Speaker 1: Welcomeboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
Speaker 1: seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h town breakdown
Speaker 1: of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.
Speaker 2: All these great Houston fans here.
Speaker 3: We love you all. So finish up on that to
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Speaker 1: sports all day if you don't start now bear me
Speaker 1: the eight.
Speaker 3: This is Space City Saturday. It's insane.
Speaker 1: Here's seven nineties. Dan Matthews, very true. What's going on? Everybody?
Speaker 1: You're with you for the next couple of hours. Melvin
Speaker 1: Brown behind the glass. Appreciate you all tuning in to
Speaker 1: us right here on. You're home of the Astros and
Speaker 1: the Rockets. Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Speaker 4: As we ought to do here in the first hour
Speaker 4: of the show, heavy Astros in this hour, So if
Speaker 4: you want to weigh in, do so seven one three
Speaker 4: two one two five seven ninety. Once again, that's sebon
Speaker 4: one three two one two five seven ninety. As you
Speaker 4: have a chance to be able to talk end of
Speaker 4: the season and also too as well what's ahead for
Speaker 4: the Stros. We will do all of that as we
Speaker 4: move along here in the program today Texans. In the
Speaker 4: second hour get to a lot of what was said
Speaker 4: this week over at NRG Stadium. But not only there,
Speaker 4: but also too Not very often do you hear a
Speaker 4: loss carried over to the following week and the coach
Speaker 4: and the players are asked continuously about it. But that
Speaker 4: was the case with Dimiko Ryans and CJ. Stroud and
Speaker 4: whoever else was asked about it over there, because well,
Speaker 4: that was not a fun performance in Minneapolis last weekend
Speaker 4: against the Vikings. So the Texans trying to bounce back
Speaker 4: from that, and we will see if they are able
Speaker 4: to do that. Also in that second hour bottom of
Speaker 4: the hour, Ryan Hacker Green from ten ten XL in Jacksonville,
Speaker 4: he joined us on the A team. Some good stuff
Speaker 4: said by him on the Jacksonville side of tomorrow's matchup.
Speaker 4: We'll get into that, but also too as well, you know,
Speaker 4: just how is this Jacksonville team looking coming into this game.
Speaker 4: I think Ryan used the term lost with no real direction.
Speaker 4: There's some people even wondering if tomorrow does not go well,
Speaker 4: does Doug Peterson get shown the door. They're in Jacksonville.
Speaker 4: And also this is a team that did extend their
Speaker 4: quarterback after last season, So who's to say that the
Speaker 4: Texans cannot prolong that those issues for Trevor Lawrence in
Speaker 4: the Jacksonville Jags gotta believe they're gonna be emptying the
Speaker 4: kitchen sink tomorrow because that is a team badly a win,
Speaker 4: and not only are they badly need of a win,
Speaker 4: but also to the Texans would like to be able
Speaker 4: to put together their best performance of this season, because
Speaker 4: again we'll talk about it in the next hour, but
Speaker 4: this is a team that could very easily be in
Speaker 4: the Jags position right now. That win at Indianapolis, it
Speaker 4: could have absolutely gone the other way. The win at
Speaker 4: home against the Bears on Sunday Night football, same deal.
Speaker 4: The Bears could have very easily won that game over
Speaker 4: the Texans. And then last week, of course, we saw
Speaker 4: how bad that went. So we will talk about that
Speaker 4: a little bit later on in the show. But the
Speaker 4: Astros just kind of going beginning of the week until
Speaker 4: now Tuesday night.
Speaker 5: They got the good one.
Speaker 4: They got the win over the Seattle Mariners that closed
Speaker 4: the door on the Mariners at least winning the al
Speaker 4: Wes their chances of still making the postseason.
Speaker 5: We're alive for about a couple of.
Speaker 4: More days because they prolonged it the next day with
Speaker 4: a just a weird game there for the Astros where
Speaker 4: tons of players were resting. That was the hangover lineup
Speaker 4: that a lot of people will call it, not saying
Speaker 4: that guys had hangovers, but anyway, I mean, you had,
Speaker 4: you know, Joe Aspota after the game emphatically saying that
Speaker 4: players would be rested going forward. Because also to the Astros,
Speaker 4: knew that their playoff fate was already sealed. They were
Speaker 4: going to be the third seed, no more, no less
Speaker 4: than the third seed. They were locked in to that
Speaker 4: spot because they were not going to catch the Yankees,
Speaker 4: they were not going to catch the Cleveland Guardians for
Speaker 4: either of those top two spots to be able to
Speaker 4: skip out on the wild card round. So in that case,
Speaker 4: it was, why do we even need to necessarily, you know,
Speaker 4: press our guys even further. Let's give jose al Tuova
Speaker 4: some rest. Let's give Kyle Tucker some rest. Let's give
Speaker 4: Alex Bregman some rest. Let's give you know whom I'm
Speaker 4: missing out on here that needs some rest. Last night
Speaker 4: we saw Jeremy Pania get some rest. It's almost kind
Speaker 4: of one of those when you reach this certain point
Speaker 4: of the season that the man is almost like the
Speaker 4: principal in the movie The Breakfast Club with jud Hirsh
Speaker 4: you know where he's talking back to him. Oh you
Speaker 4: want a Saturday, all right, Well you get another one though,
Speaker 4: Oh you want one more? Well, guess what you just
Speaker 4: bought yourself another one. That's pretty much what managers are
Speaker 4: with players with rest days. Hey, you're getting a rest day.
Speaker 4: Well I don't want one. Well, guess what you just
Speaker 4: got another one. I mean, it's pretty much protecting yourself
Speaker 4: from yourself, and that's what I think Joe Aspota is
Speaker 4: up against right now. So if I had to suspect today,
Speaker 4: I think the lineup will look pretty similar to what
Speaker 4: it has most of this season.
Speaker 5: Obviously, no Jordan Alvarez.
Speaker 4: He's back here in Houston going through some light work
Speaker 4: right now. We heard Joe Aspotta telling Brian McTaggert and
Speaker 4: the collected media there in Cleveland yesterday that he was
Speaker 4: doing some walking on the treadmill. Well, I've got to
Speaker 4: agree with Brian McTaggert if that does not translate to
Speaker 4: maybe we hear today that he was taking some batting
Speaker 4: practice on the field, doing some light running something like that,
Speaker 4: and we're not training, you know, we're not getting close
Speaker 4: to that point. And I guess Monday will be kind
Speaker 4: of a tell tell sign. I believe the Astros will
Speaker 4: be doing a workout there on Monday in kind of
Speaker 4: a media day with not only them but also too
Speaker 4: as well. You know, if the season ended today, you
Speaker 4: know that old that we like to do in baseball,
Speaker 4: the season ended today, Well, if it ended today, the
Speaker 4: Astros would be bringing the Kansas City Royals to town
Speaker 4: over the Detroit Tigers. As it currently stands, the Tigers
Speaker 4: are now the fifth seed in the American League playoff picture,
Speaker 4: as they would be taking on more than likely the
Speaker 4: Baltimore Orioles in the first round that wild card round,
Speaker 4: and the Astros would get the Kansas City Royals. But
Speaker 4: of course we've got today, we've got tomorrow, and the
Speaker 4: Royals a little bit of a tougher path to try
Speaker 4: to climb their way back into the fifth spot, because
Speaker 4: not only are they playing a much better team, but
Speaker 4: the White Sox are playing a team that has lost
Speaker 4: the most games in the modern era of baseball, in
Speaker 4: the Chicago White Sox so the Tigers a little bit
Speaker 4: of an easier path to be able to get to
Speaker 4: that point, and the Royals are in Atlanta taking on
Speaker 4: a Braves team that as of right now has climbed
Speaker 4: their way back into the wildcard picture for the National League.
Speaker 4: But not only that, they are trying to be able
Speaker 4: to stave off both the Mets and the Diamondbacks to
Speaker 4: keep them out of the postseason. So you know that
Speaker 4: Brian Snickers team is very much trying to win those games.
Speaker 4: And the Royals, I think at this point, now that
Speaker 4: they are clenched and locked in, it will be pretty
Speaker 4: interesting to see how they handled tomorrow and even today
Speaker 4: against the Braves. I mean, I think, obviously too you
Speaker 4: want to be competitive, you want to be able to
Speaker 4: put your best foot forward. But I think at this
Speaker 4: point it's probably best to assume that the Astros will
Speaker 4: be seeing the Royals, and at least for the last
Speaker 4: couple of years, that had not been a good proposition
Speaker 4: for the Astros, But at least the last series it
Speaker 4: was a lot better than what it had been, as
Speaker 4: the Stros were able to take care of Kansas City.
Speaker 4: So don't think that's not gonna be on the Royals'
Speaker 4: minds as they more than likely come here on Monday
Speaker 4: and get ready for those hopefully just two games. Hopefully
Speaker 4: the Astros would only need those two games, but again,
Speaker 4: Cole Reagan's seth Lugo, it's gonna be tough pitching on
Speaker 4: that side, but the Astros have some tough pitching on
Speaker 4: their side as well, So the Astros again, I mean
Speaker 4: improbable of all runs I think that we've seen for
Speaker 4: the Stros. I mean I think even last year, I
Speaker 4: think even heading into that final weekend, we were still
Speaker 4: kind of thinking, well, I don't see a scenario where
Speaker 4: this team misses out on the postseason. And of course
Speaker 4: I believe it was that Friday is when they at
Speaker 4: least clinch a chance to go the postseason, either as
Speaker 4: a wild card or as a division winner. And then
Speaker 4: what was it that Sunday when they beat Arizona and
Speaker 4: also to the Rangers loss of the Mariners, then they
Speaker 4: clinched the AO West, so they were able to get
Speaker 4: in that way. So they did it a little bit
Speaker 4: earlier this year, but still I think it's kind of
Speaker 4: what happened early on in the season that came back
Speaker 4: for the Astros this year that would again lead me
Speaker 4: to signal that this is one of the more improbable runs.
Speaker 4: The seven and nineteen start oh and four to start
Speaker 4: the season against the Yankees. They came in here and
Speaker 4: absolutely dominated you, and you're just kind of like, man,
Speaker 4: that sucks. I mean, you couldn't take one of those four.
Speaker 4: I mean, you're still not feeling one hundred percent great
Speaker 4: with a one in three start, but at least you're
Speaker 4: feeling a lot better than oh to four. Then you
Speaker 4: get the Renel Blanco no hitter on that Monday night
Speaker 4: against Toronto and the Astros. Then after that, continuing their slide,
Speaker 4: going to Kansas City getting swept, just getting absolutely blown out.
Speaker 4: Aside from that first game, the series against the Nationals,
Speaker 4: not a fun one. Getting swept by the Cubs, getting
Speaker 4: swept by the Braves, just not a fun start.
Speaker 5: That all boiled to a seven and nineteen start.
Speaker 4: Then you get to twelve in twenty four and then
Speaker 4: as the season goes along, Kyle Tucker goes down, same
Speaker 4: with Justin Berlander, and still this team found a way.
Speaker 4: So we'll see how it all shakes out when it's
Speaker 4: all said and done. Last night, though, saw some good
Speaker 4: things I don't think there's any doubt about that. Again,
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, some people on the surface might say,
Speaker 4: and you know, I've even kind of used the line
Speaker 4: as well that this is almost kind of extended spring
Speaker 4: training at this point because the games themselves do not matter,
Speaker 4: but for Cleveland it does because they're trying to be
Speaker 4: able to get the top spot there as day again
Speaker 4: already locked into one of the top two spots, but
Speaker 4: the Yankees winning last night and also to the Guardians
Speaker 4: losing it to the Astros, so that definitely hurts their
Speaker 4: chances of being able to get to that point. But
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the Astros trying to be able
Speaker 4: to just carry any momentum they can into the postseason.
Speaker 4: I said the Yankees one last night, I lied they
Speaker 4: actually lost to the Pirates. Forgot about that too. They're
Speaker 4: in the Bronx. But I mean, you know, the good
Speaker 4: things we saw Jose Altuve, a couple of hits out
Speaker 4: of him, three hits out of Kyle Tucker, three from
Speaker 4: Alex Bregman. That's something we're going to talk about a
Speaker 4: little bit later on in the show, because I think
Speaker 4: that absolutely is something that you love to see. It's
Speaker 4: a sight for sore eyes if you're an Astros fan
Speaker 4: heading into the postseason. So we will definitely be talking
Speaker 4: about that a little bit later on. And tonight's again
Speaker 4: five to ten, first pitch from there in Cleveland, and
Speaker 4: a programming note about that as well. We're gonna have
Speaker 4: Texas in Mississippi State from there in Austin right here
Speaker 4: on your home of the Longhorns in Houston for football
Speaker 4: and men's basketball Sports Talk seven to ninety, so the
Speaker 4: Astros all coverage in between gonna be over on news
Speaker 4: Radio seven forty k TRH. I will be coming your
Speaker 4: way at four o'clock with Astros on deck over there
Speaker 4: on news Radio seven forty. And also we will have
Speaker 4: Robert Ford Steve Sparks over there, and the Astros tenth
Speaker 4: Inning Show will be there with you as well on KTRH.
Speaker 4: But one last chance, I think for Justin Verlander to
Speaker 4: prove he can be a possibility to pitch in the postseason.
Speaker 4: I don't envision any scenario where Verlander has left off
Speaker 4: the postseason roster. But I also think as well, here's
Speaker 4: the scenario, say in the Alds if you get to
Speaker 4: a Game four and you're kind of thinking about all right,
Speaker 4: do we use that day off and bring back fromber
Speaker 4: if you're down to one in the series. I think
Speaker 4: that's probably the route you would have to go. I
Speaker 4: do not pitch Justin Verlander in an elimination scenario. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: He has not proven to me that he can be
Speaker 4: reliable in that scenario. In a game where you badly
Speaker 4: need a win and you badly need to keep the
Speaker 4: opponent off the scoreboard. Verlander has not proven to be
Speaker 4: that guy right now. So I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 4: is it, you know, one start against a team that
Speaker 4: is still playing for something right now that if he
Speaker 4: goes out today and say, throws five and third, five
Speaker 4: and two thirds six innings, maybe even more, that you
Speaker 4: say to yourself, Okay, there's that guy.
Speaker 5: He's back. We can go with him.
Speaker 4: Or is it one of those that he's kind of
Speaker 4: just ho hum and maybe the bats show up for
Speaker 4: him and he's able to win the game. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think if he's that then you probably feel a
Speaker 4: little less certain about what he can bring you in
Speaker 4: terms of starting pitching potential. But as of right now,
Speaker 4: we've talked about it at nauseum, I think your starting
Speaker 4: rotation is pretty simple in terms of the wildcard round,
Speaker 4: and this is where I think things start off right now,
Speaker 4: because that is where the Astros would start.
Speaker 5: You got to go from Or one.
Speaker 4: You got to go Hunter Brown two, and then I
Speaker 4: think if it's a if necessary Game three, you go
Speaker 4: with Yusay Kakuchi, who has been able to prove that
Speaker 4: he can get out via the strikeout. And he's also
Speaker 4: too I think for the most part limited the damage
Speaker 4: against him on the bases and of feet touching home plate.
Speaker 4: But that is something that we're going to be continuously
Speaker 4: keeping an eye on because I think Renelle Blanco showed
Speaker 4: some good stuff last night. So could Renel Blanco maybe
Speaker 4: even be a guy that you throw in to a
Speaker 4: game three start. I don't know a lot to see
Speaker 4: how Joe Aspota plays it all out.
Speaker 5: But speaking of.
Speaker 4: Joe Aspota coming out next, a storyline of the twenty
Speaker 4: twenty four season that is not getting enough run and
Speaker 4: I think should be talked about a lot more. We'll
Speaker 4: discuss that and much more. Richard John, I see you
Speaker 4: guys right there on the phone lines. Get to you
Speaker 4: on the other side as well. You want to join them,
Speaker 4: you can do so. Seven one, three, two one two five,
Speaker 4: seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one three two one
Speaker 4: two five at seven ninety as we continue to roll
Speaker 4: along here on at Space City Saturday on your home
Speaker 4: of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Space City Saturday one, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4: I had that breakfast club mentioned in there, So there
Speaker 4: you go. Like I said, I'm Judd Hirsh on the
Speaker 4: football field, throwing the fists in the air as I'm
Speaker 4: walking off. Don't you forget about me? Don't you forget
Speaker 4: about the breakfast club? Emilio Molly. Everybody right there, you
Speaker 4: little troublemakers. You're having to hang out in the library.
Speaker 4: And then you've got the guy who was the actor's
Speaker 4: name at Dan Matthews Hou if anybody remembers who the
Speaker 4: actor was that played the principal like he played every
Speaker 4: single eighties like just pain in the ass, like authority figure.
Speaker 4: I mean, remember he was Deputy Marshall Dwayne whatever on Diehard.
Speaker 4: He was the coach I think in Johnny b Bad?
Speaker 4: Are Johnny be Good? And what was it he was
Speaker 4: in that? I mean that guy just an absolutely you
Speaker 4: know what buster, that's what he played in eighties movies.
Speaker 4: So if you know that actor's name, please learn me
Speaker 4: something right there. It would be much appreciated. All right,
Speaker 4: Before I get to the storyline that I think has
Speaker 4: not talked about enough for the Astros this year, as
Speaker 4: I promised you on the phone lines, you get to
Speaker 4: take part as well. And he is Richard, who wants
Speaker 4: to weigh in here to talk some Astros. Richard, what's up, buddy?
Speaker 2: Hey? Dan? I got a comment and a question. So
Speaker 2: the comment is, I thought Blanco and here and Daddy
Speaker 2: coming out of the pen last night looked great, and
Speaker 2: I sure hope they feature as we go into this
Speaker 2: long series. Were about the Embarkhan, But my question is
Speaker 2: more kind of technical. I should know and I don't.
Speaker 2: How do they use the farm team as they get
Speaker 2: into the playoffs? Dan, And you know, I've seen that,
Speaker 2: like Gazenzo coming up last night and looked great, But
Speaker 2: you know, with the kind of likes of all the
Speaker 2: players are kind of injured right now, I'm just kind
Speaker 2: of curious about how that farm team can use as
Speaker 2: they go forward.
Speaker 4: I appreciate the call, Richard. I'll start with the second
Speaker 4: one first. It's called the taxi squad is how the
Speaker 4: farm team is used. There is a certain amount of
Speaker 4: guys that are designated to be part of said taxi squad.
Speaker 4: And this was something that came about during COVID when
Speaker 4: they did not have minor league baseball that year. So
Speaker 4: anybody that could be promoted to the major league level,
Speaker 4: they were part of said taxi squad, and they were
Speaker 4: able to practice maybe even if you had enough guys
Speaker 4: inner squad, and be able to try to stay fresh
Speaker 4: for if indeed you were called up to the major
Speaker 4: league level. And so that is what they've carried over
Speaker 4: to now. So you'll have almost kind of like a
Speaker 4: practice squad on an NFL team, where you'll have a
Speaker 4: certain amount of guys. I don't know the amount that
Speaker 4: you're allowed to have that can be a part of
Speaker 4: said taxi squad. But I note that last night I
Speaker 4: was listening on my way home to Joe Espada with
Speaker 4: Robert Ford talking about Shay Whitcomb where he of course
Speaker 4: was sent down, and some people probably wondering, how man,
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, that's got to be kind of
Speaker 4: tough after he just made all those errors against the
Speaker 4: Mariners and you demote him. I mean what's that going
Speaker 4: to do for his psyche? He said, well, you know,
Speaker 4: we've already told him that Monday, join us back on
Speaker 4: the taxi squad, so he will be there. I would
Speaker 4: probably suspect that, Like say, it wouldn't surprise me if
Speaker 4: even you see Rafael Montero be part of that, and
Speaker 4: who knows, maybe even Forrest Whitley be part of that
Speaker 4: group as well that are being told, hey, stay fresh,
Speaker 4: stay ready, because if there's an injury or if we
Speaker 4: feel like you fit a matchup problem for the opponent,
Speaker 4: if we are able to move on to the Alds,
Speaker 4: then you're gonna be a part of it. So you
Speaker 4: have those guys ready for you and looking to be
Speaker 4: ready to go. So that's where those guys guys are.
Speaker 4: In terms of Spencer Arraghetty and him coming out of
Speaker 4: the bullpen, I mean, Blanco did give you a good
Speaker 4: start last night, and Blanco does have bullpen experience. We've
Speaker 4: seen him come out of the pen in the past.
Speaker 4: I mean, this was really the first season that you
Speaker 4: had Dana Brown saying hey, let's think about him as
Speaker 4: a starter, and boy, it worked out a two point
Speaker 4: eight zero e er A for him. This season. But
Speaker 4: for Araghetty some good things last night. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: the strikeouts will be there. If he finds the zone,
Speaker 4: he's got the stuff that's gonna miss bats, and he
Speaker 4: did that four times. The only problem with raic Getty
Speaker 4: is sometimes that command can become an issue from a
Speaker 4: walks perspective, and that's what it was last night. Three
Speaker 4: in that category, but also two as well, with the
Speaker 4: lack of command, at times, he can have the baseball
Speaker 4: float up in the zone, and those are baseballs that
Speaker 4: get barreled up and put over the wall. And you
Speaker 4: want to try to limit runs as much as possible
Speaker 4: in the postseason because of how finite your chances are
Speaker 4: to be able to score against them. It's the same
Speaker 4: deal that you want to be able to limit their chances.
Speaker 4: That's why you see pitching changes used so liberally during
Speaker 4: the postseason, and that is something that Joe Spoda has
Speaker 4: to keep in mind. But also two, I mean, we
Speaker 4: saw Hunter Brown get some very good innings last year
Speaker 4: out of the pin I mean, I remember the back
Speaker 4: to that game four. He came out, He's throwing a
Speaker 4: hundred and dotting it up on the outside corner against
Speaker 4: the Rangers in that game or when to even up
Speaker 4: the series. So I mean, Arraghetti could possibly fit that
Speaker 4: role again this year.
Speaker 5: And you saw it used a little bit last night.
Speaker 4: Two and a third innings out there and you get,
Speaker 4: you know, two thirds of an inning out of Brian
Speaker 4: to bray you and Josh Hater. I'm sure that's gonna
Speaker 4: be brought up as well. I mean, Hater, is it
Speaker 4: a little bit of a concern right now? Sure, you
Speaker 4: don't want to see your closer giving up runs, but
Speaker 4: it also is too as well. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: we know what Josh Hater is in save situations, at
Speaker 4: least the majority of the season. I think what three
Speaker 4: blown saves this year, I think that's what he had.
Speaker 4: So you know that's something that you're gonna see. Closers
Speaker 4: are gonna give up saves. That's gonna happen during the
Speaker 4: course of a year. But also too as well, you'd
Speaker 4: like to see them be able to get good work
Speaker 4: done when it's a non close situation, and that's what
Speaker 4: it was last night. I mean the walks when Josh
Speaker 4: Hater is not effective. If you see him give up
Speaker 4: a walk, then you need to start worrying because that
Speaker 4: seemingly is when he starts to what kind of you know,
Speaker 4: off a little bit in terms of his effectiveness. But
Speaker 4: if he's coming in and the slider is biting, I
Speaker 4: think that's the pitch that Steve Sparks said was what
Speaker 4: he looks for in terms of if he's got that
Speaker 4: pitch biting, then it's gonna be a good day for him.
Speaker 4: But if it's kind of spinning up there, then it's
Speaker 4: not gonna be a good day for him. And these
Speaker 4: are things that the Astros are hoping that pitch in,
Speaker 4: all of his pitches are effective in the postseason, because again,
Speaker 4: most of the times you're gonna come in during the postseason,
Speaker 4: you're gonna have maybe a one run lead, maybe you're
Speaker 4: gonna be tied, maybe you're gonna be down by one,
Speaker 4: whatever it might be. You need him to be able
Speaker 4: to be that guy. And that's why I think a
Speaker 4: lot of times, you know, we're incredibly critical of him
Speaker 4: when he's not that guy, because the money is one thing,
Speaker 4: and the money is probably the catalyst for us having
Speaker 4: that frustration when he has his frustrating outings, but also
Speaker 4: too as well. I mean, you know, you are that
Speaker 4: guy and you've been, you know, portrayed to be that guy,
Speaker 4: then you need to be them.
Speaker 5: When you come out there on the field.
Speaker 4: But last night, obviously giving up those two runs, a
Speaker 4: couple of hits there as well, he does strike out one,
Speaker 4: but still you'd like to see Josh Hater be.
Speaker 5: A little bit more effective.
Speaker 4: I think if Joe Espata had his brothers today, you
Speaker 4: would not see Josh Hater being used whatsoever in this game.
Speaker 4: So we'll see if indeed that does play out today
Speaker 4: there in Cleveland again, A five to ten first pitch
Speaker 4: coming your way over on news radio seven forty k TRH.
Speaker 4: All right, finally the storyline that I don't think has
Speaker 4: been talked about enough this season, and we can carry
Speaker 4: over the most of it to the next segment, but
Speaker 4: I do want to play this audio right now, as
Speaker 4: earlier this week, had a chance to catch up with
Speaker 4: Joe Aspota along with the rest of the media in
Speaker 4: the Astros dugout before the series finale against the Seattle Mariners,
Speaker 4: and one thing that has struck me the most about
Speaker 4: a Spota this year is his ability to stay calm
Speaker 4: when things are really bad. He was the same guy
Speaker 4: when things were really good. Same deal, same guy, and
Speaker 4: just tried to always stay right there in the middle
Speaker 4: and didn't try to get too high, didn't try to
Speaker 4: get too low. So I asked you a spota as
Speaker 4: a first year manager trying to fight off those emotions.
Speaker 5: What allowed you to stay so calm?
Speaker 3: A couple of things.
Speaker 6: Just faith in God, man, I you know.
Speaker 5: That's number one. My family. I got an incredible family.
Speaker 5: I go home to.
Speaker 6: A wonderful wife and kids who love me and support me.
Speaker 6: And that that's very important because at the end of
Speaker 6: the day, I'm not, you know, not only a baseball manager,
Speaker 6: but I'm a father and a husband, and that's that
Speaker 6: will always be there, right. That's the most important thing too.
Speaker 6: You know, I got an organization who support me. I
Speaker 6: got players who will have my back and I have
Speaker 6: their back. And you know, front office who do whatever
Speaker 6: it takes to put players in, you know, bring players in.
Speaker 6: Jim Crane as an owner, he he cares about winning.
Speaker 6: If you ask for something, he's you know, let's go
Speaker 6: what do we need? Player development, you know, getting players
Speaker 6: for the big leagues and and us just sustain what
Speaker 6: we do. We need a lot of things to go
Speaker 6: our way, and we do that well because we communicate,
Speaker 6: we work together, and that's very important. That helps me
Speaker 6: to do my job.
Speaker 5: That's just you know, how we sustain that.
Speaker 6: It's important and we've been able to do that for many, many,
Speaker 6: many years, so.
Speaker 5: That that's a good feeling.
Speaker 6: Now they're emotional struggles that yeah, I'm a human, right
Speaker 6: and I see you know we're not playing well, and
Speaker 6: you know I take it personal, but I know if
Speaker 6: I stay strong, these guys will.
Speaker 5: Find a way to win.
Speaker 6: They've done it for many many years.
Speaker 5: That's good perspective to have.
Speaker 4: And again, as a first year manager, you don't see
Speaker 4: that a lot, even from veteran managers. I mean, remember
Speaker 4: the guys who ran hot when things weren't going well,
Speaker 4: Guys like Bobby Valentine and Loupanella boy Jeff Blum huge
Speaker 4: Loupanella fan, isn't he? But I mean even you know
Speaker 4: a Tony LaRussa another guy that used to go that
Speaker 4: route and for the old school guys, maybe that worked
Speaker 4: for the guys now it doesn't seem to work. And
Speaker 4: Joe Espada again, to have that type of perspective, that's
Speaker 4: something I do want to carry over. So I'll expand
Speaker 4: on that on the other side, as well as get
Speaker 4: into an Alex Bregman topic here. I think that Bregman
Speaker 4: is handling himself a certain way because he doesn't want
Speaker 4: to make a mistake someone else made while wearing an
Speaker 4: Astro's uniform. I think you can probably deduce who I'm
Speaker 4: talking about with the other name, but we'll do that
Speaker 4: on the other side as well. If you want to
Speaker 4: weigh in, please do so. Seven one three two on
Speaker 4: two five, seven ninety. Once again, that's Semon one three
Speaker 4: two on two five at seven ninety. As we continue
Speaker 4: to roll along here on a Space City Saturday on
Speaker 4: your Home with the Astros and the Rockets sports Talk
Speaker 4: seven ninety. This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
Speaker 4: seven ninety. Okay, there we go, Delvin Brown telling me
Speaker 4: it is the og. It's it's the one that was sampled,
Speaker 4: not not the newest one that of course, you know
Speaker 4: for everybody, anybody that's in a relationship. I'm sure that
Speaker 4: probably your spouse has used that in an insta story.
Speaker 5: I know mine has numerous times. So there you go.
Speaker 4: So we've got the emotions by the way too. Before
Speaker 4: I continue the Joe a spot of thought, but also
Speaker 4: to get into a little bit of a thought about
Speaker 4: Alex Bregman a show correction right here, an eh, right
Speaker 4: here air on the host I had called Judd Nelson
Speaker 4: jud hirsh.
Speaker 5: And as a joke with somebody on Twitter.
Speaker 4: No, he's not Jeff Goldbloom's dad in Independence Day. He
Speaker 4: is jud Nelson, of course, who has been in numerous
Speaker 4: different movies. There was the brat Pack little documentary that
Speaker 4: just came out recently. I think that it was Amazon
Speaker 4: Prime that had it. I believe it was Prime. I
Speaker 4: can't remember exactly, but Judd Nelson was not famously part
Speaker 4: of it, but his voice was heard because I guess
Speaker 4: he called the actor. I can't remember his name now again,
Speaker 4: you know, I didn't throw out a name this time,
Speaker 4: so I can't be wrong in that regard. But it
Speaker 4: was the member of the brat Pack that kind of
Speaker 4: was going around talking to a different actors, producers, whoever
Speaker 4: it might have been. And Nelson at first had declined
Speaker 4: to be part of it, but it did leave the
Speaker 4: door open that maybe they could do a sequel to
Speaker 4: it and that he would possibly be part of it.
Speaker 4: But Judd Nelson of course definitely part of that eighties
Speaker 4: crew of actors that we affectionately knew as the brat
Speaker 4: Pack during that time. Demmy Moore part of it as well,
Speaker 4: I think was Jason Bateman part of it. I guess
Speaker 4: that was the other part of it as well, as
Speaker 4: it kind of left to interpretation who could be part
Speaker 4: of the brat Pack. So anyway, Judd Nelson and then
Speaker 4: Paul Gleeson was the guy that I said was the
Speaker 4: you know what buster of eighties movies.
Speaker 5: He was in Diehard, he was in Johnny B.
Speaker 4: Good, he was in The Breakfast Club as well. So
Speaker 4: that guy, I mean, you want to talk about being
Speaker 4: tight asked for a role. He was definitely for that
Speaker 4: role of being the either principal or the coach or
Speaker 4: the cop that just won't listen to John McClain and
Speaker 4: of course then gets dressed down by John McClain on
Speaker 4: the CBE radio. As you know, he was telling him,
Speaker 4: you don't have anything figured out down there. I've got
Speaker 4: everything figured out here in the building, because guess what,
Speaker 4: I'm a New York City cop. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: Sergeant al Powell tried to tell him, hey, things, He
Speaker 4: said he could be a bartender for all, you know, Powell. Well,
Speaker 4: Sergeant al Powell was correct. So you know what, we'll
Speaker 4: definitely always, you know, believe Sergeant al Powell before we'll
Speaker 4: believe Deputy Dwayne.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 4: So anyway, Paul Gleeson was that actor. But you heard
Speaker 4: from Joe spotted there in that last segment talking about
Speaker 4: why he was able to stay calm all season, and
Speaker 4: that is something that I believe all throughout the year
Speaker 4: was a huge reason why the Astros were able to
Speaker 4: ultimately have the success they had this season, because you've
Speaker 4: seen it numerous times and again, like I said, even
Speaker 4: from experience managers, you see them kind of let their
Speaker 4: emotions get the best of them and say, yeah, you
Speaker 4: know what, it's time to do the nuclear option. It's
Speaker 4: time to start calling out jose L two Bay. It's
Speaker 4: time to start calling out Kyle Tucker and Jordan Alvarez
Speaker 4: and whoever else it might be, because we need hits
Speaker 4: with runners in the scoring position and you guys ain't
Speaker 4: doing it. And he declined to do that every single
Speaker 4: turn this season. It was every single time either take
Speaker 4: the blame himself or to also too as well, say hey,
Speaker 4: you've got other guys on the other side of the
Speaker 4: field that are pretty good players as well. Those guys
Speaker 4: are pretty good pitchers, so let's give them credit and
Speaker 4: let's not put the blame on our guys. That was huge,
Speaker 4: and that's something that even with a veteran laden team
Speaker 4: like the Astros have, you could very easily ruffle a
Speaker 4: lot of feathers in there. Because let's also take it
Speaker 4: from the perspective of the context, given where it's if
Speaker 4: you're a former player doing that, then I think guys
Speaker 4: are probably willing to listen to it a little bit more.
Speaker 4: But Joe's not. Joe is a guy that's a baseball lifer.
Speaker 4: He cut his teeth in the minor leagues. He had
Speaker 4: been a bench coach, he had pretty much had every
Speaker 4: single job at the major league level possible, and now
Speaker 4: he finally got his chance to be a manager. And
Speaker 4: it's also too that sometimes you don't get the chance
Speaker 4: other than once to be able to learn from your mistakes.
Speaker 4: Some managers do. I mean, we've seen some guys get
Speaker 4: fired and then have success elsewhere. Terry Francona one of
Speaker 4: those guys. Joe Tory another one of those guys. He
Speaker 4: had two chances somewhere else and finally got his chance.
Speaker 4: So with the Yankees, and you can talk about, oh, well,
Speaker 4: look at all the players he had, Well, he could
Speaker 4: have also messed that up as well, so that needs
Speaker 4: to be factored into the equation as well. But in
Speaker 4: this case with Joe Espada, I mean, you know, to
Speaker 4: have the perspective that he laid out of the support
Speaker 4: he gets from not only from Dana Brown but also
Speaker 4: from Jim Crane as well, but also the player that
Speaker 4: he has on his side, and trying to be able
Speaker 4: to work with those guys and being able to let
Speaker 4: them work. That's something that sometimes as a first time manager,
Speaker 4: you'll see the guy who goes the opposite route of
Speaker 4: that of well, these guys have created these expectations. They
Speaker 4: know what the standard is here, and they're not living
Speaker 4: up to it, so I need to remind them of it.
Speaker 4: He declined to do that, and I think all in all,
Speaker 4: you know, taking the long road and taking the you know,
Speaker 4: bigger picture approach here, he decided that it's best to
Speaker 4: go ahead and you know, have those guys backs no
Speaker 4: matter the situation, and make sure that they know that
Speaker 4: they're supported. Just like as he laid out, he is
Speaker 4: supported on his side, because we've seen other examples before.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, let's just take Gabe Kapler for example.
Speaker 4: He's had two different chances at being a manager, and
Speaker 4: he has been let go from both of those opportunities.
Speaker 4: When I was in Atlanta, Walt Weisse, who was once
Speaker 4: the manager of the Colorado Rockies, he had talked about
Speaker 4: at least once that I can remember, of learning so
Speaker 4: much from Brian Snicker in terms of how to take
Speaker 4: the everyday approach of no matter how good it is,
Speaker 4: no matter how bad it is, just be the same guy.
Speaker 4: They'll respect you for it, trust me, they will. And
Speaker 4: he had talked about he made mistakes at doing that
Speaker 4: when he was in Colorado, and he said if he
Speaker 4: got another opportunity that he would be a totally different
Speaker 4: manager and he would handle it a totally different way.
Speaker 4: Because you know, it's also to certain guys. I mean,
Speaker 4: baseball is the ultimate the individual matters game of You
Speaker 4: have certain guys that can deal with having a boot
Speaker 4: put to their backside. You also have certain guys that
Speaker 4: they respond to having an arm put around their shoulder,
Speaker 4: and those are things as a manager you have to
Speaker 4: be able to take inventory of that you can't have
Speaker 4: a one size fits all approach to everybody. You've got
Speaker 4: to be able to handle your players the way that
Speaker 4: I mean that they are accustomed and comfortable being handled.
Speaker 4: And if you don't, then the result might not follow
Speaker 4: the way that you want him to. And for Walt
Speaker 4: Weiss in that scenario, it didn't. It landed him out
Speaker 4: of a job because, yeah, he would do the callouts,
Speaker 4: he would do the you know, I'm pissed off after
Speaker 4: this loss and and you know, calling out players at
Speaker 4: nauseam and doing all those different types of things that
Speaker 4: for certain guys can kind of really turn them the
Speaker 4: opposite direction of them saying I'm not fighting for this guy.
Speaker 5: You kidding me? And Joe Spotted did none of those things.
Speaker 4: I mean, he completely stayed the course all season long.
Speaker 5: And it was funny too.
Speaker 4: We had Chandler Rome once on the A team and
Speaker 4: he said that he had joked with Brian McTaggart of
Speaker 4: this is the day that Joe's going to snap.
Speaker 5: This is the day he's gonna snap.
Speaker 4: He's going to freak out, he's gonna get angry, he's
Speaker 4: gonna do all those different types of things.
Speaker 5: And to Chandler's words, and he's right. He never did.
Speaker 4: I mean he every single time if they had left,
Speaker 4: you know, ten runners on base and they were zero
Speaker 4: for eight with runners in scoring position, he would come
Speaker 4: out and say, hey, we just didn't get the hit.
Speaker 4: You know, that's baseball. That happens sometimes. And of course
Speaker 4: people like me did not like that. But it's also
Speaker 4: too he understands because he's in that clubhouse, he has
Speaker 4: to face those guys on a daily basis, and I
Speaker 4: think his thought process at that time is why take
Speaker 4: a you know, short term win, and social media probably says, yeah, Joe,
Speaker 4: you call out jose L two base for striking out
Speaker 4: looking with runners on second and third and one out,
Speaker 4: you call out Jordan Alvarez for grinding into that double
Speaker 4: play right there, Absolutely you do that. But he said, no,
Speaker 4: you know what, because I know who these guys are
Speaker 4: and I know what they're capable of, and I'll take
Speaker 4: the long term right here of maybe we don't win
Speaker 4: right there, but as the law of averages work out
Speaker 4: in baseball, you'll get another chance, and maybe you'll get
Speaker 4: another chance after that. And it's it's about what you
Speaker 4: do in that spot as opposed to what you didn't
Speaker 4: do in the first spot when again, you know it precipitated,
Speaker 4: maybe a call out is necessary at that point, but
Speaker 4: he never did, and that was huge, and that was
Speaker 4: something that I definitely want to share with y'all here
Speaker 4: on Space City Saturday.
Speaker 5: Today.
Speaker 4: Didn't get a chance to get to the Alex Bregman topic.
Speaker 4: We'll do that coming up on the other side. And
Speaker 4: we'll also as well get into what is the key
Speaker 4: for the Astros starting on Tuesday in the wild card
Speaker 4: round because the Astros making a run. It's pretty simple.
Speaker 4: It's these guys cannot be left behind. We'll talk about
Speaker 4: that on the other side, and also too, if you
Speaker 4: want to weigh in on the phone lines, you can
Speaker 4: do so some one three two one two five seven ninety.
Speaker 4: Once again, that's Semon one three two on two five
Speaker 4: seven nineties. We continue to roll along here on Space
Speaker 4: City Saturday.
Speaker 1: Space City Saturday continues on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: On Space City Saturday.
Speaker 4: Dan Matthews here with you for about another hour and
Speaker 4: fifteen minutes. You want to weigh in, do so someone
Speaker 4: three two one two five seven ninety. And of course
Speaker 4: Space City Saturday not complete without the People's champ Paul Wall.
Speaker 4: He was in the building on Tuesday night for Clinch Day,
Speaker 4: as he had even said that he knocked his popcorn
Speaker 4: over on Slim Thug and bun Bee as well, so
Speaker 4: everybody was excited. I think he said he knocked his
Speaker 4: popcorn over after the Jason Hayward to run Homer, which
Speaker 4: of course was the difference in the game. So Jason
Speaker 4: Hayward what in addition to this team. He has been huge,
Speaker 4: no doubt about it for the Strows and hopefully he
Speaker 4: is able to continue to.
Speaker 5: Be huge for this team moving forward.
Speaker 4: Again, if you want to weigh in, do so sub
Speaker 4: one three two one two five seven ninety. Once again,
Speaker 4: that's sub one three two one two five seven nine
Speaker 4: zero is the way to get in. And before I
Speaker 4: get to who's important to this Astros potential run in
Speaker 4: the postseason, wan't to spend a few minutes on Alex Bregman.
Speaker 4: So Bregman the other day getting the curtain call on
Speaker 4: the field and the belief fourth inning, I think is
Speaker 4: he got a couple of at bats in that Wednesday
Speaker 4: game against the Mariners, and you know he was able
Speaker 4: to tip the cap to the fans, take it off
Speaker 4: and you know, be able to walk off the field
Speaker 4: and had players coming up to him and slapping him
Speaker 4: on the back. You know, hey, great job, all those
Speaker 4: different types of things, and a lot of people took
Speaker 4: that to mean that that is the end of Alex Bregman,
Speaker 4: and an Astros uni Joe a Spot of course, talked
Speaker 4: about it and said, well, look, I mean, even if
Speaker 4: it is, it's not like we're never going to see
Speaker 4: him again. But not only that, it doesn't mean that
Speaker 4: that's the end. But I do appreciate his thought process
Speaker 4: on it of if indeed it could be the end,
Speaker 4: why missed the opportunity to give him that chance? Because
Speaker 4: Alex Bregman has been every step of the way for
Speaker 4: the Golden era of Astros Baseball, this organization that has
Speaker 4: never seen any type of success like he has been
Speaker 4: a huge part of these last seven plus years that
Speaker 4: the Astros have been on this run of making it
Speaker 4: at least to the Alcs and a couple of times
Speaker 4: winning the World Series. So when you have a guy
Speaker 4: that was so huge in the build of this organization
Speaker 4: and was kind of I think the final part of
Speaker 4: the build because we knew that George Springer was coming,
Speaker 4: we knew that that Carlos Koream was going to be
Speaker 4: here and they were already here, and Jose al Tuve
Speaker 4: before them as well, and Alex Bregman I think was
Speaker 4: kind of that final piece. I think probably when Jeff
Speaker 4: Luno drafted him, he probably thought to himself, this is
Speaker 4: a guy that's a college player that could be up
Speaker 4: here soon enough and also be ready sooner than later.
Speaker 5: And he was and he was ready to go.
Speaker 4: And sixteen struggled a little bit, but then seventeen was
Speaker 4: able to be a huge part of that team winning
Speaker 4: the World Series, and you know, has been able to
Speaker 4: put together almost MVP seasons in between and has always
Speaker 4: been an elite defender over there at third base. So
Speaker 4: I mean he's been able to provide all of those
Speaker 4: things for this team. And after the season, once he
Speaker 4: goes to free agency, it's kind of all bets are off.
Speaker 4: I mean, are they able to be able to to,
Speaker 4: you know, bring him back or is he going to
Speaker 4: take the money from someone else. So I think all
Speaker 4: of that kind of come in, you know, came into
Speaker 4: play when it came to Bregman. But in regards to
Speaker 4: Bregman himself, you know, talking about this a little bit
Speaker 4: with Ross and also with Gordy and talked about a
Speaker 4: little bit on air those guys did about just how
Speaker 4: he's approached everything. I mean, the other night there is
Speaker 4: the Clubhouse celebration, and I think Gordy made the comment of,
Speaker 4: you know, he was almost kind of stoic in terms
Speaker 4: of his responses. I mean, we've seen a guy in
Speaker 4: the past that had been pretty free with his words
Speaker 4: in terms of, you know, in certain cases, being pretty bashful,
Speaker 4: but not only that, also to really enjoying it. And
Speaker 4: not to say that he wasn't enjoying it, but I
Speaker 4: think that Bregman kind of you know, he knows that
Speaker 4: anytime a microphone is put in front of him, the
Speaker 4: question of his impending free agency is going to be asked.
Speaker 4: And also too as well. I mean, you heard the
Speaker 4: comments that he said after the curtain call in that game,
Speaker 4: saying I didn't know it was coming. And also too,
Speaker 4: you know, just kind of trying to keep the emotions
Speaker 4: out of it right now and trying to make sure
Speaker 4: that that's not the focus. The focus is on this
Speaker 4: team trying to accomplish the goal that they've done twice
Speaker 4: before and being able to do that with this team
Speaker 4: and then worry about everything else a little bit later.
Speaker 4: I take it a little bit of a different step.
Speaker 4: Remember once the twenty nineteen World Series ended and Garrett
Speaker 4: Cole and you know, at first had declined to talk,
Speaker 4: and then I think the media in there. Again, I
Speaker 4: wasn't here at the time, but you know, I'm just
Speaker 4: going off of secondhand accounts of what I was told that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: Of course, they went to the Astros and were like, hey, look,
Speaker 4: he might not be here next year.
Speaker 5: We want to be able to talk to him, like, you.
Speaker 4: Know, I feel like he needs to to talk with
Speaker 4: us and kind of address all of that. And finally,
Speaker 4: you know, that was when Garrett Cole put on the
Speaker 4: Boris core pat and called himself a representative of himself
Speaker 4: at that point, and people took that to mean, oh,
Speaker 4: so you're already mentally out of here?
Speaker 5: Is that what it is?
Speaker 4: And of course then he went on to sign with
Speaker 4: the hated Yankees, which I think we all knew eventually
Speaker 4: he was going to do. But still it was not
Speaker 4: a good feeling to not only lose the World Series
Speaker 4: but then also too seemingly have somebody who was just
Speaker 4: so over being an astro, they were ready to go.
Speaker 4: Bregman would never do that. But I think that kind
Speaker 4: of his approach right now is to completely avoid being
Speaker 4: anywhere close to being thought of in that same way.
Speaker 4: And that's why he's shutting down the free agency talks,
Speaker 4: That's why he's shutting down anything else in immediately saying
Speaker 4: but I'm focused on right now, I'm not worried about
Speaker 4: that all of these different types of things, And I
Speaker 4: think that probably a huge part of that. Again, I've
Speaker 4: talked about it before the Room of Truth that if
Speaker 4: you put Bregman in the Room of Truth and asked him, hey,
Speaker 4: is it because of what happened with Garrett Cole, I
Speaker 4: think he'd probably tell you, yeah, it is, honestly because
Speaker 4: we saw how people reacted towards him when he acted
Speaker 4: that way.
Speaker 5: I don't want to be remembered that way.
Speaker 4: I don't want to be remembered if indeed I am
Speaker 4: with the Cubs, with the Diamondbacks or with the Red
Speaker 4: Sox or whoever it is next year that I come
Speaker 4: back here and you know those turn into booze. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think that as currently the way it is right now.
Speaker 4: If Alex Bregman signs with somebody else, it's going to hurt,
Speaker 4: it's not going to feel good. But I don't think
Speaker 4: you're going to have fans booing him, you know, full
Speaker 4: throats in that case because of you know, the way
Speaker 4: that he either acted or you know, didn't act during
Speaker 4: this time. I think that if he continues down this
Speaker 4: path and he has a good postseason, he'll be remembered fondly.
Speaker 4: And we've seen at different places. I mean, the second
Speaker 4: time that Lebron left Cleveland, he came back to Cheers
Speaker 4: instead of Booze because again, he did it the right way.
Speaker 4: He helped them win a world title, and when he left,
Speaker 4: it was I've accomplished everything I needed to accomplish here.
Speaker 4: And I think that, you know, Cavalier fans at the
Speaker 4: point we're at the time, we're kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 4: you know what, you're not wrong. You did, We appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Go kill it in LA and when you come back here,
Speaker 4: you're always going to be welcome back here in Cleveland,
Speaker 4: as opposed to when he publicized his breakup the first
Speaker 4: time and did the whole decision with Jim Gray and
Speaker 4: then went to Miami, and you know, they had the
Speaker 4: huge celebration there, and it was almost kind of like,
Speaker 4: you know, oh, you think you're really really better than us. Okay,
Speaker 4: that's cool, Thanks buddy. We really appreciate you saying that
Speaker 4: not only are we ugly, but also to your new
Speaker 4: partner is incredibly good looking, and that you know, there's
Speaker 4: so much better than I ever was. Nobody ever wants
Speaker 4: to hear that in the breakup. I mean, I think
Speaker 4: kind of the similar deal as well, you know, the
Speaker 4: you know, the team that I used to cover the Braves.
Speaker 4: It was a similar situation in regards to Bregman, and
Speaker 4: hopefully it is kind of a similar ending because remember
Speaker 4: when Freddie Freeman hit that home run that I think
Speaker 4: at the time it was Joe Buck who was on
Speaker 4: the call saying that might be the final home run
Speaker 4: that he hits in a Braves uniform, And of course
Speaker 4: fans there did not like hearing that at that point,
Speaker 4: but eventually he was right because then after the lockout lifted,
Speaker 4: they went out and traded for Matt Olsen and extended him,
Speaker 4: and Freddie Freeman was with the Dodgers and he came
Speaker 4: back very emotional, and you know, I'm not saying that
Speaker 4: when Bregman comes back, he's going to be incredibly emotional.
Speaker 4: But I think also too as well, that you know,
Speaker 4: you want to be able to not burn any bridges whatsoever.
Speaker 4: And he loves this organization, he loves this city, and
Speaker 4: he loves everything that he's been able to do during
Speaker 4: his time here.
Speaker 5: And you know, there's no need.
Speaker 4: To have a messy exit if you can avoid it,
Speaker 4: And that's what I think he's trying to avoid at
Speaker 4: all costs, really deep down when it's all said and done,
Speaker 4: because I think that Alex Bregman would like to stay here,
Speaker 4: if I'm being honest. I mean, that's just the sense
Speaker 4: that I get. I think that if it worked out,
Speaker 4: he would absolutely want to come back to the Astros.
Speaker 4: But I think also too as well, he's a guy
Speaker 4: that realizes he's on the cusp of getting the last
Speaker 4: huge payday that he's going to be able to get
Speaker 4: in this game. And if you don't take every advantage
Speaker 4: of doing that, then you kind of have some regrets
Speaker 4: when it's all said and done. And I know that
Speaker 4: some people out there might say, oh, how much money
Speaker 4: do you really need? Well, I mean that's for him
Speaker 4: to decide it's not for any of us to decide.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's kind of like us in our professional lives.
Speaker 4: I mean, you could take a job with somebody else,
Speaker 4: and you know it is going to slight somebody out
Speaker 4: there because they really want you to stay with a company.
Speaker 4: But I think that if you can look that person
Speaker 4: in the eye and say I'm doing what's best for me,
Speaker 4: and you say it with conviction, then they probably look
Speaker 4: at you and say, I respect that, I understand that.
Speaker 4: And in this case right here with Bregman, I think
Speaker 4: that's kind of what he's setting himself up for. So
Speaker 4: we'll see how it all shakes out when it's all
Speaker 4: said and done. I usually only keep the astros to
Speaker 4: one segment, but the topic, the topic B that I
Speaker 4: teased for this segment didn't have a chance to get
Speaker 4: to it here, so we'll do that on the other side,
Speaker 4: as well as get into some Texans conversation. If you
Speaker 4: want to weigh in on the astros, you can do
Speaker 4: so seven one three two one two five seven ninety.
Speaker 4: Once again, that's seven one three two one two seven ninety.
Speaker 4: As also to in the second hour, we'll get into
Speaker 4: some Texans conversation as we continue to roll along here
Speaker 4: on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here on your home
Speaker 4: of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Welcome aboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday. On Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven ninety, Dad Matthews Live and local h Town
Speaker 1: breakdown of the world that matters to you, the Houston
Speaker 1: sports world.
Speaker 2: All these great Houston fans here.
Speaker 3: We love you all, So finish up on that to
Speaker 3: do list.
Speaker 1: Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
Speaker 1: sports all day if you don't start now bear me
Speaker 1: the eight.
Speaker 3: This is Space City Saturday. That's insane. Here's seven nineties
Speaker 3: Dad Matthews.
Speaker 4: Indeed, it is Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with
Speaker 4: you for another hour. You want to weigh in, do
Speaker 4: so someone three two one two five seven ninety once again,
Speaker 4: that's Sebon one three two one two five seven nine
Speaker 4: zero as the Astros again today taking on the Cleveland Guardians.
Speaker 4: Gonna be Justin Berlander against Ben Lively. First pitch five
Speaker 4: to ten. Coming your way again over on news Radio
Speaker 4: seven forty KTRH. Everything Astros related today gonna be over
Speaker 4: on news Radio seven forty KTRH because the Astros are
Speaker 4: right at the same time that the Texas in Mississippi
Speaker 4: State game is going to be finishing up.
Speaker 5: And before I.
Speaker 4: Get into my final Astros topic right here, another team
Speaker 4: that we have here on the airwaves is the LSU Tigers.
Speaker 4: And I'm sure that last week some of you either
Speaker 4: were watching or paying some what attention. But if you
Speaker 4: weren't paying too close of attention to that game, LSU
Speaker 4: taken on UCLA.
Speaker 5: They win the game.
Speaker 4: But what the storyline kind of became was the fans
Speaker 4: that had left the game, especially on the east side
Speaker 4: of the stadium, because of the incredibly strong heat that
Speaker 4: was there at Tiger Stadium for the game. I believe
Speaker 4: they showed ninety seven degrees with one hundred percent humidity
Speaker 4: at kickoff there for that two thirty kick against UCLA.
Speaker 4: And eventually you had fans who said, I can't do
Speaker 4: this anymore. I cannot stay for this. I have to leave.
Speaker 4: I'm going to go back to the tailgate or I'm
Speaker 4: going to go home watch the rest of it. But
Speaker 4: I mean, it's just this is too much. And you know,
Speaker 4: I know some people might say, oh, well, hydrate, do
Speaker 4: all those different types of things look you're in a
Speaker 4: concrete structure like that, with metal benches and hundreds of
Speaker 4: thousands of people around you, that heat really becomes overwhelming
Speaker 4: at a certain point. And I did not know this
Speaker 4: until it was brought up to Brian Kelly that in Air,
Speaker 4: Arizona they have a law that in the month of September,
Speaker 4: you cannot start a game before six o'clock, which I mean.
Speaker 4: I also took to social media on top of that
Speaker 4: and it said, I think that needs to be adopted
Speaker 4: by states in the golf region Texas, Louisiana, especially Southern Louisiana.
Speaker 4: Melvin Brown, you know that from growing up in the
Speaker 4: area that just like Houston, the heat and humidity it
Speaker 4: is relentless, especially in the month of September. Mississippi even too,
Speaker 4: you know, for Lower Alabama right there, Mobile Southern you know,
Speaker 4: South Alabama.
Speaker 5: I don't know how they handle their games. Florida.
Speaker 4: I would probably do the same thing as well, because,
Speaker 4: I mean football, you think about it, it's a physical game.
Speaker 4: It's also to a game that you wear a lot
Speaker 4: more equipment than other sports. I mean baseball. You know,
Speaker 4: catchers probably are pretty close to football players in terms
Speaker 4: of the pads the helmets, everything else of the sort.
Speaker 4: So you've got to make sure that you're trying to
Speaker 4: keep yourself as cool and hydrated as possible to be
Speaker 4: able to, you know, be able to stay healthy and
Speaker 4: finish out those games. I mean, we see cramps this
Speaker 4: time of the year, all those different types of things.
Speaker 5: But it's also too as well.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I understand that you can't be
Speaker 4: able to try to, you know, look out for the
Speaker 4: well being of everyone out there. Some of that is
Speaker 4: up to you personally, but I mean, there's zero reason
Speaker 4: for that game to be played at two thirty on
Speaker 4: a Saturday, I mean, especially to when you factor in
Speaker 4: how hot it is this time of the year. You
Speaker 4: can very easily have that game played at seven o'clock
Speaker 4: or you know, even a little bit later as well,
Speaker 4: if you want to, because I mean, I just, I
Speaker 4: just I shudder to think of, you know, the type
Speaker 4: of dangerous game that you're playing when it comes to
Speaker 4: dealing with those type of temperatures with not only players, coaches, trainers,
Speaker 4: whoever it might be, but fans as well, that eventually
Speaker 4: you're going to have somebody succume to heat stroke. And
Speaker 4: when that happened, and then you're dealing with other legal
Speaker 4: issues that again, I just I feel like some of
Speaker 4: these schools and also too.
Speaker 5: I mean the network. I know the game was on ABC.
Speaker 4: There's zero reason why that game can't can't be played
Speaker 4: later and you can have I don't know, you know,
Speaker 4: South Carolina playing at that time or anybody else playing
Speaker 4: at that time, as opposed to a team that is
Speaker 4: right there on the Mississippi River in southern Louisiana where
Speaker 4: the heat and humidity is unreal that time of day.
Speaker 4: So I think you can you can have the better
Speaker 4: part of valor at that point. I mean LSU, for example,
Speaker 4: taken on South Alabama tonight in that game is gonna
Speaker 4: be at six forty five, so it'll be a little cooler.
Speaker 4: But two at the same time, just don't really understand
Speaker 4: having to say, oh no, no, no, no, this game has
Speaker 4: to be played right now. I just I think that
Speaker 4: you're running into risks and issues that just don't need
Speaker 4: to be there. So that's just me on that front.
Speaker 4: To close out the ASTRA topic right here, one of
Speaker 4: the things that has been a little bit of a
Speaker 4: point of frustration and contention this year for the Astros
Speaker 4: has been runners in scoring position, and the Astros, with
Speaker 4: two more games left in this regular season, are thirteenth
Speaker 4: and all of baseball hitting with runners in scoring position,
Speaker 4: they're batting two sixty nine this season with a seven
Speaker 4: to fifty six OPS.
Speaker 5: So middle of the pack. Not bad.
Speaker 4: I mean, you've got the Diamondbacks of the best in baseball,
Speaker 4: the Yankees are fourth, got the Dodgers who are seventh,
Speaker 4: and the Astros of the postseason teams still left out
Speaker 4: there are you know, a little bit further behind those teams.
Speaker 4: I mean, got Arizona hit in two eighty four in
Speaker 4: those spots. I mean, they've been outstanding this season. So
Speaker 4: I just think that that's number one of a thing
Speaker 4: that hopefully, with the flip to the postseason, it's going
Speaker 4: to be kind of a little bit of a mental
Speaker 4: reset of, Hey, that happened. We don't have to have
Speaker 4: that happen in the postseason. We are we are now,
Speaker 4: we were who we were then, And I think that
Speaker 4: that's kind of a little bit of a switch that
Speaker 4: needs to happen. But also too as well. I brought
Speaker 4: up the stats of last night as encouraging things to
Speaker 4: see from this team, because these are things that we
Speaker 4: want to see the Astros be able to have going forward.
Speaker 4: I mean, a couple of doubles last night for jose
Speaker 4: al Tuve. I've said it numerous times, jose L Tuove
Speaker 4: is a lot like Craig Biggio in that fact, where
Speaker 4: what was Bigio known for him?
Speaker 5: He was known for the two baggers, he was known
Speaker 5: for doubles.
Speaker 4: If he's hitting doubles and you know that Craig Bigio
Speaker 4: is swinging it well, Jose al Tuve the same deal.
Speaker 4: You love to see the home runs, you love to
Speaker 4: see just the base hits in Moss, but you'd love
Speaker 4: to see it even more so. I think in this
Speaker 4: case right here, seeing that last night out of jose
Speaker 4: L Twovy, that was huge. You're gonna need jose al
Speaker 4: Tuova in the postseason. He's going to be a guy
Speaker 4: that has to factor for this team. We'll see what
Speaker 4: we get out of Jordan Alvarez. But Kyle Tucker, I
Speaker 4: mean last year he struggled in the postseason. Probably Kyle
Speaker 4: Tucker's struggles were a huge reason why this team did
Speaker 4: not move on to the.
Speaker 5: World Series last year.
Speaker 4: Now, on the surface, you hear that and you hear
Speaker 4: me kind of putting the Astros losing in seven games
Speaker 4: to the Rangers on the shoulders of Kyle Tucker. No,
Speaker 4: it's not fully on him. Other guys also needed to
Speaker 4: help out as well in terms of getting a huge
Speaker 4: clutch hit to be able to win at home, but
Speaker 4: him being a non factor definitely hurt the Astros last year,
Speaker 4: So you would love to see hopefully he's a little
Speaker 4: bit more fresh from being out for the time that
Speaker 4: he's been out and now has an opportunity to be
Speaker 4: able to be a huge part of what the Astros
Speaker 4: want to be in terms of getting back to the
Speaker 4: World Series and hopefully winning it the World Series. And
Speaker 4: last night, three hits out of him, you love to
Speaker 4: see that. Three hits out of Alex Bregman, you love
Speaker 4: to see that as well. Janar Diaz even able to
Speaker 4: chip in with a base hit last night, and then
Speaker 4: Victor Carrottini of course the home run. You love seeing that,
Speaker 4: especially after the struggles that he's been going through as
Speaker 4: of late. The strikeouts have kind of gone up for
Speaker 4: Victor Kartini, but you'd love for him to be able
Speaker 4: to help out and he's kind of become an everyday
Speaker 4: player at this point, especially while Jordan Alvarez is out,
Speaker 4: you want to get somebody in there that can be
Speaker 4: able to put the ball on play, but not only
Speaker 4: put the ball in play, can be able to have
Speaker 4: huge results when they do. So you've got a runner
Speaker 4: on second and third. He's able to put a single
Speaker 4: out in the center field. That's two runs right there.
Speaker 4: That's huge.
Speaker 5: Two runs.
Speaker 4: That's a massive rally in the postseason, and if you're
Speaker 4: able to get that out of him, that's huge. So
Speaker 4: I've said it numerous times, and I know that you
Speaker 4: know it's one of those that you know, some people
Speaker 4: might say I'm obsessed in bringing up this point when
Speaker 4: it comes to the Astros, But yeah, call me obsessed.
Speaker 4: I would actually say that I'm committed in terms of
Speaker 4: saying what is needed for this team because those guys
Speaker 4: have to be what pushes this team forward. You've seen
Speaker 4: it numerous times when Jose Altuve, when Kyle Tucker, when
Speaker 4: Alex Bregman, when Jiner Diaz, when they are hitting the
Speaker 4: baseball and they are able to be the guys that
Speaker 4: we know that they're capable of being. I think he
Speaker 4: translates to the rest of the lineup. I think that's
Speaker 4: why you see production out of the bottom of the order.
Speaker 4: I mean, you'd love to see Jake Myers get going
Speaker 4: a little bit. I know that he struck out a
Speaker 4: couple of times last night. That's been a little bit
Speaker 4: of an issue for him as of late. Jeremy Pania,
Speaker 4: maybe these couple of days off are kind of the
Speaker 4: mental reset that he needed, and you know, maybe he's
Speaker 4: been able to work on some things off to the
Speaker 4: side in terms of, you know, pitch selection and what
Speaker 4: to offer at and you know, for the longest time,
Speaker 4: it was the outside slider was kind of his kryptonite. Well,
Speaker 4: seemingly it's been the inside fastball, well off the plate
Speaker 4: that's been his kryptonite. It's what ended the game against
Speaker 4: the Angels the other day, and he also struck out
Speaker 4: on a similar pitch against the Mariners in that last series.
Speaker 4: So I think he's somebody that Joe Aspotta looked at
Speaker 4: and said, yeah, need to have a little bit of
Speaker 4: time off for him to be able to try to
Speaker 4: be fresh and be a guy that we can count
Speaker 4: on in the postseason. But it starts with the top.
Speaker 4: It starts with the top guys. If they are going
Speaker 4: and they are swinging it well and they are able
Speaker 4: to produce for this team, then I think good things happen.
Speaker 4: I think not only good things happen in the Wildcard Series,
Speaker 4: but I think also too in the DS. Again, if
Speaker 4: you take on the Cleveland Guardians, I think the Astros
Speaker 4: feel like they match up pretty well against Cleveland, and
Speaker 4: then you move on to the LCS and whoever you've
Speaker 4: got in in that round, and you know, feel like
Speaker 4: you've got a good chance against them, because I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, it's one of those things. I know that
Speaker 4: the Yankees probably really want to see the Astros because
Speaker 4: of what the Astros have done to them in at
Speaker 4: least three lcs's against them, and also to the Wildcard
Speaker 4: back in twenty fifteen. But also too as well, I
Speaker 4: think you're seeing teams that are trending in totally different directions.
Speaker 4: The Astros are not the same team they were when
Speaker 4: they lost the Yankees early on in the season, and
Speaker 4: then when they face them up in the Bronx about
Speaker 4: a month or two later, they're a completely different ball club.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, they are a team that is
Speaker 4: hitting the ball better, They're pitching so much better, they're
Speaker 4: healthier on the pitching side than they were at those times.
Speaker 4: And also too, this is a Yankees bullpen at the
Speaker 4: beginning of the season was outstanding and it's kind of
Speaker 4: fallen off. It's kind kind have become a little bit
Speaker 4: of a liability for Aaron Boone's team. So I think
Speaker 4: that's one of those that if you're in those situations,
Speaker 4: the Astros fuel even more confident facing that group. You know,
Speaker 4: Chad Holmes and and you know other guys that come
Speaker 4: out of the bullpen for the Yankees that you know
Speaker 4: in the past they probably were like, man, I hope
Speaker 4: we can get to them. Now I think they kind
Speaker 4: of feel like, no, we can get to them, and
Speaker 4: we will get to them. So I don't think that
Speaker 4: there is this fear of the Yankees whatsoever. I think
Speaker 4: if the Astros seam of the postseason, they're like, hey,
Speaker 4: we've handled these guys in the past. We can do
Speaker 4: it again, And I think that it would be a
Speaker 4: very advantageous matchup. But again, you got to get through
Speaker 4: so much more before you can get to that point,
Speaker 4: and hopefully the Astros can get there all right. Coming
Speaker 4: out next, let's get into some Texans conversation because Demiko
Speaker 4: Ryans got to prove a point that he's been trying
Speaker 4: to prove. Tomorrow will be proof if indeed he has
Speaker 4: been heard. We'll talk about that on the other side
Speaker 4: as we continue to roll along here on Base City Saturday.
Speaker 4: Dan Matthews, you're on your home of the Astros in
Speaker 4: the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: It's Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven nineteen.
Speaker 4: Come on, not wrong LL backing up the Astros in
Speaker 4: this regard. I'm sure he's a Dodgers guy. That's all right,
Speaker 4: we won't hold it against him. But anyway, Astros and
Speaker 4: Guardians today again, I mean, look, you know, these are
Speaker 4: games that I think you're looking at if you're an
Speaker 4: Astros fan of the result doesn't necessarily matter because the
Speaker 4: result really doesn't matter. You're going to be here on
Speaker 4: Tuesday regardless. You're going to be in the wildcard round
Speaker 4: on Tuesday regardless. So in that case, I mean, I
Speaker 4: think that you're kind of just looking at it as
Speaker 4: don't get people hurt, and that's what you're hoping is
Speaker 4: the case for the Shrows. So again, it's gonna be
Speaker 4: justin Berlander and it's been lively coming your way at
Speaker 4: five to ten is first pitch. Four o'clock is Astros
Speaker 4: on deck again with Longhorn Football here on Sports Talk
Speaker 4: seven ninety. We'll be over on news Radio seven forty
Speaker 4: KTRH coming your way for the game and both on
Speaker 4: deck and the tenth inning show for that all right,
Speaker 4: coming up right now. I wanted to get into some
Speaker 4: Texans conversation as the Texans bring in the O and
Speaker 4: three Jacksonville Jaguars tomorrow over at NRG Stadium, and the
Speaker 4: ask excuse me the Texans coming off a tough loss
Speaker 4: last week to the Minnesota Vikings, not fun whatsoever. This
Speaker 4: was a Texans team that would you say was playing
Speaker 4: good football in the first couple of weeks of the season.
Speaker 4: As I said in the first segment, they weren't. I
Speaker 4: mean the team that, if you're being honest with yourself,
Speaker 4: you could look at and say, man, they were lucky
Speaker 4: to win both of those games. They were a Joe
Speaker 4: Mixon performance away from starting off the season oh to
Speaker 4: one on the road against Indianapolis, a game that I
Speaker 4: thought possibly they were going to lose, but they ended
Speaker 4: up not losing it, so that was nice to see.
Speaker 4: And the following week against a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams.
Speaker 4: You were lucky enough to be able to win that game.
Speaker 4: So you're two to zero after the entire offseason of
Speaker 4: being told that this is a Super Bowl contender and
Speaker 4: that this team is going to be prib you know,
Speaker 4: prime to you know, win you know a lot in
Speaker 4: this season. I just talked about, you know, the possibility
Speaker 4: of being able to play for and maybe win a
Speaker 4: Lombardy but also too for the first time in their
Speaker 4: franchise history, make the AFC Championship Game.
Speaker 5: So what do we call all that?
Speaker 4: Well, a few years ago, remember Nick Saban said it's
Speaker 4: called rat poison, and Demiko Ryans, being a good Alabama
Speaker 4: man that he is, I think he's kind of subscribed
Speaker 4: a little bit too. Don't take the rat poison, don't
Speaker 4: take the cheese. It's got that poison in there. So
Speaker 4: Demiko Ryans asked this week about said rat poison and
Speaker 4: wondering is that a reason why they lost to Minnesota
Speaker 4: last week?
Speaker 7: Last week, we didn't play well at the end of
Speaker 7: the day, That's that's all it came down to. We
Speaker 7: didn't play well. We had some good moments where we executed,
Speaker 7: made some nice plays, but they were negated by us.
Speaker 5: So it's very hard to win.
Speaker 7: Again, when you got the Texans and the Vikings playing
Speaker 7: against the Texas, that's pretty hard to win that game.
Speaker 7: So once we get the Texans out of the way
Speaker 7: and we just go focus on our opponent and we
Speaker 7: handle us well and we'll be just fine.
Speaker 4: So I mean, it's one of those things that Demiko
Speaker 4: Ryan's in an outward way, because we talked about this
Speaker 4: all the time. I think I've mentioned this to y'all
Speaker 4: before that coaches will talk to their team through the media,
Speaker 4: and in this case, I think that probably the message
Speaker 4: has been from Demiko to his players in not a
Speaker 4: contentious way, but at least the way of, hey, I
Speaker 4: played in this league. I know what it takes to
Speaker 4: win in this league, and what you did and what
Speaker 4: you've been doing is not the way that you do
Speaker 4: that in this league. And it's kind of a do
Speaker 4: you believe me now to his players because we've also
Speaker 4: heard from others not only in the building, you know,
Speaker 4: on the team as players or coaches, but remember Nick
Speaker 4: Casserio at the combine this year, he had talked about, hey,
Speaker 4: you know, we did a lot of great things. Last year,
Speaker 4: we also won a lot of really close games, and
Speaker 4: we can't count on that result being the same this season.
Speaker 4: So everybody just believing that we're going to you know,
Speaker 4: move ahead and going to be, you know, the the
Speaker 4: champions of the NFL just because of what we did
Speaker 4: last year.
Speaker 5: That's not how this league works.
Speaker 4: I mean, one year's success does not translate to the next.
Speaker 4: And I think that, you know, it's a little bit
Speaker 4: of kind of battling through that right now, because human
Speaker 4: nature does come in. I don't think that you have
Speaker 4: Texans players out there saying, oh, we're good, don't worry
Speaker 4: about it, it'll get figured out. I think they are
Speaker 4: trying to work towards getting to that point.
Speaker 5: And c J.
Speaker 4: Stroud even talked about it as much this week, I
Speaker 4: mean in a ridiculous way. He was asked about the
Speaker 4: confidence in Bobby Slowik and he was like, no, of course,
Speaker 4: we still have confidence in Bobby Slok.
Speaker 5: And here's the other part of it as well.
Speaker 4: Usually your offense is not what it's supposed to be
Speaker 4: until about week five, five for week six. So yeah,
Speaker 4: there's some disjointedness right now in our offense. But it
Speaker 4: doesn't mean that's who we are as a team, and
Speaker 4: it doesn't mean that's going to be who we are
Speaker 4: going forward. But you heard Dimiko talk about it as well.
Speaker 4: You don't want the Texans playing against the Texans while
Speaker 4: trying to play against the Vikings, and that's what they were.
Speaker 4: Because the pre snap penalties were the ones that definitely
Speaker 4: get most of the notoriety in terms of what he's
Speaker 4: talking about, and a lot of the people want to
Speaker 4: put that blame on Laramie Tunsel and on Titus Howard.
Speaker 4: I mean so much to the point that Titus Howard said, Hey, Twitter,
Speaker 4: I don't need you anymore. I'm deactivating my account. I
Speaker 4: just don't even need to worry about it anymore. But
Speaker 4: in terms of the pre snap penalties, especially on the
Speaker 4: offensive side of the ball, Tamika Ryans talked about hammering
Speaker 4: down on set issues.
Speaker 5: The pre snap definitely has been addressed.
Speaker 7: Again. We spend time on that, talked about it, we
Speaker 7: addressed it, and well we see on Sunday that has
Speaker 7: been addressed and we'll handle our handle it really way.
Speaker 7: Offensive line had a great day of work today. Everybody's
Speaker 7: dowt in. Everybody understands who we are what we're about
Speaker 7: and what is going to take for us to get
Speaker 7: back on track, and that's what we're.
Speaker 4: Focused on, all right. A couple of things right there
Speaker 4: from what Demiko just talked about. I mean, yes, I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, you've got Laramie Tunzell, who I get it
Speaker 4: too as well. Tunsill kind of brings some of this
Speaker 4: on himself of I mean, you know, coming into the
Speaker 4: league where he dropped in the draft because of that
Speaker 4: video that surfaced, but also too as well. I mean
Speaker 4: I think that he's kind of thought of as a
Speaker 4: guy that he could do a little bit more in
Speaker 4: terms of his career. And I think that fans whenever
Speaker 4: things like this happen, they point to those things. Well,
Speaker 4: maybe if you're in training camp on the field, some
Speaker 4: of these things are not an issue for you right now.
Speaker 4: And maybe if you're putting in the work that way
Speaker 4: and you're practicing during the week and all of these
Speaker 4: different types of things that go into what we think
Speaker 4: is a winning formula for a player to you know,
Speaker 4: be able to perform the way that we hope they can,
Speaker 4: especially when they're making the type of money that Tunsil
Speaker 4: is on Sundays and yeah, when he does have the
Speaker 4: false starts or he does have the illegal formation or
Speaker 4: whatever it might be, that people look at him and say, dude,
Speaker 4: you've got to be better than that. Like you're supposed
Speaker 4: to be one of the best in the league. Well,
Speaker 4: then play like one of the best in the league.
Speaker 4: And when you don't, we're gonna let you know that
Speaker 4: you don't. Kind of like what we're talking about with
Speaker 4: the Astros, when jose Al Tuv and those guys are
Speaker 4: not hitting, then we of course circle in on them
Speaker 4: because we expect those guys to hit. It's the same
Speaker 4: deal with Larry Tunsel in that regard. But I think
Speaker 4: the final part of it is it's going to be
Speaker 4: proof positive tomorrow. Are these messages being heard by the players.
Speaker 4: Are they being heard in terms of, hey, guess what,
Speaker 4: because I think that we'd even heard Dimiko say it.
Speaker 4: But you know, maybe I'm kind of paraphrasing here of
Speaker 4: what we just did to win a game could get
Speaker 4: us to lose a game later on in the season.
Speaker 4: And in certain cases, I think that players and people
Speaker 4: are just willing to, you know, not willing to listen
Speaker 4: to criticism when things go their way, as opposed to win,
Speaker 4: you know, things don't go their way because when you lose,
Speaker 4: then obviously you're saying, Okay, clearly we did a lot
Speaker 4: of things wrong. And if we did a lot of
Speaker 4: things wrong, then we need to be able to fix
Speaker 4: those issues because otherwise we're going to be on the
Speaker 4: losing end a lot more than we're going to be
Speaker 4: on the winning end. And I think that's something that
Speaker 4: will need to be looked at. Tomorrow. We'll see if
Speaker 4: Joe Mixon plays in the game. I know he practiced
Speaker 4: on a limited basis yesterday. I would think that if
Speaker 4: you practice in the game that they feel pretty good
Speaker 4: about being able to throw him out there on Sunday.
Speaker 4: So I expect Joe Mixon to be able to go.
Speaker 4: But it's also too as well the offensive line. I
Speaker 4: think it's a little bit of a gut check of
Speaker 4: what happened last week and now you you know, need
Speaker 4: to make sure that you're able to you know, have
Speaker 4: those things you know kind of you know short up,
Speaker 4: so this week it can go a lot better for
Speaker 4: you against a team who badly needs a win.
Speaker 5: And speaking of.
Speaker 4: The Jacksonville Jaguars, will actually transition into hearing about them
Speaker 4: next because what kind of team is coming in the
Speaker 4: face of Texans tomorrow. My good buddy Ryan Hacker Green
Speaker 4: joined us from the A Team earlier this week. You'll
Speaker 4: have a chance to hear from him next right here
Speaker 4: on your home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Space City Saturday. On Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Saturday.
Speaker 4: A couple more segments to go here on this Saturday
Speaker 4: on your home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety Dan Matthews here with you Astros in
Speaker 4: the first hour, mostly Texans. In this hour and tomorrow
Speaker 4: we are focused on the matchup happening over at NRG Stadium.
Speaker 4: The winless Jacksonville Jaguars are in town the take on
Speaker 4: the two and one Houston Texans. Both teams really looking
Speaker 4: for a win this week. The Jags, as previously laid out,
Speaker 4: really looking for one this week. And earlier this week
Speaker 4: on the A Team, we had a chance to catch
Speaker 4: up with my good buddy, Ryan Hacker Green from ten
Speaker 4: ten XL there in Jacksonville. The conversation got started with
Speaker 4: what does the number three h five mean to the Jags?
Speaker 8: Three hundred and five is the number of days it's
Speaker 8: been since Trevor Lawrence won a football game as the starter.
Speaker 9: Ironically enough, it was in Houston last season.
Speaker 10: Trevor Lawrence eight starts, eight losses since that day, including
Speaker 10: all three this season. Our listeners here in Houston know
Speaker 10: that I once thought he was going to be very good.
Speaker 10: I gave him all the benefit of the doubt for
Speaker 10: having to be the quarterback during the Urban Meyer era
Speaker 10: and everything that went along with that team had no
Speaker 10: chance to win because they were led by someone who's
Speaker 10: not capable of coaching an NFL football team. But it's
Speaker 10: been very easy for me to say, no, it's on
Speaker 10: Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence is not a good NFL quarterback.
Speaker 10: Proved otherwise. Trevor, what have you seen over those last
Speaker 10: eight games these several seasons with Doug Peterson? Are things
Speaker 10: where they are with Trevor and the offense and the team?
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Look, I think that's fair. And that's what the Jaguars earned.
Speaker 8: On Monday night when they went out and fled out,
Speaker 8: embarrassed themselves on national TV.
Speaker 9: I mean that was a disgraceful performance.
Speaker 8: And believe me, all our shows on ten ten xcel
Speaker 8: all week long, I had to stay up to do
Speaker 8: a twelve thirty to two thirty in the morning postgame
Speaker 8: show after that nonsense, So I was pretty fired up,
Speaker 8: as you can imagine.
Speaker 9: Why hasn't it worked out? Well, There's a.
Speaker 8: Lot of reasons, and I'll try to be brief. The
Speaker 8: offensive line hasn't been very good. They can't run the ball,
Speaker 8: and because they can't run the ball, obviously teams don't
Speaker 8: fear the run, so they can put guys back in
Speaker 8: pass coverage. The wide receivers have been okay. Christian Kirk
Speaker 8: has been bad the first two games. He was actually
Speaker 8: all right on Monday Night football. Evan Ingram's injured. Their
Speaker 8: Pro Bowl tight end is hurt and has missed of
Speaker 8: the last two games. And Trevor just quite frankly, has
Speaker 8: lost a lot of his confidence. I think when he's
Speaker 8: getting teed off on by opposing the lines, and there's
Speaker 8: some questions about the play calling with Doug Peterson and
Speaker 8: Press Taylor. It is becoming a soap oper here, guys.
Speaker 8: I mean, that's the bottom line. When he was forty
Speaker 8: seven to ten, the fashion the Jaguars did on Monday Night,
Speaker 8: We're looking for answers to a lot of questions and
Speaker 8: we don't have a lot of answers right now.
Speaker 10: Humor me briefly, since you brought up the additional coverage
Speaker 10: you had late that night after the game, you had
Speaker 10: a former player Leon Searsly and a former coach, Dave Campbo,
Speaker 10: both in the NFL at this level with you. What
Speaker 10: were their thoughts on what they saw that night and
Speaker 10: in general for this one and three football team.
Speaker 8: Yeah, Leon, I think he used the term disgraceful. It
Speaker 8: was an embarrassment. I mean, all the verbids you would imagine.
Speaker 8: Coach Campo tries to be a little more stipil than
Speaker 8: Leon and I were, but at one in the morning
Speaker 8: we kind of teed off, so we really didn't care.
Speaker 5: But coach just.
Speaker 8: Said, look, it looks like a team that's lost, a
Speaker 8: team that has no direction. And there are questions about
Speaker 8: Doug Peterson. Now, I mean, the bottom line is they've
Speaker 8: lost what eight out of nine going back to last season.
Speaker 8: Doug Peterson is an under five hundred coach. Now in
Speaker 8: forty regular season games here in Jacksonville, it is not good,
Speaker 8: and that's an understatement. There were expectations coming in. I
Speaker 8: think most of us picked Houston to win the division.
Speaker 8: But I thought most of us also picked jacksonvie'll be
Speaker 8: second and be competitive and right now being one of
Speaker 8: the three zero to three teams. After you extended, Trevor
Speaker 8: Lawrence extended Joshua Hinz, Allen Tyson, Campbell Foyer looking got
Speaker 8: contract extensions as well.
Speaker 9: The owners fed up. The owner's angry.
Speaker 8: There's reports that the owner was the angriest shot Con
Speaker 8: was the angriest he's been in his time as Jackuar
Speaker 8: owner watching what he watched on Monday night. So clearly
Speaker 8: the hot seat talk has really been ratcheted up here
Speaker 8: in Jacksonville this week.
Speaker 9: When it comes to Doug Peterson.
Speaker 11: We're talking to Ryan Hacker Green of ten ten XL
Speaker 11: Radio in Jacksonville, and yeah, I mean I can imagine
Speaker 11: because we kind of if you're in Houston, we went
Speaker 11: through not the same scenario because Sean Watson wanting to
Speaker 11: be out of Houston and then everything else that came
Speaker 11: from a legal standpoint that just right on the heels
Speaker 11: of that, it was unlike anything I've ever seen anywhere.
Speaker 11: But you know, when a quarterback, I don't want to
Speaker 11: say lose his favor because I don't know if that's
Speaker 11: happened in Jacksonville yet, but I was talking with Wex
Speaker 11: about this just earlier this week. He was the latest
Speaker 11: once in a generation guy at the top of the draft,
Speaker 11: and you had every reason to believe early on he
Speaker 11: would be that guy.
Speaker 5: Is it worse obviously.
Speaker 11: Because of the contract they just gave and how much
Speaker 11: of that is similar to what might be going on
Speaker 11: in Dallas, where you know the alternative is to basically
Speaker 11: blow it up, so you either have to pay the
Speaker 11: guy who might not be the guy or go that route.
Speaker 5: Do you think that applies in Jacksonville?
Speaker 9: Well, I think a couple of things, Adam. When it
Speaker 9: comes to Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 8: Number one, he's not as bad as he's looked the
Speaker 8: first three games. That goes back to what I said
Speaker 8: about his confidence. I also think, you know, you brought
Speaker 8: up the contract.
Speaker 9: That's a lot to live up to, man, fifty five.
Speaker 8: Million dollars a year. I think he's out there pressing
Speaker 8: a little bit. You know, we've watched the all twenty
Speaker 8: two of the last three games. He's trying to do
Speaker 8: things that quite frankly, he shouldn't be doing. He's not
Speaker 8: taking the eight yard sure thing, and you know the
Speaker 8: down and out on the sideline, he's trying to go
Speaker 8: to the twenty five yard you know go route.
Speaker 9: He's airmailing the ball.
Speaker 8: Brian Thomas Junior was wide open on that interception that
Speaker 8: DeMar Hamlin had Monday night.
Speaker 9: That's a terrible throw. There's no defense for that.
Speaker 8: But that's also a throw that Trevor makes ninety nine
Speaker 8: percent of the time. So I know what it looks
Speaker 8: like now is absolute garbage. And I get that Trevor
Speaker 8: is better than what he's shown the last three games.
Speaker 8: Having said that, the generational talk that to me was
Speaker 8: nonsense from the beginning. There's one generational guy and he
Speaker 8: resides in Kansas City and until somebody beats him. I
Speaker 8: don't want to talk about any other current quarterback being
Speaker 8: generational because Mahomes is the only one. I still think
Speaker 8: Trevor potentially could be very good, but I do think
Speaker 8: he is trying to live up to that contract. There's
Speaker 8: a confidence in issue. Particularly there's an issue with the
Speaker 8: play calling between oc Press Taylor and head coach Doug Peterson. Again,
Speaker 8: a lot more questions than we have answers, but they're
Speaker 8: saying all the right things this week. I'll be very
Speaker 8: interested to see. Look, if they're ever going to have
Speaker 8: our backs against the wall, if they're ever going to
Speaker 8: have a look yourself in the mirror moment, it'll be
Speaker 8: this Sunday in Houston after getting slat out, humiliated on
Speaker 8: national television. So I'm very curious to see how the
Speaker 8: fifty five million dollar man, Trevor Lawrence responds to that
Speaker 8: criticism this Sunday out there in Houston.
Speaker 11: Well, it leads me to the next obvious question, because
Speaker 11: while I think it's a little bit different since you
Speaker 11: guys are in the division as the Texans, so maybe
Speaker 11: that that kind of shade your answer a little bit
Speaker 11: more than it would if it was just another market
Speaker 11: that's not in the AFC South, What do you think
Speaker 11: of CJ.
Speaker 5: Stroud?
Speaker 11: And also that needs to include the first three games
Speaker 11: of this season, where I don't think he's overwhelmed anybody
Speaker 11: from an expectation into this season, especially standpoint, because we
Speaker 11: heard that kind of talk, Well, this is a guy
Speaker 11: that could be the closest thing to Mahomes. I agree
Speaker 11: with you wholeheartedly that there's only one guy like that
Speaker 11: until there isn't. But what do you think right now
Speaker 11: through three weeks at the twenty twenty four NFL season
Speaker 11: of a CJ.
Speaker 5: Stroud.
Speaker 9: I know we hate Carolina for taking Bryce. Yeah, I
Speaker 9: can tell you that much.
Speaker 8: We talk about that all the time. Carolina is on
Speaker 8: our naughty list, no question about it.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 9: CJ.
Speaker 8: Child is a good player, man. I mean he came
Speaker 8: in here his rookie year. I think it was Week
Speaker 8: three last year. And aside from your two hundred and
Speaker 8: sixty pounds full back returning a kickoff for a touchdown,
Speaker 8: which was interesting, Shroud had a great game in beating Jacksonville,
Speaker 8: and look, Trevor repaid the favor out there in Houston
Speaker 8: when the field goal hit the crossbar last year. Obviously,
Speaker 8: that was Trevor's last win as the starting quarterback of
Speaker 8: the Jaguars. But I think this CJ. Stroud Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 8: rivalry could be a good one for years to come. Now,
Speaker 8: what Houston has done is they went out and they
Speaker 8: got a Stefan Das, they went out and they got.
Speaker 9: A Joe Mixon. Jacksonville got Christian Kirk.
Speaker 8: Okay, that's all right, Gabe Davis, Okay, he's not Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 8: I do think though, Brian Thomas Junior is a guy
Speaker 8: that not a lot of people were talking about because
Speaker 8: the Jaguars zero and three, he and Malikue Neighbors are
Speaker 8: the only two rookie wide receivers. I believe to have
Speaker 8: at least forty five yards receiving in each of the
Speaker 8: first three games. Brian Thomas Junior is going to be
Speaker 8: a stud and I think a year, probably next year
Speaker 8: at the latest, he will be quote unquote wide receiver
Speaker 8: one here in Jacksonville. Gabe Davis will be kind of
Speaker 8: the second guy, and I'm not sure how much longer
Speaker 8: Kirk's going to be here following this season, But you
Speaker 8: need the guy, right c J. Strout has Nico Collins
Speaker 8: and now he has Stefon Diggs. Trevor needs that guy,
Speaker 8: and I think Jacksonville has finally got him that guy
Speaker 8: with Brian Thomas Junior.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Ryan, to a lesser degree. I think people here,
Speaker 10: myself included, weren't real excited about how Jacksonville manipulated the
Speaker 10: twenty twenty four draft to get assets and then also
Speaker 10: be able to draft Brian Thomas Junior.
Speaker 5: I totally agree.
Speaker 10: I think he may be a wide receiver one sooner
Speaker 10: than that, just because of the competition at the position.
Speaker 10: I just think he is a bigger, better talent than that.
Speaker 10: Just real briefly here about a minute on the other
Speaker 10: side of the football, because as much as Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 10: and the offense clearly took a while to get anything
Speaker 10: going against Buffalo, they also were giving up touchdowns every
Speaker 10: single time the Bills had the football their opponents. And
Speaker 10: that's a Deshaun Watson led team and a two lead
Speaker 10: team and now Josh Allen led team. Are there season
Speaker 10: statistics a little skewed because of what Allen did? Is
Speaker 10: this a team that you can throw the ball against
Speaker 10: with relative ease? Which is kind of what the numbers suggests.
Speaker 8: I mean, they held a healthy Miami team in Week.
Speaker 9: One to twenty points in Miami.
Speaker 8: The Cleveland only scored one touchdown on them in eighteen points.
Speaker 9: The rest were field goals.
Speaker 8: I mean, the defense was defense up until Monday nine,
Speaker 8: and Monday night was a flipping disaster.
Speaker 9: That again a.
Speaker 8: Lot more questions than answers, because we thought the defense
Speaker 8: was pretty good the first two games. They had lost
Speaker 8: those games because of the ineptitude of the offense obviously
Speaker 8: that was completely out the door on Monday with what
Speaker 8: Josh Allen did.
Speaker 9: And the defense has some injury problems.
Speaker 8: Tyson Campbell has been out for Lucan's going to miss
Speaker 8: this game potentially Devin Lloyd maybe in jeopardy because he
Speaker 8: missed practice today with a knee. So injuries are starting
Speaker 8: to pile up. But no, I mean the defense has
Speaker 8: been better than the offense. I do think it is
Speaker 8: skewed because of the Buffalo game, because again Miami and Cleveland,
Speaker 8: the defense performed a lot better in those two contests.
Speaker 5: Great stuff, Ryan, We really appreciate the time.
Speaker 10: I personally owe you one and I'll let you know
Speaker 10: on that here shortly, but we really appreciate the time
Speaker 10: joining us here. It's really good stuff you have there,
Speaker 10: both on the air as you mentioned after dark and
Speaker 10: even covering a coach Napier's team, which has also been
Speaker 10: kind of an interesting way to do things. But we
Speaker 10: certainly appreciate you joining us this afternoon.
Speaker 9: Hey fellaws, anytime, Take.
Speaker 4: Care all right, Great stuff there from a hacker. Always
Speaker 4: awesome to be able to catch up with him. If
Speaker 4: you missed any of that, download our iHeartRadio app and
Speaker 4: it is free, so you can get all of our
Speaker 4: content right there at the convenience of your device. All right,
Speaker 4: coming out next a new segment here on Space City Saturday.
Speaker 4: That'll be here during a football season. It's me hearing voices,
Speaker 4: but I'm not crazy. Well, isn't that something a crazy
Speaker 4: person would say? Well, it'll be less crazy. That's next.
Speaker 4: I'm Dan Matthews here on your home of the Astros
Speaker 4: and the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: We now return to Space City Saturday, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4: Dan Matthews back here on your home of the Astros
Speaker 4: in the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety one. Final segment
Speaker 4: to go here on Space City Saturday. Before we get
Speaker 4: into I hear voices, I need to give you a
Speaker 4: programming note. So, with the Texas and Mississippi State game
Speaker 4: coming up a little bit later on here on your
Speaker 4: home of the Longhorns in Houston, Sports Talk seven ninety,
Speaker 4: the Astros and Guardians going to be over on News
Speaker 4: Radio seven forty KTRH. I will be there for Astros
Speaker 4: on at four o'clock. Robert Ford, Steve Sparks on the
Speaker 4: call again over there on News Radio seven forty KRH
Speaker 4: and then after the game stick around with me as
Speaker 4: we will have the tenth inning show, so we will
Speaker 4: have all of that coming your way again. Four o'clock
Speaker 4: is Astros on deck five to ten is the first
Speaker 4: pitch from there at Progressive Field. It'll be Justin Verlander
Speaker 4: against Ben Lively for Cleveland. And if the Astros win today,
Speaker 4: they not only clinched this series, but they also win
Speaker 4: the season series over the Cleveland Guardians. So maybe that's
Speaker 4: something that come into play if they are able to
Speaker 4: get past the Detroit Tigers or more than likely the
Speaker 4: Kansas City Royals in the wildcard round that will be
Speaker 4: coming up starting on Tuesday. All right, without further ado,
Speaker 4: I teased it last segment, let's do.
Speaker 5: It right now.
Speaker 4: As again, I'm not crazy because I het your voices,
Speaker 4: and in this segment it is something a little bit
Speaker 4: new on the show. It's not a little bit. It
Speaker 4: is one hundred percent new on the show. As we
Speaker 4: usually hear about this during the off season, that's talking
Speaker 4: season in football. Well in this case, talking season extends
Speaker 4: into the season. And for this edition of I Hear Voices,
Speaker 4: we go for one example in the NFL and two
Speaker 4: examples on the college ranks and in the NFL. We
Speaker 4: start with the Las Vegas Rager Raiders and their head
Speaker 4: coach Antonio Pierce. So, last week, the Raiders faced a
Speaker 4: Carolina Panthers team that had made a change at quarterback.
Speaker 4: They go from Bryce Young to Andy Dalton, and Andy Dalton,
Speaker 4: the former Katie product, comes in and helps the Carolina
Speaker 4: Panthers win the game.
Speaker 5: That's not the story here.
Speaker 4: It is after the game Antonio Pierce calling out some
Speaker 4: of his players for saying, yeah, you guys were being
Speaker 4: independent contractors out there as the.
Speaker 9: Game went on. I don't think it was.
Speaker 7: I think that jeffisonon that make business decisions and we'll
Speaker 7: make business decisions going forward as well.
Speaker 4: Now, the reason I bring this up is Pierce, just
Speaker 4: like Demiko Ryans, a former player, and not only a
Speaker 4: former player, a former linebacker in the league. And his
Speaker 4: style at least, you know, I'm not around Pierce on
Speaker 4: a daily basis, but at least from what I can
Speaker 4: see from a thousand foot view, does seem like it
Speaker 4: is a little bit more in your face.
Speaker 5: I'm sure.
Speaker 4: Probably he raises his voice a little bit more at
Speaker 4: his players than Demiko seems to do.
Speaker 5: Over on Kirby.
Speaker 4: But in this case, right here, the reason why I
Speaker 4: bring this up is because, just like Tomiko, Pierce is
Speaker 4: a former player. Now again the similarities right there. Like
Speaker 4: I say with Dimiko and I talked about this a
Speaker 4: little bit earlier on. I don't think he is a
Speaker 4: ra ra in your face, yell at you type of guy.
Speaker 4: But I think if he does see somebody that's doing
Speaker 4: something wrong, pull on the side, and maybe if there
Speaker 4: is a little bit of back talk to him, his
Speaker 4: response is, well, I played for this amount of years
Speaker 4: in the NFL, so I think I kind of know
Speaker 4: what I'm talking about when I bring something like this
Speaker 4: up to you and Pierce doing the same thing right there.
Speaker 4: Antonio Pierce is a Super Bowl winner as a player.
Speaker 4: He is now a new head coach. But also though too,
Speaker 4: I think he's taking some of those leadership tactics that
Speaker 4: he used when he was a player and applying him here.
Speaker 5: And usually former players whenever.
Speaker 4: They say things like this, I'm willing to listen because
Speaker 4: if these guys knew what it takes to go out
Speaker 4: there and play every single Sunday, maybe it's a Monday night,
Speaker 4: maybe it's a Thursday night, whenever you're playing. It goes
Speaker 4: beyond that as well. It's the work in the weight room,
Speaker 4: it's the work on the practice field. It's hey, are
Speaker 4: you in the film room? Do I see you on
Speaker 4: your tablet watching film? All of those different types of things,
Speaker 4: the nutrition, it all comes together, and in this case
Speaker 4: right here, that's Antonio Pears calling out players, saying, hey,
Speaker 4: I know what success looks like in this league and
Speaker 4: what you were doing that, ain't it? So if you're
Speaker 4: going to be a member of the Las Vegas Raiders,
Speaker 4: well then I need to see you not do what
Speaker 4: you did on Sunday. And it's also too it's kind
Speaker 4: of one of those things as well that usually nowadays
Speaker 4: we seem to bristle at whenever a coach, an executive,
Speaker 4: an owner, whoever it might be, calls out effort from players.
Speaker 4: And I remembered hearing this a few years ago from
Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy, where again not a former player at least
Speaker 4: the NFL level, but a guy who talked about you
Speaker 4: got to be very careful when you're calling out effort
Speaker 4: of players. But I do think that players whenever you
Speaker 4: hear things like this coming from a guy who again
Speaker 4: has the credentials that Pierce does that it is going
Speaker 4: to be at least taken in with some constructive criticism.
Speaker 4: At that point, you're willing to listen to it is
Speaker 4: kind of what I'm saying right there. And Pierce felt
Speaker 4: like that was the button that he needed to push
Speaker 4: with his team. And after that effort again against a
Speaker 4: putred and low lead Carolina Panthers team that felt they
Speaker 4: were so bad that they had to move on from
Speaker 4: the top pick overall just a year ago in Bryce
Speaker 4: Young and go with Andy Dalton. That kind of shows
Speaker 4: you where Antonio Piers felt like he was pushed to
Speaker 4: and that is why he pushed that button to say, yeah,
Speaker 4: you're making business decisions out there, so guess what. This
Speaker 4: is a business right. We hear players say it all
Speaker 4: the time. Well, if you're gonna treat it that way,
Speaker 4: we will too. So some of you probably won't like
Speaker 4: your playing time going forward. And Antonio Peers feeling like
Speaker 4: that was the button that he needed to push with
Speaker 4: his team. Now let's go to the sec as first.
Speaker 4: We'll start in Auburn. Auburn taking on Oklahoma today, but
Speaker 4: last week they lost to Arkansas and it got so
Speaker 4: bad that they had to make a quarterback change. They
Speaker 4: had to go back to Peyton Thorn. And Hugh Freeze
Speaker 4: is a guy that I think kind of is in
Speaker 4: the same mold of a Dabo Sweeney, where he seemingly
Speaker 4: never gets the benefit of the doubt from the media,
Speaker 4: the opposing fans, whoever it might be, whenever they say
Speaker 4: something like this, and that usually brings out the critics
Speaker 4: that will be coming after him. But in this case,
Speaker 4: right here, it was Hugh Freeze throwing his quarterbacks and
Speaker 4: running back under the bus after their loss to Sam
Speaker 4: Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Speaker 12: Unfortunately, this is what I know, and I know that
Speaker 12: there's people open, and I know that we're running the football,
Speaker 12: and we got to find a guy that won't throw
Speaker 12: it to the other team, and we got to find
Speaker 12: running backs that hold on to it. You know, that's
Speaker 12: a huge play there. I mean, we're going in to school.
Speaker 12: I don't know what was a seven nothing then or
Speaker 12: so it was seven to seven and our defense gets
Speaker 12: the stop and who knows what happens. But you know,
Speaker 12: the scheme is what most everybody in the country is
Speaker 12: running some sort of. But you've got to have a
Speaker 12: good play at quarterback.
Speaker 3: For sure to.
Speaker 12: At whatever system you're going to choose.
Speaker 4: Now, it wasn't only media opposing fans. It was also
Speaker 4: a former quarterback who came out against you Freeze this week.
Speaker 4: Did you see on Twitter that Bo Wallace, who was
Speaker 4: a quarterback for Freeze when he was the head coach
Speaker 4: at Ole Miss. He came out and was incredibly critical
Speaker 4: of Freeze for how he handled him when he played
Speaker 4: for him, but also to his coaching tactics. And I
Speaker 4: get that when you're a coach, not going to make
Speaker 4: everybody happy.
Speaker 5: That's just the way it is.
Speaker 4: I remember Kirby Smart had that speech at the SEC
Speaker 4: Media Days a couple of years ago talking about leadership.
Speaker 5: In one of the lines he.
Speaker 4: Said was, despite your best efforts, you will not be liked.
Speaker 4: And in this case right here, I think Freeze understands that.
Speaker 4: And could his tactfulness been a little bit better in
Speaker 4: terms of describing what happened on the field, and maybe
Speaker 4: he could have done a little bit more falling on
Speaker 4: the sword.
Speaker 5: Sure he could have. But I also want to enter
Speaker 5: this into the equation.
Speaker 4: I guess, if nothing else making my argument right here,
Speaker 4: I want to enter this into evidence, maybe he's tried
Speaker 4: to do that numerous times behind the scenes. That's the
Speaker 4: other part of this as well, is there's so many
Speaker 4: things that happened behind the scenes that we don't know about,
Speaker 4: and maybe Freeze had tried to do that with Thorn
Speaker 4: or whoever his quarterback is at Auburn or also too
Speaker 4: on the practice field. Maybe they've had fumbling issues and
Speaker 4: he said, hey, we need to work on ball security, okay, coach,
Speaker 4: all right, Well, nay, we need to work on ball security,
Speaker 4: all right, coach, Yeah, hey we will. And then you
Speaker 4: see it happened on Saturdays, and that's where Freeze says,
Speaker 4: all right, that's it. Wits end has been passed, and
Speaker 4: now it's time for me to go the nuclear option
Speaker 4: in this case, and that is calling people out.
Speaker 5: So we'll see how it all works out. Again.
Speaker 4: Peyton Thorn likely going to start today for Auburn against
Speaker 4: Oklahoma as the Tigers really looking for a huge bounce
Speaker 4: back win and Oklahoma making a quarterback change in their
Speaker 4: own right. So we'll see how it works out for
Speaker 4: Brent Venables club as well. Now here's the chaser to
Speaker 4: that shot I gave you with Hugh Freeze it's a
Speaker 4: guy that never minces words, and in some cases we
Speaker 4: like it.
Speaker 5: And in the past we did not like him for
Speaker 5: doing that.
Speaker 4: But I think we can all agree now that Lane
Speaker 4: Kiffin is a changed man in terms of not only
Speaker 4: picking and choosing his spots for when he says things,
Speaker 4: but also too how good of a coach he is
Speaker 4: as well. And Lane Kiffin talking about what you do
Speaker 4: in terms of handling quarterbacks after tough games, and in
Speaker 4: this case right here Kiffin saying, you know what, I
Speaker 4: try to take the focus off of them and put
Speaker 4: it onto me.
Speaker 13: I think it pays off, you know, when you have
Speaker 13: the relationships and the quarterbacks trust you too. You know,
Speaker 13: and can go back to Matt Crown when you through
Speaker 13: six interceptions and before I even got to the media,
Speaker 13: sitting now with him telling him, you know, we got
Speaker 13: to do a better job of calling plays, I got
Speaker 13: to coach better, and don't worry, we got your back.
Speaker 13: And so I think that goes a long ways and
Speaker 13: goes a long ways with kids in recruiting, you know,
Speaker 13: of knowing what they're going to get when they get
Speaker 13: here from a relationship and that they can trust us
Speaker 13: to have their back.
Speaker 4: All right, could that I've been a shot at freeze
Speaker 4: maybe who knows. But Kiffin right there talking about, Hey,
Speaker 4: if a quarterback has a bad day, then I'm going
Speaker 4: to take the blame. I'm not going to allow them
Speaker 4: to take it. And you appreciate that for sure, but
Speaker 4: also too as well. Again, it's every coach has their
Speaker 4: style and every coach has their ability to be able
Speaker 4: to either say, hey, I can call these guys out
Speaker 4: because let me actually take it to a more local example.
Speaker 4: I remember last year we had a chance to talk
Speaker 4: with Ima Udoka during one of his weekly visits on
Speaker 4: The Matt Thomas Show with Ross, and one of the
Speaker 4: things he was asked about was calling out players, and
Speaker 4: he said, you know what I actually give you, guys,
Speaker 4: The mild version of what I say to them, or
Speaker 4: the call out to you is a lot more mild
Speaker 4: than the way I called them out in private. And
Speaker 4: I know that a lot of people prefer if you're
Speaker 4: going to do the call out, do it in private.
Speaker 4: But for Kiffin right there, I mean, again, let's talk
Speaker 4: about the guy who has completely rehabilitated his career.
Speaker 5: At first, he was thought of as being a daddy's boy.
Speaker 4: Hey, You've got this job because of who your dad is,
Speaker 4: Monti Kiffin, not because of the coach you are. And
Speaker 4: soon enough after you went to Alabama and Nick Saban said, no,
Speaker 4: actually he's a really good coach.
Speaker 5: That's what people started to believe in him.
Speaker 4: And then he kind of earned his dudes all over again,
Speaker 4: went to FAU and now is at Ole Miss