The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Getting Stronger, USMNT Advances & Giannis Trade Rumors Heat Up

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

Astros Getting Stronger, USMNT Advances & Giannis Trade Rumors Heat Up

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. H-Town. Good morning. And welcome to a Monday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. Oh, 2. Good afternoon and good night, David Fry, and that is the ball game. Finished him off on a high fastball. As the Astros finish off the Guardians today, winning 2 to 1.

They take 2 out of 3 in the series and go 4-2 on their homestand against Detroit and Cleveland. Oh, Terry in Ohio, you can suck it. Yeah, doesn't he always a steak dinner and a million dollars now? Yeah, I'm going to keep looking at Venmo account. Terry from Ohio. At Sports RV on Venmo, let's go. Old Chicago, so much better than the newer Chicago. Okay?

This is a jam. Turn it up. I am feeling stronger about the Astros. How about you, SportsRV? I am feeling better. Look, EMI pitched well, tongue pitched well. And arrogate, man. It was marigetti.

No, it was bad a giddy. Oh. Yeah, it was more like baguettios. Yeah. Arrigettios. It was like on a ball of bargaining and getting spaghetti. Hey, come on now. I was actually having this discussion with someone this weekend.

Back in the day, Olive Garden was like, you're going a nice place. May I give you an example of such? Yes, that's where you had your wedding reception. No, I didn't. No. You always mix stories up. And they're just the worst. I'm just kidding.

Do I got to write that down for Friday already? It was just a joke. It was my high school graduation dinner in 1990. When Olive Garden first came into play in this city, not what it was like the rest of the country. But when Olive Garden came in, it was the place to go. First of all, the breadsticks and a salad, even to this day, are legendary. Uh-huh.

And you went there, and it was, it was not, it was like, it was, it was, it was like, it took over for Pizza Hut to go out and eat some sort of Italian. It was a little nicer, yeah. The first interior. Uh-huh. All you can eat breadsticks? Well, I mean, the breadstick.

Oh, my God. And salad? I mean, part of my 250 weight was the breadsticks. Really? Yeah. Well, that's all you can eat salads too, Matt. Yeah, but it's a little easier to eat all you can eat breadsticks. Oh, okay.

Yeah, first date I ever went on with my high school sweetheart. We went, I was like, hey, baby. I'm going to take you this nice plate. We're going to go to, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to, We're going to go to Deerbrook Mall for a movie. Before that, though, we're going to Olive Garden. So I'm curious. Olive Garden and Humble by Deerbrook Mall.

Well, maybe because Rio Raredes was so popular, and then it went down, and then Olive Garden kind of took its spot. Yeah. And now there's one of Rio Redis, and there's just a bunch of Olive Gardens. But when did Olive Garden still become just mid? It just got surpassed. Food's gotten better. Restaurants have gotten better. Carrabas probably jumped over them.

Sure, why not? Love me some carrabas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a little 35-year restaurant synopsis of the Italian scene in Houston, Texas. That's what we do here. Good. And we talk Astros. Yeah, we do talk Astros.

We talk about how Yordan is, I mean, why is he not putting it in an MVP campaign? I mean, he's just crushing. He is an MVP. I believe he's the MVP leader right now. Yeah. Yep, he's got, among the leaders in home run, I think he's second. Slugging numbers are still good. OPS is amazing.

He's drawing walks because, They're not going to pitch to him. He's going for a triple crown, baby. Let's go. But RBIs don't matter. No, because, again, he's going to lose that because he's in the second spot. Yeah, and you need people ahead of you. And well, uh, 7-8-9 has been an albatrosser on the after his line.

That's not been great. No, no. But because we are the only station in town that's giving you standings on the day, and I am, by the way, I'm very proud of the standing. All right, standing whore. I am a standing whore. Here's the rule. The rule is I'm doing. standings every day the rest of the season. What?

Yeah. That's it. What if they get 10 back? You'll probably get you probably get you. That I'll, that field's so well. I can't speak today. Astros are three back in the American League West, three back. Okay. Now granted, they've got to carry three teams. Well, they're also one back of the Rangers. But all you got to do is win and you keep one and a half back of the A's. Oh yeah. And then three back of the Mariners. Three back of the Mariners, but they're behind a couple other teams. That ain't that ain't nothing. Sports Army. You're going to see these teams. You're going to see the Rangers before the All-Star break.

Okay. Then we go to the Wild Card. Two back of the Wall-Card. You know what? We can taste Walt Card. What is it taste like? Well, you know what? It's not a filet mignon, but it's a good sirline.

It tastes like mediocrity. No, it's a little chimitura sauce. You're a third wild card. You're mediocre. You're still in. Yeah. And of all years to be the third wild card against whoever's going to win this division, it'll be the worst division's going to be mid and probably be the Seattle.

It will be the mayor's. or whoever will be the division. Whoever, yeah, when's it? And the Astros only have to climb five teams to get the... Oh, my God. And ain't nothing. That ain't nothing. All right.

Nothing. How many teams are in the American League? There's, well, 15. Oh, they have to climb. How many? Five? So a third of the league? Okay.

Well, I mean, you got to... It's nothing. Tampa Bay is going to have the number one wild card. Just as they said last week, or was it Joe responder, I don't know, with Bogussevick or McTaggart. Somebody said it. Just keep your head down. Focus on yourself.

And win series. That's what you got to do in life, Matt. You got to focus on yourself. Don't focus on what everybody else is doing. And by the way, improve yourself. You're going to sweep this team. First of all, sweeps in baseball just don't happen like they used to. There is, especially in 20206 because the top to bottom, they're just a significant amount of difference.

They won't. They won four their last five. Shut your bum ass up. Yeah, let's play 667 baseball. We're good to go. That's fine. All right. Look at my prep sheet today on a Monday.

Look at that. It looks like a giant post-it. Yeah. What's because I write. Which hotel did you steal that from? This would be the board. Oh, the Magnolia downtown. Oh.

Or Carly had her, we had, stay before her graduation. Damn, all are fancy. Let me try. All right. So we had the Astros 2 out of 3. Waiting to hear from Terry from Ohio to Venmo me some more money because right now the Vemba. I keep looking at zero and he's a millionaire. Mm-hmm.

So at least he could do is calling. Yeah. He said he won the lottery, right? The Powerball? Yes. Okay. Which, you know, good for him. I hope he's great for him.

Yeah. Until we got that. I'm wishing him the best. Yep. Let's see what else we got. We had a U.S. men's national team went on Friday. Woo! You guys are...

Suck it, Australia. We're having kangaroo burgers. All right, that's too much. I'm sorry. Man, I didn't really have such Australian hate. I mean, apparently Australia hates the United States. And we're like, we didn't even know you guys hated us. Oh, people hate us in general.

Yeah, that's true. They hate us because they ain't us. Correct. So, Jonathan, I don't if you're listening back there. I know you're working on the show. But Jonathan, I put the show on in the I Heart Radio app when I was driving through Galveston on Saturday at about 120, 1.25. And you guys had the 130 pregame show.

Somebody just wants to see what y'all were talking about. Here, how you guys were downtown? Wonderful. Yes, you were a vacation? Are you rested? How are you feeling? Feeling great. Feeling great.

So I turned it on, and you and Jonathan are ripping the hell out of me about the amount of percent times you would really want to crush me for my analogies, but yet you hold back. Yes. We're talking about how nice we are. Hold on. I said I say 70% of the time. I get to tell you straight.

I was saying in general. I know. I am very nice. But you said you had to bite your lip on a multiple occasions. I was talking about how nice I am. Well, here's the reality. The rule for both of you is, if you hear something that you don't agree with me, I want to hear it 100% of the time.

Because I don't want to hear, I don't want to have this fake optimism between the two of you. We never get through a segment, though. That's the problem. That's why I have to hold back. It's not fake optimism. If we had lunch, I would tell you straight to their face, too. It's just... Okay, but you said 70%.

Let's get to 100. Okay. Because 70% is barely passing, as you might know, from your days at SFA. Hey, Ross said 30, so look, I don't know. So we'll get to that. U.S. men's national team will get to that. We will get to the Yannis.

I may hit a gut feeling. Shamm says that Yana's getting traded before the draft tomorrow. I said heat. That was my gut feeling. I decided. Are they still the leader? in the clubhouse. Celtics still want to get involved in that as well. What else we got

here? Dusty May, you're like, who's Dustin? Of course I know. Dusty May. Redhead pitcher used to be with the Dodgers, now with the Red Sox. Right? Or the Michigan head basketball coach. Now the Dallas Mavericks coach. Oh, whoops. Yeah, got that to discuss today. Speaking of basketball, a good friend of the show, Calvin Samson, University of Houston coach is going to

join us 1130 today. Oh, Justin May is the pitcher. Sorry. I knew that. I wanted to let's pass. 1130 today we will have Kelvin Samson on. He's going to have a great night tomorrow night because two of his players and last year's team won the first round draft picks. Love it. So we'll talk to him about that. It's great. Get ready for the draft. To tell the truth, we're going to bump back to

1230 today. Okay. And we have missing you at 120. We believe it or not at 150. We've got you guys involved as well. Wow. At 713-212-5-790. And is there more of a gulfier name? gulfy name than Wyndham Clark

Zander Shafali would like a word But that's good too But Shafelie is a foreign name So I would assume that maybe Zander would be a little bit different than But Homeboy Windham Clark Wyndham Clark's four and two Was he from?

I don't know he's not native You're not a 96 guy? Yeah Or is he? He's not Jim Proudfoot So he's four and two Oh I see what you did don't do that.

That's terrible. Jim Brown. As far as you can put the word chief in front of him. God, promise. All right, I cracked myself up with that one. Yeah, I know you did. Let's see, let me see where Wyndham Clark is from. Oh, he's from Denver.

He lives in Scottsdale. Windham Clark. Well, the U.S. open. And apparently nobody cheered for him. They didn't cheer? He's kind of an a-hole. Oh, right. really like most golfers are all right

well he's a two-time u.s. open winner yes he is good for him and when he doesn't win tournaments he goes in a clubhouse and destroys locker rooms Wyndham clock he's got to have a deal with no uh no his uh the hotels his cap had something else on oh really yeah and we won't give him a free play

think he's a hilton guy I don't know speaking of windham did you see what happened to the windham resort in Jamaica wherever it was what happened a hurricane or something massive fire killed somebody and uh oh geez yeah a lot of folks are hurt. Oh, thanks for bringing that up. Well, I mean, it was Wyndham. That's what it is. All right.

713-212-5-7. Donnie. I missed you, Matt. Yeah, I know. You went with the Native American run. We got hotel fires. And hotel fires. At Olive Garden. None of the show in the marketplace and give it to you.

All right, Terry in Ohio, my... Nemesis? No, I'm a memis. He's a easy, peasy. My Venmo is at SportsE MT, Terry. So I'm expecting a lot of money from you coming up in the next few minutes. 713, 212, 579. 713, 212, 790.

1014. It's a Matt Thomas show with Ross. So this is Sports Talk 790. 1020 on Sports Talk 790. So can I ask a question that's going to probably get me in a little bit of trouble? Is Freddy's 15 minutes over with Sports Harvey? who's getting you in trouble with that what's happening with Freddie now

the German tourist people are talking is who Matt is referring to Now he did go to Rennie's last night and got dinner I appreciate he's at Niagara Falls So he's doing the right thing It sounds like he's doing okay then So and he's and he's like I can't afford these tickets to this event

that I want to go to We're saving my money for the knockout round Which some are saying there's a plea To get some free tickets Yes of course I'm sure is the the jig is up now here is the one thing and look 90% of what freddie's doing is interesting and in in different and funny and cool and neat there's 10% okay so and it's really not his fault but he had a flight delay on uh rarican airlines so typically

we as normal Americans will send a tweet, hey, Rarican, please help me. I'm trying to see my mother before she dies. Can I please get some help from a live being to get me reflight? And the response is, sorry to hear that your mother's almost dying. Go to our a.a.com page to rebook.

Just very impersonal. Yes. Very cold. Hey, I fly your airline 143,000 miles a day. I got rerouted and I'm looking for a hotel and you guys, it was your fault. Sorry to hear about your reroute. Please call one of our operators during normal business hours. Here's our AI operator who won't help you at all.

Yeah. Or there's somebody that's in Zimbabwe that speaks seven words of English. Okay. So Freddie goes to Rererican, tweets at Rerikin, and they can't run to his defense fast enough. Oh, we'll take care of me. We got you cover, man. We got to make sure you get there. And so people are upset.

And in this particular case, I don't blame them. 99 times out of 100, there's one. But 99 times out of 100, if you are tweeting at Rerican or Melta or Schmited or dark breast, you're so ridiculous. You're going to get the same response. Sorry to hear about this, blank, blank, blank. Please send us a DM or go to our online website. Yeah, but they run to him because we're going to get some good PR.

off of this guy who everybody's been trying to get good PR off of them. So then people are like, screw you, Rerican. Why are you taking care of this guy who only flies you once in his life? Meanwhile, I'm spending $31,000 in business and leisure travel with you and I can't get a response. In this particular case, I don't blame those people. Right. I don't. Now, some people are like, you know what, shit up, don't you crash American because they won't take care of you?

If I'm spending $30,000 a year in travel, I need America to take care of. me. I get it. So in this particular case, the eating at Rennies or having JJ get him a room or getting the meet the mayor and get these really awesome tickets. I mean, it influences get benefits. They just do. But I thought, again, not Freddie's fault that Barbarican took care of him. But when Barbarians, poor Ross, Villa Real is stuck in China and can't get home because he's had two straight days of flight cancellations. And they're like, sorry, Ross. please check out our website at a.a.com to rebook. I had Middlefinger Barbarican too.

Yeah. So I just thought it was interesting that that was the biggest heat of the weekend when it came to Freddie. Not that he was going to Niagara Falls. Not that he was going to Rainies. I thought he was hanging out with, but it was like he got to Barbarican really quick with the rest of us who are normal travelers. Couldn't get the time of day from them. Good old Freddie. Tried to just have a nice, good fun story and he's dividing a nation.

But the reality is this. If Matthew McConaughey tweets at Shmight and says, hey, I'm stuck in Denver. Can you get me home? Oh, Mr. McConaughey, we'll take care of you. Of course. SportsMT. Hey, man. You know what?

There are lovely concessionaires at Denver International Airport. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy your rebooking fees. Yeah. again, I'm not a soccer fan. Everything about this World Cup in terms of people coming to our country and having a good time and the marches and having that orange bus and the boy, the Irish are taking care of the people in Boston. And everybody's having a really wonderful time. Most importantly, there are no sorts of terrorism or violence.

Arrest have been minimal. It has been really so far, knock on whatever this is made of, a couple weeks of really exciting good. publicity for our country, and I'm unhappy for that. Yeah. All right, speaking about publicity, let's talk to our friend, Terry in Ohio. Terry, sorry your team got their ass kicked this weekend.

It's all right. Sorry, I can't pay you. You can pay me. I have Venmo. I wouldn't give you anything. I'll pay for Ross and Johnson. All right, that sounds good. At Sports RV Venmo.

You know what, Matt, I lost a lot of respect for you, and you trash veterans. I did not trash veterans. What are you talking about? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever in my entire life. Hey, let me tell you some. I'm a veteran, and all you do is make fun of me all the time.

Yeah, I don't make fun of you the veteran. I make fun of you the caller. There's a difference. Okay, this is gone nowhere. Why do you hate veterans, Matt? Don't even go there. All right, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

don't even go there Terry was an extra sleepy today yeah he didn't bring his aid material at sports RV VINMO Terry Venmo Terry

we can fix all of our problems with a quick Venmo man said out did I I did oh man okay so yeah how do you segue

from that one Matthew you don't that's why he's probably done for the week or maybe the next week who knows maybe longer I don't know

all right 71321 2.570 if you want to join us. 713, 2,1, 2. 5.7.9. This one sometimes calls come to take a show to a screeching halt. And that we have.

Oh, man. Let's see here. We brought up tennis. See, not tennis. We brought up soccer. Two out of three. Oh, by the way, you know what? I applaud the asteros for hanging around because the Mariners certainly aren't. I love the Mariners are going to run away and hide.

They're a terrible. They're a game of a 500. This is all good stuff. That's why. It's all good for the Astros. When I said they were washed, it's wrong because the division's terrible. It's okay. And guess what you're going to do?

If you get that last Walgard spot, which are only two back, you get to play the worst division team. Again, Astros, Mariners, just win the dog car weekend. Let's go. I mean, you got to hop the A's and Rangers and the Mariners, but just win the division. We ain't, we ain't worried about the A's. The A's ain't got enough. Maybe the A's saying there ain't worried about the Astros.

Are there anybody Is there anybody that's an A's fan Even talking about the Astros? Is that booing out too bad? Maybe they're talking about the MVP race With Yoron Alvarez and Nick Kurtz. Yoron's got it. 713-2-790.

7-1-3-212-2-5-7-90. Big City Wings. A place to watch the World Cup. A place to watch the Astros. A place to watch the NBA draft tomorrow, if you so choose. And today is the day to go to Big City Wings in about a half an hour

because the lunch specials will start kicking in for $10, you are going to get a choice of an entree, a choice of a sign, and a choice of a soft drink for just $10. Troy on Twitter, Matt, didn't know you hated veterans. Yeah, veterans disgust me. Saving our country for freedoms. Making us home of the land.

It's a bold, home of the free. Yeah, that too. It's a bold strategy, Matt. Here, look, I'm going to respond to this tweet. just for people who are reading Twitter and don't have context? Correct. For context. This is a joke.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. That was actually funny. Actually, we appreciate Terry because, I mean, there's another radio show in the marketplace that puts Terry on the air except us. Well, hell no. I mean, we are literally the only one. Yeah. We appreciate them, though.

For listening. We appreciate him for service. We're crushing it in Cleveland. But his sports takes are horrendous. And his timing is awesome. too. All right. I wish you would have asked you about your prune juice. He always does that. He didn't get to it. He didn't get time.

You were had prune before your life? I don't think so. I never had a prune. I mean, it looks and smells disgusting, so I don't think I would enjoy it. Maybe my great grandma used to drink it and I had a sip. Shout out Grandma Dolores. May she rest? What is the oldest, like, what is the one thing in your life that you consume and enjoy that would be considered? It makes me like an old person. I like butterbrocon ice cream

I love that I would have to go in my Is grapefruit juice Considered an old person's drink? Kind of I would say yes I love grapefruit juice Okay I love it really it's too tart How do you drink that?

I just oh man I it's unfortunate way too sugary For me So I don't drink it very much But I would I love I love all the juices But I want to make sure the grapefruit juice gets it to run Okay I like Werther than There's originals sucking on those candies.

All right. It was like sucking on those hard candies. Yeah, I never had a soft candy now, like that, no. Okay. All right. Wrong with you. We have one normal segment. Did you all use, did you do your Friday opens?

Yeah, we did the Friday open, of course. Did you do, I'm sorry, is at 1130? Yes, we did. Did you apologize for the list of things that you did wrong over the week? No, I probably. I mean, I don't even remember, really. Okay. I got you. I was sorry about whatever I was sorry about.

And then we moved on. Okay, let's go the phone. Talk to some great people. Get out of this mess that we're in currently. Patrick and Westview on the Matt Thomas show at Ross at 1037. Patrick, good morning to you. What's up, Matt? I leave for California for a week and you don't listen to the show and you're a disrespecting our veterans. I know. I know. It's terrible. It's terrible.

I'm a veteran. You can disrespect me. I don't care. No, it's calling because that Freddie thing. It was awesome when he was traveling around and seeing nature and stuff. The Saints invited him over to the facility to check it out. It was awesome whenever JJ Watt hooked him up. Now with all the companies and stuff, it's a little bit weird because, I mean, we're the ones that, like you said, we're the ones that spend all this money. And they're bending over backwards for him while we kind of just, whatever.

But I also love that Jordan Alvarez said, no, I'm not doing the home run derby. He proceeded to hit his 25th home run in the season. All right, guys, y'all have a great day. Thanks, Patrick, with the phone call. Thank you, Patrick. Let's go to those two things. We'll go to the second one first. I'm going to have to hold to my Yordon comment to tell the truth at 1230.

Oh, okay. So I don't want to hold it off for two hours. So I will not give an opinion about it. Okay. Except to say I'm a wee bit surprised. Okay. That's an opportunity. Not that his star is not big and bright.

But let me ask you this question, and this is a bias for us, so it's hard even for us to answer. Okay. If we went to a sports bar in a good sports city, we'll even make an American League city. Let's say we went to a Kansas City sports bar and said, do you know who Yordon Alvarez is? What percentage of the people do you think in a Kansas City bar know who Yorda

Alvarez is? I don't know what the percentage is. I would say baseball fans know who. who he is. Okay. If they're baseball fans, he's not a household name. He's not a household name, but baseball fans know who he is. Big home runs in the 22 World Series and the 22 playoff run against Seattle and others. Has been an MVP candidate, but has been hurt.

So I would say he's not like a niche name. Who is, he's not Aaron Judge. He's not Mike Trout. How about it this way? If we went to a, uh, wasn't he the number one all-star vote in all the country? He's doing well. Yeah, he did last week. I'm sorry, not all the country, an American League. Yes. Shohay was, he's second behind Shohei Otani. Yes. So he's got a name, not a household

name, but a name. More popular. Bobby Witt or Yorna Alvarez? I would probably Bobby Witt, I guess. I don't know. I'm just throwing random names. I'm just throwing random names. I'm certainly your example. Let's go to Baltimore. I know what you're meaning.

I would say if you went to in a sports bar and said, what sport does Yordon Alvarez play? Most people would be like, oh, he's a baseball player. If I say who does Yordon Alvarez play for, maybe then they couldn't name it. Maybe. If we went to a Detroit sports board and said Yordon Alvarez. How many would say, we have our bulletproof vests on, right?

It's fair. Okay. Just making sure. How many would say, what World Cup team is he play for? What World Cup team play Yorda Alvarez? I don't know. Somebody would say it. Somebody would say.

Well, you have to remember. Think about how dumb the average person. is and half the people are dumber than that. To the first part of this conversation about Freddie, Ross, some of it, some of it is hokey. I pray there isn't a marketing arm to this. It feels like there could be, so I mean, I don't care. No, I think if there is a marketing arm to it,

it's going to be in a real national embarrassment. That we'll forget about. But we will be extremely leery of anybody being this, oh, I'm in a different place. Can somebody recommend something to me? Yeah. We should be anyways. We should be anyways.

But it's really, I think it's really going, because there's a lot of people, because I've been looking at the Freddie stuff over the weekend. There's a lot of people that are just loving the Freddie experience. They think, man, this is the best part of America, that people have come together and said, hey, Freddie, let's put you here. Let's put you there.

Let's get you in this. Let's get you in that. The city of Houston rolled the red carpet out. J.J. Watt rolled out the red carpet for this dude. He was in NASA. Yeah. NASA. Astros.

I think he's going on the next mission. Yeah. To the moon. He gets a host of game show. Literally, everybody in America is getting a host of a game show except me. I'm sorry, Matt. That's fine. So I'm going to try.

He's up to 700,000 followers. I'm going to hope that there's, is nothing promotionally hokey to it. He's at Niagara Falls, you said? Yeah. Oh, damn.

Yeah. Eating Poutine at Niagara Falls? Yeah. And they went to Rennies last night. Got to go to order. Hmm. The only thing I'm bothered by a little bit is that he's putting his little emojis over his face. I mean,

you eat that damn popper. You're 15 minutes that's going to end eventually. You go back to Germany. You're done. Good for him. He's trying to keep his anonymity. That's why, I don't go.

Again, I'm just hope. Because if it is, than the whole goodness in America on the social media is long gone. He got chicken fried steak at Denny's. It looks pretty good. Dude, CFS at Denny's is way underrated. Let me tell you, you go up.

No, no, no, no. I'm feeling skeptical. It's properly rated. Chicken fried steak and eggs. Okay. Toast, ash browns, orange juice, coffee, water. I mean, my God, what a meal. Oof, your blood types gravy after that meal.

That's how I felt after going to Galveston this week. I was eating all two. I was eating heavy Rossi. Why? Matt, you can have seafood and keep it light. I can, but I didn't. Get a seafood salad.

I can, but I didn't. Get a blackened fish filet with a rice peel off. Like, just keep it light. No. No. You're doing deep fried with hush puppies and hash browns. I had a gumbo. How many hush puppies did you have?

Zero. Zero? French bread? A lot. You were screaming about hush puppies the whole time we were in Lake Charles. Because you cannot order French, get French bread with your meal and then order hush puppies. you don't need that extra carbs. Why not?

Because I paid the price on Sunday with just the French bread. Watch puppies are nice. Delicious. So I had gumbo with you in Lake Charles. Yes. Gumbo with, it was literally the kitchen sink. It even had crab legs in it. Did your wife like those fried rolls from Lake Charles?

Liked them, didn't love them. Oh, well, she didn't get them fresh, though. Correct. Do you toss them in the air fryer for a minute or what? Yes. And they were so good. Don't trust me. It was a little bit of the inter rolls.

It can hit. All right. 713-212-5-7-99. Baton-Ross with you here at 1049. Good morning, Houston, Texas. I've got a busy week. I'll have the 10th inning show tonight. Wow.

Yes. And I'll have the 10-th inning show tomorrow night. Okay. Wow. I have Wednesday. Yeah. There's no... Then the Tiger series.

And then, yeah, I think that's you and I for a few days this week. Mm-hmm. And then I, because I know my sports RV is a huge soccer fan. I am taking the on deck and 10th inning from you on July 1st because your team, our team, America's team. Literally this time for once. Is the number one in their group? Yes. And who are they playing next? Is it Turkey-I or Turkey? Turkey-A. Why did we change it? Or did America, did we just always mispronounce it? Yeah, I don't know. Yet we still call Japan, Japan, even though it's Nippon. So I don't know why

we're fixing some and not fixing others. We have two things. We have Kauai Tong and we have Turkey Eye. Yeah. It just feels like there's a lot of work. Yeah. I don't know. I can't figure it out. We're still called Germany, Germany instead of Deutschland. We're fixing some but not others. I don't know what's going on. We're kind of a finicky pronunciation bunch, aren't we now?

In Spanish, it's Alemania. Can't keep track of what's going on. Also, it was Czech Republic and now it's Chechia. I don't know what to do. I don't know either. But hang, we're here to help. Now, whatever they want to say. I will go to Alperin Shingu next to him.

Whatever the name is, they're going down. And whatever he says goes. Okay. If he tells me Turkey, I'm going to go with it. If not, he's going to be... He's probably going to say he didn't care. Because I, you know, I always do the starting lineups in the broadcast, and I always say turkey.

Maybe he will want you to say Turkey. Find out. Okay. When I see him in October. Mm-hmm. Yeah, October. It feels like a long time. It'll be here before you know it.

That's true. Talk to the phones and the great people of Houston, Texas. Jason and Conroe at 1051 on 790. Jason, good morning to you. I think it's because that's the way the Soccer Federation pronounces it, I believe. They do that every year. Just so I'm loving the World Cup, by the way. Nice.

Got to be honest with you, when it comes to Yonaut Alvarez, not doing the home run derby. I mean, the Astros got to be known for something this year. Why not? You know, nobody's done it in a while, and, I mean, he's the front runner for the MVP. Sad part about it is our team can't seem to help the cause right now. So I think it'd be a great thing for him to do the home run derby. I don't think it'd hurt him at all.

I think he could actually win it, and the Astros would probably be known for something. this year. I guess. I don't know if, I don't know, Jason. Who won the World, the home run derby last year? I don't even know.

The guy from Seattle. We don't like to mention. Oh, that's right. Who's a Cow rally? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I forgot. Now that you said, I remember.

But, I mean, the year before that, Teoska Hernandez, Global Superstar. You know, me, well, it's fine. It's not a big deal.

It's just, it's just one event. But you'll see how I'm important I feel about it during Tell the Truth Today at 1230. Okay. Thank you, Jason, very much for the phone call. Man, we've got to wait. We've got to wait for two and a half hours to get your take. Normally, it's 1130, but we got Calvin at 1130, so I'm going to wait.

Well, I'll give you my take. I don't care. I feel like there's enough data to support that it doesn't affect people swing. People get all worried because Aaron Judge one year went on a bad slump after the home run derby and some other people have gone on bad slumps, but also, there's guys who, I mean, Cal Raleigh didn't get affected. He won the home run derby and he hit like 60 home runs. So it doesn't matter.

It's up to the player. If they want to do it, they can. If they don't, they don't. I don't care one way or the other. That's my opinion. I barely watch all-star events. Yeah. I haven't watched an all-star slag, a home run contest in last year.

But I forgot that Cali Raleigh had won because it kind of doesn't matter. And like I said, year before that, it was Teoska Hernandez, which was a surprise. Vlad Jr. won Soto. Pete Alonzo. There's some stars. COVID won in 2020. Won a lot of things in 2020. Yeah.

Including our sanity for a while. I don't think it ever came back, but that's another discussion for another time. No, it's probably true. Let's talk to Vince in Midtown at 1054 on 7-90. Vince, good morning. Good morning, guys.

Hey, thoughts about Emmanuel Sharp being drafted by the rockets. Is that a possibility? Do you think he could help them? I kind of think he can. So just wondering what you guys thought about that. And guess where do you, where do you, I'm not sure where the rocket's picking the second round. So is he going to be available or not?

How would I know, Vince? I mean, there's, that's the second round. That's the chance of second round guys making it in the NBA is not, not obsolete or no chance, but it's very, very minimal. I like Emmanuel Sharp. To me, he's way too streaky of a shooter. Just is for me. I mean, you tell me, I mean, this past... I think I was going to say that I think, you know, all these guys that work on their game, you know, they want to get to a big stage.

And, you know, I can see him improving his streakiness. And I think he defends well, you know, he's a good defender. Sanson really taught him how to play defense. Oh, for sure. Yeah, he's going to find himself... He's a great defender. Yeah, Vince, thank you for the call. He's going to find himself into a training camp for sure, and probably going to be a second round selection.

Now, some guys don't shoot well to Vince's point, maybe in college, and all of a sudden turn it up. Jamal Shed has done it. L.J. Crier has done it in their NBA. Stefan Castle, Rossi, was he not considered a very good three-point shooter in college? No. So all of a sudden he comes in and is a more than capable three-point shooter in the NBA. It could happen. I'd like it to happen for a men, Thompson.

I just cannot, I can't predict second-round picks. I just can't. Come on, Matt. No, I can't. I mean, I could lie to you. The Rockets are going to take He predict his year by year career now. Three point percentage for sharp in his four years.

35% is freshman year, 37 his sophomore year, 41 is junior year, and 37 last year. That's pretty good, but it's also a lot closer. It doesn't necessarily translate to the NBA. We'll see. Now, again, doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be

a guy who's going to shoot worse in the NBA? But... those are good numbers those are really good college numbers ESPN on their big board they have him Sharp 38th they have Kingston Fleming's 8th

and Cineck 19th yeah and we'll talk to Calvin about both those guys and what do you think is about Sharp as well coming up in about 35 minutes from now yeah I am I am never

and you know working with me long enough I have never said go pick the hometown kid I in if it was worthy of it I think you wanted him I believe you had him in the first round. I'm getting a death stare right now, folks. I'm just kidding. And how much did we love and appreciate Tank Dell as a player?

But I kept saying not big enough for the NFL. Well, he had a good year-ish and change. If you combine the two years. Yeah. But he's been hurt. He's had major injuries in the first couple years. Now he's back. No.

They say he's running with juice. Yeah, he's also running into air. Yeah. And he's a... Never mind. He's doing great. If he plays for this team this year, I'll be stunned. Okay. Not because I don't want him to, not because I'm not rooting for him, but I think there's...

I believe in tank. There's too many people trying to push him out there. Also, they need tank. They kind of do need... That's the one thing that's... Unless Jaden Higgins is going to be the legit. Or Jalen Newell, too. Don't forget him either. Or Noel.

Yeah. I probably should get that right. It's fine. I don't think so. I think it's wrong. If I get it wrong, I should correct myself. I've heard both, and I'm confused. Yeah, it's turkey, a turkey. Tomato Potato.

This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 1102 on Sports Talk 790. Thank you, Yordon Alvarez. And, you know, it's a classic case of I just don't get it. There is still, Rossi, so many holes in the Astros lineup. I mean, they're playing about 600 ball the last two or three weeks. You know, winning most series, most. I mean, they beat Kansas City two out of three.

They beat the Detroit Tigers two out of three. They beat the Guardians. Boy, if they're American League Central, they'd be awesome. Before that, they lost two out of three to the crappy angels and should have got swept. Yeah, that's true. That's true. And they're 500. They have been working hard to get to five under 500.

It's all about Reinelle Delgado. The goat. The greatest of all time. A guy we didn't even know his name two weeks ago. Cash considerations. Man, here he is. I wonder how much that cast consideration was. No idea.

But I mean, Rossi, this lineup, again... They're going to have to get an outfit. And by the way, Sunday lineup guy was not happy the Astros won yesterday. Because Sunday lineup guy usually means the Astros are going to lose and that's the easy fodder for Joe Espott. It should be fired. Joe Spada, I imagine they've won three series in a row. He's getting full credit from the fans, yes?

No, he's getting zero credit. What? No credit and should be fired for the Sunday line. They've won four out of the last five. There's one really... That's full credit, right? There's really one dork on Twitter that... It takes everything on my power and...

Just mute them. Yeah, I'm going to have to. Who is it? I can't say. Okay. Because he's so stupid. All right? And he's such a water carrier when they win, he loves them, when they lose their hot garbage.

It's so embarrassing. Just be consistent. Know that baseball's a marathon. Why do we have to, Ross, after being in the greatest, glorious moments of Astros baseball for 10 years, still have to explain to a large section of this population of Houston baseball fans, allegedly,

that it's still a marathon. I don't know. I don't get it in that sense, in that everybody is prisoner of the moment, and they, they, him and hall over single games, Sunday lineups, like you've at least, at least if you're the worst, bandwagon hopper of them all.

Let's say you didn't buy in until the 22 World Series. Yes. You've still been watching baseball for about four or five years. If the Astros win two out of every three games and every series the rest of the way, we're hanging a banner in the stadium. At least a division banner, at least. I know. But, I mean, there was Christian Vasquez, Truthers, guys had one hit in the last month.

And I like him. He's served a roll. hits for two weeks. Vassias has to start every single game. Okay, we'll see how that goes. But I mean, this lineup again, Cam Smith, OPS 654, Jake Myers, OPS 597.

He's been had a lot of runners in scoring position opportunities too, and he has not been coming through. Ops, 673. Oh, what? I thought Loprfito. Oh, he's the future. He's the savior. even Christian Walker's OPS under 800 has been that way a lot of this year. I need Jake to wake up. Jake, he's kind of mental health sick.

They're not even like, you know, like that goofy-ass expected base hits. Their XBA is like zero because they're a little lazy pop flies. They're can of corns if the kids would say. Yeah, we had to cancel the last meeting. We said it was inclement weather, but really we didn't get enough RFVPs. It's not good. Is that what you do is you blame the weather? Yeah.

Or traffic issues? Yeah. Oh, guys, we had a lot of traffic. the lemon squares guy ran out of flour we couldn't bring the lemon squares and there's inclement weather so we had to cancel

the last Jake Myers-Fanxam 5404 How? Good pitching solid bullpen Hater being back makes it different You don't worry about the ninth inning anymore

You just don't Starting pitching Generally speaking has been good and you're about to get perhaps more reinforcements. Mike Burroughs is going to pitch this week in Toronto. Christian Javier is going to pitch again today for the AAA Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Is it reinforcements you want, though?

No, but you are giving yourself plenty of options. And McCullors is getting a rehab start. I'm sorry, I mean to have dead air. I mean, Al-Tube had a couple of big hits over the weekend. His OPS is 707. That's way down. He's doing early. early batting practice trying to get into round into form.

707 is way better than where he was. Yep. He's had some big swings. Pena's OPS is under 800 now. Yardon Alvarez, 322 batting average. God, for Yordon. 1068 OPS. Filthy.

And played last field yesterday, too. Yeah. He's doing it all. 25 bombs. I mean, literally, not that I pay attention to the other teams like I pay attention at the Astros. If you literally wanted to talk about what a most valuable player is, it's Jordan Alvarez.

It ain't even close. Yeah. It ain't even close. Because if you lost Yordon as your D.H. slash occasional left fielder, where would this team be offensively? Like right now, if Yordaun said, I need a week's vacation, I'm tired. Couldn't do it. Does Paredes go to your D.H spot and you let Delgado play third every day?

His wins above replacement is three and a half. Next on the team is Jeremy Payne at 1.8. like he's double more valuable than the next best player on the team. He's absolutely unbelievably valuable to this team. Yeah. Now, could you say that about Aaron George's leaving the Yankees? No, because the Yankees have a better lineup. Well, my truck gets hurt all the time by the Angels,

that's really no big deal on that. But, I mean, man, it's just, he's so incredibly good and so feared now. Yeah. Otani is the most valuable in baseball. because he does everything. And he's really good at both. He pitches. Yeah.

But other than that, he will... Pete Crowe, Armstrong, Bobby Witt, Jacob Mizorowski. 104 dude over the weekend. Nasty. 104. Christopher Sanchez is pitching well for the Phillies and then Yordon. Those are the top guys, according to Fangriffs.

Do you think pitchers should win MVP awards? Yeah, they can. And they can, they have. They can and should. if it warrants. We've got some fun. I mean, the talent level in baseball right now is insane. Just as long as these guys stay.

It feels especially on the pitcher's side. Like, hey, enjoy them while they're here. Enjoy them before they hit Tommy John. And enjoy them before we get a full season lockout next year. I don't want to bring that up. Oh, yeah. We meant to get to it on Friday. Didn't talk much about it about the proposal about getting rid of the draft.

The players. Getting rid of the high school players. And making sure kids who were at least 20 before. before they get drafted. Yeah. Like, college boosters, you can play them.

Doesn't that seem like it's kind of tipped towards the owners? Because if you take high school players have a much lower hit rate than college players, it takes longer first and foremost.

And you spend money, you're spending a high school player, you're giving them millions of dollars to possibly, and probably flop, depending on how you take them. They're taking the money that they would have spent

on 18-year-olds to get them ready by the time they're 21 and saying, colleges you can do it. Yeah. And they're saying boosters you pay them. Yeah. That's a cash, what would you call it, a transfer. Yeah. That's how exactly I thought. Now,

I don't know if I'm against it or for it. I don't know. It doesn't really matter to me. There's going to be giving take with a lot of things. But yeah, that yesterday or whenever that was on Friday, that was a direct of, hey, we're tired of paying 18-year-olds to play a AA Wau-Cucci. You know what I mean? Waxahatchahatchee. Yeah. We're tired of the Jackson. and travelers budgeting as high as it is.

Let's talk to Will on 798-11-10. Will, good morning. Good morning, man. How are you doing? Good. How are you? I'm doing great, man. So I'm listening to you talk about the Astros, and of course, it's that time of season

where we always talk trade, right? So it's interesting that you talk about how, you know, the numbers are both. But then when you do a lot of reading, I recently do is read all the time. that it's amazing the player of the master's we don't think much of other teams got it

and I'm like because Jake you mentioned Jake their three teams is just getting all over to himself to acquire Jake Miles because he's a great defensive player Stephen Ogart who we basically played nothing for is one of the best reliever than in baseball and of course you got Brian a braille

So, I mean, that's going to show you the lack of talent in the MLB. But, well, no, no, well, to be fair, you are reading, you are reading things just because they're being said by agents doesn't necessarily mean it's true. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm reading things from people who have been writing in baseball for the last 30 to 40 years. Okay. Let's take the guys you brought up as an example. Okay. All right.

Jake Myers, it doesn't have an OPS of 600 and has the worst arm for a center filter in baseball today. He can cover ground, but you can't, you're not getting much, you're not getting much for him at all. You would have gotten way more for him before the season started than what you're getting from right now. Number two. Go ahead.

Brian Obray-you, I think Brian and Bray-you might be worthy of a move. using the term change of scenery maybe to help out, but he's also a short-termer because his contract ends at the end of the year. And Stephen Okre, you're not trading under any circumstance. That's your bridge to your high leverage guys. That guy ain't going anywhere. Okay, first off, go back to Stephen. O'Kert.

Our best three relief pitches are all left-air of pitchers. King, O'Kert, and her hitter, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, name another team in baseball and history. release pitchers. They're their best pictures. We don't. I mean, they don't. So you would get something for Oaker. You're talking about

Jake Myers. Jake's numbers are bads. But Jake is one of the premier defensive players in center field. They tried to trade them all off season, though, well. They tried No, they did not. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. He was being brought up in constant by those same 40-year respected writers you're talking

about. Jake Myers' name kept being brought up all the time. Once again, man. what did the Astros ask for in return? We don't know, but they were trying to trade him all offseason, and they weren't able to do that. Also, Brian King is better against righties, against lefties. Who's the lefty?

Melton, Jacob Melton. Yeah, they traded Melton, not Fisher. But what I'm saying is, there is a market for these players. Not much. How much? Well, we'll see. we'll see because at some point the actuals got to make a decision

or you're going to deal or are you going to sit back and try to quiet a child and if you if everybody's saying you've got a poor minor league system you're damn sure not going to quiet talent that way so what are you going to do?

All right well we got to get breaks well please hurry up okay so you were talking about the contract with the MLB what are you going to do about the international players if you just want to take college players. I don't know if there would be a change to that

in the international pool. Yeah, I don't know how that's going to work out. Again, no, these are all negotiating points. That just happened to be the latest salvo fired by the owner saying, hey, this is what we would like. And the MLB Players Association, like, hey, shut you bum ass up.

Yeah, I don't know how receptive they would be. I would figure maybe they would be okay with high school players being barred. Because that's less competition for them for a couple years. to the players who are on rosters? I don't know. It depends on how much the today's players worried about the future players.

Yeah. 11.20. In the AM here on Sports Talk 790. Kelvin Samson coming up in about 10 minutes. Coach going to talk about all the wonderful University of Houston Cougars players he's got, potentially going in the NBA draft. So that should be fun.

That will push to tell the truth to 1230. We have the news at noon coming up at noon as well. So I want you all. Thank you. To our caller Will, and I appreciate Will, but the reality is this, I want you to think about when you think about trading your players and what you think other teams would value your players, I want you to think about being in that other city.

If we were doing Cleveland Sports Radio and the Cleveland Guardians acquired Jake Myers, now we like Jake a lot and has shown value. Right now he's having a horrific offensive season. His arm is, again, I'm going to be safe and say maybe the worst in baseball among centerfielders. Hey, he's about 50th percentile and I had to pull it up in center field, but it's probably not great. So if we're doing Cleveland Guardian radio, the Guardians get Jake Byers and the Astros. What would Cleveland Guardian fan say?

He's a fourth outfielder. He doesn't have very much value. you and Stephen Okard has been a good lefty but he's also a free agent after this year. Remember when the Astros You're a rental lefty reliever. What is that pulling you for prospects? And remember another remember when the Astros got Nick Allen?

Did we jump for joy because he can play great defense in multiple positions? No, we were like, what the hell is this? Yeah. Not the Nick's on a great guy to him. They're all great guys, but no, I don't hate anybody. Maybe I do hate, but that's a different issue. Arm strength 31st percentile, Jake? Come on, man.

I mean, come on. just think about it from the other team's perspective. Jake will get you a prospect. It's going to be a guy of an ERA of about seven and a half or about 220 at single A. Come on. It's just a reality. Jake Myers had more value before the season than he had during. He's had during.

Yeah, because he had, they were trying to capitalize on a career season at the plate for Jake Myers and trade him. And I think everybody else sniffed that out. And here we are. he's regressed as pretty much anybody could have predicted. Abraeu? Out of 46 center fielders, Jake Myers rates 41st in arm strength. Okay, 41st and among probably hitting?

How many guys are starting? Oh, no may be pull up range, Matt. He has some value. He's still a positive player. No, he does have value. He's got to hit better too. But you're not going to all of a sudden take this team to seven or eight games about $500 because of a trade involving Jake Myers.

And by the way, who'd play center field? I don't know. You want Taylor Tremel out there? I mean, I guess you could. And he's also only slightly. I mean, his career OPS plus is 88. He's at 66 this year. So he can hit better.

You know what? He will hit better. Jake Myers is going on a hot streak. You heard it here first. Just name on it. Write it down. Save it for tomorrow. Write it down.

Take a picture. Put your name on it? Yes. Oh. What's up? Tomorrow, 1130. David, before we talk to Kelvin Samson,

hi, David. At some point. Good morning, gentlemen. Happy second day. So I had, came to a conclusion after watching the Astros last Thursday,

and on June teeth, it led me to a prediction. I realize this is basically a gut feeling on the wrong day, but it's big enough with me that, boy, if you could give a callers a breaking news sounder

for an opinion, and I would do that for this one. I have decided that we have three really solid starting pitchers. I have been a Peter Lambert believer, and he has that wonderful outing on Thursday. I am a Spencer Arrigetti believer, and I think we're all Hunter Brown believers, and he's back. I think we've fixed the real big problem in the bullpen

with Josh Hainter being back. I think this pitching is good enough. drum roll please the astros are going to make the playoffs all right thank you i have wagered accordingly okay nice you're putting your money where your mouth is i did exactly that and that's a change with me i haven't believed it up to this point this season but i am now on board and i want that recorded

oh it is all right thank you david got a roll on that yeah we got to get coach in the next segment who you know what only two of the walker only two if ergetti continue, I mean, well, doesn't regress much further. Because he is around 7 in June. Yep. Let's go, Lambert. Hunter Brown's back. And Kai Wei Tong is like, I want to stay in the rotation.

Don't get me out. And if Emai and Tong pitch like their last starts, that's good enough. And that's a five right there. Not even counting any of the injured guys. Yes. Calvin Samson will join us next here on Sports Talk 790. We are pleased to be joined now by the head coach of the greatest school in the country, University of Houston. Coach Calvin

Samson is going to have a special day. He's going to watch two of his young men become first round drafts tomorrow in the NBA draft. The New York, Coach Samson joins us before that event. Coach, first of all, belated happy Father's Day, and this has become an old hat for you seeing your young men become first round picks in the NBA the last

handful of years. Well, belated happy Father's Day to you, my friend. Hey, how's your daughter? Is she playing volleyball? She's going to be playing at the University of Rhode Island. I've already asked Archie Miller to play you in basketball and he's

like there's no chance, no way that's going to happen. So I try. I try. Congratulations. Congratulations on that. That's awesome. That says a lot about her commitment and hard work, dedication to be a Division I scholarship athlete. That's great. I know you're doing your wife for happy.

We are very happy and thank God because the club money I've spent and you know about the AAU circuit. That ain't cheap for mom and dad to be honest coach. No. No. What you say for a scholarship,

you spend and travel and hotels and all that stuff almost. Yep, yep. So tell me

you're going to be in New York tomorrow. You've got to be pleased this punch. I mean, these young men have only been

on the campus one year, but I feel like from the time, and you've always done this with your kids, they've grown

both as basketball players and his men in a very short period of time. Yeah. You know, in 23, Quantus and I was

there for uh jeras went eight and then i think i was actually doing an interview when uh commissioner gets up and announces that there's been a trade uh memphis picks marcus sasser with the 25th pick so we had two guys a lottery pick and a 25th pick that year so that was awesome uh this year, Kingston's going to go somewhere in the top 10. CNAQ is Chris will be in the first round, and then Emmanuel and Milos both will be drafted somewhere. So it's a great year for great time for our basketball program. Could not be more proud of these young men for reaching their dreams and goals. When the two young men declared for the draft, I mean, that couldn't come as a surprise to you, first and foremost, because they were talked about even before they stepped on campus.

But do you have a standard words of wisdom to each of these young men that you've seen, or is each individual kid different when it comes to as to take the next step into the NBA? Yeah, I think they're different. I didn't expect, and I think Houston and his family would tell you the same, we didn't expect. we didn't expect Kingston to be a one and done, but when he got here in June, it was clear that he was the best player on this team. So we had to shuffle with death a little bit. And then Chris, just got better and better as the year went on. But, you know, Matt, they're both still only 19 years old.

So these kids are going in. is they're not NBA players today. They're 18 years old. It's like Jalen Green when he got drafted. You know, he's, he wasn't an NBA player that first year. He was in the NBA, but he wasn't a guy that impacted winning. So Kingston's going to impact winning. Probably a little quicker maybe than Chris.

But Chris is going to be a long-time productive NBA player, as will Kingston. And the fact that one's going to go into the lottery, one's going to go in the first round, much like Jarrett and Marcus, I think both well for those guys and for our program. A couple more minutes here with Coach Sampson on Sports Talk 790. I don't know if you've been able to judge this yet, because obviously you've got two kids that are going to the draft, but can NIL keep some kids on college campuses a year or more than maybe, say, five or six years ago?

Absolutely. Look at especially big guys. you know if you're going to go late in the first round and I'll use the kid from Kansas as an example of the Dunga he may or may not have gone in the first round but let's say he went 25 to 3rd he's going to make four times as much his first year at Louisville as he would at any of the teams

at the bottom of the draft those guys aren't Kingston is going to make a ton of any I think Quentin Grimes, Marcus Sasser, those guys that went in the first round, they all got good money. But, you know, you're making more NIL than you are your first NBA contract. And some of those guys, this may be the most money they make in their lives, so they're maximizing their financial futures. but by staying in college an extra year, especially for you guys,

because if you're left at somewhere toward the end of the first round, second round, and you're also, it's also going to spend a lot of time into G League, and that's, a G League's not easy travel, and it's not an easy life, so that's why it's happening.

Now, how this thing turns out, is it sustainable? Can we do this for a long time? I don't know. It makes it tough for coaches to maintain rosters and build programs. But I'm absolutely happy for the players that they're able to do this. It should have been happening a long time ago. Can you imagine what the bad five would have gotten with Chris Weber and Juan Howard

and Jalen Rose and those guys? I mean, my goodness, and they weren't able to maximize their name and the likeness at all, but now these kids are. So I think that will little something to the guys' shoulders that they stand on. But I'm happy they're able to do it. We've just got to figure out how we can maintain it. Forlitz, your run, you're always so wise on big picture items in the sports world for basketball and really college athletics as a general.

I know you've had some off-the-season workouts with your kids. Have you brought up the situation in Texas Tech about the gambling? And that's reinforced, I'm sure, with your compliance folks, with you as coaches as father figures these guys. Does that have to once again be brought up to these young men? Because a lot of these guys will now have money in their piggy banks and they didn't have

the yesterday years players didn't have. So the first day of summer school this year, this month actually was June 1st. That was a Monday. So on Sunday night, prior to our Monday

a I'll continue to workhouse, weight room, basketball stuff. We always bring in university people on Sunday night. I've done this forever. The first thing we talk about is Title IX. We bring the director of Title IX, and she makes an awesome 40-minute presentation. Most of it's PowerPoint, and she's powerful with the thing she talks about. I mean, she hits the point about, here's what happens if you do this, here's the thing to stay away from.

then we bring in a social media expert. And he talks about the power of the send button, making sure that you're making good decisions on what you put out on social media. And then usually we bring us someone from the Houston Police Department. I'm sorry, University of Houston Police Department. And they talk about protocols and things to stay away from. And so, and then we bring in a gambling expert. And we bring in a financial expert.

So, but Matt, we've been doing this for 30-some years. We're not reacting. One of the reasons is why, knock on wood, you don't see our kids' names in police blogs is, number one, we recruit high-character kids who come from really good families. And number two, we don't put up with no nonsense here. So, no, the source-deal, I think a lot of schools will react to that, but we've always been proactive with it. Well, it's excellent to hear because I'm very happy.

happy that that's not going to be an issue as long as you're leading our program. Coach, enjoy the rest of summer. Have safe travels to New York. Have a great time you deserve all the flowers you'll be receiving with those young men. And we will look forward to talking with you soon and say how to the family for me. Okay, good luck to your daughter and have a great day. All right, thank you. Appreciate it, Coach. That's Coach Calvin Samson with us here on Sports Talk 790 and he will again be up in New York at the draft, which will be tomorrow night. Rockets, by the way, do not have a first round selection. It's too bad because this is a great draft.

Thanks again to it, Calvin Samson. I'm sorry, we had a little bit of a scratch on the connection there, but nevertheless, it's got to be great to have two young men. And again, look, Sanak was so highly regarded. Fleming's was so highly regarded. I used to always kind of tease about Kentucky and Duke. Duke only being there for one-year players. Then when it happens to you, you kind of go, well, me.

Oh, I get it now. I get it. Now, I didn't criticize Kentucky. It just was, it was just, hey, that's where one-year players go. But the reality is this, that's why I asked Coach Sampson about whether or not the NIL can change. And the NIL can change, probably Rossi, those, as Calvin said, those late first round guys, those guys. Late first round, fringe second rounders. Keep them around.

Because those kinds of players, you can build a basketball team around that and win a college national championship. That's not all built on lottery picks. Of course. Because if that was the case, Kentucky would win. the national championship every single year. And that happened. Michigan won. By the way, speaking of Michigan,

how about Dusty May? Smart. Winns a national championship. Can I go back to celebrate the very first game because he'll be in Dallas coaching Cooper flagging the Mavericks. Smart, smart, smart. Don't have to deal with Portal. Don't have to deal with NIL.

Capitalizing, seizing the big moment. You're the hot name one year and then you're a nobody the next. He's capitalizing on this. I'm happy for him. He's smart. It's... It basically is making even the college jobs

the... Less desirable. Less desirable. Breeding ground, stepping stone spot. I mean, how does... How in the world does a national championship coach at Michigan?

At Michigan. At Michigan. You can power for great basketball history. Yeah, not quite Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, but. But pretty close. Second tier. But been to Final Fours. The tier right after that.

Right at me. Yeah. On the regular. That's crazy. I match the money's better. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it all depends, I guess.

Because, I mean, let's face it, I think there is four or five coaches in NBA that make crazy money. but college basketball money coaches, I mean, they're making $5,6 million a year. He says he was making $5 million at Michigan. He's going to be making more than that, probably. And again, the opportunity to coach Cooper Flagg is not the worst thing in the world.

Cooper Flagg. Kyrie. Still there. Still there. Sure, why not? Anthony Davis, not so much. He's going. He's going.

So the reality is this. If you want me to coach your team in college, you're going to have to let me bring a general manager in, too, because that's, and I didn't have time to get to, to Kelvin on that good because Calvin's not going to be around 10 more years doing as I don't think be cool if he did he's he just loved to coach though he's one of those guys you never know how long he's going that's what we had that bet if they won it all I said he would keep going I think his son Kellan does the GM duties but there's a lot of coaches that just didn't want to handle the

salary cap or the dollars that are being spent they hired general managers or you got psychopaths like Kurt Signetti and he does his own for football yeah he's crazy yeah by the way did you you, Jackson State has a new general manager of the basketball team. I think so. Kendrick Perkins. I knew Kendrick Perkins went somewhere. I couldn't remember if it was Jackson State. Now, those jobs are not full-time jobs in most cases.

Sometimes they are, but most times they're not. They're more figurehead. I can tell you that a lot of schools have called famous players and or coaches and said, hey, come be our general manager. So you can not necessarily sit there and watch the dollars that are being spent, be a lending hand to going out to getting four to five million dollars to help build our NIL program. Like I want to say there's some NBA players that right now

that are GMs of college programs. So Kendrick Perkins being a retired player in doing this on the side, you know, because Kendrick... Hopefully he knows. You know what, he should focus all of his attention on Jackson State. I would like to see that. And lead the broadcast. I would like him to see, yeah.

So I don't want to hear his audio on the show anymore. Although I think you said you declared a moratorium. I did. But I'll tell you what, it's him, Dan Rolofsky, and Mike Greenberg on ESPN or anybody else. Well, Stephen A, too, probably. But, like, those of you don't know, Adrian Wojahowski, who was the number one NBA newsbreaker, went to go be the general manager of his college basketball's program at St. Bonaventure. How are the Bonnie's doing basketball?

Have you seen him in a suite 16? I don't think so. I don't think so either. I mean, well, I didn't see him much before he was there either. Start it out there. Okay. But yeah, that's interesting. Boy, I think that's a knock on college basketball.

That is a, you know what? I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be a coach and a general manager and a salary cap manager. Because even a thing about this, Ross, even in the NBA and in football, you have salary cat people. Yes. Who watch every dollar that is being spent. You kind of need that at the collegiate level, too. You do that, but it's just more unknown.

Everybody's on a one-year contract, basically. Yeah, your entire team. It's almost worse. If you sign an NBA contract, you're signing a three- or four-year deal. Now, this college sports act that ever gets passed is going to limit the bouncing around from school, from player to player to player. Now, that's having a difficult time getting done. But that would essentially knock off half of the bouncing around because they would let you do it once and that would be it. Yeah, it's wild.

I don't know when it's going to change. Although the Protect College Sports Act, I believe, is going hitting the Senate floor. Yeah. It did not pass in the House, but it's going to try to pass in the Senate. And then the SEC and the Big Ten still don't want it for a variety of reasons. Well, they want to pool because apparently it's being pushed. The word is, Cody Campbell's involved in this, and it would be pooling the rights fees. Of course, the Big Ten and SEC don't want it pooled with everyone.

Oh, God, no. I mean, no disrespect to our beloved Big 12, but no, the SEC money, hell, if I was the SEC, I wouldn't even want to pull the Big Ten. Although the Big Ten's got a pretty good deal, too. They're good, but they got like 5,000 teams. And they also have their own network that's very profitable, too. All right. You want to get back to some Astros, top of the arm?

Of course. We also have to get to the news at noon. Really? A lot of news. And by the way, there's a game coming up in... Full World Cup breakdown. There's a game in Dallas starting in a few minutes. Every seat is full.

There is not a... I cannot find a vacant... And I can even find vacant seats at Cowboys games. You cannot find a vacancy in a Ness Stadium. You know what? At Rolina over the weekend. Everybody was in their damn seats. They can't kick off.

Everybody was. You know why? This looks crazy. They're paying over a G's to get inside. Yeah, you better get in there. Also, I mean, it's a literal living legend. Lionel Messi on the field in the World Cup for his last time. The greatest player of all time at the World Cup.

and how about this there was a soccer match on Friday I want to say Rossi that the goal was scored in the first 90 seconds of the game it was the one after USA I think okay and that was the only goal scored so you want to be in the building when you see a goal that's true just in case you don't get to see another

one that's what happens I'll watch the game for 25 minutes nothing and then the second of you blink or get up to go to the bathroom then that's when the goal scored this is the Matt Thomas show with Ross good morning good afternoon and good night David Frye and that is is the ball game.

Finished him off on a high fastball as the Astros finish off the guardians today, winning two to one. They take two out of three in the series and go four and two on their homestand against Detroit and Cleveland. If the Astros were in the National League or the America League Central, they'd be Kings the Division. All they do is play 667 ball against the AL Central. Four and two. Well, don't forget Detroit. Oh, yeah. Now, they did go one and two against Minnesota.

Six and four. Seven. Six and three. Six and three. I'm learning math today. That's fine. Yeah, what are you going to do? We're just getting stronger, Ross.

I hope so. So says the American League standings. Saying in Chicago. How many games under five under really? Just five. Oh, okay. Only five under. Love Chicago.

Early 70s. The crooning Chicago, not a fan. I mean, they had a couple of hands. Okay. You like them. I might have 10 Chicago songs on my phone. Playoff odds, Matthew. According to our friends over at Fangrass.

You always call them friends. Are they better dudes than the pro football focus dudes? I don't know, Matt. Are they bigger hounds? Go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry. Argentina's looking for a penalty here, folks. I don't know if they're going to get it.

27%. That's good. That's better than... baseball reference, which has the Astros at 19%. So who do you trust more? Fangraphs. Okay. It was 18% a couple of weeks ago.

So 27% feeling better. I'm going to steal. Feeling stronger every day. I'm feeling stronger every day as we are, as we present to you, the news and noon. And this is where I get to, oh, rag about the standings. Oh, go ahead, Matt. Get us the standings, Matthew, all the news. And the news and noon.

The Astros at 37 and 42, just five under. No penalty for Argentina. right. I'll let Ross look at that for 30 seconds. While I tell you, the Astros are only three games back of the first play Seattle Mariners, who are 40 and 39. They have dropped 6 of 10. The Astros have won 6 of 10. That means they've gained two games in the standings just in the last two weeks. This guy's rolling around like he's dead now. You're not getting a penalty, bro.

Set every soccer game. Jesus. And the wild card standings are even better, I tell you. A paltry two-back. No, you're not better. Paltry. How many teams to hop? Couple. How many?

No, no, no. Don't say couple. Few. It's a third of the league. One, two, three, four, five. Just five. Okay. That's a third of the league.

Gutfilling's tomorrow, 1130. I want to get optimistic, but I don't want to get too optimistic. You're right. You know what? Keep beating up on the teams in June. We kept saying this is a soft schedule. Yes, we were. You have three in Toronto, four in Detroit.

Okay. And you might see Scoobled Detroit. So five and two is what you want. Yeah, I'm not predicting that at all. No, you want it. We predict it. You'll find out tomorrow at 1130. By the way, yes, Matthew, you have the Astros in Toronto.

Taking on the Blue Jays, Hunter Brown Day, and the Astros are underdogs slightly in this one. Minus 126, Dylan Cease has been having a great season for the Toronto Blue Jays. So the Astros were going to skip him, but Toronto's game yesterday was rained out. Thus, they pushed all their starters back in day. All right, there you go. So, and then it'll be Lambert the day after. And we'll see from there for the Houston Astros. They are in Toronto.

They are hoping to turn things around. They'll be in Detroit after that. World Cup action over the weekend. You had USA with the 2-0 victory over the Aussies. And with the result later that night, Turkey, falling to Paraguay the United States has won their group

Group D? Let's go with that. Group D is not, do you say group D's? It's not group D's mad. It's group D has been won by the United States. They are on to the round of 32. They can rest their guys. You don't have to worry about playing Christian Polisic who is dealing with a calf injury. He missed the game on Friday, but you were able to get the victory. Let's see. Also,

the weekend. Spain had a 4-0 nothing win. Uruguay and Cape Verdi was a fun back and forth matchup, two to two in that one. And right now you have Argentina. Facing off against Austria, they are reviewing a possible penalty. I don't think that's a penalty,

Matthew by my eyes. What soccer analyst, Matt Thomas, weighing in on whether or not it should be a early penalty for Argentina. Just a regular foul. That's it. Well, it's in the box. So if it's a foul, it's a penalty. But they're saying a playoff. say and play on it looks like.

Yeah, quit your whining. Get up. There you go. Can I ask a stupid request for soccer? Yes. If you stop the game for any reason, just stop the game. This stop the time thing is ridiculous. I'm with you. Okay. I mean, I know it's kind of

across as anti-. We're boorish Americans for saying that because if you say that, the Europeans, like, no, this is a time art of tradition. We keep the clock running. It seems silly. Just pause the clock. Yeah. Like, especially when, for for an injury or a review. Now, they like to, like for throw-ins and goal kicks and stuff like that.

Oh, wait. Is it a penalty? Oh, my God, they called it a penalty. Lidl Messi coming up to the spot. He's already tied for... You know what? Can we get the audio of this? We can't.

I don't know. I don't know if we can pull it up somewhere. John, do you have a World Cup feed somewhere? Leito Messi, tied for the most World Cup game goals of all time with Mirosov-Cloz is going for the all-time lead in World Cup goals. It would take us off. He is at? No, it would take us off the air, apparently.

So let's not do that. So you call it. You call it, man. I'm not a play-by-play guy. All right, Messi's got the ball at the 15-yard line. He's focused. This for the World Cup. Do we do golf style?

Eyes are down. This is for the all-time lead and score. The left footer. Oh, he missed it. It's wide right. Wide right. Wow. Leo Messi, overrated.

7-1-3-2-1. Did he get saved? No, he didn't touch it. He just booted it. Oh. Wow. What a wanka. You're not supposed to say that. It's SEC violation in Europe.

Oh, sorry. What a bloat. What a what? A bloat? I don't know. What's a bloat? I don't know. A bloke?

I'm sorry, people. Yeah, I'm sorry, too. Write that down for Friday. Elsewhere in the news, Dusty May, Michigan's head coach is finalizing a deal to become head coach. coach of the Dallas Mavericks is they are calling it an axis

shifting move that significantly alters the college and NBA landscapes. Dusty May 49 years old leading Michigan to the national title this year coaching a franchise with Cooper Flagg as the franchise player. Kyrie Irving also on the Dallas Mavericks. Of course the Mavs firing Jason Kidd after the

26 and 56 season last year. Dang. Imagine you shelled out all that cash and you're like, I'm going to watch Leo Messi missed it. So they score the P.Ks about 75, 80%. He should score him every time. He's freaking messy. I know. He's actually throughout his career had some issues with PKs. He's a little below average. He's a double-clutched. He's way above. Well, they do that on purpose to try to get the keeper to jump.

It's kind of like a fake out. And the keeper didn't fall for it. So it's good on him. And there you go, Matt. That's your news. Oh, thank you. Yeah, we are your radio home of the World Cup. Yes, we are. So if you're like, hey, I'm driving around, I can't find a game. I want to catch the game. And we don't have an Asteros on. We're going to have a World Cup game on.

Yeah, absolutely. So there you have. Oh, man. That was weak. Yeah, I'm sad. I'm a huge, messy fan. So is he dyeing his hair? Probably a little.

He's 38. I just have a little salt and pepper. Yeah. Salt pepper's good. He's not full gray like me. Dealing with you every day. It is funny. When we first started working together, you had it all black.

It's gotten lots of gray in you. It's mostly salt. All right. A couple of things newswise, because we are doing a news segment here. Yonis rumors are going hot and heavy. Boston and Miami, apparently are the two lead dogs in this. And apparently Jalen Brown is not, excuse me, he is on the table for a potential move if it was to go to Milwaukee. Miami is ready to throw the kitchen sink at them.

I think Miami wants them more than Boston does. but Shom Sarani fully believes that he will be traded before tomorrow's the start of the NBA draft. All right. And Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open. So I was watching some of the final round of the U.S. Open yesterday. Wyndham Clark, he was making a big, you know, he had a huge league, gave it up, came back in one. Nobody was really cheering for him.

I don't know if it was NBC just didn't do a great job of the crowds. Maybe. Jones said also they were rooting for Schephler to get a, complete a grand slam? Did he finish second? No, he finished tied for fourth. Oh, okay. I thought he had like a bad weekend.

He rallied? Good for him. I don't know. Point being is that Wyndham Clark is apparently carries quite a crew with him. What do you mean? Golf coach, swing coach, therapist, nutritionist, all that.

Yeah, you need all that. Look, it's working. Oh yeah, two U.S. opens. apparently one time he didn't win a golf tournament and went in the clubhouse and destroyed the clubhouse. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Was that the Masters? No, you wouldn't do that at Augustin National. I thought somebody did do something like that. You know what? I'll give you the answer to what clubhouse he destroyed when we returned.

713-212-5-7-90. Oh, I'm sorry, Oakmont. Ooh, that's a big course, too. After missing the cut. Yeah, I'm glad he got his therapist helping him figure it out. But you know what? I don't want to name shame, but I'm going to do it anyway. Windham?

I mean, come on. Windham clock. Maybe he's sponsored. At birth? Yeah. No. You don't have a holiday in Thomas. Yeah, why not?

You're a red roof Allen. You know, don't call him Red Ried. He's a Marriott Allen. You're a hand-thead-in, Alan. Okay. What's wrong with the Red Roof? I stay at the red roof. I've got no problems with that.

I've had some good times at the red roof. Yeah, for how many hours? Not long. You didn't spend the night, I can tell you that for sure. I think it did. Did you? Ew, gross. I mean, I'm sure it's fine.

There goes our Red Rooof sponsorship. All right, let's segue. You know what? I give Ross credit because he is watching it. with a decent eye. We have seen numerous flops in the last five minutes of this game. It's ridiculous.

And Argentina and Austria. Ooh, now he did get he got the studs in the knee. That does hurt. Oof. Those are metal studs, Maddie. Ooh. Forget what I said.

That hurts. That hurts. Do you think we'll ever get? Oh, he's got to get a Band-Aid on. Oh, yeah. We got it, what do they call it, infectious disease control? Yeah, you got a blood rule.

Do you ever think any sport, now, again, the World Cup's every four years. And we do this for our U.S. teams in the Olympics. But the World Cup, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, because you can give me another example. Okay. Because the World Cup bring at nationalism into this event more than any other sport, even more than Olympics? Even more than Olympics, I would say. Yes. Because part of it to me is you're also, every one of their events,

Every single one of their events are in these stadiums at least 65,000. They're in Dallas right now, and there's 110. Yeah, how many people are watching? Equestrian versus Korea, yeah, handball. There's maybe 15,000, 2,000 people there. Although, I tell you what, this Olympic scam they got going. I got my second email for Olympics 2028, and I'm automatically registered to buy more tickets. Oh, I thought you said you weren't going to buy them.

Or you did? No, I know. We bought some and did. buy some other ones. Oh, okay. Because the prices were just astronomical. But, yeah, I mean, again, we ain't got a dog in this fight.

There's no U.S. anywhere. I'm assuming that there's got to be, let's see, AT&T seats 100, 110, I think, for soccer. Something like that. My guess is at least 30,000 of each fan base. Probably. Probably 50,000 others. Look, it's all Argentina.

Look at this. they're all wearing messy jerseys. Legend. And then he missed his piquet. Bum. Yeah, he's the worst. There was a girl that was on Twitter that was not wearing any clothes except the colors of her flying of her country.

It was paint? Yes. They let her in the building? And how? Are you sure you weren't looking at AI photos, Matt? I don't care. I saw what I saw. Don't you shaking your head of me, Jonathan.

You'd be doing the same thing. You're not expecting you. I know your algorithm's a little different than everyone else. I don't know that. You don't know that at all. Yeah, find the picture. We're warm-blooded males. I can't find.

Once it's in the algorithm, it's gone, right? No, you can find it. Take a while. I don't have to count of it. I'll put it this way. I didn't see that photo. There is a woman wearing paint and nothing else.

And it didn't take you long to figure out, once you made the picture a little bit bigger to figure out what exactly was going on. Okay. You'll see it. I'll take your word for it. Thank you. Got a lot.

lot of likes apparently. By the way, Linda Cohn, ESPN Sports Center, announcing her retirement today. Yes. I will make this guarantee that she's not being, she's not retiring on her own. She's being told to retire. You think so? Absolutely. She's 66 years old.

Yeah. It's been there a while. 30 plus years, right? Since 92, apparently. You know, it's funny when we were growing up, we were younger adults, you were a kid. Mm-hmm. You attach yourself to the Sports Center anchors. Well, I used to watch every night.

Dan Patrick. You didn't have highlights on your phone. You didn't have highlights on your phone. You wanted to find out what's going on in sports. You watched Sports Center. Dan Patrick, Keith Oberman, Stuart Scott, a Mike Toriko back, way back in the day. Rich Eisen.

Rich Eisen. Steve Levy. Yes. Craig Kilbourne. Brian Kinney? He did some. He did, yeah. But now, the only sports center anchor I even recognize is Scott Van Pelt.

Everybody else, I don't know who those people are. I recognize them. I just don't know. Right. And I think a lot of it is what you said before. You don't need SportsCenter to get your highlights. You watch a game. Like if you're, let's say that you miss the Astros game. And you get on your phone at say 10.30 at night. 7 to 4 Astros beat the Blue Jays.

You go to your ESPN app. There's highlights. Sports Center top 10 MLB. At the end of the hour, top 10. You knew. You were like, oh man, what are the biggest sports? What are the biggest sports plays of the day? I can't wait for Sports Center top 10 at the end.

of the hour. Yeah. Don't do it anymore. Or maybe they do. I just don't watch it. All right. Hey, it's time for us to tell the truth. It's time for a hydration break. We know we should take hydration breaks on this show too. Oh, you know, it's funny that you may bring that up. What a good idea for you, Ross, to bring that up. But I want to say about the truth really quick. Gentlemen, this week's edition of Tell the Truth. Okay. One truth, three lies. Hmm. One truth. Yes. Three lies to tell the truth is up after we find a place for refreshment. Oh, crazy thing is Ross and Jonathan, I do know how to tell the truth.

And I do it here every Monday on the Matt Tom, the show with Ross. We appreciate Calvin Samson joining us at 1130 today because he was available then. We pushed it back an hour. We'll have missing you coming up in an hour from now. It's our weekly get-together about how five former Astros are doing in the world of baseball. Okay. So, Jonathan, let's explain the audience how far you back you are of Ross. this contest?

I'm in range. Range of what? You know, five games. Oh, you know what? You're like the Astros when it comes of the wall card. Exactly. You're in range.

I'm there, you know. I just, you know, I got to reach my hand out. All right, Jonathan, I have one truth. How many lies am I telling you about? Thress. Okay. Rossi, how many truths we're going to have?

One. Correct. Oh, thank God. One truth. Three lies. Gentlemen, good luck. I think if the Astros, this is my first take. If the Astros are going to make some sort of push for the playoffs, which they're in now,

it needs to be a real push. They've got to solidify their starting pitching. I know that Christian Javier is coming back, and I know that Lance McCullors is working out, and you've got Ronell Blanco. I'm going to tell you, I believe in my mind that Mike Burroughs is going to have a better second half than he had for the first half. I think this little quasi-demotion to the bullpen was a little bit of a wake-up call. He's got good stuff.

Pittsburgh thought so. The Astros thought so. Okay. And I think I'm going to say I am bullish on Mike Burroughs for the second half of the season. I have no proof. I don't have any proof. I'm just saying that's an opinion of how I feel.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Number two. It couldn't be much worse. I have been, I have been, awestruck by the national fever, fun, interesting,

huge crowds for this World Cup for soccer. I would like to see a separate World Cup for basketball. I think we can get the same thing when you bring in 10, 15, 20 countries and do a big two, three week tournament in the summertime. Philip arenas, fill up stadiums. quick thing here, don't they? I'm talking about legitimately calling a World Cup.

I thought, okay. But you don't have arenas like this. I mean, you have Feebo World Championships, right? I thought there was a Feebo World Cup. That's going to screw things up if there is. Yep, Feeble World Cup in Qatar, 2027. Hmm. Well, you can be your opinion that you believe they should have one.

Okay. Just keep going. Well, let's rephrase them. There should be. I love that they have one. I love that they have one. And, okay, we'll just move on. Okay.

I mean, that could be the truth on that one. You don't know. Yeah, it's true. Number three. I watched more of the U.S. Open Golf Championship this weekend. Okay. Then I did a World Cup play.

Okay. Because, again, I'm not a soccer fan. I appreciate a little bit of the U.S., but including the United States on Friday. everything. I watch more U.S. Open because this isn't one of the four majors in golf. Played at a great course. Yes.

Legendary players. You love when they go to Shinnock Hills. Yes, I love the Shinnock. And I do like making fun of strange golfers names with their first name of Windham Clock. Windham Clock. What's wrong with Scotty Sheffler? It's normal. And number four.

Longhorn legend. This year, especially with an MVP. vote on the line. Oh no, another Austrian has died. He's fine. He's going to get up. I got to tell you this. I'm not a fan of the Home Run Derby. The Home Run Derby is great public relations

for a guy that's competing for an MVP award. Okay. I think Yordon's making a mistake by not competing in it. I'm telling you, if I'm in a scrum to win the MVP award to get my face, 5, 10, 50 minutes of the world, baseball world looking at me and me only, I think Yordaunt should

compete in the Home Run Derby. Okay. All right. So my four takes are, I'm really bullish on Mike Burroughs of the second half of the year. Really bullish. Really bullish. Like, you know how Christian Walker was better second half of the year last year than he was? Sure, why not?

That's my comp on that. Okay. Okay. Number two, I cannot wait for the World Cup of championship basketball. But it doesn't, to my benefit, it isn't it the same kind of lust of this one does. I like it to have the same sort of grandiose worldwide attention. Number three, I watch more of the World U.S. Open this weekend than I do the World Cup. And number four, this year, especially with an MVP vote on the line. Yordon, I think, is making a mistake by not competing in the homerun derby.

It's a great chance of getting some additional media attention. Which one of the four am I telling you the truth? All right, Jonathan. You know what? I'm going to help you out. No, I'm just kidding. The easiest one to dismiss for me is Yorda. Because Mad for years has been saying he doesn't want players to play.

playing in the derby? He scored. Who scored? Messi scored. Little Messi with a back timer. And the crowd is going crazy. It's like, what, 20 minutes in? No, 38.

They're still in the first half. Here we got, we have the call. The undisputed. All time. Goz-desk. Leading goal score in World Cup history. Goldescos

Lino Messi Oh, this feels me of joy He's just the goal Oh look, he's thanking his grandmother He always praised to his grandma After every, after every goal All right, one nothing Austria, I mean, Argentina over Austria

In the 30-somethingth minute. Oh, look at the run. Look at the finish. Did he ever use his right foot? Yes, but he's got the best left foot in history. Okay. His right foot is actually underrated but when you get the best left foot there ever was,

it's all good. Okay, back to it. Sorry. Focus. Sorry, focused. Okay. All right. I think I'm dismissing the Yord on one.

He doesn't like guys being in the derby. Maybe he's changed his mind. People are allowed to change their mind. Burroughs, I could see being bullish, but when he says really bullish, I don't think anybody can be really bullish on Mike Burroughs. Maybe you shouldn't use the term. And I come down to the line. I'll make sure it's clear.

Bullish. Okay. Bullish on Bullish. Burroughs. Anybody can be bullish on Burroughs, so maybe I believe that one. Now, I don't know. He said he watched U.S. Open like in the first hour. And I know he doesn't like World Cup,

but he also was at a lot of bars and restaurants who are all going to have the World Cup on, Jonathan. So that one feels sneaky. I'm 50-50 on three, two, and it could be one. So really four is the only one I feel like I'm really dismissing. I'm proud of you, Matt, for once. Thank you. I mean, Matt could have really believed two, but he just didn't know.

I don't know, Ross. I mean, why wouldn't there be a World Cup for basketball? And the preface that take was, I'm seeing all this huge crowds, hype, parties. Oh, you want it for basketball. I would like to see the same thing for basketball. Go on one. Okay. That's the answer I had locked into. All right.

You guys both in on one? Yeah, sure, why not? All right. You're right. I hate the homeowner derby. That's never going to change. I don't care if it competes or not. Either or. Number two.

I did watch the U.S. Open this weekend just on Sunday. I'm not watching Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It was World Cup. World Cup was the, you can't go. I was in restaurants and bars all weekend. You can't go five feet without watching it. There you go. And I got back to my hotel room on Friday before listening to you to get in front of the television to watch.

Oh, so you watched some World Cup. I did. I'm proud of you. So I watched it. It was okay. I watched way more World Cup than the U.S. Open. Sorry, it's just U.S. Open. Unless Tiger's involved in it, it's fine.

I didn't watch yesterday. Alexander Schoffley and Wyndham Claw. So it comes down to the last two. Guys, I'm bullish on Mike Burroughs. Oh, we win, Jonathan, but you don't gain any points. This one was easy, though. This one was very easy. I didn't feel like it was that easy.

I mean, I guess I could see a Feeba World Cup. There also is one. Since 1950, apparently. Because here's the reason why I'm part of it. If he's not good, there's people coming after his job. I mean, if you, I think he has the stuff. I do believe he's got major leagues He's got options too, I believe.

But I mean, if you got McCuller's ready to come back soon. You got Javier very close. Renele Blanco can't be that far behind. And then after that, it's probably going to be in the kid in the Chicago, the Cubs trade. Winsneski. Hayden Wisniewski? Yeah.

Sure, why not? So I'm saying, you got options. If I'm bullish on him, he needs to be bullish on himself. So that's what I went with. Now, it could be wrong, but that's just my opinion. Let's tell the truth. Congratulations to both for you. Thank you, Matt.

But poor Jonathan. He better be better. Poor Jonathan. Do we say poor Astros when they win a game? Hey, he got the dub. You know what we do? You know what? I'm climbing.

I'm sorry. Hey, I got news for you Astros. You won. But guess what the Mariners won too? You made up no ground. That don't mean nothing. That's okay. It's good.

They're climbing. Yeah, yeah. Look at yourself. Focus internally, Matthew. The only way you're going to gain any ground, Jonathan. Good job, Jonathan. is on Ross when he's on an off day. Even then.

Even then he has it. Just wait to college football because then that's when you really get Ross. Because Ross, you know, he's already UT, you know, whatever you say against SEC and Longhorn's, he's going to pick it. Okay. I got you. All right. 1245 on Sports Talk 7. I thank you very much.

That was to tell the truth. Coming up at 1.30, we have a missing you. You're going to be missing some people here, Ross. I got to tell you. The numbers are pretty good this week for some former answers. who play any warm body in the outfield we are missing you that's true that is true 713 212 5 7 man this is more austrians on the ground turn this off all they're doing is flopping like muttons on the ground than world war two oh now that's a flop okay that's a flop

come on god let that down i'm like if you're if you're an austrian call us in and tell us why y'all are flopping sun's bees come on now 713 212 5 790 713 2 219 713 2 Our internet went down, so that means Ross cannot watch the soccer because even the internet's like enough flopping. That's perfect timing. Here's your sign. You just hit halftime. So we're good. All right.

It is 1252 here on the program. If you'd like to join us, but we have not taken any calls this hour. So if you want to come and say hello. Let's do it. We welcome you to do so. We're welcome. We don't bite. Yeah, we've been very pleasant except for Terry in Ohio.

Who is a terrible phone caller? But that's another hearing of there. I still love Terry. All right. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. We're going to get to the top of the hour. We'll focus on the asteros,

because I do want to ask you about how Joe is going to navigate the pitching waters once these guys come back and are ready to go. So we'll go through the entire list. It'll be easy to navigate who does well, who gets the time, but you're going to have too many arms. Yeah. So we'll get to more of that 1 o'clock. Nine men rotation.

Nine men rotation. With days off. And the all surpreing coming up, which gives you five days off. Really lighten the workload. Of course, you'll have two relievers. It'll be Josh Hader, Brian King, and Stephen O'Kertzell 3. Yeah. And the nine restaters.

Okay. I did put on here on my note card here. I'm glad Freddy's 15 minutes are over. Are we sure? I don't know about that. He keeps gaining followers. Freddie is the Internet sensation. the social media guy.

Yes. By the way, more and more people believe it's a marketing plant. I think people are picking up I don't know that it started that way, but it's certainly gotten to that. Like, he's eating putteen at Niagara Falls.

And, like, he's been going, he did say In-N-Out Burger was better than What a burger, which has some people upset. I mean, he's got a good palate at least. Mm-hmm. Jonathan, your response? It's not.

I can't believe he went in Texas and said that. Lake Ontario does look beautiful. Yeah, all these changes. Denny's is probably paying for him. He's probably racking up the cash. He's not paying for flights. So does that make this whole thing disingenuous or kind of? Yeah, I think it is.

But I don't know. I don't know. I'm not following him and I don't really care that much. But it has been blowing up. For those who don't know is French fries. No, it's cheese curds. It is French fries too, right? It can be, yes.

I've had, yeah. The definition of true Quebecian Poonteen is French fries top with cheese curds and hot brown gravy traditionally made from beef and chicken stock. Did you say Poonteen? Poutine. Poutine.

Poutine. I'll go to Canada once a year. Sorry. For some Poonteen. Can somebody call? Talk to Astros. No, you did it. 7-13.

Two, one. 5-7-9. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-8. I don't like it. I've had it a couple times. I don't like mixing my foods up as it is. So it's just, you know, the gravy is just, ugh, not great. They don't call Mr. Canada.

No, they don't. They don't call you Mr. or anything. Oh. Instead of Mr. Can You Please Leave. They love me in Galveston. Mr. Can you please stop harassing our fellow blackjack players? I didn't do anything. Did you see me harassed this weekend?

You did great, actually. Yeah, I figured you were happy with me. Yeah. I'm glad you stopped bitching once the cards turned. It's all of us. Yeah, it's a little bit of us. So he's now in Canada going to go see his team play in Toronto. Is that correct on that?

Are you talking about Freddie? Yeah. He's German, right? Yes. Or this is a Belgian flag. But then a couple days ago, he was talking about, I can't afford these games for these tickets, and he's trying to save up his money for the later rounds.

Yeah. And all of a sudden, way swooping in. Didn't the governor, Utah was trying to get him on a flight somewhere? Two different private charter companies got in there. Shmerican Airlines was actually nice to him as compared to most of the customers that normally fly

the airline. Yes, that's true. Good for him. Imagine if I would have flown to Germany and flown Ruf Ranza. Maybe you could be, yeah, maybe you could have been a German superstar, Matt. Where's the World Cup next? All I'm saying is this. I'm going to I'm going to London next summer.

And I'm going to criticize British rare race and I'm going to see if I get some better combinations. It's Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. It seems like a vast tournament, doesn't it? Portugal and Spain makes sense. Iberian Peninsula. Morocco's in there too, though?

I guess good for them. Yeah. Oh, it'll be the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup. Live coverage here on 790? Probably. Yeah. We should go do some. You know, maybe...

We should do some games in Portugal. In four years, you can be my color analyst. You could analyze the game. Yeah, sure. I mean, I've called soccer before. Okay, yeah. You're a hot shot's legend, Matt. He was indoor soccer, but I can figure it out.

Hot shots legend, Matt Thomas. I got a four-year head start. Yeah. Yeah. Got to diversify my portfolio. I've done football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, I've done lacrosse. You did a back alley dice games?

That's a good game, too. I want to do some play of poker. It's really the analyst does them all the heavy lifting. I'm all the heavy lifting. I'm gonna lock. Who's that guy that was Andy? No, no, no, no. Van Patton does a Vince Van Patten does a lot of color.

I'm trying to think who else. Guy used to be a writer for USA Today. I think he did a bunch of stuff too. Hmm. I don't know. Who's John McLean? No, it's not John McLean. For the top of the hour, let's talk to Stunner.

You know what? We asked for a phone call and we get one from Stunna on 7-Hunny. Stunner, good afternoon to you. What's up, Matt? What's up, Ross? Hey, what's going on, Stunner?

I need to know how much that pool team comes. It depends on how good it is and fresh it is, I guess. All right. And another thing is, I was in Germany, and they do the same thing. But they call it Tom Frisch. Tom Fresh? Palm fritz. No, palm frites are just French for French fries.

That's not a dish. Yeah, yeah, but it comes with the sniffle and everything. But anyhow, I was thinking, I said, hey, man, they got palm team. Poonteen for a set. I need to find out how much it costs. Thank you, Stutter. Matt loves going up to Canada and get some Poonteen. I'm sorry, Jonathan.

I'm sorry you had to witness this. I mean, it's just a slip of the tongue. Excuse me? What a break. Final hour. The Matt Thomas showed Ross for a Monday. Ross is here for... Yeah, this is a good one here.

Get a libido up for Poon Tien. A little segue for good Poon Tee. You want to go up to Canada with some Vim and Vigor and some energy? Fix my LOT.com, baby. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Remain nameless that I've asked about this dish I've been asking about the last segment of the show. What's wrong with you?

You know, when you take a couple days off, you don't have... I ate long, Galveston. That's good. Seafood is incredible. Food City. Woo, baby. I agree. It was hazy and very humid.

I'll tell you that. super, super humid down there. I mean, plus the little rain we had. Yeah. It is what it is. But, you know, get any picks of the water? Oh, no, no, no, no. You had to say it like that.

No, no, no. We stayed in. 713-212-5-7-90. 7-13-1-2-5-7-90. Ross and Matt with you here. If you want to join us, please do so. As Ross, you said, we do not bite. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90.

We do have missing you coming up in about to 25 minutes from now. NBA draft is tomorrow. Joseph Duarte from The Chronicle is going to join us from New York. He is actually there covering the draft because there's two first round picks. Okay, awesome. So we'll talk to him for a couple minutes on the show. Don't know about Joe Espada

tomorrow because of the afternoon games. Don't know about that. Yeah, I think it's getting moved. If it'll be tomorrow or Wednesday, so one of the two. Back-to-back Wednesdays. Yeah, it's all right. Whatever case. We've moved him twice and he's won the previous. That's true. So, all right. So the question I brought up

And again, if you want to join us, 713212-5-790, 7-1-3-2-1-2-7-90. Okay. So right now, the asterers are in a stretch, we're going to have to go with six starters. Okay. They do not have an off day until July the 2nd. They have played every day since the 19th. Three with Cleveland.

Yes. Three, Toronto, this week, four Detroit, then three with Minnesota. So that's a pretty healthy stretch of games without a day off. So next off day is July 2nd. Now, July, I mean, relatively speaking, they hardly play. They have four days off of the All-Star break. They have off days. They don't even play a single Thursday in the month of July at all.

So you really don't need a six-man rotation. You need five. In theory. Okay. Now, as long as no one gets hurt, you're going to have a battle. Javier can only make a certain, I mean, he's about to make his fourth rehab. start today for the space cowboys. So obviously he's getting closer.

Lance McCullors is back on the bump, getting his rehab going here. Now, again, no one's expecting excitement. Nobody is. We're tempering this. Get ready to learn Sugar Land. Get ready to learn outrighted, buddy. So you take those two cats, just thinking about July. Okay.

And the six guys that are going these days right now, there's too many spots. so let's put this down on paper pen to paper on this Aragetti is 100% for sure in the rotation Duh Okay Brown

Hunter Brown in the rotation 100% for sure Lambo Peter Lambert has done nothing to lose his spot correct Correct Highway tongue

you could put him back in the bullpen honestly Okay Tatsui Emi gonna get the longest lease in the business He's getting a long leash.

And four of his last five starts have been good. Yep. Or at least serviceable. Then the man on bullish on, Mike Burroughs. He's going to get bullish on the Cowboys-based Cowboys. Well, he's got to start this week. I mean, this is a big one. Yeah.

And then you bring in the Javier factor and the McCullors factor. He's making money. So is he. So is McCullors. But I think at some point you've got to cut bait. I mean, this will be a direct question. How many names is that? That's eight.

That's eight. Now, Tongue is an easy one. Tongue, you put him back in the bullpen. Even though he was a great yesterday. But even if you put him in the bullpen, you only have so many arms. So that means somebody from the bullpen. Now, you could probably, what's the guy's name that just got back lately? He's been the last couple weeks.

Nate Pearson? Nate Pearson. Nate can go back to Sugar Lane. He's got options. Okay. But right now, to me, Ross, it's a numbers game right now. Yes. So all this, we were lamenting the pitching and now we were back at the surplus.

We thought we were going to have. Here's the original surplus. Yes. That you love quantity. You want quality. You got quality right now with Brown. Erigetti's June has been... Me.

Not me. It's been down. Z.RA's north of six in the month of June. That's not man. That's bad. Lambert has been solid. but not spicy, but certainly legit, doesn't have nothing to lose his

spot. And you will still want to get value from Tatsu-Imi because that's your $18 million investment. Yeah, Yemai is going to pitch. So, Arrogati, Brown, Lamberti Mai feel like locks to me. Burroughs up in the air, tongue to the bullpen,

Javier, how do you not pitch Javier with the money he's making? And the fact that, start them, you had three years ago, and, you know, a guy that you wanted to pay great money to because you thought it would be a future star for this organization. Yeah, you need El Reptile back.

Not Christian Javier. So let me give you this crazy thought. Any of those guys trade friendly to go get some outfield help? Okay. That could make sense. Tell me I'm wrong. Well, I don't know who would it be.

Tong? Nobody's trading for McCullors. No. I would say very unlikely people are trading for Javier, the money he's making. But you're sending cash. crazy. Even though you said you're not trading, you're not trading any one of those guys

that don't know value, the Astros have value in them because they want to give them that one final look. Javier's out of options. Okay. And he's making what, like $20 million? I think McCuller's and Javier have zero trade value.

There wouldn't be a team that would be... You could maybe get somebody if you sent money. Like, you sent a bunch of money with Javier, but even then, no, he's under control for what, the next couple of years? at like 20 million-ish per? Let me ask you this. What's he making like 19 million next couple years?

What if I traded? Javier is making 21 million this year and next. That's actually, if you sent a bunch of money, it's not crazy. Has Jim Crane done that a lot in his life? No. No, we're usually the ones we're getting the money here. We're saying cash for Reinal Delgado. We don't know how much cash.

Okay, so let's do this. Javier and a fat check might get you like a mid-prospect. I mean, Lambert, have any value to you at all? You know, you got to keep Lambo. No, no, no, no. If your outfield's a high... Look, Ross. You didn't...

Go ahead. Go ahead. If I'm going to win this division, I got to get something for my outfit. Yeah, but you got to only have like three reliable starters, and he's one of them. You're not getting rid of him. But if I want somebody that's going to have an OPS of 730, I need to give up something in return. I can't... I'm not getting...

Christian Javier and Lance McCullors are getting me nothing in terms of an outfield bat. Except the guy that's bat in 206. Yeah, but if you're making a push, you're with Peter, Lambert, who's been your second best starter all year, or his third worst? Well, just think about what, but is... Hunter Brown's only pinch a few times, so he's been holding it down

with Araggetty, who's regressing right now? I don't know. Controllable pitcher that has been the big leagues before. I'm not endorsing it. I'm just throwing it out there to say, hey, you cannot continue to live with the horrendous

OPS this team is giving you in the off-field. I never thought I'd be sitting here saying Peter Lambert's untouchable. I'm with you. It sounds crazy to say out loud. But I don't think, no. I think you keep him. Even though it looks like he's just on a one-year deal. Okay.

Then if you're not going to give me Lambert, then give me a pitcher I can move to give me some outfield help. That would actually make a little bit of sense. Tongue? Because it was versatility? I guess so. I don't know. Send a big check with Javier. Nobody's going to want boroughs. No.

Nobody's one. Nobody's touching McCullough of the 10-foot pole. Arrogati is untouchable. Eamon, probably untouchable. Yeah, I guess. Maybe Arrogati? But no. No.

You're telling me that Lambert is more untouchable than Arrogati is? I'm not saying that. Well, you're thinking it. I'm just saying you also have to field a rotation. You feel a rotation, but you also, I'm also trying to field an OPA. Those are your top three guys. I'm trying to fill the trading line in any of them.

I'm not, I don't want to field an OPS of 625 in my outfield. I need Javier. to hit the scene and like he needs to start throwing like seven innings a one run ball like three times at a row and then maybe we'll talk about it that needs to happen like lightning fast because we are now

six weeks away from the anything can a lot can change in six weeks in baseball a lot but as of this moment yeah Lambert could go out and get shelled the next two times out and then I could be telling you trade him but then what's his trade value

so can I go with this Are you telling me that you are dead set against a starting pitcher currently on this team being moved in a potential trade? It can be part of pieces. It wouldn't be one for one. I'll throw you tongue or I throw you whatever, Javier and some cash, and I don't even know. Because here's the thing, the minor league system cannot be used. There's nobody there. To go get an everyday player right now.

You're not doing it. You're not doing it. You just can't. All right. It is 113. We have missing you coming up at the bottom of the hour. on five, four. Astros, see how they're doing.

We can tell you right now, in the 48th minute, Argentina, leading... Who are they playing? Austria. Austria's a bunch of floppers. I don't think you can trade on flopping on Kalsh. I don't think so.

If you could, it would do very well. Yes, you could. Just got the latest voting in for the All-Star game. Well, that makes a big difference, but Yorna Alvarez is still the leading vote enter the DH spot, but he is now second. in the American link behind Ernie Clement,

the second basement for the Blue Jays. He has 2,054,000 votes. Yaron Alvarez is at 1.974 million. Both guys trail... O'Donnie, 2.3 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers. So third overall, after being second last week. Okay. Did Ernie Clement have a big week?

The hell's going over there. I know. Ernie Clement had that kind of popularity. Yeah, I guess. Who's that? I don't know. She's blowing kisses to people. Matt. She's blowing kisses to the sub.

Could be. How do you feel about the sub rules in soccer, by the way? Five subs. They used to do three, now they do five. But once you're in, you can't go back. Yeah. That's kind of weird. It's like baseball.

Yeah, but in basketball, they let subs in. Yeah, but in baseball, you're out, you're out. Same thing. Okay. Again, I'm not trying to reinvent the rules because they don't in my opinion. Okay, so I think the all,

you know, it's going to be, and you're not going to be in Vegas for a couple of days during the All-Star break. The All-Star break is not going to be, and I'm going to make this prediction right now, it's not going to be fun to talk about the sport.

Do you know why? Because everybody, all the national media are going to be there to talk about the pending lockout. It's going to be by far the number one conversation piece. Everybody's going to be asked about it. I'm actually starting to feel encouraged.

Oh, I'm as discouraged as ever. Because now, I mean, we're in June. Yeah. They're making all these proposals. And they're in talks. The Players Association is laughing. They're going back and forth. I think we have a season in 27.

I think we have a season. I just don't think it's going to be anything close to 162. It feels to me very COVID-y 60 games. It depends. No, I would go over that. But this is gut feelings from both of us. Right, right. But the fact that there were going to be a, I mean, if we're talking about how many games

have been played at this point? 70? 79. Yeah. So 80. We're basically about halfway through the season. I don't think it's going to take them a year plus a full three to four months of no games getting played before we get a squeeze.

Because we can all agree, baseball is not going away forever. Baseball's coming back at some point. And they've been talking now for even starting. starting the last couple of months. So they're going to figure out their impasses. They're going to draw their lines in the sand. I think games will be missed, or at least it's going to get close to spring training.

But if they're going to come to agreement, let's go. No, we're not. We're skipping. I don't think so. That's fine. I mean, it's lovely over there. I think we should have missed not going to captain, what was that captain, whoever the hells.

That was a great restaurant, yeah. Oh, we can do like a dining episode just of the good food we've had down there. But, all right. No, I'm not encouraged. Captain Charlie's. I am as discouraged as usual. I think it's all lip service. And the only question is going to be for me is this.

And we'll talk about this, unfortunately, Rossi, for the next 10 months. But if you're in any kind of negotiation, you would at least we're knowing where people stand. The number one thing to me will be, will the owners budge on a salary cap? If they do not budge, we do not play baseball. I mean, that's the word. Basically, the player said that word enters the conversation, we are out. They are, they're like,

I don't, I don't know, no, I'm like, no, do it. No, no, no, no, no, I want to hear it. No, no, no, no, I believe in you. I don't have one. Oh, you don't have one? That is the word that that word means no. That is the automatic stop, the automatic, stop, end of conversation.

It's the safe word. That's the unsafe word. Okay. No, I think that's a terrible analogy. You hear it? stop everything. It was a weird. Yeah, you know what, man?

I'm agreeing with you. Thank you. You know what? You know, I'm rubbing off on you. Oh, don't cut that. Please don't. That's too late. Damn.

Point being, that's... Now, the question is going to be, will they massage it in a way where it's a salary cap, but not call it that? So the baseball players feel better about it. But I... Again, and here's the crazy part of it, Ross.

We're assuming that this is a non-budge. We don't ever hear. hear from the owners, we hear from the union, we hear from the owners association, we don't hear directly from owners, maybe because they were told not to say anything. But do we really know all 30 are on board with this? I think the rich I don't know. The rich teams want to cap. I don't know if the

poor teams want to floor. Yeah, the Dodgers don't want to spend as much as it have. The Marlins don't want to spend the pockets of money. The Marlins have no interest in spending 90% of what they're making. That's a great thing about the floor in the NFL, they require you to spend a certain amount. Well, they're going to some court of sort of rights pooling, I guess, at some point. Yeah. A lot of that to me

is in one ear and another because it's just, it's too big of finance for me. But every time you hear salary cap, you get terse responses back from the Player Association and written statement. Because the number one thing they believe is we have been one of the most incredible unions. We have been one of the

most incredible sports for over 100 years and we've never had a salary cap. Why do we need one now? Our business is thriving. We're getting huge television deals. Our stadiums are full. Our revenues are up high. If it ain't broke, the baseball player association's philosophy is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

And just because you can't police yourselves doesn't necessarily mean it's got to be at our expense. I kind of get that. But also, I mean, the contracts have gotten nuts. They have. And the owners are trying to help themselves. And you also got, you've also got,

you've got, the Dodgers isn't good for the sport. Yes, correct. You know what? I want them to trade for Tarek Scouble and win another World Series championship. So it looks even more ridiculous. Maybe I'll wake up at that point. It's ridiculous.

Yeah, somebody's got to have some kind of waking up by the other owners. All right, let's see how the rest of the former Astros are doing around baseball. Oh, wonderful. Are you missing them? We'll find out next. 128 on Sports Talks Center. Believe it or not today is Dusty May. Let's check out how some former Astros are in Ross.

And I ask you a question every single time we do this. I ask you, are you missing them? All right. We'll start with Alex Breggman, the third basement of the Chicago Cubs. Yeah. It's been a tough year for O'Breggy. Big fan of his, personally. The notorious slow starter.

Yeah, but he can heat up. We're at the 80 game mark. One year, he didn't heat up until like September. Last week he went seven for 24. Yeah. No home runs. three RBIs. He did draw six walks.

That's good. That's not bad in a week, six walks. Yeah, six walks in a week's pretty good. Batting average, well, I'm not doing it. I don't do batting average. Six home runs for him on the year. That's way, way down for him. Good God.

25 ribbyes through 80 games is awful. OPS of 693. I ask you, Jonathan. I ask you, Ross. Are you missing him? I am not missing him. Not at all. Not at all.

All right. Toronto Blue J. Jesus, we will see him tonight and tomorrow and Wednesday. Great. Is he still mashing? Five for 22, man. One home run?

One RBI. Boy, he didn't do much. Seven strikeouts. He had the flu last week? Seven K's last week. Seven home runs on the year, more than Bregman. 29 ribbies. more than Bregman.

The OPS is still 769. For the Astros Outfield, gentlemen, this is an easy one. I ask you, boys, are you missing? Jesus Sanchez. Yes. But he's got to be like the worst defensive outfielder in football, I mean, a football, baseball or something. He's no Jake Myers.

Because he's a minus.3 war according to baseball reference. What the hell's he doing out there? That's like he's catching the ball and throwing it into the stands for a home. runs or something. I think he takes east by southeast routes. What's it doing up there? How do you got a 770 OPS and you're a minus point three?

I'll still say I'm missing him though. Oh, for sure. For this lineup? Absolutely. You stick him in left and just have him butcher over there. It wouldn't be too bad. All right, Kyle Tucker. Six for 26. Boy, he is Mr. 250. He just is. One home run.

Four ribbyes. Okay. Six strikeouts. Hmm. Six home runs, less than Sanchez. He does have 40 ribbies, but he's also in the heart of the lineup position. Okay. His OPS now above 700 at 705.

I mean, I'm going to say yes. Sorry. But let me phrase a different way. If you would have given Kyle Tucker the money you wanted to give or he wanted. That's not my paycheck. It's not my check book. But people would be destroyed. destroying him here. Like they're destroying him.

Yeah. I mean, I guess you've got Cam Smith and Isak Paratus. Like Parades to be hitting a little bit more. Next. Missing anybody on outfield with legs. Can you, is there a way to look at it? Maybe not today, but is there a way to look up the worst outfield hitting in baseball? I mean, Gassar's had to be worse. I mean, I could do it by position. I don't know if I can group it by, I can try to. All right, Mauricio Dubon, Atlanta Braves. By the way,

are in the Tarek Scoubel rumor mill about grabbing him. I don't care where Tark Scouble goes. I'd prefer to be a National League team. National League would be great. Now, by the way, he's just a rental. He is going to absolutely test the free agent waters as he should. Eight for 28 for Maricio Dubon. One home run, so he hit one more home run than Bregman hit last week.

Five ribbies. Seven home runs on the year. 42 RBIs. He has more RBIs than Tucker, more RBIs than Sanchez, and more RBIs in Brigham with an OPS of 724. I say, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you a question. Are you missing Maricio Dubon?

Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Now, the one, the last one from Bervaldas, we saw him in his last pitching performance. Inside Dyken Park, six innings, six hits, one run it was not earned, three walks, six strike. counts, giving him a mark of three wins and five losses, an ERA of 4.09. I ask you, gentlemen, this is a little tougher. Are you missing from Bervaldez?

Nope. I'll still say yes. No. Now you're getting some guys back. I'm still missing them. Again, that's one of those situations, Ross. You pay him what he wanted. Three and five, and Ernie of four would not have been what you wanted from him. Plus, I just think there was never, I think the bad juju of the sanch of him throwing the ball at Salazar's chest about the semi-imposions he would make after giving up having some bad starts. I'm not missing him.

And that, my friends, is this week's missing you. Maricio Dubon has more RBIs than Kyle Tucker, Jesus, Sanchez, and Alex Springman. Things I thought I would never, ever, ever say. Astros are 18th in right-field OPS. Out of 30. 25th in center field OPS 30

and a 25th in left field OPS and think about this That's with Yordon Sprin That's with Yordon Alvarez That's with 53 played appearances of Yordon Well, thinking about who's primarily played Left Field, you've had a little bit of

Wade, a little bit of Lopoito, a little bit of I can break it down for you if you want Please don't, but go ahead It's been mostly disincent Oh no, Loporfito Bryce Matthews 549, low Profito, 5409,

low profito 569. Yordon,000 OPS in left field, 1053 with 53 plate appearances. So it'd be, without that thousand from Yordon,

it's at 667, 25th. They'd probably be close to dead last. So there you go. I don't think the Astros are going to be buyers of the deadline because you don't have much to give. Remember, trades have to hurt. Everybody seems,

you know, Ross, people tend to forget about trades have to hurt. Houston's outfield, Chandler Room, somebody just sent us, because he wrote an article on it, 660 OPS, the whole outfield. It's not great. How on guys Green Earth are they only five back?

Or three back, or... I'm talking about 500 or 500, excuse me. I mean, how... If you have an OPS of 660 in your outfield, your entire outfield, your entire outfield, that means 33% of your lineup absolutely is atrocious. Thank you, Yorta.

Blessings. If Yor and I wasn't part of that, it's probably 625. They have a good defensive outfield. I love it. Cam Smith's great and right. That's why Will doesn't want to want to trade him because he's got the elite outfield arm. Well, he's got the elite outfield glove. The arm man, arm.

Cam Smith's got a great arm. Yeah, Cam's got a good arm. Leftfield has been able to hold its own. Yeah. Centerfield's been a little bit of work, but that's kind of what you thought. Is what it is. All right. Are you ready to play, believe it or not?

Yes. You're like, Matt, what are we playing for today? What we're playing for today, Matthew? I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you. I'm glad I asked too. You didn't ask, actually. Oh, we're giving away tickets to see the Black Crows and Whiskey Myers.

All right. Or a 790 t-shirt. Very quick, pop culture need a ruling from both of you. I saw this during a hydration break. May you remind me because I was watching this on over the weekend. Austin Powers 4 is in production. Do we need it? Now, apparently it's going to be more.

centered around Dr. Evil more than Austin Powers. But it feels like that. It's kind of run its course. One is one of the great comedies ever, I actually think. And a really pop-cultory, you stole lines from, you know, one million. Laser Beals. I mean, really funny, interesting, cute.

Two and three, although Heather Graham's a big, I'm a big fan of hers, so. Two was a little over the top, and then three was completely, ridiculous over the top. I have no idea what you're talking about. With Beyonce. She did not get nominated for an Oscar in that role. Do you know, by the way,

Beyonce's dad follow me on Twitter. Oh, really? Yeah, he's a miss to be a listen to the show. Maybe. So shout out to you. Real fast, do you even, have you even seen a, do you even know who Austin Powers is? I don't know what you're talking about. The first one's great. There's a lot of, it's like

Bond. It's like a parody of Bond films, basically. Mike Myers plays and there's Dr. Evil, there's mini me. I would say watch the first one please in the next week if you could. Okay. All right. No, you don't have to. I'm just saying that would be even that could be dated. Is it dating? Do you think the first one's dated? A little bit maybe. Okay. I like old movies though. I'm not mad. Okay. But yeah, I don't know. When I saw the, they did it's at a commercial during the hybrid

hydration break for it. So obviously they're going to do marketing to go along with Verizon. Yeah. Verizon. Oh, Verizon. Pras sponsor the big three. See? Shout out to you, Verizon. Holla at your boy, Verizon. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do?

We should play America's fastest growing sports radio game show. We simply call it Believe it or not. And here's how it works. She calls 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe or not, it's brought to you by absolutely no one at this point, but it's a category of Dusty May.

I'll read your statement about Dusty. Statement completely in utterly. Accurate, you'll say this. Believe it. Statements here orne's full of bunk and minute up. You'll say this. Two believe or nots in a row when you a pair of tickets to see the Black Crows and Whiskey Myers, August 8th at the Woodland Pavilion Tickets on sale at Ticketmaster.com. Rubin on 7.Rubin, you ready to play Believe it or not? Dusty May's first job in basketball was as a student manager for Bob Knight in Indiana.

Believe it or not? Believe it. Believe it. Statement number two for the win. While in Indiana, Dusty May's major was sports science. Believe it or not? Believe it. No, journalism. 713-212-5-790.

Troy on 790, Troy, your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show. Oh, I just tuned in. I'm driving the truck. Dusty May played one season of basketball at Oakland City University before transferring to Indiana. Believe it or not. not believe it if you were listening earlier we talked to all about his career Ryan on 790 you're ready to play believe it or not

believe it Dusty May landed his manager's job in Indiana because he had an inn he did yard work for the team doctor believe it or not not believe it this feels very Wikipedia like here what do you mean you got that's where you went right I'd do it for most of it, but that one was not from Wikipedia. Will you shut your bum ass out?

I stand corrected. Okay, here it goes very slowly. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. Ken on 790, Ken, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show? All the aster's talk. Dusty May's Michigan Wolverines won the NCAA championship, despite not winning the Big Ten regular season tournament or the tournament itself.

believe it or not. Believe it. No, they were the regular season champions. Ross, how's your day going? It's going pretty good. What are we giving away? Whiskey Myers tickets and Black Crows. Now, I'm going to read here for uptown appliance repair,

and then we'll get a couple people. And we do? Okay, let's do this. We're quick. Let's go to Roy on 790. Roy. You're ready to play, believe it or not? Yes.

I've been listening all day. You're the best, Roy. Thank you. Dusty May's son, son, Charlie. You're lying. You should lose then. Yeah. Dusty May's son, Charlie, played on Michigan's national championship team. He averaged 0.9 points per game. Believe it or not?

Not. Believe it. You lose. Good day, sir. Jose on 790. Jose, you ready to play, believe it or not? Yes, sir. Dusty May is an avid golfer and has participated in several Pro Am events across the country. Believe it or not. Believe it.

Not. Black Crows tickets. Josh on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Dusty May has never had a losing conference record in any of his eight seasons, either at Michigan or at Florida Atlantic. Believe it or not.

Believe it. Not. Too, Florida, Atlanta. That's it. We gave away nothing today. I'm going to give you some advice as a nice backup prize. those appliances fixed today with Uptown Appliance Repair. 281-758-997-8-8-8-9-7-8 or online

and available for you at Uptown Appliant Repair, whether it's the washing machine, whether it's a dryer vent, whether it's the gas grill outside, whether it's a dishwasher, whether it's a refrigerator, the sub-zero. I could go on and on and on. Bobby Firo and his team want to take great care of you at Uptown Appliance Repair. 281-758-9-9-78. That's 281-758-99-7978. Up next, the 18th.

They'll do their show, plus Astros on deck. Since the 10th inning is outside of their time slot, they will not do the 10th inning. I will do it. Astros, Blue Jays, all the way here on 790. Wee-hoo.