Speaker 1: The Astros.
Speaker 2: MLB dot COM's Brian McTaggart Brian, uh, first and foremost,
you have gone to Saint Louis a lot in your
life covering the Astros, especially when they're in the National League.
It was like clinically depressing watching Cardinal Baseball there there.
I know, yesterday with the crowd was pretty good, but
what the hell has happened in Saint Louis? That used
to be like an automatic forty thousand they're building every time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I've never seen the stadium as empty
as it was. And I actually asked that question to
one of their beat writers and he said, you know,
opening day it was it was magical. They had, you know,
the Clydesdale's and that whole thing. And then beginning with
the second game of the season, the fans have just
checked out.
Speaker 1: I mean, they really didn't make any.
Speaker 3: Upgrades in the offseason other than signing Phil Maton, and uh,
you know, they weren't a good team last year, don't
look like they're gonna be a good team this year,
so I think the fans have just checked out. It
was it was sort of a depressing three days. Usually
you go to go to Saint Louis and it's you know,
it's this baseball like a suppose to be, but not
this time.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: We looked at the graphic onto Twitter and a lot
of people are doing this as well.
Speaker 3: I have.
Speaker 2: And look, everybody goes through a stretch where you're winning
and paying five hundred baseball. But even when you play
five hundred baseball, Brian, you maybe win three in a
row or drop four in a row or win to uh,
this continued streak of updown, up down, it is legendary
right now for the local nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think somebody said I'd have to confirm
that it's the longest streak and Astros history where they
haven't won two consecutive games or lost two consecutive games.
So I guess that's the definition of mediocrity when you're
just when you're going win loss, win loss. So you know,
they're eight and ten, it feels like their record should
be a little bit worse, I think, just with the
way they've played, especially on offense. But they pitched the
ball pretty well and that's sort of why they're at
where they are because right now their offense is really
tough to watch because you've got guys in the middle
of the lineup who just aren't pretty, and they need
to get it turned around quickly because the schedule's getting
really tough here with the Padres coming in and then
the Blue Jays they got to go to Kansas City,
so this is not an easy stretch for them, and
then they got to figure out a way to start
stacking up a couple of wins in a row, which
they haven't been able to do yet.
Speaker 2: Any hints from your perspective about maybe a little bit
of a lineup change because right now Walker Slash Diaz
is providing you just about nothing in that four or
five spot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And after the game yesterday, Joe Espotta was asked
about any possible changes to the lineup, and he said
he seemed to indicate that wasn't going to be the
case at least, you know, anytime soon. You know, he said,
all nine of these guys have to come up and
hit at some point, no matter the order. And I
get what he's saying. I mean, I mean, you can
move Walker and DS to other points in the order,
and you know they're still going to have to hit
for this lineup to work and click and be successful.
Speaker 1: And I still think they will.
Speaker 3: I mean, Janner Diaz didn't forget to hit in the offseason.
Christian Walker is a guy who's you know, hits thirty
home runs every year, So you know, not sure what's
going on with those guys. I know that Christian Walker
looks increasingly frustrated by the day. But it is only
eighteen games. They got a long way to go. They
got to get this thing turned around, and I think
they will, just because the track record of those guys,
and they can't really get much worse at this point.
Speaker 4: Brian McTaggart with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Let's just go to Cam Smith eighteen games into his
major league career, both in the field and at the plate.
How are you feeling about the way he's looking.
Speaker 1: Well better in the field than at the plate.
Speaker 3: I mean, he looks a little more natural and right
field with every game. I mean, I thought he had
a pretty good defensive three days at Saint Louis. He
looked pretty fluid down there, ran one ball down. His
throws have been pretty good. I think he's gonna be
fine out there, you know, Offensively, I think he's trying
to figure it out. I mean, you got to remember,
this is a guy who played five games above Class
A ball prior to this year, and now all of
a sudden you're in the big leagues facing the Mets
on opening Day. That is not easy, and so there's
going to be some growing pains. Did not have a
good series against Saint Louis, but you know, again, they
got to get him going.
Speaker 1: A little bit as well.
Speaker 3: You know, he's still got a runway here to try
to figure this thing out. He does seem to take
walks from time to time. He doesn't look overwhelmed at
the plate, but the results haven't been there. So I
think that's something they're going to have to watch here
closely in the next couple of weeks, is just to
see where he's at and then decide whether they want
to keep running him out there or send him the
Triple A and get some momentum and get some more
bats under his belt where he gets some confidence and
maybe bring him back up.
Speaker 4: Back to Christian Walker real quick. Just if you had
to guess, do you think there is any sort of
lingering issue with the oblique that could be hampering that
he could be playing through or do you think most
of his problems are just mental and some bad luck.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think the obliques in issue, because he's
still you know, he's still taking uh stacking his hacks
and taking the swings. If there was pain there, especially
with his history, I mean, I think he would shut
it down. I you know, he's they're they're pitching him
to the point where he's chasing a little bit more
than he normally does.
Speaker 1: And I think he's getting frustrated.
Speaker 3: And when you start pressing, you start chasing pictures off
the plate a little bit more. And I think pictures
are realizing that, and they're they're pitching him to try
to get himself out, and he's doing that so far.
But you know, that's just the adjustments he's gonna have
to make. He's been in this league a long time.
I don't know if he's ever been through a stretch
this poorly. But when you join a new team, there's
a lot of pressure on you. When you're especially when
you're making that kind of money and you're hitting in
the forehole, there's a lot of pressure on you to produce.
And the longer you don't, I think all that builds.
So how's he going to handle it. How's he gonna respond?
You know, he's got a chance Friday to you know,
get a couple of hits, Uh, have a good series,
and then he'll be on the on the right track.
But uh, he hasn't been able to do that so far.
Speaker 2: Brian mctaggard MLB dot Com with us here every Thursday
on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross Tax. There's one
player that equals the mark of the team. It might
be from Bervaldez. One night, you were ready to go
all right, astros Le's get into a deep conversation about extension.
The next nine is look forward to seeing where you're
pitching twenty twenty six. He is literally just like the
squad right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's he's an enigma. I think the team right
now is enigma. When friend Fromber's on, he's the best
there is. He's got one of the best curveballs there
is of the game. But he just tends to lose
it at times. And you know, we've seen that this year.
He's got a couple of good starts, a couple of
not so good and you know again the second half
last year he was piling up those good starts and
when he does that. You know, he's he's one of
the top two or three left handed pitchers in the game,
and so it's gonna be really interesting to see what
they do with him if this season progresses and they
they're not contending in the the the division, which I
don't think is gonna happen.
Speaker 1: The division is not that strong. I think they will
play better.
Speaker 3: Do they consider trading him because I don't think they're
gonna resign him. I don't think they should resign him,
you know, let someone else pay him, you know, the money.
Speaker 1: But that's something they're gonna have to entertain.
Speaker 3: And I just don't think they'll get to the point
where they're so far out they're gonna trade him, because
if they're gonna contend, they'll need him. But uh, they're
gonna need the good frobber and not the one that
you know we've seen on and off. But you're right,
he's he's sort of like the team now. You just
you don't know what they're gonna get from day to day.
Speaker 2: What do we know about the health status and latest
on both Forrest Whitley and Lance mccollors.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Lance is throwing Saturday for Corpor's Christine.
Speaker 1: I think what could be his final rehab start.
Speaker 3: They're in Midland, so I hope he likes, uh likes
spending a night or two in Midland. Nice place, I hear,
but I think that will be his last one, and
at that point, I think they're going to consider activating
him and Dana Brown, I think said last week maybe
when they go to Kansas City next weekend, he could
be back by then in the rotation. So that's going
to be a big storyline. Whitley through back to back games.
I don't know if I don't know if the second
one was today or yesterday, but he's really close to
being activated. I think he's a little ahead of kayleb Ort,
who's going to be activated soon too. So I think
we're about to see a couple of new relievers in
the bullpen with Whitley in order. I think we'll see
them both up here within the next couple of weeks,
I mean, within the next few days, and then probably
Lance within the next week or so.
Speaker 2: Get your crystal ball out for me on Lance. If
everything works out well, and like I said, you know,
he must be really ready to go, Becau, he's going
to go to Middle in to pitch a baseball game.
What do you think ultimately he will look like forgetting
about performance, but just about length and pitch count and whatnot.
What do you think could be his forecast for the
next thirty days.
Speaker 3: Now, I think he's going to get up to the goals,
get up to seventy five eighty pitches in this start
on Saturday. So you're looking at a guy if he
makes his first start for the Astros, you know, could
do eighty ninety pitches by four or five innings. I
don't think we're gonna see him go out there going
seven eight innings, but it's gonna be interesting to see
because his numbers have been pretty good and his rehab starts.
I mean, his velo was down quite a bit his
last start. But I asked a round about that to
some people, and no one seems too worried about it.
You know, they think that once he's in a big
league environment and the adrenaline is going that you know,
he's not gonna throw ninety seven ninety six anymore. But
they need him at ninety five and not at ninety
one ninety two. So if he's at ninety ninety four,
ninety five with the fastball. Lance has got a track
record that when he when he's healthy, he's really good.
So I'm really anxious to see, after what two and
a half, one and a half years, whatever it is,
what he can do against the big league lineup. And
I think we're gonna get to see that shot here
pretty soon. You know.
Speaker 4: What we can to have about a bullpen question when
when Ort and Forrest Whitley do come back. I mean,
who are the guys you think aren't gonna be the
ones who are gonna get shut down? And how we're
just feeling about the the middle innings, especially the bullpen
in general, and really kind of a bray who's been
a little bit shaky.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, Nick Hernandez just came up.
I mean I could see him. You know, he's a
guy who's probably gonna go up and down quite a
bit this year.
Speaker 1: I think he would.
Speaker 3: He could probably go back down at this point. Contreras
has been up and down and he's back down, so
you know, there's moves that can make there pretty easily.
Brian King has settled into that seventh inning role. Pretty
good left hander and pitch really well, you know, or
I mean Okrat has immersed as a weapon again. He
came in yesterday and pitched well. He's been really, really good.
So Josh Hater has been terrific. I don't know one's
really paying attention to his numbers because he hasn't had
a ton of save opportunities, but he his his numbers
across the border are really awesome, so he's having a
good year. Ray has been up and down. You know,
he's walking too many guys, But you know, I think
I think his last static was a little better. So
their pitching's fine. I mean, I'm if I'm the Astros,
I'm not too worried about the pitching right now that
they just got to start hitting bottom line.
Speaker 2: We'll leave it at that, friend, thank you for the
visitors always. Uh, and I'll be sending you my rocket
jersey if you'd like to have one. And uh, we'll
talk with you in next week about the same time.