The Josh Innes Show - The Astros Run Is Over

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

The Astros lose again. The season is over. It feels like the run is over as well. The bullpen blew it, but Altuve and Tucker choked. Why does AJ Hinch get a pass from media people? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh, that game sucked. The whole series sucked. In reality, the whole season sucked for the Astros. That's essentially what this comes down to. There's a lot to dive into on these two games, really this game that happened today. But to start, I don't know if I'm alone on this, but I kind of felt like what we watched today and yesterday and really throughout the season, what we've watched is sort of the end of something.

Not to say that it can't restart again. Not to say that it can't become big again, but with all the questions hanging over this franchise, I kind of felt like this was like the last dance for this first real golden era of Astros baseball. The seven years of going to the LCS, the two World Series championships. It kind of felt like what we watched over the last two days is sort of a swan song, sort of a goodbye, sort of a tip your cap, it was a nice run, but it's over. It must have been love, but it's over now.

And that's kind of what it felt like. I feel like Vivian in Pretty Woman, she's sitting in the limo, you know, and must have been love is playing. And then there's Edward, are they going to get back together? They're not going to get back together. Must have been love, but it's over now. That's what that felt like when I was watching that today. Everything about it felt that way. First of all, you go back to the start of the season for the Astros when they were 15 and 25 and they got hot and they played very good baseball, but you kind of go and say, well, they won a bad division and they never really had that same Astros juice. A lot of their younger players don't feel like they're going to

be great players. You know, eight years ago when your youth was still technically Jose Altuve and Bregman and Correa, and then you had Tucker in the pipeline and you made the move to trade for Jordan and you had Springer and then the veterans you brought in made sense. The issue you're running into now, a bigger picture issue with the Astros, is that this organization's young talent pipeline doesn't feel like it's there. And it feels like the organization isn't going to spend to keep the guys they do have. So there's a chance you lose Tucker and Bregman. Then you look at the fan base. I'm not going to shit on people for not going to the games. Like these local news people that I've seen all over, these local news talking heads, these empty head news people who were posting pictures of the crowd

eight minutes before the game saying, oh, it looks like a lot of empty seats. Where's the crowd? Late arriving. Shut up. You never have opinions on anything because you're empty headed news fox. And now you want to shit on the people for not going to the 130 baseball game. Fuck you, dopes. I saw some dude from Fox in Houston doing it. I saw some dude from ABC in Houston doing it. My God, focus on something else. Oh no, there's a couple of empty seats at the ballpark. Yeah, it's not the same vibe as it was in 2017. I guarantee in Detroit, when they play a game, if it's at one in the afternoon, it will be sold out. It's new to them. They haven't had winning baseball in forever.

They're excited. It's electric. They had to fight to get in. When something is new, people are into it. It's obvious. When you're good for eight years, people get bored. People aren't as driven to spend their money on a product. They're not now. They were in the World Series?

Maybe. Is it spoiled? Possibly. Call it spoiled if you want. But that's the reality of this situation. In 2017, when I had season tickets, every fucking seat in that place was full. 2018, every seat. It was electric.

Whether the game was at 1 o'clock, 3.30, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock. It was an electric atmosphere because it was new and exciting. Same thing happened here in St. Louis. When I was a kid and the Cardinals got good again, go back and watch video of the Astros Cardinals when they played in 04 and 05. The stadiums were bonkers here. Fast forward to now where you had 15 great years of baseball. Now things have fallen off. People don't go.

It's just the way it is. So these local news media dweebs trying to make it sound like Astros fans suck because they didn't go to the game. How about you focus on the fucking team and rip them, you cowards, instead of going after your consumers and saying they're bad fans because there's some empty seats at the ballpark. It's also misleading to post pictures eight minutes before a game, before the game even starts, and say, oh, well, looks like no one's here. Go to any Texans game and post a shot 10 minutes before the game. It's going to look empty. You know, look, I'm going to defend the fans on this. Houston is a nightmare traffic-wise, like most cities, but Houston more so than it's ever been. When I was there a couple weeks ago, a nightmare in terms of traffic.

In the middle of the afternoon, you're trying to park, you're trying to get in. A lot of factors play into this. Now, do I believe the fans were as into it this year as they have been in years past? Absolutely not. Was the crowd kind of dull? Sure. Did the team play a role in that? Absolutely. The team looked dead kind of dull? Sure. Did the team play a role in that? Absolutely.

The team looked dead. The fans looked dead. Again, that goes back to the point of it felt like something was ending today. It felt like the end of some sort of era. And I don't know if it will be. I truly believe it is. I don't know if the Astros are going to fall off a cliff, but I do think it is the end of this golden era. And if it is, fucking amazing era it was. A lot of franchises would give their left nut to have the eight years that Astros fans have had the opportunity to watch and have. But it just felt different. The vibe never felt like, oh, I think we can win this thing.

The vibe never felt that way. And part of it is, real talk, that lineup sucks. There's too many people in that lineup that you look at and go, ain't nobody scared of these guys. And then the guys that they're supposed to be scared of didn't do dick. Jordan, who knows how healthy he actually was, but he was never really a big threat at the plate. Kyle Tucker, Jose Altuve, one and two in the order. One of 14 combined over two games. One of 14. And when they had a chance to blow this thing open in the seventh inning, first of all, Detroit gave you the first run. Fielder's choices, bunt singles, bobbling the bunt at third. Then you make a play to go home. It bounces to the catcher. He

can't hang on. You score, run, you're tied. Awesome. It's still bases loaded, nobody out with your future Hall of Famer, face of the franchise, who's done so many big things that I refuse to shit on Jose Altuve for everything the guy's done. But for this series, in a vacuum he didn't do dick but josh he drove in the run he did it on a foul out where a good throw probably gets the runner it was one of those plays where you go well there's a big uh there's a fine line between ballsy and stupid and he was safe so it was ballsy if he was out it was stupid but think about that altuve so many one and two pitch at bats a pop-up with the bases loaded nobody out what is wrong with Jose is it over for you too God I love you brother you're adorable you've had so many big hits but like we're sitting there waiting for a big hit

a pop-out that scores a run to take the lead is not a big hit. A big hit is what you saw them do the next inning with two outs, by the way. A bases clearing triple to go up 5-2. That's a big hit. That's what their others and their big stars were doing. The Astros' others didn't do anything, and the stars didn't do anything. But with the bases loaded and nobody out, all you could muster between Kyle Tucker, who wants big money, playoff Kyle Tucker doesn't look like he deserves it this year, and Jose Altuve.

And what did they do? Pop out RBI and a double play. One of 14 between those two guys. Yeah, it sucks that the pitchers didn't get the job done. Presley should have got the job done. You felt pretty good going into that with those two guys going in theory. Yes, you felt pretty good about that scenario, but the reality is they didn't come through. They blew it. It's easy to point the finger and say they fucked up, but the truth of this is that you lost the game when yesterday you didn't get any offense going until the eighth inning or the ninth, and then you lost today when you had the bases loaded, nobody out, top of the order up, and all you could do was get a pop out that should have really not scored a run.

Most teams are not sending the runner there. You should have ended that inning tied at one because you had no business scoring. You didn't do your job. Altuve didn't do his job. Tucker didn't do his job. And that's why this team's out. The offense sucked. And I don't know if they're going to lose Bregman. Maybe. I don't know if they're going to lose Bregman.

Maybe. I don't know if they're going to lose Tucker. Maybe. But what I'd worry about if I were the Astros fans moving forward is I look at some of the guys who they use to fill out that lineup. And there's a lot of mid players in there. Like, I get you can go back and find good moments from Dubon and Carantini and you can look at all these guys, but friends, I don't know what they're going to do. I don't know if the purse strings are going to be an issue for these guys. I don't know. There's a

big thing going around with, with the baseball teams losing their, uh, their, their broadcast rights deals with regional networks. I don't think that impacts the Astros. I don't believe, but like teams are losing their deals and that's a lot of guaranteed money. I don't think that impacts the Astros, I don't believe. But teams are losing their deals, and that's a lot of guaranteed money. I don't know what kind of money the Astros are going to spend. I don't know if they're going to be a poverty organization or somewhere in the middle. I don't think they'll ever be poverty, but somewhere kind of in the middle there. Are they going to look at this as an opportunity to reset?

Honestly, I think it might need to be. This could be your opportunity to go, let's turn the page and let's try to restart this thing again. Because I've seen this play out in places like St. Louis where the parallels are nuts, by the way. But if you look at the way this eight years has gone, the Cardinals never went to the LCS seven years in a row, but they did have a stretch over a decade where they went to four World Series and won two of them. Then it started gradually kind of going down they went they won the world series in 11 went to the lcs in 12 went to the world series in 13 next year they lose in

the lcs the next year they lose in the division series and then don't make the playoffs for three years and their young talent that they had counted on dried up. And a lot of these guys, like guys like Oledmis Diaz were part of that and just a bunch of those dudes. And they never lived up to being those dudes. I don't know, especially with what the Astros are going to do financially. I don't know where those dudes are going to come from. I don't know where they are. But what I do know is this felt like the end. And generally speaking, these things don't end on a high.

Rarely do you get to have the Michael Jordan six championships. Everybody rides off together. Then the wheels fall off. What you usually get is a situation where you don't know it's the end and you don't acknowledge it's the end. And then the end is a long, painful burn. Like if you look at the Phillies. So the Phillies, when they lost to the Cardinals then the end is a long painful burn like if you look at the phillies so the phillies when they lost to the cardinals in the division series uh three games to two they lost

one nothing in game five of that series in 2011 right before that in 2010 uh they had gone to i believe it was 2010 they went to the world series or they might have lost in the lcs i know they won a world series in that stretch as well. They beat the Dodgers in 09. No, sorry. They beat the Dodgers to get to the World Series. They played Tampa in 08, 09, whatever year it was. I don't follow the Phillies as close as I follow the Astros or the Cardinals. But all I know is that that team was riding high.

Their run wasn't as long as this Astros run, but they lost to the Cardinals. Ryan Howard blew out his Achilles on the last pitch of that game. And from then on, the Phillies were never the same, yet they had a bunch of high dollar older players. And it kind of gradually just went down, down, down to the point they had to tear the whole thing down. Do I believe that's ever going to be the Astros? I hope not. I don't know what their plans are. I have no clue. However, it did feel like we were watching the end of something and it ended in such a miserable fashion. It ended with fans kind of half-hearted into the game. It ended with Jose Altuve, and he'll still be around, but it ended with Jose Altuve still having the yips at second. It ended with Jose Altuve hitting weak pop-ups in

foul territory with the bases loaded and nobody out. It ended with Kyle Tucker, who wants a billion dollars, grounding into a double play with a chance to extend the lead. It ended with Yordan with a bum leg. It ended with the rest of the guys kind of just being ho-hum. I don't know, man. It just felt kind of like this is sort of it for this. Doesn't mean you can't turn the page. Doesn't mean you can't flip the script. Doesn't mean it can't restart next year and you've got a new thing.

But it just kind of feels like the Astros classic, if you want to call it that. Because we're running out of players from the original run anyway. It's Altuve. Basically, if you want to look at where it started, you've got Altuve and Bregman, and Altuve's not getting any younger, and Bregman may be gone. It feels like Bregman's probably gone. And then you've got the guys who are kind of the second wave of that first golden era. You might lose Tucker. And if you lose Tucker, what the fuck do you do?

What is your move? So I know that's a bigger picture thing. I'm also pissed because I lost multiple bets on the Astros. I doubled down after they lost yesterday and said, I'm going to bet on them to win today. I did a parlay with them in Baltimore to win today and them in Baltimore to come back and win their series. Baseball betting's for the fucking birds. Nobody do it.

It's awful. Stick to football and live bets and weird Ukrainian hockey bets. Do that. Do not, under any circumstance, bet on baseball. It's the fucking worst. Pete Rose, what were you thinking? God, I also hate A.J. Hinch so much. I hate the way the broadca- like, okay. Oh, he's got pitching chaos. You used an opener. Kevin Cash uses openers every fucking postseason. You didn't do anything special. Your guys got the job done. Your guys did well. By the way, Hunter Brown was amazing, but it felt like one mistake was going to cost them the game, and while it ultimately didn't, it felt like that at the time because this offense was dead, but I'm so sick of hearing about A.J. Hinch. Like, here's what annoys me about Hinch.

A.J. Hinch, the manager of the cheating team, gets a pass. And everybody on my social media that gives him a pass, they say, oh, he apologized and he had to, and you know, he had to, he served his time. The players didn't have to serve their time he's the fucking manager he could have stopped that he didn't because he's a pussy he's a cuck aj hinch is a cuck oh but he's and the people that have said this on my social media are absolutely right the only difference between aj hinch now and when he managed the astros is he no longer manages the fucking astros that's what this comes down to if he managed the astros still they kept him around you would have thought he was horrible but because he manages another team, you have forgiven him.

Just like these people forgive Carlos Correa because he plays for Minnesota, and they forgive Springer because he's played for a couple of teams, and they forgive anybody else. They'll forgive Bregman. The second Bregman's playing with the Yankees next year, they'll forget that Bregman was part of this. That's how these people are. Do I believe the world hates the Astros?

I think a lot of fucking people do. A lot of times you get this, nobody likes us, we don't care, like the Eagles people think that. No one gives a fuck about the Eagles, right? But there's a lot of people who hate, hate the Astros. And once you leave the Astros, you're absolved of all of your sins. Yet guys like Jeff Luno, brilliant baseball people who orchestrated and built this whole thing, Jeff Luno still sitting at home, can't get a job. But A.J. Hinch is sitting here having champagne poured all over him because he's a genius that had pitching chaos. The other pain in the ass is you gave up all that shit for Kikuchi, who knows how long he's

going to be here, and he never saw the fucking field. Now, part of that is because of this bogus three-game series, which is stupid, but that's the perils of having to play in it. I saw it here in St. Louis a couple years ago. Cardinals were the division winner, but they were the third division winner. They had to face the Phillies, who were still a young upstart. They hadn't been to the playoffs yet. Cardinals were at home. You lose a couple of close games in game one and two, it's over. The run's over, the dream's dead. And the Astros didn't even get Kikuchi on the fucking field. And I said that yesterday when I talked about this. Look, it worked out with Hunter Brown. Like, I don't know that Kikuchi could have done any better. You really can't. The only thing that would have been better is if he would have gone deeper into the game, I guess.

But you have this guy who dominated, and he never saw the field. But I think that's more of a product of just a three-game series, and you lost the first game and couldn't bounce back and win, and the offense sucked. I don't need to see Dubon at the plate and Carantini. I never felt threatened by any of these guys at the plate. And I didn't feel threatened by the guys that should have been productive. And it sucks. You've got a two-game series.

You don't get a chance to bounce back. Again, I saw it here in St. Louis. People talk about Paul Goldschmidt and how he's no longer with the Cardinals and they're going to let him walk. Well, the reason why I don't view Paul Goldschmidt as an all-time great Cardinal is because when he had postseason opportunity in 2022 against the Phillies in the short series, nada. Same with Nolan Arenado, nada. And it sucks that that's the way you're judged, but the reason we look at Altuve as an all-time great is walk-offs. We view him as an all-time great because of big fucking plays in the postseason. But he didn't get it done this time.

He failed. 1 of 14 for your 1 and 2 hitters in that series. 1 of 14. Fucking disaster, man. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I lost my damn money. My team I'm rooting for is at Mike Schilt. All I got left is Mike Schilt at this point.

Fuck. And here I am sitting in the damn car again, like I'm doing another show from my phone, because I didn't want to watch the end of the game. The second they got the hit that scored three, I turned off the fucking TV, got in the car, and then like a masochist, I still turned on the damn radio to listen to the rest of it. But A.J. Hinch can kiss my ass. These sycophant media people can kiss my ass. My God, if I had to hear more about how, I swear, Tim Kirkjian, who is extremely annoying, but Tim Kirkjian on television goes, basically said that the conversation about baseball he had with A.J.

Hinch was the most amazing baseball discussion he's ever had. And I'm like, Tim Kirchner, you've talked to the greatest managers and players of all time. And basically you're telling me that A.J. Hinch talking about using an opener is the most brilliant conversation you've had. You're all fuck boys. I hate you. I'm done talking about this shit. Goodbye.