The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Win First Game vs Rangers, Texans Lose 20-19 Dropping To A Record of 0-2

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Astros Win First Game vs Rangers, Texans Lose 20-19 Dropping To A Record of 0-2

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I am straight up here on a Tuesday on Sports Talk 790 on the Matt Thomas show without Ross, as we have much to discuss about last night. Hold on. You said without Ross. You're right. I'm sorry. Without Matt, I'm sorry. I'm new here. Whatever. Thank you for correcting me. Listen to this. Bucketeers to the left of me. Rangers to the right of me. wins on one side losses on the other

what the heck is going on with Yoron Alvarez an interesting night in Houston sports much to discuss on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas I'll say it correctly this time with Ross that is me Dan Matthews is hanging out

we'll have Adam Clinton hanging out later we have a huge show for you today 10 to 2 on sports talk 790. We do have our normal 1230 Tuesday tilt with Joe Espado. We've got some interesting stuff to talk about with him as the

Astros beat the Rangers 6 to 3. We will also have the new kid in town. Zach Cole came in after Yoron Alvarez hurt his ankle, hit a home run, got another hit, hit another ball that was like a

112 miles hour off the bat. Three runs batted in. He has been the darling of the Astros since last Friday when he made his Major League debut and hit a home run, he's going to join this show coming up at 1.30. Let's go back to April. And you know, you get the schedule out for the NFL, so you see, all right, Monday night football, Buccaneers, Astros, Rangers. You hope to have things at least kind of a little bit more secure in the AOS by then. But, you know, if it is indeed a division race, who the hell if you had said, hey, there's going to be a guy named Zach Cole

that's going to save the city on that Monday night. People would have been looking around saying, what the hell is that? Well, you also would have told me who's going to start that night. Right. Yeah. And by the way, too, it's not going to be Spencer Arrede. It's not going to be Frumber.

It's going to be a guy named Jason Alexander. And, oh, well, I mean, okay, so the guy's pitched really well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's pitched really well. All right? No, he hasn't. This guy has won his last nine, and Framber has lost his last nine. Yeah. And he's going to be DFAed from the A's.

Then he's going to get the start. Now it's not like he was great, but also didn't get any help from his friends. Three runs given up. Only one of them earned because of some errors and some misplayed balls in the field there for Jason Alexander. But yeah, then Zach Cole is going to come out there and save your bacon. And oh, by the way, he's going to be hitting in front of Carlos Correa. What a weird, weird story, 2025 has been for the Houston Astros. So let's go ahead and start with them.

They get the win yesterday, 6 to 3, a huge series. We're going to start with winners. Winners first on this show. We'll talk about you in a second, Texans. All right. So the Astros win 6 to 3. Big series against the Rangers. Seattle Mariners were idle.

So now they're only a half game back of the Mariners, and they have a little bit more breathing room in between themselves and the Rangers who are now three games back. See, Astros are in the middle of the Mariners. And the Rangers, that's why I did that, too. See what I did there? But it was a big win. And unfortunately, as continues to keep on happening for the Astros in 2025,

it's overshadowed by the Yordon Alvarez play. If you did not see it, he's running home. Tony Peres Chica starts to hold him up. He goes through the stop sign as many players have this season. And we're just going to have to ask Joe a spot about this coming up at 1230. And then now, I'm not going to say that's what happened. and that's why it happened. Unfortunately, he just, if you look at it,

it looks like somebody put a banana peel on home plate. His left foot slides across home plate like it just got waxed like a floor. And then his ankle turns basically perpendicular in a 90 degree angle. So, I mean, does he stretch out a lot? He's got good ankle flexion and he's going to be okay? I don't know. They're putting on an M&B network right now. That bad boy is at 90 degrees.

a little bit worried about how much he turned that ankle. Yeah, the ankle's not supposed to do what it did. And, I mean, we've all seen the still footage. But, I mean, just overall, I mean, isn't that just the most Houston sports thing for this year? Where, I mean, you know, you get the Texans game. It happens. And then the Astros game wasn't in doubt whatsoever. So you're like, all right, the way that this night's going, somebody's going to be on base for freaking Adolus Garcia.

And he's going to hit a two-run Homer and they're going to beat us. And then we've got to listen to those idiots on Twitter again. but then the Astro is able to hold them off, but then it's after the game, hey, how's the ankle? We don't know. He's going to undergo an MRI. It's like,

yeah. So it's so on brand. I'll tell you a couple things. You know how it is with the Astros. You're not going to get a whole lot of direct, and they do have to give him in an MRI, and they're going to get a diagnosis from there. But I will say a couple things.

Joe's spot in the post game. There was a time where he kind of sounded down. He kind of sounded like, yeah, I wasn't good. But then the guys in the locker room, in the dugout, they said, hey, we've got to pick him up. Like, okay, well, that's concerning a little bit. And then the report from Chandler-Rome, he left the facility not only in a walking boot,

which I feel like happens as a precaution, he left in a walking boot and crutches. Now, we can go to our lower leg injury expert. That would be Jonathan Allen, who is a former D-1 track athlete. But am I reading too much into it to say that a. boot and crutches sounds like it's pretty bad? Yeah, he's definitely going to surgery. Oh, right, hold on now. Hold on, Dr. Allen.

Let's not say, more than likely. More than like you, I won't quote me on it, but I won't quote you on that. But if it was just a boot like that happens, right? They put you in a boot no matter what, just to stabilize it. But if it's a boot and crutches, that's where I get worried. See, and here's what's going to also happen today. You're going to get some of the callers who are going to do this. See,

told you he's injury prone. He rolled an ankle. Like, I mean, if it was a soft tissue injury or something like that, then I'm like, all right, I don't know. Maybe there is something with strength and conditioning. Sure. He rolled an ankle. Like that, that happens in any contact sport possible known to man. Yeah. Not named golf. You're preaching to the choir on this. And I kind of, it's almost like when we're arguing, did Framber just give up runs or did he meltdown? I think today doesn't matter. Is Yordaun injury prone or did he just, it just had injury? Well, with Frombard, you actually have tangible evidence that meltdowns do happen. You do have meltdowns

that just happened. But for the last one, he walked three guys, gave up two singles. I mean, that happens in baseball. He got thrown off. He got thrown off by having time called at the beginning of the at bat. Yeah. So whatever. Anyways, it doesn't matter at the end of the day. It just want to see how long he's back or how long he's out and it just doesn't feel, it doesn't feel good. And it keeps freaking piling up on the Astros. I've been saying this now for two weeks, and unfortunately, I have to keep saying it.

It just doesn't feel like they're year. You get the nice win over the Rangers. Yeah, Zach Cole's looking like a revelation right now, but I mean, I don't know. I don't expect them to OPS 1400 the rest of the season. It would be really cool if he did, but I don't expect it. We'll talk to him, as I said, come on up at 1.30 here on the show. But Jason Alexander's your second best pitcher right now. It's not like he was great last night.

and you're in the thick of it against the Rangers and the Mariners and you just had to use four guys out of your bullpen that you were hoping to use in the next couple of days but you do at least get the off day on Thursday. It's just feeling, I think snake bit is the word for the Astros this year. I mean, you're up against it.

I don't think there's any doubt about that, but I didn't even realize until I thought about it because I was like, yeah, a brave you wasn't used in the Brave series. So you had him four days off. He was fresh as could be coming into that game last night. And even in that ninth inning, like you bring the tying run to the plate. And you're like, dude, I like, I, so I stream the games on TV.

So of course, if I, just to make glutton for punishment of wanting to know what's going to happen before it happens, I look at it on at bat. And I was like, please give me a purple ball. Please give me a purple ball. And when I saw that for Freeman, I was like, oh, thank God. I was like, if I saw that blue and in play run scored, I was going to probably lose my mind for everything that's happened. Well, I'm glad you didn't lose your mind, Dan. So he was able to get it done, was Brian Abraeu. And, yeah, you mentioned a couple of days off.

And he had been hitting around 95, 96 on the gun. A couple of fastballs at 95. So we're definitely on Brianabreou Velo watch as the season goes along. But bottom line, he was able to get the outs. And he got his, I think, six, yeah, six save as the Astros closer last night. So Astros get to win. Of course, we have to spend time on what? That was by the Houston Texans last night for all of the world to see on national television.

You get up 19 to 14. You get Baker Mayfield in your grasp. You have them dead to rights multiple times. You can't get it done. And the defense, which had been holding all game long, gives up the touchdown at the end. Texans lose to the Buccaneers 20 to 19. lot to discuss. Offense getting booed. C.J. Stroud getting booed. Run game still doesn't look good. You got Nico Collins going in the first drive, but then it wasn't a whole lot from there.

So much to discuss on the Houston Texans as well. It is a Texans loss reaction Monday. It is a Houston Astros win reaction Monday as hopefully they can win the American League West. We're talking about both and more here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. You want to get in? We want to hear from you. your reaction on both of those items, anything you want to get to. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-213-2-5-7-90. We got Zach Cole at 130. We got Joe Espada coming up at 1230.

We got you on the phone lines. We got a jam-pack Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. All right, a lot going on on a Texans reaction Tuesday. and a Astros over the Arlington Rangers Tuesday as well. Astros get the win six to three. They are back at it. 7.10 first pitch. AJ Blue Ball getting the nod against Merrill Kelly.

And then tomorrow will be Christian J. Javier versus Jake DeGrom. So nice to get that win yesterday for the Stroes because the pitching matchup is going to be pretty tough the next couple of days. And the Texans last night. it was funny how after that first drive, they were moving the ball. You did have a lot more clean pockets in this game. And you had the nice, first of all, I mean, what an incredible catch from Nico Collins, down that right side. Beautiful throw from C.J. Stroud. Beautiful catch from Nico Collins.

And you're sitting there saying, okay, they're trying to get Nico Collins involved. He's going to get a bunch of targets, which he did. He had nine targets, but he only had three catches. you got to catch more of that or you got to of course get more catchable balls. Not like I've went through one through all of the targets. I'm going to have to rewatch the game actually because I was watching both last night. But the offense is looking like it's humming and you score seven points on the first drive and then you score a touchdown in the second quarter and then you don't get one again until the fourth quarter.

It's another second half sputter from the Texans offense. And really that one that they got, I believe that was off the block punt, right? Yeah. Oh, no. No, they went three and out of the block punt. I thought the block punt was when they scored the touchdown. Okay, maybe you're right. Go ahead. But, I mean, it all comes down to what we've said was our biggest fear coming into this season.

The offensive line is awful. It's terrible. No, yeah, yeah. Field go after the block punt. Okay. Well, you got points out of it. But still, I mean, the reason why your game went the way it went last night is the offensive line. And, I mean, that to me points directly to Nick Casario, where you knew what you did not have.

you knew what you needed to have in order to make this group better. And going to get Avanti Erisor, he was nice. And I think he's going to be a fine enough player. All right, cool. You've got one decent offensive lineman to go along with Titus Howard. But your center position right now, I mean, we've only seen half a game with Jake Andrews.

And Tomlinson and Ingram, they ain't it. They're kind of just guys. They're 100% guys. And they showed you with you not being able to run the football. But CJ's not immune. from blame here because he had some throws last night in that game that were on him 100%. The touchdown that he had to Higgins in the end zone on that third down that led to the field goal to put him up, I think 10-7 at that point.

That was one that Stroud should have stepped into and been able to complete that. And you get four more right there. It's the difference in the game to be able to win that game. Nearly throws an interception of Levante, David. I mean, you get the goal line. hand right there on second goal from the one and you decide, hey, let's run out of the gun and then let's run a couple of passes

where basically that was a huge FU to your offensive line of saying hey, you guys can't block for us. We're not going to trust you. Try to run the tush push. You kidding me? You guys will be the first ones in the history of this game to screw it up. You'll be the ones that they actually call

false start on for this. That's why I was okay with them not running there. People are like, oh, why did they try to get cute? Not you. But you know, people are like, why did they try to get cute? You run the damn ball. Well, they can't run the damn ball. They certainly can't get it. If you can't get any push up the middle, yeah. But you have to execute the plays.

The play to Nico Collins, the third down play, the throw to the right side of Nico Collins, that was perfect. He faked he went out and up and the ball should have been in his hands. CJ Stroud overthrew it. Well, I mean, and a lot of that gets back to the offensive line because he can say what he wants. He doesn't trust that group. He still has PTSD from how last year went. Well, he shouldn't trust him. And then last night for his longest run of the game,

which I think it was the one right before the half that he got, where he went for 19 yards. I'm in the booth, silently yelling, but at least saying it loud enough to myself, get down. Do not take a hit. You take way too many of as it is. Go down.

Get out of bounds. Either of those things. Because at this pace, he's not making it through the season. Yeah, it's, it was just more of the offensive sputtering, and we kind of knew that was going to happen, especially when you start the season.

season with no run game and no sign of Joe Mixing coming back and no word about it. Nick Chubb, I mean, look, he had the long 25-yard touchdown where I think the last caller to your show, I can't, the thought popped in my head that the Buccaneers let them score, but I haven't necessarily

like, you know, broken down the all-22 on it, so I can't say definitively that's what happened. But even before that, you're talking about 11 carries for 18 yards for Nick Chub. before that 25-yard touchdown.

No, and the funny thing is, is it was the reverse jinx. Joe Buck had even just said it. He goes, you know, 18 yards, as you just mentioned, well, he's going to get a lot more than that here. You know, it's actually a really good call by Joe. I was like, all right, hey, I'm a Joe Buck fan.

I think it's, it's popular. I think he's okay. But, I mean, I think he does get too much hate. I think it's for people who feel like they have to say that Nickelback sucks. Well, Nicolbach does suck. You feel obligated, and not true. But, I mean, like, you feel obligated to go along with the chorus of that. Like, I think Joe calls a fine enough game.

But, I mean, that play right there, I mean, it kind of shows you what Nick Chubb is. It doesn't waste time. He sees an opening. He's going to run. That's what he's going to do. He's going to do. See, you said it too, and that's not true. Okay.

What was his top speed on that? I don't know. You're the next gen time of year. So why don't you look it up? I'm going to bring up the next gen of the Chub. I don't think he ran that fast. No, I don't. He was fine.

Okay, yeah, okay. Well, before that, he had 11 carries for 18 yards. He's washed. I'm sorry. Whose fault is that? That's his fault. And then that's also the offensive line. You're pining for Joe Mixon to come back.

Absolutely, I'm pining for Joe Mixon. He's a much better run back. Joe Mixon can make things happen. He's got good vision. He's got good patience. He's a great running back. He's a much better running back than Nick Chubb is at a stage of his career. Nick Chub was on the shelf for everybody until like what?

When they pick him up in August? I think it was July is when they got him. He's washed. Okay. But he wasn't brought here to be. your number one guy. He was brought here to be the reason of options aren't any better, but I'm also not going to tell you that he's good.

Hey, Joe Mixon's banged up even into the off season and somehow he hurt himself again this off season. So he probably wasn't healthy enough to be able to come back and work out yet, but that's okay. I mean, finally realizing we can't run this guy out there 30 plus plays every single game and expect

to get the same guy at the end of the season. It's just not going to happen. Yeah, I just, it's not Nick Chubb's fault or anything, but also he's just not very good. I would have liked him to see to make that trade that the Eagles did for Tank Bigsby. I think he's better than Nick Chub is at this stage of their careers. I mean, trade for somebody. You've got a million running backs around football.

And now Woody Mark's got a little bit more of a look. And actually, I thought, looked pretty good on a couple of the carries and catches that he got. But the running back room is a problem. And I think it all ties into the everything. You know, they call complimentary football? Everything is falling down as far as the office. offense. The passing game, the offensive line, C.J.

Stroud himself and the run game. There's just nothing that's going to, I don't think it's going to work consistently. You at least tried to get Nico Collins involved this time. So I appreciate that because he got double the targets that anybody else got. Dalton Schultz was the next closest before. He got nine. So I

do appreciate that. But then it just gets back to the problem of all of this is your offensive line cannot be trusted. Your quarterback doesn't trust him. It shows in his feet. It shows that his lack of accuracy. And it shows just in just the general, like, take a look at the first half last night of the game where you were never out of this game.

That's why it kind of cracked me up that you just completely just abandoned the run game. All right, fine. You can't run because this offensive line's terrible, whatever. But, like, the fact that you just don't even try at this point, where Tampa Bay in that first half was in, at worst, second and six, second and five. Like, they would get the third down a few times. they were four of four on third down because they'd be in third and one. And even without their right tackle going out with a toe injury, they're like,

we can get a yard. You can't get a yard in this league. You shouldn't be playing. Yeah, the run game, obviously, the Tampa Bay was able to gash the Texans, but also at the end of the day, they gave up 20 points in the Texans. The implied Vegas total, this one was 23 to 20 Texans. They felt a little bit short of that. You got to get it done on fourth and one.

Offense has to be better. Of course, the defense gave up a lot of yards. as well. So there's a ton of blame to go around for the Texans and their second loss of the season in two games. All right. Those you on hold, we promise you are next. You guys want to get in. You can. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-790 talking Texans and Astros and anything you want to get to. We got Joe Spada coming up at 1230 here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 1034 the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas.

Dan Matthews, appreciate you hanging out. I do appreciate it when I hang out with you and Jonathan, and we actually get Kid Cuddy as opposed to, I don't know, Eddie Money or whatever the hell that Matt Thomas wants to play. Hey, Jonathan, can you fire up some Little River Band? How about some Crosby Stills, Nash, and Young for our audience? Uh, yeah. Got a lot of toe tapping offbeat to Paul Simon.

Coming back, but that's all right. Call me, we'll welcome Matt back with open arms come Thursday here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. What? Well, I mean, that's fine. I mean, you know, I'm good leaving after 10 o'clock. No, no, I'm not talking about you. No, that wasn't negative of you.

I was just joking, like, about having Matt back. Dan, of course, I told you. I'm happy to have you here. I appreciate it for sure. We all know how Matt's musical taste is. It's pretty much pre-1980s. It's great. Even if you want to defend Nick Chubbs' molasses running in quicksand.

I couldn't find the play, but I can find the top speed in the play. But I can find the top 20 rushers of Week 2, and he is not on that list. Justin Fields is on that list. Let's see. Fastest ball carriers. Hey, Jalen Noelle's on that list, by the way, up to 20 miles an hour. Yeah, Braxton Marios better get back from that hamstring. DeVontez Walker.

I mean, some of the guys you would expect, Jamir Gibbs, others. So I can't, the list doesn't go past 20 ball carriers, so I can't find Nick Chubb. But I'm not saying, I'm just saying. He's, he's not what he, he doesn't have that top gear that he used to have, or the acceleration,

but they got to have somebody out there. I understand. I just, it just, this team, we said it last year without Joe Mixing, I mean, it's, it's very, very difficult for anybody to respect their run game. And then you're all, obviously going to have your issues in the past game. So they just did not have a good offensive game.

And I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, what is the latest on Joe Mixing? Is it still possible he's out for the rest of the year? I mean, I don't know. I mean, we'll find out in a couple weeks, I guess, when they have to decide, are they going to put them back on or, you know, how's this thing going to go? But your guess is as good as mine. I would like to see a trade made at some point for, I mean, just about anybody,

unless they think Woody Marks is going to develop as the weeks go on. he had the one catch for 37 yards. He had three carries for 14 yards. It's not a whole lot. It's a better average yards per carry than Nick Chubb. I felt like he ran okay. I would like to see a little bit more Woody Marks. I don't know exactly how they feel about him in pass pro,

but Dario Gunbo Wally generally is good in pass pro, and he was getting blown up. So he got pushed into the quarterback on one play. That's usually not good. And then the other one, which, I mean, clearly he's going out for the route there on the two point but then you just allow somebody to come right through the B gap and just say hey C.J nice to know you buddy yeah you're not getting this two points and they did not

713 212 5779 the phone number David has been waiting patiently David go ahead the floor is yours all right guys enjoy listening to you guys out here on the east highway I have to agree with with you with the other one of you guys who pointed out of the C.J. doesn't trust that offensive line. And you can tell. He doesn't plan its speed. He's not, there's no stability. He's not focused. He's looking to get hit. And Troy Ackman last night, the reason for the call, and Trojewckman kept pointing out, of course, Troy being a Hall of Famer, et cetera, and three Super Bowls. He, I'm sure, gauges his take on a fullback based on Moose Johnson, who was one of the best to play the game. He kept pointing out, he says, our,

Dorei was just horrible. Horrible. I mean, that one time did he pick up when they did a blitz baggage, did he pick up anybody? And the inside, that one where he was supposed to pick up the inside guy that was coming on the blitz, he looked to the outside. It was the dirtest thing I've ever seen. So today and film, like Troy said, that he's going to get an earful of the day because he did a horrible job, at least in the backfield trying to protect CJ, given the fact that the offensive line is questionable, you still got to give him at least a split second

to make a decision if you got a fallback in the back field with him. And he didn't do that at all. I've never seen him play that bad, but he was abysmal last night. And that's all I want to say again, I keep listening and enjoy your guys' program. I appreciate it. Thank you, David.

It just feels like what phase of this football game can we talk about where the Texans crushed it? Third quarter defense. That's about it. Kimey Fairbren, two for two with a 53-yarder. There you go. And an extra point? That wins.

That just birdied 18 in one tournament right there. I mean, that's it. I jokingly call him their MVP, but it's kind of real at this point. Jalen Noel with the returns. I mean, nice little return to start the game. Yes, Jalen. Noel was good. And then the punt return to set them up.

for a chance to score late. I mean, those are positives. But, I mean, again, you're grasping at straws here because they lost by one point. And most people are going to look at it and say, come on, guys, how much belly aching can you do? But, I mean, again, the stats don't tell the story. It was worse than that. No. I always talk about this, that after games, you can look at the stats and then you can learn a little bit more, as you said.

This is now the final score doesn't always, especially in the NFL where you had a black, block punt gave you a free three points. I mean, you had some shorter fields and stuff like that. 25 first downs to 12, Tampa Bay to Houston. 360 yards to 266 yards. I mean, you got out gained significantly in this game as well. And then you go with the penalties, which continue to be bad. Six for 45 yards. The Buccaneers had seven for 45 yards,

but they were especially bad in the first half of that game. How about 169 rushing yards to 84 rushing yards? I mean, there are many different areas of this game that we can point to where the Texans got outplayed. You want to know why the defense wore down late in the game? It's very simple. 72 to 46. They ran 24 more plays than you ran in the entire game. Let's just say an average decent enough.

You get a first down drive, what, six plays? So that means they basically had four more drives than you did in this game. And I mean, and we've seen that from the Texans here where they can bend. and bend and bend and then eventually at the end sometimes they break and it is because they've been on the field. I'll tell you this. I see this from the Texas Longhorns when I watch them and the offensive has not been good in big games

the last couple of years where they bend and bend and bend and they hold and they hold and then by the end of it you can't get anything going offensively. It's complimentary football. What we keep coming back. You've got to help your guys. You can't. You can't sustain drives if you have no running game. You can't. There was one point in the game where they had run 12 more plays than the Texans. And I had said in a tweet, after that, I said, you need to put together a drive here for your defense. Otherwise, they're going to have you try to get into a shootout,

and you don't have the offense to get into the shootout right now. And it was right before the half, so you got the break, so that worked out fine. But then Tampa gets the ball to start the second half. So it's like, okay, that 15 minutes is really going to have you come out, fresh legs or as fresh as you possibly can for the second half. And you think you're going to continue to try to hold that team off the scoreboard, that ain't going to happen. I was feeling so good after that Nico Collins touchdown, too, that first drive.

Thought that it could have been a good night. It was shaping up at the beginning where you're like, all right, maybe this is like the Steelers game a couple of years ago. That'll be nice. Yeah. My buddy almost fought the Texans Ultimate Warrior that day, by the way. Really? Yeah, because he's a big Steelers fan,

and the Texans Ultimate Warrior was talking trash to him. So then he told him, he goes, This was in Houston here? Yeah, a couple of years ago. And then you said, why don't you meet me up in the concourse if you want to show me what a man you are? Wow, all right.

It's getting real serious over there. Yeah, well, hey, look, my buddy's not one to be messed with either. And, you know, the Steelers were having a rough day that day. So the Texans ultimate warriors listening, just know that I know that guy. All right, well, we are going to go ahead and take a quick break here on Sports Talk 790.

If you want a fist fight, Dan Matthews, go ahead and call it. No, I'm just kidding. Don't call us in. We're talking about the U. I've got a wicked right. Just so you know. All right.

Yes, I do. All right. Wicked right hand. He says, come and get some. He says, get some. 7.13, 2.1, 2, 5, 790 is the phone number. We're searching for positives in the Texans. I don't know.

You can tell us what disappointed you the most. How are we feeling about C.J. Stroud? It wasn't a horrible game. And a lot of the games that he puts together aren't horrible, but you just don't see that extra spark that we saw a lot, especially in his first season. 713-212-5-790. The phone number if you want to get in,

7-13-212-5-7-90. It is a Texans reaction Tuesday. It is a Astros reaction Tuesday as well. On the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock. Crush City, man. That was the Bunby remake. remake, remix, whatever you want to call it. Was that a playoff one?

Yeah, I might have it somewhere, actually. Stahl. Hey, Dan Matthews, I don't know. Tell the folks to do something. Yeah, I would say that the Astros won last night, 6 to 3, and Yordon got hurt. I remember we say, we're keeping 200 like the hits from Altuve. I remember that from Bunme.

Oh, wait, look. Oh, it's like two and a half minutes. Let's play a little bit of this. I was going to say, just a little bit. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right, H-town. We back, baby. Houston Astros is back.

them strode. It's a new year, a new season, and we're ready to get it, baby. You know, we went real far last year. We ain't stopping there this time. Yes, you are. No, you're not. World Series bound in this thing. No.

If you have some big. Let's go. Crush, Crush, Crush City, mate. Crush City, mate. Crush City, mate. Crush City, mate. Crush City, mate. Put your hands in the air.

If you're with it, mate. Crush City, mate, crush. There you go. That's enough. I think he mentions Chris Carter in there. and Colby Rasmus. No, I'm just kidding. There are a couple of, I think,

2016 Astros mentioned in that, but the best line was keep it 200, like the hits from Al Tuve. Well, Al Tuvei's not getting 200 hits this year, unfortunately. But Astros got the win yesterday. Yeah, that was nice.

It was good. It was nice to see. Jeremy Payne with a couple of hits. He had been slumping a little bit. And then, of course, the big news, Yordon Alvarez, if you had not heard, uh,

twist is ankle and then apparently left with crutches and a walking boot. Dr. Jonathan Allen says that is not good. It is not good news for Yordon Alvarez. See, you're burying the lead here. As we heard Dion Sanders

saying the Dallas Cowboys documentary that was on Netflix, hey, were you the reason that the 49ers beat the Cowboys? I was the reason, the treason, the season. That man is Zach Cole. Yes, he is. He will join this show coming up at 1.30. He has been awesome.

he is hitting 462 with two home runs and an OPS of 14156. For those of you playing at home, that's better than Babe Ruth's career. I'm good with it. So basically he's better than Babe Ruth. We'll be Babe Ruth for another week and a half and we're good.

Yeah, that's all you need. That's all we're asking for. A little bit of magic. Every little thing he does is magic. I'm a big police fan. Very good. I'm a very big fan of Zach Cole and what he's brought. We'll talk to Joe Spada coming up at 1230. Then we'll talk to Zach call coming up at 1.30.

Nice hold by the bullpen. Jason Alexander only goes four and two-thirds, run into a little bit of trouble, didn't get any help from his defense, but then you had Ocert, Murray, King, Abray, who hold things down, no runs given up by the bully. That was nice to see. How about, I mean, you know, just showing you where you are, pitching-wise, that you get high-leverage Jaden Murray last night,

where I saw him warming up and I'm like, my man's going to get a high-leverage inning right here? Well, I mean, he didn't get the- High-Leverage out. I was going to say, you got a high leverage out. But, I mean, Brian King, that guy, I mean, he went through a little bit of a slide about midway through the season. But ever since then, he's been unreal? I would tell you, like, because Sparky had mentioned with us on the Monday after he had a really good outing.

I think it was against the Yankees. And I go in and I asked him, I said, yeah, hey, Sparky said, like, maybe you were coming over the top a little bit more. Did you notice anything? He goes, no. And I'm like, I'm like, oh, God. I'm like, I hope I didn't just give the man a complex. Dude, dude, why are you talking pitch? like that with him?

Wow, I just, I just said Sparky mentioned it. Like, is he, you know, did he see something? Like, oh, geez. That's, that's it. Well, it clearly didn't hurt because he's been unreal ever since. You know what? Maybe you unlocked it. Maybe you and Sparky have been the catalyst.

Do you get a little Blake from workaholics when you see Brian King? A little bit. Just a little bit. Not a dead ringer. No. Not a doppelganger. But a little flash. I was going to say, I mean, who would be Anders and who would be whatever.

Adam? Adam DeMamp. Gosh, well, you need somebody short. It had to be El Tuve. I guess, yeah, you could possibly get that. I would probably think that Adam Devine's character would be Mauricio DuBond. I could see him being there. I could see that. Okay. And then who could be Anders or Blonders? Yeah, well, you need somebody tall and skinny. Well, Kyle Tucker's gone. Kyle Tucker would have been perfect. Hunter Brown. Hunter Brown? Hunter Brown? He's got more red.

ass though. He's got more. He's tough. He's got the forearm tattoo. Yeah. Andre Gauter's would never. Or when he was blonders. All right. What a show. You know what? I'm sorry for breaking this up. No, I'm not. No, you're not. Because workaholics was tremendous television.

It was before it's time. The first like three season. And then it got a little too over the top. Like I would see, I would think that workaholics would work really now on, you know, Netflix or Hulu or something like that. It's on it's on Hulu. Okay. I put it on to go to bed sometimes. Gotta be fresh.

Because I have to, when I'm going to bed, I like to watch TV that I've already seen. If it's new TV, I get into it and then I stay up. Right. So if I watch something I've already seen, it helps me go to bed. It's me and the Sopranos. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Yeah, it's my going to bed. It's in the

rotation. Autorosh sometimes too. I've got, it's all. It's always sunny is in my sleep rotation as is the Simpsons. Always sunny. God, no show. Yeah. I'll tell you what we're good to do we're going to dance her asses off great show all right let's get uh let's get try a number in here real quick wanted to talk some texans what's up troy hey man good listen to you guys

man it's always good listening to good sports talk man i want to talk about cassero and amico ryes too i mean that first year it was no high expectation for the texas so they surprised a lot of people so the next year you expected a little more which was last year and they took a step back still made the playoffs and win a playoff game. Can't get mad at that. It looks like this team is taking another step back. And I wouldn't be, wouldn't not, I don't want to jump off ship but, man,

if they go 500, it's going to be terrible. And this is at Damico and Casario. I've always said Casario has not been a good evaluator of offensive talent. I mean, I mean, y'all might have run it off, but I mean, from the office line, even to players, other than Tankdale, but Tank Dale,

he's been injured the last two years, right? Joe Mixing, you bring him in, but he was injured last year. Man, some say he's not even going to play this year. So you knew that. And yet, you didn't go address your running back position. I'm tired of seeing the Dario Gumbuwala in a key situation in the game. That's Damiko Rhyans like that. What is your faith in him, a special teams guy that he's on the field in key situations? All right? You time to your wide receiving. You guaranteed money to a second round while receiving. He didn't do much yesterday. He didn't do much for first game. He didn't do much yesterday like that. So it's, it's, it's, it's,

It's disappointing that see us talent like C.J. Strau continually get beat up year after year. If I was him, why would I sign in Houston's contract situation come up? Because they're not addressing the real problem. Your office align is crap. It's been crap. And it's starting with the man that's evaluating the offensive line talent and signing these guys. So I don't know how they solve it other than hoping they can fix it. And Demeke up rats would get mad about, I'm tired of hearing questions about the office line.

Yes, because people saw it. before the season started. You didn't see that? And as far as the defense, the defense is lights out. D'Amico may just be a good defensive coach. That may be what he is. The guys play lights out.

But for two games, when they had to make a stop, they did not make the stop. He has a lot of faith in Henry, Toro to him. This is a lot of tackles. I don't know what the faith is in him, but, hey, that's the Miko's guy.

The buck stops with them, and they deserve to get all the smoke they're getting and that's all I got to say. They're just frustrating to see what's happening right now. I just want to get you guys' thoughts on that. I appreciate the call. I mean, I agree with them on the evaluating the offensive line because you didn't even really swing.

You just missed. Like, you had a check swing on what this offseason was on trying to build up that group. You just changed some names, but you're getting the same exact production that you got last year with Shaq Mason and Laramie Tunsell here. The problem is you don't have Laramie Tunsell on your offensive line. No, you don't. one of the best past protectors in football.

We talked about it. Clearly, they didn't feel like he fit the culture. They got rid of them. I think there was at least some hope in my mind that Blake Fisher would develop over the offseason as he got better as 20. Well, he went from a disaster to okay. As 2024 went along, you're like, okay, offseason, he needed to get a little bit stronger and then maybe he can get better. Clearly, the Texans don't feel like he's gotten better at all. That's a second round pick.

Arionte Ers three second. You got two second round picks at tackle. You have used some high draft picks on those guys. and then you signed Cam Robinson, who's not even playing for you as well. It's just, it's been a lot of, it's not that they didn't try to address it. It's just that they're, Nick Casario is swinging and missing on offensive line right now. Well, I mean, drafting wise, and we'll see what happens with Ursary, but, I mean, your two games in, and you've seen very little of Blake Fisher. It was better, yeah.

Yeah, Blake Fisher might just be a wasted pick. I mean, Kenyon Green was a wasted pick before that. Yeah, juice grugs. I mean. End of his career, Shaq Mason. I mean, how many more examples do you need? He has a blind spot to the offensive line. It's clear as day.

It seems like it. It's not been good. All right. Well, thanks for hanging out. Thanks, bud. Dan, appreciate you. Dan is going to head out. That means I am solo for two hours, folks.

If you want to get in, it's like the sports RV show is back, folks. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-1-3-212-5-790. We've got the news at noon with Jonathan. Allen coming up at noon. News at noon with Jonathan Allen. And then we also have Joe Spada coming up at 1230. Astros get the win.

And those you on hold, we will get to you, I promise, as well. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Number two of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Thanks to Dan Matthews for hanging out in the first hour. I will be flying solo for the next two. That's not true. Jonathan Allen will be here hanging out. Well, breaking down business like no other, diagnosing people with certain surgeries and stuff like that.

I told you. If you can't put weight on it, though, that's horrible. That's not good. We'll talk about that in a second. He's going to bring us the news at noon. At noon, we will have Joe Espada, hopefully with an update on your, on Alvarez. I wouldn't get my hopes up. If I'm going to be honest with you, folks, I'm not going to oversell it. Then we'll have Zach Cole coming up at 1.30. Adam Clanton joining up 1 o'clock as well. Phone lines wide open for you guys to get in right now at 7-13-2-7-9. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. So it's been a little bit of a mix talking about the Astros big 6-3-win over the Texas Rangers yesterday.

Mariners were idle. So the Astros are a half game behind the Mariners. Three games, I believe, ahead of the Texas Rangers now in the American League West. And the Mariners started three games set with the Kansas City Royals. who are, I believe, still fighting for a wild card spot? Not really. They're six and a half bag. So I don't know.

Let's go Royals. Let's hope for the best there. It is a pretty soft schedule for the Astros at the end going against the A's and the Angels. But it's also not like it's a murderer's row for the Mariners down the stretch either. They get the Royals who are effectively eliminated right now. Then they have the Astros, which of course, hey, you want to blame anybody, take care of business in series this weekend against the Astros. Then the Mariners get the Rockies and then the Los Angeles Dodgers, who I believe at that

point are going to be locked into the three seed in the National League. So they might not be playing for a whole lot. So we're talking some Astros at 713, 21, 5, 790. Of course, we're also talking some about the Houston Texans. This is now two weeks in a row where I kind of got the same feeling. Defenses pretty good and holding for the most part. Unfortunately, the defense didn't get it done at the end of this game, but you've got to be better offensively.

And we knew this is going to be an issue with the reshuffling of the offensive line, which now they've done two configurations of the offensive line in two weeks. I would like to see them keep it a little bit more consistent. Nick Chubb, while he's just a shell of what he once was, it's not necessarily his fault. I would like to see a little bit more woody marks. They're going to be able to trust him in, pass rush situations and get him some more snaps.

It was a little bit of an uptick in usage for him. He was your second leading receiver on the team. 52 yards for Nico Collins, one catch for 37 yards for Woody Marks. And C.J. Stroud's got to be more accurate. Even when the pockets were a little bit more clean, you had some scenarios. There were some throws that he should have made. And really the hallmark of C.J. Stroud, especially when in his first rookie year when he hit the ground running, it was

ball placement. I mean, it was just impressive. The throws that he could make on the run off of his back foot and placed the ball perfectly. And he's done that a couple of times this year, but also he's been a little bit too inaccurate, especially to me, the biggest miss was that Nico

Collins' third down play on third down and one. Nico Collins goes out and up, he gets open, and then he throws it a little bit too high off the fingertips of Nico Collins. Could have made a touchdown there, and that completely changes the complexion of the game. But then unfortunately, the Texans got stopped on fourth down as well.

And goal-to-go situations, I understand not wanting to just run it up the middle when your offensive line is shaky, as is your run game. But go with a little misdirection. Go with, I mean, something else. That sprint left with a right-handed, handed quarterback on fourth down, I didn't like that play at call at all. decision to go for it, good. And the play call, I did not like.

And of course, in football, we get the hindsight is 2020. We say, hey, well, that didn't work out. It was a terrible play call. But I just think, think in general, unless you're really trying to catch them off guard. Like, who would suspect the right-handed quarterback is going to splur it sprint left? Well, Tampa Bay Buccaneers had everything covered on that play. Just did not work out. 713, 21, 2, 5, 790.

The phone number, if you guys want to get in. 7-13-1-2-5-7-90. Jack in the southwest side is next up. What's up, Jack? Yeah, by the way, you've been cutting out on my phone. If I start cutting out, let me know, and I'll get off. Can you hear me all right? Yeah, go ahead.

Okay, yeah, you stole my thunder. I was going to talk about the offensive coordinator of play calling. You know, I hate the passes in the end zone that have to be perfect, a perfect angle and a perfect speed. you know, to the corner. You've got to go over the head of the defender. And I just think that's a low percentage play. And while we ever run up the middle, like we did last week from the one,

and our offensive line doesn't blow anybody out. Their offensive line was blowing our defensive line out. Their running game was awesome. So we got a lot of work to do. But I'm not convinced this offensive coordinator is the guy. And by the way, on the Astros, I mean, Cole is such a delight to watch. Unbelievable. Okay, thanks.

Great show. All right. Thanks a lot, Jack. Appreciate you getting in. Yeah, Zach Cole's been fun to watch. He's going to join this program coming up at 1.30. Make sure you guys stay tuned for that. Hidden 462?

OPSing 1400? Yeah, that's fun to watch. For a guy that had a meteoric rise this year, up the Astros system, 25 years old, started to climb up prospects list. just had 15 games in AAA where he was hitting like 353 with an OPS at 1,200. He's doing even better at the Major League level. Small sample size. Joe Spott is saying last night, though, he is going to be in the lineup today.

And you would imagine that Yoran Alvarez will not be further update, hopefully, coming up soon on that. So, Zach Cole has been fun. Houston Texan's offense has not been. And it's, it's one of those things that's funny. Like, we can't, we crush Bobby Sloick. First of all, Bobby Sloak was a genius, his first year with the Houston Texans. You know why? The offensive line was better.

Joe Mixon was healthy. And C.J. Stroud was playing well. When all those things work together in harmony, your offensive coordinator is going to look like a genius. When you have no run game that the opposing defense has to respect and your offensive line is leaky and not able to hold blocks, your offensive coordinator is going to look like an idiot. And I'm not saying Nick Cayley is some genius.

Like I said, I would like to see in a little bit more creativity. Just some more of where you say, oh, wow, he's really in his bag tonight. And sometimes also that can happen where guys are running into rounds. Didn't it? Who was it last night? Was it it? It was the Chargers on a fourth and one. They ran an end around and then the receiver fumbled the ball.

And everybody's like, what a stupid play call? What an idiot? What are they doing? and so, I mean, yeah, that's creativity. Sometimes when guys are creative and it doesn't work, they say the offensive coordinator's too cute. And then when they try to keep it simple and line up and crush somebody and they're not able to do it, then they just say they're uninventive.

You cannot win when you're not scoring points. Nick Cayley looked like a genius in the first drive. When you're moving the ball and then you hit Nico Collins down the right side on a perfect throw from C.J. Stroud and a spectacular catch from Nico Collins. You look like a smart offensive coordinator. Guys have to go out there and they have to execute plays and you have to have the players as well.

The old saying, Jimmy's and Joe's over X's and O's. And I do believe that. But I'm not saying Nick Cayley is not beyond criticism. Certainly, as I said, some of the fourth down and goal to go in first, It's second, third down play call I liked. Just didn't work out. Fourth down play call, certainly questionable.

Second down, they tried to run. Or was it first down? I can't recall at this point. It doesn't matter. I would have liked to see some misdirection, motion, I don't know, pitch out something rather than that sprint left option play with your right-handed quarterback on fourth and one.

So it can be a mixture of both. It can be a little bit of everything. You got to help your guys out. You got to put them in position to succeed. But at the end of the day, the players have to go out there and execute. There's no play that he's drawing up where there's four guys converging at once on C.J. Stroud on the backfield. You don't scheme plays like that. And it happened a couple times last night to the Texans.

And we have seen to where they can look like they're chipping away and chipping away and getting a good drive. The problem is you just have too many drive killers. sacks are drive killers. Negative plays, drive killers. Penalties, drive killers. You can get three, four first downs and then you're at the opposing 40. Then all of a sudden you get a holding or you get a sack and then you're just off schedule and then you've got to punt the ball away. It's tough, especially when you're lacking talent on the offensive line and at the running back position. And quite frankly, your quarterback play hasn't been up to par of what you'd expect. All right, 713, 212, 5, 790 is the phone number you want to give. get in 713215-790. Texans lose in disappointing fashion last night to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Astros win. They go for another one today. We're talking about both.

You want to get in. You can. Phone lines open. 7-13-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. 1119 in the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas. He is at the NBA broadcaster meetings. He is out today and tomorrow. He'll be back on Thursday. In the meantime, I'm hanging out with you folks. You want to get in. You could do so. 713-212-5-790. You can also send tweets to at SportsRV if you would like to interact that way. And you know what? Drop me a follow. On my Instagram. Instagram at SportsRV. I would appreciate it.

I'm trying to get a slow build going there. And you know why you really should follow me? Because I started mentioning my Instagram. Then I was trying to get to my followers up on there. And Matt Thomas had not mentioned his Instagram for like 12 years on this show. Once I started doing it, he started mentioning his. So he gets really upset when I get more people following me than him. So if you want to really make him mad, I would appreciate that.

Follow me on Instagram at SportsRV. trying to put more content up there. All right, phone lines, as I said, 713, 212, 5790. A lot of talk going on about Nick Cayley, the offense, C.J. Stroud. It's funny, it's like there's 10 different angles that we can go at to talk about how the Texans aren't being good enough. We're talking with Dan, like, in the last hour, like, what did they actually do good? What did they actually do where we can talk about where they were one of the best in football?

And it's like, well, Kimee Fairbairn was perfect. I wish you would have got that more than 7.5 points, but he only got 7, but I digress. How about this tweet for one, Adam J. Wexler? Texans offensive rank. Yards per game, 28th. Yards per play, 15th. Third down percentage, 32nd. Keep in mind, folks, there are 32 teams in the NFL.

Points for game, 32nd. Time of possession, 26th. Yards lost on sack, second highest. average yards loss on sacks second highest time sacked eighth highest other than that offense is doing great what kind of new

I stupidly I stupidly I stupidly when I goaded myself Jonathan we were making the preseason predictions everybody's like 10 and 7 10 and 7 10 and 7 and 7 I'm like you know what that's chalk 11 and 6 baby and then as soon as I wrote that down I was like wait a second Joe mixing us out and we don't know when he's ever coming back Nick Chubb is the RB1 and this offensive line is not very good

what am I thinking? So that was a mistake on my part. I said 98 guys. I'm saying. Yeah, 9 and 8's feeling like honestly optimistic at this point. You would expect him to have at least probably split these first two games. But it's been disappointing to say the least. Scott and River Oaks has been hanging.

What's up, Scott? What's going on, Ross? So last night, man, I went to bed with just eight. I wasn't quite sure how to feel. It felt like I got ran over by a truck. I had the Texan game on the TV and the Astros on my computer. I was wanting to keep up with both. Obviously, you know, there's fewer football games.

I was watching play-by-play more of the Texans game. And when you see Correa, you know, hit that ball and everything that transpired with that play, I had to turn it off with me. The Astro, they're just cursed this season. I don't know what you can say every five, I mean, every 10-game stretch, someone is getting injured, if not out of more frequent rate. When it comes to the Texans, too, the reason, I mean, just even though they played poorly, obviously, I mean, and there's so many things to fix, you can tell there's talent on this team. And to lose in such a heartbreaking five-second play last night was just a really tough pill to swallow losing Alvarez and the way that the Texans game ended.

But, you know, when it comes to, you know, the conversation about Kaylee, the one thing I will say, it's like, it's almost like we, call plays like we don't are deficiencies. For example, you talked Tampa Bay last night. Troy Aikman was talking a lot during the broadcast about how they're missing some of their offensive tackles, and that's a problem against players like Anderson and Daniel Hunter. So what were they doing when they were effective? They were running like quick passes and screens and things like that and getting the ball

out quickly. It feels like on some of these sacks, it's long, it's several, like five, seven step drops that we're supposed to overcome. It's like we're playing as if how we would play if all of the pieces were correct instead of adapting to what we have. I don't know if that's all on Nick Cayley. I'm not, you know, a football strategist's expertise. I will.

The one last play and then I'll hang up and listen is that I noticed. There was one play where Stroud got sacked on third down and a gumboale was in to block and he got blown up and Stroud got sacked. But I did kind of see like the All-22 angle when they showed. replay. It was like third and two, third and three. There were receivers right there that were open, and why wasn't that the first read? Why is he looking down field? Is that on him? Is that on the coaching? I mean, again, the overall point is we need to adapt to where we are. It is not impossible to play decent offensive football with a bad offensive line. Look at the Bengals last

year. Their offensive line wasn't great. I know they had better skill position players, but we just need to critically think a little bit better as an offense. and let's start there. Thanks. Yeah, thanks a lot, Scott. I appreciate it. I like to cover there. I'm with, and I will say, actually,

with that first, Nico Collins Drive, and then some of the other plays, a little bit better. It just, the yards per carry weren't necessarily there from the run game, but you had a couple of more, I would say, like six, seven-yard first down runs.

Woody Marks three carries for 14 yards, and only three for 12-carries. for 43 yards for Chubb. He had that 25-yarder. But I got a little bit of hope where there were at least some clean pockets for C.J. Stroud. There was some semblance of a running game. You had that first touchdown they scored. I mean, hey, they more than doubled their points from week one. It's not like they exploded for 19 points, but at least it was a little bit better.

And a lot of that maybe, of course, was because they were at home and they can communicate better, especially on passing downs and big third downs and stuff like that. But I came away actually a little bit encouraged. I do share some of your same concerns about wanting to see a little bit more out of the screen game, wanted to see some more creativity. And yes, when guys are coming in immediately, CJ Stroud getting rid of the ball and throwing hot. It just, and now, of course, Todd Bowles, very good defensive coach,

brings a lot of blitzes, brings a lot of exotic blitzes and a lot of well-discized blitzes, which get home. I mean, that's why he's been in the NFL and bit as good as he is for as long as he has been. The other guys get paid too. And Tempe Buccaneers have a lot of good players on their team. But you just need the offense to be a little bit more in sync

to convert a goal to go from the one and for the defense to hold there at the end. But such is the nature of football in the NFL, life in the NFL. You're in one score games virtually every week. And you have to do the little things. That's why Bill Belichick was so good for so long. It was the attention of detail. That's why Andy Reid has been so good for so long,

where they have, what was it, week one, they had that fire drill field goal with only a few seconds stuff that makes you think they are a well-coached team. There are some of the little attention of details that make you say, I don't know how well-coached the attention of details are for the Texans. I'll give you an example. The end of the game, there's like six seconds left. They just run the ball gets fielded on the kickoff and then they just run the clock out.

Nobody gets told to get down. Nobody gets told to get out of bounds. There's no reverse play or pitchback or anything. Dude just runs the ball and falls down and the clock runs out. and you're sitting there saying, I'm sitting there saying to myself, that's bad coaching. Those little attention to details matter week to week where almost every week you're going to be in one score games.

And the Texans are not consistently good enough in those types of moments. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. A number of you on hold, I promise we will get to you, but we do have to get to a quick break. 7-13-212-5-7-9. News at noon coming up at noon. Joe Spotted coming up at 1230. We're talking some Texans and some Buccaneers and some Asheros and some Rangers here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock on Sports Talk 790. All right, 1133 a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Normally had Tuesdays we have gut feelings. We're going to push that back because there's a lot of you on hold.

Want to talk some Houston Texans. I appreciate y'all getting in, especially when I fly solo for a little bit with Matt out. So I am going to reward all of you. Everyone on hold, I promise we will get to eventually. We will go in terms of longest weight. Rosvi Real out with you. And Jason and Conroe is next up. What's up, Jason? You know, it's very frustrating when you know you have a team on the field that has the goods.

And, you know, you got good wide receivers. You got a solid running back, you know, and you got an offensive line that, you know, honestly really can't protect your quarterback. But, man. Who's got the goods? Well, the Texas The Texas? The Houston, Texas?

2025? I mean, I would say Nico Collins and them young receivers are all right. He's good, but... I don't judge me. There's a lot to show, but I'm just saying, you know, it's very frustrating watching on TV, your quarterback being pressured,

having the force throws, having to step back because he can't, you know, he can't get protection around them. And you know, you got a running back that, It's solid and he can't run against a defense. That's really good. So, I mean, it just, it sucked, man. It sucked to watch last night and it was frustrating.

And I know O and 2 is not the ideal start where you want to be, but I mean, we're in a bad division. So what can I say? We still got chances, you know? Yeah, you still have chances, but it's not ideal to start O and 2. You would have liked to at least split these games. Both games were winnable, especially if your offense could have been a little bit better. You start off like gangbusters with that touchdown in the first quarter in your first drive.

And Nico Collins makes that wonderful catching. Yeah, Nico Collins is great. But you said good running back. Nick Chubb right now at this stage of his career after many, many multiple knee injuries where his knees are, I don't even know, bionic at this point. He's not that great of a running back, even though he did have the nice 25-yard touchdown. We do have to give him credit for that. And as far as the past catchers, I mean, your second leading receiver was Woody Mark. your third leading receiver was Nick Chubb.

She says, hey, maybe you work that screen game a little bit more. It was working pretty well. Then it's Hutchinson. Dalton Schultz is okay. Jaden Higgins hasn't showed much. Jalen Knoll has been good returning, but not good on the field. So, yeah, it's, and then the offensive line is bad. After week one, they were ranked, I believe, 32 out of 32 by a pro football focus.

One data point, not an end-all-be-all, but also if you're 32nd, you're probably not one of the best in football. Just saying. So it's not good. I just disagree that they have a ton to work with on the offense. Defense is another story. And defense has been pretty good, but they got gashed in the run too much. They really, it could have been a lot worse for them.

There was the field goal, the short field goal that was doint by McLaughlin. And there was just some other opportunities. The offense got lucky, not lucky, but I mean, they got gifted a block punt. They only got a field goal off of that. This game could have got a lot worse. 25 first downs to 12. If I don't tell you the score and I'll tell you that, your team got out physicaled and beat.

360 yards, 266. Texans, really, it could have been a lot worse for them last night. And a lot of that, well, defense and offense. We'll say both. Having Baker Mayfield in your grasp at the end, they should have made the plays. Defense didn't. Offense can't convert on fourth and short

and third and short and second and short for a touchdown and here you sit 0 and 2 you got to do the little things you have to make plays margins for error are thin in the NFL Texans didn't do that in back to back weeks one score losses in back to back weeks

you're 0 and 2 could get better with the Jaguars and Titans coming up but then you're on the road to the Ravens and Seahawks I mean you got the Broncos at some point you get the bills you get the chiefs chargers. It's not all sunshine and rainbows on the schedule for the Texans

where it's going to be tough in the AFC. AFC South may be not so much, but aspirations are higher than just winning a bad division. Oh, by the way, Colts aren't looking so easy. They're 2-0 and Daniel Jones has played great two weeks in a row. Ricardo, next up on the Houston Texans. What's up?

Yeah, oh my God. So much to say. Hopefully this is not like, hey, the fall is calling, and I got to save the day. But listen, they play the Rams. They're going to be probably in the running for the NFC West, right? And they play the Bucks who are winning that division in the South and the NFCs also. So both teams are playoff teams that you just barely lost. Last week was on offense, all those penalties this week was the deal.

defense with critical penalties, but we still have the best quarterback on our division. And that's what determines who wins the division. And once we get to the division and we can clean up things, am I crazy to say that we're going to be fine? You're not crazy, but, I mean, yeah, the cults beat up on the Dolphins week one. They played a very good Dolphins team and a very good Dolphins defense. Now, I would agree that you, the C.J. Stroud is the best quarterback in the division, But if we go just on the numbers and we just look at how they've played in the first two weeks, it pains me to say Daniel Jones has been better than C.J. Stroud.

And that's a situation to monitor. I'm not saying it's definitive. It's something to keep an eye on. Yeah, I mean, he did beat the Broncos. And the Broncos are going to challenge the chargers and the ships all the year long, the whole season. Yeah, you're two games back. That's the problem. They're two and oh, you're 0 and 2 to start the season.

It's not ideal. Yeah, I'll still take CJ versus Daniel Jones because we haven't seen a Daniel Jones type of Giants game that he usually has. Yeah, well, hopefully he can regress. I don't know. Nothing against, nothing against, you know, wishing somebody to fail.

It's just that I think that coaching could be better, penalties, those timely penalties, that pacemax that gave them 15 years, you know, to get them out of the end zone, that was, that was ugly. And I don't know. I mean, I still think that just because we got C.J. Strah and, and, I mean, special teams.

We could have wanted those special teams. if he was not for that little uncle, you know, taco that prevented a touch that we could have wanted there. I always, I don't know, it's just the little things that just drive me nuts. Yeah, and that's what matters in the NFL. Thank you, Ricardo, and appreciate you making the call.

Yeah, we'll see on Daniel Jones, but we've seen, look at the Texans opponent last night, Baker Mayfield. He's having a career renaissance after where was he? He was at Cleveland, then he was a Carolina, then he was with the Rams, I think, and then now the Buccaneers, he's found a home. He's gotten a lot better.

Is that happening with Daniel Jones? I don't know. Sam Donald knocked around, and then he was really good with the Vikings and Kevin O'Connell. Now he's with the Seahawks on a big deal. Like quarterbacks, we've kind of seen Geno Smith, although he was horrible last night for the Raiders, so maybe not the best example. He was absolutely horrible. But he was good with the Seahawks after washing out with the Jets and somewhere else, right?

So. Brow? No. It could be in the right situation at the right time. And is that happening for Daniel Jones? We're only two games in, but he's been spectacular for them. So we'll see. Bottom line is your two games back in the division that you thought you were going to win in a K-Wa.

And that is not proving to be the case right now. Derek, northwest side. What's up, Derek? Hey, what's going on, man? I'm going to try not to make this long-winning because I have a bunch to say. But I think Damiko might have overreact. And it kind of has to do with your attention to detail. I think he got a little emotional with Bobby Sloick last year.

And I say this because watching this office compared to Sloick, Sloick played towards CJ's strengths when it comes to passing the ball. And he played towards his wide receiver strengths. I mean, Nico is getting the ball on slants, posts, out routes, just every route you could think about. He was getting the ball to Nico, and he knew how to get the ball to Nico. The issue was the other parts of the game, running the ball and the old line. So I felt like if he could have, you know, sweetened it out with Slowick and maybe fired, I shouldn't say fire, but that's what it is.

Fired a couple of guys like the O-line coach, maybe adding a couple of the assistants, the office would have been better this year. Because right now we're seeing, we're seeing guys like receivers and the rookies who can't, I want to call them stupid. But when it comes to this Bill O'Brien offense, you know, I don't know. I can say that because they're not. But, you know, having the option routes, you know, you have to be smart for that. And you have to know what's going on with the defenses and stuff like that. So, Sloick kept it basic. He kept the simple, but he knew where and how to get the ball to the receivers.

He's a great passing game coordinator. That's what he is. He's a great passing coordinator. So I just felt like he just needed more assistance around him to help, you know, better the office. And I just feel like D'Amico, he overreacted with everything. Probably felt a lot of pressure from the fans, in my opinion. I just wanted to hear you see you know. Yeah, I mean, look, that's possible.

It was, it struck me funny that literally one year before in 2023, when you got a rookie quarterback and the breakout season from Nico Collins to where you're just sitting there saying, man, Bobby Sloick, we're praying. We were praying Bobby Sloick

did not get hired away by another NFL team. He was in, interviewed by the Jets and maybe another team. I can't even recall who else. Got a couple interviews, didn't get hired. Bobby Sloak's back. We're basically throwing a parade in the streets here in Houston, Texas.

Then literally one year later, he's an idiot. And I look, I don't know what was going on those meeting rooms. I'm going to guess that it was D'Amico's decision, and it was signed off upon by C.J. Stroud. that things just weren't working for the Texans. And the offensive line was terrible. And maybe Bobby Sloak was a fall guy. I don't know.

There was a lot of public pressure. I don't know how much that was paid to attention to by Domingo Ryan. So I'm going to say probably not a whole lot. Very little, if any. But Bobby Sloak was let go. It is what it was. Nick Cayley was hired. And now he's here.

And you got a guy who was finding his legs. the NFL. This is the best of the best. These are the hardest football jobs in the sport. And the other guy, you're going up against Todd Bowles and whoever else, it's tough. And he's got to get better and they've got to figure something out. Defensive line has to play better. To me, again, it starts with the players. I think Nick Cayley probably draws up good plays when they're executed well and you don't have three, four guys rushing into the backfield on CJ and collapsing on CJ Stroud. Nobody designs

plays like that. Maybe you should start. I don't know. All right, quick break here. Couple of on hold. I promise y'all are next. We will get to you guys in terms of longest wait. Phone lines open at 713, 212. 570 if you want to get in. We got Joe Espada coming up at 1230. News at noon. And we also have

Adam Clanton and we'll do gut feelings later on in the show, but want to get you guys on the phones when we come back here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Continuing along on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, Joe Espada, Astros manager, coming up at 1230. Phone lines open right now. 713, 212, 5, 790. We got the news at noon coming up.

We will have gut feelings later on. I dropped the ball on that. A bunch of y'all wanted to call in and talk Texans. So I am prioritizing you. I appreciate you getting in, starting with. Nigel in Vancouver holding Longest Ray, you're next. Go ahead, Nigel. Good morning, good afternoon. I could accept the O&2 record if the team looked dynamic.

If there was a remarkable difference from the product that we saw on the field last year and the years before, my biggest concern is can you say with any type of certainty that the team looks any better than the David Cully or the Lovie Smith era? Okay, hold on now. You must be forgetting David Cully football. It was at least two one-score games. And I do think the offense looked better in week two than they did in week one. Would you agree? I mean, on the edges, but the point I'm trying to make is, is like,

can you see this team at this point competing for the Super Bowl? And the answer to that is absolutely not. Conversely, like you've touched on this with regarding the Colts, Shane Steichen has done a great job with Danny Dimes. Jones looks like a dynamic reborn player. Offense, they're trying some different looks. The scheme has some ingenuity to it. With regard to the Texans, the team looks tired.

They look flat. I mean, certainly again, like I said, on the edges, maybe we've got some better play, but it's alarming. Yeah, the Colts also have one of the best offensive lines in football and Jonathan Taylor. He ran for like 160 yards. Of course. some of the other callers have alluded to, what are they doing to adapt to the crappy offensive

line? Nothing. Like, the game plan stunk last night. It just looked exactly the same. I've been watching this team for many years, and it just, there's nothing dynamic about the Texans right now, and that's really scary. I thought the first touchdown throw to Nico Collins was pretty dynamic. Of course, but then on the fourth down play, the third down play, the second down play. You've got to be able to link a few of these things together if you want to win in this league as you've mentioned, right? It just... Yeah, you've got to do the little things. Go ahead. Exactly. And like, I live up here in Canada. I just spent 300 bucks American. The exchange rate is crazy, like on new sweaters and new swag, and I've got tickets to the Seahawks game,

500 bucks. Like, I know, it's like, and I'm invested. Where is the investment from the team ultimately? Great show today, but I appreciate it. All right. Thank you, Nigel. I appreciate I hear your frustrations. I'm paying the money, but the team isn't. Hey, hey, man, just get the Chinese knockoff jerseys. Don't drop $300, man. It's all good. Nobody's going to notice a difference.

And if they do, it's not a big deal. Those jerseys cost too much. Anyways, I go ahead and strike that from the record, too. Jonathan, no, I'm just kidding. But I digress. I understand the frustration. Yeah, Danny Dimes looks great. He's got Jonathan Taylor in one of the best offensive lines in football.

pulling up while he was talking, Nigel, the offensive line rankings, Texans 32, Colts 5. Jonathan Taylor, greater than Nick Chubb at this point in their careers. So I'm not saying Daniel Jones, look, we were talking about how great Daniel

Jones is looking. He's also in a great situation. It's not a good situation for CJ Stroud. And we know that good quarterbacks and great quarterbacks can make the most of their situation. So I'm not saying he is faultless talking about CJ's Trout. He had a number of throws he could have made more accurate. including that third down throw on the goal to go situation to the right side.

And Nico Collins, he's got to be better. Offensive line was a little bit better. Running game was a little bit better. But it wasn't enough. They have to make a couple more plays. But that's what the NFL is. You make two, three more plays, you win the game. They're able to stop Baker-Mayfield on the end of that last drive.

They win the game. I really thought they were going to win. I really did. I really thought they were going to win. But they didn't. Sammy, what's up? Hey, guys. I want to talk about the Texan, but I want to say first,

Long Depot Park sucks. Now, I'm not going to max this kid, CJ, out, because I was looking at CJ to be the first $70 million guy, but I'm not going to give a mediocre quarterback that type of money because he's going to be in the midst with Trevor and everybody else making 55 or 60 that really isn't producing anything. thing. And I apologize for calling him a statue yesterday. You know, I don't have to take shot at him. No, I don't want to take shot that. Yeah, that's rude. He had some rush yards.

He was our second leading rusher. I just got a quarterback's place. Exactly. And he got his first touchdown. This guy was the last quarterback to get a touchdown pass. And people are talking about how great he is. I just don't understand it. His horrible quarterback's got touchdown passes already. And he just got one last night. And that really probably couldn't have been a touchdown accidentally almost. And I just don't understand how they keep saying he's great. He's going to do great.

And he hasn't shown us anything. The only bright side I see were undefeeling the AFC and we're undefeeling the AFC south. Other than that, I'm worried already, guys. Yeah, I mean, he was great. The first matchup to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he threw for 470 yards and five touchdowns and threw a game-winning touchdown with like 40 seconds left. I mean, the drive started with 40 seconds left to take Dell. That's when we started talking about him being great.

Last year, we talked about regression. This year, we talked about what are we going to see? Can he bust out of the sophomore slump? I would say 99% of Texans fans are not talking about how C.J. Stroud is God's gift to quarterbacking. Did you not hear him getting booed and the offense getting booed at NRG Stadium last night? It happened. So, yeah. They have to be better.

C.J. Stroud has to be a big part of that. All right, we're going to take quick break here. We got the news at noon coming up. We got Joe Spada coming up as well. We got you if you'd like to get in at 713-212-5-790. I also have to tell you about, well, C.J. Stroud, hopefully at some point, he can win an MVP. I'm going to talk to you about the original MVP's of testosterone. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

The Houston Astros take one of this three-game series, defeating the Texas Rangers, 6 to 3. I was hoping to play some kind of intro song about winning or all I do is win something. It takes two. Something about double trouble, but no, one win, one loss. We're stuck in the middle here in Houston, unfortunately. Texans lose to the bucket. Secondeers, 20 to 19 on a last second touchdown that you heard there from Rashad White.

Astros do get an important and big victory 6 to 3 over the Texas Rangers. Zach Cole was a huge part of that. Yordan Alvarez got hurt. We'll ask Joe Espato about that coming up at 1230. Zach Cole will hear from on this program at 1.30. And right now, you're going to get the news at noon from the one and only. Jonathan Allen. How are you doing back there, Jonathan?

You know, it's a really good Tuesday. Weather was good outside. I'm feeling all right. I'm not right. I hope everybody in Houston's feeling okay. I know. A lot of people are upset about the Texas. Yeah, and but.

Rightfully so. And I'm going to show a clip here in a second. Okay. I agree with them, you know, but before I get to that, obviously, if you haven't heard about the Astros, they did win the game in Arlington. No, Houston. Houston, I apologize.

Against Arlington. against the Rangers in Arlington but we have another problem guys what yeah you're on a need to MRI if you haven't been here listening to the whole show it seems like we're not going to get a break here on this nice 162 season but we got to make it do

but we're still tied for first with the Mariners took down the Rangers for one game but it's not looking too high for Gordon Alvarez and I know we talked about it most of it But, Ross, is it like you don't care anymore? You just hope me he's all right? Or like, I don't.

We'll see. Yeah, we'll hope to get an update from Joe Espada coming here in just a second. But the report last night that he left the facility, not in just a walking boot, but also crutches, has me a little bit concerned. And we'll just wait for more results. And I'm not guaranteeing, like I said, it's probably unlikely. We get something here in a few seconds. We'll have to maybe wait until later at the ballpark. but as of right now

Yordon Alvarez hurt like you can't even celebrate it's a big win against the Rangers you've got this big six game homestine coming up against the Rangers and then the Seattle Mariners you're vying for the American League West championship

you get to within a half game of the Mariners and Yordon gets hurt now thankfully Zach Cole's been very good but it's just this has been 2025 one step forward two steps back it just feels like where the has been. It's a miracle that they're 82

and 69 at this point at all. And they're in the thick of this American League West race. But it just feels like the hits just keep on coming unrelentingly. We were waiting for him for so long. He came back. That's all we were waiting for. He was going to come back. His hands hurt. I mean, he has been incredible at the plate since he's

come back. And then it gets hurt. Well, you know, on to worst news. I don't know why I went into Bill Belichick, but I did. Sorry, guys. That's the worst news, guys. We already know Texas lost, you know, but there's a little bit of gray area, but

you know, from the league, but I say gray area as in it's kind of positive because Texans, they rank them at 15, still even with the O2 loss to Rams and to the Buccaneers, which goes to the point of Nigels and saying, and Ricardo are saying that it's some positivity there because the teams

that we lost to weren't as horrible, you know? That's true. You lost to a 2-0 Buccaneers team. You lost to a 2-0-Rams team. but of their combined four wins, two of them are against you. So we'll see. You can get a little more context. Rams look good,

winning on the road against the Titans. I mean, the Falcons look kind of tough, and the Buccaneers were able to beat them, I believe, on the road to start the season. So, yes, we can maybe take some solace in that that you played two playoff teams,

but you know what? You're supposed to be a playoff team yourself. You're supposed to be really good yourself. You're supposed to be one of those teams that's with the Rams, with the Buccaneers. We're not talking about world beaters. It's not like if they just lost to like the Bills and the Ravens,

I would be maybe feeling a little bit different as far as one score games. But you're supposed to be of that caliber, of that ilk, and they were close as far as both being one score games. But as I said, you look at the first downs, 25 to 12. It could have been a lot worse for the Texans in that game against the Buccaneers. I don't know if you heard this see the Stroud clip, but just listen to his dad. demeanor when he's talking?

So the young offense, you know, don't really, you know, can make a bunch of excuses, but we're just not getting it done. So at the end of the day, that's all that matters. And, you know, we're moving the ball pretty well. Just got to put seven on the board. And that's, you know, the big difference right now. So, yeah. But I would bet it differ.

The big difference is more than just you getting the seven points. And it seems like he's out of it. The whole game is having his head down, patting, even when he's out of the lead. it just seems like there's something else going on as well into the locker room with all this going on in the offense. Yeah, I don't know, man. It's just what he says. Everybody, if he throws that ball like six inches lower to Nico Collins

and they score that touchdown, I mean, it completely changed the complexion of the game. If you have Baker Mayfield in your grasp on that last drive and you can tackle him and you've got him dead to rights, we're talking about a completely different game. I mean, but also that's the nature of the NFL. I feel like we've been. talking about for two years.

I remember after 2023, Nick Casano cautioned us. He's like, hey, guys, we had a lot of one-score games. We were very good in one-score games. It's going to be tough. But I mean, that's the NFL. And yes, it's hard. It's difficult to win and all that type of stuff, but that's not an excuse for

just not making enough plays. Especially when you're at home in this scenario where you get a drive where you look great, the start of the game. You get seven points off the bat, then the rest of the game you get 12 points against a Buccaneers defense it's okay but I mean the start

of the season they were projected to give a whole ton a bunch of points doesn't feel great what else you got John well Steve Sarkisian came out talking about Archmanning but I wanted to bring this quote to you guys to me from my interpretation of it it sounds kind of negative

but I'm going to just reading you let me know Ross okay and he's talking about the patience about his player about Manning and how you know he needs to go through adversity in his career and this is the first time. He's saying here's a guy who's had an awesome life the way he's grown up that people's been surrounded by.

I think you learn a lot about yourself going through adversity and overcoming adversity. When he gets on the other side of it, I think all this is going to serve well not only for him but for us as a team. I can't help but think that he's saying straight up to everybody. He's spoiled? Yes.

And it's just like he, you know, hey, my quarterback has a hit. My quarterback wasn't playing. backyard football. Look, come on. He's privileged. Give him some time to go to the big dogs and he might get better. Well, hopefully. That's what I got off of him. He got to play. He does have to play better. It was, I don't know that it was, yeah, it was a little odd reading those comments. Stark was like getting personal or something with Arch Manning talking about how he, I mean, look, he has had a pretty, look, I don't know what Cooper Manning did.

He wasn't as financial successful as Eli or Payton. I don't know exactly. how he came up, but he did go to the same private school that the Mannings went to and probably his head somewhat of a charmed life. And we'll see how he responds from this adversity.

And he hasn't thrown well and he needs to be more accurate and he talked about that. Apparently Arch Manning also said he's not worried about it. He's just got to go out there and play his game. Well, he can not be worried about it. I'm worried about it.

Hopefully they can look better against Sam Houston State because, well, going on the road in the swamp, DJ Lagway hasn't looked very good. That game doesn't look as tough as it did start of the season, but it's still going to be no cupcake. And then, of course, you know, also on the schedule, OU, who's looking very good after that. And Georgia later on, Vanderbilt's not looking like a slouch.

Texas A&M is in the top 10. Like, it's a tough schedule. And this is how sports are. We can talk about this all offseason. They've got to go on the field and get it done. That's the same thing for the Texans, the Texas Longhorns, the Texas A&M Aggies, the Astros, whoever. We can talk, talk, talk, talk. And I love talking with you guys. We appreciate it.

We love talking some sports. Gotta go out there and get it done. Arch has got to do that. CJ Straves got to do that. Hopefully the Texas, excuse me, the Houston Astros can do that against the Arlington Rangers. Tonight, A.J. Blue Ball on the Hill, Merrill Kelly is his opposing pitcher 710. First pitch here on Sports Talk 790. Anything else in the news at noon, John?

So wrap it up. Last one, Page Buckets has won the 2025 NBA. NBA rookie of the year receiving. Oh, she did. saving it to 72 votes. And that is your news an noon. Oh, wow. Thank you. Page Bukers, also known as Paige Buckets, unanimous winner of the WNBA Rookie of the Year. Full breakdown from Jonathan

coming up in the next segment. Okay, well, maybe not. All right, we're going to take a quick break here. You guys want to get in, you can. We got Joe Spada coming up at 1230 as well. Phone lines open at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-21-2-5-790. We got Adam Clanton coming.

up at 1 o'clock. Zach Cole at 130. I mean, what a show we've got for you, folks, all the way until 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. 1222 p.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Rosvi, Ria, with you. Ashares manager Joe Espada coming up in just a few minutes for his weekly Tuesday visit after a nice win against Texas Rangers. These are all must win games. If they don't win their seasons, oh, okay. not really. We don't have to over-dramatize it, but they're very important.

Merely semantics when I like to argue about must-win games. But a step in the right direction, the dream scenario would be the Astros sweeping the Texas Rangers, winning the Silver Boots series, not only winning games and improving in the standings and giving themselves more room, a breathing room between the Rangers and themselves, but also having a potential tiebreaker, because who knows what will happen against Seattle over the weekend. as of right now, the Astros are the third wild card. They are just a game and a half behind the Yankees, the first wild card, and just a half game behind the Red Sox.

So two in the lost column of the Yankees, one of the lost column of the Red Sox. Three games ahead of the Guardians and the Rangers, six and a half ahead of the Kansas City Royals, who are the Mariners' opponent starting tonight. So here we go. you're in the thick of an American League West race, a wild card race. This is fun.

And hopefully the Astros can come out of the other side of this at the very least in the playoffs, but hopefully American League West champions, as they're probably going to be, let me look at the last I checked, they're going to probably be the three seed. Yeah, if you look at the American League, they are six and a half games behind the Blue Jays,

three and a half behind the Detroit Tiger. likelihood it would be if they win the American League West as the number three seed and possibly taking on the Mariners, although there's a lot of shuffling going on around there, depending on how things shake out. As I said, you're only a half game behind the Red Sox and one and a half games behind. So that means the Astro, excuse me, the Mariners are tied with the Red Sox. So a lot to play for down the stretch here for the Houston Astros and big series. And you kind of have it set up the way you really would like. You get the Rangers. That's kind of the appetizer. get them at home. Rangers haven't been good on the road this year.

Mariners haven't been good on the road. You get them for a big weekend series. You get big crowds. You get loud atmospheres. All that type of stuff. And then you're hoping, hoping for a soft landing against the A's playing out the string and the angels playing out the string. But we know here in Houston are well aware those athletics and those angels can be dangerous. They can win games and they can win series against the ass shows. We've seen it. So no gimmies, no guarantees, things lining up the way you'd like.

But unfortunately, we got the news last night or just saw it play out. Yorda on Alvarez, twisting his ankle, wasn't looking like it was going the wrong way. And we'll find out more as the day goes along about what's going on with him. But it just did not look good, did not sound good. He was replaced by Zach Cole, who was very good. A couple of hits for him, including a home run. Three runs batted in. He'll join this show coming up.

at 1.30. A.J. Blueball on the mound for the Astros tonight. He threw last over the weekend against the Atlanta Braves just threw for an inning. Before that, he gave you three and third, and a third in a huge spot of no hit ball against Toronto. So I don't know exactly what the pitch count is going to be. What exactly the expectations are going to be for AJ Blue Ball tonight in the Hill. But he gets the start against Merrill Kelly, who last time out against the Astros is very good. And then tomorrow it will be Jake DeGrom versus Christian Javier. So, we'll see how it plays.

It plays out. It's getting hairy here in the American League West down the stretch. Astros half game back of the Mariners, three games ahead of your Texas Rangers. So we'll go ahead and get Astros manager, Joe Espada, coming up here in a minute on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 1231 p.m. here on Sports Talk 790. The Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Ross Vire out with you. and we'll be joining at 1 o'clock. We'll get Zach Cole, the young phenom outfielder for your Houston Astros.

He will join us at 1.30. Supposed to have Joe Espada, hopefully in the next couple of minutes. Normally calls on time, and hopefully we can get him very soon. Astros in action tonight against the Texas Rangers. 710 first pitch. It'll be a 6 o'clock Astros on deck with yours truly. And hopefully we can have a happy postgame show like we had last. night. Or it's just a couple of calls. We're all feeling good, having a good time, even though

there was a little bit of overshadowing with Yordon's injury and what exactly what was going on with that. So hopefully we can get some updates on that, at least if not now, coming up in the next few hours and see what's happening with the Astros. In 2025, they just continue to, it just feels, it continues to feel like their snake bit, man. Even over the weekend. Thankfully, Jose Tuvae was back in the lineup for the Astros yesterday in his customary cleanup spot, or at least it's been customary for him as of late. He did go 0 for 4 and was defensively replaced from RACO Dubon in the game, but hopefully he's feeling okay.

He had missed, I got lifted from the game on Saturday with some foot soreness, then missed the game on Sunday, then was back in the lineup for the Astros on Monday. Man, it is just, you know, it's the ending stretch of the game. They've now played 151 of the 100. 62 games. Not everybody is 100%. I mean, nobody's 100% that's being put in the lineup that's played a lot of the season

this year. And unfortunately, whether it be pitching, whether it be bullpen, whether it be in the lineup, you could just have these injuries piling up. And Astros somehow continue to keep showing the resilience and keep winning these games.

And they're just going to have to keep on doing it. That's just the bottom line. I maintain that If the Astros win the American League West, Joe Espada, I know some of you are not going to be happy about this, but you're wrong. Joe Espada should be American League manager of the year. He just should be with everything that they've gone through.

If they can pull this off, it would be awesome to see. Right now, playoff odds at 82% for the Astros, 97% for the Seattle Mariners. Mariners, I mentioned this earlier. It's not really a murderer's row for them. Kansas City Royals. We'll see how seriously they're still trying to do things. As far as getting some wins,

they have, at least when I bring up ESPN, Waka, Regans, and Lorenzen going up against the Seattle Mariners in a three-game set. Say it with me. Go Royals. Then they have the Astros over the weekend. That Sunday game, by the way, got flex to Sunday night baseball. Then they have three against Colorado who, I mean, it's funny. You're like, oh, they playing out the string? has been playing out the string since a season started.

And then we'll see if the Los Angeles Dodgers are playing out the string because right now they're pretty much if they're going to win the division locked into the three seed. But they're only two games ahead of the San Diego Padres. So that's a fluid situation.

That could change a lot going down the stretch. But whatever the reason or whatever other teams are looking at, I'm kind of just sick of rooting against the Seattle Mariners and rooting for whatever team they happen to be. Take care of your own business in front of you. easier said than done, especially the way the injuries are piling up. And, I mean, let's be honest.

Last night you started Jason Alexander. He's been great for you. And he's been really good. And he's been a revelation. But he's a guy that got DFA from the A's. Then tonight, you've got A.J. Blue Ball, who is one of your young prospects. And then Christian Javier, who's coming off Tommy John. And he's been a little bit up and down.

Some very high highs. You talk about going six innings of no-hit ball against the Angels. That's amazing. Since then, though, four-and-third innings, give a third-year-old. up four and runs against the Yankees, six innings, four and runs against Toronto Blue Jays. Not disasters. That's enough that you keep your ball club in the game if you can hit consistently. But one of the biggest parts of your line is the biggest part, one of the best hitters on all baseball went down with that ankle injury last night. So we'll see. I keep saying this.

And again, this is why they pay me the big bucks for great baseball analysis. They're either going to get it done or they're not. that's just where I am right now on the Astros. I haven't found myself. Now, individually, when the game start, you stress over the game. You're like, why wasn't that play made? Or, oh, that was a bad A.B. Or, oh, that was a good pitch, good A.B.

Stuff like that. But as far as big picture, picture, I haven't spent a whole lot of time stressing about whether or not the Astros are going to get it done. And maybe that's part of it in my mind makes it easier. And the pressure is a little bit lessened because of the injuries that have continued to pile up. I don't know. but it just hasn't felt like the pressure cooker that maybe it was even last year with the bad start and then they rallied and they were able to win the American League West

or even the last couple of years. I mean, some of the division races, every year has been a different story. And this one, of course, has been a unique whopper of the story where you get as many as 19 guys on the injured list. And now you're in a situation where you are coming down the stretch, a half game back of the Seattle Mariners with 11 games to go on the schedule. And we'll see what happens.

Starting tonight, 710 first pitch, 6 o'clock Astros on deck with yours truly here on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5 is 790. Still waiting on Joe spotted to hopefully join us. We'll have Zach Cole coming up at 130 for the Houston Astros. So we're waiting news. on Yordon Alvarez.

And also in the situation last night, if you saw Tony's Paris Chica, I always call him Tony's, Tony Paris Chica, he said easily, given the stop sign to Yordaun Alvarez and then he scores easily. And I'm not saying that's why some people were blaming Yorda and Alvarez. And that's why he did it. That's why he slipped on home plate. I am not saying that at all. But it has been curious.

It feels like a couple of times throughout the season. And it happens to any third base coach, where guys will blow through the third base stop sign. But get the stop sign last night was Jordan Alvarez. Then he scores rather easily. And it feels like that's happened a couple of times. And other times where it's been a little bit more close. But that is something else that was a detail last night's game

that I found interesting for the Astros. But Jordan Alvarez got hurt. I mean, it was the first freaking inning of the game. He walks, he gets on base, you're feeling good. And Carlos Correa hits the, the slow chopper that gets thrown over the head of the first baseman, and you score a couple of runs from there. But then, unfortunately, things did not, well, unfold the way you wanted to,

although Zach Cole came in and he was huge for the Astros. And we'll talk with him coming up at 1.30 here on Sports Talk 790. And now, pleased to be joined by one Joe Espata here on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt is out today, Joe. We're going to give you a break from him. You just got me today. How about that win last night?

Very important. We know this is a big homestand. It had to feel good to start it off with the win. Yoron Alvarez situation notwithstanding. Yeah, Ross. Thank you for having me again. Yeah, it was big win, big week here, big homestand for us at home. Every game matters.

And I think yesterday we, you know, we prevailed through a very difficult you know, day, you know, the injury to Yordon, obviously took the air out of us early in the game, but we were able to push through it, and Zach Cole came out big,

and we came out with a big win, big game one. But again, you know, it's hard to ignore the injury to Yordan and what it means to our club, but hopefully we hear from a doctor week. Hopefully we get some good, news and we could get him back on the field.

So no update as of this moment? No, he just actually, he's seen the doctors right now. He came in, got some treatment done before seeing the doctor. So hopefully in a couple hours, we'll find out, you know, the extent of this injury. What did you see on that plate? It was so weird. It looked like there was like there was a banana peel on home plate. It was just such an odd play.

How did you see it? Yeah, it was. It looks like Keith's foot just slipped, you know, slippery from home plate. You know, I know that usually early in the game, the first, you know, the first inning or two, you know, when they water the infield, when they water the home plate area, you know, our guys usually put a towel on, you know, like on top of the plate to keep the home plate from getting wet. maybe he spikes kind of slip from underneath him. I don't know it was really weird the way it happened so hopefully

we hear some good news here in the next hour or two. And yeah, also on that play, Tony Sparachika, I know you mentioned in the post game you didn't see the play. We're able to see that he put up the stop sign and I'm just curious about that type of process.

We know that hitters work with hitting coaches, pitchers, work with pitching coaches, stuff like that. What is that like with you talking to Tony Parishika and the decisions to where it seems like sometimes guys go through his stop signs and score, and that was another situation like that last night? You know, for me, it happens throughout the league.

You know, one thing that I've always told our base runners is, you know, Tony is there to help you, but the group base runners are the one that don't need a third base coach. So, for example, particular play. I did see that Tony put his hands up, but Yordaun did look over his left shoulder. He did pick the other ball up. He saw that, you know, what's his name, Garcia, was taking his time and kind of running the ball in, and, you know, Yordaun kind of instinctually use his instincts and he score on that play. So, you know, obviously we'll have a conversation as a group,

but we always encourage our players that wants to get to that base, find the ball. You could make decisions based on your momentum, where you at, and what the defender is doing that particular play. Astros manager Joe Espado was here on Sports Talk 790. Well, let's get to some positive news. Zach Cole coming in to replace Yordon in the lineup. How about that guy?

A couple of hits. Another big home run, three runs driven in. I mean, how fun has that been? see to watch him and put him out there and having the kid OPSing over 1400. Man, it's been fun and we, you know, he got better throughout the year. And he did some things in the minor leagues that, you know, obviously open our eyes and put them on the radar. And we have been looking for a little offensive spark here the last couple of weeks.

And, you know, he was knocking on the door. He was loud enough where we thought that, you know what, this might be the right time to do this. And he has provided that spark. He has provided that energy, the power, the hit tool, getting some big hits. And, you know, we need some spark the next two weeks. And hopefully he can provide some of that, some of that. and can, you know, trickle down to everyone and, you know, good hitting it's contagious.

So hopefully, Zach Hall provides that energy that we've been searching for. On that home run at bat, I thought it was extremely impressive. He gets down to two strikes, and we know that pitchers like to go with four-seemers up in the zone. Those can be tough pitches to get to. And it was up in the zone by Jack Leiter, throws a good four-seamer, and he got around on it. Yeah, he, you know, Jack Leiter, he executed his pitch, but Cole was ready for it. He had a nice swing top of the zone. And I'm telling you, it was, it was very impressive how he's been able to make adjustment in the small sample size of bats he's gotten.

But everything starts with his preparation. He comes to the ballpark. He understands what pitcher are trying to do. He knows his strength. He knows his weaknesses. he's making an adjustment a bat to a bat so hopefully we keep that going man we need

some of that also good news in the game last night you were able to stay away from Brian Abraeu for a few games and you got him to close the game out got into a little bit of trouble but was able to get out of there and close

another game for you yeah yeah yeah we've been you know our our offense in Atlanta allow us to you know stay away from from Abraio and and King also and I was able to use King for five outs last night.

Hopefully we would go out there. We score some runs today and we could give those guys a blow. But yeah, you know, Albreu's been good for us. A few rough outings the last week, but he's the guy that we lean on. He's been good for us for many years. This guy has been lighted out in the postseason. This guy is one of the best relievers in the game. So I feel really good when he's out there.

Astroats manager, Joe Spott, continuing with us here on Sports Talk 790. Blue Ball on the Hill getting the start for you tonight. Do you have any expectations as far as a pitch count? And also, I'm just curious about what you've seen from him when he first came up to now, to me, to me, just his body language and everything on the Hill, he just looks like he's full of more confidence. Bob, 100% and you nail the nail on the head there. It's just a level of confidence that he's pitching with. every outing

he stuff gets better execution gets better because he knows that you know what pitches work with him works for him against certain hitters we've been

you know he started games for us he has been a really solid reliever wanting him to go out there and give us a couple of innings today pitch counts

you know we we open to see how far he takes us right we really need him to cover some innings early, and hopefully we can hand the ball to our bullpen with the lead, and we can, you know, we can win a back-to-back series. And most importantly, Joe, how do you feel about that old-school look with the pants

up to the knees for blue ball? I like that. It looks old school. Yeah, I do. You know what? I do, too, right? This generation of players, they kind of like that look. I don't mind.

You know, the player's swag. It's something that goes with with these age. And I'm all about players expressing themselves and being themselves. And it's great for the sport. As long as we continue to respect the game and play the game the way he's supposed to be, I have no problem with it. Jose Altoouvae missing some time over the weekend with the foot played yesterday. How's he doing?

He's doing well. We're still monitoring the foot. You know, this is something that is not going to go away immediately, but he is good enough to go, and he knows the importance of having him on the field and where we at in the season. So we'll continue to monitor his foot and make sure that, you know, we get him ready to play. He communicates very well with us, letting us know how we feel. But right now, you know, right now he's good to go.

are you of course a lot of important games basically every game very important down the stretch what is that like for you now and a manager in your second season as far as wanting to do you treat these like playoff games do you want guys just kind of be loose and free and easy what is your approach as far as a managerial style down the stretch here both you know they're I want my players to be relaxed and loose these players know what we what we're playing for what we fighting for the purpose of every game. They know. I don't need to remind them. And for me, well, of course, there's going to be a level of, you know, more intensity and more, you know, pedal to the metal, if you will.

You know, it's kind of like a play-o atmosphere right now. The next two series are huge for us. So there's going to be more quicker, you know, earlier moves, more aggressive, more aggressive, trying to keep our lead or trying to extend our lead in a game, just trying to give us the best chances to win the game. All right. Astros manager Joe Espada, our weekly guest here on Tuesdays on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Manager Joe Espotta, appreciate the time.

As always, we'll talk to you down the road, and good luck and get a win at Diking Park tonight. All right, boss, thank you. All right, there you go. Astros manager Joe Espada here on Sports Talk, 790. Good stuff. from him. You want to rack to you anything that he had to say you can. 713, 212, 579 is the phone number. 713, 212, 790. We got Adam Klan coming up at 1 o'clock. We got Zach Cole,

the man himself, coming up at 1.30. We still have some gut feelings to get to here on the show. Jam packed until 2 o'clock. The amount of time of show with Ross at 713-212-5-790. Not exactly, Craig. Matt is not here. He'll be back. Thursday? Yeah, Thursday. He is out in New York at the broadcaster meetings for the NBA. And he's, I don't know, schmoozing, rubbing elbows with the commissioner and or other broadcasters. I'm sure he's having a great time.

He's out tomorrow and today. Adam Clinton's joining in a little bit. Thanks to Joe Spada for joining us in the last segment. We also got Zach Cole, the man himself coming up at 1.30 here. on the program. Phone lines are open for you folks. 713-212-5-7-90. 7-1-3-21-5-7-90. We've been talking about the Stroes and their big win yesterday against Texas Rangers and this big

series. Then you also have the Houston Texans and their super fun loss. Again, by one score, begin with frustrating offense to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but this one's a little bit different. The defense gave it up at the end as well. Should have won that game. they did not. They are 0 and 2. The Colts are 2 and 0. What is your concern level in the AFC South? We can talk about that in the next hour. So went a little bit long there. Joe Espada called us a couple of minutes late, but that's okay.

I wanted to get the full time with him. So we are squeezed on this segment. So we're going to take a quick top of the hour break. Then we're going to come back. Presumably with Adam Clinton, will he be on time? I guess we'll find out next. Here, folks, on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. In the meantime, though, we will have you folks if you'd like to get in. Of course, we've got Zach Cole as well. And talking some stroes, talking some Texans, Buccaneers. Hour number four of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas.

It's coming right at you after this quick break. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Number four of the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Here on Sports Talk 790. Your home for your Houston Astros, who won last night,

not your home for your Houston Texans, who lost last night on Monday night football. We just can't have nice things in Houston. It feels like one team's got to win, one time's got to lose. The team that wins gets Yordon Alvarez twisting his ankle at a 90-degree angle. And then apparently he's on both crutches and a walking boot at the end of the game. And we just had Joe Spada on a few minutes ago. He said there is no update at the moment,

but they're hoping to hear something from the doctors in the next couple of hours. Hopefully it's good news. people keep posting the Freddie Freeman ankle injury that looked kind of bad and then it turned out he just missed a few days and he was okay so yes it is possible how flexible are the ankles of Yordon Alvarez we will find out in a few hours here on Sports Talk 790

the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas now with Adam with 100% more Adam Clanton the normal is that like what was the drink that was the advertisement now with 100% more vitamins and minerals. Sunny D, right? Yeah. Some of the, it was purple stuff. Sunny D, but there is no way that was,

don't make a face like that. You don't know what Sunny D is? No, I'm trying to remember. I know what Sunny D is. Okay. Jonathan is so young, you know, you never know what he's going to know what he's not going to know.

It's not your fault, Jonathan. You ever see the Chappelle? You're young lad? He talks about the commercial for Sunny D. And he's like, he's like, remember when the kids said, oh, we got some purple stuff. You see the kid in the back?

He's like, I want to see the kid in the back. He's like, I want that purple stuff. No, I don't remember that. But I'll take your word for it. It's good stuff. I'll take your word for it, I'll say. I said, I thought you were talking about Chappelle's show bit.

I got in a Chappelle show YouTube wormhole, like literally last night. It might have been a Chappelle show because it was a fake commercial, but I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, Adam Clanton here, we're already off track about 60 seconds in, so we appreciate it. That is exactly what he does. But we got a lot of stuff to talk about. Phone lines are open for you guys.

713, 212. 5-790. 713, 2-1-2-5-7-90. So we can't have nice things consistently here in Houston, both ways. Texans lose in heartbreaking fashion. Astros win, but Yordon is on the mend? So 60% of

or 66.66% of the A team chose to go to NRG Stadium last night. How was that? I don't know. I didn't go, because I was the 33% that went to Diken. Well, I was working pre and post game show, so I did not go. I didn't go to the park because I wanted to watch both games at the same time, which I did. Right. So we had

we were eating, as people do, at the first hour before the game starts. You know, we were in there, like 30 minutes before the game starts. And we were still eating when the first inning's going on. Our seats were like, and this is going to be a humble brag, but they were given to me. So come on. They're right behind the Astros on deck circle.

They're like four rows back. So I would have had a great vantage point of Yordon slumped over after putting his leg on backwards after scoring that run. And we were like, you gotta be kidding me they're up two nothing in the first day on the Rangers and your Don's already dead yes and then he already had to be help

to the clubhouse got pulled immediately and then Joe's spot in the post game was like yeah the guys were real down in the dugout but they said hey guys we got a rally that sounds like you know that's what you say after your your comrade gets shot and save your private Ryan like it doesn't sound good here's the thing you mentioned the Freddie Freeman

because I saw that a lot going around on social last night it's a very pertinent thing because the injury and the timing is similar But, okay, he missed the rest of the regular season and was fine for the postseason and they won the World Series, blah, blah, blah, great. Where were the Dodgers in their division race when he went down? Because I doubt they needed every bit of weaponry that the Astros currently need as they still stand in second place. Well, it's all good. Zach Cole's here.

Dude, Zach Cole, you, that was a loudest sound I heard in the building last night, the ball off the bat. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was, it sounded like Yordon was batting. That's how thunderous it was. Yeah, all he's got to do is just fill Jordan's shoes, and we're all good. I mean, he's doing it. He's got a 462 average. I think he's going to be the greatest of all time.

I mean, this isn't Bryce Matthews. He's coming for you, Honest Wagner, whoever the all-time batting average leader is. What was one of those other call-ups that was? Ty Cobb. Underwhelming for the Astros this year. Jacob Melton, like, this is like, whoa, this kid's got some pop. But he was doing this, much like Yordon was, in the minors, the whole season. Yeah, he was.

he was very good in AA and then in 15 games of AAA, he was fantastic. He is 25 years old. Could be a late bloomer. Could be in the middle of a career renaissance. It has happened before. How old was Kyle Tucker when he finally came up to the Biggs? And he wore number three and he was like... Kyle Tucker is probably like 20.

I feel like he was a little bit older, like around this age. Springer was older. He was like 24, almost 25. Kyle Tucker, I think, was like 23. Because, you know, the college guys, you're going to attack on a couple of years. Right. I can go look at it Meaning, you know, you've mentioned late bloomer

I mean that that's If he's 25 and Yeah, Kyle Tucker was also one of the best No, he was 21 Oh, well I was way off with that now Then he was 22 when he was 20th He got a little taste in 2018 Did Kyle Tucker

Remember he was horrible Yep, I do And then he came back in 20th, 2019 And he had a better season And ever since then he's been one of the best hitters in baseball And now he's still hurt Injured Yeah

With his calf injured He'll be a former country. What a cafeteria is happening everywhere? In a lot of sports. Yeah, all over the place. Don't need that for the Rockets. Anyways, we'll see what Zach Cole is, and we'll talk to him about it at 1.30. We've already an a nointed him in Astros Hall of Famer,

and we are petitioning to get him to be the first person to be inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame as an active player. I would be fine with that. I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it, too. AJ Blue Ball on the Mountain tonight against Merrill Kelly. How we feel? Well, Merrill Kelly owned, which part of the first? the way, sounds like a law firm.

Merrill Kelly. Or maybe a Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch. It sounds more of a stock trade, like a financial advisor. He owned the Astros the last time out against them. Well, so that's not great. Well, past performance is not indicative of future results. Look, you're at the point.

Right. You're at the point now where you just have to quit worrying about whatever has happened. It's as good as June was for the Astros who were injured then, too. They had a lot of contributions from some of the call-ups during that June run where they were like awesome and it bled over into the Dodgers series 4th of July weekend. And then of course the season went into a tailspin. Yeah, we don't have to tell you. But all of that, that's got to be rearview mirror stuff and you're just, you know the task at hand and you can legit control your own destiny with the teams on either side of you in the division. So they did it last night.

And honestly, I wanted to see how they would react after that injury. I mean, that's, that's, you've got to be thinking, if you're the, the players in the deck, we're all already thinking it. Like, this is ridiculous. I even tweeted. I was like, and I don't tweet anymore, you know me. I was like, you got to be effing kidding me. Really?

Like, he scores a run and that's how he gets hurt. It's just very, very 20, 25 Houston Astros. Very. I even said that very phrase when we were looking at the replay. But I said, you know, how do they react to what doesn't look good? He not only went to the dugout, he went into the clubhouse and, you know, basically was put into a boot after that. How do they react and how they respond?

And even though they took their time scoring again after that first inning, they eventually got it done and had to have some fantastic clutch plays to do so, including the throw from left field. I mean, for all the times that whoever is catching for the Astros never do gun down the runner at second base, which is every time, it was nice to see something like that go their way last night. It was on the money, perfect throw, tag applied, lead kept.

They made the plays. They got the job done. The Houston, Texas on the other side. Rossi. Colts are 2 and 0. Listen. Daniel Joe, if I'd applaud you out of a coma, you'd be like, this Daniel Jones guy's best quarterback in the division.

You know, that's just one story of like 50 in 2025 that has made the NFL completely weird through two weeks. but here's the deal. I know everybody's sky is falling today. It's not looking good. Season's over. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Wait until they lose to the Jags next week. All right.

You want to see some serious life. That's enough out of you. On the road against the Jaguars, it's a loseable girl. Listen to me. Listen to me right now. I've got two predictions for this upcoming week. And it involves two teams that you thought were going to the postseason, falling to Owen three.

The Jags are beating the Texans and the Giants are beating the Chiefs. You heard it here first. We could have put this for gut feelings, Ross. You put it, put it. You know what? Yeah, gut feelings next segment. Is it have it at some point? I don't know.

Okay. I'd do it. I blew through it earlier because I forgot. I'm like, okay, what happened last night that makes you think they won't lose to the jerks? They're dogs. One and a half point dogs. Like, again, what, I ask you the question. I'm asking America.

What did you see last night? And don't tell me that it's their defense. Defense held most of the game. Look, they get gas at the end of the games. The Buccaneers had 25 first downs. The Texans had 12. You have to move the chains, not only for your offensive production, but to keep the defense from not being on the field goal game.

And look, getting beaten by the opposing quarterback's feet is okay if you're playing Baltimore or Buffalo. You cannot have Baker can move, though. No, Baker can't have Baker-Mefield beating you with his legs. He does that, though. He does that. I can deal with that. I like Baker-Mafil. I've been on the Baker train for a long time.

Yeah, but he's a good scramble. I know he is not Josh Allen. or Lamar Jackson, but he's an underrated scramble and he can make plays with his legs and we saw that on full display last night. He can just do that. Well, I'm going to tell you the cold, hard truth next segment. Ooh. About the Texan. Man, look at this guy.

Trained radio professional folks in full bloom here on Sports Talk 790. I've had 20 years. The Matt Thomas show with Ross, without Matt Thomas, with Adam Clanton. Yeah, we can do some gut feelings. We'll take a couple of calls as well. I don't know. We'll figure it out. We've got Zach Cole coming up at 1.30. Maybe we won't do gut feelings.

I don't know. We'll figure it out. We're going on until 2 o'clock. You guys want to get in. You can. 713, 2.12. 5.790. 118 in the p.m. Sports Talk 790. Why are you smiling like that? Because your voice sounded like one of those FM DJs that's about to give the weather report.

All right. It's looking clear. It's sunny, 76 degrees. Should be a nice weekend. We've got a 20% chance of rain, but I think we should be able to dodge it over there near the marina. Scattered showers. Yeah, I like that. All right.

What I did here on Sports Talk 7 ID? It's Roles via Real. Adam Kled with you as well and the Texans blow. I don't think the FM DJ says that part. Oh, okay. Well, they're 0 and 2. The Colter 2 and O. It's early.

There's a lot of football left. Winnable games coming up on the schedule. You want me to take a step for it? Remember when I was doing the sky's following prediction last week? No. last segment, and I was talking about, you know, you're really going to see panic if the Jags beat the Texans. You know who they play the next week? Of the Titans?

At home? Is that a home game? Could you imagine if they fell the 0-4 after losing to Cam Ward and the Titans? No, stop. It ain't happening. How is it not happening? No chance. No way.

No how. Because their offense is so effective? Yes. You ready for the kicker I was teasing? Go ahead. It's not really all that earth-shattering, but I think it's true. in light of some of the comments that were made after the game last night and where we are in the timeline of everything

since they came in together, that honeymoon is so over for Domingo and C.J. Like people like me that would look at last season and say, how are you really going to bag that much on C.J. Strau? The offensive line is terrible. Which it still is. Don't get me wrong. But now he's like missing wide open throws. He missed a lot of throws.

He could have played better. now like four four downs on the goal line and you can't punch it in that makes that makes that whole sequence after you know at the end of the game moot because it's not a field goal well it wasn't a field it was nothing on that drive yeah

third down play was the best and by the way Ross you're going to hire a brand new shiny offensive coordinator who does the same exact thing like he has the imaginative creativity of the chair I'm sitting in well he's also got a

He's also got a bad offensive line and a quarterback that's underperforming. Which goes back to the original point. Why is Nick Casario in the building if he's not going to address the most important thing after quarterback? And don't tell me he addressed it. He tried to address it. I'm not telling you that he did. No, he did. You draft somebody in the second round.

You signed Cam Robinson. You're hoping at some point Blake Fisher would get better. That didn't happen. Listen to the three things you just said. Yeah, none of those things are talking points. Yeah, Arionte Urserie. You had a better game yesterday. He's the only thing Nick Casario has done right with regards to the offensive line.

Yes. Let me repeat. He is the only thing Nick Casario has done right regarding the offensive line. He drafted Nico Collins, right? Offensive line. Okay, I'm just talking about the team. Now, that's the thing that frustrates me the most about Casario. All over the rest of the roster, he's made amazing picks, especially in the defensive side, especially in late rounds.

Yes. So he whiffs. I mean, nobody's not a percent of their picks. Why is it just this one position group that blows? I would just say it's not that easy. If we're in 32 NFL Marie, you? It's talking about 32 NFL teams. Everyone's talking about how the offensive line,

you need to win it, by the way. You need to win in the trenches. Yeah. And so everybody knows that. You try and go out there and you try to get guys and you try to put yourself in the right situations. Drafted a lot of guys of second round picks on the offensive line, and they're not drafted Kenyon Green with the first round,

and none of it's worked out. And he's been already released by the Eagles. Yeah, he's been a disaster. Wow. I mean, my favorite was the Eagles fans were like, yeah, they can turn this guy around. First round pick. All right.

I was like, hey, yeah. He sucks, he sucks. We wouldn't enjoy Kenyon Green, he goes fans. Well, he's already off the team. But, yeah, it's not good. We somehow found a way to be cocky about that. They had a lot more. The pockets were more consistently clean this week.

How much of that is? Well, actually, you had Arionte Ersi on the ursery on the left side where he's been supposed to be for the last several weeks. You also are at home. Of course, it's easier to communicate and pick up things there. Todd Bowles is a very good defensive coach. Very clearly, they had far too many miscommunications,

and they were letting free runners back there, and CJ's trial got sacked three times. To your point on the line, I think what's even more frustrating is that Nick Chubbs run for the touchdown? I mean, part of like the Red Sea. Now, that's a run versus the past. And you also had the safety cover the wrong gap completely.

And then, well, Nick Chubb, I mean, he finally got to some top speed, but it took him a while to get up there. But like one of the, one of CJ sacks, the guy who got him was completely unblocked. Yes, that's not ideal. I just, I have an idea they should block guys. Yeah, that's concept.

It is. It would be nice. I just feel like you never, like go through the pantheon of all-time great quarterbacks that got the job done. And listen, this is not, I'm no longer going to be just absolving C.J. of any blame. Not that I was, but I still was like, all right, this is 85, 90% offensive line why he had a down second year. Like, Brady, Manning, Mahomes, these are, these are guys that their team. would never even dream of not keeping their jersey completely spotless. Like, you just don't hear about any of those guys getting sacked a ton.

If they do, something went horribly wrong. Well, those guys are also great at pre-snap reads, knowing where everything was going to come before it came. And you're also talking about two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Yeah. C.J. Stroud is not as good as Peyton Manning. There we go. I said it.

Huge revelation here. He's not as good on September 16. He's just not. So they have to improve And I'm with you You cannot continuously week after week absolve C.J. Stroud of the blame Certainly not when you see the inaccurate throws

With clean pockets that we saw last night. He's part of the problem. Offensive line is part of the problem. Run game's part of the problem. And you don't have a whole... Who's your best catcher after Nico Collins right now? That's a good question. Dalton Schultz.

Last night it was in. I mean... You're sorry. second leading receiver last night was Woody Marks. Your third leading receiver last night was Nick Chubb. Well, when you throw for barely 200 yards and you only make

13 completions, 13 completions. Not good. I just, the best thing you can say about CJ is that he didn't throw a pick and he should have, it was just dropped. He has one of those games where it's like he didn't really cost them the game, but he didn't go

win the game. I feel like we've seen that from him far too often in the last season and changed. He did that against this team. He went and won them games his rookie season. And he hasn't been doing it. And he did it multiple times. Enough. All right.

Rodman's been holding along. What's up, what's up, Rodman? I just wanted to talk about my perspective of this. None of what the Texans do makes any sense to me. They always are preaching like these high character guys and they keep guys like Ogunba Wally on the roster because he's such a high character guy. But then they go get like CJ Gardner Johnson.

And then they're always doing this sounds like a high school. Like the gut feeling I get with this D'Amico Ryans and this team is it's very high school varsity. Swarm and all of this stuff is just very, when I watch them play, that's the feeling I get watching them. And then with the picks, you know, you know you need a tight end. You haven't had a tight end since Owen Daniels. You know, go up and trade and get worn when you see the bears make them, you know, make a dumb decision and get Loveland first. Go up and get Warren and don't go get two receivers from Iowa State in the second

round. Use those picks to go up and get somebody you know is going to be good. And I mean, with the Nick Cayley thing, I don't understand how it doesn't, you know, one plus one needs to equal two. You have an amateur head coach. You've already put an amateur staff together when you started him here. You've now gone out again and you've hired an amateur offensive coordinator again. It doesn't make any sense.

and Stroud to me looks like somebody who's broken, my heartbroken. I don't know what girl he was with his rookie year. What happened? Amber Rose. It was Amber Rose. I guess so, but someone needs to knock him in the head and say, hey, there's other people out there.

You need to get your stuff together and come out here and perform. I mean, he has not improved physically. He has not improved mechanically. anyway, and then mentally, it's obvious. You can see, if you go back, I watched the highlights from the Bucks game last year, or the rookie year. He had swagger. I mean, he would throw a touchdown and fold his arms.

I mean, the past two years in interviews, post-game press conferences, at every moment I've seen him, he looks completely defeated. And I just, you know, and Stuyken is the best coach in the division by a long shot. All right. And that's all I got. That's a lot. What a low bar. He just dropped a stiking on us.

Well, TBD on Liam Cohen. Duval. Steichen is not very good. I like Domingo Ryans as a head coach. I mean, especially the defense has been good. Yeah, listen, the honeymoon is over, but that doesn't mean that he's not a good head coach. I think what you just said is the biggest thing right there. And something that the caller said, Robin, Dennis Rodman, he was like talking.

about the Texans have done this in the past too. You know this all too well. You've been here this whole time. You're going to hire a first time offensive coordinator. He's going to fail and you're going to hire another first time offensive coordinator basically. Well, not a first time offensive coordinator, but I just feel like, and this is when you get into like the minutiae of coach hiring like, you know, do you want to try it in true? Do you want a brilliant young mind who wants the opportunity? I don't know what the answer to that is, if it's somewhere in between. All I know is that quarterbacks and

coordinators are what end up getting head coaches fired in this league. And if I were to Miko Ryan's, and since we're on that subject, let's look at his GM. I know Nick Casario has done a lot of things, but you have to ask yourself right now if this team is built

to not only win, but help C.J. Stroud accomplish that winning. And I just don't know that you can say that on the offensive side right now. The defense is absolutely built. What side of the football is D'Amico's expertise? What are he come from? What is his defense? I mean, that's not a surprise. Pretty good. I mean, they gave up the game yesterday. They got gash in the run yesterday as well. But for the most part, the defensive

unit has been, that's where the Texans have hung there had under D'Amico Ryans. They just can't get anything going on the run game or the past game or the quarterback or the offensive line. And they don't have any great pass catchers outside of New Collins. They might win this year. Fantastic. All right. We are going to take a quick break here. Zach Cole is getting moved pushed back. I mean this dude is a media darling at this point. So apparently he's got some other things that he's got to do

as far as obligation. Prior commitments. So he will be moved to the A team coming up at 2.10 p.m. Zach Cole with Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton. That means we're getting Tuesday gut feelings in out of nowhere. Get some gut feelings ready. Adam Clanton gets some gut feelings ready. Jonathan as well.

You want to get in with some gut feelings? 713. 212-5-7-90. This is a good week to do it. You can get some gut feelings about the Texans. You get some gut feelings. How will the American League West race go for your Astros? 7-13-21-5-7-90.

7-13-21-5-7-90. Gut feelings next. Listen up, girls, and Matt Thomas. Yo, they got a good feeling. This is their gut feeling on the Matt Thomas show. 135 of the PM. Yeah, we're only two hours late. We're on West Coast time.

with... Do you think you would like living in the West Coast area? No, I think Mountain Time or Central, that's where it's at. I mean, the weather, yes. I could adjust. I could adjust to San Diego. Yeah, everything's done earlier.

Like, the East would be the worst. Yeah, Monday night football's done by 8 p.m. Yeah, sounds horrible. I went on my first honeymoon in Hawaii. Okay, well, that's different. I mean, the NFL games were starting at like... 8 a.m.? Yeah, when I was in Korea, when I was trying to watch Texas versus...

North or South. I was in the south. I was in the southern part of Korea. You didn't go to the communist area. South of the 38th parallel. Jeez. Yeah, the games were starting at like 11 p.m. It's ridiculous.

But anyways, why are we talking about this? I don't know. You said something about the time zone. Your fault. Tuesday gut feelings here on Sports Talk 790. Very clearly, Adam Klan is in the building. 713-212-5-790.

If you got some gut feelings, 7-1-3-21-2-2-2-4. 5.790. Matt Thomas last week said, Texans beat the bucks, 30 to 23. Incorrect. He said Nico Collins would find the end zone. That's a hit. I like

when he hits those and he's not here. That's great. He said the Cougars would cover against Colorado. He hit that as well. Not here to enjoy it. And basking his glory. That's a shame. Let's see. I said I said the Astros will win the series versus the Toronto Blue Jays.

How'd that go? I also said the Texans would lose to the Buccaneers 23 to 19. Oh, that's close. I got 20 to 19. I think I got to get some credit on that, folks. That's kind of nuts. That actually makes me sad that I was that correct. And I said that Jake Myers would have four hits in the Toronto series.

I was wrong, but he had six hits in the Atlanta series. I have not been upset with Jake since coming back. Jonathan Allen. Do you remember what you said? Texans don't win their first three games. Texans start 0 and 3. Off to a hot start. He's stealing my bit.

Oh, we link up. That's right. Gosh, you guys are pissing me off. All right, Adam Clinton. We'll give the floor to you a gut feeling. Have you ever done gut feelings? I'm sure I accidentally did one time. I don't have you on the...

Now, I got, this is who... You put everybody that fills in on the list too? Look at this. I got Brian Bogussevick on here. I got Connor McGovern. Do I get my own column? I got Noah Fouts. Well, you can delete that one.

Well, you know, just in case, I got biscuit. This is like our fantasy league. If they don't work here anymore. I got David Baker. I got Trace in there. I don't even know who Andy is. I got that guy on here. Well, I want my own column. All right, I'm making you a column.

We'll put you to the left of Connemar governed. Okay. Oh, Frankie's on here? Good God. Everybody gets a piece. Okay, this is the first time you've done, at least according to I've never made a column for you. So I think this is the first time you've done gut feelings.

Well, I'm going to kind of double down. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to kind of double down on what I, I kind of already said earlier. You can repeat what you said. Texans go 0 and 4? Well, no, that's not what I was going. I'm just talking about this upcoming week specifically. I think two teams that go 0 and 2 will actually fall to 0 in 3, and they're the Texans and the Chiefs.

I think the Giants are going to beat the Chiefs. And then you're really going to start seeing some panic in the Chief's Kingdom. Have you informed your wife that the Chiefs are starting 0.13? She does not care. Okay. Her mother does. All right. We don't.

after the playoffs we don't talk about our teams anymore with each other she's diehard sports she's coming this month for Carson's birthday oh really and you guys are going to throw hands no okay she's like I hit the jackpot with the in-laws yeah and she just

she'll go in there to the theater room and just sucker punch of the kidneys she'll start you know swearing at the TV and Teresa's like she's just showing off for you I'm like whatever I love it she's great so that's pretty funny

okay Texans and Chiefs go oh and three that is the gut feeling for Adam Klan. All right. Texans are one and a half point dogs in Jacksonville. Guess what? They're bouncing back, folks. At least two touchdowns. Texans scored two touchdowns and win.

Who's scoring them? Ha! I didn't say offensively. I didn't say offensively. I did not say offense. Have you looked at how many receiving yards Nico Collins has through two games? Was it 53 yesterday? And what did you have the first week?

20-something? He's got 77. This guy's coming off back-to-back thousand-yard receiving seasons, and he's got 77 through two games. He's got 17 games. A rack it up, baby. He got nine targets yesterday.

And how many of those do you catch? Tree. One of them was a nice, a spectacular, wonderful 29-yard touchdown. Yep. And then there was a lot of mispasses off of his fingertips and inaccuracies from C.J.

Shrop. All right, 713, 2, 112, 5, 790. If you want to get your gut feeling in, 7-1-3-212, 570. And guess what? I'm going to say it. Astros won the American League West. I like that. I'm with that.

I would like to hear the news on Yordon before I really get behind it. That does affect things quite a bit. He is your number two hitter most nights. I don't know how optimistic I want to be. Why don't you give another gut feeling?

While Yordons down, just put Zach Cole in the two-hole. My gut feeling is that Yordon He ain't playing the rest of the regular season. That's a stayaway. You don't want to hear what it's in. Crutches and walking boot made me worried. I could give you another one on that note. Go ahead.

I don't think Joe Mixon's playing this season. Joe Mixon misses the entire season. Yeah. Go ahead and put that in there for my time. I'll tell you this. If Joe Mixon's mixing the entire season, the Texans are missing the playoffs. That's a fact.

Go ahead and put that down, too. Texans aren't making a playoffs. You say no matter what? Texans don't make it. playoffs. I mean, how can you feel confident? O and two? They're O and two to not particularly... I mean, do you think the Rams are a great team or just kind of good? I think they're good. I think you lost the two division winners. Yeah, no, I agree with that. I agree with both of those.

You lost one score games to two division winners. But that's why... But these are the games you need to win if you're supposed to be your division winner. Right, and that's why when they lose to the Jags on Sunday... Ooh! All right, Jonathan, quick gut feeling. I think we take the series with the Rangers Okay, well they won game one So I think we sweep them

Oh, that's what I'm talking See how I goad people and the gut feelings that are stronger than I want You'll tell us what's going to happen in the next series See that I was going to do both series Well Seattle sucks on the road man Just keep that in mind It's insane look at the numbers

Yeah they've won nine in a row Yeah they're like how many of those have been at home And against the brats Who suck? Just like Merrill Lynch told us. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Merrill Lynch. And Merrill Kelly.

All right. Well, they were home for the last. Anything else, Jonathan, or are you good? No, okay, I'm sticking with the writers. Okay. Brian will get to you in the next segment. We've got to take quick break here. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

One segment to go. We're with you until 2 o'clock. Zach Cole was supposed to be with us at 1.30. He will be joining the A team at 210. 713-212-5-7-9. if you want to get your gut feeling. One segment left here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790 without Matt Thomas. All right, you got any more gut feelings?

713-213-212-790 is the phone number 7-1-3. 2-1-2-5-790. I honestly don't have a solid gut feeling on Yordon. I am concerned to hear walking boot and crutches, as any can't put weight on it. You have seen guys bounce back quickly from bad-looking ankle injury. so I could feel my gut feeling is it could go either way so that's like a stay away from the slow mode was gruesome it's not good and why was there a banana peel on home plate and of all like he's scoring a run that's all he was doing he was just running maybe you shouldn't have blown through that stop sign well it was the right he scored easily I know I don't know I don't know Tony's Perry's see I keep calling Tony Tony's Tony Stennis Chikas Yeah it's how it rolls off the tone yeah I don't know either way Tony Paris chees

Whatever his name is, he's got to do better. I mean, you've seen Yiner, you've seen Jeremy Payne multiple times, blow through Yordon blowing through that stop sign. And like the guy's scoring easily. Right. It was odd. That is something that's being evaluated. We talked to Joe Spotted about that at 1230. You can find the full conversation, SportsTalk 790.com.

And he said, hey, yeah, don't sometimes guys get things wrong. And you tell the base runners to the third base coach there is to help and you make your own decisions. And well, the guys have been doing that for the Astros. All right. Gut feelings. Brian, you're next up. What's up? Yo, yo, yo, guys. So this is my gut feeling. We got, we're going to blow through these next two series. We're going to sweep them. Yordaunt's going back into ADL, so they hit a game set,

home run just to show you still around. Okay. I think the text are going to roll out four in a row. I really do. Woo! Four in a row. Aren't the Ravens in that mix? We're going to start dominating the league. The defense, let me tell you, that defense looked really good. That was a fluke. I mean, he had him right there, man.

I mean, I'll know if it's, I'm not in that script and stuff, but they had him. They had him dead to rights. I don't know. I could attack up that dude. That's all I got to say. But hey, I love it that RV and ACR together, brother. Y'all have a good day. Thank you, Brian.

I'm smoking that good stuff today. I like it. Brian. Good God, Brian. I mean, it's optimistic, but geez. Pass it around, Brian. They're beating the Ravens on the road? He's got a piece pipe over there.

Seahawks on the road I'm scared about. Ravens on the road, that's going to be like a 10-point spread. I'm excited to not even watch that game that week. I'm going to watch it. I mean, hey, did you enjoy Christmas last year? Did you? I thought it was great. Wednesday Christmas.

What was like 30 to 2? Yeah, it was not great. Now, the only reason I would watch that game is because I own both Lamar and Derek Henry in our fantasy league. See? Guess what? You're winning that week. They are going to eat. They're not going to eat. They're going to feast. Ah, yeah, they're going to feast. All right. Michael, got some gut feelings. What's up, Michael?

Hey, guys, what's going on? I got a gut feeling. I actually called this last year. I called in, and I said C.J. Stroud would throw for 100% more picks, and everybody was slipping the bottom floor. I remember that. I saw right through it, man. I really did. And I'm going to call it this year. CJ throws for 12 again, if not more. I'm going to say 12, though. And this is actually who he is. You know, this is the quarterback you have. And I also think just like the fan base turned on Matt Schaub,

after giving them the best season, you know, the best seasons of the history of the franchise, I think everyone's going to turn on Casario and even D'Amico Ryan. I think there's going to be a coaching change in the offseason. All right. Well, that could happen, but people also turn on Matt Schaub because he couldn't stop throwing pick sixes.

Yeah. Richard Sherman started the ultimate demise of Matt Schaub as a quarterback here in Houston. Matt Schaub was a really... People forget before that year, Matt Schaub was actually a pretty good quarterback for the Texans. He led the NFL in passing yards in 2007.

Don't tell Wex that. Wex gets very upset when you talk about quarterbacks leading the league in passing yards. Well, he had a lot of attempts, but didn't they have good running game then too? they had the best running back in the league. Aryan Foster was... I mean, who was better than him during that time?

Air Foster was hurt a lot during that time too, so I don't know. I guess we'd have to pull it back up. So was Schaub, for that matter. Liz Fron. He also led the NFL in passing attempts and passing completions, but he was good that year.

29 and 15, 4770. I'm sorry, that was 2009, not 2007, as I mistakenly said. All right, whatever. my gut feeling is I don't want to talk about much match job anymore your gut feeling is it's fine we got to make a clip of that

of Matthew saying that well it shouldn't be hard to find like first segment Thursday you should get one he says it more off air probably than on air he says it yeah he does say it a lot off air all right I got the Texans with two touchdowns and a Jaguars win I got the Asheras winning the American League West I'm staying away from Yordon Alvarez

I'm trying to think of I'm feeling confident about A.J. Blue You know, I'm going to write that down. I'm not saying like quality start, I don't think you can get the pitches in. AJ Blueball, he's not bad now. I'm going four innings pitched, one run. If there's one thing that you can compliment the Astros on in 2025, it's kind of something that kind of extends beyond this season in the past.

They always find just amazing pitching from the most unlikely sources. They've been finding away pitching-wise. Did you see on my Twitter account at SportsRV, I put up the list of top innings pitch by the Astros this year. It's Fromber, then it's Hunter Brown. Then it's Ryan Gusto, who hasn't been on the team since the deadline. And then it's Colton Gordon who's been yo-yoing up and down the team. You said innings? Most innings pitch for the Astros this year.

Gusto's third? He's still third. And he hasn't been on the team for like a month and a half? Correct. And then it's Colton Gordon. And then it's Brian Abrayu, a reliever. Where it is, crap. There's been so many injuries that now I'm forgetting the names.

Brian and Walter. Raynor. That's what I was thinking of. Hold on. I'd have to, let me... Because he was there, honestly, after the two aces, he was their most consistent pitcher this year. He was good.

Well, then he got elbow inflammation, and now he said, elbow surgery. At least Spencer Erigetti sounds like it's good news on him. Long term, I mean. All right, yes, your top innings pitched guys now. Oh, sorry.

Colton Gore, I mean, Brianne Bray's been overtaken. Frumber, Hunter. That's what you would like at one, two, and one order, whatever order. Not in that order. Well, Ryan is absolutely starting game one if they make the postseason. Well, they sparrow. Well, Frombers are gone deeper in games.

That's just a fact. But he's also, of course, blown up more lately. Ryan Gusto third, Colton Gordon, fourth, Stephen Ocert, fifth. In innings pitched. For the Astros. How overworked is this bullpen? Brian Abrayu, Jason Alexander, Brian King, Brandon, Walter, Josh Hater. Lance McCullors, Jr.

Just getting me out of this nightmare. It's a miracle. Win the West, give Joe Espada his manager of the year award. He won't even get, he won't even get a sniff of that award when he should. I think if they win the American League West, he'll get a big, he'll get a big sniff of it. Big sniff. That sounds weird. Like the type of sniff that the caller had, Brian.

Or like that guy and Jonathan, I think you had the non-flora story. The guy sniffing around. All right, anyways, that's it. On that note, we're going to end. Zach Cole's coming up at 2-10 on the A team. It's not only just one Adam. It's two Adams. they call themselves the team.

And they're next up here on Sports Talk 7-90. Thanks, Ollie, for listening and calling. Thanks to Jonathan Allen. Producing. Talk to you tomorrow.