Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 420 | Houston Ties the World Series 1-1

Episode Date: October 28, 2021

Go to https://dugoutmugs.com and use promo code 'JOMBOY' for 35% OFF all their best products Get your Blitzball Starter Set at https://blitzball.com & check out some awesome Blitzball content on their youtube channel: https://youtube.com/c/blitzball  Timestamps: 4:00 - Astros Need an Exciting Game 7:00 - Burn 13:00 - d'Arnaud HR 14:30 - Yuli Gurriel 21:30 - Transfer Play Review 26:00 - Jose Altuve 30:45 - Jose Siri 33:45 - Game 3 Preview 37:00 - Astros Outfield Presented by DraftKings 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.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. The World Series is tied up at one game apiece as they split the two games on the road. Astros winning last night by a lot. Let's talk about it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. My name is Jimmy. I got Trevor coming to you from California. Jake sitting next to me on my left in BPD in the corner, producing the show.

World Series. have tied up at one apiece, which leads us closer to the Braves winning in six. Do you feel good about that? You needed both teams to win one. Yes. One one tie is good for me in that regard. Braves needed to win one to be part of this series down in Houston. They did that.

And now what did? I have to go three of the next four for the Braves. That seems daunting. It really does. Oh, man. But yeah, it could happen. And you know what I'm going to do with it, James? I'm going to NFT it.

Okay. For those people listening, I've been boring James to death with my talk about crypto. Me and Nestor Cortez are basically crypto kingpins. Something like that. Jake, how are you? Cryptologists, I think is the term. I'm doing well, fellas. Happy Thursday through the first two games of the World Series,

getting ready to buckle up for a weekend, the last weekend of baseball. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with the Astros wins, we're guaranteed at least Sunday. And yeah, excited to look into the future a little bit and see where your guys' heads are at after we get through this game because there's some fun stuff going on. I mean, you know, we're Ion Anderson and double bullpen day coming up. The Atlanta Braves are undefeated at home this posties. which I really like that.

That's fun juice. That's kind of what sports are all about. But, uh, yeah. And a spooky weekend. Halloween coming up, episode 420, Jim! It's episode 420? Yeah. Yes, dude.

Wow. It's a weed thing. It is a weed thing. It is a weed thing. Yes. Um, yes. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Foolish baseball in the church. Wow. Celebrity. Celebrity. Everyone asked him to release the out-of-the-part baseball video we did. We're waiting. I thought you said it was Bailey. Deleted it.

Recorded it the wrong way. James, I'm sorry. I interrupted. How are you doing? I'm so sorry. I'm good. I'm good. A little underslept, but that's fine.

I mean, Chris Rose was here, and Rosie's the best. So that was a lot of fun yesterday. We decided to have a fat day on stream. I wish we didn't, but I enjoyed it. I don't even know how much I enjoyed it in the time. So sluggish this morning for me. Sluggish. I'm also waiting for a moment.

Like, I hate to be a downer on the World Series, but, and it's, and Astros fans hear me say this and think it's a shot at them. but like one of the more boring postseason runs for a team. If you're an Astros fans, it's very exciting. It's very awesome. You win by a lot when you win. You've advanced every time. But like besides that tied at two game against the Red Sox,

and like every Astros game is over after three innings. And then it's just dull for a while. Which I think has benefited them because when they lose, they lose big. And when they win, they win big. And there's just like, had there been two games, two Astros games, where they've been late and close and tents?

Out of 12 now? It's wild. They're basically playing three inning games and then they just let it linger. Okay. So you think World Series just preheating the oven? I hope so. A little bit.

I hope so. I hope we, I hope Friday, I hope we get a weekend of just nonsense. Hmm. Silliness and like late, close, edge of seat. ones like what the hell is going to happen I need to know.

Yeah, it's funny. Ryan Presley, the S.ros closer, Trevor Ploos friend. Chris Rose accidentally called him the wrong name once, and he said Ryan was really cool about that. Made some good jokes about it afterwards.

Ryan Presley, I was shocked to just look up. He's pitched in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 games is postseason. He's pitching 7 games as postseason, which seemed high with all the Astros numbers. He has one safe. So to James's point, you know, normally in a postseason baseball, your closer comes in,

you're kind of grabbing, you're grabbing the seat on the sofa. You're grabbing your buddy next to you, staring into their eyes, wondering. Grabbing. Are they going to make it? Am I going to make it? Who's going to make the first move? Where are we grabbing? And, yeah, he's only had that one save.

Yeah, and I was hoping the Houston-Boston series was going to provide... We thought we were going to get one masher game there. Like, oh, three-run, home run. Oh, they hit a Grand Slam. Oh, two-run-homer, it's tied. That never really happened. So, yeah, no, I think Houston's path, you can say from an outsider world, excitement-wise, kind of hasn't had a ton of juice so far.

Houston fans should appreciate that and enjoy it. For them, it's been awesome. And hey, maybe this middle series gets messy with double bullpen day. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. There's a couple of days coming up here that could be strange baseball, not foolish baseball. We don't want that. Give me some strange ball. Sorry, got Jolly Olive in here a second ago.

I think our other two celebs they usually check in are the Diamondbacks and Fuzzy. So we'll see if we can pitch a perfect game this episode. You want to burn while they're here? Oh, my God. I don't know. You get nervous. So much pressure. Coming down on me.

Let's do it. Let's try your hardest. Do your best. Live life a little. Name on the front means a whole lot more than name on the back. Miles and miles of heart. It's our year. Common.

Runs or runs? Uncommon. Me, Jimmy, and Chris Rose are now experts and teams and how many World Series titles they have. Ha! That's Sporklewell. come out in probably six weeks, and it's the most depressing video. So that's a little future ad.

Yeah, that's called a future ad. This is called a now ad. This one's brought to you by dugout mugs. Yes. I wonder if they're out. See these metal ones? These metal ones are cool, Trev. And then they have the new ones where you can get inked up.

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Yeah. They'll probably say yes. I like saying, I like what I like me say, do you have any in the back? and they say, I don't fucking know. Yeah. They used to do that when I worked at Safeway. Like they'd be out of like some version of bread. And they'd ask me a 16-year-old kid, like, do you think they have any in the back?

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Don't even need a discount code for that. Doug on Mugs is awesome. Guy who invented it. used to be in the Blue Jays organization as a pitcher. Randall. Oh, wow. Wait, how come I didn't know that? I don't know.

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Oh, yeah. Let's burn Jake. Let's burn Jake. We're going to burn Treve. Braves 1 and 6. 420. How many guys Trevor Pleas showered with? I got to pee a little bit.

Burn Jakey burn. Game two as the Astros try to not get Texas two stepped on in Houston. Jose, can I see your cat, aka show me your kitty as his beard tries to to get a win versus the Braves, as they try to be this October's gladiators. Maximus, Maximus, as he is freed up to take the rubber. Bottom one, Bregman sacrifices himself for the team as he flies out to center. One-nothing, H-Town with the roof open. Ooh, Travis Dar, yes.

He goes solo donk into the Crawford boxes. We are tied up at one, but in the second, it would get messy. Why so serious? Jose Siri, infield single, makes it two to one. Machete Maldonado. How about it, Bigfella? He gets the RBI single, and then they have a little bit of a snowball fight in Houston, throwing it around, not pretty.

Michael Brantley, Dr. Smooth. Holy cow, does he look good right now? It is 5-1 after 2. In the 5th, Freddie! There he is. RBI single goes the opposite way. It's 5-2'd as they show good. 5-2d.

Erkiti was good. 5-innings, 2 earned runs. Max Freed bounces back at the end to give him some innings, but 5-innings, 6 earned runs. They would put on the 6 in a Uli-Guriel Fielder's choice, and then your number 2 home-run hitter. in the history of playoff baseball. Jose Artouva.

Jose Artouvi. But 7-2-5-Bauta-Bu-da-Bat-B-B-B-A-B-B-B-A-B-B-B-B-A-B-B-B-B-Bat. Bad-ass. Yeah, I should have been. I don't know where you were going with that, why is so serious. Me neither. Nailed it. Nailed it.

Yeah, really brought that one home. Well, everyone was going with the Siri jokes. Yeah, almost makes me dislike him. I love him. No, no. I just can't hear another, hey, Siri. Yeah, well, that's like, you know. So I'm glad Jake pivoted.

He's a smart man. Lene Zig, you got a sack. Football coach, Story Ellie, never worked out. Yeah, five to two it was good. What, uh, Trev, I watched this game with James and Chris Rose, uh, formerly of the MLB network. We live streamed it. A little over three and a half hours, I think.

Shorter game, three and a half on the nose. Under, under three and a half. I think our stream was 317. Wow. And we got started right before first pitch. Trev, what were you watching in this game, Big Daddy? You know, I kind of agree with James where, you know, Darno hits the Homer, makes it 1-1,

and then they score the runs in the second inning. I think there wasn't really like another moment where I was like, okay, like here we go. except for, I believe it was the sixth inning. Let me see. Let me get it up. I'm talking the Braves are at bat. Someone doubled.

So they're doubles, and they got Jock and Duval, a chance to make it a 5-4 game, and Javier figures that out. And after that, it was over. I agree, there wasn't many tense moments in this game. You can, five to one, five to two, you know, even six to two, those aren't, you know, insurmountable leads, especially

there, but there just never was a moment besides that sixth inning where I was like, okay, like they can make it close and do something. Houston just kind of controlled the game from the get-go. I've been confused. And Erkidi did well. Irkidi. I've been confused by a lot of shifts. Yeah. Yeah. Post-season. The Brave shifted on Yulee? Two strikes, and they went all the way to the pole side.

Stop shifting on Ritey's is what I keep saying. We did this. Was it Cardinals, Dodgers, Trevor? Was it Yankees Red Sox where when you were with us in the live stream? And then I pulled up the spray charts. And it just didn't add up. And then I did it on a live stream with another player too. And I did it at Yule.

I mean, I don't know if we can share this in the chat. But these are all his ground ball hits with two strikes. And with two strikes, they shifted when two. to pull it. And I don't know what information they're looking at. It's different. I know they have stuff that the public doesn't have, but I mean, his spray chart on ground balls

just doesn't say to shift him that way. And it leads to... I don't have something to do with Max. Max's two strike to righties. That would be the only thing that we don't have like verse lefties. I can do it. You can do it.

We can do it. We have it. Sometimes I feel like they're just shifting to shift. Like, and I'm for it when the data says to do it, but, you know, there's a lot of, like, good information that we can look at. Yeah, Erica has a bunch on our sheet. During the regular season, infields shifted for only 3% of Guriel's balls in play. He's 8 for 16 in those at bats.

I don't really understand that one, actually, now that I read it out loud. And they only shifted in 3% on the infield. Whatever. I don't know. And then obviously the defense just unraveled. Yeah. They throw it to third base and no one's there and Siri goes home and that's kind of You know, Max came back from that.

I'm happy for him like on a personal level because he needs to pitch another game. He needs to pitch again in this series. So I'm happy that he found success in later innings and mentally he can take that and move forward with it. But a couple of those, that inning was brutal. Yeah. Yeah, Max, uh, Max ends up what, finishing the next nine in a row?

I think you had ten. Ten and a row. Because, yeah, he gets the, 86 pitches. The last out in the second and then one, two, three, third, fourth, and fifth, including finishing the fifth inning, striking out Michael Brantley, who's on a warpath right now. I think he's five for nine. And then he strikes out pregnant.

So like, hey, Max Fried, that's a tough. inning the shifts he did to himself a little bit they were hitting him harder early but yeah if and when max freed gets another shot in this series i think he's going to be feeling good feels like whatever it was clicked towards the end there um we're on so that's max freed with two strikes ground balls balls put and play on the ground max freed two strikes so i mean there's a cluster over at short but there's also a cluster right where eulie hit it so yeah I just, man, I mean, I know they don't do it publicly, but I'd love to be able to, like, have a private conversation

with whoever makes that decision, because they've got to be looking at some information that I don't know. Or have just a different formula than pitchers history and batters history and stuff. It was like, there's been a couple on Ritey's that just don't make sense to me. So, I don't know, weird. I just want to learn why they're doing it. Yeah. Yeah.

And, I mean, what else do we really have? Trev, you mentioned the only, so Max starts battling and gets gross on the mound, 10 straight. It's 5-2, and you're right, that's Oler double. I think I took my Blitzball up out of the game with Jock. Because, yeah, man, that would have been another, like, okay, Max just kind of dropped it for us. He got us 10 more outs that we didn't have to use our bullpen. If we can make this a 5-3 game, but Javier shuts him down. He's been Houston's kind of bullpen weapon.

And yeah, I mean, there's the Ozzy Albee's, uh, fielder's choice, turn in the double play that a run scores on that one. There's the snowball fight in the second inning that, you know, if you start doing some turkey math, you, you can get this down to a four to two game, which the energy would have felt a lot different where it, it never really felt like the Braves were in striking distance. Yeah. Yeah.

It's good though. I mean, look, Atlanta's got to be happy going down and getting one in Houston. They're coming away minus a starting pitcher. That's no good. But eye on on the mound tomorrow versus who? Luis Garcia. Garcia, that's right. I like him.

This series is like we've been saying it the whole time. You know, you can look ahead and talk about matchups and all this stuff. But in the end, I think these games are just, just so hard to predict. Yeah, I mean, so hard to predict. Max going out and getting five innings. And then, I mean, if you're looking on the Braves,

kind of like a bright side on the Braves, they didn't burn many pitchers. So their bullpen should be like with two days off, all their top guys down there. Because the Braves went freed, Lee, Chavez, Smiley Wright. Obviously, the Braves have used their bullpen like every single game. Is this the first game Mattick didn't pitch? I guess the second.

A second. So. Yeah. But anyway, you have three now at home. And those four, Smith, Matzik, Minter, and the other one that they use a lot that I can't think of right now that I'm blanking on. That's always in the mix. Those four guys. Jackson.

Jackson. Are going to be available for all three. So like, you know, not a bad one. Not a bad fashion to lose. Down early. Didn't burn bullpen. Freed was able to give you five. Freed looks good at the end of five.

Houston side, you win in her kitty game. And I don't know, I didn't have that much confidence in him going in. Maybe Houston did. And then the bats show signs of life. And they just, they caused havoc. There's a fun one to win for the Astros. Like Siri put on a show. Well, Arod put it very eloquently.

He said that, you know, they had a couple anti-analytic innings. I'm trying to say, people in the chat say, I say, ending and not inning. And maybe I do. I'm sorry. It's fine. I say Twitter and not Twitter. Twitter.

Twitter. Twitter. I said Twitter. With two D's? No, I say it with the C-H-W. I didn't realize I did. Twitter. Twi.

And I can't fix it. Okay. I don't care. So yeah, it's good. A couple anti-analytic innings. Hit the ball soft. And you hit it where they're not. That's the A-Rodd school of baseball.

What did you guys have? on the transfer play. Out. With Albies. I mean, I don't, I don't understand it. And Ted Barrett called him out and then changed it on the field. So then when you go to replay, it's like, well, clearly that dude doesn't really, you know, we're going to bank it on his decision.

He was pretty wishy-washy with it. He literally changed it himself. Didn't know. I don't know, like we were saying on the live stream, like, I don't know the rulebook. I don't know when they put the headset on what they're looking for. guidelines to actually make the call because if you just use like a brain and you say

if that's the third out of the inning does he catch it? Yes. If he doesn't have any attempt to try and turn that in double play is that ball going to stay in his possession and he just catch it? Absolutely. You'd have to be really biased to say otherwise.

So because he tried to transfer it, he lost the ball. But once he calls him safe on the field. They're not going to overturn it. The umps are all a gang. Yeah, that's where... That was interesting. I don't know the verbiage of the rules, and that's where I don't get too much on Ted Barrett

for changing the call because that actually is kind of a proud move by the umpire. Like, there's a lot of umpires that Ted Barrett, if the rule says like, you know, that who knows what the rule actually says. The ball has to be in their hands or whatever it is, it seems like he made the call, he saw what happened when it came out of Alby's gloves, and then he changed it, which to me, that's the umpire saying like, well, I made the wrong call. I need to correct this. I also agree with that. So it shouldn't hold water. Like I, I guess that's where I don't know. If Ted Barrett had called it out and they went to review, would they have overturned it? And then is Ted Barrett worried about overturned stuff? Or is there so much gray there?

that we don't know. Common sense-wise, that should have been an owl. Yeah, I mean, the rules here, you want to read the rule? It's not, it's a pretty, it's not a really gray rule here. Okay. A catch is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it,

providing he does not use his cat protector, pocket, or any other part of his uniform in getting possession. So that's just a catch. It's a catch. Now, going down to the, if the fielder has made the catch and drops the ball while in the act of making a throw fall and catch the ball shall be a judge to have been caught. So even in the rule book it kind of leans to that being an out. Like it's in the act of throwing. The only thing I saw was there are times

when you're catching a ball where you do catch it and then transfer. And then there's times where you're trying to be really quick and your glove is much flatter and you're not squeezing. You're just holding it flat. That's what he did yesterday. It was going to go palm to hand. There was never really any squeezing action. But that's also a, you know, a pro move. That's what they want to do.

Yeah, yeah. It's weird. I mean, if you have time, you catch it. You watch Omar Vreskell do those drills. He doesn't catch a single ball. but he's because he's trying to just transfer real quick. But I get that. I mean, just squeeze it.

Ozzy, you didn't make sure you get that first out, but he's trying to turn two. So I just think common sense as if he's not trying to turn two, it's out. It was in his glove and it stays there. But I mean, I don't, yeah, I mean. I think I thought it was an out also.

Yeah. And then I thought it was brilliant that they double stole right after that. Brilliant. Love that. Always. Love that. It's the best move. That was great by Tucker.

people are like and they're on it man I love it I love watching the Astros play baseball I really do well I like the way they're running and doing that stuff and Siri running and be like both teams

are kind of being aggressive on the base paths and that's fun to watch yeah what do you guys think too big yeah we should talk about him a little bit and just what he's done in the postseason

where he's going to end up I mean it's kind of long time left. He's got a lot of career left. This guy's going to end up being like, I mean, maybe you have, where is he at in advance? How old is he now?

Is he close? 30, 31. And he's short, so he's going to live a longer life. Everyone knows that. Less injured and I think they say smarter too. So he'll probably play till 45. It'll be tough for him with the mariner. All time hits, that bats, everything.

Mariner's taken over the West next year. That'll be tough for him. But maybe he gets traded there, another Mariners Astros trade. He's got 22 homers in the playoffs. Fucking A man. It's nuts. Good for you. Crazy.

The shout of Dusty telling him that too is really cool. Yeah, it was pretty cool. 75 games, 22 home runs. Did you hear him cut off A-Rod? It's a good sound bite. dude i was just going to say i watched a ton of his postgame stuff and he's so cool like i hate that people hate him like i think he i understand what happened in 2017 the guy could have been like one of the faces of baseball he i mean he sort of is and not the way that he wanted to be

but what he does in the postseason like his demeanor his attitude is my favorite player trap me too the astros were like my favorite team. I know. I used to say Verlander is my favorite non-Yanky pitcher and Al-Tube is my favorite non-Yanky hitter. I don't know. Al-Tube is still cool. Feel bad for him. The tattoo stuff was super weird. Tatoo stuff was weird. I do, you know, I always like to mention the fact that he did rarely ever use the system. Yeah, but he won an MVP off his teammates. He did. He did. Runners on base helps 100%. unscored help.

I'm just saying I still love the guy. Did you hear that interview where he cut off Arod, though? Yes. Arod was trying to say like, you struck out, what a weird opening question from me. Ah, so weird.

You sucked. Yeah. You didn't suck. Yeah. Here it is for anyone doesn't. What happened? Jose, we were talking Alex here. We were talking last night.

You striking out twice looking is so unusual for you. But it's Charlie Martin Yeah, that's a good point That's fair That's fair You're right The whole time Altuve is not smiling

Or laughing or joking No It's like No Shut up Also because he's tired Like you know how much Freaking media

These guys have to do And he has to sit And listen to Arod After a game And A rod And A rod opens up with Yesterday you shook out Twice looking

Instead of like Your second All time Whatever Um Rosie does an A-Rod impression that makes him sound like a Dr. Evil. But it fits.

And BPD has a new saying about Bragman that is poetry. Is BPD's new saying, are you ready for it? Yes. Alex Bragman, you know, before he loved being the heel of baseball. Like being the villain until it was a real thing. He liked being the villain until it was a real thing.

Until it was real. It kind of hits the nail on the head. Like he liked... 100%. When he was like, oh, you guys love to hate me because I'm good and having fun. And now he's just disappeared. He's just not the same dude at all. Mm-mm.

Yeah, 100%. You say that for a couple different guys, but definitely him. Give him, I'll give him another hype vid. Yeah. He needs it. I was watching all this pre and post game stuff. These guys, like, it's the end of the season. they're running on straight adrenaline right now during the games

and like MLB makes them do so much silly stuff and I get it you're promoting the game but I watched Dansby and Brett Phillips interact and Dansby just did not want to be there did not want to be there and I know that's kind of his personality like he's just really cool but it was pretty funny to see

you could just tell he's like dude I'm just trying to take batting practice I'm getting ready for the fucking world series like I don't I don't want to hear your stories right now. I get it but also like you got to do it because that's how you're going to like get shine FaceTime. That's part of the entertainment of it.

Especially if you're like the pretty boy shortstop. Yeah. Only other thing, well, from one pretty boy shortstop to another, only other thing that felt kind of significant is Jose Siri. that Astro Center Field I've been racking my brain for months We went Free Agency last year

I was like who are the Who are the Astros going to get in center field Trade deadline this year Who are the Astro is going to get in center field They actually traded away To get Phil Meton Who's that guy? We had the

Straw Miles Flaw Straw Mild Flaw Mild Flaws Miles Yeah, basically. They traded him to Cleveland, and he was kind of their centerfielder.

So I was like, what's going on? Starling Marte gets traded to the athletics. I'm like, the Astros, at every position, they're stacked. Except, I mean, catcher, but they obviously love Maldonado. They've proven that, and he shows why. And it's catchers. We get that. Center field, there's not as much talent as you'd expect in the league to be in

center field, but this is the Houston Astros. So they're going with our guide C Festival, Chaz McCormick. We see Rake Myers. He runs into the wall, and he's out there. Jose Siri, man, he has the swag of this team, and that might mean nothing to you, and that's fine. And by the way, after his first electric infield single, he does strike out every at bat.

I don't know, man. Defensively, he feels impactful in centerfield. offensively slash on the basis he feels like a threat. 99th percentile speed in his short time in the big leagues. He's got the chance. He just like he feels like the guy that should be in center field for the Astros. And hey, maybe it's just right time, right place this seven game series. Maybe Jazz McCormick's a stud or Jake Myers or whoever it is.

But right now, Jose Siri, he feels like the guy that should be in center field for them. Did you watch his dancing videos? I watched one of them. I didn't see a ton. I saw our friend Marley tweeted out that his famous online dancing videos. I was like, Marley, you can't just dangle that piece of bait in front of a hungry fish. Yeah, it was good. I just, I got really excited.

It was bad. Sounds like it was. I got really excited and it wasn't where I wanted it to be. Sounds like the dude sucks at dancing. He doesn't suck at dancing. It was just baseball guys. It was like a dugout. It was like the Diamondbacks earlier this year doing, like, team.

Oh, oh. So you're better? Yeah. You think you're better at Blitzball? No. He's never played. No. Just got to find the slot.

So I get two walks. You can play Blitzball, Trev. Wow. Yeah, I want to hear about it. Yeah, you just got to buy the balls. Blitzballs. Amazon, blitzball.com. You can get the bats.

You are in the next, well, not next week, but after that, you're in the next. next three out of the next five Blitzball games. Back alley at Bats. Bill different. I'm excited about that? Yeah, we had a good time. That was a tough day, if I remember correctly, for pitching. The elements were in play.

Elements were in play. We had a big, huge crowd surrounding us on all sides. In the middle of a Bronx park. That comes out in two weeks. We almost killed a baby. Oh my God, I hope we got that footage. And when you say we, it was you. So if you're itching for more Blitzball content,

you can find their official YouTube channel linked in the description of this video. They posted a ton of awesome videos, even compete against some pros. Nick Swisher was part of that, Oscar Burkato. Tucker, I believe Kyle Tucker was part of that video. I did a breakdown on it. Got a million views. Kind of surprised me that that one got so high. But people love the Blitzball stuff.

Jake and I, after this very episode, are actually getting on the subway and going to play some Blitzball. A little pop-up Blitzball in Manhattan, Trev. We may tweet out the cross streets on our way there and say like anyone that's working in the city right now

and wants to take... In Manhattan. Want to take a lunch break and come watch me and Jake play Blitzball. A little pop-up shop Blitzball in about two hours from now, an hour and a half from now? Indoor outdoor. Indoor. Oh.

Yeah, it's a pretty funny setup. Okay, okay. Yes, what were you going to say about Jose Siri and the dancing? Or were you going to pivot to something else before I did that? Oh, I was going to say, the internet has ruined everything because you see the best of the best of the best and anything. So like I've seen some awesome dancing now. If I just see someone doing a regular dance, I go. It's my bad.

in everything. Like, I see these guys doing crazy stuff on guitars. I can just, like, watch someone play a guitar regularly. And I'm like, oh, you stink. Because I know that there's this other guy that's amazing at it. And he's way better than you. I don't know. It's really really really from the metaverse is getting to me.

In person, that kind of gets washed away, though, for me at least. I agree with that. The metaverse is taking over my life. I mean, yeah. I keep having deja vu. TikTok has trained people to be uninterested in less than a second. Yeah. Well, China gave it to us and then they banned it in their own country.

That doesn't make any sense. Anything else going into game three? We don't have an episode tomorrow. So I guess any thoughts going into game three in Atlanta. This was the first home win for the Astros since 2018. It would be the first home World Series win for Atlanta since 1999? Jake has, I think they said, Jake has thoughts.

I have a question. Who's your Astros starting outfield? Yeah, that's the question. Brantley, Yardin. Michael Brantley's 5 for 9, this World Series. Yordaun just won ALCS MVP.

I think they start Yorda. I don't think they start Brantley. They might, though. And then just like go defense late. What's the, What's the, like how, Yuron in the field compared to Brantley in the field? Michael Brantley has the leg up.

Michael Brantley, although he's lost some speed, he made that catch last night by the foul pole. And he's played a lot of MLB outfield. Yordaun hasn't played a ton. The two BPD was on this earlier. Yordaun has only played two games in the outfield this postseason and both were left field in Houston. So, but do you think?

think that they if you're going to do the drag and drop pinch hitter you kind of want that to be a power bat and someone that might change up the pitching so like maybe that leaves Brantley and Brantley's a little better leg up in defense and then

if you can just drop your don in a big moment and you can pinch hit him for Siri or pitcher spot or potentially guerriel I know that doesn't seem like a fit right now but if you get a tough righty and you can drop Yordon on them.

Can they do tuck in center? So that's the video game. That's the video game. Can Yordon play first? He can play first. He's played first. I just go tuck in center if you can play, if you can play center.

But I think he's a below average center fielder and then you have basically two non-fielders. Yeah, that's a tough defense of a weapon on the bench. Who do you want? Answer this question. Because this is actually crazy. Because I've said Yordaun Alvarez is like a top five hitter in the game for me. Who do you want up with a runner on second base down a run?

Yordaun or Brantley. I think both, I mean, like you can't choose incorrectly there. They're both incredible patient hitters. Yeah, that's where I almost, Michael Brantley's hitting style. I think this is different than what Jimmy was saying. Michael Brantley's hitting style, I think that plays better off the bench. I think you give Yordaun your. his three at bats and, you know, he gets a walk.

I think both do. They're both amazing. That's the conversation. But, like, Michael Brantley coming in for a pinch it at bat, it feels like he's going to create the action. He's going to barrel a ball and put it somewhere. But I don't know, man. I don't know the right answer. I don't know.

And that's the other part of this that's interesting. And by the way, you know, I know Jake Myers had gotten hurt. I didn't know if he was back. Your bench for the Astros, so you have Siri. So if you went video game lineup, you have Siri ready to come in. If not.

Siri, Marwin. They have Marwin Gonzalez, which I totally missed. So you're looking at some corner outfielder there. And it says Al-Demides plays can play some outfield too. So I don't know, man. It just gets really tricky. because if you're the Astros and you're pressing this button

for the video game outfield or whatever it is, I don't know if you can end the game with that. If it's the ninth inning and it's a close game, which we've been asking for, and we haven't seen a lot, and your outfield is Yordon, Kyle Tucker, and Brantley across the board, like that's your set up for failure. I honestly think that's what they do.

I think they put all three of those guys. We've seen in the playoffs. I don't know how many times they did that this season. Tucker and Sanner, Alvarez in left and Brantley in right. Sure. What's your guess? Jake's guessing zero. He's wrong.

How many inter-the games do they play? I don't know. They did it four times. For full games? They probably played. That was a starting, the starting, well, I don't know if they subbed out, but that's they started. Started. Yep.

They did it against the Padres. They did it against the Dodgers, twice and the Giants once. So they've done it before. Maybe you do it tonight and then you see where you're at. And then you do early switches if it's not working and you get a lead early. And if it really doesn't work, then you say, we're not doing that again. But if it's an option, if they've done it before, I would run that out there.

Because the Astros win by a lot or lose by a lot. They never even need a defensive replacement. Not anymore, Jim. Not anymore. They're preheating the oven, man. Pretty soon there's going to be a massive explosion of close baseball games for you. I'd run out. I didn't know that was an option.

I'd run talk. I think that for me it's not really a question anymore. I just do that. So you play 20 interlead games a year and they did it four times. Well, about half of those. Well, 10, 10 on the road. Oh, I guess you're right. So, yeah, that's definitely what they're going to go with.

It does leave their bench extremely short. Yeah, and that's where talking about these versions of the games, I'm wondering if you do have that in the chamber, why not go if you're pinch hitting for your pitcher in the third or fourth inning, and if you have to roll a couple middle innings with that outfield, and maybe you're bringing in Javier, who can strike out anyone, maybe you do that to get through the middle innings, you try to get two at bats out of them,

and then you throw in a Jose Siri. I don't know. I mean, it just makes for incredible baseball fodder. Yeah. Yerdon's also started 40 games in the outfield this year, so maybe this isn't that big a question for Astros Lans, as it is for us. Where's our people?

Where's Quentin? Cubes. Anything on the brave side, decisions that they have to make that we're missing for game three? Well, without a DH, you got Jock, you got Solair, you got Eddie. with Garcia starting, you're assuming that Solair starts on the bench. But that gets tricky too. And that dude, homer's to start the World Series.

He looks good. Hot. Hot boy. I mean, so maybe does he start over Duval? Old Thick? Old Thick's been man in center. I don't know. Yeah.

Interesting Yeah, I don't know We will have to see Need Freddy to step it up Need Freddy to hit a Homer in game three Okay, let's do it Homer Garcia versus I on the kids man

A little home cooking for Freddy They're boys How old's it Garcia? Both sexual in different ways I mean Ions 23 is Garcia of 24. I mean the Louis Garcia War right now. Got a lot of Louis.

A lot of Luis Garcia's. Your rookie cards and a lot of Ion Andersons. Oh, nice. Yeah, Garcia's 24. All righty. We will see you guys on Saturday. So no app tomorrow. No app tomorrow. There's no game tonight, so nothing to talk about tomorrow. When Huebner said Brantley and Yordon and outfield

seems like suicide. So, let's see what you're going to be. you got, Dusty. Let's see that plan. Just do it. Then put Syrian center in those in the outfield. Let him run everything down. Sit Tucker. Get on the mound, little fucker.

That's good. All right. That's the app. See you guys on Saturday. Well, we'll be streaming tomorrow night, maybe. Probably. Saturday we'll have a recap app. Appreciate you. Enjoy. your Thursdays. If you're in Manhattan right now and watching

live, head on to where we're going to be and watch some Blitzball. That was episode 420.