Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 38 | Nats Go up 2-0 & Yanks blank the Stros

Episode Date: October 13, 2019

The Cardinals got no-hit for 6 Innings again allowing the Nats to go up 2-0. Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees punch the Astros In the face and win game 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to another episode of Talking Baseball. The Cardinals forgot to get hits again. They lose game two. The Yankees stunned the Astros in game one. What's going on? Everybody, welcome to Talking Baseball. My name is John Boy. I got my co-host Jake with me.

A little later in the day-to-day, had a crazy airport run. So I apologize if you are waiting. The people that aren't waiting are the people that are listening live. As I talk, they don't have to wait. wait until we're done recording and then I edit it because they are Patreon supporters. They're in the chat. They're watching live. They get it right away.

And our most recent patron supporters are Kevin Barry. Kevin Barry like that. Kevin B, baby. Leonard. Jake, you got an MLB player with the first name Leonard? Jim, I've got some huge news for you. Okay, excited. There's been a couple of Leonard's first.

name and last name in MLB history. There's a gentleman. Where can I send you this link? Because you're going to throw up on yourself. I'm already on it. I'm on it. On what? Leonard?

Leonard. Read those career stats. There's a player that's name is just Leonard. No last name. He's played in 1892. He played one game, one played appearance, one walk, one stolen base, and that's his stats. Leonard.

Congrats to Leonard. Why put this guy in the system if your baseball reference? Can you confirm that this actually happened in 1892? When they were doing, I guess we'll put this fucker in here, just Leonard. One inning of right field. And yeah, they use the 1,691st MLB player in history. history, Leonard. Leonard.

Well, thank you for being a proud Patreon supporter. And coming up third is Vin Scully. How about that? Yeah. Huge. Thank you, Vin. We appreciate that. Appreciate that.

All right. Yesterday, Jake, we had two games. We got two games to recap today. We had the National League CS, the American League CS, game two, game one. We had the nationals with Scherzer on the bump. Scherzer versus Waino. Scherzer silences the cards, bats, who maybe forget they're allowed to make noise. It just seems like bad times over there in St. Louis.

Do you have a burn of this game? Do we want to get into that right away? How are you doing? Do we need some small talk? I do have a burn of this game. I don't know if there's shots fired at the St. Louis crowd. They haven't had anything to cheer for it. They, over the course of 16 innings, they had two hits.

Yeah, it's rough. I mean, how mean is your burn? Not too bad. Okay. Let's get into the burns. Well, I don't know. There's not like nice things to say to Cardinals fans right now. You're the mean guy.

I'm a nice, pretty guy. I don't know. You're pretty mean to Granky. No, he's bad. All right. Let's burn this Nats game. Nats Cardinals game, I apologize. Burn, Jackie Burn.

NLCS game two. Adam and the Cardinals try to wane right the ship after getting one hit in game one. That would be a tough ask as three-time Sy Young Award winner. Max Scherzer was on the bump for the Nats. Top three, Taylor, gang. Michael A. Taylor rolls up on Waino with a chef.

A solo shot in the third. And the third, one-nothing Walgreens. Scherzer turned the Cardinal fans into St. Lunatics. I ain't talking Murphy Lee. One hit through seven innings on a ball Soto could have caught. Two hits through 16 innings. Yikes. Top of the eighth.

It still won nothing. STL could steal this game, change the whole series, but Adam eats him up. Two RBI double. Tough ending to a heroic effort by Wainwright. cards would score in the eighth on a ball. Taylor gang looked like he rolled up before he tried to catch it. But that was it.

Scherzer to do little to Corbyn to Daddy Hudson. Nats win three to one. Take the two-oh series lead back to the nation's capital. Do you think there's any truth to the rumors that are being spread like wildfire right now that the nationals outfielders hate no hitters they hate just standing out there bored

and they're just like you know what we're gonna let some drop like this fucking boring out here and Soto lets that ball drop Michael Taylor lets the ball go over his head just so bored they can't chatter in the outfield they're lonely

they're bored do you think there's any credence to that wild rumor I'm seeing all over the place it's a classic case of fat and happy You don't want the pitchers getting comfortable now. I mean, this isn't the job. Like, yeah, good game, but we still got a few more to go. So, yeah, you got to keep the pitchers on their toes. If Scher were to throw a no hitter, it'd only be down from there.

And then his confidence would be shocked. So, yeah, it's a lot of game planning by the Nationals. And it's a lot of bad times for the Cardinals. Cuts to someone on YouTube, some young kid on YouTube commenting that not understanding we're joking. You think a pro outfielder would actually let a ball drop? There's a lot of people that don't understand jokes and shit, so they get mad on YouTube.

No, but for real, they were sabotaging their pitcher. Bordoms, everyone's biggest fear. And loneliness, it's a killer. For real. Yeah, boredom doesn't worry me too much. But yeah, A, Max Scherzer, seven innings pitched, one hit. two walks, 11 K's, 101 pitches. He turned it on even, like, more late.

He was incredible. Wainwright, the old warrior still battling. He had 11 punchies. Shut up, AJ Prasinski. 7.1 innings, Eaton gets him. The crowd still gave him a huge applause. He deserved. He was incredible.

He basically went toe to toe with Churzer. and yeah, if you're the Cardinals, what's really killing you, Michael A. Taylor was hit an eighth again. The eighth hole hitters have essentially been would have done the Cardinals in when you look outside of their lineup doing nothing at all. But that's brutal. Yeah. I mean, if you're the Cardinals, it's, I mean, I don't know,

are there historical numbers behind this? Is this like, could this be the worst offensive performance in the first two games of ALCS history? Because it, it wouldn't shock me if it was. They, they let the other team no hit them for the first six innings, both games. Yeah, I mean, they, it's got to be historically bad. Yes, it's, it's involved in being historically bad. Four hits through two games. They get the one run in this game.

I'm sure back in the dead ball era, there was a couple. NLCS shutouts or something like that. No NLCS back then. And there was the two of the Nationals hits in this game. Soto couldn't see it too well and he played it safe and let it hop to give up the no hitter. And then Michael A. Taylor, line drive to center, he comes in on it. He loses it.

He does the oh shit jump at the end and it gets past him. I mean, there's a world where we're talking about St. Louis. at having three hits through two games. It's just not acceptable. The Soto play, I think if there's not a no-hitter, everyone's saying good play in a one-nothing game. Oh, yeah. Like, smart.

Don't let that ball get by you and give them a triple in a one-nothing game. But because the no-hitter's online, you'd like to see him dive out for it because of history. But even then, I think because it's the playoffs and it's a one-nothing game, I still think you can say that's not that bad of a, of a saint play. I disagree fully and wholeheartedly and not sarcastically. Because what if Scherzer, we talked about the end of a no-hitter effect

when we talked about Anabal Sanchez's game. This was a one-run game. If Juan Soto doesn't catch that ball, the St. Louis Stadium came to life for the first time. Scher gives up a two-run Yabo. People are going to look at that and be like, holy shit. I think I'd rather, I'd rather he dives, and by the way, he could have made the catch. He might not have even had to dive.

He, I think the sun in the stadium was messing with them a little bit. He did play it safe, which, oh, he's 20, okay. But yeah, no, I hated it, and I still hated it at the time. I would have rather you dive to try to save the no-hitter. And actually, and I think a big factor in this is I think he just makes the play, then if he did dive and it rolled for a triple, I think that's better. Yeah.

I think that's fine. I think it's fine to have both different thoughts. I think it rolls for a triple in a one-run game now, now an outscores the tying run. Better to keep that guy first. But we'll agree to disagree on that one. The Taylor play is Carlos Martinez, who's probably the most fun guy in baseball.

he's up there. I enjoy him a lot. He just throws... I do you have the wrong Martinez. Huh? The Cardinals Closer? Oh, no, no. Jose Martinez.

Yes. Ron Martinez, my bad. Same team, same last name. Both energetic guys. Kill me. Jose Martinez is fun. He's a fun dude. Like, he's always being silly.

He reminds me of the tall criminal and home alone. Marv. Oh, okay. A little Latin Marv. I like that. Latin Marf. Yeah. Electric shock. Anyway, he broke up the no-hitter in game one and he gets another kit here. But again, he just throws his bat at it.

He's just kind of like doing what he needs to do. I mean, it should have been caught, but Taylor completely read it wrong. Anyway, I felt bad for Doolittle is the point I was trying to make. Doolittle is coming after Scherzer who no-hit him basically. one hit him or whatever, you know, and in the close game and it's like, oh shit, I can't like let the floodgates open now.

And then the run scores because of that play. And you can see Doolittle's reaction. He's just like, oh, what the fuck? Everyone blames the bullpen already. That's a hit in the book. It's like my line looks bad.

I don't know if he's the personally thing about his line, but his line looks bad now. And then he gets the next out. And did you see the shot of him like saying like, okay, calm down. Yeah. We're good. We're good.

It's okay. I really like the inner monologue that was probably going on and do Lettel's head throughout that whole thing because it's fair. It's like, fuck. Everyone blames the bullpen already, Taylor. Like, come on. Should be out of this. And Jim, can I read to you?

I think something you'll be interested in and we're finding solutions for St. Louis. Jose Martinez his last four game locks. So yesterday, one at bat, one hit. Day before that, one at bat, one hit. Atlanta, October 6th, one at bat, one hit. Atlanta, October 4th, one at bat, one hit. His last four games played, he's had one at bat and gotten a hit. You think they should start him, game three?

And Jose Martinez's last four at batts, he has as many as the whole Cardinals team does in the first two games. Oh, ho, ho, ho. Yeah. Someone put that on a quote so we can retweet it. Someone put that on a shirt that has a quote on it that has another shirt on the shirt with those words. Shirt on a shirt. Scrap it.

Scrap it. Just do the tweet. Just do the tweet. Yeah. Go back to the original. In Carlos Martinez's last four at bats, he has double, he has the same amount of hits as the Cardinals doing in their last two games. Yes. and technically he's a part of that.

So he has two of the four hits. So he has more than the rest of his teammates. He has double the amount of his teammates in his four. Yeah, maybe start him. Could be something. Have to. And I mean, I think what other people would be saying is, well, you know, Michael A. Taylor should have caught that ball and it shouldn't have been a hit.

Yeah. But you need something. You need anything. And maybe it's luck. Maybe he's doing something right. It was a hard hit ball. But yeah, get a get J-Mart in there. The hits are sad, man.

Goldie's got a hit and it's that misplay. Yeah. DeYoung has a hit. I don't forget what it was. I think it's a real hit. The rest is bad. Who's been, so Ozuna is 0 for 8

with no walk. Carpenter 0 for 6, no walk. Damn. The second half of their lineup is only getting three at bats because they're basically getting no hit. Azuna, Carpenter, and Edmund have a zero on-base percentage in the first two games. Yeah.

Everyone else at least got on base once. Fowler walked. Goldie has that hit. Yadi. the fuck does he have a non-based percentage? He doesn't have a hit or a walk. What could that be? Hit by pitch?

Yeah, maybe hit by pitch or... Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, he did get hit. On a ball, right? Hit him. Yeah. I mean, Yadi is batting sixth, I believe.

One, two, three, four. Fifth. Yadi's been batting fifth, and he has five at bats this series. Holy shit. All right. Sorry Cardinals fans. This is not what you want to hear. Yeah. What are Cardinals feel? What are Cardinals fans telling themselves? They're telling themselves that Jack Flaherty is on the mound for game three

and that Talkin' Jake said that the road game would win the first three games of this series. So they're feeling confident about that. I mean, it's Strasbourg coming up. And, you know, we'll talk about some of the tonight. of numbers, him and him and Strasbourg are in a fun little race right now for for postseason dominance. You're saying we got Flaherty and the hitting can't get worse question mark, unless it does with Strasbourg. I mean, Strasbourg's prime for a perfect game. And maybe that's what you're looking for. If Strasbourg has those expectations.

I have a fun game for you. Got to get a hit in the first inning of the next game. That's my game for you. What's the breaking point where they quit on the series, basically? If Strasbourg, no, hits them through two through three through four, when do you think fans and even like seeps into Cardinals players are like, okay, I guess this isn't happening for us. Like I think it's four. I think if Strasbourg goes through four inings and they don't have a hit,

it's like full panic. Like full, I mean, they're already probably panicking, but full like hope is lost. Yeah, they, it's tough. I was going to say the second time through the lineup, which is what you kind of said, they need runs on the board. You need a run on the board before the fifth inning.

You need to think you have another chance to score a run. And, man, I don't even know. I think I've been on. before the start, when the Nats won the wild card game and they did it in magical fashion, it's like, okay, Soto Rendon are locked in, the starting pitching his studs, I was half rooting, half believed in the fall of the Dodger dynasty. I mean, it sounds lazy to say that it's done. I think Flaherty's going to shove.

I think he's a special dude, but I mean they need anything from the offense. And you'd like to think a Goldie, Ozuna or someone can give you a lot of, a big at bat or one big swing. Do you think they come out attacking early? I think you have to. I think you have to just hunt fastballs early in the account your first time through the order for that one big swing. That one big swing can change the whole momentum.

Yeah. And if you take you allowed Strasbourg to dice you up. You need a base runner too. I mean, would you rather, if you're a Cardinals fan, you don't want to see them swinging at three curveballs in the dirt if they could take a walk. Like they just need, they need traffic. They, they need to see a ball go over the fence. How about a home run for St. Louis?

That's what I'm saying. The best way to do that is to attack Strasbourg early in the count. Take that walk to run home. I'd come out swinging. I'd come out swinging. Because that homer's, they need a homer. Like a little base hit will feel okay, but it's not going to put any, it's not going to do anything for you.

They're in a tough spot. Good for the Nats. Their pitching is pretty good. I mean, when Anabal Sanchez sets the stage for Scherzer, that's a good sign. Yeah, that's, I mean, we could look back and say that was the end of the series because it was Scherzer, Strausberg, Corbyn, on deck. Yeah, that was game one. Let's go to game one of the ALCS.

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so they're offering a free trial and 25% off your first order by going to bit.ly. forward slash save on Thrive. That's Bitley, forward slash save on Thrive. All right, Jakey. Let's burn game one. Now talking baseball listeners already know that we have another podcast called Talking Yanks. That's where the burns originated from.

You do every game during the regular season. It's fantastic. So you're not going to write two different burns. So these Yankee burns may have a little more Yankee bias to them because they're written for a Yankee crowd, correct? Luckily, this game had some Yankee bias too. I'm just letting them know. But yeah, it's really good burn. I'm excited to hear it again.

All right, here we go. On you mark. Get set. Burn. Game one of the 2019 ALCS, a rematch of 2017, the New York Yankees and Masa Hero Tanaka versus the Houston Astros and Zach Morris Grinky as he hopes he doesn't need to be saved by the bell

from the Yankees' offense. Some good defense and some bad luck has a scoreless Till top four, I don't know about you, I'm feeling 22. Glaver Torres RBI double makes it 1-0 after 4. Top 6, shake that healthy butt. Gleby got back. Into the Crawford seats, 2-0 fighting Glabors. Junkalo, let the rhythm take you over, Junkerlo.

Solo shot to deep right. 3-0 in the 7th. Bases Hucked, the kid. The Venezuelan Victor, Grasias de Caracas, two RBI single for Glaby, baby, five nothing. By the way, Tanaka was the Masa hero this city needed. Like a criminal with a good lawyer, Tank faced the minimum. Astros through six. Yanks get religious with Gio to God going yard late, and sure, Glaver knocks in his fifth ribby of the day.

Tank to Otto to Britain to Johnny Ells, who hands one out to Houston. Yanks win 7-0-0 final. That criminal line faces the minimum. It's great. It's there. Tehran. Tanaka did not no hit the Stroes like Anabal or Scher through the six innings, but he did face the minimum through six.

A lot of double plays helped him out, and the Astros never sent four batters to the box in one inning last. night versus Tanaka. Pretty impressive. He, he cardinals them. He gave them the one-hit treatment. One hitter. Did the Stroes send four in any other any?

Or were they one, two, three, the whole? Adivino gave up the two hits but had the double play ball. Was that technically five? But yeah, Britain had one walk, tank had one walk. That's it. yeah i think the yankees definitely kind of punch the astros in the mouth here uh they had home field advantage the scuttle butt across the nation is that the yankees have no pitching and their starters suck and they're never able to hang with the astros and tank comes out here and does postseason

tank stuff and deals uh yeah in the in the seventh inning jake they sent for no no in the seventh inning, they sent three to the plate. No, that's got to be, out of Vino gave up two hits in the seventh. Yeah. But fly out, single, single, double play. Wait, hold on. Oh, they just word this weird on MLB game long. Yeah, four.

So in the seventh inning, they sent four. So they never sent five batters to the play in an inning, which for the Houston offense. that's pretty wild. Yeah, pretty wild. This was a must win for the Yankees with Granky pitching game one and then Verlander Cole going two, three. It was not, and Schmoltz said this on the broadcast

and a lot of Yankees fans took offense, but it's dead on accurate. The Astros can kind of flick this off their back or whatever, like, whatever. You know, we have Verlander, Cole going two and three. We could afford to lose game one. The Yankees, they couldn't afford to lose game. one. This was a must win. But now it flips. Now game two is a must win for the Astros and the Yankees are

kind of playing with house money. We took one on the road. Let's give it our best shot. But this was a, the Yankees needed to win this game. And they did. And they looked really good doing it. Yeah, I'm going to disagree with you on must win a little bit. I mean, the, the 2017 series, all the home games won. So I just think the the, the stick would have turned into. like, oh, the home teams are back at it. You know, we'll see if we could get something at Verlender and we'll shake coal at the stadium. But no, this was the weak link in their armor right now is Grinky.

Who was solid? He said I didn't think he could have one of these lines. He finishes six innings pitch, three earn runs, technically a quality start. He gives up two homers. Yanks hit into some bad luck. So did Houston. There's a lot of the hardest hit balls in this game in the first three innings were caught in two of them, turn.

into double play balls. So, but that's, that's kind of baseball, Susan. But, uh, yeah, man, the, the Yankees, the Yankees had an edge, the top three in their lineup. I think we did this last night, but I think they got on eight out of 14 times. Yeah, DJ judge and labor. And that's just brutal. If, if you're a pitcher or reliever, um, I, I mean, you're just not going to get through

them clean. and if you've got traffic on the basis in the postseason, that's kind of what it's all about. The solo shots aren't really going to kill you. And, yeah, I mean, Yankees dominated. The Yankees had 13 hits. Houston had three. Seven runs.

Tanaka, his playoff numbers are special now. 36, or they're still special, I should say, 36 innings to the tune of a 132 ERA. In seven playoff starts, he's never given up more than two. earn runs in a playoff start. Pretty incredible. And yeah, now you're right. I mean, it almost feels like if you're the Yankees, you know, the Ray's talked about getting Verlandered in their first game. And I'm interested to see what Verlanders got today on full rest coming

off his worst playoff start ever. But if you're the Yankees, you say, hey, we got two shots at Verlander and Cole. If we split them somehow, and one of those games is, at the stadium, you know, that's kind of a fun mindset. Or if you could somehow get to Verlander today, if he's not sharp again, I mean, you're doing what the Nationals did. You just went two and oh, and now you're heading back home. And two of those home games would be started by Jose or Kiti and Grinky. Yeah. They got a win. They got a win tonight. The Astros do. And they have a really good chance to do so with Verlander on the mound. Jake and I are both always very excited to watch Verlander when he's not facing the Yankees and still kind of in awe of him when he's because when

Verlander's right, it's my favorite pitcher, I think. I think when Verlander is on, like when he no hit the Blue Jays, again, you watch those highlights. I think that's my favorite pitcher to watch. It feels like a clinic. It feels like you're at camp watching, learning how people pitch. Yeah, and we, man, they really neutralized. Springer goes 0 for four. His postseason is starting to get ugly. Bregman, he has a nice walk.

But then he gets doubled off first. A really nice play by Aaron Judge. Basically, threw it 89 miles per hour off his back foot. So that's pretty good And then, yeah, I mean, everyone's talking about Glaver. Glaver goes three for five, five RBIs. They slid him up to the three hole for this game. And he, it worked.

Plan worked. Plan worked. Yeah, I didn't realize Springer's having a rough postseason. He's got a 154 on base percentage in the six games and a 274 OPS. That's some tough stats for Springer there. Yeah, and he's a dude. I did this on one of the end of the regular season, Talking Yang's episode. If he didn't get nicked up this year, he was going to be easy in the 50s with his home run total. And he's the guy that won the World Series MVP for them. George Springer, I think Altuva, Karea, they get a lot of love.

And they deserve it, so does Bregman, obviously. But Springer is just as key of Akag. He's the lead-off dude in center field. He's having a tough postseason right now. Yeah. What's Al Tuvae? What did Al Tuva do yesterday? No hits? They got him. They were making him chase. If you're a Yankees fan, we did a very in-depth, more cocky recap because we were in our feelings a little bit more right after the game last night. I think Al-Tuvae's the head of the snake. I know he doesn't bet lead off, but I think if you can, if you can silence Al-Tuve, I think you silence the whole order. So I think it's important. important. He, uh, he got a hit. Dude, Al Tuvei has a hit in every game this postseason. He's a monster, man. He, uh, Jesus Christ. He's got a 348 batting average of one dot 201 OPS in the six games. Move them up to second. They, probably just going to probably just going to play Jose Al Tuvei highlight reel in my, my kid's crib growing up. It's another guy who I love watching Playb baseball.

Because me copying Albert Poolehol's stance didn't work in this body. Didn't work. Did not work. Did not. I can't emphasize it enough how much it didn't work. I'd slide Al Tuvae up to the two hole if I was them. They have Brantley ahead of them. Get El Tuvae at bats.

They had El Tuve first, the first like three games, then they switched it. I think they like the balance of breaking up some of the, of their Ritees a little bit because I think their Rides are the danger on the team. Jordan Alvarez, obviously young and really good, but he's going to have to prove himself on the postseason stage. Brantley, really solid. He did have a hit yesterday. Yeah, no, I think as of right now, there'd be a bigger fear factor for the Yankees if you saw Jose Altuve leading off. But that's also, I mean, Springer's their lead off dude. That would almost be, I think that would be viewed as kind of a panic move in Houston.

Well, Al-Tuvae was batting second in the postseason. Like, it wouldn't be strange. Where'd they have Brantley? They had El-Tube second in games one, two, and three of the DS. Yeah, and Paxton on the bump today. Maybe they can use that as an excuse to slide El-Tu-A-up. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know why they slid him down.

They made the change going into game four. They slid Brantley up. I think it's Maybe they like Brantley versus Tanaka And then I think it was to give Brantley better pitches to hit Because Altuvae's hot as fuck But and they want to get Brantley going Who knows?

But I would, if I was Astros As a Yankees fan, I don't want to see how I'd like seeing Altuve third Unless at bats Just I'd rather see him third than second So they should probably make them second If I was doing the lineup If Springer Brantley get on first inning today, it might be a different feeling.

But Springer's O for the postseason, so. Yeah. No, I mean, Springer is definitely the talk. When they zoom into the lineup, that's who they're focused on, that he needs to do something or get out of the way because he's kind of holding them back right now. Tanaka was special. His pitch mix and everything was just beautiful. Houston was really struggling line him up.

68 pitches through six innings. He gets pulled. It was a little bit of a conversation. The Yankees want to go to their bullpen. The Yankees want to go to both bullpins. But yeah, they're up 5-0. They go to Atovino, which kind of works out. And there's some logic behind that.

I really like the fact that the next time Houston has to see Tanaka, you know, they're still going to be saying, I don't know what to do against this guy where the top of the order was coming up. If, you know, Tanaka goes back in, Springer Brantley get a couple hits, they're saying, okay, yeah, we got Tanaka now. We figured it out. Next time they see him, that'll be a big question mark. Adivino, with all these tough Houston Riteys, he can be an X factor in the series.

He comes in and he doesn't give up a run, two hits. There's kind of a misplay by the Yankees infield. He still gets the double play ball, and he looked pretty solid. The Yankees had three double plays turned in this game, which I mean, that's pretty huge, especially when one's an outfield assist. Yeah, I mean, they got out of trouble. And Judge is good, man.

That play was awesome. Oh, and guys, by the way, Gincarlo Stanton, who's on the Yankees, a lot of people forget this, he hit a home run. He's still really good. He is good. All right, this series is the only game coming up.

Let's take a quick break, and then we will talk about game two of the ALCS. Only one game to preview today. Game two, Yankees versus Astros. Like I said earlier, I think this is a must win for the Astros. You got home field advantage. And if you were to lose both games and then go down to play three in a row, Yankee Stadium, that's pretty shitty,

especially with Verlander on the mound. I think all odds are on the Astros' favor here. I think Verlander is really good. He scares me. He got Paxton pitching for the Yankees. Paxton made one start against the Astros this season. He was tipping his pitches and they lit him up. They were all over his stuff.

Hopefully he's not tipping his pitches again. And I mean, the game is, this game is Verlander. Verlander is this game because the Astros bullpen isn't good. Yankees nicked him up a little bit last night. I think the Yankees are licking their chops, hoping that whenever they see that bullpen, and it's all about how good is Verlander and how long can he stay in the game.

Would you agree that that's kind of what dictates this game, the biggest factor at least? A little bit. I mean, obviously, you know, the starting pitchers and especially when it's someone as special as Justin Verlander, especially special, said those words a lot. Jim, something that I stumbled into last night when we were talking about it, and I fully believe in.

And the example I used is if you watch an NFL football game and one of the defenses is super hyped up, you know, the great Baltimore Ravens defenses, and they play another team who's got a solid defense, but that whole week they're only talking about how good the Ravens' defenses, that other team ends up winning, and you hear them saying, yeah, keep talking about that Ravens defense, because we're pretty good, too.

the Yankees starting pitching is pretty good. Tanaka is a playoff stud, like bona fide. There's not an argument against it. James Paxton is extremely talented. He's won what? His last 11 starts? 12? I don't know if he...

Did any blip at the end of the year? I don't think so. Yeah, he had a no decision. Okay. Well, either way. He's either won 12 of his last. class 13. And then Louis Severino is arguably the most talented guy, and he can absolutely shove and

hit triple digits for as long as he can go. So, yes, those Houston guys are incredible. Verlander is a Hall of Famer, one of the best pitchers of our generation. Garrett Cole just put together one of the best seasons you'll see this time period. Zach Grinky could also be a Hall of Famer. The Yankees guys are also good, and that's what it felt like Tanaka did yesterday, where it's like, oh yeah, keep talking about how good those guys are. I'll shove for six innings one hit.

You could see a little bit of that fuck you out of Paxton today. And for me, it's the first, the early runs. We did a Sharp Stats episode, and I think Houston's got some unbelievable numbers. They're like 27 and 0 if they have a two-run lead or something. At home, yeah. Yeah, and if they score first, they're essentially unbeatable is what the numbers say. if the Yankees get on the scoreboard first, and I don't think it's going to be a blow-up inning like the raise kind of did to Verlander.

If anything, it's, you know, Judge Clipsum or one of the guys pokes a solo shot. But if a couple innings go by and the Yankees have the lead, I mean, it's panic time in Houston. You know, if it's the fourth inning and George Springer has a second strike out of the game and the Yankees are up on the scoreboard, yeah, it's going to be panic o'clock. So it'll be interesting to see there's no reason to not believe in Verlander in Houston. They will be rowdy. It is a passionate fan base.

And Verlander with a couple dirty strikeouts to get that crowd going real quick. But yeah, I don't know. I think I'm expecting a good baseball game. Like I don't think I walk away from this. And I'm like, yeah, Verlander shoved, six-one stroves. Well, yeah, you talk about, you know, trying to jump on Verlander early. That is what the Astros have to do against Paxson. He struggles in the first inning.

And he's going to be on the road and a history of tipping his pitches. He did face them twice this year. The first time he was tipping his pitch got lit up. Second time he went five innings pitched, one earned run against a less than stellar Astros lineup. It rounded out with Tyler White, Mariznick, and Miles Straw at the back end. But it was actually White and Mariznick that got the run against Paxton. He has a lot of history since he was with Seattle. for so long. He has a lot of history against this team. A lot of them have more than 20 played appearances.

Braggman has more, has 29 played appearances with a 276 on base percentage. Let's see. Springer has a 278 on base percentage. It's not that great. The OPS is pretty good. And Altuve has a 429 on base percentage, Jake. And Carlos Correa in 24 played appearances has a 458 on base percentage with a 1.0. OPS. So there's some history there. Some of those numbers come from when he was tipping his pitches and they were smacking him around. Altuve got him for like two home runs in that game, I believe, just jumping first

pitch fastballs because he knew it was coming. Paxton also changed his pitch mix. He was more of like a two pitch guy when he was tipping. So it might be harder. But yeah, it's really if both pitchers, can get through the first inning clean. Then I think we settle in for kind of a fun pitcher stool. Yeah, well, the thing we have to asterisk on that that you've been all over is,

I mean, Paxton's only going to get to see each hitter twice. Yep. Houston needs Verlander to get through three times. Yep. So, yeah, I mean, that's an interesting dynamic. If James Paxton runs into trouble in the fourth inning, the Yanks will pull him. they will go to their bullpen. Yeah, they got.

If Verlander's in trouble in the fourth. If Verlander's in trouble in the fourth, there's no safety net. The Yankees have five plus innings, five plus, up to six innings, they can get out of their bullpen happily. It is not scary to go Chad for one, or Chad, Canley, Otto, Britain, Chapman,

and have one inning like split where two guys go 1.1, 1.2. that is not a worry. It's like, damn, we have to do this. It's kind of like, okay, let's do it. Cool. And my other notes, I think Chapman has to pitch in this as a Yankee fan. Chapman, he pitched game three versus the twins.

And they got, what, four off days? And then yesterday was off. So he's five off days in a row. We have an off day for the Yankees tomorrow. And Chapman, you don't want him to get rusty. I think no matter the score, up 10, down 10, one run game either way, Chapman has to get an inning in this game. So hopefully it's up 10 and Chapman comes in for the Yankees.

But expect to see him, I would guess. Got anything else? I mean, let me see Verlander's stats versus the Yankees. And then we'll get out of here. I got to go have some cake with my dad for his birthday. What's your favorite kind of cake? And why is it carrot cake? It's not carrot cake.

Care cake's a good cake. It just gets lost in the shuffle a little bit. To say care cake's the best cake, that's pretty assonine. It's a good cake. It's my favorite cake. No, no, it's not. That's my whole expectations thing. No, care cake's my favorite cake.

If you expected care cake to be the best cake, then you wouldn't think it's the best cake. If you expect care cake to be, uh, it might be okay. I don't know. Let's see what they got. You're like, whoa, this shit's pretty good. When we went to Yankee Stadium and they do the dessert cart and there's everything, kind of cake you can imagine, I'm grabbing carrot cake. Well, yeah, you've got to end healthy.

You've already eaten a ton of shit. You've had a lot of drinks. You have to have a little vegetable to wash it down. I don't know. I really do enjoy an ice cream cake, but I don't even think that counts as a cake. I think that's just ice cream. So I don't know. Does cheesecake count as cheesecake a pie?

We're getting lost. What are Verlander stats? It's got a crust on it. It's a pie. D.D. has really good stats against Verlander. He has a 400 on base for. percentage seven hits and 22 at bats, a double a home run. Brett Gardner has better stats than you'd think.

A 330 on base percentage in 57 plate appearances. Brett Gardner just needs to grind out at bats. Edwin and Coronacion in 43 plate appearances gets carved up by Verlander. Nothing good there. DJ has five hits and 15 at bats. That's a 333. Aaron Hicks has terrible stats. Aaron Judge has terrible stats.

Gary Sanchez has terrible. has terrible stats and Glaber Torres has terrible stats. So Burlander has some fun to be had. And Verlander guy is pretty good. He's pretty good. All right. Everyone enjoy the one game. Enjoy your Sundays.

Enjoy the football if you like watching football. But this is a baseball show. We will see you tomorrow, I guess. And the next day and the next day. Can I got to get stuck anymore?