The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Lose Game 2 vs Tigers Still Managing To Stay #1 In AL West.

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Astros Lose Game 2 vs Tigers Still Managing To Stay #1 In AL West.

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Astros' offense, ready to explode. I think he said it twice. Mismount, the baseball god's ears. Or maybe more importantly, the Astro bats. Sports RV, the Astros need a little luck. They need a little luck. They're getting some because the Mariners suck too right now.

Thank God. Yeah, they're getting a lot of luck. Mariners have lost four in a row. Yes. They got lucky to win that game on Saturday. I can't get enough Paul McCartney wings on this show. I can. I've hit my film just now.

Well, you're lucky. The show's only now, or today. Only hear it once. Yeah. I mean, it's fine. Paul McCartney wings, not bad. We will save this for another day. We have more pressing issues to get to.

I just said they're not bad. Yeah, but I can hear the cynicism in your voice. And they're not tier one. Okay, good morning, everybody. Good morning, sports army. Hey, Matt. How are you? How was the 10th inning show last night?

Want me to read you a tweet I got? Well, it's funny because people thought it was me doing it, and they're like, man, they're being mean to Ross. People are being mean to you, Sports Harvey? I didn't think anybody was, well, I mean, my intelligence was questioned several times, but that's every postgame, right? Not every post game, but. Right. Yeah, tweet, last night was the most feisty I've heard sports RV on a 10th inning show. It also said was the funniest postgame show ever.

I felt like I was going crazy. I took like 10 people in a row. wanting Christian Walker to bunt. Yeah, I thought that was going to be coming. I have a great friend of mine, Mike Paday. And Mike, if you're listening, I love you. Dang, you're out here naming names. Try snitching.

No, this is not a dry son. This is a full-on stitch. And I love Mike. We have been friends for about 25 years, so I can comfortably say this. He also did a lot of college baseball with me and has also broadcast a lot of games. and so Mike is also as a coach of some amateur teams back in the day and he's he's a pretty big

bun guy and so he and I were having this very polite yet animated text return about why Christian Walker didn't bunt because then Yarnier Diaz would bring him home on a flyball which unfortunately that didn't happen either because he grounded right to shortstop in the 10th and I said you know Christian Walker Yarnier Diaz probably have what Rossi had combined three sack buntz in their entire career with each other? I would imagine. Somewhere around there. Very, very low range. And he goes, well, if these guys can't bunt,

they shouldn't be in the major leagues. And so I was like, you know, this is this is what, unfortunately, Mike is going with, and that's fine. But that wasn't the reason why they lost. Christian Walker is not a bunter.

My guess is a power-hitting first baseman for his major league career has never been a bunter. I don't know how many he's got. but I'm going to say it's less than 10, maybe less than 5. But that wasn't the reason why. The Astros got snake bit a couple of times. One of Christian Walker's monumental blast would have been out of 25 or 30 ballparks, but not the one that they were in Yass night.

And Yarnier-Diaz got called out when he should have been safe. I try to look at like 10 different timesports RV. I kept looking at safe, safe, safe every time. They have to have some angle that we don't have to have it confirmed. Yeah, yeah. So that angered me a little bit, but the missed opportunities. And look, Tark Scoobble is just awesome. He's a beast.

Paul Skeens are going to be the two best pitchers in baseball probably for the next decade. They won't be where their respective teams, but wherever they happen to go down the road, they'll be their very best. He was really good. Hunter Brown was really, really good yesterday. And why is Caleb Bort throwing an off-speed pitch in a three-two count? the base is loaded. Throw the damn ball over the heart of the plate.

If it gets hit, okay, that's going to happen. But don't get cute. It's a cat-mouse game, Maddie. They're expecting the fast ball. No. And he's expecting to walk him.

Let's see. I took calls. Didn't want Caleb Ord out there, even though it was three straight righties coming up. As you mentioned, the bunting thing. And everybody's like, hey, man, when I was in high school,

my coach told me to send the ball the other way. Yes, because you probably weren't going to send it over the fan. especially when you're on the road, you need to try and score as many runs as possible and you're not going to give away outs necessarily with a guy like Christian Walker. If you said Maricio Dubon was up there

or Taylor Tremel or somebody, I'd be more on board. But Christian Walker doesn't bunt, and if it was that easy, why doesn't he poke a single under right? Well, I don't know if he could do that on demand. He'd be hitting 800. Yeah, I'm not adverse to the bunt,

especially the extra innings. Yes, especially the extra innings. That's about the point. Look, I'm not a huge Bunt fan, but I'm certainly not a big Bunt fan of the... I'm not an anti-bunt in the 10th inning. It's just wrong place, wrong time in the lineup. Yeah.

That probably is the most I've ever yelled in a single post game. Except for maybe... I mean, certain playoff games where people were blaming everything on Dusty Baker. Yeah, I mean, look, we're all animated right now. I mean, there's just no other way around it. uh the astros have been shut out three straight times yeah this is their longest futility in 40 years ever take yeah i think it was what is it 85ish yeah i mean that was i think bob lillis was

the manager before in the 85 team god if i know that it was like the dead ball error around there and they were in the astro i don't know how many of those games were in the astrodome but probably a few of them where the balls were baseballs went to die yeah yeah yeah and the ballpark was it was before they uh altered the uh dimensions too Look, everybody's frustrated. I get it. That's not great. But again, thank you, Seattle.

Should we send Softie something? I don't know. No, I should thank you to Philly. We should be thanking Philly and we'll, clearly Baltimore not as easy of a task as we thought. And thank you, C.J. Stroud. Yeah, you're right. They have not won since he wore their cap.

I know. I am all for it. So if that is the case, can someone deliver a, Baltimore Orioles cap to see Jay Stroud because that's needed the next four days. So look, I know everybody's frustrated and I listen to Sean. I listen to Dana's interview and, you know, again, I get it. We're all, it's a tense time. We've got an astro fan base that's seeing this team.

But remember, the Tigers are a really good baseball team. You're taking on a guy who's probably going to have Rossi with the end of the day, a handful of Syungs. I mean, the sky's a limit as long as his arm stays healthy. I mean, he's phenomenal. He's amazing. And he was last night. And thank God, the Astrosa did the exact same thing, match him mano Varmano. But, you know, one of the things we talked about was the Josh Hater situation where I had complete confidence and still have will always have confidence in Brian O'Brien or you're being a closer stuff.

The indirect negative detriment is that you're now pushing guys into more higher leverage roles. that frankly probably shouldn't be in high-leverage roles. But you're also talking about a bullpen that has been used a lot. I mean, you've got starters with the exception of Jason Alexander and Hunter Brown last night. I'm going deep in games. You had an extra inning game yesterday. You're going to see Caleb or.

You're going to see Bennett Sousa. You're going to see who else am I forgetting about. Oh, Brian King. You're not going to, you know, Sean Doevin, probably not much more. No. You certainly aren't going to see Taylor Scott anymore, but I mean, that's what's left. Stephen Oakert. Stephen Okred, if you will, and I will.

Oh, by the way, Chris Gordy passing along an email. Yes, sir. It was disappointing how rude Ross was on the show tonight. He needs to chill out before I listen to him again. Okay, so let's do some self-evaluation. I didn't think I was very rude at all. You were not rude. Okay.

I definitely, I mean, I definitely raised my vote. Okay, I definitely pushed one guy. This one guy was like, these teams and these analytics, they need to stop. So I went through the whole thing. I said, okay, there's 30 teams. Let's assume at minimum 20 analytics guys. At minimum, they're making $100,000, right? And I added it all up, and it was like $6 million a year.

I was like, so they're spending $6 million a year, and you know more than them. And he said yes. That might have been rude, I guess. He's the one that said he knows more than every analytics department. Yeah, I don't know. I thought it was funny. Because yesterday I teased you on Twitter. I rang to delay an extra,

a perfect daily double for sports RV, your host of the 10th inning show. You know what? I didn't see that for some reason. Well, maybe because I'm muted or something. You're not muted. And I follow you. So even when you, the beauty of muting people

that you follow is that if they mention you, you still see it. Yeah. So I did that. And then some guy named Pastor of Muppets said from the guy, always on vacation, racking the guy who works his ass off all the time, covering for his co-host. Such a tool map. that you're Howard Stern.

Oh, well, it's not, I mean, Howard Stern's making like 100 million a year. That wouldn't be the worst thing. I mean, I was going to take the money, but Howard's having a rough little run of things, I think, but that's, I just said thanks for following and thanks for listening. And by the way, in the world of life, just to pass along, most people that do work full-time in jobs do get vacation time. I get a certain number of days. Ross gets a certain number of days.

And guess well, ladies and gentlemen, if you like Mr. Muppets over there. Ross will be off Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week. So he's going to get some downtime, friends. Quarter four, you're not going to be seeing a whole lot of Ross. You hear that, folks? Do I begrudge him? Do I want him to have flight cancellations and maybe a flat tire on his way to New Mexico? No. Yeah. This is my first real vacation. I've taken two days off all year. One was for a funeral and one was to move. Those don't count. We're vacation time, baby. Yeah, and mine are for my daughter and my rocket schedule largely.

Yeah, but when you do it volleyball, you're doing a lot of time in the spa. Which spa? Orchids of Asia. That's in Jupiter, right? How do you know that, Matt? Research. All right, so let's get after it here on the phones. We've only got 45 minutes.

We need y'all to get in right now. 713-212-5-790. 713-212-5-790. Christian Walker Camp Bund. I'm just going to leave that alone, and I know you're going to get mad because the baseball periods are going to say, well, the Michigan Booker Camp Bunny shouldn't be the big of leagues. Christian Walker was built to hit home runs and get base hits. Yeah, you've got to do his job.

Yeah, and they're like, you've got to swing inside out and send the ball the other way. It was a 96-mile-an-hour, four-seeing fastball, low and inside. I don't know how he's plopping that the other. As the kids would say, enter third. man. You got to take more pitches. Yeah, he took the first two pitches. They're both strikes.

I mean, it's hard. Baseball is hard, Matt. That's what it boils down to. And the Astros aren't very good at right now. And I want to be clear, too. I am cover. I'm kind of like in defensive mode because I know people are going to attack the Astros. That doesn't mean I'm on board with these plate appearances.

That doesn't mean I'm on board with them scoring zero runs. That doesn't mean that I think they're doing great right now. Like, no, we're not pleased. Exactly. Exactly. Look, we're not, we're not a communist team radio. I'm sorry, we're not. Yes, somebody accused me of being an Astros employee last night, too.

Well, that's not true. I know what you make, and you don't make Astros money. I can tell you that for damn sure. That's for damn sure. So the reality is this. Yes, they suck right now. They suck. We are, look, I've been a fan since 1979,

and that's never going to change. I just have a different perspective of this because I have been talking. talking about baseball on the radio for 30 years. I've seen just about everything. I know what dog days are. I know what futility is. I know when guys quit.

I know when guys aren't. You know, this whole, Joe's got to go in there and throw watercoolers around. Brow, they ain't working in 2025. And frankly, I didn't work in 1975 either. This is what you did when you were in high school because your coach threw bats

in the middle of the locker room. ain't going to fly these guys know what's going on they're wearing it do you really think they're oblivious of the fact they know that their lineup right now you don't think that Joe Spada wouldn't love to come on this radio show

and talk about the fact he's got four to five AAA players on his roster right now playing major time on his team whether it's a bullpen or in a starting lineup come on just think about it he's got to defend his guys look there are people here at 790 that suck

We have to defend them. No, Matt. Everyone's great. 713. 212.790. Oh, no. I got another angry DM when we come back. All right.

Where are you going to come back? 713, 212.1. You are not the enemies here on 790. We are your friends. We love you. We just sometimes don't always agree with you. That's all I'm saying. I don't know.

I don't think I got personal with anybody. Well, you know, I may have to do a little air check. I might. You are okay. with me all the time. So if there's anybody that would be a culprit and this would be you. That's not true. Not that personal. Most of that's all fair. That's true.

All right, so what did you get before you go to the phones? This is from our friend Chris. He's the one, I believe, we banned because he said he said C.J. Stroud and Stefan Diggs, we didn't have to worry about their chemistry because they're both black. No way. He did not.

You remember that? We banned him? No, I don't. Yeah, it was like a last year. Hi Ross, listeners like myself are tired of hearing you tell us how stupid the fans, callers, and et cetera are. Constantly belittling your audience is not good for ratings. We got it. You and Matt are the smartest guys in sports. It's not good radio. I've been a listener from the beginning.

It's just hard to listen to now when you're constantly bragging you're the smartest guy in the room. Let me tell you about the two things I bragged about. One, I'm Mr. Texas. Okay. See, that's off. You're making me angry. I know you're intentionally triggering me every time you say that, and it works. And it works.

And number two, when Joe Mixon's not available for the start of the season, I'll be Mr. Texans Insiders. Okay. Short of that, I don't know everything. Nobody predicted he would be ready for week one, I don't think. Oh, no. Oh, no. There were plenty of fake media out there that were doing that.

Don't worry about Joe Mixon. I know my sources. You know I ain't got sources. Shut up. All right, man. I need you to be honest, Matt. am I constantly bragging I'm the smartest guy in the room yes oh shut up

very irritating see I'm tired of working with it honestly go on vacation bye this is ridiculous come back with a better come back with a less than fluttered ego oh my lord oh my lord here are the realities and we're going to the phones in just a second here the offense is atrocious

is bad I mean there's just There's just no other way to say it. The bullpen is leaky because it's being overused. Except for Chas McCormick. You've missed, frankly, Yard on all season long, but it's really staring at you right now. He roped a single yesterday. Yeah, and he also was running the bases,

which I don't want him doing. You can walk to first base. And AA, no walking. Yeah. Put a governor on him. Like, I mean, I mean, no more than a stride. Luis Garcia got roughed up. Yeah, he did.

You got too many injuries. You've got too many players getting valuable. I mean, Jacob Mountain shouldn't be on this team. Taylor Tremel is who he is. Help me out with some other people. Cam Smith has struggled mightily. Logan Van Way, Enel de los Santos. Cam Smith has been going through it hard.

Hanks Sue Sanchez, terrible, terrible streak. and, you know, Pena, Altuve, Correa, human, human, human. Walker, disappointing all season long, generally speaking. Walker's been bad. Yeah, I mean, and you know what, gang? Here's the best part. Here's the cathartic part of the show. Game and half lead, baby.

Exactly. And Charlie Morton's going today. Who gives up a bunch of home runs? Well, hopefully in that ballpark, we'll see. It's quite a poke. Ask Christian Walker about that. All right, let's go to the phones and talk to the great people of Houston, Texas. Who we love.

If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be around, so why would we mean? That's this ridiculous. But I do, but here's the thing. 10% of the people that listen to our show call the 90% that will get mad at us if we don't challenge the percentage of that 10 that call with bad takes. That's all we're doing. And again, just because you played high school ball doesn't make you an analytical genius discussing the major league level. doesn't make me an analytical genius. I'm just telling you,

I've watched this team intimately for 40 years. 40. I mean, that makes me old. I'm sorry, but I just, I know, I've done a lot of this. I've watched the intricacies. I've talked to players. I'm a legit member of the media. I know these things.

So just trust me. When they suck, like they suck right now, we're going to tell you they suck right now. But it is a marathon. And there's still a lot of times. left and again the best part of this all and the part that you should be when you before you go to bed at night when you're thanking life for family your health tiffany amber theison you should be thanking the seattle mariners for their futility bless the mariners god bless tiffany amber all right to the phones uh stuna on seven 90 hi stuna what's up matthew tones and ross what's up hello well number one one Seattle thinking us

because they're right behind us they're going to pull the the Bay of Thunder follow us followers and being at the final end they're going

jump around us so we don't need that so Ross why you out there on the west coast or wherever you're going West Texas I thought you was going I thought you was going somewhere

over in Seattle my bad but anyway I wish you could have helped us out And another thing before I let you out go, hey, man, them, them rest have been making some egregious calls, man. Those strikes been weighed outside, you know, hey, we're already struggling. And we get a strike three on a pitch that's way outside the zone. Man, they've been killing us on that part. But that just adds to our misery.

But anyhow, I think you're taking my car all the day. Stunner, don't be a stranger. Thanks for the phone call. Appreciate you, listen. Ross, I think you should go to Seattle. You don't take two weeks off. I've been to Seattle. I love Seattle.

I need to go back. I have been to Seattle in years. I mean, it's been too long. I've been to Portland more times I can think, but not Seattle. I went on a whale watching tour up there where they guaranteed you to see Orca. If not, you get a free voucher. So I need to go cash that in because I didn't see Orca. Let me tell you something.

I saw Wales one time with my wife. It was on our honeymoon in 19th. 1997, Kim and I were in Hawaii. And they said, oh, here it comes away. And I'm like, I'm going to die. It's cool. I love it. It's once I was done with it and not installing my pants, I really enjoy the experience.

Yeah, we saw humpback whales, but no orca. So now I have to go back. All right. Roger and James, we'll get to you. The rest of you, come on and say hello. No, believe it or not, no shut your bum ass up. Well, we could do that. People want to tell me to shut my bum ass up, I guess.

You want to tape or shut your bum ass up? We'll let you do that if you'd like. 713, 212.790. 713-212-5-790. It's 1030 here on Sports Talk 790. 1035, Sports Talk 790. Matt and Ross with you to the top of the hour. Come on now, let's go.

We've 25 minutes to visit with us. And we have Astros on deck at 11. Brian McTaggart will join us at 1115. Rogers is with us on 790. Roger, good morning. and how are you? Yeah, good morning, Mr. Tachia. And, uh, glossy.

Absolutely. Don't call him that. Yeah. At some point, we're going to have to go with the live chicken. I mean, I'm saying this is getting out of hand. And you can follow the Astros, Matt, for 40 years. And this has not happening, what, 30 years or 40 years? I know.

Be straight. It's crazy. This is getting, at some point, there's, we got to go find that. You got to get infected and go find that. witch doctor that's got the bats with their hair follicles and the blood samples of these guys and whatever they're doing we've got to find out the mystery because also um yeah the taylor from melton did we not have anybody else that can i mean i'm just saying a professional swing a professional approach and um what's what's the man i can't believe i'm seeing this

what's myers status what's jake mire's status we need that guy asap as much as we need done. The last that it was announced on him, thank you for the phone call, was that he is going through running, swinging, progression, which means running and hitting and yeah, that's just a very open-ended statement kind of thing. I have not heard of him going to double A or AAA to play games. I mean, that was a pretty serious injury. I mean, when he left the field, you were, I don't think everybody was like, oh, this is he'll be back in two weeks. No. When Dana Brown said minimum three weeks, you had to at least double it. You know, it's funny. I have a friend of mine, Ross, and I won't mention his name.

Okay. Everything he tells me, I either double what he tells me or I cut it in half. Huh. Like, I'll be there in 15 minutes. He'll be there in 30? 30, correct. Hey, remember that time we went to go see XYZ game? There were 75,000 people. No, there were only 37,500. I think everybody in their life has a double or cut the half in size of. I think so. Yeah, we know exaggerators.

You're an exaggerator. No, I'm not. All I do is discuss accuracies. You know what? What? I'm putting my name on it. Astros win today. Thank God.

I didn't stutter. I don't care. That's fine. I'm not even writing that. I'm not even writing down. I want you to be right. I don't even. I'm not even.

When you put your name on something, I want you. to be wrong normally so I can call you out on it. I don't care. Please win. I will also personally guarantee Matt the Astros score a run today. Yeah, by the way, we both missed on our gut feelings yesterday. I think I have the Astros getting, scoring three runs

against Tarak Scuba by himself. I said three-one Astros. The Tigers got one. So I had a half-right. I also said seven innings of one-run ball for Hunter Brown. I think six shutout is pretty close. You know, I'll give yourself a quarter credit on that. Yeah.

Those half credits do add up. Absolutely. It's like going to the community college in high school. Yeah, eventually get that associate's degree. Let's go to Victor at 1039 on 7.90. Hi, Victor. Dana Brown, I hope you guys, well, me, I don't believe what he's telling us about Jordan. Alarif, you know, this is the same guy they told us last year that Kyle Tucker was going to come back and be ready for the playoffs.

And Tucker didn't show up. So now he's telling us that Jordan will be back in a week or eight days or so. And you have to remember that we're all expecting him to come in and be a hero. And I don't know if he can handle a pressure. He can't stay healthy, healthy. And what makes us think or what makes him think that he can handle the pressure? He's averaging about 60 games a year that he's off. That's not.

You're making up stats. Sir, you're making up stats. He doesn't average 60 games all the year lost. That's not true. But do the numbers, guys. Do the numbers. He's averaging about 60 days. I'm sorry, 60 games a year.

He's talking about Yoron? And, yes. He played 147 last year. Yeah. And, you know. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, so. So, that would not be 60 games per year lost. Okay.

Well, he's, he's got a seven-year career. he's played 1134 games. Yeah, well, he started as a rookie. He played 87 games. In 2020, he only played two games, but that was also a 60-game season, so he didn't miss 160 games. And he's a, you know, seven-year career, he's paid 1134, and he's only played 658 games.

Again, you're not factoring in the, you're not in factoring that he wasn't called up immediately as a rookie, and that there was only a 60-game season in 2020. Well, we can agree on something that he's acting pro, right? I mean, what makes us think that he's going to carry the ball club? Yeah, Matt, Matt's on your side. Well, I do believe he is injury prone. I won't argue that point with you.

But I will say that, and by the way, no one should expect him to come in here and slug, you know, have an OPS of 1,200 because he's been gone for a long period of time. It'd be nice, though. Well, I'm just, my point is I just need, we need something. We need, I'm going to take my chance with Yordon more so than. Jacob Melton. Okay. Right. Thank you.

But just to be clear, he's not averaging 60 games per season missed. Yeah, I guess he went 162 for all the years. And like I said, he was, yeah. It's fine. It's not fine. No, it's not, but I want to be polite. We've got to use some logic.

He wasn't called up until the middle of the season in 2019. Let's see. It looks like June. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, 20-20 was a COVID season. And he, I mean, he was missing time with knee injuries, for sure. Yes.

And remember here you said the creaky knees? Yes. They're not creaky anymore. Dusty called him the creaky knees. And well, the creaky, yeah, knees are good. Hands, not so much. Now the hands are super creaky. But, Matt, you and Victor on the same page.

You said he's never going to play more than a 30-no. So you and Victor are like-minded. Okay, yeah, Victor. May I call you Vic? You and I are like-minded, Vic. I appreciate you calling. 7-13-212-5-7-90. We have one more segment left to go.

Can you match Victor's intensity? I dare you use to Texas. I need a vacation. You know, no, you don't. This is a piece of cake. This is a piece of cake show. What are you talking about? We need to talk about sports for a living.

This is a vacation. No, I know. We got people out there hustling delivery drivers. We got people working on on boats. We got people on construction. construction sites and you're going to do great. And 48 weeks a year, I'm here for them. Me, 47.

Well, 48. I'm not going to take all my vacation time this year. 713-212-5-790. Astros on deck is coming up in 10 minutes. Brian McTaggart will be withers in about to 25 from Detroit. 70 degrees at first pitch, Ross. Holy smokes. That sounds pretty good.

Detroit. No rain? No rain. No rain. You got lucky. I was looking for a little longer delay. There's a rain delay and extra innings. Yeah, but I was looking for like at least an hour.

Oh, my God. Shut your bum ass up. That's tomorrow. You won't be around. You should tape some actually. And then I screamed at callers for an hour. I know you did. And now I'm getting called arrogant, holier than now.

Well, they finally figured you out. They finally have figured you out. Man. Hmm. Terrible. Okay, so we got McTaggart. I was going to tell you. I think that's it.

Okay, good. Yeah. Okay, this is for you, Tad, there needs to be a moratorium. I saw a tweet from Brian McTaggart, and it said Dark Skies, and I got worried, but it's from 16 hours ago. Yeah, they don't timestamp those pretty very well. If it's over, like, eight hours, it should not show up. I agree with you. All right.

713-212-5-790 we've got the on-dex show coming up in just a few minutes let's right now talk to Aggie Doug on 79080 what do you got today? Hi there, man Ross I normally don't agree with you but I 100% agree with you on your take yesterday we have got to settle down and just take this week by week and it's just been a bad week and the mariners have not really had a good week either um and I I mean the fact of People just keep calling in to micromanage and talk about bunting and hitting the other way and sacrifice flies and all this crap. It's like, man, back to me and let me know what the record is after the end of this week and after the end of next week, especially with Yardine coming back.

You got Jake Myers, Foster coming back soon. I just think that the Astros fans are just way out of hand. I mean, think about the last couple of seasons that we've been through. like we weren't even in this position by mid-August, you know, in the last two seasons. So the fact that we're a game and a half ahead, think about it. Even if we play Seattle next week and we're a game and a half ahead, they have to sweep us in order to get into the lead. I mean, the way that the lead works in Major League Baseball,

we have got to just basically keep stacking series, and that's exactly. I know that's what Dana Brown says, and I hate to be a broken record, but that's exactly what the Astros have done all season. Hell, we were thinking that Dana Brown and Joe Espatter were going to be executive and manager of the year, you know, respectively last week or two weeks ago.

I mean, this team had a huge July, and they normally don't. We always swoon in either August or September, and that's just the way that this team has always been since 15. And so, Ross, I think you're right, man. I think the Astros fans need to step back. a little bit from the edge and be like, look, guys, we're in first place still. I know they're coming fast, but we're still in first place. Thank you, Aggie Doug.

I appreciate you. The sign of the apocalypse. Aggie Doug and Ross agreeing on anything. He said, I normally disagree with you. Thanks. Well, that's because he's sage. The funny thing is that I'm being called arrogant for defending the team. I think it's arrogant to think you are so much smarter than, not you, Matt, you know what I'm saying?

Most so much smarter than everybody else in baseball. and the coaches and the manager Joe Spada and the general manager Dana Brown. That's the arrogant thing. That's the irony. We're all going to get along when the Astros win three or four in Baltimore. Please, God. And then you remember, you got the Rockies and the Angels coming in next week. No guarantee wins.

As the kids would say, time to get fat and happy. Let's do it. James and Klein, before we get to Astros on deck. Hello, James. Yeah, in your opinion, last night's game, when he substituted pinched tip for all the outfield and changed the entire outfield. I know he's going on lefty-lefty. That's what his decision was there.

But it seemed like every guy he was bringing in had a lesser chance of hitting than the guy who was taken out. That was my opinion. What was your opinion on that? I think he was trying to find lightning in a bottle, honestly. To me, Ross, there wasn't anybody that deserved any more playing time than they did. I mean, look at the few number of hits the Astros had. I mean, that part of the lineup had produced nothing. No, you don't.

Oh, dang, I wanted to talk to James. Oh, why? Do you hang up? Yeah, that's fine. Okay. Yeah, I just, you have a chance to talk to James. He listens every day, a friend of the show. Go ahead.

Do we understand that they have matchup data against every single pitcher and every repertoire in every situation that could come out in the game they have matchup data on them? that. Do we understand that? Yes, we do. Okay. And do we understand that Joe Espada is likely using that

data when he makes these pinch hit decisions? Why is Michael Barry trying to discuss the Astros data? I don't know, man. And Joe Spott... And also, by the way, he's trying to find a hot hand. He's trying to find something. And he's been fantastic when he goes to pinch hitters over the last couple of years.

I think people were just working out of the possibility of the pitcher hitting. I think people that just lost their mind over there. Well, it didn't happen. One of the reasons you do that is because it's not likely to happened and it didn't. Mike, to wrap it up on the 10th inning show or the, excuse me, the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Hello, Mike.

I get my shows mixed up. Hey, how are you doing, guys? Amazing. Just real quick, I know you're running close on time. I just wanted to kind of comment on the, I mean, the whole, we're still in first place thing that everybody's flinging to is, I guess it's obviously it's true, but I mean, that long term, that's not going to, that's not going to, you know, whole water. They keep playing

like this. They're not going to be in first place. And if they were to hold on for 35 more games, they're not going to do anything beyond that. But obviously we're all hoping this changes. I don't know what, I mean, the fire Joe Espada stuff is ridiculous. Joe Espada's doing the best he can with what he has.

That's just lazy and easy. That's fanatic talking. The thing that gets me is the I mean, it's just everything's come to a head at one time. The pitching has failed. We can't get hits. We can't score runs.

It's just got to change. And the baseball gods are saying that it will, obviously. But I just, something else is going on with this team. I understand we've got 142 injuries, and that's definitely the main reason where we're at where we're at. But I just don't know. I don't know what the answer is, but stop at the Joe's spot of stuff. It's ridiculous.

One thing I want to comment specifically on the game yesterday was the way it turned out. when Ork came in and walked three people, I understand that one of them was an intentional walk, but that last one, why are you nibbling? Okay, if you're going to lose the game, throw a strike. That just sent me over there. Throw a strike. Yes.

Yeah. I mean, if you're going to lose, lose, I mean, let your defense help you. But that's all I got, guys. Have a good. Yeah. And again, look, we can also second gas and say, well, why are you throwing a meat pole over the heart of the plate? Yeah. So you're damned if you do, damn.

It's a three-two count. You shouldn't get to that. any way with the base is loaded. But, yeah, Kala Board is not a refined enough pitcher. Heck you. That's where we start. It's Caleb Ward. I'm suck. He wouldn't have left from Caleb Ward

not to be out there. Yeah. But he had been good recently. So, I mean, he's got to throw a strike. He's got to throw a strike. At least either he's got the benefit of a call, a swing and a miss, a call, or put the ball and playing the defenders get him. You just can't do anything

when you're throwing an off-speed pitch in the dirt that wasn't even close to the plate. Astros on deck is next after Ross is here to tell you about Cinergen.