Speaker 1: Time now to spend ten quality minutes with our good
friend Brian mctaggard MLB dot com on.
Speaker 2: The Astros beat. He'll be with the local nine in.
Speaker 1: Atlanta, uh for the weekend series against the hated Atlanta Braves.
By the way, they've been I think fully eliminated from
any playoff contention, and uh, if you put tag on
the screen format, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Uh, Brian, It's a strange situation here.
Speaker 1: You've either got teams in the midst of a really
die hard, tough Pennant race, or you got teams just
playing out the string. So there's no it's a completely
mixed bag between now and the end of the year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the the Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4: I mean they're gonna they're gonna play nine games against
teams that are completely out of it. I mean, we
all know those games can be a little bit dangerous
because those teams have nothing to lose. But those are
also teams that could be resting players or shutting guys
down for the season. So they're definitely teams they should
take advantage of, you know, especially at the end of
the year going to the A's and the Angels. I
mean those teams have been out of it for a while,
so but it's all gonna come down to the next
week's homestand I mean that's massive. I mean, you know,
three teams battling it out for the division title. The
Astros are the only one of the three it gets
to play both of them, and they get to play
both of them at home.
Speaker 3: The Mariners haven't been good on the road, you know.
Speaker 4: The Astroals haven't played very well at home frankly in
the second half of the season. So if they can
win both those series, you know, I think it'll set
them up very well in the final week week to
try to close this thing out.
Speaker 3: But you know, if they go into.
Speaker 4: This home stand next week and lay an egg there,
you know, they could be in some trouble because if
they're now chasing wins and chasing the Mariners or chasing
the Rangers gets a lot more difficult.
Speaker 1: Every loss this time of year feels like it's compounded
with frustration. I thought that the setback two days ago
really really hurt a because of Garcia, b because they
gave up the game late, and the fact that you
really had some serious doubts about the role of Brian
and Braga in the ninth inning, and yesterday he came
back and was really good. Not only did he get
things done in the ninth anybody did it with a
low amount of pitches. What do you notice? What do
you think about Brian A. Braw's ability? Very early on
when he replaced Hater, it was great, But it feels
like for a better part of a month it's been
difficult for him to kind of assume that role now
that Josh has been gone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's not alone in that.
Speaker 4: I mean, we've seen that through the years, when when
closers go on the IL or you lose a closer
to free agency or whatever. Sometimes as an adjustment period,
sometimes a guy comes in and just can't do it.
I mean I remember Will Harris taking over his closer.
He'd been such a great setup man and just couldn't
get it done and they had to move him back
to the setup role. I'm not gonna say that's happening
with the Brave. But Brave's issue is just when he
lets the leadoff guy get on base, he gets in trouble,
and that happens a lot. I think he's let I
think around eighteen percent of the leadoff hitter get on
base via a walk. I mean, he's got really good stuff.
He just needs to stay in the zone a little
bit more. And he did that yesterday. I mean, he
came out you could tell that. I mean that he
was he was gonna come in there and throw strikes
and and and not spray the ball like he did
the night before. And you know, I think props to
Joe a Spota for putting him back out there. I mean,
no one expected that he was going to be ready
to pitch, but they needed him to go out there,
and you know, he didn't probably have you know, a
lot left as far as pitches go, and he went
out there and threw strikes and dominated and got it done.
And I think that will be worlds for the confidence.
As bad as the loss was in Toronto in the
first game, I think last night's game was one of
their biggest wins. And probably the biggest swing of the
bat of the season was by jannar Diez with that
homer in the ninth inning.
Speaker 5: How concerned are you about his a velocity being down
a tick or two?
Speaker 4: Not concerned? I mean he was, you know, second day
in a row. I mean he's pitched a ton of innings. Again,
you know, you'd love to get him more rest. If
you're Astros, you just don't have that luxury. I mean,
they're just so thin in the bullpen right now. I
mean they're they're pretty much a bullpen man short than
other teams because mccullors isn't pitching at all.
Speaker 3: So I think we're just at that point the season.
Speaker 4: When guys are trying to give it everything they have
and they're tired, and you know, if their Astros, you
gotta hope you can maybe win the division by two
or three games and just shut some of these guys
down on the final weekend.
Speaker 3: But with the way this thing's going, I don't think
that's going to be the case. This looks like it's
going to go down right to the wire.
Speaker 5: Brian McTaggart astros dot Com with us here on Sports
Talk seven ninety. Great outing last night from Jason Alexander.
I guess if we're calling it a fluid situation, but
as of this moment, he could be your third starter
in a playoff scenario, just as we all predicted.
Speaker 3: Yeah, didn't we all say that at the beginning of
the year. They would get him off waivers, he'd be
their third starter. I don't know I wrote that at
that maybe not, but but yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4: I mean, if you look at their playoff rotation now,
it's clearly going to be Hunter Brown and Frember Valdez.
I mean, despite all the things that's gone on with
Fromber last couple of months, he's still your your second
best option as a starting pitcher. He's a guy that's
dominated in the playoffs before, like he did in twenty two.
So he's going to be your number two. But yeah, Alexander,
he's probably your number three. I mean, we're not sure
what Christian Haavier is yet. You know he's got going
to get the ball today. He's certainly got a chance
over the next sixteen games or however many starts he
has three, three, four starts to maybe solidify his spot.
But with the way Alexander threw yesterday, they had won
his previous seven starts before that. Just the guy that
competes and throws strikes and doesn't do it overpowering that
you know, throws that change up to lefties and rightys
and just isn't afraid of anything.
Speaker 3: He's he's your number three. Star.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think at this point in the season,
he's probably earned that and that probably speaks more to
the injuries they've had to anything else, but also a
tip of the hat to him for, you know, really
coming here and making an impact.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Ross earlier in the day about
jose l Twove getting the day off, and you know,
you would think those days off would be few and
far between, especially this late in the season. Combination of things,
day game, night game, you have turf field. Every one
of these games are impactful. Oh, by the way, he's
in a slump.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: The base running situation wasn't great the other day, going from
second to third extra innings. I'm guessing Jose went to
him and said, I'm ready to go. I wanted to play,
and I think probably Joe said I'm gonna go ahead
and just give you the chance to sit back and relax.
Speaker 2: On this one.
Speaker 1: I felt like yesterday was as much a mental day
for Jose as compared to just getting him off his feet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. I mean I think there were a
lot of reasons that.
Speaker 4: I mean, you just ran him all down while you
want to sit him, and you know you did get
get the get get the pinch it at BA. But uh,
you're right, he needed a break and Joe said that,
you know, he talked to Altuve after the game on Tuesday.
I'm sure it was that point that I mean, Joe
probably made up his mind he was going to give
him the day and they probably talked about it after
the game. So give him a chance to you know,
go to bed with a clear head and come to
the park yesterday and not have to you know, worry
about getting ready or you know, studying the starter or
all that. And you know this, you know, he's a
guy that's played in more games than anybody else, so
it's been a real grind for him, and he has
not played well for over a month now. And jose
L two bay is a very prideful guy, and I
know this is probably wearing on him big time.
Speaker 3: But he's also a.
Speaker 4: Guy that can turn it around in a dime where
we could see him go like, you know, seven for
sixteen in a series and absolute carry a team, So
that that could happen, you know, this weekend in Atlanta.
Who knows, but certainly they need him to get going
here over these final sixteen games because he's he's gonna
hit high in the lineup, he's gonna be in the
middle of some of their you know with Alvarez, and
if they can get him going, they make him feel
a lot better.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Lance McCullers Junior a couple of minutes ago.
Is he just mop up low leverage you need an
arm to thrown inning, because it feels like, and you
kind of alluded to it that that just isn't a
defined role for him right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I mean we saw him come in,
you know, I don't know how long ago.
Speaker 4: It was the X Rating game a few days ago,
and you know, you know, he hasn't I don't know
if he's even warmed up since I think it's pretty
clear he's probably not going to make the playoff roster
and then you know, they might have to have some
difficult conversations about him in the offseason. But it was
just clearly just he just doesn't have the stuff. I mean,
he's just you know, he's throwing ninety two, you know,
hitting ninety three.
Speaker 3: You know, he's getting some swing and miss.
Speaker 4: He can pitch a little bit, but the fastball just
just isn't there, and he's not throwing enough strikes, and
it's probably extremely frustrating for him, and this is probably
a low point of his career.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it certainly looks like I don't even mop
up is one way to put it.
Speaker 4: I mean, I hate to say that about a guy,
but the Astros don't blow any teams out, and they
generally don't get blown out, so there's no opportunities to
throw a guy out there in a six run game.
Speaker 3: They just don't have those. So they got to keep
going to the same guys over and over.
Speaker 4: And you know it's clear that to a spot out
with the way he's used his bullpen, he's not one
of those guys.
Speaker 5: Yeah, as you mentioned, we talked about a Brave, but
the rest of the bullpen as well. They end up
in these highly leverage situations and it's going to continue
to happen. I mean, I would say there's a lot
of concerns on this team, but especially in the pecking
order out of a Brak. I just it's hard for
me to have real confidence in this bullpen down the
stretch here.
Speaker 3: Totally agree.
Speaker 4: I think losing Hater was just a massive blow to
this team. I mean, you could put Bennett SUSA.
Speaker 3: And ord In there as well.
Speaker 4: But losing Hater, you know, a guy who's having a
tremendous season. Now you're moving guys into roles and not
used to. It just takes a key arm out of
your bullpen. And I agree. I mean, I think that's
the real issue they're going to have, is just closing
out games. And you know, if their starter goes six innings,
how do you piece together those final four innings and
then how do you do it again two days later
at pressure situations in the postseason against they're gonna be
playing very, very good teams Toronto, Detroit, you know, Seattle
or or whomever. So that's gonna be a real challenge
going forward. You know, I guess there's still a chance
Hater could come back. I don't think he's even throwing yet,
so it seems unlikely. But yeah, I think that's just
the one issue they're really gonna have to overcome. And
that's why, you know, I really don't see them making
a long playoff run. It's just with the injuries they've
had to the bullpen.
Speaker 1: So so let's wrap up our conversation with a little
bit of a glass half full situation.
Speaker 2: They have had all these.
Speaker 1: Things from runners in scoring position to slumps, to injuries,
to bullpen to whatnot, and they're still sitting here with
a game leading the American League West. If they are
to survive this, if you were to write the storyline
of Wow, these last fifteen games were so good because.
Speaker 2: Of how would you fill that out? Do you think
or how does it have to happen?
Speaker 4: I think they're gonna have to. I think it's gonna
come down to hitting. I mean, they're just gonna have to.
They're gonna have to get a few guys hot. They're
gonna have to out slug a few teams. They can't
come home and go, you know, two for thirty with
runners in scoring position in a series, they're gonna get beat.
They're just gonna have to. I just think they're gonna
have to outscore outslug teams. I mean they're pitching, is
what it is. You feel good when Hunter Brown takes
the ball. Not sure about Valdez. I mean, Alexander, you
feel pretty good. Uh beyond that, who knows? So Uh,
They're just gonna have to find a way to score
runs and not getting these prolonged slumps, not only not
only not getting slumps, but come through in the clutch.
I mean they they the runners in scoring position cannot
be an issue. So to me, that's what it's gonna
come down to, is just can they can they hit?
Can they hit over these final six games enough to
get them to that division title?
Speaker 1: Men, Taggart, great stuff as always for ends, Safe travels
to the at L and we'll talk to you with
you again next week.
Speaker 3: All right, Thanks EV.
Speaker 2: That's Bryan McTaggart m LB dot com with US year