1
00:00:01,199 --> 00:00:03,359
Speaker 1: Is the Matt Thomas Show with.

2
00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:12,160
Speaker 2: Ross eleven to two. Here on the Matt Thomas Show

3
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,920
with Ross Sports Talk seven ninety with you until twelve o'clock,

4
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,120
at which point we will head into Astros on Deck

5
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,079
Mode one. Ten to first pitch, Astro's going for a

6
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,800
sweep against the Boston Red Sox after taking the first

7
00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,079
couple of games in this series, and right now please

8
00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,240
to be joined by our weekly baseball guest, Brian bogas

9
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,240
Sevic of Space City Home Network and of course a

10
00:00:37,359 --> 00:00:42,799
former Astro himself. Brian appreciate the time. As always, Let's

11
00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,520
just go ahead and start with this offense, leading the

12
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,240
entire majors in runs scored first couple of games. Scuffling

13
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,000
a bit, let's just kind of do with more of

14
00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:53,880
a macro before to getting into some of the individual hitters.

15
00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,600
But just how are the Astros doing this? Piling up

16
00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:58,359
all these runs?

17
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,359
Speaker 1: You know what, They're doing it a lot of different ways,

18
00:01:02,679 --> 00:01:04,640
which is a good thing. If you're going to score

19
00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,640
runs consistently over the course of the season, you're going

20
00:01:07,719 --> 00:01:09,879
to have to be able to do it in multiple ways.

21
00:01:09,879 --> 00:01:13,239
And you know, we've seen the long innings that they

22
00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,560
had a couple of times against the Angels, we've seen

23
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,760
more of a power quick strike offense show up. Here

24
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,439
against the Red Sox, there's been some aggressive base running.

25
00:01:22,439 --> 00:01:24,920
They're working walks, so there's a lot of traffic on bases.

26
00:01:26,239 --> 00:01:28,799
Extra base hits are piling up. Besides just the home runs.

27
00:01:28,799 --> 00:01:31,719
They're driving the ball all over the field. So you know,

28
00:01:32,719 --> 00:01:35,799
right now, it's they're scoring runs a ton of different ways,

29
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:37,879
which is great and it's a lot of fun to watch.

30
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,040
But you know, if you're going to try to look

31
00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:42,200
at it further down the road and say, what does

32
00:01:42,239 --> 00:01:45,239
that mean for the long haul, it means you know,

33
00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,079
there's going to be times when you're not doing one

34
00:01:47,159 --> 00:01:49,599
or the other, but you know you can continue to

35
00:01:49,719 --> 00:01:52,400
go out there and have an offense that can that

36
00:01:52,439 --> 00:01:53,599
can put up runs no matter what.

37
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,879
Speaker 2: Astros second in team ops in baseball right now, and well,

38
00:01:58,959 --> 00:02:03,079
let's get into the micro some of the individuals, starting

39
00:02:03,079 --> 00:02:05,200
with Jordan Alvarez. That guy's pretty good.

40
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 1: It's crazy. It's just, you know, having a season like

41
00:02:11,479 --> 00:02:14,800
last year where he was out so much and when

42
00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,479
he was here he wasn't fully healthy. You know, you

43
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,960
almost forget what it looks like when he's fully healthy

44
00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,759
and totally locked in, which is what he is right now.

45
00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,439
It just looks like everything at the plate is moving

46
00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,520
so slowly for him. When he gets a good pitch

47
00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,599
to hit, he just unleashes a swing that you know

48
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,479
he's hitting the ball a mile. But it's the takes

49
00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:37,560
that are really impressive for a guy to have that,

50
00:02:38,039 --> 00:02:41,879
you know, violent and powerful a swing. When he takes

51
00:02:41,879 --> 00:02:43,719
the ball, he doesn't flinch. It's not a bunch of

52
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,080
check swings. It's not starting early to get the bat

53
00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,000
head out. He had some tough, some tough takes on

54
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,039
two strike breaking balls yesterday that he's seeing it out

55
00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:55,039
of the hand. And when you have a guy who's

56
00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,960
seeing the ball that well, the swing is so pure,

57
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,759
he can drive the ball to any part of the ballpark.

58
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:05,439
It's just he really does feel dangerous on every single pitch.

59
00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we hear that a lot. Brian seeing the

60
00:03:08,159 --> 00:03:10,400
ball well, and it's something that that kind of comes

61
00:03:10,439 --> 00:03:13,120
and goes. Can you explain that to us, like what

62
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,280
does that mean, I'm seeing the ball well? And what

63
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,120
does that mean when it pales to I'm not seeing

64
00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,080
the ball well well?

65
00:03:19,719 --> 00:03:23,080
Speaker 1: You know, you have to pick up different hues to

66
00:03:23,159 --> 00:03:25,120
tip you off as to what pitch is coming. Right

67
00:03:25,319 --> 00:03:27,759
a fastball, a slide or a change up. There's different

68
00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,719
things that you can find, and when your timing's not right,

69
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:32,919
or maybe you have a little bit of head movement,

70
00:03:33,319 --> 00:03:36,280
it takes longer to recognize those things. The ball seems

71
00:03:36,319 --> 00:03:38,319
like it's sped up on you. But when everything's kind

72
00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,639
of moving slow, when your head and your eyes are

73
00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,560
real still, you'll see the little bit of different arm

74
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,360
angle that a pitcher has on a fastball versus a changeup,

75
00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,560
or you'll see the breaking ball pop up out of

76
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,039
the guy's hand just a little bit earlier. That'll tip

77
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,280
you off as to what pitch it is. And for

78
00:03:55,439 --> 00:03:58,080
your do on right now, it almost seems like as

79
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,039
soon as that pitcher's arm get up above his head,

80
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,759
he's recognizing what pitch is coming. He's doing the calculation

81
00:04:04,879 --> 00:04:07,080
on where it needs to start versus where it needs

82
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,120
to land for it to be a pitch that he's

83
00:04:09,159 --> 00:04:12,000
going to go after, and all those decisions that are

84
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,719
happening in you know, fractions of a second, it seems

85
00:04:14,759 --> 00:04:17,560
like he's got way more time than he actually does.

86
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,399
Speaker 2: Brian boga Sevic with US here on Sports Talk seven

87
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,959
ninety hose al two v eight walks in the first

88
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,879
six games. That certainly has jumped out at us. What

89
00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,199
are you seeing from him as far as meshing being

90
00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,439
the same old al Tuove who is going to be

91
00:04:33,519 --> 00:04:37,279
a Hall of Famer into maybe a different approach. Is

92
00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:38,600
that what you're seeing from him so far?

93
00:04:39,759 --> 00:04:42,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, I don't think the approach is

94
00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,399
necessarily be more patient in terms of him walking as

95
00:04:46,439 --> 00:04:48,680
much as he had, But I think it's an approach

96
00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,399
of being committed to hitting the ball in the middle

97
00:04:51,399 --> 00:04:53,839
of the field using the other way, not being so

98
00:04:53,959 --> 00:04:58,240
full happy, not trying to force pull side power. And

99
00:04:58,279 --> 00:04:59,959
what that's allowed him to do is see the ball

100
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,600
a little bit longer and make better swing decisions. A

101
00:05:02,639 --> 00:05:05,399
lot of the pitches that he's laid off of, especially

102
00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:10,120
later in counts, have been breaking balls down in a way,

103
00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,720
pitches that you know he would have committed early to

104
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,199
and maybe swung over the top of or chopped into

105
00:05:15,199 --> 00:05:17,480
the ground last year. He's waiting just a little bit

106
00:05:17,519 --> 00:05:19,680
longer because he's comfortable hitting the ball in the middle

107
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:21,959
of the field and able to lay off those pitches.

108
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,399
And but what the thing is is that he's not

109
00:05:25,519 --> 00:05:28,240
giving anything up to do that. We saw the two

110
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:29,879
home runs the other night, both of those were on

111
00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,319
the pull side, So how did that happen? Well, he's

112
00:05:32,319 --> 00:05:34,600
seeing the ball long enough to make good swing decisions,

113
00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,639
but the swing is in a good place to where

114
00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,360
he's still quick enough when a hanging breaking ball shows

115
00:05:39,399 --> 00:05:42,480
up or a sinker leaks back in, he's still quick

116
00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:44,439
enough to get around on it and drive it. And

117
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:46,879
it's just he's in a really good spot right now

118
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,319
where the swing's in a good spot and the approaches

119
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,920
in a good spot, and he's covering everything.

120
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,839
Speaker 2: Brian bogas Evin continuing with us here on Sports Talk

121
00:05:56,959 --> 00:06:00,639
seven ninety, Why was Lance mccaullor's junior so good and

122
00:06:00,639 --> 00:06:01,600
how does he keep it up?

123
00:06:03,439 --> 00:06:07,639
Speaker 1: Well, you saw it in spring training. You saw, first

124
00:06:07,639 --> 00:06:10,879
of all, the stuff being a little bit sharper than

125
00:06:10,879 --> 00:06:13,160
it was last year, the velocity up a little bit,

126
00:06:13,439 --> 00:06:17,199
the breaking ball spin a little bit tighter. But you

127
00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,560
also saw a more committed approach to attacking his zone.

128
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:23,199
And a lot of that probably comes from just the

129
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,199
confidence in the stuff being a little bit better. But

130
00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,120
what we saw on that first start was even turned

131
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,199
up a little bit more from what we saw in

132
00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,720
spring training. It was a guy who looked like every

133
00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,720
pitch that he was throwing, he wanted to induce the swing,

134
00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,439
he wanted to induce contact because he was confident that

135
00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,040
his stuff was going to beat the hitters in the zone.

136
00:06:44,079 --> 00:06:46,079
It looked like, you know, at times last year where

137
00:06:46,639 --> 00:06:48,720
he wanted to get chases, he wanted to get swings

138
00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:50,920
at pitches that weren't going to be able to be

139
00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,759
put in play because he didn't trust his stuff to

140
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,240
be to play in the zone. And this year, it

141
00:06:58,319 --> 00:07:01,560
just looks like he's got to increase confidence in what

142
00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:03,199
his pitches are, what the shape of them are, what

143
00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,000
the velocity of those pitches are, and going out there

144
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,000
and saying, hey, I hope you swing and I hope

145
00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:09,839
you hit it because I know that I'm gonna win.

146
00:07:11,439 --> 00:07:13,240
Speaker 2: We'll get to Jeremy Penny in a second. He is

147
00:07:13,279 --> 00:07:15,040
out of the lineup today, But just just kind of

148
00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,839
a general question, what does that when we always talk

149
00:07:17,879 --> 00:07:20,399
about in baseball day game after a night game and

150
00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:22,920
that being a grind. Can you just kind of take

151
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,800
us through that. How much of those extra couple hours

152
00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,680
change your routine? Of course, Christian Vasquez in the lineup today.

153
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,399
Of course, you try to keep catchers off their feet

154
00:07:30,439 --> 00:07:33,120
at a day game after a night game. What happens,

155
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,879
What changes with those extra six hours or so that

156
00:07:36,959 --> 00:07:38,360
get shaved off with the day game.

157
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,160
Speaker 1: Well, you know, the obvious thing is just the quick turnaround.

158
00:07:42,279 --> 00:07:44,839
You know, you're on your feet running around finishing the

159
00:07:44,879 --> 00:07:47,959
game last night at ten o'clock, and now these guys

160
00:07:47,959 --> 00:07:49,800
are already back on the field. They're just finished taking

161
00:07:49,879 --> 00:07:53,079
round balls here at you know, eleven o'clock. So a

162
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:57,800
quicker turnaround, but it interrupts your regular routine of getting

163
00:07:57,800 --> 00:07:59,759
ready for the game. A lot of these guys, you know,

164
00:07:59,759 --> 00:08:03,920
they get here twelve one o'clock in the afternoon, do

165
00:08:03,959 --> 00:08:06,079
you eat, You start to get stretched out, You do

166
00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:07,680
some work in the weight room, get some work in

167
00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,199
the training room, and it's this slow build up to

168
00:08:10,399 --> 00:08:13,399
be to work in the batting practice to then get

169
00:08:13,399 --> 00:08:15,560
yourself ready for the game, and you just don't have

170
00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,199
time to do that. So it's an abbreviated routine. You

171
00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:19,800
have to get on your feet a little bit quicker,

172
00:08:20,079 --> 00:08:23,199
maybe don't have as much time to check all those boxes.

173
00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,959
You just have to hit kind of the main points

174
00:08:25,959 --> 00:08:28,040
that you want to get to. So it's a combination

175
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,600
of a quick turnaround and just not having as much

176
00:08:30,639 --> 00:08:34,960
time to recover, but also the abbreviated routine for whatever

177
00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:36,919
it is that you do to get yourself ready for

178
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:37,919
a seven o'clock game.

179
00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,240
Speaker 2: Did you ever have an injury similar to Jeremy's.

180
00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,039
Speaker 1: No, not something like that that I was still kind

181
00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,720
of working through on the build up back. I mean,

182
00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,720
I've had broken bones and stuff, but by the time

183
00:08:51,759 --> 00:08:55,000
I was back into gameplay, I was one hundred percent

184
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,559
full go. I mean, where he's what it looks like

185
00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:00,720
he's at right now is a guy who's covered from

186
00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,679
the injury but still in the build up phase. And

187
00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,360
if it would have been a non non factor, if

188
00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:08,279
this would have happened earlier in spring and he could

189
00:09:08,279 --> 00:09:10,399
have used the last week or two to do that

190
00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,320
more natural build up. You know, in spring training, you're

191
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:14,600
not going to take a guy who with him played

192
00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,879
in a while and just say, Okay, you've got nine

193
00:09:16,919 --> 00:09:19,240
innings back to back to back to back days. So

194
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,480
just kind of the timing of it, it's more of

195
00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,399
it feels like it's a build up of we are

196
00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,960
protecting your body, not necessarily trying trying to baby or

197
00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:31,240
nurse an injury.

198
00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. Brian Bogasavik with us here on Sports Talk seven

199
00:09:36,159 --> 00:09:38,960
ninety Mike Burrows on the mound. We were very excited

200
00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,200
about his results in spring training. First start didn't go

201
00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,240
maybe the way whoa really anybody on the astros side wanted.

202
00:09:45,519 --> 00:09:47,080
What did you see from him in the first start?

203
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:48,480
Was he need to improve today?

204
00:09:49,879 --> 00:09:54,720
Speaker 1: Honestly, you know, besides two swings, it wasn't really a

205
00:09:54,799 --> 00:09:56,919
whole lot different than what we saw in spring training.

206
00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,399
And he gave us five runs. Four of them were

207
00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,440
on a three run homer that landed in the front

208
00:10:01,519 --> 00:10:03,600
row of the Crawford boxes, and then you know, Mike

209
00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,360
Trout locked in like that gets a whole lot of guys.

210
00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,360
So really the stuff didn't look all that different. The

211
00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,720
bottom line wasn't I don't think what anybody would have

212
00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,159
expected based on how he threw the ball in spring.

213
00:10:15,399 --> 00:10:19,360
What I think is really interesting about his matchup today

214
00:10:19,519 --> 00:10:23,320
is what we saw from Lance two nights ago and

215
00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:27,360
then Hunter yesterday was a lot of really aggressive pitching

216
00:10:27,399 --> 00:10:29,080
early in the count, a lot of strikes, a lot

217
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,080
of attacking with fastballs, get ahead, put away, get ahead,

218
00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,879
put away, and that was exactly what Mike Burroughs m

219
00:10:34,919 --> 00:10:37,840
O was all throughout spring training. He was working fast,

220
00:10:37,879 --> 00:10:40,399
he's ahead of everybody, and it looked like a guy

221
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:44,039
who really had no interest in messing around and setting

222
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,320
up pitches. It was just here's my stuff, it's good,

223
00:10:46,519 --> 00:10:48,360
I'm going at you with it, and I think I'm

224
00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:50,879
going to beat you. So I think that approach that

225
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,159
he had all throughout the spring plays well against what

226
00:10:54,279 --> 00:10:58,639
this Boston offense is in its current state. So yeah,

227
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,159
I think from a bottom line aspect, the first start

228
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,799
of the year wasn't exactly what you would have wanted,

229
00:11:05,879 --> 00:11:09,639
But I don't think what he was was all that

230
00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:10,879
different from what we was on spring.

231
00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,559
Speaker 2: All right, there you go, Brian Bogus have a great stuff.

232
00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,080
As always our weekly to excuse me Wednesday guest here

233
00:11:17,159 --> 00:11:20,480
on Sports Talk seven ninety throughout the baseball season. Brian,

234
00:11:20,519 --> 00:11:22,279
thanks for the time. We'll talk to you next week.

235
00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:23,919
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks Av.