The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian T. Smith Joins To Talk About The Excitement In Returning To Sports

Episode Date: July 24, 2020

Brian T. Smith Joins To Talk About The Excitement In Returning To Sports

This is the Matt Thomas show. Here we go at 201, the final hour of the week here on Sports Talks, at least from my show. Coming up at 3, it's the A team with Adam and Adam. We've got Rockets basketball tonight against the Toronto Raptors, which will have a coverage beginning at 6. And then when they're done, my guess is right around 8 o'clock. We'll send it over to Minute Maid Park for the Astros and the Mariners.

So both games with teams playing tonight. right here on Sports Talk 790. BTS is with us, Brian T from The Chronicle. I was just telling the audience how surreal it is for us to be not at the ballpark tonight because anybody that's been around this organization covering the team, a fan of the team, uses it fan fest by now. So this has got to be weird for all of us. I've been thinking about it for weeks, Matt, but really today.

I mean, I haven't covered every Astor's opening day since 2013. I think I missed 2014. but I believe I've covered everyone since then. The opening day is always one of the best days of the year, and every good baseball fan, every good Astros fan knows that. I mean, other than the first day of the playoffs, I don't think there's a better day in Major League Baseball, and it's one of the best days in sports,

and I watched both games last night, and how many times have I been on your show on Fridays at 2 o'clock for the last four and a half months, and we've just talked on and on. on about sports coming back and the hurdles and the problems and what actually happen. It's finally happening, but there's no way around it. It's not going to be close to being the same.

And all that being said, I don't want to be negative right now because we had to wait so long for this to happen. And it might not last that long. I think if you're an Astros fan, if you're a baseball fan, if you're a Rockets fan, the fact that you can sit at home tonight, have a couple cold beverages, order in, support a local restaurant, pick it up, whatever, and be able to flip back and forth and watch the Rockets and the Astros, that feels like it's been five years since a local fan could do that.

All right, so let's do this. Let's get right to the teams itself, and we'll spend more on the Rock, and the Astros and more of the Rockets because the Rockets is a Rocket's 7th and the week until their season starts. Did we miss out on the Astros being somewhat aggressive in trying to go get better starting pitching towards the back and better bullpen with the losses of Colin Harris. Did we just kind of gloss over that because of the pandemic or did they try and they just weren't able to get the guys they wanted to?

Because it feels like those are two pretty big glaring holes for a team that offensively looks loaded top to bottom. It's a really good point. And honestly, on Monday this week, I had plans to initially write about their lack of pitching depth. Here's the thing about that. Number one, we didn't gloss over it because they had the biggest scandal in baseball history since Pete Rose was banned. Number two, yes, we had a global pandemic that were still in the middle of it's been going on for four and a half months.

Number three, Jeff Luno was fired, AJ Hinch was fired, Ducky Baker was hired, James Click was hired, and then, you know, the season stopped. So that, you put all that together. There's no way around it. pre-manfred bringing down the hammer on the sign-stealing scandal, the Astros have been very quiet and free agency. But they also had a plan. They weren't going to spend like crazy. They have so many issues next season when, you know,

if you look at Brantley and Springer, Reddick, Correa, on and on and on. They knew they were going to lose coal. But yeah, they didn't do that Jeff Luna, super creative, let's go out and get a Wade-Miley type, a Charlie Morton type. that being said, they have some interesting young arms on here. Josh James is going to be fantastic or totally be a disappointment. He can't do one of the other, it seems like, or do both at the same time. So, yeah, it's one of their weakest points, but I think so much happened.

And when you have that much of a turnover that quickly, it was inevitable that a few things are going to fall through the cracks. All right. So with that being said, I feel like we're going to watch. a bunch of Astro wins. I mean, I still think they're the class of the division, but it will not be, especially when Roberto Hosey goes out for the first time, because a lot of people think, you know, him or Ryan Presley should be closing, whatever. I feel like we're going to get a lot more eight, six games that we may have had in years past. It feels like it's going to be really messy. Not so much bad baseball. I mean, the games last night weren't poorly played,

but the hitters theoretically should be ahead of the pitchers. It may take a couple of weeks to catch up now with that being said, watch Justin Verland to go out tonight and throw eight innings of one-run ball. But yeah, by the time you get to the back of the Astros rotation, by the time you get to the back of most major league rotations of the middle of most major league rotations, then you factor in designated hitter in both leagues, the incredibly stupid extra inning role where you're starting a guy on, the idea that a reliever, if it comes in, if a reliever comes in, he has to face three, you know, get three out. if that reliever is getting hammered, you're going to add five runs on the board.

So it feels like these games should be high scoring. And that's going to be the thing with the Astros. You're going to want to – I mean, this is so obvious, but it's very true. They're going to want to start hot. And, you know, Dusty Baker was talking about that in February when he wanted to get the national media and all the haters off their backs. Now with a 60-game season, you lose one game, you win one game. It's going to feel like three or five. and so if you have a deep lineup like the Astros do,

I fully expect this team if they can stay healthy to be back in the thick of the playoff race again. So just I'll put myself on the record of this. I'm not the biggest fan of the starting at second base rule for the extra innings. I can live with it. I'd rather than do that in the 11th inning at least have 10 peer. It sounds like to me you hate it all the way through or do you or do you not? I hate it all things.

Okay, that's fine. It's a little league rule. It really is, and they're only doing it right now because, you know, they, they, theoretically it's for player safety, but if players have already played nine innings, how are you preserving player health and player safety if they play two more innings? I mean, that's ridiculous. I agree. If you're going to have a less, you know, a better of the two evils,

then you at least have a tenth inning, see if someone can score the old-fashioned way, and then in the 11th, to move the game forward, so you're not playing six-hour games and you're in a 60-game season with crazy travel, you put a runner on second. But there's a lot. I hate the cardboard cutout. I hate the virtual fans. I'm not a fan of putting a runner on second base.

I just want baseball. I prefer to have baseball with the sounds of the game and some silence and some good announcing and reporting and analysis. over junking up the game. Yeah, I have a feeling. And please give me credit if I'm right about this and just don't mention about it. No, I will not. I feel like the cardboard fans, the cyber fans will be gone after a while.

I think somebody will say, again, everything about this season, honestly, Brian, and the audience knows this, is very gimmicky. It is very. I mean, when you yesterday announced expanded playoffs the day of the first season, the first games of the season, it's just an extra. layer of gimmicky. I just don't know if in 40 days we're going to be still seeing as many cutout fans we saw

last night in the Dodgers game. Yeah, and look, I mean, on one hand, I don't want to be, I mean, I'm in my early 40s. I'm not 80. I'm not as old as Matt Thomas or John McLean. Oh, my God. I hate you. I'm not an old person. That being said, I mean, I can found

pretty old, pretty quick when I started talking about this stuff, but look, it's baseball. And, you know, for all the changes, it's still baseball. it doesn't need to be gimmicky. It doesn't need to be video game-ish. They don't need to junk it up. Astros fans are excited about watching their team and their players actually play games on the field.

So the cardboard cut-ups especially feels like that was something that was, you know, internally being discussed with in baseball a month ago, two months ago. I think it got used in Korea, right, with the KBO. And so they were afraid, hey, this is going to be so empty and so vacant. but look what MLS has done. I think what the NBA has done, that initial glimpse, is just awesome.

Now, you're playing in stadiums. You're not playing in, you know, 10,000-seat arenas, and you can kind of black it off, block everything off, and make it kind of look like Madison Square Garden, Jr. But the cardboard cutouts, Matt,

in the playoffs, it's going to look so silly. And Fox's virtual fans is just, it's juvenile. It's what a five-referial. would do if they were constructing their own league. So I agree with you. I hope that time goes on, maybe you can get 25% of the stadium still with actual fans. For the time we get into October, all the gimmicky stuff needs to go away as soon as possible. For I let you run, the Rockets are

playing the Raptors tonight. I don't know how much are you been watching on NBA TV, but these first scrimmages look pretty damn good. There is some, I mean, LeBron James looked very serious yesterday. You could not tell it was a meaningless, exhibition. What do you expect them from the Rockets tonight? No, I've watched a lot of this. Look, I love baseball. I always say this always right. I love baseball. I love baseball. I always love baseball. In many ways, it'll always be my first love and my main love. Baseball has issues. I am far more excited from, you know, if I'm looking at it from the outside, writing about it, the storylines.

And obviously the NBA is going into the playoffs, so that the playoffs are always more fun and more juicy. been the regular season. But I am really excited. And the first glimpse of the NBA is really promising, just because it feels like it's going to be able to reach you through the TV, whereas baseball feels so empty and so odd, it's like you got transplanted into a bizarro world. And you look at the Rockets team, you look at all those storylines,

Dantone, Mory, Hardin, Westbrook. Maybe I'm wrong. It feels like it's going to be boom or bust. I feel like this team is going to be the Western Conference finals, healthy, Hardin is playing his butt off, Westbrook's doing what he was in January and February, or they're out in the first round. I kind of feel like this team has that type of boom or bust written all over it. So it's almost like they're going to be a first round exit or they're going to be playing

into mid-October. That's a scary, scary flip of a coin there. I mean, I think a lot of people take it. But that's how this team's been all season. I mean, look at small ball. I mean, is small ball going to work for four rounds in the playoffs? It might. And if it is, that's boom.

That's Tillman for Tita's dream come true with this franchise. Is James Harden going to have the best playoff front of his career? Is Russell Westbrook going to stay healthy for four rounds? That could all happen. But, Matt, this was not a great team during the regular season. I know Rocket's fans are excited. I'm excited in general. about getting the NBA back, getting the rockets back, all the storyline.

But they were wildly inconsistent the entire season. They were struggling before the season was paused. And so I don't know. I don't know what we're going to get, but I do feel like it's going to be boom or bust. I don't think you're in the minority. And so that's why it's going to make it an uber intriguing to see how they get out of the gate, how they finish these eight games, and who they get in that first round opponent. All right, BTS.

Have a great weekend. We'll do this again next Friday. Thanks for the time. Thanks, Matt. Take care. You got it. Brian T. Smith from the Houston Cronwick. You can follow him on Twitter at Cron Brian Smith. 2.13 is our time. We are 15 minutes away from the Fantasy 5.

Past or present. Reality TV show host and judges. And I'm assuming that my list is all female. I don't know how Ross's list is, but that's what I'm going to go with. I got a Tom Bergeron on there. Do you really? He's a solid tier two pick. You have that old guy from Dancing with the Stars on there.

It looks like he's a butler. The Italian guy? Yeah, 214. It is the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790.