come through the game as a trash
can, all these different things where it's just like you're one of forty two
thousand in the stands. You're not important. So I really appreciate that you
think you are, but you're not. And in this case right here,
I mean, is there necessarily going to be anything that's new information? Probably
not. I think this is honestly a topic of conversation where books have been
written, you've had stories written about this, and you've had everything pretty much
said. So I think it's going to be interesting to some. I don't
necessarily think it's going to be interesting to anyone here because again, we've talked
about everything that has gone on with this, and we know what has gone
on with this, and there's not necessarily anything other than I think Mike Fires
is out of the game. I'm sure he's going to be part of this,
and I'm sure he's going to sit down and say, oh is the
integrity of the game. That's why I had to speak up, and we
all feel the way we do about Mike Fires. So to answer your question,
Debbi, no, I it's not going to have any effect on the
team. I mean, they've been dealing with this ever since it came out,
and I think that for the most part, here's the way that I
read it now when it comes to the Astros with all of this, the
read I get from opposing players is they're over it. And last year was
absolutely vindication for the Astros, kind of like the Patriots after Spygate. When
the Patriots went out and won another Super Bowl or two after Spygate, it
was people saying, Okay, they're good. And I think that for the
most part, across Major League Baseball, you still have some loudmouths out there
that I want to try to make themselves feel important. I mean, you
had a few years ago, Carlos Rodan seeing what he said, which I
hate to tell you, Carlos, the reason why the Astros didn't get punished
is because of the group that you're part of, the Players Association. That
is a huge reason why they did not get punished, and they were not
punished by Major League Baseball for their cooperation in trying to get to the bottom
of all of this. And for the most part, like I said,
I think that most players now look at jose Al two. I'm just putting
a name, you know, just to kind of personalize this thing even more.
Jose Al Two va Alex Bregman, who, if I'm not mistaken,
are the only last two players from that twenty seventeen team that remain on this
roster. And I think they look at those guys and they have respect for
those players because they say, still proven they can do it, still showing
they can do it, and still winning. And I think for the most
part, players are just like, hey, you know what it happened,
It's done. They're good guys in that clubhouse. They've proven that they're good
guys in that clubhouse, and I just don't necessarily think it's anything other than
it's something nice for PBS to be able to put on the air. Carl
and Dickinson wants to weigh in here on Sports Talk seven ninety Carl, what's
going on, buddy, Yeah, tell the gentleman a little while ago,
get the anger out of his heart. Okay, I'm a white dude.
I'll call in your show all the time giving phrase and support for Dusty Baker.
It ain't about color. Demands of a winner. You know, you
can't listen to people out there, you know, naysayers all the time.
They're out there no matter what you do. The guy's a gentleman and he's
a great coach. I told you all that just the other day. Ain't
got nothing about color. I'm like I said, I'm a white dude.
I love him. Then we need more love in our hearts. And that's
it. Another thing I on is found on real quick Menaldo. I'm tired
of hearing about y'all, you know, the enterdeas and Minaldo. I'm telling
you what. Minaldo has been hitting a lot of home runs this year,
a lot of doubles and Cutch. I mean situations the other night enteredeas lost
the ball underneath them, the crucial run got in. Okay, So you
know that's another argument that doesn't have much weight to it, you know.
I mean, that's the man play. The other guy gets to play his
share. Everything's cool. You know, we gotta win. That's the number
one thing. We gotta win. And that's it. And about coloring about
none. And the guy that called him was very intelligent gentlemen, but he
shouldn't have thrown that thing. That's old nowadays, you know that that old
thing don't work no more. You know, just like Kaepernick. He you
know, he's sitting down, not because what he did about color. He
got set down because he said something about America. You know, we got
a great nation here. You can't do that. So anyway, thank you
for letting me give him a two cents. Thank you, sir. I
love your show. By bye. I appreciate the call, Carl. And
when it comes to Dusty, here's the thing. There are some very unenviable
positions in sports, and I think that major league manager is definitely one of
them. Let's go to a previous example that I think could fits of a
beloved manager here in town, a J. Hinch who not to open up
old wounds here. But the twenty ninth yeah, it was twenty nine,
twenty nineteen World Series. You got Garrett Cole out in the bullpen, and
you decide to go with overworked Will Harris. Will Harris gives up the home
run to Howie Kendrick and that kicks off the Nationals able to go on a
run there and able to close out Game seven and win the World Series.
And of course, what were a lot of the phone calls because I wasn't
here at this time, but I gotta believe a lot of the phone calls
were, how can you do that? How can you leave Garrett Cole out
in the bullpen? And you saw Garrett Cole kind of like when I first
got to Atlanta years ago where the Braves played against the Dodgers in a postseason
series, and you could see the TBS cameras at the time after David Carpenter,
former astro who was pitching for the Braves at the time, gave up
the go ahead and eventual winning home run to Jose your Rebra to a wan
Wan your Rebay for the Dodgers for them to be able to win Game four
of the NLDS and move on to the NLCS over the Braves. And you
can see clear as day that Craig Kimbrell was standing in the bullpen. He's
got Eddie Perez right next to him. He's Gout's arms crossed and Eddie Perez
saying something to him to the effect. And you know you didn't need John
Boy to read lips here where he said I'm mad because I told him I
had two innings if it was available. And Garrett Cole, I think,
kind of felt the same way of I want that ring man, and I
told you that I was available if you needed me, And of course you
know it was if we needed him in the ninth. We were going to
use them in the ninth. But aside from that, it was not going
to be a situation that we went to Garrett Cole. And that's the thing
with manager kind of like what I talked about earlier, is that like it
or not, when you take on that position, if your moves don't work,
people are going to criticize you for it. That's what comes with the
territory and the other nights. Like I said, you bring in Montero,
it backfires on you just tremendously. And of course people, how could you
put Montero in in that spot. He's been awful, He's been just terrible,
and you cannot count on him in that spot. That's again the result.
It didn't work out, So of course people are going to get upset,
and of course you have surprises like Bennett Susa who have come up,
and of course, hindsight being twenty twenty, everybody's saying, why didn't you
put Susa in in that spot? Because Montero, even with him going into
a little bit of a struggle here recently, is still a guy that you
believe you can still count on. He's still a guy kind of like I
talked about high leverage film Maton, that's kind of been a thing of necessity
as of late, and Maton has been able to reward Dusty for his confidence.
But in terms of Montero, it's a guy that you feel like has
earned enough of the benefit of the doubt. Of yeah, he's been struggling,
but I think he's a guy that has good enough stuff and can find
his way. And Montero's problem has been of course accuracy, not throwing strikes
and not being able to get outs. That's been a problem, and it
seems like the strikes he is throwing right now are going the other way for
base hits, and that's not necessarily something you want to see. So whenever
things go right, it's the player. Whenever things go wrong, it's the
manager. And I don't care as we go on throughout the years if it's
Dusty Baker who is in that spot, or whoever it is that might be
the manager in years to come for the Astros, because it is a year
to year thing with Dusty. But in terms of the moves that he's made,
I mean, I think, if nothing else, a lot of praise
needs to be given to him for one of the things that I talked about
earlier on in the show, the move he didn't make, because, like
I said, in this age of analytics, you'd have a lot of managers
who would go out there and like I said, the blackjack example, kind
of like people say, well the card tells me to hit, or card
tells me to stay on this play. A lot of them live and die
by the binder and it doesn't work out for them, or it does Baseball
is a perfectly imperfect sport that the results sometimes you look at it you just
say, how did that happen? That's so weird? Like last night the
play made by by Jeremy Painia that saved the season. That is a goal
glove play. That is an amazing play that when things aren't going your way,
that ball might be two or three inches to the right of his glove
and gets out in the center field. We've got a tie ball game at
that point, but luckily it didn't. And sometimes, hey, Ron Washington
has a saying that's how baseball goes. Well, sometimes that's how baseball goes,
and sometimes the other way is how baseball goes and the results sometimes are
not what you like. But I think more than anything with Dusty, that's
what it is. Is that sometimes he is the victim of just the results
and that sucks. But if there's a guy that has been doing this long
enough and can handle it, it's Dusty Baker, and he's not worried about
it. I mean, as I talked about a little bit earlier on in
the post game, I was listening to it before the show today where somebody
was trying to hammer him on who's going to be Sunday starter. And he
just said in so many words, we're in postseason baseball. Man, I'm
worried about tomorrow, and I'll worry about the next day after that, and
if we need to worry about games after that, and then we'll worry about
games after that. But for the Astros, the magic number is one.
Just win one more game. It doesn't matter how you do it, it
doesn't matter when you do it again. Like I said, just pass one
more test. And if you do that, then we're talking postseason baseball next
week. And if you do it two more times, then we're talking postseason
baseball next week. But we're getting you ready for an NLDS. So either
way, let's have one more to be able to open the door for other
things. Let's hope all of that is the case. We'll continue the Astros
conversation coming up next, my good buddy Brian Alima Sean Salisbury Show, gonna
hop on with us for a few minutes on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews
here with you for about another thirty minutes on a Sports Talk seven ninety,
your home of the Astros and the Rockets, Space Saturday on Sports Talk seven
ninety Sports Stalks seven ninety and Matthews here with you for about another thirty minutes
or so. Let's get right to the phone lines. Let's talk with a
man who you can hear every single morning as part of the Sean Salisberry Show.
He is Brian Lima joins us for a few minutes. Talk some Astros
baseball, of course, Brian also doing some great work with Apollo Media as
well, and former ballplayer himself, as me and Brian talked about on the
text machine yesterday. But let's talk to stuff happening on the field, Lilima,
and that is where we gotta start with jose er Keaty in the start
we got from him last night. I mean, just how much of a
nail's performance was that by him? Big Dan? What's up man? First
of all, glad to hear you on the air waves. Thanks Buddy.
I would say what jose or Keati did last night is no surprise if you've
been following this team, especially over the golden age of baseball, if you
want to call it for the Houston Astros, he seems to, for the
most part, step up in big moments. There was a really big pitching
performance for him back in twenty nineteen in the National's Ballpark where he came out.
I believe he was a rookie and pitched his ass off. Obviously,
you saw last night JP Franz getting the scratch. They gave him a couple
they gave Josier Kid a couple of hours notice, and he goes six innings,
six innings and only gives up two hits. I mean, come on,
you couldn't ask for more for a guy that's missed a big part of
the season. They missed him in this rotation and they needed that outing more
than anything last night. Yeah, it was a monster outing from him.
And I mean, you know you're able to get just enough offense. But
another thing too, you know I brought up earlier on in the show,
and I want to get your thoughts on this. How surprised are we by
HLPM high leverage film maton? Now? For me, last year we saw
a filmmate Todd that was extremely consistent, and then this year it was consistent,
and then he had some rough outings, and then he'd go back consistent,
and then he'd have a couple of rough outings. But then here over
the last I don't know, a couple of weeks, he's been nails,
man, And you can't say enough about this bullpen being taxed early in the
season, coming around and pitching better down the stretch, and then here lately,
man just like he fits right in with those guys, and he's a
serial killer, dude the dude and literally never smiles, which I want that
out on one of my bullpen guys. So yeah, you can't. You
can't really say enough about what he's done here lately, especially again. Brian
Lima joined us here co host de Sean Salisbury Show Monday the Friday, six
to ten in the morning right here Sports Talk seven ninety Also too, you
can see some of his work as a senior contributor over at Apollo and Media.
You know the lineup last nights, I mean, you know, it's
kind of an up and down performance, but you're going against one of the
best in baseball, the guy that started the All Star Game for the National
League and Zach Gallen. You're gonna get another tough test again tonight with Merrill
Kelly. But this lineup with Michael Brandley in it, I mean, the
complexion completely changes. How much pressure does he take off the rest of the
lineup. When you've got a guy like him in the bottom of the order.
I mean, Michael Brandley, dude, like you could he could miss.
I think it was Chandela Rome of The Athletic that tweeted it out a
couple of weeks ago, like you could freeze him and then unfreeze him like
ten years later. And he's gonna get three hits for you. And I've
always said about Michael Brandley, he's gonna roll out of bed and if he's
healthy, he's gonna hit three hundred for you. And if you look at
the lineup last night, he was hitting in the sixth hole. I mean,
we're talking about a career hitter that's that's damn near near three hundred and
he's hitting six for you. It extends this lineup tremendously. You know,
he's not gonna strike out a lot, He's gonna put the ball in play,
and it just it makes this lineup so much d for and so much
more deadly because you have a guy that just knows how to hit. I
think a lot of people say professional hitter a little bit too much, But
if you look at the definition of professional hitter like Michael Brandley's gonna come up.
I just I have to have Michael Brandley in the lineup every single day
if he's healthy, there's no questions. I don't care. Maybe he's playing
left field, d damn, I can't. I don't care if he's even
playing first base, which I know is not gonna happen. He's just got
to be in the lineup somehow, some way. No, I agree with
you on that, and I think we're kind of seeing that bear out too,
Brian. I mean, you know, it kind of looked like it
was these two days on maybe a day or two off. But I mean
I almost kind of wonder, and I would love to, you know,
hear it from Dusty as well. Off. There may be a scenario now
that Brantley came to him and said, hey, look, I'm good like
you gotta let me go here and you gotta let me do this thing.
And I guess the only time will tell. We'll see what the lineup looks
like tonight. But you know, I can't believe I'm even asking this,
because I hope, you know, Lil Mom'm coming from a genuine place when
I asked this, But any concerns about jose Al TV because the Batsmen a
little shaky this past week, and then the defense kind of as well.
We kind of saw this in the twenty twenty ALCS where he kind of went
through a little bit of a funk. Is that kind of what he's doing
or is it just baseball's happening to him right now? Yeah, I think
it's kind of funny you bring up twenty twenty. There are people that were
like, oh, jose Al Tub has the yips, Like, look,
do I have concerns about jose Al Tube. No, if you ask me,
if I had concerns about jose Al Tubi and his base running, I
would probably be more concerned about his base running than his defense. I just
think that this game of baseball is so damn hard. Even the best players
in the world are gonna have off days. They're gonna make errors. You're
gonna see balls thrown away, You're gonna see bonehead mistakes from him, like
we saw the other day where he's trying to do too much, airmailed Alex
Bregman. It goes into the stands and they cost him a raw and things
like that. I don't really have concerns about josel two bay. Dude,
He's been in so many big time games, He's had so many big time
moments. So I think it just comes down to baseball's happening, right,
so, so and again, like, if you're succeeding thirty percent of the
time in this game, then you're a Hall of Famer essentially with how you
hit it the plate. And then if you've got a building percentage of like
I don't know, nine fifty, you know you're doing pretty damn good.
So I don't don't have any concerns about joseal two bad. I think,
like you said, it's just baseball. So we know, Lalima, how
this shakes out. If the Astros get any combination of a win over these
next couple of days, they're in. It's it's done, it's over with.
They are in. The only way they are getting in for sure in
terms of getting that buy is they win these next couple of games and there
is a combination of either the Mariners losing one or losing both of these next
couple of games are actually yeah, yeah, of that happening for the Astros
to find their way in. I mean, just you know, if it
all shakes out in the Astros have the chance tomorrow to go for the division.
I talked about this earlier in the week with Sports RV. Talk about
it here with you right now. I kind of feel like Dusty, if
he's in that situation, has to signal to his guys, Hey, we're
going for this. I'm gonna try to get you those days off. I
mean, am I wrong in thinking that? No, I don't think so.
I mean, if you can so the whole whole. Now, I
wouldn't say it's the problem. But if you look at the wildcard situation and
if they get into the let's say they get the sixth spot, that means
they're gonna take on They're gonna take on the Minnesota Twins first, which I
don't fear two nuns with you, Dan, I don't fear anybody in the
AL. When the Astros get into October, it's a completely different story.
If they go through Minnesota, I think they'll win that series. And then
let's say that the Rangers somehow hang onto the division will probably go and play.
They'll play up in Arlington against the Rangers. So that would mean that
your pitching lineup is a little bit is a little bit different because of how
the rotation is kind of set up. So your starters like JB and Fromber,
I don't know how it would look. I believe that they would be
ready to go for like games two or three of the Wildcard series, and
they would be ready for the Alds, so on and so on. If
you get the division and you get a couple of days off, that means
everybody gets the rest. All your bullepin is going to be fresh, and
all your starters will be lined up ready to go. So if you can
go get the division, damn go get it now. I feel the exact
same way. I mean, I think if nothing else, you know,
you're telling your guys, hey, look we're gonna roll the dice here.
We've got a safety net if it doesn't work out. Yes, pitching wise,
we probably would be a little bit up against it in terms of going
into that series. But I mean, I'm with you, Brian. I
feel like that this is a team that this has been weighing on them so
much to be able to try to just get to the postseason that I feel
like if they get a combination of these next two games and get a win
in these next two games that they kind of look at it and say,
all right, we can breathe. Now we're to a familiar place. I
mean, I just I got I kind of have that trust in this team,
don't you. Yeah, that's I mean, you said it perfectly.
I feel like with everything that they've dealt with this year, all of the
injuries, all of the nonsense about, you know, questioning Dusty Baker's lineups
and inconsistent lineups and things like that, struggling at home, going thirty nine
and forty two at home, which is ridiculous in my opinion, all of
that being said, and yet here we are with a really good chance to
get into the playoffs, and you still have a chance of winning the division.
Just get into October, and it's like it's like it's like when you
look at March Madness the big instead of a tournament. Just get into the
tournament and anything else can happen. So I think when you get to October
for this team, it's like a switch flips on a completely different season everyone's
own. Oh, and it's just a super familiar territory. They've been in
so many big games over the last what sense, I mean, dam they
won the wild card game back in twenty fifteen. They missed out on the
playoff in twenty sixteen. Then obviously we saw the run from twenty seventeen to
hear on out with all the alcs's four World Series appearances, two championships,
World Series titles. So yeah, just get in, Just get in,
Just get in somehow, someway, that's it. Just when you win,
everything else takes care of itself. As I threw out last night on Twitter,
Brian Alima again every morning six to ten Sean Salisbury show is how you
can find him at Belima seven ninety is how you can find him on Twitter.
Also to senior contributor to Apollo Media as well. He is a busy
man and I appreciate Tim carving out a few minutes on his much deserved weekend
rest. Brian, You're the best, buddy. We'll catch up soon.
I gotta believe what is Salisbury having you boys over the house tonight for the
games? No, Salisbury's out in Phoenix. He was actually at that game
night he was watching. Yeah, he was at the Diamondbacks and Astro's game.
I'm act just finished up at the gym. My fourteen you Bandito's Black
Team place to night at six and eight, first fall tournament of the fall
season. So we're gonna go try to get two doubs man all right for
it? All right, you know hey, helping out the youth as well,
trying to show him the winning ways. Gotta love that. Brian Alima
again, join us here. Appreciate it, buddy. Good luck tonights and
hopefully Monday. It's a happy show for you and Sean. Let's hope.
So let's let's hope the Rangers miss the playoffs completely. What a choke job
that would be, yours, your lips to God's ears. Appreciate again,
Brian Lima carving out a few minutes for us here again. You can hear
him every morning six to ten right here, Sports Talk seven ninety. All
right, let's wrap it up here in the final segment of a Space City
Saturday this edition. It's been a lot of fun with you all here for
these couple of hours, because coming up next a victim of his own success,
still very good, but maybe just not as good in some people's eyes.
I'll talk about that also too. Dive into a little bit of Texans
conversation as we close things out here on this Saturday to Space City Saturday.
Right here, Sports Talk seven ninety, your home of the Astros and the
Rockets. We now return to Space City Saturday, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Yeah, what an amazing Saturday it is. I mean, you heard Doug
Pike say it a little bit earlier. But whether if you can believe it
or not, starting to cool down a little bit, starting to cool down
a little bit, kind of went Jimmy Conway on you now that you no,
no, Now, you insulted him a little bit. You insulted him
a little. Now. I didn't insult him. I didn't insult him a
little Good fellas for you right there. I'm sure somewhere Clanton is smiling ear
to year if he is indeed listening. But still great Saturday. I mean
we're getting into the meat of the really fun time of year here in Houston,
and it becomes even more fun if indeed the Stros can find their way
into the postseason. As like giving you the scenarios, I mean, you
get one more, then you're in no matter what. You get two more,
you need a little bit of help, but then you are division champs.
And I think we can all agree that's what the Astros want. Because
I looked at it at first and immediate first glance, I say, if
the Astros play against the Twins, they beat the Twins, they find their
way to the DS, and if they take on the Rangers in the DS,
I think that you've got a mental edge over the Rangers from what we've
seen so far this season that they look at it and it's, oh,
man, I really want to beat those guys. I don't necessarily know if
they believe they can beat the Astros at this point. I think the Astros
no, they can go into that building and have it half full with Astros
fans and be able to win. So I think if nothing else to burden
approof is on the Rangers, not necessarily on you to this point. So
look, win one more, you unlock a door. Win two more,
you unlock a door behind that, which is where even more of the nice
golden treasure is. So that's what the Astros are trying to do. This
was talked about a little bit earlier on in the show Ryan Presley and just
the way he is looked at as the closer of this team, and it
kind of came to me this morning, especially after last night's game where you
have a little bit of a shaky ninth inning, and sure he was the
I guess you could say, you know, not a beneficiary, but he
definitely had some tough luck in that inning of L two Va booting a ball
that is a routine bouncer that he should have had and should have been an
ounce. And then you look at a situation where you don't even get to
Moreno, if the inning goes the way that it did, where you would
hopefully be able to go three up, three down right there and it's a
clean ninth inning. Closer is kind of like manager is a similar situation where
your margin of error is in probably thin because there is no margin of error.
You don't have the benefit of the doubt if it doesn't go your way
because everybody looks at the closer, and even if a runner gets on base,
it's a situation where, oh, that's weird, how did you allow
that to happen? That you can't be doing that. You gotta come in,
strike out the side and get out seven twenty eight, excuse me,
twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven. Math was never my thing,
I apologize, but in this case, right here getting those important outs in
either the top or in this case, bottom of the ninth inning to be
able to close out the game. And I know that Ross has given you
the save numbers this year for even the best in baseball. And you know
everybody looks at the closer spot and they want Marianna Rovera. There's a reason
why Marianna Rovera is only one guy is because he probably was the best to
ever do it. It's going to happen. You're going to have rough patches,
You're going to have blown saves, You're going to have situations where maybe
he comes into a tie game and he gives up a couple of hits,
gives up a run, and it is a game that does not go your
direction. Well, this case right here with Ryan Pressley, I think,
if nothing else, he's kind of working against himself. To the college football
example, here, team wins the national title of the year previous, they
have all of their players coming back for the following year. They go ten
and two people immediately go to the coach and say, coach, what's wrong?
What happened? You had everybody back? You had him all back from
a national championship team. How did you not finish this off? Championships be
hard, folks, and a lot of luck does have to go your way,
but also too, a lot of good things have to go your way
from you making them happen. And in the case of Pressley, I think
sometimes he probably to his own admission, has not been great. I mean
remember after the blown save against the Baltimore Orioles, somebody asked him about being
fresh, and he said, it's my job to stay fresh. And ever
since then we've seen Ryan Pressley get back to being the Ryan Pressley that we
have known. But in terms of him moving off that closer spot, it's
the old saying wishing one hand and in the other, and you're not going
to have Brian to bray you in that spot now. Now I think down
the road that is a possible spot for him. But for right now,
you got Ryan Pressley in that spot, and you got a really good one
in that spot. Real quick. We got about a couple of minutes Martin
and Engleton wants to weigh in here on Space City Saturday. Martin, what's
going on, buddy, Go get your shuine bucks, keep them here,
keep them here. He locked the door and locked the door and they did
and they sure did. Hey, yeah all of the day. Oh man,
if the Astros could win a division, it would be it would be
really hilarious, especially over the Rangers. You know. I mean, after
all, the Astros was struggled three September and really the whole year, and
it would be hilarious if they could win a divisions Sunday and yeah, so
we win tonight and win Sunday, Astros and hopefully we can win a division
and that would be just hilarious. Appreciate Yeah, no, I appreciate the
call. Thanks to Martin and Angleton for way and end. Hey doesn't that
look like somebody we know? Oh? It does. More good fellows for
you there if you wanted that here on a Saturday with just a couple of
minutes to go. But now, look, I feel like this team needs
the division and the worst way. And like I said at first when I
looked at it, and I said that the wild card would be an outstanding
scenario for the Astros for the way that it would line up for you to
be able to go into the DS and face a team that you know you
can beat, then that would be a good situation for you. But in
this case, now, I think that you look at this team from a
pitching perspective, and he also too from some of the guys in this lineup
that I think, frankly right now need a day or two off to be
able to kind of recalibrate and kind of take a deep breath, and you
in the division. That puts you in a great spot where this can be
a team that has been banged up at times this year. I know the
Chandler of Rome on Twitter yesterday shared that the Astros I believe had some of
the fewest or the fewest amount of players on the IL this season. But
still it's also the guys that you've put on the I l at times jose
Al Tuove. This lineup moves with jose Al Tuove. If he is swinging
the bat and he is being jose Al Twove that we know in terms of
being an absolute elite hitter, then that is a huge part of this lineup.
If it is a situation where he's not going, then you probably have
to be a little bit more creative. I think even two, we've seen
kind of Kyle Tucker struggle a little bit. We've also seen at times you
know, seen Jordan Alvarez struggle. I mean, he takes another strike three
last night, and kind of like what I was just talking about with Ryan
Pressley, it's kind of the same deal a little bit with Alvarez and also
too a little bit with Kyle Tucker, kind of the victim of their own
success in certain ways. So all right, that's gonna do it for Space
City a Saturday. I'm Dan Matthews. It's been a lot of fun.
We'll talk to y'all next week.