The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Steve Sparks Breaks Down the Astros Disappointing Series Loss to the Diamondbacks

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

Steve Sparks Breaks Down the Astros Disappointing Series Loss to the Diamondbacks

We were talking about this for you, you joined us. What a wonderful time of the year. You got college football. You got pro football. You have the Astros independent race. And I know the record isn't great. We've been besmirting the record all season long, but it is what it is. You still have a two-game lead.

A takeaway about why do you think the Astros play so well, generally speaking, not obviously Arizona losing two or three, but their record against plus 500 teams is significantly better than it is against below 500 teams. Why do you think that is? You know what? I think sometimes you play against some of the teams that are. are doing very well, and they just so cautioned to the win. And I think it might be a tough matchup for the Astros for whatever reason. You know, controlling the running game, getting your attention divided, things like that,

facing a lot of different pitchers that you probably don't know anything about. They just struggled in certain situations like that. And they have for the last few years, really. I mean, they haven't played that great, but the good news is they've been great against the teams that look like they're going to be in the playoff this year. You know, I think they have the second best record against teams that are above 500 this year. So that's a great trait for the Astros in that respect. Sometimes I think it's luck.

Who you're going to face the Astros Miss Luzardo, who's been on fire for the Phillies this year. Sometimes you've got to get a little lucky with the pitching matchups. Who you're going to face. They are going to see Wheeler, Painter, and, Sanchez? On the third one. Sanchez, right? Yeah.

Yeah, this is going to be pretty tough. I think Painter's coming off seven innings, a one-run ball, too. So tough matchup. This Philly team is really good, but the Astros have shown that, you know, it doesn't matter who they're playing, that they feel like they can go in there,

especially on the road, since that first road trip. The Astros have been great. We've seen Yordon with the one home run on Sunday, but it's been, generally speaking, a drought since end in July. Athletes go through that. Powerheaders go through that, but this is a prolonged run. I would think part of it obviously is a number of walks he is drawing, clearly, but is there anything else besides those at bats where actually pitchers are thrown to him?

Because not only is he not hitting the home runs, but he's also taken a fair number, not a great number, but a fair number of strike three calls in the last couple weeks. Do you think he's seeing the ball a little differently in the last few weeks? You know, he might be expanding. You know, there's a lot of pressure on him to provide most of the offense for the Astros. He's clearly their best player. I think since August 1st, I think Payne has seen his OPS drop 100 points, and I think that's that, you know, I don't want to put the onus on Jeremy, but he's had a downturn for the last five weeks or so, and Yordon hasn't had as many opportunities with that right side open and to face pitchers with runners on base where he's excelled.

other than that, I go back to the story that Yordon tells about his dad, never cared about what he really did as far as results went. You know, if he was 2 for 4 or 0 for 4, all he worried about, Yordon did you swing at strikes? And Yordawn's been the epitome of that since he got into the league. And I think he has expanded the strike zone to an extent just to try to provide some productivity for the Astros offense. You know, it kind of gets along.

And I think it's more an indictment on the American League right now, but the Astros are tied for third and run scored this year, despite that, you know, when you look at the team, it looks like it's very top-heavy, and they haven't been productive, but compared to everybody else, they've been toward the top. And Jeremy Pena has been toward the top as well,

but things have not been going his way. Since August 1st, a 590 OPS hitting 181. What do you think, as have you seen from him to just the, difference of when Jerry Paine is on and when he's struggling? Yeah, it's always going to come down to, you know, pitch selection. Are you seeing the ball? You know, I've even talked to Jeremy like, you know, the slider, and this is the same thing with a lot of young players.

I remember Hunter Pence didn't stay off the slider in the first couple of years as an astro. Jeremy struggled mightily within his first couple of years. But then he made an adjustment. It looked like he was starting to zone in, see the ball better. But like you said, since August 1st, he has stronger. And it looks like he's expanding a little bit. So maybe not seeing it well.

And I talked to him, and he says, when I see the ball, the slider, I see the spin out of the hand, I got to make sure it starts in a certain lane. And what it means by that is, if it starts on the outer third of the plate, I've got to lay off that pitch. If I recognize spin and it starts anywhere in the middle to the outside portion of the plate, I've got to take it. That's just the bottom line. So he's looking for a lane.

He's looking for something that starts, you know, underneath his elbows or maybe slightly inside off that inside corner to really kind of go toward his barrel on his swing. He can drive a ball when they throw in so many sliders. I mean, that's the pitch that's giving him the most trouble. We've seen that for a while now. And he's just in a little mini slump right now. And I expect him to dig his way out of it and be very productive the rest of the way. Steve Sparks, Astros, Broadcaster was here on a sports talk

790. Peter Lambert with the quality start yesterday, just overall, I mean, obviously if this team's going to continue to be competitive in the West and then make some noise in the playoffs, it's going to be the rotation. Just your thoughts on the Lambert last time out and just the

state of the rotation, especially the top three guys who you're going to need. You know, I just think overall, they just got done with that 13 game stretch and starting pictures in the R.A. south of three. I mean, you can't ask for any more than that. West Nessie, who's pitching the night, it's only given up five hits in his last three starts. That's 17 innings. Five hits and 17 innings is ridiculous. And you look at the spin rate, and

Brent Strong was just saying to me the other day, man, I can't believe the 2,800 spin rate on the sweeper from West Nesky. I've got to ask him what he's doing to get on top of it. And, you know, he strides a little shorter on that pitch. You know, I've kind of looked at the numbers as far as his extension. He strides a little shorter, so he's able to get on top of that pitch. And it looks just like a really hard curveball. It says sweeper every time. But it looks almost like, you know, I'm not going to say Nolan Ryan,

but it looks like the shape of Nolan Ryan's curveball. So that, and that's a good thing, man. That's a swing and miss pitch. It's swinging miss rates over 40% on that pitch. You know, if he stays in this little groove that he's in, man, that's a great addition to the staff, obviously. But when you talk about the top three pitchers for the Astros right now, he's included. Sparky, how did you handle your arm in September? And if you were to have a player come to you and say, all right, I'm in a pennant race, I'm tired, I've thrown a lot of innings.

How do you shape that arm besides maybe altering workouts? But look, you still need to have that good stuff going here in the final month of the season. You do, but you do a lot less. You do a lot less of everything, Matt. You know, away from the field, at the field, everything. Less is way more in September. And these guys can see the light at the end of the tunnel. August was rough.

It punches you in the face. But in September, when you're a contender, it gives you that jolt of energy you need, especially when you're playing so many good teams that the Astros are doing right now. This is a grueling road trip. When you think about the teams that they're playing, Thank goodness they had an off day yesterday so they can kind of gather themselves, rest their bodies for a little bit, forget about baseball for a minute, watch football maybe or do whatever on an off day. But they're energized in September. You know, it just feels great to be in contention.

You come here, the weather here is more crisp. I don't have that. The humidity that getting out of the humidity sometimes is really energetic for a team that plays in a city of. like Houston. I know they're not playing outdoors, but they're living outdoors in Houston, and it's rough. And when you come here and you walk off the airplane, right at the beginning of a road trip, it feels pretty good. And last question. We've seen, obviously, Joe, go with lineup after lineup after lineup. Do you need to this time of year settle in on the nine, or is it still much of a fluctuation as it's been the case this entire season in terms of who bats were in the order?

I think if you look through the years, excuse me, if you look through the years, I think the most important thing is to make sure that your best hitters bat the most. You know, get them up in the top three or four. You get those guys up there and everything else. You kind of filter in with the matchup of that day starting pitcher and try to go for there. I like the ninth place hitter to have a decent on-base percentage

before it turns over with Yorda on two hitters away. I think that's important. But I don't think you can really mess it up that bad, When you really look at the numbers, I say just get your best hitters batting as often as possible. And we'll leave it at that. Sparky, thank you for the visit as always. We'll be back with you next Monday and have a great and safe road trip. We'll talk to you next week.

Thanks for having me again. All right, you got it. That's Steve Sparks.