The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Bad News Day For Astros & Rockets Round One

Episode Date: August 18, 2020

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers. I'm on my way I'm making you. Is the Matt Thomas show. 12-0-2 and H-Town. What's happening in lunch timers? Good afternoon to you.

And welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Alongside Rossville, Real. Brendan Riley, I'm Matt. Great to have you with us. And man, we have you with us. man, we have our sports buffet today. Gone Ross are the buffets of Chinese. Yogurt.

Golden Corral, if you so choose on that. A yogurt buffet? Well, you know, the Froyo, you go there and dip your stuff in there and whatnot. I don't think those are really the hot places to be investing in these days. I don't dip my stuff into anything, Matt. Well, you... I'm going to keep silent on that, because the information was told earlier contradicts that, but that's on the here nor there.

I have no clue what you're talking about. Yeah, you're talking about the burrito and the salsa member. All right. So here's what we got. We have a major league baseball game starting in an hour and 10 minutes. It'll be over on our sister. Actually, it's a 210, two hours from now. It'll be over on our sister station, KTRH.

But we want you to stay here. If there's anything relevant with the Astros and Rockies, we'll pot it up right here, right? We'll have live listening. A live listen in on sports talk. 790. That sounds amazing, Matt. Can't wait. We got that. And then later on today, we have game one of the Western

Conference playoffs between your beloved Houston Rockets and the dastardly Oklahoma City Thunder. So a sports buffet today. Of games that matter. Yeah. We don't have to talk about, remember when we're talking about, I don't know, NBA players were playing horse

in their driveway. Yeah. There was the NBA 2K league. There was one of games. Yeah. Old games. So many old games. The last dance was helpful to get through a lot of this for us. I didn't take any vacation time, which was a massive mistake on my part.

You were gone for a better part of a month. Three and a half weeks. Yeah, I got sick and I had vacation. I got the vid 19. Yeah. I am actually probably more excited than the average Houstonian about the Rockets tonight. I'm super excited.

It's playoffs, baby. It is the playoffs. Those eight little appetizers we saw? Mm-hmm. Well, some of the appetizers were delicious. Like the bacon-wrapped shrimp was really good. But that crab dip they showed us the last couple of games. It was a little stale.

They did lose their last three games in the bubble. It gave me a little rumbles and the tumbles. You know what I'm saying? They were four in one, and then injuries and rest and let's... Mixed up lineups. Let's literally not try at all against the Philadelphia 76ers. All that happened. So we got that.

And I will tell you this. I think fans of the teams have played so far, like the four teams that play yesterday, they're all invested. I mean, yeah, it's a thousand miles away. And yeah, it's not in your home court. And it's, you know, with no fans or whatever. But I think people are, it felt like to me, those that were watching games last night.

People were certainly on Twitter were all into the Dallas Clippers game last night. They were certainly into the Utah, Denver game yesterday. Not so much the Philadelphia Boston game or the Brooklyn, who the hell they play? Brooklyn, Toronto was a blowout. Eastern Conference basketball blows. It should just be on NBA TV or Food Network.

or something. It shouldn't be on regular television. Yeah, I mean, move everybody back to the normal time slots. So we can have dinner and watch the games or maybe go to a restaurant and watch the games. But this these odd times, like today is what, 5.30. And then it's 3 o'clock on Thursday. Yes.

5 o'clock on Saturday. And then it's 3 o'clock on Monday. Okay. So we're just going to confuse the heck out of you between stations and times. Just know that 740 and 790 are going to have. Carrying. A Rockets or an Astros game, we're going to have it for you. Yes, that's right. I'm going to hang out with you until one. Wonderful.

You have to leave. Go to the blow torch and do the Astros pregame show. Yes. And then come back and hang out with you. Okay. From 1.30 until 3. Well, it's your show. So here's we got 1.30 today.

We're going to start with Aaron Reese from the Athletics back with us for a second year, covering the Texans. They'd be with us every Tuesday, give or take at about 1.30 to talk about all things Houston Texans. And then we're going to visit with the columnist for the columnist for, from the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, who got sideways with Russ many moons ago. And I don't know what their relationship is right now. I know that we went to Oklahoma City one time this year, and everything was okay.

But we will visit and talk to Barry Trammell from the Daily Oklahoma at 2.30 this afternoon. Okay. And then at 2.5. And he's going to send Russ his best, I'm sure. I don't think there's any ill will. No, it shouldn't be. Something got crossways,

and I think sometimes you burn a relationship or a player doesn't like what your writer say. sometimes fences can't be mended and I don't think neither one of them are going to be many of the fence any times. Yeah. So we'll ask about what it was like covering Chris as compared to Russ and what realistically the Oklahoma City Thunder chances are which hopefully

are minuscule. Vegas odds have the rocket's last I've seen about minus 175 to minus 213. Yeah, I saw a story on ESPN. They asked a coach. They asked a scout. They ask consensus. The consensus was Oklahoma

City wins a series. I think part of it, frankly, is because the Rockets did not look good during their last three games. I also think what you do when you do a consensus, you try to find an upset where a five beats of four or a 60 beats of three. And it seems to be a in some people's minds a coin flip. I don't think it's going to be an easy series. The Rockets have been lucky the last couple of years. Their first round series have not been ultimately very challenging. I think this one probably goes six.

I would say if I had to predict Rockets in Six. And of course, the biggest question mark is going to be how many games is Russell West. going to play, and I think that's what's playing in a lot of people's minds. I mean, you look at the game today, the Rockets are, or at least when I looked yesterday, they're one and a half point dogs. So if there's no home court advantage, remember we always say, well,

you put this many points for a neutral field. That's right. We're on a neutral court. So the Vegas line is the Vegas line of who they think is the better team, so one and a half points for Oklahoma City Thunder. And at 250, you get to believe it or not off today. Oh, wonderful. I'm going to do the lineups for today's game. Okay. Because

they've got me voice recorded down there in Orlando, but you have to put the rocket music behind it. Not the old school, this is the one we use now. What's the song you use now? It is a song that I was not familiar with. Oh, really? Brendan, did you send it? I sent it to.

Because it was produced after 1979, so you're not familiar with it. You're just the worst human being alive. You just are. Here, play it. See if it, you know, this song? It is called Mad Gladiator. Yeah, this was my, this is my graduation song, school song. It was not. It's called what? Mad Gladiator. Mad Gladiator. This is like the really loud dance club and you can't hear anything anybody's saying and all you can smell is the

smoke from the smoke machine. It's way too loud. The drinks are $15 and this is blasting. So I will introduce Oklahoma City's lineup And I will do the Rockets lineup And it'll be today I can't wait I'm 250 Just can't get anybody ready I'll just kick my feet up

And watch you work Matt Or should I video it for the website Why don't you shoot me doing it? Yeah For sure Get us 1520 clicks It's got the background's not so hot there Because Michael tore up the wall

But You've got a lot of anger issues No it's because he leans his chair back And the wall's all scuffed up All right So Because you know how Twitter is Matt If we put

If we put that on there people are going to focus on is the wall. Correct. So stay far away from you. You put one picture of anything. You can't post a picture on the internet unless it's absolutely pristine. So I'll sit in your chair for the final second. Is that fair enough?

Okay. With the nice seven on your logo. I'll put my mask down. You know what? We should have you wear a mask while you do it. Like a public service. I'm not wearing your mask though. Oh, not mine.

You have one of these. No, because if I've wore my mask, then it'll be like, why are you wearing your mask? No, I'm not going to that. Yeah. You posted a picture of you wearing a mask and then you got attacked. You got attacked. It's just how Twitter works. the worst. It's called America.

Yeah, that's true. Okay, that's coming up at 250. We've got a jam-pack show then, Maddie. Yeah, we do. Plus. We've got Bubba Trammell. We've got... What did you say? Oh, Barry Trammell. Not Bubba Trammle. Oh, okay. That's his cousin that lives in Mobile. Bubba Trammle. Barry Tremel.

Baseball. Barry spelled B-E-R-R-Y. Okay. We got Aaron Reese. And then we have some audio. Oh, geez. We'll play this at 12,000. 50 today. I don't like to forward for about 40 minutes ahead of time. Yes.

But I will just say this. It involves a group of women. A couple women. Two. They're IG models. Okay. They love... They love being...

NBA fans. They're just big NBA fans and they're frankly NBA groupies. Also, if you have kids in the car at 1250... We look, we invite... Turn us off. for about a minute. We love everybody that listens to show. But there's going to be some things that are going to hit our core audience

and go, oh my God, that I just hear that. And we're going to have that for you in 40 minutes. At 1250 on the Matt Thomas show. Yeah. It's, again, for adults only, if you have kids in the car, just turn it off for like a minute. We won't, as a matter of fact, I will make this promise to you. We will not play it twice

today. Well, okay, we won't. You probably, well, and I'm guessing that you'll probably why not going to find the real version of it, which will include incredibly graphic details and all the swear words. We had to clean it up, and I mean, it took a lot of work for us to clean it up. I hope her stomach's okay. I'm just going to continue to pregnant pause for a handful of seconds, and we're done. All right, 713-212-5-790.

7-1-2-5-7-90 is how you reach a show. Astros have got a nice winning street going. Do you know they have the chance today to have won the longest winning the best home stand in the history of their franchise? Really? I didn't know that. Weird? Yes, it's very weird. For a team that has been so ridiculously average this year, they have a chance to have one of the best home records, home stands in the history of their franchise.

So we'll discuss that. We will discuss the NFL's stadium fan policy because we know that the Texans are not going to play in front of fans. but Texans in Kansas City they're going to play something again in front of fans and we've got a little bit of news on the college football front as well. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 on Twitter at SportsMT

at Sports RV and at Brendan Riley underscore. I'm going to say a couple nice words about TGS insurance right now. You should. I want you to text the word money right this second as you listen to my show to M-O-N-E-Y to 23-23-23-23-23 M-O-N-E-Y to 23-23-23

and start enjoying the experience of T-G-S insurance. Let me tell you something right now, gang. You are going to love the experience working with T-GS. They're going to save you big-time money and they're going to save you loads of opportunities

when it comes to getting good home policy service. Text the word money, M-O-N-E-Y to 23-23-23. You'll ask for your address. You type it in. You call them, and then they'll call you back with a quote. You say, hey, the quote's great. Let's go for it. If not, so be it.

TGS insurance saving you big on your home policy. Average listener savings, $870. A lot of folks save more than $1,000. Tax award money, M-O-N-E-Y to 23, 23, M-O-N-E-Y to 23, 23, 23, and start saving with your home policy with TGS insurance. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. I don't ever take anything personal. I'm trying to win a game, and I'm trying to win a playoff series. And I'm taking one possession at a time, one game at a time.

And I think my role in this team, obviously, to go out there, form at a high level, but just to be a leader in making sure that guys that are around me are all, I have that same mindset. And if I can do that, then, like I said, I give us to have a chance to win, especially, you know, with Russell being out. I am really nervous, good nervous, but, nervous. Like for, I mean,

truth be told, we just finished watching a dynasty become an end of this dynasty, right? Go and state warriors, you have to play perfect to beat them.

And there was one team in the last, what, seven years that had been able to do that. That was the Toronto Raptors last year. They played perfect basketball.

Well, and Clay Thompson was out for stretches. Kevin Durant missed most of the series and that helped them out. That was perfectly in line for what they had to do.

Yeah. But they played well, right? Yeah, they did. And Kauai was fantastic for them and we traded there and for a chance to win a championship and won it.

Won them a championship and said, I'm going to L.A. Thanks. Yeah. And I know the Clippers played well yesterday. It certainly didn't hurt that Chris Tapps-Borzingas got tossed very early in that contest. Yeah, and for really nothing, I wouldn't say nothing, but it was a light toss.

They were two, I would think if the officials had to do it all over again, Two really ticky tag technical fouls. What was throwing a fist up in the air, getting mad. Yon was getting involved because Luca Dajic was getting pushed around by Marcus Morris. Just chinty, grown-ass man. Sometimes you've got to separate him.

Yeah, you just walked up there. There wasn't punches thrown. Maybe he said something inflammatory, and that's the story. And we're just not getting that or something. But you'll figure it would be picked up by these microphones. There's no clouds. And that's why you do it in foreign language because no one knows what you said. Yeah, just curse them in Latvian and you'll be fine.

But the clippers yesterday were all healthy and all available and all played, right? So that's what the best the clippers can do. And that's why people are scared of the clippers because when they are all together and all healthy and all their minds are right, they're a pretty damn good basketball team. Yeah, they were, I mean, especially early on in that game. The Mavericks had two points like five minutes into that game. Yeah, but every time I saw that, I was like, the NBA always comes back to the norm. And then they ended up with 38.

in the first quarter. Yeah. So I saw it was at 15-2 or something. And I was like, ooh, these clippers can't be stopped. And then Dallas had a lead in the second quarter. How 20-20 of it was for people were already posting memes like Prashingas and Dantzic were ruined and stuff like that by Kauai and Paul George. And then literally five minutes later, your meme is out of date.

Now, you know that when and the Astros are beating up somebody badly, I always put should the insert team quit. Yeah, that's come back to bite you a couple times. Not very many, though. More times than not, I feel safe. Like the other day I did with the Mariners and I was right. I feel I can do that with the Mariners and with a one-nothing game, too. Yeah, I was going to say, the Mariners is going to be okay, Matt.

But I will say this. I will never do that in an NBA game under any circumstance. Not in 2020. It's too wild. There's no lead is safe these days. No lead is safe in the NBA, especially when you don't have a home court and, you know, yeah, there's, it's just, people going, wigan out over this awesome and clipper run, I'm like, it's going to be within a

four-point game before you know it. And it was essentially for most of the contest. So, but the clippers showed why I think more people fear them than they fear the Lakers. But I'm telling you, being open and honest and being a rocket homer and a fan and it works for the team, nobody in the West scares me like Golden State

scared me the last half dozen years. Doesn't mean the rocket should be favored or not favored anymore they are. believe there's still 14 to 1 odds to win the the NBA. Maybe even dropped a little bit because of Russ's injury status. I mean, it depends on book you're looking at. 16 to 1. I've seen 12 to 1, 14 to 1 as well.

So I'm going in with nervous excitement. Frankly, to me, this will be the most challenging first round series they've had since I think I've been calling their games. One year was Minnesota, one year was Utah, and one year was Oklahoma City.

Well, yeah, Utah twice. This is my fourth year with the team. Okay, so then it was... Oklahoma City once, Utah once, and Minnesota once. Well, didn't they beat Utah to open up in the first round, but last back-to-back years? Well, they beat Minnesota in a playoffs. It was two years ago then.

No, they beat Utah in the semifinals one year. Oh, is it the semis? Yes. That's what it was. So I'm way more nervous about this go-around and getting past the thunder in the first round than I am worrying about who they'll face in the second round. Does that make any sense to you?

it doesn't it shouldn't you're more worried about this I'm more worried about them I will feel like they will have played a spectacular first round matchup they will get them physically and mentally prepared for a

matchup of the Lakers in round two I'm not saying that Oklahoma City is easier to beat than the Lakers I'm not trying to downplay that I'm just saying that you never really got to figure out who the Rockets were until you saw them in the second round

the playoffs because each of the last few years the last four three years they haven't had any troubles winning in the first round. I get that. And yeah, this is going to be tough. The biggest thing to me is it's Russell Westbrook not being out there. Now, I know Colin Cowher doesn't think that this is one of the top ten tandums in the NBA.

Well, Colin Coward doesn't believe the Rockets should be in the playoffs. It's true. He's just stunned that they actually even made the playoffs. Yeah. But Russell Westbrook being gone is huge. It's absolutely huge. And the question, of course, remains the Astros are, I mean, the Rockets are playing it close to the vest.

How many games is he going to miss? And then that's where everything, that's where every, that's, that's Question one that I need answered before I predict what's going to be happening. I'm mentally preparing for game three. I'm thinking that too. And there's no way, there's no, that's just a guess on our part. We have no educated, you know, like the doctor isn't whispering something to us. And Russ may be feeling better every single day, but feeling better in waking up and shooting baskets is one thing.

Running up a 94-foot court back and forth is a different animal. There was a tweet that we had yesterday. There was also, oddly enough, LeBron James had a media availability yesterday. And apparently Russell Westbrook walked right. in front of him. Yeah. And LeBron was like, how are you doing?

You good? And Russell said, I'm good. So we got the report from LeBron James. But what if you said, I'm still sore as hell. That would have stopped the press conference.

Well, he probably didn't have a walker out there or something. So at least he or a cane. So he was probably at least walking. So that's good. Yeah. That's, yeah,

I would put it this way. I had a blister on my foot yesterday. Uh-oh. And I got it. I popped it today, which wasn't the prettiest thing in the world. Did you film it? You know, people love that stuff. Who loves that? Are you kidding me?

There's a whole show of some pimple pomper lady on like TLC or something. It's disgusting. Yeah, I, it was when I did it today, it was disgusting. I would not want to watch that. But if you would have said, Matt, how are you feeling? I said, I've been felt fine, but I'm still walking a little bit of limp because I still got a little bit of the tissue still left over from it. It's Dr. Pimple Popper. Yeah, it's a hard pass. Sandra Lee on TLC. I've got no interest in that. And you're a loser if you do.

Brendan, you watch it? I think it's so disgusting. I know a lot of people who are very into it. I know. They're weird, man. What is wrong with you people? Disgusting.

And some of those views, they're like the YouTube, they're like a pimple. There's a whole genre of pimple popper YouTube. YouTube has some weird little corners. It has fun spots, but it. Fun butts as well.

And fun butts. But that's gross. That's absolutely gross. I'm zero interest in that. All right, so let's get back to the NBA. I say Rockets in six. I think this is going to be a tough, hard-fought series. I think the Russell Westbrook factor is in play.

I think Chris Paul wants to get back at his old team, wants to get back at his old teammate a little bit. But pound for pound, the rockets are better. The Rockets, Stephen Adams is the biggest player on either side. But Robert Covington can contain him. I'm not worried about Stephen Adams becoming this rebounding scoop machine. The Rockets are going to lose rebound battles. the rockets are going to get beaten

off the dribble a handful of times. They're not going a lot of second chance points, but at the end of the day, they're a better shooting basketball team, I think pound for pound. I think Robert Covington and hopefully PJ Tucker will get out of their little slumps. And Russell come back and want to beat his old team whenever he returns, whether it's Thursday or on Saturday. Yeah, we've seen it before with Oklahoma under City, the Thunder under Billy Donovan and the small ball with the rockets.

They're going to try to work Stephen Adams in the Post a little bit. I will guarantee you, the first couple of possessions, Stephen Adams will be working the post probably against James Hardin, whoever on a switch. It's what they're going to do. And the Rockets know what they're going to do, and they know what they have to do and play defense and then just punish them on offense. That's the way small ball works.

You're going to give up a little rebound. You're going to go out some of the rebounds. You're going to give up some in the post. You have to destroy them on the offensive side of the ball. You have to make Stephen Adams almost unplayable defensive. Their best player, defensive player, Andre Robertson, is back. Yes. But he's nothing close to what he was.

He can't shoot, yeah, as well. So he is, I don't. don't know how many minutes he's been playing down in the bubble. I got to look that up. We'll talk to Barry Chammell about that at 2.30. It just feels like that we're only getting 40% of Andre Robertson back. Remember how bad of a free throw shooter he was, too? A couple of years ago.

He couldn't make a three and save his life. When the Rockets in Oklahoma City were in a playoff series? I think they were one thing following Robertson intentionally. He's at Career 468, 468%. And career three points, 25.5%. But he can defend. And there was one of those games where he just went off and he made a bunch of threes early in the game. That was such not at the norm. An anomaly. Yeah. Yeah. All right. 713

212.21790. If you're a Rockets fan, how do you feel about this first round series? Give me your predictions. We'll take them. 713-212-5-790. The Astros try for six in a row today. We'll tell you a little bit about that in a moment. 1228 sports talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5. 790. And again on Twitter, if you want to visit with us there, you may do so at SportsMT, at Brendan Riley underscore, and at SportsRV. Right now a message for bronze roofing. We had some pretty dangerous weather the last, what was a Sunday going into Monday morning. If you've had any roof damage because of that or anything in terms of, hey, you've not

had your roof checked in a while, I want you to think about going in visiting with the folks at Bronze Roofing. You can go to their website, take a look at this family owned and operated business, and that website is bronzeroofing.com. Bronseroofing.com. Bronzeroofing.com. They've been in business in the Houston area for over 30 years. They will be here today and will be here tomorrow as well. They have great staff and they'll offer you a free estimate to make sure everything on your roof is up to satisfactory conditions.

You have a commercial roof, residential roof, asphalt, steel, or shingle, the folks at bronze will have you covered. 281-480-9900 is their number. That's 281-4-80-9-9-0-9-9-0-9-9-9-9-1-1-1-8-1-8-0-1-8-0-1-1-1-1-1-0-1-1-1-1. or online at bronze rooping.com. It's live and local. It's uncut and unbiased. It's Sports Talk 790. The best coverage of your teams continues.

That's hit sharply and just fair past Aronado down the left field line into the corner. That'll score Bregman. Gurriel racing the third. He's being sent home. And the relay will not come. Gurriel scores standing up. It's a two-run double for Carlos Correa and a two-nothing Astros lead. that was in the first inning of sports rb if you didn't catch that because you were late

well it was eight o'clock at night what were you doing well i caught it good because that's it after that no more scoring after the first inning yeah and it was just enough well that was the only astros scoring at the end of the yeah so no more scoring for the astros but how about i mean what's going on with this rotation matt i mean we were saying maybe it's just because it's the giants and the mariners but now brandon belack with another good sir How about Brandon, Brooks, and Blake holding it down, and then James? So, 1990s-born kids. Yes.

We're going to have a lot of Brendan's and a lot of Brandons and Blake's. Brendan's, Brandon's, Blake. Is there not a Tanner somewhere in the pipeline? There's an Austin, but he's not pitching as he's heard. That's true. Tyler, Dakota. Wait, that's a guy. Yeah, the new thing is naming your kids after cities.

Yes. Tyler, Austin. Dallas. Topeka. Name a Topeka kid. Topeka Johnson. I told you this before, and I always bring this up

when talking about kids' names. So I moved to Utah in 2005. Oh, no. I know this story. And we get invited to this Thanksgiving football game in the neighborhood, you know, like Turkey Bowl kind of thing. Mm-hmm.

And one dude screams Stockton. And like two kids said, yeah? Geez, terrible. I'm telling you, I love Akeem Elygian. I was never going to name my son, Elyzuan. Why don't you name him Hakeem? Hakeem Thomas. That wasn't going to work either.

He sounds like he's got some post moves. I like that. I do not believe there is a Altubei Jones running around town. You don't think so? There might be some Bregmans. No. Bregman Miller? No. Verlanders?

Nope. There's a lot of dogs named Verlinder now. But seriously, how dushy or goofy is it to name you after a kid's last name? Now, my, I will say that Peyton was named after Peyton Manning. Wait a second. Hold on. I'm a little hypocrisy here. But Peyton is a normal first name.

Okay, yeah, but your firstborn son's named after an arena. No, I wanted that name. I just backed it up by the name of the arena. Matt, do you have an issue with all the people who've named their kids Thomas after you? I'd like to have those people call the show and ask why they did so. And they'll need a DNA test too. How about Matt Tom? I'm staring at those NBA box scores.

I'm seeing how Matt Thomas is playing. Are you checking on Matt Thomas every day just because you have the same name? That's weird. Give me a little bit. Okay. No, I don't mind the first name being after something you've chosen. Peyton was Kim because she loved Peyton Manning. And I loved the name Cameron.

I just had to figure out a way to finagle it in there. But I just think to name a kid a person's last name when no one in America was named Stockton in 1990. It's disgusting. Not a human being. There's no Malones? There's no Hornaceks. Hey, Hornacek! Like, are there any Boston fans running around saying, what's your name?

My name is Mikhail. What? Parrish. I like that. See? You're furthering my point. Yeah. So I'm just saying it was weird.

Where do we go with this? Oh, I don't remember. Astros. Yes. Okay. They've won a lot of games lately. They're 12 and 10. They're firmly planted in second place.

That's a playoffs. That's a playoffs. They're looking like a playoff team the last week and change, Matt. After getting swept out of Oakland, they've been pretty damn good. And like I said, I was talking about Brandon. That's what we were talking about. We were talking about the pitching. We were talking about how good the pitching was.

And then I said Brandon Blake and Brooks. So that threw us off. Yeah, when in doubt, use those names and there'll be at least one astro bullpen member. The point was that the pitching has been really good. And even Josh James the last couple of times out since he's been in the bullpen. He gave up a home run once. But other than that, I think he hadn't been too bad. Matt, don't make that face.

Two pitch Josh James out of the bullpen, I think is fine. Well, it's funny because he was asked about pitch selection, and he's going to stay with four. Much to your chagrin. Oh, dang. Well, let's see how that goes. But you know why he's doing that, I think. So he can get left, these and right.

Yeah, he can get both guys out. And my guess is ultimately he would like to be a part of the starting rotation. again. He knows that from a importance perspective and an economic potential, being a middle reliever is not going and pay the bills like being a starting member of Evan Astros baseball team is going to.

Well, his ERA is down to 11.17 now, so things are looking up for him. But it's funny, if you were to go to the Who Don't You Trust card, the two top names probably in your list are guys that you actually recognize before the start of the season.

Josh James and Ryan Presley. Press has been good the last couple times He has, but if I asked you, who don't you trust? Syneed. That's true. Well, Snyman's with the team a little bit last year. Yeah, he was. So you know what?

I will bump Presley off the list and add Snyd to it. Cyrus Sneed. I feel like Snye Sneed owns a general store. Yes. And like Dodge, Kansas. Does the music stand you by? I feel like I need to hear a commercial for Syneed's general store. and it's really not because your materials all that great.

It's just, I mean, the material's okay. The voice does a really good job. Oh, I'm doing this? Yeah, it's Systeen's General Store. Well, there was no radio back then or TV. Just pretend it was. Well, I'd like to welcome you into Cyrus Sneeds General Store. We have all the finest musk rat furs and snake oil that you can find.

is something ailing you? Well, we've got Mr. Thomas's tonic that will take care of anything that is bothering you or making you feel ill and also you can use it to clean engines. Cyrus Sneed's general store

Dodge, Kansas. Find us online at sysneed.com and we thank you for stopping by. They have to be boil of peanuts at Sice needs general store? No, I don't think so.

Apparently they have muskrat furs. Do you think there's a fudge factory in the back corner? You know, you can get some homemade fudge. Yes. Like, when you go to Buckees, you can go get some homemade fudge. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

By the way, we know it's a lot of the other day and we passed by Buckees. We didn't go. It's too close. A tinge too close. What do you mean? Which one do you go by? The one, not Centersville.

Madisonville? Madisonville. Oh, okay. Oh, you go up 45. to get the level? I don't even know which way you go. 45 to there's a highway that takes you to Grossbeck and then you take Gross Beck, connects you to 6. I'll take your word for it. Yeah, you've never offered to go with me.

I'm busy. Madisonville, yeah. Yeah, Madisonville. It's just, it's great. It's phenomenal. But like the Buckees and I-Tang going to San Antonio is just the right stop. The Baytown one's a little close. Waste of time.

No disrespect to Becky's there, but that's too close. So you hold out for Stuckies a little further down the way. I was in, I, we got way past. wake up. Once I'm in the car going and as long as I don't go in the bathroom, I want to go. We got to go the bathroom. I'm pulling off on the next exit. I'm not that kind of day. Why don't you pull off the side of the road? Well, sometimes you can't. Okay. Well, you could. I mean, you guess you could, but it'd be a little bit of a mess. You got enough waterburger napkins in the in the glove box.

How did we get from that to the Astros? I'm going to keep you the show on focus. Because people are dying to get in a Rockets playoff talking last year they're they're out of control man you want to check the phone lines no I don't I'm embarrassed that we can't check the phone lines I will ask you before I leave you in 20 minutes if you are fired up for the Rockets playoff I had to say 250 for the announcement the lineups because I just that's just the way to end the show to get everybody in the mood for the afternoon but yeah I don't want to do it any earlier because I don't want to hurt my voice but this is terrible we got a

playoff game tonight against the enemy known as Chris Paul and it's it's one of I feel zero. I feel zero buzz. Would you say it's the best storyline in the first round of the playoffs? I would say if it's not number one, it's up there. Maybe Blazers Lakers. From a national perspective, Blazers Lakers, because of the fact that the dame has gone crazy in the bubble. The Blazers have played extraordinarily well.

We're able to jump over Memphis to grab that eight spot, beat Memphis in the eight-nine game. And it's LeBron. I mean, there's a reason why those two teams are playing in the best matchups. times because they're West Coast teams and also the teams that have the most notoriety. But this game itself between OKC and Houston is extraordinarily sexy, I think. Absolutely. I think so. It's great. I mean, Ross against his old team whenever he comes in, Chris definitely playing against his old team. And there's still, there's a lot of James hardened haters out there, Ross. And oh, by the way, if you want to go factually by the Vegas

lines, it's now a pick-em. So that's the only series that's having those types of games. Everyone else is, I mean, Milwaukee's like 14-point favorites against Orlando. You have other teams or 5-6-point favorites. So it's also not only a great storyline, it's a toss-up series. I'm going to tell you this. If you're calling me to talk Eastern Conference Basketball, this isn't the show for you. Go down the dollar. There would be somebody ready to mix in as much Toronto-Bro Brooklyn coverage as you possibly can stand.

How do you think Spencer went Dinwiddie and Karris-Liver looking at? I'm just telling you, the Eastern Conference sucks. It just does. 713-212-5-790. 713-212-5-790. On Twitter, at SportsMT, at Brendan Riley and at SportsRB. By the way,

Grises says a friend of hers named his son Bagwell. And somebody tweeted us, Ryan Keller tweeted us, said there's a kid in his son's daycare named Correa. Okay. What's his last name? Bagwell is a real rough one. Why would you do that?

Just go with Jeff. Or El Hefe. Bagwell Thompson? And guess what he's going to be nicknamed all the time? Baggy. Baggy. I always said, no matter what name you choose for your children, think about the potential nickname or short name for it.

Yeah, and he could never get a job at a grocery store. You're just going to make fun of him the whole time. It's a bad look. It's just a bad look. 713-212-5-790. A very, very borderline safe for radio conversation is coming up next. This is for adults only. I hope you don't mind.

1244 on Sports Talk 790 with a message here for Oops, steam cleaning. If you want true steam cleaning, done at a fair price by trained professionals, all I ask you to do is call 281-8-2-2-0-561. 281-8-2-2-0-561. They do water remediation projects as well. They will take care of your upholster, your soap, as your dining room chairs, your oriental rugs or a piece of cake. They'll do your bathrooms and your kitchens, too,

with the natural stone and ceramic towel that you may have in there. and most importantly, they'll just do a great job on your carpets. 281, 8220561 is their number. Their website is Oopsteam.com. Get a free comment. The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790. All right. 130, Aaron Reese from The Athletic, our Texans Insider, is going to join the show.

He'll be with us every Tuesday at 130. Very much looking forward to that. 230 today. Barry Tramm will be with us from the Daily Oklahoma. Holman, he is the lead columnist there and probably knows the Thunder as well as anybody in that area. Covered him a very, very long time. So we'll talk to him about what the expectations are about the Thunder Rocket series, because I know that everybody is on the edge of their seat for that.

Should be. Need to be. It's playoff time, baby. The nation turns its lonely eyes to Orlando for Rockets versus Oklahoma City Thunder, man. It's the best game of the day. Okay, second best game. Well, by the point spread, it's the closest game. It's the toughest to call, but Lakers Blazers is going to be pretty.

I'm pretty excited to watch that at 8 o'clock tonight, too. All right. Well, I'll tell you, I'll be all in on that. Not working today's game because I was supposed to do the PA, but everybody's in Orlando. I think they're using my voice to the lineups there, but I don't think anybody carries them. So at 250 this afternoon, I will do the official introduction to the starring for both teams. Wonderful. And I'll be surly AF for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I like that. Not that I'm against Oklahoma City. It's a beautiful city, nice people, very good organization, but either you're with us or against us. Yeah, weird haunted hotels. Food's not great. I like that hotel. I'm in the minority. Do you think it's haunted, Matt?

No. Have you ever ran into any ghosts there? No, but a member of our traveling party believes they have. Hmm. Member of the tribe? Craig Ackerman. No. Oh.

John McLean? John doesn't travel. Okay. John covers the Texas. I had to try. All right. For the next four minutes. Yes.

Do you need to give a public service announcement or warning, Matt? This is a PSA warning. If you have urgent ears or don't like insensitive risque material, this probably isn't for you. But it's just, we're going to keep it as PG as possible. Because again, we're trying to protect the license. The Phoenix Suns, did they go undefeat in the bubble? Yeah, it's a perfect 8-0. It seemed like they, you know, they had a little extra juice in their stat, Matt.

They did because they ran into an IG model that they knew, and we're assuming it's the Phoenix Suns. The presumption is the Suns. Well, she says she, Matt, she says, she says Dreyas, which I think is in Vegas. Okay. This is before Orlando. This is during the pandemic that the league was shut down. This is a woman who's an IG model. She's got a really strange name. I don't even know.

Do you know who she was before this? I have no clue who she. I'm not into the IG model game. Okay. She has, she likes dating athletes. Well, maybe dating's a strong term. She likes getting to know athletes, Matt. Intimate.

Yes. Like you and sleepy Floyd. And then she. And then she wants to. Was it a bleacher report? No, no. This is some podcast. I don't even know who it is.

It was her and a girlfriend. Some guy with tats all over his arms and neck. Did a strange podcast where he had this woman on as a guest. You know what? Maybe you can get her on Plinkos and Pile Drivers. Does she know game shows of wrestling? Maybe. I mean, I suck and call her.

Yeah. She had this to say about her experiences with one unnamed NBA team. On my birthday, my birthday is Memorial Day weekend. Uh-huh. On my birthday, I seen them all at Dre's, like this one team. And I don't know. I was getting in a hotel room. They all pose up and I...

The whole team. Seven. Seven basketball players in a row? Mm-hmm. So I was like someone that works with the team. And I know, I know that team because I've hooked up with them before. But they all pulled up. No, not the whole team.

Okay. A few of them. They all just pulled up. They knew I was in there and they were like, let's get lit. and they were just sitting around the bed and they just rotated. Wow. Yeah. Let's start it.

Yo, they all love you. So you don't look back, do you look back of this as a positive memory? Yeah, I don't care. It was lit. I don't care. It was it. The part that we bleeped out. It was bleeping for like three straight seconds.

You can assume two things were done during that time. And my guess is both of them were being done. Well. Yeah, she wasn't doing their taxes. Let's put it that way. She wasn't drawing up a game plan. No, I don't think so. Seven.

Not one, not two, not three, not four, seven. Not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven. Well, it was actually seven. But when asked at the very end about, about if she considered it a good experience, she said, yeah, it was lit. Yeah, I don't care. It was lit. She didn't care. It was lit, Matt. Let her live her life.

How do you think mom and dad feel about this? I'm going to guess dad wasn't around much. Just a hunch. You're saying that he's not a member of the clergy. I don't know. I'm just making a job. It's an assumption. I don't know. We may have to use that soundbite for the rest of our lives. Which one? This one? Yeah, I don't care. It was lit. I don't care. It was lit.

Brian Harder has tweeted in, chew-chew. That's actually not true. Well, sort of true. I feel like it was more of a carousel situation. You any comments on there? Like a lay, like a... You want to say out of it? Like the spinning of a lazy Susan. She said they were rotating.

She said they sat on the bed and rotated. I just feel like we need to respect her. For what? They all pulled up. No, not the whole team. A few of them. They all just pulled up. They knew I was in there

and they were like, let's get lit. And they were just sitting around the bed and they just rotated. They were just sitting on the bed and the road. See, he's a carousel, Matt. Duck, duck, goose. Yes.

I got to go do Astros baseball. See you and a half an hour. This is how you leave me? Matt, you're just going to walk out with this after we talked about this girl getting lit? Wow. Yeah. Let's do it.

Yo, they all love you. Yeah, of course they all love her. All right. Well, I guess on that note. Matt is just going to scurry on out of here and drop that on my lap. If you guys, well, don't call me about that. 713-212-5-7-90 is a phone number, however.

If we want to talk, I don't know, the Astros, they won another game last night. Is there no buzz in this town for Thunder versus Rockets tonight? 530, 430 launch pad coming up here on Sports Talk 790? Are you excited about the matchup? Are you pensive because of Russell Westbrook being out? Or are you indifferent about the Rockets? 7-13-21-2-5-790.

713-1-2-125-7-90. Second hour is of the Matt Thomas Show is next. Is the Matt Thomas Show. Second hour of the Matt Thomas show briefly without Matt Thomas. So just keep you guys abreast of what's going on here on our stations. You have the Astros in action in a day game against the Colorado Rockies in the second of a two-game set, which will be continued in Colorado after today. So that is going to be a 210 first pitch for the Astros.

Zach Grinky on the Hill for the Stroes. And that'll be over there on our sister station, News Radio 740 KTRH. So Matthew Thomas has stepped out and he will be doing the Astros on Deck Show on KTRH. And then once that's over, he'll come back over here and resume the show. And at 1.30, we've got Aaron Reese of the Athletic who covers the Texans. So some Texans conversation coming up at 1.30. So this is my idea. Look, Matt has stepped out.

And it's just us here, right, Brendan? If you have anything that you're scared to say to Matt or scared to ask him and you want to ask me while Matt's gone for 30 minutes, you can do that. At 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. You can also tweet to at SportsRV. And so on that front, that's where the Astros are. On the Rockets front, they will be here on Sports Talk 790, 530 tip-off scheduled.

It'll be a 430 Rockets launchpad with yours truly here. So I keep saying this, and I'm just going to go ahead and keep saying it. If you're looking for one and you find the other, the other was going to be on 740 or 790. So if you're tuning in right now and you're looking for Astros coverage, it's going to be on News Radio 740K-TRAH. Rockets will be here on Sports Talk 790. There's going to be a lot of conflicts going on because obviously we didn't have sports for like three months. So you got both baseball and basketball going on at the same time and not a whole lot of days off in between them

because of the compressed schedules for both. So you're looking for one or the other. It's going to be either News Radio 740 KTRH or Sports Talk 790. So a couple of things going on in baseball. You had the game yesterday. And, you know, it's funny because we've talked about this and how the lineup was going to have to carry the day for the Astros. But you know what?

that doesn't always, things don't always go according to plan on that front. So yesterday you had only two runs scored. They were scored in the first run, first inning by Carlos Correa on the double down the left field line, he knocked in two runs, and then that was it for the Astros. And if I had told you at that point,

even though Brandon Belak had been good in his first couple of starts, that they were only going to score two runs, you probably would have said things weren't going to turn out so well for the Astros. And the pitching has stepped up. Isn't it? I mean, I think you have to be impressed, Brendan, or are we going to say, well, it's been the San Francisco Giants. It's been the Mariners. So it's not that big of a deal.

And I would like to wait and see. I mean, when you're getting it out of who you're getting it from, I don't think it matters to it. It's against. And here's the thing. I think everybody, I'm going to say, knows that eventually the bats are going to wake up on a more consistent basis. So it's just about getting wins until then. right? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you also, look, a lot of runs

weren't going to be scored in yesterday's lineup. I think it was pretty funny. Chandler-Rome tweeted out, this is a Houston Astros lineup, not as in kind of joking, because, I mean, it was just bizarre. You had Abraham Toro D-Hing in the two-spot. You had Miles Straw in the lineup. You had Dustin

Garneau in the lineup, and it was just one of those games where you're like, okay, I don't know that there's going to be a whole lot of run scored by the Houston Astros tonight, so the pitching is going to have to carry the day. And that's, that's, the way it was. And now, I mean, I mean, it's just funny because a week

and change, you're coming off of the sweep at the hands of the Oakland A's and I'm thinking, man, I don't know what's going on with this team. They might not even make the playoffs. And then a week later, we're talking about them winning, what is it, five of the six of the last seven now? At this

point, five in a row against the Mariners, the Rockies, and the Giants. And by the way, that one they lost. That game was yacked up by Ryan Presley. They should have won that game. Was it Ryan Presley that gave it up that seven to six game of the Giants. I think it was. Yeah, I believe it was. So, I mean, you're talking about a game where you had the lead

there at the end in the what was it in the ninth? What did they give it up? In the ninth, I think, in the top of the ninth, where they were supposed to win. It was a blown save by yeah, Ryan Presley, his second blown save of the season. So you could be talking about a team that had won seven straight right now. And you know what? In a 60 game season, you'll take it any way you can get it.

And that's what the Astros are going to do right now. And you got Zach Grinky back on the mound. guy, I mean, he has turned it around and a hurt. First start for him was a little bit shaky, but since then, he's just must see TV. Is he not? I mean, it's, we're going to watch, what's, what's the next thing that's going to happen? He's going up and sitting in the stands. He's, he's calling his own pitches. He's barking at umpires and all, because last start he had an umpire who had never worked a game before. Don't you think that's like, you can't miss that one? You can't miss that one. Jeez. Come on, man. And do you think like an umpire calling balls and strikes for the

first time. I mean, that's got to be one of the more terrifying guys to be going up against. Probably Verlander would be one. Scherzer we talked about as well. Who is the worst guy in baseball that you would want on the hill for your first game as a Major League umpire calling balls and strikes? So I can't think of his name off the top of my head and I don't know if you're going to remember him. I actually think of that closer that from it's maybe five or six years back now. The Giants Closer, Long Beard. Do you're wild crazy. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. I I can't remember his name either. It's a few years removed now.

And he was in a bunch of old spice commercials and stuff. Yeah. It was his name. I can't remember. I'm sorry. He's just the one who came to mind. Like, he seemed like an angry guy. Yeah.

Brian Wilson. He looked like a, he looked like a literal mountain man out there on the hill. Yeah, I guess he would be pretty scary. I think Verland would be pretty bad. And Zach Rinkie would be pretty bad as well. But so, you know what? The Ashros are turning it around. And we could talk about the competition and all that.

the Astros are going to be playing a bunch of crappy teams. And how about, I mean, think of the guys that are contributing right now. The Brandons and the Brooks and the Blakes. It's just awesome. I think maybe this speaks to Jeff Luno and the way that he built the team because two weeks ago we were crushing all these pitchers that the Astros had and how we didn't know anybody. And we're starting to learn these guys.

We're starting to learn how well that they can pitch. And Brandon Belak now, he's had a few good starts for the Astros. So things are turning around on that front. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90. I mentioned this in the previous segment. I said, is nobody buzzing about the Rockets? Is nobody interested in this series coming up?

And I said to call in if you're interested. And, well, not looking like a whole lot of people are interested. That's okay. So 7-13-212-5-7-90. I, for one, and I talked about it. Maybe I'm more of a basketball fan than most people. people. But as far as I was talking about it with Matt earlier in the show, the storylines that you have right now with this Rockets game, I mean, you know that Chris Paul wants this one. A PJ Tucker said

it yesterday. He might not come out and say it. He might not come out and talk about it, but you're going to tell me that Chris Paul, one of the great competitors and the great point guards of the last decade, doesn't want to win this one against the Rockets. It'll be fun. I think it'll be fun. I think this is interesting. You know, after the trade last year, knowing him, he wants this bad. I know how bad he wants this.

I know he's on the other side, telling the guys what guys are going to do, and, you know, kind of trying to get my game plan. And I know I can better be in. So it's going to be interesting. It's going to be fun. So I'm looking forward to it for sure. This is the thing that I'm kind of worried about.

I'm worried about Chris Paul in general, and he's just a great all-time player. And one of the things that the Rocket love to do on their defense is they don't mind giving up mid-range shots. The problem is Chris Paul is one of the better mid-range jump shooters in the entire NBA and in the history of the game. So he can make those. The reason that the rockets don't take mid-range jumpers and they like to allow

mid-range jumpers with their defense is because people are, it's a lost art. I mean, you go up and down all the rosters. There aren't going to be a whole lot of guys who are really efficient in the mid-range area. You can really count on one hand. It's Kevin Durant when he's healthy. Akwai Linder is really proficient in the mid-range. Chris Paul is also one of those guys. So looking up at this matchup and seeing the tools that are around Chris Paul,

I think the Rockets are just more talented. And I just think that the problem is that it's going to be posed, though, is with Chris Paul. And the problem is going to have to be really aggressive. Chris Paul is against this Rockets team. He's going to have to get up a bunch of shots. And that's not necessarily in his DNA. we saw that when he was a Houston Rocket. One of the things that they had to convince him to do

was just let it fly from three when he was open because he's always been a really solid three-point shooter and to be aggressive on the offensive side. Like one guy you never have to tell to be aggressive offensively, James Harden. He's going to be okay with that. And I think that is going to be something that's going to be a key as far as this series and how this is going to play out for the Oklahoma City Thunder if they want to be at their best

and beat the Rockets, which we'll talk to, what is the guy's name, Barry Trammell, from Oklahoma City, he will be talking with us at 2.30 to break down the series. So it'll be interesting to see what's going to happen with Chris Paul. He's going to need to be like, we remember a couple of years ago. There was a game against the Jazz, and James Hardin was terrible. And Chris Paul, I remember being in the Toyota Center. And I had not seen, I can count on one hand, the amount of times I'd seen somebody take over an NBA game, the way that Chris Paul did.

When he dropped 40 in an elimination game against the Jazz, I think it was like game five or something like that. and so that's what he's going to have to do and I think he's going to have to rise to the occasion on this he's a little bit older it's not in his DNA necessarily to be the aggressive guy he likes to get everybody involved but his tiger's going to have to change his stripes a little bit

if they want to be successful in this series because I mean there are some good pieces around him but he is definitely the engine that makes them go and I think he's going to have the open opportunities in as far as in the mid-range the now the the Thunder will be able to get whoever they want as far as the matchup on Chris Paul

because the rocket switch everything. But I think the primary guy that's going to be tasked with slowing down Chris Paul is going to be Eric Gordon. And Eric Gordon is only a couple of games now into coming off an ankle injury. And Eric Gordon, quite frankly, is a guy who's had a number of injuries in his rocket's career. So what's going to happen with that?

Is he going to be able to keep up with Chris Paul? Is he going to, with the stopping and the starting and getting into the basket, and that's the thing you have to realize, right? Is it Chris Paul, for the majority of the time, as you saw it last year as a Rockets fan, he's not going to be getting to the basket a ton. So Eric Gordon has to know that, that it's going to be a lot of pull-up mid-range if Chris Paul is going to be taking some shots. So it's going to be up to Eric Gordon.

He's going to be up to the task. And we saw, what was it last year when he was just dominating on both ends of the floor and taking Donovan Mitchell out of the game and making threes on the other end. That's the Eric Gordon to, the Rockets are going to need if they're going to want to be successful in this series. Because James Hardin, we all know that there's going to be a huge burden on him, but he's not going to be able to do it by himself. Think of last Wednesday's game where James Harden had 45 points, 17 rebounds, and nine assists,

and the Rockets lost. It's because everybody else went like 9 of 43 from 3, like 21%. So other guys are going to have to step up, certainly with Russell Westbrook out for the Rockets to be successful in this series as well. All right, we're going to take quick break here on the Matt Thomas Show without Matt. Matt Thomas, he'll be back at about 135. He is doing the Astros on Deck Show on our sister station. If you're looking for Astros coverage, head over there to News Radio 740K-T-R-H.

7-1-3-1-2-790 is your phone number here if you want to get in. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-790. Back in a second here on the Matt Thomas show. More Matt Thomas now on Sports Talk 790. Not be serious. Not be serious. In my opinion, that sucks. This sucks more than anything that I've ever sucked before.

Oh no! We suck again! Brace yourselves. Okay, it's not catastrophic news, but it's not good. I don't want to resell it. The Astros... Have placed Yordon Alvarez on the injured list, and they are recalling infielder. Taylor Jones Come on man

All right We've ramped up my worry level Matt Thomas asked me How worried I was about Yordon Alvarez Yesterday or what did he say? My alarm level, I don't even know what he said He said he was a nine I was like, oh I'm a four

Maybe he'll be okay Yeah we gotta bump that up to at least a six and a half seven Yorda on Alvarez On the injured list With right knee discomfort I'd have nice things in 2020. Can we not have anything going well? Why does it, when one good thing happens this entire year, something has to happen and crap all over it?

Does Jordan Alvarez have the knees of a 90-year-old man? Was there some sort of Cuban knee replacement surgery that happened? Is this man 23 years old? He's 6'5 built out of granite, but his knees don't work? What a curse that is. That's like, uh, what is it? Like one of those deals with the devil? That's what happens in 2020. Everything is a deal with the devil.

Ah, yes, we'll give you this designated hitter. He'll be six foot five. He'll be 230 pounds chiseled out of granite. But his knees won't work. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. That's what it feels like right now. Yes, we'll give you games against the mariners and the giants. and you'll win easily.

And all of these no-name pitchers are going to pitch well. But Michael Bradley's legs won't work. Ho-ho! It's always something, man. What the hell is going on out here? And what is right knee discomfort? Yordaun Alvarez has had knee discomfort like a year now. What is happening?

How hurt are his... knees. He could have literally had knee replacement surgery by last year and he'd have played more games than he did now. I don't understand what's going on. It's retroactive to Sunday when he was scratched. I mean, and the thing about the two that makes us so painful is we keep getting blindsided by this stuff because Dusty Baker is playing it close to the vest and everything. Dusty Baker's like, I don't know, man. I haven't talked to the trainer yet. I can't give you anything. and he's been playing this since spring training we've been hearing it and we'll talk to the good man Dusty tomorrow.

I mean, he's doing it the right way. There's no reason to give away any information, but that just makes it that much more frustrating for me to get my hopes up that these guys are going to come back. Like Michael Brantley on Friday, Friday morning, he's great, had a good workout, he's feeling good. Saturday morning, yeah, his legs are falling off. He's on the injured list.

Jordan Alvarez comes back Friday, recovered from the coronavirus. everything's cool. He's hitting the cover off the ball in Corpus Christi in the training site. Then he gets called up. Then in his first at bat, he hits a freaking home run into the Crawford boxes that he's so strong. He barely got a hold of it off the end of the bat and it still went 343 feet. And then two days later, he's out with knee discomfort and then two days after that he's on the freaking injured list. look nothing against the Kyle Tucker's and Miles Straws I don't want to see them in the lineup day after day

I want Michael Brantley back I want Yordon Alvarez back I think Michael Brantley can come back as soon as Saturday so there you go you want to react to this one 713212 5790 713 212 5790 ATX Obo girl says wait so he's really been at the crossroads this entire time exactly. This is one of those monkey paw wishes or the deal with the devil that you ask for one thing and you're going to get another, you're going to get it, but you're going to get something else.

Now this has happened for the Astros. I was going to talk about the coronavirus and the giant outbreak in Notre Dame, but now I'm just depressed. Now I'm just, I'm not feeling great about it. The Astros now are going to have to be carried by a lot of pitchers who are young and unproven and are doing well right now, but it's also easier for a pitcher to be doing well younger in his career

rather than a hitter. And now something named, what's this guy's name, the infielder that's been recalled, Taylor something or other? If I had a nickel for every time there's an astro who got activated or played in a game, and I had known it, Taylor Jones,

can we get the, what is the, what is everybody's scouting report on Taylor? Brendan, can you give me everything you know about infielder Taylor Jones for the Houston Astros? No. Oh, that was it then. That's all you got. Well, I appreciate it. I know his name's Taylor. His last name is Jones.

Well, Super Jack Mayfield's up here now, too. I know that Matt would recommend you don't name your kid after his last name. Thomas or Jones? Jones. I'm giving you my scouting report on Taylor Jones. Okay, well, thank you. Not to give his name out. Appreciate it. All right. So, yeah, I mean, look, it is what it is. it's just disconcerting. It's troubling. My worry level has shot up.

You know why I gave Matt a level of four on my worry level yesterday? Because I was trying to be optimistic. In times of uncertainty, and when times you don't know the answer to questions, I try to lean on the optimistic side. And this is what I get for it. This is what I get for believing that Yorlon Alvarez is going to be back and he was going to be okay. How long after Matt gets back, do we get, I told you so? I don't want to hear it.

He's not a doctor. He didn't know anything. 713-21-21-25-7. All right, there's a lot of bitterness in my voice. Sorry, man. You're busy on KTRH though right now. All right. 7-1-3-21-257-9.

Let's go to Ronnie. Holden. Want to talk about the Yoron? What's up, Ronnie? How you feeling, man? Oh, well, I don't know. I'm frustrated with the whole Alvarez thing. And I'm wishing that we had some New York sports riders in Houston.

Because New York sports riders have a very caustic way of getting to the... bottom of things. And this has been going on with Alvarez since we brought him up last year. Why can't we find out what's wrong with his knees? I mean, does he have Jeff Bagwell degenerative arthritis? Did he have something done to his knee? Don't say that, Ronnie. Don't you put that curse on him, Ricky Bobby. And I was going to ask who we brought up to replace him, but then you mentioned Taylor Jones. and I think Taylor Jones is probably a better hitter than not so super Jack Mayfield. Well, it's kind of a low bar there, Ronnie. All right.

Thanks a lot, man. Appreciate you getting in. It's, that's the thing. Like, we've been hearing about his knee problems for a freaking year. We haven't heard anything about surgery. We've just heard about how he rests.

Yeah, does he have some kind of degenerative knee issue? Or is he really just like 40 years old? I don't know, man. It just, it doesn't feel good. It just. It's disappointing, but you know what? Welcome to 2020. Let's go to Mike in spring.

What's up, Mike? How you feeling, man? It seems like that's funny. Look at what he had to deal with when Chris falls with the Rockets. Always hurt. Always hurt. Yes. You will be up three to two coming home.

Well, the game six is on the road, but you'll have game set. You'll have home court advantage against the all-time dynasty and the Golden State Warriors. and you'll get up three to two. But then Chris Paul is going to hurt his leg. You got JJ to go out with the Texans. You know, he's always hurt. Yeah, true. And who was that running back?

Who was that running back? The Texans had that was always hurt. Aryan Foster? I'm sorry. Aryan Foster? Yeah. Yes. I mean, it's like, you know, every time you get, you get like you're, you're getting close

or you're getting up there. Some his sports team will always find a way to have somebody go out, injured, and there we go.

And how about this one? How about you'll get up, you'll lose the first two games of the World Series and you'll get up three to two on the Washington Nationals coming home with Verlander on the hill. And then you're going to lose.

Yeah, cool. Great. Thanks, sports guides. Thanks for pissing all over Houston again. 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. the phone number. We've got to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. Programming notes.

Matt Thomas is on KTRH right now because that will be where the Astros will be on. We'll have rockets coming up here at 4.30, 5.30 tip off here on Sports Talk 790. But coming up next, it is Aaron Reese, who covers the Houston Texans for the athletic. So we'll take a quick breather from all the latest Astros

disasters. We'll hear from Aaron Reese next here on the Matt Thomas show. From the classic Chevy Highway 6, open Sunday's traffic center. This report is sponsored by Zeequil Pure Z's. You have to be up in five hours, two hours, and you haven't slept. Vig Zeeql Pure Zs is a drug-free blend of botanicals with an optimal dose of melatonin that helps you fall asleep naturally and wake with no next day groginess.

Ziquil Pure Zs, naturally superior sleep. Hey guys, how you feeling? You feeling sluggish? You feeling out yourself. It might be the Orlon Alvarez news, but it might be low testosterone. If you're having issues with your strength, your stamina, sex drive, maybe, things aren't going the way they used to. Check out synergenics. They're Houston's premier men's health clinic. They specialize in low-treatments that are just specifically

tailored to you. Not everybody in the city is going to do that. They're going to give you some, they're just going to throw some stuff at you, give you a generic plan, and send you on your way. Centrogenics wants to tailor everything to you. You're going to get a specific custom plan with minimal side effects. So don't ignore the symptoms of your low testosterone. You're not as strong as you used to be. You're sluggish. You're not sleeping at night. Then you're tired. Then it's just this self-sustaining cycle. Stop the cycle. Break it with a $25 low-tie test from Synergenics. Picture yourself looking better, feeling stronger, ringing the bell in the bedroom, feeling 10 years younger. You can do it with a $25 low-tie test at one of the seven Houston area locations.

Treatments typically covered by most insurance companies, so you're okay there. So turn back the clock by calling 833-6-low-T, 833-fix-low-tie. Go to 833-fix-low-tie.com. 833-fix-low-tie.com. That's a big shit. Ballers and bangers. This is Sports Talk 790. Home for your home teams.

Matt Thomas show continues briefly without Matt Thomas. He is on Astros on Deck Duty on News Radio 740 KTRH. If you're looking for coverage of the Astros, you can go check it out over there. We'll have Rockets here on a Sports Talk 790 launchpad coming up here at 430. But right now, pleased to be joined by Aaron Reese of the athletic covering the Houston Texans now. Now a veteran, I guess. This makes you your second year, Aaron. How are you liking Houston and the role with the Houston Texans right now? Well, third year, yeah. Third, no, no way.

The time is not flown like that, hasn't it? It's been good. It's been good. But, you know, I grew up in a, I grew up in Houston, and I went to, I went to Missouri for college, and then my first job was Missouri. But I've liked being back, and, you know, it's certainly an interesting team to cover between having, you know, one of the best quarterbacks. They're always going to be relevant in that regard. And, you know, they've made some pretty high-profile moves past two years and a lot of changes and stuff. So it's been an entertaining time to be on the beat. And I think a lot of Texans fans aren't necessarily happy with all that happened, but I'll be very interested to see how,

how it all unfold. I think Bill Bryan is kind of front-centered now. There's really no one else to show him from criticism on what he did. It's all of his making, and, you know, the results speak for themselves one way or the other. Yeah, and, no, obviously, we'll get into the football stuff in a second, but just the fact that they're going on forward with this, and there is going to be the season, and there is, of course, I don't know if you heard, Aaron, there's this little thing called the coronavirus. There's a pandemic.

I don't know if you heard about that. Yeah, I heard of it. But it's just what is that been? What do you think that is the impact going to be on this season, if any, because it's going to change up some of the, of course, the practices and all the zooms and all that type of stuff? And we're hearing that the chiefs are possibly going to have 22% crowds. Just what do you think all of this situation is going to have in the slant, at least as the NFL season tries to march forward?

Yeah, I mean, the first thing you mentioned with the crowds, I mean, I think obviously that will, the home field advantage thing will be interesting. I mean, you know, the Arrowhead Stadium, having been there, you know, is one of the loudest venues in the league. And, you know, I wonder what does 22% look like? Does it make a difference? This is allowed? Does it sound like nothing?

You know, and then you have teams like the Broncos where, you know, their home field advantage is not so much tied to the crowd is tied to, like, the elevation and stuff, right? So who holds on to their home field advantage who does? And I find that part of the really interesting. I mean, so far of the test results for players and stuff and coaches, I mean, that has been good. And you haven't really had any sort of outbreak on a team. And these teams have, you know, started patented practices.

They're within close contact of each other. And the practices I've been doing, you know, they're not wearing like the COVID face shield. And they're so doing it. So that's good. I still think that we have a lot of hurdles to get through here. And even if everyone is disciplined right now, I think the real challenges, can people stay disciplined, you know, in November? and stuff like that. I mean, the football obviously is so many guys on a roster.

And even if all of them are, you know, being responsible, as everyone who they live with being responsible, you know, if they're not going to put them in a bubble, these are risks that are just going to exist all season, even as so far the numbers are good. So I think it's just something we're going to have to watch. I'm over the mindset that it would be hard for me to believe there wouldn't be some sort of game postponed or something

at some point in the season or that some team wouldn't be devastated by an outbreak in one of their position rooms. at some point during the season. So I think it's going to happen, but it's good that it hasn't happened yet. Yeah, so hopefully good that it hasn't happened yet, I think is key there. Let's also just go under the football side here, Aaron. Some shuffling there in the coaching staff for the Houston Texans. Obviously, Bill O'Brien, still the man in charge, Anthony Weaver, the defensive coordinator,

and Tim Kelly, who I want to focus on first. We've seen Bill O'Brien take a hand over the reins for play calling for somebody else, and now he's doing it again with Tim Kelly, although it didn't last long at the first time. How do you think this transition is going? How much do you think Bill O'Brien is trusting of Tim Kelly and is Bill O'Brien still letting Tim Kelly call the plays by the end of the season? Yeah, you know, I mean, I think obviously you have to take stuff Bill says about

kind of trusting guys or whatever or how it feels. It's all relative, right? I mean, he said those things before about people and then turns through them. But, yeah, I do think he really does value Tim Kelly. I mean, he's a guy who was, he was a graduate assistant former Penn State. And then he brought him on as, like, a low-level offense of analyst or assistant when he first got to Houston. And this guy's just kind of consistently risen up the ranks. So I think that he does trust him.

And he obviously was an officer coordinator last year and wasn't the play caller. He did call plays in the preseason, though. So whatever he showed in that role last year gave Bill O'Brien confidence to, you know, to give him more control this year. What I thought most interesting about the transition is, something Deshawn Watson said a couple weeks ago, I think, at now this point. But basically, you know, with O'Brien being the head coach and the play caller, it was just he had a lot of stuff to do.

And him and Watson didn't really necessarily always have the amount of time they would like to meet and kind of work through everything. And now Watson doesn't really have to worry about that. Kind of Tim Kelly is this one person, and Tim Kelly's job is to work with Deshaun Watson. So I'll be interested to see what that can do for Watson's game potentially. And obviously, I think it's going to be up to Kelly to kind of create a lot of new wrinkles for this team because, you know, on offense, they do look a lot

different than later last year. Aaron is your buddy, Matt. Did Ross do a good job in the first half of this interview so far? Yeah, he did all right. He did it right. But when I saw you weren't on here, I considered how about it. Well, I wouldn't blame you, honestly. Have you guys talked about Deshawn's contract at all?

And do you think by the time camp it breaks and they start playing games, Deshaun will have himself a new contract? You know, I'm not sure. if it's by the time they start playing games, I think it might lean a little bit into the season. But I guess if we're, I mean, if we're making that one or the other, I guess sure.

I mean, to me, I think the biggest thing is just that it's done at some point this season, and I think it will be, because I just don't think that there's really much reason to delay on this thing. I mean, I think in Texas standpoint, the last thing you want is to, you know, obviously you'd be happy if you want MVP,

but I think you don't want to do something where he can potentially either through his own play or through maybe even Lamar Jackson's play, the market rises, right? I mean, say Lamar Jackson wins the Super Bowl this coming season. Now Lamar Jackson can say reasonably like, hey, I won MVP my second year and then I won the Super Bowl the next year, like, well, what makes me any different Patrick Mahomes, right?

Let me reset the market. And then if Deshaal Watson has agreed to a deal by that point, then DeShall Watson's price goes up, even if he's not going to be the market resetting guy. I don't think there really has no reason for them to wait. If it doesn't happen before the game start, I don't imagine it would drag too far to the season. Visiting with Aaron Reese covers the Texans for the athletic here on the Matt Thomas show. We're glad to have him with us every Tuesday at 1.30. What is your consensus about what the coaches believe in not having any preseason games in the players? Because it feels

like to me, Aaron, the last four or five years, we have seen players play less and less. So they might be like, this is no big deal. But how is Bill, and more importantly, I guess everybody are in the league feeling about the fact that there are going to be some tough cuts that we made without anybody playing any live action to make those final determinations. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. Some of those cuts, obviously, were made before they even started practicing because of the agreement that they would just bring 80 players to camp. Bill, Brian has said, you know, between the 53-man roster

and the expanded practice squad of 16 players, you know, that means they're only really cutting like 11 guys now, right? So the roster, I mean, they basically have the roster at this point. But, you know, there is those kind of those kind of those, those 11 guys, who are those 11 guys into being? That's who would benefit from having the preseason, not only make their case for making this team, but to be able to put some stuff on films to potentially be added to another team.

In terms of how much it really affects the players people care about, though, like the main stars and stuff, I don't know how much, honestly. I mean, I think there probably is some amount of, like, timing and stuff that would help Deshaun Watson to have a few reps of those wide receivers. But we all know, like you said, even if they played preseason games, they wouldn't play that much. O'Brien has said, you know, obviously that it doesn't benefit him or his staff, but he does feel confident in, you know, operating without it because he obviously was coached in college before this.

There's no preseason at Penn State, and he's somewhat used to kind of installing things and, you know, going over all those things with coaches in terms of how communication is going to work on the sideline without the benefit of pre-season games. You're going to see the Texans do a few scrimmages here between now and the start of the season, and that's going to basically function as their preseason for the coaching staff when it comes communicating on the side. line. That's Aaron Reese covers the Texans for the athletic. You can find him on Twitter at Aaron J. Reese. Aaron, thanks a lot for the time, and I'm sorry Matt interrupted our lovely

conversation. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I think Franklin was better when I wasn't on it. Thank you, buddy. We'll see you next week. All right, Aaron Reese with us. Just a little side note. Every Republican hates me. Oh, we got calls here. People were upset

at this station, right, Brendan? Yeah, almost immediately. We got like three calls. Our program director Brian Erickson says, how many emails does he have already? He said 50. And I said, I said, are you just kidding?

Or are you really? He says, he's, so he's explained the situation. You know, COVID screwed everything up. We would normally never have a Rockets Astros scenario where they're playing.

Yeah, it just blank happens, right? And he said, look, you can go to the KTRH.com. You can go to the IHeart app. I mean, this is 2020, right? If they can send you him an email, then they have the internet. Yes. We also had a lot of people try to answer your trivia question, by the way. Our phone lines blew up.

That's crazy because I gave out KTRH. Oh, you ready for this? This is the easiest question I think I've ever given. Uh-oh. Because I did it for the KTRH on and something. You know what? If you take the time, I don't even think, I want to, don't look it up. Okay, here it is.

I won't. The Colorado Rockies were an expansion team, right? Yeah. And they play currently in course field. Well, they played in a different stadium in their first two years. Oh. What was the name of the stadium? Mile high?

What do you think it is? I wouldn't have had a guess. Mile high makes a lot of sense. You think it's mile high? Yes. You're correct. Okay. Now, people were listening because it lit up.

Yeah. It was also a ridiculously easy question, too. But, yeah, so apparently at least 15. So Brian is very thoughtful. Brian does things that we wouldn't normally do, like, reply to everybody that says you're the antichrist. He's like, here's the situation. KTRH.com. You can just copy and paste at that point, right?

But I mean, he tries to make him as personal as possible because he wants to, you know, we appreciate the list. And one person just said F you and just in all caps. I just went right back. Really? Yeah, you don't mess with people's rush, man. That's a fact. Do people do that when I'm gone?

Brendan? All the time. Yeah. I've never seen our phone lines light up so aggressively. Oh, yeah, except when Matt's out. Yeah. As soon as I say the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas, 50 angry emails. Okay.

Well, that's good because, you know. This is good. Yeah. Actually, 48 of those 50 are from me. The other two are from my family. 144 on Sports Talk 790. We're going to talk a little unwritten, speaking of baseball. Are you ready for a little unwritten rules talk?

I guess. This is a stupid one. Yeah. We'll talk about that next. 230, Barry Trammell, Oklahoma. A daily Oklahomaan from Oklahoma City. We'll join us for a Thunder preview. 250 today.

I will introduce tonight starting lineups because I can only do it here and not down in the bubble. 145. Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790 is how you reach the show if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-790 with a message for the fantastic folks at Big City Wings. You want to watch Rockets and Astros in the same spot? Big City Wings. What is today? Tuesday. Buy one wing, get one free. So let's put this in perspective. You can go home and make your macaroni and cheese and have to flip back and forth between games, or you can have buy one, get one free wing, and you can watch the Astros in a

short period of time, and you can watch the Rockets in a short period of time and enjoy the experience of one of the great places to eat in the city of Houston. Eight different locations to find them one near issue. You go to Big CityWings.com. Remember, it's buy one, get one free, and all the locations will have both the Rockets and the Astros playing at the exact same time, if they're still going at the exact same time, which I guess they are. Astros, Rockets, Wings, Big City Wings, and Big CityWings.com.

Matt Thomas continues on Sports Talk 790. All right. So those of you that are, are you unwritten rule guy? No. I am very basic unwritten rule guy. Okay. Well, let's start throwing some out. I gave an example to Indy because he was asking me about what my thoughts were on this.

I think it is an unwritten rule to try to bunt for a base hit when you are going against a pitcher who has a no hitter. and you're down 6-0. Yeah, if you're down big, I'm with you. If it's a close game, I don't. It's fair game. It's fair game. Even three, be fine, but four more feels kind of gimmicky. I agree.

That's one for me. What else you've got unwritten rules? Oh, if the umpire gets hit, the catcher should take an extra amount of time, wiping off, to help them out, go to the pitchers mound, give him a few seconds. But that's not an unwritten rule. That's a courtesy. Well, it used to be an unwritten rule to not flip your bat or preen and peacock when you hit a home run.

But now it happens all the time. You have one? That was all I was thinking about one that really irks me is the going for a butt when you're a part of a no-oldo. Yeah, I was going to say the same one. You got one, Brendan, that's an unwritten rule for you that you agree with. Oh. No, I don't know that I agree with any of them. Okay.

Well, that's because you're young and. So that's really the only one that I can think of. And then probably some others that I could think of. And I don't even know if there's a book out there. I'm sure there's a website that'll have it or Angry Twitter page, one of the two, one of the two. Well, Fernando Tatis Jr. plays for San Diego. And they're a really hot.

And he's a young phenom. He's a young phenom. He leads the American, he leads to major league baseball and home runs and RBIs. So they're playing in Arlington yesterday against the sucky Rangers. You were only a half game back of the asteris. You ever noticed I put adjectives in front of things. Yeah, that's fine. And this happened in the.

game with the Padres already up, I believe at the time, 10 to 3. This is in the air to right field. Back it goes, Nando has done it again. Fernando Tatis Jr. A grand slam. And the Padres go on top 14 to 3. Two home runs, seven RBIs for Fernando Tatis Jr. So clearly Padre Radio Guy didn't think anything wrong with it, right?

He was not like, oh my God, I can't believe he just did that. Unwritten rule has been violated here, folks. No, he didn't do that. So Tatees was staring at a 3-0 count. And apparently the take sign was called from the Padres dugout. Oh, really? Yeah. He did not take.

He did not take. He mashed. Yes, he did. It pissed off the Rangers manager and his own manager saying that that should not happened. So my question is this. Is the San Diego manager mad because he missed the sign from the dugout? Or is he mad that Fernando did what he was supposed to do and that is swing hard? I've never in my life watched a baseball game, Ross, or a pitcher was supposed to go to the plate and only give it a half effort. If Fernando Tatee swings hard because he wants to make contact

and wants to create stats, which probably will help him with his, with his salary down the road and he wants to help his team win. What's he supposed to do? I'm going to go up there. The bases are loaded and I'm just going to just go 50% to maybe just draw contact. No, of course not. You're supposed to swing for the fences every single time. Yeah, no issue with it. And I mean, a lot of people in baseball are coming out and saying the worst part about it is that he apologized. Trevor Bauer says keep swinging if you want to no matter what the game situation is. Keep bringing energy and flash to baseball, making it fun. The only thing you did wrong was apologize.

Column McHugh says swinging on a 3-0 count should not be against the rules no matter the score. Before a game, I always look to see what percentage a guy swings 3-0 if it's over 20%. It means like his just can't groove one. The guys who will, quote, never give you a pitch at the plate are the toughest A-Bs. So not only am I mad about the fact that some people

got mad about it, but his manager didn't even have his back. Yeah, and he had to apologize. Well, I apologize for swinging a hitting a home run? That's like the first issued apology in the history of baseball for someone hitting a home run. I'm very sorry,

I crushed that ball over the fence. The only way I got the Padre manager back on this is if he said, I'm mad at him because he didn't see the sign. Because Fernando Tatis admitted that he did not look back to the bench. Yeah, Jace Tingler. What kind of name is that?

I don't know. I didn't know who he was and that's how I lost weakest link and I'm still mad about it. Yeah. Who the hell is Jace Tingler? I don't know. He's the manager.

of a team that doesn't want his hitter to hit it as far as humanly possible. Anyways, I'm still mad. I'm going to be bitter about that for a while. That was just today's edition of Unwritten Rule, which is stupid. Yeah. If you could erase an unwritten rule, I would do that one. Yeah. I didn't even know that was a unwritten rule.

I didn't either. What's the cutoff? Seven runs, eight runs, six and seven? There's no cutoff. Again, did Larry Dirker ever go to Craig Bajio and say, Craig, you know, I know you want to double and drive that run in to make it 11 to 2, but I'd rather you just swing from the left side of the plate and pop the ball up straight in the air so the catcher can catch it. Or just Bunt.

I'm getting... Bunt would have probably been against the rules, too, unwritten rules too. Yeah, I'm getting tired of unwritten rule guy. Yeah, me too. Because they're having to make to apologize for something that he was did to help his team. 157. It's a Matt Thomas show. Final hour left to go. We've got your phone calls.

Oh, by the way, did you mention the breaking news the last half hour? Don't even bring it up, man. We're going to do it next because I'm going to ask you the, oh, yeah. Remember my scale of how worry you were about a certain knee? Yeah, I was at four. Yeah, I want to check your scale in just a second. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5 at 790.

I want to mention my friends at Beck and Maston, Buick, GMC, where I have purchased not one vehicle from there, but two. And Beck and Maston's got two great locations at 45 in Fugway for you South Siders. FM 1960 and Jones Road for the north side. And right now you can get yourself a 20-20 Acadia for $10,000 off the MSRP. If you want to get a 2020 enclave, 13,500 off the MSRP, or perhaps a 2020 Sierra 500 for $14,000 off the MSRP. Plus zero down, 0% APR for 72 months and absolutely no payments for 90 days.

At the number one sales volume dealer in Texas, and they have been that way for 20 years. Beck and Maston.com, 45 in Fukuay, FM 1960 and Jones Road for Beck and Maston, Buick, GMC, where they are, professional grade. This is the Matt Thomas Show. 202 Sports Talk 790. It is the final hour of the Matt Thomas show. I'm back in my comfort zone because I was treated like a bastard child over on KTRH. the hate meal You are not welcome with open arms over there

But don't they know how friendly I am? I'm a nice guy I don't treat people like dirt I'm sure you had a real cracker of an on-deck show Matt I mean you had Channel Rome and Brent Strong commentary Yeah that's a big show with highlights I played the Fernando Tatee stuff

I mean it wasn't just me just Oh for your look around the league Yeah I wasn't just rattling off Useful stat out of the other It was relevant interesting good baseball pregame commentary. What were your Texas direct auto.com keys to a victory, Matt? Joseo Tube.

Oh. It's winning down. Yeah. All right. So the news came down, what, 40 minutes ago? About one. Yeah, we were in between. I was actually going to talk about this Notre Dame coronavirus outbreak and college football.

And then Yordon Alvarez thing came up. So it was about 46 minutes ago. Yeah. By the way, the Astros are playing in about five minutes over on 740. But we want you here. if there's something cool with the Astros, we'll pot it up. We'll give you a little live listen in. Like a basis loaded situation with Jose L. Chubay at the plate?

I would say anytime there's two on in an inning between now and three o'clock, except when Barry Tramble's on. We're not going to interrupt Barry Trammell for an Astros live listening. Or what if like Miles Straws up, then it's not really probably not worth. Now, if Jack Mayfield's up, we're probably not going to go to it. And again, I have zero problem calling him super. That's a super Jack Mayfrey. But he's got to be super in order to be called Super Jack Mayfiel.

He's on a major league roster. He's one of the best baseball players in the world. That's not a lie. But if you were to take 30 teams times 28, that's 700 and... Oh, geez. Oh, geez, 24-something. How about that? That's a lot of people.

He's probably in the lower 70. Probably. But he's on an imaginary team. It's true. Earning service time. I mean, with Super Dave, what's his name? Was he that super? Dave Osborne, now he's dead.

Well, he was actually... He was really fun. on Kirby enthusiasm. Okay. Really, really funny on that show. Fonkhauser. Okay. So Yorna Alvarez has been placed on the injured list with, what are they calling it?

Right knee discomfort? His knee is discomforted. Okay. So on Monday, I opened the show, and I said that Yordon Alvarez's situation results in my world as a nine. Yes. On the scale of one to ten. How alarmed were you? Yes.

And I haven't said nine and a half. you on the other hand are like nah it's just you know what it's what you just miss a couple days no biggie yeah it's a four it was a four at two oh five i give you a chance to make up for that right now where are you on the yordaunt alvarez oh my god this is going to be a serious long-term problem for our favorite d h six and a half we bumped it up it's 10 days fine it's gonna be okay i choose to be optimistic matt i'm not a doctor you're not a doctor we haven't seen his MRI, we're not his physician. His MRI was negative yesterday, right? Yes. So he had a negative MRI, so he just needs a little rest. Cricky knees. You got to get some WD40 on that bad boy,

and he'll be fine. Okay, you can believe that. I choose to be optimistic because in the end, we really don't know. You're right. But I hate this sign. I hate the fact that he went from first to third, and he went on the injury list. Like the average. No more sprinting. No more sprinting. I mean, will he have to, Albert Poole Halsit at the age of 23? Yes. Pull that, drop that anchor, baby. When you can, when you don't even, don't even bother rounding first. Even if you think you're going to leg out a triple, doesn't matter.

In all seriousness, this sucks. I don't want him at any more than a jog. What? I don't care if he gets tripled up. There's men on first and second and he's getting in triple plays. Isn't it once a back, always a back, and once a knee, always a knee? That's, yeah, those are two of the. the worst ones.

Because guys have gone through shoulder problems before and they've come back bigger and better and stronger. Tommy John. Yeah, Tommy John has changed all that. Yeah, guys have done a variety of things. Inflammation can go away. Knees can be recurring. Back, back issues can be recurring as well.

Back and knees to me are the, especially for somebody that's 23, the knee. Well, somebody who says he's 23. Here's the problem. You have your backup, your main DH guy. could go to is unfortunately guy that you can't trust because now he's on the injured list. I wonder if the Astros waited

too long and then incorrectly put Michael Brantley in the injured list. No, as in like they felt like, oh, we got Yordon, we'll give him the few days off just to let him rest up. Possibly, but that's okay. You know what? I mean the Astros, the rest of

the AOL sucks. The Astros are probably going to make the playoffs. I think they're firmly at least one of the best two teams in the AOS. They're going to make the playoffs. They'll be fine. As long as everybody's healthy. If you know what, if Yordon's got some creaky knees right now, I know it's a short season, let them decreak. All right. Let Yorda, let Michael Brantley rest up as much as he needs to as well. Get everybody right. Yeah, let's bring back Yorda on September the 20th, week left ago. Okay, well. Give him a week of bad bats. Sure. I wish that would solve it. Keith,

on the west side, our time is 208, sports talk 790. Keith, good afternoon to you. Afternoon, Matt Howard and Ross, how are you all doing? Wonderful. What's on your mind today? Well, I'm really nervous about the Rockets. You got Gordon, you got Covington, you got Tucker. They came at the broadside of a burn shooting. You got Hardin. That's 8 for 40 against this team.

I'm looking at him going like 8 for 28 tonight, and I'm wondering what the rest of these dudes are going to do. Well, it sounds like you're not nervous. you're sounding like they're going to lose. You'd have said, I hope this happens or I wish this happens. You just rattle off a bunch of numbers that would make me think that you've already determined the rockets are going to lose tonight. Well, I would love for the rockets to win.

I really lost a lot of confidence because we don't have the monster Westbrook. And I know from watching, just like the last three games in the bubble, that these two came, can't shoot her for a D. Look, I'm just, I would not use the last three games as a byproduct of who they are. But think about it, the different Mitch-Mitch match lineups, you didn't have much to play for. I mean, if you're going to take these last three and say they didn't do anything, why aren't you going to take the first three or four where they were beating all those playoff contenders and saying, hey, that's a good basketball team out there.

Why don't you using those games? We had Westbrook mad at that time. Yeah, but that's not good. But Russell Westbrook is not going to help the. Rockets shoot better from three. Either they're going to make their shots or they're not, right? Well, Russell Westbrook is going to score 30 points without making it, but maybe one or two threes in the game. You don't need them to make three. Well, absolutely. You're right about you. You don't want them shooting threes. I'm not arguing about Russell Westbrook's loss being

not significant. I'm just saying that to use the evidence in the last two games and say the Rockets are in serious trouble, I'm not going to buy that just yet. I do want to know when Russell comes back and if he's not in this series at all, then I think your point is way more valid. But there's nothing at least from that they're telling us in Orlando that it'll make us think that he's going to miss any more than say maybe one or two games the very most.

Hey, Matt. When we got Covington, didn't you think Covington was a better shooter than what he is? Yes. Yeah. He's not sure as well. What's going on? Here's what it is. He's not shot as well as I thought he was going to shoot when he got here, but he's a better defender than I thought he was.

His block shot ability has been phenomenal. he's been here. Now, I don't think the Rockets can win a championship, Keith, unless they get some threes from Covington because the teams are going to give them that opportunity. Right. And Gordon, you know,

he just got back and you don't know whether or not he's... He's quick to get injured. Tucker has been hitting the side of the backboard every time he shoots the three. Keith, thank you for the phone call, my friend. We have some breaking news here. These eyes are

looking at are not good. I'm looking at it. What? More bad news for the Astros. George Springer has been scratched at game time in Miles Straws now in center field. We can't have nice things, Matt. Why can't we have nice things? I got my collar there talking about the rockets can to Bruns side of the barn.

I got George Springer going scratch late. Yoron Alvarez has got creaky knees. Michael Brantley's. Legs are falling off. Why? Sports God, why? Is it because why is this happening to us?

Is the trash can scandal and the cheating and all that? Is it just, does it just open up Pandora's box for terrible fluky injuries? You're saying it's karma. Well, you know what John Lennon once said? There's been nothing.

Something happened yesterday, right? I thought. I don't know. Has it been, I know he was, they were talking, did he run into, he ran, he slid face first or something like that, right? Not face first. What would you say? Head first.

Yeah, face first seemed very painful. Head first. He slid, I think. I don't know what's going on. Maybe it's still his wrist. You know, I'm done with this segment. Okay. You are too.

I am. Okay. So we got Springer out. Yordan out. And the leadoff man for the Iraqis got let with a bloop single to right field. And Charlie Blackman looks disgusting. Where's Miles Straw going to be in the lineup? Tell me not lead off.

I would have. You mean, you'd shuffle him around, right? Look at Charlie Blackman's face. Elisa's averages down to 437. Who would touch that? It is. Oh, ladies like that. I know.

I don't know why. I don't know. Ladies, do you like Charlie Blackman's massive beard? There's like a dating app. I don't even know what it's called, but it's like for men with beards. And so women get on there because they have like beard fetishes.

Fetish eyes? That's not a well-kept beard. It's just gross hair just like, it's like your head. Some ladies like it, Matt. Yeah, I know. I don't get it. I don't know how you've been able to have so much successes you have.

You don't have to get it, Matt. I'm not going to be able to get it. It's not for you. Guys got an OPS almost 1,200. You're not my target demo. Thank God. All right. So let's do this.

If Yordawn's out, Black men just hit a fly ball to left field. So there is some baseball gods out there looking for us. And George is out. What's the next? Things are happening in threes. You know what? It better not be the Rockets. That's all I'm saying.

It better not be the Rockets. Why not like Jack Mayfield scratched? Nothing severe. How come Jack Mayfield has been healthy this entire time? But Michael Braley and Yordon's, Alvarez and George Springer can't keep it together. All right. Let me give you a phone number to make you feel better. Please do.

It's certainly only if you have a rectile dysfunction, which a lot of people do have, unfortunately. 281, 496, 3355 is a number that I think can help you solve your sexual dysfunction, get the intimacy back in your bedroom. Dr. Rorick and the folks over at the Rorick Sexual Wellness Institute want to visit with you at 281-4963355. Their mission is to help as many men and couples to get past. their intimacy issues and get back and conquering ED today. Their options are painless, they're non-surgical, and they're very effective.

They help guys just like you every single day, and all they want to do is visit with you to see what their opportunities and strategies are can work for your body. 281-496-3355 is a number that's 281-4-96-3355. That's easy-to-remember website. Go check it out for yourself. Improvemyerection.com. That's improvemyorection.com. First of all, he's a great guy.

He's a hardworking guy. It's Matt, and he's back. Brings his lunchtime, Houston, sports talk. The Matt Thomas Show on 790. All right. Set your appointment calendars right now. 10 minutes. Excuse me.

Barry Trammell. What are you doing? Waffing off the cough. Cough to your elbow. It's 2020, man. Come on. Oh, really? Yeah.

Okay, thanks, Ross. 713, 2125-790. 10 minutes from now, Barry Trammell from the Daily Oklahoma. And we'll be with us on the Oklahoma City Thunder columnist. And he writes all the sports up there. He has no relation to Bubba Trammell. No, you made up Bubba Tramble. No, I didn't.

He played baseball in the 90s. You remember Bubba Tram. Oh, but you're not, no, it's not even spelled the same. Oh. Trammel, T-R-A-T-R-A-M-E-L. And there was also an Alan Trammell, too, former Tigers player and manager, right? Alan Trammell, am I right on that?

Sure, that's correct. Okay. I'm mixing more Detroit stuff than I ever thought I would ever need to do so. Well, there's a Detroit connection, Alan, the show, two-thirds of the show. That's true. And then everybody, we would say back in the day, Ross, in early radio, get your tape recorders out. I'm going to introduce the lineups for tonight's game at 250.

You would tell people, hey, you want to record this segment? Yeah. I wouldn't because I wasn't doing full-time. radio at the time. But yeah, people would say that all the time. Hey, get your tape recorders out coming up. You don't want to miss this. And then people would go back and listen. It would be more people on the radio, like on FM. Like, coming up, you want to

record this song. I used to record songs off the radio for sure. Yeah. Get the 979 in the box, the top five at nine. Used to get that. And sometimes it wouldn't, I would have, you'd have we would put the, I would put the tape recorder up to the speaker. Because if you didn't have one with a line in, and you could hear my

dad with a hacking cough in the background. I was trying to play, you know, Michael Jackson's beat it, and then it was my dad, wha! Oh! Sneezing and coughing in the background as I replay it. My first three radio experiences. One, I called a guy on K-Y-O-K radio named Kevin Anderson and won some Astros tickets and a fat boy's album.

That's right. Number two, I want a dinner at a seafood restaurant calling into Martini and Eminem's sports talk on KPRC back in the... Had to be mid-80s. And experience number three, I was a junior in high school, and I, on the May Creek High School cheerleading squad, we went to 93Q and did the top nine at nine. Oh, that's cool.

I used to always call in the 97-9 in the box and ask for Sugar Hill Gangs, Rappers Delight. And they'd say, sure, no problem. Yeah, then they would never play it. And by the way, I got a little secret for you. And I shouldn't, we shouldn't do this, but it's also 2020. We've got a deal in reality here. You call and request a song.

They're not going to play it. Unless it was already on the schedule. Like my would be my brother and my sister, they would like dare me to call them. And I was like, all right, I'll call them. Like, yeah, can you all play Sugar Hill Gang? I love that song. Now, I will tell you this. The last time I requested a song, it got played.

Bob Elliott, who is our network producer for Astros and Rockets, kind of behind the scenes guy here at the radio station. David Barron's a huge fan. Used to disjockey at a radio station called KQUE, 102.9, which I believe now is a Spanish station. Well, didn't he use DJ on KBME, SAR 790? Yeah, but this is before. that.

So he's on KQE. This is the Paul Berlin station for those, like your grandparents listen to it. And he and I would do Tom Ball, high school football together. And I would drop him at the radio station to Dwork his overnight shift. And he would, I would say,

can you play this song for me? Every time he'd come in, he'd play a song for me. And I wanted to hear. Don't tell that whole story of you guys doing high school football together. There's more stories that don't need to be told. But that's the one I can say

at least for public announcement. That's at all time. right there. Compose yourself, Matt. I'm trying to. So, so back to what we're talking about? So get your recorders ready

because at 250, I'm going to do the Rockets lineups. Yes. And we're going to turn the lights off in here. We can get the podcast? Oh, can we get a strobe light going? I can use your strobe light on your phone.

Okay. All right. Okay, so I have, look, I'm completely biased. So I'm going to say no matter who the Rockets play the Rockets are going to win. I mean, that's just me. But I'm purely biased. I got rockets in six.

What do you have, Ross? I am completely objective. If I think the rockets are going to lose, which maybe next round, I will pick them to lose. I'm going to the rockets in, I'm going rockets at six as well. I don't want to agree with you ever, Matt, but you know, sometimes I have to. It helps. Sometimes you're right. Don't have to not take rockets in six.

No, you take whatever you want. I would lean rockets in six as well, but without Russ, I do really want to see how today goes. You can go rockets in seven. Let's let me ask you this. If the rockets lose today. what are calls going to be like tomorrow on the show? Because we haven't had any, we had one rocket call today. You can call me on the rocket's rap.

We'll multiply that by 20 tomorrow if they lose. So what is it going to be? Is it going to be game, playoff James shows up again? Well, if that guy who called and said James is going to go 8 to 28, shoot well, yeah, we're going to get some calls on him. How he's a playoff choker. Can't wait. Is it going to be, we'll be fine as long as when Russ gets back?

Could that be some of the calls? We don't know. No, there's not going to be a lot of optimism. this is a I mean it's not a must win game I don't I never want game one to mean anything more than just game one but man it feels like either

there's going to be we're going to open the floodgates of optimism of wow this team is so good it can win with the spite not having Russ or it's going to be the James's playoff James again Kyle to I mean no Kyle Tucker PJ Tucker can't hit threes defense is there can't win the rebounding

battles just all the little things that the Rocket Nation sayers or haters can just come out there and say, see, I told you. I wouldn't freak out with the loss, but I just think a win would be so comforting. I think that's what I'm saying. Like, if it's going to sound weird, but because Russell Westbrook is out, if he were completely healthy in the Rockets lost, I would feel more, I would not feel as bad as if they are now not having him and they have lost because you don't know what's going to happen.

How long is he going to be out? You want to bank, you want to put wins in the bank because you don't know when you need Russ. And if he needs that much more rest, if they get an O2 hole, they're going to rush Russell Westbrook back. You know what I'm saying? If they can win a couple of games or at least go split, then maybe Russell Westbrook is 80% and they don't want to push him so they can try to win another game or get up to O or something like that and keep him as healthy and out of the mix as long as possible. Where if they lose tonight, then the pressure is well. Are you 70%? Okay, I'll play. Exactly. Then he starts pushing himself and stuff like that. So that's what makes

just that much more huge to me. All right, we're going to check on the Thunder perspective. We'll do that with Barry Tremel from the Oklahoma next year on the Matt Thomas show. First, a word for the Shell Federal Credit Union. Are you a member of Shell FCU? Well, I want you to get your Shell FCU visa debit card out like I have. I just had mine picked up last Friday. Pay for a transaction this month, and you might just win your purchase. If you're not a member yet, no worries. Shell FCU is going to welcome you to open up a checking account with only a $1.00. initial deposit. Add money when you're ready and then make that Shell FCU visa debit card purchase and you could win your purchase. Details at ShellfcU.org. Winners will be contacted by the

September the 15th deadline. If you're a member or not a member doesn't worry either way, get in there and make a purchase today with that Shell FCU visa debit card and you could win that purchase from the Shell Federal Credit Union. Welcome home to Shell FCU. National Sports Talk. Houston Sports Talk. You got that right. This is Houston Sports Talk 790. Home for your home teams.

You're missing nothing in the Astros game. Don't worry about it. It is top of the second and now going bottom of the second. Zach Granky's in a nice job. A lot of that leadoff hit in the first. Actually, there's two hits altogether, but nothing more than that. Rockies and Astros going bottom two. No score.

Right here on the sports. Sports Talk 790 tonight. Rockets coverage begins. Ross, you'll have the launch pad at 430. 530. Craig will have the call. I'll be on calls for games 3, 4, and 6. If it does go 6, we'll find out how long Barry Trammell believes it will go. He is the longtime respected columnist for the Daily Oklahoma and in Oklahoma City. And he joins us for the first time on the Matt Thomas show. Barry, it's Matt and Ross. Thanks for the time. I want to start out with. I've been around and traveling with Russ this year in his first year. You've been at a lot of Chris's games. as a member of the Thunder in his first year there. It's hard to compare covering a guy for 10 years as compared to one, but what are some of the nuances you've noticed in talking with Chris that differ from what you did when you talked with Russ when you guys had a relationship? Oh, I would say congeniality is different.

I would say depth of answer is different. I would say interpersonal skills. Oh, yikes. You only keep going? No, I just thought I would think of it. No, it felt like now, wait a minute, I was in Oklahoma City to call the game we were up there earlier this year. He did answer your question. Russ did, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, fine. Okay, I just want to make sure. And the truth is, at the end of the season last year, let's see, game five at the end of the game five when the last game of the season, series in Portland, he actually answered my question. Now, his answer was not sure. That was his answer, two words. But at least he didn't say next question.

And then he answered a question at the exit interviews. So whatever was, you know, the burr up his saddle, he sort of got over it after game four at the playoffs. So it's fine. I actually missed Westbrook. He was a thrill to watch play. I assume Houston has found him the same way. You can't take your eyes off the guy. He's always doing something wild and often spectacular.

So he's an entertainer, a deluxe, and a wonderful basketball player. That is for sure. Barry Trammell from the Oklahoma with us here on the Matt Thomas show. So how would you characterize the season? I would say if they were, I mean, Billy Donovan was named co-coach of the year in the NBA. And frankly, I think a lot of folks didn't have Oklahoma City in the number five spots. So what went right this year besides the fact, that Chris Paul played healthy, looked five or six years younger.

Tell me some of the things about O'KC that has them where they are right now, opening up the series of the Rockets tonight. It's really two things. One is Chris Paul was vintage Chris Paul. When he came to Oklahoma City, we thought we were getting in Oklahoma a mentor for young guys, a competitor, a wealth of knowledge, a Hall of Famer. and still a good point guard on the downside of his career. All of that was true except for the downside of his career part.

Turns out we got a vintage Chris Paul. You know, I don't know how Houston sees his two years down there, but he's been spectacular here. This is what we saw early in his career and in the prime of his career. He's just been superb. And the other thing, this Thunder team has been. punched above its weight. It's won a ton of close games. It's been great in the clutch, starting with Chris Paul. If you go by the analytics, the Thunder should have a worse record

because they have won so many close games. And that tends to catch up with you over time, but it didn't catch up with the Thunder by March 13th or March 11th, I guess it was. So that's the key. I mean, they have, they've turned into a really good basketball team, but they've also won a lot of games right on the edge, and that's a little misleading if you go by the history of NBA analytics. Ross Villarreal with here, Barry, and what would you say, if I were to ask you, obviously Chris Paul, household name, outside of that,

not necessarily, I mean, some known NBA veterans, but not necessarily household names. If I were to ask you the identity of this Thunder team, What is it that makes them so successful and to get to this far to where they are in the playoffs? What would you say their identity is? Well, I think their identity is they really ride a three-point guard lineup. They've got CP, of course, and they've got Dennis Schrooter coming off the bench of the sixth man, and Shegildeghs Alexander is a wonderful young player who is no telling us.

what he'll be, but most likely he'll end up being somebody's point guard, maybe the thunders for a long time. And that three point guard lineup is difficult to deal with. They tend to finish each half together, the last four or five minutes. They're the best at the time of the break. I don't know what's happened in Orlando to affect this, but the time of the break, it was the best five-man unit in the league when those guys play with Stephen Adams and Nello Gallinari. So they only play eight, 10 minutes a game, because that's just the way rotations work. But that's really what they've found is they've got a really good,

a really good system going with those three point guards. In previous Rocket Thunder matchups, Barry, Andre Robertson has been fantastic, not so much as a score, but as a defender. He's been gone a long period of time. What's his return look like to you, and what can they expect from him in this series? I don't think he can impact this series. From what I've seen in Orlando, Andre, it's a great story. His return, we thought his career was over.

He was out 28 months. It's one of the longest stretches of being sidelined by injury and NBA history. So it's a wonderful story for him to come back like he has. But I don't see the lateral quickness on the perimeter that I used to see. He's still a smart defender. he's still a willing defender. He still knows what to do. But in terms of staying in front of James Hardin,

like he used to, among the better defenders in the league, I don't know that he can do that anymore. So I would be surprised if Billy puts Andre on Hardin very much. Go out and chase Robert Covington or, you know, somebody around, sure. But I don't think he can hang with Hardin the way. way he, you know, nobody can really stop, pardon. But, you know, at least getting his way some, Andre is one of the few guys that used to could do that. You mentioned it in that 17 playoff series, when the Rockets won in, was it five or six, whichever it was.

Andre Robertson was the Thunder's second best player. Westbrook put the team on his back and was sensational. Andre Robertson, even offensively, was efficient. So he was their second best player, but I don't see that Andre Robertson anymore because of the injury. So I doubt he has much impact against Houston. Obviously, Barry, one of those big storylines for the Rockets, of course, is the small

ball lineup. And one of the things that they do is if teams try to pound them down low on the low block with post game, that kind of takes, can take an offense out of its rhythm. But we've seen Billy Donovan go to Stephen Adams a little bit. So what are you expecting for the Thunder?

How much work do you think Stephen Adams is going to get down low or how much you think they're going to try to stay in their regular flow of the offense? I think they would try to stay in the regular flow because Adams is a wonderful player. He can do all kinds of things and really a whole operation sort of falls apart when he's not around. But he's not a great back-to-the-basket offensive player. And if you throw the ball to Stephen Adams in the low post, even if it's PJ Tucker or Covington or somebody much smaller on him. That's not his strength, and that does get the offense stagnant. I think Adams is much more effective against a smaller team when you have him going to the

basket, either rolling on a pick and roll, or just crashing the offensive board because he's a sensational offensive rebounder. I think Thunder's a lot better off, just running their offense and try to forget who happens to be on Stephen Adams. He's not a great one-on-one player. Now, if you can get the ball turning four feet from the basketball, get sure. You can just turn around and muscle it into the hoop. But if he's got to, you know, if he's got to try to maneuver from eight or nine feet on the low post, I think that's playing into Houston's hands. Barry, if folks were to go on the line and check out your column today, would they see a

prediction of the series? Yeah, we actually made our picks. I picked Houston in five. If Westbrook's out the whole way, of course, I think that sends the Thunder's chances up. but I just think, like I said, two things. I think the Thunder is sort of played above its weight this season. And I didn't see that continue in Orlando. Maybe it will return for the playoffs. And also, I just think Hardin over the course of a playoff series is just so difficult to contain.

He's going to get a lot of foul shots. He's going to get a lot of baskets. You know, I just don't know if the Thunder can hang. So I got Houston in five. Last question. Will the Thunder actively try to trade Chris Paul in the offseason? I think that's a possibility because his trade value has gone way up in the last year. The one thing, his contract now only has two years left on it instead of three.

And the other issue is, like I said, he's still really not just a good player. He's a great player still. So a team that is looking for a premier point guard might give you a whole lot for Chris Paul because he could put a team over the over the hump for a championship. Barry, great conversation. Thank you very much for the time. And we enjoy reading your work online and look forward to your coverage on the line for the series coming up. Thanks for the time.

Hey, I appreciate it. Thank you a lot. Barry Tramble, joining us from the Daily Oklahoma. You can check him out on his Twitter account and certainly on the Daily Oklahoma website for a Thunder perspective on the series. Astros and Rockies, thankfully for those that are fans of Rush and Michael Barry,

moving along quite briskly. They can listen to them online, Matt. I heart radio out of it. They don't seem to understand that. I feel like everybody out of the age of 60s should have a grasp of how to download an app or to go to a website. Well, if they can send you an email.

That doesn't have the internet. It's not an if-then statement. It's not an if then. If they can't send it any more, they do have the internet. That's a fact. They should. They have the internet. They have the internet.

They should be able to figure it out. Okay. Back to introduce the lineups for tonight's game next. 12 mega 244 on the Matt Thomas show with a message here for Shaw's jewelry. Fine diamond jewelry can be found today at one location. I mean, they can found a lot of places. But let me tell you for the right price, great customer service. You got to go to one place.

And that's Shaw's jewelry at the corner West Gray and Montrose. They specialize in. engagement rings. They specialize in diamond ring upgrades. And if your wife is also looking for perhaps a pair of gorgeous diamond studs or a diamond tennis bracelet, let her think about Shaw's jewelry at the corner West Grand Montrose. They offer zero percent financing for 12 months on purchases. Some exclusions do apply. They also provide you the biggest selection of pre-owned Rolexes in the city of Houston. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6, 10 to 7, that is, Saturdays they go 10 to 6. for jewelry at the fraction of the cost with customer service well beyond

what the competitions out there doing with a company that has employees that have been there since the 1980s. At the corner of West Graham Montrose, that Shaw's jewelry. Houston's Sports Talk for lunch. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. All right. Astros and Rockies are playing in the bottom of the third. They don't have briskly.

This is great news for KTRA Sports RV. famous last words right there Matthew Yeah but it's still two hours plus So Adam and Adam are going to be out No they're going to be a Toyota Center right I think so Yeah and then one of them will do It'll take 30 minutes off

One of them will take 30 minutes off while I talk And then go back to them I don't know what we pay them But I frankly believe it's too much You know what man I have to I have to completely agree Yeah I mean you work harder than they do Yeah a lot off 40% of what are they make and give it all to Brendan and I'll take a little piece.

I don't think anybody's arguing with that. I don't know. Their wife and kids might disagree, but. All right. So KTRH will have the Astros game. You check on that. The Rockets will be coming up in 4.30 for the launch pad, 5 o'clock for the network join, and 5.30 will be the tip time, which might be a little bit later because it depends on how that other game. What's going on the Orlando Milwaukee game? It was close for a long time. Orlando was up like 11 after the first Yeah, but that's the NBA. Yeah, that's true.

I would imagine Milwaukee is going to seize control. As long as they'd win by less than 12, I won't be upset. Why are you betting on basketball games? Why wouldn't you? I love to bet on football games. A long more great DJ Augustine, Matt, is going to carry me to a plus 12 victory. I love betting the first five innings of baseball games over anders. I love betting football games.

I will bet on everything. I will stay away from basketball under most circumstances. I saw a video of guys who were betting all. on the next color of the car to come down the street. And I was like, those guys are awesome. I want to be friends with them. Now, we do dollar bats all the time. Yeah.

Ooh, look at this. Eight-seated Orlando. What? 104-93 on top of Milwaukee with 635 left to go in the fourth quarter. And they took all the minutes restrictions off the bucks players. They're supposed to be free reign and all this. Unfair, fair home field advantage. Yeah, home court advantage of Orlando.

That's true. Yeah, but they were in the blue road road uniform. although it doesn't make a difference anymore. Wow. They're up 13 with 6 minutes to go. They're covering that 12. I'm going to chalk that up. And by the way, a bunch of doofs out there saying,

Orlando, Milwaukee may not lose a playoff game in the East. Well, they did today. Well, we'll see. They could win. Well, as far as you're concerned, it's 118 to 95, right? Exactly. Yes, sir. Good for you.

Good for you. I, as an NBA employee, can I bet on basketball and know what I want to. I used to bet on college basketball way back in the day when I first going to go to Vegas, it would drive me crazy. College basketball is one of those ones because there's so many games. You can find holes in the lines there, but you'd have to do a ton of research. But the problem is, like, I...

Like, what's Weber State going to do against some Patriot? A Texas Tech SMU game, and Texas Tech's crushing the hell out of SMU about 17 or 18, minute left to go. SMU hits a bunch of free throws, all the tomato cans come in there, and I don't cover. That could be the horrible part is when you have... For college games with all the fouling late, oh. It can get tough. Not interested.

Now, if there's something crazy like a five team or just a dude for fun. Yeah. Your little Patriot League action or something? Like a Bucknell Yale game? Oh. Yeah. All right. Everybody got the tape recorder's out?

I got my tape recorder out, Matthew. Brendan, you got yours out? Do you want me to really turn the lights off? Go turn the lights off. Oh, okay. And if you're going to film this, too. Remember we're going to film it. Where do you want me to go sit?

That's too late for you to move, unless you want to run over here. I'm going to run over here. Talk for a second, Ross. I'll turn the lights off. Okay, you turning the lights off and I'm going to talk. Okay, so what's going to happen? Since Matt is not going to be able to be home, it should be the Rockets versus the Thunder in Toyota Center.

So it should be Matthew Thomas on the PA. Matt's not. But it's not. All right. You get your strobe light going? Well, I can't film and strobelight. Yeah, you can. You can.

This is a mess. Let me turn up with these big 1975 headphones on. All right, I'm ready to go. Yeah, we're going to get made fun of. Don't put those on. Oh, that's right. I can't wear these. I'll be made, I'll be like nice headphones.

No chance. Twitter's mean that way. Twitter is very mean. I'm putting my earbuds here. Pick these off. All right. Stroblight. You can't record.

You're going to record, but not a new strobelight. All right. Hit it. Good evening, everyone. And welcome to Toyota Center for game one of the Western Conference playoffs. Now, let's meet. Tonight starters. First for the thunder.

At forward 6.10 from Italy. Number 8, Danilo Golanari. The other forward 6.7 from Tulsa, number 23, Terrence Ferguson. Center seven feet out of New Zealand. At number 12, Stephen Adams. At one guard, 6.6 out of Kentucky. Number two, Shea Gilgis Alexander. And the other guard, 6 feet from Wake Forest, number three.

Paul. Head coach of the Thunder, Billy Donovan. It's time for liftoff with your Houston. At Guard, 6-4 from Indiana, number 10, Eric Gordon. At forward 6-6 from Texas A&M, number four, Daniel House Jr. It's center, 6-8 from Tennessee State. Robert Covington at Ford 6.5 from Texas, number 17. PJ Tucker.

And the other guard, 6.5 from Arizona State, the beard, James Hardin. The head coach of your Rockets is Mike Dan Tony. How did you, Ross? Wait, go on the microphone over there. You got a minute and a half to kill. Not kill, entertain. Can I just stand here now?

Yeah, you do whatever you want. Good job, Matt. Proud of you. We'll get that up on the website. We haven't done that in forever. How did you feel? A little out of sorts. Really?

You feel like you're off? No, it was fine. It just take two. No, I ain't do it. Once is enough. We'll do it for every home game. Okay. So we got another home game on Thursday.

Yeah, tomorrow. And then, uh, Which games are you calling? Three, four, and maybe six. If there's a game six. Okay. All the road games. Wonderful.

Rockets and six. That's what I have. So you'll call game six. Yeah. I will call the game in which they win the series and go on up with the Lakers. The series clinching game called by Matt Thomas. I'm okay with that. And I'll talk to the folks afterwards on the Rockets wrap.

All right. Tomorrow we think we're going to have Dusty Baker, not for sure on that. I don't know about Mike Dan, Tony, because they're practice schedule. So if we don't get Mike tomorrow, we'll get him from. Friday, but I think we're going to get to Dusty at 1230. We will do a lot of talking, and hopefully a lot of positive talking on the Rockets win, because I feel like if they

lose Rossi, the haters are coming out quick. Not a must-win game, but a very important game. More important than typical game ones? I think comfortably yes. I think so, yes. Yeah. All right, Wexler, Clinton. They're somehow getting paid to do a one-hour show today.

It's the A-Team, and they're next on 7-90.