The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Get Shut Out Losing 0-3 In Game 2 vs Pirates, Should Christian Walker Be Moved Down A Few Spots?

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Astros Get Shut Out Losing 0-3 In Game 2 vs Pirates, Should Christian Walker Be Moved Down A Few Spots?

10-01 in H-Town. What's happening, Houston? Hello. And welcome in to a Thursday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I am the Ross part of it. Matt Thomas is out. He will be back tomorrow. And, well, we are going to still do the show without him.

We'll have a number of guests. We'll talk about a lot of great topics. We'll have Jonathan Allen bring us the news at noon. We'll have Jonathan Allen bring us the news at noon coming up. We'll also have Brian McTaggart at 11 o'clock. Adam Clanton's going to pop in at 1. Chris Gordy's already supposed to be here, but he is a very high-powered, important executive in IHeartMedia.

So he just literally, as seconds before the show was starting, he goes, hey, I got to take this call. It's an important call. I'll be right back. All right. So when will Chris Gordy be here? I don't know. We'll figure it out.

that means it's me and you until he gets here. But you could always get in, even with both of us. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. And I don't feel responsible because I didn't have anything to do it, but I do feel a little bit guilty because we talked about it yesterday with the Astros. They played in game one of the Pittsburgh series.

They played Paul C, or win against him. Paul Skeens on the mound. They were able to get a win. Thankfully, Christian Walker got a run off of him. Then Esoc Paredes hit a two-run shot for some insurance runs. They were able to get the 3-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates. And then it followed up with what was on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday. His name, Mike Burroughs. Mike Burroughs came into the game with like three major league appearances. He had had a couple of stars.

his ERA was 8.64 and jokingly multiple times said, oh yeah, that means he's about to throw six shutout against the Astros tonight. And it wasn't six shutout, thankfully, just five and a third shutout. But two games after getting or a game after getting back-to-back shutouts for the Astros, their bats could not do anything. And Ryan Gusto, unfortunately, again, could not. go five innings. So they lost the game.

The series is square with the Pirates, which is kind of where you thought you'd be with one game and then one game against Paul Skeens. So it's not the end of the world. But it continues to raise concerns about a couple of things with the bats and with Ryan Gusto. And we talked with Dana Brown yesterday on the Sean Salisbury show when I was helping out with Dan Matthews about the trade market.

And his answer was kind of diplomatic. and the answer that he's always going to give. Yeah, we're always looking to improve pitching. Yes, yes, yes. We look at pitching. We're never going to leave any stone unturned, all that type of stuff. And it's like, okay, that's cool. But it's June 5th.

And deals for pitchers normally don't happen now. And when they do, the other team's going to have a lot of leverage because they're going to know you're desperate for starting pitching. So where do we go from here? I don't know. Thankfully, Lance McCullors, Jr. has turned in back-to-back quality starts, Gordy, but we have to wonder

how long Ryan Gusto is for this rotation. You've still got A.J. Blue Ball in the minors. There's been some talk about Miguel Uyola and how he's pitched in the miners as well. How did you pronounce the name? Isn't it Uyola? Is that correct? I think you're right. I get confused

because LSU had a pitcher, transfer pitcher last year, who was Miguel Yuloa. That's how he pronounced. Same name. He just pronounced it that way. With two L's? believe so. Now, of course, if you remember your Spanish 101, 2Ls is a Y, for example,

Villarreal. Hey, I'll say, Villarreal. Well, Dan Matthews gives the American pronunciation. Well, that's fine. He's like, I got Ross Villariel. That's fine. That's fine. I don't know how you just go like full Spanish TV reporter every time I come in here and go, Ross, Villarreal.

Oh, like, uh, the what's the girl on ABC. No, the other girl on a, on ABC 13. And she goes, that's it from the courthouse, guys. Danielo Tado from ABC 13. I'm like, wait a minute. Yeah, see, I try not to do that because I don't even speak Spanish except for what I learned. A little bit I learned in high school.

So I don't want to be like some fraud who's like, hello, I am extremely Spanish. I am a Ross of Villarreal. Anyways, how's it going by? How about them Texans? How does your family say it? Via Real. We all say it weird, too, because we're all Americanized. I mean, my family's been here.

Right. for multiple generations, even just in Houston. So I mean, long term, I guess you would call Tejano, long-term family here. We've been here a while. We didn't cross the border. The border crossed us. Gotcha. Back when Texas was Mexico.

I'd read something about the Alamo. What about the Alamo? Don't forget it. Okay. Well, remember it. Don't forget they got their ass whooped. They got massacred. I saw Pee We's big adventure.

I know about the Alamo. Okay. That's good. Anyways. So yeah. So back to the Astros starting pitching. Yeah, it's, I was just talking with Dan and the guys. I think, man, like, either you're going to trust Gusto to go deeper into a game or you move from back to the bullpen.

Like, I can't keep doing this. It's not fair to tax your bullpen constantly when he can't give you five innings. And thankfully, I mean, the bullpen held it down. And, hey, if you're losing the game, you only got to throw eight innings. on the road. So that's good news for the bullpen. But yeah, Steve Oaker came in. He got a double play and then he threw a clean inning and then Brian King Bennett Suza cleaned

everything up. So good news is the bullpen kind of kept you in it, but the bats continue to do nothing and we'll get to that in a second, Gordy. But yeah, on Gusto, I mean, look, it's what's awesome. He was supposed to be your sixth, seventh guy and even with

Lance McCullors Jr. factoring in now he's what your seventh guy that you were anticipating. So it is what it is. It's a role that he was thrust into and maybe not supposed to be in. So you're not mad at him or anything like that. But it does beg the question. It's something we talked about in spring training with Matt. I look through, I can go back and look at a lot of the short-term one-year deals that were signed. There are a lot of veteran guys that Dana Brown unfortunately did not go for it. And not really through his own fault of his own. They were desperately trying to get under the tax. They're unloading Ryan Presley. They weren't looking to acquire guys.

they had a solid one through five. Then there's a lot of depth question marks there. And they're like, man, hopefully we can hang on and keep this together. But unfortunately, two of your guys go down with Tommy John. And Argeti continues to miss time with that fractured thumb. Yeah, if I'm Dana Brown, I'm calling every day. Spencer, how's the thumb? It's funny, though.

He said on Sunday, though, he's like, he wants to do more right now. And we're trying to slow play with him. Like, we don't, because that's the thing. It's like, so many of these guys, I think some of your old pampered vets, might play up a you know like if I'm making 26 million a year and I've been in the league 15 years yeah you know this thumb

I really got to make sure it's good before I get back out there but then these young hungry guys like Aragetti's like oh man let's go I don't feel good I want to go and they're like whoa whoa cowboy slow it down yeah there's a process here Dana has said now twice in the past week when asked about Spencer

Eric Gary keep in mind he's got to go back through spring training like basically he's got to go through a whole re-phase of warming up, getting rehab starts, all that stuff. So it's still going to be a while, but that's where I say like,

Gusto, are you in my circle of trust? If I can't trust you to get through five, I've got to go somewhere else. Colton Gordon, at least, is giving you five. Colton Gordon right now, I almost consider he's the four. Gusto's the five.

And I look at who's the dude that came up for the one start? Brandon Walter gave you five. Brandon Walter, yeah. And he's been, pitching really well in AAA with Sugarline. I almost say, Gusto, you moved to the bullpen. We're bringing Walter back up and giving him that fun.

Yeah, then you got to send somebody back down and figure things out from there. And I don't know exactly what you'd do. Maybe it could be DFA season for Forrest Whitley or somebody else could be get options. I'd either move on him or, I don't know, Cesar Salazar can go back down, right? Yeah, that's true. But I understand why they're keeping him because basically you're playing character. and Dias every day. And if you have to, if one gets hurt in the game, you know,

you either lose the D.H spot or, you know, vice versa. Yeah, but also, I mean, do you want to burn a roster spot based on that remote possibility? I don't know. It'll hurt you for a few innings. When you're playing catchers. When you're playing two catchers every day. Again, there's the rare off chance that Victor, Victor, Yonner Diaz gets hurt in a game. Carrotini moves a final plate and then Caratini gets hurt.

Yeah, that's true, but I think, I don't think it's a one-for-one. On the 26-man roster, don't, isn't there a, do you have to have a certain, you have to have a certain amount of pitchers, right? Yeah, 13 or something like that? I can't remember. But Walter already came up this year, so he's not, you know, taking somebody else's spot. Yeah, I think it's 13 pitchers you can have, and then it increases to 14 when, so it's not necessarily Cesar Salazar one-for-one with a pitcher.

But it's something they got to figure out, and look, the good news is, and we keep saying this, And the good news is they haven't played their best baseball. Well, we're 61 games into the season. If they want to start playing their best baseball, that'd be great. But the bats, of course, have just been in a malaise for a lot of the season. They've been better. They're not as bad as they were early on when they were like 27, 28th and Team OPS and stuff like that. But you also, of course, are missing Yordon.

He's going to continue to miss time. So that's not going to get any better. It has to be the pitching that holds it together. and when it doesn't, you basically have what you had last night, where, look, Ryan Gusto gave you four and third and gave up a couple of runs,

three earned runs, but then that was it. You give up three runs in a game and nine innings. You should be able to have a shot to win that game, and they didn't because nobody did anything. Facing a guy coming into the game, we jokingly said yesterday, oh, man, he's got two starts. He got an ERA of 864.

Yep, he's going to throw six. shut out and that's basically almost what he did. Yeah. Well, I just, again, if they're going to get through this grind of the season, I keep it on it, it is June 5th. I mean, we're still going to get through the entire summer and, you know, what, Dana's timeline originally what he said was Arrogati, maybe July. I mean, I think it's last week of July. It's pushing now. Yeah, it feels like. Just the timeline. And then he said Louis Garcia sometime in August. Well, maybe. Yeah. probably mid to late August we're thinking.

I mean, they're scheduled live BP in a couple. He said end of June. So that means there's hurdles he's still got to climb before he even does that. So I just, again, nothing against Ron Gusto. I had him on the pregame show on Sunday. I like the guy, but. Oh, wow, that explains a lot, actually. You got to go a little bit deeper.

This is, it's unfair to your bullpen. It's been outstanding all year long to keep having to go to them and go, hey, guy couldn't get in, guy couldn't get into the fifth. We need somebody that pits a fifth, somebody pitch a six, Somebody pitched to seven, somebody pitched to eight. And it's like, gosh, like, it's just, it's a big ask right now. But again, goodos to Oker, King, and Soussa. They all kept the game scoreless last night.

Last night, the story was, I mean, it's not even really on Gusto. Gusto gave three earned. That's fine. It's, you got zero runs. Yeah, and it's also makes the margin for error that much more thin. Now, I mean, Frommer's been very good for the season. I mean, he's had a couple of bad games. And Hunter Brown's been fantastic.

Dudes a Cy Young candidate, but it's like, they can't have bad games. and you know, in 30 whatever starts in a season that a starting pitcher is going to have, there's going to be a couple of duds. But it's like you can ill afford those right now with the state of the rest of the rotation. Frumber really only had one hiccup. I mean, everything else has been. I mean, he's got a 312 VRA and it lowers every time he goes out there. Yeah, he's been very good.

So, I mean, it's like I said, though, there's no room for the moment. The margin for error is thinner with the other guys in that rotation. All right, we've got to take a quick break here on the mat, Thomas show with Ross. Chris Gordy graciously is hanging out with me. I appreciate him. We got Brian McTaggart coming up with full Astros conversation at 11 o'clock. We got you

as well. Would you shuffle around the starting rotation the way it is? When are these bats going to wake up? We've been talking about it for 60 games. We can talk about all things, Astros, and anything else you want to get to at 713-212-5-790. Again, your phone number 7-13

2-1-2-5-7-90. Astros get shut out by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Game number three tonight, 5.40 p.m. start here on Sports Talk 790. Fromer Valdez and hopefully a get-right game for the Stros. Chris Gordy Ross, Villarreal, with you here on Sports Talk 790. I think we should start. We're going to change all our imaging. It's the Matt Thomas show with Ross, Viardial. Yeah, that's good, man. Let's go.

Hispanic market. Brown people take it over in H-town. I don't know if you checked the demographics lately, pal. We're coming up. We're coming up in this world. There are some parts of town where you will not recognize Houston. What does that mean not recognize Houston? The signs. There was a part of town I was in recently. The signs were all in Spanish. I'm like, where are we? What is this? Yeah, buddy. Hey, it was Mexico 200 years ago. It's coming back. That's fine. We appreciate the diversity. I tell you this all the time.

went up to Boston for the playoffs years ago. I was like, I was shocked by the lack of, like, when you see lack of, after living in Houston for so many years, wherever you go, it's a melting pot. Yes. And then you go up there, you're like, oh, my God. Did the pilgrims just land here? Like, that's what it felt like up there. It felt like that.

When I went to Seattle, I was like, what is going on here? I was getting looks from people. I was like, I haven't felt like this in a long time. The bigger picture is you come to appreciate Houston and you go to an Astros game and it's families and people who all look different. And yes, Houston, you don't let anybody ever tell you Houston's not one of the more diverse cities. I think it's been named, I don't know by who or what, but one of the most diverse cities in the United States for years and years here in Houston, Texas, including me Rosa Villarreal here on Sports Talk 790 with you until 2 o'clock. We're going with them. I went on the stick.

I kind of like it. See? Chirony likes it? All right. All right. We'll just go with Sports RV. You can follow me on Twitter. You can also follow me on Instagram,

which I'm trying to build up. Sports RV on Instagram. All right. Chris Gordy is here with those. You can get in 713, 212. 5-790. Chris,

who's the real Christian Walker? Well, I mean... He's got eight home runs. He's not terrible. He does, but this is, I think, this is just who he's going to be this year. Don't say that. Don't say that. I thought he was just kind of slumped.

Because remember he got hurt in spring training and they shut him down. And then it was like, you know, remember opening day? It was up in the air. Is he going to be in the lineup? Is he not? And they put it, he was there. But the slow start you kind of chalked up to, well, he missed all the spring training basically. So this is the month of May or April was going to be his spring training, right?

Getting his legs under him and all that. But then, you know, we got in May, an average ticked up a little bit. He went from 209 in April to 223 in May. But it's still, like, he had about a two-week span there, Ross, where he got a little hot. I love how, look, we love Space City Home Network. They do a great job at the broadcast. But sometimes we cherry pick with the numbers, right? When you go, well, since May 24th, he's batting 300.

It's like, okay, we're saying just basically the last two weeks, he's batting 300. It's something. At least it's something. It's something. But then on top of it, now it's, what, a bunch of offers again, as of late. Over last night with three strikeouts. It's not been a great run the last several days. And it's just we keep waiting and we've been saying now, I don't think, can you, you can't say it's early now after Memorial Day in the baseball season.

We're into June. It's not early anymore. I mean, you're talking, what, over 200 of bats now for him? I mean, it's, it's well past the early point. Are you familiar with a stat cast's bat tracking stats very much? So what they have? Let's just go. Just follow me here for a second.

They have what's called, you know, a fast swing rate is a bat speed of 75 miles an hour or more. They have three years of data on this. Last year, he was at basically 53% fast swing rate. This year, he's at 40. The bat speed is way down, basically is what I'm telling you. That is concerning and does that maybe mean is there an oblique issue? Is that what we're going to point to as far as what is happening with him? That his issue is it's something that he can play through, but he's playing with the paint.

I kind of think that, but I also think no, because it would be a situation where if he was continuing to swing the bat like he is, he would probably re-injure it unless he's just somehow maintaining an injury. So if it's not something physical, then what is? is it? Is that just that he is in the midst of a decline? He's unfortunately falling off a cliff in his production a la, the name

that I was really trying to stave off. People were using this a couple of weeks in the season, Jose Abraeu, and I was really trying to fight that, but it's becoming more and more difficult to fight off that name. He hasn't been that bad, but when Jose Abrae was first in an Astros uniform,

it was a steep decline, and we kept on saying, and myself included, it's going to turn. He's got a long major league track record. He's going to be all right. And then it never really did turn. Yeah, it's like the good news is he's giving you good defense. But it's, I mean, you've got a first base problem.

Basically since you decide to move off from Real League oriel. I mean, it's been, it's been a problem. It's, it was Jose Obrayu, then you kind of plug John Singleton in there or give you something. So in the all season, you go, look who's available. You know, big time All-Star, right? Once, Christian Walker, at least. But regardless, a guy considered one of the better offensive first baseman out there for agent. It was a great deal when he said.

I also like the Abrae who do when I was signed, and that didn't work out either. Three-time gold glove, but not an All-Star. Back to Back to Back. I feel like he came close, right? I played the All-Star Futures game. Yeah, duh. So there was that. When do you play the futures game?

10 years ago? He's had some nice seasons. Yeah, he's had some good seasons. He's been good, but he just has not been good enough. It's bad when you're longing for the days of John Singleton at first base. His worst season in the last six seasons, he batted 242 at 2022. I mean, I would take that at this point. 208.

And I get batting averages and everything. It is. Yeah. But at least give me some seeing eye. singles, you know, like something that I can get on base at least. Some drag bunts or something? I mean, come on. This is ridiculous. You got to do something, Christian Walker. And only 15 walks on the year, too. Like, it'd be another thing if he had like 30 walks. You'd go, okay, at least he's getting on base,

raising it on base percentage. Yeah, all of his, yeah, his walk rates are down, strikeout rates way up. Everything is just out of whack for him right now. And it just continues to happen and it hasn't turned. And we kind of saw, remember Al Tuvei had like really one hot series in another game and he completely changed the complexion of his numbers just with like five games. So Christian Walker can really go on a heater

and kind of turn things around and start looking competent, but it feels like we've been basically saying that for 60 plus games now at this point. So where do we go from here with him? You got to keep putting it in the lineup. I don't know again. Like if he's not

100% healthy, that's something the Astros had to figure out. But you signed into a deal to be the everyday first basement. I think you slide him down. I think that's the answer. Yeah. I think just slide him down a couple spots. And I get everybody goes,

oh, who you're going to move up? Yeah, slide him out for a who. Doesn't matter. Yonair Diaz, Victor Keratin. One of the, I get it. I get it. I get it. But what's Walker giving you?

He's consistently coming up with men on base. He's giving you squad douche. All right. We've got to take a quick bottom of the break. Those are on hold will get to you when we come back. I promise anyone else wants to get in. You can. A couple of lines open.

713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-790. Brian McTaggart of Astros.com coming up at 11 o'clock here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 1033 here on Sports Talk 790. Ross Villarreal with you here on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas is out. He will be back. Say it right.

Ross Villarreal. I do have sometimes people like Hispanic people coming in. Hey man, why don't you pronounce your name right? I'm sorry. It's the whole thing. Just call me Ross, please. For the love of God. Your name is how you say it. Yeah, that's true.

713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-7-90. We've been talking stroze. We got Brian McTaggart coming up at 11 o'clock. Also, I just don't get it at 1130. In the news at noon with Jonathan Allen coming up at 12. But right now, as promised, John in League's City had been holding, so John, go ahead. The floor

is yours. Hey, what's going on, guys? How you doing? Great. So, yeah. Well, two things. I think it's been literally two to three years where we've had really, the offense has just been completely inconsistent.

You know, it's either hot or cold. You know, I always they score 10 runs and then, you know, get shut out two games in a row. That's just the way it's been like that. It's like the culture. I don't know what it is. Altube is pretty consistent. You know, I mean, I guess shortstop's pretty consistent now, but, you know.

They heated up in a big way. Last year, they were bad all season, but towards the end of the season, when they finally won the division and started winning a bunch of games, the bats got hot for an extended stretch there at the end, finally. Well, you remember also, we were horrible at home. We couldn't hit it home last year. It was crazy. And now it seems like they've kind of remedied that.

They're playing better at home. last thing. What was the Price-Tiberson Goldschmidt and this guy, Milwaukee? Because look at Goldschmidt. He's killing it in New York. We can never, any free agent we get, they're in decline, it seems like, and Goldsmith's 35.

Yeah, but Goldsmith is doing well for the Yankees right now. I don't know what his one-year deal was, but he was older and he was horrible for a couple of years. So, I mean, good on the Yankees for getting some value out of him. But at the time, I mean,

mean, it just looked like he was completely done. And like I said, he was a couple years older. I'll go look at how much the deal was, but... You know, really when you think about it, five games over 500, offense has been spotty at best, all the injuries and pitching. I mean, they're doing quite well, honestly.

I mean, for what, you know, for what they have. Because talent, when you look at it, top the bottom, isn't what it used to be. You know, it just is what it is, you know? And I think they're getting what they can out of it. They're just lucky they're in the division they are and that's really all I got. Thanks guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, look, the

good news is, is really I mean, the Yankees and the Tigers are pretty good, but the American League as a whole, it's not like it's great. It's not like it's a bunch of world beaters. Astros should be able to still make the playoffs even with the way that they're playing.

And yeah, we can keep telling ourselves, hey, they still haven't played their baseball. At some point, though, it's going to be this is who they are. So we'll see to that extent, But the offense last year did heat up. This year, hopefully it can happen again. The reality is you've been missing Yordaun Alvarez, one of the best and most feared hitters on the planet

for an extended period of time. Jose Al Tuvae looks to be, quite frankly, in decline. He's 35 years old. You got young unproven guys like Cam Smith. And then you have, thankfully, Jeremy Payne and Isak Parade is doing their thing, but under performances. Gianna Diaz and Christian Walker, I think, had the headliners there. I think Al-Tuvres.

I think he's coming back around. Does he get back to 300 on the season? I don't know, but I think he'll get close. Like, if he finishes, I would bet this, he finishes maybe 280, 285. He's got the nine home runs all right.

I mean, like... Yeah, the power has been there. The power's there. It's kind of what happened last year, is that he kind of started swinging at everything and selling out for power. Yeah. But I think that the average has ticked up these last two, three weeks. I think he's going to be fine. Do you see the big news on Al Tuvei? The big news? I did not see the big news. This was just announced. Go ahead. 10 minutes ago, Jose Altuve named a Deichen brand ambassador. Oh, thank God. He is going to partner with Deakin, Deakin Comfort Technologies, North America, Inc.

Well, the next time I'm in the market for commercial air conditioning, I will consider Dyken. Wait, wait, let me read the press release to you. Houston is home, said El Tuvei, nine-time MLB All-Star and two-time World Series champion. I've spent my whole career here and appreciate the opportunity to partner with an organization like Dykin. They cut the check and I signed it.

There we go. Thank you, Jose Altupe. Look, if you're going to be the naming rights to the ballpark, why not also have the star player endorse you? Yeah, they clearly have been ramping up their advertising. I'd never heard of them before they bought the naming rights to the ballpark. So, I mean, as far as name recognition goes, they've been running spots during games and stuff like that. Now they get Jose Altuve. This is the, isn't it this the most air-conditioned city on the planet or something like that?

So it's not a bad spot to be in for Dikin. Can't you see the commercial already? It's like a husband and wife having issues with their AC in the middle of the Houston heat and Al-Tuve shows up. Oh, have you guys called Dikin yet? Yeah, this is literally what Google says. Houston, the most air-conditioned city in the world, according to a recent study by Dikin. Deakin. Is it that, you think that's what they did?

They're like, hey, what's the most air-conditioned city? Okay, Houston? Yeah, let's just spend all over advertising money there. Not a bad idea. Not a bad marketing strategy to ramp it up in Houston, one of the hottest cities and the most air-conditioning place on the planet. Yeah, they have like a massive warehouse somewhere. I'll take your word for it. Well, Jose Altovae will tell us in his next spot.

He will. For Dyken. Congrats to El-T-Gra. I appreciate. Congratulations to him. David and Spring, you're next up here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Yeah, Ross and Gordy. You two are my favorites.

Ross, your sense of humor is great, and I like the stats both of y'all bring. Oh, thank you, David. You clearly are very smart, intelligent, and you have great taste. Yeah. So I'm kind of, I'm clueless. Did I understand that both Shaz and Zach are hurt? Yes. And what, can you tell me more about this?

left field Melton the young guy that brought up Yeah he's One of the Astros' top prospects Sorry, go ahead One more thing to throw out there

I'd never heard a Dikin But my brother-in-law Was an electrician in the Middle East Working with the Army And he said the military Installed a bunch of it Like 800 of their air conditioners In one of the facilities he was working in

Okay, back to baseball, sorry All right, thank you you, David. Appreciate it. All right, there we go. I got it. Sorry. All right. Anyways, yeah, David, first of all, thank you for the kind words. And, yeah, give us your scouting report on Jacob Melton, Gordy. I think he's been good so far. He's been fine. He's played 0 for 3 with 3Ks last night.

Well, I'm talking more defensively. He's made some, you know, played the ball well two nights ago when that sun was right in his face, made a couple nice grabs, you know, had the infield single. on his first game. I mean, it's small sample size so far. He's one, like, they talked about last year was maybe going to be the year. He would get called up,

but he'd balance some injuries. Battled an injury again this year. So, you know, hopefully he can stay healthy, but he's a guy who's 24 now. So, I mean, it's this prime, like, get him out there, see what you got in him. Yeah. You know.

He's there number two. prospect and I think he was on a top hundred list last year but he wasn't on any top hundred lists this year. I can't remember which list it was but it was 88th. I don't know if it was Baseball America or Prospectus or Pipeline or whatever. It doesn't matter.

But anyways he's got some speed. He's supposed to be good in the field. Got a little bit of power but look, he's just not one of the top prospects in baseball. In AAA this year, just 71 plate appearances.

He had an 880 OPS, which is pretty good. Last year, over two leagues, he had a 736 OPS. So more of a speed and fielding guy. Basically, is his prospect comparison to Jake Myers? Speed and fielding, not much bad. No, he's probably got more power than Jake Myers, but not thought of as one of the top prospects in baseball. Maybe you can catch the lightning in a bottle.

The only one that was was Cam Smith, and he got. removed from that because he made the opening day roster, so he's not a prospect anymore. Bryce Matthews is your number one, and a few people I've talked to before the season said in a perfect world, they'd like to keep Bryce down there at AAA all year. Let him get that. Now, he's put up good numbers. He's done, you know, he had a couple long hitting streaks, stealing some bases. I mean, he's been good defensively. You know, so, you know, but with Jeremy Payne yet short, you know, it's kind of, can he play some second? I mean, that's where your hole has kind of been created. With Altuve playing left, Dubon hasn't been in Fuego with the bat.

And Brendan Rogers has been a disaster. You could really use Bryce Matthews. Maybe playing some second base. But do you really want that many young guys up here? Do you really want to be playing rookie Cam Smith, rookie Jacob Melton, and rookie Bryce Matthews? Yeah, it's almost like, I mean, what other choice do you have? You're looking to inject some life into this team somehow. You're looking, Jim Crane and Dana Brown have said the goal is always the World Series.

So if you're looking to improve this team, that's why Cam Smith made this team out of camp because they were looking for some lightning in a bottle. They need a little something to add some juice to this lineup. But when's the last time you heard any of those people say the words World Series. It's been kind of... Well, they say the window. They mean World Series window. It's transitioned a little bit to playoffs.

I think Dana refers to it, this is a playoff team. He doesn't say this is a World Series team. He gets asked that sometimes. He's like, eh, well, does it look like a world? World Series team to you though? But as we know like remember the Nationals, remember the Braves, like it's about getting hot at the right time. Now the 22 Astros were hot the whole year and then into the

postseason. But the Braves at World Series, the Nationals World Series, they got hot in the second half of the season. So yes, while this team, and look, they're doing fine, sitting right up there in the mix and the AOS and all that. But let's see. Maybe some people do get hot. Maybe this team does pick it up. Yoron gets back healthy or Gettie gets back and maybe they go on a heater in September, then maybe yes, we say this is a

World Series Calvert. You can convince yourself for sure. All those things that you said that can happen are possibilities. But what are the odds that they all happen? The odds that Christian Walker turns it around. Yiner Diaz turns it around. Jose Altuvae improves and

gets his numbers up at least relative to where they are last year. That Jake Myers keeps this up. That Arrogati comes back healthy, that you don't really suffer any more major rotational injuries. All those things have to happen, and all those dominoes could fall

in a place. But that's basically what you need for me. For this team to be a World Series contender, all those things have to happen. But I'd say it the other way. You said, will Jake Myers keep this up? Probably no. But will Christian Walker continue to struggle? Probably not. The odds say,

he's going to have a hot month. I need him. We need him to do that, like immediately. And if it is something physical, then he needs to take some time off, but then you got to, I mean, you'd say, oh, no, you'd miss him. You got a hole in your lineup. Well, he's a hole in the lineup right now. So I don't know what the issue is if it is just, is it decline?

Is it bad luck? Is it not 100% health? Is it a combination of all of that? I don't know. But whatever it is right now that outside are on the field, it's not good. It's good in the field, I should say, but not good at the plate. Yeah. Again, you're hanging around.

You're right there still in the mix. Yes. is trash. A win tonight would be another series victory. You'd go up to Cleveland, play the Guardian. What the Guardian's been doing? I haven't even paid attention to them. The Guardians are basically like you.

They're 33 and 27. They'd be a half game ahead of you. Okay. Yeah, they're right. God, there are six games behind Detroit. The Tigers have just come out. And AJ Hitch, you know, is a little something about baseball, man. That Tigers team is red hot.

Yeah, there are four teams ahead of you in the American League. Thankfully, none of them are in your division Astros still in first place in the American League West. All right, quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Chris Gordy is hanging out. Matt Thomas is out. We got Brian McTaggart talking all things, Stroes coming up at 11 o'clock.

10.51 at the PM here on Sports Talk 790. Ross Villarillo with you. Chris Gordy as well. I got to say, folks, if you are planning to go to the Kesha show in Houston, just judging by Chris Gordy going through her catalog the last couple of breaks, I think you're going to see Chris Cordy there. What's the name of that tour that they're going on, by the way? I don't think we'd say it on the air.

You can't say it on the air. You got a certified Keshefan in here? I was listening to her songs. I was like, she had more bangers than I remember. She had some hits. It's going down. She's yelling timber. She had some issue with the guy who owned her music.

She didn't own the rights to him. It was a whole or deal. I thought she was that the one she was in like an abusive relationship with two? Yeah. So not only was he abusing her, but then he owned her music too. Yeah. So Kesha is out and she is on the Scissor

Sister's Summer Tour. One more time, one more time. The Sister's Summer Tour. What was the full one? Kesha. Well, it's Kesher and is that it is... $130 tickets to get in the pit. You want to get the pit?

Are you... People are moshing the timber? It's going down. Oh, whoo! Fire up! You're headbutting people in the pit during Ketha? Well, to I'm gonna die young, yeah, you probably mosh it up on that one. And, yes, she is on tour with the Scissor Sisters.

Not familiar with them. I don't know what kind of hits they got. Your favorite Scissor Sister's song? That would be, I wish. Yeah. Let it be. It was mine. Oh, that's great.

An American pop band formed in 2000. That would be the Cisor Sisters. It looks like it's three or four people and three of them are dudes. It is also called the... You can't say that, but go ahead. The women's body part outtore. Starts with the T. One of the seven words you can't say on television, according to George Carlin.

True. But, hmm, all right, so we're going to see you there. Where is it at? Cynthia Woods. All right. I imagine we'll be giving tickets the way to those that believe it or not at some point. But those will be hotter than the psychedelic furs, I feel like. Are you sure?

Yes. People love the psychedelic furs. I mean, we got people ringing us off the hook trying to get the psychedelic first. I knew one song by them. I think most people don't only know one song for them. Oh, where were they playing at Ron's barbecue joint? No, I think it was Cynthia Woods, right? No, Cynthia Wood, you're lying.

The psychedelic furs are headlining Cincinnati. Cynthia Woods? I'll take your word for it, I guess. That's got like the, what is it? The peacock room at House of Blues written all over it. It holds like 100 people. Jonathan would know. He was giving away the tickets.

Yeah, he should know. By the way, quick note, Jonathan, when you read that, you're supposed to say, as we're giving away these free tickets, you're supposed to say tickets available at LiveNation.com or whatever else the rest of the read says, something like that. Oh, I said the whole thing. Okay, okay. Yeah, they are house.

Because the reason they give us free tickets is because we're promoing the website and calling to action for people who don't win so they can go and buy the tickets. Why am I just not hearing this? You can tell them that off the air. No, I'm telling them right now. They are House of Blues, yeah. See, I told you,

the psychedelic first we're not going to be at Cynthia Woods. They're not Kesha. I mean, Kesha could sell out Cynthia Woods. Well, who is Kesha? I mean, at the end of the day. One of the great American songbirds, Kesha. I go with Ella Fitzgerald,

Whitney Houston, and Kesha with a dollar sign. She brought back the early 90s art of not singing, but speaking over music. What talent does she have? She just talks. She talks auto tune. Right.

And you're talking some weird kind of cadence of... Yeah. Look like Mick Jagger. And next thing you know, she's got millions and millions of dollars. Good for her. Pretty good. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Remember that early 90s trend of like the guys at the end of songs would be like,

I talk, a talk, a talk to, you know, like where they were just like speaking over music. Are you talking about the boys to men guy with a deep voice? Well, no. Like, dear, I want you back. La rhythm or la bouche. Labouche. Like those kind of bands. Okay.

Or how about just Marky Mark and the Funky Budge? Then he just kind of talked? Well, he kind of wrapped, I guess, but he did a little bit of talk. Come on. Feel it. No, we're not feeling it. Feel the vibration. Marky.

Nobody's feeling these vibrations. They're horrible. Okay. So Kesha coming to Houston and I believe Rob, is Rob, is Matchbox 20 broken up? It is Rob Thomas minus. Match box 20. That's a shame. You know what?

If there's one thing I wish Match Box 20 could get back together. Well, did you see? I think Sticks is in they're at Cynthia Woods tonight. Oh, no, tomorrow night. What's left of sticks, I imagine.

Well, it's, yeah, there's some new members, but then along with them is like a former member of the Eagles. Oh, yeah. Don Felder. No, Don Hinley?

No, Don Felder. And then Kevin Cronin from Rush. So it's not all a rush. It's just the lead singer from Rush. It's like we get some spare parts with some bands that have kind of broken up or died off. So here, come see us tonight.

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Oh, there was nothing fun here last year. It took Lauren to see Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. It was just Nick, though. But he does all the Backstreet Boys songs. Wait, I get my Nick and my Aaron. Aaron Carter went crazy, right? Right. This is

the older brother. Okay. But Nick did all of the Backstreet Boys songs. But he was himself. And where was this? It's some very small. Was it Chipotle? Yeah, it was in Very small venue. Okay. And I felt bad. It was like not even, there was like 100 people there.

Hmm. But it's really funny because like during some of the songs, he goes like, you know, tell me why. And then he holds the microphone out to you. Nobody's. He has no backup singers to sing the other parts. So the crowd has to sing the other parts. No, he's working the crowd. It's called crowd interaction.

But no, like when he's performed with the Backstreet Boys, they're all singing the other vocals. He was only singing his. Coming up next, we will get Brian McTaggart's top five Backstreet Boys song. or Kesha songs. Or top five Kesha songs is, well, you know we're going to do that. It's going to be all Keshe and all Backstreet Boys. Brian is country music only. So Pascoveneated's top five George Straight songs.

He's probably got to know some kind of 70s and 80s or something like that. All right. Okay, maybe we're going to talk Astros. We're going to get back on the rails coming up in the next segment. Brian McTaggart Astros.com. Talking all things, Stroes next. Our number two of the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. Without Matt Thomas.

He is out today. He will be back tomorrow. Got a lot of stuff coming up, including I Just Don't Get It at 1130. But right now, pleased to be joined by our weekly Thursday guest, Brian McTagger covering the Astros for MLB.com. Astros in a three-game series against Pittsburgh Pirates.

First couple of games, Brian, just like we expected, they beat Paul Skeens. And they lose to some guy named Mike Burroughs. Yeah, just like we all drew it up, right? I mean, I think it had more to do with who the Astros had on the mound probably

than who the Pirates would throw. I mean, Skeen's, they had no business one in that game, but I mean, McCuller, you know, had to him to McCullors because he matched him for six innings, and then they got the big swing from Walker. So, nice job there, but, you know, when Gusto has pitched,

it's, you know, his last four or five starts, it's, it's, he's not getting deep in the games, not giving them much of a chance. But, hey, they got Fromber today and a chance to win a series on the room. How much longer do you think Gusto is going to stay in the rotation? And then who do you think would be the next man up? Yeah, I mean, I think they might be getting close to that point. They're also going to be entering a stretch coming up where they have a bunch of games without a day off again.

Not as long as they did, you know, last time, but like, you know, I think about, you know, two weeks worth. So that might be an area where they want to. to go to six-man rotation, but who do they put in the rotation at that point? I mean, they're pretty much at the end of their pitching depth right now. You know, do you bring up Uola who's throwing really well? I mean, again, he's a rookie. You don't know what you're going to get. Blue ball was here before.

Do you bring him back? So they're in a bit of a bind here, I think, starting pitching-wise, because you feel really good if you're the Astros when you got Hunter Brown or Framber Valdez gone, and I mean, I'll even put Lance in that category now. And then when Gusto and Gordon go, you know, not so good. I mean, not that you can't win those games. And Gordon's pitched a little bit better than Gusto at this point. But the point is they're just at the end of their pitching depth right now

until they get Arrogati back. Maybe they get Garcia back in August or they make a trade. So they're in a bit of a tough spot with their pitching depth, just with all the injuries. Yeah, you mentioned McCullors. And what a godsend he's been, the last couple of starts out there, quality starts. And 102 pitches, 96 pitches. to say that that's where we are, where you're kind of putting him in the safer or reliable category

where not even a month ago against Cincinnati, he was out there getting shelled and you're like, is this guy about to get DFA in a couple of starts? It has been crazy that he has turned it around that way he is. And you're saying, Brian, you think that, hey, going forward until further notice, we can kind of trust this guy in the rotation? I think so.

I mean, yeah, I mean, it's only been a, you know, three, four start sample here. But when, I mean, if you look back at Lance's entire career, when he's been healthy, he's been good. So it's not like this is a guy who hasn't done it before. And you're like, oh, okay. But if he's healthy, he's a really, really good starting pitcher. You know, he pitches a little differently than he did before. But, you know, he can still be very effective when he's landing both of those breaking balls.

And, you know, his fastball's good enough. And so, you know, I'm not ready to put him in the Frumber, Hunter Brown category. But I think if he's pitching you, the Astros, you're like, we've got a really good chance. to win today. Brian McTaggart, astros.com, MLB.com with us here on Sports Talk 790. Brian, when, as we often do on these segments, ask you to get out your crystal ball. In let's say three months, how are we viewing Christian Walker and where is he in the Astros lineup? Like at the end of the season.

Yeah, or just in a few months. Is he still in the cleanup spot? Do you think, I mean, can he turn this around? round. Is this who he is? Is this decline? I mean, we're way too far in the season to blame the oblique thing from the start of the year. Yeah, you can't say he didn't have a, you know, spring training anymore or any of that stuff. I mean, you know, you're past the third point of the season. So, you know, you start to say, well, well, maybe this is who he is. He's declined. He's not Jose Abrae, you decline, but he's declined quite a bit. You know, his numbers,

You know, the last month or so aren't just terrible. They're not what you want them to be. You know, if you're the, I think his last, you know, 30 games, he's, you know, he's still hitting like 219. I mean, you know, you need that to be higher. He's on base percentage is, you know, like 267. So, you know, I'm not defending them. But, yeah, the deeper you get into this, you're wondering, well, this is who we have.

I mean, the good part is he's still playing a very, very solid first base. But, yeah, I mean, it depends how else the lineup shakes out, too. I mean, when Alvarez comes back, I mean, I think Alvarez is going to hit cleanup. That's pretty clear. Joe said that he likes the one, two, three at the top of the lineup like they are. So that's going to bump him down to fifth. You bump him down a little deeper, you know, maybe put somebody else in that fifth spot. I mean, that's probably conversations that they have to have.

And I think Walker's enough of a pro where, you know, they get to the midway point of the season. You know, he's still got a, you know, OPS of, you know, around 700 or whatever it is, that he'll understand what they're doing. Because he's, you know, I know this is not what he envisioned either. But yeah, we'll see. I mean, you know, he could get hot and turn it around. You know, he's, but so far through a third of the season, especially the money they're paying him,

he's been a disappointment at the plate. Yeah, we kind of saw it with El Tuva. He had that hot five-game stretch, and it just brought up his season numbers so much. So you're hoping that for Christian Walker. And really, I think we'd be talking about Yonner Diaz and the way that he struggled at the plate if it weren't for Walker.

He did get a couple of hits yesterday, but it just, he seems to be another bat that just hasn't woken up fully either. Yeah, you just wonder, if they would have got Yonner Diaz production from last year, Christian Walker production from last year, I mean, they would have a pretty good little cushion in this division, I think.

You know, I mean, look at their last few games just offensively. They're just struggling to score runs, and the games are winning is when, you know, Hunter Brown just pitch. is his tail off for, you know, Framber Valdez throws a complete game on I'd be three pitches and it's just good enough for a one-nothing win. There's just very little margin for error with the offense right now just because, or with pitching, just because the offense is just not getting it done. They just have too many guys underperforming, you know, for everything

Jeremy Pena's done and the strides Jake Myers has made, you know, a step back for Diaz at the plate, you know, a step back for Christian Walker at the plate. So that sort of negates those things. and then you have the injuries to Alvarez and, you know, Cam Smith's up and down. So it's not a great offense. They're going to need their pitching to carry them. And like we said, their bullpen's been pretty good, you know, a couple of warts against the race. And the starting pitching, their depth is being tested. So this is certainly sort of a tenuous part of the season, I think, for them.

Yeah, and you mentioned Cam Smith. I wanted to get to him. An 0-14 stretch for him. He started to see some signs alive, a lot of hard hit contact. He had that three-hit game in the Seattle. series and look like he was kind of coming around back down from him just just overall if you kind of zoom out and look at the the forest of his season how would you evaluate of course very good defensively but sputtering and up and down offensively i think it looks like a rookie who's played

50 games i mean he's had his ups and downs uh you know defensively he's become a very very good right fielder i mean no one really even talks about it anymore like okay cam smithson right i mean this is the guy who was a third baseman when they traded for him and came to spring training is a third basement. And then, you know, remember he was hitting so well, like late in spring training, like, we're going to try him in right field just because he thought that's where they could get him in the lineup. And they did. He's their opening day right fielder. And he's done a really nice job out there. But, I mean, his overall numbers aren't bad. I mean, his OPS is almost 700. His on base percentage, 3.30. He's 22 years old. I mean, he's, he's only going to get

better. I'm not too worried about him if I'm the Astros. He's going to have ups and downs like this and he had a really good homestand against the Mariners and the athletics, not so much against the race. But, you know, he hit a ball really hard yesterday to the pole side. A diving catch was made. That's a really good sign for him when he's pulling the ball. That means he's, you know, he's on time and he's where he needs to be. So if I'm the asteros, I'm not worried about Cam Smith at this point. Brian McTaggart continuing with us here on a sports talk 790. As far as lineup configuration goes, now with Jacob Melton up, with him and left, Myers and Center, Cam Smith and Wright. Then Jose Altuva back to the old second base.

How much, and of course barring health and guys getting up and down and stuff like that, how set in stone do you think that would be, especially with all this talk about Altova being in left field and then getting some work in second base and really being a natural fit there, especially with melting up with the club. Yeah, I'm not in Pittsburgh, so I haven't had a chance to ask this question. if the riders up there might have asked it and if you know if i missed it i apologize but you know that's a very big left field in pittsburgh i mean it's one of the biggest um in baseball so i'm wondering if that's you know the reason that you know he hasn't played you know left field these two games

and it's a second base just because um so much ground to cover out there and you do have melton now another left-handed bat he's been in the lineup twice against a right-handed hit a couple right-handed pitchers so you know i think probably both of those things play play into that. I mean, you know, before they got to Pittsburgh, Dubon was still playing, what, three out of every four games. At second base, Brendan Rogers, playing time is dwindled here in the

last couple of weeks, probably for good reason. So, but I just wonder if it's just park-related that we've seen Altuvae at second base the last couple of days. Yeah, okay. That'll be certainly something that we are monitoring. Brian McTaggart continuing here on Sports Talk 790.

So we keep on saying this in the season. And, like, the Astros kind of have, maybe they haven't played their best baseball, this and this and this is gone wrong. And then, of course, the good news continues that the division is very winnable for the Astros. Despite all these struggles in pitch, we talked about basically this entire interview. This is an issue, and the batting is an issue, and the pitching is an issue. And they're in first place in the American League West. Yeah, you're right, Ross.

I mean, we sit there and list out all these issues that they have and like, oh, yeah, they're in first place. you're like, what? This doesn't make sense. I mean, yeah, number one, this is a weak division. I mean, the Mariners are underachieving, you know, the changes they made to their offense or it's just not enough. The Rangers aren't very good. You know, the Angels have slipped back to being the Angels. The athletics, you know, are pretty bad.

So it's a winnable division. Astros are, you know, have a half-game lead here. Only two teams in the division have a positive run differential. And the Mariners barely do. Heck, the Astros only have a plus. 15 run differential, so it's not like they're killing it either. But a very winnable division that I think once the Astros start to get some pitching back, you know they're going to make a move at the deadline.

I think it's a division they should win. Also, their schedule is pretty easy here coming up the next few weeks. I mean, they've got the white socks coming in, the twins come in, but they're playing really, really well. Then they go to the A's and Angels. I mean, two series that they should win on the road and be able to fatten the cat a little bit. and you know, I've got Rockies coming up in early July. So a chance to, you know, to stack some wins and put some distance between you and the Mariners before the trade deadline.

Yeah, I believe by opponent's strength of schedule, opponent win percentage, they have the weakest schedule in baseball remaining. But with that being said, you mentioned a possible move getting made. And we talked about the starting rotation. Do you think Dana Brown is scuffling around trying to do anything or you just kind of hold the glue until Arrogati gets back and you can get closer to the deadline when hopefully there would be more potential sellers? Yeah, I think if they do anything, it's going to be closer to the deadline. You know, got to wait to see how all shakes out a little bit, see who's really in, who's really out. You're right. You are going to get Arrogatti back.

Maybe, you know, it's going to be closer to the deadline than not, unfortunately, for the Astros. So, you know, they're probably going to be in the market for a left-handed bat as well. Maybe someone they, you know, they can plug in to help at second base. I'm not sure. But every team is going to be in the market for starting pitching. And anytime Dana Brown talks, he's like, we're always. in the market for pitching, but I think that's true almost for any team. If you look up and down, Yankees

are going to be in the market for pitching. Tigers are probably going to want some pitching. Every team is going to want some pitching. So you're going to have to wait closer to the deadline before that plays out. But if they get Arrogati back and if they believe that Garcia's on a better track, maybe to join

them shortly after the All-Star break, they'll feel a lot better about their starting pitching. Brian McTaggartastroes.com, MLB.com. With us here, our weekly guests on Thursdays, Brian, appreciate the time and let the folks know what you got going on at the website. Yeah, Astros.com. We have coverage from Pittsburgh. I'll be in Cleveland this weekend.

So, yeah, just keep tuned to Astros.com. We'll have you covered all weekend on the road trip. And it's no paywalls, Ross. I don't want your money. Just click on and read. It's all free. Thank you. Well, why are you always asking me for a 10th?

No, well, that's a different issue. We'll talk on here. I'm sorry. My bad. I didn't mean to bring that up. All right, thanks, Brian. Appreciate it. We'll talk to you down the road.

Yeah. All right. There you go. Brian McTaggart. Actually, I'll talk to him tomorrow. No, I won't. Actually, it will be the Adams with him tomorrow. I'll be on the post-game show tonight and tomorrow.

Astros in action. Game number three of a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates. 540 first pitch here on Sports Talk 790. Quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We got coming up at 1130. Something in your life that you just don't understand. I just don't get it. That's coming up at 1130.

Keep it right here. It is the Matt Thomas show. with Ross with you until 2 p.m. 1120. In the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790, Ross Vioria with you. We'll have, let's see, news at noon with Jonathan Allen is coming up. That will be at noon, of course. We also have, I Just Don't Get it coming up at 1130.

Thanks to Brian McTaggart doing a great job covering the stroes, as he always does, joins us every week on Thursdays, and he's on Astros on deck every Friday as well. So he'll be on tomorrow with the boys. I think it's Adam and Adam, probably both of them. I know one of them. Adam Clanton will be joining me at 1 o'clock. You can also get in on the action at 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-90. So yesterday mentioned in, and it's kind of interesting to me, where the Astros are with the starting pitching depth, or lack thereof. I mean, you have guys you can throw out there, but are they plus guys? And not making a move in the off season

and not shoring up some of the depth. I felt like, like I said, there's a lot of guys that you could assign to one or two year deals for low money that are producing elsewhere in the majors. The Astros, financial resources, limited if, and he seems to be, and Jim Crane is trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold,

not be a repeat offender. and pay extra tax. That's okay. That's fine. It's a difficult line to tow for Dana Brown. Build up our farm system, which is one of the worst in baseball. Oh, by the way, keep us competitive at the major league level, which means you've got to trade away some of those prospects. And oh, by the way, your financial resources, while not limited, not Jim, again, I will always say

and then have been consistent with this, Jim Crane is not cheap. but it's like rather than going for the most expensive penthouse high rise, he's like on the 7th floor of a really nice building. He will get to a certain threshold that he's comfortable with spending and that's okay. Again, I will say he is not cheap, but doesn't want to go spend with the likes of the Yankees and Dodgers and Mets. And well, who can for the most part? The Pittsburgh Pirates are cheap.

The Tampa Bay Rays are cheap. The Oakland A's are cheap. The Houston Astros are not cheap. All right, 713, 212, 5, 790, the phone number. As I mentioned, Dana Brown, a bit of a difficult situation for him from yesterday. Now, the first part of this is about Lance McCullors Jr. How big he has been with the starting pitching depth. But the second part was about looking for starting pitching and possibly making a deal.

Dana Brown basically saying they're not going to leave any stone unturned. Yeah, Lance has been outstanding. You know, over their last five starts, we've won, you know, four. We're four and O in his last five starts. He's been thrown the ball very well, 29 strikeouts and over 20 innings, right at 20 innings. And so he's been really good. I'm on record always saying that we're always in the market for pitching. We know 162 games.

It's a very long season. So you always have to have an open mind to acquire pitching because, you know, the fact of the matter is the season's so long. Things happen. Guys get hurt. And so you're always in the market. It's very difficult. It's very early right now.

Not many teams were sellers. It's still early in the process. You know, but we won't miss any stone on term. You know, we won't leave any stone or in turn because, you know, we're always in the market for pitching. So if there's something out there that makes sense for us, we'll definitely be active. All right. So something that makes sense.

But I just don't think it's going to happen. and Brian McTaggart saying as much in the last segment. You're on June, you're June 5th right now. The MLB trade deadline is, I believe, July 31st. So it kind of moves around either somewhere around there, depending on the day. I'll look it up. But I think it's July 31st. So you're basically a month and change from that.

Spencer Arrigetti still has to completely build himself up. You've been throwing Ryan Gusto out there. You might think about going to a six-man rotation, or at least ideally you would like to, but if you have the limited resources of starting pitching, you can't do that. So again, thankfully, Lansmachol's Jr. has really been saving the Astros

baking the last couple of times out. And it's a long season, 162 games, you're going to need guys to step up. Some of them for a couple of weeks, some of them for a couple of months, and some of them for all year long, like in the case of Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez. But it's just interesting to me to see how this will play out.

and what Dana Brown will continue to do. And hopefully, I mean, you would just hope for on-field improvement. It'd be nice if Ryan Guss will just go out there and give you six innings of one-run ball. But he has not done that. And you continue to throw him out there in a starter's role. And it's not like he's completely getting shelled out there. I mean, he had that real bad start against Kansas City Royals, basically a month ago at this point.

If you go four and a third, give up three-earned runs, and then the bullpen holds it down and you end up in a nine-inning game only giving up three runs and a Ryan Gusto start. That's good. You should be able to win a game like that. You shouldn't be getting shut out by a guy named Mark Burroughs who's made three major league appearances

and we're sitting here joking on these airwaves about this guy shutting down the lineup and then he actually goes out there and does it. Five and a third of shutout ball, six strikeouts, and the Astros, unfortunately, which has kind of been a storyline. the last couple of years, not coming through with runners in scoring position. O for four with runners in scoring position.

I think even in the game, I would have to pull it up against Paul Skeens that they won. I think they're, even though they won three to nothing, because McCullors is good and so was the bullpen. They were bad with runners and scoring position in that game. Yeah, I have it. They're 0 for 4 in that game as well. So thankfully, the good news is you got to split and you're 0 for 8 with runners and scoring position in the two games. And that's what we can continue to bring you with these Astros is that we say, Rockers not hitting, Yiner's not hitting, Yon's been hurt.

Altuvae's numbers have slid back from last year, which were a backslide from the year before. And the pitching question marks all over the place. They're in first place. Yeah, it's a weak division. Yes, they're fortunate. Yes, they're lucky for sure. I think it's, is it three or four teams ahead of them in the American League?

Four teams ahead of them in the American League. thankfully none of them in the Astros division. If somehow you waved the magic wand and the Detroit Tigers from the American League West, you'd be seven games back. We'd be talking about, okay, well, hopefully you can get a wild card off of somebody. The Mariners who are a half game back of you are in the last wildcard spot, but Royals raised Js all in that mix. So good news is all these issues, all these problems,

everything we've been talking about, all this fodder for the Astros and they are in first place, 61 games into the season. You'd rather have that than be elsewhere or be where they were last year where this is around the time, I think, and maybe a little bit later where things started to turn in the right direction for the Stroes where the Mariners completely collapsed and then the bats finally got going and the team did eventually go on to win the American League West. All right, time for a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. you want to get in, you can.

Is there something you just don't get? Something you don't understand. Something that's going on either in your day-to-day life, whether it be sports or otherwise, what don't you get? 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. I just don't get it.

Coming up next here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Do you have something in your life that you just don't get? No need to worry. No need to friends. We will discuss the topics to see if we comprehend. The things that may confuse our friends, it's time to say I just don't get it. All right. You want to get in?

Something you just don't understand. Something you just don't get. 713-212-5-790. The phone number 7-1-2-5-790. What can you not wrap your head around? you can get in 713 212 5790 I will start things off

Jonathan and then I will let you go As you know we broke Okay we didn't break the news But we read the breaking news from Sam Shurani a couple of days ago New York Knicks Firing head coach Tom Thibado Since then

There's been like a hundred news stories about guys who are never going to be the head coach of the New York Knicks. Never. And I just don't like, okay, we kind of jokingly brought up the run our test one. That was just kind of funny. Right. But there was like denial. People were like, oh, I think Jeff Van Gundy, he could be a candidate for the New York Knicks job.

Maybe he would go there and, oh, I don't know. He doesn't like the owner, Dolan. But he hasn't been a head coach anywhere since. he was the Houston Rockets head coach. Now, I know he's been an assistant with the Clippers, so he's back in basketball. But I'm going to tell you right now, there's no chance, no way, no how. Jeff Van Gundy is the next head coach of the New York Knicks. Then there's this other story on ESPN, literally one of their top headlines.

Now I understand, as a radio host, it is the beginning of June. This is a slow time of year. As you're already learning, Jonathan, you're like, wow, this is sports news sucks. That's why I'm making you do the news at noon coming up. But literally the number two headline on ESPN's top headlines, Rick Petino not interested in coaching Knicks again. Really? Rick Petino.

He's 72 years old. How is this a news story? Why is this being written and posted on ESPN.com, which is supposed to be the number one news source for sports? No way. no chance know how Rick Patino is going to be the next coach. What if he's because of retirement? He's 72.

You might want to go out with a five-year contract bang. And after that, he's like, he can kick the bucket at that point. Yeah. Oh, okay. Like, I mean, who are, like, yeah, let me guess. Doc Rivers is not going to be the coach. I don't know. Who's something like 90 is?

Phil Jackson's still alive? Let's get a statement from Phil Jackson that he's not going to be the Knicks coach either. And I know Patino has New York ties. so that makes sense there. But come on, man. We know that he's not going to be the coach. How is this a news story? Why is everyone acting like this New York Knicks?

You make one East Finals, and everyone's acting like this is the biggest new story in history, and we're getting all these stories about guys like Jeff Van Gundy and Rick Petino being mentioned with the New York Knicks. I just don't get it. I just don't get it, Ross. I agree with you. Okay.

I agree with you. That was good. The Knicks. Oh, my God. Whatever. Jalen Brunson go fall down 15 more time. All right, anyways, what don't you get, Jonathan? You know, there's something that's been sticking on my head for a while,

and I was thinking of something for this segment. I was like, you know what? I just don't get people that enjoy roller coasters. And like that drop feeling you get in your stomach, like, you know, all right, I've grown up, you know, you go with your friends, like, oh, you got ride the rides and they force you on it, right? There's been times where I get there and I'm at the very top of before I get into the cart and I leave. I just disappear.

I just don't understand what's the thrill and what's the fun of that. I don't understand when you go and pay this money. You sit in hot heat for 85 to roughly 90 minutes just to sit there and you have 30 seconds of you are going to die. And it makes it makes it worse as I grew up right over there with six flights over Texas. And it's called the Texas Giant. And people about listening might know. Like when I grew up, there was this bigger lady on the news that went on there. And it has a 60 degree drop.

It kind of goes like inwards when you go. That's how like steep it is. And she fell out of it and died. Like it was closed down for like four, like five, like five years and they reopened it because it's an all wooden roller coaster historical thing. And the people stay still right in. So I just don't get that. I'm looking it up.

2013, a 52 year old woman, Rosa Ayala, Gawana died after falling from the crook. Jeez. That was like 20, you said 2012? 2013, yeah. Yeah, about to get in middle school. Yeah. Like that was peak. Like, oh my God.

I was 10 years out of college. That's fine. I will say that I am with you. Now, when I was a kid, when I was like 10 years old, we had Asterold here in Houston. And I had, I think I had my 12th birthday party at Astro World. We used to get season passes in the summer. I loved it. I thought it was great.

But as I got an adult, I'm with you. I'm like, this seems like dangerous. Now, anything in life, you have to take a risk. world, right? Like, it's probably, it's less safe being on the Houston highways than it is being on the roller coaster. You're talking about one death like 10 years ago. We've got hundreds of them in those 10 years on the freeway. So it's safer to an extent, but also, if I'm on a highway, I'm going point A to point B. It's something I need to do. It's something necessary for me to live my everyday life. It is not necessary for me to get on an old rickety wooden roller coaster where

even if there's a centella of a possibility of me dying for what? I'm with you, but I will say that I get it, that some people, it's the adrenaline rush. It's like, it makes them feel alive. But I can even get skydiving. Skydiving people do. Yeah, I think it's the same thing. I can get skydiving, but I can't. What's the difference to you?

Because skydiving, you at least go in with that chance and you already signed the paperwork that It's only just me unless you get someone that's behind you. And that's even safer. You have someone that you know that has three different parachutes to save you. You can move. You can do whatever. It's like your own body. Like water slides,

I don't get that. I don't get scared of like water slides or like that. I don't know, man. I don't get that. I don't like that. Yeah, I would say when you add in the fact that the roller coasters, first of all, are there and then in the thrill of themselves, which doesn't seem worth it to me.

You hear these stories about people dying and whatnot. Then you got to go sit there. Imagine that one, that poor woman. That poor woman, Rosa Ayala, I'm sorry, whatever her name was. That poor woman, she probably was in line for an hour and a half. She's like, man, this line is long, but it's not Arlington, you know. And then, like, you were staying in a line and then to do that. You add in the line.

You add in the heat. You add in the possibility of death. And then I'm small. I'm very small on that story. And so every time I went on a roller coaster, it feels like I'm slipping out. And I promise there's been times I'm holding on. Oh, my gosh. No.

I haven't had that problem. I squish in there like a yeast roll. You thought you'd sit your security? Yeah. I ain't falling down. I might be bogging down the whole coaster, but I'm going to be all right. So. All right.

Anyways, all right, 713, 212, 1, 5, 790, something you just don't get, Anthony. Hey, good morning. Hey, I was calling to tell ESPN to keep our coach's name out of their mouth. Why would EMA leave the young talented rockets for the Knicks who just fired their coach after making the Eastern Conference finals? I just don't get it. Yeah, I'm with you, Anthony. I mean, I get it in a way. I mean, look, it's ESPN.

It's Bristol, Connecticut, but it's basically the hub of New York. They also, of course, have offices in L.A. right now. It's big market. It's New York. It's we own everything. We're bigger than you. Shut your bum ass up. I think I said even yesterday, New York Knicks.

You haven't won a championship since 1973 since, I don't know, the Buick's or whether the Chevrolet celebrity or whatever was in production. And Nixon was getting impeached. Yeah. No. You're not going to take the Rockets head coach. I get it because it is. No, of course, I don't get why you May and Doko would do it either. And it's not going to happen.

And Rafael Stone and the Astros, excuse me, Rockets organization would hang up and laugh in the Knicks face. the only reason for me to say I get why they're talking about it is because number one, Mark Stein, a credible NBA reporter, floated the name out, basically just saying they're intrigued. He didn't say talks were progressing. He didn't say it was happening. It's just that the New York

Knicks brass is intrigued was the word used by Jason Kidd and IMA O'Doka. Well, that's fine. I'm intrigued by Jessica Alba. That doesn't mean that that's going to... I don't think it's a good comparison. Why not?

you're not intrigued I think that's good I mean I guess I am but it just ain't gonna happen you can be intrigued by I medoka it just ain't gonna happen you never go yeah you gotta shoot

what does it say you just 100% of the shots you don't take you know what I appreciate your confidence in me Jonathan I appreciate that all right on that note we're gonna take a break anything you don't get you can still get in if you'd like actually I had one more written down, but that's okay.

We'll get to some other things if you'd like, though, but we can also get to. I just don't get it. Phone lines open for you right now. 713-212-5-790 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 7-13-212-5-7-90. We got the news at noon coming up. We also have Adam Clanton coming up at 1 o'clock and you at 7-13-212-5-7-90. All right, now you people are disturbing me.

I don't want to get in some kind of wormhole about all this. And you know what? I'm blaming you for this, Jonathan. We did the segment. I just don't get it last segment. And you were talking about you just don't get it about roller coasters, which by the way, Matt Thomas's son, what is that big place in Ohio called Cedar Rapids?

Cedar Rapids or something like that? All the people in Kentucky love the one over there. Oh, really? How far away? Because Ohio and Kentucky are like border states, right? Yeah, but like I was in both. and green it's like a three hour drive people from bull and green but like louisville and so it's like hour 30.

An hour 30? Yeah, go like anywhere in Ohio really. It's really close by. Okay. I forgot what it's called though. It's not a cedar roller coaster. I'm putting roller coaster, Ohio. See what it's called.

Cedar point. Okay. That's what it is. Yeah, Cedar Point. Yeah. Cedar Rapid. Cedar Point. Same thing.

Yeah, there was a woman. Didn't like a screw get loose or something like that? Yeah, here we go. A part of the Cedar Point roller coaster fell on her head in 2021. Now, the story was from, this story is from 2024, but it happened in 2021. So, yeah, and look, like, yeah, I know hundreds of thousands. Thank you. See, point present.

100,000, hundreds of thousands of the people's go through the gates and then we just hear about this one story like every several years. But still, man, it doesn't seem worth it. No, that's not even it. The story sent to me by this, by our listener, Sam. appreciate him listening was about a boy in Kansas City decapitated on a water slide. A water slide? Wait, how does that even happen?

This is depressing. Was it going to, it was one of those big ones? I don't know. This is from 2019. I think that the ride, yeah, the incident happened in 2016. Then the guy who designed the water slide was charged with involuntary manslaughter. And I think eventually the charges were dropped. So, how can you

Yeah, it was from a Schlitterbond water park in Kansas City, Kansas. Oh, wow. So, you know what, please stop sending me stories of people getting injured at water parks or with roller coasters or anything like this. You didn't believe my point. I didn't say I didn't believe your point because I'm with you. And like I said, when I was like 12 years old and you, I think Astros, what year were you born? Astero was probably closed by the time that you're, you're, where? Where is the, this is not even showing up,

but this is how old it is. Astro World is not even showing up on Wikipedia right now. No, I don't want to Travis Scott's album. I'm talking about, that's all I'm, you say Asthma, I can't think of that. Oh, Mike. I keep in trying to be people getting injured, getting trampled at Astro World.

Okay, it closed October 30th, 2005. You were born when now? Oh, 2. I was 3. Okay, so yeah, when you were 3 years old, they didn't put you on the Texas Cyclone? No, I guess not. Right, yeah. Well, let me paint you a picture. Tell you a story, Jonathan. When you were a kid and you were in the Houston area and it was summer in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, you went to Asterold. It's what you did. It was hot as I'll get out.

They had the theater that I forget what it was called that smelled like sweat. And you'd go in there as well really because it had air conditioning. You'd be like, they'd be running like a five-minute video of whatever, whatever, would it be a roller coasterce? or something else. You'd go in there, it'd be air conditioning, and you'd go there to cool off. Then you'd go ride as many as rides as you could. You'd have to try to figure it out like,

okay, this line's going to be an hour. So I've got to go. Batman Escape had a long line. They would add basically a ride every single year, it seemed like, or every couple of years. And you'd go in the summer, and that's what you'd do. Your parents would drop you off,

be like, thank God, we're going to get them out of our hair for a little while. And it was over there where the NRG Stadium is. So I loved going there when I was a kid. But I'm with you. As I grew up, I'm like, hearing about these injuries, maybe I'm being too paranoid, but it's just at a boy point, where is this worth the risk? So I'm with you.

There you go. And now all these people... Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, I need these people to stop sending me these stories about decapitations, injuries, and all these horrific, horrible things that are happening to these poor people who are visiting these amusement parks. Because I don't want to get there. And you know what?

But I do win some games, though. So you would go skydiving, though? No, I said I get skydiving more than I do people like roller coasters. I don't know. It feels like about the same thing. It's thrill-seeking with the possible injury. Although I guess what are the real dangers in skydiving? Your parachute doesn't work, but you have like four.

You know, like, all right. Can you hit a flock of birds? Can you be taken out by like a bald eagle? How does that work when you're up there? You're good. Especially the people that do skydiving With a whole other person on top of them Like how do you not feel safe with that?

I'll give you and I just don't get it The air skydiving Okay All right now It's like you just go up there And they blast a bunch of fans on you Now that looks dangerous to me That's dangerous

You're in a little You're like It's almost like you're in a UFC octagon Like you can't They turn off the fans They mess up Like when you mess up You got to control yourself in the air

Like you do and you swim and float Yeah you got to float correctly It's like all that core muscle. Lucky sports size stuff. That's a good athlete sport. Yeah, I guess. Oh, you want to see professional indoor skydiving is what you want to see? I know what it looks like.

It's nothing crazy, honestly. Yeah, I mean, well, I'm just looking at these places and they have really high Google reviews. But that's and I just don't get it for me. Does it feel like you're floating? Does it feel like you're skydiving? Is it the same thing? Train, too, before they actually skydive as well. I don't know.

Don't call me on that. $100. $100 to go get a bunch of fans blasting you? Because to me, it doesn't, does it feel like you're falling or does it feel like you're getting pushed up? You know, I would like somebody to call,

okay, call us or tweet at Sports RV, if you would like. And I'm trying to figure out what the, oh no, here we go. Oh, there's a documentary on people getting injured.

It's called Class Action Park, explores the truth behind New Jersey. Oh, I did see that, I think. The dangerous amusement. Joe sent this to me. Have you ever, it's called Class Action Park? It's about Action Park in New Jersey, I think, where there were basically no regulations

and the owner was crazy and people were getting hurt in the 80s and these counselors and people that were running it had no idea about safety. everything was cheaply made people were getting hurt i mean yeah that was horrible i was horrifying joe thank you for sending that but i had seen it people people could just make roller coaster parks like that back in the day you just toss one up they just weren't the regulations i guess but yeah this this was a disaster yeah if you ever watched that it was pretty crazy it was unbelievable what was

going on it's called yeah action park was the name of the park open in 1978 I don't know when it was forced closed, but it was a disaster. Absolutely. It became nickname Traction Park, Accident Park, Class Action Park, which is what I believe the documentary was called. All right, there you go. Very unsettling. Jeez.

All right, that's enough for roller coaster disasters. We're going to get to the top sports news items of the day. Coming up here on Sports Talk 790, it is Ross Vio. It's Jonathan Allen. it's not Matt Thomas. Jonathan Allen is going to bring us the top sports news items of the day. We also got Adam Clanton joining at 1 o'clock. You guys want to get in.

You can 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. 12-1-1-H down here on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. He is out today. He will be back tomorrow. You've got the Astros in action tonight, 540. First pitch here on Sports Talk 790.

Adam Clinton coming up at 1 o'clock. And right now we have one Jonathan Allen. Hopefully there is no news about roller coaster injuries coming up in this. He is going to bring us the news at noon. Thank you, Ross. My name is Jonathan Allen. Hey, Jonathan Allen. How's it going?

See, this guy is so rude. Most of me mess up on air, I'm never going to do it. My name is J.K. And I'm here for your latest sports news of the day of what we can get to. If you're living under the rock and you haven't checked out what's gone on last night with Astros. Offense is still struggling and they got shut out. And so this is, you know, you just accept this. Just accept it?

Oh, I thought you were going to play a highlight. It was. They were throws to first in time and the side is retired. Astros had a lead off double by Pena. They had first and second and one out, but they come up empty. Just great. I mean, Mike Burroughs. Did you hear us multiple times yesterday?

Jonathan, we were joking. Yeah, the Asheros just beat Paul Skeen. So Mike Burroughs, the guy who's got two starts under his belt this year, like three major league appearances in total. He's going to throw like six shutout against the Astros. And well, he threw five and a third shutout. Yeah. And it's kind of ironic that we beat them three out yesterday.

And we're like, oh, yeah, number one in spot AOS. And then. Yeah. Well, thankfully the Mariners lost because the Mariners aren't very good. And the American League West isn't very good. The pirates are horrible. Poor Paul Skeins.

He's got, he went eight innings of one run ball and lost the game because he gave up one mistake to Christian Walker, who by the way went 0 for 4. Talked about with Brian McTaggart early in the show, Chris Cordy as well. Where are we at on Christian Walker?

We keep waiting. There continues to be sometimes a semblance of a sign of life for him, where we get a couple of hits here and there, but 0 for 4 with three strikeouts yesterday, hitting 208 with a 634 OPS. That is not acceptable for a first baseman that was signed here to mash 30 homers. He still played very well defensively,

so he does have value for the Astros there. Even if we're talking about, yeah, he's got us longing for the days of Jose Abraeu and John Singleton. Well, he's far superior to them. defensively, but it's also not a premium defensive position. You're supposed to be in first base. You're not supposed to be a glove first guy. You're supposed to be mashing homers and not hitting 208.

And that's what Christian Walker is doing. That's really bad for the Astros right now. What else you got? Mr. Allen. Gonna bring it over because I know we don't really like to talk about NBA anymore after what happened around here, but today is the NBA Finals game one with Indiana Pacers

versus the Oklahoma City Thunder and I just want to bring up that ESPN has them Oklahoma City that is 65% over Pacers game one I think that's absurd I think that's actually crazy and

as you guys know I did predict the bases going there I got a Pacers in 7 right I got Pacers in 6 Oh Pacers in 6 excuse me I got Pacers in 6 so I was kind of hurt But to be the news professional I am I'm just going to say the stats out here

And I got much to say On the NBA finals But I just wanted to set that out there Okay And moving into Well Oklahoma City 9.5 point favorites How much are you going to Are you planning to watch the whole game tonight?

The first game yes Yes I always watch the game one of the series every time I put a Twitter poll up on my Twitter You could find it at Sports RV If you'd like to follow me I would appreciate it Interest level in the NBA finals. I put all in. I put some interest. I put no interest. 10% of the voters right now all in.

46% some interest. So, okay, you got 57% with some interest and then 43% absolutely no interest according to my very informal Twitter poll at Sports RV. So Matt, when Matt was here, he was saying that this is going to be like one of the worst watch. Yeah. I mean, look, if you think about it on his face, like the highest possible rated probably would be like Lakers Knicks. The lowest possible rated of teams where it's actually viable. This may be it. There's only 28 markets in the NBA because you got doubled markets in New York

and doubled markets in L.A. So it's only 20, yeah, because two teams each. So only 28 markets overall. What was it? It was 22nd for Indiana and I think 26th for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But I think this is actually good for. for the long-term health of the NBA. Because when the Thunder were really good with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook,

James Harden, they were making the finals, they had this team, and they're trying to make them national superstar. Shag Gilgis Alexander's been on a number of commercials, trying to build up his brand. In 2025, you don't necessarily need the big money markets to carry all the weight for you. It happens in the NFL where, for example, Kansas City is probably, not necessarily the big long-term brand

that maybe the, I don't know, the Eagles who are the reigning Super Bowl champions are or whoever at the Dallas Cowboys, of course, get big ratings every single year. But I mean, if it's Baltimore and Kansas City, you're going to tune in. Those aren't huge game-breaking media markets. But it's because it's Lamar Jackson,

it's Pam Holmes. They do a very good job of marking stars. So the NBA needs to have a situation like this where you can showcase Pascal Seaccom and Tyrese Halliburton and Chey Gilgis Alexander and Chad Holmgren and I know it sounds funny to say showcasing those players but you got to build out the stars somehow because right now the NBA dying the NBA stars are dying out right now and the Steph Curry's LeBron James Kevin Durantz these guys aren't going to be around in five years Shea Gilgis Alexander is and I don't and NFL does so much better showing showcasing their different

players and getting different fan bases for different. different players and getting more like NBA necessarily doesn't I didn't even know like I know Seacom and I know all them but I didn't even know he was going to win the MVP if I didn't even if I hadn't sat and watched the games yeah no one's going to know that no one's going to he's not bringing anybody like that catering to their smaller audiences I feel like that's as well as Adam silver spot but you know that's a whole yeah they they do have a problem certainly with I mean the state of the game and people get upset and the foul hunting of SGA and Jalen Brunson and other guys and stuff like that. But guess what? The NBA is not, the NFL is not a perfect product either.

What do we do every year? We get all excited. We got our fantasy teams. We're ready to go. It's like week one. And then the game starts. And then there's like six flags on the first five plays for every day illegal procedure and all this weird convoluted stuff. The state of the NFL isn't what it once was either. But they do a really good job of marketing, really good job of making stars and making it feel big. And of course, and of course, course they have the baked in advantage of every game mattering that much more because it is such a short in season you kind of dilute the product in a way when you end up with 82 NBA games in a regular season 162 in Major League Baseball but I think in terms of marketing their stars and building

up guys the NBA lags behind both Major League Baseball and the NFL I agree Ross. All right what else is on the news at noon Mr. Allen? You tell me Mr. Longhorn because I A beautiful walkoff by her. And apparently I didn't really see the video. I'm just reading about it. Oh, not a walkoff, but go ahead. She tried to intentionally walk her. It was a rally.

She tried to intentionally walk her before and take a chance on that. And got that, and got that two, it was a two run, two on plate? Two to one victory. No, two to one victory, but I think she got an RBI in that hit. Oh, you're talking about the game, the go ahead. Yes. All-American catch Reese Atwood. Well, look at this guy.

We call you Mr. Softball. bring us. Hey, I saw Texas is doing good this year. I had to give him a little spotlight today. Yes. I appreciate that. Yes, they're playing Texas Tech and the Red Raiders. And thankfully, the curse has been broken.

Oklahoma's basically been winning it every year. I think the last five years, torturing Texas and a couple of those victories. But one win away, it's the best of three series, right? One win away are the Texas Longhorns. from the women's college world series victory, and that would be great for them. I mean, it'd be fine.

I'd rather they win in football, but you're getting closer. Some people are calling Longhorns National Championship favorites, but we'll see with Arch Manning and how good he actually is this year for the Texas Longhorns football team. So I'm going to give you the next story,

Jonathan, because I told you I would send you one, and then I forgot because we were talking about I got all rattled by talking about roller coasters and I was scary. Yeah, I do do this to you all the time. I'm very scatterbrained. You learned that a long time ago. So I was going to send you this story. Did you see this Livy Dunn stocker story that's going on?

Look, Livy Dunn is, let's be honest. She's just a normal stalker story. She's attractive and famous and young. And she's also with Paul Skeens. Good for her. All she is is with Fossi or she is like an influencer? Yeah. She was she's a gymness

You don't know who she is at all? I didn't know. Oh, your girls listen and you're playing dumb. I got you. No, I didn't know. You're trying to act like you haven't looked at it right now. Oh, you haven't liked any of her pictures on Instagram. That's right. You're not following her on the burner.

Sure you're not. Yeah. I see you, Jonathan. Yeah, that's smart. Honestly, you're playing it very well. I do tip of the cap to you for that. Okay, Livy Dunn apparently is getting stuck by a bunch of middle-aged men. I fear that I'm being stalked and I don't know what to do.

It's got to the point every single time I go to the airport, there's a group of at least 10 middle-aged men waiting for me and they harass me. It's these men that want my autograph. They have like a stack of 40 pictures of me or my magazines and they will run after me down the TSA pre-check line and yell at me if I don't give them my autograph. It's insane. But they will yell at me and like make a scene and the people around me are scared. Like, it's crazy.

Paul Skeens, you got to do something, man. I don't know, man. You're going to go with her? Yeah, you got a break. He's like 6-6-250. You know he's got hands. You know why? If you throw 100 miles an hour, that means you've got fast-switch muscle fibers.

That means you can throw some hands. Paul Skeets can do it. He's big, too. He's like 6-3. Yeah, yeah. I just said 6-6-250. Oh, I didn't even hear you. I know, that's fine.

You're in your old world. You're doing your own show back there. I appreciate that, Jonathan. But how about the, She said there's 10 dudes everywhere she flies. They're harassing her and trying to get her autographs. This is insane. You people got to grow up.

You got to go outside. Number one, you've got to touch grass. Number two, get yourself a woman. Okay. Go to the bars. Go get on the day. Do anything you can. Go outside.

Stop following. I don't mean go outside to go to the airport and harassed Livy Dunn at T.S. They say pre-check. Nuts. That's a lot. She said 10 dudes are doing this every time she gets on a flight. How are they finding? So you got a mole inside of Southwest Airlines or something.

And you can see when she's booking flights and you're going and finding her and then tracking her down at the airport. You people are sick. What is going on? What is going on in society today? This is insane. Makes no sense at all. And that's your news at noon. That's your very disappointing news at noon.

You know what? I'd rather go back to hearing about people getting decapitated on water slides. No, I'm just kidding. Please don't. No, I'm kidding. Please do not. Thank you. Appreciate it if you didn't.

Okay. We're going to take quick break here. That is the news at noon. We've got Adam Clanton coming up at 1 o'clock. That means the next few segments, it's just me. And you can be my co-host for a couple of minutes if you want to call it. We've been talking about Astros. How long is Ryan Gusto going to continue to be in the rotation?

Richard Walker, is this just who he is? The Asheros are cursed when it comes to signing free agent first basement, but all the issues we've talked about, they are still in first place in the West. We can talk about the rockets and their offseason if you want to get into that. OTA, stuff with the Texans, anything you want to get to. Phone lines open. 713, 212, 5790. 713-212-5-790. 1220 in the PM here on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas show with Ross. No Matt Thomas.

He'll be back tomorrow. Adam Clinton coming to hang out in a little bit. You guys can get in if you'd like because it's just me flying solo. Well, with some help from our good friend. We call him the decapitator. Jonathan Allen here. Do not call me that. Okay, we won't call you the decapitator. I guess we want.

He's hanging out as well. You guys can get in. Phone lines are wide open for you right now. 713-212-5-790 if you would like to get in. 713-212-5-790 anything you would like to get to. NBA finals tipping off tonight, Oklahoma City versus Indianapolis. And yes, that sounds like an uninteresting matchup on its face. Not the way that ABC planted out.

Probably, as I said earlier, I think if they were trying to make the maximum, you would just go with New York and L.A. since both those teams were solid enough. And then you have the star power, Luca Donch and all. but they weren't good enough. They were the three seed, the Lakers. Nicks were the three seed as well, and Lakers were out what? In the first round, I put them on fraud alert, by the way.

Basically, you remember this. Thank you. I put them on fraud alert basically the entire time. They were a fraud. They were out in the first round. But then I guess that means the Rockets were a fraud, but we're not going to say that because they fought for seven games.

Couldn't get it done. I don't want to talk about that anymore. But if the NBA were planning out of the other, they'd probably go with New York and L.A. or something like that. as far as teams that are viable and in the playoffs, Oklahoma City versus Indianapolis, probably not,

but that's what you got. They've earned it. They're good teams. I think it should be somewhat fun, but I just don't, I think the Pacers might be able to score a little bit on the Thunder, but I think the Thunder are going to score it will on the Pacers. So I'm predicting high scoring games,

and that is reflected in the total. total. $230. Dang. That's basically, they think it's going to be like 120 to 110, right? That's 230. And basically, 9.5 point favorites are the Oklahoma City Thunder.

So they think 120 to 110, that's pretty high-scoring stuff. So they should get up and down the floor. I mean, you do got Rick Carlisle. They are the Pacers, and he's yelling pace at the team the entire time, trying to get their offense off as quickly as possible. So it should be at least somewhat entertaining, even though I do think the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to win that bad boy in five games. I put up the poll on my Twitter account. What is your level of interest?

10% all in, 46% some interest, 44% no interest. You can vote on that at SportsRV. Mention the phone number at 713-212-570. We've also been talking a lot of Astros. Had Brian McTaggart on about an hour and a half ago. And we've been mentioning about this as far as lineup construction for the Astros. And with, I mean, the way that it's come out the last couple of days. Now, this, of course, is because there is a huge left field at PNC Park and the Astros.

While they are, of course, trying to hide. I mean, look, there's just no way other put it. Hide El Tuvae defensively. Doesn't have the range that he once was, not as athletic as he once was. And he's 35 years old. you look at all the defensive metrics. We talked about it ad nauseum throughout the offseason that at second base,

he's been one of the worst second baseman in baseball. In left field, he's been okay. He hasn't had a whole lot of chances out there either because they've been mixing them with DH, especially with the Yordon injury, and things get covered up with a guy like Jake Myers who eats up a lot of ground out there to where Altovae doesn't have to do as much.

And then normally they've been putting it in left field, especially at Dyken Park, which of course we know it's a short porch over there to the Crawford box. but just looking at the lineup, it feels right on its face because we're used to having Jose Altuva at second base. So when you look at the lineup yesterday and it's Altuva at second, then your outfield is Jacob Melton, very athletic,

covers a lot of ground, plays well defensively. Jake Myers, we know what he can do out there. He was a gold glove finalist last year. I would expect the same this year if he gets enough opportunities. And then Cam Smith, who was learning on the fly in right field, he's been spectacular. like he's got a good arm out there, great range, gets good jumps, athletic as well. So you have a really, three great athletes out there in the outfield with Jose Altuva at second base.

It makes sense, but before the game yesterday, Joe Espada saying, nope, he's planning to keep it basically the way that they had, where mostly he's out in left field, some designated hitting some second base. So that makes me wonder who gets squeezed? if Altova is going to be out there in left field when they go to smaller ballparks and when they come home to Dyken Park if Jacob Melton is long for the major league level. He's their number two

prospect. The time was right. You had a couple of injuries which has McCormick and Zach DeZenzo going down and those guys and you've got to figure something out and not like he had been lighting the world on fire and was injured to start the season, but you got to put him out there and see

what happens. So I wonder what the long-term plan is for keeping Jacob Melton out there and how many ABs is he going to be able to get? Especially as a left-handed hitter. Astro is in desperate need of a lefty bat. It's not like it's a great bat with Jacob Melton. So far he's got the one infield single

and he's got five strikeouts and eight ABs. Did show some good patience and had a couple of good ABs against Paul Skeens. So that was encouraging. But 0 for 3 with three strikeouts yesterday, less encouraging. And it's going to be a learning curve. like this is literally his first taste of the major leagues.

So where do things shake out from here? That's just another storyline kind of mid-season that I'm going to be keeping an eye on when it comes to the Astros, and it's going to be line-up construction with Joe Espada. I trust him. I am not one of those guys, and I know it's basically everybody on Twitter,

anytime Joe Spada puts any kind of line about there, this is idiotic, he needs to do this. He needs to do that. No, I'm not doing that. He's got the numbers. he's talking to the players. He knows who's rested and healthy and where guys want to be

and where they're comfortable and that's all fine. And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. Whoever's out there has to produce. If you have Jacob Melton on the left field and Altuve in second base or if you get Altuvee and left field

and whoever, Dubon or Brendan Rogers at second base, these guys are major leaguers. They're on the major league roster. This is how the team was built and they have to produce. And if they don't, well, you kind of end up what you did last night where you're getting shut out.

So, weighing defense and offense and all that type of stuff, I think it is important to this in an organization, especially in their heyday, starting with Jeff Luno, building this team. There was a huge emphasis on defense and how important it is and how much it does matter. So I do think we will see,

and Joe Spott has said as much, more of Altuve back out on left field, even though it feels natural to kind of just look at the lineup card, see him at second base, Melton Myers-Smith out there as your outfielders. And the defense matters there, of course. Jacob Melton, even as a young pup of a major leaguer that he is, is a better outfielder than what Jose Al-Tuve can provide out there.

But we'll see how it continues going forward. Astros again in action tonight. Game number three of the three games set against the Pittsburgh Pirates, going for another series win. Frumber Valdez on the hill against Mitch Keller. How about this guy? We talked about Paul Skeens. His ERA is like 206 or 205 or whatever it is,

and he's got a losing record. Mitch Keller doesn't have a terrible ERA. 3.73. It's all right. Dude's 1 in 7 on the season. Oof. That don't sound a lot. Pirates are going to pirate.

They are horrible. They're running Paul Skeens into the ground. What's that? Cool jerseys, though. Cool jerseys. But I'm going to say the, I'm going to peg them maybe as the most. forgettable team in baseball.

Maybe the Miami Marlins, who've lost four in a row and got swept by the Colorado Rockies. You should fold up your franchise if you get swept by the Rockies. All right, time for a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. You want to get in? Do you want to see Jose L. Tuve sticking more at second base? Or do you understand they are done with doing that consistently because of his offense? We also been talking about Ryan Gusto and the rotation, possible moves being made there. Anything you guys want to get to in general, NBA finals?

your interest level. Are you all in? Are you going to casually watch? See the first couple of games. If it's Oklahoma City Thunderbloods, I'm out. Anything you want to talk about? 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

I hope wherever little John is, he's having a great day. Oh, this is green, Okay. Yeah. You want fries or onion rings? Yeah. Does that mean both? I'm a little confused, Mr. John.

All right, welcome back to the Matt Tommy show with Ross. Ros Virea with you until 2 o'clock. Adam Klan joining at 1 o'clock. Phone lines open for you if you'd like to get in at 7-1-3-2-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90. Coming up in the next second, full, a segment, full French open breakdown from Jonathan Allen. So I'm looking forward to that.

He's our official tennis expert. And he'll let us know what's happening on Roland Garros. As I mentioned, 713, 2,1, 2, 1, 5, 7.9. You can also, okay, Ray, maybe it's not happening. Tweets to at Sports RV as well. A couple of them, let's see. Joe says, I'll watch some of the NBA finals, otherwise don't care. OK, C, and 5, gentlemen sweep.

That's what it's feeling like for me as well. I mean, I like the Pacers. Look, the good news is for Pacers, backers, like our good friend, Mr. Allen here, is that they've exceeded expectations. and taking other teams by surprise and basically every series that they've been in so far.

So. Pacis has the only team with NBA championship experience. Okay. I'm just saying. All right. We're just saying. Well, we'll see how it goes.

They took out the Bucks who also had Danae Lohner ripped his Achilles in that series. The Cavaliers, well, you know what? The Cavaliers also had a lot of ankle injuries in that series, Jonathan, just saying,

the New York Knicks were healthy, right? Unless there's something that's skipping my mind there. But they took out the Knicks. So all en route to the NBA finals where they haven't made it since 2000 and everybody's like, well, they're just going to get completely steamrolled by the Kobe and Shaq Knicks. And now it feels like, and I think that was a sweep.

And they lost in that series. And then everybody's like, well, they're just going to get completely steamrolled by the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think that will happen as well, but we shall see. Let's see. Now, a tweet from Sam at SportsRV. Well, he is at King Taro 34. News report about Livy Dunn being stalked and the SportsMT is not at work today.

Coincidence, I think not. Well, oh, come on, man. I'm not going to put that on Matt. I'm not going to not put that on Matt. Are we aware of his whereabouts? No, he is in the Houston area. I don't think he's chasing it. I guess I feel like am I going to get flagged by the FBI,

even if I look up where she lives? I'm just curious because like, are these guys stalking the same airport? Does she live in a centralized location? I mean, I know she's an influencer and fly. Does she live in Pittsburgh with Paul Skeens? And they just have like an insider there. It's going to be a network of people.

I can't even bring. I started to type this in the search bar. Don't even do it. Where does Livy Dunn live? But that's going to put me on a watch list. So I don't want to do it. I'm not like I'm doing it. I'm doing it.

You're right. Yeah. Maybe I'll just, well, but I imagine he lives in Pittsburgh. Or at least he's got a condo there. So I'm not going to look up where she lives because I don't want to end up on a watch list. But I,

maybe she just lives in Pittsburgh. And then these, these rando weirdos, autograph horrors slash stalkers, have some kind of inside information with the Pittsburgh airport. and they end up over there. I don't know. To my knowledge,

Matt is not in Pittsburgh. He is here in Houston, taking care of some family business. He will be back tomorrow. Let's see. Another tweet from Joe, Hot Tate going to get made fun of this, but what can get from Yordon?

Yeah, you're going to get made fun of that. Al Tuvae, we appreciate him. We love him. He is getting a statue. Jose Al Tuve is getting a statue, and I wish it would be the wagging. finger that he got after that Yankees' home run that everybody tried to say he was cheating. If it's him grabbing his jersey and wagging his finger, that would be the biggest

F you to the Yankees fan base. So that's how I hope is. I got to ask you because I wasn't in Houston when all the cheating. What side were y'all on? Y'all were just like, no, of course we won. They're just mad at you. Or like, to me, it was a nuanced conversation. It was what the Astros did was wrong.

They broke the rules, but they also became the scapegoat. The Yankees broke the rules. rules in 2016 and 2017. The Red Sox are the worst offenders. They had the Apple Watch scandal in 17. They had another scandal in 18

with Alex Cora and with that guy J.T. Watkins or whatever, the video guy getting let go. They made him the fall guy. Alex Cora got fired. AJ Hinch got fired. He didn't go anywhere.

See, you start up a bee's nest here, what you did, Jonathan. The freaking red socks they had multiple scandals where they had infractions, and I don't know if they lost draft picks. They were at least fined by Major League Baseball. And then they rehired that coach, and they have him back. And he's there.

And nobody says a word. And the Astros became this huge scapegoat. There's also reports in people talking about it was because of the trash can angle. Apple one team had an Apple Watch. The other team had it were banging on a trash can. And that became the story. It took on its life of its own. It wasn't this huge, big heritage brand.

You had Rob Manfred sealing up a letter to try to protect the Yankees. They wanted to make the Astros a fall guy. What they did was wrong. What they did was against the rules. They got the letter, the memo from Rob Banford saying, hey, cut all this stuff out, and the Astros kept doing it. They tried to do it in the playoffs. They were unsuccessful because the crowds were too loud,

so you couldn't hear trash can banging anyways, and they could only do it at home. So they didn't do it in the playoffs. playoffs. To me, the World Series championship shouldn't have been had the trophy taken away or anything like all that type of stuff. Ashtros

became a fall guy. There were talks about the Brewers possibly cheating. I think it was, was it Eric Crats or was somebody talking about the Rockies doing it as well? People mentioning the Dodgers. Josh Redick is handed that as well as those teams like stealing signs at that

point in the game was very widespread. And it wasn't just the Houston Astros doing it, but they became the team that was made an example of. Again, what they did was wrong. It was against the rules. But also they became the nationwide scapegoat. And then the buzzer thing in 2019 was completely fiction made up by Jam Boy.

And he started a whole media career based off of that. That really vaulted him into the forefront, investigating and making videos and like, oh, look at this tape on Josh Reddick's shoulder. Is this a buzzer? It was confetti. Oh, oh, look at this. Look at this. What is this on Robinson Trino's bat?

It was an authentication sticker. It was like he got it authenticated because he had a home run or whatever, but he liked that bat. So he kept using it. And it was an authentication sticker. Oh, what's, what's this wrinkle in Jose Altuve's jersey? Yeah. When you were running and you take a still photo, there's going to be folds and wrinkles in jerseys. It was ridiculous.

And he ran with all that. It was completely made up. And then he said, oh, this guy's confirming this on Twitter. It turned out to be some random person's burner. It was a 100% made up story. And everybody ran with it. And they continued. People still believe this.

It's crazy. I brought it up because somebody brought up the other day. It's like that, what is that quote? Is it the Winston Churchill quote? The lie gets around the world before the truth can get its pants on. That's basically what happened. It was a completely made up thing in 2019. They did not cheat in 19 or 18.

They didn't win the World Series in 18 and 19 either. It's a bunch of Yankee fan losers trying to shore up reasons for their organization's shortcomings. The Astros are your daddy. They're better than you. You got beat. And you go back and look at that 2017 ALCS where the Astros won in seven.

They got shut down by Astros pitching. They didn't score any runs. Astros could have scored like one or a couple of runs in almost all of those games and they would have won because the Yankees' bats were quiet. They were getting shut down by Justin Verlander and the boys. So I don't want to hear it. And the Yelandsman's Colors Jr. breaking off 24 straight curveballs. Suck it, Yankees.

So there you go. I'm glad you asked me that, Jonathan. Foof. Not a ass. This is another side. No, you got me upset. I need to take a break. All right.

713-212-5-790. What was I about to get on to? I was talking about... I had some Astros angle I was going to get to, but I forgot. 7-13-212-5-7-90, if you'd like to get in. We've got another segment coming up in this hour. Coming up at 1 o'clock, Adam Clinton will join. We'll have some fun with him as well.

You guys can get in. We're with you. Until 2 o'clock is the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 7-9. 1249 in the PM here on Sports Talk 790, Will Adam Clanton be here at 1 o'clock? We'll play that game coming up. I can't even make fun of him. I mean, I will make fun of him,

but I also will just be a hypocrite on this one. I was supposed to be here at 9 o'clock yesterday for Dan Matthews. Like, yeah, man, you come hang out for an hour with me. I'll hang out with hour with you. I get a text from him in 909. I'm like, oh, wait. I completely forgot. So that's my bet.

I know. I am. You know what? I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to be better. Dan, I would like to. I have formally apologized, but try to be better.

Try to be better in every aspect of my life. So we'll see. Will Adam Clanton be here at the top of the segment? You'll find out next. Coming up at 1 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790, he will hang out with me in the 1 o'clock hour. You guys still have time to get in the whole time, if you'd like. We don't bite. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number

if you would like to get in 713-212-5-790. And it has been a lot of discourse. We were talking about the NBA finals a little bit earlier about all this small market teams, small market teams. I mean, yeah, you can fixate on that all you want, but you still have to build out these stars and they have to be wherever. You can't just have everything gravitate to New York and L.A.

It's the National Basketball Association. and if the markets are big enough for you to have teams there, then they should be big enough for them to possibly make the NBA finals and be good and be on a showcase. Like I keep going back to, like the Oklahoma City Thunder were a huge deal for years when it was Kevin Duran and Russell Westbrook and the big stars that you had there.

Diver Nuggets, okay, maybe the ratings aren't good there, but they can be fun and interesting. San Francisco, while that is a, the Bay Area is a huge market, One of the reasons it became more powerful ratings-wise than New York and L.A. for stretches there is because of how good they were. And they continued to win and they built their own legacies and all that type of stuff. And you can do that there. Milwaukee Bucks, you see them and you know that Janus is there. You'll watch him.

And Milwaukee isn't one of the biggest major markets either. I mean, Miami Heat when LeBron James was there, he is a huge star. That is definitely certainly an outlier situation. but at stretches in the 90s when Dwayne Wade and Shaq were there as well, Miami, if you go look at the population of them, it's not like they are anywhere close to L.A. and New York and all that type of stuff. But it's kind of sad to me that I think you have this great fun basketball matchup. I mentioned the total being 230 and a half points in that.

That means Vegas is basically predicting about a 120 to 111 or 110 and a half game. that's high scoring, that's up and down. That's not a huge blowout. We'll see what happens tonight on ABC for game one of the NBA finals 730, but it should be more about the matchups, more about the basketball, but you just end up with all this low-hanging fruit on this, these talking head shows,

who's the face of the league? What's going on with the media markets? And it's really just because you can't break down the basketball. It's either because, A, they don't have the capability, or B, that's a lot of what the audience doesn't want. And that's another thing, too, that we come back to. We talk about this media world and this landscape that we're in, and we complain about it.

Well, you know why these talking head shows go with all these hot takes and all this overreactionary stuff and they keep things fluff in big picture? It's because that's what gets ratings. They go to where the water is and they drink, unfortunately. So we kind of have to be better as a sport. public. And it's also a different thing when you're doing a 30 minute show and you've got to talk about 10 things, 10 different things. And you can only go into in depth so much. Right. When you're spending three minutes on every topic and you're flipping around and you're trying to hit everything on Nation, long four hour show. Perhaps like the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Yeah. I can have Chris Gordion and we'll talk about Christian Walker's bat speed and it's down a tick and are we concerned and stuff like that. You can get flesh things out a little bit more. on a four-hour talk show, which is why I love this medium, which is why I'm being here. I'm interested in the NBA finals.

I think it's going to be a good matchup. I hope the games are close and it's not a bunch of blowouts, but it should be up and down, fun basketball with good young players and good young team. So my interest level is pretty good for me, at least, for the NBA finals starting tonight on ABC. 713-1-2-5-790, the phone number I mentioned. you can also send tweets to at sports rv as well was running through some of those last segment a couple more that i wanted to get to one from jd strow what about wincum pointless in calling him up

and yeah i would like shay wickham to get some looks as well it'll be interesting to see if he's in the lineup today and how things get constructed if maybe you go with a d h day for for um for altouvae then that allows you to put melton myers and Smith in the lineup. Also, I mean, you do have the righty in Mitch Keller in there, so you probably will see Jacob Melton.

And what does that mean? Maybe Shay Wickham gets a look at second base. It could happen, but I would like him. Yeah, he was swinging a hot bat for sure for the Astros. And he's played some second base the last couple of years. Played four games at second for the Astros last year. A couple of games started there. Of course, we know we had that horrible four-era game at third base.

hopefully, you know, we're moving past that. And I don't really even run. We'll really bring it up. And it was just an unfortunate situation for him there. But we'll see if he can crack the lineup. I'm with you. I'd like to see Shea Wickham get a crack at some point, especially with how hot of a bat he was swinging down at AAA Sugarland,

where he was just hitting home runs, multiple home run games, walk off home runs. He was doing it all. and now back up with the major league club. Hopefully he can get some starts and some looks for the Stroes and you're just looking for lightning in a bottle at this point. I mean, all these guys that we've talked about that have come up, not necessarily thought of as one of the best prospects in baseball,

Jacob Melton, 24 years old. He's going to be 25 very soon. Shea Wickham is 26 years old. That's a little lung in the tooth for a young phenom. Of course, Cam Smith, though, very. very young. What's he, 22 now at this point. And the future is bright for that young guy who was a top 100 prospect list.

Doesn't mean everything. There can be guys who aren't on top 100 prospects lists who come out and blow up and perform and can reach all-star level. But it would be better if they were than if they weren't. But that's just where we are in the state of the Astros farm system right now. where you have Bryce Matthews at number one, Jacob Melton number two in terms of guys that we could talk about

as being options and of course Jacob Melton on the Major League Club right now. All right, time for another break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas, he'll be back tomorrow. Adam Clinton is coming up to hang out

in this next hour. You want to get in, you can. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. tweets to at SportsRV. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Hour number four coming up really quickly. Don't go anywhere.

Number four of the Matt Thomas show with Ross with no Matt Thomas. My thanks to Chris Gordy for hanging out earlier. Brian McTaggart, good stuff. We'll hear a little bit of that conversation coming up later on in this hour. But look at this. Right on time, folks. For those of you who pegged, I think it was an 8 to 1. long shot right on time

Adam Clinton he is here and he's ready to go I always feel so loved when there's odds placed on my attendance well I said I'm a hypocrite anyways I don't know if you were listening coming in I was supposed to come in at 9 o'clock for for Dan Matthews yesterday and I showed up at 930

and then it was like hey I'm here for the Dana Brown interview and I didn't even realize Dana Brown was yesterday too how big a diva do we have both in mornings and in midday that they're just constantly just taken off. Yeah, just whenever they feel like it, they'll show up.

I'd love to get to that status one day. Yeah, like for, and especially when you think about all the grief. I was taking a day. Oh, okay. When you think about all the grief that one of those men in particular gives other people about off time or just any, to any time they're not in front of the mic, it's pretty, it's pretty large sum of hypocrisy there. Yes, a lot of hypocrisy going on.

all across the country. Now on the afternoon show where I work with a complete workaholic cyborg who hates to take vacation. He, yes. He is one of con. I think workaholic cyborg is a very good way to describe one Adam Wexler. He'll send me dates. He'd like, hey, keep these in mind, might be taking vacation. Like, are you okay? Are you feeling all right? Yeah. Then he doesn't. He's like, yeah, you know what, I ended up staying.

Well, we ended up coming back early. Why? I convinced the family that I needed to do shows. What? Jeez, dude. Well, good for him. Hey. We appreciate his high. level of attendance. He's got perfect attendance, I believe. We're going to have a certificate. It's going to be a whole ceremony. I heard Houston coming up. Very diligent. Very diligent worker. So what's the big topic

on June 5th? Topic on June 5th. We've talked about a lot of stuff. NBA finals. Is that finally start? It's feel like 89% of the discourse has been about the media market sizes rather than the actual good basketball that should be played on the floor.

I have a theory on that. Go ahead. So the day that we don't talk about the market size of the championship competitors in a championship round in the NBA is when they will finally be able to they'll never be equal or

on equal footing but they'll at least be in the conversation of okay we're on the right track to being what the NFL is you know the NFL where my old small market Kansas City has been dominating for nearly over a half decade now and nobody talks about where they're from

or the ratings Pittsburgh Steelers a huge brand. I mean, I don't even know. When it was Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks, they're not one of the biggest. That's also a couple of things in play there. Number one, the NBA, I mean, the NFL does a much better job, I feel like, of marketing their star players than the other two leagues do. Do you know what's fascinating about you saying that is that it should be the other way around because there is no sport where or no major league of the three. if you want to count the NHL, which this also applies to. But the NBA, you get by far closer to, and you get a better look at the athletes. They don't wear anything on their heads, especially helmets.

And you're right on top of them. Just ask Detroit, Michigan. Well, technically it was Auburn Hills when the malice at the palace happened. But you know, like, you have, you know, per capita or range or whatever. You have far better access to NBA players. and they play more minutes than any of the other participants because it's just five on five at all times. So you would think that would not be a problem, but you're right.

And I don't know what the answer is. I know some of the answers aren't. What's the solution? Yeah. It's just, I don't know. I'm not a huge. Maybe, you know, not going 99% of the time. It's the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors and putting 39%.

And the thunder have been on a lot of national games, and they've done their best. But it's also those other teams have to do their. part. You have to have a certain level of charisma. Like you can have, Kauai Leonard has been a finals MVP in multiple markets and he has been a great star player, but he's not extremely marketable. You need people who are marketable.

You need people who are marketable. So it takes some of that as well. You have to have a little bit of luck, but you also have to have success. And so whichever team, it's going to be the thunder, wins the NBA finals. Shegildeghildas Alexander and Ched Hongram, they've been on commercials. They were on what a pro wants with the commercials that wouldn't stop during March Madness. So they've been on a couple of campaigns. They have another one going right now.

I actually don't even remember what the product is for. So you've had Shea Gildes-Alexander, some of the marketing and building up of him as well. But it just has to continue and you have to invest that time and that money in those guys as well. You know, it's funny about Shea-Gildedis Alexander is that he is, and listen, everybody's criticizing Dorisberg right now and she's not safe in her role and blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. I know she's not everybody's cup of tea on the broadcast, but free throw merchant, I haven't seen a moniker that good in a long, long time. I don't have a big problem with Doris Burke like some other people.

She does. Now, when it's like going to break, you know, Mark Jackson was, I didn't like his analysis, but going to break and say, hand down, man down, and mama goes that, man. Those are good five-second lockouts. And then Doris Burke, it feels a little force when she does that kind of stuff. and then people post that and plaster it all over social media.

But that's like, you know, five seconds of a throwing to break, locking out, broadcast. It's not the whole thing. How do you feel about Mike Breen? I like Mike Breen a lot. I don't dislike him, but I was, and like you, and I know we agree on this, we were raised on Marv. Marvelle, Marv. I mean, if you came up. A spectacular move.

Right. If you came up in the 90s or, and I guess it's primarily the 90s because the 80s was still on CBS for a large part, You didn't have the Jordan mystique in play as much. Jordan and, of course, the Rockets, winning back to back in between. You associate him with that, except for the last one where he had stupid Bob Costas calling one of the most iconic shots in NBA history, unfortunately. And then he got pink eye during the Olympics, but I digress. But I just, you can't, like Mike Brin, there's nothing necessarily inherently wrong with him, although bang is just lame. I like bang.

It's not, yes. No, because you're always waiting. for the double bang. What's the difference? Bang. Yes. It's the delivery. Yes. Yeah, exactly. See how you said yes differently the second time? That's the difference. Okay. But no, like, he's fine. But here's the deal. If you're going to swap out, and I didn't like Mark Jackson very, I mean, particularly much. What do you want? Kevin Harlan? Well, I love Jeff Van Gundy, and I'm biased because I know him a little bit. Yes. But he was good on TV. You're going to take those two out, and you took, you took Mark Jackson out first, I believe. But you're going to take Van Gundy out

and you're going to replace it with Dick Jefferson? Come on, man. Richard Jefferson to me is just, he's, yeah, very uninteresting. I don't really care for his analysis that much. But yeah, you know, he sounds like it was good analysis. I think with the problem that ESPN and ABC had with Jeff Angundi and probably the NBA is he would just complain about the game, the state of the game all the time.

Then fix it. Yeah. Nothing he said was untrue. Nothing he said was untrue, but you know this as partners of the Houston Astros, as partner of the Houston Rockets. Yeah. When you are partnering with the NBA, you cannot go out there and just continually crush the team that is paid, the league that is paying you millions to call their games. This brings us back ironically to the crux of the issue, in my opinion, in all of the topics we have covered here in these first nearly nine minutes of this hour.

Adam Silver will never even sniff holding the jock of David Stern as far as being a commissioner. Do you think David Stern would handle it like that? Because what you just described is rabbit ears. Jeff Van Gundy was effectively removed because he had the audacity to be honest with your audience about your product. And I know there's ways to go about doing that. But you think David Stern would have handled it that way? I don't know. I don't.

Okay. He was a total mafia guy. What does that mean? What did he have done? He would have had Jeff Van Gundy assassinated? No, but it wouldn't. He would have recognized that Van Gundy is still good for the brand. and he would have taken steps to improve the issues that Jeff Van Gundy is just merely a mouthpiece pointing out.

Like, look, I know how you feel about LeBron and it's probably different from me. Like, you probably appreciate his greatness more than I do because it's not clouded by all of the other extracurriculars with you. I don't care about his extracurriculars. But to me, you can't have part of the LeBron era without all of it, and all of it means he's just, there's so many things about LeBron that are not basketball related that I think bogged down his legacy and get in the way of appreciating him.

A couple of stray misinformed comments. I mean, has he run for office? Is he, I mean... I think he'd like to. Okay. I mean, sometimes I wonder. But it's just like, the whole goat debate is so tired anyways,

but it's just so, I feel like it's getting easier with time, not hard. And so you can definitely tell... You're right. Easier for LeBron. He's racking up more moral NBA's, racking up more points, rebounds and assists. When you play until you're 40 and have to do that to get these types of things.

When you're not a three-time quitter, when you just don't quit all the time. And when times go, oh, I was so tired from being in the finals three straight times. Maybe he was encouraged to, and that was the story they came up with. Going back to my mafia thing was Stern. Right, you have to come up with a conspiracy theory to shore up a three-time quitter. Michael, you've got a gambling problem. We'd like you to step away for a year and a half. You can come back and we'll have a better team.

waiting for you. What was the time limit? It was 18 months, so he came back in the middle of 1995? Exactly a year and a half. Yeah. You have to make up a conspiracy theory to shore up misgivings in that man's career. Well, conspiracy theories have a funny thing of always being rooted in a lot of fact. The guy was out gambling on, was Bigfoot real? I don't know about that. Is Lognest Monster? Conspiracy theory? Those are like tall tales, though. Those aren't conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theory to me. Okay.

Because we're going to figure out a way to get to OJ before the end of this segment. You'll see. Oh, but the moon landing was a hoax? I don't know about that. What? There's a conspiracy theory. You said it's rooted in truth. We never landed on the moon.

Flat, the earth is flat? Where's the truth in that? There is no truth in that. Right. Okay. Lockness monster. Where's the truth? I'm telling you, conspiracy theories aren't all rooted in truth. Now let's talk about JFK. Okay. Now let's talk about 9-11.

Did he get killed by the CIA? There's like 10 conspiracy theories. It was the CIA. It was the mafia. It was, it was Lynded B. Johnson. I mean, there's like 10. It can't all be true. It can't, yeah, but it can't all be conspiracy sometimes.

All right, anyways. So what else you want to do? Oh, here's a good one. I just Googled like conspiracy theories. Averill Havine has been dead for 20. Oh, see. That's just. That's conspiracy theory.

Two Pock, Elvis, Michael Jackson. You just told me there's Ruth truth rooted. In conspiracy theories. But when you say flat earth, that's not conspiracy theory. That's just stupid people who aren't accepting of like all of this over here research and science. It's a conspiracy theory. Oh, by the way, you know, pictures from space that show you, we kind of live on a sphere here. Literally put a stick in the ground and watch the sun go around in a circle.

There's your answer. That's, that's as basic as I can get it for some of you dumbs out there. Ross just spelled it out. All right. We're going to take a break on that now. Adam Clinton is here. We are firing on all cylinders. On time.

We are firing on all cylinders because the brakes are sneaking up on us. You want to get in, you can. Your favorite conspiracy. No, don't call them with that. I'm just kidding. 713, 212-790. We're going to talk some Astros. We just talk some NBA finals, anything you guys want to get into as well with you until 2 o'clock.

It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Going into 119 in the PM here on Sports Talk 790, Ross, here we are with you. Adam Clinton here as well. Appreciate you hanging out, Adam. Oh, it's no problem. I didn't work yesterday, so I figured I should make up for lost time. Yeah, you guys are off early today as well, right? And tomorrow.

Oh, and tomorrow. Not as early tomorrow. Those East Coast road trips aren't so bad, are they? I mean, if it's not that, it's a day game. I mean, we can't catch a break with Matt Thomas and his judging and judges. I'm not saying that. No, I'm saying it's good. I mean, I'm on the post game today and tomorrow, so I like these early East Coast games as well.

How do you, when you're hosting an Astros post game, yes? When or loss, how do you get? how long to go? I will always, even if, let's say, let's start with zero calls. I will go to a 10, and it also depends on the time, right? Because we hear on radio, we have what's called, I'm just explaining to the folks. I know, yeah, obviously.

What's called the top of the hour where you have to hit an ID and just basically say KBME, Houston, it's legal, we have to do it. So if it's up against the top of the hour, I will just go until then. otherwise, let's just say in a perfect world it starts right at, let's just make up a time, 10 o'clock. I will go till about 10, 11, 10, 12, take a break, come back, play some audio, and I'll be out in, I try to go at least 25, 30 minutes at a minimum. General rule of thumb, you get more calls on average

after a loss than a win? I would say so, yes. Because everybody wants to play manager. Oh, when the bullpen blows it and Joe, it's all fired, Joe Espada. But sometimes you can have a really fun win, And you'll get some people excited. But I would say...

Walkoffs and whatnot? Yeah, walkoffs are a good time. Christian walkoffs? Well, they happen, but fewer and far between as far as... I mean, he's got eight home runs, but a lot of them have been high leverage home runs. How blessed are the Astros that they play in this crap division this year? They're very blessed. They have the fifth best record in the American League, but they're first in their division.

Yeah, I was about to say it's not just a division thing. I heard you talking about that earlier. I'm glad you brought that up because as the season has gone on longer, strangely enough, there has been no real separation. So it's not just an AL West thing. The AL, the American League in general in 2025 is very mediocre. Their tigers have a little bit of, yeah, I guess it looks like it's the Tigers and Yankees as I pull it up. It's tigers ahead of everyone, two and a half back are the Yankees.

Then the twins are six back of the Tigers. So it's like Tigers, Yankees, then kind of everybody else, Astros in that mix. But even I don't trust the Yankees, of course. Like I trust the Tigers before I just. trust the Yankees right now. I trust them to win that division. I don't know if there are going to be some kind of world beaters come World Series time. A.J. Hinch? That would be one, AJ Hinch.

Yeah, I would say. He worked his magic against the Astros last year. His magic in game one being, Terrick Schuble, go out there and shut everybody down. Yeah, and shouldn't really need to do particularly much more than that. Just don't have your bullpen blow the lead. And then playing matchups with a

bullpen game, I mean, that was the pathway for the Tigers to win that series, and they did it. In two games. You think wildcars should be longer? I think they shouldn't have a... Baseball is such a baseball sport. They're so... But then, I mean, are we going back to 154 for regular season?

You probably don't want to trim that revenue. Well, no, what I'm saying is should the series be longer? Yeah, but then you're going into like mid-November, and if heaven forbid at some point you end up with like twins, I don't know, pirates, okay, pirates aren't going to be ever been in the World Series, maybe with Paul Skeens. But, like, if you end up with two cold weather teams and you're going to, getting in a mid-November, you're going to have like snow flurries in the middle of games.

Yeah, but all that kind of concern went out the window when Rob Manfred was like, eh, let's just leave the guy on second base. That's permanent. Yeah, but they don't do the playoffs. That's true, which makes it even dumber. We're going to completely change the rules. No, nobody wants to be there. No, I like two hours.

If you're waiting around for post games like I am, two hours and 25 minutes, let's go. Chris Burke's walkoff would have never happened. Yeah, but you got the beautiful, wonderful. Jeremy Pena, not walkoff because they were on the road, but 18-inning home run, Luis Garcia, five innings. You get that. That stuff's cool, and that's memorable in the playoffs. 18 innings against the Guardians in June, ain't nobody got time for that.

I'm on board with a man for me. If the guardians are taking you to 18 in June, that's on you. That's on you, but it ruins your bullpen. It tires out arms. It ruins the rest of the series for you. Well, we made it for over 100 years. Yeah, sometimes you've got to progress. yeah we also didn't have a cure for

typhoid fever okay you gotta get a got to so now typhoid fever and a gift runner on second base are the same thing and the name of progress you're at home moving a dresser and you scratch your arm

it's time to amputate okay we got to progress we get a dolly in this world of ours yeah get a dolly hey I got a wooden arm now okay what happened man scratch my arm

he got infected they had to cut it off okay we got to progress in this world so this happened in East Harle him apparently. I don't know what accent that was. I don't either. But I lost my arm. All right? You had a bunch of pirates walking around with scurvy and peg legs, okay? We got to progress

in this world. We got to get better. We got to move forward. We can't have 18 innings in the middle of June on a Wednesday against the Guardians. You know, progressives are always the best thing. I'm just going to say. No. No, I get it. I understand.

And look, for the sake of efficiency and all that kind of stuff. But the problem I have with it is not the, it's not necessarily the gimmicky rule itself, although it is lame to me, but it's like this happening in a sport, which for so many years also, oh, we're so steeped in tradition and numbers. And that's all skewed now. Yeah, they're, I like it. They're finally getting stuck out of the mud. And you have, we didn't even mention this, the, it looks like the challenge system is coming next year, which is at least a step in the right direction. Yeah, let's not get all of them right. Let's just get a few. All right, guys, we have the technology. We can

do this. We can get every single call right. You and I are locked up with this. Yeah. Yeah, you and I are definitely eye to eye on this. But we're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. Why? Well, you need the human element. Okay, guys, we have this system. It's going to be in place. It's going to be there. It's not even about expenditure. It's not about money. The system

is there. Technology. It will be installed. We're actually using it at different levels. That's what I'm saying. When you bring in this challenge system, everything that you need to get every single call right will be installed. You pressed a button. Furthermore, it's not like you're completely removing the human element from other calls in the game.

No. Just the most important one. Yeah, hey, we can get every call right. Who cares? What if I told you in basketball, we could get every single foul. We had some really crazy technology. We put a sensor on somebody's shoulder. And they can tell when the body was contacted at a certain PSI.

And we could get every single foul call right. Wouldn't you want to do that? Well, Jemond Green will be out of work, for starters. Well, Shaggildes Alexander's numbers would go down, but that'd be okay. As they should. free throw merchant that he is. Free throw merchant, as Doris Burke would say. But yeah, like, I don't, like, you're still going to get

bang, bang, plays at first base and double plays and all that. Yeah, look, hey, umpires got enough opportunities to get everything wrong. But the same zone for every player based on their height, designation, you know, from out too they expand it a little bit, especially with

the way breaking stuff and it spins in and all that type stuff. You might be far more consistent. Yeah, you'd need maybe a slight recalibration to get numbers to where you'd want them. Maybe Taylor Walls doesn't get thrown out the other night. Guess what? You find a knob on the machine and you crank it a little bit to open up to widen or lengthen or whatever. The strike zone, the strike zone. We scrubbed the record book of Greg Maddox's strikeouts. It's awesome. Yeah, most of them. I mean, well, at least half of them. Speaking of getting you out of there in a tight two hours, 10 minutes. That was Greg Maddox was great for. And the zone's going to be the size of Texas for him only. Well, he's got to get home. Exactly. You take away all that type of stuff. why would you do that? Well, anyways, the division. Winnable for the Astros.

Yeah, and look, I think they actually will end up winning it. I was hearing you guys talk earlier, and I think you actually brought this up with McTaggart. You know, they're going to go get some help from a pitching standpoint. But I'm like, like, they're going to be buyers instead of sellers at the deadline. Who are you trading? I don't know. Are you just...

Well, Joey Loporffito, Jake Bloss, and Will Wagoner, or are doing much of anything. True. But if that's your answer. That was the steel of the century, the hall of the century, according to Astros fans that the Blue Jays got. If you can get something for those guys, which, by the way, the Astros completely won that deal

until further notice. Cucucci was amazing here. He was. If you don't win the, they were, what was it, they won 9 out of 10 of his starts or something like that? And he was stupid, good. And they won the division by like 2, 3 games. And now he's an angel and he sucks.

Well, they suck. I think he's, yeah, they suck. But like if you can get that, even on a rental, because that's what it ended up being, for those guys, then Chas McCormick from 2023 should at least get you something equal. Because that's your trading. You would hope. You're trying to convince somebody to trade him. But also there was the hope. When there, I mean, definitely in hindsight, they gave up nothing.

But we didn't think at the time they were giving up nothing. Who's worse as they leave the Houston Astros organization under their current service? circumstances in a deal. Chaz McCormick or Miles Straw. Because Miles Straw got you Yiner Diaz. Yeah. And still, Aiton. Well, yeah.

That's why your guy, James Click. My guy, I thought it was me. No, I'm not going to go that. We've progressed in that regard now. He's your cousin. How about that? James Click? Dude, Matt Thomas thinks I look like James Click.

A little bit. I don't look. We did a video once with our aviators on, and that's when it really looked alike because you couldn't see our eyes. Like I said, cousins. Yeah, it was actually before the 22 championship run, that postseason, like when they have the workout day that's open to the media, we're down on the field. And it's perfect weather, by the way, because Houston in October is amazing. And James Click, I convinced him to, and what was funny is, oh, Gleason over at Channel 13.

Jackie? No. Why am I drawing blank on his first name? Larry? He was taking, he was taking video of. of Maldonado looking at me and James Click. And it was in his mind, you could see him like talking. The gears turning.

Yeah, he was talking to, I think, I can't remember who he was talking to. He was like, these guys look exactly alike. And so I'm like, I'm just going to do it. There's all those jokes about it. Matt keeps talking about it. So I walk over to James Click and I'm just like, we're going to do a video together right now. That's how I said it. And he's like, all right, what are we doing?

Like, Hugh was cool about it though. And then, you know, we just talked about how we were, you know, basically separated at birth. And it worked. No, I'm sticking with cousins. All right, quick break here. on the Matt Thomas show when we come back. Good conversation with Brian McTaggart MLB.com. All things Astros, that is next.

135 here on Sports Talk 790, Rosvieria, with you. Adam Clinton hanging out as well. Appreciate him. Show goes until 2 o'clock. Wanted to bring you guys, though, some conversation with Brian McTaggart from earlier today. Appreciate him joining as a weekly guest, as he always does. Thursdays at 11 o'clock. You can find the full conversation, Sports Talk, 790.com.

But good stuff with Brian McTaggart Astros.com. Started off the conversation talking about Ryan Gusto, didn't go five innings again yesterday. Could there be some thought in the Astros' minds going elsewhere as far as the rotation? Yeah, I mean, I think they might be getting close to that point. They're also going to be entering a stretch up where they had a bunch of games without a day off again, not as long as they did, you know, last time.

but like, you know, I think about, you know, two weeks worth. So that might be an area where they want to go to six-man rotation. But who do they put in the rotation at that point? I mean, they're pretty much at the end of their pitching depth right now. You know, you know, do you bring up Uola who's throwing really well? I mean, again, he's a rookie. You don't know what you're going to get. Blue ball was here before.

Do you bring him back? So they're in a bit of a bind here, I think, starting pitching-wise, because you feel really good if you're the Astros when you got Hunter Brown or Framber Valdez. gone and I mean I'll even put Lance in that category now. And then when Gusto and Gordon go you know not so

good. I mean not that you can't win those games and Gordon's pitched a little bit better than Gusto at this point. But the point is they're just at the end of their pitching depth right now until they get Erigetti back. Maybe they get Garcia back in August or they make a trade. So they're in a bit of a tough spot with their pitching depth just with

all the injuries. Yeah you mentioned McCullors and what a godsend he's been the last couple of starts out there, quality starts, and And 102 pitches, 96 pitches, to say that that's where we are, where you're kind of putting him in the safer or reliable category, where not even a month ago against Cincinnati, he was out there getting shelled and you're like, is this guy about to get DFA in a couple of starts?

It has been crazy that he has turned it around that the way he is. And you're saying, Brian, you think that, hey, going forward until further notice, we can kind of trust this guy in the rotation? I think so. I mean, yeah, I mean, it's only been a, you know, three, four-star sample here. But when, I mean, if you look back at Lance's entire career, when he's been healthy, he's been good. So it's not like this is a guy who hasn't done it before. And you're like, oh, okay.

But if he's healthy, he's a really, really good starting pitcher. You know, he pitches a little differently than he did before. But, you know, he can still be very effective when he's landing both of those breaking balls. And, you know, his fastball's good enough. And so, you know, I'm not ready to put him in the Frumber, Hunter Brown category. but I think if he's pitching you the Astros, you're like, we've got a really good chance to win today. Brian McTaggart, Astros.com, MLB.com with us here on Sports Talk 790. Brian, when, as we often do on these segments, ask you to get out your crystal ball.

In let's say three months, how are we viewing Christian Walker and where is he in the Astros lineup? Like at the end of the season. Yeah. Or just in a few. months. Is he still in the cleanup spot? Do you think, I mean, can he turn this around? Is this who he is? Is this decline? Is this, I mean, we're way too far in the season

to blame the oblique thing from the start of the year? Yeah, you can't say he didn't have a, you know, a spring training anymore or any of that stuff. I mean, you know, you're past the third point of the season. So, you know, you start to say, well, maybe this is who he is. He's declined. He's not Jose Abrae, you decline, but he's declined.

quite a bit. You know, his numbers, you know, the last month or so aren't just terrible. They're not what you want them to be. You know, if you're the, I think his last, you know, 30 games, he's, you know, he's still hitting like 219. I mean, you know, you need that to be higher. He's on base percentage is, you know, like 267. So, you know, I'm not defending him.

But, yeah, the deeper you get into this, you're wondering, well, this is who we have. I mean, the good part is he's still playing a very, very solid first base. but yeah I mean it depends how else the lineup shakes out too I mean if you know when Alvarez comes back I mean I think Alvarez is going to hit cleanup that's that's pretty clear Joe said that he likes the one two three at the top of the lineup like they are so that's going to bump him down to fifth you bump him down a little deeper you know maybe put somebody else in that fifth spot I mean that's probably conversations that they have to have and I think Walker's enough of a pro where you know they get to the midway point of the season you know he's still got a you know OPS of you know

around 700 or whatever it is that he'll understand what they're doing. And because he's, you know, I know this is not what he envisioned either. So, but yeah, we'll see. I mean, you know, he could get hot and turn it around. You know, he's, but so far through a third of the season, especially the money they're paying him, he's, he's been a disappointment at the plate. Brian McTaggart continuing with us here on a sports talk 790. As far as lineup configuration goes, now with Jacob Melton up,

with him and left, Myers and Center, Cam Smith and Wright, and then Jose Altuvae back to the old second base. How much, and of course barring health and guys getting up and down and stuff like that, how set in stone do you think that would be, especially with all this talk about Altuve being in left field and then getting some work in second base and really being a natural fit there, especially with melting up with the club? Yeah, I'm not in Pittsburgh, so I haven't had a chance to ask this question.

if it, you know, the riders up there might have asked it, and if, you know, if I missed it, I apologize. But, you know, that's a very big left field in Pittsburgh. I mean, it's one of the biggest in baseball. So I'm wondering if that's, you know, the reason that, you know, he hasn't played, you know, left field these two games and is a second base just because so much ground to cover out there. And you do have Melton now another left-handed bat. He's been in the lineup twice against a right-handed hit, a couple of right-handed pitchers.

So, you know, I think probably both of those things. play into that. I mean, you know, before they got to Pittsburgh, Dubon was still playing, what, three out of every four games. At second base, Brendan Rogers, playing time is dwindled here in the last couple of weeks, probably for good reason. So, but I just

wonder if it's just park-related that we've seen Eltuvae at second base the last couple of days. You mentioned a possible move getting made, and we talked about the starting rotation. Do you think Dana Brown is scuffling around trying to do anything, or you just kind of hold the glue until Arrogati gets back and you can get closer to the deadline when hopefully they'll be

more potential sellers. Yeah, I think if they do anything, it's going to be closer to the deadline. You know, got to wait to see how all shakes out a little bit, see who's really in, who's really out. You're right. You are going to get Arrogatti back. Maybe, you know, it's going to be closer to the deadline than not, unfortunately, for the Astros.

So, you know, they're probably going to be in the market for a left-handed bat as well. Maybe someone they, you know, they can plug in to help at second base. I'm not sure. But every team is going to be in the market for starting pitching in any, time Dana Brown talks, he's like, we're always in the market for pitching, but I think that's true almost for any team. If you look up and down, Yankees are going to be in the market for pitching. Tigers are probably going to want some pitching. Every team's going to want some pitching. So you're going to have to wait closer to the deadline before that plays out. But if they get

Erigetti back, and if they believe that Garcia is on a better track, maybe to join them shortly after the All-Star break, they'll feel a lot better about their starting pitching. There you go. Brian McTaggart, MLB.com. day guest here on Sports Talk 790. He's also the Friday Astros on deck guest. He'll be on tomorrow with one or both of the

Adams, I'm not sure, but hey, Astros will be in action. Of course, we are your home of your Houston Astros. 540 today, Framber Valdez on the hill in another rubber match. It feels like the Astros have been in a billion rubber games where, of course,

that means it's 1-1 and the winner wins the series. For those of you who don't know, but it's been on alternating wins and losses. So another rubber match for the Astros. Today, 540, first pitch, 430 Astros on deck here on Sports Talk 790. Time for a quick break. When we come back, it is the final segment of the show. Adam Clanton in the fold.

Ross, we are we out with you? It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. I think I should do it. You won't. Oh, now it's on. Oh, you won't? If he's listening to his own show right now. Who are we talking about?

All right, final segment of the Matt Thomas show with Ross, without Matt Thomas. He will be back tomorrow. Adam Clinton, you will be here. And who's on deck coming up at 430, Sports Talk 7-9? We are. Together? That's great. He did it by himself yesterday because I was out.

You're here today, though. We appreciate you. Putting in the extra hours. Yeah. And then, so I got vacation time coming up at the end of the month. It's like it bridges the gap between the end of June and end of July. It's fantastic. But man, I have, I've got my eye on June 14th.

What's June 14th? Flag Day. Okay. And also Metallias here. It feels like a lot of OJ anniversaries happen in June. Well, yeah, the day before is the anniversary. Actually, I think it was June 12th. The night of June 12th is when he went over to Nicole's place.

Allegedly. Slaughtered her in an innocent waiter who was just trying to give her mom's glasses back. Allegedly. Okay, I guess. He was found not guilty in the criminal case. Oh, what happened in the civil one? They were like, hey, pay up $33 million because you didn't do it. And then he dodged the Goldman's for 30 years until he died.

Well, his NFL pension was protected. Well. Because he lived in Florida. I can't imagine why you would want to do that if you were innocent, though. Dead double murderer. What do you think it's like where he's at right now? You know what? I brought up O.J.

So I'm going to blame myself. for this. If you don't know, Jonathan's like, what's going on here? Adam is obsessed with random deaths. Well, not random, but assassinations and the OJ trial. And 9-11. And you're obsessed with that too? Oh, yeah. Hardcore. What they say about the O-J trial, it was his son that killed the two, and O-Dade took the fall

for it. That's like the worst of the bad theories. Come on. There's truth. Jason was a chef. So there you go, because of the knives. What happened? He was a chef at one of the... He was a chef. Yeah, like I think when they went to the restaurant that night,

she had made it very clear to OJ he wasn't invited. So that made juice mad. And then I think originally, and I don't know if this is true or not, that they were, the post-recital dinner could have been had at Jason's restaurant where he was a chef, but they were like, no. So double whammy. So clearly Jason and OJ got in the Bronco and went over there and sliced up two people. allegedly, according to Jonathan's theory.

You see, Jonathan, he's got a PhD in the OJ murders. I do. This is like a history professor about like the invasion of Poland. My grandpa, the firefighter in Englewood and the 80s. No way. So like, and he was with the Englewood, you know, random stuff. But that's what he told me about the OJ stuff when I growing up. That was like, it was his brother, you know.

He knew. So he, wait a minute. Your grandpa's got inside info? No, no, no, no. He's just in the departments. He heard the whispers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. department, you know. So he knew, he knew some of the

firefighters in Brentwood and they got together with the firefighters in Englewood and they had a discussion about this. Just like we're doing right now. That's what they're doing. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I like that. Astros in action tonight. Well, I was going to ask sports related, how often did he make a run over to the forum when it was the only

thing out there? Oh, all the time, my great grandma lives right across the SOFI and forum. He went to UCLA for football and Utah. So you will be whatever's less than zero surprise about this. When we went to L.A. in 2017, ironically, because this was before the World Series that year with the Dodgers. Okay. I made some pilgrimages.

Yep. I got in the car. See, people make pilgrimages to, I don't know, religious buildings or holy sites. You went to murder. The forum was the first stop, man. Here's how this went. It's like, we're there. Why is the forum a pilgrimage?

Because that's where Ralph Samson shot dropped. That's where Magic Johnson caught it? Well, he didn't catch it at the forum. I think he caught it. Anyway, I told Teresa, it's like, we're there for Disneyland, right? So we're staying in Anaheim. And I'm like, listen, you can either go with me or I can go by myself, but I'm going to these places at some point this week. Did you go by yourself?

Well, Anaheim is where Disney is. Everything I wanted to see was on the other side of L.A., basically. And as you know, L.A. has the worst traffic in America that's... New York. So I get in, it was a very nice SUV we were rented and I'm like, I'm going to get my money's worth out of this thing because it was ridiculous. Because all the taxes in California and all that. Yeah, I imagine. So I get in and I'm like, all right, here are my stops. I think it was, is Compton, if I'm coming from Anaheim, is Compton or Inglewood first? What am I going to get to? Compton and Inglewood. So I drove by the Compton sign, took a picture. We drove by the forum, took a picture. These are all quick stops. Okay. Then I made my way over to, of course, Nakatomi Plaza. in Century City, where the diehard building is, took a picture in front of that.

Wonderful. And then I made my way over to Gretna Green, where she had the 911 call after he busted in. What now? When she made the first 911 call. Who? Nicole. You know, when she made the 911 call

and she was like, he's going to come in here and beat me up again, you know, the one that everybody's heard. So she was living at a different house. Yeah, what did you do when you get to this site? Did you fall to your knees and start crying? No. I mean... Oh, I'm not sad.

I'm happy to be there. Why are you happy to be in a murder site? It wasn't a murder site. This was the first house. I told you, you're not listening to me. So I take a picture of that, and then you got to realize the place where she got sliced up is actually like less than a quarter mile away down the street. So I go over there, and I take a picture in the front, and then I go around back where his Bronco was waiting.

Yeah. And I'm taking a picture there, and the owner got home. And he didn't like that. But I'm like, whatever, dude. You're the one that bought this place. Pot by the house. Yeah. The garage door starts coming up and I'm like, uh-oh.

The new owner's home. And, uh, he didn't like me take it. But, you know. Nor should he. Dude, you bought the place. You know what you signed up for? That's why you remodeled the front of it. Some freak on a, oh my God.

An assassination pilgrimage. I'm hardly the first or the last. People go by there all the time. That doesn't make it. Okay. I don't care. There's no judgment here. This is what I do.

This is what I do. You don't think. I think I went to the museum in New York as soon as it opened for the 9-11 memorial. I was there. And I've been to Dealey Plaza several times. JFK-O-J 9-11. These are the ABCs of me. Okay.

Well, more of that, folks, coming up at 2 o'clock. I feel like I learned a lot about AC today. I'm sick. I'm a sick individual. Yeah, you learned to keep your distance today, didn't you? You trust me with your child. I promise, I'm fine. That's a no for me, pal, but I'm not going to have children.

I'm not going to have children. I'm okay with that. All right, anyways, on that note, thank you for hanging out, Adam. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Thanks for Adam Clinton hanging out. Thanks for Chris Gordy for hanging out.

Brian McTagher. Thanks to J.K. Allen producing. Thanks to all of you for listening. I do appreciate it. Now you're going to add into the mix. Another Adam. They call themselves the A team, so don't go anywhere there.

Up next here on Sports Talk 7-9.