Speaker 1: Twelve thirty two. It is a Matt Thomas show with Ross.
We're going to spend ten quality minutes now with a
manager of your Houston Astros joining us from Pittsburgh, PA
Astros and the Pirates started three games series. Joe spotted
with us here on seven. I skip, good afternoon, thanks
for joining us. What a bizarre series. The run differential
not pretty, the wins and losses you'll take.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, and I take that.
Speaker 3: Uh, how do you how do you explain it?
Speaker 1: I mean you can always go to the cliche that's baseball,
but my goodness, you had two games nail biers and
had two games you wanted to close your eyes about
the sixth inning.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, it's baseball. You know we try to
you know, you try to win series. And you know,
we came out with a split against the Race, a
team that's won the bats really well, a little bit
different than when we saw on the previous week. So
you know, we we we're hung in there. Thought those
two games that we won, you know, we pitched really well.
The others things kind of got away from us, but
you know, you're trying to win series. We had a
great homestand and and and that's all you can control.
Speaker 2: And now we're here in Pittsburgh after an off day.
Speaker 5: Boys are fresh, We're ready to go.
Speaker 1: Did you pull those starters on those days? You know
we're talking about Hunter and fromber to say, hey, now,
you always expect them to go deep in games, But
do you even pull them aside and say, hey, I
may need you for a little bit more because the
bullpen's got beat up the night before.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 4: I think those two guys know exactly what we need
out of them. I don't think they need to hear
from me. I think they're watching the games. They see
the situation that we are in. They know that the
leaders of our rotation and there I expect them to
step up. And that's exactly what they did.
Speaker 1: Uh, Joe, Obviously the word about Jordan was disappointing. Tell
us just your natural reaction, not only as a manager
to him, but as a friend, I'm sure and a
guy that you've watched to see his courage is blossom.
When you found out that about the fracture, was that
just ah, that was ad the gut. Basically, don't be.
Speaker 4: Safe to say, yeah it sucks, that's you know, not
only as he's manager. But that's someone who you know,
I care for your Dona, I know, I know you're
done for a very long time. He's someone who wants
to be on the field, wants to contribute for these team, wants.
Speaker 2: To post that.
Speaker 5: He knows the importance of his presence.
Speaker 4: In our lineup, and he really sucks. So we you know,
we we we want to get him back. We will
get him back. But when we heard about that, it's
definitely a punch in the gut.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we we need to continue to move forward
and and.
Speaker 4: You know, expect some of these guys to step up
while he's on the sideline, but it's definitely someone that
we we need, we miss and once we get him back,
we're gonna really we're gonna be really excited to.
Speaker 2: Have him back.
Speaker 1: What are the next steps for him? Is it just
a waiting game for him to heal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna wait for it to heal, and hopefully
once he heals, we we will never have to deal
with with that pain again.
Speaker 3: Do you think I'm sorry?
Speaker 1: Do you think the athletes and they're all built differently, Joe,
you got some guys that will fight through pain, and
you respect that, But then you have other guys that
are like, shouldn't be fighting through it? How often do
you deal with that in your entire life of baseball
freaking much? Your time with the Astros, What is it like?
Maybe you as a player it felt the same way.
You know what, My hammi's a little tender, but I
want to get out there. What's the battle? What's the
proper medium to go?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 1: Trying to fight through it, but at a certain time,
and sometimes you say, yeah, maybe a day offer too,
or maybe going to see a doctor wouldn't be the
worst thing in the world.
Speaker 4: You know what My experience is, especially with our players here,
has been this guys don't want to be in the fight.
This guy's we have played so many games for so
many years. We have played more games than any other
team in the Big League for a long.
Speaker 2: Time, last seventy years.
Speaker 4: That these guys play through pain. They know the importance
of playing and grinding through pain. And Jordani is one
of those players that loves to post and he wants
to be out there. When an injury in a hand
happens to to a baseball player, it's very difficult.
Speaker 2: It's very very difficult since you need you know, your hands,
and you.
Speaker 4: Need to create power and you need to create barrel
to ball execution. And when you don't have that, you
suffer from that. It's really hard for you to perform.
But I've never you know, my group here, when these
guys are not feeling well, there's something wrong with it
for them not to post it, for them not to
show our fans and the rest of their teammates that
they want to.
Speaker 2: Be out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what is that like for you a manager
dealing with where like you said, the guys want to
play through it, but you don't want guys to get
heard just as you and trying to say, like who
do you go to or lean on or run like
to say, hey, maybe we need to talk more about this.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, And and I listen to our players
and once they get to a point where we need
to so sit down and rest and to let these heal.
We have to do that if we want to get
the player. And sometimes you've got to reset, You got.
Speaker 4: To take a moment and and you know, understand the
length of our of the season, and you know.
Speaker 2: It's it's always difficult.
Speaker 4: You don't want to lose any player, especially someone as
as a caliber of Jordan Alvarez.
Speaker 2: But well, we'll get him back.
Speaker 5: We're excited that once we get him back, we're going
to be excited.
Speaker 2: To have him back.
Speaker 4: And you know, hopefully we don't have to deal with
this again, so we could keep him in there for
a long run.
Speaker 1: Skip, you've got two new outfielders. How are you going
to balance? And I guess it's just you know, how
guys are feeling or how the bats are moving. But
you've got two new guys out there. How much do
you want to get him in play rotation? What what's
the game plan at least for the two new year
new players that have come up from the Space Cowboys.
Speaker 2: Well, you know one of them is it's an outfielder.
Speaker 5: You know, we come has to play outfield.
Speaker 4: He's also someone that could play in field, so he
does provide that versatility and and you know somebody you know,
like like Melton who could play all three. It's got
the speed and and and the athleticism to be an
above average outfielder a dimensional league level. Also, he's been
swinging back really well on Triple A, so as with them,
So I want to you know, find find opportunities for
them to play and and you know, for them just
to for continue to develop them players that we've been
excited about them.
Speaker 2: For a long time. So you know, I'm gonna.
Speaker 4: Find spots for them, trying to get them involved in
in in our offense and defense and and see where
where it takes us.
Speaker 1: Also, you got Paul Skeens going tonight for the Pirates.
And I don't know how you feel about this interleague play,
but it gives you an opportunity to see everybody at
least once a year, and sometimes you can miss guys
to their rotation, uh how much. And obviously your hitters
are doing a little bit of advanced But when you're
on the plane just relaxing, and do you do you
put a video on to kind of see what he's
all about? Or does the highlights you see on the
network TVs kind of give you a pretty indication of
how great he is?
Speaker 2: No, we we we we.
Speaker 4: You know, I like to watch the videos and I
like to read the reports, you know, to go deep
under the hood and make sure you know see what
what he's you know, what he's doing and how he's
performing and how that's going to match up against us,
and we're looking for ways to you know, create a
plan against them.
Speaker 2: You know, last year we.
Speaker 4: We had a pretty decent plan and and and and
you know, it's hard to score a ton of runs
of him, but we got to find a way to
you know, attack and and and hopefully you know, you
build his uh his pitch counch up trying to get
in the bullpen. You know, our strategy, which is trying
to grind our bats, trying to attack our zones and
and be aggressive. He's a guy that throws a ton
of stripes, but he's definitely one of the best starters
in the game.
Speaker 2: But we'll put together a.
Speaker 4: Good plan against not only him, but against their whole
entire uh staff.
Speaker 1: Is it a situation where maybe you want to play
a little bit more small ball or do you want
guys to kind of just go out there, no matter
who's on the mound and do their thing.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 5: We're going to just go through it and be who
we are. You know, We're going to you.
Speaker 4: Know, drive the ball, slug you know, if we we've
got opportunities to walk, we'll do that.
Speaker 5: I don't think we're going to change who we are
just because.
Speaker 2: Of who's on the mound.
Speaker 4: I think we have the horsepower to you know, drive
and slug and steal bases and splice small balls we
have to against any against any pitcher in the league.
Speaker 1: Do you, as a manager bite your fingernails more in
a two to one game or a.
Speaker 3: Game that becomes a slug fest? Ninety eight? I don't
think I've ever asked you that, But I'm as curious
as you.
Speaker 1: As you manage your as you work your way through
a game, what what gives you the most gray hairs?
Speaker 2: I don't, I don't. I don't never thought about that, Matt.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't try not to eat my nails.
I know that I have a ton of confidence I
trying to I have.
Speaker 4: I have a ton of confidence on our team, and
you know, I let the process play out, and you
know we are prepared to, you know, face anything doing
the game, so, you know, biting the nails or be
you know, I don't never really.
Speaker 2: Thought about any of that.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, hose al Tuo Bay bites the nails
and that's worked out for everyone. Yeah, I think he does.
How Hi? Yeah, Jose? Is uh? The bats really looking good?
Speaker 1: And We've talked about this a couple of weeks in
a row now, and it feels like whether it was
a film session, whether there's some time away with your coaches,
whatever the case would be, it's it's the old al
altube and not the early season L two V was
dropping off considerably, but his bat the last month or
so has been significantly improved.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know, it's it's just sometimes we forget
that we we have to be patient. We you know,
we and we want to see him producing him from
dayn nombo one. Sometimes he takes a little bit of
time for for the swing to get there and for
the timing to arrive, and uh, you know, it's just
once when he gets there, he's he's going to be explosive,
he's going to be a force, and once he gets going,
our offense is a completely different, completely different offense. I
think he has made some adjustments, not only on his
swing mechanics, but also and he's picked selection, which for
me is the key for his success.
Speaker 1: And again I love the fact that Keratini is getting
some playing time, whether you put him at first a
little bit d hing and catching and uh, what kind
of conversations and this is for any backup catcher. He
wants to play as much as he can. But it
feels like you've done a good enough job of at
least keeping that bat in his body active during this time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know he provides It gives us and
an opportunity to give some of the guts, some of
the guys, uh, you know, a breather. And and he's
a threat when he's on on the bench coming up
the bat, uh, the pinch shooter. You know.
Speaker 5: Also you know when.
Speaker 4: When I have a right hander pitcher who their splits
are significant, you know, having Cartini from the left side
in there is also valuable. But for me, the Keratini, Uh,
it's the his professionalism, his preparation, his quality of play
every time he's on the field. And and I and
I like that. I think he's valuable for us as
a club to have someone who can grind up bats,
who's going to compete, and it gives you the flexibility
hitting from both sides of the plate.
Speaker 5: So he's been a really good player for us.
Speaker 1: And last question, if I had told you a year
ago that you were going to get six innings and
twelve strikeouts from Lance mcculors, you'd have said, okay, that
that sounds about right. But there was a lot of
apprehension about whether what his return was going to be.
But to see him not only give you better work
every fifth day or sixth day in some cases, but
I felt like those the conversations have to be really
good the day after when you check out on Lance,
how you feeling. And obviously he's been feeling a lot
better the last to two or three starts.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been feeling great.
Speaker 4: And if you would have told me a year ago
that I was going to get six innings twelve punch
shots at a linements color, I will not be surprised
at all, you know, watching him work, watching him getting ready,
you know, I knew that once he's healthy, he's a
great picture.
Speaker 2: He is.
Speaker 4: He's been a really good picture when he's been on
the mound for us in good health. So when he's
healthy now he's bouncing back with well, his bullpen sessions
are great. His preparations are you know, with our with
our pitching coaches preparing for his next outings have been
you know on Q. So I expect them to be
good for a long run, and we need him to.
We need him to provide some of that leadership that
I've seen out of him in the past, and he's
excited and he's ready to do just that.
Speaker 3: Thanks to the visitors always, best of luck on this road.
Tip again. We'll talk next week and we thank you
for the visitors always.
Speaker 2: AHI guys, thanks you.
Speaker 1: Joe spotted with us from Pittsburgh Astros and Pirates, mcculors
and schemes in the Mound. Matchup on Deck begins today
at five thirty. It's a five forty first pitch from Pittsburgh.