The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian Bogusevic Talks Line Up After Astros Lose First Game Of The Series

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Brian Bogusevic Talks Line Up After Astros Lose First Game Of The Series

1104 Sports Talk 790. We start hour number two with our regular Wednesday guests. He is the analyst on the Space City Home Network. We say hello to Brian Bogi. Look, the worst teams in sports are always going to be the best teams occasionally, especially in baseball because that's what they do. They usually win 50 to 60 games. With that being said, it felt especially painful because of you had your ace on the mound

and you had your power hitter back. The air of the balloon was pretty quick at Dyken Park last night. Yeah, you know, we said on the pregame show with as much adversity as the team had had a fight through and all the stuff that they had to overcome, it finally felt like things were lining up in their favor. There's a lot of stuff going for them coming in, whether it be the offense getting it going in Baltimore, Yordaunt's back, hunters on the mound, you know, you've got the worst team in baseball coming into play. And it just feels like a missed opportunity, right? You see it all the time in individual games.

You miss opportunities to score runs, and it comes back to bite you. This is the scheduling equivalent of second and third nobody out, and they didn't take advantage of it. So the big question mark has been of us last night, a couple of walks for Yorda, which has always been pretty good at doing that, is the protection behind him. I know many years ago we were growing up.

We talked about lineup construction a lot. feels like we don't talk about it nearly as much here in 2025, generally speaking. But let me ask you, how do you protect him from getting on base a couple of times because other teams are like we're not going to pitch to him? Well, you've got to have run producers behind him, right? If you're pitching around somebody that inevitably there's going to be opportunities with runners on base behind him. And, you know, Christian Walker had those opportunities yesterday, didn't work out.

You know, if you look at the body of work for Christian Walker over the last two months, basically, his numbers are very similar to what they were last couple years in Arizona, the guy we thought we were getting. You know, he drove in a bunch of runs on the road trip. Did it happen yesterday? No, but, you know, as of right now, he's the guy. He's the guy who, you know, before Yordon came back was your best option as a run producer. So now you stick him behind Yordon and hope that a couple chances he can cash in on.

and then all of a sudden you got to pitch the Yorda on. Yeah, that's what I was going to say, Brian. I mean, you know, Walker was so encouraging in that Baltimore series. He was, you know, hitting home runs. And it was like, all right, maybe he's getting going here. And then, you know, an O for three night last night. I just, you know, again, maybe it was just you went up against a pitcher that's feeling himself right now. It's so funny.

I was looking at Tanner Gordon. What do you give him, like 10 runs two weeks to go to Arizona? And then he goes one run against the Dodgers, one run against the Astros. So sometimes you just run into a guy who's just pitching well. but I think that's the biggest thing. The Matt's point is, okay, Yordaun's back, great. But yeah, if teams are going to walk him, you need somebody to driving those runs. But Christian Walker has just been so inconsistent all year.

I'm just, I'm worried about him being the guy behind Yordaum. Maybe, but I certainly have to give it more than one game to really dissect it. I mean, if you look at the opportunities yesterday, he had a ball, I forget which inning it was, maybe the fifth or sixth inning. He lined out to left field to end the inning. with runners on base. The ball had its expected batting average over 900. It was just a good play right at a guy. So, you know, you can't just say you went over. It's not working when the guy, you know, hit a line drive that could have easily gotten down. His first at bat, the inning that,

you know, the end of the first inning, it was a good pitch to hit. He barreled it, just got under it under and flew out to center field. You know, as long as it's not looking overmatched, as long as it's not, hey, they are targeting you and attacking you one specific way. because they have found a weakness that they know they can go to time and time again. If he's in a good spot swing-wise, if he's getting good pitches they hit, let him go out there for more than a couple of games and really see because, you know, he's produced runs better than most guys on the team. I mean, I think there's, you know, RBIs with two outs.

He's at the top of the American League. He's got, you know, a high percentage of RBIs to games over the last two months or so. So he's been getting it done, but certainly didn't yesterday. Starting pitching, it's a weird time right now. Look, we know Javier's working his way back in the form. Lance is still trying to work his way back into form. Aragetti, very encouraged from his last outing, you know, after a dismal outing before it. So, okay, starting to maybe these guys running in a form, but if this team's going to do anything in the postseason, Brian, it starts with Hunter Brown and starts with Frommper Valdez.

And Hunter Brown last night, an uncharacteristic weird night where, yeah, He only gives up two earned, but you still give up six runs and you lose six to one. I look at tonight with Frumber and this is a big start for him. I'm sorry. I mean, I get it's Colorado, but a 733 RA this month. Framber's been bad. The last four starts. Like I've got to see good vintage Frumber here to feel good about myself.

And if he's not, man, I'm starting to hit the panic button because I'm going, my two automatics, Fromber and Hunter Brown, if they can't get it done, like you really start to get a little bit worried. No, absolutely. I mean, this team's playoff hopes hinge around kind of bookending a game, right? It's starting pitching and it's back of the bullpen. And it starts with the two big guys at the top of the rotation. You had the two big guys at the back of the bullpen. You're already down one of them. So that are those four guys that are out of the mix now with Hater being down. So it becomes even more important to be getting quality start after quality start from Hunter and Frumber. And for Frumber, we've got to see the stuff look like it's supposed to. And There's going to be times when you get hit a little bit, especially a guy who is a big ground ball pitcher. Balls are going to find holes, all that stuff. But his curve ball, two of his last three starts, has not looked right. He hasn't been getting ground balls at the same rate that he typically does.

There are some mechanical things that are affecting the stuff. And if he doesn't have that high-end stuff and they don't have a big two at the top of that starting rotation, it's going to be really difficult to go out there and try to run through a couple series in the playoffs. And you'll be able to tell, you'll be able to tell today because when his curveball is working, it's a really high swing and miss pitch. And the Rockies swing and miss more than anybody in baseball. So if he's not able to rack up whiffs with that curve ball today, it's still not right. Do you think, Brian, that is something he works on on the days he's throwing when he's not in the rotation and not pitching?

or is it something that he's got to make a self-assessment on when he's in the bullpen getting ready for the start that night? No, that is a definitely work on during the week. I mean, when his sinker and his curveball, both with the amount of movement that he has on those pitches, release point is key, right? You've got to know where you're going to let that pitch go to know where it's going to land based on how much movement it's got on any given day. And your mechanics have to be really synced up. right for you to be able to adjust that based on what you've got that day.

So, you know, you go out there, you try to be really consistent with your mechanics and the throwing program when you get off the mound in between starts and, you know, know, know where you can start that pitch to land it where you want. And then when you go out there during the game, you know, there are some guys starting pitchers who, if you have a really deep repertoire, you're a five, six pitch guy. If you don't have a pitch working, you can just scrap it and go with something else. Hunter does that all the time. We've seen Lance McCullors do it.

at times. But Framber, essentially a two-pitch guy, will see him go to more changeups or incorporate a slider every once in a while, but he's got to find ways to find the sinker and find the curveball. He's done it at times this year. When you see him subtracting velocity from his fastball, that's when he's really trying to find that shape to kind of set everything in motion. He's got to find a way to find it early today. The narrative after last night's loss, and obviously things can change, especially if the Astros win the next two games of the series, as the Astros really play well against the upper echelon teams, the first

place teams, the Waldcard teams, but man, they can struggle mightily with the second tier squad. Last time at home, Baltimore, that was a miserable series, the game last night. Are we talking coincidence? I don't believe, Brian, that

the Astros Clubhouse shuts the door at 615 before 710 first pitch and says, boys, we got this handled. So if that's not the case, which I believe it isn't the case, then what is it? Why does this team habits issues against teams that are significantly under 500 or out of the pennant race? It's got to be coincidence because there's nothing else that makes sense. I mean, you've got too many guys who have done it at a high level for so long to think that

they're just, you know, can be, can go out there and be outclassed by some of those bottom of the division teams on such a consistent basis. And also, you know, maybe if you're talking middle of June, July, can you overlook somebody? maybe not be as locked in or let the wear down of the season gets you a little bit, sure. But when you're talking about 30 games left and a one game lead in the division and a team breathing down your neck, the focus should be there to not overlook a team like the Rockies or a team like Baltimore. So, you know, it's got to just be coincidence because we see what the best version is. We see them go out there and go toe to toe with the Phillies and with the Dodgers.

And we see what the good can be. So why we don't see that against the lesser teams, I think it's just kind of a random happenstance of the ups and downs of the season, and it's just lined up to where they haven't been playing well. Last question, we get Yordon back. Maybe Myers hope for the next handful of days after rehabilitation starts in Sugar Land. Do you suggest any seismic shift in the everyday starting lineup, especially if it goes seven deep, or do you think the way it's kind of put together right now, it's okay?

No, I'm fine with the way it's put together now. Obviously, everything is fluid. And if you start getting, you know, eight, ten games in and things aren't working out, maybe you shuffle it around a little bit. I think the biggest thing that we're going to see in terms of kind of fluidity in the lineup or the construction during any given day is how do you incorporate Altovae at DH left field second base with now Yordon into the mix, who's going to get the bigger share of DH, how are you going to keep each of them fresh from being out in left field?

That's going to be interesting to watch. I mean, they're both going to be in there every day. So just how Joe gets it done and seeing how he thinks he can maximize the team defensively with those guys. But no, I think you're getting to the point to where we're going to see a pretty consistent group of six to seven guys every day. And then just a couple of guys sprinkled in in matchup situations. Great. As always, Boogie. We'll look forward to seeing you tonight on Space City.

Appreciate the time. We'll visit again next Wednesday. Sure. See you guys.