Speaker 1: Yeah, eleven o'clock straight up here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
It is our number two of the Matt Thomas Show
with Ross.
Speaker 2: Without Matt Thomas.
Speaker 1: He is with his son celebrating his son's college graduation
and his young son's dream trip for his vacation, going
with dad to see Barry Manilow and Carrot Tops. So
he is in Vegas. Brian McTaggart is here with us. Brian,
your thoughts on Carrot Top, boy, that sounds like we're
really missing out on that. Yeah, Carrot Carrott Top was okay,
like twenty years ago or something.
Speaker 2: But I don't know, No, you don't know. I know
what you do know about?
Speaker 1: You know about the Astros, Brian mctagger covering the Astros
for MLB dot com and all these storylines, Brian, and
honestly a lot of complaining from myself fan bases all that,
like the injuries, jord On hand stuff and underperformances from
Yiner and Walker until last night and here we are
four games up in the American League West.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you tip your hat to the Astros,
but also the division is really bad. I mean, yes,
this everybody's below five hundred except the Astros. I mean,
the Angels are tied with the Mariners for second. I mean,
the Angels are not good. I know some Angels fans
were getting excited about, you know now that they're in
second place. Well, it's because the Mariners are just as
bad as you are and Rangers aren't good.
Speaker 2: I mean, but yeah, you know, props to the Ashtros.
Speaker 3: You got to you know, you got to take out
the trash when you play them, and so you got
to take advantage of those situations. But yeah, I mean
if they had been if they had been more healthy
and those guys you talked about had hit better, I mean,
they would have like a ten game lead right now.
But still they have to be thrilled be where they're
at because a four game leads a four game lead,
and uh, you know, and you have a chance to
build on it.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: I don't know how much Mariners baseball you've been catching,
but they have lost eight of their last nine games.
Speaker 2: I mean, what is going on over there?
Speaker 1: Is this something like, are the Astros just gonna run
away with this division?
Speaker 3: Well, unless the Mariners make changes, then probably yes, I
mean they're they They didn't make any offensive improvements in
the offseason. Jerry Depoto thought, you know, it was kind
of banking on getting healthy and having some guys have
bounced back seasons. Now, you know, cal rallies cal Rally
has been really good. JP Crawford's been good, but Julio
Rodriguez doesn't play like a star anymore. And you know,
they went out and brought back Polaco, who got off
to a really hot start, but he's cooled off. You know,
they signed Donovan Solana, who's terrible. Mitch Garver hasn't been good.
I mean, they just can't score. Their bullpen hasn't been great.
I mean, you know, they have a pretty good closer,
but and then they've had injuries to the rotation, which
they didn't have last year.
Speaker 2: So they're they're just not a good team right now.
Speaker 3: So the Astros will play them after the All Star
break in Seattle, uh, you know, with a chance to
put more distance between them and and the Mariners. And
they get next week to get the Angels on the roads.
So they're going to start facing some of these teams
at the head.
Speaker 1: Brian McTaggert with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Quality stuff from Ryan Gusto last night. Where do you
think his leash was before that started? Obviously it's longer now.
Speaker 3: As in terms of staying in the rotation, Yes, yes,
well I think it was long because they don't really
have anybody else and now they're in this six man rotation,
so they really had nowhere else to turn. I think
unless he just went out there and you know, pitched
one or two innings, then you would really have to reassess.
But the fact he had career highs and innings pitched
and pitches and strikeouts, you know, fastball hit ninety seven.
Speaker 2: He was a lot more aggressive.
Speaker 3: You know, it helped when he had a three zero
lead in the first inning, but it's definitely something for
him to build on. That's sort of the pitcher that
we heard when they put him in the rotation that
he was capable of pitching like that.
Speaker 2: Hadn't done it yet.
Speaker 3: But you know, like I said all along, they're sort
of at the tail end of their starting pitching depth here,
so there's not a lot of places for them to
turn right now. You know, maybe that'll change if they
get an arm at the deadline Righetti back in July.
Maybe we'll see, But you know, I didn't think Gusto
was in real danger to go anywhere because there were
no other.
Speaker 1: Options Christian Walker and Janner Diez with Good Knights. Walker
the headliner, of course, but the two hard hit, hardest
hit balls were off the bat of yanor Diez. And
feels like we've been here a couple of times with
both of them saying, Hey, is this the jumping off
point for a turnaround to their seasons? What are you
feeling on both of those guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 3: I mean this happens like once every week where one
of these guys has a good game or hits the
ball hard. You're like, Okay, maybe this is it. But
you know, Jonner hit a couple of balls hard the
night before as well. You know, Walker really crushed his homer.
I think it was almost went away off the bat.
And then I think one of the things that Joe
Spotted brought this up too, was his third hit was
a little bloop single to right field, and he had
just been not getting those. He'd really been not getting
the brakes on balls that weren't hit hard hard or
pop ups or things like that. So I think for
him that was probably as encouraging as the home run, like, hey,
I'm finally starting to get some breaks here in the
three hit game. But yeah, if you're the Astors, you
can only hope it's you know, this is the one
they turn it around and start building on, because man,
if you get those two guys going, you know, in
the five six spots of the order where wherever they're at,
and you get jordan By healthy and playing like Jordaan,
then you got a real chance to run away with
the division.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: On Jiner Diaz, I was kind of a little surprised
just looking it up earlier today. X his his batting
average two thirty nine, but his xba's two eighty one,
and he's had pretty bad luck with batted balls. So
I think I'm feeling confident that if he can keep
this up, he'll be he'll be looking better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe that.
Speaker 3: I mean, he drew a four pitch walk yesterday too,
which was you know, pretty strange as well. So but yeah,
I mean you can tell that he's hit some balls
hard at people, and I know fans don't like hearing that.
I mean, either get a hit or you don't, or
you drive the ball over the fence or you don't.
Speaker 2: But it's not like Jaanters hitting one ninety.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's probably hitting like two forty is I'm
guessing his ops is around seven hundred. I'm not sure.
So it's not like he's he's been terrible. It's certainly
below I think what everybody expected of him, but certainly
swinging the bat well lately.
Speaker 1: Brian mctagger continuing with us here on a Sports Talk
seven ninety, Jeremy Pane a couple of hits again, hitting
three twenty two and just keeps on doing it. Should
be an All star at the shortstop position. What do
you think is the biggest reason for his breakout, whether
it be changing approach or maturity or I mean just
a little bit of luck, or what do you think
is happening with Jeremy Penia that's leading to this?
Speaker 3: Well, I think you hit on the two biggest things.
I mean maturity. This is his fourth year now, and
you know he came up and had a pretty good
rookie year and then we all know what he did
in the playoffs and he sort of had similar years
the next two years. You know a couple of years
ago that the power went away in the second half.
So he came to camp last year in twenty four
and changed his stance. Seemed to work pretty well for him,
but I think he made have you know, he kind
of worked on that a little bit more and just
try to, uh just try to refine his stance and
his approach to where you could see the ball better,
and that's worked out for him. I think once he
starts getting confidence, then he realizes that, hey, this is
the player that I know.
Speaker 2: I can be.
Speaker 3: But you know, props to him because you know, he's
really worked hard the last couple of years to try
to get to that next level, and it looks like
he's gonna be there. I mean, certainly seems like him
Bobby Witt or Jacob Wilson of the A's or probably
your three best shortstops in the American League at this point.
So I don't know if they'll take three short stops on.
I mean, I'm guessing they probably will, But certainly Paya
deserves a shot to be in the All Star Game,
and who knows, maybe he starts, maybe he gets enough
fan votes to start and know the.
Speaker 2: Royals vote pretty well.
Speaker 3: Sure, it'll be interesting to see what kind of voting
support A's players get not that they have that many
All Star caliber players, but just I mean, is are
people in Sacramento are gonna rush and and and punch
punch the ballance online?
Speaker 2: Who knows? But yeah, Penya certainly deserves to be in
the All Star Game.
Speaker 1: I'd say one of the reasons the Astros have been
so successful is they've had these guys that kind of
just live and breathe and love baseball. Born ball players,
I would say, you know, like Carlos Kray, Alex Bregman,
Josel Tuve. Would you put Jeremy Penny in that category?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, He's definitely a ballplayer. I mean, he grew
up around in ballparks. His dad played in the big
leagues for seven or eight years. So this is, you know,
what he wanted to do all along, this is what
he was born to do. And from day one he's
carried himself like a like a big league player, and
and now he's performing like an elite big league player.
So yeah, he's he's definitely cut from that same cloth.
You know, Bregman was a was a Jim rat, so
to speak, as far as baseball players go. You know
the story of him turning on the lights at LSU
in the middle of the night so they could go
up and field some ground balls. And you know, Kara
is a guy who was drafted at seventeen years old
and you know, realized his dream at an early age.
So there there aren't many of those guys. But you know,
Penya certainly is you know, took advantage of of uh.
You know, the opportunity has been given to him. He's
he's a very talented player. Defensively too, He's been terrific
this year.
Speaker 1: Continuing with Brian McTaggart astros dot com here on Sports
Talk seven ninety A couple of hits for jose l
Tuove yesterday? Where are you at on him?
Speaker 2: In general?
Speaker 1: To me, it's kind of harder to get a beat
on him rather than others, Like Walker's been bad, Painia
has been good. It's been a little bit of up
and down with L two A. And you factor in
the left field stuff, the fact that he is getting older.
What are what are do you what are your expectations
I should say for him going forward?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he's hit the ball a lot better
here the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: I know that he was trying to hit the ball
in the air.
Speaker 1: Moar.
Speaker 2: You know, he had.
Speaker 3: He had a pretty prolonged slump there for a couple
of weeks, I think in May and and he came
out of it. And one of the things he said
was that he just he was needing to hit the
ball in the air. Where he was he was hitting
the ball on the ground too much. And once you
started driving the ball a little bit more, you know,
the home run started to come back again. But I'm
just never gonna count him out with age. I mean,
he still gets down the line when he when he
can an elite you know, thirty feet per second. You know,
he can still put the bat on the ball and
hit it, you know, as far as almost anybody. Defensively,
he has played more second lately, but I think some
of that in the last week or so has been
because they have Jacob Melton, and I think Spotta wants
to put him in the outfield to get a longer
look at him. Also gives him that other left handed
bat in the lineup. But you know, he's still going
to play left field. So it's been an interesting season
for Jose, But overall, his numbers are probably a little
below where I would expect they would be, But it
wouldn't surprise me if at the end of the year
he's put up a season, you know, similar than that
he had last year. So at some point there's going
to be a big decline coming coming. And you know,
but I just really haven't seen it seen it yet.
I mean I still think, I still think, you know,
you feel good about him.
Speaker 2: When he's hitting near the top of that lineup.
Speaker 1: Trade deadline seven weeks from today. Of course, we talked
about the cushion right now in the American League West
and how bad the division is. That Does that affect
Dana Brown's thinking at all? Or do you think He's
more focused on trying to win a pennant? And I mean,
do you do you still think they will be in
the market for a bat and an arm come deadline time?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think where they're at in the
standings is going to have much effect. I mean, they
want to get better and they have, you know, a
couple of glaring ere a couple a couple of glaring
areas where they can get better started pitching. Of course,
I mean there's a lot of teams that need starting
pitching so that you know, that's that's not a shock there,
and it's not like they're going to go out and
I think get you know, Justin Berlander in twenty eighteen
or anybody like that. I mean, they need a guy
that they can plug in the rotation, just give them
a little bit more depth, and they could use a
left handed bat. I mean, you know, maybe Melton ends
up being that guy and they you know, they feel
comfortable riding with him, but maybe another guy they can
put they can play. You know, some second base fell
two days in the left field because you know, I'm
not sure you know, Brendan Rodgers is gonna be long
term plans on this team. But yeah, I think if
you have a four game lead, you want a ten
game lead. You have a ten game lead, you want
a fifteen game lead. And then you know, you think,
you know, you get Alvarez back, and you get arrog
Getty back, and who knows, maybe you see you back
at the end of the year and now you're in
really good shape. But you know, everyone's gonna want starting pitching.
It's gonna be interesting to see, you know, who makes
the first trade, because then we'll start to see these
things start flying off the board.
Speaker 1: I have a dumb question. Uh, Now, the Astros need
a left handed bat, and they could use a second basement.
Are there any left handed second basement in baseball?
Speaker 2: Right now? Leftenant hitting second basement?
Speaker 3: Pretty rare, right, yeah, Brandon Lowe maybe with race, I mean.
Speaker 2: Might not be a bat. Yeah, go ahead, but yeah,
it is.
Speaker 3: It is pretty rare. I mean, it doesn't have to
be a second basement. It could be somebody that can
play multiple positions in VH. Heer there, but uh so, uh,
you know, you're not gonna put somebody at first, You're
not gonna put somebody at third, You're not gonna put
somebody at shortstop or catch or there's no room. So
you kind of limited in your roster construction where you
could bring in a left handed bat. But if you
could have somebody vers holed up to maybe you know,
play some outfield in DH, you know that's also something
they look at all.
Speaker 2: Right, there you go.
Speaker 1: Brian mctaggar, great stuff with him. Is always appreciate the time.
What you got going on the old Astros dot com?
Speaker 3: Brian, Yeah, well I had a there's a story on
the website tonight sort of breaking down three of the
uh he reasons the Astros won yesterday. One of them,
i'll today getting his twenty third hundred hit dived into
Ryan Gusto in his performance a little bit. But uh
I have a really a really nice Father's Day story
coming up on a on an Astro who's a first
time father and he's gonna he's got the cleats and
the belt to celebrate it on Sunday, so if he's
just got to get in the lineup, but look for
that this weekend as well.
Speaker 1: All right, and I like you giving the nod to
Brian A. Bray you as a guy we're not talking about,
but is all star worthy. So appreciate the good work
as always. Brian McTaggart of astros dot com. We'll talk
to you down the road.
Speaker 2: All right, Thanks bro. All Right, there you go.
Speaker 1: Brian McTaggart astros dot com, MLB dot com does great
work covering your Houston Astros