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Speaker 1: Spend a few minutes with Joe a spot of the

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manager of your Houston astro is getting ready for Neils

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will say, a very important series really, frankly, all them

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are important between now and the end of the year. Skip,

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it's Matt and Ross. Good afternoon to you. Let me

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ask you so since Mcbrian mctecker put out us that

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since that July fourth sweep, your squad's twenty nine and

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thirty one, and look, it's kind of felt that way,

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but you've been able to maintain first place and that's

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the most important thing. What have you noticed in those

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last sixty games? Is it the injury? Buggets hit? Has

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there been too many lapses in offense? Kind of run

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us through why this team has been kind of stuck

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in neutral for the last couple of months.

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Speaker 2: You know what, thank for having me guys. By the way,

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sure you know for me is it's a combination of

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all of those things.

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Speaker 3: Obviously, we've been injured and we've been banged up, and

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we have been able to sustain you know, good play

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doing those stretches. You know, I think that there is

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a moment where we have seen signs of okay, here

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we go. We can run, you know, four or five

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wins in a row, and then there's big some inconsistency

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with with with our approach and is being able you know,

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we haven't been able to put a tonal gains in

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a row where we can see our offense really separating

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yourself from the rest of the league, you know. So

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I think we trying to handle and trying to make

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some adjustments, you know, right now, trying to get our

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guys to you know, be more consistent in the strike zone.

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You know, we're starting to get some good starting pitching

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and there's times where we can be better at you know,

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probably taking us deep in the game. So that inconsistency

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something that has has been part of our game for

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the last couple of weeks. But you know, we, like

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you mentioned, it's a.

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Speaker 2: Very important week.

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Speaker 3: We have the talent and the desire to to do it,

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and it's just a matter of just put us put

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it in result together.

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Speaker 1: I'm curious, Joe, when you are on an off day

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on a road trip and you were in Toronto yesterday

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and you see a player, do you give that player

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an opportunity to just get away from the sport or

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do you sometimes take the opportunity if you were to

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find XYZ player, whether he is the team leader or

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he is in a slump or not performing after your expectations,

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do you pull him aside or do you try to

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stay away from baseball on the off day.

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Speaker 3: No, I try to stay away from the game on

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the off days. I think it's better to do that.

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Maybe on the way on the way from Texas, here

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is an opportunity for me to maybe touch base with

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some of the players on the plane while they're trying

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to relax. You know, they're relaxing and they're playing cards

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or they're watching a movie. And I asked him if

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I could go sit next to them and we could

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have a conversation something that they can kind of reflect

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during their off day and they could come back game

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day just ready to go put you know, pulling guys

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to the side on an off day. I don't. I

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don't think it's beneficial for them. I want him just

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to relax, disconnect to their parents, you know, talk to

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their family, and and just feel like, get the man

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mine away from the game.

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Speaker 1: You get Jake Myers back a thought or two about

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his performance and not that he's the doctor. You have

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to rely on your medical staff and your trainers, but

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you're also going to be spending some time talking to

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him about how much he can play and when you

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want him out there at one hundred percent, because look,

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as much as Jake's had a good season, Jake not

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being one hundred percent and playing at seventy he probably

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doesn't do you or the team any good at this point.

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Speaker 3: All right, and especially especially you know the turf in

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Texas and the turf you're in Toronto.

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Speaker 2: So we we are.

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Speaker 3: We keep an eye on him, my conversations with him

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and also with the medical department just to make sure

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that we don't we we build him up to one

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hundred percent. But he is feeling good. He's indebted tonight

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and you know, excited to have him. Really, you know,

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we really needed him in centerfield.

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Speaker 4: As Sure's manager Joe spotted with us here on a

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Sports Talk seven ninety. Since Jrdan's come back, he's played

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a good amount of left field, obviously, with wanting to

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put Altuve in the designated hair spot as well. What

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is that like for you going forward? Is it more

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of a fluid situation and and plotting that out and

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planning it out and trying to figure that out on

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game game babies, game two game basis.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, just the fluid situations.

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Speaker 3: I want to keep both of them, uh, you know,

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rested and healthy. You know, Josey playing some second base

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also allows me to have your downing as a d H.

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Speaker 2: And you're trying to keep them both.

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Speaker 3: Obviously in the lineup and and you know healthy for

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the remaining of the season. Also taking in consideration, you know,

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who we're playing, who's pitching for us, the conditions I

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here turf, you know how, the condition of the ballpark

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being a little bit big on left field. So I'm

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trying to make sure that I put good defense out there,

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keep this guy's healthy, and try to keep our good

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offense on the field.

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Speaker 4: Does it make it easier to do that with somebody

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who putting 'ord on and left I'm talking about with

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somebody like Jake Myers who can cover so much ground

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and center.

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think he helps. He's helping his immense

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since he can cover some ground. He's a good communicator,

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and the guy in left field knows that he's got

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someone that cover his wings.

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Speaker 2: So it does really.

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Speaker 3: Help when you have Jake in Tenerfield.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Skip, You've got a balance left of your schedule

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of teams that are I mean, seriously in the thick

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of things, Seattle in Texas trying to chase after your championship,

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You've got Atlanta, the Angels, and the A's kind of

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just running their course out. Is it harder to get

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guys ready for those types of series where they have

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as much on the table as you do, or is

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it harder to get guys ready and mentally prepared for

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teams that are just playing out the streak?

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Speaker 5: Guys, Listen, anything can happen at any given night, don't

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We don't look at Texas any different than we look

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at the A's and the Angels and the Brakes.

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Speaker 3: Right now, every team means it has a purpose. They're

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playing for something, and is it, you know, playing for

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next season, you know, winning some spots on the roster

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like some of these younger teams. It don't really matter.

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We're trying to win series. We're trying to win game,

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one pitch at a time, one game at a time.

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But anything can happen on any given night on a

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baseball field.

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Speaker 1: How are you at the bullpen? Look a day off

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is always a best friend of the bullpen. As things

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shape up, you got guys in and out, obviously, are

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you watching pitch cowns a little bit more? Are you

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looking to extend guys a little bit more? Knowing that

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these games, regardless of they paling we're just talking about,

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obviously mean a lot more as you're trying to hold

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onto this two game lead.

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Speaker 2: You know, whether they all say yesterday, it helped.

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Speaker 3: We also got some lend from Hunter and Valvedsk which

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also helped. You know, going into the series, we were

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in a pretty good, pretty good shape. You know, it's

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nice when we get our starters to give us take

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us into the sixth inning that that's usually a huge help.

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But we're just taking one game at a time, leaning

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on our offense to you know, give us some you know,

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score some runs and give us an early lead and

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getting our starters to settle in and give us some

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quality innings and then hand the ball off to our bullpen.

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That strategy is still the same thing. That's who we

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are when we plan our best and hopefully we could

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get going. This week very important week for for a

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ball club.

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Speaker 1: And it all starts tonight with Luis Garcia. What has

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he told you about himself since coming back and now

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healthy and ready to be back in your rotation. Is

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he a different pitcher in terms of mindset, pitch selection, velocity.

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What do you or maybe it's just you know, he's

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been a long way a long time and he's just

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kind of getting back acclimated pitching at the major league

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level again.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think we not. You know, he's not

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trying to reinvent himself. He knows which are his strength

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and he's weaknesses. He knows the pitches that he likes

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to go to ahead of the count. He's always been

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really good executing a game plan and you know, following

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a game plan and things are not working adjusting to

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that game plan, He's always been really.

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Speaker 2: Good at that. Uh, you know, obviously this.

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Speaker 3: Is a really good Toronto lineup. He is going to

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have to execute and stay away from the middle of

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the middle of the plate to have success. And but

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one thing about him is that he is healthy. He

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feels good. The feedback that we get him from him

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is super positive. And we're gonna, you know, we're gonna

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give him a good game plan and and and and

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help him execute that one tonight.

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Speaker 1: Great stuff as always, kid, Thank you very much for

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the time, best of luck this week and we will

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talk to you back in town next Tuesday.

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Speaker 2: All right, fellows, thank you, I thank you.

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Speaker 1: Joe spotted with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety