Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Rangers Shut Down Houston in ALCS Game 1 | 731

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

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Hello and welcome to Talkin Baseball, Game 1, ALCS, Texas Two Step, and the Rangers delivered. They take Game 1 in Houston. Let's talk about it. Hello and welcome to Talkin Baseball. Presented to you by Seat Geek. You guys know Seekek. They're number one in the biz, man, and they are giving you code Johnboy playoffs 10% off. Whether you're a first-time buyer or not.

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Go see Fuzball. It's a beautiful time of year to go do something. But especially if you're one of our friends down in the beautiful state of Texas, code Johnboy playoffs, save yourself 10% off. Link in the description, download the app. Trevor Plouf de Goof, your old rapping name. How are you doing? Pautin, potting, good fella.

The Texx two-step. Ain't no beans in this chili? I don't know if Texas people like beans are not in their chili. I don't think they do. I don't mind beans in my chili. I've got to be honest with you there. Hey, man.

I'm excited to be back talking ball with you two fellas. Big game tonight. Honestly, this was an excellent baseball game. like breaking it down, like talking about defense and pitch sequencing. You can get real deep into some of these aspects of tonight's game. So I think we might do that, big Jake. How are you doing tonight? I'm good, man.

I'm excited. I mean, the Cs are here. Like there's a little bit of that mind juggle that, I mean, you know, it's October 15th. It feels like it went by quick, those two weeks of, you know, kind of jam-packed baseball where you got, you know, it starts out with four series. each on each side and then but kind of you know there's no five gamers in the DSs and the wild cards

were all sweeps that you know it's almost like we missed a couple nights of baseball along the way that I don't know to be playing CS ball uh and come out and see jv in Houston on the bump uh in these Texas Rangers it was like whoa we're there's part of me that can't believe we're here you love the one game a night thing like sometimes it's nice to have a gluttonous amount of baseball i get that but when you get to this part of the season and you get these one-off games and everyone can focus on on one start time you kind of can really get into it i just i love it man it's there's something about especially when we get to talk about it right afterwards uh because like i said Like you can go from, you know, what Jonah Haim was doing behind the plate to Montgomery.

I mean, the Montgomery Alvarez matchups were exquisite for me. I loved it. But, yeah, there's just something about that, that one game. Almost feels like the football schedule. You can do like a Sunday night football game. You get this late game right here and all the eyes are on it. I love it, man. Yeah.

And it's, I did a little head tilt when they were talking about tomorrow's schedule because we're getting another, we get a day game tomorrow, 437 on the East Coast for Texas-Hustin follow-up. So that's going to feel pretty wild, and it's going to be interesting to see where either of these teams' headspaces are at by like 6 p.m. tomorrow. It's either going to be Texas trying to firmly establish a 2-0 lead and take it home, or it's going to be Houston answering back with the nightcap of Phillies, host and the D-backs. We'll be live streaming that one on our J-M. baseball channel. Make sure you are there. Let's, uh, let's dive in, Big Daddy.

I'm burning, baby. Welcome to the ALCS where we're in a familiar place, H-Town, Space City, City with the Purple Drank City with the top drop. Houston in their seventh straight ALCS for a little Texas two-step against the Rangers and Jordan Montgomery with the old bull, Justin Verlander, on the bump for the stroes. Top two, give Hime some time. Jonah with the RBI single. Leo D, Leodda, Texas goes on. Texas Rangers score a run.

Two nothing after five. Jordan was the full Monty. 6.10 earned runs, but would that Texas Rangers bullpen hold? Spores. Chapman returns to Houston, but Altuvae doesn't return to second. Doubled up by Mr. Carter.

I am him. And LeClerc checks them out. Texas takes the first game two nothing final. Nice job, Poppy. Thanks, Trev. Trev, give me, I don't know, let's unfurl this whole thing. You get a two nothing pitcher's duel game one in Houston. It's funny because if we were to go back before the postseason started

and we would have known Texas would be 6 and 0 in the postseason. We'd have thought, oh, man, they're scoring 10 runs a game. They're getting after it. Instead, what we're seeing is just a really good baseball. A great start tonight by Montgomery. Really, really good defense played behind him. Evan Carter, I mean, talk about just, like, some of these plays, I know, like, they look easy, but he's taking perfect routes to these plays.

and we'll get into that ball that Breggman hit in that corner that's just like ridiculous for outfielders where you I mean the warning track at that point gets to like 20 feet long it's such a weird space for people to be out there we'll get more into that but I guess the biggest part of this game or the biggest reason that Texas won this game was Jordan Montgomery dude like he was he was perfect he was he was executing his plan almost at will, never leaving pitches over the plate. The abat C, Your Don, and Yordaun ended up 0 for three with three Ks against him. I was tweeting about him, just posting in the pitch charts. There was nothing in the middle of the plate at all. And the first abat, he was kind of riding that inside part of the plate.

Then he went away. Then he was down, but there was just nothing in the middle. And Yordaun started chasing, man. Like he was presenting all those pitches of strikes. They ended up right off the plate, you know, places where you're not going to do damage. to him. Like you might get lucky once in a while on those pitch locations, but most of the time,

if anything, you might bloop one in for a single, but more often than not, you're either swinging and missing at him or soft bad contact for an out. So Jordan Montgomery just did it, man. He really did one walk on the night. He wasn't giving up anything for free. And just a couple timely hits, and we have the bullpen. I mean, Manny was a story for me, though. They've been getting these starts from Eovaldi and him that have really, really, you know, that bullpen that we don't even need to talk about it anymore. It hasn't been a problem because the starters have given them length. They've really been able to shorten the games. And when you do that, usually the W is on your side.

Eight pitches from Chapman, 12 from Spores, 16 from LeClerc. Yeah, I mean, the, Houston's pitching also deserves some love here. I mean, you know, 6.2, two Ernie's from Verlander, who, you know, had one or two Verlander. Battling moments and even his last inning, like it looked like he was really, he was fighting his control. Like, it looked like fatigue was kicking in that his control wasn't spot on, but when he needed to, he dialed it in and he'd get some more. But Jordan Montgomery, whenever he needed it, you know, now looking back through the box score, Altuve hitless. He has one walk, which that was a borderline, borderline pitch that allowed the walk.

Yorne Alvarez O for four on the day. Kyle Tucker O for four today. No Houston Astro got on base twice. Like they limited to the damage that there was only one real opportunity. I think they walked Maldonado in front of Al-Tuvain. You're kind of like, okay, like, all right, I've seen this song and dance before. Like if you're going to walk him in front of Tuve and Bregman, you know, there's penalties that come with that. Montgomery and everyone else pitched themselves out of it every time.

time. Yeah, at the bottom of the fourth there, Astros, I would call this a little bit unlucky, getting three singles in a row, but putting them in places where you can advance more than one base. Like, you know, that's not typical. If you string together three hits, usually you can score, but where they hit him and Evan Carter, again, just being in the right place, getting the ball in quickly, he ends up striking Maldonado out, Montgomery did, to end that threat.

But really just an excellent ball game. played by the Rangers. I mean, you kind of have to tip your cap. You're the Astros. You just say, all right, you know, Montgomery beat us tonight. I mean, we did, the defense and pitching did their job.

Bats just weren't silent. Yeah, and I mean, you mentioned, really all there is to it. Yeah, the Jonah Heim single. Everything felt fast about this game. Both teams were swinging early. Yeah. A lot of first pitch swings,

a lot of quick at bats. It definitely looked like they both, Both teams had the mentality of almost respecting the starting pitcher on the level of like, hey, we're going to have to hit them out of the game. Like they're good enough that being patient, I don't think is the way, which is always to catch 22 come to playoffs because then you'll see, you know, allowing a Jordan Montgomery to pitch late into this game, allowing Verlander to pitch late into this game.

But yeah, I mean, Evan Carter doubles 2-0. he pulls one down the line and remember he takes the extra bag there a really close play at second on Kyle Tucker who's an all-world defender he gets in there on that second pitch from Hime hits a single in the gap

that easily scores the run there you go that hey if Carter doesn't take that extra base what does that do for the inning they ended up getting the bases loaded in that inning and Simeon and the old Bull Verlander had a fun at bat there

2-0, fouled back a good slider, and then he eventually gets him to pop out. And then Leota Tavares, I've tried to drive home every time we talk about the Texas Rangers' depth of their lineup. To have a switch-hitting center fielder with his offensive profile, you know, compared to some of the guys on this team, sure, if you're going to compare his stats to Corey Seeger, it's not going to look similar, but almost nobody in baseball has looked similar to. to Corey Seeger. Tavares leans back into one.

No doubter. Makes it to nothing. And then there was really no scares. I mean, when Chapman comes in, you know, a lot of people have seen him pitch of that Houston ballpark and have seen a couple different results that haven't been so hot for him. And then I guess Houston's biggest opportunity, which turns into the signature play of this game, like you mentioned, Evan Carter next to the Crawford box is.

against the bullpen wall, leaping up, makes the catch. And Altuva, who looked like he was trying to do smart base running by being on second base so he could go back to first if it was caught, looks like his feet just get a little chunky there, or maybe there's a moment of where he did think it dropped, that he doesn't touch second base coming back over the bag. All the Texas Rangers players kind of saw it immediately. They challenge it, double him up, and that was kind of, that was kind of,

There's a reason I'm wearing these shades right now, Jake. What do I look like right now? A ball player's ball player? A guy guy, a ball player, exactly. This is Evan Carter look right here. From Elizabeth in Tennessee, 185 Hudson Drive, Wayne Hodge Insurance. Check them out. That was my host family in Elizabethan.

Don't go to their home. He had an advertisement, a little jingle. 185 Hudson Drive, Wayne Hodge Insurance. Love that guy. that family. He was all over the place out there in left field. And again, he's a center fielder playing left field out of, I mean, not at a necessity, but either an abundance of wealth of options because Tavares is out there.

The play in, Bregman has a new least favorite player and it's Evan Carter. The first inning, he goes and like a really good route to that ball. If that ball gets over his head, Bregman's on second base, what do we say? Oh, here we go again. Here's the Astros. Bragman's doing it. And then off Chapman gets out in front of one, hits it up there. And when you go past the left field wall down, the Crawford boxes,

it just juts out, I don't know, 25 feet back. And as an outfielder, you know that's there. You practice it. But there's just not a lot of times where you're on a track and you keep going and you keep feeling the dirt, feel in the dirt, feel in the dirt. And you don't feel the wall because even the wall, there's the padded wall, then it goes back a few feet to where the screen is for the bullpen. It's just a mess out there, too.

and a young kid going back like you can tell he was searching for the wall by the way he caught it and fell back. He was expecting a little bit of something to give back on him right there instead he found the air. But he gets back there, makes the catch, gets the ball in in a timely manner that makes Altova just kind of, I don't know if he forgot. I don't think that he realized he like went past the base. I feel like he thought he had his foot on the base and then just retreated but because the momentum took him over the base

essentially you crossed and you'd have to step off the base and step back on head back to first and I think in the heat of the moment he's just like no I was on the base the whole time I'm just going to go back but obviously game changing you don't know what

what's going to happen after that we've seen Chapman go arrive very quickly with the balls, but instead two outs and gets Yordan, and that's it, man. It's like, yeah, Evan Carter right in the thick of things again for these Rangers, man. And I want to drive home Evan Carter some more. He's 21 years old. This guy jumped into it. It felt like the middle of Texas's worst part of this season.

Like they were just looking for bodies almost, and they call up the kid. And all right, so catching fly balls is catching fly balls. Like, you know, we don't need to, that was Jakey analytics there. Left field and right field, like the corner outfields are different. Like the ball just comes off the bat different, and the ball spins. And like, I don't know, you're right. These guys are professionals. And if they're good enough, they're going to be able to make plays and catch the ball.

But Houston, you got a bizarre left field with the Crawford box and everything you laid out. Number two, this 21-year-old kid, full count Carter, or guy, from your Elizabeth Town. What's the free ad for there? 185 Hudson Drive, Wayne Hodd Insurance. Elizabethan. All right. Not town, Elizabethan.

We'll do a road trip there this offseason. Trev, if I'm doing my math right, he played 19 games of left field this year, or his career in the minor leagues, 20 games, excuse me, of minor league left field baseball. he then played 18 games in left field for the Texas Rangers this year, and now he's playing it in the postseason.

So, yeah, I mean, this guy who I don't know how good Elizabeth Town baseball is. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabethan, excuse me. I don't know how good the local ball is in that town. I'm going to assume Evan Carter didn't play left field for that team. I'm going to assume he played center or shortstop. stop or pitcher or whatever the hell he wanted on that team.

This is a guy that has less than 50 career times ever playing left field in a baseball game. And he made the plays he made today for the Texas Rangers, which, I mean, just put that in the bucket of, you know, I know my predictions this postseason so far. I've been kind of dog shit. Well, I don't know how you predict this. I don't know if Chris Young, who's running the Texas Rangers. I don't know if Boch. I don't know who of them had this in their formula.

and maybe they did, and maybe they're sickos. But, yeah, I mean, he was an absolute, maybe the biggest game changer in today's game, outside of the starting pitchers, probably. On the broadcast, they said Bruce Bochy about Evan Carter, he said, this kid doesn't even realize he's playing in the playoffs. Like, he doesn't know he's playing in the playoffs. And I think that might be the biggest compliment a manager can give to a young,

guy, like, meaning he doesn't give a shit. I heard that said about Eddie Rosario a lot before he came up. And I think he still, if you watch Eddie play, I feel like still works for him. Like, he doesn't give a shit. The moment doesn't matter. He's going to go give you in a bat and he likes it. I mean, I don't know what's going through Evan Carter's head, but this guy is an absolute, he's a ball player, man.

It's fun to watch kids like that that can come up and just, they just play ball. Like, it's, I bet you could put them in the infield right now if you wanted to. I bet you he could play short, I bet you he could play middle infield right now. Like, he's that kind of player. Athlete. Yeah. Trev, the Houston Astros in the last five innings tonight sent up the minimum of three batters. There is the Altova double play.

Yeah. I think that's your only outlier of. someone getting on base. So there were some lineouts, like even a Brayu swing there in the ninth inning. You wondered how much juice that ball had on it. Dubon, it's a line drive that's right at Tavares. But yeah, I mean, there was never really too much juice for Houston tonight. And I'd I don't know. I don't know. I think it's kind of just tipped the hat to the Rangers and see you tomorrow. I was waiting for the late inning Astros, uh, match. but I think it was the Bregman fly ball

and it didn't go their way this time. And Evan Carter makes the play and Jose Altuve makes a mistake. We talk about all the time, you got to play perfect baseball to beat the Astros. Rangers played perfect baseball tonight. Perfect baseball tonight. And the Astros made the one mistake,

or a couple of mistakes. Simeon had some nice plays. Seeger had some not-so-routine plays that didn't become a problem or anything. That, yeah, you're right. I mean, they played a clean game as they could. And there was, even I'm picturing a couple of Jonahheim fist pumps early. I think the first or second time they struck out Yordaun.

For anyone that didn't see my tweets, my exes. At Trevor Ploof. My phone's dead. So I was going to show you the screenshots of them. But just go to go to the game day and go look at those at bats with Yordaun and Jordan Montgomery. And it's just awesome. man, like read the pitch sequence, see where the location was, and you can just kind of go through Montgomery's head on, like, where he was at.

And it's, it's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the Jordan at bats, man. You're right. That was high-level baseball in Jordan Montgomery. He's got a free agency coming up. Yeah, your head was the same place mine did. My God.

A reliable lefty that's a. excelled this year. Who? Yeah. He might have some cool stuff in his basement soon. I don't know, Trevor. What else do you have to close off on this game before we maybe tee up tomorrow a little bit?

That's it. We covered it. There wasn't a lot. I mean, it was good, solid baseball all around. A couple timely hits for the Rangers. That was it. Yeah. The sun will come up tomorrow, and so will.

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Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler. www.1-800 gambler.net in New York, call 8778-8-78-8-8-7-8-8-7-7-7-7. Visit ccppg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort, licensee partner, Golden Nugget Lake Charles, 21-plus, ages varied by jurisdiction, void in Ontario. C-DKNG.co-slash baseball for eligibility terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. I don't know, Trev, excited to see you tomorrow.

We've got Evaldi and Framber in this game. Again, a little 437, a little happy hour with the fellas, maybe, or the ladies, you know. I don't, I've never discriminated. And then 8 p.m. Phillies. Is that Wheeler Gallen or Wheeler Kelly? I'll get it up. I don't have it up in front of me, but I will go get it right now. I love both these years.

I haven't even really wrapped my head around. Wheeler gallon. Weiler gallon. Nice. Nice. I haven't really wrapped my head around this whole Philly snakes series. Yeah, I mean, we're going to get into it tomorrow.

I got baseball today in the morning. Then obviously we'll record tomorrow night, most likely. Framber versus Yovaldi's going to be great. I mean, Framber's, you know, looking to, for a rebound start. Yovaldi's looking to just continue doing what he's done. You know, he's getting this moniker now, like big game. name Nate. About as good as it gets as a ballplayer.

And holy crap. Yeah. No, I'm sorry. A praying mantis almost flew right into my face right now. What's happening? Four really fun, good pitchers on the bump tomorrow. Hopefully Trev's still alive to talk about it with us. Looks like the mantis might, the mantis has him.

Oh, like this at all. And it might be Game Over in Calabassey All right, man High and tight One game Hope I see you tomorrow Yeah, be safe out there I guess

Careful Holy smokes I see it now He's up there Be careful Check sucks Aren't those like the only known predator To the lantern fly

I don't know Do I just leave it in here overnight Do I have to go get it? I don't know. I don't know. Don't the ladies eat the boy, prang mantises? Prangmante. Tell me about it.

Ball players. I know beans in my chili.